December came and winter was officially in full swing there on the top of Mount Greylock. The month began with rain and thunderstorms. The temperature drastically shifted, covering the castle with a thin sheet of snow. Evergreen had grown up in the bottom of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, where the temperature never went cooler than 20 degrees. The last time it did so, he was a baby, so he didn't remember it. During this time, Adams Massachusetts was cold at best, frigid at worst.

Evergreen asked Professor Delacroix if she knew any charms to make his cloak give off heat, to counter the freezing temperatures, and she taught him a hot air charm, which he quickly mastered. Unfortunately, however, it turned out only to be a temporary fix, for 20 minutes later, it had to be cast again. He didn't have the confidence to go back to the gray-haired witch to ask for more. With her stern face and thinly veiled French accent, he was too intimidated to ask again. He figured that if anyone else could help him with enchanting objects, it would be Professor Habitatio, for she was the infusion professor, after all.

He approached her in the annex as they were all leaving the commons after lunch during the week before they left for winter break. She was wearing scarlet robes that emphasized the fact that she was the tallest woman on campus, and her blonde hair was pulled into what looked to be a painfully tight bun.

"Professor, I was hoping t-to ask you s-something."

"Why, Evergreen, it has been a while. How are you?" she asked, a friendly smile showing a row of perfect teeth.

"I'm okay. Just a little c-cold. I have a magic question."

"Ahh, hoping to read ahead in my class, then? Shouldn't you be studying for midterms in your classes?"

"It's just something small."

She was clearly teasing in a good-natured way. She let out a small laugh when he asked her about the temperature. She ended up teaching him a spell that enchanted an article of clothing to act as a heating pad. She warned him that if he did this with too many of his garments, that they could spontaneously burst into flame, leaving him without a stitch on him. Apparently, she had learned that the hard way. He blushed bright red and decided never to ask about that.

He removed his cloak and did the motion and the incantation as directed by Professor Habitatio, and suddenly, his cloak started steaming slightly. When he put it on, he felt like it was a pleasant, cool spring day. It was amazing magic. Sure, when he had his hands out of his pockets, he could still tell that it was winter, but overall, the charm was much more effective than any temporary hot air charm.

Like Professor Habitatio said, Evergreen and all the other students were studying for their midterms that were to be taken Tuesday and Thursday for their day 1 classes, and Wednesday and Friday for their day 2 classes. Clubs were canceled for midterms. Evergreen was reviewing some of his notes and even quizzing some of his friends there in the library on some of the things they expected to encounter. Link was a history whiz, so Evergreen was grateful that he had him to help him study for the history exam. He wasn't nervous about any of the exams except for history and alchemy, after all. He was also very excited for that Friday, because after their exams, Link and Evergreen had their first broom race of the year.

Andie, Glade, Diva, Link, and Evergreen were all huddled around an ancient table in the library, almost surrounded by gargantuan bookshelves that reached probably 20 feet tall. How one was supposed to get anything from the top was anyone's guess. Evergreen wanted to get one of those books down for their reference and because he didn't want to have to wait around or to go find an adult, he figured that he could just knock it down himself. He didn't know any summoning spells, as such things would only be mentioned in Standard Book of Spells Grade 4, so he just used what he knew.

"Wingardium leviosa." He said, as he flourished his wand.

The book came down slowly as he directed it, and in so doing he was otherwise distracted from noticing any of his surroundings. He heard Link call out to him and he jerked his head around to find that he had almost run into Beatrice Gale-Larson. Because the spell was broken, the book came crashing down about 10 feet, just nearly missing Beatrice's nose and chest, making a clattering sound as it fell to her feet.

"Evergreen Quandary!" she shrieked, her double braided hair shaking with a combination of indignation and alarm. "You nearly took my head off!"

"I'm s-sorry Beatrice." He tried. "I g-got distracted."

"Distracted?" she demanded, stepping over the book and getting right in Evergreen's face. "I don't know what you learned of magic in the no-Maj world, but we can't afford to get distracted. If we get distracted, lives could be on the line!"

Link and Diva got to their feet and got behind Evergreen as a sign of support.

"Hey Beatrice," Diva said, "Lay off him. He didn't do it on purpose. He's just a klutz."

Evergreen wasn't bothered by Diva's statement, because he knew it was true.

"Bold of you to raise your voice at me, Diva Rash, considering half of our grade had the opportunity to see you in all of your upside-down glory! What color are you wearing today, pink, again?"

This shut Diva up quick and Evergreen and Link both pointed their wands at Beatrice at the same time.

"How about you don't talk to her?" Link asked, with fury in his eyes. "If you apologize, we'll have no further problems."

Suddenly, Evergreen heard Swab's voice coming along the corner. With a little quick thinking, Evergreen cast his very first intentional non-verbal spell and disarmed Link, catching his friend's wand, and putting them both behind his back. It was at that moment that the big man came into view of all the students. Evergreen and Swab made eye contact and immediately, he went into one of his classic tirades.

"Quandary! I can't believe how much noise you're making in this library! Don't you have any respect for anyone but yourself!?" he began, "You come here, and you start harassing Gale-Larson here for no reason. Why? Is it 'cause you think she's pretty and she sees you for what you are? I should take you to the headmaster!"

It was at that moment that the librarian, Blair Montgomery came from the other corner from which Swab had come. She was a stern-looking old woman who was dressed in earthy colored robes. She would have likely camouflaged well into a desert landscape on that day. Her hair was short and platinum white with streaks of black here and there. Her face was so wrinkled and gray, it was hard to tell if her eyes were open or closed. She raised a gnarled finger toward Swab.

"To tell you the truth, young man, I haven't heard young Master Quandary speak hardly above a whisper since he got here. You and Miss Gale-Larson, however, are a different story and if you do not conduct yourselves with dignity, I will have to ask you both to leave." She said so with a voice that sounded like she had smoked for many years. Did magical people smoke? It wasn't the appropriate time to ask.

Link's face suddenly relaxed and Evergreen felt a vibe come off him that was powerful and undeniable. He got between Evergreen and his accosters and spoke softly and directly to them.

"I think that Beatrice needs to find her book and leave, we understand that you don't want any trouble, right?"

His voice was layered with something Evergreen was unfamiliar with. The girl's face softened from the scowl she was wearing and transformed into a smile.

"Yeah. You're right." She said, grabbing her book and turning to leave, muttering a sorry to Diva on her way out.

"And Mr. Capital, I know that you're trying to do your job, and you're doing great. You look like you could use a thick wassail. I hear there's some in the staff corridor!"

The look in Swab's eyes was wild, trying to fight two urges. One was to stay and yell at everyone present, the other was to turn and leave, in pursuit of the sweet, rich flavors that came with a holiday wassail. Eventually, the second urge won out, and he turned and left without another word. After he left, Mrs. Montgomery slowly approached the students that were left behind in that little book alcove.

"Mr Quandary. Standard Book of Spells chapter 4 has what?" Mrs Montgomery asked.

"Mending charms, ma'am."

"If you could demonstrate the spell on this poor book, please." She said, pointing to the book on the ground that had since come free of its binding.

"Yes ma'am."

He lifted his wand and pointed toward the book. After he said the incantation (Reparo!), the book swiftly rebound itself with a sound that sounded like dry suction. He picked the book up and handed it back to the ancient librarian.

"Expertly done young man. I was planning on taking points away for the damage, but with how well you repaired it, I think we'll just call it even. If you would meet me here on Monday the eighth after break to help repair other damaged volumes, I would be very much obliged."

Evergreen could tell by the way the ancient librarian spoke, that it wasn't a request, but an order. He figured that one afternoon of fixing up books couldn't be the worst thing in the world. Plus, it would give him more time in the library to possibly do some reading on other realms. Who knows where mom could be, after all?

"Yes ma'am." Evergreen said to Mrs. Montgomery.

Their exams came and Evergreen felt that his study system had been effective. He would cram for an hour or so, go for an hour flight on the school broom lent to him for the year, and then come back and get some food before going off to do the exam. Doing something as physical as flying really helped him get out of his own head, allowing him to focus inward on his instincts and memory. That was all examinations were, after all: Tests on memory and trusting one's gut.

When Friday evening came around, Evergreen and Link were back in the nest, just waiting around for their last exam for astronomy. It was a simple exam, in Evergreen's opinion. He had grown up stargazing and could name all the constellations in the northern hemisphere before he had even started at Ilvermorny. They merely needed to make a star chart of that evening and then to make a few calculations to also draw the star chart of the night sky the day they were born. It wasn't difficult to do, but it was difficult to cheat, because pretty much everyone had a different birthday.

In the nest, he and Link were playing a game with the Summerhills that they had played quite a bit growing up. In English, they called it 'upper hand'. All four of them were standing on a rune, in this case, runes that represented fire, water, earth, and air. The point was to use their imaginations (and not their wands), inspired by the element their runes represented, to try and knock the others off of their runes. The last man standing would win.

Evergreen and Link stood on water and fire, respectively, and the Summerhills on air and earth. Evergreen got Maza Blaska out of the circle by using his water to erode the earth of his Dakota friend, but Tokala came back and blew all his water away with a twister. While Tokala and Link went back and forth, Professor Woods made an appearance in the nest. She was wearing a fur coat over her dark navy robes.

"Evergreen Quandary." She said, "If you would please follow me. There are a few people who are dying to meet you."

"Okay, Professor." He replied. "Come on Link, you can take him!" he called his friend who was concentrating on his next move against Tokala. He probably didn't stand a chance, though.

He grabbed his cloak and left the nest quickly with Seta and Professor Woods. They chatted a little bit, mostly about midterms. Woods praised Evergreen for doing so well. In their private tutoring sessions, Professor Woods had been showing Evergreen quite a bit of combat magic and with it, he was able to properly incapacitate and disarm a mannequin that had been enchanted for the practical portion of their exams. He did it with minimal fuss and without causing any real damage. She told him about how she had ranted and raved to the headmaster about how he had mastered the full-body-bind spell, the leg-locker curse, the stinging hex, and even a tap-dancing spell that he had learned on his own time. When he surprised her by casting that one on her, she had had to take a moment to stop laughing before she could undo the spell.

They scaled the stairs to the very top floor of the castle. Once there, they crossed a room the size of the entrance hall directly below until they got to a small building right in the center that looked no bigger than an outhouse. Evergreen was curious about how more than one person could fit inside. She opened the door, and he was surprised at what he saw. Inside the little shed was a dark and drafty classroom that smelled of lavender and cinnamon. It looked like a small Theatre that could fit maybe 50 people inside. There was a soft, red light that illuminated everything, thus causing the shades of blue that Evergreen and Professor Woods were wearing to appear to be gray. Evergreen thought the lighting looked like that which they used for every teen dance included in any film released in the 1980's. Dad had practically raised him on 'The Breakfast Club", "Pretty in Pink", and "Back to the Future".

Professor Woods and Evergreen entered from what appeared to be the top of the sloped room, looking like a lecture hall. There at the bottom was a desk sitting on a platform. A woman with wild, curly gray hair sat in the chair beneath the desk while a younger witch with the same curly hair, only blonde, sat on the desk itself. They were both enjoying a cup of tea and whispering intensely back and forth as if they knew someone was trying to listen in.

"Ladies, good evening." Professor Woods said, clearing her throat.

The two seated witches stopped whispering and turned toward Woods. The younger one stood up slowly and approached her. Pretty soon, she wrapped the defense professor in a tight embrace.

"Oh Tempest," she said in a dreamy, mystical fashion, "it is always a thrill to see you coming here."

"Sirena," she began, "Azula." She said, nodding toward the older woman.

"Sirena and Azula Diablo, please meet Evergreen Quandary, the boy I had been telling you about."

"Mother," Sirena said, turning to the seated witch, "Do you think he has the Sight?"

"It is difficult to tell this soon. We can always run a few examinations, though." Her voice was hardly above a whisper and was done with a slight quiver like a soft harp playing in a room with a tall ceiling.

"Professor Diablo –" Evergreen started.

"Call me Miss Diablo, if you must," Sirena Diablo countered, "Professor Diablo is my mother."

"Miss Diablo then, what is the Sight?"

"My mother and I are both professors of similar things here at this school. Mother teaches divination and I teach xylomancy. Both are arts of looking into the future, only mine is done in a different medium, if you will." She took a breath and closed her eyes. "The Sight refers to an innate ability to see things that others can't; some can see the future, others commune with the dead, and some can even do both, though not at the same time of course. Others with the Sight can astral project and enter the dream plane while others still are skilled in legilimency which is more related to divination than most care to admit."

"Yes, Mr. Quandary, mind-reading." Professor Diablo said, seeming to read Evergreen's thoughts. "It would serve you well to consider our classes in your freshman year."

Evergreen was instructed to sit on a cushion that was placed on the floor at the foot of the table. He did so. Professor Diablo sat before him on a similar cushion. She placed a crystal ball, a stick of burning incense, and a pile of twigs between them. Evergreen knew about the crystal ball, but the other things could have any number of uses that were all a complete mystery to him. He didn't want to ask any dumb questions, so he decided on a safe one.

"So, where d-do we start?"

"Mr. Quandary," Professor Diablo whispered, "I would like to begin with a dream walking exercise if you would."

"Okay."

Evergreen was instructed to close his eyes and to focus on his breathing. Breathing in the incense made him feel like he was getting heavier. He fought the urge to fall asleep though. He was not about to fall asleep in a small box that was bigger on the inside, because he was afraid that if he did so, he may wake up in a completely different place.

He kept his focus and soon enough, he was, in his mind's eye, flying over a seemingly endless dark forest. Pine trees went on forever and an unsettling, ghostly half whistle / half moan was all he could hear. The sounds of Woods' breathing and the chittering whispers shared between the Diablos were all background noise, almost muted. Evergreen gazed at the mind-numbing expanse before him to see about looking for the source of the sound.

Soaring at impossible speeds, the sound got louder and louder until it was nearly deafening and then he dropped straight into a dark building on the side of a cliff. The building had a watered moat and was composed of yellow stone. He found it odd that he passed straight through the solid wall without an issue. Once within, he was startled as he was suddenly confronted with the face of someone he had only ever heard about.

She was dressed in a long, black, unflattering dress and she had a matching pointed hat. She would actually have been rather beautiful if it wasn't for the fact that her skin was a putrid, half-burnt shade of green, that gave off an almost sickly glow against the light-colored stone of the room she was in. He knew that he was looking at the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, the person responsible for his mother's unfortunate fate.

There were several potions bubbling away on a central desk and an hourglass in the far corner of the room that was easily the biggest Evergreen had ever seen. There was also a flying monkey that was seated in the corner where a modest bed was made. The Wicked Witch was pacing the floor, clearly agitated about something.

"Of course, she was placed there! That was the smart thing to do, at any rate!" she yelled at the poor monkey.

The winged primate tried its best to respond to that but was promptly interrupted by the jade-skinned witch.

"And you're telling me that the Scarecrow just walked right into her prison cell and back out again with no issue?"

Again, the winged monkey tried to respond, but he kept getting steam rolled by the angry sorceress.

"What I want is for you to find out how he found her, how he got in and where in Merlin's name he is going! Can you do that or are you such a useless beast that I have to transfigure you into something useful like a stress ball or a loaf of bread?!"

She didn't even give the beast time to reply as she rushed toward it and lifted it above her head with her gnarly, black olive wand. He was clearly choking, and Evergreen was clearly alarmed. He called out to the witch to get her to stop, even though he knew she wouldn't hear. She did end up letting the monkey go and after an additional command from her, he had fled through her far balcony window.

At that moment, Evergreen jerked back to reality and came up looking into the wide eyes of the Diablos.

"Mr. Quandary," Miss Diablo began, "Did you see a woman with green skin?"

"Yeah. I did." he replied, catching his breath.

"Well," Professor Diablo replied, putting a hand up to her daughter, "It appears that upon your return from break we will have much to discuss."

Professor Woods, Evergreen, and Seta were all excused, and after Evergreen told Woods and Seta what he saw, they were clearly upset that Elphaba would go through so much trouble on an old grudge. Professor Woods agreed with Evergreen that this was evidence that Elphaba was directly involved with whatever had happened to his mom. She did walk him back to the nest, with plenty of time left until he had to take his next midterm. He figured that, after that ordeal, he really needed to get his mind off things, so he decided to pull out a box of Every Flavored Beans. It was hard to get lost in his thoughts when all his efforts were concentrated on trying to avoid tasting something unpleasant, after all. Despite his best efforts, though, he still found one that tasted of curdled milk. Lovely.

A/N: Thanks for reading this far! We are so close to the end of part one of the Evergreen Quandary saga. If you like it so far, please Kudos, comment, and follow!

EQ