"I can't believe it's April," said Elphaba, looking out the window at the snow.
"Weather's like that in the mountains," said Fiyero. "I guarantee in a month it'll all be mud."
She hummed and went back to checking over the loom they had found in a storage room while Fiyero dusted the other items.
They had gone through the entire Grimmerie and she watched Fiyero be destroyed and reform five times due to volatile magic and it never got easier to watch. When she put him together in the pumpkin patch, he assured her he had felt no pain.
The spells in the Grimmerie varied from harmless to so dangerous she made an attempt to destroy the book, only to find it couldn't be burned or even ripped apart. Fiyero thought they should just label the super dangerous spells with big warnings in red ink on separate paper since attempting to blot out the dangerous spells with ink didn't work, either.
Elphaba didn't really want to rely on pulling out that spell book and started compiling her own grimoire with spells and potions that she thought would actually be helpful.
Her resolve also broke where her sister was concerned and kept sending money when requested. She didn't know why when all the letters seemed to be from a fill in the blank template, ignoring everything said in her letters and always ending with, 'wishing you and your husband the best.'
The storage room was at a good stopping point, so Elphaba went to put together a parcel for money.
"I don't know why you do this," said Fiyero. "It's not like she'd do the same for you."
"She's still my sister," Elphaba sighed. "I won't abandon her."
This would likely be something they would argue about until Nessa was finally married and they just had to accept that.
It wasn't like she couldn't afford it anyway. Castle provided them with food and warmth. There were enough clothes left behind for her to tailor for herself. She didn't need to buy anything, she could live comfortably for the rest of her life that way. And Fiyero was a prince, there was a whole vault at Uma Lu. The riches found at Kiamo Ko had been hidden in a secret room covered in dust when he found it. And he promised that he would take care of her after his curse was broken.
That promise was a comfort to her.
There was a loud booming sound that made Elphaba jump out of her thoughts. The lights brightened then dimmed.
"Visitors?" said Fiyero, puzzled. "That's weird. Might as well see what they want."
Elphaba followed him to the front door. The knockers thudded against the wood again. Fiyero opened the smaller door inset in the left one and Elphaba peeked under his arm.
"You…" said Fiyero.
It was the postmaster. She held a young child in her arms and her face was twisted in distress. Behind her was a woman who was likely her wife.
"Please," the postmaster said, looking past Fiyero at Elphaba. "You study medicine, yes?"
"I… yes," she said, straightening up. "Sort of."
"My son, he's ill," she said, holding her child tighter. "Won't you help him?"
Elphaba blinked in surprise.
"Wouldn't a professional doctor be better? Someone with experience?"
Her wife shook her head tearfully.
"The doctor is in the pocket of those thieves that call themselves soldiers," she said. "He charges more than a person can afford and… and he hardly helps! He just takes our money and dispenses snake oil!"
Elphaba looked at the child. He was covered in a rash, his cheeks were flushed, and his breathing was pained and ragged.
"I… I can't promise that I can cure him," she said. "But I'll try to help. Come inside."
The postmaster exhaled with relief.
"Let's go to my laboratory," said Elphaba. "I just cleaned it."
There was a stone slab she could use as an examination table. Castle provided her with hot water in the pitcher by the basin, so she cleaned her hands and put on a fresh apron and a cloth mask.
"What's that for?" the postmaster's wife asked.
"Dr. Dillamond says that some illnesses are contracted through breathing the same air," she said.
She approached the boy who shied back.
"It's okay, she's going to help," said the postmaster.
"Can you tell me your name?" she asked.
"Luren," he croaked.
"Nice to meet you," she said. "I'm Elphaba. Remove your coat and shirt please, just for a moment."
His mothers helped him. The rash was widespread.
"Are these painful?" Elphaba asked. "Do they itch?"
He nodded. She touched his forehead, which was hot. She pressed her fingers gently down his neck and he winced when she touched a swollen area.
"Say 'Ahhh.'"
She looked at the back of his throat, then grabbed a wooden stethoscope and placed it against his back, stooping down so she could listen to the other end.
"Breathe in and out as deep as you can."
He did so and she could hear the rattle of something in his lungs.
"I know what this is," she said.
"Can you help him?" the postmaster asked.
"Yes," said Elphaba, washing her hands. "My sister had this when she was young and I mixed the cure for it. I have the recipe right here."
She flipped to the correct page and ran a finger down the list of ingredients. She ignored the eyes on her as she set her cauldron out.
"Fiyero, will you please get a jar of honey and the chickweed?"
"Got it," he said and ran out of the room.
Elphaba mixed the remedy, humming under her breath so she could time it out. She boosted it with just a little bit of magic. Dr. Dillamond said her talent could be very useful for speeding up recovery time, but the remedy worked fine without it, too. Before long, she had a mixture she strained out with a cheesecloth.
"What's the honey for?" asked the postmaster.
"This is going to be very disgusting," said Elphaba. "The honey will help it go down better."
The boy made a face.
"Drink up," she said, handing him the cup. "If you pinch your nose, it won't taste as bad."
It took a few tries to get him to drink the concoction without spluttering. Elphaba handed him a large scoop of honey on a spoon to wash the taste away.
"There we are," she said and got to work on mashing the chickweed into a poultice.
She scraped it into a jar and secured it, handing it to the postmaster's wife along with a cough syrup she made in bulk last week.
"You can add this poultice to a cool bath and he can soak in it," she said. "Or you can apply it to where it itches or hurts the most. Just secure it with a bandage. And this will help ease his cough. Just a spoonful goes a long way. Don't give it to him more than twice a day, if he has a reaction to it, bring him back."
"Thank you, Miss," she said. "How can we repay you?"
"Just let me know if Luren is doing better," said Elphaba. "I hope I helped."
"I think his fever is already going down," said the postmaster. "Lani, doesn't his fever feel like it's going down?"
"It does, Jispa."
Elphaba smiled slightly.
"Make sure he gets plenty of rest and fluids, too," she said. "Pickle juice is actually a great way to replenish fluids. I wouldn't send him out to play until you are certain his fever is gone and the rash begins to clear. Make sure he doesn't scratch, we don't want an infection on top of it."
Fiyero showed them out while she cleaned up her workspace. She had just finished up when he returned.
"I gave her the parcel for your sister," he said. "With some money for the delivery."
"Thank you," she said and sighed softly.
"What is it?"
"I just hope I was actually able to help," she said. "That I diagnosed him right and gave him the right medicine."
"I think you did," said Fiyero. "And no one else was going to help."
Elphaba tucked a loose strand of hair back.
"I guess we'll see if there's an angry mob at our doorstep," she said.
Fiyero rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You did great," he insisted. "Let's go for a walk in the gardens, see if it's thawing yet. Or maybe you'd like to practice your flying?"
She agreed to the walk, but she still ran over everything in her head. She wondered if she missed something. If she gave him the right treatment. It looked like what Nessa had, but that was Munchkinland and this was the Vinkus. It could be a completely different strain!
Maybe she should write to Dr. Dillamond and ask him his opinion.
Something red appeared in her line of vision. She blinked and stepped back to see it was a poppy. There were a few ice crystals remaining, but despite the nastiness of the weather, the garden was starting to come back to life, defying all logic and nature.
"They're your favorite, right?" said Fiyero.
She nodded and accepted it.
"Listen, don't worry about it," he said. "Castle will protect you if something happens. We can blow the bridge up so no one can approach."
Elphaba ran her finger tips along the rim of the flower's petals.
"Do you think when your spell breaks, the spell on this place will, too?" she asked.
"Hard to say," he sighed. "I hope not, but if it does… then it does."
"Caw!"
Fiyero jumped and covered his head with his arms. The piebald crow swooped down and landed on Elphaba's shoulder. She smiled and ran a finger along its throat.
"Hello, my pretty," she said. "Are your feeders running low?"
It made a sound like a little dog barking. A solid black crow came down from the tree. Elphaba held out her arm to give it a place to land. The second crow tapped its beak against her hand until she opened it palm up.
A third crow dropped a small object into her hand and all three flew back into the tree.
Elphaba looked to see they had given her a single earring.
"Well, someone is going to be missing that," said Fiyero.
She laughed and tucked it safely into her pocket, then looked up to see Fiyero staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
He blinked and shook his head. "Nothing. Just thinking. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately."
He didn't elaborate, so she didn't push.
A week or so after helping Luren, Elphaba was giving Chistery writing lessons when Castle alerted her of visitors. Her heart quickened and she began to assume the worst.
"Keep practicing your sentences," she said and ran to the foyer, peering over the railing.
Fiyero answered the door.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"You are the master of this castle?" said a man.
"I am," said Fiyero.
"Mrs. Jahen, the postmaster of our village, she said your wife cured her son," said the man.
"My wife?"
"The lady of the castle?"
"Ah, she's not my—" Fiyero paused then sighed. "He's doing better? That's good."
"Many children in the village are sick with the same ailment," said the man. "Many too sick to move. I beg of you, will you ask her to cure them?"
Elphaba hurried down to the ground floor and rested a hand on Fiyero's arm. He looked to her and she nodded.
"Yes," he said and opened the door. "Here she is."
Elphaba faced the man. He was plump, balding, and wore fine but well-worn attire. His hat was gripped in his hands.
"May I ask your name?" she said.
"I am Mr. Abolar," he said. "Burgomaster of Kiamo Ko. I have come to appeal to you on their behalf. The town doctor… hasn't been able to help."
"How many children and what are the age ranges?" she asked.
Over thirty children were ill, the youngest being three and the oldest fifteen.
"We will brew the cure here and bring it into town," said Elphaba. "It shouldn't take me long if you'd like to wait or perhaps watch the process."
"I… I will stay. Thank you," he said and sighed with relief.
"Right this way," she said. "Fiyero, I need thirty-eight elixir bottles and thirty-eight jars. Chistery! Can you bring my grimoire to the kitchen?"
Fiyero moved ahead to fetch what she needed and she heard Chistery call out in response. Elphaba led Mr. Abolar to the garden. Thank goodness the herbs had thawed a few days ago, lush and ready for picking. She wasn't sure she had enough dry ones. She grabbed baskets along the way, handing one to Mr. Abolar, and started picking what she needed.
"What an extraordinary garden!" the man gasped.
"Fiyero is very proud of it," said Elphaba, handing him her full basket and taking the empty one. "Here, make yourself useful."
They carried the herbs to the kitchen. Elphaba washed her hands and got to work making a large batch of the elixir. It took longer than before, but it was a larger batch. She filled the bottles with the syrup and noticed Fiyero get out the massive honey pot and start filling smaller jars with it.
"What are you doing?" Elphaba asked.
"You administered Luren's medicine with honey, right?" said Fiyero. "So, may as well make sure they have some."
"Great idea," she said and went back to mixing the poultice to soothe the rashes.
Chistery helped where he could and the Burgomaster watched them with quiet fascination.
"That's everything," said Elphaba, placing the last jar in a crate. "Just give me one more moment, you can load these up in the carriage."
She ran up to her lab to put on her apron and mask. The same day she helped Luren, she had found and cleaned a doctor's bag containing some helpful instruments. She filled it with her medical grimoire, a small mortar and pestle, and some of the more universal herbs. Just in case someone had a different illness than she was told. If necessary, she could fly back to the castle on her broom for something more specific.
Fiyero and Chistery waited for her in the carriage. She climbed in and held fast to the crates containing the medicine.
Mr. Abolar took the reins and hurried the horses to town as fast as he dared.
"We'll go house by house," he said when they stopped. "There are two sick children at this home."
Elphaba filled the doctor's bag with the medicines.
"I'll just… wait here," said Fiyero. "Keep guard."
"Good idea," she said and climbed out.
The door was flung open before Mr. Abolar could even knock. A flushed, harried woman breathed a sigh of relief, then stifled a yelp upon seeing Elphaba.
"This is the healer," said Mr. Abolar. "I watched her brew the cure myself."
"I'd just like to take a quick look at the children if that's alright," said Elphaba.
"I—I suppose… this way."
She showed Elphaba the stairs leading up to the loft. Two children lay in a shared bed with that same rash. One was awake, while the other looked to be sleeping fitfully.
Elphaba checked them over, noting the symptoms were in fact the same.
"Don't itch that," she said, gently moving the young girl's hand away from her face. "You'll only make it worse."
"Are you really green?" she whispered.
"I am."
"Why?"
"I just am." Elphaba straightened up and went back down the stairs. She placed the jars and bottles on the kitchen table, giving the same instructions as she did to the postmaster.
Through the rest of town it was the same routine. Elphaba would check the child over and confirm it was the same illness before handing over the medicine. The last household was the Burgomaster's own where all three of his children were ill.
"That's the last of it," said Elphaba.
"Thank you," said Mr. Abolar. "How do we repay you?"
"Don't worry about it," said Elphaba, washing her hands up to her elbows in the sink. "I'll be back in a week to see how they're doing and if I need to make anymore."
"Of course."
Elphaba closed up her bag and was shown out.
"All good?" Fiyero asked.
"I believe so," said Elphaba. "Let's go home."
"Oh, of course!" said Mr. Abolar. "Give me just a moment and I'll return you to the castle."
"It's alright, we'll manage," said Elphaba, taking her broom from Fiyero and mounting it.
"You know where to find us," said Fiyero, sitting behind her. He wrapped his arms around her middle and held onto the medicine bag so she could hold onto the broom handle.
Elphaba and Chistery took off into the sky and headed back to the castle.
She hoped she helped all of them and that Luren wasn't a fluke.