Having felt like he had worked Elphaba up enough to last for a couple of days, Fiyero decided to sit by Boq in their history class the next day and give her a break. Galinda spotted him and sat on his other side, which he was fine with, and her girlfriends followed, which he wasn't fine with. Boq was fidgety in his seat from being so close to Galinda, and Nessarose sat serenely in her chair in the aisle with a hand tucked daintily in the crook of the Munchkin's elbow, her eyes closed as if praying.
It was just like old times.
Except this time, there was a certain green girl. As Galinda had dragged her over, Elphaba had the amusing choice to either sit between Galinda and Fiyero (which the blonde probably wouldn't have allowed despite the option) or Galinda and Pfannee, so naturally she chose neither. Instead, she filed into the row in front of them all, past where Fiyero had his legs propped up, and chose the chair at the end of the aisle, closest to Nessarose. Fiyero's smile must have stretched ear to ear as she dropped her bag into a seat one row in front of him and one chair down, positioned just as she had been the day before, and she rolled her eyes markedly.
Dr. Dillamond's lecture was that of the mining in Quadling Country, only just years before, of how men from the north drained the badlands to seek out ruby deposits.
"It never worked, of course," Elphaba said, not needing to project too much as she was only a few rows back behind her normal seat. "There never were enough rubies to make it worth the effort."
"You're right," Dillamond said. "The lands were despoiled and the Quadlings were rounded up in settlement camps 'for their own protection' and starved. The drought, after a few reprieves, continued unabated and Animals had begun to be recalled to the lands of their ancestors, a ploy to give the farmers a sense of control over something. It was a systematic marginalizing of populations."
"This is so depressing," Galinda grumbled, her pen lifting from the "s" in "populations" to draw hearts on the corner of her paper.
Boq raised his hand. "As a Munchkin farmer I want to disagree on principal, but crop production in the Corn Basket still suffers as a result of the dry soil. The Animals' presence does little to change that."
Elphaba spoke up again. "Perhaps a better campaign than seeking rubies would have been to build a canal system to run the legendary water in the Vinkus into Munchkinland."
"Perhaps that can still be arranged," Fiyero called out. The entire auditorium leaned forward in their seats to look their way at his interjection, but the only face he cared about was the one just to the front and right of him. Her stunned expression had him smiling smugly.
"Ahhh," the old Goat brayed, clapping his hooves together. "Behold, students, a moment of real diplomacy: the daughter of Munchkinland's governor and the crowned prince of the Vinkus, proposing progress between their two nations! What a splendid opportunity to witness history being made."
Fiyero had to wonder who was more embarrassed after that, Elphaba or her sister, for it was Nessarose who would inherit the Bread Basket of Oz despite birth order and political interest. Fiyero was willing to bank on the younger sister, given how quickly she departed for the powder room after class, Galinda and her giggling groupies in tow. Elphaba declined the invitation to accompany them, not being one for powder, and disappeared in a flurry of green fingers before any more could be said.
"You seem to be quite taken with Miss Elphaba," Boq commented as they left. "You couldn't take your eyes off of her."
"Oh. Well, you know—green," he said as way of an excuse, one with which Boq couldn't argue.
"I should go find Nessa," he said instead. He didn't act as though he wanted to. "I promised to take her out for coffee after class."
"You know, you can be a nice guy and still be happy."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Boq mumbled, avoiding his eye.
"Yes you do. You're not doing Nessa any favors if your heart is elsewhere." And as he and only he knew, he would lose that heart entirely if he kept up the charade. "Trust me."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
Fiyero laughed mirthlessly, thinking of Glinda. "More than you know. " Glinda, Nessarose, Boq, Elphaba, himself… All of their pain and loneliness and doubts could have been avoided had everyone just been honest. "It's best to nip those things in the bud before they get out of control. That's when people truly get hurt."
Boq nodded contemplatively. "Perhaps you're right."
With that, Boq bade him farewell and Fiyero traipsed past his literature classroom, lost in his thoughts.