"Good afternoon, Miss Nessarose."
Upon arriving to his law class the next Tuesday, he was only mildly surprised to see the young Thropp parked in an aisle, her head bowed deferentially, waiting for the instructor to begin. He knew the subject had been one of her focuses at Shiz, but the fact that they shared a class was a happy coincidence.
When he greeted her, she turned her head up and smiled warmly to him.
"Master Fiyero!" she said, indicating the seat next to her, which he gladly took. "What a pleasant surprise."
"Please, call me Fiyero."
"As long as you call me Nessa."
"If you insist."
"What are you doing here?" she inquired amiably, her hands folded over her books in her lap.
"I made adjustments to my schedule. Truthfully, the prospect of sitting in Ozian Literature for the rest of the semester was a traumatic one."
Her laugh was contained and docile, as though she had trained to it to be so as to always remain polite. It differed so greatly from Elphaba's delicious cackle and he didn't find that he preferred it. "I'm not sure you'll find this class any more entertaining."
"At least I'll have you here to help keep me awake," he said, winking charmingly at her. Her pale cheeks filled with blood at his flirtation and it made him think about how taken she was with Boq. Despite her undeniable beauty, it was clear she didn't receive much attention from men. It certainly countered the claim that men looked down upon women, for it seemed that so many didn't see poor Nessarose at all.
He didn't get much of a chance to talk with her anymore, as the teacher quieted them all down to begin his lecture. Nessa had been right to imply that this class was boring, but he listened anyway, determined to learn what he could. Sometimes he was confused when the teacher referenced past notes from previous classes, but Nessa was obliging, kindly filling him in with gentle whispers.
By the end of the short hour, as he escorted Nessa back to her room in the faculty housing, his head felt fuzzy, as though the monotonous drone he had just lived through had put his brain to sleep. But he felt good about himself nonetheless, for not only was he on a better, more constructive path for his personal life than he had been before, but he also had a chance to be better acquainted with Nessarose Thropp. And maybe, just maybe, having another friend in her life could prevent the string of events that would eventually lead to her objectionable treatment of her countrymen. Being the idealist that he was, he didn't even like to believe that her demise would even be possible. After all, even the slightest wind could move a raindrop's trajectory by miles.