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Before Fiyero knew it, he found himself standing across from Elphaba and Glinda in the castle's foyer. The guards had made themselves scarce, as they had in Elphaba's presence since the moment of her arrival. Fiyero hugged Glinda goodbye first, unsure of when he'd see her again and still regretting the way things had turned out between them.
"I'm sorry again," he said as he hugged her tightly, giving her an affectionate squeeze for good measure.
"Oh, stop it, Fiyero," she groused, batting at his arms. "I'm already over you, you know. It's on to bigger and better things for Glinda Upland. One day you'll look back and be absolutely riddled with regret that you ever let me slip away."
Fiyero laughed as he released her, smiling fondly, and said, "I have no doubt."
Glinda flashed him one more of her winning smiles before she turned to stand by the front door, waiting for Elphaba to say her goodbyes.
Fiyero felt almost shy at Elphaba's approach. He tried to focus on the moment and not on the memories of their bodies pressed together in the north tower only hours ago. He cursed internally as he felt his cheeks grow pink. He felt like a schoolboy.
From the look on Elphaba's face, she was having similar conflicted feelings. She had shirked the more casual clothes she'd been wearing around the castle and donned her signature black dress, cloak and pointed hat. The more imposing stature they provided warred with the uncertainty in her eyes as she stood before him.
Fiyero felt that they'd already said what they'd needed to say when he'd visited her earlier, and so he simply pulled her into a tight hug and said, "Be safe." There would be time for more when she returned.
Elphaba nodded as she pulled away from his embrace, her gaze lingering on his, before she turned and joined Glinda. The two of them stood in the entryway for a moment longer, and then they were gone and Fiyero was alone. He felt a deep uneasiness settle over him as he stared at the empty space they had occupied. He'd grown so used to their company over the past two weeks that their abrupt departure left an emptiness he hadn't anticipated.
With a sigh, he turned away from the front door and made his way back into the castle. The guards had reappeared now that Elphaba had departed and were taking up their posts near the entrance. They saluted Fiyero as he passed, and he gave them a nod of acknowledgement in return. He hadn't explained to any of them where Elphaba and Glinda were going. He trusted his men, but the less people who knew about their scheme the better. He hoped that the eventual return of Elphaba and her Monkeys wouldn't unsettle them too badly.
Fiyero spent the remainder of the day doing anything he possibly could to distract himself from thoughts of where Elphaba and Glinda were and what they were doing. He knew that they could handle themselves, or at least that Elphaba could handle herself well enough for the both of them, but the lack of information was slowly driving him mad. He spent over an hour rearranging the books in the library, first by height and then by color, and then another leafing through the pages of some dry historical tome without actually taking any of it in. He explored the bedrooms for the third or fourth time and collected more clothing in his size for future use. Once he'd grown tired of wandering through the castle's many rooms, he took to pacing the halls, not particularly caring whether or not the guards thought he was a madman.
He prepared a meal for himself in silence, missing the camaraderie he had grown to associate with the castle's kitchens, and then drew himself a bath. By the time he emerged, thoroughly pruned, the water had long grown cold. He toweled off his hair and then finally allowed himself to climb into bed, where he lay awake and worrying for an indeterminate amount of time until sleep finally claimed him.
He awoke the following morning feeling even more restless. Sleep had done little to calm his fraying nerves, and the knowledge that Elphaba and Glinda might have reached the Emerald City by now sent his thoughts into turmoil. His attempts at distraction became more desperate. Feeling starved for companionship, he sought out and made small talk with the two guards stationed at the castle's south entrance. All of the men seemed much more at ease now that Fiyero was the castle's sole occupant, and they chatted briefly but amicably about the weather and the state of affairs in the Vinkus. It served to remind Fiyero how long he'd been away from home.
Once he'd clearly exhausted the guards' patience for conversation, Fiyero found himself wandering the castle aimlessly once more. Eventually, he found that he had inevitably drifted to the base of the stairs that led to the north tower. Fiyero didn't necessarily want to invade Elphaba's privacy by wandering around her chosen living space while she was away, but he reasoned that the tower was the last part of the castle he'd yet to check on in her absence. He would just take a quick look around to make sure everything was in order.
That thought in mind, he ascended the winding staircase to the top of the tower and pushed open the heavy wooden door. Light streamed in through the large windows, casting mid-afternoon sun across the stone floor. Most of Elphaba's belongings were conspicuously absent but, as promised, she'd left the Grimmerie sitting inconspicuously upon the small desk in the corner with the rest of the documents Fiyero had retrieved for her stacked neatly beside it. They were the only indications that the room had been inhabited at all.
Fiyero stepped forward and ran his hands over the Grimmerie's heavy leather cover then flipped it open to find that the strange language was no more comprehensible to him than the first time he'd seen it. He snapped the book closed and then dropped backwards onto the bed with his arms spread wide to either side of him. He lay staring up at the ceiling for several minutes, focused on keeping his mind blank. When he tired of that, he stood again and made his way over to the window.
He glanced out over the hills surrounding the castle and then froze as the blood in his veins ran cold. He backed away from the windowpane and blinked a few times, willing the sight before him to vanish. Yet it was no use. When he opened his eyes, the scene was unchanged. There was a horse drawn carriage rapidly approaching the palace gates, flanked on all sides by what appeared to be a small army.
Fiyero's mind raced as he backed further away from the windows. The guards must have seen this coming from much farther away. Yet even now, as the group was almost upon them, no one was sounding the alarm. It was likely the men had known about this and had kept Fiyero in the dark. He realized with a sinking feeling that perhaps the guards of Kiamo Ko were not as loyal to him as he'd initially hoped.
Heart pounding, Fiyero turned and raced from the tower and back down the stairs. It was too late to flee the castle now. He didn't have a method of flight like Elphaba or Glinda did, and it would be difficult to attempt any type of stealthy escape in broad daylight. There were guards posted at all of the main exits, and Fiyero now had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn't be eager to aid him. He was aware of a few passages that would be unguarded, but that didn't solve the issue of where he would go even if he were able to make it out.
As Fiyero barreled down the stairs and back into the main hall, it was becoming abundantly clear that he was not going to be able to flee. The guards had subtly begun to surround him the moment he'd departed the tower and were now blocking any possible route of escape. Fiyero realized with a sinking feeling that his only option was going to be to confront this head on and attempt to talk his way out.
The army was close enough now that Fiyero could hear the sound of heavy boots as they ascended the pathway up to the castle. The guards behind Fiyero moved in closer, surreptitiously herding him towards the front door. He squared his shoulders and raised his head high as the group slowed its approach and then ceased its marching. He took a deep breath and hesitated for only a moment before he reached for the door handle.
"Hello, Mother," Fiyero said stiffly as the heavy front door swung open to reveal the woman before him. Allina Tigelaar appeared at the head of a group of about 40 Vinkun soldiers, each standing at attention with a tall spear pointed skyward. She was dressed in traveling clothes that were plainer than the finery she wore at home, but she was still the picture of regality as she stood framed in the doorway. At the sight of Fiyero her eyes grew wide, and she quickly stepped across the threshold and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Fiyero, thank Oz," she said, her eyes searching his face as though looking for signs of illness or injury. "We've been hearing all sorts of worrying rumors about you from the Emerald City. And then we received that cryptic letter. You couldn't have let us know you were staying here?" she chided him.
Fiyero flinched at the tone in his mother's voice, familiar as he was with being scolded. "I was hoping not to invite this exact scenario, actually," Fiyero said, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he gestured to the small army slowly spilling into the foyer.
"Oh, as though Torvok doesn't keep us updated about the goings on at Kiamo Ko," Allina said, releasing his shoulders as she took a step backwards. Her gaze fell somewhere behind Fiyero, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Is there anyone else staying here?"
"Not currently," Fiyero said, grateful that he wasn't lying. He wasn't sure how much the guards had told his parents about the company he'd been keeping, but he assumed by the number of men his mother had brought along that she was anticipating some sort of trouble. In an attempt to change the subject, he said, "Where's Father? Did he not want to attend this touching reunion?"
His mother placed her hands on her hips at his tone. "You know how busy he is, Fiyero. It wasn't exactly easy for me to make the journey here myself, but I needed to be sure that my only son isn't utterly destroying his life," she said with a huff. Fiyero was well acquainted with the note of disappointment in her voice, but he found that it stung regardless. As if to drive the knife in further, his mother added, "Please tell me that you didn't really break your engagement to Lady Upland."
Fiyero sighed and glanced around at the dozens of guards who were watching them with interest. "Is this a conversation we could take somewhere more private?" he asked somewhat irritably.
Allina didn't seem pleased by Fiyero's evasion of the question, but she nodded her assent to his request. Without another word, Fiyero turned and retreated down the hall to the kitchens. His mother and two of her personal guards followed behind him. The rest of the men she dismissed with a wave of her hand before leaving the foyer.
Fiyero clenched his fists as he made his way down the long hallway. He knew that he shouldn't be overly surprised by his mother's appearance at Kiamo Ko. Part of him had hoped that she and his father would simply write back to him, but he supposed with all of the news surrounding him recently they'd wanted to check on him in person. He would be flattered if he believed it was out of concern for his wellbeing and not worry that he was about to besmirch the family name.
Allina and her men took a seat at the long dining table, while Fiyero continued into the kitchen and snatched the teapot off the stovetop. As he began to fill it with water, his mother said, "You don't want to have the servants do that?"
"I don't need the servants to make a pot of tea," he said, perhaps a bit too harshly, as he snapped the top back on the teapot and lit the stove. His mother seemed slightly surprised by his words, though Fiyero wasn't sure if it was from the tone of his voice or the revelation that he was capable of boiling water all by himself.
There was silence for several minutes while Fiyero busied himself in the kitchen. Only once he approached the table with two steaming cups of tea did his mother finally say, "You never answered my question earlier. Did you break your engagement to Galinda Upland?"
"Glinda Upland," Fiyero corrected. "She changed it remember?"
"Fiyero," his mother said, a note of warning in her voice.
Fiyero sighed and stared into the depths of his teacup in favor of meeting his mother's gaze. "Yes, I ended our arrangement. We're no longer engaged."
His mother must have already anticipated that answer, but she still slammed her teacup back into its saucer with a bit too much force as she said, "Fiyero, you swore to us when we arranged this marriage that you were going to take it seriously. You made a promise to Lady Upland, her parents, and to your father and me. Don't you ever tire of bringing shame onto our family?"
Fiyero struggled to keep his expression neutral at her words. "I couldn't marry Glinda, Mother. I don't love her."
"Love?" his mother asked with indignation. "What does love have to do with an arranged marriage, Fiyero? Do you think I loved your father when we were wed? We hardly knew each other. We didn't have the three-year engagement period that we've so graciously allowed you. If you're lucky, friendship and love develop later, but this marriage is about your duty to your people."
"And what is my duty to my people?" Fiyero asked bitterly, finally raising his eyes to meet his mother's gaze. "It's a poorly kept secret that I'm not the one the majority of our family would like to see on the throne."
To her credit, Allina didn't try to deny it. "Well can you blame them, Fiyero? Gallivanting about during your college days, never taking your studies seriously, moving to the Emerald City, of all places, to become a lap dog for a ruler who has never prioritized the needs of our people. Your father and I want nothing more than for you to claim your birthright and succeed us on the throne, but at every turn you've thrown our hopes for you back in our faces," she said, her voice suffused with a mix of sadness and frustration.
Fiyero was certain they'd had this exact conversation at least a dozen times before, but this time felt different. Over the past few weeks, he had slowly come to the realization that he did want to lay claim to his birthright; that just because he'd been a bit frivolous in his youth and wasn't as academically inclined as his younger cousin didn't mean he was an utter failure. He had so many other qualities that would serve him as a leader – he was reasonable, he had a strong sense of justice, he was adept at problem solving. It had taken someone believing in him for the first time in his life for Fiyero to see that.
"I didn't break my engagement to Glinda lightly," he said, struggling to keep his voice even, "I've met someone else. Someone who makes me want to be a better man. To be someone worthy of the expectations placed on me."
At his words, his mother's expression softened somewhat. "Fiyero-" she started, but her words were interrupted by the sudden, low drone of the castle's war horn. The guards seated behind Allina sat up at attention as the warning call continued. Someone was sounding the alarm.
Fiyero suddenly had a very bad feeling as he leapt from his chair and bolted to the window. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the windowpane, cursing internally at the terrible timing. There, just over the horizon, was a rapidly approaching group winged Monkeys, with a green witch on a broomstick leading the charge.