Some things are worth repeating.
Somehow we lost the meaning.
But we keep running back up that hill
just to fall on down.
~o0o~
Elphaba wasn't about to break into the Wizard's Palace immediately, but she certainly was going to do her research. As soon as she opened her eyes to that carriage, she used her teleportation spell to go straight to the Emerald City.
She read everything she could about the Wizard. He had plenty of biographies and there were history books detailing his arrival. The National Ozian Archives had newspapers from the time period and she read each one cover to cover.
As she feared, Anti-Animal sentiment sparked then. It would be naïve to think that there was no prejudice at all, but no more than the prejudice some people held for anyone who didn't look or think like them.
But it wasn't just that. Something wasn't right about the Wizard.
She looked at the sources the books cited and it was a complete circle. Oz the Great and Powerful cited Our Wonderful Wizard and that cited The Great Drought: an international hardship, which cited The Wizard of Oz, which cited The Rise and Fall of the Ozma Dynasty, and so on and so forth until Paving the Yellow Brick Road cited Oz the Great and Powerful. All of them were published in the same year about fifteen years ago, and when Elphaba looked up the authors, she found that half of them weren't listed in any phone book.
Any subsequent book referenced these books.
And, of course, there was the person who was cited as being the first to meet the Wizard and the only one to see his true form. Her pictures were in a few papers, pointing to an unseen figure in amazement. Elphaba recognized that dramatic hand flourish. She was younger then, maybe in her late thirties, early forties, but still as garishly dressed with a mile-high bouffant.
Agytha Morrible.
Back then, a professor of Life Sciences at Neutraland University (now known as Emerald City University Central Campus).
All her interviews stated that the Wizard was a fearsome sight to behold. Much too much for the average citizen to comprehend. As she could withstand his terribleness, she was helping him grow accustomed to this land. That she was harboring him and he would see no one, but that she would be more than happy to act as mediator.
His destruction of the last ogre of Oz was what endeared him to the citizens in the first place, but that was the last true enemy. The dragons were buried deep in the earth. The desert and sea couldn't be easily crossed by the militaries of surrounding nations. All they had was the Great Drought and shortly after the Wizard arrived it had begun to rain.
How interesting that the witch who was helping the Wizard was a dab hand at weather magic.
Elphaba focused on tracking Madame Morrible, reading every article she could find and every academic paper she wrote and talking to staff who had been at the school for the past twenty years, until she had no choice but to talk to the woman herself. Each cycle since then, she passed by and insisted Galinda be added to the Sorcery Seminar and then ask a simple question. One that could be written off as idle curiosity and it would be answered.
The Wizard arrived Autumn 2nd Y.O.L.O. 3103. Two seasons later, the coup to de-throne Ozma took place Spring 29th and the new calendar of the Dynasty of Oz was established. After making it rain in Gillikin and Munchkinland, Ozma had summoned the Wizard to the palace wanting to look upon the face of the creature who killed the ogre and was ending the Great Drought. Supposedly the sight of him drove her mad, some sources said.
Then the Wizard hid himself away in the palace and sent along ambassadors to collect funding to revamp the infrastructure of the newly dubbed Emerald City as well as establish the Yellow Brick Road as a simple highway to reach any corner of Oz. Shortly after, Morrible was moved over to Shiz and became Headmistress a year later. It was the oldest and best cluster of colleges in all of Oz. Many people who attended Shiz went on to do great things.
Since Morrible became Headmistress, specially selected alumni often went on to work within the Wizard's network, and each year fewer and fewer Animals were accepted to the University as a whole.
What disturbed Elphaba most were Morrible's academic studies and papers and she wondered how they had ever been peer reviewed and approved. Surely people on this level would notice her clever wording? Her subtle implications and skewed results that Animals were inferior. Quadlings, Vinkuns, and Munchkins weren't safe from her bigotry, either.
It wasn't blatant. Just… a seed. Cherry-picked results to back up her findings. Things that had been disproven time and again, but almost solid enough to make someone who didn't know any better wonder or to enforce an idea someone already had. How many had she influenced to think this way? Further manipulating results to feed her own agenda.
Elphaba leaned against the carriage and sighed heavily, deep in thought. This was only the beginning. She had to find some way to find out what exactly the Wizard was and if he knew what Morrible was doing.
But how?
Maybe it wasn't too late to turn things around.
A tap on her shoulder jolted Elphaba out of her thoughts.
"Can I help you with something?" Fiyero asked.
"How does one see the Wizard?" she asked.
He raised an eyebrow and removed his sunglasses.
"One doesn't just see the Wizard," he said. "My parents have only actually seen him maybe two or three times since he took power. Why do you ask?"
"Mm… something hinky's going on here and I don't like it," she said, drumming her fingers against her arm. "What about the guy who is his spokesman? Oshar something."
"Oscar Diggs?"
"Yeah, him."
"Might be just as tough to meet with him out of the blue," said Fiyero. "He's basically a glorified secretary and is sent to events in the Wizard's place, so he's pretty busy. Appointment only."
"Hmph."
"Are you looking for something? Or someone?"
Fiyero made a show of looking at his schedule.
"History with Dr. Dillamond?"
"You just missed it."
"Someone vandalized his blackboard with an Anti-Animal sentiment," said Elphaba.
Fiyero frowned. "That's awful."
"Yes, so horrendible!" said Galinda. "Class was canceled so we are free."
"Lucky me," he said. "And what do you do for fun around here?"
"Nothing much, until now," she said, tossing her hair.
Boq popped up between them.
"We were going to study," he announced, holding up his book.
"I just do whatever I feel like," said Elphaba.
"No one asked you, Artichoke," Galinda scoffed.
"You should just drop off the face of the earth," Pfannee chimed. "No one wants you here."
Fiyero flinched slightly, almost imperceptibly, at the statement.
"Okay." Elphaba reached into her hair and brought out an umbrella. She opened it up and raised it over her head. An east wind blew and she rose up into the sky.
All she had wouldn't be enough to convince most people to dig deeper into the Wizard and she doubted she was the only one who found these inconsistencies. No doubt there were measures in place to silence questions and anyone in a position to change things were pretty comfortable and why would anyone want to change things when they're comfortable?
She sighed and used her magic so she could sit on a cloud. She had been disappointed to find they had no real substance despite being opaque.
Even if she could find proof of the Animals, there was no guarantee that she could change anything. It'd be like screaming into a deep, black void that somewhere light existed. It didn't matter if it existed because in that moment everything was darkness. A description of a cake doesn't make a person less hungry.
What day was she on? Elphaba reached into her hair and took out her more recent diary.
Day number 5,691. She had been in this time loop for almost seventeen years. Maybe she should use that time travel spell. She had better control of her powers, and though the time loop prevented her from changing anything, she could see the truth of what happened.
She summoned the notebook that contained the spell and frowned when nothing happened. She pulled out a few and then remembered that she had forgotten to put that notebook in her portal before the loop reset.
"Well, at least I know where to find the spell," she sighed.
Elphaba wrote out a plan and opened her umbrella again. She glided to the ground, scaring the daylights out of Fiyero.
"Gods around me!" he exclaimed.
"School is west," she said and walked towards the library.
"Thanks," he said, trotting to keep up with her. "You left so quickly I didn't get a chance to invite you to my party."
"I'll be elsewhen," she said, heading inside.
"You mean elsewhere?"
"That, too," she said and scanned the shelves for the book. "Come out, come out wherever you are—ah-hah!"
She brought the book out and found the spell, taking out her journal to jot down the spell so she wouldn't need to come back.
"What's that?" Fiyero asked.
"A very powerful spell," she said. "Step your bubble butt back if you don't want a blast from the past."
"It's not a bubble butt," he said, sounding genuinely hurt.
"I'm not insulting you, it's a cute butt," she amended. "And it needs to step back."
"What are you doing?" he asked.
She ignored him and started chanting.
"Rewind," she finished, spinning her hands around each other, focusing on the exact date and time she wanted to go to.
Everything rushed backwards around her and settled on that day. She had a guess as to what time the Wizard arrived based on newspapers, but wasn't sure of the exact time. It didn't matter, she could redo it however many times she needed to.
"What was that?!"
She whipped around.
"Fiyero!" she huffed. "I told you to step back!"
"Where are we?" he asked.
"Shiz about twenty-two years ago," said Elphaba, stashing her notebook away.
"Whaaat?" he whispered and looked at their surroundings. "How?"
"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's only temporary."
She snapped her fingers, turning her skin beige, and took Fiyero's hand. Red smoke billowed around them and they appeared in Neutraland where the Emerald City would be.
The wall surrounding it was there, brown clay rather than the green façade it would eventually have. The buildings, though close together, weren't as crammed and very few were taller than three stories. The only exception was Ozma's palace, which was half the size as before and made of pale stone. The green glass bricks would be added later. It didn't seem all that different from Shiz. People bustled past on cobblestone streets with their heads down, focused on getting to one place or another. The air was dry and any plant life was dead and crumbling away.
A whistle pierced the air and a constable ran towards them.
"Miss, I'm going to need to write you up for public indecency."
Elphaba frowned. "I beg your pardon?"
"I understand it's all the rage showing off your ankles and knees, but it's still against the law for young ladies to wear skirts this short."
Elphaba dragged her nails down her thigh, making her skirt lengthen to her ankles. She knew that dress laws relaxed around this time, but she didn't think they were strictly enforced. Maybe this guy was a stickler.
"Better?" she asked.
"Hmph!" he snorted. "Young ladies really oughta wear hats!"
Oz, could his voice be anymore shrill and annoying?
Elphaba took out the hat Galinda gave her and stuck it on her head over her skull cap. The man narrowed his eyes and looked at Fiyero. His lip curled in disgust.
"Winkies in my city," he grumbled. "Barbaric, shit-skinned mud-eaters."
Fiyero flinched and made a small noise in the back of his throat.
Elphaba waved her hand, turning the man into a duck, then gave him a swift kick into the street.
Fiyero looked around uncomfortably.
"Do you get an undertone of violence from these people?" he asked.
Everyone was staring at him, but it wasn't like it was in the future. He wasn't Fiyero Tiggular: the rich, handsome, scandalacious prince, he was a Vinkun at the tail-end of the Great Drought.
A very healthy looking, well-fed and watered Vinkun at the tail-end of the Great Drought.
A woman stormed forward and spat in his face.
"Give back our water!" she screamed at him. "Scum!"
The crowd roared angrily and surged forward.
Elphaba grabbed Fiyero's hand and they ran, finally losing the crowd and ducking into an alley. Fiyero was shaking, his eyes wide in terror.
"I'm sorry," Elphaba said, wiping his face clean with her handkerchief. "I didn't know it would be like this for you."
"I heard about how bad it was for us," he said shakily and hugged himself. "But I was just a toddler. These people here… they don't realize how lucky they are to not live by the sea. Nothing is worse than being so thirsty and living next to a huge sea and being unable to drink from it. A lot of Vinkuns died trying."
Without thinking, Elphaba pulled him into her arms and kissed his temple. He shoved her away and backed against the wall.
"Are you seriously making a pass at me right now?!" he demanded.
"No! I…" Elphaba stepped back. "I just… Come on, we don't need to be here here."
She moved them outside the city and conjured a cloud. She sat down and patted the space next to her. Fiyero crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"I won't touch you again without permission," she said. "And there's an ogre attack happening any moment."
He huffed and sat down.
Elphaba raised it above the treeline. A wind blew in from the east, but they were secured by her magic. She took out her journal and drew a crude map.
"So why are you doing this?" Fiyero asked.
"Well, the Wizard of Oz supposedly comes in today," she said. "And I want to see it happen. There are so many reports of what happened and many of them are conflicting. Everyone here is scared, dehydrated, and hungry. They know something happened, but they can't comprehend it."
"That doesn't answer my question of why."
"I think I was an idiot for looking up to a man who refuses to show his face," she said.
"Well, I can tell you what it looks like," he said waspishly. "It's big, ugly, and green. I wouldn't leave my palace looking like that either."
Elphaba narrowed her eyes and scooted away from him.
"Well, gee, it's not like I forced you to come along," she snipped. "I told you to step back."
Fiyero realized what he said and his eyes widened.
"No! No! He'd be ugly in any color. His head is huge and swollen like a pimple."
"Mm-hm."
She knew she was just a novelty. She made him angry and he didn't feel obligated to flatter her. This was the inevitable outcome and she didn't need to focus on that right now. She could fall out of love with him now. No need to keep acting ridiculous.
"Hey, I didn't mean—"
"RAGHHHHHHHHH!"
The ogre stomped out of the dying forest and Elphaba frowned at the sight. It was emaciated and covered in sores. It must have been twelve feet tall and was covered in tattered animal skins. It stooped and dragged its nails into the dried river bed.
"He's desperate," Fiyero murmured.
Elphaba nodded.
Alarm bells rang and the gates closed.
It couldn't have been easy watching your kind die out. Ogres were huge, they were difficult to feed even when the land was bountiful.
Elphaba tensed as a strong wind blasted through. She heard screaming and looked up to see a massive balloon with an almost grotesque face painted on it. She brought out a spy glass and looked through it. A basket attached to the balloon by strings swung wildly to and fro while a man clung to it for dear life, swatting at a fire that broke out.
"I want to see!" said Fiyero, grabbing for the spyglass.
She conjured a second one and handed it over.
There was a shriek and she looked through the spyglass in time to see something shoot down and hit the ogre. It exploded and sparks shot through the air. More followed in a cacophony of explosions and color. Elphaba yelped and automatically teared up at the noise, moving the cloud away.
The ogre collapsed, its body burning and twisted. Elphaba raised her hand to put it out, but he was already dead, his head bleeding out onto a rock.
The balloon spiraled out of control and crashed just beyond the trees.
Cheers rose up from beyond the city walls and a woman was already running towards the trees. Madame Morrible.
Elphaba sent the cloud to the crash sight and transformed into a raven. She flew down and landed on a branch. The balloon was all twisted and caught on the drought-stricken trees, but the fire had gone out. A tall, gangly man had toppled out of the basket and his things were strewn about the clearing.
"Sweet baby Jesus, my head," he groaned and sat up.
Elphaba tipped her head and watched him stagger around and pick up his things. He patted his head and hurriedly chased after a battered green top hat.
"Hello, there!"
The man looked up as Morrible appeared.
"Where am I?" he asked. "One minute I'm running for my life in Omaha, next I'm flyin' in a whirling dervish!"
"You are in Neutraland," said Morrible.
"I'm in Canada?"
"I am unfamiliar with that territory," said Morrible. "You sir are in Oz! The center country of the continent of Nonestica! You have come at the most opportune time, good sir! That contraption of yours just killed an ogre that was wreaking havoc on all of us! Nothing could get done, trade routes weren't safe, humans weren't safe. And you just ended its reign of terror! You are a hero Mr…"
"Oscar Diggs is the name. Call me Oz. Golly. Me a hero?" he said sheepishly. "Wait. An ogre?"
"Jeepers, mister!" A Blue Bird flew down. "I saw what happened. Are you okay?!"
"IT'S TALKING!" Oscar shrieked.
Morrible raised her hands and a spell shot out from her fingers. Elphaba muffled a squawk of horror as the poor thing was turned to stone.
"A talking bird," Oscar gasped. "And it wasn't no parrot neither!"
"Calm yourself, Oscar," said Morrible, helping him to his feet. "There are many creatures like that here. Animals with a capital A. Different from animals with a lowercase a, they talk and walk on hind legs and wear clothing. It just isn't natural."
"No… t'aint natural… is it though?" Oscar asked. "If ogres and magics and whatchamacallits are real, then maybe—"
"Focus, Oscar!" said Morrible. "Listen to me, my dear. Many years I have waited for someone extraordinary like you to appear. Why it might almost seem fate. My wind pulled in someone to change the course of Oz, and not just anyone, but a man himself named Oz? Why it must be fate that brought you here."
"Oz…" Oscar murmured, dazed. "Talkin' birds and ogres and witches…"
"My dear, if we play our cards right, I think you could be running this entire country. Oz… the great and terrible. No… Oz the Wonderful!"
"Wonderful?" Oscar repeated, perking up.
"Yes, my dear, you could be wonderful! Everyone here would just adore you. I have an eye for talent, dearie, and I see something in you. What do you say?"
A slow smile grew on Oscar's face. Elphaba shivered at the words. They were what Morrible would tell Elphaba. She would make good. She would be wonderful. As long as she did what she was supposed to do.
"Land…" Oscar breathed and stood with his arms akimbo. "You really think I could be wonderful?"
"Yes." Morrible spread her arms wide. "Everyone will look to you to help them. They are like children here and they need a strong figure to look up to. What do you say?"
She offered her hand.
"Well, sure beats telling fortunes and making booze runs," Oscar said, shaking her hand eagerly.
"Now, we just need to make everyone believe you are too frightening to behold!" said Morrible. "We need a spectacle to introduce you to the people of Oz!"
"I got just the thing, sugar cane!"
Elphaba returned to the cloud and moved it just enough so they wouldn't be noticed, but close enough they could watch what was happening.
People were crowding around, pointing at the fallen ogre and trying to see through the trees where their hero had crashed. Morrible pushed her way out.
"Back away!" she called. "Hurry! The Wizard, Oz, approaches!"
She pointed to the tree line with a flourish, her picture taken by a photographer.
"I AM OZ!" a voice boomed. "THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE!"
Smoke billowed out from the trees and Oscar ran back and forth opening boxes that gushed out the smoke and waving sparklers and flares. His voice was amplified by a speaking trumpet.
"I HAVE COME TO HELP YOU, DEAR OZIANS!" he shouted. "BE NOT AFRAID! AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL, PLEASE ACCEPT THIS GIFT!"
Madame Morrible subtly flicked a hand upwards and clouds formed just over the small area. It began to rain. People gasped and cheered, turning their faces up and catching the droplets on their tongues. They screamed into the trees for the "wonderful wizard".
"And thus begins the biggest con in Oz," Elphaba laughed wryly.
Oscar had no real power. The Wizard she looked up to most of her life was just a great big phony.
Elphaba set the cloud down, away from everyone, and plunked down by a tree. She cringed at the spiky, dormant grass and dragged her fingers through it, turning the spot lush and green.
"What exactly are you trying to prove?" Fiyero asked.
"I wanted to know what happened on this day," she said. "And now I do."
Morrible was pulling the strings behind everything. She convinced Oscar Animals were wrong. She was the one behind 'the cage' and the Animal Banns. Morrible and Oscar were in on it together from the very beginning. A plan twenty years in the making.
If Elphaba could get some evidence, perhaps she could stop them in their tracks. People would be so angry they would demand undoing all the horrible things he'd done.
"I want to go home," said Fiyero.
"You'll be back at Shiz in less than a day. I promise."
"I want to go home!" he shouted. "I'm not going to stand around here and wait to be strung up on a pole by angry Neutralanders! Send me home now! To the Vinkus!"
"It's twenty years in the past," Elphaba warned, standing up.
"I don't care."
"Very well." She held out her hands.
Fiyero took them. Red smoke billowed around them and then they were in the Vinkus.
In the sea. Thankfully only to their waists.
"Agh!" Fiyero groaned and sloshed back to shore.
"I'm sorry," said Elphaba. "It's easier for me to go to places I've already been."
"Whatever. We're here," he huffed and plunked down in the sand.
Elphaba wanted to cry. She wanted to sink beneath the waves and disappear. Instead, she hiked up her skirt and eased out of the surf.
"Listen, nothing we do matters," she said. "Being back in time like this won't change the future. Believe me, I've tried."
He grunted.
Elphaba bit her lips. There was an ache in her heart. Why didn't she try harder to leave him behind? Now he hated her.
She suppressed a sniffle and walked away from him.
The Vinkus was the last place to feel relief from the Great Drought. In spite of the sea, all the rain always moved west to Fliann and Ev.
Raising a hand to the sky, she conjured a rain storm over the sea. It grew bigger and bigger before rushing into land. It was cold with huge, fat drops.
People ran out of the nearby houses, whooping and cheering in disbelief.
Elphaba kept walking, pushing the storm to grow bigger and bigger. Even if it didn't matter, these people deserved some relief.
"Hey… Hey! Artichoke!"
Elphaba stiffened and whipped around, striking Fiyero across the face in tandem with a crack of thunder.
"I get enough of that from those assholes at Shiz!" she spat and shoved him away from her. "I don't need you to insult me either! If you're only going to be nice to people you want to sleep with then don't come near me again, SHIT HEAD!"
To think she ever thought he liked her. That he could ever love her. Those days they shared… His kindness had conditions, just like everyone else's.
Elphaba stormed away, taking longer strides. More people had run down to the beach carrying buckets and troughs to catch the water. Castle Uma Lu loomed closer, though most of it was shrouded in the haze.
A wail cut through the air.
"MAMO!"
Elphaba stopped and saw a small child being jostled around by the crowds. They were knocked down and someone stepped on them. Elphaba gasped and dove into the confusion, scooping the child up before running off to the side.
The child was two or three and clutching a raggedy (and now sodden) horse. They wore a beautifully embroidered dress, as was common for toddlers since they tended to grow too fast for trousers.
"It's alright," said Elphaba. "We'll find your mother."
She brought out her umbrella and opened it, giving them some shelter from the downpour. She realized she had dropped her glamor, but thankfully no one noticed the green girl running around.
Except the child.
"A fairy!" they breathed and looked up at her delightedly.
Fiyero. His distinct eyes had a glazed look about them and his lips were chapped. He seemed much too skinny for a child. Especially a prince.
Guess times were hard for everyone.
His stomach whined and his face screwed up before burying into her neck.
Poor dear.
Elphaba sat down on a bench.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
He nodded tearfully.
Good thing she had stocked up on food. It was easier than trying to find a place to eat. She had gone to the bakery Fiyero wanted to take her to in the Emerald City and bought up every bread and pastry that sounded good. Food kept well in her hair. It could expire, but it took much, much longer to.
She unwrapped the cinnamon twist knowing how much Fiyero enjoyed cinnamon. His eyes grew as round as moons and he chomped down on it.
Everyone seemed worse for wear. Elphaba hadn't even been born yet, she had never seen this hardship.
When the child finished the bread, she gave him some strawberries to nibble on.
The adult Fiyero pushed through the crowds and spotted her.
"I thought that was your name," he stressed as he approached. "I wasn't trying to insult you! I just thought maybe Artichoke was really your name. I mean, I have cousins named Peach, Pear, Parsnip, and Parsley! How am I supposed to know what's an insult or not?"
Right… he did. Elphaba felt guilty for slapping him.
"My name is Elphaba," she said.
Little Fiyero burped, drawing his older self's attention. The two looked at each other before the younger version snuggled up to Elphaba, sticking his thumb in his mouth.
"That's me," said Fiyero. "Am I going to blow up?!"
Elphaba frowned. "What?"
"I read this time travel story where a guy went back in time and met himself and the world exploded!"
"It's not going to explode," said Elphaba. "Sit down and help me find your caretaker."
He stammered, then huffed and plunked down next to her.
Little Fiyero shivered, so Elphaba took out a towel and wrapped him up in it. He snuggled down deeper and dozed off.
"You know, Elphaba, I think you might be wrong about no consequences," he said. "I feel like I know you and maybe this is why."
He gestured to his younger self.
"I hope not," said Elphaba.
"Why?"
"Because then it means that my attempt to save my mother's life failed."
"Oh."
"But even if my actions have no lasting consequence, I'm not about to let a child go hungry," she murmured.
Fiyero looked out at the crowd and tensed.
"You know what? Let's bring me to the castle," he said. "My sister should be with her nanny."
"You have two nannies?"
"Well, we were a handful," he said. "Pip's visions started around now, so she was in bed a lot."
"I see."
Fiyero took the umbrella and stood, Elphaba adjusted her hold on Little Fiyero before standing. Her head clonked against the umbrella and Fiyero held it higher.
"My bad," he said.
"It's fine."
They walked to the castle. Little Fiyero woke up briefly.
"I'm thirsty," he said, then flinched as if waiting for retaliation.
Elphaba conjured a little cup with stars on it and caught rain in it, then brought it to his lips.
"Take slow sips," she urged gently.
She knew this attitude. She was the same way. Little Fiyero slurped down the contents and zonked back out on her shoulder.
"Who's hurting you?" she asked, looking at Fiyero.
He worked his jaw and sighed.
"My nanny," he said. "She'll be fired in a few years when it's pointed out I'm not putting on weight like the other children. Right now, she's selling my rations. 'Eat like a prince!' or whatever. And then when the rains came back and things started growing again she just didn't feed me if she could help it. If she was using my rations to feed her family I'd understand, but I think she just hates me. If her goal was to end the royal line, she could blame starvation or dehydration at this point, but she barely kept me alive."
"My nanny didn't feed me either," said Elphaba. "She also tried to drown me on several occasions."
Elphaba did drown herself before. It wasn't a peaceful way to go, but now she knew what to expect from it and she had forms she could take to survive in it and spells to allow her to breathe.
"Nanny likes threatening me with—"
"FIYERO!"
Both Fiyeros flinched, the little one clung tighter to Elphaba.
A severe looking woman strode towards them. She looked startled upon seeing Elphaba, then scowled.
"So that's where he ran off to," she said. "Hand the prince over."
"That's her," Fiyero murmured.
"Hm." Elphaba flicked her fingers and the woman became a newt.
Little Fiyero sighed happily and nuzzled Elphaba.
"Any closer and I'll need a crowbar to peel you away," Elphaba chuckled. "Maybe the changes will stick this time."
Fiyero smiled slightly. "Maybe."
They entered through the kitchen door. There weren't any soldiers there and everyone was too focused on water collecting. Much of the available food seemed to be preserved, no doubt transported from across the sea.
A careless person had left a rag by the stove and it chose now to light up. Little Fiyero screamed while Fiyero backpedaled.
"Shit!" he shrieked and ran around frantically. "We need water! We need to put it out!"
Elphaba doused it, then switched off the burner.
"Shh, it's okay," she said, adjusting her hold on Little Fiyero. "Look, Yero!"
She conjured a bright cornflower and held it to his nose. His eyes grew wide in wonder and he touched it lightly.
"Oh, wow!" Fiyero breathed, leaning in to look at it.
Elphaba clicked her tongue.
"Gets 'em every time," she said.
Fiyero huffed softly and motioned for her to follow him. He still looked shaken.
The castle was beautifully done in bright, colorful tiles in geometric patterns. It reminded Elphaba of the inside of a geode. Each section was a different color and must have taken a master craftsman a long time to design and construct it.
Fiyero knew his way up and down the winding stairs. They finally reached the nursery where a young woman was minding a bedridden little girl who was the spitting image of her brother. The only difference being her brown curls were woven into braids.
"Yero," she said.
"Oh! Who are you?" the nanny asked.
"I found him lost," said Elphaba. "He needs rest now."
"Oh! Poor thing!" she cooed. "I'm glad you brought him home safe. Thank you."
"Of course." Elphaba handed Little Fiyero over. She took a moment to magically dry his toy.
"We need to pay our respects to the King and Queen now," said Fiyero.
"Of course," the nanny said, carrying the toddler over to a wardrobe to change him.
They stepped out and Fiyero moved them to an unused bedroom.
"Just in case we're caught leaving, can you change our clothes?" he asked.
Elphaba nodded and waved her hand. "Bippidi-Boppidi-Boo."
His clothes changed to what was traditional of his tribe, a long tunic jacket and loose pants cinched around the ankle and slip on shoes. Elphaba changed hers into a dress that looked like it was sewn from large flower petals. She let her hair loose and put the hat and her beanie away inside.
They looped arms and headed towards the exit at the front of the castle.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
Fiyero froze and spun around, standing straight.
A woman stood there, elegant and strong in spite of the effects of the drought on her body. She wore beautiful robes and her hair was in an elaborate style. Her dark eyes scanned them and commanded their attention and obedience. She had purple tattoos sweeping across her cheeks and her forearms with two blue diamonds on the inside of each wrist. She could only be Queen Sakiniah, Fiyero's mother.
"Who are you?" she repeated.
Fiyero tapped his heels together and bowed. Elphaba did the same. Fiyero seemed at a loss for what to say and seemed more intent on not letting his eyes be seen.
"Your Majesty," said Elphaba. "I am Duchess Fae of Beverdosa and this is my husband, Herman."
"Herman?" the Queen repeated.
"Herman," Elphaba confirmed.
"Ah!" she said. "You are related to Thabo's favorite cousin!"
"That's right, Your Majesty," said Fiyero.
"Forgive me for not receiving you," she said. "We haven't seen rain here in so long. The storm clouds always move west to Fliann."
"Yes, Your Majesty," said Elphaba. "I have spent years learning to wield my magic so I could end this Drought. I have come to offer my aid, first a gift of rain."
She waved her hand and the downpour eased to a gentle drizzle. Sakiniah's eyes gleamed.
"We all thought the true fae died out years ago," she said and bowed her head, placing a hand on her chest. "You are welcome as guests in our home. Please, my husband would love to meet you."
They were led to a sitting room.
"This is the exact opposite of leaving," Fiyero whispered.
"I know, but where are we going to wait out the remaining hours?" she countered. "At least this way we get a safe place to sleep."
He conceded that and then scowled.
"How'd you know about the name Herman?"
"I guess we'll never know," she said and tapped his temple, changing his blue eye to brown. "There. No one will know who you are unless you're a copy of your father."
He looked at his reflection in a silver bowl on the table and nodded.
They met his father, King Thabo, who was impressed and pleased they both knew Ozian Sign Language, he didn't question Fiyero being a relative and welcomed them both kindly.
Elphaba demonstrated her power by bringing the garden the castle surrounded back to life with the fruits and vegetables flourishing. The act wore her out, she had used so much magic that day already, but she could take a break the next cycle.
There was enough food to feed everyone in the castle.
That evening (after explaining their luggage was taken by a highwayman) Elphaba and Fiyero were given clean sets of clothes and shown to their room.
"Huh, so that's what it's like to have their respect," Fiyero murmured once the door was closed behind them.
Elphaba started to reach out to offer comfort, but she had been hanging off his arm all evening. So instead she stepped away to look around the room.
It was beautiful and grand with a sitting area and a bedroom with an adjacent bath was behind a set of pocket doors.
The designs were just as intricate and luxurious as the rest of the castle.
Elphaba tipped her head at the bowl of sand in the bathroom.
"What's the sand for?" she asked.
"To clean your hands," said Fiyero. "The Ansi tribe down in the desert uses this technique. You scrub your skin with sand and then you use this."
He stepped into the room and held up a bottle that looked like oil.
"Not safe to drink, but it's good at killing off germs," he said and placed it back beside the bowl of sand. "Last thing you need in a drought is to get sick."
Elphaba hummed and went to sit on the couch. She'd give Fiyero the bed and would sleep on the couch.
To her surprise, Fiyero sat down next to her. They sat in silence for a long time.
"So… you're afraid of fire?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "Always have been. I don't actually remember all this, but I guess I do deep inside. A few months before this day, we were living in Kiamo Ko. It was so dry, a fire had broken out in the forest and reached the castle. I'm told I was nearly forgotten in the panic. I had to learn to deal with the fear though. Kinda can't go camping unless you can build a decent campfire."
He hadn't had it easy, had he?
"Your parents…" she began slowly, unsure of how to ask what she wanted to ask.
She knew better than anyone that the face put on for strangers was not necessarily the face you put on in private.
"It's not that they didn't care," he said slowly. "But when your country is thirsty and starving and you worry that everyone is going to blame you for hoarding resources that don't exist, you're too busy to notice your child's problems and sleep easier with the idea that they're well cared for by someone else. I guess that's why they let me get away with so much now. And Pip says I'll eventually graduate, but it won't be from their nagging."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Well, you saved me today," he said. "Even if you're right and it didn't change anything… well, I'll know, won't I? And I'll be forever grateful that someone stood up for me. Hey, why are you crying?"
Elphaba couldn't respond. She couldn't tell him that he wouldn't remember.
When she finally stepped back from the carriage, she disappeared before Fiyero could see her.