Elphaba carefully balanced a thermos of tea on top of her sorcery books, freeing one of her hands to open her room. Her first step inside fell upon a used pink tissue, which stuck to the heel of her boot.
"Elphieeeee–"
"Go to the infirmary, Galinda," Elphaba sang back - a tune she'd been trying to get through her sick roommate's head all week. "Madame Morrible sends her well-wishes." A lie, but a kind one. Elphaba set her books down and sat on her bed to remove the lilac-scented tissues from her shoe, then began to pick them up from the floor like she was picking poppies. As Galinda's illness entered its fifth day, this was growing less and less amusing.
Elphaba lifted her gaze to Galinda, and perhaps the amusement returned. The girl still looked quite ill, but her color was better. Her curls were flattened and frizzy. Her nose was as red as Elphaba's was green. But what would appall Galinda the most was the crust of dried mucous under her nostrils, and the stray blonde hairs that stuck to it. Elphaba stifled the urge to show her a mirror, but smirked at the slightly wicked idea. She wouldn't toy with her friend while she was in such a state, but with Galinda's dramatic display - the back of one hand draped over her forehead and the other across the bed like a fainted damsel - Elphaba felt safe to assume that her bubbly roommate was at least starting to feel better. And Elphie didn't mind the caregiving so much. Perhaps something inherent in being an older sister.
"If I haven't already caught death, I'd be sure to catch it in the infirmary," Galinda muttered. Congestion had brought the timbre of her voice slightly lower than her usual lilting soprano. "Momsie says that's where people get skin lesions."
"You didn't even touch this," Elphaba chided, gesturing towards a full pitcher of water and an empty glass that she had set out for her roommate before she left. She filled it and handed the glass to Galinda, dragging her limp arm until she was upright. Elphaba put the back of her green hand on the porcelain forehead. "At least your fever's gone. You should have let me send Fiyero to check on you, though."
"Elphie, never!" Galinda cried out. "Oh, Oz, Elphie, if he saw me this way, we'd never be married! I'd die first!"
Elphaba tensed her entire face to keep the smirk from appearing on her lips. She managed a reassuring nod.
"You'll die if you don't hydrate." She handed Galinda the water. "Or worse - you'll wrinkle."
Galinda gasped. Elphie lifted a brow and gestured to the water. Galinda finally began to sip.
Elphaba took a handkerchief from one of Galinda's drawers and poured a splash of water on it.
"Here, wipe your face." Elphie grimaced and carefully unstuck some blonde ringlets from the girl's upper lip. Only then did Galinda notice the mucous crust. She used the handkerchief, pulled it away, and Elphie tried to keep her from looking back into the cloth, but it was too late. Galinda looked at Elphaba with absolute disgust and Elphie lifted a green hand to cover her own mouth, lest she be accused of not taking this seriously. "It's not as bad as it looks," she said from behind her hand. Elphaba's reassurance failed, and Galinda's shoulders started to shake with sobs. She dropped her head - half of her sticky hair going forward with it - and cried.
"I'm disgustifying…" Galinda choked. Elphaba crossed behind her roommate and began fastening the blonde hair into one long braid that started at the top of her head and gathered on the way down - not Galinda's style so much as Elphaba's, but it would stay out of her way.
"Only temporarily."
"Elphie!" Glinda turned and ruined the start of the braid. The green girl gave her a look.
"I'm kidding. You're beautiful. Now either have water or some of this tea."
Elphaba restarted the braid. Galinda smiled weakly and sipped, the dimple on one cheek remaining there for a moment - another reassurance to her roommate that she was recovering, albeit slowly.
"How is it that you manage to avoid this plague?"
"I don't tend to pick up the fevers and sinus problems," Elphaba said simply, finishing up the braid. She then went to dispose of the rest of the used tissues. "Stomach problems will take me out for a few days, but in general I don't get sick too often."
When Galinda didn't respond, Elphaba looked up at her. She had her head back on the pillow and her hands covered her eyes.
"Surely I'm dying, Elphie. I can see the light."
"I'll close the curtains."
"...thank you." A pause. "Elphie?"
Elphaba set the small trash bin - now full - aside and wiped her hands clean. She looked over at Galinda in acknowledgement. "If you don't think you'll catch it…can you sit with me?"
That ozdamn dimple. Still charming even with a trail of mucous dripping alongside it. Elphaba grabbed a book and joined Galinda on the bed. She hugged onto Elphie's arm and rested her head on her roommate. The green girl listened for Galinda's breathing to slow, as it always did when she had attached herself to Elphaba's arm.
When instead the blonde began to tense and a small whimper escaped her, Elphaba looked down to her friend.
"Galinda?"
Behind closed eyelids, Galinda's eyes appeared to dart tormentedly back and forth. She trembled. A cold sweat rose on her forehead, and her delicate eyebrows pitched in a silent cry.
A bang on the door. Elphaba's name.
"Fiyero, she doesn't want you to see her like this!" she called out. Elphaba held her roommate in front of her, frantically searching for a cause for her distress, as behind Galinda's consciousness, Elphaba somehow knew she was screaming. Her hands shook, and the green girl tried to hold them still, feeling tears sting her eyes as they fell from the blonde's, too. "Galinda, what is it?!"
"El…phie…"
"Galinda!" She shook her. "WHAT IS IT?!"
"Help…me…"
"Elphaba!"
"Elphaba, wake up!"
Hands on her bare shoulders, shaking her. Fiyero's eyes. The chill of sweat, sending shivers and lifting goosebumps. A burn in the witch's arm - a slice through the skin - but when she looked down at it, there was nothing there. And the pain suddenly faded as quickly as it had came.
"Elphaba," Fiyero said more gently, moving her braids behind her trembling shoulders.
"She was screaming."
"You were screaming."
"No, I…" Elphaba trailed off, dropping her head into her hands. Memories of the nightmare quickly began to float away despite her willing back the details, but the emotions lingered. And Glinda's voice.
"Help…me…"
Elphaba swiped the covers off herself and stood, green skin bathed in the moonlight that came through a single small window of a barnhouse near Kumbricia's Pass. Had she been less preoccupied, she may have been more aware of Fiyero's appreciative gaze.
"It was just a nightmare," he assured her. "It's over."
"I have to fly."
She lit a lantern and began pulling some flight clothing from the closet. When she emerged, her lover was there, taking her hips in his hands to slow her. She obliged and met his eyes.
"What is it?" His hands moved up, gracing the sides of her breasts in a plea for her to stay. It almost worked. But Elphaba laced his fingers with her own and kissed his hands.
"Can I tell you when I'm sure?" she asked. "I don't know what I…I want to be sure."
Another scan of her eyes, as if he could find the answer he was looking for. But he knew just as well as she did that he couldn't uncover anything she didn't want to divulge.
"Alright." He kissed her forehead, then her lips before returning to bed.
Elphaba changed quickly. Chemise, corset, dress, coat, and cape. The broom at the door. She lifted off into the night, flying east toward the Emerald City.