A/N: Shout out to my anonymous reviewer! Glad you liked it. More on the Clock now. :)
Chapter 36
"Is everything all right Miss Elphaba?" Mopsi asked. It was after dinner and she'd asked the Munchkins to join her in Glinda's office. The two were concerned because she'd seemed distracted during the meal and that meant she was thinking about something.
"Please close the door," she gave them a smile. Popsi quickly did so and the two brothers moved the couch across from the large chair that Elphaba was sitting in.
"Did we do something…" Popsi started.
"No, of course not. I'm sorry, I've just been trying to process everything and you two are the only ones who can help me," she gave them a smile.
"Oh?" Mopsi raised an eyebrow.
"Fiyero and I went to the Clock of the Time Dragon last night. The Clock asked for us to leave it behind the large stone in the cave and we did. All of what comes next must remain a secret," the green woman said.
"Of course. We are honored that you would give us this confidence," Popsi reassured her. She quickly went into the story of the note she found left by Ugabu.
"It would seem that there were more things that I did not know about my mother. The Clock confirmed that I was born right there in the Pine Barrens, in the Clock. Mr. Boss and Nanny helped her," Elphaba heaved a sigh.
"Why would she do that?" Popsi asked and Elphaba noted the silence that his brother had fallen into.
"I suspect that she knew I wasn't Frex's. When I pressed the Clock about why, the answer was that Mr. Boss told her about my future. When I pressed further, the Clock told me that it did not know what my mother's intentions were but…" she heaved a sigh.
"You think that she intended to be rid of you depending on what the Clock said," Mopsi spoke up. Elphaba nodded before saying,
"If she had given birth at home, there would be too many eyes and ears to keep it a secret. She'd be stuck with me, or she'd have to find a way to get rid of me over a few days. According to the Clock, she and Nanny were travelling to meet Frex, so this was her opportunity to cover her tracks."
"Your mother loved you. I know that. She is not the cold person you make her out to be," Mopsi said.
"She defied her husband, something we all know he did not handle well. It would have been bad enough for him to find out she'd gone to a pagan religious icon but to have found out that I was not his… You know how he punished her because I was green. I would imagine that Nessa would not have even existed if he'd found out sooner. The fear of him would have been enough to get rid of me had she not heard something that would make her think twice," Elphaba pointed out.
"Your mother was in between a rock and a hard place and she did her best for you," Popsi told her.
"Her best would have been to survive. Instead, she left me alone with Frex who damaged me and used me all while he kissed the ground my sister rolled her wheelchair on. It's his fault that Nessa's legs didn't work. He would never have admitted it. He was a narcissist who used violence to get what he wanted. Outside the home, he made the Munchkin people believe he was a good, religious person," there was venom behind her words and Mopsi knew that even from beyond their graves, her family was still inflicting pain. Pain that he would not wish on anyone and pain that he feared he was about to make worse.
"The Clock gave you some half-assed answer when you asked why your mother came to it originally right? Like she came of her own free will or she knew who was the rightful religious leader? He asked.
"Yes, but then I reminded him of whom he was speaking with," she said.
"It was the line that all ministers give but the answers you get depend on your response to the question. Mombey did not destroy the Clock, even though she could have, because there is a possibility, it told her what she wanted to hear. After all, the Clock knew that Mr. Boss was dead. Ugabu was like you – a child of both worlds. It could not lie to you as a child of both worlds created it," Mopsi explained.
"What do you mean? I thought that I was the only one until I met Ugabu but you're saying that Mr. Boss was…" Elphaba started.
"No, he wasn't, but it does explain why Ugabu cared about Mr. Boss. She needed someone who could blow into and out of town and draw just the right kind of attention. Otherwise, she seem like the kind of person who would give someone an actual funeral?" Mopsi gave her a look.
"Why would she create it? Her letter… it gave her bad news…" the green woman was not understanding the upside.
"No, it gave her the news she wanted to hear. She knew that you were her last shot at beating Mombey, and she knew she wasn't going to survive much longer. She wanted to know that she was going to succeed. Ugabu was just as powerful as you. Maybe more so since we didn't get the chance to really know her. She knew how you came into this world. She knew that you were like her. She knew that you were better than her," Mopsi said.
"She created the Clock to find people like me. That kind of magic…" Elphaba shook her head. Ugabu had indeed been quite powerful. She'd created a machine that could predict people's future and do so with enough accuracy that the old witch believed it.
"It was a long shot and she knew it but that's why the Clock didn't stay in one place," Mopsi figured.
"Your mother was told to make sure you survived so you could save Oz," Popsi said.
To Be Continued…