Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Elphaba sits at the table in the dining hall of the secret Arjiki castle hidden inside one of the mountains of The Great Kells. Her eyes are puffy and her face his tear streaked as she just stares at the grains of wood on the table. Boq, Glinda and Fiyero are around her. All are sitting in silence trying to absorb the news about the Wizard and Elphaba.
“And I thought I had parental issues,” Fiyero finally says.
Glinda glares at him.
“He could just be making it up,” says Boq.
Elphaba doesn’t say anything. Instead she just places a small green glass bottle on the table.
“What’s that?” Fiyero asks.
“One of my mother’s most cherished possessions. She looked so fondly at it, even though it was green.”
“What does that have to do with the Wizard being your father?” Fiyero asks.
“He has the exact same one,” says Elphaba.
“He could have gotten it from anywhere,” says Fiyero.
“He can’t and my mother kept it to herself. She only took it out when no one was around. I happened upon her one day just before she could hide it away again. When she saw me watching her, she smiled at me and said it’s special like me. It’s where I came from. Afterwards she would bring it out when we were alone and tell me again how special we both were. Only one other living person besides me knew about this bottle.”
“Who was that?” Boq asks.
Elphaba slowly turns her head to Glinda. Boq and Fiyero also turn to Glinda.
“I didn’t tell him about it. I swear.”
“I know.” Elphaba picks up the green bottle and squeezes it in her hand. “I almost wish you did though.”
She gets up from the table and starts to walk towards one of the halls.
“So what if he is your father. My parents are bad people too. Doesn’t matter a twink.”
Glinda spins her head around to Fiyero. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m going to lie down.” Elphaba leaves down the hall carrying her hat in one hand and the glass bottle in the other. She leaves her broom leaning against the chair at the table.
After she leaves Glinda turns on Fiyero. “Did you take insensitivity classes at one of your schools?”
“Who your parents are doesn’t change who you are,” says Fiyero.
“It’s not just that. It’s so much bigger than that. It also means she’s half Ozian, and Nessa’s only half her sister, and her mother…”
“But it also might be why she…why she had all those problems growing up,” says Fiyero.
“It doesn’t help knowing the reason. She still had to live with it.”
“Does this mean she’s giving up?” Boq asks.
Glinda bows her head. “I don’t know.”
“She has to still fight him even if he is her father,” says Fiyero. “Just like I’m fighting against my parents.”
“And you’re really good with that?” Glinda asks. “Going against your family?”
“Have you met them? Why would that bother me?”
“Because they're still your parents and you should be lucky you have some.” Glinda runs off.
Boq stands up. “Glinda!” Boq calls out after her but she disappears down the massive halls of the castle.
Boq turns to look at Fiyero.
Fiyero sighs. “I know what happened to her family but they aren’t my family. Or Elphaba’s apparently. That’s all I was trying to say.”
“Should we talk to them?” Boq asks.
“Better to give them space for now. Parents are complicated.”
“I wouldn’t really know.” Boq walks away down another hallway leaving Fiyero alone at the table.
#
As the day is winding down, the square outside the palace in the Emerald City is still bustling. The Wizard walks amongst the crowds in his frayed suit with his head kept low. The populace only takes notices of his dirty disheveled appearance and then dismisses him to go about their business. The Wizard walks up to the guards at the gate of the palace.
“You don’t look so good fella,” says one of the guards who clearly doesn’t realize who he is speaking to.
“That’s why I’m here to see the Wizard.” The Wizard pulls a very ornately calligraphed card out of his breast pocket and hands it to the guard. It says to grant the bearer immediate audience with the Wizard and has the Wizard’s signature on it.
The guard examines the card and then shows it to the other guard in the porthole in the door. They both shrug at one another.
“Come right in sir!” The guard in the porthole says. “The Wizard will see you now!”
The Wizard gives a small smile and slight bow. “Thank you gentlemen.”
They open the doors and close them behind him. The Wizard stands before a monkey Emerald Guard.
The monkey stares at him and sniffs for a moment. Then says, “What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it,” says the Wizard as he walks into the palace. The monkey follows behind him as they walk past other monkeys who are sitting on guard. “I’m never leaving the palace again, and you can count on that,” says the Wizard as he takes off his jacket and loosens his tie. “Where’s Chistery?”
“Not here?”
“Nikko?”
“Also not here.”
The Wizard sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Find them both and tell them I want to see them right away.”
The monkey grunts and nods.