Sov had been up to the roof, trying to think. It hadn't been a good thing, because thinking just turned to worrying. They had written letters to Sether and their mother, but gotten no replies, and that wasn't very much like them at all, and considering what seemed to be going on it was bad news indeed.
They didn't want to be alone. They wanted to talk to someone. And on their way down to their own floor they thought of Elphaba whom they didn't know very well, and who most of the time seemed to prefer her distance.
Perhaps a desperate need not to be alone makes you braver?
"So your sister needs a lot of help?" Sov asked, assuming this was the case as Sether had needed lots of help after breaking a leg when attempting to fly from the roof. "But she isn't green? I thought everyone was where you're from."
Because being green might be noticeable but it was less strange than being a girl all the time if you asked Sov.
Elphaba's face twisted in a sort of half-smile. "You just took it as normal?" she said, thinking that... refreshing from someone she didn't know well. "Well, it isn't. I'm the only one, it seems, in all of Oz. But for Nessa, yes, she needs someone to help her with some things the rest of us take for granted. But it's not like she's a burden or anything like that. At least, not to me."
"Well, most people here are different from me," Sov replied. "So I don't see why being green could be normal somewhere. Did you take care of your sister a lot?"
"I did, yes," Elphaba said. "Up until father thought to send me here, at least. He'd decided to hire a nurse for her, but then after I finished school here I was to go to... well it doesn't really matter anymore."
She looked over curiously at Sov, not wanting this conversation to be entirely about her. "How are you so different to most people here?" she asked, thinking it not too personal of a question.
It wasn't too personal and Sov was used to having to explain this to people here. "Most people here are either male or female, permanently. I'm just like that once a month," the explained. "Male or female, that is. Either."
Elphaba found that quite... she wasn't sure of the word. She was curious, certainly, but she didn't want to try and define that sort of being in a single word, it seemed improper.
"That is unique here," Elphaba said. "At least as far as I know. It... must seem strange that the rest of us aren't like that."
Sov nodded. "I haven't met anyone else, but where I come from everyone is like me," they said, not mentioning what people who stayed in one gender all the time were referred to.
"But that's what I mean, people here are different, so I just assumed that you came from a world where everyone is green. I mean, it's not as strange as being a girl all the time." That was an attempt at humour by the way.
Elphaba didn't quite laugh, but she wasn't offended, either. She wasn't quite in the mood for jokes. "I don't know anything of where you're from, I'm realizing," she said. "Not even the name of it. I don't suppose you'd... share a little, with me?"
Sov didn't know much about her world either, but Elphaba had asked first.
"I'm from the planet of Gethen, which no one here has heard of," they said. "And from the country of Karhide and the city of Rer. It's the oldest city in the world." That last part was added with just a little bit of pride. "I live with my family, the Thades, in a big house, with my mother and their sibs and all my hearth sibs and my grand."
"That does sound very exciting," Elphaba admitted. "Very grand. Very... old. Lots of history. I think I'd prefer being from a place no one had heard of. It's vexing when people have... wrong ideas of your home."
"Through children's stories, yes," Elphaba said. "The land of Oz is... well we never really called it a planet, I don't think it's anything that large. But none have ever been beyond the deserts to see what lies beyond. It's divided into four areas outside the capital city, the one I lived in was Munchkinland, where my father was royal governor. Even if we don't have a queen anymore."
"I'm not entirely sure how it happened," Elphaba admitted, folding her hands in her lap. "At some point a wizard took over the government, when the latest heir of Ozma disappeared. It was a bit fortuitous he arrived when he did. But as for the stories, yes. They bear some resemblance to the Oz I know, but they're so simplified and ridiculous."
"A wizard? Like someone who does magic?" Which was certainly just a thing of children's stories on Gethen. "So has someone assumed things about you based on those stories?"
They didn't want to be alone. They wanted to talk to someone. And on their way down to their own floor they thought of Elphaba whom they didn't know very well, and who most of the time seemed to prefer her distance.
Perhaps a desperate need not to be alone makes you braver?
Sob knocked on Elphaba's door.
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Because being green might be noticeable but it was less strange than being a girl all the time if you asked Sov.
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She looked over curiously at Sov, not wanting this conversation to be entirely about her. "How are you so different to most people here?" she asked, thinking it not too personal of a question.
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"That is unique here," Elphaba said. "At least as far as I know. It... must seem strange that the rest of us aren't like that."
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"But that's what I mean, people here are different, so I just assumed that you came from a world where everyone is green. I mean, it's not as strange as being a girl all the time." That was an attempt at humour by the way.
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"I'm from the planet of Gethen, which no one here has heard of," they said. "And from the country of Karhide and the city of Rer. It's the oldest city in the world." That last part was added with just a little bit of pride. "I live with my family, the Thades, in a big house, with my mother and their sibs and all my hearth sibs and my grand."
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