After her encounter with Liir yesterday and the return of her memories, Elphaba had fled to seek solace in nature. Not that solace was easy to find when forced to accept the truth. She was Liir's mother.
She heard rustling and jumped up from her spot when the beast bounded toward her.
"I wondered," he said quietly, "my whole life. Mostly since you were gone. I wondered what was wrong with me. Why you didn't want me. What more I should have done to make you care."
"I hated you for it. Nameless Name, how I hated you. Mostly because regardless of it, I loved you.
Declarations of love were so far off of Elphaba's radar at this point that his words were nearly as unsettling as the return of her memories.
"Had I remembered, I..."
She what? Would have been a better mother? That was unlikely and she knew it. Someone like her was not designed to care for another. After all, the people she loved ended up having horrible things happen to them.
His words from earlier in the weekend came back to her unbidden.
The world was changed with words. From one instance to the next, everything was different and everything was the same. Fact had been fact before; the universe at large had never questioned from whence came a Liir even if Liir had not known for years.
But now she acknowledged him. Now she had claimed him. Now the name Thropp was his to use, for better or worse, and Liir knew that whatever he felt now would be nothing to what he would feel when that actually hit him.
Liir Thropp-Tigelaar.
The puzzle was complete. The glass tower had taken hold.
"I suppose a finer curse has never been spoken," he said gently, taking the rancor from the phrase, "but for what it is worth... thank you."
It was on the tip of her tongue to say "You're welcome" when something overcame her. Every bit of her tensed and she felt swallowed up by something that she couldn't understand.
The magic swirled around her and, in an instant, she was gone.
Liir stared at where she'd been for almost five full minutes before he felt the cold nose on the back of his hand.
He startled then, looking down at Makejoy almost as if it was her fault for half a second before breathing out and dropping to the ground to sit. The dog curled up in his lap, taking the whole of it up quite happily, and Liir said nothing as his hands moved on autopilot to stroke her soft fur. That was fine for a few minutes until the tears came.
They burned in his eyes, burned down his cheeks, and he hated them, but he cried them all the same, burying his face in the dark, black hair.
He didn't leave the clearing for a long time. In some ways, he never would.
She heard rustling and jumped up from her spot when the beast bounded toward her.
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"What you did," she said, faltering. Nothing in her life had prepared her for anything like this. "I..."
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"I hated you for it. Nameless Name, how I hated you. Mostly because regardless of it, I loved you.
"Isn't that fucked."
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"Had I remembered, I..."
She what? Would have been a better mother? That was unlikely and she knew it. Someone like her was not designed to care for another. After all, the people she loved ended up having horrible things happen to them.
His words from earlier in the weekend came back to her unbidden.
"You are my son," she said.
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The world was changed with words. From one instance to the next, everything was different and everything was the same. Fact had been fact before; the universe at large had never questioned from whence came a Liir even if Liir had not known for years.
But now she acknowledged him. Now she had claimed him. Now the name Thropp was his to use, for better or worse, and Liir knew that whatever he felt now would be nothing to what he would feel when that actually hit him.
Liir Thropp-Tigelaar.
The puzzle was complete. The glass tower had taken hold.
"I suppose a finer curse has never been spoken," he said gently, taking the rancor from the phrase, "but for what it is worth... thank you."
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The magic swirled around her and, in an instant, she was gone.
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He startled then, looking down at Makejoy almost as if it was her fault for half a second before breathing out and dropping to the ground to sit. The dog curled up in his lap, taking the whole of it up quite happily, and Liir said nothing as his hands moved on autopilot to stroke her soft fur. That was fine for a few minutes until the tears came.
They burned in his eyes, burned down his cheeks, and he hated them, but he cried them all the same, burying his face in the dark, black hair.
He didn't leave the clearing for a long time. In some ways, he never would.
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