The Effects of Gravity 10/? by ainsleyaisling
Title: The Effects of Gravity 10/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: The Wizard's summons finally arrives, and Elphaba and Fiyero have a somewhat disquieting encounter.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: As promised, beneath the cut are links to all previous sections of the story:
Prologue.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Also, this story does make reference to an incident that took place in an earlier oneshot of mine. You don't really have to have read it, but if you'd like to, it's here.
~~Glinda~~
The envelope was sitting innocently in a pile of her mail from home - letters from friends too young, too uninterested, or too already-married to attend Shiz, along with the weekly letter from her parents and a note from her auntie in Settica - as well as two dull university notices and a letter for Elphaba from her father, no doubt containing the usual admonitions to take care of Nessarose and try not to explode anything. Despite the brightly decorated stationery preferred by Glinda's friends and her mother, the emerald green envelope made its presence known as soon as even the smallest corner peeked out of the pile. Although she had known it must be coming, the sight of the envelope itself felt like an arrest warrant.
Glinda smiled politely at the mail clerk and readjusted the pile in her hands so that the green wasn't showing. Somehow she felt as though walking across campus with that telltale letter in her hands would brand her all over again as not-really-one-of-us, would remind the other students that she had already been separated out and made different. And not necessarily in a good way.
Boq waved to her across the lawn as she scurried back to the dormitory, but for once she had a sterling excuse - she waved back hastily with her free hand and called, "Sorry, but I really have to find Elphaba!"
The door to their room was locked and she almost pulled out her key and opened it straightaway, but another thought came to her and she knocked softly and called, "Elphie?"
She heard footsteps inside the room, and then the door was unlocked and opened enough for Elphaba to peer into the hallway. "Sorry," she said, pulling her glasses off and allowing Glinda to open the door wider. "I was studying - well, come in quickly."
Sure enough, the Grimmerie was sitting open on Elphaba's desk. "I thought I'd better knock," Glinda explained, dropping the mail on her bed and shrugging out of her coat as she went to see what spell Elphaba had been studying. "Did you figure out something new?"
"No, and I've been trying for hours." Elphaba sounded frustrated, and her long braid looked as though she had been worrying at it. "I'm getting so nervous about what to expect when -"
"Oh!" Glinda interrupted. She held up a hand to silence Elphaba's protest. "Look, what came today."
At the sight of the green envelope Elphaba paled, just as Glinda felt she must have in the mailroom. "Well," Elphaba said quietly. "Did you open it?"
"No, I was waiting for you." Glinda started to slip her finger under the seal, then looked up at her roommate. "Ready?"
"Ready won't change what it says," Elphaba replied, giving her a quick nod.
Glinda nodded in reply and opened the letter, scanning the elaborate script as quickly as she could. Miss Upland and Miss Thropp are requested . . . "Next week," she told Elphaba. "For five days."
Elphaba held out her hand for the letter. "Can we survive five days?" she asked, only half-joking.
"It doesn't say much about what we'll be doing."
"No, they wouldn't want to give that much away in advance. I'm sure they want us nervous."
"Well, you'll have to survive," Glinda said, striving for a casual, jovial tone. "Because I don't plan on doing this alone."
"Whatever it is," Elphaba agreed.
She looked so forlorn that Glinda held out an arm and motioned for Elphaba to come and sit with her on the bed. "Are you ready to go back?" she asked after Elphaba had settled in beside her. "I mean - will you be all right, being in the City again?"
Elphaba closed her eyes and rested her head just for a moment on Glinda's shoulder before straightening up again. "If you can go back to history class, I can do this," she said finally. "Can't have you be braver than me."
"No, I imagine you'd die of mortification," Glinda said fondly. "And we can't have that happen."
"I suppose we should be looking at this as an opportunity," Elphaba commented. "Once we have a better idea of what they expect from us, we'll know what we can make of it. I hope."
"That's right." The mention of 'what we can make of it' made Glinda extremely nervous, and she threaded her fingers through Elphaba's to cover her hesitation. "We'll have to be . . . on alert."
"We should be anyway," Elphaba said, looking down at their entwined hands. "I don't exactly trust their intentions - the Wizard's, or Morrible's, or anyone else there."
"That's true." Remembering something she had read, Glinda tugged the letter from Elphaba's other hand. "Look, this hotel they're sending us to is a different one. I remember it; it's right next to the Palace."
"Not taking any chances, I guess."
"No, they'll probably be keeping a close eye - Elphaba." Something had just occurred to her, something that made her even more nervous. "Do you think they can spy on us - in the hotel? Do you think that's why they have one so close?"
"I'm sure it's possible," Elphaba said, mirroring Glinda's startled expression. "We should be careful what we say." Her eyes lowered, and some of the surprise bled from her face. "Afraid?"
"Yes," Glinda admitted readily. "But you can get that look off your face now, please."
"What look?"
"That this-is-all-my-fault look you're so good at." She wrapped her arm around Elphaba's shoulders and pulled stubbornly until Elphaba consented to be embraced. "I won't have it."
"Whatever you say," Elphaba muttered from Glinda's shoulder.
~~Elphaba~~
The day after the Wizard's summons arrived, Elphaba slipped into one of the usually-vacant study rooms on the top floor of the library, her satchel full of spells she had copied from the Grimmerie in the hopes of finding something that would aid with translation. The room was not empty, however, and she stood in the doorway blinking in surprise.
"Oh, don't look like that," Fiyero grumbled. "I have a problem."
She hesitated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You can't find your way out of the library?"
"You're just hilarious." He nudged the empty seat beside him with his elbow, and Elphaba - albeit slowly - took the hint. He was surrounded by stacks of books, some of them very dusty and decrepit in appearance, and his casual reclining pose with feet perched on the opposite chair was belied by the worry lines creasing his forehead. "I hear you're going to the Emerald City next week," he said as she sat down.
"I'd rather not think about that right now."
"Fair enough." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Want to hear about my problem instead?"
"All right," she replied cautiously.
"My parents have received an offer of marriage. For me," he added when she didn't respond.
"Who from?" she asked, grammar forgotten in her surprise. Somehow an official offer made to his parents - a king and queen, no less - didn't seem exactly like Glinda's style.
"The ruler of a neighboring tribe, a much smaller one. For his daughter."
"Oh." Elphaba eased the satchel off her shoulder and settled into her chair. "Is that . . . common?"
"For an offer to be made? Very - happens all the time. Not all of them are political offers, of course - sometimes the two people decide to marry each other, and it's done the official way just for the sake of diplomacy. The purely political offers are accepted less often."
"And . . ." She was almost afraid to ask. " . . . this one?"
"Is very much a political offer. The girl's fifteen and I've never even seen her - I don't think."
"Fifteen and they want to marry her off?"
"Well, they're not suggesting we actually get married right now." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "So there you go, that's my problem."
She frowned. "I thought you said the political offers were accepted less often. Are your parents - have they accepted?"
"No, and honestly they're not inclined to."
"So . . ."
"But it's not quite that easy. This tribe is small, but they could cause a lot of trouble if they wanted to. My parents have said they'll decline the offer, if I can think of some way to appease the girl's parents."
"Oh." She was just noticing that most of the books on the table appeared to be histories of the tribes of the Vinkus, along with some modern political works on the region. "So you have to figure out what they hope to gain from the marriage - besides you - and find some other way to give it to them?"
"Yes - and to get something for ourselves out of it, as well. Otherwise it would be too transparent that we're just trying to buy them off." He sighed, hands coming to rest on the open volume before him. "Really I think my father's just trying to force me to take the responsibility, you know? It's not the first proposal they've had for me -"
"Really?"
"- but I was eight the last time, so I couldn't exactly contribute much to the negotiations," he finished with a tired smile.
"So that's the real problem - figuring out what deal to offer them."
"Right."
She had been fighting the urge to smile for the last several minutes, and finally she allowed one side of her mouth to turn up. "Wishing you'd paid more attention in political science?"
"Very." He caught sight of her expression and added, "This is not funny, you know."
"It is just a little bit funny." She motioned past him to a large stack of newspapers. "What are those?"
"Anything recent I could find on tribal economics. The Vinkus doesn't exactly have a newspaper, but the big stuff gets covered by the other papers."
"Pass them over."
His face lit up at the request. "Really?"
"I'll warn you though - I've never studied political science at all."
"Well, being ten times cleverer than me ought to make up for it." As he handed her the stack of newspapers he asked, "The Governor's daughter never had to study politics?"
"The Governor's other daughter did." She looked away, hoping he wouldn't be able to read her expression. "Anyway, I think both Glinda and I are about to learn quite a lot about politics outside of school."
"That's true."
He was quiet then, and she settled back with the first paper in the pile - a Gillikin newspaper describing the effect of droughts on the various cattle herds in the Vinkus - but he interrupted her thoughts soon enough. "I should be teasing you, you know."
She looked at him over the top of the paper. "On principle?"
"About my roommate."
Her stomach did a queer turn when he said that, but she ignored it. "Really, two people dancing together twice - at a dance - is the best gossip Shiz is producing these days?"
"He hasn't stopped talking about you, actually. He thinks you're interesting."
She focused her eyes on the newspaper in her hands, hoping he would get the idea. "Most people think I'm interesting, Fiyero."
"But in a good way?"
"Are you sure you want help? Because I could go."
He placed a restraining hand on her elbow. "No, I'm sorry - I promise, I'll shut up."
They parted at the end of the afternoon with a promise on both sides to meet the following night. When Elphaba returned to her dormitory, the first thing Glinda asked her was, "Have you seen Fiyero? I haven't seen him all day."
Elphaba felt oddly guilty, although she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. "I just saw him in the library," she said casually, taking off her cloak and hanging it on its hook.
"Really?"
"He said he had a . . . research project." Glinda looked surprised, so Elphaba assumed that Fiyero had not shared his news from home with her. She supposed she could understand why - Glinda had seemed so pleased lately with the way things were going between her and Fiyero; she couldn't be thrilled to hear that he was in even the smallest danger of being forced to marry a fifteen-year-old Winkie princess. Secure in the knowledge that Glinda wouldn't ask too many questions about any schoolwork that didn't have to do with sorcery, Elphaba pulled one of the newspaper articles out of her satchel and settled in at her desk to read.
By the time she met Fiyero in the library the next night, she felt that at least she had something to contribute, even if it wasn't a fully-formed solution. His expression as she walked into the room was so hopeful that she immediately held up both hands and said, "I have the beginning of an idea - but you'll have to tell me if it's any good because I don't know the Vinkus well enough."
"All right," he said expectantly as he watched her slide into her chair.
"Here's what I think," she began, pulling the pile of newspapers from her bag. "The one thing her tribe doesn't have much of a share in is industry."
"Coordinated industry?" he interrupted. "Neither does any other tribe in the Vinkus, hardly."
"Right." She spread her hands on the table, almost unconsciously using different fingers to represent different geographical areas. "And their cattle lands, over here to the north, are drying up, while yours are still basically all right - aren't they?" When he nodded, she continued, "So, if you had married this girl, would they expect to be able to share somehow in your grazing lands?"
"Almost definitely."
"So what you need is some kind of arrangement that allows them to participate in a new industry not affected by the drought, while also giving some obvious benefit to your tribe."
"And you have an idea for that?"
"Sort of. I was thinking, your tribe has been so powerful because you control the routes in and out of the rest of Oz, right? The trading routes?"
"That's right." He began mapping out the routes for her, tracing in and out of her fingers and over the backs of her hands, seemingly not noticing her discomfort. "The major routes go through here and here, and even the trade route from Gillikin has to run through our territory there, because there's a river next to your thumb."
"So, what if you were able to make a deal allowing their tribe to be the sole importer of . . . some particular kind of goods - which you can presumably control, since you control all the import points."
She could practically see the thoughts making their way through his head. "That's . . . smart," he said finally. "We've never done that before, mostly because it's been more exporting by agents from outside the Vinkus than importing by any of us. And what does our tribe get out of it?"
"I was thinking a commission - a fee for allowing the goods to pass through your territory. Will it cause trouble with the neighboring regions though, if as you say they've been used to bringing their goods straight into the Vinkus without much trouble?"
"Not if it's something we don't already import," he said slowly. "Something completely new."
"I was thinking that, too," she said. "Because that way the other tribes wouldn't have anything taken away from them. What I needed from you is to know what you don't already import."
He slammed his hand abruptly down onto the stack of books at his side. "You won't believe it," he said, "but I think I just read the answer before you got here." He slid one book out from the middle of the pile and flipped to a page he had marked. "Jewelers in the Vinkus have been able to mine almost everything they needed, but the only way they've been able to get emeralds is by sending agents to the Emerald City to buy them personally. The trade restrictions have made emeralds enormously valuable, but have kept merchants from sending large quantities of them out into the far territories."
"But if one of the tribes skipped over the Emerald City merchants," Elphaba mused, "and bought them directly from the Quadlings . . ."
"It's a good enough suggestion to get my father off my back, anyway," Fiyero decided, closing the book again.
"Does it have to actually work - I mean, does her tribe have to actually accept the deal in order for you to get out of marrying her?"
"He didn't say," Fiyero replied, "but I suspect not. I think he won't have a problem negotiating with them on my behalf; he just wanted me to have to think about it a little first." He grinned. "I should have just asked you in the first place."
"Well, you'll know for the next time someone insists on you marrying their daughter." She hesitated, but decided to take the plunge. "Does your family know about Glinda?"
He froze momentarily in the act of gathering his books together. "No, they don't," he replied. "I try not to let my family know much of anything before they have to."
"I can understand that, I guess." The atmosphere in the small room had suddenly become very tense, and she was more than ready to escape.
His hand on her shoulder stilled her movements as she picked up her satchel. "Wait, I'll walk you back to your dormitory."
"It's all right," she said hastily, backing toward the door.
"No, it's late and no one's around, I'll walk you."
She couldn't do much other than nod and let him join her, and they descended the stairs out of the library without further conversation. Once they were outside, however, he nudged her with his shoulder and said, "There's something I've always wanted to ask . . ."
"Go ahead," she replied with some trepidation.
"Your father's position - it's inherited?"
"That's right."
"Then why is Nessa due to inherit, instead of you?" She didn't answer immediately, and he added, "Unless second daughters are particularly revered in Munchkinland."
She ducked her head slightly. "Only in our house."
"But why . . ."
"You're honestly asking me that question? Really?"
His fingers took hold of her hand for just a second, in a gesture she suspected was unconscious. "But - I'm sorry if this is rude, but how is a Governor who can't walk preferable to one who's a little . . . unusual looking?"
"Nessa will be a fine Governor," Elphaba replied, feeling as though she ought to defend her sister's merit. "She's very clever, and her mobility shouldn't be so much of a problem."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
She looked up at him with a smile that she hoped was casual and uncaring. "Fiyero, Nessa is our father's daughter. I am his mistake - an obscenity that never should have been created. Nothing has ever changed his view on that point, and nothing is likely to." She shook her head against whatever he might have been going to say. "Anyway it's all moot now - I will be in the Emerald City with the Wizard, and Glinda, and Nessa will be Governor. It's all very simple."
"It's not really that simple," he said, but Elphaba was distracted. She stopped him with an arm thrust out to block his forward motion and pointed ahead to the shell of the building that had once housed Shiz's Animal faculty. No one had gone near the place since it had been blown up - in fact, it was at least nominally a crime scene and the guards had forbidden trespass - but now there was a light moving in one of the blown-out windows.
"Look," Elphaba said, suddenly feeling the need to whisper. "See that?"
"I see it," he whispered back. "Why are we whispering?"
"What do you think they're looking for?" she asked, ignoring the question.
"Probably a warm place to sleep," he opined, starting to walk again. "I'm sure it's just vagrants."
"Vagrants wouldn't be trying to sleep on the third floor," she hissed, pulling him to a stop. "It's unstable. No one would go up there unless they were looking for something specific."
"I think you're giving vagrants too much credit," he muttered, but he let her pull him toward a cluster of trees located closer to the building.
The silhouette of the intruder in the ruined building shifted, and it was now clear that he or she was chipping or hacking at something in the room. "See?" Elphaba whispered, ducking behind one of the trees and hoping Fiyero had enough sense to hide as well. "What is that, a wall safe?"
"A desk, I think." His voice came from just over her shoulder, and she could feel his warmth close behind her back.
"So you agree they're looking for something?" she asked, trying to control the sudden shaking in her voice.
"I guess."
"What if Doctor Dillamond left papers behind?" she asked, the idea blinding her with its obviousness.
"Don't you think the guards would have taken them when he was arrested?"
"Not if they were hidden." She squinted, trying to make out any details of the mysterious figure in the window. "And maybe this person knows where they are."
"Wouldn't need to be papers, then." Fiyero's tone sounded reluctant, as if he were afraid to draw them both further into the mystery. "It could be anything he had hidden. Or any of the previous Animal teachers, for that matter - the ones we didn't even know."
Elphaba nodded, reaching a decision. She pushed herself away from the tree and whispered, "I'm going to go see who it is."
"Are you crazy? What excuse are you going to give for going in there?"
She shrugged. "I thought someone was trying to break in?"
"And you decided to go in yourself instead of calling the guards? Be serious, Elphaba - we don't know who that is, they could be dangerous."
Elphaba laughed, hoping again that it managed to come off as casual. "What do I have to lose?"
"Are you kidding me?" His hand clamped bruisingly over her wrist and he pulled her further back into the shadows. "Even if I'm willing to accept that you don't care about your own safety - which I'm not, by the way - who do you think will get hurt if you get in trouble? Your sister? Glinda? Unless you don't care about them, either."
Surprise hit her harder than offense - surprise at his vehement tone, coupled with the fact that he had dragged her too close to him. She wanted to be furious, but her reaction to his touch wouldn't let her. The energy she might have had drained from her voice, and she said only, "You know that's not true."
"Then think, would you?" His head jerked up, and he nodded at something behind her. "No need now, anyway. They're coming out."
She spun around in the dark, somewhat hampered by his iron grip on her wrist. "Did they get anything?" she asked.
"I couldn't see. We should be able to see them in a moment."
They waited in tense silence, both peering into the gloom ahead. After a while a shadowy figure, now without lantern, crept from the building and slipped away across the lawns. In the moonlight Elphaba could make out that it seemed to be a woman's shape, and whoever it was clutched a large knapsack under one arm. The figure raced toward the faculty offices, then took a sharp turn around the history building. "I couldn't tell who it was," she said softly.
"I could," Fiyero said behind her. "It was Professor Roka - she teaches my political science class." He tugged on her wrist until she turned to face him. "So what does that mean?"
"The only thing it means for sure is that she's interested in something left behind by one of the Animal professors."
"But what do you think it means? You must have an idea, you look positively horrified."
"At worst," Elphaba said slowly, "it means she's in league with the Palace and you can't trust her."
"Glad I didn't ask her to help me get out of being married, then," Fiyero muttered. "The thought did occur to me. But why is that so bad?"
"It's bad if it means the Wizard has more spies among the faculty," she said, cursing the fact that he was still holding on to her. She wanted to talk about this, she wanted to continue their argument from earlier, she wanted to run away, but she was stopped by the heat, the wretched thrill of desire that took over her every time he moved his fingers on her wrist. She looked up at him and begged quietly, "Let go, Fiyero, please."
He looked stricken, and immediately released his hold on her wrist. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, I forgot - come on, I'll walk you home. Glinda will be wondering where you are."
They separated in silence, but she thought she heard him whisper, as he turned away to gather his things from where he had dropped them, "I can't let this go on."
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: The Wizard's summons finally arrives, and Elphaba and Fiyero have a somewhat disquieting encounter.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: As promised, beneath the cut are links to all previous sections of the story:
Prologue.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Also, this story does make reference to an incident that took place in an earlier oneshot of mine. You don't really have to have read it, but if you'd like to, it's here.
~~Glinda~~
The envelope was sitting innocently in a pile of her mail from home - letters from friends too young, too uninterested, or too already-married to attend Shiz, along with the weekly letter from her parents and a note from her auntie in Settica - as well as two dull university notices and a letter for Elphaba from her father, no doubt containing the usual admonitions to take care of Nessarose and try not to explode anything. Despite the brightly decorated stationery preferred by Glinda's friends and her mother, the emerald green envelope made its presence known as soon as even the smallest corner peeked out of the pile. Although she had known it must be coming, the sight of the envelope itself felt like an arrest warrant.
Glinda smiled politely at the mail clerk and readjusted the pile in her hands so that the green wasn't showing. Somehow she felt as though walking across campus with that telltale letter in her hands would brand her all over again as not-really-one-of-us, would remind the other students that she had already been separated out and made different. And not necessarily in a good way.
Boq waved to her across the lawn as she scurried back to the dormitory, but for once she had a sterling excuse - she waved back hastily with her free hand and called, "Sorry, but I really have to find Elphaba!"
The door to their room was locked and she almost pulled out her key and opened it straightaway, but another thought came to her and she knocked softly and called, "Elphie?"
She heard footsteps inside the room, and then the door was unlocked and opened enough for Elphaba to peer into the hallway. "Sorry," she said, pulling her glasses off and allowing Glinda to open the door wider. "I was studying - well, come in quickly."
Sure enough, the Grimmerie was sitting open on Elphaba's desk. "I thought I'd better knock," Glinda explained, dropping the mail on her bed and shrugging out of her coat as she went to see what spell Elphaba had been studying. "Did you figure out something new?"
"No, and I've been trying for hours." Elphaba sounded frustrated, and her long braid looked as though she had been worrying at it. "I'm getting so nervous about what to expect when -"
"Oh!" Glinda interrupted. She held up a hand to silence Elphaba's protest. "Look, what came today."
At the sight of the green envelope Elphaba paled, just as Glinda felt she must have in the mailroom. "Well," Elphaba said quietly. "Did you open it?"
"No, I was waiting for you." Glinda started to slip her finger under the seal, then looked up at her roommate. "Ready?"
"Ready won't change what it says," Elphaba replied, giving her a quick nod.
Glinda nodded in reply and opened the letter, scanning the elaborate script as quickly as she could. Miss Upland and Miss Thropp are requested . . . "Next week," she told Elphaba. "For five days."
Elphaba held out her hand for the letter. "Can we survive five days?" she asked, only half-joking.
"It doesn't say much about what we'll be doing."
"No, they wouldn't want to give that much away in advance. I'm sure they want us nervous."
"Well, you'll have to survive," Glinda said, striving for a casual, jovial tone. "Because I don't plan on doing this alone."
"Whatever it is," Elphaba agreed.
She looked so forlorn that Glinda held out an arm and motioned for Elphaba to come and sit with her on the bed. "Are you ready to go back?" she asked after Elphaba had settled in beside her. "I mean - will you be all right, being in the City again?"
Elphaba closed her eyes and rested her head just for a moment on Glinda's shoulder before straightening up again. "If you can go back to history class, I can do this," she said finally. "Can't have you be braver than me."
"No, I imagine you'd die of mortification," Glinda said fondly. "And we can't have that happen."
"I suppose we should be looking at this as an opportunity," Elphaba commented. "Once we have a better idea of what they expect from us, we'll know what we can make of it. I hope."
"That's right." The mention of 'what we can make of it' made Glinda extremely nervous, and she threaded her fingers through Elphaba's to cover her hesitation. "We'll have to be . . . on alert."
"We should be anyway," Elphaba said, looking down at their entwined hands. "I don't exactly trust their intentions - the Wizard's, or Morrible's, or anyone else there."
"That's true." Remembering something she had read, Glinda tugged the letter from Elphaba's other hand. "Look, this hotel they're sending us to is a different one. I remember it; it's right next to the Palace."
"Not taking any chances, I guess."
"No, they'll probably be keeping a close eye - Elphaba." Something had just occurred to her, something that made her even more nervous. "Do you think they can spy on us - in the hotel? Do you think that's why they have one so close?"
"I'm sure it's possible," Elphaba said, mirroring Glinda's startled expression. "We should be careful what we say." Her eyes lowered, and some of the surprise bled from her face. "Afraid?"
"Yes," Glinda admitted readily. "But you can get that look off your face now, please."
"What look?"
"That this-is-all-my-fault look you're so good at." She wrapped her arm around Elphaba's shoulders and pulled stubbornly until Elphaba consented to be embraced. "I won't have it."
"Whatever you say," Elphaba muttered from Glinda's shoulder.
~~Elphaba~~
The day after the Wizard's summons arrived, Elphaba slipped into one of the usually-vacant study rooms on the top floor of the library, her satchel full of spells she had copied from the Grimmerie in the hopes of finding something that would aid with translation. The room was not empty, however, and she stood in the doorway blinking in surprise.
"Oh, don't look like that," Fiyero grumbled. "I have a problem."
She hesitated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You can't find your way out of the library?"
"You're just hilarious." He nudged the empty seat beside him with his elbow, and Elphaba - albeit slowly - took the hint. He was surrounded by stacks of books, some of them very dusty and decrepit in appearance, and his casual reclining pose with feet perched on the opposite chair was belied by the worry lines creasing his forehead. "I hear you're going to the Emerald City next week," he said as she sat down.
"I'd rather not think about that right now."
"Fair enough." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Want to hear about my problem instead?"
"All right," she replied cautiously.
"My parents have received an offer of marriage. For me," he added when she didn't respond.
"Who from?" she asked, grammar forgotten in her surprise. Somehow an official offer made to his parents - a king and queen, no less - didn't seem exactly like Glinda's style.
"The ruler of a neighboring tribe, a much smaller one. For his daughter."
"Oh." Elphaba eased the satchel off her shoulder and settled into her chair. "Is that . . . common?"
"For an offer to be made? Very - happens all the time. Not all of them are political offers, of course - sometimes the two people decide to marry each other, and it's done the official way just for the sake of diplomacy. The purely political offers are accepted less often."
"And . . ." She was almost afraid to ask. " . . . this one?"
"Is very much a political offer. The girl's fifteen and I've never even seen her - I don't think."
"Fifteen and they want to marry her off?"
"Well, they're not suggesting we actually get married right now." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "So there you go, that's my problem."
She frowned. "I thought you said the political offers were accepted less often. Are your parents - have they accepted?"
"No, and honestly they're not inclined to."
"So . . ."
"But it's not quite that easy. This tribe is small, but they could cause a lot of trouble if they wanted to. My parents have said they'll decline the offer, if I can think of some way to appease the girl's parents."
"Oh." She was just noticing that most of the books on the table appeared to be histories of the tribes of the Vinkus, along with some modern political works on the region. "So you have to figure out what they hope to gain from the marriage - besides you - and find some other way to give it to them?"
"Yes - and to get something for ourselves out of it, as well. Otherwise it would be too transparent that we're just trying to buy them off." He sighed, hands coming to rest on the open volume before him. "Really I think my father's just trying to force me to take the responsibility, you know? It's not the first proposal they've had for me -"
"Really?"
"- but I was eight the last time, so I couldn't exactly contribute much to the negotiations," he finished with a tired smile.
"So that's the real problem - figuring out what deal to offer them."
"Right."
She had been fighting the urge to smile for the last several minutes, and finally she allowed one side of her mouth to turn up. "Wishing you'd paid more attention in political science?"
"Very." He caught sight of her expression and added, "This is not funny, you know."
"It is just a little bit funny." She motioned past him to a large stack of newspapers. "What are those?"
"Anything recent I could find on tribal economics. The Vinkus doesn't exactly have a newspaper, but the big stuff gets covered by the other papers."
"Pass them over."
His face lit up at the request. "Really?"
"I'll warn you though - I've never studied political science at all."
"Well, being ten times cleverer than me ought to make up for it." As he handed her the stack of newspapers he asked, "The Governor's daughter never had to study politics?"
"The Governor's other daughter did." She looked away, hoping he wouldn't be able to read her expression. "Anyway, I think both Glinda and I are about to learn quite a lot about politics outside of school."
"That's true."
He was quiet then, and she settled back with the first paper in the pile - a Gillikin newspaper describing the effect of droughts on the various cattle herds in the Vinkus - but he interrupted her thoughts soon enough. "I should be teasing you, you know."
She looked at him over the top of the paper. "On principle?"
"About my roommate."
Her stomach did a queer turn when he said that, but she ignored it. "Really, two people dancing together twice - at a dance - is the best gossip Shiz is producing these days?"
"He hasn't stopped talking about you, actually. He thinks you're interesting."
She focused her eyes on the newspaper in her hands, hoping he would get the idea. "Most people think I'm interesting, Fiyero."
"But in a good way?"
"Are you sure you want help? Because I could go."
He placed a restraining hand on her elbow. "No, I'm sorry - I promise, I'll shut up."
They parted at the end of the afternoon with a promise on both sides to meet the following night. When Elphaba returned to her dormitory, the first thing Glinda asked her was, "Have you seen Fiyero? I haven't seen him all day."
Elphaba felt oddly guilty, although she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. "I just saw him in the library," she said casually, taking off her cloak and hanging it on its hook.
"Really?"
"He said he had a . . . research project." Glinda looked surprised, so Elphaba assumed that Fiyero had not shared his news from home with her. She supposed she could understand why - Glinda had seemed so pleased lately with the way things were going between her and Fiyero; she couldn't be thrilled to hear that he was in even the smallest danger of being forced to marry a fifteen-year-old Winkie princess. Secure in the knowledge that Glinda wouldn't ask too many questions about any schoolwork that didn't have to do with sorcery, Elphaba pulled one of the newspaper articles out of her satchel and settled in at her desk to read.
By the time she met Fiyero in the library the next night, she felt that at least she had something to contribute, even if it wasn't a fully-formed solution. His expression as she walked into the room was so hopeful that she immediately held up both hands and said, "I have the beginning of an idea - but you'll have to tell me if it's any good because I don't know the Vinkus well enough."
"All right," he said expectantly as he watched her slide into her chair.
"Here's what I think," she began, pulling the pile of newspapers from her bag. "The one thing her tribe doesn't have much of a share in is industry."
"Coordinated industry?" he interrupted. "Neither does any other tribe in the Vinkus, hardly."
"Right." She spread her hands on the table, almost unconsciously using different fingers to represent different geographical areas. "And their cattle lands, over here to the north, are drying up, while yours are still basically all right - aren't they?" When he nodded, she continued, "So, if you had married this girl, would they expect to be able to share somehow in your grazing lands?"
"Almost definitely."
"So what you need is some kind of arrangement that allows them to participate in a new industry not affected by the drought, while also giving some obvious benefit to your tribe."
"And you have an idea for that?"
"Sort of. I was thinking, your tribe has been so powerful because you control the routes in and out of the rest of Oz, right? The trading routes?"
"That's right." He began mapping out the routes for her, tracing in and out of her fingers and over the backs of her hands, seemingly not noticing her discomfort. "The major routes go through here and here, and even the trade route from Gillikin has to run through our territory there, because there's a river next to your thumb."
"So, what if you were able to make a deal allowing their tribe to be the sole importer of . . . some particular kind of goods - which you can presumably control, since you control all the import points."
She could practically see the thoughts making their way through his head. "That's . . . smart," he said finally. "We've never done that before, mostly because it's been more exporting by agents from outside the Vinkus than importing by any of us. And what does our tribe get out of it?"
"I was thinking a commission - a fee for allowing the goods to pass through your territory. Will it cause trouble with the neighboring regions though, if as you say they've been used to bringing their goods straight into the Vinkus without much trouble?"
"Not if it's something we don't already import," he said slowly. "Something completely new."
"I was thinking that, too," she said. "Because that way the other tribes wouldn't have anything taken away from them. What I needed from you is to know what you don't already import."
He slammed his hand abruptly down onto the stack of books at his side. "You won't believe it," he said, "but I think I just read the answer before you got here." He slid one book out from the middle of the pile and flipped to a page he had marked. "Jewelers in the Vinkus have been able to mine almost everything they needed, but the only way they've been able to get emeralds is by sending agents to the Emerald City to buy them personally. The trade restrictions have made emeralds enormously valuable, but have kept merchants from sending large quantities of them out into the far territories."
"But if one of the tribes skipped over the Emerald City merchants," Elphaba mused, "and bought them directly from the Quadlings . . ."
"It's a good enough suggestion to get my father off my back, anyway," Fiyero decided, closing the book again.
"Does it have to actually work - I mean, does her tribe have to actually accept the deal in order for you to get out of marrying her?"
"He didn't say," Fiyero replied, "but I suspect not. I think he won't have a problem negotiating with them on my behalf; he just wanted me to have to think about it a little first." He grinned. "I should have just asked you in the first place."
"Well, you'll know for the next time someone insists on you marrying their daughter." She hesitated, but decided to take the plunge. "Does your family know about Glinda?"
He froze momentarily in the act of gathering his books together. "No, they don't," he replied. "I try not to let my family know much of anything before they have to."
"I can understand that, I guess." The atmosphere in the small room had suddenly become very tense, and she was more than ready to escape.
His hand on her shoulder stilled her movements as she picked up her satchel. "Wait, I'll walk you back to your dormitory."
"It's all right," she said hastily, backing toward the door.
"No, it's late and no one's around, I'll walk you."
She couldn't do much other than nod and let him join her, and they descended the stairs out of the library without further conversation. Once they were outside, however, he nudged her with his shoulder and said, "There's something I've always wanted to ask . . ."
"Go ahead," she replied with some trepidation.
"Your father's position - it's inherited?"
"That's right."
"Then why is Nessa due to inherit, instead of you?" She didn't answer immediately, and he added, "Unless second daughters are particularly revered in Munchkinland."
She ducked her head slightly. "Only in our house."
"But why . . ."
"You're honestly asking me that question? Really?"
His fingers took hold of her hand for just a second, in a gesture she suspected was unconscious. "But - I'm sorry if this is rude, but how is a Governor who can't walk preferable to one who's a little . . . unusual looking?"
"Nessa will be a fine Governor," Elphaba replied, feeling as though she ought to defend her sister's merit. "She's very clever, and her mobility shouldn't be so much of a problem."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
She looked up at him with a smile that she hoped was casual and uncaring. "Fiyero, Nessa is our father's daughter. I am his mistake - an obscenity that never should have been created. Nothing has ever changed his view on that point, and nothing is likely to." She shook her head against whatever he might have been going to say. "Anyway it's all moot now - I will be in the Emerald City with the Wizard, and Glinda, and Nessa will be Governor. It's all very simple."
"It's not really that simple," he said, but Elphaba was distracted. She stopped him with an arm thrust out to block his forward motion and pointed ahead to the shell of the building that had once housed Shiz's Animal faculty. No one had gone near the place since it had been blown up - in fact, it was at least nominally a crime scene and the guards had forbidden trespass - but now there was a light moving in one of the blown-out windows.
"Look," Elphaba said, suddenly feeling the need to whisper. "See that?"
"I see it," he whispered back. "Why are we whispering?"
"What do you think they're looking for?" she asked, ignoring the question.
"Probably a warm place to sleep," he opined, starting to walk again. "I'm sure it's just vagrants."
"Vagrants wouldn't be trying to sleep on the third floor," she hissed, pulling him to a stop. "It's unstable. No one would go up there unless they were looking for something specific."
"I think you're giving vagrants too much credit," he muttered, but he let her pull him toward a cluster of trees located closer to the building.
The silhouette of the intruder in the ruined building shifted, and it was now clear that he or she was chipping or hacking at something in the room. "See?" Elphaba whispered, ducking behind one of the trees and hoping Fiyero had enough sense to hide as well. "What is that, a wall safe?"
"A desk, I think." His voice came from just over her shoulder, and she could feel his warmth close behind her back.
"So you agree they're looking for something?" she asked, trying to control the sudden shaking in her voice.
"I guess."
"What if Doctor Dillamond left papers behind?" she asked, the idea blinding her with its obviousness.
"Don't you think the guards would have taken them when he was arrested?"
"Not if they were hidden." She squinted, trying to make out any details of the mysterious figure in the window. "And maybe this person knows where they are."
"Wouldn't need to be papers, then." Fiyero's tone sounded reluctant, as if he were afraid to draw them both further into the mystery. "It could be anything he had hidden. Or any of the previous Animal teachers, for that matter - the ones we didn't even know."
Elphaba nodded, reaching a decision. She pushed herself away from the tree and whispered, "I'm going to go see who it is."
"Are you crazy? What excuse are you going to give for going in there?"
She shrugged. "I thought someone was trying to break in?"
"And you decided to go in yourself instead of calling the guards? Be serious, Elphaba - we don't know who that is, they could be dangerous."
Elphaba laughed, hoping again that it managed to come off as casual. "What do I have to lose?"
"Are you kidding me?" His hand clamped bruisingly over her wrist and he pulled her further back into the shadows. "Even if I'm willing to accept that you don't care about your own safety - which I'm not, by the way - who do you think will get hurt if you get in trouble? Your sister? Glinda? Unless you don't care about them, either."
Surprise hit her harder than offense - surprise at his vehement tone, coupled with the fact that he had dragged her too close to him. She wanted to be furious, but her reaction to his touch wouldn't let her. The energy she might have had drained from her voice, and she said only, "You know that's not true."
"Then think, would you?" His head jerked up, and he nodded at something behind her. "No need now, anyway. They're coming out."
She spun around in the dark, somewhat hampered by his iron grip on her wrist. "Did they get anything?" she asked.
"I couldn't see. We should be able to see them in a moment."
They waited in tense silence, both peering into the gloom ahead. After a while a shadowy figure, now without lantern, crept from the building and slipped away across the lawns. In the moonlight Elphaba could make out that it seemed to be a woman's shape, and whoever it was clutched a large knapsack under one arm. The figure raced toward the faculty offices, then took a sharp turn around the history building. "I couldn't tell who it was," she said softly.
"I could," Fiyero said behind her. "It was Professor Roka - she teaches my political science class." He tugged on her wrist until she turned to face him. "So what does that mean?"
"The only thing it means for sure is that she's interested in something left behind by one of the Animal professors."
"But what do you think it means? You must have an idea, you look positively horrified."
"At worst," Elphaba said slowly, "it means she's in league with the Palace and you can't trust her."
"Glad I didn't ask her to help me get out of being married, then," Fiyero muttered. "The thought did occur to me. But why is that so bad?"
"It's bad if it means the Wizard has more spies among the faculty," she said, cursing the fact that he was still holding on to her. She wanted to talk about this, she wanted to continue their argument from earlier, she wanted to run away, but she was stopped by the heat, the wretched thrill of desire that took over her every time he moved his fingers on her wrist. She looked up at him and begged quietly, "Let go, Fiyero, please."
He looked stricken, and immediately released his hold on her wrist. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, I forgot - come on, I'll walk you home. Glinda will be wondering where you are."
They separated in silence, but she thought she heard him whisper, as he turned away to gather his things from where he had dropped them, "I can't let this go on."