Defying Gravity, 28/?, by ainsleyaisling
Title: Defying Gravity, 28/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Summary: Glinda and Elphaba - and Fiyero - working hand-in-hand, the way it was supposed to be . . . maybe . . .
This chapter: Glinda solves a big and potentially grisly problem, but is about to cause herself another one.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Sequel to "The Effects of Gravity," a link to all chapters of which, plus the posted chapters of this story, can be found here. The previous chapter of this story can be found here.
Other Notes: So once upon a time there was all this RL stuff that nobody cares about. Suffice to say, I am completely lame, but some of the twenty things that kept me from writing are over and taken care of. And I've finally remembered exactly where I was in my head when I wrote the last chapters. So - barring a national emergency of some kind, or a sudden head injury - we are back on track. I apologize for probably ignoring your emails, but I just frankly was not checking messages on this account. Mea culpa, and I hope having the rest of the story to read will kind of make up for it. And there is lots of story left. So THANK YOU for your patience, and onward to the story - though you really might want to go back and read chapter 27. Sorry.
~~Glinda~~
She coughed a little, her throat dry and raw from all the crying she'd been doing these days, as she gestured for Elphaba to take a step back. "I summoned these from outside," Glinda said as she went to the table in the middle of the room.
"Summoned what?" Elphaba asked, following her curiously while ignoring the subtle instruction to stay out of the way.
Glinda motioned to the two cups she'd set on the table, each covered with a cloth, and lifted one of the cloths. "These."
Elphaba peered over her shoulder and let out a startled cry. "Those are surprisingly frightening," she said.
Glinda made a face and quickly replaced the cloth before the large, exceptionally hairy spider could climb out of its cup. "I know. I was fairly certain I'd kill the first few by accident, so I had to use something really disgusting. I was beginning to feel bad for the ants."
Elphaba's nose wrinkled uncharacteristically, and now she did take a step back. "I didn't even know spiders like that lived in the Emerald City."
"I don't think they do, actually," Glinda said, gingerly setting the cup back on the table. "I'm not sure where I summoned them from."
"Where's the cat?" Elphaba asked suddenly.
"Shut up in my room. He was much too interested and who knows if they'd have poisoned him if he ate one." Glinda took a step back from the table herself. "Ready?"
Elphaba nodded.
"Watch." Glinda held out her hands and slowly recited the adapted words of the transportation spell, the one that had been safely sending ants through their walls for days. One of the cups blinked out of existence, but a moment later the spider reappeared on the table without the cup. It was not only dead, it was quite dead - its legs protruding from unnatural places and its head somewhere on its stomach. Glinda winced a bit despite the fact that she'd seen it happen twice before (and quickly disposed of the remains by way of the window).
"Oh, my," Elphaba said, leaning just close enough to see what had happened. "That is really . . . very dead."
"Yes." Glinda coughed a bit again. "The cup'll be in your bedroom totally unharmed."
"So what -"
"I think the spell gets confused and only understands it's supposed to move the cup - so it does, and the . . . boundaries, the sides of the cup end up going through the spider. It's the only explanation I can think of."
"And the magic completely rearranges the spider?" Elphaba's mouth twisted as she looked closer. "That's horrible."
"Right. Now watch." Using her hands to describe circles in the air, Glinda muttered a spell at the remaining cup. When she stopped, having felt the power flowing through her fingers and feeling that she'd managed the spell correctly, she paused to glance at Elphaba.
Elphaba gave her a tiny shrug. "Nothing happened?"
"It did," Glinda said. "Watch." Again she performed the modified transportation spell, but this time the cup vanished and stayed vanished. "Go look."
Obediently Elphaba went off into her bedroom and returned with the covered cup in her hands. "Do I . . ." she asked tentatively, two fingers grasping the edges of the covering cloth.
Glinda nodded. "Don't worry, you won't get bitten."
Elphaba pulled off the cloth and immediately a pink bubble rose out of the cup and floated placidly on the air. The spider was inside it. "You should do this sort of thing at parties," she commented, following the bubble so that she could look into it.
"The spider is unharmed," Glinda said unnecessarily.
"The spider is as happily horrible as before," Elphaba confirmed. "He's crawling around in there. How do you get him out?"
Glinda whispered, and the bubble disappeared. The spider dropped several feet and landed on the carpet, looking unperturbed.
Elphaba stepped back as it started to crawl in her direction. "The same bubbles Morrible had you making?"
Glinda nodded. "Pretty fairy magic."
"Brilliant." Looking almost comically prim, for her, Elphaba quickly put the cup upside-down over the spider, stopping its path. "Can we . . . release him, now?"
"Please."
Elphaba took a sheet of paper from the desk and slipped it under the cup so that she could carry it, and its contents, to the window. "So, the bubble protects the animal inside because it's also magic, so the spell recognizes it? Or can't penetrate it?"
"It must be something like that, I don't know exactly." Glinda went and opened the door of her own bedroom, and the cat flew out as if it had been sitting with its face pressed against the door. "I guessed old magic would recognize old magic."
Elphaba hesitated with one hand still out the window. "The bubble spell draws on the old magic?"
"The one Morrible gave me doesn't," Glinda admitted. "I modified it."
"Really?"
Elphaba's impressed tone brought heat unexpectedly to Glinda's face; she bent and picked up the cat to cover it. "It seemed to make the spell stronger - so the bubbles won't break until the spell is ended on purpose." Her hands trembled, she could tell now that she was holding something in them. She pressed the cat closer to her chest.
It was too late though - Elphaba had noticed that something was wrong. She had closed the window, the spider safely deposited outside, and came closer with her eyes narrowed. "When I came in I thought you'd been working too hard," she said. "What happened?"
Glinda shook her head and tried for an airy tone, still hugging the cat. "Nothing. I'm fine, I just - I have been working too much, combining the bubble spell with the other stuff took ages . . ."
"Glinda," Elphaba said, her brows drawing even closer together. "What?"
"Nothing," Glinda repeated, but it sounded like a plea, and her voice broke in the middle.
"Glinda." This time Elphaba's voice was low and compelling, and Glinda looked up to find Elphaba's eyes locked onto hers with such an intensity that Glinda couldn't look away. They stood like that for what seemed like several minutes, and then Elphaba looked down at the carpet, the spell breaking. "I'm nervous for you," she said, still staring somewhere near Glinda's feet. "I wish you'd tell me -"
Glinda's hand seemed to move without her permission; it abruptly dove into her pocket and pulled out her mother's crushed letter. She held it out to Elphaba without looking at her.
Elphaba lifted her head, saw the letter, and then looked up into Glinda's face with an expression that wasn't just sadness or sympathy - it looked like weariness. "What does it say?" she asked.
Glinda swallowed, still holding the letter out toward her roommate. "He's surviving. For the moment. But it's bad."
Elphaba stood for a moment biting her lower lip. "Why didn't you want to tell me?" she finally asked.
Glinda shrugged, unable to think of a suitable response.
"You're sure that's all it said?"
Glinda silently offered the letter to her again, with an accompanying lift of her shoulder. When Elphaba shook her head, she withdrew and tucked the balled-up paper back into her pocket.
After they had stood looking at each other for a while, Elphaba folded her arms. "You're planning something."
"Only with you," Glinda said, after swallowing again.
"I don't -" Elphaba began.
"You don't believe me?"
As if she thought it was a test, Elphaba pondered the question for some moments before she spoke. "I believe you if you say I should," she said. "But I'm worried that you think you have to do something. You have that look."
"What would I do?" Glinda asked.
"I don't know, and that's what worries me." Elphaba shook herself a little and reached out to lay a hand on Glinda's arm. "I'm sorry. About your father."
Glinda nodded, then gave in to her inclination and stepped forward to lean her head against Elphaba's shoulder. "I just worry," she said, after waiting for Elphaba to wrap an arm around her, "that there's a deadline I'm not going to make."
"There probably is," Elphaba said into Glinda's hair. "But I don't think it has anything to do with your father, and it applies to both of us just as well. Time isn't infinite."
"You haven't heard from Fiyero?" Glinda asked, choking the words past the knot that was threatening to grow again in her throat.
"No. Which either means he hasn't heard from Rikk, or something's wrong." Elphaba shifted. "I'll go and talk to him."
"Now?" Glinda stood up straight, away from Elphaba's supporting embrace.
"I should have thought of it before; it's actually the best time. He should be out in the courtyard with his men, so it won't look as suspicious as me looking for him in his quarters." Already Elphaba was reaching for her cloak. "I'll be fast."
Resigned, Glinda nodded and held the cat closer, ignoring its token baby protest. "I'll wait," she said.
~~Elphaba~~
Fiyero was warming his hands by one of the fires and giving at least the impression of monitoring a few of the other men who were guarding the iron gates, but when he saw Elphaba he hurried away from them without a word. "Is something wrong?" he asked when he was close enough to whisper.
Elphaba deliberately stepped further into the shadows, drawing him along with her. "No," she whispered. "Well, yes, but - that's not why I'm here."
"What is it?"
She paused. "Why am I here, or what's wrong?"
Fiyero shrugged before tucking both hands into the pockets of his green jacket. "Both? Either?"
Elphaba's cold lips parted and she drew in a breath, but she just as quickly released it and then pressed her fingertips to her mouth. When she took them away, instead of explaining her visit, she said, "Glinda's father is dying."
"What?"
"He had an attack of some kind - a stroke, I suppose. Up in Gillikin. Glinda's been having letters from her mother -"
"Oh, no," Fiyero said softly.
"She's - something's wrong. With Glinda, I mean. Her father being ill makes her worry that she'll be turned over to some uncle who won't care that she wants to stay here . . ." Elphaba shook her head, the action causing her hood to fall back and expose her head to the cold air. "I'm afraid she's planning something, that she'll do something rash to avoid that happening, but she won't tell me what it is -"
"You asked?"
She gave him a mild glare. "Yes, I asked."
"Well." Fiyero leaned his back against a stone wall, hands still deep in his pockets. "Couldn't you . . ."
"What?"
"You know." He drew his hands out and waved them through the air. "Find out what she's thinking?"
"No," Elphaba said quietly, eyes on her feet.
He sighed, sending a fog of warm breath into the air. "I suppose that would be wrong."
"I tried."
Fiyero looked at her, and in the torchlight she could see his eyes widening. "Really?"
"I'm not proud of it." She crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "It didn't work. I didn't actually know a spell, I just thought maybe . . ."
He whistled softly, but was otherwise quiet. "So why did you come?" he asked after a while.
Elphaba swallowed and tried to shake off the mood of the previous moment. "To see if you'd had any message from Rikk."
"No, was I supposed to?"
"He was going to send a message through you when he'd talked to the Resistance. About what Glinda suggested."
"Nothing," Fiyero confirmed. "But I'm sure convincing them to help isn't something that can happen quickly. It's a big risk for them and they don't stand to benefit much."
Elphaba laughed shortly. "Yes, I'm beginning to see that's all anyone cares about. Even my sister."
"Nessa?"
Elphaba leaned against the wall, matching his posture. The cold of the stone soaked through her cloak and chilled her to the bone, but she didn't move. "She's afraid of losing her status. She doesn't want our father to help the Resistance; that's why he didn't want her to know what he was thinking about."
"She has some reason to be afraid," Fiyero pointed out. "Not just of losing status."
"I know." Elphaba tilted her head back slightly against the stone and looked up at the sky. As nearly every night lately, it was sharp and clear and the stars shimmered through what seemed like a complete absence of air. "But letting others suffer, not thinking about what happens to them, so that she can stay safe and stay in power - how different is that from what the Wizard did?" she whispered. "Are any of us really any better than he is?"
Fiyero was quiet for long enough that she contemplated saying something else. Finally he said, "I don't think it matters about being better. You want to solve a problem, so you'll solve it. And Glinda and I will help. None of us has to be perfect."
"Let's hope not," Elphaba muttered under her breath.
"For that matter, you don't care if the Animals are perfect, do you? You'd help them anyway."
"Of course."
"So." He paused. "Elphaba?"
"Hmm?"
Another pause as they both watched the other guards clustered in flickering firelight around the courtyard, and then he said, "Nothing, never mind." He pulled the hand nearest her from his pocket and wrapped it around her hand, warmth enveloping her fingers. "It'll be all right."
She didn't ask exactly what he meant, but only stood with her back against the wall, feeling her fingers start to burn with warmth. "What am I going to do about Glinda?" she asked.
He shrugged and held more tightly to her hand. "She's not much good at keeping secrets from you. You'll get it out of her, if there's something to get."
"In time?"
He pushed away from the wall and grabbed for her other hand, pressing them both between his. "You're frozen; you should go back in."
She hesitated before drawing her hands away and pulling her hood back over her head. "If you hear anything at all from Rikk -"
"Right away." He backed up, shaking his arms out and rubbing his hands together. "Go on, a frozen witch isn't good for much."
"True." She paused before slipping back through the gate that would take her into the palace. "Thank you."
He nodded, already turning to go back to his spot by the fire.
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Summary: Glinda and Elphaba - and Fiyero - working hand-in-hand, the way it was supposed to be . . . maybe . . .
This chapter: Glinda solves a big and potentially grisly problem, but is about to cause herself another one.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Sequel to "The Effects of Gravity," a link to all chapters of which, plus the posted chapters of this story, can be found here. The previous chapter of this story can be found here.
Other Notes: So once upon a time there was all this RL stuff that nobody cares about. Suffice to say, I am completely lame, but some of the twenty things that kept me from writing are over and taken care of. And I've finally remembered exactly where I was in my head when I wrote the last chapters. So - barring a national emergency of some kind, or a sudden head injury - we are back on track. I apologize for probably ignoring your emails, but I just frankly was not checking messages on this account. Mea culpa, and I hope having the rest of the story to read will kind of make up for it. And there is lots of story left. So THANK YOU for your patience, and onward to the story - though you really might want to go back and read chapter 27. Sorry.
~~Glinda~~
She coughed a little, her throat dry and raw from all the crying she'd been doing these days, as she gestured for Elphaba to take a step back. "I summoned these from outside," Glinda said as she went to the table in the middle of the room.
"Summoned what?" Elphaba asked, following her curiously while ignoring the subtle instruction to stay out of the way.
Glinda motioned to the two cups she'd set on the table, each covered with a cloth, and lifted one of the cloths. "These."
Elphaba peered over her shoulder and let out a startled cry. "Those are surprisingly frightening," she said.
Glinda made a face and quickly replaced the cloth before the large, exceptionally hairy spider could climb out of its cup. "I know. I was fairly certain I'd kill the first few by accident, so I had to use something really disgusting. I was beginning to feel bad for the ants."
Elphaba's nose wrinkled uncharacteristically, and now she did take a step back. "I didn't even know spiders like that lived in the Emerald City."
"I don't think they do, actually," Glinda said, gingerly setting the cup back on the table. "I'm not sure where I summoned them from."
"Where's the cat?" Elphaba asked suddenly.
"Shut up in my room. He was much too interested and who knows if they'd have poisoned him if he ate one." Glinda took a step back from the table herself. "Ready?"
Elphaba nodded.
"Watch." Glinda held out her hands and slowly recited the adapted words of the transportation spell, the one that had been safely sending ants through their walls for days. One of the cups blinked out of existence, but a moment later the spider reappeared on the table without the cup. It was not only dead, it was quite dead - its legs protruding from unnatural places and its head somewhere on its stomach. Glinda winced a bit despite the fact that she'd seen it happen twice before (and quickly disposed of the remains by way of the window).
"Oh, my," Elphaba said, leaning just close enough to see what had happened. "That is really . . . very dead."
"Yes." Glinda coughed a bit again. "The cup'll be in your bedroom totally unharmed."
"So what -"
"I think the spell gets confused and only understands it's supposed to move the cup - so it does, and the . . . boundaries, the sides of the cup end up going through the spider. It's the only explanation I can think of."
"And the magic completely rearranges the spider?" Elphaba's mouth twisted as she looked closer. "That's horrible."
"Right. Now watch." Using her hands to describe circles in the air, Glinda muttered a spell at the remaining cup. When she stopped, having felt the power flowing through her fingers and feeling that she'd managed the spell correctly, she paused to glance at Elphaba.
Elphaba gave her a tiny shrug. "Nothing happened?"
"It did," Glinda said. "Watch." Again she performed the modified transportation spell, but this time the cup vanished and stayed vanished. "Go look."
Obediently Elphaba went off into her bedroom and returned with the covered cup in her hands. "Do I . . ." she asked tentatively, two fingers grasping the edges of the covering cloth.
Glinda nodded. "Don't worry, you won't get bitten."
Elphaba pulled off the cloth and immediately a pink bubble rose out of the cup and floated placidly on the air. The spider was inside it. "You should do this sort of thing at parties," she commented, following the bubble so that she could look into it.
"The spider is unharmed," Glinda said unnecessarily.
"The spider is as happily horrible as before," Elphaba confirmed. "He's crawling around in there. How do you get him out?"
Glinda whispered, and the bubble disappeared. The spider dropped several feet and landed on the carpet, looking unperturbed.
Elphaba stepped back as it started to crawl in her direction. "The same bubbles Morrible had you making?"
Glinda nodded. "Pretty fairy magic."
"Brilliant." Looking almost comically prim, for her, Elphaba quickly put the cup upside-down over the spider, stopping its path. "Can we . . . release him, now?"
"Please."
Elphaba took a sheet of paper from the desk and slipped it under the cup so that she could carry it, and its contents, to the window. "So, the bubble protects the animal inside because it's also magic, so the spell recognizes it? Or can't penetrate it?"
"It must be something like that, I don't know exactly." Glinda went and opened the door of her own bedroom, and the cat flew out as if it had been sitting with its face pressed against the door. "I guessed old magic would recognize old magic."
Elphaba hesitated with one hand still out the window. "The bubble spell draws on the old magic?"
"The one Morrible gave me doesn't," Glinda admitted. "I modified it."
"Really?"
Elphaba's impressed tone brought heat unexpectedly to Glinda's face; she bent and picked up the cat to cover it. "It seemed to make the spell stronger - so the bubbles won't break until the spell is ended on purpose." Her hands trembled, she could tell now that she was holding something in them. She pressed the cat closer to her chest.
It was too late though - Elphaba had noticed that something was wrong. She had closed the window, the spider safely deposited outside, and came closer with her eyes narrowed. "When I came in I thought you'd been working too hard," she said. "What happened?"
Glinda shook her head and tried for an airy tone, still hugging the cat. "Nothing. I'm fine, I just - I have been working too much, combining the bubble spell with the other stuff took ages . . ."
"Glinda," Elphaba said, her brows drawing even closer together. "What?"
"Nothing," Glinda repeated, but it sounded like a plea, and her voice broke in the middle.
"Glinda." This time Elphaba's voice was low and compelling, and Glinda looked up to find Elphaba's eyes locked onto hers with such an intensity that Glinda couldn't look away. They stood like that for what seemed like several minutes, and then Elphaba looked down at the carpet, the spell breaking. "I'm nervous for you," she said, still staring somewhere near Glinda's feet. "I wish you'd tell me -"
Glinda's hand seemed to move without her permission; it abruptly dove into her pocket and pulled out her mother's crushed letter. She held it out to Elphaba without looking at her.
Elphaba lifted her head, saw the letter, and then looked up into Glinda's face with an expression that wasn't just sadness or sympathy - it looked like weariness. "What does it say?" she asked.
Glinda swallowed, still holding the letter out toward her roommate. "He's surviving. For the moment. But it's bad."
Elphaba stood for a moment biting her lower lip. "Why didn't you want to tell me?" she finally asked.
Glinda shrugged, unable to think of a suitable response.
"You're sure that's all it said?"
Glinda silently offered the letter to her again, with an accompanying lift of her shoulder. When Elphaba shook her head, she withdrew and tucked the balled-up paper back into her pocket.
After they had stood looking at each other for a while, Elphaba folded her arms. "You're planning something."
"Only with you," Glinda said, after swallowing again.
"I don't -" Elphaba began.
"You don't believe me?"
As if she thought it was a test, Elphaba pondered the question for some moments before she spoke. "I believe you if you say I should," she said. "But I'm worried that you think you have to do something. You have that look."
"What would I do?" Glinda asked.
"I don't know, and that's what worries me." Elphaba shook herself a little and reached out to lay a hand on Glinda's arm. "I'm sorry. About your father."
Glinda nodded, then gave in to her inclination and stepped forward to lean her head against Elphaba's shoulder. "I just worry," she said, after waiting for Elphaba to wrap an arm around her, "that there's a deadline I'm not going to make."
"There probably is," Elphaba said into Glinda's hair. "But I don't think it has anything to do with your father, and it applies to both of us just as well. Time isn't infinite."
"You haven't heard from Fiyero?" Glinda asked, choking the words past the knot that was threatening to grow again in her throat.
"No. Which either means he hasn't heard from Rikk, or something's wrong." Elphaba shifted. "I'll go and talk to him."
"Now?" Glinda stood up straight, away from Elphaba's supporting embrace.
"I should have thought of it before; it's actually the best time. He should be out in the courtyard with his men, so it won't look as suspicious as me looking for him in his quarters." Already Elphaba was reaching for her cloak. "I'll be fast."
Resigned, Glinda nodded and held the cat closer, ignoring its token baby protest. "I'll wait," she said.
~~Elphaba~~
Fiyero was warming his hands by one of the fires and giving at least the impression of monitoring a few of the other men who were guarding the iron gates, but when he saw Elphaba he hurried away from them without a word. "Is something wrong?" he asked when he was close enough to whisper.
Elphaba deliberately stepped further into the shadows, drawing him along with her. "No," she whispered. "Well, yes, but - that's not why I'm here."
"What is it?"
She paused. "Why am I here, or what's wrong?"
Fiyero shrugged before tucking both hands into the pockets of his green jacket. "Both? Either?"
Elphaba's cold lips parted and she drew in a breath, but she just as quickly released it and then pressed her fingertips to her mouth. When she took them away, instead of explaining her visit, she said, "Glinda's father is dying."
"What?"
"He had an attack of some kind - a stroke, I suppose. Up in Gillikin. Glinda's been having letters from her mother -"
"Oh, no," Fiyero said softly.
"She's - something's wrong. With Glinda, I mean. Her father being ill makes her worry that she'll be turned over to some uncle who won't care that she wants to stay here . . ." Elphaba shook her head, the action causing her hood to fall back and expose her head to the cold air. "I'm afraid she's planning something, that she'll do something rash to avoid that happening, but she won't tell me what it is -"
"You asked?"
She gave him a mild glare. "Yes, I asked."
"Well." Fiyero leaned his back against a stone wall, hands still deep in his pockets. "Couldn't you . . ."
"What?"
"You know." He drew his hands out and waved them through the air. "Find out what she's thinking?"
"No," Elphaba said quietly, eyes on her feet.
He sighed, sending a fog of warm breath into the air. "I suppose that would be wrong."
"I tried."
Fiyero looked at her, and in the torchlight she could see his eyes widening. "Really?"
"I'm not proud of it." She crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "It didn't work. I didn't actually know a spell, I just thought maybe . . ."
He whistled softly, but was otherwise quiet. "So why did you come?" he asked after a while.
Elphaba swallowed and tried to shake off the mood of the previous moment. "To see if you'd had any message from Rikk."
"No, was I supposed to?"
"He was going to send a message through you when he'd talked to the Resistance. About what Glinda suggested."
"Nothing," Fiyero confirmed. "But I'm sure convincing them to help isn't something that can happen quickly. It's a big risk for them and they don't stand to benefit much."
Elphaba laughed shortly. "Yes, I'm beginning to see that's all anyone cares about. Even my sister."
"Nessa?"
Elphaba leaned against the wall, matching his posture. The cold of the stone soaked through her cloak and chilled her to the bone, but she didn't move. "She's afraid of losing her status. She doesn't want our father to help the Resistance; that's why he didn't want her to know what he was thinking about."
"She has some reason to be afraid," Fiyero pointed out. "Not just of losing status."
"I know." Elphaba tilted her head back slightly against the stone and looked up at the sky. As nearly every night lately, it was sharp and clear and the stars shimmered through what seemed like a complete absence of air. "But letting others suffer, not thinking about what happens to them, so that she can stay safe and stay in power - how different is that from what the Wizard did?" she whispered. "Are any of us really any better than he is?"
Fiyero was quiet for long enough that she contemplated saying something else. Finally he said, "I don't think it matters about being better. You want to solve a problem, so you'll solve it. And Glinda and I will help. None of us has to be perfect."
"Let's hope not," Elphaba muttered under her breath.
"For that matter, you don't care if the Animals are perfect, do you? You'd help them anyway."
"Of course."
"So." He paused. "Elphaba?"
"Hmm?"
Another pause as they both watched the other guards clustered in flickering firelight around the courtyard, and then he said, "Nothing, never mind." He pulled the hand nearest her from his pocket and wrapped it around her hand, warmth enveloping her fingers. "It'll be all right."
She didn't ask exactly what he meant, but only stood with her back against the wall, feeling her fingers start to burn with warmth. "What am I going to do about Glinda?" she asked.
He shrugged and held more tightly to her hand. "She's not much good at keeping secrets from you. You'll get it out of her, if there's something to get."
"In time?"
He pushed away from the wall and grabbed for her other hand, pressing them both between his. "You're frozen; you should go back in."
She hesitated before drawing her hands away and pulling her hood back over her head. "If you hear anything at all from Rikk -"
"Right away." He backed up, shaking his arms out and rubbing his hands together. "Go on, a frozen witch isn't good for much."
"True." She paused before slipping back through the gate that would take her into the palace. "Thank you."
He nodded, already turning to go back to his spot by the fire.