Defying Gravity, 34/?, by ainsleyaisling
Title: Defying Gravity, 34/?
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: One mystery solved. A lot more not.
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.
~~Elphaba~~
Elphaba found some small consolation in mentally cursing Fiyero's name, often and creatively, while she was dancing with the young Munchkinlander Guard who had barely managed to stammer out his name. She was still inclined to believe he was affected more - or rather, entirely - by fear, than by anything else, but it was a mortifying situation all the same. He was at least a competent dancer (probably more competent than Elphaba, if she were being honest with herself) and didn't draw extra attention to them by running into other couples. Still, her face heated when she considered what people must be thinking - that the wicked Witch had a taste for young and innocent Guards, probably. Or that she was trying to use them for her own nefarious purposes. The idea made her think of Morrible, but a hasty glance around the room did not turn her up.
When the boy had gone fleeing off to the shelter of the pillars around the edge of the room and the (most likely teasing) company of his fellows, Elphaba circled the room on her own, keeping a wary eye on the dancing couples and a warier one on the clusters of people talking in the shadow of the pillars and the tall trees. Glinda and Fiyero had continued on into the next song, right near the center of the floor, and Glinda's tense jaw seemed to have relaxed somewhat as Fiyero spun her through the crowd. They made a striking couple, and many of the people around them were understandably focused on the picture they presented. As if she sensed both this and Elphaba's watching eye, Glinda at that precise moment shook her head and made a rather wry face.
Elphaba took a step backward toward the nearest pillar, intending either to fetch something to drink or at least to pretend that was her object. Her eyes still roved the crowd, looking for Morrible's formidable form and failing to find it. She stepped back directly into someone's upraised hand without realizing there was anyone behind her.
"Careful, Elphaba!" a familiar voice said in low tones. She was already whirling away from the contact to see who had touched her, and her eyes met the Wizard's bright green ones, which looked perhaps more bloodshot than usual.
She pressed a hand to her chest, trying both to regain her composure and to avoid staring at the circles under his eyes. Instead her gaze scanned over his assumed uniform, which hung a bit oddly on his small frame. Most of the Guards were taller. "Your Ozness," she said under her breath.
He patted her elbow with a hand that trembled, and she looked automatically for a drink in his other hand. There wasn't one; she thought perhaps there should have been. "Looking for Glinda?" he asked.
"No, she's there, with Fiyero." Elphaba inclined her head without pointing, trying not to draw too much attention. "Are you - feeling all right?"
The Wizard laughed without the nervous look leaving his face. "Of course, my dear - you know, we old men have our little nervous conditions, and this is a big night, isn't it? Grand occasion?"
Elphaba nodded, though she had thought it was more conventional for young women to suffer from "nervous conditions" than old men - of which the Wizard was not really one, anyway. "Is Madame Morrible here?" she asked casually. "I haven't seen her."
"Oh yes, she's about." Even though Elphaba knew that his low tones were intended to avoid being overheard by any of the other guests who might put it together that the Wizard was as ordinary a man as any of them, Elphaba still couldn't quite fight the nervous fear that even he was wary of Morrible. He took Elphaba's arm and turned her slightly toward the dance floor. "Out there someplace entertaining those lads up from Quadling country - you know the ones I mean, they've been here before."
"I didn't meet them," Elphaba said, alarm bells going off in her mind. "But Glinda did."
"Ah?" he said noncommittally.
"Yes," Elphaba said, framing her words carefully and nearly whispering them over her shoulder at him. "Madame said she wanted Glinda's help with them."
"Glinda's help?"
Elphaba kept her eyes fixed on the dance floor, still watching for Morrible and hoping she hadn't imagined the note of concern in the Wizard's voice. "Yes, she wanted Glinda to help her in making a certain . . . impression."
"You've never trusted Madame Morrible," the Wizard said conversationally.
"That's not true," Elphaba replied. "I trusted her when I was eighteen. So did Glinda."
Behind her, the Wizard softly cleared his throat. "Even though people don't always do exactly what we would like -"
"You think it's because she left the school to come here, and helped you get us here?" Elphaba shook her head, knowing he was watching her closely. "That's the least of it."
"What -"
"There are things you don't know, your Ozness," Elphaba said, carefully holding her voice steady and low. "Things you wouldn't believe if we told you."
"You could try me."
"It doesn't matter now - I don't think," Elphaba replied. "None of us are quite the same, and Glinda and I are warier. But -" She held her breath for a moment, having finally spotted Morrible safely on the other side of the ballroom. Her attention was fully captured by three tall men in green uniforms. "I'm not sure you should be so trusting," she finally finished, heart pounding in her chest at her daring.
There was a long silence from the man behind her, and then at last he said, "You know I trust your judgment, Elphaba."
"I know," she said without turning around. "My judgment, but not me. That's all right, I don't think you're the only one."
The Wizard made some sort of noise between a cough and a sniffle, and then said, "I've always seen us as - working together, you know."
"Yes," Elphaba said. "I know."
She thought she heard him sigh before he asked, "What's she doing?"
Still without turning to him, Elphaba slowly shook her head. "More things than I'll ever know, I think. But I'd be careful of those Guards from Quadling country if I were you."
Now the Wizard stepped up almost beside her to follow her gaze. "They seem harmless."
"No doubt." A waiter skimmed past with a tray of cups brimming with the steaming Munchkinland wine, and Elphaba took one just to have something to do. She stood letting the cup warm both her hands. "Would you say building up a large army in Quadling country is one of your priorities?"
The Wizard's head turned quickly in her direction, but just as quickly looked away again. "What would I need with an army in Quadling country of all places? It's been quietly controlled for years."
"Exactly." When he turned toward her again, some alarm now showing on his face, Elphaba lifted the cup in her hands and cautiously sipped from it. "Just watch," she said after swallowing the warm wine. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I think you should watch carefully."
"Where I come from," the Wizard said with a note of petulance in his voice, "people speak their minds plain."
"Do they often do it from behind great golden heads?" Before he could say anything, Elphaba shook her head. "I've told you all I know about it. Honestly."
"Do you use magic for these things?"
Elphaba was startled only because she so often forgot that she probably could. Though it was probably easier to use scrying to spy on Nessa, or on anyone else or anywhere else that she knew precisely, there was nothing stopping her from trying to find out what was going on in Quadling country. She tucked that thought away for later. "When it's needed," she told the Wizard quietly.
"Elphaba!" They both looked up to see Fiyero making his way through the crowd, without Glinda in tow. When he caught sight of the man next to her, his eyes widened and he started to say in reflex, "Your Oz-" before he realized his mistake and stammered, "I mean - sir - er -"
The Wizard looked at Elphaba and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged a bit sheepishly, one eye on Fiyero, and said, "He knows what we know, I suppose. Sorry."
"I'm very reliable," Fiyero told the Wizard, looking rather sheepish himself.
"I suppose you'd better be," the Wizard said. He was looking Fiyero up and down intently. "So you are the Winkie prince, yes? From Shiz?"
"Yes, your Ozness." Fiyero's eyes flickered quickly toward Elphaba. "I'm - a friend."
"Yes," the Wizard said. "I've heard about you."
He didn't specify what exactly he'd heard, and Elphaba found herself squirming nearly as much as Fiyero appeared to be. Fiyero broke the tension by turning to Elphaba and saying, "She didn't tell me anything. Sorry."
"Who didn't?" the Wizard asked.
"Glinda," Elphaba said at the same time that Fiyero did. She added, "It's nothing, your Ozness, it's -"
"Personal," Fiyero finished.
"Yes." Fumbling for something to add, Elphaba said, "She's worried about her family."
"I hope no one's sick," the Wizard said with a sympathetic look.
"Her father," Elphaba replied.
"Oh, dear." The Wizard looked between Elphaba and Fiyero. "Give her my best wishes, will you? I think I'd better . . ." He gestured toward the crowd without clarifying what he'd better do.
"Of course," Elphaba said, while Fiyero dropped a somewhat awkward bow. "Get up," she hissed as the Wizard turned away. "You don't bow to other Guards, do you?"
"I do to you," he said, inclining his head with a smile and smoothly turning the gesture in her direction as he straightened. "So that was awkward."
"Your fault."
"Entirely?"
"No," Elphaba sighed. "I suppose talking to the Wizard is always fairly awkward. I just wish I could really figure out what he wants."
"He seems so harmless," Fiyero commented, watching the smaller man lose himself in the crowd.
"Doesn't he." Elphaba managed just in time to stop herself from sighing again. "How is Glinda?"
"She's - you're right, something's up." He shrugged. "I have no idea what. She went for some wine."
Elphaba held up the cup she still had cradled in her hands. "A waiter came by."
"Is it really supposed to be hot?" Fiyero asked, leaning curiously toward her cup.
"It's spiced," she explained. "Here."
He cautiously took the cup she had tipped toward him and sipped from it. "Yes," he said as he put the cup back into her hands. "That would improve the evening. Let's find Glinda."
~~Glinda~~
Morrible was wearing some sort of hideous headdress made from both feathers and what appeared to be pine branches, with bright red berries clustered in them. Once Glinda had spotted her, the mess on her head make her remarkably easy to keep track of. It was therefore easy to see that when Lieutenant Chuffrey made his way through the crowd, he was coming from a conversation with Morrible.
"Back again," he said with an awkward sort of cheerfulness. "Oh, allow me."
Glinda's hand was about an inch from grasping a cup of wine, but she stepped back and let Chuffrey hand it to her. "Thank you," she said, forcing her head to incline in a slight bow. "Did you have a productive talk?"
Lieutenant Chuffrey took a cup of wine for himself and led Glinda away from the table. "It was," he said, and then he took a long drink from his cup. Glinda didn't know how he had managed not to notice that the wine was hot, but there followed a long moment where he seemed to be trying not to pant while she was watching. "Madame Morrible and I," he finally said with a bit of a gasp, "have, I think, reached an agreement. On behalf of the Wizard, of course. I mean her side is on behalf of the Wizard. Mine is on behalf of myself."
From somewhere deep within came the strength not to roll her eyes. Glinda nodded patiently. "Yes?"
"I believe," he said confidentially as they walked further from the refreshment table, "I will very shortly be returning to the Emerald City on a permanent basis." He carefully swallowed a mouthful of wine and added, "With a title."
"With a -" Glinda frowned. "Don't you have one now?"
"Not a military title." He stopped, passing his wine cup nervously from hand to hand. "I mean, I have a military title now. The title I will be awarded is -"
"I understand," Glinda said. "So what is it?"
"It hasn't been explicitly decided - a knighthood, perhaps."
"Those are -" Glinda swallowed the word 'nice.' "Honorable. Very honorable."
"I thought so." He blew across the surface of his wine, but didn't drink it. "So. I expect to be setting up an establishment here in the City very soon."
"How nice," Glinda said, and inwardly winced.
"And of course I'll want to be - that is - er - I'm not married now, you know."
Glinda raised a pained eyebrow.
"Of course you know," he continued. "I meant, it would be nice to be. When I have an establishment."
"I understand," Glinda said.
"Do you?" He seemed extremely relieved. "Good."
Glinda took a long sip of her wine - then, upon reflection, another, longer one - and waited.
"If I could - write to you, until I get back to the City -" Lieutenant Chuffrey asked anxiously.
"Of course you can," Glinda said, already raising her cup to her lips again.
"Glinda!"
She whirled around, just managing not to splash wine on her dress, to see Fiyero pushing his way through the crowd with Elphaba on his heels. She could have sworn Chuffrey cursed under his breath.
"We need a word," Fiyero said, not even waiting for Elphaba to catch up.
"Ah," Chuffrey stammered.
Elphaba appeared to have gotten herself caught on someone else's gown; the other woman glared over her shoulder until she had spotted Elphaba clearly, then she waited patiently with downcast eyes and scuttled away as soon as Elphaba had freed herself. When Lieutenant Chuffrey actually caught sight of Elphaba, he paled and backed away - probably without meaning to. "Miss Glinda, I'll -"
"Yes," Glinda said, letting Fiyero drag her behind a giant pillar.
"We've figured you out," Fiyero said.
Glinda blinked. "What?"
He looked at Elphaba. "Tell her."
"Fiyero?" Glinda wrenched her arm from his grip. "You seized me in front of how many people; you tell me."
"Ah." He glanced at Elphaba again and said, "I don't actually know, to be honest."
"What?" Glinda asked.
"We were just coming to find you and all of a sudden Elphaba said, 'I get it,'" he explained. "But she didn't tell me what she got. I was just - in front."
"Elphie," Glinda pleaded, "make this make sense."
"That man," Elphaba said. "The one up from Quadling country, the one you met before."
"Yes?" Glinda said, her heart somewhat quailing. She hadn't expected Elphaba to actually have gotten it.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Elphaba," Fiyero said, not taking his eyes off Glinda. "You've left out a few steps."
Elphaba stood back, hands on the hips of her beaded gown. "She's planning to marry him," she hissed. "Before anyone can make her marry someone else."
"What?" Fiyero asked.
"Aren't you?" Elphaba directed at Glinda.
"Elphie," Glinda started.
"Though why," Elphaba interrupted, "she would choose someone even less interesting, and even more possibly corrupt, than whoever her uncle would have chosen for her is beyond me -"
"He's harmless!" Glinda blurted out. "Isn't that enough?"
"No!" Fiyero said, looking rather horrified, at the same time that Elphaba said, "How do you know?"
She had looked to Fiyero for reinforcement, and after a moment he added, "The Wizard looks harmless, Glinda. Lots of people do."
"This one's too nervous to be otherwise," Glinda said desperately, wishing they would just leave her alone and let her sink into the floor.
"Or he's a good actor!" Elphaba said. "For Ozsakes Glinda, he's dealing with Morrible."
"So are we," Glinda hissed.
"Are you trying to tell me," Elphaba said, "that you desperately want to marry this man?"
"Of course not!" Glinda said, the tears very nearly coming to her eyes.
"Then you aren't going to!" Elphaba said. She looked at Fiyero for a moment and added, "We're putting our foot down."
"Oh really?" Oddly enough, some part of Glinda was actually starting to feel better. "What are the two of you going to do about it?"
"We'll kidnap you." Fiyero said this with such calm assurance that both Elphaba and Glinda stared at him. "I mean it," he said. "I have my own country."
After a beat, Elphaba turned back to Glinda, completely straightfaced. "He does," she said. "He's right. We will kidnap you."
"Because . . ." Fiyero started.
"We're both bigger than you are," Elphaba finished.
"I'm - not so sure about that, honestly," Fiyero said. "But Elphaba's really strong."
"Yes," Elphaba said after a second. "We could do it."
Glinda tried to glare, but the conversation was so ridiculous that a smile threatened to break through. She stared at the floor, unable to think of a thing to say.
"That's right," Fiyero said, soothing rather than triumphant. "Let's all have a lot more wine and we'll forget all about it."
"We can't -" Glinda started to say.
"Of course we can," Fiyero said, taking her hand. "Elphaba's loaded already."
"I am not," Elphaba said calmly.
"You will be." Fiyero used Glinda's hand to pull her close to his side. "You knew there was no way either of us was letting you go through with this, didn't you?" Behind her back, she could feel him signalling frantically.
Elphaba came to her other side, and slipped an arm around Glinda's waist. "Apparently you didn't believe me when it was just me," she said, "but now there's both of us. We just won't let you."
"United front," Fiyero said.
"That's right." Elphaba took Glinda's cup, which was empty, from her hand and deposited it on a nearby tray. "Fiyero's right, now, let's all have a lot more wine."
"Fiyero's a bad influence on you," Glinda said softly from where she was pressed between them.
"Now you tell me," Elphaba said.
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: One mystery solved. A lot more not.
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.
~~Elphaba~~
Elphaba found some small consolation in mentally cursing Fiyero's name, often and creatively, while she was dancing with the young Munchkinlander Guard who had barely managed to stammer out his name. She was still inclined to believe he was affected more - or rather, entirely - by fear, than by anything else, but it was a mortifying situation all the same. He was at least a competent dancer (probably more competent than Elphaba, if she were being honest with herself) and didn't draw extra attention to them by running into other couples. Still, her face heated when she considered what people must be thinking - that the wicked Witch had a taste for young and innocent Guards, probably. Or that she was trying to use them for her own nefarious purposes. The idea made her think of Morrible, but a hasty glance around the room did not turn her up.
When the boy had gone fleeing off to the shelter of the pillars around the edge of the room and the (most likely teasing) company of his fellows, Elphaba circled the room on her own, keeping a wary eye on the dancing couples and a warier one on the clusters of people talking in the shadow of the pillars and the tall trees. Glinda and Fiyero had continued on into the next song, right near the center of the floor, and Glinda's tense jaw seemed to have relaxed somewhat as Fiyero spun her through the crowd. They made a striking couple, and many of the people around them were understandably focused on the picture they presented. As if she sensed both this and Elphaba's watching eye, Glinda at that precise moment shook her head and made a rather wry face.
Elphaba took a step backward toward the nearest pillar, intending either to fetch something to drink or at least to pretend that was her object. Her eyes still roved the crowd, looking for Morrible's formidable form and failing to find it. She stepped back directly into someone's upraised hand without realizing there was anyone behind her.
"Careful, Elphaba!" a familiar voice said in low tones. She was already whirling away from the contact to see who had touched her, and her eyes met the Wizard's bright green ones, which looked perhaps more bloodshot than usual.
She pressed a hand to her chest, trying both to regain her composure and to avoid staring at the circles under his eyes. Instead her gaze scanned over his assumed uniform, which hung a bit oddly on his small frame. Most of the Guards were taller. "Your Ozness," she said under her breath.
He patted her elbow with a hand that trembled, and she looked automatically for a drink in his other hand. There wasn't one; she thought perhaps there should have been. "Looking for Glinda?" he asked.
"No, she's there, with Fiyero." Elphaba inclined her head without pointing, trying not to draw too much attention. "Are you - feeling all right?"
The Wizard laughed without the nervous look leaving his face. "Of course, my dear - you know, we old men have our little nervous conditions, and this is a big night, isn't it? Grand occasion?"
Elphaba nodded, though she had thought it was more conventional for young women to suffer from "nervous conditions" than old men - of which the Wizard was not really one, anyway. "Is Madame Morrible here?" she asked casually. "I haven't seen her."
"Oh yes, she's about." Even though Elphaba knew that his low tones were intended to avoid being overheard by any of the other guests who might put it together that the Wizard was as ordinary a man as any of them, Elphaba still couldn't quite fight the nervous fear that even he was wary of Morrible. He took Elphaba's arm and turned her slightly toward the dance floor. "Out there someplace entertaining those lads up from Quadling country - you know the ones I mean, they've been here before."
"I didn't meet them," Elphaba said, alarm bells going off in her mind. "But Glinda did."
"Ah?" he said noncommittally.
"Yes," Elphaba said, framing her words carefully and nearly whispering them over her shoulder at him. "Madame said she wanted Glinda's help with them."
"Glinda's help?"
Elphaba kept her eyes fixed on the dance floor, still watching for Morrible and hoping she hadn't imagined the note of concern in the Wizard's voice. "Yes, she wanted Glinda to help her in making a certain . . . impression."
"You've never trusted Madame Morrible," the Wizard said conversationally.
"That's not true," Elphaba replied. "I trusted her when I was eighteen. So did Glinda."
Behind her, the Wizard softly cleared his throat. "Even though people don't always do exactly what we would like -"
"You think it's because she left the school to come here, and helped you get us here?" Elphaba shook her head, knowing he was watching her closely. "That's the least of it."
"What -"
"There are things you don't know, your Ozness," Elphaba said, carefully holding her voice steady and low. "Things you wouldn't believe if we told you."
"You could try me."
"It doesn't matter now - I don't think," Elphaba replied. "None of us are quite the same, and Glinda and I are warier. But -" She held her breath for a moment, having finally spotted Morrible safely on the other side of the ballroom. Her attention was fully captured by three tall men in green uniforms. "I'm not sure you should be so trusting," she finally finished, heart pounding in her chest at her daring.
There was a long silence from the man behind her, and then at last he said, "You know I trust your judgment, Elphaba."
"I know," she said without turning around. "My judgment, but not me. That's all right, I don't think you're the only one."
The Wizard made some sort of noise between a cough and a sniffle, and then said, "I've always seen us as - working together, you know."
"Yes," Elphaba said. "I know."
She thought she heard him sigh before he asked, "What's she doing?"
Still without turning to him, Elphaba slowly shook her head. "More things than I'll ever know, I think. But I'd be careful of those Guards from Quadling country if I were you."
Now the Wizard stepped up almost beside her to follow her gaze. "They seem harmless."
"No doubt." A waiter skimmed past with a tray of cups brimming with the steaming Munchkinland wine, and Elphaba took one just to have something to do. She stood letting the cup warm both her hands. "Would you say building up a large army in Quadling country is one of your priorities?"
The Wizard's head turned quickly in her direction, but just as quickly looked away again. "What would I need with an army in Quadling country of all places? It's been quietly controlled for years."
"Exactly." When he turned toward her again, some alarm now showing on his face, Elphaba lifted the cup in her hands and cautiously sipped from it. "Just watch," she said after swallowing the warm wine. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I think you should watch carefully."
"Where I come from," the Wizard said with a note of petulance in his voice, "people speak their minds plain."
"Do they often do it from behind great golden heads?" Before he could say anything, Elphaba shook her head. "I've told you all I know about it. Honestly."
"Do you use magic for these things?"
Elphaba was startled only because she so often forgot that she probably could. Though it was probably easier to use scrying to spy on Nessa, or on anyone else or anywhere else that she knew precisely, there was nothing stopping her from trying to find out what was going on in Quadling country. She tucked that thought away for later. "When it's needed," she told the Wizard quietly.
"Elphaba!" They both looked up to see Fiyero making his way through the crowd, without Glinda in tow. When he caught sight of the man next to her, his eyes widened and he started to say in reflex, "Your Oz-" before he realized his mistake and stammered, "I mean - sir - er -"
The Wizard looked at Elphaba and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged a bit sheepishly, one eye on Fiyero, and said, "He knows what we know, I suppose. Sorry."
"I'm very reliable," Fiyero told the Wizard, looking rather sheepish himself.
"I suppose you'd better be," the Wizard said. He was looking Fiyero up and down intently. "So you are the Winkie prince, yes? From Shiz?"
"Yes, your Ozness." Fiyero's eyes flickered quickly toward Elphaba. "I'm - a friend."
"Yes," the Wizard said. "I've heard about you."
He didn't specify what exactly he'd heard, and Elphaba found herself squirming nearly as much as Fiyero appeared to be. Fiyero broke the tension by turning to Elphaba and saying, "She didn't tell me anything. Sorry."
"Who didn't?" the Wizard asked.
"Glinda," Elphaba said at the same time that Fiyero did. She added, "It's nothing, your Ozness, it's -"
"Personal," Fiyero finished.
"Yes." Fumbling for something to add, Elphaba said, "She's worried about her family."
"I hope no one's sick," the Wizard said with a sympathetic look.
"Her father," Elphaba replied.
"Oh, dear." The Wizard looked between Elphaba and Fiyero. "Give her my best wishes, will you? I think I'd better . . ." He gestured toward the crowd without clarifying what he'd better do.
"Of course," Elphaba said, while Fiyero dropped a somewhat awkward bow. "Get up," she hissed as the Wizard turned away. "You don't bow to other Guards, do you?"
"I do to you," he said, inclining his head with a smile and smoothly turning the gesture in her direction as he straightened. "So that was awkward."
"Your fault."
"Entirely?"
"No," Elphaba sighed. "I suppose talking to the Wizard is always fairly awkward. I just wish I could really figure out what he wants."
"He seems so harmless," Fiyero commented, watching the smaller man lose himself in the crowd.
"Doesn't he." Elphaba managed just in time to stop herself from sighing again. "How is Glinda?"
"She's - you're right, something's up." He shrugged. "I have no idea what. She went for some wine."
Elphaba held up the cup she still had cradled in her hands. "A waiter came by."
"Is it really supposed to be hot?" Fiyero asked, leaning curiously toward her cup.
"It's spiced," she explained. "Here."
He cautiously took the cup she had tipped toward him and sipped from it. "Yes," he said as he put the cup back into her hands. "That would improve the evening. Let's find Glinda."
~~Glinda~~
Morrible was wearing some sort of hideous headdress made from both feathers and what appeared to be pine branches, with bright red berries clustered in them. Once Glinda had spotted her, the mess on her head make her remarkably easy to keep track of. It was therefore easy to see that when Lieutenant Chuffrey made his way through the crowd, he was coming from a conversation with Morrible.
"Back again," he said with an awkward sort of cheerfulness. "Oh, allow me."
Glinda's hand was about an inch from grasping a cup of wine, but she stepped back and let Chuffrey hand it to her. "Thank you," she said, forcing her head to incline in a slight bow. "Did you have a productive talk?"
Lieutenant Chuffrey took a cup of wine for himself and led Glinda away from the table. "It was," he said, and then he took a long drink from his cup. Glinda didn't know how he had managed not to notice that the wine was hot, but there followed a long moment where he seemed to be trying not to pant while she was watching. "Madame Morrible and I," he finally said with a bit of a gasp, "have, I think, reached an agreement. On behalf of the Wizard, of course. I mean her side is on behalf of the Wizard. Mine is on behalf of myself."
From somewhere deep within came the strength not to roll her eyes. Glinda nodded patiently. "Yes?"
"I believe," he said confidentially as they walked further from the refreshment table, "I will very shortly be returning to the Emerald City on a permanent basis." He carefully swallowed a mouthful of wine and added, "With a title."
"With a -" Glinda frowned. "Don't you have one now?"
"Not a military title." He stopped, passing his wine cup nervously from hand to hand. "I mean, I have a military title now. The title I will be awarded is -"
"I understand," Glinda said. "So what is it?"
"It hasn't been explicitly decided - a knighthood, perhaps."
"Those are -" Glinda swallowed the word 'nice.' "Honorable. Very honorable."
"I thought so." He blew across the surface of his wine, but didn't drink it. "So. I expect to be setting up an establishment here in the City very soon."
"How nice," Glinda said, and inwardly winced.
"And of course I'll want to be - that is - er - I'm not married now, you know."
Glinda raised a pained eyebrow.
"Of course you know," he continued. "I meant, it would be nice to be. When I have an establishment."
"I understand," Glinda said.
"Do you?" He seemed extremely relieved. "Good."
Glinda took a long sip of her wine - then, upon reflection, another, longer one - and waited.
"If I could - write to you, until I get back to the City -" Lieutenant Chuffrey asked anxiously.
"Of course you can," Glinda said, already raising her cup to her lips again.
"Glinda!"
She whirled around, just managing not to splash wine on her dress, to see Fiyero pushing his way through the crowd with Elphaba on his heels. She could have sworn Chuffrey cursed under his breath.
"We need a word," Fiyero said, not even waiting for Elphaba to catch up.
"Ah," Chuffrey stammered.
Elphaba appeared to have gotten herself caught on someone else's gown; the other woman glared over her shoulder until she had spotted Elphaba clearly, then she waited patiently with downcast eyes and scuttled away as soon as Elphaba had freed herself. When Lieutenant Chuffrey actually caught sight of Elphaba, he paled and backed away - probably without meaning to. "Miss Glinda, I'll -"
"Yes," Glinda said, letting Fiyero drag her behind a giant pillar.
"We've figured you out," Fiyero said.
Glinda blinked. "What?"
He looked at Elphaba. "Tell her."
"Fiyero?" Glinda wrenched her arm from his grip. "You seized me in front of how many people; you tell me."
"Ah." He glanced at Elphaba again and said, "I don't actually know, to be honest."
"What?" Glinda asked.
"We were just coming to find you and all of a sudden Elphaba said, 'I get it,'" he explained. "But she didn't tell me what she got. I was just - in front."
"Elphie," Glinda pleaded, "make this make sense."
"That man," Elphaba said. "The one up from Quadling country, the one you met before."
"Yes?" Glinda said, her heart somewhat quailing. She hadn't expected Elphaba to actually have gotten it.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Elphaba," Fiyero said, not taking his eyes off Glinda. "You've left out a few steps."
Elphaba stood back, hands on the hips of her beaded gown. "She's planning to marry him," she hissed. "Before anyone can make her marry someone else."
"What?" Fiyero asked.
"Aren't you?" Elphaba directed at Glinda.
"Elphie," Glinda started.
"Though why," Elphaba interrupted, "she would choose someone even less interesting, and even more possibly corrupt, than whoever her uncle would have chosen for her is beyond me -"
"He's harmless!" Glinda blurted out. "Isn't that enough?"
"No!" Fiyero said, looking rather horrified, at the same time that Elphaba said, "How do you know?"
She had looked to Fiyero for reinforcement, and after a moment he added, "The Wizard looks harmless, Glinda. Lots of people do."
"This one's too nervous to be otherwise," Glinda said desperately, wishing they would just leave her alone and let her sink into the floor.
"Or he's a good actor!" Elphaba said. "For Ozsakes Glinda, he's dealing with Morrible."
"So are we," Glinda hissed.
"Are you trying to tell me," Elphaba said, "that you desperately want to marry this man?"
"Of course not!" Glinda said, the tears very nearly coming to her eyes.
"Then you aren't going to!" Elphaba said. She looked at Fiyero for a moment and added, "We're putting our foot down."
"Oh really?" Oddly enough, some part of Glinda was actually starting to feel better. "What are the two of you going to do about it?"
"We'll kidnap you." Fiyero said this with such calm assurance that both Elphaba and Glinda stared at him. "I mean it," he said. "I have my own country."
After a beat, Elphaba turned back to Glinda, completely straightfaced. "He does," she said. "He's right. We will kidnap you."
"Because . . ." Fiyero started.
"We're both bigger than you are," Elphaba finished.
"I'm - not so sure about that, honestly," Fiyero said. "But Elphaba's really strong."
"Yes," Elphaba said after a second. "We could do it."
Glinda tried to glare, but the conversation was so ridiculous that a smile threatened to break through. She stared at the floor, unable to think of a thing to say.
"That's right," Fiyero said, soothing rather than triumphant. "Let's all have a lot more wine and we'll forget all about it."
"We can't -" Glinda started to say.
"Of course we can," Fiyero said, taking her hand. "Elphaba's loaded already."
"I am not," Elphaba said calmly.
"You will be." Fiyero used Glinda's hand to pull her close to his side. "You knew there was no way either of us was letting you go through with this, didn't you?" Behind her back, she could feel him signalling frantically.
Elphaba came to her other side, and slipped an arm around Glinda's waist. "Apparently you didn't believe me when it was just me," she said, "but now there's both of us. We just won't let you."
"United front," Fiyero said.
"That's right." Elphaba took Glinda's cup, which was empty, from her hand and deposited it on a nearby tray. "Fiyero's right, now, let's all have a lot more wine."
"Fiyero's a bad influence on you," Glinda said softly from where she was pressed between them.
"Now you tell me," Elphaba said.