The Effects of Gravity 9/? by ainsleyaisling
Title: The Effects of Gravity 9/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: At the Shiz Winter Ball, all things are not exactly as they seem.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous part can be found here. In the next post I'll do a link back to all previous ones, just to simplify things.
~~Elphaba~~
She didn't at all like the way Glinda was looking at her.
It was a cold weekend morning, and they'd opted to make tea themselves and stay close to the fireside rather than venturing out to breakfast. The first snow of the year was late, but it couldn't be far off now - to Elphaba's practiced Munchkinlander eyes the sky was a suspicious grey-white, and the air had a definite smell of ice. But Glinda wasn't looking out the window at the near-frozen landscape; she was looking at Elphaba. Or studying her, really. She studied Elphaba while she pinned her hair into an unusually practical knot, while Elphaba added a log to the banked fire and stirred it to life, while they both tried to warm their stockings by the fire before putting them on, and while they took turns trying to pour tea without burning their fingers. Finally Elphaba set down her cup and said, "What?"
"What, what?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm not looking at you like anything," Glinda huffed, sitting primly as close to the fire as she could get without igniting her skirt.
"You certainly are, and it's beginning to scare me."
Glinda gave her a teasing smile. "I'm not the one who scares people for entertainment, Miss Elphaba."
"You're not the one with manners, either," Elphaba said, "at least not today. You've been staring all morning, out with it."
"It's just - well . . ."
"Well what?"
Glinda crossed one leg over the other and half-stood awkwardly to pull an envelope down from her dresser, flipping it up between deft fingers. "This."
"What about it?"
"You read yours, didn't you?" Glinda asked, pulling from the already-opened envelope an official university invitation with the words "Winter Ball" in icy blue script.
"I didn't have to, we've known it was coming up for weeks. So the Winter Ball is why you've been staring at me all day?"
"Are you going?"
Elphaba sighed. "Yes."
"Really?" Glinda looked as though she couldn't decide whether to be pleased or shocked. "I thought I was going to have to beg you."
"Why would you want to beg me?"
"Because I like you," Glinda singsonged, grinning. "But who convinced you, since it wasn't me?"
"Nessa - well, doesn't want to go at all," Elphaba began, reaching for the teapot which they had placed on the hearthstone to keep it warm.
"Wait, careful," Glinda interrupted. She wrapped her skirt around her hand and picked up the teapot herself, refilling both their cups. "So Nessa doesn't want to go to the Ball."
"No. But she also doesn't want to be seen not going, but she doesn't have anyone to go with her . . . and that's where I come in."
"So all her friends have dates?"
"Of course. And I doubt she'd ask them for help anyway, she's been so queer lately." Elphaba took a cautious sip of her tea, burning her tongue despite the care. "I don't mind helping Nessa anywhere, of course, but . . . well, I was going to say 'picture me at a fancy ball,' but then, that's what you've been doing all morning, isn't it?"
"Mmm-hmm," Glinda said cheerfully. "Actually this is really good."
"How?"
"Well - wait, has anyone asked you to go with them? Other than Nessie."
"You mean like a boy? Have you lost your mind?"
"So," Glinda said, ignoring her last remark, "this way you can go, but no one will think twice about whether you have a date or not."
"Because I'm there to help Nessa."
"Exactly."
Elphaba shrugged. "I guess that's not so awful."
"And then we can be there together -"
"Us and Fiyero, you mean."
"And you know we need it, Elphaba, really," Glinda continued, ignoring her again. "It's half-term, we're likely to be hearing from the Wizard soon."
"I know," Elphaba replied soberly.
"So, one night to not think about that, or . . . anything else. Doesn't that sound good?"
"You're asking me to spend an entire night not thinking about anything?"
"To do your best, anyway." Glinda pulled her knees up to her chest and spread the hem of her skirt demurely over her feet. "But now we need to think."
That studying look was back, and Elphaba dreaded what it meant. "About what?"
"What you're going to wear."
"I knew that was coming," Elphaba told the ceiling, "and yet I asked anyway."
~~Glinda~~
Glinda couldn't help dancing, just a little.
Fiyero had been absolutely perfect lately - well, maybe not entirely perfect, because that odd meditative look did come over his face at the strangest times and he sometimes didn't quite seem to know what to say to her - but he was as attentive as she could possibly ask. And they were going to a ball together. And Elphaba was coming. And she was letting Glinda braid her hair.
The question of Elphaba's hair had been hotly debated in their room over the past week, with Elphaba summarily rejecting most of Glinda's first ten or twenty suggestions (the mention of curls had been met with a "not if my life depended on it"). She had finally agreed to let Glinda braid the sides back from her face and pin the braids up - "It'll be pretty, but you'll look as if you could just be going to class," Glinda had wheedled, seeing Elphaba beginning to weaken. "Not that I know why you would want that."
Elphaba had run a hand speculatively over her hair while she groped for a response. "It's - I can't look as if I'm trying too hard," she'd said finally. "Can you . . . understand that?"
Glinda had to admit that she could. She also had to admit that if she kept dancing while trying to do this, she was going to jab a hairpin into Elphaba's head, so she forced her feet to keep quiet.
"There," she said, setting the last pin in place and taking the opportunity to run her fingers through the masses of thick, dark hair that still hung down Elphaba's back. "Done, and beautiful."
"Can I see?"
"You can get that worried look off your face," Glinda replied, but she reached for a hand mirror as she spoke. "Here, see."
Elphaba frowned as she studied her hair from several angles. "It's very neat," she finally said with evident approval.
"My goal in life." She bent to press a kiss to the top of Elphaba's head, then wrapped her arms around her roommate's neck and studied their dual reflection in the room's one large mirror. "See, we go perfectly together."
"You have bizarre taste," Elphaba said, but she was smiling. "And you'd better get dressed now, unless you're going in that robe."
"Right." Glinda carefully slid her white and silver-blue gown over her shoulders, trying not to disturb her hair. She was generally able to button herself up even in the back, but these buttons were tiny and the catches even smaller. She had managed one before she noticed Elphaba holding out an impatient hand with fingers twitching. "Oh - thanks," she said, sidling closer.
She always loved having Elphaba do up her dresses because, unlike any of her other friends or even her maid at home, Elphaba always slipped her own hand down the back of the dress first to avoid pinching Glinda's skin. In the tighter gowns it made sense, but more importantly, it made Glinda feel pleasantly warm and cared for. "How do you know to do that?" she asked suddenly this time.
"Do what?"
"With your hand."
Elphaba paused, both her words and her fingers. "Oh. Having a younger sister, I guess."
"I never would have thought of doing that, but it's nice."
"You'd have thought of it, if you'd ever pinched Nessa's back in a hook and eye." Elphaba was working faster now, almost at the top of the row of tiny buttons. "Or caught her hair in a buttonhole. There, all done." She smoothed her hands down Glinda's back and smiled at her in the mirror. "And beautiful."
Glinda turned and took her friend's hands. "You too, although you don't believe me." It was true, too - Nessa had, for the sake of appearances mostly, insisted on new dresses for both herself and Elphaba, and Elphaba's was a simple dark blue gown that managed to be prettily formal merely by being silk and cut better than her other dresses. She'd borrowed a pair of Nessa's shoes - not those shoes, the precious silver ones that had been a gift from their father, but simple ones with a slight heel - which mostly had the effect of making her look even taller and leaner. Still, Glinda thought she was pretty, and even prettier when she deigned to smile.
"Where are you meeting Fiyero?" Elphaba asked, reaching for both their cloaks.
"Just downstairs - he wanted to be able to help with Nessa's chair in case there was ice; isn't that sweet of him?"
"Very," Elphaba said, not unkindly.
Fiyero's smile when he saw her was as warm as anyone could expect, and he took both her hands and kissed her right there in the downstairs front hall. He didn't mention her dress, but then he never did - it was one of the things they just assumed about each other. His eyes only flickered behind her after they had broken apart. "Hello Elphaba, Nessa."
Nessa was painfully subdued in contrast to her shining excitement on the night of her first college dance. She looked lovely, even with her coat mostly covering her gown (Green, really, Nessa? Glinda couldn't help thinking), but there was something missing in her eyes. Glinda opened her mouth to make some benign comment, but stopped when she saw Elphaba quietly shaking her head.
Fiyero turned out to have been unusually insightful - it had rained during the afternoon, and there was new ice on the paths. Some trial and error showed them that the best way was for Elphaba's practiced hands to continue piloting the chair while Fiyero hovered close by to catch either the chair or Elphaba's elbow, should either slip. Glinda picked carefully ahead, calling out the location of potentially dangerous patches and hoping this was as helpful as she thought it might be. On one of her glances backward she smiled to see Fiyero speaking low to Elphaba in an overtly friendly sort of way, but the next time she looked back Elphaba appeared a bit flustered and they were studiously ignoring each other. Glinda decided he had probably been stupid enough to tell her she looked pretty. Fiyero, so used to charming everyone, was definitely the type to fall into that trap no matter how well he knew Elphaba.
Elphaba did smile just a little when they entered the ballroom, with its lights twinkling and the heat welcome on their cold faces. While Fiyero was gathering all of their coats and handing them to the attendant, Elphaba and Nessa bent low in whispered conference. At the end of it, Elphaba lightly took Glinda's arm and gestured to the row of tables on one side of the room. "We'll be over there," she whispered close to Glinda's ear. "Have fun!"
Glinda grabbed Elphaba's waist to detain her. "You won't disappear all night?"
"If you know where I am, I haven't disappeared," Elphaba pointed out. "Anyway, a few of Nessa's friends seem to have gathered over there, so . . ."
"Elphaba -" Her hand tightened on Elphaba's waist, suddenly not wanting her friend to leave her side. The ballroom was crowded and she didn't recognize half of the students there - not something that had ever bothered Glinda before, but now . . . "Don't leave. Just till Fiyero comes back, please?"
"Oh." Elphaba stepped closer and slipped her arm around Glinda's waist, acting as though she were just leaning in to tell her something. "Of course, I'll wait with you."
"It's just there are so many people - I know I'm being silly."
"It's perfectly fine if you don't want to be alone." Elphaba's voice was low and reassuring. "Everyone feels that way, including Nessa or why would I be here?"
"It's not being embarrassed I'm worried about."
"I know that." Elphaba had leaned close enough now that she could give Glinda's cheek a quick kiss under the guise of whispering. "Here's Fiyero. Listen, if he has to go anywhere or wants to talk to someone or anything, just ask him to walk you over to me first. He'll understand." She slipped away just as Fiyero was taking Glinda's other arm.
"Is Elphaba mad at me or something?" Fiyero asked, leading her toward the dance floor.
"Because she just left, you mean? No, she just had to get back to Nessa - is there any reason she should be mad at you?"
"No, no reason. Ready to dance?"
She gave him her very brightest smile. "Sure."
~~Elphaba~~
Nessa's friends were being very polite to her, and even more polite to Nessa. This was not a good thing. Granted, having friends was in fact new to Elphaba, but Glinda and even Fiyero had taught her well that politeness between friends was a bad sign.
It was possible that their over-care was caused by having a notorious witch in their midst, but somehow Elphaba didn't really think that was the case.
She also had her eye on a bigger problem, one that was currently talking with a cluster of other boys on the far side of the room. At least Boq had the good grace not to stare at Glinda this time - Elphaba had never considered herself to be unobservant, and she didn't intend to begin now - but he was also thoroughly ignoring Nessa and her. Nessa was pretending not to notice him, but she bristled visibly when a couple of bold Munchkin girls joined Boq's group.
Glinda and Fiyero appeared in the crowd on the dance floor while Elphaba was watching Nessa watch Boq, and Glinda happened to catch Elphaba's eye at a moment when Elphaba was feeling especially awkward about it. Without breaking her rhythm Glinda looked quickly over her shoulder, presumably spotted Boq, and sent a grimace of sympathy back in Elphaba's direction. Elphaba shrugged, hoping Nessa hadn't noticed any of this exchange.
Her eyes sought out Glinda again, however, and with suspicion this time, after a pleasant-looking Munchkin boy she didn't recognize had approached Nessa. He bowed politely and asked to accompany Nessa to go and have a drink, adding to the rest of the girls and to Elphaba, "if you don't mind my borrowing her, that is."
Nessa looked taken aback and not entirely interested, but a moment later she had managed to rearrange her expression and even to smile at the boy as she accepted his invitation. Her eyes dared Elphaba to say anything.
"I can vouch for him," a voice behind Elphaba said. She whirled around, hands leaving the handles of Nessa's chair, and found herself confronted with Fiyero's roommate.
"Hello," she said noncommittally.
The boy offered her a friendly enough smile. "We met the other week, with Fiyero - Rikk, remember?"
Elphaba nodded. "I remember."
Rikk gestured toward the smaller boy. "Kiren's an old friend from home - well, we're all Munchkinlanders here, aren't we?" When Elphaba didn't reply, he added, prodding, "I think he can be trusted with the governor's daughter."
Nessa's eyes were still flashing dangerously at her sister, so Elphaba stepped away from the chair and tried to make herself smile at the Munchkin - Kiren. "Of course," she said to him. "I'll be here if you need me, Nessa."
As they rolled off, however, Elphaba searched the dance floor for her roommate. She wasn't hard to find - Glinda was near the center of the floor, giving her a slightly guilty look over Fiyero's shoulder. "Hasn't she learned?" Elphaba muttered under her breath.
"She said you'd be difficult."
Elphaba spun around again, the action making her hair swing into her face. "So you're responsible for this?" she asked Rikk, who was still standing behind her.
"Oh no, Glinda is. I just supplied the boy. So I'm only responsible . . ." He counted on his fingers. "Third-hand."
"Who's second?"
"Fiyero, of course." He probably thought the look he was giving her was charming, and he was almost right. "Anyway you don't have to worry, I've chosen well. We really are old friends from home, and he's polite, honorable, and best yet, not in love with Glinda. Or anyone else that I know of."
Elphaba nervously checked to make sure Nessa's friends weren't listening. "Does everyone know everything around here?"
"They do when they live with Fiyero." Rikk's smile broadened. "Are you going to dance with me?"
Elphaba laughed before she could stop herself. "What?"
He took a step closer and held out his hand. "Dance with me. Your sister's taken care of for the time being, after all."
Elphaba leaned back against a table, feeling strangely . . . flirtatious? That certainly couldn't be right. Still, the words poured out. "I should dance with you just because you got my sister out of the way for me?"
"Or maybe I only agreed to introduce Kiren to your sister so that you would be free for a while." He hadn't dropped his hand.
Elphaba's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is that what Glinda's up to, then?"
"This is not Glinda's idea, or Fiyero's, or anyone else's but mine. Glinda still feels bad about your sister and Boq, and that's all." He extended his hand a bit closer. "Please? You're leaving me looking a bit ridiculous."
She ducked her head briefly, but after all, she had no real reason to refuse - and if she couldn't trust Fiyero's roommate, who could she? Hesitantly, she lifted her hand and placed it in his. "But only because Fiyero said you were all right," she cautioned.
"I am perfectly all right," he agreed with a rather satisfied smile. Elphaba let him tuck her arm through his and lead her to the dance floor, feeling all the while oddly . . . normal.
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: At the Shiz Winter Ball, all things are not exactly as they seem.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous part can be found here. In the next post I'll do a link back to all previous ones, just to simplify things.
~~Elphaba~~
She didn't at all like the way Glinda was looking at her.
It was a cold weekend morning, and they'd opted to make tea themselves and stay close to the fireside rather than venturing out to breakfast. The first snow of the year was late, but it couldn't be far off now - to Elphaba's practiced Munchkinlander eyes the sky was a suspicious grey-white, and the air had a definite smell of ice. But Glinda wasn't looking out the window at the near-frozen landscape; she was looking at Elphaba. Or studying her, really. She studied Elphaba while she pinned her hair into an unusually practical knot, while Elphaba added a log to the banked fire and stirred it to life, while they both tried to warm their stockings by the fire before putting them on, and while they took turns trying to pour tea without burning their fingers. Finally Elphaba set down her cup and said, "What?"
"What, what?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm not looking at you like anything," Glinda huffed, sitting primly as close to the fire as she could get without igniting her skirt.
"You certainly are, and it's beginning to scare me."
Glinda gave her a teasing smile. "I'm not the one who scares people for entertainment, Miss Elphaba."
"You're not the one with manners, either," Elphaba said, "at least not today. You've been staring all morning, out with it."
"It's just - well . . ."
"Well what?"
Glinda crossed one leg over the other and half-stood awkwardly to pull an envelope down from her dresser, flipping it up between deft fingers. "This."
"What about it?"
"You read yours, didn't you?" Glinda asked, pulling from the already-opened envelope an official university invitation with the words "Winter Ball" in icy blue script.
"I didn't have to, we've known it was coming up for weeks. So the Winter Ball is why you've been staring at me all day?"
"Are you going?"
Elphaba sighed. "Yes."
"Really?" Glinda looked as though she couldn't decide whether to be pleased or shocked. "I thought I was going to have to beg you."
"Why would you want to beg me?"
"Because I like you," Glinda singsonged, grinning. "But who convinced you, since it wasn't me?"
"Nessa - well, doesn't want to go at all," Elphaba began, reaching for the teapot which they had placed on the hearthstone to keep it warm.
"Wait, careful," Glinda interrupted. She wrapped her skirt around her hand and picked up the teapot herself, refilling both their cups. "So Nessa doesn't want to go to the Ball."
"No. But she also doesn't want to be seen not going, but she doesn't have anyone to go with her . . . and that's where I come in."
"So all her friends have dates?"
"Of course. And I doubt she'd ask them for help anyway, she's been so queer lately." Elphaba took a cautious sip of her tea, burning her tongue despite the care. "I don't mind helping Nessa anywhere, of course, but . . . well, I was going to say 'picture me at a fancy ball,' but then, that's what you've been doing all morning, isn't it?"
"Mmm-hmm," Glinda said cheerfully. "Actually this is really good."
"How?"
"Well - wait, has anyone asked you to go with them? Other than Nessie."
"You mean like a boy? Have you lost your mind?"
"So," Glinda said, ignoring her last remark, "this way you can go, but no one will think twice about whether you have a date or not."
"Because I'm there to help Nessa."
"Exactly."
Elphaba shrugged. "I guess that's not so awful."
"And then we can be there together -"
"Us and Fiyero, you mean."
"And you know we need it, Elphaba, really," Glinda continued, ignoring her again. "It's half-term, we're likely to be hearing from the Wizard soon."
"I know," Elphaba replied soberly.
"So, one night to not think about that, or . . . anything else. Doesn't that sound good?"
"You're asking me to spend an entire night not thinking about anything?"
"To do your best, anyway." Glinda pulled her knees up to her chest and spread the hem of her skirt demurely over her feet. "But now we need to think."
That studying look was back, and Elphaba dreaded what it meant. "About what?"
"What you're going to wear."
"I knew that was coming," Elphaba told the ceiling, "and yet I asked anyway."
~~Glinda~~
Glinda couldn't help dancing, just a little.
Fiyero had been absolutely perfect lately - well, maybe not entirely perfect, because that odd meditative look did come over his face at the strangest times and he sometimes didn't quite seem to know what to say to her - but he was as attentive as she could possibly ask. And they were going to a ball together. And Elphaba was coming. And she was letting Glinda braid her hair.
The question of Elphaba's hair had been hotly debated in their room over the past week, with Elphaba summarily rejecting most of Glinda's first ten or twenty suggestions (the mention of curls had been met with a "not if my life depended on it"). She had finally agreed to let Glinda braid the sides back from her face and pin the braids up - "It'll be pretty, but you'll look as if you could just be going to class," Glinda had wheedled, seeing Elphaba beginning to weaken. "Not that I know why you would want that."
Elphaba had run a hand speculatively over her hair while she groped for a response. "It's - I can't look as if I'm trying too hard," she'd said finally. "Can you . . . understand that?"
Glinda had to admit that she could. She also had to admit that if she kept dancing while trying to do this, she was going to jab a hairpin into Elphaba's head, so she forced her feet to keep quiet.
"There," she said, setting the last pin in place and taking the opportunity to run her fingers through the masses of thick, dark hair that still hung down Elphaba's back. "Done, and beautiful."
"Can I see?"
"You can get that worried look off your face," Glinda replied, but she reached for a hand mirror as she spoke. "Here, see."
Elphaba frowned as she studied her hair from several angles. "It's very neat," she finally said with evident approval.
"My goal in life." She bent to press a kiss to the top of Elphaba's head, then wrapped her arms around her roommate's neck and studied their dual reflection in the room's one large mirror. "See, we go perfectly together."
"You have bizarre taste," Elphaba said, but she was smiling. "And you'd better get dressed now, unless you're going in that robe."
"Right." Glinda carefully slid her white and silver-blue gown over her shoulders, trying not to disturb her hair. She was generally able to button herself up even in the back, but these buttons were tiny and the catches even smaller. She had managed one before she noticed Elphaba holding out an impatient hand with fingers twitching. "Oh - thanks," she said, sidling closer.
She always loved having Elphaba do up her dresses because, unlike any of her other friends or even her maid at home, Elphaba always slipped her own hand down the back of the dress first to avoid pinching Glinda's skin. In the tighter gowns it made sense, but more importantly, it made Glinda feel pleasantly warm and cared for. "How do you know to do that?" she asked suddenly this time.
"Do what?"
"With your hand."
Elphaba paused, both her words and her fingers. "Oh. Having a younger sister, I guess."
"I never would have thought of doing that, but it's nice."
"You'd have thought of it, if you'd ever pinched Nessa's back in a hook and eye." Elphaba was working faster now, almost at the top of the row of tiny buttons. "Or caught her hair in a buttonhole. There, all done." She smoothed her hands down Glinda's back and smiled at her in the mirror. "And beautiful."
Glinda turned and took her friend's hands. "You too, although you don't believe me." It was true, too - Nessa had, for the sake of appearances mostly, insisted on new dresses for both herself and Elphaba, and Elphaba's was a simple dark blue gown that managed to be prettily formal merely by being silk and cut better than her other dresses. She'd borrowed a pair of Nessa's shoes - not those shoes, the precious silver ones that had been a gift from their father, but simple ones with a slight heel - which mostly had the effect of making her look even taller and leaner. Still, Glinda thought she was pretty, and even prettier when she deigned to smile.
"Where are you meeting Fiyero?" Elphaba asked, reaching for both their cloaks.
"Just downstairs - he wanted to be able to help with Nessa's chair in case there was ice; isn't that sweet of him?"
"Very," Elphaba said, not unkindly.
Fiyero's smile when he saw her was as warm as anyone could expect, and he took both her hands and kissed her right there in the downstairs front hall. He didn't mention her dress, but then he never did - it was one of the things they just assumed about each other. His eyes only flickered behind her after they had broken apart. "Hello Elphaba, Nessa."
Nessa was painfully subdued in contrast to her shining excitement on the night of her first college dance. She looked lovely, even with her coat mostly covering her gown (Green, really, Nessa? Glinda couldn't help thinking), but there was something missing in her eyes. Glinda opened her mouth to make some benign comment, but stopped when she saw Elphaba quietly shaking her head.
Fiyero turned out to have been unusually insightful - it had rained during the afternoon, and there was new ice on the paths. Some trial and error showed them that the best way was for Elphaba's practiced hands to continue piloting the chair while Fiyero hovered close by to catch either the chair or Elphaba's elbow, should either slip. Glinda picked carefully ahead, calling out the location of potentially dangerous patches and hoping this was as helpful as she thought it might be. On one of her glances backward she smiled to see Fiyero speaking low to Elphaba in an overtly friendly sort of way, but the next time she looked back Elphaba appeared a bit flustered and they were studiously ignoring each other. Glinda decided he had probably been stupid enough to tell her she looked pretty. Fiyero, so used to charming everyone, was definitely the type to fall into that trap no matter how well he knew Elphaba.
Elphaba did smile just a little when they entered the ballroom, with its lights twinkling and the heat welcome on their cold faces. While Fiyero was gathering all of their coats and handing them to the attendant, Elphaba and Nessa bent low in whispered conference. At the end of it, Elphaba lightly took Glinda's arm and gestured to the row of tables on one side of the room. "We'll be over there," she whispered close to Glinda's ear. "Have fun!"
Glinda grabbed Elphaba's waist to detain her. "You won't disappear all night?"
"If you know where I am, I haven't disappeared," Elphaba pointed out. "Anyway, a few of Nessa's friends seem to have gathered over there, so . . ."
"Elphaba -" Her hand tightened on Elphaba's waist, suddenly not wanting her friend to leave her side. The ballroom was crowded and she didn't recognize half of the students there - not something that had ever bothered Glinda before, but now . . . "Don't leave. Just till Fiyero comes back, please?"
"Oh." Elphaba stepped closer and slipped her arm around Glinda's waist, acting as though she were just leaning in to tell her something. "Of course, I'll wait with you."
"It's just there are so many people - I know I'm being silly."
"It's perfectly fine if you don't want to be alone." Elphaba's voice was low and reassuring. "Everyone feels that way, including Nessa or why would I be here?"
"It's not being embarrassed I'm worried about."
"I know that." Elphaba had leaned close enough now that she could give Glinda's cheek a quick kiss under the guise of whispering. "Here's Fiyero. Listen, if he has to go anywhere or wants to talk to someone or anything, just ask him to walk you over to me first. He'll understand." She slipped away just as Fiyero was taking Glinda's other arm.
"Is Elphaba mad at me or something?" Fiyero asked, leading her toward the dance floor.
"Because she just left, you mean? No, she just had to get back to Nessa - is there any reason she should be mad at you?"
"No, no reason. Ready to dance?"
She gave him her very brightest smile. "Sure."
~~Elphaba~~
Nessa's friends were being very polite to her, and even more polite to Nessa. This was not a good thing. Granted, having friends was in fact new to Elphaba, but Glinda and even Fiyero had taught her well that politeness between friends was a bad sign.
It was possible that their over-care was caused by having a notorious witch in their midst, but somehow Elphaba didn't really think that was the case.
She also had her eye on a bigger problem, one that was currently talking with a cluster of other boys on the far side of the room. At least Boq had the good grace not to stare at Glinda this time - Elphaba had never considered herself to be unobservant, and she didn't intend to begin now - but he was also thoroughly ignoring Nessa and her. Nessa was pretending not to notice him, but she bristled visibly when a couple of bold Munchkin girls joined Boq's group.
Glinda and Fiyero appeared in the crowd on the dance floor while Elphaba was watching Nessa watch Boq, and Glinda happened to catch Elphaba's eye at a moment when Elphaba was feeling especially awkward about it. Without breaking her rhythm Glinda looked quickly over her shoulder, presumably spotted Boq, and sent a grimace of sympathy back in Elphaba's direction. Elphaba shrugged, hoping Nessa hadn't noticed any of this exchange.
Her eyes sought out Glinda again, however, and with suspicion this time, after a pleasant-looking Munchkin boy she didn't recognize had approached Nessa. He bowed politely and asked to accompany Nessa to go and have a drink, adding to the rest of the girls and to Elphaba, "if you don't mind my borrowing her, that is."
Nessa looked taken aback and not entirely interested, but a moment later she had managed to rearrange her expression and even to smile at the boy as she accepted his invitation. Her eyes dared Elphaba to say anything.
"I can vouch for him," a voice behind Elphaba said. She whirled around, hands leaving the handles of Nessa's chair, and found herself confronted with Fiyero's roommate.
"Hello," she said noncommittally.
The boy offered her a friendly enough smile. "We met the other week, with Fiyero - Rikk, remember?"
Elphaba nodded. "I remember."
Rikk gestured toward the smaller boy. "Kiren's an old friend from home - well, we're all Munchkinlanders here, aren't we?" When Elphaba didn't reply, he added, prodding, "I think he can be trusted with the governor's daughter."
Nessa's eyes were still flashing dangerously at her sister, so Elphaba stepped away from the chair and tried to make herself smile at the Munchkin - Kiren. "Of course," she said to him. "I'll be here if you need me, Nessa."
As they rolled off, however, Elphaba searched the dance floor for her roommate. She wasn't hard to find - Glinda was near the center of the floor, giving her a slightly guilty look over Fiyero's shoulder. "Hasn't she learned?" Elphaba muttered under her breath.
"She said you'd be difficult."
Elphaba spun around again, the action making her hair swing into her face. "So you're responsible for this?" she asked Rikk, who was still standing behind her.
"Oh no, Glinda is. I just supplied the boy. So I'm only responsible . . ." He counted on his fingers. "Third-hand."
"Who's second?"
"Fiyero, of course." He probably thought the look he was giving her was charming, and he was almost right. "Anyway you don't have to worry, I've chosen well. We really are old friends from home, and he's polite, honorable, and best yet, not in love with Glinda. Or anyone else that I know of."
Elphaba nervously checked to make sure Nessa's friends weren't listening. "Does everyone know everything around here?"
"They do when they live with Fiyero." Rikk's smile broadened. "Are you going to dance with me?"
Elphaba laughed before she could stop herself. "What?"
He took a step closer and held out his hand. "Dance with me. Your sister's taken care of for the time being, after all."
Elphaba leaned back against a table, feeling strangely . . . flirtatious? That certainly couldn't be right. Still, the words poured out. "I should dance with you just because you got my sister out of the way for me?"
"Or maybe I only agreed to introduce Kiren to your sister so that you would be free for a while." He hadn't dropped his hand.
Elphaba's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is that what Glinda's up to, then?"
"This is not Glinda's idea, or Fiyero's, or anyone else's but mine. Glinda still feels bad about your sister and Boq, and that's all." He extended his hand a bit closer. "Please? You're leaving me looking a bit ridiculous."
She ducked her head briefly, but after all, she had no real reason to refuse - and if she couldn't trust Fiyero's roommate, who could she? Hesitantly, she lifted her hand and placed it in his. "But only because Fiyero said you were all right," she cautioned.
"I am perfectly all right," he agreed with a rather satisfied smile. Elphaba let him tuck her arm through his and lead her to the dance floor, feeling all the while oddly . . . normal.