Defying Gravity, 1/?, by ainsleyaisling

[ainsleyaisling]

Title: Defying Gravity, 1/?
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: Elphaba has a project, and Glinda and Fiyero have a date, sort of.
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 can be found here. The prologue to this story can be found here. This chapter took forever, I know; the next ones won't.


~~Elphaba~~

The first words the Wizard spoke to her, on her first actual, official morning as witch-in-residence, were, "Have you gotten taller?"

Elphaba looked down at the floor as if she could tell whether the distance had increased. "I don't think so."

"Hmm." He blinked at her and shrugged. "Well. Here you are! And I have a project for you."

"What is it?" Elphaba asked cautiously.

"Come come, I'll show you." He strode across the throne room and opened a door that led into one of the little side chambers. Elphaba trailed awkwardly after him. Although she and Glinda had often met with him in the throne room, neither of them had ever been shown into one of these secret hideaway rooms. Glinda had once, after a very long day and a bottle of wine, launched into a ridiculous monologue of speculation as to what he might keep in those rooms. Remembering it, Elphaba had to bite her lip to keep from laughing inappropriately.

The Wizard's head and one of his hands poked back out of the room, the hand gesturing impatiently. "Elphaba! Come on."

The little room held only a table with a few scattered chairs, but all four walls were lined with shelves of old books, with the exception of the door itself. Elphaba looked around her with barely-concealed awe, wondering how many more roomfuls of books might be hiding about the Palace - and how long it would take her to find all of them.

As if he could read her mind, the Wizard said, "Haven't been in here before, have you? Just make sure if you go exploring later that you take one of the guards with you. We wouldn't want anyone to think you were unauthorized."

Elphaba gestured around her with a vague hand. "Then I can . . . ?"

"Of course, my dear, at any time. But come and look at this now."

Still a bit surprised, and already counting her blessings that she happened to know at least one member of the Wizard's guard who could be trusted to accompany her if she went poking around the palace, Elphaba joined the Wizard beside the table. On it lay a sheet of parchment with Madame Morrible's snaky handwriting covering it. Elphaba fought back a shudder as she asked, "What is it?"

"It's a location spell." The Wizard tapped one blunted finger against the paper. "Madame Morrible copied it from the Grimmerie on one of your previous visits."

Elphaba didn't often remember letting the book out of her sight. She shivered again. "If she can read it well enough to copy it, what do you want me to do?"

"I need you to modify it," the Wizard said. "With Glinda's help, if she can, of course. You see, this spell can only find one specific, individual thing. It could find you, for instance, if you were anywhere within Oz, or it could find Glinda, or it could find the newest calf born to a farmer in Munchkinland or the biggest diamond in the Vinkus. What it can't do is find a whole group of things. You understand?"

"Not entirely," Elphaba said, frowning down at the parchment. "You want to be able to find multiple things at once?"

"A bit more specific than that. What I need is to be able to find a group of the same thing." He pulled at her sleeve, deep in thought. "For instance. If five boys somewhere in Munchkinland decided to form a football team -"

"A what?"

"Any sort of sport you like, Elphaba, try to follow. If they formed a team and gave themselves a name, then they'd have created a thing, and I could ask the location spell to find that one thing - that team. But I can't ask the spell to find five boys in Munchkinland playing football together - or whatever you prefer - unless they've united themselves into one thing. Understand?"

"I think so," Elphaba said slowly. "You want to be able to find a group of people - or things - whether or not they've been formed into an official group. You want to be able to find them even if they're not one unit, and the spell as it is can't do that?"

"Exactly." He clapped his hands together and beamed at her. "I want to find - oh - if there's a field where more than a hundred cattle are being kept, even if they're not all one herd. Can't you see the possibilities?"

"I suppose," she said. She looked from the parchment to him, unreasonably nervous about her first actual project. "I don't know how long it will take me -"

"As long as you need," he said. "I trust in your industry. Now . . ." He pulled out one of the chairs and sat down in it. "A few questions. I know we haven't seen each other much since you arrived."

She did know. A month spent with mostly Morrible on her own had been deeply unpleasant for both her and Glinda, no matter how much they clung to each other for strength. It had taken Elphaba a while to recognize, or to acknowledge, that she actually resented the Wizard a bit for this abandonment. "What do you want to know?"

"Your rooms are all right? You're comfortable, you and Glinda?"

He seemed honestly concerned, and he managed at least most of the time to say "you and Glinda" without making Elphaba's skin crawl. She couldn't say the same of Morrible. "Yes, they're - they're wonderful," she finally said in complete honesty. Belatedly she added, "Thank you."

"Good." He leaned back in his chair, beaming up at her. "And you've met your guards, the ones outside your door? All of them?"

"All six rotations," Elphaba said. "We feel very - well-guarded."

"Of course you know it's for your safety - we can't vouch for everyone who might make their way into the palace, and the two of you will be so much in the public eye . . ."

"We understand why they need to be there," Elphaba said evenly.

His smile didn't falter. "Good. You know I trust your sense, Elphaba."

"I do know that." After three years, she thought they both could have written a dissertation on the differences between trusting her sense and trusting her. She knew it was one of the strongest cards she held, that the Wizard believed firmly that she would serve his interests as long as they ultimately served her own.

"Good," he repeated. "Now. If there's anything you need -" his finger tapped at the sheet of parchment containing the location spell "- any books, anything you can't find here - you let the Palace librarian know, yes?"

"I will."

"Then run along, you'll want to see Glinda before she leaves, won't you?"

Elphaba nodded. Glinda was attending the Governor's Ball that evening, as a special invited guest of the Gillikinese governor who was doing his best to cling to his small sphere of power without ceding everything to the Wizard. Elphaba had been invited as well - had, in fact, a stronger claim on the invitation, since the governors of all the other provinces had been invited, along with their families - but Glinda had one thing Elphaba did not: a mother who insisted she go. Glinda had continued to balk at the idea until Fiyero had announced his invitation, and had offered to stay by her side for the entire evening. This had been an enormous relief to Elphaba, of course, who might otherwise have felt obligated to keep Glinda company.

The location spell rolled up neatly in her hand, Elphaba took the stairs into their tower two at a time and nodded stiffly at the guards, who parted to allow her entrance to their rooms. "Glinda?" she called as the door closed behind her.

"One moment!" Glinda's voice responded. Her bedroom door opened a crack, though she didn't quite emerge. "What did the Wizard want?"

"For me to modify a location spell for him." Elphaba sat down on the sofa and unrolled the parchment, frowning at it. "He wants to be able to find large groups of things at once. Or people. Or animals."

"Or Animals?" Glinda asked, slipping out of her bedroom.

Elphaba looked up and smiled. Glinda's tastes grew simpler and simpler, and consequently more beautiful, all the time. Elphaba had no idea who to thank for this influence, but she much preferred this Glinda. "You look perfect," she said.

Glinda rolled her eyes. "Your standards are as high as ever."

"My standards are very high." She watched Glinda perch on the edge of the sofa to put on her shoes. "And you've thought of something I didn't. Though I suppose I would have eventually."

"What's that?"

"I'd been wondering what the Wizard needed with a group location spell, and I think you're onto something. If he could find anywhere that a large group of Animals are gathered . . ."

"He could find the rebel groups," Glinda finished. "Or, well, the rumored rebel groups. Who could after all just be groups of Animals who happen to be living in the same place."

"Or refugees," Elphaba said thoughtfully. "Like Rikk told us last year, the ones who left Munchkinland when the restrictions came in."

"Or groups of Resistance members," Glinda said. "They needn't be Animals."

"No, you're right." Elphaba tapped one finger restlessly against her thigh. "So what do I do?"

"What do you mean?" Glinda held out a sparkling necklace and asked, "Would you?"

Elphaba took it from her and leaned up to drape it around her neck and fasten it beneath her pinned-up hair. "Well, I don't want him to be able to use it to search out rebel groups," she whispered. "And I want even less for him to be able to search out innocent groups of Animals for persecution."

"And Oz only knows what Morrible could use it for," Glinda murmured.

"Exactly." Elphaba straightened the now-fastened necklace and gave the back of Glinda's neck a gentle pat. "So what do I do?"

"Stall?" Glinda suggested just as a knock sounded on the door. "You'll think of something."

"I suppose."

Glinda went to the door, saying as she went, "You'll have something in mind by the time I get home, I'm sure."

"You'd better stay out late, then," Elphaba said as Glinda opened the door and admitted Fiyero.

"Oh, very funny," Glinda called over her shoulder as he stepped into the room.

"What's very funny?" Fiyero asked.

"Elphaba, always."

"I see." He smiled at Elphaba over Glinda's head. "I won't let her out of my sight."

"See that you don't; she can't be trusted," Elphaba called, twisting on the sofa to watch them leave.

Instead of leaving right away, Glinda came back and stood before Elphaba, hands slightly spread. "Well? Do I look eligible?"

"Very," Elphaba replied.

"I was afraid of that."

"Don't worry," Fiyero said. "Being with me will make you look significantly less eligible."

"He has a point," Elphaba said.

Glinda gave him a mild glare. "If he's not careful, by the end of the evening he'll have a fiancée. I fully expect my mother to have spies everywhere."

"We'll tell everyone I'm your bodyguard." He straightened the green jacket of his uniform with a motion that was probably unconscious.

"Her vicious, easily angered bodyguard, please," Elphaba said.

He smiled down at her and reached out to touch her shoulder lightly. "Don't worry. Glinda, we'd better go."

Glinda bent and brushed a hasty kiss against Elphaba's cheek before she headed for the door. "Yes," she called, "don't worry. Think about your spell."

"I will," Elphaba said. "Say hello to any stray relatives of mine you may encounter. I never had a reply from Nessa as to whether she would be in town."

Glinda gave her one last wave, and then she and Fiyero disappeared through the door. Elphaba slumped down a bit on the sofa and dropped her chin into her hand, thinking.

~~Glinda~~

Here, in the Governor's townhouse, in the sparkling ballroom surrounded by the height of Gillikin society and emissaries from the other provinces, dancing in a swirl of men in officers' uniforms and wearing the signs of minor royalty, Glinda allowed herself one brief moment to look at Fiyero and regret what might have been. They were the talk of the room, that much was clear even though she was discreet enough not to look around to see if they were being watched. Everyone recognized her (she felt a guilty twinge at the realization that most of the crowd seemed relieved that the other witch, the rather frightening one, hadn't come with her), and of course everyone knew the crown prince of the most powerful tribe in the Vinkus. The women especially, of all ages, could barely take their eyes off him, and he deserved the attention.

It was more than that, however. It was dancing with him, with three years behind them, and feeling so utterly safe despite the roomful of people staring and the men of all ages and walks of life who would be pressing her for a dance soon enough. It was his fond smile, the gentle yet familiar way he held her in the dance, the fact that she knew his warmth and his smell and the way it felt to be this close to him. She wasn't in love with him, not anymore, not like a lover - of this she was fairly certain. But she was conscious of wanting desperately to lay her head on his shoulder and let him take care of her, and let him tell her that she didn't, really, have to marry the Governor's third cousin from Frottica if she didn't want to.

She sighed and smiled up at him, tightening her hand in his and trying her best to dismiss her mood.

"Something wrong?" he asked. Damn him for being too perceptive, anyway.

"No," she said. "Just - no, nothing."

He shrugged a little. "So. There's a man on my left, blue coat, lots of silver medals. Staring at you. Yea or nay?"

Glinda rolled her eyes but glanced casually to her right. "Oh. Nay. Definitely nay."

"Oh come on, he's not that old."

She shook her head. "He was my music teacher when I was about ten."

"Oh." Fiyero made a rather disgusted face. "In that case . . ." He smiled merrily at the man, who seemed startled at having been caught staring, and then bent and kissed Glinda's forehead, lingeringly. "And, he's - slinking off in defeat," he murmured against her hair.

"Lovely, thank you."

"Or do you think he was here to spy for your mother?"

Glinda tilted her head up and laughed at the sight of his concerned frown. "Too late to worry about that now."

"I guess, but if we're married by next week I'm going after that music teacher."

"My mother's not quite that forceful," she assured him, patting his chest with the hand not held in his. "I wouldn't worry. Yet."

He ducked his head, brushing the side of his face by accident or design against her hair. "You're not - I mean, you aren't seriously on the lookout for some starched-up old society drone to marry you on the spot - are you?"

"No." She let the palm of her hand rest against his chest, soaking up the comfortable feeling of his solid warmth. "But it'll be less of a struggle if I at least put up a good show of looking. No one expects me to take the first offer that comes along, or to marry someone I don't like at all. I'm allowed to be picky."

"Are you allowed to be unmarried?"

She looked up as he pulled her a little closer. "That's what Elphaba says," she told him. "For now - for now no one's going to force me. But I can't trust that will always be the case."

Fiyero nodded thoughtfully.

Something occurred to her for the first time in a long time, and she pressed her hand gingerly into his chest to get his attention. "You don't have a choice, do you? Do you have to be married? And have an heir?"

"No one can really force me," he replied. "But you know I'm an only child. If I didn't have any children, one of my cousins would have to be my heir."

"Speaking of which," Glinda said, catching sight of someone she recognized over his shoulder. "I wonder if Elphaba's instructions extended to him."

Fiyero turned them in the dance to follow her nod. "The one in the purple coat, the self-important one with the bodyguards? Who's he?"

"Practically no one," Glinda said. "He's third in line to be Governor of Munchkinland; he'll only ever rule if no one ahead of him ever has any children. But he's Elphaba's first cousin - her father's nephew."

"Oh." Fiyero frowned a bit in the man's direction. "There's a little resemblance to Nessa, maybe."

"Yes, around the eyes," Glinda agreed. "He doesn't quite have Elphaba's edges."

"Who does?"

She laughed and let her head fall forward, resting her forehead for just a moment against his shoulder. "Thank you for coming with me," she said when she had straightened up.

"Elphaba would have come along, if you'd asked her to," he pointed out.

"Yes, she would," Glinda said. "And she would have hated it, and terrified the life out of half the guests besides."

"You would have loved that."

"Not for her sake, I wouldn't." She shook her head. "It's too soon for that, for her. I really do think they'll -" she lifted her hand from his chest to gesture to the ballroom around them "- get used to her eventually, but they'll have to be courted a little bit. At Shiz she didn't have the people in power trying to convince everyone that she was dangerous and a bit mad."

"Glinda." He squeezed her hand a bit and danced her just a little away from the edge of the crowd. "There's something I think I should probably tell you. Should have told you."

He sounded terribly serious all of a sudden. A small feeling of dread began to creep over her. "What?"

"I kissed Elphaba."

She nearly stopped dancing, and as it was, she tripped over her own feet and he had to catch her. That wasn't what she had been expecting. "When?" she finally managed to ask.

"A while ago. The night before we graduated." He looked apologetic. "I thought she might not have told you - I thought I . . . should."

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she found the words. "The night - when she said you had come to tell her something, but you passed out?"

"Well, that is what happened. Except that I kissed her before I passed out."

"Oh." She blinked up at him senselessly for a moment. "How did that - go?"

"Not well," he admitted. "She hit me."

Glinda was beginning to feel that this must all be an elaborate joke. "Elphaba hit you?"

He nodded. "To be fair, there was really nothing else she could have done to get my attention." He gave her a sheepish smile. "Ozdust punch."

"Well." She shook her head in disbelief. "Did she say anything?"

He looked down at the floor between them for a beat before replying. "She said I was drunk. That's all - she's never said anything about it since, not once, so - neither have I." He squeezed her fingers and added earnestly, "You shouldn't be - I'm sure she didn't tell you because she was embarrassed."

"I know," Glinda said automatically, though it was true. She'd been taken aback at first, but now that she had the details she could picture exactly what must have happened. Poor Elphaba. "No, I understand."

"It seems a little too awkward to apologize now," he continued, "but I - I really didn't think it would upset her. And it did - well, as far as I remember."

"Oh, Fiyero." Absently she patted his chest again. "Would you want someone to have kissed you just because they were drunk?"

He frowned. "People have kissed me just because they were drunk."

"All right, forget about you. Girls kiss you all the time . . ."

"Wait, Glinda," he interrupted. "I'm not some kind of -"

"No, no," she said quickly. "Of course not. But you're - you. You know Elphaba and her pride. She'd never want to think you'd only want to kiss her because you were out of your mind with drink - especially you, she trusts you."

"I know. I know, I -" He shook his head. "Just - I wouldn't want to have scared her, or for her to think she can't trust me now . . ."

"She doesn't think that," Glinda promised. "She may not have said anything to me, but I'd be able to tell if she was suddenly terrified of you."

His eyebrow lifted. "I guess. She wouldn't have trusted me with you, otherwise."

She bit her lip and nodded. Something about his expression, or his words, or both, was making her feel very warm suddenly. She stretched up, careless of Gillikinese spies, and gave him a very quick kiss. "She's had to forgive me for similar things, to be honest, so I'm sure she's forgiven you." She ignored the rather startled look on his face and drew him back into the inner circle of dancers, hearing the hum of the crowd as it parted to accommodate one of the evening's most high-profile couples.