Chapter Text
The gentle scribbles of Elphaba’s quill filled Glinda’s ears and pulled her out of her dreams. Under the blankets Glinda rolled to her other side. The sound made Elphaba look up. “Oh, I thought you were already asleep. Is the light bothering you?”
Glinda shook her head. “It’s late, Elphie. Did you have a nightmare? Oh, you’re writing.”
“No nightmares this time, I’m looking over Fiyero’s speech for tomorrow. Making some notes. Don’t worry, I’m almost done.”
“Hm, that way you can still be a part of the inaugurations. That’s nice,” Glinda mumbled and yawned.
“It’s for the best. As you know I was never much for public festivities. I’d much rather have my voice be part of the written word.”
Her voice had a calming effect on Glinda, and she almost fell back into slumber until Elphaba asked her a question. “What about you?”
“Hm?”
“Well, I can imagine you're having conflicting feelings about tomorrow. After all, you sacrificed yourself for the democracy we’re building right now, but the public thinks you betrayed them one way or another. Your name has been dragged through so many puddles of mud nobody knows what to believe anymore. Even within the Court mentions of your name leads to quite the controversy.”
Though Elphaba sounded worried, Glinda no longer shared these anxieties. The people she loved most knew the truth and were still by her side. Why should the rest have to matter?
“My darling…” Glinda started, but along the way she lost the thoughts she wanted to express and drifted away.
Elphaba smiled fondly as she noticed Glinda had fallen back to sleep. She kissed her fingertips and rested them in Glinda’s curls.
“Fresh dreams, my dearest.”
--
Elphaba wheeled her way along the marble floor. Glinda kept a steady pace next to her.
“You came!” Boq jumped up in joy at the sight of them. He was dressed in black tie for the occasion.
“Of course. We wanted to wish you good luck,” Glinda said and hugged him.
“It’s just a ceremony. The real work will start tomorrow,” Boq answered diplomatically, but there was a bright pink color of excitement in his cheeks.
“One of the five representatives of Munchkinland. That’s no small task,” Elphaba said. “There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll do great.”
“Don’t get sappy on me now, Miss Elphie,” Boq teased her.
At that exact moment, as a blessing from above, Fiyero walked into the hallway. “Boq we need to - Oh! How lovely to see you two here.”
“Don’t act so surprised!” Glinda said. “Just because we can’t join the festivities doesn’t mean we don’t care.”
Fiyero smiled kindly. “And thank you for your last minute notes, Elphaba. They were very helpful.”
“Not at all. I’m honored to be involved in the build up of this democracy.”
“Absolutely! But we cannot let the representatives keep waiting - Boq?”
“Right!” he said. “We can all have dinner together tonight?”
“Sounds great.”
They waved as the boys rushed back into the room where the inauguration of all twenty five representatives took place. Five for each district, with a mandatory of at least one Animal representative per district. That had been Elphaba’s idea.
“You feel like taking a walk in the garden?” Glinda asked.
“Sure.”
Glinda turned Elphaba’s chair around and held the door open that led to the garden. It was a beautiful clear day with a nice late summer breeze. The Palace’s gardens were enormous and though Elphaba and Glinda had been walking more and more in it, they still hadn’t managed to cover all ground.
Elphaba stumbled to move forward; the gravel made it difficult to get a grip on the wheels.
“Need me to push again?”
“Please.”
For a while they walked in perfect silence, with the birds tweeting cheerfully and the rumble of a distant but loud mass that had collected on the square before the Palace of Justice for the public ceremony.
Elphaba knew it was best to ask what she had on her mind now, before they’d be back in those stiffening Palace walls. “I’ve been thinking, with Fiyero and Boq in the government and Crope visiting his moms and dads in Ev, maybe we should start thinking about our new adventure too?”
“Did you have something in mind?”
“The Vinkus,” Elphaba said instantly. “Well, Kiamo Ko. Fiyero and Sarima offered us a room, if we want it. I know the trip will be risky by revealing our faces out there, but I can’t live my whole life in this Palace. People’s Palace or Wizard’s Palace, to me it will always be this oppressive building I can’t get away from.”
Glinda’s footsteps stopped and Elphaba felt the sinking feeling in her stomach. “Glinda?” She turned her wheelchair around but instead of resistance, she found sparkles in her eyes. “Let’s do it.”
“Really?”
Glinda nodded and kissed her and Elphaba felt stupid with luck.
“We can stay there in the mountains, and house sit for whenever Sarima or Fiyero are out travelling, and we can finally be free to roam around and not sit in that awful room all day, and you’ll love it, I promise!” Elphaba tripped over her words in her excitement.
Glinda laughed adoringly and sat upon her lap. “You don’t need to convince me, I already said yes. You’re not the only one getting sick of being locked up in these walls.”
“So we’re doing this? We’re going to Kiamo Ko?”
“Hmhm. When is the next caravan?”
“Couple of weeks I think.”
“Perfect, that’ll be enough to pack our bags and say our farewells to the boys. Oh I will miss them though.”
“We can write. Like we do with Crope,” Elphaba reminded her.
“That’s true. Oh, I’m so excited!” Glinda clapped her hands. “I can’t wait!”
“Me neither.”
Glinda threw her hands around Elphaba’s neck. Their foreheads we’re touching. “I mean, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Elphaba smiled from ear to ear and with her nose softly nudged hers. “Me neither.”