Fiyero accompanied her downstairs, just in case she was the first to leave this morning and the main door was still locked. It wasn't, but she was still grateful for the nice send off. As they stood in the entrance hall, exchanging a few last words, a couple walked past, watching them curiously. At a second glance, she recognised the woman from the night before.
"I believe your neighbours think now that you've finally found a girlfriend," Glinda snickered quietly once the door had closed behind them.
"Yup," Fiyero agreed, drawing breath through his teeth. "Pretty sure they do. They'll also start asking about you whenever they see me, unless I tell them the truth. What do you reckon: should I let them down gently or tell them outright that you're actually seeing someone else?"
"I'm not seeing anyone," she protested mildly and gave his arm a little, playful slap.
"Well, you're seeing an awful lot of Elphaba though."
"Gosh, not that again!"
"Go on then," he said chuckling, "leave already. Don't want to be late for work, anyway, right?"
"I don't want to go at all, but I'm afraid I have to. I'll see you on Sunday, okay?"
He smiled, nodding eagerly.
Glinda reached up to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
"I'll bring souvlas again," she promised, adding, "But only if you promise to curb your teasing."
With that, she turned around and made for the door.
"It's not teasing if it's true," he called after her. "I'm only trying to help."
She rolled her eyes, but decided it would be best not to acknowledge him if she planned on arriving at the office in a timely fashion.
Glinda had barely settled down and unpacked her laptop when Mr Nikidik came to her desk in order to inform her that Dayae had taken ill and that both of her clients had insisted on keeping their appointments for today. As everyone else was busy enough as it was, Glinda had been chosen to deal with them. She wasn't thrilled, but at least Nikidik was willing to postpone some of her less urgent assignments in return.
"I'll leave these with you then," he said as he noisily slapped two thick folders onto her desk.
Hesitantly, she pulled the first of the files towards her and opened it with a good measure of dread. The clock was already ticking; she'd have less than half an hour to familiarise herself with the case.
Glinda did not dare allowing herself a decent brake before the second appointment was done and dusted. She felt drained and pitied Dayae, who normally had to deal with those clients that she had attended today. The young guy from her morning appointment was shamelessly flirty, but she supposed he was without a doubt the lesser evil; the couple that she had just now seen out of the door seemed to think they knew everything better than the professionals they had hired to consult them. It had taken Glinda far longer than the arranged time of forty-five minutes to battle against their absurd suggestions and to come up with a strategy to make them believe that the proposition she intended to push through had been one of their own design. If worst ever really came to worst, she was prepared to stand trial for her own mistakes – not those of inept laypersons. Blaming the customers would not fly with Nikidik either. After all, being able to compel clients into trusting her expert judgement and advice was all part of the job.
She entered the cafeteria with the sole intention of grabbing a coffee and returning to her desk. She was spotted by Yolona, however, who enthusiastically waved her over.
"Had fun today?" her colleague asked softly, offering her a sympathetic smile. Dayae must have complained to her about these specific people in the past.
"It was a real doozie," Glinda answered, rolling her eyes.
Yolona nodded.
"Well, in that case, you can keep them. I'm sure Dayae will generously surrender a few of her clients to you." Pushing a punnet of strawberries in her direction, she added, "Fancy a treat?"
"I'm eternally in your debt," Glinda sighed as she picked one of the red fruits.
"Any overtime today?"
"Yes, probably," she shrugged. "Not that I'd planned on it, but I've fallen quite behind and that's really not a good way to start a Monday. If I don't make up for it early on, it will only get worse as the week goes on."
Inhaling sharply, the other woman run her hand through her shoulder long, wavy hair. For a moment, she paused, staring at her with a contemplative expression.
"I'm sorry this is causing you so much trouble. You always seem busy enough as it is."
"No need to apologise," Glinda responded confused. "It's not even your work I'm doing."
"No, it's not," she laughed, "but since it's Dayae's, I feel indirectly responsible."
"Right." Glinda chuckled lightly, shaking her blonde curls. It probably didn't matter that she still did not quite understand.
"Do you have any general work?" Yolona asked then. "Something you could pass on to someone without any specific knowledge about your clients? Any numbers that need crunching? Any spreadsheets to check? Any proofreading?"
"Maybe. But you're also stretched to the max, are you not? Nikidik said I was the only one who was not already drowning in work."
"True," agreed Yolona. "But I'm not talking about myself. I was actually thinking I could take some work home with me to pass on to Dayae."
"Wait!" Glinda cut in. "You two flat together?"
She'd noticed fairly early on how close the two women were, yet seeing as they were a few years older than her and considered experienced staff members, she'd expected them to live in their own apartments by now, perhaps even with their own partners.
"Well, I'm not sure if I'd call it that," Yolona grinned.
Finally, Glinda's last penny dropped.
"No kidding?" she exclaimed. "I had no idea!"
"That's okay," the other woman waved her off dismissively. "Actually, that's a good thing. We're trying not to advertise our relationship at work. There are a few people who would not approve and we don't need this kind of drama in our life."
Nodding eagerly, Glinda assured her that she wouldn't share her newly acquired knowledge with anyone. "But are you sure this is a good idea when Dayae is unwell?" she asked regarding Yolona's proposal. "Shouldn't she rather rest?"
"She's not all that ill. She did some of her work from home today, but it wouldn't be a great idea for her to come into the office."
Reluctantly, yet grateful, Glinda accepted the offer and produced two thin folders.
"Let me know if she doesn't feel well enough to do it in the end. I've got the files on my computer also."
Her colleague briefly flipped through the paperwork.
"Don't worry and just forget these documents ever existed," she said with a wink, but Glinda couldn't help feeling slightly anxious as she watched her documents disappear in the large leather bag. "Now. What will you do with your unexpected spare time?"
"Sleep, I guess," the blonde replied half-jokingly, forcing her gaze away from the bag.
Yolona laughed.
"How boring. But very sensible. I gotta go back now. Make sure you leave the office on time today, or I'll be very cross with you, okay?"
Bobbing her head obediently, Glinda thanked her. As she watched her leave, she thought of Dayae. They seemed an odd pair, the Munchkin and the considerably taller Emerald City woman. Their ethnic differences alone would be enough for many people to raise concerns, let alone the fact that they were both female. Glinda for her part was actually a little annoyed with herself for even thinking of their differences as strange and was far from disapproving of their relationship. If anything, she felt privileged to be one of the few in the know and strangely encouraged by their example.
The cafeteria began to empty. It was not much over an hour left until the first workers would leave for home, and so everyone hurried back to their desks in order to finish the bulk of their load by then. Glinda stayed back alone for a moment, playing with her phone. Did she really want to be home so early today? Although she did feel tired and could always do with some extra naptime, she wasn't sure if it would improve her overall mood. If she hadn't literally just stayed the previous night at Fiyero's, she might have decided to drop by his place. While her head seemed still undecided, her hands had developed a mind of their own, and before she knew it, she'd dialled Elphaba's number.
When Glinda emerged from the office building only a few minutes past five thirty, she found Elphaba already parked right outside. Amused, she raised an eyebrow at the green girl leaning against her black car. Unless she'd picked up smoking overnight, she couldn't explain to herself why Elphaba found it necessary to get out of the vehicle to wait for her. She would have easily recognised her car without help.
"Hey," was Elphaba's simple greeting as she got closer.
"Hey," echoed Glinda and smiled rather shyly. "I'm sorry if you had other plans and felt compelled to come anyways. It occurred to me later that you might be thinking that I'm in trouble again and need your help. But I actually don't. I just felt like seeing you. It was a bit of a whim, I guess."
She felt her face blush at her rambling and quickly looked away.
"No, it's cool," assured Elphaba. "There are no other plans. Let's go."
Elphaba nodded towards the car before getting in, and Glinda followed her example.
"So this is where you work," said Elphaba.
Glinda confirmed only with a brief hum. She wondered whether her friend's statement was really meant as casual and bland as it sounded. Knowing Elphaba's observant nature, she imagined her putting one and one together, dismantling at least one more of her little lies from the earliest beginnings of their friendship. However, there were no follow up questions, and for the time being, she was grateful that Elphaba didn't seem too interested in exploring the matter further. She only hoped that the matter wouldn't come back to bite her later on.
"So how did things go with Fiyero?"
Glinda shrugged her shoulders. Oz knew there was so much to report, so much to unpack. At the same time, she didn't particularly feel like discussing any of it in depth right now.
Elphaba misinterpreted her gesture and, having to stop at a red light anyway, gave her a long, searching look.
"Oh, it's nothing," the blonde hastily went on to say, hoping to placate her. "It was fine. I'll have to spoil him a bit more to make it up to him, but we're getting there. I just really have to find a better way to deal with this sort of stuff in the future. I don't think he'd forgive me so easily a second time."
"I see."
The light changed, and Elphaba directed her attention back towards the traffic.
"He is a bit jealous," Glinda remarked, felling like she should share at least one minor detail.
"Jealous of whom?" asked Elphaba distractedly.
"Of you," Glinda giggled quietly.
"Jealous of me?" Elphaba cast her a fleeting, disbelieving look. "Well, that's a first."
Glinda smiled at her wistfully, only because she knew Elphaba wouldn't notice. After a while, she turned her head to watch the people in the streets instead.
"You guys should meet sometime. I think you might get along quite alright."
"Yeah, sure. I was going to ask you anyway whether you want to come to the rally next month. The one from the flyers?"
"Ah, right." Glinda nodded her head in recognition. "And you want me to bring him, I suppose?"
"If you could make him?" Elphaba laughed.
Thoughtfully, Glinda tapped her fingers against the leather of the car's door.
"Is Sarima going to be there?"
"She's one hundred percent gay," Elphaba pointed out. "She's not going to bother him."
"Is she?" Glinda wouldn't have guessed. Apparently, she was even worse at reading people's sexualities than she'd thought, but it made little difference. "Regardless, she can be quite full on, and he's Vinkun, like her. She might not realise that a tiny minority of her country men are less, well, sensual. I don't want him to feel uncomfortable the first time you guys meet."
"Hm." Elphaba paused. "Okay, fair enough. I'll keep you posted then. I don't think she's clearly decided one way or the other yet."
How about the weekend then?" Glinda wondered out loud.
"Well, you're welcome to drop by on your own, but I might have Chistery."
"How exciting!" she interjected.
"Yes, but without Brrr around, I rather wouldn't introduce him to anyone new, and I'll probably be quite a bit distracted, too."
"Yeah, okay," she agreed, then added with a grin, "But now that you so graciously extended your hospitality, I myself will definitely come and bother you."
"Oh bother," Elphaba deadpanned.
"What does Brrr actually do for a living?" Glinda asked a short while later. "How does he even have the time to look after Chistery?"
"First and foremost, he works for an Animal rights association called US," Elphaba explained. "He's considered a volunteer, but because his job includes a fair deal of higher responsibilities, he also gets a certain amount of compensation. It's hardly enough to live on though, so he supplements his income with some casual work."
"Oh? Like what?"
Glinda already knew how dedicated her friend was to her activism, despite her busy work schedule. The thought that the Lion was probably similarly committed to working his ass off made her feel almost pathetic for ever complaining about the overtime she was usually made to work.
"He drives a lorry at a mining site in the Glikkus. It's not very often, but when he does fly out there, he usually stays one or two weeks at a time."
Furrowing her brow, Glinda said, "I don't understand. How does he look after the little dude if he's away?"
"He takes him along," Elphaba shrugged. "Easy as that."
To Ginda, however, the idea seemed bizarre. In her mind, it was hardly different from bringing a toddler to work.
"How?" she demanded, with a shocked expression and shaking her head.
An amused grin tugged at the corner of Elphaba's mouth, if only briefly. Within a split second, her demeanour changed again. When she finally spoke, she looked stoic, almost sad.
"By pretending that he's his pet monkey," she told her with a sigh. "He takes him onto the plane in a crate and has him on the truck with him when he's working."
"Oh." That sounded practical to some degree, yet not very dignified. "Given Chistery's history, I'm surprised being confined in a small box doesn't trigger him somehow," she pointed out.
"Yeah, you'd think so" Elphaba agreed. "But according to Brrr, he seems actually pretty comfortable in that cage. Most of the time he goes straight to sleep, I've heard. Nevertheless, we are concerned that it might be counterproductive to our rehabilitation efforts."
"Is that why you applied to become a custodian?"
"Yes, in part. At least this way Brrr won't have to take him to the Glikkus every time he goes."
Glinda nodded along as Elphaba spoke, then she paused thoughtfully.
"And what will you do with him throughout the week?" she asked sceptically. "Take him to the office?"
"Ha!" Elphaba barked out so loudly that she startled Glinda. "Avaric would love that!" The green girl smirked to herself at the thought. "But no," she continued at a more acceptable volume, "I'll probably just work from home whenever I can. Or call in sick if absolutely necessary. It won't be that often anyway."
"I wish I could help you out somehow," Glinda felt compelled to say, although she was not at all certain if it was true. She did like the little guy and was emotionally affected by his struggles. Still, she doubted whether she would be the right person for a job like this. She doubted that she possessed the necessary patience and maternal instincts, as it were. Although Chistery was physically mature, looking after him would be very much like nannying a child. Lucky for her, it was highly unlikely that her abilities would be put to the test any time soon.
"Yeah, that wouldn't work," Elphaba confirmed her unspoken conclusion. "You can do with your own kids whatever the hell you want, but if you are fostering, there are all kinds of rules."
"Yes, I saw that stack of paperwork," Glinda remembered, slightly relieved.
"Besides, Averic would need a pretty solid reason to ever fire me, but you don't have that sort of job security yet. I can't be responsible for you skipping work and getting yourself in trouble."
"Yeah, I suppose."
She began to pay less attention to the conversation. After all, it was highly hypothetical and not particularly relevant. They had also just arrived at their destination, and Elphaba pulled over to park the car.
The moment the engine fell silent, Glinda reached to unbuckle her seatbelt.
"Hey," Elphaba suddenly said softly, causing her to turn back around to face her.
The blonde was surprised to notice the dejected look in her eyes. She could neither place nor explain it. Had she said something wrong? If so, she hoped her friend would be so kind and enlighten her, for she had not the slightest clue.
"You know, I'm sorry if I screwed up back then when you came for the interview," Elphaba finally said. Although Glinda immediately realised what she was referring to, she was unsure what had brought on this sudden sense of guilt. Before she had a proper chance to get her wits together, Elphaba continued. "At the time it seemed like the right thing to do," she explained, then averted her eyes briefly before catching her gaze again, perhaps looking even more downcast than before. "But I might have been wrong. You don't appear to be particularly happy where you ended up instead either."
Mostly used to Elphaba's occasionally irritating cockiness, Glinda's heart ached for her at this admission. The green girl was neither right nor wrong. Of course it had not been her place to make such a decision for her, yet her assessment had been spot on. The fact that Glinda's current position wasn't ideal either was not even remotely her fault. Besides, Glinda was not going to cry over milk that already spilt months ago. If anything, she was glad that the whole ordeal had brought a very special friend into her life.
"No, no, no, Elphie," she quickly cut in to reassure her, shaking her head vehemently. "You were perfectly right."
Cocking her head and raising an eyebrow, Elphaba seemed not entirely convinced.
"Well, I do wonder though how cool it would have been to work at the same place," Glinda confessed with a reluctant smile.
"You would have grown tired of me soon enough," dismissed Elphaba.
"Never!" Glinda immediately declared, eyes wide. Then she hesitated. "Would you have?" she asked meekly. "Grown tired of me?"
"Probably not," Elphaba replied with a lopsided smirk.
After dinner, Elphaba offered to drop her back home. Glinda, however, insisted on taking the tram instead. This time it was not because she had anything to hide, but simply because she'd have felt bad for turning Elphaba into her personal chauffeur. They settled on walking the fifteen minutes to the station together – a compromise with which Glinda was clandestinely very pleased.
Upon her arrival, she was immediately descended upon by Tibbett and Crope.
"Glinda!" the former burst out, jumping off the couch to greet her.
"We already considered reletting your room," said the latter with a grave look on his face. "Since you're like never here anymore."
"Sorry guys."
She kicked off her heels, ready to disappear into her room, but Tibbett deftly looped his arm through hers and patted her hand.
"Don't listen to him, sweetie. Although we did miss your radiant presence."
"Okay," she said slowly, eying him suspiciously. "What is wrong? Have you set my wardrobe on fire or something like that?"
"No, much worse," piped up Crope all the way from the kitchen.
Although she didn't quite believe him, Glinda began to worry. Crope floated from the kitchen to the dining table, carrying three large plates of some sort of pasta dish.
"I thought our next joint dinner was on Saturday? Or are you expecting a guest?"
Gently guiding her towards the table, Tibbett said, "You are the only guest we were expecting."
"I haven't washed my hands yet!" Glinda protested and nimbly freed herself from her flatmate's grip with a twirl.
She rushed over to her room to divest herself of her bag and change her top.
"Don't let the food get cold!" one of the boys called after her.
Despite rolling her eyes, she did her best to hurry. She didn't have the heart to tell them that she'd already eaten. At least her first meal had been reasonably healthy, with lots of vegetables. There would be some room left in her stomach for a few forks full of spaghetti.
When all plates were empty, her belly almost seemed ready to burst. Just as she was about to thank the accomplished cooks and get up, Crope presented the dessert.
"Chocolate mousse!" he singsonged.
Glinda's face fell, but before anyone could notice, she fixed her smile back in place and accepted the dish gratefully.
A few minutes into their final course, Tibbett cleared his voice.
"Very good. Now that we are all sufficiently sated, I might as well voice my appeal."
Both of the others snorted laughter.
"As you already know, I'm involved with the University's Queer Club, and next week Wednesday we have a session about diversity coming up, which in turn is leading up to our contribution for the Uni's Diversity Fair. And since I don't know any other ace people, I was wondering whether you, dearest Glinda, might do us the honour and give a short presentation on the matter."
Once finished, he theatrically gasped for air, then fixed Glinda with bright eyes and a wide, toothy smile.
Glinda froze. She felt dreadfully mean, but no dinner in the world would have been enough to persuade her to do this.
"Oh Tibbs," she began before she faltered. Watching his face fall, she felt even worse.
"You see? Told ya!" Crope said with a shrug and a pat on his boyfriend's shoulder.
Glinda leaned back in her chair, wrapping her arms around her body.
"I'm terribly sorry, I really am. I'm just not in a place yet where I could happily march into a room full of people and declare 'Hi, I'm Glinda and I'm ace.'"
"You wouldn't have to do that if you didn't want to," Tibbett argued weakly.
Glinda dipped her head, letting her face disappear behind a curtain of blonde curls. She did not need to counter his suggestion, as Crope generously jumped in to do it for her.
"Tibbs," he corrected him mildly, "if a person not associated with the club comes in to talk about any given sexuality... what would you assume about them? That they just happened to have done a lot of research about it? Like a hobby or something?"
She did not look up to see his reaction, but heard a low, sullen hum.
"Cheer up, mate!" Crope laughed, although it sounded rather forced. "It's not the end of the world."
"I do appreciate the Idea," Glinda said quietly, brushing her hair aside with her hand. "I think it's great. I'm just not the right person. But I can find you materials. Flyers or something. If that helps at all."
"Yeah, thanks."
Tibbett mustered a tired smile and pulled himself to his feet.
"Get ready for bed," Crope told him as he began to collect the empty dishes.
Glinda jumped up to help him, and together they loaded the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen without saying much in the process. When everything was done, she lingered for a moment, staring in the direction of the boys' room.
"He'll be fine by tomorrow," Crope assured her with a wink and she nodded. "Go to bed already. You'll have to get up in like six hours."
She checked her phone and discovered with some despair that he was right. So much for using her extra time for some extra sleep.
"Yeah, good night," she yawned, and with a meek wave, she started towards her room.
When Glinda arrived at Elphaba's house on Saturday morning, she was greeted not only by her friend, but also by an excited Monkey in a small, fluffy dressing gown.
"Oh, that's a surprise," she chuckled, as Chistery scrambled out of Elphaba's arm to climb onto her shoulder.
Glinda was used to her parents' cat sitting on her shoulder, but the Monkey was a fair deal larger and heavier – more like a small dog.
"Sorry, I don't think this works," she apologised before attempting to peel him away from her back.
Laughing, Elphaba reached out to assist.
"They asked Brrr to take an earlier flight today, so he already dropped him off last night."
With Chistery back save in the green girl's arms, they went inside.
"Did you have breakfast?" Elphaba asked, to which Glinda answered in the affirmative. "How about coffee?"
"No, thanks," Glinda beamed
Elphaba settled Chistery into a tall bar chair that helped him to easier reach the table. The food on his plate was already half eaten.
"Sorry for interrupting your meal," Glinda muttered sheepishly.
"No worries. He just takes forever. You see, he was raised on some weird dry pellet crap. Eating almost anything made of fresh ingredients is still very foreign to him."
Observing the Monkey for just a few moments, the blonde quickly understood what she was talking about. Before consuming any of his food, he'd carefully choose and examine each morsel. Occasionally, making up his mind seemed so challenging for him, that Elphaba needed to encourage him by picking a piece, taking a tiny bite to prove its edibility, then offer it to him with a patient smile.
"As you might have noticed, he takes much easier to sweets and cakes," Elphaba pointed out after the last chunk of fruit was gone and she was at last allowing him to leave his seat. "But that's not good enough an excuse to ignore the nutritional downsides of a diet consisting of nothing but sugar."
She excused herself and Chistery for a few clock-ticks in order to get him washed and dressed. Once their morning routine was completed, she gave him a pencil case full of crayons and a couple of blank sheets of paper.
"If necessary, this keep him occupied for hours," she explained.
Glinda could tell that he was extremely enthusiastic, yet she found it difficult to interpret the products of his creativity.
"What are his future prospects?" she wondered, and Elphaba shrugged.
"He is still non-verbal, but understands some common words and phrases. The improvement of his fine motor skills is very obvious though. He's also learnt to perform many everyday tasks, like brushing his teeth or changing his clothes. I doubt he'll ever be able to live completely independently, but Brrr is determined to prove me wrong – which I sincerely hope he will."
They spent some time talking. Every now and again the Monkey would run up to them, presenting his newest masterpiece. As they took turns guessing what he might have tried depicting, they made sure to be generous with their praise. This seemed to spur him on, and the frequency of his returns increased rapidly. When he eventually run out of paper, Elphaba suggested a short trip to the nearby park.
"Only until lunch comes around," she said and Glinda agreed happily.
The park was small, with only a few trees, but plenty of lawn, some bushy areas, colourful flowers and a natural pond with an artfully carved wooden bridge over the middle. On the way from her house to the park, Elphaba had used a lead, similar to the ones mothers used to keep rambunctious toddlers in check. Since this area was free of cars, however, she took off the harness and held his hand instead. At first, he was content with that, but soon he began to rebel and started to try and pry his hand loose from her grip.
"I'm sorry Chistery," she told him several times, "but it's not safe."
He came up with a new strategy, lifting his legs and hanging off her side like a sack of dead weight. When this was not enough to bother her, he started swing forth and back and left and right, bumping into her legs and occasionally grabbing for a pole or the armrest of a park bench to bring her to a startling halt.
"This is not working," she finally sighed and stopped.
She glared at him in reprimand, but only mildly.
"Shall we go back then?" asked Glinda. She didn't see any point in pressing on if neither Elphaba, nor Chistery seemed to enjoy themselves particularly much.
Chistery's eyes grew large and round, and he gave them a rather pitiful look as though he'd understood and was not at all thrilled with the suggestion. Wordlessly, but with a shrug of her shoulders, Elphaba opened her satchel to look for the lead. She obviously didn't have any better ideas.
The Monkey used this moment of distraction to slip out of her grip. Alarmed, Elphaba's head shot up, but instead of running off, Chistery had merely jumped over to Glinda's side, wrapping himself around her left leg.
"Uh, hello," the blonde said awkwardly.
"Is that how it is?" Elphaba grunted in muted amusement. "Faithless pickle."
"Faithless what?" laughed Glinda, but Elphaba ignored her.
"Try and see if he accepts your hand," she prompted. "Maybe all hope is not yet lost for our little excursion."
A little unsure about it all, but determined not to disappoint either of her companions, Glinda slowly crouched down, making sure he released her leg before she bent it. Meeting his gaze at his own eye level, she smiled warmly and offered her hand.
"Would this work for you?"
Without a trace of hesitation, Chistery put his small palm in hers. Elphaba rolled her eyes and shook her head, but grinned.
"Despite all I've done for him, all it needs is the charm of a pretty girl, and he dumps me."
"I'm sorry," Glinda replied self-consciously.
"Don't be," chuckled Elphaba. "I'm just joking. I mean, I totally get it."
Blinking, Glinda did a double take. She turned her head to glance at her friend, but Elphaba only fondly watched the Monkey as he happily scampered along.
They circled the park twice with no further difficulties. Much more confident now, and to change things up a bit, they took a different path that led to the idyllic pond. On the bridge they stopped. Chistery had noticed the goldfish underneath and was captivated by their simmering skin.
"Wait here," instructed Elphaba after a short while. "I'll just quickly go over there and take a photo for Brrr."
"Oh. Okay."
Glinda subconsciously began to straighten out her hair with her free hand.
Elphaba had already taken the picture and was halfway back, when Glinda noticed a woman with two tan and black dogs entering the park.
"Um, Elphie?" she called. "Is Chistery used to dogs?"
"Not sure," was Elphaba's reply. Glinda's question had prompted her to look around, and she soon spotted the trio. "If we just avoid them we should be fine, I guess."
They continued their walk, both girls keeping an eye out for the dogs. As the woman reached one of the larger lawn areas, she unfastened her pets' leads and began to throw a ball for them. Everything appeared to be going fine, until the smaller of the two dogs spotted Chistery and darted straight towards him.
"Tygger!" the woman yelled over and over again, but the animal would not listen.
Chistery, who had hardly paid the dogs any mind until then, suddenly became gripped by fear and pulled loose. Shrieking loudly, he sped towards a nearby group of trees. Glinda's heart nearly stopped. Calling his name, she ran after him. The disobedient dog reached Chistery's tree before her and barked incessantly, causing the Monkey to climb higher and higher. As Glinda approached, she debated with herself whether it was safe for her to get close to the dog, but it certainly looked more excited than aggressive. Glancing up to the top of the tree, she saw no way to retrieve Chistery, so she decided to sort out the dog first.
"Hello, cutie," she cooed softly, but the dog was still much more interested in its quarry.
She grabbed its collar and began to drag it the other way. For such a small creature, it was ridiculously strong. Luckily, the owner wasn't far away.
"If you can't control your freaking dog, you need to keep it on a fucking lead," she heard Elphaba snarl angrily."
The woman walked over to Glinda and leashed her dog, without deigning her a single look. Her other dog came trotting towards them, carrying its ball in its mouth. She called it and attached the smaller dog's lead to the larger one's collar and sent them their way. Elphaba argued that this wasn't good enough, but the woman only whirled around and huffed.
"At least I'm not desperate enough to raise a monkey as some sort of child substitute," she spat. "How pathetic."
With that she was off.
Elphaba growled after her but had the good sense to let the matter go and chose to check on Chistery instead.
"Do you think he'll come down if you call him?" Glinda asked as they both stood beneath the tree, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the Monkey.
"Probably not," Elphaba answered dourly. "Why don't you try?"
Glinda tried to keep a cool head and ignore the lurching sensation in her stomach. She knew Elphaba was upset but couldn't quite make out whether what she had said was an actual suggestion or nothing but an irritated jibe.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, letting her head drop.
"Well, we were aware of the dogs. You could have prepared yourself in case he would freak out."
"Then why didn't you take him back?" demanded Glinda. She felt miserable enough without her friend blaming her. "Or you could have put the harness back on! I'm not used to handling him. You said, he'd probably be fine, and I just kept doing what I was doing. I'm sorry I don't have the reflexes of a jungle cat!"
Elphaba exhaled noisily but desisted from continuing the argument. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, perhaps contemplating whether she should ask Brrr for advice. After staring at it for a few seconds, she stuffed it back where it came from.
"Well, I guess we'll just sit here and wait," she said surprisingly evenly.
Glinda watched her sit down, then hesitantly followed suit.
"I guess we'll have a late lunch today."
"Elphie!" Glinda exclaimed suddenly. "Do you think we could coax him down with treats?"
Elphaba considered the idea, but didn't look very enthusiastic.
"I mean, it's worth a try, but I somehow doubt it."
"Would you mind if I disappear for a couple of minutes? On the way here I saw a bakery." She agreed with a nod and Glinda jumped to her feet. "Back in five!"
True to her word, Glinda reappeared a little later, carrying three paper bags.
"Still hanging out in the treetop?" she enquired, slightly breathless from her brisk pace.
"Yup," Elphaba confirmed before looking up. "He jumped to the neighbouring tree thought," she supplied, pointing out his current position.
Sighing, Glinda joined her on the ground.
"Does he have any favourite flavours?" Opening up the bags, she revealed half a dozen of cupcakes, two in each. "We have chocolate, raspberry and hazelnut."
"I don't think he minds," Elphaba replied. "The question is how to show him that we have food down here."
"That's why I got so many," said Glinda. "We just start eating some and leave out the others. If he watches us at all, he should be able to figure out what is going on. Let's hope he's getting hungry, too."
Her plan was as good as any, and each girl chose a cupcake.
While they sat and ate and talked, they noticed a conspicuous rustling in the branches above them. Barely moving her head, Elphaba strained her eyes to catch a sight of Chistery.
"Is he coming down?" Glinda asked under her breath.
Elphaba nodded faintly.
They went back to what they'd been doing, hoping that it wouldn't take too long until the Monkey would join them. However, for a long time, he did not progress any further towards the ground.
"Okay," declared Glinda eventually, "this wasn't a complete failure. Still, I think we might have to come up with another strategy." She gingerly shuffled around to see how far down he had come, but couldn't spot him. "Um, Elphie?" she said uneasily. "Where is Chistery?"
Elphaba spun around. Searching, her gaze jumped from one branch to the next, then from tree to tree.
"Shit!" she exclaimed as she staggered to her feet.
She scanned the flat areas of the park, then, without another word, she started towards the bushes behind the trees.
"Chistery?" Glinda heard her call before she lost sight of her friend. Not wanting to feel useless, she decided to follow her.
Behind the initial row of bushes it was mainly grass and weeds, but everything was overgrown and tangled. Even Elphaba had trouble wading through the dense greenery. Unable to see the ground, Glinda misstepped a number of times. Softly uttering curses, she caught up with Elphaba.
"Any sign of him?"
"No," Elphaba replied, then froze. "Shhht!" she hissed.
Glinda did her best to be quiet and eventually, she could hear the noise Elphaba must have picked up. It was definitely Chistery, but his voice sounded thin and distant, much more so than she would have expected in this this small area.
Concentrating on locating the origin of the cries, Elphaba stalked through the tall grass like a predator on the hunt. Glinda followed clumsily in her heeled ankle boots. A few metres in, Elphaba stopped again. Her expression was deeply concerned.
"Do you hear this?" she asked, sounding even more worried than she looked.
Glinda was almost too frightened to try and listen.
"Water," she practically stammered when she recognised the splashing noise. "Shit, Elphie! Where is he?"
"Shut up!" Elphaba barked, and she fell silent, though the rush of her own blood drummed loudly in her ear.
Another few steps further, they came to a steep, bush covered slope, on top of which sat the fence that surrounded the park. Grabbing a branch of dead wood, Elphaba beat down a tuft of dry grass, revealing a stormwater drain.
"Yeah," that's what I thought," she breathed dejectedly.
The concrete pipe itself was rather large, however, it was surrounded by a metal cage of sorts with a tapering entrance. Glinda guessed that most average sized adults would probably not fit through, yet strangely, there were no bars in place to hinder children or animals, like cats or dogs from entering. When a new series of desperate cries echoed from inside the pipe, accompanied by frantic splashing, she swallowed hard.
"Should we call the fire department?" she suggested, her voice thick.
"And when will they be here?" Elphaba countered. "We don't know what it looks like in there. He could be drowning within the next couple of minutes for all we know."
"So what are you proposing?" Glinda challenged. "Crawl in there yourself?"
Her question required no answer, as Elphaba had already begun to divest herself of her satchel. She grabbed the harness from her bag and her phone, turning on the flashlight. Then, she lay on her stomach, aligning herself with the narrow opening.
"Be careful, Elphie," said Glinda uselessly. She looked around, but the thicket surrounding them made it impossible to see if there were any potential helpers around.
"Fuck!"
Elphaba's curse drew her attention back towards the ground.
"I can't fit," the green girl grunted, still wiggling and twisting around in an attempt to disprove her own statement.
Glinda could easily see what the problem was: her shoulders were too wide. She pulled out her phone, ready to call for help. But Elphaba was right; they had no clue how much time they had left. The sounds of them talking and moving around the entrance area had triggered more screeching and splashing from Chistery. Listening to all this was almost more than she could bear.
"Let me try!" she suddenly blurted out, then swallowed. "I mean, you're skinnier than me, but my shoulders are narrower. I might just fit."
Elphaba carefully pushed back and dragged her head out of the cage. Her cheeks were dirty and leaves were stuck in her hair.
"You sure about this?" she asked softly.
Glinda stepped from one foot onto the other.
"No. But what else can we do?"
Elphaba nodded solemnly and made room for Glinda.
The blonde took a deep breath and stripped off her thin leather jacket. She felt a little cold wearing only her short sleeved top, but the thought almost didn't register. Neither did the fact that the ground was moist and dirty, and that the concrete was rough against her soft skin. She hardly even notice that she'd made it inside, until Elphaba called out her name.
"Here, take this," she said as she stuffed the harness and the lead through the gaps of the cage. "That's as close as we get to a proper rope. Don't use it to support your own weight, of course. But it will be strong enough for Chistery."
Glinda rolled her eyes. She wasn't that dumb.
"Turn your flashlight on," Elphaba reminded her, and she did.
Glinda belly crawled a little further until she was able to squat.
"That's better," she murmured to herself before taking one more deep breath. "Going in," she announced and began to move forward.
The floor was slippery, covered with a layer of slick algae. Phone in one hand, she used the other to balance herself against the wall. She'd hoped to be able to see straight away how long the pipe really was, but all she could tell was that about five to six metres in, it split into two, each section making a sharp turn to the right or left, respectively. The din caused by the Monkey echoed loudly, ringing in her ears. It seemed unlikely that he was too far away. She held on to this thought for courage while she steadily crept forward, past cobwebs and even the odd small bone.
Arriving at the fork, she could clearly hear that the noise came from the right. She fleetingly shone her light the other way, making sure nothing potentially dangerous would take her by surprise. The tunnel in this direction stretched further than her torch was able to show, and she was glad that she wouldn't have to venture this way. She also remembered that time was of the essence and turned around quickly to continue her search for Chistery.
It startled her when a small rock she'd kicked in the process promptly plunged into some water with a plopping sound. With her heart hammering against her ribs and waving her phone around wildly, she confirmed that there was a rectangular shaped basin less than half a metre in front of her. Upon seeing her, Chistery squeaked excitedly. He was on the other side of the basin, holding on to a ledge in the masonry. She scurried to the edge of the water, but he was still out of reach. Seeing as he was not in immediate danger of drowning, she took a moment to think.
There was no way of knowing or finding out how deep the water was. At least, she now knew that its surface was almost level with the floor of the pipe. All things considered, this was probably the most advantageous scenario they could have expected. If she really needed to, she could probably go back the way she'd come and fetch whatever tools were available - like a long branch or something. She wasn't particularly keen on making the trip another few times though.
Making sure she was positioned securely and well balanced, she reached out with her hand and called the Monkey's name.
"Chistery," she repeated patiently when there was no reaction, other than frightened screeching.
Her arm was growing heavy while the Animal still hesitated – frustratingly, yet understandably.
"Chistery, please," she pleaded, but soon she had to retract her hand.
It felt cold and numb. Rubbing it back to life, she resolved to start one last attempt before returning to the entrance.
"Okay, Chistery," she began to explain her plan, uncertain how much he'd be able to understand. "I'll count to three. At three I'll stretch as far as I can and you jump to grab my hand, okay?"
Chistery gave a cry and Glinda began to count.
At three, she shot her arm forward. Chistery did not immediately budge, but a few seconds later, he propelled himself through the water, pushing away from the brick wall with his hind legs. He managed to hold on to her wrist. The sudden weight nearly pulled her into the pool. Throwing her own weight backwards with a mighty jerk, she ended up on her back with a soaking wet Monkey on her chest.
While she remained on the ground, breathing heavily, Chistery swiftly hopped off of her and shook the water out of his fur. He scampered a few paces along the tunnel before stopping to see why she wasn't following him.
"Coming," she grunted, twisting her torso to get to her knees.
This seemed good enough for the Monkey, who happily skedaddled ahead.
By the time Glinda re-emerged from the pipe, Elphaba had already taken off her top and wrapped it around Chistery to keep him warm. Blinking against the sudden brightness, Glinda could hardly distinguish her from the surrounding greenery, considering that above her hips the only contrasting colour was the navy blue of her sports bra. When her eyes had fully adjusted and her mind finally registered the scene before her, she stopped and blushed.
Elphaba noticed her and smiled weirdly.
"Do you need help?" she enquired, to which Glinda shook her head.
Crawling out of the cage was actually a bit easier than it had been to get in in the first place. The moment she was free, Glinda felt incredibly relieved; which was strange, since she couldn't remember feeling particularly anxious or claustrophobic while still being inside.
"Must have been the adrenaline," Elphaba guessed when she mentioned her peculiar observation. "Stressful situations, especially such that induce fear, can trigger the release of adrenaline, also known as epinephrine. It increases heart rate and muscle strength among other things. It also helps you to function better and disregard irrelevant factors."
"Like spider webs and rat bones," Glinda supplied, shuddering.
"You did well," said Elphaba, picking leaves and other debris out of her hair. "Thank you."
Glinda brushed away some of the dirt from her clothes, but many of the stains were moist and would need a good wash. She grabbed her leather jacket and hesitantly pulled it over. She didn't want to walk among civilized people covered in filth, but was worried about ruining the lining of her jacket.
On their way back to the house, Elphaba asked about a few details of Glinda's rescue mission, but otherwise remained mostly silent. Once back, Glinda's first destination was the guest bathroom. She washed her face and arms, and combed out her hair. It still looked lacklustre and lifeless, so she tied it up in a ponytail. Considering herself in the mirror, she shook her head. Pre-Elphaba she'd have never expected to find herself in a stormwater drain, rescuing Monkeys. She doubted Fiyero would believe her any of this.
She was the first to arrive back downstairs, though Elphaba followed soon with Chistery bathed and changed. The green girl herself still had brown streaks of mud in her face.
"I think he'll need some rest after this adventure," she said. "I'll put him down to sleep in his room, then I can drive you home."
"Drive me home?" Glinda replied confused. "Already? I mean, I could probably help with something? I could look after him while you clean up?"
Jaw set tightly, Elphaba looked away before she spoke again.
"It's fine. I don't need help. I don't want it right now either. I'd just prefer to be alone for a bit."
The words felt like a slap in the face to Glinda.
"Is it because you're still angry with me?" she pressed, feeling the frustration swell inside of her. "Because it was ultimately all my fault? Well," she huffed and crossed her arms, "people make mistakes and I did my best to redeem myself. If that's not good enough for you, I don't know what is!"
"I'm grateful for your help," Elphaba rebuffed calmly, yet firmly. "But now I would appreciate some time for myself."
Though far from mollified, Glinda still ceased her quarrelling. Something seemed off about Elphaba, and before she could make things any worse between them, she rather chose to retreat.
"Fine," she declared sullenly. "I'll leave. Don't worry about driving me. The tram will do."
"Do you need any fresh clothes if you intend to go out in public like this?" Elphaba asked immediately.
Glinda was glad she still seemed to care. She inspected her outfit briefly.
"No. I think this isn't too terrible. As long as I don't run into anyone I know," she added wryly.
Stoically, Elphaba bobbed her head.
"Well, bye then, Elphie," Glinda muttered and turned around with a wave. After a couple of steps, she looked back and fluttered her hand at the Monkey. "See ya, Chistery."