Two Good Friends
A week later, the story from the newspaper had vanished from Glinda’s mind. She was incredibly busy. With the Goodness Festival coming up, she had a lot to get done. For the past several years, she had been working tirelessly on legislation to ensure the equal protection of all Ozians, including Animals. Small measures had been taken, but she was hoping to unveil the new amendment to the Ozian Code of Law that would make these rights permanent at the festival. She had almost all of the Council’s agreement, and then the vote would go to the people. She had been sending groups of people out to advocate for the issue, and it seemed to have strong support. Enough time had passed that no one really remembered that the Wicked Witch had been involved in Animal rights protests. No one besides Glinda.
She got to work on a few more letters to council members, and right as she was making real progress on the letters, a soft knock at the door interrupted her. The Tin Man peeked around the office door. “Sorry to bug you, Glin, but I just got back from Munchkinland and figured you’d want to hear the update.”
Glinda did want to hear, as annoyed as she was at being interrupted. Munchkinland had been surprisingly one of the hardest groups to convince of the importance of the Animal rights issue. Although the region was doing better than it had been, there was still a lot of poverty. That led to the people of Munchkinland looking for someone to blame, and they had settled on the Animals. “Sure, Boq,” she said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. “How did it go?”
As Boq told her about the events of the trip, Glinda was glad to hear small fragments of progress had been made. Some Animal scientists had found a new seed variety that was increasing productivity, and that made the Munchkins more amicable to the cause. When Boq had finished his report, Glinda expected him to move to leave the office, but he stayed firmly put. “Glinda?” he said, hesitantly. He avoided her eyes, staring at the pink cup of pens on her desk. “I had an idea I wanted to run by you.”
“Hmm?” said Glinda, half preoccupied with rereading the beginning paragraph of her letter. That part there isn’t worded quite right, maybe I should restart….
But she was snapped out of her thoughts when Boq said “I’ve been thinking about Nessa. And Elphaba”
“What about them?” Glinda said, more aggravated than she had intended.
“Well,” Boq said, squirming uncomfortably. “I wondered… well I wondered if we could find a way to officially pardon them.”
Glinda stared at him, careful to not let any emotion escape her face.
Boq continued, “I just think it’s been long enough. And I know it doesn’t really change anything, they’re both gone. And Nessa, she did treat the Munchkins poorly but can you really blame her? With the way she was raised? And you’ve told me before, Elphie-”
“Elphaba,” Glinda corrected.
“Right, sorry. Elphaba never did anything wrong. She just wanted the same thing you’re trying to push through now. And….” Boq’s voice faltered a bit. “As horrible as she was at the end, I really did love Nessa. She was really something special. And you and Elphaba-”
“That’s enough,” said Glinda tersely. “Sorry Boq, that’s a no. Elphaba won’t be getting a pardon. That’s not your call. And I respect your feelings about Nessarose, but the last thing I need if I want Munchkinland on my side for the Animal rights issue is you trying to pardon their former dictator. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m very busy.”
Boq’s face fell, but he knew the battle was lost. “Sorry, Glinda,” he muttered. “This is probably bad timing. I just- well I went by their house, and Dorothy’s, while I was in Munchkinland and I...”
“I know,” said Glinda, much more warmly. She squeezed Boq’s hand and said, “I’m not mad at you. We’re fine. I just really need to get this done.”
With a small smile, Boq got up and headed for the door. Before he had even left, Glinda was restarting the letter she had been writing, burying herself in her work in an attempt to push down all the painful memories Boq had brought back up in that short conversation.
---
Distracting herself with work was much more effective than she had expected, and she was making good progress. She had finished the letters, and then had started on a plan for a big meeting in the Emerald City, scheduled for a week after the festival, where Ozians could come air their concerns before the vote. Which is why she was especially annoyed when less than an hour after Boq had left, her secretary Mellie had come into the office.
“Sorry to bother you, Miss Glinda,” Mellie said, “But there’s someone hear to see you”
Glinda sighed. “Mellie, I’m too busy. They’ll have to come back later.”
“I told her that,” said Mellie. “But she insisted I come ask. She says you are old friends, and it’s an emergency. She needs your help.”
Barely suppressing a groan, Glinda said, “Who is it?”
“Says her name is Pheobe. And I know it’s not my place, but she seems very desperate. Very thin and like she hasn’t slept in weeks. I think you should talk to her.”
I don’t even know a Pheobe, Glinda thought. But if she is an old friend, that would be incredibly rude if I turned her away. “Fine, send her in,” huffed Glinda. “But tell her it better be quick.”
A few minutes later, Glinda heard the office door open and didn’t even glance up. “As you can see, I’m very busy, but what can I do for…” The sentence died in the back of her throat when she finally looked at the woman standing in front of her. Sweet Oz. It couldn’t be… She knew those eyes anywhere. But this woman wasn’t dead, and most certainly wasn’t green.
Without even realizing it, Glinda had stood and moved around the desk until she was mere feet from the Not-So-Green Girl in front of her. “Elphie?” she breathed, as if her saying it too loudly would make her disappear again.
The other girl’s eyes filled with tears as she brought the back of her palm to her forehead, wiggling her fingers ever so slightly.
“Oh, Elphie,” Glinda sobbed, wrapping her best friend in the tightest hug. They were both crying and shaking so much they ended up in a pile on the floor, still not letting go.
“I’m so sorry, my sweet,” Elphaba whispered, somehow pulling Glinda in even closer. “So, so sorry.”