AN: as you can see I found some more inspiration for the story and there's a new chapter :) hopefully the progress will continue! Thanks to everyone who reviewed/faved/alerted chapter 14!

For as long as she could remember Nessarose had always hated thunderstorms, especially at night when she was alone and helpless in her bed. She managed to convince herself that she would be fine but now she was alone in the dark and the thunder and lightning were right over Shiz University. Just as she was about to thoroughly embarrass herself (as she saw it) by ringing for her maid to come and sit with her Nessa heard the bedroom door being carefully opened.

"Who is there?" she called out imperiously, unsuccessfully attempting to hide the tremor in her voice.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

Nessarose relaxed when she heard her sister's voice, of course Elphaba knew how terrified she was of storms.

"Elphaba, what are you doing out of your room at this time of night?"

"No one saw me, if that's what's worrying you. I just wanted to make sure you weren't upset, I know how you don't like storms."

"Oh well I am fine," said Nessa haughtily. "But you should stay for a little while, just in case someone saw you wandering around – it would be very embarrassing for me if you were caught sneaking around after curfew again."

"Of course, I wouldn't want to embarrass you again."

"You might come and sit on the bed, if you like," said Nessa with air of one bestowing a great favour.

"Thank you," said Elphaba. "Shall I light the lamp?"

"No, thank you."

Nessarose heard Elphaba's feet on the carpet then felt the mattress shift slightly as her sister took up her customary position, sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed. Overhead, seeming as though it was almost in the room, the thunder crashed loudly and Elphaba felt Nessa flinch.

"Hush, dané sora, you're safe."

"Sing the song for me, Elphaba," whispered Nessarose, referring to a Quadling song her sister always sang for her when she was afraid of a storm. It was a song Elphaba had learned from their mother singing it to her, before Nessa was born. The Quadlings believed that particularly violent storms were caused by evil wind spirits coming to steal their children's souls and the song was used to keep the spirits away.

"Of course," Elphaba didn't believe in evil wind spirits, she didn't know if their mother had, but she knew that the song would make her sister feel safe and let her sleep so she was more than happy to oblige.

"Kora Kore dey! Kora Kore dey!
Yekali je sey! Yekada jer seye!
Seya yu dama, Sar dae caem!
Sar yéa caelm dae harrés, Sar yéa kaem dae tarrés.
Yé adére dae ja, Yé tar aes sar dae de."

It was a short, quiet, song and Elphaba sang it through three times before she heard Nessa's breathing deepen and realised that her sister was asleep. Smiling she sat at the end of the bed for awhile longer, listening to the thunder crash overhead and watching the flashes of lightning through the curtains. Once she was sure that Nessa was definitely asleep she eased herself off of the bed and crept out of the room.

When she returned to the suite she shared with Galinda Elphaba saw that there was a light on in the bedroom and realised that Galinda must have woken up.

"Elphie!" Galinda was sitting up in bed when Elphaba, by way of the bathroom to put her nightgown on, entered the bedroom. "Where have you been?"

"I just went to check on my sister," replied Elphaba, her calm tone contrasting quite obviously with Galinda's exclamation. The green girl sat down on the side of her bed and began unbraiding her hair so that she could brush it. "Why? Did the room monitors actually check the beds for once?"

"No, but I woke up and you were gone!"

"Silly Gaia, where in Oz did you think I was going to go? Besides, you were asleep when I left."

"I don't see how you could know, with the lights being off," protested Galinda sulkily.

"You were snoring, dear, it seemed fairly certain."

"I do not snore!"

"Galinda, I have been sharing a room with you for months, I can assure you quite confidently that you do indeed snore – though only when you sleep on your back, you may want to keep that in mind for when you're married."

There was another crash of thunder and Galinda, distracted from what Elphaba was saying by the noise, shrieked loudly.

"Was that really necessary?" said Elphaba as she started to braid her hair up again. "Don't you think the storm is making enough noise without your contributions?"

"I loathe thunderstorms!"

"It's only weather, Galinda, and we're inside. There's hardly anything to worry about."

"If it's nothing to worry about then why did you need to sneak out to check on your sister?" replied Galinda grumpily.

"Galinda if you're going to get jealous of me spending time with my sister this friendship really is not going to work," said Elphaba patiently. "Now can we please go to sleep? I know what you're like when you stay up late and it's going to be difficult enough for me to try and explain the sorcery lesson to you tomorrow."

"Don't you think I can do it?" asked Galinda in a hurt tone.

"I have no idea, to be honest, I was actually referring to my abilities as a teacher. Why would you think that I'd think that? I thought you wanted to study sorcery? You said so on the first day here."

"Madame Morrible doesn't think I 'have what it takes'," admitted the Gillikinese girl, looking away from Elphaba. "She said so, when she gave me my training wand."

"I don't see how she could possibly know, without even letting you try," said Elphaba sceptically. "I'm sure you couldn't possibly be worse at it than I am."

"But you're so…I mean the things you have done!"

"When I lose my temper," corrected Elphaba. "Sorcery class is a whole different matter and if Madame Morrible was going to be here tomorrow you'd see very quickly that she is not at all impressed by what I am able to accomplish in class. Frankly I think this idea of me teaching you is some kind of test for me and that she doesn't think I'm going to achieve anything. I'm sure she intends to teach you properly once she gets back so don't fret too much about tomorrow."

"Oh I'm not worried or anything," said Galinda with a false sounding laugh. "Of course Madame was just trying to motivate me, or something."

Elphaba chuckled a little at the tone of the last part of the sentence and agreed: "Or something."

"Perhaps she was just in a bad mood because you made her include me," decided Galinda.

"I don't doubt it," agreed Elphaba, recalling how much persuasion it had taken for her to get Galinda into the class. "She made her feelings about it quite clear to me."

"Is sorcery hard?"

"For me? Very! But, as Madame keeps telling me, every Sorceress has a different talent and it's all a matter of finding one's own right way of doing things," replied Elphaba, mimicking Morrible's accent perfectly. "Once, as she says quite emphatically, one has mastered the Basics. Which I haven't, yet."

"Well if you can't, what hope have I got?" wondered Galinda despondently.

"You can't base your expectations on our other classes together," said Elphaba reassuringly. "Sorcery isn't a matter of memorising texts or writing essays, it is control and instinct and power and finding the right balance between all of those things."

"If that little bit of Munchkinlander mysticism, I had no idea there was such a thing by the way, was supposed to make me feel more confident about sorcery class…well it didn't."

"That was Quadling mysticism, my sweet, Munchkinlanders are far too pragmatic for such a thing. I can only apologise for the fact my honesty does not reassure you, I won't apologise for being honest."

"You never have yet, apologised for being honest that is, and I don't expect it to change just because you don't dislike me so strongly anymore."

"Sometimes I even like you," said Elphaba, pulling a face as though she was horrified by the idea.

"Elphie!" protested Galinda in a mock affronted tone. "Don't you know that everyone likes me?"

"I'm not 'everyone', dear Gaia, sometimes I wonder if I'm anyone at all."

"Everyone is someone, how can someone not be anyone?"

"It's a mystery."

"What's a mystery is how someone who is only one quarter Quadling and was raised one hundred percent Munchkinlander can be so," Galinda made a gesture that Elphaba thought was meant to emphasise the Gillikinese girl's distaste for the next word. "Philosophical."

"What is a mystery to me is how someone who is one hundred percent Gillikinese can be so," Elphaba mimicked Galinda's gesture in an exaggerated fashion. "Thoughtful."

"I don't believe I shall speak to you any longer, if all you are going to do is make fun of me!"

"Good, I'd like to go to sleep now," replied Elphaba, slipping under her blankets and rolling onto her side with her back to Galinda. "Put the light out when you've finished thinking, or not thinking, whatever it is you were doing."

"Why I…you…oh fine!"

Defeated, the Gillikinese girl put the light out and slid under her blankets.

"Elphie?"

"Yes, Galinda?"

"Do I really snore?"

It went without saying that Elphaba would be awake before Galinda, she nearly always was after all, but to her surprise the blonde girl managed to rouse herself in plenty of time to get ready before their class was scheduled. Of course, by that time, Elphaba had already dressed, gone downstairs for breakfast, and finished some of her homework. The green girl sat on their sofa reading while Galinda, unusually quietly, got dressed and ready for the day. After a great deal of thought the Gillikinese girl decided to wear one of her older dresses for the class then change for lunch, even if it made her a little late she knew her friends would understand she didn't want to get one of her good dresses dirty if the class turned out to be messy.

"Good morning, Elphie," said Galinda, yawning as she walked into the sitting room. "Do I need any books or anything for Sorcery class?"

"Madame hasn't tested me on the theory so far but you might want to make notes just in case she expects us to know it."

Of course Elphaba could have offered a copy of her own notes but she had the vague notion that she might encourage Galinda towards better study habits in this one class at least. Galinda nodded sleepily and went back to fetch her writing materials.

"You might want to go and get some breakfast before we start," suggested Elphaba. "I don't know if it's just me but using magic always makes me hungry and it's worse if I don't eat beforehand."

"I never eat breakfast on Sixth Day and Rest Day, you know that!"

"Shockingly, Galinda, I do not keep track of your dietary habits. Don't say I didn't warn you. When you're awake we'll go upstairs to the Sorcery classroom. I hope you're feeling like some exercise, it's at the top of the North Tower."

"Why so far," Galinda paused to yawn again. "From the other classrooms?"

"To minimise the damage should a Sorcery student make any unfortunate mistakes," replied Elphaba. "Apparently I am not the first to have problems controlling my powers, though according to Madame I am the one who has been the most hopeless at learning the Basic Principles of Sorcery."

"I can always tell when you quoting her," remarked Galinda. "You sound very Gillikinese when you do it."

"You must be awake after all, if you can notice something like that. Shall we go then?"

"But the class doesn't, technically, start for another half an hour!" protested Galinda.

"If we leave now you'll have time to come back and mess about with your hair before lunch."

"Well when you put it like that, what are we waiting for? Should I bring my training wand?"

"Not this time, Madame has a whole collection of practice wands and I think she'd want you to start with one of those – best to leave the training wand until she gets back."

"The first thing Madame Morrible taught me, it's right at the beginning of the book, is just using a wand to make a little shower of colour – sort of like sparks but it's magic made visible. All you do is you hold the wand and move it like this," explained Elphaba, demonstrating the necessary hand movement without holding a practice wand herself.

"Like this?" said Galinda, swishing the wand in a half-hearted fashion.

"No, a loose wrist motion first," corrected Elphaba, demonstrating it again. "Then a stronger one on the return movement."

Frowning in concentration Galinda attempted the movement again, with no result.

"No," said Elphaba, demonstrating yet again. "Swish forwards, then flick backwards. Swish, flick, swish, flick. It's sort of like that thing you do with your hair."

"I would never do anything that ungraceful with my hair!"

"You know what I mean, now try it."

"Oh fine," said Galinda sulkily, pretending to be too offended to admit out loud that the visualisation of 'like that thing you do with your hair' was actually helpful – though not helpful enough for her to get it right.

"Elphie, why don't you just show me how to do this with an actual practice wand?"

"That's really not a good idea, Galinda."

"Please? Just once?"

"Just once," agreed Elphaba, with a sigh at how easy it was to let Galinda get her own way. She picked up one of the practice wands and cautioned Galinda: "Watch closely, I am only going to do this once. And stand over there."

With a puzzled expression Galinda walked to the other side of the classroom, standing in a spot where she could still see Elphaba's hand. She had just enough time to note the exact wrist movement Elphaba made before the wand exploded in a shower of green, black, and silver 'sparks' – covering a good portion of the classroom in woodchips.

"And that is one of the main reasons why I thought it was a terrible idea for Madame to assign me to give you your first lesson," said Elphaba, perching on a nearby desk, after sweeping away the fragments of practice wand. "I hope you at least got something out of it? Galinda?"

"Elphaba?"

"Are you alright, Galinda?"

"Yes," said the blonde girl, shaking her head for a moment. "I was just startled, you might have warned me!"

"You were being very adamant that you wanted a demonstration, it seemed like it might be quicker than explaining that one of those 'Basic Principles' I haven't mastered yet was the very first lesson given to every student of Magic."

"You mean that happens every time you try to," Galinda made a vague approximation of the movement with her own practice wand.

"Every single time since I started studying with Madame Morrible," admitted Elphaba. "At the moment she has me studying a lot of theory, for when I finally manage to learn practical control, and exercises to help with the control. She assures me that it can be a lengthy process. But enough about me, try the wand again."

"What if I…"

"Make it explode?"

"Yes!"

"You'll be able to tell, just remember to shut your eyes and duck."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Practice," replied Elphaba with a laugh. "You wouldn't believe how many of those Madame let me explode before she finally decided on theory only classes. Now stop stalling and show that silly old wand who is in charge."

Holding the wand out in front of her as though it might explode before she even did anything Galinda closed her eyes, recalling the exact hand movement Elphaba had made, and did her best to copy.

"You did it!" exclaimed Elphaba, sounding as excited as if she had achieved the feat herself.

"I did?"

"Yes, now try it with your eyes open, silly girl!"

"I did it!" shrieked Galinda, when she saw the pink and silver 'sparks' that flew out of the wand when she made the correct movement again.

"See? I told you that you could do it!"

"Do you ever get tired of being right?" wondered Galinda, pulling a face at Elphaba.

"It doesn't happen as often as it might seem to you. Now do that a few more times and then we'll move onto the next exercise in this chapter."

"What is the next exercise?" asked Galinda, as she excitedly skipped around the room, leaving a trail of pink and silver behind her.

"If you don't calm down I'll use my substitute teacher's prerogative and make it 'Galinda sitting still and being quiet for five minutes'!"

"Sorry, Elphie!" trilled Galinda, pulling out a chair and sitting down quietly. "So, what next?"

"Read this section in the book about visualisation," said Elphaba, handing Galinda the basic sorcery book open to the correct page. "You see basic 'spells' are nothing more than making a picture in your mind and directing magic to make it happen. It's only when you get need a more complicated result that an actual spell is required. The first exercise is using the wand to light a candle, I will not be demonstrating this one - no matter how much you pout."

"Wand goes 'boom'?" teased Galinda as she started reading without any further prompting.

"Not in that case, no," disagreed Elphaba. "One less desk in here than there used to be though and Madame very prudently decided I should stay away from the fire spells for the foreseeable future."

"Oh I see," said Galinda, quietly going back to her reading while Elphaba went to a store cupboard and took out a candle then placed it on the desk in front of her roommate.

"When you're ready then," murmured Elphaba, guessing when Galinda was near the end of the reading she'd been given.

"Ready," said Galinda attentively.

"Good. For this spell you need to imagine the candle being lit then make this movement with the wand," explained Elphaba, once again demonstrating without an actual wand in her hand.

"One more time?" requested Galinda, Elphaba nodded and showed her the movement again.

It took her several tries to get the hang of visualising the candle being lit while making the correct wand movement at the same time but Galinda, encouraged by her easy success with the first exercise, persevered until finally the candle flickered to life – for a few seconds.

"I did it…wait, what happened?"

"You have to hold the image in your mind until after the wand movement is completed," explained Elphaba. "If you let it go too soon the spell of the wand movement doesn't lock in place. Try it again, make the last motion of the wand sharper this time so it's more obvious to you when the movement stops – and, for Oz sake, Galinda, keep your eyes open. There's not much use for a Sorceress who can't cast a spell with her eyes open now is there?"

Galinda hadn't realised she was closing her eyes until Elphaba pointed it out so she concentrated on keeping them open, unfortunately this hampered her ability to make an image in her mind.

"Elphie, how am I supposed to visualise with my eyes open?" she complained, after failing to make the candle wick ignite again even for a few moments.

"I don't know," admitted Elphaba. "I just sort of…do it. Obviously I can't demonstrate that...but maybe I can put it into terms that will make sense to you, let me just think about it for a minute."

"This is going to involve you making fun of me in some way, isn't it?" said Galinda suspiciously.

"Whatever gives you that idea, my sweet?"

"Experience!"

"I shall try very hard to take the example I am about to use as seriously as you do," promised Elphaba with a poorly concealed smile.

"As long as you are at least trying," conceded Galinda. "Particularly if you really think it will help me learn how to do this and aren't just making fun of me."

"What you need to do is have an image in your mind while also thinking about what you're doing with the wand."

"I understood that much," said Galinda irritably, thinking that Elphaba was treating her like she was stupid.

"Hush, I was just making sure we were looking at this the same way before I explained my example," chided Elphaba. "Using one of your favourite subjects, as much as it pains me to admit taking any notice whatsoever of your preoccupation with fashion!"

"You've lost me," said Galinda, frowning in concentration. "What do magic and fashion have to do with each other, apart from using one to change the other?"

"Having lived with you for this long I couldn't help but noticed that you have a method of getting ready to go anywhere," began Elphaba. "first you choose a dress then you put it somewhere, usually on my bed, while you pick out accessories and decide what colours to use on your face, yes?"

"It's much more interesting than you make it sound but yes that is my method if you like to use such a dreary word for it."

"how do you know, without looking back at the dress or putting it on, what accessories and colours will look good with it?"

"Well I just imagine how I look wearing the dress then…ooh I concentrate on what the dress looks like and whatever accessory I'm holding! Elphie, you're a genius!"

"Yes, I am," agreed Elphaba wryly. Elphaba's dry tone went unnoticed as Galinda successfully made the candle light, and stay lit, then let out a joyful shriek at her success.

"Look, Elphie! I did it!"

"Are you going to get this loudly excited every time you get a spell right? That could get very tiring for both of us."

"At least until I get used to being good at it!" decided Galinda. "It's so much easier than I expected. So far, that is, but I didn't expect to be able to do anything straight away!"

"If you applied half as much attention to your homework you'd probably find that easier as well," suggested Elphaba sensibly.

"But homework is so boring, this is nearly as interesting as fashion!"

"You didn't seem bored yesterday afternoon when we were studying."

"That's because you make it sound so much more interesting than all of our dreary old Professors do!" insisted Galinda stubbornly. "I don't think they even try. Of course I would like it even better if you told me the answers instead of making me think…"

"Sorry, my sweet, I refuse to do your thinking for you even though I am always happy to offer suggestions," replied Elphaba with a chuckle at the obviousness of Galinda's last remark. "Now are we discussing homework or learning sorcery?"

"Sorcery please, Elphie. What are we doing next?"

"According to the book you should practice that spell until you can do it every time, with two candles, but I know how short your attention span is so just do that a few more times and then we'll try the next exercise. I warn you now though that Madame Morrible won't care how bored you are when she's making you do the same thing over and over again. In fact if you so much as hint to her that you're bored, not that I ever did but I know this is how it would be, she'd take it to mean you weren't serious about learning and get very sarcastic about it."

"Now that you've warned I'll try very hard to pay attention when Madame is teaching!" promised Galinda.

When the University's clock struck the hour Galinda was surprised to find they'd been in the classroom for nearly two hours already.

"Have we really been in here for so long?" she exclaimed, losing her concentration and causing the candle flames to splutter and die. "It hasn't felt like any time at all!"

"Probably because you weren't counting the minutes until you could leave," remarked Elphaba, only half joking. "Or perhaps it was the fact you've actually been thinking and paying attention?"

"You're making fun of me again," complained Galinda. "Doesn't being friends mean you don't do that?"

"Nice try, Galinda, but I've heard the way you Gillikinese girls talk about your friends behind their backs!"

"Yes but I always thought that Munchkinlanders were too…polite to do that!"

"You were going to say 'boring' weren't you?"

"Well…yes," admitted Galinda, hastening to add. "But only because it's true."

"Just like it's true that all Gillikinese are stuck-up and shallow?"

"We are not all like that!" protested Galinda, letting out an 'ooh' of realisation as she caught Elphaba's meaning.

"And not all Munchkinlanders are boring. I can see why people would think so though, and I know the Gillikinese generally find our old-fashioned formalities too dreary for words. Now are you ready to try one more exercise before lunch?"

"Yes, as long as I'll still have time to get changed."

"If you pick it up as quickly as you did the first two I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to throw your clothes all over my bed, just like you do every week. This one is Basic Levitation, used on very light objects like a quill pen or sheet of paper. This is the wand motion," explained Elphaba, demonstrating with her hand as before. "You see how it's a sort of curved zigzag movement, through the wrist?"

"Sort of…how do I know when I've finished the movement?"

"Watch again. Twist right, left, right, left. On the last left you turn your wrist all the way so the palm of your hand is facing up. See?"

"I think so," said Galinda distractedly as she tried out the movement several times, until it felt right. "How was that?"

"Exactly what you just did. Now do that and at the same time concentrate on the thing you want to levitate but keep the wand work gentle – the more force you use in the movement the more quickly whatever you're working with is going to take off."

Galinda nodded and carefully placed a page from her notebook on the desk then attempted the spell.

"You have to put some effort into it," said Elphaba with a laugh. "Or it won't go anywhere. Don't worry too much about it for the moment, it's only a piece of paper so nothing terrible will happen if you send it flying up in the air."

"How do I get it back down?" said Galinda, a few minutes later, tilting her head backwards to look at the paper hovering near the high ceiling.

"It's only Basic Levitation, it'll come down by itself," explained Elphaba. "That's why it's only used on very light objects. If you really want to get it down before it comes down by itself you can reverse the original wand movement – you twist left, right, left, right then finish by turning your wrist into the same position as before."

"Oh!" yelped Galinda, as she cast the reversal a little too enthusiastically and the paper zoomed down from the ceiling. "I did it!"

"Now try Levitating something else," instructed Elphaba. "Then you can go to lunch."

"Do you think Madame would mind if I borrowed one of these practice wands from the classroom?" asked Galinda, while Elphaba put the book and other things away at the end of their class.

"So you can show off to your friends at lunch?" Elphaba teased her gently. "I don't really know. Obviously she didn't want me practicing outside the classroom but your case is different. I doubt she'd approve of the kind of practice that involves an audience at luncheon though I don't suppose you intend to tell her."

"They really want to know what I've been learning about," said Galinda pathetically.

"I'm not doing anything that means I have to answer 'yes' when Madame asks if I gave you permission to take a practice wand out of the room," said Elphaba firmly. "But I didn't count them when I came in so if one were to go missing after you put yours away for the day…"

"Thank you, Elphie!" exclaimed Galinda, startling her friend by enveloping the taller girl in an enthusiastic hug.

"You really don't need to get so excited about it," protested Elphaba, patting Galinda's back awkwardly. "It's only a practice wand, if you put it back today Madame won't even know you had it."

"I could just use my training wand!" realised Galinda, showing a small amount of sensitivity and backing out of Elphaba's personal space. "Madame never said I couldn't, when she gave it to me."

"As long as you don't try anything you haven't learned how to do properly," cautioned Elphaba. "That goes for both wands."

"I'm sure my friends will understand that magic is very serious," replied Galinda, looking genuinely surprised when Elphaba chuckled. "What?"

"Sorry – the idea of your friends taking anything, that is actually serious, seriously."

"We take lots of serious things seriously!"

"I was referring to things the rest of the country might consider serious."

"Yes, well that is why they are much less interesting than we are," Galinda sighed mournfully then giggled when Elphaba pulled a face at her. "Maybe I won't take a wand with me at all, we're going shopping after lunch and it would be awkward to carry."

"And clash horribly with your shoes, I suppose?" remarked Elphaba, sounding amused as she often did when speaking to Galinda.

"Well now that you mention it these wands are quite…bland," pondered Galinda. "If I ever get to be a proper Sorceress I shall have a much nicer one."

"I don't doubt it, garishly sparkly and nearly as tall as you no doubt."

"Honestly I wonder why I bother talking to you sometimes, Elphaba!"

"So do I," agreed the green girl immediately. "Wonder why you talk to me, that is."

"I like you, which is as much a surprise to me as it is to you I can assure you."

"Trust me, dear Galinda, no one could possibly be as surprised as I was and am," replied Elphaba. "Though I don't doubt you and your friends, your other friends, aren't far behind in your disbelief. You should go or you'll be late and your friends will give me dark looks while making supposedly non-specific comments about 'people ruining other people's fun' next time they see me."

"Yes," said Galinda after considering it for a moment. "They probably would do that. Well enjoy your afternoon, as much as possible, and I'll see you in our room this evening."

Galinda surprised Elphaba with a parting hug then skipped out of the classroom, humming cheerfully.

After lunch Elphaba spent the afternoon in one of the Music classrooms, studying for the upcoming Politics and Law test while Nessarose had a lesson in playing the Harp, then having begged some food from the kitchen staff and eaten in an out of the way corner she went back to the suite.

Before she reached the door Elphaba heard the unmistakable sound of Galinda and at least four of her friends talking and laughing in the sitting room. She'd assumed she would have the rooms to herself, because Galinda and her friends always went out on Sixth Day night, but she guessed they must still be going through the lengthy process of getting ready. Ordinarily, before ht night at the Oz Dust Ballroom, she would go to the library until she was sure they were gone but now she hesitated; on the one hand she didn't want to test her new friendship with Galinda by going into the room as though she expected to be acknowledged but on the other hand she still wasn't sure she believed the Gillikinese girl really wanted to be friends with her and she knew that walking into the room full of Galinda's other friends would give her proof one way or another.

The girls all stopped speaking mid-sentence when Galinda's roommate opened the door and walked into the suite. Galinda was in the bedroom and all of them, including Elphaba who hadn't expected that, stayed silent and simply looked at each other for a moment.

"Good evening, ladies," said Elphaba finally, according them the polite nod that was all the acknowledgement her rank required she offer them, then she walked around the stunned group of girls and into the bedroom without waiting for any reply or lack thereof.

"Elphie!" squealed Galinda, emerging from the wardrobe. "There you are, at last!"

There were no other girls in the bedroom but the door was open and the girls in the sitting room could hear every word.

"Galinda, I wish you wouldn't use that ridiculous nickname!" protested Elphaba, changing her mind about flopping down on her bed when she saw it was covered in Galinda's clothes. "And I see you still haven't learned the difference between my bed and yours."

"Never mind all that, this is important! Fiyero is going to be here in half an hour and I can't find my blue dress!"

"Oh Oz," muttered Elphaba. "Didn't we go through this one yesterday?"

"I never actually found my blue dress," complained Galinda. "And anyway that was my blue dinner dress, now I'm looking for my blue dancing dress!"

"You still have five blue dresses and I still can't tell them apart," explained Elphaba patiently.

"Well have you seen any of them?"

"Only the one with some sort of gold coloured trim on it – you shoved it under the bed on the occasion we discussed earlier, because it looked too purple for your liking."

"Oh no and that was the one I wanted to wear tonight!"

"Of course it was," Elphaba sighed, looking back at her bed just in case some space had mysteriously appeared where she might sit down. "You'll just have to wear something else I suppose."

"We spent hours coordinating!" protested Galinda. "I can't just change it now."

"So wear a different blue dress."

"None of those are dancing dresses, and I don't know what colour Fiyero is wearing, you saw what happened last time I didn't ask him – he wore red when I was wearing pink."

"I'm amazed your relationship has survived such a trial," remarked Elphaba in a sort of amused sarcastic tone.

"That is not helpful, Elphaba!"

"I was not trying to be helpful, Galinda. For one thing it is difficult to help find something when one doesn't know what one is supposed to be looking for!"

"Oh, my red dancing dress I think."

"What happened to 'we spent hours coordinating'?"

"It doesn't clash with what any of the other ladies I am coordinating with are wearing and it's not likely to clash with whatever Fiyero wears – even if he wears red again because it's not the same shade but it's not so different that it would look odd."

"Now I'm sure you know what I'm going to say next…"

"I have eight red dresses and you have no idea which of them is a dancing dress?"

"Well done, and..."

"The one I'm looking for looks a lot like the pink dress I wore to the Oz Dust Ballroom last week but the straps are wider and it has a laced back."

"I don't know how you tell all of these dresses apart," said Elphaba, shaking her head as she examined the pile of dresses on her bed. "Isn't it in the wardrobe?"

"I didn't see it while I was looking for my blue dress," grumbled Galinda. "And I use the Gillikinese Guide to Fashion, obviously, I keep it on my bedside table and Momsie sends me the amendments as they occur in Gillikin proper."

"I might have guessed the one book you ever enjoy reading was about clothes. Try what we laughingly refer to as my side of the wardrobe," suggested Elphaba, as she started rifling through the dresses on her bed. "In case it got misplaced. But before you do that you might like to tell your friends that I'm not going to turn them all into frogs if they speak while I'm in the same set of rooms."

"I didn't even notice they'd stopped but I'm sure my friends were just concerned with my little fashion mishap and are now going to go back to whatever it was they were talking about."

Galinda's tone suggested quite strongly that anyone who wished to remain her friend had better do exactly as she said. Sure enough the girls immediately picked up the discussion they'd been having before Elphaba came in as though they had never stopped speaking.

"Found it!" exclaimed Galinda, finding her red dress between two of Elphaba's uniforms. "I can't imagine how it got here but never mind now I can finish getting ready! I just need my red shoes…"

"Six pairs," observed Elphaba, risking Galinda's wrath by picking up several dresses and rehanging them. "Is there some kind of method to the madness that is your wardrobe?"

"No, I usually just put everything in there, it's not like my clothes are books you know! I'm looking for the pair of shoes with two inch heels and silver bows on the end."

"That pair is under my bed, Oz knows why - I certainly don't, I saw them there last week when I dropped something."

"Thank you! Would you mind…?"

"You put them there, you get them out," said Elphaba gently but firmly refusing Galinda's unspoken request.

"Fine," said Galinda with a pout. "But only because I haven't gotten changed yet!"

"If it makes you feel better to think that," replied Elphaba as she continued ferrying Galinda's clothes back to the wardrobe. In the past she had waited until the blonde girl left but since Galinda didn't appear to mind she continued while Galinda went into the bathroom to change her clothes.

"Elphie, have you seen my hairbrush?"

Elphaba had just sat down on her newly emptied bed when she heard Galinda call out from the bathroom.

"Bedside table," she called back as she opened her book and settled in to read.

"Yours or mine?"

"Yours!"

"Thank you!"

Galinda ran out of the bathroom, grabbed the brush, and vanished back in without a word. Once her hair and makeup were done she came back into the bedroom, noting with satisfaction that her friends were still talking in the sitting room as though Elphaba wasn't there, and started looking around for her purse. After one of the rejected bags narrowly missed Elphaba the green girl put her book down with a longsuffering sigh.

"What are you looking for now?"

"My red and silver purse!"

"You know if you were just a little more organised…"

"Elphaba, I'm going to be late!"

"My bedside drawers, third one down, you stuffed it in there three weeks ago when the room monitor came in just after you crept in late."

"Oh now I remember! That's how my shoes ended up under your bed too."

"I'm so glad we were able to solve that little mystery for you."

"You really don't care do you?"

"Not one little bit."

"And you wonder why people think you're strange."

"I highly doubt it has anything to do with my disinterest in your fashion dilemmas."

"I'm sure it does not help," sniffed Galinda as she rummaged through her jewellery box.

"The earrings you wore with that dress last time were in the drawer with your purse."

"Thank you! Now I'm ready and just in time too!"

"Mere words cannot convey how thrilled I am," said Elphaba dryly, without looking up from her book. "Try to be home before curfew this time, I really don't enjoy having your accessories thrown at me in the middle of the night."

"I'll do my very best!" promised Galinda cheerfully and completely unrepentantly.

"If your friend gets you drunk again, I'm letting you sleep on the bathroom floor," warned Elphaba.

"Elphaba! That was not his fault and you know it."

"Then it was your own, try to use your brains this time," suggested her roommate, eliciting an irritated sigh from Galinda in response.

"Have you quite finished acting like an older sister?" she said, doing her best to mimic Elphaba's tone from the night before.

"Yes, I think so. I hope you have fun."

"Thank you, you too with your…reading."

Galinda's tone made it clear that she didn't see the fun in reading but Elphaba appreciated the sentiment. She waited until the Gillikinese girls had left the suite, on their way to meet Fiyero downstairs, then walked over to Galinda's side of the room and curiously picked up the blonde girl's fashion book – she still had no interest in the subject but thought it might make her life easier if she had some idea which dress Galinda might be talking about on any given occasion.