Fiyero’s Quest: To Kiamo Ko

I leave the Emerald City. It is hard. A few guards at specific points. The hardest being the gate itself, but luck let me through.

Thank you. I know my Elphie is letting this happen, even if she doesn’t know she is. By the time they learn I am gone, I should be a good way to Kiamo Ko. I won’t take the path. It may be safe to many, but the dangers on the direct route I take do not threaten me.

I manage to arrive in Winkie Country before it would be noticed I was gone. However, carnivores are on my direct route now. Not nearby. If I stay on the path, I won’t be harmed, but I will if I go off. At least now. I can go down the common path a while then continue on my shortcut. That adds a day to getting to my Elphie, though. A day that may end up fatal to her. The path is quiet. I’m pleased. I start to turn off the path when I see the sun dipping into the east, giving a gleam to the emerald walls of Oz’s capital city. I assume that by now the others have left. They know I have. I feel sorry for the few guards that saw me, thinking me another of them.

I remember, only one other in this world would be able to catch up with me, and decide to continue on the path instead, to ensure my safety.

I continue on. I give thanks to you again, my Elphie. I have a body that never tires. I’ve been moving for nearly a whole day. It was about this time last night I let Dorothy know that I was there. I’m sure she told Boq I knew my Elphie’s name. I’m certain Boq knows who I am. Thankfully, I’m going to be there at least two days before them.

It gets dull as night falls. While I didn’t think I’m tired, I look down to see Scarecrow resisted me even after he died. My legs, while usually now bending close to the knee, no longer do so. I decide to rest so I can walk normally, as if just a man wearing rags and a burlap mask. I went for over a day’s worth of travel. It would have been closer to two or three days of travel had I needed food and more rest than just enough to remember joint locations. Please say my Elphie wants me. I want to be with you again.

The monkeys. They were an accident. At least, she didn’t know what she was doing. I see some. They can let her know.

“Hey! Hey monkeys!” I yell at them. They fly towards me. “I have a letter for Elphaba. The Witch. Your new Master.” I dig through the pockets. There’s a sound of something hitting the ground. It must be that abomination of a hat the Wizard gave to his guard. I manage to find the letter, but the moneys aren’t interested. My Elphie knows I’ve travelled with Nessarose’s killer. They attack. My hands are ripped off. My boots, my charm. The disguise. I’ve failed my Elphie. I didn’t get to her soon enough. She’s descended too far. If the hunters don’t kill her, she’ll kill herself. I’m strung on a nearby tree. I can’t move. Even if I could without the straw, I lack my hands to get the straw back in. Among the chaos I note only one item missing, the letter. Why that? Why not my charm? My hand? The clothes? Only the letter. I suppose it will be shredded thoroughly somewhere by bored monkeys. I just lay here on the tree and wait. I think about my decisions in my life now I have all the time in the world, yet not when I thought I was going to die.

All I could think about was how I failed my Elphie. How I let the torture win over me. But according to the Wizard, the best law is a well enforced law. Letting her escape is punishable by death. I deserved it. I knew what I was doing, and my only thoughts were “I’m sorry.” Not to the Wizard, who I was directly under. Not to Glinda, who I accepted the proposal of. Not to Boq. The Guard. To Oz. Or even the Animals. I was apologetic to my Elphie and my Elphie only. For telling the guard of the castle. I know she’s there though.

Would it have been better if I only staged an escape for her at the palace instead of running with her? Then I met her later, telling her to flee here. Her sister would be alive. I probably would still be leading the Witch Hunt, my only job keeping them away from Kiamo Ko. Dorothy wouldn’t be here. Boq would be stuck where we found him. I would still be looking at a future of a loveless union with Glinda. Hoping to steal glances at my Elphie. And even still planning that night.

What about joining the Guard? Why did I do that? Damn. Even then, all my moves were so I could get those glances and that night. Why was I so determined? Boq knew I had some sort of obsession with her at Shiz. It bothers me. Every step I took since she was declared Wicked by the Wizard has been to get closer to her. We were united to save that Lion, but I didn’t truly feel the loss of Dillamond, but with that Lion, something came over me. Maybe I love her only because I thought I had to because she didn’t harm me. My life, my drive, my chance at a happy life and true thankfulness, all taken because I felt obligated to love her.

What if it turns out that’s true, that I don’t love her? I died for nothing. If I had realized it before and not chosen to pursue her, I would have found happiness with Galinda. She would probably still be Galinda. I wouldn’t have shed my party boy mask. Elphaba would have left for the City of Emeralds alone, and who knows what would have happened. She might have been caught easier. She might be dead. And I wouldn’t have cared. Galinda and Fiyero wouldn’t be Glinda the Good and Captain Fiyero. I would still be Prince Fiyero, Mr. Scandalicious 5 years running. Galinda would probably have tried to hang onto Prince Fiyero, who continues to only go on no more than a couple dates for each woman, return to his home, and marry whoever his parents wanted him to marry, but remain an incorrigible flirt. Serima, that was the woman my parents wanted me to marry, isn’t it? He would have married her. I told them that I found someone on my own.

Someone I’m not even sure I love. If I’m questioning it, I guess I know the answer. I don’t love her.

“Scarecrow?” How long have I been looking at my life and my alternate paths? Dorothy and the others are here. All the guards are. And several Ozian citizens.

“Dorothy! I’m sorry, I got excited and just ran away. Monkeys did this to me.”

“Someone needs to help Scarecrow,” She says.

“I’ll do it.” Boq walks forward. “Neither of us tire. At least, not easily. We’ll catch up to all of you if you hadn’t defeated the witch.”

“I’ll make sure you get your heart and he gets his brain.” They continue on.

“Great to see you Fiyecrow.”

“Don’t mix my name with his. He’s dead. And I’m alive.”

“Sorry Scarecrow.”

“First time you call me Scarecrow and it’s the first time it’s wrong.”

“You’re delusional.” He gets me off the tree. “You’ve been hanging up there for no more than five days, all the blood has rushed to your head.”

“I have no blood.” He stuffs straw into my right sleeve. “How can I be delusional. I lack a heart as much as you do. I just know that I have emotion.”

The Glove is tied on. “You have too much of a mind to want one.” He starts on my foot, finding the boot and some straw.

“Couldn’t think of anything else Scarecrows lacked. And in some senses, I want a brain. I’m smarter than I look, but I can’t match my Elphie in wit.”

“Five days can do that to you, Scarecrow. He was left to die just as you were.” When I finally out myself, and to someone I know suspected it, I get him to ignore it.

“You don’t find it odd I not only used my Elphie’s name, but a pet name, and a possessive pronoun working as an adjective?”

“Like I said, you must be delirious.”

“I know about her wits Boq. How can I make that up? You know about them too. I saw you at the wrong end of them as often as I was during the few weeks I was at Shiz with my Elphie!” Even though I don’t love her, she is still my Elphie. She is a close friend, and I am still her only ally. I wonder if she actually got the note. It doesn’t matter. We have equally dead spirits. Hers from my supposed death, and mine from the confusion.

“Calm down, Scarecrow. As I said, you know which side of your old nickname you are. I finally pick the one you wanted and you say it’s wrong. Even if you came from Fiyero and have his memories, my old friend the traitor wouldn’t act like this. He acted like you did on the Yellow Brick Road. You’re Scarecrow.”

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am delusional. I’m not. I can’t be. He knows it. He said as much, that I am Fiyero. I have to be. I’ve told myself that as much since the cornfield. I’ve descended as far as the one I call my Elphie.

“There you go. I got all the straw back in you.”

“Thank you Tin Woodman. How long did it take?”

“Only an hour or so.” Time is going by quickly. I pick up the charm and put it on.

“Let’s get to Kiamo Ko.” Even if I’m not Fiyero, I have his memories. I have his relationships. I even look a fair amount like him. I can get to his home easily enough. I’ll get my own brain from the wizard. The one his memories say is a fraud. Tin Woodman and I run to catch up with the group. I want to go warn Fiyero’s Elphie. To apologize for him. But I lost my chance. Dorothy isn’t here.

“Hey, I’m back, everyone?”

“What are you wearing?” One of the guards say.

“I found it when I was freed by Dorothy. Remember that detour I took? I think it was Fiyero’s. I just recently decided to wear it.”

“It’s well kept,” A guard says. “Almost too much so. He wore it all the time. Only someone as obsessive about it as him would keep it like that.”

“He said he was Fiyero earlier. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it while he was on the trip. Winkie sun is bad for humans. I suppose it affected him too.” The guards laugh, deciding I have no true connection to him. It’s better for both of us that way. I’ll accept that it was just some crazy idea. That’s why I need the brain. So I can have my own thoughts. I want to escape again. I can’t. We’ll get there before dusk. I think I see the bubble of Glinda the Good. At least, I think I do. Amazing. Last time I saw her, I thought I was Fiyero and feared for her retribution. She knew I wasn’t him before I or even Boq did.

I don’t talk much. I don’t really care about what the others say. I was happier when I thought I was Fiyero. But I’m not even acting like what he considers his true self. The self he doubted before realizing he was dead. I just continue on.

It’s odd, I want to be Fiyero and want to not be him at the same time. I want to embrace this part that gave me help. Yet, I still want to think for myself. I want him separate. It’s confusing. I try to go faster than the mob. No matter which way I end up, I want to thank the Witch for giving me this chance at life. Whether a second one or my first. One thing I learn is that Dorothy and Toto have been taken captive by the Witch. By Fiyero’s Elphie. The tight grouping is to keep us from being taken easily.

I can’t break out. Guards are on the outside, and they know the flight risk I have. I can’t get through. But once we get to the castle, I can dart off and find the Witch. She’s not Wicked, no matter which I end up being. Either way, I have her to thank me for. We reach it soon, but soon it is late. They need sleep. The guards are all on the same schedule. I head to the entry.

“You are my old friend,” I hear. “This is the kind of outwardly brainless stunt that he actually would plan. His memories alone wouldn’t prompt you to do this.”

“Thanks Boq. It means a lot for you to say that. You don’t know what I’ve been going through.”

“I think I know what you’re going through.”

“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. Either way, I have only one question, why’d you say I wasn’t Fiyero, over by the tree?”

“I may know that he wasn’t all that façade, but I know he wouldn’t have said those things. It was delirium, just not the parts about who you are. I won’t tell though.”

“That proves you have the heart you need. The Wizard’s a fraud.” I run in before I see his face. Not like I would know. He has no expression. I can’t find Elphaba. I do find monkeys again. I don’t speak to them. One approaches me. It holds out something. Thank you Elphie. The letter I wrote. It hasn’t been destroyed.

“Give it to her.” It nods and runs off. I follow it. The fact it goes somewhere means that my Elphie is still alive. He rounds a last corner onto a balcony over the great hall. I duck back after seeing Glinda with my Elphie. The monkey jumps down and hands her the letter. I peek through to see my Elphie’s response.

“It’s about Fiyero isn’t it?” Glinda says. “Elphie?”

“We’ve seen his face for the last time,” Elphaba replies. She’s returned from the descent too. She has thanks. It says a lot. My detour cost me. Some guards must have woken up and brought Dorothy. I hide in the closest passage I can find. They’ll try to get me too if they see me. I don’t see anything, then the clacking of feet going down the trap door by the well. My Elphie is safe. I can’t get there. I wait until they clear out. I walk to the great hall and bang on the trap door. There’s almost no sound from my hand of straw. I hear a few knocks back. I leave it at that and return to the site.

“Where did you Scarecrow?” Dorothy asks. “You weren’t here when I left.”

“I got excited again, fell into a trapdoor by the entry and spent the time finding an exit. This is why I need a brain. To tell me not to do that.”

I drift into my own world on the way back. I didn’t listen to what they said. Boq could have given away my identity to the world for all I knew. By the time we return, I’m already planning my return to Kiamo Ko. The Wizard reveals himself unwillingly to us. Toto does it. Toto is a very good boy. I don’t even pretend to be surprised. He says he’ll give each of us our own gift.

“Is she dead?” Boq asks that night.

“I don’t know. I told Dorothy the truth. I forgot about that one trap door. Elphaba must have set it. I unset it after falling through. She could be. But even if she was, she’s dead to the world, just like I am.”

“Are you going to stay and take that position the Wizard offered?”

“No. Whether or not my Elphie’s alive, I’m going to disappear. At worst I’ll be haunting Kiamo Ko. If my Elphie’s alive, we’ll find someplace else to go.”

“I’ll find some way to let you follow that wish and not have people wonder.”

“Thanks Boq. You’re a true friend.”

“You are too, Fiyero.” We hug.

Right after the Wizard gave me a fake brain the next day, I head off. I don’t know how Boq got Dorothy off of trying to protect me. I still don’t have fatigue. I choose to rest at nights, because I know that my body does get weak that way. I take the shortcut though. I am there in only two days. I walk in. The monkeys have abandoned this place. They must believe their master dead. I return to the well, and bang as hard as I can. My Elphie emerges.