Chapter Text
Summertime, four years later
It was a day like any other, or at least everything had indicate for it being so. He let Elphaba sleep in after spending half the night tending to their newborn twins - they were good boys, all in all, but had the annoying (and yet endearing) habit, that as soon as they'd managed to settle one of them, the other would begin to act up. The boys treated it like some sort of game, all toothless grins and giggles of delight. It was impossible to stay mad at them, even if both him and Elphaba had been in a perpetuated state of exhaustion and delirium for the past four months.
So he was up early, careful not to wake everyone else as he put away stray toys and books, tended to the never-emptying laundry basket and prepared breakfast, then made sure their eldest daughter, Talleen, was all set for kindergarten. He cherished his one-on-one time with his firstborn, who thankfully was turning up to be as bright and sharp as her mother with each passing day. He loved listening to her ongoing chatter on their way to kindergarten, helping her pick flowers from the meadow en route. He could only wish she'd be as joyous for the rest of her life.
On his way back after dropping her off, he met the Deer who delivered their mail just as he slipped a few letters into their letterbox.
"Good morning, Master Tiggular." Everyone had still insisted on calling him that, no matter how passionately he had protested over the years.
"Good morning, Rynox. Anything interesting?" Dared he hope for a letter from his parents? It felt as if they had just bid their farewells at the train station on the conclusion of their latest visit, although it had been weeks.
"I'll say - all the way from the Emerald City. A telegram, I believe."
"Really? How odd." They were in touch with Avaric and Glinda, but mostly via Chistery and the other Winged Monkeys, hardly ever by post. He couldn't help but wonder about the cause of this change. He thanked the old Deer, and emptied the content of the letterbox. He was sifting through the letters as he walked in; sure enough, there was the telegram, carrying Glinda's seal. The breakfast he'd left for Elphaba remained untouched on the small dining table. He placed the letters next to it, except for the one from Glinda, and made his way to their bedroom.
"Are you sleeping?" he whispered into the semi-darkness.
He heard her groan softly; the sheets rustled. "Yes," came her deadpan reply. He chuckled, then leaned over the crib to check on the copper-haired twins before sitting next to her. She sat up, running her fingers through her long dark hair. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you always assume something is wrong?"
"Because you know better than waking me over nothing after I've been up half the night with your twin sons," she retorted levelly.
"Our twin sons," he reminded her fondly, to which she flashed that soft smile at him, the one she'd reserved for him and him alone. He reveled at it for a moment, then handed her the telegram. "This just arrived."
"That's strange. You'd think she'll send Chistery or any of the others."
"My thoughts exactly."
"I wonder what…" she murmured, gently breaking the seal. Her voice trailed off as her eyes flew over Glinda's words. Then, at once, she gasped and looked up at him, stunned. "Sweet Oz!"
"What? What does she say?"
"She reversified Boq!"
"What?" he nearly jumped off the bed, then remembered the sleeping infants and reverted back to whispers. "How?"
"She doesn't say, just..." Her hands were shaking slightly as she handed him the piece of parchment.
Reversified Boq. Sending a longer letter with Chistery. Come home, Elphie. Together we're unlimited.
Their speculations were all clarified the following day upon Chistery's arrival. After reading and rereading Glinda's letter, they went over to the Dillamonds, still their dearest friends in the village, for a much needed advice. Siergan has sent the children to play with Chistery by the stream as they discussed the letter and its implications, the twins fussing softly in their pram nearby.
"Let's see if I got this correctly," started Neir, who was home on his summer break. "The person we all know as the Tin Man from Dorothy's posse is actually your former classmate Boq, and also your sister's beau, whom you turned into tin using the Grimmerie."
"To save his life," replied Elphaba. "My sister's mispronounced spell would surely have killed him otherwise."
She seemed visibly still rattled by the memory. He laced his fingers with hers comfortingly. "She turned him into tin, like she turned me into a scarecrow," he added. "Whereas Glinda didn't know I was the scarecrow until much later, she knew well Boq was the Tin Man. He was quite vocal about his ordeal," he said frowning, battling bitter memories of his own.
"As he is now, announcing this new memoir of his in that tabloid." Which brought them back to Glinda's letter. He could hear rather than see Elphaba rolling her eyes. "Promising to reveal all sorts of dirty tidbits on Glinda's days at Shiz, where she's cavorted with Thropp sisters, the witches of the east and west. Glinda got word on the interview and it just so happens that after years of studying both books side by side, she's just come across the correct spell in the Book of Reversals a few days before."
"And so she summoned Boq to the palace, where we're assuming she's confronted him before she reversified him with a promise to stop his reckless slandering," he concluded.
"I sure hope that memoir hasn't gone to print just yet. Kind of pointless now." Elphaba was obviously trying not to appear too pleased with herself, but the viciousness in her voice was apparent. As he raised his brow at her, she shook her head, unaffected. "What? I'm allowed to gloat, aren't I?"
"So now?" asked Neir, as if to bring the conversation back on the right track.
"So now it's all in the open. As soon as Boq learned that Elphaba was alive, it seemed pointless to keep it a secret any longer. Glinda knew he wouldn't be able to keep it to himself, even if he was made to do so. But she wants to do it right. She's already made an impromptu statement to keep the gossip at bay, but she's planning a more elaborate one as soon as we arrive. It's time to clear Elphaba's name, to stop living in hiding, in fear. It's time for making good."
"Then you're going back there? To live?"
"Well, we ought to be there for the public statement, at least," replied Elphaba, now a bit hesitantly, as she glanced at him. "I don't think neither of us has considered the longer term just yet."
"Is it safe, though, my dear? The little ones…" said Siergan.
"Glinda wouldn't have written if it wasn't safe," said Elphaba with surprising confidence before he even managed his reply. "She's been in power for nearly five years now. Oz is thriving under her reign. Things are bound to be better."
"She sent us train tickets," he showed them the first class tickets that came with the letter. The first direct line to the Emerald City, so recently launched, was yet another initiative by Glinda the Good. "A private compartment, arrival after dusk, private escort to the palace. It can't be any safer than this. And it's certainly safer than how we showed up there the last time." In hindsight, he couldn't believe how reckless they'd been.
"What do you think?" Elphaba asked Dr. Dillamond, who remained quiet through most if it. He knew she'd valued the old Goat's opinion more than anyone else's, that he'd been a father figure to her ever since they were able to recover him from the Emerald City and nursed him back to health.
"I think it's long overdue that you get proper recognition," said Dr. Dillamond. "I wish you weren't forced into it, but you should still grasp onto this opportunity with both hands. You deserve to live in the light, my child. Among humans of your own age, your own caliber. People should know all the good that you've done."
Their eyes met, and he could almost see the vision taking shape in her mind. The very thing she had most wanted, but had almost given up hope on. How could they forgo it?
"Let's do it," he said, softly, as if a more resolute tone might frighten her into declining.
She still seemed so unsure. "Really?"
"Dr. Dillamond is right. This is long overdue. And I trust Glinda. Besides, until we try we'll never know."