Plans of Action

[brooser]

All of this attention made Kay nervous. She was so used to being ignored and kicked around... she wasn't used to people caring about her well-being like this.

"I don't want to go back to Mombi. I want to stay with you and Dorothy, Glinda," Kay admitted sheepishly. "But... if it will help Oz, I will go back to Mombi so that I can watch her. I'll write to you in my diary if I find anything out."

[Glinda Upland]

"No, I can't say we do always know beyond a shadow of a doubt what is good. But if you will look at the state Oz is in today...that is not good. And that is thanks to the contributions of the Nome King and Mombie. She said herself in her letter that the Nome King was no threat...when you know yourself he is. You and your father have always known what a threat he was to us, and now with the slippers he is all the more." She embraced Polly.

"Polly I would never do anything to harm you. I've known you since you were a baby, held you in my arms the day you were born. I would never hurt you. I need you to trust me the same way you've always trusted me..."

[Ian Tibbit]

Ian analyzed the situation. He couldn't believe that Elphaba was actually Ellie's mother. He almost fell in shock. Elphaba, his greatest role model, and Ellie, the one girl he fancy's.. man.. He just couldn't believe it.

Ian runs up to Ellie to hug her. "Im so glad you're alright. I ran to get you.. and by the time I got there, I was pushed back by a force field." he explained as if he were pleading for forgiveness for allowing her to be in the danger she could have been in. "But, I can see now that there was no danger at all.." he stared at Elphaba.

Ian walks up to Elphaba and introduces himself. "Ian Tibbit's the name Miss Elphaba." he said as if he were speaking to royalty. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm a great fan of your work." he said as he smiled. He just KNEW that he had faith in Elphaba for a reason, he knew that she wasn't really as Wicked as they'd said she was.

Ian listened as Ellie disbursed her thoughts on what they should do. Although Ian did not want to separate from Ellie once again, he knew she was in great hands. So, he agreed to follow what she asked of him. "Yes Ellie, I will head over to Munchkinland." he said obediently. He pulls Elphaba to the side as the team was playing close attention to Ellie.

"Please, Elphaba." he pleaded. "Take care of her. Although I know I have no reason to doubt that your motives are nothing but the best, just please don't allow her to be hurt." he said in a low troubled voice.

[Elphaba Thropp]

"No" said Elphaba, "I don't know if Kay should go back to Mombie. She's getting to be a young lady, and she certainly has the right to run away..."

Elphaba was almost charmed by the kindness of the munchkin boy. Elphaba lightly brushed the hair out of Ian's face. This boy was handsomer, and well... smarter than Boq, but she couldn't help seeing a bit of him in him. The words "take care of her" were the only words Nessa had wanted to hear her whole life. "Of course I will" she said as she took his hand. She noticed something odd.. a marking on his hand. "Where did you get this?" she asked.

[Ellie Baum]

Ellie went to Claire. "Claire, why don't you show them the book?"

[Ian Tibbit]

Ian almost flinched as Elphaba put her hand closer to him, but somehow he did have trust in her, and didn't move an inch. "Thank you Elphaba." he said with great gratitude. "Ohh.. uhh.. the scar.." he mumbled as he attempted to hide it out of sight. "It happened when I was about four, according to my mom. We are unsure how exactly, but we think that it may have given me a sort of control over certain elements of nature." he explained with complete confidence that what he was saying made sense to someone else but him. "Though I am not sure exactly how to make the control happen as of yet." he explained.

[Claire Heart]

Claire produced a small, leather book from her bag. "Here, Miss Galinda. We found this in the Dillamond Library. It has very few things of any consequence, but there is a poem about Ozma...and a missing page...and it was complied by Fiyero Tigalar, a long time ago..."

[Glinda Upland]

She took the book and flipped through it. It was indeed a book complied by Fiyero during their time at Shiz. "Elphie." She motioned for her to come. It was the book complied by Dillamond's class. He had told them to write about something they knew, something they were passionate about. It had been a class experiment. No one had known someone had actually published it, and especially not Fiyero of all people (who had added in a lot of his own work for fillers). None of them were signed, but they were all in the original penmanship of each student. Perhaps that could be the clue to the writer of the Ozma poem. "It's our book...why didn't Fiyero ever let us know he published it? And better yet, do you know this penmanship or could Fiyero possibly? Because I just don't recognize it..."

[Taye Keats]

Taye was beginning to get frustrated with the amount of attention Ian was giving Ellie... and the degree to which Elphaba seemed to like him as well. Why in Oz's name was it that when he didn't really care about something, he got it, like all of the countless girls and boys who had fawned over him in the past... but when he actually did begin to genuinely care about someone who was different, it was out of his grasp? What did Ellie see in this Munchkin? Taye was just as handsome as he was, just as smart...

Sighing, Taye walked over to Kay.

"So, what'll it be? Where do you want to go?"

[brooser]

Kay looked up at Taye and smiled. He was much nicer than she had thought... but then again, she assumed that most students were mean, simply because most were mean to her.

"I'd like to stay with Miss Glinda and Miss Dorothy," Kay repeated, carefully. "They are both very kind, and I admire both of them. But I feel like it would help everyone a lot more if I were to go back to Shiz, so that I could watch Mombi. I'm the one who can get closest to her... so that's where I shall go."

[Taye Keats]

Taye nodded. This little girl was surprisingly brave... she would have made a great leader if she were a little older.

"If that's how you feel, then alright. Claire and I will keep a close eye on you to make sure that you don't get hurt." He gave her an encouraging smile. She deserved better than Mombi's cruelty... but it would only last for a little while longer.

[Glinda Upland]

"Kay, it's not safe. You need to stay here. Mombie isn't rational...she might kill you if you returned. Stay here with Dorothy and I." She held Kay in close. "Everyone else, you need to return Shiz before she suspects anything." With a flick of Glinda wrist the students were gone, leaving only Elphaba, Ellie, she, Kay, and Dorothy in the room. "Ok, Elphie, before you leave, we need to brainstorm. Hopefully they will take care of Shiz, but I have to have a plan of action to hold down the Emerald City. And we need to figure out who wrote this poem..and if they are still alive, they may know more about Ozma and could help us locate her."

[brooser]

Kay nodded reluctantly. She wanted to help, but... if Glinda said this was best, than this was certainly best. Glinda would know what to do.

At the change of subject, Kay tilted her head.

"Excuse me, but... who's Ozma?" This was something she had never heard before, but at the same time... it sounded somehow familiar. Why was that...?

[Glinda Upland]

"Ozma was the rightful ruler of Oz. She was the daughter of the great and just Ruler of Oz before the Wizard ruined everything..." Glinda sighed. "She was captured as a young child and imprisoned in an undisclosed location. She was never found. If she was she could regain the throne of Oz and oce again be in control of all of Oz. This very room was once her palace, filled with a beautiful, glistening emerald bed. She was the most beautiful child ever born, draped in Emeralds and a gown of pure gold. She was blonde with bright blue eyes and porcelian skin..." Glinda seemed to invision the beautiful child and it almsot brought her to tears..

[brooser]

"Oh... that's so sad," Kay said quietly. She had never heard of Ozma before. If she ever asked Mombi anything about Oz before the Wizard, she would just get mad and lock her in the closet or something. The legend seemed somehow familiar though. Was it something the villagers had said? No... then why did it feel like she'd heard it before? She tried to envision the beautiful princess standing in the room they were in now; the thought brought tears to her eyes. "She must be a beautiful woman by now. Does no one know where she is? If we could somehow contact her... wouldn't that be the easiest way to stop the Nome King?"