Work Text:
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 2/1/25
Oh, Elphie,
I must confess – I feel terribly foolish writing you this letter. You are dead, yet I still have the feeling you are not, no matter how much I know you are. Does that make sense? You do not know how much I long for you to come sit beside me in the cherry-blossom’s amongst the green grass (green goes good with pink) and tell me how irrational and immature I am being. Though I suppose if you would be able to tell me that it would mean you are alive, and that would mean I am not being irrational. But then again, you do have plenty of things to fire at me from over all these long years we have known each other. I’m sure you could find a spelling mistake in this letter, or some sort of factual inaccuracy, I know not. You were always the smarter one.
There was an alleged sighting of you across the border today; it took me five hours to assure the Munchkins that you were not—-that you had passed away. Though I do believe they could mistake a bush of thorns for your green skin, are you? Alive, I mean. I don’t know what the point is of asking you; the dead don’t reply, and the people who fake being dead…. No.
That would be preposterous, would it not? I wish to believe you would not do that to me, that even despite my many faults I am not wicked enough to—- for you to do that. Though here I go again, what is more selfish than blaming the dead for leaving you?
This is all so terribly wretched – If anything, I should be the one who is dead. Everyone knows the wicked die horrible, agonising deaths at the hands of those they hurt. They burn alive in terrible, everlasting hell-fire and feel its wrath to the very last second. They dance in scorching hot iron shoes until the soles of their feet melt off and their body erupts into blistering burns. No one mourns the Wicked.
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 3/1/25
Oh, Elphie,
I burnt you today.
It was just a paper-mache mock of you - insulting, really. They didn’t capture the beauty mark under your left eye, or the fiery resolve in your eyes. They made your hair all stringy-like, frazzled and unkempt like burnt hay. I almost wished to burn it for that alone — but that’s not why I did it, not really. I did it because they cheered me on, because all I have is the power they give me, the adoration they bestow upon me.
This is what you wanted. Isn’t it? The Wizard is dead, I made sure of that. I even replaced him with a fake (the irony does not escape me) and we work together to demolish laws of animal oppression. Morrible is in chains, as she should be. I confess I was never fond of the woman — for more than my wounded pride. She used you, and so did the Wizard, and I foolishly played into it all.
But I am just rambling on now, am I not? I must catch up on my beauty sleep — I simply cannot have eyebags Elphie, it is most unacceptable!
Sweet dreams, my love.
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 3/1/25
Oh, Elphie,
How about I tell you a secret? A real one, this time. I have never desired a man once in my life; I find them most repulsive, you see. The scratchiness of their beards, their… appendages. What on earth is that doing there? And the fact that it's supposed to… No.
You may be wondering about Fieryo; and I suppose I never loved him. Though I did try, by obligation? I’m not quite sure. We lived in a loveless, sexless marriage. We slept in different beds and barely spoke; he even let me fool around with other woman, and I him. I find it terribly amusing how wretched I must be to be deserted by a husband I didn’t even love. But he made the right choice, in the end.
I was always aware, too aware, of how his fondness lied with you. I knew it the day after you rescued those lion cubs together. He never stopped talking about you, from then on. Elphaba this, Elphaba that. And maybe it did hurt me, but not for the reasons you would — did — assume. I felt inadequate, you see. What good was I, if I was not able to please a boy? It seems so ludicrous now, looking back at it. But it’s the truth, and I need some way of expressing it, lest I go truly insane.
That fight we had over him? It was him I was jealous of, not you, silly. Not only could he love you freely, but he could love you and have it reciprocated. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I had ever told you; I am not that foolish, there was something between us, an indescribable undefinable passion. What we did on that train, on the journey to Emerald City, which you invited me too - not him. It was simply far too intimate for just friends. Best friends? All those nights I crept into your bed and you fussed with my hair as I slept. That one time I heard you yelling at Fieryo for stealing your jumper, and then you realized it had been me. You said nothing — not even as he pointed it out.
Perhaps I am being foolish again. I don’t believe you have ever had reservations about who you loved, and if you did, they were certainly not about me. You choose Fieyro because he learnt to be righteous and good, and he chose you because you always were righteous and good
That’s the thing, is it not? It’s always about you, Elphie. It always has been.
Love, Glinda
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 4/1/25
Oh, Elphie,
I would like some advice, if you will. I am set to marry a man today and I know not what to do. He seems decent enough, kind and good-looking in a sort of distant way. He is prince of one of the highest regions of Oz - and though I care little to drone further on about politics, marrying him would boost inter-Ozial trading.
I cannot quite bear the thought of marrying a man again, and I fear he expects things that I am not comfortable to give. What would you do? I suppose that is easy. You would simply reject him – something you are quite adept at — and move on with your life.
It sounds so, so easy.
But you are the only one I have ever told, explicitly, at least, and you are—- gone. How would he react? No one talks about it in Oz, and I don’t have the words to express it, if that makes sense. Queer? Gay? Is this normal, or is it some kind of deficiency? Momsie says so, but I do believe her to be quite a bitter woman. Here is another secret, I suppose. My parents only married because it was arranged by the state. I believe they care for each other, in some sort of way, but I know they do not love each other. I wonder if Momsie is like me, I have noticed how her eyes used to linger on the noblewoman in court, how she would have these intense "friendships", for about the span of two weeks, and never speak to those women again.
But what are people, if not creatures who repeat their parents' mistakes?
Glinda, who misses you very much.
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 5/1/25
Oh, Elphie, my sweet.
I did it, Elphie! Are you proud? I told him I don’t like men, and he said he didn’t like women. So now we are both free to do as we please! He called it a lavender marriage, and though I do not know what that means, I don’t particularly care, either.
Glinda,
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 6/1/25
Oh, Elphie,
I confess I miss you very much. It's getting harder as the seasons roll by; the longer I spend without you by my side. I suppose I am lucky, we had a proper goodbye, did we not? In my most wretched nights I still remember those words you said; I have been changed for good. They give me little solace, though if I have done much wrong in my time, at least I have helped you in some conceivable way.
I still don’t understand. How fair is that, that you can just die? You say goodbye and then leave for good! It’s not fair. You were supposed to have a happy ending; for you are good and sweet and kind in all the ways that ever mattered, where is your happy ending?
I have done as you wished. I live my life in this wonderful gilded cage, as you wished, for the good of Oz, but it all feels so invasively hollow. I can’t help feeling as if I have been left behind; you are gone, and the Wicked are dead, yet I still remain. For what? I am still a pillar of the Munchkins rigid moral system - the good and the bad, the righteous and the Wicked. Is my existence hindering them from ever changing their ways? Perhaps you were wrong Elphie
But the sky is growing dark. I shall leave you now, Elphie, and attend to my long everlasting life of sorrow!
Glinda
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 7/1/25
Oh, Elphie
Is it true, are you really dead? They never found your body, you know. Melted by a bucket of water, where you? It seems so ludicrous but I watched it happen. I watched it. don’t know what to think anymore
Addressed to "Elphie" by "Glinda"; written 7/1/25 Found crumpled in a bin.
Oh, Elphie
I fear I have gone truly insane. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead. You are dead—-You are dead—- You are dead.—-You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead.
You are dead. You are dead. You are dead
YOU ARE DEAD, GODDAMMIT!