Assassination attempt on Madame Morrible

On Lurlinemas Eve, Elphaba, having spent five years as an underground operative in the Emerald City, attempted to assassinate Madame Morrible in the square before the Lady's Mystique theatre. The plan collapsed when a crowd of schoolgirls from Madame Teastane's Female Seminary swarmed the area, blocking her line of fire and forcing her to abandon the attack. The failure left her shaken with self-loathing, and she fled to the Cloister of Saint Glinda, where she spent the next seven years in seclusion.

Background and Preparation

Elphaba had been living in hiding in the Emerald City for five years, working as a member of a secret network dedicated to overthrowing the Wizard. She had told her lover, Fiyero, that she was involved in a major campaign but did not know the specifics of her role. On Lurlinemas Eve, she insisted that Fiyero stay away from crowds and theatres, warning him that something might happen. She then set out, dressed in long dark skirts, a tall cone-shaped hat, and steel-toed boots, carrying something concealed under her cloak. Fiyero, suspicious, followed her at a distance as she made her way through the city.

The Target and the Scene

Elphaba's circuit took her through several major squares, including a brief stop at the chapel of Saint Glinda next to the mauntery, where she may have received last-minute instructions. She then crossed the Law Courts Bridge, walked along the Ozma Embankment, and cut through the abandoned rose gardens of the Royal Mall, heading toward the fashionable district of Goldhaven. Her target was Madame Morrible, who arrived at the Lady's Mystique theatre in a carriage, sweeping out in a tidal wave of black silk and silver spangles. Elphaba mounted the steps of an ancient wool market, a stone gazebo, and leaned forward, her chin jutting out from her scarf, her hands working beneath her cape.

The Intervention of the Schoolgirls

Just as Elphaba was about to act, the front doors of the adjacent school, Madame Teastane's Female Seminary, burst open. A swarm of upper-class schoolgirls, six or seven years old, poured out, laughing and singing, accompanied by a pantomime player dressed as the Fairy Preenella. The children were raucous and rough, chasing around Madame Morrible, teasing Preenella, and grabbing for presents. The crowd surged, and Elphaba's face struggled with disbelief. The children were in the way of whatever she was supposed to do, a small unruly mob of noisy, innocent daughters of tycoons, despots, and butcher generals.

The Collapse and Aftermath

Elphaba's hands fought with each other as she tried to decide whether to proceed despite the children. She could not bring herself to act. Madame Morrible pushed on toward the theatre, and the doors opened for her. She passed grandly into safety. Outside, the children danced and sang in the snow, and the crowd surged this way and that. Elphaba crumpled and sank back against a pillar, shivering with self-loathing so violently that Fiyero could see it from fifty yards away. He began to push toward her, but by the time he reached the steps, she had managed to lose him. She fled to the Cloister of Saint Glinda, where she was taken in by the maunts and spent the next seven years in silence and seclusion, tending to the sick and dying.