Elphaba's Visit to Colwen Grounds

After seven years of self-imposed exile in the Vinkus, Elphaba returns to Colwen Grounds, the grand estate of her mother's family, summoned by a letter from her father, Frex. The journey, made possible by the broom given to her by the enigmatic Mother Yackle, takes her across the Great Kells and the Gillikin River, through a Munchkinland transformed by drought and political upheaval. She arrives to find the estate draped in the trappings of a nascent revolution, its gilded gates guarded by swordsmen, its forecourt filled with dignitaries of the newly declared Free State of Munchkinland. The reunion is immediately marked by the weight of a dozen years of silence and the unresolved grievances of a fractured family.

Reunion with Frex

Frex, now blind in one eye and his beard white with age, greets her with the childhood nickname "Fabala," a name that immediately re-establishes the old dynamic of a father who saw her as a tool for his missionary work rather than a daughter. He is frail, his shoulders hunched, his mind still sharp but his spirit broken by the death of his favorite child, Nessarose. He tells Elphaba that he always knew she would come, and he immediately presses her to challenge Nessarose for the title of Eminent Thropp, believing her to be the more capable leader. He reveals that Nessarose, despite her religious fervor, is a "bruised little girl" hiding behind her devotion, and that the shoes he made for her—enchanted by Glinda—have given her an unnatural balance and a dangerous sense of self-sufficiency. Elphaba is stung by his admission that he never made such a gift for her, and she bitterly observes that he has always loved Nessarose more, a truth he does not deny. Their conversation is a painful excavation of the past, touching on the death of her mother Melena, the sacrifice of the Quadling glassblower Turtle Heart, and the brutal history of sacrifices that seems to define their family. Frex, in his old age, has become a figure of pathos, a man who has lost his way, his theology, and his family, and Elphaba finds herself unable to offer him the comfort he seeks.

Confrontation with Nessarose

Nessarose, now the Eminence of the East, is a study in contrasts: armless but standing upright in her enchanted silver shoes, beautiful but radiating a cold, self-righteous power. She greets Elphaba with a mixture of affection and resentment, still furious at being abandoned in Shiz years ago. Their conversations are a series of skirmishes, with Nessarose dismissing Elphaba's concerns about the Wizard's tyranny and the oppression of Animals. Nessarose has become a sorceress in her own right, using her power to perform petty miracles, such as enchanting a woodcutter's axe to punish a man for wanting to marry a maid. Elphaba is horrified to discover that Nessarose has bartered for the ownership of two Sheep and a Cow—Animals—in exchange for this spell, and she frees them, an act that Nessarose dismisses as a "little pet mission." The sisters argue about the nature of power, the existence of the soul, and the legacy of their parents. Nessarose, with her phantom limbs and her unwavering faith, represents a path Elphaba has rejected, and their inability to find common ground underscores the deep, irreparable rift between them. Elphaba realizes that Nessarose is not merely a religious fanatic but a tyrant in the making, and that her rule is built on a foundation of fear and superstition.

The Political Landscape and Departure

Elphaba's visit coincides with the early days of Munchkinland's secession from Oz, a rebellion orchestrated by Nessarose after a series of provocations by the Wizard's army. Frex hopes Elphaba will stay and provide a counterbalance to Nessarose's religious extremism, but Elphaba refuses, seeing the position as a trap and the people as "cruel and impressed by charades." She is disgusted by the political maneuvering, the totemic straw men worn by the peasants, and the casual cruelty she witnesses. Her final conversation with Nessarose is a bitter exchange in which Nessarose offers her the shoes "over my dead body," a prophecy that will soon come true. Elphaba leaves Colwen Grounds without saying goodbye to her father, feeling manipulated and exhausted by the family's claustrophobic love. She flies north, passing Lake Chorge, and returns to Kiamo Ko, her heart hardened and her resolve to fight the Wizard strengthened, but also burdened by the knowledge that she has failed to save her sister or her father from their own destructive paths.