Elphaba enjoys her tower room with its large window that looks out onto the Kells. She does not, however, enjoy the company of the sisters and tries to avoid everyone but Sarima as much as possible. She has no idea where Liir sleeps, but he appears every morning to bring her cocoa and help with the crows. 

One morning near Lurlinemas, a commotion arises when Chistery gets into the kitchen. Only Elphaba can finally calm him down, but she wonders how he got out of her room and is upset to find that Nor had gone into her room to get some of her paper. She leaves in a rage, and the others go back to decorating for the holiday.

In the morning, Sarima’s three children all have a basket of gifts left for them by Lurline and Preenella; Liir has none. When Irji suggests that perhaps they left it at his old house and asks where he used to live, Liir starts to cry and tells them he does not know. Nor shares parts of her gingerbread mouse with him. The children and sisters then sing songs together. Elphaba never appears and says she is taking a “few days in solitary comfort.” Sarima spends the day in her private chapel, remembering her husband.

Part Four picks up a few weeks later. While the children are having snow battles outside, Elphaba appears to the sisters and apologizes for her earlier outburst over Chistery. She also uses the opportunity to ask them about Sarima and how she learned of Fiyero’s death. 

They hesitantly begin speaking, saying she learned of it from an Arjiki trader who came through the following spring. He recounted how he had received an anonymous message that Fiyero had been murdered. He hired some brutes to go with him to the address, where they broke down the door and found “evidence of struggle and massive quantities of blood” but no body.

For a year Sarima refused to believe he was dead, thinking that any day they might receive a ransom note. But when none came, they had to accept the worst. Now, it will be up to Irji to claim his rights to leadership when he comes of age—but the sisters all agree that Manek would be a better candidate. 

As for what Sarima believes, they admit she thought Fiyero might be having an affair with Glinda and that Glinda’s husband found out and had Fiyero followed, then killed. The sisters, however, think he might have gotten involved in some political enterprise and that perhaps his body was taken because he was not quite dead yet, and they wanted to torture him to try to get information from him.

When Elphaba tries to tell them what she knows, the sisters respond that they are “under the strictest orders from (Sarima)” not to discuss Fiyero’s death with her. Elphaba sadly leaves them—and they curse their sister for not allowing them this chance to gossip.