Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth.
She Beckons
Danika Lareyna
The room was quiet and dimly lit. Only one candle in the silver, tri-pronged candelabra tenaciously clung to life. No fire burned in the broad fireplace, formed of large, rough-hewn stones. Even the tall, arching window brought in little illumination, as the moon was still young, barely a sliver of unicorn silver adorning the night sky. Were he susceptible to such things, the eyes of the man curled in that windowsill would certainly be sore and strained. As it was, though, the letters on the parchment in his hands were as clear as if it had been midday.
He had not noticed the flickering death of the candles, nor had he been aware of the setting of the sun. His mind was completely engrossed in the documents he studied; the first steps in a trade agreement that would, if all went well, significantly improve his kingdom's standing in the Underground. Great care had to be taken on his part, as the majority of his peers would not fail to take advantage of any mistakes. The Goblin Kingdom was generally viewed with scorn and fear by the rest of the Underground, but that certainly would not deter them from attempting to slice it away, bit by bit, for their own gain. His eyes poured over each word, searching vigilantly for any possibly double-meaning or potential for exploitation.
A wisp of breeze floated into the room to play with the chaotic spikes of his blond hair and bring to his ear the distant call of a feminine voice. A ghost of a smile flashed across Jareth's usually somber lips. Suddenly, the trade agreement did not seem so desperately important.
She was beckoning him again.
Without hesitation, the Goblin King set the documents aside. They could wait for morning. Turning his face to the cooling breeze, he sought her mind. It was not difficult; she sparkled with a luminosity that would put even the full, crystal moon of the Underground to shame. For a moment, his mismatched, blue eyes took on a hint of that glow as he wondered eagerly what wild expectations she would have of him that night.
With only the slightest movement, Jareth allowed his body to twist and drop out of the high, tower window. Gracefully pushing away from the castle wall with his legs, he dove through the sky for a moment before choosing a new form. A golden barn owl, he thought, would suit her whimsical tastes. On newly formed wings, he reversed his fall and began to climb the stairway of stars that led to her home, the ever-changing mortal realm.
As those strong wings propelled him ever higher, the king and sorcerer marveled at his immediate response to the wishes of a mere human child. She was not, he reminded himself with a strange mix of pride, joy and anticipation, as childish as she had been, the first time she had called to him, seven years ago. Somehow, of all his centuries of life, the last seven years had been both the shortest and the longest. The time he spent with her and watching her seemed to disappear like fairy dust, while the hours between her bidding stretched interminably.
She had only been a child of eight the first time. He had felt a summons, an almost irresistible pull to, of all places, the Aboveground. Astonishment did not even begin to describe his feelings upon discovering that it originated from a petite girl, lying in the grass and weeping piteously.
Her first dream had been so simple and heartfelt that he could not even think to deny her. Her parents had just divorced, her mother moving to a distant city to pursue her acting career. Feeling abandoned, her heart had cried out for acceptance with such intensity that the Master of Dreams, a world away, had heard.
That night, he had simply held her tiny form, stroking her dark hair and whispering words of comfort. As the delicate thing trembled in his warm embrace, he knew. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he knew that this precious girl had been created solely to end the loneliness of his existence. It was only fair, after all, as he had been created solely to grant her every wish.
By the next morning, she had forgotten. Her mind had secreted the memory away, but the connection had been made. Regularly, after that, he felt her summons and he could never refuse her. Quickly he discovered that her demands of him could range from simple, quiet conversations to elaborate adventures, always with them at the center. Her golden imagination fueled the dreams and his magic gave them life.
He watched her age, mesmerized as her enchanting dreams grew in complexity and maturity. He had played countless roles for her, from knight in shining armor to wicked nemesis. Someday, he knew, with the certainty that he knew his own magic-imbued name, he would take the role of her lover, and there the acting would end. Already, young though she was, he held for her a love that would move the stars. Though with each dawn her memories of him were disguised as dreams or fantasies, it was all in patient anticipation of the day she would be ready to shed the mortal realm for good and return to his side forever, in his world, where dreams were power and the laws of time did not hold.
The sky gradually shifted from the inky night of the Underground to a shining, summer day of the Above. Jareth's chest swelled with eagerness. Someday she would be his queen, but, for now, the Goblin King was content simply to join his beloved Sarah for another game of make-believe.
xXx
Author's Note
For now I am content to call this a one-shot. I have too much on my plate to take on another elaborate, multi-chapter story. It's there, forming itself in my mind even as I type, but I dare not feed it.
Not yet, anyway.