To Be Human
The stars twinkled in their places, some hidden from sight by city lights and low hanging wisps of cloud that had made the summer day near perfect. The soft strains of a fiddle playing an ancient love song traveled over the glade the lovers were sitting in. They had not seen another face all day, having driven out to their special spot early that morning and filled the sunlit hours with hikes, food, and laughter.
A great, white barn owl sat on the branches of a tree across the clearing, hidden by shadow and maybe even a hint of magic. The owl marveled at the way the moonlight reflected in the woman's raven hair; the way her eyes sparkled whenever she looked at the mortal who kneeled across from her. The man possessed no magic, no throne he could claim to offer and yet she had won him.
Chosen him.
The king behind the feathered disguise knew the man could not have won the woman now relaxed against a tree, she was not to be won and lived as freely and brightly as she had when she was younger. She had won him and in doing so had given her heart, which he held gingerly and respectfully, unconsciously recognizing the power that flowed through her veins; in the blood that pushed through her heart and pulsed with centuries of sleeping magic.
Green leaves rustled softly as a warm summer breeze floated through the tree tops. The king-owl was not sad. He did not mourn or feel his heart break. He accepted the new life she would lead, it was as fate had decided. And how can even a king fight fate?
The young man finished his song on one last, quivering note that the wind grabbed and seemed to kiss as it floated towards the lone bird who was not a bird. The tension in the air was something everyone present could feel, but the humans on the ground were drawn together by it, not apprehensive.
"How was that?" The boy had talent, the king had to admit. Maybe he had magic after all.
Perhaps there was just enough magic in him to have drawn her to him, as had happened to her mother and another man so long ago.
"Well, I will say this; it's not the first time a man has shown off his musical prowess to confess his love to me." Her tone was soft, teasing. It had deepened over the years, but never lost the delicate balance between dreamer and self assured young woman.
The man's face fell into a mock pout, but the smile refused to leave his eyes as he gazed at the woman before him.
"But Lance," she said, mocking his pout with a fake tone of surprise as if she had been struck by a sudden realization. "It is the first time I have loved him back."
He crawled forward with a joyful laugh and fell into his lover's arms. Sarah sighed in contentment and they lay there for a moment, staring at the perfect sky above them. She eventually pulled herself up from her position and indicated with her arms that he was to stand too.
"Lance Ryan," she said after taking a steady breath. "I've always been a little spoiled, always gotten what I wanted and never wanted to settle."
The king-owl knew what was going to be said next, felt it in his hollow bones. The young man did not see a spoiled brat as she did; he saw the woman who stocked charities' shelves in her spare time, who told stories to children at the library, and sang off key around a campfire with her family.
"And what I want right now is just this." She took his hands and moved closer, making their intwined fingers a small buffer between their chests that were fluttering with shared excitement. "Will you make me the happiest woman in the world and marry me?"
Her words were a collected whisper, but that didn't mean it didn't have the air of an impassioned declaration. This moment had been coming since they met in the college common room. Since the picnic on the green and the family dinners. It had been coming since she looked into his blue, blue eyes and knew he was the one she wanted.
"Sarah Williams," Lance said while tears of happiness collected in his eyes. "It would be an honor to live at your side."
The kiss between them was everything all at once, sweet and gentle, but passionate and demanding. They were so engrossed in their own little kingdom built on love and tender human passion that they did not notice the owl take off and fly across the moon into the starlit horizon, a white star against the black.
The king was not one to feel desperation, but yet again, he felt it begin the bubble up inside him. It had been centuries since he allowed himself to feel hope but every time he lost a human to their own choices and freedom, he realized that first hope was still within him and slowly dying.
Oh, to be human and feel the urge to race against time.
But that was not his fate. He was frozen in time, tied to a kingdom he had no love for but had a duty to protect. This was his calling, to sit in his familiar form of an owl and watch those he might have needed pass by, century after century until he wanted to give up. And yet the owl kept flying, until the veil between the worlds split and he crossed over effortlessly to rule as he should.
For now.
Sarah Williams took one last look at the sky from her place in her true love's arms before drifting into a blissful, happy sleep. She would build a home, a career, a kingdom. And she would do it with the man she loved. Sarah did not dream that night, all her dreams were coming true.
AN: This is a companion piece to a story I have yet to finish and publish. It's a 'next generation,' family centric story about Sarah and Lance's children, mostly their eldest daughter, and I found I couldn't fit this piece anywhere in the bulk of the story.
The point of this little moment is to show the differences between Sarah's worldview and Jareth's. Jareth doesn't want to fight fate when he loses, but originally tried to 'win' Sarah by trying to have power over her. Sarah chose her own destiny and is going to make her own dreams come true, something the original film made clear about her character. She chose the man she loves and is going to be very happy living with him as an equal.
There are two lines in this story inspired by SJ Tucker song lyrics. The first is 'the stars twinkled in their places,' which is inspired by 'the stars in their courses,' from the song "The Girl in the Garden." The second is 'a white star against the black' inspired by the line 'a furious star against the black' from her Wendy Trilogy.