I own nothing.

-.-

for

Brytte Mystere

Here's to hope and a happy new year.

-.-

Chess was honestly not an unusual practice among fae-folk. In fact, the game itself possessed both political and ethical value; though her always claiming the white side and him always choosing the blackened pieces hardly meant anything to them. Each of them were forces of light and dark and chaos, a mixed magic.

The board they used was old, ancient even, passed down and preserved from the ages that were before. A soft green coat of moss ran along the rough edges and its left bottom corner was cracked as the whole set was once carved out of mere river stone and nothing more. Its pieces were simple in appearance, but the magic packed inside them made up for the lack of greater outer detail. The squares, no longer painted black and white, were faded into a rusty yellow and brown.

"I hear you lost the War to children," the Goblin King spoke bluntly.

Goblins hobbled and chittered in the distant background, running away from the pack of large wolves that were trying to catch and play with them.

Jadis leaned back in her bone-pale chair, idle and cool. Her rook slid its way over three spaces out of harm's way. "And I hear you lost a child in a wager you've made." She studied the way Cousin Jareth gazed over his own remaining pawns and rooks, seemingly deep in thought, concentrating hard on his next move. "To a single girl."

Jadis meant not to mock him, nor did Jareth. There was a mutual respect between them. They were simply making conversation now because the silence was getting boring, and the game was beginning to slow down since their strategies were smartly matched. And, Jadis personally hadn't seen her favorite cousin (Jareth was only one out of three hundred cousins more) in several years. A part of her found it refreshing to catch up, to hear what was happening in their neighboring realms.

Engaging in a round of chess like this was something they decided to do if the the circumstances brought them back together again. It was tradition.

Any lingering resentment they felt as a result of their past misfortunes was not senselessly wasted on each other. If anything, Jadis would rather sulk on Jareth's behalf before she'd side with his opponents. Since she'd been banished from the Realm of Narnia, materializing in the Goblin King's castle seemed like a safe idea for the time being. Recuperating her magic was a major priority. Plus, this was the perfect antidote to preoccupy their reeling minds.

But she did long to go back to the simpler era, when Narnia was always Winter, and its local creatures were whimsical and closeminded to the possibly of meeting outsiders. Back then she had a throne, her soldiers, and her fortress walls too cold to touch, but at least, things were consistent. Water Sprites just swam and grew vines of lilies all day long. Fauns remained in the forests, playing their flutes to calm the stirring trees and never bothered offering tea to wandering little girls. Beavers behaved like beavers, mating every six moons and built their mud huts on the riverbanks with their young and hadn't the urge to rebel.

The morning the mortal foreigners came was the day Jadis realized she had no other choice. The balance shifted and the Lion was returning to fulfill his work, and she was left to up the stakes and defend what she rightfully earned with her own skill and power.

She imagined Cousin Jareth felt similar. In either story, no good came from human children who pretended to great heroes with big hearts full of wonder and wishes. For it was the old ones like her and Jareth who actually paid the price for it.

Jareth meanwhile tapped his bishop and the piece awoke, skidding along its appropriate path and captured her lone pawn still in front. "Daenerys Stormborn is on a quest for the Iron Throne in the far west."

Jadis hummed in consideration, pressing her cold black lips together. "My bet was on the North. The Bastard King and his beautiful sister, the Red Wolf."

There came a pause.

"What happened to the Edward boy?"

"Edmund," Jadis told him. "What of him?"

"How was he any different than Sarah?"

"He trusted me firstly." Jadis was surprised herself when the boy, the wronged brother amidst the siblings, had relied on her so easily. (But she wasn't surprised when he started to question her motives and begged to see his family again and receive his own crown.) "And I didn't fall in love with him in the end."

With a small trail of ice forming over the squares, she made her knight move to get his own second pawn.

"What's done is done," he sighed in response.

"Rumors fly swiftly among the pixies here, Cousin. That maiden beat your almighty Labyrinth. I thought that was near impossible."

"She's innocent yet. But she'll come to see what she really did here one day, the full extent of her worth." Even though Jareth had this strange...pained look his eyes right then, almost like a lovesick sailor who missed his lover still living back at the mainland, he sounded very certain of himself. "She'll return. Who knows? You may even get to meet her then, Jadis. I think you would actually be fond of her."

Jadis arched her brow at him, looking fairly amused, yet cynical. "Indeed."

. x .

Twenty years had passed on the Undergroundian Calendar until Jadis breezed by to visit her favorite cousin once more, with her company of artic bearded dwarves and grey wolves all trotting on her heals.

The Golden Age of Narnia had just reached its peak, and all she really needed to do was bade her time.

The Labyrinth had changed since she'd last seen it with her own eyes, though she supposed a Labyrinth was what a Labyrinth did. It was all about change and new discoveries. Now its walls were heavily covered in rose thorns and belladonna. The dry sands turned to fresh soil, sleek and earthy, and the river running between it looked deeper, cooler, livelier.

She stepped into the small sun room past the third tower, where the chess board should have been set up and ready upon her arrival.

But—

It was not Jareth waiting for her this time—

It was a girl, no— a stranger, a woman, a Queen who sat in his usual chair, having the black chess pieces positioned before her. She held her back straight, her chin steady, and had both hands placed upon the arms of the King's chair dressed in elegant black lace and other dark streams of sheer material that sparkled like stars in the night. Jeweled claws were strapped onto her fingertips and the ruff of her gown was spiked and towered behind her neck.

Her face was matured, with features smooth and defined for someone who was born mortal, but still, she was far from looking old. Her hair was long and braided, dark as the raven's feather with a royal silver band around her head. She smiled with lips painted red as passion, presenting an air of wicked glee and playful mischief.

"Cousin Jadis," she greeted evenly. Her eyes, green as springtime, were striking and stood out perfectly from the black kohl that lined her lids. "Might I interest you in a game? Jareth will be out for the day."

If Jadis wasn't who she was, the most powerful of witches in her homeland, then she may have found the sight of this new Queen a tad more intimidating.

"Please, Your Majesty, take your seat."

Jadis obeyed her solely by choice. "You must be Sarah."

"I am."

The servant-dwarf Hoggle came waddling into the sun room shortly after her, carrying a tray of blackberry wine and two crystal goblets. He nodded head at his fellow dwarven counterparts standing guard nearby and approached the tableside.

"'Ere ya are, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Hoggle. You are dismissed."

"But should you need me..."

"I'll call. Don't worry."

He bowed before her and retreated toward the main doors.

Jadis refocused, watching her pour the wine. "You're a legend in these parts, Sarah."

The Goblin Queen beamed wider in response. "And you, White Witch of the Frost, have a power that is difficult to surpass."

"You know much of Narnia?"

"I love to read," the Goblin Queen assured her. "Besides, Jareth makes sure I know my realms. Narnia, The real Neverland, the Wonderland, Elven lands, the Snow Kingdoms, and so on..."

"I must admit, based on the rumors I've heard before, you are...not quite what I was expecting."

"Really, how so?"

"You obviously came back to claim your throne beside Cousin Jareth," Jadis noted curiously. "But did you not view him as your enemy once?"

"That is but one chapter of my story, and I am not like the Pevensies, Your Majesty."

"Yes," Jadis crooned, growing more and more fascinated by this meeting. "I am starting to realize that. Darkness suits you just as well and you know it. You are not afraid of using your certain powers to get what you want now, are you?"

"Well, the Queen is the most powerful piece in the game, right?"

"Indeed."

Jareth predicted this child would be the one Jadis actually preferred over the other children she was forced to deal with in Narnia, and perhaps, he was right all along. She graciously raised her goblet to the Goblin Queen.

"I think I've just found my new favorite cousin."

Sarah chuckled.