"Bye-bye, Sarah!"
Sarah laughed sadly as she gave her brother Toby one last hug. He was almost to pre-school age, but she wouldn't be there for his first day. It was her own first day at college. "Good bye Toby! I'll see you at Thanksgiving."
Carefully handing him back to her parents, she gave a cheery wave and confidently walked towards her dorm (daisies springing up in her footsteps).
After two days, her World Lit teacher stopped Sarah as she was leaving.
"Yes, Ms. Prentan?"
"Sarah," she paused as the last student left the lecture hall. "Have you noticed anything unusual lately?"
"Not really."
The teacher pointed to Sarah's feet. The student looked down and leapt away. Where she had been standing was a small cluster of budding lavender. As they watched, the flowers grew and then faded away to nothing. Sarah looked down at her present feet to see poppies springing.
"Sarah, have you ever had a truly strange dream."
"Many."
Ms. Prentan shook her head. "A dream that seemed almost real, because it was real. You had lost something, something important, and there was a labyrinth filled with new creatures-" "Yes!" "-and a beautiful woman."
"You lost me there. There was no woman in my dream."
"None?"
"No, but there was a man."
The teacher's eyebrows lifted. "Describe him."
"Tall, slender, with mismatched eyes." Ms. Prentan nodded. "And blonde hair surrounding his head like a cloud."
The older woman shook her head and leaned back. "Strange." She suddenly blinked and her voice wavered and took on a tone not her own, more masculine, more seductive. "Sarah, you will be tested again. This I cannot stop. And you must win."
Ms. Prentan shook herself. "Sorry, lost my train of thought. What were we talking about?"
"Just a quick review, nothing to worry about. I have to go study. See you next time, Ms. Prentan," Sarah reassured her gently, all the while preparing to find a certain magical male and read him the riot act.
She opened her door to find a woman reclining on her bed, her fingers tossing green crystal balls in the air haphazardly.
"Who are you?"
"I am Nobora, Queen of the Fairies. And you are Sarah Williams, queen of nothing. For now."
She was a glorious pile of greens, blues, and every radiant color imaginable. Her hair laid spread out in an oak brown fan with flowers and silver gems interwoven. She tossed her crystals into the air and all but one vanished as she sat up.
"Excuse me?"
As her long hair shifted, the gems moved and Sarah realized they weren't gems but drops of water.
"Come, come now, surely Jareth told you of me?"
"No. I haven't spoken to him in years. How do you know me?"
"Has it really been years? My, that was a long night. I sensed your defeat of Jareth and transported straight to his castle to take him out for drinks. He needed a pick-me-up." Nobora sighed and rose gracefully to her feet. Moving about the room, circling Sarah, she left a trail of flower petals and blades of grass amongst the drip-pitter-patter-drop of water from her hair.
"I am his opposite, nearly his complete polar opposite. I would be but we're both tall and slender, like trees!" She giggled and hopped a little. "Where he is autumn and winter, I am spring and summer. Where he is cold and calculating, I am warm and passionate."
"I wouldn't say passionate is the opposite of calculating. Perhaps hasty?"
"Hush!" For a moment, Nobora seemed to burn with the blistering heat of the summer sun. But it faded fast. She smiled.
Sarah beat her to speaking. "Are you his wife?"
Nobora laughed. "Oh no, oh no. That relationship would be disastrous. His cold would destroy my heat, his autumn wither my spring. One or both of us would die. We are nothing but friends." She coughed and a butterfly fluttered from her lips. "Now, Sarah, can you forgive Jareth for what happened when you were sixteen?"
Sarah paused and said slowly, "yes. Yes I can. I understand now that I wished my brother away, though on accident. It was not all his fault."
Nobora laughed and clapped happily. "I'm so glad you said that. You see, Jareth and I have this game, and no one's won it yet. Well, one of my guys half won. Anyway, you ran his Labyrinth, let's see you run mine. The prize? Jareth." Nobora grinned and spun around, sending a near-hurricane of grass, petals, and spring rain into the air. "Get an audience with me, mortal. I'll be in my castle, in the middle! Good luck."
With two pats on the head, Nobora vanished and Sarah realized she'd been standing in a meadow overlooking a green, vibrant, moving labyrinth for the past five minutes, if the field of bluebells was anything to go by.