I'm Baaaack....after some comp problems and a few environment changes. Also my Muse decided to chase after a certain brotherhood of vampires who cannot appear here, *pout* But I began to ruminate over an element of the Carnivorous roses mentioned in Life Singer, and that it took Jareth ten years to get a yes out of Sara. I thought a non-lethal version of "Golden Goblin" would be the perfect thing to get that "I Do" out of Sara. I also wanted to show off a bit of the difference between "the Goblin King" and Jareth as he appears in Life Singer. I will be updating Life Singer and Tam Lin as I wrangle back my Muse...for now I'm distracting it with Jareth and his tights.

Each Runner in the Labyrinth is given a test, self or self-sacrifice. As the Ages passed, many humans failed this test and lost what was most precious to them. Often not realizing what they had lost until it slipped through their fingers. Those wished away lived long lives among the Sidhe of the underground, despite the threats of the Goblin King...Then one extraordinary girl made a wish in frustration, and unknowingly would pass a together different test.

Jareth rose from beside the flower bed, avoiding the thorns of a large and ancient Rose bush dotted with Golden-amber blooms. Close beside where he had knelt, a small trowel lay a top worn leather gardening gloves. He eyed them as he dusted off his leather kneed breaches, the thorns of the roses contained a powerful venom. They were "Golden Goblin" a rose found nowhere else but his kingdom.

An ancestor of his had planted them from a cutting of a cursed rose bush said to have kept hapless suitors away from enchanted maidens. Succeeding Generations had further refined the blooms so they had gone from Red to the Golden amber that gave the rose its name. He pulled a small blade from his boot and opened a small cut in his hand, letting the blood drip into the ground where he had knelt. As the drops disappeared, more blooms appeared among the thorns.

That was the other little thing about the rose, it was carnivorous and would eat any flesh and blood creature that bumbled into its thorns. It seemed to especially like Royal blood. He closed his hand, sealing the wound before wiping the blade on his breeches. He had spent some hours removing pieces of bone from among the twisted branches. He had also pruned here and there, attesting to the leather gloves he had worn. He gave his back a final stretch before moving on to the next bed.

He knew no one would suspect the Goblin King to be gardening after such a "crushing" defeat of his Labyrinth. Oft his hands were so rough that the leather gloves the Goblin King wore were necessary to hide the callouses upon them. That was the difference between him an the Persona he radiated when there was a runner in the twists and turns of the maze, he did not take the outcome so personally. He wished now he had shown his naked hands to Sara, so she would have known his arrogance and menace an act. He truly had fallen in love with her, long had he watched her recite the words and pretend she was the princess who rescued the child from the clutches of the villain.

For a brief moment he had let her live her dream, even down to the dance with the seductive "demon" lover. He had known what choice she'd make when the words came. The illusion had shattered and with it a part of his heart. Tending his personal garden took some of the sting out of his "defeat" at Sara's hands. He let out a low chuckle, it had not been a defeat more rather a right of passage. He'd known Sara needed to Grow up, to learn that life was not always fair or kind. He had done what he could to help that along. He had also done what the Labyrinth had asked of him, that was to prove Sara had the makings of its future queen. It had been necessary to play his role to the hilt, She would be his queen after all and had to know what he was capable of. He would keep no secrets of what he was from her, neither who he was or who he became when the maze set out its test. From the way she had refused him at every turn, it seemed to have worked as planned. He knew it would take time for Sara to finish growing up, but he could wait lifetimes for that to happen.

He wondered where Hoggel was, no doubt still celebrating with Sara over her victory. He could not help but think of the dwarf and the goblins crowded in Sara's room still. He had gone to watch the festivities briefly before returning and changing into the garments he wore now. Having finished with his gardening, he turned back toward the castle. He wanted to make sure he intercepted Hoggel when the dwarf returned and arrange a date with the bog. A king had to keep his promises after all...

The youngest of three sons, Jareth had never wanted to be King, but fate had taken his eldest brother and his twin Jaeren had joined the Singer's Guild; effectively abdicating all rights to the throne. His coronation had come on the heels of his father's falling to a human arrow millennia ago. He frowned, the vows of kingship had weighed heavy on him since then. He kicked a few of the goblins out of his way as he headed for his chambers. He had many plans to make, and a kingdom to prepare for his queen.

A year later...

Sara near threw her algebra book across the room, they had done it again. Though she had grown up much in the past year since her run through the Labyrinth, she still held her love of fairy tales and the stage. She dressed much like the Theater geeks, but with overtones of goth. But unlike most of the typical High school outcasts, she was a straight A student. She also extended her friendship to some of the less popular kids, which earned her the ire of the cheerleaders and the Jocks. The pages she needed torn out of the book was just another example. She sat heavily in her vanity chair and sighed, the school year wasn't even half over and already she had paid out for three ruined text books.

She looked up into the mirror, tempted to call her friends, but she didn't want to disturb them with a problem she would eventually have to solve herself. Then she noticed it, a small fold of creamy paper with her name in elegant script, tucked between the glass and the frame. She carefully extracted the small fold and opened it...a hand rendered drawing of a double rose tinted amber looked back at her.

A rose for lady Fair...

J.

She wondered what Jareth was up to, perhaps some sort of a trap to get her and Toby back into his clutches. The fold floated up from her hands and did acrobatics before coming down in an origami version of the drawing, even down to the tint on the petals. Jareth's face appeared in the mirror.

"...No tricks Sara, the time for them has long past. It is as I said, a rose for lady fair." He said, blowing her a delicate kiss. "I have restored your book..."

He gave her a soft smile before leaving the mirror a glassy surface again. It wasn't until his image had faded that she realized his hands had been bare.

She held the paper rose in her hand, indeed it was a gift befitting a lady. She looked down at her restored Text book, still leery about why Jareth would be so kind. She set the rose down beside her book and began to do her homework, she had her grade point average to maintain.

The Goblin Kingdom...

Jareth held his breath as he let Hoggel pour water over the deep thorn scratches on his hands. The stench of the bog was still fresh about the Dwarf, despite having been dipped over a year ago. The dwarf backed off to let the Sidhe king take a breath before returning with a salve. Jareth waved him away, he could take care of this on his own.

"Yous being a fool," Hoggel said, looking at the various rose plants "No one has ever bred the viciousness out of these roses..."

"I will, even if it takes me a lifetime, I want to give Sara a real golden rose..." Jareth said, wincing as the salve sank into the deep scratches. "Paper does not befit her..."

The dwarf gardener shook his head, the king was setting himself up for an impossible task. No one had ever broken the curse on those particular roses. Not even the family who had bread the original roses for the enchantress who had used them.

"You cannot turn a goblin maid into a Lady Fair..." Hoggle said. "not even a golden one..."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be..." Jareth said, the tone of the goblin king ringing from his words.

The dwarf shook his head again and hurried off, he didn't want another date with the bog.

The world above...

Sara looked at the three dozen carefully folded golden paper roses, a gift from Jareth when he found out about her gaining the staring role in the Drama Club's annual play. He had given her paper roses almost everyday for a year with some variation on the original line he had written inscribed on the paper before it folded itself into the delicate form. Her room was now decorated with them, tucked into small spaces as a bit of whimsy.

At seventeen, She was becoming a well versed armature actress. She'd had to even turn down roles in the local theater because she wanted to go to collage, to major in art, or perhaps mythological studies. Her thirteen hours in the underground had left its mark, she was a little different, her eyes more open to the other world. Even more so when she saw Jareth for brief moments as he delivered the roses.

She took note each time his hands were bare, his hair was pulled back and he wore a faded linen shirt. Once there was a smudge of dirt on his cheek, he'd hastily wiped it off before giving her a small smile. There was no arrogance in him when he appeared in her mirror, more often than not, he looked haggard. Then there had been the night she had watched him turn from Jareth to the Goblin King as a bell tolled somewhere far off. There were no roses for over two weeks after that, only an elegantly penned note of apology for the lack of his gifts, perhaps he wanted to give her time to absorb what she had seen. She had not ventured to speak of it with him, and he too avoided the subject. As much as each wished to talk after that, no words seemed to pass between them.

The underground....

Jareth set down the document and began to rub his temples. He knew his exposure to the venom of the thorns was weakening his immunity. He had never been sick until he had started trying to hybrid the roses of his personal garden. The scratches on his hands took longer to heal, sometimes festered and oozed. As much as he wanted to give Sara one of the golden roses, he knew he had to stop or he would succumb to the rose's poison. He blinked his eyes, he was seeing double and he had the taste of ripe strawberries at the back of his throat. He rose to his feet, stumbling toward the privy, barely making it before his dinner disappeared into the mess below. His last thought before the world spiraled into blackness was that he wouldn't be able to send Sara her birthday rose.

Above...

Sara frowned when it was Hoggel and not Jareth appearing in her mirror on her eighteenth birthday. Despite her weariness, she had come to look forward to Jareth's visits and the delicate paper creations he so lovingly gave her.

"He's ill..." Hoggel said. "But told me to give you this..."

A crystal with the image of a rose carved into the center, it was the same double rose Jareth had first given her. She had looked through many botanical books to find the name of the rose, but such colored roses did not exist in the human world.

"What happened..." She had asked.

The dwarf wasn't forthcoming with an answer, only that Jareth wouldn't be sending Roses for a while and the crystal one would have to suffice until he could resume his visits.

As She had put it on her vanity, lifting it now and again to let the light catch the carving within. She told Hoggel of the birthday present from her father. She was going to New York in four days, to see her mother preform in The phantom of the Opera. She was also going to spend a week with her mother. It was a special treat, as her mother promised to introduce her to an old friend who knew some Folklore on the Fae and Sidhe. She couldn't wait...

The underground...

Jareth watched Sara through a small crystal as she received her gift, reserving his strength as he recovered. When he'd heard her tell the dwarf about going to New York, his first thoughts were of the Troll/Goblin Market and the dangers that could entrap those Fae Touched if they wandered too close to its doors. He sent Hoggel to arrange an escort, he didn't want Sara anywhere near the market without one. He also wanted to know about the "old Friend" of Sara's Mother, to insure it wasn't a trap. He re-absorbed the crystal's energy and lay back, regretting it wouldn't be him sitting at her side to watch a tale of love and revenge.