Meet the Family
Jareth eyed himself critically in his bedroom mirror. His hair looked suitably jagged and careless, but maybe just a touch of colour for a change? Frowning, he ran his index finger over a blonde lock. A trail of brilliant green followed his fingertip. He smiled, satisfied, and added a few more verdant highlights.
Next, his clothing. He was feeling extravagant today, the gauzy cloak might be nice… No, he should save that for special occasions. Baby snatching, for instance. He gave his reflection a secret smile. He truly enjoyed his occasional Aboveground excursions. Mortals made splendid diversions. They tended to cower in an utterly gratifying way.
The smile reversed itself and he traced the gold and silver medallion he always wore pensively. Just then it had felt somewhat cold. Then he shrugged; it must have been a trick of the mind, er, skin. He shrugged again, turning his mind back to the question of what he would wear for the first part of the day. He snapped his fingers and was suddenly wearing a green jacket elaborately embroidered with gold thread over a lace edged shirt that he allowed to gape open and expose his chest and medallion.
He pulled his boots on over the cream coloured pants he had been wearing all along, then tugged his gray leather gloves on. With a final self-satisfied smirk at his reflection he strode out of his private rooms and down the corridor towards his throne room. A goblin suddenly hurtled from that direction. It scrabbled to a stop, stared at him in horror and then ran past him with a shriek.
Jareth whipped around and stared after the creature, nonplussed. What in the Underground could make a goblin behave like that? With a disturbed frown and decidedly dampened mood, the ruler of the Labyrinth continued on his way. Something was disturbing the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, and Jareth wanted to know what it was.
When he entered his throne room, his sense of wrongness increased. The goblins seemed tense, glancing toward him nervously. The normal carousing wasn't happening. Jareth turned, frowning, to his throne. He froze. Someone was sitting in HIS throne. Worse, worse, far worse: That someone was Thelte. Her hair was royal blue now, but he still recognized the small figure who was casually lounging on his throne.
Every goblin in the room, possibly the realm, was standing stock-still. They were staring at their King in utter horror. Jareth was paler than ever and his gloved hands were trembling. His made-up eyes were narrowed, directing fury in shades of blue and brown at the little fey in his seat. She was idly kicking her feet and staring at the ceiling. With the deadly grace of a cat, Jareth began to stalk forward.
"You know," Thelte remarked suddenly, not taking her eyes off the bunny shaped stain on the ceiling, "I've always liked this chair. It's very comfortable." Jareth froze, stunned by the gall of this declaration. A mad gleam lit his mismatched eyes. A crystal suddenly appeared in his hand, and he dropped it. Upwards. With a shriek, Thelte followed the orb p to the high ceiling.
There was utter silence, a rare gift in the realm of goblins. Jareth sauntered over to his throne and lounged smugly on it. He gave his cowering goblins a benevolent smile. Finally, he looked up at the ceiling. He cocked his head mockingly giving the fey girl an inviting smile. She glowered back at him, lying the ceiling. They continued their staring contest for another few minutes. Finally Thelte sighed and let her royal blue head drop back onto the grease bunny.
"Alright," she grumbled, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sat in your little chair. Will you let me down now?" she finished plaintively. Jareth tapped his lips withhis finger in a contemplative manner. He gave her a saintly smile.
"Yes, cousin dear, you can come down now." He made a slight gesture. With a second shriek, Thelte fell down. She landed with several "oof!"s on a knot of cowering goblins. With a belligerent look for her older cousin, she carelessly extricated herself from the mound of stunned creatures. Jareth continued to smile blandly.
"Good," he said brightly once she was standing, "I have some buisiness to take care of, and would like the pleasure of company, cousin. Now." She stopped picking goblin hair off her blue dress to pout at him petulently. Then she rolled her honey coloured eyes in an exasperated way.
"This really isn't fair," she protested in a whine, "I'm supposed to be on holiday. Mum said I could do whatever I like during break, because, because I got such high marks on the exams. She says that I'm mature enough to be on my own. I just dropped by to visit my favorite cousin. And," she added triumphantly, "Mum won't be happy with you at all when she finds out you dropped me on the ceiling." She folded her arms and smirked up at the tall fey. He was unimpressed.
"Thelte," he drawled, still smiling, "In case it failed to catch your attention, your mother is; sadly; absent. Furthermore, I happen to be King of the realm you have so fecklessly infiltrated. I could quite legally toss you royal-blue head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Mostly because it's my law." Thelte looked very started. She obviously hadn't considered the consequences of her little jaunt very well at all. Jareth tilted his head mockingly.
He turned to the large doors that opened to the Castle foreyard. A few goblins scrambled to tug them open. Finally Jareth tired of watching them struggle and opened the doors himself. Thelte followed docilely on his heels as he walked through the Goblin City to the city gates. The guard on duty stood to attention, eyeing his monarch nervously. Jareth smiled icily at the creature.
"Milksop," he began,
"Mills, Yehr Majesty," the guard corrected automatically.
"Yes" Jareth said with an impatient edge to his voice, "Explain to me how this came to be in my Castle?" he gestured to the sulking adolescent scuffing her boots in the dust. The goblin gave Thelte a look of horror.
"I, eh, I... heh... That is... I... well..." the wretched creature petered out miserably. Jareth made a show of attentiveness. As Mills fell into silence, he smiled cheerfully.
"All fine reasons, Milp. But I find I'm not in the mood for explanations." With that, the flagstones under the armoured goblin's large feet opened up and Mills disappeared with a yelp and a clatter. Jareth turned back to his royal blue cousin.
Who had disappeared.