In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.
-Christmas Carol, lyrics by Christina Rossetti
Jareth, Goblin King of The Underground, woke to find that winter had come to his Labyrinth. There was an unaccustomed chill in the air, and a sharp smell that had never been scented before in the Labyrinth.
Jareth stood at the edge of his balcony, looking out over the patchwork sprawl of his kingdom and saw a sight that even he in his very long life had never seen. A blanket of glittering snow covered everything, the only movement aside from the skirling snow the slumberous shifting of the Labyrinth. And everything was silent.
His kingdom was never silent. Populated by goblins and babies-turned-goblins and chickens as it was he could barely get a moment to himself, let alone a quiet one. Something was wrong. The goblin king turned back into his room, cloak flaring dramatically.
There was someone new in his Labyrinth.