Title: A Mother's Perspective
Author: Yodeladyhoo
Summary: What happens when a mother runs out of steam? What happens when that mother is Fae?
Genre: Fantasy
Pairings: Jareth/ Mary Sue ( OC )
Rating: K +
disclaimer (dĭs-klā'mər): noun
1. (law) a voluntary repudiation of a person's legal claim to something
2. denial of any connection with or knowledge of syn: disavowal
c.1986, 2006 The Jim Henson Company.
LABYRINTH is a trademark of The Jim Henson Company.
Labyrinth characters c.1986 Labyrinth Enterprises.
All rights reserved, but not by me.
All rights are reserved, but not by me. This short story is a work of fiction. All original characters in this story are fictional, but based on actual persons. Said persons have been contacted and their permission to use their resemblances has been granted. This means, if I didn't talk to you about this, it's not you in this.
Maurasoon is mine.
Plea for Reason: Okay, so this is total wish fulfillment. It is a very different perspective than from anything I've seen on here. Just try it on for size. LEAVE ALL EXPECTATIONS HERE.
Once upon a time, in a land some humans had heard of and even few were sure existed, lived a girl. Her family was not rich; they were not even landed. Her mother was a kitchen maid in the employ of the king. Her father—she was unsure of whom her father was, but, it was well known that many of the lords of the court had roving eyes. Even some of the briefest encounters can produce the most wonderful results. This was the case with Maurasoon.
Maurasoon was a lovely child. She was fair of face like her mother, without a care to mar it. Her hair fell in natural waves the color of burled walnut, resplendent with glints of gold when the sun glance off of it as she ran in the yard. Her eyes were the color of maple leaves in the autumn, pale brown with the hint of the memory of their summer green. A happy girl with a quick laugh and always full of mischief. Many of the household servants would shake their heads at her antics as she played with the other children of the castle's occupants.
Sometimes a strange child would come to play, but would only stay one day. Some of these children would be distressed and cry for its parent. Usually these children were playful, full of curiosity and wonder. Maurasoon would always be drawn to these strange children. How lively they were! She would get into the most interesting scrapes with them. Their plain appearance belied the breath of their emotion--the heights of the elation, the depths of their anguish; so unlike her usual playmates. Not that the children of the castle were devoid of emotions, but they were more reserved. Maurasoon's contemporaries emotions were drawn from a palette of muted tones and pastels, where these transients were painted in bold colors in contrasting patterns.
As she grew, Maurasoon would see some of the older children leave. They had to attend to studies that would prepare them for their lives at court. She noticed that the more immersed in their studies, the more distant they became from their feelings. They became aloof and cold. She dreaded adulthood because of this. She could not bear the thought of leaving behind her mirth and emotions. She treasured her emotions. They were hers and hers alone to share. She did not realize that her station in life would keep her from the court etiquette she so despised. Few of the castle children understood her moods, but the strange ones always did. She found herself looking forward to their company, even knowing that they were there for a short time.
As her chores increased, she found herself resenting this intrusion to her joy. She vowed that she would not become as the others who had grown to be quiet and reserved. Maurasoon bided her time; she spoke to the children who came briefly, questioning them about their past. She bided her time and she planned. She told no one of the scheme. She would sneak in glances while the young prince took his lessons from the sages, learning while he did. No one knew of her covert lessons, save that she was away from her duties. For this, she felt the sting of the switch across her shoulders. Even this pain she would endure to learn what she must to save her deepest desires, her passions.
At last the time came when she felt that she had gleaned enough information from her activities to set her plan in motion. That night, instead of wishing her mother a good night, she bid her mother good bye.
Maurasoon found herself in a strange place—a strange world. She had never practiced the spells before, thinking she would only use them once, to escape. Now, she had escaped! She felt both liberated to express herself freely and confined in her terror of the uncertainty and the unknown.
She took in her surroundings. Whether it was dark because she was indoors or it was night, she was unsure. She seemed to have landed someplace where there was a hard, smooth surface surrounded by hand hewn walls. Upon examination, she noticed that the walls were made up of uniformly shaped rectangles of dark red clay. Maurasoon shivered in a cool breeze. She looked up. It seemed too far above her to be a ceiling, yet there were no stars. As her unease abated, she noticed there was a brightening further along down the wall. There was more light beyond this space.
She walked towards it. The walls abruptly ended and she realized that she had landed in an alley between two buildings. Buildings that were as tall as the castle she just left. "Are there nothing but kings here?" Maurasoon wondered to herself. She turned out of the alley and shivered as she walked. Her simple surplice and side-less surcoat were poor protection from the autumbrial night wind.
What strange things were in this world! Large metal boxes on black wheels either stood by the path she walked along or moved in the blackened alley alongside of them. The ones that were in motion spewed forth a noxious vapor that caused Maurasoon's eyes to tear and sent her into a bout of irritated coughing. What strange roads were these? They were more suited for buildings made of stone instead of the good earth of nature. Maurasoon's eyes squinted as she looked up at the strange trees that bore one fruit. It was from this fruit that the light beckoned her forth from the alley.
She noticed a woman with a kindly smile approach her. This tall strange woman with a gentle voice and dark skin asked Maurasoon if she was cold. Maurasoon nodded. The woman placed a rough blanket around her shoulders and guided her gently to one of the metal boxes by the side of the path. Saying soothing words that promised of a hot meal and a warm place to sleep, she calmed Maurasoon's fears as she helped the frightened girl into the side.
Once the woman strapped Maurasoon into a seat, she took a seat in front of her. The man in the other seat spoke to the woman and she nodded. Maurasoon let out a terrified yelp as the metal box roared into life and started to vibrate. The stranger turned around in her seat and placed a reassuring hand on her knee. Then the metal box started to move on its own. "Where were the beasts to pull it?" Muarasoon's overwrought brain screamed as she frantically took in the sights and sounds that overwhelmed her. The woman continued to talk in soothing tones which, after a while, helped to calm Maurasoon a bit. Maurasoon ventured to look out of one of the windows of the box. She saw other boxes moving alongside of her extremely fast, faster than any beast of burden could have pulled them.
The scenery slowly changed from what seemed to be dwellings to a more wooded area. There were less of those metal boxes traveling along side of them now. They had been traveling for about an hour, by what Maurasoon could determine by her internal clock. They were approaching a large solitary building that was surrounded by an imposing metal gate. If she were literate, Maurasoon would have been able to know that the building the box on wheels was trundling towards was called The Woman's Aid for the Destitute.