The Truth in the Smell
Ja ne, Kat
As far as i know the French is correct, but it has been years since i took it so please correct if it wrong. Thank you to Belladonna for the corrections. my laptop is kind of beat up though so the marks that go over and under? Yea that button broke. At some point I will copy and paste it though not to worry.
OXOXOXOX
The next time was more her fault then his. She was having absolutely no luck with the last section of her chemistry project and it was worth 20% of her final mark, worse her teacher had liked it enough to sign it up for the district science fair. She had most of it done and turned in, but she had to revel what had gone into making it at the end. So, not only could she not replicate it, but she couldn't just turn in some of the original either.
"Didymus?" she called softly into the mirror. She had learned early on that it didn't matter how loud or softly she said their names, as long as she could say them, they would hear.
She had just gotten finished with her French homework when his voice drew her attention back up to the mirror.
"You called me, Milady?"
She smiled warmly at him. Didymus had a way of always making her feel better. No matter how awful the day.
"I did, good sir knight. Can you put a little of the bog into this vial for me?"
At his disheartened expression she knew what the answer was before he opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry, Milady, but I cannot. It is a part of the Labyrinth and hence forth magic. You would need the ruling Monarchs permission to remove any of the kingdoms magic beyond its borders."
"Could you tell me how he made it then?"
"The Bog?"
"No. . . Well kind of. Just the smell. I want to remake it for a project, but nothing I've put together seems to be as awful."
"Again Milady, the bog smells not at all to me. I am sorry I could not be of more assistance."
"No. it's my own fault Didymus. I thought with a sample I would have a better shot at remaking it, and your right I should have remembered that it doesn't smell to you." on a sigh she dropped her head onto the vanity. "Maybe if I see Jareth before it's due I'll ask him how he did it."
"As you wish, Milady."
As the mirror faded back to show her the room, the reflection showed that the recliner yet again held a Fair-haired king. This time draped in it sideways, and seemingly much more comfortable there then the last time.
"Jareth!" a breathless squeak of surprise as she spun to face him, to make sure he really was there and not just her imagination, which cause his smirk to grow bigger as his eyes darted to her school books.
"Bonjour Chere, Comment ca va?"
Her brain stumbled at the drop dead sexy way the French sounded coming out of his mouth, which was the only excuse she had for how long it took her to give her response.
"Oui, c'est va tres bien."
She was sure planes could have landed using only her blush as their landing light and it caused his smirk become a dark version of his usual arrogance and his eyes to darken, which annoyed her to no end.
"Come to borrow my bed again?" she tossed out quickly hoping to divert and teasing he was surely planning.
"I came to see why you called me, as I was working on nothing pressing at the time, Precious."
She hadn't called him had she? She had called Didymus . . . Who she had mentioned his name too, and as long as she could say it, it could be heard.
"I hadn't actually meant to call you. I was talking to Didymus and your name came up."
"Came up? How so, Sarah mine?"
"I mentioned something that I wanted to ask you."
"Well as I am here now you can ask away."
Oh he was going to laugh himself silly at her expense she was sure but . . . in for a penny.
"I'm trying to recreate how your bog smells."
"You have been unsuccessful." It wasn't a question, so she just nodded to confirm. "May I ask why you would do such a thing?"
"My final chemistry project is how the brain reacts to the chemical make-up of different smells and helps to trigger memories as a way to help people with memory issues. I have one for Holiday's . . ." Saying so she reached under her bed for the wooden box that held her samples and, pulling out the first black painted jar, handed it to him. He looked at it for a moment before carefully unscrewing the lid so some of the smell escaped.
"Pine, Cinnamon and apples." he told her.
"Christmas." she confirmed with a nod before handing him the next. "One for food."
The smell made him smile and shake his head.
"Coco and vanilla . . . cookies?"
"Yes Hoggle insisted. Said my cookies always make his day." his looked turned dark at that so she quickly handed him the next one, not wanting to be the cause for her friend getting in trouble with his King.
"Lemon?" he said sending her a quizzical look.
"Cleanliness. Or at least that's what most people up here think of when they smell it. I just need one for a bad memory but . . . as I mentioned it hasn't been working out quite right."
"It would be illegal for you to remake it, Sarah mine."
"But . . . why?"
He shook his head at her and for some reason she thought he suddenly looked old, as if she'd just shoved him into Atlas's place without warning and without pity.
"Jareth? Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"
"No . . . I just forget how . . . young you are sometimes." A pause as he considered her. "Are you sure you want this answer Precious? It isn't a pretty one."
He seemed relieved when she actually paused to think about it.
"Yes. I'm sure."
"Have you ever wondered why the smell doesn't bother you're so valiant friend?"
"Oh . . . lots of times." Sarah told him with a small smile, hoping to ease the nearly pained look creeping on his face.
"It is a smell all soldiers train themselves to ignore as battlefields always smell like that." A pause as he took a deep breath and turned to stare out her window.
"It is . . . people . . . the dead, the dying and all the mess that that entails. Bowels loosening, entrails spilled all over, brain and other bits of gore left to rot and decay in the sun. Over all of that the over powering smell of the survivors fear, because tomorrow they may be the next body left on the pile."
Since he was still staring out the window he was surprise when the next second found him trapped under Sarah's body. Her arms around his neck, head tucked under his chin and comfortably situated in his lap.
"I'm so sorry Jareth. I didn't mean to cause you more pain. Did you lose many friends?"
She raised watery green eyes to impossibly wide mismatched ones as he marvelled at her insight. Instead of answering her question and going into memories better left alone he pulled her more snugly against him and settled for giving her a history lesson. A crystal holding the shadow show, he had once been shown as a child long ago, in his hand for her to watch.
Long ago, when the worlds were new the biggest battle Underground has ever seen took place on the land where the Labyrinth now sits and has sat since the battle was ended. It is the oldest Structure in existence . . . anywhere or when.
It was said in those day that the Heart of Magic was kept on those, then empty and desolate, lands. Hidden cleverly in the warren of tunnels that ran under the sands and sun there and offered shelter to those who needed it. Every magical King sent their armies in search of it, hoping to use its power to make themselves one of the most powerful creatures in existence.
The war continued for countless years with still no end in sight, until the Powers That Be created the Labyrinth to guard it. The bodies of the uncountable dead sent in vain to search for it were piled in the middle of the ever shifting maze and over the Eons became the bog you went through on your run.
She reached up and tilted his head down to face hers before leaning up to press a light kiss to his forehead
"So now in death they are forced to protect that which they once sought to steal, the universe really is full of its little ironies." she said seriously looking at him. "Well I guess that explains why I had such a hard time trying to remake the smell." she gave him another hug before she got off him and headed over to put her jars back in the box. "Well any ideas on what I could use instead?"
"If you had a bin we could always stuff a goblin in it. The newer ones always smell foul."
"Ah but I have to be able to say how I made the smell. I don't think anyone will believe captive goblin."
"And you are trying to invoke a memory?"
She just nodded at his question and watched as he tapped his fingers to his lips in thought.
"Burn something."
"What?"
"Burn something. I'm sure nearly everyone has a memory of burned food if nothing else."
A bright flash of a smile as she dashed out of the room and down the stairs, Shouting for her step mother to pick up something called 'popcorn' when she went to the market the next day. The joy she seemed to radiate caused him to smile before vanishing with a whispered . . .
"You are welcome, Precious thing."
OXOXOXOX
Okay! Part Two done. Go me! Two parts in one day!
