Chapter 2. Have you seen her
Tapping his well worn boot with his riding crop, Jareth listened to the incessant complaints of his subjects. He found he had more and more time on his hands to do so as fewer and fewer children seemed to be wished away. He looked over at the little goblin complaining about the rocks that still littered the town's curved and winding streets. "Yes, yes," he nodded. "I'll have something done about it."
He had been spending more time in the great throne room, hearing the needs of his subjects over the past nearly three years. Ever since the time the girl had visited the Kingdom, he was working at improving his lot in life. No one spoke her name, not in his presences, not that he'd requested the ban on her name, they just didn't speak her name. The only time he heard her name was when he was alone in the puzzle room of stairs and whispered it himself. He lounged in lazy elegance upon the massive throne, listening, and judging, and plotting. For two years he had been plotting, he was going to find a means by which to bring back that mortal wench if it was the last thing he ever did. Call his Labyrinth a piece of cake, would she? He found that he had once more lapsed into thinking of her instead of paying attention to the court.
From the moment he had returned from her world it had been thus. He had spent the first few days after she'd returned to her world sulking over his loss. He had spent hours on end in the ruins of the stair room before he used magic to draw it back together. He refused the company of fellow Fae, and even refused the company of Goblins. The pain he was experiencing was not something he could share, and so he kept it to himself. Just as he went over and over each move made during the running of the Labyrinth. He still could not believe the girl had resisted him, that she in fact blamed him for the fact that her brother was in Goblin hands. He had given her every chance to back out of the challenge with grace, or so he thought. He had been charming, and even attentive, and had seen to it she had a companion on her journey. Of course the companion was not supposed to plot against his King. He had given her a taste of her dreams, and had tasted her dreams himself as well. Time and again, he'd go back in his mind to that ballroom. To the moment she was in his arms, as he sang to her, held her, and swept her off her feet. For the briefest of moments, it had seemed she would forget everything. It was that moment that something happened he had not planned; it was in that moment he lost his heart to her. Completely and utterly, he had lost his heart only to have the gawking stares of his courtiers frighten the girl. Had they but stayed back, had they but left them alone for a moment, the bond would have been completed and the Girl would be there now giving him comfort. A voice that was like a constant buzzing drone drew him back to the throne room and business at hand.
Hoggle stood peering in from behind the entryway, not sure he really wanted to see the King. They had kept out of each others way for the last two years or so, and Hoggle would have preferred to keep it that way. He was sure the sight of him was a sting the King was not in the mood for, and he was not sure how the King would react. Right after Sarah had left the King had gone quiet, too quiet. Then he'd began making demands, and giving orders that were impossible to follow or complete. He'd taken the toughest measures with the three who others were calling the King's traitors. Sir Didymus was now doing guard duty at a far end of the Kingdom, where no one ever came to. Ludo had been sent to the forest and banished from the King's gardens, and was alone with only his rocks for company. Hoggle had thought the King would give him duty in a part of the Labyrinth that was remote, but instead he left the dwarf where he was, and ordered him to count the swam Fairies that gathered at the gate, the task that was becoming impossible. And for the first time in two years, the dwarf was going to tell the King just that.
The Chancellor, a tall goblin with long flowing hair, tapped his staff on the stone floor and announced the Dwarf's name. "Hoggle, Gate Keeper and Gardener, seeks audience."
The riding crop slipped from the fingers of the King who seemed to go frozen for a moment. The lips thinned, the eyes hardened and his breath for a long moment paused. "Oh really?" the sarcasm of old had returned, full force. "Well, unless he's completed the tasks I've given him, I have no time." Snapping his fingers the riding crop rose and returned to his gloved hand.
Hoggle knew that he should pull back, run back to his hovel and hide, but his time with the Girl had caused him to change. "No one can complete the tasks you're giving out!" he accused as he moved into the throne room uninvited, his hand pointing at the King accusingly.
Jareth looked at the dwarf, "Hello Higgle," he drawled.
"Hoggle!" the Dwarf screamed back.
"Hogs brain," Jareth lowered his legs from the arm rail of the throne to the steps of the dais it sat on. He looked at the dwarf with a look that should have turned the little man into a mass of quivering jelly. Instead the Dwarf looked… pissed.
The Dwarf wondered why it was he was not throwing himself at the King begging for mercy. "You know that no one can complete the tasks!"
"Oh don't like the assignment given you? Perhaps another would be to your liking, say cleaning the rocks from the town square." Jareth drawled slowly.
Hoggle moved toward the throne, "I can't clean up all the rocks!"
Jareth snickered, "Then get help."
"How, you sent Ludo to the heart of the forest, he's the only one who has the ability to send the rocks back to where they came from." Hoggle argued.
Taken aback that the dwarf would speak this way to him, Jareth reached out his hand and grabbed the gatekeeper by the vest and yanked him toward his own face. "What did you just say?"
Hoggle pressed his own face into the Kings. "You heard me."
Goblins, gnomes, elves and others in the throne room held their breaths. They all knew the confrontation between the King and his Gatekeeper had been building. Never on friendly terms as it was, but after the…girl… things had gone from bad to worse between them.
Jareth sensed the tensions in the room, and looking at the eyes of the dwarf found himself snickering. "I see," he mused as he pushed the dwarf back down the dais stair. "Fine, go and find the beastie and get him to clear out the rocks."
Staggering and trying to keep his footing, Hoggle stared at the King. "You want me to do what?"
"Find this… Ludo and get him to pick up his rocks." Jareth said quietly, he waved the little dwarf off thinking that was an end to two problems.
Hoggle didn't move, he stood rooted to the spot and staring. "Are you feeling well?"
Feeling, mused the King, am I feeling….
The dwarf looked at the throne room, it was different. Yes it was still filled with Goblins and others who made this Kingdom their home. But it was not as…cluttered as it had been in the past. It was not clean, by any means, but it was not as cluttered. The man sitting on the throne was different too, he was….reflective. "Sire, could we not also bring back Sir Didymus?" There was no harm in asking, as it seemed the King was in a generous mood.
The name of the little knight caused Jareth a twinge of guilt. He had followed the olde Code, had lived by it for eons. His first duty was to the code, and Jareth knew it. If anyone were to blame for the actions of the Knight it would be the King himself. He was the one who sent Sarah and Hoggle crashing toward the bog. Sighing deeply, the King nodded. "Yes, you may send for Sir Didymus and have him brought back to this part of the Kingdom." He leaned forward. "Hoggle, have you seen her?" He asked at long last. There was an audible gasp from some of the spectators in the throne room.
"Seen her?" Hoggle juggled in his mind how to get out of this one. "Seen who?"
"Sarah," the name came out of the King's mouth like a caress.
The dwarf fidgeted, "You told us we could not go to see her," he reminded the King gently.
"As if that would stop you," mused the sad Fae.
"You said you'd dip us all in the bog…and then you sent us to the far reaches of the Kingdom," Hoggle replied.
"Have you seen her?" Jareth repeated, this time his voice was pained. Hoggle nodded, guiltily. "Is she…well?" the words were whispered.
"She's…well enough." Hoggle scratched his head, not sure how to continue. "She's changing…. She ain't called us in…months."
"Has she forgotten us?" Jareth's eyes were watery, he looked on the verge of surrendering to the tears.
Hoggle shook his head, "No, sire." He moved closer. "But she's… growing up. And has new things in her life."
Standing up, the King moved down the dais and over toward the window he'd sent orb out of that carried a part of Sarah's dreams. He looked toward the woods where she'd been wandering when Hoggle had given her the King's little gift, a tainted peach. Jareth sighed. "Growing up…new things…" He closed his eyes and felt his heart break anew; "How do you see her if she does not call you?"
"Through her mirror," admitted the Dwarf moving closer to the pained Fae male. "Sire, don't you… see her?"
Jareth leaned on the sill of the window and thought about the question. "I haven't tried," he said at long last. "I have my pride, Hoggle."
"Pride, sire?"
"She refused me, and then when the game was over she invited all of you into her chamber to celebrate… everyone…save for me." He rasped. He looked down at the little man at his side. "A man has his pride."
"You have not looked at her once?" Hoggle could not image not seeing the girl.
Mismatched eyes, like storms at sea, gazed off into the distance. "I still see her gliding about the ballroom," he mused; "A vision in white." He shook off the melancholy. "Tell me of how she's changed."
"She cut her hair," Hoggle said thinking of the thing that would be the least hurtful. When the King made a face, Hoggle added. "Not a lot, but it's not at her shoulder, instead of beyond. It looks very nice….didn't realize it had so much wave to it…" The dwarf snickered, thinking of the way Sarah wore her hair now, and of how grown up it made her appear.
"Is she happy?" Jareth asked.
"Seems to be," nodded the little man. "She's happier with her lot in life, and far less eager to blame others around her for her mistakes… even takes pleasure in spending time with the tyke."
"Toby," mused the King letting the breeze from the window bath his face. "How is the boy?"
"Growing, like all mortal children do," answered the dwarf attentively. "You've not looked in on him, either?"
Shaking his head, the King pursed his lips. "It seemed futile."
Hoggle watched, and assessed. "You miss them," he gasped.
Jareth looked out the window. "Yes, Hoggle….I do."
For a moment Hoggle pitied the King.
