How long had been, he wondered.

Jareth sat perched on the balcony rails, his eyes turned out to stare at the city below his castle. The excitement of the day seemed to wear down as the goblins of the city began to return to their homes as sun set in the sky. The bustling sounds of the busy city soon faded and a calming quite hushed through the streets. Lights were lit in the street lamps, and candles could be seen shining through the windows of homes. Music could be heard playing from the pub, along with the faint hoots and hollers of the patrons as they drank. Another day was now marked on Jareth's internal calendar; a calendar that had no beginning, and would never reach an end.

"Your Highness, dinner is served." One of the servants, Asha, informed him as she walked out onto the balcony. Asha was a cat like goblin, with fluffy brown and black fur and an equally fluffy tail; although she still dressed in actual clothes. She was tall, over five feet, and her body was similar in structure to a human. She had hands, no paws, with fingers and opposable thumbs. Of course she also had the common cat features, such as feline ears, whiskers, and claws. Asha was one of Jareth's most trusted servants, and was often perceived by others to be more like his assistant.

"I'll be there shortly." He spoke in a monotone voice, his breath sighing softly following his lack luster words.

"Are you alright sir?" Most wouldn't ask such a thing to the king, but Asha had always considered his well being her first priority and was never too afraid to speak when it was in regards to his overall state of being.

"Of course, everything is…" His voice trailed for a moment, as if he was dreading his own lie, "just fine." He turned his sight to her now; he could tell from her expression she did not believe him. "I'll take dinner in my study." He insisted, changing the subject before Asha had a chance to question him further.

"Yes, your Highness." She bowed to him graciously before turning back and leaving him on his own.

Jareth took a moment to return his gaze back to the Goblin City, letting his eyes scan once more almost as if he was searching for someone…He stood to his feet, turning his back on the city and walked forward to go back inside. Once within the walls of his castle he gently flicked his wrist and the doors of the balcony shut behind him. He was just as alone now as he was on the balcony, the only difference of course being now he was inside. More specifically, he was inside his bedroom. The chamber was dull, poorly decorated and with grey stone walls. His bed was only piece of furniture in the room; the mattress setting on a old wooden frame and with blankets dull in color with holes in them. Despite the size of the room, it hardly looked like the room of a king. There was a time when he would have cared more to change it, but that was a mindset he had long since lost.

He left his room to make his way to his study; it was a fair distance, taking multiple corridors to navigate and several flights of stairs before even reaching the tower which housed his study. He climbed the spiral staircase that lined the tower walls until reaching the peak, where a locked wooden door awaited him. The torches at the top were unlit, but with a simple verbal command, "Light," the flames ignited. Jareth then reached into his pocket of his leather vest, retrieving the key. He unlocked the door, entering to find the candles on the shelves and desk already lit as well as the torches mounted on the wall. He did not shut the door as he continued forward, moving carefully around the piles of books on the floors, to take a seat behind his desk. The room was overloaded with masses of books; they filled the bookshelves, were stacked on tables, and even piled almost five feet high on the floor. What little wall space wasn't blocked by stacked shelves of books was decorated with intricate paintings of all sizes, all seeming to be of one woman.

The chair he sat in behind the desk was an old wooden chair and was terribly uncomfortable despite the pillows he kept on the seat and against the back of the frame; it creaked under his weight as he sat. He took a moment to overlook the titles of the books that sat on his desk, all different subjects and even some fictional. All the books in his study were human books, written by humans and stolen from their world. Jareth found most objects from the human world to be odd and uninteresting, yet he was fascinated by human books. He loved to read them, some even multiple times. He reached for one of his favorites, a collection of fairytales written by the Brothers Grimm, just as Asha arrived with his dinner tray.

Jareth cleared a spot on his desk and Asha sat the tray down; it was stew, served with half a loaf of freshly baked bread. "Thank you Asha." Jareth leaned back in his seat, having no intentions of eating at the moment but instead opened his book to begin reading, "You're dismissed."

"Well actually sir," Asha spoke up, ripping Jareth's attention away from his book. His eyes glanced up at her, narrowing with a hint of frustration. "There is something we need to discuss."

"And what is that?" He lowered his book to his lap, closing it slightly but keeping a finger between the pages to mark his place.

"The City Council has been trying to reach out to you for some time now, I bring you their letters but I recently found them stashed underneath your chair in the den, all unopened. They're becoming restless awaiting your responses."

Jareth rolled his eyes, pinching the top of the bridge of his nose as he lowered his elbow down onto the desk. "Well what matter do they require my assistance with?"

"There are several ones that require your attention sir."

"What good is the damn council if they can't get anything done?" It was more or less a rhetorical question.

"Sir, when you first created the council you didn't wish to give them too much power and only instated the council with the ability to make judgments without your consent on lesser issues."

"Damnit Asha, I know that!" He shouted as he slammed his hand down on his desk, causing some of his stew to spill from the bowl. He leaned back, crossing his arm in frustration as he looked away from Asha, redirecting his glare to the wall.

"Sir," Asha was unraveled by his anger, standing her ground firmly as she continued, "There are rumors that you are no longer capable of performing your duties, it's been months since you reviewed any proposals submitted by the council, you haven't even left the castle in over a year, and I can't even remember the last time you ventured into the human world. Your legend is barely alive in the human world, and it's making your powers weak, I haven't seen you perform magic more complex than boiling water in an alarmingly long time. Your subjects live without any sense of true leadership from you and neighboring kingdoms are calling your title as king into question and there are some who would love to overthrow you and claim your throne. You need to remember what's important and get back on track before you lose everything." And with that, Asha turned to take her live, hoping she had somehow managed to get through to her king. But before she could reach the door, he spoke softly to her.

"How long has it been?"

"Excuse me?" Asha was caught off guard by his question, and looked back over shoulder to watch as he leaned back in his chair with his hands gripping at the edge of the desk.

"How long as it been since Sarah left?" He spoke clearly, his tone of his voice revealed his pain.

Asha, despite knowing it would only hurt him more, wasted no time in answering, "Fifty three years."