"Well, well."

Jareth moved out from behind his desk and circled the gray cat that had appeared, quite without warning, in his sitting room. It growled and bared its tiny teeth at him, obviously displeased with its current circumstances.

"Anything to say for yourself, my dear? You seem to have gotten yourself into a quandary this time."

Really, she was too cute with her soft fur puffed up like that. At least she calmed down enough to sit, though the glare was still in full force (for all the good it did her).

"Cat...got your tongue? I suppose there IS a first time for everything."

The glare intensified.

"Come now. As charming as you look, do change back so we can have a proper chat."

Nothing.

"...Sarah?"

Jareth was becoming concerned now. He'd known - of course - that the creature in his sitting room was none other than Sarah Williams. It was obvious in the tilt of her head, the way her legs were a bit too short and her tail too long (both marks of a shifter-in-training; a bit of practice would resolve those little problems), the constant twitching of her ears that signaled a lack of experience in her new form. Sarah Williams had been experimenting with her magic in the years since she ran the Labyrinth, but this was the most complicated piece of magic he'd seen her actually accomplish. (She'd tried to give a rather nasty girl at her school green hair once and wound up turning the entire school blue, but that didn't count as an accomplishment.)

(Teleportation didn't count, either, since her magic was Labyrinth-bound and came home when called like a wayward child. Teleportation for Sarah Williams was - though he cringed at the phrase - a piece of cake.)

Sighing, the Goblin King probed her magic gently. It ebbed and flowed normally; she wasn't damaging herself, though it appeared she was either unwilling or unable to change back. He glanced down at Sarah.

Sarah was still glaring at him.

A scrawny blue goblin suddenly burst into the room, ignoring (once again) Royal Proclamation 512: No Goblins in Kingy's Sitting Room. "Kingy!" the goblin shrieked, pointing at Sarah. "It's a fuzzything! Cans we keeps it? Is it tasty?"

"That is NOT dinner, Grem. That," he sighed, "Is the Lady Sarah. She's visi-"

"Ooooooh!" Grem edged closer to Sarah, eyeing her claws warily. Sarah, for her part, seemed unconcerned with the goblin...which, really, showed a lack of self-preservation on her part. "Hi, Lady Sarah! Yous gonna dance with kingy again? Was pretties, it was! Goblins lika Goblin King dancin'!"

Grem then proceeded to throw himself around the room on his toes, swaying dangerously every few steps, in what Jareth belatedly realized was a horrific mutation of a waltz.

"Grem, you will cease THIS INSTANT, or I will-"

Luckily for the little goblin, the king's threat was interrupted by the arrival of half a dozen more breakers of Royal Proclamation 512. "Is Lady Sarah!" Grem announced importantly. "Lady that ate the peach and danced with Kingy!"

The other goblins caught on slowly. "And wished away baaaybee!"

"And had big fight in the city!"

"And stole Kingy's liver!"

All eyes turned to the last speeker, a horrid orange and yellow mass of fuzz with a horned helmet perched atop what must have been its head. Two stick-thin arms appeared out of the fur, waving madly. "Er...no...stole Kingy's spleen?"

"No, stuuupid, stole Kingy's lungs! That's why he no sing no more!"

"Nonono, his kidney!"

"His hypothalymus!"

"His hippy-what?"

"His heart?" asked a soft voice. Jareth turned to see Sarah perched atop his desk, wearing the soft gray nightshift with little crystals on it that he'd given her one year for her birthday.

"Heart! That's right, heart!"

The goblins looked at each other, oblivious to the growing tension. "But...that's mean!" A little gray goblin, no bigger than a teacup, scrambled up Sarah's leg to perch on her knee, his bulbous eyes brimming with tears. "Lady Sarah, why you steal Kingy's heart? Don't you have one already?"

Jareth had had just about enough of his interfering subjects. "Out! All of you!"

"But..."

"Kingy!"

"OUT, OR THE BOG!"

The room cleared quickly, though the little goblin was still sniffling and kept giving Sarah heartbroken glances, as if he suspected she had cooked and eaten his favorite chicken.

"So."

"Sarah..."

"He's wrong, you know. I don't have a heart."

Jareth wasn't sure what to make of that statement. She could be cruel, yes, but still. "I..."

"Someone stole mine from me."

"I see."

Sarah slipped off his desk with feline grace and met him halfway across the room. His arms went to her waist, her fingers curled into his hair, and their lips met.

"Awww..."

"Eeeew!"

"Yahee Kingy!"

The goblins hadn't gone very far at all.

"OUT!"

Lionize: to treat as or make into a celebrity