The next Friday when Cara got home from work, Jareth was talking with Alia.
"Here she is. Jareth has been waiting for you, Cara."
"What for?"
"I came to talk with one of my favorite people," he explained.
"What's the matter? Did your Listians gang up on you again?"
"Not at all. Simply taking an interest in your life."
"That's what I thought. You've just come to gossip."
"Gossip? About what?" Alia was completely lost.
"Haven't I told you?" Cara frowned. "No, I haven't talked to you much recently. He wants to gossip about Maddie's latest plans for me."
"She's at it again?"
"Yes, and having better luck than usual – or at least she thinks so – thanks to the recent hiring of a consultant at work." Cara gestured at Jareth. "He's here to get all the details."
"When did this all happen?"
"Last week. The new guy started working just after Thanksgiving. You haven't been around much, so I haven't had a chance to tell you."
"Yeah, I'm always studying or working on this paper."
"Or doing other things," Cara teased.
Alia ignored the jibe. "I've got some free time now. Fill me in on what I've missed."
"Like I said, this guy started working as a consultant to find us a new computer system. His name's Hadrian O'Keefe. I don't think he's American."
"She says he dresses too well for that," Jareth informed Alia dryly.
"I did not. You said that. Anyway, he's been taking Maddie and me out to lunch on Fridays to get our input on the computer systems. Maddie's thrilled – she's been trying to shove me at him."
"And how did today go?" Jareth asked.
"It was a normal business lunch. Maddie couldn't pull her car trick two weeks in a row and we only talked about computers. Maddie couldn't turn the conversation – he asked most of the questions."
"How disappointing."
"Yep, there goes your night's entertainment," Cara said as she got up to change clothes in her room. As she came back out, she said to Alia, "I just remembered, Jareth said to ask you abut Hadrian's name. He said you would know about it. Do you?"
Alia shrugged. "Just that there was a Roman emperor named Hadrian. He was a decent emperor as the Roman ones go. He's best known for having some sort of relationship with a boy named Antinous, who drowned in the Nile, and having a long wall built in Great Britain to keep the northern barbarians out of Roman Britain."
"So he's named after an emperor. Figures." Cara changed the subject. "So, why are you still here? Don't you have a date with Tieran or your paper to work on?"
"I'm taking a break. I finished the first draft – it's due next week. Tieran is supposed to come by soon to get me."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. He wouldn't say."
"A surprise? I love surprises," Jareth commented.
"I doubt you're invited," Cara informed him.
"I cleared my calendar for the whole evening in anticipation of your update. You should find some way to amuse me."
"I thought you came here for intelligent conversation without lewd remarks? If you want that kind of entertainment go find a Listian. I'm sure there will be plenty of volunteers."
"Tsk, tsk. Such a tone to take with your guest," Jareth chided.
"Guest? You invited yourself," Cara snapped.
Before Jareth could take offense at Cara, Tieran appeared. They fell silent and turned to look at him.
"Is there something wrong with what I am wearing?" he asked, looking down at his jeans, sweater and leather jacket.
Alia, with visible relief got up to greet him, kissing him on the cheek. "Not at all. So what are we doing?"
"I thought we would do something here in your world for a change. Perhaps go see a movie," Tieran suggested.
"All right. Let's go. We'll see what's playing when we get there."
As the walked down to her car Tieran asked, "Did I interrupt something?"
"I think so and I think it was a good thing that you did. Just before you arrived Cara snapped at Jareth. I'm glad I'm out of there. I don't want to be there for his reaction. I just hope the apartment is habitable when I come back.
"I don't know what's with Cara, but she's awful touchy. Maybe it's this woman, Maddie, at work who's trying to set her up with a guy she works with. Cara hates it when Maddie does that. She's done it before, but Cara's never reacted like this."
"Perhaps she has changed since her illness after all," Tieran suggested.
"Yeah, maybe that's it."
.….
Cara and Jareth watched Alia and Tieran leave.
"I'm sorry. I'm not really in the mood to be amusing," Cara managed to apologize.
"I can tell. I didn't really mean for you to entertain me. It was a joke."
"Not a very good one right now."
"Apparently not. Would you rather that I leave?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm tired. I'm tired of being put on display. Tired of being on my guard. Maybe you should go. I won't be any sort of company."
"Perhaps you're the one that needs entertaining. What would you like to do?" Jareth asked as he produced a crystal.
"I don't feel like going anywhere, doing anything," Cara said as she watched him play with the crystal.
"You need a change. Think of something."
At a loss, Cara finally said, "Teach me how to do that."
"Do what?"
"Move the crystal like that. I've wanted to learn since I saw it in the movie. Will that satisfy you? You might even get a few laughs out of the deal watching me try."
"I had something more exotic in mind, but if that's what you want..."
"I can't think of anything else right now."
"All right, then." He produced another ball and tossed it to her.
She caught it. "Are these breakable?"
"Not that one. Now watch. First, you must be able to balance and catch it on the back of your hand..."
.….
Alia and Tieran arrived at the movie theater in the closest mall and picked a movie. Because they had just missed the start time, they had almost two hours free before the next showing.
"We could get something to eat and wander around the mall for a while," Alia suggested.
"If you like," Tieran agreed.
They found a pizza place and took their slices to a nearby table.
"Have you ever had pizza before?"
"No."
"How do you like it? Better than peanut butter?"
"Yes, I think so."
It did not take them long to eat and soon they strolled around the mall looking at the shop windows. They passed a jewelry shop and the windows caught Tieran's eye.
"Hey, the girl is supposed to be the one looking at the shiny things. What'd you find?" Alia asked him when he stopped.
"Just looking at how jewelry is fashioned here."
"Oh, I forgot. Professional interest?"
"You could put it that way. May we go in?"
"Sure, if you want to. I like looking at jewelry as much as the next girl."
Alia ushered Tieran out quickly by the arm about half an hour later.
"We shouldn't make too big a scene."
"Really? And who flashed the jewelry worth as much as the whole store?"
Alia slowed to merge with the general flow of people walking past the stores. "Yeah, that was stupid. I shouldn't have done that. Maybe she'll think it was glass. Is my pendant really worth that much?"
"In your world it is. I told you it was rare. Why did my questions worry you?"
"It wasn't your questions, not really. It was more your knowledge. People don't go around telling jewelry stores about their merchandise."
"But the item was mislabeled. The stone was not what they said it was."
"Yes, but unless you're prepared to show credentials, they'll never believe you, no matter how many times you tell them or how hard you insist. Maybe we should stay away from my world. I get cocky and stupid and you know odd things."
"We will just have to think before we act."
They stood a while at a rail overlooking the display where Santa and his elves had been installed, watching children having their picture taken and pouring out their fondest wishes for Christmas morning to Santa while sitting on his knee. Tieran leaned on his elbows staring down at the crowd of children waiting.
Alia took one of his hands clasped in front of him and he looked at her.
"I just noticed – you don't wear rings. Why?"
Tieran shrugged and held his hands, fingers spread, out in front of them. "I never thought about it."
"I expected something, I don't know, a signet ring maybe."
"You do not wear them either," he pointed out.
"I used to. I go through spells. Jewelry, no jewelry. Makeup, no makeup."
"Do you still have it?"
"The jewelry? Some of it. It was mostly cheap, trendy costume jewelry that went out of style, so I got rid of it."
"You should show it to me sometime." He turned and leaned back against the rail.
"Why?"
"So I will know what to get you for Christmas, of course," he said, half teasing, as he tapped her on the nose. "How much time do we have before the movie?"
"No watch either?"
"What time would I set it for?"
"True. We've got less than an hour. What do you want to do now? There's another jewelry store at the other end of the mall that we could terrorize or we could look at other stores."
"I would be interested in seeing more of the jewelry, if you do not mind?"
"No, I don't mind and I'll behave if you will."
At this store they were approached by a salesman and Tieran took full advantage of his offer of help, asking questions about how they made the jewelry, what it was made of, and the differences between the styles. Occasionally he would ask Alia her opinion about a particular style.
"Well, I think that one went much better," Alia said as they walked to the theater. "Though it's a shame for that salesman to spend all that time with us without us buying anything. I'm sure he was disappointed. You know, if for some reason you decided to stay here, I'll bet you could make a living making jewelry and selling it to boutiques and stores like that. Some of the designers who do that charge a lot of money for those pieces."
"Perhaps. But why would I need to stay here?"
"I don't know. It was just a thought. In case it ever happened, you know?"
