Life with Dragons

By Fireshifter

Chapter 3:

Dreams, Schemes, and How Cats Know of These Things

Part 1

"To assume a cat's asleep is a grave mistake.

He can close his eyes and keep both his ears awake."

Aileen Fisher

"Cats are mysterious folk.

There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of."

Sir Walter Scott

"No cat out of its first fur can be deceived by appearances."

"The Last Unicorn" By Peter S. Beagle

Three Years Later

Time passed, and for a while Sarah felt sure she and Toby were safe from ever seeing the Labyrinth or the Goblin King again. However the same could not be said from her controlling step-mother. Ever since Sarah neared the age eighteen, Karen took drastic measures to ensure the possibility of Sarah marrying off well to a rich, young, and respectable man as soon as possible.

It was no secret that Sarah was unusually different from other girls in the upper class, which was not normal or at all acceptable to Karen. Although Sarah liked pretty things, wore lovely dresses from time to time, went to a couple of balls every now and then, and was exceptionally praised as a lovely dancer with a lovely voice, Sarah still acted and behaved like a poor country girl.

She insisted in helping the servants with their chores, from time to time such as the cleaning, the laundry and the cooking. Sarah's father, of course had no objections to Sarah's cooking since her meals were rather very good, Karen grudgingly agreed. What she did have a problem with was when Robert boasted about Sarah's excellent cooking to his friends and when they came to dinner! It was so embarrassing! Of course, their guests commented how quaint it was that Sarah knew how to cook, and that they wished their daughters could cook like Sarah did, it was a disgrace!

Karen could imagine what her own friends thought of them. Sarah's outlandish behavior would badly reflect on her family's respectability and stature in their social circles.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Sarah acted more like a tomboy than a proper lady. She rode like a boy on a galloping horse, practicing sword fighting and archery for crying out loud, and spent much of her time outdoors, getting all filthy. She almost looked positively wild. And the worst part was that Sarah didn't socialize with sophisticated young girls of quality breeding. She associated with servants, people of the village and even played with their urchin children. And to top it off, Toby, her own son was following her example.



-

Something needed to be done, and Karen was not going to tolerate this embarrassing display of her stepdaughter any longer. If Sarah was to honor them by having any chance of marrying a respectable and rich husband, she would have to cultivate her Sarah into a proper lady. After many long nights of persuading her husband that this was for Sarah's good as well as their family's, Robert wearily relented and promised to support Karen in her decision to push Sarah to mingle more with the upper class.

A Few Weeks Later

Cats are mysterious creatures. They have a way of knowing things—more than they let on; provided of course they let on at all of what they know. Perhaps, aside from the fact that they are curious animals by nature, it is their predatory instinct, and natural ability to hunt stealthily, that they are clever at discovering information that very few people know about.

Like all other animals, cats range in wide variety of different personalities. Some are devoted companions, others are just spoiled and pampered pets, and some could care less about humans.

But for Tux (Sarah's black and white cat), he was unique among his kind—and that was saying a lot, even if Tux himself wasn't aware of it. However, it was a rare thing indeed that cat would converse with a human as much as they would converse with their own kind. (Cats, are very particular about whom they speak outside their own, even to those who could speak their language like Sarah)

Yet ever since Tux was a kitten, Sarah and he were as close as crossed fingers, and their bond grew ever since Sarah's adventures with the Labyrinth. Tux was the only one whom Sarah had confided to that night she accidently wished her brother away, not even Tiaonna, her grandmother knew about it, since she was away that night and Sarah didn't have the heart to tell her about her shameful mistake.

-

Since that time, Tux was Sarah's confidant and her truest friend. Yet Tux did more for Sarah than just listening to her, he watched out for her. As Sarah's eighteenth birthday drew, Tux had an uncanny feeling that something was about to happen that would greatly affect Sarah. (Most cats have a strong sense of premonition) He also sensed that Karen would a have strong hand to play in it.

He soon became more on edge, when he saw a familiar barn owl watching Sarah while she slept at night he became even more so. In fact, he was there the night Sarah had wished her brother away and was confronted by the Goblin King, though he had remained hidden and had never told Sarah that he already knew when she confided to him.

After first, Tux pretended not to notice the owl the first few nights. Since the owl didn't stay longer than a few minutes, Tux pretended to be asleep while keeping a wary eye on him. However, the owl started to stay longer the next couple the nights. Finally, Tux had enough. When the owl arrived at the end of the week, Tux wasn't sleeping on the bed with Sarah, curled next to her. He was crouched nearby the window, hidden in the shadows from the owl's view. When the owl was looking at Sarah with such longing, Tux felt his blood boil and a deep growl threatened to emerge from his throat. Then, he leaped out in front of the window, claws unfurled, eyes bright with fury, as he hissed angrily at the bird of prey.

Just as Tux had hoped, the bird was completely taken off guard and leaped off his perch, screeching with alarm. Tux was sorely tempted to leap off the window sill and go after the owl higher up in the tree, but he was no fool, like some of his kind were with trees.

Unfortunately, the noise had startled Sarah out of her sleep. She hastened to the window to see what had gotten into Tux, when she noticed an all to familiar barn owl higher up in the tree, glaring down angrily at the snarling the cat, who looked ready to leap off his branch and launch at Tux from the air.

-



Sarah paled with horror, but quickly pulled herself together, and angrily motioned to the owl. "Go on, shoo! Git! Scat! Get out of here!" The owl, blinked, as if he just realized she was there, and relaxed his stance, peering at her as if he was pretending to be an innocent, ordinary barn owl.

Sarah had nothing against barn owls, but since they reminded her of Jareth she didn't trust them. Whether this owl was just an ordinary bird or not, she was creeped out. She pulled Tux away from the edge of the window, firmly latched the window shut, and pulled the curtains tightly together. For a long moment, Sarah tensely clutched the drapes, her hands white knuckled, her eyes firmly squeezed shut, her head bowed. Full of concern, Tux consolingly nuzzled against her, and after a moment, Sarah relaxed and sighed. She then picked Tux up and held him close to her chest, her face tickled by his soft fur as Tux purred deeply, knowing it gave Sarah comfort and relief.

Sarah sat on the edge of her bed holding Tux close, as she stroked his fur, scratched behind his ears and under his chin. Despite, Tux's reassuring purrs, Sarah was plagued with worry and concern, and Sarah's unease made Tux unhappy. He knew now that Sarah would be restless and on edge from here on in. How he could have been so stupid? He should never have tried to scare the owl away while Sarah was in the same room.

"Tux?" said Sarah quietly, breaking into his thoughts. "How did you know? How did you know it was him, and not just an ordinary owl?"

Tux was quiet for a long moment, wondering how much he should tell her. Even cats who did talk to humans, discreetly talked about themselves, and how they knew certain things. A part of him wanted to tell her, but even the most trustworthy and honorable human could not know about certain secrets. It was the unspoken law bound to him. Choosing his words with care, he told her what he could. "No cat out of it's fur can be deceived by appearances, especially when it involves magic, regardless of how powerful or subtle it is, unlike many, who can be easily fooled by the veiled cloak of deception. Apart from that, I can say no more on the subject."

-

Sarah was dying to know more, but she knew that it would be impossible to persuade Tux any further.

Tux sighed after a long moment of silence, and stretched. "Go to sleep Sarah. He's long gone, and won't come back tonight."

Sarah however, did not sleep well, and Tux furiously berated himself for being so thoughtless. The last thing Sarah needed was getting stressed out about some Goblin King spying on her in the middle of the night. For the past few months, ever since Sarah turned eighteen, Karen had been making Sarah's life difficult, and her clueless father, who was now so involved in his work, was no help what so ever. In fact, both parents were so caught up in their social lives that they failed to realize they had such a strained relationship with their two children. Tiaonna on the other hand, who was not related to Toby at all except indirectly through his sister, was far more of a motherly figure in his life. Thus, Toby had developed such a deep bond with Tiaonna and Sarah, that it seemed inconceivable to a young child of four years of age, that these two strangers, whom he saw only as a lord and lady of the house, who only paid a little attention to him now and than, were actually his parents.

During the past year however, shortly after Sarah turned 17, things between her parents had become more strained than ever.

At first, Sarah had been looking forward to her 17th birthday. Although she was only an elf halfling, in the land of Prydain, turning eighteen years old meant she had officially reached the coming of age. Sarah had hoped that once she had turned seventeen, Karen would stop trying to change her and cease meddling with her life and what she did. But to her great disappointment and agitation, the situation turned out to be quite opposite. Karen had finally convinced her husband that since Sarah was growing up, he should no longer indulge Sarah's wishes by letting her get involved such scandalous habits, such as learning how to wield a sword, riding wildly like a man, or acting like a common country bumpkin (as she put it).

It simply wasn't done. Karen convinced her father that Sarah had spent too much time with the wrong sort of people, that she was completely unlady-like, and should start looking for husband.



Thus Robert conceded. Sarah was forbidden to any sword-fighting or archery lessons and her horseback riding hours were greatly cut back to give her time for other things. She was forced to take lessons from tutors at home, such as proper etiquette, proper behavior, how to be a lady, and how to act in social gathering.

She was even forced to take embroidery, which was instructed by Mrs. Featherduster, an absolutely prim and proper, fifty year old lady, who wore lacey and fancy gowns. Although Sarah found embroidery to be a completely useless skill which was ridiculously stressed upon that a proper lady should know how to do. Sarah found Mrs. Featherduster's behavior quite amusing. She was utterly shocked that Sarah who had learned to do simple sewing, did not do embroidery. She was even more shocked when she learned that Sarah preferred pants to dresses, did not ride side saddle, loved walking barefoot, and knew how to sword fight among many other things. Mrs. Featherduster was true to her name, for she quivered like a feather duster, usually holding a lacey handkerchief clutched in her quivering hand.

But the most amusing part of all, was when she found out that Mrs. Featherduster was violently allergic to cats. When Tux had found this out he decide to tease Mrs. Featherduster, by coming near her who desperately tried to shoo him away without touching him. Soon, he ended up chasing her around the room, she hurriedly picked up her skirts and tried to flee from him, as if it were a merry game of chase. The scene was so funny, that Sarah had to bow her head and put a hand over her mouth to prevent her bubbling laughter as she watched the poor skittish woman trying to flee the playful kitten. Finally she literally fled the room and hastily shut the sliding doors. Lessons were done early that day, and not only did Sarah have a good laugh, but Tiaonna and Toby thought that it was extremely hilarious as well as Sarah and Tux reenacted the scene of what had happened.

Robert and Karen however, happened to come in the room shortly after. They had learned what had just happened to poor Mrs. Featherduster, who had hastily explained that she had to leave early that day. Robert had to admit he found Sarah and Tux's performance amusing as he watched the reenactment, but after a stern look from his wife, he then told Sarah that Tux was now banned from the room while she had lessons.

Since that time, Sarah was completely miserable during her lessons. Her other teachers were not as flighty as Mrs. Featherduster, and were actually quite stern and strict about Sarah taking her lessons seriously. Sarah however was completely bored. It was especially painful when she longed to be outside instead staying in a stuffy room filled with such tedious lessons, and endless rules to remember. Not only did she miss her old life style very much, she was glum that she barely had any time with Toby, Tiaonna or even Tux, who were also depressed without her too; Toby most of all. As the lesson continued to drone on, Sarah soon developed the habit of looking out the window with such longing that her tutors soon became frustrated that Sarah had obviously shown no sign of interest of taking her lesson seriously.

Finally, three weeks later, Tiaonna could stand it no longer. She confronted Robert and Karen quite unexpectedly one peaceful afternoon, who firmly insisted without any arguments that they should stop forcing Sarah taking such stupid and pointless lessons, which Sarah never really needed. Both parents were shocked by Tiaonna's sudden change in manner. Although they knew that she did not always approve of what they did as parents, she usually gave them her complaints and advice in a quiet manner. She had never interfered with their affairs.

After they recovered from their senses, however, despite the fact that they were very intimidated by the formidable and angry elf woman before them, they still insisted that Sarah needed to be cultivated in the ways of the upper class society which was expected of her at this age, and that she should join her parents in their social outings such as balls, and other fancy social gatherings. Tiaonna managed to work out a compromise. She offered to tutor Sarah herself, which at first they did not think was a good idea, until Tiaonna promised that Sarah would be much more willing to learn from her. She also promised that Sarah would go out with them from time to time, if they lighten up and started to treat Sarah as an adult by respecting and accepting the person she was, rather than treating her like a child and trying to change her ways.

Although Sarah was still unhappy that she wasn't allowed to wear pants, or take up sword fighting, she was very grateful that Tiaonna was going to be her tutor instead and that her lessons wouldn't be as long. As it turned out, Sarah actually enjoyed learning from Tiaonna. Although Sarah was naturally well behaved and polite, she was sometimes known to be a bit a forward and brusque in her opinions when she strongly disagreed with something. Tiaonna was proud that Sarah wasn't afraid to defend her beliefs or care what people thought about her if she did. However, due to Sarah's passionate and sometimes defiant nature, she sometimes got into such heated arguments that she lost her temper and caused a scene.

While Tiaonna helped Sarah to perfect her natural elvish grace, she taught her how to be calm, but impressively argue her opinion and beliefs through clever use of words, which would not only leave an impressionable mark on those with whom 

she conversed, but it would be much more acceptable. Instead emphasizing insignificant details like previous tutors, Tiaonna taught Sarah the basics about how to behave like lady.

To help make up for the activities which Tiaonna was unable to change her parents' minds about, she secretly taught Sarah elvish magic, and told her about the history of her people, much to Sarah's great delight. Apart from learning the secret ways of magic, what really intrigued Sarah was how Tiaonna's people differed from all the other elves in a unique way, they had a special connection with dragons. Sarah was completely enraptured the tales and the history of her ancestors, especially with those about dragons. When Tiaonna explained the importance of Sarah's birthmark which represented the emblem of her people, Sarah became more and more intrigued to learn more and more about dragons and wondered what it would be like to see them for herself.

She read about them in books, but it was difficult to say what was true about them and what was made-up or exaggerated since most humans rarely meet dragons up close in person, except to fight and slay them. While most were fascinated by them, they also greatly feared them, since there were many frightening tales spread about them as murderous cold-blood monsters, which Tiaonna assured Sarah was just a bunch of hogwash.

Sarah had always wondered what it would be like to actually meet and talk with a dragon, but now the desire was stronger than ever, and soon, Sarah's worries and concerns about a spying Goblin King, were replaced with night filled with dreams about dragons.

Tux however did not so easily forget the Goblin King. Ever since that night when Sarah became aware of him, Tux had keeping a sharp watchful eye out for him. But to his amazement, the barn owl did not return for several nights. Instead of feeling relief, Tux felt more and more suspicious. His sixth sense was in high alert again and stronger than the last time, soon he become restless.

Then, when Sarah's eighteenth birthday was only about a month away, Tux did see the Goblin King again… Only this time, he was in his true form, and he was talking to Sarah's parents!

Tux for his part had low opinion Karen. In fact, he disliked her more than Sarah did. Karen in his mind was no more than a bird brain who was too busy preening her feathers and caring what other bird brains of the supposedly high class society thought of her. Also, it didn't help that she treated him like a dirty dog, since she didn't approve of him sitting on her 'precious fine furniture.' His revenge was the satisfaction of watching her squirm uncomfortably when he was on her favorite coach. Since she refused to touch him like he was the plague, she made ridiculous, helpless gestures to shoo him away, which he paid no mind. The only way she could get rid of him was when she asked one the servants to remove him and got another to clean the cat hair off her cushions.

However, once Sarah turns eighteen, her youth will extend to hundreds of years since her life span would be almost as long as a true elf but chances are that it will not be quite as long.

To all faithful readers, I apologize for such a long delay. This spring semester was so incredibly that school and work took up most my time. This chapter was also very hard to work with. I apologize for any grammar, spelling mistakes, etc. I was impatient to finish this chapter, and get on to the exciting part, coming up! :)

Also, to those who are waiting for "The Underground Groundhog", that might go under hiatus for a little while, since my muse is a bit dry for that story. However, I plan to get some other fan fiction stories that I list up this summer--if I can, with a new story in mind! :)

I welcome healthy criticism, any helpful comments, etc.-- but please no flames.

P.S. Thank-you so much to all those who bothered to read me story, and double thanks to those review it. :D

As I mentioned before, I do not own anything of Labyrinth, and the inspiration came mostly from Patricia Wrede.



All these chapters were edited by Patricia Cannons whom I owe tremendous amount of thanks!