Surprise! Hey, so it turns out I misread my calendar somehow, and I typed down the wrong date. April 24th, not 29th! My bad! Good new is, new chapter earlier than expected! Hooray!

Now the usual thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own a damn thing.

Thanks to tmwillson3, who is amazing and is so patient, giving each chapter at least two reads to catch everything. I appreciate the heck out of her. Show her love and check out her stories.


Sarah yawned in the dim lighting of her apartment above the now closed tavern two floors down. She was busy stitching up a tear that had appeared in one of her dresses earlier that night while she was serving Loupe his tenth ale.

It must have been two in the morning when they'd finally thrown the last customer out and started cleaning. Sarah had locked up after everyone had left and immediately headed upstairs to check on Toby and make sure that he was sleeping in his bed.

Once all that was settled, Sarah turned off all the lights save one lantern so that she could change into her nightgown before climbing into the inviting bed in the room next to Toby's. That's when she spotted the tear.

In the two years since coming to the Underground, Sarah had learned from the expert hands of Mira how to sew and stitch her own clothing to save money. Only recently had Sarah mastered the ability to make the stitches look subtle or even not visible.

Sarah smiled sadly to herself as she closed the last stitch. Irene would've been proud if she had lived to see this day.

With a sigh, Sarah walked the dress over to the laundry basket and dropped it in.

I miss pants, Sarah thought wryly, trying to divert her mind away from that night and Irene.

Images of blood and her father and Irene's bodies flashed before her eyes again, causing Sarah to instinctively cover her eyes as though blocking them would stop the images her mind was conjuring.

Sarah took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed.

Toby had had nightmares since that night. He didn't know what was going on, but he'd seen Sarah's fear and he'd known something awful was happening. Sarah had told him next to nothing about what had actually happened that night, but it had still struck him hard.

What he didn't know was that Sarah had wished him away or that she had defeated the Labyrinth.

But Irene had known.

Sarah lay back in her bed and remembered her time immediately after the Labyrinth. She'd stopped eating and sleeping. Sarah had felt so guilty for what she had done, having realized it was entirely her fault that she could barely cope.

Irene had tried to help Sarah as much as she could, but it hadn't been until she tried to get Sarah to read the little red book that had been her favorite book for years that she realized what was going on.

That same night, Irene made a confession to Sarah; she'd had a little sister when she was around ten years old. The girl had been five and Irene had wished away her little sister in a fit of frustration, but unlike Sarah, Irene hadn't managed to win back her little sister.

They had bonded after that, both knowing that they weren't crazy and sharing the burden of having wished away someone that they loved.

The one thing that Irene had told Sarah was that the Goblin King had never directly interfered with her progress. She had even dared to suggest that maybe the Goblin King had actually held some kind of affection for Sarah, but the younger woman had refused to hear it.

Sarah still did.

A few tears fell down Sarah's cheeks as she remembered all of these things. She had promised herself and Irene to tell Toby when he was ten.

Sarah bit back a sob. In a few days, Toby would be six years old. Two of those were years that neither of them had had parents.

Sarah quickly sat up and forced herself to climb into bed without shedding another tear. Toby couldn't wake up to hear her crying again.

Instead, Sarah lay in her bed, forcing down all her emotions and closed her eyes. Sleep was not her friend, but it found her that night easily enough.

[3]

"Sarah! Wake up!"

Sarah groaned at the feeling of hands shaking her. She knew it was Toby, she knew that it was time to get up, but she honestly just wanted to go back to sleep.

What are you, in high school again? A little voice niggled at her. Get up! Toby probably needs to go to school!

Rolling over, Sarah looked at her brother and glared lightly.

"What's up, kiddo?" Sarah asked, biting back a yawn.

"I'm hungry!" Toby complained. "And we needed to go shopping before school, remember?"

"Right, right," said Sarah, pushing back the covers to sit up. "Give me," Sarah yawned, "five minutes to get dressed, okay?"

"Fiiine," Toby whined.

Sarah rolled her eyes. He was always like this. During her senior year, Toby had been a more reliable alarm clock that the one on her bedside table. He was always up and ready to go by seven in the morning every single day. Even when he was a baby, he'd start the day by crying at the top of his lungs at exactly seven in the morning.

Reluctantly, Sarah got out of bed and went to her armoire where she selected a white cotton shirt, a brown corset, and a blue skirt for the day. She still fumbled a little with some of her corsets, but Sarah managed to get the outfit on comfortably without any visible mistakes.

Satisfied with her appearance, Sarah entered the main room where Toby was waiting for her, tugging one of his sturdy boots on.

"Sleep well?" Sarah asked the boy as she sat next to him, following suit.

"No bad dreams, I think," Toby answered, looking up at her with his bright blue eyes. "Not that I remember anyways."

"Good," Sarah smiled, ruffling his hair before moving to tie her boots.

"But you were making weird noises in your sleep," Toby said, causing Sarah's hands to freeze on the laces.

"Weird how?" Sarah asked cautiously.

"You were groaning like you were sick," said Toby.

"Huh. Yeah, that does sound weird."

There was a brief pause while Sarah pulled on her second boot and began to tie it like the first.

"Who's Jareth?" Toby asked suddenly.

Sarah was so caught off-guard by the question that she swallowed and immediately started choking on her own spit. After coughing for about a minute, Sarah turned to Toby extremely confused.

"How did you learn that name?" Sarah asked, mildly horrified.

"You said in your sleep," Toby explained, standing up. "Can we go eat now? I'm really hungry!"

"R-right, sorry," said Sarah. She immediately turned back towards her boot and finished tying it off. "Let's go get you some food."

"But who is he?" Toby asked.

Sarah hesitated. Did she dare tell him the whole truth? No. He wasn't ready for that. It would be cruel to tell him so close to his birthday.

"He-he was someone that I met when I was fifteen," said Sarah, not really looking at Toby and more focused on the door to the stairs.

"Was he your boyfriend or something?" asked Toby.

"What?! No! No, definitely not!" Sarah was mildly horrified at the suggestion.

For a split second, Sarah imagined the immaculate man becoming suddenly grumpy for no reason at all, somehow sensing that there was actually a woman in the Underground who didn't want to jump his bones at the mere sight of him.

Shaking off the thought, she grabbed Toby lightly by the scruff of his neck and dragged him towards the door lightly.

"C'mon, lets just get some food in your stomach," said Sarah. "If I'm right, we have enough for you to have an egg and an apple or tomato for breakfast."

[3]

The Diamond Elixir didn't open until nine o'clock, which gave Sarah plenty of time to cook for Toby and herself, eat, and take Toby on a few errands that she needed to run for work.

One of the downsides of living above the tavern while everyone else, including the owner, lived elsewhere, was that Sarah had to run errands like picking up shipments and orders of things, as well as accept them if they arrived at the tavern, no matter if they were opened or closed.

The perk of it was that Keagan would always give her the money to pay for whatever she needed to pick up or was delivered, and Sarah was allowed to keep whatever spare change was left. It was rarely anything extravagant, but it was usually enough for Sarah to get Toby a treat from the sweets shop or something like that.

Sarah didn't expect today to be much different.

Today, Sarah was headed down to a small market that opened every Tuesday, just outside of the Inner City, to sell fresh produce and other commodities.

It was seven-thirty now and the sun had passed the horizon about an hour before, but the market was already filled with people.

Toby loved coming to the market. The bustle of the vendors, the sounds, the smells, Sarah never really knew what about it was so appealing to him, but she was just happy that they had something that they could actually do together. Usually, the only time that they spent together were her rare days off when she'd get to sleep in and go to bed early or during dinner.

As they walked through the market, Sarah kept her eye out for what Keagan asked her to find; a man named Rhokal, a rare male nymph who sold exceptional wines and unusual liquors.

This was hardly the first time that she had met Rhokal. In fact, she had been the one to find him for Keagan in the first place, and Keagan had found that Rhokal was an invaluable asset to the tavern.

As they passed a toy vendor, Sarah allowed Toby to stop and take a look at some of the toys. There were mostly toy soldiers made of tin, but Sarah could see Toby eying a few that looked like some of the goblins that Sarah had fought in the Goblin City.

"Like what'cha see, laddie?" asked the kindly old vendor. "Most youngins around yer age tend to prefer the soldier over the goblins. May I say that'cha have some mighty fine taste thar."

"They look like fun to play with," Toby agreed, gently picking up on with a colander for a helmet. "This one looks like something mom used to use all the time."

"Ah, really?!" The old man asked, interested. "I saw a goblin wearin' one a few years back when their King came to visit our King. They snuck through, followin' 'im and one was wearing a hat just like that. Do ye know it's called?"

Toby shook his head.

"Well, maybe ye should just ask yer perty mum 'ere!" the old man gave Sarah a smile missing several teeth. "Ye wouldn't happen to know what it's called, would ye?"

Sarah gave the man a tight smile and said, "Actually, I'm his sister. Our mother passed away a few years ago."

"Oh!" the old man immediately looked taken aback. "I'm so sorry! Tell ye what, I'll give ye that toy for half price! Whatta ye say?"

"Please, Sarah?" Toby looked up at her with pleading eyes.

Sarah bit her lip in thought.

"Only if we have enough on the way to school, okay?"

Toby looked a little disappointed, but nodded.

"It was nice to meet you, sir," Sarah said.

"Best of luck, missy!"

Sarah quickly took Toby's hand and pulled the moping boy along beside her. He knew that he couldn't have every toy he wanted because their situation required a fair amount of saving on Sarah's part. She just wanted to make sure they had enough money in case they needed to run. Sarah felt guilty, but there really wasn't much that she could do.

Soon enough, Sarah spotted Rhokal and he was already smiling and waving at them.

"Good morning, Sarah," said Rhokal. "And Toby! You're always getting bigger every time I see you!"

Toby rolled his eyes, smiling a little.

"You're in an awfully good mood today," noted Sarah. "You got something good for me?"

"I have something very exciting and very rare that I think your boss is going to love," Rhokal said, leaning in as though to indicate secrecy. "A rare, golden nectar from a flower known as the Sun Flute. You can't make anything out of it, but you put one tiny drop into peach wine, and it instantly makes the drinker calm and happy. Only one drop per person per day, though, or else they may go into a state of such heightened bliss they get stupid or it becomes an extreme aphrodisiac."

"What's an aphro-de-zee-ac?" asked Toby.

Rhokal gave Sarah a look that said, "oh boy."

Sarah could only shrug in response.

"It's an adult thing used for adult activities, young man," Rhokal explained, giving Toby a light tap on the nose. "You'll understand when you're older."

Toby scrunched up his face in a displeased expression.

Rhokal chuckled.

"Here, I brought this for you, since it's your birthday in a few days," said Rhokal, reaching into a pouch on his belt. "Hold out your hands."

Toby complied and Rhokal dropped a piece of candy into the boy's hand.

"That candy will give you sweet dreams if you eat it before you sleep," Rhokal promised, giving Toby a wink. "So make sure to save it until just before bed."

Toby nodded solemnly and placed it gently into a pocket on the inside of his vest.

"Now, back to business," Rhokal said, giving his best charming smile to Sarah. It never worked on Sarah, and he knew that, but he did so anyways. "Let's say, three platinum pieces for the bottle."

"Let me see it," Sarah said.

Rhokal looked around cautiously and then pulled out a bottle about the size of a baseball.

"That's not much for three platinum," stated Sarah. "But because it's so rare, how about… thirty gold."

Keagan usually gave Sarah fifty gold total, and rarely anything over. Sarah had been so tired the night before that she didn't even bother to count the money he'd given her today. She doubted there was anything more.

"Because I like you, I'll drop it to two platinum," Rhokal offered.

"Forty gold."

"One platinum and twenty-five gold."

"Forty-five gold."

Rhokal pinched his face up a little.

"One platinum – but that's the lowest I'll go," Rhokal said. "Final offer."

Sarah covered her mouth with one hand in thought and eyed his wares slowly.

"Throw in that bottle of peach wine and we've got a deal," Sarah said, indicating the bottle she wanted.

Rhokal hesitated, but offered his hand to Sarah. "Deal."

Sarah shook Rhokal's hand with a smile and quickly pulled out the coin purse she carried in a pouch on her belt. When she opened it, Sarah's eyes bugged out a little, but she quickly covered before Rhokal caught sight of her face.

Quickly, Sarah pulled out one platinum from the purse and pressed it into Rhokal's hand as he handed her a small bag with the bottles inside.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Sarah said, taking Toby's hand again.

"Likewise," Rhokal said with a smile.

As the siblings walked away, Sarah leaned down to Toby.

"Hey, do you still want one of those goblin toys?" she whispered.

Toby looked up at her with hopeful eyes, causing Sarah to chuckle.

"I just got a special bonus," Sarah informed the little boy. "So you can pick out two of the toys, but they're your birthday present, okay?"

Toby nodded emphatically, causing Sarah to smile even wider, drawing the gaze of two young stall vendors who stared openly at her for a moment before going back to their business.

[3]


*gathers notes together* Okay! So first of all, according to my notes, next chapter will be out May 15th. Also, double checked and it looks like Jareth is finally going to show his pretty, pretty face in the next chapter! Hooray!

Anyhoo, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in the next chapter! :D