Wow, I can't believe the reponse this story is getting. My thanks to Solea, Faeries Midwife, oh-you-pretty-things, notwritten, Anna McNarin and Xaviere Jade. My big thanks to Iria-Lonley for your well thought out reviews, they've been very helpful.

This chapter was written during a bout of extreme insomnia, 3 o'clock in the morning with sleep nowhere in sight, so it's a little weird, I just can't find a way to change it that I'm hapy with, so I'm sticking with me first draft, this is what sleep deprivation does to me. I apologise in advance if it is a little disjointed.

Chapter Four: Nadine.

Nadine was not an elf, she was not a goblin, she was not a fairy. Nadine was a child who had been wished away and raised by a goblin family. She worked in the castle because it was the job she was best suited for. She worked alongside fairies, elves, dwarves and goblins, many of her friends were among those creatures, yet she was very aware that she was not one of them. She was very aware that she was one of the taken, those that the Goblin King took and allowed to be raised among his people. She was also aware that there were those among Fae nobility who did not like the Taken, who were not comfortable with their loyalty to the Goblin King and the Goblin King alone. Nadine was not bothered by these opinions. She merely watched and waited, happy to do both in the service of her King.

She was surprised to return to her room that night to find another woman there. After so long alone, she had become accustomed to her own space and her initial reaction was one of anger.

"Who are you?" She demanded, the woman sat on the bed looked up at her and se could see the dried stains of tears on her cheeks.

"I'm Sarah," she replied, standing. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure where I should go or what I should do. Jar... I mean, the King, just brought me here and I'm not sure where I stand."

"Aren't you a little old to have been wished away?" Nadine asked as gently as she could. Sarah's head came up and she saw a flash of fire there that was quickly squashed.

"I wished myself away."

"Why would you do that?" It was hard to keep the scorn from her voice but somehow she managed it.

"I was going to die. I thought being here would be better. I never dreamed he would turn me into a servant." Her voice was dreamy and Nadine knew that she would be trouble.

"'Turn you into a servant'?" She questioned. "Did you really think that when he took you away he was going to let you live in the lap of luxury? That he would have you waited on hand and foot? Goddess, you're not one of those that actually believed he would marry you?" She asked incredulously. Sarah blushed a little, though she knew that the thought had only entered her head when she had been a child.

"No, I just... I don't know what I expected. I'm sorry." Nadine could see that things had been hard for this young woman. She carried pain around her like a cloak, raw and open. She put a gentle arm around her shoulder and lead her back over to the bed, sitting her down gently and holding her as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

"Tell me what happened," she requested gently and Sarah launched into the whole story, right from the beginning. Nadine listened in quiet amazement as she spoke between her sobs. When the story was over she offered some quiet advice.

"Tell this to no one, Sarah, no other must know. It would be very dangerous for you, and for them. Promise me, please?"

"I don't understand," she hiccoughed.

"Just promise me. You are not the champion of the Labyrinth, you are just another of the Taken. Do not try to understand, please just trust me."

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Sarah followed Nadine down to the kitchen the next morning for breakfast. Torel was already waiting for her and lead her away from the kitchen as soon as she had finished eating. He was silent and she decided that he must have heard her argument with Jareth the night before.

"Where are we going?" She asked apprehensively, worried that he might be taking her to see an angry Jareth. He smiled at her.

"To see Clara, she will assign you your duties." He readied himself for a tirade but none came.

"Is he really serious about this?"

"Yes, Sarah. Did you really think he would not be?" He allowed himself a small smile, completely convinced of her continued naivete towards the kings intentions. "Did you really think that his anger would dissipate after one, brief, meeting with you?" He saw her blush and hid his grin behind a hand, careful to disguise it as a cough. They walked in silence for a little longer and finally they stopped at a door that had been painted green and Torel knocked.

"Come!" A female voice called and he pushed the door open, allowing Sarah to pass before closing it behind them. Sarah stood before a desk, behind which sat a tiny, goblin, woman, her face wizened and lined. She wore a dress of blue so deep that it was almost black, with a cap of the same colour over her wispy, thin, grey hair. Her eyes were pale, but they sparkled with mirth. "Ah," she pushed herself off her chair, using a stick of gnarled wood to walk over to Sarah. "You would be the One. She whom the king curses with such heat. Your fire matches his," she walked around the young woman, looking her over as she did so, muttering all the while, "your flames are as bright as his. Your strength is a match. Does he think to tame you?" She rapped at Sarah's legs with her stick and the woman cried out in shock. "You will not be tamed, child, oh no." She laughed, a strange, watery sound and went back to her seat. Torel's face had taken on a rather fixed expression and Sarah realised that he thought she was insane. "You may think me mad, Fae Torel, but I know all that you do not." She cackled again.

"We have come for Sarah's assignments." Torel cut in, evidently uncomfortable in the presence of the small goblin.

"Yes, yes, all in good time, Torel," she waved a hand, "leave us. I will send her too you when I am finished." Torel's face took on a somewhat offended expression but the tiny goblin continued to wave her hand and he left, touching Sarah's arm in a gesture of apology. She nodded and turned back to the goblin as he closed the door.

"That one is a fool," she nodded her head towards the closed door. "Your mind is more open, child. You will need to hold on to that here, things are not what they once seemed. Two hundred and ninety nine years have taken their toll upon our king. Support him, he will need you."

"I have no intention of..."

"I did not say you had to do it openly, merely that you do not openly defy him. He needs you. He will always need you."

"And that's why he did this. That's why he made me a servant instead of putting me somewhere that he could see me."

"For your protection, for his protection, for the safety of all!" The tiny creature's face was contorted into a picture of total fury, not unlike the king's had been the night before. "Sarah, you cannot continue to take this selfish view. Jareth has given you a position that will protect you."

"Protect me from who?"

"From one whose notice you do not wish to encounter. You will be safer where he has put you. He has been truly generous, as I taught him to be. I would not have been so giving in his place. Repay him with the same generosity. Do not question him.

"I'm assigning you as a chamber maid. Vilae will show you the passages to take, you will not be seen, you will not be heard. You may go, no doubt Torel is just around the corner."

Sorry, it is a little short, but all the same... You will be seeing more of Clara and learning about her relationship with Jareth soon and I promise the little mystery will be solved soon, Sarah will find out what everyone is hiding from her. This is supposed to be a time of growth for her. I know I'm guilty of the same in "Gifts" and "Darkness" but I find it hard to believe that she would have changed overnight after spending a few hours in the Labyrinth. She will not aways be a brat, give her time. Anyway, R&R, you know I love them (but no flames, if you don't like it don't read it)

Artemis