Another aging water jug smashed into the wall behind the Goblin King's throne but it failed to even elicit a flinch. A piece of ceramic landed on his arm and, as if he were picking up a mouse by its tail, removed the shard from his clothing and brushed off the remnants.
The goblin hollering somewhere in the throne room was drowned out by the raging noblewoman who was scanning the room for another piece of pottery to hurl.
"Our daughter!" The woman's voice didn't even hint at hoarse, but remained firm and loud. "You're putting our daughter through that little maze of yours like she's a common brat!"
Jareth's head rested lazily on his fist as his legs draped over the side of the throne. His eyes looked sleepily at the enraged woman in front of him before they rolled over to her much more placid husband leaning in the doorway.
"If you can't control her, I'll be force to drop her into an oubliette."
The woman's scoff was silent and her posture straightened to accommodate her hands on her hips.
"How dare you!" Jareth issued a little mocking laugh that could have easily been a small cough. "This," the woman pointed out the large stone window and to the expansive labyrinth beyond, "is how you treat your future queen? Like some spoiled little tart wishing away a sibling? Hasn't she been through enough? I demand you transport her to the castle immediately and treat her like the royalty she is!"
She stood at her full height and the high collar wrapping around her head made her all the more imposing. She was determined to make sure that no one pushed her around, including her husband standing in the doorway who had learned eons ago that it was better to let her rant and rave than attempt to calm her down. He still limped when it rained because of her and his attempted intervention.
Jareth was tired of the screeching and screaming of this woman in his home, questioning his motives. Sure, they were the rulers of Fey, all that his domain failed to touch, but right now they were in the kingdom of the Goblin King and he was done taking this berating.
The noblewoman held her place as the Goblin King heaved himself from his throne and barreled at her, his steel eyes piercing her to the very floor.
"Royalty?" Jareth produced a crystal at his fingertips and held it up between their faces. "Does she look like royalty? Does she act it?"
The woman resigned to look in the crystal at her nose and the confused face of her daughter crimped her heart.
"You've thrown her from one world to another. What do you expect her to look like?" the woman growled, her teeth clenched.
Jareth sneered and in one swift motion threw the crystal at the wall. It didn't shatter as crystal would but burst into a thousand little bubbles that popped themselves away.
"You, Stala. You of all people know being queen far exceeds looking the part. I've watched her since you sent her away. She is a scared little girl that curls into herself to hide from the horribleness around her. Is that a queen to you?"
Stala tried to hide her shaking but her quivering lip gave her away.
"Hasn't she been through enough?" Her question was barely audible.
Jareth pulled himself up to his full height and peered down his nose at the noblewoman in front of him.
"She can't face the Dissenters in the state she's in. What a pity to have her destroyed now when you've tried to protect her all these years."
"Now that's enough," the quiet nobleman interjected, faltering the smirk on Jareth's face. He moved to be at his wife's side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We did what we thought was best for Maiae—"
"Then you're obligated to keep doing so, aren't you?" Jareth interrupted. "The Labyrinth will bring the fight back out of her. It'll give her the strength required of a queen."
"Or she'll lose herself even more." There were tears on the noblewoman's voice but she kept them out of her eyes.
"Then she was never meant to be queen."
Jareth turned his back on the couple and settled himself back into his throne.
"Neither of us can win the war alone, Jareth. You're well aware of that," the nobleman reminded him.
Jareth hoped he kept his falter hidden but he knew all too well that the Dissenters could only be beaten by the two kingdoms. Their destruction was inevitable without the union. He'd ruled too long to lose everything.
He looked from the face of the noblewoman, her presence as light as the sun, to her husband, who shone just as brightly despite his somber expression.
"Then we had all better hope that she doesn't fail my test then, hadn't we? She's just as dead as a weak queen as she is a lost child. Now, I think you'd better write that letter before she enters the Labyrinth. She needs some sight now because walking into my test blind is all the more detrimental."
"And what will you do?" the noblewoman asked as she took the parchment and quill proffered by the goblin at her feet.
Jareth smirked and tapped his boot with his cane. "What I always do."
xXx
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