A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than normal, but the next one should be up next week. Oh, and we find out about what Sarah saw in the Pool in this one! And just for clarification, I'm just playing with thte mythology characters, I'm not going to be encluding lots of mythology - just some of the movers and shakers.

After reading a few plays by the great playwrights throughout history, Sarah decided to call it a night and had Epona escort her back to Jar- no, her rooms. As she lay in bed that night, having given her maids the rest of the evening off, Sarah lay awake thinking about all that had happened that day.

The sheets on Jareth's bed were something softer than satin and darker than the night sky. And they held the lingering yet incredibly strong sent of him. It was akin to being wrapped in his arms – his feel covered her from head to toe, enveloping her in a sense of protection and warmth. The only thing that could make it better would be if …

She shook her head determinedly, resolved not to think about such things as a naked Goblin King pressed into her … Stop it! she ordered her mind with a glare. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about him! She was supposed to be in love with Pau-Andvari. He was her fiancé.

Her mind went back to what she had seen in the Pool and she was caught up in the memory of how different the water's recollection of her trip through the Labyrinth was from her own. The waters had shown her a Jareth so confused by unfamiliar emotions that he could do nothing but play the game as he always had. They had shown her a peach made out of yearning desire and love rather than a need to win and keep her there … A passionate man who was offering all of himself to a young woman in the midst of becoming an adult but not fully there.

A man so in love with her that he was willing to let her leave his kingdom with his heart thinking that he would never see her again.

What the waters had shown her after a different view of her first encounter with Jareth and his Labyrinth, was quite surprising and not a little disconcerting:

Jareth silently fumed in his seat in the shadows of the grand ballroom as he watched his peers twirl and laugh the night away. By all rights he should have been up among them and not sitting where he was, mourning the loss of a girl whose smile had made his subjects forget his commands … whose eyes still haunted him when he slept.

"Still angry a mortal girl beat your game, brother?" Andvari said as he sat next to his older twin. He motioned for a servant to bring him another glass of wine. "She was only a human girl, Jareth. That must sting."

Jareth's cold eyes glared at his brother who was basking in the glow of Jareth's defeat. "You didn't meet her, Andvari," he replied, "She was more than a mere human girl. There was an untapped and untrained magic in her. Fae magic."

By all rights and purposes Sarah should have felt awful, watching their private conversation like that … but the waters seemed to reassure her that their words held just as much importance to her as they did to the brothers that spoken them.

Andvari raised his eyebrows, "Naamah's half-Fae child that she left in the Aboveground? You certainly know how to choose them, brother of mine."

"I didn't choose her," Jareth hissed quietly, "And if you met her you wouldn't be so quick to point out my errors. Brother," the last word was spat with as much venom the Goblin King could muster. He smiled sinisterly, "That is, if you can get past her new entourage of magical beasts and self-appointed protectors and guardians."

Andvari laughed at that, "Is that a challenge, Jareth?" The Goblin King didn't respond so his brother just continued, "Very well, I accept. Before our three thousandth birthday I will tame the half-breed that bested you at your own game."

It was with that mocking laughter and harsh words that the Pool had gone dark, leaving Sarah gasping for breath with a horrified look on her face.

Slowly, feeling her tired limbs protest the movement after she had already laid down for the night, Sarah arose again, put on a dressing robe and walked determinedly toward the full length mirror a few strides away.

"Hoggle, I need you," she whispered quietly, hoping it would work.

"Sarah?" the dwarf asked, "What are you doin' in 'is chambers?"

"I need you, Hoggle," Sarah refused to address his question at the moment, "Can you come through?"

"Aye," Hoggle replied, "It ain't 'ard t' travel t' Ida. Hold on, missy." Soon Hoggle was through the mirror. "See?" he said, brushing himself off, "Not 'ard at all."

Tears filled Sarah's eyes to the brink and when the dwarf saw them he frowned, "What's wrong, Sarah?"

"Oh, Hoggle!" she sobbed as she hugged him with all her might. As she felt his short arms wrap around her comfortingly, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

"Now, Sarah," he said when she had gotten her emotions under control, "Why are you in Ida? I thought you was happy in the Aboveground?"

Sarah sniffled as they sat down on the settee in front of the fireplace. "I thought I was," she finally whispered. "But then … Saga came and showed me that I wasn't."

Hoggle's eyes went wide at the mention of the seer's name. In awe he whispered, "The High Seer came t' get you?"

Sarah nodded and explained to him all that had happened since she had been in the Underground last. When she was done she looked at him as if expecting his judgment on the situation and opinion on which brother she should choose.

He looked toward the fireplace, empty of all but ash as he added quietly, "This be more serious then I thought."

"What are you talking about, Hoggle?" Sarah asked, his statement sounding mighty curious to her ears.

Hoggle shook his head, "Nay, I'll not be the one tellin' you. I like me head just where it is, thanks all the same."

Sarah sighed in frustration, "Fine then. But how am I supposed to choose? I already said yes to Andvari!"

Hoggle gave her a look that reminded her of the one he had given her all those years before when he had told her she wasn't looking hard enough. "Listen to yer heart, missy. It's the only guide you'll be gettin'."

Sarah sighed again and nodded, "Okay. Thanks for listening, Hoggle."

He smiled back at her as she got under the covers, "Should you be needin' me again…"

"I'll call." After she said those words she fell into a fitful sleep that helped greatly to clear her mind.

---

Early the next morning Eluned came to wake Sarah while Enid drew her bath and Epona set out her breakfast. "Thank you," the princess sighed as she relaxed in the milky waters of the tub.

"It is our pleasure to serve," Eluned replied with a curtsy.

"Don't you ever get tired of serving?" Sarah asked after a few minutes when Enid brought her some fruit to eat as she bathed. For a few moments she had been nervous about bathing with three others in the same room, but soon those feelings subsided as the dwarves looked away while she submerged her naked body into the tub.

Epona frowned, "It is our duty. We live by serving, how could we get tired of living?"

"I get tired of living sometimes. That's partly why I called to the goblins all those years ago. I was just plain tired."

Eluned smiled and patted Sarah's hand, "I chose to serve when I was a young dwarf – as did my brother. It's not without its … perks, my lady."

"What's your brother's name?" Sarah asked as she washed her hair.

"Hoggle," Eluned replied with a small grin. "He's always been fond of you. Don't know how you did it, though."

"Did what?"

"Made him forget he was a coward."

Sarah just giggled and went about washing the rest of her body while her three handmaids did the things that needed to be done throughout the room.

As Sarah was getting dressed with the help of the surprisingly nimble fingers of Eluned and Enid, a knock sounded on the door.

"Can you get that, Epona?" Sarah asked as she stood as still as possible while the ties on the back of her crimson bodice were tied quite tightly.

"Yes, my lady," Epona said as she moved to open the door. "High Seer," she said reverently to the woman on the other side of the door. She opened it further to allow Saga access to the room inside.

"Epona," Saga said with her rich, musical voice. "I'm glad to see you've gotten over your fall from last week. Sarah, I must speak with you."

There was a tingle of something in the back of Sarah's mind as she listened to Saga talk. "What is it, Saga?" she asked, still trying to figure out what the feeling was.

"I was hoping that you would enjoy a walk today to look at the rose gardens," the Fae told her.

Ahah! Sarah finally found the source of her nagging in her mind and pulled on it: Hard.

When Jareth appeared in a shower of glitter Sarah frowned in confusion at him, "I thought you couldn't transport yourself into these rooms?"

Jareth gave her a sidelong look, "I didn't. I was pulled in. By you, I assume."

Sarah's frown intensified as she continued to think on the issue of her pulling him through the shield that made it impossible for him to transport himself in.

"Just as it seems that you have invited in Andvari, thus making the spell ineffective," Jareth commented, tilting his head to where Saga stood.

"Saga" rolled "her" eyes and waved a hand, transforming back to Andvari. He glared at Jareth menacingly without saying a word.

"Are you telling me that people can change who they look like through magic?" Sarah asked, now petrified that she wouldn't know who she was really talking to when she spoke to anyone with magic.

Jareth gave her a sympathetic look, "It requires much concentration, skill and power." He glared at his brother, "And it has been forbidden for nearly five thousand years!"

"Forbidden in name only," Andvari shot back at his brother, "It has been practiced quietly ever since it was outlawed."

"Never by a member of the royal family," a voice said coolly from the doorway. The three of them turned to find Frigg standing in the doorway, looking as majestic as her station proclaimed, and nothing like the kind old woman Sarah had met in the garden.

She stepped into the room with a mask of stone in place on her features, causing Sarah to briefly wonder if all Fae learned how to school their features in such a manner. "Andvari, forbidden means forbidden. By openly practicing the forbidden art you have opened us up to the ridicule of our enemies and potential attack." Her eyes flared in anger as she waved a hand, "Go away, you are now subject to your father's ruling." Andvari vanished without a sound, forced into submission by his mother and High Queen.

"Jareth, I believe you have duties to attend to," Frigg told her second son, effectively dismissing him. "Sarah," Frigg turned her attention to the remaining Fae in the room, "I came to ask you to join the High King and myself for the morning meal."

The woman nodded mutely and followed the High Queen out of her bedchamber soon after.

A/N: So? Don't worry, for all those wanting drama, Loki comes in soon and Andvari isn't gone for good right now. Siblings still have their rivalry.