Sarah ignored the way both Puck and Jareth were looking at her. She just waited impatiently for Jareth to conjure a crystal, one that would take them back to that tiny little town where Puck had built his home and following. She barely contained her sigh, thoughts of her family, the family she hadn't seen since her brother had died. In fact, she could feel an insistent tugging at her, a tugging she hadn't felt since well, her brother died. The day she re-met her niece and her brothers. She didn't think she'd made a very good impression on them.
She wanted to rest; yet she knew she couldn't. Not if her family was summoning her with their need. It had been many years since she had seen them. At least two and a half decades since last she had unobtrusively stopped to look in on her great-great-grand nieces and nephews. Now… By now there would be at least two more generations added to her family.
She could feel her bond-mates stalking closer to her, along with the men's wary gazes upon her as they did so. They were still afraid of her newly found bond-mates, she couldn't blame them, and they were terrifying in not just the Aboveground but the Underground as well. Even though they were now the size of housecats and twined about her legs, they were terrified, they knew it wouldn't take much to provoke her and in doing so set Fable and Zephyr after them.
"Sarah..?" Jareth ventured cautiously, seeing that something was distressing her. She just looked at him wordlessly, waiting for him to conjure his crystal. She would have to let him recover before she would be able to make her way to her family, despite the insistent tugging at her psyche.
"Just take us back to Puck's. Then you will rest before I go to Toby's family. They have need of me, the goblins have been watching over them. If I am being summoned, then it is truly dire. The last time I was truly summoned was when Toby died. I try…" She paused before she continued, "I try to stay away from them. The more exposure to me or anyone who is not fae has… Well they begin to morph; I change them with my mere presence. Hell, my niece married a fae, one of your siblings because I met her and made a prophecy!" Jareth looked at her, what was there he could say? Nothing. Words at the moment were useless, so he took control of his fear, ignoring her bond-mates, and wrapped her in his arms. Despite the pain from the shackles that had held him, despite the exhaustion that dogged his every step, he would offer this to her. His love and comfort, what she would take of it at the very least.
After only a few moments, Sarah pulled away, while Jareth looked a little forlorn. She hadn't spent near enough time in his arms in his eyes; he suspected that there was more to her story. He honestly hadn't kept up with how long it had been in the mortal world, it also hadn't helped that he'd been prisoner for… Quite a long time actually. He'd stopped waiting for the cavalry to come and rescue him. It had been that long.
Without warning, he rolled a crystal to his fingertips, letting it rest there for a moment before he threw it at the ground. It exploded in a wave of light, and when they next opened their eyes, they stood on the landing of Pucks estate. It was then Jareth collapsed, letting himself fall against the railing to slow his descent to the floor. Looking up at the two still standing, he gave them a wan smile before the darkness took him. Neither were truly reassured however.
While Puck went to find his healer, she sat next to Jareth, holding onto one of his hands, letting him borrow some of her strength to begin to heal himself. She knew that he would need the healer to mend the wounds from the shackles, those had been iron and not even his healing ability would be able to help him there.
Yet, in letting him borrow her strength, he would heal that little bit faster. Those wounds caused by instruments other than iron would heal within hours instead of the weeks it would take for the wounds on his wrists. She frowned as she watched him, his color was slowly getting better, yet… She knew he was probably dehydrated and starved. These were things the healer would need to care for, there was nothing she could do other than hold his hand.
She had to leave soon though. As soon as Puck came back with the healer, her family bond was pulling at her so hard it almost hurt. She wasn't exactly comfortable leaving him all alone with Puck knowing their history, but what was she to do? Her family needed her, and she'd promised she'd always come when they needed her. Sarah's indecision pained her almost as much as the bond was currently doing.
Hearing footsteps, she looked up to see Puck and a woman about her height walking up the stairs to the landing where Jareth's crystal had taken them. "I am Healer Mariah. I have always seen to the King. So if you would move on now," The healer shooed at Sarah as if she was just a common girl. Sarah could feel her bond-mates anger even as she knew it echoed hers, reflecting it making it all the more powerful.
Sarah let go of Jareth's hand as she stood, her anger causing the floor to ripple with ice. Without a thought, she held her hands to either side as Fable and Zephyr came to her, nuzzling her hands as they did so. She watched the healer's eyes widen, she had heard rumors… There was a prophecy of a girl and two bond-mates, yet was this she? If so, who was she? What was her relationship to the King?
"I am Sarah, runner and champion of the Labyrinth, soon to be Queen of the Labyrinth. You dare speak to me as if I am nothing?" Sarah hissed, as Fable and Zephyr eyed the other woman hunger in their eyes.
"You would taste good," Zephyr murmured in her grating cat voice, watching the healer squirm as she realized the two Ngwa were sentient, speaking creatures. Not all from the Underground was.
"Zephyr, don't tease her so… Besides you know if I were to kill her, you wouldn't want her… She'd be frozen and no good to my darling bond-mates…" Sarah's cruelty had come to the forefront once more. The healer deserved it.
"You are…" Healer Mariah's eyes were huge and liquid as she spoke, stuttering only slightly as she realized exactly who Sarah was. Not to mention Sarah's bond-mates threats… None of them could have been serious, right? "You're… The one who will be his wife, the one who ran the Labyrinth and won the baby back?" Sarah just looked at her, the ice in her eyes having not melted at all, nor the ice along the floor surrounding Jareth or her.
"Attend to his wounds, I will be back as soon as I can." Seeing that Puck was about to question her, she gave him a wordless, soundless snarl, with a hint of teeth. She would not be questioned, she was needed elsewhere now that her King had been rescued.
"Do not question me Puck! I shall be back soon. I am needed elsewhere, I have sworn it, therefore it must be." Puck just nodded, there was not much he could do seeing as he was still terrified of her. Especially after what she had just done, she had leant some of her own power to Jareth, he looked far better than he had. So much so that he didn't think it would take as much time as he'd thought originally for him to be up and about wanting his Kingdom back. To be able to still frost the floor with her anger and to be able to… Banter with her bond-mates the way they had to terrify the healer… Well… She was scarily powerful.