AN: You asked for more, so here is a nice long chapter! I can't wait to hear what you think about Hoggle's quest! By the way, I don't have a beta, so if you notice any mistakes, please feel free to let me know.

Sarah sat in front of her bedroom vanity, but the mirror only showed her own reflection for now. She was lost in thought, absently running a brush through her long dark hair. She was tired – it had been a long day, full of surprises – but she couldn't stop thinking about the quest.

She had arrived to talk to her Labyrinth friends breathless and happier than she ever thought she would be after an evening out with her father, baby brother, and stepmother. They had laughed over pizza and Robert had surprised everybody by suggesting they stop by a local arcade on the way home. Sarah had challenged her father to a skee-ball competition and they cheerfully ribbed each other as Karen stood smiling off to the side, holding baby Toby as he watched and clapped his hands in glee. Before too long though, he could no longer keep his baby blues open and the little family took him safely home. Sarah helped Karen quietly tuck him into his toddler bed. As they tiptoed from his room, Karen turned to smile at her stepdaughter.

"I think all that fun really wore him out, don't you?" Karen asked. "Maybe he'll sleep late tomorrow."

"I had fun too," Sarah said, shyly returning Karen's smile. "I wanted to thank for you tonight."

"You're welcome. I think we all had a good time," Karen said. Sarah hesitated for just a moment, but then impulsively hugged the older woman. Karen could only raise her eyebrows in surprise for a moment, but she quickly recovered, returning Sarah's gentle squeeze with one of her own.

"Sweet dreams, Sarah" Karen said softly as they ended their embrace. "You need some rest too." Sarah shrugged, but smiled as she crossed the hallway into her room. Sarah gently closed the door and turned out her bedroom light as Karen returned to the room she shared with Robert. But Sarah didn't go to bed. She sat quietly on the edge of her four-poster and waited until she thought her parents might be asleep. She felt a little bad about her duplicity, but she couldn't wait to talk to her Labyrinth friends, and she was so happy she wanted to tell them about it. Gingerly she opened the squeaky dresser drawer with the purple flashlight, turned it on, and wished for her friends. The mirror rippled and suddenly she could see the inside of Hoggle's cottage where her friends seemed to be having a lively discussion. She overheard Hoggle say her name just as the distorted mirror image finally resolved to show his face clearly.

"Did you call me?" she asked her friends, smiling broadly at them.

"SARAH!" All three friends joyously cried. She laughed and asked "So, what's the news?"

Then all three of them were talking so rapidly that she couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Wait, wait, slow down! One at a time!" she cried. "Sir Didymus, you go first," she decided, since the noble fox looked like he could nearly burst with the strain of trying to stay quiet. Hoggle pouted but stayed quiet.

Didymus drew himself up proudly and announced, "Sir Hoggle has chosen us to accompany him on his quest!"

"A quest!" Sarah said, astonished. "Hoggle, what's going on?"

"Well, ya see, I'm going to go on a quest to the Dwarf Kingdom. The Kingdom where my people come from," Hoggle explained. "I'm seeking , uhhh, a special lady – and I have reason to believe that she lives there," he finished, realizing that he didn't actually know how to explain the quest.

"A special lady!" Sarah exclaimed, astonished once again.

"Is she is distress?" cried Didymus.

"Lady need help?" Ludo asked.

"Have you met her before?" Sarah queried.

"Is she of great beauty, or power?" Didymus couldn't wait to ask.

"Lady hungry?" Ludo tried.

"Arrrgh!" Hoggle yelled in frustration.

Outside the window, Jareth rolled his owl eyes. He was frustrated to no end that he could hear Sarah's voice, but from the angle he was perched outside Hoggle's cottage he could not see her face in the mirror, and he did not wish to disrupt the gathering before he could discover what this harebrained plan of Hoggle's was. He would have to remember to reward the furry goblin who had thought to tell him that he had seen the fox and the rock caller heading to Hoggle's cottage that evening.

"Just lemme finish, alright?" Hoggle cried, holding out his hands in entreaty. "None of you are right anyway. Well, except Sarah. I have met her before," he said almost wistfully. "But it was a long time ago, and I barely even remember. Far as I know she's not in any distress, and she's not of any great beauty or power, just a dwarf. Like me. She might be hungry though," Hoggle pondered out loud.

Three pairs of eyes were on him, waiting for him to finish. He hesitated, and suddenly decided to take the plunge.

"The thing that makes her special is…is that she's my mother," Hoggle said.

"Your mother!" his friends all repeated in surprise. Outside on the tree branch, Jareth himself was so surprised that he nearly launched himself off the tree branch and had to fan his wings and dig his golden talons into the branch in a most unkingly manner to keep himself from losing his grip.

"Oh lord no," Jareth groaned internally.

Inside the friends were still gathered around Hoggle, still full of questions, but no one knew what to ask first. Finally Sarah spoke up.

"You don't remember your own mother?" Sarah asked softly.

"No. No I don't." Hoggle said quietly. Didymus and Ludo exchanged sad glances.

"Wait just a minute," Sarah said, a determined look appearing on her face.

Tentatively, Sarah reached her hand up to touch the mirror's cool, smooth surface. Her friends had come over to her side once before, after her victory, but she had never tried going back through herself. She gave a gentle push and felt the mirror resist slightly, like gelatin, then gasped as her hand slipped through. Carefully she crawled up onto the vanity and gingerly stepped through the mirror into Hoggle's cottage. Ludo helped her jump down. She gratefully squeezed his furry arm and took a few gentle steps toward Hoggle, who was gaping openmouthed at her sudden physical appearance in his home.

Jareth felt the moment she re-entered his kingdom like an electric shock. He could no longer resist the chance to see her and cautiously angled closer to the window so that he could watch her as she approached the dwarf.

"Everyone should get a chance to know their own mother," Sarah said softly, bending down so that she was the same height as her dwarf friend. "I will help you on your quest."

"You – you will?" Hoggle asked incredulously.

"Of course I will," Sarah said catching him in a hug. Hoggle was too surprised to resist her embrace. "Of course we will! Right, guys?" she asked, looking back at Sir Didymus and Ludo.

"How could we not!" Didymus cheered.

"Ludo quest!" Ludo called out. And then they were all celebrating the idea of a new adventure.

Outside on the tree branch Jareth was nearly apoplectic with rage. The quest was foolish and doomed to failure since none of them could even leave the Underground, but it could still be dangerous. They had no idea what they were meddling with. And having to see Sarah embrace all those beasts while he watched from the cold alone didn't help matters one bit.

Inside the cottage the group was finally calming down. "So," Sarah asked, "how do we get to the Dwarf Kingdom anyway?"

"An excellent question, my Lady, since we cannot!" Sir Didymus stated nonsensically.

"What?" Sarah asked, perplexed.

"You see, we are citizens of the Labyrinth, which is in the Underground, as you well know, my Lady!" Didymus continued. "The Underground is a vast kingdom in and of itself, of which the Goblin Kingdom is only one part. But we do not have the power to go to the other kingdoms without help, just like we would not have the power to visit the Aboveground, nor you the Underground, without this portal."

"I know how to fix that," Hoggle said somewhat smugly.

"You do?" Sarah and Didymus exclaimed, surprised.

"Yep," Hoggle said, pleased with their reaction. "Sarah just has to wish for us to be able to leave the Underground."

Outside Jareth sat up straight in horror. Unfortunately, the little scab was right. On that fateful day so many years ago he had granted Sarah certain powers, and her victory had only increased those powers. If she wished for herself and her friends to leave the Underground, the Labyrinth itself would grant her wish.

"I can do that?" Sarah asked in surprised.

Didymus felt a bit uneasy, but replied "Yes, my Lady. As the Champion, your powers should permit you to make such a request and have it granted."

Sarah felt overwhelmed. She didn't realize that her victory had done anything but win Toby back.

"But," continued Didymus, "that still would not get us to the Dwarf Kingdom. It is its own sovereign land, and we cannot just wish ourselves inside. We would just be outside the Underground in the Open Lands."

"Well, that's where the quest part comes in," Hoggle said, raising his hands in exasperation.

"I guess that's that then," Sarah said matter-of-factly. "I said I would help Hoggle, and I'm going to do it." What's said is said.

"Ludo help," Ludo agreed.

And even though Didymus still felt uneasy, there was no way he was missing out on a real quest. "And I!" he chimed in proudly.

"Well then!" Hoggle beamed. "We have a lot to discuss."

The friends continued talking for another hour, until exhaustion finally overcame the group. Sarah returned to her bedroom through the mirror as they all agreed to meet again in two weeks to discuss the plan further.

Jareth launched himself into the air just as Didymus and Ludo exited the cottage. Again, no one noticed the owl. He had much to plan as well.