Sarah shot up from the bench, play forgotten. Jareth would be immensely angry if she was late. As she ran, the castle opened up a little door, one that Sarah had not noticed before. However, she could see the hall adjacent to the throne room through the doorway, and threw herself through it. Sarah burst into the throne room, breathing heavily. Jareth was glanced up from the writ in his hand, taking in Sarah. "Oh, hello Sarah. Caoilfhinn just sent this." Jareth stopped and adjusted his stance, taking a better look at Sarah. "Are you alright?"

This was simply incorrigible. Sarah let out an angry scoff. "The goblin you sent said it was urgent."

Letting the hand with the writ drop, Jareth shook his head. "That was not what I-"

A pop, accompanied by the light scent of spring, from without the throne room interrupted Jareth. Moments later the large double doors swung open, revealing Sarah's first glance at the Empress of the Faewilde. Caoilfhinn was exceptionally beautiful, for someone who looked about sixteen, and her fire-toned hair was drawn away to showcase long, tapered ears.

"Good Morning Uncle Jareth! I escaped with a minimal entourage." With Caoilfhinn's bright smile that accompanied those words, Liz slipped into the room. "That usually requires leaving an illusion of myself behind."

Liz was dressed somewhat similarly to Jareth, but in green tones and a tunic, which made Sarah wonder if she wore men's clothes, or if that was the feminine version of the pants fashion. However, that was apparently not a suitable question in the presence of Empress Caoilfhinn, as Jareth saw where Sarah's questioning gaze went and shook his head. The next thing Sarah knew, Caoilfhinn was embracing Jareth emphatically before retreating quickly to a safe distance. Only now did Caoilfhinn allow them to see how harried she felt. "We truly need to speak, Uncle Jareth, after our business."

Liz raised an eyebrow and began unfolding her arms, only to receive a glare from Jareth. One hug from his 'nieces' was quite enough. Caoilfhinn shook out her skirts and turned to Sarah, her eyes widening once Sarah was within focus. "Athena déan tròaire." Caoilfhinn's startled gaze returned to Jareth. If her perception was correct, this would be the end to all her opposition at court. "She-"

Jareth cut Caoilfhinn off. "Yes, I know."

Caoilfhinn's shoulders slumped. "Oh." It was going to be like that. Jareth did not want the girl to know. Still, the two would have to acknowledge it someday, and it would do Caoilfhinn good to start planning now. Caoilfhinn strode forward purposefully. "You are quite pretty, Lady Sarah." Caoilfhinn's compliment was sincere, and she stopped about a foot away from Sarah, looking over Sarah's face with an appraising eye. "What is that in your eyes?"

Sarah tilted her head, unsure as to what Caoilfhinn was referring to until she remembered that contact lenses might appear odd on someone who stood so close. "That's just lenses for" With a flick of Caoilfhinn's wrist, they disappeared, causing Sarah to squawk in horror. "I need those to see!"

Caoilfhinn stepped closer, putting her hands on either side of Sarah's eyes. She slowly came into perfect focus, even without the corrective eyewear Sarah knew she needed. It was a symptom of too many dark nights pouring over theater scripts. There was an indignant intake of breath from Jareth. "When did you learn Healing magic, Caoilfhinn?"

Caoilfhinn whirled around, suddenly angry. "Don't be like that. You are the one, after all, who taught me to be untraditional. Healing is almost as untraditional as an Empress can get, after what Mab did." Sarah blinked experimentally. That . . . was not what she had expected from her first experience with an Empress. Perhaps some curtsying and being ignored, yes. This, though? Her eyes seemed unharmed, and so Sarah watched Caoilfhinn with wonder.

Across the room, Jareth raised a placating hand at Caoilfhinn, for once the calming influence in the conversation. "I was concerned because it is highly intricate, and Eorlth had yet to inform me."

Caoilfhinn shook her head furiously. "I've been learning out of books and with Healers who I chose especially to keep this secret. No one in Court knows. If you had come since that party twenty-two years ago, you would understand why I take such measures."

Sarah's eyes widened, thinking of the circumstances that could give rise to such need. "Thank you for fixing my sight, but why would you need to know Healing?"

Caoilfhinn turned back to Sarah, using a sardonic grin that she could only have learned from Jareth. "So I can heal myself, dear, or Liz if something goes very wrong." Sarah adopted a similarly stolen expression of annoyance. She had figured that much out.

However, before Sarah could ask for details, Jareth interjected. He looked taken aback at the two females before him. "Have things truly become that bad?"

Distracted from Sarah, Caoilfhinn stalked closer to Jareth. "Yes, they have, Jareth, which is why I came in person, rather than sending another writ that you would pass on to Eorlth." The harassed tone was back in her voice, warbling it and eradicating all sense of anger. "My centennial is next month." Sarah was perplexed. How could a thing that looked and acted so young and immature be nearly a century old? If Jareth was mercurial, Caoilfhinn was only more so, but they seemed to both hold the same conspiratorial cleverness that belied all their other actions. Despite their moodiness, the two were both planning for the long term. Sarah nearly shook her head. Things had been difficult enough with one elf.

Jareth nodded at Caoilfhinn. "I suppose you are asking me to attend." The last time he had seen Caoilfhinn in such a state had been fifty-eight years ago, when her regent was allowing the houses all sorts of now-criminal concessions and subverting all of Caoilfhinn's attempts to get a decent magic tutor. The Labyrinth had been her only haven then, Jareth the only one willing to guide her magical experiments. When that had happened, Jareth had gone to Court for only the third time in his life. His vote had turned the tide, tossing the corrupt regent out on his buttocks.

Caoilfhinn sighed imploringly. "If you do not come, the Houses will see it as a slap in my face and Brilliant Moon will again control Court. I shan't be able to stop them. They already show an incredible amount of impertinence as it is. I know you detest court functions, and there will likely be at least four that week, but I beg of you, please attend them all." Caoilfhinn's eyes were wide, and Jareth knew he would not be able to refuse, even if he had not been planning to.

However, he put on his mask of indifference and shrugged. "Only as a favor to you. Now, I do believe you wished to spend some quality time with Sarah and I?" Jareth would have done anything to get the topic away from court with Sarah in the room. He was not keen on her prying into that world, as he had no interest in attending Court more often than was necessary.

With those words, Caoilfhinn's fears seemed to melt away and she was suddenly the happy Empress with a generous grin in place of her former frown. "Of course. Perhaps we could adjourn to a sitting room, Uncle Jareth? I do wish to know more about your new houseguest."

Liz poked her head into the throne room and was relieved to find Sarah sitting by herself in an armchair with an exceptionally large tome. Glancing behind her to make certain Caoilfhinn was still busy talking to one of the goblins, Liz slid into the room, carefully swishing the skirt of her lavender dress away from the door. The thing, though it was designed for Liz to fight and run in, was always a bugger with doors. "Sarah!" Lizabeth used the carrying type of whisper Sarah recognized best from using to attract someone's attention in a library before she made her way swiftly over to Sarah. "You know, it's funny that this chair is still in here. Jareth usually banishes the things within a week."

Knowing that he kept it here for her, Sarah smiled, closing her book. "What are you here for today?" She cocked her head. "In a dress? With your hair put up . . ." This was the first time Sarah had seen Liz dressed so formally, and it was oddly disconcerting, especially the dress.

Lizabeth nodded. "Yes, today is the first of Caoilfhinn's centennial celebrations. She's holding this one at the palace, and wants to make sure you're all up to speed and nicely dressed before you go." Liz shrugged her shoulders, the contrived cascade of golden curls bouncing.

Shock hit Sarah like a brick wall. "I'm going to the party? I thought that was just Jareth." This was certainly the first she had heard on the subject.

Lizabeth looked puzzled. "Of course not. Caoilfhinn needs Jareth for the political side of things, but she has also taken an interest in you, and specifically wants to debut you on her terms." Lizabeth winced as Caoilfhinn swept into the throne room, followed by the chatty little goblin that she had been conversing with in the hall. There was no doubt now that Jareth would find them unawares, whereas she might have had some warning if Jareth had encountered Caoilfhinn in the corridor.

Late to the picture, Caoilfhinn pretty much repeated Liz's words, before expounding on their projected plan, causing Sarah's eyes to glaze over. "We also brought a dress for you." Caoilfhinn indicated a package that was floating behind her. Sarah could imagine Liz refusing to carry it on the grounds she was a bodyguard, not a packhorse, and Caoilfhinn putting on a bit of drama before bespelling it. At least, that was what Sarah knew would have gone on with Jareth.

The door on the opposite side of the room slammed open halfway through Caoilfhinn's ramble on courtly behaviors, revealing an entirely unhappy Jareth. "Caoilfhinn, I do not need to be fetched. I am perfectly capable of . . ." Jareth halted suddenly, digesting the scene before him. "Why are you talking about court with Sarah?"

Caoilfhinn rolled her eyes at Jareth, scoffing. "Because no one trusts you to do so properly. You even forgot to inform her that she was coming."

Liz sighed at the two Sidhe, quirking her mouth at Sarah in sympathy. Jareth sputtered, moving forward to confront Caoilfhinn. "No she is not."

Suddenly, his attention was distracted by a slight pull at his clothing.

"…King…King, Kiiiiing…" Jareth glanced down, glaring in irritation at the little goblin that was tugging at the hem of his shirt.

"What?"

The goblin shuffled a little nervously, "We's bored, s'all…" it looked up at its ruler hopefully. It knew that it was better to be bogged than to have the King get in an argument with the Fire-lady, but the little goblin still would rather be rewarded.

"Oh? Bored, are you?" Jareth's smile was falsely sweet as he grinned toothily. The goblin nodded.

"Then have fun." He snarled irritably as he sent the goblin flying out the window, presumably toward the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Despite the current situation, Caoilfhinn found herself impressed and muttered, disgruntled, why she could not do this within her own court. However, no sooner than the hapless little goblin had fled from sight did Caoilfhinn smile sinisterly. "You cannot keep Sarah cloistered in the Labyrinth Jareth." A twitch in her forehead communicated to Jareth that she thought only bad things could come from that: namely, Sarah getting sick of Jareth and leaving the Labyrinth forever. Neither of the rulers wanted that. "Besides that, I have a separate invitation for her. In case you had forgotten, that means that she does not require your permission to attend, despite the fact she is living in your household." Caoilfhinn closed the last few steps, leaving only a few feet and the mortals between them. Uncomfortable, Sarah rose from her chair.

Jareth folded his arms, raising his nose. "You are being an unreasonable hag."

"Only because you are an inflexible prick. With Liz, you and I watching over Sarah in court, what could possibly befall her?" A little more shouting occurred before they progressed beyond words, exchanging glares. Each refused to let up, sure that they had the better plan for Sarah. Sarah realized, with a suppressed giddiness, that the nobles had dragged each other into a staring contest.

"Jareth," said an amused tenor punctuated with squealing, "I believe this belongs to you…"

Jareth refused to look away from where he was locking gazes with Empress Caoilfhinn – who equally refused to back down. Sarah, however, had no such distraction and so turned to where the voice had come from. In the entryway to the throne room, stood a male Sidhe, dressed somewhat less flamboyantly than Jareth. The new Sidhe was of a good height, with an air that distinctly reminded her of a certain Goblin King, and eyes that clearly told of a penchant for mischief. Said Sidhe was also casually swinging and tossing a little goblin rather vigorously by the scruff of its dirty tunic in long vertical sweeps. The squealing was now explained as the little terror was the furthest thing from angry or afraid. In fact, it seemed to be having the time of its life.

"Clearly, I have misplaced it," Jareth said as he casually lifted his hand, and with a little twitch of his forefinger sent the goblin flying out the nearest window and apparently into the bog if the small splash and screech of disgust was any indication. All this was done without breaking eye contact with his opponent. "Now, what do I owe this unwelcome intrusion to?"

Sarah watched the exchange with mounting interest. "As hospitable as ever, Jareth. I heard you were planning to attend a court social, and as the sole member of court who does not scorn your delightfully feathery head I decided to help with the preparations. I was afraid your wardrobe would be dreadfully out of style. It seems I was right to worry."

Sarah could see that comment just stab the Goblin King in his little peacock heart. Well, she thought, I suppose that's what you get for spending all your time with goblins for centuries.

"And you took your time about it, Lord Eorlth." Caoilfhinn scoffed, turning her baleful gaze on Eorlth, casually dismissing Jareth's glaring protests as she looked away. Eorlth simply sent her an innocent smile – and if he was an innocent then Jareth was a cherub – and replied, "We can't all be able to simply appear within the Goblin King's castle. This reminds me, interesting what you've done to the Labyrinth, Jareth. The view seems to have changed since I was last here."

Startled by that comment, Sarah blurted out, "The view? Does this mean you came through the Labyrinth?"

A look of surprise swept across Eorlth's face at Sarah's outburst. Turning, his gaze roved past Jareth and the Empress to land on the mortal who was standing a bit behind and between the two quarrelling Fae nobles, an armchair forgotten behind her. A grin crept across the Sidhe's face. Well, he thought, now isn't this a surprise.

"Jareth, my friend, this is a pleasant surprise. And here I thought you were keeping her under lock and key."

Jareth's face was quite a sight, and Sarah's irritation at the memories Eorlth's comment brought forth was squashed by amusement. Jareth's expression warred between anger – at the Empress – and utter panic that she had to assume was brought upon by the Fae's presence.

Casually, Eorlth approached Sarah with a charming smile. The smile, though Sarah knew better since this was a Fae after all, made her heart beat just a little more rapidly as the Fae it belonged to came closer.

"And you must be Sarah."

Sarah blushed, and behind her Jareth sent Eorlth a blistering scowl.

"You've heard of me?"

"Jareth speaks of you often in his letters."

"Of that, I'm sure," Sarah muttered to herself, sure that he complained about her often, raising her voice back to a conversational tone she asked Eorlth, "What did you mean by the view of the Labyrinth?"

Oh, I'm not sure that you do…. Eorlth thought, amused, not missing a single word that Sarah spoke.

"Can't all Sidhe move like Empress Caoilfhinn or the Goblin King?"

Forlorn, Eorlth shook his head, "No, I don't have the power. Instead, I must resign myself to strolling through the lovely Labyrinth." Eorlth said, willfully ignoring the deadly glares that Jareth was sending his way. If dying by malignant thoughts were possible, he would have been buried five times over today. Jareth, apparently, was not all too fond of this conversation topic.

"You had to run the Labyrinth to get here?" Sarah said, shocked. She supposed it could explain the lack of visitors.

"Run the Labyrinth?" Eorlth gave a slight laugh, "That would be highly disconcerting," at this point Jareth was clearly considering the idea if only to keep out unwanted visitors who seemed intent on interrupting his conversations, "No, there's clearly a – " Eorlth ignored the deadly vibes that were stabbing into his skull, "Oh dear, Jareth never told you? There's a path that leads straight to the castle from the entrance of the Labyrinth. Quite difficult to find really, unless you know where the wyrm lives."

Sarah gaped, "But I did ask the worm! I asked it how to get into the Labyrinth!"

Eyes smirking, Eorlth smoothly asked, "Are you sure that was the right question?"

"…You mean I spent ten hours trying to find my way to the castle…when all I had to do was ask the worm where it was?"

Cheerfully, Eorlth signed his imminent death warrant as he replied, "It seems so!"

And also signed Jareth's as Sarah turned around and angrily walked, not quite stomped because that would be terribly against court etiquette to stomp, over to Jareth. Jareth, who had been systematically categorizing how he wanted to make Eorlth suffer organized by pain scale in alphabetical order of torture methods, finally realized his peril and furiously began to think of a way to placate her.

"And that's enough!"

Only to be saved from Sarah's fury by Caoilfhinn. Again. How…humiliating.

Throughout all of this Caoilfhinn had been completely swept from beneath the spotlight. This, of course, perturbed the young empress who was not used to being anything less than at the center of attention. Despite her years, numerous when compared to a human's, Caoilfhinn was still considered a 'child' by most Sidhe, which sometimes reflected on her mental state. And, like a child whose new toy had been taken away, she was feeling somewhat petulant at being ignored by Sarah and irritated at Eorlth for sweeping the conversation away from the topic she had set, and subsequently the object of her fascination, from under her feet.

Furthermore, Jareth, being the dense blockhead that he was sometimes wont to be, seemed to be unusually unaware that Eorlth was intentionally riling him. Caoilfhinn attributed this out of character behavior to be due to Sarah's presence as the mortal seemed to have an interesting effect on Jareth's mental state. Which is why she wanted to spend time with the girl, Caoilfhinn fumed. How was she supposed to find out what it was about this girl that ensnared Jareth so if she never got to talk with her?

Unwilling to wait for Jareth to pull his head out of his arse and regain control of the situation, that Eorlth was clearly taking advantage of, Caoilfhinn finally interjected herself into the ensuing conversation when it seemed as though Eorlth was just about to offer an arm and escort Sarah off into the castle on an erstwhile tour.

"Really, I've had enough of these games. Lord Eorlth, you've monopolized her time enough. You came here for Jareth, didn't you? So kindly get him into something other than those atrocious pants while I take care of Sarah."

With that, Caoilfhinn and Sarah disappeared out the door in a flurry, leaving the throne room filled with silence. Eorlth gave a slight cough, and then said cheerily to Jareth who still stared at where Sarah had been, seemingly perpetually frozen into place.

"Well, it seems she has that in hand. Let us go, shall we?"

"Into the bog."

"Pardon?"

"I am going to throw you into the Bog. Into the Bog. With a weight on your ankle."

"Yes, yes. Of course you will."

"Into the Bog…"

A/N: Today's chapter is a bit of a long one, with a lot of buildup for later plot points. So I hope you paid attention. Today's favorite, of both Cringe's and mine, is Jealous!Jareth. 'Cause you know he's working at Sarah, little by little . . . and then Eorlth flirts with her. And yes, Jareth's pants are a favorite talking point of everyone in this story. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED I AM! We are getting to some of my favorite parts of the story soon!