Thy Bog Overfloweth
Chapter Eleven
Jareth, despite being entombed in the tiny guest bedroom with Faolan, was daintily transferring the Draken's Maple into a crystal dome. The planter and the bonsai-cut tree gleamed brightly in the dome, and Jareth frosted the glass before adding dainty scrollwork in a soft blue and the silver. Satisfied with a job well done, the King sat back on his haunches to admire his work. He nodded before summoning a crystal, roughly the size of a baseball, and popping it with one finger.
The wood-drake that had been sleeping within the crystal opened one eye and glared at Jareth for waking it. Though he tried to maneuver the drake into the frosted crystal quickly, the tiny drake turned her head and sunk her fangs into the leather of his gloves and the fleshy palm beneath it.
He had to bite back a curse, knowing that Toby was an impressionable youth and that Sarah would have his hide if the little mortal child started swearing in Goblin.
"Stupid little--"
"Jareth! Mom says to tell you breakfast is ready!" Toby's voice was slightly muffled, which he made up for by pounding on the door. Jareth sighed.
"I'll be out in a minute, Toby," the Goblin King called, and then turned back to his task. Toby, relentless, stopped pounding but kept talking (i.e., half yelling).
"Mom says that if you don't come down soon, she'll give Sarah your waffles. Which would suck, 'cause Mom makes the best blueberry waffles in the world. And she says that you'd better take Faolan out for a walk soon, 'cause she won't clean up any of Faolan's messes. Can I come when you go out walking? I can keep up, honest!"
After (once again) prying the drake off his hand, he shoved the little beast through the crystal dome and turned to open the door.
"Even if you couldn't keep up, Faolan could probably carry you," Jareth told Toby. "So yes, you may join us."
Toby beamed. "Cool! I'll go tell Mom, she wants us to go right after breakfast. I know a really cool dog park we can walk to. It'll be fun!" And with that, Toby scampered downstairs to inhale his waffles and get dressed to go for a walk.
Jareth ambled down at a much more leisurely pace, stealing a glance at the clock on the microwave as he sat at the kitchen table. Ten thirty... Apparently, the Williams family broke their fast late on Saturdays.
"Morning, Jareth," Sarah greeted from across the table. She was immersed in a book already, absently spearing pieces of waffles as she read.
"What's that?" Jareth asked, interested. Sarah glanced up at him.
"A book. Duh."
He made a face at her. "You know what I mean. Is it any good?"
"Yeah."
"So what's it called?"
"Good Omens."
"May I see it?"
"After I'm done reading it, sure." Jareth rolled his eyes at this and reached across the table to pluck the book from Sarah's grasp.
"Hey! Give that back!" She rushed around the table to retrieve her book, but Jareth leaned away from her and started reading the first page. Sarah leaned over Jareth and his chair, trying to snatch her book back. He artfully twitched the book just out of reach whenever Sarah came close to grabbing it, toying with the book even as he read the first chapter.
Karen laughed quietly, called to her husband, and ran to get the digital camera from its shelf in the closet. When she got back to the kitchen, Mr. Williams was snickering in the doorway and Sarah was leaning so far over Jareth's chair that she looked about to fall over. Jareth seemed oblivious, book held an arm's length and reading it casually, as if Sarah wasn't nearly falling into his lap trying to reclaim her book. Mr. Williams watched Karen snap several pictures of the two before Karen passed the camera to him. He walked around the kitchen table, moving from a side shot of the two young people sitting (well, one sitting and the other leaning) at the table beside the window to a frontal view, allowing a much better look at Sarah's disgruntled look and putting Jareth in profile instead of capturing the back of his head.
Mr. Williams also had the privilege of photographing the exact moment when Sarah finally fell, which threw Jareth off balance and both of them were sent sprawling as the chair tipped backwards. The next two pictures were of Sarah and Jareth--unfazed by this change of setting-- resumed their struggle over the possession of the book.
The last picture was of Sarah, sitting cross-legged and victorious atop Jareth, looking over at Toby, who at some point during the battle had walked in and started laughing hysterically, and Faolan, who was quite pleased to give Jareth a tongue bath whilst the Fae man was captive.
Sly grins from Karen to Mr. Williams communicated a shared idea: blackmail material.
After Jareth recovered from the humiliation of the Incident (as he would forever after refer to it), he grabbed Faolan's leash and herded Toby out the door. The two were barely halfway down the street when the Goblins started showing up, the larger ones walking beside their King while several of the smaller ones sat astride Faolan. Toby was talking with them and snickering occasionally, leading the Fae King and wolf a block past Sarah's park to the dog run. The Goblins (there had to be almost twenty of them by now) scrambled over the fence to race through the wide meadow of the run, and Faolan pulled ahead impatiently as Toby fumbled with the latch on the fence.
Faolan chased the Goblins, and Toby chased Faolan, and Jareth watched, grinning. It was like this for a while, chaotic but relatively peaceful.
And then the other dogs showed up.
The Goblins scampered up into trees on the far side of the park while Toby and Jareth greeted the dogs' owners, and Faolan curiously inspected the dogs. They were wary in approaching him, but the wolf did nothing to discourage their ascent, and before long the canines were happily romping about. The Goblins, from their perches in the trees, decided to join in on the fun. This was what sparked the Dogs' War, which would be sung forever after in praise of Faolan, Jareth, and Toby, who protected the Goblins.
For you see, mortal dogs don't like Goblins. At all. The earthling canines were willing to accept Faolan only because Faolan was much bigger than most of them, with big, sharp, pointy teeth. The Goblins were approximately the same size as the medium-sized mortal dog, and despite having sharp teeth, the Goblins weren't likely to rip the dogs limb from limb.
The Goblins, swarming down to play with Faolan and his new friends, were met with hackles and bared teeth. The dogs, as a unit, went crazy, seeming (to their owners) to be chasing nothing and snarling as they did so. Faolan came to the rescue first, snapping up Goblins and carrying them to the fences, where they could climb over. Jareth and Toby started running interference for Faolan, keeping the mortal dogs, keeping them away from the fence and from the Goblins Faolan had yet to rescue. In the process, both Toby and Jareth received several bruises and Toby tripped once, earning him a rather nasty scrape.
The dogs' owners raced after their crazed canines, attempting to control them. The Goblins weren't helping much-- there were only twenty or so, but the panicked Undergrounders eluded Faolan as much as they eluded the dogs. The entire scene lasted maybe three-quarters of an hour, and then another thirty minutes of the dogs' owners apologizing profusely. Jareth assured the mortals that it was only a minor setback before calling to Toby and Faolan to journey back to the Williams house. Jareth made sure to toss a crystal at Toby while the group was out of sight to heal the bruises and the scrape; Toby didn't even notice, as he was far too busy conversing with the Goblins.
Sarah was curled up on the couch, reading, when the boys returned. Her father was goodness-knows-where, and Karen was puttering about in the kitchen. So the girl had allowed herself to become immersed in the book, losing contact with the world around her to partake in the world written into the tome. It was a form of meditation and a method of relaxation... and a weakness, as proven by Toby and Faolan when they raced up to the couch to pounce upon the reading Sarah.
She was so startled that she nearly fell off the couch, much to Jareth's amusement; the only thing keeping her on the couch was the hundred-ten and some-odd pounds of Fae wolf pinning her to the couch and the rambunctious seven-year-old climbing all over his sister and regaling her with tales of his latest Goblin adventure. Sarah's shock multiplied when her father appeared out of what she would later swear to be thin air and took more pictures, announcing to Karen that he'd captured another "Kodak moment".
After thoroughly exhausting herself by chasing after her father to destroy the photonegatives (both of the latest pictures and the negatives for that morning (unsuccessfully)), chasing Jareth when he stole her book 'again' (and only getting it back when he tripped over a Goblin, who winked at Sarah before disappearing), chasing Toby for taking Jareth's side during the book battle (the traitorous snot), and chasing Faolan to retrieve her favorite pair of sock (stupid pup), Sarah crashed in her room and locked the door to ensure no one would disturb her nap.
Their plan flawlessly executed, the other Williams (and Jareth, and Faolan) gathered 'round the kitchen table to finish plotting.
"So, Karen, you'll be taking Sarah out at noon, right? That gives her about... half an hour to rest. Toby, Jareth, and I will bake the brownie cake and wrap presents. Any questions?"
Faolan whined, placing one paw on the table with a look that clearly said, what about me?
Mr. Williams thought for a moment. "You can act as the lookout-- make sure Sarah doesn't leave her room until Karen goes to get her, keep an eye open once they leave so we know when they'll be getting back, etc. Got it? Good. Battle stations, everyone! Ouch, Karen, I was joking..."
After Karen herded a very confused Sarah out of the house, the boys sprang into action. Toby pulled out the brownie mix; Mr. Williams turned on the oven and left it to preheat; and Jareth pulled out mixing bowls, measuring cups, and a glass pan. They worked efficiently, if you can call arguing over the directions on the box for fifteen minutes "efficient"; but in the end the brownie mix was made, stirred, poured, and in the oven. Forty minutes were set on the timer, and Toby crawled up the ladder to the attic and carried down the wrapping paper.
Wrapping presents in the Williams household was like an Olympic event. There had to be maximum coverage, minimum use of scissors, and maximum use of tape; Sarah in particular was known for wrapping presents in nothing but colored tape. Each wrapper had a different paper to use, as Mr. Williams had several bad incidents with gift tags as a child and refused to buy them.
Toby's paper was gold, with random Jane Austen quotes decorating the paper in silver ink. He had a small pile of gifts to wrap, and was working on them diligently, using oodles of tape on every gift.
Mr. Williams had only two gifts to wrap, and his paper of choice was a deep burgundy. He worked quickly, the rhythm falling into place and the work accomplished long before the other two.
Jareth carefully wrapped the box in midnight blue paper, smoothing tape carefully over every crease. He normally would have considered it ludicrous to use so much tape, but it was like a game to see who could wrap presents the "best".
Faolan had a gift for Sarah, too. He'd found it outside while walking with Jareth, and the wolf had carried it to the dorm, and then carried it to the house. Lacking the opposable thumbs, the wolf didn't wrap his gift, but kept it safely tucked under one paw as he watched the street outside the window, an avid sentinel.
Karen walked leisurely along the streets, and listened to Sarah guess where they were going. After Sarah finally asked, "The moon?", the step-mother broke her silence by snorting before breaking into laughter. The two women continued laughing and joking, and Sarah didn't even realize that she'd been steered into the park until Chame called in greeting and waved. Sarah almost had a heart attack, but the Fae Queen jogged over, dressed in human clothing and acting suspiciously like someone off a soap opera.
On anyone else, the Queen's outfit would have been ridiculous. Hell, the outfit couldn't even be 'called' an outfit on anyone else. But Chame somehow managed to coordinate a dressy green button-up shirt and black drawstring sweatpants.
And mismatched sneakers.
The boys were arguing over, of all things, frosting colors. They'd agreed on the chocolate base frosting, but for the actual decorations and letters, each wanted to use a different color. Toby liked the red, Jareth said to use green, and Mr. Williams voted for blue.
It was a sticky situation, but eventually the three of opposable thumbs decided to alternate colors (and decorators) with every other word. Which was why the HAPPY Twenty First BIRTH Day, Sarah! was a little crooked. But the brownies smelled good, and the job got done, eventually.
The taxi ride to... wherever was nearly unbearable to Sarah, who was a being founded first and foremost on curiosity. This tended to get her into all sorts of troubles, like the half-hour car ride in which no one would answer any of her questions-- Chame just smiled mischievously and Karen shrugged with a grin whenever she asked.
"Are we nearly there?" Sarah whined in an obvious imitation of Toby.
"Five more minutes, I should think," Chame snickered. "You'll love it, Sarah. Trust me."
"Now that you mention it..." Sarah drawled. Karen rolled her eyes at the two but couldn't keep herself from grinning wryly.
More time passed-- mostly Sarah asking endless questions in hopes of getting some sort of clue about their destination-- before the taxi slowed to a stop and Chame announced, "We're here!"
There was only one thing left to do. Well, two things, really, but only one of them actually counted. That would be setting up the decorations in the dining room. Since the decorations consisted of a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner and a funky tie-dye table cloth, the rest of the day was spent doing the second of the two things: waiting.
It was absolutely amazing and Sarah loved it. It was a crafts festival, and the each booth held treasures, and the colors were astonishingly vivid, and the low murmur of people talking was soothing, and the artists themselves greeted people at the booths, and scattered amongst the human's booths were Goblins and Dryads and Elves and one old Fae lady, and...
Karen was inspecting a bag at a booth two rows over when Chame was finally able to speak to Sarah.
"I take it you like the surprise?" The Fae woman asked.
"It's so cool! The artists' works are so beautiful, and I wish I knew how to make something even half as pretty as the stuff being sold here," Sarah sighed. "It must take a lot of practice, but the end results..."
Chame nodded. "Yes, the artists here take a lot of time to craft their wares. These places are one of the few where Undergrounders and Abovegrounders can mingle freely-- even if someone from Under forgets their glamour for a moment or so, people think that they're advertising a costume booth, or models for the painters. This one," Chame waved her hand encompassing, "started nearly thirty years ago, and meets once a month. Truly a Goblin's Market, is it not?"
Sarah watched a Goblin potter work at his wheel and grinned. "It is, and it's magic in every way. I'll keep Karen from buying any fruits, though; just to be on the safe side."
Chame laughed, and the two women glided on to comb through the booths for treasure.
It had to be about four thirty when Faolan barked. The deep, sharp sound startled all the others in the house, but the boys raced to the window to peer out at the taxi that had pulled up in the driveway.
Sarah stepped out first, Jareth noted, then Karen, and then... his mother? Well, she did say that she'd take care of it, Jareth grumbled to himself. The women thanked the taxi driver, and Chame paid him (much to Karen's protest) before the three turned to look at the window... And laughed.
Picture this, if you will: coming home from the coolest marketplace ever to see four heads looking out the front window: a wolf and a little boy and a father and a King, all of them wearing the silliest grin that said welcome home, we've been waiting!
If the glare from the windows wouldn't have ruined it, Sarah would have been snapping pictures, another Kodak moment.
The women stepped inside, and Chame started a tactful retreat until Mr. Williams and Toby ushered her in and closed the door. "You're Sarah's friend," they told her, "You're always welcome here!"
They had an early dinner, eating authentic Ramen ordered from the Japanese place two blocks to the south (Jareth was relieved to find his mother was just as bad with chopsticks as he) and then bringing out the brownies. It was odd, seeing candles stuck into a pan of brownies instead of into a cake, but Sarah loved the decorations. Karen and Chame tried to guess who wrote what, and Sarah snickered before telling them a clue: the words writ with the worst handwriting were written by Jareth, not Toby. Jareth had, predictably, sulked; at least until Sarah blew out the candles and made a wish.
He captured the wish with a crystal beneath the table, breaking one of Sarah's rules, and vanished it to the guest room to hear later.
The brownie was cut up-- Sarah insisted upon having a piece with her name on it-- and while the others partook in the double-chocolate-fudge-chunk-y goodness of the brownies, Toby retrieved the carefully wrapped presents and practically shoved them at Sarah.
"Open the gold ones first!" Toby demanded, and Sarah grinned before obliging. The first gift from Toby was a puzzle that depicted a jungle scene featuring a great, tawny leopard; five-thousand pieces ("'cause anything less you finish in ten minutes!"). The second was a Rubiks Cube ("So you can stop stealin' mine and work on it at your dorm," Toby added helpfully); the last was a jewelry box that Mr. Williams had helped Toby but together and stain in the garage. Mr. Williams had even used the router to engrave Sarah Williams in a fancy cursive.
Mr. Williams subtly pushed his two at her next (Karen and Chame rolled their eyes). One was a book; the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe-- Sarah started to open it, but Jareth stole it first to read the synopsis. When Sarah looked to her father for help, he shook his head and told her to read it after she opened her presents. The other burgundy parcel revealed a whittling knife, and Mr. Williams told her about the soft woods she could use as starters while carving. He'd also told her "under no circumstances are you to use that on a person, young lady!" Sarah reassured him that she wouldn't, but Jareth eyed her nervously and made an offhanded comment about how using a knife on people dulls the blade. Just in case.
Karen handed her a small bag, and Sarah rooted through it to find a pair of ear-rings, silver hoops with little copper books dangling from them. Sarah had immediately taken out one ear-ring to wear the hoop. Karen had sighed at this. "You're supposed to wear a pair of ear-rings, Sarah," she chided lightly.
Faolan demanded to be next. He'd been sitting under the table (barely fitting beneath it and only managing to do so by slouching) with his head in Sarah's lap; now he reached for his gift, safely beneath his paw, and forced himself out from between Jareth and Toby to trot over to Sarah. He placed his gift on the table before her, and Sarah hugged him fiercely. "It's beautiful," she told the wolf, and he chuffed happily. It was a feather, iridescent gold and blue, probably only a finger's length, delicate and shimmery. They passed the feather around, and each tried to guess what type of bird the feather came from (Toby guessed a malamute. It took nearly ten minutes to convince him that malamutes weren't birds, and he was thinking of a mallard duck).
Jareth, impatient, slid the blue gift to Sarah (she had the most difficulty unwrapping his, and Mr. Williams and Toby drooped slightly with defeat). The box was taped up, too, and Sarah had to resort to using her new knife to open the box. Inside was a hooded sweatshirt, looking to be made of silvery-green silk but when she tried it on, the thin material was very warm and felt surprisingly durable. The shade was very familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on where she'd seen that shade before...
Chame stayed with the group for another two hours, and then the family (which now seemed to include Jareth and Faolan) settled on the couch in the living room to watch Van Helsing. Toby fell asleep before the movie was done, and Jareth and Sarah argued about Van Helsing's werewolf form-- "He would have been cooler with a tail," Sarah said; "Yes, but that wouldn't have been correct-- werewolves don't have tails in their half-form..." Jareth retorted. "How the hell would you know?" She was incredulous, but when Jareth explained about the pack that lived in the deeper woods of the Fiery Forest, she nodded.
Jareth followed her into her room, much to Sarah's surprise. "Shouldn't you be headed for the guest room?"
"Yes, but I imagine you have some questions about the sweatshirt and I have another gift for you." He was counting on her curiosity to kick in; it did so with a vengeance as she started questioning him immediately.
"What is this material? Is it always this comfortable? Is it magic? Where did you get it? It--"
"It's the silk from the dream web, Sarah; it will always be comfortable to you and to whomever you lend it to. If it gets stolen, it will return to you almost immediately. Yes, it's magic; it's woven dreams. I "got" it by taking the web to Weaver's and having her spin and tailor it for you. And yes, it still has the properties of a dream web's cloak. Do you want your other present now?"
"What is it?"
"If I told you, it would ruin the whole "wrapping gifts" thing, Sarah. Do you want to open it now, or in the morning?"
"If I wait, I won't be able to sleep," Sarah murmured. "Alright, I'll bite. May I open it now?" He didn't miss the irony of her words, but summoned the frosted crystal from his room. It lay on the desk, waiting for her to open it.
"It's so pretty, but... How do I open it?" Jareth grinned.
"You'll have to figure that out yourself, won't you? I'm going on to bed. Good night, Sarah."
"'Night, Jareth. And thanks; you really didn't have to get me anything, you know..." Sarah trailed off at the Look he gave her.
"You're not off the hook about not telling me," Jareth said sternly. "We'll discuss it later. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he disappeared to his room, opening the door to let Faolan enter.
Sarah reached out to touch the crystal and gasped when it popped. Inside was a small tree, with ash-grey bark and red-purple leaves; it was a "weeping" tree, she could tell from the way the branches drooped gracefully to form a curtain of leaves. She gasped again when something stirred in the tree's branches-- a lion-like head rustled its way out of the leaves to peer up at her with the same surprised curiosity Sarah felt peering down at it. The head disappeared to lead a slithering wyvern's body out of the knot it had tied itself in around the tree's trunk. It floated elegantly off the planter's edge and into the air, stopping at eye-level with Sarah but dipping slightly up and down to stay afloat. It-- no, she, Sarah corrected herself-- seemed to swim through the air, the long body twisting and curving to maintain its position.
Sarah held out her hand, palm up, giving the wyvern a place to perch. It landed with the same ease it had utilized flying, and Sarah slowly sank onto her bed, still staring at the creature wrapping itself around her hand, her fingers, her wrist. It watched her for a moment more and then-- just as slowly as Sarah had sat-- she reached over, nuzzled the pad of Sarah's thumb, and nipped her in greeting.
Sarah grinned, and stroked the wyvern's mane, tracing the line of fur down the wyvern's spine. The little wyvern used its two legs to push Sarah's finger to an itchy spot on her tail, and Sarah's grin widened.
"Welcome home, little one," Sarah whispered. The two were too busy playing, and later, sleeping, for Sarah to notice that Jareth stole her book again.
Oro: This is late, and I'm sorry, but I had things come up-- like tearing the tile off the bathroom downstairs. And then Dad fell and brought down half the wall with him... But it's a long chapter! And we have a new (as of yet unnamed) character-- becuase, honestly, I'm not cruel enough to let Sarah try and cope with the boys without an ally.
Sarah: Thanks, I'm sure I'll need her and the knife...
Jareth: Your father said not to use that knofe on people!
Quill: Yes, and you're rather nervous about that, aren't you?
Oro: Ahem! Anyway, I have an idea for the little drake's name, but I am open to suggestions. If I don't get names, I'll name her after one of my many cousins. Also, for the parts above that seem choppy-- these events are occuring at the same time. If I could have formatted it, they would be written in columns, side by side. It's like in A Midsummer's Nigh Dream, when you had the stories all happening at once.
Disclaimer: I characters do Labyrinth own its or not. ((Put me in order! The author's brains are scrambled!))