Sarah had decided to meet Alix after work, since the club was closer to her job than her apartment. That necessitated changing clothes at work, though, and Amy was there late enough to see her touching up her makeup afterward. "Well hello," the older woman chuckled. "Who's got a hot date with his lordship, little black dress and all?"
Glancing at her own reflection, Sarah smirked. Amy's assumption was pretty understandable. The dress – which showed a little cleavage, and ended just above her knee – hugged her curves nicely. Along with her dark hair spilling freely down her back, it made a lovely contrast against her fair skin. She'd looped the key to Umardelin around a plain black velvet choker, and had just changed into ankle-strap heels. The look she was going for was something like 'corporate Goth', maybe even a little intimidating, but if you saw it through the lens of 'date night' it looked alluring. "Sorry, this isn't for Jareth. It's camouflage. I'm meeting a contact at that club down the street, Imperiale."
"Aha, undercover social worker goes Goth for the night," Amy said. "Word of advice? Wear that when you do see him next. Black really works for you."
"I'll remember that," Sarah laughed, and finished the look with deep red lipstick.
She caught a cab to the club, where the doorman – who was also fae, Sarah now realized, with pointed ears and almond eyes – recognized her on sight. "Sarah, of Umardelin?" he asked, and when she nodded he waved her inside. "Up the stairs, third floor, second door on the left. Mind your step."
The stairs were narrow and winding, but Sarah made her way up them easily. The hallways was painted a bland industrial gray, but the door she knocked on was stained wood. And when it opened, the office it revealed was nothing like what she would've expected in a club.
A large window let New York's gray light spill generously into the room, and every horizontal surface seemed to have a plant of some kind. Not just your typical office philodendrons, either. Orchids blushed from atop the small desk to her right, ficus trees in pots flanked the window, and some kind of ornamental vine trailed completely up one wall to the ceiling, where it wrapped around the light fixture. That alone would've told her that this office belonged to one of the fae, but the other furnishings were an even better clue.
Not one piece of metal was in evidence. The letter opener on the desk was bone, or maybe antler. The desk itself was antique wood, as were the cabinets against one wall.
Alix herself had opened the door, and waited while Sarah took in the room. "Come in and be welcome," she said, and smiled at Sarah's choice of wardrobe. "Love the dress."
She grinned at the compliment. "Thanks. I didn't want to look too out of place, but I can't carry off the kinds of stuff I used to wear in my Goth phase."
The fae woman nodded, waving her to one of two overstuffed leather chairs. "I appreciate your efforts to blend in, but you can wear whatever you please. Comfort is more important than fashion, when learning magic, at least."
"I'll remember that. Next time I might turn up in jeans and a t-shirt." Sarah settled herself, trying not to let any hint of nerves show. She wasn't quite sure what learning magic would entail, but the last time she'd done anything serious, it had resulted in exploding goblins.
Speaking of goblins, Sarah heard a faint scratching noise from the walls, and Alix detoured to the vent grating and opened it. "I know you're there. Come out, and be comfortable. I wouldn't have expected him to send her without guards."
Sarah was unsurprised to see Neesk squeeze himself out of the narrow opening. "Not a guard," he protested. "'M Her Queeniness' Royal Page, I am. Queensguards get armors."
Sarah cocked an eyebrow at that. "Queensguards? I wasn't aware I had a royal guard, yet."
Neesk clapped both hands over his mouth and squeaked. "Nevermin'! I didn't say nuffin' bout no queensguards! Foxy fox'll have me bogged!"
The fox had to be Sir Didymus, and if he was arranging a guard for her, Sarah couldn't complain. "Of course not. Neesk, come here, sit with me." Sarah patted the arm of her chair, and the little goblin bounced there happily.
Then she fixed her gaze on Alix. "Jareth didn't send me. I talked to him about you, but I thought I made it clear I do things of my own will, not at his command."
Alix settled into the other chair, and held up one finger in a 'wait' gesture. One of the other fae bustled in with a tea tray, and Sarah accepted a cup of some crisp and faintly sweet-smelling herbal concoction. Neesk growled, "I taste! No magic, no poison." Alix nodded, and Sarah gave him a spoonful, which he slurped fearlessly.
"You're a quick one, aren't you?" Sarah said. She hadn't thought of it, despite of all the fairy tales warning never to take food or drink when in faerie lands.
"Safe!" Neesk squeaked, and Alix's servant offered him his own cup before taking himself out silently. Only then did Sarah sip, savoring the complex flavors.
"You should know, Sarah, that I swore a very old and binding oath not to harm you, nor to allow my people to harm you," Alix said.
She managed not to snort tea at that, just rolling her eyes with a heavy sigh once she swallowed. "Damn him. He came up here, didn't he?"
"Of course he did. Sarah, he treasures you," Alix told her in mollifying tones.
It wasn't working. "Yeah, I'm gonna treasure him right into a goddamn oubliette," she muttered. "Someday he'll realize I'm not a fifteen-year-old girl blundering through a maze again. Someday."
"No, you are a fae-touched mortal woman navigating a maze that has ensnared many older and supposedly wiser than you are," Alix replied. "Your king was right to seek me out. I offered him my oath before he could ask it, because I knew he would be anxious on your behalf. With your safety assured, he was quite courteous, which was a pleasant surprise." She sipped her tea thoughtfully. "Almost charming – for a high fae, anyway."
Sarah scoffed at that. "Careful. If he heard you say that, his enormous ego would lead him to assume that you're doing all this so you can dispose of me somehow and seduce him to steal his throne." Her lip curled. "We've already got one idiot trying that shit, the last thing I need is him thinking there's another."
Alix laughed. "Sarah, Sarah. Anyone who speaks to him of you should know that no one can replace you in his eyes. He is well and truly smitten. I'd pity him, but from what I hear, he deserves it." She grinned then, conspiratorially, and added in playful tones, "Besides, if I wanted the throne of Umardelin, it's him I'd dispose of and you I'd court."
Sarah gave a shrug. "Well, I am the one the land chose, so…"
"And you are the one I'd prefer in any case," Alix said. "Fear not, I have my own love, and though she is leagues and realms away I am true to her. But enough of gossip. You came to learn magic, and hinted that you've done some of it. Tell me when it started."
Sarah quickly related everything she could remember of exploding the goblins, with Neesk providing sound effects, then stopped herself. "Actually … I think I was doing more than that, and earlier. You see, I used to visit the Labyrinth in my dreams, to see my friends there. And to see Jareth, eventually. I got to be a certain age, and I was taking psychology classes, and I decided it was an unhealthy coping mechanism. So … I blocked him out. I blocked Umardelin out." Sarah winced, remembering it. "Which was stupid, I know."
Alix paused with her cup halfway to her mouth. "No, it was human," she said quietly. "It's quite normal for humans to deny any knowledge of us and our realms. But it must have taken a great effort of will to do so, if Umardelin had welcomed you so thoroughly."
Sarah gave a shaky sigh. "Yeah, well … it was like slamming a door. And I caught a piece of myself in there, too. It wasn't until Jareth bulled his way back into my life that I truly felt whole again."
The fae woman turned her cup around thoughtfully. "You might have some fae blood in you. Such a strong connection is unusual – and when it is broken, the mortal usually doesn't survive to renew it. Fae blood might explain your affinity for magic, and how you managed to live despite severing the bond."
A shiver ran down Sarah's spine at that thought. "I don't really remember that weekend at all. Come Monday, I forced myself back into my usual routine. Eventually I quit the agency I was working for, and changed pretty much everything. New job, new apartment, new wardrobe too I think. That's when I started dating the mundane, too."
Alix nodded. "A rebirth of sorts. That's a kind of magic too, and if the old you was bound to Umardelin and shriveling up without it, you reinvent yourself into someone who can survive. It seems you've instinctively made magical choices, Sarah."
"I sure wasn't doing it on purpose," she replied ruefully.
"So. You created a magical barrier that kept out both king and kingdom, and an explosion of raw magic that dispersed the goblin horde. Anything else?"
"Jareth loves to magic clothes on and off," Sarah said, a little chagrined, but Alix only raised an eyebrow slightly. "I saw him do it, so I tried to do the same thing when I was in a hurry to get ready, and it worked."
Alix nodded, and set her tea aside. "Your magic is primarily concerned with motion, I think. And without training, you've done everything instinctively, by force of will and imagination. So we need to work on the basics: where and how to get your power; how to ground, center, and shield; and then the finger points of how to use your magic."
"You keep saying my magic," Sarah said thoughtfully. "Is mortal magic that different from fae?"
The fae woman shook her head. "Not that. Magic is personal, Sarah. Some have magic mainly concerned with sight, and can see the past or the future or the present at far distances. Some magic is oracular, it consists of knowing what should be unknowable. Some magic is about transformation, or illusion, or growth, or destruction. Most members of a particular fae race will have strengths in a certain type of magic, but everyone is unique, and everyone's magic is unique, too."
Sarah nodded. "Jareth said something about the color of magic. When he does it, there's always glitter. His eyes turn iridescent sometimes, too. When I exploded the goblins – and when he put the key around my neck – my vision went golden."
"Your power manifests in a golden sheen," Alix said. "Interesting. I would have guessed silver, as I've never seen you wear gold. But it is a color of strength, magnificence, and unsubtle power. It symbolizes purity and the sun, and often connotes royalty. A good fit, I think."
"Yeah, especially the unsubtle part," Sarah said ruefully.
Neesk, having decided they weren't going to fight, and being rather bored by technical discussions, had hopped to the back of Sarah's chair and curled up there. His quiet snores didn't bother either of them – but Sarah suspected that if there were any trouble, he'd be awake and biting in a flash.
"Subtlety is what I'll be teaching you. I can't have you running about Manhattan, blowing up streets and throwing taxis at obstreperous fae." Alix put her tea aside, and took off her ubiquitous glasses. Sarah was struck again by the eyes thus revealed, with their horizontal pupils. It should've been unsettling, and it had been at first, but she was rapidly growing accustomed to it.
"First principles, though," Alix said. "Where do we get the power to fuel our magic?"
"I guess I get it from the Labyrinth," Sarah said, feeling like the dullest student in the class.
Alix chuckled. "You can draw on your kingdom, but it's not the only source. And right now, if you tried, it'd be like trying to water your garden with a fire hose. There's way too much power there for you to use it with finesse. So when you've done magic, it came from yourself."
The fae woman settled a little more comfortably in her chair before continuing. "All life produces the energy that we can use for magic. People, animals, plants, even things you probably don't think of as being alive, like streams and storms. And music, and emotion. This club, when it's packed on a Saturday night and the music's loud and the dance floor's full and everyone is moving to the same beat – people talk about a club having energy, having a soul or a spirit. It really does, and there's enough energy there to give people the experience they're after, and still skim some off the top for ourselves. Most of my magic is fueled through here, and it's like a well that my people dip from, also.
"We never take too much. People want to leave here excited and ready for whatever their after-party is. You don't want club patrons to leave exhausted, or they'll quit coming. So on a slow night, we kick in a little power to get everything flowing, and maybe we don't take anything that night. It's like another kind of cover charge, in a way. It doesn't do any harm. That I'm very serious about. The first law of my coterie is that we do no harm to the people and land around us, unless we're defending ourselves."
"Which makes me glad I bumped into you, and not someone else," Sarah said, with genuine relief. "Although … the way you say 'coterie'. Is there some kind of formal meaning to that?"
She saw Alix hesitate, then shrug. "My people, essentially. If I had a kingdom, those who follow me would be my court. If I had a title or a demesne, they would be my retinue. Since I have neither crown nor lands nor title, they are my coterie. I make most of the decisions, I look after them, and I am responsible for their actions, to a point."
"Gotcha," Sarah said.
Alix drank off the last of her tea before continuing. "The reason I made that law our first and foremost is that there are many easier and faster ways to gain power. I mentioned that emotion can be fuel for magic. The emotions in a club like this are strong, but usually diffuse. Some people are feeling joy, some are feeling lust, some are feeling something else. As a result, the power that can be harnessed from this place is just as diffuse. In the Namibian desert, Sarah, there are fogs that roll in daily from the coast, though it almost never rains. There is a species of beetle which waits atop the dunes and allows the fog to coalesce on its body, into dew, which is how it drinks. We are like those beetles, patiently collecting what we can.
"But there are too many in this world with no patience. Your Jareth may not think to tell you this, for – to maintain the water analogy – he has never known thirst. All his life he has swum in rivers and springs, and when he visits a desert like this, he carries the waters of his kingdom with him. We are intimately acquainted with thirst here, and some will do anything to slake it."
Her tone was putting the hairs on the nape of Sarah's neck up. "Why do I have a horrible feeling you're about to start talking about blood magic?"
Alix nodded. "Not just blood. Fear is a powerful emotion. Fear, and pain, and blood, all can be used for magic. They taint what is created with them, but for many, that is a negligible concern. The magic is strong, and easy to harvest. Such is outlawed by the High King, but he is not here to enforce it, and his eye rests but lightly on human lands."
Her voice went tense and terse. "I have been on the receiving end of blood magic. It leaves a lasting impression. My coterie knows that if they practice it, I will see them slain." Those last words had the iron clang of finality to them, and though Sarah had not been able to think of Alix as intimidating before, now she saw a side of the green-haired fae that was just as ruthless as Jareth could be.
"Yeah, no interest in getting into that," Sarah said, with a shudder.
"Good. Learning magic will be slow, and frustrating. If you are ever tempted, remember that the fast and easy path always ends with someone bleeding. Which is only acceptable in the case of voluntary sacrifice, and the whole point is not to use too much of your own energy."
"I'd rather deal with the frustration and do things the right way," Sarah said. "I'm a social worker, specifically I work with children. I spend every day making sure that people don't abuse their power over those who can't fight back."
That made Alix raise her brows a little. "Truly? Well then, I need not worry so much about lecturing you on ethics, then."
"Still, I want to know everything," Sarah insisted.
"And I will teach you as much as I can," Alix promised. "Now then. Before I teach you to open yourself to the currents of energy that can fuel magic, I want to teach you how to ground, center, and shield yourself. Not all power is neutral; some of it, like blood-magic, is toxic. You need to be able to protect yourself from it, and strong enough not to be swept away if you tap into something wilder than you expected. That, however, I will leave for your next lesson."
"Let's pick a date and time, then," Sarah replied, taking out her phone so she could check her schedule.
Coordinating took a few moments, as both of them had other obligations, but Sarah finally found a few free hours later in the week. "You'll want to wear jeans for this," Alix added. "And meet me in Central Park, at the castle. The best way to get yourself grounded in the Earth's power is to physically be sitting on the ground."
"Sounds like fun," Sarah said.
Alix grinned enough to give a glimpse of teeth. "If you wanted to study magic like a mortal, like a witch, it might take you years simply to learn how exactly you did what you've done so far. Therefore, as much as possible within the limits of safety and ethics, we are pursuing an abbreviated course of study. To teach you grounding as fast as possible, I intend to let you experience the Earth as I do. It will show you the connection between yourself and the Earth, better than any words could tell. It may be rather a surprise, to experience grounding as a dryad, which is the next best thing to becoming a tree."
Sarah cocked her head. "Is that what you are? I know not all the legends are true, and not all the kinds of fae correspond to their myths."
"Yes, I am a dryad. My tree is the willow, hence Alix – from the genus Salix, the Latin name by which all willows are known to human scientists." She shrugged. "It means my powers are focused on growth and the element of earth, not spectacular by the standards of the high fae. But necessary. They value us for our healing and fertility magics."
One thing Sarah remembered about dryads was that their lives were tied to their trees. So Alix probably had a tree somewhere in the city that she was bound to. It seemed rude to ask about it, though. "They ought to value you, anyway," she said.
Alix grinned. "I would jest that such talk will make your king will think you're becoming a revolutionary in my company, but I wager he knows better. And that your egalitarian nature is well-established. Jareth himself seems … not as insufferable as I expected."
That got a laugh from Sarah. "Trust me, he's as insufferable as anyone can be. I would know. But he's not as much of a snooty bastard as the high fae sound like. That, not even I expected."
"He has lived with and ruled the goblins for decades," Alix replied. "That would force a broadening of perspective, or he would not have survived. If my memory is correct, part of his curse was being restricted to his kingdom. Perhaps he could come Above, but he could not set foot in any other fae lands save Umardelin."
Sarah shivered, remembering again that Jareth had been cursed for a long, long time. "Makes me glad I broke it … and not just because I got to go back to the Labyrinth."
"I'm certain he is more than glad, and not only because he is now free. Your king seems to understand just how lucky he is to have you."
"He'd damn well better," Sarah replied, and they shared a laugh.
But then Alix turned a bright, mischievous gaze on her, and added, "As you are glad, as well. For him, not just for the Labyrinth. He may not be to my taste, but I can see where other women would swoon."
"I don't swoon," Sarah said, then smirked. "I won't give him the satisfaction. If anyone had told me at fifteen that I'd actually look forward to seeing him, I'd think they were crazy. Now, though … yeah. This whole star-crossed romance thing works pretty well for me, actually."
"Good. Enjoy it," Alix told her. "And I hate to rush you, but I have another appointment. I will see you in the park, however."
"I'll see you then," Sarah said, and impulsively offered her hand when they both rose. Alix shook with her, amused, and with a freshly-wakened Neesk on her shoulder, Sarah headed out. The club's patrons were starting to arrive, and she felt a few interested and curious glances land on her, but no one spoke. Or noticed the goblin clinging to her hair; he might've been using a glamour to keep himself hidden, or those watching her might have been fae. The doorman mimed tipping a hat to her, and Sarah gave him a friendly wave as she left.
Once outside, Neesk chirped, "See ya, Queenie!" and hopped down, disappearing instantly. Not even Sarah could see where he'd gone. Based on her conversation with Alix and her experience with them, she began to expect that a large part of goblin magic had to do with concealment.
"Just my luck," she muttered, shaking her head and thinking of how often she would have to deal with surprise goblins in the future.
…
