Disclaimer: The Labyrinth and all its effects belong to LucasFilms, the Henson folks, etc, etc.
"Sir Didymus?" Sarah called loudly. Nothing. "My lord knight!" Surely a bipedal fox's hearing, despite Didymus' age, would pick up on a shout. She turned slightly to Jareth with a furrowed brow and asked, "Where is he, Jareth?"
With a mild reprimand in his glare, he answered, "I'm not the one to ask. The last time I saw him, not only was he here, but he was in perfect, exasperating health. I haven't done anything with your little champion."
"I wasn't accusing you," she snapped.
"Ah, so the icy glare paired with suddenly sharp tone meant that you were a step away from turning to me for comfort, then?"
Sarah felt her eyebrows snap together. "I wasn't glaring at you!" Pointing at her face, she added, "This is glaring at you."
"I've said it before, and I'll happily point it out to you again, Sarah," he replied, drawing closer to her. "Your eyes can be so cruel." The words weren't quite singsong. Then Jareth started forward without her, adding over his shoulder, "It makes it appear that you're always glaring at something. Generally me."
"I'm worried, Jareth! For one of my friends!" Sarah was glad that his back was turned to her; her ears were burning, and she didn't want him to gloat about her blushing as well.
Again over his shoulder, Jareth answered, almost too quietly to hear, "And obviously no closer to counting me amongst them."
"What?" The question burst out of her in a breath, as though she'd been hit in the gut.
He turned then, face as still and pale as the stone walls of the castle they'd left behind. "It's clear that you still think of me as an enemy or worse – as very little at all. You're still the same girl I last saw long ago – willing to take out her anger on whomever was nearby, never thinking that perhaps what was happening to her was her own fault. And just because the now-independently-living manifestation of a childhood stuffed toy is not here, you think that I must have had something to do with it!"
"You were the King! I thought you might keep track of your subjects!" she snapped. "I can't believe you just assume –"
"I assume – !"
"My lady?"
The two combatants turned as one to see peeping around the bole of a tree a fox wearing a plumed hat and an eye patch.
With a glare that promised the continuation of the argument, Sarah turned and hurried toward Didymus. "Sir Didymus, I'm so glad to see you!"
"My… my Queen," he answered, his voice distant and chilly. The tone stalled Sarah's approach; the little fox took the moment to remove his hat and go down on one knee.
She started forward again, a bit more slowly. "Sir Didymus, please don't. My friends don't kneel to me."
He stood again and replaced his hat; there he stood at attention. "Your Majesty commands." Again, Sarah stopped moving forward; this time she examined her old friend. His bright little black eyes were downcast, his face tense.
"I don't command. I request."
Didymus flicked a skeptical glance up at her and then returned his gaze to the ground.
Worry and caution kept Sarah's movements slow, but she closed the distance between herself and the knight and sank to her knees before him.
Startled, Didymus scrambled to join her on the ground, crying, "My Lady – Your Majesty! Have some care for thy station! Your Majesty mustn't kneel to her subject!"
She flicked a look back at Jareth, who stood some few yards behind her, gazing with irritation over the Bog. "Who's here to see, except him?" she asked.
"I – Your –" Didymus' whiskers trembled in his upset. He glared briefly at the ground before swinging his muzzle up and huffing at her. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I must speak plain. I would know! I know my place and would be unworthy of my post shouldst I forget it!" Wriggling uncomfortably on his knees, he continued, "'Twould be a betrayal of my word to fail to execute all the forms of my duties."
Something was wrong. The crawling cold feeling rising from the vicinity of her heart told her this. Though her knight spoke sincerely, he lacked the passion she'd known. And Sarah had caught the emphasis on "word" and wondered at it.
"I have never known you to betray your promise, Sir Didymus. You're the most honorable person I know."
Another skeptical glance, paired with more angrily trembling whiskers, did nothing to ease Sarah's concern. "Your Majesty is too kind."
Okay, enough. Sarah shifted her legs to take a tailor's seat and gestured at Sir Didymus. "Please sit, Sir Knight," she invited in a tone as cool and distant as the fox knight's.
Hearing the shift in tone, he frowned at her, at Jareth, back at the bridge. "I beg Your Majesty's pardon, but… the bridge…"
"Don't make me command you, Sir Didymus," she cautioned in a whisper. The beginnings of tears made her eyes prickle, and she blinked them back with a fierce scowl. "Jareth can deal with any threat." She heard Jareth sigh loudly behind her but ignored him. "Since you seem determined not to speak with me as a friend, you and I are going to parlay. And you're going to speak plainly with me until we get to the bottom of this."
A pause. "'This'", Your Majesty?" This time, Didymus sounded more nervous than angry.
"Whatever you're mad about. Please, sit down."
Didymus fidgeted, disobeying her out of stunned discomfort rather than with intent to provoke, and demurred, "I would never presume to judge –"
"Stop it!" He stopped. Sarah blinked a bit harder at the burn in her eyes and tried to control her tone. "Are you a knight? Are you a man of honor? Of truth?"
Offended, he said, "I cherish truth – and courage – above all things!"
"Then give me the truth!" This time it was a command, and she blushed. "Please."
Didymus' shoulders slumped; he lowered his muzzle, and Sarah had never seen him look so defeated. Even when he yielded to Ludo's "superiority" in battle, Didymus had still had spark in his eyes and confidence in his stance. Finally, Didymus consented to sit on the ground, all four paws on the ground, like a true fox.
"Your Majesty, it has been nearly 18 years since you departed the Underground." Sarah felt her mouth fall open. "It has been nearly 10 since you called on any of your friends here Below," he continued, looking up at her with a mix of anger and hurt on his features; "friends" was particularly bitter, and Sarah began to understand.
This time, she couldn't prevent the tears. "Sir Didymus, I didn't –" She choked on the words and struggled to hold back a sob.
Footsteps behind her told her that Jareth approached, and presently, there was one of those handkerchiefs dangling before her face again. She snatched at it and scrubbed at her eyes before asking, "18 years? That's impossible."
"Time moves differently in the different worlds," Jareth said, and both Sarah and Sir Didymus went slack with shock.
"It's been only seven years since I left. I'm just 21," Sarah said in a rush, reaching toward Sir Didymus. Tears thickened her voice again, "I last called on you all three years ago."
This time, Sir Didymus started. "I… I fear I have failed… to understand." He sniffed mightily, but he did not reach across to take Sarah's proffered hand. "I humbly beg Your Majesty's pardon for –"
"I didn't know the time worked differently, but three years is too long, too," she admitted. "I should have taken better care – I shouldn't have assumed. I'm so sorry."
Finally, Sir Didymus took her hand in his paws and dropped a kiss on her knuckles. "I… I have much to ponder. I am humbled, and I know not what to think."
Sarah took both his forepaws in her hand before he could release her. "Please let me talk to you again, once you've had time to think."
"'Tis not my place to deny Your Majesty anything."
"Stop it!" Sarah snapped, clinging to his paws. Before he could interrupt again, she said, "I can't ask you to forgive me yet; I haven't earned it. Even though it was unintentional, I hurt you, and I don't know if I can make it up. But I'm going to try." She sniffed. "Please say you'll let me try."
Didymus opened his mouth to respond and then snapped it shut. Sarah suspected he had been about to deny himself the right to deny her again. Finally, the little knight nodded, and said, "Your Majesty may summon me at any convenient time."
The effort to control his gallantry actually flattered her a great deal, and hope warmed her just a little. "Next week, then?" she asked. And remembering her misunderstanding of time in the Underground, she amended, "In seven days. May I visit you here? I'll bring food. And someone to guard the bridge while we talk."
"Your Majesty!" Didymus protested. "'Tis not meet! I cannot welcome thee in such squalor – though my hospitality is ever at the disposal of any visitor!"
She shook his paws once to stem his protests. "I am the one who offended. I will be doing all the work. All I ask you to do is listen. Okay?"
With a visible struggle and a defeated sigh, he consented.
They both stood, and Didymus bowed low before her. He then turned and offered a briefer bow to Jareth with a murmured, "My Lord."
"Please, one last thing, Sir Didymus," Sarah said.
"Your Majesty?"
"Where can I find Hoggle and Ludo? I have apologies to make – I've failed them, too."
The little knight sighed. "My brother lives at the western edge of the Fireys' forest, Your Majesty. We meet twice a year, at the Solstices, here at the Bog, for I cannot abandon my post. He bears solitude well." With a glance up at Jareth, Didymus continued, "His Lordship may be able to tell where valiant Hoggle is. He withdrew to I know not where two years after we last heard from Your Majesty."
Oh, no, Sarah thought, screwing her eyes shut. I've betrayed the one person who won't forgive me. It had taken so long to get the dwarf to trust that she wouldn't abandon him; he'd probably written her off for eternity. Still, she must try.
"Jareth?" she asked, finally turning.
Looking very put-upon, Jareth sighed and answered, "It will be the work of a day."
"Then I'll visit them both day after tomorrow."
She turned back to the little fox knight, who was frowning consideringly at Jareth. When he glanced back at Sarah, he started, embarrassed to be caught. Before he could say anything, Sarah reached out her hand to him, saying, "I will see you next week. And thank you."
He kissed her hand again, bowing low over it. "Your Majesty."