Perplexed with the new aspects of Jareth that were revealing themselves as his Goblin King masks were lifted, Sarah hesitantly agreed to dine with him. If they were truly going to get along and develop a new relationship outside of the roles of Heroine and Villain, they would both have to make an effort. But how could she ever consider him a friend when he had made a second attempt to steal away Toby?
The contradiction haunted her. ESPECIALLY when thinking of the word 'relationship' in context with Jareth caused fire to run through her veins and alarms to go off in her head. A healthy dose of lust was normal at her age but for him!
She stood in front of the faded mirror that hung in a corner of her. Since this was her first official…dinner…engagement…meeting…whatever…with Jareth after her disastrous escape attempt, she actually had made an endeavor to look nice. Portia, after threatening to clothe her in burlap and rags, eventually permitted Sarah to keep the other gowns as long as she promised not to run off and conga with any more zombies. It was a vow Sarah could make with no shred of insincerity.
She was in a green kind of mood, and the emerald dress was so rich and bright that she knew it would help boost her spirits. Unlike the other gowns, it ended at mid-calf and buttoned up the front instead of the back. Upon closer inspection, she saw that each button was inlaid with a tiny piece of jade. Although it's low V neckline and capped sleeves were a little risqué for a dinner, the ensemble came with a knee length jacket in a darker green, which toned down the fitted dress. Sarah could tell that the pointed collar was inspired by the Goblin King's wardrobe. Her hair was in loose curls pinned to the top of her head and her feet were encased in a pair of black leather slip-ons. Sarah felt she at least she looked the part of Jareth's dinner date, even if she didn't feel like it.
It was hard to get over the Jareth from her past, the one who connived and cajoled and promised her the world in order to distract her from the Labyrinth. First impressions were always the most lasting, but if she learned anything from that time, it was that appearances were always deceiving. The Goblin King who had lashed out at her when she invaded his privacy had frightened her, but the man who had come to her rescue, who had been injured because of her and who had tenderly accepted her apology…they were all like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle she didn't have directions for, and she couldn't see what the entire picture was supposed to look like yet.
Her initial intuition of not knowing how to speak to him when they weren't fighting was correct, and up until now their passing conversations consisted entirely of small talk. This dinner had her worried.
When she walked into the Banquet Hall, she saw her fears were for naught. In fact, she had to cough suddenly to suppress the shocked giggles that threatened to surface.
A well used and much abused banquet table sat in the center of the hall and spanned the length of the room. It had gouge marks, food stains, and she felt that just looking at it was enough to give her splinters. And there was Jareth, dressed to the nines in a cream tunic with ruffles at his throat, brown leather pants with darker brown boots and a modest hunter green waistcoat, looking as out of place sitting at the dilapidated table as the King of England at a bowling alley. That was the first thing that struck her as comical.
The second was that her table setting, the only other one laid out, had been placed at the opposite end of the table, some two hundred feet away from him.
"You have got to be joking," she muttered.
He rose, languidly drifting towards her as elegantly and sleekly as a feline, causing her breath to catch in her throat. His eyes never left hers.
"I see Portia has outdone herself," he remarked, formally taking Sarah's limp hand in his glove and pressing a chaste kiss just below her knuckle. She offered him a shaky smile in return.
"Thank you. Or rather, thank her, I think she likes the praise." That's it, Sarah, keep it niiiiice and light.
With that, Jareth escorted her to her high-backed chair. So far so good. Once seated, he strolled back toward his place.
An army of Goblins, under strict orders of obedience and the fear of reprisal, served the first course; a brown stew of unidentified origins. The second the food was on the table they scuttled back to the kitchen where they could gossip.
Sarah and Jareth ate in uncomfortable silence, secluded because of the distance and yet not alone in the vast Banquet Hall. After two more courses, Sarah set down her fork none too gently. It echoed like a sonic boom, reverberating against the stone walls.
"Was the soup too hot?" He spoke with forceful projection, a necessity after decades of attempting to be heard over the chatter of Goblins.
"NO!" she yelled, feeling like an idiot.
"The cook really outdid itself this time!"
"YES!" Now it was just getting ridiculous.
"Would you like some wine?"
Vexed, she sighed. Years of silent formal dinners stared her in the face. Even though the thought of holding a serious conversation with him was unnerving, the uncomfortable tension caused by distance was worse. Picking up her silverware, wine goblet and plate, she stalked her way down the length of the table and before he could say a word, plopped down onto the bench to his left.
"Yes, I would like some wine." Without waiting to be served, she poured herself a glass.
She knew he was looking at her like she had just eaten a bug, so she stared fixedly at the remainder of the over-steamed vegetables on her plate. Why did it have to be so awkward? Her own family dinners at home had been one long barrage of nonstop chatter, flowing smoothly from her father to her to Toby, who always had something to say no matter what the subject matter. Then, afterwards, everyone pitched in to clean up, lingering in the kitchen because they didn't want their conversation to end.
The thought of home brought the sting of tears to her eyes.
"What is the matter?" he asked cautiously.
She clenched her teeth at the voice of the man who had stolen her away from her home. Her family. No matter what he ever said or did, how could she forget that?
"Sarah," he tried again to start a conversation, "…are you happy here?"
That was it. He crossed the line.
"Of COURSE I'm not happy here," she exploded, sending her wine glass crashing to the floor. "I miss my family, I miss my home, and thanks to you my dad thinks I abandoned him just like the rest of them!" It was too late to hide her tears but that was okay, they fueled her fire.
Jareth looked taken aback at her outburst, and the cool and calculated Goblin King mask slipped quickly into place. "I was only being polite. There is no need to shout."
"No need? NO NEED! You put me in a room so far away from everyone I have to scream to get help, you sit me two miles away at the dinner table and thanks to you I can never hug my family again. And all you can say is THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT!"
Her anger was like a net, it drew him in.
"Do not blame me for your brother's carelessness. It is not my fault he said the words. I would think you should be blaming him, not me," Jareth told her coldly.
Sarah's jaw dropped and she stood abruptly. "You are unbelievable. You DARE sit there and lay the blame at Toby's door when you're the one who gave him the book in the first place."
The look of pure surprise and his response caused the bones in her legs to dissolve; she sat down with a hard 'THUMP.'
"…what book?" he said slowly.
Hoggle was making a futile attempt at watering the plants in the castle's greenhouse, which was more like a study in dying plant life when two shadows fell over him. He turned with a smile on his face. When he saw who it was, however, the smile slipped off and shattered on the cobblestone floor. Judging by the look of fury on their faces, he knew he had been found out.
Sarah knelt down so she was eye to eye with the dwarf.
"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Sarah choked out, clutching the culprit of her misery in her hands so hard the words 'The Labyrinth' were almost illegible.
"Why did I do what?" he tried lamely, cursing his cowardice.
She laughed bitterly, a horrible sound coming from her. "Don't play dumb with me. Don't you dare. Why did you give Toby this book?"
Hoggle set the watering can down carefully, buying time before he responded. One glance into the Goblin King's stony face let him know exactly what would be done to him if he divulged anything about the curse. Fear and lingering spinelessness caused him to shrug his shoulders in shame.
"I was being selfish. I wanted you to visit more often but you never would and…I…guess I just got tired of being put off." He kept fingering the plastic bracelet on his wrist, hoping it would give him the courage to lie to her.
Her face crumbled, tears spilling freely down her cheeks. The look of betrayal was so raw that Hoggle had to look away, tears on his own face. She was his best friend and now she would hate him forever.
Without another word she stood, letting the book slip from her numb fingers. Jareth placed a hand at the small of her back and gently led her away from the miserable dwarf. The Goblin King paused in the doorway, one hand on the doorknob and his face mostly obscured by shadows. Making sure Sarah was out of earshot, he turned back to Hoggle.
"It was not your place to interfere," Jareth hissed. "Do not think I don't know what you were up to," he intoned ominously, "and if you let her know, you will rule the Land of Stench for all eternity," he finished, and pulled the door shut firmly.
