By the first light of the next morning the torrential rain fall of the previous day had finally ceased leaving the labyrinth as well as the surrounding wilds of the Underground strewn with a fresh coating of rejuvenating dew that sparkled in the light like diamonds scattered across the landscape. When Sarah awoke she already knew without looking that Jareth wasn't with her in their stone tent. This was not through some great superior sense of intuition but rather by the simple realization that Jareth had left his coat behind.

Despite the fact that the coat in question was currently pulled up around Sarah's shoulders it was hard to say if Jareth had placed it there out of some second hand courtesy or if Sarah herself had simply acquired it by her own hand sometime after he had gone. Pressing her hands to her face the middle aged woman groaned audibly as she rubbed some feeling back into her cheeks. All things considered Sarah had slept solidly even with her cloths still being slightly damp against her skin.

One of the many odd things about being in the underground was that besides the apparent freak incident like the rain storm the over all temperature never really changed. In fact Sarah couldn't ever recall feeling any kind of instance of wind or other factors that would have contributed to changes in the over all experience of the labyrinth's climate; at least not without the influence of someone like Jareth conjuring up something for dramatic effect.

Sarah wondered for a moment if that had to do with the Labyrinth itself or if it was actually a greater characteristic of the Underground as a whole.

After giving herself a moment to mentally prepare for the day ahead Sarah sighed and, with the blue coat still about her shoulders, crawled from their tent to locate the man with the plan so that they could get things started again. At first it seemed that Jareth was nowhere to be found and upon this discovery Sarah felt the first twinges of panic begin to form at the edges of her mind. How could he leave her behind at a time like this? Sarah could already feel the accusation forming on her lips as her disappointment and frustrations begin to reach a breaking point.

Despite being nearly forty she was just about to regress into a very juvenile temper tantrum of swearing and stomping about when the sound of what seemed like stone being rubbed against stone off in the direction of the Labyrinth wall disrupted her thoughts and encouraged the woman to investigate what the noise actually was and where it was coming from.

"What are you doing?" Sarah questioned upon discovering Jareth in the middle of some kind of task. It had taken a little walking to figure out where the sound was coming from and by the time Sarah had stomped through the woods aways without having any real idea of where she was going or what she might find, she found herself thoroughly annoyed again. "Ever heard of telling someone when you go somewhere?"

Jareth only stopped long enough to meet Sarah's brown eyes with his own mismatched ones as if to say that he thought she was being unreasonable and had no intention reacting to it. He then went back to the task he was performing.

"I needed to make something I could cut with and you were still asleep." Jareth added. "Trust me, Sarah. If I was going to leave you behind I would have done so already. I do, however, aspire to be a man of my word. So there you are."

"Huh." Sarah grunted as she leaned up against a tree and crossed her legs. "I didn't realize you knew how to do that."

"Yes well I'm sure there are a lot of things you'd find surprising about me." He replied while testing the edge of the flat rock he'd been shaping with the padding of his thumb.

Apparently the edge was more than adequately sharp fore a thin strip of blood appeared almost immediately after Jareth lifted the edge from his skin. A satisfied, if grim, smile formed upon the former Goblin King's mouth as he observed the results of his own handy work.

"What are you planning on doing with that anyway?" Sarah crossed her arms as she tried to draw as much of her own warmth to her exposed skin as possible.

"Actually...I was hoping you might do something with it." Jareth replied looking up at her once more as he observed a quizzical look cross the brunettes features.

Twenty minutes later Jareth and Sarah where back upon the platform of the old ruins. Jareth was positioned in a crouched position at the pools edge once more, while Sarah sat upon her knees behind him trying to wrestle with Jareth's long mane like hair that was now more of a rats nest than anything else.

"Care-ful. Careful now." Jareth directed with a definite nervous air in his tone.

"Be quiet and hold still." Sarah ordered. "God, Jareth. That tree drool you got in your hair is like glue! Oh and by the way I feel it's my duty as your volunteer stylist that the Tina Turner look you've had going went out of style decades ago. You really need to get with the times."

"Are you through?" Jareth muttered. "I'd just like to point out that I'm not expecting miracles here. All I ask is that you cut it down to something manageable and do it quietly. The sap will work itself out on its own."

"I'm amazed you trust me with your hair at all truthfully. I mean this could be a golden opportunity for me to really do something terrible to you." She muttered ignoring his request for silence. "Luckily for you, I'm not that petty. OK. I think that's about the best I can do."

Sarah pushed herself back into a standing position and took a few steps back to observe her handy work. Though it had taken a good few dunks in the pool and a bit of make shift assistance from a tub of chap stick Sarah had discovered in her pocket to get Jareth's remaining hair to lay flat; the end result had turned out pleasing enough. Most of the gunk in his hair had been at the hair tips and not at the base of his head. With some effort Sarah had been able to drastically cut away much of the excess so that Jareth's hair looked much more normal by her standards.

While it was still a bit long in the back and along the sides Jareth now looked the way Sarah imagined he would have looked had he been a regular man in the regular world. Sarah also noted again how his hair had taken on a darker hue of honey which while wet looked almost brown.

"Very nice." Jareth said lightly as he studied himself in the pool's reflective surface. "I must admit that under the circumstances you've done a fine job."

"Wow. You actually complimented me. I'm truly shocked." Despite their somewhat antagonistic relationship Sarah actually smirked a little behind Jareth's back.

"Here. You might want this back now." She said shrugging off Jareth's blue tattered coat now that she was fully dry before helping him back into it after he'd sighed and rose from out of his crouched position. "So what's the plan Magic Man? Where are we heading next?"

It appeared he'd gotten a tad stiff sitting in the position he'd been in for most of the early morning. "We go back to following the wall. We might have to do a bit of climbing but the idea is to position ourselves near the Bog of Eternal Stench. I'm counting on what's left of the Labyrinth Knights to assist us. If we plan on getting into the actual castle at some point we're going to need it."

Staying true to their plan Jareth and Sarah soon left their camp site behind and continued their journey along the Labyrinth wall. Despite the seriousness of their task Sarah couldn't help but appreciate the lush tropic like greenery around them that she hadn't really had the time or ability to enjoy the first time around. Minus the head hunters, which had thankfully not made an appearance, Sarah had to admit that this part of the Underground was pleasurably striking.

"You know I never really got to appreciate any of this the first time I was here." Sarah remarked making conversation as they hiked along the edge of the wall. "It really is beautiful when I stop to look at it all."

"The Labyrinth, and the Underground in general, has always had its charms when one isn't in any imminent danger of falling victim to any unspeakable pit falls. Don't ever forget how dangerous this place can be, Sarah. The dangers you experienced the last time you were here were child's play in comparison to what could truly be unleashed within or outside of the Labyrinth's bounds."

"Huh. I don't know, Jareth. If the stuff you threw at me was nothing but child's play you certainly had me fooled. Half the time I was in the Labyrinth I was seriously afraid for my life and the other half of the time I was usually confused and fustrated as all hell." She replied.

"The point was never to actually hurt you. Everything I threw at you was carefully calculated to incite fear and hopelessness, I'll admit. But within reason I would have never allowed physical harm to actually befall you. There were always safeties put securely in place throughout your journey, by myself and others, to ensure you didn't actually die; which considering the Labyrinth's history isn't exactly an improbable possibility."

"Within reason, eh? How sweet of you. That really would have never occurred to me with they way you were behaving." Sarah muttered flatly. "But I guess I can see your point. I suppose I shouldn't take it for granted that Hoggle always conveniently showed up just when I really needed him or that every time I got a little stuck something always seemed to come along with some direction. You have to admit though that the peach thing was pushing it a little. You might use a lot of pretty props Jareth and its true that I may not really know much, if anything, about you; but I'm willing to bet that you enchanting that peach and giving it to Hoggle to pawn off on me was ultimately beneath you in retrospect."

"Maybe so." Jareth conceded without actually admitting he was wrong. "I will confess, you ending up at the mercy of the Arid Flats wasn't exactly something I'd planed to have happen to you. You're very lucky to have friends in high places watching out for your well being Sarah; because if it would have been left up to me you would have enjoyed the dismal fate of becoming one of the Arid flats latest casualties."

"So you're telling me that you would have left me there to rot? Thanks! Thanks a lot." There was that faint accusation in Sarah's tone again as her eyes went wide at the prospect of Jareth so completely throwing her to the proverbial wolves.

"Well," Jareth paused near a part of the wall that had a thick rope hanging down from it and turned to face her. The rope was apparently another relic from Sarah's past experience left forgotten by time. "I can't honestly tell you what I might have done. Particularly since I had absolutely no idea you'd landed yourself in the Junk People's domain to begin with. That being said, I suppose that in retrospect it would have been in my best interest to assist you given that I still had need of you to fulfill my bargain."

"You didn't know? How is that possible?" Sarah inquired.

"Contrary to what you probably believe I didn't exactly keep constant track of your progress through the labyrinth the last time you were here. There were other things I had going on to be preoccupied with after all." Jareth indicated to the rope which Sarah instantly grabbed and began climbing.

"Like Toby?" Sarah grunted through gritted teeth as she hoisted herself up.

"Yes. Among other things. Would you have rather had me leave him strictly in the goblins care for any prolonged length of time?" Jareth inquired as he followed shortly behind.

"No. But I'd just like to say...That in light of what you've already told me...I think it was a little sloppy of you not to take more of an interest in what I was doing and where I was. If our positions had been reversed I would have." After a lot of huffing and puffing Sarah managed to get to the top of the wall and, with some ungracious scrambling, was able to get herself over the edge and back on solid ground again.

Jareth followed shortly behind and when it was his turn to maneuver himself over the wall's edge Sarah was nice enough to grab him by the upper arms and help Jareth pull himself over unasked. Once they were securely upon the wall both Sarah and Jareth immediately plopped to the ground as they leaned up against the edge they'd just come over while they caught there breath.

"Somehow...I remember that being easier the first time." Sarah swallowed hard before she instantly covered her nose with one sleeve. "Uh! It certainly smells the same as before."

"A right pile of steaming shit, the Bog of Eternal Stench is." Jareth agreed, although he made no effort to stifle the stench. "Its amazing how one can become acclimated to it though. Most of the goblins around these parts wouldn't know what you were making all the fuss about." Jareth remarked.

"Yeah, yeah. Less talking more moving. I think I'm going to gag." Sarah muttered through fabric as she got back onto her feet. It only took a few minutes to realize that they had a new problem on their hands. "You know there was a ledge along here originally. I notice no one got around to fixing that since Hoggle and I almost took a dip the last time I was here."

"Yes well as I recall you should just be able to drop from over there onto solid ground." The duo scouted out the edge of the wall that ran along the gurgling glumping goo of the Bog of Eternal Stench which bridged the out laying wilds with the Labyrinth itself. "What would you say? About ten feet?"

Sarah nodded as she gauged the distance to the ground for herself. "Yeah. Doesn't look too hard but I cant see exactly where the land ends and the bog starts. I don't much feel like taking a blind leap down there only to land knee deep is that horrible stuff."

"Fair enough." Jareth turned away a moment as he walked a few steps back to where they'd climbed up the wall in order to retrieve Hoggle's rope. "Here. I'll lower you down. If you don't find it to be satisfactory I can just pull you back up and we'll find another way. I promise I won't drop you."

At first Sarah didn't look too confident in Jareth's abilities in the matter but one way or another the bog was a necessary evil if they wanted to get to the castle and time was running out. "All right fairy foot but I swear to God that if you drop me..."

"I won't. Now come. Lets get on with it." A slight hint of amusement at her mistrust of him hinted at the corners of Jareth's mouth as he secured one end of the rope around his body and dropped the rest for Sarah to secure as she saw fit.

True to his word Jareth did, in fact, not drop Sarah; but deliver her safely to alcove below. He then, in typical boyish fashion, climbed down after her by hand jumping the last six feet to land securely beside her on the ground. After coiling the rope back up and placing it over one shoulder Sarah and Jareth made their way in the direction of where the old bridge had once been. But before either of them could comment on its current lack of existence something quick and furry darted out from behind a rather large tree to jump in front of their path.

"Halt and make thee known, Strangers! Raw-raw-ruff!" The little creature looked to be the size of a small goblin but had all the aesthetic features of a fox dressed in a yellow and blue shirt, red vest, and blue cap with a yellow feather sticking out from it.

"Ye-ah! Sir Didymus? Sir Didymus it really is you! It's me. It's Sarah!" Sarah said grabbing the tip of Sir Didymus staff to keep him from swinging it about in his oftentimes overly exuberant way.

"My Lady?" Sir Didymus stopped thrashing to look up at Sarah with his uncover eye.

"Yes!" Sarah reassured him happily.

"But what is thou doing back, and away from thy homeland?" The foxed questioned with surprise.

"I'm on another quest. There isn't much time to explain and I...I mean we...Need your help." Sarah turned her head to glance side long at Jareth who had remained a few feet behind. The look on his face was curious and Sarah realized for the first time that Jareth almost seemed self conscious about something as he kept his distance from the Labyrinth knight whom he was watching with narrowed eyes and a mild scowl.

It seemed Sir Didymus either didn't recognize Jareth as Sarah's foe from her original quest or he simply had never seen the former Goblin King in person. Either way the Knight seemed to have no realization of who Jareth was in relation to Sarah at the present moment. Sarah was about to say something regarding that when she caught the man in question gesturing slightly with his hand and moving his head ever so slightly to the negative.

"My lady is with a companion?" The fox's bushy eye brows rose as he glanced around Sarah's crouched body to discover Jareth looking innocuously off at some random point to the man's left. "Ho! Good sir. Any friend of the Lady Sarah is a friend of thine."

Unable to avoid the acquaintance now, Jareth finally stepped forward and -to Sarah's surprise and confusion- bowed at the waist pressing his right fist to his heart. "Good evening, Captain. The Lady Sarah and myself are indeed in want of your assistance."

"I have been-" Jareth rose out of the bow graciously and briefly glanced at Sarah as he spoke as if to remind her that he was fudging the circumstances of their arrangement on purpose. "-honored with the duty of delivering the Lady Sarah to the Castle beyond the Goblin City but my companion and I have reason to believe that we might face some difficulties in this matter pertaining to gaining access to the castle itself. I don't suppose that you have heard or seen anything of significance in the last few days?"

"Why yes noble sir. Though I know naught the details, I understand that a young nave has taken up residence within the castle and that the blessed Good Mother has personally come to oversee the upcoming proceedings at..." Sir Didymus started to inform him.

"Wait. What proceedings?" Sarah interjected.

Jareth's chin dropped against his throat which caused his eyes to look even more hooded in appearance than they were naturally and his mouth twisted down in a flat frown as if he had an acidic taste come into his mouth.

"Well 'em. You see, Sarah. It would appear that the Labyrinth has finally settled on a new custodian for the governing of its power." Jareth braced himself internally for the fire that he knew was about to start. Sarah had the ability to be quite forceful indeed and now that she'd become an adult he had no doubt she'd refined the quality.

"You mean its settled on Toby, don't you?" Sarah felt a wave a sickness come over her as her stomach turned over and her lids drifted shut as a terrible realization struck her causing Sarah to brace herself against a nearby tree. "This is what this entire thing is all about. What its always been all about."

"Sarah-" Jareth could see the woman's slow burning anger begin to rise to a high heat.

"No. Don't you dare say a word to me. I tried to protect Toby and here I come to find none of it made a damn bit of difference?" Sarah's jaw squared visibly and her free hand formed into a tight fist. Regardless of whether or not Jareth deserved her wrath, Sarah was inclined to take her feelings about the situation out on him given despite any lack of real culpability.

"Sarah, I-" Jareth tried to interject again but failed to produce anything that would have given him any kind of asylum in his present position.

"And anyway what the hell do you care! You got what you wanted didn't you? Well you know what Jareth? I really hope that you're happy for yourself. You went and got everything you ever wanted and to hell with the rest of us." Sarah muttered heatedly taking a dangerous looking step in his direction.

This time Jareth wasn't about to back down and he was getting entirely fed up with Sarah blaming him, every time it became convenient, for things that were quite beyond all of their control.

"You don't know what I want." Jareth practically hissed at her taking his own threatening step forward. "Now stop this. None of it is getting you anywhere."

Jareth side stepped Sarah has he peered in the direction of the castle.

"If the Good Mother is overseeing things that probably means there's still some time left before anything permanent happens. Look at the sky." Jareth walked a few feet away from her and pointed into the sky with one long limb.

"There's probably at least another day left before the completion of the eclipse. And anyway your brother doesn't have to agree to anything. It was you who won him that right all those years ago. You can't go and give up now just because things got a little more difficult than you expected. I happen to know first hand that you're better than that." He pointed out.

During this entire heated exchange between the humans Sir Didymus could only look on in startled confusion at the entire conversation. Luckily his agape look caught Jareth's attention causing the man to sigh and regain some composure. "Sir Knight, is it plausible to get as far as the Goblin City?"

"Eh, yes?" Didymus replied as one furry ear perked up upon being addressed.

"Good. Then that is where we will go. Its been a hard journey and I think we're all a little out of sorts." Jareth eyed Sarah as if to say that she was more out of sorts at the moment than anyone else. "It might do us some good to eat and rest in order to regain some strength and think about our options. Sir Didymus, I would be honored if you would join us."

"Why I would be delighted good Sir." The fox bowed to Jareth removing his feathered hat.

Nodding Jareth returned his attention back to his feminine companion "Sarah? Are you coming?"

"Go on ahead. I want a few minutes alone if that's OK." She replied sullenly as she stepped around one of the large trees that the fox commonly used as his home and stared absently at some point among the foliage. Sarah needed some time to think and she wanted to do it without Jareth hovering around her. Just the thought of him irritated her at the moment.

"Fine." Jareth said as he gnashed his pointy teeth. "Stay on the path and don't linger too long."

"Mightn't I stay behind my Lady? I should never forgive thy self if harm were to fall upon thee." The fox inquired with an air of concern.

"No Sir Didymus. I'll be all right. Go with Jareth and I'll be along in a few minutes." Sarah reassured the fox.

"As you wish, my...Lady." Didymus did not seem very keen on leaving Sarah behind but because she had insisted he knew better than to argue with her.

Sarah watched from her position near the tree as fox and man carefully skipped the stepping stones that Ludo the yeti had called up from the putrid depths so long ago. A wave of sad nostalgia griped her. Everything had been so much easier when she was a child despite her naive perceptions at the time. Even the smallest grievance back than had been seemed monumental and now things really were that massive.

The more Sarah thought about it the more she had to quietly admit, if only to herself, that beyond all other parties involved she herself had been the one to put Toby in the position he was currently facing. Granted the Labyrinth had no doubt eyed Toby for an indeterminable length of time before he had been originally taken away, but Sarah had been the one to say the right words that had given the Labyrinth and the goblins the proper window of opportunity they had needed to abduct him in the first place. And for that, Sarah felt deeply ashamed.

Feeling deeply sorry for herself at that moment Sarah walked more completely behind the large willowy tree and slid down its trunk to sit upon the grassy ground at the base of it so that she was complete hidden among the vegetation. Despite the strong stench of the bog Sarah could smell a faint hint of apple blossom in the air and the closer that she was to the vegetation around her the less noticeable was the bog itself. Maybe this was what Sir Didymus had meant about not being able to smell the bogs odor when they'd first met?

Sarah pulled her knees toward her chest and rested her chin upon them as she closed her eyes and tried to think on happier feelings from better times. Just as Sarah was starting to relax into a meditative lull the sound of a large bird taking flight somewhere up in the tree she was leaning against caused her to snap back into herself. Sighing with the understanding that she really couldn't afford to sit around and wallow in self pity Sarah told herself that she was just going to have to suck things up and deal with them. With this in mind the brunette move out of her current position to get back upon her feet when something happened to catch her eye through the brush directly in front of her.

Narrowing her eyes Sarah reached forward and instead of getting up, pulled aside the long grass and weeds in front of her to uncover the rough base of another tree. This in itself was unremarkable but as Sarah leaned farther forward to look at what had crossed her sight she she noticed that someone had etched some sentences into the trunk of the tree. Upon closer inspection Sarah realized it was part of a poem, although she couldn't recall if she'd seen it somewhere else before. The poem was outlined in a rectangle as if it were written on a page. The words read as follows:

I will find out where she has gone

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among the the dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

Sarah touched the etched words with the tips of her fingers tracing their carefully carved out shapes. ".And I will walk among the dappled grass...Why does that sound so familiar?"

"It's part of The Song of Wondering Aengus. A poem by William Butler Yeats." A familiar voice replied gently from some place above and behind her.

Sarah turned her head to peer up at no one other than Jareth who had apparently returned to find her when she had not come to meet them in a reasonable amount of time. It was impossible to say how long he had been standing there watching her.

Deeming it safe to approach Jareth careful stepped between the trees and offered her his hand so that she could get back to her feet.

"I knew that I think. I just can't remember the rest of it." Sarah confessed accepting his hand as he hoisted her back to a standing position.

Jareth nodded as he helped Sarah step out upon the path.

"I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And Hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire aflame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And some one called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air."

As Jareth recited most of the poem he helped Sarah across the bog lifting her slightly upon the finally rock to ensure he landed upon solid ground in one piece. Sarah was caught slightly off guard but she didn't protest his gesture.

"You're welcome." He replied despite the fact that Sarah hadn't thanked him.

"When does the dappled part come in?" She asked as they started walking after he had let her go.

Jareth picked up the final lines in the poem stopping to recite them. It seemed he'd committed the entire thing to memory.

"Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun."

"I can't believe you memorized that whole thing." Sarah commented.

"It was my favorite poem as a young man and in light of my life experiences her in the Underground I find it personally relevant." Jareth replied as he started walking again.

"Look, um...I'm sorry about earlier Jareth. I was a bit upset and I might have unfairly targeted you in my anger." In retrospect Sarah felt guilty about her behavior and suddenly felt the need to clear the air.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Sarah. I've certainly antagonized you enough throughout our acquaintance that its only fair you should pay me back a bit for my trespasses." He conceded.

"Life isn't fair." Sarah remarked absently. Wasn't that something she had learned because of the Labyrinth and because of him?

"No. It isn't." Jareth agreed. "Which is why it's so easy to take certain things for granted."

"Huh. And what have you ever taken for granted?" Sarah had asked mostly in an attempt to keep the line of conversation going as they neared the now unguarded gate of the goblin city.

"Well," Jareth thought a moment. "You for one."

Silence settled between them then and Sarah suddenly found herself at a loss for anything to say in reply.

Luckily just as things were threatening to become extremely uncomfortable the brunette thought she caught sight of what appeared to be an apple tree that had rooted itself just around the entrance gate to the Goblin City. Sarah might have dismissed the small tree as just another abstract plant if it hadn't been for the sight of a single large apple dangling temptingly from one outstretched limb just an inch or two above the line of Sarah's head. As it just so happened the fruit in question looked so lusciously ripe and golden yellow that Sarah might not have recognized it as an apple at all if not for the sinfully strong smell the fruit was giving off.

Suddenly Sarah heard more than felt her stomach gurgle as the tantalizing image of food actually reminded her of the fact that she'd been practically fasting since the night Rachel had show up knocking on the cabin's front door.

Tempting as it seemed Sarah wasn't foolish enough to blindly reach out and pluck it from its place until she was sure of its trustworthiness as something she could and should put in her mouth. Fortunately for her, Sarah happened to have an a perfectly good resource for all things strange and unusual in the Labyrinth standing practically right beside her.

"Erm...Jareth. Is that what I think it is?" Sarah asked as she lightly grasped Jareth's blue coat at the upper arm and turned him slightly to point at the spot to the top left of the City's entrance where the apple hung unassumingly to the far left yet unmistakable to the eye.

"My God, I don't believe it. A golden apple." Jareth replied almost stupidly as he looked on with some mild wonder.

"Yes. I can see that its a golden apple but..."

"You have to understand I've read and been told stories about them but," Jareth slanted his head ever so slightly leaning closer towards the specimen to study it further. "I must confess I never expected to see one during my lifetime."

"It doesn't do anything strange, does it?" Sarah remembered reading legends and folklore involving golden apples and she seemed to recall quite a few fairy tales involving the fruit in general that gave her caused to pause. Not to mention she'd already had one former bad experience under her belt involving the Labyrinth and an enchanted fruit.

"As I understand it...apples, particularly of the variety you see before you, are considered to be entirely non-existent anywhere with the exception of a few remote and mythical places of referance I've only heard and read about." Jareth confirmed with a speculative look on his face. "I've heard and read that such a fruit has the ability to impart immortality among other things but I admit I've never seen it applied first hand ."

"Yeah, OK. So what do we do about it?" Sarah asked impatiently she she stared at the fruit with wary curiosity. "I mean we should take it for granted that something that's supposed to be non-existent it just randomly decided to grow right smack dab where anyone could find it."

"Mm. I see you point and I'm inclined to agree with you in this venture." Jareth replied rubbing his lips absently with the point of one of his fingers. "Well... Seeing as you noticed it first, perhaps that's an indication you should take it."

"Right. I seem to recall that working out real well for me the last time." She muttered remembering when she'd taken the enchanted peach Hoggle had offered her and how that fiasco had turned out.

"Yes well I don't really care what you do just as long as we can get on with it. Just because you take it with you Sarah; doesn't mean you actually have to do anything with it. Besides under the current circumstances it could prove helpful to you down the line sometime. Don't you think?" Jareth reasoned.

Sarah sighed. What if the apple really had been placed for her to specifically find? Helpful elements had always shown up seemingly at random the last time she'd been on a quest involving the Labyrinth and as Jareth had hinted at not all of the helpful hints she'd gotten along the way had been because of him.

"Man. I seriously hope I don't come to regret this." Sarah said pushing up her selves as she stepped forward and gently twisted the fruit from its place upon the branch.