Hello my readers! I have survived the new years and am returning once again. Things have been busy though I must admit. I took my break to write more chapters so now I am up to writing chapter 16. Don't worry there is way more things to come in the story.

Enjoy!

"What is going on here?" Jareth asked.

"Daria and Lady Nicole did not mean to disturb you, I'm sorry." Daria said with a look of fear on her face.

"Don't fear him Daria, and please, it's just Nicole." I said stepping in front of the gobliness. "Just having a little fun, that's all. Daria has been very kind to me while I have been transitioning from my previous life to this new one." More like freedom to captivity in my opinion.

"Very well, considering you are a member of the court you may do as you wish with your servants, no matter how unorthodox."

"Your highness, may I enquire as to why you decided to pay us a visit?" Nicole asked in a sweet tone despite just being offended.

"It is rounding midday and I was wondering whether you would be kind enough to join me in a stroll around the castle gardens before accompanying me to lunch? I have some business I need to speak with you about."

"Certainly your highness, just give me a few moments while I change into some more appropriate clothes to join you." Nicole said as she ushered the king out of her room and shut the door on his face.

Turning to Daria she said "Okay Daria, could you help me get this ridiculous make up off my face before I go for a walk?"

"Oh, Daria will help! Use this to get that make up off." Daria handed me a wipe (similar to that you would get at a restaurant to clean off your hands) "Daria will find you a dress."

I started to work on getting the make-up off my face, which came off quite easy with the wipe and within a minute Daria had come back with a dress of a light blue colour, similar to that of a Victorian era dress but the skirt not as wide.

10 minutes later of getting the old make-up off and apply fresh layer, tightening my corset and brushing my hair I was ready to go on my walk. It was honestly as if Daria was on super speed mode, as it would have taken me at least an hour to get ready. I thanked Daria and walked out of my quarters to find the Goblin King waiting for me.

oOoOoOoO

In the Gardens

"It is a shame you have not brought me out here sooner, there are so many different and fascinating trees, flowers and other plants out here. Not to mention birds."

"I take it you also have an interest in botany as well as reading?"

"Yes, I have always found gardens to be peaceful and I good place to read or to observe the happenings of nature. Now what is this business you wanted to talk about?"

"Right, you will be expected to be an active member of the Goblin court when it is time. Your human knowledge is of great value as many kingdoms communicate with your world. As of the past century we have not had the opportunity to gain our knowledge on your world as not many people believe in my world. It appears that people no longer believe in 'fairy tales' or claim not to have time for them in their lives. It is because of this that we do not get many people of your age or older wished away to enlighten us of your ways, and those that are wished away to us have been small children too young to even communicate to others.

So, for you to contribute to the Goblin Kingdom or any kingdom in the underground I believe a formal education in our history, traditions, etiquette and other important court formalities would be of great value and gain much respect from other members of the courts."

"When do you intend for me to begin these classes and who do you propose to teach me? I have seen no-one besides you, Daria, and Rowen in the castle."

"I will be taking on that duty, currently there is not much happenings in my kingdom that Rowen can't handle himself. To answer your second question lessons will start every morning. You will wake up as per normal and join me for breakfast and a lesson in etiquette, from then on till lunch I shall tutor you in history. Lunch will be another lesson in etiquette followed by traditions and dinner will be a lesson in dinner etiquette. How about we meet up 5 days a week as per normal in the Aboveground?"

"Sounds perfect, that way I can get around to exploring the castle and the grounds."

"Also, one thing whilst I remember" the Goblin King produced a crystal "Use this to find where the lessons will be each day. Just place it on the floor and it will lead you to the right room."

I reached out to get the crystal from Jareth; the crystal was rather quite cool to the touch. "So I guess it would be safe to assume that all the lessons are not going to be in the same rooms. Which also makes me think that there will be other lessons too?"

"Yes of course, there are much more things you must learn before I intend to announce your arrival and present you to court. Now that we are finished organizing your studies I believe you would like to continue exploring my castle as I must give Rowen his duties and set up a few things before I take my temporary absence. Also, you wouldn't want to wander around the Labyrinth alone, we wouldn't want you to have another experience with the Bog Monster." Jareth smiled at the memory of Nicole asking for help when she was about to be attacked by the Bog Monster. He turned into his usual barn owl shape and flew into a window on a high floor of the castle.

So, I am all alone once again. I wonder whether Daria knows where the Library is; I think I will start exploring the insides of the castle before I start on the outside. This garden is beautiful though, I think I will take my lunch out here from now on. I walked around the garden some more to observe the many different kinds of flowers. There were flowers which were colours which I had never seen before, some colours which I had never even thought possible to see naturally on flowers. I could spend all afternoon here if I didn't make my way back to the castle to find the Library.

I walked back to the entrance way (crystal still in hand) to the garden where I entered and called out for Daria, hoping she would be somewhere nearby to show me up to the Library. Within a minute she appeared before me with the same big smile she always has.

"Where can Daria take you Nicole?" she said grabbing a hold of my hand.

"Daria, can you show me where the Library is?" I ask as she begins walking in a direction of the library pulling me by the hand.

We arrived in minutes and I thanked Daria for her help and she returned to her duties. I opened the grand doors to reveal a large library with all four walls covered with books and large ladders allowing access to books on a higher level. I walked around the room to inspect the walls of books. There was a large section on non-fiction books about politics and science from writers such as Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Newton, Franklin etc. I then wandered around to a section with titles I couldn't read, they were in a foreign language. I think it is Italian, it doesn't look French or Spanish and they were rather quite old.

Then there was the fiction wall. Never had I seen such a devoted library to many different varieties of fiction. There were works from Orwell, Ibsen, James, the complete works of Shakespeare and so much more. I could easily spend days reading all the different works and genres of books. I decided to pick up a few books to read so I would not spend all night and a good portion of tomorrow reading in the library.

After much thought I picked up; Othello and A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli just to start off and I would return them once I am done.

I picked up the books and the crystal (if only I had pockets in this dress) and decided to walk back to my room. I decided not to ask for help as I need to learn my way around the castle in order not to get lost, it would be embarrassing to still ask for directions if I have been here for more than a week. Six days to go, why am I even counting? I'm stuck here forever. What was that thing that Sarah wrote in that story about this place? Oh yeah, "Forever isn't long at all".

I was walking around for about 15 minutes before I realized that I was walking down the same staircase that I had just walked up. Okay, so what can I do? I sat down on the step for a moment to think through my options and began to stare at the crystal. I wonder what would happen if I put this on the ground now? Would it take me back to my room? I placed the crystal on the step besides me and it began to move. It took me down the steps and eventually led me back to my room! That's something very handy to remember when I get lost again.

I placed my books on the desk and changed into some night clothes for bed. After wiping what was left of my makeup and taking out bits of flowers which had fallen onto my hair during my lunch with the goblin king I put them in a nice pile on my dressing table. When I eventually went to bed I was greeted with a long slumber.

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