Disclaimer: Still own nothing. Original characters are the property of Henson Co.

Chapter 11

Oh it's magic when I'm with you

"Sarah! Focus!" Jareth barked as he paced back and forth.

"I'm sorry, Jareth. I was so distracted by this butterfly. I found it so much more interesting than whatever you were saying... Of course, I'm focusing!" Sarah snapped as she rose to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. "Stop being irritable."

For the past hour or so, Sarah and Jareth had been sitting in the castle gardens, attempting to gain control over her magic. After breakfast, Jareth began the magic training, which so far consisted of meditation. He told Sarah that she must find her magic by quieting her mind and searching for a connection. The whole notion sounded ridiculous to Sarah, but Jareth's methods were all she had. What she didn't understand was Jareth's impatience.

"You're not doing it right," Jareth complained as he stalked toward her.

"How could you possible know that," Sarah held her arms out in exasperation. "I'm meditating the best way I know how."

"It shouldn't be taking this long," he said, pacing again.

"How long does this magical connection, or whatever you call it, take to bond?"

"It depends. Two weeks to several months," Jareth shrugged casually.

Sarah was beside herself with disbelief. "What? And you're freaking out because a few minutes have gone by."

"Actually, it's been an hour," Jareth clarified. Sarah crossed her arms and gave him a stern look.

"Really," she deadpanned.

"Sarah, you don't quite comprehend the nature of things. The magic inside you is not natural. No, that's not right. It's not…"

"Normal?" Sarah answered.

"Correct. It's not normal. The regular time frame for a connection should be different as well," he said.

"Okay. Sure, that makes sense. But, can you at least wait for a few hours to pass before you turn on your crazy?" she implored.

"Sarah, we don't have much time."

"Much time? We don't even know what's going on," she reasoned.

"Even more of a reason to be swift about these things," he said, arms crossed.

"Well, I can't focus if you keep pacing back and forth, back and forth. Do you know just how annoying that is? You're impeding my development," Sarah said as she sat back on the grass.

Jareth hovered over her and tilted his head to the side. "Don't be so dramatic, Precious. It makes you look haggard."

Sarah soared to her feet and pushed Jareth hard enough for him to stumble back, almost losing his footing.

"Shut up, Jareth! I'm tired of your spiteful comments!"

In an instant, Sarah's eyes flashed red before returning to their normal green.

"Sarah, stop!" he commanded as he held out a palm to halt her.

"What now?" she demanded.

"Your eyes. They were red, but only for moment," he explained.

Sarah's anger quickly dissipated. "Really?" Her hands touched the skin around her eyes. "Wh-what does that mean?"

"At the Seelie palace, you said you felt unusually warm before everyone lost consciousness. Did you feel that way just now?"

"Um…no. Yes? Not really. Well, a little. I didn't feel as warm just now. But, everyone feels hot when they get mad," she rationalized.

"No. No. Your magic has manifested itself every time you were under duress," he said.

"But you're still conscious," she said.

"Which is a good thing. Seems as though I did not push you far enough," Jareth mused.

Exasperated, Sarah threw up her arms. "That's stupid. I can only use magic when I'm upset," she complained.

"Doesn't seem a hard feat to accomplish," he joked. Sarah shot him a warning look. Jareth raised his palms in the air. "Only joking, Precious. It's possible that your magic is strongest when coinciding with a strong emotion- not necessarily anger. Let's test this hypothesis, shall we? Close your eyes and hold out your hand, palm side up." Sarah did as instructed.

"Now, think of an emotion, any emotion. However, preferably one that does not cause me physical harm," Jareth jested. With her eyes closed, she searched her thoughts for an emotion that could be strong enough to access her magic. She sensed a warm sensation in her body as the magical connection took hold. All the while, the thought of that wild hair fae swirled around her mind.

Suddenly, a small fire ball formed, hovering above her palm.

"Sarah!" Jareth whispered with excitement. "Open your eyes."

She did as instructed and immediately realized she was holding...

"Fire! Why am I holding fire?" Sarah stretched her arm out further from her body. Jareth encircled her wrist with his hand, ensuring that in her panic she didn't drop the sphere. The fire ball swirled around itself and formed a red crystal. Sarah let out the breath she had not realized she was holding.

"Oh, good. It's no longer fire," Sarah said. Jareth continued to stare at her hand with astonishment in his eyes.

"Okay. I have crystal. What do I do with it?" Sarah said. "Hello? I finally made a crystal. Are we going to do anything?" Sarah waved the crystal around the air.

"Do you realize what you did?" Jareth whispered.

"I made a crystal. And, why are we whispering?" she whispered back.

"You're magic manifested itself as fire, pure energy," Jareth clarified.

"And I'm guessing that's not normal also?" she asked slowly. "I'm starting to think that I'm a freak."

"Seelie faes' magic manifests itself in white or blue," Jareth explained. "Unseelie's always purple—"

"But yours is clear," Sarah interjected; Jareth gave a small smile

"And your magic is red. We fae derive our magic from the world around us. The energy of the Undergound fuels our magic. But you, Sarah, must be harnessing your own magical energy- an island unto yourself."

"If this has never happened before, how do you know this? Maybe my magic finds blue and white to be boring colors. My magic just wants to be unique," Sarah said, trying to convince herself.

"I came across this idea while in the library the other day. I wondered if it applied to you since red showed up in the barrier in our corridor. All of this has only been thought of as hypothetical by Seers eons ago: the idea that faes could no longer be reliant on the existence of the Underground," he explained.

"Why would anyone want to leave the Underground?"

"Why do humans dream of leaving Earth?" Jareth retorted.

"Point taken," she said.

"Besides," Jareth continued. "It's not about leaving the Underground, per se. It's about having ultimate power."

Sarah threw the crystal in the air, catching it as it came back down. She was not as elegant as Jareth was with his crystal, but she wasn't trying to be elegant. She was trying to take her mind away from the notion that she should be studied in a lab.

"This magic theory lesson is great and all, but what does this all mean?" Sarah asked.

"What I believe this means is that you were never meant to rule, Sarah. You were meant to be a power supply."

Sarah eyes went wide in horror. The poor crystal fell and shattered on the grass, forgotten. "What?" she yelled in disbelief.

"A power supply. A weapon of war and conquest. A means to an end. Pick whichever one makes you feel better," he said.

"None," Sarah said. "None of those makes me feel better. It's my magic. How is anyone to use it?"

"There's a reason why faes are taught at a very young age to control their magic. It takes minimal effort for another fae to garner unharnessed magic. For years, I just assumed your parents were simply dim. I'm now wishing that were true," he said with a tinge of regret in his voice.

"So, you're saying they locked me away for years only to use me for their own purposes? How does that work if they were going to marry me off? Oh, wait. I'm guessing this has something to do with what I overheard? About owing the Elven King?"

"Possibly, but right now, I don't know," Jareth admitted.

"Why would they do this?" she asked. "They had my magic when I was Above. Why bring me back?"

Jareth slowly walked paced in front of her. "They didn't have all of your magic."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever they did, the technique they used, didn't allow them to fully take your magic away," he explained.

"So they need all of my magic? For what? What do they plan to do?"

"I have no idea."

"This is just crazy. None of this makes any sense. Why me? Why would my magic be that strong? Neither of my parents is that powerful."

Jareth shrugged his shoulders. "Again, I don't know."

Sarah dropped to the ground in defeat, spread out her arms, and closed her eyes "I'm done. I quit. I would like to just sleep now," she grumbled.

Jareth looked down and tilted his head to the side. "You made your first crystal, realized that there's an elaborate plot surrounding you, and you want to lie in the dirt?" he asked.

"It's not dirt. It's actually very lovely grass you have here," she said.

"Sarah…"

"Jareth."

He rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose because he was unable to accept the fact that he was engaging in childish conversation with a grown fae who insisted on lying about.

"Sarah," he said pointedly.

"Jareth," she said, mocking his tone.

"If we break for lunch, could we get back to the lessons that you now deem unimportant, even with this new found knowledge?"

Sarah stood up and dusted off the back of her jeans. "Don't be nasty, Jareth. I would really like a break. My head is going to explode. So, yes to the food and then more hocus pocus."

Jareth's mouth thinned, and Sarah noticed his body beginning to tense. Before he could go off on a rant about something she didn't want to hear about, she grabbed his face and gave him a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He has a tendency to take things too seriously.

"Only joking about the hocus pocus line, Jareth. Stop being so serious all the time."

Jareth grasped Sarah's wrists, not allowing her to remove her hands from his face.

"Do you wish to torment me?" he asked, his voice strained.

Sarah tilted her head up to look him in the eyes, genuinely confused. "Do I torment you, Jareth?"

"Every day," he confessed.

"Your Majesty!" cried Avitus as he walked toward the pair. "I'm told your midday meal is ready in the dining hall."

Jareth released her wrists and turned toward his advisor. "Yes, I know where I eat my meals, Avitus!" he snarled.

Avitus halted his steps, bowed to Jareth, and turned back to the castle's entrance. Avitus had been Jareth's advisor for many centuries. He knew when he was not wanted, and now was one of those times.

Sarah moved to Jareth's side and yelled to the exiting fae, "He means 'thank you'!"

Avitus gave Sarah a small smile and shook his head with mirth. "I will be surprised if this castle is still standing by week's end," he muttered to himself.

Sarah started to walk towards the door when Jareth brought her to a stop.

"Sarah…" he softly said.

"Let's not argue now, okay? Can we have a congenial meal? Please?" Sarah pleaded.

Jareth gave a nod of acquiescence and escorted her to the dining hall. After a few minutes of eating in silence, Sarah couldn't bear the tension.

"Jareth, I'm sor…"

"You really should learn to stop apologizing so much," Jareth interrupted.

"I didn't mean to upset you. That's all I wanted to say," Sarah explained.

"You didn't upset me," Jareth said dismissively as he continued to eat.

"Well, you sure did seem upset."

"Learn quickly, Sarah. I always seem upset," Jareth said tersely.

Why must he be so childish? Sarah let out a defeated sigh.

"We can't keep doing this. I can't keep doing this. We fight over the stupidest stuff. It's as though we argue just to see how upset the other can become. We're stepping on each other's toes without knowing that we are hurting the other."

Jareth placed his silverware on the table, worrying his forehead with his fingers.

"We have come to some sort of impasse. And what are we going to do about this predicament?" Jareth asked. "You're certainly a stubborn imp, and I—"

"Have a temper straight from Hades and are as irritable as a baby with a five-day old rash," Sarah bit out.

The two faes glared at each other. After a few seconds, both their mouths began to curl. Jareth laughed first, naturally. Sarah's hands covered her face trying to hide the laugh she could no longer suppress.

"Oh god," Sarah whined.

"Why in the Underground would you want to change this?" Jareth asked still laughing.

"Because we'll both have an aneurism if we go on like this. How about this? We start over, sort of," she offered. "We can't undo the past between us; it would be impossible to forget or change it. And I wouldn't want to even if I could. But, we both start with a fresh slate. No grudges. No resentments. We both try to be more accepting about each other's, um, personality differences. What do you say? Deal?" Sarah held out her hand as a peace offering.

Jareth looked down at her hand and then back at Sarah. He grasped her hand with his and lifted it to his mouth for a kiss.

"Deal," he purred. As he released her hand, Jareth noticed a blush creeping into her cheeks.

"You're such a...a..."

"What, Precious?" Jareth asked, daring her to say something.

"A...never mind. Forget it," she muttered as she continued her meal

Jareth could not stop the smile that spread across his face. New beginnings or not, he always did like making her squirm. The two of them continued their meal in silence, however, this time the quiet in the air was less weighty.

"Jareth, I meant to ask you something kind of important," Sarah said as she finished her food. He raised an interested brow and nodded for her to continue.

Sarah looked down at her empty plate. "It's just, I was initially promised that if I agreed to return to the Underground, I would be able to visit my family, I mean, my Aboveground family, but only if I learned how to transport myself there. Obviously, that promise was a lie, but could you—if it's not too much?"

"Take you there to visit them?" Jareth said.

"Yeah. If it's not too much. You can just drop me off or something. I'll come right back," Sarah said, her eyes pleading his.

Jareth took a large gulp of wine from his chalice. "And you'll do what while you are there? I'm sure they'll love to hear your explanation of how you're an exiled fae princess from a magical land. I am a king, Sarah. I have much to do that doesn't involve casual field trips to the Aboveground. Besides, you should spend as much time as possible practicing your magic."

The hope from a moment ago fell from Sarah's face and was replaced with disappointment.

"Right. Of course," she said as she attempted to hide her melancholy expression. "Like I said, if it's not too much."

Jareth let out a small sigh. He always hated to see her distraught, and it was not her fault that she was lied to and left her family without any real knowledge of when she would return.

"I have meetings with my regional governors tomorrow afternoon. But," Jareth said as he extended his index finger toward her. "You will train for the rest of today and all of tomorrow afternoon until I take you. We'll arrive the day after tomorrow. Is all that clear?"

Sarah eyes went wide, and she nodded her head in earnest. "Yes! Of course," she said as she launched herself into his arms and sat in his lap, much to Jareth's surprise and pleasure. Sarah's arms clutched around his waist as her head rested on his shoulder, pure glee emanating from her. "Thank you. Thank you," she whispered into his ear. Jareth's gloved hand slowly stroked the hair on her back, savoring this moment for as long as it would last.

"You're very welcome, Precious," Jareth whispered back. Sarah reared her head back to look into his mismatched eyes.

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why do you always call me that?"

"Because…that's what you are," he said, brushing a flyaway hair from her face. Sarah smiled as he touched her face, enjoying his subtle caresses, and surprising herself by her own acceptance of his affection.

"Sire, one of the stable dwarves asked whether to feed the new horse a particular diet or the same as the others," Avitus asked as he walked into the dining hall.

"Bloody fool. Always has terrible timing," Jareth mumbled into Sarah's hair as he nuzzled her shoulder.

Avitus slowed his walk as he came closer to the embracing couple. Sarah noticed Avitus' obvious discomfort as he stood awaiting instructions from Jareth, who was too busy nestling Sarah's neck.

"Her name is Daisy," Sarah said, trying to nudge the fae king off her shoulder yet failing miserably since Jareth's arm tightened its hold around her waist. "She eats what every other horse does. She does, however, prefer oats and carrots. Let go of me."

"Never," Jareth said while nipping Sarah's ear. "You have your answer, Avitus. Now, go away."

Sarah pushed against his chest, and she finally wrestled her way out of his arms, standing to walk toward the advisor.

"Avitus? Jareth's advisor? Nice to finally meet you. I'm Sarah," she introduced herself with an outstretched hand. Avitus looked down at her hand with confusion.

"Oh, right," Sarah said as she pulled her arm back. "That's a human custom. Sorry. I forget the difference sometimes." Avitus smiled and gave a small bow.

"Well, I must say, I'm happy to see that at least someone in this room has manners," Avitus said as he looked over to see Jareth leaning back in his chair directing a miserable sneer at the advisor. Apparently, the king already misses having a companion in his arms, Avitus thought.

"Human customs?" Avitus queried. "Clearly you have magic. I can sense it. However, you look human."

Jareth let out a loud groan as his head fell to his hands. Sarah turned back and forth between Jareth and Avitus.

"What?" She wondered aloud.

Avitus' eyes became wide with recognition. "No. But you cannot be her. Why is the Seelie Princess here without an escort?"

"Damn it, Sarah," Jareth complained. "He didn't know who you were."

"Rest assured, Your Majesty and Your Highness…"

"Ugh. You do not need to call me that," Sarah offered.

"Just let him. Being overly proper brings him joy," Jareth said, giving his advisor a smirk.

Avitus overtly cleared his throat. "As I was saying, rest assured, as a loyal subject to the throne and His Majesty, your secret is safe with me, Princess Sarah."

"Just Sarah," she corrected. Avitus gave her an odd look.

"There's no need for titles or anything," she expounded.

Avitus turned his head to Jareth, the odd expression still on his face.

"Sarah, just let him call you by your titles," Jareth said in bored tones. "You'll get a headache otherwise."

She shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to make a large ordeal out of a menial detail. "All right, Avitus. Address me as you see proper, I guess."

Avitus gave a low bow to both of them as he left the room. Sarah turned to face Jareth, hands on her hips.

"So. What are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Sarah asked. A wicked smirk formed on Jareth's mouth. As he slowly rose from his seat, he said, "My dear Sarah, forgotten already?"

"Ah! Damn it!" Sarah yelled as a crystal flew by her, narrowly missing her face. She ran through the garden dodging crystals being thrown by Jareth. She was supposed to be counteracting the attacks with her hands, which by now glowed red with her magic. However, after a few near hits, Sarah decided to take off running, no matter how many times Jareth reassured her that the crystals were harmless.

After lunch, Jareth escorted Sarah out to the garden and, without hesitation, began to throw crystals at her. Luckily for Sarah, her magic immediately protected her with a small cloudy red barrier around her. Jareth continued to pummel the barrier until it began to crack. After the barrier fell, Sarah began to successfully bat away the crystals, at least, until Jareth decided to throw more crystals. At that point, Sarah ran for cover.

"Sarah! Stop running!" Jareth bellowed, amusement coloring his tone.

"Stop throwing things at me!" She yelled behind a tall hedge.

"The point of this exercise isn't to play hide and seek," Jareth called out as he sauntered around the garden with a crystal in his hand. "How are you to learn to quickly use your magic if you just run away?"

Sarah peeked through the bushes to ensure that Jareth was not on her trail. "How is throwing orbs at me supposed to help?" she cried back.

Jareth walked around the hedges, peering over the tops in search of Sarah. "Hand-eye coordination, Sarah. You can't just meditate all day to gain access to your magic. You must learn to think fast and effectively."

"You could have warned me," she said.

"I wanted to check your reflexes," he replied.

"What are you, a doctor?" She yelled. "Stay away from me!"

Jareth let out a loud, all-encompassing laugh that filled the air. In shock, Sarah jumped up from her hiding place. Unfortunately for Sarah, he spotted her immediately from the opposite side of the garden. Their eyes met.

"Shit," she muttered as she turned to run and ran right into him.

"And where do you think you're going?" he said with a menacing smile.

Sarah surrendered and placed her glowing red hands up in the air. "This isn't fun anymore," she said. "Also, you cheated."

"It was never fun for you. However, I still find it very entertaining," Jareth said as he threw the crystal at her. Sarah blocked the attack as Jareth continued the assault, backing her up closer to the castle walls. Faster and faster, Jareth threw crystals and even faster Sarah blocked his attacks. Sarah raised her hands in triumph when she blocked the last of Jareth's crystal balls.

"I did it! Not once did those stupid crystals of yours hit me," Sarah shouted in triumph. Jareth stalked toward Sarah during her small celebration. One moment, she was basking in her victory and the next she was being tackled by the Goblin King.

"Ugh! Get off of me!" Sarah demanded. "What are you doing?" Jareth pinned her hands above her head and straddled her legs to stop the inevitable thrashing.

"Rule number one, Sarah. The lesson is not to block the magic being used against you, but to stop the one who is using the magic," Jareth whispered in her ear while giving her ear a little nip. "You lose, Precious."

Sarah blew out a puff of air. "You didn't even tell me the rules. How am I supposed to know how to win?"

"Last time I checked, your enemy won't tell you his plans ahead of time," Jareth said. "You must figure that out on your own."

"Cheat," she mumbled.

Jareth dipped his head to her shoulder and gave her a small kiss. "Sore loser," he murmured in response.

Sarah noticed Jareth still had a hold of her arms. "You should let me go," she whispered. She swallowed the lump that developed in her throat.

"I don't want to," he admitted as he nuzzled her neckline. Sarah's heart beat so rapidly that she almost feared that he would be able to hear its sporadic beats. Jareth released Sarah's arms as he traced her collarbone with a gloved finger. Noticing the rise and fall of her chest and her dilated eyes, Jareth ceased touching Sarah. His mismatched eyes captured hers as he stared into their deep jade depths.

"Do I make you nervous, Sarah?" he asked.

Sarah brought her hand to his brow to move several strands of wispy blond hair away from his eyes. "No," she answered with certainty.

Without hesitation, Jareth lips were on hers. His kiss was hungry and desperate. The kiss caught Sarah off guard, but she quickly reciprocated Jareth's advances. Jolts of want and desire traveled through her body. The heady sensations from Jareth's ministrations felt electrifying; in ways she never believed a kiss could be. Sarah's hand latched onto his hair, attempting to hold him in place as her free hand grabbed at the front of his shirt, bringing his body closer.

Meanwhile, Jareth reached a gloved hand behind her neck to pull her closer to him. Her small moans of pleasure were music to his ears, a glorious sound he never wanted to stop hearing. She slowly caressed his head with her hand. His lips left hers as he peppered kisses up and down her neck, allowing Sarah to catch her breath. Realization of where they were and what they were doing sobered Sarah instantly. She let go of his hair and started to push against Jareth's chest.

"Jareth, we have to stop." Sarah's voice was breathless, soft, a little gravely, and sexy as hell for Jareth.

"No," he growled in response, nipping her neck in protest. Rational thought was quickly leaving his mind as his kisses traveled further down to her chest. In her attempt to stop him, Sarah wrapped her legs around his torso and flipped them both so that she straddled Jareth. Seeing the Cheshire cat grin on his face, Sarah wondered if her brilliant idea of escape might not backfire.

"If you wanted to be on top, Precious, all you had to do was ask. Not my most favorite position," he said as he gave a slight thrust. "But definitely top ten."

Having found her voice and trusting it fully, Sarah placed her hands on his chest. "Seriously, stop… wait. Top ten? TEN?" she said in wide-eyed bewilderment.

Jareht let out a snort. "Male humans lack imagination; I never would have imagined," he scoffed.

"Whatever. I don't want to be doing this," she said as she gestured between her and Jareth. "In a public place."

"It's not a public place. These are my private gardens—"

"Where advisors can just walk out," she interrupted.

"It's much more exciting that way," Jareth smirked. His smile fell slightly as Sarah's words finally registered with him. He tilted his head to the side and said, "Your objections are geography based?"

She crossed her arms over her chest in objection. "I'm sorry that I don't want everyone to see my ass and other things. You may be into that, but I'm certainly not," Sarah said. Jareth sat up, an arm wrapped her around the waist, ensuring that Sarah did not move from his lap and grabbed her face with his free hand.

Searching her jade eyes, his mouth went dry as he struggled to find the proper words to say. He brought his gloved thumbed up to trace her lips, resisting the urge to kiss them again.

"That's not what I meant. You do not object to me? To us? Being with me doesn't repulse you?" he asked.

His question was baffling to her. Repulsed? Why should I see him as repulsive?

Sarah took hold of his wrist, slowly caressing the skin left exposed by his glove.

Sarah let loose a sly smile. "You silly king. Why would I find you repulsive? If I didn't think there would be an 'us', I would've shot you across the garden a long time ago."

Jareth flipped them again causing Sarah to hit the ground with a small thud. He brought his face nose to nose with Sarah's. "I'd like to see you try," Jareth countered.

"Kingy!" came a loud squeak several feet behind them.

"They're buggers, the lot of them. Everyone in this bloody kingdom," Jareth moaned into Sarah's hair. She could not hold back the chuckle that escaped her.

"Don't act so condescending. You love them," she offered.

"I tolerate them," he corrected.

"Kingy!" the voice squeaked out again, this time closer.

"What do you want, you impatient imp!" Jareth yelled as he removed himself from Sarah and sat on the ground next to her.

The green imp jumped on the toe of Jareth's shoe; Sarah recognized him immediately.

"Rasch!" Sarah cried.

The imp's large orange eyes grew larger as he saw the brunette sitting next to his King. "Princess Sarah?" Rasch marveled aloud. The imp climbed up on Sarah to give her a big imp-sized hug around her neck.

Jareth's eyes rolled as he took in the scene before him. "Oh yes. How could I forget? You have an uncanny ability to make friends with my subjects wherever you go. I should make certain to never truly upset you. You'll lead a revolution against me."

"Don't be jealous, Jareth," Sarah joked as she placed Rasch back on the grass.

"I'm not jealous of a senseless imp," Jareth muttered to himself as he produced an apple and a knife.

"What are you doing with that?" Sarah asked while he started cutting off slices from the fruit.

Jareth tossed a slice to Rasch. "Imps crave friendship and attention, but they get annoying rather quickly. Feeding this one tempers the stupidity," Jareth explained.

Sarah shook her head at his constant insults. "If he's so stupid, why do you put up with him?"

"He's able to go places without being seen, and his speech is impeccable for an imp," Jareth explained.

Sarah turned to Rasch and said, "So, my little imp friend, long time no see. What are you so excited about?"

"I goes on mission for Kingy. And I cames back with information, just like he told me too," Rasch said while chewing on the presented pieces of apple.

"And what thrilling information do you have for me?" he asked.

"Everythings was like last time I was there. Except theres no big party," Rasch said with a mouthful of apple. "No mentions of a missing princess by the anyones."

Jareth rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Odd."

Rasch rushed over to Jareth and plucked an apple slice out of his hand. "Buts I was able to sneaks in on a meeting with the other kingy over there."

"And?"

Rasch spoke in between apple chews. "He's talking to some ones with cloaked hood."

"A Seer?" Sarah guessed.

"I's don't know. He ordered the cloaked hood one to do something in thirty days. I didn't hear what it was," Rasch shrugged. "Theys also talked about the Elven kingdom wanting to fight with them and buildings up an armies. Treaty being broken, I's think they said. At the ends of the meeting, guards dragged the hoodie guy away."

Sarah could not believe what the imp just said. "The elven kingdom is going to war with the Seelie Court? And a seer being imprisoned? That's insane."

"Not the Seelie Court. Sounds like just the Kingdom of the Faes. Seems like the other kingdoms want nothing to do with this," Jareth pondered. "Or know anything about this. Although, I'm not certain why Oberon would give a seer an order and then have him dragged away by guards. "

"This doesn't make any sense. And how is my disappearance not known by everyone?" Sarah asked. "I'm kind of insulted."

"How many different individuals did you encounter on a daily basis?" Jareth countered.

"Um… one. Maybe two. Okay. Fine. But the rest?"

"Your powers are great and could be used as some sort of a weapon. Why not keep the fact that you are missing hidden? Seems things have gone terribly wrong for Oberon; there is no advantage for him to spread rumors of a war with the elves. All that would do is reveal him for the insane fae he is. The Seer is probably trying to find you in order to bring you back."

"Why haven't they been able to find me?"

"Did no one tell you?" Jareth asked. He was met with a blank stare from Sarah.

"No. Of course, you weren't told. Your magic shields you from scrying magic, Sarah. If someone is trying to find you using magic, they'll be playing a losing game," Jareth said.

"But, they found me before," Sarah stated. "And I didn't have magic."

"Have you forgotten already, Sarah? You still had remnants of your magic. Even the little bit you had left shielded you," he explained. "They found because you were back at the home they left you at as a child. If they could have found you in your own home in the land of Seattle, they would have come for you there."

"So, the entire Seelie Court is going to be torn apart because of me," Sarah said.

"Listen to me," Jareth demanded. "None of this is your fault. Oberon has himself to blame for this. These situations usually have timelines. Rasch, did you hear any sort of time frame for this war?

"Thirty day!" yelled the imp, spitting apple pieces from his mouth. "I's knew it would be important so I made sure Is didn't forget thirty." Sarah smiled at the green imp. His enthusiasm was amusing to watch.

"Seems Oberon likes thirty days. We have thirty days then to prepare," Jareth said as he stood up. He offered his hand to Sarah which she took.

"Prepare for what?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I know it will include you becoming stronger with your magic," he said.

A/N: Continual thanks to the readers of this story... You complete me. Just kidding; that's creepy.