Chapter 14 What you Need

Dawn was just beginning to break when Sarah woke. She was still tired and could happily have stayed unconscious, but something had startled her. After a moment she heard it again- a quiet, slow shuffling accompanied by the occasional clang, bang and smack of some very large object moving along the wall of the building they had hunkered down in. Hoggle was still asleep, but quieter now than he had been most of the night. She nudged him awake but made sure he remained quiet so as not to alert whatever was outside of their presence.

Sarah was not sure she was feeling up to encountering any new creatures this morning. They waited quietly; hoping whatever it was would simply pass by. Unfortunately, luck did not seem to be on their side. The movement stopped at the front door and a moment later it swung open. The creature blocked all the faint morning light that might have come through the door so Sarah and Hoggle could not see anything but the black hulking form. They both froze, waiting for this creature to make the next move.

"Wot you doin' in my house?!" the creature called out in a shrill voice. It began to force its bulk through the small doorway.

Sarah squinted to get a better look and finally realized what she was seeing. She gave a sigh of relief, got up, and walked over to the owner of that voice. The little old woman was only a few feet tall, but somehow she had managed to strap a junk pile to her back that was at least five feet above her head. Sarah took the woman's hand and helped to yank her through the door.

"Hello," Sarah said. "We're sorry. We didn't think anyone lived in this house. It looked empty."

"Well a'course it looked empty. It would be foolish of me t' leave all me valuables unattended so any thieves what wanted them could take 'em." The old woman eyes them suspiciously for a moment but when they made no apparent move to rob her she reached for the clasp holding the backpack to her chest. Somehow removing that one snap released the entire pile and it fell to the floor and spread to the corners of the room. The wave of junk seemed to expand as it tumbled. It came up almost to Sarah's knees and actually knocked Hoggle off his feet. He grunted and struggled back into a standing position, but Sarah was distracted by the long stare the old woman was giving her.

"I know you," she said. "I've seen ya before."

Sarah nodded. "Yes, I'm Sarah. We met the last time I was here. You tried to distract me so I wouldn't make it to the castle."

"Ah yes, yes. You had some lovely things, just loverly! I think I might still have one or two items of yours." She began to shuffle through the items surrounding her but Sarah was not interested.

"That's all right," she replied. "There's nothing you have that I really need."

"Is that so," the tiny woman replied. "Don't tell me you're still trying to get t' the castle? I don't think you'se want to go there sweetie, it's nae a very nice place anymore."

"We're not going to the castle," Hoggle answered for them.

"We're looking for Jareth," Sarah said. "Have you seen him by any chance?"

"Jareth? Why nae, I've not seen 'im in ages. But I knew you'd come looking for him," she nodded to Sarah as if in confirmation of her own statement. "Knew you'd come. I've got something you'll need to find him." She continued to rummage through the items around her feet.

"You have something that will help us find him?" Sarah asked curiously.

"Definitely some things Miss Sarah needs to get to Jareth. Yes, yes!" The old woman was practically swimming through the junk pile now, sending up a spray of random items now and then. After a minute or two she surfaced and turned back to Sarah with a look of triumph. "Here we go, love, here's it is."

The first item the woman handed her was Sarah's high school diploma. Sarah stared at it for a moment in puzzlement, but the woman quickly piled on more items. Sarah wasn't able to properly look at it all as the pile grew, but she saw a playbill from her first acting job, an award she won in college, her driver's license, some knick knacks from her apartment, and at the very top, a framed picture of Mark from Valentine's Day earlier that year. After dropping this load into Sarah's arms the old woman began to rummage again.

Sarah looked through the pile with interest, a slight smile playing across her face when she looked at these mementos, but when Hoggle discretely cleared his throat she snapped out of it. She was not going to fall for the same trick a second time. She dropped the items back into the waves of junk and turned to the old woman.

"Thanks, but none of this will help us search. We should be going."

"Search?" the old woman sounded confused. "No, no. That's not fer searchin', that's fer travelin'. You've been travelin'."

Sarah smiled and nodded in appeasement. "Yes, we've been traveling, and now we need to go on."

The woman dumped the items out of her arms. "Ooch, well, then you'se better take this then." She unearthed a backpack from the pile and handed it over. "It's some vittles to give you energy. It's no good skippin' breakfast ya know!"

Sarah took the bag and peeked in. It seemed to be packed with snack foods and an old-fashioned waterskin. She thanked the old woman for her kindness and removed a small ring from her finger to give her in return. It was a simple silver Celtic knot but the old woman's eyes lit up as if she'd been given a giant ruby."

"Very kind, very kind!" the woman cried in pleasure. She carefully tucked the ring into a pouch that was tied around her neck.

"Well, we best be leaving," Hoggle said. Sarah nodded and they turned to go. The sun was up now and light was streaming in through the door as they reached it. Sarah turned to say goodbye when something glinting in the pile near her feet caught her eye. It was a small, perfect looking crystal ball. Sarah picked it up and looked into it, but all she saw was her own distorted reflection. Still, she was drawn to the object with the same strong pull she had felt the first time Jareth had offered her one in exchange for Toby.

"Where did you find this?" she asked the woman.

"Wat? That's not mine. I never seen that a'fore in my life."

"Then you won't mind if I keep it?" Sarah asked.

"It's not mine, it must be yours. It's yours."

Sarah had difficulty taking her eyes away from the ball, but Hoggle shuffled impatiently at her side so she carefully put it into the backpack and thanked the old woman again before turning and stepping outside of the little house. She felts surprisingly well this morning and ready to continue on in their quest. The only problem was, she had no idea which way their quest was meant to take them now.