Meals were still served in the immense banquet hall, but now Sarah and Jareth were joined by the rabble of giggling Goblins. At first she was pleased with the chatter and camaraderie, until the food was actually served. Then all hell broke loose.

Surprised, she watched as goblins scattered to and fro across the table, even through the food leaving mashed potato footprints everywhere. She turned to Jareth, who sat there nonplussed, King of the chaos that reigned in the banquet hall.

Jareth saw her jaw drop, and saw the shock and disgust in her eyes. He turned back to the Goblins. One of them was using his shoe to drink soup. He sighed inwardly and then cleared his throat.

"Attention." He wasn't heard over the din. Out came a crystal ball which rose over the table, to the rafters of the hall before exploding, sending a shower of sparks on the dinner party. Everyone stopped to look at him.

Silently, he picked up a spoon, and waited for all the goblins to do so. Half of them picked up their forks, and he shook his head once, waiting until everyone had it right. He glanced at Sarah, and saw the relief in her eyes. She picked up her spoon and began to eat the soup daintily.

The peace didn't last long. She had no idea how but half of the Goblins managed to stab themselves with their spoons, but they did. Meanwhile, the other half accidentally spilled the hot soup down their trousers. Jareth looked pained.

Quickly seeing a compromise, Sarah dropped her spoon on the floor and used both hands to pick up her bowl, holding it in the air. She met his unbalanced eyes over the rim as she drank the soup directly from the bowl. It was easy, and reminded her of her childhood; getting the last dregs of milk from Cocoa Crispies cereal in the mornings. Following her example, the Goblin King held his soup bowl high. The Goblins, eager to please, matched his actions.

"Cheers!" they roared, and toasted each other with soup.

Sarah put the bowl down, wiping her mouth with a napkin. She belched. A look of horror crossed her face but the goblins loved it; their sides split with laughter. She glanced at Jareth, who threatened to break into a smile at any second. Like tears, silliness was catching and soon Sarah and the Goblin King were laughing right along with them.

"Okay, does everyone understand the rules?"

Although Sir Didymus, Ludo and Jareth nodded their heads in agreement, the handful of Goblins who had wanted to play freeze tag stared at her in confusion. Sarah sighed and stooped down to their eye level.

"Don't let him," she pointed to Ludo, "catch you. Okay? Run away as fast as you can."

Now they nodded, giggling and drooling.

As Ludo counted to ten, hiding his eyes behind his massive paws, the other players scattered over the ranges of perspectives in the Escher room. Sir Didymus and Ambrocious galloped up the wall and around a corner while the goblins opted to shift to the underside of the landing everyone was standing on before spreading out.

"Four….five….siiiiiiiix…"

Sarah and Jareth grinned and took off up a flight of stairs. The last step ended in mid-air, and Sarah paused at the edge.

"You remember what I taught you?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded, and slipped her hand into his. "Just keep walking. Got it."

"Ten!" Ludo finished, his hands dropping from his eyes. He looked up and saw the two at the stop of the stairs, and lumbered after them.

Sarah closed her eyes and stepped forward off the top stair. The trick was to not jump; just put one foot in front of the other as if everything was normal. She felt the world turn upside down and when she opened her eyes, it had. They were on the bottom side of the stairs they had just raced up, leaving a confused Ludo to scratch his head once he reached the top. The monster was not as deft at changing perspectives as the other players. Sarah and Jareth ran down the stairs right beneath him and moved in separate directions at a stone arch. The Goblin King went through the archway; Sarah walked above it.

They played for hours. Everyone was a lot harder to catch than they looked; just because the Goblins didn't have a lot of brains didn't mean they weren't fast on their legs. And Ludo was large but he had the very rocks on his side, he could make steps and ledges vanish behind him, confounding his pursuer. Sir Didymus and Ambrocious were like little balls of furry lightning and Jareth, well, he was in his element. Sarah found herself being stuck as "it" frequently but it didn't matter; she was having a ball skipping from floor to wall to ceiling as easy as strolling down her old street.

She leaned against the wall for a moment, out of breath after chasing a pair of goblins for a good ten minutes. At first she thought there was only one but after they pointed and laughed at her from a flight of stairs that jutted out from a wall, she realized they were identical twins who were leading her on a wild goose chase.

She sensed movement above her, and felt the warm energy of magic. Her eyes rose and there, less than four feet away, the Goblin King stood on the ledge directly above her head. Even though she was used to the effects of the Escher room, it was still a blow to her equilibrium.

"Had enough?" he inquired innocently.

"Never." She tried to jump up to tag him, arms flailing, but he managed to duck out of reach. She finally gave up, hands on hips and eyeing him in exasperation.

"You know the view from up here is quite…spectacular." His eyes flickered a few inches south of her rosy face. She followed his gaze and gasped; the particular gown she was wearing was lightweight for playing in but also very low cut. He was looking right down her bodice at the swells of her breasts! Her face rose once again to his, this time flushed with mortified indignance.

"You!" Closing her eyes, she ran straight at the wall, and then suddenly she was running up it. He led her on a merry chase, and for once she was able to match him perspective for perspective, sliding easily from floor to wall to ceiling as she attempted to remain hot on his tail. She raced down a flight of stairs and through a doorway, and instead of finding Jareth she bumped headlong into Hoggle.

They fell in a pile of arms and legs and water; he had been carrying his watering can to the greenhouse. He let out a loud groan and rubbed his head, picking at his drenched clothes.

"Why don't you watch where you're going!" he growled.

Sarah rolled over with a moan and shook her head. Her eyes slowly focused on the dwarf.

"Oh. Its you." Hoggle immediately went from outraged to disgraced, and bent to gather his dented watering can and small cap so he could scurry off without further confrontation.

Sarah remained silent for a moment, torn between her bitterness and genuine concern for her friend; he looked horrible.

/no I ain't, I'm Hoggle/

He looked thinner, and more wizened than before. Also like he hadn't slept in days.

"I was just passing through, I'll be leaving now."

She stood at a crossroads and knew she only had a few seconds to decide before Hoggle walked away. If she kept her mouth shut like her stubbornness wanted her to, she would be walking down a path of bottled up anger and resentment for the rest of her life. As much as she missed her family…that was no way to live. She wouldn't…couldn't live like that.

"Hoggle?"

He paused, turning around no hope in his eyes. It was obvious he was expecting, waiting to bear the burden of her bitterness.

She stood, brushing her dusty gown off and making a mental note to get some proper play clothes before Portia outright murdered her.

"Wanna play tag?"