Sarah, Alone (Late Spring - 1989)
Sarah returned to school both sad and determined. Her plan was in place; she just had to see it through.
With a dorm room to herself and no one looking over her shoulder, Sarah began to use her magic more and more. Unlike most wizards, she hadn't been trained to use words or tools to focus and direct magical energy - she used only her emotions and her will. Eleanor had given her the basics, but since most of her training had been focused on diffusing and hiding her magic, she found that she didn't exactly know what she could do with it.
But as Sarah began to experiment, she found she could do almost anything she tried.
For instance, she found a quick gesture could tidy a goblin-ransacked room, which proved valuable as goblins visited her almost daily. She discovered that she could move objects by directing wind and use a pointed finger to light candles individually or en masse. She determined she had a particular knack for glamour, as her mother had, but found little use for it day to day. She could not, however, produce crystal orbs, much to her disappointment.
She began to use magic for simple tasks every day. But she also started to notice a specific side effect.
It began gradually. Sarah had taken to wearing her hair up most of the time, mostly as a practical matter. She would sometimes catch her long hair uncomfortably in the straps of her backpack, and the constant Chicago wind would blow it over her face as she walked. She noticed one day that the bobby pins holding up her hair had begun to irritate her scalp. She started to wear a ponytail instead, but the metal clasp on the elastic band also began to itch if it got too near her skin. Sarah was eventually forced to throw out all of her metal hair accessories and got some plastic barrettes, a few cloth scrunchies, and some wooden hair sticks to replace them.
It wasn't until the buckle on her wristwatch had given her a blister, and the stainless steel cutlery in the cafeteria began to make her hands tingle that she put two and two together. She had no trouble touching gold, silver, brass, copper, aluminum, or even cheap nickel costume jewelry.
Sarah was developing some sort of allergy to iron.
She stopped using her magic altogether for two weeks, keeping it tightly under lock and key as she had before. But her symptoms only got worse.
Although she knew that the Fae couldn't tolerate cold iron, Sarah knew nothing of other human practitioners of magic, and could only assume that this was something that happened to all of them in time. Sarah asked her mentor about it, but Eleanor had breezily replied that she had wondered if this would happen. She told her not to worry about it and gave her advice on how to cope.
Sarah got a set of sturdy plastic camping utensils that she kept in her purse and took to wearing gloves when she had to ride the bus. She was greatly relieved when she realized that the zipper and rivets in her favorite pair of jeans were made from brass, though she was very disturbed to find that the hooks and eyes in her bras were not. Sarah considered herself far too busty to go braless without embarrassment, so after an excursion to a fabric shop, she used a sewing machine in the theatre's costume shop to replace the hook and eye tape with a button closure.
Despite this new challenge, time swept by, and soon the semester was heading to a close. Sarah had to find somewhere to live, quickly.
Sarah was starting to get desperate. She only had two weeks left to find an apartment, and although she scoured ads and checked bulletin boards, nothing clicked. Most places in her price range were in decidedly sketchy parts of town, and the others nearly always included roommates, which she wanted to avoid. She had gone to see a few places but hoped she wouldn't have to settle for any of them.
She wasn't expecting much when she approached the old wooden boarding house, but the neighborhood was nice enough, and the exterior seemed well-kept. The rent listed in the ad she had circled seemed low but realistic, yet she tried not to get her hopes up.
Sarah experienced magic all the time, was sometimes flooded with it physically, but still - the first word she breathed when she saw the tiny flat in the old boarding house was, "Magical!"
"What, dear?" Mrs. Spunkelcrief asked. The landlady with the unlikely moniker seemed to be a little hard of hearing.
"I said it's lovely," Sarah said with a bit more volume.
"Well, we've had trouble keeping this one rented because it's so small. Are you sure you don't want to see the basement unit? It's definitely larger."
"No," Sarah answered. "I like this light."
Although a little worn around the edges, it truly was charming. Three tall windows along the exterior wall flooded the room with mid-morning light and made the rosy hardwood floors glow. Huge lilac bushes were in bloom directly below, filling the room with a subtle floral fragrance. A very small bathroom and an even smaller closet along one wall faced a cheerful kitchenette along the opposite side.
It was a tiny, single room efficiency, but Sarah couldn't have been more enthusiastic about a palace.
"Well," Mrs. Spunkelcrief continued, smiling at Sarah's look of wonder, "Are you interested, young lady? I'll need a deposit to hold it."
"It's perfect," Sarah said eagerly. "I'll write you a check today."
Sarah spent her last two weeks at Mundelein studying for finals and haunting thrift shops and discount stores to set up her tiny household.
Lenora arrived to assist as promised, bearing both the items Sarah had packed from her childhood home and gifts. She gave Sarah a brass daybed, two bookshelves, and a small wooden table with two matching chairs. She also gave Sarah a strange chef's knife, its blade made of ceramic rather than steel, which she said she had acquired on a recent trip to Japan. Lenora also brought an old set of silverware, which Sarah was shocked to see was made of real silver.
"I can't accept this, Eleanor - it must be worth a small fortune! And you've given me so much already!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Nonsense, little one," Lenora smiled. "You have dined with real silver every time you were in my house, and never even seemed to notice."
Sarah realized she never really had. "I don't know what to say. Thank you. For everything." She hugged her godmother tightly then, and together they unpacked Sarah's few belongings.
Later, after Eleanor left, Sarah surveyed her new home with some satisfaction. She loved everything there, from the plain muslin curtains to the mismatched white dishes. Her new daybed was a perfect fit between the closet and bathroom doors, the little table between the first and second window, and her dresser between the second and third. Her bookshelves lined the interior wall, along with a small entry table and lamp by the door. The little apartment looked very comfortable - cheerful and cozy.
Sarah wouldn't deny that she was nervous to be on her own so suddenly and so young, but she was happy with where she landed.
After a quick shower to wash away the grime of the move, Sarah stood towel drying her hair before the mirror above her dresser. Standing there in her pink floral print robe, she made a decision. She had only seen Jareth a couple of times since their meeting in January, but she suddenly felt she should call.
"Jareth, are you there?" she asked the mirror. "I need you."
A few moments later, a smirking Jareth appeared instead of her reflection. "Good evening, Sarah mine." He took in her bare face, her damp hair, and the way her skin still glowed pink from the heat of the shower with barely concealed longing. Noting her thin dressing gown, he thought with wonder, "She is comfortable enough to call for me in dishabille!"
Sarah suddenly realized under his wolfish gaze that she was both underdressed and that it was rather late. Jareth was also more casually clad than she had seen before, in shirtsleeves, his linen tunic open deep enough on the chest that she could see his strange, horned pendant against his skin. Sarah swallowed deeply and tried not to imagine how warm that skin might be under her fingers. "I'm so sorry - I didn't realize how late it was. Is this a bad time?"
"For you?" Jareth purred silkily. "Never." He looked beyond her then, into the room behind her and asked, "Settling into your new flat?"
Sarah smiled proudly. "I am! That's why I wanted to talk to you, actually. I wanted you to come to a housewarming dinner."
Jareth narrowed his eyes. "Will the traitors be there as well?"
Sarah laughed. "You mean my friends? No. It would just be the two of us."
A slow grin spread across the Goblin King's features. "In that case, yes. I would be delighted."
"Do you like spaghetti? Actually, what do you eat?"
It was Jareth's turn to laugh. "Although I have a distaste for eggplant, which is barely a plant and certainly not an egg, I think you'll find our dining habits are rather similar."
"So spaghetti's fine? I'm a decent cook, but I'm a little strapped for cash right now because of the move, so steak's out of the question."
"Yes, precious. Any form of pasta is fine." Jareth looked thoughtful. "You know, you needn't ever want for anything, Sarah. I could provide for you."
Sarah bit her lip. Friend or no, Fae offers always had strings attached. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're offering - I do, Jareth. But I need to do this on my own."
My stubborn girl, thought Jareth with resignation. "I understand."
"I'm working mostly evenings this week, but have Friday off. Will that work for you?"
"Barring unforeseen complications, Friday will be perfect."
"Okay, then. See you Friday," Sarah said.
"Until then," Jareth said and disappeared, leaving Sarah looking back at her own smiling reflection once more.