"Where is she?!" Jareth howled as he stormed through the castle. Any goblin stupid enough not to have hidden already ducked under the nearest table, bowl, or chair that they could find.
He'd gotten up at his usual leisurely hour to find something very important was missing. At first he thought she was just taking her time preparing for breakfast, but when it drew near lunchtime, he knew something was up. And that's when the trouble started.
As he was about to leap upon his horse and tear into the distance, he heard someone calling him. He turned to see his guard, or guards, standing very nervously by the gates, both heads barely peeking out from behind their armor.
"Excuse me… sire…" the top head said.
"What is it?" Jareth demanded.
"We may have, perhaps, heard that Elora… went for a walk?" the bottom head finished.
They both ducked into their armor, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
"Where did she go?" Jareth hissed.
"We don't know," both heads said, and they scrunched farther into their armor. When they peeked back out, Jareth was already galloping into the distance.
Jareth had no idea where Elora went, but that wasn't going to stop him.
She was always asking about the "common goblins". Maybe she went to the village, he thought. Or maybe she went home. Of course not, she wouldn't just leave. I am much better company than that…
He arrived in the goblin village, and the goblins scattered to avoid his charging horse.
"Where's Elora?!" he called without leaving his horse.
The goblins looked at him blankly. Jareth sighed.
"The giant with the yellow hair," he said.
"Oh, her," a scruffy goblin said. "She and her friend left."
"She was real nice, though. She bought a lot of stuff," a female goblin added.
Of course she did, Jareth thought.
"But where did she go?" he asked, trying to remain patient.
"I dunno, but her friend said something about hooligans," the first goblin said.
Fireys.
Jareth shot off for the Firey jungle, leaving a cluster of very confused goblins. He arrived in the jungle to find Elora surrounded by a crowd of furry idiots throwing flowers at each other.
"Ahem," he said regally. Elora turned and saw him.
"Oh, Jareth! I hope you weren't worried. I told the guards I was going," she said.
"Worried? No, I only got up to find my guest of honor was missing," Jareth huffed.
"Well, I wanted to see your subjects up close, and you seemed so dismissive…" Elora said.
"Let's just get back to the castle and get on with our visit," Jareth said.
"Wait, I'm not done playing," Elora protested. The fireys whooped in agreement.
"Playing? You want to play with these children?" Jareth sniffed.
"A ruler should know her people," Elora said. "Perhaps you would like to play as well?"
Nothing could have been more absurd to Jareth.
You want me to get down and traipse about with those buffoons? They're probably crawling with vermin.
Elora noticed his hesitation.
"Well, I'm sorry I worried you, but I told them I'd play and I'm going to. You can go ahead without me and I'll be back in a few hours," she said.
Jareth watched as she turned back to the fireys, who resumed tossing flowers at her. Finally, he dismounted.
I am going to look like such a fool.
Elora smiled at him as he took his place in the circle. The fireys looked at him silently, but since Elora seemed to vouch for him, they didn't say anything.
Elora explained the game, and they resumed. Jareth held his ring awkwardly, waiting for things to get started. The fireys, of course, leapt right into it and sent a cloud of flower rings flying.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, Jareth thought as he stood stiffly in place. Elora tossed a ring at him, and he hastily dodged it.
"What was that?" he demanded.
"That's the game, silly," Elora said as she threw another ring.
If that's the way it's going to be… Jareth thought deviously. He launched his ring at Elora when she turned to look at two fireys. It landed around her and another firey.
"Hey!" Elora said in shock.
"That's the game, silly," Jareth smirked.
Elora tried to look mad as her partner leapt into her arms. She whirled him around until the flowers fell to the ground. She immediately swooped them up and turned to Jareth, who ran behind a pair of fireys to block her path.
Go ahead and try, princess, Jareth thought. Let's see what you've got.
And then the game was on.
Elora made up for her lack of arm power with surprising cunning. After failing five attempts to ring Jareth, she called out in alarm and pointed behind him. Jareth turned to avoid the expected firey to find that said firey was not in fact aiming for him at all. He realized as the ring of flowers fell around the two of them that he had been tricked.
Impossible… you little imp, he thought. Wait, now I have to dance with that thing? Ugh, when was the last time it bathed?
He stiffly took the firey's hands and began primly waltzing a box step. The firey, who had by now decided that Jareth was in fact very chilly, urged him on.
"Come on, you not dancing!" he said. "Chilly down!" He hopped in a circle, tugging Jareth behind him as he attempted to salvage his dignity.
The instant one flower touched the ground Jareth stepped back and nabbed the ring. He turned to find Elora, but she was dancing with another firey. He absentmindedly aimed his ring at another pair of fireys as he waited. It was a perfect hit.
That's the stuff. You never miss, he thought proudly. He waited to retrieve another ring until Elora was finished with her dance. As he waited and formulated a plan to snare her, he watched her cavorting with her newfound friends. In the castle, she was usually friendly and always pleasant, but here she seemed absolutely abandoned and filled with merriment. She was laughing freely and twirling ever so fetchingly, though she surely didn't intend to.
You do have fine taste, don't you? Jareth mused. Now aren't you glad you let her talk you into playing? After all, one must sacrifice for love.
The chase resumed. As Elora targeted a pair of fireys aiming at each other, Jareth snuck up behind her and prepared to throw. She turned just as he was about to fire and stepped closer to block his ring. They both drew back to fire, but something interrupted them.
A soft giggling sound came from above them. They looked up to see a chain of fireys holding on to each others' tails, dangling from an overhead tree branch. Before they could step out of the way, the bottom firey dropped a ring, and then they were snared.
"Well, this is an interesting development," Jareth said. "How was it you were dancing before? Oh yes, like this." He wound his arms around Elora's waist and twirled her lightly around. She squealed in surprise and held on. The ring caught around their arms, but they made no move to dislodge it.
"You do know how to have fun," she teased.
"For you, my lady, anything," Jareth said dashingly. He pulled her closer and they began spinning more slowly.
As the ring was falling slowly around their legs, Elora leaned in.
"Thank you for playing with us," she said. "I've had a wonderful time." She gently kissed him on the cheek.
Jareth tried to remain collected and dignified, though he suddenly felt three feet taller. He smiled as he continued the dance.
By now the ring was on the ground, but the players decided to bend the rules. And this time, even the fireys were too polite to object.