Hello all! How is life? Great. Well today was Mardi Gras hope you all wore over extravagant beads around your necks, I know I sure did… (Hope no one had to flash people to get those beads.)

Disclaimer- Don't own (dah)

Chapter 20

Sarah stood staring at the door for five full minutes before remembering she was in a rush. She quickly went to the wardrobe and pulled out an emerald colored dress. She left her hair down, as she didn't have time to do anything with it.

Sarah left her room and started towards the dining room. On the way down she saw Raleven making her way down as well.

"Eve!" Sarah called to get Raleven's attention.

"Good evening Sarah." Raleven said. "Ready for dinner?"

"As ready as I'll be." Sarah replied.

"Are you ready to meet Palan?" Raleven asked, knowing Sarah was a bit nervous about meeting her brother.

"Is he ok?" Sarah asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is he easy to get along with." Sarah asked.

"He takes a while to judge people. If he believes you are a good person than he believes you are worthy of his friendship." Raleven explained.

"Maybe I won't believe he is worthy of my friendship," Sarah said indigently.

Raleven smiled, her brother would probably like Sarah if he overlooked the fact that she was mortal. "You will both have the chance to determine what you think of each other soon enough."

"Does he have something against mortals?" Sarah asked.

"Not all mortals, just most mortals. He believes they are unintelligent." Raleven explained.

"That's not true," Sarah said, getting a bit angry.

"Mostly it is. Mortals mostly do not believe in Fae, they believe us to be made-up stories. He respects those who prove their selves intelligent. He may like you because you have such a strong imagination, which lead you to become connected with the Labyrinth."

"Well, I'm not going to try and prove myself to someone, just because they have some warped sense of intelligence." Sarah said.

Raleven smiled once again. "Let's just wait and see what dinner brings us. You can make your decision about Palan during dinner."

Together they made the rest of the way down to the dining room. When they arrived Sarah looked over and saw Jareth with another man that must have been Palan.

Palan looked like Raleven, (a/n which makes sense, seeing how they're twins :-).) He had white blonde hair that was long, but unlike Jareth's, it was tied back from his face. He had the same face structure as Jareth. His eyes, though, unlike Jareth's, matched. They were both a bright violet color. He was frowning as Sarah came into the room.

"Good evening, Sarah, Raleven." Jareth said.

Sarah bowed her head to Jareth, before turning her gaze back to Palan. Jareth took her hand and led her over to his brother. "Palan this is Sarah Williams."

Palan kept frowning and slightly bowed his head to her. Sarah curtsied, promising she wouldn't get angry with him, or act childishly just because he was being rude.

"Alright, well let's begin dinner." Raleven said, fed up with her brother glaring at Sarah.

"Alright." Jareth said. Everyone took there place at the table. Jareth sat at the head of the table, Raleven on one side of him, Palan across from her, and Sarah next to Raleven.

Conversation was completely polite during dinner. It was too polite for Sarah's taste. It was incredibly dull, talking about weather and how the goblins were behaving.

Sarah was starting to daze out on conversation and daydreamed about being in her room reading an interesting book.

"So mortal, how did you come to be in the Underground." Palan said in rude tones.

Sarah looked up when Palan addressed her. She shot daggers at him with her eyes, but he refused to look away. Palan found that interesting, most would have looked away from his glare instead of challenging it.

Jareth and Raleven both smirked. They knew that both Palan and Sarah were extremely stubborn. Neither would ever back down.

"Not that it is any of your business, but I'm sure that you already know, so I will refresh your memory. Three years ago I wished away my brother, Toby. I ran the Labyrinth and beat it, winning my brother back. I was the first mortal to ever defeat it." Sarah said, putting an emphasis on mortal.

"Then a few weeks ago, my friend Anna was watching my brother and her brother. She read them Labyrinth. She got angry and wished them away, ran the Labyrinth and lost. I traded my life for my brother's." Sarah finished.

Palan just stared at her through raised eyebrows. "I see," was all he said.

Sarah just stared back at him coolly. The rest of dinner went by pleasantly without the tension there had been before.

After dinner, everyone stood up. Palan walked over to Sarah. "Jareth tells me you and my sister created a garden in the back."

Sarah nodded, "Yes, this afternoon."

"Would you care to take a walk with me?" Palan asked.

Sarah's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Of course," she replied.

Palan looked over at his brother, who glared at him. Palan just smiled and took Sarah's hand, and led her outside.

"What does he think he is doing?" Jareth demanded.

"He is just taking a walk with her Jareth." Raleven said calmly. "It's nothing to get jealous about."

"Jealous? I'm not jealous, why in the Underground would I be jealous?" Jareth asked.

Raleven said nothing, just rolled her eyes, and walked out of the room.

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"So, Palan, why did you want to walk with me?" Sarah asked.

"It just seemed like I was being unfair to you at dinner." Palan replied.

"Well you were, but it's alright, I understand your reasoning, though I don't agree with all of it." Sarah said.

"I respect that." Palan said. "Not many would have stood up to me. Most can not stand my glare, except for Jareth and Raleven, but I can usually stare them down too." Palan said grinning.

Sarah grinned back at him. "I am unbelievably stubborn."

"Me too." Palan said. "You are not like other mortals."

"Don't I know it?" Sarah told him. "Part of that may be because I'm only part mortal.

Palan looked extremely surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, Jareth just told me. I am part Fae." Sarah said.

"That explains it." Palan said.

"Hey, I'm still part mortal so please do not insult my other half." Sarah said, but smiled as she said it.

Palan grinned at Sarah again. "I'm sure we will be good friends." He wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders.

Sarah grinned back at him. "Me too."

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Above them Jareth was watching from his window, glaring at the two of them smiling at each other. How come she smiled and laughed with his brother, but only argued with him? It isn't fair. Jareth thought, echoing Sarah's words.

Maybe he was jealous, but he would never admit it.

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"So, what's with you and Jareth?" Palan asked.

"What do you mean?" Sarah said quickly.

"I mean, how do you feel about him?"

"I don't know. We have a complicated relationship. We argue more than we get along, but neither of us can seem to help but start arguments with each other. When I was Aboveground for a week, I missed the arguments, which probably sounds strange." Sarah said.

"Do you love him?" Palan asked.

Sarah looked at him quickly, brows raised in surprise. She looked away again, "Is it easy to tell?"

"If you look closely, it's hard to miss." Palan said.

"I didn't mean to fall in love with him; he was supposed to be my enemy."

"You can't choose who you fall in love with. Otherwise you'd have chosen me." Palan said smiling.

Sarah grinned at him. "Perhaps if I had met you first."

"Oh well. I guess we had better get back inside." Palan said. Together, they walked back towards the door.

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Sarah was heading back towards her room, slowly thinking over the events of dinner. She had started out having a great disliking for Palan. That emotion turned into one of friendship.

"What were you doing with Palan?"

Sarah whirled around to face the voice. She put a hand to her heart, as if to slow it down. "Jareth, you scared me. What are you doing hiding in the shadows?"

Jareth grabbed her arm. "What were you doing?" he repeated.

"I was taking a walk and talking to him." Sarah said angrily.

"It looked like more than that." Jareth said, equally as angry.

"You were spying on us?" Sarah asked.

"It's my castle!" Jareth yelled.

"We weren't doing anything!" Sarah yelled back at him.

"Do you have feelings for him?" Jareth demanded, shaking her.

"Yes!" Sarah screamed.

Jareth let go of her arm abruptly and started to walk away.

Sarah contemplated leaving the conversation at that, just to piss him off. After a few seconds Sarah ran after Jareth and grabbed his arm.

"Jareth listen to me. I do have feelings for your brother, but not like you think. I think of him as a good friend or a brother, the way I think of Eve." Sarah said quietly.

"You're not attracted to him?" Jareth asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say that, he is pretty hot." Sarah said.

"Sarah."

"Alright, no I am not attracted to him." Sarah said. "How could I be?" she muttered under her breath, but of course Jareth heard.

"What did you say?" Jareth asked.

"I said how could I be attracted to him? when I already love you." Sarah sighed.

"You what?" Jareth repeated, wondering if he was losing his mind.

"I love you." Sarah admitted. (Finally :-).)

Sorry I'm posting late. I had dance classyesterday and didn't get to finish, as this chapter is longer than my others. I was going to make it two separate chapters, but it fit together like this. So I hope you liked this chapter. Please review!