Short but sweet.
Chapter 21
"What?" she asked, blushing again.
"You touched me," an amazed Jareth said. "Of your own free will. No trickery, no cajoling, no force. You. Touched. Me."
Sarah didn't know how to respond to that. Was he mad? Offended? Disgusted? He didn't seem any of that. He actually seemed...pleased. How peculiar. Her brows furrowed as she tried to puzzle out his reaction. Why would he be pleased? Does he ever even get touched? Goblins aren't the most cuddly of creatures. Maybe Jareth wants contact. Everyone needs some kind of positive physical connections. Had Jareth been lonely even with his goblins? Isolated in his castle with only the goblins to keep him company. Has he been longing for human contact? Or what passes as human contact for his species? The only one of his kind there. So different from the rest of the beings living beside him. Just like Hoggle and look at how lonely he turned out to be. Secretly desperate for a friend.
Sarah felt guilty. She had never truly thought about Jareth and his feelings. She hadn't considered a deeper why behind his actions except to enlarge his kingdoms population. Was it just trying to save mistreated children like he said and create his own subjects or were they attempts to fill the loneliness? Hoping each new child would fill the void but always disappointed?
While Sarah had had a difficult childhood with her parents divorce, her mother running off to act and nearly forgetting her child, and her father's remarriage and new baby, she still had a few friends who would ignore her day dreaming and invite her out from time to time. Her father still showed her affection and Toby loved having hugs. She never felt like she was ignored or didn't exist. She never felt unloved. Unappreciated at times but never unloved.
And poor Jareth had no one. His subjects were just that. Subjects. He was their king. He could't treat them as equals. He had to keep distance between them. Many of them didn't have the intelligence to keep up a deep conversation for long. He was alone.
Well we'll just have to change that. Starting now. "Well friends touch each other," she said as she gave him a warm smile.
"Friends?," Jareth whispered. "Are we friends, Sarah?" he asked in a louder voice. "Despite everything I've done?" He sounded hopeful.
"Yes, Jareth, I think we are," Sarah smiled bigger at him.