Chapter 21: Out of Sight…

"Why isn't she awake yet?"

"The twenty-six hours was merely a guess, your Majesty. Everyone is different. Lady Sarah may need more time for her system to right itself."

There was an exasperated sigh and the sound of footsteps pacing back and forth nearby. The clicking of low heels was sharp against what sounded like a stone floor. Cool fingers gently applied pressure to the inside of her wrist. The same cool hand, she guessed, came to rest on her forehead for a moment before leaving. "Her pulse and temperature appear to be normal," the second calmer voice stated. "I believe she is merely sleeping."

"So wake her," the first voice commanded from farther away than the first time.

"That would not be a good idea, Sire. Waking her before she is ready could result in damage to her psyche. It's best to just let her wake up on her own."

Another exasperated sigh was heard. "Pacing isn't going to do any good, you know," a third voice chimed. A low growl could be heard in response. "Hey, just saying…"

Mistress? a gentle, but powerful voice echoed in her mind. I would recommend waking, Mistress, for Lord Jareth is quite ill-tempered and I believe his mood will only deteriorate until you do.

Lord Jareth… her mind grasped the familiarity.

Yes, he's been giving Lady Jackie and Healer Orin a difficult time.

She realized she recognized the other two names mentioned as well. So tired…

You've been asleep for nearly thirty-seven hours, Mistress.

Thirty-seven?

Yes.

Her tired mind fought to put things in order. Was thirty-seven hours a long time? Why was… Herm, yes that was its name – why was Herm so insistent on her waking? Was it because of Jareth? Yes, Jareth… she felt the sudden urge to see him, to feel his touch, to experience the butterflies that swooped through her stomach whenever he turned his searing gaze on her. Jareth…

"Sarah?" the deepest of the three voices asked. Had she said that last bit out loud? "Sarah, I'm here." Perhaps she had…

The heavy weights attached to her eyelids were extraordinarily difficult to fight against. The same weights weighed down her limbs as well. It would have been so much easier to give in and simply return to blissful sleep, but the need to see Jareth was overpowering. With strength she didn't know she had, Sarah slowly opened her eyes.

Everything was dark. Strange shadows drifted over her and she could feel cool hands flutter over her pulse points. "Jareth?" she whispered.

A moment later, a strong warm hand gripped one of hers. "Right here, Sarah."

She turned her head toward the low melodic voice, a lighter shadow hovering near her head. "I can't see you."

"What's wrong with her eyes," the angelic voice hissed at the shadow across the bed.

"I – I don't know, your Highness. Nothing went wrong during the procedure as far as I'm aware. I can't explain this," he apologized. The shadow came closer. "Sarah? Can you see anything at all?"

"No," she shook her head. "Only shadows. Is this permanent?" her voice quivered with the last word.

"I'm not positive, Sarah. So few people have undergone the transformation between mortal and immortal that it's difficult to tell what the norm is."

Sarah's hand shook as it squeezed Jareth's gloved digits. "Is there anything that could be done to help her eyesight? Like Lasik surgery or something?" Jackie's voiced asked from farther down the bed.

"Lasik surgery? I'm sorry, but I've never heard of that," the shadow that was Healer Orin said sounding genuinely apologetic. "I think we should wait and see what happens. It's quite possible that her vision will clear on its own with some time."

"Perhaps," Jareth's low voice replied.

Sarah remained still and quiet. What if her vision didn't come back? She'd never be able to see Jareth again, never be able to read a book, enjoy the view of the rose gardens… Why is this happening to me?

Please don't be so sorrowful, Mistress.

How can I not be, Herm? In case you couldn't tell, I rely heavily on my sight.

There's still a possibility of it coming back though.

But what if it doesn't? What then?

Then you continue on. You still have Lord Jareth and Jackie. Perhaps losing your vision will open you up to possibilities? There are many things you can still do without sight, and some things you can do better.

Sarah scoffed. Like what?

When one sense is dulled the others are heightened. Imagine the possibilities of things such as music? Or taking a walk through the gardens with an intensified sense of smell?

There was a short pause as Sarah's breathing slowed and she gave serious thought to what Herm had said. How do you know about that? she asked realizing that the dragon had just spouted facts from scientific studies done in the Aboveground.

I drew the information from you, actually.

You can do that?

We ARE linked… it explained as though the fact should be obvious.

Oh… yeah. I guess I didn't realize you knew so much about the Aboveground.

I know just as much as you do. I sifted through your stores of knowledge when I first linked with you. It was a way of getting to know you.

So… could I do that to you?

I suppose, but my knowledge is very basic. It's only elemental and subjugated by instinct.

We'll have to try that out later.

If you so desire.

"Sarah?" the angelic voice broke into her conversation with Herm. She looked up at the lighter shadow to her left. "Are you alright? You looked like you were about to have a panic attack."

"No, I'm fine. Herm just gave me a bit of a pep talk."

"I see."

She could hear the amusement in his voice and imagined that he was smiling a little. "Can I get up?" she asked turning toward Healer Orin.

"I don't see why not," he replied. "However I wanted to go over some things you should be aware of now that you're immortal."

Sarah nodded and raised herself into a sitting position. Her head swam a little as the blood rushed from it, but otherwise everything seemed good. A warm hand supported her back and she smiled at Jareth. "Jackie, could you please fetch a glass of water from the pitcher over there? I imagine Sarah is rather dehydrated."

The sound of someone retreating was followed by the sloshing of water into a glass. A moment later, a smooth glass goblet was pressed into her hand. She drank greedily, relieving her parched throat. "Thank you."

A smaller warm hand rested on her arm, "You're welcome, Sarah. I'm just so glad you're back among the living."

Sarah chuckled, "Rising from the dead… so does that make me a vampire or a zombie?"

Jackie laughed, a loud burst of sound that Sarah recognized from some of their girls' night-in parties. "Well, since you don't crave my blood… you don't do you?" she hesitated.

"Nope," Sarah smirked, tempted to do a Count Dracula impression.

"And since you don't want to eat my brains, then I'd say you're neither. Maybe you're Frankenstein's monster?"

The two women snickered. However Sarah could sense the two males in the room didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, so she stifled her laughter and slid her legs off the side of the bed so she was facing Healer Orin… or the shadow that she now kind of recognized as him. Jareth's warm hands migrated to her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing comforting circles across her skin. "So, what's up doc?"

Jackie snorted and another peal of laughter could be heard. Healer Orin let out an exasperated sigh and proceeded to lay out some new facts of life that come with being immortal. "First things first, you are immortal only from aging. You can still die from unnatural causes."

"Well that's pleasant…" she muttered.

Healer Orin ignored the remark. "Something else you should be aware of... The fae are deathly allergic to iron if entered into their blood stream. During the process of changing from mortal to immortal, you took on a few fae features physically, so I'm not sure if it applies to you or not, considering you are human and have iron in your blood to begin with, but it's something to be aware of."

"Okay…"

"Another thing to keep in mind, you are very young in the eyes of other immortals. Don't be surprised if they tend to not take you seriously. Also, it is a stereotype of humans that they are quite emotional and let their feelings guide them to make rash decisions."

"Well that's ridiculous!" Sarah protested.

"I'm just informing you of what many immortals believe. I don't hold with the notion myself. Well… not always."

Sarah gave Healer Orin a glare, despite the fact that she couldn't actually see him. "I'm sorry, but it is true that humans tend to get very emotional at times. I've theorized that that's why they are so short lived… they live so passionately that they burn themselves out within a century."

Sarah shoved down the knee-jerk reaction to defend her species. "That's a fascinating theory," Jackie said sounding truly interested.

"I've studied humans extensively, both Aboveground and Underground," Healer Orin replied trying to sound immodest, but Sarah recognized the lower timber in his voice as he spoke to Jackie. She smirked at the elf's attempts at impressing her friend. The two continued to chat about Healer Orin's theory.

"Jareth? Could you help me? I want to walk around a bit."

"Of course. Where would you like to go?" A low grumble was heard and Sarah's hand automatically moved to cover her stomach as if the action would mute the sound. Jareth's low chuckle was heard behind her. "I believe the kitchens would be appropriate."

She blushed as she slid off the bed and stood. Her legs were slightly shaky under her weight. Jareth's warm hand let go for a moment and she heard the clicking of his boots as he walked around the bed before his hand returned to steady her. "Easy now, perhaps we should make it a private meal in our quarters?" he suggested.

She smiled at the fact that he'd said 'our'. "I think that might be best. I can freshen up a bit before the food comes as well. I imagine that I must look rather frumpy after lying down for so long."

"You are nothing short of beautiful, my dear," he whispered in her ear.

Sarah felt her cheeks heat up as blood rushed just under her skin. "Thank you," she whispered back taking the compliment instead of pointing out that he was most likely biased.

"Come along then," he said wrapping an arm around her waist and keeping his other hand in hers as he guided her.

The stone floors felt cold beneath her feet. Someone had removed her slippers as she'd slept. She could hear the sharp clicks of Jareth's heeled boots and smell a peculiar blend of earthy scents combined with the warm spice smell that she immediately recognized as Jareth. "Stairs in two steps," Jareth warned.

He moved slower, allowing her to navigate the stairs by herself… that was until her legs started to shake and she had to stop. "What's wrong?" he asked holding tightly to her to keep her upright.

"It's nothing. My legs just feel really weak. Low blood-sugar and all that," she murmured.

"Do you think you can climb the rest or shall I carry you? There's still another flight."

"Just hang on a minute. I can do it."

"Sarah, you shouldn't press yourself so hard when you're so weak."

She was about to protest when she remembered that 'weak' was the same adjective she'd used a couple seconds ago. "I'm fine, come on," she urged pulling her self up another step.

Jareth stayed at her side. She could feel his arm tighten around her waist whenever she faltered in the slightest, but she continued on determinedly. It took nearly three times as long as normal, but they eventually reached the top of the stairs with Sarah shaking and breathing slightly harder than normal. "I think that's enough," Jareth said as he suddenly swooped her into his arms.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Put me down!"

"Sarah, your legs were shaking so much it was a marvel they could hold your weight at all."

She crossed her arms in defiance, but inside she was glad he'd intervened before she'd collapsed. Another advantage to no sight, Herm said suddenly perking up.

What? He sent her a mental image of Jareth carrying her. Oh… she blushed again as she realized what he meant.

Herm snuggled back down, a sense of smugness radiating off it. "Here we are," Jareth announced as he slowed and the sound of a door opening and closing followed. He set her down on a plush chair. "There, see it's much faster if you just allow me to help." Sarah stuck her tongue out in the general direction of his voice. "Now, I believe you wanted to freshen up a bit?"

"Ah, yeah…" she paused thinking about how she was going to do that without being able to see anything. "I think I might need some help."

"Oh," he paused. "Alright then."

He moved to pick her up again, but she put a hand against his arm. "Hang on, I can walk now and I need to get to know our room."

He sighed, but allowed her to stand and move on her own, his guiding touch the only help permitted. Herm had slid off her arm, explaining that it would wait at the table. Jareth then led her to the bathroom, pausing at the doorway. "Just how freshened up did you want to get?"

"I'd like to wash my face, brush my hair and change clothes if that's alright with you."

"Ah, yes… sit here," he directed pulling her forward again. She sat on what felt like a stool, she could feel a counter directly in front of her. The sound of water being poured filled her ears and Jareth pressed a small cloth into her hands. "You can wash up your face with this while I fetch a clean dress for you," he said before exiting.

Sarah felt along the counter until she found the large bowl that Jareth had poured warm water in. She soaked the cloth and wrung it out once before wiping it over her face. The warmth felt good and she took her time wiping the last of the sleep away. A few minutes later, she felt a gentle tugging at her head. "Jareth?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"I didn't hear you come back in."

"My apologies, do you mind if I brush your hair?"

"No," she murmured.

He continued to run the brush through her hair. It felt extremely intimate for so simple an action. He carefully combed out the tangles, working from the bottom so it wouldn't snare. The hand not holding the brush rested on her head, holding the strands of hair down so that in case he did pull, it wouldn't cause any pain. Sarah relaxed and closed her eyes. Jareth's gentle rhythm was soothing. His soft inhales and exhales were calming as well. She could get used to this…

"There," he said quietly setting the brush down and running his ungloved fingers through her now silky strands. He must have taken the gloves off sometime before starting to brush her hair.

Sarah took a deep breath. "I suppose I should change."

"Do you need help?"

"I should be fine, provided you didn't pick anything too complicated?"

"No, just a simple skirt and blouse. They're sitting on the counter beside the wash basin."

"Thank you."

"Anything for you, my dear," he said before kissing her forehead. "We may have to get you a personal maid though."

"Why?"

"Because I highly doubt I could help you dress without undressing you a few times," she could hear the smirk in his voice.

A bright blush spread over her visage. "Get out, you pervy old fae," she joked pushing against his chest.

He chuckled, but left the room. Sarah was able to manage getting dressed easy enough. She even found the hamper for dirty clothes that sat on the floor beside the counter. Perhaps this whole blindness thing wouldn't be as bad as she originally thought. When she emerged from the bathroom, Jareth was there at her elbow. "I took the liberty of ordering us up some food."

"Thank God! I'm starving."

He chuckled again and led her forward into the sitting room.

o O o O o O o

"Anything?" Healer Orin asked.

Sarah sighed and shook her head. "No."

A warm arm wrapped around her shoulders. "It's only been a week, Sar," Jackie said.

"I know, but you'd think I'd be able to see something by now besides shadows." Jackie pulled her friend close in a comforting hug. Sarah embraced the shorter woman back thankful that she was there to help her through this. After a minute, she pulled away and turned to Healer Orin's shadow. "Do you have any idea why I've gone blind?"

Healer Orin cleared his throat and Sarah could hear him shifting uncomfortably. "I've thought about it for a while now and the only thing I can come up with is that it was the poison."

"What?"

"The poison I used to… erm… kill you. There are several choices for how to end a person's life when performing this procedure, but the particular poison I used is the best option, if also the most risky."

"How so?" Sarah asked sitting down on the chair behind her.

"It is the best option in that there are certain chemical bonds created in combination with the potion that gives immortality. It allows the potion to work at its best and therefore the patient is more likely to come through the procedure. However it is also the most risky because of the intensity of the poison. This particular poison is a blend of several extremely dangerous substances. Needless to say the poison is the most likely, of all the ways to incapacitate someone, to have lingering effects after the procedure."

"It can cause almost total blindness?"

"Well, considering that the poison is designed to end the life of the victim within five minutes I'd say you're rather lucky over all."

"That's not very helpful, Rynn," Jackie accused from behind Sarah's chair.

"I'm sorry… I'm just frustrated that I was not able to prevent this. The procedure went by the book… nothing went wrong. However the poison decided to leave some lingering effects anyway."

He huffed in annoyance as he plopped down in the chair across from her. "So this is most likely permanent?" Sarah asked.

Healer Orin heaved out an enormous sigh before answering simply, "Yes."

There was a long silence before Sarah spoke again. "It's not your fault," she muttered. She didn't know why, but she felt the need to comfort him. And in truth it wasn't his fault. It was no one's fault. Healer Orin had simply been trying to make the potion work at its fullest strength by choosing that particular poison.

In truth the past few days hadn't been completely unpleasant, far from it in certain cases actually. Jareth, while being extraordinarily cautious with her, had proven to be most helpful in helping her around the castle and in some ways their relationship had flourished under the circumstances. She blushed a deep red as she remembered the other night when she had gotten fed up with Jareth's mollycoddling. The ensuing argument had led to one of the most satisfying nights spent with the Goblin King ever. She'd allowed herself to re-learn his body with only the tips of her fingers. Needless to say, he'd been much more lenient with her ever since.

Jareth had also been good to his word about getting her a maid. She had objected at first, but after a couple attempts of having him help her to dress she'd relented. The electricity between their bodies was too much to ignore when he was so intimately touching her. Instead, she now had a young elvin maid who helped her bathe, dress, and do her hair. Jackie had also been of enormous help. Whenever Jareth wasn't there to assist, Jackie was. The King had been kept quite busy in his office with Lord Utgard for the past few days, but Jackie had been very available to help her friend. Healer Orin sometimes joined them during their walks in the garden and it was impossible to miss the light flirting between the mortal and the elf.

Mistress? Herm's voice intruding on her musings. I believe I can help.

With what?

With your eyesight. I've been thinking about what you requested – looking into my thoughts – and I believe we could do that to the effect of you being able to see through my eyes.

You could do that? she asked after a moment.

Yes. We just have to expand the amount of how deeply linked we are. Just relax, I'm going to try it.

Sarah remained still in her chair, her eyes wide open and waiting. She could feel Herm's presence in her mind; it was pushing further – almost like when they had first linked. She stared harshly at the shadowy figure of Healer Orin. Suddenly his shape became more defined and the darkness bled away. She could see that he was sitting in the chair across from her with his head resting in his hand, self-blame written clearly across his face. "I can see him," she murmured. And it was true… to a point. It wasn't like her old vision, the colors were slightly skewed and everything seemed to have sharper angles. "Herm, you did it!"

"Did what? What did it do?" Jackie asked moving around to the front of Sarah's chair.

Herm shifted to look at her creating a dizzy sensation for Sarah who was still looking at Healer Orin. Except it wasn't Healer Orin who filled her vision, it was Jackie's concerned face. It was apparent that she only saw what the dragon did, which made it quite strange when it looked at her. She could see her own perplexed face through the dragon's eyes. "I – I can see."

Healer Orin rose suddenly and Herm shifted its gaze to him as he approached. The healer bent down and looked into Sarah's eyes. She could see the strain on his face as he searched for a change that didn't exist. "Your eyes are the same though," he muttered.

"No… through Herm. I see what it sees," she explained.

Healer Orin shifted his gaze to the quicksilver dragon, examining it curiously. Herm studied the healer back; Sarah could see the bewildered elf through its calculating gaze. "How absolutely fascinating," he muttered.

The sudden urge to see Jareth – to actually see him – was overpowering and she rose from her seat with haste. Jackie stumbled backwards at her friend's sudden movement, with a dumbfounded expression filling her visage. Sarah didn't pause to explain anything though and instead rushed for the door from the king's sitting room. Herm was able to sense through their mental link where she wanted to go and helped by showing her the way. A headache was starting to form from the unusual quality of her new-found sight, but she ignored it in favor of being able to see her fae king. She knew exactly where he'd be – the same place he'd been for the majority of the past six days – his study.

Sarah pushed her self to go faster despite the increasing pain in her head and was relieved when she saw the dark wood door ahead. As she approached she could hear raised voices coming from behind it. The intensity of the voice, which she now recognized as Jareth, made her pause before the door. "It's been a week, Lord Utgard, and I have not heard a word from the battalion!"

"I realize that, Lord Jareth, but there is no need to overreact, perhaps they've just been delayed."

"You have not seen an overreaction, my friend… no, trust me, you will know when you are seeing an overreaction," Jareth's cool low voice said menacingly. "I can't trust Zuul with the well-being of my subjects. I should never have agreed to help him in the first place."

It was at this point that Sarah pushed the door open. She entered hesitantly as both sets of eyes in the room flashed toward her. "Sarah…" Jareth whispered.

Ignoring the conversation from earlier for the time being, Sarah allowed herself to take in Jareth's lean physique. The memory that she'd been relying on for the past week hadn't done him justice. "Jareth," she gasped out before rushing to him and enveloping him in her arms.

His surprised expression filled her mind through Herm's eyes, but he quickly returned the embrace, squeezing her tightly against him. After a minute though, he pulled back slightly and raised her face with a hand below her chin. Herm raised his head to look at Jareth's face as he spoke. "Can you see me?"

She smiled, "Technically…" At the confused look on his face, she continued. "I'm seeing what Herm see's through our link."

Jareth turned to look directly at the dragon and Sarah could see him clearly now. However the pain in her head was growing and she didn't know how much longer she could stand it. Jareth continued to study the small serpentine creature wrapped around Sarah's upper arm for another minute before nodding his head once and muttering an appreciative, "Thank you."

You're welcome, the dragon responded. Mistress, Herm continued now directing its thoughts to Sarah. I believe we should terminate the visual link soon. it said also feeling the growing pain.

Sarah agreed, but was hesitant to do so because she didn't want to lose sight of Jareth's arresting visage. She slowly reached up on her toes and pressed her lips to Jareth's, but drew back before he could respond, tracing the line of his jaw with her fingers. She closed her eyes and another disorienting feeling rushed over her as she could still see Jareth even though her own eyes were closed. Okay Herm, pull the plug. she requested of the dragon.

Almost instantly everything went dark again and all she could see were hazy shadows. She sighed and rubbed her aching temples. "Sarah?" Jareth asked, his arms still resting on her shoulders.

"I can't see you anymore. I had Herm stop it. I was getting a headache."

"You shouldn't strain yourself…"

"No," she cut him off. "I wanted to see you… to actually see you again."

He let out a long breath that teased over her face. "I guess I can't really blame you. I am devilishly handsome," he joked.

Sarah smirked and aimed a kiss for his mouth again, but it landed on his nose instead. Laughing, she turned to where she last remembered seeing Lord Utgard. "I'm sorry for the interruption,"

"Nonsense!" Lord Utgard brushed off her apology.

"So who's Zuul?" Sarah asked turning back to Jareth.

There was a short pause before he answered, "The UnSeelie King…"

"And you're helping him, because..."

Jareth then went into the meeting he'd had with the unsavory fae while Sarah had been asleep. "However now it has been a week and we've heard nothing from the battalion. They were supposed to check three days ago."

Sarah arched a single brow up. "Once again, we're helping him, why?"

She heard Jareth let out an exasperated sigh. "Because I foolishly thought I could trust him."

"Okay, now how do we fix it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we have the blame thing out of the way now how do we find your goblin battalion to check in on them?"

Jareth marveled at how she'd come up with the simple solution. "I suppose I could send a scout to the Aboveground."

"Alright, then do it."

Jareth suddenly pulled Sarah to him in a tight hug and whispered in her ear, "If I didn't love you so much you'd be in big trouble for telling the king what to do."

"Well it's a good thing you love me so much then," Sarah laughed.

o O o O o O o

A/N: For some reason this chapter was very difficult to write… dunno why. Thank you for continuing to read though! I appreciate all the reviews you guys send. It really does make me happy when I see how many reviews I get each chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short chapter and hopefully we'll be coming to a conclusion in the next few chapters.

Labyrinth (c) Henson & Co.