Elora sprinted down the hall and flew into the entranceway just as the guards were about to open the door. She threw open the front gate and greeted her old friend.
"Hiffa? What are you doing here?" she panted. Hiffa gaped at her disheveled form. She regained her composure and began.
"King Jareth told me that as his worthy subject, I should go do whatever I wanted. So I came here to see if I could work in your palace," she said.
"What? Of course you can! Wait, Jareth told you to do whatever you wanted?" Elora asked as she showed Hiffa inside.
"He says a king that doesn't treat his subjects kindly doesn't deserve his throne," Hiffa said.
"Jareth said that?" Elora asked. "We'd better go to my room."
It seemed that much had happened since Elora left the Labyrinth. The goblins had all been told that they were now citizens instead of servants, and they were all released to find the work that best suited them. Nearly all of them stayed in their old jobs, but a few, like Hiffa, had other ideas. Jareth was also asking for volunteers to fence off the Bog of Eternal Stench.
"Why would Jareth do all that?" Elora asked. The very thought was boggling.
"Why do you think? For you," Hiffa said.
"For me? Really?" Elora asked. Hiffa looked at her without expression and sighed.
"He's a mess. He just moped around the castle all day and stared as his crystal. His hair is all unkempt and he hasn't changed in days. If you don't go back there he'll waste away," she said.
"I can't go back. I have to run my kingdom. We could never be together anyway," Elora said.
"Why not?" Hiffa asked.
"He's selfish, and arrogant, and… and impossible," Elora said.
"He changed everything in the Labyrinth, and he did it all for you. There's nothing he wouldn't do for you," Hiffa said.
Elora felt something she thought she'd lost welling up in her chest. She clapped her hands over her mouth to hide her smile. Her heart started to race.
"I can't. It's impossible," she said.
"Why?" Hiffa asked. Elora didn't have an answer. Even if she had, she wouldn't have cared.
"What should I do?" she asked her lady-in-waiting.
"Why don't you just go ahead? I'll come later," Hiffa said.
"Go ahead where?" Elora asked. She couldn't seem to keep a thought in her head.
"The Labyrinth," Hiffa said patiently.
Elora leapt up and started to leave. She stopped at the door.
"I don't know how to get there," she said.
"Just use the crystal," Hiffa said.
"I thought only Jareth could use it," Elora said.
"He hasn't set it down since you left. It's open. You just didn't want to go," Hiffa said.
Elora picked up the crystal. She wanted to go. She wanted to get lost in the Labyrinth and find Jareth. Her heart fluttered as she held the crystal. She felt the room dissolve around her and saw another one form in its place. She had thought the crystal would drop her at the palace gate, but it knew what she wanted. She was in an unfamiliar bedroom, and slumped in a chair, staring into another crystal, was Jareth. Her arrival was so silent he didn't notice for a moment, but then he looked up. He dropped his crystal and hurriedly drew himself to a more regal pose.
"I did not expect you," he said nonchalantly.
"I seem to have gotten lost," Elora said. She smiled helplessly.
"I can show you the way," Jareth offered. He got up and took her hand.
"No, it's all right," Elora said. "I don't want to find the way."
Jareth hesitated for the barest of seconds. Then he swept both arms around her and pulled her into a more passionate and torrid kiss than Elora thought he was capable of. She gave as good as she got, and she knew she'd found the end of the Labyrinth.