A longer chapter, this time, to make up for 24 being so short. More to come soon!
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Chapter 25: Normalcy
The following week went by very slowly for the entire castle. Adair avoided all contact possible with Jareth, and when it was unavoidable, he merely chose to ignore his brother. Jareth rarely spoke, even to Nicholas, and seemed to be slipping down into a deep despair, locking himself away in his room for days upon end, only emerging to tend to the necessary matters of running his kingdom, then would return to seclusion. Nicholas seemed to be shunted into the position of mediator and waiter, bringing food trays to the men since Adair was bedridden, and Jareth would refuse to come to the dining room.
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Nicholas labored up the steps towards Jareth's wing of the castle, carefully balancing a tray laden with assorted cheeses, fruits, and bread. A small bottle of goblinberry wine hung from its woven rope- it was one of Jareth's favorites, and Nicholas brought it hoping he would drink something- anything- because most of the beverages Jareth had been brought were being returned full. Most of the food was returned, too. Nicholas had been worried about Jareth, but now he was truly concerned.
Finally reaching the tops of the steps, Nicholas carefully balanced the tray and knocked on Jareth's bedchamber door. After a few moments, the door opened, and Jareth motioned him inside.
"I brought you a few of your favorites," Nicholas told him. He'd gone to stand by the window again, and was fiddling with something small in his hand. "Goblinberry wine, your favorite cheeses and fruits- a few blood oranges in season from the orchards." As Nicholas set the tray down on Jareth's nightstand, he noticed that the two framed pictures Jareth kept- one of Sarah, and one of Dawn and Heather- were nowhere to be seen.
"They were her favorites.." Jareth said softly from the other end of the room. Nicholas didn't have to ask to know that Jareth had been standing at his bedroom windows at each dusk and dawn, watching the sun rise and set over the labyrinth.
"I know," Nicholas replied softly. "You know, she wouldn't have wanted to see you like this."
Jareth remained silent for a long moment. "I'm so worried about him," he finally admitted softly. Nicholas knew how terribly worried he truly was for him to admit it.
After a few moments, he finally turned and slowly walked to the table where Nicholas had placed the tray of food. Brow furrowed, he fumbled with the item in his hands for a moment longer, then placed it on the small table in front of him- Nicholas saw it was a crystal ball- and sat down, reaching for one of the oranges.
"Thank you, Nicholas," Jareth said absentmindedly, then, brow furrowed, he returned to his intense scrutiny of the smooth, bubble-like orb.
Nodding once, Nicholas turned and walked to the door to leave. When he reached for the handle to close it behind him, Jareth was peeling and eating the orange, but seemed oblivious to all but that crystal.
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As Nicholas had demanded Adair stay bedridden to build his reserves of strength and magic, time seemed to be suspended for him, and he found himself quickly becoming restless. If he didn't keep busy, his mind wandered back to that horrid day, to Heather… So he made himself stay busy. Unfortunately, the only activity he was really allowed to do was read. So read he did. He plagued Nicholas with requests for books the first few days, anything to keep his mind otherwise occupied, and Nicholas would bring him books by the stackfull from the library nearly every day.
At first, he was content to read through whatever Nicholas happened to bring him, but soon he began to request specific ones, or books on certain subjects. Nicholas would grant him his unusual requirements, until one day Adair's requests varied greatly from his normal selection of historical and literary works.
Sitting on the bed next to him, Nicholas eyed the lengthy list of books Adair had requested for that day. In the seemingly random list, tucked away at the bottom under Rare and Unusual Bird Species, was Schlaughmann's Booke of Alements. Nicholas raised an eyebrow at Adair, who was trying to look innocent as he obediently ate the tray of food Nicholas had brought him.
Nicholas sighed. "Adair, why do you want this for?" he asked, and tapped the list in front of him.
"What? The Third Millennia History of the Underground?" he asked, and took another large bite of his sandwich.
Nicholas gave him a look that plainly said you-know-what-book-I'm-talking-about. It was abundantly clear to Nicholas every morning when he brought Adair his breakfast that he was still mourning the loss of Heather. His face would still have those red blotches when he woke, and his demeanor, which was quiet in the morning but quickly became almost jovial, seemed forced. Though he'd only gotten to know her for a short time, Nicholas knew Adair would never get over her loss.
"It's not going to help anything by reading it," he told Adair quietly. "Why don't you let it go?" he asked softly.
At first Adair only clenched his jaw and stared down at the bowl of soup on his tray. He remained silent for a while, but Nicholas saw his knuckles turning white as he squeezed the metal spoon in his fist.
"I want to know what she was thinking, trying to pull a stunt like that!" Adair finally blurted out.
Nicholas was a little shocked; was he angry at Heather? Adair looked up at him.
"I can't help it! She should have gone back to her room like Dawn told her to. She shouldn't have stayed, she should still be here," the later half of the sentence came out in broken sobs. "She should have left me."
Nicholas put an arm around Adair's shoulders and pulled him closer. "There's nothing that could have been done, Adair, so you musn't feel guilty about what happened. She saved you because she loved you." He reached across to the younger man's nightstand and picked up the red feather that rested there. "You ought to be living for her now."
Adair stared at the feather- it looked about half as long as it had been a week ago (it kept smoldering down, and he'd already had to douse it in his cup of water twice this week)- and considered Nicholas' words.
Nicholas nodded once, then rose to go. As he swept past the mirror on the wall- the only thing from the old bedroom Adair wanted to salvage- he swore he saw a glimmer of white and green, but when he looked, he only saw the reflection of the room around him.
He shook his head, then quickly left to go get Adair's long list of books while he finished his meal.
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The next week seemed to go by in a blur for Nicholas. It seemed that he was either bringing food trays to Jareth and Adair, returning to the kitchens with empty trays to be cleared, making trips to the library for Adair, or generally taking care of the other tasks that were his duty, such as seeing to the horses in the stable. Life was slowly returning to normal, or so it seemed.
Every time Nicholas would go to visit Jareth, he would be staring at one of those crystals of his. One time he did stop to ask how Adair was, and when Nicholas told him that he was doing well, but that he was reading the medical book Heather had found, Jareth's eyes went wide- with worry, Nicholas wondered?- then he went back to staring at that damned crystal of his.
A few days later, when Nicholas brought Jareth's evening tray up to him, his knock at the door went unanswered. He pushed the door open and saw Jareth sitting on his bed, a crystal ball clasped firmly in one hand, his crescent pendant in the other, concentrating with what had to be tremendous will. For a moment, Nicholas stood and watched him; Jareth's hands shook a little, but otherwise nothing happened. Then all of a sudden, Jareth seemed to wilt slightly, and he let both items drop onto the bed before him. The look of worry that had been haunting him for the past week was suddenly lifted, as if a tremendous weight had just been taken off his shoulders, though the shadow of his grief still showed through his eyes. He looked up and noticed Nicholas for the first time.
"Come in, Nicholas! I must not have heard you knock," he said, and quickly crossed the room to take the tray from him. "Thank you," he said, and quickly started eating as soon as he sat down on the bed.
Nicholas seemed shocked for a moment- this was as close to the old Jareth as Nicholas had seen him yet, and he wondered what was going on.
Jareth saw him staring at him. "Is everything okay?" he asked between mouthfuls of roast.
"Yes," Nicholas stumbled. "I.. I was going to ask you the same."
"Oh, I'm fine," and waved a hand at the items on the bed, "this was just a little something.." He paused, and seemed to switch thoughts. "How is Adair doing?" he asked, suddenly serious.
Nicholas' brows scrunched together slightly. "He's been fine. He's still reading that medical book, and still won't let me return it to the library. And something else about birds too.. but he's fine."
"Good," Jareth replied, and dug into his roast again.
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Nicholas was still pondering his conversation with Jareth when he got to Adair's room with his evening tray. He had just reached for the handle when the door was yanked open, and Adair rushed him inside, and anxiously took the tray from him.
"What is it with you lot today?" Nicholas asked. "And you're not supposed to be out of bed! Lay back down, Adair!"
"I'm fine," he scoffed. "I've been in bed for two weeks!"
"Yes, and you're up a full week before I'd planned to even let you walk as near as the library on your own!" Nicholas countered. Was the boy crazy, trying to put himself into a relapse?
Adair grabbed both of the older man's shoulders and stared into his eyes. "I need to talk to Jareth," he said, then quickly walked back over to the bed and grabbed two books off of the nightstand.
For a moment Nicholas could only stare at him, mouth agape. The earnestness in Adair's eyes, however, told him that this subject would not be dropped lightly. Hoping the pair would maybe put aside their differences and apologize, Nicholas cocked his head at Adair.
"If I take you up to him, will you promise to get back in bed?" Adair nodded quickly. "And stay there?"
"Yes, whatever you want, I just need to talk to him as soon as possible. Now."
Sighing, Nicholas finally agreed, and helped him up to Jareth's room at the other end of the castle. He made Adair wait in the hallway while knocked on the door, then went inside to talk to Jareth.
"Did he say what he wanted?" Jareth asked Nicholas, not at all sure that he wanted to go through another round of arguments with his brother. Nicholas shook his head.
"He just said it was very important that he speak to you. Shall I bring him in?"
Fingering the pendant that hung around his neck, Jareth paced the floor for a moment, then finally nodded. "Very well."
Nicholas helped Adair, along with his two thick books, into Jareth's bedroom, and sat him down on the bed so he wouldn't have to drain his energy standing. Not wanting to get in the way of a truce between the two, Nicholas then excused himself. "I'll be in the hallway if you need me," and closed the door behind him.
"You needed to speak with me?" Jareth inquired politely.
Adair nodded, already flipping through his books. "I've figured it out, Jareth!" He waved him closer to the bed so he could see what he was pointing to in the texts. His excitement was catching, Jareth thought, as he stepped over to see what his younger brother was pointing to.
"What exactly have you figured out?" he asked as he looked over a black and white woodblocked image of a bird on one page.
"I figured out why Heather was so damaged by the fire, and I wasn't!" he exclaimed almost joyfully, and Jareth's face fell. This was not at all what he thought they would be discussing. Sighing, he walked over by the large windows.
"Adair, no." he started, truly not wanting to start this discussion, not when he was finally able to get through the day without having his eyes water every time he thought of her. Adair followed him to the window.
"No, Jareth, you have to listen," His brother responded, and tugged urgently at Jareth's sleeve. "She wasn't consumed by the fire, she was-"
"NO, Adair!" Jareth bellowed, startling them both. Nicholas even heard that command outside the door and cringed, knowing that, already, things weren't going well inside. "She is gone. Nothing we can do can change that. I've grieved enough these past few weeks, I don't need you coming in here giving me details on how she died! I already saw both of you dea-" he stopped abruptly and looked down at his feet as he turned away to face the window.
"You already saw both of us dead," Adair quietly finished for him. Jareth nodded. In that one sentence, Adair suddenly realized how hard it must have been for Jareth that day- to lose his brother and his niece in one day, and then to realize that he would lose Dawn as well.
"But Jareth, I can sa-"
"NO!" That awful bellow was followed by Jareth slamming his fists onto the windowsill. The noise echoed in the silent room. "Now go, please."
Adair stood, picked up his books and turned to leave, but then stopped. "At least send me back to Dawn once- to say goodbye. All I want is five minutes with her."
Jareth shook his head. "I told her I would not bother her again-"
"But she's hurt and mourning. She needs to be surrounded by familiar things, yes, but she shouldn't be alone! She should-"
He finally straightened and turned to face Adair, his voice raising in volume as he continued speaking as if Adair had not interrupted him. "And to keep you from sneaking Above again, I've put a lock on the magic Underground. You are free to go where you choose in the kingdom once Nicholas deems you fit enough, but you cannot go Aboveground. From now on, only the one wearing the Royal necklace can use a crystal to go," he said, and patted the crescent pendant he wore against his chest. He knew this would set a double-guard against Adair because he was not powerful enough to create a magic crystal without Jareth's help, or the help of his Royal pendant.
Adair's face flashed a series of emotions- anger, denial, betrayal- but he knew he couldn't give up. "But I think I can sa-"
"GO!" Jareth interrupted him one last time. Adair knew in that tone, the sentence was command, not a request.
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Nicholas jumped back as the door suddenly flew open. Adair, clutching his books to his chest, stalked out of the room, muttering a constant line of words. Nicholas could only make out a few of them; Heather, I must, feather, and Dawn, trailed by a long line of obscenities.
While Adair was still walking a little off balance, Nicholas chose to simply follow along behind him and be prepared to catch him if he fell. He tried to ask what happened, but Adair simply shook his head and continued his constant tirade.
When they eventually they reached Adair's new room, he put the books down on the nightstand, got into bed, pulled the covers up to his shoulder, then told Nicholas he did not wish to discuss it.
Dumbfounded, Nicholas left him for the night, and tried to talk to Jareth next. He also did not want to talk, so Nicholas gave it up for the moment, and also went to bed.
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Tired of being the mediator for the pair, and in an attempt to get Jareth and Adair to apologize to each other, the next day Nicholas declared that each man would have to come down to the dining room to eat his meals; he would no longer be running trays up to them. Adair was strong enough he could walk around when he pleased, so Nicholas was confident that he would be okay in that aspect. Adair only held out one day- Nicholas thought partly because he was still so bored with being stuck in bed, and partly because he needed food to keep gaining his strength back- but Jareth did not make an appearance for several days. Nicholas had been setting a plate for him at every meal, every day, but he did not show.
Finally on the fifth day, Nicholas and Adair were eating their evening meal, when Jareth suddenly strode into the room, sat down at his place, and started eating. Things were tense until Jareth looked up and quietly asked Adair to pass the salt down to him, then the trio seemed to settle into a slightly more comfortable silence. As the week wore on, Jareth and Adair slowly started talking to each other more and more, until at the end of the week, it amazingly seemed as if things were nearly back to normal between them. Nicholas never did figure out what was discussed in Jareth's room earlier that week, and neither man wanted to bring up the subject again.
As he settled down for bed that night, Nicholas felt as if things were finally healed between the brothers.
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