Sarah and Jareth reappeared in the dining room. The table was set, food already set out. It looked delicious, smelled delicious, but suddenly Sarah didn't really want to eat. She knew she needed food, but… mostly it didn't appeal much right now.

"Before you say anything," Jareth said, pulling out a chair and giving Sarah a slightly amused look, "I did try to warn you. I hardly think it would be 'fair'"— he smirked at the word, the smug bastard—"to blame me for your insisting on running off without giving me the chance to actually explain."

"On the other hand," Sarah replied, giving him a look as he took his own seat at the head of the table to her left, "you could have just flat out explained that you had Zuko's mom living in the Underground. Or that my school had a department for learning stuff about the Underground where I could have weird Underground cultural stuff explained to me?" Now her look was more like a glare. She was starting to feel kinda pissed that apparently everyone knew this and no one had bothered to tell her. Had they enjoyed watching her flounder in these situations? Who knew her friends were all so sadistic…

"You didn't know?" Jareth's eyebrows shot up.

"How in either world could I have known?! It's not like it's part of the advertising! 'Come to U of F, enjoy our large green campus, our top quality professors and education, not to mention our departments that specialize in the world of magic, something you know isn't real.'" She was angrier than she should be, she knew, but she'd been like that a lot this past week and knowing didn't really help stop it. She forced herself to take a deep breath. Exploding wouldn't help. And Jareth's expression seemed more confused than amused. It seemed like there was something she was missing. Again.

"But they do adver—Hoggle said you were going in part because of its extensive Celtic Studies Department, and you were interested in studying… Sarah, did you not see the moon writing?"

"Moon writing?" Sarah blinked at him.

"It's how most magical writing is passed around unnoticed in the Aboveground. Those in the know know to check for it, but even so, the institution of an Aboveground school has been in existence for millenia. I attended in Constantinople for a few years, myself. Magical families who can afford it have been sending their children to whatever form the School takes in their generation. The moon writing is to reach out to those who have lost touch with the community. Also, to include details on what form the school has taken in this generation. Really, as the Champion of the Labyrinth, it was only natural you go to the School and—Sarah, Precious, you're going to get soup in your hair."

Sarah looked up from the table which she'd been banging her head against and gave Jareth a look.

"I take you didn't see the moon writing," he said, eyebrows raised.

"Alright. I get it. I go to a magical school. I'm the only person who didn't know that I go to a magical school. I can learn about culture and history and all sorts of interesting things there. Believe me, I'm going to see an academic advisor in the know before picking out my courses for next year. It's a shame I have so few credits left. I wish I'd been able to take more courses about this before. But then again, before you waltzed back into my life at March Break, there was no reason for me to take those courses… Still, it would have been nice to know more going in. Only one year left to learn so much and I still have a few program requirements to complete…" Sarah frowned, annoyed at the wasted opportunity.

"Can't you just apply for another year?"

"It'd be nice, but I can't. My scholarship is only renewable for one more year and it's the only way I could afford to keep going after dad…" She looked down at her soup and forced a few spoonfuls down, trying to distract herself. The last thing she needed to do was focus on more distressing things. Jet and where there should be scars on her back was more than enough.

"I could pay for the additional year," Jareth offered, offhandedly. "The education of the hopefully future Queen of the Labyrinth and Lady of the Goblins is an important investment."

"You aren't paying for my education," Sarah told him flatly. There was no way she was going to feel like she owed him that much. There was already enough, with Karen and Zuko, she couldn't take much more. If she decided to marry him, if she loved him, if she could trust him, then it needed to be on her terms. And besides, "My parents helped pay, but I earned that scholarship fair and square and I worked hard for it. I'm not letting you take that accomplishment away from me. Paying for most of my education, I earned that." He was smiling at her. Why was he smiling at her? A feeling of cold dread played through her stomach.

"Jareth, did you have anything to do with me getting my scholarship?" Never mind one year, she hated to think she owed him all four. The thought made her feel kind of sick. Both his eyebrows shot up.

"Sarah, I have no power over you, remember? At the time you got your scholarship, I had even less. I couldn't have possibly had anything to do with the application. As a matter of fact, your scholarship isn't even one of the ones reserved for magical students. Really, precious, have a little faith in yourself."

"Oh," was all Sarah could manage, looking at the soup she'd been stirring without really noticing. 'Idiot.'

"Precious, is something wrong?" Genuine concern, and something darker, were in Jareth's tone.

"I'm fine!" Sarah replied, head snapping up with a bright smile. From the look he was giving her, she was pretty sure he wasn't buying it. "So, I know I can take theoretical courses at school, but do they teach actual magic? You've mentioned getting my magical stamina up, so I can actually do transportations without being totally useless later, classes seem like a good place to start."

"They don't teach magic in the Aboveground, or at least not at the School." Jareth didn't seem to be convinced by her smile, but he was letting her get away with the sudden change in topic. "You're expected to learn magic at home. I had private tutors for years in all sorts of subjects both before and after I attended School Aboveground. I'll be the one to teach you magic, precious, if you want to learn."

"So, about breathing fire?" she asked, before forcing down another spoonful. "You said you'd found a spell that might work...?" Not even all the complications and bad things that were happening in her life could negate the innate coolness of being able breathe fire.

"Ah, not quite, allow me to explain," 'finally' "You, as every other Queen of the Labyrinth before you—"

"I still haven't agreed to marry you, Jareth," Sarah cut across him.

"Believe me, Precious, I am well aware of this fact, but the magic that is a part of you doesn't seem to can take it up with the magic, not me."

"But what no one knew," Sarah quoted, eyebrow going up, "is that the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl and had given her certain powers."

"Do you want me to explain magic or not?" Jareth glared back, entirely ignoring Sarah's point. If he didn't have anything to do with this then she was... How long had she been stuck on this path? Instead of answering that question, she gestured for Jareth to continue.

"As I was saying, you, like every Queen of the Labyrinth who has come before have two kinds of power, an internal, fae magic and a slightly more external one. However, the way you use those powers is... Different than a fae Queen would." Sarah had a million questions, but she decided to save them for the end of the lecture.

"Fae magic, the magic that, for the most part, I use, is complex. I will be teaching you that and we can begin with the basics over lunch. The other is the magic of the Labyrinth, the magic of wishes. That... I've been speaking to my mother and the Labyrinth about it and I think that you should learn from them. I can teach you the basics, but after that, you should speak to them."

"Wait, what do you mean, you can teach me the basics? I thought it was only the Queens of the Labyrinth who had this... Other kinds of magic." OK, maybe she wouldn't wait for all her questions.

"Perhaps what I said was slightly misleading. You and I both find ourselves in a rather peculiar situation when it comes to magic. No Goblin King is supposed to be able to wield the Labyrinth's magic, but, on the other hand, no King is to rule without a Queen. When my mother and father abdicated before I found my own Queen, long before you were even born for me to find, I was left in a bit of a conundrum. Who was to hear the wishes, when a child is wished away? Who was to merge with the Labyrinth, and guide her changes as the Runner tried to do the impossible? All those were the responsibilities of the Labyrinth's Queen, not merely her Lord. Or at least, that's what I thought. The Labyrinth, it seemed, had different plans." He smirked and took a sip of his drink. Sarah knew a storytelling technique when she saw one, and while she enjoyed watching someone else being a master storyteller she wanted answers. He put down his glass and began speaking again before she gave into the temptation to shake them out of him.

"I have a closer connection to the Labyrinth than any Goblin King has had before me. So long as there is no Runner, I have the connection of any other Goblin King. I can only speak to Her in Her centre. I cannot move her. However, as soon as a Runner enters the Underground…" he trailed off, eyes half-lidded. "Well, you've felt that kind of power, though to you it must feel more natural. The first time was rather overwhelming."

Sarah blinked at him. She remembered being overwhelmed her first time, but she had had no experience with using magic at all. Was that a lot of power? It wasn't like she really had a frame of reference…

"Just how powerful is the Labyrinth?" Sarah asked.

"You know, that question, more than anything, makes me realize exactly how little you know about this." He frowned at her. She suppressed a growl, deciding that she wouldn't kill him until after he'd explained things to her. "Which brings me back to the first kind of magic, the one you will have to learn to do, rather than just do instinctually. You have magic in you, a rather large amount, similar to that which a fae Monarch would. Possibly more… as I've said, there hasn't been a true Champion of the Labyrinth in time beyond remembering.

"Fae magic, it's using magic to make your will manifest." With a flick of his wrist there was a single rose lying in front of Sarah on the table. She picked it up and took a careful sniff. She frowned when it smelled very clearly of lavender.

"In its first most basic form, it's good for something fairly simple, perhaps with a few added flairs. One has to hold in one's mind exactly what one wants for the entire duration of the spell and its creation. If the spell has a time element involved, then one has to focus one's mind and magic for the entire length of the spell." In her hand, the rose petals began to slowly fall away, until she held a rose stem with a sprig of lavender attached at the end. Another sniff confirmed her suspicion. It smelled of roses.

"Spoken words can help focus the mind. It is what you picture that your magic will create. If you cannot maintain your focus, the magic will create whatever you imagine. If you imagine the spell going wrong…. There is a reason I would not normally being teaching a fire breathing spell to someone learning magic, but more on that later. Without a crystal, I can do things more than just a simple flower and a few tricks, but this is to demonstrate scope.

"Which brings me to the crystal." With another flick of his wrist, there sat a crystal in his palm. He casually threw it onto the table. Suddenly the table was covered with… the first word that sprung to mind was 'flower arrangements'. There were vases, yes, but they were made up of what looking like roots and small branches, woven delicately together. They all seemed to be from different kinds of trees, in slightly different colours and barks. And as for the flowers… delicate crystal structures, in all sorts of different colours and kinds. It was backwards and gorgeous and so entirely Jareth. She was entranced. She reached out and gently touched one of the flowers: it was warm.

"Crystals can contain large amounts of magical information and spells can be subdivided into crystals. The more complex the spell, the more crystals are needed. Crystals can also be a way of letting people work large spells together. The difficult part is creating the crystal, activating it requires next to no effort at all. To give you a sense of how much magic a crystal can hold..." He trailed off, frowning. "I could tell you that one hundred crystals made by three Monarchs were required for the great working at the Battle of Tär, or that the stopping of the Flood of Ùll took thirteen, but I doubt you have any idea what either of those are." She shook her head when he glanced at her. "Well then. The spell for the Crystal Ballroom took four crystals." She suppressed a flinch. The Crystal Ball, what he'd done to her, what he might still be capable of still doing to her, was not a pleasant thought.

"I know it's something we'd both rather not dwell on, but it does give you that sense of scope. Crystal magic is the harder of the two, but it is also, in most cases, the more useful. It is faster to create and a crystal can be made and held in reserve. Once the crystal is created, it no longer requires the focus of the magic user to act. However, the creation of a crystal is much more complex. You must hold the entire spell, the part of it you wish that crystal to hold, in your mind at once. Colour, sight, sound, shape, size, duration, any changes you want to occur during the spell, all of it. And you must be able to hold everything needed in your mind for the time it takes"—he flicked his wrist in the gesture she'd seen him use— "to conjure a crystal.

"I've spent so long using magic that that kind of focus is almost second nature to me. You, however, like all beginner magic users, must begin by learning how to work magic without the crystal, learn what to hold in your mind and how. Actually, the first thing you need to learn is how to control the amount of magic you actually use to perform a spell. Currently you use far too much. It is as though you are using the force needed to lift a solid oak table when what you really need is the amount to raise a tea cup. This is why you grow tired so quickly. The trick to building your magical stamina is learning to use the minimum amount of magic and thought required for a spell."

"That's stamina?" Sarah asked. It seemed more like finesse to her. Or practice. Or control. Or something.

"Oh Precious, nonsensical terminology is not limited to mortals. But do you understand the concept?" Sarah groaned to herself. You'd think that people who worked by 'what's said is said' would have terminology that made at least a little sense. Still, if she wanted to breathe fire, and all the other cool stuff, she'd have to work to understand it anyway.

"So, essentially, I need to try less hard?" Sarah tried. She hadn't realized she was trying at all.

"Not exactly..." He frowned. "I think the best way to explain this is through you doing it. I'll explain as you go."

"Alright. So, what do I do first?" Magic! She was about to do actual magic! And on purpose this time! While she'd been using magic for a while now, this time she was using it because she wanted to. And she'd probably not be knocked on her butt exhausted afterwards. Jareth's eyes sparkled with an enthusiasm to match her own, though he hid it behind a serious, teacherly expression.

"First, you must find the place where magic resides inside you. There should be a part of you that you can sense when you use magic. Perhaps it is a buzzing or prickling sensation? It's different for everyone. The center of that sensation is where your magic lives. See if you can find it in yourself." Sarah nodded and closed her eyes. She thought about the wishes she'd made, and how it actually felt to make a wish. She cast around in herself, trying to find something that felt different, but nothing was working. Everything just felt like her. It wasn't like she used magic enough to have it feel so natural, was it? No wait, that gave her an idea.

"Labyrinth? Am I using magic to speak to you?"

"Of course you are! What did you think you were using? A paper and pen? Really, if you'd taken much longer, We would have had to say something."

"But isn't this the kind of magic that I'm not supposed to be learning? Do I have another centre of magic I need to find, for regular Fae magic?"

"All magic is the same, Champion, and you have far more than you know. It is only how you chose to use it that differs. Tell me, My Queen-To-Be, can you feel how these thoughts are different from your other ones?"

"Yeah, they... Aren't entirely inside my own head."

"However you interpret it, it is your magic. Now, attend to your lesson. And marry your teacher."

Ignoring that last part, which seemed more like an afterthought on the Labyrinth's part, Sarah opened her eyes.

"Found it," she said, looking at Jareth, who was studying her intensely.

"Very good. For our first attempt, you will try to conjure something. Pick something familiar to you, that you can imagine in every detail. To begin, nothing too complex. A book, for example, might seem simple, but to conjure, not just summon, one must be able to think about the book, its contents, the number of pages, and so on. Can you think of something?"

After a few moments, Sarah had it. The first Bowie poster she'd ever gotten. God knew she'd stared at enough, memorized the way the lightning bolt fell across his face, how his eyelashes looked, the liquid gathered at his collar bones. She'd even sketched it a few times. She knew it backwards and forwards. It was exactly what she needed.

"Got it."

"Excellent." He smiled, about as excited as she was, she suspected. "Now, keep your idea of it clearly in your mind and, a little bit at a time, add magic to it. It's harder to explain than it is to do. Go, give it a try. You'll know when you've gathered enough to conjure it."

Sarah closed her eyes again, it was easier to do all of this without being distracted. She focused on her mental image of the poster and slowly, a little bit at a time, she added magic to it. Somehow, adding magic to David Bowie seemed natural.

No, adding the magic wasn't the hard part, the hard part was the "a little bit at a time". That other part of her that she now knew to be magic had a mind of its own. It could feel that she wanted to create something and wanted to throw all of its considerable force behind it. She understood what Jareth had meant about lifting an oak table. Adding only small amounts to her image took ridiculous mental willpower. But she was the Champion of the Labyrinth; willpower she had in spades.

Even so, when ever she reached for the magic, more came than she wanted. She wasn't in control—

Blood, trickling down Sokka's arm. A knife in Jet's hand, moonlight glinting on knife and metal both. She was afraid, she was so very afraid—

"NO!" She threw all her mental force into the scream. Any control over her magic was gone as it flooded her, backing up her desperate desire to get away from the memory.

"Sarah." Her name cut through her panic and she managed to open her eyes. She was breathing way too fast and she couldn't slow down and the memory it just wouldn't—

"Sarah, Precious, look at me," the voice said again, pulling her back towards the present. The voice, didn't belong to the memory. She found a pair of blue eyes and they held her gaze. "Sarah, you are safe here. Now breathe." He started breathing deeply, eyes not letting hers go, and she found her breath slowing to match his. "Are you alright?" Jareth asked, after at least a minute of deep and steadying breathing.

Shakily, Sarah nodded. She'd had to deal with the memories before, but never had it been so intense. She still didn't feel like she could speak.

"I take it that that was not what you meant to conjure?" He gestured to where a bloodied knife was embedded point first in the chair across from her.

"I—" She couldn't speak. The knife had blood on it. Sokka's blood. Her blood. She couldn't look away. The terror was pushing its way back up her throat.

"Really, Precious, one might almost think you found a pedestrian dagger more attractive to the eye than me." The terror transformed into a snort and she rolled her eyes at him, seeing him preening and looking at her with far too perceptive eyes.

"Precious—" He cut himself off, frowning. "Sarah, did you speak with the Lady about what happened with Jet?"

"Er… yes? I guess that's why it's on my mind right now…" She was lying and they both knew it. Still, instead of pressing her on it, he frowned and conjured a crystal, staring into its depths at something she couldn't see. His frown deepened before he looked up at her.

"Unfortunately, there's something I must deal with at once. However, I'd prefer to not leave you alone at the moment. Would you like to examine the library with… Ludo I believe his name was, to keep you company?"

"You'd let Ludo in a library?" Sarah asked. And she'd thought it would be difficult to get him onto the grounds at all for some quality hug time. The stress of Beltane was really getting to her.

"Not exactly moving the stars, Precious," he smirked.

"Then, yeah, that does sound nice." Sarah smiled faintly. It would give her a chance to get her composure back.

"Excellent, I'll leave you to finish eating then. When you're done, call for a servant and they will show you to the Library. Your friend will be waiting for you. And, Precious, I'm sorry that I have to deal with this now, but should you want to talk about this la—"

"Don't you have some emergency to deal with? Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

He frowned at her, then at the crystal. "Very well, I'll come to you once I've dealt with this. It shouldn't take long at all." And with what Sarah suspected was a forced smile, he was gone. And without explaining the damn fire trick. She'd have to get it out of him later…

Sarah eyed her soup with loathing and called for a servant. She didn't feel like eating, and besides, Ludo was waiting for her. She could read some books and get some snuggles and unwind. It would be great. Really. It would.