The late October leaves scattered across the path as Sarah Williams detoured through the park on her way home from school. Among the half bare trees she breathed in the crisp air and smiled.

A burst of wind picked up and caught at her thin scarf, laughing she jogged after it. When the wind carried its silken burden away from the path towards the pond Sarah stopped laughing and ran in earnest but it was a losing battle. Just as her scarf swirled perilously over the water there was a flash of white and pale barn owl emerged from the flurry of russet leaves, her red scarf in its talons. It swooped over her and landed on one of the obelisks that dotted the park.

The owl was not new to her but Sarah was never sure what to make of the irregular sightings. She had quickly connected the dots between its appearance in her life and her adventures in an impossible world but it had never approached her, never showed any sign of malice. It had only ever observed her from a distance.

But now it was only a few feet away and was looking straight at her, she took a deep breath and stepped towards it. "You are not what you appear to be."

It cocked its head, fluffed up its wings and took to the sky, leaving her scarf on the obelisk. Sarah scrambled to catch the scarf before the wind could abscond with it again. For a moment she thought that the owl had left but she spotted it perched on another obelisk a little further away. As she stepped towards it it took wing again, intrigued she followed.

Finally it landed on a low branch at the edge of a thicket of trees.

She paused a short distance from the trees. "Even I know better than to follow strange animals into the woods Mister Owl."

It winked at her.

She paused, considering her words. For obvious reasons she did not want to invoke his title, she knew his name, even if she had never said it out loud. "Jareth?"

The owl shuddered, then melted away, leaving a fairytale king its place.

At first glance he had not changed, with his wild hair, eccentric ruffled cream shirt, criminally tight pants tucked into knee-high black boots.

Conspicuously absent however was the mask of aloofness he had so often worn during their last encounter. Lounging on his makeshift perch he was regal but relaxed as he observed her inspection of him with curiosity.

The thought reminded her of his periodic surveillance of her person, it piqued her to be gawked at. "You've been stalking me." The words came out more blunt than she intended but she held her ground, waiting for a rebuttal.

Rather than take offence he raised a brow in amusement. "I prefer the term 'checking on the wellbeing of an old acquaintance'."

His lack of antagonism caught her off guard, at a loss for words she fiddled with the scarf still in her hand. She tried to smother a smile. "And rescuing lost scarves from a watery grave?"

A smirk teased the corner of his mouth as he nodded. "When the opportunity arises."

"Why did you never speak before?" That was a question that had worried her, she had begun to wonder if her parting words had somehow trapped him in avian form.

He shrugged. "I did not wish to intrude."

"So what changed?"

"You. You didn't scowl at me in suspicion, you saw me for what I am and invited conversation."

"Then on what shall we converse your majesty?"

He looked up at the sky and when turned back to face her his face was solemn. "Unfortunately this visit is a short one."

"Oh!" Surprised by her own disappointment Sarah blushed at her outburst. "Um... Will I be seeing you again?"

The smirk returned. "Every now and again."

With a wink he was gone.

...

Author's Note

So... um... yes I have started another story when I still have two others on the go. (In my defence Dance or Dream was updated twice last month and the next chapter of Feathers is almost ready to go.)

This one will be a series of short(ish) snippets of Sarah growing up and following her dreams, all while periodically bumping in to our favorite fairytale king of course. ;)

Kudos to all who recognize the reference in the chapter title

(I'm also trying to improve my descriptions so feedback is more than welcome.)

Thanks for reading! :)

P.S. Still don't own Labyrinth or its characters, not making money from this, sigh...