Disclaimer: See the first chapter.
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Through a crystal, darkly
Sarah tossed the crystal up and caught it; fascinated by the changes of color it exhibited. One moment it was clear, the next it was tinged with red or golden or blue light. It was much like it's giver, Sarah decided, very changeable.
She sighed, reminded of an issue which often confused her. Jareth blew hot and then cold, sometimes treating her like an unwelcome guest, sometimes a student and sometimes a friend or something closer. If he'd only decided what he wanted to be to her, she thought with irritation, she'd know how to treat him. But as soon as she was fed up enough to revolt at his detached behavior and intolerable workload, he'd change. He'd treat her to scandalous stories about the rulers of the Underground over candlelit dinners set up in beautiful nooks in the garden, walk her to her bedroom door when it was time for bed, kiss her hands and in general behave as though flustering her was his only goal in life. She liked him best when he was like that, Sarah decided, when he treated her as an equal and a friend. There was one topic that seemed off-limits even when Jareth was in his most relaxed mood though. After that one conversation, Jareth had never spoken of her grandmother. Perhaps they were enemies, Sarah mused, and perhaps she reminded him of her.
Sarah looked into the crystal speculatively. Surprisingly, the inside of the enchanted globe seemed black. Concentrate on what you want to see, Jareth's voice echoed in her mind, and the crystal will show you or not, depending on the strength of your will.
Sarah cupped the crystal in her hands and focused on her speculations about Jareth and her Grandmother. The crystal glowed and then cleared.
A man and a woman were visible in the crystal. The man was bent over the woman, kissing her cheek. They stood in a beautiful glade in a forest. Unusual violet flowers bordered the glade. The woman's back was to the crystal and the only part of her visible was her long black hair. The man straightened and Sarah saw glittering mismatched eyes. It was Jareth, only younger, his face unlined, his eyes without that hint of sorrow they had acquired. Sarah strained to see the woman's face. As if answering her unspoken command, the view in the crystal shifted and Sarah gasped. It was her own face.
After looking more carefully, Sarah realized that the woman in the crystal was probably her grandmother. The couple in the crystal seemed entranced with each other, lost to the world in their visible happiness. Vanessa glowed and Jareth was happier than Sarah had ever seen him.
Sarah sat down hard on her bed, her mind whirling in shock. That sneak!!! She thought experiencing a curious sense of betrayal at the idea that Jareth might see her as a replacement for Vanessa. They did resemble each other a great deal. After thinking about it for a while, she decided not to mention the matter to Jareth: after all she wasn't sure that the crystal had shown her something which actually happened. I'll ask Hoggle, she resolved, knowing that it had been a while since she visited her friend.
Sarah was recalled to her surroundings by a knock on her door. She muttered a curse, remembering that she was late for class, and called "Just a minute."
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"Concentrate, Sarah" Jareth snapped as she struggled to call up an image on the crystal.
Sarah gave a long suffering sigh and asked irritably "Haven't we done enough for one day?"
Jareth gave a smug smile "no, we have not" he said in a decided tone of voice.
"I hate you" Sarah muttered under her breath.
"Did you say something, my dear?" Jareth questioned with an innocent smile.
Sarah gritted her teeth, wondering if that was what Jareth had also called Vanessa. She was exhausted; using the crystal to spy on Hoggle had been difficult, no matter what Jareth said. "So, what do we do now?" Sarah questioned in an artificially bright tone of voice.
"Now that you've learned to use the crystal to spy in the Underground," Jareth said, "you should try to use it to spy on your own world."
"I dislike the word spy" Sarah said haughtily as she closed her eyes and focused on her home, thinking of the people she wanted to see. Toby, Toby, Toby she chanted mentally. When she opened her eyes, the crystal was showing a table, set for dinner. Karen was making trips to and from the kitchen while her father and Toby waited at the table. Sarah smiled maliciously. It looked like Karen no longer had an unpaid slave to help her.
"Very good" said Jareth approvingly. "Now, try to focus on each person."
Toby's face filled the crystal. He had grown and his face had lost some of it's chubbyness. Sarah felt a pang of homesickness, as strong as it was unexpected. She had not really understood that leaving home would mean never hugging Toby again. Sarah swallowed and reminded herself that even if she had stayed, she would have left home in some years. To distract herself Sarah shifted the view to her father.
"Homesick, Sarah?" Jareth questioned mockingly.
"Not a bit" Sarah said with false bravado.
Her father's face shown in the crystal. It was lined and seemed older than it had been. There was more grey in his hair and Sarah wondered if his ageing was a consequence of her leaving. "He looks old" she said aloud, feeling slightly worried.
"He and your stepmother have been arguing constantly since you left" Jareth said impassively. "He blames her for driving you away."
"How do you know?" Sarah asked, startled that Jareth had troubled to keep track of her family. Perhaps he did care for her in her own right, rather than as a reflection of her grandmother.
"Once you are as experienced as I with the crystal, you'll be able to hear people as well as see them" Jareth explained with a superior look.
"I meant to ask, why did you bother?" Sarah questioned, aware that Jareth had misunderstood her question on purpose.
"I thought that you might like to know someday" Jareth said looking
inscrutible. Then changing the subject he asked quickly, "Shall we go to dinner?"
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At dinner Jareth was distant. Sarah was a bit wary, guessing that his mood was a result of letting her know that he had kept track of her family for her.
"Jareth" Sarah asked, figuring that a question as to Underground politics was safe "why doesn't Eleraine rule the Goblin Kingdom? Aren't women allowed to rule?" Sarah asked about Eleraine indirectly because she wanted to know about Jareth's relationship with his sister. It puzzled her that Eleraine had mentioned Jareth fondly and often in the week Sarah had spent with her before coming to the goblin kingdom while Jareth mentioned Eleraine not at all.
"Two rulers of the Underground may not marry each other," Jareth said in his teacher's voice "so Eleraine gave up her right to rule when she married Damrued."
Sarah absorbed this in silence and concentrated on her food. After a while she commented "She must love Damrued a lot, to give up a kingdom for him".
"Yes" Jareth agreed and went back to staring at his plate.
Sarah gritted her teeth. It was so hard to make conversation with Jareth at times. She felt uncomfortable sitting silently and often tried to discuss inconsequential things but talking to Jareth could be like pulling teeth. It didn't help that he was the only person around, if she wanted intelligent conversation. The goblins were often amusing, but hardly company and she saw Hoggle and the others about once a month. She looked at Jareth through her lashes. He looked as beautiful as the moon, with his white hair and pale skin, and as distant, lost in his own thoughts. He was very hard to get close to, Sarah realized, wondering why she was trying. You know why you want to understand him, her conscience accused, you just won't accept it. Sarah looked at Jareth, jolted from her reflections by his voice.
"Eleraine raised me," he confided abruptly "My parents died some years after her wedding, when I was nine years old."
"How did they die?" Sarah asked, aware that the fey died for no reason but extremely advanced age or illness. She could not entirely suppress her elation at the fact that Jareth had lowered the icy wall of his reserve to tell her about his childhood.
"My father died on a dragon hunt" he said in a voice which contained remembered pain "and my mother killed herself a week after" he finished angrily. Jareth stabbed viciously at his plate, obviously regretting revealing so much of himself.
How could his mother leave him so, Sarah wondered realizing that she and Jareth had more in common than was apparent. They both felt abandoned by their mothers. "She must have loved him very much" Sarah offered tentatively, wondering if that was any consolation to him.
Apparently it was not because Jareth countered with a bitter smile "She must have loved me very little."
They finished their dinner in silence.
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A/N: This chapter was ready for posting a week ago but I'm spending summer at a place with no Internet connection. Hopefully the next one will be done soon. Keep reviewing, it's the only way I know whether I'm getting it right.