Disclaimer: The Labyrinth does not belong to me, nor do any of its characters. All ideas are entitled to their original owners.

Chapter 6

Jareth smiled warmly as Rhia entered the room. he knew she was wearing the plainest dress in the wardrobe but still-she was gorgeous. Quickly he stood and pulled out a chair for her. She sat and smiled as she let go of his hand. Jareth noticed with a pang of pain how regretful he was to let go of her hand.

"So how are you enjoying my castle Rhia?" She smiled her eyes glowing. "I haven't had the chance to see much, but what I have seen is gorgeous." Rhia found herself looking directly into Jareth's eyes as she said that and averted her gaze before he caught it.

He quickly caught the meaning of that statement and grinned wolfishly. "Well then how about a tour later?" She beamed with pleasure. "Really? that would be great." Her teeth were clenched in the smile, she knew something wasn't right but she couldn't say what. She quickly began to think. Hmm this isn't like him at all... Isn't he supposed to be an arrogant manipulative bastard? he wants something.... there are strings attached... but what could they be? With a sigh she banished her train of thoughts and dug into the food in front of her. Little did she notice that it just appeared out of no-where, courtesy of the "arrogant bastard"

(AN)::stands tall, drawing her sword:: Down ladies!!! ::a grin creeps unto her lips:: not like it is actually true or anything ::wink::

By the time they both finished the meal the sun had set and the moon was fully risen. Stars sprinkled the sky and Rhia decided to go explore the immediate grounds. She didn't want to go too far from the castle at dark and decided that she would "stick around." She carefully managed to slip away from Jareth; skillfully enough though, that it wasn't insulting.

She made her way back to her room, her shoes barely making a noise on the carpet-covered floors. She easily located a coat rack that was next to her bed and snatched her cloak from it. Without bothering to change, she tied the cloak about her, put up the hood and slipped on a leather gauntlet.

Rhia made a small twill noise by putting her tongue in between her teeth and whistling. Legend hooted softly from her perch, opening one eye and then the other. In a few seconds she flew over and landed on Rhia's outstretched arm. Finally they were ready to go exploring.

After what seemed forever, she reached the gardens without any mishaps along the way. After looking at the sky for a few minutes she figured she was somewhere along the west walls of the castle. She shrugged off the thought of getting lost and started walking.

Dead, brown vines hung from the walls, grabbing her clothes like hungry claws, until she reached the end of the wall where the garden sprang back to life. A rainbow of colors sprang from various flowers in front of her, creating a fantasy before her eyes.

Fairies darted to and fro from flower to flower collecting nectar and in the process dusting their wings with pollen that practically made them glow. Each of the small creatures were women at this point and wore simple dresses of green or brown-all except two of them.

The two fairies hovered above all the rest, directing them where to go and how much to take. One had long black hair and wore a midnight blue dress, the other had long brown hair and wore a crimson red one. Rhia looked further, but couldn't really make anything else out, as they were tiny and far away. Legend quickly fixed that problem.

As the owl hooted softly all of the fairies stopped dead in their tracks, the two noted ones floating forward on their silver wings. "Your majesty what are you.." The blue one stopped and smiled, looking to the one dressed in crimson. "Well now Shey that is NOT Jareth." Said the one in blue. The one in crimson chuckled. "Apparently not Kalika.!"

Rhia cocked her head. "Pardon me, but who are you two?" The one in blue landed on her knee and smiled. Upon closer inspection she had cerulean blue eyes that sparkled throughout her small manner, with thin red lips that were drawn in a smile. "I am Kalika, Head mage of the fairies." The crimson one landed on her other knee, green eyes sparkling through the mass of neat brown hair. "I am Sheyala, General of the queen's guard." Suddenly a voice came from behind them, kind and melodious.

"And I am Natalie, queen of the fairies." Rhia looked up at the sound as another fairy came into view. She wore a pure white dress, had fiery red hair and purple eyes. She hovered just above the other two fairies and smiled as she landed in front of Kalika. Rhia smiled.

Nice to meet you...Natalie, Kalika and Sheyala. Sheyala chuckled. "Please call me Shey." Rhia nodded and smiled. "My name is Rhia.. I am new around here. Could you tell me where I am?" Natalie nodded and smiled. "You are in the gardens on the north wall." Rhia blushed--she had been wrong.. "And who do we have here?" The queen flew up to Legend, dangling in front of the owls face. "Oh this is my owl Legend, I suppose you mistook HER for Jareth." Kalika chuckled at that and nudged Shey. "Well pardon me Kalika but how many snowy owls do you know around here besides Jareth!?" Shey said almost angrily, but it was obvious she held no grudge.

Natalie smiled and pet the owl on the beak. "She is a nice thing, she speaks highly of you Rhiadorana." Rhia blushed. "Rhia if you please." The little Queen smiled and flew back down to her companions. "Rhia then.. Well dear, sorry to be so nosy.. but we haven't seen a lady here in a long time.. the last one's name was... was..." Natalie thought with her head cocked and Shey nudged her playfully. It was obvious the three were very good friends. "Sarah you numbskull." the queen chuckled. "Well... well... blarg!" Shey laughed. "Yes and we can't help but wonder. What are you doing here?"

Rhia cocked her head as she considered the question. "I really don't know. Jareth just kind of showed up and took me away. Not by force or anything though." Kalika shook her head and looked at her feet. "Uh-oh" Rhia looked up in alarm. "What do you mean uh-oh Kalika?" Kalika paced on Rhia's knee. "Well he probably plans to use you somehow and quite frankly..." Shey sighed. "What she means is the last time a girl like you came... with no strings attached.. we were reduced to what we are.."

"What do you mean by that?" Rhia asked, looking to the queen. Natalie sighed. "We were once your size dearest. Fae people, just like Jareth. We tried to stop his use of a poor human girl like you, and as punishment reduced us to what we are. But then again.. there IS something different about YOU." Kalika nodded. "You just may be the one.." Rhia shook her head. "Be the one to WHAT?" Sheyala flew up so that she was nose-to-nose with Rhia. Her expression turned serious, and her face suddenly looked old and tired as was the face of a warrior of many battles. "The one to free us all." she stated simply, a longing look running through her eyes.