Part 6
Pie fight. That's all I'm gonna say.
Jareth quickly recovered his composure, but he couldn't quit staring at the girl. It was *her*, Sarah. The one who haunted his dreams and who he had been looking for. Shock and anger warred with each other as he looked at her. He ignored Robert's black frown, and Garrick's amused look, as the anger won, and walked purposely toward her. She blinked in surprise, then gave him a sweet smile.
"Are you one of the Fae children?" she asked, "I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before."
Jareth stared at her in amazement. After all the months of wondering where she was, and she didn't even remember. Pride kept him from saying anything about the Labyrinth. Instead he bowed low, and introduced himself. "Forgive me, my lady, I am Jareth, King of the Goblins." He smiled.
Sarah's eyes widened slightly and she leaned towards him, and whispered conspiratorially, "Really? I have heard that the Goblin King was a scary person, but you don't seem too frightening to me."
Jareth's smile grew larger, then he noticed Karen coming up behind Sarah and quickly pulled the Queen out on to the dance floor. She glared at him for a moment, but settled into the steps of the dance with ease. He looked down into her hazel eyes, and just like in his enchanted ballroom, he got lost in their depths. He pulled her closer, and she didn't resist. They swirled about the room, oblivious to any others.
Robert glared after his friend, as the man practically jerked his daughter out onto the dance floor. He was relieved to see that she was resistant, then frowned as they both seemed to get lost in each other. He barely noticed when Karen walked up beside him, and Garrick's low chuckle of amusement.
"She beat his Labyrinth you know," Garrick said, "but she's acting as if she's never met the man before, and he's acting the same. Rather an interesting predicament it will be when the acts are revealed for what they are."
"Robert, that's the Goblin King!" Karen exclaimed.
Robert looked over at her. "Yes, I know. He was my best friend."
"But he kidnaps babies to turn them into goblins!"
He sighed. "That's his job, darling, and he has never actually turned a child into a goblin. All the goblins he has now were transformed either before he was born or before his father was killed. He gives everyone a chance to get the babies back, with the Labyrinth." He frowned. "How do you know about the Goblin King?"
"He tricked me into wishing Toby away," she responded. She turned to Garrick and asked, "You said Sarah beat the Labyrinth? I guess that must have been when she changed." Karen then smiled. "Perhaps he isn't such a bad guy after all."
Robert growled. "I would agree with you if he weren't holding my daughter so tightly." His eyes continued to follow the dancing couple around the room.
Sarah couldn't take her eyes from his. She was mesmerized. Again. But somehow, this was different from that ballroom fantasy. For one thing, she felt no confusion or self doubt. For another, the people here weren't staring at her as if she were some tempting morsel.
When he had first come up to her on the stairs, she had been shocked, even though Jeffery had told her he would be here. He looked even better than she remembered, with his tight black jacket, white poets shirt and formfitting black tights. His spiky blond hair still stood in every direction, and she fought an impulse to reach up and smooth it. She knew he wouldn't remember her, but just to see, she pretended she had forgotten. She had been right, and she hid her disappointment. Then he had dragged her onto the dance floor, and she would have remonstrated with him, had it not suddenly felt so...familiar, so right, to be in his arms. She had settled into the dance with a quick ease.
They seemed to dance for hours, but Sarah was in no way tired. She could dance in his arms all night if she had the choice. Still looking in his eyes, she knew he felt the same. Then he leaned forward and whispered into her ear.
"This ball you know, is not just in honor of your recent coronation. It is also where you should meet your husband. I am the logical choice you know, being your father's best friend. And our kingdoms are closest. I am also the strongest, and I could protect you..."
Sarah was horrified. He really was a cad, even if he wasn't exactly evil. She pulled away from him and glared at him. He looked at her with confusion written on his features. "What's wrong, you know it is true."
Sarah ignored the people who had stopped dancing to look at them. She was too angry to care what they thought of her. "For your information Mr. High and Mighty Goblin King, I can protect myself. And I wouldn't marry you if you were the last being in any realm!" She quickly formed a crystal and threw it at him. It hovered in the air, and he stared at it in shock. Then it burst and a gallon of water poured down over his head, plastering his spiky blond hair to his face.
Before he could recover, she conjured a table with one creme pie sitting on it. She picked it up and another one immediately took its place. Then she threw it at Jareth, who ducked. It hit Karen square in the face, and the woman gasped in outrage. Sarah glared at Jareth who was laughing. He stopped when he was hit in the face himself with a pie. Karen had thrown it from a table that had conveniently appeared in front of her. Sarah looked to see Jeffery sniggering and knew he was responsible.
"That was for taking Toby!" Karen yelled.
Sarah gaped at Jareth and threw a pie at the back of his head. He jumped and turned around, glaring at her. By now, the guests were laughing uproariously. "You took Toby again?!" Sarah demanded.
Jareth's eyes narrowed. "So you do remember?" He conjured a table and threw a pie in her direction. She ducked, and it hit King Jiggle.
Soon the entire room was involved in a gigantic pie fight. Sarah and her parents along with Garrick, Aryssa, Jemin, Areka, Jiggle and Garrick's youngest Gavin, were joined against Jareth, and the fourteen Fae children. It was a horribly mismatched battle, but they started to come out in the lead when Sarah cheated and dropped a giant pie over the lot of them. This continued on for hours and then no one knew who was battling whom, because each of them was unrecognizable, covered from head to toe in feet of pie filling and crust. The couldn't walk in the ball room without slipping and falling flat on their faces.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time, until a screech brought them all up short. Anna was standing at the top of the stairwell, looking extremely angry.
"Look what you've done to my nice clean room! Who started this! Never mind, you're all going to help clean it up, and no using excessive magic!" Sarah stared at the woman as she stomped from the room. That had to have been the shortest speech Anna had ever given. She must have been pretty upset. Everyone else, including Karen, had known the fairy godmother for a long time, and rushed to get the job done.
Several, and I do mean several, hours later, everything was sparkling and shining just as it was before. Sarah stood at the door waving everyone out. They all exclaimed over what a good time they had had, and hoped she would be doing another party soon. Eventually, the only people left were herself, Garrick, Aryssa, Jareth and her parents. None of them would be leaving that night. Garrick, because he wanted to look at a scroll Myst had found, Aryssa didn't want to leave her husband. Jareth wanted to catch up on old times with his friend.
Sarah sighed tiredly. "Well, I'm off to bed. And Jareth, if you so much as touch Toby while you're here I'll...I'll....well I'll do something really bad." Having had her say, she marched up to her room, leaving the 'adults' to themselves.
Jareth smiled as he watched her go. He hadn't had that much fun since he and Robert had tricked Garret and Alyssa into believing the Bog of Eternal Stench was an excellent mud bath, and had pretended not to notice the smell when the twins had complained about it.
"You remembering the Bog incident?" Robert asked.
Jareth grinned and nodded. "That was the best practical joke I've ever played."
"Well, I'll do something really bad to you if you so much as touch my daughter again while you're here," Robert said.
Karen slapped her husband on the arm. "Really, Robert. Be nice. Now, I need to get some sleep myself, because I'm sure Toby will be up first thing in the morning. I don't want to have to worry about you two killing each other, and I'm sure Garrick and Aryssa have better things to do with their time than to baby-sit a pair of overgrown boys." She then followed Sarah's direction up the stairs. The elves grinned at each other then followed her.
"I am not an overgrown boy!" Jareth exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at their retreating backs.
"Are too!" his friend hotly replied. They both chuckled.
Before they could talk, the chiming of the doorbell was heard announcing visitors. Jeffery, who had been hiding in the shadows listening to the conversation, loped to the door and quickly changed back to his human form. He opened and Jareth saw with surprise, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and the monster Ludo. He frowned.
"What are you three doing here?" He queried in his mock pleasant voice.
Hoggle trembled, but Sir Didymus immediately answered, "We are here to offer thou protection sire, from the many charlatans and vagabonds that abound in this realm. Verily, thou shouldst not have come without protection from your brave knights."
Jareth rolled his eyes. "Jeffery, I am sure you can find a place to put them. Sarah will certainly be happy to see them."
"Ah the Queen Sarah," Didymus said knowingly, "Yes, I have missed her truly. Rarely have I seen such courage in a female."
Jareth raised an eyebrow at this, remembering that Hoggle hadn't told him about any of this. The dwarf trembled some more. "Well Hoggard," he began, purposely getting the name wrong.
"Hoggle," the dwarf corrected.
"Yes," Jareth said pleasantly, "I suggest you get out of my sight quickly or I may decide to go ahead and suspend you over the Bog of Stench for a week, then slowly lower you until you're drenched. Understand?" The dwarf nodded and quickly ran up the stairs. Jeffery grinned at Jareth.
"You should have come to the coronation," the wolf said, "Then none of this would have been a shock." He too quickly loped out of sight before Jareth could do anything, herding the monster and the knight up the stairs after their friends.
Jareth and Robert sat for a while talking and laughing, remembering old times. Then they too finally went up to find their beds for the night.
Pie fight. That's all I'm gonna say.
Jareth quickly recovered his composure, but he couldn't quit staring at the girl. It was *her*, Sarah. The one who haunted his dreams and who he had been looking for. Shock and anger warred with each other as he looked at her. He ignored Robert's black frown, and Garrick's amused look, as the anger won, and walked purposely toward her. She blinked in surprise, then gave him a sweet smile.
"Are you one of the Fae children?" she asked, "I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before."
Jareth stared at her in amazement. After all the months of wondering where she was, and she didn't even remember. Pride kept him from saying anything about the Labyrinth. Instead he bowed low, and introduced himself. "Forgive me, my lady, I am Jareth, King of the Goblins." He smiled.
Sarah's eyes widened slightly and she leaned towards him, and whispered conspiratorially, "Really? I have heard that the Goblin King was a scary person, but you don't seem too frightening to me."
Jareth's smile grew larger, then he noticed Karen coming up behind Sarah and quickly pulled the Queen out on to the dance floor. She glared at him for a moment, but settled into the steps of the dance with ease. He looked down into her hazel eyes, and just like in his enchanted ballroom, he got lost in their depths. He pulled her closer, and she didn't resist. They swirled about the room, oblivious to any others.
Robert glared after his friend, as the man practically jerked his daughter out onto the dance floor. He was relieved to see that she was resistant, then frowned as they both seemed to get lost in each other. He barely noticed when Karen walked up beside him, and Garrick's low chuckle of amusement.
"She beat his Labyrinth you know," Garrick said, "but she's acting as if she's never met the man before, and he's acting the same. Rather an interesting predicament it will be when the acts are revealed for what they are."
"Robert, that's the Goblin King!" Karen exclaimed.
Robert looked over at her. "Yes, I know. He was my best friend."
"But he kidnaps babies to turn them into goblins!"
He sighed. "That's his job, darling, and he has never actually turned a child into a goblin. All the goblins he has now were transformed either before he was born or before his father was killed. He gives everyone a chance to get the babies back, with the Labyrinth." He frowned. "How do you know about the Goblin King?"
"He tricked me into wishing Toby away," she responded. She turned to Garrick and asked, "You said Sarah beat the Labyrinth? I guess that must have been when she changed." Karen then smiled. "Perhaps he isn't such a bad guy after all."
Robert growled. "I would agree with you if he weren't holding my daughter so tightly." His eyes continued to follow the dancing couple around the room.
Sarah couldn't take her eyes from his. She was mesmerized. Again. But somehow, this was different from that ballroom fantasy. For one thing, she felt no confusion or self doubt. For another, the people here weren't staring at her as if she were some tempting morsel.
When he had first come up to her on the stairs, she had been shocked, even though Jeffery had told her he would be here. He looked even better than she remembered, with his tight black jacket, white poets shirt and formfitting black tights. His spiky blond hair still stood in every direction, and she fought an impulse to reach up and smooth it. She knew he wouldn't remember her, but just to see, she pretended she had forgotten. She had been right, and she hid her disappointment. Then he had dragged her onto the dance floor, and she would have remonstrated with him, had it not suddenly felt so...familiar, so right, to be in his arms. She had settled into the dance with a quick ease.
They seemed to dance for hours, but Sarah was in no way tired. She could dance in his arms all night if she had the choice. Still looking in his eyes, she knew he felt the same. Then he leaned forward and whispered into her ear.
"This ball you know, is not just in honor of your recent coronation. It is also where you should meet your husband. I am the logical choice you know, being your father's best friend. And our kingdoms are closest. I am also the strongest, and I could protect you..."
Sarah was horrified. He really was a cad, even if he wasn't exactly evil. She pulled away from him and glared at him. He looked at her with confusion written on his features. "What's wrong, you know it is true."
Sarah ignored the people who had stopped dancing to look at them. She was too angry to care what they thought of her. "For your information Mr. High and Mighty Goblin King, I can protect myself. And I wouldn't marry you if you were the last being in any realm!" She quickly formed a crystal and threw it at him. It hovered in the air, and he stared at it in shock. Then it burst and a gallon of water poured down over his head, plastering his spiky blond hair to his face.
Before he could recover, she conjured a table with one creme pie sitting on it. She picked it up and another one immediately took its place. Then she threw it at Jareth, who ducked. It hit Karen square in the face, and the woman gasped in outrage. Sarah glared at Jareth who was laughing. He stopped when he was hit in the face himself with a pie. Karen had thrown it from a table that had conveniently appeared in front of her. Sarah looked to see Jeffery sniggering and knew he was responsible.
"That was for taking Toby!" Karen yelled.
Sarah gaped at Jareth and threw a pie at the back of his head. He jumped and turned around, glaring at her. By now, the guests were laughing uproariously. "You took Toby again?!" Sarah demanded.
Jareth's eyes narrowed. "So you do remember?" He conjured a table and threw a pie in her direction. She ducked, and it hit King Jiggle.
Soon the entire room was involved in a gigantic pie fight. Sarah and her parents along with Garrick, Aryssa, Jemin, Areka, Jiggle and Garrick's youngest Gavin, were joined against Jareth, and the fourteen Fae children. It was a horribly mismatched battle, but they started to come out in the lead when Sarah cheated and dropped a giant pie over the lot of them. This continued on for hours and then no one knew who was battling whom, because each of them was unrecognizable, covered from head to toe in feet of pie filling and crust. The couldn't walk in the ball room without slipping and falling flat on their faces.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time, until a screech brought them all up short. Anna was standing at the top of the stairwell, looking extremely angry.
"Look what you've done to my nice clean room! Who started this! Never mind, you're all going to help clean it up, and no using excessive magic!" Sarah stared at the woman as she stomped from the room. That had to have been the shortest speech Anna had ever given. She must have been pretty upset. Everyone else, including Karen, had known the fairy godmother for a long time, and rushed to get the job done.
Several, and I do mean several, hours later, everything was sparkling and shining just as it was before. Sarah stood at the door waving everyone out. They all exclaimed over what a good time they had had, and hoped she would be doing another party soon. Eventually, the only people left were herself, Garrick, Aryssa, Jareth and her parents. None of them would be leaving that night. Garrick, because he wanted to look at a scroll Myst had found, Aryssa didn't want to leave her husband. Jareth wanted to catch up on old times with his friend.
Sarah sighed tiredly. "Well, I'm off to bed. And Jareth, if you so much as touch Toby while you're here I'll...I'll....well I'll do something really bad." Having had her say, she marched up to her room, leaving the 'adults' to themselves.
Jareth smiled as he watched her go. He hadn't had that much fun since he and Robert had tricked Garret and Alyssa into believing the Bog of Eternal Stench was an excellent mud bath, and had pretended not to notice the smell when the twins had complained about it.
"You remembering the Bog incident?" Robert asked.
Jareth grinned and nodded. "That was the best practical joke I've ever played."
"Well, I'll do something really bad to you if you so much as touch my daughter again while you're here," Robert said.
Karen slapped her husband on the arm. "Really, Robert. Be nice. Now, I need to get some sleep myself, because I'm sure Toby will be up first thing in the morning. I don't want to have to worry about you two killing each other, and I'm sure Garrick and Aryssa have better things to do with their time than to baby-sit a pair of overgrown boys." She then followed Sarah's direction up the stairs. The elves grinned at each other then followed her.
"I am not an overgrown boy!" Jareth exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at their retreating backs.
"Are too!" his friend hotly replied. They both chuckled.
Before they could talk, the chiming of the doorbell was heard announcing visitors. Jeffery, who had been hiding in the shadows listening to the conversation, loped to the door and quickly changed back to his human form. He opened and Jareth saw with surprise, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and the monster Ludo. He frowned.
"What are you three doing here?" He queried in his mock pleasant voice.
Hoggle trembled, but Sir Didymus immediately answered, "We are here to offer thou protection sire, from the many charlatans and vagabonds that abound in this realm. Verily, thou shouldst not have come without protection from your brave knights."
Jareth rolled his eyes. "Jeffery, I am sure you can find a place to put them. Sarah will certainly be happy to see them."
"Ah the Queen Sarah," Didymus said knowingly, "Yes, I have missed her truly. Rarely have I seen such courage in a female."
Jareth raised an eyebrow at this, remembering that Hoggle hadn't told him about any of this. The dwarf trembled some more. "Well Hoggard," he began, purposely getting the name wrong.
"Hoggle," the dwarf corrected.
"Yes," Jareth said pleasantly, "I suggest you get out of my sight quickly or I may decide to go ahead and suspend you over the Bog of Stench for a week, then slowly lower you until you're drenched. Understand?" The dwarf nodded and quickly ran up the stairs. Jeffery grinned at Jareth.
"You should have come to the coronation," the wolf said, "Then none of this would have been a shock." He too quickly loped out of sight before Jareth could do anything, herding the monster and the knight up the stairs after their friends.
Jareth and Robert sat for a while talking and laughing, remembering old times. Then they too finally went up to find their beds for the night.