Disclaimer: I do not own Jareth, Sarah, the Labyrinth, or anyone or anything else from the movie.
"Mommy! Mommy! The fairies are coming out!" I cried. "Look, you can see. See the lights bouncing that way!"
"Yes, Koren. It's a full moon and Midsummer tonight."
"And that means that there's more magic out tonight than there ever is!" my sister exclaimed. "Well, good magic, anyway."
"Yes, Elien, and because of it, there's a celebration at the Palace of the Goblin King. I think you two should go. Follow the fairies; they'll show you the way to the castle. I'll come and bring you home later."
"Aren't you coming?" Elien asked.
She shook her head. "I have things to do. Run along."
"Come on, Elien!" I yelled, grabbing my sister's hand. "We can run!"
We dashed out of the cottage into the forest, watching the fairies go by. I followed them at a run, my twin Elien a step behind me. The fairies, usually dangerous and biting, flew around us. It was just past sunset and the sky above our head was red and orange and purple.
Then goblins joined us. Normally I would have hid from them; now they ran with us, deeper into the Labyrinth. Fireys ran around, tossing their hands and heads about, but they didn't try to touch us.
Elien slowed behind me, panting. She couldn't keep up; we were only six, after all. A creature swept us up. Elien sat on its shoulders, clinging to its long brown fur. I climbed up its back, demanding noisily a chance to ride on the shoulders as well.
We ran into the City. More goblins joined us there. The creature carried us up to the castle.
King Jareth stood before the doorway, holding a crystal in his hand. We stopped before the castle, waiting for all the Labyrinth to arrive. I slid down the creature's arm, to the ground. "Thank you for carrying me," I said. "My name is Koren."
"Me Mora," the creature said.
"'Allo," said a voice near the ground. I looked down. Several blue worms stared up at me, blinking their big, long-lashed eyes.
"Hello!" I said.
"I say," the largest worm remarked, "could you possibly pick us up so we can see?"
"Sure!" I said, stooping and scooping them up. "Except that I'm just a little girl, so I don't know how well you can see."
"Better than from the ground," the worm assured me, as I deposited them on my shoulders.
The crowd suddenly hushed. Mora picked me up again so that I could see. Fairies settled down, sitting on me. I could see that they had already sat on Elien.
King Jareth held up a crystal and tossed it into the crowd. It expanded below our feet, turning into a large, round disk that rose into the air, above the castle, so that we could all see the sky. I turned and looked east.
The moon was rising. It was orange. The stars above me were winking into view.
The grownups gathered in the center of the disk and started dancing. I watched them, entranced. Someday, I promised, I would dance like that.
The Fae and mortal adults bowed out, laughing and tired, and the goblins moved to the center to dance. The fairies rose from our shoulders, performing their own dance in the air above them. I clapped, watching.
Then it was time for my favorite part, the children's dance. I put the worms on Mora's shoulder and she put me down, and I raced into the center of the disk, Elien behind me. Around us other children, fae and mortal and goblin, dwarf and fairy, dryad and faun and stone spirit, were running into the center. We danced our own dances, wild and exuberant, paying no attention to the rules and steps that the grownups had to follow.
I danced for an hour before we were done. I was exhausted. A big, furry creature picked me up and carried me to the rim of the pavilion. I saw Mora again. "Ludo!" she said, bending and hugging the creature carrying me. She sat, holding Ludo in her lap. I sat in Ludo's lap. I yawned and then fell asleep, utterly happy.