To the Victor Go the Spoils

As I said before, Heaven is our theme. Also, there's a picture of Resheph on my bio page and the story is now on my homepage. Finally, once again I've mixed in genuine religion/mythology. Lilith appeared in the Hebrew tradition as Adam's first wife, who, as his equal, refused to lie beneath him and fled from Eden. She's reputed to be the mother of demons among other things. Her role here is my imagination at work. Readers of C.S. Lewis will recognize the reference in the title.

Ladymage Samiko ;)

(PS--On my page I've divided the story into "books." Consider this part the end of Book 2 with one more "book" to follow. And yes, I will finish it even if I have to beat it out of the Jareth-muse.)

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Part 25 ~ Son of Adam, Daughter of Eve

"But--but I thought Fae were immortal, not human."

Jareth's spirit eyes were distant. "Fae were human once, Sarah. But we are the children of Adam and Lilith, conceived in Eden. We carry some of the power of that place as well as that of our first mother. This set us apart from the greater part of the human race that flourished according to God's decree while we remained lesser. Still, our power and heritage caused our cousins to fear and hate us through the ages, though after a time they forgot why. The Fae were pushed back time and again by the sheer force and stubborn will of our cousins. One by one, we decided we must abandon our home and we came here to the Underground. Here we honed our powers, grew them until they dominated everything, including us. And so we became immortal, bound to this land and to our magic. Some Fae retain their humanity and have nearly no magic to speak of. Others have rid themselves of it completely. Jareth chose to do neither and pays the price of trying to reconcile our two halves. In our pride, we believe we can master both, keeping both our magic and our humanity. The other Fae believe this to be impossible and say so, which just makes us more stubborn than we already are. And then, Jareth is already leery of me; I was a young man when I made the journey to this place and the memories of the atrocities that humans committed is still with us. We are cruel but Jareth believes that humans are even more so with their emotions and determination. It makes it difficult for us to admit that we, too, carry the blood of Adam within us and--" The spirit's voice trailed off.

"And what?" Sarah urged in a quiet voice.

His ungloved hand reached out, hovering over Sarah's cheek. He slowly caressed it, leaving a feeling not of warm flesh but of penetrating comfort and protection. Her eyes closed as she leaned into it, letting the feeling wash through her. She could only vaguely compare it to the feeling she had had when she fell asleep in her mother's lap when she was little. "It is easier for me," he whispered roughly. "I remember how it felt to love and to be loved. The Goblin King knows nothing of feeling, of emotion, and it frightens him." Sarah started, her eyes staring wide at the phantom figure, her mouth open in surprise. "You frighten him, Sarah, for you embody the traits he thought he despised. Determination. Strong and volatile emotions. You have an innocence in you that he envies. And a surprising intellect to govern it all. You are powerful, Sarah, and you are dangerous. We know this."

"But then, why am I here?" Sarah asked him. "You could have left me alone before, or destroyed me when I was solving the Labyrinth. You didn't have to let me live if I am so dangerous. You didn't have to make me that offer. I didn't have to win."

"The Goblin King made the offer so that you would become his slave. 'Fear me,' he told you. 'Love me, do as I say.' Accepting that would have let him study you and yours without risk. You would have been able to do nothing if you had accepted that offer; you would have been bound to him for the rest of your life. Self-confidence has never been lacking in us," he smiled ruefully. "He believes he can solve the mystery of love without giving himself up to it."

"What do you want of me?" Sarah whispered, sounding like a frightened little girl.

"I, I would ask your love, Sarah, and only that. I am proud, but we are more alike than I would care to admit. My ego took a bruising when you defeated us, but we belong with you. If you can find it in you, I ask that you love us."

"And if I can't?" she asked quietly.

"Then I must accept that, as Philip accepted that we could not love him. But I would ask that you accomplish the task that only you can."

"What is that?"

"The Goblin King does not know this, but I have divined that you are the only one who can reconcile Fae magic and human power. You have done so already, though you need to learn to control your earth magic as well as the Fae. But you do not suffer the same as we. Help us. Please."

"But I don't know how!" Sarah cried gently. It was impossible not to feel sympathy for the spirit, but she didn't know how she did whatever it was that she did, much less tell someone else how.

"I know you don't, not now," the spirit answered. "But please, try. Return to Earth; I think the answers are there. If you don't, we will destroy ourselves."

Sarah started back from the hand that was by now resting comfortably on her shoulder. "That--that's not very fair," she said shakily. "I can barely manage my own life; I can't take responsibility for yours."

"It's not an option, Sarah," he told her sternly, in a tone that reminded her of the waking Jareth. "It's a fact, and facts are never fair. We have barely managed to coexist these past millenia and at a price. You have thrown everything out of balance. We are in turmoil and will only manage to destroy ourselves in the end."

"I didn't ask for this!"

"You think I did? By God, Sarah, if I could have avoided this, I would have. But here we are. Live with it. I do every bloody day." With that, the spirit vanished, leaving Sarah feeling horribly alone and scared.

It was a matter of seconds before Sarah heard Jareth's voice again, angry and harsh. "Sarah, what are you doing here?" Sarah's head flew up to see the Fae sitting up in his bed, hair and clothes rumpled. Like a startled doe, she ran. Jareth was left looking blankly at the open door.

"Damn," he said.

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"I swear, Cousin Jareth has the subtlety and sensitivity of a brick wall."

"Can't argue with that one."

"But he almost had it there."

"Almost, but his human side's as stubborn and arrogant as his Fae side. Or almost, anyway. Bloody idiot."

"My dears, he can't help it. And Sarah wouldn't love him half as much if he was any other way."

"Yes, Mother, but will either of them be able to admit it since they're both so stubborn?"

"Eventually, my sons. Eventually. But--" The pleasant, round face creased in worry. "I hope it will be soon enough that their future will not become flawed."

"That's the worst thing about being prophets. Everything looks all rosy and then they do something that screws it up. Then they blame us for their mistake."

With that, the Reshephim and their adoptive mother turned back to the lives unfolding below them.

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You should ask yourself. . . why you did.

The Reshephim's words played through Jareth's head both before and after he awoke. They were still there when he saw Sarah gazing thoughtfully at him. That jolted them temporarily out of his mind. This was his sanctuary, dammit. She had no business being here. When he asked her what she was doing in his room, she fled as if demons were after her. The moment she was gone, the words returned. With an irritated mutter, he dismissed them. Even if he could figure out why he had answered Sarah's call for the goblins to take her little brother, it didn't matter anyway. But he'd better go after her before she gathered her wits and decided to blast him.

Feeling definitely the worse for wear, Jareth took the time to toss a crystal into the air and change his outfit. In a wheat coloured shirt (unbuttoned midway) and black breeches that would have to be peeled rather than pulled off, he stalked down the hallway in search of the wayward girl.

He found her sitting in the courtyard attached to her room. On the ground with her knees in front of her and the wall at her back, Sarah's eyes stared blankly into space, her hands mechanically petting the vines that twined around her.

"Sarah?" he questioned.

She rose swiftly, with a grace he hadn't imagined she possessed. Turning to him, her expression icy, she said flatly, "We're returning to Earth. Now."

And the Goblin Lord shivered at the proud, passionless words.