Interlude: Reminiscing.
The Labyrinth had been a sentient creature for longer then any Fae could remember, reaching father back in time then any record could date. She was the oldest land in the Kingdom of Fae. She had been soul bonded to more Kings and Queen's then she could count and each one had a place in her memory but only two had a place in her heart. The late Queen of the Goblins had been cremated as was custom and split into three portions. Part of her going to the Glade and was spread over the Meadow, a part of her was scattered over the Labyrinth and a part of her sat on the mantle of Jareth Le Fae.
The Labyrinth had felt sorrow over her mistress' death and howled her grief in storms that raged for weeks, until Jareth had stepped in and ordered her to allow fair weather. She had given in reluctantly, her heart still broken. The lady was gone, and there was nothing to be done for it, but she could still grieve.
As lonely as She felt the Labyrinth knew that something was drawing near. She felt it coming like one would smell rain, just on the horizon. Something was strange, and the magic kicked up when Annalisa drew her last breath was tremendous and left a backlash of terror and wonder on every Fae and Land in the Fae Kingdom. She had left her mark upon the world in more ways then one.
She had been able to feel her lady, gently, for a long time after her death, a resonance of her personality on the land, but suddenly it had been gone.
The night that Sarah Williams wished away her small brother had been the beginning of something. The clouds on the horizon had drifted near, and on her second visit the Labyrinth saw the clouds and they were above them. Something was here.
Chapter 2: Baby Blues.
A single almond shaped eye the size of a copper tub opened, and a dragon pupil swiveled to settle on a familiar face.
Arden Le Fae groaned and the earth of the Glade trembled with her displeasure. She opened her other eye and sighed, smoke curling from her huge nostrils. She looked at her father, a mixture of annoyance and surprise on her equine features. I could just eat him, one swallow and he would be a memory and would never bother me again. The thought was a pleasant one.
The cave was large and decorated in silks and spider web like fabrics so intricate it hurt the eye. Crystals and talisman's of every origin adorned the bookshelves. Her father, who approved of the room, sat cross-legged in front of her, his mismatched eyes boring into her skull.
Though it meant giving into him, she changed. Slowly morphing from a twenty feet at the shoulder silver dragon into a petite white haired woman with mismatched eyes, much like her father. "You could have knocked," she said moodily and stood, her naked body was a sight to behold. Her flawless silver skin and white hair streaked with red was quite beautiful in a non- traditional sense. She looked much like her mother, short and plump, but her face was hard like her father's. She pulled a silver gown from the air and looked at him expectantly while she fiddled with the ties. "Well, if you can't learn to knock at least learn to come around at a descent hour. It isn't even light out yet!"
"You are in a mood today aren't you," her father said mirthlessly.
"It isn't today yet, Papa! It's still dark outside!" Her eyes darkened with annoyance. She didn't have the best relationship with her father, he was egotistical, arrogant and moody, and much to his displeasure so was she. She had gained none of her mother's sweet temperament, and they had fought many a battle. She noticed the look on her father's face and feel suddenly silent. "What has happened?" She asked quietly.
He stood, from his spot on the marble floor and looked around. The room was incredibly large, carved by the best stone mason's from the living rock of the Glade. The Lady of the Glade spent most of her time in Dragon form and the Glade had accommodated her. "Actually I have a surprise for you."
Arden walked away from her father and sat in front of a vanity that looked as if it had been crafted from a living tree, which it had. Leaves still on, it was a masterpiece of Druid magic, a gift to her from a clan when she took on the mantel of Chieftain. She pulled a tortoise shell comb from a drawer and began to brush her long hair out and braid it. "I know that Sarah has returned," she said simply. She could see her father in the mirror looking angry, and growing steadily angrier with her with every stroke of the comb. "I wasn't spying, you were being loud." She said in answer to his unsaid question.
"I do not recalling asking you if you knew weather Sarah has returned or not, girl." He said his fists were clenched.
Arden turned to her father and placed an amethyst pendent around her slender neck. She was feeling rather playful, she had napped for many hours and for the first time in years left things to her subordinates to be handled while she took a break. After three days she was feeling frisky, and was not above giving her father some do grief. "Then what have you come stealing into my chambers like a thief in the night to tell me then… I know you didn't come for a social call." Her face was hard and it hurt him deeply.
No, I haven't come for a social call. What kind of man have I been to you? Certainly I haven't been a good father to you, have I? I have been so wrapped up in my loss that I forgot how to bring you close to my heart. "You are right, I haven't come for a social call, Arden. I have come to offer you a boon."
Arden Le Fae was the only Fae ever to posses the blood all three of the Fae races. Though she was not a Druid by training, she was by philosophy, like her mother, and she produced the same moss colored crystals. As a child she had been apprehensive of her father, moody, and occasionally violent with the goblins, which she got along with fairly well, but distant and cruel as well. She had found the company of Emily and the denizens of the Labyrinth to be much better, and she knew that the rift between them was as much her fault as his. A boon. A boon was a favor, a blessing, and Arden found it hard to believe that Jareth would have anything that she was interested in, he had distanced himself from his allies, and his parents. The young woman's brow rose expectantly. She waited.
"Your mother is beyond the veil, but still you are able to communicate with her, I don't know why I cannot, but that doesn't matter. I want you to go to your mother and ask her permission." Jareth paused. How to tell his daughter that he planned to wed a mortal.
Arden's thin brow rose. Should I tell him it's no use? Or hear him out. "Go on."
"I want you to ask your mother if it's alright."
A grown mortal woman may not have laughed at her father for saying that he wanted to marry again, but Arden was not a mortal woman. She had the life span of all Fae, but because of the Dragon Kin blood in her and the strange fact that the blood was the most prominent in her body her aging process was much slower then other Fae. In short, Arden was the most powerful Fae in the realm, but was still prone to fits of the giggles. A peal of laughter burst out of her before she could stop her self. Tears streamed down her face and she fell backwards out of her stool. "Papa!" she fought for air and sobered quickly when she saw his face. "Papa, first of all, even if I could ask her there is no need to. You know that she only wants you to be happy, and secondly I can't. She hasn't come to me in years!" She smoothed away the tears and looked at her father with pity. "Do you not understand? Mama is beyond the Veil. You will not see her again unless you are killed. She doesn't want you to die. She wants you to live, and if living means that you take another wife, then so be it." She walked across the room to her father and draped her long delicate arms around his shoulders. It was an unusual and unexpected show of affection, for she didn't usually feel affection for her father, but today she thought that perhaps he could use it. "Whatever it is that you have found within Sarah that touches the place in your heart that Mama holds may or may not be true. You can't fill the hole with Sarah, you must make room."
"Why are you so wise, girl?"
"Things are very difficult for us Fae when we lose a loved one. Human's can at least be comforted in the fact that they will see each other again in the afterlife. We have no such recourse, no comfort, only a deep sense of loss." Her eyes, so beautiful, in that strange way, were expressing her deep understanding for her father. He was a good man, deep down.
Jareth took a moment and basked in the wonderment of his only child. He supposed that the reason why they had never gotten on was because they were close in nature. She was belligerent, and moody, and beautiful, and she had a fierce sense of protection for the things she loved. She would eventually come to accept Sarah as the woman he now loved, but would she like it? No sense in wondering over it. She was a wise woman, and seemed to understand perfectly.
"Papa, I will warn you though that she will die."
"Eventually, she will pass on, but I will have many more years with her then even I had with your mother."
The young woman nodded, they had spent a year together as a married couple, and for most of it Annalisa had been so pregnant she could do little, but their short time together had been enough to make him suffer for her for four hundred and some odd years.
Arden Le Fae looked and truly saw her father for the first time in many years.
She smiled.
The Labyrinth had been a sentient creature for longer then any Fae could remember, reaching father back in time then any record could date. She was the oldest land in the Kingdom of Fae. She had been soul bonded to more Kings and Queen's then she could count and each one had a place in her memory but only two had a place in her heart. The late Queen of the Goblins had been cremated as was custom and split into three portions. Part of her going to the Glade and was spread over the Meadow, a part of her was scattered over the Labyrinth and a part of her sat on the mantle of Jareth Le Fae.
The Labyrinth had felt sorrow over her mistress' death and howled her grief in storms that raged for weeks, until Jareth had stepped in and ordered her to allow fair weather. She had given in reluctantly, her heart still broken. The lady was gone, and there was nothing to be done for it, but she could still grieve.
As lonely as She felt the Labyrinth knew that something was drawing near. She felt it coming like one would smell rain, just on the horizon. Something was strange, and the magic kicked up when Annalisa drew her last breath was tremendous and left a backlash of terror and wonder on every Fae and Land in the Fae Kingdom. She had left her mark upon the world in more ways then one.
She had been able to feel her lady, gently, for a long time after her death, a resonance of her personality on the land, but suddenly it had been gone.
The night that Sarah Williams wished away her small brother had been the beginning of something. The clouds on the horizon had drifted near, and on her second visit the Labyrinth saw the clouds and they were above them. Something was here.
Chapter 2: Baby Blues.
A single almond shaped eye the size of a copper tub opened, and a dragon pupil swiveled to settle on a familiar face.
Arden Le Fae groaned and the earth of the Glade trembled with her displeasure. She opened her other eye and sighed, smoke curling from her huge nostrils. She looked at her father, a mixture of annoyance and surprise on her equine features. I could just eat him, one swallow and he would be a memory and would never bother me again. The thought was a pleasant one.
The cave was large and decorated in silks and spider web like fabrics so intricate it hurt the eye. Crystals and talisman's of every origin adorned the bookshelves. Her father, who approved of the room, sat cross-legged in front of her, his mismatched eyes boring into her skull.
Though it meant giving into him, she changed. Slowly morphing from a twenty feet at the shoulder silver dragon into a petite white haired woman with mismatched eyes, much like her father. "You could have knocked," she said moodily and stood, her naked body was a sight to behold. Her flawless silver skin and white hair streaked with red was quite beautiful in a non- traditional sense. She looked much like her mother, short and plump, but her face was hard like her father's. She pulled a silver gown from the air and looked at him expectantly while she fiddled with the ties. "Well, if you can't learn to knock at least learn to come around at a descent hour. It isn't even light out yet!"
"You are in a mood today aren't you," her father said mirthlessly.
"It isn't today yet, Papa! It's still dark outside!" Her eyes darkened with annoyance. She didn't have the best relationship with her father, he was egotistical, arrogant and moody, and much to his displeasure so was she. She had gained none of her mother's sweet temperament, and they had fought many a battle. She noticed the look on her father's face and feel suddenly silent. "What has happened?" She asked quietly.
He stood, from his spot on the marble floor and looked around. The room was incredibly large, carved by the best stone mason's from the living rock of the Glade. The Lady of the Glade spent most of her time in Dragon form and the Glade had accommodated her. "Actually I have a surprise for you."
Arden walked away from her father and sat in front of a vanity that looked as if it had been crafted from a living tree, which it had. Leaves still on, it was a masterpiece of Druid magic, a gift to her from a clan when she took on the mantel of Chieftain. She pulled a tortoise shell comb from a drawer and began to brush her long hair out and braid it. "I know that Sarah has returned," she said simply. She could see her father in the mirror looking angry, and growing steadily angrier with her with every stroke of the comb. "I wasn't spying, you were being loud." She said in answer to his unsaid question.
"I do not recalling asking you if you knew weather Sarah has returned or not, girl." He said his fists were clenched.
Arden turned to her father and placed an amethyst pendent around her slender neck. She was feeling rather playful, she had napped for many hours and for the first time in years left things to her subordinates to be handled while she took a break. After three days she was feeling frisky, and was not above giving her father some do grief. "Then what have you come stealing into my chambers like a thief in the night to tell me then… I know you didn't come for a social call." Her face was hard and it hurt him deeply.
No, I haven't come for a social call. What kind of man have I been to you? Certainly I haven't been a good father to you, have I? I have been so wrapped up in my loss that I forgot how to bring you close to my heart. "You are right, I haven't come for a social call, Arden. I have come to offer you a boon."
Arden Le Fae was the only Fae ever to posses the blood all three of the Fae races. Though she was not a Druid by training, she was by philosophy, like her mother, and she produced the same moss colored crystals. As a child she had been apprehensive of her father, moody, and occasionally violent with the goblins, which she got along with fairly well, but distant and cruel as well. She had found the company of Emily and the denizens of the Labyrinth to be much better, and she knew that the rift between them was as much her fault as his. A boon. A boon was a favor, a blessing, and Arden found it hard to believe that Jareth would have anything that she was interested in, he had distanced himself from his allies, and his parents. The young woman's brow rose expectantly. She waited.
"Your mother is beyond the veil, but still you are able to communicate with her, I don't know why I cannot, but that doesn't matter. I want you to go to your mother and ask her permission." Jareth paused. How to tell his daughter that he planned to wed a mortal.
Arden's thin brow rose. Should I tell him it's no use? Or hear him out. "Go on."
"I want you to ask your mother if it's alright."
A grown mortal woman may not have laughed at her father for saying that he wanted to marry again, but Arden was not a mortal woman. She had the life span of all Fae, but because of the Dragon Kin blood in her and the strange fact that the blood was the most prominent in her body her aging process was much slower then other Fae. In short, Arden was the most powerful Fae in the realm, but was still prone to fits of the giggles. A peal of laughter burst out of her before she could stop her self. Tears streamed down her face and she fell backwards out of her stool. "Papa!" she fought for air and sobered quickly when she saw his face. "Papa, first of all, even if I could ask her there is no need to. You know that she only wants you to be happy, and secondly I can't. She hasn't come to me in years!" She smoothed away the tears and looked at her father with pity. "Do you not understand? Mama is beyond the Veil. You will not see her again unless you are killed. She doesn't want you to die. She wants you to live, and if living means that you take another wife, then so be it." She walked across the room to her father and draped her long delicate arms around his shoulders. It was an unusual and unexpected show of affection, for she didn't usually feel affection for her father, but today she thought that perhaps he could use it. "Whatever it is that you have found within Sarah that touches the place in your heart that Mama holds may or may not be true. You can't fill the hole with Sarah, you must make room."
"Why are you so wise, girl?"
"Things are very difficult for us Fae when we lose a loved one. Human's can at least be comforted in the fact that they will see each other again in the afterlife. We have no such recourse, no comfort, only a deep sense of loss." Her eyes, so beautiful, in that strange way, were expressing her deep understanding for her father. He was a good man, deep down.
Jareth took a moment and basked in the wonderment of his only child. He supposed that the reason why they had never gotten on was because they were close in nature. She was belligerent, and moody, and beautiful, and she had a fierce sense of protection for the things she loved. She would eventually come to accept Sarah as the woman he now loved, but would she like it? No sense in wondering over it. She was a wise woman, and seemed to understand perfectly.
"Papa, I will warn you though that she will die."
"Eventually, she will pass on, but I will have many more years with her then even I had with your mother."
The young woman nodded, they had spent a year together as a married couple, and for most of it Annalisa had been so pregnant she could do little, but their short time together had been enough to make him suffer for her for four hundred and some odd years.
Arden Le Fae looked and truly saw her father for the first time in many years.
She smiled.