***
Chapter Eight: In Which There is Much WAFFY-ness
Theme music: Complicated by Carolyn Dawn Johnson
***
"... an that there is a Weeping Oak."
Eittene pointed out a thick barreled tree that had the bark of a live oak and the sweeping branches of a willow. Sarah was fascinated.
"I've never seen anything like that Aboveground!" she cried.
"Nor will ye." Eittene agreed shaking his head so that his newly clean and shorn locks pattered on his olive tinted cheeks. Underneath all that dirt, there was been the most enchanting little boy with a lovely fey like beauty that promised to flower into heart stoppingly good looks. He was also much more pleasant to be round after three fierce scrubbings eradicated the... odor that had clung to him.
Eittene grinned up at Sarah puckishly. "Do ye think ye can spear anything with yon bow and arrows?" he asked quizzically.
Sarah glanced back at the bow that Jareth had gifted her with. "Most likely, if I had a clear shot." She shrugged.
"So why not catch us some lunch so we don't have to tramp all the way back to the Inn?" Eittene prodded.
Sarah flushed. "Hey, I'm a city girl. Straw targets are what I'm used to. I wouldn't even know how to cook anything I caught, much less clean it."
Eittene made a face. "Don't they teach you anything of use in the Aboveground?"
"Oh sure, I can speak and read in two different languages..."
"Neither of which do ye any good here." Eittene interrupted rudely. "Try again!"
Sarah made a face. "I can do mathematics, and I know all about science and botany, I can also tell one mean story as well as act parts of it out."
Eittene snorted. "Well, I can see where figuring could come into use, but not that science an' botany. They'd be of no use down `ere, different laws and such. I remember my parents teaching me that much afore they lit out on me." he shrugged. "the only thing I can see that ye've got to Barter with is that story tellin' an acting. There's always someone willin' to pay fer a good tale. Me for instance." He fluttered his dark lashes imploringly.
"I thought you were hungry?" Sarah chortled.
"I am." He grinned. "Tell ye what, ye kill us a rabbit an I'll clean it and cook it while ye spin a yarn fer a poor mum-deprived boy like me."
Sarah's heart instantly melted. "Fair enough."
Three arrows, two rabbits, and a revolting lesson in field dressing them from later; Sarah and Eittene were sitting on opposite sides of the fire over which the rabbits cooked. Sarah carefully cleaned every spot of gore from the arrows she retrieved before tucking them away.
Eittene was carefully burying the innards of the rabbits in the ashes of the fire when she finished.
"I'm ready for that yarn now." he hinted none too subtly as he sat up from his work.
Sarah grinned. "Of course. What kind of story would you like to hear?"
Eittene mulled over that one for a while. "One about ye."
"Me?" Sarah blinked. "No tales of pirates, or mad tyrants? Those are the type Toby begs for!"
"Well, now I ain't Toby now am I?" Eittene pointed out. "I'm Eittene and I don't know too much about this strange lady who comes out of now where, scrubs me senseless, and then takes me for a walk. I'd like to, I think it'd be down right fascinating. Tell me about how ye, an Abovegrounder, managed to catch the Goblin King's eye."
Sarah sighed. "Oh, all right then." she leaned back against a handy tree, of which there was no lack. "Once upon a time there was a young girl named Sarah who lived on the Aboveground..."
***
Jareth suddenly looked up from the Kingdom reports he'd been reading over. Sarah had just said his name.
"Well, now. What is that girl up to?" he mused as he set the papers aside, they were nothing earth shattering, and summoned a crystal into his palm and peered into it intently.
Sarah's voice came over the scrying link... she was telling a story. The corners of Jareth's lips perked up as he noticed the small boy sitting near her, attention rapt upon her. She always did have a way with children. She would be a magnificent mother one day, especially if he got his way...
"She lifted her screaming baby brother out of the crib and cried out `Goblin King, Goblin King wherever you may be! Take this child of mine far away from me!' ... Of course nothing happened, those weren't the right words. Frustrated, Sarah tried bouncing the baby on her hip but nothing would stop his crying..."
Jareth's smile dimmed a little in surprise. She was telling -that- story?
A wicked grin curved his lips as small prank blossomed in his twisted mind.
***
"And so, as she paused at the threshold of her parents' room to turn off the light, Sarah turned back to look at Toby. No small amount of bitterness burned in her heart, she was still young so she didn't realize that she was transcribing the pain and betrayal she felt from her mother's abandonment of her and her father's choice to move on and re-marry onto the Baby. It was then that she found her right words..." Sarah voice was eerie on the permanent evening air and Eittene -swore- that he didn't feel shivers creep down his spine!
"Careful, Sarah!" Jareth cautioned. "Don't say them again, otherwise I might spirit away this one as well!"
Sarah squealed in surprise as Eittene ducked behind her and whirled on Jareth, "Dammit Jareth! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Jareth shrugged. "If you say so, Dear." He said, not unlike an indulgent spouse. His long legs carried him to Eittene's side of the fire where he tossed himself gracefully onto a tuffet of moss. "Don't let me stop you. Indeed, I don't think I've had my bedtime story tonight." His eyes twinkled with merriment at their private joke.
"Aren't you a little old for bedtime stories?" Eittene asked in disgust.
Jareth chuckled. "You're never too old be lulled to sleep by a beautiful woman, m'lad. Never let anyone tell you otherwise... Sarah?"
Sarah shook her head. "I suppose you were listening in from the start? Oh... all right. Where was I?"
"you had just found your right words." Jareth prompted. "This is where I come in." He said as an aside to Eittene.
Eittene made a face and scooted closer to Sarah. "-He's- the Goblin King?" he asked Sarah in disbelief.
Sarah nodded. "He's more impressive than he looks." She whispered and winked at Jareth who, judging from the sour look on his face, had heard their little exchange.
"Maybe I should blow something up." He groused. "Ever since you came along, I get no respect anymore..."
Sarah made a sympathetic moue in his direction. "Tough." She said sweetly and turned to face Eittene. "Well, he -is- right. That was when the goblin King appeared, right as Sarah said her right words..."
Sarah's soft contralto wove a magic spell on the air that night and shortly both King and Boy were well ensnared. Even Jareth laughed as she told them of the daring rescue of Ludo and Eittene clapped when Hoggle overcame his cowardice to come to Sarah, Ludo, and Sir Didymus's rescue at the gates of the Goblin city.
Finally Sarah wound the story down to it's end.
"... the Goblin King's presence was overwhelming, it did nothing to aid Sarah's already faulty memory when it came to that last line. `Sarah' he said in his most deep, convincing tones. `Fear me, love me, do as I say... and I will be your slave.' Sarah had to look away from his burning eyes. `For my will is as strong as yours... my Kingdom is as great... my Kingdom is as great...' she could not remember! `Let me rule you' the Goblin King pled. Suddenly she knew. `You have no Power over me!'`
Jareth winced almost imperceptibly at that line, and Sarah did not miss it. She hurried through to the end to be greeted by enthusiastic clapping from both members of her audience.
Eittene grinned. "That was great! Ye really did `im in!" he stole a nasty glance at Jareth who deigned not to notice.
Instead Jareth gracefully rolled to his feet and prowled across the distance between he and Sarah. "Indeed she did." He murmured. "Such a tale deserves a reward." He stopped and knelt before Sarah. "Watch carefully now... don't blink!"
He held his hands before Sarah's face and trailed his fingertips softly against her cheeks. "Skin as soft as silk..." he murmured. " and pale as an ivory rose..." his lips moved in a silent mantra and Sarah felt a sudden weight against her chest. Her eyes darted down to rest upon the pendant now decorating the ivory column of her throat.
A silver rose enameled in white.
She looked back up to Jareth who smiled secretively. "It has other properties, but you'll discover them as necessary." He whispered.
"Jareth... I..." she blushed. "Thank you."
He nodded and vanished in a swirl of glitter. Sarah tinkered with the rose idly before raising her eyes to meet Eittene's knowing glance.
"W-what!?" she cried.
The boy rolled his eyes. "Ye're durn pathetic, ye know that?"
***
End Chapter Eight
***
AU-Short! I know, the tardy bell rings in five minutes and I want to post this on time! Damn thee AOL! (insert dramatic echo)
Chapter Eight: In Which There is Much WAFFY-ness
Theme music: Complicated by Carolyn Dawn Johnson
***
"... an that there is a Weeping Oak."
Eittene pointed out a thick barreled tree that had the bark of a live oak and the sweeping branches of a willow. Sarah was fascinated.
"I've never seen anything like that Aboveground!" she cried.
"Nor will ye." Eittene agreed shaking his head so that his newly clean and shorn locks pattered on his olive tinted cheeks. Underneath all that dirt, there was been the most enchanting little boy with a lovely fey like beauty that promised to flower into heart stoppingly good looks. He was also much more pleasant to be round after three fierce scrubbings eradicated the... odor that had clung to him.
Eittene grinned up at Sarah puckishly. "Do ye think ye can spear anything with yon bow and arrows?" he asked quizzically.
Sarah glanced back at the bow that Jareth had gifted her with. "Most likely, if I had a clear shot." She shrugged.
"So why not catch us some lunch so we don't have to tramp all the way back to the Inn?" Eittene prodded.
Sarah flushed. "Hey, I'm a city girl. Straw targets are what I'm used to. I wouldn't even know how to cook anything I caught, much less clean it."
Eittene made a face. "Don't they teach you anything of use in the Aboveground?"
"Oh sure, I can speak and read in two different languages..."
"Neither of which do ye any good here." Eittene interrupted rudely. "Try again!"
Sarah made a face. "I can do mathematics, and I know all about science and botany, I can also tell one mean story as well as act parts of it out."
Eittene snorted. "Well, I can see where figuring could come into use, but not that science an' botany. They'd be of no use down `ere, different laws and such. I remember my parents teaching me that much afore they lit out on me." he shrugged. "the only thing I can see that ye've got to Barter with is that story tellin' an acting. There's always someone willin' to pay fer a good tale. Me for instance." He fluttered his dark lashes imploringly.
"I thought you were hungry?" Sarah chortled.
"I am." He grinned. "Tell ye what, ye kill us a rabbit an I'll clean it and cook it while ye spin a yarn fer a poor mum-deprived boy like me."
Sarah's heart instantly melted. "Fair enough."
Three arrows, two rabbits, and a revolting lesson in field dressing them from later; Sarah and Eittene were sitting on opposite sides of the fire over which the rabbits cooked. Sarah carefully cleaned every spot of gore from the arrows she retrieved before tucking them away.
Eittene was carefully burying the innards of the rabbits in the ashes of the fire when she finished.
"I'm ready for that yarn now." he hinted none too subtly as he sat up from his work.
Sarah grinned. "Of course. What kind of story would you like to hear?"
Eittene mulled over that one for a while. "One about ye."
"Me?" Sarah blinked. "No tales of pirates, or mad tyrants? Those are the type Toby begs for!"
"Well, now I ain't Toby now am I?" Eittene pointed out. "I'm Eittene and I don't know too much about this strange lady who comes out of now where, scrubs me senseless, and then takes me for a walk. I'd like to, I think it'd be down right fascinating. Tell me about how ye, an Abovegrounder, managed to catch the Goblin King's eye."
Sarah sighed. "Oh, all right then." she leaned back against a handy tree, of which there was no lack. "Once upon a time there was a young girl named Sarah who lived on the Aboveground..."
***
Jareth suddenly looked up from the Kingdom reports he'd been reading over. Sarah had just said his name.
"Well, now. What is that girl up to?" he mused as he set the papers aside, they were nothing earth shattering, and summoned a crystal into his palm and peered into it intently.
Sarah's voice came over the scrying link... she was telling a story. The corners of Jareth's lips perked up as he noticed the small boy sitting near her, attention rapt upon her. She always did have a way with children. She would be a magnificent mother one day, especially if he got his way...
"She lifted her screaming baby brother out of the crib and cried out `Goblin King, Goblin King wherever you may be! Take this child of mine far away from me!' ... Of course nothing happened, those weren't the right words. Frustrated, Sarah tried bouncing the baby on her hip but nothing would stop his crying..."
Jareth's smile dimmed a little in surprise. She was telling -that- story?
A wicked grin curved his lips as small prank blossomed in his twisted mind.
***
"And so, as she paused at the threshold of her parents' room to turn off the light, Sarah turned back to look at Toby. No small amount of bitterness burned in her heart, she was still young so she didn't realize that she was transcribing the pain and betrayal she felt from her mother's abandonment of her and her father's choice to move on and re-marry onto the Baby. It was then that she found her right words..." Sarah voice was eerie on the permanent evening air and Eittene -swore- that he didn't feel shivers creep down his spine!
"Careful, Sarah!" Jareth cautioned. "Don't say them again, otherwise I might spirit away this one as well!"
Sarah squealed in surprise as Eittene ducked behind her and whirled on Jareth, "Dammit Jareth! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Jareth shrugged. "If you say so, Dear." He said, not unlike an indulgent spouse. His long legs carried him to Eittene's side of the fire where he tossed himself gracefully onto a tuffet of moss. "Don't let me stop you. Indeed, I don't think I've had my bedtime story tonight." His eyes twinkled with merriment at their private joke.
"Aren't you a little old for bedtime stories?" Eittene asked in disgust.
Jareth chuckled. "You're never too old be lulled to sleep by a beautiful woman, m'lad. Never let anyone tell you otherwise... Sarah?"
Sarah shook her head. "I suppose you were listening in from the start? Oh... all right. Where was I?"
"you had just found your right words." Jareth prompted. "This is where I come in." He said as an aside to Eittene.
Eittene made a face and scooted closer to Sarah. "-He's- the Goblin King?" he asked Sarah in disbelief.
Sarah nodded. "He's more impressive than he looks." She whispered and winked at Jareth who, judging from the sour look on his face, had heard their little exchange.
"Maybe I should blow something up." He groused. "Ever since you came along, I get no respect anymore..."
Sarah made a sympathetic moue in his direction. "Tough." She said sweetly and turned to face Eittene. "Well, he -is- right. That was when the goblin King appeared, right as Sarah said her right words..."
Sarah's soft contralto wove a magic spell on the air that night and shortly both King and Boy were well ensnared. Even Jareth laughed as she told them of the daring rescue of Ludo and Eittene clapped when Hoggle overcame his cowardice to come to Sarah, Ludo, and Sir Didymus's rescue at the gates of the Goblin city.
Finally Sarah wound the story down to it's end.
"... the Goblin King's presence was overwhelming, it did nothing to aid Sarah's already faulty memory when it came to that last line. `Sarah' he said in his most deep, convincing tones. `Fear me, love me, do as I say... and I will be your slave.' Sarah had to look away from his burning eyes. `For my will is as strong as yours... my Kingdom is as great... my Kingdom is as great...' she could not remember! `Let me rule you' the Goblin King pled. Suddenly she knew. `You have no Power over me!'`
Jareth winced almost imperceptibly at that line, and Sarah did not miss it. She hurried through to the end to be greeted by enthusiastic clapping from both members of her audience.
Eittene grinned. "That was great! Ye really did `im in!" he stole a nasty glance at Jareth who deigned not to notice.
Instead Jareth gracefully rolled to his feet and prowled across the distance between he and Sarah. "Indeed she did." He murmured. "Such a tale deserves a reward." He stopped and knelt before Sarah. "Watch carefully now... don't blink!"
He held his hands before Sarah's face and trailed his fingertips softly against her cheeks. "Skin as soft as silk..." he murmured. " and pale as an ivory rose..." his lips moved in a silent mantra and Sarah felt a sudden weight against her chest. Her eyes darted down to rest upon the pendant now decorating the ivory column of her throat.
A silver rose enameled in white.
She looked back up to Jareth who smiled secretively. "It has other properties, but you'll discover them as necessary." He whispered.
"Jareth... I..." she blushed. "Thank you."
He nodded and vanished in a swirl of glitter. Sarah tinkered with the rose idly before raising her eyes to meet Eittene's knowing glance.
"W-what!?" she cried.
The boy rolled his eyes. "Ye're durn pathetic, ye know that?"
***
End Chapter Eight
***
AU-Short! I know, the tardy bell rings in five minutes and I want to post this on time! Damn thee AOL! (insert dramatic echo)
