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Jen

Kirel and I walked along the path for quite some time. The path was wide enough for us to walk side by side as we talked. For some reason, I felt as if I had known him for a long time, instead of just for an hour or so. We talked about the weather (which had become warm, resulting in my tying my sweater around my waist), about nature, told each other stories about ourselves. I began to feel at ease talking to Kirel, even though I barely knew him. Eventually though, the conversation turned back to the subject at hand.

"I've only got 9 hours left." I realized, looking at my watch. "Do you know how big this forest is, Kirel?"

He shook his head.

"It can be as small or as large as Jareth wishes. He's the king, I'm pretty sure he can do what he wants. If he saw you getting to the end, he could set a trap to bring you right back to the beginning, and you'd walk though the forest for weeks, if you fell for it." Kirel said. I grimaced. He continued, trying to make the situation a little less horrible.

"It all depends on what kind of mood he's in. Lately he's been melancholy more often than not, and he probably wouldn't care enough to do all that. Although seeing me helping you could make him pretty angry. But at that point it would probably be worse for me than you…" Kirel trailed off thoughtfully.

This unsettled me. It had not occurred to me that Kirel's help might incur the wrath of the one of the most powerful men in this dimension. I didn't think I'd be able to stand it if someone as nice as Kirel had to suffer for my sake.

"There's no reason for you to stay if he'd hurt you for helping me. You can go, I'll be all right on my own." I said, a little worried. 'I hope'

Kirel shook his head and smiled reassuringly

"Don't worry your pretty head about me" he said ( and it occurred to me again, that Kirel was the most charming guy I had ever met) "Jareth is probably keeping a closer watch on your friend just now. And as I said, he's usually too depressed to care about trivial things anymore."

This definitely puzzled me. The Jareth I knew from repeated watchings of Labyrinth was arrogant, vibrant, and confident. Depressed and melancholy were not words that came to mind when one thought of the Goblin King.

"Why is he depressed?" I asked "And why would you be in so much trouble if you helped me?"

 Kirel sighed. It was clear that this would be a long story.

"For the Underground to stay stable, some magic has to escape to the Aboveground. If it became too concentrated, it would get pretty ugly down here. Every spell we cast would become way too intense to deal with. We usually let the magic out Aboveground by transporting Abovegrounders down here, because believe it or not, Abovegrounders actually use magic up like air. We used to get people down here, all the time, back when people still actively believed in fairy tales. Changeling babies were everywhere, back then, and Abovegrounders cast their own spells as often as we cast ours.

"Then technology and science took over tradition and mythology up there, and we got very few Abovegrounders down here. The magic bottled up made for a lot of trouble. Transportation spells moved whole mountains, whole islands. Dream spells made nightmares real. Simple weather changing spells causes severe floods and draughts. Then one enterprising Fae wrote a book to keep the beliefs in the old legends alive, and sent it Up. It was eventually made into a movie, and we had an influx of Humans.'

Here Kirel let out a bark of laughter.

"Jareth has never seen the movie. He's so caught up in his self pity and his work to notice a movie based on his love story. I, on the other hand, frequently observe the goings on of the Mortal world. Its quite a good movie too. Fairly accurate…

"Anyway, for a while, everything was under control. There was enough transit between the two dimensions to allow the magic to be regular again. Some Humans even decided to live down here, which helped a lot. Even when no one was wishing siblings away, we had the resident Abovegrounders to use up excess magic.

"That was a long time ago, for mortals. They got tired of magic, tired of the underground, tired of never changing. They chose to leave, and live out the rest of their lives Aboveground. Since then, certain Fae have been watching mortals through Jareth's crystals. They pick out the ones who are most likely to adjust to living here, and then they adjust events so that a copy of the book, or the movie fall into their hands. When they end up here, they are made to run the Labyrinth to let them get used to our world, and to our magic, and even if they fail, the King used to give them a choice. They could return home, or stay here. But then Sarah came." Kirel's eyes suddenly took on a shadowed look. He continued.

            "She wasn't the exact Sarah that you know from the movie, but she was very much like her. Jareth fell in love with Sarah. He had watched her for months and became infatuated with her. It's rather a common scenario for a crystal watcher to fall in love like that. The object of his observation becomes the object of his affections." Kirel smiled at this, so I smiled back.

"When she finally said the words, Jareth saw his chance. He tried incredibly hard to be the man he thought she wanted him to be, but she rejected him anyway. She returned to the surface. She's married now, with kids, too. She's convinced herself that the Labyrinth was a dream…" Kirel shook his head, and rolled his eyes.

            "Some people," he said "simply cannot believe in magic, even when they see it in front of them! Since then… " He sighed. "Her rejection nearly destroyed Jareth. Since then we've had nearly no one come through. The Goblin King has the power to deny mortals entrance to his kingdom, and with Jareth's bad mood, he tends not to let many people through and the magic has begun to build up again… Even the goblins can feel it. Everyone has begun to get edgy, and that puts Jareth in a worse mood. So you see, that is why Jareth is depressed, and the reason he does not want anyone to help you is because he wants –needs- you to stay here to control the magic. If you lose, he has a legitimate reason to keep you. And in this mood, under these conditions…" Kirel stopped for a second and turned to me. His eyes met mine.

            "Jennifer, I don't know if he'll let you go home even if you do win…" He said apologetically.

            My eyes widened and I gasped involuntarily. I almost exclaimed "That's not Fair!" but I stopped myself. I knew it wouldn't help. I took a deep breath. This wasn't what I had expected. 'And what did you expect?' a little voice inside me asked. 'Did you think you'd just waltz in and out again, happily ever after? That's naïve and stupid.'

And it was, I realized. Time to face this like a grownup and not a little girl. I took a deep breath.

            "Well if that's the case, we had better hurry up. The faster we get there, the harder it will be to prove that he can keep us." I said determinedly. Kirel looked as if he was going to say something else, but just nodded and started walking again. I was glad he understood. He knew I knew I'd probably be stuck in the Underground forever, but I couldn't just give up.

We followed the path till it came up to a very large gray stone wall. Right in front of us, there was an intricately carved circle that reminded me of a Celtic knot. It was about three feet in diameter, and there was something written in the middle. I walked closer and read it out loud.

"Round she is,

Yet flat as a board

Altar of the Lupine Lords.

Jewel on black velvet,

Pearl of the sea

Unchanged but e'er-changing,

Eternally.

"I think its some kind of riddle." I told Kirel. He nodded his agreement.

"It's just the kind of thing Jareth would use to seal a doorway." He said. He stepped closer to me to trace the outline of the circle with a finger. It seemed he and Jareth shared the talent of interfering with rational thought by way of proximity (and very good cologne). "It's a portal, I think." This seemed feasible to me.

"Do you know the answer?" He asked, turning his head to mine. This, by the way, brought our faces once again within a foot of each other. I blinked.

"I… think so." I said uncertainly. Kirel gestured to the circle.

"Go tell it."

I made a face and laughed as I moved to face the wall again.

"I'm talking to a wall, and half expecting an answer: Now I know I'm not in Kansas anymore!" I said. Looking straight at the center of the circle I said in a loud clear voice

"The answer is: The Moon."

Suddenly, the circle began to glow. The whole circle began to radiate a soft silver light.

"Kirel, what's happening?" I asked, worried. He just shook his head and pointed. Just as suddenly, the light faded, and so did the stone inside the circle!

"You guessed right!" Kirel said, grinning happily. "That was moonlight!"

It made sense. Well, as much sense as could be made in a place where a David Bowie look-alike ruled supreme, using magic to control small strange creatures…

"After you, milady." Kirel said, gesturing to the open portal. I grinned back and stepped through, carefully, and he followed. It led into a narrow passageway with no ceiling, and another circle of stone about 10 feet away. Kirel read the second circle out loud.  

"Solid or soft

When cold or warm

In calm seas

Or in the storm

Too little and life leaks away

Too much and life can never stay"  We stared at this for a bit. 'Okay Jen' I thought to myself 'What is...lessee:  in the sea, and in storms, and can be solid or soft?' Then the answer came to me. It was painfully easy, when one thought about it. Kirel thought of it at the same time as me, and we said in unison

"Water!"

This resulted in our both being hit full in the face by a couple of gallons of good old H2O.

I was not pleased. I was soaked from my chest up. Spluttering, glaring, and dripping, I kicked the wall resentfully.

"I hate you." I told it. A small squirt of water hit me square in the face. Apparently, the walls could answer. I hung my head and sighed, trying to resist the urge to kick the wall again. I became aware of a muffled sound from where Kirel was standing. I looked up through a curtain of wet hair to see him trying to conceal a smile, shoulders shaking. He was laughing at me! Then I replayed the last few minutes in my mind and realized how funny I must have looked. I tried not to smile, but another look at Kirel did me in. His hair had all shifted to one side, and as he wiped a hand over his face his eyebrows stuck in all different directions. I probably looked much worse. I began to giggle, then chuckle as Kirel joined in. We both stood there laughing for a good minute before we regained our breath. I gestured to Kirel to fix his eyebrows and we both started laughing all over again as he messed them up twice. When both of us composed ourselves, we climbed through the hole to see a hallway identical to the one we had just climbed out of.

We read the next riddle together.

 "The sweetest sadness and the softest pain

The reason for eternal life's refrain

Tis' greater than the sea and earth and sky

Tis' old as life, though it will never die"  

I was completely blank. I was usually quite good at solving riddles and mazes and such, but this time I was totally baffled. This, as you might imagine, really pissed me off. Luckily, Kirel was there to rescue me again.

"I know it." He said softly. "I feel it everyday." I wasn't sure I was supposed to hear that last, it was so quiet. This puzzled me.

He faced the stone barrier.

"Unrequited love." He said.

'Oh. Kirel's in love,' I thought regretfully 'Well, there go my chances with him…As if I really had a chance to begin with…'

The stone circle began to glow. Not the same as the first one: this was red, and somehow sparkly. Warmth began to pulse off of it, which felt great on my wet skin and hair, and helped to dry it off a bit. Then the redness began to fade, but just before the light went away, I felt a pang in my chest. I took a breath sharply, and heard Kirel do the same. My heart filled with a fluttery ache, painful and at the same time wonderful. 'Unrequited Love', I realized. 'The first door gave off  moonlight, the second gave water. The third door gave off  love.' I knew the feeling well, and hated it. I had had my share of it in the past. I had never had any real luck in love.

Then the feeling began to dissipate. I took a deep breath, and turned to Kirel, only to realize he was already looking at me. I smiled at him.

"Shall we then?" I asked. He smiled back, but he seemed… I wasn't sure, sad maybe, troubled…

"Are you alright?" I asked. He nodded, and I decided to leave it at that. We stepped through the opening, and found ourselves in the Garden Maze. Tall bushes and sandstone walls were everywhere.

'At least were getting closer.' I thought. 'At least were getting slightly closer, anyway…'

Kirel and I wandered through the garden maze for only a short while before suddenly he stopped. He cocked his head as if listening to something. I myself couldn't hear a thing, but I waited silently. He turned to me then.

            "Jennifer, your friend is nearby." My eyes widened in surprised relief.

            "Thank god! I was worried-" Kirel cut me off with a raised hand.

            "Jareth is watching her. I've got to leave before he sees me with you." My face fell, and I immediately began to worry about Kirel's safety. Kirel's fretful expression mirrored my own, I was somewhat glad to see.

"That's not all." He continued. "He's taken more than a casual interest in her, more than even she knows. You can't tell her about me. Jareth may hear her thoughts, and I don't know what we'll do then…" I didn't like holding information back from my friend, but I didn't want Kirel to be hurt.

"I won't say anything. I promise." I told him. He grinned at me again, and I felt a twinge in my heart. I really hoped this wasn't the last time I'd see that grin.

"I'll come back if I can, be sure of it." He said "Farewell, my lady." He said.

Then he just stood there. I was a little confused, until a silvery shimmer began to form in the air around his body. It swirled around him, and coruscated brighter and brighter till I could barely see his outline anymore, and then it…blurred. Suddenly the shimmer shrank and faded, and flapping its wings above the spot where Kirel had been was a majestic looking falcon! This surprised me for a total of about 5 seconds. It really wasn't all that remarkable considering all the other things that had been happening today… I raised a hand in farewell as the falcon soared into the sky and out of sight. When he had faded into the blue, I began to hear voices. I shrugged my sweater over my cold shoulders and headed towards them, calling out, anxious to see Stina again.

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