These Powers That Be

            Jareth sighed and slid gracefully, but exhaustedly, onto his throne.  It had been nearly twenty-four hours since he had returned Sarah Williams to the Underground, and her disposition had certainly not improved with the passage of time.

            Sarah had, in fact, arrived in the Underground in this very room, and he had seen recognition flash in her eyes, and remembered how reaching this room before had eventually led her into the mind-twisting experience of the hall of stairs.  He smiled wryly at that thought.

            "I can give you your dreams.  Nothing more.  Nothing less."

But that hadn't been enough for Sarah.  He moved walls, worlds, stars for her, and, he had to admit, for his own amusement.  And what did she give him in return?

Nothing. 

Her loyalty had stayed with her little brother, a baby. 

Even knowing her as well as he did, from years of patient watching and wanting, it was the last thing he expected.  To offer a dreamer her every desire was something too wonderful to be refused.  Yet she had found the power to do it.  Even with the powers he had given her, he could not have covered that eventuality. 

"You have no power over me."

Those words were ancient, one of the few magics stronger than that at the disposal of the Goblin King.  Jareth had given Sarah the power to call him, and turned her from a simple girl, someone unable to accept magic, into a sort of half-fae, much in the way he turned children into magical creatures---little goblins. 

However, with those words, Sarah had unwittingly given herself a stronger power, a power nearly unrivaled, and she was coming into it now.  He had watched in awe and growing trepidation as she managed things incapable to a mere human that could not be explained by the small amounts of his own magic bestowed upon her.  No, by defeating his Labyrinth, Sarah had taken on magic and become powerful in her own right.

But she didn't know it yet, and therein was the King's advantage. 

Of course, she knew she had never been able to move or call things with her mind before.  He expected that much of his Sarah.  But, luckily, he had found a legal way to extract her powers from her before she discovered their potency and depth.   

And now she was in the Underground, powerless, but not hopeless.  But her quest was nearly impossible, more twisting and treacherous than the Labyrinth, and less straightforward. 

Jareth smiled as he recalled her efforts so far.  From the moment Sarah has arrived in the underground she had been quick to gauge her situation as best she could.  He didn't think she was expecting to be without her powers, but if she was angered by his slight deception, there was no outward sign.  Biting her lip in a childish way that both intrigued and infuriated him, Sarah had begun to ask him questions.

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"Will I be able to look anywhere I want for the key?  The Labyrinth, the castle, and other places I don't know about yet?"

"You are free to move about anywhere that I deem safe.   That includes the Labyrinth, as you are not challenging it, my castle, and much of the lands beyond.  I will provide you with a guide for the places with which you are unfamiliar."

"Will you answer my questions and help me if you can?  Because you don't know where this key is either?"

Jareth had smiled dangerously at that one.

"Of course, I will always be at your disposal.  But if your queries or ideas lead me to the key first, the victory is mine."

Sarah's reaction to that realization had been less than ladylike, he recalled with a frown.

"Where was the key last seen, and what does it look like?"

"I last saw the key when I placed it at the center of the Labyrinth.  It disappeared during a summit of the nine surrounding kingdoms.  It has two specific forms."

"What, specifically, are those forms?"

"Your questions tire me, Sarah…"

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            And since then, Sarah had been out canvassing the Labyrinth, trying to find some jumping off point for a real search.  It wouldn't be easy, he knew.  If the key wanted to be found, Jareth would have found it already.  He had already been called away a number of times and appeared to find an irate Sarah complaining about the unfairness and the fruitlessness of her search.

            He had little to say to such claims, because she was probably right.  Her task was nearly insurmountable, and he was being completely unfair.

            But the point of Sarah's being here wasn't for her to find the key.  Jareth didn't expect that she would, at all.  The point was that he had lost her once, and he was accustomed to getting what he wanted sooner of later.

            And sooner of later, Sarah would be forced to give up the search, and that's when he would offer her a better deal than the one she currently toiled under.

            He would give Sarah back her powers.  They were rightly hers, and with them she was worthy to be called a fae, a creature of magic.  And with that status, Sarah could do anything she liked in the underground.

            Jareth had enough confidence in his powers of persuasion that he was sure he would be able to convince her that what she wanted to be was a queen.

More specifically, the Queen of the Goblins.

Jareth conjured up a crystal to watch his future queen's search.  He found her trying to wheedle some information out of a particularly non-verbal stone troll and a nasty looking tree fairy.  As Sarah moved her arms energetically, the fairy appeared to get bored, and leaned over to bite the troll causing it to flee in terror.  Then it flew away with not even a backwards glance at Sarah.  Sarah slumped down onto a nearby boulder in defeat, and barely managed to stifle a yawn.

Jareth decided it was time he extended an invitation to stay in the castle, before Sarah fell asleep in the middle of the Labyrinth.

Moments later, a white owl was speeding over the Labyrinth walls to the side of a very angry, very sleepy Sarah Williams.

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In a far off kingdom, a gloved hand held a dark crystal with which a man watched the owl's flight.  When he saw the target that had caused the great bird's hurry, the man smiled.  Sarah was back in the Underground.

            Everything was going as planned.             

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hi ya'll!  you know, I wonder if people read these notes, really.  well, if you do, I hope you aren't bored by this chapter.  I know it was a little slow, even if it was about Jareth.  it was basically meant to explain some things and set up some things that needed explaining and setting up in order for the story to move forward.  next chapter should be a lot more fun! REVIEW!!!!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!

And the Oscar goes to….

Speaker of the Spirits, Heikgan, Sarah (no joke), draegon-fire, Zabella, Xelena, JLF

for reviewing chapter 5!!!