Chapter 9: The Aurelis
Daire cautiously peeked around the door. "Mommy?"
"Come on in sweetie..." Sarah said.
"Mommy, Damien has come to get us... He brought someone with him..."
"I'm coming sweetie..." Sarah turned to Elaine, "I guess I better get going..."
"Pray for me, Sarah," Elaine said catching her friend's hand, "And never stop looking for a way back home..." Sarah nodded then left the room.
Damien was waiting on a bench in the hallway, and seated beside him was a lovely young woman simply yet elegantly dressed although Sarah used the word young loosely since the woman was obviously Faye. The deep blue of her gown set off her piercing blue eyes perfectly! Sarah was beginning to wonder if normal plain women existed in the Underground!
"Sarah Williams, I would like to present the Lady Aurora," Damien said standing with the young woman and presenting them to each other. "Lady Aurora, may I present the Lady Sarah."
"I spoke truly..." Aurora said with a smile. "She is indeed a wonder!"
"I would hate to be thought of as bold, but I would love to know what is this all about?"
"I am a seer, Sarah," Aurora said. "I once laid a prophecy on this kingdom a few years ago."
"The Aurelis is much of the reason Jareth is as he is now..." Damien added in.
"Why are you all the sudden telling me this?" Sarah asked. "Why didn't you tell me the last time I asked you?"
Damien dropped his gaze to the floor before he responded, "Because the King is not in the castle, Lady Sarah. He is taking a flight over the kingdom and will be gone all day. This is our opportunity to speak freely..."
"You must explain, Damien..." Aurora said quietly. "You know I only speak the future in riddles..."
"At least quote for her the Aurelis, Lady Aurora..." Aurora consented but she included the previously omitted section. When Damien looked at her curiously, she explained.
"The more personal part I told only to Jareth..."
Damien nodded and turned to Sarah, "You see, Lady Sarah, the Aurelis speaks of the Underground's greatest Queen or ultimate destroyer..." Sarah still seemed puzzled. "You are the only woman to ever return from the Aboveworld."
"But who is the beloved star of the Underground?" Sarah asked. Aurora and Damien looked at her as though she had taken leave of her senses.
"Jareth!" Damien exclaimed.
"Him! A Star!" Sarah said eyes wide in wonder and disbelief.
"Lady Sarah," Aurora reasoned, "Jareth will in time be King of the Underground if things start looking up..."
"I thought he was just the Goblin King..."
"No, Sarah," Damien continued patiently, "Before he became so angry and vengeful, Jareth was indeed thee most popular and favored prince the Underground had ever seen!"
"How could he have changed so much!"
"This you might know better than I, but combinations of events seemed to have caused him to 'darken' as Lady Aurora put it. If anything, these are the kingdom's darkest hours."
Aurora nodded and spoke quietly but firmly, "You, Sarah, are the only one who ever broke the Labyrinth's power..."
"You are the likeliest candidate to break it completely..." Damien finished.
"But I'm not here to destroy anything!"
"We are certainly hoping not! But you see there is one thing we are confused on... The Aurelis says you hold within you the light of the Master of All. We cannot figure out what this means..."
"Jesus..." a quiet voice said piercing the silence that had sprung up around the question. All eyes turned to see Daire and Darien sitting on a bench nearby. But it was Darien who spoke.
"What was that, sweetheart?" Sarah asked.
"Damien asked what light you hold in your heart... Jesus lives in your heart and is the light of the world so... Jesus!" Sarah turned back to face Aurora and Damien.
"He's right..." she replied quietly. "There is nothing more precious and powerful that I could share than my Lord..."
"But, Mommy," Daire asked. "How do you share the Almighty with one who thinks he is?" Aurora walked over to the boy. Putting her hands on her knees she leaned down to look into his eyes.
"The Faye are powerful, Daire, but even the Faye have chinks in their armor..."
"So we need Jareth to see the chinks in his armor before he gets rid of us..." Daire asked. A silence fell on the adults... Sarah could not spread the light as a bondservant to another Faye lord...