Chapter 27: The King's Questions

Sarah was at peace at last. Her parents were reunited, and she now had her own world complete. Things would have been better if her parents' families would accept them, but Sarah could not complain. Yet now that her life was going so well, she began to get gifts. Jareth was also acting strange. Whenever she was nearby he was very solicitous to her wishes. She wondered if this was what everyone had loved about him before he was corrupted. She also wondered briefly if he still felt guilty over what Taureth had done through him. Very few mornings was there not a dozen roses of some color waiting at her door. Sarah was almost annoyed since her room now looked like a flower shop! But she couldn't help but feel that whoever was leaving her flowers must surely want her attention.

In the mean time Jareth was frustrated. Sarah seemed almost ignorant of what he was trying to show her ever since he'd become master of himself again. Did she not realize that he really had been offering his love all those years ago? That love had not waned but only grown as he realized what kind of woman she had become. Months had passed since the trial of Taureth. He had waited several days before he began his pursuit, but he didn't think she understood.

"Your lunch, Highness," Joseph said breaking Jareth from his thoughts.

"Oh, thank you, Joseph," Jareth replied startled. "I had not realized so much of the day had passed.

"If I may be so bold, who's the lady?" Jareth stared at him, but Joseph laughed. "No, you needn't look at me as though I'd grown two heads suddenly. You forget that I'm a married man, Jareth. I know that look when I see it."

Jareth sighed in exasperation, "Since apparently you've very nearly guessed, it is the Lady Aranel." Joe nodded.

"I thought as much. So it's you that has been sending her all those flowers. Elaine was telling me about them."

"Indeed and despite how much I try to show her she seems oblivious to it all."

"Have you tried to actually tell her, Highness?" Jareth was looking at him oddly again. "I guess that would be a no. Jareth, you need to tell her how you feel not simply try to overwhelm her with gifts. But I must say she may be disinclined towards such an offer while you are yet uncertain in your faith."

"What does our conversations of her God have to do with anything?" Jareth asked curiously.

"Everything, Highness. God is very high on her priorities, and she will be hesitant to consider marriage to any man that does not have those same priorities. It was the same with Elaine. She would never have even considered marriage with me unless I made God more important even than her."

"I'm afraid I simply don't understand this. You mean Elaine has a problem with you having her as a priority?"

Joe laughed as he tried to help the Goblin King understand. "I did not say she wasn't important to me, Highness. It's just that our God is the most important thing in our relationship. God is what binds us together. God holds us fast to our promises to each other, and it is God who gives us strength through hard times. Who do you think I turned to when Elaine and Sarah's entire family went missing? Sarah will be looking for that same dependency on God in her husband not only to be a good example for her children but to be a life-mate who will pull in the same direction as she."

"She has told me so much of her God. I know He is important to her, but I do not understand some things."

"I've got time. If you have questions, I'll do my best to answer." Joe talked with the King for some time. Jareth did indeed have many questions mostly wondering how God could've sent His only Son to be killed as well as questions on the idea of three separate persons being one God. "You certainly go for the hard ones first!" Joe said with a smile. He did his best to answer all of Jareth's questions. He explained the need for Christ's death as well as to the best of his limited knowledge the workings of the Trinity. "But understand this, Highness, no one can hope to understand an infinite God. Every one of us has a beginning and eventually an end be it a hundred or a thousand years from now. God had no beginning and He will have no end. To someone like me that's more than amazing! I am but a mere glimmer in light of Him, but He cared enough to send His Son to die for me. How could I not accept His free gift of salvation?"

"So you say all of us have sinned?" Jareth asked and Joe nodded. "What of my sins? I have led a good life other than what was influenced by my brother." Joe looked away for a moment. He knew from his wife what kind of sins had been done under Taureth's control.

"What of pride, Highness? It can be a sin when we think too much of ourselves. What of lies, Your Majesty? There is not a soul alive that has not told one, and it is never right to tell a falsehood. These sins are just as bad in the sight of a pure and holy God as those that Taureth committed through you. So you see, when you think of what God considers bad, not one of us is safe." Joe's eyes leveled with the King's as he continued, "Nor is Your Majesty safe in the area of sexual sin. I overheard a conversation between Sarah and Elaine in which they were discussing Ione's children. Your reputation is safe for I make sure that no one dawdles outside of my room but myself, however, the point is that you still slept with a woman you were not married to."

"Thank you for your time, Joseph," the King said absently. "You have given me much to think about..."

"And I encourage you to do so, Highness." With a bow Joe left to see to his duties leaving Jareth as he had found him though with vastly different thoughts on his mind.