Alia woke to someone opening the drapes in her room. The noise woke her, not the light, for a dim predawn twilight still reigned outside. "What time is it?" she asked the figure at the window.
"Not quite so early as it looks." The figure turned away from the window and turned up a lamp. "I'm Irielen. Tieran sent me to wake you and help you with anything you need."
The dim figure at the window coalesced into an attractive woman with blond hair who looked no more than 10 years older than Alia. She was not at all what Alia had imagined. For some reason, Alia expected an older woman, perhaps grandmotherish, with a kind and efficient air. Irielen did indeed have a kind and efficient air about her from what Alia had seen so far, but nothing grandmotherly.
"Is something wrong?" Irielen asked when she turned and saw Alia staring at her.
"No, nothing. It's just that you are not at all what I expected from the way Tieran talked about you."
"Oh? Better or worse than expected?"
"Neither. Younger, different, that's all." Alia threw off the covers and quickly put on the heavy robe laying across the foot of the bed for there was still a chill in the air.
"There is some cocoa and fruit on the table by the window if you want something to eat. Tieran will meet you at breakfast later. Did you need any help with anything?"
"I tried to pick out something to wear for the journey last night, but I'm not really sure what to bring. Do you have any suggestions?" she asked as she poured herself some cocoa.
Irielen looked in the wardrobe and came back with a few pieces. "This should work. Tieran wants you to meet him in the library before breakfast."
After Irielen left Alia went to take a shower, lingering in it to enjoy the last hot water she figured she would see for a while. "I'll have to get used to the idea of a cold bath in a stream since that seems to be all the heroes in the fantasies and fairy tales get."
When she got out of the bathroom she noticed the light outside had increased considerably and stepped out on the balcony to quickly check how the day was starting. The sun had not yet risen over the mountains on her right. Off to the left, she could see a shimmering mist in the vicinity of the lake. Only a few wispy clouds drifted overhead to catch pink and gold from the sunrise. Below her, a lawn stretched to the forest where birds greeted the sun early. She realized she was looking north, the direction she would travel, and she scanned the mountains looking for a sign of the pass and path she would follow. She could see nothing in this light and turned to go back inside, shivering.
When Alia arrived in the library, Tieran sat at a small side table, studying a volume in front of him. He looked up when he heard her come in and smiled.
"Good, you found your way back down here. Did you sleep well?"
"Like a log."
"Good. I have been working all night," he said and rubbed his eyes. Closing the book, he walked across the room to replace it. "I asked them to place breakfast in the sun room so we will have the morning sun while we eat."
They ate breakfast among the tropical plants in the sun room, choosing from the wide selection that ranged from familiar eggs and bacon to fruits and dishes Alia had never seen before.
"Irielen helped me find clothing to wear on the journey," Alia said between bites. "She's not what I expected."
"No?"
"No, for some reason I expected someone older, more grandmotherly." She laughed slightly. "Like Mrs. Doubtfire, I suppose."
Tieran smiled, amused, "Grandmotherly, eh? She is older than she looks. We all are. Almost everyone in the Underground lives longer than people in your world."
"Like how old? Sorry, that's rude. My curiosity running away with me again. She looks like she would be in her early 30s in my world. You look a little older than that."
Tieran shook his head, smiling and dismissing it as he sipped one of the juices Alia had never seen before, "Irielen would never forgive me for telling her age, though. I will say that I have known her for longer than 30 years. As for me, I am not as old as the Goblin King. He has ruled for as long as I can remember."
The reference to her quest dampened Alia's mood. "It's not going to be easy to get past him, is it?" she asked as she toyed with the remains of the breakfast she had just been enjoying.
"No, but we will find a way. We must. I do not want to be responsible for someone being dunked in the Bog of Eternal Stench and dropped in an oubliette."
"Thanks for reminding me."
"And he will come looking for me after he takes care of you. He will probably come looking even if you get out without a close encounter with the Bog. There are consequences for meddling in another's kingdom, prophecy or no prophecy."
"I hadn't thought about that."
"There is no reason you would have. Perhaps we will have adjoining oubliettes and can tap messages to each other."
"I don't suppose we have some secret Goblin King-stunning weapon?"
"No, that would only make the consequences worse. All we have is this," Tieran pulled a small bundle of black silk out of a fold of his robe and held it out to her. "Your surprise. Go ahead, take it," he nodded. "That is what I was working on all night."
Alia took the small handful of silk. It lay heavily in her hand. She carefully unfolded the layers until finally a pendant on a gold chain lay exposed on the silk in the palm of her hand. She held it up by the chain. A greenish stone clasped by a pair of gryphons with silver heads and wings and golden lion haunches hung from the chain. "Is that a piece of the stone I found?"
"Yes, that is what I needed it back for. Put it on."
Alia slipped the chain over her head. It was not as heavy as she thought it would be.
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, thank you, it's beau–?"she stopped and looked up at Tieran. "You didn't say that did you? I didn't hear that."
"No, I thought it to you. That is how we will communicate. Does it bother you?"
"I don't know. It goes both ways? You can hear – or maybe feel is closer – me, too?"
"If you concentrate. Since you found the stone you should be able to do it easily."
"Easily?"
"As long as you wear the pendant."
"Like this?"
"Yes, exactly. I am glad you like it, because you will need to wear it for some time." Rising, he said out loud, "If you are ready to go, I will get the rest of your supplies and meet you up at your room. Knowing Irielen, she has long finished whatever she was doing and is working on packing things for you, or something equally efficient and useful."
"All right."
Tieran had judged correctly, for when Alia returned to her room, she found Irielen bustling about. She had set out the clothing for Alia to try on and had even assembled a small bag of necessary items such as a toothbrush.
"Tieran said he would bring everything else up here. I'll go change."
She changed her clothes and had Irielen help her sash the blouse in at the waist and tuck the pants into the boots.
"There. Is that comfortable? Not too tight anywhere is it?"
"No, it feels fine," Alia said as she dropped the pendant down inside the neck of the blouse. At that moment Tieran knocked at the door.
"Come in," Irielen replied.
Tieran opened the door and entered, carrying a satchel and a knapsack. "You seem to have gone native."
"Don't tease," Irielen scolded.
"And you thought she was not very grandmotherly." Tieran sent to Alia privately while he meekly apologized. Alia bit her lower lip, not knowing whether to be offended at the first remark or laugh at the second.
"This," he said, holding up the satchel and handing it to Alia, "has your food and water. This," he held out the knapsack, "has other things you might need. Knife, blanket, rope, bandages."
"I hope I don't need bandages."
"Just trying to emulate one of your Boy Scouts. Can you think of anything else she needs?" Tieran asked Irielen as she placed the small bag she had assembled into the knapsack.
"Besides a small army? No, I think we've covered everything." She handed the knife she had taken from the knapsack to Alia. "Tuck that under your sash where you can reach it easily. It's no use to you packed away."
"Then we should go. Are you coming?" Tieran asked Irielen.
"No, I can say goodbye just as well here as there. And I have things to do." She turned to Alia and kissed her on the cheek, "Good luck, dear. You. Do not forget to let me know if you are not coming back tonight," she admonished Tieran and left the room.
Tieran rolled his eyes and made a face as he picked up the knapsack and slung it over his shoulder. Alia had already slipped the strap of the satchel over her head and wore it across her body.
"Ready?" he asked and held out his hands. "We are going to the northern edge of the valley."
Alia took his hands and closed her eyes.
The song of birds, scent of pine and sweet smell she could not identify hung in the air, stirred only a little by a light breeze. She opened her eyes to a clearing on a ridge between mountain peaks. Small, brilliant yellow flowers covered the grass and must have been the source of the sweet odor.
"I was wrong," Alia giggled, "Are you sure she's not a grandmother? She acts so much like one, she must have practiced on someone. Or how about a nanny? She wasn't yours was she?"
"I never said she was not a grandmother. I really do not know her life story, but she was not my nanny. Not when I was a child, anyway. I had never noticed the way she treats me before you mentioned it. She is rather like a mother hen, fussing over everything," Tieran said with a laugh.
Alia giggled again, then stopped, remembering where she was. "Ahem. Um, so which way do I go?"
"That is the path to follow. The one heading into the trees there," Tieran pointed.
Alia took a deep breath. "Well, I'd better get started. I'll send a postcard from the Bog. 'Having a marvelous time. Wish you were here.'"
"Be careful. I do not want to have to explain your disappearance to Cara."
"Like I want to end up in an oubliette! I'll see you in a week." Alia walked down the slope toward the path, debating whether or not to turn at the edge of the trees and wave. She decided not to.
Tieran watched her until she disappeared into the trees, then retrieved the map from the table in the library to watch further.
Disclaimers, credits, trivia:
Labyrinth, etc, belong to the Jim Henson Company.
You know those italics? There's a lot more to come. And since this was originally posted via email that didn't do italics they used to be plain text surrounded by double asterisks. Now I was going to change them to italics anyway, but now I have to because for some reason FFnet doesn't recognize the asterisk. Anyway, the end result of all this is that it may slow down editing and posting a little.