Jareth lounged in the front living area while Marlena and the other witches chatted amongst themselves for the third time about recent events. They were heavy in conversation despite slight effects of post-dinner fatigue. Crowded around the thick couches, they sipped hot tea and balanced serious expressions from their noses.
The former Goblin King was listening, but looked distant. In all his years as a King, he had never been a social butterfly. Long before then, despite all his arrogance and domineering behavior, he had been at his core an introvert. He still became a little uncomfortable amongst large crowds. This was the first time he realized that he was actually quite intimidated by women in general, because he felt even less inclined to participate than usual. They looked so intense and purposeful, five women of power and sophistication in one place, plotting the downfall of his beloved Sarah.
It gave him a little twinge of guilt. And a headache to boot.
"Well, we do have the advantage that Sarah doesn't even know us," Brenda commented. Her look was reminiscent of Fara Fawcett, blonde curls sweeping back from her head in a style that was retro yet modern.
Jareth's interest was piqued. He found the longer the conversation continued, the more his stomach turned. So he turned his head away and propped it on his fingers to look out the windows of the shop where a crazy slew of characters meandered past.
A fiery gentleman in a Nike running outfit pressed his face against the window and stuck his tongue out at Jareth, who only raised his eyebrow in response.
Marlena smirked, rose from her seat amongst the rest of her coven, and promptly closed the curtains. The fiery looked up at her, slightly disappointed, stuck his tongue out at her, and put his headphones on to continue his jog.
The Irish beauty continued the conversation from the front of the store. "Is it just me, or have we all just been overly inclined to stay put?" She turned back to her friends with a calculating look in her eye.
The other women looked at each other thoughtfully. Jareth watched Marlena with an expression of complete awe. "You are absolutely correct," he said, shaking his head at the thought. "Paranoid. I think we've all been too afraid to leave the premises."
Gail swallowed the last of her cup and sat it down like a period on the end of the sentence. "Maybe she does know about us."
"I don't think so," Marlena answered. "But if we confront her, and she finds out we're connected with Jareth in any way… She'll know that we would never risk the chance of killing her. That'll be a big enough piece of information to keep her from fearing us. She'll know that, no matter what we are capable of, we are never going to do anything more than her most dangerous option."
Jareth let out a startled laugh at the idea. "Sarah would never."
"Kill someone?" Gail said wryly with a soft British accent.
Ashley shivered. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, Hon."
"Just look at the city," Brenda replied, a twinge of country girl wonder under her urban girl manner.
Jareth got very quiet. He put his propped his elbow on his other arm and touched his finger to his lip thoughtfully.
Marlena put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She probably wouldn't. But, still, I am betting she even isn't sure what she's capable of doing. We can't underestimate her. She's very powerful. I mean, she's like a power stone at the center of the city. I can feel her throbbing, reaching out everywhere."
Her eyes drifted off as she spoke, as if she was falling under a trance. Jareth touched her hand gently in worry. She quickly came to, then stared back at her companions as they gave her heated gazes full of worry.
"Marlena, something's happening to you," Gail said tenderly. "Everyone's been changed by this, but it's affecting you more than any of us."
The redhead sat down on the couch again and smiled delicately. "I'm sorry, really, don't worry about me."
"As if we wouldn't," Ashley said with a smirk.
"Right, right." Marlena pretended to brush them off, but there was a sense that she understood their concern, but was merely changing the topic for expediency.
"What's so bad about the way things are?" Ashley blurted out innocently. "I've never been so in touch with my powers. And it's such a blast! Crazy things happening all the time!"
The quiet Ling squinted her eyes at Ashley circumspectly. "Ashley, really. C'mon."
"Alright, alright." Ashley pouted in her corner of the couch. Ling continued to stare at her like a disappointed mother. "It was just an idea!" Ashley blurted out suddenly as she threw her hands up in the air and crossed her arms.
"I should really be the one to go talk to her," Jareth finally said.
"No!" Marlena shouted. "That's exactly what she'd want. And you're in no position to go up against her, I'm sorry to say."
"Well, perhaps I could convince her the error of her ways," Jareth offered, already quite aware what he suggested wasn't feasible.
"When a woman puts her mind to something," Brenda answered, "then anything short of the gates of Hell swallowing her whole ain't going to stop her."
"Thanks for your comforting sentiments," Jareth answered tartly.
His strange and sudden poutiness made everyone uncomfortable, except for Ashley, who merely growled at him like a cat under her breath. This caused a ruckus when all the other women heard her and started laughing uncontrollably.
"Women." Jareth turned away again, but this time he couldn't look out the window, so he stared at a semi-interesting fertility goddess statue. This only made him feel worse, so he closed his eyes.
Ling looked sad. "Oh, c'mon guys, you've upset him."
Brenda controlled herself as Marlena gave them all a reproachful glare. "Okay, okay, okay."
"So the original plan was that Jareth and Toby were going to find Kaleb and cast a spell together to separate him from Kaleb soundly, without killing the both of them." Marlena tried to pick the original conversation back up to leave behind the tittering.
"I don't understand. How were Kaleb and Jareth connected?" Brenda asked.
Jareth ceased his own pouting to explain how he had traveled through the Shadow Mountains almost a century ago and had unwittingly picked up a hitchhiker; his true shadow. In his case, his shadow self was completely evil, and had used the magic of the crystals to take over his body throughout the years. Four years ago Sarah had embarked on a quest that, through the help of the elves, had separated him from his shadow in body. However, they were still connected in life force, and if one were to be killed, the other would feel the pangs of death, as well. But there was a spell that could separate them, and it was essential for the person to be involved in the casting. However, Jareth's powers were all but gone, and he needed the help of another sorcerer to cast it. Specifically someone of close relations to the main caster. Jareth had sought out Sarah to do this originally, until Kaleb had kidnapped her and forced him to seek the help of Toby, who had brought himself to New York to find his sister.
"Why would Sarah have been here?" Ashley asked. "I thought she lived Underground."
"Well, see, Sarah has her own shadow… Leah has taken her place Aboveground, and apparently has business in New York quite a bit. To recent events, Toby has known Leah as his sister."
"This just gets more confusing by the moment," Ashley answered. "So what about this Kaleb guy? How is he involved in all of this?"
"Sarah had inadvertently helped to separate me from my shadow when she acquired the ancient amethyst stone that the elves had kept hidden for a century. She found it in order to keep it away from me. Under Kaleb's influence, I didn't have the best intentions for its use. I touched her the moment after she found it, and unwittingly passed Kaleb to the amethyst through her. Somehow he used its power to create his own physical form, but being still weak, he was only able to take a small form, and a small piece of the amethyst, which through a small struggle, had fallen from a great height and shattered into three pieces."
He continued to explain the events that had led them to this day. How Sarah became queen of the city he once ruled, and, four years later, threw a celebration of independence to which she invited all kingdoms to join her already formed alliance of nations. By that time, Kaleb had found a new form and had developed his powers fully. He approached her as a suitor and king to a fake kingdom, trying to beguile his way into her life to get his hands on the remaining pieces of the stone. Jareth, too, had sought to use the celebration as a means of ingratiating himself to Sarah again, and to get her help in separating himself from Kaleb so he might find the man and destroy him.
Jareth did not know that Kaleb had already found a body, and that he was intending on wooing Sarah for his own reasons. Chaos broke loose suddenly in the city as a hoard of crows began infecting all of Underground with negative emotions, causing everyone in the kingdom to go into a violent frenzy. The problem with the magical birds had been slowly developing, and was the original reason a seven-nation council had come to meet earlier in the celebration. The battle in the castle out into a full-scale catastrophe. Before Sarah could get it under control, Kaleb found the amethyst and kidnapped her, just as Jareth and Sage were beginning to get an inkling of exactly what form Kaleb had taken.
As he last knew, Sarah was hidden in Kaleb's fortress, and his other companions were going to stop the crows, figure out where Kaleb was keeping Sarah, while Jareth found Toby and began preparations for the spell.
"Wow, what a story!" Brenda exclaimed with large eyes. "I feel like I'm smack dab in the middle of a Terry Brooks novel."
"Somehow, Kaleb did this to her," Marlena muttered thoughtfully.
Jareth mulled it over a moment. "The amethyst is an interesting specimen. If touched by any ill will, any spirit of evil, its powers transform. I don't fully understand it… But if Sarah reacquired it in his domain, she might have been affected by it. Because, as I understand it, during the four years it was in her possession, she decided never to use it—thanks to Sage's wise admonishing."
"She'd fight that sort of change," Gail said quietly yet matter-of-factly. "From how you've described her to date, Sarah isn't one to be pushed over."
Jareth was taken aback by Gail's statement, because it mirrored something he had been thinking in the back of his mind since the insanity began. He looked Gail deep in the eyes, and saw something unfamiliar reflected there. Like I can't pin down where her soul comes from…
She broke his reverie as she continued. "I mean, that sounds like a plausible conclusion, but there's got to be more to this."
"Which we won't find out until we find Sarah," Ling decided.
Marlena nodded somberly in response. "But we will. Jareth's teacher is on that right now."
"Damn Eberon!" Jareth cursed abruptly. "This is all his fault, the damned scheming—"
"Now, who's that?" Ashley asked with a smirk.
Jareth sighed. "Oh, that's another story entirely. He's the one whose betrayal helped Kaleb find the crystal. Just a foolish elf king who Sage, for some reason I'm not yet aware of, has less than an ounce of trust for. And if Sage doesn't trust him—"
Gail's gaze moved to Marlena. "Mar?"
Marlena's eyes glazed over and her cheeks flushed. "I-I don't know. It's…" She drifted off and closed her eyes, as if in pain. Jareth rushed to catch her as she began to faint. The other women ran to support her, as well.
"Marley!" Ashley shouted, putting her hand on the woman's cheek. "What's wrong?"
Marlena looked at Ashley, then looked at Jareth as if she was having trouble focusing on him. A strange fear rose up in Jareth's gut. He was suddenly reminded of the time he ran to see if Sarah was okay after nearly hurtling to her death atop the back of a fallen Spangore. It was nearly four years ago, but it still sent a sharp pang in his chest.
Like so many other memories.
Composure was not quickly coming to the increasingly melting Marlena. Her last words before falling completely limp in Jareth's strong grasp were, "Eberon… the bastard. The bastard!"
Jareth was still in quite a bit of shock, but managed to lift the woman and lay her down on the couch. The attack itself came rather suddenly, but her last words left him even more perplexed than her sudden loss of consciousness. Could women stop fainting on me just once?
The coven crowded around frantically. "What's wrong with her? Someone, anyone?" Ashley kneeled next to her friend, putting a gentle but trembling hand to Marlena's damp forehead.
"Is she breathing?" Ling asked fearfully.
"Yes, yes, but… she's so warm," Ashley answered nervously.
Brenda gripped Gail's arm. "Maybe we should try some spells, or bring in some herbs—"
"No, just let her rest," Gail interjected with a nod. "Something's upset her. Give her some time to come to on her own."
Brenda looked to Jareth questioningly, as if thinking he might hold the answer that Marlena's closest friends did not possess. He returned with a lost gaze that moved to the sleeping figure of the woman. She was troubled even in her slumber, gently clawing at the pillows in dismay. Some tears squeezed from her eyes despite her repose.
"Oh Goddess," Ashley mumbled, kissing her friend's hand. "She's freaking out!"
Gail put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Come, Ashley, help me get her bedroom ready for her to sleep."
Ashley nodded somberly and walked with her, letting her gaze linger on the troubled face of Marlena.
Marlena finally pulled away, walking somberly ahead of Gail up the stairs to the bedrooms. Gail's faced was painted in a frown, a sort of purposeful bitterness reflected in her eyes.
They disappeared up the stairs while the other women stood around uncomfortably to watch. Jareth sat in a chair near the couch and let out a deep sigh, running his fingers through his hair in agitation.
Brenda looked at Jareth purposefully. "What was that? What just happened?"
"I don't know," he breathed. "Eberon? Why would mention of Eberon trouble her so?"
"She was delirious," Ling offered. "She didn't know what she was saying." Marlena was beginning to calm a bit. "Maybe it was the change. Maybe it did something to her."
Jareth rested his head in his palm and looked at the woman, taking in the situation. He wished he knew the answer.
"Maybe her memory is returning?" Ling almost whispered, herself disbelieving.
Toby walked into the room from the storage area behind the stairs. Didymus sauntered along in tow, quickly tensing at the sight of Marlena's sleeping figure.
"What's going on?" Toby pressed.
"Marlena has fainted, Toby," Brenda answered as she walked to the boy.
"Is she okay?" he asked with a look of sincere worry.
"We don't know," Brenda said with a sad smile. She brushed the boy's bangs of hair aside and followed his eyes to the couch. "It seems like she's not really hurt or anything."
Didymus' brow arched from side to side as he stepped forward. "Fair maiden? She will be well… won't she?" He wrung the large hat in his paws in agitation.
Toby approached the couch timidly and took a good look at her. "She's having a bad dream," he said. He sat down beside her with little trepidation, and began stroking her hand. "It's okay, Marlena. It's just a bad dream. It will be okay." His words seemed to soothe her, and her body relaxed as her eyes twitched in the onset of REM sleep.
"That seems to have helped, Toby," Jareth said quietly as he watched the gentle healing powers of the child's voice. He felt the young boy's words washing over him, startling out of him a reverence for youth and innocent love. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. "I was beginning to worry over you, you were gone quite awhile."
"I was just talking to Didymus." Toby left out the story of the gnomes; they had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and he sensed that the current moment was inappropriate for exposition.
Gail and Ashley returned from the second floor, their faces taut with worry. The bald black woman was more stern-looking than normal, her soft, elfin features suddenly sharpened with angry purpose. Despite her condition, she offered the jittery Ashley gentle smiles as they came to Marlena.
"She looks better, see?" Gail comforted.
Ashley nodded. "Can you help me get her upstairs?" Ashley asked Jareth. He responded by gently lifting Marlena from the couch.
The slatted wooden stairs and floor groaned as they climbed up then down the hallway. At the end of the hall they reached a large room, teeming with green life. In the middle was a luxurious, yet simple bed. The women had prepared the room by pulling back the covers and lighting a few of the many candles that adorned the walls and tables.
Once they had laid her on the bed, together Jareth and Ashley took off Marlena's shoes and socks, then slid her under the covers and tucked the covers around her. Jareth stood by Ashley as they looked on to see that she still seemed well. Once he noticed that Ashley was crying again over her friend's state, he wrapped his arm, albeit awkwardly, around her small shoulders and kissed her on the head.
"All will be well," he whispered. "Don't fret. She is stronger than all of us."
"She would want us to not worry," Ashley affirmed. "Because she always sees an answer around the corner."
Jareth smiled wanly. "That's where the answers wait."
"And pounce." Ashley chuckled slightly in spite of herself.
Jareth gave her a firm squeeze before leading her out of the room and closing the door.
As it sat slightly ajar, he couldn't take his eyes away from Marlena, whether in the love that can bloom so quickly for a kindred spirit, or out of sheer concern for a gentle woman. He realized in that moment that it was probably possible to fall in love with more than one woman, to have more than one potentially true love in one's life. He had made his choice in love, but he spoke a silent chant of hope in his soul for the red headed beauty. She was worthy of a good life filled with love, and he would do whatever he could to help her on her path, as she had so selflessly done for him the last two days.
With that, he closed the door, and walked down the lonely hall, where the other women waited for answers he would not have. He did his best not to let it trouble him. There was trouble enough as it was.
