Chapter 35: Dinner Preparations

Toby was waiting for them with Hoggle when they returned to the castle. Hoggle's eyes widened when he saw Sarah's outfit, and his eyebrows twitched in surprise. Sarah didn't see, however, and Jareth pretended not to notice.

Toby was practically bouncing with impatience to tell Sarah absolutely everything about his day. "Sarah! Sarah! Guess what? Hoggle let me do most of the maze today. He says I did almost as good as you!"

Sarah flicked her eyes toward Hoggle, and he rolled his eyes and shook his head a little. Sarah bit back a grin—so Toby really hadn't done that well, and Hoggle was catering to his ego, hmm? "Good job, Toby," she applauded.

"Yes, Toby, well done. Perhaps you'll be able to return some time and finish it," Jareth suggested. "But now it is time for me to send you home."

Toby's face fell. "So soon?"

Jareth nodded. "Yes. You may come back again and visit another time, but for now—" he began spinning another crystal. "For now, it is almost lunchtime on the Saturday when you left, and your father is wondering where you've been for the last couple of hours." He tossed the crystal to Toby, who caught it reflexively.

Toby disappeared. Jareth turned to Sarah with a smile. "Now then, my love, what would you like for supper? Anything you like, just name it."

Sarah got a mischievous plan. She had never seen Jareth (or the Goblin King either, for that matter) look anything less than perfectly dignified. "I just love lobster," she suggested, trying not to smile at the thought of His Majesty wearing a lobster bib and dripping melted butter all over himself.

He gave her a suspicious look as if he suspected something, but said gallantly, "Then lobster it shall be." He formed a crystal and rolled it out the door. He smiled at her. "Care to freshen up before dinner?"

Sarah nodded eagerly, looking forward to the chance to soak her aching…uh, muscles in the big, chatty bathtub. She made her way back to her room, and surreptitiously rubbed her posterior while she waited for the tub to fill.

"What's wrong with you?" the tub asked her.

"Horseback riding."

"Ah! I'll run hot for you, then." Its painted face took on a smug expression. "You'll love it. I'm really good for after horse rides. What do you want done with your clothes? The wardrobe told me to ask you." It began to fill with water.

Sarah blinked, and glanced at the wardrobe. It stood there inoffensively against the wall, one door slightly ajar. "Hello," she greeted it.

"Oh, leave the poor thing alone," the tub said. "It's shy. But it does want to know what to do with the royal outfit you've just shucked on the floor."

"Oh, sorry... uh, cleaned and hung up, I guess," Sarah replied. Something the bathtub said caught her attention. "Wait a minute. 'Royal outfit'?"

"Well, of course! The king sent that specially, so that you'd match him when you appeared out together today."

"Why?"

"One would presume it's because you're his match," the tub said. "There now, pop yourself in now, and tell me if it's not the most soothing post-riding bath you've ever had?"

Sarah reassured the tub that the bath was indeed wonderful. She had a good long soak (though she felt a tad uncomfortable at first, having a talk with the tub while she soaked in it; but then, she realized, it had to have seen a lot of naked people in its life; surely she was nothing new to it).

After the bath, she donned a comfortable-looking poet's shirt and a pair of blue jeans . The outfit reminded her of what she had worn to run the Labyrinth, all those years ago; all she needed was a vest. She opened the wardrobe and found it: it was black, tailored, and fit perfectly.

Jareth was wearing a matching outfit, when she arrived at dinner. Sherolled her eyesat first, but then her eyes were caught by the sight of the basket of bright red, steaming lobsters in the middle of the table.

Then she just smiled.

Years later, whenever someone asked Sarah what her fondest memory of that visit was, she never mentioned the magic, the loving, the wonderful rides through enchantingly beautiful scenery, or even being courted by a king and treated like royalty.

She would always give a mischievous grin and say that her fondest memory of that visit was the sight of Jareth eating lobster.

A/N: Dreaming One: I've been sitting here just eating up your reviews. As each one lands in my mailbox I have to go read it... I tried to email a reply, but you don't have an email address listed in your bio. Anyway, thanks, and I'd better get this chapter put back up before you reach it. LOL