Chapter 41: Wedding Festivities

The next several days were a whirlwind of activity for Sarah. As the guest of a king, she was accorded every courtesy from the other monarchs and nobles. And if she was sometimes the object of a jealous glance from a well-placed fae woman who had hoped to snare the Goblin King for her own, there were always other friendly ones who were curious about life Above, and the strange habits of the humans.

One woman, a petite blonde fae named Terillia, became especially notorious for giving Sarah the evil eye. The little blonde made no secret of her interest in Jareth when he politely danced with her--but Sarah ceased to be jealous when he escorted Terrillia back to her place and then caught Sarah's eye. He rolled his eyes expressively as he carefully and courteously removed Terrillia's possessive hand from his arm so he could return to Sarah.

She greeted him with a mischevous smile and a fond kiss. "Not your type?"

He shook his head and claimed another kiss. "I prefer fully-grown women." Terrillia barely came up to his chest, whereas Sarah was close to matching him in height. She chuckled and asked him for the next dance.

Strangely, Sarah became quite good friends with Terrillia's mother, Bevelyn. The tall, good-humoured fae woman was widowed. Her daughter's flirtations frequently made her shake her head and blame the girl's elven father, who had been a well-respected commoner but with a roving eye. Bevelyn was also a noblewoman who was fairly active in politics. She took Sarah unofficially under her wing and began to teach her about Underground political machinations. Under Bev's tutelage, Sarah finally began to be able to make sense of all that information that Jareth had dumped into her brain via the crystal that first night.

Bev was a bit of a cynic, too, and Sarah found her exposing the Underground's seedy underbelly to be invaluable. Jareth, as a king, simply did not see all that went on outside of the royal courts and beneath the noble manners. Bev, having been married to a commoner, explained it all to Sarah in commoner's terms. She taught Sarah to talk with the servants, to see how they were being treated, and most importantly (she explained) to get the best and most accurate gossip about the other nobles!

Sarah's mornings were filled with socializing and Bev's lessons. She met all of Jareth's friends and made some of her own. Her afternoons were filled with politics. She sat in on a few meetings with Jareth and some other monarchs, and every so often he would lean over and ask her advice or her viewpoint on a certain situation. Sarah would whisper her comments into his ear, and often he smirked afterwards, and changed the course of the meeting after hearing what she had to say.

Some of her time was spent with Alia and her daughter. Arien was rapidly becoming a good friend, and Sarah was beginning to worry about what would happen if she did accept Jareth's proposal - after they consummated their marriage, would she ever be able to see Arien again? She mentioned this to the young unicorn, but Arien told her not to worry.

"Look around at the people my mother interacts with," she directed. "I admit that I myself still have to keep a clear distance from the non-virginal members of the court—it's not serious; they just make me uncomfortable—but as High Queen my mother has learned to overcome her discomfort in order to be able to speak with anyone who needs her. I have no doubt, dear Sarah, that with time, I shall learn to do the same."

"All the same, I wish it weren't necessary," Sarah admitted.

Arien tossed her mane in what Sarah was beginning to recognize as unicorn laughter. "Are you saying that you would be willing to wed with Jareth and not want to consummate the marriage? All for the sake of my friendship? How flattering, I'm sure!"

"Well…" Sarah said, red-faced. "I would love to keep your friendship, Arien, but…"

"Relax, princess. I am teasing. Though I may never understand what you two-leggers see in all that love and copulation, I can at least understand that Jareth needs heirs. Not even for the sake of friendship would I advise you to refrain from consummating your marriage."

"And a good thing, too," was Jareth's smooth reply as he sidled up beside Sarah. She jumped, startled. He slid his arm about her waist and reached out with the other to give Arien's forelock a playful tug. "Are you advising a celibate marriage, Your Highness?" he asked, his voice silky. "If so, I may be forced to have words with your mother about you."

Arien shook her head. "Of course not, Uncle Jareth. I was trying to talk Sarah out of vowing celibacy in order to keep my friendship. She was nobly willing to sacrifice her physical relationship with you in order to go on seeing me, you see."

"Arien!" Sarah cried, shocked that the unicorn would lie to Jareth so baldly. "That is NOT…" she noticed Jareth's knowing smirk and Arien's mane-tossing at the same time, and subsided into outraged silence. They were both laughing at her!

xxxXXXxxx

In mornings there was politics and meetings, but in the evenings there was always feasting and dancing. Sarah devoured the magical fairy fruits, and whirled across the dance floor in Jareth's arms, and felt as if she were living a fairy tale herself.

And as the days dwindled down, and the day of Daxon's wedding approached, Sarah grew more and more nervous. Jareth was even more attentive and affectionate than he had been that first night, but Sarah still didn't know whether she was willing to make such a huge commitment to him or not. First, his defeat at her hands when she was a child, and then twelve years of total silence, followed by a whirlwind 2-week courtship—Sarah's head started to spin every time she thought about it. She still didn't know what she would say when he asked.

And he was going to ask publicly! That was part of the procedure for a monarch, to make his proposal in front of all his peers. If she said yes, she would have to kiss goodbye forever her live Above. She would be able to make short visits to her family, but there would be no more college, no career of her own, just… just being the other half of Jareth. The feminist in her rebelled at the thought.

And if she said no, he would be even more crushed than he'd been the first time, twelve years ago! Not to mention she wouldn't get a chance to change her mind, because if she refused him he would be forced to marry Arien instead.

Sarah had come to like Arien very much, and it was difficult to view her as a rival in love. She knew the young unicorn was rooting for her, but was willing to marry "Uncle Jareth" (ew! Sarah thought) if she had to. If Sarah turned him down.

Her head whirled more and more, the closer the deadline got.

"Something bothering you, love?" Jareth leaned over and asked her solicitously at dinner on the eleventh night.

Sarah gave him a smile. "Just a bit of headache, that's all. It's all been a bit much lately, if you know what I mean."

He nodded. "Court manners can take some getting used to even if you grow up with them. I can only imagine how you're feeling with it all! But," he finished with a twinkle, "Just think of how I felt at that frat party!"

Sarah laughed in spite of the pain in her skull. "At least the music is better here," she conceded.

Jareth suggested that Sarah forego their nightly walk in the gardens with Alia and Arien that night, and retire early. "After all, you'll want to be rested for tomorrow," he reminded her. "You'll have to either start planning our wedding or nursing me back to health from my broken heart." He said it so lightly it sounded humorous, yet Sarah was sure he wasn't really joking.

"Good idea," she said. "The retiring early, I mean," she added hastily, seeing his expression grow alarmed. Throwing him a teasing smile, she said, "After all, I'll need to be very clear-headed to make such an important decision, won't I?"

Jareth pressed his lips to her hand and rose to see her to the door. The others had finished, and many were milling around the tables talking while some were already dancing. He ducked out into the hallway with her and took her in his arms to give her a proper kiss goodnight.

Several long minutes later he reappeared looking slightly flushed and very happy. He strode over to his four-legged friend and jovially demanded a dance. Alia gave him a long look down her nose at him, but trotted out onto the dance floor and commenced showing Jareth how much better a quadruped could dance than a spindly-shanked two-legger.

A/N: I don't know, though; somehow I think Jareth could give even a dancing unicorn a run for her money. R & R, if you please. The rest of it's on its way.

I must apologize; I've discovered that many of the typos in the previous chapters are due to FFN's naughty habit of removing spaces between some of the words. It happens when I save and upload, no matter how perfect the chapter is when I finish with it. It's a pain, and there's nothing I can do about it except explain, and apologize if the lack of spaces sometimes makes the words hard to read.

Private notes to reviewers:

Odd Ball Perfectionist: Are you fluent in Spanish? I was going for "my house is YOUR house," rather than "my house, his house." If you're a native or fluent Spanish speaker, I'll look into your correction; if not, I'll stick with what I know from my own language study. Thanks!
Jezz Redfern: No, I'm not Jewish--just an admirer. "Chutzpah" is in common usage in my area of the US. Is that the idiom you were referring to?
MoonJava: Thanks for your comments; I think you're my most faithful reviewer.
Katie: Thanks for your delightful comment! Depth is always something I strive for in my writing, and I'm glad you appreciate the details I've put in.
Eariwen: Glad you're back! Been thinking of you lately--hope things are starting to look up for you.

Everyone else, thanks to you as well.