Chapter 59: The Rest of the Story
"Actually, that would be 'Goblin King,'" Jareth corrected.
"Goblin King, eh? You looked more like a fairy than a goblin, when I saw you in the crystal here. All those ruffles and tights…"
"Dad!" Sarah cried, shocked.
Toby snickered.
Jareth stood up, transforming from his "Aboveground" garb (jeans and a button-down shirt) into his full Goblin King regalia as he did so. High boots, tight breeches, dark red velvet shirt, black leather breastplate (with insignia), and wild hair. Sarah remembered this dark red-and-black ensemble from their old encounter in the Escher room.
"The name of my face is 'fae,'" he said proudly. "I rule the Kingdom of the Goblins. After our wedding, Sarah will rule it alongside me." He bent forward suddenly and snatched the crystal from Robert's suddenly nerveless fingers. He began to spin it, rolling it back and forth over his gloved hands.
Robert's jaw fell open as he watched, mesmerized.
"So you sneaked a glance at Toby's crystal, did you?" the Goblin King mused, not taking his steely eyes from Robert. He rolled the crystal without looking at it. "And it showed you what happened with the three of us, twelve years ago?"
Robert nodded, a quick jerk of the head.
Jareth produced a second crystal from thin air and began rolling them both together. "Then it would seem as if you know the whole story already. Why do you need us here?"
Robert tore his gaze away from the sparkling, hypnotic crystals. "How can this be real?" he asked. "How can I be expected to believe all this? That Sarah wished Toby away…" he paused a moment, and then admitted, "Actually, that's the part I do believe."
"Dad!" Sarah protested.
"Oh, leave it out, Sarah," Toby told her, patting her arm. "It took Jareth to show you my true value. We all know you didn't like me back then," he teased.
She cuffed him. "Back then? I don't always like you now!" Toby cuffed her back. She squawked and tickled him. He kicked her with the side of his boot.
"That's enough, you two," Robert ordered, falling into parental-mode.
"Okay, Dad." "All right, Dad," they chorused.
The serious, magical mood was broken, and for just an instant Robert and the king shared a look of perfect, mutual understanding. Kids!
"All right, Jareth, you can sit down," Robert invited. "Hope I don't have to call you 'Your Highness' or anything."
Jareth changed back into his jeans and short hair as he sat down. He waved his hand over his face and his eye-streaks disappeared. He shook his head, smiling.
"For a king, it would be 'Your Majesty,' actually," Toby supplied. "'Highness' is just for princes and princesses."
"And how do you know that?" his father asked.
"Hoggle told me, since Sarah's a princess now."
"A princess who shall be a queen in five weeks," Jareth clarified.
Robert frowned. "Sarah, Toby—would you excuse us? I'd like to talk to Jareth alone."
Jareth rose along with them. Robert noted this approvingly: at least this fairy had the good manners not to stay seated when the lady stood up. He saw the fond look the man gave Sarah, and more than that, he saw the soft light in Sarah's eyes as she brushed a quick kiss to Jareth's mouth. Robert's daughter was obviously head-over-heels for this fellow, whoever he was.
"We'll be upstairs, then," Sarah said.
The two men, left alone in the living room, sat back down. "Can I get you a drink?" Robert asked, belatedly remembering his duties as host.
"I'd love some of that wine on the sideboard," Jareth requested.
"What wine on the—?"
Jareth smirked and pointed. "Brought it along as a gift," he said.
Robert shrugged and went to open it.
"Care for a snack along with it?" Jareth asked politely as Robert turned to offer him his glass. He set down the two crystals on the coffee table, and they suddenly turned into several plates of h'ors-deuvres, mostly fruits and various kinds of cheeses.
"Uh…thanks." Robert sat down cautiously. "I thought I was the host here. Where the hell did all this come from?"
Jareth shrugged, popping a grape in his mouth. "We've sprung so many surprises on you already, I figured what's one more?"
"So you really are some kind of king in fairyland?" Robert opened the conversation.
Upstairs, Sarah and Toby crouched together, their ears pressed to the crack in the door.
"I am. And just to save us some time, I shall take a moment to acquaint you with my world so as not to have to go through everything twice." Jareth ticked things off on his fingers as he said them. "One: the Underground is the land of your fairytales, yes. Two: There are many, many species who live there. Three: though most of them are self-governing, the goblins are not. The unicorns are in charge of everything." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you with me so far?"
Robert nodded, rapt.
Jareth went on. "As you know, twelve years ago, Sarah wished her little brother away to me. I did as she asked ,only to discover it wasn't what she had wanted after all. I allowed her the chance to win him back by running my maze. The short story is that she piqued my interest by succeeding."
"And what's the long story?" Robert asked shrewdly.
"The long story," Jareth replied with a smirk, "is actually none of your business."
To the great relief of the eavesdroppers upstairs, Robert laughed.
"I suppose not," he agreed. "After all, I already know the ending, don't I?"
Jareth's smirk grew, and he raised his glass to his host. "The wedding is in five weeks," was all he said.
"All right," Robert said. "I still think this is a dream that I'll wake up from any minute… but in case I don't, let me congratulate you."
"Thank you."
"Robert."
"Thank you, Robert. If it will help any, Sarah and I had come up with an alternate story to tell you about it all—just on the off-chance that you hadn't looked into the crystal when you did. If you like, we'll tell it to you so that you'll have something to tell your friends. Needless to say, we'd prefer to keep you out of the mental institutions, and it will be much easier to do that if you don't tell your friends the whole truth."
"Big of you," Robert said in a dry voice. "All right, let's call those two rascals back down."
"Unnecessary," Jareth informed him blithely, "as they've been listening the whole time through the crack in the door.
The rest of the visit was taken up with talk of the Dwarf-King's wedding, which Toby was heartsick at not being able to attend. "Dwarves? Real dwarves, like Hoggle? And unicorns? Come on, you guys have to let me visit again so I can see a real unicorn!"
"It is not outside the realm of possibility," Jareth assured him.
"Would… ah, would I ever be able to visit you there?" Robert asked his daughter, somewhat shyly. "Or do you have to be a child to go there?"
"I'm not a child, Dad," Toby protested.
"Yes you are," Jareth teased. "Compared to me, you're all children."
"But can he visit?" Sarah asked eagerly.
Jareth nodded. "No reason why not, especially after we have a child. By then, you should have enough magic to manipulate the veil between the worlds on your own."
"A child?" Robert choked on his wine. "Ye Gods and little fishes, I'm not old enough to have a grandchild!"
Toby said, "Sure you are, Dad, but I'm not sure I'm old enough to be an uncle!"
"Well, as Queen Alia will tell anyone who listens, I'm plenty old enough to need an heir," Jareth joked. "But don't worry. Humans don't tend to age much in the Underground; if you visit often, you'll retain some of your youth even Aboveground."
Toby tapped him on the shoulder, looking worried. "If I visit a lot, I'm not going to be stuck forever as a teenager, am I?"
Jareth laughed. "To be thirteen forever? No, Toby. No God would be that cruel!"