Chapter Two: Why the Owl Followed
Aboveground.
Central Community College.
Three years after
the fall of the Goblin King.
Sarah was in the middle of Music History when she got the summons. Pulling out a pocket mirror, she ran her fingers through her hair in the pretense of examining her appearance. Anyone looking over her shoulder would have seen only her reflection, but Sarah saw a much different image.
Ludo appeared on the small surface, a worried expression on his furry face. "Sawah...come..." he pleaded, and then stepped aside to reveal the scene behind him. Only practice (from many, many similar disasters) kept Sarah from gasping aloud. A large area of the forest was in flames and fireys with singed ears and tails were bouncing off burning limbs like over-cooked, hyperactive cotton-candy fluffs.
Snapping the mirror shut, Sarah quickly excused herself from class. As she strode purposefully down the hall, she sent out her own summons.
"Jareth...come..."
As she stepped through the double doors and ducked around the side of the building, a snowy owl swept down from above, landing agilely on her left shoulder. She glanced up at it with a smile, touched fingers to wingtip, and walked forward.
Two steps was all it took to cross her self-made border to the other realm. Sarah Williams in faded jeans and a loose blouse was gone, replaced by the White Queen in all her splendor. Another two steps took her to Ludo's side in the burning forest. The shaggy beast gave an earth-shattering roar, doing his best to keep the fireys away from the fire and, as their name implied, it was not an easy task. The fire itself had been left mostly unchecked.
Sarah walked forward gracefully, enjoying for a moment the feeling of truly being herself as she had been ever since that fateful day three years ago. As difficult as it was to hide her power Aboveground and as tiring as it was to juggle two lives, she still could not imagine giving up one for the other.
The fire crackled and blazed before her and she bent to scoop up a handful of smoldering ashes. Though they still glowed with life, the heat did not scorch her hands. Lifting them up, she blew the ashes gently towards the fire and as they left her hand they turned from sooty black to pure white, multiplying and picking up speed until a concentrated blizzard had erupted from Sarah's soft breath. In minutes snow covered the area, extinguishing the flames and blanketing the charred trees with a soothing layer of ice.
She picked her way carefully through the burned woods, checking to make sure that the fire was completely extinguished. The owl, perched on a branch safely away from the danger zone, hooted a compliment at her strategy and Sarah gave it a nod of acknowledgement. With the fire quelled, the fireys had vanished into the forest again, though their raucous voices could still be heard somewhere just out of sight, complaining about party crashers. Shaking his great head at their antics, Ludo shuffled towards Sarah.
"Sawah...save...Ludo...thank!" Sarah giggled, but then Ludo's eyes widened and he gave a startled roar.
"Ludo? What-" Something knocked her to the ground and a loud crash echoed through the forest. Whirling around quickly, she saw the owl flopping on the ground with one wing bent at an odd angle. Just beyond it laid a fallen branch, rotted through and consumed like kindling by the fire. Had the owl not knocked her aside, the branch would have surely hit her, probably resulting in a serious head wound.
"Oh no, Jareth!" She carefully lifted the wounded owl and clasped it gently to her breast. "Ludo, we're leaving!" The beast gave a slow nod and Sarah took two steps forward, back to her home Aboveground.
Aboveground.
Sarah's room.
Three years after
the fall of the Goblin King.
Jareth woke to darkness and jerked upright as he realized two things simultaneously. One, his injury had been healed, and two, he was human. Something stirred beside him and he flinched away from the shapeless shadow. Switching from avian to human vision took a bit of adjustment, especially since human eyes were so much inferior in the dark.
A hand touched his and another rubbed his back gently. "Shhh...it's okay, we're home."
Sarah. He breathed a sigh of relief and reached for her, pulling her willing form into his arms. "You healed me."
"You saved my life," she mumbled sleepily against his neck. "What did you expect?"
He snorted. "A little more gratitude on your part."
She giggled and turned her face up to his. Jareth hesitated only a moment before claiming her lips in a searing kiss. They only had until dawn, after all, and he knew it was taxing on Sarah to keep him in his true form for even that long. But it had been so long since...
"Yes, it has," Sarah murmured as she slid beneath the covers. "Come, love," she teased. "Time is short."
No more words were necessary.
When Sarah woke the next day, the late afternoon sun was shining through her curtains. She stretched luxuriously, noting the tired ache behind her eyes that had refused to vanish. Such was often the case after a night with Jareth. Something about his transformation leeched away more than just power or magic. Or perhaps it was the energy she expended after transforming him. She reached across the bed to touch the empty space beside her, unsurprised yet disappointed.
A soft hoot drew her attention to the window sill. She smiled at the owl. "Hi, handsome. How's that wing today?" The owl flapped its wings twice and dipped out the window in search of breakfast.
As soon as it was gone, Sarah flopped back onto the pillows and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She really was more exhausted today than she should be. Make some breakfast was what she needed too, though more sleep was what sounded best. She crawled out of bed as the bird returned with a still squirming mouse.
"Not in the house," she said with an exasperated sigh. The owl gave an avian equivalent of an eye roll and swept out the window again. Sarah was nearly positive he did that just to annoy her.
Their relationship was an odd one. It had been a full year before they began to trust each other. At first, they had worked together by necessity to preserve the Underground, but Sarah's knowledge of Jareth's feelings softened her heart to him and the wrongs of the past eventually began to fade, resulting in an easy friendship...as much as can be between a woman and an owl.
Jareth's job was mostly to guide her around the various lands of the realm. Even with Sarah's enhanced ability to understand the hoots and whistles an owl makes, there was not a lot an owl could do. Sarah soon began experimenting with the magic independently, to Jareth's extreme disproval. Until the day she stumbled upon a way to restore his true form, if only temporarily. It was easiest to do Underground, but they rarely spent enough time there for it to be practical, and all were agreed that appearing with the former king would be unwise. Aboveground it was only possible at night, if she wanted to remain conscious afterwards, and all but impossible to maintain once a new day arrived. But it was enough.
Though she had grown comfortable in the owl's presence, she found herself shy when confronted with a human Jareth once again, especially now that she was totally aware of his feelings and there was no contest raging between them. Luckily, it wasn't often an issue, and Sarah had a lot of time to herself to consider the past, future, and her own feelings.
Six months after their first meeting as friends, they became lovers. And though the transformation left Sarah drained each morning, she passed it off as exhaustion due to lack of sleep and other 'strenuous activities' that occurred. To Jareth, anyway. It was harder to lie to herself.
Author's Note: There is an unwritten story here, the detailed story of how Jareth and Sarah became lovers. Maybe someday I'll write it. Probably not. Use your imagination. I know for a fact that there is more than enough inspiration out there.
