Jareth had been standing perfectly still in the doorway for a few minutes, shoulder against the wooden frame and his arms folded. If anyone had chanced to look at him, they would have noticed the corners of his mouth pull down in an aggrieved frown.

The man inside the room was oblivious. He was talking to Jervohl, telling her absurd stories about the infinitesimal trials of trying to ready a palace for a weeklong ball.

"Franja was threatening to leave and Kelmer was bursting into tears at a moment's notice and there was the Lady Pandora, feeling ill and refusing to acknowledge it. Mr. Vinni was no help at all, as well."

Jareth couldn't help cracking a smile. He remembered the delicate water sprite that he had engaged as the young boy's tutor. He had never met Toby, but since Vinni had come with glowing recommendations… Knowing the mortal now, Jareth was not so sure that the choice was anything but comical. And quite possibly part of the problem. Heaven only knew what that stuffy old sprite had convinced a lonely young boy what was owed to his position in the Underground.

"Who was Mr. Vinni?" Jervohl demanded.

"My tutor," Toby answered, grimacing openly, "A singularly irritating person. Very intelligent but of no use if one didn't want to know the geographical location of the famous mining towns or the strategic importance of Tanglewood Forest."

Jareth bit his lip over a laugh. He shook his head at Jervohl's enquiring glance and put a hand up to stifle any audible sounds.

"We had someone similar," Jervohl ruminated, crossing her ankles neatly beneath the chair, "He was a merman, exiled for killing his brother. He worked in the Castle on certain artistic commissions for Gildred. He drove us all mad."

Toby grinned and tried to picture the scene in his head.

Jareth decided that since Toby did not seem to expect to hear from him anytime soon, he would be able to leave. A preferable course of action; Jareth did not look forward to confrontations. He was genuinely sorry for having blinded Toby, but the man had brought it on himself.

He slipped away so quietly that Jervohl was only aware of his intentions when she heard the door shut.

Toby looked up instantly and in the general direction of the door. "Is someone at the door?" he asked cautiously.

Jervohl cast an irritated eye back at the offending door but kept her voice light and reassuring. "No. It was just the wind."

"I'm blind, you know. Not stupid."

She smiled at his scowl and put out a hand to touch his shoulder in apology. "How do you feel this morning? Has anything improved?"

"No. Not even a hint of light." Toby was dejected. It was only five days since he had been blinded, but five days spent without his sight was too long. He couldn't read. He couldn't write. There was nothing he could do that would to occupy his hands, let alone his mind. He couldn't leave the room because he would only need someone to lead him around like a pet on a leash. And he couldn't even walk around the room too much because he might pitch headfirst out of the unguarded windows or run into sharp corners. He had to stay in a chair just to be safe.

"It will get better," Jervohl comforted, still stroking his arm, "You could not have looked at the light for that long."

Jareth paused outside the door and gave up. Of all the nauseating things! If it had been him in that bedchamber he would have gone out of his mind and screamed in fury by now. And he suspected Toby was not the kind to appreciate any of this drivel either. He spun around, smacked the door open and strode in with his usual panache.

"Toby. Sorry to hear about your eyes," he said staidly, "Come with me."

Toby could only blink in shock, his brain back-pedalling those three simple sentences in order to properly hear them. He was certain he had heard them, but understood them? No.

Jareth clicked his tongue and waited. "Well? Am I going to have to repeat myself?"

Toby flushed a little and stood up, a hand on the table for balance. He frowned in concentration, desperately picturing the room in his mind so he could place his guardian in it. As he saw it, he was by the window- there was fresh air blowing into his face- and Jareth was by the door. There was the bed, a metal-bound chest, a cupboard and Jervohl between them. He just knew he would trip over something.

Or not. Cool, covered fingers gripped his arm just about the elbow and tugged firmly.

"You really must learn to hurry," Jareth remarked, "You may not think it but I have work to get done."

Some of the fire returned. "Pardon me," Toby murmured blandly, "Why should a little thing like blindness slow me down?"

Jervohl had vanished with one look from her brother. So she was not there to gasp indignantly when Jareth replied quite seriously, "I wonder the same thing."

Toby refrained from hitting him again but thought blissfully about the wonders of memory.

For all the lack of tact, Jareth was not pushing him into walls or sharp edges. Toby was, in fact, feeling a little displaced. Without anything to feel, he was completely dependant on Jareth for direction. It made him rebellious, mulish, and overall snappish. Which in turn made his voice turn icy and his good humour dry up. "If you can wait just a minute, Your Majesty?"

"No. I do not wait for anyone. What is it this time?"

"Where is the wall?"

"Somewhere you are in no danger of colliding with it. Why? Do you expect me to throw you against it?"

Toby seethed silently for a count of five. And then he smiled sweetly down to his left, where a familiar arrogance was making its bodily presence felt. "No. But I would feel more comfortable if you were on the other side of me and my right hand was on the wall."

Jareth smirked privately to himself. Good. He was quite proud for no reason to see Toby snarl at him again. It meant the mortal wasn't losing himself in useless conversation and self-pity any more. Not, of course, that Toby was liable to do that. If ever there were someone less likely to fall into a depression because he was blind, it would be Toby. "Fine."

He moved away on a whim. "The wall is straight to your right. Go there and wait while I get your coat."

He picked up the soft, battered grey coat and slung it over his arm, keeping a keen eye on the slowly shuffling figure to make sure nothing happened. He was a lot closer than Toby thought, with his hand outstretched to correct any missteps. But Toby made it there and touched the wall.

Blue eyes crinkled as the tiniest smile of gloating Jareth had ever seen ghosted over the plain features.

The Goblin King's smirk widened but he kept his voice as normal. "Good. Here is your coat. Put it on."

"Am I allowed to ask why?"

Jareth offered up a silent prayer of thanks for the forgotten form of address. "We are going out," he said abruptly, sliding the coat up and settling it. "How do your eyes feel?"

"Fine."

"Not sore?"

"Not that I can tell. They might be red but I can not feel anything too different about them."

"Good. Come along then. We have not got all day, contrary to expectations." Jareth tugged him out of the room and moved them quickly down the corridor.

"Jareth!"

The two halted abruptly.

Jareth turned and Toby bit his lip to keep from another gloating smile. The Lady Pandora if he was not mistaken, and not a very happy Lady either. She sounded, if his ears were not deceived, indignant.

"Just where are you going with Toby?"

"Out," Jareth said succinctly, "You are not invited."

"Jareth, a word in private, if you please?"

Toby gestured silently in a 'go ahead' manner and rested against the wall, wishing he could see if only to lip-read the conversation that would no doubt be too low for his ears. Though maybe if he concentrated enough, he would hear something. He could hear the musical notes of the fae language being used. And perhaps that was easier to understand even than English?

"You cannot be serious, taking him out in the condition he is in," Pandora hissed.

Jareth raised an eyebrow and looked from Toby's patient figure to his mother. Toby was listening very intently. The Goblin King raised his voice just a little to test him. "Why not. He is not dying. He is not sick. He is not fatally wounded in any way."

"He is blind!"

"Temporarily," Jareth pointed out, "You need not worry. I will not let him trip over a cobblestone."

"It is not the cobblestones I worry about," Pandora said, "More like the death-trap you call your backyard. And the danger of a crowded City full of scurrying goblins. And there is, after that, the wildness of your Labyrinth."

"Three places that Toby is not going to go without my escort. My death-trap of a backyard is fine if he has someone to guide him. The goblins will go out of their way to rearrange the City around us if they see me with him. And who better to protect him in the Labyrinth than its chosen King?"

"You have an agenda."

"Naturally. You know me better than to doubt that."

"What is it?"

Jareth kissed the old fae on her cheek and smiled down at her. "If you worry," he whispered teasingly, "You will only make yourself ill. Go away, Mother."

She growled at him but he was laughing as he walked away, saying something provoking to Toby and leading him off again. And there were stairs coming up! Pandora closed her eyes and waited for the sound of a sudden thud and a sudden bang. But nothing happened. She went to the stairs and cautiously peered down. They weren't there!

"He apparated," she groaned, wondering why she had not thought of it before. Oh yes, she knew why. Because her son had decided he wanted to give her a heart attack by seemingly taking the stairs. "Rotten scoundrel," she muttered, making her own way down the stairs to find Yava.