DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this. (Bummer) All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
NOTE TO READERS – there's a fairly large time jump in the middle of this chapter, mainly because the plot needed to progress, and also because not everybody wants to know the details of every single day in the life of… - I hope nobody minds too much!
Chapter 15 – Never Say Never
It started to rain again as she walked slowly along the random pathways through the labyrinth, completely ignoring where she was walking, and why she was walking in the rain. How could he tell her that the Labyrinth, and by inference, himself believed that she was a Queen? What was he trying to make her understand, without actually coming out and saying it in plain English, or even Fae for that matter. She shook her head and sighed, wondering how long she had been walking for. She suddenly thought of the beautiful gold carriage clock in her sitting room and was completely unsurprised when she rounded the next corner and saw one very much like it hung on one of the walls.
"I may be a wreck inside, but I can still create things." She said walking on past the clock after she had noted the time. "Perhaps I really am more Fae that I thought I was, or perhaps not. Its probably just the Labyrinth making me think I can do things on my own." She sighed and gave up on trying to rationalise herself and thought of the rose courtyard before stepping forward into nothingness, reappearing on the other side next to the fountain. Walking into the beautiful dining room she wondered if they would be having dinner there since there were no places set at all along the huge table.
"Isenith?" She called, feeling a little foolish calling for somebody in an empty room. She jumped as he appeared behind her.
"You called?" He asked looking at her with his yellow eyes.
"Yes, sorry, I didn't meant to disturb you, I was just wondering where dinner was going to be held? I thought it might be in here, but Jareth didn't tell me."
"Not in here tonight, come I will show you." He said nodding and smiling as he walked from the room.
"Isenith, how long have you been with Jareth?" She watched as the young Darkling paused and considered his answer.
"3 weeks and 3 days." He said.
"No, before he released you…"
"97 years, 14 weeks and 3 days." He nodded to himself.
"Gosh." Sarah replied, not quite sure what to say.
"He has been a very good master, and I would not want to be anywhere else. This is where dinner will be served." He said opening the door for her and disappearing before she could say thank you.
The room was small, but comfortable with a large fire roaring away to itself on one side of the room, lighting the round table in the centre set for 4. As she moved further into the room to investigate what lay behind the heavy drapes at the far end she heard a polite cough.
"Good evening Lord Theo." She said curtseying politely as she turned and saw him leaning against a drinks cabinet in the corner.
"Hello Sarah. How's the head?" Theo asked grinning.
"Better than it was a few hours ago." She sighed. "I blame the rest of you entirely. You should have stopped me from dinking whatever it was that I was drinking."
"Care for some of the hair?"
"Pardon?" Theo raised his own glass and shook it at her slightly.
"Hair of the dog that bit." He said laughing.
"Definitely not! How on earth did you get hold of such an Aboveground expression!" She said wrinkling her nose.
"I've been known to spend a little bit of time there on occasion."
"Oh?" She asked curiously as she leaned on the mantelpiece to try and dry herself out a little.
"Its something that many young Fae do when they are bored of the strict bringing up they have to endure. Its become a game over the centuries to see how long you can escape the clutches of your tutor who is normally sent to track you down and bring you back to get told off."
"And how long did you manage to stay there for?"
"My case was slightly different. Mother thought it would be good experience for me, and Uncle Jareth couldn't be bothered to try and find me since he was busy."
"Jareth was your tutor?"
"Oh yes, he's very good at moulding young minds into the right way of thinking… so long as its his way of thinking and not that of the Seelie Courts." He said rolling his eyes. "He has some very surprising opinions that the Court do not share."
"That doesn't surprise me." Sarah said smiling. "I guess it must be hard for him to stay politically neutral, so he has to be bad some other way." She watched as Theo's face went blank at her words.
"What makes you assume he's politically neutral?"
"Well he said the other day when I was looking at the map in the library, the Labyrinth is at the centre of all but it serves none."
"Not any more it doesn't." Theo sighed looking away from her. "Didn't you see what was on the map?"
Sarah shook her head.
"What should I have been looking for?"
"Nothing that concerns you." Jareth said from the doorway. "How many times Theo do I need to tell you to let the past remain in the past." He said scowling at his nephew as he walked to the drinks cabinet to pour himself a drink. They all stood in silence as several young women appeared around the table and placed down platters of food and wine before disappearing again.
"Oh good! Food, I'm starving!" Theo said walking over to sit at the table.
"Wait for your mother." Jareth told him pulling out a chair for Sarah to sit down on, which she took with good grace.
"Well isn't it a good job I'm here then." Lucia said walking in and closing the door behind her.
They sat companionably and chatted during the meal of inconsequential things, teasing each other and gossiping. Sarah realised that this was the first time she had actually felt as though she might have finally found somewhere where the people accepted her for who she was, baggage and all. She would come to think of this meal later as the turning point in her relationship with Jareth, and the beginnings of a routine where she would have time to herself in the mornings, be taught by Jareth in the afternoons, and join him, Lucia and Theo for a pleasant evening meal and good conversation. Another 2 months passed in lightning fashion leaving Sarah with a peeling nose from being out in the labyrinth frequently in the sun, and with fading memories of the Aboveground as she studied magic and the ways of the Underground with an energy that sometimes even made Jareth throw up his hands and admit exhaustion.
"I'm still not sure how I manage to create things so perfectly without ever having seen them before." She sighed, examining a flower in a large garden of her imagination. She took the sun hat off her hot head and turned to look at Jareth who was lazing underneath a large weeping willow on the banks of a river.
"I have no answer to that. With time and practice your imagination has been developed, and refined. Now when you require it to create something new, it does so without you even realising. It is an impressive ability."
"Why thank you Your Majesty." She said grinning as she walked past him to the edge of the river. Looking down she saw her own reflection before it shattered into a thousand ripples as Jareth threw a stick in the water. She turned and watched him watching her and sighed, the perfect landscape around them fading until they were stood in the middle of a dry, arid wasteland.
"Will I ever learn to accept who I am now?" She asked. Jareth shook his head.
"I do not have the answer to that question either. Come let us return to the castle." He said holding out his hand for her to take. She walked forward and slipped her hand into his gloved one, letting him take her back to the coolness of his study. She sat down in her customary chair and took the cool drink of fruit juice he handed her.
"Tomorrow, I will be unable to join you in your lesson." He said standing by his balcony and watching the Labyrinth.
"Why not? Has your time finally run out? Will your father in law come tomorrow and cart you off to marry your toad?" She chuckled evilly as he glared at her. She continually jibed him about his marriage petition, and since he refused to tell her who it was he had proposed, and how much time the High King had given him she teased him by making up lurid stories, about what an ogre the girl must be if he wouldn't even tell anybody who she was.
"No, I have to attend court all day tomorrow. I have let the affairs of my kingdom slip somewhat, and there are a substantial number of my subjects who wish to petition me." He sighed.
"You make it sound like a chore. You get to sit in your great big throne, and play King for all you're worth without anybody like me laughing at you, and you're not happy. I thought you'd be craving a bit of bowing and grovelling by now." She laughed.
"It is a chore. One that I have put off for as long as I can. You can not imagine how tedious it is to listen to my stupid pack of subjects complaining about chicken rights and how many pigs they can have." He said sulking as he flopped down into his chair.
"Surely they can't all be that bad?"
"No sometimes they as me to agree a wedding so that they can breed some more thick goblins like proverbial rabbits. Sometimes I think my kingdom would be a much better place if I could just wipe them all out in one go."
"Lord of the empty Kingdom." It has a nice ring to it." Sarah chuckled standing up and placing her empty glass back on the top of his desk. "I shall leave you to shuffle your papers in feigned irritation Your Majesty." She said curtseying and turning to go.
"I expect you to have mastered the time factor of an image for our next lesson." He growled as she walked though the door and closed it behind her.
Jareth sat back in his chair and mused silently about the changed he had forced her to make. She no longer had nightmares, and had stopped blaming herself for everything that went wrong. She tried too hard sometimes to grasp the finer points of using magic, but still never stopped surprising him with how fast she learned. It had taken Theo 3 years to master the art of magic, when it had taken her only 2 months hard graft to be more adept in manipulating the magical flux around her than Theo would ever be. She was still not as strong as he, but Jareth had no doubts that one day she would be able to give him a run for his money. He had managed to keep her unaware of the rest of the goings on in the High Kings court, and the continued attempts by Elindah to have her father deny the petition he had requested, though even she did not know who it was he had requested marriage to.
Sarah had finally given up arguing with him, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing as she now reserved her energy for trying to pick his brain dry of every secret and magical detail he possessed. He smiled to himself as he recalled the first and only time he had deliberately put her in a position where she could only use her magical knowledge to get out of a series of dangerous traps in the Labyrinth and relished the tongue lashing he had received after she had managed to free herself. He sighed and bent to his work, going through all the many petitions he had received so that he would know in advance who would be coming to annoy him the following day. Even the evening meal with his family failed to pull him from his brooding thoughts and eventually they gave up, leaving him alone by the fire.
Sarah woke languidly stretching in her bed, luxuriating in the soft cotton sheets and none lumpy pillows she had managed to change permanently for herself. It was the first thing she had learnt to do, since Jareth had refused point blank to teach her. She momentarily debated staying in bed for the morning, but knew that Lucia would have tea waiting for them in the Orangary, something she rarely passed up these days. Climbing from her bed and having a swift bath to wash her hair and get rid of the nights sweat and dust in the tropical summer morning heat she finally dressed in a cool sleeveless gown and made her way down to the Orangary.
"Good morning Lucia." She said pleasantly as she closed the door behind her and inhaled the intoxicating smell of orange blossom. Something that never failed to take the last of the sleepy languor from her body.
"So you have the day to yourself Sarah, I would have suggested we go for a walk, but its much too hot, and Theo complains too much." Lucia said waving her hand at Sarah as she sat down between Theo and his mother.
"You complain just as much as I do if there's nowhere cool to walk. We should have gone up to the mountains…" He said scowling as he picked up some toast and bit a chunk off.
"You know why we can't do that Theo." Lucia chided, shooting a glance at her son. He rolled his eyes and continued to eat. Sarah ignored their jibing and poured herself a cup of green tea, savouring the taste as she settled down.
They stayed there all morning until a small young boy brought them lunch in the cooler sitting room, protected from the worst of the suns heat by the heavy drapes at the windows, throwing the room into cool shadows.
"Ahh, this is better." Theo sighed putting his feet up on a chaise and relaxing after they had eaten.
"Well I for one don't want to stay indoors all day. I have to practice." Sarah said getting up and brushing herself off in case of crumbs.
"Don't forget your sunhat!" Lucia called as Sarah walked to the door. She grinned sheepishly and returned to retrieve the loathsome hat from Theo's outstretched hand.
"Thanks." She said sarcastically ramming the hat on her head. Leaving through a side gate, and thus avoiding the city surrounding the front of the castle Sarah walked out into the Labyrinth through one of the many entrances she now knew of. She walked aimlessly for half an hour in the cool stone passageways in the part of the labyrinth she had ended up in, and neatly avoided several traps and a few random creatures who inhabited the warren of paths. Finally she stopped and walked sideways through a wall into the wasteland at the very borders of the Labyrinth. Here she could practice creating things in peace without worrying that Jareth would complain when she accidentally wiped out half the Labyrinth.
The sun pounded the top of her head through the hat and made her eyes water as it glared unceasingly from the rocky nothingness beneath her feet. Quickly she summoned the image of the garden by the side of the river and the same weeping willow that leaned into the cool river waters. Controlling the magical flux surrounding her she made the garden be, making flowers and trees grow from the waste, feeling the rushing flow of water as the river cut its path through the garden and sighing in relief as she was suddenly shaded by the great Oak tree she had placed in the centre of the green lawn.
Flopping down into the cool grass she gazed over what she had created, revelling in the power she could wield to create such a thing of beauty. She wrapped the magical flux around her, feeling each individual thread, pushing and pulling her, giving her glimpses of the amazing possibilities of having such power at her fingertips. As she did so the Labyrinth ebbed and flowed around her, feeding from her energy and imagination. Sat in his throne, listening to the droning of the goblin on its knees before him Jareth also revelled in her energy, feeling the Labyrinth shifting and flowing around her, giving him glimpses of what she was daydreaming of.
He watched her in her mind as she slept beneath the oak tree and gave her pleasant dreams of them both walking amongst the gardens she had created, hoping that perhaps one day she would understand what her true role was within his arms, and the Labyrinths tender embrace. He sighed as the goblin before him shattered his concentration and immediately refused whatever it was the goblin had been requesting for 24 minutes and 19 seconds Jareth noted as he looked up at the clock on the southern wall frowning. Sarah woke suddenly, pulled away from her dreams by a feeling of irritation. She shrugged as she sat up and found that as she had slept the garden had become wild and overgrown, and the gently flowing river had become a raging sea. She banished everything with a wave of her hand and sought the coolness of the castle as the sun dipped slowly towards the horizon.
She found herself not in the rose courtyard as she had expected, but by a passageway where several goblins argued furtively before entering the throne room through the black panelled doors beyond them. Curious she followed them, and whilst nobody was looking found a narrow set of steps behind a tapestry up into a small balcony area. She noted that the balcony ran on around the whole of the room, but from where she was, she was hidden, and could watch Jareth and the rest of the goblins without obstruction. She knew she shouldn't really be there, but couldn't resist seeing how he ran his kingdom.
Settling herself as the next supplicants made their way forwards to the throne she noted instinctively that Jareth was bored and irritated and without realising it sent him soothing thoughts. He looked up from listening to the goblins and almost saw her, but only stared into the depths of the dark balconies for a moment before returning to his subjects. She stayed, her curiosity getting the better of her and listened, taking in the different rulings and requests, theorising to herself that Jareth was generally very fair with his answers, often granting requests that she would have denied for being completely ridiculous. An hour later she was growing bored and irritated herself as the last of the goblins made their way forwards. He was a tall thin thing, with more human features than his comrades, and he bowed before speaking.
"Tilingdor has sent his people to forage into Shayene Your Majesty, we were wondering if the land is now open could we not also send people into the mountains to work the land and the mines again?" The goblin looked up and stared as Jareth, one moment sat languidly playing with a crystal, sat up and glared at him. The goblin flinched.
"What did you say?" He asked scowling furiously.
"Shayene, Your Majesty, the land is now open to those who wish is it not? Tilingdor would not send his people in if he did not think that Your Majesty?" The goblin squeaked as Jareth crushed the crystal in his fist and stood up.
"Shayene is FORBIDDEN to all! Now and forever until its heir returns to take back what is rightfully hers! If Tilingdor has sent people into Shayene, then it is a declaration of war on my kingdom and my ward! Send out the army! Stop them!" He screamed as the crowd scattered. "Kill every living Fae who has dared to enter Shayene!" He disappeared from the room, scorching the remaining goblins with several curses. Sarah herself fled from his wrath, returning to her rooms as she felt the magical flux surging around her.
Pacing her room for several minutes with indecision, itching from the magic being used around her she followed its path and entered the library to find him destroying everything in his way. Isenith saw her from where he stood to one side and nodded at her, ignoring what Jareth was doing. She sighed in exasperation, ducking as several torn books were thrown in her general direction.
"How dare he?" Jareth roared emptying a shelf of its tiny glass statues. "Shayene is MINE! Was given to me after he destroyed it! Why will he not let the past remain where it belongs!" He turned and regarded the map on its wall and moving swiftly tore it down, shredding its beauty with his rage.
"Stop it Jareth!" Sarah heard herself shouting as she ran to him and pulled the torn canvas from his hands. He wrestled with her for possession of it for a moment before giving up and turning to another glass cabinet of rare books. Sarah amazed herself further by stepping in front of his clenched fists, bracing herself, but protecting the books. "Jareth you need to stop this!" She begged him as he pushed her aside, his ranting beginning anew. Tears sprang to her eyes as she fell, her hand cutting sharply into the scattered glass figurines on the floor. "Please Jareth, Stop! This won't solve anything!" She yelled at him, pulling a lump of glass from her hand and running back in front of him, hastily blowing out the candle he was swinging around to light a shelf of books. "Get a grip on yourself!" She shouted at him, shutting up with a gulp as he paused, watching her, his eyes black with rage.
"Get out." He whispered moving to walk past her.
"No! Stop now!" She threw her arms around his neck, holding onto him as he tried to pull away from her. "Please stop Jareth, you're frightening me!" She whimpered sobbing as they fell to the floor. "Please don't shout anymore." She begged him as finally he sat still and wrapped his arms around her. She could feel his anger slowly draining from him as they held each other, and didn't notice when Isenith careful set the library to rights again around them. She moved her cut hand instinctively as he finally released her, cupping her still bleeding palm in her other hand as he watched her silently watching him.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I can't stand it when people shout. It frightens me." She got up so that she wasn't in his way and as he continued to glare at her she fled the room.
Theshadowcat - Seems I've missed a few updates, but I'm now caught up. Great job. Can't wait to see who Jareth plans to marry. Can't wait for Elindah to get the b#$h slapping she deserves. Keep up the great work and update soon please.
A/N shouldn't be too hard to guess what's going on, but there are a few bits to the plot to add yet… ;P Thanks for staying with me!
Vomibitorazo - Oh! It's so wonderful! And the chapters have been growing longer, too! And for the record, I blame you and your story for keeping me up this late when I should've gone to bed an hour or so ago. My only question is how does one pronounce Isenith? I learned from reading LKH's Merry Gentry series that the names of the fae are rarely, if ever, pronounced the way it appears. Please keep up the wonderful work! It has been a long while since last I read a good Labyrinth fic. Jane!
A/N Hopefully my chapter lengths will be staying around this size from now on. (Sorry about keeping you up late! . Hope my story was worth it!) Isenith is pronounced "EYE-syn-ayAth" as far as I can make out – he mutters a lot and never answers you properly ;0)
Dragoneyes171986 - I like this. I should be working on my 100point Criminal Justice project that's due TOMARROW! and am no where even near done, but I can't resist a good story!
A/N Hope you managed to get you're project in on time! I'm really pleased you like my story!
Ladyofthedragons1 - sulking muses they're always fun... ok so take your time great chapter by the way update soon
A/N Hey, thanks for all the comments! 2 new chapters for you, hope they were halfway decent! Some pretty thick plot development chapters coming up next, so they might take me a little longer to get up, but I'll work as fast as my muse allows!