Before they even reached the bottom of the stairs, they were alerted to trouble by the sounds of chattering and agitated goblins, something that sounded like a whimpering dog, and the loud, angry yowls of a cat.
Sarah cast Jareth a sardonic look. "What's that phrase you can only say in French? Déjà vu?"
"I have no idea," he said. "It sounds like your cat is killing something."
"Or somebody," she said, her voice bright and hopeful.
"Or somebody," he agreed. "If that is the case, we should probably rescue them."
She sighed and took his hand as they descended the last of the stairs. "If we must."
King Raspiel and Queen Elipsabet were no longer waiting for them in the entryway. They had taken it upon themselves to enter the throne room and had made themselves quite at home by the time Jareth and Sarah paused on the landing to take in the situation.
The king had brought his beloved dog with him—though God alone knew how they had managed to get him there—and said dog—a two-headed dog, no less—had cornered Shire, and Raspiel and Jonas were heckling the dog while the frightened and overexcited goblins looked on.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Sarah snapped. Her character of Sarah the Seelie Sidhe was completely forgotten in her outrage.
Raspiel straightened from his crouching position behind the two-headed dog. "My dog Fen seems to have discovered a very odd looking vermin living in your Castle, Jareth."
"Vermin," Sarah said indignantly. Shire was a pure-blood blue-point Siamese, it would be difficult to find an animal less qualified to be called 'vermin'. "I'll have you know that cat is worth more than your entire God-fucking kingdom," she said. "And if you don't call that dog off right now—"
"Peace," Jareth said, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder before she could finish the threat. "Call off your dog, Raspiel," he said. When the king just shifted his eyes thoughtfully between him and Sarah, he said, more sharply, "Now."
Raspiel snapped his fingers and said a foreign word, and the hideous beast immediately obeyed his command and went to heal. "My apologies, Jareth, I had no idea the creature was . . . welcome," he said.
"Raspiel," Jareth said patiently, "I think you will find that no one and no thing enters my Castle unless they are welcome."
Sarah went and gathered Shire into her arms. She was petting him and murmuring to him to calm his shivering when Elipsabet suddenly laughed. It was a high pitched sound, and so abrupt that Shire instinctively set his claws into her arm.
"So that is a cat," Elipsabet said. "How extraordinary. How very . . . exotic."
Sarah caught the boy Jonas watching her with his intense mismatched eyes and glared. "Yes, isn't it just," she said sarcastically. Very gently she removed the cat's claws from her skin. "You will keep that . . . animal of yours on a leash while it is here," she said to Raspiel.
"Does your lady always speak for you, Jareth?" Raspiel asked. He was really getting on Sarah's nerves, and from the smirk on Jareth's face, she was sure he knew it.
"No, but she has this annoying habit of speaking for herself, you see," Jareth said, and watched Sarah's eyes narrow. "I really don't see how I'm going to break her of it."
Now that was definitely the kind of thing that interested Raspiel, she could see that right away. Something bound to get the Fae into a deep and involved conversation about things Sarah would rather not hear or think about, thank you very much.
"Well, it's all a matter of determination and willpower," Raspiel said. "It's rather like breaking a human, you know. We had a little trouble breaking Jonas here of some very nasty habits, but looking back it was really very satisfying. I'm sure a woman is not that much different."
"I'm sure," Jareth said. He gave every appearance of rapt interest in the topic, but Sarah could tell from the set of his shoulders and the way his gaze kept darting to her that he was fast coming to the same realization that she had. That he had just opened the proverbial Pandora's Box with his little off-hand comment.
Serves him right, she thought, and went to offer Elipsabet a chair and something to drink. As she was going to the kitchen to make the queen a coffee with cream, she happened to remember Jonas.
"Do you want anything?" she asked him.
He was shuffling and twitching in a way that made her think that whatever he may have been on in the Aboveground, and however long he may have been in the Underground, he was not clean even now. He was still on something, or that twitching would have gone away. It was what her boyfriend, Henry Cain, used to call the 'sweet junk jitters'. Junkies got like that when they hadn't had their fix recently, but it eventually went away if they stayed off the drugs.
"Not unless you got a Coke or somethin' back there, man," he said. He crossed his arms and scratched nervously. "Or maybe a beer."
"Uh, sorry, I don't think we have any soda," she said. "But we might have some beer. Something out of a keg, you understand, but still—"
"Nah, forget it," he said. "I don't need nothin'."
"Alright," she said, and left them all together to talk about politics, the weather, 'breaking' people, and whatever other fascinating things the Sidhe discussed when they were thrown together.
"Perrin, take Shire somewhere, will you?" she asked the little goblin when he followed her into the kitchen. "Keep him away from that damned dog."
"Yes," he said, and took the cat from her. "Okay. Stay away from nasty doggie," he admonished the cat, who merely blinked at him and held onto his shirtsleeve as he carried him from the room.
"Fuck and bugger," Sarah muttered and leaned against the countertop. The day was certainly off to an interesting start.
She reentered the throne room a few minutes later with coffee and cream on a tray and suggested they all go into the dining hall and wait for the scones she had baking. Of course, she had no scones baking, as she could not bake. She was, however, becoming very skilled with her wand and wasted no time summoning a great warm pile of the things, which she set between them before taking her seat beside Jareth.
"Your lady is a wonderful cook," Raspiel commented after his first bite of an orange and cranberry scone.
"Not wonderful enough for him to address me personally though," Sarah whispered to Jareth, who grinned and passed her a lemon poppy-seed scone.
Elipsabet poured cream into her coffee then took small leather packet from a fold of her cloak and added teaspoon of a strange glittery powder to it before stirring and taking a sip. She closed her eyes in an expression of near-bliss then opened them to see Sarah staring at her.
"I'm sorry, would you like some?" she offered Sarah the packet.
Sarah reached out to take it, but Jareth pushed the queen's hand away. "No."
"But—"
"No, Sarah, you don't want that," he said.
Elipsabet smiled benignly and put it away. "I am sorry again," she said with a twittering laugh. "I only thought to be polite."
"Thank you," Jareth said. "But it is politeness of a kind we can very well do without."
Raspiel laughed and brushed sugar glaze from his fingertips. "Come now, Jareth. Do not tell me you have never tried it before."
Jareth eyed him distastefully. "I have. But that was long ago. And I had my reasons."
"Yes, and don't we all?"
"I wasn't going to eat the stuff," Sarah told him under her breath. "I just wanted to see what it was."
He bent his head toward her. "Pixy Dust," he murmured.
"Oh."
"It is like some of your Aboveground drugs," he explained. "Very addictive. And destructive."
Sarah shot a glance at Jonas, who was eyeing the queen's coffee avariciously. Well, she supposed now she knew what was giving him the jitters.
"Thanks," she said to Jareth, and she meant it. She had seen what drugs could do to a person, and she had no desire whatsoever to experience it first-hand. Watching it happen to someone she loved had been bad enough.
"In future," Jareth whispered, "don't take anything that someone you don't trust offers you, alright."
"Anything?" she asked.
"Anything," he confirmed.
"Okay, sure," she said. She held up a scone between them. "You want a scone?"
He grimaced. "No, thank you."
"I didn't bake them," she promised.
He eyed the pastry warily.
"The goblins didn't bake them either," she said, and watched his mouth curve into an amused smile.
He took the scone and bit off one corner.
"So when do you suppose we can give them the boot?" She asked, sipping her coffee. Black, by God, none of that cream and sugar crap. "For courtesy's sake, I mean."
He sighed and watched their guests as they finished their breakfast, all the time talking about people he did not know or remember, and things that had happened recently. Not for the first time, he wondered what they were doing there. Why had Raspiel insisted on visiting? Why would a man that considered him his enemy want to pay him a house-call? It made no sense.
"I don't know," he said. "Probably sometime after supper."
Sarah groaned. "Well at least we don't have to wait through eight damned courses."
"We don't?"
"Hell no," she said. "I ran out of ideas around the fifth course. That is, unless you think they might enjoy goblin flambé, or something like that. Chirst knows, with the shit they served us at that banquet, they'd probably eat it and ask for seconds."
Jareth snorted and covered his laughter with a cough.
"So, Jareth," Raspiel said, putting an end to their private conversation, "What manner of entertainment do you have planned for us today?"
"Entertainment?" Jareth and Sarah exchanged a look. Now they wanted to be entertained. This just got better and better.
"Oh, I would just love a tour of the Castle," Elipsabet exclaimed.
Jareth seized on that idea. "Why don't we give you a tour then, when you are finished with your breakfast?"
"Well, I'm finished now, what about you, darling?" she asked her husband.
"Yes, fine," he said curtly, and they both got to their feet.
As they were leaving the dining hall, Sarah noticed Jonas had fallen behind. She turned to see where he was and watched him pick up the queen's half empty china cup and drain it in one greedy swallow. She hastily looked away and let Jareth take her hand as they ushered their guests out.
Touring the Castle Beyond the Goblin City took them most of the day. Not so much the tour itself, as keeping a close eye on them and putting things to rights when they touched anything or knocked anything over or, in one amusing instance, released anything from it's crystal box prison.
"I can't believe how much magic is in this place," Elipsabet said. She was brushing will-o-wisp dust from her golden blonde hair. "It's really amazing, don't you think darling?"
"Amazing," Raspiel agreed. The dog, Fen, followed obediently at his heels, and behind them all, at a distance of about eight feet, Jonas followed them all. "Truly amazing."
"But where are your rooms, dear?" she asked Sarah.
Sarah froze under that expectant blue gaze. "Oh, well, they're on the other side of the castle."
"Oh really?" Elipsabet nibbled her bottom lip, looking between her and Jareth with a confused expression. "But that's not where you came down from this morning."
Nosy bitch, Sarah thought, but she kept a smile on her face and just said, "I was discussing something with Jareth this morning before you arrived."
"Oh," she said. "Then you do not share rooms. How odd. I thought you were close."
Jareth squeezed her hand reassuringly, but it didn't help. "That's really none of your business," Sarah said coolly.
The Unseelie queen's eyes widened and she clasped her hands together. "I'm so sorry. You're right, it isn't any of my business."
"I apologize for my lady," Raspiel said, but as always, he addressed his comments to Jareth.
Jareth shrugged. "She has already apologized for herself," he said. "Shall we continue?"
They toured the library, the Escher room, and every room in between, except for Sarah and Jareth's personal chambers. Jareth even led them down into the dungeons, which now, besides being dank, dark and creepy, also smelled strongly of goblin droppings. Sarah was almost positive that he had taken them down there more for his own personal amusement than because he honestly thought they had any wish to see it.
Around dusk, Sarah and Jareth took them once again to the dining hall, where the first course was already set out for them. Soup, simple chicken noodle, with homemade egg noodles and large pieces of vegetables and chicken in small crockery bowls. There were also baskets of warm bread and little jars of butter placed in the center of the table. Sarah had kept it in the kitchen and bribed the goblins to warm everything up and place it on the table.
Of course, when bribery hadn't worked, she had resorted to threats, but only as a last resort.
It amused her that Raspiel and Elipsabet did not seem to be enjoying their meal. Jonas, however, had two helpings and half a basket of bread all to himself. Living at the Unseelie Court had not entirely agreed with him, it would seem.
The second course was salad, with little bottles of different kinds of dressing for them to choose from. Sarah used the Italian, and Jareth did too after tasting a few of the others. The king and queen tried it, then pushed their lettuce around on their plates until the next course.
Next, there was pot-roast, seasoned with thyme and garlic and served with carrots, potatoes, and little onions. Jonas leapt on this joyfully and ate until Sarah feared he would pop like a bloated tick.
When Elipsabet and Raspiel did not seem to enjoy this either, Sarah finally asked them about it.
"Well, it's terribly bland, dear," Elipsabet said apologetically.
"'S great," Jonas told her. He swallowed the last of his roast and burped.
The fourth course was, of course, dessert. There were two kinds of pudding to choose from, four pies, and six different kinds of cakes. Sarah had also made sure to get oranges for Jareth because he liked them so much, and he was not all that fond of sweets. For the first time since they had sat down to eat, the king and queen seemed to enjoy their food though. Elipsabet ate two slices of raspberry crème cheesecake, a slice of banana cream pie, and two éclairs. Raspiel had basically the same thing, though heavy on the chocolate.
Sarah shared an orange with Jareth and wondered why both of them weren't the size of blimps.
The final course was actually just sherbet, to cleans the palate.
"What is that?" Elipsabet eyed the colored things in the dishes curiously.
"Sherbet," Sarah said.
"Oh. What is sherbet?"
Sarah shrugged and took a spoonful of lemon. It melted, and with it, took away the aftertaste of pot-roast and onions. "Try it."
They each tried some of a different color, and Sarah and Jareth both laughed at the shocked expressions on their faces.
"It's cold!" Raspiel exclaimed. "How did you do that?"
It did not escape her that this was one of the few times since she had met him that the king had addressed her directly. "It's frozen."
"Frozen," he said. "How very extraordinary."
Of course, Jonas did not think it was extraordinary, but he was once again watching her with an intense, almost searching expression on his face. As though she were a puzzle he was trying to solve. A puzzle with pieces that did not quite fit.
She smiled at him in an impersonal way and went to get the goblins to help her clear things up. This time, when she promised them that they could all share the leftovers, they did not argue with her at all, and went straight to work clearing the table and washing the dishes.
When Sarah returned to the dining hall, she noticed how Raspiel's purple eyes followed her, and from the blank look on Jareth's face, he noticed it too. She didn't let it bother her. After all, Jareth had had her in every imaginable position, upon every horizontal surface in the Castle—and even some of the vertical ones—so if this man thought he could embarrass her with a suggestive look, he had another thing coming.
When they finally escorted them to the entranceway, and bid them farewell, it was with relief and a sense of gladness at seeing the backs of them. Them and their pet human and their ugly two-headed dog.
"I fell dirty," Sarah told Jareth. "I'm going to take a bath and go to bed."
"I'll join you there shortly, then," Jareth said, heading toward his own chambers. "But first I have to speak to Hoggle and have him lift the ward for them again."
Sarah smiled at him and went over to give him a kiss before she started up the tower stairs to her own rooms. "I'll see you soon then," she said. "Don't be too long."