Usual disclaimer. Enjoy.
Golden Threads
Chapter 3: Revelations
Sunrise found the king in his library, pouring over a pile of ancient texts. The variety of languages and scripts could have been dizzying to anyone unused to the multitude of peoples in the Underground. He was beginning to get desperate. There was no mention of ways for him to contact his favorite mortal without her calling for him. He grabbed the next dusty volume, age worn but apparently unused for ages. Scanning the title Labyrinthine Practices of Influence in Other Realms, he decided that this one was far more likely to have some form of help inside. Thanking the powers that be that time had little relation between realms, he conjured a new crystal orb, larger than usual. He placed it on an ornate wooden stand on the other side of the desk so that he could keep an eye on Sarah while he searched for answers. He began flipping quickly through the parchment pages, casting a mild enchantment so that his actions would not cause the old pages to crumble under his abuse.
"Magical Bribery of Purgatory Residentials, Heavenly Favors, Goblin Trickery, Guardian Creatures, what the bloody hell can this do for me?" he yelled, huffing at the pages. Glancing down, he saw the next chapter heading. "Well, well, well," he said, "Guidance Visions for Mortal Believers. That sounds awfully familiar." He bowed his head down to start reading the chapter. Upon such mortals as believe in the magical races, visions may be bestowed in various states of consciousness as to guide their beliefs to suit the needs of the Underground, and more precisely, those of the Labyrinth, and it's wild need for mortal belief and dreaming. Such practices are occasionally dangerous, and must be undertaken with great care, for the regulations often cause grave disturbances and consequences. The first method is as follows...
Aboveground, in her quiet and night darkened room, Sarah sat on the edge of her low bed. Marveling in the in the fascinating patterns upon her hands. She had quickly discovered that artificial light would not let the patterns show, that candle light barely showed the shimmer, but that moonlight let them show clearly. The pattern was still barely visible. She wondered at it. Where had it come from? What did it mean? Glancing at her clock, she saw that she would have to rise for work in merely a few hours. Not enough time to be fully rested if she tried to sleep, she realized. Rising, and slipping her pale blue robe on, Sarah lit a single white candle and began setting up a seemingly elaborate incense stand with multiple sticks. In the back of her mind, the combination of scents that would accomplish the most relaxing and contemplative state formed itself. Quietly thankful for her interest and study in spiritualities other than her family's, Sarah proceeded to light a sage smudge stick. The warm, smoky scent calmed her as she blew out the flame, and began circling her room. She closed her door, and asked the powers that be to remove any negative presences around her. Settling herself on a large pillow by her table, she hummed softly as she placed the smudge braids in a small dish on the table. She picked up a stick of amber, lighting it and quickly blowing out the flame. Next she placed lavender, sandalwood, myrrh, and lotus in a holder. An ambergris cone sat in the center. With a drop of benzoin on the plate, she thought about the meanings or hopes that these scents are intended for. Amber for love, comfort, happiness, and healing. Ambergris for psychic ventures and dreams. A little odd, she knew, but if it helped. The others were for things such as meditation, purification, healing, spirituality, psychic ability, protection, and even some specific things such as exorcism, love, elevation, and opening. The strange combination of scents were not unpleasant. Her mind formed an image of a temple, but not one she had ever been in. It was comforting, soothing, even. Settling into her meditations, Sarah cleared her mind and slowed her breathing, allowing the peaceful feeling to infuse her limbs.
Incense sticks, hundreds of them. All smoking. The scent of magic. The self pulls inwards, focusing on a strand of gold and silver, sparkling like stardust. Awareness. The soul-string. Old wooden floors, plush cushions. Silk, shifting and wrapping about the body. This self is different. A sari, that is the silk. Strange weight on the face. A marble statue, and tiny ivory carvings. Elephants. A shift. Same thread. Soul-thread. New self. Linen and gauze. A heavy golden mantle about the collarbones. Thick bands around the wrist. Stars. Earth magic. Energy flowing up from her kneeling legs and into her hands. A bud blossoms at the feet of a statue. Earth mother. Inward, a shift. Farther back. Strange stone, opalescent. Flowing cloth, too light to have weight, like air. More incense. A black candle. Pass of hand, etched in silver and gold, candle turns to white. Mumbled voices. Nothing immediately recognizable. Familiar. Lilt of words, pattern of sounds. Meaning. A name. "Princess". Sarah.
She startled out of her trance. "What in all the hells?" She looked down at her table, a tiny silver dagger, no longer than her finger lay next to the now black candle. A strange symbol was traced on the small dish in red. Red was on the dagger. Red, blood, was on the tip of her little finger. Left, she noticed, not right. She glanced about the room, but nothing else seemed out of place. Aurie, the cat, lay sprawled lazily across the sofa, her eyes dancing in the candle light. Her turquoise eyes.
"Aurie," Sarah said softly, "what are you?" In answer, the large cat stretched from her spot and jumped up onto the table. She dipped her head, in an oddly bow-like manner, and then dropped something. A silver pendant fell from her mouth. Intricate, with ancient familiar designs. A silver disk, with a blue moonstone set in the center. Gold etched designs circled it. Reaching out a trembling hand, Sarah picked up the disk. Similar designs in the shimmering silver now etched their way up her arms, glinting in the moonlight. "What is this, Aurie?" The cat simply cocked her head in a curious manner, and jumped down to cross the room. She nosed open the jewelry box on Sarah's dresser, and pulled out a fine silver chain. She carried it to where Sarah sat, depositing it next to the dagger. Mew.
Threading the pendant onto the chain, Sarah regarded her suddenly mysterious cat. "I'm assuming you want me to put this on, Aurie," she said, "but it had better not do anything to hurt me." She clasped the chain about her neck, and a warm feeling flowed through her body.
"About damned time," a female voice said. Sarah whirled around, searching for the source of the voice. "No, dear, you missed the point. I'm right in front of you." She looked down at the twinkling turquoise eyes.
"Aurie?"
"Of course!" came the reply. It was a whispering, old sounding voice. "Now, be a dear and scratch that spot on the back of my neck, so that we may have a little chat about your new-found best friend." She stretched, and sidled closer to Sarah, who tentatively reached out to scratch the spot that the cat had always liked to have scratched.
"Well, this is certainly an odd turn of events," Sarah said quietly, to the chuckling sound of feline laughter.
Back in the Goblin Kingdom, the king sat at his desk regarding the crystal carefully. "I couldn't have worded that better, myself, Sarah." He leaned back, and searched for the volume on guardian animals, and animal communication. He also listened carefully, as Aurie began explaining a few things to her dear human friend.
A few hours later, the sun was rising in the Aboveground, and the incense had burned itself out in Sarah's room. She sat, enraptured with the discussion she was having, strangely enough, with her cat. She began thinking about the revelations that her feline friend and imparted to her, and things suddenly seemed to click into focus. She was not what she thought. The Earth was not what she thought. A line from her favorite movie slipped past her lips, "Things are not always what they seem, in this place."
Jareth sat at his desk, in the musky library, somewhat in shock. He was listening to Sarah, but was unable to hear all that the cat imparted to her. He caught parts of it, as Sarah spoke to the cat, or, more often, too herself. He could only tell it was the cat by it's odd behavior, and by Sarah's reactions. He had seen the meditation turn into a ritual, all while Sarah was in her trance. He had seen the candle's color change. He had seen the dagger grow from the surroundings. Little shivers had moved up the table, like rivulets of rain on a window, from the floors and walls, and even the wood. It seemed that every molecule of silver in that dagger was pulled from the traces of the substance found in other materials. It had literally grown upward from the wooden surface. He had noticed that Sarah's skin, on her hands, anyways, had taken on a faint shimmer, but one which he could not make out through the crystal. The only thing that he knew for sure, at this point, was that the entire Underground had been deceived. Magic was alive and well in the Aboveground, but it was not Fae magic. This was Earth magic, a completely different breed of power.
He pulled his book closer, murmuring to himself. "I know I saw it before I got to the chapter on visions...now where is it...let's see...YES! Guardian Creatures...that's it!" He began reading as quickly as his fae powers would allow, which was very fast, indeed. Mortals in the Aboveground once had their own form of magical powers. Though the trait seems to have eradicated itself gradually since the Third Age of Maltasia, those in the hereditary lines continued to be protected by Guardian Creatures well into the Age of Separation. These creatures originally had a purpose and a set of abilities that is as yet unknown to fae. Their abilities were not directly known to anyone other than those possessing the appropriate bloodlines and magics. Types of creatures known to be guardians include the phoenix (which traveled with the fae for the separation), the wolf, the tiger, the cat...
That was the first step, it seemed. At least it was fairly certain that Aurie was a guardian creature to Sarah. Jareth himself remembered a human friend of his, back at the time of separation, having a cat that behaved similarly. The young man had not seemed to posses any magic, but had been a descendant of some who did. Every generation, cats came to the family, one after another. Each cat had chosen a single person to bond with. He had seen it happen with leaders among the mortals. Some had a falcon or wolf that seemed to always be present. He sighed, thinking on this. Why would Sarah and her cat be displaying such attributes now?
He returned his gaze to the crystal on the desk, and his mouth hung open. Sarah, in the slanting rays of early sunlight, was glowing. Traces of gold wound their way across her skin, lacing with silver. A silver disk, no larger than the end of his candle, hung about her neck. It had a moonstone set in it, a swirling blue, and slightly glowing. He looked closely. The inscriptions that swirled about the stone were in several languages, and most of them were not normal Earth languages. One such inscription read quite clearly in fae. Princess.
Author's Note: Sorry that it's such a short chapter! Thanks again to Not Human for the reviews, I really appreciate knowing that someone is reading the fiction! If you have any wishes or ideas, please feel free to let me know!