Disclaimer: same as in part one
Part Two:
Perching outside the window, Jareth watched the goblins transport the baby safely away to the castle. At the abrupt silence, the young woman rushed across the one room cottage to the baby's cot only to be confounded and tormented by the goblins skittering to and fro. Just as she was about to reach a peak of panic and fear, Jareth transformed and walked in through the rickety door practically blowing it off its fragile hinges. The zephyr he unleashed on the door whirled around loosing sparks, ash and smoke in a spirally mess from the fireplace that heated and lit the small room. It blew her patched and faded skirt tight against her legs and then billowed it like a sail making her sway on her feet. Finally it snatched the shawl from around her shoulders and tossed it at the king's feet before dashing out the door and slamming it behind him.
Through a sudden silence that could have been cut with a knife, the woman pushed the tangled hair from her face and looked up at the tall fae. She took a step towards him and opened her mouth to address him then crumpled into a heap at his feet almost on top of the shawl lying there.
Jareth blinked and looked down at the small mortal.
"Well… that was different," he commented to the goblins remaining in the room.
He looked around at the shabby interior of the cabin, noting the narrow straw pallet next to the baby's cot. There was a heap of ragged blankets to cover the child and the single holey covering on her own bed. The room under the scattered ash was clean, the plank floor swept and a rug braided of knotted rags in front of the fireplace had a couple hand made toys on it.
Turning his attention to the woman, he noted that she was slender to the point of boniness and her face seemed thinned by fatigue and hunger, her wrists where they emerged from the frayed cuffs of her shirt were as slender as twigs.
"You aren't much of a challenge are you…" Jareth mused.
After a moment's further consideration, he bent and scooped the small figure into his arms. Turning he walked towards the door fading with each step until he and his burden disappeared completely.
Behind him in the dim room the fire in the fireplace shrank and died leaving the discarded shawl in the darkness on the floor.