b Chapter 19 - Atonement /b

Sarah awoke with the distinct feeling that the previous night was not a dream.

Which, for Sarah Williams, was breaking a fairly dominant trend as of late. And obviously, for the average individual, this would be considered a relief.

But Sarah had never been what anyone would call "average".

Raising herself from the tangle of her bed sheets, Sarah pushed herself towards her night table.

She sat, and immediately set down to assessing the business of the day, and whereas she was nearly three hundred percent sure that her chamber door was locked tight, the business of the day was taking the form of staring at her reflection in the wall sized mirror.

She spoke aloud to no one in particular as she did a sort of inventory of her physical being, which was much easier to account for than her spiraling thoughts.

"Eyebrows," she mused, "check."

"Cheekbones, check. Forehead, check. Freckle, check. Nose," she paused at this and squinted unhappily into the mirror, "double check."

Sighing, she continued on with her routine. "Lips -"

"Dreadfully in need of someone to talk to."

Sarah, somehow still being capable of shock, despite her past week, whipped her body around in so fast a motion that she found her bottom flat on the floor. A position she was beginning to find herself in more and more these days, she was still adverse to the sound that invariably came out as she hit.

"Gralp!" She spit out as her rear made direct and very hard contact with the mess of carpets. Jerking her head up, her eyes made contact with the scurrying form of a very petite blond headed woman rushing her way.

"I'm so sorry," she rushed lightly as she bent to help a very confused Sarah to her feet. "The door was open, and when you didn't answer I let myself in, and -- oh!" She paused, taking a moment to fill her lungs with the air she needed to continue. "I'm just so very sorry!"

Sarah was so astonished to see anything remotely resembling a human being that for a moment she couldn't say anything. Rendered speechless, she let the sliver of a woman lead her back to her bed, where she sat without further comment.

"I really should have been more careful, you know," the young woman went on, "how stupid of me to just rush in. Jareth said it was likely you'd be off-kilter today -- and what do I do? Oh, Everyone is always saying I have the patience of a klipglof, rushing here and there, and oh, just generally butting in-" Sarah didn't have the mental power to inquire or even wonder what exactly a klipo-whatever was, as she was still stuck on the Jareth half of the equation. By the time she had put two an two together, the woman was rambling on at what Sarah presumed to be twice the speed of light.

"But with the state of your poor nerves and all, oh -- I'm so sorry."

She was now dotting Sarah's head with a wet parcel of herbs that had seemingly come from out of thin air, and the look on her face stared expectantly back at Sarah's wide eyed gaze.

Sarah's heart fell momentarily as the hope of another mortal in the Underground was swept away. Yes, there was definitely an element of the otherworldly about this character.

"Jareth sent you?" was all she could think to stammer out. "My Goblin King, Terror of the Night, Scumsucking Creep of the Earth Jareth?"

Insults were rarely one of Sarah's strong points, yet on this occasion she felt strangely proud of her assessment. "Scumsucking Creep of the Earth indeed," she mused inwardly.

Nevermind that Sarah's newfound guest had no idea what an earth even was, and that "scumsucking" was a term even Sarah hadn't used since the fourth grade, she worked with what she had.

To her surprise, the young woman merely laughed, "Your Jareth indeed!" she quipped. "He's quite 'round your little finger I see," she added, making a gesture indicating Sarah's bedchamber was a laugh-and-a-half for her as well.

She sighed then, and absentmindedly straightened the line of her skirts, which Sarah noticed would fetch a fantastic price even in the Aboveground. As the tiny woman took a moment to settle her laughter, which at one point reached the verge of tears, Sarah took a moment of her own to observe.

While she was a tiny girl, there was no indication that she was by any means frail. Indeed, Sarah thought that she looked very much like the models that came to her monthly, posing with their lycra in Shape Magazine.

Of course Sarah rarely did anything but flip through the monthly reminder of her lovehandles before tossing it unceremoniously on the coffee table.

If she wasn't going to be fit, at least her guests would think she tried.

To her dismay, the girl also had the billowing white blonde hair of supermodels, and the skin of a china doll. Sarah was mentally put to shame for a moment, the exact apparition of Star Magazine perfection was kneeling on her bed, dressed for the Oscars, and here was Sarah, pitifully messy, out of shape, and definitely on the worst dressed list.

'Above,' she added mentally, 'Star Jones, but below Courtney Love."

Yes, Sarah did a lot of reading.

If she hadn't been so obviously sweet, Sarah was sure that one thought would come to mind, had she ever crossed her path on a busy New York street.

Bitch.

Back in her element now, Sarah waited for the girl to finish her primping.

When she was satisfied, she smiled at Sarah with what seemed like an extraordinary amount of playful trouble in her eyes, and set to introducing herself. "I'm Nelly, by the way," she giggled, raising her eyebrows and shrugging, "and I completely forgot to introduce myself."

"I'm Sarah Williams," Sarah said, wondering where this turn of events was sure to lead her.

"I know," Nelly started, "and it's absolutely wonderful to finally meet you. Put a face to a name and all that."

Sarah quite unintentionally rolled her eyes, "singing my praises is he?"

The new friend Sarah now knew as Nelly experienced a bit of shock from this remark, but quickly recovered. "Well, not exactly at first you know," she leaned into Sarah to whisper the rest of her confession, "but I think sometimes, he has a tendency for people growing on him, quite without his knowledge."

Sarah blushed at this, though she couldn't place why.

"So," said Nelly matter of factly, "tell me all about last night."