Sarah plopped down on her old couch and opened her Thai take-out, budget be hanged; there was no way she was cooking tonight. Tiger came and sat beside her, his head on her lap, purring loudly.

Who knew that (unsuccessfully) trying not to think about Underground royalty all day could be so exhausting?

She dug her chopsticks into her General Thai and finally allowed her mind to slip back to the subject she had been trying to avoid all day. She still had so many unanswered questions, about her run, about her dream, about her paperweight.

How could she get answers?

Jareth had said that he had no power over her; would calling on him for answers annul that?

Too risky, she decided, tapping the chopsticks to her lips.

The paperweight/crystal could possibly be used to get information, but Sarah had no idea how it worked or if it did anything other than spy on the throneroom. And it seemed that Jareth could sense her using it, so... no good.

Saying "I wish" before going to sleep hoping for a new dream? Nope! - waaaay too dangerous!

Suddenly Sarah jumped up, spilling some of her supper. As Tiger descended to inspect the spill, she plunked the rest of her take-out down on the coffee table and ran into her bedroom, stopping in front of the mirror. She didn't have her old vanity mirror anymore, all of her childhood furniture had been passed on to Toby when she had moved out five years ago.

Five years ago. She hadn't called on Hoggle in five years. How long had it been in Underground time?

In the first months after her run Sarah had called on her friends almost every week. Then she had gotten so busy with school, drama club and her part time job, and the visits had become less regular. When she had realised that a whole year had passed without calling them, she had felt guilty, but still hesitated to call. What if they were mad at her for abandoning them?

Or worse, what if she had only imagined the whole thing?

She had been so afraid of the answers that she never tried.

Sarah bit her lip, wondering... would the new mirror work? Would her friends even want to see her after she had ignored them for so long?

"Only one way to find out" she muttered to herself.

Her heart in her throat, she faced the mirror. In the weak light coming from the other room her reflection looked wide eyed and pale as she whispered, "Hoggle, I need you!"

The silence in her room seemed to taunt her.

Taking a slow, deep breath, she tried again.

"Hoggle, please... I need you!"

After a long moment, Sarah sighed, staring at the mirror, her reflection's eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

Suddenly her reflection began to warp and blur, then a familiar wrinkled face appeared, a tiny cottage visible behind him in the golden light. He looked exactly the same as she remembered. He also seemed to be out of breath.

"Sorry Sarah... I came as fast as I could... I was... in me garden." He was dusted in soil, and was still holding a spade.

Despite the dirt, she wanted to hug him. "Hoggle! I'm so glad to see you!" Some of her tears finally did fall, but now from joy.

"You okay Sarah?" Without passing through the mirror, he peered behind her, looking around her room, "Is there trouble?"

"No, I-I'm fine, I just...feel so bad... for not calling you for so long." She wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry..."

Hoggle's lips quirked into a smile. "Is that all? No use ya worryin' over sumfing ya can't change...Now, tell me why ya sound so worried, an' why his Highness called me to try to contact ya today"

Sarah fell back onto the edge of the bed. "Wait! What? He did?"

"Sure!" he said, nodding. "This mornin', out o' the blue, he summons me to the castle, sayin' sumfing 'bout you wanting to see me. I tried to call ya, but it din't work, an' the rat threw a few crystals at the wall an' sent me back with no explanation. I been so worried that sumfing had happened to ya."

"Oh!" Her inner voice squealed He's trying to see me again! Sarah tried to shush the thought.

"So what happened?" Hoggle tilted his head, waiting for an answer.

"Well...ummm...you see..." Sarah shrugged awkwardly, how could she explain to Hoggle that she had dreamed of his king?

Hoggle's hands were on his hips, "Come on, out with it!"

Finally Sarah blurted, "I dreamed of the Labyrinth last night, and the Goblin King showed up in my dream."

She was not going to mention the crystal.

"Oh!" Hoggle looked like he might fall over in shock, he then came close to the mirrors surface, looking her over worriedly, "And you're alright? Nuffin' happened?"

"No... we just talked." She was blushing.

He squinted at her, arms crossed over his chest. "Ya sure nuffin' else happened?"

"Well... we... danced... while we talked... I did dream of a ballroom you know." she trailed off, self conscious about discussing her dream with the dwarf.

"Hmph!" He sat down on a sparkly boulder. "Ya know he's been tryin' to contact ya fer years?"

Years? Sarah's eyebrows raised and her stomach fluttered. "Really? Why?"

Hoggle just shrugged, "Who knows? Not me! But he's a tricky sort, so be careful!" He seemed so genuinely worried that Sarah reached to take his hand to comfort him.

Hoggle held his hand up to stop her. "Don't try to pass through the mirror Sarah!" he looked around nervously, "I don't think the rat can sense us talkin', but if one of us crosses, he'll probably know, bein' the guardian of the passages and all."

Sarah's eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know that he can't sense us right now?"

He sighed. "Cuz, this mornin', he blasted me for not tellin' him that we'd been in touch."

Sarah tried to make sense of everything "But...but... you, and the others have passed through before! After my run you all came to visit several times!"

"Yes, but I don't want ya to risk it; now we knows he's lookin' fer ya"

Trying to understand the why's and how's of Underground travel was beginning to give Sarah a headache. "Hang on, you said that you tried to call me, and it didn't work- why?"

Hoggle shrugged. "You always called us. seems that nuffin' passes the other way."

That was a new thought, although it made sense. No power over her.

Sarah would have to initiate contact, if she wanted to speak with Jareth. The thought both excited and terrified her.

An idea began to take form. "Hoggle, what if I kind of... officially give you permission to contact me, would that work?"

"Maybe. he shrugged. I ain't no expert on these things."

"Okay." She sat up as straight as she could on the bed. "I, Sarah Williams, give permission to Hoggle, Sir Didimus and Ludo to contact me when they deem necessary." Sarah preferred to keep the invitation specific; the last thing she wanted was to give their King any power over her.

Hoggle shuffled uneasily, "I appreciate this Sarah, but I won't be callin' ya back right away; no use riskin' drawin attention fer nothin'." He looked around furtively, as if he expected his king to already be behind him. "I'd better get back to work"

"Right-can't be too careful." She smiled at his nervous protectiveness before adding softly, "It's been so nice to see you again. And I promise it won't be so long between visits."

Hoggle smiled. "No hard feelings Sarah, I'm just glad that you're alright. Now, I'll see if I can find out anything else; and you try and stay out of trouble." He wagged his finger at her playfully.

Sarah laughed "I'll do my best." she promised, waving.

He waved back, and vanished.

Sarah let herself fall back on her bed, put her hand through her hair and sighed. It felt good to know that she could still contact her friends from the Labyrinth, hopefully they could now contact her.

But now...

What to do about their King?

She got up and headed back to the living room, and groaned.

Tiger had knocked the rest of her supper on the floor and was trying to pick out the chicken pieces. Sarah shoed the huge cat out of the way and sighed as she began to clean up the mess.

"You know Tiger, you're almost as bad as a goblin"

...

Author's note

Still don't own Labyrinth.

Thanks again to my beta for help in straightening out this chapter (any mistakes are mine)

Thank you to Guest 2019 for the review, and to those who have faced and followed. I appreciate it very much.

Please let me know what you think so far :)