The Daydreamer and the King

By Danika Lareyna

Chapter Six - A Princess

As the crystal slowed, a small bubble of laughter escaped Sarah's lips. She raised the orb up to eye level, scrutinizing it with a critical eye. "I am beginning to see a pattern here," she said aloud, "Are you trying to tell me something?" With more quiet laughter, Sarah's hands spun into motion.

As the crystal spun, the world spun. Sarah lost herself in the dream.

xXx

Sarah screamed, her brow drenched in sweat and her hands clenched so tightly she could feel her nails gouging into the flesh of her palms. She would never forgive him. She would make that haughty bastard pay for what he put her through. Visions of endless pain and suffering for Jareth, that rat Jareth, swam in front of her eyes. Oh yes, there was no doubt about it. He would pay for the thirteen hours of hell he had just put her through. Thirteen hours. How very appropriate. Ha bloody ha. Death would come slow, he must be made to suffer. The intense pain swept over her again, and Sarah screamed.

And then, suddenly, it was over. The doctor was placing a tiny bundle, wrapped in pale pink, into Jareth's trembling arms. His gaze bounced from Sarah to the treasure he cradled, eyes wide and wet and full of awe. "Our daughter," he whispered to her in a voice ragged and heavy with emotion, leaning down to gently deposit the child into her arms. "It's our daughter, Sarah."

He wrapped one arm around her shoulder, placing his finger in the infant's hand so that she reflexively grasped it. A wide grin split his normally cool and arrogant face. Sarah looked down and found the babe looking back up at her with lovely, mismatched eyes. She was the most beautiful thing Sarah had ever seen.

She supposed she could forgive Jareth. This time.

xXx

Sarah settled on the familiar cement bench, in the heart of the park where she had played since she was a child. Near the pond, she watched Jareth and Aislynn frolic. Her gaze was warm and a peaceful smile spread across her full lips as her husband swooped down to lift their daughter high into the air, her arms spread wide as she 'flew'.

She could hardly believe that her little girl was five years old already. In fact, her birthday cake was carefully tucked into the basket on Sarah's left, a frilly concoction of strawberries and white, icing flowers. In another, larger basket was their picnic lunch. Aislynn was a very social child but she insisted that she wanted to celebrate her birthday with just her Mama and Papa. Neither Sarah nor Jareth had been eager to argue with her.

A delighted squeal drew Sarah's eyes back to the pair playing by the water. Jareth's low laughter rose in tune with Aislynn's. Sarah reveled in the sound, so rare before the birth of their child, which was now common to her ears. Warm contentment spread through her body and soul, Sarah could not imagine a more perfect scene.

Sarah's mind traveled back and she was swept away in a memory.

xXx

Jareth had returned to her when she had needed him the most. Lonely and depressed beyond reason, she had stood on the balcony of her pathetic apartment, in a haze. She had not called to him, she would never have thought to call upon her old enemy to comfort her, but he had known and he had come. Warm, strong arms had wrapped around her frail frame and words of acceptance and love whispered in her ear.

And this time, she heard him.

She was amazed when he offered not to take her away to the Underground, but to remain with her Above. When she asked whether he would be happy out of his realm he had gently kissed her forehead and said, "We will be together, my love. What more do I need?"

A year later, in a quiet, private ceremony, Sarah Williams and Jareth, former King of the Goblins, were married.

xXx

Sarah giggled softly as Jareth laid his head on her bulging tummy and then drew back with an amazed look. "I felt it!" he exclaimed, "The baby kicked me." With a gleeful laugh, he laid his head against her again. She sat on the plush white couch in the home they had recently purchased. Who would have thought the stories Jareth penned, mostly accounts of his own experiences in the Underground, would be so popular as fantasy novels Above?

"The baby has been kicking you, and especially me, for months now," Sarah said with a little moan, "Just think, only a few more weeks and it can kick you without having to go through me." He grinned at her impishly and sprinkled light kisses across her abdomen, eliciting another giggle.

"I have come to a decision," he told her, rolling over so that he gazed up at her with his head in her rapidly disappearing lap and his long legs hanging over the far end of the couch.

"Oh? And what have you decided?" she asked, stroking his silky, blond hair.

"If it is girl, we shall call her Aislynn. It means dream."

Sarah smiled, "I like that. Aislynn... And if it is a boy?"

He gave her a look as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Jareth the Second, of course."

Laughing, Sarah laid a hand on her stomach and said, "Did you hear that, Baby? You'd better come out a girl- I don't think I could stand two of you!"

xXx

"Sarah! Sarah! Come quick!"

Sarah immediately dropped the tomato she had been dicing and raced towards the living room. The note of urgency in her husband's tone, so unusual in the normally calm Jareth, put wings on her feet and panic in her heart. Coming to a halt only by crashing into the doorframe and holding tight, Sarah's eyes swept the room in search of the unconscious and bleeding form of her daughter.

Instead, she found Jareth crouching on the floor and Aislynn, perfectly unharmed, toddling towards him.

Slowly, as her racing heart calmed, the meaning of what she was seeing, sunk into Sarah's mind. Her daughter, toddling towards her husband on unsteady legs. Unsteady because they were, in fact, her first steps.

Sarah gasped with delight as Aislynn fell into Jareth's arms. He swept her up, tickling her tummy and exclaiming, "My Princess! I knew you could do it!"

Aislynn's mother added her own congratulations and happy cooing, before leaning over and, very quietly but emphatically, whispering in Jareth's ear, "If you ever scare me like that again, I will kill you."

xXx

"Mama! Can we have a sandwich now?"

Sarah returned to the present to find two sets of beautiful, mismatched eyes gazing at her with identical, pleading expressions. She was constantly amused at how much Aislynn resembled her father. Were it not for the girl's long, dark hair, just like her mother's, Sarah would almost believe that she had had nothing to do with the child's creation.

"I don't know," Sarah said with a smirk, "Can you?"

Aislynn rolled her eyes, "May we eat now, Mama?"

"Of course," she replied, "You're the boss, Birthday Girl."

Soon the small family was spread out on the grass, munching on chicken salad sandwiches and watermelon slices. Sarah leaned happily against Jareth's shoulder and pretended she did not notice him occasionally toss a wadded up piece of bread at their daughter, who returned it with a giggling vengeance.

Reaching into the basket for another sandwich, Aislynn made a confused sound and asked, "What is this?" She sat back and held out her hands towards her parents. Resting within her small fingers was a perfect, crystal sphere.

Immediately, Sarah's wide eyes went to Jareth, but the completely nonplussed look on his face told her that he was as surprised as she.

Aislynn's eyes darted between her stunned and silent parents. Seeing no help from them, she turned her gaze to her treasure. Studying it, she felt an unusual sense of familiarity. Not entirely sure how she did it, Aislynn twisted the crystal sphere and it burst into sparkles. From the midst of the glittering particles rose a shining butterfly, its wings were wide and glimmered soft violet. The butterfly danced around the little girls head, eliciting a delighted coo from the child, before it alit delicately in her hair where it shimmered and disappeared.

"Mama! Papa!" Aislynn exclaimed, "Did you see that? Did you see?" She jumped to her feet and began flapping her arms and dancing around her parents, laughing happily.

Slowly, Sarah turned to face her husband. He was watching his daughter with pride obvious in his eyes. "So young..." he murmured, and Sarah was not certain whether she was meant to hear it.

"We're going to have to go to the Underground," she said, "Aren't we?"

A predatory grin spread across Jareth's face.

xXx

"No, I really don't mind." Sarah said, with a sigh, "I mean, we will be able to come back and visit, right? And... you've never really been happy here, have you? You belong there."

"As does Aislynn," Jareth said, drawing Sarah into his comforting embrace.

"Did you know this would happen?" she asked, unable to meet his gaze.

"I knew there was a possibility," he replied, stroking her hair. "I did not think, if she did take after me, that she would discover her abilities so early." His voice took on a hint of the Goblin King of old, "She will be very powerful, Sarah."

"But will she be happy?"

Soft lips pressed against her forehead, "We will be together, my love. What more do we need?"

Sarah smiled.

xXx

He took them back to just a moment after he had left. He was, once again, the mighty ruler of the Labyrinth, no one even aware that he had left. Aislynn took to her new home and new abilities easily and was soon amazing her mother with feat after magical feat. Sarah was quickly reassured that the child would fit in well in her father's kingdom and even found herself thinking of it as home.

And if the goblins wondered why they suddenly had a new queen and young princess... well, stranger things had happened in the Underground.