I'm sooo sorry that I haven't updated for sooo long- but it's summer here and it gets up to 40 DEGREES! CELCIUS! SERIOUSLY, I HAD SILLY PUTTY IN MY ROOM (which, right now I'm supposed to be cleaning…) AND IT MELTED! There are no cooling devices in the area where my computer is, so right now- well, think of me as the silly putty…

Chapter 26

Caught!

Sarah hurried down the narrow cobbled street that Fortuna's shop was on. I've already been far too long. Oh, poor Hoggle has probably made a fool of himself.

She opened the shop door unaware of what she was interrupting.

Hoggle broke away from Fortuna, turning a shade of red that was much brighter than usual.

Fortuna rubbed her lips and smiled saucily.

'Who-ho-oa! Do you guys want a more private room?' asked Sarah.

'Sarah- I- it isn't wha' it looks like, it's a-' Hoggle rambled.

Sarah laughed and shook her head. 'No, I know exactly what that was.' She bent down and pinched Hoggle's nose, moving his head from side to side. 'You were smoochin'!'

Hoggle swatted her arms away.

Fortuna cleared her throat. 'Did you get the measurements for your order?'

'Uh,' Sarah stood up and handed over Jareth's list. 'Here'

'Thankyou.' Fortuna's eyes scanned the page. 'These will be ready in about a week. You can pay on delivery. It's also a term of service that I keep the remaining fabric.'

'That's fine,' said Sarah.

'Right, now I need a name and address.'

'I'm Sarah, Sarah Williams and I live… well, just ask for me up at the castle.'

Fortuna's eyes narrowed a little. 'The castle? In any chamber in particular?'

Sarah smiled. 'That's for me to know, and you to gossip about. I'll see you in a week.'

Hoggle hurriedly opened the door. 'I'll walk you back, Sarah'

Sarah stepped out of the shop into the rapidly cooling dusk air. The streets were bathed in a bright orange glow.

'Hmm, I didn't think it was that late. I can't be dusk already,' said Sarah.

'Oh, haven't ye' noticed?' asked Hoggle as they walked down the cobbled street. 'Sunset here lasts for at least an hour. The people are still out, but the marketers have gone home, as some of them need to travel a long way.'

Sarah smiled at a group of children who were playing a game similar to 'Piggy-in-the-Middle' in the street. The ball rolled over to her and she picked it up and gave it to a child with dark green skin and straw-coloured hair.

'So,' said Sarah airily, looking over at Hoggle. 'How did that happen?'

'Wha' happen?' said Hoggle while he pretended to be overly interested in watching a few elves dance into a little house.

'The little scene I walked into in the store. Should I refresh your memory?' Sarah grinned. 'It had the sound effects of a plunger-'

'Alright! The whole city doesn' need to know!' hissed Hoggle. 'She started talking to me about the F.S.S, and then… I don't know, she jus' sort of…' Hoggle let his arms go limp.

Sarah laughed. 'I know how that is; you meet someone you like and you talk to them and then you lose track of time and you get lost in whatever spell they're weaving on you and you have no control.'

Sarah's voice had taken on a dreamy tone and she had begun to walk a little wobbly. Her brain had started to formulate pictures of someone her words had described to hers mind.

'You ain't talking abou me anymore, are you?' asked Hoggle.

'Huh? Yes I am, you just have to, uh, give her one of your roses. Yeah, a really big one. I've seen the ones you grow, and even Jareth thinks they're gorgeous,' said Sarah.

Hoggle glowed with pride. 'He said that?'

'Not in those words, but he does think that they're good.'

'That's a good idea, giving her o' of my roses, they're the bigges' blooms in the Labyrinth, you know? Award winning. But what colour do I give her?' asked Hoggle.

'What's her favourite colour?'

'I never thought to ask her,' mumbled Hoggle.

'Too busy doing this;' Sarah made some kissy noises.

'Stop that,' said Hoggle.

Sarah laughed. 'So get her a purple one. Everyone likes purple.'

Hoggle nodded. 'Thankyou.'

He and Sarah walked up the castle steps.

Hoggle shrugged. 'This is where I leave ye'.'

'Yep. Do you have the time?'

Hoggle ferreted around in his trinket pouch, causing the contents to jingle noisily. Finally, he found what he had been looking for; a gold pocket watch. 'Erm, abou' five minutes to five o'clock.'

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't understand why, but she had felt anxious about being late for dinner, which was ridiculous as dinner was always served promptly at seven thirty. 'Thanks Hoggle. I'll see you… when will I see you?'

'Prob-ly not tomorrow, that's the F.S.S. meeting and I got to go pick my best rose for Fortuna.'

Sarah smiled. 'Then you should just come over whenever you like.'

'I will,' replied Hoggle.

Sarah pushed at the doors and they swung open immediately. They were, in reality, bone-crushingly heavy, but if they were given the order to open for someone, say, Sarah, they would open at that someone's slightest touch. They're very well mannered.

Sarah went through the doors and waved to Hoggle as they closed. She traipsed back to her room and stared at her vodka-flavoured medicine, sitting there on the table, begging her to take some and feel better. And then she stared at the bruise cream that was telling her to use it and hurt herself more.

Sarah sighed and gingerly picked up the cream. She unscrewed the lid and sniffed the white ointment cautiously. It smelt like eucalyptus and rose.

Sarah recapped the cream and went to run herself a bath. She stripped off and eased herself into the warm forgetful depths.

After a long while of sitting and relaxing and luxuriously washing her hair, Sarah got out of the bath, drained it and towelled off. She sat down on the edge of her bed and smeared her bruises with the fragrant cream, wincing when she rubbed too hard.

Once her bruises were taken care of, she did her hair up into a ponytail and used the curling iron she found in one of the bathroom cupboards to curl the hair into ringlets.

Sarah chose a light yellow gown with a darker bodice to wear to dinner because the dress she'd gone to town in wasn't appropriate. She'd have worn her other dress if it had only been Jareth there, but since there were all of those strange royals from all over the Underground…

Sure, Sarah liked them. She could see herself and Legolas becoming good friends, but she couldn't help but be a little intimidated by the rest, those powerful figureheads who ruled over thousands.

Sarah hugged herself and looked up at the clock. 7:20.

Where has all the time gone? she thought and she left her chambers, takingher blue medicine with her so she could have some later.

Sarah wandered through the corridors and found herself eventually at the dinning hall. Se let herself in as she had done that morning and sat down at her seat.

Sarah sat there, wrapped in her thoughts for a few moments, then the side door of the hall opened and Finnely emerged.

'Hello', said Finnely as she walked up to Sarah and pulled out the chair next to her- the one that was usually occupied by Jolungus.

'Hi', said Sarah happily. 'How are you?'

'Oh, Miss, I'm very well.'

'You don't have to call me 'Miss' or anything', said Sarah. 'I'm just plain old Sarah.'

'No, you are anything but plain! You defeated His Majesty's Labyrinth and brought emotion back to his bitter heart', corrected Finnely.

' 'His bitter heart'?' asked Sarah. 'I don't understand; if Jareth was bitter when I was here last and the Labyrinth flourishes when he's happy, then why was it green when I beat him?'

'Well', said Finnely with the air of one about to embark on a very long, very tedious explanation, 'it's not really known for sure what happened, but the Labyrinth has never, under His Majesty Jareth's rule, bloomed as well as it once did in his father's rule, or his fathers rule for the matter of that. It has taken time for the decay and has only recently become so totally tarnished that it was a danger to everyone inside it. Something truly horrible must have happened to the king for his heart to shut off everything and cause his kingdom to crumble.' Finnely gave Sarah a moment to digest this.

'But now', Finnely said with renewed fervour, 'the Kingdom has the potential to be truly glorious, rather than the struggling weed it had been reduced to at the time of your first visit. His Majesty is feeling again.'

'…' said Sarah. 'How do you know all this?

Finnely patted Sarah's hand maternally. 'I'm a brownie, dear. I keep very close ties to the land.

Just then, the door creaked open.

0o0o0o0o

I did it! I finished a chapter! I feel like crap… would you believe I started this chapter in summer and now its winter?