Chapter 2
New Powers
It had been over a year and a half that Sarah had turned fae, and she still had not been able to discover all of her powers. Her pregnancy had seriously delayed her progress, but now she was ready again to keep exploring and working on her skills.
Faron was more than happy to help her out. Jareth was relieved to see Faron overseeing her development of her teleportation skills. He had to rescue her several times from the top of the roof and was a bit worried about her trying to learn it on her own.
The first few attempts had been less than perfect, as she ended up in a tree instead the kitchen, and once again, into the fountain. Luckily for her there was no water in it as it was winter time, or she would have turned into an ice sculpture before she would have made it back inside.
Within a few days, however, she seemed to have mastered at least the basics. Now that she had gotten the short distance skills down, Faron started to work with her on long distances.
"Good lord", Jareth had begged Faron, "do not let her teleport into the Bog of Eternal Stench."
Why Jareth was worried about that particular place, Faron didn't know as Jareth didn't tell him. He had his reasons, two of them: Jeremy and Jay, during his last babysitting job.
"Ok, Sarah, concentrate on the location you want to be at and then just let it happen. Once you get it, it truly is easier than giving birth to twins. Trust me", he said with a giggling face.
Sarah huffed in annoyance and closed her eyes. "I can do this. Concentrate on Chayrone's house, just concentrate on her house."
As she vanished so did Faron as he teleported alongside her similar to a driving instructor.
Sarah landed smack dap in the middle of the city pond which also was frozen over. Luckily, her gravity defying powers were a bit more advanced and she only bounced lightly upon impact.
"Ouch", she proclaimed as her behind hit the ice. "Well, you're getting closer. At least we are still in the right city this time", Faron laughed.
Sarah scrambled back onto her feet and teleported herself over to Faron who was standing on non-frozen land.
"Why is this so hard?" She whined rubbing her behind. "I feel like such an idiot. A toddler can do this and I can't seem to get any of it right. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a fae." She sat down in the snow and pouted. Faron smiled and gently put his hand on her shoulder.
"Sarah, my dear girl, remember you have only been a fae for a year and a half. You were already fully grown before you became one. It takes longer at that age, but I'm confident you'll get it. Be patient and keep practicing."
"Ok, I guess we'll go back to the castle then", she sighed, stood up, and dematerialized.
At least the return trip turned out a bit more accurate. She materialized in the castle's stables on top of a horynth, who nearly died of a heart attack when Sarah appeared on its back. She barely got out of the way of its slashing dragon tail.
"Easy there", she said in a low voice. I'm leaving, so be a nice horynth and let me go."
She backed out of its stall and put her head in her hands. "This is so embarrassing", she cried silently in frustration.
"Hey babe, came to see me?" Jareth called out as he happened to be in the stable brushing his favorite goblin pony. Sarah just grunted, stomped her feet and got out of there leaving Jareth standing there with a puzzled look.
In her embarrassment she didn't pay much attention where she was going and walked straight through a tree. As soon as she did, she stopped and turned around.
"Did I just walk through this tree?"
She slowly walked back and touched the tree. It felt solid. She kicked it and nearly broke her toe. "Ouch, crap", she hobbled around in pain.
Faron came walking across the lawn and clapped his hands. "I saw that. That was excellent. Now do it again." It was the again part that never seemed to work right.
"Imagine that tree not being there. Just the way you did the first time. You didn't know it was there and walked right through it."
Sarah took a deep breath, walked up to the tree, and went straight through it.
"Oh my god, did you see that Faron?" She exclaimed excited. Finally some success. Faron nodded with approval and smiled from ear to ear.
"Still think you don't make a good fae?" He winked at her. Sarah smiled and walked through every obstacle there was on her way back to the castle.
Jareth spotted her walking down the gravel path in the garden and jogged up to her to give her a hug, only to have her walk right through him.
"Babe?" He turned around. Sarah turned her head and smirked at him.
"I'm the babe with the power", she proclaimed and kept on going, while Jareth stood there with his mouth gaped open.
During dinner Jareth couldn't help but stare at her with a satisfied look on his face.
"I'm proud of you, precious", he finally said. "I think you have made a lot of progress today." Sarah beamed at him holding up her glass of wine.
"Let's drink to that", she said as she took a sip. Jareth followed suit.
"A toast to the babe with the power", he toasted her again and grinned.
Sarah laughed. "I guess that would be me."
"You've been laying your power on me from the first minute I saw you." Jareth cooed softly. Sarah leaned over the table and kissed him.
"And you put a spell on me the first minute I saw you", she replied.
Sarah was so elated about her progress with her new powers, she could barely sleep. She now had three major powers she knew off for sure: she could teleport, defy gravity, and walk through solid objects.
She didn't consider her hair changing powers major, even though Jareth had tried to tell her most other faes, including him, could only change a few highlights, but not the entire head, nor the length of their hair.
"I told you your special Sarah", he told her again.
"Jareth", Sarah asked him during breakfast, "I know the Labyrinth Kingdom and the Underground are not actually underground like, up there is my world, and down here is yours. So where is it exactly?"
Jareth looked up in surprise and squinted his eyes at her. "Peculiar question to ask", he replied. "Where did that come from?"
Sarah took another bite of her cinnamon roll.
"I've been pondering over things. It's what you do when you sit there while you feed two babies. You have time to think about things."
Jareth laughed. "So the baby feedings turns you into a philosopher?"
"Kind of I guess", she answered back with a laugh.
"Well, you are right. We are not underneath your world even though we call it the Underground. It's basically another dimension that exist right next to yours. Like rooms in a house. The doors resemble the pathways to move from dimension to dimension.
We found pathways to your dimension thousands of years ago during the beginning of the Labyrinth. We can only teleport or use owl form to go through the pathways."
"So I guess taking a train or bus wouldn't work?" Sarah asked with a grin as she took another bite out of her cinnamon roll.
Jareth laughed quietly. "No babe, I'm afraid the bus would not make it."
Sarah sat quietly for a few moments before she asked a follow up question. "Are there other dimensions besides my old world and the Labyrinth?"
"There are endless amounts of dimensions, as many as there are stars in the firmament. With some of them, like your world, we established trade, other we only visit for the joy of it." Jareth put down his coffee cup and walked over to her chair. As he crouched in front of her, he gently looked her in the eyes and touched her hair.
"One day I can show you a few of the other dimensions. I can take you to the realm of the elves. It is a fairly harmless realm as we get along with them quite well. It's not without risk travelling through them, as we have seen in Las Vegas."
Sarah sighed and absently minded stroked Jareth' face. She had flashbacks to that horrible day Jareth nearly died on her and they barely had made it back in time.
"I would love to see other dimensions sometime and go to the realm of the elves", Sarah sighed absently.
"Then that's what we'll do sometime. There's still so much of this kingdom I need to show you. You have only seen a small part of it. But, let's not keep cyphering about other dimensions, babe. What is on your schedule for the day? I thought maybe we could go and have lunch together at the GobliNaut or the Elven Grill, it's a new place down on the square."
Sarah's eyes lit up. "Oooh I like the sound of the Elven Grill. Let's give that a try. I have self-defense lessons with Faron in an hour, followed by half an hour of meditation, a ribbon cutting ceremony for a goblin clinic at eleven, and that's about it. I could meet you there right at noon."
"Perfect", Jareth responded. "I guess I'll see you then." He kissed her tenderly and left to inspect the goblin military base outside of Elvenwood.
Faron made Sarah work hard during her self-defense class. He wanted her to incorporate her newly discovered powers into the workout.
"When you're in battle you must use all weapons at your disposal. You use your body and your mind. Your kicks and your punches come from your body, but your powers come from your mind. Now attack me."
Sarah tried and tried to land a punch and could not connect. Faron was too quick. After ten minutes she stood there bend over huffing and puffing and soaked in sweat.
"You're undefeatable", she declared gasping for air. Faron laughed.
"Nobody is undefeatable. Nobody. Always remember that. There is always a way to defeat; you must find it."
"Give me another four thousand years and I shall", Sarah promised with a smile.
The next hour Faron concentrated on teaching her how to dematerialize and rematerialize quickly and use anti-gravity to gain an advantage. Sarah began to get the hang of it, and by the end of the class she even had outwitted Faron on his last punch and vanished before he could connect and reappear behind him to give him a kick. He smiled proudly and nodded his head.
Sarah took a quick shower before her mediation, and then headed over to the ribbon cutting ceremony. She was surprised at the crowd that had been assembled. Usually ribbon cutting ceremonies did not attract any attentions at all, but the goblins had really embraced their new queen and wanted to catch a glimpse of her. Kelan was there as well and gave her a tender embrace and a kiss on her cheek.
Sarah even wore her small but beautifully studded tiara crown and looked especially lovely. The ceremony went off without a hitch to the cheer of the crowd. Especially for her last comment:
"Let no goblin ever again go untreated for their ills and injuries, regardless of income and status in the kingdom."
Sarah had started a goblin equal treatment and rights movement.
Sarah barely had time to make it to the Elven Grill to meet Jareth. He once again had reserved a small private area just for them and he gave her a tender kiss when she arrived.
"You look gorgeous, babe", he whispered and guided her to her seat. Sarah beamed from ear to ear. She felt pretty in her dress and crown and was happy to have a nice private lunch with Jareth. It seemed they had very few moments like this since the babies were born, and they treasured every moment they could spent alone together.
"Things went great today. We had a large crowd, and Kelan was there too," she exclaimed with excitement. Jareth smiled contently.
"How are things on the military front?" she asked with a hint of worry.
"Not bad", Jareth replied and he seemed relieved and relaxed. "A lot better than we had anticipated. No sign of the goblorks for over a year now. Let's hope it stays that way. I'm not letting off on our defenses though."
Sarah agreed that this was a wise decision.
She really enjoyed the food at Elven Grill. She had a dish similar to a beef burger with fried potato like vegetables. It was quite delicious, and it reminded her of the Surface World. She envisioned a few fond memories of having lunches with her dad, or Marjorie, at the mall. Jareth seemed to know, as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.
"We'll make a visit soon", he whispered with a wink.
"Are you going to teleport back to the castle or are you taking the horynth coach?" Jareth asked before they parted, as he had to return to the military base.
"I think I'll give this long distance teleportation another try", she said with a look of determination.
"Let me know if you have troubles and I come get you", Jareth replied with a kiss.
"I'll be fine, don't worry", she promised, waved him good bye, and disappeared under his skeptical look.
"Back in that damn fountain again", she sighed as she rematerialized. "Winters do have their advantage though, no water."
Krum and Hoggle stared at her when she appeared in front of them as they were shoveling snow from the path to the castle.
"Again?" Hoggle asked with a concerned grimace.
"Again", Sarah replied with disgust and sat in the empty fountain with her knees pulled up and head in her hands. Krum couldn't help but giggle, but stopped when Hoggle threw him a scolding look.
They helped her get out of the fountain and Krum even wiped down her dress to make up for his giggling. Sarah gave him a gentle smile and patted him lightly on his head.
"Thank you", she told him before she headed down the path towards the castle. Krum was beaming with a slight blush and red ears.
After dinner that evening, and the boys had been put to bed, Jareth and Sarah settled in for a relaxing night. Jareth wanted to play some music with her, as she had gotten really good on her ukulele and often played along to his piano or guitar playing. He waved her over to him to come join in.
"Come on, babe, let's play some beautiful music together for a little while." Sarah put down her book she had been reading, picked up her ukulele, and walked over to him.
She sat down next to Jareth and played along with her ukulele to his songs on the piano, when all the sudden the world seemed to stop. A bright light surrounded her and Jareth and enveloped them both. They instantly quit their playing.
"What did you do?" Jareth asked with astound.
"I don't quite know I did anything", Sarah replied back with the same astonishment.
Both stood up and slowly looked around. Jareth took hold of Sarah's hand and told her to stay close. Everything had stopped moving. The clock on the wall, the flames in the fireplace, Hoggle at the desk, and Krum cleaning the table. They all looked like they were frozen in time. Even Mara who had been chewing on a bone was completely still.
"You stopped time", Jareth whispered low and with a hint of excitement.
"What? How?" Sarah looked perplexed.
Jareth began to smile as he looked at her.
"I am the only one in the Underground who can speed up and alter time, and now, you are the one who can stop it. It's a very special power and our time altering powers complement each other."
Jareth put his arm around her and kissed her tenderly. "I told you, you were special". He embraced her tightly as the light disappeared and everything started to move again. Time had been unfrozen.
Mara looked up with a questioning look. She hadn't noticed them getting up and hugging, and she knew something must have happened as she came walking over to explore.
"How long was it?" Sarah asked Jareth.
"Three minutes", he replied with a happy glow on his face.
Mara tilted her head. "Three minutes of what?"
"Freezing time, girl, freezing time", Sarah answered back.
Mara squinted her eyes. "Remember, I cannot be with you during those three minutes and protect you, unless I am in your bubble, like Jareth was. It requires close contact."
Hoggle and Krum had not noticed anything, and they continued their activities as if nothing had happened. Jareth and Sarah smiled at each other.
"Perfect", whispered Jareth with joy, "a power, fitting for a queen."
"Now, how do I repeat this? That is going to be the hard part", she sighed.
"You'll manage. Once a power manifests in you, it won't leave you ever again. You will learn to control it."
"I hope I'll control it better than teleporting. I would hate to stop time forever unable to get out of my bubble." She looked at Jareth with despair on her face. "I did land in the fountain again today", she mumbled disgruntled. Jareth couldn't help but to laugh out loud while he hugged her tight.
"Jareth, do you think I reached the end of my powers?" Sarah inquired as they were getting ready to go to bed.
"Time will tell. Usually once powers start to manifest they come on rather quickly in a short time, and then you'll have to practice each of them like any other skill to perfect them."
"More practice", Sarah sighed and slipped under the covers. Jareth laughed as he followed suit.
"There's something else I would love to practice with you", he said with a mischievous smirk on his face while he played with her hair and his fingers moved across her breasts.
"Oh?" Sarah acted innocently. "And what would that be?"
"I'll have to show you", Jareth answered as he rolled over to her side and started kissing and caressing her.
"Yeah, show me. I need a lot of practice," Sarah sighed blissfully and wrapped her arms around him as her hands began to move down his back.
I will be posting new chapters at regular intervals. This story is complete with 29 chapters, so don't worry, I won't let you hang. Please leave me some feedback. And thank you for reading.
