The fourth (and last!) chapter. Aka, the aftermath.
"You broke your arm?"
Sarah winced at the falsetto hit by Karen's voice. "They're pretty sure I only sprained it. I tripped down the stairs this morning." Sarah suspected that Karen had put them on speakerphone, because she could hear Merlin the second lapping his bowl loudly.
"How long do you get to wear a sling?" Toby sounded just a bit too enthusiastic for Sarah's taste, but she humored him.
"Four weeks, maybe longer. I won't be able to get an x-ray until I go down into the city tomorrow." Sarah laughed, remembering the doctor's face when they'd come into the clinic on Christmas morning. "In the meantime they bound it up and gave me a sling and a dose of pills for the pain."
Those she was exceedingly grateful for. The pain hadn't really hit until she'd been changing out of the kirtle after walking the three miles to the village. Wrangling the arm out of that sleeve made her want to scream until her voice gave out as she pulled the arm out of her sleeve. Which had been unfortunate since she'd been trying to stay quiet so she didn't wake a sleeping Heidi. She'd never know where she found the strength to stay silent.
But she'd managed, and was feeling delightfully pain free now.
"How are you going to continue your work?" Robert's voice was tinged with concern.
"I'm going to be stuck with any and all paperwork." Sarah replied. "It's my off arm that's broken."
"Bummer." Toby.
"Yeah, bummer." Actually, Sarah was pretty sure she never wanted to see another tomb again. Which made her slightly worried, as that could likely put her newfound career in jeopardy if she didn't get over it soon.
"What'd you get for Christmas, buddy?"
While Toby babbled on about this and that, Sarah sat back and sipped a glass of water. The lady running the bed and breakfast had offered wine, but Sarah had respectfully declined. She had a feeling she would drink the whole thing if she started, and she really didn't want to be hungover and sleep deprived on her journey to the doctor's the next day.
"What did you get for Christmas, Sarah?" Toby asked suddenly.
I will give you everything!
Sarah gripped the rim of the cup. "Sam got everyone a mug that says 'World's Best Archaeologist', Heidi gave me a book on folklore I've been wanting, but I haven't gotten your present yet, sorry buddy. Postal system's probably crammed because of Christmas." She was genuinely curious what the twelve year old boy had gotten for her. "You gonna tell me what's in it yet?"
"Nope."
Karen's voice clipped in. "I put in a batch of cookies, and Robert's wiring you some money for his present. Merry Christmas."
"Really? Wow. Thanks, Dad." Sarah took a long drink. "How's your case going?"
They continued chatting pleasantly for another hour or so until Karen mentioned her parents were coming over soon, Sarah said her goodbyes and hung up.
She slumped, running her good hand through her hair. "Get a grip Sarah Williams." She muttered.
That night she dreamed of flying. She was a barn owl, with a heavily spotted chest and a red hue to the brown in her wings. Beside her flew a lighter brown companion.
They were racing north, both urging to get ahead of each other. The sky sparkled above them, a full moon shining their way. Below them was the sea, glimmering in moonlight. For a moment, Sarah swore she would beat him, until he shot ahead and she knew he'd only been playing with her.
She screeched in frustration and he hooted gleefully. Then he slowed so she could catch up. He had won, they had arrived.
Light burst from the sky, colorful bursts of green and red against a black sky. Sarah and her companian flew along the auroras, riding the waves of light like they would wind.
Then suddenly she was human, wearing an elaborate brocaded gown of silk. Half a dozen rings and bracelets graced her fingers and wrists. Around her neck a silver pendant hunt, a smaller and more feminine version of Jareth's. She fingered it fondly as she watched the lights sway and dance around her.
A gloved hand settled on her shoulder, and Sarah leaned against her husband and sighed in contentment. He kissed her head.
"They never lose their wonder." She whispered, reaching out to stroke one green strand going past. "No matter how many times I see them."
He didn't speak, he too was mesmerized by the northern lights. Sarah turned in his arms to look at him, his eighteenth century suitcoat was midnight blue tonight, and embroidered heavily with gold.
The lights played off his face, highlighting its edges, making them appear even handsomer than usual. They stained the blonde fluff of his hair, reminding her of when they'd been colored blue when she'd first danced with him, all those years ago.
He caught her looking at him and a corner of his mouth quirked up. "See something you fancy?" He asked, his hand tightening at her waist.
Sarah laughed and circled her arms around his neck to press her cheek to his. "Just thinking of other things that never end." She whispered in his ear.
He turned his head and kissed her-
As it turned out, her arm wasn't too bad. The x-rays showed there was no actual break, though it had been a close one. She wore a splint for three weeks, with another week of light lifting.
She spent the time being the team secretary. Every morning she would wake to say goodbye to the rest of the team, then turn the kitchen table into her own personal office. She answered phone calls, scheduled interviews and did paperwork, so much paperwork.
Her days were filled with coffee and the cookies Karen had sent. She went shopping and bought a nice dress with some of the money her dad sent. She studied the book Heidi had gotten her and took notes.
And every night she dreamed.
She was riding with Jareth, sometimes on her own horse, sometimes in front of him. Sometimes they danced that wild chant driven dance, other times they waltzed around a ballroom. Once, she sat in a hot bath with him, curling up to his bare chest and feeling wonderfully content.
The dreams varied, but they always had him, and she always loved him so much it ached.
After experiments with an iron horse shoe, rowan branches, and salt, Sarah determined the dreams were from her own subconscious. Which was her way of admitting to herself that some part of her had been flattered by Jareth's attention. Which was also her way of admitting to herself maybe she hadn't changed as much as she though had since she was fifteen. But then, who didn't want to be given everything they wanted, while being adored and cherished?
If only he didn't have that kidnapping problem.
By the time her splint was taken off, they'd nearly finished their work on the tomb. Some of it was being shipped of for studying to various places around the world, but the majority of it was put in a small museum being built in the town. It was going to be opened for tourism, which there promised to be a fair amount of. National Geographic had done an article about their discovery. Karen was so ecstatic she had called Sarah in the middle of the night, forgetting about the time difference.
Sarah eventually moved back to her apartment in America in September, much to the joy of Toby. She took him out for ice cream on Saturdays. Hot cocoa when it hit December.
It was around this time when Sarah realized she no longer felt the cold.
During the last months of winter in Ireland, she had dismissed the notion as an oddity. Then one night she accidently left her window open overnight, sending her apartment into the forties. She hadn't noticed until the breeze started making her book pages turn. When she realized she could walk in negative ten degree weather in nothing but a swimsuit, (Tested at night in the woods outside her town, of course, with her clothes in the car.) she decided that there had been more consequences from that night than she realized.
On Christmas eve she drove up to her parents house, leaden with presents and candy. As promised, one of the presents was an arrowhead for Toby.
The evening was spent pleasantly in pjs with a cup of mulled wine, making sure Toby didn't get a taste of said mulled wine, and playing a relaxed game of monopoly.
Karen and Robert turned in around eleven, but Toby wanted to keep playing. Sarah obliged him, despite the fact his eyes drooped and he slumped back against the couch whenever it wasn't his turn.
Eventually he stopped responding when she told him it was his turn. She curled up around a decorative couch pillow and drained the last of her mug while looking at the Christmas tree.
The next thing she knew, she was jolted awake. It was midnight. Logically there was no reason why she should know it was midnight, but she was sure all the same. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and the remains of a dream where she and Jareth were picnicking in a garden, the castle from the maze stretched up behind him.
Dang, she had a problem.
Absentmindedly she wandered over to the window. It was snowing pretty hard outside, she could barely see the houses across the street. Said street was about two feet deep in snow.
Sarah pressed her face against the window, blowing hard on it to make it steam up. She then traced patterns in it, as well as a half hearted attempt at writing Merry Christmas backwards.
Her eyes caught something moving in the snow. A hooded figure shuffled down the street, their cloak blended in and out of the swirling wind.
Sarah turned and ran up the stairs into her old room turned guest bedroom. She threw her suitcase on her bed and tossed aside clothes until she found the empty spindle. Back down the stairs, nearly tripping over her own feet. She fumbled with the bolt at the door and threw it open.
"Frau Holle!" Sarah gasped, stumbling down the porch steps and struggled through the snowy yard. "Frau Holle, wait!"
The figure paused, then turned. When it saw Sarah, the hands reached up to pull down her hood. She waited patiently for Sarah to struggle through the snow until she reached her.
Sarah stopped when she was a few feet from the old woman, gasping for breath, she held out the spindle. "I wanted to return this." She told her between gasps. "Thank you, so much, for letting me use it."
Frau Holle's eyes twinkled, her mouth twitched into a smile. "I should be thanking you, child. I've been wanting to catch that insolent boy since he took over that kingdom." She pushed the spindle back. "But the gift is yours."
"Insolent boy-oh. Jareth."
Frau Holle laughed. "Yes. Jareth. He deserved it too, stealing babies, trying to steal you. Needed to be taught not to break the Rules so."
Sarah blinked. "Rules. What are the rules?"
Frau Holle waved a hand idly. "The Rules. Can't enter a home without permission. Sunlight offers protection. They were set an age ago. I was there, just a little slip of a girl, but I swore to uphold them. They were put in place to protect mortals from us."
"The Fae?"
Frau Holle gave a single bark of laughter, shaking her head at Sarah's ignorance. "I'm no Fae. Just winter, and a lover of spinning, and babies who die before they taste life. I do like babies. But that-" Here she gestured to Sarah's hand, which still clutched the spindle. "is entirely yours. I suggest you learn to use it."
Sarah nodded, bringing it back to her chest. As she did so, the blow of a horn vibrated through the air.
Holle raised her head, wisps of her white hair blowing against her forehead. "Here they go again." She turned to Sarah. "Best get inside. This is no time for mortals to be outside."
Sarah stepped back. "I have one more question."
"Speak."
"Why don't I feel the cold?"
The woman grinned. "That, my dear, is entirely for you to decide."
Then she vanished into a shower of snow.
Toby was pretty sure the dream came from drinking way too much egg nog. Stupid to drink so much of it on Christmas eve.
Granted, it was his first Christmas after he turned twenty one, and Mom and Dad were such sticklers about alcohol and drinking he'd never gotten a taste of it before. And it was good stuff.
It was less good when he woke up in the middle of the night with a splitting headache and a desperate need to go the bathroom.
Having accomplished that, and taken two Tylenols to boot, he shuffled back down the hallway towards his old room.
The sound of the front door closing stopped him. Who was going out at this time of night?
His training as a police officer kicked in, and he carefully made his way down the stairs. During his time as a trainee, he'd heard all kinds of horror stories about people getting robbed on Christmas night.
Nothing seemed to be out of place, nothing missing, the pristine living room was as perfect as always. Just in case, he walked over to the front door and pushed aside the curtain that covered the window.
To his surprise, Sarah was standing on the porch, wearing some sort of funky long dress with a purple cape around her shoulders. Looked like something straight out of the medieval festival Toby's girlfriend Janet liked to go to.
Shining in the light of the street lamp, she looked out into the cold night expectantly. She tugged open a little bag tied around her waist and pulled out a wooden stick with a disk at the end. The stick had a ton of glowing white thread wrapped around it.
She lifted her arm and Toby blinked, since there must have been something wrong with his eyes, cause the snow swirled around the back of her hand. She lifted the wooden thing to it and she began pulling a string out of the snow.
Which was super weird. Weirder that it was happening to Sarah. She'd always been grounded, even if she was one of the world's most famous folklore historians now. She was just so practical. Just yesterday she'd been telling Toby about her favorite second hand shops.
And there she was, looking like a medieval princess or something, and making string from snow!
But it got weirder.
A big black horse fell from the sky, landing in the yard. There was a man with spiky yellow hair and a black cape on it who swung off and walked up to the porch. Toby tensed, ready to defend his sister if need be, but the dude stopped right at the edge of the house. He raised his hand up to Sarah, as if to help her down the steps.
"Come."
Sarah gave him a look.
"Please."
She smiled. "Just a minute, I'm almost done." Sarah pulled up the string and wrapped it around the stick. She then tied off the end. She looked at it, weighing it in her hand.
Suddenly she pretended to throw it at the man. He stumbled back, his arms spinning wildly, a terrified look crossing his face.
Sarah laughed and stepped off the porch. She took him by the arm and kissed his cheek, murmuring something Toby only caught a few snatches of. "Don't worry... you've learned... to me"
The man relaxed, and put his arm around her. Then he kissed Sarah. Not just a quick one either. Toby admitted grudgingly that it was more intense stuff than he and Janet had ever tried.
But that was weird too. Toby had never seen anyone kiss his sister before. She just didn't date, or have boyfriends. Her job made her travel too much and kept her way too busy. Mom was always saying how wonderful it was that Sarah was so dedicated to her career, but Dad worried she would never find anyone to spend her life with.
He wouldn't have been worried if he'd seen Sarah now, she was kissing him back just as hard, Toby never have guessed she had it in her. Until the dude touched her cheek, then she suddenly pulled away and batted him on the shoulder. "That won't work anymore, Goblin King." She declared, loudly enough that Toby could hear. "Stop wasting your energy." But she smiled.
The man sighed, a gentle smile playing at his lips. "Ní féidir leat an milleán a chur orm as iarracht a dhéanamh."
Toby thought it sounded like gibberish, but Sarah rolled her eyes to the heavens and replied. "Níl, ní thiocfaidh mé leat. Fós." She reached down and placed the wooden thing with string back in the bag and closed it. "Beidh tamall ann fós sula gcríochnóidh mé mo phrintíseacht." She walked over to where the horse stood and swung up on it with ease. She kicked it and it leapt up into the air.
The man laughed and turned into some kind of whitish bird and flew after her.
Toby watched the two of them fly up into the sky, then turned around and stumbled onto the couch. While he tried to comprehend what he had just seen, he dozed off again.
But it must have been a dream, since Sarah woke up Toby the next morning, asking him what he was doing down in the living room.
Toby made up some lie about getting a glass of water, not wanting to sound like an idiot for thinking someone had broken into the house.
Still, he could have sworn the footprints in the snow outside the house were a horses.
Nah, he just needed to lay off the egg nog.
Fin
Fun Facts: Jareth did not, in fact, tell Herodia to take the spindle. She recognized it for what it was and decided to get rid of it. She really did want Sarah to join in on the Hunt.
This whole thing was inspired by the Youtuber Overly Sarcastic's Production's video on The Wild Hunt. Go watch it and all of their videos. They're great.
Translations of Jareth's and Sarah's conversation:
Jareth: You can't blame me for trying
Sarah: No, I won't go with you, not yet. It'll still be a while before I finish my apprenticeship.
For everyone confused by the references, read the below.
Frau Holle: She's a folklore figure who is a winter goddess. She's known for her spinning and weaving, and for taking in the souls of babies who die as infants. She largely thought to have existed before Odin, who's been around forever.
Frau Gauden: (She's actually believed to be an offshoot of Frau Holle!) She was a noblewoman with twenty four daughters who decided she would rather hunt forever than go to heaven. God decided to oblige and turned her twenty four daughters into dogs. This is why she didn't look so freaky to Sarah, she was originally human, like her.
Lussi: Lussi is somewhat connected to Saint Lucy, but instead of being a saint, she's generally thought of as a witch or demon. She steals bad children.
Herodia: She's actually a real person, but kinda got incorporated into lore. She's said to be condemned to walk the earth because she had her daughter dance for the head of John the Baptist. She's said to be a leader of witches. Woo.
Arthur: I don't think I need to explain King Arthur
Odin: I don't think I need to explain Odin either.
Thank you so much for reading this story! I had a blast writing it.
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