The first order of business that morning, before heading back Above, was to spend a little more time with her allies. Sarah hadn't seen as much of them all as she'd wanted during the chaos of her coronation, and she needed to make sure that the three still knew she was their friend first, their queen second.
For this excursion, Sarah headed into a part of Umardelin she'd never seen in all her visits. The goblin city surrounded the castle, and she'd always come in or out via the main road that lead down past the junk heap and the bog, into the forest and then the hedge and stone mazes.
As it turned out, there was another part of the city, hidden behind the castle from the point of view of a runner standing at the entrance. The junk heap wrapped around on one side, the forest on the other. The land sloped downward gradually, leading to huge open fields and meadows on the borders of the forest.
On the one hand, it made sense. When inside the Labyrinth, Sarah had never been able to figure out where all the parts of it were in relation to the others, partly because it kept changing on her. And from outside it, this area was hidden. Still, she stood at the top of the hill and frowned. "How did I never know this was here?"
"Runners can't get in," Hoggle told her, stumping along at her side. "If'n they gets around toward this side, the Labyrinth moves itself so they always come on by the city. You can't even climb the walls to get here. The only way in is from the castle."
"Quite right, your lordship!" Sir Didymus piped up, and Hoggle rolled his eyes at the use of his new title. "And wisely so, my lady queen. Imagine the chaos if runners could get into the very fields that feed the realm."
Sarah nodded slowly. She could feel this place as part of her senses being attuned to the kingdom, and knew what it was for. Someone had to grow the grain and crops, and pasture the animals, that graced the castle's tables and fed the city. And the Labyrinth had always been tricky about dimensions. The fields before her looked much too big to fit inside the walls she'd first seen as a bratty fifteen-year-old, but then, nothing was ever quite what it seemed here. "Umardelin protects herself," she murmured.
"Kingdom good," Ludo put in. "Kingdom strong. People safe."
"Yeah, from everything outside," Hoggle muttered. "There's still a giant snake around somewhere. And worst of all, the goblins. You ain't never seen 'em drunk."
"We are more than a match for any foe," Sir Didymus proclaimed. Ambrosius only hung his head.
Sarah, Ludo, and Hoggle walked, while Sir Didymus rode Ambrosius, down through the fields. People of all sorts were out working in them: some humans, a lot of dwarves similar to Hoggle, and some of the larger goblins as well. Sarah saw other kinds of fae for which she had no names yet, but didn't want to interrupt them to ask. It was bad enough that everyone who saw them stopped to bow and doff their caps. Sarah waved, and hurried, and felt a little like an actress who'd forgotten her lines. There were well-trodden footpaths and little streams, a few outbuildings and even a mill crossing a larger waterway. Eventually they came to a quiet meadow, and Sarah decided to have their picnic there.
Hoggle was hot and tired enough to simply flop down with a groan, while Sir Didymus and Ludo spread out the picnic blanket. They'd forgone servants – in a magical kingdom, the monarch was generally quite safe to go among the public, so there were no guards either. Just the four of them, five counting Ambrosius. Ludo had easily carried the picnic basket, and they settled in to eat.
"Reminds me of the old days," Sarah sighed.
"Ah yes, many an adventure was had amongst us," Sir Didymus replied.
"Friends fun," Ludo added.
"Yeah, there was the time you all got stuck in a carnivorous tree," Hoggle replied, grimacing. "Oh, and the time you got attacked by a swarm of flower fairies. Or the time you fell into the canyon of vines and got tangled up. Yeah, great fun."
"Ah, but we surmounted those challenges!" Sir Didymus insisted. "With your valiant guidance, I might add. Who else amongst us would know the tree was ticklish?"
Hoggle scoffed. "You three pulled me inta more trouble an' more danger than I've ever been in my whole life. Not to mention, half the time Jareth was out to get us, too!"
Sarah smiled. "Out to get me, more like. You guys live here, I was the intruder. And he was none too happy about Umardelin letting me come visit after my run."
Sir Didymus polished off his sandwich, and said, "Our differences with His Majesty are behind us. Surely you appreciate our adventures? You certainly proved uncommonly brave, Sir Hoggle."
The dwarf just rolled his eyes. "Somebody had to save the lot of you. Somebody with sense. You three'd just get in worse trouble. I learned that with Sarah on her first run. 'Piece of cake', remember?"
She grinned at that. "Well, you were right about one thing. I certainly did get his attention."
Hoggle leveled a steely look at her. "I know I was. Which reminds me. You bring us out here for a reason? Maybe so's you can explain that ring on your finger?"
She should've known Hoggle would notice any new jewelry, and Sarah had intended to tell her friends about the engagement. If only it would be so easy to explain. Well, one could never just tell Hoggle anything, anyway. Especially when one knew all-too-well that disapproval would follow. One dark brow arching, Sarah gave a little laugh. "What makes you think it isn't a piece of regalia Jareth added after? I was crowned Queen, remember?"
Hoggle rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, and all yer royal regalia was handed over at the coronation. That's why it's regalia, 'cause you get invested with it and stuff right then. That's a betrothal ring, ain't it?"
Sir Didymus sat up, peering at the ring. "My word! My lady queen, are you betrothed to the King? I never … er, I mean, congratulations."
Ludo cocked his head at her. "Sarah get married," he said, and it was a statement of fact, not surprise or consternation.
"Not yet," Sarah said, suddenly breathless with trepidation, her brow furrowing in worry. "Yes, we're engaged. But the wedding is a long way off, like as long as we can make it."
"You know what you're doing?" Hoggle demanded.
"Yes," Sarah began, but he cut her off.
"You know once you marry 'im, you can't go back Above," he said flatly. "Not for long, anyway. Umardelin's playin' nice lettin' you go back even now, bein' Queen. But once you marry a fae, you're stuck with him for the rest of your life. Speakin' of life, you know you're gonna live like halfway to forever, right?"
"I know," Sarah said softly, the thought casting a chilly pall over the day. "And I know it means he's not going to live forever, which is giving up a lot."
Sir Didymus broke in again. "For the honor of marrying you, my lady, he ought to be grateful he had to sacrifice so little."
She looked around at all of them, her eyes troubled. Here, with her friends and allies, Sarah could finally speak aloud the nagging fear at the bottom of her heart, the one she hadn't quite dared voice to her king and his family. "This is a big deal, guys. He's giving up immortality for me. What if it turns out not to be worth it? Jareth had forever, literally the rest of time, and he gave it up for me. What if he regrets it? What if something comes along and kills us both tomorrow? What if it costs him his magic, too, since that comes from being fae and he's taken part of my mortality in this?"
They stared back at her, Hoggle doubtful, Sir Didymus worried, and Ludo steady as ever. At last it was the night troll who reached out, and put one massive paw on Sarah's shoulder. "Jareth love Sarah, Sarah love Jareth," he said in that low, rumbling voice, and the proclamation sounded as real and eternal as the stones his voice was meant to call. "Love makes worth it. No matter what comes. Love makes forever."
That was the longest speech any of them had ever heard from Ludo, and Sarah fell against his shoulder with a sigh. The huge night-troll wrapped his furry arm around her and hugged her gently.
Sir Didymus patted Sarah's knee. "Sir Ludo is quite right. If you love him, and he loves you, this is the way it must be done. And whether you live a thousand years or a handful of days, you will love one another for the rest of your lives. That is all one can ask of love, that it last as long as breath does."
Sarah felt tears welling up, and took the fox-knight's hand, smiling tremulously at him. Of course, Hoggle chose that moment to grumble, "Buncha soppy garbage."
Ludo groaned, Sir Didymus called his name chidingly, and Sarah only laughed, dashing the tears from her eyes. "You cynic," she teased.
He wrinkled his considerable nose at her. "Love, schmove. You got your crown, you ain't gotta marry him, except I guess you want the kids to be all legal an' proper an' stuff."
Sarah blinked at him. "Did you just bring up babies, Hoggle? He hasn't even brought that up yet!"
The dwarf scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well duh. There's gotta be a royal succession, ain't there? An' fae don't have kids easy, so's you better get to trying soon. Might be easier, you bein' human. Either way, I'm sure he won't mind the tryin', fancy ponce like him."
Sarah was nearly howling with laughter by then, his frank practicality utterly unexpected, but Sir Didymus drew himself up and took some offense. "Such discussions are unseemly," he said in a prim voice. "We three are hardly qualified to dispense advice in matters marital, Sir Hoggle!"
The dwarf snorted at that. "Yeah, you ain't, but Ludo's married with a kid. An' I may not know much about the marryin' part, mind you, never wanted a woman cluttering up the place, but…"
Sir Didymus cut him off sharply. "I meant as men, Sir Hoggle. If our queen should find herself in need of an adviser on such matters, it would be best to consult a woman of similar standing. Not three men of our ilk. Surely she has no wish to hear your opinions on the ladies of the Four Flowers Tavern?" His mustaches quivered threateningly, and Ambrosius whined and hid behind Ludo.
Sarah knew enough history to know that tavern wenches often had another source of income, particularly a tavern with such a feminine name, and given Hoggle's glare to the fox-knight she knew she'd guessed right. I guess we all grew up, sure enough, not just me, she thought. "All right, enough," she chortled. "To each their own. It's none of my business, it's none of any of our business what the others are doing on their own time. And yeah, if I need marriage advice I'll look elsewhere, but for everything else I need you three."
That broke up the hint of an argument, as they all looked at her, Ludo's great dark eyes peering down from over her shoulder. Sarah sighed, and smiled. "I do need you three, you know. All the time, for all kinds of reasons. I'd probably be a lot better off if I'd never shut you out, way back when."
"You did as you must," Sir Didymus said gently. "No runner before you ever returned to the Labyrinth, and few ever remembered their time here. Mortals are not meant to sport amongst the fae realms. We were fortunate to have you join us on our adventures as often as you did."
"And I'm never leaving again, not while I'm alive to fight my way back," Sarah responded immediately. "Umardelin wouldn't let me go, and I wouldn't let anything come between me and my friends, ever again."
"Good," Ludo rumbled.
Sarah chuckled and reached up to scratch under Ludo's chin. "Speaking of advice, though," she said thoughtfully. "Hoggle, you know an awful lot about the Labyrinth, and Umardelin, and the fae. And I trust you to be honest, even if it's something I don't want to hear. I know you don't want to be an official court adviser, but I need your advice, especially. Do you think I can talk you into being my unofficial adviser?"
He eyed her warily. "I ain't gonna wear a bird on my head, no matter what. An' no titles or any of that fancy crap. I just work here."
She grinned, thinking of the Wiseman's snarky feathered companion. "No, no, there's only one Gandelering, thank goodness. I don't think we could handle another. And it would be just between us, no forced rank, nothing to put you in the cross-hairs; I didn't get you out of Jareth's grasp to just do it all over again. I just need someone I trust completely to let me see the other side of some situations," she reassured him, hiding her smile. "As to the 'fancy crap', I was thinking more like a necklace to show your rank or something. Something small, not too much that it would cause too much gossip, but with a few shiny baubles. But if you'd rather I not…"
"I ain't never turned down jewels," Hoggle said stubbornly. "It'd better be a nice one. Think of everything I already told ya for free!"
Again, Sarah burst into amused laughter. It would be far too easy to see Hoggle, with a trove of treasure equal to Smaug's, happily doing a backstroke through a pool full of gems. It still worked just about every time. It was a very good thing that she'd been thinking about this for some weeks.
They passed the rest of the morning in lighter topics, and Sarah felt much better about her future as queen.
…
Sarah had one last task before she took Toby and Jareth back Above, to go to dinner with her parents. All the coronation guests were gone, save the delegation from Etaron, and they were packing up as well. Sarah looked wistfully at the train of horses and riders getting themselves organized in the castle courtyard, knowing she would miss Jareth's parents. She hadn't expected to make such fast friends of both of them, nor that her future in-laws would take her so quickly.
It was Thiel who noticed her watching, and put an arm around her, hugging her to his side. "So long as you keep the smell down to a less noisome level, Sarah, we will be back."
She laughed a little, and impulsively hugged him. "So long as you keep the racism down to a less obnoxious level, you'll be welcome."
He scowled fiercely at her, arched brows and un-fae-like beard bristling, then both of them broke into laughter. "Take care, you minx, and don't let my son drive you mad," he said finally.
"I miss you already," Sarah admitted.
Thiel nodded wisely. "I often have that effect on women." She elbowed him for that, and Toby hovering nearby shot them a puzzled look.
Jareth and his mother had been off somewhere saying their own goodbyes, and now they walked up with her hand in the crook of his arm. Della kissed her son's cheek, and went to Sarah, embracing her too. "Be well, my daughter," she said, hugging her tight, and then drew back to kiss her on both cheeks.
"I miss you too," Sarah told her, grinning.
"And we will miss you, darling," she replied. It was an echo of Jareth's own wicked humor that sparked in her eyes when Della added, "Fear not, we will be back. I still owe your dryad a favor, little though she wants to admit it. And I did not buy quite everything I wanted in New York."
Thiel rolled his eyes. "Yea gods, woman, leave something in the stores!"
She only smirked over her shoulder at him. "You haven't seen everything I picked out at Victoria's Secret, love, so I wouldn't complain." Toby, who had been watching this exchange, suddenly found an extremely interesting bit of stone to stare at as he blushed all the way to his ears.
Sarah just shook her head. "You two, I swear. I'm gonna miss you both, so much. We joke Aboveground about people hating their in-laws, but I think I got damn lucky with you two."
"Oh, you did," Della said breezily. "And if you pine for us so, love, come to us in Etaron. Jareth has not been home since the curse was laid on him, since one of its conditions was that he could not leave set foot in any other fae kingdom. And I would love to show you my lands. We have no Labyrinth, of course, but Etaron is grand and lovely for herself."
"Your lands?" Thiel said, eyeing her.
"Yes, mine," Della replied, smirking. "Am I not Etaron's queen? They are your lands by blood, darling, and mine by marriage, as I'm sure you remember."
"And you are my wife by that same marriage, which is the gods' own joke on me," Thiel shot back, but he was smiling.
Sarah rolled her eyes at the pair of them, looking at Jareth. Oh yes, it was very obvious where his arrogance and his whimsy came from. He could only smile at her, mostly immune to the endless teasing between his parents.
And then Della added, glancing aside, "That invitation goes for you as well, Toby. I would not think to invite your sister without you."
"Subtle, Mother," Jareth muttered.
Sarah, meanwhile, shook her head. "No, that's too much," she protested. She couldn't imagine bringing Toby with her on a state visit to Etaron, and watching him trip over his feet every time Della smiled. He'd been remarkably mature in the past couple of days, but she didn't want to push it.
Toby, of course, disagreed. "Hey, I let my sister get stolen away by fairies once, and now I have to deal with him forever," he argued, nodding at Jareth. "I'm not chancing anything else shady happening."
"Uh-huh," Sarah said doubtfully, looking at him with one eyebrow quirked up. This had more to do with Della than her, she was sure.
"Oh, bring the boy," Thiel said, clapping Toby on the shoulder fondly and nearly knocking him over. "He'll come to no harm in Etaron, and you won't have to wonder if he's turning into a goblin. There's nothing better for a boy his age than riding and hunting in forests like ours. Besides, he has the look of a natural swordsman."
Jareth scowled. "We're discussing my first visit home in a century and a half, and you're trying to adopt my brother-in-law right in front of me. Thanks, Dad." The last was delivered with heavy sarcasm, and a good approximation of Toby's own vernacular.
Sarah shot him a look, while Toby looked from one man to the other, startled. It was Della who said, "Jareth, you know full well Etaron is bound to one bloodline. No adopted child could ever take the throne – which since you have chosen Umardelin, means your father and I need to set about producing another heir, or see the throne go to a more distant line."
Thiel looked at his son intently. "In any case, I have only one firstborn son, the best and strongest and most stubborn of both our natures, and that is you, Jareth. You are my blood, my son, and more loved than you know. Do not forget it, for I surely have not."
Jareth bowed his head to that, and stepped forward as Thiel drew him into a hug. "Thank you, Father," he murmured.
Della smiled at them, then cleared her throat. "Gentlemen, I have no wish to leave, but Thiel, you do remember the last time we left your cousin in charge too long?"
"Oh gods, let's not repaint the bloody castle again," Thiel said, stepping back with one more firm clasp of Jareth's shoulder. "His wretched wife will choose pink this time."
Jareth barked laughter. "Even I remember hearing about that. Wasn't it yellow, last time?"
"With blue shutters," Thiel replied, and grimaced. "Come then. Until we see you next, Jareth, Sarah."
Last goodbyes, and a few more hugs, and even Toby shook hands with them both, then Etaron was riding out through a path the Labyrinth opened for them. Jareth watched them go, and sighed.
Surprisingly, it was Toby who spoke before Sarah could. "So you're like hundreds of years old, and it still hits you in the gut when your dad approves of you," he said. "Nice to know that feeling never goes away."
"I have given him little enough occasion to approve of me," Jareth admitted.
"Yeah, well, you got my sister to wear a crown and agree to marry you. Probably the best thing you ever did." Toby grinned at him.
"Oh, shut up, Toby," Sarah laughed, linking her arm through Jareth's and leaning against him affectionately. "Come on, you guys, we have to get Above. I've got errands to run and I promised Karen I'd pick up dessert, since she's making dinner. What time is it up there now?" She closed her eyes, focusing on her sense of Umardelin to try and puzzle out when it was in New York.
Time ran differently, Underground, but Sarah had found that she could sense roughly what the time would be if she focused on it. Usually time ran faster in Umardelin, letting her squeeze in extra hours of sleep, but Jareth had warned her it was not always so, and she would need to be vigilant. With her coronation, she found her sense of that link between realms was clearer, and it felt like they were almost synced, mid-morning here and close to noon in New York.
"Midday," Jareth confirmed, having checked the same sense of the realm she had, though his experience was greater. "And what errands are these, my love? I thought we would wait until this dinner with your parents."
"I need to pick up the cake, I have to grab some groceries, I've got to pay some bills online and check my phone while I'm at it, I really need to tell my landlord about that faucet, I have dry cleaning to pick up, I've got to set up a space for Neesk to stay while he's there … and I'm probably forgetting something," Sarah said, ticking off each point on her fingertips. "Basically I'm at two full time jobs, here, and even with bonus hours I'm going a little crazy."
Toby leaned toward her, letting his elbow bonk hers gently. "You're more than a little crazy, Sare."
"Takes one to know one, Sir Tobias the Utterly Lame," Sarah cracked back, ruffling his hair.
He stuck his tongue out, she crossed her eyes, and Jareth sighed at them both. "Very well, my queen. I shall accompany you. I might as well familiarize myself with your city, before I meet your parents."
"Not in that outfit," Toby immediately said. "Or with that hair. You'll have to normal it down again. I mean, it's the city, there are weirdos everywhere, but we won't get anything done if people keep stopping to ask who you're cosplaying."
Jareth tilted his head, birdlike, and asked, "What is this cosplay?"
"I'll tell you on the way up," Sarah groaned, already envisioning Jareth 'borrowing' the look of any fictional character that interested him. Trust Toby to get him started on that.
