I want to apologize for being late! I know the chapter isn't very big, but I hope to make sure that it'll get longer and exciting soon enough! I haven't forgot my viewers. Chapter 7 is in the works as I speak. Thank you for waiting so patiently. Please leave a feedback if you can! I love to hear from you!
Chapter 6- New Faes and the Healing of Rose' Eyesight
It was quarter past three in the morning, a strange tiny blue creature with the same color wings flew around Rose's bed. The creature was known as 'The Out-of-the-Blue Faery'. This little faery would flutter around a person's bed, waking them up at night with a sudden realization like that had forgotten to put a letter in a mail, let the dog out, and many more. Soon, the faery disappeared from the bed as Rose started to wake up. She yawned and stretched, slowly sitting up on the side of the bed.
"Mmmm…" Rose groaned a bit, her eyes gazing around the room with her mind still fuzzy. "Okay, Tucker. Let's go take you outside," Rose started to yawn, reaching around on the bed to feel her little brown dog, but she couldn't feel him and she frowned. Her eyes blinked a few times, adjusting to darkness in the room, not realizing that she still had her glasses on her face.
Rose realized that she wasn't even in her own bed nor was she home. A frown appeared on her lips as she slowly got up from the bed, her bare feet touching the cold hard floor. Glancing to her nightstand, she saw what looked to be a candle stick holder with a candle. She slowly picked it up into her hand as she tried to find a match or something to get the candle lit.
"There has to be a way to light this candle, "Rose told herself with a sigh, looking into the drawer. "If the candle would only light by magic, like saying 'Light'…" A flame suddenly appeared on the string of the candlestick, causing Rose to stare at it in dismay. She then smacked herself in the face, shaking her head for not realizing it sooner. "Of course, this place isn't what it seems… Magic is everywhere…"
She looked around her room, lit by the candlestick in her hand as she went to the door to leave her bedroom. Her bare feet touched the hallway's stone floor, giving her the chills as she noticed that it was slightly chilly in the air. Rose walked along the west wing corridor, holding the candle up so she could see her surroundings causing shadows to dance on the walls.
Rose held the candlestick up in the air, gazing around as she continued to walk along the hallway until she thought she saw a creature near her and she jumped with a small scream. Turning the candle to where the creature should had been, showed her that it was only the shadows casted by the armor like statue that stood against the wall. Rose placed her hand to her chest with a sigh of relief, shaking her head quietly, "I need to get a grip of this… You'll be okay… Nothing is going to kill you here because Jareth won't let anything happen to you…"
"Are you all right, my lady?" A smooth voice appeared behind her, causing her to jump into the air again with a startled look.
"Cain?!" Rose exclaimed, breathing heavily with her hand on her chest and her eyes resting on the Elf, taking in his features from the light of her candle.
"My apologies, Lady Rose, I did not mean to scare you," Cain spoke softly with a smile to her. "You seem to be lost at the moment. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"It's all right, "Rose accepted his apology and she felt embarrassed as she looked away. "I was going to try and find the kitchen for a drink. I'm not really comfortable being in a new place."
"I see… you know, you could have used the bathroom to get something to drink, but since you aren't comfortable, mind if I escort you to the kitchen?" Cain asked, holding out his arm to her.
Rose pondered for a moment before agreeing. She didn't want to be by herself in this place at the moment and she slipped her arm around his. "Thank you," she whispered. Cain just smiled at her as he showed her the way to the kitchen, now or then, glancing to her direction as he watched her expression to the surrounding.
Into the kitchen, Rose sat down at the table and folded her arms on the table to rest her head. Cain took out a tea kettle out from the cabinet, filling it up with water to boil on the stove. He opened a drawer, pulling out a small brown box out and opened it to show that there were herbs in it. Rose watched him quietly, curious of what he was making and she couldn't help herself but to ask, "What are you making?"
"Hmm?" Cain looked up and over to the girl with a smile. "Why, herbal tea. I figure it may help you relax and be able to sleep until morning. Have you tried herbal tea before?"
Rose shook her head at him with a smile playing on her lips. She felt shy for some reason when talking to Cain. Was it because he was a good looking Elf? "I'm not much of a tea drinker, "Rose admitted, "but I will try it if it helps."
Cain chuckled lightly with a shake of his head before he went back to placing the herbs into the water. "My Lady, you do not need to force yourself if you do not like it. Thank you for trying it. "
Rose continued to watch Cain as he made the tea, his back was to her. She was thankful that he wasn't looking at her because she was blushing like crazy. A sigh left her lips, closing her eyes for a moment to let her mind settle down. At first, she felt like she was starting to drifted off to sleep until she sense something hot was placed in front of her and she looked up to see that it was her tea, and Cain was standing beside her.
"Oh, thank you, Cain," Rose smiled to him, slowly wrapping her hands around the cup to lift it to her lips to take a small sip of it. "Mmm… It tastes like cinnamon somewhat."
"Ah, yes. I figured that it may help the tea to go down easier since you are not a tea drinker," Cain explained with a smile. Rose just smiled at him before going back to her tea. Each sip she took, she could feel herself starting to calm down and relax. She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes to enjoy her tea. She could feel the tiredness forming once again and she wanted to fight it to stay awake so she could talk to Cain longer. She could feel her cup being removed from her hand before she was suddenly lifted up into the air and up against a warm chest. Rose shifted her weight against the arms wrapped around her back to lay her head against his shoulder and wrapped her left arm around his neck.
Cain raised an eyebrow at the girl and he shook his head as he carried her back to her bedroom for the rest of the night.
It was early in the morning around seven o'clock when Rose was woken up by a small, gray color, ragged hair goblin maiden. Her eyes rested on the small goblin who had a sour look on her face and she noticed that she wore a worn out gray dress with some brown to it. Rose rubbed her eyes a bit, blinking at her with some blurriness in her vision. "Who are you?" Rose asked, yawning.
"You're late!" The female goblin huffed at her, "You need to get out of bed and down to breakfast! The king will be furious!"
Rose didn't budge from the bed, her green eyes staring at the gray skinned with white like hair goblin. She noticed that the goblin girl never did answer her question as she slowly sat up in her bed. She stretched her arms out, getting rid of the aches in her muscles before she reached over to grab her glasses off of the nightstand and placed them on her face. With her vision focused, she could see the female goblin more clearly and she shifted her weight a bit.
The female goblin huffed at her before she went over to dresser and she pulled a stool over to it to start pulling out Rose's clothes from it. She tossed shirts, panties, bras, and her shorts onto the floor. "Bleh! Nothing! Master was right. You need new clothes!"
"Hey! Get out of there! Stop throwing my clothes around!" Rose exclaimed, scrambling out of the bed to pick up her clothes off of the floor. She set them on top of the dresser before she carefully grabbed the goblin maid by the waist and lifted her off of the stool to the floor. "I don't need any new clothes right now, thank you very much!"
Goblin maid waved her hand at her, grunting at her like she was in bad mood. Rose sighed with a shake of her head, placing her clothes back into the dresser. She took her pair of shorts out, slipping into it before she took her night shirt off. She folded the shirt to tuck it into the dresser before taking out different one and putting on a nice blue green mixed color shirt with fish designs along the bottom and the sleeves were long up to her elbow.
Rose could hear the goblin making noises behind her, the grunts and the words of 'hurry up! Your Highness is never the type to wait!' Rose grabbed her comb and sat down in a chair to start brushing her hair out, getting rid of the bed hair she had.
The goblin maid sighed, realized that she was getting nowhere with this pesky mortal girl and she couldn't figure out why the king was so interested in her. She folded her arms over her chest, tapping her bare foot against the stone floor as she stared. She then realized that the mortal girl was wearing some kind of specs on her face. She tilted her head and she went over to her, stopping Rose from combing her hair as she reached up to take her glasses away. Maid stared at the girl who was staring at her, tilting her head as she nodding. "Yes, Yes… Much prettier without this ugly thing on your face and can see your eyes. Good. Good. You get rid of this thing and go on to breakfast!"
Rose blushed when the Goblin Maid said that she was prettier without her glasses, but she knew she needed it and reached out to her to get her glasses back. "Thank you, but I need it to see. My eye-sight isn't very strong to see clearly so I need them to see better," Rose explained, waiting for her glasses.
"Hog wash! You can see fine!" Goblin maid exclaimed, dropping the glasses onto the floor and stepped on them. "You're pretty now! So get going!" Her eyes narrowed at the girl with a huff expression on her face.
"No! Don't!" Rose tried to stop her, but she could only watch her glasses getting stomped on by the goblin. Rose frowned as she pushed the maiden from her glasses, picking up the broken frame and the lens. "How could you… Don't you understand that I needed those to see?!" Rose's voice broke like she was going to cry. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes before standing up from her chair.
"You don't need!" Goblin maid huffed at her before pushing her out of the bedroom. Rose opened her mouth to speak, but closed them when she was pushed out of her own bedroom with the door shut behind her. Rose could only sigh, slowly pocketing her broken glasses into her shorts before she started to walk along the hallway. Around her, vision was blurry since she was near-sighted, but at least she can see objects around her just not the details.
It took her some time until she managed to get out of the west wing, pausing as she tried to figure out where the dining room supposed to be at. "Now where is the dining hall? This place is so big… You would think that goblin maid would show me where I needed to go instead of kicking me out into the hallway with no glasses…"
"Muh lady?" A deep voice spoke behind her, causing her to turn around quickly to see a grayish-green figure coming towards her. "Are you okay, muh lady? You need help?"
Rose tilted her head for a bit, staring at the figure as she listened to his voice. "You're the cook, aren't you? Why are you out here?"
"Muh Lady, my younger bra-ther took over kit-chan duty," Orc replied, staring at her. "You need help?"
Rose nodded her head quietly with a small smile. Even with his broken English, she could easily understand him at what he was trying to say. "I do. I don't know where the dining hall is…"
"I can take you there," Orc replied with a nod, noticing something was different about her. "Where those things you wear on your face?"
"Thank you, please… This place really big, "Rose sighed with relief and frowned when he asked about her glasses. "The goblin maid broke them. She said I didn't need them and yet, I do… I'm having some trouble seeing my surrounding very clearly." She didn't reach out to the orc and she looked away.
Orc grunted at this, shaking his head as he muttered, "stupid goblins… Causing trouble…" He then frowned when he noticed she was looking away and he did notice her cheeks were slightly stained with tears. He slowly reached out, rubbing his thumb across her cheek to wipe the tear away. "It be okay, muh lady. Let me guide you there…" He reached over to take her arm around his, causing her to jump lightly to where she looked up to him.
"Thank you very much," Rose smiled lightly to him. "Do you have a name I can call you?"
"It is Rafael," Orc replied with a hint of a smile on his face as he started to walk towards the dining hall.
"Rafael? I like that," Rose followed him, staying close to him. "What are you to do if you're not the cook today?"
"Me and muh other bra-thers are guards when needed. Younger one enjoys cooking more than I," He told her, continuing like he knew what she was going to ask. "There are four… muh self, Angelo, Tello, and Nardo. Nardo is the oldest, Tello is the second oldest, then muh self, and finally, Angelo. "
"Oh wow… How do you tell each other apart?" Rose had to ask, watching him. Just like last night, he really looked like a turtle. Perhaps they had some kind of color scheme or something she could easily tell them apart when she saw them.
"Our guard clothes have colors… muh is red, Angelo is orange, Tello is purple, and Nardo is blue. We wear color slash so that your Highness could tell who is who…"
"I see… It kind of reminds me of a show in back to my world, but it would be too silly to talk about. My favorite color is blue, but I think that red suits you perfectly, Rafael," Rose replied with a smile, hugging partly to his arm as they neared the dining hall.
"Thank you, muh lady," He looked up when they came to the dining hall. "Here we are…" He pushed the door the open and entered the dining hall. Rose could notice a few figures sitting at the table. At the head was the Goblin King, to his left was Cain, but she wasn't sure of the other two.
"Your Highness, Lady Rose here is…" He announced her presence before guiding her over to her chair which was on the right side of the goblin king. Rose nodded to the Goblin King and others as she sat down into the chair that was pulled out for her.
"Good morning, everyone," Rose spoke softly, bowing her head as she felt nervous. She could feel their eyes on her, shifting about uncomfortably.
"Good morning, Lady Rose," Cain spoke softly with a nod. "Did you sleep well?"
"Good morning, Rose," Jareth replied, his tone being smooth as he watched her. He could tell she was getting nervous while sitting there. "I see you finally decided to join us…"
"I apologies for being late, Your Highness," Rose bowed her head, looking down to her plate. "And I did, thank you, Cain." She could feel eyes on her from the other two guests that were sitting at the table.
Jareth's eyes never strayed away from Rose's face. He noticed that Rose wasn't wearing her glasses and he wasn't sure why. He knew she needed them to see clearly. Rose slowly lifted her gaze up to meet Jareth's, staying quiet.
"Where are your glasses?" Jareth asked in a calm, stern voice.
"I have it. I didn't feel like using it," Rose replied with somewhat of a lie. This caused Jareth's eyes narrow.
"Come now, my flower. Don't lie to me. I know you're supposed to wear it… Take it out and put it on," Jareth ordered her, shifting his weight in his chair.
Rose frigid in her chair, shaking her head quietly to him with a small smile to him as she spoke, "I'm sorry, your highness, but I'm afraid I can't."
Jareth's eyes narrowed more when Rose refused to put her glasses on. He leaned over towards her with a stern tone, "You should never refuse me in front of guests…. Put them on now…"
Cain noticed that Rose was acting strange when she didn't want to pull her glasses out and he could sense that the King was getting pissed. He reached over to touch Jareth's shoulder with a calmer tone to calm him down, "Your Highness… She has a reason of why she would not use her glasses. Before you lose your temper, perhaps she can answer to why she can't put her glasses on." Cain's eyes fell upon the girl with a gentle expression, letting her know she can talk without having to worry what punishment will fall upon her.
Rose took a deep breath, tilting her head down as she reached into her shorts' pocket and she pulled out her broken frames with the lens cracked. She set them on the table in front of her before placing her hands back into her lap, "Reason I can't wear them is because they're broken and I didn't know what to do…"
"I see," Cain reached over to pick up the pieces and looked at them. "My Lady, it will be all right. Can you tell us what happened to it?"
"Well…" Rose started, she never did like to tell on someone and especially if it meant that they would get punished. She had a feeling on what kind of punishment the King would do. "It was the goblin maid. She said that I didn't need my glasses because I was prettier without it and I didn't need it to see. So she took my glasses and stomped on it while I was brushing my hair… Truth is I need it… I can see just fine, but words or details are blurry."
Jareth listened quietly as he frowned. This was not good at all. He had planned on letting Rose try to go through the labyrinth, but hearing that her glasses were broken, he knew it would definitely be too dangerous for her. He turned his attention to Cain who was inspecting the broken lens and the frames. "Do you think you can get it fix?" He asked, gesturing to the glasses.
"Well, Your Highness, I should be able to get the frames fixed, but I doubt I can with the lens. I'm not sure if I will be able to get the lens the right way for her to use them," Cain replied, analyzing the lens closer.
"I see then…" Jareth carefully choose his words, watching Rose from the corner of his eye.
"I guess I won't be able to see clearly for a while then, "Rose sighed with a shake of her head.
"It is a shame that you won't be able to see, My Precious Flower, because I was thinking of letting you run the labyrinth until now, "Jareth lifted up a goblet with wine, taking a sip of it. Rose's eyes widen when she heard that she would be able to run it, but then she frowned to last couple words of his sentence.
"What? Why can't I run it? I don't need glasses to see any of the words!" Rose exclaimed, her eyes resting on the king who seem to be smirking at her reaction.
"Now, Now, Rose McCoy, if I sent you out now to run it, you can get seriously hurt. You were wished to me and since you belong here for the mean time, I don't want you anywhere near hedge mazes part of the Labyrinth," Jareth's tone went from being calm to serious.
"But it's not fair," Rose sighed again, lowering her eyes down in front of her.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Jareth's lips. "Come now, my little flower. Nothing is fair and you should know that by now."
Rose's eyes suddenly glanced up to meet his gaze and they narrowed. She opened her mouth to argue back, but she just closed her mouth without a single word being said.
"If you may let me speak, "Cain decided to interrupt the two before a real argument would break out and caused a scene in front of their Tree-like being and an Elf guest who had stayed quiet this entire time. "Since I am a healer, I may be able to fix Miss Rose McCoy's eyes to where she doesn't need her glasses at all.
Jareth raised an eyebrow at this, turning his mismatched eyes towards his faithful servant. Even Rose had her attention on Cain when he said he could fix her eyes and a big smile formed on her face.
"You can really fix my eyes?!" Rose asked with hopefulness.
"Of course, My Lady," Cain chuckled at Rose's happiness. "If it's okay with Your Highness, I would like to get started right after breakfast."
Jareth stayed quiet and pondered to himself before he nodded. "Go ahead, Cain. Use your healing abilities to help her. Who knows, this will be very interesting indeed… I will, however, deal with the goblin maid that I sent earlier for her behavior."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Cain bowed his head towards Jareth until someone started to cough as to clear their throat.
"Perhaps we can speak now," An Elven gentleman spoke, sitting on the same side of the table with the young girl. "It may be amusing to see what is going on, but I'm sure the young lady is tired of being embarrassed in front of unknown strangers."
The voice of the stranger got Rose's attention, converting her eyes from Cain to the unknown Elf. Even through her blurry vision, she noticed that the Elven had long blonde hair with crowned braid from the side to down the middle of his hair. It was a type of braid that Rose always loved to keep her hair in since it let her hair lay loose with and still be braided. The Elven gentleman wore a long, flowing robe made with silk-like materials with high necked collar, showed that he was part of an Elven Council and that of a Royal stature.
"I quite agree with the Elf," A deeper voice spoke, lifting up his hand. He was created by many types of branches twisted together, giving him an appearance of a tree with points at the top of his head very few green leaves could be seen. His arms were long with the fingers being like twigs. This fae had a sense of wisdom and knowledge surrounding him.
He turned his eyes towards the girl, noticed that she was watching him. He smiled gently to her with a movement of his head. With his age, it has been harder for him to move as of late. In about another two thousand years, he would have to step down from his ranks for much younger sapling to take over. He decided to speak softly towards her, hoping that she would not freak out.
"Hello there," He spoke softly with such deep voice. "I am Yewfang. Please do not be frightened by how I look. I am completely harmless."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Yewfang," Rose replied softly with a smile to him. She let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "I'm not afraid, just curious. I never seen a fae like you before and it is very interesting."
"I am glad, my child," Yewfang smiled to her as he gestured towards the Elf across from him. "This is Tadliis."
Rose smiled softly towards the elf with a nod of her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sir."
"Pleasure is all mine, my lady," Tadliis smiled lightly to her," and you can just call me Tadliis." Tadliis waved his hand to get rid of this 'sir' word lingering in the air. "Instead of worrying about what is going on with your glasses and what the Goblin King has said, you should relax and enjoy your breakfast before it gets cold. I trust that Cain can easily heal your eyes within time. He is an excellent Elven Healer among our kind."
Rose tilted her head to turn her attention to her plate in front of her, only to find out that there were pancakes with eggs on side and a glass of orange juice. Where did this come from? She didn't even notice that her food had appeared or that a goblin came by.
"Oh, I didn't notice the food had arrived," Rose replied with amusement tone before she started to eat her breakfast. "Thank you for reminding me that my food had arrived."
A couple hours after breakfast, Cain and Rose left the dining hall to allow guests to talk with the Goblin King in private. Cain took Rose into a room which had a few beds along the walls with a desk to the side. She noticed that there were potions and herbs resting on a shelf near the desk.
"If you may, Miss McCoy, please lay down and relax on the bed," Cain gestured to one of the beds. Rose thought for a moment before she lied down on a bed with her head on the pillow. She watched as Cain picked up a cloth and few pieces of herbs from the shelf, then he walked over to her bed side to set the items down before sitting down on the bed.
"Now, close your eyes and just rest. I'm going to use some herbs that should help heal your eyes. It may feel a bit hot at first then it will cool off," Cain gazed down to her with a small confidence smile. Rose gulped lightly, feeling nervous as she closed her eyes, taking deep breath to calm her nerves.
Cain placed some herbs into the bowl, crushing and mixing the different kind of herbs together into some kind of greenish paste like substance. He scooped some of it and gently laid the paste over Rose's closed eyes then he held his hand over her eyes as he chanted in another language. His hand gave off a light glow from the chant.
Rose shuddered a bit at the feel of the paste against her eyes. It had that warm tingle feeling like it was heated up before being used. The sound of his voice was soothing even if it was in the language of his own kind. The heat given off from the paste surrounded her eyes slowly turned to a burning sensation.
"Cain, is it supposed to get really hot?" Rose asked when he finished his incantation of the spell.
"Only for a second, but it shouldn't get too bad," Cain spoke, glancing down to her. "Is it hurting you?"
Rose didn't speak at the moment as the heat seems to get hotter to where she had to whimper out her words, "It's starting to hurt. Please take it off, Cain. It's getting really hot."
"Just hold on a bit more, Miss Rose," Cain told her while getting up to pick up a couple cloths and a bowl of water to place at the table side. He took his place again at her side, sitting down at her side once again. He took the one cloth, dipping it into the water and then gently wipes the paste from her eyelids. Rose let out another whimper of pain and Cain laid a hand over hers to give her comfort. He continued to wash the paste from her eyes, making sure that there wasn't any paste left that could accidently fall in, then he laid his free hand onto her eyes once again to cast another chant.
"You may feel a slight prick after this spell and if it hurts that bad, just squeeze my hand tightly," Cain spoke softly in a smooth voice. Rose didn't say anything except giving his hand a small squeeze. Cain nodded and started to chant out a spell with his hand starting to glow over her eyes, focusing on healing. "Tanka harwar… Tanka tel' taurnin… Ama poldora…"
Once the spell was finished, there was a slight prick feeling in the middle of her eyes which caused her to let out a yelp sound and she squeezed his hand tightly. Cain quickly took a clean cloth, soaking it into the water and gently laid it over her eyes to smooth the pain away. He continued to hold her hand so he can feel the tension fade away letting him know that she was starting to relax once again. He picked up the cloth from her eyes, dipping it into the bowl to rinse it off, twisting it to get most of the water out of it and then laid it over her eyes once again.
Cain sat there while Rose continued to lie in the bed and it felt like minutes or hours had passed as he waited for the herbs and his healing powers to take effect. He finally reached over, taking the cloth off of her eyes and set it to the side before he slowly lifted Rose up into a sitting position.
"Rose, I want you to slowly open your eyes and tell me what you can see," Cain told her, his eyes rested on her face. He did noticed, however, she was very pretty without her glasses and he could also sense how pure her heart was.
Rose slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first with many different colors. She blinked a few times as apricot mixed with black blurriness started to focus more clearly. She could see a face forming through the blurriness, and then slowly the hair which became clearer when the minutes continued to past and her vision finally focused clearly on Cain's face. It caused her to smile softly to him with a nod of her head.
"I can see you now, Cain. You aren't blurry anymore," Rose said softly with a smile.
"Good. Good, "Cain nodded approvingly as he got up from her side to walk over to the desk to pick up a book to place into her lap. " Try seeing if the words are clearer for you now."
Rose took the brown leather covered book, tilting her head as she glanced down to the golden writing on the cover. She ran a finger over the title of the book, staring at it with thought at first causing Cain to be worried until she started to speak, "Guide of Learning to Speak the Elven Language."
Rose opened the book to the first page, slowly reading it as she tried to pronounce an Elven word carefully, "V…Vedui'… It means Greetings. Vedui'…. Vedui'…."
"Yes, Vedui' does mean Greetings. Vedui' il'er would mean Greetings everyone," Cain told her with a nod of his head. "It seems that your eyes are completely healed, Miss Rose. You can leave if you like and tell the King the good news."
"Thank you, Cain, for taking care of me," Rose smiled to him, closing the book to hand it over. He shook his head, not taking the book from her.
"You are welcome and please, keep the book with you. It may prove useful for you later on," Cain told her, helping her up from the bed.
"Thank you again, Cain," Rose pulled herself up to her feet with his help, hugging the book to her chest with her eyes scanning the area to find out just how clear her vision was. Her clear vision made it where she missed her glasses on her face. It felt weird without it. "I'll go let Jareth know now."
Cain only nodded as he walked her out, then he pointed her towards the tower where his throne room would be. Rose thanked him again before running off, taking in the details of the palace much more clearly for now on.