Chapter Nine Spectacle

Oberon sipped his tea; he loved a good cup of tea, and wanted it unhurried. His wife sat nibbling her breakfast, as the others began to file in. Emrys came in complaining of the mattress having too many lumps. Elrond entered with scrolls in hand, as Vivanne sat with her feet in the scrying pool. Morganna stood sentinel, quietly. Lionel came in with apologies for any delays on his part. Pellanor entered and Oberon knew his tea was about to be ruined.

"My Sovereign," The Provo Marshall bowed deeply.

Oberon tossed his napkin to the table, waved and servants to begin to clear the food. "What now?"

"Complaints," one motion of his staff and hundreds of scrolls appeared on the floor. "Almost every royal house has issued a complaint."

Lionel growled, "How did they find out so quickly?"

Pellanor shot a glance to the servants. "Yes, I wonder."

Vivanne rose from the water, barefooted and padded over to the table. She sat on the arm of Emrys' chair. "Perhaps we should invite them to a welcoming celebration."

Oberon turned to Morganna, "Are they behaving?"

"Yes, Father. They are eating breakfast and being civil." The red haired vixen kept her vigil. "Or rather he's eating breakfast, and she's being civil."

"You're too wet!"Emrys pushed Vivanne off his chair. "It's too soon. They are just barely civil to one another."

Oberon read though one of the scrolls. "I would like to know, why it is, when he was free, none of them thought he was good enough for their daughters. Now that he's bonded, they complain. Oh this one is rich. Listen to this, and I quote. 'No mortal has ever been elevated to Queen in our Realm.'" He scoffed. "Now really, who put them up to this?"

Aeval shook her head, "And has any progress been made in discerning what our little peach is?"

Tatiana leaned back. "Little."

Sandor entered the chambers; in his arms were more scrolls. "Oh I see you've already received the complaints."

Pellanor grumbled, "Why would they send them to you? You are not the Provo Marshall."

Oberon stood, "These are not complaints, this is a smear campaign! Make sure none of this gets though to my birds. I want them to have time to settle into the bond. Being caught is different from giving chase."

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Jareth watched her blush, and warmed. "Sarah, you should always keep that innocent blush. It's very becoming." He finished his meal and stood up. "I intend to take a long hot bath." He began to walk toward a door, pausing as he noticed she had not moved. "Come along, Sarah." His voice bore impatiens at being kept waiting.

She looked up. "You want me to come and watch you bathe?"

"No," he began to disrobe, and continued into the bath with her now following. "I want you to scrub my backside." He was sure she was now a deeper shade of red than before.

Sarah entered the bathing chamber her eyes opening wide. This was not what she'd expected. "Wow!" The room was all amber and gold. The tub deep and wide, amber tiled and looked like something out of a Hollywood movie about Ancient Rome. Sunken into the floor and looked big enough to fit at least four or five if it had to. What looked like a step down into the tub was actually a seating ledge built into to framing of the tiles. There were Amber columns surrounding the deep tub and reaching up into the arched ceiling of the chamber.

Jareth was already drawing the water, and it filled quickly as there were four swan head faucets. He cast a look over his shoulder and saw with some measure of delight that she was trying not to stare at his backside. "Well, don't keep me waiting Sarah. Take off your robe and join me." He sat down as the water filled. Establishing his position as lord and master, at least in his own mind, he watched her disrobe.

Sarah unfastened the robe, let it fall off her and tried to look as casual as she could. "I've never seen a bath like this. What is your bath like at…home?" She said as she moved toward the sunken tub. Sarah was trying to behave as if this were perfectly normal, disrobing a bathing with a man who was really still a stranger to her.The blush on her cheeks told another story.

Jareth let his head rest on the rim of the tub, the waters stopped almost as soon as he did. "Much like this one. We Fae are fond of luxury, and expect it in all our homes." He held out his hand as she stepped into the waters. "How hotdo you like your water?"

"Do you do that naturally, or do you work at it?" she looked at him with trepidation avoiding the hand extended her way. "It's natural." He teased. "You bring out the best in me, my pet." He caught the worried look. "What is it, now?" he sighed in a long exhale.

"Jareth," Sarah bit her lower lip and her eyes shifted from left to right looking at their setting. She groaned slightly and began. "What am I to you?" She began to stammer. "I mean … what… is my status in …your household?"

Mismatched eyes watched her with a feral precision, the game was about to start and he intended to extract his pound of flesh as she'd called it as often and as deeply as he could for as long as possible. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Sarah." He drawled.

She swallowed her pride. "You said last night…it was for all intents and purposes…our…wedding night. That Oberon had more or less…in effect married us." She could not meet his eyes, not in the cold light of day. "Does that mean I'm your...wife?"

"Wife, a sweet term…for mortals." There was scorn and condescension in his tone. "You are now in the Fae world Sarah, not all is as you've know it." He stated coyly. He faced her with lies on his lips, glad that the cord was in the other room. Sarah looked down, trying not to feel so naked. He had not expected her reaction to upset him, yet he found himself distressed at her dismayed disappointment. A deep sigh issued from the Goblin King, "Look at your left hand." His voice commanded obedience. When she was looking at the long deep gash that went across the palm he placed his left hand over it. "You are my bonded mate, your blood flows in me and mine in you, my Lady, and you will bear my offspring." He could see that didn't say what she needed to hear. It was however as much as he intended to give her for the time being. "You are mine." His left hand now closed round hers, "And will be until the end of time." He had skirted the issue and not made mention of the word wife, he had not lied, but he had not told the truth entirely either. "I've told you before, what's mine, I keep."

Sarah looked up at him, "Thank you." She looked reassured if not at peace. Nevertheless she didn't look happy. There was a sad resolution in her demeanor, an attitude of acceptance of what could not be changed and must be lived.

With her hand captured in his, he pulled her closer in the swell of water. She resisted lightly, not out of stubbornness but out of shyness. "How long do you think it will be before you are no longer so shy with me?" He asked touching her and finding her bashful and withdrawn.

"You married a virgin, what did you expect?" She answered demurely. She looked away embarrassed.

"Point." He acknowledged. "So, do I please you Sarah?" The blush returned to her cheeks.

"You have to ask?" her voice was a low groan.

Jareth laughed; pulled her closer, "Not really, I can sense the changes in your …scent…" his eyes were happy, and danced with mischief. Her discomfort was enjoyable as was her innocent state. He would have great gratification in teaching her the ways to please him, he thought.

Sarah wrapped her arms around him more slowly than he'd enfolded her, "I thought you wanted me to scrub your back?" Her eyes shot wide open as his lips moved over the lob of her ear and began to move downward.

"Later," he said as he kissed her neck. "I'm busy now." His hands moved possessively over her. "I'm taking a mental inventory."

"Making sure all the parts of your property are accounted for?" She drawled in a low angry tone. Her voice dripped the sarcasm that she felt.

"That really pisses you off, doesn't it?" He sighed. "But Sarah, you are my property." He turned serious. "And what is mine, I keep. Have you any idea of how infuriating it was for me to have you think you could just dismiss me?"

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Morganna saw the change in the color of the scrying pool. "Trouble in Paradise!" She called to the Tribunal counci.

"Already?" Vivanne rushed back to the waters so quickly she nearly toppled in.

Emrys moved forward and turned his back. "Good Lord, you didn't say they were bathing!"

Morganna sighed, "Emrys, you are such a prude at times."

Vivanne winked at him, "Not at others. Eh my love?"

Emrys scowled at her, "Behave woman."

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"You want to talk about infuriating?" The soft voice went up two octaves and went icy. "How about you were suspending me over the bog of stench? Did you ever think of what the consequence of that could have been?" She pushed him back.

"Oh Sarah, I would never have let you fall, I kept watch over you the entire time you were in the Labyrinth. If Ludo hadn't of raised the rocks from the depths I'd have sent a landside to save you." He frowned. "Besides it was the dwarfthat was supposed to go in the bog."

"Why?" Sarah snapped, forgetting the bath, forgetting the naked bodies and only remembering that she and her friends had been in what she perceived as danger.

"Because," Jareth glared and said hotly under his breath, " you kissed the little scab."

Sarah put a hand up to her ear, "Sorry, didn't quite catch that one."

"You kissed him, and after I'd warned him." As he finished, a wave of water hit him full force in the face. Mismatched eyes narrowed. One hand wiped the water from his face.

"You nearly made me stink forever because you were jealous of a dwarf?" As she finished a larger wave then the one she'd made washed over her, drenching her.

"You called him 'FRIEND'." Yet another wave crashed over the Goblin King, his long fair hair now dripped and lay plastered to his head.

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Vivanne was sitting on the edge of the scrying pool, doubled up. She was laughing so hard she was now holding her sides. Oberon looked at his wife, "Don't say it!"

Her hand patted his arm, "I don't have to, dear." The others looked at the King and Queen of the Fae. Then back at the pair drenching each other and the bathing chamber.

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"While we're on the subject;" Sarah's anger took him by surprise. "Who were all those decadent women at that crystal ball?"

"What women?" He grabbed her shoulders. "I saw but one."

"That's a lie! You danced with them, several of them. Flaunted them before me, and …and…" Sarah began to cry again. "I felt so out of place."

Jareth gasped. "No, you out classed them!" He pulled her close. "Sarah, you were and are fresh, young and pure… furthermore I never sang a love song to any of them." He groaned inwardly, somehow she'd done it again. Without even trying she had gotten the upper hand of the situation. He could have used her jealousy, but instead he was now comforting her.

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Seth walked away from the Scrying pool. "Again?"

Vivanne was still lying helpless in laughter on the ground beside the pool. Morganna looked at the King and Queen who were now whispering to each other and laughing at a private moment of their own. Morganna smiled and looked back to the scrying pool.

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Jareth held her close, "I wanted you to be jealous… then, not now." He kissed her eyes, and then her cheeks.

"Hoggle was, and is my friend." She said, "But he's not the man I love. Then or now." Softly her hand caressed his unsure of what she was doing or how to do it.

Jareth looked about at the damages they had inflicted on the room. "Look what we did." He began to laugh. He wanted her mind off the crystal ballroom and its inhabitants. He wanted her mind away from the events that had brought her to the ball.

Sarah scrunched down in the tub beside him. "Do we have to clean it?" She asked in a frightened whisper thinking of Karen's reaction to such a mess.

"No," he leaned back again. "That's why there are servants. However, we should plan on doing something nice to thank them."

"Good thinking, your Majesty." She leaned back mirroring him.

They both looked at each other in the same moment and smiled. Jareth held his left hand out, she placed hers in his. He took a long breath and relaxed in what was left of the bath water. She did the same.

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Oberon with his Queen on his arm walked away from the scrying pool. "For now they are content. We leave them that way as long as we can. We have two more days in which to find the answers we seek." He looked at Morganna, "You may rest for now, my daughter. Your services will be needed later."

The High Queen looked at her husband with a knowing eye. "You are planning something." She stated.

"Always." He patted the hand on his arm. "This time beloved, it is not something against you."

"Good." She smiled sweetly. Oberon looked concerned. "We must deal with this backlash of protests."

Pellanor, who was standing near them, cleared his throat. "I regret to inform you, Sire, but a council of protesters is asking for audience."

Tatiana looked from the Provo Marshal to her husband. "A council of protestors? Who would have time to set such a thing up?" She frowned. "What are we to do?"

Oberon contemplated the situation. "Perhaps Vivanne was right; we should hold a celebration and invite all the protesters to it." He began to pull at this beard. "Yes, perhaps a party is just what we need."

The High Queen shook her head, remembering his idea of a party.