Chapter 10 Good news, bad news.

They sat in the courtyard, with bubble wands and soap. Blowing bubbles into the breeze. Oberon looked at them, if one didn't know the history of these two; one would think they were just a nice young couple, courting and getting to know each other. Clearing his throat, the Fae King approached. "Good Afternoon, children."

They looked at each other, smiled and said in unison. "Good Afternoon, Father." And giggled madly after stealing looks at each other slyly.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha." The High King repeated in a mocking tone, and took a seat on the bench near where they were couched on the grass. It pleased him that the girl had used the 'familiar' in addressing him. He was pleased she was trying to make an effort to accept what had befallen her, fate wise. "Well, you've had one night in each other's company. What have you learned?"

"He thinks he owns me." Sarah blew a bubble. "Oh and he's bossy."

"She knows I own, but she doesn't like it." He tried to blow a bigger bubble. "Really Sarah, it's much more fun my way." He produced three crystals and balanced them in one gloved hand making them spin. He made it look effortless.

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Showoff." She scowled at the boy King, and then turned to the High King. "We are making an effort to get to know each other. Progress is slow, but there is progress. Although; I'm not really sure of this whole bonding thing and all, we're taking baby steps."

"Well that's good news…isn't it…." The Fae King smiled compationately toward the girl. "Children." His voice was steady. "WE have a problem." J

areth handed his bubble wand to Sarah, the crystal spheres disappeared. "What is it Father." He'd turned very serious.

"I had thought I had been most discrete, in dealing with your…case." He smiled down at Sarah. "However, we've received complaints about the bonding."

Sarah looked at Jareth who was cursing, and then to Oberon who remained calm. "What kind of complaints, from whom."

Jareth frowned; he knew what kinds of complaints. "Fae who find humans insufferable, Sarah. Fae are complaining about my claim to you." He turned to his father. "Why would anyone complain, no one wanted me. I was free to choose whomever and wherever I wished."

Sarah looked at him, how could anyone not want him. He was the most beautiful being she'd ever seen, with or without clothes on. Even when she thought she'd hated him in the Labyrinth, she'd wanted him. Realizing she was feeling outrage for him struck her as she pondered the thoughts running though her mind. She was insulted for him, she found.

"You tired to make how many a match for me? None of them would have…a Goblin King. They all look down on my subjects as being unworthy and the dregs of our society. What has changed?" Jareth was now pacing, and then came to a halt. Pain of rejection covered his features; it was a sight Sarah had seen once before on his face. "It's unthinkable that anyone would object to my claim on Sarah. You, yourself validated it! It does not affect the balance of power. My claim was and is valid." Sarah rose to her feet and moved to his side, she placed a hand on his arm. Jareth turned and took her into his arms, resting his head on hers. He closed his wounded eyes and took comfort from the young woman. "My claims are valid, and I won't rescind my claim." He muttered through gritted teeth.

Oberon watched and smiled. The young woman it seemed was more concerned about his upset at the moment then the reference to her once more as property. "Children," he called them back to where he sat. "What is done is done, what is said, is said. I am not taking back the bonding, even if I could. And I will not reorder time to satisfy some ill wind." he smiled down on them. "However, we are forced to entertain at this time, and that's the bad news. So, I am here to ask if you think you can behave at a … fête in your honor."

Jareth pouted. "If I have to, I will."

Sarah nodded, "We'll be good, Father." She was more complacent than the boy King, but she knew far less of what she would be facing. Oberon rose. "Tomorrow evening then, I've informed the royal houses that you are in seclusion until that time. I will have the proper garments sent to you come morning." He rose to his feet, "Enjoy your evening, children." In a colorful mist he disappeared.

"Now that; that's style." Jareth mused pointing to where the High King had been standing. He looked at Sarah seated beside him now on the grass of the courtyard. "See, he's still talking to us. Not that I care for the subject he raised, but he's still talking to us."

Sarah looked at him, "I want to ask you something, but I'm afraid of upsetting you." Her words were softly and soothingly spoken.

"Ask." He sighed; lying back in the soft grass. His face relaxed as he closed his eyes. "Ask me anything you wish to know."

"You said to Oberon just now that no one wanted you. Why did no one want you?" The question was asked softly.

"Because of what I am, Sarah. The Goblin King, the Collector of the unwanted." Rolling to his side he looked at her. Still peaceful but callous in his answer. "Some of the Fae think I've way too much contact with humans and other undesirables."

"Collector of the unwanted?" She asked grimacing at the title. "That sounds unpleasant. Who makes up these titles?"

Jareth sighed, "Sarah, for as long as our worlds have existed there has been unwanted on both sides. My kingdom gives them…the unwanted, sanctuary, safe haven and a place to be…well…productive if they wish to be."

Sarah reached out and brushed a stray hair from his eyes, "That sounds rather noble, and gallant."

"It didn't start out noble, Sarah. And it most certainly was not gallant! It started out with a Fae who wished away her child, and a human who followed suit." He caught the hand and pulled her down to him. "There have been several rulers of the Goblins Kingdom, Goblin and Fae alike, but only one master of its Labyrinth. Furthermore that one master would be me. I did what no one before me had ever done, and without taming what they refer to as the beast."

"I still don't see why you were refused." She blinked at him.

"You refused me." He reminded her. His tone had turned frostily aloof. "You don't fully accept me even now."

Sarah felt the old anger rise, and gave words to her resentment. "I was fifteen, and had a baby brother to rescue. You were distracting me from that. Moreover, we are not discussing me…" She sighed again, snuggling into his embrace as it was easier than fighting him off. "But how did it all start, this wishing away a child?"

"Our worlds intersect; touch here and there… or actually they sort of have portals…All except Avalon. Avalon is the only place that exists in both worlds at the same time, together and separately." He laughed, "Confused yet?"

"I think you're working at confusing me." She pointed out. "I really do want to know, to understand."

He sat up after taking his arms from her. "Goblins have existed since the dawn of time." He smiled, "Once they were a warrior race, exiled to the wilds of the Underground. They discovered they were able to move between the mists and pop in and out of your world. The world of man was like a playground for them."

"I've read a thing or two about your little friends." Sarah sat up and looked him in the eye. "They can be nasty when they wish without being provoked. The idea of them having a free run between both realms boggles the mind."

Jareth nodded, "So thought Oberon." He drew his knees up and braced himself against them as he continued. "Oberon was the one who set the Five known Kingdoms up as a buffer between the Fae world…and yours. We started out born in the mists between the two…Oberon likes to say we are the left over energy from the creation of the world at the beginning of time."

Sarah thought about the stories of creation she'd heard, and of the one Tolkien had written. "Makes sense." She admitted softly. "Go on."

Mismatched eyes looked off into the distance and became unfocused. "Oberon set up the Kingdom in the lands that existed…that were formed from the same energies that gave breathe to us. Each of the lands had their own unique features. One place seemed uninhabitable, totally inhospitable, and desolate. He gathered the entire goblin and sub-goblin races and gave them free reign of the place. At first there were Goblin Kings…and they instructed the race to build and establish themselves. These were warriors, and conquerors! They conquered the savage land given to them. The only thing they could not conquer was the living creature that was part of the Kingdom, the Labyrinth. So they did the next best thing, they co-existed."

"These history lessons have a point?" Sarah asked.

"Indeed." Jareth said. "As you pointed out they can be nasty little creatures just for the fun of it. Well…among the Fae…So can I. When Oberon suggested that I would be a good candidate to be Goblin King it was met with resistance. No youngster had ever been given a crown. Let alone an army of ruffians."

Sarah began to giggle, and then sputtered laughter as she fell over.

"It's not that funny." Jareth said piqued.

"I just got a mental image of you running around the Kingdom…a little kid playing King to a bunch of crazed Goblins! It's like Max in …Where the wild things are!" Sarah was hitting the ground with the flat of her palm. "Oh my God! I can see it!"

Jareth, letting go of his aggravated glare, smiled at the remembrance of his first days as King. "Well, yes…I suppose it does evoke merry and wicked thoughts." He laughed. "Oh I do love the Goblins." That admission got her attention. "I do, they are brave and fun and wicked and accepting…of me." He pursed his lips as he spoke. "Remember I told you my parents relinquished me to the care of the High King? Well what I didn't say was that …many other Fae felt there had to be something wrong with me…not them…that they would be so willing to give me away….You see, we don't reproduce as easily as mortals do… the price of longevity."

A darkness gathered in the green eyes of the young woman. "You mean to tell me, they were blaming a child… a child for the deficiency in two adult Fae?" her words came out in an angry growl. He nodded silently. "That sucks!" she spat out.

"That about sums it up." He agreed. "I will say that I was always treated well by the High King and the High Queen. They could not have treated me more like a son if I'd been their own flesh and blood. Others in the court didn't always treat me as well, and I was not always very…loveable."

"Still!" Sarah protested. "To be blamed for what your parents did…"

"Sarah, be honest. Does it not also happen in the world of man?" He almost seemed to be defending the other Fae.

Sarah remembered the words said so she'd over hear, words against her mother's chosen profession. "That it happens in either world does not make it right, Jareth."

"Right, no," he agreed. "But it does happen."

Sarah began to put two and two together and was not at all happy with the sum they were tallying. "Wait, you mean to tell me… the fact that your parents gave you up to be raised by Oberon is one of the reasons no Fae wanted to …. Make a match with you?

" Jareth sighed. "That's it in a nutshell as they say in your world." He muttered to himself. "Always liked that phrase."

Sarah frowned deeply, her eyes dark with annoyance at the race of beings she was now forced to live among. "Fae…. What a crock! The Fair folk!" She stood up. "You were the victim and they made you the…." She sputtered. "The…."

"Villain?" he suggested. His word stung and she looked down at him.

"Jareth, it's not the same thing! You were a little kid when they did that to you…and a man fully grown…"

"Nearly fully grown." He interjected carefully. Sarah drew a long breath. "There's a big difference in them thinking you a villain, and my thinking you one."

He stood up. "Is there? The rejection feels the same."

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Seth was at the scrying pool, keeping watch while Morganna got some rest and food. He wore a fiendish smile as he watched the two sparing with words.

"You look far too pleased, Fisher King." Vivanne said as she came towards him.

"They have so many delicious issues." Seth admitted. "Theirs will never be a complacent relationship."

"They will never be bored." The Lady of the Lake said as she placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "But you should not take such glee in their predicament; it does not speak well for you."

Seth watched as she walked away, and then looked back at the pool. 'Perhaps it will show them they are not well matched.' He listened to the words being passed back and forth.

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Sarah stomped her foot, "Jareth! That's not a fair comparison. I was a kid! They were not."

Hurt now, open and festering showed on the handsome features. "Your actions hurt far more! You were far closer to my age than they. You rejected me!" He turned his back on her. "After all I did for you, you rejected me."

"All you did for me?" Sarah grabbed hold of his sleeve and spun him around to face her. "All you did for me?" The sarcasm dripped from her utterances. Sarah poked him in the chest with her index finger. "Let me tell you something buster! YOU are not the only person to feel rejection!" She began to back him up. "My mother left me… for an actor! My father married a woman he had never even introduced me to! Kids at school were not allowed to invite me to parties and sleepovers because my mother was an actress! My mother had a fit when you picked me to dance with instead of her! You're so tied up in your own world of self pity you have no idea of what others suffer! Well you know what? I WISH YOU COULD SPEND TWENTY FOUR HOURS LIVING MY LIFE!"

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Seth laughed waved a hand at the pool and said loudly. "Wish granted."

Even as the words spilled from her lips Sarah knew it was the wrong thing to say, and the wrong place to say it. There was a flash of light, and a whirlwind vortex. Both she and the young Fae King were caught up in the vortex and then vanished from the private garden. Seth was still laughing when the other members of the tribunal came rushing over. The pool had sent out fire, and smoke.

Oberon growled at the Fisher King. "What did you do?"

Seth calmly looked at the High King. "I granted Sarah a wish."

Vivanne held a hand up to the High King, hoping it would calm him down. "What kind of wish?" She was speaking calmly and softly, in spite of the rage she was feeling.

"For twenty four hours they will live each other's life." Seth said with a sadistic grin.

Oberon locked his jaw. "What gave you the right to grant any wish, let alone one of such magnitude?"

The Fisher King lowered his eyelids till his eyes were but slits. "It is within my rights to grant a wish here and there."

Oberon pointed to the pool. "They are in seclusion! And they were under my protection, Fisher King." The rest of the tribunal held their breaths; the High King was not one to anger. Seth shrugged. "It was an opportunity I could not refuse."

Morganna looked at the scrying pool. "Where did you send them?"

Seth laughed, "To live each others life for one day. She will be the Goblin King for twenty four hours, and he will be a mortal."

Oberon staggered back, "You took his powers?"

"No," said the Fisher King. "His powers are still with his body. I merely exchanged the spirit inhabiting that body." He began to snicker. "I can just see his face when he wakes up as a girl."

Morganna turned to the High King. "Oh, no…"

Oberon pushed past the Fae holding him back, gripped the front of the tunic worn by the Fisher King and growled. "Release them from that spell."

Seth looked up into the angry face, smiled tranquilly and serenely said. "What's said, is said."