"How dare you! Pervert!" Sarah furiously roared. She had woken up to Jareth sitting in her room, reading her work. Fury erupted through her and, while she told herself it was due to a lack of privacy, she honestly wasn't sure what it completely stemmed from. Jareth stood, placing her writing draft on the vanity.
"Nothing I've done is perverted" Jareth calmly stated. Sarah pushed herself from the bed and clenched her hands into fists.
"What are you doing in here?" Sarah demanded. "Are you spying on me?"
Jareth sneered and stepped towards her, standing tall above her. Nothing had changed on his person, nothing but his manner. His expression told her all she needed to know and Sarah had the deference to be suddenly intimidated. Jareth leaned in, but remained inches away from her.
"I would watch what you say" Jareth said through gritted teeth. "I will not stand for such unruly and rude behavior. Do it again and you will find yourself in an unfortunate place."
"You wouldn't harm me" Sarah said. She was visibly trying to regain her ground.
"Wouldn't I?" Jareth said. He raised an eyebrow. His eyes were the only thing that moved, in a minute gesture, towards the novel behind him. "I was simply reading your work. Your story has potential, but you need to revise it. The villain is transparent and the mystery is about as elusive as a goblin at a beer festival. I nearly skipped right to the end to see if I had made the correct assumptions."
"Excuse me?" Sarah asked. Her jaw dropped. Offended would be putting it lightly. "I am one of the highlighted authors at—"
"Enough" Jareth said raising a hand for silence. He stepped back. "It needs to be revised." He stormed to the door, pausing when his hand touched the knob. "And Sarah? If your mind is so set on desire, you can find me around the castle, but don't think, for one second, that I will behave any less than the king that I am."
As soon as Jareth left the room, he heard the thud of a shoe hit the door. He smiled to himself, pleased that he could rile her up, but anger loomed darkly overhead. Perhaps he had been wrong about the dark-haired beauty. He was angry at himself for having listened to his brother and for thinking that Sarah would have some inkling of feeling for him.
Sarah paced around her room. She had retrieved her shoe from earlier and fumed over her current predicament. She was not a fan of being caged. She finally plopped down at the vanity and let out an exasperated sigh. She rested her head on her hand when she heard the sound of a door and talking coming from outside of her door. Quickly, Sarah stood up and ran to the door. She banged on it.
"Hello?" Sarah called. "Let me out!"
The chatter stopped and Sarah banged on the door again. The door knob turned with a light creaking. Sarah stepped back, hoping beyond hope that whoever was opening the door would help her. The door opened and Aaron, the man who brought her to the labyrinth, stood there.
"Sarah" Aaron said. He had a smile on his face and someone was with him. They were dressed in clothes that looked freshly washed and pressed. "Greetings."
"It—its Aaron, right?" Sarah asked. The woman with him smiled. "Are you Tess?"
"Yes" Tess said. She moved to stand next to Aaron, instead of partially behind him. Sarah looked a little befuddled. Tess stuck her hand out. "You must be Sarah. Nice to meet you."
"You're Tess Fulton, the author" Sarah said shaking Tess's hand. "What are you—were you kidnapped too?"
"You're not kidnapped" Aaron chimed in. Sarah looked at him as if he was crazy. "Your door wasn't even locked."
"It wasn't?" Sarah asked. She looked at the door knob. She slipped out of the room and into the hall. "I thought I was locked in."
"You were asked to be here" Aaron told her. "You walked through that door yourself."
"Yes—No—" Sarah stumbled over herself. "Jareth kidnaps people, he's not nice…"
Aaron's brow furrowed and he looked at Tess. He wasn't the biggest fan of his brother, but he had a firmer grip on reality than Sarah. "Sarah? Didn't you wish your brother away years ago?"
"Yes, I did, but I never meant it" Sarah replied.
"One second Tess" Aaron whispered to her. He looked at Sarah and guided her across the wide hallway so they could speak a little privately. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my brother is, if anything, true to his word to a fault."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah hissed.
"It means that if you wished for something, then all he did was grant that wish" Aaron replied. "If you wanted something, he gave it to you." He could see Sarah replaying memories in her mind. "Did he not stay true to his word? That would be a first."
"I asked him to send me home" Sarah whispered. Aaron nodded with understanding. Jareth had not been able to win her over. "He told me that I would have to wait for you to return before he sent you to escort me."
"He is true to his word to a fault, Sarah" Aaron told her again. He stepped back and Tess walked over to him. "I'm showing Tess the grounds. Care to join us?"
"You're sure you don't need rescuing or something?" Sarah asked Tess.
"Jareth will get a piece of my mind" Tess said. "But, I don't believe I need rescuing."
"Huh" Sarah simply said. Aaron and Tess headed down the hallway. It took her a moment, but Sarah followed them, listening to Aaron point out little intricacies about the castle.
Sarah had remained quiet for most of Aaron's castle tour. It reminded her of a museum tour, but with a slightly personal touch. He led them around the ground floor which was surprisingly large. Aaron had told them a little about the state of the labyrinth before Jareth and some of the changes he had made to the kingdom.
"He sounds a lot like an old warlord from long ago" Tess said. "From our history."
"Who is that?" Aaron asked. "Your history has always influenced ours and ours yours."
"Vlad Dracula" Tess replied. "He was a great man."
"He impaled people and inspired a vampire novel!" Sarah said with disgust. "He was horrible!"
Tess rolled her eyes and turned to narrow her eyes at the younger brunette. "He only impaled his enemies and bad people. His countrymen loved him and still do. Vlad Dracula took his country from anarchist state to nearly being one of the first countries of the first wave of industrial revolution, which was only agricultural-based machinery, but still. He was ahead of his time. He even kept the Ottomans at bay until Hungary stepped in and dethroned him." Tess paused briefly. "How much do you know about him?" Sarah's taken-aback look was enough of an answer. "I could lecture on him if I ever chose to; I won't, but please have the facts in order before you make accusations."
"Sorry" Sarah said. Tess went back to examining a painting of Jareth, who was posing with a crystal ball and horde of goblins that simultaneously formed a shadowed backdrop. "I didn't think it would offend you."
"Jareth had this ridiculous piece commissioned by mother's preferred painter" Aaron said stepping between the women. "She was furious." Aaron led them down a corridor, promising to take them to the gardens, when he heard the light clanking sounds from the ballroom. "Someone sounds busy."
"What is that?" Sarah asked. The metallic scraping and clanking was followed by a heavy step.
"Fencing" Tess replied. Aaron raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I fenced in high school and college."
"Jareth is fairly accomplished with the sword" Aaron said. He opened a door that led into the ballroom-turned-fencing-studio and they all stepped in to watch as two white figures moved back and forth with swords, almost in a dance. Post, block, repost, block, repost…it went on until the figure on the right fell into an extended lunge and his foil made firm contact on the other person's chest, the arc of the blade a defined confirmation of this. Aaron clapped loudly and patronizingly as they stood to regroup. "You're still not as good as me."
Jareth, the figure who had landed the touch, pulled his mask from his face. His hair was pulled back from his face and his brow was rife with sweat. "What are you doing in here?"
"Giving the ladies a small tour of the ground floor" Aaron replied. Jareth walked over to them, his face pulled into an angry frown.
"Get them out of here. Take them home" Jareth said. He looked at Sarah and nodded towards her. "Especially her."
"Jareth—" Aaron said. Sarah's face slowly fell into a frown.
"Clean slate, Aaron. Don't ruin it" Jareth said heading back to his waiting opponent.
"Can I speak with you?" Sarah asked softly. Aaron and Tess headed towards the door. Sarah held up her pointer-finger and took a step towards the fencers. Jareth stood at a mark on the floor and saluted his opponent with his sword. "Can we speak?"
"I am busy" Jareth said brusquely. Sarah's shoulders drooped and she left the room. Before the door was even shut, the metallic clank of the swords began.
Aaron, Tess, and Sarah went out the castle gardens. Aaron and Tess walked together and treaded along the graveled path. Sarah looked around for Hoggle, but didn't see him or his cart. Aaron and Tess were walking by a section of daisies. Sarah was sure they wouldn't mind her looking for her friend.
Sarah wandered the spanse of yard between the patio and garden, hoping to find the dwarf she missed. The castle gardens were partially separated from the castle by tall, narrow cypress trees that occasionally had spaces filled with strange purple-leafed trees and flowers. Sarah followed the garden division and came across a small garden shed. It was a stone building that looked old, but firm. Sarah peeked through one of the dirty windows and saw that it was empty.
"Hoggle?" Sarah called out. She looked around the shed and across the yard, but didn't see anyone. The breeze carried a sweet aroma of flowers and the local fauna created a relaxing natural melody among the garden and grounds. Sarah headed for an area that had a large sign reading 'Orchard'.
The orchard was made up of peach trees. The trunks all seemed to rise about five feet from the ground before outstretching into an assortment of branches. The leaves were bright green and the fruit a fuzzy ménage of red, orange, and yellow. Sarah inhaled the sweet smell and wandered down the orchard aisle.
"Hoggle? Are you here?" Sarah called out as she moved between the trees. She crossed a few more rows of trees, not finding her friend. A peach hung near her head. She reached out and touched it. It felt soft and fuzzy, and smelled perfectly ripe. She gave a slight twist and the fruit popped off of the branch.
"That's stealing" A familiar voice said from behind her. Sarah's eyes widened and she turned around. Jareth stood near a tree watching her with a blank face. He was still in his fencing outfit, but didn't have his sword or mask with him. "You wished to speak with me?"
"Yes" Sarah said firmly. "I wanted to apologize for before."
"Which part?" Jareth asked.
"Everything" Sarah said. She gestured with her hands, not daring to take a bite with Jareth watching her. "I…" Her eyes looked around, searching for answers. "I completely misunderstood what was going on and I acted…I was rude. I'm very sorry." Jareth didn't move and didn't say anything. Sarah took a deep breath and flicked her head to get a strand of hair out of her face. "I'll just leave. Sorry."
"The peach" Jareth said before Sarah could turn away. She looked at the fruit, then held it out to him. He didn't take the fruit, but he looked directly at it. "You can't take it back with you. These peaches are special. If you're going to eat it, eat it here."
"Oh" Sarah muttered. "Will it do anything to me?"
"Would you like it to?" Jareth asked. Sarah heard the lightness in his voice, but his face was still as hard as ever.
"I would prefer it didn't right now" Sarah answered. Jareth shrugged.
"Perhaps later" Jareth said. Jareth's eyes fell upon Sarah and it made her want to squirm.
"I was listening to Tess and Aaron" Sarah said. She brushed her fingers over the fuzzy skin of the peach as she talked. "They assured me that you had no ill intentions and that you just…uh…"
"Wanted a dinner date?" Jareth finished. Sarah nodded 'yes'. "I thought I would ask, but it seems as though it was merely a silly thought." He gestured with his hand the direction of the orchard entrance. "The entrance is that way. I'll walk you back to the gardens."
Sarah followed Jareth through the trees towards the entrance. Jareth held a branch out of the way for her and she graced him with a small smile. By the time they got to the shed, Sarah had made up her mind.
"I'll have dinner with you" Sarah said. "It's the least I can do to apologize for myself."
Jareth stopped in his tracks, but didn't look at her. His hands clenched into light fists, then relaxed. "I would be delighted to have your company."
He walked back to the castle without checking if she was following him. Jareth slipped back into the castle without a glance back at Sarah.
NOTE: Hope you like it! I didn't want you all to think I would just leave Sarah as a brat.