NOTE: I'm back! After an extremely long hiatus from due to a lot of RL mess, I'm back with a "gift" in the form of this new chapter - right in time considering it's that time of the year again and my story is a crossover with the Santa Clause series :) This time, father and daughter have a "charming" (pun intended) moment together. The plot begins to thicken, what in the world is Jareth planning with the Sandman? And in all this, where has Sarah gone off to?
*** Later on ***
A furious Trisha stormed in her room, slamming the door shut behind her, and slumped dejectedly in front of the chiseled dressing table.
She stared darkly at her mirrored reflection. With her blow-out hair, one blue and one dark eye, the straight nose and the small mouth set in a thin line, she looked rather like a dark version of Jareth. The uncanny resemblance with her father had riled her often before, but never like this - now that the only thing she craved was tossing a crystal against Jareth so he could disappear forever, in the depths of the Oubliette or in the Bog of the Eternal Stench. Anywhere - in any place from which his mocking sneer couldn't return to haunt her life.
Attending - enduring - that tedious ball had been a nightmare; she was having more and more troubles smiling and pretending that all was well when her thoughts were flying off with her.
There you go, father. I didn't spoil your fun, did I?, she thought, while she bitterly and angrily brushed her hair. You and mother didn't think twice about spoiling mine, but that's fine, isn't it?
When she had finally made her way toward them, after her dance with the winter herald, she had immediately noticed that something was way off. Her mother tried to be diplomatic - as always; she had smiled at Trisha and asked if she was having a good time, but anyone could see that beneath the exterior, she was upset. Even her voice sounded off, long before the invisible tendrils of future that departed from her hands coiled around Jareth's own - almost challengingly.
And speaking of her father...
He was too clever to reveal his true colors, of course. But even just from the way he had stared back at Trisha, from the way he had scathingly looked her over, she had understood what must have happened. She had seen it in their faces like a confession, and she had felt lost.
What the hell had come upon her mother? Why she was getting involved in this? She didn't have anything to do with that succession stuff! Sure, she might have married the Goblin King and renounced to her mortal life to become a Fae, but she wasn't of royal birth. Why she had to mess up everything, throwing the intricately intertwined web of destiny upside down?
Trisha leapt to her feet and paced restlessly around her room, chewing on her nails in distress.
What am I going to do, now?
She couldn't stand her ground against both her parents. Not if they went at her together. Sarah perhaps was an opponent right up her alley, but in order to defeat Jareth she was going to need every single fiber of her magical essence - and then some. From any way she looked at it, the outcome was firmly set against her; the tendrils of her future recoiled before her parents own, and their glow was dimmer and dimmer by the minute...
"It's not fair!", she growled, balling her fists.
"You sound more and more like your mother", a mocking voice suddenly called out behind her.
For the second time that day, the young Fae didn't even turn. Her father's weakness for impressive entrances was renowned to anyone who had even just happened to cross the Goblin City. The mortals never expected it of him, and were awestruck when Jareth appeared out of thin air from his barn owl shape, or from the ragged clothes of a blind old beggar. It did not help that for the most part, the mortals from the Aboveground were stupid as hay.
"What a honor", Trisha hissed bitterly. "The Goblin King forfeits his royal duties to talk with me. Should I curtsy?"
"I can't forfeit my father duties, either", Jareth countered, and she could have sworn that he was grinning. "Why so much poison in your words, my dear? Everything's gone perfectly, don't you think?"
He knows? Trisha's heart skipped a beat She didn't even dare throw so much as a look to the tendrils of future - not as long as he was in the room. Jareth might have seized the momentary distraction to throw a crystal sphere against her. If he was going to make the first move, then he would do so when she had the guard down. Maybe he would even attack her from behind.
"If you're referring to the ball", she said, trying desperately not to give away how frightened she was, "it was every bit as drab and boring as those that came before and those that will follow, and that will hopefully be fewer than the mortals who crossed the Labyrinth over the centuries..."
As if he had plucked a thought from her head, a crystal sphere rolled lazily before Trishas feet. She whipped around and faced Jareth, who had crossed his arms and was observing her with slight amusement.
"What does this mean?", the girl hissed coldly.
Jareth smirked.
"You know. It's just a crystal..."
"I thought we were talking about the ball, not about my dreams!"
"Must it be one or the other? Speaking of which... I saw you dance with the winter herald."
Trisha forcibly refrained from lowering her stare. It would have been tantamount to declaring herself guilty.
"Well, there weren't many other options. The refreshments was stinking and the company was dreadful..."
"So now you're friends with that... what's his name... Fop?", Jareth laughed. "Goblins... you're really fallen at your lowest if you can't even pick a decent ally!"
"His name is Fog", Trisha corrected him through clenched teeth. "And just so you know, he's not my ally!"
"As you wish. Servant, then. Crony, lackey... or maybe helper", he nickered. "Isn't that how their boss calls them?"
"I don't need help from a gopher of that stupid Santa Clause!", she retorted furiously. "When I want something, I go ahead and take it!"
Not like him, who was surrounded by stupid and inept Goblins! Trisha was planning to use the winter herald as a mean to deflect a direct confrontation with Jareth. But once the Goblin City and the Labyrinth were hers... she would have hung him up in the Oubliette like a Christmas decoration - with the other Council members to keep him company. After all... when they have outdone their use, what do I owe to these people?
Jareth reached out for the crystal on the floor; it darted across the room and landed spinning on his palm.
"You claim that you don't need any aid in order to take what you want", the Goblin King hissed. "Then what are you waiting for?"
He was still smiling, but his face had lost all its earlier amusement. Trisha had really only seen him that furious when she had lured those two mortals in the Labyrinth. Instinctively, she backed against the wall.
"I don't... What makes you think that it'll be me and not uncle Toby?", she cried.
"Your uncle hasn't set foot in the Underground since he was a child. His mortal time is running out, and if he hasn't expressed any wish to join us in all this time..."
"He could do so any moment! Humans are obsessed with those things. Even mother can't stop counting time..."
Jareth hesitated for so much a second, and she went on;
"Uncle Toby has never seriously thought about death all this while. But if he changed his mind... or if aunt Charlotte passed away before he did? It coud happen, it's all in his possible futures..."
"Have you talked with your mother about it?"
"No, she doesn't even want to mention that subject... did you tell her, then?" Trisha grimaced. "I saw that you had heads together during the ball..."
"I gave her an outline of it all - yes."
"Did you tell here that you're hoping her brother dies before he can possibly change his mind?", she asked harshly. Jareth stiffened, while his eyes narrowed in two slits, sparkling with rage.
"I don't know what you're speaking of", he hissed.
Trisha had regained some color in her face.
"Is this the reason why you're tormenting me as of late, isn't it? You want to get rid of me while you wait for uncle Toby's time to wear out!", she spat. "During the last court party, when everyone else had taken their leave, you stayed behind with the Sandman. And when I came back, you were still talking with him!"
Jareth wrinkled his nose.
"The day I'll decide to let you in any business I have with my minions, I'll let you know."
"Father! I heard you! You mentioned uncle Toby, and the Sandman said that everything was in check. What, are you sending him dreams to keep him far from the Underground?"
"Trish... I warn you...", the Goblin King snarled.
"No, I warn you! If you don't let me alone, I swear I'll tell mother everything! I bet she won't be so ready to take your side, if she knew you're brainwashing her beloved little brother behind her back!", she retorted challengingly.
Jareth tightened his grip on the crystal sphere and pulled back his arm, as if to throw it against Trisha. Just then, however, another crystal popped out of thin air; it was glowing a pale silver as it lazily drifted toward them, like a waterlily pushed onward by the calm currents. Within it, surrounded by flashes and sparks of pure silver, Jack Frost was grinning smugly.
"I wish that the daughter of the Goblin King would come to me right now", they heard him enunciate.
"Speak of the devil..." Jareth murmured.
Trisha let out something halfway between a groan and a sigh as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Guess I'll have to go up and see what he wants. Listen...", she added, since her father's anger seemed to have ebbed, at least for the present time. "Do you mind if I take a stroll in the Aboveground, when I'm done with him? I'd rather stay away from the Castle, at least for a while..."
Jareth raised a thin eyebrow.
"Then you don't wish to go back to the subject of your uncle Toby, my dear?"
"Perhaps we'll go back to that some other day. Today I'm not in the mood."
"But you just said..."
"I must go", Trisha cut him off sharply, before vanishing in a cloud of glittering smoke. Her voice lingered behind for just a small second. "Tell mother not to wait for me."