Checked for continuity, spelling, and grammar: May 4, 2011.

Chapter Thirty: Different Perspectives

It was shortly after ten when Edmund began the last leg of his nightly run that would take him through the woods and directly to the dorms. Had he not been so used to seeing no one, he may not have noticed her sitting on the bench. Still, he likely would not have stopped but for the utterly despondent look on her face. "Whoa, Williams, isn't it a bit late for you to be out here"

Startled at the sound of anything louder than crickets and bullfrogs, Sarah jumped and looked up. "Oh, hey Eddie."

"What's up? You look, well, upset."

"Upset doesn't even begin to cover it." She gave the water a flat look and tossed away what was left of the leaf she had been shredding.

"Oh. Why"

"Because men are stupid."

Hoping he would not regret it, Edmund sat down next to her. "Well, uh, you wanna talk about it? I'm no Agnes or anything, but maybe I can offer a different perspective."

She looked at him half teasing, half suspicious. "You're not attempting to use this situation to get into Agnes' good graces or anything because of the picnic incident, are you"

"Nah, that's long since been resolved." He paused before looking mildly horrified and rushed on. "Not that I'd do that if I did need to get back into her good graces or anything. I mean."

Sarah cut him off with a small smile. "I'm just teasing you, Edmund. It's ok." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and looked back at the pond.

He coughed and scratched the back of his head before taking a deep breath. "So what's up?"

"Oh, not much. I'm just frustrated and angry and confused and bitter and guilty and sorry and sad and... and... ergh."

Edmund rolled his eyes. "Oh, is that all?"

She shrugged. "Well, yeah. Don't worry. It'll pass."

"Women."

"Pardon" Sarah turned sharply and looked at him through narrow eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's no wonder everything is complicated when it comes to dealing with you all. All those things at the same time? And this amounts to 'not much'? Very simple."

"It is perfectly simple. I'm frustrated because I couldn't get through to him. I'm angry because his way of thinking is stupid. I'm confused because I don't understand his side. I'm bitter because I have a feeling I'll end up seeing his side of it in the end and don't want to be wrong. I'm guilty because I wasn't very nice. And I'm sad because I don't want him to be mad at me."

"Him? What, did you and Jareth have a fight?"

She sighed heavily. "Yeah, I guess you could say so."

"About what?"

"See, now that is the complicated part."

"Oh, come on. Try me. I am a man after all."

"Oh, really?" Sarah scoffed. "So we had this impromptu dinner tonight and started discussing his, uh, work and the, well, the chain of command involved. And apparently those in a position of... of high authority have unending power and influence over those with less... authority."

"What sort of business is he into?"

"Oh... something within the government."

"Ah. Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Huh"

"People in government having power and influence over those in a lower rank. That sounds about right. So what's the problem?"

"Oh." Sarah couldn't help but blink. "I, uh, his superiors can walk all over him on a whim, and he has no say in the matter, no opportunity to object or present an argument. And he can do the same to his... people, who have no say either. Even if what is going on is unjust."

Edmund frowned. "He commits frequent injustices? More importantly deliberate ones?"

"Well, no." At least not since I defeated the Labyrinth, apparently.

"Okay... So you, what, questioned the ethics of the system?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And I suggested that perhaps it was high time for change."

"I'm sure that went over well."

"Like a slug in a punch bowl. He basically told me that any such change would seriously upset the balance of power, and the whole system will fall apart. And that I obviously didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about."

"Ooh. Them's fightin' words."

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. So I did the mature thing and did what amounted to tromping off in a huff."

"Well, at least you didn't bite his head off."

"I guess."

They kicked their heels in silence for a few minutes as Edmund pondered over the situation. "So what, exactly, does Jareth do?"

"Uh, I couldn't even begin to describe it. But I know it's a rather, well, prominent role."

"In the government?"

"Yep."

"And he's foreign, right?"

"Yep."

"He's not, I don't know, Communist or part of some tyrannical dictatorship?"

Try Monarchical "Uh, no, nothing like that."

"Right. Um, Sarah, I don't mean this to be insulting or anything... but Poli-Sci was never your strong suit."

She looked sharply at him again. "What do you mean?"

"Well, remember when we took Central American History together?"

"Yeah..."

"You aced every test, quiz, and paper that prof threw at us with the exception of the one that covered the inner workings and foundation of the modern governments. And according to Agnes, you've been that way about any governmental system since High School."

"Ok, so something about the concepts just eludes my grasp. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Little defensive there, geez. I'm just saying that maybe Jareth was right." He held up his hands in defense at her incredulous and accusatory look. "No, just hear me out. I don't know him, I don't know the particulars, and I'm not siding with him because he's a guy and I should take the stand of the male in the argument. Seriously though, I'm a Chemistry major, minoring in Accounting, have no head for all that bookish stuff like you, and even I got a higher score on that test than you."

"Gee, thanks for rubbing it in."

"I'm just saying. Maybe you just can't see why things have to be the way they are in whatever branch he works with because you don't get the way the system works as a whole. And even our government has a ranking system, and the superiors have to keep the little people in line somehow."

"But without some sort of checks and balance?"

"Did you give him a chance to explain they work?"

"Well..." Sarah blinked. "No, not really. He just said that the system balances itself and then I kind of moved on. I guess I was stuck on other things."

"There you go. So go home, call him up, and graciously tell him you're giving him the chance to apologize and explain himself further. That's probably what Agnes would tell you to do. At least it's what she does whenever we argue."

"I... well... I don't exactly have his number."

"He knows how to contact you, hell, he knows where you live, and you don't have his number?" Edmund felt as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head, he was so surprised. "Dude, Sarah, are you sure I don't need to go kick this guy's ass for you?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"But how do you know he isn't some sort of creep or something?"

"I... Well..." She shrugged. "I just know. It's a combination of women's intuition and, well, a very long story."

"Hm. If you're sure. But don't forget that the offer still stands should you need it."

"I won't. And Eddie" Sarah looked at him with an ironic smile. "Thanks."

Suddenly embarrassed, he scratched the back of his head and avoided her gaze. "Sure. Uh, do you want me to walk you back?"

"Nah, I might sit here for a while and think."

"Are you sure? It's dark out."

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm out here all the time. Don't worry so much."

"Ok, this time I am protecting myself against Agnes' ire. She'll be upset if I just leave you here alone. So just let me walk you back already."

"To keep you out of trouble, I guess I can do that." As they started back, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Does Agnes really do that when you two have a tiff?"

"Yeah. She explained it once that by making the first move, she moves to the halfway point. By insisting I apologize first, she ensures I don't take advantage of her and start walking all over her. And by being gracious about it, generally apologizing after I do, she makes sure my masculinity isn't threatened. I'm not entirely sure how, or why, it works, but it makes her happy."

Sarah chuckled, much amused in spite of her less than good mood. "You two have quite the friendship, you know."

"Yeah."

Jareth drummed his fingers on his desk. He had spent much of the night pacing, resisting the temptation to conjure up a crystal and do the very thing he had not even considered doing since he discovered she disliked it so: spying on Sarah to find out what she was doing.

He knew she was no longer angry. That, along with a few other things she was feeling that were directed at him, had ebbed away within an hour or so. He had sensed her conversing with someone, though he could not tell whom. He assumed it was her friend, Agnes.

But what had replaced her anger, along with what had remained, concerned and upset him more than how she felt before: The mild sorrow, the hint of guilt, and a rather intense worry. This only ended in his worry increasing, and his own sense of guilt heightening as well. He decided he would rather have her angry.

Lacking any better ideas, and unable to rest until an idea came, Jareth vanished from his office to just outside the Garden Entrance to the castle. Though pacing in his study or his bedchamber would not have caused any wear to his carpeting, he thought perhaps a walk in the night air might clear his head. It was not long before his feet took him toward the same area he had brought Sarah to early that afternoon.

Staring at the stone bench from where he stood on the opposite side of the octagonal clearing, Jareth rubbed one hand across his face. "She is impossibly stubborn," he muttered.

"If yer speakin' of any of the plants here, yer Majesty, I can't say as they'd take kindly to such a remark" came a voice from somewhere to his right. "Though if yeh mean the little lady, well, I's got to agree with yeh."

"Hoggle," Jareth leaned against the hedge entrance without so much as rustling the branches before turning to look at the dwarf. He grinned, wryly, unsurprised at Hoggle's presence in the garden. "What the devil are you still doing here at this hour?" It was a question he was fairly sure he could guess the answer to, yet asked all the same to see how well he knew this particular subject of his.

The dwarf set his spade down, giving the soil a pat before sitting back on his heels to look directly at his King. "Well, I didn't get as much work done today as I'd've liked, seein' as I had that interruption. Not," he was quick to add, "that any interruption of that sort would be unwelcome."

"Of course. Still, would it not be easier to do this tomorrow? Surely an afternoon off would not cause you to fall so greatly behind."

"Eh" Hoggle shrugged. "It's not like I's got all that much to do 'sides this, so I was just checking on how things had been growin' in other parts of the Gardens than I's been working on. Was about to call it a day, anyway. But, er, to tell yeh the truth, yer Majesty, somethin' told me I should wait a bit longer."

An eyebrow popped up marginally. "Indeed?"

"Aye." Though still filling the roles of servant and master, subject and ruler, through their close interaction in the planning and developing of the Gardens, the two had formed a strange bond. Granted, intimacies were rarely shared, yet it was as though they were united on a common front and working toward a common goal of a nature greater than the cultivation of plants. Thus, Hoggle began with much less hesitation than he would ever have dared nine years previous. "So, what has she done this time?"

Jareth chuckled low, turning his gaze to the sky. "I cannot honestly say that it was entirely her, if it ever is entirely the fault of one person. We merely did not see eye to eye on a certain point of discussion at dinner, and she refused to accept my explanation in the slightest." He paused before adding, "She asked to be returned home without a resolution being reached."

"And did yeh?"

"Naturally. There is very little I would refuse her should her request be within my abilities to grant."

Hoggle chose not to comment on this tidbit of information, however telling it may have been. Nevertheless, he was relieved to once again have evidence that his king's intentions toward his friend were neither fickle nor vengeful in nature. "What did yeh fight over?"

"Namely the fact that I have ultimate power over my kingdom, and, for all intents and purposes, the people in it. Much in the way the High King and Queen have the same over the entire Underground."

There was a pause as Hoggle awaited more information. When none appeared to be forthcoming, he gave a gentle prompt. "And?"

"Though the wording was different, she essentially proclaimed the system as being unfair." The two exchanged a look before chuckling, the memories of another occasion when such an argument had been made. Still smiling, Jareth returned his gaze to the sky before continuing. "I must admit that I do see her point. There have been more than a few Fae rulers who cared not a whit for the well being of their subjects, their Kingdoms, using their positions and their power for personal gratification. But what she does not see, what she doesn't understand is that the magic of the Underground rectifies that situation on its own. It may take some time, and there will likely be great suffering, but the price for such actions is always paid in full. The ideas she suggested, while presenting an immediate solution, could well cause more destruction than do any good."

Once again, there was a pause before Hoggle gave his response. "You know, yer Majesty, I knows as well as you do yerself that things be the way they be here in the Labyrinth. In the whole Underground. 'Tis the way of our very existence. But Sarah... she ain't from here. She don't know the rules, and won't until someone tells her. And even then it ain't going to be something she'll accept easily. And as fer her being stubborn," he shrugged, "yeh probably wouldn't be havin' her any other way."

"Very true. And well am I aware of it. Though it is not so much the nature of it all so much as..." Jareth hesitated, resisting the admission of the root of his discomfort. "To say I dislike the idea of leaving any disagreement or argument, however large or small, unresolved between the two of us for any length of time would be a great understatement."

"Well, she probably just needs time to think. Yeh know, calm down, be in a better frame of mind to be reasoned with, more welcoming of an explanation. When she's ready, she'll want to talk to yeh about it and she'll let yeh know, somehow."

"Wisdom from the mouth of babes"

"Eh, I'm only young when compared to yerself. I ain't no spring chicken. 'Sides, I has lots of time to think with no one to talk to outside of Didymus and Ludo. And even then, 'tis only on occasion."

Jareth's rich chuckle echoed. "Hoggle, I believe you are in need of a vacation."

"Nah," he waved a wrinkled hand in dismissal of the idea"I likes being busy. And even if I wanted one, I don't think it would let me. Not 'till these here gardens be finished, at least."

Brow furrowed, he cast a sharp look at the dwarf. "Not let you? It?"

Hoggle gestured widely. "The Labyrinth."

Jareth stared blankly as the dwarf picked up the spade once again. "I see." He stood there, continuing to stare as Hoggle returned to his work. After a few minutes, he spoke again. "Well, since you apparently have all the answers this evening, how do you suggest I go about explaining this to her?"

Hoggle shrugged. "Beats me. As yeh said yerself, she is impossibly stubborn."