Following the fallout between Jareth and Frost, it was decided that Jareth needed to spend time in the Seelie Court to better learn his responsibilities. Though this was met with much opposition from the young prince, it was more of on principle than any real distaste for the order. Milksop rather suspected the boy enjoyed being around others with talents similar to his, but the boy was smart enough not to show any enjoyment. Jack Frost had somehow decided that if the boy enjoyed it, it was bad.

Every few months, Jack Frost would order the boy to pack his things, whereupon he would drag Jareth and Milksop to wherever the Seelie Court had taken up residence. On these trips, Jareth gained something precious: freedom. Everyone in the Seelie court glittered, and Jack Frost often left the young prince entirely to Milksop. Jareth found that hide and seek became much more fun when Milksop could not follow the glitter trail. Even when Jareth was not hiding, there were many things to learn in the Court.

Jareth learned the orbs he had been creating could not only show him what was but could also show others what he wished them to see. In the Court, he worked hard to improve his rudimentary skills with glamours. When he returned to the Unseelie court, however, he practiced working reality into glamour. If he could see the real and create the imagined, it stood to reason he could see the imagined and create reality. Though Jack Frost adamantly refused to see it, the boy was indeed powerful.

Jack Frost had taken a strong disinterest in his heir. Since he could no longer control the boy, he no longer cared for him. The only time he gave the boy was spent trying to infuriate him. A small revenge, he considered, for stealing his hopes of a miniature of himself or Adelaide. He had since taken to dealing with some of the more powerful figures on the fringes of the court. Though he had to remain friendly with the Seelie Court, some part of him hated them for not protecting Adelaide. He had only been tolerated, at best, by them. But Adelaide…..she had been one of them. She had been royal and carefree and beautiful, and they had let her die in childbirth. Jack could not decide if he continued to take Jareth to the Court for Adelaide or to annoy the brat. He wasn't sure he even cared anymore.

Milksop knocked at the Prince's door. They were to head off to the Seelie Court again. This time, Jack Frost wouldn't be attending at all.

"Come in." Jareth sounded rather bored. When Milksop opened the door, he found the Prince standing idly in the middle of the room. He was spinning crystals in one hand, almost absently. When Milksop did not deliver his message immediately Jareth raised held the crystal still between.

"You are to depart for the Seelie Court immediately."

"I?"

"Of course, I will be accompanying you."

"Of course," Jareth commented dryly. "And my father….?"

"Will be attending business, elsewhere."

"Ah," was all the comment Millksop received, but there were traces of a smile on the Prince's face. It was too cold and harsh to truly be any such thing, and yet….

"Would you like to see my latest project, Milksop?"

"Of course, My Prince." Jareth released the crystal, but instead of falling, it drifted delicately over to Milksop. As it approached, the elderly goblin studied it. Inside the orb, there was a room, but not a room Milksop had never seen. He looked closer and suddenly experienced an odd dropping sensation in his stomach.

The goblin made a small sound of distress as he looked about and found himself in the room he had been studying. It was a stone room with vaulted ceilings. The room was circular with a circular pit in the center and stairs leading to a platform along one wall. On the platform, in a simply-made, crescent throne lounged the Prince.

"Sorry to startle you." He said without looking at the goblin. "I wasn't sure I could do it. You are the first to experience it. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." He wore the smirk he usually saved for his father. For a moment, Milksop felt the full power that the look held and almost felt sympathy for Jack Frost. Then he looked around. Jareth was waiting quietly for a response.

"This is very impressive. Who taught you?"

"A nymph taught me the principle. I admit I'm not using it quite as she intended."

"To be sure. But then this is much more than a parlor trick." The room suddenly dissolved into the much more familiar image of the Prince's quarters.

"Sorry, it is difficult to concentrate while creating an image."

"Is that all it was?"

"Not really. It was mostly real."

"Mostly?" Milksop challenged. Jareth merely inclined his head in agreement.

"Should this be a secrete?" Milksop challenged, hoping the Prince was as clever as he appeared.

"Obviously, Milksop. Do you often consider speaking lightly of your King's daily activities?"

"Of course not, My Lord." Milksop bowed lower so Jareth would not see his grin. Never before had the boy, now a young man, acknowledged his rank for anything other than to spite his father. Even then, it was only in vague hints.

By the time Milksop straightened, he was back to business. "When you are ready, My Lord, we shall depart."

Hello friends!

For those who may or may not be familiar with the Seelie and Unseelie Court, there are various depictions. Generally, the Seelie Court is seen as a merry group of faeries who are generally people-friendly (though not opposed to mischief) and have something of a moral code. Titania and her faerie entourage in Shakespeare are a fairly good example of a faery court. The Seelie Court would have been made up of the Kings and Queens that used the light side of the force or ethics. The Unseelie Court would (in an oversimplification) be those that use the dark side. Jack Frost is an odd character because he appears in both camps. The boyish depiction of him would belong to the Seelie Court (though not a Court favorite), and his old man counterpart would be a solid Unseelie Court member. Jareth belongs to an interesting gray area in the film Labyrinth.

Other notes: Jareth's magic, much like Elsa's is vaguely defined and covers an interesting scope. His powers, while certainly within the limits of faerie gifts, are definitely an odd manifestation of them and an even stranger application of them. (For example, like most faeries, he enjoys changing his appearance to mess with humans, but while most would use a glamour, he uses an actual cloak, but later he creates a glamour world for her.)

Additionally, originally I had wanted Jareth to raise his eyebrow like Elsa because it slipped my mind that Jareth's brows could not possibly arch higher (though his trying does conjure an image that should be framed). His eyebrows and Elsa's proclivity for making her's soar were part of the groundwork for this whole theory.