Chapter Seventeen: Change of Plan

"So why aren't you guys going to have the wedding here?" Jeremy asked after a lengthy Q & A session with Jareth and Sarah.

"Because it wouldn't be practical," the Goblin Queen answered.

"The Labyrinth isn't an inn," the Goblin King added. "You can't just whisk people in and out according to what you feel like."

"But you have to bring people here if they wish for it, right?" Jeremy inquired thoughtfully.

"Depending on how the wish is worded, yes," Jareth replied just as thoughtfully, "but you can't just go around wishing for things without thinking about it first."

Sarah glanced sidelong at Jareth, but decided to let the comment go.

"Well, I've thought about it," Jeremy went on, "and I think I know what I want my third wish to be."

Sarah sucked in her breath.

"Alright," Jareth drew himself up, "let's hear it then."

"I wish," Jeremy began slowly, "that the Goblin King and the Goblin Queen would get married in their castle and bring the guests here instead of sending the goblins to earth."

Sarah's jaw hung open. Jareth stared at Jeremy, searching for his voice.

Sarah glanced from one man to the other, waiting for someone else to say something.

"I should chastise you for that," Jareth finally spoke quietly, "or at least send you into the Labyrinth for a spell, but neither of those would do anything to change the wish. If you were Sarah's biological father, then I would say that I now know exactly where her thick-headedness comes from. As it is, I'll just have to assume you learned it from her mother."

"Jareth!" Sarah admonished, stepping into the conversation, "I don't think it's a very good idea, either, but that's no reason to be insulting."

"I apologize." The Goblin King bowed and turned to walk a few steps away.

"What did I do?" Jeremy whispered urgently to Sarah.

She sighed. "Well, you've made a wish of us that we have to grant and neither of us like it. Do you have any idea how my father and Irene will react to this place?"

"Tell them it's a suped up hotel."

Sarah gave him the look she reserved for exceptionally stupid goblins. "And what do I tell them when they want to go outside and see the city?"

"Don't let them stay long enough for that." Jeremy suggested immediately. "Just bring them here for the ceremony and then send them back to earth."

"Do you even know how much magic that would take?" Sarah glanced at her fiancé. "We're still recovering from dealing with a situation that came up while you were here before."

"Wait, was it something I did?" Jeremy took a step back.

"No, no." Sarah rubbed her face in her hands. "It was all my fault, really." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, we had to fight this really powerful sorceress and we barely won by the skin of our teeth. Our magic is limited. The magic of the Labyrinth is limited. We can't just snap our fingers and change the shape of the world."

"But I'm not asking you to change the shape of the world," Jeremy protested. "I'm asking you to have the wedding here."

"You haven't asked us anything. You've made a wish. It will happen." The Goblin Queen pressed the fingers of one hand to her temple. "I just don't understand why you'd wish for something like this."

"Because this place is amazing!" Jeremy waved his hands at the courtyard, "you could have it out here, over by those trees." He pointed to the peach trees.

And there could be a ball in the evening, Sarah thought to herself, after we send everyone else home, and Jareth and I could dance ourselves dizzy. "And what am I going to tell everyone? They haven't had your experience, and even if they had, Dad and Irene's brains would probably melt rather than cope with something like this."

Jeremy shrugged. "Tell them you got a job offer managing a hotel and they let you have your wedding in the courtyard for free."

Sarah stared at him. "This is going to require so much energy."

"Hey, you were planning on brining all your goblin friends to the real world." Jeremy protested. "What makes this so much harder?"

"Goblins believe in earth," Sarah explained, "they know the earth is real. People don't know this place is real and have a hard enough time even trying to believe in it. It's easier to send goblins to earth because they know it's real and they're willing and ready to go. Bringing a person to a place they don't know about and can't believe in is ten times harder. Trust me, I've already asked Jareth about all the possibilities. We debated about it for a long time, and the plan we came up with seemed to be the easiest and simplest."

"But your wish will be granted," the Goblin King announced, returning to the conversation with all his cool confidence. "If Sarah will agree to restrict her guest list to immediate family, I think it is very possible we will have enough energy to do it between the two of us. Besides that we will have the Labyrinth's help." He came to stand beside her and wrapped his fingers around hers, smiling down at her. "It will be done."

"That's great!" Jeremy clapped his hands together. "Alright, I think my work here is done. If you don't mind, I really need to be getting back. Linda will be home from rehearsal soon."

The Goblin King nodded and Sarah's step-father vanished before their eyes.

"Are you really okay with this?" She looked up into his blue and brown eyes, searching them carefully for any clues to what was going on inside his head.

"Yes, my love." He traced her chin with his finger. "It's not my first choice, but it will work, and it's only for a few hours, right? We'll have as much time as we want to recover and move forward in our relationship and go on ruling the goblins and sending relatives after their babies."

Sarah grinned up at him. "Thank you, Jareth." She wrapped her arms around him.

"For what?" He wrapped his arms around her.

"For being wonderful."