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For several long minutes, Sarah walked silently beside Jareth through the castle halls, deep in thought.
"What's the matter, Sarah?" He asked, noticing her dismal expression.
She looked up, startled at the sudden sound of his voice.
"Huh?"
"You haven't said a word since we left the throne room."
"Oh, sorry." She muttered before sighing heavily. "I was thinking about Sish. I just don't understand how someone could deliberately wish their own child away. It's so…cruel."
Jareth squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"It's not always like that, precious. As you well know, sometimes it's an accident. Other times, it's because the wisher thinks it's what's best for the child."
Sarah was incredulous.
"How?"
"Well, take Gookie for example, she was wished away in 1906 by a family friend." Jareth's face darkened sadly. "When she was a year old, her father died of tuberculosis. Her mother became increasingly unstable both mentally and emotionally due to the loss. She neglected Gookie and abused her physically."
Sarah's breath caught in her throat.
"Her next door neighbor was an elderly woman from Ireland." He continued. "She knew the legends about the goblins and wished-away children. She was too old to take care of a baby herself, and if Gookie was taken from her mother, she'd be put in a filthy orphanage, so the lady wished her away to the goblins and refused the challenge."
"She saved Gookie's life." His voice was filled with admiration.
Sarah was shocked. Her heart broke for poor Gookie, but she couldn't help feeling gratitude to the old woman who wished her little goblin servant to the Labyrinth.
Gookie was a wonderfully happy and healthy goblin now; she was given a better life because she was wished away.
"But…what about Sir Didymus and Fip?" She asked hesitantly. "What happened to them?"
Jareth's brow furrowed in concentration.
"If I remember correctly, Fip was wished away by accident, like Toby, but his mother gave up looking for him within the first hour. Sir Didymus was one of the first ones I brought to the Labyrinth, he was wished away by a jealous sibling."
"See here's my problem," Sarah cut in, "why do you still take the child and challenge the wisher if it was an accident? Especially in cases where it was a sibling that made the wish and not the parents?"
"Because I'm not physically able to return the child unless the Labyrinth is solved." He said. "It's against the law."
"The law?" The woman repeated in confusion. "What law?"
"Remember how I said that the Fey Council is the highest form of government in the Underground?"
She nodded.
"One of the universal laws is that we do not directly interfere with humans unless they correctly invoke our power." He clarified. "Once they do, we hold them to their word and give them a choice. Either they accept whatever consequences follow their request, intentional or otherwise, or they can choose to forget."
Sarah, go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby.
Do you want it? Then forget the baby.
Sarah felt her jaw drop at the new truth behind the memory.
"I don't mean to be rude, Sarah," he went on, "but humans don't always appreciate what they have. It's in their nature to take things for granted. Even life itself. They throw it away simply because of inconvenience or irritation. I grant everyone a chance to save their child by running my Labyrinth, but more often than I would like to admit, they choose to forget. When I took Sish, she had been wished away by her seventeen-year-old parents. Her mother almost did accept the challenge, but the father convinced her to refuse."
Sarah's eyes welled with tears.
"Don't despair, precious." He urged, pulling her into his arms. "No one mourns or misses them in the Aboveground. Their families are blissfully ignorant and the children remain here as goblins, perfectly safe and well-cared for. No one suffers."
"How could I be the only one to solve your Labyrinth?" She questioned, desperately trying to hold back a sob. "Toby wasn't my kid, he was my brother. Heck, he was my half-brother!"
"In thirteen hundred years, what made me so special?" She muttered almost to herself.
Jareth didn't answer for a moment. He eventually pulled away and pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve.
"It must be fate." He whispered vaguely, dabbing her eyes with the cloth.
Once he was certain that she was no longer in danger of crying, he stashed the hanky back where it came from and took her hand again, proceeding down the hallway.
After a few seconds, a thought crossed her mind.
"What about your family?"
"The goblins are my family." He replied a little too quickly.
"Um, yeah but…don't you have a mother or a father?" She pressed.
"They're dead."
She was stunned at the lack of emotion in his voice but his matter-of-fact tone carried an edge of finality and she bit her tongue.
He must have noticed her discomfort, for he inclined his head toward her with a slight grin.
"I'm not offended, Sarah, it was a long time ago. I barely remember them."
This did nothing to ease the torrent of new questions she had about his past, but she managed to change the subject.
"O-okay, uh…where are we going?"
Jareth glanced around the walls.
"I really don't know. Sometimes it's fun just to let the castle lead you where it will."
Taking a right at the fork at the end of the passage, they came to a set of double oak doors.
"Shall we, Sarah?" The Goblin King asked, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.
She cracked a smile and opened one of the doors.
Stepping inside, they found themselves inside a massive kitchen.
The walls were lined with cherry-wood upper and lower cabinets. On the granite counter-tops were various kitchen appliances. An enormous stove-oven sat in the center of the opposite wall. There were two metal doors on the left wall spaced ten feet apart. On the island counter in the center of the room was a clay bowl of fresh peaches.
"Wow."
"Indeed." Jareth concurred, striding over to the island, grabbing two peaches and tossing one to her.
"I was starting to feel rather peckish." He commented, taking a bite of his fruit.
"What's through those doors?" Sarah asked curiously, once they'd finished their snack.
Jareth eyed the objects in question for a second.
"No idea. I've never been in this room before."
She gaped at him.
"You've never been inside your own kitchen?"
He shrugged.
"No real need. The goblins prepare my meals, when I choose to eat indoors. Most of the time, I hunt live game in the woods."
"Ugh." Sarah groaned and crossed the room to check the doors.
"Pantry…freezer." She declared.
When the fey male didn't respond, she turned to see him peering in fascination at what looked like a large mixer. The blades were halfway sunk into a thick, yellowish batter.
"What is this contraption?" He asked in awe.
"It's a kitchen mixer." She laughed, coming to his side. "You use it to mix batter for cakes and stuff."
"Really? I haven't had a cake in ages!" He exclaimed, eagerly reaching for the machine.
"WAIT, DON'T!" She shouted, but it was too late.
"I don't even want ta know, miss." Gookie chuckled, standing on the edge of the bathtub and scrubbing the yellow glop out of Sarah's hair.
An hour later, Sarah sat on the couch by the fire, reading A Wrinkle in Time when there was a soft knock at the bedchamber door.
Gookie opened the door to reveal the, also now clean, Goblin King.
"You are never allowed inside a kitchen again." The brunette tried to say threateningly, but ultimately dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"As you command, my dear." Jareth smirked with a formal bow. "I came to tell you that we shall be holding the Fire Festival in one week. My schedule will tighten a bit due to the preparations, so if you wish to visit your friends or go to town or anything during my absence, Gookie can escort you."
"Oh, alright." She said, excited at the prospect of seeing her friends again. She was also intrigued by the upcoming event. "What's the Fire Festival?"
"Just an annual celebration we hold in the Labyrinth. You'll love it." He winked. "Trust me."
With that, he ducked out of the room, giving Gookie a quick pat on the head.
A/N: Hope everybody had a Happy Easter and April Fools' Day! I know, this chapter is kind of boring, but it's all setting things up for later, I promise! Please review and I just might update tomorrow!