Hi all. Again, thanks for the reviews. The next two chapters were really supposed to be one chapter, but it got so long that I thought I'd better divide it. But I'll post both this time all the same.
nekochan: Hmm... not likely - I'm sure her father meant well, so it wouldn't be fair to just kill them off to get Toby Underground or to have them lose both children. And I wouldn't know what to do with Jareth, if he went Above.
Jareth led her into the room behind the balcony. The room was seemed very large and was clearly a tower room with a peculiarly rounded shaped, as if it covered this entire floor, but looking closer, it wasn't really that big – it just had an immensely high ceiling that was slightly pointed at the middle, creating the illusion of a much bigger room. At one side was a rough stone railing behind which a staircase descended, and at the other side a comfortable upholstered chair sat before the ornate fireplace with a small table next to it. The room also contained a large messy desk with a smaller book shelf next to it, and a very curious plateau taking up the entire far end of the room and occupying almost a fourth of it. She stared at it for a moment, before the pillows and drapes on and around it made her realise it was a bed – probably his bed – despite the very odd and irregular shape of it, and she blushed and looked away. Jareth seemed not to have noticed - he was standing in front of a large ornate mirror hanging on the wall near the desk.
"Come and take a look at yourself." He waved her over and she obliged him curiously.
The girl that stared out at her from the mirror was strangely familiar, but it took a second before Sarah realized she was looking at herself. She gasped and took a step backwards, and the girl in the mirror did the same. Her face was the first thing she noticed – her eyes seemed larger and were accentuated with glittering fairy dust highlights in silver and dark grey, not as prominent as Jareth's, but very visible anyway. All traces of blemishes on her skin were gone, making it smooth and soft. Her dark hair was shiny and cascaded over her shoulders in soft waves as if it was newly styled, and she looked more… rounded and healthy. She was so used to seeing her thin body with the sickly starved look, but though she was still slender, she actually had womanly curves again. Sarah grinned in wonder, as she turned sideways in front of the mirror and tried to see herself from all angles, also inspecting her ears to see if they had grown pointed like an elf's (they hadn't). The green dress had been nice enough this morning, but it looked even better now that it emphasized her curves.
"Yes, I'm very pleased with the result as well," Jareth drawled, having taken a seat in the chair next to the desk, and she stopped turning in front of the mirror and looked wryly at him.
"Oh, shut up, Jareth," she replied, but still with a smile, and he shook his head.
"I'm glad you like it," he continued, "because this is what you will see in the mirror for a very very long time from now on. This is your natural shape that you will revert to when you're done with a shape change."
"Which part of it?" she asked? "The hair, the dress, the eyes?"
"All of it. When you fall asleep, this is how you will wake in the morning. When you revert from flying as an owl, this is how you will look. It will be easier to keep another shape as you get more experienced, but for now this is it."
"But I can change clothes, right?" Sarah had never been much interested in fashion or clothes, but it sounded a bit excessive if she was stuck with only one dress.
"You can, although I don't know where you would find new clothes down here. But the next time you shifted, you would be right back in this dress – with the other clothes on top of it." He smirked. "Your best option is to learn new shapes with new clothes – or ask me to create an illusion."
He conjured a crystal and let it flow gently towards her, and as it touched her, the green grown turned silver and the skirt widened, so she for a moment was wearing the ball gown she remembered from long ago, complete with glittering hair band and jewellery. She frowned at the memory, and a second later the gown disappeared and she was back in the green one.
"Won't it get awfully dirty and worn after a while?" She looked sceptically at the pristine white sleeves, but instead of answering Jareth reach out a hand to grab a feather pen perched on the desk. With a quick deliberate flick of his hand, he waved it at her like a wand, and as a result, several drops of blue-black ink flew at her and stained the dress and one sleeve. She yelped and jumped back, but the damage was done and she threw him a furious look.
"Now, try to turn back to your owl form," Jareth said quickly, before she managed to say a word, and reluctantly, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the owl. In a moment, she felt the wings and claws back and opened her owl eyes to stare accusingly up at him.
"And then come back to being yourself." He remained completely calm, and Sarah felt herself relax a bit. She focused again and was back to human shape in no time. She turned to look in the mirror, and though she had guessed what he was showing her, she was still impressed that all traces of the ink stain was gone.
"Very handy," she admitted grudgingly and stroked the dress.
"It will work on dirt, water – even if you cut your hair, it will grow back," Jareth lectured and leaned back in the chair. "However, it will not help you if you are injured for any reason. There are limits, and a cut or a scratch will have to heal on its own. Or be healed by me."
"We can only heal each other and not ourselves?" Sarah asked puzzled. "That doesn't make sense."
Jareth shook his head. "You can't heal, that is one of my powers. The King's magic."
"The King's magic? You mean we are not the same?" Sarah scowled and crossed her arms. "Didn't you promise me magic and powers?"
Jareth laughed and conjured a crystal that he let float in the air like a soap bubble a few seconds before it burst. "You do have magic and powers, my dear, once you learn to use them. You'll be able to change shapes, just as well as I. But some things are just meant for the King – like the crystals and healing."
She kept staring at him, and he conjured up another, seemingly only to show off, she thought.
"The crystals are a visible link to the Labyrinth's powers, which I need to rule," he explained. "And the healing is most convenient when dealing with careless goblins."
"So, what can you do that I can't…" She squinted her eyes and counted aloud. "Crystals, teleporting yourself and others, going to the Above world to abduct children…"
"You mean 'generously granting wishes for children to be taken away'," Jareth countered smoothly.
Sarah ignored him and continued: "…reorder time, create illusions and dream worlds to make sure things are not always as they seem… Did I miss anything?"
"Sensitivity and empathy concerning the Labyrinth's creatures, perhaps, but really there are only two kinds of magic, as far as I have found. All the ones you just mentioned are part of the Labyrinth's magic. The part that is not, is our ability to change shape and live if not forever, then at least far longer than mortals."
"And that is the kind I have?" Sarah sighed.
"That we both have, yes." Jareth rose from the chair and beckoned for her to follow as he went to the staircase. "Come, I'm forgetting my manners, let me escort you to your room."
After descending a long winded staircase and two smaller doors, Sarah found herself in a familiar corridor next to the door to the room she had slept in the first night.
"The castle is really not much more than an extension of the Labyrinth," Jareth explained as he went in. "There are very few rooms and an insane amount of corridors and doors. I hope you'll be satisfied with this room, because there really isn't anywhere else available."
"In a castle of this size?" Sarah said sceptically and glanced around.
"I couldn't believe it at first either. There are these two suites, the throne room, the entrance hall, a kitchen and… well, that's about it. But then again, I don't really need much more than that, do I? It's not like I ever have any guests." His voice was tinged with bitterness at the last words.
"So this is not a guest room?"
"I use it for the wished-away children to stay until they are transformed. And I slept here in the week I was training under the previous Goblin King."
That at least explained the dust everywhere and the covered crib, but it also sounded really depressing… and lonely.
"If you never have guests…" she started and bit her lower lip. "Are you all alone? Will we really be all alone here all the time?"
He ran a hand through his hair and went to stand near the multi-coloured window.
"For more than 350 years, I have not spent more than a few minutes in conversation with anyone," he said tonelessly. "I explain rules to the mortal Questers and occasionally taunt them and reply when they plead with me, but like you did, they mostly see me as just a villain and not as a person. The goblins say 'yes, Your Majesty' and 'no, your Majesty' and 'thank you, Your Majesty', and the Guardians rarely come back to the castle after their transformations, but roam the Labyrinth instead. There is no one like me, Sarah… until now."
Sarah knew she was pushing it, but had to ask: "Why me? Why now? After all these years?"