"Your first lesson, Child of the Labyrinth, Chosen of the Mother... Is patience. There is much you need to know and not much time to learn it. However, being too quick with your lessons creates one who does not know everything, thus making it more likely that you'll try to do something and create a worse situation. I know I will not be able to teach you all, you're a child of the Mother for sure. She is as the waters of Ireland. They obey her as all water does, cooling to ice as her anger descends from anger to fury.

This here is a poem of old:

Danu

She is a river,

Her blood flows down across the Land.

Her whispering lips birth her names into the void:

Danu

Danand

Don

Listen to the voice:

Deep as a well that vanishes into the darkness, echoing with secret desires

With sighs that bring both pleasure and pain,

Washing away death with life.

In her arms she carries all lives into the cradle of the Earth:

Embracing our bones,

Like shining pieces of stone. "

Sarah lay curled in a large arm chair, big enough that she could sit with her legs tucked under her, the winter sun filtering through the old glass of Dagda's home, the fire in the fire place keeping her pleasantly warm. "What else would you tell me of the Great Mother?"

"She is... Beautiful and powerful, capricious as the Sidhe she mothered. She takes and she gives, the quintessentialwoman to be honest. Danu is... A mother and a warrior, she gives life and she takes it. Thus why it was such a surprise that she played amongst the mortal world when she Chose you. However, I am assuming that there are things at play that neither Arawn nor I am aware of. We have been away from my Wife and the Sidhe for so long... When the World separated, we chose to stay among the Mortals." He paused, debating then he shrugged, it wasn't like the information would hurt her. In fact, if she was who he thought she was, it might just empower her to help Jareth.

"When first the Tuatha de Danan, and us, their gods came to Ireland, Eire, the Emerald Isle, there was another people residing there as well. They were the Fomorians, Children of Domnu. A fellow Goddess. We are of the Water as Danu is, her brethren and children were of the Earth. Thus conflict raged between us. When the World separated, they stayed here in the above as most of the rest of us went Under. You humans, the mortals, are children of Domnu. Maybe that is why my Wife Chose you? I can only speculate on her reasoning and choices. Mind, I will always trust her, she has nary been wrong in all our lives."

Sarah stayed quiet, it was almost as if he had forgotten she was there even though she knew full well that he hadn't. He wouldn't, there was so much he was keeping quiet about, he would stay mindful of her presence, never letting anything truly important slip. It was most frustrating, but she had come to expect if from him and Arawn. Speaking of Arawn... He was... Amazing.

There was mutual attraction there, no doubt about it. They'd spent so much of their time together in the last few weeks. When she wasn't learning from Dagda the history of the Sidhe and in general gathering patience, which is what todays lesson had started on, she had been with Arawn. She could now understand why he was so very feared, he was as a teacher, ferocious, if that was any indication of how he was on the battlefield... Well she was glad she'd never had to face him.

Nor would she for that matter. He would follow her to the depths of Hell, all she need to was say the word. However, even with the mutual attraction between them, she could always feel something tugging at her, telling her that he wasn't the one. She suspected that she knew who it was, yet she couldn't, wouldn't fully admit it to herself right now. (Even if she'd already told herself that she would find him and tell him that he was the one she wanted, forever and always. She never could make up her mind, maybe she'd out grow it once she hit 'adulthood' in the Underground... Seeing as Danu, the Labyrinth had fiddled, she wasn't fully matured.)

Coming back to the world from her thoughts, she hoped that Dagda hadn't said anything too important. Which apparently, he hadn't. He was watching her with his ancient eyes. "When you need something, and a mirror isn't near, if you are close to any body of water... Go to the bank, where water meets land, it works as a mirror does. Mind, it'll take a bit more practice, which we will have you do while still here with me. It wouldn't do to have you try it on your own and end up going splat now would it?" He smirked at her. One of the things he had tried to teach her was how to fly, thinking maybe that her Other form would be a bird of some sort because her abilities were so much like his wifes.

Oh no, nope. Her powers didn't like that one bit, in fact, they actually sent him flying! It was a tad amusing, ok more than a tad, because he ended up in the pond in the back of his house. He came up spluttering, lily pad with toad, resting on his head. He'd looked a great deal like a drowned poodle, his burgundy almost black curls straightened by the water, hanging limply in front of his face...

"Well Father, I dunno why you're smirking. It was after your own fault that you ended up in the pond!"

"Wrong thing dearling... I'm taking about the time where I tried to warn you that there was a cliff edge... Right next to that tree you were so interested in... Yes, that one dearling. I know that your Other form is feline, but you do need to listen to warnings as well! It was only by the grace of my quick timing that you didn't go splat! Would have served your pompous, bratty, self right." She was blushing by the end. He was right, she hadn't listened and she had almost gone splat as he so eloquently put it. She couldn't help that her Other half really did influence her unconcious thinking! What was she supposed to do, put a metaphoric muzzle on the thing? How do you do that with thoughts?!

She bowed her head, acknowledging without words that he was right. It was the little things that it took just to make things better. Sometimes, it wasn't grand gesures, but a smile and a nod, or a bow of the head, with a sheepish look gracing her features, along with that blush. He waved a hand flippantly, showing her that it was alright sometimes to be headstrong and be who she was. Other times, she really did have to listen to other people, especially if as she suspected, (Wanted, really) she was to be Jareth's Queen, she'd need to remember that it wasn't just her life anymore, but an entire kingdom.

"Here's another piece of advice dearling... Eist le glor na habhann agus gheobhaidh tu mian," He murmured. The Gaelic rolling off his tongue in such a way it reminded her almost of music, Gaelic truly was a beautiful language when you were able to hear it spoken aloud, she always had issues reading it, stumbing over the unfamiliar words. She was hoping that being around Arawn and Dagda that would change though, they had to be useful for more than just teaching her history and the art of war. (Or y'know, preventing one... In this case, diplomacy, but Arawn really was teaching her how to wield a sword! Amongst other things...)

"Wanna trasnlate that for me Father?" She snarked at him, if she couldn't read it, why did he always say things in Gaelic! She growled, eyeing him with claws ready to take strips off of his hide. He rolled his eyes.

"Temper Child, temper. I am trying to teach you Gaelic as well! Thus, why I always say it in Gaelic first. So cool that temper of yours, now." He grumped back at her. He knew her too well somedays, it was actually a bit scary at how well he could read her. Before she could say or do anything however, he was moving on, "Listen to the voice of the river, and you will get your desire. It's a folk saying in Gaelic, I honestly can't remember where it originated, just that it's Gaelic. If ever you need advice, listen. The Mother will talk to you if you listen hard enough."

So with that, their lesson was concluded for the day. She now had a lot to think about and Dagda? Well, he had a lot of plotting to do. Something was afoot, and when Sarah left, he was planning on taking Arawn with him to investigate. So maybe, just maybe he could help things from coming to a head, at least in the wrong way. However, he was thinking that ward would be coming, so he was thankful that Arawn had taken such a likeing to Sarah. Enough so that he was teaching her how to fight, on and off the battlefield.