#99: Cheer


Jareth's eyes narrowed, the writhing cold around him hungry and waiting. "What is this?"

I pointedly ignored him. After a thoughtful moment, I added another curled ribbon to the current tableau.

"I will be answered." His voice echoed in chaotic layers that scratched at mortal sanity.

I arched an eyebrow. "I suggest you use your vaunted powers of observation then."

That made him glower more. An inky shadow slithered over to me, trying to be surreptitious.

I batted it away. "No surrogates. If you want details, you'll have to come look yourself."

He briefly closed his eyes. "Why must you be so...difficult?"

I shrugged and repositioned a poinsettia arrangement. "You've been a gloomy wreck since solstice and I'm tired of it."

He stiffened as if struck, and the shadows surged forward, rife with menace. "You presume too much."

I blithely continued my setup as shadows fizzled off my reinforced aura. "I'm not the one who's plunged this kingdom into sepulchral darkness with his dreary mood. I'm just the one trying to fix it."

"By doing what? Annoying me to death?"

"Cheering you up, of course. So why don't you get off your admittedly lovely arse, and come see what I've wrought here?"

Silence stretched and curled between us. "You think my arse is lovely?"

Ha! Victory. "Always have, always will. Wife's prerogative."

The shadows shrank back against the walls as he came over. "What is all this, anyway?"

I pressed a hidden button, and a merry, off-key "Fa la la la la, La la La La" swelled out. "Feanor and the castle goblins helped."

"So I hear." He poked at a nearby stony mass with a bow on it. A rumbly voice intoned "This rock friend" as the thing lurched towards the nearest wall.

"Some of your other subjects contributed too."

He eyed the glittering present pile. "How many?"

"A lot. Your subjects, for reasons nearly unfathomable, care about you."

"Nearly unfathomable?"

"As your wife, I can fathom. Now why don't you open another present, hmmm? Like that one waaaaay over there. You might have to bend over to reach it. In front of me."

A wry smile flickered across his lips, mirroring the sudden sunshine at the windows. "I see."

I reached a hand up to touch his shoulder, letting my warmth seep into the stiff muscle there. "You really can't let the solstice get to you like this."

"It was bad."

"I can imagine. But we need you. Your subjects, your son, and your wife. All of us need you."

"Do you really?"

"Especially me." I nudged him forward. "And on that subject, less brooding and more strategic leaning. Those pants you're wearing are simply divine."

"You got them for me."

"That I did. They're worth every dream thread I spent at that svartalf tailor's, and I'd like to fully enjoy them."

He shook his head, a gentle chuckle bubbling up as a fresh breeze suffused the room. "The things I do for love."

"Don't we all?"