Breathless
Author's note: Inspired by a recent re-reading of Madeleine L'Engle's "A Swiftly Tilting Planet".
Words completely failed me as I looked out at the galaxies sweeping by us, astride an honest-to-goodness unicorn. I then forgot to breathe and promptly gasped in a gulp of air that tasted of moonbeams and snow, and that really, really shouldn't have been available in space, let alone tasting of impossible things.
Jareth's amusement rumbled against my back, warm as the sun and deep as the earth.
The rat bastard. I knew he was getting a kick out of my shock. But there was just too much to see in this moment to care.
Just be. Be a part of the great dance in this moment. The mental voice was as silvery as our ride's skin.
The unicorn was wise. I would listen to the unicorn. I could save my words for Jareth for when we got back home.
"Quite sensible of you," murmured Jareth in my ear.
My entire body zinged to attention. Damn that man. "Oh, shut up."
His laughter caressed down my spine like newly fallen snow.
When we finally returned home, safely deposited in our own time and space by the kindly unicorn, I sat down hard smack dab on Jareth's throne and stared up at him.
He arched one of those patrician eyebrows back at me, leaning comfortably with one shoulder against the wall.
I crossed my arms, still struggling to breathe evenly.
He just smiled.
Alrighty then. "What the hell was that?"
"A present. It is in fact your birthday, is it not?"
My mouth opened and closed a few times on its own before I got control of it. "I thought you could reorder time. Not call impossible creatures into being to take people impossible places in impossible ways."
"You give me too much credit. I simply called in a favor."
"A favor. From a space-traveling unicorn."
He shrugged. "Gaudior owed me for a little hatchling debacle of his a few decades ago. You'd be surprised at the variety of beings who struggle with their infants."
I blinked at him for a few moments. "But the rest...the great dance of the universe, that way of moving through space and time and size — Jareth, we were the size of nebulae one moment and the size of mitochondria the next."
"I didn't need to make that up, my dear. Haven't you read Madeleine L'Engle? She let out a lot of secrets in those books of hers."
I blinked at him again, digging in my memories for what I remembered of those books. I'd definitely have to re-read them. "So you did all that just for my birthday present? It seems...excessive."
His smile was like a flash of lightning. "Do you recall your request?"
I sighed, as my words surfaced in my mind. "I said 'surprise me'. That I didn't want to be bored."
"Well?"
"Success on both fronts. Also, you're insufferable. I honestly don't know why I maintain our friendship."
"Never bored, Sarah. Either of us."
"True, that."