Chapter Fifteen
Sarah was hopeless in the kitchen. It was a well-established fact, proven through many a holiday feast over the years. This was why she was the only female associated with the extended Williams family that was not pressed into service for cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Ordinarily, this meant she was on Toby watch, but he had a pretty bad cold and was lying down for a nap. She decided that this year, her lack of kitchen skills was a godsend, as it gave her the opportunity to slip out to the park with Merlin without much comment.
She was going to see him again. The prospect equally excited and frightened her. After months of corresponding with him, and years of thinking about him… dreaming about him, she was finally going to face him again. Would he find her changed now that she had grown up? And if so, would he be pleased with the changes? She laughed at herself… here she was, worried about whether the Goblin King would find her attractive. Of all the things she could be worried about with their meeting, that he would think her pretty was her biggest concern?
It was an unseasonably warm day for the end of November. In prior years, there might even have been a light dusting of snow, but this year Sarah only needed her thin sweater to be comfortable. The park was deserted, and she walked aimlessly on the path, watching Merlin as he frolicked around, chasing dry leaves blown by the wind. They came upon a pile of them, no doubt raked together by a park custodian but then abandoned. Merlin bounded forward, plunging into the leaves, and sending them up to swirl around them both. Sarah laughed, both at the antics of her dog and the sheer joy of the day. She heard a masculine laugh join hers and she froze.
"Hello, Sarah."
She would know that silky baritone voice anywhere. It sent a bolt of both fear and pleasure skittering down her spine. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a friendly smile onto her face and turned around slowly.
He was exactly as she had remembered him… but then again, not at all. Perhaps time had blurred the image she'd kept of him in her heart. Perhaps her mind simply couldn't process him, back when she was fifteen. All she understood was that the man who stood before her now was both the Jareth she knew… and a mythological being of such power and majesty that her brain could hardly comprehend it. An eerie hush came over the area, the birds and insects in his immediate vicinity were utterly silent. The very air around him shimmered with power, and it came off him in sparks of incandescent bluish white light.
My God, I've been teasing this… man… about chicken wings?
He was leaning up against a tree, arms crossed, about five feet away from her. His hair was no longer wild but long and loose in the back except for two long braids at the temples which hung down to his chest. She could see his ears, sharply pointed, one having a gold ring through it near the top. He wore no makeup, although she could still see the markings around his eyes which she now knew to be skin pigmentation. His features were the same as she remembered but somehow… younger; high arching brows, noble nose, thin but sensuous lips. He was smiling softly, the hint of his fangs visible.
He was dressed in clothing similar to what she had seen on Garthan and Randel, a soft, cream-colored shirt, black breeches of some other soft material, black embroidered tunic, black leather boots and gloves and an open, knee length overcoat of black leather with accents of silver and bronze. She could see his amulet resting on his chest, as before. There was a distinct lack of glitter to his appearance, but he didn't need it. The magic coming off him in waves more than sufficed.
Oh… he's just… beautiful.
She dragged her gaze back up to look him in the eyes, and almost wished she hadn't. His cool blue stare hit her with the power of a sledgehammer, practically stealing the breath from her body. Never had she felt anything like this before, not even the first time she'd seen him. She summoned every last bit of will, every drop of strength within her to offer him a simple hello.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Oh, by the Fates and all that is holy, she is beautiful!
When she turned around to face him, Jareth had been prepared to see the girl he'd remembered. He was not prepared to see the woman she had become.
Her adolescent prettiness had matured into a haunting, sensual beauty. He took in her perfectly sculpted brows, her sparkling green eyes with their thick fringe of black lashes, the delicate curve of her cheeks, and the luscious pink lips that were smiling at him so softly. Her long, raven hair cascaded in waves almost to her waist and was blown about gently in the breeze.
He saw her eyes flicker over him and returned the favor, taking in the wine-colored sweater which clung to her curves, the slim black jeans, her tiny feet in flat black shoes. She was slender, yet voluptuous and he could feel a wave of heat go through him, just looking at her.
And I have been writing to this goddess about chicken wings… what the hell, Jareth?
When her eyes finally met his again, he felt his heart seize in his chest. Here was the love of his life, facing him for the first time in over five years. Through his own stupidity, he'd lost her once.
Never again. I will NEVER lose her again.
As he watched, her smile became brighter, "Greetings, Your Highness."
It took all of his will not to pull her into his arms and never let her go. Instead, he stalked towards her.
Sarah stood transfixed, watching him cross the distance between them in two strides. Before she could react, he took her hand in his, bringing it up for a slow, sensual kiss to her knuckles, his eyes never leaving hers. The bolt of electricity that shot from his lips, up her arm and to her core was almost violent in its intensity and she was vaguely shocked that her knees didn't just buckle beneath her. His scent drifted up to her, that mix of cinnamon, spice, and magic, so intoxicating that she had to fight the urge to close her eyes and revel in it.
Oh my God… oh my God…
She had wondered before if her lack of sexual desire meant that something was going on with her, but apparently not. A wave of what she could only define as pure lust swept through her. All she wanted at that moment was to tackle him to the ground and tear his shirt off with her teeth.
"I am delighted to see you again, my dear," he said in a low, sexy tone.
"It's good to see you too, Your Highness," she said back, not even recognizing her own voice.
He squeezed her hand slightly. "It would please me if you would use my name, Sarah."
She was lost in his eyes, floating somewhere in the blue magic contained within.
"Jareth," she whispered.
His gaze flickered in satisfaction, but before she had time to think about that, Merlin had ambled over to them. She looked down at her dog, wondering how he would react to seeing a Greater Goblin for the first time.
"Merlin, come and meet His Majesty." She needn't have worried. Merlin was a love bug to begin with and was happy to get a pat and a scratch behind the ears from the Goblin King. He obliged the fluffy canine, his smile growing even wider. When Merlin ambled off to chase more leaves, Sarah turned to him, "Would you like to walk with us?"
Jareth tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, "It would be my pleasure, Sarah."
The way he said "pleasure" sent butterflies of every species fluttering in her stomach. To cover up her sudden lack of wits, Sarah began chattering as they walked down the path. "I have to say, Your… I mean, Jareth… that while in some ways you haven't changed, at the same time… you have." She peeped up at him, a teasing glint in her eyes. "I think I was expecting a glitter storm."
He laughed, "Oh, the glitter was all your doing, not mine."
"How so?"
"When I am summoned by a potential runner, the Labyrinth reads their wishes before I appear. This is so I know what to offer in exchange for the child, but also to alter my appearance to reflect what the wisher expects. How I appear to them depends on how they imagine me to appear."
"Oh, my. So that Glam Rock getup was all from my head?"
Jareth looked down at her, puzzled. "Glam Rock?"
Sarah's felt her cheeks get a little warm. "Yeah, it's a genre of music, popular in the 1970s and early 80s. Lots of glitter, guys in makeup, that kind of thing. I had a big crush on David Bowie, so I guess the Labyrinth picked up on that."
He arched a brow at her. "Ah… glitter. Makeup. Hair that looked like I'd gone through a lightning storm. Not to mention pants tight enough to emasculate a mortal man," he said with a laugh.
Sarah's already blushing cheeks turned bright red, "Oh God, I wasn't going to mention that!"
"It might not have been so embarrassing if Randel and Garthan hadn't seen me in them, but they had. After almost six years, I still haven't lived down the experience," he said, playfully.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered, giggling uncontrollably.
His eyes sparkled with mirth, "Oh, no my dear. I expect a lot more groveling than that, considering I was almost gelded by those pants. It's going to take at least a thousand years of groveling before I even contemplate forgiving you for them."
She laughed at his teasing, wondering to herself at the easy camaraderie they had fallen into. "And now? Is your appearance tailored to my expectations, or is this the real you?"
"As you see me now is what I am in truth," he said. "You needn't be too embarrassed over your choice of antagonist. It wasn't the silliest incarnation of the Goblin King I've been forced to portray, even if it was the most uncomfortable."
"So…what was the silliest?"
Jareth chuckled, "Well, one wisher, for some unknown reason, thought I would be a werewolf. I took one look at myself and had time to mutter 'bloody hell' before being transported to him."
Sarah laughed uproariously at that. "That one turned out to be rather fun, I must say. Another one took my appearance from a murderous clown she had read about in a horror novel." He looked down at her with a smirk, "That one was also amusing."
Sarah shrugged, still giggling, "Well, if given the choice, I'd rather have Glam Rock Bowie than Pennywise any day."
"I wouldn't."
Their shared laughter sounded so good.
Author's Note
I've mentioned it before, but I'll do it again. This chapter (and the next one) was heavily inspired by A Riddle in Flowers by WildIsGood. I tried a bunch of different scenarios for Jareth's first reunion with Sarah and this is the one that fit the best with the rest of the story.
The idea that Jareth takes his appearance from what the wisher expects is my explanation for his updated and younger version (this has also been used by many other fanfiction writers… too many to list here). The Othánas as a rule dress like the Targaryens from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. I had to explain why he looked like a glam rocker the first time she saw him.