Chapter Nineteen
Second Week of April, Sarah's Third Year of College
By mid-Spring, the war with the Iftanzels was over. Jareth did indeed kick the ever-loving crap out of them, and currently had their highest general cooling his heels in an oubliette under the Bog.
To add to the good news, Sarah was finally 21. To celebrate this monumental occasion, she picked up three bottles of wine and proceeded to get roaring drunk with Hoggle and Sir Didymus while playing Cards Against Humanity. Ludo, bless him, took one sniff of the wine and shuddered. He was the only one sober at the end of the night, which was good, since all three drunks (plus Tippy) ended up sleeping on his furry form, sprawled out in the living room.
One thing that had always confused her was how she was able to see the Othánas for who they really were, even if they were supposedly wearing glamors while Above. Additionally, she saw the Ughlánas as they really were, yet she knew they were glamored to look like children or pets. It was very puzzling. She laid this before Sir Didymus, before the third bottle of wine wiped all coherence from the three of them.
"It's quite simple, My Lady. Your time in the Labyrinth has gifted you with The Sight. Glamors will not work on you anymore. You will always be able to see through them by default, now. If you look at one and simply unfocus your gaze, you will see the glamor itself, but your regular vision will not be affected by them."
She tried this surreptitiously on Jareth and The Boys the next time she saw them in person. Sure enough, she was able to see their glamors. Garthan's looked vaguely like a young Keifer Sutherland from The Lost Boys movie, only with shorter, darker blonde hair than his natural platinum, human ears and no fangs or markings. Randel didn't look any different except for the lack of fangs and markings as well as the human ears and brown eyes.
Jareth's glamor… oh my. He had shorter, wilder hair, human ears, and no fangs or markings. As a human, he would have been model material, for sure. She could see women's heads turn as they gaped at him open mouthed. Had she never met him in his true form, he would have turned her head in a 180 if she'd seen him on the street. He looked like a rock star, no mistake. And yet… handsome as he was in his human guise, she thought him simply magnificent in his natural Othánas form and vastly preferred it.
As the war had wound down, Sarah's security detail continued, however she noticed an enormous white barn owl occasionally joining the watchers. Since he didn't come up to her directly (in fact he looked like he was trying to hide his presence), she got the feeling that he didn't want her to know that he was shadowing her in person.
As if a magnificent bird like him could just blend in, she laughed to herself.
Watching him try to lurk without being seen was actually pretty funny, although she had to admit she felt flattered. Here was this otherworldly King, taking time out of his busy day to watch over her. It made her all warm and tingly when she thought of it.
In light of the victory of the Othánas in the war as well as to celebrate her 21st birthday, Sarah invited Jareth and The Boys to a local hangout with the reputation for killer wings and karaoke. She even suggested that Garthan bring his wife along for the party. Shadowed by at least two enormous owls (proof that her assessment of the security detail being a permanent fixture in her life was probably correct), Sarah made her way to the bar. Aside from buying wine at the store (and proudly showing her ID when asked) this would be the first time she was able to order an adult drink in public. Why this should tickle her so, she didn't know, but she was excited.
Her eyes swept the interior of the bar as she entered. Not surprisingly, there were a few Othánas already stationed inside, whom she greeted with a smile and a nod. Across the room, she could see Jareth and the gang lounging in a large booth. They rose as she walked over, Jareth seizing her hand and kissing it (with the resultant electrical bolt zapping through her that never went away, no matter how many times he'd done it). Garthan and Randel each gave her an elegant bow. Garthan then introduced the woman beside him as his wife, Lily, Chatelaine of Jareth's castle.
It was at that moment that Sarah met her first female Othánas, and mentally sighed with a mix of admiration and envy. While Sarah knew that she was considered pretty (she gave all credit for that to her mother's DNA), standing before her was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen in her life. Deep topaz eyes, elegantly sculpted features (no markings though… perhaps that was only the males?), a rosebud mouth and long, straight, thick hair that shimmered like spun gold… this woman was the walking personification of Princess Aurora, that is if Sleeping Beauty had sported delicately pointed ears and tiny fangs.
She had a soft, melodious voice, musical laughter and a petite, slender figure. Sarah could see the human men in the bar practically stepping on their own tongues as Lily walked by. She was also charming, forthright, kind, tolerated zero bullshit and was as snarky in her own elegant way as her husband Garthan was. Her preternatural beauty aside, Sarah found herself instantly liking Lily, and within five minutes, they were chatting as if they'd known each other forever.
Speaking of Garthan, this was a side of him that Sarah had never suspected. The normally sober, collected, and intimidating Othánas was so obviously in love with his wife that Sarah thought she'd get tooth cavities just standing next to him. His eyes were never off Lily for long, and whenever his gaze returned to her, they held a heat and adoration that Sarah envied.
While Lily was a bit more circumspect than her husband, her love for him was also practically tangible. She looked at him with a tenderness that was almost idolizing, like he was her knight in shining armor. They touched often, her hand on his shoulder, his arm around her waist. While it almost seemed possessive, it was definitely a two-way street. And when you considered the fact that they had been married for at least a century and were the parents of a young son, it made their mutual affection that much more touching.
In watching Lily's interactions with Jareth and Randel, it became clear that she was viewed by both men as a beloved older sister, maybe even a mother figure, despite being centuries younger than they were. In fact, Lily was the Othánas equivalent of being in her mid-twenties, not much older than Sarah, by Underground standards. The deep friendship between the four Othánas was palpable, and Sarah found herself touched that the close-knit quartet accepted her so readily into their little "family".
It was while the men were standing at the bar, ostensibly to order drinks but in reality, to get a closer look at the soccer game on the TV, that Lily issued her own apology to Sarah about the trespassing issue. She was quite clearly exasperated at "The Boys" for that blunder and made sure that Sarah knew it.
"I have a feeling that Othánas men are just as clueless as human men are," Sarah said with a laugh. "Not that I have much experience with either."
"You don't know the half of it," Lily returned. "When I found out that those two took it upon themselves to just barge into your home as if they'd owned the place…" Lily shook her head. "Randel I could almost understand. He's not bonded, so he has no real idea of how women live beyond his frequent use of them."
Sarah snorted, "In other words, he's a man whore."
Lily burst into delighted giggles. "Oh, that's perfect! Yes, that describes Randel's attitude towards…" Lily's eyebrows wiggled, "Recreation." She frowned then. "Garthan on the other hand had no such excuse. While I understand that they were ordered to strengthen the defenses of your home, it never occurred to them to actually… oh, I don't know… ask you first?" Lily chuckled wickedly. "At any rate, I can promise you that he's learned his lesson."
"Yeah, I heard." At Lily's inquiring stare, Sarah continued. "Garthan muttered something about sleeping on the couch because you were furious with him."
"I was. He honestly had no idea why just popping in on a female, in her home uninvited, with no notice or a "by your leave", might be viewed as a threatening act. Probably because forcing oneself on a woman is anathema to Othánas, thus it literally didn't occur to them. That wasn't the point, though. Orders or no, they had no right to intrude upon your personal space without an invitation and Jareth certainly didn't suggest that they do so."
The men eventually returned to the table, Randel passing a vodka cranberry to Sarah while Jareth carried a pitcher of Guinness and glasses. Garthan had apparently discovered Tennessee whiskey and was sipping at his Jack and Coke with delight, while his wife shared the Guinness with Jareth and Randel. At the same time, the waitress brought over an enormous platter of buffalo wings with their assorted condiments. After some banter with Jareth about her choice of blue cheese, (and watching as Garthan smothered his with sriracha) the gang at the table tucked into the platter. Sarah noted with amusement that, like before, the Othánas stationed around the bar had all ordered chicken wings for themselves and were consuming them with an almost orgasmic expression on their faces.
Hunger satisfied and several more drinks under everyone's belt, the Othánas regaled Sarah with hilarious stories of their past exploits. Randel recounted a particularly funny story about Jareth, much to his chagrin.
"You may have heard the saying, 'Don't wake a sleeping dragon,' he said to her, eyeing Jareth with a savage smile.
"No, but I get the idea," she replied, laughing. She looked over at Jareth. "So, what happened?"
Jareth winced, "Well, I discovered that you really shouldn't wake a sleeping dragon. They don't like it at all."
Garthan laughed uproariously, "He found that out when half his hair got singed off. He had to shave the other side of his head, so he didn't look like a freak." He took another gulp of his Jack and Coke, still chortling, "You should have seen him, Sarah… running out of that cave, half of his hair and all his eyebrows gone, clothes smoldering." He stopped laughing for a second, looking at Jareth solemnly, "Come to think of it… your eyebrows never did grow back properly, did they?" to which he burst into actual giggles.
The rest of the table erupted into laughter, even Jareth. "Well, at least my morning routine took a little less time for a while."
They all had a story to tell… Jareth recounted Randel's adventure during a Samhain visit to Ardalon, where he was forced to escape a jealous Fae husband whose wife he was tumbling by disguising himself as an old dwarven serving woman in order to get away.
Randel laughed, "My knees still haven't recovered from all of that crouching. Ah well, it was all for King and country. She had some information that we needed, so…"
Garthan interrupted with a scoff, "Oh sure, and her breasts had nothing whatsoever to do with it, right?" Everyone laughed at this.
Garthan then relayed Lily's profound error in trusting the Ughlánas with what was the Underground equivalent of an air freshener and the resultant eye burning cloud of flower scent that permeated the entire castle and caused an evacuation of its residents.
"And why don't you explain to Sarah exactly why I needed the air freshener?" Lily responded, laughing. Garthan chuckled and looked away while Lily told Sarah about his undignified belly flop into the Bog of Eternal Stench, a plunge that took a week of intense magic from Jareth to remove the smell, which had caused him to be banned from the castle for the duration.
For her part, Sarah shared the story of her trip to the zoo with the Ughlánas, including the interlude where she tried to sneak into the gorilla enclosure after hours to retrieve some of her little friends who wanted to play with the primates, only to be caught and expelled by Security and barely escaping a night in jail.
"I was being what we call here Above 'felony stupid', in trying that."
To Sarah's delight, the Othánas were remarkably familiar with Aboveground music, and enjoyed most of it. Randel preferred Classic Rock (no shock there), Lily enjoyed Pop from all decades, Garthan was an Alternative fan and Jareth liked Motown and old school R&B.
"Sarah here enjoys Glam Rock," he said with a smirk, watching her blush furiously.
As the music played, the bar staff were setting up for the karaoke that was about to start. The group watched several different volunteers sing their songs, some sounding good while others induced cringing shoulders and stifled giggles. Sarah would never know how it came about, but she found herself and Lily on stage, belting out a duet rendition of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', to the cheers and catcalls of the entire bar.
Not to be outdone, Jareth and "The Boys" treated them to their take on "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'" from Motown group the Four Tops. Jareth took the lead, while Garthan and Randel sang backup and tried to coordinate their dance moves. The butterflies were swarming something fierce in Sarah's stomach as Jareth met her eyes and sang to her directly.
The Othánas turned out to be great dancers, except maybe Garthan, who could keep a rhythm but didn't have the smoothest moves. Randel took Lily out on the floor for the more acrobatic dances, while Garthan reclaimed his wife for the slow ones. Jareth spun Sarah around to a Spandau Ballet song from the 80's, their first slow dance together since the Peach Dream.
It started out casually; but as the song went on, their bodies drifted closer, they held each other tighter, their cheeks pressed together. That scent… that magical, mesmerizing scent of his enveloped her as much as his embrace did. In her foggy mind, Sarah couldn't remember ever feeling so… content. She felt like she could stay in his arms forever and that if this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. She wondered if he felt it too.
His arms around her tightened even more and, although Sarah wasn't entirely sure after all the vodka cranberry she'd drank, she could have sworn that somewhere in that whirlpool of alcohol and contentment, she'd felt his lips touch hers.
Author's Notes:
I need to credit another story for the "sleeping dragon" line. It comes from a Labyrinth story called "Tokens of Affection" by Shinku (an absolutely delightful story that I heartily recommend you guys check out).
