Author's Notes:

This story is a prequel to A Kingdom of Dreams and expands on how Garthan and Lily met and their courtship. Sarah does show up in this story, but not until the last chapter.

No smut in this one… this is a light little romance story (in the style of a Jane Austen movie) about a courtship, not their marriage. I wanted to show what life in the Goblin Kingdom was like, pre-Sarah.


Chapter One

Caisleán Caladh, One Hundred and Three Years Before Sarah's Run

How is it that for one so young, I feel so old? thought Garthan, as he walked to Jareth's study. Another year gone by, and another Spring Equinox to suffer through. And suffer, he did.

To be fair, so did Jareth. His King was something of a homebody these days, not really given to the social whirl. If it were up to him, he'd spend the next week with his nose buried in a book instead of hosting the next crop of Othánas beauties.

Garthan didn't know how this ridiculous tradition started, but suddenly, each Spring Equinox, girls from all over the Kingdom would come dressed in their finery to socialize with the residents of Caladh. Jareth hosted an annual ball, open to anyone with halfway decent manners, and this became the de rigueur event for the unbonded women of the Goblin Kingdom to converge on the hapless citizens.

The goal? To win a King. Failing that, to find a suitable husband.

On the one hand, he understood it. Many of these women didn't have a lot of opportunities to find mates, what with most of the male population participating in Army training or other military duties. By coming here, they could at least meet some prospective spouses. The King was the primary target, but the girls were happy enough when they ended up heart bonding elsewhere.

On the other hand, it was tedious. Almost every single one of them thought that by aping Fae mannerisms, this would make them attractive to the King. It didn't, not at all, but by the time they figured that out, it was much too late. They usually abandoned the mannerisms by the end of the visit and almost all found themselves a good man, but putting up with their affectations in the meantime was utter hell.

Randel, on the other hand, was quite happy to sample the country beauties. Possessed of a charm that had dropped many a corset to the floor, Randel cut quite a swath through the visiting girls. Garthan shook his head, inwardly. Randel always said that he'd never life-bond, that he liked variety too much to keep himself to one woman. Privately, Garthan thought he'd just not met the right girl. If all he'd seen were these butterflies, it's no wonder he wasn't interested in keeping them for more than a night or two.

Jareth didn't care either way. When this tradition first started, he was mildly interested. He knew that he needed a Queen and thought that this might be an easy way to find one. Year after year, decade after decade of this slog just had the effect of discouraging him. Occasionally, he would take a lover from among the visitors, but it was always brief and always casual. While nowhere near the libertine that Randel was, Jareth didn't take any of the butterflies seriously, either. This was a little sad… he knew that after centuries of avoiding emotional entanglements, Jareth had finally come to embrace the idea of love and a family. He wanted a woman to share his life with, his crown with. He wanted children. But a century had passed since he'd first started looking and… nothing. He'd resigned himself to not even trying, only keeping company with a woman when he felt a physical desire for it.

Garthan had to admit, he felt more in common with Jareth's attitude than Randel's. He very much wanted to find a wife… wanted to start a family. He'd felt mild interest in a woman now and then, but nothing more than a passing fancy. It just wasn't in him to shower a woman with poetry, sing ballads, pour out compliments. Not that he wouldn't if inspired to, but…

Oh, face it. You're terrible at it. You couldn't woo your way out of a burlap sack.

In his professional capacity, he was a master interrogator. He could have the truth out of any living being in minutes flat. He could weave through the intricacies of court life, diplomacy and outright chicanery that came with any government. Professionally.

Personally, he couldn't talk to a woman if all the gold in Shaurra were his for the taking. He literally didn't know what to say to them. Most of them had hobbies, activities, and concerns so banal that he couldn't even pretend to be interested in them. Their beauty made him sigh, but their personalities…

Since their early childhoods, he, Jareth, and Randel had been inseparable. He'd watched with some amusement as Randel dove headfirst into sensual delights the moment he became old enough to do so. Jareth did too, for the first year or so, but mounting duties, wars, diplomatic missions, and such gave him very little time for such pleasant diversions.

It wasn't until a few years into their majority that Jareth and Randel noticed that Garthan didn't indulge. Once they turned their attention to him, they quickly realized that he just didn't have the finesse it took to get a woman out of her knickers the way that they did. Taking it as their personal mission to 'educate' him, they'd found a willing Othánas lady who had thought him attractive to introduce him to the pleasures of the bedchamber. Curious, he went along with it.

It was a revelation, all right.

While it was certainly pleasurable (and informative), he couldn't help but feel… empty, afterward. He didn't want the hollow embraces that Jareth got, or the torrid but forgettable interludes that Randel had. He wanted a mate… one he could devote himself to, body and soul. He simply didn't see a reason to settle for anything less than forever in the meantime.

The problem was finding her.


Forian Vale, On the Border Near the Dwarven Kingdom…

"Well, there goes another one."

Lily turned to look at her friend with some amusement. "What did you expect? There's three unbonded men in this town. There's fifteen unbonded women. I'm surprised the girls didn't claw each other's eyes out, trying to snap up those three."

Danai sighed, "I know. I just… I hoped that maybe I could find someone close to home. I don't really want to live too far from my parents, and if I end up going to Caladh, I just know I'll marry someone from the other side of the Kingdom."

"Now, see… I would like that. I love my family, don't get me wrong, but I'm… bored with life here. I want someone with experience of the world, someone who I can hold an educated conversation with." Lily shrugged delicately, "I'd like to see a bit of our Kingdom, other regions maybe, meet new people."

"So, you're going to Caladh?" said Danai.

"Yes… I might as well. My mother wants me to go. Of course, she has this dream that I'll meet the King and bond with him. She could then talk about 'her daughter the Queen'. But really, I think she just wants more grandchildren."

"Well, if anyone can catch the eye of the King, it's going to be you. I swear, I don't know how you avoided being bonded until now, as pretty as you are."

Lily shrugged again, "There's more to a marriage than looks, Danai. Honestly, I think men avoided me, thinking that I wouldn't give them the time of day. I'm hoping that I'll find a man with more mettle when we go for Spring Equinox."

"Well, you could always take a tumble with the King. From what I heard, he's quite… good."

"Oh, no… not for me," Lily said, laughing. "Even if he wanted to bond with me, I wouldn't want to be… his. I have no interest in being a queen, and as far as a casual relationship… I just don't want that. I want forever."

"I have a feeling you're going to find that in Caladh, Lily" said Danai, smirking. "Just you wait and see…"


Author's Notes:

I do not own Labyrinth, nor its characters.

The character of Garthan was inspired by my real-life stepson (his name is a play on my stepson's real name). His personality is almost exactly like Matthew Macfayden's performance as Mr. Darcy in 2005's Pride and Prejudice. The way the actor portrays what I characterize as social anxiety was amazing. If you've ever seen the movie… yeah, Garthan is Mr. Darcy for sure.

Lily is based on a former coworker of mine, who quite literally looked like Sleeping Beauty in the flesh. She is also the sweetest person I've ever met.

Shaurra is a mythological Underground place of my invention that is said to have wondrous treasure, if one can find it.

There is a link in my bio/profile to the folder that contains images I generated for this story.