Dawn had come. She could hear birds singing in the distance. The sky was growing brighter, and she could see the sun coming over the crest of a mountain to the east.

Sarah gazed in the direction of the castle. Now that the sunlight was hitting it, she could see just how far away it really was. The sunlight also revealed the extent of the Labyrinth around the city and castle. The maze was huge, a combination of block walls and hedges. There was no recognizable pattern to it. She'd always heard that if you keep to the right in any given maze, it will lead you to the center. Sarah had a feeling that wasn't the case this time.

While looking at the Labyrinth, Sarah had to admit that it was quite impressive. She vaguely wondered just how it came to be. Who built it? Why was it built? What purpose did it serve? She was no engineer, but it certainly looked like one heck of a feat of engineering. There appeared to be gateways, archways. And all kinds of twists and turns. What kind of mind thought this thing up?

Well, she could stand here and gawk at this thing, or she could get moving. "Come on, feet," she said to herself as she started trudging down the hill. As she got closer, the true scale of the Labyrinth became clear. The wall before her was easily 10 to 15 feet high, made of huge rocks or stones, mortared together. The wall extended as far as she could see, to her left and to her right. She saw no gate, not even when she was up on the hill. Sarah felt a touch of frustration bubbling up within her. Just how was she supposed to traverse the Labyrinth if there wasn't a way in?

Jareth sat in his armchair and let out a sigh. He turned the crystal he was holding in his hand, willing it to show him Sarah. She was still near the gate, although she continued to be unable see it. He watched with bitter amusement as she looked around frantically. Her gaze seemed to steady as her eyes fell upon Hoggle. He was...

Is that cretin actually pissing in my fountain?

He gave the denizens of the Labyrinth quite a bit of leeway when they were dealing with a Runner, but this was going too far. He made a mental note to have a 'talk' with Hoggle later.

That dwarf had always rubbed him the wrong way. Or perhaps it was the other way around. Jareth never knew why, but Hoggle always had antipathy toward him, even from the first. It didn't matter that he'd provided their family with refuge and a home. For whatever reason, Hoggle didn't like Jareth and made no secret of it. And after all these centuries, the feeling was mutual. If he hadn't felt so indebted to Hoggle's father for his assistance with the construction of the castle, he might well have exiled the little bastard.

"Excuse me, but I have to go through the Labyrinth, can you show me the way in?" said Sarah.

My, how polite, he thought to himself. Not that it will help.

He watched as Sarah exclaimed over the fairies that were hovering over the flowers. He chuckled a bit wickedly to himself when he watched her pick one up. And the subsequent bite she suffered on her finger. His chuckle turned into full blown laughter when he heard her tell Hoggle that she thought fairies granted wishes.

No, but I do.

He watched their banter for a little while. He could tell she was getting irritated with Hoggle by the way her brows came together over her nose. It was quite adorable, really. She was asking him where the door to the Labyrinth was. And in typical Hoggle fashion, he was giving her circular answers. Eventually, she hit upon the right question.

"How do I get into the Labyrinth?"

He rather enjoyed the look on her face when she saw the great gate materialize before her where only stone wall had been. He saw her eyeing the lock on the gate, then looking around as if to try to find a key. That was usually good for burning an hour or two off the Runners as they embarked on a futile search for a key they didn't need. Sarah however reached out her hand and pushed on the gate. He smiled at her surprised expression when it opened.

As she peered within the gate to the Labyrinth beyond, he could see the trepidation that she was feeling. Sometimes, a Runner would take one look and simply refuse to proceed. He didn't think Sarah was so weak, nor was he disappointed when she visibly steeled herself and took a step forward. She turned to Hoggle and asked him which way he would go. Hoggle shrugged and told her he wouldn't go either way. He was definitely getting on Sarah's nerves, because she finally snapped at him.

"You know your problem?" asked Hoggle. "You take too many things for granted. Even if you get to the center, you'll never get out again."

Sarah was undeterred. "Thanks for nothing, Hogwart."

At this, Jareth burst into laughter again. It had become something of a hobby of his, calling Hoggle by some ridiculous variation of his given name. It was a small revenge for all the slights he'd suffered at the dwarf's hands over the years. It delighted him that apparently Sarah had the same sense of humor.

Still, it was a little disturbing... the sense of entitlement this girl had. Did she think that she was owed answers simply because she asked the questions? And when she didn't get the answers she liked, she displayed quite a bit of temper. While perhaps not as unpleasant as some Runners he'd dealt with, she still possessed a disconcerting touch of brattiness.

Be fair, Hoggle brings out your temper too.

Well, that was neither here nor there. He stared into the crystal, a growing sense of helplessness and chagrin washing over him. Granted, she was not yet an adult, but he certainly hoped that she would outgrow this petulant side of her. He couldn't imagine going through the next few centuries with someone who was so petty.

Heart bonds were usually a source of joy. He had always heard that when you find your heart mate, it was a feeling like the voids in your spirit were being filled. And while that was certainly what he felt earlier in the day, that feeling was replaced by a growing sense of dread. While he could complain about the quirks of Sarah's personality all he wanted, the fact remained that it was his heart that chose her for his mate. What did that say about his heart? That he should choose someone so immature and oblivious... was that not a reflection on him?

*There's more to her than you think, aroon. Else I would never have marked her for us.*

Jareth couldn't suppress the little jump he gave when he 'heard' the Labyrinth's voice.

*At any rate, have you examined her brother?*

"No… I hadn't. I suppose I'd better. I need to know where to place him when she fails."

*And Sarah?*

"What about her?"

*Where will you be placing her?*

Jareth frowned slightly, "I don't think I follow you."

The Labyrinth didn't sigh, at least not audibly, but he could feel it in her voice. *Where will Sarah go when this is over? Will you invite her to stay Below, or will she return Above and be courted upon her majority?*

Court her… how was he to do that? If he let her stay Below after her Run, this would make it easier, certainly. She could be fostered with Garthan and Lily, along with her brother. That would keep the two of them together.

Would she even want that? She did wish him away, after all…

And that was the rub, wasn't it? Earlier this afternoon, after he'd felt the rush of the heart-bond, he was optimistic. Joyful. There were challenges that would have to be overcome, not the least of which was their age disparity, but overall, he was happy. Almost… ecstatic.

Now… he was chagrined. His heart-bonded mate was a Wisher. A Runner. Wishers tended to be a selfish lot, sometimes even evil. There were times when it took all of Jareth's will not to visit punishment on those wretched creatures.

And sometimes… he didn't resist the urge.

*You're forgetting Tahira* said the Labyrinth. *Her mother was neither selfish nor evil, yet she made the wish.*

Tahira, or Tippy as she was called now, was an exception. Jareth recalled his initial surprise at being directed to give a book to her mother, a rather kind woman who was trapped in a nightmarish existence. Tippy herself was an extremely loving, nurturing personality, even for one so young, and Jareth happily anticipated adding her to his Kingdom.

Until it actually happened.

As was common in the Above, some sort of brushfire war broke out, the causes of which he had no idea. When he'd gotten the tingle of a wish being made, he was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted him upon materializing.

Their little tenement was a scene of chaos and destruction. The acrid smell of explosives permeated the air. He stepped gingerly through what was left of the residence, coming upon the mother first.

She was lying at an odd angle, her head and shoulders on the floor, while her lower half was propped up at a crazy angle against the wall. Just from glancing at her, Jareth could tell that her back was broken, the internal damage far too great for her to recover. Normally, he didn't care much about what the Wishers were feeling, but the sorrow and pain in this woman's eyes went straight to his heart.

She gazed at him without surprise, tears falling from her eyes. "Please…" she whispered. "Take her… save her…"

Over to the right of the woman was… her child.

With the dust, blood, and dirt covering the child's face, it was almost impossible to get an idea of what she'd once looked like. She was injured, worse than the woman was… and Jareth's heart broke completely. He heard a 'popping' sound behind him, and watched as Zee came to kneel beside the little girl.

"It's gonna be okay, Tootsie," Zee said softly. "I got ya."

Zee took the child's hand and nodded to the mother. Jareth vaguely noted that the mother wasn't afraid of Zee in the slightest, had even smiled at him. Most Wishers were terrified of the Ughlánas when they showed themselves, but this one wasn't. She knew, somehow. Knew that Zee was taking her child to safety… and the relief in her gaze was palpable. Her grateful expression didn't change when Zee and the child vanished.

Jareth knelt in the ash and dust beside her. He reached out and took her hand gently within his.

"What is your wish, dear one?" he'd asked softly in her language. "I would give you your dreams."

She smiled at him, another tear tracking down her face. "I just want her to live. I want her to be safe and happy."

He nodded; his throat so tight he couldn't speak. With his free hand, he conjured a crystal and held it before her. She gazed at it, her eyes glowing with love and happiness as she beheld the image of her daughter.

He knew he had to return to the castle immediately… given the injuries he'd seen on the child; it was likely that her only chance would be transformation into an Ughlánas. And for that, the Labyrinth would need him. He put the crystal in the mother's hands, then kissed her forehead. Her eyes fluttered closed and stayed that way.

Jareth was choking back tears as he transported back to the castle.

His assumption had proven right. The child was far too badly injured, on top of the malnutrition she was suffering. Healer Melina was expending her power to stabilize the child as best she could, but Jareth could tell it was a losing battle. He put one hand on the child's forehead, the other over her heart.

Melina could see immediately what he was about to do. She turned her magic, channeling its power into the nerve centers of the child's brain, blocking the pain receptors as Jareth wove the Labyrinth's magic into the very cells of the little girl's body. Transforming a child to a Fae or an Othánas was a slower process, one that could take hours, but changing her to an Ughlánas was much quicker. Part of this was because the Ughlánas had Healing magic of their own, and with every cell Jareth altered, that Healing magic grew stronger, mending the injuries as she changed and accelerating the transformation itself.

The entire process took less than five minutes. The child, once human, was now an Ughlánas. Her hair, previously black, was now pure white. Her little fingers sported the black claws that both Ughlánas and Othánas had. Her ears were long and pointed. She had light green skin and enormous dark eyes, which fluttered open and fixed upon him.

The expression in those eyes was probably the most loving, kind, and gentle look he'd ever received from another living being, except perhaps his mother. He stroked her hair gently, and she smiled at him. She had the sharp teeth that all Ughlánas had, but they were small, not a surprise given her young age. She yawned adorably, and her eyes fluttered closed.

"She'll sleep this off for a few hours," said Melina. "But she's going to be fine."

"I'll watch over her, Kingy," said Zee. "Don't you worry."

He dimly remembered walking out of the Healer's Suite and wandering over to the Memorial Garden. It was a small, out-of-the-way courtyard, far removed from the other gardens that adorned the castle complex, and the one place that all others besides Jareth himself were forbidden to visit. He'd appropriated this space some centuries ago, upon Melina's suggestion, when he'd gotten his first wished-away that hadn't survived long enough for the transformation. He'd planted the flowers, trees and shrubbery with his own hands, and it was here that the ashes of those unfortunate children were interred. For each one, he conjured a crystal with his or her image, suspended from a thin gold wire. He'd hang the crystal on one of the trees, speaking a prayer to Danu to take the child's soul to the Summer Lands.

This time… he conjured an image of the mother. He didn't know her name, but Danu would. And as Jareth spoke the prayer to send her soul to the Summer Lands, a tear fell from his eye.

While it was not the only instance of a wisher sending their child away for unselfish reasons, it was perhaps the most heart-rending. But… that was not the reason Sarah wished her brother away…

*Perhaps that is what you should consider… WHY would Sarah have wished her brother away? Think about why those wishes are made in the first place and it will become clear.*

Somehow, Jareth doubted that.

*Then think on what you know about her* it said with a touch of irritation. *You will reach understanding, if only you'd open your eyes to see.*

Author's Notes:

I wanted to explore Jareth's feelings a bit, especially how he would react to being heart-bonded to a Runner. In his eyes, she had committed a very selfish act, and it draws him up short. While it might seem a bit unfair of him to think less of her for what she did, we should remember what kind of people he deals with when it comes to wishers.

But he also needed to remember that nothing is ever just black and white… there are some gray areas. And sometimes, things aren't what they seem. I thought that having him remember the circumstances of Tippy being wished away was a good example of there always being an exception to the rule. At the very least, his remembering it should prompt a little thought on his part, that not all of the wishers are what they seem on first glance.