Jareth, King of the Goblins, Master of Dreams and Lord of the Labyrinth sat in the overstuffed armchair by the fire, his long, golden hair freshly dried and tied back casually. In his hand was a cut crystal tumbler, presently filled with a fortifying draft of brandy. As he stared into the flames, he sipped at his drink, savoring the bite of the alcohol on his tongue.

After centuries of searching, waiting, he'd finally found her. His heart-bonded mate. His future wife. His future Queen.

How many times had he speculated about her? What would she be like? Would she be kind? Adventurous? Would she have a sense of humor?

Never, in all of his wonderings, did he ever ask himself… Will she be Othánas?

He was King of the Goblins, yes… but there were two kinds. Lesser Goblins, or Ughlánas as they were known in his Kingdom, were the small, green skinned purveyors of mischief that most people knew. When someone said the word 'goblin', the Ughlánas were almost always what they pictured.

Jareth on the other hand was a Greater Goblin, or an Othánas, as his people were known. Unlike their little brethren, the Othánas were tall, at least the males were, and had the outward characteristics shared by most humanoid races of the Underground, such as the Fae and Elves. Like them, his ears were pointed, and he carried magic. Unlike them, however, the Othánas retained some Goblin traits, one of which was their retractable claws.

He turned the tumbler in his hands, his gaze drawn to the black talons currently sheathed within his fingers. His talons…

Another Goblin trait was a set of prominent fangs, giving the male Othánas a rather predatory, almost feral appearance. The female Othánas had claws and fangs as well, although theirs were not as large, nor as distinctive. If not for their delicately pointed ears, they could probably pass for humans if they wore gloves and kept from smiling.

Thus, it did not bother him that his future wife was a human. Now that he thought about it, he was rather pleasantly surprised that she would be so beautiful. True, she was too young for it to matter yet, but it was quite clear that as an adult, she would be gorgeous.

He looked at his free hand, unsheathing his claws for a moment before pulling them back in. They were wicked, all right. Lethal weapons in and of themselves, the sight of them had been known to intimidate other residents of the Underground, so much so that it had become a habit to wear gloves outside of his Kingdom. When he or any of his kind had to go Above, they used their magic to create glamors, or illusions, that gave them the appearance of a human. While he generally preferred to use his owl form when Above, there were times when the human glamor was useful.

This might be one of those times.

But then again, perhaps not. He could hardly court her while disguised in his human glamor, only to spring his true appearance on her later. This was a pickle, without a doubt. While he was very familiar with the sight of humans, the same could not be said for Sarah's knowledge of Othánas. She knew of the Goblins, of course, but she likely pictured the Ughlánas when she heard the word. He didn't think she even knew that there was another kind.

And therein lay his challenge. How was he supposed to court her, when she was much too young and would likely run in fear at the sight of him?

Then again… she might not. She was very familiar with the Labyrinth story, so much so that she had been acting it out from memory when he'd seen her at the park. One would think that she'd know that the Goblin King was in fact, a Goblin. And while she would experience some shock when she saw him in his Othánas form, she had enough knowledge of the denizens of the Underground that it might not scare her.

Or… he could fulfill her wish. She had imagined him to be a prince in disguise. She might be pleasantly surprised to find out he was really a King.

The Ughlánas that watched over her had told him of her habit of going to the park with her dog. There would be plenty of opportunities to see her again. Perhaps he should go in his owl form, and when she spoke to him again, as he knew she would, he could then transform…

He chuckled to himself. That sounded like a fairy tale, all right. He might even stay in his owl form for longer… at least until she was comfortable with him. She clearly saw something magical about him… why not let her imagination do most of the work?

Besides… while he would never admit it to anyone else, he rather enjoyed fairy tales himself. It was rather appealing, being the prince that got to carry her away.

His idle musings came to a screeching halt at that thought. He'd heard the longing in her voice when she mentioned being taken away. Knew that she wanted it, would welcome it. A dream come true. At least, until she realized she was the only human in the Underground.

Children that were wished away were always transformed. While humans had come Underground in the distant past, to the best of Jareth's knowledge, there were none currently living on his world. Sarah would be the first one in a very long time. Theonlyone in present day. From what the Ughlánas said, she already suffered greatly by isolation and loneliness. How much more would she suffer, being the only one of her kind, here?

If only she would wish herself away…

He had expected her to make the wish years ago, even before he'd known her for his future Queen. The act of wishing herself away would then facilitate her transformation into one of them, thus negating any feelings of isolation she would have. But she didn't. And while she could certainly live in the Underground as his wife, she would retain her humanity and thus always feel like an outsider.

The longing in her voice when she'd spoken still haunted him. Perhaps she might be inspired to make the wish soon. Now that she'd seen him and their hearts bonded, she might be driven to do it. It was a pity that the rules of the Labyrinth were such that he couldn't just come out and tell her what she should do. She had to make the choice on her own, of her own free will and without prompting.

As he took another sip of his brandy, Jareth felt a tingling sensation in the center of his mind. Someone had wished a child away. He sighed a bit in frustration at the timing, but at the same time, welcomed the distraction. When a wisher called, he usually paused time long enough to collect some information on the wisher, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears. This time, he was too distracted to do so, merely going with the flow as the Labyrinth's magic swirled around him and he was transported to the wisher.

Author's Notes:

Here, I wanted to delve a little into the fact that there were two kinds of Goblins and what the Othánas looked like for someone who was reading this for the first time. I have mentioned in my other stories that the Othánas (at least the males) could be rather frightening if one wasn't familiar with them. Readers who have followed the series of course know that they are good people, with their own hopes, loves, dreams and fears. But seeing one for the first time is a scary experience.

Also, I wanted to delve a bit into Jareth's thoughts about Sarah being human (and a bit of chagrin that she is so young). I wanted to establish that he is thinking of her in terms of her future relationship to him… he is NOT lusting after her or anything of the sort. It's kind of like he had just been informed of a cosmically arranged marriage… he accepts it and is happy that his future mate is going to be pretty, but he's not thinking about marrying her right here and now, nor does he have any physical desire towards her. For now, he's more concerned about logistics and how he's going to facilitate them getting to know each other better.