“Oh, it’s you,” Hoggle said reaching a hand out to help her stand.
Sarah brushed herself off. “Hoggle, it worked!”
“I see that.”
“You could show a little enthusiasm.”
Thick legs cast him a foot or so into the air as his arms flailed, “Yippy!” Sarcasm, blatant and obvious, filled his tone.
“Thanks a lot Hoggle.” A touch of her own sarcasm in the words, it was more her hurt and disappoint Sarah was trying to convey. “So what do I do now?” She hadn’t intended to ask that aloud, but it had been said now. Too late to take it back.
“Looks like you haven’t thought about this very much.” The dwarf crossed his arms over his chest and snorted, “I warned you.”
It was hard not to let the tears rush to her eyes when he was being so cold to her, but she made certain none of those tears fell. “I meant there’s so much I want to do and see, I hardly know where to begin.”
“S’hat so?” Hoggle’s eyebrows rose as he asked the rhetorical question. Pursing the corner of his mouth, he continued on, “I’ll tell you what yer not gonna do. Night’s preparin’ to fall and the Labyrinth is the last place you wanna be at night.” Coldness was rapidly being replaced by concern in his tone.
Food and clothing had been on her mind when she was packing, but shelter never occurred to her. Last time she visited the Labyrinth, night had never fallen and it was just as late then as now. “I didn’t think you guys experienced night here.”
“Hmpf! You wouldn’t. Jareth was so busy reorderin’ time for you that night got skipped in yer honor.” Hoggle took notice of the spark his words left in her eye. He supposed, to her, it seemed like a compliment. “You’ll come and spend the night with Drema and me.”
“Fantastic!” Sarah started toward the door, but Hoggle called to stop her.
“I might work in and around the Labyrinth, but I don’t live in it.” he explained. Reaching out a hand and giving a jerk of his head, Hoggle drew Sarah back to his side. When he felt her tiny hand slide into his he directed, “This way.” A few steps into their path away from the Labyrinth the dwarf realized that he’d forgotten his atomizer. “Wait here,” he told Sarah when he left her to go get it. ‘That’s odd,’ he thought when he bent over to pick up the rusty sprayer. The ground where Sarah had stood was green and the path they had walked away on was dotted with blades of grass. “By the Supreme One,” he said aloud, “She’s bringin’ the Underground to life.” Now he knew he couldn’t hide her from Jareth, not for long anyway. The king would not overlook changes in his kingdom nor would he appreciate them even less. Fear swept over Hoggle’s face and gave his feet new fury as he ran to catch up with Sarah.
***** ***** *****
If it was true that Sarah’s presence was bringing the Underground to life, and it was, the same could be said in return. Yet to understand why, in a very strange way, being back, even just a few moments, Sarah felt alive. She no longer had to mold herself to fit a role. Here it wasn’t necessary to feign interest in any of a hundred topics Christian wanted to discuss. Stuart wasn’t preparing for auditions by giving her topics to study that would impress some producer rather than just focusing on her talent, which should have been the selling point to begin with. Freedom was hers to run wild in and it thrilled her. A pulsing warmth grew inside her chest. The sensation spread to her arms and legs reaching all the way to her fingers and toes. She caught a smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth. It had been along time since Sarah hadn’t forced one of those.
“Quit yer daydreamin’,” Hoggle called up to his traveling companion.
Snapped out of her own self indulgence, Sarah took a moment to look around. To any side of them were tall trees with wide trunks. If they hadn’t been walking away from the Labyrinth, she would have expected the fire gang to come rushing out of the thickets ready to be as helpful as they could with their bizarre song and dance. Instead she saw a wide array of other creatures. Her eyes could not grow large enough to take it all in. “Hoggle,” she began in a low calm tone trying to be wary of the surroundings which were becoming more bizarre the further they walked, “where are we?”
In retrospect, the dwarf realized he should have better prepared her for what she was about to see, but the easy part of the past was the fact that you couldn’t change it. Hearty laughter wheezed from his lungs, “This is my home. The southeastern sector of the Underground beyond the Labyrinth walls. It’s a protected woodland where wood sprites, elves and dwarfs,” he accentuated by drawing his hands to his chest, “are primarily assigned to live.” From the corner of his eye he spied another pesky fairy and drew back the hand pump of his atomizer. “Of course, there are no formal boundaries here,” he depressed the handle and a cloud of smoke engulfed the fairy before it fell to the ground, “which means any old riff raff can wander in.”
On the path before them a rabbit scurried passed. It paused a second and met Sarah’s gaze eye to eye. For a second she could have sworn she saw it’s pupils grow wide in surprise and it’s ears jolt back, but it was gone before she could be sure. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Hoggle asked nastily, when she interrupted his victory dance performed for having killed another fairy.
“There was a rabbit up ahead by those trees and I swear it just looked at me.”
“Oh no, not already. Was he ‘bout this big?” Hoggle indicated with his hands the size of an average cat, “Snowy white?”
Sarah nodded.
“Damned Easter Bunny,” Hoggle cursed. It made Sarah giggle. “I wouldn’t laugh if I was you. If he decides to tell Tiberon you’re here, Jareth will be hunting for you by morning, if he waits that long.”
“Whose Tiberon? And what makes you think that Jareth would want to hunt me?” Sarah asked.
“I’ll explain when I gets you home,” he told her flatly and began dragging her through the woods as his tiny legs pumped with all their might.
All the little creatures seemed to take notice of the two of them rushing by. Sarah assumed it was because they were curious as to why they were moving so quickly, but their faces weren’t showing curiosity. They weren’t fearful that something terribly dangerous was on their heals. They smiled beneath their steady stares. Their faces were happy. It made Sarah smile too. She felt safe here.
“Just a few more stumps,” Hoggle told her between gasps for breath. “Come on.”
The feeling of safety was fleeting as Sarah looked ahead a few stumps and saw a tall fey leaning against what remained of an oak. His high black leather boots caught her attention first, then the black tights, the white painter’s shirt, the black coat, black gloves and black hair. Until the hair she thought it was Jareth waiting for them. Sarah was even more frightened when she realized she didn’t know who in the hell it was that stood poised with a Cheshire grin waiting for them. “Ho...Ho...Hoggle!!” Her feet refused to move and the dwarf was jerked back to her stationary position forcing him to take his attention off of the ground.
His eyes met with Tiberon’s as nervous laughter preceded his shaky vocalization, “Ah, ah...you see, I was surveyin’ the gates for the night and, um...well you know how out of it Jareth’s been lately, he must have taken another baby and the mortal was gonna go into the Labyrinth. And so....I told her until I could reach Jareth and he reordered time, it wasn’t safe...my code permitted me from lettin’ her enter the maze.” Where had that come from.
“I see,” Tiberon told the dwarf, never removing his stare from Sarah. Terrified, she looked away. The fey moved in on her trying to force her to fully reveal her face. “And what is the mortal’s name?”
Sarah didn’t answer, she could barely breath. “Ruth,” Hoggle attempted to say as naturally as possible. It was a mortal name, he knew that much. Jareth had taken a baby girl from a sitter whose name was Ruth about a year ago.
“And how long ago was the child taken?”
Glancing at a watch that wasn’t on his wrist, “Nearly three hours,” the dwarf chose.
“Ah then I should go tell our sire that his mortal is present and wishes to engage in the, what is it now, twelve hour, battle for her child.” He rose his hand gesturing as though he were going to transport himself immediately.
“No, no, that won’t be necessary. I’ve already let him know that she’s here. I just haven’t told him about night fallin’. He’ll want her to have the benefit of light so that it’s a fair fight between them.”
Tiberon spun on Hoggle, “When has Jareth ever been interested in what was fair?” He rose to face the young woman, “And besides,” he continued taking her hand, covering it with his other hand as he felt it quaking, “it is my duty and privilege as Representative to greet those who enter my sector.” Tiberon took to one knee and kissed the delicate hand he held. “Ms. Williams?”
Horrified that she’d been recognized and by a stranger, the woman hastily drew back her hand. Hoggle charged forward waving a finger at Tiberon, “Now you see here, you’ve got no business with her. She’s here as my guest.”
Gently, he lay a hand on Hoggle’s shoulder, “Calm yourself little one. I am no Judas. Were I to hastily announce the arrival of the Legend, I would do myself the disservice of missing the opportunity to get to know her better.” A hearty laughter filled the space between them. Tiberon rose and addressed Sarah, “You miss, have a great following here in the Underground. Most of us have come to refer to you as the Legend while honestly believing that we would never meet the woman behind the tale, yet here you stand, the mortal child who defeated the King of the Goblins, Ruler of the Underground. It is with great pleasure that I extend to you the use of my lands and of my services.” He bowed low to her in respect.
Sarah was stunned. These people thought of her as a legend. “No one’s ever beaten him before?” she asked innocently.
The Representative of the Southeastern sector rose from his bow with a chuckle on his lips, “No one before and no one since, miss.”
“Please call me Sarah.”
“Sarah,” he repeated. “What business have you in the Underground?”
Hoggle gave her a wary glance. After all, no one but the three of them knew what had transpired between Sarah and Jareth. The Representatives already found him uptight and out of sorts, two thirds of the Triumvirate thought he was evil, might as well save what little reputation he had left. “I’ve come to visit with some old friends,” she told him. Her eyes met Tiberon’s and their individuality made her words trail off. This fey had violet eyes, electric violet, if such a color existed.
“Our King has been quite smitten with you for a number of years and while I’m sure he’d be enraptured to see you on any average occasion he’s been a bit quite the ogre as of late.”
Perhaps a bit too smugly Sarah replied, “Then I shall save his visit for another day.”
Tiberon laughed again, “You are rich.” He went on, holding his side, “Save his visit for another day, really, you, meaning to go to the castle after all you’ve done to him. You mean me to think you the heartless creature that all fey have come to believe mortals to be. I am very much intimidated Sarah Williams.” He backed away from her in mock fear, “Please spare me the awesome power of your mortal magic.”
“He don’t know any better Sarah,” Hoggle whispered. “Laugh it off and bid him goodnight.”
Sarah chuckled uneasily, “That’s right, now off with you Tiberon, lest I turn you into a toad. I bid you goodnight.”
“Goodnight, then.” Tiberon’s laughter could be heard well into the wood, even after he walked away.
“Damn rabbit,” Hoggle said to Sarah. “He’s always buttin’ his twitchy little nose in where it don’t belong. Him and his big ears constantly hoppin’ from sector to sector overhearin’ what’s not meant for him to know.” He turned to Sarah, “Let’s get you inside. This may itch a bit,” he warned her as his hand waved and a cloud of glitter blocked her vision for a moment.
When everything settled, Sarah was looking eye to eye with the dwarf and yet standing tall at the same time. “What have you done?” she cried as she tried to adjust to her new point of view. Is this the kind of thing Hoggle saw everyday? ‘Christ no wonder he’s such a coward,’ she caught herself thinking. ‘To him Jareth must have seemed twelve feet tall.’
“Relax, it’s just to get you into my house. The spell will break the moment you set foot back outside my front door.” Hoggle was a bit hurt by her insinuation. It had been a long time since she had spoken to him that way, but a lot had happened to her today and he chalked it up to all that. “What are you waitin’ fer? Get inside.” He held open the door for her.
“‘Bout time you decided to come home,” Drema turned expecting a dawdling husband and met instead the miniaturized Sarah, “Oh excuse me! I thought you were...”
“I know what ya thought,” Hoggle interrupted as he came around to give a more formal introduction. He leaned in to kiss his wife, “Drema, this is Sarah Williams.” Drema’s face could not hide her shock. “Sarah, my wife, Drema.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Drema said to Sarah as she extended her hand.
Overcome, Sarah reached for the woman and pulled her into a tight embrace. This was the woman who agreed to name her child after Sarah, having never met her. Drema responded with a grasp of her own. In her arms she held a woman who had once been very important to her husband and obviously still was. Hoggle fought back a tear which threatened to fall from his eyes. “You must be starving,” Drema insisted as she stretched Sarah out to arm’s length. “Come with me, we’ll finish setting the table.”
Sarah followed Hoggle’s wife into their humble kitchen. “Dishes are in the cubbie above the sink, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” she replied as she stretched to wrap her fingers around three plates. She wondered if Hoggle had felt this strange when he visited her world. The women continued to busy themselves in the kitchen. Sarah heard Hoggle playing with the baby in the next room. A sensation filled her that had been vacant since her adolescent days. This had been what home and family felt like to her before Linda ran off with her co-star and her father replaced her mother with Karen. Things had been good then, even if it had been only briefly. Tiny feet pounding off the earthen floor distracted her from what she had been thinking and before her stood the brightest eyed child she had seen Above or Underground in all her years.
“You’re Sarah?” the little one asked.
“I am,” she replied.
“I am too,” the baby told her. “One Sarah,” she said holding up one finger and half signing. “Sarah two.” This time she held up three fingers and pointed at her mother’s helper. It made the mortal smile. Drema smiled along with them. In the other room, Hoggle smiled as well. Finally he let that tear fall, by now it had brought a few friends, but suddenly he didn’t mind.
The woman set the table with the help of the toddler who insisted on carrying the silverware. They all took their seats and Hoggle bowed his head and spoke some words of thanks. Cabbage soup was served with a side of fresh greens and some sort of broiled meat. Sarah didn't ask what kind of beast it was for fear she would be repulsed by the answer, though she was sure it wasn't chicken. Sarah One as she had begun calling herself, sat obediently in her high chair eating a bowl of porridge and spinach. Most of it landed on her clothes or in her hair, but she was getting every other spoon in her mouth and that seemed like it was good enough for her parents.
Drema was eager to hear Sarah's take on her first meeting with Hoggle. He tried to postpone the inevitable by interrupting, “I already told you that story.”
His wife dismissed him, “I want to hear it the way Sarah sees it.”
“Sarah two,” the baby chimed in, “her is Sarah two.” Despite the three pudgy porridge covered fingers she extended everyone knew what she meant.
After clearing the table and cleaning the baby, the two woman went on with each other for hours about how the mortal had found him spraying the fairies. Sarah explained how she had thought him difficult at first, but in hindsight he had taught her valuable lessons which she kept with her even today. Hoggle smiled proudly though he was headlong into his newspaper now trying to appear uninterested in what he overheard them saying. Recounting the number of times Hoggle had come to her aid forced Sarah to realize just how much she relied on the dwarf. Although they had agreed between themselves to start fresh, she still felt as though she would never be able to do enough to repay his kindness and generosity. Drema shared some of Hoggle's stories with Sarah and the women chuckled over tiny discrepancies like who had been braver or who had needed rescuing more. When retelling about visits Hoggle had made to the Aboveground at Sarah's request, Drema's voice gave away much excitement. She had always wanted to visit the famed Aboveground, but never really had the opportunity.
“Well then, having met you, when I return Aboveground I will call for you,” Sarah told her.
From behind his paper Hoggle broke his silence, “If you return.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked concerned.
Hoggle folded the paper, “Sooner or later Jareth is gonna find out that yer here Sarah. Honestly, how long do you think you can hide out in a fey's backyard before he finds you? And when he does, well I'm just sayin’, I don't think he's gonna make it so simple for you to go back.”
“Well if he doesn't I'll use my magic.” Though she tried to sound confident, it was the chattering of her teeth that forced the words out of her mouth.
The dwarf grunted, “What magic? Mortal magic won't get you home. In fact, it's just gonna grow weaker the longer you’re here. Yer fey magic won't get any stronger unless Jareth allows it and I don't see why he would. You haven't got yer crystal any longer.”
“How'd you know that?” Sarah asked him.
“I know lots that no one tells me. I have powers of my own you know.” He looked down his nose at her suddenly feeling rather unappreciated.
“Hoggle,” Sarah said forcing him out of his pout, “am I really the first mortal to defeat Jareth?” Tiberon had opened up her curiosity with his slip of the tongue. She always knew that a powerful thing had happened between them, but this was bigger than she imagined.
“Answer her,” Drema insisted when her husband continued to sit at the table his mouth gapping open.
“As Tiberon said, none before and none since. After yer visit here the king sank into a deep depression. If you thought he had been difficult with you, the mortals that followed in yer footsteps never stood a chance against him. He didn't care for the Underground as well as he used ta. The rumors spreadin’ among his subjects about his inability to stand up to a mortal child brought up things from his past and that started the Triumvirate questionin’ him. He became truly cruel and nearly recluse, leavin’ the castle only to take away the children wished to him.”
“He didn't seem all that depressed when he paid me his little visit,” Sarah rebutted.
Hoggle was slow to reply, but when he did, Sarah instantly wished he hadn't. “That's because he was with you.”
Sarah was only now coming to terms with what Jareth had felt for her. Hearing someone else tell her made her feel awful for what she had done to him twice now. “Why bother now? After so much time?” she wondered aloud.
“I was with him in his chambers when he realized he'd truly lost it. All of his power over you that is. The Triumvirate, that is to say the Cleric, had granted him enough power so that he was able to view you in his crystals, but that was all. If he tried to see anyone else connected to you, Christian, Toby, yer parents, nothin’ happened. He thought you'd taken his magic. He knew what fey powers he had given you were stimulatin’ yer mortal magic and I guess he figured you had gotten strong enough to do such things. He was furious, more so than usual even. Jareth went to the mountains to ask the Triumvirate's permission to face you again, a sort of all or nothin’ match.”
“Who or what is the Triumvirate and why do they have so much say over Jareth? He's supposed to be king isn't he?” Sarah raged. It wasn't bad enough she had hurt him, now she found out she had humiliated him too. Then something strange occurred to her. “He's been watching me. All these years? How?”
“One question at a time.” Hoggle said calmly. It was out of character for the dwarf, normally when Sarah got anxious so did he. Her chest felt sunken. She would not like what she was about to hear. In some detail Hoggle explained the Triumvirate to Sarah, as well as the Underground as it had been and as it is now. He left out the unsolved controversy over the death of Corwyn in an attempt not to frighten her. Besides, if the king wanted to share his past with her it should be his decision. Hoggle respected that as much as he feared Jareth finding out he would have been the one to do it. He lied and told her the Triumvirate doubted Jareth for some cockamamie reason.
Afterward he sighed deeply, “Now as for yer other question. The king used crystals to check in on you over the years. He wanted to be sure you were well.”
“When?”
“Every now and then,” he saw no point in telling her just how often.
“Well, what if I was doing something personal?” Sarah thought about showering or using a ladies room.
Hoggle blushed and turned his face away, “You were.”
Something in the way he said it made it clear to her exactly what kind of moment it had been. “And that's why he wanted a piece of Christian so badly.” It made sense now, the way Jareth had struck him until he could no longer stand and then once more for good measure. “I'm so embarrassed.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed ‘bout,” Hoggle told her. “You were only livin’ out your life. He knew the possibilities when he summoned yer image and he did it anyway. He was hurt and his requests of the crystal became less and less frequent until the day he thought you'd taken his magic.” The dwarf reached for Sarah's hand. “I thought for sure he would destroy you, but the Triumvirate wouldn't allow it. I never thought that anything would actually happen between the two of you.”
Drema's ears perked up. Until now she was playing with Sarah One on the floor, but this was starting to sound interesting. She slid closer to the two of them as their voices got lower and lower trying to pick up what she could of their whispered conversation.
“I didn't either. It wasn't what I had intended to happen and especially once I realized it was Jareth. But I felt so natural with him. He wanted me Hoggle and that's more than I can say for Christian. And as much as you might not want to hear it, I wanted him too.”
Hoggle fluttered his eyelids and feigned illness. He didn't want to hear such things. “Whatever it might be you think the two of you shared was shattered when you sent him back Sarah. If he was furious the last time you defeated him, he's consumed with rage now. The Triumvirate took away all his powers over all mortals and the Cleric could not convince them to allow Jareth to view you by crystal any longer. I don't think he would even want to in his current state.” Sarah's face went long. “I warned you ‘bout comin’ back here Sarah. The king is not the same fey you knew two days ago, let alone fifteen years ago. You would serve yourself well to hide out in Tiberon's sector until we can figure out some way to get you home.”
Tears poured from her eyes. Tears born of anger and regret. Sarah was upset with herself for her mistakes, upset with Hoggle for his honesty and upset with Jareth for his behavior. Hoggle thought about telling Sarah what he'd discovered back at the gates when she arrived, but those tears made him think twice.
“No mommy, Sarah Two do it!!” The scream came from the floor.
“Sarah Two is busy honey, let her talk to daddy and I'll put you to sleep,” Drema attempted to reason with the girl. Unfortunately she had inherited her father's stubbornness and only became more demanding.
“Sarah Twooooooooooo!!!!!!” she wailed.
To Hoggle's surprise, he found that her outburst was making the older Sarah smile. Fists ground the tears from her eyes, “Would it be alright if I put her to bed?”
Hoggle nodded.
Sarah bent so that she could address Drema and her child who were still on the floor, “Drema, if you don't mind I would be honored to put Sarah One to bed.”
“Oh I wish you would,” the dwarf woman replied her weary head sunken into her hands.
Sarah One beamed. Not only was everyone using nicknames, which she considered a small victory over the adults, but now Sarah Two was going to put her to bed. She was on her feet in an instant and grabbed Sarah Two's hand, “Come on, I show you were I seep.” Sarah found it charming the way the child spoke, dropping l's and other important letters and yet her intentions remained clear as a bell. In a moment the two Sarah's were inside the child's bedroom. There was a bed with pink fluffy dressings some pieces of furniture for holding toys and clothing and an overstuffed chair all surround by a sea of books and home stitched stuffed replicas of the Labyrinthine creatures Sarah had recognized from her previous adventure. There was a Ludo doll and a marionette of one of the Fire Gang members. Even a small mock Didymus on the back of a shaggy sheepdog. “You sit there,” Sarah One pointed to a chair.
Obediently Sarah sat down and no sooner had her seat made contact with the cushion she shot sky high. Turning to inspect the cushion, she discovered a carved version of a nipper tucked in the crevasse where the seat and arm met. She set it aside with a wide grin. The child laughed wildly and then whispered, “That was suppose to be for daddy. It his night to read me to seep.” She giggled again and disappeared into a second room where Sarah could hear water running. She assumed there was a ritual to bedtime here just as there was in her world. Glancing around the room, Sarah couldn't help but think how very similar the two worlds were. It made her believe even more that a home was built of love and not of wood or clay. It made her long for her youth if her youth, had been more like Sarah One's.
The child reemerged from the room in a pink cotton nightgown smelling of mint. “Tuck me in, pease!” She instructed Sarah. Helpless to the huge blue eyes that looked to her to fulfill their needs, she responded in kind.
“Snug enough,” she asked the little girl.
“Just right.” Sarah One pointed to her bookshelf. “Story pease!”
“Which one?” There were enough books there to make a library.
“Any one!” There was more giggling.
“Ok,” Sarah told her as she pulled down a copy of Snow White. There was an irony in that Sarah thought as she began to read, seated once again in the overstuffed chair. “Once upon a time,…”
Unbeknownst to the Sarahs, Hoggle and Drema were just outside in the hall. Hoggle's arm held his wife, a tear in her eye. “I do love her,” Drema whispered, “maybe even more than you said I would.” Hoggle smiled as he felt his family grow.
***** ***** *****
Before Snow White had even bitten the apple, Sarah One was asleep. Sarah Two was feeling drowsy as well. She closed the book and left it on the night stand. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in the peaceful easiness that she’d come to value in just a few short hours. Her eyes fought through the dark to focus on this child that bore her name. Had ever a greater compliment been paid.
Without warning the blackness of the room lifted. Grabbing her head, Sarah fell back into the chair and let the vision take over. Assuming a fly on the wall perspective, she saw Hoggle sitting in the chair she sat in now. “Tell me about her again daddy!” his daughter cried.
“Not tonight sweetie, let’s read Cinderella instead.”
“But there aren’t any Sarahs in the Cinder story. I want to hear about Sarahs!” Her tiny bottom lip puffed out.
“I think one of those wicked stepsisters names was Sarah. Oh yeah, now I remember she was the meanest of them all because she never let Cinderella get any sleep and that made her too tired to go to the ball.”
Sarah rolled in her bed in hysterics. “You made that up daddy.”
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t, but either way you still have to got to sleep.”
“It’s not fair!” the wide eyed child shouted.
Hoggle smirked, “No, no it isn’t fair, but that’s the way it is.” He tucked her in and kissed her head, then took his seat in the chair and began to read. His daughter was dreaming before the end of the first page. Tears filled his eyes. Hoggle focused on one Sarah before him and thought of another Sarah he had not seen in a very long time.
Drema came to his side and lay a tender hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Dear come to bed. You can’t keep staring at her like this. One Sarah will never take the place of another.” As she watched the vision play out, she wonder if that was where the child got the idea to call herself Sarah One.
“I wish I had the other Sarah too.” Perhaps her child’s mind mixed up her father’s words to create their nicknames. “You’d love her Drema, like she was another daughter.”
“Come to bed.”
“I can’t. Don’t you understand that I can’t. Tonight might be the night that she calls for me.” Hoggle was adamant.
“She hasn’t called on you in years, Hoggle. What makes you think it will be tonight?” Drema was tired. It had been two weeks of nightmares, followed by two weeks of near sleeplessness for her and Sarah sensed it all. It was just about the time Aboveground that things were starting to take off in her career. Her contact with the mystical world was limited. Then Christian had moved in and Sarah had given up on even talking to Hoggle anymore.
“‘Cause tonight I want her to.”
His wife sat in his lap, “I know. Tonight you want her to call you more than last night. Tomorrow you’ll want it more still.”
“Tonight’s different.” When his wife looked at him, her eyes seemed to ask how. “Tonight I prayed she would call me.”
He had never been a deeply religious dwarf. He gave his daily thanks and had been married in the presence of the Cleric, but there were no knee marks worn into the floor on his side of the bed. Drema was aware of just what he was saying when he was saying something so simple. “Then trust in your faith. You have asked the Supreme One and in time your answer will come in time, but it’s not up to you to set that time.” Tears flowed freely over his cheeks as his heart admitted she was right. Drema rose in silence and led her husband to bed.
Quick as it had come on the pictures left her mind and her eyes were back to trying to focus on the child wrapped inside the soft patchwork duvet, only they wouldn’t focus, couldn’t because they were suddenly as filled with tears as she had seen Hoggle’s. Sarah stepped out into the hall and walked to the living room. Her body felt numb. Her face was wet. Drema ran to her and took her hand, “Oh my, are you not well dear?”
“I’m fine thank you,” her voice shook.
The sound of her voice had captured Hoggle’s attention and he set down the cup of tea in his hand. Almost childlike, Sarah ran to him, collapsing before him on the floor, her head in his lap. Shoulders shook with sobs as she repeated, “I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”
A bit shocked by her display Hoggle asked, “For what?” as he stroked her hair.
“How many nights? How long did you sit in that room, looking at her, wishing you had us both, trying to make one Sarah into two.” The sobs had stopped just long enough for her to utter the words and then returned with an even greater fervor than before.
“Your sight? I shoulda thought of that before I let you in there.” Hoggle lifted her chin, “It was worth every night to hear you call my name again. Over the years of watchin’ you grow, bein’ yer confidant, I grew to love you like you were my own child. I’d give as much for you as I would my own Sarah.”
“I was selfish and stupid. I don’t deserve your friendship, your love or the hospitality you’re family has shown me.”
This time it was Drema who ran to her side. “Now listen to me. You were a child and children often make mistakes. Your lesson has been learned. I suggest you learn this lesson as well, here in the Underground all things live off of one another. A piece of each of us comes from another and wherever we go, whatever we touch, we leave behind our essence.”
“What does that mean?” Sarah sniffed back the tears and tried to digest what the dwarf woman was saying.
“It means that if you did not give your friendship, love and hospitality then none would be returned to you. You can guarantee that as long as you remain in this world, you will get what you deserve when the Supreme One believes you are ready to receive it.” A flick of her wrist and a third cup of tea joined the two already on the serving tray. Drema offered it to Sarah who accepted it readily and drank some of it down. “It is not the forgiveness of my husband that you seek child, it is your own soul which you cannot stop blaming. Think on that as you dream and tomorrow your way will seem all the more obvious.”
Hoggle grumbled in his usual way and that small act alone made Sarah feel better, “Ah, what she’s tryin’ to say is what’s said is said.”
Finally she understood the very powerful meaning of the hackneyed expression. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get some rest.”
“Of course you would darling. Come now,” Drema helped her to her feet, “let me show you to your room.”
The weary traveler hadn’t gone more than two steps before turning and flinging herself into Hoggle’s arms. “I love you,” she told him. “I always have but made myself feel too foolish to say it.” He patted her back a few times and smiled. She knew he felt the same way, only opening his mouth would have opened the floodgates in his eyes as well. She ran back to Drema who folded an arm about her shoulder and let the woman guide her to the bedroom.
With one last gulp, Hoggle emptied his tea cup and stared out the window into the dark night. He could have sworn he heard an owl screeching in the night. “Not as long as I still got my wits in my head and breath in my body Jareth. I’ll never let you hurt my child or any mortal who feels the same as my child in my heart,” he whispered into the blackness.
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