THE CONCLUSION
“We have half a dozen horses here,” Jareth explained. “Seven if you count the Shagya, but she is a very special creature. Of course you remember Chataigne and Bagheera.”
“And that one,” Sarah pointed to the Cheval, “Shadowmere, the horse I was supposed to ride when we went to see the Triumvirate.”
“Indeed. There is also that bay colored mustang, that so far no one has been able to break and so he has no name. There, the cinnamon colored gelding, that is Turgomon’s pride, a female he calls Cymeron. Running behind her with the patches of chocolate, black and white, is Dalkeil’s Shindeagon. The two of them are what Gribbin calls the hens of the pen. They are never found far from one another and they have an almost superior air over the others.” Sarah giggled at the idea of such human characteristics in animals, but they did trot in stride around the perimeter of the yard shaking their manes and snorting as though they were engaged in some secret conversation no one or nothing else was meant to hear or understand. A pure white rump stood out in a far corner of the pen. None of the other horses seemed to near the creature there, even the hens cut that corner off as they continued their monotonous circles. Her ankles bore a tuft of hair, long like her mane, curled like her tail. Even perfectly still she gave off an amazing delicacy. “You see now why I don’t include her with the others don’t you?”
“She’s more than just a different species, she’s like a whole other class of animal.”
“That is the Lady Amalthea. She’s got a certain animosity towards most of us here although we’ve an understanding between the two of us, she and I.”
As if she had heard them talking about her, the Lady Amalthea turned a bit, exposing more of her side to them, shaking her head. She was pure majesty as she moved. “Jareth, she’s a...a...amazing,” Sarah finally managed.
“More so than you know. There was a time, a hateful time, when she was the last of her kind. The others, though not dead, had all been held captive by a...” Jareth fell silent.
“A human?” His head shook. “What I’ve learned about my kind prevents me from being surprised by the idea that one of us would be responsible for treating such a magnificent beast with such utter disrespect.”
The Shagya turned and trotted towards her as Jareth continued, “Her breed are in general said to be tough, elegant, hardy creatures with great endurance and an inborn friendliness towards humans. That aspect of their personality alone, most likely made it easy for them to be captured.” The expression on Sarah’s face changed dramatically. “What is it love?”
Blinking, Sarah tried to explain away what she saw as a trick of the light, some misinterpretation of the sun’s rays or her own eyes so used to magic and the mythicals which surrounded her they willed her to see the Lady Amalthea as something more. “Look at me,” a voice spoke. Sarah knitted her eyebrows up while the words seemed to continue from inside her head. It was gentle and smooth, entirely feminine. “Look at me and tell me what you see.”
“You’re a unicorn,” Sarah spoke in broken syllables as the regal white beast walked proudly up to her. The other horses, even the two ridden by Turgomon and Dalkeil, stopped to let her pass without even the slightest expression of inconvenience. Her horn sparkled as she walked, reflecting the sun left and right as she tilted her head. The Lady whinnied. “Jareth, why do you have a unicorn here?”
“You see her?” It amazed him that her soul was so pure. “You see her as she is, truly is.”
“How can you miss her? She is the thing that fairytales are made of. She moves like mercury. She shines like silver. She is surreal, ethereal, divine.” Just a few inches away, the unicorn’s black eyes looked Sarah over. Black eyes, unlike Tiberon’s whose were empty and void, Amalthea’s spoke volumes.
“It is told that while the Lady attempted to save the others like her, she was made into a human woman. While inside her human body she fell in love with a mortal man. When she was made unicorn again, she had learned to regret. While the unicorns ran free, making their homes in the northwestern sector, the Lady no longer felt as if she belonged with her own kind. She came to me, told me her story and asked me to let her live among this collection of misfit creatures.” Jareth’s hand reached out to stroke the unicorn’s mane. “Magic has caused this lovely beast much pain. She trusts no one here, but me and even that bond has taken time to form.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said, “sorry that you needed to know the pain of regret.”
“Life is a balance,” the unicorn told her. “I did feel the pain of regret and it is an ache I will never forget, but I have also felt the wonder of true love and that is a joy worth any ache.”
The mortal’s eyes filled with the tears the beast could not shed. Unconsciously, she reached out for Amalthea’s cheek. To Jareth’s shock, instead of running away the animal nuzzled into the girl’s touch as they exchanged a compassion that transcended their species and spoke to what joined them as woman. Then as quickly as she had come to join them, the Lady Amalthea turned and trotted off, back to her corner of the yard, whinnying as she went. Sarah watched her run, raw power making the muscles in her legs tremble as her lean body cut through the air like a streamlined craft. “The poor woman,” Sarah mumbled as she wiped away her tears.
“She’s no longer a woman, Sarah. Despite what her heart tells her, she is a unicorn again.”
“She will always be some part of what magic once made her. I can’t tell you how or why I know that Jareth, but looking into her eyes I sensed it.”
“Come walk with me. I was wrong to expose you to the Lady Amalthea, it has been too overwhelming an experience for you.” Jareth held her left hand in his while his right arm wrapped around her waist. He felt her straighten at his touch.
“No Jareth, in fact meeting that beautiful creature has been a comfort I can’t seem to put into words.”
In silence they left the fence and began to climb the hill behind the stable. Sarah thought they might end up walking through the clouds for as high up as they traveled. But despite their attempt to reach the horizon, it continued to out run them. At the top, she looked around. She could see the stables, the horses tiny specks roaming around the fenced off area. A small lake hidden off to the left surrounded by a thicket of trees. While she took in the view, Jareth used his magic, to lay a blanket across the ground and then with a delicate turn of his wrist summoned the basket Arulan had packed with various fruits and cheeses, bread and wine. When they’d eaten there fill, Jareth lay back against the ground and encouraged Sarah to lean back against him. It didn’t take much convincing for her to settle into his embrace.
They talked about silly things like lucky numbers and favorite foods. They discussed their childhood some more, and their first meeting. When lighthearted topics became exhausted, they shared a comfortable silence content with just being close to one another. As the bright light of afternoon began to dim with the orangish shade of evening, Sarah propped up on one elbow and stared into his eyes. ‘Blue,’ she thought. ‘His favorite color.’ It was obvious, the color of his eyes. But they weren’t sky blue, not ocean blue, not midnight blue. They were this unbelievable anonymous shade of blue she couldn’t name, but she could picture them. They were Jareth blue, Goblin King blue. That’s what she would call it, just so she could name the color she couldn’t describe. “What does it feel like to have my soul?”
“I don’t have your soul,” Jareth answered without thinking.
“But Hoggle said that fey exchanged souls when they kissed.”
He had hoped it wouldn’t have come to this before she had to leave, but she was an inquisitive woman, one who deserved the truth. “It’s true Sarah. Fey who are in love do exchange souls when they kiss, but Sarah love, you are not fey.”
Her nose and lips wrinkled with confusion, “But I have your soul and I want you to have mine. There’s got to be some other way.” Her words came quickly in an effort for her to express her need. “I’ll wish it to you if that’s what I have to do.”
Jareth held her close. “Sarah, I’m flattered you would make such an offer,” his hands stroked her back. “Please don’t take this offensively, but you can’t wish your soul to me, it isn’t allowed.”
“Then tell me what is allowed. Tell me what I can do. Tell me what happens when they send me home.”
“Sarah, we don’t need to discuss this now.”
“I want to Jareth. I need to know what happens when they send me home.”
The king closed his eyes and sighed, then lay back and held her to him. “When you return home, you will take my soul with you and I will be unable to love anyone but you for the rest of my life.” Sarah moved to interject, but Jareth stopped her. “It doesn’t matter Sarah, I wouldn’t have been able to love anyone else even with every stitch of my soul still inside me.” He left out the knowledge that he would die in time. It was pain she didn’t need, pain he didn’t think she could tolerate.
“And me? What will happen to me?”
“In time, my soul will fade. You remember me explaining about things from my world existing in yours and how it’s no longer possible?” She shook her head. “When my soul has completely faded, I will be a memory to you. Well that’s not true. You won’t remember me. In fact you’ll forget everything about me and the Underground.”
Lips trembling, Sarah pushed away from the king, “That’s not possible. I could never forget you,” she cried. He said nothing and refused to meet her stare. She was angry with him. Convinced he was lying. “How could I forget you when every cloud I see takes your shape? Every word you say, turns to song in my ear. I think about you every moment of the day. It would be asking me to stop, to stop my heart from beating. Asking me to forget to breath. You expect me to just go home, go back to whatever pathetic life I had without you and pretend you weren’t real? When they ask me where I’ve been, what would you have me say?”
“It’s not what I want Sarah, it’s what rules of my world say will be.”
“What will be? Rules? When you fought your way back through the Labyrinth, when you came Aboveground for me, were you following the rules? Was our seeing each other again what they say would be?” Jareth didn’t answer. “I don’t believe in what your world claims will be. You, you made me believe in fairytales again and now you want to take it away.” Sarah stood, screaming down at him as if she could change the truth by cursing it away. “You told me not to say I loved you unless I could say it truly and then you tell me I have to forget when I leave. What’s sense the sense in loving today, what I won’t even know tomorrow?” She turned away from him, holding herself as her body shook with sobs. “I don’t even know you now ” Like she had watched the horses run, her legs imitated their strength as she let momentum carry her to the bottom of the hill. Jareth didn’t follow. He didn’t pop back into the castle where he knew she was headed. He only lay back against the hill once more and watched the clouds passing by him. Amalthea was not the only immortal thing who had learned to regret he realized as the tears from his eyes rolled over his temple and soaked his hair.
***** ***** *****
Inside the castle, Sarah took the stairs two at time, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to her. Throwing open the door to her old room, she quickly remembered it had been consolidated with Jareth’s while they were away. When she entered their room, she flung herself onto the bed. “Why? ” she cried out to no one. “Why when I was just beginning to think I could love him like he needed me to, why then do I push to learn the truth? The truth has never done anything, but hurt me. And the truth is, I love him. I love him with everything that I am. I love him for everything that he is for now I finally see all that he really is.” Sarah cried until her eyes went dry. Jareth hadn’t returned. None of the servants, not even Arulan dared to disturb her.
When night blackened the window, Sarah lit the fireplace and wished for her guitar. Crossed legged on the bed, her Gibson fell into her lap. Her fingers tripped over the strings, the light vibrations speaking to her. Out the window she looked at the stars. There was a whole universe she didn’t understand, there was magic and mystery abound for her to contemplate, but all her mind could conjure was her king and all she had come to learn of him since his confession to her.
She sang softly into the night, “Today we took a walk up the street and picked a flower and climbed a hill above the lake. And secret thoughts were said aloud. We watched the faces in the clouds until the clouds got blown away. And were we ever somewhere else, you know, it’s hard to say. And I never saw blue like that before. Across the sky, around the world, You’ve given me all you have and more. And no one else has ever shown me how to see the world the way I see it now. Oh I, I never saw blue like that. I can’t believe a month ago, I was alone. I didn’t know you. I hadn’t seen you or heard your name. And even now, I’m so amazed, it’s like a dream. It’s like a rainbow. It’s like the rain. And some things are the way they are and words just can’t explain. Cause I never saw blue like that before. Across the sky, around the world, you’re given me all you have and more. And no one else has ever shown me how to see the world the way I see it now. Oh I, I never saw blue like that before.” Sarah fell back against the pillows. She was exhausted and filled with heartache. Sleep would have been a blessing. Still she sang on. “And it feel s like now, and it feels always, and it feels like coming home. I never saw blue like that before. Across the sky, around the world, you’re given me all you have and more. And no one else has ever shown me how to see the world the way I see it now. Oh I, I never saw blue like that before. Oh I, I never saw blue like that.” Mercifully, as she sang, Sarah’s words became a lullaby that rocked her to sleep, her guitar still lying across her stomach, still in the dress she’d worn out that day. Sleep to her had always been a luxury, one she enjoyed, but tonight it was a necessity, one she accepted.
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