11 Years After the Events of It's Only Forever

"And remember, whatever you do, do not look him in the eyes. He and his guards will take that as a terrible offense and cut us both down." Jareth, the Goblin King, stated as he looked his wife up and down to make sure no hair or thread was out of place. They were walking down the intricate gold halls, led by exquisitely blue armored Fae, toward the dining room to have a small business dinner with the King of the Fae.

Sarah, a young woman in her late twenties, rolled her eyes. "Jareth, you've mentioned that three thousand times already. I think I've got that rule down pat."

"You said that same exact sentence about the Duke of Trolls, yet you still held out your hand to shake his."

"How was I supposed to know he'd have his trolls set their wild boarives onto us?"

The boarives were quite simply boars with a wasp's wings, mandibles and stingers. A very ugly, terrifying bunch; but easily outrun by Sarah's pet shakana, Autumn — a lovable creature with the body of a lion and the head of a troll.

"Because I explained it to you a million times that the Duke of Trolls would do that if you tried to shake his hand. After the last time someone poisoned him, anyone trying to put any part of their body in contact with him or his valuables is immediately assumed to be attempting to poison him."

Sarah sighed, deciding it would be best to end the argument before they ended up bickering right in front of the King. How awkward would that be? "I'm sorry I like to be polite."

Jareth put an arm around her shoulder, "We can be polite in other ways, but I beg you to just look at your food during dinner today. Being able to keep my Labyrinth and my goblin subjects is in more danger of being taken away by the Fae King than it is by any other Lord or Lady."

"I understand that," she mumbled. "I wouldn't want to be the reason you lose anything."

"Be your charming self. Just don't look him in the eyes. Remember, look at your food, not the eyes."

"If I do this right, will you finally explain to me how he decides someone is worthy to become a king or a duke of their own land?"

"I'll give you whatever you desire."

She smiled up at him, "I guess I can do it then."


The Fae King was a strongly built man with fluffy brown hair and beard. Sarah couldn't afford to look at him thoroughly, so she kept her head down. Jareth bowed, she curtsied, and dinner had begun. She let her mind wander, remembering most of the Lords and Dukes only wanted business with Jareth and not with her. It was easier to stay out of the conversation if she just didn't pay attention.

She had travelled a lot with Jareth over the years, going to different countries in the underground. She'd even mastered a fighting technique which she'd used on multiple occasions when fae, trolls, and other creatures had underestimated her for being a human.

Sarah loved, however, that at the end of a full day she and Jareth went right back to the Labyrinth to tell her friends and the goblin subjects about what had happened. Sometimes she even brought one or more along for the journey; the grumbling dwarf named Hoggle, the adventure seeking fox Sir Didymus, the two old english sheep dogs Ambrosias and Merlin, Ludo the friendly beast, or Serboa the translator goblin.

More importantly, at the end of the night she would transform into a red-tailed hawk — and Jareth into a snowy owl — to go aboveground to check on her dad and little brother, Toby. He'd grown fast over the years. Every time she saw him, it was a miracle that he'd grown another inch, and she had no doubt that he was already taller than her at the age of fifteen.

She left letters at the door every week so the two of them knew she was alright. Her dad's wife, Irene, generally couldn't have cared less. She was constantly pestering Toby to get his homework done and keep his hair in check which, at his age, was the least of his worries.

Sometimes Sarah thought about coming around in her own body but, as Jareth warned her, time was limited for her aboveground now. If she walked in, she'd have a hard time walking out before losing connection with her magic that allowed her to return to the underground where she was happy to be.

"Sarah," Jareth nudged her shoulder.

She snapped her head up to look at him, "Huh?… I mean, yes dear?"

"The King would like to hear your input on allowing more goblins to live in my Labyrinth. A lot of families have come to him asking for help to find somewhere to live. He feels that it's up to us whether they can come to our Labyrinth."

"Of course they can come live in the Labyrinth. The more the merrier, am I right?" she smiled.

"Exactly what I said," Jareth said with a nod.

"Anyway," Sarah hazarded a question, "where else could they go?"

The Fae King answered, "There's nowhere else they could go. We've been evicting them from their homes on the outer skirts of the kingdom for their apparent inability to do the work asked of all residents in the kingdom. There's been a steady rise in brand new Fae families looking to move into their own homes who are more than willing to do the work necessary."

Sarah's anger flared and she looked up at the Fae King, "How could you do that to any family? What if it's an elderly goblin that's physically incapable of doing the work? Or what if they're having trouble with an injury? What if everyone has to help out to take care of their children? They have a family to take care of and —"

Jareth squeezed her arm hard, and she whipped around to look at him. His look of 'shut up' reminded her what she was supposed to be doing. He looked apologetically at the King, whose smile was more amused than angry as Sarah had expected.

"On behalf of Sarah, I apologize."

The Fae King laughed, "Jareth, you don't even give me the respect I ask for. I'm surprisingly proud to see she is just as insolent as you are."

Sarah looked up at the Fae King in surprise, "Does that mean he doesn't avoid looking in your eyes?"

He chuckled, "Not in the slightest."

Punching Jareth in his arm, she took a better look at the eyes of the King — they were equivalent to that of the night sky. Immediately, she looked away as she felt something close to familiarity. But that wasn't possible, she'd never met him before… it just seemed as though it were a distant memory trying hard to burst to the front of her thoughts.

"I knew Jareth could never have fallen in love with a mere human girl for being as meek as you pretended to be throughout this dinner. It didn't sound right to me."

"Oh, that wasn't me being meek," Sarah retorted adventurously. "I was just ignoring everything you two were saying so I wouldn't feel inclined to intrude."

The Fae King smiled, "It seems you found a good one, Jareth."

After a short glare at Sarah, Jareth had to smile and wrap an arm around her shoulder, "Yes, I did."

"On that gorgeous note," Sarah mentioned, looking thoroughly between the both of them. Her face contorted in anger once more, "Who is going to explain me why this would be allowed to happen to any family?!"