Chapter 1b

It was in fact in the guise of a game that he planned to introduce
his mortal to their newly created realm, and then one evening he got
his chance. He had been in owl form, watching her practice lines
from the play about the Goblin King, when he recognized the passage
of time in the mortal realm. He brought about a breeze to distract
her from her performing and remind her of the time, but she ignored
the loving caresses he bestowed upon her chestnut locks of hair and
the hem of her costume. Disappointed, he brought about a gentle rain
to encourage her inside, but he misjudged in his annoyance at having
been ignored yet again, and the gentle rain was a downpour before his
mortal, sopping wet and an hour late, arrived home.

His mortal was in an unusually foul mood that evening, angry that
weather and time had intruded upon her playtime in the park, hurt
that her father and step-mother were more upset that she had made
them late for a date then concerned that she had been thoroughly
drenched in the storm, and then frustrated when the step-brother
refused to cease his crying and fall asleep. He felt sorry for the
child, who cried because it was frightened by the violent storm he
had unwittingly unleashed, and his mortal's moodiness and harsh tones
did little to sooth its fears, but he would not interfere unless he
was called upon by his mortal to do so, such was the extent of his
entrapment to her.

Flustered by her own troubles, his mortal finally did call upon him
and his game. She said the fated words, summoning the comical goblin-
creatures he had created to take the baby away to their new realm.
When she noticed the child's absence, he flew into her parent's
bedroom in owl form and then appeared to her for the first time in
his new Goblin King form, using the winds of the storm to toss about
his intricate costume and his beautiful wild locks. She identified
him as the Goblin King and was frightened, so he did his very best to
be imposing. He gave his voice unnatural harshness, taunting words,
and sarcastic tones. He narrowed the beautiful mismatched eyes in
false expressions. He twisted the beautiful mouth, created to kiss
her mortal lips, into sneers and smirks. He met her expectations very
well. He even went so far as to call her by her mortal name, a name
that caused him pain to say not because of its meaning, which was
Princess, but because the name was Hebrew, the language of God's
chosen people.

"What's said is said," he said, presenting to her the wisdom he held
closest to his heart, knowing the power of words, but she didn't
understand. He presented the crystal sphere to her, an obvious mimic
of the elven figurine, but she didn't notice the resemblance. He
offered to fulfill all of her dreams if she would but allow them to
keep the child, but she imagined him stealing the child away from
her, imagined her half-brother's fate to be a transformation into one
of the mindless goblin-creatures she herself had designed, and
refused him. In mere minutes after seeing his form she had created
in him a cruel villain, and her mind screamed for a test, a way to
prove to herself that she was not truly the sort of person who would
casually wish away a baby to an unspeakable fate. The game had
begun, although it was no longer the game he would have chosen, and
he was no longer confident this form would win him his mortal's love.

He had been correct in his concerns. He swept his mortal to their
new realm, pointing out with a creator's pride the Labyrinth, the
crumbling goblin city, and the castle beyond the goblin city, but
rather than being impressed with his skill or pleased that she would
finally get to traverse a full-sized maze, she swallowed her fear and
stated that it didn't look so hard to her. He had produced a 13-hour
clock, demonstrating his grasp of a mortal's perception of time, a
truly remarkable feat for a Sylph, but she seemed not to care. Her
mind was stubbornly clinging to an image of the half-brother she had
wished away, and he had to resort to acting threatening to recapture
her attention.

That was only the start of his disappointments. The first creature
she came across, outside the gates of the Labyrinth, was the dwarf
that looked like her bookend. She saw him standing by a pool of
water and imagined him urinating in it, which of course the creature
then proceeded to do, to his disgust. The creature, which the
Labyrinth had named Hoggle, was grouchy and unpleasant, mimicking his
mortal's state of mind, and was killing off the illusionary fairies
he had created with such loving detail, capturing the beauty of the
true fairies he was a distant kin to. Apparently their beauty and
purity were deemed a threat by his mortal, for she turned them into
bloodthirsty pests, even imagining one into biting her.

When she finally entered the maze, the Labyrinth, which his mortal
had wanted to be sentient, decided to be uncooperative, producing
only a long pathway stretching infinitely in either direction, with
no bends or openings. She ran the path, ignoring his uniquely
crafted eye lichen, and it wasn't until she was so tired from running
that she wished for some guidance that she noticed a simple worm.
She imagined this worm to be cultured and intelligent, for she needed
someone smart to solve this first part of the puzzle, giving the
lowly worm almost the same accent she had given him, only allowing
the worm to be kind, polite, and helpful as she would never allow the
Goblin King to be. Pleased at the attention to one of its creatures,
the sentient Labyrinth created hidden openings throughout the
straight path that truly had not been there moments before. The
Labyrinth, of course, was supposed to confuse its travelers, of
course, so the worm directed her away from the castle.

Disappointed with the results of his effort and the lack of attention
it was getting him with the mortal he loved, he departed from her
side, where he had been watching in his unsubstantial form, and
reformed the physical and immortal body of the Goblin King in the
castle's throne room. He lounged carelessly on the stone throne --
most uncomfortable -- and held the child in his arms, the child whose
name was also Hebrew, but also meant, "The Lord is Good."


***

Author's Notes: Let me explain his hesitance to use the names Sarah
and Toby. In my imagination, things of God would be unnatural to
creatures of magic. This may be because mortals were granted souls
and immortals were not. It could be because the Bible warns against
involvement with magic or magicians. I remember going to a Jewish
friend's coming-of-age ceremony, and he told me that he had to learn
to read the Torah in Hebrew because it was the language of God's
chosen people and was holy. I am a Christian myself, but I see the
meaning behind that; meanings and intents can get lost in
translation, so it makes more sense for the words of God to be
studied in their original language. This part was also written in
one hour, and I don't think I'll be able to write any more tonight.
Don't worry, I will get to the main point of the story eventually. :)