Maze of the Mind [Lila Lupin & Joshua]

[Lila Lupin]

A long time ago in the underground there was a prophecy made that if a member of royalty were to have a daughter born to a woman of common blood her mind would be tied to the Labyrinth, and should something ever happen to one, the other would meet a similar fate. The royalty were very careful until one of the prince's made the mistake of sleeping with the nursemaid of the future goblin king. He never knew her rank, or who she served, and she was gone by the end of the following day. The woman, Corbaline, became with child and gave birth to a beautiful little girl, but she knew the prophecy, and she never told anyone who the child's father was, in fear that her child would be taken from her and hidden away.

She raised her daughter alongside Jareth, the future king of the Labyrinth and the Goblin City. They grew close, neither of them aware of the ties that Amalia had to the very thing that Jareth would come to rule over. Corbaline moved to the outskirts of the Labyrinth, while Amalia chose to stay closer to her dear friend and went to live in the Goblin City. Many of the residents know Amalia, and consider her a friend, though only her mother knows of what might happen to her daughter should the city or the Labyrinth fall, or what might happen to the city and it's Labyrinth should her daughter's mind fail.

 

[Lila Lupin]

Amalia was returning back to her home after a nice visit with her mother. She'd been picking herbs and was planning to use them in her cooking when she noticed a small goblin child crying and sighed. She went over to the small child to see what was wrong. the moment she knelt down the small child clung to her neck, crying, saying they couldn't find their mommy. "It's alright Marillia, we'll find your mother." She said as she held her basket of herbs in one hand, and supported the small goblin child with her free arm. It seemed that so many things were going wrong lately. Children getting lost, families having to leave, and shops closing down. She'd also noticed that Jareth was becoming increasingly more frustrated with how things were going.

She hadn't mentioned things to her mother though, because she hadn't wanted her mother to insist that she leave the Goblin City and live with her instead. Her mother meant well, but Amalia firmly believed that her place was with her friends, in the Goblin City, and not on the outskirts of the Labyrinth. She wanted to help and she knew that it would be much easier to help if she lived inside of the city instead of outside of it. As she made her way back to her home she saw Marillia's mother and reunited them. As she continued on her way back to her home she began to wander how Jareth was doing. She had been wanting to visit him, but had refrained from doing so, knowing that he must certainly have his work cut out for him with everything that was going on. Amalia worried about him, but she also knew that she needed to let him deal with the matters of the people.

She knew that he cared about his people. though not everyone seemed to believe that, what with the way he sometimes acted, and she could admit that Jareth could sometimes be very selfish, as he had been when he had taken a small baby from a young girl and made her traverse the entire Labyrinth in just a few short hours simply because he had wanted her. He'd been a rather frightful mess after loosing his bet with the girl, but had gotten his act together since then. She sighed as she thought back on the times she had talked to him, trying to console him, while still lecturing him on what he needed to be doing. He was focusing on the people now, as he should be, and that thought made her smile. She was glad that he was back to his old self once again.

 

[Joshua]

Jareth sat on his throne and surveyed the room with a bored sigh. His court lined the walls, and a small goblin merchant was on his knees in front of him, begging his help with....something or the other. He seemed to remember the Guild being mentioned, but either way it didn't matter. He had neither the money or manpower to help anyone beyond what he was already doing. Each day, countless people asked him for help and donations, and each time he had no way of appeasing them. His kingdom was falling apart around him, and the populace had begun to notice.

On the surface, everything seemed fine. Within the city walls at least, the most people had to worry about was a pickpocket or a greedy merchant. But his kingdom was far from secure. Disturbances within the Labyrinth were being reported with increasing frequency. He had to withdraw his forces to a more central position and hope that nothing too strong from the swamps or ancient tunnels came up. He was stressed beyond belief, and his patience with anyone was razor-thin. Even with his power, he was weak and feeble compared to what was happening to his kingdom. He leant forward and looked the merchant in the eye.

"Look. You can beg and beg, but I'm afraid I'm not here to fight your battles for you. If you're bankrupt, you're bankrupt. If you have some dispute with the guild, that is your own concern. I suggest you go and see the guildmaster before bothering me with another small trade dispute." He did not seem harsh at all, or even frightening, but his tone was easily final. Everything he said recently seemed to sound as if he was ending the conversation, as though what he had said was the solution to whatever problem he faced. He tried to take some satisfaction in that, but even that small accomplishment was swallowed by a thousand other chattering problems. He leant back and tilted his head up, eyes closed, praying that was the last visitor.

 

[Lila Lupin]

Amalia sighed as she entered her home. It was a small cozy little place, and she loved it. Jareth had tried to insist that she live in the castle, it was certainly large enough, but she was fine living within the city, helping those that she could. She had begun to put away herbs when she decided that perhaps she should go visit Jareth. She missed her dear friend and she figured that it wouldn't hurt if he just took a small break from his duties. She finished putting the herbs where they needed to go and then sighed. She did want to visit Jareth, but she was also afraid to do so. As Amalia was battling with her thoughts she heard a knock at her door. When she opened the door she was slightly surprised to see Garl, one of the more respect goblins in Jareth's court, standing on her door step. Garl was very close to the king, as were some of the other goblins and they all seemed to worry when Jareth was upset.

"Oh Garl, how are you, please come in." She said with a smile as she stepped out of the way so that the goblin could enter. The rather tall and gangly goblin entered Amalia's house and smiled weakly at her. Amalia tilted her head to the smile, realizing that Garl wanted to say something. "What's wrong dear? You know you can talk to me." She said and Garl nodded as he walked over to a bench that was sitting near the door. Amalia sat next to Garl with a warm smile and he nodded. "Well Missy Malia, his highness has been in an awful mood lately. Frightful angry, and just plain scary." Garl said with a shaky voice. "We's worried that somethin' is wrong, but he won't talk ta us. So I's was hopin' that you's might try talkin' to him. Master likes you, and he's calm when you're around, so's would you mind talkin' to him, and calmin' him down?" Garl asked with a weak smile. Amalia smiled a bright, warm smile at him and nodded. "Of course I'll go talk to him Garl. I'll go right now." She said and Garl jumped up happily, thanking her as he ran out the door.

Amalia sighed as she left her house and made her way to the castle. She hoped that Jareth would be at least partially calm as she walked through the hallways, greeting the goblins that she saw with a smile, as she always tried to do while making her way to Jareth's throne room. She could hear some chatter going on as she stood outside the throne room, but not nearly as much as usual, and that made her worry a bit. When she entered everyone drew quite, and quite a few of the goblins made themselves scarce, thinking that Jareth needed time with his friend, and then maybe things would get better. Amalia smiled as she looked at Jareth, but her heart was heavy as she saw how down trodden he looked. "For a minute I wasn't sure if I was in the court of the goblin king, or perhaps the Grand King's royal court, with everything being so quite." Amalia said, as she tried to lighten Jareth's mood, knowing how he disliked all the stuffy politics and nobles that seemed to be a part of all of the other kings courts.