First Snow

Sarah was grateful for these special moments.  Seeing the snow as it fell softly upon the Labyrinth was a magical sight. 

She had always had a child-like appreciation for snow, even if it caused nothing but trouble when she had to drive in it.  Thankfully, she would never have to do that again.  Now she could just enjoy the peace and joy that came with seeing the first snow of winter.

Not only was the snow beautiful, but it meant some quality time with Jareth and her family.   She looked forward to those moments.  Once it began to snow, her twins could be heard asking loudly to go outside.  As good parents, Sarah and Jareth always agreed, as long as they went outside to enjoy it with their children. 

Nonetheless, it was always Sarah who made it first outside.  She knew how to use her own magic, ensuring that she could be outside and enjoy it for those few quiet moments alone.   She could breathe in the brisk, refreshing air, allowing the wind to blow on her face, making her cheeks as rosy as the red Santa hat Jareth wore each year at Christmas.  She could let her arms spread out, stick out her tongue, and twirl as she tried to catch snowflakes.  Few things felt as good as that.

After twirling for what felt an appropriate amount of time, she would stop, stand still, and wait.  It never took long before Jareth appeared behind her, both arms around her waist and whispering in her ear. 

“Enjoying the snow, Precious?”

“Very much so, Jareth.  You know I always do.”

“I do, and I love watching you enjoy the snow.  You make it so hard not to join you right away with all that joy radiating off your face.”

“Well, we could do it together now,” she teased.

“We could.  Seeing as our children are now preoccupied with copying their mother in her greeting toward the snow, I guess it won’t hurt.”   

And with that, both of them began to lift up into the air.  Their children saw them go up, not worried since they had seen it happen for years now.  Every year it was the same, and after watching their parents do it once all the way through, they didn’t need to see it again.  It was still just as intimate a dance as the first time they had done it after they were married. 

Jareth didn’t like dancing with his wife with so many layers on, so adjustments were always made to their outfits as they flew, as well as adding a crystal around them for protection from the cold.  His coat disappeared as his signature white feathery cloak appeared, along with the matching outfit.  Meanwhile, Sarah’s long coat became thinner and longer, so that she wore a scoop-neck white dress with long sleeves that didn’t quite reach her shoulders.  In true Jareth fashion, a second gauzy layer appeared, translucent other than the hundreds of particles of glitter that appeared in the shape of small snowflakes. 

Now, she could truly shine as bright as any of the snowflakes, with a beauty all her own.  Her smile of joy was no longer reserved only for the snow, but also for her loving husband as she spread out her arms, embracing the wind around them.  For his part, Jareth kept his arms around his wife, but now was in front of her, letting her lean back slightly as they danced.  Then, just as suddenly, he would look at his Sarah, who would smile in anticipation as he picked her up and threw her into the air. 

The first time that he had tried throwing his wife, he was surprised when she squealed with delight and then flattened her body as if she were about to do a belly-flop into a pool, asking him to catch her. 

“Why are you doing that, Precious?”

“Because I’m a snowflake, of course! I’m flying!”

And just as slowly as the snow fell, Sarah landed in his arms, curling around him with her arms around his neck once she touched his arms.  Then, she whispered, “I love you, Jareth.”

Jareth responded in kind as he said, “And I love you, Sarah.  I will always love you.”

“Forever?”

“Even longer than that.”

Sarah kissed him.  “Good.  Because you may be upset with what I try next.”

With that, she pulled her legs around his waist and dropped her arms.  Jareth was quick to respond, holding tightly onto her legs.  Sarah continued to smile as her upper body slid down as far as it could, and then locked eyes with Jareth as she made her request.

“Jareth?”

“Yes, Sarah?”

“Would you twirl with me?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

And for those few blissful moments, flying took on new heights for Jareth.  It was one thing to be able to feel the wind in his wings, or to feel the love of his wife.  It was an entirely different kind of flying to be able to look into her eyes and see the love and life she showed him.  She had let him into a very special place of hers, one that he would always treasure. 

When the twirling was done, Jareth played with gravity just a little more as he fell forward, taking Sarah’s legs with him.  Eventually, they were both lying horizontally in the air, mere inches apart, and then Sarah reached for Jareth’s hands.

“Is it bad that I just want to spend all day up here with you?”

She closed the gap and snuggled against him.

“Not at all, Sarah.  I would be happy to do the same if we didn’t have other things to do today.”

“Yes, those.  Alright.  But five more minutes, okay?”

“Anything for you, Precious.”

After five minutes, another plea was made for five minutes, which Jareth agreed to.  It was when she made another request five minutes after that that he said, “If this keeps up, we will be here all day.”

“And?”

“My Darling Sarah, you know we can’t.”

“But you can reorder time.”

“Tempting, but I would require more …… inducement.”

“Easily done.”

After sharing a kiss, Sarah realized that they were losing altitude.  “Jareth?”

“That was a nice start, but I require more than that, dear Sarah.  We will go back to the castle for that, and then come back out here tomorrow.”

Sarah gave a slight pout before giggling.  “I suppose I could find other ways to convince you.”

“I’ve got a whole list, Sarah, never fear.  But none can be done in public.”

She blushed slightly as they touched the ground.  “That’s my Jareth.”

“Always yours, Sarah.  Just as you will always be mine.”

Those words always appeared in some form when they did their dance in the sky.  After little convincing on Sarah’s part, they did get to spend the next day outdoors, floating wherever the wind took them as snuggled.  After that, it simply became tradition to always have their moment outside when the snow came. 

That they had children soon after that was no surprise to them.  They looked just like their parents, mischievous as their father, with the heart and will of their mother.  They, too, loved snow, and so it was a good way to spend time together outdoors.    

On this particular day, the happy parents had finally come down, just in time to see their children look restless.  Moments later, snowballs came flying at the adults, and Sarah pulled Jareth in front of her to act as a shield.

“Sarah! Really, your own husband?”

“I love you dearly, but remember, all’s fair in love and war.”

“I’m coming for you, Sarah.”

“Not if I get you first.”

Of the four people on the battleground, each had their own array of talents at their disposal.  Sarah had the most experience, so she was good at sneaking in and attacking with a fast arm.  She was relentless in her pursuit to win.  Meanwhile, Jareth cheated every step of the way because he could.  He used crystals as walls, and made snowballs launch in teams of five to ensure that one of them hit their target.  And, when he found out that cheaters never prosper since the others would gang up on him, he turned into an owl and hid, occasionally dropping snowballs with his claws. 

The children had their own ways of dealing with the parents.  They might have been small, but they had enthusiasm like none other.  “Like father, like son” was how Sarah described her son’s tactics.  He built a fort around himself that moved with him, and then he came running into the battle like he owned the place.  Once his fort was destroyed by his sister and parents, he usually hid in the snow by becoming an owl as well.  His sister did not like using her magic to win, so she focused on more speed until she had the fastest arm in the family, whipping snowballs at unsuspecting victims, even making her brother fall over on some occasions.  Then, after several volleys, she would run quickly, leaving snowballs in her wake. 

Over time, teams had formed when throwing snowballs.  When old enough, the kids tried to do kids versus adults, but they rarely won.  Instead, it became boys versus girls, as the boys refused to admit defeat, even when they both ended up in a tree as owls.  Typically, snowballs would continue to fly until Jareth put a wall around his son, flying behind Sarah.

“Sarah, you wouldn’t hurt our son, would you?”

“You’re the one who left him up there.”  

“I’m taking care of him, see?”

“That wall won’t last long.”

“It doesn’t have to, Love,” he said, as he began to kiss her neck.

“Jareth, that is cheating.”

“All’s fair in love and war, dearest.  Now, you were saying?”

“Jareth, I should-“

But words were becoming hard for Sarah, as Jareth knew where she liked to be kissed on the neck.

She sighed happily before grumbling, “Sometimes, it really isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Precious.  But, I promise to let you have your revenge on me.”

“Oh? Where can I sign up for that?”

“There’s a lovely blanket by the fireplace in our bedroom.  That will be a nice place to start to warm up after receiving so much snow down my shirt.”

“You looked so hot, so I wanted to cool you off.”

“Well, now you have to warm me back up.”

“Gladly.”

And, just like every year, the stalemate was reached.  In the boys’ minds, that meant that they had not lost.  The girls maintained a different story, and they rubbed it in their faces as often as they could. 

On that day, once Sarah and Jareth were in their bedroom, their twins looked at one another with smiles on their faces.  They loved their parents, even if they got a little mushy sometimes.  There was no point in fighting once they lost their teams, so they switched over to the next item on the list of things to do in the snow: build a snow castle. 

Last year, they wanted to build a snow castle, so Jareth threw a few crystals at the ground to create a miniature of their castle.  It had been pretty, but it was just a sculpture.  This year, they were going to make it big enough so that they could crawl through it, and make at least half of the rooms on the first floor of the castle. 

To help them, the children called in their three favorite friends, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Hoggle.  Ludo would call rocks forward so that the snow could be put around the stacked rocks, while Hoggle found sticks and ways to hold up the ceiling.  Sir Didymus stood guard outside, shaping and telling the snow not to move an inch lest the “fair maiden and good sir knight” were harmed.   That day, they made great progress until nightfall and dinnertime.  Then, they gave their farewells until the morrow, when they would continue on their adventure.

Meanwhile, curled up in a blanket on the floor, Sarah and Jareth warmed up by the fire.  They watched their children as they played outdoors, as well as took a healthy interest in keeping each other close.  They were content for those hours together, holding one another’s hand and brushing away all snow that might remain.  Later, they would go down to eat.  Until then, they were happy to let it snow.