A Quest Completed, and a Prize

[vicioussweetie]

There are many things to be sought in life. Some universal, such as love and the fulfillment of necessities; some more individual, such as one person's desire to consume the perfect hamburger or another's compelling need to memorize every word in the dictionary. One of Ali's quests, for the better part of the last year, has been to find Jareth's

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[vicioussweetie]

A few busy weeks pass in Camelot after the fateful announcement of Mordenkainen's intentions. The knights, burdened by the twin shames of being unable to slay the attacking demons and (worse still) having been saved by a woman, have busied themselves in improving themselves in all virtues and martial practices. Blacksmiths were kept working around the clock, making new arms and armor, unknowing if they'll be able to meet the demands for all things stronger and sharper. Food and goods were being stockpiled as for a siege, while young men (and some not so young) were drafted into military service to patrol beyond Camelot's fields and eventually serve as shock troops.

It was all so busy, it might almost go without notice that two of the king's guests are being shunned. While Jareth has done nothing particular to earn the behavior, his association with Ali--that woman--was enough to taint. Fortunately, they were busy too: after a tense discussion of strategy with Arthur and Merlin, Ali and Jareth knew enough to work on their parts

[mords_horde]

Although there is a span of about a week where Mordenkainen's presence is not felt in Camelot, it isn't long before his new gambit begins. Patrols find fields savaged in all manner of unnatural ways, blighted by frost, rot, or flood out of season; livestock missing, mysteriously ill, or massacred where they stand; even one small and far-flung village left empty, as though all its residents simply stopped what they were doing and left as one.

The weather over Camelot grows grim and sour as well, full of gray, damp days almost constantly swathed in slow drizzles or fog. As often as not, though, those storms intensify in the night to torrential downpours, punishing winds, and lightning fit for the end of days.

Birds from the north grow less communicative with Merlin and those others who might converse with them, although sightings of bandits and other such lawless men in the northern regions have dropped considerably.

[vicioussweetie]

"At least we know where to look for him," Ali remarks to nobody in particular one day, when these reports are being delivered to court. Unwelcome as some might find her, until the king requests she leave, she's going to stay and try to be useful. "Not that he'd be there anymore by the time an army could arrive."

[allaroundarthur]

However embarrassed some of the knights might be, Arthur knows enough to be grateful to Ali, for a number of reasons. She shall be privy to all the courts and councils-of-war she chooses to attend. Merlin, too, confers with her in his own efforts to ward the castle against further incursions.

Given a direction, though, the knights are eager to reclaim their pride--Lancelot at the forefront. "Let me raise an army, sire, and lead your knights against this northern threat, before he can again darken our doors."

For his part, Arthur seems most troubled by the lost village.

[allaroundarthur]

The return to Camelot is a welcome one, at least for Gawain. The city does seem a bit more crowded than when they left, and batches of peasants and green recruits train under the eyes of drillmasters on the fields around the city, while knights train in the courtyard of the castle itself. Everywhere, the city rings and bustles with preparations for war.

Their return is cause for a swiftly-convened council of war, as Arthur is anxious to hear what they've learned while afield.

[vicioussweetie]

A war council? Great. Because Ali totes didn't want a bath before she had to be civil. Or a meal, or a nap. And she can't even leave Gawain to do most of the talking. She tries to console herself that at least she'll get to be impressive without needing magic this time.

Her collection of evidence has grown quite impressive, perhaps the moreso when laid out bit by bit as she tells her story. Little piles of dust and herbs are poured onto the map table over the places from whence they came, with a little help from Gawain to make sure she's got the places right and a request that Merlin try to identify the local herbs with which she's unfamiliar; while a few of the acid-eaten plant remains laid to one side, and a bone showing the marks of teeth and claw on the other. Her story becomes a journey to one inescapable conclusion, made when she tosses down a strip of white skin to which clings a few broken scales.

"He has a dragon."

[allaroundarthur]

Ali might be somewhat mollified, at least, in that no one looks any more rested than she, and their focus is on what she has learned, rather than etiquette or attire. Her final pronouncement, though, sends a ripple of murmurs running around the table.

"If he has a dragon," Lancelot is the first to say openly, "then we must slay it, as swift as can be."

[vicioussweetie]

Not insulting people is good, to be sure, and might mollify her when she's calm enough to think about such things.

"We'd have to find it first," she reminds him, "and make certain we're prepared for the cold."

[labyrinthking]

Jareth has been behaving himself in Ali's absence. Really, he's been behaving himself entirely too much, while she's gone off to have adventures and dote on men who aren't him. He must, he has decided, remind her who the exciting man in her life is. The clever man, the magic man, the man who's had a look at her iPod. And so, at dinner that night, he lets slip his magic, wrapping everyone up in a musical number.

Merlin (thankfully, for Jareth's chances of getting said music off the ground) happened to be absent. But the rest of the court find themselves with an overwhelming urge to dance--and with partners they might find it impolitic to choose, were their wills their own.

[vicioussweetie]

And here, Ali had been thinking that her love and attentions would be enough to reassure Jareth that she had not forgotten him, however long she was forced to be away. How clearly she was wrong. Though the business of watching other people eat could be a tedious affair, Ali had been trying to enliven spirits with good conversation and stories--and such is how Jareth's influences snuck up on her unaware, as she was too caught up in the tale to notice what he was doing until it was too late.

So all of a sudden, she finds herself swept up in his arms and into a dance, and at the moment, she doesn't see anything wrong with that at all.

[labyrinthking]

"Well, my dear," Jareth murmurs, as the minstrels run through an instrumental interlude, "how are you enjoying dinner, hmm?"

[vicioussweetie]

"Very much," she answers languidly, her eyes half-closed in delight (or something he wants her to mistake for it). "You know I love dancing with you."