Jareth's Return

Dori(19)

The next week and a half, Dori didn't see much of Jareth outside of mealtimes and attending one another's meetings. He was meeting with the War Council, while she was gathering and planning the rebuilding. Luckily, Sally and Mardy reappeared from wherever they had run off to, and were of great help to her. Each one lead a third of the workers in the rebuild. According to what she had been told by Jareth, they had been rebuilding things that had fallen for a few months, but they always crumbled back down. They sent someone to check on the pillar that she had fixed, because surely it would have fallen by now, wouldn't it?

It was still standing.

Dori and the others theorized that it was her magic and the majority of the Labyrinth that was residing in her mind that strengthened the pillar against the Necromancer's curse. This led Mardy to come up with the idea for The Mending.

Every capable Goblin and Human would work together in teams to build back up the Labyrinth in sections, starting with the worst part of the village. Dori had authorized-more like demanded, if she was honest with herself-families whose homes had become uninhabitable to come and live in the unoccupied rooms of the castle. Jareth easily agreed, gave the official invitation and now they had some twenty-seven families dispersed through the castle. Once they were finished building, Dori would find a way to reinforce the entire city with her magic.

Finally, finally everything was ready. Plans were finished, supplies were gathered, and everyone knew what sections to which they were assigned.

The morning of the first building day dawned early.

Too early.

Dori likes to think that there are two kinds of people in this world. One is the morning person, who wake up like Cinderella; chipper and singing and absolutely infuriating to the second type of people. Those of us who wake up with hair like Anna and an attitude like Yzma. She, unfortunately for the rest of the population, is a member of the latter.

The only person to escape her wrath was her father.

In her sleep-addled state, she forgot that the person banging on her door couldn't possibly be her father. It was the only thing that saved them from certain destruction.

She opened the door to see Jareth peeking around the doorframe, presumably using the wall to shield himself. "Hello."

She said nothing.

"Don't you look at me like that, you asked for this wake up call. Come on, get dressed. Breakfast time."

She still said nothing.

He sighed and stood up straight, fully in the doorway. Taking in her sleep attire, a pair of shorts and a tank top, his eyes warmed significantly. Two hands on her sides drew her towards her boyfriend as his face came to kiss her under her jaw. The evil morning fog lifted from her brain as his warm breath passed over her air, sending a pleasant shiver down her spine and causing her to clutch his biceps.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake. You stop that." He hummed and continued showering her with kisses from the shoulders up. She chuckled and covered his face with her hands, "Jay! That's enough!" She laughed harder as he pulled back and peeked through her fingers.

"You sure? You don't look awake enough to me. Maybe this will help?" Before she could stop him, his fingers wiggled on her sides and her skin crawled.

That bastard was tickling her. "What do you think you're doing?" She shrieked through involuntary laughter. "Nonononononono!" She swatted at his hands, ran backwards and slammed the door shut. "Jerk! I said I was awake!"

Dori could hear him laugh as his boot heels clicked down the hallway. Shaking her head, she dressed in shorts, another tank top and an unbuttoned button-up, with rolled sleeves. Slipping her hair in the back of her baseball hat, she grabbed her foot wear and ran to the formal dining hall where everyone had taken to eating meals. The table was laden with breakfast foods of all sorts; some of which Dori had brought from home. A few children were lingering and eating, while the adults were eating as fast as possible without becoming sick.