Matters of the Heart (1980s Labyrinth fanfic)

Chapter 2

Terra ran a finger gently over the petals of the softly glimmering daisy on her table.

"Happy fourteenth birthday, Terra," she murmured to herself.

She was tall for her age, but very slim. Her hair reached all the way down to her waist. She always let it hang loose.

Terra glanced briefly at the black and white ball gown hanging on her wall. Today was the day of the great ball, where all the courtiers and elegant Fae folk from all over the kingdom and beyond would journey to the King's Palace and enjoy a day of drinking, dancing, and gaiety.

Terra didn't want to go. She wasn't one of them. She'd certainly never felt like one of them. The only connection she had was Jareth. Her adoptive parents had long since split up. Her father had left not just their home but had gone even beyond the borders of the Fae kingdom. Terra's mother had coped with the split by becoming even more of a socialite. She rarely even slept in their own home anymore. Even worse, everyone in the court knew about it. Terra could hardly walk down the street without getting weird looks. Turned out that the court had already known since she was a baby that she had been adopted. Her parents had been unable to bear children, and after finding her as an abandoned baby, they took her in, which turned out to be much to their regret later on.

Even Jareth knew the truth, not that it had ever really changed their friendship or the way he saw her. Terra marvelled at his ability to shrug such things off so quickly and still be so accepting of her. If anything, their bond had deepened since the fact. But as they had grown, they had inevitably found themselves with less and less free time to spend together. The loneliness had begun to sink into Terra's heart and torture her. Recently, she had found herself unable to sleep at night. She would often wander down to the lake and just watch the waves lapping at the shore.

Terra often couldn't help but wonder what the years to come would bring. No doubt Jareth would become more and more preoccupied with princely things and soon he'd have no time at all for her. She scolded herself for being so selfish; she couldn't hog Jareth all to herself. He had a privileged life to lead and she, well...

Terra stood and moved to the window, looking down on the long cobbled street below that stretched beyond the gates of the Palace and into the ever-distant horizon. How she longed to travel it, to venture far beyond the wall of the castle and unlock the secrets that lay there in the wild, untamed regions of the land. She wanted to learn magic, she wanted to learn how to fight, she wanted to be able to look into the face of danger and conquer it, she wanted to be like the heroes in the history tales, she wanted to be remembered.

She didn't want to be worthless, doomed to live out the rest of her days in the court just smiling and dancing her way to death.

Her unfocused eyes centered on the daisy again, then back to the ball gown.

Like it or not, she had to at least try to fit in.

~Time skip~

Terra struggled to breathe as the dress tightly hugged her body. She had to be careful not to trip over her own feet as she descended the golden stair onto the shining ballroom floor. She squinted up at the beautiful crystal light hanging above them. At the head of the room were seated the royal family, waiting for the last of the guests to arrive. Despite the immensity of the room, Terra felt the crowd pressing in on her, causing her to feel even more suffocated. She walked awkwardly to the edge of the room and pressed her back against the wall, determined to stay there the whole time. After what seemed like a lifetime, the King rose from his seat and declared the start of the great ball. With a wave of his hand, the King caused a row of tables to appear along one wall. They were covered with food, half of which Terra had never even seen the like of. With that, the royal family began to mingle with the crowd. Terra remained where she was for fear she would trip up and make a fool of herself in front of everyone if she dared try to move from the spot. So she stood there, chewing her lip and drumming her fingers against the wall.