"How long has it been since I looked at these books?" he asked himself in a whisper. "Too long. Too, too long."

With a sudden youthful vigor, he sauntered over to a table and opened the nameless book. The librarian squinched up his green and already heavily wrinkled face as he watched his strange visitor in wonder. "Huh, could swear I knows him from somewhere..." he mumbled. "But, no, it was long, long ago... Yet, we remembers. We musts remembers." Soon he dismissed the puzzle, and went back to stamping books.

The blond-headed man flipped through the pages quickly, twisting his mustache between his fingers agitatedly. "Oh, I could never perform these spells again." He flipped a page and decided, "No, it must be too difficult for her." He flipped another. "Too involved." Another. "Too personal... too tiring... too-- " Suddenly, he slammed the book shut and looked across the room angrily. "Oh, I cannot ask this of her! But, I cannot do it without her! Damn it all! Why did I even bother?"

"Because you cannot bear to live without her," a voice said from behind him.

He swerved about, and looked up at the owner of the voice in surprise. Sage's elfin features were lit at sharp angles by the candle on the table. "Oh, it is you, Sage. You startled me."

The elf took a seat across from the man, and put his hands together in a thoughtful manner. "I saw you leave the dinner table. You are troubled?"

"Very much so," the man answered sadly. "I thought I might be able to hide from him, but I see that he has suddenly become ambitious."

"Well, yes, there are some things that cannot be prevented."

"They could have."

Sage sighed heavily. "Things happen, strange things. We all make mistakes. I should know." Leaning back in the chair, the elf continued, "But you know as well as I do that your mistake had amazingly positive consequences, despite the negative ones. Some bad things happen for the good. That, I can say once again, is an experience I have also had." A laugh escaped from his lips. "Well, why am I telling you? You know these things as well as I do."

"Yes, but there are times when I need reminding," the man said as he tapped his fingers against the wood of the table. "I still wish that I could solve this problem on my own."

"You know you cannot," Sage answered somberly. "And it is going to be best, in the end, that you do not. Trust me. You know this... you just need to ignore your stubborn need to stay detached." A smile widened on his gaunt face. "Now, the masquerade ball has begun. If there ever was a better opportunity to dance with your love, it is now."

"I am not ready, Sage," the man replied, his head hanging down, causing his hair to cover his face.

Sage laid his hand upon that of the other man's. "Of course you are. Anyhow, you can remain without identity for awhile. It is a masquerade ball."

"There is more for me to do."

Like a lightning bolt, Sage shot up from his chair. "Oh, stuff and nonsense!" he answered sharply, yet playfully. "There is time! We need not disturb the librarian another moment with your obssessive whim. Come, we are going back to the castle, whether you like it, or not. You will soon be thanking me, you stubborn man!"

*     *     *

Sarah was standing against the wall, talking in an animated manner to her closest friend, Leah. Within their small circle of conversation was Benedick, Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Vindar, Sage's son. They all wore elegant masks, Sarah donning one that looked like the head of a dove, its feathers white and pink-tinged at the edges. A tapestry hung behind them all, offsetting Sarah's glittering gown and giving her a strange, angelic appearance.

"So, Leah, what has been happening Aboveground?" Sarah asked, a smile appearing beneath the curved beak of her mask.

Leah brushed a morsel of food from her shining dress. "Well, believe it or not, I have gotten a job as an environmental engineer. I'm not getting paid much, seeing that I just completed my college education..."

Riotous laughter came from Sarah. "Oh, good God! What did Mom and Dad have to say about you changing my major?" Ever since they had switched places, Sarah had wondered what crazy things Leah would be doing to make her parents suspect that Sarah had been replaced by another person. Leah had never told Sarah about the change in college majors. I mean, what a dramatic change! An actress to an environmental engineer!

"Well," Leah said with a chuckle, "I wanted to explore the world scientifically, and wanted to feel that I was helping somehow to get rid of all the problems that arise from people taking the world for granted." She pointed an accusing finger at Sarah. "Taking it for granted like you did, my queenly companion."

"Yeah, well I can honestly say that my perspective has changed a bit," Sarah replied.

"I also see that, though you seem to be having a grand old time, you have not let your own hair down a bit," Leah remarked soberly. "As a matter of fact, that French roll on your head is tighter than normal."

"I am a queen," Sarah said matter-of-factly. "I have a lot of responsibility. Anyhow, who says I am not enjoying it? I love every bit of it. I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"There's that old familiar denial creeping in," Leah said, clucking her tongue playfully.

"Sarah -- good queen," Ludo said with a sideways cock of his shaggy head.

Benedick smiled beneath the mask of a wolf, revealing his sharp teeth. "Not a better one in the wide world, I say!"

"What about that little lad that you was trying to get back from Jareth nine years ago?" Hoggle asked from his lower position, his nose protruding from beneath a simple, ebony eye-mask. "What was is name? Toby, was it?"

"Ah, Toby!" Leah said with a mischievous grin. "Toby has become quite the bright young man! Though, he is a bit withdrawn in school..." Suddenly her expression became serious.

"Oh no, he's not doing badly, is he?" Sarah asked with a worried look.

"All those fantastical experiences he had are subconsciously haunting him, I would expect," Vindar offered.

Leah crossed her arms. "Well, I think that is exactly what is happening. Toby does all of these marvelous things, that other nine-year-olds don t normally do. Especially..." Her voice trailed off apprehensively.

"What?" Sarah asked with wide eyes.

"Especially making his bad grades turn into good ones."

Sarah sighed and laughed in relief. "Oh, you old joker you! You had me going for a second."

"Ah, Sarah," Leah said in complete seriousness, "I wasn't being silly. Toby does make low grades. And then he looks at the paper, and they turn into A's. Not only that, he has been known to make creatures from T.V...."

Sarah gazed at Leah disbelievingly. "Make them... appear?"

"Uh-huh..." Leah said with a sober nod. "Thankfully, they don't last long. I, uh, I don t know if he s been doing any of this in public... at least, not anything major. I have, however, seen him do it around me. The only thing that I really know he did at school was to make an eraser fly at his teacher when she put his name on the board for daydreaming in class. He got sent to the principal's office, because the teacher thought he threw it at her."

"Why didn't you tell me, for God's sake?" Sarah exclaimed. "This is really serious!"

"I didn't find out until just recently, when I came to visit last week."

"It looks as if Her Majesty's brother hath magical abilites," Sir Didymus offered. "All capable magicians should have training. Such skills should not go unattended!"

"Sir is correct," Vindar offered, holding out his hand in explanation. "Toby will need to learn to control his powers. I think I know exactly what is going on."

"If so, please enlighten me," Sarah said breathlessly, looking as if she were going to faint.

"You, Sarah, already know that you have magical powers. Such powers are generally dormant Aboveground, especially when the owner does not believe they have them. Magic does run through the blood in a family line, and so it is logical that Toby would be gifted with those powers. Yet, the technicality arises here: Aboveground, people do not believe in magic, so it is not an everyday occurrence. It simply does not exist Aboveground. But, when you travel to a world of magic, such as the Underground is, you take some of the magic with you. Toby is such an imaginative child, apparently, that he believes he has magic. So he uses it."

"And, when Jareth brought him here, he was exposed to a great deal of magic," Sarah reasoned. She scowled fiercely. "What in heaven's name can I do?"

"The boy will have to come here, no doubt, where magic is normal," Benedick said as he crossed his arms. He saw Sarah's troubled appearance, then added, "Oh, come now! I think it would be great fun to have the lad running about, turning people into goblins!" Sarah gave him a sidelong glance. "Okay, not people, just Sage." She continued to glare at him. "Oh, I see... Very well, then, not a goblin, a frog. Sage is already close enough to a goblin, as it is."

"We cannot just take him here," Sarah explained with a sigh. "We will have to... Oh, this is going to be so much trouble!"

Leah put her hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Yes, we re going to have to tell Mom and Dad about the Underground."

"Huh," Hoggle grunted. "They ain't gonna believe a word of it. You got your work cut out for you, Sarah."

"Oh, you just don't know how aware I am of that..."

"I mean, Mom is so practical," Leah offered. "She'd never believe in all of this. And you becoming a queen? Of course, she thinks you've become an environmental engineer... If that isn't shocking enough."

"Milady, methinks the solution will come of its own accord, " Didymus said with an energetic thrust of his staff. "Let us enjoy the ball."

Vindar turned around a looked across the room. When he spotted his father, Sage, from across the room, he waved vigorously. "There he is! I wonder where he s been all this time?"

Benedick nudged the young elf with his elbow. "Vindar, who's the gent that's with him?"

Vindar smiled mischievously. "Oh, an old friend of father's. He's an artist."

Sarah looked up suddenly. "An artist, you say? He didn't just arrive today, did he?"

"Yes," Vindar replied, cocking his head to the side. "You've heard of him?"

"Well, just briefly. Damion asked me today if he could give the man permission to set up a booth," Sarah explained. "What kind of art does he make?"

The young elf beamed. "Oh, he's a marvelous painter... He does a lot of scenery and portraiture, but it's all done in this half-realistic style. You should come to his booth tomorrow and see it. It's spectacular."

"I certainly will," she replied with slanted eyes. "I certainly will..."

Finally, Sage and the man had arrived at the edge of the huddled group of friends. Sarah summed her new guest up: he was tall and slender, but healthily built, as if he had lived the life of a working-man. Beneath his white, glittering unicorn mask, a head of smooth blond hair could be seen and intense green eyes glowed serenely. His dinner jacket was very genteel and somewhat unorhtodox, but was also very modest. His humble clothing contrasted sharply with his ornate mask. Well, he certainly dresses like an artist, she commented mentally. He looks awful familiar, though I am sure I have never met him in my life...

"Meet my old friend," Sage exclaimed, a grin appearing beneath his own bird-like mask.

Sarah offered her hand for a handshake, but the man took hold of it gently and brought it to his lips. "I am honored, Your Majesty."

"Well..." Sarah said with a sly grin. "Your friend is certainly the gentleman. Does your gentlemanship have a name?" she asked, looking at the strange man with her soft eyes.

"Names are sometimes very self-debasing," the man replied with a mischievous grin. "I don't believe in using them."

"They are helpful, however, in identification," Sarah replied, equaling his own intellectual and playful tone of voice.

"A technicality," the man answered dodgingly. "Since I am one of the few who choose not to use a name, it does not cause me many problems. Anyhow... Perhaps I do not wish to be identified." Again, he smiled knowingly.

"And why would that be?" Sarah challenged. "Are you hiding from yourself?"

"In a manner of speaking," the man chuckled as he stroked his goatee, "I would suppose that I am. At least, my external self."

"And, this denial of external self helps you how...?"

"Well, as an artist, it allows me to explore my own internal self as compared to the world. It allows me to look at myself as a smaller part of a greater working. Since I gave up my name, I have learned a great deal about people in general." His hair and eyes glistened in response the the light of the above chandelier. "By hiding from myself and others, I have -- strange as it is -- found myself." Suddenly, he was chuckling. "I am still quite an anomaly, I suppose, even after all these years." He seemed to notice Sarah's amused, yet perplexed expression, and chuckled again. "I am not making much sense to you, am I, Your Majesty?"

"Strange as it seems, you are making complete sense to me," she confessed, the baffled expression still on her countenance. "I feel as if I know you..." With a shake of her head, she shook away her obvious stare, then laughed. "Well, but, that cannot be, because I have never met a man without a name before."

"No, Your Majesty, it saddens me to say that we have not known each other before today," he replied, his eyes hazing over unnoticeably.

"Well, if he isn't the charmer!" Benedick exclaimed warmly, giving the man a friendly whop on the back. "Perhaps you could teach me a few tricks, nameless gent. I don't think I ve ever seen her majesty blush so!"

With the knowledge that she was reddening, Sarah could feel her face warm further. She did not see Sage nudge the man.

The band of elves at the front of the room began a new song, and a young elfin male stood forward, preparing to sing. Clearing his voice, the blond-haired man held out his hand. "Perhaps Her Majesty would care to dance?"

"It would be my pleasure," Sarah answered, forcing herself to act as if she were not overly-excited by the prospect. Yet, as he held her hand once again, his warm and gentle touch caused her to shiver slightly. He looked up at her suddenly when he noticed this tremor, and she saw a great many things mirrored in his eyes. Oh, how many things he seems to say with his eyes! she thought, suddenly feeling faint. There is an entire world there... Such agony, such helplessness... She stared into his face, unabashed and silent, as he began to whirl her about the room.

Yet, as he dances, the sadness seems to evaporate... Who is he?! Who is he...?

The soft, languid voice of the young elf at the front of the room began to echo throughout the hall:

A maiden dances through the trees:
I've seen her once, so wild and free.
Upon her brow she wears a mark,
That makes her dance within the dark.

A man, I was, with lonely mornings,
Little interested in love's adornings,
Until I saw her within the wood,
Dancing her dream till she no longer could.

I tried to speak, but speak could not,
Her dance was with neccessity fraught,
Her feet touched ground in somber rite,
As I watched her dance throughout the night.

And who thought I would fall in love,
With such a dreamless, fallen dove,
Who danced for forgotten need,
That had no hope to give it lead?

Sarah smiled wanly up at him. "Oh, of course I am. I have everything I could ever wish for. Yet..."

His mouth turned down into a sympathetic frown. "Yet what?"

Letting her thoughts out in such an easy fashion that startled herself, Sarah replied, "It takes up all of my energy. I don't get to do much for myself. I don t have any privacy. The list goes on and on..."

"So," he said sadly, it isn't such a dream come true, after all."

"Well, no, I wouldn't say that..." Again, she smiled, her demeanor somewhat distant. "It really is. It is better than living your life knowing that magic is happening somewhere, and you're not a part of it. Here, I have magic. Actually, few people know that I have become a skilled sorceress...of sorts." She laughed. "Yet, I have accidentally turned Sage into a goblin, once. I'm glad he didn t take it badly."

"Yes," the man said, chuckling. "Sage told me about his experience as a goblin. He said that all he could remember thinking during the time was, 'Gee, I am rather hungry.' No doubt, that was a very similar thought to the ones the inhabitants of this city must have had once upon a time."

"Yes," Sarah answered, a sudden discomfort washing over her. Suddenly, she was aware of his slender hand at her waist, his green eyes gazing into her, and his strangely high regard for her. The music became more flurried and whispery, and he spun her about the room at a quicker, yet smoother pace. Quiet engulfed their sphere of existence as the elfin song broke through:

So now, I take my dancer's hand,
And we dance throughout the wooded land;
If she must dance to dreams unsown,
I will not let her dance alone.

Oh dance with me,
Oh dance with me,
Until you feel your heart is free,
And we will dance into the wood --
Not as we must,
But because we could.

Oh dance with me,
Oh dance with me,
And tell me that you finally see,
That love can be more than the dance --
A rising dream,
A rekindled romance.

Oh dance with me,
Oh dance with me,
And show me who you think I be,
For, as you are free, you must realize,
I am one you know --
It is in my eyes.

The song ended, and the man led her back to her friends, quite breathless and amazed. Sage stared at Sarah thoughtfully, then gave her a knowing smile. Smiling shyly in return, she said, "Well, I have had a wonderful evening with you all. I regret that I cannot continue participating in the ball, but there are things to tend to." She gave the

stranger a sweeping glance. "Thank you for the dance."

"No, Your Majesty. It is I who thank you," he said, giving a deep bow. "I too, must depart. I have preparations to make for tomorrow's festival." He put his hand on Sage's shoulder. "Will you come and see me tomorrow, Sage?"

"Of course, of course," Sage answered. "I would not miss it for the world."

"And you, Sarah," the man said as he looked up at her, not realizing that he had used her first name. "How would you like to visit me tomorrow? I should like to hear your opinions."

Suddenly, Sarah s face flushed white, and she stared back at him as if she had just seen a ghost. "I will come if I have time..." she answered hurriedly. "Thank you for the invitation." With a rushed air, she shook hands with some and gave brief hugs to others. "I bid you all good night." Then she walked quickly from the room and disappeared up a flight of stairs.

"Well, I wonder what that was all about?" Benedick declared, his brow wrinkling in thought.

Hoggle gave the man a look similar to that of Sarah's. "It'd look as if she'd seen a ghost," he said, giving the man a purposeful glare. "I hope she don't see it again. I'ud give my life to keep her from gettin' that look on her face again... " After a few moments, the dwarf discontinued his glowering and removed his mask, stomping out of the room in the direction that Sarah had gone.

"Now he's at it!" Benedick exclaimed, twitching his whiskers in his confusion. "Where did the jovial atmosphere go to?"

Vindar looked sadly at the man, then at Sage. "Oh, father..." he said mournfully. "It has all gone wrong."

"It is my fault," the man said with downcast eyes. When he realized who he was standing before, he added quickly, "I must have said something to upset her. I will go now... Please tell me if she is alright tomorrow, will you, Sage?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Sage said, staring absentmindedly at the staircase where Sarah had gone. "Please, do not worry over it. She will be fine by morning."

The man turned and left through the crowd, his coat-tail swinging behind him. Leah looked at Sage and asked, "Who the hell was that? All this mumbo-jumbo about not having a a name..."

"He is a good man who has had a horrible life," Sage explained. "And, about the name, please do not be so quick to judge, my dearest Leah. Things are not always what they seem."

"Indeed." Leah crossed her arms, and went up the stairs, too.

"There goes number three!" the cat announced. "Really, I don't understand what is going on, Sage... Would you mind explaining?"

"At this point, yes, I would," Sage answered. "And, I think that we should let the solution come of its own accord."

"Noble advice, if I do say so myself!" Didymus exclaimed as he grabbed a nearby Fiery and began a congo line. "So, shall we, as the Fiery's would say..." he let out a howl and began swinging his tail, "Party?"

"Marvelous suggestion!" Benedick cried, joining the line.

"Ludo -- dance." Ludo waddled over to the end of the line, tilting his head backward and howling accordingly with Didymus example. A bit of debris fell in a friendly manner from the ceiling in response to his howl, and the creatures in the congo line stopped to stare at him.

He smiled wistfully at them. "Oops... Sorry."