It was in fact in the guise of a game that he planned to introduce his mortal to their newly created realm, and then one evening he got his chance. He had been in owl form, watching her practice lines from the play about the Goblin King, when he recognized the passage of time in the mortal realm. He brought about a breeze to distract her from her performing and remind her of the time, but she ignored the loving caresses he bestowed upon her chestnut locks of hair and the hem of her costume. Disappointed, he brought about a gentle rain to encourage her inside, but he misjudged in his annoyance at having been ignored yet again, and the gentle rain was a downpour before his mortal, sopping wet and an hour late, arrived home.

His mortal was in an unusually foul mood that evening, angry that weather and time had intruded upon her playtime in the park, hurt that her father and step-mother were more upset that she had made them late for a date then concerned that she had been thoroughly drenched in the storm, and then frustrated when the step-brother refused to cease his crying and fall asleep. He felt sorry for the child, who cried because it was frightened by the violent storm he had unwittingly unleashed, and his mortal's moodiness and harsh tones did little to sooth its fears, but he would not interfere unless he was called upon by his mortal to do so, such was the extent of his entrapment to her.

Flustered by her own troubles, his mortal finally did call upon him and his game. She said the fated words, summoning the comical goblin-creatures he had created to take the baby away to their new realm. When she noticed the child's absence, he flew into her parent's bedroom in owl form and then appeared to her for the first time in his new Goblin King form, using the winds of the storm to toss about his intricate costume and his beautiful wild locks. She identified him as the Goblin King and was frightened, so he did his very best to be imposing. He gave his voice unnatural harshness, taunting words, and sarcastic tones. He narrowed the beautiful mismatched eyes in false expressions. He twisted the beautiful mouth, created to kiss her mortal lips, into sneers and smirks. He met her expectations very well. He even went so far as to call her by her mortal name, a name that caused him pain to say not because of its meaning, which was Princess, but because the name was Hebrew, the language of God's chosen people.

"What's said is said," he said, presenting to her the wisdom he held closest to his heart, knowing the power of words, but she didn't understand. He presented the crystal sphere to her, an obvious mimic of the elven figurine, but she didn't notice the resemblance. He offered to fulfill all of her dreams if she would but allow them to keep the child, but she imagined him stealing the child away from her, imagined her half-brother's fate to be a transformation into one of the mindless goblin-creatures she herself had designed, and refused him. In mere minutes after seeing his form she had created in him a cruel villain, and her mind screamed for a test, a way to prove to herself that she was not truly the sort of person who would casually wish away a baby to an unspeakable fate. The game had begun, although it was no longer the game he would have chosen, and he was no longer confident this form would win him his mortal's love.

He had been correct in his concerns. He swept his mortal to their new realm, pointing out with a creator's pride the Labyrinth, the crumbling goblin city, and the castle beyond the goblin city, but rather than being impressed with his skill or pleased that she would finally get to traverse a full-sized maze, she swallowed her fear and stated that it didn't look so hard to her. He had produced a 13-hour clock, demonstrating his grasp of a mortal's perception of time, a truly remarkable feat for a Sylph, but she seemed not to care. Her mind was stubbornly clinging to an image of the half-brother she had wished away, and he had to resort to acting threatening to recapture her attention.

That was only the start of his disappointments. The first creature she came across, outside the gates of the Labyrinth, was the dwarf that looked like her bookend. She saw him standing by a pool of water and imagined him urinating in it, which of course the creature then proceeded to do, to his disgust. The creature, which the Labyrinth had named Hoggle, was grouchy and unpleasant, mimicking his mortal's state of mind, and was killing off the illusionary fairies he had created with such loving detail, capturing the beauty of the true fairies he was a distant kin to. Apparently their beauty and purity were deemed a threat by his mortal, for she turned them into bloodthirsty pests, even imagining one into biting her.

When she finally entered the maze, the Labyrinth, which his mortal had wanted to be sentient, decided to be uncooperative, producing only a long pathway stretching infinitely in either direction, with no bends or openings. She ran the path, ignoring his uniquely crafted eye lichen, and it wasn't until she was so tired from running that she wished for some guidance that she noticed a simple worm. She imagined this worm to be cultured and intelligent, for she needed someone smart to solve this first part of the puzzle, giving the lowly worm almost the same accent she had given him, only allowing the worm to be kind, polite, and helpful as she would never allow the Goblin King to be. Pleased at the attention to one of its creatures, the sentient Labyrinth created hidden openings throughout the straight path that truly had not been there moments before. The Labyrinth, of course, was supposed to confuse its travelers, of course, so the worm directed her away from the castle.

Disappointed with the results of his effort and the lack of attention it was getting him with the mortal he loved, he departed from her side, where he had been watching in his unsubstantial form, and reformed the physical and immortal body of the Goblin King in the castle's throne room. He lounged carelessly on the stone throne - most uncomfortable - and held the child in his arms, the child whose name was also Hebrew, but also meant, "The Lord is Good."

Author's Notes: Let me explain his hesitance to use the names Sarah and Toby. In my imagination, things of God would be unnatural to creatures of magic. This may be because mortals were granted souls and immortals were not. It could be because the Bible warns against involvement with magic or magicians. I remember going to a Jewish friend's coming-of-age ceremony, and he told me that he had to learn to read the Torah in Hebrew because it was the language of God's chosen people and was holy. I am a Christian myself, but I see the meaning behind that; meanings and intents can get lost in translation, so it makes more sense for the words of God to be studied in their original language. I am writing the next part right now, so please review so I can post it! Don't worry, I will get to the main point of the story eventually. :)