Disclaimer: I don't own. I just play nice and put them away, just as I found them.

I.i

Winters in the Underground occurred much like an Aboveground thunderstorm. They arrived; they left. Some stretched for days, and others just a mere hour or two. There were no seasons, just random weather changes--the Labyrinth's soul crying out in sorrow or raining tears of joy.

Despite mild temperatures and often gentle snowfall, the inhabitants of the Goblin City harbored a strong dislike for the winters. A preceding silence and stiff wind would be just enough to empty the streets and fill their homes. Sometimes, a storm's fierce strength and brief existence made it seem that the accumulated snow oozed out of corners and crevices and out of the ground, instead of falling from the sky.

The only person that dared venture out during these winters was the Goblin King himself. Standing atop a tower, or meandering out into his private gardens, he would watch the snow, the flurries spin together, dancing to a worldly tune, unheard by the King. He was sure, by his own memory, which song they danced to. The flakes swirled and entwined, and as he observed, he could just barely see the shapes of long, flowing gowns, and the sharp, macabre masks which concealed the faces of the entities behind them. The wind laughed in his ears and carried traces of her scent.

But no matter how imaginative he was, or how well-choregraphed the snowflakes fell, Jareth could never quite find her in the swirling snowfall.

Winters came more frequently in the goblin kingdom since Sarah's defeat of the Labyrinth.