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Sarah was having a very bad day. She had been having a bad day for several years now, and she had run out of options of people to talk to. Her father was too old and sick to burden with her troubles, she had a barely civil relationship with her stepmother, her mother… well. When had her mother ever really listened to her? Her girlfriend of the last five years , Jenna, had dumped her three months ago to the day. She hadn’t been cheating on Sarah, there was no other woman. It would almost have been easier if she had. But no. Nothing had stolen her away. Sarah was just, as usual, Not Good Enough. All of her friends had been Jenna’s friends too, so it was just too awkward to talk to them. Her baby brother, Toby, had mid-terms coming up, he was exhausted and terrified constantly, he didn’t need her whining in his ear about some girlfriend.
Exhausted, she just wished…
"What do I wish?" She asked herself, aloud, staring around at nothing in particular, until her eyes rested on a shelf where she kept a few childhood keepsakes. A funny little bookend shaped like an outlandish… what was it, exactly? whatever it was, it seemed to be peering at her over its large nose expectantly.
"I wish I could remember what you are." She told it, cocking her head.
"You’re some sort of fairytale creature, I know," she continued, "but you’re definitely not a fairy. You’re kind of like an elf, maybe? Not a Lord of the Rings elf, obviously, you’re far too short and ugly. An imp, maybe?" She could swear it looked offended. "Ok, not an imp. A…" she reached far back in the corners of her mind, and plucked a word from it, like a peach. "A goblin? Yes. You’re a goblin, aren’t you?" She smiled, picking it up and turning it over in her hands. "You used to have a name, too, I know it, I used to make up stories about you." She looked into its beady little eyes. "We used to have grand adventures, didn’t we? Princess Sarah, and her most loyal advisor. What did I call you?" She stared at him a moment. "Hedgewort? Hogwart? No." She shook her head. "It was shorter than that, wasn’t it, and it was a nonsense word. Hickle, maybe. Heggle?"
And then it came to her. "H-Hoggle?" She asked it, and it SMILED. She shrieked and dropped the thing, as if it had bitten her. She heard a small voice say: "Well, what did you expect fairies to do?"
"Fuck!" She exclaimed, wondering if she was losing her mind.
The bookend sat up, rubbing its head.
"Well, yes, they do plenty of that, but mostly, they just bite people… but what did you go and have to do a thing like that for?"
"Like what?"
"You FORGOT me. You forgot ALL of us."
"I didn’t, really, I just…"
"Had a bad peach, eh?"
Sarah rubbed her face, and sighed.
"Ok, fine, I forgot. But… you weren’t real."
"Oh we weren’t, were we?" Asked Hoggle, but his voice was bigger, and coming from behind her now. She opened her eyes and turned around. There he was, full-sized now, exactly as she remembered him, bizarre vest with a face worked into the leather, jewels dangling from the pouch on his waist, as always. "HOGGLE!" She exclaimed, and grabbed him in a tearful embrace. He hugged her back, patting her. "Now, now, there’s no need for all that." She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Didymus hated it when she did that, he was always lamenting the fact that she didn’t carry a proper handkerchief. "Didymus! Is Didymus here, too? And Ludo? And what about the others?"
Hoggle looked shifty, as only he could do.
"Hoggle, what’s going on?"
"They wanted to be here… they really did, but…"
"But what?"
"Well, let’s just say they couldn’t make it."
"Hoggle… I know that look. You’re after something."
"I am?"
"Yes, don’t pull that wide eyed innocence act with me, it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now."
"Alright, fine, no need to rub it in. I have been sent to inform you that you are invited to an audience with the king."
Sarah crossed her arms.
"And if I refuse?"
"Then none of us will be sent to visit, ever again." Replied hoggle as he wrung his hands.
"I don’t believe it! Why would he do this, after all this time?!"
Hoggle looked deep into her eyes.
"Because you need us." He replied, and she knew it was true.
She turned, and started walking.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
"Getting ready," answered Sarah, as she slipped on a pair of sturdy shoes and put her Swiss Army knife in a backpack, along with some fruit and a bottle of water.
"Of course! I knew that." Hoggle watched warily as Sarah made sure that there was plenty of clean litter, water, and food out for her cat, closed her eyes, and turned around. When she opened them, she was exactly where she expected to be. Standing on a hilltop, overlooking a vast labyrinth with a castle at the center. A small but ornate clock chimed one from a tree branch beside her. Of course. It had thirteen hours on it.
"Hey! You didn’t think you were leaving without me, were you?" Cried a petulant little voice from somewhere near her feet. She looked down, only to see that little tuxedo cat had somehow followed her.
"Dinah? How… how did you get here?"
Dinah sat down and licked a paw, before replying imperiously.
"We have our ways."
"Who? Goblins?"
"Of course not! Cats! Silly human. Do I look like a goblin to you?"
"Well… no…" Sarah conceded, "But I’m trying not to take anything for granted."
"Well you can take THAT for granted," Dinah grouched.
"That’s all very well and good," interrupted hoggle, "but may I suggest that we talk while we’re walking? We’re expected, you know."
"Right, let’s get a move on, then."
But as she stared at the massive maze below, she found she couldn’t move. Her limbs simply wouldn’t obey her. She stood there, willing herself to put one foot in front of the other, while Hoggle and Dinah watched her expectantly.
"Come ON, feet." She commanded, and suddenly found she could walk again.