Inspired by the part where Sarah is in the Heart of the Labryinth.
Older Sarah is based off of Jennifer Connelly's appearance in the movie "Dark City", which (according to my math given the numbers presented in the fic) was released around the same time the fanfic takes place.
(See the end of the work for more notes.)
"She stood stunned in the middle of an elaborate garden. She took a few steps forward, admiring the lush and dense foliage all around her. When she turned back, she was unsurprised to see the doorway from which she had emerged from and the staircase had vanished."
—Chapter 16, "Within your Heart"
I love this story, but I'm still left with many unanswered questions—In New York State (where the park scene was filmed), it only takes three years for someone to be declared Dead in Absentia. How did Sarah's cowokers react? How did Toby, arguably the reason for Sarah's discovery, react?
I did a little research and discovered that owls and woodpeckers have symbiotic relationships with one another. According to Naturalist and Photographer Paul Bannick, "Owls are at the top of their food web and that often makes them indicators attesting to the health of the ecosystems they inhabit," Mr. Bannick said. "Woodpeckers, while often indicator species as well, are also keystone species, since they create sap-wells and excavations that benefit many other animals that use these cavities, including the 10 species of owls that use their cavities for nest sites."
In other words, I like to think that if Sarah ever learned to shape-shift and travel to the mortal realm, she'd take the form of a woodpecker—Jareth may be older than Sarah and more expirenced with magic, but the Labryinth is Sarah's home and kingdom.