Notes: Mostly because I like the idea of genies struggling with newfound free will and having trouble with choices and saying no and such. And plus, I can't believe I haven't written for these adorable dorks before.
My Will is Mine
"I've heard about these wonderful crystal caverns. Supposedly, at sunset every day, the light hits the crystals just right and they project the most fantastic images across the walls," Alice said, sticking a piece of bread on a stick. "We can be there by noon and I think we can make quite the adventure of exploring the caves until sunset."
He gave her a strained smile. Alice sounded so excited about this, and he wanted to make her happy, yet the thought of being in small space for any amount of time was decidedly unappealing after leaving his bottle. He didn't know how to broach the topic with her though. He hoped she would take his concerns into account, but she sounded like she would really enjoy this and she'd opened his bottle so even if she refused to act like it, or even acknowledge it, she was his mistress.
Even if this wasn't a wish, he'd never denied a master a request before. Genies simply did not do that. Well, some did, they would find the most unpleasant way possible to grant a wish, but he didn't have enough power for that and while he'd had a few masters he'd wanted to hurt, the kind ones far outnumbered them. Still, disobedience was not in his nature and even the thought was enough to make him uncomfortable. Not so much as the idea of being trapped again though.
"Actually," he could hear the catch in his voice. This was making him uneasy already. "I'm sorry Alice, but I would rather not. We can still go if you would like, but tight spaces…" He was well aware of the fact that he was rambling, over explaining himself so that he could be justified in saying no. He'd never done this before and wasn't sure of how it went.
"Cyrus, it's okay," she said, taking one of her hands off the toast stick and holding his. "We don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable." Just like that, all the tension seemed to leave his body, only to be replaced by a sense of joyous wonder.
He'd said no. He'd said no and nothing bad happened. There was no cosmic retribution, Alice was not angry with him, everything was okay. He'd never said no before. Not really anyway. He'd had to deny wishes that went contrary to the laws of magic, but that wasn't really him saying no, that was just obeying the rules. He'd said no and Alice respected that. It felt strangely fulfilling, freeing almost. He could say No to anything he didn't want to do.
No was definitely a good thing. He wanted to keep saying it, to break in a new word, a new idea. The freedom to refuse, he'd never thought about it before and now here it was, a whole world of possibilities. He kept turning the idea over and over in his head. No. He was amazed at how much freedom two letters could bring.
He was so wrapped up in the idea of No, that he didn't realize the smile spreading across his face and almost didn't hear when Alice asked, "Would you like toast?"
The truth was, he would like toast, but in that moment, No was even better than warm bread. "No thank you," he said, reveling in how it sounded. No. It was like the sweetest music. He wanted to hear it again, so he said one more time in a quiet voice, "No."
Alice gave him a funny look, he may have said it a bit louder than he meant to and that coupled with the look on his face may have given her the impression that there was something off. "Cyrus, are you alright?"
"No," he said. No, that wonderful, magical word. "I'm better than alright. Alice, I can say No." And he could tell she didn't quite understand the significance of that perfect word, but she knew how happy it was making him and so she returned his ecstatic smile. "I've never felt so free."
"That's wonderful!" she said, throwing her free arm around him in a tight embrace. "Would you like a kiss?"
For a moment, he almost said, "No," but he realized that with the power to say, "No," he also had the power to say, "Yes."