Disclaimer: I do not own anything precept the character of Raj

Dastan awoke to the feel of the sun pricking his eyes with its rays. He groaned and attempted to bury himself underneath the covers again. He let out a content sigh as he felt at peace again.

"Ah," Dastan thought to himself. "This is perfect. Peace and quiet without any servants or annoying brothers to bother me. This is absolutely-"

" PRINCE DASTAN!"

"-perfect." Dastan let out another groan before attempting to peek through the comforters. He sent a sleepy glare to where the loud voice came from. With his sleepy and distorted vision, he could make out an outline of a rather masculine looking person. However, it had long hair as well. The figure seemed to have its arms crossed in an annoyed manner. Dastan let out another groan before shutting his eyes shut, attempting to block out the sun and the nagging person.

"I take the comment about no annoying servants back." Dastan thought. He squeezed his eyes shut even more and even resorted to the fetal position to try and bury himself deeper into the fleeting peace that he wished to return to.

"PRINCE DUSTAN!" the voice boomed again this time, this time with more urgency and an underlining of annoyance.

"Prince Dastan is not here at the moment," Dastan mumbled. "Please come back when he is in."

The voice let out an expasreated sigh before trying to pry the comforters off Dastan. However, the Persian Prince held a deathly grip on his shield between his haven and the world. After awhile, the servant stopped pulling, much to Dastan's relief. But just as he was about to fall asleep again, he felt himself being lifted up and being carried. Dastan struggled to untangle himself from his comforters to poke his head out.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing?" Dastan bellowed. His hair was tussled and sticking up in different places. His eyes were lazily open with a bit of morning glory circling them. His mouth was pulled into a snarl, but the effect was taken away because of the drool trail coming from the corner of his mouth. In short, Dastan looked like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

"Hey!" the Persian Prince growled. His lips drawn back into a snarl, showing off his teeth in a viscous manner. "I'm talkin' here! I asked a question and demand that it be answered, damnnit!"

The slaves looked at one another, unsure of what to do. It was quiet for a moment, before one of them spoke up.

"Prince Dastan," the voice began. Dastan snapped his head towards the slave. He narrowed his eyes at the slave; he knew that voice; it was the voice that woke him from his sleep. The slave that belonged to that voice was a lanky looking young boy. His hair was combed back and pulled into a ponytail with a leather strap. He was dressed in the same garments as those who served in the palace of Alamut. A small spark of jealously coursed through Dastan; the thought of another man close to Tamina was enough to make his blood boil.

"I don't like this guy," Dastan thought to himself. "I really don't like him."

"Prince Dastan," the slave repeated with a hint of annoyance underlining his voice. "My name is Raj-"

"Raj," Dastan thought to himself. "I never liked that name,"

"-I am the head slave of the palace. Your brother, Prince Tus, requested your presence be made in the atrium in the South Hall. Your father has arrived, and he would like if all three of you entered to meet him together."

Dastan pulled himself together at the sound of his father being in Alamut. His father being there meant that his marriage with Tamina could be successful or a total disaster for his father could either accept the union between him and Tamina, or he could deny it. He hoped that his father would want Tamina to marry him; just like before.
Dastan was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt his makeshift bed began to move again.

"Raj!" Dastan bellowed. "Why in the name of the gods above are you guys carrying me?" Raj looked at the young prince for a moment before replying.

"Prince Tus gave me specific instructions to bring to the atrium before noon no matter if you were presentable or not. And I plan to get you to the South Hall; ready or not".

Dastan let out a groan before falling back on his bed. He was going to be paraded around the palace half naked; this was not Tus, it smelled of Garsiv. An image of his military driven brother wearing that smirk of his when ever he won something popped into Dastan's mind.

"Damn him," Dastan thought to himself. "Of course Garsiv would want to embarrass me in front of everyone. Father would understand; he has seen us play these kinds of pranks on one another." But the rest of the palace would be victims of his indecent appearance. Horror began to envelope his face at the humiliation he would receive. The slave-women would be "blinded," the high priests would be shocked and Tamina-

Dastan began to panic: if he was seen like this, then it definitely would not sit well with Tamina. Sure they were engaged, but Tamina still did not fully trust him. He could tell because every time she looked at him, her eyes were filled with suspicion and confusion. Dastan wished to change those guarded stares into loving glances, like he had seen before. If Tamina saw him like this, he was sure that those stares would turn into murderous ones; and he did not need to be on her bad side right now. Their meetings were rare and always brief. Dastan feared that with the short time they had, she would judge him too quickly and guard her heart even more.

Dastan began to search for anything that could help him escape without making a scene. Dastan's eyes began to dart around his surroundings before his gaze landed on a pole a few feet in front of him. As the gears in his head began to turn, a devilish smile crept up his face. What would happen to Raj when he reached the South Hall with a bed, but no prince in it?
Dastan coiled his muscles as they prepared to spring up and grab onto his escape. He was so close now, only five feet...four feet...three feet...two feet...now!

Dastan sprang up and managed to grip the pole with his iron hands. He dangled in the air for a few moments watching as his bed was paraded away. Dastan smiled to himself, this was just too easy. Dastan dangled for a little while longer before continuing his plan: what would Garsiv's face look like when he and Tus entered to find him and their father already seated and waiting for them? Dastan let out a small laugh before swinging himself over and continued his journey to the South Hall.

Dastan let out a grunt as he climbed up what he suspected the South Tower where his father was to be residing. However Dastan was not quite sure that this was the correct tower; he couldn't just ask for directions to the South Tower. But Dastan believed that his instincts would lead him to the right place.

Dastan let out another grunt before he pulled himself up and jumped into the window. Taking a deep breath, Dastan smirked at his accomplishment. "Who's the prankster now, Garsiv?" Dastan thought smugly to himself. However, confusion began to spread on Dastan's face when the smell of jasmine incense filled his nose; his father hated the smell of jasmine. Dastan turned around to find himself not in a meeting room, but rather what looked like a bedroom.

Frowning, Dastan approached the burning incense and stared at it; where in the name of the gods was he? But as he began to inhale more of the smell, Dastan found that it was a familiar sent. "This smell," he thought. "It smells like-"

"Can I help you, prince?" a feminine voice called out, disrupting Dastan's train of thought. Dastan's eyes became very wide at the sound of this voice; he knew that angelic sound anywhere. Dastan took a deep breath in an attempt to collect himself before he turned around to be faced with the one person he did not want to see him in his disheveled state; and after climbing around the palace, he was sure he looked worse.

"Princess," Dastan greeted before bowing. Tamina stood in a white robe over her night gown with her arms folded across her chest. One of her perfectly arched eyebrows was raised and her eyes were staring into him filled with suspicion.

"Prince Dastan," Tamina began. "Perhaps you can provide an answer to my curiosity. Although you are welcomed to most parts of the palace, I hardly believe that it is appropriate for you to be walking, or in your case, climbing around the palace in such an indecent appearance. So my question for you is why exactly are you in my room?"
Dastan gulped: she had seen him climbing the tower. And with him entering her room half naked-

"Oh boy," Dastan thought. "This is not good." As he looked up for an answer, he caught Tamina's murderous gaze that read 'You better have a good explanation pal, or else.'
At that, the only thought in Dastan's head was, "Aw, shi-"

And there's chapter two! I want to thank all who reviewed; I cannot tell you surprised and happy I was when my email was full of alerts from fanfiction. The number of reviews for just chapter one alone was astounding that I was literally close to tears. I thank you all so much.

So this story will be updated weekly, maybe earlier maybe later depending on how much I write. I'm sorry for any grammatical and spelling mistakes, those two are not my strongest points. I'm sorry if Dastan seemed a bit OOC and if this chapter is not what you expected. And thank you Twilightlvr5 for pointing out that Dastan's hair is brown; I totally forgot until you reminded me. So yeah. Please review and now flames please!