Night 2: The Kouga Clan

Aladdin woke up on a soft twin sized bed in a tent. He sat up and rubbed the sand out of his eyes and looked around. He didn't know how he had come to be in a tent. Last he remembered was falling asleep on Alibaba's lap. Wait, Alibaba and Morgiana! Where were they?!

He looked around frantically and threw off the sheets. He searched the tent for his friends, but all he found were maps, scrolls, and bedroom supplies. Just when he was about to run out the tent to look for the, someone walked into the tent. It was Alibaba!

"Oh, Aladdin, you're awake." He was holding a plate of food and smiled. "I was about to wake you. I made you breakfast."

Aladdin ran up to him and wrapped his arms around the older teen's waist. He started sniffling. Alibaba was surprised.

"Aladdin, what's wrong?"

"I thought you were gone!" he whimpered. Alibaba smiled and picked him up with one arm.

"Don't be silly! I wouldn't leave you. Come on, don't cry. You can be strong, can't you?"

Aladdin wiped away his tears and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Good boy," Alibaba smiled as he rubbed his nose to the child's. "Now let's get some of this food in you before it gets cold."

They sat on the edge of the bed and Aladdin began devouring his breakfast. The plate had buttered eggs and biscuits, Aladdin's personal favorite. He swallowed one of his biscuits before asking Alibaba how they came to be in a tent.

"An old woman found us last night and offered us a place to stay the night. It was the only choice we had to escape the soldiers, so Morgiana and I accepted her invitation. Turns out she's the leader of the Kouga Clan. They travel around the world, never staying in one place for too long. We were lucky to find them," Alibaba explained.

Aladdin swallowed the last of his breakfast and sighed in content. Alibaba chuckled as he noticed a few crumbs left on the boy's face and wiped the mess away with a handkerchief.

"Looks like you enjoyed that."

"Yeah!" Aladdin nodded. He then jumped to his feet and peeked outside the tent.

He saw other tents in the area and horses. There was a wiped, open plain and a cool breeze filled the air. The air smelled fresh. The clan members were doing chores and some of the men were sword fighting.

Alibaba walked out and smiled in content as he inhaled the fresh air. Aladdin was about to follow when he heard a stranger's voice.

"Oh, so you must be Aladdin?"

Startled, Aladdin turned around and saw an old woman smiling at him. He made a little squeak and rushed after Alibaba to hide behind him. He clutched Alibaba's leg close and peeked out behind him with one eye at the old woman. Alibaba noticed and smiled apologetically at the old woman.

"Sorry, Miss Baba. Aladdin's pretty shy."

"I probably startled him a little," Baba told him. "No need to apologize."

"Aladdin, come out. It's okay. This is Miss Baba," Alibaba told him as he looked down at the child and rubbed his head. "She's the leader of the Kouga clan. Say hello."

"...Hello...," Aladdin said as he peeked out a little more from behind Alibaba's leg.

"And hello to you, too," Baba smiled at him. She rubbed Aladdin's head and Aladdin giggled. She had a kind and gentle touch.

The yelling from the men sword fighting increased and more clan members began to circle around them, cheering them on. Aladdin was curious about all the noise and ran off to watch the fight.

Aladdin peeked through the crowd and saw the men sword fighting. They were head to head, blade to blade, and tried knocking each other off balance.

Alibaba caught up with him and pulled him back a little.

"Don't get too close, Aladdin," he cautioned. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Aladdin wasn't paying attention. He was too focused on the fight. Baba and Alibaba, however, noticed that the fight seemed to be more personal now than just a friendly spar.

The two men began fighting out of desperation to win and were getting close to striking each other down. The crowd began cheering louder as each side began encouraging their favorite fighter.

"Stop this now, you two!" Baba yelled. But the men couldn't hear her over the various yelling going on. Baba noticed this and yelled louder.

"I said stop it right now!" But by then one of the men had been cut on the check and backed down. The cheering stopped as everyone now heard Baba. She arched over to the two men and frowned.

"Explain to me what that was about."

"We were just practicing to sharpen or skills. You never know when the Kou Empire might attack," the victor told her. She glared at him.

"Was it, Dorji? It looked a little more serious to me. How many times must I remind you that we never hurt each other for the benefit of being acknowledged?"

"We have to be prepared for anything, Baba. Just in case, you know that. We're an independent clan. We don't have to rely on any nation to protect us," he told her. Yet his expression was guilty. Baba was quiet for a minute as she studied him.

"It was about Toya, wasn't it?"

"No!" Dorji denied. "It had nothing to do with her!"

"Then why are you blushing? You thought you could impress her, didn't you?" she said, pointing at his red cheeks with her staff. Dorji opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out. Baba sighed and shook her head.

"There are other ways than being strong to catch a lady's eye."

The other men began to chuckle amongst themselves knowing how much Dorji cared for the girl Toya. They also laughed because they knew he was in trouble with their leader.

"I know that!" Dorji argued. "But there is no harm than being prepared."

"We'll talk more about this later, Dorji. As for the rest of you, there is more work to be done," Baba told her clan before going over to the injured man. She took out a cloth and he pressed it to his bleeding cheek. She told him where the first aid kit was in her tent and he walked off to tend to his injury.

After the excitement died down, Aladdin noticed he had not seen Morgiana at all that morning.

"Hey, Alibaba. Where is Mor?"

"She said she needed time to be by herself and went for a run. She'll be back soon," he told him.

Aladdin hoped he was right and looked out towards the distant plain, hopeing to catch a glimpse of her returning from her run. Alibaba noticed and smiled.

"Morgiana didn't go far, Aladdin. She'll be back before noon."

Alibaba nodded and slipped his hand into Alibaba's.

Morgiana did more than just go for a run. She wanted to do some training, too. After all, she felt responsible for allowing Aladdin to get captured by their enemies.

"I have to get stronger, to protect them both!" she swore to herself, thinking of Alibaba as well. She felt weak and helpless. If she was such a powerful Fanalis, why didn't she feel like one? She came from a tribe of the strongest warriors known to anyone. Yet, she felt as if a part of her was missing.

She didn't remember her family, she had been separated from them when she was little. She couldn't remember their faces, no matter how hard she tried. Did she have siblings? Were her parents still alive? Did they ever wonder about her? Did they wonder if she was still alive? Tears came to her eyes before she realized she had started crying. The only one who had been with her as long as she could remember was Alibaba. She began to wonder how they had even met. Did he find her like he had found Aladdin, dirty and helpless? Or did she find him?

She sighed and dried her eyes. She decided she had enough training for today and began to head back to the camp. Something caught her eye and looked down by her feet. In the crass was a piece of fabric from someone's shirt. She picked it up and she couldn't help but smell it.

Something about the smell of it was familiar. It belonged to someone she knew, but not too well. It had belonged to a man, still in the prime of his life. Perhaps around Alibaba's age. Did it belong to a brother she had long forgotten? No, it didn't carry a scent like hers, it couldn't be family.

A face appeared in her thoughts. He had dark hair and a scar across his right face. Yet, there was gentleness in his eyes. What was his name? She had only met him once.

"Hakaryuu!" she said out loud and dropped the fabric out of surprise. He had been here? When?

She took another whiff of the scent. It wasn't fresh, a little old. But there was no mistake that it was him. The scent must have been a week or two old, at most. It was almost undetectable.

So he was a long way away. She was a little disappointed to discover this, but she was glad to know that she had found a trace of him. She remembered the morning when they left Qusing to go Balbadd. He had promised he would visit them, but that was almost three months ago.

She noticed that this was going the opposite way of Balbadd. It wasn't toward the Kou Empire, either.

"Hakaryuu...where are you going? Why haven't you visited us like you promised? What is going on that you can't tell us about?" she asked herself. But a piece of fabric wasn't going to give her the answers. All she could do was hope that he was still safe.