Episode 2. A Dazzling Place I Never Knew

The Sun's rays shining down from a cloudless sky, Alani breathed in the unfamiliar, hot air. "Reminds me of a beach, except much hotter and without the scent of sea water. ...Okay, seriously; this can't really be Agrabah. Right?" The teen bit herself on a thumb, promptly yelping at the pain. "Never mind, it's real. ...Awesome!" She promptly investigated the room she was in.

It had broken planks covering a window, literal rags hanging from rope-lines, few ceramic jars with one of them very large, a very worn rug on the 3 stone steps in front of the missing wall, and said hole covered by what looked to Alani like a ragged, indigo bed-sheet. She let its broken corner fall back down, covering Agrabah from sight, then plopped down onto the 2 pillows that were on the rug. "Pretty sure that this is Aladdin's home... I'll wait for him an' Abu to show up!" What felt like an hour - but was actually around twenty minutes - later, she sprang upwards to stand. "I'm so booored!" Alani whined as she headed towards the keyhole-shaped, human-sized opening. She went down some stairs made from rock, then climbed down a tall ladder before walking along a stone rooftop. "Uhh, where's the way down?"

Alani glanced all over and quickly spotted a bunch of planks. After returning into Aladdin's home to get rope from atop a small cabinet she had seen earlier, the 17-year-old was soon back on the roof. She cut the rope with a simple, curved dagger that had a cool-looking handle - Alani had found it under one of the pillows during those 20 minutes earlier when snooping around, after which she had sat back down - and tied the planks together into a short ladder. She next tied that onto a specifically-chosen wooden pillar and climbed down into a nearby roof. "If Aladdin were here, I bet he woulda just jumped down 'cause he's no coward. ...Except when it comes to risking face in front of Jasmine by confessing he lied to her. Uhh, maybe I shouldn't hold him as an example of bravery? He's sure daring, though; how many people are nuts enough to get on the guards' nerves on purpose or mouth off to a giant wizard-snake?"

Alani dropped herself onto the second roof and made a beeline for the nearby pile of rubble that she then carefully shimmied down in order to reach the street. The ravenette grinned as she started wandering the abandoned alleys of Agrabah. Following the sounds of people and animals, she soon discovered the bazaar.

"{Fish! Two for the price of one and a half!}"

"{Beautiful jewellery for sale!}"

"{Bread! Get your breads and al lugaimat!}"

Alani blanched. "CRUD! I can't understand a word the merchants are saying. Or any of the customers, for that matter." She looked down when felt someone tugging on her fingers. Small fingers with a caramel complexion had grabbed hers (their skin tones' differences were definitely obvious). The 17-year-old looked from the child's hand to their face, shaggy dark hair framing it. Their outfit was a pair of beige trousers with patches of 2 different colours on the knees and an over-sized brown shirt with the sleeves very worn. Just like Alani, they were barefoot.

"{What did you just say, Miss?}" the child asked curiously, head tilting. Widened dark brown eyes gazed up at her.

"Sorry, kid; I don't understand you," Alani muttered.

The adorable little ragamuffin gasped, then gave a delighted grin. "{A foreigner! You must have travelled a long way to come to Agrabah.}"

"Huh, so this place really is Agrabah..."

"{You want me to show you around, Miss?}" the kid assumed, and promptly started dragging Alani forward as the little local started hurrying along the pavement-less street.

Shrugging off her confusion, the teenager went. "Alani," she stated.

"Adil," the child replied, looking at her over his shoulder. His grin revealed he had recently lost a baby tooth.

They wandered around the marketplace, little Adil pointing at things and saying what they're called. Alani also learned to say "{Peace!}" (which was the local equivalent for "Hello!") and "{Thank you}".

Her stomach growling, Alani realized that she had been in Agrabah for too long. Can I possibly find Genie? He's my only way home...

For now, Adil and me need something to eat.

Alani managed through charades to get Adil to distract a fruit stall's owner while she slipped two melons into her plastic bag then ran off. Too hungry to care about morals.

The instant that stall's owner turned to the melon pile, Adil skedaddled after Alani. The duo soon got to the place she had woken up at. Sitting cross-legged, she used the dagger to cut one melon open; they each ate half.

While Adil was licking his sticky fingers after finishing his half, Alani suddenly froze; What was that creak? Are Abu and Aladdin coming back from wherever they've been? She stood up and directed Adil to hide with the plastic bag clenched in his small hand.

And not a moment too soon. People who certainly weren't Aladdin burst into the room, swords (ones that had a wide, curved blade) gripped in their caramel hands. Alani tried to resist when she was grabbed, but a lean (though slightly muscled from her climbing habit) teenager had no chance against two grown men; they forced her arms behind her back. The lead guard grinned evilly at her as he said:

"{You're under arrest, street rat Alani!}"

A.N.: Sorry for taking so long to update! Computers hate me, if the fact that another broke is any indication; worst of all, that one had 10 FLIPPING YEARS' worth of work in it an' now I lost it all, including every single note about my fanfics I've ever made.

I decided that Disney-verse's locations have their own languages that are similar to Real Life ones but not completely the same. ...Yeah, Alani's screwed coz of lacking language skills. (Was gonna use a mixture of Persian & Arabic for Agrabah's language, but figured using this {} to indicate foreign languages would be better than butchering those 2 - an' French an' Danish an' German later - with Google Translate.)