The Marketplace was busy, people bustling about, sellers calling out to potential buyers for everything from corn to jewelry to scrolls of spells and ancient tales. Children laughed and men bartered, the place was just full of life. This place brought such a smile to Rena's she just couldn't contain it, humming lightly as she moved from stall to stall looking at all the different things.

"Young lady, come look at my beautiful silks!" A tall man in a red turban called to her, his round belly bumping against the stall as he pulled some copper colored silk from the mix of fabrics presented to the market. "Look, it matches your hair almost perfectly. Such beautiful silk for a beautiful lady." He cooed, hoping to make a sale.

Rena ran her fingers over the soft weave, tracing the lines of thread as it shimmered in the sunlight. "It is very lovely…" She said, a faint tug at the back of her mind making the back of her neck itch. "I-I think I had a dress of this once, a long time ago…" A faint image a girl, standing in front of a mirror came to mind. An image of herself, dressed in a long flowing gown made of coppers, bronze, and gold shining in the incoming light from a nearby window. But as her eyes gazed back at herself in the mirror the face staring back was sad and empty, as if all the beauty that she wore was not enough to make her smile.

A scream pulled her from the vision as many people began to run by her, their faces filled with terror. A screech of a flying beast overpowered the screams as its shadow flew overhead. The merchant grabbed his fabric away from her and, gathering what else he could carry, running off in fear as well. As the beast grew closer it truly was a hideous sight to see its fang dripping with saliva, it's yellow eyes hungry for prey. It began its decent over the civilians and the rest of the crowd ran in panic. Though Rena tried to hide back against the wall, too many people kept running into her she had to follow suit. She managed to catch the side of a building wall, hiding in a crook of an alleyway as the rest ran on.

Looking past the racing crowds she could see the beast circling and soon swoop over the crowd again, its clawed feet extended ready to pluck a person from the herd before a blur of color flew past and straight at the beast.

It was a boy.

A boy on a flying carpet was fighting off the beast. He leapt from the carpet to a balcony, wrestling with the monster and moved beyond her view. She had to see what was going on so she ducked back into the dark alleyway and back around the building. While she wove through the back alleys and streets she climbed up to a back alley stair. Rena could see the boy now, shirtless but wearing a purple vest and a red fez cap, a monkey on his shoulder. He was talking to someone and didn't look pleased.

Before she could get closer a wall moved into her way. A living wall of a man, who leered down at her with beady black eyes. "Look here, Amar, a pretty girl ran into me." The wall said, lowering his head to look her in the eye. "Are you lost, pretty girl?"

Rena did not like the look in his eyes and took a step back, only to run into another wall, this one much smaller but his eyes looked just the same. "She sure does look lost, Judah. Maybe we should take her home."

Rena looked between the two. "I-I'm sorry gentlemen but I don't think you could take me home, it's awfully far away. So if you'll just excuse me…" She faded off as she tried to step around the smaller man, Amar, who in turn, blocked her path on the narrow walkway.

"Didn't say we'd take you to YOUR home, pretty girl." Judah replied, taking a step closer to block her in.

In such a pinch Rena had to think quickly, she looked down and saw a pile of crates and wooden boxes stack against a near wall. Not wanting to end up in the hands of these two brute she hopped up onto the edge of the walkway and jumped for the stack of crates. As she landed, the pile caved in, toppling her down in a loud ruckus as wood splintered everywhere. When the dust and crates settled she lay bruised and in pain, but away from the strange men. Her vision started to blur slightly, her head as well as her right ankle pounding in pain, two blurs appeared in her sight, and by the shapes she could tell they were the two from before.

Judah reached for the fallen girl but a shout stopped him cold. "You there! What are you two doing?"

"Royal guards!" Amar yelled to Judah. "Quick, let's get out of here! Leave her!"

The two thugs dashed away as the alley filled with soldiers, the largest pursuing the two until the vanished completely, as he returned he looked down at the semi-unconscious girl and sneered. "What do we have here?"

Another guard, a black man with a large belly knelt to turn Rena's face. "She's still awake."

"Looks like she jumped." Another said, this one lanky in arms and legs, pointing with his drawn sword to the passageway she'd jumped from.

"Please…" Rena whispered. "Help me. My ankle…"

The black man looked to the first. "What shall we do Captain? She is injured."

The captain looked down his nose at the fallen woman. "Leave her. I'm sure someone will come along eventually."

Rena's hope fell as such a large man looked down at her. She'd never felt so pathetic and helpless before. Would they really leave her there? How would she get back to the Citadel? To Mozenrath? Would he even notice she was gone?

"Captain Rasoul. Are you really going to leave that poor woman in the gutter like that?" a female chimed in.

The large man stiffened, though he was only a blurry shadow now, his words fuzzy but understandable. "No…we will take her to…to…uh…"

"You will…palace…now…" She woman's voice began to fade until at last, everything went black.

When Rena awoke again she was laid out on a soft cushion of pillows, bandaged and taped and feeling much better.

"You are awake, that makes me so glad." That same female voice called. Rena turned her head and, to her surprise, found herself face to face with the princess of Agrabah. She stiffened, attempting to sit up to at least acknowledge the royalty in the room but the princess's gentle hand on her shoulder stilled her. "You don't have to do that, not in your condition."

Rena paused and looked at herself, not really noticing prior to that moment just how much was bandaged. She had lost of scraped and bruises and her clothes were torn nearly to shreds. "I must have fallen harder than I thought."

The princess chuckled and sat across from her, taking a teapot and pouring each of them a cup. "You did take quite a nasty fall. What happened to cause it?"

"There were two men, princess. They said they would take me home but, I had a heavy sense they went all that gentlemanly." Rena explained as she took the cup from the princess's extended hand.

"Call me Jasmine, please." She smiled and took a sip from her own cup first. "So you jumped to escape?"

Rena smiled softly. "I thought I could make it."

Jasmine chuckled. "You are a lot like my fiancé then. He does those kinds of stunts more often then I like."

The brunette quirked an eyebrow at the princess, naturally confused. "What do you mean?"

"My fiancé, Aladdin, he was raised on the streets, a street rat if you will, so he knows how to jump from roof top to roof top, things like that. Just this afternoon he jumped of his flying carpet to tackle some sort of beast that appeared in the marketplace."

Rena nearly spit out her tea. "That was your fiancé?"

Princess Jasmine beamed with pride. "Yes. Though it turns out it was all a hoax made by some sorcerer."

"What?" This time Rena held back the spitting but instead dropped her cup. "Oh! Sorry, that was just such a surprise that I…uh…is this a Tiger I'm staring at?" Rena squeaked softly as a large tiger ambled up to see what the commotion was about, growling softly.

"That's Rajah. He's a nice kitty, aren't you?" Jasmine cooed to the large cat, who in turn twitched his tail as he received pets from his favorite person. The tiger then turned his big eyes to the newcomer, ambling over to sniff and investigate. While doing so, Rena tentatively placed a hand on the large cat's head and began to pet it, smiling as he began to purr, even getting a few scratches in under its chin, the beast purring even louder. "He likes you."

"I scratch Xerxes like this all the time and he purrs too, which is strange but cute." Rena told her simply as Rajah returned to his Mistress's side.

"Xerxes is your cat?" Jasmine asked as her new acquaintance picked up her cup and set it back on the tray.

"No, he belongs to my Master. I am a servant." Rena replied simply. She knew if she said too much, the princess would figure out who exactly she served so she kept to simple answers.

"Oh. So you were shopping in the marketplace for him then."

Rena chuckled. "Hardly. I was looking for fabric for clothes. I work my tunics and dresses to rags cooking and cleaning for him I'm constantly on the look for new things to wear."

At this remark, Jasmine seemed to brighten. "Clothes? How wonderful! Our marketplace has some of the best selections around. I have several dresses made by locals here in Agrabah," her smile seemed to grow almost wicked in excitement. "Would you like to try a few on?"

The bandaged brunette blinked in surprised. "Oh no, I couldn't, a princess shouldn't let a servant like me try on her things."

"Why not? They are dresses, meant for wearing, where does it say they have to be worn only by me?" Jasmine was on her feet by now, helping her new friend to a stand. "The doctor said there was no damage to your ankle; only a bit of bruising, so walking should be fine, at least over to my closet. Besides, I want to give you something to wear home since firstly, your current one is ripped to shreds from the fall and secondly how rudely the royal guards treated you. A nice meal and a new dress is my gift to you, as a friend."

Rena paused in her hobble toward the closet and stared at the princess, stunned. "Friend?" The princess smiled at her and nodded, bringing tears to Rena's honey-brown eyes. "I've never had a friend before. Not that I can remember anyway."

Jasmine smiled softly and handed the crying girl a clothe handkerchief. "Come on; let's find you something to wear."

~N~N~N~N~N~N~N~

Rena stepped through the door and closed it, locking it back behind her before tucking the magic key into her bag and leaning back against the door, a sigh of relief escaping her lungs. She leaned her head back and smiled, her tummy filled with delicious food from the banquet she'd had with Jasmine as the sultan had gone off to neighboring country while Aladdin and his posse of Genie, parrot, monkey and flying carpet had gone home straight home to his "bachelor pad." She'd spent the evening listening to all of Jasmine's favorite stories about each of them, particularly about Aladdin and how he'd come from being a humble street boy to engaged to a princess. Rena had been floored to hear the tale of Aladdin finding the genie and carpet inside the cave of wonders and of the wicked grand vizier Jafar's plot to take over the kingdom. Jafar had reminded her a lot of Mozenrath save for much older and power hungry, leaving her wonder if that's what Mozenrath would become like in the next 10-15 years.

They had also gone through Jasmine's closet full of clothes and found a dress that fit her, a soft, yet bold red with gold trimmed lace on the shoulders that made thin sleeves three quarters down her arms. The designs on the dress were very simple, done not in literal gold thread but with shiny maroon that repeated itself down the skirt part of the dress. The princess had even let her dress up in gold bangles and necklaces for the banquet, which she insisted she give all back, save one; a solid bronze bracelet that Jasmine claimed "fit her wrist awkwardly" so she refused to take it back. Once the dinner was over, Jasmine even insisted Rena stay for the night so she could travel home in the morning, giving her a beautiful room near her own but the servant girl just couldn't take it. After Jasmine had gone to bed, Rena reached for her usual pocket only to remember she was not wearing her usual clothes. To add worse to worse her other dress was still in Jasmine's room. By now Jasmine was asleep and through she might be able to pass by the princess no problem, she was still injured and there was still a certain tiger she would probably wake, being too busted up to be exceptionally stealthy.

Rena sighed and sat on the side of the plush bed, running her hands over the soft fabrics of the cushion bedding. Her body began to ache and the mattress began to call to her until at last she gave in, laying her head down and falling into a deep and soothing sleep.

The following day Rena woke to the sun shining on her face. Her mind seemed to snap awake and she bolted upright, looking around in the unfamiliar room. As the previous day's memories floated back to her, her muscles relaxed and she swung her legs around the side of the bed. Tentatively she put weight upon her bruised ankle to find she could stand with little to no pain, though it was still a bit stiff. She managed to make it to the door only to find Rasoul on the other side, fist raised ready to knock. "Uh," He paused in surprise before straightening himself. "The princess requests your attendance to breakfast in the courtyard. Also, should you require it; I am to carry you there if your ankle is still injured."

Despite his glare at her she could not help but smile for he was obviously not used to being someone woman's walking aid. "Thank you, but no, I don't need carrying." He nodded and turned to leave. "But I don't know my way to the courtyard. Perhaps you could escort me there?"

She could hear his groan but turn toward her jerking his hand at her. "Come on already."

They walked in silence for several minutes until she managed to bring up a conversation with him. She talked about anything, mostly doing the talking compared to his few word answers. As they reached the steps leading out to the courtyard he bowed to her. To his surprise she bowed back with a light smile and a thank you. Despite the grumbles of having to babysit little girls she could have sworn she saw a small smile on his face as he turned to leave.

As the day wore on somehow she managed to spend the whole morning and afternoon with Jasmine, mostly talking. By the end of the day, Jasmine knew about her memory loss, her likes, dislikes, interests, but avoided certain subjects such as Mozenrath and her serving him. Jasmine must have picked up on this but she never pressed the subject. By the time the sun was setting Rena found herself having spent the whole day in the palace. Rena finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"Jasmine, I hate to run like this but I need to head home now." Rena said softly to her new friend. "I've been gone an extra day then I was supposed to, my Master will be furious with me. Please, I need to go."

Jasmine nodded. "I understand but it'll be dark by the time you just make it out of the palace walls. At least wait until morning. I send a note with you so you won't be in too much trouble."

Rena knew better then to press the subject of leaving immediately. "Then could I at least have my things back so I can pack them for the trip tomorrow? I like to pack the night ahead so it's less to worry about in the morning."

Jasmine agreed and had the girl's things brought to her room before she hurried off to see Aladdin who had apparently just arrived back and was in a bit of a grouchy mood.

Rena snuck away to her room while the princess was busy with her beloved and pulled the key from her pocket. She left a note for Jasmine as a thank you and a promise to return soon as she was able, and returned to the Citadel.

The halls were quiet as night had fallen so she sighed in relief that Mozenrath was probably already in bed, or hard at work in his lab as usual. She removed her only jewelry item and tucked it away in her hidey-hole of the storage room.

Footsteps began to echo through the hall, muffled at first but by the time she turned to open the door it was already flung open, a very angry dark sorcerer storming in, again, without knocking.

"Where the HELL have…you…" he started in, his words soon losing momentum as well as his feet as she stood before him. "Where did you get that dress?"

"I bought it in the marketplace. The woman was selling it so cheaply she practically gave it to me." Rena lied. "Do you like it?"

Mozenrath stood back and looked his servant up and down for a moment before remarking. "You look like an over decorated chicken. Now change I need you to clean. Where the hell have you been anyway?!"

"What do you mean clean?" She dodged his question as he started to leave the room, following after him into the hall. "When I left everything was OH MY GOD!" She exclaimed, her kitchen looking like it had literally been turned upside down and a dust devil had gone through. "My kitchen!"

"The rest of the Citadel is pretty much the same state. So unless you want to start cleaning in that pretty little dress you just bought with MY money, get changed and START DOING YOUR JOB!" He yelled, kicking a pot hard enough to make it sail across the room, infuriated.

He headed out of the kitchen when her voice stopped him. "Who did this?" She asked, her tone soft and almost pitiful. "Who destroyed our home?"

He looked back at her to see tears in her eyes, something he hadn't expected from her. Not quite sure what to do he simply lowered his eyes to the ground and muttered the culprit's name, his right hand squeezing into a tight fist.

"Aladdin."