Hey guys, so I'm trying now to make sure I keep up on this! I really am sorry and I appreciate the reviews! You guys have every right to be angry if you are. Let's just hang in there cause I'm back! Summer is upon, school is almost over and soon I'll just have to worry about work! So, I'm your! Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Aladdin. I wish I owned Genie!
Chapter 13:
On our way to the Dining Hall, I suddenly realized something. Kristy was no where to be found. So I turned to Aladdin.
"Where's Kristy at?"I asked, tilting my head to the side in confusion.
"Oh, well, I'm not sure. She's been locked in her room since you guys left. She told us not to bother her though. So no one did. We did have a servant leave food at her door though."He explained.
I nodded but didn't say anything. After dinner, I'll go and make sure everything is alright with her. It wasn't long that we arrived at the dining hall.
The sultan was already seated at the small table set for about six people at the most. Good thing there was only five of them total.
From next to me, I could sense that Aladdin was nervous for this dinner. After all, he had promised to use this time to tell the sultan about Iago and to try and get him a fair hearing.
"Hello Aladdin and Jasmine," the sultan greeted the group with a smile and nod before he peered over at the Genie and I and added, "I see you brought some friends along. You two look familiar..."
"Father, this is the Genie and Kendra. Genie is Aladdin's good friend and Kendra is his sister, remember," Jasmine explained as she sat down next to her father with Aladdin on her other side. Motioning towards the Genie and I, she added, "They're going to get married soon."
"Ah, young love," the sultan sighed reminiscently. "You're all very welcome here. Do sit down."
I sat down in a chair next to Aladdin and watched while Genie poofed into the air and reappeared with a chef's hat on his head. He conjured up a cutting board and some carrots out of thin air, exclaiming, "Get ready for a culinary masterpiece!"
I was glad that the Genie was going to do some cooking. The bowls in front of everyone had been filled with an unappetizing green dish. It looked a lot like brussel sprouts. Although the sultan didn't seem to mind them, nobody else touched the green stuff.
As the Genie chopped up carrots with his knife, there was suddenly a slicing sound as he accidentally cut his hand off. Everyone flinched and turned towards the sultan to see how he would react. Surprisingly enough, the sultan looked like he was suppressing a laugh.
"Genie!" I exclaimed in concern as I stood up from the table in case he needed some help. "Are you alright?"
"Never better, my love. There's no need to worry. I've still got some magic left in me," the Genie told me with a wink as his cut off hand started doing a dance across the table in the sultan's direction. Glad to see that he was alright, I sat back down.
"Why, how amusing!" the sultan said, unable to keep his glee in any longer.
He popped another brussel sprout into his mouth and gave the Genie an approving look. Apparently, the Genie was going to help Aladdin get the sultan in a good mood for when he had to talk about Iago.
"Amusing, eh?" the Genie asked the sultan as he raised an eyebrow and snatched up his chopped off hand, which was currently dancing right off of the side of the table. "Excuse me while I pull myself together..."
"Father?" Jasmine asked, suddenly capturing the attention of everyone in the room, she looked really excited as she asked, "Aren't you going to tell Aladdin about the surprise?"
"Surprise?" the sultan asked blankly, obviously distracted by the Genie still. Suddenly, recognition filled his face and he nodded, "Ah yes, the surprise. Dear boy, all of Agrabah is very impressed with you. In return for your help of keeping Agrabah safe, I would like to do something for you. You will be sultan someday when you and Jasmine are married, but in the meantime, I would like to make you my grand vizier."
"A grand vizier? Wow!" the Genie burst out, grabbing a trumpet from out of thin air and blowing it loudly as he continued on, "All hail Aladdin, the royal vizier! This is big! This is marvelous! Um...what's a grand vizier?"
I couldn't help but laugh as the Genie paused and looked a bit puzzled. I then explained to him, "The royal vizier is the sultan's most trusted adviser. He's second only to the king himself. With Jafar gone, the sultan will need a new royal vizier."
"Way to go, Al!" the Genie grinned, high-fiving Aladdin and going on, "He's bound to be better than that Jafar character! And what about Iago? I'll tell you one thing! That bird sure was mean. 'Sultan want a cracker? Sultan want a cracker?'"
"I can still taste them!" the sultan shuddered, remembering when Jafar had taken charge and had allowed Iago to stuff crackers into the his mouth.
Aladdin frowned and tried to interject, but the Genie was already talking again.
"You don't see this boy hanging out with any evil parrots now, do you?" the Genie asked, wrapping an arm around Aladdin's neck and ruffling his hair affectionately. "You know he's bound to be your very best royal vizier yet."
"Um," Aladdin finally manged to get a word in as he gave the sultan a nervous look, "Speaking of Iago..."
Before the sultan could say anything, the doors to the dining room were flung wide open. Rajah came bolting into the room and went crashing into the table. Food and drink went flying everywhere and splatted onto the ground.
I then caught a glimpse of red inside of Rajah's mouth. Somehow, Iago must have escaped the cage only to be caught again by Jasmine's ferocious tiger! Aladdin was definitely going to have a lot of explaining to do now.
There was a tense silence as Iago went flying through the air and then skidded across the table to land directly in front of the sultan. Everyone held their breath and turned to stare at Aladdin.
I bit her lip. When would Aladdin realize that he needed to start listening to their advice? I knew all along that keeping secrets from Jasmine would not be a good idea. Now it was too late and Aladdin was going to be in loads of trouble.
"Iago?" the sultan asked in astonishment as he stared at the red parrot grinning sheepishly up at him.
Once the sultan got over his initial shock, he turned bright red in the face and looked around frantically before shouting, "Guards! Guards! Seize him!"
At the sultan's words, several guards came thundering into the room. The sultan pointed to Iago, but just as a rather large guard reached forwards to grab him, Aladdin stepped between them.
Trying to shield Iago with his own body, Aladdin cried out, "Sultan, wait!"
"Yes?" the sultan asked dubiously as he and Jasmine turned to look in Aladdin's direction. "I trust that you have a fitting explanation for this."
"Iago...he...um," Aladdin stammered, obviously trying to come up with some sort of explanation while he talked.
Iago flapped up onto Aladdin's shoulder and started whispering in his ear. Aladdin considered what Iago had said before turning to the sultan and said "I think Iago was under Jafar's spell! Remember the snake and the hypnosis? I think that's what happened to Iago..."
Aladdin trailed off when it appeared that neither the sultan or Jasmine were buying his fib. The sultan continued staring at him with an unchanging expression and Jasmine was now glaring at him with her arms crossed. Giving up on the crazy explanations, Aladdin added, "Look, I just don't think Iago is all bad."
Iago face-palmed from Aladdin's shoulder and said a little bit too loudly, "Shoulda stuck with the snake staff thing!"
"What are you suggesting that we do with this creature?" the sultan asked Aladdin suspiciously as his eyes traveled back to Iago. "We can't just let him go after he served my greatest enemy. Someone will have to take care of him, look after him every moment of the day."
"I'll do it!" Aladdin almost shouted in fervor as he stepped up to the sultan. Noticing that he had spoken a bit too loudly, Aladdin blushed and lowered the tone of his voice a few notches as he continued on, "I mean, with your permission, I would like to take full responsibility for Iago."
"You would?" the sultan asked in surprise.
Aladdin gave another guilty-looking smile and nodded.
"I know that Aladdin will be quite busy with palace duties, so I could help take care of Iago too if that would be helpfully," I pointed out, stepping up next to Aladdin and giving the sultan a charming smile.
The Genie decided to help out as well and stepped behind me, nodding vigorously.
Giving up, the sultan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Very well. I will admit that your priorities sound questionable, but I will trust your judgment. You three will watch Iago every moment of the day. He will not be alone for a second. I hope we are very clear on this point."
Aladdin, Genie, and I all nodded as the sultan stood up and stalked out of the room, looking quite frustrated. Unfortunately, Aladdin wasn't home free yet.
Razoul, the guard closest to him, stepped forwards and grabbed Aladdin by the collar of his shirt, murmuring, "Let us make this clear, boy! If the bird makes one wrong move, you will be the one I pluck! Not the bird."
Aladdin gulped nervously as Razoul and the other guards stomped out of the room. As soon as they were gone, Aladdin let out a sigh of relief. He fell back into a cushioned chair and tugged off his hat. He was not yet aware of the murderous stare that Jasmine was sending him.
"Well, that could have gone worse," the Genie said tentatively, trying to break the silence that was falling quickly. I looked between Jasmine and Aladdin, knowing that there was going to be an outburst from Jasmine very soon.
"I'd say!" Aladdin replied to the Genie while Iago settled down on Aladdin's shoulder and fluffed his feathers.
Looking around for Jasmine, Aladdin caught sight of her and continued on, "Jasmine, I thought I would suck! But it appears that the sultan has-"
"How could you?" Jasmine interrupted, causing Aladdin to fall silent.
Genie and I exchanged grimaces. They had a feeling that the situation had just gotten a lot worse.
Tears filling her eyes, Jasmine continued on, "More secrets? More lies? Aladdin, I thought you had changed!"
"Jasmine, I-" Aladdin started out, about to explain how Iago had saved his life.
However, before Aladdin could get a single word in, Jasmine had run out of the room and up to her bedroom. Aladdin stood up and debated whether or not to go after her. Deciding against it, he slumped back in his chair.
Genie stepped forwards to him and said, "Hey, it's alright. She'll cool down after a bit. She's just a little steamed. Care for a cup?"
Aladdin stared at Genie blankly as he turned into a teapot and offered everyone a cup of tea. Aladdin shook his head to the tea, Abu stuck out his tongue at it in disgust, and I shook her head, admitting, "Thank you, but I'm not really much of a tea drinker."
"Alright," Genie replied, poofing into thin air before reappearing as his normal blue self. His expression fell as he looked at Aladdin. Putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, he pointed out, "This isn't helping you out at all, is it? Is there anything we can do at all for you, Al?"
"I always try so hard to do the right thing, but it always blows up in my face," Aladdin explained in a melancholy tone.
Sighing loudly, he got up from his chair and trudged out of the dining room. He knew better than to try and talk to Jasmine when she was this upset. He should wait until tomorrow at least.
"That's the problem with doing the right thing. Sometimes you have to do it by yourself," Genie said sadly as he watched Aladdin turn a corner down the hallway. Turning to me, he said, "We should make a promise never to get into fights like this when we're married."
"Okay. We should promise not to keep secrets from each other too. That seems to be what keeps causing Aladdin and Jasmine to get into fights. But anyways, do you think I should go and talk to Jasmine? Maybe I can get her to speak to Aladdin again," I mused.
"Well, it could be worth a shot," the Genie nodded after a minute of thinking. "Why don't you go to her bedroom and talk to her right now? It can't hurt. I know Jasmine won't get too mad at you. I'll wait right here in this very place unless you want me to come with you?"
"Nah, it's alright. I think I can handle it by myself," I replied before taking a deep breath.
I didn't exactly want to go try and talk with Jasmine. After all, everyone knew that the princess had an awful temper. However, I didn't want Aladdin and Jasmine to stay mad at each other either. It was torture for everyone when the couple was fighting. I reluctantly left the dining room and stepped into the hallway.
Luckily, I remembered my way through the corridors to get to Jasmine's room. This place was like a maze. When I reached her room, I took a deep breath to calm myself before knocking out the door.
"Go away!" a muffled voice sounded from inside the room.
It was clear that Jasmine was crying.
"It's me, Kendra." I shouted back. "I know you're feeling miserable, but you might feel a bit better if you talked with me for a while. Can you open the door?"
I waited patiently for a few moments, but got no response from inside the room. I shrugged after a while though and figured she wanted to just be left alone. So I made my way back to the kitchen where Genie was waiting.
"I couldn't get her to open the door to talk to me. So probably just wants to be left alone." I informed him.
"Hm...that's not good. We're going to have to figure something else out," the Genie thought aloud before his face suddenly lit up.
I gave him a puzzled look, wondering what was up his sleeve. Even though he didn't wear any.
Genie grabbed my hand hastily and started tugging me along. Puzzled, I followed immediately, though giving my fiance a strange look.
"Ah ha! I got it! Iago is the answer to our problems!"He finally admitted in excitement.