All week the duo was spotted doing one thing or another. Judal would be either teasing her as they sat inside and had something to eat or they would be practicing using magoi. Yamuraiha was becoming intolerable, having wanted to join them during one of their training sessions and ending up feeling the fool as Judal made both himself and Aladdin vanish without a trace for the day. Silverware was getting stuck in the walls after meals. Aladdin's king candidate was taking meals in other rooms.

Elsewhere , Ja'far and the other generals, along with Sinbad and Kouha, were planning things, wanting everything to come to pass smoothly. It would be a simple affair. Would being the key word; Sinbad and Kouha were making that difficult. The Kou prince had informed the Empire of the affair, forcing the wedding to be pushed back for the sake of his brothers. Sinbad was trying to push for a public eloping, wanting to have the thing done and over with.

"Judal has almost left once because he felt the child threatened. I don't want him to run because we waited for Al Samen members to storm the port."

That had led from one fight into another. Between Kouha and Sinbad, there was a great deal of hostility, being only shown when Aladdin and Judal were out of the picture. For them, the entire palace was nothing but accommodating. Of course, the two wanted nothing of them. They were too lost in their own little world of magic using and trying to help their son try to speak.

Ja'far was worried, if only for the child's sake about that.

"Don't you both think he should learn naturally?" The adviser's hands were twitching to take the boy back from his parents as the duo were pushing rukh at him. Not much, but they were trying to help him to speak.

Judal looked up and shook his head. "I don't see why. That crooked midwife you guys got said that these babies cry because they are trying to find their voice. We're doing him a favor."

"Aladdin," Ja'far looked at her and the woman shrugged.

"It's not that bad. He likes the rukh anyway. We aren't hurting him."

The adviser looked to Sinbad for help, only to be pulled away. "Come on, there's better things to do than to argue with two parents over how to raise their child."

"Sin!" Ja'far glared at him before the king shook his head.

"It's their son. The midwife told me earlier what she told them. Aladdin is going to be careful. She won't let anything happen to the boy. It might be good for the infant. Who knows. Magi babies are strange."

The week came to its end, the palace on edge as Judal found out the plan to postpone the marriage. A fury like no other was unleashed, the kitchens in a permanent ice age as Aladdin rode on the other's back. "Just another couple weeks," she told him, "it's not that bad. I'm used to being chained to you at this point."

"We can unbind you both," Ja'far pulled the key from his robes, only to see Judal ice over the cuffs, glaring at him as he pulled Aladdin out of the room. It was only after the woman was out of the room with her lover that Sinbad would move to be a part of anything. He had taken to hiding out in places, to roaming through the port areas. He was doing his paperwork. Ja'far looked over at him and shook his head. "Are you interested in Aladdin that much or just scared as to what will happen when Judal finds you."

"I'm being unthreatening." Sinbad smiled a bit. "Judal has been ready to kill me since Kouha told him what I said at breakfast earlier this week."

"Then what you have coming to you is your fault." Ja'far shook his head before looking around at the paperwork, beginning to sort through it.

With the palace preparing for the events to take place, the magi distracted, and the remaining people taking care of Nour; it was easy for time to pass. Judal slowly was settling into the idea of having others there to help. If anything, it left Aladdin less stressed, which meant she was more willing to play around with him and spar a bit outside in a double match against Masrur and Morgiana. The group of course would end up going easy at first for Aladdin's sake.

Then Judal had found that he could throw the woman over his shoulders, using the cufflinks to keep them together and being able to have her fire follow after his spears. Their attacks were growing in strength.

Kouha joined in the training, dragging his cousin into the matches with him. Between the two of them, he began to grow frustrated with the other's abilities.

"Alibaba and I were working on something," he would tell the other, time and time again. Kouha laughed at him.

"You are a member of the Kou household. Hold your head up high and be more proud of it. Don't dress up in their clothes and try to hide it away."

Judal only laughed at the prince as his cousin bickered with him. Aladdin held onto his back, looking over the top of his head at him. "We should hurry this. I'm getting hungry."

And so things would turn towards getting ready for another meal.

Another week came and went, and once more another week after that. Sinbad was all prepared for the whole affair to be out of the way. His patience was growing thin in wanting to allow his kingdom to celebrate before returning to a normal routine.

It was after over a month that they saw the Kou ships arrive. A missionary was sent ahead, announcing that Kouen would be arriving, but Koumei would be staying behind. The ships had been set out, taking along with them Kougyoku.

Judal didn't even remember by the time the ships were to the port. He was far too lost in both himself and Aladdin finding that their son was finally making more intelligible sounds. The boy would finally remain and sleep in his crib through the night. With every evening, he was able to curl up next to Aladdin and tug her over to him. She would be the one to initiate the contact sometimes. He would insult a few people, earning a sigh or a smack from the other. She would give him a look for insulting her king candidate.

But when the ships arrived, Judal frowned, watching them come into port as he lounged on a few rocks with Aladdin and Nour. His gaze flickered to the many ships, locating Kouen as the man stood near the front of one of the leading ships. Kougyoku stood on the deck of another, looking around eagerly. Both of them seemed to be interested in something.

Aladdin yanked on the cuff keeping them connected, pulling him back to her and their son before she kissed him. "Nour said 'pa' again."

"What?" Judal picked the boy up, noticing that there was less hair on his head again before he grinned. "Are you wanting me for something brat?"

The baby gurgled at him, waving his arms around before Aladdin rolled her eyes. She laid back down and shook her head. "What's going on at port?"

"Kou Empire finally got here." Judal lifted Nour up a bit. "Look at them all. You can have any of them that you want. Don't pick the old hag, she's good at fighting, but she'll get you into wearing so many clothes that you'll feel trapped beneath them. En will be a good choice though, if you don't like Kouha. En is very strong. He'll get you through any kind of fight."

"Don't tell him to pick someone." Aladdin looked over at them both and motioned for Nour to be returned to her.

"Come here, Chibi. We should probably head down there."

"What if they have someone from the Al Samen with them." She looked over the rocks with the two, watching Kouen descend the plank to speak with Sinbad. The king greeted him formally before Kouha moved forward, talking in what looked to be a proud manner. "En looks like a mean person."

"He's strong," Judal replied, standing up and hoisting Aladdin into his arms after setting Nour in hers. He carried them both towards the docks, Aladdin hissing at him the way there.

"I don't want to meet them."

"I live with your king candidate. He's such a mean person too."

"He's not!" Aladdin gaped at him before they were approaching the others, Judal set her down to walk herself and smirked at Kouen.

"No shadow with you?" Kouen looked over at him and Judal laughed. "I expected either your head in a book or your brother with you."

"I have a brother here," The other stated simply before his gaze went to the child and Aladdin. "You seem to have become fond of this place."

"Yeah, well wars don't start themselves," Judal replied, pulling the duo closer so he could show his king candidate. "We were planning to come to the Kou Empire soon enough."

"Koumei packed some gifts for you three," Kouen shut his eyes before shaking his head. "Things have been quite hectic for your fellow priests back home."

"Burn them alive at the stake," Judal looked with interest as a crate was lowered from the ship though, his eyes widening a bit. "Oh, peaches."

"I believe those were your favorite. We had some crated so that you would have something to eat here, although from looks of it, you're being well taken care of."

"Not as well as I would back home," Judal countered, laughing a bit before he snatched a peach from the crate. Kouen moved forwards, looking at the child before he laughed a bit. His eyes met Aladdin's wary ones before he reached out, poking her face.

"I'm not going to kill you."

"I know that." Aladdin stared back at him, frowning even as Judal laughed at them both. The magi seemed more interested in watching the exchange then helping either of them. Kouen held his hands at the ready, expecting her to be a bit more eager for him to see the boy. After all, she had been with Judal. Judal was usually more than eager to go along with things.

Yet Aladdin stood her ground, watching him and holding Nour, staring at him as though if he touched her again, she would no doubt be using some serious magoi to send him into the seas. Between the two of them, there was a tension.

Sinbad coughed a bit, moving forward. "So you will be staying for the entire affair?"

"All of it and then to see to negotiations between Sindria and the Kou Empire, you have wandered off with our oracle after all. Something must be done about that." Kouen moved forward a bit, resting a hesitant hand on Aladdin's head and patting her before he dismissed her in lieu of speaking with Sinbad.

"Well you certainly had him worried," Judal mumbled while he ate another peach.

Aladdin stared at him a moment before sighing. "He's really okay?"

Judal laughed, "he's a stoic bookworm."

Aladdin looked over at the other, torn on what to do when Judal pulled her along. As they approached, joined by Kouha as they moved, Kouen looked over at them, watching until Aladdin gave him a small smile. The smile was returned with a blank stare.

"You can hold Nour if you really want to," Aladdin murmured, making them all stop for Kouen to look at her. He moved forward, carefully taking the baby from her arms. His face lightening from its stoic state only for him to smile slightly.

"It's very fitting," he told her, "for two powerful magi to have a babe. I would like to talk to you both again when you are not preoccupied with such formal affairs."

"We can talk now unless you have something to do," Judal replied. "Although if you do have something to do, cancel it. We can win any war if the people here decide that they want to fight."

"Juda-" Sinbad was cut off by Kouen laughing, leading both magi towards the palace.

"Where are you from," Kouen began with Aladdin by asking, leaving Sinbad to watch them all worriedly, his attention going to Ja'far as the adviser shook his head, motioning for him to relax.