Chapter 2: A Mouse and a Monkey

Princess Jasmine stared up at the guard in vexation. The thirteen-year-old princess knew that she was a bit dirty and only dressed in her jewels and a retrofitted towel, but still, anyone from the palace should be able to recognize her.

She had dragged herself across the south part of the city and approached this vaguely familiar-looking guard counting on that fact. But instead of bowing and ingratiating himself like the Agrabah guards usually did when they saw her, this one was scowling at her like she was a bug on his shoe.

"Didn't you hear me, street mouse," the burly guard growled, "I'm on duty. So, go offer your services to someone else."

"For the last time, I am not offering my services." Whatever that meant. "I am in need of your services. I am your princess and I co-"

The rest of Jasmine's words were lost when the guard slapped her across the face.

Jasmine looked up at him in shock. No one had ever dared hit her before.

Ever.

She held her cheek. It felt like she had been burned.

The guard was unrepentant. "Just because you have a few baubles and look a little like the princess, doesn't mean you can sully her name. You ain't nothing, but a lowly sewer rat. Now get!"

The princess glared up at the guard, ignoring the tears in her eyes. "I'll remember this."

He raised his hand again and she quickly backed away.

"That's right," he said, "Move along."

With all the dignity she could muster, the princess whirled around and marched away from the sneering guard. When she got back to the palace, she was going to make sure he was fired. First, he had not been able to identify his own princess, and then, he'd slapped her.

Actually, slapped her! Was that what guards did to the homeless in Agrabah?

She'd have to talk to Jafar about it. He was the Grand Vizier of domestic policy. This was his responsibility and obviously, he had been neglecting this part of his duties. Why else would a guard act that way? Such behavior was unacceptable. An outrage. An…

Jasmine shivered. She was cold and still a bit wet in her towel. She had tied the towel about herself like a toga using a couple of her hair ribbons. She was confident it covered her adequately, but it was hardly what she was used to. And it was apparently so ridiculous that her own guards could not recognize her.

The princess sniffled and quickened her pace. She was not going to break down while that insolent guard was still watching. She turned into a nearby alleyway to get out of his sight and then leaned up against a wall.

This was bad. She was cold, hungry, and very alone.

She missed Rajah and his warm white and black fur. The tiger might be overly fussy at times, but Jasmine would feel a lot safer if he was by her side. She wondered if Rajah had even noticed she was missing. He had been pretty moody lately. Ever since Prince Nadim…

But enough about Prince Nadim! And enough of these tears too!

The princess rubbed her eyes. She was not a little girl anymore. In fact, the princess was practically an adult.

She reached up to touch her headpiece. Jasmine was glad she had not taken it or her earrings off so at least, she had not lost them in her flight from that inn. Her headpiece always brought her comfort. It reminded her that she was a ready and capable political woman on the rise.

Or it should have, but Jasmine's fingers did not make contact with the familiar cool smooth stone. Instead, she touched something tepid, something that felt like a disembodied finger.

Jasmine screamed and hopped around, waving her arms about like she was being attacked by bees. One of her hands caught something in its mindless flailing and she saw a brown thing crash into some stray pots on the other side of the alleyway.

Jasmine shivered again and this time, not from cold. What had that been? A rodent?

"Ow…" a high-pitched and raspy voice moaned.

Allah above, what if she had hit a toddler?

"Are you alright?" she said, creeping closer to the sound.

Before she could reach out to offer assistance, a fat little monkey in a purple shirt, leapt out of the pots and shrieked at her. Jasmine would have sworn she could hear words in the monkey's chattering. Something like, "Stupid clumsy girl!"

The princess put her hands on her hips. "It was self-defense. You scared me."

The monkey stuck out its tongue at her and made a gesture that even the sheltered princess found insulting.

"That was very rude," she snapped after the shock had passed. "You are a very rude monkey!"

The monkey was not listening. He had already turned his back on her and was waddling away angrily.

"Is everyone in this city ill-mannered?" The princess muttered to herself, touching her headpiece again, but once again, she did not get to feel the smooth stone. There was only a rough rope where her headpiece should be.

What the-

Jasmine tore off the rope and confirmed her headpiece was gone. Then she quickly searched around her.

No headpiece.

She looked over at the monkey who was already several meters away. "Excuse me!" she called.

The monkey froze and turned. The wary look on his face was confirmation enough.

"Give me back my headpiece."

"No!" the monkey shrieked before scampering away.

"Come back!" Jasmine called running after it. She could afford to lose her clothes, but that headpiece was priceless. There was no way she was going to let a random ill-mannered monkey have it.