Chapter 4: Abbi and Aladdin

Princess Jasmine looked down at the small boy, waiting for him to respond. In his faded purple vest and presumably white pants, he looked rather scruffy.

Though the princess supposed his less than neat state could be blamed on the situation. Perhaps that was also the reason the boy continued to stare up at them with his mouth open like that.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Jasmine broke eye contact and looked over at the boy's monkey, Abu. Except Abu was not there.

The thieving monkey had not wasted any time staring into the abyss. He was already moving down a ladder towards the alley floor. The princess rushed to follow him. She was not losing that monkey. She had spent the last quarter-hour chasing him.

At first, the monkey had been nearly impossible to keep up with. He was fast and had not been above causing chaos to get ahead. However, after a few minutes of pure shenanigans, the monkey had given up on his more devious tactics and sprinted south like it was life or death. Jasmine had followed him to this rooftop and witnessed the scene below.

When Abu had thrown a pot at the skinny boy with the knife, Jasmine had done the same thing to the larger one. It had been obvious to her that those two vile ruffians had been up to no good.

Jasmine was glad to have helped save the young boy's life. It was definitely an adventure to remember, but unlike in her daydreams, the princess was much more concerned with the practicalities than her glory at the moment. All she wanted to do was retrieve her headpiece and figure out how to get home.

When she finished climbing down the ladder and faced the boy and his monkey, the boy said in a faraway voice, "You're like an angel."

"Thank you," Jasmine said, unmoved. She had heard that one before. Courtiers and visiting dignitaries loved to describe Jasmine as looking like an angel, fairy, or something else that was innocent, small, and cute. By the time, the princess was eight, it had gotten tiresome, but people still persisted in making the comparisons like it was a novel thing.

The boy, of course, had no idea how his compliment had been received. He kept speaking in the same dazed way, "No, thank you for rescuing me. You saved my life."

Now that was novel. Aside from perhaps Rajah, Jasmine had never rescued someone before.

The monkey protested her new hero status.

Jasmine and the boy ignored him.

"You're very welcome," the princess replied with some pride before she went fully into negotiation mode and said, "As a reward for my heroic act, I would like my headpiece back." She held out her hand. "Your monkey stole it from me."

The boy looked from her to the monkey. "Abu," the boy said, in a strained voice.

Abu crossed his arms as he replied.

The princess was not sure what Abu said. The monkey spoke too fast, but whatever his response was, the boy was not impressed by it. He began to scold the monkey and soon the two of them entered into a full-on debate.

Jasmine was at first tempted to join in, but she became too fascinated to interrupt. It was clear that the boy understood his monkey as well as she understood her tiger.

The princess almost smiled. She had finally learned something nice tonight.

The boy, at last, seemed to convince the monkey and managed to get Jasmine's headpiece from him. Then the boy offered the treasure to her.

Jasmine eagerly took her headpiece back. She said, "Thank you," as she examined the headpiece for damage. After confirming that all was well, she began to re-tie it onto her head.

As she worked, the boy asked, "Is that stone real?"

"Of course," Jasmine said without thinking, finishing the knot with a tug. She felt whole again.

"I'm glad I could return it to you then," the boy said. Then he grinned at her.

The princess was surprised to find herself giving him a small smile in return. "You cannot be gladder than I am," she said, relaxing a bit. "I have met a lot of rude and inconsiderate people today, so I really appreciate you being so accommodating. Now, if it is not too much trouble, do you think you could direct me to the nearest guardsman, hopefully, a friendly one who spends a lot of time in the palace."

"What? Why?" the boy cried out in alarm.

"Oh," Jasmine said, realizing how her request sounded. "I do not plan to report your monkey. I just need to get to the palace."

The boy looked at her skeptically. "You're very pretty and you speak fancy enough, but I doubt any guard will be willing to hire you while you're dressed like that. They are pretty choosey about their courtesans."

"Oh really," Jasmine said softly. The princess was more knowledgeable on the subject than one might suppose. The pleasure district was not an insignificant part of Agrabah's economy, after all.

The monkey chattered nervously.

"Yeah," the boy continued, oblivious. "Your jewels are pretty classy, but using a towel as lingerie comes off a little…" he waved his hand around looking for an adjective. He finally settled on. "fast, if you know what I mean."

"I understand perfectly. Thank you for the unsolicited advice," she replied icily.

"No prob-"

The princess did not let him finish. "Thank you again," her voice had become so haughty that it practically dripped with upper-class breeding, "but I have had my fill of your sage counsel, sir. Good night!" The princess then turned away from him with her head held high and marched off.

The boy was stunned for a few moments before he had the nerve to shout after her, "Wait."

Jasmine did not wait. The princess never wanted to talk to that rude ungrateful boy and his thieving monkey ever again.

She almost made it out of the alley before the boy caught up.

"Wait," the boy said again, grabbing her arm.

The princess tried to pull free and keep going, but his grip was strong. She was stuck. "Let go," she cried. After what had happened earlier, she was in no mood to be manhandled.

"Look, I'm sorry," the boy said, speaking quickly, "I don't know why I said that just now. I should've never questioned your methods. I'm sure you're a very good courtesan."

"I am NOT a courtesan!" she snapped.

"An escort then," he said, still confused.

"No!" It was too much. Jasmine's simmering emotions boiled over and she whirled on him. "I am not a courtesan, escort, or any other sort of…of…lady of the night. What I am is lost, tired, cold, hungry, and beyond annoyed that some random boy is pestering me when all I want is to be left alone!" She finally pulled free of the boy's grasp. This time, the princess did not bother with regally marching away. This time, she ran.

The boy did not stop her and when Jasmine looked behind her, he was nowhere in sight.

The princess felt a burst of satisfaction. She had told him! Now she was free!

The princess turned a corner and kept on running for a while before the truth caught up with her. Yes, she was free, but she was still lost.

And tired.

And cold.

And hungry.

And now she was alone.

Again.

As each fact re-established itself in her mind, the princess slowed her pace until she, at last, stopped on an unfamiliar street corner in this unfamiliar city.

Where was she supposed to go? What was she supposed to do? She could not even see the palace from here.

She was a pampered princess, unescorted and vulnerable, in the streets of Agrabah. Worse than that, she looked like a…courtesan. The boy had called her fast and Jasmine was now realizing that guard had thought the same thing. He had actually thought that she had wanted to…

Jasmine shivered. It was not something she wished to dwell on and yet she had to. Considering what she looked like and the lateness of the hour, how was she supposed to convince anyone of her true identity tonight? Even if they did believe her. That had not stopped Nadim from…

The princess blinked hard. Not this again…

"Hey!"

Jasmine started.

The boy was back. Somehow, he had managed to appear a meter in front of her.

Jasmine stumbled away from him, but before she could begin running or tell the boy to go away, he said, "I'm really really sorry about before, honest, so I brought you something." He presented a shiny red apple.

All thoughts of fleeing left Jasmine's mind as she stared at the apple. She was normally not a huge fan of apples. She preferred pomegranates, but Jasmine was hungry and the apple looked better than ice cream on a hot day.

"Here." The boy tossed her the apple.

Jasmine reached for it, but she missed and the apple hit the ground. The princess cried out in despair.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you'd catch that," he said, "but no big deal." He moved closer, picked up the apple, rubbed it on his grubby vest, and presented it to her again. "There you are."

Jasmine hesitated. Surely, the apple was no good now. It was an unspoken rule to not eat things off the ground, but she was still so hungry.

"It doesn't bite," the boy assured her. "But…" he said as he brought the proffered apple even closer to her. The apple was near enough to smell and its scent was fruity, juicy, and sweet. "If you don't want it, I could give it to Abu." The boy looked around. "He should be somewhere close."

Since the options were between her and the monkey, Jasmine's choice became easy. The princess took the apple from the boy and before she could convince herself not to, she bit into it.

Allah above!

The apple tasted even better than it smelled. It was sweet and crisp with an earthy flavor that the princess could not quite place. It took three bites for the princess to remember her manners and say, "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied. "Like I said, this is my apology. I got ahead of myself before, saying all that stuff. I was being dumb. I don't know what I was thinking. I must've gotten nervous or something and the wrong words just kept coming out, you know?"

Jasmine nodded even as the boy continued to babble on.

the wrong words just kept coming out

That particular sentence could be applied to most of her childhood. The princess used to always find herself saying the wrong thing at court, even when it was the right thing. It had taken her years to learn how to choose her words. Sometimes she still ended up accidentally upsetting another courtier and causing a fuss, much to Rajah's and her father's chagrin.

If Jasmine, a princess, could make such mistakes even after years of comportment training, then what chance did this boy have? He was not a noble or even a wealthy merchant's son. He did not have her experience or schooling. He was just a normal kid and even now he was still talking and trying to apologize as if volume would make up for meaning.

The princess now saw that the boy's insult had not been malicious, just honest. She could respect that. When the boy paused for breath, she said, "I understand. Words can be hard to get right, especially in high-stress situations, so I forgive you."

"Oh, thank god," he said. He grinned again. "I thought you were going to hold the last 15 minutes against me until the end of time."

"I try not to hold onto grudges." If she did, she would never get anything done at court.

He nodded. "I wish more people were like you," he said.

"Why? Do you make a habit of upsetting people?" she asked.

The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…not intentionally."

Jasmine found herself smiling. "That is not an encouraging statement."

He glanced at her. "Maybe so, but at least, I'm pretty good at apologizing, right?"

That was questionable, but "I did enjoy the apple," she admitted.

His eyes flashed. "Would you like another?" A second apple appeared in his hand like magic.

"Yes." She was still quite hungry. If anything, she was actually hungrier than before. Jasmine tried to grab the apple.

"Wait…" he said, moving the precious apple away from her reach. "The last apple was an apology. This one is worth a name."

"A name?" she repeated.

"Yup. One name. Specifically, your name," he said.

Jasmine looked between him and the apple. She had accepted the boy's apology and he was being friendly, but still. The princess could not forget how that guard had sneered at her. He had not believed her and he knew her. Jasmine could not imagine that this boy would react differently. He might even mock her as the guard had.

Plus, Nadim had always told her that it was best not to flaunt her identity around strangers in the city. Despite what he had done to her, she thought the advice itself was sound. So, instead of giving her true name, she said, "Call me…Abbi," short for Abhigjna, one of her favorite queens of Shehrabad.

"Abbi," the boy repeated. "I like it. My name's Aladdin. Nice to meet you." He handed her the apple.

Jasmine gratefully took it and began to devour this second offering.

"So…uh, Abbi," he said as she ate. "Now that we're friends,"

Jasmine stopped eating. "Friends?" she said, "Since when are we friends?" After all, the princess did not have friends. She had one friend, in singular, and that was Rajah. It had been that way for years.

"Well," her supposed new friend explained, "we told each other our names and I just gave you food, so yeah, I'd say we're friends now."

That was it? The princess had never heard of that definition of friendship. She told him so.

The boy, Aladdin, coughed and then said, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Jasmine did not answer. It sounded too much like:

You're not used to court functions, are you, princess?

Which to her translated to:

You're not supposed to be here, are you, princess?

"Look," Aladdin said, seeming to sense that her mood was souring, "it seems to me like you could use some help, so how about you and me find a good place to sleep. I can get us some real dinner that's more filling than a pair of apples. And some new clothes. You do want new clothes, right?"

Jasmine nodded slowly, her mind letting go of the friend dilemma to switch back to negotiation mode. "That all sounds very agreeable," she said, "but why do you want to help me for free?" It was not as if he knew she was a princess. And in her experience, few people helped strangers for no reason.

Though maybe they were not strangers anymore. Maybe they really were friends now? That was what he said. Jasmine wished someone had told her it was this easy to make a new friend. If this was all it took, the princess would start feeding every person she met at court from now on.

However, Aladdin's answer did not mention their new friendship. Instead, he said, "Well, I wouldn't say I'm helping you for free. I do owe you for saving my life and…"

"And?" she prompted.

Aladdin rubbed the back of his neck again. "I'm super curious about what misadventure led to um…" he gestured at her, "that. So, I was thinking that I'd provide a safe place to stay, some food, clothes, and you'd share the story behind your…dress. So, it's not a handout or anything, but a story's a pretty cheap price for what I'm offering, yeah?"

Ah. That made more sense to her. Now that the princess understood his reasoning, she could counter it. "That might be a cheap price to you," she said, "but that is not a fair price."

"It's not?" Aladdin said, confused. Jasmine guessed he had not expected her to argue. Few strangers ever did.

"You said so yourself," the princess explained, "you owe me your life. Surely that is worth a single night of shelter, a meal, and a change of clothes."

"I guess..." he admitted reluctantly.

"Thus," the princess said with relish, "if you want a story, I want one in exchange."

"Oh!" Aladdin said, relieved. "Is that all? That's easy. I got plenty of stories."

Jasmine was not done. "You may have plenty of stories, but I want one in particular. I want you to tell me the story behind why you were fighting with those boys earlier."

Aladdin did not respond immediately. His face became serious as he thought over her proposal.

Jasmine knew he might reject her terms, but now that she no longer felt like her life was in immediate danger, the princess's own inquisitiveness had returned. She was quite curious about what had led to that dire situation in the alley.

Even if she had not cared, this was a negotiation. In negotiations, it was usually best to ask for everything you wanted and then some just to ensure you, at least, got everything you needed. Her intrusive request gave her some room to bargain.

If all else failed, she would retrench and return to the original proposal.

Jasmine waited, her mind going through the possible argument branches and trying to prepare for Aladdin's next move.

Finally, Aladdin said, "Sure. My story for yours."

"Really?" Jasmine asked. Sure was not exactly a decisive word in her opinion. "Is that a promise then?" She gave him what she thought was a hard look.

Aladdin put a hand on his chest and said, "Cross my heart."

"What?" Jasmine asked in confusion.

"It's a promise," Aladdin amended.

The princess stared at him for a moment longer, but he seemed decided, so she said, "Alright, Aladdin. I agree to tell you the story of how I ended up in my current outfit in exchange for food, lodging, new clothes, and an explanation of your altercation with those two boys. If those terms are agreeable to you, then we have ourselves a bargain." She held out her hand.

"Bed, breakfast, a dress, and some bedtime stories," Aladdin summarized. "Sounds good to me." He grinned at her yet again, took her hand, and gave it a shake to seal the deal. Then he laughed. "God, I feel so official," he said.

Before Jasmine could analyze what that meant, he told her, "Well, now that that's settled, we should get out of here." He let go of her hand. Then he put a couple of fingers in his mouth and whistled.

Another magic trick occurred. Abu appeared suddenly, jumping down from a nearby roof awning onto Aladdin's shoulder.

"Ready?" Aladdin asked Jasmine, acting like Abu's reappearance was nothing worth commenting on.

The princess looked at Abu and then the boy, Aladdin, her new friend? She hoped so. "I am ready," she confirmed.

"Cool!" Aladdin said.

The monkey grumbled something under his breath, but Aladdin kept on grinning as he said, "Let's go!"

And so, the three of them headed east. The princess willingly following the pair of thieves through the dark streets of Agrabah and into the unknown.

A/N: Hiya,

So I guess that the last chapter was not the chapter that will make history, but life goes on. I hope you enjoyed this longer chapter. It definitely took longer to perfect. From here on out, I think the chapters will tend to be a bit longer than the first 3. So that's probably good news.

In other news, I think after one or two more chapters of this, I'll finally be starting up Sue's Curse again. So there's that for my cross-genre fans. Otherwise, I'm still hoping to hear from you all. Consider following, favoriting, or reviewing.

And thank you to march4fun for doing all 3!

Bye.