Chapter 05 - Queued Qualms

Jasmine sighed as she finished browsing the last book in her stack. The Palace Library search, thus far, had turned up little in terms of leads. By this time, it was already night outside of the Palace. "Looks like I'm done with this entire shelf over here. I haven't found anything about the tome that Nefir tried to steal. You, Abu?"

Abu looked like he was about to nod off as he finished one of the last books in his stack. "I've got nothing, Princess. Wish I could say otherwise."

"Well, at the very least I'm glad that we went through so many of these today searching. We haven't completely exhausted the archives yet, so maybe it's a task for tomorrow." She frowned. "You really didn't have to help read through all of this. I wouldn't have blamed you if you were like the others and wanted to take a break from everything that happened earlier."

Abu shook his head quickly. "Like I said, gives me something to do. Can't just sit back and feel like I can't do anything. Wonder if Genie found anything."

"Good question. Maybe he can tell us if there's anything specific we can look for to help him out." But even as Jasmine spoke the words confidently, Abu still looked uncertain. "What's wrong?"

"I go back and forth between wanting to talk to Genie about this and not. I don't want to make him feel more guilty, but I feel like I should still try, you know?"

"I think so too. I can go with you to check on him."

Abu's grin was contagious. Jasmine found it hard not to smile as he whistled happily. "All right! Let's go, then."

It didn't take them long to reach Jafar's old lair, but both Jasmine and Abu were startled by the sounds of clanging and what sounded like dropped stacks of books. They opened the door, walked down the spiral stairs and reached the end, where Genie was furiously going through several stacks of books, scrolls and tomes at a time. All the while, also drinking a lot of cups of coffee and tea.

"Um...Genie?" Abu said, but it didn't seem that the semi phenomenal being heard him.

Jasmine shared an uncertain look with Abu. "I'll try. GENIE!"

At Jasmine's shout, Genie nearly fell off the stool he was sitting on. He dropped a few of the books that he was trying to scan through in multiple hands. The princess felt guilty that Genie had been genuinely scared out of the work he was doing. But he relaxed as he saw his friends. "Hey Princess; hey monkey boy. Oof, probably shouldn't call you monkey boy since you're human for the time being."

"I don't mind either way, doesn't bother me." Abu said honestly, using his hand to smooth back his hair from his brow. "Sorry to scare you. You didn't hear us come in. Princess Jasmine and I have searched most of the Palace library for anything we could find on the tome, but we haven't found anything concrete. Apart from one reference to turning animals human that was vague on its own. Didn't have a step by step spell or even a way to cure it. Just mentioned that it was probable."

"We just wanted to check in and see if you had any leads," Jasmine said, her hands hugging her arms. "You've been at this a while - shouldn't you get some rest?"

Genie shook his head. "Nah, I don't need it. Besides, I'd rather keep searching until I find everything I can, so that when I update you kids, you'll have a complete picture of everything. So far, a few tidbits, but nothing close to a cure. I don't exactly want to stop searching for info considering this is a time-sensitive thing."

"Time sensitive? What do you mean?" Abu asked.

Genie winced, realizing he'd said more than he'd wanted to. The silence between them was uncomfortable, carrying on for several moments. Genie sighed and put his books to the side as he fully faced the two. "It's still early, and I didn't want to tell you kids until I knew everything for certain. From what I've found in the texts with the same language as the tome Nefir wanted - we may only have a limited amount of time to reverse your humanity spell before it becomes permanent."

"What?" Jasmine and Abu said, surprised.

"Hang on, it's not necessarily a sure thing," Genie said, frowning. "This is why I'm still looking through as many of these as I can; I didn't want to give you all information that was subject to change based on what I found - cause you guys to panic. There are multiple 'humanity' spells that have certain terms to them. I'm trying to match them up by the rules and language they're governed by. I'm hoping that I can find this specific one to figure out how to reverse it. But all the ones that I've come across so far..."

"Are time-sensitive? Meaning once a certain amount of time passes, it can't be changed?" Jasmine asked.

Genie nodded.

"How much time?" Abu asked, though both Jasmine and Genie picked up on how his voice choked up with nerves.

"The least amount of time I've seen so far for a spell like this has been a few days. 2-3 days being specific. But like I said, I haven't been through everything to check to see if the spell in this old tome matches up with the descriptions of the spell in these other books and scrolls. Most of them don't - I've been able to match up other spells that matched the descriptions, but not the tome that changed you guys."

"Is there anything we can do to help here?" Abu asked. "If it might cut down on time..."

Genie quickly shook his head. "I know you're trying to help, Abu, but honestly it'd be better for me to go through these myself. Teaching you to understand the language in the tome I read from could easily take a month at the very least, which - if the spell's time-sensitive..."

"It wouldn't be much help," Abu finished quickly, frowning as his brow narrowed. "Right. That makes sense. Guess I'd better get back to making progress and search more in the library. There's still several shelves we haven't covered."

"Abu, wait a minute," Jasmine hadn't realized it before, but Abu had been hurt by something in Genie's words. Maybe he'd taken Genie's quick dismissal of their help as something more than practical. Genie slowly realized that he'd said something wrong as Abu turned his back to them.

"I'll see you upstairs, Princess." Abu didn't turn back as he went up the stairs and shut the door.

It was a long moment before either of them spoke again, and when the silence was broken, it was Genie who spoke. "Let him go Jas. He has a right to be upset. I'm still trying to figure things out, like I mentioned. I wasn't turning Abu's help away because I didn't think he'd be useful - that's not what I was saying at all."

"Unfortunately, I think that's how he took it," Jasmine said with a sigh. "I'll talk to him Genie. You have to realize this is an adjustment. For him, Iago, Rajah and Carpet as well."

"I know. How's Rug Man and Rajah faring? I already know Iago's stance on things - he made that clear to me earlier."

"Aladdin's supposed to check in with Carpet and Rajah. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I'll talk to him before we turn in for the night."

Genie's smile was genuine. "I appreciate it. Appreciate the help from all of you, actually. I hope you can tell Abu that when you talk to him."

Jasmine returned the expression. "I definitely will. But even if you're down here searching for information, Genie - take a break. You're not going to be productive if you don't rest between."

Genie yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Maybe an hour or two of a power nap won't hurt. Just let me finish going through a few more of these."

Jasmine nodded. "I'll leave you to it. I'll check in with you in the morning. Night Genie."

"Night Jas." Genie's voice and expression had been cheerful as they parted for the night. But before Jasmine shut the door to the room, she looked back once more to check on him. His expression was focused as he went through more tomes, but she could also see how sad he was, probably from still blaming himself for the current predicament.

Nonetheless, she hoped that they all would find something definitive - about the spell and the tome - sooner than later.

Aladdin told Carpet good night not long before he went to visit Rajah's room. Abu, Iago, Carpet, and Rajah all had rooms in the same wing of the Palace because they were designed guest rooms. The prince knew Abu wasn't in his room, since he'd been with Jasmine most of the evening. When he went to check on Iago, Aladdin was greeted by a blunt and gruff dismissal.

"Come back later! I'm sleepin' here!" Iago called from beyond the closed door to his room.

Clearly you're not sleeping if you answered me, Aladdin thought as he snorted. But his spoken words weren't joking. "Night, Iago. Talk to you tomorrow."

Aladdin turned to walk towards Rajah's room, which was next to Abu's. His knuckles rapped lightly on the door. He didn't want to disturb Rajah if he wanted to be left alone, despite feeling the need to touch base with the now human, former tiger.

Rajah's slow rumble of a human voice came from beyond the door. "It's open. You may enter."

Aladdin slowly entered, but didn't see Rajah right away as he looked around the guest room. He saw the immaculately made bed that remained unslept in, the working table provided for all the guest rooms, among other trinkets and furnishings. The Sultan had made it clear that he didn't want any of his guests to go without while they were visiting the Palace, so Aladdin knew that his friends were well cared for. But his eyes went to the window, where he saw Rajah's hulking figure looking up at the Agrabah night sky. If Aladdin had to get used to kneeling to meet Carpet's short height in his form as a kid, he'd have to get used to how tall Rajah stood.

"It's just me, Aladdin."

"Ah, so you're doing the nightly rounds?" Rajah asked, his voice calm, deep, and oddly smooth compared to the tiger growls he was used to hearing. Then again, Aladdin wasn't used to hearing Rajah saying that many words in the time the spell had taken effect. It would be the first time that he'd have a long conversation with Rajah after everything.

"Just wanted to check in and see how you were doing." Aladdin approached Rajah's side as they both looked at the moon over the city. "I know today was a lot to get through."

"That would be an understatement. I had no warning that I would wake up in the body of a human being after being a tiger all of my life. Getting used to these fingers instead of claws, walking upright, wearing clothes and having skin instead of fur - all of these are things that I am not used to."

"Would you say it's a bad experience?" Aladdin asked carefully, remembering Carpet's warning from earlier. The former magic rug had noted Rajah wasn't taking well to Genie's blunder. He'd rather avoid upsetting Rajah any more than he already was about the current state of things.

To Aladdin's surprise, Rajah was resigned, even sad. "In itself, no. It is an adjustment. But Genie's words from earlier haunt me. It was bad enough this morning I had four men of Agrabah's guard pinning me to the ground when they didn't realize who I was. Jasmine was quick to pick up on it, however. If she hadn't been, I don't know how that would have turned out."

"Oh Rajah, I'm so sorry. I know Razoul was punished along with some of the other guards for what they did to you earlier, but seems like he didn't get the message until I had a talk with him about what he did to Carpet earlier."

At that, Rajah turned to face Aladdin directly, his thick, dark brows furrowed. "What did Razoul do to Carpet?"

Aladdin summarized the encounter as best he could, though part of him regretted even mentioning it. Apart from a growl under his breath and balling his hands into fists, Rajah's upset was subdued.

"Even if they didn't know who you were," Aladdin said honestly. "Their treatment of you was cruel. If they give you any trouble - any of you guys for that matter - let me know. I'll talk with the Sultan directly."

Rajah made a subtle grunt of approval, looking away from the prince. "Have you talked to Genie about his progress?"

"He's still in Jafar's lair working, last time I checked." Aladdin said. "I haven't talked to him since earlier. I'll probably check in with him, Jasmine and Abu before I turn in for the night."

"How is Jasmine?"

Aladdin felt a knot grow in his chest, remembering something that Jasmine had told him earlier.

The only thing I've noticed about Rajah that's changed - besides being human - is that he's much less relaxed. I think he's afraid of seeming too casual with me. Or it may be that he's having a hard time adjusting to being human.

"You know you can ask her yourself, right?" Aladdin said. "She was worried about you earlier."

Rajah's expression looked pained. "I believe I could, but I fear that she may not see me in the same way as she did when I was a tiger. Being human as I am now," Rajah paused, looking at his hands as he flexed his fingers. "Doesn't allow for the same amount of comfort. It doesn't make sense for her to hug me around the neck or run her fingers through my fur. Those familiar intimacies are gone - could be lost forever if the spell Genie cast is permanent. I don't know how to be around her."

"Rajah," Aladdin was genuinely stunned. He could hear the pain in Rajah's tone, alongside a simmering anger that Rajah was struggling to hold back. It seemed that the now human, former tiger was struggling with a range of different sentiments about the current situation. And Aladdin wasn't sure how much Rajah was willing to talk about them, if he could find words for them at all.

"My relationship with the princess has been much like your relationship with Abu - we grew up together. But yet, I do not think that I can have the same rapport that you have with his human form that you had with him as a monkey. It feels impossible."

"I don't think that at all," Aladdin said. "Before you assume what she thinks or feels, I think you should talk to her. You just became human not even a day ago, Rajah. It's an adjustment you have to find a normal to, at least for the time being. I'm confident that Genie will find a way to change you guys back. But in the meantime, don't use your different form as a barrier to how you would be around us otherwise. Your form has changed, but you haven't. You have the same mind, same heart. And we get that."

"Really? You think so?" Rajah looked down at Aladdin, facing him fully.

"I know so. Don't be so hard on yourself about it."

Rajah's shoulders relaxed. "I suppose I can talk to her tomorrow. It's late and I wouldn't want to keep her. I still don't have the confidence that you have in Genie given how easily he recited that spell and created this situation, but I'm willing to give him time to find a solution. Thank you for talking to me, Aladdin."

"Sure. Let me know if you need anything between, okay?"

Rajah gave him a firm nod in response.

As Aladdin left Rajah's room, closing the door behind him, he found his own mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. Rajah wasn't just upset at Genie for the spell itself, he was upset at how it changed him. Aladdin had been expecting Rajah to have the same level of scorn and anger that Iago had over the situation, but it wasn't that at all. Rajah was hurt.

Man, I feel bad for him, Aladdin thought. He admitted that talking to all of his now newly-turned human friends gave him different views on how they were dealing with the situation. If he had to guess, Abu seemed to be dealing with it better than the others, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset about it in some way either. Maybe he'd talk to Abu later about getting ideas to help the others ease into their human forms a little better, knowing more about what the situation was. He could also talk to the Sultan about talking to the Royal guards and possibly rescheduling certain events so that what happened with Carpet wouldn't happen again. So many things to deal with in addition to his usual royal duties. Then there was figuring out Nefir's intentions in all this.

What a mess. Aladdin leaned against the wall next to Rajah's door. But even as he acknowledged how this affected Abu, Iago, Carpet, and Rajah, he also felt bad for Genie. Guess I've gotta sort through what to do to help everyone. Maybe in the morning we'll have a path that gives us more answers than questions.