A/N: Finally, I got down and finished this chapter this Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Huzzah for federal holidays. To answer those who asked about what time period "Aladdin" takes place, this has been a topic of discussion at many a fan forum, including those at the Aladdin Central forum. I am more or less placing this story in the fifteenth century, based on the commentary provided on the DVD, though it has been argued it only appears to be because the designer of Agrabah and its architecture in the movie, Rasoul Azadani, based its appearance on his hometown in Iran whose buildings have been around since that time.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I just write about them.
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"Okay," Eden pulled out a ledger and a pencil as Genie chucked the massive sarcophagus down upon the grimy marble floor and panted, "sarcophagus?"
"Check," Genie pointed to the casket, huffing.
"Ashes?"
"Check." Genie held up the stone jar.
"Clay dust?"
"(Cough) Check." A larger jar manifested in his hand.
"Water?"
A splash was heard as Genie, wearing goggles and a snorkel, popped out of a huge container of water and gave a massive thumbs-up.
"Good," Eden said, the ledger and pencil evaporating into the air.
Taking off the goggles and the snorkels, Genie shook himself off like a dog. "Now, let's see what else Señor Wences bids us to do."
"I can only assume you're referring to me," Mozenrath said, standing behind the Djinn of the Lamp.
Genie let out a shriek. "EEK! A MAN!"
Mozenrath pursed "his" lips in annoyance as Genie hovered over to Eden, whistling nonchalantly.
"You're probably wondering what we're going to do with this stuff," the Dhandi imposter said, calmly as "he" held out the atlas, wobbly. "Once Dhandi comes out of her trance and memorizes the ritual, you'll go to here."
"He" pointed to the spot on the map. The djinns studied the map, until Genie spoke up.
"Wait a minute," Genie rejoined. "It's a cemetery! Ewwwww."
"But it's also a stone-throw away from the entrance to the Underworld," Eden pointed out.
"By Allah, we have a pair of geniuses," Mozenrath declared, throwing up "his" arms in mock amazement. "But, yes, we are going to there. As said before, we won't have much time once the flower leaves the Underworld and Dhandi still has to prepare the golem."
"So, while the golem hardens," Eden adds, "we go down and get the Persephone's Dawn."
"Bingo," Mozenrath quipped. "Now, the kid needs a dress, so get cracking."
"What," Genie transformed into a bony woman ala Joan Rivers, "Orange too lively for ya? It's adoooorable on her!"
"Yes," the sorcerer sneered, looking at Dhandi's dress with utter loathing, "but I'd like her to be dressed good enough to be caught...dead in."
"Oh," Genie said, getting what "he" meant.
Mozenrath smiled smugly, as "he" turned to leave. "Dhandi will be wondering what Amir is up to. I mustn't keep her waiting."
As the sorcerer turned the corner, Genie stretched his neck, following "him".
"Argh," Eden growled, "I know it for Dhandi, but I am gonna to inflict some serious pain on his butt if he asks me to do his laundry!"
"Hey, babe," Genie asked, reeling his head back into his shoulders, "do you remember seeing the Crystal of Ix around here?"
Eden recoiled with fear. "He has that here?!"
"Yeah, leave it to Boy-Though-Currently-Girl Wizard to have something like that lying around, but..."
"But what?" Eden grabbed Genie's shoulders with a sense of urgency.
"It's not here."
Eden lets go of his shoulders. "Well, why are we worried?"
"I still think that Mozen-runt has something up his sleeve," Genie placed his chubby fingers upon his chin.
"Either way, we still can't do anything about until Dhandi's out of his grasp." Eden began to hover her way towards the stairway.
"Where you're goin'?" Genie inquired.
"Up to rummage through his closet," Eden smirked mischievously.
"Remember," Genie replied, trilling urgently.
"Yes, but what he doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, he said he wanted a dress."
----
Dhandi stretched, getting up from her lotus position. She looked around the library, mind and flesh refreshed. Her eyes traced the room, down to its nearly spent candles. However, a question arose in her head.
"Where did the gauntlet go?" she asked, herself. True, she recalled it being back on the table just before she meditated. "Maybe the eel took it."
"That's probably it," Amir spoke up. "You ready to learn the ritual?"
Dhandi nodded.
"Good. The book is on the lower fifth shelf, to the right."
Taking a step to her right, Dhandi counted the shelves in her head. Coming upon the fifth one, Amir guided her to a musty tome, third on the shelf.
"Pull it out," he whispered, "and turned to the page titled 'Reanimation through Construction'."
Dhandi obliged, flipping the pages slowly, scanning it. "Uh, Amir?"
"Yes?"
"I dreamed about him again."
"That man? Was it when I left you alone for a break?" Amir's voice was tinged with curiosity.
"Yeah." The girl kept turning the pages of the tome.
"What did he do?"
"Well, I was dreaming I was the girl in that story I told you about, remember?"
"Yeah, the one with the dancing sandals."
"Well, this time, he was the one who gave her the sandals. I didn't want to take them, 'cause you know what happens. But then he picked me up. I was screaming, but he just smiled and said, 'Dance for me'."
"And you did," Amir said, not guessing.
"Yeah, but he danced with me. But the weird part was when I twirled, he got younger and I got older."
"Wow, that is weird," Amir replied, amusement in his tone.
"Yeah," Dhandi came upon the page, "Reanimation through Construction". "Found it."
"Great. The ritual should be in there."
Dhandi scanned the page, reading aloud the more difficult words.
"...'my life breath for this form's...lead mine to his...'. Uh, Amir?"
"Yeah?"
"What does it mean, 'my life breath for this form's'?"
"It's kinda an offering," Amir explained. "It's like a vow, your promise to guide and protect the body and its soul."
"Then I'll protect you," Dhandi said. "Instead of coming back here, you can live with me and Eden."
"Would she be all right with that?"
"Hey, she already accepted you being in my body and you'll have to meet Babkak and Father binGud and Aladdin."
"I might have to. Now, let's back to it."
Dhandi returned her focus on the page. "Okay, um...'mix the clay, the ashes, and the water until they form a ma-label...'..."
"Malleable."
"Malleable." A gentle nudging in the back of her head prompted her to turn her head. She jumped out of her seat slightly, at the sight of Xerxes.
"Boy," the eel gurgled, the gauntlet in his mouth.
"I knew it," Dhandi said, cautiously taking the gauntlet from the familiar's jaws. She looked at it. "What am I gonna do with this?"
"Just hold on to it, just in case you need a boost."
Dhandi nodded, tucking the gauntlet in her sash and returning back to the book. However, the silence of the library was briefly interrupted once more by the poofing sounds of a djinn appearing and Xerxes shrieking.
"Hey, babe!" Eden announced. Dhandi turned towards her djinn, smiling. "How's studying?"
"Good," Dhandi replied. "Amir's helping a lot."
"Genie butting in," Xerxes hissed.
Dhandi pushed at the eel, which let out a yelp. "How's getting the stuff?"
"Well, it's ready to go. You just need to learn the incantation now, before we go-" Catching herself, Eden covered her mouth.
"Go?" Dhandi inquired, curious. "Where?"
"Uh, well, there's one more thing we need to get to bring...Amir to life, but we can't get it here."
"Well, where do we need to go?"
Eden bit her lip, uneasily looking at Dhandi. "Well, promise me you won't get scared. No, chances are you're gonna be scared, but just remember what me and Genie promised you."
Dhandi nodded, getting a bit worried. How horrible the place could it be that it would even scare Eden?
"We need to go to the Underworld," Eden calmly explained to the child, "to get the most important part, the..."
"Persephone's Dawn flower," Dhandi finished the sentence. "They mentioned it a lot in the book."
"Oh, well," Eden had a bewildered yet relieved expression on her face, "do you still want to do it? Genie and I could get it for you."
"Eden," Dhandi took Eden's hand and squeezed it, "I have to do it. Amir said I had to. It's part of the ritual."
Eden regarded the child with amazement. "How brave this child was, even for her age," she thought. "Well, considering what happened to her, she's taking it with a lot of guts, like Aladdin has. But then again, she doesn't know the half of it."
"But you can come with me," Dhandi added. "It might get scary."
"You know I will," the djinn smiled, hugging the child.
The fluffy moment between the child and her green-skinned foster mother was interrupted by the sounds of gagging produced by Xerxes. The djinn shot a glare likened to a dragon at the familiar, prompting him to whine and swim out the door.
"Now, Amir asked me to make something for you," Eden pulled out from air a little outfit of a Brittany blue harem bodice with long white loose sleeves and a long dark blue skirt. The child wore a look of amazement on her face, as she touched the folds of the soft and silky fabric.
"By Allah," she said, breathlessly, "it's so..."
"Pretty?"
"Beautiful! It's...are you sure I can wear it?"
The djinn nodded, the girl taking the dress from her, "but there's something you should know about it."
"What?" Dhandi asked, holding the outfit up.
"It's enchanted."
"How?"
"Listen," Eden placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, "while you're wearing it in the Underworld, do not look in a mirror."
"Uh, why?" Dhandi asked, uneasily. She didn't like where this was heading, reminded of those tales of the like.
"Let me put it this way," Eden elucidated, "you won't like what you might see."
Dhandi bit her lip, with that in mind. "But is it all right for me to try it on now?"
"Sure, but after you try it out, you get back to studying."
Dhandi nodded eagerly as she darted out past Eden.
"The bedroom's upstairs!" Eden shouted after. "Don't look in the closet!"
----
Perhaps the only room absent of cobwebs and dust, the bedroom easily dwarfed their hovel, the walls decorated with intricate murals that Dhandi took a moment or two to inspect. The pictures revealed a form of a dark blue light, turning into a human as an elderly man appeared to watch approvingly.
"It's like the ones in the mosque," she said to herself, reading the narrative story. She had noticed that of the two figures present, two men, the elder of the two had his face scratched off in a crude and violent manner. The room had one window, however locked and no natural light beside that of the dismal aura that existed over the land.
The child summoned her mage light, illuminating the room further. She watched it carefully, not to catch the drapes hanging above her on fire whilst on her search for a mirror. Her eyes focused upon a cloth of a very smooth material draped over a form. Setting her outfit upon the black divan in the center of the room, Dhandi ventured towards the object. She took the corners of the fabric and swiftly pulled it off.
Her curiosity was rewarded with a full length mirror in an ebony frame. Dhandi pressed her fingers against the looking glass, her twin mimicking. She smiled as she turned back to her outfit. She slid her brown coat off and folded it neatly on the divan. Next came her sash, which the gauntlet slid out and fell upon the floor. She folded the sash, but looked frantically for the gauntlet.
"There you are," she said, picking the gauntlet and setting it down on the sash. "Now, my dress."
Pulling off her cheerful orange dress, Dhandi quickly slid the skirt up her body, the modest part of her taking over. Then she pulled her head through the collar of the bodice, guiding the rest of her upper body to fill it. She turned back to the mirror, the hem of her skirt swooshing against her feet. She twirled around, giggling as she became lost in the moment.
"That dress is very becoming on you," Amir spoke.
Dhandi stopped twirling for a moment, getting back to reality. "I look like a princess. Maybe this is how Jasmine feels getting dressed."
"Maybe."
"This dress seems too pretty for me," Dhandi chuckled.
"You look like a princess to me."
Dhandi blushed. "I...I..."
"Dance for me, please."
Dhandi bit her lip, surprised. "Well, okay."
She began stepping back, picking up her skirt and bowing. She twirled, her skirt flickering in the air. She leapt a short ways, keeping in sight of the mirror. She shook her hips, though a bit awkwardly. She then got on her tiptoes and attempted to pirouette, she becoming very light headed. However, gravity and a lack of balance took over as she tripped over the bundled up cloth and fell flat on her face.
"I'm sorry," Dhandi rubbed her forehead gingerly. "I'm not as good as in my dreams."
"Don't worry," Amir reassured her. "I liked it."
The girl smiled, "Maybe, one day, you can dance with me."
"Yes. I would like that."