In the throne room, Jasmine and the Sultan were waiting to greet Aladdin and his father after Aida told them. The Sultan was sitting on his elephant throne, and Jasmine stood on one side, and Aida on the other. Aida kept her word not to say anything about Cazeem's being the King of Thieves to her sister or her father. They still thought that Cazeem had been imprisoned by the Fourty Thieves all his life. Aladdin introduced his father to Jasmine and stood back with Genie as Cazeem greeted Jasmine.
"My son must have been born under a special star to have come upon such treasure."Cazeem said as he kissed Jasmine's hand.
"You are most definitely Aladdin's dad." Jasmine stated.
"It must have been dreadful having been imprisoned by the Fourty Thieves all this time!" the Sultan exclaimed.
Imprisoned! thought Aida. If only he had been imprisononed! If they only knew that he was there of his own free will, and not only that, but was the leader of the Fourty Thieves!she thought angrily, but did not show it, except for a slight frown that escaped.
"Are you all right, Dearest?"Father asked her.
"Oh, I'm fine, Father, I was just thinking of something, that's all."
"Oh, well, this isn't the time to be thinking unpleasant thoughts, I should say. We must start preparing everything to hold the wedding ceremony as soon as possible. Everything is ready, so I should say…tomorrow?"
"Yes, of course."said Jasmine.
"As soon as possible, then."The Sultan stood up and rang the bell to give the order for the wedding to take place the next day in the throne room.
"Well,"said Aida later to Genie. "I kept my promise, all right. I didn't let on who that man actually is, did I?"
"Al wants us to give him a chance. That's all."
"I don't know, Genie. It's very generous of Aladdin to want to give him a second chance, but I don't think he'll appreciate it. He is, after all, a thief. He chose that, instead of his family."
"Maybe this'll help him realize what he's missed."
"Yeah, I think he'll realize he's missed money, that's all. I honestly don't think he would have come back if Aladdin was still poor. How much do you want to bet he came back because Aladdin's going to marry a princess and become sultan?"
Genie looked at her, thinking.
"I really don't think…. Maybe Al didn't tell him Jasmine was a princess."
"It wouldn't take a genius to figure that out. He was, after all, here at the wedding. Without an invitation, but here all the same."
"Oh, well, let's just hope that things don't turn out how you're saying they will."
"I honestly do hope I'm wrong, Genie. I really, really, really do."
Later, after dinner, Aida went to talk to Cazeem.
"In the little time I've known Aladdin, you should know, Mr.Cazeem, I have never seen him so happy."she said. "Which is exactly why it will not be precisely you who will cause him and my sister more misery than they already have been through."
"Of course not!"
"I was only curious, of course, what you will do the day after tomorrow. I don't believe you could resist going back to join your men, could you? They must certainly be worried."
"Um."
"You've obviously noticed that in just one day, you're already one of the most disagreeable people I've met, and mind you, that's saying something, considering I met a lot of people like my Aunt Fara during my life. She usually only associated with people like her, obviously."
"I do hope that will change."
"I doubt it. Though I hope I'm wrong, too. Listen to me, I only agreed not to turn you in for Aladdin and Jasmine, because if it weren't for them, I would have personally seen to it that you were in the dungeon, where you belong, right this minute!"
"I never wanted things to turn out how they did."
"Oh, no, of course not. You never wanted to take the easy way out."
"It should be easy for you to talk!"Cazeem exploded. "You've always had everything! You don't know what it's like to have nothing!"
"No, perhaps I don't. However, I believe Aladdin does, and he isn't a thief. Not like you, anyway. I just don't believe that you, that he, are related. Then I suppose it can't be too surprising. You would never have believed that my father and my Aunt Fara are related, would you? I know she will never change. I don't see why you will, either. I don't really care. I will just tell you one thing, just one wrong move, Cazeem, if you cause Aladdin just one more minute, second of pain and misery, then I will tell my father, and beg, implore, him, on bended knee if I have to, to sentence you imprisoned for life. You'd be escaping death because I don't believe in execution. I believe you should suffer here, on Earth. That is the worst."
"Don't bother yourself about that."Iago said as he flew in. "Aladdin's dad is a whole new person."
"Yeah, sure."
"Well, look at me."
"Iago, you're a bird, beside, I thought Jasmine said that you had been under Jafar's spell."
"Oh, right."
"Fine."
Aida went outside, and she saw something strange, or maybe not that strange. Razouk, the captain of the guards was leaving the palace. Aida looked at her watch. At this hour? Surely it couldn't be to buy something he needed, and if it were on business, wouldn't he be accompanied by at least one of the other guards. As Aida saw him leave the Palace, and could not resist the urge to follow him. She got on Tormenta and rode quietly after him. She knew how to this without being noticed, since at her aunt's, she had enjoyed listening to the gossip, and learned how to overhear what she shouldn't overhear. She thought perhaps it would be something dangerous and exciting. He had his hand firmly around his sword and was looking in different directions. Finally, she heard a voice.
"Good. You're alone."
"Whose there?"
A man stepped out of the shadows. Aida recognized him as being one of the Fourty Thieves, the one that had stripped two of the guards at Jasmine and Aladdin's wedding.
Why, that miserable…Aida thought angrily. She knew that Cazeem hadn't changed, and that this man was probably here to bribe Razouk, so that all the Fourty Thieves could get into the Palace, take what they wanted and get out with no problem. However, what he said next confused her. It sounded more like he wanted Razouk to catch Cazeem.
Oh, no!she thought. She knew that it would serve Cazeem right to spend the rest of his days in a dungeon, but she also knew that that would be very painful for Aladdin and, of course, Jasmine.
I must certainly stop them if I can, not for that man, but for Aladdin and Jasmine!
She paid attention to what they were saying. Apparently, this man wanted Razouk to go somewhere by the seaside, it seemed, say a password, and apparently, find Cazeem and the Fourty Thieves. But Cazeem was at the Palace, and if this man was one of the Fourty Thieves himself, why would he turn Cazeem in? He said that he would feel more secure if the King of Thieves was caught. Aida cantered out of the shadows.
"More secure, huh?"she asked.
"Princess Aida! What are you doing outside the Palace at this hour?"asked Razouk.
"I suppose you could say more or less the same thing as you, Razouk. Wandering about at night. If only it was because you were doing your job, but associating with criminals! The captain of the guards himself! What will my father say? How will this look to the other guards?"
"You didn't look behind to be sure you weren't followed!"exclaimed the thief angrily.
"Criminals! No, Princess. He is only a good man, who would like to give information on the King of Thieves."
"First of all, the King of Thieves is…"she was about to say 'in the Palace', but stopped herself just in time. "The King of Thieves isn't the kind of man to be telling just about anybody where he spends his spare time, I don't believe, second, this man is one of the Fourty Thieves, I recognize him from the wedding, and third, I thought much higher of you, Razouk. Anybody could trick you like this, couldn't they?"
"Listen, girl,…"Saluk began angrily, but Aida didn't give him a chance to finish.
"I think you might be a little surprised when you get there, to the hide out. Who knows if it even really exists. It's probably just a prank. I'd hang on to him to be sure, you know, after all, if he's telling he truth, he's got nothing to lose."
Aida galloped away before either of them could say another word. The next day, they were supposed to be celebrating the wedding. Aida said nothing about the unusual midnight meeting between Razouk and the thief, or about the information that he gave Razouk. She only wondered why this man would be giving that information, and whether Razouk had caught the other thieves while they stood, waiting for Cazeem to appear.
"You don't suppose something is wrong, do you?"the Sultan asked anxiously.
"No, I don't think so."Jasmine answered.
"He'll be here any minute, I'm sure."Aladdin assured them.
The doors opened, but it wasn't Cazeem who walked in, or rather it was, but not alone. He was chained, and the guards were escorting him.
"Your father is the leader of the Fourty Thieves!"exclaimed the Sultan when Razouk had explained to him why he had Cazeem chained.
"He was trying to steal this, Your Majesty."he said, holding out the Oracle.
"Wha…?"gasped Aladdin.
"Oh, Father, couldn't you…?"asked Jasmine hopefully.
"Not at all, Jasmine. Take them to the dungeon. For life."ordered the Sultan.
"Aida was right. Now I know why you really came back."said Aladdin.
"You can change my clothes, Aladdin, but you can't change who I am."
"Too true."said Aida with a look of disgust and anger on her face.
"You knew, Aida? You knew this man was the King of Thieves?"asked her father.
"Yes, Father. I didn't say anything to you or Jasmine, or the guards because Aladdin wanted to give him a second chance, and, well, you know, for that to happen, no one should know who he was. I promised, you see. See, I knew he wouldn't change, but Aladdin still wanted to give the second chance, so…"
"Oh, dear."said the Sultan. "How dreadful for you, Aladdin."
"I should've listened to you, Aida.
