Now there was absolutely no doubt in Nahil's mind that the Sultan's father was indeed him. The man who had… Tears reached his eyes, as they always did when he remembered that incident. He quickly wiped them away, not wanting anyone to see that he was crying. Now that he was sure, he knew what he had to do. And he had to do it soon.
"I think you look very nice, Princess."said Haifa uncertainly, as she finished Aida's hair.
"Well, I could certainly pass for someone of native descendence."Said Aida, looking at herself in the mirror.
"Yes, you certainly could, Princess."
"Señora! Señora!"Jacinta walked in. "We're almost out of sugar."she told Aida.
"Oh, sugar, is it?"she asked. "I'll be right there. As soon as I'm done here."
Jacinta left the room.
"Well, let's see what's needed."said Aida, getting up, and walking out of the room with Haifa.
When she arrived in the kitchen, everyone greeted her, "Buenos dias, Señora."
"Buenos dias,"said Aida, getting her small book out. "Jacinta told me we're almost out of sugar. About how much would you say?"
"White and brown sugar."
The staff began telling her what and in what quantities, as Aida wrote them down. She had learned that this was one of the duties of the mistress of an hacienda, such as Dzonot. She wrote down what was needed, and send someone to buy the supplies to the nearest town. Everything wasn't just for the house, either, but for the bodegas, and the store, where the workers bought their food and clothes. She didn't mind it much, as she had always enjoyed secretarial duties.
"Oh, Princess. What would your aunt say, if she found out that you ever had the need to show that you knew how to read and write?"asked Haifa.
"My aunt doesn't ever need to know, Haifa. Besides, she said it shows you were educated, which I will never understand, since she always said that anyone who spend their time reading and writing, it only means that they don't have enough money to make a living."
"Don't you ever miss your aunt, Princess?"
"No. And now have Tormenta saddled for me. I'm going riding."
"Where to, Princess?"
"Just around. I'll see where I go."
"Yes, Princess."
"How do you manage to get on the mare with those skirts?"Jasmine asked.
"They are pretty heavy."Aida admitted. "But that's not an impediment for me."
"No. I've noticed that nothing is."said Aladdin.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment? Or are you criticizing me?"
"I'm not criticizing."
"That's good. I just wanted to make sure. Would you like to come with me?"
"I will."said Aladdin.
"Do be careful, Dearest."said Aida's father.
"Father, what could possibly happen to me?"
"Well, I don't know, after I saw those people at that party, I'm under the impression that you are just bold enough to try something like that yourself."
"That's not a bad idea."
"Oh no!"
"I was only joking. If I didn't learn, it wouldn't be for lack of trying, though."
"My!"
Jasmine laughed.
"You might just kill Father from a shock one of these days."
"I wouldn't die of a shock. Though with you, Aida, I just might."
"Oh, no, please don't die on me, Father. I really couldn't live with it, seriously."
"Just don't try anything dangerous. Anything too…wild, Dearest."
"Don't worry, I won't. I'm only going riding, and I've always been a pretty decent horsewoman, if I do say so myself."
"Oh, well, however, Genie…"he looked around him, and Genie was nowhere to be seen.
"If you're thinking about asking Genie to keep an eye on me, it won't work. He's in the nursery. He's looking after someone else. Ali."
"Oh, my, that's true. Too true."
"I'll go."Francisco offered.
"Oh, you're fine, Francisco, but I do believe you would encourage her."
"Now, you're offending me."
"Why don't you both go with them."he asked Jasmine and Aladdin.
"Sure."said Aladdin.
"Now that's much better, Aladdin, my boy."he said, going back to adding more animals to the tower he was building, which toppled over a minute later.
"Jenga!"said Francisco. "You have a very careful hand, but I'm thinking there's a limit to everything. It can't go on forever."
"Oh, my, yes, yes."he replied, as he went back to rebuilding.
"I never knew you could keep so many animals in one place."said Jasmine.
"Well, I think there are people with more."said Francisco.
"Even more?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"Well, yeah, I mean, you can always use more livestock."
"And who takes care of all of them."
"Why, the men do, of course. That's what we pay them for."
"Are they dangerous?"
"No. Not if you don't upset them. When I was younger, I used to come every morning after breakfast, with a glass, and the chocolate in my hand. I would milk the cow myself, put chocolate in the milk, and enjoy hot chocolate that way. However, I would only drink the cream of the milk."
"The cream?"
"You know, the layer on top."
"Oh."
"And here's something I'm sure you'll enjoy."he said, as he directed his horse in a different direction.
He got off, and pulled off pieces of the tall, green stalks.
"This is sugarcane."he said. "Have you ever tasted it? Let me peel the skin off for you. You only chew on the stuff that's inside, to extract the juice from it."he said, handing everyone a piece. "Just remember not to swallow."
"Mmm. Pretty sweet."
"What did you expect? That, people, is the answer to why you use sugar to sweeten your food. They're not as sweet as they should be, because they aren't ripe yet, but they're good enough. However, we have the best sugar here in Mexico. Don't try to buy the white, white sugar. I've always thought that that stuff's just gross. The darker the sugar is, the more chances there are that it's sweeter."
"Why?"
"Because that's the color it is when you get it straight from the cane. They use I don't know what to whiten it."
"And what else have you to show us?"asked Jasmine.
"Let's see. I guess you've seen and tasted tamarindo before?"he asked.
"No."said Aladdin.
"We also have plenty of that here. It's not native. It's an Asian spice, but people here really like it, so, obviously, you get a large profit. My father used to grow oranges here, but, I decided not to. After all, there are plenty of those up north, so you don't get as much of a profit from that."
"And how would you know?"
"By going to the market, I guess. You know, what sells and what doesn't."
They spend the rest of the afternoon riding around the whole hacienda, Francisco showing and explaining different things to them.
"That was certainly a very instructive afternoon."said Aladdin. "I didn't know half of the things you said."
"I grew up here, so I guess it's only obvious I know about this area. I know it like the palm of my hand."
"It shows."
Genie was at the front steps, sniffing, when he spotted them. He immediately changed back into himself. And began telling them off.
"Well, how could we warn you? You wouldn't let anyone past that door. You said it had to stay quiet."
"No excuse!"he said.
"Why? Is something wrong?"asked Jasmine.
"Everything's solved, thanks to Miss Esther, no thanks to you."
"What happened, Genie?"asked Aladdin nervously.
"Only that thanks to your being so irresponsible, I couldn't figure any way to quiet Ali down."
"Why? Is he all right?"
"Miss Esther said he was hungry, and luckily found someone among the women who could feed him."
"Oh!"Jasmine went inside."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."said Genie, shaking his head.
"Genie, why didn't you go find us!"
"Well, first things first. I couldn't just go off."
"But Miss Esther's perfectly capable of handling Ali by herself."
"Hmmm. I don't know, I don't trust her, Al."
"How could you say that!"exclaimed Francisco. "My mother's had ten children, and yet you don't trust her to handle just one?"
"Not Al's."
"Genie!"
"Can never be too careful, Al."
"Let me guess, it was Miss Esther who figured out the problem, right?"
"I guess so."
Nahil decided that tonight would be the night he would finally see justice done. He pretended to go to sleep with everyone else. When he knew that no one was awake, except the men who kept vigil he climbed out of bed, and took a knife he had seen Ignacio leave on the counter. He walked up the stairs, through the servants' passage, and opened the door to Cassim's room. Sure enough, there he was. With the little light, he could see him there, asleep. He crossed the room, and raised the knife in the air, and prepared to stab him. Finally, he thought, finally…
