Aladdin grinned as he soared high above the ocean, the magic carpet keeping him well entertained on the long flight across seas by doing flips and turns and spirals. Aladdin laughed as a voice at his back perked up.

"Yo ho yo ho a pirates life fer me: A large blue djinn dressed to the hilt in an elaborate pirate suit, including dread locks, bandanna with a skull, and knee high boots floated up beside him, breathing in the air. "Arrgh matey, the sweet air of the salty sea!" He sucked in a large breath through his nose and coughed out harshly. "Enough to put hair on your chest."

"Come on Genie." Aladdin laughed and settled back onto Carpet. "Well be reaching Gaul any time now and I don't really know how they'd take someone like you."

"Someone like me huh?" The djinn gave a grin and morphed into a short man wearing a sparkly black suit and sporting a closely shaven head. "It's cause I'm blue huh?"

Aladdin shook his head, not really getting the joke. "Anyways, it's my first official assignment as Royal Vizier to the Sultan. I need to make a good impression on these people. Living all the way out in the ocean like this, they might not know how to take a djinn and a magic carpet appearing on their shores."

"With the load your carrying you could arrive wearing a pink tutu atop a singing gorilla and they wouldn't care." Genie looked back to the cargo they were carrying. Spices unique to the Persians, silks and satins and other tradable things had been piled on as high as Carpet could carry. The wealth they brought was sure to inspire good relationships between the Arabians and the Celtic people.

"Yeah but I want to be sure. I heard that the Celts are hard to deal with, shrewd traders and fierce warriors. I'd rather my first attempt at diplomacy not be ended on a sword point." Aladdin grimaced and tugged at his high collar. Personally, he despised being in all this fancy clothing and thought he might be better received if he looked a little less like a pompous ass. But it was one of many sacrifices he had made now that he was the Princess's husband. His time, Aladdin had come to discover, was very rarely his own. He was expected to attend everything from minor common squabbles over live stocks to war councils. And, if he missed one single meeting, it was politely suggested that he did not take his duties as future Sultan seriously.

Sometimes he didn't know how Jasmine and her father did it.

That was why, when it was decided that the steal and metal working of the Celts would be worth the effort in trade, Aladdin eagerly seize the opportunity for a break from palace life. A month without having to worry about other peoples problems and priorities. Just a simple trade establishment and he could relax for a while.

Another part of what he missed as a street rat. The freedom. He rarely, if ever, got to see beyond the palace walls anymore. He now fully understood why Jasmine had felt so trapped and imprisoned. She sympathized with him, and promised to find a break in their schedules to do what they missed. Jasmine longed for the open skies as much as he did, and had even less freedom now that she was a properly married Arabic woman. There was twice as much on her shoulders, being expected to get pregnant as soon as possible and provide as many heirs to the throne as she could.

But, as Jasmine had told him gently, that was the price you paid for power. They were ruling a kingdom, and as royalty their lives no longer belonged to themselves. It only looked like the lap of luxury, that was the benefit of shouldering all of the responsibility and troubles of a country. "Some compensation huh?" she had smiled and kissed him softly.

Oh he was going to miss her very much over the next month.

"Wow…"

Aladdin looked up at the world from his friend and soon felt his jaw drop at the sight before them. Huge, craggy white cliffs rose before them, topped with a green more pure and vivid than the finest emeralds in the world. Swirling mists rose from the sea just as the sun broke through the cloudy sky, casting an almost ethereal glow over the island landscape. It was like coming upon a piece of Paradise, broken off and fallen into the ocean. Aladdin's eyes bulged at the unbelievable landscape stretched before him. "Genie…this is…amazing. I had no idea it would be so…green!"

"Green as a clover on a spring day laddie." The djinn had morphed again, this time into a squat, red haired little man dressed in a lime green bowler hat and carrying a bowl of multi colored shapes. "Lucky Charms?" he asked inquiringly.