Chapter 18: Snakes and Angles

Princess Jasmine tried to ignore the distressing sounds coming from outside of Syreeta's tent as she took stock of her situation one more time.

The princess was still bound to her cushy ottoman stool by the typhlopids. There were two of them on each side of her. They came out of the ground at acute angles to coil around each of her legs pushing up her dress and then curling around it to capture her waist and pin her arms to her sides. Each of their heads stretched up to rest just below the princess's neck.

Occasionally a typhlopid would shift and she would feel its body slither over her bare skin. This frequently caused her to shiver which made the typhlopids constrict even tighter around her body. Any movement on her part elicited this reaction, so the princess was doing her best to remain still.

Beyond the princess to the left and a foot away, Abu lay on his own ottoman and was encased by a single typhlopid. The monkey despite her efforts was still asleep.

Before both of them was the large table that still held the remnant of her luncheon with Syreeta. The princess eyed the dainty butter knives and priceless but easily broken China plates and cups that lay just out of her current reach. There were other potential weapons of interest: an ornate wooden walking stick, a large mirror, the paper lanterns, and some of the smaller lacey furniture pieces. The princess could think of a few ways to use each item, but those ideas required her not to be in her present circumstances.

Jasmine took a shallow breath. A deep one, if it was possible at this point, was ill-advised.

"Abu?" she hissed, far too softly.

Since the monkey still did not react, it was time to move on to her new contingency plan.

Jasmine had initially feared that any escape plan would require the miracle of outside help. However, the typhlopids' current configuration combined with the softness of her ottoman seat cushion meant she was not truly trapped. Perhaps it was due to the lack of air, the stress she was under, or simply a lingering symptom of her earlier nightmare. Regardless, Jasmine came to the realization of the degree of freedom she still had thanks to an old memory. Louder than Abu's snoring or the noise from outside, and yet softer than a whisper, the sultana's soothing voice had entered the princess's mind.

I love linear equations too, Jasmine, but in Shehrabad, they have a saying: Sometimes you have to leave the mountain to measure its weight.

It is relevant. You just have to be patient, flower.

I know we are not in Shehrabad. We are in Agrabah and I promise you that the equivalent saying here is very illustrative for today's lesson. Out in the marketplace—

No, we are not going there today, Jasmine. We might go tomorrow if you pay attention. I will ask your baba about his availability during luncheon.

Yes, really. Now, are you ready to listen?

Good. As I was saying before, out in the marketplace, they have a similar saying. Your people simply call the concept: Thinking outside of the box.

And so, after Jasmine's eyes had dried, she had a plan which did away with the concept of a traditional cubic coordinate system and substituted it with a spherical system and all its curves, angles, and irrational numbers. Thus, the crux of her scheme did not rely on Syreeta's cooperation, Aladdin, Rajah, or linear translations. Instead, like a true Shebali woman, the princess would utilize the applied mathematics her mother had taught her years ago.

The princess had run through the necessary calculations for optimum movement, ensured the docility of the typhlopids, and confirmed her relative position to Abu and other points of interest.

She was ready.

To begin, the princess pressed down on the right side of the ottoman and tilted her head that way as well. The typhlopids reacted to her movement by pulling her to the left. Instead of fighting the typhlopids, the princess threw her weight into the change in direction, so now she was noticeably leaning to the left. The typhlopids on her right tried to move her back. However, the princess thwarted their attempt to reach equilibrium by once again moving with them and adding unexpected momentum to their corrective action.

If the typhlopids had been smarter, they could have dampened the effects of the princess's interference after a few repetitions, but as she suspected, the typhlopids' understanding of mathematics, oscillatory systems, and causation was very limited. Hence, with each change in direction, the princess managed to make the typhlopids overcompensate which augmented the very behavior that they wished to stop.

Using the typhlopids' involuntary help, the princess rocked from side to side, leaning further and further with each pull until, at last, she achieved her aim. The princess finally made contact with Abu on the other ottoman! The sudden weight of her body crashing into the monkey did what her voice could not.

Abu came awake, but before the princess could celebrate or explain the situation to the monkey, a slight flaw emerged in her plan.

The typhlopids were not done with her. While Abu cried out in alarm from being wrapped up in a giant snake, the princess was hurled to the right. Since the equivalent ottoman on the princess's other side was not in her line of action, the princess had nothing to land on but the ground. She became unseated from her ottoman and fell onto the hard earth.

The princess could not do much from this new position. She was stuck looking at the side of an ottoman chair and the lunch table's legs as the sound of hissing, angry monkey chittering, and the shattering of China came from up above. However, soon the chaos found her as well. Bits of cake, tea cups, liquid, and stray utensils landed all around her. A fork pierced her calf. Lukewarm tea fell onto her back. A piece of iced lemon cake plopped onto the princess's head and dripped frosting from her hair onto her nose.

Then, even the racket from the altercation above, the stabbing pain in her leg, the sticky sweet tea clinging to her back, her soiled hair, and the frosting on her face became secondary. A new smell had infiltrated the tent. The cloying scent of vanilla pear perfume was being distorted by a more conventional and dangerous odor:

Smoke.

Somewhere in the tent, Abu had started a fire.


A/N: Everything was great until the fire attacked...

For those of you who aren't reading Rajah's Curse, you might be a bit surprised by the math knowledge, Jasmine pulls out here. It's a well-known fact she's a math prodigy in that story. Here, it's more of a subtle thing...though, I have alluded to it a few times. Jasmine's mother is from Shehrabad and in my universe, Shehrabad is an Indian country filled with scholarly Amazon types. Jasmine's mother(who according to fan calculations should be 7 feet tall) was a legend for all the work she did to help bring Agrabah out of a pickle. My Jasmine has inherited a lot of her mother's intelligence and her political career in the trade department (which involves a lot of math) has definitely been helped along by her advanced Shebali-style education. I could say more, like how Jasmine earned her headpiece(no peacock princessing here)...but I literally have a 50-plus chapter fic called Rajah's Curse that delves further into this, so...I supposed all I will say...is y'all should give Rajah's Curse a try...

Moving on...

While a fire is burning here, you can look forward to seeing how Aladdin is faring.

See you soon!