Chapter 03: Stolen Scrolls

Aladdin was surprised by how much they managed to do for most of the morning into the mid-afternoon. He spent the time catching up with some of the townspeople, from visiting Ezele, Yirya and Miza at their hut to checking in with some of the workers who had rebuilt the town to close to its former glory. Many had warm words for Aladdin, Jasmine, and the rest of the group, as they recalled the battle with the Deathseeker.

But one person that Aladdin hadn't seen yet was Remi, the glasses-wearing, goofy archivist of the town. He maintained the historical records of Gloloria. For a while, it had been more of a heavy task for Remi as he was responsible for maintaining the list of townspeople and travelers that were either missing or killed by the Deathseeker. However, since the Deathseeker's demise, Remi was an eager participant of restoring all the scrolls detailing the history, language, and culture of the town. Even several art pieces of the woman who raised him were on more focal display after Agrabah donated several tools (courtesy of Genie) to help in the process.

At first, Aladdin stopped by Remi's home to visit, but upon knocking on the door, he realized his mistake. He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Of course Remi wouldn't be at home this time of day. He's probably working. I hope he doesn't mind me stopping by to say hi. Been a while since I last saw him."

Jasmine had opted to stay with Tani to catch up on the town's updates since they were last there. Iago and Abu were lounging on the beach, trying to outdo each other building sandcastles along the shoreline. Genie was catching up with Ezele, Yirya, and Miza. Genie tried to impress Miza with a series of jokes and gags that were hit and miss with the little girl. What made it even more funny was that Miza was point blank in her feedback for each joke being told, which made her parents laugh. Ezele had to leave a little sooner than expected to do some research, but Aladdin was glad that Genie had an audience to have fun with.

Aladdin whistled as he stepped back from Remi's door. Carpet showed up a short time later, waiting for Aladdin to climb aboard.

"Hey Carpet, you wanna head over more inland to go see Remi? I'm sure he'll be happy to see us. I think he's the only person we haven't had the chance to talk to since we came back to Gloloria."

Carpet gave a brief salute before speeding off in the direction of the archive. One of the reasons why the archive and memorial were the longest standing features of Gloloria was because they were so far inland. Back when the Deathseeker was alive, it would attack the buildings close to the shoreline and grab anyone within range to use as a sacrifice. Aladdin was happy that the town was able to thrive again, with a focus on keeping its history alive not just for its residents but to allow travelers to learn as well.

When Carpet landed, Aladdin realized that the door to the archive was slightly ajar. That was unusual for Remi, since he usually kept the door closed and allowed the bell to ring to signal anyone who might walk in and need his help with something.

"Remi? You there?" Aladdin eased open the door, not wanting to scare the young archivist if he could. Normally the archives were organized to the finest precision, but it looked like Remi was doing some...redecorating? If one could call it that. Several scrolls were stacked on tables, some had fallen on the floor even. Aladdin remembered that Remi was in the process of converting some of the records there, but even he would have a fit at this level of disorganization.

"Wonder if he has a new apprentice or someone helping him out. It isn't like him to have this kind of chaos going on. Usually he's way more organized." Aladdin called out to Remi again, looking around the tables and shelves in the area. The archive had definitely undergone renovations since Aladdin had last visited. It was larger and made more accomodations for space and materials. Aladdin could see shelves of scrolls as well as books. While it was tiny compared to Agrabah's palace libraries, the area had a cozy accommodation. Aladdin knew that was part of the draw for why Remi worked, even stayed nights there researching. Aladdin then wondered if Remi was in the back part of the archive, where some living quarters were situated. It would make sense, except the front door had been left open. The Prince of Agrabah didn't think Remi would leave it that way if he was taking a nap.

Then Aladdin saw the broken glasses. He'd nearly stepped on them as he'd been looking up at some of the shelves.

"Are these...?" Aladdin said, kneeling to examine them. The mild concern he'd had before was now a growing knot of anxiety in his stomach. His eyes looked up to a distance away in the dim lantern lights, where he saw Remi lying on the floor.

"Remi!" Aladdin rushed to his side, realizing quickly that Remi was starting to stir, his groan apparent as the archivist held the side of his head, blinking a few times.

"Aladdin, is that you? Can't see well without my glasses."

"Do you have another pair nearby that I can get you? The ones on the floor are broken. What happened?"

"Yeah, there's another pair in the back room. Someone or something stole an important scroll from the archive. Attacked me when I was least expecting it. I don't remember who it was, just remember they knocked me out with something and took the scroll. I have to figure out who did it."

Aladdin struggled to take this all in. "You think the thief's still here?"

Remi shook his head. "They're probably long gone. You didn't see anyone when you came in, did you?"

"No, not at all. Hold on, let me get your glasses from the back, then we'll talk. Probably better to lock the door too for right now." Aladdin quickly locked the front door to the archive, then went to the back rooms to get a pair of glasses for Remi. Apparently Remi had a few to spare, given Genie had made them for him before they left. But Aladdin smiled as Remi put on the glasses he'd retrieved, as the young man felt mild relief at seeing Aladdin clearly.

"Sorry that we're not meeting under better circumstances. When did you all arrive?"

"Last night, but never mind that for now, we can catch up later. What happened?"

Remi took a moment to survey the room, his momentary relief vanished when he saw the mess. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Looks like the thief pulled out so many of those scrolls even after I passed out. Wonder if he took anything else."

Aladdin nodded, his brow furrowed. "I can help you put them back and figure out what's missing. Just say the word."

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks Aladdin, I appreciate it." Aladdin helped Remi to his feet, but even then, the historian still had trouble. He stumbled a little to the point where Aladdin had to put a hand on his back to keep him from falling backward. "I don't know what kind of mist magic that thief used, but it's powerful. I still can't focus even with my glasses on."

"The thief attacked you with some kind of spell?"

Remi rubbed the back of his neck. "Something to that effect, a poisonous mist maybe? I couldn't tell, never saw anything like it before. My memory's fuzzy. I wanna say that the thief told me something important about the text he stole, but I don't know what it was."

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

Remi was quiet a long moment, trying to mentally walk through the last memories he had when he was awake. At the moment where he appeared ready to tell Aladdin something important, he hissed with pain, his teeth clenched.

"Hey, easy!" Aladdin helped steady him before he could fall over. "I think you need to sit down."

"It was on the tip of my tongue. I remembered something and then it just...vanished." Remi said, groaning even as he sat at an uncluttered table. "I'm starting to think that whoever attacked me doesn't want me to recover those memories."

Aladdin leaned against the edge of the table, looking at Remi with concern. "Seems that way. Look, since you were just attacked, maybe asking you to remember something so horrible is a little much. For now, we can identify what else is missing. If you tell me where to put things, I can do it versus you moving around too much, least until you feel better. Would that work?"

Remi nodded. They both took a while to sort through all the scrolls and books that were a cluttered mess upon several tables and on the floor. Remi had done an excellent job of labeling things, making it easy for Aladdin to find where he needed to put the scrolls and books in order. By the time they were done, it was just before sunset. Aladdin carried a few mugs of water for the two of them, serving one to Remi while taking one for himself once they were done.

"Looks like I'm missing two scrolls, but both of them are important," Remi said, a heaviness to the revelation in his voice. "The thief knew exactly what he wanted to take. It wasn't a coincidence."

Aladdin took a seat across from where Remi sat as he sipped his water. "What were they?"

"One was a hand created copy of remedies to various curses and magic maladies. It's one of the scrolls Saztou left behind in his many writings. Ezele has the only other original of it, uses it daily to help both townspeople and visitors who are sick. It was the source of the potions he made to help Yirya and the rest of the villagers who were Vessels during the Deathseeker's reign, among other things. While we could duplicate Ezele's original, the one stolen was penned by Saztou himself. He made two so that more than one person could reference it if they needed to. The other scroll stone is definitely NOT replaceable or replicable. Matter in point, I was actively working on it." Remi shook his head in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe his rotten fortune. "It was a written history of the Deathseeker. I was chronicling not only where it came from but also its demise. I made sure to give all of you from Agrabah credit in destroying it."

Aladdin's shoulders sank. "I'm sorry Remi. That makes me wonder even more who might've taken them and why."

"Right?! It doesn't make sense!" Aladdin admitted that he could feel Remi's anguish through his words. But for him, being a former thief, Aladdin admitted to himself that he could draw a few connections based on the content of both documents.

Remi appeared to pick up on Aladdin's hesitance. "Wait...You've figured out something, haven't you?"

Aladdin shook his head. "Nothing definite yet. But I have a few hunches. I'd rather meet up with Ezele, Genie and the others to talk it all out before acting on it."

Remi appeared to shudder at the thought. "As much as I know that I have to tell someone about this, I don't think Ezele's going to be too happy with me losing two of the most important documents stored here. I'm supposed to be doing a better job of maintaining this place."

"Don't blame yourself for any of this, Remi. You didn't know." Aladdin stood, stretching his arms over his head. "Let's head over to Ezele's. I'll go with you, since I definitely don't want that thief trying to take a second pass at you."

Remi nodded after a long moment. He clearly had more than a fair share of hesitation and dread, but Aladdin was glad that he agreed to the plan. But it wasn't lost on him of how important this was. Either the thief planned on doing something that would be very helpful to an unknown cause, or the action would cause an immeasurable amount of harm.

"WE'VE ONLY BEEN HERE LESS THAN A DAY!" Iago shouted after Aladdin explained the situation. Aladdin didn't miss the way Remi winced at the bird's words. Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, Carpet and Ezele all sat in the common room of his home. Yirya and Miza had left some time before, getting ready to help out at the diner for the evening meal for the town. Still, the bird's words struck a nerve with everyone around the room.

"Will you calm down, Iago?" Jasmine scolded. "It's not Remi's fault that he was attacked by a thief!"

"No, no, no, you're missing what I'm actually getting at," Iago said, slapping a wing against his forehead and running it down the length of his face and beak. "I'm sayin' that this kinda thing always happens when we try to go on vacation. Every. Single. Time. How do we have the luck of trying to take a break for a change, and then somethin' like this happens? Can't someone else take on the responsibility for once?!"

Aladdin shook his head. "It's not that simple. If we can do something about it that can help, then we can't just wait for someone else to take care of the matter. I don't believe in looking away." He shifted his feet as he leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. "Look, I have two possibilities in mind as to why that thief might've taken those two scrolls, but it's a hard sell."

Ezele nodded to Aladdin from his seat. "I would be curious to hear what you think. Being a former thief of the streets, I presume you would know well of what you speak."

Remi's mouth dropped open. "Wait...you were a thief, Aladdin?"

Aladdin's shoulders tensed. "I used to be, when living on the streets of Agrabah. But I mostly stole to eat and survive. If my hunch is right on one end, then this may not be as sinister as we think it is, despite what that thief did to Remi." Aladdin looked between his friends before continuing. "The Deathseeker had many curses that left people suffering. The thief might've taken them thinking that they contained something helpful, something they could use."

"You mean like breaking a curse?" Jasmine asked. "That makes sense. But wouldn't the Deathseeker's curses have vanished since we destroyed it?"

"That's along the lines of what I was thinking at first, Jasmine. But maybe they're dealing with something similar and need a point of reference to go by."

Genie frowned. "Well, they could have asked instead of attacking Remi."

Remi nodded his agreement. "I would've pointed them in Ezele's direction, since he's the town medic that's well versed in all this. I also would have told them they could reference the scrolls as much as they wanted while with me. But I would not have been able to give them to take outside of the archive. Rules are rules for a reason. Some documents are forbidden to take out. Other people in the village may need to reference them as well; that's why the rule's in place."

"Makes sense," Jasmine said, turning her attention back to Aladdin. "That leaves the second option you haven't said anything about yet. The one where the thief's intentions aren't so good."

Iago raised a brow. "As goody two shoes as Al can be, can his mind stretch much to know what a thief with horrible intentions would do in this situation?"

Aladdin groaned, rolling his eyes. "Iago, as a thief, you have to be able to see multiple sides to everything, not just one point. Thinking narrow is what gets you in trouble." He paused a moment, looking outside one of Ezele's windows to see the moon rising in the sky. "The other point I was thinking is that we might be dealing with someone taking notes on how to do something bad. Even acting on those plans."

"You mean imitating the Deathseeker?" Ezele said. The disbelief in Ezele's voice gave Aladdin pause, but the Prince knew he had to explain more.

"I know it sounds crazy to say that someone would want to imitate a former sky god and sea demon, if we look at the different forms it took. They wouldn't have the capability or range to do what it did, if this were a common thief. But," Aladdin looked at Ezele directly, holding the healer's gaze with equal seriousness. "Those scrolls had a connection. If we thought about how someone might use them for good to heal someone, they may be looking for a way to harm. Maybe shift the blame to something more otherworldly, even if it doesn't exist anymore."

"Ooooooh," Genie said, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Al, that's good. That's really good."

"Why are you excited over this? This is not a good situation at all!" Iago snapped, using his wing to smack Genie on the back of his head. Abu raised a brow, reaching out to grab Iago's tail to prevent the bird from doing it again.

Ezele's expression appeared less judgmental as he realized what Aladdin meant. "I understand now. A diversionary tactic. You make good points, your highness. If what I fear is the worst of this situation in those lines, it's all the more reason to find the missing scrolls at once."

"Right. I've a feeling they aren't too far away," Aladdin said. "There's not an inhabitable place they can go besides the desert right now, so the thief might still be here. If I were still a thief, that'd be how I'd plan it. Lay low until you can slip out with no one looking."

Jasmine agreed with a nod. "Then we'll have to look around town as much as we can."

"Uh, has anyone ever thought that maybe this might be an inside job? I don't think looking at visitors should be the only option. Has anyone checked on Arzin lately as culprit numero uno?" As soon as the words left the bird's mouth, Abu made a move to leap and cover Iago's beak before he could say anything else. But the damage had already been done as the whole room fell into awkward silence.

Remi spoke after a long moment, his voice quiet. "I definitely don't think it was Arzin. I would have remembered that."

Ezele had a much firmer tone to take as he looked directly at Iago. The look he gave both Iago and Abu could have been the sun melting a glacier within a matter of seconds. "I would advise that you not accuse my brother of any wrongdoing so carelessly and callously. Arzin has been with me and others this entire afternoon. He was never in the range of the archives. He may have displayed horrible behavior before, but he very much was under the control of the Deathseeker for at least part of those activities."

Jasmine held up her hands, attempting to diffuse the tension in the room. "I don't think anyone would think Arzin was a part of this. If Remi says he wasn't involved, and Ezele and others account for his whereabouts, then I believe them." She gave Iago a sharp side-eye. "And I don't think it's wise to throw out names without any kind of evidence. We need to look into this deeper. And there's still the matter of Remi's memories returning. We have to be patient."

Remi was glad for the change in subject, but his sadness showcased his guilt. "If anything comes up that I can remember, I'll definitely let all of you know. Should we let the rest of the town know that the scrolls are missing?"

Aladdin shook his head. "No, that might tip the thief off. For now, we'll keep it between us and investigate where we can." He was glad that ended the meeting between them where it did. In the end, Ezele agreed to have some trusted guards put on watch overnight at the memorial and archives. Remi agreed to go home to rest. Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, and Carpet would return to the inn, with Ezele giving them a warning before they left.

"I do not wish to impose on you as our guests while you stay here, but please be vigilant of anything you may see. The sooner that we can get those scrolls back, even if it means we don't end up catching the thief that took them, the better. Don't become involved more than you have to."

"Nice going, Iago," Genie said facetiously as the group made their way back to the inn that evening. "Our first full day here and you already made some of our welcoming hosts mad. Ezele's usually pretty calm. I've never seen him that angry, at least not since we were fighting the Deathseeker itself."

"It was just a suggestion! I was bein' honest," Iago said, shrugging his wings. "I mean, can we at least agree that Arzin's previous history isn't the most clear cut? I wouldn't put it past the guy to have something to do with this. He's always so secretive and moody. Even that conversation with Al in the diner earlier..."

Aladdin had been walking ahead of the group at that point, but he was still in range to hear much of the conversation. At the point where Iago mentioned his name, he decided that was the last straw. He turned so quickly that everyone behind him stopped walking. "Iago, enough!"

Even Carpet stopped floating casually as the group walked along the beach towards the inn, his whole body stiffening at the anger in Aladdin's tone. Jasmine was struck to silence, Genie's brows rose, Abu looked like he would rather be anywhere else (considering he knew where the conversation was going). Iago seemed to be the only one ready to protest, but Aladdin didn't give him the chance.

"Look, you can believe what you want, but that doesn't mean you should spout off the mouth everything that comes to mind. Accusing someone of something like this is not something to do lightly. Remi was badly hurt - you weren't there when I helped him. Those scrolls are irreplaceable in their value; we still don't know the whole story about what happened," Aladdin's tone had been more reasonable in saying the obvious, but his next words came with all the sharpness of a short dagger. "But what you won't do is bring my name up whenever you think it's convenient. Even in the conversation I had with Arzin this morning, he definitely sounded like he's changed, at least a little. He even admitted to me that what he did to us under the Deathseeker's reign was wrong. He felt guilty about it."

Iago winced, realizing only then that he might've gone too far. "Okay, I admitted I didn't hear all of the conversation about that, but..."

"I'm not done," Aladdin snapped. "It's not just the fact that you judge Arzin for what he did, but specifically what he did to me. You will NOT use my name to bring up reasons for judging him for something totally unrelated. I already said before that I had no hard feelings about what Arzin did back then, and I meant it. You don't get to use me as your excuse!" He turned his back on the group, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "People can change for the better. I'd like to think that Arzin's at least doing his best to try. So stop bringing me into it."

Without another word, Aladdin continued walking to the inn, picking up his pace as he did so.

"Aladdin, wait a minute!" Jasmine said, going after him.

Abu, Iago, and Carpet all stared after the two royals while standing in the same place on the beach. Abu was the first one to break the silence hovering in the air, besides the wind. "Wow."

"You said it, monkey boy," Genie said, frowning as he turned to Iago. For the first time in a while, Genie realized that Iago looked genuinely guilty for what he'd said, even as the bird perched on his shoulder.

But Iago gave Genie a sheepish, guilty grin as he spoke his next words. "Does this mean I'm sleepin' in the birdhouse?"

Genie deadpanned a response almost immediately. "Judging from that response? Yep."

"Uh-huh," Abu agreed.

Carpet flew ahead of them, his knobs sagging as if wanting to go back to the happier vibes of their vacation as soon as he could manage.