Previously:

"…" Alibaba sat there for a moment, stunned to find himself in the middle of a very deep and large pit with all the sacks of treasure. He had been transported back to the base of where Amon's dungeon used to be.

"The boy appeared where the dungeon had vanished!" exclaimed one of the many astonished onlookers who had come to investigate the dungeon's disappearance.

"Just like the old legend!" said another.

"That boy finished the dive!?"

"WHOOOAAAH!!!" The crowd cheered in amazement. Alibaba smiled and looked around excitedly.

"Huh? Aladdin? Faith…?" he said, confused when he realized neither of them was still with him. 'Ah, well… It's cool, we still have some time…' he thought, assuming that wherever they were, they were probably together somewhere safe. 'I must head back home and get prepared, then I'll wait for him. I know you'll be back, Aladdin!!!' he grinned at the memory of the younger boy calling him his friend.

However, Aladdin and Faith would never return to that city.

Chapter 20: Reunion

"This… This is amazing…!" Ren Koumei said, staring at the scroll in his hands in astonishment. He had been wondering why his older brother had summoned him all the way out to his base on the Tenzan plateau, but this… "If we use this method for long-distance communication, then instead of weeks, or even months, we can know what's happening in any given corner of the empire almost instantly! I never would have thought… Can our magicians really do this?"

"Yes." Kouen answered confidently. "It may take some time to set up since we will have to have the magician's learn how to coordinate with each other, but I have been told that it is definitely possible to carry out. I got the idea after talking to someone very interesting. I called you out here because want you to meet her. I believe she can be very useful to us." With that, Kouen stood up and he led his younger brother out of his tent and over to Hope's.

"Her name is Hope Dupont," he began to explain, "and she is so desperate to find her sister, that if we offer to use our resources to find her missing twin for her, she would most likely do anything we asked of her in return."

"Twins? How unusual…" Koumei remarked as Kouen reached to open the flap of Hope's tent. He was surprised when his older brother suddenly froze. "Is something…" Koumei started to ask as he peered around his brother's shoulder to see inside, trailing off when he saw what was wrong. Instead of the eighteen-year-old girl they were looking for, the two brothers were greeted by the sight a couple of soldiers, both of whom were fast asleep. One of them had been stripped of his uniform, and Hope Dupont and her bag of mysterious items was missing. She had obviously drugged her guards by grinding up some of her sleeping pills and slipping the powder into their tea on the sly.

Yes, it was for that very purpose that Hope had endeavored to gradually gain the trust of the men guarding her. Each evening she offered them a pot of tea, biding her time til she found an opportunity to escape. With her medicine running low and her anxiety on the rise, Hope had made up her mind that she needed to take action and start searching for her sister before her meds ran out, while she could still trust herself to think straight. So she took advantage of the commotion caused by the arrival of Koumei the previous evening to escape under the cover of darkness during the new moon. First, she drugged her guards and waited for them to fall asleep. Then, she pulled one of their uniforms on over her dress to blend in while she marched over to the tent where she had managed to learn the magic carpets were being kept. She almost hit a bit of a snag there when some suspicious soldiers intercepted her, but she used the silver spoon she had borrowed from her dinner tray to parry their attacks. With her attackers bound and gagged so they couldn't alert anyone to her escape, Hope then grabbed one of the carpets and slipped out of the camp as quickly and quietly as possible, flying away during the moonless night as far and as fast as the magic carpet could carry her.

"…" Kouen stood there with his face cast partially in shadow. "Hmph! It seems I underestimated that woman…" he said with a smirk and a dangerous look in his eyes that sent shivers down the spines of the men who came running when he called out to issue orders for a search.

'Oh dear…' Koumei thought, covering his mouth with his fan. He hadn't seen his older brother this excited in a long while…

"…?" Hope said, shuddering, while she wondered why she suddenly felt as thought someone had just walked over her grave as she passed over a range of mountains. But despite the chill running up her spine, the air was beginning to warm a little with the rising of the sun, and Hope found herself being overcome by a strange feeling of optimism as the sky brightened. Unfortunately, she was also feeling exhausted and drained after flying all night, and before she knew it, the carpet was riding lower and lower as she began drifting in and out of consciousness, until it ran aground on some flat land at the edge of the mountains, and the rough (but not too rough) accidental landing somehow ended with her getting rolled up inside of it like a human burrito. She lay there, for hours, until the sun was high in the sky. The ground began to shake with the great thundering of many galloping horses' hooves beating against it, and still she continued to lay there like a log.

"Hm?" one of the young men said when he spotted something on the ground. "Hold on." He said, signaling the others to stop.

"Is it the enemy camp?" another one of the men asked.

"No, but… that's a person, right?" the first young man said, pointing to Hope.

"What, another one?" another man asked. "That's the third one today!"

"I guess we better take her back too…" the first young man said, dismounting to collect her. "!?" he gasped in surprise when he turned her over.

"What is it?"

"Her face… It's exactly the same as that other girl we found!"

Meanwhile, the women and children were working away back at the yurts, taking care of all the domestic chores and tending the horses and livestock.

"In order to make the best milk… you'll have to turn it harder than that." An old woman wearing a black cloak told a young boy working one of the churns.

"Huh? But Baba-sama, how come you can see me if you're blind?" the child asked.

"Oh? Because the rukh told me." The old women replied. "You'll understand more when you're older, that there is nothing the rukh doesn't see."

"Rukh? What's that~?"

"They are like small birds that dwell in the darkness."

"Baba-sama's always talking about birds and stuff." One of the young women said with a smile.

"Uhm, Baba-sama, the men found something weird!" another one of the young boys announced as members from the patrol entered the tent, carrying three unconscious strangers.

"Weird, you say?" the old woman asked, turning to face them. "Oh…" she gasped. Her eyes widened. "This is… The rukh are clamoring…"

"What are you saying, Baba-sama?" asked one of the girls.

"This kid sure looks weird… and these girls… I've never seen anything like this before…" said the young man who had found them. "I wonder… just what are they, anyway?"

"…pe. Hope!"

Hope woke with a start when she realized a familiar voice had been calling her name. She blinked and stared up in surprise at the girl looming over her.

"Faith…!!!" She exclaimed as she sat up and threw her arms around her sister, holding tight to make sure she was real and not a dream. "Oh my God, it's really you!!"

"In the flesh!" Faith said with a big grin as she returned her twin's hug. "When I woke up and saw you there, I almost didn't believe it~! Is this where you've been this whole time!?"

"Well, no… Come to think of it, where is 'this'?" Hope asked, glancing around. "Are we in a yurt?"

"Hmm, looks like it…" Faith said, taking another look around.

"Oh?" The twins turned to see that a young woman had started to enter the yurt while balancing a tray with two bowls what looked like warm milk. "Have the two of you woken up already?" she asked pleasantly with a smile. "Your little friend is still asleep next door."

"Friend?" Hope asked, wondering what on earth she could be talking about.

"This 'friend' wouldn't happen to be a boy with blue hair and flute, would it?" asked Faith.

"Huh?" said Hope.

"It's a long story, sis." Faith said when she saw the curious look Hope was giving her.

"That's fine." Hope said with a wry smile. "I've got one of those, myself…"

"What is a 'country'?" Aladdin asked during one of his studying sessions with Ugo.

"It's a determined land where political institutions rule a nation." The Djinn replied.

"Ok, so what is a 'nation'?"

"A nation is a community that shares consanguinity."

"I see… Then… what am I?" Aladdin asked seriously.

"…" Ugo remained silent.

"You never answer this question…" Aladdin said grimly. "What is the point of me being excluded from all the worlds described in these books and being stuck here alone? Answer me! Answer me!"

"…" Once again, Ugo would said nothing.

"Why won't you answer me?!!!" Aladdin screamed anxiously.

Aladdin's eyes shot open as he awoke from his dream. Actually, it was less of a dream and more of a memory…

"… Morning, Ugo-kun." Aladdin said a bit slowly as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "?" He didn't recognize where he was, but the bed was nice and warm.

"Oh, he really is in here! Hey, Aladdin~!" Faith said as she lifted the tent flap, holding it open for another pretty young woman holding a tray of food for him.

"Ah… Morning… Aladdin-kun…" the young woman said a bit shyly, giving him a kind smile. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Yay! I want!" Aladdin said excitedly, happy to see a familiar face and some food. "Ohh!" He gasped when he saw Hope. "Wow, is that your sister, Faith!? You really do have the same face~!!" he said, surprised.

"Hello… Aladdin, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Hope." Hope greeted the younger boy with a smile as they entered the tent. "I hear you've been taking care of my sister for me. Must've been tough." She said sympathetically.

"Yeah, it really was…" Aladdin said with a small smile, causing Faith to flinch.

"Wha!? You traitors…!!" Faith snapped incredulously. "Come on, give some credit! I think I did pretty good, considering the circumstances… It's not like I got arrested or anything... although, it was a pretty close call…" she said defensively, muttering the last part under her breath.

"What was that?" Hope asked pointedly with a shit-eating grin that told her sister she had definitely heard her. From the sound of it Faith had been really enjoying herself while she was being held captive. A bead of sweat slid down the side of Faith's face as she avoided her sister's gaze a bit guiltily. Toya, the young woman who had come in with them, smiled and let out a soft laugh as she set Aladdin's tray down on his bed for him.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she apologized. "I'm glad that you're all fine. We found the three of you unconscious near the edge of the mountain… If night had come, the wolves would've killed you…"

'Night? Just how long have we been out…?' Hope wondered.

"Oh, scary!" Aladdin said while stuffing his face with the food they had brought him. "Then, you saved me, onee-san?"

"No, the person who saved you is… Dorji, a friend of mine…" Toya replied as someone lifted the tent flap.

"Oh… So you've woken up?" said Baba-sama as she entered the tent, unsurprised to find all three of them together again. "Children of the rukh."