Premise: Before revealing Alma Torran, Aladdin spoke of Other Worlds that can prosper and be destroyed without ever coming into contact. As Solomon created the world in Magi, many other worlds mirrored it. Aladdin and Al Thamen went to it, but one such mirrored world without them follows a different destiny. Even without Al Thamen's meddling throughout the ages, there are many parallels in this world as forces get it to mimic the original, however some distortions shine through the warped glass. In this particular mirror Alibaba never went into Amon's dungeon, he is still working for Budel. Judar took Jamil through with Morgiana and Goltas. There are no black metal vessels. Without Al Thamen and Arba, Kou may be a smaller empire, but currently flourishes under Hakutoku. Gyokuen is simply Gyokuen.
There she was, walking to Balbadd. Caramel skin poked through her conservative clothing that protected her from the harsh sun. Her hand rubbed her necklace as she hummed a simple tune. When to her astonishment, a naked man appeared before her with open arms. He had a chiseled body and a goofy grin.
"Hey there! Nice weather we're having!"
Before he could take another step, he found a saber to his throat as the woman had drawn the weapon and rushed him, somehow getting behind him before he could blink. Dang she's fast! the man thought.
"Don't get any ideas. I am not such an easy target," the female's voice hissed.
"Whoa! No ideas here. I just woke up and found I was robbed…" the naked man defended. He felt the hold of the saber relax a bit.
"You're not a rapist on the prowl?" she verified.
"Oh no! Nothing of the sort! I'm sorry if I startled you because I was just picked clean. The bandits took every last thing of mine!"
She lowered her saber and sheathed it. "Well, if bandits took your clothes…I suppose it's not your fault for running around naked." She removed her headwear, revealing straight teal hair adorned by braids of teal and magenta. Draping from her hair was a head chain that matched her necklace. A pair of long, decorative earrings hung from her ears. She unclasped her traveling cloak and lifted it off of her shoulders, revealing light beige fabric enveloping around a shapely body. Her abundant jewelry contrasted the humble clothes: all of it in silver and diamonds. She handed him the outerwear. "Here. I don't travel with much, but you can borrow these until we can get you something more suitable."
"Why thank you, that is very kind." The man accepted her offer and began to adjust the cloak around his shoulders. Even though it was loose on her, it was tight around his girth, leaving his front mostly uncovered. "You have such a nice body to make this thing look so roomy on you." He then used the headwear to cover his exposed loins, managing to tie it into place.
"You better not be using my clothes as a fetish. I will castrate you the instant I find you are only playing the victim, mister," she warned.
The man's face turned purple at the thought. "I won't abuse your generosity, ma'am! The name's Sin."
She bowed her head in greeting. "You may call me Neela."
"A pleasure," Sin smiled and gestured to continue on the path as they converse.
Neela kept casting sideways glances at him as they walked, as if trying to pierce his soul with those large, purple eyes of hers. "Excuse my defensiveness. It is common for those of ill intent to pretend to be nice to lure women into their traps."
"Sounds like the scoundrels are getting more devious. I would say a beautiful woman such as yourself shouldn't be traveling alone, but you've demonstrated that you can take care of yourself."
"One has to in today's world," she said, indicating her guard was still up. Still, her conversation proved amiable as they exchanged news of the surrounding areas.
They reached the nearby capital of Balbadd and made their way through the streets: some a bustle of a thriving community, others rundown with graffiti against the monarchy. Outside a grand hotel, Sin offered to cover the cost of Neela staying there to thank her for her kindness.
She eyed the lavish building and scoffed at the exorbitant waste of money it was to stay there when all she needed was a place to rest her head at night. She insisted if he wanted to thank her in such a way, he might as well distribute the money that would have been spent on a room amongst those in need. She also found it odd how he thought he could stay there while running around without a piece of silver to his name, much less cover her stay too. To which he explained he had subordinates that should have already arrived and could cover the cost.
Undeterred, he ascended steps only to be accosted by guards. She rolled her eyes at his antics to get past them as she started up towards him. Before she reached him, Sin's apparent traveling companions had interrupted the squabble. They cleared up the confusion and ushered Sin and Neela into the lobby.
"It appears our master has caused you an inconvenience," apologized the shorter of Sin's two subordinates, "Just as our master told you, you can leave the bill for your lodgings to us, even if you had somewhere else in mind."
"Like I told your master you may use that money to help others in need. I can make due with a crate in a back alley."
The assistant's voice cracked, "Surely you don't intend to sleep outside with the unrest that is currently going on in this country?"
"Well, that won't do at all. How about this…" Sin piped up, "Since you seem to favor thriftiness, why don't you share our lodgings? Including another person on our stay is bound to be cheaper than you getting a separate room in a cheaper hotel."
Neela and Sin's assistant shot him a look at how clueless his statement sounded.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? What about privacy?" the assistant questioned.
Sin laughed, "If all she needs is a place to lay her head at night, I don't think either of us will intrude on the other's privacy."
"Very well," Neela yielded to his need to pay her back for her kindness.
Sin clapped his hands together. "Great! It's settled."
Neela continued, "But if any one of you tries anything funny towards me, I have no qualms turning the lot of you into eunuchs!"
The trio paused in horror. After recovering from the shock of her statement, the shorter assistant turned to Sin. "I hope you behave yourself…" he grumbled under his breath then pushed Sin along. "Now, let's try to do something about those unseemly clothes, shall we?"
"What's so unseemly about them?! I want those back, you know," the lady shouted at them.
The subordinate momentarily turned to her with a sweaty smile. "No offense to you. I just meant it is inappropriate for Sin to be walking around in them. We'll have them washed and returned to you."
"Masrur here will show you to our room, okay?" Sin waved back to Neela while leaving.
She looked up at the taller assistant that Sin had called Masrur.
"No good deed goes unpunished, huh?" she said to make small talk.
"Indeed. The room is this way," Masrur replied in a monotonous tone.
After Sin and his assistant (whom later was introduced to Neela as Ja'far) returned from cleaning him up and he donned more appropriate clothes, Neela left to enjoy a bath for herself. Although instead of heading straight there, she lingered outside the room. She touched her headpiece with the ring on her middle, left finger. They both began to glow; one wrapping a light force around her that made her invisible and the other temporarily thinning the wall enough to enable her to hear the conversation on the other side of the wall.
Sin's extravagant taste clearly showed he wasn't a normal civilian, and whatever his exact position was intrigued her. The conversation in her absence started light-hearted, but quickly turned into a lecture from Ja'far about Sin loosing his tools and needing to awake to his responsibilities as the ruler of Sindria, King Sinbad. To which Sinbad reprimanded him about exposing his cover.
So this is a king with a country, thought Neela, If he was serious about hiding his true identity, he should have thought of a better cover and demeanor like I have. No one could tie her true identity with the name she gave this Sinbad. I will have to look more into this Sindria and who King Sinbad is. I may gain more from this trip than I originally anticipated!
She heard the group on the other side of the wall talk about needing to leave to see the King of Balbadd so she went on her way before their departure.
After freshening up and going around to gather information pertaining to her primary and new secondary mission, she returned to the hotel to find Sin and his gang had returned from their meeting.
"You're quite the busy bee, aren't you, Neela?" Sin greeted her. "We were just about to grab a bite to eat. Care to join us? My treat."
She seemed all too happy to accompany them. While he ordered the specialty fish, she went with the reddest meat they had to offer. Their conversation centered on the happenings in Balbadd. How the ports were closed due to a band of thieves.
"I normally would not ask a lady to fight but…we're going to take out these thieves. With my tools stolen, I'm not at my full capabilities and could use some extra help. Even though the thieves have only targeted the rich, the rich just simply end up taking more from the poor to compensate for their losses. In the end, it's the poor that suffer, and you seemed to be a lady that likes to help those less fortunate."
Neela thought over the offer for a while. She accepted with a slender smile and the condition that she could handle the rabble her way.