Disclaimer: I don't own Aladdin!
ﺶO Espírito do Deserto ﻀ
Last Time: Jadé chuckled. "Traveling among a caravan does rub off some of the business dealings. Speaking of which, before we leave to place our plan into action, I'd like to cite my farewells before we leave for the city."
Chapter IV. Laila Tiaba
"Cite farewells?" Jafar questioned in annoyance. "There is no time for saying meaningless goodbyes! Once you get your wishes it will be probable that you will never see the likes of anyone again!"
Jadé stared curiously. "And exactly how do you know what I will be wishing for?"
With a snort Jafar answered. "Isn't it obvious that you will wish for riches, power, luxury or something of the sort? I highly doubt your wishes will rise from that grouping."
"I suppose you must speak from experience." Replied Jadé smartly.
Jafar wasn't sure how exactly she had meant that – whether he spoke from experience from past wishers or from his own personal experience. Either way it sounded...rather insulting in her tone. Far too bold for a woman…He thought quietly. "Do not try my patience or… you will find yourself in a situation that will leave much to be desired."
"A threat? Coming from a being that is bound to my orders and consent?" She questioned somewhat irritably. "I will ignore your insolence this once but I don't want it happening again."
Jafar was stuck between the urge of hitting her and rolling his eyes. Eventually he merely agreed in letting her cite her "farewells".
◊
Jadé placed the lamp, with the genie inside, within her dress so as to not spark any suspicion among the men of the caravan. She carried the bucket with water with her two hands until the camels came into view. She ran quickly towards them.
"What took you so long?" asked one of the camel caretakers. "You should have been back ages ago!"
She rolled her eyes at the man's exaggeration. "Yeah? Well, maybe you should start paying me overtime."
The caravan men laughed at the small jest. "How about you marry me and then you won't need to be paid at all."
Laughter was now accompanied by wolfish whistles.
Jadé placed a hand on her hip. "I am sorry Kalil," she said to her fellow co-caravan traveler, "but I do not plan into falling within the charms of an Arab…I do not like to share, if you understand what I mean."
"Oh not this again!" exclaimed Kalil knowing where Jadé was going with her little innuendo. "Even if I were to take another wife Jadé, you would have first dibs on everything."
"I think it perfectly revolting to have to share such affections with another or worst, others!"
"Allah! You make us sound so disgraceful, like the ultimate sinners in front of our god!" One man said leaning against the caravan tent.
She frowned at the statement and answered, "The men in Spain do not take more than one wife."
"Ah, yes," Kalil continued. "your Spanish men do not take more than one wife but they take mistresses instead."
Jadé found herself opening her mouth as if to speak but then closed it shut not knowing how to argue.
"And the French!" agreed one man with Kalil.
"And the English as well!" said another.
"Yes, it would seem as if your white European men, aside from being infidels, are hypocrites as well. They preach and moralize much against adultery in the name of their god and yet they do not hesitate in falling for the forbidden when tempted." Kalil lectured with a smug look upon his face.
This time Jadé found her voice. "Yes well, while that may be true, the point is that a man should not have to take more than one partner to share such affections. Besides, I did not come back to speak of this for I have something to say."
He looked at her with a gaze of irrational confusion and completely ignored her last sentence. "And why not? If a man has a supporting economy and heart large enough to share among his wives, why should he be denied to love them?"
"Because it will rise jealousy among them no matter how much you equalize your love and attention for each one, it will eventually lead to complications. Well, that's if they love you so." She answered with much indignity. "And it is now I who question you, if a woman were to have such an agreeable economy and love to share, why should she be neglected to do so?"
"La! A woman could not possibly have such a financial state on her own and her heart would be too vulnerable to equally give her warmth. Why, look at yourself! I do not see you with such economy on your own to even maintain one partner and as for your heart…well it is evident that it is led too strongly upon impulse." The voice had come from a man sitting next to the one leaning on the tent.
Jadé was about to give her a good piece of her mind, when she was interrupted.
"That is quite enough!" Said an elder yet firm voice who's face now smiled at her. "Pay no heed to them, child - especially to Kalil who is only angered because he has been rejected by you…again."
Kalil scowled at this crossly.
"Now Jadé, tell us what you have come to say." The elder man had gently placed his hands on her shoulders with smiling eyes.
"Abbott-Gamal, I have come to tell you all," she said this glaring at Kalil, "that I will be leaving."
"Aren't you a genius, of course you will be leaving, along with caravan to the next stop!" This had come from the 'leaning' man.
Laughter erupted almost immediately among the caravan except for Abbott-Gamal.
"Silence!" He hissed at the immature men. He turned back to Jadé. "What is this about leaving? What is your meaning? You have nowhere to go, Jadé!"
"She hit the jackpot!" Now it was the 'sitting' man who spoke-out. The result was a caravan in quiet chuckles.
Jadé answered with sharp wit immediately. "The only interaction with gambling that I have ever had is that of watching you two placing bets on silly future outcomes!"
'Leaning' and 'sitting' man were both silenced in shame. Abbott-Gamal was not pleased with what he had heard – "Gambling? But by Allah! I will have a talk with you two later." Once again turning to Jadé he urged her to continue.
"Well…I have been made an offer of…ascending promise…and I have been meaning to tell you for sometime…" Jadé felt herself grow nervous at lying to the leader of the caravan.
"La, she lies! She could not have been possibly made an offer of any kind. When? Where?" Kalil was the one who now argued her case.
"Of what nature is this offer, if I may ask?" Questioned Abbott-Gamal ignoring the outburst.
Jadé let on as much as solely necessary. "It is of a decent nature, I assure you Abbott, but I cannot tell you of its precisions, only that it is in Agrabah. I fear it to be better that way."
"Well if that is how it should be I will entrust in your judgment, my child. I wish you good luck then Jadé."
The caravan now grew into an uproar. "La, la, LA! She cannot leave us!"
"Who will wash our clothes?"
"-cook our dinners?"
"-tell us stories of the white men?"
"-who shall we tease and make fun of?!"
The complaints against came in piles, not wanting her to leave the caravan.
"Jadé cannot leave!" Yelled Kalil in pure rage at hearing the news. "Her duty is to us!"
Many voices agreed with Kalil.
Abbott-Gamal grinned a knowing grin that the men evidently, with all their teasing and insults towards Jadé, they held her in high regard as some sort of possession for their abuse alone. "Jadé belongs neither to us nor anyone else but herself. If she believes she has more opportunities elsewhere we are none to keep her away."
'Leaning' man did not like that explanation at all. "Curse your Spanish origin, Jadé! If you were one of us, you would have been ours to oblige."
"Spanish origin or not, Jadé is nothing of ours to control or dictate…she is free to her own choices." The elderly leader of the caravan wisely explained this to the men.
"But she is our female!" 'Sitting' man pressed on.
The old man laughed softly and told them that as flattering as it was for Jadé to hear such denial of her leaving them, she was to decide her life on her own. "Besides, it is time you boys learned how to take care of yourselves without a women to baby you all!"
For the first time almost utter silence could be heard through the caravan save for a few mumbles here and there.
It was settled and Jadé found herself almost feeling sentimental about the whole the circumstances of leaving the family she had grown fond of. She hugged and kissed them all on the cheek in goodbye, ignoring their protests of how inappropriate it was. And as for Abbott-Gamal, he embraced her in a fatherly departure and did not let her leave without some money and food for the trip to Agrabah.
Of course Abbott-Gamal did not let her leave without a faithful camel to ride her to the city. "This is one of our best and I will need him afterwards," he explained, "however you can use him till you get to Agrabah and from there you can give him to a friend of mine at Agrabah's caravan stop. We will pick him up once we roam to the city again."
Moreover so was their departure in which Jadé rode into the opposite direction towards Agrabah and the caravan roamed towards the other. But even so Kalil looked over his shoulder every so often stealing a glance at her riding into the desert night.
All the while, an impatient genie confined in his lamp began to be angered by the warmth of a certain body.
A/N: Ok, I see a whole lot of hits but no reviews. I guess some of you must be reading so I guess I should continue, right?