Chapter 9

"Threats from the Russian Bear"

Ever since Aladdin and I were married, we have always continued to call Agrabah home. One day, I would succeed my father, the Sultan, as ruler and no thought crossed my mind when that day would come. But if it did come, it would come on a day of peace and not of war. But one day, Agrabah was about to receive a visitor all the way from Istanbul to recruit our kingdom into a conflict of which we had no desire to be part of.

"The ambassador of his highness, Mahumud II will be here soon, princess," said my father, the Sultan. "I trust you will use good judgment and faith in this process."

"I hope so too, father," I answered as the pink headband matching my gown was placed on my head. "After all, you are preparing me to succeed you at some point. But, why does it have to be now?"

Stepping into my room, my father ushered the servant back and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

"There is no better time than any, Jasmine," he said. "For all your life, I have been preparing you for this moment. This is your responsibility."

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I could tell that my father was right. After all, he did trust me in the past with finding the right husband to marry, so why would he question my ability to fight for the good of my kingdom?

"I suppose your right, father," I sighed, rising to my feet. "All I want is the best for Agrabah, you know that."

"And so does Aladdin. If only your mother were alive right now…"

I noticed my father getting somewhat emotional and I wiped away a tear from his eye.

"She is in our hearts and she'll guide us…hopefully."

Gesturing to my father, we left my chambers and proceeded down to one of the many banquet halls in the palace. There was Aladdin, once again looking like "Prince Ali" as he did for all the important functions we had along with his pal monkey, Abu. The moment I stepped into the hall, it seemed like deja vu was about to hit him, much to my confusion.

"Um, Jasmine…" he stammered slightly. "Are you going to Qurkestan or something?"

"Why, because I'm wearing this?" I asked, looking down at the pink gown I wore that one time I was nearly kept by the young king of Qurkestan during a diplomatic mission there. "No, I'm just ready to hopefully step up as ruler."

"Of course you will," Aladdin said. "I know you will make the right decision in deciding where we go in this war. Still, don't you think this is a matter that the Ottomans should make on their own?"

"To fight Russia? Yes, but since Agrabah is part of their kingdom, we might have to bow down to them."

"And you said to Jafar that you would never bow down to anyone," Aladdin remarked as he took a bite of an apple that was sitting in the fruit basket at the center of the table. "Try telling that to the Russians."

"Yeah, go tell them to focus on their circus," we heard Genie cry out from inside his magic lamp as he emerged dressed as a circus ringmaster. "Besides, don't they have a bear to take care of?"

And he further illustrated, producing a bear wearing a red shirt eating a pot of honey.

"Not that kind of bear, Genie," I said as he made the bear disappear. "The bear is the main animal of the Russians. A mascot if you will."

Genie then transformed into a slinky old man wearing a trenchcoat and hat.

"And they call me Papa Bear."

Dropping his disguises, the Genie tried to approach the situation in a different approach.

"Look at this way, Jaz. Just tell them to focus on their own business and leave Agrabah alone, easy peasy. Putting in the breezy."

"If only that were that easy, Genie," I chuckled. "You have to remember that the Ottoman Empire is our supreme ruler, we are just rulers of a kingdom in their territory."

Just then, Razoul, the captain of our guards came into the banquet hall.

"He is here, your highnesses," he said.

"The ambassador?"

"No, the supreme Sultan himself."

A sudden gasp befell us all upon hearing that the supreme sultan was coming here to the palace.

"Oh well in that case," Genie said, multiplying into copies of himself dressed as maids that worked at a fast pace. "Let's get things spruced up more. Get me Mr. Clean pads, a vacuum cleaner, 20 mops!"

And as he moved quickly, Aladdin had the unfortunate task of holding all of the cleaning supplies.

"Genie….I don't think that will be necessary," Aladdin grunted, causing him to stop dead in the tracks. "It's like you told me once, just be ourselves."

Feeling slightly embarrassed by his actions, the Genie dropped the charade.

"Never mind, let's go meet Mahamud," I said with a small smile.

…

Out in the throne room, we all stood at attention as the ruler of the Ottoman Empire came inside.

"His excellency, Mahamud II, supreme sultan of Agrabah and the Ottoman Empire!" cried out one of our heralds. I must say that seeing someone as dignified as him was very intimidating if I do say so myself. Without saying another word, we all bowed to him, even the Genie himself.

"Sire," my father said with anxiety in his voice. "I welcome you to Agrabah."

"Charmed, I'm sure," he said in his heavy accent. "But you are not the one I am negotiating with here. Princess Jasmine, I come before you as an ally and humble friend."

He bowed down to me and feeling slightly embarrassed, I gestured for him to rise.

"Shall we discuss in the banquet hall?" I offered, but he then turned his attention to Aladdin.

"Yes, but first this must be the suitor you married, am I right?"

"Um, yes, your highness," Aladdin stammered. "I am he. Aladdin."

A confused look befell on the supreme sultan's face at this revelation.

"Aladdin?" he remarked, looking back at me. "I thought he was Prince Ali Ababwa."

"It's a long story," I chuckled nervously. "But, let's not worry about that. Right now, you have a request to make of me."

Aladdin couldn't help but feel a sense of relief at the prospect of Mahumud's impending criticism of him. You might say that I had to do something to protect my husband, if you will.

…

"So, you see, Princess Jasmine," Mahamud explained as we sat at the table. "The Russian Empire has been threatening our kingdom for several years now and Allah has commanded us to stand up against them."

"And you expect us to join in your fight against them?" I asked.

"Of course, your highness," answered the Great Sultan. "Allah be praised, we shall be victorious."

Just then, another thought came to my mind that Russia needed to focus their attention on something else.

"There is also the matter of what is happening in Western Europe," added my father. "This Napoleon Bonaparte…he plans to conquer us all. We should be fighting against him. I mean, I have already expelled the French ambassador from our kingdom…"

"I can assure you that France will be of no concern to us," Mahamud interrupted. "The British, Prussians and Austrians shall defeat him. We shall defeat the Russian Bear, but you must help us as your supreme rulers."

As I looked at Mahamud, I could see that he was not going to take no for an answer. But, I've had to deal with those who also would not take no for an answer. The ruler of Quirkestan came to mind as well. In fact, it kind of felt like a deja vu kind of moment.

If I said yes, we would be risking the lives of many of our subjects in something we wanted no part of. But if I said no, who knew of the consequences the supreme sultan would have on me, on all of us?

It was certainly a difficult decision that needed to be made.

…

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