Chapter 35: The Festival

The following afternoon, Jasmine and I were outside in the south courtyard. She was seated beside the sultan on a raised dais to overlook the outdoor festivities. I laid between them on the dais floor, facing the crowd. From our vantage point, we were all able to watch the Agrabah court celebrate its own version of Makarsankranti.

It was the first holiday after the court had been awaken and it showed. Everywhere there was joy and laughter. Courtiers were flying elaborate kites. There were dancers, music, and other performers on the grass as well as an assortment of delicious food. It was a spectacle of color, but I paid it little mind. My thoughts were elsewhere.

I couldn't stop thinking about last night in the gardens. The picnic, the scrolls, that hug…it had all been completely unexpected and I had loved it, but my mind was mostly occupied with the conversation Jasmine and I had started just before dawn.

Last night, I had stood there embracing Jasmine for I don't know how long, but when I opened my eyes, the sky had lightened to a soft blue.

"Ren? What's wrong?"

I had looked down.

Jasmine had her head tilted up at me.

"It's almost dawn," I told her regretfully. I didn't have much time left before I transformed.

"Is it?" Her tone was neutral, but I thought perhaps she was disappointed too. "I didn't realize it was so late. I suppose we ought to call it a night. I hope you had a good birthday." She gave me one last squeeze and then she let me go.

I willed my arms to move. I needed to let go of her too, but instead I started talking. "Jasmine. I'm sorry. I…I wish…" that I could stay here with you, that we could go back to hugging, that I could tell you who I am, that I wasn't curse, that…

"I know."

"You know?" I stared at her. She couldn't know.

Jasmine's mouth quirked into a wry smile. "I might be blindfolded Ren, but I'm not blind," she said in a teasing voice.

"But…how…what?" I didn't know what I was trying to say. I didn't know what she was trying to say. I had to be jumping to conclusions.

"I've shocked you, haven't I?"

Yes.

"Didn't I tell you I'm not as flighty as I seem? Ren." She hesitated and her voice became more serious and less confident. "I wasn't sure. I'm still not, but…"

My amulet began to glow. "Jasmine." I let go of the princess and stepped back.

"Ren?" She reached out, but I was already too far away.

"I have-" That was all I got out, before I transformed again. Suddenly I was sitting on the ground looking up at her.

"Ren? Ren, are you still here?"

Yes! But all that came out was an animal whine.

Jasmine slowly took off her blindfold. She looked down and saw me. "Oh. Morning Rajah. You're up early." She knelt down and petted my head. "I guess you caught me and Ren out here."

I stared into her eyes. They were shiny for a moment before she blinked and they went back to normal.

I nuzzled her hand.

"Don't worry. I'm fine," she told me in a falsely cheerful voice. "Ren was a perfect gentleman. I was just giving him a birthday hug and before you say anything, I know when I talk to Ren later tonight, he'll give me a lecture, so there's really no need for you to give me a lecture too."

I shook my head. First, she wasn't fine. She was nearly as upset as I was. Second, I had not been a perfect gentleman. I should not have held on to her like I had. She really needed to raise her standards. And third, I didn't want to lecture her tonight. I wanted to talk to her now. What had she been about to say? It had sounded important.

Jasmine just rubbed my cheek. "I swear if he doesn't give me a lecture on the dangers of hugging or some such nonsense tonight, you can give me a proper talking to tomorrow. Okay?"

I nodded. It wasn't okay, but she didn't need to know that I would be agonizing over our unfinished conversation all day long.

But that was exactly what I was doing. It was hours later and I was still asking myself:

What had Jasmine been about to say before I transformed?

Was it possible that she had wanted to discuss my curse? Nowadays, Jasmine rarely mentioned my ability to "disappear" or anything else curse-related when it came to me. I had begun to think my curse was actively stopping her from noticing anything.

It hadn't occurred to her that her tiger and her adviser were the same person and it was not for lack of trying on her part. I still hadn't forgotten the time Jasmine trapped me in a meeting room. I had been alone in there with no way out, but when dawn came and Jasmine had opened the locked door, she had been baffled to find Rajah instead of Ren. The obvious solution never seemed to enter her mind.

I had assumed it was like that with all of the aspects of my curse. But what if I was wrong?

What if Jasmine had stopped talking to me about my curse because she realized I couldn't discuss it? It could explain a lot of the princess's more bizarre behavior, like the night she destroyed her headpiece. She had thanked me for discovering the cursed object's existence and said:

I sincerely hope that one day I'll be able to return the favor.

Yes, it had been a general thank you for all my help, but still.

And the scrolls! What if they hadn't just been a thoughtful gift, but her indirectly offering aid? I could just imagine Jasmine, on top of her government work and undoing Jafar's magic, spending time secretly investigating me. It made sense to keep it a secret from me as Ren.

But did I really think she would not say anything to me as Rajah?

That last question made the whole idea seem like a far-fetch conspiracy. Nearly as far-fetched as the other possibility my mind kept insisting upon:

Courtship.

There were occasionally times when I suspected that perhaps Jasmine might possibly be interested in something more than friendship. She acted so familiar with me. She spoke without guile when we were together. And she was always touching me, elbowing me, and pulling me from one location to another. And she had been so flustered last night.

And that hug. Birthday traditions aside, it had been a very forward thing to do which she had to know. And then she had said:

I'm not blind.

Like she knew that I was always two steps away from doing something ridiculous when I was around her. And she approved.

A lesser man might see all that as an invitation for further intimacy, but I was a prince, not a lovesick fool. Jasmine did not care for me in that way. I knew what the princess looked like when she was infatuated and there had been no signs of that last night or any other night.

She and I were friends. The princess thought I was, at best, a random foreign nobleman and thus, ineligible. And I was ineligible because of my curse.

As for the rest, her conversation was candid because she was a naturally forthright person. She was always touching me because she was blindfolded most of the time and she trusted me not to take advantage of her. She had been nervous last night because she thought I would not approve of her hugging me.

And the hug…

She claimed it had been for my benefit and it had been. I'll never forget the feeling I got when I held her. It had been so peaceful and so…right.

However, as nice as that hug was, it did not mean that the princess had been on the verge of suggesting courtship with me, a literal nobody. She could have been about to discuss anything last night…as she stood in my arms, gazing up at me.

Anything. I repeated to myself firmly.

And of course, anything in my mind quickly translated to my curse and so, I began again. It seemed like nothing would stop my futile musings, but I was finally saved from myself when an odd smell caught my attention.

I immediately wrinkled my nose.

What was that?

I lifted my head and sniffed. Whenever there was a large court event like this festival. I expected there to be a lot of unfamiliar scents, but whatever had caught my attention hadn't been unfamiliar. I concentrated.

The air was filled with the pleasant aroma of baked goods, spices, freshly cut grass, perfumes and such, but there was also something I did not like. Metal, oil and just the faintest whiff of…

Monkey?

I growled softly. That stench was familiar alright. I searched the crowd, trying to pinpoint the source of the offending odor.

"Rajah?" Jasmine asked, looking down at me. "What is it? Have you grown tired of all this excitement?"

I shook my head and stood up to get a better view of the crowd.

"Is everything alright, my dear?" the sultan asked. He was on my other side.

The princess placed a hand on my head and said in a calming voice, "Of course it is. Right Rajah?"

I heard the unspoken command, but she didn't understand. I looked back at her and whined. Things were far from alright. If I was right…

A familiar nasally voice said, "Princess Jasmine."

We all turned.

I found the source of the smell. I wasn't sure how I had missed it.

Two Ababwan men stood before Jasmine dressed in purple and gold. One was a bell-ringer. He held his staff of silver bells aloft. The other was a thin, bearded monkey trainer. He too had his prop on him. His Persian monkey lay asleep in the gilded cage he held.

I sniffed again. Yes. I wasn't mistaken. It was the bell-ringer, not the monkey trainer, or even the chimp, who smelled of monkey.

I squinted at the bell-ringer. I was convinced that he looked nothing like Prince Ali, though I was hard pressed to say what he did look like. It was so odd. I examined him trying to find something, anything, notable. Then I spotted the ruby ring on his finger. It looked…

Gah!

I squeezed my eyes shut and I fell back into a sitting position. The glare of the sun on that ring must have blinded me for a moment. I blinked a few times and rubbed my head. That had hurt.

While I was trying to recover my wits, the monkey trainer said, "We have news for you, Princess." His voice was grating and I knew I had heard it before, but…

"Do you indeed?" the sultan said. The subtle challenge in his voice drew my gaze.

The sultan was smiling, but there was a gleam in his eyes. I recognized that expression from Jasmine. The man was not pleased that the servants hadn't acknowledged him.

The slight was not something the sultan would have noticed if this had happened a few weeks ago, but ever since Jasmine had destroyed her headpiece and the sultan had lost his feather, the sultan acted like a different man. Though he was still cheerful and kind most of the time, there was a new, or rather old, shrewdness to him.

"Your Highness," the monkey trainer said, realizing his mistake. He made a deep bow to the sultan.

Beside him, the bell-ringer just stood there. After a moment, the monkey trainer noticed and jerked the bell-ringer forward to force him into a similar position.

There was something about these two. They were so…lively which was unusual for Ababwans. I frowned. I could feel a headache forming.

"What sort of news do you bring?" the sultan prompted. At least, he was thinking clearly.

I expected the monkey trainer to answer, but the bell-ringer spoke first. He stood up straight. Instead of addressing the sultan, the uncouth fool looked boldly at the princess and announced, "We have heard from Prince Ali."

What!

I forgot my headache and was suddenly alert.

"He will return within the week, Your Highnesses," the monkey trainer added. "With the gift, you have always dreamed of, Princess."

"Oh my. That is news," the sultan said.

It certainly was. My suspicions had been correct. Prince Ali was coming back.

"I am surprised that…" The sultan kept talking but I ignored him and tried to catch Jasmine's eye.

What did she make of this?

We hadn't talked about Prince Ali in…ages, so I had no idea what her feelings were. I knew that Jasmine had loved Prince Ali once. Perhaps now that we had discovered and undone her curse, she was ready to forgive the prince and was overjoyed to hear he was well. It was a testament to how little I had managed to change that my heart calmed its unsteady beating when I observed that the princess was unmoved by the Ababwans' announcement.

It was wrong. I shouldn't be panicking about losing Jasmine. She wasn't an object and I had no right to her, despite the silly fantasies I had been concocting all day.

But besides all that, unmoved was perhaps too apt a description, for Jasmine was practically frozen in her seat. Even her hands had stopped moving. I nuzzled the hand that hovered above my head. It twitched and she started stroking my fur again.

I understood. The princess was still in shock and was undecided on how she felt about the news. She would need time to process.

However, the bell-ringer did not comprehend this simple concept. The instant the sultan paused to take a breath, the bell-ringer eagerly asked the princess, "Isn't this great? Aren't you happy?"

Everyone stared at him. I growled at the man. It was something I hadn't had to do since Jasmine had destroyed her headpiece, but honestly, this servant's manners were appalling. He had practically interrupted the sultan.

The bell-ringer showed no remorse for his rude behavior. He ignored my warning and everyone else's looks as he gazed upon Jasmine like she was Durga reincarnated.

Finally, she said, "It is a relief to hear Prince Ali is well. How long have you known?"

The bell-ringer opened his mouth, but the monkey trainer, the smarter of the two, sensed how dangerous the question was and spoke first. "Not long, Princess, not long. We heard news of him today in fact. The prince meant to check in earlier, much earlier, but he ran into some trouble on his travels. It was a real trial to find that special gift of yours as I'm sure you can imagine."

"What special gift, exactly?" the sultan inquired. He glanced at his daughter. "Do you know what it is, Jasmine?"

"No, father. I do not," she said the words with such finality that I was surprised when the bell-ringer addressed the princess, again.

He spoke with an odd intensity as he asked, "But what do you want it to be? What sort of gift would ensure your forgiveness?"

There was a long tense silence filled only with my growling. The sultan was at a lost. This was the first time he was hearing about Jasmine's fight with the prince, but he hid his ignorance with a stern expression. The monkey trainer was sweating and looked uncomfortable. The bell-ringer was ogling Jasmine like a besotted fool. And Jasmine…

She wore her thinnest smile. Her eyes were fire, but the princess's voice was chillier than a winter night as she said, "I do not care what gift Prince Ali deigns to bring me. Nothing could make me forget what he has done."

I couldn't believe it. Neither could the bell-ringer. His earlier excitement was gone. He was pale and had actually started to fall to his knees in despair, but the monkey trainer caught him and held the bell-ringer up by his shoulders.

"Well…" the monkey trainer said in an overly loud voice, "It's been a ball talking to you, Your Royal Highnesses, but we had better be going. Good day to you and all that." Then he whispered to the bell-ringer in a voice only a tiger could overhear, "Come on, lover-boy. Time to vamoose."

The monkey trainer basically dragged the idiot bell-ringer into the crowd and soon the strange Ababwan servants were lost from sight.

A/N: Hi all,

I'm back with another chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. I consider this the beginning of a new arc. Updates as you may have noticed are slower than usual, but I assure you, they won't stop. I even took a break from Sue's Curse to give me more time to work on this story. Please consider leaving a comment as I continue to try and write you more chapters.

See you later!