Chapter 42: Good Afternoon

I sat in my new study staring fixedly at Agrabah's latest Ababwa trade treaty.

It made absolutely no sense.

Ababwa apparently had a fixed exchange rate with Agrabah so that all goods were 77 percent cheaper there and it had been this way for the last century without any of us knowing about it.

I glowered at the list of items. Nothing here was different from Agrabah's goods. It was almost as if…

I winced.

Another headache.

I resisted the urge to reach for my amulet and instead rubbed at my temples. It seemed like every time I looked at these impossibly small print documents, I found myself squinting and causing myself migraines.

I growled softly at the pain as it began to recede.

More than a week had passed since my birthday. Prince Ali should have returned by now and yet there was no sign of him. Jasmine wasn't terribly concerned about it, believing her cold response had scared the prince away, but I wasn't so sure.

Most of his servants were still in the palace. Though despite looking, the specific ones we'd encountered at the festival were nowhere to be found.

I didn't like it.

As something to do, I decided to start an investigation of Prince Ali and his golden country of Ababwa. Many of my new servants were dedicated to the task. I had sent some of them with the sultan's men to Ababwa. The rest of my Ababwa investigation team spent their time watching Ali's servants, giving me reports on their movements, and tracking down any and all material on the previously unheard-of kingdom of plenty.

So far, everything I had learned about Ababwa and its princes sounded like I was sitting at another dinner with Prince Ali himself. Every document I read from modern trade agreements to historical records to even travelers' journals supported the idea that Ababwa was a paradise with an unerring line of perfect monarchs going back until the end of time.

Such propaganda made me wish that Prince Ali would show up here in Agrabah with his flamboyant gift so I could test his perfection personally, preferably with a sword in my hand.

However, there were other times when I hoped he'd never be found. The fact that Jasmine's headpiece took so long to affect the prince noticeably still raised too many questions. Either Prince Ali had his own protective charm like me, or he was as perfect as my current information implied. Perhaps without Jasmine's headpiece to muddle his brain, he would be a more experienced and graceful prince. I already knew he was a fine dancer.

Rationally, I could acknowledge that there was little Prince Ali could do to get between me and Jasmine, but there were moments where I'd be sitting with my princess in a gentle daze of soft feelings only to be struck with a sudden shiver of unease.

Everything in my life had been going so well lately. Despite my best efforts, I was occasionally concerned that…

There was a knock on my study door.

"Come in," I called.

The door opened and Shalin, my new head secretary, appeared. Neat and reliable with his heavyset eyebrows and serious face, Shalin was just the person I had been hoping to see.

"Good afternoon, Prince Dhiren," he said, before adding the magic words. "It's time for lunch."

Yes!

Thank the mother goddess and, "Thank you, Shalin."

He nodded.

I stood up and strode over to the door to join him, ready to think of happier things. As we began walking down the hall, he asked, "Do you want anything done while you're gone?"

"Have someone pull out our correspondence with Quirkistan's Wazeer and related files on him and King Mamood. I believe the young king's birthday is coming up," I said. It was time to focus on other issues that didn't give me headaches.

Shalin nodded. "Enjoy your lunch, Prince Dhiren."

He stopped walking and bowed.

"Thank you, Shalin," I intended to. "I'll see you after," I added with a wave of dismissal.

Shalin heeded my command and returned to my office. Meanwhile, I made my way to lunch with nervous anticipation. I truly enjoyed having my mid-day meal with Jasmine. Even though we were supervised by her servants and guards as were the sultan's orders, the princess and I usually had a good time and today I had so much to share with her. Before my daily dive into Ababwan affairs, it had been a productive morning. It would be…

Before I could complete that thought, I was called back to the present by a hesitant voice saying, "Good Afternoon, Prince Dhiren."

I put on a gentle smile and turned to my right. "Good afternoon, Vizier Bilal."

The gangly mid-aged vizier of maritime trade smiled up at me and already sounded more at ease as he said, "I hope the documents I sent you were of use." Sometimes all it took was the right expression and knowing someone's name to get them to open up.

"Yes," I replied. "They were very informative. I really enjoyed that in-depth analysis of the royal fleet in Shehrabad. I have always wondered how the Shebali managed to make their stone ships float."

"It's amazing, isn't it," he said, growing excited, "Such a feat of engineering! Can you imagine if we could employ a similar technique on our own ships?"

"Indeed." I could. Incorporating Shebali design principles into Agrabah's wooden fleet would greatly increase our carrying capacity. Jasmine had pushed for such a project a few years ago, but Jafar had rejected it due to "budget constraints". To further her abandoned cause, I added, "I wonder if someone in Agrabah could be commissioned to take on such a task."

Bilal grew thoughtful. "That is a question. Perhaps…but I should not speculate so willfully. I will think on it more." And thus, that seed had been properly planted in Bilal's mind. That was one goal accomplished.

Vizier Bilal and I continued to chat for a bit more about the Shehrabad royal fleet and Shebali ingenuity in general until he said, "Actually that reminds me of a paper on new shipping methods in Aquitar. It expands on some of these ideas. It is a fascinating read. I could lend it to you, although…" he faltered, "it's rather…"

"Complex?" I ventured.

"Long," he said apologetically, "it's more of a tome than a mere paper and surely, you have more important things to do than humor me…"

I made my smile extra friendly and said, "Not at all."

Bilal up until now was an overlooked gem in the foreign trade department. Before he had never been able to talk to Jasmine due to her headpiece amplifying his nerves, but even then, I had noticed how thorough and accurate his written work was.

A few days ago, I had singled him out to request some documentation on Shehrabad trading practices, just to test the waters. The information he had provided had been good as expected and today he passed the second test. I had told him to follow up with me if I did not get back to him and he actually had, proving he was not the socially inept coward, the princess, and I had previously assumed he was.

During this brief discussion, he'd also proved himself to be fairly intelligent, acceptably social, eager yet cognizant, knowledgeable about more than his stated field of expertise, and best of all, not conceited which meant Jasmine would probably be able to work with him easily. Assuming my future conversations with Bilal confirmed my impressions from today, all that was left was an evaluation of the vizier's leadership and collaboration skills, an evaluation which I had already begun to orchestrate. Most likely by the end of next month, I would induce him into heading a pilot project for a new Shebali-inspired ship prototype. If Bilal performed well, I would add him to my list of potential candidates for my future foreign policy grand vizier.

While I was thinking all this, I said aloud, "I have been remiss these past few years, but I like to keep up with new developments. Please lend the Aquitar paper to me if you can spare a copy. Then we can discuss it in a few weeks. In fact," I said, putting an inflection on the last two words to imply spontaneity. "As the text is so long, perhaps we should discuss it over breakfast?"

"Really?" Bilal said, his dark eyebrows arched so high that they got lost in his slightly wild hair.

"If that is agreeable to you," I replied easily.

Bilal practically jumped at the opportunity. "Yes," he said, "Yes, of course. Very agreeable. I'll send you the paper right away." The man was now beaming at me with the sort of admiration reserved for royalty and loved ones.

"Excellent," I said, brightening my own smile to reflect his. "I will have my secretary set something up next month. Until then, I bid you a good day, Vizier Bilal."

"Good day!" Vizier Bilal said and we parted ways. He walked back towards his offices while I went on.

It was a good day indeed. Yet another seed had been planted. However, I only got to savor my conversation with Bilal for a few more steps before someone else called out to me. "Stop a moment," they said.

I turned. "Good afternoon, Zunaid."

Zunaid, one of the more seasoned palace guards, was standing outside of the meeting room for an important lunch the sultan had planned today. The older guard was on the smaller side with his stout frame and he had a few grey hairs in his beard, but I'd take him over many of his comrades.

He greeted me by saying, "Good Afternoon to you too. How goes the training, Prince Dhiren?"

Ah. This again. Last week, someone, probably a certain unnamed guard who'd been watching me and Jasmine on one particular morning, had disclosed that I was practicing out in the training field during the daybreak hours. That revelation had led to some, mostly good-natured, teasing from the palace guards and eventually a challenge from one of them, Fahir, which I had accepted.

The duel was a "friendly" competition that I intended to artfully dominate to win the respect of the guardsmen and more bloodthirsty members of the Agrabah court and to show off the supremacy of the Mujulaai military. Kadam and my family would expect no less.

For now, I was keeping my actual investment in the competition's outcome a secret, so my voice was casual as I responded, "The training is going well enough to face Fahir I hope."

"Hoping is for losers," Zunaid stated. Then realizing his audience, he added, "No offense, Prince."

"None taken," I assured him easily. It helped that on this count, I agreed with him.

Zunaid eyed me and said, "You know I bet 15 dinars on you."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm honored." Zunaid was an unofficial mentor to many of the palace guards. If he was announcing that he had bet on me in so public a place, it was a good sign that I had won over many of the guards already.

Though, really it was a safe bet. I wasn't anywhere near what I would call fighting shape, but I was still better than Fahir.

I told Zunaid with as much earnestness as I could muster, "I will do my best not to betrayed your confidence in me."

Zunaid grunted, suddenly shy. The man was unused to royalty actually paying attention to him which was a boon for me.

I asked, "I suppose I will see you the morning after next?" I knew that these days, some of the guards would finish their night shifts by watching me practice. Zunaid tended to be more circumspect than my other fans, but I had spotted him a few times.

In response to my question, Zunaid's mouth actually fell open in shock.

I took a risk and laughed.

After a moment, he joined in. Then Zunaid slapped me on the back hard enough to knock a man over and said, "You're sharper than you look, Prince. I like you. Thrash Fahir good. The twerp deserves it."

I ignored the pain from Zunaid's attack and allowed myself to smirk before saying, "I believe I should bid you a good day, Zunaid. I will see you later."

Zunaid laughed again at my evasion. "Alright. You might be too nice to say it, but I saw the bloodlust in your eyes. I look forward to the duel."

I lifted up a hand in farewell, already walking away.

Another successful interaction, but once again, I did not get to dwell on it. For it wasn't long before someone else pulled me into a conversation with the words, "Good Afternoon, Prince Dhiren."

I readjusted my smile to the right degree of amiability before I turned to greet them graciously.

By the time I reached my destination, I had been drawn into conversation several more times by: Vizier Alia who was another possible candidate for foreign policy grand vizier and wanted to know if the princess and I would be going to a breakfast that she was hosting for a visiting Galafem Emissary next week, Alshar-Taif Ambassador Khalid, who was hoping I would sponsor a "new" trade route that I knew Jasmine had vetoed a year ago for good reason, Grand Vizier Gagan who asked if I'd be able to meet later to discuss an issue with steel imports, Lady Asha, Lady Giaa, Lady Tehzib, Lady Refa and Lady Noushin who each claimed they just had to say hello and compliment me on my appearance, Amir and Fazal who wished me luck on my duel with Fahir, the influential Lady Haji and her husband, Lord Idir, who informed me that they were thrilled at my acceptance of their invitation to their daughter's, Lady Genna's, wedding in a couple weeks, a frazzled Ambassador Bhushan who stopped me to ask if I'd seen Ambassador Khalid, and finally, Vizier Abdullahi who I approached to thank him for lending me his notes on some Shebali trade deals from 20 years ago. Besides that, there were all the people who simply smiled and waved as I passed.

I made sure to smile and acknowledge each person who greeted me. Where appropriate I used their name and title and naturally, I knew almost everyone's. It had been one of the first things I'd endeavored to learn since becoming a prince again.

Though it was always good to plan ahead, one could never know who might end up being useful in the future. Like any good diplomat, I liked to keep my options open, especially now.

My reappearance was very much like a new beginning. I'd known most of the nobles and viziers in an abstracted way for years, but it was so different these days. The palace was alive to me in a way it hadn't been before, even when I first arrived. The unenchanted court and the unenchanted me had a lot of social interaction to catch up on, so I received some attention anytime I left my study during the daytime. However, people were extra outgoing with me during this particular time of day. Everyone assumed that I was in my best mood right before lunch, so many of them tried to speak with me as I headed over to dine with the princess.

I didn't mind. I had always excelled at this type of socializing and I did not intend for that to change. Every one of these conversations helped me further my immediate efforts to win over the court as well as my more distant political goals. If it happened to also be a bit tiring or even overwhelming to talk to so many people after years of being a mute companion to an anti-social princess, I didn't let it show.

I'd adjust.

After all, this was who I was and I had been doing this my whole life. In Mujulaain, the fanfare had been even more ardent. There, it could take me a few hours just to traverse the throne room. There had been so many people to greet, so this was comparatively easy. In fact, these strolls through the palace to see Jasmine and the lunches that followed were the best parts of my busy days and that was the truth.

Despite my misgivings, worries, and…other feelings, I was happy.

A/N: Good Afternoon Dear Readers,

So I don't know about you but I was a bit overwhelmed by all these new faces. The court is alive!

Among all the new names, I could not resist adding in a few easter eggs in this chapter. Did you notice? Aquitar is an Aladdin book location that is basically Arabian Venice. The Galafem warriors, as you may remember, are Aladdin's version of the Amazons. Quirkistan is an Aladdin TV show location with an African king who controls the land with his moods. Alshar-Taif is a play on a real city on the Arabian peninsula. And finally, there is Shehrabad again. I wonder why I keep bringing that up?

;)

You may be wondering if you have to remember all these people and places, but as you're not trying to be a perfect prince like Prince Dhiren, I don't think it's necessary. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this deeper dive into the Agrabah court life and the type of prince Prince Dhiren is. Next time, we will learn more about how we reached this new status quo. Until then:

Good day!