Omar wasn't a very heavy sleeper. Neither was the rest of his gang, to be perfectly honest.
As a slave, he had learned early on in his young life that sleeping heavily meant trouble. Not responding quickly enough could result in another beating—or even cost him his life. Finding Babkak, Aladdin, and Kassim changed that somewhat. They all took care of each other in ways Omar had never experienced. They looked out for each other. He still liked to be able to jolt awake at a moment's notice, but sleeping huddled between his brothers brought a new level of safety to the night.
Aladdin took a little longer to rouse sometimes, but Babkak generally responded within a few seconds. And Omar had always been able to wake Kassim instantly with a light tap on the shoulder. So, he was trying hard not to let the fact that he'd already given his brother three good taps and a brief shake send tendrils of worry down his spine.
He's just tired. You've got to quit worrying all the time.
Yeah.
Only, Omar could count on less than one hand the amount of times he'd seen Kassim this exhausted.
The best course of action seemed to be simply letting his brother sleep. If Kassim wasn't waking up, he needed the rest. Omar shifted onto his back, arms tucked up behind his head as he studied the cracks in the ceiling. He busied himself by counting them a few times, then imagined different pictures the cracks might make if someone connected them with a stick of charcoal.
That was better than dwelling on the chaos that had been taking over their lives since yesterday morning. Living in the palace, Omar didn't often regret taking a day to sleep in… but he regretted that one. When Babkak had told him what happened, he'd cursed himself for not being around. For not waking up sooner.
For not trying harder to find Kassim that night.
He didn't believe a word of it. He didn't care if someone found stolen jewels in Kassim's room. Omar knew his brother, trusted his brother…
But he's lied before.
So have I, though.
So has Al…
Omar sucked in a breath, sparing a glance at the guard, who had relieved the other one of his post sometime during the night.
Something about their conversation last night had taken away any doubts he might have harbored. Maybe it was Kassim's weary features, or the way his voice had trembled ever-so-slightly. Or the way he couldn't seem to catch a breath right before they both drifted off to sleep.
Before Omar's mind could wander too far into the depths of chaos, a familiar foot pattern echoed off the walls. Sitting up, he found Aladdin coming down the hall. Slowly. Cautiously.
As if he were about to approach the cage of a wild tiger.
Omar rubbed the rest of the sleep out of his eyes and gave Al half a smile. "Morning."
"Hey." Aladdin returned the greeting, but not the expression, his gaze drifting to Kassim. "Think he'll talk to me?"
"Of course," Omar said, his smile fading in favor of a frown. "Why wouldn't he?"
Aladdin shook his head and sat down on the edge of Omar's blanket with a soft sigh. "Never mind."
"I've been trying to wake him up," Omar mentioned a moment later. "I think he's really tired… Maybe you'll have better luck."
But Aladdin was already shaking his head again. "I don't think that's a good idea. He might bite my head off, and I honestly, wouldn't blame him."
"Geez, what happened between you guys?"
Al's chuckle held a slightly bitter edge. "What didn't? I just need to talk to him again. Jasmine thinks it might do some good."
Omar had never felt so far out of the loop than at that moment.
Why doesn't anyone ever tell me anything?
"Will it…?" he asked quietly, earning a shrug from Aladdin.
"I don't know. Probably not… Not with what else I have to tell him…"
"What's that?"
For a long few seconds, Aladdin didn't reply, running his fingers absently along the edge of the blanket until they found their way around one of the cell bars.
Squeezing the cold metal, Aladdin said at last, "Let's just sit here for a few minutes. Can we do that…?"
Omar swallowed, wondering not for the first time when their whole world had started to cave in. "Sure. Yeah, of course."
So, they sat.
Every handful of seconds, Aladdin's gaze would drift until it landed back on Kassim. Omar could practically see his mind working.
He hadn't spoken to Omar much about what was going on other than when they'd tidied Kassim's room. That's okay. Aladdin was the sultan now. He was busy trying to keep this mess from spinning out of control…
Babkak had filled Omar in on some of the details, but even he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. That left Omar to fill in the blanks on his own, and it was a dark route his mind would rather not go down. Trying to guess at the facts meant possibly blowing things out of proportion, and that meant more worry than he could handle, and that meant not being able to sleep and—
Omar took a deep breath.
He knew he wouldn't have been able to fall asleep last night until he could see for himself that Kassim was all right.
Turns out, he realized as he studied the deep lines carving up Aladdin's forehead, none of us are.
Eventually, Kassim stirred, bringing their peaceful sitting to an end.
"I guess I'd better get this over with," Aladdin murmured. "Go ahead, Omar. You can wake him up now."
"Uh… I mean, I'll try…"
His tactic of tapping Kassim on the shoulder worked just about as well as it had before, so Omar tried shaking him again. Harder this time, adding his voice into the mix for a little extra coaxing.
"Kassim," Omar whispered. "Wake up. Come on, Kassim. Kassim."
It took a few more shakes, but Kassim finally forced his eyes open.
"What?" came his groggy question. "What is it…?"
The few seconds of confusion that it took Kassim to orient himself sent ice shooting down Omar's veins. Halfway through a lethargic blink, he sat bolt upright, eyes darting about.
"Oh, it's you again," he said when his gaze landed on Aladdin.
Any trace of discombobulation dissolved in an instant, but Omar wouldn't be forgetting the way it had looked any time soon. The confusion. The wide eyes. The sheer panic.
Sliding back to lean against the wall, Kassim inhaled long and slow, and Omar's mind flashed back to last night.
"Just breathe. You'll be fine…"
Right.
… Breathe.
Kassim clapped his hands together, bringing them to rest atop his propped up knee. "So?"
There was no question as to who he was addressing—the daggers in his eyes couldn't be pointed at anyone else but Aladdin.
"So…?" Al asked, brows slightly knit.
"How's it going? How's the weather? Is it nice outside? Did Zuma get her skirt fixed? Jasmine said that's been a whole ordeal this week. Did Aisha get her ankle wrapped?" The way Kassim listed the mundane activities had Omar almost believing that they all really were just hanging out. In the dungeons. Just because. Stupid brain.
Despite his overly casual tone, Kassim's words thickened the tension tenfold. Now, it was Omar's turn to coach himself on breathing and staying calm…
"I think—" Aladdin began after a brief hesitation, but Kassim beat him to it.
"No, you know what I want to hear about. What the hell is going on up there and why am I still down here?"
"It's… complicated."
"Complicated." Kassim nodded. "Damn right, it's complicated. Because some people are making this worse than they have to be. If you would just listen to reason and stop being blinded by politics, we wouldn't be in this mess. I wouldn't be in this mess!"
"I have been using reason," Aladdin replied, and Omar noticed how it seemed to be taking everything in him to remain calm, "to try to understand what's so blatantly obvious—to understand the proof right before my eyes!"
"No, that's seeing what you want to see, or 'proof,' or whatever you want to call it. Reason is looking at the situation and using logic to come to a good conclusion. Logically, why would I ruin my reputation—yours and Jasmine's reputation—by stealing something that I could just order from a high-class merchant?"
"You can't deny," Aladdin shot back, "that the facts are hard to ignore."
"The facts. Right." Holding up a hand, Kassim began ticking off points with his fingers. "Ahmed's jewels go missing. He claims I stole them because his servant—a man none of us even know—says so. You find him in my room holding one of the missing pieces that he just so happened to discover the second you got there. Yeah, those all sound like pretty solid facts to me."
"I… I-I have to look at everything objectively. If I let my personal feelings get in the way, I'll have even more of a political mess on my hands than I do now."
"You don't have to worry your important little head about your personal feelings." Kassim's voice sported a thick coating of sarcasm. "I haven't seen them around in a while, so you're all good on that front."
"Can you at least understand where I'm coming from, here? The evidence is—"
"The evidence is circumstantial!" Kassim bit out in such a harsh tone, Omar couldn't help but jolt.
"Circumstantial evidence is still evidence! And, as Sultan, I can't ignore that."
"And I can't ignore the fact that you actually think I would go after something that gaudy."
"Kassim, this isn't a joke!"
"Do you hear me laughing?" Omar suddenly found himself on the spot when Kassim turned to him. "Omar, do you hear me laughing?"
"Don't drag him into this," Aladdin ordered.
"He's here, isn't he? He's a part of it whether he wants to be or not. We all are."
"Look…" Aladdin heaved a sigh. "I didn't come down here to argue with you."
"Yeah? Well, why did you come, then?"
"I'm… I'm going to hold a hearing." The words settled in the air, coating the already molasses-thick tension.
Kassim blinked. "A hearing."
"Yes. Later this afternoon." Wetting his lips, Aladdin shifted onto his knees. It was almost painful for Omar to watch him try to be factual about all this—to try to be Sultan rather than Friend.
As if that could help him put some distance between his heart and the pain.
"I want to formally hear everyone's side—your side."
"If you want to hear a repeat of yesterday in the kitchen, then you're definitely on the right track."
"I want to hear the truth. It's the only thing that can fix all this."
"Then you're wasting your time listening to Ahmed utter a single word," Kassim replied, his tone unnervingly calm now. "Because I. Didn't. Take it."
Aladdin pursed his lips. Where Omar had been hoping—praying—for an "I know," or an "Of course, you didn't," he was instead met by a defending silence.
"A hearing," Kassim repeated after a minute, chewing on the words. "All right. I'll dust off my possible alibis, then, and see if I can find a good one."
"Kassim…"
"Is that the only reason you came down here? To tell me that?"
"No." Aladdin swallowed and lowered his voice. "I also wanted to check on you. See how you were doing."
Kassim's laugh was wet and bitter as he lifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Well… I'm still here."
Now, Omar understood Al's earlier comment about Kassim biting his head off. He didn't know if he could take another round of silence, but just as he opened his mouth, Aladdin stood up.
"I'll be back later."
"Unless you have a key in your hand, don't bother," Kassim said.
Aladdin didn't reply. He simply turned and walked down the hall.
The silence that settled in after that was a different kind. It no longer held the same tension, just a gaping loss at what to do next.
"Omar…"
At the quiet mention of his name, Omar perked up, inching closer to the bars. Kassim still had his eyes fixed on the ceiling, but his expression held a determined edge to it now.
"I need you to do some reconnaissance for me."
Anything.
Anything to get things moving—to get closer to tying up this mess.
"That pendant is somewhere in this palace," Kassim continued, turning to Omar at last. "I need you to find it."
"Okay," Omar said, nodding eagerly. "Where is it?"
"I don't have it! How should I know?"
Dumb question. Dumb question.
"Right! Sorry, sorry!" Omar took a breath. "Do… you at least have any idea where it could be?"
"Honestly?" Kassim huffed. "Anywhere. But… My money's on Ahmed."
Omar felt his face scrunch. "Why would he steal his own jewels?"
"I don't have the answer to that yet. Just a gut feeling. I mean… why else would I be in here…?"
It made sense the more Omar thought about it. If Kassim was to be believed—and Omar believed him—it made sense. It was like he had tried to tell Al in Kassim's room. Who else could have taken the jewels? And why would Ahmed have placed blame so specifically on someone if the jewels had simply been misplaced?
The why was still missing, but Omar knew he would just have to work with what he had at the moment.
He had Kassim's gut feeling. And his trust. Neither of which had steered him wrong in the past and they wouldn't now.
"Sure," he said with a firm nod. "I'll find it. I promise, I'll find it."
The smile didn't reach Kassim's eyes, not by a long shot. But it was there. At least, it was there.
"I promise…" Omar repeated, voice barely above a whisper.
I'll get you out of this.
I promise.
Because someone had to.