Magi: Sindria's Prophet

33- Announcement Arc- Sindria's Prophet

*CW coerced/forced polyamory mentioned
~POV Mori~
After the meetings I headed back to the guest tower; I needed a break or I was going to snap. I'd change into something more comfortable while I was at it. There were servants running in and out of the castle to prepare for the festival, and a familiar blond watching them from the shade of the guest Tower. I was surprised to see him out here. "Alibaba." I called to him, "Good morning," even though it was lunch time. A short deviation should be fine.

He turned to my voice. "Mori, it's you. Uh, yeah, good morning." The bags under his eyes could be worse. "Do you know what's going on?"

I explained about the celebration for the citizens paired with my Announcement. Then I asked, "Where's Aladdin?" Morgiana was probably training, but it was weird to see Alibaba without Aladdin tagging along.

"Well..." Alibaba trailed off while looking back at the crowd.

As if on cue, Aladdin ran into the courtyard from the Palace Gates. "Alibaba! There's so much food!" Then he saw me. "Miss Mori!"

"Hi Aladdin."

Aladdin's eyes sparkled while he looked at my chest and my adrenaline spiked. The young boy dropped his staff when he got close, and jumped at me with out-stretched hands. "It's good to see you!"

I grabbed his wrists before he could make contact and glared down at him. "Never touch people without their explicit permission." There was no way in hell I was going to let him grope me like he did to all those people in the original.

Aladdin whimpered even though I wasn't squeezing him. As soon as I let go of his wrists, he ran behind a frozen Alibaba for protection. "You were so nice before! Why now??" It was written in the Character Encyclopedia that Aladdin can sense when someone will be nice to him and let him do whatever he wants, but that wasn't women being nice.

I continued my lecture a little calmer, but no less pissed, "The only reason you've gotten away with this disgusting behavior so far is that you target those that you think are too meek to stop you or will think you're just a kid who doesn't know any better." His silence meant complacency, not necessarily understanding. I adjusted my glasses. "Aladdin. If you keep this up you will hurt people. They might not say anything but they will become terrified of others touching them. Is that what you want to do to someone?"

He and Alibaba shook their heads 'no.'

I wasn't going to accept it without making sure he knew what the problem was. "What are you going to do in the future?"

Aladdin stared up at me with tear filled eyes and when I didn't soften, he looked down and finally answered. "I'm not going to touch anyone without asking them first."

"And if they don't explicitly say 'yes?'"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Then I won't touch them!"

I looked over at his King's candidate next. "I know you're currently an emotional mess, Alibaba, but promise me you'll stop taking him to the red light district. That's no place for a child."

Alibaba just nodded with a terrified expression.

I sighed. 'You'd think I cut his hands off with how they're acting.' Aladdin was in the wrong but I was definitely taking my anger out in him.

I really needed alone time. They were standing between me and the door to the guest tower. Whenever I started walking closer they flinched. My only option was to return to where the others were. Luckily, Ja'far led me to a quiet studying room to rest.

I collapsed onto a plush lounge. Seeing those two reminded me that I still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Aladdin about the future or Alma Toran. Now was definitely not the time for that. I needed to stop thinking in general with how my head was buzzing or I'd have a meltdown or breakdown or both. 'And there's more after this?' Meditation would help a little. I was at least able to block out some of the sounds drifting in from the hallway. The more I was able to get the world to quiet around me, the more obvious the waves became. They weren't as high as when they spiked last week, but something about them reminded me of that night. I still hadn't figured out what happened that night to affect the waves like that.
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~POV Sinbad~
The Announcement to the citizens went exactly as planned. The people cheered as King Sinbad introduced his Beautiful Prophet. After mingling at the start of the feast, he could relax and have some fun too. This day was to officially bring Mori into his circle, and yet they had been unable to share a moment alone since sharing morning greetings. Mori was walking towards the steps down into the rest of the festival. Sinbad rose from his chair to catch up with her.

"Following after her already, Sin?" Hinahoho called attention to his actions.

The giant wasn't the only one waiting for the King's answer. Their expectations put a bad taste in his mouth. Sinbad laughed off the comment. "Is there a reason I shouldn't spend time with the guest of honor?" He crossed his arms.

The oldest General laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I'll believe that's the reason until you return with her clinging to your arm instead of some call girl."

Sinbad smiled as he waved away the comment. His old friend had inadvertently given him the perfect idea on how to quell the rumors. Delicious wine. Delicious food. Beautiful women. His country had all in spades. It was time for Sinbad to prove he still deserved the nickname 'The Womanizer of the Seven Seas.'
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~POV Mori~
Walking around a carnival back home rarely overwhelmed me because they make me feel like an anonymous observer. It's a type of stimulation I can disassociate to while walking around and recharging. However, since Sinbad had introduced me to the citizens, I was being recognized. I had wanted to wander to get some alone time, and clear my thoughts, but this wasn't too bad. They were at least understanding that I wanted to stay in the shade. 'I can deal with this.'

One thing that the series made abundantly clear was that Sinbad took good care of his people. Those under him were fulfilled and happy. I know it was a festival so people were bound to be cheerful -and this was the party country- but this was different than reading about it. The same care that Sinbad gave his people was gifted forward to anyone who visited Sindria. I had felt it that day I went shopping with Pisti, and I was feeling it again now. Sinbad's will on the waves had a contagious affect on the people here. I liked it as much as it made me understand why all of the magi turned against Sin in one way, shape, or form.

Excited eyes sparkled when their owner finally got their turn to ask me a question. "Lady Prophet, is it true that you're going to marry our King?"

I would have been surprised if I hadn't been asked this exact question several dozen times already since my walk began. I explained that was wrong and left. My stomach tightened. 'I should probably avoid Sinbad a bit longer.'

I saw more of my OC's, gave them prophecies like I did for Kain and Behr the other week, and guessed their pasts with the 100% accuracy one would expect of their creator. It added credibility to my ability to read Fate, and raised the people's view of me. It wasn't the alone time I had wanted, but it was a huge mood booster.

The Sun was getting close to setting when I finally noticed how hungry I was getting again. I could have gotten something from one of the street venders, but I remembered the fish at the King's table, and wanted more of that. And Ja'far had made sure there was sulfate free alcohol for me in the form of mead (honey wine). I hadn't had any earlier, and I definitely was in the mood now.

Climbing the steps back up to the platform proved just how sore my legs were getting from all the walking. I've had joint and hip problems since I was a teen, so I was used to this. After resting while eating I could walk around some more before needing to call it quits. Not like I could leave early as the guest of honor.

"OH MY!!" A woman's voice cooed, and was accompanied by the giggling of half a dozen other similar voices. The sight that greeted me when I reached the top of the steps dealt far more damage than any amount of joint pain. I had forgotten that while I was out, there was a certain man that was bound to embody hedonism for the evening.

((CW is for next paragraph))
The familiar feelings of disgust, jealousy, and guilt twisted in my stomach. It was a stark reminder of what I already knew. Sinbad flirted with me but in no way was that exclusive to me. And even if he was romantically interested in someone, I seriously doubted he would be monogamous (certainly not sexually). A flirt can only be entertained by the novelty of any relationship for so long before it stops being enough for them -my own ex-fiancé made sure I'd learn that the hard way. I was coerced into polyamory by him for our last 10 months together. I learned that I actually enjoy poly. As long as my partner only flirts with me and with people I'm also with in front of me then I don't care who they flirt with when I'm not around. But I couldn't keep up with having multiple relationships -ever since I was little I've only ever preferred having a few close friends etc. I ended up ignoring my friends to have the emotional energy to give my partners and failed anyway from being spread too thin. Unless I'm living in a polycule, it isn't worth it for me. Ever since seeing myself in this dress this morning I kept ending up thinking about my past. 'I need to ignore Sinbad.'

The King's waves tried to guide me towards him, but I was not going to let that corner of the platform make my mood worse. The praise I had been soaking up for the past few hours kept me grounded. Sinbad might be the King of this country but many of its people were mine. I refused to make eye contact with anyone in that gaggle of indulgence. Instead, I b-lined for the table and the food on it. The fish was delicious, and the mead made it tastier.

All of the Generals were still there. Drakon's wife, and Hina's children were also on the platform. As I filled my plate and cup, I exchanged pleasantries, but mostly I just listened to their merry making. It was hard to ignore Skarrkan and Yam's flirting? fighting? flirting (I was right the first time) because of how loud they were. The best part was that I couldn't hear much past them. When I finished eating I decided to stay a while longer to enjoy the mood at the table. I wasn't really a part of their family yet, but it felt really nice to be able to watch them all have fun.