Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 20

Aladdin was sitting at the Sultan's right hand in the banquet hall, something which he could tell infuriated Jafar – no doubt he was used to sitting on the Sultan's right hand, but tonight had been moved to his left, where he sat directly facing Aladdin with an expression that wished him a thousand painful deaths. Apart from a warning glace or two to remind Jafar of who held the lamp, Aladdin ignored him. He had persuaded the Sultan to let Jasmine eat with them in here, face uncovered – he had a feeling she would like that – and the Sultan had eventually agreed. Aladdin's mother had also arrived by now, looking entirely different from how she had during her previous visits, in a gown and veil that would have made the Sultan's favourite wife jealous.

There was a swell of music, the banquet hall doors swung open, and a double line of handmaids arranged themselves on either side of the entryway, heads inclined respectfully as a slim, graceful figure made her way past them and into the doorway.

Jasmine.

She was lovelier than ever, in a gown of floaty lilac with a floor-length mermaid skirt. Her sleeves were long this time, but despite having conceded to wear a somewhat more modest outfit than usual, her shoulders were completely bare over her pale pink collar. Her matching pink overskirt was adorned with one of the turquoise gems Aladdin had given her as a wedding present, cut by the royal jewellers into a triangle and fitted onto her dress. Another gem had been cut the same way and sat on her forehead, held in place by a pink headband which fitted over the voluminous top of her usual triple ponytail. Her golden earrings were diamond-shaped, less chunky than her regular ones, but she wore her typical chunky gold necklace. Her eyelids were painted purple, her cheeks and lips red.

"Wow!" breathed Aladdin.

Jasmine's eyes scanned the room for her groom and found him; Aladdin's eyes met hers and Jasmine's whole face lit up as though touched by the desert sun. And then she was running towards him across the crowded hall, and Aladdin rose from his chair and held out his arms to his bride; Jasmine threw herself into them, and Aladdin swept her off her feet, twirling her round. Aladdin then kissed Jasmine in front of the whole assembly, neither one caring who saw them or what anyone thought. They were too happy to be together again.

"I missed you," whispered Jasmine in Aladdin's ear.

"Me too," he murmured back.

The Sultan beamed to see his daughter fall so quickly and readily in love with her groom. He'd known this boy Aladdin would be good for her. Jafar looked like he wanted to strangle someone.

Dinner was a joyful affair. Aladdin had gotten some musicians (meaning, of course, that Genie had conjured them from thin air that very day) to play for the wedding-feast, and they played the song from Aladdin and Jasmine's magical carpet ride. Aladdin could tell Jasmine appreciated this; her eyes went all soft and dreamy and she ignored her food until the song was over. Aladdin and Jasmine didn't get too much chance to talk, what with all the people around and the Sultan constantly engaging Aladdin in conversation, wanting to hear everything his new son-in-law had to say about pretty much every subject. But that was all right. They would have the rest of their lives together to catch up. Aladdin was happy to be able to talk with the Sultan and answered his questions the best he could, not that he knew too much about any of the subjects the Sultan brought up, but while he was never sure if his answers were anything like what an actual royal would say, he could tell his new father-in-law was impressed. "Quite an impressive youth," the Sultan said, addressing several of his courtiers which unfortunately included Jafar. Neither Aladdin nor Jasmine was entirely pleased about having Jafar at their wedding-feast, but they were doing their best to ignore him. Jasmine gave a bit of a sigh and smiled whenever her father engaged Aladdin in conversation yet again, and she took her new husband's hand under the table, and they exchanged a small, private smile.