Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 33

Jasmine woke up the next morning in Aladdin's arms. The room was warm, the bright Agrabah sunlight streamed in through their rich purple-and-turquoise curtains, and she could hear the distant sounds of merchants' cries drifting up from the marketplace. Her long black hair spilled across the familiar turquoise, pink, and purple pillows, and her wrists were happily free of any cuffs digging into them; it felt wonderful to know she could get up and start moving around whenever she chose, without waiting for Jafar to decide it was time for her to get up and put on a red slave outfit and begin serving him again. And Aladdin, her strong, handsome Aladdin, was there beside her; he was awake already, but had remained in bed with Jasmine, watching over her with that soft, dreamy look in his eyes as though she were the most special thing in the world. "Good morning, Jasmine," he said, leaning over to give her a kiss, and Jasmine smiled, knowing the nightmare was finally over.

She took great pleasure in getting dressed that day, being able to choose whatever she liked without having Jafar dictate her outfit. Her favourite turquoise crop top with the little off-the-shoulder sleeves and her matching turquoise harem pants had never felt better. She hadn't realized how much she had missed those little things like wearing turquoise... She put on her favourite jewellery, her heavy gold earrings and heavy gold necklace and giant turquoise gem on a headband, relishing their comforting weight. She tied her long voluminous hair loosely at the base of her neck and then again a little ways down, letting it swirl up at the ends, and smiled. Yes. That was how she liked to wear her hair.

Aladdin's gaze kept drifting to Jasmine, as she dressed or sat at the mirror doing her hair. It was so good to see her smiling again, to know that she was safe. He didn't want to take his eyes off her, half-afraid she might disappear again if he did. He had come so close to losing her....

When Aladdin went to dress, he found his closet once again full of silken, creamy-white prince outfits, and turbans adorned with red rubies and purple feathers. He reached for one of them, hands hesitating... then he turned away, selecting instead the ragged clothes from his old life. Not that he wanted to start dressing in rags again... but he still hadn't cleared things up with the Sultan about his doing magic, and wearing the prince outfit felt too much like he was still hiding, almost like pretending to be something he really wasn't. The rags, unappealing as they were, at least were genuinely his.

Meanwhile, every morning for the last four days, and many other times throughout the days as well, the Sultan had looked anxiously out his window to see if Aladdin's palace had been returned, or if there was any other sign of his daughter or son-in-law coming back, feeling hopeless and despondent when there wasn't. To make matters worse, he had neither of the people he could usually turn to for advice – Aladdin of course was still out looking for Jasmine, and Jafar had not returned from wherever he had gone off to so suddenly. The Sultan supposed Jafar couldn't be looking for Jasmine since he had already said it was impossible to bring her back, though he couldn't imagine what else Jafar might be doing that would keep him away for so long. He could only wait helplessly for Aladdin, who had always been so clever and able to solve any problem, to hopefully find some way to get around this and bring Jasmine home. Finally that morning, he had gotten up and gone to the window to find the welcome sight of his son-in-law's palace greeting his eyes, and he came right over to see if this meant his beloved daughter had also been returned.

So when Aladdin happened to glance out the window, he saw the short, round figure of Jasmine's father bouncing down the path that led between his palace and theirs, and he turned from the window to tell Jasmine. Jasmine grinned, and she ran to the doors and threw them open as the Sultan entered the palace grounds. He saw his daughter standing there alive and unharmed and beaming at him, and his face broke into a relieved smile. "Jasmine!"