I surveyed the crowd, but the bell-ringer and the monkey trainer were truly gone.
Then I heard the sultan say to Jasmine, "My dear, I think I need to have a word with you."
I glanced back at the sultan. He had been quiet during the last part of that unpleasant conversation, but I suppose it'd be asking too much of him to disregard what just happened.
Even so, Jasmine tried to resist the inevitable. "Father," she pleaded, "Can't it wait until later?"
"No, no," the sultan said, standing up. "It is best said now." He summoned a guard and informed him, "We will be back momentarily." Then the sultan turned our way. "Come Jasmine."
The princess reluctantly rose from her chair. She looked down at me and asked, "Do you want to come too?"
Of course.
I got up in response.
No one spoke as we followed the sultan. While we walked, I tried to wrap my head around what the Ababwans had told us. Prince Ali was set to return this week and he was bringing some elaborate gift that he thought would make Jasmine forgive him.
Or he was planning to.
The way the bell-ringer acted, it almost seemed like the prince had sent him and the monkey trainer to interrogate the princess for ideas. It was all very suspicious, so it made perfect sense that the sultan would want to discuss things.
We arrived at a meeting room with a balcony that overlooked the festivities. The sultan waited for us to enter. Once we were all inside, he closed the doors shut and locked them with an audible click.
We were officially trapped.
Jasmine and I exchanged a quick look before the sultan turned back to us and said, "There. It is traditional to hold court on festival days, but it is good to have a respite from the rabble now and then."
He smiled. "Now my dear, what's that grim expression for. I did not bring us up here to scold you."
Well, that was a surprise, but also a relief. The last thing, Jasmine needed was to be harangued for standing up for herself.
The sultan added, "If I wanted to do that, I would not have allowed Rajah to join us."
Hey!
I huffed.
Jasmine stifled a laugh.
I shot her an annoyed look, but I was actually glad to see that she was in a good enough mood to laugh.
The sultan seemed to be glad as well. For he said, "That's a bit better. I hoped coming up here might do you some good."
"So, is that all you wanted?" Jasmine asked hopefully.
"Heavens no," he said, waving off the suggestion, "I didn't climb all these stairs just for that. No, my dear, you see, there is something I've been meaning to say to you. I was just waiting for the right moment to share the news and after that scene back there, now seems to be the perfect time."
Jasmine's hand gripped my head tightly and I knew what we were both thinking:
Please. Please. Let it not be another prince.
The sultan's eyes twinkled. "It is good news."
Jasmine nodded. Neither she nor I was comforted. To the sultan, a new prince would qualify as good news.
"Today is like a celebration of Agrabah's rebirth. Thanks to you, that so called Phantom Vizier of yours,"
I hated that epithet.
"and Rajah too, I suppose," he said giving me a look.
That was better. I bowed my head slightly in acknowledgement.
He went on to say, "Agrabah has been flourishing like it hasn't in years. I'm so proud of you, Jasmine."
"Thank you, father."
So far. So good.
"No, my dear, don't you see? I am trying to thank you. I have been negligent in my duties to you and Agrabah, but you have filled the void and exceeded all expectations." The sultan came forward and grasped Jasmine's hands. "You are everything I could want in a daughter. I do not deserve you."
"Father..." The princess's voice caught.
I looked away. The moment seemed too private to watch.
"I love you," the sultan said simply. "I have not always acted like it, but you are my greatest treasure and it is time I start treating you as such. Hence, my news." However, instead of sharing said news, he ruined his heartfelt monologue by adding in an amused voice, "Now, you must admit that was quite an opener."
This time, Jasmine did laugh. "Yes Father. Very grand."
"I should say so. I've been plotting this speech for at least a week," he said, stalling.
"Yes, well, consider my interest piqued," Jasmine said.
Mine too. It was beyond good that the sultan had finally recognized Jasmine for the amazing person she was, but I was still anxious.
"As you should be," he said. "Jasmine, my beloved daughter,"
More stalling?
But thankfully he got to the point. "I am pleased to tell you that I have decided to extend your royal marriage deadline to your 21st birthday."
What!
Both of us gaped at him.
"Are...Are you serious?" Jasmine managed to say.
He chuckled and then said, "Yes, quite serious. There's a royal decree on my study to permanently change the law for all future Agrabah royalty."
"Father, I don't know what to say."
The sultan beamed. "You don't have to say anything, my dear. Your mother and I had meant to change the law long ago, so it was past due. Though," he opened his arms and said, "a hug would not be amiss."
The princess wrapped her arms around her father.
"Thank you, Father. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" she exclaimed as tears of joy began to well up in her eyes.
I was in shock. The sultan had just offered Jasmine five more years to find a husband.
Five more years.
With that much time, maybe I could break my curse and then...
"I am glad you're pleased," the sultan said interrupting my thoughts.
Jasmine laughed. "Pleased? Pleased! Father, I'm thrilled."
He patted her on the back. "Yes, you do seem rather thrilled. Perhaps thrilled enough to explain what happened between you and Prince Ali?"
The mood instantly changed.
Jasmine pulled away. "It's...well..." She looked at me like I might be able to explain it for her.
As I couldn't, I just gave her a nod of encouragement.
The sultan chuckled again. "I keep trying to tell you. There's no need to fret. Jasmine, I know that in the past you and I have not seen eye to eye when it comes to your suitors. It is honestly a mystery to me as to why I was so obsessed about finding you a husband before."
I could guess where his obsession had come from:
Jafar.
We hadn't told the sultan about his former grand vizier yet. Jasmine claimed her father had enough on his plate with him trying to reenter the political world and I was worried how the sultan would react to the idea that his most trusted advisor had nearly ruined his entire kingdom. It might make him reconsider having a new vizier to the princess who refused to meet her face to face.
Now though, I felt a bit guilty. This man was Jasmine's father and the sultan. He deserved to know what had truly happened to him and his kingdom.
If Jasmine was still reluctant to tell him after this talk, I'd argue the point with her either tonight or tomorrow. I would make her see reason.
The sultan continued, "but I promise that obsession is over. I am ready to listen, so please, an explanation."
Jasmine sighed, but really how could she say no after the boon he'd just offered. The princess had been truly out maneuvered and was forced to tell him about her fight with Prince Ali.
By the end, the sultan was stroking his beard. "What a foolish thing he has done," the sultan concluded, abstractedly. "Such a lie would have been impossible to maintain."
I blinked.
"Father?"
The eccentric man remembered his audience and added, "I know what he did was intolerable. Your anger is quite justified, my dear, but I am simply baffled why he thought it would work in the first place. After a few pointed questions, his lie would have been sunk even without your advisor's letter."
I found the sultan's response a bit offbeat and quite unfeeling toward Jasmine's emotional turmoil, but he had a point. It had been a foolish lie to tell. It was probably more the product of Jasmine's headpiece than Ali's ineptitude if I was being honest. And I was trying to be honest.
Ali was a person, not just a rival for the princess's affections. One of these days, I might even believe that statement.
"I see, though," the sultan said. "Acting with such a lack of morality and sense is destined to end in trouble, if not bloodshed."
Um...
Before I could truly absorb that sentence, the sultan asked, "Shall we officially cancel your engagement then?"
I turned my head so fast that I nearly snapped my neck to look over at Jasmine.
She was frozen again.
I couldn't breathe.
Please say yes. You sent the Ababwans on their way and last night meant something, didn't it? Please. Please say-
"Yes."
Yes?
Jasmine continued, "Even ignoring the lying, I find the fact that he's been gone so long without notice unforgivable. Now that I know Ali is safe and there's a new marriage deadline for me, I feel no qualms about ending the engagement."
Yes!
"Very good, my dear. We'll do it tomorrow as to not hinder today's celebrations. I'll announce my new decree at the same time."
YES!
"Thank you, father," Jasmine said. The princess glanced down at me with an eyebrow raised. She knew what I was thinking.
I couldn't stop myself from chuffing with joy. I would need to continue to work on my possessiveness and I knew I would have to ask about Jasmine's opinion on how her headpiece had affected Ali's behavior at some point, but right now, I was feeling light as air.
It felt like a miracle had occurred.
Perhaps, another one would occur tonight. It wasn't impossible. Even if nothing happened, I suddenly had five more years.
Five.
More.
Years!
The sultan spoke again. "Though I appreciate your thanks, I'm more interested in earning your trust Jasmine. I want today to be a new beginning for us, like it is for Agrabah. I have much to teach you and much to learn as well. First and foremost, I hope we can both learn to depend on each other more and work together as a team from now on. What do you say Jasmine?"
"I say I want all that too. I...I love you, Father."
"I love you too," he said giving her a squeeze.
It was another sweet moment that made me feel a bit out of place, but eventually the sultan let go and said, "Now I think we can call this tower meeting a success."
I'll say.
He pulled out his keys and began to move away from Jasmine and towards the door. "We best rejoin the festivities before people start saying we were murdered or some such nonsense." He said this casually, like he had not just mentioned regicide.
Jasmine and I shared another look. Her eyes were still shining with tears, but even in her current state she too had found that last comment to be...off-putting.
"You might think I'm joking," The sultan said, unlocking the door. "I assure you I am not." As he held it open, he asked. "Have I ever told you about my misadventure to Zagrabah? Someone forgot to tell my father I was joining the caravan to purchase some Zagrabah horses and the palace was in an uproar."
"Seems reasonable," Jasmine said, neutrally.
After all, she could never get away with such a journey herself.
"It would be," the sultan agreed, "Except they started panicking a half hour after I left. One merehalf hour and the court was already theorizing about my death. Back in those days..."
I let the sultan and Jasmine walk ahead of me as he told his daughter this morbidly silly story from his youth. As interesting as the sultan's tale might be, I was once again deep in my own thoughts: first my birthday picnic, then the scrolls, that hug, Jasmine's rejection of Prince Ali's servants, the marriage deadline extension, and finally the canceled engagement.
Today just seemed to be getting better and better.