Disclaimer: I don't own Aladdin or Princess Enchanted Tales.
Author's Note: This is the second companion piece to Of Sorcerers and Mischief (second ending that is). As promised it is longer that the previous piece.
'blah' means thoughts
Mozenrath poked his head into Jasmine's room, but Jasmine wasn't there. 'Maybe she's in the gardens.' The young sorcerer walked out into the garden, but the only one there was Rajah, who was sunbathing. Mozenrath sighed and looked at Rajah. “I don't suppose you know where she is.”
The tiger remained sunbathing, so the princess's ward continued his search. 'I can try the throne room. If she's not there, maybe her father will know where she is.' He walked to the throne room and eased one of the massive doors open. He looked around, but no one was there, not even the sultan! He closed the door.
'Jasmine said she wanted to talk to me, but she is nowhere to be found.' Mozenrath was so lost in thought he wasn't paying attention where his feet were taking him. “Where is everyone?”
Almost seemingly in answer to his question, something slid under his feet and was whisking him someplace. The young sorcerer looked down. “Carpet?”
Carpet flew the child out one of the windows and into the city. Mozenrath took this time to peer over the edge of Carpet at the city below. Before too long, Carpet stopped by what passes for a large window (judging by the curtain or what looked like a curtain). Mozenrath recognized it as the outside of Aladdin's hovel. He pulled the curtain aside and watched the scene inside play out. Aladdin seemed to be taking a nap, and Genie and Iago were playing a different type of game, while Abu watched. The parrot shook his wings before releasing a pair of die. Then, he grasped a piece on the board in front of him with a set of talons and proceeded to move it around the board. While he did this, Genie grinned. “You're about to land on Agrabah Place, where I've erected a super deluxe mega palace. Say hello to bankruptcy!”
The bird groaned as he left his piece on the square the genie has just mentioned and shoved the rest of his money at him. The jinn smiled and said, “I won? I won!” He started dancing some sort of crazy movement, causing Mozenrath to roll his eyes. When Genie stopped dancing, he was standing in front of the dark-haired sorcerer. “Hey, kiddo.” Genie exclaimed, ruffling his hair.
Mozenrath scowled, brushed the genie's hand away, and blasted him with his Gauntlet. Genie hit the far wall of Aladdin's hovel; Iago, in a panicked attempt to hide, knocked over the game board; and Abu woke up Aladdin. The black-haired teen surveyed the mess and looked at Genie. “What happened?”
“Watch it, Al. The kid's temperamental today,” Genie said, appearing next to Aladdin.
“I'm not temperamental!” Mozenrath exclaimed, his frustration showing as crackling magic.
Aladdin, slightly concerned at the sorcerer's behavior, said, “Why don't you talk to Jasmine? I'm sure she can sort out what's wrong.”
“That's the problem! I can't find her anywhere! I looked in her room, the gardens, and the throne room, and then, this blasted rug brought me here!” Mozenrath gestured at Carpet, whom he was standing on.
Carpet gave him a little jostle, causing the sorcerer to lose his footing and fall onto the rug. Aladdin hid his smirk at Carpet's reaction to being called a blasted rug. “Why don't you check the stables?”
“Why would she be at the stables?”
“She loves to ride horses,” Aladdin replied, simply.
%%% AT THE STABLES
Carpet landed outside the gate to the stables. Mozenrath walked in and looked around. Jasmine wasn't there, but maybe she was out riding. Mozenrath then noticed the stable boy. 'He looks like Aladdin. Better be on my guard.'
“Can I help you?” the stable boy, Hakeem, asked.
“Is Princess Jasmine here?”
“No, she's out riding Sahara.” Hakeem looked at Mozenrath. “Who are you?”
“I am-” Mozenrath was cut off by the gate banging open, and Jasmine, astride a white horse, rode in.
Hakeem immediately came forward and grabbed the horse's reins, and Jasmine slid off the horse's back. “Thank you, Hakeem.”
“You're welcome, Princess. There's someone here to see you.”
“Oh?” Jasmine turned around. “Mozenrath...oh, I forgot our meeting. Sorry.” Jasmine looked from Mozenrath to Hakeem and back again, realizing they had never me before. “Mozenrath, this is my cousin, Hakeem. Hakeem, this is my ward, Mozenrath.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, Jasmine said, “Well, we better be getting back to the palace. Come on, Mozenrath. Let's have our talk.”
Jasmine guided her ward out the gate with a hand on his back. The duo was instantly spotted by Carpet, and it hovered mere inches above the sand, allowing the princess and the sorcerer to simply step onto it. Carpet flew them to the palace or more specifically Jasmine's balcony. They got off Carpet and walked into her room.
“What did you want to talk about?” Mozenrath asked.
“I wanted to know if there were any questions you had.”
“Before this morning, I didn't. How long have you been riding horses?”
“Since before I could walk,” Jasmine answered. “My first time riding Sahara was...interesting. You should have seen the two days in question.”
“There is a way. It's a type of mind reading involving images.”
“I didn't know you could do that.”
“We've already covered that. I learned all kinds of spells. This particular type is useful in extracting information from enemies for use in torture sessions among other situations. Now, clear your mind and concentrate solely on what you want me to see.”
Jasmine and Mozenrath both closed their eyes, and the sorcerer brought up his right hand and touched his pointer finger to Jasmine's forehead. A scene appeared before the sorcerer's eyes. It showed his five-year-old self torturing someone. He removed his finger and opened his eyes. “Very funny, Jasmine, but I doubt that has anything to do with your first ride of Sahara.”
Jasmine opened her eyes and giggled. “I'm sorry, Mozenrath, but when you said what the spell was useful for, that's what my mind came up with.”
Mozenrath sighed. “Let's try it again. Clear your mind and concentrate on what you want me to see.”
Once again, they closed their eyes, and Mozenrath placed his right index fingertip against the princess's forehead. Multiple scenes flashed before his eyes. (AN: The scenes Mozenrath sees are from Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams [the DVD with Princess Aurora and Princess Jasmine on the cover]).
He saw Rajah giving Jasmine a list of things to do and saw her opening a rug shop, waving in a parade, hosting a camel show, and posing for a portrait in a peacock dress. Next, Jasmine (in her regular clothes) was talking to the sultan about wanting something more meaningful to do, and the sultan told her about helping at the school as royal assistant educator. Jasmine entered a building Mozenrath guessed was the school and addressed the students, “Hello, I'm Princess Jasmine, but for today, I would like for you to treat me as you would any other teacher. Now, what were you doing before I came in?”
Mozenrath was shocked at the students' behavior, which consisted of drawing on the walls, hitting each other (and Jasmine) with pillows, running around, a boy chasing a girl (and then Jasmine) with a snake, and then causing Jasmine to fall into a puddle of mud before jumping on top of her. The next scene the young sorcerer saw was Jasmine opening the door to the school, and Rajah coming in and roaring, causing the students to gasp before one called out, “It's a kitty cat.” The students then chased both Jasmine and Rajah up a nearby tree.
The scene changed to show Jasmine talking to Hakeem the next morning about Sahara, who had gone missing. Jasmine apparently agreed to search for the horse, because the next things Mozenrath saw was Jasmine on Carpet flying out of the city. It took hours of searching before finding the horse in an oasis. It took Jasmine about an hour to gain Sahara's trust enough to ride him back to the palace stables. The last scene Mozenrath saw was Jasmine back at the school, where the students were much more well behaved, because they had heard that Jasmine rode Sahara.
Mozenrath removed his finger and opened his eyes. “That's strange.”
Jasmine opened her eyes. “Are you all right, Mozenrath?”
The sorcerer rubbed his eyes with his left hand. “I'm fine, Jasmine. Just tired.”
“Why don't you go lie down and rest? I'll come get you when supper is ready.”
“Okay, Jasmine.” Mozenrath walked out of Jasmine's room and into his own.
“I hope he's okay. That spell seems to have worn him out. Maybe it was a side effect of the spell.”
Little did anyone know, it was not just a simple side effect. It was something much more serious: Magical exhaustion.
