Chapter 9

People of Agrabah.

I come before you today with a heavy heart. It has not lightened since that night one month ago when a yet unknown assassin attempted to take my life, and robbed this kingdom of two of its most devoted servants. That same night, my daughter disappeared.

The mothers and fathers among you today can best imagine the crushing weight of such an event. The heartrending terror, the ceaseless worry, the incurable guilt, day after day, each sleepless night longer than the last. The questions that repeat themselves until they are ingrained as unholy verses in one's memory. What did I overlook? Where was my mistake? What could I have done to save my child?

Why did they not take me instead?

I am your sultan, yes. But before that, I am a man and a father. I speak to you as a parent at this moment, no different from any man or woman among you with a family to care for, with children you cherish more than your own life, and ask you to understand my actions for the past month. As your sovereign I can make no excuses for my neglect of my duties. As a father, I pray you will forgive my weakness.

The many concerns and grievances that have been left unattended will be addressed and resolved promptly. I know that the life of the kingdom must go on and cannot stop for any man's personal tragedy. And I thank you for the outpouring of prayers and the tireless efforts of all those who have joined the search for my daughter. In this time of trial, the people of Agrabah have stood up yet again in solidarity and resolution, not bowing to the fears or uncertainty such adverse circumstances bring, and you have given your best on behalf of your beloved princess. You have my gratitude.

I have always held honesty as a paramount virtue, and I will not offer false reassurances now to myself or to this kingdom. A month has passed. My daughter is still missing. The culprit is still unidentified. The motive is still unclear.

It is human nature to falter before such cold facts. But I ask you not to lose hope, just as I have not lost it even in the dark mires of a father's worst fear. My daughter is strong. She has withstood many dangers and trials before, often on behalf of the kingdom she loves, and she has not faltered. I ask you to have faith in her. And as always, have faith in Him who is supreme over all, who knows all and hears the pleas of His children. He has blessed this kingdom beyond measure since its founding, and Agrabah yet rests in the shade of His palm. Continue to beseech Him for mercy. He hears.

The allies of Agrabah also stand beside us. Liri. Staaris. Desrial. Getzistan. Galafem. Each has offered their most skilled teams to aid in the search. King Phireas of Liri and Queen Hippsodeth of Galafem have personally journeyed here from their lands as a testament to their steadfast commitment. They have my gratitude. Between us, no place in the Seven Deserts will be left unsearched.

And finally, look to the hero of this city, the man who has given himself selflessly to the defense and welfare of Agrabah since he became my daughter's betrothed. My chosen successor, Aladdin. He has suffered the same fears as I ever since that night, yet his faith has not weakened, his steps have not faltered, and his tireless sacrifices for the kingdom have not ceased. Because he has recognized one crucial truth in the midst of tribulation—we must act in my daughter's absence as she would like us to act were she present today. To continue to strengthen the kingdom, to lead it to greater security and prosperity. To serve the poor, the downtrodden, those in need of compassion. To care for orphans and widows. To regard our neighbor as we would one of our own family. These are the convictions my daughter holds and has concretely demonstrated many a time in the past. We would do well to follow her example.

People of Agrabah, though my heart remains heavy, I will have faith. For my duty to the kingdom my daughter so loves also weighs in my heart, and it is a burden I will gladly continue to bear. I ask you to shoulder it with me.

You have my gratitude.

...

The deafening applause of the kingdom was as intimidating as it had always been. But it inspired none of the exhilaration and humbling awe he usually felt. There was no cheering, no voices at all, merely a sea of solemn gazes riveted on the small balcony where he stood alongside the sultan.

The crowd that had gathered to hear the sultan's speech rivaled that of the day he and Jasmine had announced their engagement over two years before. That had been the first time he had stood before the city and tangibly felt his own insignificance in the face of the masses. Two years later, these were the same masses he was expected to rule, who would bow down to him and follow his leading. The sultan had just made it clear that his choice of successor remained unchanged regardless of the circumstances.

He stared numbingly at the faceless sea below until the sultan's voice shook him out of his trance.

"It is done, my boy."

The king of Liri gripped his shoulder in encouragement as they stepped back from the balcony and followed the sultan inside. The applause soon quieted and died down through the curtain.

"Thank you again for your presence here today." The sultan's grave tone was edged with weariness as he acknowledged the king and the tall warrior queen who had stood at his side during the announcement. "And for all the support you have offered."

Queen Hippsodeth touched the sultan's arm in a rare gesture. "It is the least a friend can do."

A ghost of a smile graced the old ruler's solemn countenance. "I would be honored then if you would both join me for dinner. It has been such a long time since we last met."

The obligatory meal was a near-silent affair. The sultan did his best to engage their allies in conversation, but the weight of the matter that had brought them together grew even heavier as it was left unmentioned. Aladdin felt a cold numbness inside knowing they were merely covering over it with pleasantries and distraction. He kept his hands at his sides when he finished eating, fingers clenching into the seat cushions. Night had already fallen, and there were other places he had to be.

Their pitying glances were burns on his skin as he excused himself early. It was not a lie when he said he felt sick.

...

"Where are you going?"

He stopped halfway through the window and turned, one foot still on the sill. Carpet shifted to prevent him from stumbling.

The queen of Galafem stood at his door, a questioning look on her regal face. Though most of the palace was asleep at this hour, she was still dressed in the stately robes from the announcement. He did not miss the bow and quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

The answer was obvious, but he replied out of respect. "I'm going to look for the princess, your Highness."

"And the sultan's orders are otherwise, are they not?"

He kept his face blank. "I still have to go."

Her tone was soft, but undoubtedly commanding. "Step back from the window."

"Queen Hippsodeth—"

"Step back."

He obeyed reluctantly, leaving Carpet outside to wonder how long this unexpected delay would last. Though the sultan had called him aside and given him an express order to stop these nightly trips, he had still gone with Carpet every night since.

"The sultan knows that you have not listened to him," Hippsodeth said.

"So he sent you to talk some sense into me," Aladdin surmised, dropping the formality. He was acquainted enough with the queen to know she valued candidness over courtesy.

"I will talk, but the choice to listen is out of my hands."

"Looks like you're ready to stop me regardless," he said, eyeing her weaponry.

"A warrior knows when to fight and when to talk," she said simply. "Sit with me."

They sat across from each other at the low table in the corner of his room. She glanced at the scattered documents he had collected—reports from scouts spread out over the Seven Deserts. They were all useless.

"Where were you planning to go tonight?"

"Half-Moon Island." He was nearly certain she didn't know where that was.

"And what do you expect to find there?"

"I'm looking for Jasmine," he said tersely. "So I hope to find her there."

She ignored the blatant show of disrespect and continued to question him with patience. "Do you have reason to believe she is on Half-Moon Island?"

"No less reason than anywhere else."

"So you agree that at this point she could be anywhere."

He looked at her warily. "Which is why I need to keep looking."

"Which is why you need to stop and let others go on with the search," she said.

He shook his head. "No. I won't sit back on this. There are places she could be that only I know about. Like Half-Moon Island. Most people haven't even heard of the place—"

"I dispatched two of my warriors there yesterday."

He paused.

"The sultan has shared with me the history of Jasmine's excursions, both accompanied and unaccompanied. It was no exaggeration when he claimed we would cover the Seven Deserts between us. This is not to say that you no longer have a part in this; it is only that your role has changed."

"Changed to what? Where I just give up and let other people do the work? She's my fiancé. I should be the first out there looking and the last to come back. And I don't plan on coming back empty-handed."

"Frankly, you are not fit to make such claims."

He made to rise from his seat when she shoved him with one hand and sent him sprawling across the floor. Recovering from the shock that she'd actually struck him, he scrambled to stand, only to be pushed down by one sandaled foot.

"My point proven," she said, standing over him. "You are strong, Aladdin, but you are not invincible. Do not overestimate yourself while you underestimate all of the allies who have enlisted to help you."

"Get off of me. I don't have time for this," he gritted out. He didn't care if she meant well. She was only getting in his way, and unlike the sultan, she actually presented a physical obstruction to his mission. At the moment he'd do anything to have Genie nearby to help him escape.

The queen's gaze hardened. "If you can make me, then you can go."

There was a frozen moment as he seriously considered fighting the ruler of one of Agrabah's most trusted allies, who also happened to be the sultan's beloved. Her proud, sharp eyes told him she would think nothing of incapacitating him if it came down to it. She probably even had the sultan's permission to do so, he realized.

Not breaking his gaze from hers, he relaxed minutely and put up his hands. A moment later the pressure on his chest eased as she lifted her foot with a curt nod.

"Chosen like a warrior," she said, and reached down to help him up. He hesitated only slightly before taking her hand. The strength of her grip was intimidating, as expected; she pulled him up with no effort at all.

"Queen Hippsodeth, you have to understand," he said. "The sultan's asking me to do the impossible. I can't just stop searching for Jasmine. It's the same as giving up. I'm not—"

"No. You're the one striving to do the impossible. Wearing yourself down completely, driving yourself to the point of exhaustion and delirium because you think this burden is yours alone. And under this illusion, you end up carrying only your own burden, without any room to shoulder those of the people who need you most."

She glared at him, silencing his protest.

"You may care nothing of your own health. But what of the sultan's?"

Her words were like daggers. He had no answer to them.

She sat down at the table again and sharply motioned for him to follow. He did not hesitate in obeying this time.

"Do you understand the full toll that his daughter's disappearance has taken on him?" she asked more quietly.

"I can imagine. I know how much he loves her."

"Do you really?"

"She's his only child. He'd give his life for her. He almost has, many times. I know it's killing him inside. Which is why I have to keep my promise to him and bring her back."

She shook her head, frowning. "You still don't understand. This is not about you. This is not about any promises you might have made or how much you feel you need to demonstrate that you love her. He knows you do."

"He trusts me to keep my word."

"Are you listening?" she snapped. "This is not about you!"

"But I'm responsible because I didn't stop it from happening, and he—"

"He is dying, Aladdin."

He stared at her.

"It truly is killing him," she said in a different tone. "At this rate he will not last a year. And do not—" she cut him off before he could argue, "tell me that the way to prevent this is to drive yourself to the brink of death searching for his daughter. He does not want you to follow after him and be so consumed by guilt that you lose your strength and all the promise of your young life. That would be a waste and the ultimate irresponsibility when you have other deep commitments to honor. Commitments you cannot afford to neglect any longer, if not on your own behalf, then for your father-in-law."

Her choice of words cut into him just as she intended.

"You must begin to prepare for the throne now, Aladdin. You do not have the luxury of time or the patience of the people. You know better than I the obstacles that lay ahead, the ones you have so far avoided in order to pursue more glamorous duties, protecting the city from attack, standing up for the poor, foiling the plans of those who wish Agrabah ill. But if you do not prepare to wield true power now, it will be lost to you before long."

The reply poised on his lips died as he finally noticed the sorrow in the queen's eyes, barely visible beneath the fierce determination to make him understand. She was too strong to reveal her weakness beyond the look of weariness and acceptance of the inevitable. And he knew she would not accept his sympathy any more than he could stomach the pity of all those around him.

He looked away at last. "I'm sorry."

She raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"I'm sorry if I've let the sultan down. And I'll try to do what he asks—I will do what he asks, and ease his burden as best I can. It's just that if I stop looking for her…"

He trailed off, one hand digging into his scalp. "I can't stop. If I do, it'll be as if I'd given up on her."

"The sultan's order was not meant to bar you from leaving Agrabah altogether. It is meant to keep you rooted here long enough to learn, to seriously prepare for the throne. To know that your primary duty is here, not wandering the Seven Deserts days at a time."

He shut his eyes. To imagine going just one day without searching was torture. He would not be able to concentrate on anything inside the palace, especially not the mundane affairs of governance that were supposedly crucial for him to learn. It would essentially be a slow process of suffocation.

"Do you believe what the sultan said today? To have faith in her?"

"I…don't know," he said wearily.

"There is a reason I marked her as one of my warriors. She is no ordinary woman, as you well know. Believe in her."

"She's been gone a month." His tone was flat.

"I know. The facts are grim. But if you love her, you will still believe in her regardless. Perhaps she will be strengthened by it from afar."

"That's bullshit."

He stood and looked down at her, anger mounting.

"You can convince me to stay here for the sultan's sake. For the kingdom's sake. But don't try to gloss it over with some inspirational poetry about hope," he snapped. "Do you know what I see in my sleep, the little I get of it anyway? I see her dying, or worse, trapped in torment somewhere I can't reach her. I hear her screaming. But she can never see me. She doesn't know where I am and why I'm not coming to save her.

"And she can't hear me, either. I tell her not to give up, that I'm almost there, to wait for me, to be strong, everything that I could possibly think of to give her hope and make her hold on just long enough for me to get to her. But she can't hear me at all.

"And the longer this waking nightmare drags on, the closer to reality I think my dreams become. Sometimes I think they're already there. Is there any way to tell, if she can't see or hear me anyway?

"So don't talk about any lofty ideals with me. They don't do anything. At least when I go out to look for her and search until I pass out from exhaustion, I know I'm doing something. The pain and weakness in my body tell me I'm doing something, doing all that I can for her.

"Even if…" He was breathing hard now. "Even if she…"

He turned quickly and moved toward the window. Carpet was still there, waiting. The queen sat still at the table and did not try to stop him.

But before he reached it he collapsed onto his knees, hands hitting the floor hard as he bent forward. He gritted his teeth until they hurt, shutting his eyes against the deafening silence. The only thing he could hear was his own treacherous breathing as he fought for control. He could not afford to break now, because he didn't know when he would be able to stand and run again, to resume the desperate search that had fused with his heartbeat.

He hardly felt the soft hand on his shoulder as he knelt there, frozen. The menacing whisper of helplessness was loud in his ear, and though he tried to silence it, he could not shut out the accusing truth. The only thing he had found through all these haunted, sleepless nights was a trap of inertia.

...

Silence began to settle over the palace with the waking of the night, broken intermittently by the clipped footsteps of patrolling guards. Conversations drew down to sparse murmurs as the last of the servants finished their duties and retired to their rooms below. Alone in the princess' chambers, the tiger waited for the lamps in the hall to dim.

The room had been unlit since her disappearance, and was immersed in darkness soon after each sunset. For a tiger, this did not pose any difficulty, as the light of the moon was enough to illuminate his surroundings. He often stayed awake late into the night, tracing the outline of the empty bed, where the sheets and pillows had been arranged neatly by a maid several days after she had gone. Sometimes in the mire of half-wakefulness, he was struck with confusion by the pristine state of the room, wondering how she had managed to rise and leave without his noticing. Then his senses would sharpen and he would lower his head back to the floor, staring at the place she had always laid her head to rest. Many days had passed since the first day he had awoken to this new, unnatural order, a jarring change that all the humans in the palace seemed to find equally wrong and difficult to absorb.

A chill breeze swirled past the curtains, brushing against his fur. He raised his head and tested the air almost perfunctorily. It was only the scent of sand, coarse and blank.

He stared at the amorphous sliver of black sky that vanished each time the curtains flowed together and crossed. When there was no wind, he could still catch traces of her presence, the most familiar and important scent he knew. But he was beginning to discover that even the most treasured of scents faded with time.

He had never been without her scent. Since they were young cubs, he had been her loyal guardian and friend. When she had been old enough to decide on a mate, she had run away for the first time and left him worried, as he could not track her outside the palace walls. To his relief, she had returned, but shortly afterward she had chosen a mate who often took her away from the palace and from Rajah's protection. It had never settled well with him, but she had been happy, and he had grudgingly accepted that she had found another protector.

They had failed. None of them had been able to detect the invisible predator circling her this time, and for all the ways she resembled a tiger, she had not been able to win whatever relentless game she had joined against it.

The outline of the bed imprinted itself in his vision as he tried to sleep and could not, troubled by the wrongness of this night and the many that had preceded it. She had always returned before, no matter what had happened to threaten her power or territory. The palace was her home where she belonged, and this chamber had been her place of rest since she had been small enough to ride on Rajah's back. She had grown to be strong and quick as any seasoned hunter, but he was afraid she had also taken on the trait that was both a tiger's great strength and deadly vice.

Pride.

She had thought she could hunt alone.

It was too late to warn her now. He could only wait, night after night, as cool drafts of desert air and time, both scentless, slowly dimmed the traces of her presence.

...

A/N:

1. Does this chapter close the interlude well enough?

2. Overall, whose POV did you enjoy the most, and/or who could you empathize with the most?

3. Now that it's finished, how does Shards feel as a whole?

Thanks to demonegg and shini02 for helping me write and proofread, and to everyone who has read and reviewed.