Gaia: Daughter of Aladdin

by Armitage, J. A.

  Using my foot, I carefully opened the doors. Inside was a small living area with a couch and yet more books in bookshelves along the far wall. Normally, I’d have made a quip about him keeping the best books to himself, but he was sick. He nodded to a door on the opposite side. We shuffled across slowly with me holding most of his weight. Opening the door, I found myself in Genie’s bedroom. The white walls were the same at the rest of the palace, but instead of the thick heavy curtains that hung everywhere else, his full-length windows were covered by a flimsy white gauzy material that flapped in the light breeze. His bed was the only color in the room, covered as it was with a colorful bedspread of pinks, purples, and turquoise.

  I helped him down, making sure his head was on the pillow.

  He looked at me in such a way that almost broke me. I’d never seen him look at me like that before, with such intensity as though he was seeing me for the first time.

  “I wish I could see what was going on in your head,” I said lightly.

  He smiled, and the Genie that I knew came back. There was a tear in the corner of his eye, and sweat covered his forehead.

  “Is that a real wish?”

  “Just a turn of phrase,” I said, smiling back. I turned to leave, but he caught my hand.

  “Stay,” he murmured.

  My heart sped up at his words.

  “What?” I’d heard him, I just wasn’t sure I believed my own ears.

  The tear began to make its way down the side of his head.

  “Stay with me.”

  I swallowed back a response and climbed onto the bed next to him. He moved over enough to let me on, but his body remained next to mine. I could barely breathe with the intensity of my heart pounding as it was.

  He snaked his arm under my head, pulling me toward him so that my head ended up on his chest. With my free hand, I conjured up a flame, partly for something to quiet my racing heart and partly to dispel some of the magical energy burning through me.

  We both watched the flames, dancing on my fingertips, but I was more aware of Genie’s fingers as he traced swirls on my temple and ran his fingers through my hair.

  My entire body was burning with desire, and with magic, the two things seemingly linked, swirling around inside me, so much so that it was hard to keep control of the flame I was producing.

  I watched the flame until I could bear it no longer. Letting the flame extinguish, I turned to Genie. His eyes were closed, and his chest was rising and falling rhythmically in sleep.

  I kissed him lightly on the cheek and smiled as I closed my own eyes and let myself fall into blissful sleep next to him.

  3

  26th June

  When I awoke, the sun was much higher in the sky that it had been when I’d fallen asleep. I’d spent the night in Genie’s arms. My arm had gone numb from being in one position for so long, but everything felt so right, so perfect that I was loathe to move.

  Genie still slept soundly, his braided hair curled out at his other side. I moved slightly, sending a shot of pain up my arm. Gritting my teeth against it, I shuffled my body until I was close enough to kiss him. His lips were warm, delicious. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was sure it would wake him. As it was, the touch of my lips to his was what caused his eyelids to flutter open.

  "Good morning," I whispered, pulling back slightly and ignoring the pain in my arm as the blood was draining back into it.

  He seemed surprised to see me. Not the reaction I wanted. Sitting up in bed, he pulled the covers aside.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken advantage.”

  My heart fell as he twisted his legs out of bed.

  “You didn’t take advantage. I wanted to be here.”

  “That’s the problem,” he said, standing up and pulling a robe over his clothes. “I know you did. I should have been stronger.”

  I stepped out of bed. “It’s not like we did anything,” I pouted, ignoring the way I’d woken him up, not moments before.

  “I acted badly. Come, let’s go to my office and you can tell me what you saw in the memory. Was it what you expected to see?”

  And just like that, we were mentor and mentee again. The closeness we’d shared had been in my own head. With a heavy heart, I followed him out of the bedroom, through the living area and back to his office where I’d spent many hours.

  "Gaia... What happened last night..."

  I nodded.

  "That can never happen again. I am grateful for your friendship and care, but I have nothing else to offer you. Besides, your father is my best friend, and well, you've got a lot more you need to deal with, like finding out exactly what is happening across the kingdoms."

  At least, he remembered my father again. It was little consolation in the circumstances.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

  He didn’t buy it, but what could we do. I wanted something he wasn’t able to give me, not with all the wishes in the world.

  “Tell me what you saw last night. I couldn’t see what you saw. The magic was only for you.”

  “I saw my mother. I saw myself as a baby. Genie, I have a twin brother.”

  Genie’s eyes widened at the confession.

  “I was there when you were brought to the palace. There was only you. The women mentioned no other child.”

  I sighed. “Tell me about the night I was brought to the palace.”

  I needed to get my mind on something else rather than how beautiful he looked and how much I wished I was still in his bed with him. I needed to concentrate on what was important.

  “I was called from my room. It was late. Very late. Your parents didn’t like to disturb me in the night, so I knew it was important. I found them in the entrance hall. Your mother was holding you. Your father stood at the door, talking to an older woman. I remember him almost begging her for details.”

  “What kind of details?”

  “I think he wanted to know everything, but the old woman refused to answer his questions. She looked desperate to get away if I remember correctly.”

  “I saw her in the vision. What about a younger woman with long black hair.”

  “I only got a glimpse of her. She stood behind the older one. She didn’t say a word. She did walk into the palace as your father was demanding answers from the older one and kissed your cheek. I saw the heartbreak on her face. She never said a word, though.

  As she walked back to the door, your father asked the older woman what your name was. That’s when the younger woman spoke. She only said one word. ‘Gaia.’”

  I’d seen the pain on her face myself. She hadn’t wanted to give me away. She’d done it to save my life and that of my brother’s.

  “In the vision, she said that her father would kill us if he ever found out. What kind of man would kill a newborn baby?”

  Genie shook his head slowly. “There are all kinds of people out there. They are not all as good as you.”

  “I’m not good enough for you, though, right?”

  Genie sighed, sucking in his cheek.

  "Gaia. We’ve been through this. There are too many reasons for us not to be together. Look at me." He held up the cuffs on his wrists. “I am a slave. I am destined to spend my life as a slave. It is not that you are not good enough for me. It is I that is not good enough.” There was sincere pain in his eyes. “I will not drag you into what I’ve become and what I will continue to become. I will not take your freedom from you.”

  Every word he said was like a dagger to my chest, but the worst part about it was that I understood his reasoning. He was turning back into a genie. At some point in the near future, he’d become trapped in his lamp again. The same lamp my father threw out into the desert. I didn’t even know where it was. No one did.

  “I should go and see my mother. She’ll be wondering where I am.”

  I walked past him, not daring to look him in the eyes and headed out into the corridor and set off toward my mother’s chambers.

 
* * *

  "Gaia! Oh, my dear girl. Where have you been?" My mother demanded. There was a sincere sense of relief in her tone and her embrace when I found her in her chambers. Freya was sitting with her, which I was thankful for.

  "I'm so sorry, mother. Genie and I were trying to figure something out, and next thing we knew, we got to talking and fell asleep. I think all of the stress and exhaustion finally caught up to me."

  Freya’s eyes widened at this, and she gave me a knowing look, but my mother took it in her stride.

  "You missed the party yesterday.” She turned to Freya. “Freya, my dear. Will you please send word to Jamal via the guards?"

  "Yes, Your Majesty," she said, disappearing through the antechamber.

  “Jamal has been looking for me?”

  “I told him you’d be fine. To be honest, I thought you were sleeping in your own chambers. Jamal was worried when you didn’t show up this morning, so I let him search the palace for you.”

  I wasn’t sure what I thought of that. While I should have told everyone where I was going last night, I was eighteen years old. Old enough to go somewhere in my own palace without anyone searching for me.

  Just then, Freya and Jamal returned. Both bowing to my mother, waiting for her to give them to the command to proceed. Even in those trying times, everyone but me seemed to be sticking with customs.

  "Princess. I'm so glad you are all right." Jamal said, bowing to me. I narrowed my eyes, surprised by his sudden need to treat me like I was above him. He usually called me Gaia.

  “Freya tells me you were with the Genie.”

  Behind him, Freya gave me a sorry look and shrugged her shoulders.

  “I was. I needed to ask him something. It was important.”

  “What was so important that you needed to speak to him all night about it?”

  I sucked up a breath, not daring myself to speak. What business was it of his where I spent my evenings? Luckily, my mother stepped in before I had the chance to answer.

  “Jamal, darling,” she said, putting her arm around his shoulder. “Gaia is a big girl. I was wondering if you’ll talk to me about the party yesterday. I’d like your input on where we can do a better job next time.”

  Jamal looked increasingly uncomfortable, but I used it as an excuse to leave. I was in no mood to have a discussion about Genie. I didn’t even know how I felt about everything yet. I had a feeling that Jamal didn’t want to know what my feelings toward Genie were anyway.

  Freya followed me out of my mother’s chambers. Once we were in the clear, Freya leaned in. "So, what were you doing, really?"

  Something about the way she said it moved me to the core. I had tried to brush off Genie's words. But I wasn't really all right.

  "I'll tell you in my room," I said, pulling at her faster, feeling as if my emotions were about to breach a damn.

  When we made it to my room, I threw myself on my bed, while Freya disappeared to get my bath started. As soon as she resurfaced, she went through my wardrobe and pulled a clean change of clothes out for me.

  “Can’t have you wearing the same clothes as yesterday. People will talk,” she winked.

  I closed my eyes. If she’d noticed, so would Jamal. No wonder he was snippy with me.

  “I swear I went to Genie’s room to...” I had to think back. So much had happened since then. “To tell him about the party.”

  I held my hands up and placed the word party in finger quotes.

  “He loved helping feed the poor as much as my parents did. How did it go anyway? I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t, lady!” she said, sitting next to me on the bed.

  “It’s as plain as the nose on your face that you are in love with him. I want the juicy details. I can tell you about feeding the poor later.”

  I covered my eyes with my hand. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

  “I’m not sure it is to everyone else, but I can feel the difference in your energy when you are around him. I can feel it when you just mention his name.”

  “Do you think Jamal can feel it too?”

  “Probably. He’s one of the few that isn’t affected by this magic going around. I’m not sure he needs to feel it to know it, though. Your eyes light up when anyone mentions Genie’s name.”

  “Urgh!” I let my head fall into my hands. “I feel so bad. Jamal thinks we are dating, and I’ve never really dispelled him of the notion. I’ve handled everything so badly.”

  “Jamal will get over it. Besides, he had your mother hanging off his every word yesterday. I think they are going to announce their engagement any day now.” She laughed at her joke, but I didn’t want to think about it. My mother’s flirting was just another thing in a long line of things I could quite happily not hear about again.

  “I have something to tell you about last night...” I started. “No, it isn’t juicy. Well, not what you are thinking anyway. I fell asleep with Genie, that’s all. I’m going to tell you what happened before that.”

  She pulled herself up on the bed and crossed her legs, watching me with a rapt expression. “Tell me everything!”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Genie is starting to become a Genie again. He has cuffs on his wrists.”

  Her eyes widened. She wasn’t expecting that. She was going to be blown away when she heard the rest of what I was about to tell her.

  I took a deep breath and began to speak. I told her about how I’d seen my mother and that I had a twin out there somewhere. She sat in awed silence as I told her everything.

  "This is great!” she said when I’d finished. “We know that your birth somehow triggered this.” She waved her hands about. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Do? I wasn’t going to do anything. What can I do? I don’t know why or how. Nothing from what I saw told me why my birth prompted this. The woman...my mother, was beautiful, but she didn’t look particularly powerful. There’s no way to tell if she was a witch or a mage... She wasn’t fae,” I added. “Her ears weren’t pointed. I don’t know what happened to my twin. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I can think of no reason why my real mother would separate us.”

  “Forget your brother for a second. Did you recognize the place? There has to be a clue in there somewhere."

  I jogged my memory back to that hazy scene. I looked beyond the women and the babies. What was I missing?

  "Oh!" I said with a startle. "I think I have a clue."

  Freya immediately perked up. "What is it?"

  I stood to pace, biting down on my lower lip. A nervous habit I'd picked up from my mom.

  "The room. There was a window. I saw a white steeple. I think I’ve seen ones like it before. I saw a street sign too."

  “Where? Somewhere in Badalah?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “They weren’t in Badalah. I think they were in Urbis. The buildings outside were made from brick, but in the distance, I saw white stone. I’ve only ever seen buildings like that in Urbis when I went for a royal tour.”

  "That's interesting," Freya said, turning her attention toward the terrace. She then got up and walked out there. I followed.

  We both stared out into the horizon. It was impossible to see Urbis from here, but if I looked southeast, it was over the horizon.

  "What will you do?" she asked again.

  “I need to know if I’m causing this. If I am, maybe I can stop it.”

  It sounded preposterous that I could have done anything as a newborn, even to my own ears, but that’s what the old woman had said.

  “I don’t think you are causing the problems in the kingdom. I think maybe your birth stopped the problems that were already there. You are like a shield, stopping the problems of Badalah, but as you’ve aged, the shield has broken, letting the problems back in again.”

  It was an interesting way of thinking about it. “But these problems didn’t begin in Badalah. I’ve got so many newspapers telling me of problems in other kingdoms too.”
>
  “Maybe your magic is so powerful that you saved all the kingdoms?”

  I laughed. “I doubt it. All I can do is turn my body into an inferno. Not exactly helpful.”

  “Not now, maybe, but one day it might be. Do you think you’ll go to Urbis?”

  “I don’t think I have any choice. Not if I want to figure out what is happening.”

  Freya nodded, "I agree. How soon will you leave?"

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know if I should.”

  “Of course you should,” Freya gesticulated wildly, her face full of excitement. “There is something about you that I can’t quite put my finger on. Your magic is...weird. I can’t think of a single group of people that have the magic you do. If you did put a stop to all the darkness in the world as a newborn, you are something really special.”

  “Yeah, but what?”

  “That, my friend, I cannot answer.”

  A commotion broke out down below. We both ran to the edge of the terrace and leaned over to see what was going on. The people on the streets were stoning the palace walls, chanting angrily.

  “What now?” I asked, rushing past Freya, through my bedroom and out into the corridor. The palace guards ran past me toward the palace entrance.

  "What's happening?" I mumbled, catching Jamal in the entrance hall looking flustered.

  "It’s the people of Kisbu. They are angry that Sultana Jawahir entertained the outsiders and completely ignored them."

  "But she didn't ignore them,” I argued. “We made sure that food was sent out to those in need within the city walls, as well as outside."

  "They know that. And still, they want what they perceive to be fair. They want a feast on the palace grounds."

  "Are you serious?" I said, rolling my eyes. “Everyone was invited to it. It wasn’t like we were stopping anyone coming in...” I became aware that I wasn’t even there. I was busy sleeping in Genie’s bed. “Were we?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, letting out a deep sigh. "No. Anyone who wanted to come was allowed in, but it wasn’t set up exclusively for them, and now, they want one that is just for them.”