Gaia: Daughter of Aladdin

by Armitage, J. A.

  My fears vanished when Genie pulled me into his arms and swept me into a kiss.

  I clung to him as he pulled me inside, our lips still locked together as he managed to close the door behind us with his foot. I kissed back with such fervor, scared that this would slip away and be pulled out from beneath my feet as everything so often had. I held everything close to me, locking it away in my memory. The way he tasted, the light spice on his skin and the way he held me tightly, the chains around my back. And I left mental fingerprints, everywhere I touched, his skin, his hair, his face, terrified that this might be the last time we did this.

  He picked me up and carried me through his living room into his bedroom where we made love. What had started off as something fast and desperate became a long, drawn-out dance of making memories for him and for me.

  When it was over, I wouldn’t let him sleep for fear that sleep would bring back the blank look in his eyes again.

  He stroked the side of my face. “There is something very wrong. I can see it in your eyes.”

  I blinked and sucked in a breath. “The last time I was in this bed with you, you threw me out of it. You didn’t know who I was.”

  He swallowed, and pain clouded his features.

  “I am so sorry, my Gaia. I’d wondered why you hadn’t visited me for a few days. I wanted to come to you, but the guards don’t recognize me anymore. I had to wait for you to come to me. I can’t believe I did such a thing.”

  “I didn’t come to you because I was scared you wouldn’t remember me. I didn’t think I could bear it.”

  He pulled me to his chest and stroked my hair.

  “I have no control over what is happening to my mind. I hate that it is so. Look at me.”

  I pulled back and gazed into his eyes. It felt like I was looking into forever.

  “If I ever forget you again, look at me like this. Exactly as you are looking at me now. I see so much love in your eyes. I will know it in my heart, even if I don’t see it in my mind.”

  I gave him a small, sad smile. “Your mind is what I fell in love with.”

  “I will always be here, and I’ll always keep you in both my mind and heart. If the darkness comes again, know that like the seasons, it will pass.”

  I laid my head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. “Will it pass? Really? You can’t possibly know that. You don’t know what this is any more than I do. Most of your memories of the past are warped or gone completely. Freya and I noticed something weird about the princes and princesses of the other kingdoms, but I don’t see how it helps us solve the problems we are having here.”

  “What did you notice?”

  I told him everything Freya and I had talked about the previous day. I wished I had all the newspapers to show him, but getting them would involve leaving his bed, something I wasn’t ready to do just yet, even temporarily.

  He didn’t say a word as I talked, but I noticed he watched my lips. If anyone could make sense of what was happening, it was Genie.

  “Siblings seem like a stretch when you take into consideration the numbers of people involved,” Genie concluded.

  “That’s what I thought, too, but I saw my birth.”

  “You saw your birth?”

  “I asked you to show you my birth,” I reminded him.

  He nodded and pulled his hands up and rested his head on them, the length of chain running under his neck.

  “I don’t think that what happened eighteen years ago is our main priority, even if it does pertain to what’s happening now. Perhaps we should put the why’s of this on the back burner and concentrate on our more immediate problems.”

  “Which one? There are so many problems; I don’t know what to deal with first.”

  “List them.”

  I thought of all the things that were going wrong. Everything seemed the most immediate problem.

  “My mother is losing her mind. The city...the whole kingdom is barely hanging on by a thread. Jamal and Freya are doing a magnificent job, but they are not royalty. I think the only reason that people are accepting them is because everyone’s memories are messed up, and no one knows who is who these days.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “The Vizier. I know he’s back because I saw him, but I don’t know if he’s in Badalah or still in Urbis. He wants to destroy me. He also wants to destroy you, which brings me to problem number three.” I pulled on his arm and held up the chain that held his wrists together. “I know how to solve this problem if only you’d let me.”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. Now is not the time. Is that everything?”

  I looked at him incredulously. “Isn’t that enough? No one remembers me. You might forget me any second, and I’m scared. What if this becomes permanent, and Jamal, Freya, and I are the only ones that remember anything? What if I lose you, but this time forever? If someone finds the lamp, you’ll become theirs. If you forget me, it will be like I don’t exist.”

  “Gaia. You will exist with or without me. Do not base your worth on whether I remember you or not.”

  “If you don’t remember me, I’ll have nothing left.”

  “You’ve just told me the priority. We need to find a way to make our memories return. Have you looked in my books?”

  Genie had thousands of books. His office had bookshelves bursting with them, and there were thousands more I’d not looked at in his living room. We didn’t have a library in the palace because we didn’t need one. Genie had enough books to fill two libraries, and every single one of them was nonfiction.

  “You don’t have any books on magic,” I reminded him.

  He sat up and brought his hands to his lap. “Not everything has to be about magic. While it is true I have no books on spells or the art of magic, there are other ways to bring back memories.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Potions have been known to do things that spells cannot. I have told you before that I cannot make people fall in love, but love potions exist. I don’t know how well they work, but they are bought and sold in some kingdoms. I suggest you look at books on the other kingdoms to see if you can find anything. My personal library in my living room has books that might help. I suggest you start with The Forge.”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked as I pulled my clothes back on.

  A grin split his face, “I’m going to sleep. You’ve fair worn me out.”

  I left him to sleep with a grin of my own. If he forgot me when he woke up, I’d do something to remind him who I was.

  Second, only to Genie himself, his magnificent library was one reason I loved being in his private suite. I’d never known the existence of it before that first time he brought me in here, but ever since I knew of it, I’d been dying to search the shelves to read everything there was to read. Of course, that would take me weeks, if not months, and I didn’t have that kind of time, so I began my search more methodically. It seemed Genie had cultivated an interest in the other kingdoms, and a quick search showed that the books were organized by region rather than alphabetically by author. Thirteen bookcases, twelve kingdoms, and Urbis.

  Instead of taking Genie’s advice, I first went to the bookcase with books about Badalah.

  The entire history of my kingdom was laid out before me. The books on the very top were old, the spines faded by years of sunlight, their bindings falling apart. Lower down were the newer books. Next to a tourist book on the cafes of Badalah was a hand-drawn book, barely more than ten pages long. I pulled it out and flicked through it, my heart swelling with memories. I’d made this book when I was five or six years old and presented it to Genie. It was the story of a princess in the Badalah palace. Not so original, but the cute scribbles and misspelled words brought a smile to my face. He’d kept it all these years, giving it space among the books of Badalah’s history.

  Putting it back, I moved to books about The Forge. Just like the ones about Badalah, these books were arranged in much the same way with the olde
r ones at the top and the newer ones at the bottom. Apart from that, there seemed to be no particular order. History books were mingled in with tour guides, fashion guides, and the history of the vampires that lived there.

  I could have spent many happy hours finding out about The Forge, but I needed to figure out how to solve the problems of Badalah before I did a spot of light reading for pleasure. With great reluctance, I put back the book of weird inventions I’d picked up and searched for a book on potions. My eyes fell on a shelf that just so happened to be full of books about elixirs and potions. The majority of them were beauty-related, which made me chuckle. I pulled out a book titled The Forge: a kingdom of Technology and Alchemy. The thick tome was so heavy that I had to carry it through to Genie’s office and set it on his table to read it. Like many of the other books, this one also made mention of beauty, but it read like a guide to The Forge rather than a recipe book. Pages upon pages were filled with the history of the Red Queen, who although cruel with a penchant for chopping people’s heads off, was a true groundbreaker when it came to technology. She ruled The Forge from her house in the capital city of Melfall with the help of mechanical playing cards. The cards were monoliths of size and advanced technology and would roam the streets doing her bidding. The whole thing was fascinating, and I found myself sucked into this weird and wonderful world that was so unlike my own kingdom.

  It was only when Genie appeared a couple of hours later and kissed my cheek that I realized I’d been so consumed by The Forge that I’d completely forgotten to look for something that might help.

  “What are you reading?” Genie asked, passing me an apple from the fruit bowl in his bedroom.

  “Did you know that The Forge has guilds for inventors?” I asked, full of enthusiasm.

  “There are many guilds in The Forge. Inventing is just one, although all are art or technology based. The Forge is a strange place. They covet beauty over all else. Their currency is based on it, and yet they have some of the most intelligent minds in all the kingdoms. I once thought I’d like to visit there, but I have always been indebted to your father.”

  “You remember him now?” I asked, glancing up from the book.

  He put his hand on my shoulder. “A little. I had a dream about him. I don’t think I’d recognize him if I saw him.”

  “I’m surprised you stayed here out of a sense of duty. You could have visited.”

  He nodded his head. “I should have. There was always so much to do here.”

  I turned my whole body his way. “Why don’t we go? Both of us? I could look for someone who could make us a memory potion, and you could finally see the place. We could go to Melfall. It will give me a great excuse to meet Ivy and Pearl, the daughters of President Alice and see if either of them has a gold ring around her irises.”

  He took my hands in his. “There is nothing I’d like more than to travel with you. Maybe when this is all over, we can travel together and see all the kingdoms, but now...” he shook his head.

  “Why not now?”

  He held his hands up, reminding me of his bondage to the palace. It wasn’t just to me that he was bonded. The second he stepped outside, the people would see him for the slave he was. Many people over the years had looked for the lamp, and none had found it, but it felt like we were closer than ever to someone finding it and using it. Images of The Vizier came into my mind. If anyone found it, I knew it would be him. My father had told me that The Vizier spent years and years looking for it before he’d thrown my father into a mysterious cave in the desert where my father had survived by the skin of his teeth.

  “There is one way I know to make these chains go away,” I said, wrapping my fingers around the cuffs. I looked up into his eyes, pleading with him. He knew I could wish it all away. If I did it without his permission, he’d still be bound to do what I wished, but to do that, even to free him would hurt him. Not just physically. The actual pain of the magic would pass with a good night’s sleep, but to make him do something against his will would put something between us. I wasn’t sure if he would ever forgive me, so I had to wait until the stubborn ass changed his mind before I could use my last wish to free him.

  “You know I can’t let you do that,” he said, leaning forward and kissing me lightly on the mouth. My heart skipped a beat at the gentleness of his touch.

  “I have lived a thousand lives. You have lived but one, and you are still young. I will not give up your life for my freedom.”

  The tingle of tears made me blink. “I’m not asking you to save my life. My life isn’t in danger right now.”

  “Gaia...”

  He knew the situation enough to know that I was lying to him. My life was in grave danger. Just because that danger hadn’t presented itself yet beyond giving me a warning, didn’t mean it wouldn’t come. The Vizier knew who I was, and he knew where I lived. I was actually surprised he hadn’t made himself known here in Badalah yet. I’d instructed the guards to keep an eye out for him, but with half of them not knowing who I was and the other half not remembering who The Vizier was, our protection was at our leanest in years, and that was with a full contingent of guards. The only two people I could trust in all of this were Jamal and Freya. A maid and a farmer, neither of whom had any royal blood, were practically running the whole kingdom. I couldn’t expect them to save me from The Vizier, should he decide to appear. They wouldn’t be able to. If he did decide to come to kill me, I only had myself and my magic. It would stave him off for a while, but I wasn’t powerful enough to keep him away forever. It didn’t look good whichever way I looked at it.

  “Okay, okay, I know. I won’t do it. You know how I feel. I want you to be free. I don’t want to accidentally wish for something like I did before and waste it on something stupid. Saying I wish is a turn of phrase that people say all the time.”

  “I trust you.”

  I smiled. He had more faith in me than I did in myself.

  “I should go. I’ve left the kingdom to Jamal and Freya long enough. The kingdom needs a leader, and that leader should be me.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself. The people of the kingdom don’t know what they want anymore. You are doing your best in a strange situation.”

  I stood and let go of his hands. “I know, but it feels like no matter what I do, it’s wrong. The kingdom is still failing, I don’t understand what part I have to play in all this, and The Vizier is out there biding his time.”

  “He will make himself known when the time is right for him. Until then, we must keep you safe.”

  I leaned forward and kissed him, knowing that our kisses were limited. It wasn’t just me in danger; it was Genie too, and if I didn’t figure out how to stop it, the entire kingdom. A knock on the door broke us apart.

  “Who is it?”

  The voice of one of the guards came through the door. “Your Highness, I was asked to come and find you. Mr. Jamal and Ms. Freya are holding a meeting with the palace advisors. They thought you might like to attend.”

  I looked toward Genie, who nodded.

  “I’ll read through these books and see if I can find a recipe for memory elixirs. You go and rule the kingdom.”

  I followed the guard to the meeting room where Jamal and Freya sat, not quite at the head of the table. My parents' chairs sat empty.

  Despite their seating positions, it was clear that Jamal and Freya were leading the meeting. There was something about them, the calm confidence that made them natural leaders. They were doing a better job than I was, and it showed.

  “Gaia!” Jamal said, standing up and walking around the table. He kissed me quickly on the cheek. “Your mother isn’t well. I’ve had the court physician look at her, but it seems it’s just tiredness. She’s resting. I thought we should try and get a grip on what’s happening in the kingdom and try to put it back in some order. I know you and Freya have had some thoughts on the other kingdoms, but if we don’t keep on top of everything here, then none of that will matter. I’m a
fraid all the seats are taken, but I’m sure your parents won’t mind you using their seats.”

  Something had changed between us. The awkwardness and resentment had gone. It probably had more to do with his and Freya's burgeoning relationship rather than anything I had done, but it was nice. I sat in my mother’s chair, leaving my father’s empty.

  Freya gave me a nod and a smile and stood to address the advisors. There were ten of them altogether. Six women and four men. All of them had been working in the palace for years. Without fear, Freya spoke.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, Badalah is in crisis. The town of Kisbu is at the center of that crisis. The Sultan and Sultana are unable to rule at the moment, so we are going to have to work together and keep the kingdom going until we can solve the whys and wherefores of what is happening.”

  “There isn’t a Sultan,” one of the advisors pointed out.

  “Who are you to tell us what we should be doing?” another one said. “You are a maid. We aren’t here to draw baths and make beds.”

  I saw Jamal’s lip twitch. He made to stand, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him. Instead, I stood up.

  “Freya and Jamal are here because of me. As the Sultana’s daughter, you have to listen to me. I’ve picked Jamal and Freya to help me run this kingdom, and I want you to show them the respect they deserve. Freya was my maid. It’s true, but unless you are blind, you’ll notice that she has been instrumental in stopping the disaster that befell us when my mother decided to raise taxes. I didn’t see any of you helping with the feasts for the people. Freya was at both. Without Freya and Jamal, this kingdom would have fallen weeks ago.”