Gaia: Daughter of Aladdin

by Armitage, J. A.

  “I’ll save you,” I whispered through my tears.

  He wiped them away with his thumb. Once upon a time, he’d kissed my tears away.

  I put my hands up to his face. “Look at me.”

  He looked into my eyes.

  “I love you.”

  He didn’t say a word, just moved his eyes back down to his book.

  I wanted him to remember me. Every part of me wanted to make him remember me, but I didn’t know how. His memories flitted in and out. If only this infernal magical disease affected everyone the same, I’d know when to expect him to come back to me...to himself, but it affected everyone differently. I knew I had to prepare myself for him never coming back. The pain of that thought was almost too much to bear. I stood and kissed the top of his head.

  If I couldn’t speak to Genie, I’d go and do what I’d told my mother I was going to do.

  I found Jamal and Freya in the conference room. The large table looked even bigger with only the two of them in there. They sat halfway down the rectangular table, far away from my parent’s thrones. Today was not the day to point out that I was happy for them to use them. It didn’t really matter anymore.

  “Genie has forgotten me again,” I said, taking a seat opposite them.

  “Do you want to tell us what happened last night and how you nearly died?” Jamal asked his jaw tight and his hands in fists.

  I’d been so worried about Genie having a go at me for leaving that I’d not considered how Jamal would take this.

  “The Vizier is back.”

  “Damn it!” Jamal said, slamming his fist down on the table. “I knew something like this was going to happen.”

  I braced myself for a tirade, but he merely looked down at the table and drew in a sharp breath. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head. “My father saved me from the worst of it.”

  Jamal nodded slowly. “That’s the main thing. I’ve...we’ve been worried. We’ve heard talk of something happening out in the desert, but when we sent guards out to investigate, there was nothing there.”

  “The cave is there. The cave with Genie’s lamp. I saw it myself. The cave, not the lamp.”

  Jamal’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? I thought you were going to The Forge. You mean to tell me The Vizier had you go into the cave?”

  I sighed and took a bite of the bread roll I’d been holding since I left the breakfast room. It was more to calm my nerves than because I was hungry.

  “I set off for The Forge. The Vizier got to me before I’d even got to the Urbis Express station. I’d barely left the palace.”

  Freya gulped and looked about her as though he’d suddenly appear. “He was near the palace?”

  “Yes. Near enough. That’s why I wanted you to make sure the guards were aware and doing their job. He’s after me. I still don’t understand why, but I know it’s personal. I still want to go to The Forge and find a memory potion. I don’t know what else to do.”

  Jamal drummed his hands on the table. “Gaia. I’m not your boss or your mentor. You are above me in every possible way. I know I can’t demand that you stay here in the palace, and I know that you’d ignore me if I tried to demand that of you, but I hope I’m your friend.”

  “Of course you are. I think very highly of you.”

  “Then, as your friend, I’m asking that you don’t run away again. We need to work as a team. This is bigger than anything else Badalah has ever seen, and we will not beat it if we are at odds with one another. I would never presume to try to run the kingdom. I have no desire to take over. I just want to help.”

  His words were worse than if he’d balled me out. I’d have deserved it if he had, but his quiet reaction pulled at my heart.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken off. I just want to fix this.”

  “We all do. Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened and we’ll work out a plan from there.”

  One of the servants brought us apple tea and pastries, and over the impromptu breakfast, I told them everything that had happened over the course of the last few days.

  By the time I’d finished, Freya’s mouth was so wide she could have fit a whole bread roll in it.

  “Did you find the lamp?”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t even see it. The cave was huge. I could have searched for weeks and not stumbled upon it. I don’t know how my father found it in the first place.”

  “Did you speak to him about it when he rescued you?” Jamal asked, taking a pastry. He rolled it around in his hands as he spoke.

  I thought back to the time with my father this morning. “I didn’t. I was just happy to have been saved. I’m hoping that now that he’s speaking to my mother, they’ll fall in love again.”

  “Even if they do, what do you want to come of it?” he asked, absentmindedly picking at the pastry, making a pile of flakes on the table in front of him.

  I sighed. I didn’t really know. It was my way of wanting things to go back to how they used to be. “You remember my father.”

  “Of course, I do,” Jamal answered. “He is a brilliant leader. I know the man he is now isn’t the man he was a few weeks back.”

  “Actually, I think you are wrong. He is the same man. He has the same ideals.”

  “He stole your mother’s purse,” Jamal pointed out.

  “A momentary lapse in judgment. He did it as an excuse to meet my mother. He knows he loves her, he just doesn’t remember why.”

  Jamal waved his hand. “So you want them to fall in love. Is your plan to have your mother so busy falling in love that we can get on with the job of ruling the kingdom without any more mishaps?”

  Now it was my turn to be shocked. “No. That’s not it at all. I want my father to rule the kingdom again. He knows how to. I figure that if he remembers my mother, he might remember his position.”

  Jamal sighed, putting down what was left of the pastry. “I think that’s wishful thinking, Gaia. I want nothing more than your father to resume his role as sultan, but he thinks he’s a street rat. He lives in a bell tower, and his bed is a pile of rags.”

  I brought my hands up to my temples and rubbed to lessen the headache that was threatening.

  “What do you suggest I do? Hide in the palace? For how long exactly? You know The Vizier is after me, but having me locked away from the people will give him what he wants anyway.”

  Jamal narrowed his eyes. “I’m not suggesting that you hide away. If anything, we need you to be more vocal. The kingdom has no clear leadership. Your mother makes good decisions then follows them up with bad. I’d love it if you took the reins, but most of the people in Kisbu don’t even remember you and those that do think you are a freeloader. I don’t even know how to deal with any of this.”

  “Neither do I,” I sighed. “The only way out of this is to kill The Vizier, but even then, I’m not sure it will work. This thing is much bigger than him. He has people he’s working with. If we kill him, we’ll still have the others to deal with.”

  Jamal stood and began to pace up and down. “I wish we understood where all this was coming from. Freya has told me everything you’ve learned about your past, but it’s like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing.”

  “That’s exactly what it’s like,” I agreed, “And the bits that do fit together make no sense.”

  “Like the fact that you have six or more siblings,” added Freya. “It’s not possible. I went to see Genie when you were gone. I asked him what was the highest multiple live births in humans. He had to look it up, but he found out. Thirteen years ago in Enchantia, a woman gave birth to seven children. Three boys and four girls. All survived. They were extremely premature, and Genie thinks they only survived because of Enchantia’s use of magic. Other than that, he says there have been a few cases of sextuplets, but it’s really rare.”

  “Maybe the birth I witnessed wasn’t my own then,” I said, suddenly feeling sad about it. It was a stretch to think I had so many s
iblings.

  “Who’s to say that these princes and princesses were all born at the same time as you?” Jamal asked. “It’s entirely plausible that you have brothers and sisters of different ages.”

  “They were all born around the same time,” Freya and I said together.

  “We were all born around the same time,” I modified. “Thinking back to the birth, both babies I saw had lighter skin than me. I guess it was wishful thinking after all that it was me.”

  I felt tears prickle at the corners of my eyes again, but I held them back. I stood to leave. What else was there to talk about? I’d made it to the door when Jamal caught up with me. He brought me into a hug and held me as my body shook with sobs. I was just so tired of it all. “I hate that nothing makes sense. I hate that I don’t know who I am.”

  Jamal lifted my chin and looked into my eyes. I’d forgotten how beautiful his were. “I know who you are,” he said softly. “Freya knows who you are. Just because you don’t know about your birth, it doesn’t change who you are.”

  I nodded as Freya took hold of my hand. “We’ll get through this. While you were gone, nothing bad happened. The Sultana wasn’t feeling too well, but we managed. The residents of Kisbu have been relatively quiet, and the food is still coming in. Maybe you should talk to Genie and see if he knows why the thing you saw wasn’t what you thought. Maybe he made a mistake?”

  “I can’t,” I said sadly. “He doesn’t remember me today. His wishes were legendary. There is no way he made a mistake. I saw my mother.”

  “So, we just need to figure out what that has to do with The Vizier and how we can use the information to stop him.”

  “I’ll think on it,” I said, feeling tired. “I need a nap first. I’m exhausted.” I gave her a hug and said bye to both of them.

  The palace seemed so empty, so far from how it was only a few weeks ago. I missed the hubbub of the palace, of the staff running from place to place. I walked aimlessly, not sure where to go and what to do. I wasn’t as tired as I’d made out to Freya, but I needed time alone to think. The sound of laughing hit my ears. It had been so long since I’d heard laughter that I followed it to the main terrace. When I saw who it was, I hid behind one of the large potted plants and watched.

  My mother’s face was relaxed, and her beauty shone out. She laughed again at something my father said. Three or four weeks ago, this would have been a normal scene, but now it brought hope to my heart. I couldn’t see my father’s face from where I was standing, but I didn’t need to. The expression on my mother’s face said everything I needed to know. She was in love with him. She always had been. I left them to it and went back to find the man I loved.

  “You again,” Genie said as I walked into his room and shut the door behind me. I walked slowly over to where he was sitting and took the book he was reading from his hands. He didn’t resist as I knelt at his feet.

  “Genie. Do you know who I am?”

  He shook his head slightly but didn’t take his eyes from me.

  “I’m Gaia. I love you.”

  He furrowed his brows as though he was trying to place where he knew me from.

  I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.

  When I pulled back, I saw he was looking at me with curiosity. The kiss hadn’t bothered him, but it hadn’t made him remember me either.

  I parted my lips and moved toward him again. This time, he yielded to me, and the kiss became something else. It became a kiss of lovers, not strangers. I’d found him again, and this time I wasn’t going to let him go.

  3

  10th July

  My mother sang as she arranged flowers in a vase on the breakfast table. I’d left Genie sleeping and gone to find her via the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

  “Good morning Gaia!” she sang, her eyes full of light and happiness. It had been a long time since I’d heard her sing. I’d forgotten what a beautiful voice she had.

  “What’s happening with you?” I asked, feeling the sides of my mouth curving into a grin. I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

  “Nothing. The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. It’s a wonderful day.” She walked around the table, a purple flower still in her hand, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  “You look beautiful today, Gaia.”

  Now, I really knew something was up. I was wearing yesterday’s clothes, having come straight from Genie’s room. I’d not even showered yet.

  “Did you have fun with Aladdin yesterday? He’s nice, huh?” I wanted to say cute, but it felt weird saying such a thing about my own father. He was a handsome man, but she already knew that.

  Her cheeks colored, and she swatted me away with her hand.

  “Oh, Silly. We had a nice time, yes.”

  “What time did he leave?” I asked, picking up some baby’s breath and handing it to her to add to her arrangement.

  She paused, and a soppy look took over her features. “He did leave late. I quite forgot the time. You know, for a man that lived his entire life on the streets of Kisbu, he had some really good ideas about how to run the kingdom.”

  My ears pricked up. “He told you he’d lived on the streets his entire life?” Was that what he remembered?

  “Well, he didn’t exactly say that, but he had so many wonderful stories about his childhood. Some of it was spent in an orphanage, the rest on the streets. He told me that he was living in a bell tower now. Can you imagine it? Of course, I offered him a room here...”

  I spat out the coffee I was holding, spraying the white roses with brown liquid.

  My mother dabbed the table with a cloth and shook the roses, all the while giving me an exasperated look.

  “You invited him to stay the night?”

  “Not like that,” she replied. “What do you take me for? We have plenty of guest rooms here. I thought he could use one. I didn’t feel comfortable letting him go back to the bell tower. It just didn’t seem right.”

  “So, is he here?” I asked, looking around, expecting him to walk through the door at any second.

  “No. He said he didn’t want to impose. I invited him for lunch, though, so go and get changed. I’d like you to look nice when he comes. If you see Jamal and Freya, would you ask them to come too? I know they’ve been awfully helpful around here during my illness, and I think they’d like to hear some of what Aladdin has to say.”

  For the first time in weeks, it felt like something was going right. Having my mother and father not only speaking to each other but actually liking each other was a start. Getting them to fall in love again would be easy because they were already in love with each other. They’d just forgotten. And while it started us on a road to recovery, it didn’t solve the biggest problem of all. The Vizier. My parents had been an unstoppable team up until three or four weeks ago. It would take time for them to get to know each other again. In the meantime, I had to keep The Vizier at bay. Without being able to leave the palace, I didn’t have the first clue how to do it.

  “We need a plan!” I said to Jamal and Freya as I stepped out onto the terrace.

  The two of them pulled apart quickly, and Freya’s cheeks turned red in a similar fashion to my mother’s only ten minutes earlier.

  It was so obvious they’d been kissing and more so, now that they were so far apart that they were in danger of falling off each side of the bench they were sitting on.

  “My father was here all day yesterday. My mother even invited him to stay.”

  Freya’s eyes widened. “And did he?”

  “No, but he is coming for lunch. My mother wants us all there. She thinks he has some good ideas on how to rule the kingdom.”

  I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as I said this.

  Jamal jumped up. “That’s great. I’ve been doing the best I can, but I’ll be the first to admit I don’t really know what I’m doing. If your father comes back and then your mother remembers things, it will be a huge relief.”

  Freya stood up
and ran her hand down his arm, apparently forgetting they were hiding their relationship from me.

  “You are too modest. The kingdom would have collapsed if it wasn’t for you.”

  Now it was Jamal’s turn to go red. It was almost like embarrassment was catching this morning.

  “I didn’t do a lot.”

  I walked toward him. “Freya is right. She seems to forget that she was half the team that kept this kingdom from falling apart completely, but you have done an amazing job. Both of you. However, as you said, having my father back will make a big difference. I’m hoping that the more time my parents spend together, the more they’ll remember. I’m hoping it will cure them of this madness.”

  Freya looked toward Jamal then turned her eyes to me. “This won’t cure them, Gaia. Even if they fall madly in love again, it will be like the first time for them. They won’t get their memories of before back. Your father won’t remember being at the palace before a couple of weeks ago, and your mother’s memories flit in and out. It’s possible that she’ll fall in love with him again and then forget him again. We could keep doing this dance for eternity, and nothing will change until we stop the root cause.”

  I sighed. She was right. My mother’s memory was functioning much the same way as Genie’s. He’d remembered me again last night, but I could go back to his room right now and be a stranger to him.

  I felt deflated. I’d put so much into my parents returning to normal that I’d put the real problem to the back of my mind.

  “The Vizier is our main problem,” I said pointlessly. They both already knew that.

  Jamal stepped forward. “I have brought in all the guards we have. Most are protecting the palace. You are what he wants. I’ve got some of them stationed in the desert, so he’ll struggle to get back to the cave to find the lamp. The rest are in town, doing what they can to find him. Just a word of warning, though. While they are looking for him, they are not doing their normal duties of keeping the peace among the citizens. Things are quiet at the moment, but you’ve seen how quickly things have been changing. People’s memories are all being affected differently, so we can expect a lot of misunderstandings.”