Rise of a Sultana

Chapter Four ~ Aladdin

Four days had passed since Aladdin's arrival in Arendelle and he had yet to come to terms with the strangeness that seemed to surround him. One would think after seeing a flying carpet, not to mention a genie, he wouldn't still be surprised when a talking snowman followed him around. Olaf, so he said his name was. Yes he said, with his mouth, his talking mouth.

Olaf was as relentless in his questioning as Queen Anna. His questions were less personal but much more blunt. Mostly his queries focused around the heat in Agrabah. He wanted details, how the heat felt in his hair (though Aladdin pointed out he didn't have any hair), what was sand like, did they really not have snow, did the sun ever even set. There seemed to be no end. Worst of all the little talking questionnaire was his babysitter and seemed just as bad at answering what he needed to know as Anna.

Aladdin had asked him early on where he came from and the short reply had been Queen Elsa's name followed by a new line of questions. That had puzzled the street rat only for a little while before he began to put things together. Like how the room always seemed just a bit cooler when the older queen walked in, or the frost he'd seen on the windows after he'd relayed his story to them and seen her grow anxious. He hadn't asked her directly but he was quite certain the queen had magic of her own.

Speaking of the queen, she'd just turned the corner into the hall he was aimlessly wandering, Olaf trailing behind. Though Aladdin was far from a prisoner he'd been stuck in the castle since his arrival. He simply had nowhere else to go and the queens had opened their doors to him until he had an idea of where to go. Elsa stopped when she noticed him, her face a cool mask of calm. "Aladdin."

"Queen Elsa." He bowed low, knowing that even though it was her proper due it still made her uncomfortable.

"Olaf!" The snowman loudly called his own name and he heard a low pitched laugh from Elsa as he waddled forward to give her one of his warm hugs. She looked back to Aladdin after, smiling still.

"I was actually looking for you." She stood fixing her deep purple skirts and similarly covered cape that trailed on the floor after her. "I was wondering if you'd decided what to do with regards to your situation."

He sighed dropping to sit on the padded bench nearby. "I don't know. I should go home but I don't know what I'll find there. Jasmine must know by now what I really am."

"And if she has? Would that be so bad?" Elsa sat keeping a distance between them. "She should have known much sooner."

Aladdin rolled his eyes and she noticed. "How else could I have gotten closer to her? I'm nothing but a common criminal and she's a princess. We could never have been together if I didn't lie." He looked down running Jasmines stolen hair clip through his fingers. "And with the lie I've probably lost her anyway."

"Not necessarily."

"She won't forgive me, she shouldn't."

"I used to think that about myself, after I lied to Anna for so long." Aladdin turned his head abruptly to look at the queen. He eyes were closed, head bowed, lost in a memory for a moment before she continued. "I isolated myself, kept secrets, because I thought that was what was right. I nearly destroyed everything, literally everything, lives, buildings, my kingdom." She opened her eyes when Olaf placed his...hand...on her arm. A deep sadness consumed eyes when she looked at him, the room filling with a near freezing cold. "I didn't think I deserved to be forgiven."

She sighed and the cold abated as she smiled. "One mistake, even a horrible one shouldn't define your life. It's important to move past it and grow. Even a betrayal of an ally doesn't spell doom, but a chance for something new." Elsas small hand settled on his shoulder and he felt warm despite the cold of it. "Even if she doesn't forgive you, she deserves to hear why." He went to answer when a guard came running around the corner skidding to a halt and holding out a sealed scroll.

"Your majesty." He dropped it into her waiting hand and stood by patiently as she read through the words.

"Get Anna, and Hans And Kristoff. Now." He nodded and ran to find the three as Elsa stood.

"What is it?" She began to walk away with him close on her heels.

"It would seem this Jafar has set his sights beyond Agrabah. His banners were seen moving north. He means to take everything in his path. I fear he may succeed and reach even here. If he doesn't we will still need to be ready to house the refugees who flee. I will have to alert the Northuldrans as well." The doors to her throne room opened and she made short work of filling in Hans and the council were already there.

"Why not fight back?" Aladdin caught her attention, and everyone else's as well. "Send your army south to stop his before it even has a chance to get this far."

"You would have me risk the lives of my people by sending our forces away even while the Southern Isles threaten war?" She raised an eyebrow. Aladdin modded sheepishly. "This is my my war and I have no desire to involve my people. It is my responsibility to keep them safe and I can best do that from here." She turned away from him laying out her orders and plans.

"Then I should go." Aladdin said suddenly. Elsa turned again, shocked. "There has to be something I can do, somehow. I can't just sit here." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Then we will see to it that you have the provisions to make it there." She have orders for a horse and supplies to be readied and stepped forward to take his hands. "I'm sorry I cannot help, I truly am. When this is all over, if you need a place to go, our gates will always be open to you."

"Thank you Queen Elsa." He bowed to her and left with a servant to the stables. He called for Abu as he walked through the halls. The monkey had taken a liking to Queen Anna, following her around at every turn. So when Abu found him so quickly Aladdin was more than surprised but didn't question it.

Olaf saw them off at the stables, wishing them a safe journey and asking for him to return...with some of that sand if he could. It was a bit of relief to Aladdin to hear something so lighthearted and he readily agreed before urging his horse out and far from Arendelle.

He'd barely reached the outskirts when a second horse came careening to stop in front of his suddenly. Sitting atop it was Anna. "Leaving so suddenly?"

"I have to get home." He tried to nudge his horse around hers but she blocked him again.

"To do what? Fight? Alone?"

"I'm all I have, unless you've come to tell me your sister changed her mind."

"Elsa isn't the only person with an army around here." He raised an eyebrow as she grabbed his horses bridle and steered it the other direction. "This way."

"No, I need to go south, that's west."

"I know, we're going west." She laughed looking back. "We're going to get you an army, from someone who knows a good fight when they see one. We're going to Scotland."