Aladdin

--

It is said that you can never step into the same river twice.

It is equally true that you can never cross the same desert twice, and that a story, twice told, is no longer the same. Because slowly, as the water wears at its banks, and as the sand sifts from dune to dune, a story, too, shifts from its original place until it no longer resembles the original save that it lies in the same direction.

--

Aladdin was a young man who lived with his mother. They seldom had enough to get by upon, and never had more than that, but they lived quite happily together nonetheless.

Aladdin had never felt the lack of a father, but his mother did, and one day she returned home from the marketplace with a middle-aged man she forever claimed was Aladdin's uncle, although the young man knew quite well that neither of his parents had ever had a brother, let alone one so unpleasant and smarmy.

"Uncle," Aladdin said one morning, "My mother is grateful for your presence, and I would almost say the same of myself, if you would only work for your portion of our daily bread."

"Oh," said his uncle, "I look for work every day, but the only offers that I come across are from those who want young men working for them." Here he paused and eyed Aladdin until the young man was uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "Perhaps I should ask them to extend those offers to you," he added, "a strapping young man such as yourself could ask any price you wished for your…services." The last word was hissed low and slimily, heavily suggestive of things Aladdin wished never to know.

Aladdin shuddered and turned away, resolving never to ask his uncle to work again, though it meant that Aladdin had to work harder himself so that they could afford to eat and live in their tiny rented room.

Months passed in this manner, Aladdin doing his best to avoid his uncle when his mother was not around, since the man always appeared to behave in her presence. In the meantime, the work that Aladdin did—mostly unskilled labor and delivery of small packages and messages, was slowly drying up to a trickle, which made it ever harder for Aladdin to make enough money to support his family.

"Aladdin," said his mother one day, "why do you never do anything with your uncle?"

"I am always busy working, mother," Aladdin said, not wishing to tell his mother the real reason.

"You ought to take a day off," said she, "else all this working will kill you long before your teeth are worn."

Aladdin sighed. "What prompted this, mother?" he asked.

"Your uncle tells me that he wishes to walk in the desert with you; there is an oasis of fruit that he knows not far from here, and if you would but go with him to gather dates and figs, we could fill our bellies for a week. But yet your uncle fears that you will not go with him, as you seem to have taken an irrational dislike to him."

Aladdin, who felt that his dislike was all too rational, held his peace and nodded. He knew his mother well enough to know that she would not let this opportunity pass, nor would she hear any argument that her son could muster. "If you wish me to go with my uncle, then I will go," Aladdin said, wondering if he could use such an opportunity to be rid of the man once and for all. Men died in the desert all the time, after all.

His mother sighed. "I wish for you to go," she said, "but I also wish for you to open your mind, if not your heart, to this man; he is not as bad as you think him to be."

Aladdin carried his doubts as close as a nomad carries water, but when his uncle asked him to travel with him to the oasis, Aladdin agreed.

--

"I know you do not like me," Aladdin's uncle said as they neared the place where the oasis was supposed to be. "And I don't suppose you'll like me any better when I tell you that I lied to both you and your mother."

Aladdin didn't say anything, wondering if whatever lie his uncle was about to reveal could possibly make him dislike the man more than he already did.

"See," said his uncle, "we're not heading towards an oasis at all; that was just a lie to get your mother to convince you to come with me."

"Tell me something I didn't know," Aladdin said, carefully deviating his path so he was far enough away from his uncle that he would have a head start or warning, should either become necessary.

His uncle laughed. "Oh, don't worry, boy, I do not intend to kill you, nor to harm you in any way."

"I find that hard to believe," Aladdin said.

"Believe what you will," said his uncle, "but I brought you out here because I needed your help locating a lost treasure."

"And when did you lose this treasure?" Aladdin asked.

"I did not lose it," said his uncle, "I found it. It is hidden in a cave, and I am too old to go inside and fetch it out again, but if you can get it out, then it will make us all wealthy until the end of our days."

"So I enter this cave in search of a treasure that doesn't exist, you block the entrance while I'm distracted and return to my mother claiming I died in the desert."

"Oh, Aladdin," said his uncle, "How little you trust me. Look," he added, stopping in front of Aladdin and blocking his way, "you can spot a real jewel as well as anyone." He pulled a ring off his finger, one that Aladdin had often eyed and wished the man would sell so that they could eat well for a while. "This ring is a real ruby, and it's worth far more than your scrawny hide, even if you did take one of my friends up on their offer. I'll lend you this ring while you're in the cave, and you can return it when you get out—unless the treasure is there, in which case you can keep the ring and give me the treasure."

Aladdin studied the man and considered all he knew of his smarmy 'uncle.' Deciding that the man's greed was enough that he would want the ring back, Aladdin felt that he could trust the man this far. Besides, he'd said Aladdin could keep the ring if he brought out the treasure, which no doubt meant that he was quite serious about its worth. "Very well," Aladdin said, accepting the ring from his uncle.

They continued on their way, coming shortly across a rocky cliff, at the base of which was a tiny cave.

"I'll lower you into it," said Aladdin's uncle. "There'll be one cave you can stand up in, and three passages heading off from that one. Take the middle passage, but be sure that you do not touch any of the walls, for that would mean your death. When you reach the end of the passage, there will be another cave, and somewhere in it there will be a lamp; that is the treasure that I seek."

"You know far too much about this cave, uncle," Aladdin said.

"Be glad that I do," said Aladdin's uncle, "Otherwise it would spell your death."

--

Lowered steadily by his uncle, Aladdin quickly found himself in a large cave, faced by three passages. The left-hand one lead towards a faint light, the right-hand one smelled of flowers, while the central passage was narrow and rough, smelling of damp rock and old dirt.

As Aladdin crossed towards the floor towards the central passage, something knocked against his foot. Looking down he saw the empty eye sockets of a broken skull watching him. Shuddering, Aladdin did his best to watch where he stepped after that, not wishing to fall prey to the same fate as that skull.

The central passage smelled worse when Aladdin entered it, the stench of dirt and rot growing as Aladdin walked along, unable to see much beyond the light of his torch, Aladdin stepped carefully and watched as the walls slowly narrowed until he had to walk sideways to avoid touching them. They became more narrow still, and Aladdin had to suck in his nearly-non-existent belly, taking only the shallowest of breaths as he inched carefully along. Just when he feared that he could not go any farther without touching the walls at all, the passage ended, and Aladdin found himself in a large cave.

This cave looked like a garden, though everything was made from gold and jewels; everything from the grass to the fruits on the trees. Aladdin hesitated, for his uncle had said nothing about this treasure, but at last he reached out and lightly touched an emerald pear hanging on a nearby branch. When nothing happened, Aladdin reached for it again, this time plucking it from the branches of the tree. Slipping the fruit into his pocket, Aladdin wandered further into the room, plucking a fruit here and a leaf there, all the while looking for the lamp of which his uncle spoke.

At last Aladdin came to the far side of the cave, where two very tall trees stood sentinel next to a shrine carved right into the rock of the cave's wall, and there, placed upon a faded purple cloth, was an old and dusty lamp.

Wondering what was so precious about such a beat-up looking thing, Aladdin carefully picked it up and stowed it among his clothing. He wandered back through the forest, and then squeezed his way through the dangerous passageway once more, breathing a sigh of deep relief when he at last reached the other end.

"Help me up, uncle," Aladdin called.

"Give me the lamp, first," said his uncle.

"No, for then you will leave me here to die; first give me your hand," Aladdin said, severely regretting that the cave's mouth was too high to jump to.

"The lamp, and then I will help you."

"No."

"The lamp," said Aladdin's uncle, "or I will leave you there to die and collect it from your corpse."

"You'll leave me anyway, once you have your lamp," Aladdin said. "May the sands strip the flesh from your bones, for I'll have none of your help now."

His uncle pleaded further, but Aladdin refused all offers of help, and eventually the man went away.

"What shall I do now?" Aladdin asked himself as he paced back and forth in the cave. For all that he had defied his uncle, he had no wish to die in this cave under the sands. "Should I attempt the other passages?" Aladdin wondered, eying the faint light down the left-hand tunnel. He walked towards it, twisting the ring on his finger as he tried to decide if he should go down it.

There was the faint sound of a chime, and then a soft blue cloud that smell of exotic spices drifted through the air until it formed the vague outline of a man. "What do you wish of me, master?" asked the genie—for that it what it was.

"Who are you?" asked Aladdin.

"I am the genie that lives in the ring upon your finger, and since you wear my ring, that makes you my master. What do you wish of me?" replied the genie.

Wondering how his 'uncle' had come by a genie, Aladdin asked if the genie could take him home. The genie replied that he could, and a moment later Aladdin was standing outside of his mother's house, watching as she chased his 'uncle' away with a broom, tears glittering on her cheeks.

Aladdin waited until the man was gone before he approached his mother. "What is the matter, dear mother?" Aladdin asked.

"My son!" she cried throwing her arms around him, and claiming that she knew he could not be dead, despite what that horrid man said.

Aladdin reassured his mother, and explained some of his adventures with his 'uncle' to her. She did not believe him at first, and so Aladdin showed her the gems that he had plucked from the garden in the cave, and she believed.

Choosing the smallest and ugliest of the jewels that Aladdin had brought home, his mother slipped into the marketplace and sold it to a gem merchant, the resulting money allowing them to eat and live comfortably for some months.

One day, as Aladdin was walking through the bazaar, he noticed a train of palace servants calling out that the princess was passing through, and that all were required to make way for her. Wishing to see her—or at least her entourage—for himself, Aladdin slipped through the crowds to watch.

There were two criers in from of the procession, calling that the princess was passing and all were to step aside and make way. Following them were four guards, eyes ever-watchful as they looked over the crowd. After the guards came four matched slaves carrying a palanquin draped with curtains of silk to hide its passenger. Two more guards walked beside it, and another four behind. But between the rear-guards and the palanquin was a young man riding a pure-white horse. His bearing was confidant, but not proud, and his head—crowned by black curls brushed until they shown and held back by a golden hair clip—was held high as he looked around at everything he passed.

As he passed Aladdin, those eyes looked at him as well, stuck on his face and his bearing for a moment longer than they had looked at anything else before they swept on and the procession passed Aladdin by as well.

Aladdin asked another observer of the entourage who the young man was, but they knew only that he was the son of the sultan's vizier, and could tell Aladdin no more than that.

Returning home that night in a daze, Aladdin told his mother only that he had seen the most exquisite creature in the marketplace that day.

His mother, who had heard of the princess' passage, assumed that it was she her son spoke of, and was content to let the matter rest. There was, however, another matter which she kept at like a sandstorm, and that was the presence of the old lamp Aladdin had found in the cave.

"I do not see why we need to keep such an old piece of junk when we can easily afford much nicer," Aladdin's mother said.

"My uncle was quite insistent that it was very valuable," Aladdin replied.

"That man was not to be trusted," his mother said. "Clearly that lamp is not worth even a penny. And if it is, then clean it up and sell it to those who would pay, for I find it an eyesore."

Aladdin objected at first, but eventually he gave in and removed the lamp from its shelf. Taking his polishing cloth to it, Aladdin hummed to himself, and so did not notice the quiet sound of the chime. Nor did he notice the soft green mist until it was quite bright and quite solid.

"What would you wish of my, master?" asked the genie.

"A second genie?" Aladdin asked in amazement. "No wonder my uncle thought this lamp was valuable."

"Forgive me, master, but what do you mean by 'second' genie?" asked the genie of the lamp.

Aladdin laughed and twisted the ring upon his finger, summoning that genie up in his cloud of blue. The genies regarded each other for a long moment. "Hey," said the green one at last. "You have a beautiful color."

The blue one tinged just the slightest bit purple. "You're not so bad yourself," he said. "How's lamp-living?"

"Light," replied the genie of the lamp. "How's the ring?"

"Well," said the green genie, "no one's tried to throw me into a volcano yet, so I can't complain."

Aladdin cleared his throat. "If we're done with pleasantries, I have a request to make of you; two days ago I saw a beautiful young man in the marketplace, and I wish to meet him again."

"I will take you there at once!" said the genie of the ring.

"I will bring him at once," said the genie of the lamp at the exact same time.

"No, no, neither of those will do," Aladdin said. "I wish to meet him naturally, I do not wish to scare him to death or cause him to call the guards when I appear out of thin air."

"I am hardly thin," grumbled the blue genie.

"You are thin enough," the green genie replied, a sparkle appearing in its eye-region.

Aladdin sighed. "Can either of you tell me where he is right now?" he asked.

"He is visiting another noble outside of the palace," said the green genie.

"He will stay there a bit longer, and then return to the palace for the evening," finished the blue genie.

"Is he escorted like the princess?" Aladdin asked.

"No, master," replied the green genie, "the son of the vizier is not nearly as important as the princess, and he travels alone outside the palace."

"Would I be able to intercept him on his way back to the palace?" Aladdin asked.

"If you hurried," said the blue genie of the ring.

"Could you, perhaps, help me on my way?" Aladdin asked the genie of the ring, who nodded and swirled around Aladdin, the two of the arriving abruptly in a dusty alleyway.

"He will pass by soon," said the blue genie before fading back into Aladdin's ring. Aladdin stepped to the mouth of the ally, waiting and watching for the handsome young man he had seen in the bazaar.

Aladdin did not have to wait long before he heard the slow footsteps of the one he sought. He stepped out of the shadows and stood in a pool of late-afternoon sunlight. "Greetings," he called when the vizier's son was close enough.

The young man startled from his thoughts and looked around, his eyes fixing on Aladdin once again. "You are the young man from the marketplace," said the vizier's son.

"I am surprised you remembered me," Aladdin said, "our eyes met for only a moment."

"You stand out," said the vizier's son. "Why did you seek my out?"

Aladdin shrugged. "I wished only to meet you," he said.

"Why did you wish for such a meeting?" asked the vizier's son, stepping closer.

"My mind has been caught on you these past few days," Aladdin replied.

"Well," said the vizier's son, stepping one step too close. "That is only fair, as you have taken over many of my thoughts as well."

Aladdin didn't know what to make of this, so he stepped back. "My name is Aladdin," he said.

"Karvesh the vizier's son," Karvesh introduced himself.

"Thank you for speaking with me," Aladdin said, backing towards the alley once more.

"Will you seek me out again?" Karvesh asked.

"Whenever I can," Aladdin replied as he slipped back into the shadows and summoned the genie of the ring to take him home again.

--

Aladdin and Karvesh met frequently over the next few weeks. "It is too bad that I cannot be seen publicly with you," Karvesh said one evening as they strolled through an older part of the public gardens.

"Why not?" asked Aladdin.

Karvesh laughed. "You are too clearly poor," he said. "My father would have me beheaded if he knew I so much as spoke to someone of your caste."

Aladdin frowned. "I have riches the likes of which you've never seen," he said, his pride having been bruised by Karvesh's comment.

"Is that so?" Karvesh asked, stepping close and running one hand along Aladdin's leg.

Aladdin stepped away. "I will show them to your father if that will allow me to be with you publically."

Karvesh laughed again. "You are too skittish to be with me in private," he said, "I do not think you would ever be bold in public."

"Whatever do you mean?" Aladdin asked.

But Karvesh just waved him off and would say no more on the subject.

The conversation sat ill with Aladdin, though, and he resolved to show the jewels he'd gotten from the cave to the vizier so that he would be allowed to see Karvesh whenever he wanted to.

Thinking it imprudent to take the jewels to the palace himself, Aladdin spoke to his mother, and asked her to bring them there on his behalf.

Aladdin's mother had been content when she thought her son in love with the princess—after all, they now had more than enough jewels to impress the sultan into at least considering such a suit—but when she heard that it was not the princess, but instead the vizier's son that had caught her son's attention, Aladdin's mother was understandably less than pleased.

So when Aladdin sent her to the palace with his treasure, she resolved to speak with the sultan about his child, instead of the vizier.

It was difficult for Aladdin's mother to get an audience with the sultan, but she was as wearing as a sandstorm when she wanted to be, and was eventually allowed in to see him.

When she opened the ragged bundle and placed the jeweled fruit at the sultan's feet, the sultan was overwhelmed (and the vizier was impressed as well, although his reaction was not the one Aladdin's mother sought), and asked her why she brought such a gift. Aladdin's mother explained about her son's abiding love for the beautiful princess, making up a story about how he had seen but a glimpse of her beauty through the curtains of her palanquin as she passed through the marketplace that day, and how Aladdin had been so smitten from that one glimpse that he could speak of nothing else.

It was a pretty story, and Aladdin's mother told it very compellingly—indeed, so compelling was her story that the sultan agreed to wed his daughter to Aladdin then and there.

Delighted, Aladdin's mother returned to her son to tell him the good news.

"What have you done?" cried Aladdin when she told him all that had transpired.

"I have insured that you will be a sultan, and not some lowly catamite to the son of the vizier," she replied, her voice betraying what she thought of Aladdin's previous plans.

"I do not care what you told the sultan," Aladdin said, "I will not marry the princess, and I will-"

"Oh, come now, my son," said Aladdin's mother, "Once you are married to her, you may do whatever you wish with whomever you want; that is how the nobles always are. Only grant me the chance to see my son become the greatest man in the sultanate."

Aladdin did his best to resist, but, as was always his wont, he eventually gave in to his mother's wishes and called for his genies.

"It seems I'll need some nice clothing," Aladdin told them.

"Are you meeting with Karvesh openly?" asked the genie of the ring.

Aladdin shook his head. "I could only wish for that to happen. No, my mother sought to purchase me the hand of the princess with my treasure, rather than the regard of Karvesh's father."

The green genie made a noise much like the clicking of his tongue—although he had none. "And you gave in to your mother's wishes, of course," said the genie of the lamp.

"What am I to do?" Aladdin asked. "She is still my mother. Now, I am to meet my bride tomorrow, and so I will need to have proper clothing."

"Here you are, master," said the blue genie, waving a tendril of smoke around Aladdin.

A mere moment later Aladdin stood in clothing that would have made any vain prince green with envy, though perhaps not as green as the genie of the lamp.

"Must it be so uncomfortable?" Aladdin asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot in an attempt to settle his clothing.

"Not is you wish it to be fashionable as well," said the blue genie.

"There is no such thing as fashionable and comfortable?" Aladdin whined, pulling at a few of the places that were most restraining.

"That is something that not even I could accomplish, master," said the green genie. "Our skills lie only in the possible."

Aladdin harrumphed and ordered them to prepare all sorts of other things for his meeting tomorrow.

--

Tomorrow came too soon, and Aladdin rode a pure-white stallion to the palace, each silver hoof making a beautiful chiming sound as it was placed upon the trodden dirt of the city. As he passed, the townsfolk came to watch, never having seen someone so majestic in their dirty corner of the city.

Aladdin, embarrassed to appear before them in such clothing, kept his eyes ahead in a manner most took to be arrogance.

Ignoring the whispers as best he could, Aladdin arrived at the palace gates in a timely manner. The guards allowed him in with barely a challenge to his presence, and Aladdin, who had somehow thought that they would smell the street on him and refuse him entrance, breathed a silent sigh of relief.

A palace official soon appeared to escort Aladdin to where the sultan and his daughter were resting in the gardens. Aladdin smiled softly at her, for she was comely enough. He pleasantly passed a few hours there, sitting and talking with the sultan and princess, until he was shown to a guest room for the evening.

The room was more spacious that the room Aladdin shared with his mother; he thought it might be more spacious than the whole building that they rented their room in, but yet he did his very best not to show how impressed he was.

Summoning his genies, Aladdin had them prepare him for the evening meal, which was to be a formal dinner of great size and state. He was just shooing the genies back into their respective homes when a knock came at the door. Opening it, Aladdin was struck dumb by the sight of Karvesh standing there, his head respectfully lowered.

"I have come to escort you to dinner," Karvesh said diffidently.

Aladdin's mouth worked, but no words were formed.

"Are you-" Karvesh began, raising his head to look at the palace's guest. "Aladdin!" He hissed in shock, shoving him back into the guest room. "What are you doing here?" Karvesh demanded, pulling the door shut.

Aladdin shrugged. "My mother-"

"This is supposed to be the room of the princess' future husband; how did you get in here?" Karvesh demanded.

"I am the princess' future husband," Aladdin said, quite miserable.

"What?!" Karvesh shouted. "I thought he was a man of untold riches and unsurpassed love for the princess."

Aladdin would not meet his eyes. "My mother was supposed to speak with your father, but she spoke with the sultan instead," he said. "And I do not know how to refuse or end this without losing my head in the process."

"What are we going to do, then?" Karvesh asked.

"We?" Aladdin repeated. "I am going to marry the princess as I promised, but perhaps after we can-"

"After?" Karvesh snapped. "I will not wait around for you, Aladdin. Nor will I be the sultan's—future sultan's—concubine. You cannot have us both."

"But-" Aladdin tried to protest, "my mother-"

Karvesh made a disgusted noise. "Then be a good mama's boy and marry her," he said, storming out of the room.

Someone else arrived shortly thereafter to escort Aladdin to dinner, which was filled with wonderful food and heady wines. Aladdin spent a good portion of the evening watching Karvesh, who steadfastly ignored the scrutiny and focused on his food.

"Do not mind him," the sultan said, noticing Aladdin's distraction. "He is in a foul mood tonight, but is often given to sulks and ill manners."

"Yes," said the princess, "he is as temperamental as a lady most days."

Aladdin smiled at her. "Forgive my inattention," he said, "that young man reminds me greatly of someone that I knew several years ago, and I was merely fixed on the resemblance."

"Of course," said the princess, "but I was wondering if you could but answer a few questions for me."

"Anything," Aladdin said, focusing on her and ignoring Karvesh as best he could.

"Is your palace quite as large as this one?"

"I have not yet seen all of your lovely palace, princess, but I would hazard that mine is at least as large."

"And what of the gardens?" she asked. "Are they quite as extensive as ours?"

"Nay, princess," said Aladdin, who had heard of the sultana's exotic gardens even as he lived in the streets, "I am afraid that those will need the careful touch of a woman before they come near to yours in beauty or variety."

The princess asked further questions, and Aladdin did his best to remember what answers he supplied so that he could wish for the lamp genie to create him such a palace as soon as he might need it.

Karvesh was silent all through dinner, thinking about the argument that he had had with Aladdin before the meal. He felt that he had been too harsh—Aladdin was always hesitant about everything. He saw Aladdin speaking with the princess and did his best to listen to their conversation over the chatter of other people around them.

Wondering about this palace Aladdin spoke of, and why he had never mentioned it before—Aladdin had never mentioned any riches save that last day, and Karvesh had always had the impression that Aladdin lived streets. Deciding to seek Aladdin out that evening and speak more with him, Karvesh excused himself from the table and went to await Aladdin in the other young man's guest room.

Karvesh hid himself behind a billowing curtain so that he would not be seen by any but Aladdin. After Aladdin entered the room, Karvesh was about to step forward and announce himself when Aladdin spoke.

"Genie, genie, come out and speak with me," he said, twisting a ring on his finger.

"What do you wish of me master?" asked a blue cloud of smoke that appeared with a soft chime.

"Can you build me a palace?" Aladdin asked.

The blue cloud twisted back and forth for a moment. "You would have to ask the genie of the lamp," the blue genie said.

"Of course," Aladdin muttered, digging through the pillows on the bed until he found the lamp he had hidden there. "Genie, genie, I have a task for you."

"What do you wish of me, master?" asked another genie, the green cloud he was formed of bowing as only a cloud could.

"I need you to build me a palace," Aladdin said, listing off all the details that he had told the princess.

The green genie listened carefully and then nodded. "Where would you have me build this palace?" he asked at last.

"Can you truly build such a magnificent palace?" asked the blue genie, wafting a bit closer.

The green genie smiled at him. "Of course I can, but I will need your help to decorate it," he said, a sparkle appearing in his eye-region.

The blue genie turned faintly purple and faded.

Aladdin ignored the exchange. "Where would it be possible to build such a palace?" he asked his genies.

Karvesh stood behind his curtain in stunned silence as he listened to them debate where the best place to put such a palace was. Finally he could stand to hear no more, and slipped out of the room as silently as the moonlight stole across the dunes.

"I cannot believe that he can wish for anything that he wants, yet claims he cannot get out of this marriage!" Karvesh muttered to himself once he was back in his own, much less impressive, chamber. That man has not one but two genies at his beck and call, and still he will not back out of an agreement his mother made which he did not even want." Angry and jealous, Karvesh spent the rest of the night plotting ways to get back at Aladdin for this perceived slight.

--

Aladdin slept quite contentedly while his genies worked the evening through, building an impressive palace for him a mere two-day's travel from the sultan's city. They also created a flying carpet so that Aladdin could travel there at will and not reveal the existence of the genies.

The next morning Aladdin asked the sultan if it would be acceptable to take the princess to his palace that afternoon, if only to show it to her. The sultan, asked how this would be possible, and Aladdin explained about the flying carpet, and extended the invitation to the sultan as well.

Delighted at this display of wealth and power, the sultan accepted, and Aladdin took his bride-to-be and her father to see the palace his genies had built overnight.

It had a distinct blue and green theme to it, but that was very soothing in the hot climate of the desert, and so no one minded. Aladdin did his best to know what all the rooms were, and where all the rooms were so that he would appear to have lived in this castle all of his life.

Meanwhile, Karvesh had come up with a plan, and in order to execute it he slipped into Aladdin's quarters while the other was gone, and once there Karvesh dug through the pillows of Aladdin's bed until he found the lamp wherein the green genie resided.

He rubbed the lamp and there was a quite chime accompanied by the scent of exotic teas, and then the soft green fog that consolidated into a shape like a man's.

"Who are you?" asked the green genie as he appeared.

"Your new master," said Karvesh. "Now, bring Aladdin and the sultan back here at once."

"You are Aladdin's friend the vizier's son, are you not?" asked the genie.

Karvesh glared at him. "Do as I command," he snapped.

"Very well," said the genie, and with a deep chime Aladdin and the sultan appeared in the enormous guest room as well.

"See what your arrogance has brought you?" Karvesh cried. "Now watch what my jealousy will bring!" So saying, he wished that the genie of the lamp should take him to Aladdin's palace, and once there he brought the palace to a far away land, the princess captive inside.

Aladdin stood for a moment in stunned silence, not knowing what to make of Karvesh's two declarations.

"I did not know Karvesh loved my daughter," said the sultan at last.

Aladdin frowned at him, wrestling with himself to keep from setting the sultan straight. "Never fear," Aladdin said at last. "I will rescue your daughter."

So saying, Aladdin ran from the room, stopping just out of sight and summoning the genie of the ring. "I wish for you to bring the princess back here," Aladdin told the blue genie as he appeared.

"I'm afraid I cannot," the blue genie said, "that is outside my powers."

Aladdin sighed. "Then what can you do?" he asked.

"I can take you to where they are," said the genie of the ring.

"Very well, then," said Aladdin, holding out his arms. The genie flew around them, and a long moment later they were standing in the entrance of Aladdin's palace, which looked very out-of-place in its new location.

"Nice of you to drop by," Karvesh said from an upper balcony.

"What is this truly about?" Aladdin asked.

"You could wish for anything," Karvesh said, holding up the lamp, "and yet you did not wish to end your engagement, nor to be with me instead of her."

"But I did wish to be with you!" Aladdin cried.

"Then why are you marrying the princess?"

"My mother-"

"Does not have two genies at her beck and call!" Karvesh snapped. He threw the lamp at Aladdin, and stormed out of site.

The lamp missed and clanged onto the tiled floor, a new dent in its side. Aladdin picked it up and rubbed the side of it, allowing the green genie to manifest in front of him. "How do I fix this?" he asked, crumpling to his knees, and twisting the ring to summon the blue genie.

The genie of the lamp swept the genie of the ring into his cloudy and unformed arms, holding him tight enough that they started to blend around the edges.

"What do you wish?" asked the green genie, looking at Aladdin over the blue one's head.

Aladdin opened his mouth, then shut it. He thought long and hard, and then opened his mouth again. "I wish to remain here with Karvesh, and for the princess to be sent back to her own land."

"Then you had better go and tell him so," said the green genie.

Aladdin nodded, and headed into the palace. It took him a long time to find Karvesh among the endless rooms, and vast gardens, but at last Aladdin located him near the small reflecting pool by the roses.

"Karvesh?" Aladdin called.

"Just go away and marry your princess," Karvesh said, staring into the pool.

"I do not wish to marry her," Aladdin replied. "I wish to remain here with you for as long as we live. The princess will be sent home to her father."

"And they won't think it suspicious that she returns without her bridegroom?" Karvesh asked, still not looking at Aladdin.

"I did not think of that," Aladdin said.

"You never think of anything," Karvesh said, looking up at last. "It is the least of your faults."

Aladdin smiled. "Yes, I suppose it must be, but you always think too much, so perhaps you can aid me in figuring out to send her home with none the wiser."

And so the two sat under the roses and by the reflecting pool until they devised a way to send the princess home with an explanation of why she was without Aladdin, and, indeed, why Aladdin would never return again—nor the son of the vizier.

"Are you sure it will work?" Aladdin asked, once all their planning was finished.

"We need only one more thing to insure that it will," Karvesh said.

"What's that?" Aladdin asked, even as Karvesh swept him into his arms and placed his lips, warm and soft as the sand, over Aladdin's own.

"A kiss for luck," Karvesh said when he finally let Aladdin go.

Aladdin stood stunned for a long moment before he smiled slowly and shyly at Karvesh and pulled him back for a second kiss.

Several kisses later, the two left the gardens and went in separate directions.

Aladdin went first to find his flying carpet, and then he headed towards the highest tower where the princess was currently imprisioned.

Karvesh was already there when Aladdin arrived.

"You will marry me, princess, no matter how I must force you-"

"No!" Aladdin shouted, entering the room and flinging the carpet at Karvesh. "I shall save you, princess! Never will I allow this evil sorcerer to defile you!"

"You horrid upstart!" Karvesh cried, pulling the lamp out of a pocket and waving it in the air. "How did you get here?!"

"You may have stolen one of my genies," Aladdin replied, "but I had two." And with that he twisted the ring, and the blue genie formed in the air between them. "Capture him!" Aladdin shouted, pointing at Karvesh.

The genie, knowing what his part in all of this was, reached his ghostly hands towards Karvesh, but before he could capture the young man, the green genie appeared and stopped him. The two genies wrestled, seeming to be evenly matched, their strength causing the palace to shake and quake around them.

Aladdin skidded across the room while Karvesh was distracted and shoved the flying carpet at the princess. "Here," he shouted over the rumbling of the tower, "take this and fly to safety!"

"But what about you, my love?" said the princess.

Aladdin winced at the endearment, but she didn't notice. "You can return for me once things calm down," he cried. "But I cannot fight unless I know that you are safe."

Nodding and crying, the princess unrolled the carpet and sat down upon it. "Be safe!" she shouted as she directed the carpet to carry her to freedom.

Aladdin waved her off, and the dove through the rubble of the collapsing roof and wrestled Karvesh to the ground. The ceiling fell in, and they could see the princess circling the tower on her carpet, watching what happened below.

"You'll never succeed!" Aladdin shouted, grabbing a rock and smashing it towards Karvesh's head.

Karvesh caught his hand and whispered, "scream as if in pain."

Aladdin did so, twisting to get his arm away from Karvesh's grasp. In his writhing he pulled out a knife and brought it down, stabbing it into Karvesh's eye socket. Aladdin felt a moment of triumph before he felt a sharp prick at his chest, and looked down to see Karvesh's knife sticking in his chest, blood spattering all around.

Turning a laugh into a cough, Aladdin glanced up again at the princess on the flying carpet, reaching a hand towards her because they were too far for words, with that he collapsed upon Karvesh's body, and the genies made the palace look like it collapsed around the two of them.

The princess, thinking that they were both dead and buried beneath tons of rubble, flew home to her father in tears. The sultan was sorry for the loss of such a fine potential son-in-law, and allowed his daughter to mourn for longer than was proper, although he also saw that Aladdin's mother was taken care of for the rest of her life.

Aladdin, for his part, lived quite happily with Karvesh for a very long time, as did his genies.

The End.

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I wrote this in two days instead of one sitting. Do you think that's cheating? I feel that it almost helped out the end a bit...until that last lines, which is as weak as all my other ending lines. ah well. all's well that ends well.

This is from every version of Aladdin ever that is not the Disney version(or at least everyone that I ever read).

If you liked it, I would love to get a review (hint, hint, hint); thanks to those who've been leaving them all along even though I haven't been begging like usual.