*******
Flower blooms atop the thorns,
All in the perceiver's eyes,
Now, tell me what is beautiful,
And, what is otherwise ?
Jasmine stirred
from her exhaustion to the bright sky, which was blurred at places by white
clouds. She discerned with the smell of the soil that she was still in the
forest. Her man was slumbering next to her with his hands wrapped around her
arms, as a baby would do to his mother. She skimmed through the nearby trees
and deciphered that Abu and Cipha had left them. Unbothered by a bird perched
on her, Sahari was feeding on some dry grass.
Jasmine
took this moment of peace to ponder on her thoughts. The scene of the fight
played in her head. Jafar wasn’t just evil, but he was smart too. Of all the
magic he could have obtained, he went to the Goddess of death.
'Can he be killed?'
She knew he
wasn’t immortal; only that Nephthia chose to side him.
'What does she gain by this ?'
She settled
that Jafar must have given her something which was her weakness.
Jasmine was
lost in her thoughts for almost an hour. She was making rationale decisions in
her head. Whether they would work or not, only time would tell. But, she had to
do something better than lying down here in the forest.
'What could the worst be ? Losing the kingdom ?
Death? Leaving the subjects under the wrath of someone evil like Jafar ?'
She
shuddered at the last line of thoughts. She wasn’t exactly competing against
Jafar, but Queen of death.
She felt
her right side of the neck turn numb, and to stretch it , she pulled her neck
at a right angle. In the line of gaze , she saw Sahari still feeding on the
leaves.
She looked
on, making certain pronouncements in her head.
When the
pieces of decision aligned in her head, and a determination awoke within her, she
shook Aladdin gently.
"Mmm..",
he murmured in his sleep.
"Aladdin,
do you know how long it has been since the fight ?", she shook him again.
Aladdin opened
an eye and squinted at the sky.
"Seems
like late afternoon", he answered.
Jasmine had
to return to meet Jafar, but she knew this would anger Aladdin. Whatever his
emotions were, he needed to just trust her on this.
"Do
you know what happened last night ? How many were hurt ?"
"I
don’t know, but I assume lot of deaths, while Jafar is still breathing."
'She always thinks of her people'
"Aladdin,
didn’t you go and check on those people?"
Aladdin was
exasperated by her question. He was fully awake at her insult.
"Sorry,
I have been taking care of you. In case you didn’t notice". He swallowed
the last line.
Jasmine
bent her torso, and he helped her sit , balancing on a stump of a tree.
"Can
we go back? I want to talk to Jafar?" , she asked finally after minutes of
silence.
Aladdin
gasped in shock.
"Are
you out of your mind ? That man was ready to finish you, and you want to make peace
with him ?"
"Will
you trust me on this?", she said slowly looking into his eyes.
Aladdin
didn’t trust her on this. She may be the ruler of the land, but decisions like
this weren’t hers to make.
'Didn’t she think of him?'
"You
know, it is not a fight with Jafar that we must pursue, but with the Goddess of
death", she said.
"You
want to fight the Goddess. Of. DEATH? ", he spoke emphasizing on every
word.
'Oh! The irony'
" I
know I am not the decision maker, but I understand that this is not a great
idea. Unless you have obtained some favours from God of life, we aren’t going
to be able to do anything here", he told her as he held her hands.
" My
people are dead, the heart of my love bleeds to see me like this, future is
bleak, but we must do something, Aladdin. There is always a way to this. You
are thinking like a warrior, while I am thinking like a Queen of this land. I
am responsible for anything that happens to anyone"
"But,
to face Jafar and the Goddess, eye to eye, and give some lecture is not going
to do the job"
"I am
not going to give a lecture", she said.
Aladdin was
perplexed. "Then?"
She
explained her plan.
After long hesitation,
Aladdin tied Rajah around Jasmine's waist and mounted her on Sahari. He lifted
the reign of his horse, and walked both the animals through the forest to the
war zone. They did not speak a word. Aladdin was trying to make intelligible
conversations in head, but it was always distorted with his emotions.
'There is no way of convincing her. What happens
if it fails? Can he strike at the right moment? Can he save her?'
When horses
halted, Jasmine realised that they were in the zone of combat, except nothing
of it was left. The land was much more barren than they had seen. Most of the
soldiers were still seated in their war clothes and grieving. Corpses were being burnt, smoke and ashes
roared to the sky.
Few of her
soldiers recognised and ran towards her.
"Queen
, thank all the heavens. Allah be praised. Are you fine? You are hurt. Sorry we
couldn’t protect you. We are ashamed of what happened to you", each of
them spoke through the clutter of voices.
She
dismounted from the horse slowly. She raised her hands to silence them.
"I am
fine. I am sorry for asking you all to come into something that is mine. Mine
alone to fight."
One of the
oldest soldiers stepped forward from the crowd.
"No no
, Queen. We are equally responsible for this land as you are. We have protected
your families for ages, for all the love and mercy you have on us. You are
kind, so were your forefathers. It is an honour to serve you"
"Not
at expense of sacrifice", Jasmine said coldly.
Some of the
soldiers were going to talk, when she raised her hand again to silence them.
"Ask
Jafar to come here", she demanded.
Everyone
was confused, except Aladdin. His head was turned down, and he didn’t make any
noise.
"But, Queen,
Jafar…"
"Call
him here, while I wait", she ended the soldier's sentence.
The soldier
bowed, and left the place to call Jafar.
***
Jafar was
dressed much more royally than his usual attire, and his face was gleaming with
happiness. Though he was confused at the need of this meet up, he was prepared
to take over the kingdom on the same day. He had been too proud to even bring
any weapons with him. He was guarded by two large soldiers on either side. He
looked on the other side, and was greeted by soldiers who were torn badly by
the fight. Among the crowd, their Queen , who had taken a blow last night, sat
on a small rock. He licked his lips in
joy.
'This is the end. The fruit of all my labour.
My conclusion. I will be the Sultana of this land. My desires will be appeased'
Jafar did
not move from his place, after all, he was going to their king, including
Jasmine's.
Jasmine
took few deep breath and placed her hand on Aladdin.
"Take
me closer to him"
Aladdin
helped her balance on himself and they went near Jafar.
They were
only an arm's distance from Jafar. She looked at Aladdin, and he let go of his
hold reluctantly. She looked at Jafar with sharp eyes, and his eyes were
glistening for the lovely words.
Under the roasted
sky of ashes, in a single draw of the sword, Jasmine pierced Rajah into the heart of Jafar.
Jafar whimpered
in pain, but gave her an evil laugh. He placed his hand on the sword in
weakness, while his soldiers stepped forward. Aladdin drew out his sword, and
skilfully slit their throats. Now, it was Jasmine, Jafar and Aladdin.
Jafar
lowered himself a bit forward before speaking up.
"Jasmine
Jasmine Jasmine. I knew you were always brave, but your actions are always
without thought. You see, I can sense the pain, but I can't die till Goddess of
death thinks I need to. And for now, she is on my side. If she resides in me, I
cannot be killed."
Jasmine didn’t
react to his words. Without removing her gaze on him, and still holding Rajah ,
she knelt down in front of Jafar.
Her eyes beamed
of respect and confidence. She beheld straight at Jafar.
The lights
of the sky brought a circle on her eyeballs, that looked like she had acquired
a new power. She spoke loudly for everyone to hear, in morality and respect.
"I am Jasmine. Queen of Agrabah. Sincere
to my subjects, protector of all forces within grasp, and the rightful heir of
this soil. This man, Jafar , who we trusted with our blades, betrayed my father
and wants to take over what is lawfully mine. My Queen, Goddess of death, you
are the mercy for our kinds. We seek you in our utmost peace. We express
gratitude towards you for coming here on earth. We are blessed to have you
here, but as a woman to another woman, in the blood of sorority, I wish to
claim what is mine. In all humbleness, I ask you with my head hung in request,
please Goddess, to leave his body , so I can finish what he started"
Jafar
looked at her in revulsion and awakening. She wasn’t talking to him, but the
Goddess of death.
Nothing
happened for a long time, but Jasmine stayed kneeling. Her trembling hands were
still holding the head of Rajah. Aladdin stood in anticipation and calculating
his steps of action.
"Please.
Goddess", Jasmine whispered.
A black horrifying
silhouetted smoked figure rose from Jafar. It collected near Jasmine's face and
shrieked in the loudest noise. Jasmine remained unfazed at the horrendous
figure. It looked like their eyes were locked in unison, and words were
exchanged in agreement.
"You
are brave and respectful, and our paths shall cross", the figure said as
it was turning into a definite shape of a woman. Shadow of Goddess of death
held her hands into the air, and a ring of fire was formed in space. She pulled
something out from the ring, and placed it front of Jasmine.
"This
is yours to keep. It was his Cobra staff", she said.
They nodded
at each other in understanding.
"Thank
you", Jasmine affirmed her feelings.
Nephthia darted straight into a ring of fire in
a flash.
When Jafar
knew that Goddess of death wasn’t on his side anymore, he was beginning to
extinguish, and the pain in his chest was excruciating.
He began to
choke in his own blood and fell on the floor with a thud. Jasmine let go of her
sword's handle, and closed her eyes.
Aladdin seated
himself next to her, and they didn’t speak a word. They were yet to grasp on
the incident that had just occurred.
Jasmine
turned towards him, and their eyes met.
She blew
air out of her mouth in relief, and chocked on her own tears.
"Aladdin,
my man, love and heart. I don’t have the words for you, but my heart is filled
with your love. Will you marry me and be the King of Agrabah? "
Aladdin moved
his head with a yes and they kissed passionately.
'He wasn’t just a street rat any more. He was a
royal one.'
*******
The end
*******
While we are here, still a Vijay Deverakonda fan
. To help with the COVID-19 situation, his team has started a Middle
Class Fund, which aims at providing the basic necessities to middle
class families. The team has been very transparent in their work, and
you can watch the behind the scenes on Youtube (link here )
Last
time when I had tweeted about VD, I saw a lot of fans comment on my
post, so I felt I could use (my so called writing) platform to make
people aware of the foundation. You could donate, volunteer or just
spread this message around.
More details on the foundation can be found here
(Also, if you absolutely hated my writing, please feel free to let me know, and I will donate to TDF :D )
