Aladdin – A Cold and Lonely Arabian Night in Agrabah
Loneliness had become an unwelcome companion in the frigid winter nights of Agrabah. The days were still warm, but the desert cold swept through the palace with a viciousness that reminded Jasmine of vizier Jafar’s smile.
Ex-vizier, she reminded herself. He was a genie now, powerless and buried hundreds of feet under the desert sand in his own cave of wonders, where she hoped he would stay for the next ten thousand years.
She sighed and wrapped her woolen cloak tighter about her, looking out over the town where she had first ventured to find the man of her dreams, her beloved Aladdin. With the passing of her father, however, he had been named Sultan of Agrabah, and one of the consequences of his coronation was the slew of invitations to visit other Sultanates and confirm his position among them.
Not that there was any chance of war. Agrabah was a comfortable city that served its people well. Once, it had been an incredibly busy trading city along the profitable Myrrh Road, but the valley to the north had not seen rain in many years and the city there had vanished into the encroaching desert, taking the Myrrh Road with it. Agrabah’s charm along the Myrrh Road had been its powerful spring that fed their agriculture and kept them alive. Smaller now, poorer in riches but richer in spirit, Agrabah had become one of the most beautiful and self-sufficient sultanates in all of Allah’s lands, but it possessed little that would lead another warlord against it.
Her hands were freezing as she leaned against the painted stone railing. She decided to go inside, closing the ornate door behind her and crossing the cold tiles to the fireplace, stoking it up to great warmth. Behind her she heard a soft shuffle as someone pushed aside one of the heavy winter tapestries that held warmth in her room from fleeing to the rest of the chilly palace. A low rumble told her who her companion was, especially when he pressed his cold nose against the back of her neck. She turned around and grabbed the large tiger’s head in a soft and friendly hug. “Oh, Rajah,” she sighed softly. “He’s been gone so long.”
“Mrrrowl,” Rajah agreed. He walked around to sit next to her before the warm fireplace, curling up around her. A magnificently muscled tiger, Jasmine often wondered if Rajah was entirely tiger since his stomach and rump looked more like that of a cheetah or other running animal. “Murrrumm?”
“I know, he’ll be back soon,” she smiled. “He took Carpet and Abu with him, too. With father gone, it’s just me and you here now. None of the servants really understand. He means the world to me, Rajah, you know that. I wish I had more people who really knew how I felt. It almost makes me wish Iago was around.”
“Hrrrumph,” Rajah snorted at the mention of the accursed parrot’s name.
“I know, he was as evil as his master Jafar, but at least when I talked to him he understood what I was talking about.” She sighed. “I’m talking nonsense. Of course I don’t wish either of them back. I’m glad they’re gone for as long as we shall all live.”
She crossed the high-ceilinged room and crawled into her bed, too much bed for just one person alone. Rajah walked over to where his sheepskin rug lay and pulled it in front of the fire with his teeth, determined to stay warm while he got some sleep.
Jasmine lay in bed, trying to remember the feel of her beloved Ali’s body next to her own, his warming breath and his smooth skin sliding against hers. In her imagination he was just out of her reach. She could barely reach out and touch the ends of his silken hair. She had been so glad when he had given up wearing that stupid white headpiece with the feather; his hair was one of his most beauteous features.
Her hands ran slid under the heavy linen bedding to touch her belly, and she could remember the way his hands felt there, touching her, caressing her softness. It wasn’t at all like his. His skin always felt smooth and dry, but underneath his stomach had been tight, strong. As were his limbs. She remembered their wedding night, when she had been so frightened. He hadn’t been much better. But after the initial pain, when he had entered her, she had looked up into his worried face and held his powerful arms with her hands and told him she would be okay, he had smiled and they had made love as man and wife should. The happiness she had felt at their joining had caused her to cry afterwards for a long time. And he had been so worried!
Her fingers stroked up along her ribcage and over her breasts. She gasped softly as her own hands made small tremors of pleasure run up her spine. When he touched her breasts, he was always so gentle. And his eyes, they were always so full of mischief and happiness. Sometimes he was just like a child exploring a newly beloved toy.
As her fingers caressed the dark skin along her collarbone and slid back down the sides of her body, she wondered if she were ever any better. She knew that seeing him naked for the first time had shocked her. She hadn’t been prepared for the size of his sex, completely convinced that it would never fit within her own. Yet it had. Her hands passed over her hips and felt the soft wisp of hair between her thighs. The sensation of him within her had told her everything she needed to know about being a woman. And being Aladdin’s. That boyish grin of his made her melt with need.
She spread her legs a little wider as her fingers slid down over her nether lips to caress between her thighs. She gasped to think of him, of the exploring they had done. He had always been so… naive. Yes, that had been on her initiative, to make love in places other than just the palace bedroom and in positions other than the obvious. But always for her the best was just to watch his face as he thrust himself within her, to feel his body atop hers and his sex within hers.
As she felt her fingers touching within her own wetness, she dreamed of his kisses on her lips, her throat, her breasts. Oh, she missed him. Her body missed him. Her fingers went deeper inside herself as she tried to find the little clues that would bring him back to her completely. “Oh, Aladdin!” she gasped as a wave of pleasure broke over her.
She settled back onto the bed. The needs of her body were a little quieter now, but she knew she could never be fully satisfied until her Prince Aladdin was in her arms again. She felt desire still, desire to dream of him again, to caress herself again. “He had better return soon.”
“Mrrrow?” Rajah’s voice asked from across the room.
“I’m just talking to myself, Rajah. Missing my Prince.”
Jasmine heard Rajah shift his massive bulk as he stood up. The tiger’s body was silhouetted perfectly in the fireplace, and Jasmine found herself again admiring the giant tiger’s beauty. Her first and still best friend, Rajah had always been there for her when she needed someone to cry with or to play with.
He crossed the room and hopped up onto the bed. “Rajah!” she gasped. “You know this bed isn’t strong enough to hold you!”
“Rrrrowl,” Rajah replied softly, nuzzling her neck with his nose.
She stroked his neck softly. “You’re so good to me, Rajah. You’re right. I don’t care if the bed breaks.”
Rajah curled up next to her, separated by the covers. “Oh, you silly tiger. Come down here inside and join me. You’ll freeze out there away from the fire.”
“Nnnrrow?”
“Come on,” Jasmine insisted, holding the covers up. Rajah shifted as she directed and she tossed the covers over him. She shifted next to him, taking advantage of his warmth. As always, she was immediately impressed with his strength, but in some ways she was also attentive to his strength, not at all unlike Aladdin’s. With Aladdin gone, her desire often rose to uncontrollable heights, and Rajah’s presence drove so many memories within her that, despite her earlier dreaming she knew she wanted such caresses once again, even her own.
Practical to a fault, Jasmine slid away from Rajah, trying to keep her desires suppressed. She was not ashamed of her needs; to her they were signs of her love for Aladdin. She had not had them before she met the Prince her dreams had waited on. But she had no desire to disturb her life-long tiger friend. She knew that often her caresses encouraged her to shift in bed and to make soft noises.
But her body would not be denied. Her hands found their way along the soft curves of her body, and as she had known small whimpers escaped from her lips no matter how hard she tried to keep quiet. Her passion arose within her again, and her body trembled gently.
Rajah shifted in his sleep; one of his rear paws pressed against her ankle, and to her surprise a small thrill of mischievousness, much like the one that had originally led her to meeting Aladdin, rang within her soul. She turned her head to look at her tiger friend, and was shocked to find him looking at her, his head cocked slightly to the left and a gentle and friendly smile on his face.
Rajah lowered his head and pressed his cool nose against her neck, lowering slowly down until his rough tongue was pressing against her hardening nipple. “Rajah!” she gasped.
