Fan Fiction ❯ If There Be Thorns ❯ Storm of the Desert ( Chapter 2 )

If There Be Thorns

By Maggie Griffin

CHAPTER 2: Storm of the Desert

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The sun had set over the desert, yet one place alone still possessed an un natural light of its own, illuminating the green shrubbery and the many colourful flowers and plants that grew there. As always, the gates to such a place remained closed to outsiders, keeping it safe from both intruders, as well as the dryness of the desert sand.

In this strange light, Arbutus' garden bloomed beautifully, more so then any other in the world. Not a leaf grew brown, or flower wilted, reminding all that this way a place of eternal life. At least in the eyes of Arbutus himself, who had long ago closed the gates permanently, his battered down soul not wanting to fathom even the slightest chance of encountering another human.

Jasmine had been enough.

For what must have been the one hundredth time since when he had discovered himself resurrected, Arbutus recalled the events that had transpired. Events that had given him false hope that perhaps humans truly were misunderstood on some grounds. That like the Princess Jasmine, some understood the pain he felt when one of his children was ripped from the earth.

Now however, he knew better. For like the Princess Jasmine, he now saw the human race as one of betrayers, liars, and killers. Nothing short of what Jasmine and the boy that had come looking for her were themselves. He had been lied to, then betrayed, and finally killed.

A sigh escaped his lips, and he lost concentration on the piece he had been working on. The flowers tangled themselves, creating a rather unsightly mass before him.

With a wave of his hand, the vines and flowers untangled themselves, spreading into different parts of the garden. Unfortunately, such a thing had become routine as of late, and was more then simply getting on Arbutus' already fragile nerves. Since his betrayal by the one human he had thought had understood him, Arbutus had felt more alone then ever before. While it was certainly true that he still had his trees and flowers; his children of sorts, there was still an emptiness inside he knew no one would ever be able to fill.

With another forlorn sigh, he returned to his work, knowing beforehand it would be another failure.

**********

In the days that came and went, Aini had become comfortable around the many people around her. So much so she no longer violently stuttered whenever Razoul spoke to her, which was seldom anyways. The first little while had been a rather tiring feat for the regulars of the palace. Getting Aini out of her room, and then trying to make her a bit more comfortable.

"I've never met anyone that was as skitterish as you kid! You gotta have more of a back bone, and being around this group will do that for you!" Genie has said to her upon one of their conversations. Despite the very strange events that had transpired the first time they had met, Aini and Genie were getting along better then well. In fact, Aini had found it easiest to talk to Genie then to anyone she had met so far, not that she didn't appreciate everyone else.

Jasmine had been especially kind to her, lending her one of her own outfits to replace the rags that had passed for a cloak for so many years. Ai was still trying to get used to the new outfit, which Jasmine continuously told her matched her perfectly.

Namely, it was a long red dress with green stripes along the bottom. Overtop that was a deep green second installment to the dress, which was tight on the top and split in two around her waist to show the red dress beneath it. Green straps held it in place around her shoulders, and the dress was tightened around her waist by a red waist band. To top it off, Jasmine had also practically insisted that Aini take a pair of shiny green earings in the same triangular shape as hers, along with an equally shiny green band that held her often dishevelled hair in place.

Aini had felt incredibly self-conscious the first time she had put it on, but Jasmine had set her half at ease after a little while, and she was more or less comfortable with it.

Sadira had continued visiting, and Aini had started looking up to her in a way she had never looked up to anyone before. That probably being that since she had been abandoned as a child, Aini had experienced very little positive influence. One would think that living in the worst parts of Agrabah by oneself would work on improving a person's backbone, maybe toughening them up on the inside.

Unfortunately, seeing that Aini was more or less a jellyfish, that theory could be discredited.

Indeed, she remembered very little of her parents. She could at times, recall her mother. They had left her in a deserted street in the middle of the night when she had been around five or six, standing all alone, telling her they would soon be back for her. Aini so vividly recalled her mother bending down to kiss her cheek that once last time before turning and leaving forever.

It was sometimes difficult to believe that such a woman had abandoned her. But so it was, since neither of her parents had returned to her into that dark street. She had sat there on the dirty ground for hours, waiting and waiting. Finally, dawn had broken through the sky and flooded the street with a dull glow.

Merchants had begun to set up there tables and stands, and people once again flooded the streets. It was only when a group of rowdy teenage boys had approached her, teasing her when they saw how young and timid she was, that Aini had upped and left the street. Unfortunately, her sense of direction had never been that great, and she never did find her way back home.

that it mattered anymore, because since that day she had not seen a sign of her parents. No longer even remembering what they looked like.

So Sadira had taken place as somewhat of a strange parental figure to her, as the others had once put it. Being older then Ai, Sadira being a figure to look up to was understandable, if not somewhat foolish. But it flattered the witch none the less, and she was glad to spend time with Aini.

It was on one of their walks through the grand palace garden that Aini brought up a topic that had first intrigued her, but had been temporarily forgotten in the commotion of the recent events.

"Sadira?" Her voice interrupted the silence they had been sharing, and Sadira looked over at Ai, who was looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Yep?"

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you about the first time you took me here! Something that Razoul mentioned....," she trailed off, not really knowing how to put the question to Sadira.

She recalled how Razoul had called her a 'Sand Witch'. Then recalling the brief confrontation that had resulted in the earth beneath Razoul's feet to shake.

Normally, such a small thing could have gone un noticed, but it had caught Ai's attention, and held firm, refusing to let go.

"What's that?" Sadira's expression had gained a knowing shade, as if she already knew what Ai was going to ask her.

"It's about when Razoul called you....well...," she trailed off again, looking at the floor as if she had become fascinated with the pebbles.

"A witch?" Sadira's sudden statement caught Aini off guard, and the younger girl looked up at the woman in surprise, but then nodded her head. "Well, it's true! I'm a Witch of the Sand....still learning!"

Aini blinked.

"What's a Witch of the Sand?"

"Oh, the Witches of the Sand used to be powerful magic users!" Sadira began to explain. They sat down on a white bench, and she continued. "They used to rule the seven deserts with their powers over the sand, controlling and using their power for their own gain. Anyways, they....upped and left, leaving behind all these scrolls that could teach a person how to use their power! I just happened to find their temple one day, and well, the rest is history!"

Aini had remained silent, captivated by what Sadira was telling her. It wasn't so much the mention of power that drew her, so much as the mention of something unreal. As if the company of a flying carpet, a Genie, and a rather rude talking parrot hadn't convinced her yet that the world was not as normal as it was said to be.

"Wow, that's incredible!" She sighed, and Sadira grinned broadly.

"You know....I could teach you!" Sadira offered suddenly, the offer catching Ai out of the blue. "I mean, you and I are friends now, and you could use some help, no offense...," she trailed off, referring to the fact that sooner or later, Aini had to return back to where she had come from, with a better sense of learning how to take care of herself.

Aini herself had known that despite Jasmine's wonderful hospitality, she couldn't keep taking advantage of it, and the thought made her feel guilty.

She nodded, looking back at Sadira.

"You....you would teach me? To be able to take care of myself like you, and use your power? You'd be willing to do that?" There was the clear sound of amazement in her voice, as if nobody had ever offered to do anything so nice for her before.

In her case, nobody before Sadira, Aladdin, and Jasmine.

Sadira nodded vigorously, her grin broadening.

"Well yeah! I mean, I think it would be great! You and I could hang out more, and you could learn a lot of useful stuff. Besides, I wouldn't offer something this big to you if I didn't trust you with it. I know you won't use it badly," Sadira stated.

Aini nodded, her eyes widening further.

"No, of course I won't. Oh, I'll be a great student Sadira, I promise!"

"Yeah, and this is pretty great," Sadira laughed. "You can sort of be my...apprentice or something!"

With that, the two girls began laughing again, continuing their walk through the garden.

**********

"Concentrate now Ai! You got the basics down, but you have to learn to defend yourself," Sadira instructed.

Aini stood in front of her, hands out before her with a look of pure concentration on her face. Her eyes were tightly closed, as they often were when she tried to channel the power Sadira had recently introduced her to. Unfortunately, it seemed that even in the usage of such power, Ai was somewhat squeamish.

"But Sadira, I don't want to hurt anyone with it!" She squeaked, her hands creating gestures in front of her that the sand that floated before her followed rhythmically.

"Ai!" Sadira exclaimed, rather exasperated. "When some guy catches you and tries to rape and or kill you in an alley, do you think you should be very concerned with getting sand in his eyes?"

Ai shook her head quickly, and making a wild gesture, she made the sand before her fling in a straight arc across the large room, hitting the wall so hard it left a small crack down the middle.

"ALRIGHT!" Sadira cheered as she saw what Ai had done. "Looks like fear is your incentive. Not a very good one, but good for now!"

Ai scowled slightly at the idea of using her fears of being hurt to gain such advantage. It would have pleased her to know she could do that by simply thinking it, like Sadira had the power to do. However, if it helped for the time being, she supposed she would have to work with what she had.

"Come on, I want to take you up above and see what we can do with all the sand they got lying around in the desert!" Sadira winked, anticipating some fun. "I'm thinking it's time we started some more advanced defence lessons that flinging sand into people's faces!"

Ai nodded and followed after her. In moments, they stood outside the temple, in the direction away from Agrabah in the danger that Ai could lose control and end up sending something unpleasant towards the city.

"Okay, now do what you did before, only this time, concentrated on moving a larger mass, and in what sort of pattern you want to move it in! Remember, you want sand storm, so visualize what sort you want it to be," Sadira instructed.

Ai took a deep breath and closed her eyes, visualizing a massive wall of sand that flew down the slopes of the desert. It was always as she had seen them, powers onto their own. Alive, in their own way.

Slowly, the sands before them began to shift and slowly lift into the air, until it swirled together and signs of a wall appeared.

"Your doing it, keep going!" Sadira urged, watching the spectacle with glee.

Ai obliged, opening her eyes to be able to see what she was doing now. The wall seemed to rise higher and higher as more sand joined together that soon howled through the air, blotting out Sadira's whoops of excitement and praise. The sand storm now raged directly in front of them, staying still as Ai willed it to.

The entire experience however was less then pleasing for Ai, who was using a tremendous amount of energy to keep it under control.

"SADIRA, I CAN'T HOLD ON TO IT!" She suddenly screamed over the howl, realizing she was about to lose control.

"ALRIGHT, LET IT GO AND I'LL BRING IT DOWN!"

Ai obliged more than happily, releasing her hold of the sand with the expectation that Sadira could grab onto the control and bring the storm to a peaceful halt.

No such luck.

"OH HELL NO!"

Ai looked back wide eyed as she heard Sadira scream out a protest and watched as the humongous storm raged forward at top speed.

"WHAT HAPPENED? CAN'T YOU STOP IT?" Ai yelled over the deafening roar that the storm produced. She watched as it headed off further into the desert, thankfully away from Agrabah. She didn't even want to think about what could have happened if they had been facing in the direction of the city.

Sadira tried once more to gain control, finding absolutely no leverage to do so. She finally collapsed on her knees in the sand, to tired to try again. Aini breathed in air as it cleared around them the further the storm went, also tired.

"Now what?" Ai asked, worry lacing her tone.

"Well, at least it's heading off deeper into the desert! It won't be able to hurt anyone now!" Sadira breathed, then helped Ai stand.

"I'm so sorry, I couldn't hold on to it, I really tried!" Ai whimpered, her eyes falling instantly to the floor.

"Hey, I couldn't stop it either! That was one massive surge of power you had going there," Sadira shrugged. "All the same, it won't hurt anyone, so we both got off lucky!" She smiled.

Ai smiled back, and together they headed off towards Agrabah.

**********

Arbutus has not seen the storm approach.

Although he had heard the strange howling from far away, he had assumed it had nothing to do with him, delving back into his work and his rather depressed state of mind. So when the storm hit, no defences had been initiated, and nothing had truly been protected and ready.

The storm had taken an incredibly short amount of time to get from Agrabah's desert to his green home, but when the sand crashed through the gate, Arbutus had just enough time to register shock before the searing sand had swallowed his beautiful garden whole.

He now stood in its centre, examining the damage, knowing it was fixable, but furious as Hades. Who wouldn't be, if their children had been slaughtered before them.

Arbutus saw the remains of his beautiful garden, buried under expressionless sand, turning brown and wasting away in its heat. As he watched the irregular shifting within the sand, he saw the work of not nature, but magic.

Deep inside this supposedly natural disaster, one he would have normally forgiven to the workings of mother nature, he saw the roots of magic and meddling where there should have been none. Magic to tamper with the natural world.

"Someone did this!"

His eyes narrowed, and his fine hands turned to tight fists. As he moved out of his garden, it had already begun to heal and rebuild itself. Come the next nightfall, it would be back to its old self. Yet the screams of his children rang in his sensitive ears, and Arbutus could not simply forget that.

He would not simply forget that.

With a shrill howl of agony and hatred, the earth that remained around him shifted on his own accord, covering him and sending his form below the ground, rivetting to the source that had attacked and ruined his home.

Rivetting for vengeance.

**********

Next, Arbutus finds Sadira, who in an attempt to cover for Aini blames herself for the deed. Her self-sacrifice backfires however when as punishment, Arbutus claims Ai.