“Is that where the huge fountain was?” she asked. “I think I saw people carrying buckets to it.”
“Yes.” He smiled. His eyes lit up at this.
“They can get water at any time without charge?”
“I think it’s important for people to be able to have water to provide for themselves and their families. Water is something no one should have to worry about.”
“We should do that in Agrabah,” Jasmine said. “I think that—”
Suddenly, Ali’s hand shot up in front of her.
“What’s the matter?” She looked up at him—his expression was tense, his body taut like a coiled spring.
“The noise.” Ali glanced about. “You didn’t hear it?”
“No.” She craned her neck and turned to look around. “I don’t see a soul.”
“Sorry,” he said, but he remained alert, standing still. “I just…I thought I saw something. Heard someone…”
“What sort of noise did you hear?”
“Nothing.” He slowly relaxed. “It was nothing. Just in my head, I guess.”
Jasmine looked at him curiously for a moment before they continued on.
That was close, the man thought. He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away the sweat on his brow from where he stood huddled in the narrow brick alleyway. He’d only taken a few steps toward them before he’d kicked that pebble against the cobblestoned road, inadvertently drawing attention to himself.
The boy is quick. No doubt about it, thought the man. But the boy did not notice the man now as he stepped out of the alleyway and watched their dwindling figures. The man narrowed his eyes. He glanced back at the palace in the distance, calculating his next move.
Shops began to crop up on either side of Jasmine and Ali as the pair walked toward the town square. It certainly was a different experience to stroll the streets of Ababwa on foot as compared to watching it all pass by from a carriage. As Ali had predicted, the streets grew noisier now with people hurrying in and out of shops. Some carried sacks with loaves of bread poking out from the tops, while others held the hands of small children firmly in their own.
Jasmine was surprised people weren’t mobbing them. They had been so excited to see them when they first arrived. But it also made sense. If you treated people with dignity and respect—and if you gave them forums to freely approach and discuss their issues so they felt heard and understood—they would treat you with respect as well.
“You’re fast on your feet, aren’t you?” Jasmine said as they walked.
“What do you mean?”
“Just back then, earlier, when we were walking over here, you were so relaxed and comfortable one minute, and then you changed in an instant, literally on your toes, ready to do whatever it was you thought you needed to do.”
“Yeah,” Ali said. “I guess all that princely training over the years helped with my athletic abilities.”
But it wasn’t just athletic abilities, Jasmine thought. Ali had a particular instinct. A kind of street smart she never had expected to find in a royal prince.
“Oh!” Ali smacked his forehead with his hand. “I almost forgot!”
“What?”
“A place I need to show you. It’s probably by the town square.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“You sure love surprises.” She rolled her eyes.
“I love them just as much as you hate them.” He laughed. “But you have to admit that the last one was worth the wait, wasn’t it?”
Well, she thought with a smile, that is indeed true.
Jasmine looked around and wondered where he was taking her. With the interesting topography of this kingdom, there were probably untold hidden lagoons and romantic overlooks. Ali stopped at a nondescript storefront and poked his head in.
“Yep.” He nodded. “This is the place. We’re here!”
“Here?” Jasmine looked at the creaky door.
Well, Ali was right. She was surprised.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust once she had stepped into the modest shop lit by lanterns hanging from the rafters.
“Welcome,” said a man with round metal spectacles. He approached them with a broad smile. He was bald and had a gray mustache. “My name is Ahmed. Please make yourself at home and feel free to look around at anything you’d like.”
And that’s when Jasmine’s eyes adjusted enough to understand where they were. This was a cartography shop. She spun around and saw that all four walls were lined with beautiful, intricate maps. Some were painted vibrant colors—works of art in their own right—while others showed practical gray outlines of countries, cities, and continents. There were black-and-white maps outlining local boundaries. And world maps. There were crisp new ones folded in rectangles on the table before them and old ones in opened wooden drawers, their edges worn and frayed like those of the maps she had back home. A set of globes rested on a bookshelf on the other end of the wall.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a shop dedicated exclusively to maps like this before.”
