Whispers of Fire Ch8 bit – A Simple Plan

~ crossovercreativechaos

Aladdin, curled up on his left, flying turban clutched close to the magi’s chest. The unexpected warmth at the foot of the bed was Morgiana, curled under a sheet like a napping kitten.

They’re here. They’re real.

They could wind up in so much trouble if this goes wrong….

A chill seemed to clench inside him, as Alibaba remembered things had already gone wrong. According to Aladdin, Sinbad was here. In Balbadd. Without his Djinns.

And Alibaba had to grip his forehead with both hands and just hold it, as if he were holding his own skull together. Because this was absolutely insane.

He lost his Metal Vessels – that’s what Aladdin says my knife is now, Amon’s Vessel. Alibaba had to breathe out, shaken. Forget the whole Djinn thing. He lost seven people he knows to robbers. People like Ugo. Like Amon. People who agreed to help him. Why isn’t he tearing Balbadd apart?!?

Well, lucky for all of them, Alibaba knew a pretty good robber. If he could get descriptions of the Djinns’ Vessels, Cassim could make a stab at getting them back.

Though that’s going to be tricky, Alibaba reflected; sitting up carefully, so he didn’t disturb Aladdin just yet. If I tell Cassim exactly what they are – there’s no way he wouldn’t try to use them for leverage.

But he didn’t want to lie to his brother. And whether Cassim believed it or not, they were brothers; more than Abhmad and Sabhmad had ever been. So what could he say?

Well – the truth could work, Alibaba thought. They’re Magic Tools, only Sinbad can use them, and we need help to save Balbadd.

After all, the important thing was to find the Djinns. Once they knew who had Sinbad’s Metal Vessels… then Sinbad could make his own arguments. Possibly including a hefty bribe-

Red eyes were looking at him.

Alibaba gulped. “Good morning?”

Morgiana sat up, sheet still wrapped around her, eyes dark with determination. “You are not giving up on Balbadd.”

“I’m not!” Alibaba said defensively. “I never would. It’s just – the Kou Empire is so big, and they have armies and magic and….” His voice died; he had to swallow hard. But at least he could say this to Morgiana. She wasn’t a smuggler. She wasn’t a thief. She wasn’t part of Balbadd at all. He didn’t have to fake being brave. Not for her. “I’m scared.”

“We’ll find out who to hit,” Morgiana said calmly. “And then we’ll hit them. As many times as it takes.”

24 thoughts on “Whispers of Fire Ch8 bit – A Simple Plan”

  1. Yeah Alibaba raises a good point on Sinbad and his metal vessels, but it seems like Sinbad doesn’t think of them as people in the the same way Alibaba does. Oh they aren’t slaves but there seems to be a disconnect since he hasn’t spoken to them since he got them.

    Its good for Alibaba to have friends he can be weak in front of, having to hold up a strong front probably isn’t good for a person’s health.

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    2. Yeah, not being able to talk to the Djinn probably is causing some disconnect . . . as I said before, it’s probably easy to forget that there are people in there and it’s not just a magic tool when you cannot speak to the person but can use the magical power whenever you want . . .

      But pointing stuff like that out might cause some pondering from the aforementioned merchant-adventurer-king . . .

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      2. I feel like – based off Sinbad’s ‘Whisper’s of Fire’ reaction to Ugo’s appearance and his conversation with Baal in ‘What Comes Around’ – that Sinbad does and doesn’t think of the Djinn as people. Or maybe I should say ‘He doesn’t think of them as human. He thinks of them as Djinn.’

        I don’t think he thinks of them as in the Metal Vessals, so much as the Metal Vessals channeling their power. No one but their King can tap that power, but the Vessal is just an anchor. The Djinn live in his Rukh and in the Great Flow.

        In that case he didn’t lose seven people, he lost seven powerful magic tools.

        Some of this may also be that – for all that Magi is heavily inspired/based on 1001 Tales – Magi is a manga written from a Japanese cultural viewpoint. Plenty of mythologies – Japan among them – have great spirits that are channeled by heroes the spirits have chosen, but the heroes use that power at their own discretion and only can use it because the spirits chose them in the first place. If the power is channeled through an item the item deserves reverence, but is still just an object not a person. The loss of said object is more about losing access to that power than risk to the spirit. The Djinn in many ways feel like either they are such empowering but distant spirits or the Metal Vessal users in setting think of them as such. Even if the Djinn are also people themselves.

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  2. Simple but effective. Might be metamorphical hitting but still . . .

    Hmmm . . . that is a good point, why isn’t Sinbad tearing Balbadd apart to get them back?

    Too much faith that it will work out somehow because it always has in the past?

    Not sure about that one. It might be a factor but being the sole reason doesn’t seem right.

    Or just he doesn’t want to advertise that his Metal Vessels were stolen and he is without his Djinn?

    Because that sounds like something Al-Thamen would take immediate and deadly advantage of. Because they could not ask for a better opportunity to kill Sinbad. And he is far too much of a pain in their behind to not kill him when they have a chance of actually succeeding in doing so.

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      1. Good.

        Through being sensible like that is probably not going to help Ja’far figure out exactly what he is dealing with. Of course that is part of the fun of reading this is seeing Ja’far get the hints that make him go “oh no” and the ones that make him go “can’t be, too much sense, whew that’s a relief.”

        Because being able to talk sense to Sinbad doesn’t automatically make him a Dungeon Capturer, after all Rashid also managed to talk sense into Sinbad.

        Crazy what if: What if Rashid captured a Dungeon and had been a Metal Vesel User?

        (I had the thought the other day that Rashid wasn’t a Dungeon Capturer might have been another factor in his declining to be part of the Seven Seas Alliance – if I’m remembering correctly, all the other rulers in that alliance are Metal Vessel Users . . .)

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      2. Huh! That is a possible reason, because you’re right – all the other alliance rulers are indeed Metal Vessel Users.

        If you want my headcanon? Rashid was hoping that Alibaba would become a Dungeon Capturer. After all, look at what the kid got taught in the about 3 years Rashid had him. Oh, sure, courtly etiquette, economics, and so on – but also swordplay and Tran.

        We don’t know how fast Rashid got sick, so we don’t know how much time he thought he had to work with. But he made sure Alibaba had the tools he needed to have a chance of getting through a Dungeon in one piece. I personally think he saw how the world was going with access to Djinn and magic, and knew Balbadd couldn’t stay out of the fray forever. 🙂

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    2. I have to wonder…

      I suspect it’s less about ‘faith’ it’ll work out because it always does so much as it is the flow of the Rukh telling him ‘keep this course and it’ll solve the problem.’

      Granted, from the outside that looks like bull headed blind idiot faith, but that doesn’t mean it is.

      And the not letting Al-Thamen know is probably part of it. Or at least further support for his actions.

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  3. >“We’ll find out who to hit,” Morgiana said calmly. “And then we’ll hit them. As many times as it takes.”>
    Ah Fanalis. Such straight-forward thinking adorable little murder kitties.

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  4. Alibaba, such a sweet cinnamon roll. He must be protected! 🙂 I now have a mental image of one of Sinbad’s Djinn seeing how Alibaba reacted to the thought of losing his Metal Vessel, going ‘hmmm’, and threatening to jump ship to the sensible king if Sinbad doesn’t start listening to them. Djinn can change kings, this is canon (Sinbad didn’t have Zepar originally, according to AoS). ;P Best of luck on your writing!

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      1. That’s putting it mildly . . . through that might be the only way to get some people to listen . . .

        Through hopefully some of our Djinn will be willing to give their current Kings at chance to listen to them before they jump ship . . .

        Because the rules we are shown that govern how the Djinn’s contracts work and how they can’t talk is making the Sheba appearing in the Sea and Fire universe go “What idiot came up with this set up? It’s like they want to world to be destroyed . . . did you morons remember to alter any suggestions made by Arba? Why you are looking at feet? Argghhh! No the time crunch is not an excuse! Of all the-”

        There was more but she gets a little salty . . .

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      3. Yup. Serendine actually got Zepar first, though I’m guessing at some point something will happen to make him go to Sinbad…*Shrugs*

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      5. This is a major, major spoiler, so I’m going to try and be as vague as possible.

        Zepar’s original King was a close friend of Sinbad’s who bit the bullet while giving Al-Thamen a massive one fingered salute. They might have willed/ordered/transferred Zepar to Sinbad as part of the aforementioned salute, canon’s not gone into depth yet.

        But. Said salute also seems to be tied into how Sinbad half Fell, so you know its got to //suck//.

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