There was a frantic knocking at the outer door.
And the guards said nothing…. Barkakk reached for his sword.
“Don’t bother,” said a far-too-cheerful voice, “I’ll just let myself in.”
The Kou high priest. Barkakk kept his hand near his hilt as the braided menace stalked into Sabhmad’s chambers as if he had every right to be here.
And if Kou has their way, he will.
“Burning midnight oil?” Judar cocked his head, curious. “Not that it’ll do you much good, but a pity your king isn’t as diligent.”
Sabhmad was white. Barkakk gritted his teeth, prepared to take the consequences of bodily throwing the crazy priest out, this wasn’t Kou land yet-
“Eh, you’re not even fun to scare.” Judar sounded disappointed as he stared down Sabhmad. “Too easy.” He heaved a dramatic sigh, and shrugged. “So! I heard a little rumor that Rashid had more than two heirs. Imagine that. All these negotiations, all these agreements… and there’s someone we’re missing.” Red eyes looked between them, almost mild. “So who is he, and why haven’t we heard about Rashid getting frisky before?”
Sabhmad gulped.
Barkakk tried not to wince. Just stay quiet, my lord, we’ll think of something–
“T-The arrangements are with the king of Balbadd,” Sabhmad got out. “I know. I r-read them. It doesn’t matter who the king is, so why do you care?”
Judar grinned.
Barkakk reached for a warrior’s stillness, that kind of grin meant blood everywhere–
“So there is still some fight in Balbadd. That’s interesting.”
A/N: Because darn it, Sabhmad doesn’t get enough credit. Fighting crippling anxiety like he has is not easy. No, he’s never going to be the heroic type – but he’s trying to do something.
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
Good for him!
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🙂
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The only consolation we have is that Judar probably won’t tell since everyone being caught off guard is more fun.
By the way, Has Cassim noticed yet that Judar refers to anyone with the potential to become a dijin user as a King? Even Cassim it seems like.
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It’s canon that magi and Djinns both refer to potential candidates as “kings”. 🙂
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You, sirs, have just gained +100 constitution for not passing out at the word “interesting”. Plus Sabhmad has my support for curling into a whimpering ball of terror as soon as Judar is confirmed as having left the building.
Dude may not be a badass, but he sure acted like one!
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*G* Yay!
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Fighting crippling anxiety like he has is not easy.
No, it isn’t. At all. Not even a little bit.
And that’s when not dealing with crazy magi who are inclined to painting the walls with blood. And Sabhmad doesn’t strike me as too dumb not to realize that Judar is dangerous. Ahbmad might be but not Sabhmad.
And brownie points for not only trying to do something about what is happening to his country I assume that is why he has been combing through the papers.
We know Abhmad hasn’t mentioned him because he prefers to pretend that Alibaba never existed. His likely reaction to that question will be along the lines “What does my father’s bastard have to do with our agreements with Kou? He isn’t important – I don’t know why Father bothered to have anything to do with him in the first place – and he’s probably dead by now anyway. And good riddance I say.”
Now Sabhmad might also think it is possible that Alibaba is dead since apparently nobody has seen or heard anything about him for years but just on the off chance that he is not dead, I award more brownie points to Sabhmad for attempting to protect him for all this.
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Sabhmad… has suspicions. Or maybe hopes. Hee. 😉
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Saw something kinda of familiar in all of the economics Alibaba has been pulling, hasn’t he?
And maybe he or Barkakk has heard some rumors out of Qishan?
Now they aren’t proof. That smuggler really could be Pavartian named Merhbad. And the Alibaba who freed the slaves in Qishan could be someone else. Alibaba isn’t exactly an uncommon name . . .
And yet . . .
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*G*
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“A king of Balbadd…” My lawyer senses are tingling (Thanks Dad). Prepare of political double-speak in tee minus-
Anyway, me thinks Cassim might be getting a Djinn of his own very soon.
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*EG* There might be a few bumps in the road first…
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It would be a unique kind of irony if Cassim got Pheonix. ‘course by this point in canon Kouen already captured her Dungen, so that idea is shot… Wonder which Djinn Cassim will/might get to partner up with?
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Sabhmad is my secret favorite, honestly. Sneaking information out of the palace to terrorists! Shouting at royal guards not to stab Alibaba! Shouting at ALIBABA about how great he thinks he is? Which? How well can they even have known each other???? I can’t tell, but it kind of feels like it wasn’t super well. Abhmad getting deposed and the question of “So who’s gonna be king?” being asked and Sabhmad and Alibaba both going “<__> >_> …No.” Like. Bond over this, please. And I love how his anxiety about communication means he seems to go between zero and passionate shouting with no stops. Like. I’m going big or I’m not talking, it’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t, sorry. It’s not happening.
Another thing I love is ALL THESE JUDAL-STARTED STORY DEVELOPMENTS HAPPENING, WOW, THIS IS SO GREAT.
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…Note to self, do not try to make a sequence of faces with the same brackets used for HTML because the site eats them and spits out fascinating chameleons.
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Huh!
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Instant chaos, just add magi? 😉
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Hey, shorten that and you have the series title.
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