A Court of Queens

A Queen a Thief and a Fishman walk into...

Jazlyn spotted the Aquestrian man sitting at a table playing cards with a group of men. He was noticeably taller than the other men, even while seated. The spotted scales on his arms and neck reflected red or orange depending on the angle of the light. Jazlyn was noticeably apprehensive about approaching the table, Aldini could sense this. He offered to speak with the Aquestrian on her behalf, but Jazlyn declined. They approached the table together. "Excuse me, sir. Are you Ibrahim?" Jazlyn asked.

The men paused their game.

"Yeah, who's asking?" he said. His accent was unique; faint Atlantic roots with a Batavick influence. The scales on his neck and collar shimmered hypnotically up close and his yellow eyes had vertical pupils.

"My name's Jazlyn and this is Aldini, we're traveling from Agrabah-"

"Yes, I scoped that." Ibrahim said answering in Atlantic "You look Agrabhic," he smiled at them stupidly.

"Well yeah um, we could really use you're help," Aldini said.

"Before you say more...I gotta know, how'd you lot even get here alive?" Ibrahim asked

"I beg your pardon?" Jazlyn said sternly sensing a threat from the Aquestrian

"What?" Aldini said.

Ibrahim placed his hands on his head, displaying his inhuman wingspan. He exhaled a short breathy laugh. "How'd you get from Agrabah to Batavick..." he pointed behind himself and then at the ground in front of him, becoming very animated and excited. "...without a scratch on you? That couldn't have been a very soft journey!"

"It certainly took long, we had to sail to the port of Assax and hike the woods, then we rode horseback for the rest of the way."

"What!? Walking through the Assax Woods! That's mad! You must have a bloody live story to tell." Ibrahim said standing up and picking up empty chairs from another table. "Please tell me everything," he asked.

Jazlyn and Aldini took a seat at the table. "Well there's not much to say, we would have been killed in Assax very quickly if it weren't for Celena," Jazlyn said.

The pupils in Ibrahim's eyes thickened, and his mouth hung ajar. "Celena? Queen Celena?" Ibrahim asked,

"Yeah, she saved us. Let us stay with her."Aldini said.

"You met The Wild Witch!?" Ibrahim exclaimed with his hands on his head.

"I think she prefers Celena," Jazlyn said

Ibrahim laughed hysterically, slapping his knee between breaths. The gills on his neck flared as he exhaled. "That's raw madness ya know. You lot should write that into a play, I'd scope it," he said between breaths.

"So will you help us?" Aldini asked.

"That depends, what do you need help with," Ibrahim asked.

"We need help getting into the capital, none of the guards read Agrabhic, they don't even know what our ID's are supposed to look like." Jazlyn said.

"So what's that gotta do with me?" Ibrahim asked.

"Your merchant's license, if we travel with you, they'll let us in," Aldini explained.

"Hmm alright, what do you need in the Capital, what's your business there?" Ibrahim said.

"The Queen, I need to talk to her," Jazlyn said.

"The Queen? The Queen of Batavick?" Ibrahim said skeptically.

"Yes, I could use her help."

"So you reckoned you'd just waltz into another country and demand an audience with the Queen? You lot are either very brazen, mad, or just dull." Ibrahim said tallying the descriptors on his webbed fingers, a thin layer of vascular flesh separated each digit.

"Well I am the Queen of Agrabah so why is that so crazy," she said folding her arms.

Ibrahim laughed incredulously "You? You're the Queen of Agrabah?" he said.

"In the flesh."

"You're quite young for a Queen, aren't you?" he said.

"Yeah well, the throne doesn't wait for the perfect time," Jazlyn said.

Ibrahim's expression and tone sombered a bit sensing he'd touched a sensitive subject, he sipped from his mug. "I suppose not. The documents you brought with you, show them to me," he said.

Aldini handed Ibrahim his ID form. Ibrahim scanned the document. "Can you read it?" Aldini asked.

"I get the jist," he said.

"Have you ever seen one of these forms before?" Jazlyn asked.

"A few old ones in museums and such," Ibrahim said, still looking over the form. Ibrahim handed the document back to Alidini. "Okay I'll take you to the Capital, I can't help with meeting the Queen and all that." Ibrahim chuckled.

"Of course, and we can compensate you for your time, in gold," Jazlyn said.

Ibrahim sputtered. "Keep your money, it doesn't spend the same here."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We use banknotes here. I'd have to melt the metal and make jewelry to sell to some aristocrat." Ibrahim sucked his teeth. "Not worth the hassle."