Fables #43

Beauty and Prince Charming kiss, then Beauty pulls away. She admits, he was a great kisser, and also that it was an incredibly inappropriate. gesture that will never happen again, no matter what power of seduction he may have. She knows that all of Fabletown thinks all they do is bicker, but she tells Charming that she truly does love Beast. Charming corrects her that it's not that all Fabletown thinks all they do is bicker, it's that they think she bickers at him most of the time. He also adds that whatever just happened, she returned his kiss with a hunger which he never mistakes for what it is: Passion. He tells her to take responsibility for herself and not blame some make-believe power of seduction he never had. Beauty tells him it was a mistake, brought on by stress and exhaustion, but there won't be any problem because she'll still work for him, but she's moving her desk, and he'll never be alone with her again. Also, the next time he tries to make a move on her, she'll tell Beast, and then he'll have a problem.

The next day, Grimble sees King Cole in a jolly old mood as he heads upstairs for more talks with his new friends from the Arabian lands. Sinbad and his minister, Yusuf, were discussing Fabletown culture, of which Yusuf had low optimism for any chance of alliances. He believes they should conquer the unwashed, uneducated western Fables, to create lasting peace between the subduer and the subdued. But Sinbad wanted to learn more of their hosts, so that he may understand them better. King Cole greets them, wishing them a good morning, and ready to escort them up to the mayor's rooftop penthouse.

Beauty visits the Sheriff's office to bring Beast some muffins from the store. She also apologizes to him, for always nitpicking and being a shrew, which he never thought she was doing, of course. But she wanted him to know it all the same. Maybe it's time they ran things their way, instead of trying to be like Bigby and Snow.

With King Cole serving as translator, and mediator, between them, Prince Charming and Sinbad discuss the matter of Sinbad's slaves. Sinbad believes that when two cultures alien to one another can only prosper together when both sides respect the customs of the other. King Cole translates for Prince Charming that they're keeping the slaves. Prince Charming angrily replies it'll happen over his dead body, which King Cole translates for Sinbad to mean the Prince of course agrees with him; Fabletown will respect Sinbad's custom to keep his slaves, so long as he respects Fabletown's custom to hang slavers wheresoever they're found.

On the 13th Floor, Beast learns from Frau that the Arabian Fables setoff all her magical protection spells when they arrived, identifying that they had a Djinn. She finds that she has to educate Beast on the grandest of threats a genie, or Djinn, can pose. Being creatures of pure magic, the Djinn can obliterate an entire continent, or even a world, on command. They are devoid of any sense for good or evil and will perform any task their summoner gives them. No one, not even Frau with all her power, can dare hope to fight a genie, let alone kill one. It would only be possible to trick them, and they are wary beings since trickery is what got them banished to their bottles in the first place; long ago, when Sulymon the wise took it upon himself to rid the world of the Djinns, when he tricked them into proving their great power by escaping from the bottle he would hold out. But the bottles were made by a great sorcerer of that era, Daedelus, who crafted the bottles to be gateways to a pocket dimension that will hold the Djinn's captive. Their power would finally be put to constructive use. Whoever finds one of the bottles and sets it free, the Djinn must then grant its savior three wishes. So long as the third wish is always to force the Djinn back into its bottle, the cycle will continue, and the creatures will never threaten them again. While there were some fools who forgot to lock the genie back up with the third wish and allowing it to roam free, usually a wiser man would be on hand with their own Djinn, with a wish to destroy the rogue one at the cost of its own existence. Unfortunately, Frau remarks, there aren't a surplus of Genie bottles around, the few that still do exist were all out of their reach. But she promises Beast she'll think of something to stop the Djinn, should it come to that.

More days pass. Down on the Farm, Rose Red calls the kids out for running around in the town square in their wolf forms. That form is for the forest, while there are no wolves in the public area. They quickly and obediently change into their human forms, buck naked. Rose tells them to find their clothes this instant, which sends them flying off to do as their "Auntie Rose" asks. She returns indoor where her sister, Snow White, and Mister North sit with Frau, who came to tell them of the possible Genie threat. Frau mentions offhand that since Mister North is of the same ilk, he may have to step in if the Djinn is released. This sudden revelation shocks both Snow and Rose. Mister North is a Djinn?? Rose yells at him for not doing anything when the Adversary started conquering their lands. North says simply that he's seen governments come and go, empires rise and fall, so it wasn't really his concern what the latest tyrant was up to, since they know enough to leave him alone. As for now, he's offering to help with the Djinn because Rose and Snow are his family. For his part, he welcomes the challenge, as it's been ages since he's had to battle one of his own kind. The sisters sigh in relief, but Frau urges him to tell them the rest, what the cost will be. He admits that the struggle would cause horrendous damage to this mundane world. So much so that they would all have to begin another exodus and find a new world to call home.

Meanwhile, Sinbad tells Yusuf that he's made a decision to free all the slaves. Yusuf is livid. When Sinbad goes out for a swim, leaving his minister to draw up the proper documents, Yusuf is fully convinced that Sinbad's mind has been transfixed by the western Fable devils. So, when he uncorks the Djinn's bottle, he feels justified. The fearsome creature emerges, and Yusuf makes his three commands:
The first wish is for the Djinn to fly back to Baghdad and eliminate all Arabian leaders and officials, until Yusuf was the highest-ranking member.
The second, to slay Sinbad, Prince Charming, King Cole, and any others whose name Yusuf writes down.
Finally, he wants the Djinn to shower him in gold, women, and sorcerous wonders until he tells him to stop.

The Djinn asks if he is sure those were his wishes. Yusuf confirms his will, and the mighty being says it shall be so.