What Does War Mean? (Jasmine)

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Giselle had been hearing all about this war thing that everyone seemed to be talking about. The redhead wasn’t really sure what that meant. She knew it wasn’t a good thing. People were getting awfully worked up about it after all. She just didn’t know why. What was war? She could probably ask Bartok and he would tell her, but she couldn’t find Bartok right now. That made the girl a bit sad that she couldn’t find her very very best friend, but maybe he was in class.

She sat beside the fountain, resting her arms on the ledge. She propped her head up on one of her fists, thinking about the whole thing. People had said that there was an island that they could to if they wanted to, but Giselle didn’t understand why they would need to go to an island in the first place. She’d always thought that it was safe here. And what if Edward came to find her and she was on the island? He wouldn’t be able to find her. Giselle sighed. This whole war thing was making her quite sad. What was she ever going to do?

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Jasmine was nearly ready to leave for the island. She had to take one last look around the familiar town first. Everything she knew about htis place, she would leave behind. She'd have to find all new places to hide. She would need to find new places to talk to people. There wasn't a single place at the island she knew. She hadn't even known about it before the announcement.

Jasmine's thoughts stopped when she came upon a girl that looked a bit sad. She was sitting beside the fountain. Jasmine walked up and stood in front of the girl. "What's wrong?" she asked.

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Giselle looked up when the girl approached her. She looked familiar. She’d probably seen her around the school before, but they’d never talked. But she seemed nice and she was asking what was wrong, which was very nice because there was quite a bit wrong in Giselle’s world. The redhead sighed again. “I’m just confused. I don’t understand what’s going on,” she explained.

She patted the ground beside her, inviting the girl to sit down. “I’m not quite sure what to do,” she continued. “They say that going to the island will protect us, but if I go to the island and Edward shows up here looking for me, how is going to find me? And then, what if he leaves without me? We’re supposed to get married, but we can’t get married until Edward finds me.” It was all very confusing and very troubling. It was quite the dilemma. Giselle really didn’t know what to do.

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Jasmine sat down next to the girl. She had to think for a moment before she could respond. "Well, when I was in Agrabah, everyone told me to avoid war. Do whatever I had to do to make it stop, and if it still happened, I was to run. The island is the safe place to run to for us," Jasmine said.

The other thought was a little harder. She wasn't quite sure how to help with her fiance. "I'm sure someone would tell Edward where to find you if he shows up," Jasmine continued. Well, at least htat's how she hoped it would go. The girl was in a situation Jasmine had yet to experience. She had no one back home or here. Or at least, not yet.

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Giselle listened to the other girl. She didn’t know where Agrabah was, but it sounded like a nice place. It was probably where the girl was from. “But what is war?” Giselle asked. “Why do we have to go to be safe? Isn’t it safe here at the school?” The redhead really didn’t understand why they needed to run away. What was so bad about war? They didn’t have war back in Andalasia. At least, she didn’t think they did. She wasn’t sure, but she knew she’d never heard of it.

Giselle thought about what the girl was saying, then nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose that would be alright then. I just wouldn’t want Edward to come and not be able to find me.” She missed Edward. It had been a very long time since she’d seen him, after all. She’d been here at the school for so long now that if he came she wanted to be able to go back to Andalasia with him so that they could get married and share true love’s kiss.

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Jasmine had to think agian. She obviously wasn't that good at answering questions. "Um... war is when people fight. There can be death. It's something to avoid at all costs," Jasmine said, hoping she got it right that time.

She was glad that she at least got the second question right. Especially since she didn't have any experience with something like that. Her love life was just her father trying to force her to get married. It was one of the reasons she tried to escape.

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Giselle was horrified by that description of war. “Fighting?” she repeated. “Death?” That sounded awful! Tears began to well up in her eyes as she tried to wrap her head around such a terrible thing. “But why?” she asked, beginning to sniffle pathetically. “That sounds horrible. I don’t want people to die. Fighting is terrible.”

Giselle couldn’t think of anything worse than war at the moment. It was the most terrible thing she’d ever heard of. Fighting and death were awful. Why did people do such awful things? “Do you think the island will be safer?” she asked. “Do you think we’ll be safe there? Will the war go there?” Her eyes were wide with fear and horror. This was all so horrible. She wished Edward would come and rescue her and bring her back to Andalasia.

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Jasmine sighed. "People fight because of political diferences. It's for selfish reasons that the attackers attack," she said. That's how she always viewed it at least. War was never a good thing, no matter the place or time.

The other question was one she could answer without it being completely opinion. "The island will be a ot safer than here. It won't be very easy for the opposing army to get to us, so the war will have a hard time making its way to us. I'm going," Jasmine said. It was all true, or at least she believed it to be.

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Giselle didn’t know anything about politics, though they didn’t sound nice. She probably wouldn’t understand politics if anyone tried to explain them anyway, so instead of asking she just looked confused. She didn’t understand selfishness either. This was all so confusing and scary. Giselle didn’t know what to think about all of this. “But I don’t understand. Why would people want to hurt other people? That’s just horrible!”

Giselle had to think about the island. It sounded safer than staying here where people were going to hurt other people, but she wasn’t sure what to do. “You’re going to island so you can be safe?” she asked. “Are other people going, do you think? Do you think it’ll be nice there?” She wondered if they would let her bring some of her animal friends. They should get out of the danger too.

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Jasmine frowned. "I couldn't tell you why. They do it because hteir leader said to, I guess," she said. The true reason for war eluded her as well, but she didn't really want to know the reasons for it. It was a terrible thing no matter how you looked at it.

She wasn't quite sure how to answer the second set of questions. "Well, other people are probably going, but I don't know for sure. We will be a lot safer there than we would be here. I think it will be pretty nice there, but much smaller than it is here," Jasmine said. She hoped she covered everything well. She was surprised that she was able to tell the other girl so much since she had always been the one asking questions when she was younger.

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That didn’t sound like a very good reason to hurt other people that you didn’t even know. That just sounded awful. Really awful. “Well, that’s not a very good reason,” Giselle countered. “Everyone should be kind to everyone else, shouldn’t they? Then everyone could be friends and then no one would have to hurt each other. That’s just an awful idea.”

Giselle cocked her head to one side, listening. Safer would be good. She should probably stay nice and safe. That would be a very good idea. This island was sounding better and better by the minute. “Maybe I’ll go to the island then,” she said quietly, still thinking about the whole thing. “Do you think they’ll let me bring my animal friends? I’m sure they’ll be no trouble and I simply couldn’t leave them here while a war is going on.” If her animal friends could come, then everything might be okay.

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Jasmine almost laughed. "I do agree with you. If everyone could just get along, everything would work out well. Too bad most people don't get that. They just want to take whatever they need or do whatever they have to to get what they want. Even marry off their daughters to make alliances," she said. Her eyes got a little watery, but she was able to keep from crying.

She did smile at the next question. "I do think you can bring some of your animal friends. As long as they're smaller," Jasmine said. The girl was interesting. She'd never met anyone that liked animals so much. She had hardly even met any animals before she came through the portal. Rajah was one of the few animals she'd ever seen before that time.

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Giselle was so confused. Things weren’t like this back in Andalasia. People were much nicer back in Andalasia. Things like war and selfishness and listening to people just because you have to . This was all just awful! “That doesn’t sound very nice,” Giselle said, looking pathetic again. This was all turning out to be so awful. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about awful things anymore.

Giselle was glad that she might be able to bring some of her animal friends to the island. She wouldn’t want to leave them behind if it was going to be dangerous. That wouldn’t be good at all. “I hope so. It wouldn’t be good if they got left behind. I’d be very worried.”

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Jasmine frowned. People in Agrabah weren't generally too unkind either. Some of the bandits were actually quite honorable. They didn't need to hurt anyone to get what they wanted. Of course, there were still bad bandits and those awful gaurds. "Most people in Agrabah were quite kind. There were some that weren't, but it's even worse here. Few people are genuinely kind to each other," she said.

She was glad that the talk of the island was making the other girl feel a little better. "I hope you can bring your animal friends. I don't see any reason for you to not be able to bring them. I'm sure there's enough space too," Jasmine smiled. She was really hoping the other girl would be happy at the island. Being without your friends, no matter what form they were in, was not fun. She'd never had friends in Agrabah, but she could feel the absense of them. It was best to avoid that.

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Giselle didn’t think Jasmine knew what she was talking about. She hadn’t met anyone who was unkind or mean here in Trenale. Everyone had been so kind to her. She tilted her head to one side, thinking about it. “I haven’t met anyone who wasn’t kind to me,” she said. “Why, everyone seems very nice here. I’ve never met nicer people, like Bartok and Cinderella. Oh, and Fred is lovely too. And Henry is very nice. He’s a prince.” She nodded. She’d met so many nice people here at the school. She couldn’t imagine what Jasmine was talking about.

Giselle nodded at the younger girl’s words. She would have to talk with her forest friends at once. “I’ll have to go speak with them and see who wants to come with me. Some of them have families, you know,” she explained to Jasmine. “They might not want to leave their families behind. Or they might want to bring the whole family with them. It will be a big decision.”