Kalim can sometimes be forgetful: he meets the prefect and Grim for the first time in Book 2 but by Book 4 has forgotten who they are introduces himself for the second time.
We see him forget homework, forget the name of one of his own favorite foods, forget meetings, forget what dish he was asked to bring for Jamil, forget a spoon for stew and forget his magical pen.
He comes across a note from Jamil telling him to not forget his robe or homework (“I totally forgot!”) and forgets about a sleeping potion he had been tasked by Crewel to make for a remedial class. In a voice line it seems he will also forget things while cooking.
Kalim will sometimes not understand what it is that people are trying to tell him (“I’m still confused”, “I’m not sure what you mean by that”, “Was that a compliment?”, “Not sure I follow”, “I’m not sure I really understand why”, “Not sure what that means”, “Not sure why”), but he often goes along anyway.
Kalim describes his magic carpet as his favorite out of all the treasures sent to Scarabia Dorm by his father, saying that it is a replica of the carpet used by the sultan served by the Sorcerer of the Sands and has been in his family for generations.
Kalim says that he first met the carpet when he snuck into one of the family “storehouses” and saw it peeking out from behind a pile of gold coins. Kalim explains, “It really seemed to want out, so I did everything I could to talk my dad into letting me take it. He agreed to let me have it as long as I promised to always take extra good care of it! It was so happy to be freed from that storehouse, it carried me on a ride way up into the sky. And we’ve been thick as thieves ever since!”
When the carpet goes out of control in a vignette Kalim says it might be because it has been so long since he took it out of storage that its fringe is beginning to unravel, and Trey says that the carpet’s wild behavior was possibly revenge for feeling unappreciated.
When the prefect and Grim escape Scarabia on the carpet in Book 4 Azul returns it to Kalim, who says, “It ran off again?”, implying that that was not the first time the carpet has run away from him.
Being attention-starved may be one reason Kalim says that the carpet is in “high spirits” after receiving a vacuuming from Ortho.
Revenge might be an explanation for why it seems Kalim is bad at flying it: he falls off during a parade and into a fountain (saved from injury by Jamil’s wind magic), falls off in Trey’s vignette (where Trey saves him with great reluctance), and says in a chat that he almost ran over the prefect with it.
Jamil says that the carpet is the most important of all the Asim families treasures and valuable enough to be considered even a national treasure. Kalim is able to tempt Riddle into visiting Scarabia as a guest by offering to take him on a magic carpet ride and Riddle also refers to it as an artifact that is “counted among the Scalding Sand’s national treasures.” It seems the carpet is capable of freezing over in low temperatures (re: Fairy Gala).
Kalim seems to enjoy flying because he can see how little all his troubles matter. Vil says he borrows the carpet sometimes for aerial shots for Film Club projects in what may be a reference to Stanley Kubrick.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 