Chapter Text
"Your Majesty,” it took Ben a couple seconds to realize Lisette was talking to him. All his life, that title had been reserved to his parents. He had always been ‘His Highness’.
Technically, he should still be ‘His Highness’. As a prince of Avonlea, who was only distantly related to the ruling family -so distantly that they had never even participated in the tradition of naming their firstborn Charles that had lasted for seven generations now, with Prince Charles Gabriel, commonly referred as Chad, being its latest victim-, Ben should have never been called ‘His Majesty’ in his life. That had changed first with the creation of the United Auradon Alliance, and then with his father’s death. Now Ben was going to be ‘His Majesty’ for the rest of his life. How long that life would be or how pleasant, well, Ben didn’t really think about that.
“Yes?”
His new-yet-old assistant -because he had also ‘inherited’ her from his father- gave him yet another useless document to sign. Ben had never thought just how much paperwork went into making proclamations. This time, for example, he had to approve the fact that the ‘villain kids’ -as the media had taken to calling them, would be tried as adults under the Alliance’s laws if they committed any crimes involving victims.
“This is too vaguely defined. ‘Involving victims’ could be interpreted in too many ways. Send it back to Parliament or whoever drafted it, and tell them that I’ll sign it when it is clear enough for a teenager to understand it and make their own judgments on it.”
The meaning of his words was not lost: not only were the VKs teenagers, but Ben himself was one, a fact that the Council seemed to love taking advantage of. And now they had corrupted his Parliament too. Fantastic.
Lissette frowned, but didn’t argue. It was no secret that pretty much everyone in the palace disapproved of Ben’s first proclamation. Instead of doing something simple and ceremonial like it was expected of him, Ben had used the long-standing tradition from most Auradonian kingdoms that a ruler’s first decree should go unchallenged to force the Council’s hand to actually do something about the inhumane treatment given to the children born in the prison known as the Isle of the Lost.
Ben hated that place. He had never even seen it, but he hated its very existence with a passion. The Isle and its ‘purpose’ actually preceded the Alliance by quite some time, but the way the so-called heroic rulers had used it since the formation of UAA had always made Ben uncomfortable. Learning that there were innocent children there had made him want to throw mud at every self-righteous king or queen who dared to preach about protecting their people, while a good portion of them were imprisoned for the crime of being born.
“Wow, you’d think ‘helping children’ would be something the King’s assistant would jump at, not frown at,” Lanying joked.
Ben’s classmate, and General Hua Mulan’s only daughter, Li Lanying had been perhaps one of the few reasons Ben had not ended up going insane after his father’s death. She had offered not only her support -kind, cheerful Lanying could make anyone feel better- but also her advice. She had helped Ben put things into perspective, something he greatly needed.
“I am starting to think that if people tell themselves they are good people too much, they end up too comfortable to actually do something good.”
“How philosophical,” Lanying snorted.
A knock on the door repelled any joking mood, as they both knew only more complications and paperwork came to this office.
Sure enough, Caroline La Bouff-Monet came in, thankfully with no papers in hand.
“I think I have figured out the VKs accommodations. Two of the girls can take the bedroom next to Lanying’s and Wenli’s. I’ll move Jane on the other side. She has a room to herself anyway, so this means only three neighbours for the newcomers instead of four. As for the other two, they can take the last bedroom on the right, and I’ll move in next door. I know my roommate won’t complain, so it’s probably for the best. For the guys, I thought their rooms should be next to each other. Haemon and Liam on one side, Doug and James on the other.”
Ben had no clue who Haemon or Liam were, so he assumed they weren’t in his year. James he assumed to be Jamie. Queen Tiana and King Naveen’s only son, the couple being one of the few Council members’ whose concerns about the proclamation had been useful instead of hypocritical. Doug he knew from how many classes they had shared together. He would even dare call him a friend, if they ever spoke outside of class. Wenli he knew as one of the Emperor’s many granddaughters and Lanying’s friend, who Lumiere had tried to set him up with once.
“Thanks Caroline, you are a life saver.”
“No problem, it’s kinda my job, you know.”
As president of the Students’ League, Ben could see how dormitory set-ups would fall under Caroline’s umbrella -not that he knew much about school activities in general- but he was sure no other situation had required this level of planning on her part.
“Still, thank you. It couldn’t have been easy, especially now that you are a senior. You must have a thousand things to do.”
“Yeah, well, you have even more stuff on your hands than me, so I can’t complain. But yeah, I’ll be glad to pass on my many responsibilities to Audrey next year, once I graduate.”
Caroline had been president of the Students’ League for three years now, something that annoyed Audrey to no end. Ben could kinda see why, the two girls were very similar when it came to their ambitions, their skills and even their looks. One time Ben had even mistook Caroline for Audrey at a school function, as they both were wearing pink and had the same hair style. Thankfully Caroline had laughed it off, while Audrey had never learned of the incident.
“How did you group up the VKs?” Ben didn't really like calling them that, but he couldn’t deny the term was convenient.
“Well, I am gonna let them choose who they room with, who they want to room with of course. I admit, I think having Faccilier’s daughter next to me would be better than having her next to Jane. If she’s like her father, well, I can’t be the only one who finds Jane a little too naive for her own good.”
Both Ben and Lanying winced, but they didn’t disagree. Jane was the headmistress’ daughter, born in the sacred woods of Auroria like all fairies, but she was no fairy. Somehow, Jane had been born completely human, with only the slightest inclination to magic. Ben had overheard Flora saying once that the formerly cursed High King that hated magic would make for a better sorcerer than the disappointingly human daughter of her friend. As a result, Jane had grown up shouldering her mother’s crushed expectations, while trying to carve her own place in the world. She was sweet, but shy and gullible. In all honesty, Ben was more worried at the possibility of Jane meeting Maleficent’s daughter than Facillier’s. As High King, he was privy to the most confidential information about the Isle, so he knew Maleficent’s daughter was as fae as they came, despite being born thousands of miles away from her ancestral land. If the guards’ reports were to be believed, she was even capable of doing some magic, although so small and insignificant that one wouldn’t even notice unless they paid attention. Ben didn’t know her name, her age or her personality, but he knew one thing: she had the capacity to be terrifying. And he was willingly inviting her into his kingdoms.
“We can’t make any assumptions about the children’s personalities yet,” Ben cautioned.
“Of course,” Caroline agreed although she didn’t look pleased. But one closer look at Ben and Lanying, made a thoughtful crease appear on her forehead.
Ben knew what she was thinking. Both his and Lanying’s personalities were often surprising to people who only knew their families. Lanying was as passionate about swordfighting as her father, and driven by a strong sense of justice, like her mother. But she was also much more cheerful than either of them, so much so that some people wondered how the famously no-nonsense General Li could have raised such an upbeat child. She was also very passionate about fashion, make-up and style, unlike Hua Mulan, who was famously bad at dressing herself appropriately for official royal occasions.
Ben was very much his mother’s son: he had her curiosity, her drive in life and of course, her love for books. But unlike his hot headed parents who sometimes seemed to communicate best while yelling at each other, Ben had a very even temper and liked to avoid conflict as much as he could.
Caroline herself lacked her mother’s loud personality and her unshackable belief in fate, despite inheriting her kindness and assertiveness.
No, none of them were carbon copies of their parents, and it would be a mistake to assume any of the VKs would be either.