Bridging the Gap

Chapter 5

"Wait, what about the clothing drives?" Akiho asked, standing straight up and knocking Conner off balance.

"Weren't you in the hospital wing when the girls told us about Evie making a dress out of sewing pins and tape?" Ben asked.

"No, I had to see my mom off since she's Queen of Arendelle now and hasn't been feeling too hot from the stress. Or so she tells me," Akiho said. "So the clothing drives aren't getting to the isle either?"

"Not unless Dizzy was lying," Ben told him, crossing his arms over his chest. "Plus, Mal and Evie backed her up. That plus what we saw in the viewing make me believe they're telling the truth."

"In that case, you might want to have an emergency council meeting," Conner told him. "They're the one's who oversaw the clothing drives and the food drives. If anyone would want to know about where that aid is going, it'll be them."

"Honestly, I can let a few newspapers around my kingdom know," Emir said with a smirk. "Nothing worse than bad press for some if not more of those council members."

The boys chuckled but Ben noticed that Akiho had grown quiet. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"I had a thought," Akiho said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I don't know if I should say it."

"We're all friends here," Conner said and Akiho sighed.

"Isn't Queen Leah on the council?" He asked and the four boys grew quiet as the weight of the words sank in.

"Dude, I mean I know Leah's horrible but I don't think she would stoop to that," Conner said. "After all, one missed delivery would have caused an uproar and instant investigation."

"Except it hasn't been one missed delivery," Ben said, turning to his friends. "Dizzy said during the viewing that there's apparently been a garbage strike for twenty years and Mal said in the hospital wing that good clothes were harder to find than food since we didn't throw out our clothes as often. Evie once made a dress out of safety pins and duct tape."

"You already said that," Conner pointed out.

"It bears repeating."

"Plus we all know that Leah's not the only one on the council that's extremely anti-Isle," Emir added while Akiho and Conner looked on in shock. "After all, there were a fair few who wanted my dad and Evan's dad thrown on the Isle due to the background of thieving."

"What?!" Conner exclaimed while Ben looked over at his friend and teammate in shock. Emir shrugged.

"How'd you find out?" Ben asked.

"Dad got a letter, maybe about three months before I was born," Emir told him. "Mom told me later that the fact that she was pregnant with me was probably the only reason dad's not on the Isle right now. And I'm not the only one. Jamie Hawkins told me it happened with her dad, what with his criminal record. Apparently it took him three months of fighting it before the council backed down. With Evan's dad, I think Rapunzel just threatened them with her frying pan. Plus Evan said that it might have helped that his dad was a royal. The council's more lenient with the royals than the commoners apparently."

"They wanted to chuck Aunt Elsa on the Isle for freezing Arendelle," Akiho added. "In fact, after she stepped down, she got another letter from the council. If it hadn't been for mom, dad, Olaf, and Matthias, I don't know what would have happened."

"Not to mention Alexi Romanov said the same thing happened with his dad," Conner pointed out. "Conman trying to find someone to impersonate royalty? No way the royals on the council would be happy with that."