Ben sat at his desk, the stress of the week rolling over him like waves on the shore. It was hard to believe he had only been king for two days—how was it Wednesday already?
"Okay Ben, just breathe," he said as he organized some papers that were strewn on his desk. He had just cleaned and organized it yesterday—how did it already get messy? "I just have to make it through this morning where I finally have no meetings and then I have a meeting with Mal, Evie and Tiana before meeting with Fairy Godmother to make sure my studies remain on track to graduate on time. Then I have the council meeting and then hopefully I'll be able to grab dinner before drowning in paperwork. Oh and then I have the meeting tomorrow with Cinderella. I should have time to relax on Friday—just have make it through the week."
Oh gods why did I think it would be a good idea to stay in school and be king? Granted without Tourney it wouldn't be too bad. Except for the fact that I won't have anything to use to blow off steam.
His thoughts were interrupted by the low growl of his stomach and Ben cursed his decision to skip breakfast. Three early meetings had prevented it and Ben found himself counting down the minutes until lunch.
"Your grace," Jane's voice came from the other side of the door, breaking Ben out of his thoughts. Ben chuckled and shook his head. He would never get used to that title, especially when it was used by his classmates and friends.
"Come in Jane," he told her and Jane walked into the office. "You know you don't have to call me that. How can I help you?"
"Well, your mother reminded me that Cotillion is six months away and so we needed to start planning it," Jane told him as she walked toward the desk and Ben bit back a groan as it wouldn't do for a king to groan in annoyance. How did he forget about Cotillion? "I assume you want Audrey heading the planning committee?"
"Actually can you share point with Audrey?" Ben asked, gathering up some of the papers that had spilled onto his desk and forming them into a new pile near the top left corner of his desk. "I know Audrey's great at theming and all the 'fun stuff' as she calls it but when it comes to the budget, she always goes over. I'd like to avoid that this time, especially with Cotillion being so close to the coronation."
"You want me to partner with Audrey?" Jane asked, the disbelief slipping through. "But I've never done something like this before."
"It's six months away," Ben told her and gave her a small smile. "Plenty of time."
Jane sighed and nodded, looking down at her notes. "Well at least Mal will be able to help. A friendly face would certainly be nice."
"What?" Ben asked, his head shooting up from the paperwork he had been looking at. Why would Mal be involved in Cotillion planning? If she wanted to be, Ben would support it but that didn't seem like a thing Mal would want.
"Well Cotillion will be where we bring Mal into the court," Jane stated, looking up at Ben as she rifled through the paperwork she held in her hands. "She'll have to start planning things like Cotillion."
"We never did that for Audrey," Ben told her, looking a little confused. Jane shook her head.
"Audrey was already a member of a royal family when she was dating you last year," Jane told him, setting some of the papers on his desk. "Therefore, she was already a member of the court."
Ben frowned as he pulled the papers closer to him. "Let me talk to Mal about this. I don't want to put more stress on her."
"Completely understand. Oh, Dean wanted to talk to you at some point. Something about giving Mal back her mother?"
Ben stared blankly for a moment before catching on. "Oh! Oh yes. Um...give me one second and I can set up a time for today."
"Ben, I don't think it was pressing," Jane said, watching as Ben scrambled for a calendar or a date book; the papers he had painstakingly piled earlier scattering all over the desk in his effort to find something to take a note on. "Whenever you're free."
Ben nodded, resisting the urge to run a hand through his hair. A king always kept his composure when there were others around. Even if they were friendly, it could easily get to the ears of other factions.
The two hour talk with his father on coronation day had been running through his head for the past two days. Oddly enough it only served to make him more stressed.
"Ben, are you okay?" Jane asked and Ben nodded, though he could appreciate the concern on Jane's face. "Do I need to get Emir and Akiho out here to drag you someplace that isn't this office or the council chambers?"
Ben let out a laugh at that, knowing his friends would easily do that. It wasn't the first time they had to do that either—his week long study session the previous year was still well known to his friends. "It's only been two days Jane. I just need to get used to everything."
"You know mom will let you have a break from classes for a while," Jane said, seemingly knowing what was on Ben's mind. "At least until you've gotten used to your duties as king."
"If I do that, then I risk falling behind in my studies," Ben sighed. The last thing he wanted was to disappoint either one of his parents—falling behind in his studies would certainly disappoint his mother.
He picked up one of the pieces of paper Jane had set on his desk and began to glance over it. There was nothing new really, just a proclamation stating no members of the press were allowed on Auradon Prep's campus without Fairy Godmother or his approval. Quickly scrawling out a signature, he handed the paper back to Jane.
"So, how's Mal been doing since the article on her ran?" Ben asked, causing Jane to pause. The proclamation had reminded him of that stupid article and he regretted that he hadn't had the time to talk to Mal about it. He had, though, taken great pleasure in tearing up that copy of the Gazelle in the privacy of his chambers. "Jane, I had a meeting with your mother the day the article came out. I'm not stupid. Plus the giant bonfire on the south lawn did wind up causing a report to fall on my desk."
"We figured you had enough on your plate," Jane said, a small smile on her face. "Mal didn't even know until we all converged on her room. But I think she's doing okay. Then again, I haven't been around enough to ask. Evie would be the better person to ask about that since they room together."
Ben nodded and looked at another one of the papers on his desk. To his surprise, it was a request from the Ratcliffe's asking permission for Carlos to visit over the holidays. Ben signed off in a heartbeat; happy that people were starting to accept the VKs as people and not the children of villains.
"I'll get this filed right away," Jane told him as Ben handed it off to her. She paused for a moment, taking a glance at his desk. "Ben I had a thought."
"Shoot."
"I'm not always going to be in the room to take the paper when you sign off on something," Jane said. "Technically I shouldn't even be taking the paper since I'm not officially your assistant but that's beside the point. Would it be better if we got you an in/out box? At least that way, you don't have to worry about it getting lost."
Ben looked at his desk, which had somehow gotten cluttered with papers once more, and flushed. "That might be a good idea."
"Mom says it happens to her desk all the time," Jane told him, placing the signed sheets in a file folder for ease of carrying. Where she had gotten one, Ben had no idea. "Oh, another quick thing. Coach wants your recommendation for captain of the Tourney/Fencing team by Friday. Mom asked me to pass it along to you."
Ben nodded. "I can give it right now if you want."
"Coach said he'd rather hear it in person," Jane said, giving Ben an apologetic smile.
"Of course he would," Ben nodded. Friday was the only day of the week Coach didn't have practice after all. "Okay, what time Friday?"
"8 am."
"I'll be ready," Ben told her. There went my one day without a meeting. How in the world did dad manage this?
Jane opened up a notebook and took a note before handing it to Ben. Ben looked at the book and looked back at Jane in shock upon discovering it was his date book.
"It's been in my hands for the past twenty minutes," Jane said, following his gaze. "You left it behind during one of the council meetings yesterday."
Ben nodded and took the book back. He had remembered that meeting—Chi Fu had wasted thirty minutes ranting about how Persephone could not be a member of the council and that Leah had been prematurely removed. It had finally ended when Ben had told Chi Fu that Persephone could easily have his spot as well.
That shut the old sheep up quite nicely.
"Your majesty?" One of his aids called, knocking on the door and Ben blinked, breaking out of his thoughts.
"Dean, come in," Ben said, waiving his hand and Jane moved to the side of the desk. Dean walked into the office and brushed his blond hair out of his eyes.
"My apologies King Ben but Lady Mal and Lady Evie are waiting to see you," he said, giving a small bow. "Shall I send them in?"
Ben nodded, a little confused as to why Evie and Mal were waiting to see him. First off, as she was his girlfriend, Mal could see him at any time. Second of all, weren't they meeting at one with Tiana?
"Lady Mal and Lady Evie, your majesty," Dean said, breaking Ben out of his thoughts and the king smiled at the sight of his girlfriend and her best friend. Dean bowed and left the room.
"I guess I should make myself scarce," Jane said, giving the girls a little wave.
"You can stay if you want Jane," Mal told her as Evie nodded. Mal turned back to Ben and gave him a small smile. "We're sorry to barge in on you like this Ben but we thought it might be better if we combined the meeting days."
"For your list?" Ben asked, pulling out a piece of paper from the pile he had organized earlier. Mal nodded and Ben couldn't help but feel his heart soar in relief to have one item removed from his schedule.
"Plus we brought lunch," Evie told him, holding up a picnic basket. "Emir and Akiho said you probably haven't had anything to eat all day. Conner joked that they were going to drag you out of this room—we thought this might be better."
"Considering we didn't know if it was really a joke," Mal added.
"Knowing Akiho, it probably wasn't," Jane told them.
Ben went to refute that but his stomach beat him to the punch, letting out a loud growl that caused Mal to smirk and Evie to giggle. Jane held a hand ups in front of her mouth but Ben could see her shoulders shake as if she was laughing as well.
"That might have been worse than the roar you let out at the lake," Mal told him, amusement evident in her voice. Ben shook his head but took the basket from Evie and began to unload it. It was clear that his friends had influenced the packing of this basket as all of his favorite foods could be seen.
"So, did you guys use Mary Poppin's bag to hold the food?" Jane asked as the procession of food ended. "Seriously, it's like a clown car!"
"In our defense," Evie said, looking at the desk in shock. Jane had quickly gathered up the papers that had been on the desk to prevent any damage. "We didn't know what was in the basket. Emir and Akiho had already packed it when we found them."
"Well then I guess we'll be having a lunch meeting!" Ben chuckled as he pulled out a stack of plates and set them down. Out of the corner of his eye, Ben thought there was something going on with Mal's hair. Was it different? Straighter?
Nah, I've only been king for two days and I've seen Mal plenty of times since the coronation. That's not enough time for her to do something different with her hair.
Ah but that article came out the other day and it mentioned her hair. Plus Mal could just magic her hair straighter.
Mal's not like the other princesses of the land. She'll just brush that off.
"So, who's first on the list?" Ben asked, mentally shaking himself out of his thoughts. Evie reached down and pulled a list out of her purse.
"We figured since you started with four, it would be a good idea if we continued with that theme," Evie told him. "Though I would love to take all the kids who deserve it off in one fell swoop, someone thought it would be too much too soon."
"You want another Leah situation?" Mal asked, rolling her eyes at Evie's accusation. "Besides, don't act like I don't want the kids off the Isle either. Without us there and my mom in her current state, Shrimpy can have full reign of the Isle. Any kid who messes with her or gets in her or Hook's way will have targets on their backs."
"So who's the first kid?" Ben asked, changing the subject and taking a sandwich from the pile. "I hope you don't mind?"
"We ate before we came," Mal told him, though Ben couldn't help but frown as he remembered the status of the food on the Isle they had been used to. "Besides, that growl from your stomach earlier sounded like you were hungry."
Ben flushed but took a bite out of his sandwich. Chewing, he set the sandwich down so that Evie or Mal could talk.
"Well the first kid we thought of was Dizzy," Evie said and Ben nodded. That one was a given and he couldn't help but assume it would be the subject of his meeting with Cinderella the next day. "The second kid was Hadie."
"His parents are already here though," Ben said after swallowing his bite of sandwich. "I'm not separating a kid from his parents, even if he did technically escape the Isle."
"What if Hades gets sent back?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't tell me that there aren't people who want the Lord of the Underworld in Auradon?"
"If that happens, then it'll be up to Persephone and Hades to decide the best course of action," Ben said. "Persephone might go back to the six months on and six months off arraignment. However the council still hasn't made their minds about Hades. They could vote to allow him to stay."
"Moving on," Evie said, sensing the tension in the room. "Carlos suggested Smee's twins Squeaky and Squirmy—"
"Smee had twins?" Ben asked, blinking in surprise. "I honestly didn't even know he had kids."
"No one really does, well with the exception of the people on the Isle," Mal said with a shrug. "They're really quiet but they're young, around Dizzy and Hadie's age. Anyone our age would have their belief system already set in. Plus we talked to Jane Darling and she said that she wouldn't have a problem with Smee's kids."
"Why did you talk to Jane Darling?" Ben asked and Mal shook her head.
"Mainly because we wanted to be sure any kids we brought over wouldn't have problems with their respective heroes," Mal told him. "Jane told us that if it had been Hook's kids, it would be a different story, considering Harry at least had participated in her misadventures in Neverland. But Smee had apparently been almost apologetic about the whole thing. Plus, like I said, Smee's kids are young. Jane doesn't seem like the type of person who would take it out on a young child."
"Then again we thought that about some of the adults too," Evie chimed in.
"Good point," Mal nodded.
Ben nodded in thought. "Well if you're bringing young kids, then I would bring more than four."
"Really?" Mal asked.
"Of course," Ben said. "Most of the council's met Dizzy and Hadie—and those who haven't aren't likely to vote in favor of bringing more kids off the Isle anyway. Akiho's already said that his mom would help foster any extra kids if we didn't have homes readily available."
Ben thought it best to avoid the mention of rock trolls. That would be difficult to explain in this meeting and they only had a limited amount of time before the next meeting.
Mal nodded. "Okay. Well there was one more on the list. He's closer to our age but he shouldn't be a problem."
"I think I remember we talked about this during the viewing," Ben said, his brow wrinkling as he thought back to the viewing that had changed so much in his kingdom. "Virgil, right?"
"That's right," Mal nodded and shot Ben a small smile. "Plus Dizzy will already be here when he comes over so there shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully."
"Okay so just to make sure I have everyone," Jane said as she had been taking notes throughout the meeting and causing Evie to jump as she had forgotten Jane was in the room. "The next kids are going to be Dizzy, Hadie, Smee's twins and Virgil."
"You know, two of the kids on your list are already here," Ben pointed out. "Are there any more you'd like to bring over in this round?"
Mal and Evie huddled together in a mini conference. Normally Ben would have tried to eavesdrop so he would get a hint as to what was being discussed. But a king didn't do that. Plus he still needed to finish his sandwich.
Note to self, find a way to thank Emir and Akiho, Ben thought as he bit down into his sandwich with an inward grown of delight.
"Ben?" Mal asked and Ben broke from his thoughts to see that Mal and Evie had finished their conference.
"Oh yes," Ben nodded, setting down the sandwich. "Sorry about that."
Mal and Evie looked at each other and then back at Ben in confusion. "You think we're going to be mad at you for eating?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's not polite to eat in front of others, especially if they're not eating," Ben said.
"Ben, you're hungry," Evie said, giving the king a kind smile. One that went straight to Ben's gut as once again he remembered that the kids on the Isle knew exactly what it was like to be hungry. And his hunger didn't even begin to compare to theirs. "We did barge in on you and like we said before, we ate before coming in here. We didn't want to get too hungry when meeting with Tiana."
"Good idea," Ben told them, forcing the thoughts out of his head. Some of the food Tiana could describe could make a fully fed stomach grumble in seconds. "You honestly don't mind?"
"Eat!" Mal and Evie said in unison, Jane's voice echoing a second later. Ben chuckled and then quickly devoured the remainder of the sandwich. Honestly, he could not think of something he had eaten that was as good as that sandwich.
"I'm going to have to tell Akiho that he is in fact the king of sandwiches," Mal sighed as she watched Ben devour the sandwich.
"Akiho made that?" Ben asked, wiping off the corners of his mouth.
"Well we assume," Evie said as Mal rolled her eyes. "All we saw was Akiho holding the packed basket with Emir at his side."
"He always was obsessed with sandwiches. Must come from his mom," Ben said with a chuckled, grabbing another sandwich to nibble on now that he wasn't as ravenous as he had been. "Okay, back to your list. Are there any other kids you want to bring over this round?"
"As much as it pains me to say it," Evie sighed while shooting a look at Mal, "it might be better if we stick to a small group this time. We can bring a larger group over next time."
"Or we get rid of the naysayers on the council and just bring all the kids who deserve it in one fell swoop," Mal said with a shrug. "Honestly, with the exception of Uma's gang, Gaston's kids, the weird kid with the bowler hat that always hangs out around Facilier and the kids who's parents are in the Hunter clique, none of the other kids deserve the Isle."
"Mal," Evie sighed. "You've got to get over this feud with Uma."
"You know you keep telling me that but I'm not going to," Mal told her. "She's dangerous. Her gang keeps creeping into our territory and she thinks she can just run the Isle."
"Isn't Uma Mal's cousin?" Jane whispered to Ben who shrugged in response. While Ursula was the sister of Triton, and therefore the daughter of Poseidon, the whole family dynamic was too complicated to truly say who was a cousin of whom. You could thank Zeus for that. Thankfully, a knock on the door prevented the confrontation to go on.
"Your majesty," Dean said from the other side of the door. "Queen Tiana is here."
"Please send her in," Ben said, noticing a smirk on Mal's face. Ben had to assume it was at the formal tone of voice he had used. Honestly he didn't care—he loved it when she smirked like that.
The door to his office opened and Tiana walked in, clad in her jade green gown that Ben swore was almost the exact same tone of green as Mal's eyes.
"Your majesty," Ben said, getting up to shake Tiana's hand. "Thank you so much for coming."
"Ben honey there's no need to call me that," Tiana told him, brushing a bit of her hair out of her eyes and shaking the offered hand. "I'm more than happy to come, especially considering I offered it."
"Hey Tiana," Mal said with a small wave. Ben had to wonder when Mal had met Tiana as the daughter of Maleficent seemed quite at ease with the other royal.
"Mal! How are you, darling?" Tiana asked, her face lighting up with a smile upon seeing Mal. "I'll tell you what, when we saw that piece the Gazelle wrote, I almost had to get a muzzle on Louis."
"Louis?"
"Her alligator," Ben said and wished that he didn't as Mal's jaw dropped to the floor and Evie groaned.
"There goes the meeting," Evie sighed.
"I'm sorry, did you say 'alligator'?" Mal asked, ignoring Evie's comment. "How does one get an alligator or even know an alligator?"
Tiana chuckled. "Oh by your husband making a deal with the Shadow Man which ends up getting him turned into a frog."
"There's a reason why Celia never talks about her father's exploits, isn't there?" Evie asked after a few minutes of silence. "But I do believe we're getting off track."
"Right, we're here to talk food," Tiana nodded and pulled out a notebook of her own. Mal straightened ups and pulled in her chair, ready to get down to business."Tell me, what do the kids on the Isle like to eat?"
Mal and Evie looked at each other, slightly stunned into silence; as if they had never considered that before. Ben glanced over at them, genuinely worried by the silence. Just how bad were things on the Isle?
"Girls?" Tiana asked, trying to prompt either girl to answer.
"We don't know," Mal told her, finally breaking the silence, and looking away from Evie back to Tiana. "Honestly Tiana, all I can tell you is that the kids would like to eat something not rotten. And even that's a stretch considering how used to the rot and the mold we all are."
"Well then let's just bring over one thing," Tiana said, no reaction given to the fact that Mal had used 'we' instead of 'they' in describing the kids of the Isle. "We'll get them used to it as we get the kids over here."
"What do you suggest?" Evie asked, leaning forward in her seat and brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I mean, you're the best chef we've heard of. You and Mulan are probably the few heroes that are legitimately respected on the Isle."
"She means that," Mal added, nodding her head. "You two are no prissy pink princesses. Mulan has a body count and you opened your own business. Even Celia has a bit of respect for that. Whatever way you want to go, we'll follow your lead."
Tiana didn't respond but gave the girls a small smile, and Ben could see she was touched by the bit of knowledge. Not many citizens of Auradon would have reacted that way upon learning that their respective villain's kid respected them.
Plus, Ben knew that it couldn't have been easy for Mal to willingly admit to not have the lead on something. She was definitely a leader—though in a cutthroat world like the Isle, you'd pretty much have to be. Especially if your parent was the de facto leader of the Isle.
Maybe I should have guards accompany this food delivery, Ben thought as he remembered that said de facto leader was currently in their custody as a lizard.
"Well, if it was me, I'd send over my gumbo," Tiana said, breaking the silence. "A nice rich warm hearty gumbo would be heaven for those kids, but it might be a little too rich right off the bat."
"Soup would be good though," Mal said, looking over at Evie. "Remember when Jay got that head cold maybe a week in? One of the kitchen staff brought him up some chicken soup for dinner."
"Oh yeah," Evie nodded. "That's when he gave us the key to the kitchen. Said if there was anything we needed, that we could help ourselves."
Okay so that's one mystery solved, Ben thought as he mentally checked a box. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been curious about how his girlfriend and friends had managed to get unfettered access to the kitchens when they were known to be off limits to students.
"A nice light chicken soup, I think that would be a great idea," Tiana said with a smile. "I can certainly whip up a big enough pot for everyone on the Isle."
"Wait," Mal said, looking over at Evie. "What about bowls? Spoons? Not everyone on the Isle has those."
"We can certainly provide those," Ben said.
"If you let them keep it, it'll feel like a hand out," Mal told him. "Like it's pity. The young kids won't care but the teens will—and good luck getting the adults interested at all."
"And if you ask for the bowls back, the kids are going to scarf down the food," Evie added. "For kids not used to anything on their stomach, that won't end well."
The group was silent as Evie's words washed over them. Ben knew that both girls were right. There had to be a way that this could be done without making it seem like a hand out to the people on the Isle. As well, it had to be done in a way that wouldn't cost the people of Auradon an arm and a leg.
Gee, if we had caught the food problem sooner, we wouldn't be having this conversation, Ben thought feeling a twinge of irritation towards his dad but then quickly banished it. If he was stressed over the past two days, he couldn't imagine what his mom and dad had gone through in the twenty years they were ruling Auradon.
"What about Tupperware?" Jane asked and everyone turned to her. "I mean, they make glass Tupperware containers now. We could use those as bowls and bring plastic spoons as well."
"Mal?" Ben asked.
"I mean, we're used to regular silverware at least," Mal said. "Uma's mom has forks and knives at her restaurant."
"Plus glass Tupperware won't be seen as charity as much," Evie added. "Granted there are going to be some who think it is charity. Not to mention the fact that it is charity but that's neither here nor there."
Ben smiled, mentally making a note to look at how much it would cost to buy all that Tupperware. He knew his coronation took a big hit on the kingdom's budget and with Cotillion six months away, it wouldn't be good to be spending a ton of money in-between.
Last thing I want is for the people to see me as a Prince John, Ben thought but pushed those thoughts to the side as Mal looked over at him.
"We'll need to wait though," Mal said. "On delivering the food."
"Why?" Ben asked, legitimately puzzled, and Mal shot him a look.
"With my mom in her lizard form here, there's going to be a power vacuum on the Isle. Knowing the cliques that exist, someone's going to try to vie for power. Right now we think Evie's mom has a grasp on it but anything could happen."
"We want to make sure it's at least safer to go," Evie said. "Fear of Maleficent kept people in line."
"Will we need to wait to get the kids off the Isle?" Ben asked, looking back at the list Evie had made. Mal looked over at Evie, who gave a small shrug, and then back to Ben.
"I don't know," Mal said with a sigh.
"Well at least we have a plan," Tiana said. "It's more than what we started with. Why not wait a week? That way, if there is still violence or fear, Ben will get a report and we can hold off. If there is no report, then we can get started."
"I like that plan," Evie said with a nod.
"Sounds good to me," Mal shrugged. "Ben?"
Ben smiled and leaned forward a bit in his chair. "If everyone's in agreement, then it sounds good to me. I'll talk to my dad about how we get reports regarding the Isle or if we need to get that going."
"Well then, I think this was a fantastic meeting," Tiana said, rubbing her stomach. "Ben, dear, forgive me for cutting this meeting short but I have to run to a doctor's appointment."
"Oh yes," Ben nodded, getting up. Everyone in the kingdom knew that Tiana was pregnant with her third child, as she had been showing during the viewing. "Tell Naveen I said hello and best of luck to you."
"Thank you," Tiana smiled. "Oh, Evie dear. Snow wanted me to give this to you. She wanted to give it in person but thought it might be a bit too soon."
Tiana brought a letter out of her purse and gave it to Evie, who took it with shaking hands. Mal couldn't help but sympathize with her best friend; she didn't know how she would feel if Aurora had sent her a letter.
"Evie?" Mal asked as Tiana left the room. Evie had opened the letter and her face had turned pale white. In fact she looked almost as stunned as Carlos had the previous day. "What's wrong? Do I need to go yell at someone?"
Evie shook her head and turned to Ben. "Snow White is asking for a time to meet with you Ben. She would like to ask if I can join them for the upcoming holidays."
"That's great!" Jane exclaimed and Ben beamed, though out of the corner on his eye he noticed that Mal's smile didn't seem to meet her eyes.
Was everything okay?
"Mal—" Ben began but the two girls were out the door before Ben could say anything else. Sighing, Ben brought his date book closer to him and flipped through the week but couldn't find an empty slot.
"Since no one really wants to meet on Friday," Jane said, "why not schedule it for first thing Monday?"
"Council meeting's on Monday," Ben said. "Goes till the afternoon."
"Oh," Jane said and frowned in thought. "Well I'm sure you'll find a time. The fact that two of the four kids from the first group from the Isle have places to stay over the holidays is great for any future groups."
"I know," Ben nodded and then frowned as he looked back at Friday. "Why not have the meeting on Friday? I have nothing after my meeting with Coach."
Jane took a peak over his shoulder and shook her head. "You're right."
"Hey Jane," Ben said after noting it in his date book. "I had a thought."
"Shoot," Jane said, turning to face him.
"You said earlier that you weren't my assistant, at least not officially," Ben said. "What if you were?"
Jane frowned. "I don't—"
"Look, there aren't many adults who are going to feel comfortable taking orders or managing the schedule of a sixteen year old," Ben said. "You know it, I know it. The whole kingdom knows it. But you're smart, organized. You know everything that's going on in the school."
"Ben, wouldn't this be a conflict of interest?" Jane asked. "You'd just be choosing me because I'm your friend."
"Okay, but if I interview people and I still think you're the best fit, would you do it?" Ben asked.
"In a heartbeat."
"Then let me set up some interviews," Ben said with a chuckle. Jane shook her head and gathered up her stuff before turning back to him.
"Is that everything, your grace?" Jane asked, a small smile on her face.
"You're not going to call me that every time we have a meeting are you?" Ben asked and Jane chuckled. Ben shook his head.
"Nothing more," Ben said and Jane turned to leave. As the door to his office closed, Ben pulled up his desk phone and dialed Snow White's personal number.
"Hello? Your highness, how are you?" Ben asked. "I was just wondering if you would have time to meet at eleven Friday morning? Yes this is regarding your request. Really? That's great! I'll see you then. Tell Ferdinand I said hello."
Setting the phone back in the cradle, Ben couldn't help but smile. At least something got accomplished today.