(Authors note based on a review, I just wanted to point out my mistake, there are 8 kingdoms. I didn't take Belle and Adam's into account as I counted the rest. I didn't think about it as a kingdom, it was just Auradon and the 7 kingdoms he grouped in. But yes in all there are 8. Thank you MaliceMalAmyMalevFaery)
Monday afternoon, Mal had finished her last two classes before finals started the following week, she was feeling pretty good about those, but was nervous about her afternoon. She and Belle were about to hire the extra staff needed to serve her guests. Lumier let Mal into the palace. She met Belle in her library.
"Good afternoon Mal. How are your classes? Ready for finals?"
"I feel actually pretty good about them, better than last semester."
"You got straight A's last semester, so I am sure you'll do just fine. Which ones will you take first?"
"History of Fairies and History of Royal families, will be on monday and I have tuesday off to study for the others that will happen on Wednesday and Thursday. I am lucky I don't have a final friday."
"Well we know you have those first two down pat."
"Yes. I guess so."
"That's not what has you worried is it?"
"No, it's today, and well I have Uma in the back of my mind as well."
"Why Uma? Did something happen? Last night was the new moon, wasn't it?"
"The drone seemed to go off course, but they found it nothing happened to it, but well the rock was unsupervised for several hours."
"I see. We will be on a higher alert." Belle motioned for Mal to follow her. She headed into the small ballroom. This one had a door that lead outside. There Mal saw a huge line of men and women of all ages lined up.
"Oh boy."
"It's ok Mal. I will help you."
"I know you will but…"
"This is important to your relationship with Ben I get that, I do."
"Well that, for sure, but…"
"Aurora and Philip will be here?" Mal nodded. She had seen Audrey's mother once for a brief moment, after she had defeated her mother at the coronation, but not since, and Aurora only smiled and nodded at Mal, they never spoke.
"Among others yes."
"I promise you there aren't too many that feel like Leah."
"And she will be here." Mal admitted her actual fear of hosting the event. The elder monarch, still wielded power in her kingdom, yes her Daughter and son 'held the throne' so to speak, but they were actually figure heads, Leah still made the decisions.
"Yes, unfortunately, even though she gave her seat on the council to Aurora and Philip, she is still the ruling monarch of Auroria, so she is expected to be present. I can promise you this, she will behave, or be asked to leave. It may be your party to host, but it is still Beast Castle, and Adam and I have a say here. And well you know Ben will speak up."
"Thank you. Ok, let's do this."
They sat at a table and had a list of jobs and number of staff needed for each job. 1 waiter/waitress per guest, 10 extra kitchen staff, as well as a half-dozen extra maids as some guests would be housed over night at the palace because they were traveling a longer distance. Mulan and Shang, Tiana and Naveen, Aladdin and Jasmine. Mal would also be staying overnight in the palace, but she always refused a maid.
Lumiere opened the door and the line moved slowly in. They were to wait until he escorted them forward. "First."
Mal and Belle moved through the line, Uma was mid way through the pack, standing near the girl who claimed to have worked for Mal's sworn enemy, Leah. Uma watched as Riley had her turn.
"Good afternoon thank you for coming, name please?" Mal asked.
"My name is Riley, Queen Belle, Lady Mal." She said with a curtsey.
"Experience?" Belle asked, writing the girls name down.
"Yes, Ma'am. I work in the village at the cafe. Before that I worked for Auroria castle."
"Oh you poor dear, how long?" Belle sympathised.
"Two months."
"And her reason for terminating you?" Mal dared to ask. Uma heard her, and though Mal might still have a hint of evil for asking such a rude question, but Uma shook it off, her enemy wasn't evil anymore, she was soft.
"I was a maid m'lady, and she claimed I set Princess Audrey's bed with stained sheets. Thing was m'lady, they weren't stained. They were off white sheets, and she said the palace only had pure white sheets so I should have known they were stained. She also fired the laundress that day over it."
"I see. Please fill out the forms over on the next table, pose for your photo, and we will post the names and positions hired in town by noon tomorrow." Belle said. Riley moved away, and Belle leaned over to Mal. "She will make a great maid."
"I was thinking that, I'll add her to the list." Mal agreed. "We only need one more maid and two more table servers."
"Excellent, we are making great time, and you are doing fine, feeling better?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Lumiere." Belle nodded, and he brought up the next girl, Uma. Uma was still worrying about the staff photo, and Mal recognizing her.
"Name?" Mal asked. Looking closely as Uma. Something was familiar about her.
"Ari." Uma stammered out, hoping Mal hadn't recognized her or her voice. But she was saved, just then a maid came in.
"Excuse me Your Majesty, M'lady. M'Lady has a call for Miss Evie, and she says it's urgent."
"It must be, she never…" Belle smiled and waved Mal away.
"I have this, go on." Mal nodded and followed the maid out. "Ari, your accent isn't from around here?"
"No Ma'am. Coast." Uma tried not to talk too much, until Mal was out of ear shot.
"Experience?"
"Waiting tables at a fish and chips shop." Uma said, well it was sort of the truth, and was safe to admit now that Mal had left.
"Excellent. Are you new to town?"
"Yes, your majesty. Just came up the coast this month."
"And you have housing?"
"Yes." Uma lied.
"Excellent. Ok go fill out the paperwork over there, pose for your staff photo, and if you are hired your name will be posted in the village."
"Yes, ma'am, thank you." Uma/Ari stammered out.
'Odd one that girl.' Belle thought to herself. She made a note she might work out if there was no one else. She waited for the next girl to come up.
Mal took the phone from the maid, and waited for her to walk away. "E?"
"M, sorry to bother you, but this is important."
"Figured it might be, what's up?"
"Two things. First some kids found the dinghy in the bushes by the bay. And second, in town, a clothing for the poor bin was broken into."
"So they are back?"
"Looks that way."
"Ok. Thanks. I'll alert the staff, and Belle. Does Ben know?"
"He's who told us. He had an emergency, or he would have called you himself, that's why it's me."
"That's fine."
"How is it going?"
"Not bad we are almost done. I am just glad it is only Mulan and Shang, Jasmine and Aladdin and Tiana and Naveen staying here, and not Leah. Speaking of which we have had so many people she has fired apply today. Last girl was fired for putting off-white sheets on Audrey's bed. Fired the laundress over the same thing. Leah claims they only have white sheets."
"Damn that woman is crazy."
"Ya think. Ok I had better get back to Belle, we have to finish the line, pick the staff, then make the seating chart for dinner. And yes, you and Doug are seated by Snow and Fred."
"Thanks."
"No prob."
Mal returned to the ballroom. She waited until Belle finished with the next candidate, and then sat down. "What's wrong, you look upset?"
"I'll tell you later, but it's not good."
"I see. We have just a few left, and my best estimation is we have who we need, unless one of these last few wow us."
"I bow to your expertise. "
They finished and closed the doors. Lumiere handed them the list of applications with photos attached. Mal and Belle pulled out the names they wanted right off the bat, Riley among them. Then they pulled the alternatives. Ari/Uma among them.
"I am not sure about this Ari girl. She has restaurant experience, but she didn't fill out too much on the sheet." Mal pointed out, still looking at her photo. Uma hadn't really looked at the camera, so her photo wasn't a full on face photo, making it hard for Mal to see her face.
"Some of the people down south, don't have higher educations, most grew up on farms, and moved into town to find a mate. She might not be able to read or write well. That is something Adam and I are trying to fix, but it's hard to force change on hundreds of years of tradition. It is on Ben's list to accomplish as well."
"I can see that. Ok, we keep her as an alternate? How does that work?"
"We still have them come, and if something happens to someone on the day, they step in. We pay them half for showing if we don't need them."
"Well at least their day isn't wasted."
"No, no it's only fair." Belle and Mal finished the pile. "Lumiere, the posting is ready to be printed. We choose four alternative this time. Have someone type it up and post it in town. Place the files on my desk."
"Very good Belle." He said bowing and walking out.
"Now let's go have a snack, then we can tackle the awful part….the seating chart." Belle laughed.
Over their snack Mal talks about the phone call. "So Evie called, because Ben had an emergency meeting. But that's not the reason for his meeting. A couple of village kids found the dinghy that Uma stole hiding in the bushes. Also a clothing donation bin in the village was broken into."
"Any idea what was taken?"
"No idea. We also have no idea who came over. The drones were sent off course that night, and left the rock unmonitored for several hours."
"I see. Well we need to be careful who we hire then." She stood and picked up a phone on the wall. "Lumiere, yes, please bring me the list and pile of names again. We need to be a little more thorough, seems we have some extra visitors to Auradon City from Skull Rock." Belle hung up and went back to Mal.
They went back over, and couldn't think of anyone who they should change, so they sent the list to the printer. Next they poured over the seating chart.
"Now Mal, this is a formal council dinner, which means one long table. Seating should be along the lines of where they sit at the council of elders table. We can fit guests at the end and also in between Elders, depending on who they are. Evie and Doug next to Snow. And she went on filling in the entire council. Mal just nodded and agreed, since she wasn't sure what the council line up was like. When it was done, Belle had Lumiere set to work having the printers work on the place setting cards. Belle could see Mal was feeling overwhelmed, and called it a day.
In town the messenger from the palace arrived at the board, and posted the jobs. Some walked away upset, others happy. Ari/Uma saw Riley and walked up. "Ari, looks like you are an alternative, I am going to be a maid."
"Are you ok with that?"
"Sure, that's a two day job, means more money. You will come to the palace with us and if anyone can't work, doesn't show up, or they need more help, you will get picked. You still get half pay just for showing even if they don't need you, so that's a good thing."
"Right, what time do we go up?" Uma was happy, and actually hoped to not get picked, it would give her time to sneak around the palace, and find Mal's things.
"We will all meet here in the center at 6 am. They have to see who shows, review the rules, and fit us for uniforms."
"I'll be here." Uma walked away, wondering what she would do until friday, as it was only monday. She knew one thing she needed food. And she couldn't draw attention to herself by stealing it, so she needed to figure out what to do. As luck would have it she happened upon money someone dropped. She looked around, seeing no one, she picked it up, and headed right into the closest shop that had food. Ari/Uma bought herself a huge sweet roll (Cinnamon Bun). She took it outside and sat on a bench and ate her snack hungrily.
Riley found her there and asked her what she was doing for the day. When Ari/Uma answered looking for a job. Riley had her follow her. "There is a temp hiring office here in town. Just fill out your skills and they will call you if they have a job for you."
"Call?"
"On your cell? You have a cell right?"
"No." Ari said, having no idea what that was other than a prision.
"Oh well then you will have to go in every morning and see if they have a job for you."
"Sounds ok." Ari admitted. She followed Riley to the temp office.
"Morning Gus." Riley said walking in.
"How did the Beast Castle call go?"
"They hired a huge lot of us. I got a maid gig, two days. This is Ari she is new to town, from down south, she got a standby gig. Anyway she needs to be added to the lists. Ari, Gus here will take your skills down and he will find something when he can. See ya Gus."
"Bye Riley." Riley waved as she left, and Gus turned to Ari/Uma. "Ok, skills?"
"I worked as a waitress at a fish and chips place since I was a kid."
"Ok, good. Contact?"
"Riley said I could come in daily, I don't have a cell." Ari used the word she remembered Riley using.
"That's fine. Check in at 7 each morning."
"I will thank you."
"I have nothing today."
"I understand, thanks." Uma left. She decided to walk around town.
After finishing classes for the day the four VK's and Ben met up to go over what they knew. Ben filled them in. "So from what the drones spotted, they saw the dinghy moving so as they moved in to see who was on board a strong wind knocked them off course. It took them hours to return to the rock and of course by that time whoever was in the dinghy was long gone. We are certain Uma was on board, as there was no other wind that night, so she had to have created it. The drones only caught a quick image, too distant to make out how many were on board. As for the donation box, again there was no evidence of forced entry. No damage to the paint on the box, or to the lock itself, so they believe magic was used there as well. We have no idea how to possibly begin to figure out what was taken from the box. There was both mens and womens clothing in there."
"No buildings in the area had surveillance?" Carlos asked.
"They are looking into it, but most likely not, most villagers have no need, nor the money for that luxury."
"True, this is Auradon." Evie smiled.
"So all we know for sure is that Uma is loose in the village, has use of her magic, a disguise, and revenge in mind." Mal pointed out. The rest were silent.
On Skull Rock, Gil and Harry had spent the day looking for Uma. They realised that she had taken the dinghy in the middle of the night. When she hadn't returned before morning they grew concerned. Finally desperate, Harry sent a few of the pirates to town to see what they could find out. Worried Uma had been captured. They returned with no information, which made Harry feel better. No news meant she was safe, for now. Harry decided he was in charge now, and his first act was to figure out how to get off the isle and find Uma.
