Chapter Eighty Three
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
Guys, honest question—how are we almost in November? Where did the year go? Or did time just stop being a construct we all know and are used to? All I know is it's insane how fast time has gone and I'd like it to slow down before Christmas is around the corner.
That being said…I welcome the brisk embrace of Fall!
Lauriverfanboy1: So glad you enjoyed the chapter! As for Zeus not getting a fireball…if there weren't younger kids in the room, I could see either Hades or Mal doing that but no one wants to risk hitting Celia, Hadie, Dizzy, or the Smee twins!
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Oh I think it's safe to say no one will know what hit them when this Demeter's let loose!
Katt Kiki: Thanks!
Marcus Emrys: I always found it kinda ironic that the Sun God wasn't the brightest. Also, I hated the haiku unit at school so safe to say he won't ever be in a haiku phase in the fics :D
61394: An excellent one shot! And technically Shang is on the council so who's to say his wife can't call a vote in his stead? After all I had Anna stand in for Elsa earlier when there needed to be a makeshift council session!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Thank you so much and as always, thank you for all your help! :D Steph is mama bear goddess and she can't be stopped!
danifan3000: I mean…I'm in my twenties and I still complain about my height (4'9") so I totally feel Mal griping about her's. And no matter how you skew it, Mal still comes out the shortest of the four—Core Four heights include (going off of the actors' heights): Jay: 5'10", Evie: 5'4", Carlos: 5'7" and Mal: 5'2". Rotten Four heights are: Jay: 5'10", Uma: 5'3", Harry: 6'0" and Mal: 5'2". She's the shortest of the group no matter what!
Gracfully: So glad you enjoyed it!
smc: Glad you enjoyed! I can definitely see if that's something I can put in the fic!
jessaminego5134: Glad you enjoyed it!
JaclynnM: Yep, we're getting closer!
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think!
"How is it you haven't read yet?" Rapunzel asked Eugene as he reached for a scroll.
Eugene shrugged. "Luck of the draw I guess."
Mal sighed as she stood outside Ben's castle.
"This is the second scroll that's started with you sighing," Hadie pointed out. "Why?"
"When I know, Minty, I'll tell you," Mal said with a small chuckle.
She had finally decided to bite the bullet and take up King Kristoff's invitation to attend one of the 'Learning to be Royal' meetings.
"Oh! That's good though right? So why would you be sighing?" Hadie asked.
Malinda gave her brother a small smile. "I was nervous. There weren't any other 'villains' there, everyone was a good guy even if Aladdin and Eugene were former thieves."
In all honesty, she wasn't completely sure what she should expect from the whole thing.
"Insanity mostly," Rapunzel said and Tiana, Snow, and Aurora all nodded.
"Hey!" Eugene, Aladdin, and Kristoff all exclaimed.
"Are we wrong?"
Would this be like one of Ben's council meetings, where they all sat at a table and took turns talking? Would this be like on the Isle, where they all talked over each other? Would this just be complete madness where the guys dressed in drag and did the hula?
"Yeah no, we're not doing that," Kristoff shook his head as Akiho perked up in excitement.
"Aw dad!"
Okay you have officially spent too much time around Ben's shadows, Harry, Jay, Carlos and Gil if that's where your mind went, she thought as she pulled her jacket around herself.
"Is there really such a thing as too much time around Harry and Jay?" Uma asked as Hadie was cheering the fact that Mal still had her jacket on.
Yes she was wearing her pale green dress with the butterfly sleeves, having deemed it good enough to save from the 'donate' pile as it almost reminded her of something her mom would wear, but she wasn't taking her leather jacket off unless it was on fire.
"Good," Uma said firmly. "And it's never coming off. Not so long if I can help it!"
And even then she'd probably debate whether or not it was worth it.
"Yes it would be if the jacket was on fire," Persephone said. "The jacket can be replaced. You can not."
After all, she could turn into a dragon, the likelihood of fire burning her was exceptionally low. Not that she was practically interested in testing that theory if she was honest.
"Neither are we," Hades and Persephone said firmly.
She wasn't particularly attached to the dress in question but she figured it'd be a good idea if she looked reasonably put together when going into a castle filled with royals.
"Actually…you're not the first one to dress up for your first meeting," Tiana said. "Most of us dress up every now and then."
If Family Day was any example, royals were not ones to 'dress down'.
Audie smiled slightly. "The Mal in my timeline told me about one of the Learning to be Royal meetings where they dressed in their 'peasant' garb."
"We should do that!" Rapunzel said.
"Raps, you wear the same thing as you did when you didn't know you were the 'lost princess'," Tiana chuckled. "It wouldn't be much of a change."
"Did you forget how to knock?"
Mal blinked as the door opened and she stood face to face with a snowman. Wait…what?
"Ah Olaf!" Akiho said with a grin.
"It's okay if you did. Anna forgets how to knock all the time," the snowman continued as Mal stood in silence, the gears in her head trying to put a name to the snowman. Or just figure out how it was alive really.
"No one knows," Elsa said. "Though I'm glad he's around."
"And I do not forget how to knock!" Anna exclaimed.
"Kristoff brought me with him to keep me out of Anna's hair, which is silly. I'm never in her hair. Oh! I'm Olaf by the way and I like warm hugs!"
"Are…are there such a thing as cold hugs?" Emir asked.
"If you're hugging a snowman!" Akiho told him.
"…That actually made sense," Chad said, his voice soft as he took another sip from the water bottle Akiho had gotten him.
"Okay..." Mal said slowly. "I'm Mal."
There was no way she was going to tell the snowman what kind of hugs she preferred. Or even if she preferred hugs. That was just a bit too much information to give the snowman...and she was still talking to a snowman of all things.
Akiho shrugged. "Pretty much a day ending in 'y' for me."
"All days end in 'y' though," Dizzy told him.
"Exactly my point!" Akiho said, giving the younger girl a grin.
I think I know why Akiho is the way that he is, she thought as she shook her head slightly. Good thing Estelle's with Ben and Hadie, otherwise I think he'd have a ball chasing Olaf all over the castle. Actually, that'd be fun to watch. Why didn't I bring Estelle?
Malinda shook her head. "I'm still kicking myself for that by the way."
"In your defense, sweetheart, you didn't know there'd be a sentient snowman at the meeting," Benji pointed out.
"How did you know I was at the door?" Mal asked as she walked in, pulling herself out of her thoughts.
"That…is a very good question," Lucas nodded. "And one I have as well."
"Kristoff told me to check the door so I did," Olaf grinned, walking with Mal to the ballroom where the meeting was being held. If anyone asked, Mal would deny it but she let out a small sigh of relief seeing how informal everything was. Well, as informal as it could look being in a ballroom but no one was decked out in their royal finery so her leather jacket didn't look completely out of place.
"When we have two members who'd rather walk around the ballroom barefoot, you'll find we probably wouldn't look twice at a leather jacket," Belle said.
"We spent sixteen to eighteen years of our lives without shoes Belle!," Rapunzel said and Aurora nodded.
"Mal!" Belle grinned as she walked over to her.
"Hello Belle," Mal said, returning the smile and dipping into a small curtsy.
Benji smiled softly and leaned over to kiss Malinda's cheek. "You know you don't have to curtsy to mom," he whispered.
"I know that now," Malinda whispered back.
She wasn't going to lie, she was still a bit uneasy around the former Queen. After all, the woman was part of the team that set up the Isle. One wrong move and Mal could find herself back on the other side of the barrier.
Belle sighed softly. She could understand Mal's nerves but she would never do something like that. For starters, she couldn't do that to a child who'd gotten used to life in Auradon. And for another thing, she had no power to boot Mal back to the Isle. That would be Ben's decision, and Belle knew her son.
There's no way Uma would stand for that though. Never mind Harry and Jay. Plus, there's the fact that you're dating the woman's son and mom would probably just bring me back the second she found out, Mal thought, trying to shake the nerves that had formed.
"You know us all so well," Uma said, shooting her cousin a comforting smile. "Not to mention Uncle Hades would likely just boot you back over the barrier before it even had time to close with you on the Isle."
"I was nervous my first meeting as well," Belle told her and Mal looked over at the brunette.
"I'm not…"
"Of course you're not nervous," Uma sighed and shook her head. "Even though I'm sure it's written all over your face."
"Of course not," Belle nodded and Mal couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that. "But, just in case you were, Rapunzel and Tiana are great to talk to in order to get any jitters out before the meeting officially starts. I think we're just waiting on Ella and Aurora and we'll be all set."
Malinda chuckled. "So…how did you know I was nervous?"
"I raised Ben, dear," Belle said, giving her son a loving smile. "And I know when he's trying to hide his anxiety over something so it most likely transferred over to his friends and girlfriend."
"Aurora's not coming," Aladdin told her as he walked past, giving Mal a small smile which she returned. "There was an emergency council meeting over in Auroria and she had to host. She just texted me to let us know to start without her."
Audie tensed slightly. She didn't mean to but the thought of her mom dealing with an emergency…it brought back memories of Leah and Natalie from her own timeline.
"Ella's not coming either," Rapunzel called out. "Kit's got a stomach bug and she doesn't want to leave him alone. Claims he'll work while she's gone and he's supposed to be resting."
Alexandria frowned. "I hope you're feeling okay, dad."
"I'm sure it's just a cold," Kit told his youngest daughter before shaking his head. "And I don't work when I should be resting, Ella!"
"Whatever you say dear," Cinderella said, not sounding as if she believed Kit in the slightest.
"Right," Belle nodded, sounding as if she was all too familiar with the idea that her spouse would work rather than rest.
Beast frowned slightly. "I'm not that bad, Belle!"
"You'd fall asleep at your desk about twice a week," Belle said in a tone that didn't exactly leave room for arguments.
Though, Mal supposed, Ben had to get it from someone after all.
"Girl has a point," Chip nodded.
"Well I'll take notes and shoot her an email after the meeting so she knows what all she missed."
Aurora chuckled. "So I don't get any notes, is that what I'm hearing Belle?"
Okay, so it looks like this is going to be like one of Ben's council meetings, Mal thought with an inward nod. She could handle those, even if she'd only been to one of them.
"Aww! Where's the chaos?" Chip asked.
Lucas sighed. "I'm not even surprised at this point," he said, shaking his head.
At least she was friends with the kids of three of the people in attendance. And of course she was on hopefully good terms with Belle.
Abby chuckled. "If you're on good terms with Ben, chances are you're on good terms with mom," she said as she looked over at Mal.
"Since we won't have everyone, shall we move into the den? We'll be able to spread out a bit more," Belle proposed.
"I honestly don't know why we don't just have all our meetings in your den, Belle," Eugene said, shaking his head. "It's so much more comfortable than the ballroom."
"Sounds good to me," Eugene nodded and the other royals murmured in agreement. Mal had to say, as they moved into the den, that she was thankful for the change in location. The den was a lot more cozy than the cavernous ballroom, and felt more like a room they'd find on the Isle rather than something you'd find in a castle.
Alright then, it looks as though we'll have our meetings in the den moving forward, Belle thought. If Mal was to be Ben's girlfriend and even his wife in the future, she should feel comfortable in the meetings.
The darker wood paneling and navy blue accents certainly helped to put Mal at ease. It felt...it was strange to say but it felt like a place where she could be herself rather than try and pretend to be someone she wasn't.
Aladdin and Eugene looked at each other, unaware of Belle's thoughts as they seemed to make a promise to each other that they'd find a way to make sure they'd meet in the den when Mal joined the group.
"Alright, who would like to speak first?"
"Belle, since we have a new member joining us, why not have it be a more casual meeting?" Kristoff proposed and Belle nodded, flushing slightly.
Mal shrugged. "I mean, I'm okay with whatever you all want to do. It's your club after all."
"Yes but we always try to make it more casual when a new member joins," Belle explained. "It's just…it's been so long since we've had a new member that I or 'scroll-me' forgot."
"Sorry...you're Queen for twenty years, sometimes it's hard to turn it off you know? But I completely agree with the motion that we aim for a more casual environment today," she said. "All in favor?"
"Old habits are hard to break," Claudine nodded. "I can't imagine how engrained something would be after twenty years."
Mal chuckled softly as all the hands rose in favor of making the meeting more 'relaxed'.
"Gee the group of people who weren't born royal actually want to make things relaxed?" Rowyn gasped in fake shock. "Say it ain't so!"
"The motion passes," Belle said and everyone broke apart to mingle and nosh. Mal quickly found her way to the side of the room. Not because she wanted to be antisocial but because she'd be less likely to be crushed if everyone needed to flee the room than she would be if she was in the center.
"Actually, as the youngest person there, were there a need for everyone to flee you'd be prioritized over everyone," Rapunzel said. Though she wasn't going to lie, it hurt hearing a teenager need to make a plan to avoid being trampled.
Hey she was tiny after all and even if her dragon form would have made it next to impossible for anyone to crush her, it still took time for her to transform.
Uma couldn't even find it in her to crow about the fact that her cousin had admitted she was tiny. Not when scroll-Mal was clearly worried about the possibility of being crushed.
Time that could make the difference between getting crushed or not—and even if it wouldn't kill her, it would still hurt!
"Well good thing no one's going to crush you so you don't have to worry about it," Harriet told her.
"Hello Lady Mal," Aladdin said as he walked over to her.
"Hello Sultan Aladdin," Mal nodded in greeting and Aladdin shook his head.
"There's no need to use my title, not here and especially since you're a friend of my son's."
"I think you've been around Ben a bit too much dad," Ashaki said with a chuckle. "He's been a bad influence on you."
Mal couldn't help but give a small smile upon hearing that. "If there's no need for me to use your title, then there's no need for you to use mine. You outrank me after all."
"I think your math doesn't add up there, cuz," Uma said, shaking her head.
"Pretty sure daughter of two Gods outranks sultan but let's not quibble," the raven haired man said with a small chuckle. "How've you been? Emir told me about your trip to the Enchanted Lake.
"Hey look, proof some people in Auradon have a brain!" Ashaki said with a grin.
"Be nice Ashaki," Aladdin said.
"I'm always nice!"
Mal's smile grew as she thought back to that trip. The two boys, Emma, Melody (who they'd dragged along with minimal protest), Rajah and Estelle all enjoyed swimming in the water while Mal stayed on shore with Sven and Elle.
"I didn't swim?" Elle asked, tilting her head.
Malinda chuckled. "You elected to keep me company when you noticed I wasn't swimming," she said. "We had a lovely conversation and it was nice to get to know another one of my cousins."
She didn't even need to worry about either Emir or Akiho tossing her into the water.
"We would never do that!" Emir said, shaking his head.
"We'd do it to Ben but that's because we know he's a duck and loves water," Akiho added. "Our scroll-selves wouldn't do that to you, Mal, until we got to know you more and knew if you could swim or not."
Mainly because she had warned them that if they even thought about it, she'd make them rue the day.
"Oh yeah, that would probably have stopped us too," Emir nodded. "We don't want to rue anything."
In all honesty, she wasn't completely sure what she'd do to them if they had ignored her threat but she didn't need to worry about that as they kept her completely dry. Plus, unlike her date with Ben, neither one of them swam off making her think they had drowned or worse.
"I'm never going to live that down am I?" Benji asked with a sheepish chuckle.
"Nope," Malinda told him before giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
"I've been good," she told Aladdin, pulling herself out of her thoughts and back to the conversation at hand. "That little trip to the Enchanted Lake with Emir, Melody, Elle, Emma, Akiho, Rajah, Sven and Estelle was just what the doctor ordered. I'm just sorry Ben couldn't come with but he was in a meeting when we left."
Emir sighed. "Saying Ben was in a meeting or buried in his paperwork is like saying water is wet," he said, shaking his head.
"If I know Emir, he'll make sure Ben will accompany you on the next trip," Aladdin nodded.
"You know him so well, dad," Ashaki said with a small chuckle.
"Akiho will too," Kristoff agreed as he walked past. "He's just like his mother in that way."
"I wear that comparison with pride!" Akiho said with a grin as Anna looked over at him with a smile.
"I don't know, when Anna was in trouble who was it who went riding into a blizzard on Sven to save her?"
"Who was it who flew from the ends of the Earth on a flying carpet to save Jasmine?"
"Who was it who chased after Anna on a reindeer when she angered the rock giants?"
"Who was it saved Jasmine from getting her hand chopped off by an angry street merchant?"
"Who was it who gave a ride to a girl they just met in a shop because they bought them carrots?"
"Who was it who gave the bread they'd obtained to hungry street kids?"
Eugene snorted. "Why am I not surprised it's you two with the 'who's more heroic' contest? And you wonder why your kids are insane when they're just like you?"
Mal blinked. When had the conversation turned into a 'who was more heroic' contest?"
"Oh it wouldn't be a Learning to be Royal club meeting without at least one of those," Tiana said, shaking her head.
"Boys, boys, you're both pretty," Eugene chuckled as he walked up. "Mal, how've you been? Rowyn told me to tell you she says hi by the way...though I just realized you're both in school together so why she wouldn't just tell you herself, I've no idea."
"More importantly how did you know that Mal was going to be at the meeting?" Robin asked, looking at her sister.
Rowyn shrugged. "I guess scroll-me has her ways."
"I've been good," Mal told him.
"Any more articles?"
Mal stared at him in slight shock. "How'd you—?"
"More importantly, you knew and you didn't do anything?!"
"Lord Hades, I mean this with all the respect possible but I can not control my scroll-self," Eugene said as Hades glared at him.
"Rowyn wrote to Rapunzel and me when they started appearing en mass," Eugene told her. "She wanted to lead her sisters and brother in a swarm to gather up all the copies and burn them in a giant bonfire but the idea was quickly nixed when it was pointed out that there were likely more than six copies out there and she'd just tire herself out."
"Shame, a giant bonfire of Gazelle papers would be nice," Rose said with a small sigh.
"She didn't have to do that," Mal said. "Rowyn was one of the ones to let me know about the very first article after all."
"And I'll always be grateful for that," Malinda said, giving Rowyn a small smile.
Eugene couldn't help but give a soft smile as he heard that. "Well, she certainly kept that under her hat. I wonder if she needs any new canvas."
"I mean I'll take it but you don't have to do that dad," Rowyn said, shaking her head.
"Eugene, you're not seriously going to reward our daughter for doing a good thing are you?" Rapunzel asked as she walked up, Kristoff and Aladdin's conversation still ongoing.
"Weren't you the one who told me about positive reinforcement, Blondie?"
"When the kids were toddlers, Eugene. Not when they're teens," Rapunzel said with a small chuckle.
"Blondie, you'll never believe what Rowyn never told us!"
"I'm going to guess our daughter never told us the thing you just found out because she knew you'd act like this," Rapunzel said, brushing a bit of brown hair out of her eyes.
"…I'd say that's a fair assessment," Rowyn nodded. Yes she did like it when her parents made a fuss over her accomplishments, after all she was the second born of six kids so it was easy to disappear in the madness. But she didn't want her dad to make a fuss over her being a decent person.
"Why does he still—?"
"Call me 'Blondie'?" Rapunzel finished, looking at Mal. "Because it was what he called me when we first met, back when I had about seventy feet of blonde hair cascading from my head. Honestly, it's amazing Ruby was the only one to get a blonde head of hair out of all of my kids."
Lucy chuckled as she looked over at Ruby. "We should form a club. The 'only one with our hair color out of our siblings' club!"
"Well being blonde is a recessive trait and unless King Eugene also carried the gene for blonde hair, it makes sense that only one of your kids would get it, considering both you and King Eugene are 'brown-brown' genetically."
"Though would it really impact genetics since mom got her blonde hair from the sun flower's magic?" Ruby asked.
Hey, she knew listening to Evie prattle on about science stuff would pay off someday!
"Glad I could help?" Evie said with a small chuckle.
"You don't have to use his title you know," Rapunzel said with a small smile. "All you'll do is make his ego even bigger, considering he just inherited the Dark Kingdom now so he's king of two kingdoms."
Eugene paused and everyone could see a flash of pain in his eyes. After all, everyone there knew what it meant to inherit something and most of them there would have eagerly chosen the other option. To have the person who gave the inheritance back in their lives.
"Flower gleam and glow, change the fates design, heal what has been hurt, bring back what once was mine," Rapunzel sang softly as she gently kissed Eugene's hand and held it close to her.
Eugene gave her a weak smile that no one bought but didn't comment on.
"At least now Rowyn's got something to inherit," Eugene pointed out. "Since Rachel's first in line as heir to the throne of Corona."
"This…this must not have been right after my father died then," Eugene whispered. Yes they had a rough relationship but they'd grown closer especially with the birth of the kids. So to hear him talk so casually about Rowyn inheriting the Dark Kingdom when she came of age…
"Hey, you don't know that," Rapunzel said gently. "Your dad could have followed in Beast's footsteps and stepped down."
"You all don't practice primogeniture?" Mal asked.
"Nope!" Most of the royals in the room said at once, some even shaking their heads.
"That outdated practice of the first born son getting everything?" Kristoff scoffed. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop."
"I see your 'who's more heroic' contest has concluded. You get a winner?"
"No we did not," Kristoff chuckled.
"There's never a winner when it comes to those," Aladdin said, shaking his head.
"Anyway, can you really claim it's an outdated practice when you've got only one kid and a son no less?" Eugene asked. "Both you and Aladdin don't really have a leg to stand on."
Belle raised an eyebrow. "I have a son and I find the practice outdated as well Eugene."
"Hey, just because I have a son doesn't mean I can't find a practice outdated!" Kristoff exclaimed.
"Exactly!" Aladdin nodded. "I found the practice outdated before I had kids and I still find it outdated. The gender of my children does not influence my opinions."
Rapunzel sighed and turned back to Mal. "To answer your question, Mal, no we don't. If we did, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have been able to inherit my throne and Aurora wouldn't have been able to inherit her's."
"Oh…that's a good point," Mal said. "Scroll-me should have thought about that."
"In scroll-you's defense, you're getting used to not being around Nat Bat," Harry said. "That would require a great deal of brain power I would think."
"How...how is she doing? Aurora I mean?" Mal asked, her voice soft. "I meant to reach out after but...I wasn't sure how that might look."
"Thank you Mal," Aurora said with a small smile. "That's very sweet of you to think of me. Especially since I'm sure you're referring to how I'm handling Leah's death."
"I was, yes," Malinda nodded.
Rapunzel gave her a small smile and rested a hand on Mal's shoulder. "She's doing okay but I think she'd appreciate you reaching out Mal."
"And you were right, mom," Rachel said, giving her mom a smile.
"Even after all this time?"
"To be honest, she's been meaning to reach out to you and the other VKs but I think she's worried." Rapunzel told her.
"Worried?" Phil Jr. asked, looking over at his mom in concern. "What would you be worried about?"
I think I know, Audie thought as she glanced over at Leah's 'cell'. After all, she is Leah's daughter so she might be concerned with how the VKs would take her reaching out to them.
"Worried about what?" Mal asked. "What, does she think we'd take our anger toward Leah out on her? She didn't know what was happening first of all and second of all, she didn't have any power considering Leah was Queen at the time. It'd be completely ridiculous for us to blame Aurora for anything her mother did. Not to mention it'd make us all hypocrites considering that was our major complaint about being on the Isle. The fact that we weren't our parents."
Persephone looked over and gave her daughter a smile. "That's very mature of you Mal."
"It was the truth," Malinda shrugged. "And the last thing I want to be is a hypocrite."
Now how Audrey turned out...no wait, considering Audrey seemed to cling to Leah's side, could Aurora really be faulted there? I mean, she could have kept a closer eye out on Audrey. Considering the fact that Phillip Jr. turned out alright, it's clear that Aurora's a decent mother. And yes, I know the irony of the girl who everyone thinks is Maleficent's daughter being the one to think that.
Audie nodded and then looked over at Audrey. "Our parents are some of the best in Auradon. I know you have a…a bond with Leah but that'll only end in trouble. Trust me. When you need them the most, it'll be mom and dad who'll come to your aid. Not Leah."
"How's your brother?" Rapunzel asked, pulling Mal out of her thoughts and changing the subject at the same time. "Rowyn said he's made friends with Alexandria Charming?"
"Considering the little Lord never has issues making allies, that shouldn't be that surprising," Harry chuckled.
"And Akiho and Emir," Mal nodded. "Honestly, the first time he met them, I thought he'd chat their ears off with facts about Cerberuses."
"First your mom and now you Mal. The plural of 'Cerberus' is Cerberi," Hades said, chuckling as Estelle yipped softly as if agreeing with Hades.
"Well considering Emir knows more than anyone should about tigers and Akiho knows more than anyone should about reindeer, he should be in good company," Aladdin chuckled.
Akiho shook his head. "How can we put a limit on how much someone knows about reindeer?"
"He gets that from you, you know," Anna told Kristoff, chuckling at the look on his face.
"Plus King Ben knows more than anyone should about dragons," Kristoff nodded. "At least according to Akiho."
"Oh really?" Li'l Shang said with a small chuckle. "I'd like to see you go up against Lonnie when it comes to knowledge about dragons, Ben."
Mal chuckled softly and shook her head. "Ben's a bookworm, that's all there is to it. Though I doubt he knows more about dragons than say Lonnie or myself."
"Exactly my point," Li'l Shang said with another chuckle.
"Hmm, possibly but he does know a fair amount about dragons," Belle chimed in as she joined the group. "Now, why are we talking about my son and his knowledge of mythical creatures?"
"Are they really mythical if Mal can turn into one though?" Lonnie asked.
"We were talking about people in our lives who know more than anyone really should about a specific animal," Mal told her. "I'm afraid I started it, talking about Hadie and his knowledge about Cerberuses. Cerberi?"
"There we go!" Hades said with a grin.
"How is your brother doing?" Belle asked and Mal could tell that Belle was genuinely curious about how Hadie was doing since coming to Auradon from the Isle. She wasn't just asking to be polite, as some other royals might have been.
"Well considering you're dating her son, it would stand to reason why Belle might have a genuine interest in your family members," Chip said with a small chuckle.
"He's good," Mal nodded. "A lot better now that mom's here to stay. At least until Cotillion."
"Why would I leave after Cotillion?" Persephone asked. "After everything that happened with Mal, I would hope I'd want to make sure I was always available if my children needed me."
"I invited Lady Persephone to this meeting," Belle said. "It would have been a pleasure to have her."
"But…Lady Steph isn't learning to be royal," Harry said, tilting his head.
Jay nodded. "Harry's right. And if the invite was so Mal could spend time with her mom, wouldn't it be awkward being around a whole bunch of other people too?"
Mal smiled at that as she brushed a bit of her purple hair out of her eyes, which were thankfully her regular shade of green with the little gold flecks sprinkled throughout.
"Good!" Uma, Harry, Jay, Benji, Ben, and Hadie all said in unison.
Even if it had been a wasted thirty dollars, Uma had insisted she throw out the contacts. Truthfully Mal wasn't going to offer much in the way of protest.
"I don't know if throwing them out was necessary," Lucy said. "I'm sure there's someone who might want them, especially if they're not prescription. Plus that way, Mal could make some of the money back she spent on the contacts."
She hated putting those things in and the feeling of a finger going near her eye was not the most enjoyable one in the world.
"And now you never have to go through that experience!" CJ said with a grin.
"Mom would have enjoyed coming but she's still in her 'make Zeus pay' mode," she said. "She did say though I would get to meet my grandmother on her side after all the fun was over with Cotillion. She didn't want me to have anything more to stress over."
Hades couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the thought of his wife in her 'make Zeus pay' mode. "Fair warning Zeusy, Persephone can stay in that mode for as long as she needs to," he said.
"Oh! Speaking of that," Tiana said as she hurried over. "Mama Odie asked me to ask you to pass along something to Uma?"
"That's not ominous or anything," Celia said, shaking her head.
"Um...sure."
"She said she'd like to meet her at some point," Tiana said and Mal smiled at that, happy that her cousin would get to have a relationship with both of her grandparents.
"Huh…" Uma said softly. It wasn't as if she was against meeting her grandmother on her father's side but at the same time, was it fair if she got a good relationship while Mal had to deal with Demeter?
Cuz if you deny yourself your relationship with your grandmother because of me, I'll…well I don't know what I'll do but I'll think of something, Mal thought to Uma, guessing that was what the Squidling was thinking.
I'm sorry, what now?
"Privacy, have you heard of it?" Mal asked, looking over at Uma.
Uma shrugged. "I'm sure my scroll-self just wanted to make sure you didn't close your link again."
Your grandmother wants you to reach out to her, Mal thought in amusement as Uma reached out on the mental link. True to her word, Mal had not put her link on mute though sometimes she wished she could.
"I could see how it might get annoying to always have someone in your head," Persephone said with a small smile.
Uma randomly appearing on the link was one thing, she was used to that. Same with Hadie. But Macaria, Elle, Melody, Herkie, and Hyllus were another thing all together!
The aforementioned cousins flushed. "Um…our apologies?" Macaria said.
"To be fair, we might just be trying to make sure we're alert if Mal needs anything," Hyllus said.
"Well then she can tell us," Elle said firmly. "We shouldn't be just popping into her head."
She had already gone ahead and blocked most of the Gods from being able to reach out through the mental link. If they wanted a relationship with her, they'd have to actually do it in person.
"That is completely reasonable," Hades said, nodding his head.
Grandmama Odie wants me to reach out to her? Why?
Maybe because she wants a relationship with her granddaughter? I mean, I know she's got a daughter in our grade but Facilier's also her kid.
Eric paused. "Okay someone needs to explain how that works."
"She's the Voodoo Queen of the Bayou," Celia said with a shrug as if that explained everything. And in a way, it did.
I need to figure out how this works considering she's over one hundred.
Uma, Yzma's got two kids and so does Frollo and they're both older than dirt itself. I've stopped trying to figure out how the whole thing works.
"…Yzma has kids? Scary beyond all reason Yzma? How is that possible?" Naveen asked.
"Are you going to be hung up over this just like you are with the fact that Ursula and Facilier had a kid?" Esmeralda asked.
True, very true. Oh, tell Belle Benny says hi.
Why...?
Your boyfriend's strange, that's all I can tell you Mali.
"I'm not strange!" Ben exclaimed.
"Yes you are Benji," Abby chuckled. "But we love you anyway."
Mal shook her head softly before turning to look at Belle. "Ben would like me to tell you he says hi."
"How did you—?"
"Um...it's sort of a trade secret among the Olympians," Mal said softly, biting her lip slightly.
"Not anymore, it's not," Hadie pointed out. "Besides wouldn't Belle know about the mental link already since she was Queen for twenty years?"
"Ben's not an Olympian thought."
Tiana chuckled. "Oh honestly Belle. I think you might have been up a bit too long last night reading, sugar. Ben might not be an Olympian but Uma's a descendant of one. Mal was probably just doing what Mama Odie asked me to ask her to do."
"So…how do you know about the Olympian way of communicating with each other but Belle didn't?" Naveen asked, looking at his wife.
Tiana shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Mama Odie told me."
"You know this is why they invented cell phones right?" Eugene asked Mal.
Uma scoffed. "Why bother with one of those? There's no reception on the Isle but Mal and I could talk to each other anywhere we wanted with our mental links."
Mal shrugged. "This was faster, plus more of a guarantee that Uma would pick up. Besides isn't it considered rude to just whip out your phone and make a call in the middle of a conversation?"
Macaria nodded. "She has a point. Not to mention it's so much faster to just think something to someone when it's still on your mind rather than potentially forget when it comes time to text them."
"Texting's a thing."
"I like using my mental link."
"So much for it being a 'trade secret'," Macaria chuckled.
"Fair enough," Eugene chuckled and Rapunzel rolled her eyes.
"I apologize for my husband," she told Mal.
"Why?" Henry asked. "Sounds like he was just bantering with Mal. It's not a day on the Isle without a bit of banter."
Mal shook her head. "Don't, Rapunzel. It's fine. I actually enjoy the rapport. It's almost like being back on the Isle."
"Only without the horrible food and Freddy trying to kill us," Henry said, shaking his head.
It was true too. The back and forth almost felt like she was back on The Lost Revenge, listening to Nick and Jake or even Derek and Henry banter back and forth. Then of course there was CJ and Ryan.
"I'm sorry, what now?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh dear Gods," Harriet sighed and shook her head.
It was clear that they were going to be the next Uma and Harry, though hopefully without the denial that drove them all up the wall.
"What?! We are not the next 'Uma and Harry'! We're just friends!" CJ insisted.
Jade and Jay were another two who were good for a quick verbal spar though they were cousins so Mal wasn't necessarily surprised.
"Hey someone has to keep Jade from being bored, why not Jay?" Harriet said. "Last time she was bored, she wrestled a six foot croc and almost drowned."
"Why would she…?" Ruby asked.
"For fun," Harriet shrugged.
"I like her!" Ashaki said with a grin.
Dustin, nine times out of ten, got into a verbal sparring match with at least one crew member at some point during the day. Some might have thought that with all the barbs that the crew was always fighting or something.
Henry snorted. "If Dustin only has one verbal sparring match a day, he's behaved himself."
Mal knew better though. The crew was like a family. Families teased one another and sometimes were sarcastic, if her interactions with Uma were any indication.
"Sarcasm is basically a second language to us at this point," Uma said with a grin.
It was nice to know she could still get some of that sarcasm on this side of the barrier as well.
"Oh trust me, sarcasm is not in short supply here," Eric said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, we've got plenty of it," Eugene nodded.
"If you truly want to interact with a sarcastic person, might I recommend my son Evan?" Eugene chuckled.
"I'll be happy to provide your daily dose of sarcasm!" Evan said with a grin.
Malinda chuckled. "Thanks Evan but that's more Uma's job for me. You can do that for Hadie though."
"You may though I think Hadie's interacted with him more," Mal said. "Evan's circle of friends consists more of Melody, Phil Jr., Ashaki and the like, after all. At least that's what Rowyn told me."
"Think you forgot to list two people there Mal," Benji said with a small chuckle at the semi-outraged looks on Alexandria's and Neal's faces.
Eugene and Rapunzel chuckled once more and Mal had to admit that she felt any remaining nerves slip away. Knowing what she knew now, that there was a group of adults who were still learning what she had tried to learn herself, was honestly something she hadn't expected to put her at ease but she did.
"Whole idea of the group," Kristoff said with a smile as he nodded. "I felt the same way when I first joined."
Failing wasn't exactly an option on the Isle, since it would mean the difference between life or death. But the fact that there would be quite a large safety net was something that Mal appreciated.
Uma grinned. "And you will always have that safety net. Even if sometimes you try to distance yourself from it, we'll find a way to make sure you have someone to catch you no matter what."
"You got that right!" Harry and Jay nodded.
Maybe...maybe she could do this after all.
"Of course you can! You're Mal!" Hadie exclaimed.
Malinda chuckled slightly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Hads."
"So…that's the end of the scroll," Eugene said. "Who wants next?"
Elsa held up her hand. "I'll read."
