Rapunzel and Eugene greet Mal and Ben immediately upon their arrival. Rapunzel has so much energy and is so excited, "Welcome to Corona! Please come join us for some lunch before we get to work on business."

Rapunzel and Eugene showed them to the dinning room for lunch. Two blonde girls around their age were already seated at the table and rose when they entered the room. While their hair color matched, Mal couldn't help but notice on first glance they were very different. The taller of the two girls had short hair and was clearly trying to mask an unfriendly expression. What the other girl was lacking in height, compared to her sister, she made up for in hair. Her hair was almost as long as Rapunzel's. She had it braided up nicely. Mal couldn't imagine what carrying that weight must do to her neck. Despite that, this girl seemed warm and friendly.

"Princess Anxelin, Princess Ruby," Ben greeted them, "May I present Lady Mal."

Anxelin, the older less friendly sister gave a curt nod then sat down. While Ruby gave a big smile and sat as well. "Nice to meet you Lady Mal."

"How was your journey here?" Eugene asked.

Mal decided to speak up. Ben had shown her so much love and support. Now that she was getting the hang of this opening up thing, she found the support gave her more confidence and ease. "It was really nice to be able to see so much more of the country."

Mal looked over at Ben and he was grinning. He was so happy with how things had been going. As bad as the heartbreak had been, maybe that was the push they had needed to get here. And this place was wonderful.

"Ooo isn't exploring the best feeling in the world. Anxelin and I just got back from a year long backpacking trip. Mom and dad feel it's so important to see the world and broaden your horizons." Ruby gushed.

"Very true, kind of a tradition in our family," Eugene chuckled holding Rapunzel's hand.

"I don't know why everyone is acting so normal! Why in all the time I was gone did nobody tell me you had replaced Audrey with her!"

Anxelin burst out and got up from the table storming off. Mal felt Ben flinch like she had hit him with her outburst. Mal was not upset, but instead gobsmaked.

"Anxelin!" Rapunzel jumped up to go after her. Then she stopped, dropped the royal pretense, and looked at Ben, "Ben sweetie I'm so sorry. I don't know what has gotten into her."

"It's okay," Ben replies trying to reassure Rapunzel he wasn't offended.

"Mal, why don't Ruby and I take you to speak with the royal guard. Rapunzel will be back shortly." Eugene stands up from the table and Ruby follows suit.

Ben stands leaning down to help Mal up. Of course he knows she doesn't need help standing. But he just wants an excuse to touch her and make sure she's okay. "I think that's an excellent idea."

Eugene leads silently. Probably because he knows Ruby is the best person to talk to Mal right now.

"I'm so sorry about my sister Lady Mal," Ruby starts, "She's been very close with Audrey our whole lives and I think she feels hurt that Audrey hasn't spoken to her since everything happened with her and Ben. Anxelin just found out, and from our mom. She doesn't know why."

Mal wasn't sure why Audrey wouldn't have told her best friend, maybe out of pride. Mal has a hard time feeling sorry for Audrey considering she has been so horrible to Mal and the other VKs since the moment they arrived, way before anything went down with Ben. But she does feel a little sorry for Anxelin.

"It's okay. I'm sure that's difficult for her. Are you not also close with Audrey?" Mal wanted to know why the younger sister was being so nice to her.

Ruby made a face and tried to hide it, "She was always very bossy and condescending. I don't really like to follow orders, must take after my mom."

Mal laughed a little loudly, "I can see that."

Ruby realized she may have said too much, "Sorry Lady Mal! That was out of line."

"Just Mal is fine. It's okay. I've said my fair share of "out of line things" and I'm sure those days aren't behind me. This royal life is a trip."

Ruby laughed too. And Eugene turned to smile at them, "Alright ladies, we're here. Mal are you ready?"

"Yes," Mal said confidently as Eugene opened the doors to lead them outside to the training grounds. Ruby curtsied and left them to their business.

The entire royal guard stood at attention as Mal and Eugene walked up to the captain.

"Captain," Eugene greeted.

"Ryder," the captain grinned.

"May I present Lady Mal. By royal decree she is to instruct you and your men on protect against Threat Level Kraken." Eugene explained. Mal wanted to laugh that they were calling Shrimpy "Threat Level Kraken", but she contained herself.

"Great to meet you Lady Mal. My men are at your disposal." The captain bowed out of Mal's way.

Mal felt confident. She was a leader at heart and she knew she could do this. "Uma has magic. So traditional tactics aren't going to work here. I'm going to work on getting you all anti magic charms you must discretely hide on your person. If she sees them she can rip them off of you and then they're useless. Until then you will all need to work on a three person buddy system. Pre determine a code word you can use to decipher whether a person is spelled or not. No guard goes off alone at any point. If you encounter Uma first thing you will do before engage is send out a distress signal."

Mal began handing out the devices she had had time to prepare, magical flares. "I can detect these flares from anywhere and will be there to assist. You want to always strategize so that Uma thinks she has the upper hand. Her arrogance will blind her and will instead give you the upper hand. Don't be afraid to use brute force with her. She may be a teenage girl but she is violent and lethal. She won't think twice about destroying this entire kingdom in the blink of an eye. She has accomplices on the Isle. I don't believe she's found a way to break them out. But never assume she's alone. Always assume her gang is with her."