****A few days later****

****The Yard****

Chad didn't know what to think about his (annoying) roommate flirting with his ex-girlfriend (who actually seemed receptive to the flirting), it didn't help that Harriet was now concentrated on taking notes from a book about East Riding's (formerly Benevelence) exploration of the eastern isles and the pirates' role on the expansion of the kingdom.

Why was Kurt suddenly interested on Anxelin? Wasn't it against the bro code to flirt with your fri…roommate's ex?

(Though he had dated his best friend's ex for a while without much remorse about it, though on his defense she had kind of just said that he was her new boyfriend and since he liked her…he went along with it)

Also, it wasn't like Anxelin would actually consider Kurt as a prospect as she had now started dating some nobleman of her own country during the Summer Break.

(He knew that in Co-…Tangletown no one would bat an eye if she married the son of an ice harvester as she was second-in-line to the throne and well, her father was an ex-thief and some of her ancestors had married non-royals occasionally)

His parents had pushed him to Anxelin the summer before sophomore year but at least there was no formal betrothal, unlike Audrey and Ben, but there were a few trading deals between Cinderellaburg and Tangletown that would have been more secure if the two of them hit it off.

But he had ruined all their chances for flirting with almost every girl in junior and sophomore year…and making them do part of his homework.

(His father had thrown a fit and the Great Duke muttered something on the lines of him ruining the kingdom's future)

His thoughts were interrupted by Harriet who kicked him lightly on the shin under the table.

The pirate gave him a look before saying "Have you finally decided on which topic we are writing the monograph? We have less than a month to finish it and apparently here in Auradon they give you a lot of homework"

Oh, right they were supposed to research for a topic together.

The four of them, even if the monograph was supposed to be written in pairs instead of quartets.

It had been Kurt's idea since it was supposed to be easier for them to find a topic if they worked together but all he seemed to do was flirt with Anxelin and on a lesser degree with Harriet.

"Well, Sunshine here has been spacing out for the last half an hour…so my guess is that he hasn't even read the first page of that book" Kurt said teasingly "Am I right?"

"It isn't like you have read yours either" Chad scoffed and for the first time in half an hour he turned the page of the book he was supposed to be reading, he noticed a bit of amusement on Harriet's eyes as Kurt had used her nickname for him and he raised his eyebrows as if saying "Uh?" but she simply shrugged and returned to her reading.

"What would happen if we do not do this homework?" Anxelin asked making a pout, she was good at school and she wondered why her parents just didn't castleschool her and be done with it instead of making her suffer 9 months a year far from their kingdom.

"We will probably fail the class; Mr. Button will call our…" Kurt made a pause as if he had realized something "We won't graduate with the rest because we will be in Summer School"

"You can say parents" Harriet said rolling her eyes and seemed to think about something for a while before adding "My father would probably care about it if he was sober…though I doubt FG would try to contact him as he in the Isle and there's only one phone there"

"I can't even imagine living without internet, but only one phone?" Anxelin blurted out dramatically "What was King Adam even thinking?"

"Well it isn't like Beast put much thought beyond getting rid of the villains" Kurt muttered biting his pencil "At least Ben is doing something"

Anxelin opened her eyes in surprise and tilted her head while Harriet raised her eyes from the book for second. After processing what his roommate Chad stiffened a bit as he had not expected the conversation take that turn and coughed a little to catch their attention but couldn't think about anything to say.

He noticed then that Harriet had a thoughtful face and Chad started wondering if she was thinking about the crew she left behind, she had told him some about that, and for the worry she had been showing for Anthony…she was an actually caring person though Harriet tried to keep her care under wraps.

There was an uncomfortable silence before Anxelin decided to rest her head on Kurt's shoulder while saying "Winter break is coming soon; my parents want to throw a ball during the break so Frida can meet more people…it would be good to have some known faces at it"

"I would love to go if I get leave from Aunt Elsa" Kurt said with a grimace on his face "She isn't keen on letting us going to these kind of social events before graduating school, Arnold is the only one who has any fun"

"Ah, turning down invitations" The first princess of Tangletown huffed with some disappointment in her voice and asked to Chad "You'll come if I invite you, right?"

The prince was surprised at the invitation and he was tempted to turn it down, he knew what her parents thought about him but her siblings didn't seem to mind him (much) and even if their break-up was bad (she slapped him thrice when Lonnie revealed his transgressions), she didn't seem to hate him anymore.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything, Anxie" Chad responded and after a few seconds of thinking it he added something that surprised him "As long as you invite Elliot too"

The brunette blinked a few times, the request was surprising to her too as she knew how little the two brothers got along, before smiling and exclaiming "Of course! I think Wilhem* will appreciate a visit from an old friend, I think they haven't seen each other in a while"

"Great" The blond boy said returning the smile but then it dawned on him that maybe Elliot wouldn't appreciate going to a ball when he can't dance because of the accident and the cane. What he was even thinking? Though maybe his brother would like to see some old friends (from before his leg was crushed) since the only person he seemed to hang around lately is Julio and sometimes Moireach.

He liked Julio better than he liked Chad, though it was mainly because the First Prince of Atlantis was more the scholarly type like Elliot.

"And you, Harriet?" The princess asked to the pirate.

"Sure, why not" The dark haired girl responded shrugging when she noticed that Anxelin was asking from actual interest than out of kindness but didn't seem convinced, she then added dryly "Though maybe a pirate is not usually welcome at your fancy halls, I don't think your friend Audrey will appreciate my presence…or any other VK for that matter"

"No one will mind; my father is an ex-thief" Anxelin shrugged it off like it was nothing, though some royals did mind, and added "People have to learn to live with the fact that more VKs will be coming over" She lifted her head from Kurt's shoulder and looked pointedly at Chad "Right? Especially when some of them are family…or step-family"

Chad reached on his pocket for the handkerchief Dizzy had given him on the day the second group of VKs arrived, he just said "Right"

He saw something akin to a smile on Harriet's lips while Kurt looked at him approvingly, he felt somewhat uncomfortable and coughed before announcing "I think I found a topic we could divide for our homework"

****The Infirmary****

Anthony was getting tired of staying at the infirmary, it had been five days, and was thinking about running away to his bedroom, even if that meant losing the small privacy he had acquired during his stay.

(Having a full sleep without Hal's snoring was a perk of being there but still)

Opal never let him have a full sleep, she was always taking his temperature an asking questions about his health.

He wasn't sure why she kept asking about the food quality at the Isle and if they had an actual healer there, it wasn't like she wouldn't know about the barges and the half-rotten food that Auradon sent there though he could imagine why she would suppose that there weren't actual doctors at the Isle not counting Dr. Facilier that was a witch doctor, Nasira who knew her ways through using the few herbs on the Isle and Gianna who had been experimenting with what she could learn from the other two.

(He knew his mother knew how to help deliver babies but she didn't involve herself as much with it anymore)

Also, if he had a golden coin for all the medical tests he had been subjected to, he would have at least enough to buy actually new clothes.

His thoughts were interrupted when Zephyr came in saying "I came to save you from boredom!"

The soldier's son had started coming on the afternoon on the second day, he usually came shortly after Harriet and/or Chad left and before Dizzy would drop by with her friend Hermie for a few minutes.

His cousin was all bright every time she visited but she seemed uncomfortable staying too long and Hermie seemed to be curious about why he was there.

(Also Hal hadn't come around except for the first day and that was starting to piss him off, who knew that Westergaard was a little coward)

"By bringing homework?" The dark haired boy asked while looking pointedly at the books the blond was carrying on his arms.

For all he knew, Zephyr could have brought the entire library.

"We need to start writing the monograph" The blond boy responded cheekily and handed him a book titled "History of the City of the Cathedral".

"Isn't this cheating? Didn't your father made you memorize the story of the city he commanded?" Anthony teased him and gave the book back and grabbed one titled "Kings and Queens of Auradon" He became curious about it and asked "Isn't it a bit too early to have a book with this title?"

"No" The blonde boy shook his head and sat on one of the chairs "There was an Auradon before this Auradon, it has to do with some kings dividing the kingdom among his descendants and them founding new kingdoms: Chambloir now Auradon Central, Benevelence now East Riding, and Charmington; they also got some claims to different thrones through marriage"

"Let me guess, every royal here is pretty much related to each other" Anthony snorted and then seemed to put some thought into it and asked "Is that why it was so easy for King Adam to form Auradon?"

Zephyr seemed to think about it and after a few seconds he said "Maybe, he is cousins with Charming through his mother's side and through that he is related to the Árnadlr, he is also distantly related to the von der Sonne and through them to the Winslow*" He made a pause while he put a hand on his chin to think "Maybe that's why Beast was interested on making Ben marry Audrey, the Roses are pretty much the only family south of the Great Wall his family hasn't married into yet, apart from the Seaside's royals He made another pause "Or maybe because Auradon owes Auroria a lot of money"

Anthony didn't want to speak about the Auradon royals and how much they had married into each other before, that wasn't a surprise though, so he changed the topic and asked "So, what are we going to write about?"

"Maybe about Aurelais?" Zephyr offered him a book about the last 100 years of their parents' homeland* "The Winter War about 50 years or so ago was really eventful"

"It was between Arendelle and Aurelais-Seaside, right?" Anthony inquired remembering something that his grandmother had mentioned about his grandfather's military career.

Well before he got hung for trying to quit before time, his grandmother avoided getting to that part of the story but his mother told him the truth about his death when he was twelve.

"Exactly, my grandfather fought in that war"

"Mine did too" The dark haired boy responded almost in a whisper but he knew that the other boy had heard. There was a silence between them but Zephyr grinned saying "Well, that's something else we have in common apart from our families hailing from the same kingdom"

"Cool" Anthony managed to say.

"Then we are settled" Zephyr said clasping his hands together and with a sigh of relief he added "I suppose you can read this book while I research for the Arendelle's records of it?"

"Are we really going to put that much effort on this monograph? It isn't like we don't have other subjects to work on"

Especially him, he had lost a full week of classes and while in the Isle people disliked going to school and hated homework, his family never missed a day of school as his grandmother said that at least they should be giving some kind of proper education even if they lived on an isle full of common criminals and nobles in disgrace.

"Well, from what I have seen you don't have much problem at school but some need to have at least one good grade if they want to graduate" Zephyr responded with a huff.

"Are you doing that bad at school?" Anthony asked curiously and was being careful not to use a mocking tone on his question.

"Kind of" The other boy responded sheepishly and added in a mutter "That's what happens when you spend most of your childhood traveling on a caravan"

"What?"

"It no longer matters" Zephyr huffed once more.

Anthony decided not to ask for more information, not that it concerned him, and instead said "Let's start reading then, my mother will be pissed off if I don't ace this class" Then he added "Also, I think that I should get some idea about the way Auradon teaches this before Opal comes back and asks for another blood sample"

"Yeah, she can be particularly annoying when she wants to get a full medical record of someone on one stay" The blond responded "Once I had food poisoning and she had me stay a full week"

The dark haired boy decided that it was a good enough response to the questions that had been on his head but still, he wasn't totally convinced by it.

****Mal and Evie's Room****

Eisa wasn't one to go and search for people when they had to do a work together, usually she would do the job for the two of them, make the partner memorize what she had written and then call it a day.

Most of her classmates were morons, except for Doug, and she didn't want to deal with them.

But for some reason she was not feeling like completely doing that this time, especially when Lady Mal LeFay had been observing her the last few days and surely didn't read any of the messages she had been sending her.

The princess was almost sure that the faery was suspicious about the version she had told Opal about how Anthony ended up in freezing magical water.

She was also almost sure that some people were somewhat afraid of Hal, and her by extension, as they weren't used to see those who had magic actually use it but at least her roommate wasn't afraid of magic.

Valentina was the only princess with sense in this school.

It made sense since her father was Milo Thatch, the one who rediscovered Atlantis and maybe one of the few kings that wasn't so on board with everything Beast, Florian and Leah decided.

(Also Valentina didn't seem to mind to wake up some mornings with some frost on the floor which was a plus)

"Who would have thought he had magic?" The white haired princess had just said after Eisa went to their room to change her clothes after leaving Anthony at the infirmary "I wonder what Arnold will say about this"

Eisa knew that her sister had called their mother about the matter, so far the Snow Queen had not said anything about Henri Hadrian Westergaard and she also knew that her cousin didn't know about it, if he did he would have done something stupid like coming down to Auradon Central.

She kicked a crumpled ball of paper she found on her way to Mal and Evie's room just to release a bit of the tension she had been keeping under control these last days.

Nothing good happened when she became stressed and well, she didn't have the best reputation at school at the moment.

When she finally got to the room of the king's girlfriend, she inhaled deeply as she fixed her gloves before knocking on the door and saying "It's Eisa"

She heard some hushes and movements inside the room before Evie opened the door with a smile while saying "Hi, I was just making Mal try on a new dress"

"Another one?" She thought, though not unkindly as she was actually surprised that the blue haired girl could come so quickly with so many different designs.

"Is there anything you need?" Mal asked from inside the room.

There was some strain on the faery's voice and Eisa repressed a smile at that.

Mal was keeping her temperament down but she was no longer faking a sweet voice or changing her personality to fit what a future queen should be.

"Oh, nothing to important" Eisa said getting inside even though none of the two inhabitants of the room invited her in "I just wanted to ask if you have checked the messages that I have been sending you" She then just sat on one of the ottomans that was in the room "I know we have time to do the monograph but Mr. Button is especially demanding about these kind of homework"

She knew that the year before the four VKs had taken History of Woodsmen and Pirates with Tinker Bell instead of Pre-Auradon History so Mal wouldn't know about Mr. Button's parameters of acceptable works.

Then she noticed that there was a fourth person in the room.

It was Dizzy, Anthony's little cousin, who was looking at her with mild apprehension but the kid quickly smiled before returning to her task which was making some kind of jewelry.

Eisa knew that it wasn't an actually sincere smile but she smiled too, the best rehearsed smile she used on balls and galas, and said "That's a nice diadem, did you make it?"

"Thank you" Dizzy said curtly and added with some pride "I designed it, just like the one Evie used on the Cotillion"

"I remember seeing it on the telly" Eisa commented and decided to compliment her work "It was pretty nice, maybe someday I'll ask you to make one for me" Considering her talk with the little Tremaine finished, she then turned to Mal and asked "So? Have you read my messages?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't respond to your messages" Mal said while standing on some platform while Evie started to remove some pins "But I read them, I was going to speak to you about this after the game"

The strawberry blonde princess knew that it was a lie but she accepted it as she replied "Good, so when we can start working on it?"

"Next week is good for you?" Mal asked "I think it is enough time for me to research on the-"

"Unification of Auroria" Eisa completed for the faery when she noticed that the faery was struggling to come up with something.

"Right" The purple haired girl quickly responded with a smile "Should I send you notes about it?"

"That would be useful" Eisa nodded standing up and was about to take her leave as she noticed the Evie and Dizzy were giving her uncomfortable looks, as if they were hiding something, when Mal asked trying not to sound too interested "Have you spoken to Hal?"

"Not much" She simply responded sitting once again, she scratched her neck and added "I only spoke to him to give him a pair of gloves…like two days ago"

"Gloves?" Evie asked curiously turning to her and finishing to take the pins off the dress she was trying on Mal "Like to keep his magic under control?"

"Aye" Eisa knew that Evie and Doug had spoken to Hal the night of the accident but that he didn't actually tell them anything.

"Did he just received them or was he against it?" Mal asked in some relief showing on her face for finally getting down the platform and with apprehension towards Eisa.

Eisa tilted her head a little and considered if she should not give them, because she knew the other two girls were listening, a straight answer and toy with it for a while but Mal was the current High King's girlfriend and the question had a purpose.

And she didn't want Hal back on the Isle of the Lost, that was why she twisted the truth for Opal, even if they weren't friends.

(She told Mal the truth, they had not spoken much but they had lunch together these last few days because Harriet was angry at him, Claudine was avoiding him and Anthony was at the infirmary)

So she shrugged and finally responded with the simple truth "The day after the accident he asked if I could give him a pair of gloves like the ones I was using during the luncheon so I asked my cousin if he had spare ones"

"Does Klaus have that magic too?" Dizzy got into the conversation.

The princess turned to her and remembered that her younger cousin was in the same class as Anthony's cousin, she had heard that the girl hadn't been having much of a good time with her classmates and she was now probably wary of their kind of powers, after a sigh she replied "He does, but you don't need to worry"

She wasn't going to tell them that Klaus' magic was pretty weak and that he could barely freeze a glass of water or that she and Kurt were somewhat losing some control over the magic, like some other magical students like Jordan or Emrys*, since the barrier had fell during Ben's coronation.

****The Chapel****

Claudine was sat at the chapel stairs trying to find the words to write to her father, there was no reply to her letters and she knew that he wouldn't accept to schedule a call for the phone booth was at Bargain Castle and he refused to mingle with those who he considered the most sinful creatures on the Isle of the Lost.

A small voice in her head kept telling her that she would never get a reply but she still kept writing.

He was the only family she had left.

(The only one that mattered)

On the other hand, she was also thinking about a letter she had received not long ago from Madam Laurette's older daughter.

There was also the guiltiness she was feeling over ditching Hal for having magic though he was not totally alone as the princess of Arendelle had been keeping him company during meals and classes.

If her father knew that she had been keeping that kind of sinful company, he would have raged. Claude Frollo would speak to Prince Hans on occasion but he didn't consider him someone worthy of his time, he had committed the sin of being avaricious and desiring something that he wasn't supposed to.

She wondered if she could still be acquaintances with Hal even if he had magic and she had been praying for a response these last few days.

(Claudine knew that her mother wouldn't have disapproved of that, she had helped Hal's mother while she was sick)

The blonde girl shook the thought away and tried to concentrate on the letter she was writing to her father.

She always wrote the same: Her classes, that she was keeping out of trouble and that she was praying.

For a moment she wondered if she should tell him about her worries about living at Auradon and how long would she last there but when she had been living back at the Isle, he always told her that a young girl never had any worries and that she should be thankful about the things she had.

As soon as she finished the letter for her father and put in on an envelope, she reached for Gianna LeGume's letter in her bag but couldn't bring herself to open it.

Their mothers were sisters and while that made them cousins, they hadn't interacted in years so the blood relation didn't matter much for Claudine.

Gianna, Genna, the Gastons, Gil, Gilly and Gabi were strangers instead of cousins.

(Pretty much like Paulette's son, but that was another matter her father disliked to speak about and she didn't want to delve on it)

She tried to think about how much she actually knew about Gianna LeGume but there were only three things: She was among the first born in the Isle, she had run away from her home when she was young to form her own gang and she was good at sword fighting.

The blonde girl caressed the envelope with the tip of her fingers and was about to open it when she thought about what her father would say and what would he do if he knew that Gianna had reached out to her.

But a small part of her knew that there was no way her father would know about this and she was curious about what the young woman had written on the missive.

Then a voice interrupted her thoughts and almost made her fall on her back.

"Hey" Hal said standing in front of her with both of his hands on his pockets and looking down to his shoes.

"Hey" Claudine responded after a few seconds of considering if she should run away or respond to the greeting.

"How are you?" He asked politely, he had been raised with manners just like her and Anthony, but still kept his eyes glued to his shoes.

"Fine" She replied suddenly finding her own shoes very interesting "You? How have you been?"

"Good" Hal pressed his lips on a thin line and closed his eyes before asking "May I sit?"

Claudine blinked a few times and frowned a little, she was tempter to say no but she then just nodded.

The auburn haired boy sat on the step below hers and kept a little distance, he then took out one of his hands from his pocket and showed her that he was using gloves, she was about to ask why he was using them and realized that it was a pretty much stupid question.

"So, a lot has changed this week" Hal commented in a tired tone and enquired suddenly without looking at her "What is it like to now be with the popular people?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you are now friends with Princess Audrey"

"Oh, that" She managed to say and frowned, she had been hanging out with Audrey but it was mostly because the princess had taken a strange interest on her and had been inviting her to some social activities she hosted at the gardens.

The princess had gone as far as inviting her to join the choir but she had not yet taken up any of her offers and just spoke to her, and some of her friends, between classes and had taken two of her meals with the princess as Harriet had been at the infirmary.

"Also, you no longer use a braid" Hal pointed out not waiting for a more elaborate answer.

She ran her fingers a little through her hair before replying "Ruby, one of Audrey's friends, suggested I wear it down once in a while…so I don't damage my hair or something like that"

"It looks good" The boy complimented her and then chuckled a little "Maybe Zephyr will speak to you instead of looking at you"

Claudine blushed before muttering "I don't know what you are talking about"

"Sure" He chuckled lightly and for a moment he looked at her before casting his eyes down again.

For a moment, Claudine forgot all the apprehension she felt against him for his magic and chuckled a little too because his laugh was contagious.

She then coughed to end her laugh and asked "Why are you here? Don't you have Tourney practice?"

"Coach Jenkins said that I could take a few days of practice off since this week has been stressful" Hal shrugged uninterestedly but there was a bit of sadness on his voice "So I decided to take a walk and I found you"

"Oh"

"So, you are going to open that letter?" Hal enquired.

"Have you been spying me?" She snapped, there was a reason why she had decided to try to read it there and not in her room.

"No, but you for what I have seen, you don't seem to be sure if you want to read that"

"You wouldn't understand" She sighed.

"Try me"

"Hal, do you have any cousins?"

"Many, I guess" Hal shrugged and seemed to think about it "My father has twelve brothers and before he was banished from the Southern Isles he had nine nieces and nephews, my mother had a sister but she didn't know if she had any kids" The boy titled his head and asked "Why? Something about the LeGume?"

She looked at him with great surprise "How do you know about that?!"

"Well, not many family relations are secret at the Isle…no matter what people do to hide them, though most are too focused on their own lives to actually care much about other people drama" Hal responded "Also, my mother knew your mother and Madam Laurette…if you don't remember, we even played together as kids"

Claudine put her hands on her face and groaned, she had forgotten about that detail even when she had thought about it a few days ago and she didn't remember the second detail.

"Likewise, you and Gilly resemble each other a lot" The younger Westergaard brother added, then asked again "Are you going to read it?"

The blonde girl huffed and decided to open it.

It read with a calligraphy that was very carefully written:

"

Cousin

Dear

Miss Claudine:

I'm sure that you know that the both of us are kin and despite out fathers' insistence of keeping us from interacting with each other.

Similarly, I'm sure that you know about the makeshift hospital my gang has been tending to at the Abandoned Factory with the help of the late Mrs. Nasira and Mrs. Anastasia Tremaine and how much supplies we need and that we work with what we have.

You are a good decent a person with a heart despite the circumstances, so what I am asking from you is to intercede for us at the Isle of the Lost as we are suffering a second breakout of grey sickness and we are in dire need of medicine and ways to dispose of the bodies.

I have written to Lady Mal requesting the same, but cousin we need someone else to vouch for the children that have fallen ill, they don't deserve to die like this, and you are the only person from the Isle currently living at Auradon I could ever fathom writing to for this.

Gianna LeGume

Claudine knew that Hal had read the letter over her shoulder as he was now sitting on the same step as her and turned to him trying to hide her new uncomfortableness "What do you think?"

"She is telling the truth"

"Why?"

"Gianna never asks for something"

"So?"

"I say we go to speak with Mal"

Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment if you did. Thanks to all who follow and favorited this story!

Notes:

*I choose Von der Sonne as the last name of the royal family of Corona as it would fit their sun themes.

*Winslow is the canon last name of the Enchancia royal family in Sofía the First

*Wilhem is an OC, son of Willow from the Tangled series, who is cousin of Rapunzel's kids.

*Emrys is another OC, son of Merlin

PS: I have posted an prequel one-shot about Anastasia and The Baker in AO3, check it up on my profile there.