Ben frowned as he stared at the notes spread across the table. The four chosen from the Isle had arrived two hours ago and the reports he'd received were…not what he had expected. Granted, he hadn't been entirely sure what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't what he'd been given.
He'd had Captain Alcott brought in as soon as the man had arrived, despite the captain's protests that he'd been at sea for two weeks and surely wasn't in any state for formal company. Formality was not a concern today. After all, Ben was meeting the islanders at the University's staff dorms.
The man's report had been interesting; as well as concerning.
The four had been cooperative. They followed the rules they'd been given and had stayed out of the way of everyone on the ship. In fact, the only two who actually interacted with the crew had been remarkably well behaved. One of them had been rather prickly and sarcastic, but she hadn't tried to start any fights. He knew plenty of people from the mainland who were snarky or had dark senses of humor. The other, the one who was almost raped, she had been incredibly well-mannered.
To think one of the soldiers sworn to protect Auradon tried to rape someone… It was inexcusable, and Ben… Ben wouldn't have had the same control the VKs had to not outright fight the bastard. Another thing that surprised and concerned him. Why hadn't they gone after the soldier? Sure the captain had promised to handle it–and Ben had every intention of speaking with his father about further punishments–but that wouldn't be enough to satisfy him. Villains were all about revenge, so naturally their children would have the same tendency. Yet the four hadn't done anything.
With an effort, he pushed his anger aside, something that had gotten a lot harder since he turned eighteen. What was done was done and he couldn't change the past. The reports from the servants, however, he could act on.
Apparently, each of the villains' children was badly malnourished, far worse than he'd anticipated. All four were healthy enough as far as Ferdinand and Isabelle could see, none of them at the point of starvation, but they were underweight and far far too thin. Each of them was also shorter than expected for their supposed ages, and what they knew of their parents–the oldest male at twenty-one, three years younger than Ben himself, both women at nineteen, and the youngest at eighteen–growth stunted as a result of limited food.
What worried him more, however, were the rest of the servants' reports. The only one without scars was the daughter of Grimhilde, Evie according to the census. She was also the only one with a single tattoo, Maleficent's daughter, Mal, and Jafar's son, Jay, both sporting over five separate tattoos. Cruella's son, Carlos, had two. He, however, had the most scars of the four. Ferdinand reported deep scars across the boy's back that looked as though they came from some form of whip. There were also cigarette burns dotted over his entire body and needle tracks along the insides of his arms. Another deep scar sat just above his right hip.
The information about the Isle was limited, and that was still a bit of an understatement. All Ben had to work from were the original files from when the first villains had been shipped to the Isle, the attempted yearly census, and whatever the soldiers were able to observe through the barrier when they delivered the quarterly supplies and new inhabitants. And it was from those reports that Ben had chosen who he did.
At least two of the four were always together whenever spotted and their parents were some of the most concerning villains on the Isle. Figuring out who their parents were had required some research, but it had been easier than Ben expected. A small part of him wondered if there was a reason he'd been able to find it so easily.
After some digging through the censuses, Ben had found that Grimhilde actively participated in the gathering of the information and provided her own. Apparently she clung to the responsibilities she'd once had as a queen. Between observations and the information the Evil Queen provided, they'd been able to narrow down their options and select the best four descendents to invite.
Even without Grimhilde's participation, Carlos's bloodline would've been the easiest to figure out besides Mal's. The strange mix of black and white hair was a genetic trademark that the de Vil family had had for as long as anyone could remember and then some. Mal's was easy because she used her mother's reputation like a weapon. But not in a way that came across as her relying on it to keep her safe. No, the way Mal wielded it was a threat that said "if you think my mother is bad, just wait until you see what I can do".
They were also the ones he worried about most. While Mal appeared confident and in control, her mother was the Mistress of all Evil and he didn't have to wonder what kind of parent she'd be. Next to nothing was known about Carlos beyond his mother, but that was enough for Ben. Cruella was nothing short of insane. Ben had made the mistake of reading the reports about her arrest and the descriptions of some of her victims… At least she hadn't made coats out of them… But he'd hoped that Cruella's child might have been spared her cruelty. Based on what Ferdinand had reported, that wasn't the case.
A knock at the door broke his musings and he looked up as a servant peeked in.
"They are on their way, Your Highness. Drinks and bread will be brought in shortly. The rest of the meal will only take another fifteen minutes."
"Thank you," Ben smiled, and the servant bowed and left.
Gathering his papers, Ben tucked them away on a small table. While he wouldn't deny researching them and trying to figure out what to expect, he didn't want them to be uncomfortable… Well, more uncomfortable than they probably already were.
Just after a servant delivered the breads, cheeses, butters, and jams and Ben returned to the table, there was a warning knock and then the doors swung open before Ben could double check to make sure his clothes weren't rumpled.
"Your guests from the Isle of the Lost, Prince Benjamin."