When he received his mother's request to see her, it wasn't hard to guess why.

It was the first day of classes.

It was the first day the kids from the Isle of the Lost truly interacted with the rest of the students and faculty. And the moment he saw them at breakfast he knew he'd be hearing about it later.

Pausing at the half-closed door, Ben knocked lightly on the door jamb. "Mom?"

"Come in, Ben."

There was no doubt who the office belonged to. The desk in the center of the room covered in neat piles of files and papers was the closest thing to Belle, Queen of Auradon. Everything else was entirely Belle, the woman who loved to read, learn, and teach. Shelves sagged under volumes and volumes of books. Not a single one of them was unread and Belle kept a large, cushioned chair between the window and the fireplace for reading. This was her space, the University - her project.

"Mrs. Potts sent a batch of cookies. They're on the tea table," Belle said. As he sank into her reading chair, she asked, "How was your first day back?"

Choosing a cookie and pouring himself a cup of tea, Ben smiled. This was a familiar scene, a nostalgic scene. Reading as he waited for her to finish paperwork when he was younger and she preferred bringing him with her instead of leaving him with the servants. Huddled over her desk as she helped him with his homework. Long talks about life and love and dreams. "Busy. There's a lot to take care of, in and out of class, but I can handle it. "

"You'll be graduating this year. Not to mention your coronation and your personal projects," she commented, selecting a pen and shuffling through the files until she found the one she was looking for..

Ben straightened. Time for the conversation he'd been expecting.

"How are the children from the Isle settling in?" Belle inquired, turning in her desk chair to face him.

"Overall, they seem to be settling in well," Ben reported, setting his cookie and tea aside. He was proud of the progress they'd made in such a short time and couldn't help but want to brag about them. "All of them have learned the campus layout and are finding places where they can spend their free time. Carlos enjoys the stables, Jay likes the training grounds, and Mal and Evie have chosen Maurice Hall."

"I've heard that one of the girls is quite fond of sewing."

"I take it that this has to do with their clothing," Ben said.

A soft sigh escaped his mother and he could see the concern and frustration on her face. From the way she glared at the paper in front of her it was likely a list of complaints about the VKs.

"Many of their professors and a large majority of the students were quite…scandalized by their appearances," Belle replied, proving once more that he got his diplomacy skills from her. "Evie's dress was far too short to be proper and Jay's lack of a shirt beneath his vest exposed more skin than should be seen. The fact that he has tattoos could be overlooked if they weren't so…"

"Villainous," Ben supplied. Jay had a lot of tattoos. From the servants' reports on their first day and what he saw earlier, he knew there were two dragons on one bicep, crossbones on the other, a thorny pattern across his collarbone, bloody chains on one arm, a treasure chest on the other, a snake on his back and a dagger piercing two hearts on his chest. The last two were usually covered, but the others were all visible.

Eyes closing for a moment, Belle took a breath and nodded. "That is one way to describe them, yes. Mal's tattoos on her back are problematic for the same reason. The back of her shirt may not be as revealing as the other twos' clothing, but it is not something that is encouraged. Of the four, I heard the least about Carlos. His necklace was the only true complaint and that's because it has the same unsettling imagery as Jay's and Mal's tattoos."

He hadn't seen the necklace, but he doubted it was as bad as people claimed. Some of the tattoos were unsettling, but he'd noticed a pattern in the imagery. If he was right, there was much deeper meaning hidden there, one that only proved they weren't the villains everyone thought they were. Not that he was going to tell anyone else about his suspicions..

"Did you see them during the day?" his mother asked and Ben nodded.

"At breakfast and for a little bit at dinner." And he'd been impressed. Evie's skills as a seamstress were incredible, especially considering how limited her resources must have been on the Isle of the Lost...The way she could enhance a person's appearance without ignoring the person as a person was...He pushed the thought away. That was not the kind of distraction he needed right now.

Slowly, his mother nodded. "I wanted to speak with you first before addressing them. They are your responsibility and you will need to find a solution to this."

A solution. If they weren't from the Isle, he suspected over half the complaints never would've made it to his mother, or been made at all. But they were and…well, he was starting to understand that the biases against the Isle's inhabitants ran much deeper than he'd anticipated.

Looking up, he met his mother's gaze and she nodded. He could talk to her as his mom instead of as a queen. "Does there need to be a solution beyond talking with the professors?" When she hummed, prompting him to continue, Ben shrugged. "At this point I would say this is a cultural clash, not a scandal. A lot of the countries in the treaty have similar clothing, but not all of them. Agrabah for example. Sultana Jasmine's clothes expose a great deal of skin and while it was probably strange at first, everyone adapted to it and accepted it as normal. The same thing with King Trident or any of the merfolk. Not to mention when Kida visits Milo."

Again, his mother hummed with a slow nod.

"The available material on the Isle was likely scarce and the climate is different. Lighter clothing and more skin would've made the most sense," he continued. "It would also allow them to move better…They've all been in fights. Well, at least three of them." The scars on Jay's arms…He hated to think how he got them. "And, if we're being honest, most of the complaints are probably just because of who they are. A student from Agrabah wouldn't have raised a single eyebrow. Especially considering that Jay's outfit is essentially what Aladin wears outside of formal settings."

"All logical arguments," Belle approved with a small smile. "I'm proud of you. For standing your ground. As long as you can continue to provide solid reasoning, I won't speak with the villain kids. And I'll support your defense of them. The staff may not like it, but if they aren't willing to accept other cultures, they aren't welcome here."

Relieved, Ben relaxed and returned to the cookie and teacup he'd abandoned. "Thank you, Mom." Part of him hated getting her caught up in everything, even if she was the queen. But he was also beyond grateful that he had her support as both a mother and a queen.