La Dauphine

Of Wishes and Birthdays

His name is Ben. That's what he likes to be called.

His proper name is 'His Royal Highness Crown Prince Benjamin'. Sometimes his proper name is Benjamin Florian, Dauphin de Auradon'. Sometimes his name is—well never mind. It all got too confusing. Really though he'd rather be called Ben. Just Ben. Sometimes people get it half right and call him Prince Ben, and that's fine too. But he'd rather be called Ben.

Sometimes his papa calls him 'champ' or 'sport' and he likes that. Sometimes his mama calls him 'beau' because he's so handsome or 'mon ours' like a bear. He likes being his mama's handsome little bear very much!

Ben is a big boy now. He is five years old today! And even big boys love their birthdays. Ben is a prince so his birthdays are always a big deal. His parties are always full of wonderful things like all his favorite foods, pastries of every kind and fabulous party favors. His parties also always have a lot of people. Most of them aren't his friends, they're grownups; dignitaries and dukes and things like. People who are here more for his papa than for Ben, even though it's his party.

There are some grownups Ben likes at his birthday parties though! People like his Grandpa Maurice, and Auntie Snow and Uncle Florian. And Aunty Cindy and Uncle Kit and Fairy Godmother—

—papa doesn't like Fairy Godmother too much. Mama says it's not Fairy Godmother that Papa doesn't like, but magic. It makes him nervous. Ben understands why, but not really. Fairy Godmother is super nice, not like that mean old Enchantress. He hasn't seen it very much, but Ben thinks Fairy Godmother's magic is pretty.

Really, Ben doesn't need his party to be a big deal. All he really needs is to have all his favorite people there, like his aunts and uncles and his parents. And his best friends too! As long as his best friends are there, his birthday is the best day ever.

Ben likes to think of them as the Three Musketeers—like the book mama read to him. Three best friends who'd always be together no matter what: Him, Chad and Audrey. They'd always been friends, going back to when they were so little, they were zero years old instead of five.

They do everything together, and Ben's birthday is no different.

They're on the same team when they play Heroes and Villains with the other kids. Heroes are supposed to catch the villains by tagging them. They do a good job at winning until Caleb decides to play. Caleb is Chad's big brother. He's not Chad's biggest brother, that's Charlie—but all the same, Caleb is seven, almost eight. Being bigger means Caleb is much faster than they are; they can't catch him. And when it's time to switch roles, Caleb's too fast to run away from for very long. It'd be easier if Caleb were on their team. But Chad doesn't want that. He wants to beat his big brother; you can only do that if you're on different teams. Chad doesn't mind losing as long as he gets to try and be as fast as his big brother.

Ben would rather win than lose. But he doesn't mind it as long as Chad's happy! Besides, it's just a game.

Ben also doesn't mind that Jane wants to follow them around.

Really she wants to follow Chad around, Jane loves Chad. And Chad loved Jane. Chad loved getting to be her big brother, as opposed to only being a little brother. He holds her hand as they walk and says things like "watch me Janey!" so he can teach her things that big brothers teach little siblings, like the proper way to kick a ball or how to catch.

Jane's younger than them, so she's not as good at doing things as they are. Like hiding. There are plenty of places to use for hide-and-seek on the castle grounds, but Jane's too little to realize when she's not hiding very well. But Chad's a good big brother so he helps her hide. And when it's his turn to seek, he pretends he can't see her and finds her last.