Tears of the Tides | Ben Florian Beast

Chapter 9

The sun has just risen, its rays of light dancing lightly on Ursa's skin, making her feel pleasantly warm. However, this doesn't dispel the awkward air around her and Jane.

Ursa woke up early to accompany Lonnie and Ben on their preparations for Family Day. However, after a few short conversations with the student party planners, most of them left to practice the opening number. (Regardless, Ben did not leave without giving Ursa a side hug and a peck on the cheek.)

Jane, who is one of the few planners not on the opening number, is the one leading the rest of the preparations to be done that morning. The two of them, as Ursa offered to help, are leading the helpers in the decorations and the placement of the food spread, staying in awkward silence and not speaking unless it was for the tasks at hand.

Seemingly driven by nerves, Jane blurts out, "This is a good practice for party planning if you and Ben stay together. Queens often handle the decision-making when it comes to parties." However, realizing her words may be taken in offense, she adds, "N-not that you and Ben won't stay together, and not that you need practice, you're a natural!"

Understanding rambling mouths and minds all too well, Ursa puts Jane out of her misery and says, "It's fine, I get it; things aren't set in stone yet. Besides, no one would have thought kids of villains could ever get out of the Isle, much less have the chance to become royalty after King Beast's ruling."

Ursa purposely ignores the comment about herself being Queen since that implies marriage. Truly, as Jane implied, she doesn't think they'll last that long, believing he'll stop liking her sooner or later, realizing he doesn't like her enough to spend the rest of his life with her, much less having a child of a villain rule Auradon with him. He cares too much about his people to risk villains taking over. Not that she would ever do that, but they could never be too sure. Besides, Ursa agrees with what she heard Audrey say once; Ursa's just the 'bad girl infatuation' that won't last with him. She'll just cherish her time together with Ben now, all the while waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Hearing her own thoughts being said out loud, Jane kept quiet before she made the situation worse.

Regardless of the thoughts running through her head, Ursa softly bumps her shoulder with Jane's, saying, "Don't worry about it though. I'm used to people thinking like that. Most can't really change how they've been taught to think all their lives, Ben being the exception."

The air grows more comfortable between the two of them with Ursa's words. This spurs Jane to say, "Ben really is the kindest...But I can see you're kind too, once I got to know about you from afar. You're nice even if other people don't treat you kindly, while not being a pushover."

Ursa scoffs softly at this and remarks, "'Not being a pushover.' I can't even fight back or defend myself from them."

Jane smiles feebly, curling into herself, and quietly says, "No one expects you to fight back here. In truth, no one can fight back against people like Audrey, lest we risk whatever position we have in Auradon or even lose our freedom from the Isle. The least we can do is ignore people like her and retaliate the Auradonian way." After all, Jane is all too aware of how Audrey could be, especially since she was the main subject of Audrey's bullying before the VKs came to Auradon.

"And what is the Auradonian way?" is Ursa's question.

"Being kind, which you already are. Even though most Auradonians have forgotten this (even the heroes in our history), fighting evil with kindness and love is what wins us battles and wars."

Bashfully, she continues, "Although, it seems like even I've forgotten that as well."

Ursa looks afar and replies with a bittersweet expression, "No one is perfect, even Auradon's greatest heroes. Even King Adam has acted maliciously, rounding up all the villains, even reviving the ones who were dead, only to put them in an isle with inhumane conditions. However, from what I've seen, you're helping with a lot of school projects, and you're talking to me kindly, despite me being a Villain Kid. You're already a good person. I believe anyone can be a good person if they try to be kind, even through hardships." She softly bumps her shoulder to Jane's once more, giving her an encouraging smile. "You just need to believe in yourself more."