Her wan face glowed. “Great! I’ll be there. But she better return it,” warned Sophie. “I need it back as soon as possible!”
“Okay,” said Gil, relieved it had all worked out. Now Uma wouldn’t yell at him. Uma could be scary when she felt like it, which seemed to be always. “See you there!” he said enthusiastically, hoping that somehow Uma had whatever Sophie was looking for.
“King Ben is here! King Ben is here!” The villagers of Stone City left their work and dwellings to line the road near where the royal jet had landed. Ben got out and waved to his people, who waved and cheered back. They walked together in a merry parade all the way to the center of town. After hours of sitting, it was a relief to finally arrive at the peaceful valley in the middle of Northern Wei. Like its name, all the buildings and houses in Stone City were made of rock, and the village itself had been built near a giant mushroom-shaped stone. The Great Wall loomed over the north side of the village, casting a long shadow.
They passed the city gates that led into the greatest pavilion, and followed the cobblestoned path all the way to the front of the structure, where the town’s leaders were waiting to greet them.
Elder Wong, who wasn’t a gray-bearded official in a smock, but a young man who wore his dark hair in a ponytail and was wearing a natty suit, bowed upon seeing Ben. “Thanks so much for honoring us with your presence,” he said.
“Charlie?” Ben asked, delighted. “You’re the elder of this village?”
“Hey, man,” said Charlie, slapping Ben a high five. “Yeah, went home and took on the role. Looks like you did too,” he said, motioning to the golden circlet that Ben wore as his traveling crown.
Charlie had been a few years ahead of Ben at Auradon Prep, and Ben was glad to find an old friend in unfamiliar territory. Maybe this dispute could be settled easily after all.
“Hey, Lonnie,” said Charlie. “How’s Shang doing?”
“Still coaching R.O.A.R. and trying to get that hip-hop record out,” said Lonnie, giving Charlie a hug.
“Nice,” said Charlie. “Come on in, let’s talk over boba.”
Ben and Lonnie followed Charlie inside the stone house, which, while ancient and minimal on the outside, was outfitted with the latest gadgets inside. Ben spied a large-screen television on the wall, a roving robot sweeper on the carpet, and a high-end security system with a twelve-camera display. Charlie led them to a small room with a view of the mountains and a portion of the Great Wall.
Charlie sat cross-legged on the floor in front of a low table that had been set for them with the village’s finest china and silver, and Ben and Lonnie did the same.
Instead of diving right into the business at hand, Ben and Lonnie regaled Charlie with the latest news from Auradon.
“Is it true that Audrey’s dating Chad?” said Charlie, shock written all over his face. “Whoa.”
“Yeah, although I hear Audrey’s changed her mind about him,” said Lonnie with a laugh.
“Oh no, really?” said Ben, who hadn’t heard that rumor. “Poor Chad! He’ll be crushed!”
They talked about the Seaside Festival, and Charlie mentioned the Imperial Palace was looking forward to hosting Ben during their Auradon celebration. “I hear they’ve hired acrobats from all over the kingdom,” said Charlie. “Especially the ones who can do tricks with fire.”
Lonnie smiled. “The fire dancers were always my favorite.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait,” said Ben. “It’s going to be amazing. Too bad Seaside got rained out.”
“It happens,” said Charlie.
“So what’s going on here?” asked Ben, accepting a tall glass of boba from a smiling servant. He sipped the round tapioca balls through the extra-large straw.
“See up there?” asked Charlie, putting down his glass and pointing out the window. “Those dots in the sky? They’re flying carpets. You think they’d be quiet, right? But they fly so fast they can create a sonic boom. So every time one of them flies over the wall to our side, everything in the village shakes. It’s horrible. Babies cry, things fall off tables, and see that cluster of trees over there? They’re olive trees. They’re planted on the Agrabah side of the wall, and when the carpets fly over, they shake the trees.”
“Uh-huh,” said Ben.
“Some of the olives fall over on our side then,” said Charlie. “So we use them. But our neighbors over there say that the olives are theirs, if not for the wall blocking their ability to harvest them. They want their olives back, and, well, we don’t want to give them back. They’re on our side of the wall, fair and square. Plus, the carpets are a nuisance—a huge headache. We’re sick of it. We’ve asked them to ground the carpets, but they refuse.”
Lonnie raised her eyebrows and looked to Ben, who scrunched his forehead and chewed a bubble of tapioca before answering. “Why do they need carpets? They never use them anywhere else in Auradon,” said Ben.
“Because of the wall over here. The carpets are the only way to get over it without having to go all the way around.”
“I see. And you guys eat a lot of olives?”
“Enough,” said Charlie. “My villagers are doubly annoyed because the branches and leaves of the olive trees shed in the winter, and who has to clean up all the mess? We do, because they fall on our side of the wall. The Sultan’s people don’t offer to clean it up, do they? No, they just want to fly their carpets and eat their olives without any of the work.”
Ben leaned forward. “And what are you guys doing about it?”
“So far, nothing yet. Just shouting from opposite sides of the wall. But we’re prepared to do more. We’ve stationed archers on the wall,” said Charlie defensively.
A servant placed a tray of food in front of them. There was olive bread, olive oil, and a fragrant, olive-scented roast beef. Ben reached for a hunk of bread, tearing the loaf, and bit into a piece, just as the entire room began to shake with a boom from a flying carpet. “This is delicious,” he said. “And I can see why you find the carpets aggravating.”
Charlie relaxed slightly. “I’m glad you understand the situation. I was a bit worried about the response from Auradon. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see the king.”
“Lonnie asked me to take charge personally,” Ben explained.
“Then we have you to thank,” said Charlie to Lonnie, who bowed and smiled.
“Ben will do right by us,” said Lonnie. “Won’t you, Ben?”
Ben wiped the crumbs from his hands with a napkin and rose from the table, grunting a little from the exertion of having to stand from the floor. He was careful not to promise anything without meeting with the other side first. If this issue was going to be resolved, he needed to figure out a fair way to appease both sides.
“Thanks much for your hospitality,” he said, shaking Charlie’s hand. “I’m meeting with the Agrabah delegation next, and then I’ll get back to you guys.”