Ben glances at Kaleva. "Should Kaleva be here?"

Whyyyyyy does the prince know his name.

"It can't be long before he finds out anyway, but it's your decision." 

"...My dad's abdicating."

"What the fuck."

He takes Ben's hand again, doesn't let go. "I know, that's what I said too." 

Probably Kaleva should be having feelings about the fact that King Ben is abdicating but instead he is having feelings about Chen holding Ben's hand. He stabs a hash brown aggressively with his fork.

(Why is he even here.)

Well, that's new. 

"Who the fuck abdicates in favor of a sixteen-year-old?"

"Apparently ruling was too stressful, so he's handing it down to his teenage son." Handsqueeze. 

"...Well, on the bright side, someone who would make that decision has no business ruling a fucking country."

He's just going to hold onto Ben's hand and not comment about whether he thinks King Beast should have been ruling a country. 

"...You know, I was really hoping I would ever get to run Tiana's Place."

"Me too," Ben says, sincere. "You know I want that."

This doesn't feel like something intended for him to see; he doesn't comment. 

"Well, not like we can do anything about it," Asher says, and the sadness disappears from his face. "I assume the reason Chen is here is that you trust him, and the reason the other person is here is-- why."

Kaleva, putting more scrambled eggs onto his plate, really has the same question!

"His name is Kaleva." 

"I still don't know why he's here."

"Chen trusts him, I trust Chen, and I am not really in a situation to be picky about advisers I didn't inherit from my father."

That's.... quite an endorsement. Chen has no idea how to respond so instead he doesn't. 

"In the short term I'm not sure much changes. Your father's advisers will probably do fine telling you how to rule as your father did, and as long as nothing completely unprecedented happens you can be your father while we get enough understanding of Auradon to know what changes we want to make."

"That-- makes sense. I guess we were expecting my father to rule for another decade anyway, even if I'm technically in charge I don't necessarily have to do different policies until I'm ready."

"You can always ask your father for advice if you're not sure. Adults love that kind of thing."

"Nope. My dad's going on a cruise for two years after he abdicates, with no Internet reception."