It had been a number of years since the bear incident, four to be exactly. Meridia was twenty, unmarried, and at the moment, furious.
"Ah shood rule th' clan, I'm th' first born!" Meridia shouted, her hair springing angrily around her. It was an argument they'd had frequently as Meridia had gotten older, about who would lead the clan when her father finally decided to pass down the responsibility. Though this argument was much more intense than usual, Elinor had the exact same response as the many other times.
"No, Meridia." she maintained wearily from her throne. Meridia might admire her mother's stubbornness in other cases, now she was less than ecstatic about it.
"But why!" argued Meridia, her flaming brows furrowing.
"Because you're a girl!" Her mother bellowed, breaking her calm façade, and drawing the attention of her three son who were in the corner setting up another one of their never-ending pranks.
"Because marrying who you want to is one thing, but leading a whole clan? That's insane Meridia! The other clans would never allow it, you'd be overthrown!" Meridia's misty eyes widened.
"This is all about what the other clans think? Wha-"
"No, it's about what your father says, and he's made his decision!" Meridia's breath caught in her throat. Whatever she had been saying all but left her mind.
"H-he's come ta' a decision?" She stuttered out, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. Elinor nodded gravely. She loved her Meridia just as much as her husband did, but they needed to think about the good of the clan, and not just the good of themselves.
"We decided last night that when Hamish, Harris, and Hubert come of age, we will have them compete to prove which one is worthy enough to lead the clan." the three being spoken of listened in on the conversation from the sidelines, and shared a look as they watched the two fight. They were just nine right now, but in seven short years they would be sixteen, of age, and if their mother was telling the truth (And mother was always right, so of course she was) then one of them would have to start leading the clan in seven years. The three had always just assumed that their sister would handle that. She was strong, smart, and quick tongued, all qualities of great leaders, so why couldn't she lead? The mischievous triplets snuck closer to get more information on what was happening.
"So yer jus' gonna what? Toss meh to th' side? I was born ta' lead, and i'll prove it. I'll prove it to ye all!" Meridia yelled, her face a bright red, and her breathing harsh.
The front doors burst open at that moment, and her father burst in, a few flurries of snow following him.
"Ahaha, the frost spirit has visited us today!" He announced joyously, rubbing the snowflakes off his beard. Merdia shot forward, and ran towards the doors.
'That's it!' she thought 'I'll find the frost spirit! If I can find him, I can stop winter, and then crops will never die! Our clan will never go hungry, and the clans will know that I can do anything!' She sprinted past her father, and ignored her mother's shouts of her name. She was going to lead this clan one day, no matter what.
Outside, the ground was covered in a layer of white, but she had boots on. She wouldn't let anything stop her. Not even her parents. She made it to the stable like lightning, and hopped atop the first horse she saw. Without glancing back at the stable she sprang forward, and to the gates of their village.
"Meridia come back!" her mother called out, amidst a sea of villagers who came out to see what was going on.
"I can't mom, I've got to do this!" Meridia stopped her horse for a moment to answer.
"Do what?" Her father asked stepping forward, to try and catch so he could get her off the horse. Meridia saw his move, and nudged the horse on the side. As the passed the gates Merida hollered back,
"I've got to catch the frost spirit!" She heard her mother yell something about him not being real, about him just being a figure of speech, but Meridia ignored her. If she could follow will o' the wisps to her fate, and turn her mother into a bear, catching a frost spirit wouldn't be as out of reach as her mother thought. With that thought in mind Meridia rode off towards the forest, pulling the fabrics of her dress closer as the cold wind nipped at her exposed skin.
AN- This is a fanfic that I'm writing for The-traveling-frost over on tumblr. Sorry I know it's short, but it's just the prologue,I had to go ahead, and get all the exposition out of the way. I'll have the first chapter up tomorrow afternoon.