SPECIAL A/N, READ IT:
Disclaimer: I have no claim over the intellectual property of Brave.
It was halfway through spring; the witch was back in the forest, and the episode of the bear curse long behind the people of DunBroch. One day, when Merida was riding Angus by a cove, she noticed something. A large, black raven staring at her, it was very unnerving. Merida hopped off Angus, and the raven flew off.
But it was where it flew to that drew her attention.
The raven landed on a small boat, or, rather, what was left. A pole and other fragments were left, and as she walked over there, the raven seemed to be interested in something.
That something turned out to be a girl.
Her skin is slightly darker than Merida's and she had black hair. She looked older than Merida too.
"Hello?" Merida asks, poking the girl with her bow, which she always carried.
"Ugh…who are you?" the girl asked groggily, with a wisp of a strange, foreign accent.
"Merida, princess of DunBroch…Scotland," Merida answered.
"Oh good, then I know where I am. I'm Kenda," the girl said, meeting Merida's light, bright blue eyes with her own grey ones. And they held coldness, not the warmth she seemed to be trying to show. Merida notices the clothing she's wearing is in tatters, holes all over the place, and she had…a bow. Kenda catches her staring.
"That's my bow, unfortunately the arrows got swept away with the rest of the boat," Kenda said, standing up, and holding her bow. Merida stood straight up, and she has to tilt her head to stare into Kenda's eyes. Kenda's eyes were just above Merida's head.
"Where are ye from?" Merida finally asks, after getting over that the foreigner is taller than her.
"Nowhere near here. Are you going to take me, princess, to your castle? Or should I just stay here?" Kenda asked, raising an eyebrow. Merida huffed, and walked back to Angus. Angus gave Kenda a look of nervousness. But he gave a look of pure terror to the raven.
"If you go slowly, I'll just follow you," Kenda said to Merida. Merida hopped onto Angus, the burly black horse with white in his face and had socks, began walking. As Kenda followed, Merida decided to leave her; after all, this girl was very rude to her. As she had Angus cantering, which he was glad to do, she didn't notice the raven was right above her.
When she stopped at the stables and got off Angus.
"Looks like we lost her, Angus," Merida said, panting from the adrenaline.
"Not really," Kenda says, startling Merida. She tosses a bag of oats to Merida. Kenda is sweaty, but barely winded.
"How-" Merida began, but Kenda cut her off.
"I ran. Your horse isn't the quietest. I'll just go meet your parents. See y'all." And she walked off.
What are y'all? Merida thinks. This foreigner just gets weirder and weirder. Merida shook her head.
When Merida finished putting Angus up, she went up to the castle, as she approached the dining hall/throne room, she heard voices.
"Aye, ye can stay here as long as ye need!" Merida heard King Fergus, her father, say. She walked in.
Fergus and Queen Elinor, her mother, were sitting on their thrones, with Kenda starting to stand.
"Merida!" Elinor said, "Kenda says you brought here from a cove."
"Kinda…," Merida mutters.
Later, at dinner, Kenda had been invited to be with the family.
"So, Kenda," Elinor started, "where are ye from?" Merida knew Kenda wouldn't answer…or at least give a straight answer.
"That's not relevant. It's far from here anyways," Kenda said tersely. Elinor seemed a bit taken aback by the answer, and even Merida, who had had to deal with her earlier, was surprised. Earlier, she had an air of arrogance, now, it was anger and annoyance. Kenda seemed to compose herself.
"Sorry, but my is Kenda and that's all you need to know…," Kenda trailed off.
"So…uh…what are ye wearin'?" Fergus asked. Elinor smacks him. Kenda giggles, sounding human.
"Ah…clothing. Just some trousers and a shirt I was given before boarding the ship…which crashed…" Queen Elinor looked a bit shocked when Kenda said trousers, but to Merida, it made sense. It didn't look like a dress or kilt anyhow. Plus, it defiantly said she wasn't Scottish…wait…
"How are ye able to understand and speak to us?" Merida asked. Kenda shrugged.
"Well, it'd be bad to not know the language. I can speak a few languages…three? I think, so…what're y'all lookin' at?" Kenda asked, as everyone had started looking at her after she said how many languages she spoke.
"Well…," Kenda started, pushing her half-finished plate away, "I'm tired, so where am I staying?" Kenda asked, suddenly nervous. Fergus called Maudie.
"I have one question though," Elinor said, "how old are ye?"
"Eighteen, I was born in early spring," Kenda answered as Maudie led her to her room.
The next day, Lord Dingwall along with his son, Eoghan Dingwall, arrived.
"Hello princess," Eoghan said.
"Hello…Dingwall," Merida said, smiling nervously.
"Call me Eoghan, 'tis me name, after all," Eoghan says. As the two walked around the castle, Merida couldn't get rid of him; Merida finally asked why he was here.
"Well, father has business with yer father, and he decided I needed to spend time with ye."
"Oh…I suppose that makes sense."
"Who is that?" Eoghan asked, pointing out at the archery yards as they approached them. They were behind the said archer by a good bit, a few several yards. Hopefully the person couldn't hear them.
"Kenda…our guest," Merida said bitterly.
That's when Kenda got all twenty arrows, Merida counted, into the bullseye in less than a minute.
"She's good…," Eoghan commented, amazed.
"Looks like I have competition," Merida said with her mouth agape.