Merida woke up to the usual sounds of any morning in the castle; Maudie shouting at her brothers for stealing the breakfast tarts, the wind blowing through the DunBroch trees, and a blue bird chirping outside Merida's window. Of course, the latter never usually happened, but it was a nice surprise.
The redheaded princess stood up and walked towards the open window. The little bird was small enough to fit inside her hand, but Merida just stroked the feathers on top of its head. It chirped happily as Merida smiled, thinking about her dream (though it wasn't so much of a dream as it was a memory).
Yes, it had happened before, but then when she was still a child she had no idea that she would actually have to marry one of them.
Such impeccable timing thought the young princess, that I had to remember that specific afternoon the very same day that the clans would be arriving.
Merida's attention was focused back on the blue bird.
"You're pretty lucky, you know?" she said as the bird looked up at her with beady black eyes, "You get to fly around all day, as free as you want. But me—"
Her finger found the birds neck and stroked it, making it chirp again. Having it around was peaceful; a great distraction for what she had to face later that day.
The bird stood still for a short time, and stared up at Merida, as if to say, "It's going to be fine, princess. Just have some faith."
She gave a short chuckle, and the bird flew off, leaving Merida staring out onto the skyline. Far away, she could see ships riding across the bay moving closer to DunBroch.
She sighed, and sat down on her bed. Merida was going to have to do this, whether she liked it or not.
The gown that Merida's mother had forced her into was—restraining, to say the least—she had never done anything like this before; she was to used to the freedom of the dark green dress that she wore everyday. She also missed the feeling of her bow and arrow in her hand, and the freedom she had when she shot through her target in the forest.
"Merida?" said her mother, snapping her out of her daze.
"Um—what is it, mum?"
The queen looked as if she had no idea what to say, but just smiled. "You look like a proper lady. I just—feel so proud."
If proper ladies couldn't breathe through damn corsets, then I'd prefer not to.
She stared at her mother, and while the queen was just observing her to see how she looked, Merida sort of gave her mother a look that said, "I'm sorry. I don't want to do this."
"My ladies!" Came Maudie's voice from the open door, "The Lords are here!"
The queen turned towards the maid. "Oh, um—yes, well, please tell them to wait outside the castle. Merida and I will be down to meet them in a minute."
Maudie ran down the stone steps and was gone, leaving the queen and the princess alone together once more.
"I think I'll go downstairs to your father. If you want to stay, just remember that you have to be in the Great Hall before the horn sounds, alright?"
Merida took no notice of what her mother had just said.
Seeing her daughter like this depressed Elinor. She never wanted it to happen like this, but she had to. It was going to happen sometime, sooner or later.
"Merida," she said, "I know you don't want to do this, but—"
The princess stared at her mother with pleading blue eyes; the eyes of her father. "You know I don't mum."
She stroked a rebellious strand of hair out of her daughter's face. "Just—have some faith, alright?"
Merida was in a weak state that nobody had ever seen her in before, and was only willing to share her weakness with her mother. "If you want, mum—I'll try."
They both walked out of the room and into the Great Hall, and soon the clans had entered into the castle.