Chapter 11:
Omniscient P.O.V:
Bhaltair looked around their new home in amazement. It was beautiful. The afternoon sunshine reflected off of the pool in the center, making little glimmers of light fly bounce over the trees and the ground. Whenever Bhaltair looked into the pool, it was full of fish! They had food and water right there. The whole clearing was shady, but they all decided to sleep in the last of the afternoon sunshine. Elinor and Bhaltair crawled into one of the sun-beds, and the triplets got in separate spots. They fell asleep quickly, Elinor and Bhaltair curled up together in a little ball.
They were woken up the next morning by the sound of the flowing falls. The village on the other side of the water fall was in an uproar about some new girl that had just arrived. Apparently, she had hair as red as fire and eyes as blue as ice.
The bears caught fish from the pool and had breakfast, and Elinor sent the boys off to play for a while. Meanwhile, she and Bhaltair decided to make proper beds, as the sun wouldn't always be out for them to sleep in. They collected giant amounts of moss from the top of the falls, where they flowed out. It wasn't an easy task.
"Bhaltair, watch out!" Elinor cried. He almost fell into the falls. His mouth was full of soft moss, and he couldn't see where he was going. Regaining his balance, he said slyly,"I meant to do that." They both laughed, and then Bhaltair had an idea.
"Elinor, why don't we get back to the clearing the easy way?"
"And how would that be, darling?" He nodded his head towards the falls, and Elinor's eyes got wide.
"You can't be serious."
"Oh, yes I am!" Without another word, he pushed Elinor into the water, and she slid down the falls, screaming all the way down. Soon, he heard a splash. "That was amazing!" she called. "You have to try it!" He smiled, glad he could brighten her day. "Okay, watch out! I'm coming!" He jumped into the water, and the current pushed him down the falls until he was in midair, nothing but the water around him. "YEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" he shouted. Then, before he knew it, he was underwater. He climbed out and shook his fur dry. "Bhaltair, watch where you shake!" Elinor yelled. "Sorry." He laid the moss on the ground. Their fall into the water had gotten it soaking wet. "Now our moss is wet!" Elinor complained. "Don't worry. The sun will dry it. Let's go arrange it now so it can get warm and toasty." They picked up their moss and walked over to the sun-beds and arranged it in four circles: one very large bed for Bhaltair and Elinor to share, and three tiny ones for the boys. "Wait a second," Elinor said suddenly. "What if it rains? These holes in the trees will let rainwater soak us! We need more moss so we can make beds under shelter." Bhaltair sighed. "Back to the falls we go."
Merida's P.O.V:
Angus and I ran through the forest. We passed many places I remembered, like the river Mum and I fished from, and the path that led to Mor'Du's ruin-home. I kept going though, even though the river brought back memories that made me teary. "Stupid tears," I muttered out loud as we rode. Did I mention that I hate getting weepy? Well, I do.
I felt Angus get slower, and I knew he must've gotten tired. "You thirsty, lad?" He neighed, as if saying yes. So, I got a canteen out and held it in front of his face. He took it in his mouth and flipped his head up to the sky and drank it all. "Now that's one trick I don't think I've seen you do," I told him. He swished his tail in my face playfully, and I climbed on him again and we took off.
After a while, we found a clearing. It looked like something small had been sleeping there. Then I spotted the little tunnel that led to the creek. When I got to the creek, I refilled my empty canteen and sat down. I looked around and saw a big circle in the grass where something had been sleeping. It was almost... bear sized. I gasped as I remembered that I was supposed to be looking for Mum and the boys! Well, Mum was definitely here at some point, and the boys must've slept in the clearing. But why would Mum separate herself from the boys?
I walked back through the tunnel and climbed on Angus. "C'mon, boy. I think we're close to finding Mum." With that, we rode off again.
About thirty minutes later, I came to an opening in the forest. We walked out of it and into the afternoon sun. "Let's stop here, boy." I climbed off of him and got out an apple for me. Then I sprinkled some oats on the ground for Angus. He gobbled them up happily. Then he tried to eat my apple. I hit him lightly on the head. "That's mine, silly!" I pulled out an apple for him and tossed it to him. He ate it in one bite, then collapsed on the ground and fell asleep. I yawned and got a quick drink from my canteen. "Good thinking, boy. I'm a wee bit tired, too." I found a nice, fluffy patch of grass, and I was asleep in seconds, or so it felt like.
We woke up the next morning to the sun shining in our faces. I sighed and got up and stretched. "What a wake-up call," I groaned, trying to get the spots out of my eyes from where the sun hit me in the face. I pulled out a carrot and chomped it down while Angus had some oats. Then, we rode off again.
I heard voices, and they were close. "Maybe it's a village," I said. I kept riding, and sure enough, I found a village. Off in the distance, there was a huge waterfall. I could tell there was a bit of forest behind the falls. "We'll have to look there later," I told Angus. We trotted up to the gate of the village, and the guard stopped us. "Who goes there?" I hopped off of Angus and walked up to him. "I am Merida, princess of DunBroch, daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor." He dropped the spear that he was pointing at me and bowed. "Sorry about that, princess. Right this way." He motioned for us to go through the gate, so we walked in slowly. Pretty soon, people started appearing, looking at us like they had never seen a girl and a horse before. They started whispering to each other, and I knew it was about me. I didn't know what their problem was, but I was going to find out why they were treating me like something special. As far as I knew, they didn't know I was a princess. But maybe they did somehow. Suddenly, a big, muscly man approached us and bowed. He wasn't anything fancy. He was just a random person, I figured. But he was extremely handsome. He had the eyes the color of spring grass, bright green. His hair was short, black, and spiky, and he was shirtless, so I could see his muscular upper body. I realized that I was staring, so I looked away, blushing. "Hello, Merida." he said in a very deep voice.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"I'm the town's psychic. I know everything." He smiled, and I laughed a little.
"So what brings you here?" I didn't want to tell him that I was searching for my future husband, so I just said, "I just wanted to be alone, do some thinking, explore a little."
"I see. Would you like a room to stay in while you're here?"
"Thank you!"
"You're very welcome. Come with me." I followed him to a barn with a lot of horses. "This is where your horse can stay." I led Angus inside and got him settled, then I followed the man to a nice little cottage on a hill. "Here's where you'll be staying," he said as we walked inside. It was very large on the inside, and it had a full kitchen and bathroom. "This is very nice!" I said. "Thank you again." He started walking out the front door, but before he was gone, he said, "Come see me in my psychic hut tonight. It's the third hut on the left." And he was gone.
