Noble Maiden Fair:

Merida kept her bow at the ready every step of the way through the forest as Jack led her and Emma towards the hut where the Baba Yaga resided. None of the three really knew what to be prepared for, and so had to be prepared for anything. The only things they had to go on was the tips from the fairytale of Grandma Chickenlegs, and that would only (hopefully) take care of the security.

"So we're sure that the old hag's asleep, eh?" Merida whispered to Jack as they neared the clearing.

"Of course," Jack nodded, pointing at a ribbon of golden sand trickling through the air in the direction they were travelling in. "Sandy's Dreamsand knocks out even the lightest of sleepers. You should've seen the other Guardians the other year." That didn't make Merida feel any more confident — there were still the black chicken feathers to contend with, although there had been no sign of them in the forest. Jack hissed suddenly as he came to a halt in a tree. Merida ducked behind it as Emma floated up to her brother before they peered around into the next clearing.

There, standing on four crooked chicken-legs, was a small shack that barely qualified as a house. Around it, tangled tree branches swished and snatched threateningly; while the door creaked loudly.

"There it is," Jack muttered. "The lion's den itself."

"If it's werenae for the legs and the garden job, it might qualify as a nice little Wendy House," Merida shrugged. "Initiate Operation Break In, then?"

"Emma, you got a ribbon?" Jack whispered. Emma nodded and dug a pretty ice-blue ribbon from her pocket. "I've got the bread and butter…"

"An' I've got the bacon rashers," Merida checked. "It was good of your mum to get these for us." Jack smiled in agreement and gave his sister the signal, all the while gripping his staff tightly just in case things got dicey.

As soon as Emma got close the branches began snatching at her. Merida could hear Jack's breath hitching but the girl was nimble and quick and deftly tied a bow into the twigs with the ribbon. As she did, the branches calmed down and retreated away from the young spirit gently, as if taking a step back to admire its new accessory.

"Wow…I didn't expect that to actually work," Emma blinked in surprise. "I mean, I know practically every fairytale has some element of truth to them but I wasn't expecting it to be so accurate."

"I'll admit it, neither did I," Jack said. "Especially seeing as there are multiple stories about the Baba Yaga."

"So you hatched this plan on a hunch?" Merida snapped.

"Hey, let's count ourselves lucky it followed this version of the fairytale and not the one where she has two sisters that are also called 'Baba Yaga'," Jack protested. "I'll get the door."

Before Merida could berate him any further, Jack flew over to the door to the hut — he remembered in the fairytale that the door was supposed to act as an alarm of sorts for escaping victims of the witch. Luckily, Sandy had set a steady stream of golden Dreamsand into the hut which was hopefully keeping her asleep, but Jack did not want to take any chances with the door.

Working swiftly and praying that the butter hadn't frozen solid in his hands, Jack began rubbing the yellow substance onto the door's hinges, all the while making sure that he was well out of sight of the doorway from the inside. However, the butter was still firm and not serving well as a hinge lubricant.

"Hot-Head," Jack hissed. Merida pouted at him but nonetheless came over when he beckoned. "Melt my ice — the butter needs to be warmer."

"You sure?" Merida asked. Summer and Winter were opposite in many ways, including the fact that Merida could adjust heat to make water warmer whilst Jack made things colder. It seemed strange that, in some senses they could work with the same element but different aspects of it. But Merida was all too aware of the fact that Jack did not do well with heat.

"I'll be fine," Jack reassured. "Now help me with this breaking and entering."

Merida eventually complied, warming the frost that dusted Jack's skin as gently and carefully as she could. As the frost melted, she cupped her own hands to catch it, creating a small pool which Jack began to heat the butter over until it was pliable enough to use as a decent lubricant.

"Thanks," Jack whispered, rubbing the butter into the hinges until they fell silent. As they did, the trio crept into the hut. It was just like Jack remembered — eerily homely, with the weaving loom and kitchen and a bed behind a screen. As they entered, two figures stirred: a black cat and a dog.

"Ah!" Emma exclaimed softly. "There's the cat and dog!" Jack knelt down gently and dug the bread rolls out of his cloak, just as Merida followed suit and pulled out the bacon rashers. Cautiously, they held them out for the dog and the cat who initially sniffed the food suspiciously before they looked up at the trio with what looked like gratitude in their eyes.

"There you go," Merida whispered as the dog began chewing at the bacon. The cat began nibbling at the bread as Jack scratched it behind the ears, smiling as it begun to purr. All the while, there wasn't even so much of a stir coming from the bed as Sandy's Dreamsand kept Baba 'Valka' Yaga counting sheep.

With the animals suitably tamed, the door silenced and the trees calmed, the trio began to search the hut.

"So, what're we lookin' for?" Merida whispered.

"You check her cauldron…" Jack began.

"Mortar," Emma corrected.

"Same difference," Jack hissed. "When I was here last, just before your accidents, I saw your faces in it. There might be something in there."

"Alright," Merida nodded. "You two gonna look in her books, or somethin'?"

"It won't hurt, I guess," Emma shrugged. "Melt Jack's ice if you find something."

"Hey!"

Merida chuckled at Emma's little quip — even as an Aide she wasn't above shooting sibling-insults at her brother. Even with the animals occupied with food and all other security measures disabled, she still tiptoed around the hut, hoping that there weren't any stray creaky floorboards ("Hey, it's not my fault you're the only one out of us Four who can't fly.") as she went over to the mortar. There was a cloudy substance swirling inside it, with faded faces barely visible inside. Squinting, Merida could make out the Nordic Blonde face of Astrid, as well as the goateed Eugene.

"She really 'as been keeping tabs on us," she muttered to herself. "She's done 'er research, tha's for sure."

Merida kept searching the mortar intently, seeing if she could spot any sign of the one who could be tied to her. There was one other face, framed with long brunette hair. It was female, and somehow looked older than the others.

Merida was stunned. The face was fuzzy, but she could control water, couldn't she? Focusing her energies, she waved her hand over the surface of the substance in the mortar. The substance shimmered and smoothed to a glass-like surface, almost mirror-like. The face cleared and Merida froze.

The face was that of a more mature woman with deep brunette hair and hazel eyes, hair streaked with a single lock of grey.

The face belonged to Elinor Dunbroch.

"Mum?" Merida murmured in stunned shock. Her mother was her Aide? Why had the memories within the Seeing Lake shown her a bear? Had something happened when she was a Medieval Scottish princess? Magic had still been a part of the world then, right? Had something happened to the Elinor of that lifetime?

Merida's musing was interrupted when the substance swirled again, this time showing a new face. This one was also a more mature woman, and also another familiar face.

It was familiar because not long ago Merida had been fighting it.

"Hello?" an echoey voice sounded from the depths of the basin. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Jack!" Merida hissed. Jack and Emma shot over.

"What is it?" Emma whispered but Jack had already seen what Merida had seen.

"Isn't that…?" he stammered.

"Valka…" Merida whispered. The woman's face kept crying out.

"Please! Help me! My son… He's in danger! I need to help him!" she begged.

"So she's still in there," Merida muttered. "Hiccup was right after all." Jack gave his friend a stern look.

"If we can break the Baba Yaga's hold over her, we might be able to get her back," he promised. "We'll tell Hiccup about this when we meet up at the statue. Did you find your Aide?" Merida nodded.

"It's my mum…" she said softly. "I…I never expected that. Hiccup and Astrid are so close with Astrid and Eugene, so are you an' Em," she added. "But me and Mum…we've no' exactly been close since I was small."

"It's not necessarily just relationships in this life that defines things," Jack explained. "Maybe you were closer in your previous mortal life?"

"If the Seeing Lake was anything to go by, she somehow turned into a bear!" Merida hissed. There was a sound of stirring so she pulled Jack and Emma back out of the house. They couldn't risk being seen. Thankfully, the tree was still preoccupied with its new ribbon and didn't seem to notice them, or didn't bother, so they were able to travel a fair distance away from the house before they deemed it safe enough to continue the conversation.

"You were saying something about your mom turning into a bear?" Jack winced.

"I donnae have the full details of what 'appened," Merida shrugged.

"Maybe you helped her get back to normal?" Emma suggested. "Either way, she's another Constant. She might just be the best chance of being your Aide at this point." Merida sighed. The young girl had a point — at any rate, if her mother was showing up in the Baba Yaga's mortar, then she was nonetheless in danger. She had to find her.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll find her and try to see if I can get her to see me. I'll meet you guys at the statue."

Jack and Emma wished Merida luck as she jumped into a puddle of melted snow to teleport back into town at a quick pace. In the meantime, they decided to track down the rest of the Guardians to report their findings, unaware that back in the house in the woods the Baba Yaga had woken up in a furious rage to find that her security measures had betrayed her and let her prey slip right from her grasp.

Merida had already been to her house, only to find that although her father and three brothers were inside her mother had been nowhere to be found in there. She'd overheard a snippet of conversation that suggested that Elinor was at the hospital visiting her comatose daughter — remembering what had been said about the Baba Yaga despising hospitals, Merida was happy in the knowledge that her mother was safe for now but she still had to move quickly.

With a small trail of wisps following her as she skimmed through the town, Merida bit her lip as she spotted Rapunzel tear down an alley — hopefully the girl could take of whatever needed taking care of without her help. Knowing how well she could handle a frying pan, Merida wasn't overly worried about her friend. Moving her gaze to the hospital nearby, she spotted a single window with a light still shining inside.

"Please be her, please be her…" the redhead prayed under her breath as she began scanning the building for a way up — she eventually spotted a drainpipe. Turning to the Wisps, she indicated the window. "Go ahead an' make sure tha's open, will you?" she asked. Three glowing balls of blue light shot up towards the window, unseen by the passersby in the streets and anyone who might still be around, as Merida began carefully climbing up the drainpipe on the side of the building.

As she reached the window with the light shining through it, Merida froze for a moment. The light was coming from a singular bedside, but it wasn't in one of the normal patient wards. Through the window, Merida could see life support machines, three of which were occupied.

She could see Hiccup's face, horribly burned and missing most of his hair.

She could see Rapunzel's brunette pixie crop, matted from lack of care and her body wrapped in a cast.

She could see her own tangled mane of red, with most of what was visible of her body wrapped in bandages.

They were all in bad shape, and they had mere hours to be saved.

Merida's attention stayed on her bedside, as that was where the light was coming from. Creeping through the opened window and closing it before anyone noticed, she walked over, unseen, to jin the visitor at her own bedside.

Elinor Dunbroch.

"Merida…" the woman whispered. "The doctors…are telling us all that we have to hope for the best tomorrow," she sobbed, tears clogging her throat. Merida stood by with her own heart breaking. "They don't know…if you're going to wake up. So they've told us to…to prepare for the worst."

Merida could see her mother's distraught face, stained with tears and hazel eyes bloodshot from crying.

"I'm so sorry, my dear," Elinor continued. "I wish that…I wish the last time we spoke hadn't happened the way it did." Merida remembered. The last time she'd spoken to her mother had been their argument following the second round of the dance contest. It seemed so long ago, and yet still rang so clear in her memory. Her heart was aching with a regret that she'd somehow repressed for all these weeks.

"Mum…I'm here," she muttered almost desperately. "How can I get you to see…?"

"We miss you so much, my Noble Maiden Fair," Elinor said softly, stroking the matted hair on her daughter's head. Merida's heart panged — she remembered the lullaby that her mother would sing her whenever there was a thunderstorm (she'd been scared of lightning as a child): it had been called Noble Maiden Fair. She remembered the stories that her mother used to tell her: stories of magic and wonder. Stories of little spirits that would guide those who believed to their Fate…

Merida froze. The spirits her mother had told her stories about were Wisps. She remembered asking her mother if she believed in them… At the time, Elinor had said 'yes'.

"Goodbye, Merida," Elinor whispered as she placed one last kiss on her daughter's forehead. Merida began to panic — the minute Elinor stepped outside the hospital, she would be at risk of being attacked by the Baba Yaga's magic…and the witch wouldn't sleep forever, even under Sandy's power. She had to work quick…but Elinor was an adult. Hadn't there been something about anyone above the age of eighteen not being able to see the supernatural even if they did believe?

But hadn't someone mentioned something about Wisps being rebels?

"Go!" Merida hissed at the floating smoky-blue lights by her side. They shot after Elinor, who by now had reached the door but something made her stop in her tracks. Merida took a deep breath and began manipulating the Wisps almost like a puppeteer, making them form shapes and move in ways that she felt necessary to get her mother's attention.

A burst of blue light flitted in and out of Elinor's vision and she gasped slightly, spinning back around into the ward. She had to be seeing things…for a moment she thought she'd seen…

There it went again, hovering by her daughter's bedside. Elinor's eyes widened in surprise — that light had been cyan blue, and wispy like smoke. She watched closely as it appeared again, in a humanoid silhouette with an oversized head and tiny arms, with no visible legs.

Elinor had heard tales of these creatures as a child, and had passed those stories on to her daughter. All her life, she had believed in some form of magic, although her husband teased her constantly about it. There was no mistaking those creatures.

That was a Will o' Wisp.

Elinor had believed in these guiding lights since she was a child, and had always believed that she'd seen some in and around her childhood home. As soon as she saw the one by her daughter's bedside, she felt drawn back into the room as more of the lights began to appear. They all remained by her daughter's still, lifeless body, as if leading her back to her side.

"Merida?"

Merida heaved a small sigh of relief — her mother had seen the Wisps. She was heading back into the room.

Knowing that this was her only chance, Merida directed the Wisps into different shapes than their usual candle-like silhouettes. One of them shaped itself into what looked like a young girl, and another into a woman — a mother and child.

More specifically, Elinor and Merida.

Elinor's breath hitched as she saw the Wisps change shape into what was undeniably her and her daughter when she had been small. They were happy, chasing each other around an unseen glen and dancing around an imaginary field. Elinor's face broke into a nostalgic smile as she laughed at the memory of happy times, tears starting to leak from her hazel eyes as the Wisps showed Merida and her throughout her daughter's life.

Every hug.

Every kiss.

Every laugh.

Merida found herself crying. She'd delved into the happiest memories she could think of, and the Wisps reacted as they came back to her. She realised exactly how close she'd been to her mother throughout her life, and began to see exactly why the woman was her Aide instead of perhaps her father. She felt horrible for the way she'd behaved towards her mother…she missed her more than she realised.

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Mum…" the redhead choked as a sob got caught in her throat. The Wisps began dancing around Elinor, making her reach out like a playful child as if to touch the magic Merida knew her mother to have believed in almost her whole life. As the woman's hand caught the blue spirits, it scattered like tiny fireworks, creating river-like ribbons of blue and red light intermingling with each other.

"I love you so much…" Merida whispered to herself.

"I love you so much…"

Elinor's silent crying caught itself in a hiccough as she heard the voice, barely louder than a whisper. She watched the Wisps dance around her in ribbons of light, and heard the whisper repeat itself over and over.

She knew that voice.

"Merida?" she murmured, turning back towards her daughter's bedside.

Merida gasped sharply. The way her mother had just said her name… It was a if…

"Wha…? You just said… You said that as if you'd… You said…"

Merida watched as her mother turned around. Initially, the woman's gaze fell on the bed where her mortal body lay, but it quickly moved upwards towards the window where Merida was sitting.

As their eyes met, Elinor's face lit up with shock and awe.

"Merida?!" she gasped. Merida hopped off the windowsill and began walking over. There it was again — that tone of voice that suggested that Elinor had heard her and knew she was there.

"You said it tha' way again!" Merida spluttered, tripping over her words. "You…said it like you heard me…"

Elinor's hands had drifted to her mouth, unable to believe was she was seeing but nonetheless in utter amazement that she was seeing it.

Wait…

"Can…Mum, can you hear me?" Merida asked softly. Elinor replied with a small nod as she hands began to lower themselves away from her face. Merida's eyes lit up and not from the lights given off by the Wisps. "Can… Can you see me?"

Elinor nodded again. As she did, Merida's face broke into the biggest smile it had ever made since she had received her acceptance letter to Moonstone Academy.

"Oh, my Go… You see me!" she cried with joy. "Mum! You can see me!"

Overjoyed, Merida ran into her mother's arms and began to cry tears she didn't even realise she was holding back. In return, Elinor wrapped her arms protectively around the now-solid spirit of her daughter and planted as many kisses she could on her face and into her wild curls of red.

"How's this possible?" Elinor sobbed, unable to keep the happiness out of her voice.

"M…magic…" Merida replied. "It's real, Mum…"

It felt like an age before the two finally separated from their embrace and Merida could finally explain the situation to her mother. Amazingly, Elinor was astonishingly accepting of her daughter's explanation — this was probably helped by the fact that she had long been a believer in the existence of some form of magic.

No manner of explanation could stop either from apologising profusely to the other about their relationship as mother and daughter before the accident. But as Elinor promised to support her daughter in whatever path she chose in life and Merida promised to listen to her mother, they knew that they could at least start trying to make things better.

"So how're you planning to defeat this… Baba Yaga?" Elinor asked, casting a nervous look at the mortal body of her daughter — no amount of belief was going to change how strange it was to also have her daughter's spirit sitting right next to her.

"I need your help, Mum," Merida said in reply. "All of us… Rapunzel, Hiccup, Jack and I…we're the new Season Spirits. We've got 'elpers called Aides an' you're apparently mine." Elinor asked how she could help, or indeed any of the Aides. "You keep our powers in check and also somehow amplify them, I guess? We've barely got any control over all…this…" Merida rambled as she poked a nearby glass of water, the water in which then proceeded to snake around her wrist like a ribbon. "…so we cannae exactly go full out in case we throw all nature outta whack, but we need to be stronger in order to put things right."

Elinor nodded in understanding and brought her daughter into another hug. Although neither of them knew exactly what to do, she could at least let her know that she was going to be by there side regardless of what was going to happen.

For now, she had her daughter back. And she was going to do everything in her power to get her back completely.