Magnus needed to be there for Merida no matter what. As the two reluctantly paddled their way inside once all four clans had all raised their weapons, about ready to charge at each other, they all immediately settled down once they saw the princess and her supposed suitor who had won the games, even after only one match, calmly march forward toward the enormous king.

"What are you two doing?" asked Fergus, confused.

"It's alright, dad." The princess assured her father.

"Where the devil have you been, boy?" demanded Lord MacGuffin toward Magnus, dangerously directing his sword at him, but the dark-haired boy was unfazed.

"The princess needed company after what went down yesterday and that's what she got." explained Magnus.

"I, uh…..I have….." The royal princess of Dun'Broch started her announcement towards the clans, clearly having some trouble finding her words. Like her father, she was no good at public speeches herself, either. Though Magnus could relate. It's really tough to speak out loud to an entire crowd full of people focused on you. Meanwhile, Elinor carefully watched from the doors behind the crowd as she tried to think of how she was going to get herself up those steps into the tapestry room.

"Well, I have…." With Merida struggling, Magnus looked to see her worried expression silently screaming at him to help her out.

"What she's saying is that she…." He sighed, scratching his hair and sweating with perseverance. "...she's been in conference with the queen."

"Is that so?" inquired Lord Dingwall, climbing over the table used for a wall for his clan's fort.

"Aye, it is." Merida nodded.

"Well, where is she, then?" ordered Lord MacGuffin, shoving the table to his fort aside as he, as well, stepped forth.

"She, uh…."

"How do we know that this isn't some trick?" Lord Macintosh asked skeptically as he joined the other two clan leaders in stepping toward the two, giving them the evil eye.

"I'd never…!"

"This is highly irregular."

"Where is the queen?!"

"We will not stand for any more of this jiggery-pokery!"

With the three lords cornering her and attacking the princess with their impatient demands, Magnus was starting to get even more stressed as she was right now. All this whining and complaining and indistinct badgering was putting a lot of weight on his nerves until he could stand it no more.

"EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP!" came that extremely loud, echoing, ear-piercing angered scream that thundered from Magnus's mouth toward every single individual in the room and just like that, a huge silence fell upon the Great Hall followed by a pregnant pause when everyone quite instantly quieted down as soon as the archer teen screamed with massive fury so much that even Merida jumped at the volume of his voice, staring at him with great shock that almost froze her on the spot.

However, she got back on track as soon as she realized that Elinor took advantage of all the focus on them to quietly tip-toe toward the stairs, urging them to continue. "I, uh…...uh…"

Suspicious, Lord Macintosh turned around to see what she could be staring at. Thankfully, Elinor quickly stood in front of a bear statue and halted to strike the same pose as the statue to avoid detection.

"Once there was an ancient kingdom…"

"What is this?" complained Lord MacGuffin.

"Let her finish!" barked Magnus.

"...that kingdom fell into war and chaos and ruin…"

"Oh, we've all heard that tale. Lost kingdom." Lord Macintosh groaned with a roll of his eyes.

"Aye, but it's true." The redhead insisted. "I know now how one selfish act can turn the fate of a kingdom."

"Bah, it's just a legend." Lord MacGuffin scoffed.

"Legends are lessons." spoke Merida with great virtue and wisdom, something she learned from her mother. Elinor stopped in her tracks to eye her daughter curiously, surprised by her stubborn daughter's words. "They ring with truths. Our kingdom is young. Our stories are not yet legend. But, in them, our bond was struck. Our clans were once enemies."

"But when invaders threatened us from the sea, you all came together to defend the lands as one." Magnus backed her up, remembering Elinor's history lesson to him days ago. The Elinor bear now seemed surprised and impressed. "You fought for each other."

"Aye!" Merida agreed with a quick nod. "You risked everything for each other. Lord MacGuffin, my dad saved your life, stopping an arrow as you ran to Dingwall's aid."

"Aye, and I'll never forget it." The ash blond-haired lord agreed with a heavy heart.

"And Lord Macintosh, you saved my dad when you charged in on heavy horse and held off the advance. And we all know how Lord Dingwall broke the enemy line."

"With a mighty throw of his spear!" Lord Macintosh proudly declared.

"I was aiming at you, you big tumshie!"

They all shared a good laugh, actually starting to agree on something with one another.

"I know the story of this kingdom is a powerful one." Magnus put in. "Fergus rallied your forces and you made him your king. It was an alliance forged in bravery and friendship."

The Bear King himself stood with pride from where he stood, drinking in the teens' speech with dignity and gratitude.

"And it lives to his day." added Merida.

Looking back where her mother was standing in the back of their audience, she could tell that she, too, was showing gratitude. Her daughter was finally learning for once, learning the importance of their kingdom and everything they stand for. By now, Merida began to look back on the errors she's made that had led to the current events in the first place. All this time, she's wanted to follow her own path and be her own person, even fighting against her mother and her ideals just to achieve it, but she never once considered how her choices affected others, including her mother. Not only that, but Magnus had been involuntarily dragged into the mess she started herself.

"But I've been selfish. I tore a great rift in our kingdom. There's no one to blame but me." She continued, now in a more somber tone as she casted remorseful glance at Magnus, which he smiled in response. "And I know now that I need to amend my mistake and mend our bond. And so, there is the matter of my betrothal."

Elinor suddenly started flailing her arms to get her attention when she began to get to the subject about her marriage, since it's what caused the confusion to begin with and may or may not make things worse. Even Magnus looked at her with frightened despair, hoping she didn't say anything to offend the lords or their sons.

"I've decided to do what's right. And….." She finally noticed Elinor trying to communicate, who mimed the words for her to speak. "...break tradition."

Everyone was understandably gobsmacked and confused by this, but Magnus decided to proceed for her, making sure to follow Elinor's lead from afar.

"Indeed. Her mother, the queen, feels…...in her heart…...that we should be free to…..write our own story,...follow our hearts…..and find love in our own time."

Elinor smiled warmly. Merida looked toward her best friend, who's been by her side since the beginning despite everything she's put him through. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks, unbeknownst to her, when she smiled with a feeling of butterflies in her stomach to think that this whole time, maybe she's finally someone of her own. But could Magnus feel the same way about her? A stubborn, snarky and rude princess with the worst table manners and an attitude that most men would find unattractive? Magnus assured her of his feelings and answered her voiceless question with a smile of his own, staring deep into her baby blue eyes and she stared back.

"That's…..beautiful." sniffed a sobbing Lord Dingwall, voice breaking as all three lords broke down into tears.

"The queen and I put the decision to you, my lords." Merida continued. "Might our young people decide for themselves who they will love?"

"Huh?"

"Well, since you've obviously made up your minds about this, I have one thing to say. This is-!" Lord Macintosh was about to voice his argument when his son cut him off.

"A grand idea!" cried the young Macintosh with a glowing grin on his face. Magnus appeared both surprised and thankful that the pretty boy of the three suitors was starting to think maturely for once. "Give us our own say in choosing our fate!"

"What?!" snapped Lord Macintosh with disbelief.

"Aye, why shouldn't we choose?" asked the young Dingwall, who is mostly stuck in a mindless daze for little to no reason, in a squeaky voice.

"But she's the princess!" His father argued.

"I didn't pick her out. It was your idea." The skinny boy disputed.

"And you." The lord MacGuffin stared towards his own son. "You feel the same way?"

Like before, the brawny boy was nervous about having attention thrown his way and started to talk with his thick accent and voiced his thoughts out loud in a rushed manner, which, again, nobody understood, except for Magnus. Merida let out a giggle and her mother appeared to finally be proud of her.

"Well, that settles it." Lord MacGuffin debated, throwing an arm around his son. "Let these boys try to win her heart before they win her hand. If they can."

"I say, the wee Dingwall has a fighting chance." Lord Dingwall stated with bold confidence.

"Fine, then!" replied Lord Macintosh. "Seems for once we agree! It was my idea in the first place."

Earning a playful punch on the shoulder by Dingwall, everyone shared a good hearty laugh together and the lords gave a bow in respect to their princess. What no one could see, is that a guard standing the closest to Elinor began to suspect something behind him and the bear queen reassumed the position once he turned to face her. Fergus approached the two teens, resting a giant hand on both their shoulders.

"Just like your mum, you devil." He grinned at his daughter. "You two make quite the pair."

But then Magnus nudged his friend to look where his worried eyes were and she gasped to see that the guard was inspecting Elinor to find anything fishy. In her hurried haste to distract the crowd, Merida quickly shouted out the first idea she could think of.

"EVERYONE! To the cellar! Let's crack open the king's private reserves to celebrate!"

With that suggestion, everyone cheered with excitement and started their way outwards to the castle's cellar while Fergus covertly instructed a servant to bring the tiny glasses. It took a while for everyone to evacuate the Great Hall and both Magnus and Merida closed the doors behind them. Once everyone was finally gone, Elinor broke character and sighed with relief.

"Oh, thank god. Glad that's over." Magnus exhaled with exhaustion from waiting patiently for the entire sea of Scotsmen to leave. Merida hopped over to her mother, humming and skipping with the excitement of a 3-year old. Without words to express her feelings, Elinor didn't need any to explain her thoughts about how well Merida handled everything with Magnus. The lass with the curly hair even dashed over to Magnus and brought him into a tight embrace.

"You were amazing." She thanked him with Magnus grateful and surprised to see the normally hot-headed princess pour such bright and cheerful emotions out like this and without thinking, she seemed to press a small kiss on his cheek before realizing what she just did, immediately separating herself from him, blushing wildly. As did Magnus. While Elinor lifted an eyebrow in puzzlement, she didn't seem to argue about it at all.

"Uh….sorry." winced Merida with embarrassment.

"No, it's…" Magnus stuttered like an idiot before remembering their mission. "The tapestry."

"Right!" Merida agreed right away.