Chapter Two: New Friends and New Faces

"So, in a nutshell, Shang didn't know I was a woman until a few months into our acquaintance." Mulan said, and all of the girls broke out laughing.

It had been a few weeks since Merida settled into life in Wonderland, and she had gotten to know more people. As a result, her kitchen was full of food that the four girls had made.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm not the only one with a strange story of how I met my husband. Right, Tiana?" Tiana looked over her shoulder as she pulled another tray of pastries out of the oven.

"Yeah, I had to kiss a frog a few times to find him!"

Again, the girls couldn't contain themselves.

"Well, at least yours didn't break into your bedroom and convince you to fly on his magic carpet!" Jasmine said while picking up another treat.

"Tiana, you have to be one of the best cooks I've ever met." Merida said while biting into a miniature pie.

"Hey, what about you, Merida?" Tiana said while putting the pastries on a stand.

"Yeah!" said Jasmine, leaning forward. "Do you have a guy?" Merida giggled.

"Well, I was almost forced to marry someone when I didn't want to, but besides that, no."

"Well, Peter seems to have a thing for her."

"Tiana!" Peter was like a little brother, or a friend. Definitely not anything more than that.

"Well, I heard somewhere that Jim Hawkins has a thing for her!" This made Merida color deeply.

"Who? I don't even know who that is!"

"Well, he certainly knows you." Said Mulan, smiling at her.

Merida had to think about this one. Jim Hawkins? The name didn't sound familiar.

"Come on, Merida, you have to have seen him. Young guy, brown hair, pony tail, earring, kind of looks like a pirate-explorer." Merida shook her head

"Sorry, nope. But if it makes you feel better, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him."

After the girls were gone and the kitchen was clean, Merida looked around herself. The clock read 1:30, the fridge and pantry were empty, and she hadn't eaten any "real" food all day. She sighed and got up. This meant that she had to go shopping.

As she approached the marketplace, she looked down the street and read to store signs. Bookseller, Tiana's Place, Snuggly Duckling Bar, Andalasia Fashions, Ariel's Antiques… She walked up to the middle of the square, where there was a cluster of carts holding food, and grabbed what she needed.

As she turned to make her way home, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" She said as she looked up, but what she saw stunned her.

"It's no problem, Merida." Jim Hawkins said, smiling at her. He was probably her age, she guessed, maybe a year or two older than her. He was exactly as her friends had described him, only they forgot to include how amazingly handsome he was.

"I," Merida stuttered, "I have to go." And with that, she rushed away.

Walking back, she tried to regain her senses. She couldn't let this man take away her words, and she wasn't going to next time. Next time? She told herself to stop thinking as if she was going to see him soon.

Her thoughts were so distracted that she didn't even see Peter floating above her.

"Oh, you brought back food!" Peter said as he grabbed the bags from her, and she nearly fell over.

"You- You scared me!" Merida said as she caught her breath. Peter laughed at her, but waited for her until she seemed okay.

"Give me back those!" She said as she reached for the bags, but Peter pulled them away.

"Nope, sorry, Mer, I can't let you carry these. What would people think of me?" He said, making an over-exaggerated face of worry.

"Well, at least-" but in the middle of this sentence, Merida really looked at Peter, and her jaw fell. Peter looked at her, worried.

"Mer? Merida?"

"You-" She stammered. "You're flying!" Peter laughed so hard he nearly fell to the ground.

"'Course I'm flying, can't you?" Merida just shook her head. Of course he can fly, of course he can. "Well that's boring." Peter said, looking sorry for her.

Merida sighed and began to walk towards her house, and Peter flew above her, doing flips and twists in the air. As they went, Peter told her about what he did that day, which was the usual: Shooting trees and targets in the forest with his bow, jumping around in the trees, swimming, ect.

As they approached Merida's house, Peter dropped to the floor and opened her door of her. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he gave her a mock bow. They both laughed and went inside to the kitchen, where Merida began to unload her bags.

"Do you want to play a game?" Peter asked her, his eyes brightening.

"Only if it's one that I can play while I'm putting away what I bought." Merida laughed to herself, because his games usually involved running around outside with their bows.

"Yeah, I guess you can." Merida turned her head to him.

"Well, how do you play this game?" Peter's smile seemed to light up his face, and Merida wondered if explaining games was more fun for him than playing them.

"Well, it doesn't have a name, and I don't know if you'd really call it a game, but I saw Rapunzel and Pascal playing it, so it must be fun. What you do is, one person asks a question, and the other answers, and then the person who just answered asks a question, and the person who asked the question before answers."

"Sounds exciting." Merida joked as she put away a box of cookies.

"Yeah! Now who should start?"

"How about you?"

"Okay!" Peter's face was one of pure concentration, and Merida had to look at her hands to stop herself from laughing. After a few seconds, Peter's face showed that he had an idea. "What's your favorite color? I bet it's blue. Is it blue?" Merida looked at him.

"Now what's the fun of playing this game if you answer the questions you ask?"

"Well, was I right?"

"Yes, you were right, but now you have to ask another question, because that one didn't count." Peter looked as if he may protest, but he seemed to think the better of it, and began to think again.

By this time, Merida was done unloading her buys, so she sat on the counter next to Peter.

"Oh! I've got a good one. Do you like flowers?" Merida laughed.

"Yes, but I think everyone likes flowers. The ones that talk scare me, though." Seeing that a lot of time was going to pass like this, Merida settled down for an afternoon of questions and answers.

Merida fell onto her couch. Her afternoon had been full of Peter's question game, and he had only left when she promised to continue the game some other day.

She turned her head to look out the window, and saw that it was dusk. Was it too early to get ready for bed? …It was never too early to get ready for bed.

Merida got up to walk to her bedroom, but there was a knock at her door. She briefly considered ignoring it, but she decided that she should answer it. If it wasn't completely necessary, then she would tell the person to come back tomorrow.

She opened her door, preparing to see Tiana, but it was Jim. She stood there, a little flustered, as he smiled.

"Hey there, Merida." He said.

"Hi." She managed to get out. He looked at her and smiled a little wider.

"I was just passing by, and I wanted to ask you what you were doing on Friday." "Friday?"

"Yes, this Friday around six." She thought about it, and she couldn't think. Was she doing something? Probably not. Oh, well.

"No, I'm not doing anything, why?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me." Just then, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, up in the trees, but she brushed it off.

"Yes, I can do something then."

"Great. I'll see you then." And with that, he walked away.

Merida stood behind her door for a few seconds, and then went to go get ready for bed before something else happened.