Hey guys! Just a little update for my readers. I have had two girls offer to illustrate the story! I'm really excited- Who doesn't like pictures? I don't how long it will take until the pictures get caught up with the chapter releases, but we are supposed to have a cover picture by next week. Also, chapters ONE and TWO have been edited and updated. Do you like the new format? Upon request, chapter one now includes a short description of Tiana. Please feel free to leave your guys' constructive criticism, I really do appreciate it!

Chapter Three: Answers/The Date

Merida sat in Mulan's living room, fidgeting.

Earlier that day, the girls had all been drinking tea there. When Tiana and Jasmine had to both leave, Merida stayed behind, hoping that Mulan could answer some of the questions that she had.

She would have went to Tiana, who she was closest to, but she had found out that Tiana had arrived to Wonderland quite recently, so she didn't know much more than Merida

She thought about talking to Jasmine, who had been living in Wonderland much longer than Tiana and Mulan, but Merida didn't like going to Jasmine's house: Rajah always stared at her.

Mulan came into the room holding a tray of lemonade. She poured Merida a glass, and then poured herself a glass. Merida sipped her drink; It was delicious.

"So, Merida, what did you want to talk about?" Mulan asked. Merida hesitated. She was nervous to know the answers to her questions, but at the same time, she had to know. "It's okay to ask questions, Merida, there are no 'big secrets'." Mulan said, patting her hand. Merida took a breath.

"Why am I here?" She asked. Mulan smiled.

"Everyone comes here at some point or another." She said, sipping her drink.

"But why?" Merida needed to know. She was getting homesick and she missed her family.

"No one knows exactly why we come here, but there are a few theories." Mulan answered. "The most accepted among them is that when you're done with your mission in life, you're sent here." Merida raised her eyebrows.

"My mission?"

"Merida, haven't you noticed that everyone here has a grand story from their life before Wonderland?" Merida looked up; Mulan was right. Some people had gone on adventures to find true love, or in Merida's case, to learn just how brave they could be.

"Will my family every come here?" Merida was worried. After she had fixed all of her mistakes -as in accidently turning members of her family into bears- life had been going well for her. Her family had become extremely close, and she had given the three suitors a chance. However, she hadn't been able to feel much for any of them in particular…

"There's no way of knowing." Mulan said, and Merida had to clear her throat to stop her tears from spilling over. Mulan grabbed Merida's hand. "Many believe that everyone that they had previously known will end up here, but they have to complete their own missions in life first."

Merida straightened up. Yes, this made sense. This is what she would believe. She smiled. Now that all of the tough questions were out of the way, it was time for the smaller ones.

"How does everyone get their houses?" Mulan laughed.

"Well, that's a bit of a mystery, too." Merida looked at her, confused. "The houses appear." Merida's eyes grew wide.

"Appear?" Mulan smiled at her expression.

"Basically, yes. Every once in a while, a person will walk by a house that they have never seen before, and they will spread the word that a new house has appeared in such and such area. That's how we know that new people are moving in." Merida leaned against the couch. Talking flowers, strange people, and appearing houses. This place was so mysterious. "Is there anything else that you would like to know about?" Mulan asked. She was always so polite. Merida took a few seconds to think.

"What's Peter's story?"

She asked. Mulan looked down, and Merida realized that it probably wasn't polite for her to ask other people about his past. Mulan looked up at her, but instead of upset, her face was confused, and she smiled a small smile.

"I don't think anyone knows that except for Peter." She said, and Merida smiled. Maybe he would tell her some day.

"Thank you, Mulan." Merida said, getting up.

"Any time, Merida." And Mulan walked her to the door.

Walking home, Merida thought about everything that she had learned and decided that she was satisfied. She wouldn't lose hope about seeing her family again. However, it would probably be a very long time until any of them made it to Wonderland. That was a long time to go without a family.

But she did have a family, and she could see that. Tiana had taken her in like an older sister. Mulan and Jasmine reminded her of some of her cousins who made her smile. And, of course, Peter was always there to keep her company.

The walk back to her house took about twenty minutes, and Merida enjoyed the exercise. Besides, she liked where she lived. It was private, but not too far from the main stores and shops.

Once she got to the shaded path leading to her house, she saw Peter lying in the middle of it.

"Hey Peter!" She called, and he looked up at her.

"Oh, hey, Mer!" He said, sitting up. "Do you want to sit with me?" Well, she didn't have anything to do.

"Sure." She said, and sat across from him. Peter had a backpack next to him, and in front of him was a pile of berries.

"Want some?" He asked, popping a few into his mouth. Merida looked at them. Well, they were probably okay to eat.

"Okay." She said, taking a handful. She put a few in her mouth, and they tasted wonderful.

"Merida, stop fidgeting." Tiana was sitting patiently on a chair in Merida's room, and Merida was on a stool. It was Friday, and Tiana had volunteered to help her get ready for her date with Jim.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" Tiana had dressed Merida in a white dress with dark purple flowers printed onto it. Merida had never worn this style before, but Tiana had called it a "swing dress", whatever that was. Tiana was digging through a bag and pulling out small containers of different colors.

"Are you going to put that stuff on my face?" Merida had never been one to wear make-up.

"Just hold still and close your eyes."

Merida sighed, but obeyed. After about an hour, Merida's face had been made up and her hair had been put into a French braid down her back. Tiana must have been some kind of miracle worker, because Merida had the kind of hair that broke brushes. Her friend looked satisfied and smiled at her.

"Now, my work here is done. You just try not to smudge your make-up, okay?" Merida looked in the mirror. The shades of powder on her face looked almost natural, and she liked it.

"Okay."

After Tiana had been gone for about a minute, Merida watched the clock. Jim was coming for her at 6, and it was only a quarter to 5. She worried about how she looked, and knew that she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself.

After a few minutes, there was a knock. She froze in- what emotion? Fear or excitement? Either way, it didn't matter because the knock wasn't on her front door. It was on her window. Merida looked out, and there was Peter. She thought about shooing him away, but decided he could distract her until the time came for her to leave, so she threw open her window and sat back down.

Peter jumped into her room, turned to say something, but froze, stared, and… blushed? He pulled his hat down and looked at the floor.

"Hey, Merida." Peter said, scuffing his shoe over the floor.

"Hey Peter, what are you doing here?" He looked up at her and smiled.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go shoot targets with me…"

"Oh." Merida said, "I'm sorry Peter, but I have to leave in a little while. You can stay here and talk to me for a while if you want, though." Peter's face lit up.

"Okay."

He sat down on the floor next to Merida. Did the boy ever use chairs? "Well, where are you goin'?" Merida bit her lip. She and Peter were friends, but she didn't know if she should talk about her love life to this boy. She decided not to lie to him though, and put on a smile.

"I don't really know. Jim Hawkins asked me to go somewhere with him." Peter looked through the window.

"Like… Like a date?" Merida was going to ask if he even knew what a date was, but she held her tongue. Of course he knew what that was. No matter how childish he acted, he was still a seventeen-year-old boy. That was a weird thought, so Merida pushed it out of her head and answered him.

"Well, he didn't say that it was." Peter was still staring out of the window. Merida was going to ask him if he was all right, but he began to speak before she could.

"Be careful." Merida was going to ask him what he meant, but he turned to face her, and she couldn't open her mouth. His face was the most serious she had seen it. There no trace of his ever-present smile that she had become so used to. This was the face of a man, and she didn't understand it. He looked at her like this for a few seconds, and then abruptly smiled. "Forgot to tell you, you look really pretty." And with that, he jumped out her window and ran into the trees.

Merida must have been sitting, thinking about what had just passed, for much longer than she had thought, because the doorbell rang and she shot up. When she opened the door, Jim was standing there dressed in black jeans and a purple dress shirt which complemented her outfit. Did Tiana have something to do with this?

"Merida, you look beautiful." Jim extended his hand. Merida blushed and took it.

They began walking down the path towards town, but turned left onto a smaller path about twenty yards away.

"Where are we going?" Merida asked, but Jim only smiled.

He asked her questions about what she liked and she answered all of them in good graces. After a while they reached a grassy area which had a blanket and a basket set up at the far edge of it.

Jim led her to it and helped her sit down. Once Merida was on the ground, she realized that they were on top of a cliff. Beneath it was a vacant beach. Jim started pulling things out of the basket an laying them out.

The evening passed beautifully, and the two were there for hours. When it was time to leave, they both seemed to regret it, but Jim walked Merida home like a gentleman. When they got to her door, Merida smiled at him.

"Thank you for tonight, it was wonderful." Jim smiled back at her.

"The pleasure was mine; I hope to take you out again." He grabbed her hand, lightly kissed it, and walked away. Merida carefully got ready for bed, thinking of everything that passed that evening. As she went to lie down for the night, she saw a shadow outside of her window. She looked out, but didn't see anything. She opened the window.

"Peter?" She whispered. She for a response, but none came. Maybe it was just a tree. She got into bed and quickly fell asleep.