Merida Comes

Mulan knelt outside in the garden of Cinderella's castle and waited patiently. Hoping that what was going to happen would be strong enough.

Snow White had waited in this same garden for another princess but Eilonwy hadn't really formed and then she had faded from her arms, not enough people have believed. Snow White still had nightmares about that.

What had happened to Giselle, had been beyond strange, Cinderella would get all jumpy whenever men in dark suits and briefcases wandered around the park. Mulan shivered in the warm sun.

It was hard to meditate as she waited, not that she was good at it, she'd much rather poke around the gardens and rides and shops. She was dressed in her traditional clothes but had her sword on her hip, the synopsis had told them enough that it might be necessary.

There was a cloud of light and the echoing sound of applause and cheering, people were believing; a girl in a green dress and wild red hair began to form and she did indeed have a bow, arrows and a sword as well. She looked a lot like Rapunzel, the new animation techniques the artists were coming up with were so interesting.

"Merida," said the girl, her face coming up. "My name is Merida and I am a princess."

Mulan smiled and stood smoothly as the new princess became more solid.

"Happy Birthday, Merida. My name is Mulan."

Merida opened her eyes and looked around.

Then her hand moved and her sword was out but it clashed against Mulan's.

"Where am I? Where is my mum and my family? What is this place?" Merida demanded.

"They are fine, and quite safe. You know where they are. Just remember." Mulan said calmly, taking form for the first time was very disconcerting. Pocahontas had greeted her and calmed her. Mulan had been right to bring her sword. Merida was a fiery one.

Nowadays there was all kinds of support for a new princess. Snow White had been the first and had been alone for so long and there hadn't even been much of a place at first, but Mickey had been there, but Snow White had not shared what Mickey had gone through.

Merida's vibrant blue eyes unfocused as she did remember, "Yes, they are. Where am I?"

"This is Disneyworld."

"Disneyworld?"

"It's a bit more complicated then that, we are in the universe that Walt Disney created and we are inhabiting it and others are extending it by their belief. Belle can explain it better then I can. You'll meet her soon, I'll introduce you to the others, but you might want to put the sword away. We are friends." Mulan looked pointedly at the swords that they held in their hands.

"Oh right, sorry," said Merida, who put her sword away as did Mulan.

"It's quite alright. Incarnating is disconcerting. I was real once I think, and became a legend, then a myth, my story was wading from memory, few people were telling my story anymore. I was almost lost, but I was found by the Disney company and made what I am now. I am not the same as I was, but more real then I have ever felt before, that I can remember."

"Yes," said Merida, not exactly sure what Mulan meant, but she wasn't exactly sure what had happened. She knew she was much older then she felt and part of her was very new. She had a story inside of her that was very old; told to children and others over generations, yet there was another story, different but related, that was so much of her now. Disconcerted is a very apt word for how she felt just then.

"Come sit, have some tea, while I begin to tell you all about your new home."

"But my home is Castle DunBrock?"

"Yes that is your home, but this is home too. You'll come to understand."

They knelt together at a low table and Mulan prepared the tea. Merida thought Mulan had a very complicated way of making tea, but she waited politely, as Mum had taught her so boringly.

"I am Mulan. I am from China, I became a Disney princess because I wanted to save my crippled father from having to join the army to fight the Huns. I disguised myself as a man and joined the army in his stead. I brought down a mountain to destroy the Hun army. I defeated their leader Shan Yu and saved the emperor and China." Mulan bowed her head. Merida looked impressed

"There will be many characters to meet, most good, some bad, many very different. The most important is Mickey Mouse, he is where this all started." Mulan said, picking up the Magic Mirror Belle had lent her, which made for a less overwhelming experience then meeting them all directly.

The mirror showed Merida a mouse, but not a mouse that ever poked its nose out of a hole in her castle. It walked upright, wore clothes, had hands and appeared to talk and it changed over time taking on color and depth.

"He rules this place and no it doesn't make any sense yet. This is just an overview of the most important characters you will be meeting soon. There are very many and it will take time. You are a princess now and you have many duties, the vast majority of which will be fun." Mulan explained. Merida nodded, confused but willing to give this strange, gentle girl a chance to explain, she was good enough with the sword to be a challenge to deal with.

"This next will make more sense. This is Snow White, she was the first Disney princess. She is young, kind and gentle. She rules not only because she is eldest but she is also a queen and a good ruler. She was born a princess, but her mother died. Her father remarried and then he died. Her step-mother the Queen was very jealous and was a witch as well. When Snow White's beauty outshone her own, she ordered the death of Snow White. Who ran away into the Dark Forest and hid with the seven Dwarves. The Queen learned Snow White was alive and poisoned her with an apple. While the Queen was killed, Snow White was locked in eternal sleep by the poison, but she was found by a Prince who she had fallen in love with and woke her with True Love's kiss."

"A kiss cured poison?" Merida asked doubtfully.

"True Love's kiss. You should know just how powerful love can be against magic."

Merida looked away and nodded.

"Next is Cinderella." The mirror glowed with a new face. "She was also orphaned at a young age. Her step-mother was a vain and jealous women who looked only to the welfare of her own daughters, and made Cinderella a servant in her own home."

"Another orphan?"

"Many of the princesses grew up under unusual circumstances. We are two that grew up with both parents. Not all have been so lucky."

Merida nodded.

Mulan continued, "The king wanted a wife for his son and invited all the eligible young women to a ball for his son. With the help of her Fairy Godmother Cinderella made it to the ball and she and the prince fell in love. She tends to run things around her, she is really good at organizing things."

"It sounds like all the princesses get the guy and a happy ending."

"No, they don't." Merida's mouth dropped open.

"The next is the Princess Aurora. Her ending does indeed look happy, but it doesn't feel happy, something is wrong. Her parents wished for a baby and she was born, then fairies came and began to give her gifts, the evil witch Maleficent came and cursed her to die before her sixteenth birthday."

Merida's eyebrows jump into her hair.

"But one fairy still had a gift to give and made the curse a sleep. The fairies hid the babe and raised her, they came home too early and the witch accomplished her curse and even captured her prince. The fairies rescued him and he fought the witch who turned into a dragon. He destroyed the witch and broke the spell."

"That sounds good." Merida said cautiously.

"Indeed, but Aurora was forced by Maleficent to touch the spindle, not fooled like Snow White or others. Something feels wrong about her story."

"Ariel was a mermaid who wanted to be human. She traded her beautiful voice for a pair of legs. She was almost cheated by the seawitch, but with the help of her prince they killed the witch.

"Then there is Belle," Mulan moved on. "This mirror is hers and she is letting me borrow it. She is very beautiful and smart. If you have questions she is more then willing and able to help. She traded herself to a terrible beast for her father's freedom. The beast turned out to be a prince caught in a spell."

"Jasmine is a princess, the daughter of a Sultan, she wanted to escape the forced marriage she was facing. She wanted to be free too. But found love in a prince who was really just a thief."

"Pocahontas is the daughter of a tribal chief, she fell in love with an English adventurer from across the sea. She stopped a war all by herself with no weapons but words. Then she had to give up her true love so he could be saved."

Merida nodded, here was another person she already felt a kinship too.

"Tiana, never wanted to be a princess, she wanted to own a restaurant to honor her father."

"A restaurant?" asked Merida.

Mulan thought for a moment. "Something like a dining hall were people come and pay for food she has made."

"Okay."

Mulan leaned in, "She makes really good food. Our gatherings at her palace are truly great feasts. The beignets are amazing."

Merida wondered what a beignet was, and wondered if it was better then those wonderful cakes Maudie made.

"Tiana was caught in a spell that had turned a prince into a frog. They really didn't like each other at first, she is quite industrious and he is rather lazy and was somewhat selfish. But they were able to work together to break the spell of the evil voodooman."

Merida found herself thinking that overcoming being turned into a frog would have been a huge challenge and finding someone else who might really understand what had happened to her mother and brothers.

"I expect you are beginning to tire, there is one last princess I will introduce you to is Rapunzel. She was stolen and  kept in a tower; raised by her kidnapper who she thought of as her mother for eighteen years. A thief came to her tower and she captured him and forced him to take her to see the sky lanterns. Those lanterns were being launched by her kingdom to call her home. Then after many adventures she found out she was the Lost Princess, her mother was her kidnapper, her True Love cut off her magic hair then died as did the person she had known her whole life as mother."

"Wow."

"Please don't ask about her hair or her mother. She will tell you when she is ready." Mulan explained that while Tinkerbell had used some fairy dust (to be explained later) to make Rapunzel's hair longish and blonde again, it couldn't give her back her healing power. It was hard on Rapunzel when the children asked if she was really sure that it wouldn't work on their sick grandmother, mother, sister or themselves.

Merida nods.

"So, now what?"

"Now you will begin to meet people who love you and your story and I will begin to take you around to meet the princesses, princes, villains and many others. You will get great honor for doing this." They rise and walk to a door marked Castmembers Only.