Tales of the Disneyverse - Tale #17 (w/ Commentary Notes)

Brave Spirit
(The Merged Realms of Brave and The Sword in the Stone)

            Having more fun than she could admit in the guise of Merida, Genevieve walked the halls of the merged castles of DunBroch and Sir Ector with Merlin and Wart. As she walked alongside him, Merlin took notice in the particular way she walked in her Merida disguise. “N-No, my dear,” he addressed her as they moved. “You’re doing it all wrong.”

            Genevieve gawked at him in confusion. “What’s it I’m doin’ wrong, Merlin?” The Scottish twang that came with the disguise still took some getting used to for her.

            “Your walk,” answered Merlin. “It’s too…you.”

            Genevieve looked down at herself as she walked: her arms swung calmly down at her sides and her hips swung slightly from left to right – it was the way in which a woman casually walked, but it was not the way a woman like Merida normally did. “Right,” she said. “How ‘bout this?” She began swinging her arms more briskly and brought them up to chest level, and her hips were kept stiff.

(Authorial Note: Livingston studied Merida's movements specifically to be addressed in this scene. There is a sense of irony with Genevieve walking too much like a woman and not enough like a tomboy, considering the fact that she still has the mind and soul of a man.)

            “Good, good!” Merlin exclaimed. “She’s a very prideful girl, so you must have pride in your step.”

            Wart smiled. “She certainly looks like Merida now.”

            Genevieve smiled herself, now fully getting into character as she, Merlin, and Wart walked into the dining hall that was one-half DunBroch and one-half Ector. Her smile soon faded when she noticed that Fergus and Ector were engaged in a screaming match with each other, arguing over the disappearance of Merida. Elinor tried to stand in between the two men and keep them from tearing each other apart, while Kay, Ector’s son, sat idly by at the dining table and gnawed on the bone of a turkey leg like a dog. His table manners made Genevieve sick to her stomach as she noticed the mix of saliva and grease around his mouth.

            “You’re the one who’s got to be behind this, Ector!” Fergus yelled, his heavily masculine voice as big as he was, loud enough to shake the walls of the room. “You knew of my daughter’s betrothal and how it’s happenin’ soon!”

            “I knew of no such thing, DunBroch!” Ector shouted back in defense. “You are wrongfully condemning me, and I will not stand for it!”

            “Oh, is that so?” Fergus barked, moving in threateningly close to Ector. “What ya gonna do about it?”

            “Fergus.” Elinor calmly said, trying to get an arm in between them as she saw their bellies practically touching.

            “I’ll do this!” Ector bellowed before shoving the bigger and taller Fergus.

            The two men transitioned from screaming to shoving each other, forcing Elinor to back away in fear of getting caught up in the violence. Fortunately, before things got much worse, Elinor caught sight of Genevieve and cried, “MERIDA!” Hearing her, Fergus and Ector ceased their shoving and also took notice in Genevieve’s presence there in the dining hall with Merlin and Wart.

            Fergus and Elinor immediately went to her and showered her with hugs and kisses. Smiling and laughing, Genevieve was relieved that her presence brought peace over the room. “I’m alright, Mum and Dad. I’m alright.”

            Relief quickly turned into anger with Elinor as she asked Genevieve in a strict tone, “Where have you been, young lady? You’ve had the entire castle worried sick about you!”

(Disney Note: In Brave, Elinor is voiced by Emma Thompson, who portrayed Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, which also featured Victoria Summer as Julie Andrews.)

            Genevieve was about to respond, but she stopped when she realized that she had no reasonable excuse to explain the absence of “Merida.” With Fergus and Elinor standing there waiting for an answer, she knew that she had to come up with something quick. That was when she recalled her viewing of the Brave movie when she was Sean Thomas, seeing all that Merida had done in the early parts of it. Putting on a big, confident smile, she told them, “I was out climbin’ Crone’s Tooth, and I drank from the Fire Falls.”

            Fergus’s face masked surprise and even respect. “Fire Falls? They say only the ancient kings were brave enough to drink the fire.” Fergus chuckled and winked at Genevieve, who returned to gesture.

            “A princess spends her time wisely,” scolded Elinor, who Genevieve expected to react in such a way. For the sake of character, Genevieve feigned annoyance but was secretly thankful that Elinor and Fergus bought the ruse.

(Narrative Note: Knowledge of Disney films and trivia is often a vital tool used by the real world characters in World of Disney, getting them out of tight situations. It can also just as easily backfire if their knowledge of future events garners mistrust or suspicion from certain characters in the Disney realms.)

            The sound of Sir Ector clearing his throat brought everyone’s attention to him as he stood with his hands clasped behind him, boasting with arrogance. “Well now, DunBroch. It would appear your daughter has been found…all thanks, of course, to Marvin there.” Merlin huffed through his beard in aggravation over Ector’s blatant mispronunciation of his name. “I believe an apology is in order.”

            Fergus looked ready to explode into anger again. “Apology? You…”

            “Fergus!” Elinor exclaimed, firing a look at her husband that was enough to encourage him to do what he had to do.

            There was much hesitation in him, but Fergus managed to utter in a low tone, “I’m sorry.”

            “What was that?” Ector said, grinning beneath his thick red mustache. “Speak up, man. I don’t believe we all heard you.”

            Fergus, his anger boiling over, repeated in a loud, booming voice right into Ector’s left ear, “I’M SORRY!”

            Ector temporarily went deaf in that ear; he was not at all pleased by the tone of Fergus’s apology. “I don’t believe you, DunBroch. Maybe it’d be best to settle this by another matter entirely: your daughter.”

            Genevieve’s eyes widened as the topic focused on her. Fergus was about ready to rip Ector’s head clear off his body, but Elinor settled the angry brute that was her husband down long enough to hear Ector out.

            “You mentioned her betrothal in our ‘discussion’ earlier.” Ector said. “I wish for my boy, Kay, to be wed to Princess Merida.”

            “What?” Genevieve exclaimed, sharing the same stunned reaction as Fergus and Elinor upon hearing Ector’s demand.

            “I object!” Merlin shouted, sounding like a defense attorney. Genevieve knew he was right in taking a stance on the matter, fearing that a wedding between two characters from two opposite worlds would create more of a disaster with the rift tearing the Disneyverse apart. Of course, the clans of DunBroch and Ector both believed their merger to have come from happenstance and not magic, sorcery, or even science (if their medieval minds could comprehend the third).

(Authorial Note: Much like Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid, Livingston saw a commonality between the worlds of Brave and The Sword in the Stone that almost inspired him to develop a spin-off story that centered on adventures between the characters. He decided against this after deciding to focus on a crossover tale with Nemo and Mermaid, as another crossover story would be overkill.)

            “You are in no place to make objections, Marvin!” Ector retorted. “You are merely a guest in this castle and not an advisor to me or anyone else!”

            “Then I object!” Genevieve spoke up. Coincidentally, her feelings on the matter fit in well with that of the real Merida.

            “Hush, Merida.” Elinor was as quick to shut her objections down as Ector was of Merlin’s. “A princess has no place in debates.”

            Becoming legitimately frustrated with Elinor, Genevieve yelled, “I suppose a princess just does what she’s told?”

            “A princess does not raise her voice,” Elinor responded.

(Disney Note: Many of these quotes are taken directly from Brave, only spun around to be spoken in an entirely new scene under different circumstances.)

            Before Elinor and Genevieve could continue on with a debate that made Genevieve feel as if she was actually arguing with her own mother, Fergus addressed Ector in his loud, booming voice of anger. “Ector, arrangements canne be made with four other suitors already accepted!”

            “You’ll just have to decline those four suitors, DunBroch.” Ector demanded. “Besides, Kay clearly makes a perfect suitor.” Shortly after this praise was given to Ector’s son, a loud, revolting belch escaped Kay’s slobbered mouth.

            “Ya canne do this, Ector!” Fergus furiously shouted. “Denying the suitors their rights in playing for Merida’s hand would create war between the kingdoms!”

            Ector placed a less-than-comforting hand on Fergus’s right shoulder. “Then, as one clan united, we’ll fight for our kingdom!”

            Fergus irately brushed the hand off his shoulder. “Yer mad!”

            It was that action and those words that sparked yet another screaming/shoving match between the men, with Elinor once again playing referee. The whole ordeal was taking its toll on Genevieve’s mentality – events were happening that should not have been, all because of the rift. In fact, it was really taking its toll on her. She suddenly felt incredibly dizzy – the entire room spinning before her eyes. There then came flashes of images, momentarily replacing her view of the spinning room and the people in it with that of a young redheaded woman wearing a burgundy outfit laughing manically at her.

(Narrative Note: Readers will recognize the description of this woman from her first appearance in World of Disney as a semi-antagonist to the story's events.)

            But the one flashing image that truly terrified Genevieve was a world ripped apart from desolation – the sky filled with fire, the earth crumbling to pieces, women and children running scared in the streets, and finally…nothing. With a loud gasp, she snapped out of the trance, collapsing from this bizarre occurrence and inadvertently yet successfully stopping the bickering between Fergus and Ector. They, along with Elinor, rushed to Genevieve’s aid, crying out “Merida” in great concern.

            “I’m alright.” She told them just a few times to reassure them. “I’m just strained from all of the excitement of the day.” She then looked to Merlin, who could clearly see that she was not acting, and asked, “Any chance you could help me back to my bedroom?”

            “Uh, um, certainly, Your Highness.” Merlin obliged.

            He helped Genevieve to her feet and guided her out of the dining hall, with Wart following along. Halfway down the corridor, Genevieve gestured for Merlin to stop. They did so, and she whispered, “Dawn has returned.”

            Merlin stared at her bafflingly. “B-B-But’s barely dusk!”

            It took her a second to realize that she had led him to believe her news was in reference to the time of day. For that sake, she reiterated, “No, I mean ‘Dawn’ – an alternate persona of my mother that she picked up when she first inherited the powers of the Guardian. I thought we got rid of her shortly before the destruction of the Aladdin realm, but I think both might have returned somehow.” There was great dread in her eyes as she added, “Our problems might just have gotten a lot bigger now.”

(UP NEXT: The Start of a Beautiful Friendship!)