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Merid was sitting on his bed swinging at his bed post with a sword. (Y/n) sat next to him silently. Merid paused his swinging and looked over at (Y/n).

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I should be asking you that. You're the one who's going to have girls fighting to marry you." She responded.

Merid sighed. "It's not fair. Why can't I choose who I get to marry?"

"Because this is what your mother wants." She shrugged.

"Well, it's not what I want." Merid huffed.

"What do you want?" (Y/n) asked him.

Merid thought for a moment before looking directly into the girl's eyes. He knew what he wanted. Or rather, who he wanted, and she was sitting right in front of him. He had to tell her. If he was going to be getting married to some woman from another clan, he had to tell her now, before it s too late.

"I...I want...y-."

Before Merid could finish his sentence, Elinor entered the room.

"Mother. Suitors? Marriage?" Merid complained.

"Once there was an ancient kingdom." Elinor began.

"Ugh, mum!" Merid rolled his eyes and flopped onto his bed. "Ancient kingdom." Merid slid off his bed onto the floor.

"It's name long forgotten, ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved." Elinor grabbed a chess board and used the king to emphasize her story.

"And when he grew old he divided the kingdom among his four sons, that they should be the pillars on which the peace of the land rested."

Elinor placed three white pieces and one black piece in a square and placed the board on top of them.

"But, the oldest prince wanted to rule the land for himself. He followed his own path and the kingdom fell to war and chaos and ruin." Elinor removed the black piece from underneath the board knocking it onto the floor.

"That's a nice story." Merid said sarcastically, leaning his head back to rest on (Y/n)'s knee.

"It's not just a story, Merid. Legends are lessons. They ring with truths." Elinor told him.

"Och, mum!" Merid scoffed.

"I would advise you to make your peace with this. The clans are coming to present their suitors." Elinor said firmly.

"It's not fair." Merid said.

"Och, Merid, it's marriage. It's not the end of the world." Elinor said before exiting the room.

Merid sighed in disbelief at his mother's unwillingness to listen to him and slammed his door shut behind her.

...

Elinor was sitting in her room sewing a tapestry. The tapestry had Fergus on the right with the triplets in front of him, and (Y/n) to his left. Merid was holding (Y/n)'s hand in his left and his mothers hand in his right.

As Elinor was sewing details on Merid's hair, she started muttering.

"Your muttering." Fergus said, as he entered the room.

"I don't mutter." Elinor insisted.

"Aye, you do. You mutter, lass, when something's troubling you." Fergus told her.

"I blame you. Stubbornness. It's entirely from your side of the family."

Fergus let out a laugh. "I take it the talk didn't go to well, then."

"Och, I don't know what to do." Elinor sighed.

"Speak to him, dear." Fergus said.

"I do speak to him. He just doesn't listen." Elinor insisted.

"Come on now. Pretend I'm Merid. Speak to me. What would you say?" Fergus asked, taking a seat on a stool.

"Och, I can't do this." Elinor confessed.

"Sure you can." Fergus encouraged.

Elinor sent him a look.

"There, there. That's my Queen. Right, here we go." Fergus took a deep breath. "I don't want I get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind, as I ride through the glen with (Y/n) firing arrows into the sunset." Fergus said, imitating Merid.

Elinor shook her head at him with a smile, before taking a deep breath.

"Merid, all this work, all the time spent preparing you, schooling you, giving you everything we never had. I ask you, what would you expect us to do?" Elinor asked.

...

"Call off the the gathering. Would that kill them?" Merid ranted.

He was in the stables with Angus and (Y/n). (Y/n) was pretending to be Elinor and Merid was pretending to have conversation while raking up hay.

"You're the Queen. You can just tell the lords the prince is not ready for this. In fact, he might not ever be ready for this, so that's that. Good day to you. We'll expect your declarations of war in the morning." Merid said, slamming the pitchfork down.

...

"I understand this must all seem unfair. Even I had reservations when I faced betrothal." Elinor said.

"Eh?" Fergus said.

"But we can't just run away from who we are." She continued.

...

Merid was carrying a bucket of water.

"I don't want my life to be over. I want my freedom." He said.

...

"But are you willing to pay the price your freedom will cost?" Elinor asked.

...

"I'm not doing any of this to hurt you." Merid said, brushing Angus.

...

"If you could just try to see what I do, I do out of love." Elinor said.

...

"But it's my life. It's...I'm just not ready." Merid sank to the ground with his back up against the stable wall.

...

"I think you'd see if you could just..."

...

I think I could make you understand if you would just...

...

"Listen."

...

"Listen." Merid finished.

Angus whinnied at him, and Merid let out a sigh. (Y/n) came over and placed a hand on his shoulder. Merid grabbed both of her hands in his and faced her.

"I swear, (Y/n), this isn't going to happen. Not if I have any say in it." He told her confidently.

"Merid...What are you planning?" (Y/n) asked cautiously.

"Don't you worry your pretty head about that love." Merid winked at her and the ran off.

(Y/n) turned to Angus. "I've got a bad feeling about this Angus."

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