How One Princess Broke A Spell, Rebuilt A Kingdom and Reunited Several Families

Chapter Four: Samhain

It'd been a few weeks since the whole almost-ruin-Auradon incident, and while the whole student body wasn't quite sold on the VKs the people in their close circles had. Caitriona was just getting ready to pick up Evie, Carlos, Jay, Mal, Duke and Ben- who was only being invited because Mal was clearly in love with him- for Samhain.

"Mom, has Maggie prepared a spare room for everyone?"

"She's got the girls sharing one room and the boys sharing another, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's great. What's for dinner?"

"We're having a recipe Mulan recommended from a neighboring kingdom to hers that has this delicious marinade and beef, and we're serving it with broccoli. For dessert, you mentioned Mal likes strawberries and Carlos and Jay are chocolate fans, yes? We're having chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped frosting for dessert."

"Awesome!" Caitriona said. "And have you-"

"Yes, I told the triplets' kids not to mess with them."

"And-"

"And I wrote to the MacIntoshes and told them that under no circumstances are they to start a clan war at Samhain this year. Anything else?" Mom asked. This is so cool! For once I'm actually getting to invite friends over.

"Not that I can think of, except do you know if Ben's supposed to arrive with Mal and the others or not? 'Cause I can move Siobhan if it's necessary."

"No, it's fine," Mom said. "Ben's arriving with Mal, and even if he wasn't there are guest stables just a little ways down. You shouldn't worry so much, they'll love it here."

"I know, I know, but I'm really really worried. I've never brought people over, for holidays or- or anything, really," she said. "Never had friends for this before, remember? Now I have a king, a future lady of the court and her friends! Kinda stressful." Merida laughed.

"Just don't try to do it in the dress I wore for my Choosing Day, that was an absolute disaster," she joked. Caitriona scoffed.

"You still managed to compete for your own hand and win," she retorted.

They arrived less than half an hour later. Ben and the VKs all took the same carriage, a big white and gold one that stood out among the dark colors of DunBroch. Today, though, the dark colors had gotten a bit more varied. There was the blue of MacIntosh, the green of MacGuffin and the yellow of Dingwall, coming together with the grey, turquoise and red of DunBroch.

"This is... awesome," Evie breathed. "How did I never hear about this from Oliver?" Merida looked over, surprised.

"Who's Oliver?" she asked.

"Mor'du's son," she said. "He's alright. Sorta. Weirdly quiet though..."

"Who the Hell-" Caitriona started, but Merida cut her off.

"Let's not- discuss that," she said. "I'd rather not spoil my appetite, the food here's great." She immediately disappeared off to eat with her siblings while Caitriona pointed out all the best things around her.

"That's the woman I buy jewelry from, she can do amazing things if you give her copper, silver or gold. Her electrum stuff is new, though, so I haven't gotten to really look at it yet. And it's pretty cheap too. Wait, hold on, actually. I want that bracelet, how much?" she asked.

"For you, dear, it's only five-"

"The price tag says ten, don't undercharge me," Caitriona said. "In fact you ought to be overcharging me, I'm princess here remember? You ought to be robbing me blind whenever you get the chance." She handed over ten coins and clasped the bracelet over her wrist. "Do you guys want anything?"