The Highland fields were humming with activity, even the heather surrounding the area seemed to be adding their voices as well. Tents had been pitched and games were set up for Highland games. There was caber tossing, hammer throws, swords, dancing, pipers and of course, archery. Merida had convinced her mom to let her enter into the archery competition this year. Before it would have been out of the question, but Merida and Elinor had a better relationship and understanding now. For the rest of the games she would play the role of the princess, smiling and watching the games from the sidelines, although she would likely be making sarcastic remarks about the performance of the competitors with her father. She even had a nice dress to change into after she'd finished archery.
Right now she was getting ready for the archery competition. They were setting up the targets and Merida eagerly watched, looking over who else was competing. She knew a few of them, most weren't serious archers and only competing for fun but there were a couple that she might have to keep an eye on. She wanted to win, she was the only girl competing in the games as a whole and it gave her this sense that she needed to prove something.
Turning away she glanced over to crowds, seeing if she recognized any other faces in the sea of people. The other clans had been invited but not all of them had shown up. There wasn't a real need this time since no one would be competing for her hand.
In the crowd she spotted a face she'd never seen. He looked out of place but not in a way that made him stick out. He just looked like he'd stumbled into the games on accident and wasn't sure what was going on. There wasn't time to approach him though as they were calling the archers up to shoot. She'd have to wait until she'd shot her arrows before investigating.
