Brave Reborn (OUAT/Peter Pan Fanfic)

Chapter 44

It was a spring day in the Enchanted Forest. The blossom arrives like cake frosting on the trees in delicious creams and pinks. The petals burst out from lower down the branches leaving the tips still in tight bud. After the denuded trees of winter, their new and splendid clothes are a joy to see. I want a step ladder to get close enough for their new-season aroma. Though the calendar says it is winter for a few weeks yet, the trees tell me it is spring. In a few more weeks those petals, those perfect silky hearts, will flutter down as gentle rain. Just to watching them tumble will bring back memories of happiness and hope, my own included. Fun times, beautiful times.

"Chief Kenai will see you now," one of the men guarding the tepee said, interrupting my thoughts.

I walked into the canvas. I expected the chief to have some resemblance to Mor'du for a strange reason. His hair was midnight black and his eyes were dark brown, framed by slightly thick eyebrows. His skin was golden tanned. He had prominent cheekbones and a soft-defined chin and nose. Unlike Mor'du, he was slightly muscular but still showed that he had strength. He was still slender despite his years, toned and not at all stopped. Around his eyes were laughter lines in just the right amount. I supposed that he was often happy, but at that moment, he was deadly serious. His face split into the grin that you could imagine him to wear often. Then he came over in fast easy strides and took my offered hand in his two, shaking and squeezing.

"What brings you to our tribe, Pan?" the man jumped in.

"Well, I have this girl, who is like the people in your, sort of. Anyway, she can turn into a bear—"

"Then what makes her so different from all of us?"

"She wasn't fated to shapeshift into a bear. Someone bestowed to her on the day she was born."

"You mean cursed?" The man grinned, "It's alright to use that word in here. You used it in the right context."

"The reason that I said 'bestowed' because it made her who she is. But she wasn't naturally born with it was what I meant."

"I was cursed too, you know. I upset the spirits by killing a bear to avenge my dead brother.  As 'punishment' they turned me into a bear. I saw life in a new perspective while being a bear. I befriended with a cub, Koda, who was the son of the bear that I killed. I was going to stay a bear forever until I fell in love with my childhood companion, Nita, who was human. Not being able to bare leaving one over the other alone, I asked the spirits for help. The spirits then blessed her, Koda, and me to be half bear, half human. Over the years, we found others who were gifted in shapeshifting into animals."

 "It sounded like you would have done anything for those you love, huh?"

 "So tell me," The Chief changed the subject. "What is the girl's story?"

 "It's a verbose one, and I'm not sure that I know it all."

 "You said that she was a baby. How verbose and complicated could her story be?"

 "It wasn't her first round as a baby. I cannot tell you her story without going a far back."

"When I hear 'It's a long story,' it usually means that you just don't want me to know it all. Do you want to tell the girl's story or not?"

I sigh and started from the very beginning. I tried to do it the way Merida told me when I first found out that she could turn into a bear. The Chief sat on the edge the bench, his eyes focused steadily on the direction for my face. It was strange for me to make a bond so fast. There was something in the way he expressed his friendliness, a sympathy, a strength, a humanity of spirit I just could not refuse. He listened like he was engaging my words, not simply hearing the story.