As promised a little ficlet 🙂 Follows on from this ficlet.

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They reached the stopping point, where the path ran near the tree under which they had
stretched earlier, and Mulan slowed to a walk. Another circuit of the park for
a cooldown and then they’d stretch. She glanced behind her and smiled. Merida had been forced to eat her words as Mulan had set the faster pace. However, to Mulan’s surprise Merida had kept up and was still only a few steps behind. Merida’s face was red, her curly red hair had partially escaped it’s tie and was plastered to her face. Mulan caught her eye and Merida grinned.

“Not bad,” Merida gasped, increasing her pace for a second so that they were walking side by side. “I can see you’re going to give me a run for my money.”

“I don’t usually set such a fast pace,” Mulan admitted.

She could feel the burn where she’d really pushed herself. It wasn’t something she did that often as it tended to affect the rest of her day. It was Sunday and she had a
lot of chores to do before classes started again the next day, but Merida had laid down a challenge and it had proven irresistible. Before they’d started Mulan had respected Merida’s attitude, but now she respected her a lot more. She was determined, she didn’t
give up and she didn’t complain. It might all come to nothing of course but Mulan thought random chance might have gifted her a new friend, a rather attractive new friend.

“So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?” Merida asked, the moment she got her breath back.

“Laundry, cleaning, preparing meals for the week.” Mulan shrugged. “You?”

Merida pulled a face. “Haven’t unpacked yet, I don’t know where anything is so…”

“I can show you,” Mulan offered impulsively.

“Oh yeah? That would be great.” Merida smiled. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. Merida rolled her eyes. “How about we start with somewhere for breakfast yeah?”

Mulan nodded. “Sure. There’s a nice coffee shop on campus but they aren’t open Sunday’s, and they don’t serve much in the way of breakfast. They are better for something quick at lunch time. You are welcome to come back with me.”

“Breakfast at Castle Mulan, sounds good,” Merida agreed. “One thing, do you have tea?”