AN: Hello! This is my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic and since I've only ever play KH and KH2 and watched walkthroughs/read on wiki about the others just assume this is AU and post Dream Drop Distance – post whatever happens to bring the Birth By Sleep guys back together. I was thinking about what the gang might do once they were reunited, and if any new apprentices would appear, and then this character just walked into my head with a full back story and everything, so I started writing it down. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

The New Apprentice

"Hey, Aqua!" Ven shouted, barrelling his way through the newly restored great hall, bursting with newfound energy. Ever since awakening he hadn't stopped moving save for when he was eating or for the few precious hours he spent power napping.

Aqua turned to meet him, her hands full of the books she was sorting from a large pile by the grand armchair. Master Eraqus had left them a lot of reading material, and she had spent most of the week inwardly debating what needed storing away in the library, what needed keeping close at hand in the study, and what needed just plain chucking. She was tired, drooping from the mass clean up operation of the castle that had taken the first month after their arrival, and now from the tedious task of sifting through the objects that now belonged to her. Ven's arrival was a pleasant breath of fresh air, and his grin was so infectious that she smiled and threw the books unceremoniously over her shoulder onto the chair, deciding it could wait a bit.

"Ven! What's up?"

He skidded to a halt, nearly falling over his gangly limbs. He had grown considerably, and still wasn't used to his new frame or the endless supply of energy he seemed to draw upon. "Terra's making noodle soup for lunch!" he said, bouncing on the spot, reminding her forcefully of Sora.

She could just see them both as they were a month ago stood side by side, bouncing like popcorn kernels – it was amazing to think they were two separate entities. It would be easy to mistake them for relatives, or even two sides of the same person. But then again, that was sort of true in its own way too…

"C'mon, Aqua! You've done nothing but work for the last few weeks! Can't you take a break for five minutes?"

"There's still a lot to do," she gestured at the mountain of books and scrolls yet to be sorted, and felt her heart sink. "Like you and Terra keep reminding me, I'm the Master now. Which means I'm in charge, which also means I've got to organise this place."

"You don't have to do it by yourself!" Ven laughed, kicking one leg behind the other and cushioning the back of his head with his hands. "Master Eraqus always had us running round doing chores for him! You could just ask us,"

"Well I would if you and Terra would stay still for a moment." She chided him, unable to work herself into a stern expression so choosing to smile wistfully instead. "You haven't stopped moving since you woke up. And it's me who has to clean up after you," they both fell silent when they thought of the vase that had been smashed the day before last because Ven hadn't been able to keep control of his Keyblade. It was a slightly sore point because Master Eraqus had been quite fond of that particular vase.

"I'm still sorry about that…" he said, wincing contritely and looking at the floor.

"It's all right." She shook her head, tucking her hair back. It had grown quite a bit; she really needed a haircut… Terra had tried to cut her hair when they were kids, and it had taken forever to fix the mess he had made. "When did he say lunch was going to be?"

"In ten minutes, that's why I came to get you," he bounced back to his usual, hyper self with a gin. Hands balled into fists, bouncing from foot to foot as though psyching himself up for a marathon. "You coming or what?"

Aqua rolled her eyes and shook her head, resigning herself to lunch with the boys. They were probably planning to chain her to the floor and force feed her if she refused; they didn't like the fact she was good at taking care of and worrying about everyone but herself. A break from filing would be very nice right now…

"Okay,"

"Race ya!" Ven tensed, ready for flight.

Aqua made a show of inspecting her nails nonchalantly before charging at him. Ven yelped and dived out of her way before shaking a fist after her as she ran across the hall.

"Catch me if you can!"

"Hey! That's cheating!"

They chased each other all the way to the furthest wing where the kitchen was, laughing every step of the way. It felt good to let go and behave as though nothing had happened – as if the Mark of Mastery was still looming in the obscure future and they had never heard of the Unversed, or the Heartless. Lunch was really good; just a plain, good old-fashioned soup made with some of the vegetables they had coaxed into growing in the gardens, and laced with chicken and Terra's special herbs. The talk was carefree, about everything and nothing – Ven had a spat with Terra because the older boy was teasing him about his apparent lack of skills with his Keyblade at the moment. Aqua sighed and poked the dregs of her soup with a small smile on her face. Knowing Ven, she'd catch him sneaking out to do extra training tonight – he was just out of practise, and overly excited; that was all.

Even though there was still a formidable amount of work to be done, Aqua let the boys convince her into taking the rest of the day off. Rather than set them to training or shifting objects around, they all grabbed a mug of varying hot beverages and collapsed in a heap in the room that was formally known as the 'common room'. Really it was just a living room with big squashy armchairs and a long sofa set before a hearth. The walls were still lacking their prior trappings (a few of the framed paintings were in a box somewhere waiting for them, and a few had just gone astray) but the doodle corner was just as it was; Aqua and Terra's childish scribbles were still just visible from the sofa, though a wooden chest blocked the majority of them. Ven's own scrawling pictures were completely hidden. Aqua remembered how, years ago in another life time, Ven had sat staring at the doodles until Terra handed him a chalk stick and began showing him how they doodled and why they were allowed to on this one section of wall. After that they had had to gently prise the chalk off him as he had gone a bit trigger happy with the exercise, but it had done wonders for his then lacking social skills.

Aqua closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the plentiful scatter cushions, smiling serenely to herself. Terra and Ven were discussing old training sessions and techniques, and Aqua had nodded off to sleep by the time they had drafted an entire new training regime. After that day, she allowed them to make her take it easy; instead of delegating jobs they moved together as a pack and tackled each problem as it arose before them. Instead of systematically working through the chores they just ploughed through whatever was nearest to them at the time.

About a week later they were all sprawled on the floor digging their way underneath a large, old fashioned and rather ugly cabinet when they heard someone calling from down the hall. Ven wriggled his way out first and pelted off to see who it was, while Aqua had to first crawl out and then help Terra get out by grabbing him by the leg and dragging him backward. He scowled at the floor once he was sat upright again and Aqua stifled a giggle.

"Hey!" They both looked up to see Ven framed in the doorway, panting. "King Mickey's here! And he's got someone with him!"

"Who?" Aqua asked, getting to her feet with Terra not far behind. She hurried to the door and followed Ven down the corridor.

"Dunno, he wanted to talk to all of us," Ven began, but they entered the great hall so he kept quiet.

"Hello!" Mickey piped up, waving merrily at them. He was the same as ever, dressed in red and black, though his smile was somewhat troubled today.

Behind him stood a figure wearing a long knitted cardigan-come-jumper with a large hood pulled up over their head. It was a decorated in a Fair Isle pattern with different shades of grey, black and white, and a repeated stylised 'V' shape running up the sleeves in a modulating purple that went from deep plum to delicate lilac with seemingly no set pattern followed. The hem at the bottom was trimmed with a sort of latticework ended in tassels made from black yarn. Grey skinny jeans were visible beneath the cardigan, and boots that came up mid-calf and looked somewhere between hiking shoes and armour; dull silver tinged with amethyst, and a round jewel set into the front of their left shoe.

"King Mickey!" Aqua raised a hand in greeting and hastened to his side, Ven trailing at her elbow and Terra following at a more sedate pace.

"How's it goin'?" Mickey asked, smiling at Ven and Terra.

"Great!" Ven grinned, pumping the air with his fist. "What about you?"

"Oh, ya know…" Mickey looked over his shoulder at the person behind him.

They shifted, toes scuffing against a large Bergen bag that was covered in badges, key rings, and fabric patches sewn on with varying degrees of skill. Beside that was a large satchel also covered in badges, and a smaller one made from canvas and clutched tightly in the person's hands.

"Who is this?" Aqua asked, gesturing at them.

Ven cocked his head to one side, staring curiously at the person. They visibly took a half step back, as though recoiling from the attention.

"This is Melanie." Mickey said, gesturing to her again. "I found her in the Lanes Between. Master Yen Sid suggested I bring her here to you because she can use a Key Blade."

Aqua blinked, struck dumb by the unexpected arrival of a new apprentice. Luckily Terra stepped forward in the ensuing silence and said, "Where is she from?"

"Gosh, I'm not sure. It sounds like a long way away from here, though." He looked over his shoulder at her, concerned. "Melanie, these are my friends I told you about! They're Keyblade warriors too."

Melanie raised her head slightly, and Aqua could just make out the face of a teenaged girl in the shadow, and she looked nervous. Two ringlets of dirty blonde hair were hanging from the hood, and she imagined they were framing the girl's face.

"I hope I'm not putting you to any trouble bringing her here…" Mickey said sheepishly.

"Oh, no of course not!" Aqua assured him. "We'll be happy to have her stay with us."

Ven was leaning side-to-side, and stretching up and down as though trying to get a better view of Melanie's face. Terra playfully smacked him on the head and pushed him out of the way. "Hello, Melanie." He said comfortingly. She looked at him, squinting through the shadow of hair and hood. "I'm Terra. This is Aqua, and Ventus."

"Call me Ven!" he insisted brightly, still grinning despite the painful lump on his head he was now nursing.

"Whelp, I need to get going. I'll be back soon to check on you all for Master Yen Sid. I am sorry about this such short notice."

"Really, it's fine. We'll take good care of her," Aqua insisted. She saw Mickey out and bade him farewell, before she came back to find Ven heaving the Bergen onto his back and Melanie holding tightly onto the two satchels. The smaller canvas one she kept close against her hip, and carried it with the same care you would a baby. "Where's Terra?" Aqua asked, helping Ven with a wayward strap and arranging it on his shoulders.

"Gone to fix a room up." He said, then turned to Melanie. "You'll have to tell us what you like to eat,"

Melanie was looking at the floor again, shrouded by the hood. Aqua sent her heart out to the poor girl; she looked in poor shape, and completely out of her comfort zone.

"That's okay," she said evenly, chivvying Ven along. "You can tell us once you've had a rest. Would you like to wash?"

For a moment she thought Melanie wouldn't respond, but she nodded her head twice. Aqua led them all to the dormitories, and found the spare room Terra was hastily kitting out; it was next to her own, with Ven and Terra's rooms on the other side of the corridor. In theory Aqua should have moved to the Master's Chamber, but she still wasn't quite used to the idea of being the master, so she chose to stay in her old room for the time being.

"Here," Terra showed them in, and Ven dumped the bag at the foot of the bed. "Careful with that!" he smacked Ven round the back of the head.

"You try carrying it! That thing's heavy,"

"Ignore those two," Aqua said, gently taking the larger satchel from Melanie and placing it on the cream coloured duvet that had been placed on the bed. Terra had found a spare blanket dyed in sunset reds and oranges, and it was lying in a messy pile on the pillow. Carefully she unfolded it and spread it over the bed, smoothing the sides down. "You two can go now," she said firmly as Ven took a swipe at Terra. "Go get dinner started,"

"It's way too early for dinner!" Ven complained. He kept shooting curious glances at Melanie, who was staring out the window; one hand placed on the little canvas bag, the other tentatively feeling the pastel yellow curtains with wonder.

"What shall we have?" Terra said loudly over him.

They all turned to look at Melanie, who jumped when she realised she was the centre of attention. She cast around for something to say, and then in a small voice said, "Pasta."

"Okay," Terra smiled warmly at her, and she seemed to shrink back unexpectedly. "I can do that. Do you want anything with it?"

"Cheese…" she said. "And ham."

"Alright, we'll go get it started. Ven, c'mon." Terra made to leave, and then grabbed Ven by the arm.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!"

The door swung shut with a decisive click, and Aqua laughed. "Don't mind those two, they always argue." She assured Melanie. The girl took a step towards her, and looked up. The sunlight coming through the window reflected off her eyes, and Aqua could see they were a vivid green. "Do you need anything? Clothes, towels, soap?"

"I have clothes." She said in her small, timid voice as though she were expecting to be beaten. "Could I have some shampoo?"

"Of course, follow me." Aqua took her to the communal bathroom at the end of the hall. It had a huge bath sunken into the floor, and a nice big shower with a two-tier rack for everyone's lotions and potions. In the corner adjacent to the sink was a cupboard where all the soaps, shampoos and conditioners were kept; and opposite was the airing cupboard full of nice, warm and fluffy towels. Aqua showed Melanie the stores, and she tentatively picked out a few items, and accepted the pile of towels without comment. She wanted to go back to her room before bathing, and Aqua showed her the way; Melanie didn't ask her to leave, so she stayed while the younger girl sorted out the top layer of things in her big bag.

Everything was placed in separate bags with straps and buckles designed to squash everything down as small as possible. Each one was a slightly different size, style, shape and colour, as though she had collected the contents piece-by-piece over time, rather than starting out with a full kit. She took some clean clothes from one of the bags, and then pulled out other items such as deodorant, a battered looking hairbrush, and a cherry coloured cosmetics bag that turned out to house a medical kit. Aqua was shocked when Melanie sat down and pulled the sleeve of her cardigan up, revealing a nasty looking cut that was badly bandaged.

"Let me see," she said soothingly, taking Melanie's arm and inspecting the wound. It was deep, but not threateningly so; it had been hastily treated, as if she had been tending it when Mickey found her and she had rushed to finish. The binding had started to come undone, and fresh blood was welling up and staining it a gruesome red. "What happened to you?"

"I was running from a Heartless." She said quietly, looking at her arm in a seemingly dispassionate manner. "I didn't want to fight it. I fell down a gorge and scraped my arm. I escaped into the Lanes Between, and King Mickey found me."

"I'll put a dressing on this, then we can redo properly it after you've washed." Aqua said, delving into the first aid kit and pulling out fresh bandages. It was surprisingly well stocked, and arranged in an orderly manner. Everything about this girl from her clothes to her luggage seemed to scream miscellany, as though she had just picked up random items as she went, but as Aqua looked more closely under the pretext of checking the bag for medical supplies, she realised Melanie was quite the experienced traveller with a far reaching level of foresight. The strapped bags were all placed in several larger waterproof liners, with electrical items kept separate from clothing, camping equipment apart from food, and several water canisters kept within easy reach along with the medical bag. Clearly, she knew what she was doing, and even more obvious was the fact she had been doing it for a long time.

"So," Aqua said, carefully cleaning the wound out with some antiseptic that made Melanie draw breath, but bear the stinging with dignity. Aqua smiled – Ven would probably hit the roof if he used this stuff. It smelled quite strong. "Where are you from?"

Melanie took a while to respond. "Dragon Springs." She said eventually.

Aqua nodded; she'd never heard of such a place. "Sounds far away. How long have you been away from home?"

"Eleven years." She reply came more swiftly than expected.

Aqua paused in the act of wrapping a bandage around Melanie's arm. "That's a long time," she said finally. "Why did you leave?"

"My home was attacked by a Heartless. I was told if that happened I had to leave. I don't know what happened after that…"

For a moment Aqua thought the girl would burst into tears, but Melanie regained her composure. She looked up at Aqua, who met her gaze steadily. From this angle, she could see more of the girl's face; fair skin, high cheekbones, dark blonde hair made greasy from prolonged travel…eyes like green flames the way they stood out in the shadow of her hood. She didn't look afraid anymore – but intensely curious. The same look Ven got when he was dying to ask a question.

"You're Keyblade Bearer?" she asked.

"Yes, I am." Aqua smiled, but the girl's next words shocked her.

"You're a Keyblade Master." She stated rather than asked.

Aqua took a moment to recover before saying, "Yes, technically."

As if that wasn't enough, what Melanie went on to say stunned her even more. "You feel the same as my grandfather. He was a Master too."

"And what was his name?"

"Marick."

Aqua careful started cataloguing in her head information she needed to research, this Marick being at the top of her list. Carefully, she finished wrapping the wound, and led Melanie to the bathroom again. As she stepped over the threshold, the girl stopped and turned to look at her.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "For letting me stay here. And…for my arm," she gestured at her newly bandaged arm.

"That's alright," Aqua said warmly. "There's a few things I need to do, and I'll go check on the guys before I come back for you. If you need anything just call, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded.

XOXOX

Terra was just setting food on the table when Aqua came back with Melanie. She had dropped the knitted coat with the hood, and was wearing fresh trousers with the dulled boots she had worn earlier. Now she was clad in a ratty looking purple tie-dye tank top under a dark green button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows. Her left arm was bound tightly in a bandage and moved stiffly; she wore three bracelets on her right wrist, and one on her left alongside a battered looking watch with a leather brown strap that had seen better days. This one was made of round beads that looked like a type of crystal, while the others were a mixture of macramé, a chain with small charms, and a friendship bracelet made from red and yellow threads. Her nails were painted in a bright fuchsia that had chipped here and there, and she wore a silver chain about her neck with a small wolf pendant hanging from it.

"Order's up!" he said with a smile.

"Smells great, Terra!" Aqua said warmly, gracefully sitting down at her usual place.

Ven threw some plates and cutlery down before jumping into his own seat. Terra gestured for Melanie to sit down before him, and she tentatively took the chair beside Aqua. Terra had thrown a few herbs into the mix, and had ended up making a pasta bake instead, but the light in her eyes flared as Aqua heaped food onto Melanie's plate – poor girl looked starving. Her hair was still damp, and tied back in a loose pony tail that covered her ears and the side of her face; two locks of hair, one either side of her face hung freely and had started curling into cork screws. Her hair was dark blonde, and now that she wasn't wearing a hood he could see her bright green eyes that seemed to absorb and reflect the light from her surroundings. She was a curious little thing, but Terra made a point of not staring at her; she seemed somewhat unnerved still.

Aqua tried to coax her into talking, and Ven enthusiastically joined in while Terra just listened. Melanie's voice was small and quiet, probably because she was uncomfortable and unfamiliar with them and her new surroundings. She spoke very little, and instead listened to Ven rabbit on about life here and about his two friends. Terra noted with satisfaction that at first all she focused on was the food, and once she had moved onto seconds appeared to be enjoying and savouring the taste, now that her hunger was sated.

From the little Ven managed to coax out of her, they discovered the name of the town she had grown up in – Dragon Springs – and she had a late grandfather named Marick who was a Keyblade Master. She had been on the run from Heartless on and off for eleven years, and had no idea where or what her family were doing now. All that they got from her was that she had a little brother, and a cousin who seemed to have lived with them. She briefly mentioned a mother, as well as her grandfather – absolutely nothing about a father.

After dinner Ven and Terra washed up while Aqua spoke to Melanie about the following day. "If you want you can unpack, and get settled in. We're still busy sorting things out because we recently moved back in."

She nodded.

"Then, once we're back on form we'll all start training properly again. And you can join us, if you want."

"But she has to, doesn't she?" Ven asked, wiping the bake dish dry before placing it on the counter top with the plates.

"It's possible to have the gift of the Keyblade and not use it," Aqua told him. "Though it is recommended that you learn to use it properly."

The talk continued in this manner until they had finished clearing up, and Melanie slowly got out of her seat. She stood, poised irresolutely on a question she seemed reluctant to ask. Eventually, she plucked up the courage and said, "I'm tired…may I go to bed?"

Terra cocked his head to one side. Her accent was a bit odd; he couldn't quite place it.

"Of course, you must be exhausted!" Aqua said, reminding Terra of a mother hen settling her feathers over her brood of chicks.

They made it to the door when Melanie stopped, looking at the floor again. Aqua turned to her, and Ven took a few steps towards them, stopping uncertainly. She then looked up at each of them in turn, before focusing on and addressing Aqua. "Thank you, for your kind welcome. I hope I can be of good service and cheer. And…" a soft, warm smile graced her lips. "My friends call me Melody, or Mel."

Ven laughed. "Okay, Mel! Call me Ven,"

She smiled, and nodded, before following Aqua out of the kitchen. Ven had a goofy looking daydream smile, that snapped instantly into a scowl when Terra failed to contain his laughter.

"What?" he snarled, stalking past to grab a glass of water before storming out of the room.

"What's put that goofy little grin on your face?" Terra asked the back of Ven's head, following him down the corridor.

"What are you talking about?" Ven snapped.

"Aww, Ventus!" Terra flung an arm around his friend's shoulder and sighed dramatically. "Is it possible that you didn't notice how undeniably pretty Melanie is?" he wasn't expecting to hit a sore nerve – Ven often had moments where he spaced out and day dreamed and was easily caught unaware. That was just Ventus.

But Terra was surprised when Ven gave him a withering look, squared his shoulders and marched off down the corridor by himself. "She said she's called Mel." He said forcefully.

Terra just watched in amazement as Ven stormed off, nearly colliding with Aqua as she rounded a corner. She was startled, and watched perplexedly as Ven disappeared from sight, before turning to Terra. "What happened?"

"I dunno, I was teasing him about Melanie – then he got annoyed with me."

"It's probably best to leave him to cool down. Mel's gone to sleep, she was exhausted."

Terra gave Aqua a sideways glance. "You should probably go to bed, too."

On cue, Aqua yawned widely, and after that it didn't take much to persuade her to head for her room. Before he went to bed himself, Terra went to check on Ven; unsurprisingly he was out training, whacking the daylights out of the wooden targets. He waited for Ven to notice his presence, and for Ven to then deign to respond. Eventually he relented and stopped to look up at Terra.

"What do you want?"

"I came to check on you," Terra said, walking down the slope to Ven's side, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ven shrugged, not meeting his eye.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Terra told him seriously.

"I'm not, I just…" he looked up at the stars that were just starting to appear in the darkening sky. "She looks so vulnerable. I just wanna keep her safe." It wasn't really a good enough or informative excuse, but Terra let it slide

"I know the feeling." Terra clapped him on the back. "Come on, let's go back inside. Aqua wouldn't want us to catch a cold now,"

"What do you think of this?" Ven asked as they went back inside, shutting the door against the night chill. "What it means? Another Keyblade wielder, outta nowhere…"

Terra considered carefully as they walked back to their rooms. "I don't know. But they say things come in threes, right?"

Ven stared at him blankly.

"You, me and Aqua. Sora, Riku and Kairi. Lea's all on his lonesome right now."

Ven laughed. "He's gone back to Radiant Garden, right?"

"Yeah, but Aqua's going to send for them all once we get things sorted out here. Then hopefully we'll all train together at some point."

"But they won't live here with us, right?" Ven put in, watching the starry sky through the windows on their left.

"No, but they'll drop by every so often. Last I heard Chip and Dale are building them their own gummi ship."

"Cool!" Ven bounced in a lively manner at the thought. "We could go on trips together – it'd be fun!"

"Night Ven," Terra said, ruffling his hair. "See you in the morning."

"G'night Terra!" Ven waved, poised on the threshold of his room.

Terra took a moment to really take him in – the Ventus that had once watched him battle his way through the Keyblade exams had been younger, smaller, leaner, and somewhat naïve. The Ventus that stood before him was much taller, more filled out across the chest and shoulders, and though he kept that air of innocent naivety he had always carried, there was something deeper in his eyes; a sense of world weariness, as though he'd seen far more than he dared to let on.

"Something wrong?"

Terra blinked. "Nah, just thinking."

Ven laughed, closing his eyes and throwing his head back, putting his heart into it. "You're weird, Terra!"

"I think I can safely say, not as weird as you!"

XOXOX

"Morning!" Ven called as he walked into the kitchen.

Terra yawned sleepily, stirring a pot of porridge. "Mornin'…"

Ven grinned at Mel who was perched on a stool next to the counter, slowly eating a bowl of cereal. She was wearing the same clothes as last night, and her little canvas satchel was securely wedged between her knees. She smiled tentatively back and hurriedly looked down at her bowl again.

"Where's Aqua?" Ven asked grabbing a bowl and a spoon before hovering at Terra's elbow.

"Been up since the crack of dawn sorting books." Terra yawned again. Apparently, he hadn't slept well that night. He could be such a grouch when he didn't get enough sleep… "She'll probably get us to help move them later."

They eat in companionable silence; Mel washed up her bowl and left to most probably unpack, and Aqua returned to enlist their help with moving boxes of books and scrolls around, just as Terra had predicted. Most of them went into the library, while a few went into the Master's study where they would be immediately to hand if needed; the rest went into storage in the loft over the great hall.

At lunchtime Ven went to fetch Mel, and found her sat on the floor surrounded by lots of small miscellaneous items; feathers, rocks, crystals, a few small models of animals, and a deck of cards emblazoned with different symbols and animals spread in an arc. She jumped when Ven knocked, sticking his head round the door.

"Lunch is ready!"

"O- okay," she said, hurriedly stuffing the objects back into a large leather pouch tooled with some design he couldn't make out from where he stood. "Sorry about this,"

"It's okay. It's your room now, make as much mess as you like!"

"No," she smiled sheepishly; quickly jotting something down on a notepad before gathering up her cards and shoving them into a silk pouch that was rammed into the leather bag. She stashed this under her pillow before grabbing her canvas bag and standing up. "It's just that, some of the places I've been too they don't exactly…look kindly on what I do."

"What was that, anyway?" Ven asked, trying to catch a glimpse of her pillow. There was a cuddly toy dog sticking out from the other side of it. "Some kind of magic?"

"Yes, sort of…" Mel fiddled with a lock of hair, looking at the floor. "I learnt it from an old shaman. He said I was gifted, and it would work well with what I already had. I guess he meant the Keyblade…"

"Hey," Ven said as they walked down the corridor. "I've got some free time this afternoon. Wanna do some training?"

Mel smiled weakly, clutching the bag close to her chest. "Maybe not today, but thank you."

"No worries!" Ven grinned at her, and she smiled shyly back. She didn't seem quite so skittish today. "So what was it you were doing?"

The skittishness came back instantly.

"You can tell me," he said encouragingly.

"It's…sort of a form of divination."

"What, like predicting the future?"

"Yes and no… It's more like, taking stock of the present and guessing the likelihood of what's going to happen next."

Ven blinked at her, and she caught his expression and bit her lip.

"Sorry…"

"Not sure I get it…and you don't have to apologise! We just don't learn about that sort of thing here. But it sounds really interesting! So how does it work?"

"Huh?" Mel stopped for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. "Oh, it's a bit complicated…I don't know if I can explain it right…"

Ven cocked his head to one side, and smiled at her. "Try! I'm not a great student, but I'll try, too."

This seemed to convince her, because she launched into an explanation about medicine wheels and totem objects, and explained how her tarot cards worked. "I don't use the same deck as other people. My set was given to me, and it's the only one I've ever managed to work with properly. The animals show a lesson or an action, and the symbols show time, date and numbers. I use it to figure out what's going on when I get confused, and how I can best move forward."

"Can you do reading for other people?" Ven asked excitedly. "I had someone do a reading for me once."

"What did they say?" Mel asked, stroking the bag nestled against her hip.

"Something about a lizard, and I think some kind of bird…" he trailed off, struggling to remember. "It was red. And there was a single star, too."

Mel stopped in her tracks and looked up at the ceiling. Ven turned to look at her and felt a small pull of magic energy around her, coming from the sky above. "Lizard: Medicine of Dreams. Phoenix, for resurrection. And a star. I don't know what that means."

Ven blinked again, impressed. "Wow!"

"Did you know what it meant before?" she asked curiously, peering up at him. She was rather petite compared to his stature.

"No, but it does now." He smiled. "Don't worry about it,"

"Okay." She returned his smile.

Sadly, when they reached the kitchen and lunch her talkative mood had passed, and she went back to looking down and eating quietly, only speaking when pestered. Ven was a little disappointed, but he figured she was a bit intimidated by all three of them at once. When they finished eating, Mel made to get up to wash her plate, but Terra put a hand on her shoulder to keep her in her seat and whisked it away before she could protest.

"Ven," Aqua said, grabbing a dishcloth. "Why don't you show Mel around? Show her the grounds and the training area,"

"Good idea! You up for that?" he asked her.

Mel nodded mutely, wide eyed. "Um…" she said eventually.

"What's up?" Ven asked, concerned.

"Don't you want me to wash up?" she asked in a small voice.

"That's all right, Terra and I can handle it." Aqua assured her.

So Ven lead Mel around the castle, pointing at various rooms and pieces of furniture and telling their story. Then he showed her the grounds and the training areas on the sloping sides of the mountain. She seemed much more interested in the outdoors, and delighted in the flowers that grew all over the place, particularly in and around the stream.

"So you train here?" she asked, looking down at the practise rings from above on the slope.

"Yup! Wanna have a go?" he grinned, and sagged slightly when she gave him a startled look. "It's okay, you don't have to."

"I don't want to practise holding this," she drummed her fingers gently on the bag at her side.

"We could put it down? Or I could hold it for you?" Ven offered.

Mel's hands wrapped around it instinctively and pulled it closer to her chest. Clearly, she didn't trust him.

"No? Okay, that's fine. We can always practise some other time," he was itching to practise himself, but he couldn't just ditch Mel. "So, where'd you like to go next?"

Mel looked shocked at being asked her opinion, but Ven waited for her make a decision anyway. Eventually she said, "Could we go back to the flower garden…?"

"Sure!"

Over the next week, slowly Mel became more talkative and began opening up. When she had gotten used to them all she started speaking more at meal times, and quite happily gave demonstrations of her card reading abilities. Terra grilled her for more information about shamanism, which at first made her clam up in an instant, but Aqua slowly coaxed her back out again, and started cross referencing everything Mel told her with the books they had inherited from Master Eraqus. Lots of things they had no records of, but a few – especially concerning magic – were backed up by the books.

Ven found Mel intensely fascinating; she was quiet, often absorbed in her own world, gazing out of a window at the cloudscapes or staring intently at a flower's petals as if she could hear it speaking, but she also contained a quiet humour that was more apparent when they were making jokes with each other. One evening Ven and Terra were bickering and started calling each other names; while Aqua sighed and rolled her eyes despairingly, Mel giggled quietly to herself, stifling a smile and suggesting a few witty alternatives. She was incredibly bright, and seemed to catch a lot more than Ven initially thought. Terra and Aqua were discussing the inevitable arrival of a gummi ship, whether manned by Sora and Riku or Donald, and when Ven turned to explain more fully to Mel she recalled everything Aqua had said about gummi ships perfectly, and in her own words as opposed to just parroting the information she had heard.

Finally, when the castle was in order, they started training and sparring properly again. Ven threw himself into it straight away, and had loads of fun fighting Terra. Aqua threw her blade in too, though she also did a lot of refereeing as their official Master. None of them called her by her sanctioned title – it would have been just plain weird, though Mel did a couple of times by accident. Aqua insisted on being called by just her name, so Mel complied.

The first surprise came when they settled in for their first formal training session together as a group. They summoned their keyblades, each in their own unique way as they always had done. Mel raised her arms and spread them out either side, and both hands glowed before each receiving a keyblade. Ven remembered dimly that Sora had sometimes gained this ability under the right circumstances, but he'd never known someone to do it naturally at will without restriction. One was purple and green, with a somewhat musical theme that resembled a harp and flute; the other long and straight, with a series of seven circles going along the shaft, starting in red from the grip and ending in violet at the base of the blade end that curved into a circular hook, with orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo in-between.

When Aqua asked if she could fight with just one, she shook her head and said apologetically, "I can't make the other one go away." So instead they worked around it; Mel would go through drills and sequences, taking it out on the practise rings and watching closely as the other three fought each other, before Aqua nudged her into the fray as well.

Mel was hesitant, and even though Ven went easy on her she was still a push over. A few sessions went on in this manner until Terra took her aside and gave her a little pep talk.

"I hope she's okay," Ven said to Aqua, stamping his feet and jumping on the spot to keep warm. The season was changing and it was getting markedly chillier in the evenings.

"Well, I think she's been through a lot." Aqua said evenly, perceptive as always. "And it's probably strange for her to be living here with us since she's always been on the move before. That, and she probably hasn't had much keyblade training, let alone with other keyblade wielders."

"Hmm," Ven nodded. Her fighting style did lack a lot in the aggression department… her defence, on the other hand, was absolutely flawless.

"Okay?" Terra led Mel back to the circle they had drawn out for the sparring area. "Go get'em, tiger." He said, ruffling her hair.

Mel smiled back and took up the ready position in the circle. Ven followed suit, and Aqua called for the start of the match. At first, he didn't notice any difference in her strategy until he pushed forwards into her defence. Instead of retreating, she pushed forwards as well, at an angle that deflected his attack off her side, and jabbed at him using her left arm with an attack that could have unbalanced him if she had followed through.

"Good!" Terra called. "Do it again! But this time follow it through,"

Bit by bit, Mel became more aggressive and less prone to retreating. Ven was amazed when she finally managed to knock him off his feet with a well-placed blow. However, she was so surprised herself that her grip slackened and their keyblades locked together, which gave him leverage to pull her down with him. Despite her slow progress, Mel showed real improvement after only four days, and Ven felt his own progress keenly.

About two and a half weeks after Mel had first arrived they were gathered in the common room after dinner. Terra was laid out of the sofa, clutching a cushion to his head and groaning softly periodically. He hadn't looked particularly well earlier, and he seemed to be getting worse. Aqua had given him some painkillers for his developing headache and was curled up on one of the comfy chairs with a book of old violin music. She had found her beloved instrument in the loft and was currently hunting round for spare strings. As she slowly went over the music in her head, sometimes humming the tune out loud, Ven and Mel were sat on the floor by the fire going over some of her items.

Mel owned a set of knucklebones, eligibly from a dragon though she thought they had most likely come from a huge species of lizard that lived on a small island somewhere far away. Ven found the crystals fascinating, and she had even given him a few; apparently she picked up tokens from places she had been to, only to leave them elsewhere for someone else to pick up and use for themselves. The 'way of the shaman' sounded just as complicated as a Keyblade Warrior. Her little canvas bag was nestled in the circle of her lap, the flap open to reveal its contents.

Ven had asked quite innocently what was inside a few days after she had arrived, and Mel had clammed up, and refused to show them. Then, two days ago she had brought it to Aqua and asked if she knew what it was – having been finally defeated by her lack of knowledge. The object was a large tear shaped stone of something that looked like slate coloured marble, and was as hard as diamonds. They knew this because Mel had tripped on the stairs, and it had fallen all they way down and into the entrance hall with an all mighty clatter that had brought everyone running. Terrified, Mel had rushed to see if there was any damage from its traumatic fall – not even a hint of a scuff or scratch. Aqua had been researching Mel's branch of magic, and also tried to discover what the stone was. She hadn't found out yet, but she was still looking; a few possibilities included an inactive summon gem, a store stone for pooling magic energy needed at a later date, or just simply a pretty, shiny rock.

Ven had held the stone the day before, and in the sunlight there was an almost oily sheen, like rainbow colours on a puddle. And despite it's apparent greyness, Mel insisted it was purple. She explained that she argued with a lot of people over colours because she apparently possessed a very high colour perception. That didn't make much sense to Ven until Terra explained that it meant Mel had more of the cone and rod shaped structures in her eyes that allowed you to see colour than other people did. Surreptitiously holding the stone at certain angles to the light, and angling his body in a certain way, Ven could almost catch this purple hue that seemed to elude the rest of them.

Right now, it was nestled safely in Mel's lap as she poured over the cards Ven had drawn. It was very beautiful, but he failed to see what drew her and attached her to it so. But then, most people wouldn't understand why Ven had treasured his wooden practise keyblade; the one Terra had given him. This stone had come to Mel through someone she had met just before coming here, someone she had known for a while and had looked up to. Clearly, it was a reminder of that person that she cherished. Still, he couldn't quite shake the feeling there was something else to it…

"Nnngh…" Terra groaned into the quiet.

"Is he okay?" Mel asked anxiously, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Probably. Terra's a big baby when he gets sick," Ven teased, and wilted when he didn't get the desired response; Terra didn't rally to the insult at all.

Aqua stood up and placed a hand on his forehead, frowning. "He's got a bit of a temperature…"

"I think I have something for that," Mel sat up straighter, looking uncertain.

"My head hurts, and…" Terra shifted uncomfortably on the sofa.

Mel got to her feet and placed a hand on his forehead, and her other on his shoulder. "Hmm…" she considered him carefully before removing her hands and then tracing lines across his body. Ven watched with interest, feeling again the glow of magic about her. "I think I see what the problem is."

"You do?" Ven asked, amazed.

"What would you recommend?" Aqua asked.

"It's pretty simple, but complicated…" Mel was thinking deeply, eyes far away. She seemed to say odd and contradictory things a lot, but Ven was getting used to that – she had a unique way of viewing things.

"Can I get anything to help?" Aqua ventured.

Mel blinked and looked up at her, confused. Then she said, "Could you get two glasses of water, please?"

Once she had the glasses, she placed them on the table and then proceeded to pull yet more items from her leather pouch. It was tooled with the repeated design of arum lilies, and contained an astonishing amount of objects for its size. This time she fished out a small ceramic bowl, and another pouch full of dried herbs; she set these aside and drew out a simple flint before mixing the herbs together in the dish and gently lighting them. She placed the bowl on the floor by the sofa and smudged her fingers in the ashes before tracing a line over Terra's face. Then she went and stood by his head, placing her hands either side of his face and looking down his body to his feet.

"He needs clearing, but I'm only going to do one channel."

"Huh?" Ven blinked. "I don't get it."

Mel shook herself, and smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Everyone has twelve energy meridians – some people call them 'Chi Channels', 'Energy Channels', but really they are all the same thing, just with different names. And there are seven energy points that run along the body down the spinal cord. Sometimes when you get sick the energy in your body is unbalanced, or flowing the wrong way. And sometimes you feel sick because your emotions have influenced the energy flow."

"You mean like…magic?"

"Not exactly…"

Ven didn't understand, and told her so. "I don't get it. So what you're doing is not magic?"

"No, it's manipulation of energy – the base principle is the same, but the application is really different. Its like…energy flows the wrong way, or becomes stagnant, and that can affect your body and your organs. All emotions are felt physically because of hormones in the blood stream, and those hormones are influenced by the function of the organs. If one is off balance, eventually it can upset the rest of the body. It's kinda like how…ah! When you're sick, and you throw up – the food is going the wrong direction to what it should be, and it throws you off balance."

"Oh! Okay, that I get. So…what are you gonna do to Terra?" Ven asked, poking him in the knee. Terra made a halfhearted swipe at him, missing by miles. "Gees, he must really be sick!" that made Ven worry.

"If we didn't do anything he'd develop a bug and be sick for a few days, but I can do something." Mel tapped his forehead, before leaning her own forward to touch the crown of Terra's head. There weren't any dancing lights of bursts of radiance like when you cast a curative spell, but Ven could feel the tug in the air that denoted a draw on magic.

"Here," Aqua had grabbed some of their own medicines from the box in the kitchen cupboard, and began sorting through them to find something to bring down Terra's temperature.

Ven watched as Mel slowly stood and traced with her ash-smudged fingers lines across Terra's body. He didn't pass any comment; in fact Terra appeared to fall asleep almost instantly. After nearly half an hour Mel sat down cross-legged with her back against the sofa, and took a long draft from one of the glasses. She looked up at Ven's anxious expression and smiled.

"He'll be okay now, he needs to sleep it off and drink some water. A lot of people go to sleep when I do a healing."

"So Terra's better now?" Ven asked, poking him in the knee.

"Some of his energy was snarled up so I moved it back, and I cleared the channel that was causing the most unbalance. When you do a clearing the body needs to adjust to the change, and that means it needs to detoxify itself. He'll feel rough tonight, but he should be fine by midday tomorrow."

True to her word, Terra roused himself a few minutes later and staggered off to bed after chugging the proffered glass of water. Aqua followed not long after, still humming violin music to herself. When Mel and Ven packed up and headed after them, he said, "Thanks for healing Terra."

"Don't mention it. It's the least I could do since, you've taken me in,"

Ven smiled and shook his head. She was incredibly polite and thankful, and seemed like the sort of person who'd apologise for getting hit in the face. "No worries," he said instead. "I'll see you in the morning!"

"Good night, Ven." She smiled her small, warm smile before sliding into her room and quietly closing the door behind her.

XOXOX