Rhythma wasn't sure what compelled her to open her eyes. She felt just fine nestled in the cocoon of darkness she had been forced to endure.

Blinking rapidly, the young fairy forced herself to awaken from her uneasy slumber. Upon doing so, there was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. What caused such nausea, she didn't know. But she did know that it was one of the most unpleasant feelings she had ever had to embrace.

She turned her head, glimpsing at her surroundings. Doing so made her feeling of nausea grow ever more unpleasant. Still, she forced herself to look around at the expanse of colors that enveloped her.

Rhythma was chilled to the bone. Despite being wrapped in a peaceful embrace of many colors, they were all cold. Chilly colors such as dark blue, purple, gray, maroon and even ugly green were all that she could see. Nothing warm.

And just like that, the colors faded.

"What are you drinking?" Four-year-old Rhythma asked the old man sitting at a table. She had been running through the gardens behind the castle when she had first spotted him.

"Tea . . ."

"Just tea? How can you function on just tea?" The little fairy tilted her head.

The elderly man grunted. "Tea has no caffeine in it." He stated gruffly. "Now beat it, kid."

Little Rhythma didn't give in so easily. "But I thought all old people need caffeine to survive? They're always grumpy in the castle when they run out of coffee."

The man actually turned to her this time, and tilted his head. "Did you just call me old?"

"Well, you have wrinkles. Just like my daddy, and he always complains he's old." Rhythma smiled brightly, not seeing any offense in what she had said.

The man chuckled - quietly. "Who are you, kid?" He asked, his dark brown eyes glittering with curiosity as he watched the little girl in front of him.

"I'm Princess Rhythma!" She chirped proudly. "Who are you?"

The man thought about this for a while. "I am Ronin." He finally said, turning his eyes to stare across the garden.

"Ronin?" Rhythma tilted her head, hands behind her back as she thought about his name. "That's not a name, it's a title. Ronin means 'Masterless Samurai'."

"Smart fairy." Ronin sipped more of his tea. "It is true that I once had a name, but ever since becoming the last Samurai, I have preferred to be addressed as Ronin."

Rhythma blinked. "The last?"

"I was burdened with a choice." He glanced at the girl, his eyes hardening with knowledge only he knew. "Every warrior faces difficult choices." He growled, meeting her heterogenous gaze with his simple brown one. "And yours will be the most difficult of all. Know that whatever decision you make, you will have to carry it for the rest of your life. If you can do that, then it will be the right one."

The little fairy squeaked. "What do you mean? A difficult choice?"

But the old man had turned away, a glassy look shining in his eyes.

"It is very easy to grow accustomed to silence." Ronin spoke calmly as he led six-year-old Rhythma through the gardens. "If you deny yourself something long enough, you can start to ignore it, but it never really goes away. It's just something you've seen so many times that you become almost blind to it." He wasn't looking at her, but Rhythma didn't mind. "Until suddenly, something happens, and you can't not see it. It is there, and it is undeniable, and there is no escaping the truth of it. And try as you might, you can't hide from it." Ronin suddenly stopped, turning his head in her direction. "Even if you stubbornly refuse to name it, it's there, with you, and you realize then that you were its hostage all along."

Rhythma frowned. "Is that a riddle?"

"It's a warning, little Rhythma." Ronin said with an insistent tone. "I see in you, a very powerful magic. But before you will discover this magic, you will have to learn a hard lesson."

"What lesson?"

Ronin took a deep breath. "You are a girl who lives carelessly. Your heart is blind, Rhythma. I fear that is a lesson you will never learn."

"Why do you act weird?" Rhythma demanded.

"I'm a castle's crazy man. That's my job." Ronin gave her a toothy smile. "Why do you call me weird?"

Rhythma huffed. "You keep giving me these warnings, and say you see my future, my powers. I'm just an ordinary girl!"

"Your power is far from ordinary, young princess." Ronin retorted, leaning on his cane. "You will not see it, however, until very far in the future."

The fairy kicked a small pebble in the earth and watched it roll across the lush green grass. "You say I'm special, but I'm not! Melody may be my home now, but it won't be forever. I want to go to Alfea." She gave the old man a challenging glare.

But Ronin just chuckled at her words. "It's up to you to do great things that will be remembered forever." His voice carried the power of a wildfire. "Your home has nothing to do with what you chose to be."

"It doesn't?"

The old man shook his head. "The destiny laid out in front of you does not have anything to do with Melody."

"Then what do you see?"

Ronin thought about his next words carefully. "I see a princess who will mourn her family." He finally said. "I see a queen who will want to save her people. I see a fairy who will regret any mistakes . . . and who will miss her only true friends."

Then he bustled off, leaving the young fairy stunned at his words.

"There are those who will tell you, that the magic of Water, Earth, Air, Energy, or even Darkness is the most powerful magic of all." Ronin stood before eleven-year-old Rhythma, holding out his hands as he replicated the elements of which he spoke. "Some would disagree - would say that the Magic of Fire surprasses all others." He bunched his fists and a bright orange flame sprang to life in the palm of his hand, illuminating his wrinkled face as he stared down at his student. "They are wrong."

The young fairy tilted her head, both hands folded in her lap as she listened.

"In truth, all magics are equal and identical. A lifetime of study has led me to believe that they are all the same."

Rhythma blinked, perplexed at his words. "But I was taught that all magic is different - like the Dragon Flame is the most powerful of all?"

"Let me tell you the secret that was revealed to me by my mentor." Ronin said in a tone that left no room for interruption. He leaned close, his sour breath clouding her senses. "There is no such thing as magic."

Rhythma froze.

Ronin continued. "It is a word. A silly, foolish, overused word. There is only your will." He poked her in the chest, right where her heart was. "A life force. An Energy. This is the Energy that flows within you. It can be shaped, molded, directed."

The fairy watched him, eyes wide.

"The same forces control those elements." The man's voice remained strangely calm. "The Energy you use to control Fire is the same Energy you use to shape Water, mold Air, crack Earth, and control Darkness. That Energy comes from within: it is the power of your will."

He knelt down in front of Rhythma, looking her dead in the eyes.

"No matter who taught you, magic is as strong as the will of the user and the strength of their mind." He told her seriously. "Great emotions - love, hate, terror, sadness - intensify any powerful working." He showed her with his own powers what he meant, springing a bright blue flame in his hand. "But be careful." His voice came as a warning. The blue fire flickered as though disturbed. "These same emotions raging through your body can also consume your mind. And once your mind is gone, then so are you."

The fire in his hand flickered again, and then turned black. Rhythma gasped, awed by the sudden transformation.

"You know how powerful fire can be." Ronin told her as the fire danced in his hand. "Strong enough to tear through forests. You've seen fires devastate homes and rip apart entire towns." He smirked. "That is the power of fire."

Rhythma kept silent.

Ronin took a deep breath. "Elementals are powerful, but also deadly when placed in the wrong hands." His eyes glittered. "Long ago, I protected Melody from the greatest of dangers. But there were some threats so treacherous that even I could not defeat them alone." He turned his gaze onto her. "There were creatures who used distrust and division to turn leaders into followers. To transform the good into evil. To change the almighty to the weak." The old man seemed to speak with a touch of fear. "These creatures would use fear and hatred to create entire armies. They would channel rage and anger into weapons of destruction and death."

"How did you stop it, then?" Rhythma asked.

The man looked down at her with his fierce eyes. "Harmony, and only harmony, can defeat a danger like this. The ultimate harmony between man and magic." He wavered in his tone, which grew slightly weaker as he spoke. "The ultimate trust in oneself."

"Ronin?" Thirteen-year-old Rhythma approached the old man, who was standing alone in the gardens.

He turned his brown stare upon her. "Yes, little Princess?"

"I just got out of class." The young fairy said shyly. "We learned about the darker side of magic - witches." She looked away. "My teacher spoke of them as evil, and there was so much hatred in her tone. Tell me - Ronin - are witches truly that evil?"

Her elderly teacher tipped his head to study her. "The witches have always been secretive about information they consider dangerous." He finally said. "Like the destruction of Domino, and the location of the Dragon Flame. Perhaps that's why the people lost faith in them."

"From what I've heard," Rhythma spoke cautiously, "Domino didn't fight hard enough."

"Remember, child. History was written by the victors." Ronin turned his head away.

"The victors were the witches."

Ronin nodded. "That is the story. But the witches, perhaps, twisted the truth to their own glory, framing Domino for its own destruction."

"And you know this . . . how?" The girl was perplexed.

"I began thinking about knowledge as a force, and books as important as superpowers." Ronin answered.

Rhythma blinked. "So you studied."

"Some part of it was study." Ronin admitted. "But sometimes, imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to understand."

Rhythma tried to clear up his cryptic words. "So . . . you studied, but also made guesses." She beamed. "I guess that's wise." Then the young fairy lowered her head. "Sorry that I keep bombarding you with questions."

"Curiosity can be tempered with patience." Ronin shrugged. "Knowledge is wasted in those without the wisdom to know how to use it. And wisdom comes only with time."

"Ronin! Ronin!" Rhythma burst into the gardens and skidded to a halt in front of the old warrior. Now fourteen years old, she stared up at him with bright, heterogenous eyes. "Guess what? The nymphs visited me in my dreams last night! Isn't that wonderful?"

"Wonderful indeed." The old master sniffed as he plucked a blossom from the vines growing against the castle walls.

Rhythma beamed. "They were so pretty! So many colors, so many different types of power." She looked at her teacher. "Is this how you felt when they first visited you? Dad says they visit everyone at least once."

Ronin straightened his posture. "I never had any visitation with the nymphs."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I've never grown up in that sort of way, my dear." Ronin examined the blossom closely. "Nymphs were only myth from where I came from."

The fairy shrugged her shoulders. "Perhaps, then, you could come with me one day to the swamps? I'm sure you'd meet them."

The old man exhaled deeply, his eyes finally turning to her only to hold no emotion. "No." He said fiercely, as though there was no longer a weight on his shoulders. "You will always visit the nymphs alone. They don't exist for me in the way that they do for you."

The ground lurched out from under Rhythma's feet at his words. "What?"

"I don't believe in nymphs."

The young fairy opened her mouth to speak, but Ronin beat her to it.

"You have your beliefs, I have mine." He told her sternly. "The nymphs you see in your dreams have guided you and protected you in ways I have lived without. I am skilled at fighting and caring for my planet, and that has been enough."

"B-But," Rhythma could hardly believe it. "Samurai have always believed in nymphs! That is their sole purpose for fighting! That's who trained them in their dreams!"

"I believe in the importance of learning from what has been discovered before." Ronin said in a tone unlike any other she had heard from the old man. "And in how precious life is, and how hard I must work to preserve it in all my friends." He closed his eyes. "The fact that the world of dreams that have hidden meanings is closed to me doesn't feel like something is missing, Rhythma. I respect what you believe. You must respect what matters to me."

Rhythma looked down, taking a deep breath in order to calm her nerves. "D-Do the others of the palace know?"

"King Garomius and Queen Harmonia know."

"No one else?"

The old master shook his head.

Rhythma tilted her head. "Then I see no reason to judge you for something that I have no understanding of." She decided. "I only hope that - when the time comes for the nymphs to reveal themselves - you will see with your own eyes that they exist." She leaned forward and embraced the old man.

He tensed for a moment, stunned at her sudden hug, before looking down at her and stroking the back of her head. "I envy your faith. You can always find hope, even in the darkest moments."

"The teaching of fairies symbolizes the ideal of a clear mind." Ronin told her a year later, walking elegantly beside her as they traversed the lush gardens. "A fairy attuned to this training can sense their surroundings and act without thinking - without using their physical senses."

Rhythma exhaled in impatience, gaining the attention of her master.

Ronin raised a brow. "Patience is not only a virtue; it can be a lifesaver for a fairy." He directed the comment toward her.

"I am patient. It was just a sigh."

"A sound is a sound." Her old teacher pointed out. "Even the slightest error of judgement can ruin a mission. Remember that. Your life may depend on it." He turned to face her. "Come at me." He ordered.

Rhythma rolled her eyes and transformed. She then flew right at her teacher, firing a blast toward his face.

Ronin smirked and pulled out his bamboo staff, twirling it in front of his face and deflecting the attack. It bounced off of his shield-like movement and hit a nearby tree, evaporating upon impact. Then, the old man leaped up with surprising agility for his age and slammed the stick into the side of the teenage fairy's head, knocking her to the ground.

Stars exploded into Rhythma's head as she hit the grass with a thump. Gasping for breath, she fought to stand up. Ronin landed beside her and offered his hand.

"That was a remarkable first effort." He praised her once she had accepted. "But an unconscious fairy is as good as dead." He hauled her up, tapping the side of her head with his staff. "If I'd have hit you any harder, you would have been out, and at my mercy. That would mean death."

Rhythma scowled and brushed herself off.

"We will try that again tomorrow," Ronin decided, backing away from her. "I have something of much more importance to teach you."

Rhythma was suddenly curious. "A new move?"

"On occasion, a fairy must be able to her breath for a long time." Ronin explained. "You might have to conceal yourself close to your target and your breathing might give you away. Other times you might be forced to stay underwater, or even fake death." His tone darkened ever so slightly. "Breath control is subtle but crucial fairy skill."

Rhythma listened attentively.

"This technique should only be used as a last resort, as it leaves you exposed to your enemy." He warned, putting down his staff. "But by pretending you're dead, or mortally injured, you can lure an enemy into a vulnerable position for attack."

"We can?" Rhythma was amazed.

Ronin nodded. "Sadly, we cannot teach it here, as I know you'd be faking. The only way for you to test the technique is to use it in the heat of battle. I hope for the sake of Melody that you never have to fight in a war."

"But I'm a princess." Rhythma protested. "How can I ever leave the palace if I draw attention to myself everywhere I go? I'm a danger. Leaving is asking to be kidnapped."

Ronin smirked. "If a fairy is going to travel freely, she has to carry weapons that don't arouse suspicion." He told her. "As innocent-looking as it is, my hat makes a very effective frisbee. I can use the hat to hurt, poison, or even kill an enemy." He took off his black hat, smiling slightly as he demonstrated how he would use it. "For a fairy, anything can be a weapon. The more common the item, the better."

He suddenly took his hand - which he had stuck into his pocket - and made a strange movement toward her. Not even a second later, there was a small, metal object lodged in the tree behind Rhythma, mere millimeters from her ear.

"Throwing stars are a simple, but versatile weapons." Ronin explained, showing his palm to her in order to reveal the four-bladed weapon. "As you can see, most are small enough to conceal in your hand. This gives us the element of surprise in a fight. Although they can kill, we mainly use throwing stars to distract an enemy." He touched the tips of the weapon to his skin. "Targets are the eyes, face, hands or feet. Basically any area not protected by armor." His eyes darkened. "You can poison the tips for a more lethal effect, but you have to be very careful when handling them yourself."

Rhythma nodded, intrigued by his words. This lesson would be useful in the future, she knew.

"Sometimes," Ronin continued, putting the stars back into his pocket as he started walking again, "the truth is the very best weapon is one's arsenal, for nothing cuts deeper than brutal honesty."

"What do you mean?" Rhythma tilted her head up to look into his eyes.

"I mean exactly what I said." The elder responded.

Rhythma stuck out her bottom lip, hating when he spoke in riddles.

Ronin smirked slightly at her reaction, but then moved on to his next lesson. "Tell me, young princess, what is your idea of evil?"

This question caught the fairy off guard, and she paused to think about her response.

The old man waited patiently.

"I think," Rhythma said very slowly, "that pure evil is someone who is a villain all the way through."

"Is that so?" The master chuckled. "Such a puzzle. A villain all the way through, you think?"

The fairy nodded.

Ronin blinked. "I was not aware such people existed." He said simply, turning his head to face the trail ahead of them. "No, indeed. I thought there were equal measures of good and evil in each of us."

"Measures?" Rhythma asked. "As in, perfectly equal halves?"

"Precisely." Ronin nodded to her. "Every living creature has equal amounts of good and evil inside of them."

"I thought it depended on the type of power." The young fairy admitted.

The elder shook his head. "Power is neither good nor evil." He explained. "Its user makes it so." He smiled. "Take the magic of dark energy, for example. The power itself is not evil, but as it seems, most bearers of this power choose to be witches, which is why dark energy has such a bad name."

Rhythma blinked, stunned, as she normally was with his words. "I never thought about it in that sense."

"Most do not." Ronin told her. "But - using the example of dark energy once again - say that it is a fairy who holds this power. Dark energy within a light heart - atrocious! But all in all, if the fairy has good intentions, then the power will not be evil."

The fairy thought about this. "What about my powers?" She asked. "We don't know what they are."

"Your magic is very powerful." Ronin told her. "Just like the girl it belongs to. It will take time to figure out what exactly it is, and you will mistake it for other powers, but as long as you are a good person, then the magic within you will be good as well."

Rhythma nodded. "I'll try to keep myself good." She promised. "Anything else for today's lesson?"

Ronin nodded and held out his hand, showing her his pale glowing skin. "Every creature has his or her own distinctive odor; rather like an invisible fingerprint." He explained to her. "You must learn to heed your senses. Fairies use but a tiny percentage of theirs." The faint glow was green, that much was obvious. "They barely look, they rarely listen, they never smell, and they think that they can only experience feelings through their skin. But they talk, oh, do they talk. That makes up for the lack of use of their other senses." He lowered his hand, and a strange scent came to the fairy - the smell of salt water. "When you return to your castle, you will be able to recognize people who have some taint of magical energy. You may notice a peculiar scent, you might even taste it or see it as a shimmer around their bodies."

"How do I know what my own scent is?"

"Hold out your hand and conjure up some magic."

Rhythma did so, concentrating on her powers and revealing in her hand a glowing ball of violet energy.

"Take a deep breath. What do you smell?"

At first, when Rhythma sniffed, there was no difference from the air around her. It smelled the same. But then, under the scent of power, there came another smell - a sweeter, lighter scent.

"Well?" Her teacher awaited her answer.

Rhythma smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth twitching up. "Lavender."

He nodded. "The scent you carry and the color of your magic is only a slight hint as to what your full powers can add up to be. If you continue training hard, then your power will be as powerful as the Dragon Flame, just wait and see."

Rhythma noticed that they had come to a halt, and she looked around. "Where are we?" She did not recall this area of the gardens.

Ronin pulled some branched aside to reveal their location - at the top of a large hill overlooking the endless gardens of Melody's castle.

"This is how the I see your home." Ronin told her tenderly, looking out over the grand view. "I see the beauty of it and the richness. I don't see which tree belongs to which fairy or witch." His eyes turned to Rhythma. "Don't look for boundaries that aren't there . . ."

". . . look for the boundaries that are. But where are they?" She searched the lush earth below her.

Ronin winked. "The only true borders lie between day and night, between life and death, between hope and loss." He straightened. "Next year, you head to Alfea, leaving the only home you have ever known." His voice held a dark tone, one she didn't quite understand. "You will face trials unlike any other fairy before you, and I will be powerless to help you."

He met her gaze, his brown eyes shining.

"Be brave. Remember, your mother was a great fairy - her light runs through your veins too."

Sorry for the long wait, y'all. Updates will be more frequent now that school is almost out. Love all of you!