#nimue

Light enveloped the chamber as Nimue held onto an ornate staff, having asked about where it had been made; behind her, rummaging through a chest, Merlock snapped to and shielded his eyes as a figure appeared in front of them.

Merlock's jaw dropped as his eyes focused. "An Oracle."

Nimue looked up at the being; she was serene and robed in elegant swathes of draping cloth. She floated just above them, rippling and translucent like lapping waves on a beach. Nimue's own mouth fell agape as she gazed at the incredible sight.

The Oracle greeted her small audience. "I see all that has been, and all that will be," she said calmly, her hands gracefully moving with her speech. Nimue looked back to Merlock, both of them meeting each other's eyes as he rushed forward, still processing what had just happened.

"What do we do?" Nimue asked, a bit too starstruck to speak. Merlock's gaping mouth began to drawl into a smile. Then he laughed.

"This... this is perfect!! An Oracle! She can answer any question we need!"

Nimue looked down, her sunset orange eyes flickering as her mind finally began to process a thought.

"That... that means we can finally find-"

Merlock finished her sentence with her: "Yen Sid!!"

Nimue laughed as Merlock also grasped the staff with her and they celebrated momentarily. Nimue stopped abruptly, a gasp catching her by surprise.

"I... I can ask about my mama!"

"You can," Merlock nodded. "Two birds with one stone."

Merlock was allowed to take the staff as he and Nimue looked up at the Oracle, awaiting patiently.

"Oracle!" Merlock began, "My question is-"

The Oracle's voice broke through, echoing and loud, despite her gentle composition. "You have already asked your one question."

Merlock's composure shook. Nimue blinked, looking up at him as he was suddenly the one struck too many thoughts.

"I... No? I haven't?"

The Oracle nodded sagely. "I have indeed; I have no answers left for you."

Merlock's sharp teeth became visible with a snarl as his patience, as usual, ran thin. "I have NEVER seen you before in my lif-" "Stop it!" Nimue chided, interrupting his ire. She grabbed the scepter, watching him scowl as he tried to explain himself; he and Nimue turned to speak privately.

"I have never seen this Oracle. I would remember."

"But she seems to remember you."

Merlock took a seething, deep breath as he rubbed his snout and eyes. Nimue looked at him, frustration abound, but not solely by his short temper. As Merlock's hand reached back to scratch at one of his ears, he noticed Nimue's somber face. She looked up at him.

"That means... we only have one question."

Merlock shrugged. "Well that's easy. We find Yen Sid."

Nimue gripped the staff. Merlock's expression darkened.

"Nimue; when we find him and take his magic, we can easily find your moth-"

"It's been thirty years already!" Nimue countered before looked into the vibrant green jewel atop the scepter. "I don't know how much time I have left to find her."

"Well let's ask about Yen Sid and we'll know where he is and get to him faster-"

"How?? We can't just teleport there!! And his tower moves so frequently; she could tell us what world it's near and by tomorrow it may not matter!!"

Merlock turned away, his patience once again on thin, crackling ice.

"Then ask whatever you want. And we'll take longer to get anything accomplished."

Merlock then backed away, leaving Nimue with the decision. She held the scepter alone, and it was suddenly so much heavier in her hands. She looked up to the Oracle and stepped forward once more. The Oracle watched, almost curiously, as the Feline woman gathered herself.

She looked into the jewel; there was a question that had been burning on her mind; but too much guilt and fear had continued to bury it.

It was time she stopped playing around; stopped avoiding the truth that was now in front of her, instead of running from it.

Nimue looked into the omniscient eyes of the Oracle.

"Is my mama alive?"

A chill ran down Merlock's spine. The question he'd never dared to impose on the Keyblade Master was suddenly spoken out in the open; a question he'd known she'd been avoiding. Watching Nimue finally confront this possibility left him stunned.

The Oracle's head dropped solemnly.

"Your mother, Isolde, has passed on. I'm sorry."

Numbness overtook Nimue. She held tight to the scepter as though it were a lifeline; she looked back to Merlock, her face full of emotion while trying to quell every screaming nerve in her mind. She locked eyes with him as she noticed his own bravado having been shaken. The Oracle disappeared quietly, and the light escaped from the cave.

Nimue dropped the scepter with a loud clatter, and she fell to her knees. Her body wracked with sobs, that started off quiet, but then became distinctly audible as Merlock finally approached.

Nimue felt a hand on her back, but she was too overwhelmed to answer.

Merlock sighed, and all he could say was a word he never uttered; a word he never meant, but it was all he could say at this moment.

What is a world?

Such a silly question.

Everyone knows what a world is. It's a place, a home, a star, a heart... overall, a big rock.

Merlock sits in the group around the campfire, the sounds of the others are drowned out as he looks directly towards a specific person.

Nimue cackles loudly and heartily with Fox, the two women cracking a joke at Magnifico's expense as he hurls a vocal jab right back, but his grin proves the fun he's having.

What is a world?

Every world has something similar - land, sky and sea.

Land - a rock - sturdy foundation. To stand on and be supported. To grow anything you could ever want to eat, to find precious metals and gems, to find clay for art or shelter.

Sky - air, to breathe in sweet smells and fill your lungs, with a sky to match any emotion, from the stormy squalls to the lightest, clearest moments. To fly in, to gaze up at in the night as silver clouds drift by, tethered to the twinkling stars.

Sea - water - nourishing, cooling, cleansing. To swim in, to watch the sunlight dance upon its waves, or to look into its terrifying depths. To become lost in, but to always need it.

A world is many things.

Nimue looks up to Merlock, her eyes twinkling like the stars; like the sun dancing upon the ripples of the water, like precious gemstones. He hears her voice like the sweet wind, like the trickling of a stream, or the crackle of a landslide.

Her heart is a terrifying depth - the sturdy, trustworthy land daring to be swallowed by endless caverns - a blue sky hiding the pitch black of enormity behind it.

This heart upon which he has accidentally pitched a tenuous shelter; the first true home he’s ever known.

Lucky for him and his shelter, the weather of her soul is that of an iridescent night after a raging storm, cool with a colorful sky still raging with lightning, all while the thickest, brightest rainbow you've ever seen arcs over the land.

She smiles at him, and him alone.

And suddenly the shelter feels like the most opulent home he’s ever lived in.

And perhaps; just perhaps…