Risenfromash: I'm interested to hear the responses to this one. Let me know what you think.

"Pearly, mail!" The cheery voice of Maya Fey drifted into her cousin, Pearls', room just as it did every afternoon about this time. Pearls smiled. Mail time was one of her favorite parts of the day as life in Kurain village was extremely isolating and any word of the outside world was welcome. Setting her book down and rising to her feet, she was startled by the sudden sound of sobbing from the hall, followed by the running of feet, and the sliding open and closed of what could only be Master Maya Fey's bedroom door.

Unsure of what was going on, Pearls ran from her room. Lying on the floor in the hallway were two envelopes. She stooped to pick them up and found them to be identical other than that one was addressed to her while the other, which had been torn open was addressed to Maya. Pearls felt a sense of foreboding from the uniformly fancy correspondence; the writing was simply too ornate to not be for something of great importance. Not wishing to pry into her cousin's mail, Pearls opened the envelope addressed to her and found her fear realized.

Phoenix Wright was getting married.

"We would like to invite you to the nuptials of Phoenix Wright and Abigail Tanner," read the gold script on the beautifully embellished cardstock. Pearls hand shook. This wasn't supposed to happen.

She gathered the invitations along with the enclosed RSVP cards and envelopes and placed them all in the waistband of her yukata and walked toward the end of the hall. Sliding the door open, she found Maya facedown on her sleeping mat her body violently shaking from grief.

Pearly bit her lip unsure of what to do. Should she leave her alone or should she try to talk to her about it? And if so what should she say? What was there to say? Slowly, Pearls walked over to her cousin and knelt by her. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find the right words to bring her friend comfort.

"There are no words," she thought to herself. "Perhaps Mia would have known what to say…"

But, Mia had told Pearls and Maya a long time ago that her visits to them must cease. They had become full-fledged women and that meant it was Mia's time to stay in the other dimension permanently so they would learn to manage on their own and the cousins had done well for the most part. That was, of course, until now. Now, Pearls felt grossly inadequate and would have given anything to channel her older cousin to share some wisdom with them.

Pearls placed her hand on Maya's back making Maya aware for the first time that she was not alone. Her sobbing grew in intensity and every cry stabbed at her cousin's heart.

"It's ok, Master Maya."

Maya's body ceased it's quaking and she sat up a little and turned to face her cousin. Her eyes were bloodshot and tears rolled from them like streams. Her hair, usually so perfectly controlled in its topknot, was plastered to the sides of her face by her tears.

"You know what hurts the most, Pearly?"

Pearls glanced downward, uncomfortable with peering into the eyes of her friend when she was in this state.

"I don't even know her. Pearly, how did that happen to us? How?" and she turned away to bury her face once more. Pearly gazed out the window overlooking the Winding Way. That path had been walked by so many of their ancestors and they had all been tragically lonely women, but Pearls had always held out hope that Maya's life would be different. She had held no such hope for herself. She preferred it that way for there was no better man in the world than Phoenix Wright and he belonged to her cousin, or so she had believed.

But, now it seemed that their destiny was to remain alone, isolated upon this mountaintop until such time as they crossed over to the next realm.

Pearls hung her head and the tears she had been holding back started to flow. Maya, hearing Pearl's weeping, turned and pulled her to her chest.

Never one to let her younger cousin be upset she said, "It'll be ok, Pearly…We have each other, right?"

Maya smiled weakly and Pearls nodded her head, "But…but…you…and…Mr. Nick…"

"It doesn't matter. It's what the fates have brought us," said Master Maya.

"Maybe, so," thought Pearls to herself. "But, Mr. Nick, you were supposed to save us from our fate. You were supposed to be her special someone. You were supposed to love us as much as we loved you. How could you let this happen to us?"

The cousins held one another for a time, their tears forming pools on their robes, but then Maya stood up.

"Pearls, you are to reply that we will be attending the wedding. Please let the elders know to clear our schedules for that day."

"Yes, Master Maya," Pearls said rising to her feet and bowing to her Master.

"And Pearly we will do our best to be happy for Nick and his bride, won't we?"

"Yes, Master Maya…but are you going to be ok? Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

Maya wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. "I hope so, Pearly. I really do. I want to be a good friend. I miss being his friend."

"I do, too."

Maya walked forward and took her cousin's hand in hers. "Let's go to the waterfall and meditate. That will make us feel better."

Pearls nodded, but she wasn't sure. Phoenix Wright had been her knight, the champion she was confident would save both her and Maya from the life they had been born into. Pearls let out a gasp and suddenly clutched her friend.

"But you loved him!"

"I still do, Pearly, but that doesn't change anything."

"You were supposed to be special someones!"

"Look, I'll have no more of this talk. Our friend is getting married. We shall pray for his happiness."

"But…but," stuttered Pearls.

"We will devote ourselves to our faith and think no more on this," ordered Master Maya and Pearls nodded obediently.

~xxxx~

That night as the wind howled through the canyon, Pearls heard the unmistakable sound of crying and looking out over the Winding Way, she saw her master on her knees in supplication. Straining, she heard only a snippet of Maya's conversation with the spirits.

"Why did you send him to us, just to take him away? Why? Please, tell me why?" she pleaded.

Pearls turned away, ashamed to be spying on her master and friend, but relieved to know that she was not alone in her sense of loss. Phoenix Wright had been like a father to her and now he was little more than a stranger.

"At least we have each other," she said to herself, remembering her cousin's consoling words. "Because, unlike him, I will never abandon you."