"Mystic…Akinari?" They both asked in unison, and Sister Bikini nodded.

"It's quite a forgotten tale, but I still remember it. Mystic Ami had a husband, after all, she did have children. He was a taller man, and was far from what the other folks in the village considered suitable for her. He was an outcast in his own right, but took interest in her spiritual abilities. This all happened way before the Kurain Channeling Technique was devised and written for others to follow, of course." She paused, inviting them to sit at the fire pit. They did, and she continued. "He followed her like a bee follows blossoms. When she left her home village, he left with her. It is said that she wasn't fond of him at first, but grew to like him. He helped with building Kurain, after all. The oldest parts of Fey manor still have his name carved into the wood beams."

"The duo grew together, and he eventually started training under her guidance. He is one of the only men we know of to have developed spiritual powers. Mystic Akinari's powers developed slowly, but sure enough, within time he was able to channel spirits as Mystic Ami could. When Kurain faced the worst winter yet, he and Mystic Ami were said to have summoned the gods themselves to bless the village, and the winter froze over waterfalls and rivers in every place but Kurain. The tale of their love has faded from history, and his tale is following it's coattails. Few remember his story," She closed her eyes.

Nick and Maya understood. The passing down of the powers to the women, along with the extremely low and unlikely chance of a male child surviving had cut the stories of Mystic Akinari from the history books. Sister Iris was in the background, listening in.

"So.. outsiders can learn the channeling techniques?" Nick asked, and Sister Bikini nodded.

"It's hard, as many don't have the discipline, and the main bloodlines tend to outshine new trainees.. but yes, people outside of Kurain can learn the techniques. It tends to take them longer, however."

"Well, Nick's been seemingly developing them too!" Maya said, happily. Sister Bikini smiled.

"That's great news! You should start training, you may be able to channel spirits in no time!"

Back home, Maya began unpacking all of her nicknacks from Edgeworth's, and Nick was helping keep the room somewhat organised. Books went on the shelf, notebooks containing all of her letters went under the shelf, as she didn't want anyone snooping in them, and her camera and photo album were laid haphazardly on the desk. She went through each photo, showing them off to Nick. All of the pictures from the party Miles put on to celebrate them knowing that the baby was a girl, photos from court, of Griffon, of Miles being a doofus and even some of Franziska and Larry getting into fights, He smiled behind sad eyes. He missed all of those things, even if him being gone was the cause of those memories, he wished he was there. It was bittersweet moments like these he wished for and edge against his mind. But Maya was happy, flipping through into older photos. Pictures of them after winning cases, photos with Will Powers and Ron DeLite, Pearls, even old photos like the ones of the new branding on the office. She pulled out some of her favourites and started putting them up on clothespins around the dangling candleholders. Everything was moved in and in new spots, well, almost everything.

"Uh, Maya, is that a picture of me sleeping?" Nick asked, and Maya smiled.

"Well yeah, you passed out during research for the second trial of Maggey, remember?"

"Uhm, no.."

"Whatever, you were cute anyway," He didn't know whether to be mildly creeped out or flattered.

Looking back in the box, he noticed it.

"You asked him to bring this robot?" Phoenix held up the furry abomination and Maya quickly grabbed it from him.

"Hey! It helped me y'know?! Mia and Mom would talk into it through me, and it would parrot it back. It really helped me stay sane.." Nick hit a sore spot, and he quickly tried to back-track and fix it, but it was done. She stared down at it sadly, and he apologised. Maya accepted it, but he didn't believe she was content with his attempts at reworking the damage. She cut him slack, though, as he didn't know about the toy's importance when he was gone. The bells for supper cut their thoughts short, and their sadness was left behind as Maya raced him to dinner.

The trial was suspended indefinitely after the defendant was admitted into a mental hospital after he broke down and assaulted the defence attorney he was assigned. Edgeworth still desperately wanted to know the motives behind the case, but it would have to wait. Pearls was still in town, and Franziska was as well. He could at least spend decent time with them to take his mind off of it. Pearls and Franziska were getting along surprisingly well, especially since the little girl once hated her to the core. With Maya and Phoenix both being away, and their location a secret, Pearl had to visit with Edgeworth instead for any leads or updates on them. She didn't really mind, as the puppy gave her company, and reminded her of them both.

"Hello, Ms. Franziska?" Pearls approached her sheepishly, with Griffon right at her feet. Franziska looked at her, and she continued. "Could we go see a movie?" Franziska thought for a minute, a movie? A kids movie? She hated the potential stares of others, but as the little girl's only outlet in the city right now, she reluctantly agreed.

"Sure, Pearl, which one?" She took a step back.

"I didn't expect you to actually say yes!" Franziska sighed, the poor girl was scared of her, still.

"Well, why don't you find out, and we can go, okay?" Her voice would be strange to any outsider, she had to adopt a much more kind and friendly demeanour whenever Pearl was around, even if it was a broken attempt, it worked. She was never good with kids.

"Alright!" Pearl jumped, and hopped back off into the room where Maya stayed.

She had left Phoenix's laptop there, and wrote down the password. How she knew the password, Franziska and Edgeworth were left to imagine, but knowing Maya, they knew she likely learned it by pestering. Griffon stayed put out in the living room, jumping up next to her. The little mutt had grown considerably, he was now forty pounds and still as jumpy as ever. Whatever they fed him at the temple for a few weeks really made him put on weight. He was a great dog, and an even better serotonin machine. Even in the depths of worry and fear, this mutt helped keep everyone's spirits high, almost too literally.

Edgeworth returned home to a bubbly Pearl and Frankie being jumped by Griffon. He only wished that one day, everyone would be present again. My house isn't an apartment building, he tried to tell himself, but the livelihood that Maya, Pearl, Franziska, and even Larry and Gumshoe brought seemed to be swaying his thoughts on living alone for much longer. When he was informed about the movie choice, The Western Samurai, he couldn't help but laugh. He was going to make Frankie pay for this outing, much to her own dismay. Larry insisted on joining as well, and if it wasn't for Pearl, he would've been told no.

"I wish Mystic Maya could see this," Pearl remarked as the movie started.

Sitting outside at night was something they had gotten used to. Laying in the grass, and spilling their hearts out about anything they could think about. The fireflies and birdsong kept them from getting too absorbed. Their laughs and chatter illuminated the night, even to the nuns who were easily annoyed by their often into-the-night conversations about why doorbells were invented, and other completely stupid discussions. But tonight was different. Phoenix was hoping no one would come outside, even if their patch of darkness was completely isolated by trees and the walls of the temple, he didn't want anyone to see him in this state. Maya had fallen asleep sprawled across him, and he wasn't about to move. His only choice was to either wake her up, or just fall asleep outside as well. He cut his losses. At least it's warm outside in summer.

Nearing the solstice ritual, their rehearsals increased. Phoenix was able to keep the beat, volume, and general tempo of the song. Sister Tsubaki ran through the dances with the other nuns, and Maya had every line of the rites memorised. The other instruments were only needed for a while, before they would join the other nuns from other temples in a dance around the Master. The headdresses and green-accented ceremonial robes were fitted, even if Nick opposed to the floral headdress he was forced to wear. It was filled with raspberry leaves and woven with willow branches, strawberry blossoms, clovers, red clovers, and apple blooms accented the nice green leaves. Maya's headdress had small deer antlers plastered into it, and Nick wanted something cool like that, but he wasn't going to make a fuss about it. Sister Tsubaki was finally happy at their performance in the ritual, and closed the rehearsal. Lunch was served after, but Maya seemed removed, and wanted to eat in the room, alone.

Nick gave her some space, but went to the room after he ate. Sister Tsubaki even seemed concerned, so he didn't think he was being unreasonable. He walked in and found her slumped over the half-carved Magetama half-asleep. Nick picked her up and moved her to the bed, and she only protested a small amount. When she was laid on the bed, she spoke softly about how she felt super weak after the ritual, and needed a break. He sat next to her, and Maya started to pass out while hugging his leg. She was sleepy a lot now, and while Nick wasn't bothered, some of the other nuns seemed to think she was sleeping to avoid work. He remembered what Sister Tsubaki had told him after their rehearsal, that Maya should return to Kurain village, and that he should go too. As it was only two hours from the city, he was nervous about being so close, but.. he knew Maya needed to go home.

The Magetama was almost complete, and Maya wanted to start on the one for Phoenix. But in her dreams, she couldn't do either. There was only Mia and Misty, back in the manor, telling her the same thing.

"You need to go home," but home to her wasn't the village, it was the lofts, it was Miles's house, it was wherever Phoenix was. But, she knew what they meant, and she knew they were right.