August 21st, 2030, 9:30 AM
Fey Manor

Maya rolled over, flinging her arm across the bed to reach for Phoenix as she always did. She woke up before him almost every morning, and every morning she would cuddle up to him, and he would wrap his arm around her shoulders even if he was still half asleep. She'd spend the next fifteen minutes to half an hour simply enjoying his warmth, his scent, and his closeness before his alarm clock would wake him up for real, and they would get out of bed to start their day.

When her arm hit the other side of the bed this time, rather than the warm skin of her new husband, Maya's eyes popped open, and she remembered where she was as the bedroom came into focus. She stuffed her face back into her pillow as the memory of the day before came back to her. It had been awful, and she didn't want to remember the bad news she'd gotten. More than she didn't want to remember that, she didn't want to remember how hurt Phoenix had looked when she left that night. She tried to tell herself not to feel bad; she'd told him he could come and he didn't want to. Was that her fault?

She sighed. No, she could try telling herself it wasn't her fault all she wanted, but when he said it was clear that she didn't want him to come, he was right. She hadn't wanted him to come because she knew he would want to talk about it. It wasn't wrong of him, of course they needed to talk about it, especially after she'd declared so suddenly that she wanted the surgery without even thinking about it first, but she didn't want him to try talking her out of it, so she'd run away like a child not wanting to listen to her parents.

Even that wasn't fair. Phoenix wouldn't try to talk her out of it. All he'd said was that she needed to think about it longer, not decide so quickly. They needed to think about other options and weigh the risks that came with it. He was only worried for her wellbeing. She felt terribly guilty about everything now that it was the next morning, and he wasn't there with her in bed. Alongside the guilt came embarrassment. She was a 30 year old woman now, married to the love of her life and the mother to two young ladies who were practically adults themselves. It was time she stopped acting like a teenager.

She lay in bed a few minutes longer, until her guilt forced her up to find her phone.

She found it on the nightstand and opened it up to find Phoenix's contact. The picture she was using as her phone background was a picture of them on their wedding day outside the courthouse, and she stared at it for a second before opening her contacts. Pearl had found it in the newspaper the day after their wedding and had cut out the picture and accompanying article. They had a laugh about it when they returned from their honeymoon, and Maya had snapped a picture of the photo to use. There was something about the grainy newspaper photo that she liked more than any of the professional photos they'd had taken in Kurain Village during the reception.

She hit Phoenix's contact and waited for it to ring. At this time of the morning he'd only just be arriving at work, or maybe still on his way if he was running late, which was definitely possible without her or Trucy there to make sure he got up in time. There was no reason for him not to answer. And yet he didn't. She left him a voicemail and then sent him a quick text message, telling him she hoped he was okay and that she loved him and would be back soon. She didn't want to bombard him with phone calls if he was busy, so she tossed her phone onto the bed beside her and left it at that.

She waited a few minutes just in case he called her back, but she got no reply, so she slipped out of bed and put her housecoat on. She left the room, letting her nose guide her to the kitchen where she found Pearl eating breakfast.

"Good morning, Mystic Maya," Pearl said, looking up from her bacon and eggs.

Maya grabbed a plate and some food for herself off the stove and joined Pearl at the table. "Morning."

Pearl looked at her a moment, then back down at her plate. When Maya arrived the evening before, she'd told Pearl not to bother her with questions. She'd needed reassurance that Maya wasn't there because of any sort of argument with Phoenix, even if that wasn't necessarily true, which Maya gave her. It hadn't really been an argument anyway, but now Maya knew that it was possibly the first time during their happy three months of marriage that there was an issue between them. She couldn't let Pearl know that, so she'd told Pearl that everything was fine and that she simply missed her and wanted to come see her.

Pearl clearly didn't believe her though, and she was still curious, if the way she kept glancing up at Maya as if expecting another explanation was any indication. Maya sighed, unable to concentrate on her food.

"Mystic Maya?" Pearl started meekly, seeming to sense Maya's lowered defenses. "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Maya said.

Pearl tapped her fork against her plate. "I mean, you showed up here last night out of the blue, wanting to stay the night, without Mr. Nick. I know you said you didn't have a fight and you just missed me but… you've never come to visit me randomly like this before, especially not without Mr. Nick."

Maya said nothing, and Pearl sighed. "Mystic Maya, I'm not a kid anymore, you know. You can talk to me about stuff that's bothering you. I'm old enough to understand it now. I promise I won't bug you about it if it does have something to do with Mr. Nick. I know that sometimes couples have rough patches, even couples as perfect as you two."

Maya found herself smiling. Were they really a perfect couple? In all the years she'd know Phoenix they'd never truly fought over anything, not seriously. They had little arguments here and there, even as friends they'd had those, but they'd never yelled at each other or said hurtful words. For a relationship lasting almost fifteen years, that was pretty amazing. But no one was perfect, not even them.

"I'm sorry, Pearly," she said. "It's just something I'd rather you not worry about."

Pearl bit her lip. "I worry anyway. When you don't tell me I just assume the worst case scenario. I'd be less worried if you just told me what's going on."

Maya thought for a moment. "Alright Pearly, if you do me a big favour, I'll tell you what's wrong a little later."

Pearl nodded. "Anything you need, Mystic Maya."

"I need to talk to my sister again. I need to talk to her before anyone else, understand?"

"Of course. Right now?"

Maya nodded. "No better time than the present, I guess."

Pearl nodded once more and sat back in her chair. She put her hands together to begin her channeling. Even being the Master herself, being the one who was supposed to be the most powerful spirit medium in Kurain, watching Pearl channel was amazing. It was no secret she was more skilled than Maya. She could find and latch onto a spirit so quickly, she never had to murmur any sort of incantation or words to bring a spirit to her, and her transformation didn't take long either. Maya was never jealous of her cousin's skills though, if anything she was continually impressed. Within just a few seconds, Mia was sitting across from her in Pearl's place.

She opened her eyes and looked around before settling her curious gaze on Maya.

"Good to see you again, Sis," Maya said.

Mia smiled. "It's always nice to visit," she said, pausing for a second before continuing. "But I get the feeling there was a reason you called me?"

"How could you tell?"

Mia tapped her finger on the table. "We're in Fey Manor, for one. You're in a housecoat eating breakfast, so it's sometime in the morning. And Phoenix isn't around. Did something happen?"

Maya had to remind herself that there was a reason Mia had been such a good lawyer. Piecing things together from scraps of information was her specialty. Maya sighed. "I just wanted some advice."

"On? If you're having marriage problems already, I'm not the person to ask. It might be weird to think about but you've had more relationship experience than I have at this point."

Maya chuckled. "I don't really know if it's a marriage issue or not at the moment."

Mia looked at her more seriously. "What's going on?"

"Okay. Remember a while back, before the wedding, I told you we were having issues getting pregnant? Well we finally went to the doctor last week about it," she explained. "We've been trying for forever and nothing. So yesterday we went back for a follow-up appointment for the results of all the tests and stuff they did last week." Mia stayed quiet, not wanting to interrupt. Maya took a deep breath. "It's my fault, Sis," she said. "My uterus is too small or something, and only one of my fallopian tubes is working."

Mia had been expecting something like that. She reached across the table to grip her sister's hand. She knew this was tough news for Maya. "What else did the doctor say about it?"

"There's surgery to fix it," Maya said, "but if I got pregnant after the surgery, there'd still be risks of miscarriage or preterm delivery. I mean, there's still a chance I could get pregnant without the surgery, too, but obviously it would come with those same risks, and it's a lot less likely. They can take precautions to prevent that stuff if it does happen, but the risk is still there."

"I'm sorry, Maya," Mia said, squeezing her hand. "I know how much you want a baby."

Maya nodded, a few tears slipping down her cheeks.

"What did Phoenix say?"

"I told him I wanted to get the surgery, but he didn't approve. I know it's my body and my decision, he said so himself, but knowing that he doesn't want me to do it makes it hard, you know? And besides, he brought up a good point last night."

"Which was?"

"Even with the precautions we would take if I did get pregnant, they're only precautions. If I still ended up having a miscarriage or early delivery, would I be able to take it? After so long trying and failing, then finally succeeding only to have my child ripped away from me again… would I be able to get over that? I just don't know what the answer to that is. And I don't want Nick to suffer along with me if I can't."

Mia was quiet for a moment. "For once in my life, Maya, I don't know what advice to give you. This is something you need to think very hard about, and you need to discuss it with Phoenix. Can I ask why you're here, and he's not? Did you two have a fight over it?"

Maya shook her head. "No. I just… I wanted to get out of that house. I will admit I have baby fever and it's making me crazy. It doesn't help that Trucy is gone overseas again, and Pearly lives here for the most part. It's me and Nick alone in that big, empty house in the middle of nowhere and I just wanted to come here to visit Pearly again and be somewhere where there's people around. I told Nick he could come but he didn't think I wanted him to, so he stayed home."

"Did you want him to come?"

Maya blinked back some more tears, finally admitting it out loud. "N-No… I only offered because I thought he was mad at me. I just wanted to get away so I wouldn't have to talk about it and I knew he'd want to talk about it."

Mia sighed. "You do have to talk to him, Maya."

Maya stared down at the table. "I feel… like I let him down," she murmured. "Like I'm broken… and Nick deserves someone whole…"

At that, Mia let go of her sister's hand and sat back, crossing her arms over her chest.

Maya looked up at the disapproving look on Mia's face. "Maya. I told you before you got married that Phoenix wasn't marrying you so you could pop out his kids. He has kids already, if you forgot. Your worth as a woman isn't determined by whether or not you can have kids, period, but especially not in Phoenix's eyes. He loves you no matter what. That's what the two of you swore. In sickness and in health, right?"

"I know, but—"

"No buts, Maya," Mia said. She shook her head. "Honestly, you shouldn't have married him if this was going to be a dealbreaker for you."

"W-What?"

Mia looked at her. "You both knew about these problems getting pregnant before you got married. Maybe you didn't have a confirmed reason why it was happening yet, but you knew that it was. Phoenix still married you, knowing that you might not be able to have kids together, because he doesn't care, Maya. He loves you either way. But if you thought even once back then that you would want to leave him so he could have 'someone whole', then you shouldn't have married him in the first place."

Maya sniffed. Mia was being harsh, but she knew she needed to hear it. She'd always struggled with feeling good enough, she could admit that. Was she a good enough spirit medium to become Master of Kurain? Was she a good enough assistant to be worthy of standing beside Phoenix in court? Was she a good enough guardian and parental figure towards Pearl and Trucy? And now… was she good enough to be Phoenix's wife? There always seemed to be something. It was a problem she'd always had, and she'd always worked hard towards making herself good enough, so no one could say she wasn't. But this wasn't something that was easily fixed. She couldn't train this away under a waterfall.

Mia stared at her. "Maya, I do have one piece of advice for you."

"What is it?"

"Let Phoenix choose whether he thinks you're good enough for him. Don't make that decision for him. You might think you'd be doing him a favour, but you would break his heart. Don't do that to him."

Maya swallowed, nodding her agreement. "Alright."

"Jeez, Maya," Mia said. "I know you're going through a lot, but your marriage to Phoenix is one of the things that should be giving you strength right now. You really need to call him, or better yet get your butt back home and apologize for running off."

Maya nodded again, feeling like a child. She wiped at her eyes. "Thanks, Sis. I needed someone willing to talk harshly to me."

"I'm sorry if I seem mean," Mia said, her voice softening. "But I hate to see you loathing yourself like this. Maybe you should look into finding a professional to talk to about this, once you're back home."

"Yeah. That might be a good idea."

Mia stood up from her chair and walked around the table. "Get up and give me a hug."

Maya managed a smile and stood from her own chair. Mia wrapped her in a hug and Maya held her tightly. Even if she could have Mia channeled whenever she wanted, she still savoured hugs with her, just in case.

When they pulled apart, Mia went to sit back down. She picked up Pearl's fork and began to pick at the leftover food on her plate. "I have to admit, I miss eating," she said, popping some hash browns into her mouth.

Maya chuckled, but she couldn't keep up the charade for long. Mia seemed to sense there was more. "Is there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"The Elders… Before Nick and I got engaged, they approved my proposition for the next Master to be chosen democratically. They did have one condition, though. I still needed to produce an heir to sit on the council to advise whoever becomes Master in the future, male or female, spiritual power or not, so long as they're of the Fey bloodline. But now… I can't produce any children at all."

Mia grumbled. "Honestly, screw the Elders, Maya. You're the Master. You don't need to tell them anything."

"They'll ask," Maya said. "They already know we started trying. They know it's been this long and we still aren't pregnant. They're going to start getting suspicious."

"They can't do anything about it," Mia insisted. "Tell them to shove off or you'll banish them. Mom used to threaten that all the time and it always shut them up."

Maya blinked. "Wait, we really can banish them?"

Mia shrugged. "I don't know. They always seemed to think Mom was serious though."

Maya found herself laughing. "You know, back when they made that decision about me still needing an heir I threatened the same thing because of something they said, and they did seem scared. I didn't even know if it was within my power or not, but they certainly seemed to think I was serious."

Mia grinned. "Maybe this is something we should look into a bit more."

Maya smiled. "Yeah. We'll see what they say when they figure out me and Nick probably aren't having any kids," she said, beginning to look downcast again.

"Hey," Mia said. "I said it before and I'll say it again now: any kids out there without a mom and dad would be lucky to have you and Phoenix as parents. You really should think about adopting a baby if you want one that badly. I know adoption is a process and it can take a long time, but think about how happy you'd be making a child who has no one. I mean, Phoenix already adopted Trucy, and you and him basically raised Pearl after Morgan went to prison. You have experience with it."

"I've thought about it a bit," Maya admitted. "It's an option I'm keeping open. But—and I know this might sound stupid or selfish—I really wanted a biological kid. You know, thinking about how they would be a part of us both… something we made together, out of our love, that grew inside me. Maybe they'd have Nick's blue eyes and that adorable nose of his, maybe they'd be a spirit medium like me. Or maybe they would look and act nothing like us, but the knowledge that they were still something we made, that we literally gave life to and raised together was just… something I was looking forward to, I guess."

Mia nodded understandingly. "Well, the surgery is still an option if you really want to go that way," she said. "But it's something you need to discuss further with Phoenix, and a doctor. Get a good feel for how risky it really will be. Maybe it'll be worth the risk, so long as you know that it does come with some. What about something like a surrogate? Nowadays you can have a biological baby and just let someone else carry it."

"Yeah, that's another option… I just really wanted the experience of being pregnant, you know?"

Mia sat back and smirked. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never told you this but I never really wanted kids. Partially because of Kurain and everything our family has gone through because of it, but I was also just kind of nervous about the whole idea of being pregnant and being responsible for an actual person. It kind of freaked me out. Marriage I was all for. Babies? Not so much."

Maya chuckled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mia asked, feigning offense.

Maya shrugged. "You were always a career woman. Even if you'd lived long enough to settle down, I think your job always would have come first."

"You're probably right."

They were quiet for a few seconds, until Mia sighed. "I think I should go now, Maya."

Maya nodded. "Alright."

Mia reached over the table to grip her hand once more. "Tell Phoenix and Pearl I said 'hi'. If you need me again don't hesitate to have Pearl channel me, but Maya, you've got this. You and Phoenix can work it out."

"Thanks, Sis."

Mia nodded and let go of Maya's hand. She sat back and closed her eyes, and a few seconds later Pearl was back in her place. She looked down at her plate and noticed that half of her food was gone.

"Hey! Mystic Mia ate my food!" she cried.

Maya laughed. "It still technically went into your body though, right?"

Pearl rubbed at her stomach. "It's the tasting part I miss out on though."

"Give her a break, Pearly, she's dead."

Pearl harrumphed. "So what did you talk to her about? You promised you'd tell me."

Maya sighed. That she did. Besides, Pearl was already 20 years old. She was an adult; she could handle it.

So Maya told her everything she'd just told Mia. Pearl listened quietly, though she got a little emotional whenever Maya did. She couldn't help it, it was still such fresh information that talking about it still hurt, and of course when she cried, Pearl cried. Though it still hurt to talk about, the more she did the less it hurt.

When she and Pearl were all cried out and Pearl knew the whole story, Maya sniffed and wiped her sleeve across her face. "Pearly, I'm finished eating. I'm going to go to the meditation room for a bit, okay?"

"Alright, Mystic Maya. Let me know if you need anything."

Maya nodded and started to head back to her room to get dressed. She knew she needed to phone Phoenix, but given he hadn't picked up before, she figured she would try a little later. At the moment all she wanted was to meditate on her thoughts. On what to do about her issue, on how to apologize to Phoenix, and how she was going to handle the Elders if they found out about everything.


When she was younger, Maya hated meditation. It was boring, it only made her sleepy, and she never felt anymore spiritual than she did before she'd sat down to do nothing for a few hours. But as the years wore on and her training intensified, the better she got at it.

Nowadays she went into such a deep, trance-like state that it was hard to wake her from it. It wasn't dangerous, but she found it incredibly relaxing, particularly after a hard day, and being woken from it so suddenly always put a damper on her mood.

That was why she got so annoyed with Pearl when she interrupted her meditation session. She tried to do it gently, whispering Maya's name and gently shaking her shoulder to bring Maya out of her trance as naturally as possible, but it never failed to make Maya feel groggy, like she'd taken too long of a nap.

When Maya snapped out of her trance to Pearl's voice and the shaking of her shoulder, she glared at Pearl, who shrunk back. "I'm so sorry, Mystic Maya, I know you hate when I interrupt your meditations. But…"

Maya watched Pearl bite her thumb. "What, Pearly? You woke me up for a reason, so what was it?" She asked, yawning and stretching her arms above her head.

"The Elders… They called a meeting. Rose tried to tell them you were busy but they insisted. They want you to come to the city hall right now."

"Ugh." Maya fell back on her pillows and stared at the ceiling. The last thing she wanted right now was to deal with them. Mia had told her it was none of their business, and not to tell them anything, but Maya really couldn't decide what would be easier; telling them and listening to them complain about her problems, or not telling them and having them pester her.

She had no problem telling Rose, of course, it was the others she was worried about. And Phoenix wasn't here to stand by her side this time as moral support. She was going to have to deal with them on her own.

She sighed and sat up. "Alright. Go run ahead and tell them I'm on my way."

Pearl nodded and scurried off. Maya grabbed her phone from a cushion beside her and checked for any missed calls or messages. There was nothing from Phoenix yet. She hoped he was just busy and not ignoring her, but she had no time to call him again now. She had to go deal with her Council of Elders.


Maya took her sweet time walking to the City Hall, knowing full well it would mean they would be in even worse moods than before. But she wasn't in a good mood either, and she decided she wouldn't be afraid of them, or of showing them who was truly the Master.

She entered the hall and made her way to the meeting room. They had chosen not the regular meeting room with the table, but rather the one with the stage. She had to wonder if it was a ploy to make her feel smaller than them. The Elders were all sitting upon the raised daise, seemingly expecting her to stand below them with Pearl as per usual. Maya wasn't going to take that today. Daisy began to speak, but Maya simply held up her hand and walked to the steps to join them. She looked around, pretending to be looking for a spot to sit.

"You didn't leave a spot for the Master," she said.

Daisy raised her chin. "You have always stood below us, we didn't think it was necessary."

"Well, I'm the one in charge here, am I not?" Maya said. "Since you decided to have the meeting in here rather than the regular room, I'll need a seat. So which one of you will vacate yours?"

Maya caught Rose's eye, who smiled at her as the others bickered amongst themselves. Eventually they agreed that Lily would stand, as she was the youngest of them. Maya took her seat, telling herself not to feel bad for taking the seat of an old woman. Pearl stayed where she was below, knowing it wasn't her place to join the others, even if Maya was up there.

Maya crossed her hands on the table in front of them. "So, what did you call this meeting for?"

"We have some concerns, Mystic Maya," Daisy started.

"What sort of concerns?"

"Concerns about why you have not been channeling as of late. As the Master it's your duty to do your job by providing channeling for paying customers. Without you, Kurain Village will lose out on tourism, which we are dependant on."

"There are plenty of talented spirit mediums in Kurain Village now," Maya said, waving a hand. "Some of them I've been teaching personally. They can do the job just as well."

It was Petunia's turn to speak up. "Mystic Maya, you know that is just an excuse, as do we. None of us have forgotten your little slip up a year ago when you told us you and your lawyer were trying to have a child. Your mother stopped channeling whenever she was trying to get pregnant as well," she said. "And yet it's been over a year now. Have you stopped trying?"

Maya swallowed. There was no point in lying. "No, we haven't stopped trying," she said.

Daisy sniffed. "So it's been almost two years, you've stopped channeling, and you still have not been able to conceive?"

"No."

The others whispered amongst themselves. "I suppose in one way we should consider this a good thing. Now that you're finally married any children you do bear won't be—"

Maya glared, and Daisy seemed to remember the last time someone suggested that a child born out of wedlock was somehow less important than one born within.

She cleared her throat. "Anyhow, you do remember our agreement, yes? The next Master will be chosen by vote, so long as you provide an heir of the main Fey bloodline to sit on the council once they come of age."

"Yes, I remember."

Petunia smirked from down the table, unable to stop herself from enjoying Maya's pain. "I always knew that lawyer of yours was no good. He can't even get you pregnant. The simplest thing for a man, and he's incapable. You say that you two are in love, but are you truly? Or does he have… other urges? Perhaps you can't conceive because you two are not trying hard enough."

Maya felt anger flare inside of her. It was no secret that the Elders, minus Rose, hated Phoenix, but she wouldn't stand for them insulting him. She clenched her fists. "If you want to know the dirty details of me and Nick's sex life, I can certainly tell you all about it," she said, looking down the row to glare at Petunia. "I'm sure you're very interested, given the way you all look at him when he's here."

She felt some satisfaction at the gasps that went around the table and the denials that started flying. Maya quieted them all with a hand. "If you really want to know why we haven't been able to conceive, it's because of me," she said. "I have something wrong with me, so don't go blaming Nick for this."

"What is this something?" Daisy asked.

"It's none of your concern," Maya said, taking Mia's advice. She could tell them the bare minimum, that she wouldn't be able to conceive, but not why, and she definitely wouldn't be discussing anything further than that. "Just know it's not life threatening."

"And if you cannot conceive a child, what of our agreement?"

Maya sniffed. "I think you're all forgetting the most important thing here. I'm the Master. You are my council, you council me, but your decisions are not paramount. I'm tired of giving you all so much free reign over Kurain. I was afraid of coming across as some sort of dictator but I've realized recently that I'm the better leader anyway, and I need to act like it. This vote will go through, whether there's a descendant of the Fey bloodline on the council in the future or not. If any of you don't like it, feel free to step down and live out the rest of your days in comfort, without the burden of helping to run this place."

There was more whispering around the table, and once more Maya caught Rose's eye. She nodded ever so slightly, as if approving of Maya's statement. Pearl was beaming down below as well, clearly proud of her cousin for finally standing up to the Elders once and for all.

Maya stood up from the table, not even waiting for anyone to reply. "As I said, if anyone has a problem with anything, feel free to talk to me about it. I'm not unwilling to listen to concerns, but from now on the final decisions are mine to make."

She began to step down from the daise. "Pearly, let's go home. I need to call Nick."

Pearl jogged to catch up with her, and as soon as they were out of the room she squealed. "Mystic Maya, that was great! You showed them."

Maya took a deep breath. "Ugh, Pearly. How long was I in there? Five whole minutes? It felt like five hours. I hate having to talk all professional and serious like that, but it's the only way I can get them to listen."

Pearl shook her head. "It was great! I doubt you'll have anymore problems with them. And by the way, I invited Elder Rose over for dinner later. I hope you don't mind."

Maya shook her head. "Of course not. She's the only one who supports me, you know. I'd like to talk to her away from the other's prying eyes."

Pearl smiled. "Great! I'm going to make something really yummy for dinner, you'll love it."

"Ooh, what is it?"

Pearl wagged a finger at her. "It's a surprise, so you'll find out."

"Aw, okay."

"Anyway, Mystic Maya, you were awesome back there."

"Thanks, Pearly. Now I need to call Nick and hope he's not mad at me. He hasn't been answering his phone."

Pearl rolled up a sleeve. "If he doesn't call you back, I'll go to the house and knock some sense into him myself!"

Maya laughed. "Thank you, but I can handle him. He's probably just busy anyway, he had to work today."

"Okay," Pearl said. "But let me know if you need my help. I can be pretty persuasive!"


Back at the manor, Pearl ran to the kitchen to start preparing dinner, while Maya headed to her room to try calling Phoenix again. To her relief the phone only rang twice before Phoenix answered.

"Nick! You finally picked up."

"Oh, hey Maya. Yeah, sorry, I was busy earlier. Athena got a case and I was off investigating with her. What's up?"

He sounded so casual it was almost weird. She thought he would have been mad at her, or at least more concerned than he sounded.

"I just wanted to call to let you know I'm alright, and to apologize."

"For?"

She swallowed. "For leaving last night. I didn't handle the news properly at all. I should have stayed and talked to you about it. Instead I just ran here and made Pearl channel my sister instead."

"Ah. So you talked to your sister before your husband about something concerning our future family," he said, finally sounding a little annoyed as she'd expected before. She heard him sigh and could almost picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I get that Mia was—is—an important person in both of our lives, but don't you think this is something you should've talked to me about first, Maya?"

Maya could feel her face getting hot with embarrassment. "You'll be happy to know that all Mia did was scold me and tell me I have to talk to you about it," she told him. "Which I totally deserved, I know." She sighed. "And you're both right, of course. I'm really sorry, Nick. I should have stayed home with you."

He was quiet for a second before speaking again, and this time his voice sounded much softer. "I understand that it's hard, Maya. And I also understand if you want to just rest for a few days. I just wish you hadn't left to do that. I want to help you, you know? In sickness and in health, right?"

She could feel herself tearing up. She was so tired of crying, but she couldn't help it. "That's exactly what Mia said." She paused for a moment. "Nick, I'm going to come home right away, okay?" She would have to reschedule her dinner with Rose and Pearl, but it was for the best.

"No," Phoenix said. "Stay there. I'll come to you."

"But—"

"It's okay, Maya. Part of the reason you went there to begin with was because you wanted to be around people, and you missed Pearls. I'll take some time off of work and come up to stay with you there instead of making you sit at home all day when I'm at work."

"If you're sure. But just so you know… I had to talk to the Elders earlier. They knew why I hadn't been channeling much lately and were suspicious… They know everything now, Nick."

"Oh, that's great. What did they have to say about it?"

"They still found a way to blame you," she said, not going into any details. "I made sure to tell them it's my fault, but who knows if they believed me."

"Don't even bother trying to convince them," he said. "I'll gladly take that burden from you, Maya. They already didn't like me, so let them think it's somehow my fault. I don't care. It's better than them blaming you."

She smiled. "Thank you, Nick."

"You're welcome."

"So I'll see you in a few hours then?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna let Athena know I'm taking some more time off and leaving early. She won't be happy with me but she'll understand if I tell her it's a family thing. She's been getting better and better taking trials on her own, so the more practice she gets, the better."

"Alright. Pearly's making dinner. Should I tell her to make sure there's enough for you?"

"I would love that actually. I'm starving and I won't have time to stop anywhere if I want to catch an earlier train."

"She'll be so happy you're coming. I'm happy too, Nick, even despite everything. And I know it's only been a day, but I miss you."

"I miss you too," he said. "Sleeping in that big bed all alone… It's pretty lonely."

"Well, there are only tiny beds in the guest rooms here, so there'll be lots of time for cuddling later on."

He chuckled. "Good to know. I'll see you soon."

"Mhm. I love you."

"Love you too, Maya."

Maya hung the phone up, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. There was still a lot to talk about concerning their family planning, but she found it didn't seem so daunting now.

She left her phone on her bed as she headed down to the kitchen to tell Pearl to make sure she set an extra place at the table.