Chapter Fifteen: A Brief History of Feys

"Drugged?!"

"Yes, that's what I said. You don't need to bellow it." Dr. Bolysm peered over the clipboard in her hands. "It looks like our Mystic Maya got herself into something she ought not and it put her right out."

"Well, is she going to be alright?" Edgeworth looked down at the lifeless lump on the gurney with a stern, yet concerned frown. Since Maya hadn't been awake to explain what had transpired, it had fallen to him to relay the details as best he could, though he had little idea what had actually happened in the first place.

It was an odd tightrope to walk, that.

"Yes, she'll be fine. According to the blood analysis, it was an over-the-counter medication that did the trick, 'Super Sneezy Stopper X' to be precise." Dr. Bolysm set down the medical chart. "Are you familiar with it? It's an allergy medication."

"I know it." said Edgeworth. "I don't take it myself, though."

"Why not? It's one of the best ones on the market."

"The active compound inside the medication triggers a severe asthma attack if I ingest it."

"Allergic to an allergy medication? Hoo wee, that's rough." Dr. Bolysm whistled through her teeth. "Come to think of it, your medical records said as much when we had you in as a patient, didn't they? Well, luckily for Mystic Maya, she doesn't have any allergies to it, or to anything for that matter, so all it did was send her off on a trip to dreamland. Don't fret, she'll be fine once the medication wears off. Its most potent side-effect for anybody not allergic to it is drowsiness, so if people haven't built up a tolerance, it'll knock them out like a glass-jawed boxer a second after the bell rings."

"Maya doesn't have any allergies?" Edgeworth considered the doctor in front of him. "Then why was there medication in her system?"

"Isn't that the question of the day?" Dr. Bolysm clucked her tongue twice. "I can't say for certain, but I've got no intention of letting this go."

"Do you have any leads?"

"Maybe, but before I go run some more tests, I've got a few questions for you, kiddo."

"What might you require of me?" Edgeworth blistered. "And don't call me 'kiddo'."

"Sure thing, hun." Dr. Bolysm smirked at him. "Anyway, back to business. Did Mystic Maya eat or drink anything lately?"

"You'll have to be more specific about the time frame." said Edgeworth. "Maya eats and drinks many things."

"Within the last half hour or so." said Dr. Bolysm.

"Ah. Well, there was a bag of snacks she'd been eating that she had stolen from the detective and she had some tea, but I couldn't say for sure if that was all there was." said Edgeworth. "We weren't together the entire time. Why do you ask?"

"If the drug wasn't taken by Mystic Maya herself, that means it was introduced another way." said Dr. Bolysm. "I need to pinpoint exactly what she ate so we can figure out what might've been laced with the allergy meds. Who else was in the room with you when she passed out?

"No one other than one of the detectives, but she was asleep on the sofa as well, so she can't have done anything of harm, nor would she. Detective Skye is quite trustworthy and she doesn't go around drugging people for her own curiosity or out of boredom."

Well… at least she didn't anymore.

Not since the incident with Prosecutor Gavin and the spiked schnitzel, anyway.

"She was asleep?" asked Dr. Bolysm.

"Yes, I found her on a bench outside. The other detective, Detective Time, is the one who initially found her and reported to me about it. I then brought her into my office so she didn't catch cold."

"I see." Dr. Bolysm whipped out a phone from her pocket and began tapping something into the screen. "That's very interesting. By the way, I suppose I can rule you out as the one who introduced Mystic Maya to the substance, correct?"

The venomous silence that followed chilled the exam room to sub-arctic temperatures.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then. By the way, has the book I gave you been of any help?" Sensing the likelihood of an incandescent rebuttal brewing on the horizon, Dr. Bolysm shamelessly diverted onto a new topic. "You seem no more knowledgeable about the Feys than the last time we spoke. Haven't you used it yet?"

Shaking out of his barely contained lividity, Edgeworth drew a blank for a minute at what she meant, but then remembered the moldy old publication lurking in his pocket.

"No, not as such."

"Oh, really?" Dr. Bolysm's skunkish head tilted at an angle. "Why's that?"

"I cannot read something with which I do not have access." said Edgeworth frostily. "Simply put, I cannot open it."

"You can't open it yet?" Dr. Bolysm threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, you silly thing. You didn't think to ask Mystic Maya how to go about doing it?"

"I wasn't aware I should." said Edgeworth.

"You've been given a book that details the Fey clan and never once thought to bring it up to the master of the Fey clan when you got stuck?" Dr. Bolysm's eyes rolled behind her coke bottle glasses so pronouncedly, they looked like jumbo-sized ping pong balls. "Good lord. Oh, very well. For the ignorant amongst us, I will tell you how to open it, if for no other reason than I feel sorry for you, old bean."

'How generous.' Edgeworth thought waspishly.

"Now then, opening the book is quite simple. All you have to do to bestow a little of your soul's signature onto the book and once it recognizes you, it'll disengage."

"… alright." He retrieved the book from his coat pocket and stared down at the decrepit binding, all the while attempting to ignore just how ridiculous the whole situation was becoming; 'Soul signature'? What nonsense. "How do I do that?"

"Kiss your thumb and press it to the lock."

Edgeworth stared at her.

"I what?"

"You heard me. Kiss your thumb and press it to the lock." repeated the old doctor. "Oh, come now, young man. The master told me you were intelligent. In order to be recognized by the book, you need to let it know who you are and what information to which you are privy, but... I take it from the slightly irritated look in your eye that you need a more concrete explanation, don't you?"

"That would be lovely, yes."

"I see." Dr. Bolysm closed her eyes and tapped at her chin. "Alright. Think about it like this. Say there's one computer in an office, but a bunch of people all use and share the computer at any one go. In order to have their information remain private so no one can go on and snoop, each person has their own user profile that can only be accessed by them, sealed with a password. That way, the computer can be used by a great many people, yet still be encrypted to an extent for the privacy of the individual user. Essentially, you're just logging into your server, but with the book as the computer and the soul signature as the password. Make sense?"

Edgeworth's silver brows knitted together.

Dash it all, it did.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Just do as I say and the book will open. Oh, don't give me that look, no one's saying you have to make out with it. A light peck to the finger and pressing it to the lock will do just fine. Go ahead and try it if you don't believe me."

Edgeworth eyed the book with disgust. He had to be out of his mind. However, he did as she instructed, put his thumb to his lips, and then firmly pressed the pad to the magatama lock.

Sure enough, the lock sprang off.

"See? Now what did I tell you?" Dr. Bolysm gloated at Edgeworth's flabbergasted expression while he goggled at the unlocked book in his hands. "So, what does the book say?"

Curious in spite of himself, Edgeworth cracked open the book and flipped to the first page.

Words were written on the page normally reserved for a preface, but the content written there wasn't a preface or anything close to it.

It read as follows:

Name: Miles Edgeworth

Age: 35

Profession: Persecutor

Temperament: Crotchety

Appearance: Imposing yet Comely

Belief: Negligible

Spiritual Status: Null

Favorite Color: Red

"Again with the 'null' classification." Edgeworth muttered under his breath, but he was pleased to see he was making some headway, parlous and ludicrous as it was.

He wasn't too pleased with the 'persecutor' misnomer, though.

"So?" Dr. Bolysm prodded his shoulder with her stick. "Don't keep me waiting in suspense. What does it say?"

"Nothing I didn't already know." said Edgeworth. "There are some statistics and notes about myself, but nothing else of consequence. I expect you are the one who wrote the description down?"

"Who can say?" Dr. Bolysm's eyes twinkled. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Perhaps the book wrote it down."

He snorted.

"Madam, sentient books are only relegated to the realm of fantasy, nothing more." Edgeworth replied in a scathingly dry tone. "In the real world, books don't write themselves. Writers write them."

"No, they don't. Books write themselves. The authors are merely along for the ride."

"Hmph. Well, in any case, there's that mystery solved." Edgeworth turned to the next page and found that it was blank. "And now I'm faced with another one. What exactly am I supposed to do with an empty book?"

"Here, let me take a look." Dr. Bolysm plucked the book out of his hands and flipped it open.

"See anything?" He idly glanced over her shoulder. "If not, then perhaps an X-ray would shed light on the subject if you're having trouble reading the text."

"My dear young man, the problem isn't something so simple as physical matter blocking the view. Besides, dishing out unnecessary X-rays is a profound waste of money. We're not a fund farm, y'know." The wrinkles in Dr. Bolysm's forehead bunched together as she perused the vacant pages. "Nope, it seems you don't have an open enough mind yet to access it completely. That's why it's blank."

"'I don't have an open enough mind'." Edgeworth repeated tonelessly. "Forgive me if I sound skeptical, but I've never once had a book issue a complaint about my reading methods before."

"That just goes to show there's a first time for everything, then." chirped Dr. Bolysm. "This book's a little different from the ones you're used to, so it might just take some time for it to warm up to you, that's all. That, or you've got another reason why it's not working properly, but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish we won't dive into. No sense in adding more problems to the heap if we can avoid it. Well, no matter. If the book's not feeling it, it looks like it falls to me to pick up the slack."

"How do you mean?" asked Edgeworth.

"If this book's out of service, I'll be your book instead." The doctor grinned at him. "Ask me what you want to know and I'll tell you. I'm a veritable tome of Fey knowledge. Go on. Read me."

Edgeworth scowled.

"I'd rather not."

"Oh, don't be such a wet blanket. It'll be fun and I'm in the mood for some pontificating. That taste of storytelling in the Sword Chamber really got the old gears going and I'm up for some more. So, lay it on me. What do you want to know? Something about the Feys? Oh, how about an overview? That's appropriate given the current climate, isn't it? Admittedly, I'm not as attractive as Mystic Maya, those days are long over, so it might not be as fun for you to listen to an old bird like me, but I know a thing or two that'll prove useful-"

"Fine, fine, you win. Have it your way. Tell me about the Feys if you wish." Edgeworth interrupted tersely, his headache having reached a throbbing zenith; this woman was unnaturally pushy. "If you are really that inclined to explain something, a brief overview of the Fey clan would be fine. Just keep it at that, will you?"

"Excellent." Pleased that she'd gotten her way, Dr. Bolysm stepped back and exaggeratedly cleared her throat. "The Feys are a clan of spiritually gifted individuals that possess the unique ability to channel spirits and commune with the dead. Now, while spirituality might run through the blood of the Feys, the ability to channel spirits is solely inherited by the women, though only a select few of them can channel a spirit successfully-"

"Dr. Bolysm. If I might?"

"What? I just started, you shouldn't interrupt me while I'm warming up."

"It's hardly an interruption when the question being posed is related to what you've just mentioned." said Edgeworth. "Are all the Feys women? I've been meaning to ask this for quite some time, but in the entire time I've known any Feys, be it personally or just of them, I have never once come across a Fey man. Why is that?"

"Oh, we have men here in Kurain." laughed Dr. Bolysm. "They just work outside the village and come back when their work is done. We've also brought outsiders to Kurain Village that are men, let whole families move in too, and that doesn't even count all of their kiddos running loose."

"That's not what I mean." Edgeworth shook his head. "I know there are men who are married to Fey women, along with the other villagers in Kurain. What I mean is I've never run into a member of the Fey clan that was a man and directly related by blood. By marriage, or affiliation, yes, but not by blood. Why is that? Is there a reason?"

"Oh. Well, there are a multitude of reasons, but it's not nearly as interesting as one would think. Don't spend much time dwelling on it, dear. Anyway, while only women can channel spirits, not all Fey women have the ability to do so. Fey women's ability to channel depends on the amount of spiritual energy they are capable of containing. That's what separates the wheat from the chaff and what enables Fey women to channel: spiritual containment ability."

"I recall Maya said something akin to that earlier." frowned Edgeworth. "How does spirit channeling work, exactly?"

"Well, in order to channel a spirit, the medium needs three things: natural channeling talent, the true name of the person they wish to channel, and a picture of the person's face."

"A picture is required?" Edgeworth's eyebrow arched; this was certainly news to him. "Why?"

"It helps with the visualization aspect. The mind's eye needs something to focus on when summoning a spirit and without it, it would be like trying to call someone without their phone number. Anyway, if all are accounted for, the medium can commence with the ceremony. When a spirit medium channels a spirit, the soul of the medium temporarily vacates their body and leaves it empty for the spirit they wish to contact. Since it's been given a mortal shell to temporarily house itself inside, the dead spirit is able to communicate and walk amongst the living in order to conduct whatever business it has, be it a conversation, a mission they were unable to finish while alive, or a familial visit. Most sessions conducted by mediums are for those desperate to speak with their loved ones again. Then, when the session is concluded, the soul is sent back to the twilight realm and the medium's spirit returns to her body. So, it's a lot like an Air BnB, but with bodies instead of flats."

"I see. If that's the case, then wouldn't the process of channeling kill the medium if it forces their soul from their body?"

"Normally forcing the soul from a living body would indeed kill someone unequipped for the task, but spirit mediums have an abnormally powerful spiritual tether between their souls and their bodies. Most people only have enough spiritual energy to keep their soul anchored to their body, but a spirit medium's tether is much stronger and has a significantly longer range. They remain tethered to their body even while outside it and their soul springs back into place when the session's over. It's essentially like a spiritual bungee cord."

"And if the cord snaps? What then?"

"If, god forbid, that happens or a mortal blow is inflicted to the body while in the possession of a spirit, without their tether, the soul of the medium flies into the twilight realm and their mortal form ceases to be. In short, they die."

"... Ah. Are there circumstances in which the medium couldn't channel a spirit?"

"Hmm. Now that's a tougher question." Dr. Bolysm tapped the side of her wrinkly chin. "Yes, if something in the physical realm prevented their soul from leaving their body because they were too tied to it, that could lead them to not being able to channel."

"Like?"

"If their spirit wasn't saturated in enough mystical energy, if they hadn't been training, if they were sick, pregnant, in the midst of a mental or nervous breakdown, if they were badly injured, if someone else was already channeling the spirit they wanted to call or if they were suddenly drained of their power, that could impede the technique's success."

"And if they were forced to do so, anyway?"

"The effects would be the same as if someone forced a normal person's spirit from their body." said Dr. Bolysm. "You can figure out the details for yourself."

Edgeworth staved off the urge to run his fingers through his fringe. He'd expected as much.

"Though I am hesitant to admit it, I had no idea channeling spirits carried such risk to the personal safety of the host."

"Oh, yeah. Being a medium's not for weenies." Dr. Bolysm nodded in sage agreement. "One must be in tip top health in order to carry out the Kurain Channeling Technique, and anything less than that will make it impossible for a medium to channel. Depending on the circumstances, they'll either fail or die trying. So, to circumvent that possibility, all active mediums get bi-monthly physicals."

"Is that why you went into medicine?" Edgeworth's eyebrow arched.

"One of the reasons." winked Dr. Bolysm. "What else do you want to know, boyo?"

"What happens if a spirit medium channels someone that in life didn't have certain attributes like hair, fingerprints, a missing eye or an amputated limb? What then?" asked Edgeworth. "Does it reflect on the medium?"

"When the body channels a spirit, the body does become the spirit's for a short time, but in such a case when something was missing, the original traits of the spirit medium would stay. They wouldn't mysteriously lose a limb or become bald. Their hair and limbs would stay intact. The spirit in question would just temporarily have what they didn't in life, but it wouldn't really be theirs. It would just be a reflection of whoever is channeling them."

"How much control does the medium have when a spirit enters their body?"

"It depends on how skillful the medium is. A fully trained, healthy medium would have no problems expelling a soul if it stayed too long or became unruly, but if the medium wasn't feeling their best, wasn't trained enough, or the soul was too strong, a soul could run amok until it was ousted."

"So they can become possessed?"

"A lesser medium could become possessed by a particularly powerful soul, but that doesn't usually happen. We have a rule about channeling souls aligned with malcontent, so the odds of a rookie being possessed are fairly slim. We take steps to avoid it."

"But it could happen in theory." mused Edgeworth.

"Oh, yes. It could, if the spirit was determined or too strong for the vessel to contain." said Dr. Bolysm. "However, we have a blacklist of names who are forbidden to channel. Anyone who is an active spirit medium is required to memorize it in order to make sure they are never called back."

Edgeworth expected Dahlia Hawthorne was at the top of that list.

"Is there anything else you wanted to know?" Dr. Bolysm prompted. "I don't know what we haven't covered about channeling, but feel free to ask if anything comes to mind."

"There is, but it doesn't have as much to do with channeling so much as it does the events of last night." Edgeworth moved to the nearby window and peered out into the darkness; from the position of the moon, it was probably already midnight. "You were here yesterday evening, were you not?"

"I was." said Dr. Bolysm. "So were Phil and Mercy, when she bothered to get her butt back to work instead of running off without so much as a word. That girl is so flighty, it's no shock to me why she hasn't graduated that two year program even though she's been at it for well over six. No discipline, that's what her problem is, no discipline."

"Did you at any time see Pearl?"

"I don't think I did. I was working on some patients at the time, but it's possible she was around. She has clearance to go where she pleases since she volunteers here regularly. Why?"

"When I spoke to Mercy, she said that she had seen Pearl when she had conducted an inventory of the supplies for the hospital."

"Oh. I see." said Dr. Bolysm. "Well, I can't say for Pearl or not, but I can vouch for Mercy being on inventory. I couldn't let her absconding go unpunished, so I stuck her with inventory duty so she'll learn not to leave halfway through her shift again. She hates it, so here's hoping she'll get with the program. I'm not that hopeful, but it's worth a shot."

"And to the best of your knowledge, what was the junior doctor doing at the time?"

"Phil? Other than looking after your sorry unconscious carcass, he was checking the inventory, too. He does that every other week to make sure none of the staff are carting off hospital contraband. We're missing most of our office pens."

"Hm." Edgeworth brought one hand to his chin, though his gaze never left the window. "I see."

"Alright, you've got me curious." Dr. Bolysm leaned forwards on her walking stick. "Why didn't you just ask Phil yourself? He delivered the autopsy report to you. You could've just asked him then."

"No, I couldn't. He's refused to testify, so there's nothing more I could do. Do you happen to know if anything was missing other than the pens?"

"Missing?" Dr. Bolysm's feathered eyebrows fluffed downwards against her glasses. "Let's see... I think from the list I was given, I didn't see anything too far out of the ordinary that was missing from the hospital section, and overall there wasn't anything of consequence missing that I noted, just a few medical kits, all my ruddy pens and a carrier bag. Oh, and a few experimental canisters had been misplaced from the lab we have on the second floor, but given how hare-brained those researchers are, they're probably tucked under their desks or something. Scientists are wonderful when it comes to their work and lousy at just about everything else. It's like they're martians."

"Do you remember if anything else was missing?" asked Edgeworth.

"No, I don't believe there was. That was it."

"I see." Edgeworth exhaled tiredly and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "I think that's all I need to ask you, then. Thank you for your time."

"No problem." grinned the doctor. "Always happy to enlightened the unwashed masses-"

"Doctor, I've got the other one you wanted." With a knock that barely gave any time to register as a proper warning, the ER doors unceremoniously swung open and admitted one Phil the junior doctor and Ema, who he'd slung over his broad shoulder like a sack of dead potatoes. "Turns out she was right where you said she'd be. It's a right shame, Mystic Maya's friends are dropping like flies and- oh."

His jovial demeanor quickly turned to dust when he saw Edgeworth watching him flintily from his place near the window.

"Ah, Phil. There you are." Dr. Bolysm didn't seem to let the sudden murky atmosphere deter her cheerful attitude. "I've been waiting for you."

"... you were, huh?" Phil suspiciously regarded the older lady as he gingerly set the limp detective down on a free bed. "Why?"

"Well, you see, in case you haven't heard, there have been murders. Two murders. Two gruesome murders. Two gruesome murders that this young man here is attempting to solve for us, pro bono." She ambled towards Phil with an almost predatory grin. "And from what a little nocturnal birdie's told me, you have refused to testify about what you know. Is that right?"

"Y-yeah? So?" Phil tried to puff up his chest like a bird would frill out its feathers to make itself appear bigger, but all he looked like was a subversive chick staring down the head hen.

"So," Dr. Bolysm pulled the armchair next to the gurney that had Maya atop it and set it right in front of Phil. "Here's what's going to happen. You are going to sit in this chair. He is going to ask you some questions. You are going to answer those questions. Honestly, factually, and to the best to your ability. And you are going to it now. Do you understand?"

Phil had the air of a man who wanted to turn tail and run for it, but he was too busy being paralyzed in fear to remember he needed to move in order to actually do so.

"B-but-"

Dr. Bolysm's glasses slid down her nose, revealing a pair of menacing, humorless grey eyes.

"You. Sit. Now."

Phil sat now.

"Good boy." Dr. Bolysm's cheerful smile returned and she patted the unruly mop of black hair atop Phil's head. "Well then, I'll leave you two alone so you can get acquainted better. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off for a snack."

"Snack?" Both Phil and Edgeworth asked at the same time.

"Yep. That manju cart's parked up in the front of the clinic and I'm starving. Toodles."

(A/N- So, as I'm sure everyone's well aware, things have gotten a little bit hairy lately since I last updated.

And by 'a little bit hairy', I mean fairy flipping insane.

I tell you what, between the recent unpleasantness (Co-Vid), getting sick, the entire area being put on mandatory lock-down because some people in my area can't listen worth beans, getting sick again, it randomly snowing in a place that rarely ever gets snow so everyone just panicked more, the layoffs, suddenly losing an animal and everything else that's been going on top of that, I don't know about y'all, but I am so ready for this year to just be over.

I don't care that it's only March.

You know it's icky out there when 2019 looks cheery by comparison.

So, I'm doing my bit, staying in quarantine like I'm supposed to, working on my fic and getting better acquainted with my pajama pants. They are quite nice and I like them. However, for all the virus pandemic plots spread across fiction that I've seen, I am quite surprised at the lacking mention of colorful flannel trousers or the empty toilet paper aisles seen in shops across the world.

Anyway, being an extrovert, I'm not as well-equipped for this as well as some others with whom I am related, but I'm staying indoors until further notice if it'll help keep people from coming down with the recent unpleasantness and I hope you're all out there doing well and staying indoors when you can, too.

In any case, thank you so much to everyone who commented, favorited, alerted and read my last chapter and a special thank you to the person who bought me a KoFi. That was really sweet and I highly appreciated it. I was having a pretty bad day when I got it at the time, so thank you. Thank you very much. Anyway, thank you all for your continued support, thank you again for reading, be careful when venturing past your threshold and please review!)