Maribel and Renko were taking a walk. It was a torrential downpour, but neither of them had a drop of rain on them, for Maribel was practising manipulating a boundary, specifically 'The boundary of Water and Air', making it so that the rain could not enter a bubble around the pair. Effectively, she was using her power to form a barrier, and thought that by perfecting this, she could apply it to other things, like 'the boundary of lasers and Maribel' to protect herself.

It was rather fun thinking up new and creative boundaries to manipulate. The more Maribel messed with boundries, the easier and easier the ones shehad already figured out became to manipulate. A year ago, she couldn't even fly, and opening a portal took quite a lot of energy from her. Now she could casually use portals to go pretty much anywhere in Gensokyo she could recall the exact appearance of, and while she wasn't as fast as Renko with her magic, she had learnt how to fly.

It had been a year since they had gone to Gensokyo, aiming to spend the afternoon. Sometimes, Maribel wondered what was happening on the outside. At first she wanted to go back, but now, she didn't want to leave Gensokyo.

"Say, Mary, you want to try and focus on doing that while we're flying? It'll take a while to reach the Hakurei Shrine otherwise." Renko asked.

Maribel nodded, and the two took off. Maribel found it more difficult to keep herself and Renko dry as they flew, and they got a few drops of rain on them as a result, but for the weather conditions, they were far, far drier than they should have been when they arrived at the Hakurei Shrine.

Reimu opened the door to her shrine, looking a little confused and surprised at visitors in this weather, and then she saw who they were and let the pair inside.

"So, you can take Renko with you when you gap now Maribel?" Reimu asked.

"No, I used my powers to keep us dry as we flew here." Maribel explained. "I thought that would be better practise."

Reimu made a sound in agreement. The two visited Reimu often since she was rather alone these days. Rumia had said that Yukari was like a mother to her, and shortly after Maribel and Renko arrived in Gensokyo, her turtle, who was her guardian and raised her after the death of her parents, Genji, passed away due to age.

The Miko had entered a phase of being a shut-in that would rival Patchouli for a period after Genji's death, which hit her hard, but she had now mostly recovered. She still occasionally went into small bouts of loneliness, so her friends made it a point to visit her more often.

Reimu made tea for the two and herself. "So, how has your training been going?" she asked as she gave the pair tea.

"It's been going well. Mima is a good teacher." Renko said.

"The more i manipulate boundaries, the more it feels like second nature to me." Maribel said. "It gets easier and easier to manipulate them. I mean, before, even the smallest boundaries would tire me quickly. But now, doing something like cooling this tea with the boundary of hot and cold, I hardly even need to focus on doing so." Maribel said.

"That's a mixture of proficiency, and being in the magical environment of Gensokyo." Reimu said. "Your bodies are adapting more to the magic around, which isn't outside, bringing out your powers." Reimu explained, before the front of her shrine opened, and Reimu looked happy for a moment, before she looked worried.

Maribel and Renko turned around to see a kitsune of all creatures, seemingly dressed in blue and white pyjamas of some kind, with numerous talismans on her hat. She looked on the verge of tears, and was looking directly at Maribel.

Which, given the legends of the kitsune, was not something Maribel expected.

"I'm sorry!" she said, before running off. Reimu sighed.

"Who was that?" Maribel asked. "She seemed upset by me..."

"That was Ran. Ran Yakumo, the Shikigami of Yukari. She was magically connected to Yukari, and as such, inherited some of her powers. Ran is probably the most powerful Shikigami to ever have existed. You see, a Shikigami is a familiar granted some of the power of a far superior being in return for them serving the superior being. Ran is a kitsune, and yet is a Shikigami. That is how powerful Yukari was. Ran is strong enough herself that she has her own Shikigami. In the way that Shikigami contracts work, you could probably think of Ran as your adoptive sister, Maribel." Reimu explained.

Maribel kept looking at Reimu, and she spoke more.

"Ran was closer to Yukari than even me. She and Yukari were magically bound together, so when Yukari died, she lost a part of herself as well. Ran has been coping as well as she can, she's the one who is maintaining the boundary in Yukari's absence with Yukari's passed-down power, the power she has through her contract. We've been supporting each other, but it seems Ran isn't ready to meet you yet, Maribel."

"Yukari had a kitsune as a familiar? Just how powerful was Yukari?" Renko asked, before looking at Maribel. "And just what does that mean if Mary has potential to surpass even Yukari?"

"I do not know what a youkai-human hybrid who has 'surpassed Yukari' would be capable of." Reimu admitted. "Humans have an inherent drive to discover new things and press their boundaries. Most Youkai do not, they like traditional ways, although there are exceptions, like the Kappa. I believe that is how Maribel can surpass Yukari, because of her human drive for discovery"

Maribel got up.

"Sorry Reimu, there is something I have to do." She said, looking at Renko. "Let's go Renko. "

"Can't I finish my tea first?" Renko complained, getting a look from Maribel that said 'No', before she put the cup inside a gap, and looked at Reimu. "I'll give it back when she's done with it."

"As long as you don't get into a habit of putting my stuff in your gaps like Yukari did..." Reimu said, bemused, as the pair ran out of the shrine into the rain.

Maribel frantically looked around, and noticed a tiny boundary that had recently been manipulated, more recently than the ones she had manipulated on her way to the shrine, before, with quite a bit of resistance, she forced it open and jumped through, pulling Renko with her.

The pair very quickly had to start flying, as they found themselves high in Gensokyo's skies, looking at a floating house, marked with clouds on the doors and the walls. It looked like a very traditional Japanese house. Maribel and Renko both noticed that the rain that was falling seemed to be repelled from the local area by some kind of barrier. A cat youkai then jumped out of the house, hissing at the pair.

"Lady Ran does not want to see you. Leave, or I shall have to make you!" the cat youkai said. Her voice was a mixture between playful and threatening.

"You must be Ran's Shikigami, I presume." Maribel said.

"Yes, I am Chen." The cat said, her two tails twitching.

"Yukari, Ran, Chen... how many colours are you below Yukari?" Maribel taunted. "Chen is orange, right? In the spectrum of visible light, there is Violet, or Yukari, Indigo, or Ran, then Buru, or Blue, Yellow and Green before you get to Orange, or Chen. At least you're not called Aka."

"You're not even named after a colour. Yukari must have thought you really weak then." Chen said, clearly irritated.

"Yukari saw Mary as someone who could surpass her. Since there's not a colour in the visible spectrum after Violet, what would she call her?" Renko said, before she looked at Maribel.

"Mary, I should at least be able to hold off 'Orange' if I am to be someone you can rely on in the future. You go do whatever you think you have to do." Renko said, as her Sun-Summoner formed with a small sparkle of light.

Maribel nodded, and began to fly to the house. Chen attempted to fly after her, but Renko cast a Gravity charm on her, pulling her back towards her.

"Sorry Chen, but you're going to have to get past me first. I guess you could say I aim to be like Ran is to Yukari."

Chen just put her hands together, before starting to cast fireballs at Renko, as Maribel vanished from her sight.

Ran Yakumo was sitting in the middle of the main room of the house, her back, and tails, to Maribel.

"Did Chen really lose that quickly?" she asked.

"No, Renko's fighting her alone. She can take her." Maribel said. "We didn't come here to fight however."

"I know that." Ran said sadly. "I am just... not ready."

"You are ready Ran. You are just running from it. You don't want to accept that Yukari is gone. I've done it, Reimu's done it. You can't let this hang over you forever." Maribel said.

"You did not know her, despite being her daughter. Reimu was not part of her." Ran said. "You could not possibly know what it is like for me. When Yukari died, a part of me died with her. If I were to have died first, a part of Yukari would have died with me. Chen has a part of me, and I have a part of Chen. The bonds between Shikigami are that strong, that master and servant are almost one and the same."

"Then what are you grieving for!" Maribel shouted. "You said it yourself, you have a part of Yukari within you, like she had a part of you. Dosen't that mean that Yukari isn't truly dead? She lives on within you! She lives on within me, and even within Buru. She wouldn't want you wallowing in pity, would she?"

"It's not just Yukari, Maribel." Ran said. "I said, Yukari took a part of me with her. It hurts. It hurts having part of your soul dead while you still live. Every day it hurts. And that pain reminds me every day that Yukari is gone. I can't move on with this throbbing pain in my heart every time I wake. It is that pain that keeps bringing the memories, and the sorrow."

"I see..." Maribel said, before she walked up to, around her and to the front, where it became visible that Ran had clearly been crying. "Then let me try something. Let me try to make the pain go away."

"What do you mean?" Ran said, before Maribel put two fingers from her right hand on Ran's forehead, and she became quiet, her eyes losing their spark.

Maribel silently focused, sifting through Ran's own boundaries. This was difficult. Very difficult. One errant mistake could make things worse, or even kill Ran. But she found one, a tear in the boundaries within Ran's soul. The hole, the part of Ran that was missing. She also felt, like a spectral presence, Yukari, the part of Yukari within Ran, also attempting to heal the wound, but failing to do so.

Maribel observed what Yukari was attempting to do a few times. She was attempting to piece the hole back together. She was confident that she could pull the hole shut. Close the boundary.

"Foolish." Maribel said. "That experience is as much a part of Ran as you are. You cannot simply 'fix' the hole and force it shut like that, as if it never existed."

The part of Yukari's spirit looked at Maribel, before she floated aside and let Maribel at the hole.

"You need to make it a new part of Ran. Build it into her. This experience is not something she can forget, she has to accept it as part of her. Accept Yukari is gone." Maribel said, as instead of what Yukari was doing, attempting to force the boundary between the damaged parts of the soul shut, closing out the experiences and the pain, Maribel instead filled the boundary, carefully weaving the experiences and the emotional pain into the new material. Unlike what Yukari was attempting to do, this worked. The hole, the void, closed, replaced by new material.

Maribel opened her eyes and moved her fingers, and Ran's eyes returned to normal.

"Deep inside, your spirit was attempting to cover up and forget the events, the past. What I did as make it accept the pain as part of it. You should find it easier to move on now. The *hole* within yourself has been filled with a new part." Maribel said. "You shouldn't feel the pain anymore, not as badly, at least. When you think of Yukari, the memories should be fond, not painful. Your memories should make your heart feel warm, not like it is about to burst."

Ran closed her eyes, before she smiled, and hugged Maribel.

"You really are amazing..." she said. "I know what Yukari meant by your potential now. You understand people because of Renko, and because of your humanity. That is something Yukari never understood. She never understood people. If she did, what happened with Buru may never have happened. She simply didn't understand her fear of her own mortality, since she had no worry about dying of age."

"OK, OK, get off of me." Maribel said. "Now can you call your cat off before Renko hurts her?"

"Too late." Renko said, who was also somewhat battered, levitating an unconscious Chen into the room. "I'll tell you, holding back with Astral Magic enough to not actually hurt her isn't easy. I really need to start developing danmaku spellcards so I can just be flashy instead of flashy and destructive."

"To have surpassed Chen so quickly after coming to Gensokyo..." Ran said. "You really are special too, aren't you Renko? I'm not sure who's more amazing... Maribel has Yukari's blood, after all, but you... you are just a regular human without a magical background, yet you were born with powers in the outside world, which is near devoid of magic, and have such talent. All of the magical humans from outside in this time period I am aware of have incredibly potent magic in their family. Sanae is the descendant of a goddess, and Maribel is Yukari's daughter. All of them except you."

"I guess I'm special because I need to be." Renko said. "I mean, Mary needs someone by her side she can trust. A friend, not a servant like Yukari and you. Maybe it's my fate to be that person. Maybe that's why I'm special."

"Perhaps." Ran said. "Perhaps..."

Author Note: Back to the main storyline next chapter. Side arcs are now done.