A/N: After taking a long break from this story, I am finally back with the bonus case. A story that fills in a few gaps in the backstory, and give new context to certain events in the narrative. Enjoy, my readers!
February 26, 2029
O'Conner and Co Law Offices
10:00 a.m.
Robin approached the door to her friend's law office, knocking on the door. It had been a day since the end of Starlight Moon's trial. Robin had made a promise to her friends, and she had every intention of keeping her word.
Hugh answered the door, a smile spreading on his face when he saw his friend. "Good morning, Robin. We don't have any cases lined up right now, so I could spare some time for you."
"Good morning, Hugh," Robin said, lighting punching Hugh on his shoulder. "Judging by your words, Juniper might be here too. Which is good, because there's something I need to tell you b-o-t-h!"
Juniper, sitting at her desk, looked up at the sound of Robin's voice. "Greetings, Robin. Is this about your time in Khura'in?"
"Yup! So let's all sit down, because this story's gonna take a while!" Robin looked around the small office. "Is there a third chair in here?"
"I do have a spare in the closet. Give me a second…" Hugh opened the office's closet, taking out the folding chair and setting it up. "It won't be the most comfortable."
"Hopefully we won't be sitting down for too long!" Robin took a seat, while Hugh sat down and Juniper turned her own chair to face Robin.
"So what did my Mom tell you about why we were all in Khura'in? Robin asked, as she was aware that her friends had run into her mother during the Starlight Moon case.
"She told us that there is a pursuer after your family. It's why your mother had Apollo lie about the fact that you and your family were in Khura'in." Juniper still wasn't sure how to feel about this. "And that she couldn't say much more."
"Then you'll understand that there's some stuff that I'll have to keep to myself! Still, I can tell you both about how I spent my time there." Robin took a deep breath, and launched into her story. "I spent five months in Khura'in. It's a place like nothing I've ever seen! But the people there are so nice, and they made my time there feel a little less lonely. But there's one person I'll never forget…"
In her mind, Robin saw that person's face. This story is one that took place over a few months, but also only a single day. A story about first love in the middle of a foreign country…
Episode 0
Turnabout of the Night
Night had fallen over Khura'in, moonlight blocked by some clouds. Yet in this darkness, Robin Newman ran.
I can't stay here! I need to find some way to get back to America! Back to my friends!
Yet in the darkness of the night, Robin found it didn't take long to get lost. All the buildings looked the same. I need to find some kind of landmark! At least to get to the bus stop to the airport!
"སྐྱ་མདོག་གི་ཟླ་བས་ང་ལ་གཡོགས་ཡོད. དེས་ང་ལ་འཁྲུད་བཞིན་ཡོད།།. (The pale moon hangs in the sky. It washes over me)."
The sound of a woman singing filled the air, and Robin looked around to see where it was coming from. That's such a pretty voice. But who would be singing in the middle of the night? And what are they saying?
As Robin changed direction towards the sound of the voice, it kept singing.
"ངས་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་མིག་མདངས་ལས་ང་ལ་ཅེར་འདུག།. དེས་ང་ལ་སྒལ་ཚིགས་འཁྱག་ཏུ་བཅུག. (I see your gaze on me. It sends a chill down my spine)."
The area transitioned from the village to an empty stretch of desert. But in the distance, Robin could spot what looked like a lake, and a person near it.
"ངས་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་མིག་ནང་དུ་ལྷུང་ནས་ངའི་སེམས་ནང་དུ་བསྣུབས་ན་འདོད། (I want to fall into your eyes, and drown my heart inside.)"
Robin got close enough to see the person- a woman around her age, with mocha-brown skin, warm brown eyes, black hair in waves that went down to her neck, and a red dot on her forehead. The woman wore a white belly dancer outfit, which stood out in the otherwise dark night.
The woman appeared to be reaching the end of her routine, as she stopped in the same direction as Robin, seeing her for the first time.
"ཁྱོད་སུ་ཡིན། (Who are you)?" asked the woman in shock.
"My name is Robin Newman! And I… I heard your singing. It was so pretty that I had to see you!" Robin answered. Then her face flushed red when she realized what she said.
The clouds that previously obscured the moon moved away, and pale moonlight washed over the ladies as they stared at each other.
"That was the first time I ever met Midnah Ni'te. I probably made a total fool of myself, but she didn't seem to mind that much once the shock of seeing me wore off," Robin recounted. "But talking with each other was a little rough at first, because she barely understood English, and I didn't know much Khura'inese."
"I can only imagine. How long did it take until you could begin communicating well?" Hugh asked.
"About a month. Midnah and I taught each other more about our respective languages! Not only that, but Midnah started showing me how she sings and dances, while I showed her the kind of art I do!" Robin had a distinctly fond smile on her face as she talked.
Normally, seeing Robin happy made Juniper happy. Yet Juniper could feel her stomach twisting into knots, and she couldn't understand why.
Hugh, the quintessential defense attorney, noticed a contradiction in Robin's account. "So, why didn't we hear anything about this Midnah earlier?"
The words had an immediate effect- Robin gripped her proof of friendship on her arm, averting her gaze. "I'll get to that! Like I said, it's a long story. So I'll skip over the month that we spent teaching each other about our respective languages." One day, Midnah approached me…"
October 10th, 2028
Ta'wn Town, Newman Residence
08:00 a.m.
Robin woke up in her bed, stretching her arms. It had been a month since her family had relocated to Khura'in, and a month since she ran into a mysterious belly dancer.
Life in Khura'in wasn't easy. It had been jarring, to go from all the creature comforts that Robin had been used to and now living in a country that didn't have a lot of them. She didn't think she'd ever miss air conditioning so much until she began living in a house without it.
There were no washing machines, it all had to be done by hand. Clothes also had to be dried in the air. Electricity was a precious resource to use sparingly. The house that Robin was currently living with her parents was a one-story house with two bedrooms, only one bathroom, and a large area for everything else. It was such a jarring change, Robin thought she would go insane.
She might have gone insane too, if not for a certain someone. A moment later, Robin heard a knocking on the door. Oh, that might be her!
Robin opened the front door to see that it was indeed Midnah. Midhah was dressed in her casual clothes- a green, short-sleeved T-shirt emblazoned with the Plumed Punisher on it, and some light green shorts. On her feet, Midhah wore some simple sandals.
"Good of… I mean, good morning, Robin," Midhah said, struggling with her words. "How are you?"
"Happ'iriki, Midnah!" Robin answered, trying a Khurain'ese greeting in return. "I'm doing pretty w-e-l-l!"
"I'm glad to hear that." Midnah did a little spin, winking at Robin. "Are you ready for today's language of Khurain'ese lesson? I mean, today's lesson of the Khura'inese language?"
Midnah pouted at the fact that her flirting got botched at the end, while Robin giggled to herself. Midnah's stage persona involved a lot of being coy with the audience. But it was nice to see that the dancer could make mistakes.
"Yes, I'm ready! So where are we going today?" Robin asked. Given that she had only been in Khura'in for a month so far, there was so much about the country that was new for Robin.
"Today, we are going to Swe'et Ha'art Cliff. There's a view there that would be nice when doing today's lesson," Midnah answered. "This will be a rough lesson, so be ready!"
"I'm always ready! Wait outside for me while I prepare a picnic for us!" Robin watched Midnah depart the house, then she turned around and went into the house's kitchen area, getting together some local ingredients.
Khura'inese food seemed to lean heavily on spices, fruits, and vegetables. It did use ox meat, but other than that the people here seemed to prefer a plant-based diet. With that in mind, Robin made a salad with a mix of different fruits.
While Robin was doing this, Mrs. Newman walked into the room, and spotted what her daughter was doing. "Hello, dear. Are you meeting with Midnah again?"
"I am! Are you going to make a big thing about it?" Robin asked, wary of her mother. When Diana first met Midnah, the older woman made her opinion known quickly: she didn't like Midnah.
"I'm not going to make a big thing about it. I'll just say again, there's something about that lady that just doesn't sit right with me," Diana said, putting her finger to her chin. "I can't figure out what, but she bothers me."
"You try and figure that out, I'll head out n-o-w!" Robin took the completed picnic and left the house as well.
Coming to Khura'in had been Mrs. Newman's idea. Once the family had arrived, Mrs. Newman immediately began investigating something. When Robin asked her what she was trying to find, Mrs. Newman answered with, "I'm looking for the true power in this country."
But Robin decided not to contemplate this right now. She left her house, and headed off to the area where she would meet up with Midnah. The country of Khura'in had pretty mountainous terrain, which could make it tricky to navigate. Yet Robin had to admit- when you put in the effort, this country had some stunning views.
One such place was Swe'et Ha'art Cliff. It was a well-known locale to the area of Khura'in that Robin currently lived in. Yet she never had a reason to go there until today.
Her time being raised as a boy did mean that Robin was pretty fit, so the climb up the cliff wasn't too hard. The top of the cliff ended in a plateau, which overlooked a long stretch of Khura'in.
Off in the distance, Robin could see the royal palace. She had very little knowledge of the ruling government for this country, only that it was a monarchy. The town that Robin currently resided in was pretty far from the capital city of the country.
Waiting at the top of the cliff was Midnah. Robin took out the picnic blanket she had brought with her, and laid it on the floor for the two of them to sit on. Once they were resting on the blanket, Robin asked, "So why did you want to come all the way out here? We usually do the language lessons at my house."
"Today's lesson is a little… special," Midnah is, taking pauses as she thought of the words she wanted to say. "I wanted to do it somewhere absent of the people."
"I suppose I don't m-i-n-d being alone with you," Robin said, deciding to wink at Midnah much the same way the dancer did earlier. "So let's begin the lesson!"
Midnah took out a piece of paper, and wrote some quick characters on it. She handed the paper to Robin, who looked over it.
ང་ཚོ་ངོ་ཐུག་ནས་ཟླ་བ་གཅིག་འགོར་སོང་།
Robin's expression was focused as she looked over the characters. "'It's been a month since we met'. Yeah, it has! Were you trying to give me an easy sentence to warm up?"
"You think that's easy? I remember when you couldn't even translate that much," Midnah said in a teasing tone. "Then I'll make sure the next sentence is much harder."
Midnah scribbled on the paper again, and handed it back to Robin. The paper now read as follows: ངས་ང་ཚོ་མཉམ་དུ་ཡོད་པའི་དུས་ཚོད་ལོངས་སུ་སྤྱོད་བཞིན་ཡོད།.
Looking over the characters, it did take a little longer for Robin to understand it, but she figured it out eventually. "This says 'I enjoyed our time together'." Robin's cheeks turned bright red. "I have t-o-o! Honestly, I think I would have gone completely crazy living here if I didn't have you with me!"
For the first time, Midnah frowned. "You really miss home, don't you?"
"Don't get me wrong, Khura'in is a great place!" Internally, Robin winced because she realized too late that she sounded insensitive. "But it's just… me and my family aren't here for happy reasons. And of course, I can't help but miss all the friends I still have in my home country."
"Do you know the length of your stay in my country?" Midnah asked.
"No, I'm not sure! My mother told me that our stay here was indefinite, or at least until she found the true power here in the country," Robin explained. Since she had Midnah here anyways, Robin would ask a question. "Do you know what that might mean, Midnah?"
"The most powerful person in Khura'in right now is Her Benevolence, the queen. But I don't know how your mother plans to approach her," Midnah said after a lot of thought. "Commoners aren't allowed close to the queen, so a foreigner would certainly have no chance of approaching her."
If a native like Mindnah thinks there's no chance, then it must be true. So then what's my mother planning?
Robin didn't want to think of that anymore, so she said, "Then there's nothing to worry about there! Let's move on with the lesson!"
Midnah took her notepad again, before writing a new set of characters on it and handing it to Robin. The characters read: ངས་ཁྱོད་ལ་དོན་དག་ཅིག་འདྲི་འདོད།.
"'I want to ask you something'. Well, what do you want to ask?" It was around this point where Robin began to suspect that something was up. While previous Khurain'ese lessons had followed a similar format, all these phrases so far were too easy for Robin's current skill level. Not to mention, they seemed to be driving at something.
Robin didn't realize that she would learn why Midnah was doing this in the next few minutes.
Midnah raised her pen to write on the notepad again, but paused. With the pen a few inches away from the paper, Midnah didn't move. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink.
"Mindah? Is something wrong?" Robin asked.
The Khurain'ese woman didn't verbally answer, as she tapped her pen against the still blank piece of paper. Then she finally made up her mind, as she scribbled more characters onto the paper before handing it to Robin.
ཁྱོད་ང་དང་མཉམ་དུ་ཕྱི་ལ་འགྲོ་འདོད་དམ།
Robin studied the characters. These were the hardest to read as of yet, especially because they had been written in a rush. Eventually, Robin was able to translate the writing. Even still, it took her a second pass until she completely understood it.
"'Do you want to go out with me?' Wait a second!" Robin felt her face heat up, as she looked up from the paper to the dancer. "Is this still part of the lesson?"
"No. This is an ulterior motive of mine," Midnah admitted. "Please pardon my bad English as I try to explain this."
"We met under strange circumstances about a month ago. I was unsure of how to react to you intruding on a dance session of mine."
"I already apologized for that!" Robin exclaimed. "I got lost and I didn't think I'd run into you!"
"No, no! I'm not saying it was a bad thing," Midnah quickly said. "After all, it's how we met. I would have never learned your tongue, or the craft of making art."
"It goes both w-a-y-s! When I first arrived here in Khura'in, I didn't know anything about this country! But in the time I've spent with you, I've learned to see the good, like this view!" Robin gestured to the valley below the cliffside that they were sitting on. "Not only that, but I can never take my eyes off of you when you're dancing."
As the conversation continued, a warm feeling slowly enveloped Robin. At some point, Robin had begun to associate the happy times in Khura'in with Midnah. And even though her main goal right now was to find a way back home, the one thing that made Robin hesitate was the fact that it would mean having to part ways with Midnah.
A bond had formed between Robin and the dancer. But was it a simple bond, or something beyond that? Robin found she didn't have an answer to that yet.
But looking down at the Khura'inese characters that read "Do you want to go out with me", Robin considered that maybe, there didn't need to be an answer yet. They could find it together.
Midnah was currently looking down, her cheeks a bright pink against her brown skin. So Robin caught Midnah's attention by grabbing both her hands. Midnah looked up at Robin.
"Do you consider what we're doing right now a date?" Robin asked.
"Not really. This is one of our usual language lessons," Midnah answered, squeezing Robin's hands within our own. "I would want a date between us to be more special than this."
"Then next time, take me somewhere that you think is special! After all, Khura'in is your country," Robin said, smiling at Midnah. "If we're going to be dating from now on, then I want you to s-h-o-w me more of your country! A side you wouldn't show anyone else!"
Now it was Midnah's turn to need a second to process what she heard. Once she did, her eyes widened. "Are you really meaning that?"
"Of course! I always say what I mean!" Robin declared. "So let's do this! Let's approach this with everything we have!"
February 26, 2029
O'Conner and Co Law Offices
Robin stopped her story when she realized that Hugh and Juniper were staring at her in disbelief.
Hugh was the first to break out, a smirk crossing his face. "Why am I not surprised that your reaction to being asked out is to take it as a challenge?"
"Hey, it was my first time ever being asked out! Cut me some slack here!" Robin exclaimed, red from embarrassment.
"Still, this is a pretty crazy situation already. Running into a dancer in the middle of nowhere before going on a date with her. I can't imagine how it will get crazier from here." Hugh looked over to Juniper to ask what she thought of the story, only to stop upon seeing her expression. "What's wrong, Juniper?"
"Huh?" Juniper shook her head, and the distant look in her eyes faded. "I'm fine, Hugh."
"Are you really? You seem kind of out of it," Robin said, concerned as well. "C'mon, you can tell us!"
"I was thinking about something that Hugh brought up earlier. So I can't help but wonder… does this story have a happy ending?" Juniper asked.
Once again, this had an immediate effect on Robin- she looked down, her bangs covering her eyes. "That's a good question. Even after everything, I'm not sure how to feel about the way everything turned out! It all started about a month after that meeting at the cliffside…"
To be continued
A/N: For anyone that needs clarification on the timeline: Robin is visiting everyone directly after the events of Case 2. The events of Episode 0 take place about half a year before the events of the story itself. The Khura'inese language is represented by Tibetan text, with translations provided for the readers. See you next time! Please review.