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The days after the headache of the Hazakura trial, Maya had to spend some time in the hospital, as a precaution, considering her ordeal in the cave; it was generally agreed by, at least, nine out of ten physicians that allowing yourself to be locked up in a typically unlockable cavern for more than the recommended twenty-four hour period was, well, bad.
And yet, despite her stay at the hospital, Maya could feel a cold coming on, and the winter weather wasn’t helping her out much, even if the medium suggested hiking through Eagle Mountain with Franziska von Karma in the first place.
Mom and all the other masters before her could channel under freezing waterfalls, Maya reminded herself. I can handle a winter walk…!
“Maya Fey…” Franziska started. “Are you absolutely sure you should be out here?”
Maya shrugged her shoulders and tried to smile as reassuring as she could, “Well… as long as I don’t take any nasty spills like Nick did, I’m sure the doctors won’t be too mad!” She said. “I have to have thick skin if I wanna be the next master…!”
“I still find that rather curious…” Franziska replied. “Just as curious as when you insisted we should walk here…”
I was still pretty surprised when you asked if we could talk, Maya thought.
They stopped in front of Dusky Bridge, or, what was left of it. Maya shivered at the thought of her best friend running across it when he was already terrified of heights, much less on fire.
She leaned to get a good view of the raging river below their feet. It easily had to be much deeper than it looked, and it probably had rocks underneath, dooming anyone who fell in it. A river that rarely yields the bodies it takes, and yet somehow Nick still survived.
Suddenly a tight grip wrapped around Maya’s body, yanking her away from the cliff edge, causing her to yelp, with Franziska shouting, “Get back!”
“What was that for?!” Maya gasped.
“I… I got frightened… that you would fall…!” Franziska huffed. “I left my whip in the car, so if you did, I wouldn’t have anything for you to grab!”
Maya softened and took a few steps further back and away from the cliff edge to keep the prosecutor calm, noticing that she had visibly calmed down. Franziska’s eyes were red and exhausted, even more evident with the dark bags underneath. Her skin was swallowed and even gaunt in some lights.
Nick told me that she stayed behind to break the locks… Maya thought. She must have stayed up without any rest!
She was so worried about my safety… she still is… Maya realized. She must be so exhausted…!
Maya gently took Franziska’s hands and led her to the mountain base, where Heavenly Hall sat.
“Maya? Where are we going?” Franziska asked.
“You look like crap… you need to sit down…!” Maya replied. “Don’t worry, I know how to start a fire!”
At the base of the mountain, Heavenly Hall sat, decorated by its last inhabitant, complete with a portrait of him and sister Iris on the clearest and most intact panels. Rainbow colored paper rings decorated the entrance and flags of many different countries were strewn from the trees.
Maya grabbed some logs adjacent to the hut and set them in the fire circle. She took some of the paper rings for kindling and found two flint rocks nearby. She struck them together, dragging one in a downward motion until she made them spark, letting the paper burn first in hopes that it would light the logs ablaze.
Once she was satisfied, she took a seat next to Franziska and took in the warmth of the fire. Franziska absentmindedly leaned against Maya’s shoulder, letting her eyes grow heavy.
“You know… you never really answered my question…” Franziska said. “About why we’re here…”
“You didn’t really ask,” Maya shrugged. “Besides… I… still find it really pretty here… me and Sis used to come here when we were younger…”
Franziska straightened as Maya mentioned the late elder Fey, her eyes were still full of confusion.
“I… guess I am just confused about all of this…” Franziska admitted. “You want to be here… after everything that happened… you still want to be the master… I don’t mean to be rude, truly, but after spending so long in the outside of that chamber, I can’t understand why?”
“Well… I wouldn’t really want to be inside that chamber again, I’ve done that training enough for one lifetime!” Maya chuckled. “But… I guess I don’t really have a reason why… it’s always what I’ve had to do, especially since Mia gave up being a spirit medium…
“My mom did it… and her mom before her… and hers before her… it’s in my blood, it’s my heritage… I can’t just throw it all away…” Maya said. “I lost so much because of that power battle, I know, My mom… Mia… and so many people have been hurt because our gift was misused, like Mr. Edgeworth…”
“When he told me about that trial and how your mother was used as evidence, I couldn’t believe anyone took it seriously…” Franziska said. “But now, I’ve seen it for myself… you aren’t liars… that horrid woman…”
Maya shuddered, “Yeah… Dahlia was awful… I felt sick to my stomach the whole time, but… it was either me or Pearly, and I couldn’t let that happen to her …” Maya replied. “I can’t believe they tried dragging Pearl into this… she’s just a kid …!”
She didn’t even realize she was crying when Franziska offered her a handkerchief. Maya tried her best to dab at the tears, but her whole body was shaking too much to even think straight. Uncontrollably, she hiccuped in her attempts to get her breathing under control, her throat had tightened and her nose clogged up. The tears were unstoppable and they burned down her face, falling indiscriminately onto her robes.
She could barely feel Franziska’s arms wrapping around her shoulder, the sudden warmth of the normally distant prosecutor. Maya was pulled inward and wailed into Franziska’s puffy shoulder, tears staining the starched white fabric. Maya clung to Franziska, desperate for any relief. She ran her hands up and down Maya’s back, but she didn’t say anything, she just let Maya cry it all out.
They just stayed like that together, in silence, they stayed even as the fire died down into mere embers and as the sun started to set. Eagle River itself seemed to slow and quiet down in solemnity.
“Th-Thank you,” Maya sniffled. “I really needed that a lot…”
“Well… I’ve had practice…” Franziska replied. “I figured you would talk when you were ready…”
Maya nodded and stared at the dying embers of a once proud fire, her mind wandered to her family, her whole clan, and realized that they were just like the embers themselves. The entire Fey Clan was barely hanging on by a thread and now Maya herself was the only one who could control its fate; reignite the blaze, or let it extinguish?
“I remember this one time, Mia took me to my favorite burger joint…” Maya said. “It was a couple of years ago, around the time she passed the bar, she explained that she wouldn’t live in the village anymore and that we probably would only see each other on weekends or something… I was just ten…
“I didn’t understand why she couldn’t stay a medium and be an attorney at the same time, but then she told me about my Mom and Aunt Morgan before everything happened…” Maya continued. “They used to be really close but since my mom was chosen over Morgan to be the master, they just… stopped… they just got into this centuries long battle just like everyone else had…”
“Maya… I’m so sorry…” Franziska gasped.
“Ever since Mom disappeared, Mia was always there for me… she was my best friend…” Maya smiled. “She told me that she didn’t want us to fight over something dumb as a title… she loved me too much to risk that…
“And now, I’m thinking about all this stuff… Aunt Morgan just wanted Pearly to be treated with respect and honor, the type saved for the Master…” Maya sighed. “Which I totally get… Pearl was way more powerful and disciplined than me at that age, but I can’t let her take up that responsibility, she wasn’t allowed to do anything other than train… her whole childhood was taken from her… I can’t ask her to do this now…”
Maya stared at the dwindling embers, she reached over for a log and tossed it back into the fire. Slowly but surely, the fire started to grow and grow. A warm light washed over the two women.
“I still can’t believe it’s been two years since I lost Mia… I’ve had to step up a lot for Pearly,” Maya said. “And I have trained really hard! It’s helped Nick during a lot of trials! I’m only getting started!”
She placed more paper into the fire, fuel and kindling to keep it going.
“And, this is my heritage… I’m a proud Fey, one of a thousand generations of spirit mediums…!” Maya continued. “I can’t let anyone run around fraudulently! It’s an art, not a party trick!”
Franziska’s hands gently wrapped around Maya’s, the spirit medium getting a wave of empowerment and strength. Maya smiled, truly smiled, for the first time since she had first arrived at Hazakura temple to start her training.
“Besides… I’m close to Mom and Mia when I train and summon people…” Maya said. “I’m doing this for them too… so that their sacrifices aren’t going to be forgotten…”
“I think they would be proud of you…” Franziska added softly. “You have grown much since I first met you a year ago…
"And you are strong, stronger than a lot of people, give you credit for...” Franziska started to frown and she sighed. "I wish I could go back to the year before to tell myself that... Maya Fey is not some weak child... I am sorry for that, more than anything, I am sorry for my behavior towards you."
“Fran… that means a lot… truly…” Maya felt herself turn pink. “Besides, Pearly and I are putting an end to this feud… we’re going to be the change our clan needs…”
Maya wrapped her hands around Franziska’s and squeezed them tightly. Maya looked the prosecutor in the eye, admiring how beautiful she looked in the firelight, looking like an immaculate statue, with a pink dusting of flush across her cheeks, a pure work of art.
Maya’s heart jumped and her stomach flipped, they were so close that Maya had noticed that Franziska’s icy blue eyes had green flecks across the irises, and she found herself inching closer to the prosecutor’s face.
Suddenly, faster than a lightning strike, Franziska leaned in and pressed her lips against Maya’s.
Franziska was nothing like a statue, he wasn’t cold and unapproachable like marble, her lips were soft and warm. Even her gloved hand, that had cupped Maya’s face invitingly, was a welcome presence, beckoning Maya to get as close as possible.
Maya’s eyes fluttered shut as she smiled into the kiss, nothing else mattered in that moment; not the river, not the summit, not even the master’s title. She wrapped her arms around Franziska’s waist and pressed their foreheads together.
When they separated to breathe, they simply held each other, no words needed to be said in that moment. They simply held each other close, without a care in the world, and let the fire’s blaze keep them warm.
All was finally well.