90 A Whole New World

  “For every night I can’t sleep, for every night a dream I weave, a star is borne out of the darkness in the skies, and it lights up a whole new world…”

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Maya Fey and Longines Beaugosse
Kurain Village
April 26, 2025, 5:55 PM

The Master, still in shock over the arrival of her unexpected ally, continued staring after the two departed village elders in astounded silence for several moments.

After what seemed like an eternity, Longines at last spoke.

“Your home, Kurain, is a beautiful place, Maya.”

She blinked, surprised at how normal he sounded, despite what had just transpired.

“Yes, I suppose it is…” she mumbled, her cheeks still pink from the recent events. “I guess I take it for granted, but thanks. That’s nice of you to say so.”

“Do you want to maybe take a walk, and you can show me around a bit? It is truly breathtaking – and I profess I am in the business of appreciating all things of great beauty.”  He flashed a friendly wink, and the psychic felt her blush deepen.

She hated herself for her ridiculous, almost adolescent awkwardity – it was as if she’d been warped into a time machine nearly a decade ago as a virginal teenager when she’d first met Phoenix!

Therefore, the village leader was uncertain how to take either the blond’s unsurpassable kindness or his discreet, playful flirtation. After all, aside from her ex and her friendship with Gumshoe and Miles, in her 27 years, she had zero experience interacting in any way, shape, or form with the opposite sex, which was in itself, mortifying to admit! Besides, she couldn’t help but question Longines’ sanity for not running away screaming based on what had just unfolded before his very eyes! And he’d handled both the situation and Mildew herself with such admirable finesse and panache … was it possible for one to be so beautiful a person, both inside and out?!

What is his deal, anyway? Something’s gotta be wrong with him! I just know it!

“Um, there’s a lakeside mountain view out this way if you want to follow me through the woods…” Maya murmured as she led the way. They walked along in companionable silence for the mile-long journey, finally stopping at the destination and just savoring the perfect stillness and silence of nature.

Longines sucked in a deep breath as his enthralled gaze took in the milieu. The mountains were surrounded by a lush covering of trees, viridian, bisque, carmine, and auburn, right up to their peaks, which sported silvery-white crowns of still unmelted snow, and were surrounded by azure waters. Waterfalls gracefully cascaded from rocky boulders, and in the fields, they could see the amber sunset glint of neighboring rivers reflecting the mountain lake. He lifted his eyes to the sky and blew a thankful kiss to the heavens before he spoke at last.

“I’ve been blessed to travel all over some of the most breathtaking parts of the world.” There was wonder in his voice. “Yet all this time, unknownst to me, in my own backyard, essentially, this exquisite, untouched splendor has been here all along.”

He took in a deep lungful of fresh, untainted air and beamed happily at her.

“Being alone in such a peaceful setting must help you lot feel very spiritual.”

“It’s a great place to come, reflect, and think.” She readily returned the smile. “But whenever we want to get in better touch with our more spiritual side, we usually sit under a frigid waterfall for hours on end or opt to get crushed by an icy boulder.”

“I know the truth is supposedly stranger than fiction!” He gaped at her, his orbs the size of saucers. “But you’ve got to be shitting me!”

“I guess that part would not have been included for the general public knowledge,” she tittered.  “That’s some top-secret, insider medium information I’m regaling you with, by the way! The kind you won’t find on our website!”

“I thought I’d done enough homework on you, Miss Fey. Yet it seems there’s much more to your beguiling self than is revealed on your on the World Wide Web.”

“I’ve already asked you to call me Maya! Care to compare notes on what it is you’ve googled about me, monsieur, so I can help separate fact from fiction? After all, you can’t believe everything you read!”

“The same could be said about me – or anyone. I’d rather find out the truth for myself, at any rate.” His face grew serious then. “I know that yours is a most esteemed position that requires a lot of travel and that before your ancestral duties brought you back to this paradise, you were a legal assistant in the city to a renowned defense attorney, as well as being involved in some very high profile cases with him – including as the defendant!”

The rave-haired brunette felt her smile waver a notch for a moment but then smiled brightly.

“It’s all of it true,” she said simply. “I was found innocent on all counts. Not only can I not even stab a French fry with a fork, but I also can’t even kill a bug or watch a scary movie without having nightmares for weeks! That being said, I will profess to occasionally have contemplated homicide on several occasions…”

Mostly certain old-as-balls, fire-breathing spinsters residing in this village who shall remain nameless!

“I can only imagine who would drive such images in the good Master’s mind!” The billionaire’s eyes twinkled with barely suppressed jollity. “The intended victim of mental murder, by the way, wouldn’t possibly have been Mystic Mildred, would it? Like, say, when she let her tongue slip earlier this evening to your cousin, perchance?”

“Was our mutual antipathy that glaringly obvious?” She cracked up then. “Er, I mean, I confess and deny nothing, you hear? I plead the fifth amendment!”

“Well, since you just told me you’re afraid to kill bugs and watch horror films, I shall, in turn, confess to you that by comparison, I would be considered an utter freak as I find them most profusely amusing!”

He raised his hands in surrender as the diviner gawked at him.

“I’m not a complete ghoul! I’m not talking about the ghostly, demon-based ones like The Exorcist, but come on! The Nightmare on Elm Street series, with Freddy Kruger and his fiendishly funny one-liners? Or Jason Voorhees and his merciless, maniacal machete on unsuspecting bumping and grinding teenagers in the Friday the 13^th flicks?”

“Who always manages to trip and fall in their haste to run away? Bah! Serves them right for no longer being untouchable virgins!” The Master snickered. “But Jason is the least soulless of all serial killers – he won’t ever hurt a kid!”

He’s got a leg up on Mildew in that sense! She added silently. The village leader never had, nor ever would, forgive the miserable Yzma doppelganger for the time she’d tried to strike her beloved cousin – just because Pearl had been defending the Fey name against slander as well as the desecration of their ancestral home.

Remembering her little girl and that devastated expression on her cherubic visage when she’d run off earlier made the spirit medium lose all good humor and suddenly just want to break down and cry. She didn’t know how, or even if, Matilda had managed to smooth things over with the teen so that she’d be able to right things with her little girl, ever again. Worst of all was the knowledge that Maya had been responsible, even unintentionally, for that pained look in Pearl’s eyes. It was downright agonizing.

Longines caught the sudden sadness on her face and placed a hand on her shoulder, his expression sympathetic.

“I guess the confession session is now over, huh?”

She eyed him pensively.

“No…not really. As long as we’re playing the reveal game, there is a major big reveal before things go any further,” Maya muttered; her gaze on the ground. “I don’t want to waste my time or yours any further without laying all my cards out on the table. I don’t know how much Mildred told you about me or how much background information reading you managed to do, but there is something very important you need to know. I am not a woman without baggage, Longines. I come as part of a package deal and am not available to be purchased separately.”

“I suspected as much.” He nodded understandingly. “Would this have anything to do with your cousin, Pearl, and why she reacted so adversely upon finding out that you’ve placed yourself on the marriage market?”

“That’s just it, Longines; she isn’t merely my cousin, she’s my little girl.” She looked him squarely in the eye. “We grew up together as sisters, but I’ve been raising Pearly, as her legal guardian, since she was 8 years old. She’s essentially been my daughter for the past 7 years and although I didn’t birth her, I couldn’t love her any more than if I had. That child is the most important part of my life; a part of me. I know it’s a huge cross to bear for any man, dealing with a woman who’s essentially a single mom, but better I tell you this now than later. There’s no use pursuing things with someone who cannot, or will not, accept us both.”

“I understand. Pearly is a lovely girl, and I’d welcome the chance to get to know her better if she’d let me.” Longines shook his head ruefully. “But that may be a challenge since she seemed to hate the very sight of me!”

“Oh, that has nothing to do with you, or who you are,” the Burger Queen assured him, a note of amusement creeping back into her voice now that it seemed he wasn’t about to make tracks upon hearing such a major caveat. “It’s who you’re not that’s the problem – it’s because you’re not my ex. Pearly was very attached to him, you see. He took her under his wing like a father after she lost her mother.”

“How simply awful!” Longines gasped. “Did her mother pass away when she was just a little girl? Is that why you wound up raising her with your ex?”

“Aunt Morgan’s not dead, no. However, Pearly’s overly ambitious, scheming mother is serving a life sentence in prison for not only once, but twice trying to have me killed.” She flashed a wry smile. “I’ve decided to take it personally.”

The hair heir let out a horrified shout of laughter at this reveal, shaking his head in mock despair, as Maya continued.

“As for Nick, he was around as a paternal figure for two years full-time when we lived with him, but then he was still in her life, even after we moved back to Kurain. Hence, he’s the only father she’d ever known, which is why she’s taking our split so hard.” She took a deep breath and tried not to let her voice break. “Pearly really loved him, as though he was her real father. She thought one day we’d wed and he’d adopt her.”

“Mr. Nick,” Longines stated quietly. “That lawyer you worked with, he was your boyfriend, wasn’t he?”

The brokenhearted woman nodded miserably.

“Am I right in assuming that this split was fairly recent then?”

“Not even two months ago,” Maya professed helplessly, her expression pained. “I’m sure you know what became of Phoenix Wright six years ago if you’ve done your homework as extensively as you say. The elders – they hated him. They thought a disbarred lawyer was beneath a woman of my stature and kept telling me to forget about him, to let him go. Nevertheless, even now, when it’s finally over, I ask you, how am I to do such a thing? It’s all part of me. I can’t let go of the pain without losing something sacred. The good memories keep me going and the bad ones make me want to curl under the duvet and never come out again, but they are locked tight together like two sides of the same coin.”

Her eyes flooded with tears then.

“The three of us,  my baby girl, Nick, and I … we were a little family, Longines. He’s hurt me so badly yet I can’t ever badmouth him to Pearly, because it’d be like I was trash-talking her father!” 

“This Nick … he’s the reason you agreed to be set up for an arranged marriage, isn’t he?” He prompted softly, discreetly pulling a handkerchief from his bag and pressing it against her knuckles, which she accepted gratefully. “Because he hurt you so badly, you didn’t want to bother trying to look for a mate on your own, based on love.”

“Never again!” She vowed fiercely, wiping her streaming eyes. “Plus, it’s a cultural expectation thing, a longstanding tradition. I only agreed to it when Nick and I broke up because it’s the only way I’d ever have agreed to any of this – if the stakes involved didn’t include my heart.”

“So what are you looking for in a marriage then?” He enquired benignly. “A sort of a mutually beneficial, joint business venture, of sorts, but no emotions involved? Sort of like a couple of androids dining together and having nights of perfunctory conversation?”

“I don’t sound too desirable now that I’ve laid it out on the line, do I?” She sighed mournfully. “But at least nobody can accuse me of harboring overly idealistic or unrealistic expectations. Surely you can respect my candor if nothing else?”

“I can, Maya and I do,” he assured her gently. “I rather think I like that about you. Moreover, I think I like you.”

“Seriously?” She gasped, eyes round with disbelief. “Does that mean – you actually want to pursue this? Like, the possibility of you and me, I mean?”

“I’m not proposing immediate matrimony at first meet or anything,” he replied, his full lips twitching with a wry smirk. “This isn’t the Dark Ages! However, yes, I’d like very much to get to know you and see where this goes. Why is that so shocking to you?”

“Because I just told you that I probably won’t ever love you!” She burst out. “And because you’re a rich, good-looking guy who could have anybody he chooses! Why in the world would you even agree to such circumstances and forgo the option of a truly loving marriage? Why would you want to take a chance on an emo headcase spirit medium, who is raising someone else’s turbulent teenage daughter as her own,  and who is too damaged to offer you anything you’d want in a real partner?”

“You’re not the only one with familial obligations and expectations, Maya,” Longines sighed then as well, and flopped down onto the grassy hillside, lightly tugging her by the hand so she sat down beside him. “My late father’s last desires were for me to produce a legitimate heir, and I have no desire to go against a dead man’s wishes. Besides, being a constant jet-setting mogul can get lonely at times. I have three residential and two vacation homes around the world, all empty. I would welcome having a friendly companion in my life, to be by my side, to help fill that void sometimes. Someone who could also be a willing escort to my countless work affairs and engagements that my business and charity ventures dictate.”

He lifted his lips into a half-smile then.

“Besides, when a man my age is an unattached confirmed bachelor for too long … people start to assume certain, ah, things about him if you catch my drift. Things that having a pretty, feisty, kind-hearted wife, who has her own business engagements to keep her equally as occupied, could help squelch, with the occasional appearances on my arm, if you know what I mean.”

“I think I get what you mean…” she replied carefully. “But Longines, you do understand that I have nothing to offer you, except my friendship and companionship, don’t you?”

“And I said I liked you Maya, nothing more, nothing less. We’ve only just met, and I have no idea where the road ahead will take us. But I know I’d like you to be by my side for the journey.” Longines was direct and to the point. “I’m not going to promise that I’m going to be the next great love of your life, any more than I can expect or count on you to be mine. But I can promise to be your ally, companion, and defending champion against Mildred and these dreaded elders of yours, as well as a friend to you and your little girl if you allow me to be.”

The psychic’s hunched-up shoulders sagged with relief as the full understanding of it all came over her then. It was going to be alright. They were on the same page after all.

“Just out of curiosity, though … is there any ah, validation in those assumptions people may occasionally have, Longines?”

There was no right or wrong answer as far as she was concerned. She would actually prefer it if such were actually the case, because that meant she would never need to worry about another man touching her, ever again, which suited her just fine. The mere thought of anyone else’s hands on her body ever again made her skin crawl.

Longines shrugged nonchalantly in response.

“Well, I guess that query will answer itself the more you get to know me. In the meantime, believe what you will. Only time can verify or dispel any preconceived notions and answer all your questions, right?”

He stood up then and pulled the petite beauty back up to her feet, still clasping her hands warmly in his as he regarded her with an earnest expression.

“But what I would like you to know is this, Maya Fey. I am a very wealthy man, so I have no interest in your bank account. I find you to be incredibly beautiful, with that thick, glorious hair cascading around your delicate skin like midnight waves on a sandy beach, and I selfishly hope I can one day convince you to be a Beaugosse Salon hair model. I know you’d make not only great arm candy but one hell of a MILF if it ever comes to that point.”

The spirit medium blushed slightly. She was genuinely flattered by this handsome man’s obvious admiration of her physical appearance, but at the same time, was uncertain how she felt about being naught more than a trophy escort of sorts. Surely, there was more to her to value than just her pulchritude?

As though reading her mind, Longines smiled indulgently and went on explaining the reasons for his interest and pursuit.

“Moreover, Maya, I find you warm, witty, and engaging. You obviously have a heart the size of a football field to dearly love another woman’s daughter as your own, and evidently, high tolerance and patience to have put up with the likes of Mildred this long. You stuck around with a disgraced lawyer when the world told you to turn your back on him, so obviously you’re very loyal. You’re a public figure as well, so no stranger to being in the media. And being the heiress of the honorary Fey clan means that you are well-reared and bred – not to make you sound like a pedigree! There’s not a man alive who wouldn’t find these desirous traits in a partner. I am no exception.”

“Thank you, Longines.” She smiled bashfully. “I think you’re kind of awesomesauce, myself! Hey, you don’t like The Zappy Samurai: Electric Bugaboo by any chance, do you?”

“I was a Steel Samurai fan as a kid,” Longines chuckled good-naturedly, as though inquiring about children’s TV shows was a perfectly normal thing for a grown woman. “Unfortunately, I am unaware of any spinoff shows that followed it. Plus, traveling as much as I do, I don’t get too many opportunities to sit back and relax with classic shows from my youth, as much as I’d love to.”

Oh well. Pobody’s nerfect, right?

“For the record, I for one, am totally over the Steel Samurai,” she sniffed disdainfully. “That silly kid’s show is yesterday’s news, hence my move onto greener Samurai pastures! By the way, did you know that I helped inspire that show’s spin-off, The Pink Princess?”

“I did not! Tell me about that.”

The two chatted some more for a while, getting to know a bit about one another’s likes and dislikes. To Maya’s great relief, Longines had no concept of going Dutch, zero interest in anything hemp-related, smelled delightfully fresh and clean, and while he thought hunting was barbaric, he admitted that he liked his steak and burgers as much as the next guy. However, he hastily added that he did try to balance out his red-meat inclination with regular jogging and a vegetable smoothie daily for breakfast.

As they exchanged more trivia and information about one another, the two both realized that they didn’t mind the odd glass of white wine on special occasions, even though it was the unsophisticated cohort to the more heart-healthy red, as it didn’t tend to give them headaches. Also, it turned out that they had a shared allergy to dark chocolate but not milk chocolate, and they both were avid watchers of Disney movies and live theatre plays.

“I still can’t get over all this bountiful greenery around me!” He exclaimed, spreading out his arms and twirling about as he began to sing. “My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds…That rise from the lake to the trees…My heart wants to sigh like a chime…That flies from a church on a breeze…”

“Longines!” She began giggling maniacally. “This isn’t The Sound of Music!” She covered her mouth to smother her giggles as the blond man spun around like the Julie Andrews character and continued to warble out the words to “The Hills Are Alive.” While as agile and light on his feet as any professional dancer – he’d told Maya he’d taken both fencing and ballroom dancing lessons as a boy – his singing voice was similar to the caterwauling of the doomed pianist at The Borscht Bowl, Willie Effastop. “And you are not in Austria!”

First Willie Effastop at the Russian bar, and now this tone-deaf tycoon! What is it with good-looking blond men who can’t carry a tune in a basket? She wondered amusedly. Nevertheless, this suits me fine … the last thing I need is another lark crooner whose voice sweeps me off my feet, anyway!

Longines suddenly stopped in mid-whirl, his flaxen curls somehow falling perfectly back into place as he did so, as though an idea had just occurred to him.

“Lovely Maya,” he said grandly, taking her hand and bowing over it in an exaggerated fashion. “I have a proposal for you, though I swear not the indecent or matrimonial kind.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I’d hate to have to shoot you down so soon after the past couple of fun-filled hours,” she deadpanned. “What’s on your mind?”

“I realize this is crazy short notice but I didn’t plan on you being as incredible as you are,” he admitted. “Or that I’d take to you like a duck to water! However, after today, within a sennight, I need to go away for a few weeks to Europe.  I’d hate to abruptly halt our fledgling … courtship, friendship, or what have you. I’d love to spend more time with you and get to know you better. Therefore, I was wondering… How would you feel about coming with me?”

The diviner was dumbfounded by the unexpected request. She gaped at the hair heir in surprise, having no idea how to respond.

“I’m asking you to accompany me, on my dollar, of course, as nothing but my friend,” he said quickly, wanting to clarify matters right out of the gate. “Normally, I have an assistant who travels with me on these extensive trips but is simply too busy attending to business matters relating to their restaurant to accompany me this time. Rest assured, I intend to ensure this is an entirely chaste trip for us both, with separate sleeping quarters. Have you ever been to The Continent?”

“Just once,” she replied dazedly, still feeling as though she was in a crazy dream where everything was happening at lightning speed. “About eight years ago, Nick and I went to England on some sort of Legal Exchange program for a fortnight.”

“What a coincidence! My very first stop will actually be in London, to oversee a brand new chain of salons opening in the area. You’d be free to explore the sights while I tended to matters in the day, and then we could dine together in the evening, check out plays, museums, whatever you want to do!” His eyes were sparkling with excitement and promise. “Maya, please say you’ll come.”

“I – don’t know…” she began hesitantly as she mentally started to run over her list of events and obligations for the next month. “It’s such short notice … and I have my Master’s responsibilities…”

“I ask you, pretty lady, what’s the point of being a rich man, with the entire world at his fingertips if he’s all alone and has nobody to share it with?” Longines pleaded. “Please, allow me to make you part of my world. To show you this big, wide world we live in, which will be all the more magical if you were by my side…”

He stopped speaking then, and a broad grin broke over his face as he suddenly reached over, grabbed her by the hand, and began waltzing her about while singing at the top of his lungs.

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, Pink Princess, when did
You last let your heart decide?

“Longines!” Maya threw her head back and laughed as he continued gliding gracefully along with her, expertly twirling her about. “You’re such a nut!”

Undaunted, the billionaire continued his serenade in his endearingly, off-key voice, made only tolerable by the light-on-his-feet style of dancing.

I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a private jet plane ride

  A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no or where to go
Or say we’re only dreaming…

“OK!” She gasped, tears of mirth running down her face now. “Fine, you win! If I agree to this, will you please cease channeling your inner Aladdin and stop singing?”

“If I do, does that mean you’ll come?”

“Yes! Like I said, I’ll come! Wild horses couldn’t keep me away!”

Longines’ comely visage lit up.

“Seriously? You’ll come? On my magic jet plane ride? You really mean it?”

“I mean it!” She affirmed, her eyes shining. “It’s absolutely crazy and impetuous and my calendar will be crammed with catch-up conferences and meetings that I’ll have to reshuffle, but heck, what’s a couple of weeks away in the grand scheme of things, anyway? I can’t remember when I last traveled strictly for pleasure and not for some sort of business!”

“Maya Fey, you’re wonderful!” He gushed. “This will be so much fun! Moreover, I meant what I said about having no dishonorable intentions toward you when I asked you to join me as my dear companion. In fact, I would even be open to and actually encourage you, to even bring along a chaperone of your choosing, to further ensure your comfort. Heck, you could even ask Mystic Mildred!”

“Over my dead body!” She blurted out, then clapped a hand over her mouth and grinned sheepishly. “Er, that is, no, that won’t be necessary. I have a little girl, remember? She’s like a ready-made lady-in-waiting for instances like this, so this will be just terrific!”

“Pearly?” Longines’ smooth brow furrowed with concern. “Do you think she’d agree to come? I mean, feeling about this whole thing as she does … you don’t think she’ll be too sore at me?”

“Nonsense!” Maya laughed delightedly, clapping her hands. “I am over the moon about going back to London! I have a wonderful, world-famous archeologist friend there who I cannot wait to see again! And Pearly’s going to get over her little snit pretty quickly when I explain that you and I are just friends. Besides, she’s never been to Europe! This will be a whole new world for her, too!”

“This is going to be the journey of a lifetime!” Longines crowed, grabbing her hand again and spinning her about once more as he resumed singing the song. “Sing along with me, Pink Princess!”

This time, a giddy and merry psychic joined him in singing the lyrics.

I’m like a shooting star
I’ve come so far
I can’t go back
To where I used to be…

As they laughed and danced well into the evening, Maya felt the first beginnings, at long last, of her battered heart finally beginning to mend.

When Nick first left, I would have described my heartache as like a voracious inferno that mingled with the oxygen in my body, leaving nothing more than an indolent, hollow vessel in its wake. But now my charred insides are being soothed by a thin layer of ice, acting as a cooling balm, and a stern reminder never to play with matches again, because I couldn’t survive the searing pain of being a burn victim a second time around. Ice is nice; I never wish to stoke flames of any sort ever again. Once burnt, twice shy, right? Well, I’m the proverbial turtle who shall cease to ever leave its shell, for even with that protective domed shield in place, I will never again lay my heart on the line – I don’t think it can withstand another firestorm. But this…this deal he’s proposing…I could agree with this. I can be, if not a traditional lover and partner, a friend, a travel companion. Arm candy at festive, snooty soirées if need be. As long as neither my body nor heart is required, what’s there to say no to?

Pearl Fey and Iris Hawthorne
Hazakura Temple
April 26, 2025, 7:15 PM

By foot, the trek up to Eagle Mountain from Kurain Village took the average person about half an hour.

For an avid sprinter like Pearl Fey, especially in her emotive state, while on a mission, the trip took no longer than twenty minutes, after being somewhat placated by the well-meaning Mystic Matilda.

“Mystic Pearl! Long time no see!” Sister Bikini boomed, beaming warmly at the spirit medium. “But what brings you to our frigid air mountains, when springtime brings warmer airs to your village? It’s also when a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love! Hoh hoh!”

Thoughts of love indeed! That’s exactly why I’m here in the first place!

“It’s nice to see you again, Sister,” the teen replied politely. “The reason I’m here is to see my sis- er, that is, Sister Iris. Might I speak with her please?”

Years of docile mannerisms and respect for her elders were what kept the teen from asking the kind woman if she could please see her adoptive daughter, the home-wrecking hussy! 

Although Maya had installed both into Kurain for the past six years now, the acolyte continued to be amazed by the whole new world of colorful phrases she had learned – but had rare opportunities to use them! – from cable TV and the internet!

“Why so formal?” The nun grinned. “Iris is your sister, after all! She’d be delighted to see you! Let me go fetch her!”

“Half-sister,” Pearl muttered darkly behind the shrine maiden’s retreating back. “And most definitely not by my choice at all!”

A few moments, Iris Hawthorne appeared, back in her customary shrine maiden garb but minus the white hood, so her long black hair flowed freely down her back and around her ethereal visage. Her huge doe orbs, so like her half-sibling’s, were wide with astonishment as she set them on the younger girl, whose unreadable expression, while not fully hostile, was not in the least friendly, either.

The shrine maiden swallowed nervously as she flashed an uncertain smile.

“I guess Sister Bikini wanted to surprise me when she told me I had an unexpected visitor,” Iris’s soft-spoken voice ventured timidly. “I had no idea who it could be, other than perhaps Feenie. However, of course, seeing my little sister is a much more welcome and pleasant surprise! What brings you here, today, Pearl?”

“My quest for the truth, Sister Iris,” the youngest Fey replied sweetly, even as she affixed her icy, determined eyes on her sibling’s suddenly anxious ones. “And what a coincidence – it’s regarding a subject you have expert knowledge on – your darling Feenie!” She nearly gagged on the word. “I’d like to ask you some questions, dear sister. I want some honest answers. And I want them now.”  

Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle – A Whole New World from Walt Disney’s Aladdin