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The train arrived outside Kurain Village at the ungodly hour of 7am. Phoenix stumbled onto the platform and was greeted by Pearl, who was already bright-eyed and dressed in her pink and white robes, but her hair was soaking wet.
“Good to see you, Mr. Nick!” she exclaimed as she grabbed Phoenix’s arm and dragged him towards the bus stop.
“Good to see you too, but did she have to invite me this early, Pearls?” Phoenix grumbled.
“Of course! Spirit mediums always need to be ready,” she said. She flicked her hair, spraying Phoenix with droplets of water. “Standing under a freezing waterfall is a great way to wake yourself up in the morning.”
“Uh… I think I’ll pass.”
They got on the bus, and Phoenix thought about the circumstances leading up to this. A few days ago, Maya had called him to announce some exciting news: it turned out Iris had spiritual powers after all. She was going to perform her first channelling in Kurain Village, and had invited Phoenix to watch.
Once Phoenix and Pearl got off the bus, they were greeted by Maya and Iris.
“Hey, Nick!” exclaimed Maya as she rushed to hug Phoenix. “Long time no see!” Since they’d gotten home from Khura’in, she’d been busy being the master, so they hadn’t seen each-other much.
Beside her, Iris bowed politely. “Good to see you too, Feenie.” It had been a few weeks since she’d made a surprise visit to the Wright Anything Agency. She gestured at her nun attire, with a white hood and magenta kimono. “It’s not a real spirit medium uniform, but it’ll do.”
As the group headed towards the Fey manor, Phoenix asked, “So how did you figure this out, Iris?”
“It was during a meditation session at Hazakura Temple a few months ago,” said Iris. “I felt a sort of… spark welling up inside me, as if a tiny trickle of power was flowing through my veins. Sister Bikini told me that it’s rare for Feys to manifest their spiritual powers later in life, but it has happened before. I’ve been doing some training since then, and… that's how I ended up here.”
“Big Sister Iris told me all about your meeting, Mr. Nick,” said Pearl with a giggle. “She said Trucy thought you two would—”
“Ssh!” Phoenix interrupted.
“I thought you wanted me to fall in love with Nick,” said Maya.
“That was when I was a little kid!” Pearl pouted.
Once they arrived at the manor, they entered the channelling chamber. The girls kneeled seiza-style on the tatami mat, and Phoenix followed suit.
“So who will you be channelling?” he asked.
“Mystic Mia,” Iris said. “It’s easier to channel someone who knows it’s possible, and if I lose control…”
“She’s not gonna kill anyone?” Phoenix finished.
Iris nodded. “Mm.”
“You can do this, Big Sister Iris!” Pearl cheered.
Iris closed her eyes and placed her hands together in a prayer pose, with her ring and little fingers crossed. (What did Maya call it? A mudra?) “O spirit of Mia Fey, slumbering in the Twilight Realm… Return now, to the world of the living!”
Her magatama glowed, and for a moment, it looked as though nothing had happened. But when she opened her eyes, they were pure white, as if they’d rolled into the back of her head.
Pearl yelped and hid behind Maya. “Y-you’re not D-D-Dahlia, are you?”
“Iris” smiled. “Of course not! It’s me, Mia.” Her voice fluctuated between Iris’ and Mia’s every few words. “But if you and Maya are here, then who’s…” She trailed off as she felt her long, silky, braided hair, and flicked a strand into her field of vision. “Dahlia’s twin? I didn’t know she could channel spirits.”
“She did it!” exclaimed Maya with her hands pressed together. “Her name’s Iris, by the way.”
“Thanks. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her… or any of you, for that matter,” said Mia. “How long… has it been?”
“About nine years,” said Phoenix. “So much has changed since then! I adopted a daughter, and trained two protegés, and I can’t wait to introduce you to them! Though it might be difficult for you to meet Apollo right now…”
“Hold on.” Mia placed her (Iris’?) hand on her stomach and took a deep breath. “I think you should… start from the beginning…”
“Is something wrong, sis?” asked Maya.
Mia looked directly at Maya with “her” blank eyes and said, “Yes. It seems like… she can’t hold on…”
“Makes sense. This is her first time,” said Maya. “Remember when I first channelled you? It lasted less than an hour before I fainted.”
“That’s true… but it feels like… she’s… rejecting…” Mia’s breathing became heavy and laboured, as though she’d just run a marathon.
Pearl stood up and placed her hands on Iris’ (Mia’s?) shoulders. “Hang on! I know Big Sister Iris can do this!”
“Thanks… but… I… DoN’t… ThInK… sHe… CAAAAAAAAAAAN!” With that, Mia’s shriek faded into Iris’ as her body went limp.
She was lucky that Phoenix caught her before she hit her head on the floor.
When Iris woke up, she was laying on a futon in the meditation room with a wet towel across her forehead. It helped to numb her searing migraine, as if someone had scraped the inside of her skull with a scalpel. She looked up to see Feenie sitting next to her, and braced her hand on the floor as she lifted her head—
“Stay there,” said Feenie, placing his hand on her arm. Iris lowered her head onto the cushion and felt a wave of dizziness.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
“Well… the good news is, you successfully channelled Mia. However…” He scratched the back of his head. “You passed out after a couple of minutes. That was a few hours ago. Maya, Pearls, and I brought you here, and now they’ve left us alone. I figured it’d be overwhelming to wake up with three people hovering over you.”
Iris took a moment to let his words sink in, then sighed softly and glanced at the opposite wall. “My mother was right…” she muttered.
“About what?” Phoenix asked with a gasp, his eyes widening.
Iris reluctantly met his eyes. “That I’m a failure who could never contribute to the Fey clan… I finally unlocked my spiritual powers, yet they’re weaker than a child’s.”
Feenie bent down closer. “Don’t say stuff like that! It’s not your fault for being born the way you were. Besides, that was more channelling than most people do in their entire lives.”
“I guess you’re right…”
Iris often wondered what she’d done to deserve Feenie. She was a coward who couldn’t stand up to Dahlia until it was too late, a failure of a spirit medium, a liar who hid away from telling him the truth for years… Or maybe it’s just the exhaustion talking.
Her mind wandered back to a conversation they’d had years ago, the first time Feenie had visited her in prison.
“After all this time… why do you still trust me?” she’d asked, glancing at the floor on her side of the visiting room. “I lied to you for months about who I was, I’m a criminal…”
“The only thing you lied about was your name, Iris,” he’d said. “Your love for me? That was real.”
Oh, Feenie… he was so earnest.