The air was thick with incense, candlelight bathing the room in a soft, golden glow. This was the part of the evening that Pippi enjoyed most and she took pleasure in reciting the words of the prayer that she had known since she first learned to speak.

‘We thank you, Holy Mother, for all that we have and all that we are. We thank you for the gifts that you give us every day and the beautiful kingdom that is our home.’

Pippi looked around at the nuns gathered in the inner circle of Tehm'pul Temple. Their heads were all bowed in prayer and she had to pinch her own hand to remind herself not to smile at the sea of white headdresses bobbing up and down as they mouthed the words of the prayer along with her. There was something surreal about being the one in charge of a group of adults who were all older than she was.

‘Holy Mother, we thank you.’

The nuns fell silent after the prayer and Pippi could hear their communal breaths reverberating around the room. She always felt closest to the Holy Mother at this point, when they had all finished speaking and the world seemed to stop turning for just one moment.

Then, with the ringing of the holy bell, the spell was broken. The nuns helped each other to their feet and left the room in groups of three or four, their voices melodious in the small space of the inner circle.

In the summertime, Khura’in could be stifling, with temperatures of eighty degrees most days. On days like today, when it exceeded that, the cool breeze blowing in through the open door was a blessing. Pippi sat down on a stool at the back of the room, removing her white, ceremonial cape and the long boots that formed part of her costume.

Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck and she’d twisted it into a coil, ready to pin up, when she realised that the bobby pins that she usually kept on her belt were nowhere to be seen. She looked all over the stage and the raised platforms where candles burned brightly, and she even searched the shrine in the centre of the room, but to no avail.

‘Priestess Tekina?’

A small voice startled her and Pippi slipped from her perch at the top of the stage, falling straight into the shrine to Lady Kee’ra at her feet.

‘Priestess Tekina, are you okay?’

The acolyte ran towards her and helped her out of the shrine. The girl couldn’t have been more than eight-years-old and Pippi ruffled her hair, remembering all of the clumsy mistakes that she had made at that age.

‘There’s a gentleman asking for you outside,’ the acolyte said, excitement gleaming in her eyes. ‘Mr. Justice. He says that he wants to speak with you about a murder. Shall I show him in?’

‘Men are forbidden to enter the inner circle.’ Pippi reminded the young girl. ‘I will see him in the courtyard.’

They walked out of the inner circle together, through a row of trees and past the sleeping quarters to the courtyard, a grassy space with a bench and a well-maintained shrine with a roof to keep it dry in monsoon season.

Pippi sat on the bench and looked up to the orange, evening sky, stars just becoming visible as the light dimmed. She had lived in Khura’in for all of her life and after attaining the rank of Priestess, it was unlikely that she would ever leave.

The constellations visible from Khura’in were all known to her and although she loved her kingdom and its Royal family dearly, she sometimes wondered what it would be like to live somewhere else and to wake up underneath a different canvas of stars.

‘Mr. Apollo Justice, defense attorney,’ the acolyte announced, startling Pippi for the second time in as many minutes. The girl was so small that it was hard to spot her, even in the enclosed courtyard, and her little footsteps hardly made any noise. ‘Presenting, Priestess of Khura’in, Shinipi Tekina.’

Pippi got to her feet and bowed, ignoring the pain in her back as she did so.
‘Mr. Justice, I heard about your role in the recent trials,’ she said, inviting him to sit down on the bench. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?’

The acolyte scurried off, leaving Pippi to assess her new visitor. Mr. Justice was young for a defense attorney, he looked to be in his twenties, and he had a friendly, if slightly sad face. She decided that she liked him immediately.

‘I’m here on behalf of my client, Sister Muzai,’ he replied. His voice was deep and she wondered what the prayers would sound like if he delivered them from the stage. She wasn’t much of a public speaker and she often worried that her ceremonies were less engaging than they should be. The nuns never complained, but then, she was their superior. ‘Do you know her?’

‘Sister Muzai?’ Pippi mused. ‘Yes, I know her!’

She nodded her head violently, hair becoming even more unruly. She hadn’t been able to locate her bobby pins before leaving the inner circle and, even worse, she seemed to have forgotten her boots.

‘You do?’ Mr. Justice prompted. He didn’t seem to have noticed her bare feet, but she tucked them under the bench to make sure.

‘Yes, the Sister came to me last night, she said she wanted to ask me something, but it was almost time for evening prayers.’ She remembered the pale face of the nun, the touch of her clammy skin against her arm. ‘The Sister asked me about murder. If it was ever forgiven by the Holy Mother.’

Mr. Justice’s face fell.

‘Great,’ he muttered. ‘My first case alone in a foreign country and my client’s basically made a confession.’

‘Not Sister Muzai!’ Pippi replied fervently. ‘She couldn’t have killed anyone.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘She’s the most trusting, generous and forgiving person that I know,’ Pippi told him. She twisted her hair up again and let it fall. ‘There’s no way she would do something like that. If you ask me, she was asking about murder from a theological perspective.’

Mr. Justice looked like he was deep in thought and he stayed silent for a moment.

‘Have you seen any bobby pins?’ she asked, ‘I had them on my belt, but now I can’t see them anywhere.’

The defense attorney didn't reply, until suddenly he punched the air and let out a loud whoop.

‘There is another possibility!’ Mr. Justice exclaimed triumphantly. Loudly, too. Several windows opened further up in the courtyard, nuns sticking their heads outside to see what was going on. ‘Chords of steel. I don’t always notice when I get too loud. Sorry about that.’

The nuns closed their windows and he turned back to Pippi.

‘If Sister Muzai found out that someone else was a murderer, the first thing she’d do would be to go to a Priestess and ask if it would be possible to forgive someone after that. She found out that someone else was a murderer and they framed her for murder in response.’

‘I see,’ replied Pippi, not sure if she did in fact see what the defense attorney was getting at. She enjoyed watching him speak though, he had a passionate expression when he talked about the case and she could tell that he believed in the nun’s innocence as much as she did.

‘Can I ask you something, Priestess Tekina?’ Pippi grinned at his pronunciation of her name.

‘My friends call me Pippi,’ she told him. ‘Go ahead.’

‘Why are you so friendly towards me?’ Mr. Justice asked. The question took her by surprise and she twisted another lock of hair around her finger, as the lawyer continued. ‘Most of the people here hate defense attorneys, but I’m not getting that from you. Why?’

‘My father.’ Pippi said quietly. It was the first time she’d said those words in a long time. They tasted strange on her tongue. ‘He was a defense attorney. A good man. He gave everything he had to the people of Khura’in, to help people who were falsely accused of crimes they didn’t commit. Before the purge, when they were executing lawyers, he could have given in his badge. Saved himself. But he chose not to. He fought for the people of our country to the bitter end, even as they hated him. He was a hero.’

‘He reminds me of someone,’ Mr. Justice said contemplatively. ‘Thank you for sharing that with me, Pippi. It’s nice to know that there’s someone in this country who isn’t wishing me dead.’

They sat in silence for a moment. The sun had set and the night’s sky was beautiful. There was no wind. No rain. Just two people sitting on a bench, watching the stars.

‘I should go,’ he said. ‘You should know, you’re probably going to be called as a witness for the prosecution, to talk about your conversation with Sister Muzai. Don’t worry about what you say making her seem guilty, as long as you tell the truth on the stand, everything will be fine.’

‘I trust you.’ Pippi responded. She got to her feet and bowed, before walking towards the door to the sleeping quarters.

She heard a snort behind her and she turned to see the defense attorney pointing at her belt.

‘Your bobby pins,’ he said. ‘Your belt must have rotated when you sat down and the pins that you attached to the front are now on the other side.’

Pippi pulled her belt and found that he was right: the missing pins had been there the whole time. Blushing, she pinned up her hair and gave another small bow to the man standing behind her.

‘May the Holy Mother bless you, Mr Justice,’ she said. ‘Good luck in your trial.’

With one last glance backwards, she stepped out of the courtyard and vanished into the dark, incense-filled halls of Tehm'pul Temple, to join the monks and nuns, Priests and Priestesses, who called it home.

Outside, Apollo Justice looked up at the stars and for the first time since he had chosen to take over Dhurke’s law office and stay in Khura’in alone, he smiled.