In the wake of his beginning to come to terms with just what being a "cleric" might mean for him, Miles Edgeworth sleeps easy for the second night in a row. However, an hour prior to dawn...

Voice: Psst. Wake up. Please?...
Edgeworth: ...
Voice: It's almost time for the next stage of your training.
Edgeworth rolls over. "Ich glaube nicht, dass Tee reicht aus, um mich zu wecken, Sir..."
Voice mutters, "That's a new one."
Voice grows louder, if hesitant: "I don't mean to bother you, but you might miss the proper time to pray..."
Edgeworth grunts, then mutters in groggy confusion, "Pray?..."
Edgeworth lifts his head to find himself looking at a familiar gaunt, lanky half-elven face, lit by a glowing coin in his hand.
Edgeworth recoils with suddenly-wide eyes, rolling into the wall at the far edge of the bed and entangling himself in the blanket in the process. "Nnggyah?!"
Dil grins, clearly trying not to laugh. "Good morning, Edgeworth."
Edgeworth glares at Dil and snaps, "How did you get in here?!"
Dil: I asked.
Edgeworth works to disentangle himself, still glowering. "And do I want to know precisely how you managed to intrude upon someone else's inn room simply by asking when, unlike Althea, you're not paying for the bill — or, for that matter, how you entered when you don't possess the key?"
Dil smirks. "Probably not."
Edgeworth looks even more irritated at that answer.
Dil stands and takes a step back before shrugging.
Dil: I'd say your face would freeze that way, but it seems to be too late for that...
Edgeworth finally extracts himself from the blanket and throws it aside in anger. "I don't appreciate having my sleep interrupted for the sake of taunting!"
Dil: Um, actually, it's the other way around...
Edgeworth: Gnnrrrgh...
Dil looks to the floor. "I really am sorry to bother you, but if I had to guess, dawn would be the resonant time for you..."
Edgeworth: "Resonant time"?
Dil: That's the term the Archival Foundation has come up with for the time of day that's symbolically significant enough to a faith's believers to enable... er, spell acquisition.
Edgeworth rubs his temple. "And somehow, this justifies breaking and entering?"
Dil shrugs. "Remember where you are... it's not a crime by itself here, just rude."
Edgeworth: All the more reason to look forward to when I can leave this nightmare.
Dil heads for the door. "I'll be at the Archive when you're ready, but don't be too long — I've only woken you an hour in advance." He then shuts the door behind himself.
Edgeworth sighs and holds his head in his hands in the now-dark room.
Edgeworth: I suppose, then, that I'd best prepare.

After going through the morning's preparations and walking the elemental-lantern-lit streets to the Korranberg Archive, Edgeworth seeks out Dil and finds him waiting at the bottom of the stairs in the second basement.

Dil: Ah, there you are. Follow me.
Edgeworth nods and keeps pace with Dil as he leads the way further downstairs. "I would have greatly appreciated simply being told to rise early."
Dil shrugs as he leads Edgeworth towards a door at the opposite end of the third basement. "Most people can't change their schedules with only a few hours' notice, and you're not going to be here for too much longer, are you?"
Dil: And I want to help as much as I can before you leave, even if I can't take credit for teaching an atheist how to... er, meditate? Would that be better?
Edgeworth takes a moment to try to remember what that Common word means, then rubs his forehead. "Barely."
Dil frowns as he opens the door for Edgeworth. "What would you prefer, then?"
Edgeworth begins to descend the staircase. "Something reflective of the underlying process."
Dil shakes his head as he follows Edgeworth down to the fourth floor, which is dominated by a hallway much like that which makes up the center of the second. "Then you'll have to name it yourself once you reach your own understanding."
Edgeworth turns to face Dil irritably, crossing his arms. "Is it understood so little?"
Dil stops and shakes his head again, grinning this time. "I didn't say that — but if normal terms aren't going to work, then your own words would help our understanding more than ours would help yours."
Edgeworth rubs his temple. "Do keep in mind that while I have a working understanding of Common by now, I've yet to truly master it."
Dil: You could have fooled me... honestly, you're starting to scare me.
Dil shrugs, then passes Edgeworth in order to lead him past several doors, each widely-spaced from one another and emblazoned with a different holy symbol, to one with no symbol at all.
Dil: Normally if rooms for this purpose have to be underground, clocks are how people know when to begin... but Belgiwig had some connections.
Dil grins as he opens the door, revealing a room reminiscent of a planetarium, but cubical rather than domed.
Edgeworth walks in, looking up and around at the starry, moon-studded sky. "An illusion?"
Dil: Right! It's programmed to reflect the conditions outdoors, so it's easier to associate your resonant time with why it's resonant.
Edgeworth: Huh. I can imagine how something similar could be made with the technology in my own world, albeit at some expense.
Dil: This didn't exactly come cheap itself.
Edgeworth: I see.
Dil enters himself, closing the door behind him — a door that looks as though it's standing on the edge of a platform suspended in the sky thanks to the illusion.
Dil wrings his hands. "Now first, I need to ask you a question you might find offensive..."
Edgeworth peers at Dil. "To what end?"
Dil: To save us some trial and error concerning some of the methodology. ...Now, imagine that you met an embodiment of all you believed in on the street, and there wasn't any room for doubt.
Edgeworth does appear disgusted by the proposal, but bites his tongue.
Dil: How would you greet her, or show your respect? You don't seem like the type to fall to your knees.
Edgeworth: Most certainly not.
Edgeworth: And despite the boundaries of his hypothetical situation, after von Karma, I'd be rather reluctant to bow as I might to a superior.
Edgeworth: Aside from which, I'm not content to simply take for granted that I would be trusted any further.
Edgeworth: And yet, neither could I afford to show fear — nor, for that matter, would it be appropriate to be burdened by such an emotion.
Edgeworth: ...I would, if possible, meet their gaze.
Dil nods. "Then you'll be standing when you try this."
Dil glances at one of the walls. "There isn't much time. Maybe I should have woken you up earlier..."
Edgeworth gives Dil a deeply disapproving look.
Dil frowns. "Sorry... Anyway, I only have time to tell you a few basic things. However you choose to look at it, it's going to involve extreme focus on your beliefs."
Dil: Divine magic reacts to faith just being there, as you've seen, but forming the connections you need for spellcasting requires bringing it to a whole other level for a while.
Dil: But most people see spells as granted for a reason — you can't force it too hard. You have to work with it.
Edgeworth taps his finger on his arm as he reluctantly listens. Even in the context of the past week, this all sounds maddeningly vague.
Dil opens the door. "I'll leave you to this, and send Althea down here when she arrives just in case your resonant time is later than I think. While I bet it's dawn, it could be as late as noon..."
Edgeworth holds his head in his hand. "In short, I'll be spending all morning simply standing here?"
Dil smiles apologetically. "In your situation, there really isn't anything I can do about that..."
Dil closes the door and can be heard heading back to the stairs.
Edgeworth huffs in frustration even as he heads towards the center of the room.
Edgeworth: ...If there were any other path whatsoever to the truth behind how this world's physics react to me, I would gladly take it.
Edgeworth: Furthermore, though I'm loathe to become dependent on something of this nature, the alternative in this place seems to be reliance on others using the same.
Edgeworth shakes his head. I feel as though I'm being mocked...
Edgeworth closes his eyes, arms hanging at his sides.

Light begins to peek out from the simulated eastern horizon, and over time an illusory sun rises...

Edgeworth shifts his stance a bit to avoid growing too stiff.

Over time, the sun climbs in the sky...

Edgeworth shakes his head and crosses his arms, his patience clearly lost. "This is ridiculous."
Edgeworth: How do those instructions even make sense in the first place? Focus on my faith to attract more of this 'divine magic', yet don't force it?
Edgeworth: Nngh...
Edgeworth: Think, Miles! This isn't the first absurd-seeming technique you've had to master here!
Edgeworth puts his finger to his temple. Yet in my previous situations, I had a clearer concept of what I was supposed to accomplish. This time, I have little more to go on than vague nonsense.
Edgeworth: That, and some idea of how others believe they accomplish it.
Edgeworth grits his teeth in annoyance.
Edgeworth: If I had some idea of whose testimony might shed light on the truth obscured under layers of nonsense...
Edgeworth: Perhaps, if nothing else, I should consider the point of this alleged "resonant time". That concept, at least, was sufficiently explained.
Edgeworth: Dil seemed to believe it so likely that dawn would fit my own beliefs that he saw fit to inconvenience me in a way that would be illegal anywhere else and taunt me to ensure that I came to full alertness quickly. Why?...
Edgeworth: ...
Edgeworth: It's the point when night first begins to give way to morning... when darkness begins to yield to light. Likewise, ignorance to enlightenment?
Edgeworth: He further posited that the latest possible point he believed would work is noon — the sun's apex. But by then, it's been simple to see for some time.
Edgeworth: The only point in between that seems as though it could potentially be relevant is the point when the sun has fully risen.
Edgeworth grimaces in aggravation. As I have little concept of what to do even if it were likely that noon is the time to do it, it seems that there's little else for me to do at this time.
Edgeworth begins to pace. To turn, I needed to symbolically associate the act with my convictions; as the "positive energy" needed to flow through me to my badge and out to drive things away, so reason leads to truth, which leads to justice, which holds mankind's lower nature at bay.
Edgeworth: To know the first several divination sigils without being taught, I was first taught similar things, then told to intuit the rest — something I fortunately had a basis for doing since prior mentions of the same capabilities I was told to make use of had previously stirred that very intuition, whether I was aware of it at the time or not.
Edgeworth: But do I have sufficient basis with which to repeat such an act?
Edgeworth: If nothing else, it seems like one piece of the puzzle I've been tasked to solve.
Edgeworth: There's also the matter of the moment when I came closest to "casting a spell" per se — the moment when I made use of the wand to heal myself.
Edgeworth: Dil confirmed my suspicion that I would need to find meaning in the other spells in the context of my... faith as well. However, he hasn't yet explained how that plays into what I'm supposed to do here.
Edgeworth glowers. That, then, is what I must demand of him.
Edgeworth heads out the door and towards the stairs.

The prosecutor storms up the several flights of stairs to find Dil putting the helm to use in Edgeworth's absence, apparently translating the previous day's notes about the orisons with both his older notes and both translations of it as reference points.

Edgeworth approaches Dil's table, crosses his arms, and glowers down his nose at the cleric/archivist. "What are you playing at?"
Dil: Huh?
Dil looks up at Edgeworth and seems troubled at the look he's getting. "I'm not playing — I'm only trying to do a better translation than last time."
Edgeworth smacks the table, making the ink bottle rattle lightly. "Don't be coy! I demand to know why you didn't explain how what you expected me to do even related to the very material you're translating!"
Dil gulps, then sighs and breaks the rather abrasive gaze he's being subjected to. "Well, there is a reason... basically, it would involve putting the cart before the horse."
Edgeworth: Then why did you have me write all of this in the first place?!
Dil: Because in essence, you're summoning the horse now.
Edgeworth rubs his temple. "Then explain in a way that doesn't approach Belgiwig's speech patterns!"
Dil frowns and looks to the table. "Without resorting to religious language, it's hard to. What you have to do next is face one of the biggest mysteries on Eberron head-on."
Dil: Most acolytes spend months contemplating it before even trying to actually draw spells from it.
Edgeworth: OBJECTION! I'm not an "acolyte" — I'm a prosecutor!
Dil looks up and shakes his head, recovering something of his grin. "No one said you couldn't be both, but clearly you wouldn't spend time doing that right away anyway."
Dil: But look at it this way — you're trying to find the source you can draw all of this from, but unlike most people, no one else's map is going to work for you. Trying to look for spells outside of that is just going to waste your time.
Dil gestures to indicate the orison notes.
Dil: But when you get there, you'll know what you can try, right?
Dil: Though more accurately, you're trying to make that source find you...
Edgeworth: Hrm...
Dil: So, are you going to keep trying?
Edgeworth shakes his head. "No, it seems likely that the, er, 'resonant time' needed has already long since passed."
Dil nods. "So you think it might be dawn too?"
Edgeworth: If not dawn, then the completion of sunrise.
Dil: I forgot to mention this, but it's important to keep in mind... the entire process takes an hour.
Edgeworth recoils. "An hour?!" This would affect my schedule more drastically than I suspected!
Dil shrugs. "At least yours is easy to organize around. For followers of the Traveler, it's around midnight but the exact time varies depending on the moons..."
Edgeworth stares at Dil, wide-eyed.
Dil: And that doesn't even take the hour I need to spend with my prayerbook for the rest of my spells into account.
Edgeworth: Is this another cost of the "single-minded dedication to magic" he once referred to?
Edgeworth glances aside. "Anyway, is there any other reading material you recommend for the time being?"
Dil grins. "There is a book about the different domains you may want to read. It might spur further understanding of your own, and even if it doesn't you'll know more about other clerics."
Edgeworth nods. "Very well."

Dil passes the helmet on to Edgeworth and goes back to relying on his own magic to continue his translation work, allowing Edgeworth to more easily read his latest assignment. The prosecutor reads some parts more quickly than others, even stopping to stare at the occasional page.

It's not much longer before a familiar halfling enters the first basement, hours before her usual time of arrival.

Edgeworth seems too absorbed to notice immediately.
Dil grins and waves over his shoulder at Althea.
Althea nods and heads over towards Dil's table.
Dil: What're you doing here so early?
Althea: Things got cut a bit short today due to some of the team being unavailable.
Dil: Hm, that's too bad... Meanwhile, I've been able to translate some more of his notes, but his end of things didn't go as well...
Dil frowns. "And I think it's my fault."
Althea: Oh?
Dil fidgets with his pen. "I didn't allow myself enough time to explain what he needed to do enough to have a fair chance of success, and this is one of the hardest parts..."
Althea: Hmm.
Dil: Especially given the ways he refuses to hear it phrased.
Althea: Well, I suppose there's always tomorrow.
Dil grins. "That's true — and I did explain as best I could after he concluded that it was probably past his resonant time."
Althea: How well was he able to pin that down?
Dil: He thinks it could be anywhere from dawn to the completion of sunrise.
Althea: Both would make some sense.
Dil shrugs. "I thought dawn might be it, but I couldn't be sure it wasn't some other time of morning."
Althea: Beyond the end of sunrise, what left is there to bring to light?
Dil: I guess that's what he was thinking...
Dil: Anyway, I hope I won't have to wake him up myself again... I don't think he appreciated it.
Althea: Perhaps I can arrange for other means. I'll talk to him about it.
Dil smiles. "Thank you."
Althea nods to Dil, then makes her way over to Edgeworth's table.
Edgeworth is staring at a page with a thoughtful expression...
Althea waits a bit to gauge the appropriateness of interruption.
Edgeworth turns to look at Althea after a moment. "Ah, good morning."
Althea: Good morning.
Althea takes a nearby seat. "I confirmed things with Illyvalen, so she'll be getting the tickets before she comes here."
Edgeworth nods, seeming vaguely pleased by that news. "In that case, I'll be looking forward to it."
Edgeworth: Perhaps knowing that day awaits will mitigate some of the frustration at hand.
Althea: You really should take some comfort in the fact that you are really progressing incredibly fast, as well.
Edgeworth crosses his arms. "I had more to go on concerning the rest. Even Dil's elaboration after the fact clarified very little."
Althea: I don't know how much can be done about that at this point. Perhaps your own discoveries may well help any others who might one day find themselves in such a position...
Althea closes her eyes momentarily in concentration, chasing a memory.
Althea: It's particularly difficult in your case since you explicitly reject the notion of a higher power...
Althea: This stage of your development requires you to forge a connection with... well, that which can essentially be seen by mortals as the higher power they worship... Even those among the Foundation who lack religious conviction as to what exactly that is have not yet found a basis for consensus in identifying it.
Edgeworth taps his finger on his arm, looking annoyed.
Althea: While truth itself certainly holds great meaning in your faith, even that is something you don't recognize as having such a role... and I can sort of appreciate that. In a sense, what truth is is too big for that. While some see their divinity in everything around them, they still don't literally mean everything around them when they refer to said divinity.
Edgeworth raises an eyebrow.
Althea: Being couched in metaphor and symbolism means that language about the divine is often full of conflations and ambiguities. Perhaps that too is part of the problem in providing an understanding that can be communicated to one who does not share the most typical norms of faith...
Althea: When you found the meaning that allowed you to connect with the magic imbued within the wand... why do you think that meaning, and that meaning alone, was what was truly necessary?
Edgeworth puts his finger to his temple. "There are a few factors that come to mind immediately. One is that it fit the precise strength of the spell — it suggested neither more nor less than what it could do."
Edgeworth: Another is that this was its proper place in the greater context of the world of justice and the pursuit of truth. It was where it belonged in the place where I belong.
Edgeworth: Still another was that it neither glorified nor obscured what it was; to shroud it in mystique would be a disservice to the truth.
Edgeworth: You observed for yourself how straightforward it was.
Althea nods.
Althea: And what dictates the nature and structure of that greater context of the world of justice and the pursuit of truth? Why do you belong where you belong in it?
Edgeworth: Concerning the latter, it's the best fit to my talents and nature. I'm inclined to doubt and possessed of a logical mind...
Edgeworth glances aside disdainfully. "One which certain parties seem intent on shrouding in mystique themselves."
Edgeworth shakes his head. "In addition, language is something I enjoy making use of, and battles of wits are a sort for which I can easily find a great deal of enthusiasm and strength."
Edgeworth grins. "Furthermore, my love for the truth is such that even in the depths of my darkest hours, it was never truly extinguished."
Edgeworth: I have the will to do whatever it takes to see things through until the truth is at last revealed, and the intellect and temperament to do precisely that.
Edgeworth: Indeed, I've reached beyond the boundaries of my role as necessary to ensure that the truth isn't lost, yet it's behind the prosecution bench that I find myself truly capable of greatness.
Edgeworth: The science of evidence and logic meet the arts of oratory and cunning in the courtroom, and one man there must be relentlessly harsh in his arguments against those who might have dared to do wrong. Where, might I ask, is there room for doubt that I excel as such a man?
Edgeworth: It's ironic, really, that in having attempted to punish myself and allowed myself to be pulled into darkness, I ultimately found myself...
Edgeworth is by now projecting a level of confidence not seen from him before in this world; he's drawn a few stares that he seems unaware of.
Althea: I could only pray that every courtroom you grace with your presence possesses an equally relentless defense...
Edgeworth: As for the former question, mankind strives to achieve a structure that will allow it to overcome its own failings, though being merely human we inevitably fall short of the ideal.
Edgeworth: We've come to realize a number of key things, however. In addition to that need to collaborate if truth is to come to light — not merely the truth behind crimes, but countless others — we've come to realize that reason and dispassionate scrutiny are critical.
Edgeworth: Truth is not something we can simply decide the nature of — it exists as it does regardless of what we may wish to believe or what others may wish us to believe. So long as those capable strive to achieve it, the truth cannot hide or be hidden forever.
Edgeworth: As for the structure itself, without both trust and doubt in a suspect, how can the necessary debate be born? Without a view above either, how can it be more than a squabble? To say nothing of those with the responsibility to uncover and analyze evidence, those who ensure civility, and the duty anyone might have to report what they think they know of the truth.
Edgeworth: In short, what dictates that structure is mankind's best efforts to meet the needs of truth itself as best we've come to understand them.
Althea: I'm pleased to witness your further mastery of Common. It would seem your time with Illyvalen has been very well spent.
Edgeworth blinks, apparently suddenly snapped out of the passionate flow he'd achieved by that observation. "What?..."
Althea: ...I said your Common's improving.
Edgeworth: ...So it would seem.
Edgeworth: Have I observed that much?...
Althea: You speak of truth having needs. You even speak of your passion for the truth as though it were a lover. Have we not then gone beyond the mere mundane essense of truth as that which is merely distinct from falsehood, and to something which is perhaps less a simple 'what' and more something along the lines of a 'who'? Who is it that calls you to this role for which you are so uniquely suited?
Edgeworth: OBJECTION! The truth is neither a living thing nor a... a god, of all things!
Edgeworth slams the table with his palm as he speaks.
Althea: I claimed neither, and you need not ascribe any of the labels which others have chosen to cope with that which, ultimately, no one may truly be able to understand... but this is the central issue. You need to reach out to this... 'entity' by whatever terms you might come to ascribe to it... and find a connection.
Edgeworth crosses his arms. "You referred to it with 'who', did you not?"
Althea: I did, because that felt implied in the essence of how you were describing your relationship.
Edgeworth taps his finger on his arm. "Then you read something into my words that wasn't there."
Edgeworth: Is it not possible to love an idea, or for certain steps to be necessary to a given process?
Althea: Of course it is. But that's not the way you chose to describe it when your passions drove you to such eloquence.
Edgeworth sighs in frustration and rubs his temple. "I fail to see how I phrased it in such a way as to imply what you insist."
Althea rubs her forehead. "Perhaps I'm ascribing a broader definition than you would once again. But at a minimum, you certainly implied... 'active' qualities to the truth as it exists in this context..."
Edgeworth looks irritated. "Only if one places far more stock into metaphors than is warranted!"
Althea: If you've been paying attention to what we've been teaching you, you should realize that such is entirely requisite.
Edgeworth grits his teeth and growls in frustration.
Althea: I can't make this any easier. All I can do is attempt to point you in the right general direction.
Edgeworth: The entire point of a metaphor is to allude to something that's difficult or impossible to otherwise! To mistake that which is grounded in reality with that which is not is not the way to the truth!
Althea: But in this case, the goal is to bridge two different but related realities.
Edgeworth: Hmph. Two "different" realities, you say? There is only one truth — it would be that bridge between points of apparent contradiction.
Edgeworth: Indeed, the truth is the one point where the ideal and the real intersect!
Althea: Then perhaps we are on the same page after all.
Edgeworth peers at Althea. "I beg your pardon?"
Althea: Bridging that gap is a core element of what you need to do here, I think. What you will need to connect with is probably closer to the ideal of truth than its reality, but I suspect you will probably need to unite or at least clarify those aspects...
Edgeworth recrosses his arms before firmly asking, "Did I misspeak?"
Althea: You tell me. If I'm on the right track, it might well seem like I'm merely stating the obvious.
Edgeworth: More accurately, you seem to be referring to a dichotomy which I already implied to be false.
Althea: Yes. But there are aspects of that dichotomy that are reflections of the nature of the struggle before you. It may not be enough to simply claim that there is no difference, lest you look at one side of that divide and see it as the whole.
Althea: In essence, this is going to be about discovering an aspect to the whole of that which is truth, which part of you is likely aware, but which you may not have fully accepted as being part of that whole.
Edgeworth: In short, you claim that the sincerity of my own words is to be put to the test?
Althea frowns slightly. "At the least, the correctness of your assessment in your ability to perceive that whole..."
Edgeworth appears intimidated despite his best efforts.
Edgeworth: Can I really do such a thing alone?
Althea: I hope I've been of some minimal use in directing your efforts, anyway.
Edgeworth: I... er, believe you've given me points to consider, at the very least.
Althea nods. "Shall I leave you to your contemplation, then?"
Edgeworth: That would be appreciated.
Althea stands, and moves to a separate table, proceeding with her own research efforts.
Edgeworth: ...The task she seems to be implying I must accomplish seems on its face to be impossible. I am but one man with a limited view — how could I alone possibly grasp the truth so fully?
Edgeworth shakes his head firmly. Indeed, to believe myself so capable is the very same false path I was led to before! If I cannot singlehandedly uncover the truth behind a crime with perfect accuracy, I'm most assuredly not capable of omniscience!
Edgeworth glares at Althea's back briefly, then looks towards Dil more calmly...
Edgeworth: Then again, given that Dil seems to believe that I need to be armed with my own understandings of various spells beforehand and he's the one with experience in the matter, perhaps somewhere along the line the truth was misplaced...
Edgeworth puts his finger to his temple. Althea referred more specifically to discovering and accepting an aspect of truth which supposedly I may already be aware of on some level.
Edgeworth crosses his arms. "Hmph."
Edgeworth: Though in the process of leading up to that point, she insisted that my description of the world of justice and my place therein involved ascribing active qualities to the truth, and more absurdly, implied personification of it.
Edgeworth shakes his head. She was more correct before in claiming truth was too great for such things. Indeed, science has led mankind as a whole to a greater understanding of the whole of truth than the practice of anthropomorphizing those things not so readily understood.
Edgeworth glares ahead. I don't wish to wrap the truth into something so finite! I wish to face it!
Edgeworth: If in so doing I can draw on the power to reveal still more of it, all the better.
Edgeworth: ...Heh...
Edgeworth: Drawing "power" from "truth"... In a sense, it's almost a familiar notion.
Edgeworth: It could be said that the difference between those defense attorneys who could face me and those who could not was that very capacity. It's no coincidence that even when facing Wright, I had the capability to prevail when the truth was on my side.
Edgeworth: I concluded shortly before I found myself in this place that I wanted to believe in the strength of those who use the power of the law for good, yet at the same time I've found myself slow to trust just anyone to be worthy of that faith.
Edgeworth: Prevailing when the truth is on one's side and being able to draw out the same strength from worthy opposition even when it is not is far from any sort of so-called mystical power on its own, but the method by which this force that's come to be known as "divine magic" is wielded is apparently to channel it through concepts meaningful to the wielder.
Edgeworth shakes his head. One is left to wonder why such concepts apparently are so often religious as to inspire that name.
Edgeworth glares again. Certainly I don't believe the truth can act on its own — if it could, for what reason would the justice system exist?
Edgeworth pauses to consider. And yet, there was a time when I was blinded to something as obvious as the purpose of that very system by a twin-headed monster of hatred and pride...
Edgeworth: Yet even then, despite all that I was taught, I couldn't turn away from the truth completely. After Wright first rent the veil of illusory perfection, I even found myself occasionally speaking on its behalf...
Edgeworth hmphs at himself. Listen to yourself, Miles! You aren't some magical creature who sprouts from a court bench when the truth is threatened!
Edgeworth: ...
Edgeworth: Life would be far simpler if one could simply act as its herald, but that isn't the case. That's why there are so many heads and hands that work towards justice.
Edgeworth sighs. I fear I've simply reasoned in circles...
Edgeworth: What path to this achievement runs parallel to one to truth in reality?
Edgeworth frowns and simply returns to reading.
Edgeworth shakes his head and sets the book aside again after a couple of minutes, unable to concentrate.
Edgeworth: It's ironic, isn't it... I prefer solitude, yet pursue a path where the support and cooperation of others is entirely necessary.
Edgeworth: I hadn't realized that when I first chose it — and once I did make that choice, I suppose my mentor told me exactly what I wanted to hear...
Edgeworth: The question that presents itself is this: how does this... contact I'm expected to make not involve a return to the height of arrogance?
Edgeworth: I am not, cannot be, and must never again try to be a law unto myself. Even if law as it manifests in reality is the imperfect instrument of mankind, and even if every so often pursuit of the truth and the greater good demands that I place my own wisdom above that written by others, to bear that burden singlehandedly would be beyond my capabilities.
Edgeworth glares ahead once more. That is why I refuse to follow the Yatagarasu's path — those moments when I, or anyone else, knows better than the whole of society are rare.
Edgeworth frowns... However, that itself begs the question, is this one of those moments?
Edgeworth holds his finger to his temple again. Certainly, there is a great deal about this force that is misunderstood by the public at large, and barely understood by the organization that has seen fit to study it.
Edgeworth taps his temple, then smirks. And so it all comes back to my thoughts last night. As a prosecutor such as myself is but one piece in the greater system of justice, so my voice is but one that will lead this world's society closer to the truth.
Edgeworth appears determined. As far from that very truth as this society seems to be, that alone is reason for me to remain for the time being.
Edgeworth: Perhaps this is the ideal purpose of a "cleric". Each and every one to the last is adamant in their personal convictions — our personal convictions — and in this world, that strength is responded to.
Edgeworth: Ergo, I am not going into this world unchallenged — I am not alone!
Edgeworth: Most likely, one of the steps towards finding the power to fight will prove to be taking my station, as always. Perhaps tomorrow I shall succeed, armed with this new understanding of what my station has grown to encompass.
Edgeworth grins confidently.
Althea looks over at Edgeworth.
Edgeworth: Yes?
Althea: I was wondering if you wanted to head out for lunch shortly; as my schedule was thrown off a bit today I didn't end up bringing anything.
Edgeworth grins. "That would be highly appreciated."
Althea nods. "The usual place sound good?"
Edgeworth places a bookmark in his current assigned reading material, removes the helmet, and stands. "Indeed."
Edgeworth: Given my earlier performance, I'm left to wonder how much I'll be capable of understanding this time...

< Prev   Next >