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Rayfa Padma Khura'in You would imply that the trials of this country are unfair? Do explain, outsider... ...how verdicts founded on truths imparted by the very souls of the dead lack impartiality. The Foreign Turnabout

Rayfa Padma Khura'in is the princess and royal priestess of Khura'in. She is notable for her ability to perform the Divination Séance, a ritual which utilizes a "Pool of Souls" to reveal the sensations experienced by the deceased in their final moments.

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Early life Edit

Rayfa was born on Christmas Eve of 2013 to Queen Amara Sigatar Khura'in and her husband Dhurke Sahdmadhi, who was the leader of the Defiant Dragons. The two were living in hiding at the time, with Amara having abdicated the throne to her younger sister Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in eight years previously due to an assassination attempt and Dhurke being wanted by the Ga'ran regime, as he was believed to be responsible for the crime. Shortly after Rayfa's birth, her parents were discovered by the regime; Dhurke was forced to flee along with Rayfa's older brother Nahyuta, while Amara was taken back to Ga'ran Palace and told to conceal her identity so her husband would not find her again.

Rayfa was subsequently raised by Ga'ran and her husband, the Minister of Justice Inga Karkhuul Khura'in, believing them to be her biological parents. Amara took on the position of Rayfa's personal attendant in the guise of an elderly woman named "Nayna", taking care of the princess' basic needs; although unaware that Nayna was in fact her real mother, Rayfa developed a close bond with her as well as her adoptive father Inga. However, her relationship with Ga'ran was a complicated one.

Once her spiritual powers developed, Rayfa began to act in her capacity as royal priestess, which entailed performing the Divination Séance – a ritual which allowed a deceased person's final memories to be witnessed in a pool of water called the "Pool of Souls", and which was required as part of all murder trials in Khura'in. Due to the apparent irrefutability of the Divination Séance as evidence and the fact that the defense attorney profession had died out in Khura'in, Rayfa came to view the Séances and her interpretations of them – known as "insights" – as infallible.

The foreign attorney Edit

Main article: The Foreign Turnabout

Rayfa's insights remained unchallenged until the trial of the monk-in-training Ahlbi Ur'gaid, who stood accused of murdering a treasure guard and stealing the national treasure known as the Founder's Orb from Tehm'pul Temple. After Ur'gaid was declared guilty, a foreign defense attorney named Phoenix Wright intervened, claiming that a trial without a defense attorney was unacceptable. Rayfa was soon called to perform the Séance again, but Wright found inconsistencies in it, ultimately convincing the judge that the Séance was not enough to render a verdict. Shocked and somewhat panicked, Rayfa insisted she could not be wrong and argued with the judge over letting the trial continue or not, eventually being ordered to leave the courtroom due to her disruptiveness. Wright would go on to prove that the murder and theft had been committed by someone else, resulting in Ur'gaid being acquitted – the first "not guilty" verdict the country had seen since the enactment of the Defense Culpability Act twenty-three years earlier.

Lady Kee'ra and Purification Rite Edit

Main article: The Rite of Turnabout

A most wonderful idea Edit

About a week later, priest Tahrust Inmee was found dead shortly after the Purification Rite. Rayfa went to the Inner Sanctum to offer a prayer for the deceased abbot's soul. It was there she once again crossed paths with Wright, and she was none too pleased to learn that he was planning to once again defend the accused, his old friend Maya Fey. Remembering her parents' teachings on the underhanded methods of lawyers, she decided to accompany Wright in his investigation to make sure he was not up to anything illegal, calling it “a most wonderful idea”. While they were still at the Inner Sanctum, the ceremonial cloak at the scene brought up the subject of the recent sightings of the legendary Lady Kee'ra, who had been attacking rebels. She believed this Lady Kee'ra was simply a patriot who was anxious to serve the kingdom. Later on in the investigation she met Fey at the detention center, and quickly tried to force her to confess to the murder. She expressed a low opinion of Fey, believing her to be nothing more than a spiritual "neophyte" whose training in Khura'in was nothing more than a bid for prestige and vacation time. Fey gave Wright a note she found shortly after she regained consciousness at the Inner Sanctum. It was stamped with the mark of Lady Kee'ra, and Fey translated the Khura'inese message for the Wright: "Do not perform the rite. I know what you are planning. --Lady Kee'ra." Rayfa rejected the notion that this Lady Kee'ra, real or fake, would slay a devout Khura'inist like the high priest, and expressed a belief that Fey forged the note.

Afterwards, she and Wright met with Ur'gaid once again. Rayfa was disappointed that the monk-in-training decided to trust Wright instead of heeding her warning about lawyers. When Ur'gaid showed the two an arrow his dog, Shah'do, had found, Rayfa recognized it as the type the Lady Kee'ra used in battle. Ur'gaid informed them that Shah'do had found it near the victim's house, and agreed to lead the two there. They met with Tahrust's widow, Beh'leeb, to whom Rayfa offered condolences. She warned Wright not to pressure Beh'leeb with questions while she was still in mourning. She took notice of a wanted poster of the escaped rebel Datz Are'bal, particularly the three million dahma bounty offered for his capture. Realizing this would come out of the people's tax payments, she made a mental note to have the reward lowered to one million. Her consideration for her people impressed Wright, but she replied that she was taught by Nayna that a kingdom that doesn't respect its subjects is doomed to ruination.

While arguing with Wright over his theory that the recent rebel-hunting Lady Kee'ra might be involved in the murder, Nayna appeared suddenly to inform Rayfa that the queen had decreed that a rite be performed at the palace for the late Abbot Inmee, and that Beh'leeb was to be there for it. Rayfa made Wright come along so she could continue to keep an eye on him. When the rite and the Prayer of Lament concluded, she accompanied Wright as he went to visit Fey one last time before the day was over. She was appalled when Wright asked Fey if Tahrust was a member of the Defiant Dragons, and momentarily stormed out of the detention center. When she returned a short while later, Fey showed off a one-of-a-kind musical Plumed Punisher strap. The collecter's item caught Rayfa's interest, though she made a failed attempt to hide her love for the children's show. When the day's investigation drew to a close, she informed Wright that his efforts yielded nothing more than speculation, and gave him the chance to withdraw as the defense attorney for the case. Wright refused on the grounds that his faith in his client was his greatest weapon. She scoffed, and told Wright that her insights would be the death of him.

Refining the truth Edit

Before Fey's trial went underway the following morning, Rayfa met with Wright again in the Accused Lobby. She told him that there would be no miracles this time around. Wright replied that he never claimed to be a miracle worker, but he was good at uncovering the truth. Rayfa left saying that this trial would be his last. Rayfa greeted the gallery with bravado, ensuring that she would use her insights to crush the accused and her lawyer. It was at this trial that Wright witnessed Rayfa refine the sensations of a mitahmah in order to account for contradictions Wright brought up. Even with these abilities and the assistance of Prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, Wright managed to overturn her insights yet again. Being bested by Wright yet again left her downcast, and she left matters to Sahdmadhi. Eventually, the prosecution had managed to convince the court that Fey had cleverly set up the murder in a way that would have gone unnoticed using the Divination Séance alone. Fey and Wright were found guilty under the DC Act, but no sooner had the judge declared them guilty was the murder of Puhray Zeh'lot discovered. The War'baad Dagger found in the body bore Fey's fingerprints, so it was believed to be the missing weapon used to murder Tahrust. In light of these discoveries, new charges were filed against Fey, buying both her and Wright another day to live.

Dead lawyer walking Edit

After the trial, Rayfa encountered Wright and Ur'gaid outside Tehm'pul Temple. She referred to Wright as the dead lawyer walking, but she was unable to take any pleasure in his situation. Her confidence in her abilities was shaken when she needed to depend on others to convict the defendant. In her eyes, she had failed in her duties as royal priestess. She snapped out of her depression when, to her astonishment, Wright told her that he would not let the verdict discourage him from investigating the new charges. He goaded her into joining him by pointing out that, if left unsupervised, a man in his situation might do something illegal in desperation. Telling herself that it was this type of chicanery that led her to misunderstand the high priest's mitahmah, she joined Wright's investigation yet again.

The investigation began with the site where the body was discovered - the Plaza of Devotion. They encountered Detective Ema Skye there, who shared with them the preliminary results of Puh'ray's autopsy. Rayfa was curious as to how things like the victim's time of death was determined. However, she remained skeptical of the utility of forensic science until Skye informed her that Prosecutor Sahdmadhi respected the procedures it entailed. She learned of how the body temperature of a corpse could be used to measure how long the victim was dead. As a joke on the "dead lawyer walking," she placed her hand on Wright's forehead to check his body temperature.

After visiting Beh'leeb once again, the two went to see Fey again. With the executions looming over their heads, Rayfa gave them time to speak to each other. She then told them that it was no use resisting the inevitable, and that the Twilight Realm would cleanse the taint from Fey's soul. She was advising Wright to abandon his pursuit of an acquittal when Fey interrupted her. Fey stated that Wright was simply doing his job, and pointed out that her Insights alone led to inaccuracies. She then asked Rayfa if the victim's souls or the Holy Mother herself would wish that people be judged in error. Rayfa was aghast that the "neophyte" would bring the founder into their argument, and gave up trying to convince Fey to see things her way.

At Fey's request, Wright went to the Inmee residence to retrieve the Tome of Secrets entrusted to her. The Steel Samurai patch on Fey's bag momentarily caught her interest. When Wright took the tome out of the bag, the string binding it came undone, and it unravelled to reveal a picture of Lady Kee'ra. Rayfa frantically told Wright to close it again, as gazing upon the tome could incur Kee'ra's wrath and lead to her gouging their eyes out. Wright then inquired as to the significance of the tome. With help from Nayna, she told Wright that the scroll contained Lady Kee'ra's true name. She explained to Wright that a person's true name and face are some of the most important things for a priestess like her to know, as without them, that person's mitamah cannot be contacted. She further explained that the same held true for the Khura'in royal family's most secret art: spirit channeling. She told Wright that thanks to the power to call even the most ancient of spirits, Khura'in queens have been able to offer counsel to foreign rulers, keeping their kingdom and culture safe from invaders, but not power-hungry illegal immigrants. Rayfa admitted that she wasn't able to channel spirits just yet, but hoped to master the technique in order to become a magnificent queen who would unite the people of Khura'in. Wright noticed this was a goal not unlike Fey's.

Soon after, Nayna informed Rayfa that the escaped Are'bal was sighted in town. Wright set off to find him, believing that since he was present at Tahrust's murder, he would know something of value. Rayfa chased Wright all the way to the bazaar. She dismissed the dangers of being in the vicinity of an escaped convict, as she felt she wouldn't be a good princess if she let that scare her. She waited at the bazaar while Wright tasked Shad'oh, who was there with Ur'gaid, with tracking down Are'bal through the sewers. Before he left, she again asked him why he was willing to go through such lengths for a person who has already convicted once. Wright replied that lawyers must have faith in their clients and stand by them if they say that they're innocent.

Wright reemerged after a while, claiming he tripped and blacked out, which Rayfa found unsurprising. The two returned to the Inner Sanctum, much to Rayfa's confusion. Wright told her that he might have missed something the last time they were here, so it might be worth investigating again. In truth, Wright had met with Are'bal during his expedition in the sewer, and got a small orb that was the key to the hideout. Wright assumed that he would find the entrance to the hideout somewhere related to the high priest. He was correct, as placing the orb into the empty eye socket of the warbaa'd statue cause the wall to rotate, revealing a secret passage. Rayfa insisted on informing the police, but consented to let Wright have a look inside first. She couldn't enter since a priestess was forbidden from coming into contact with the taint of Lady Kee'ra's battles, but she kept a watchful eye on Wright from outside. Skye and the police arrived shortly after Wright gleaned all the information he could, and Skye was reprimanded by Rayfa for being so slow.

Back at the temple entrance, Rayfa informed Wright that he investigation once again yielded nothing conclusive. Nayna arrived shortly after to inform her that prosecutor Sahdmadhi needed her in order to review the Divination Séance before the trial, as was customary. Completely recovered from her earlier depression, she vowed that she would use her insights to finish off Wright once and for all. Her high spirits were short-lived, as she was unable to call forth the deceased's mitamah.

Disillusionment Edit

The day after, Sahdmadhi tried to get the judge to skip the séance altogether, only for Rayfa to insist on going through with it. Just as the day before, she failed to call forth Zeh'lot's mitamah, much to her frustration. Unbeknownst to anyone, the reason for her failure was because she was unaware that the victim's true name was not Puh'ray Zeh'lot. Thanks to a tattoo on the back of the victim's neck, he was identified as Rheel Neh'mu later on. Rayfa performed the séance again, successfully this time, and Neh'mu's final moments were revealed for all to see. It seemed to provide conclusive proof of Fey's guilt, but Wright disagreed. He told the court that he once heard that before the DC Act was passed the Divination Séance was considered to be just another piece of evidence that could be interpreted by both lawyers in a trial. Rayfa took issue with this, insisting that the séance only served to conclusively prove the guilt of the defendants. She provided her Insights, which Wright once again argued against. Rayfa did not back down easily, and even tried to use some of the forensic knowledge she had learned the day before as supporting evidence. But Wright was just as persistent, and eventually proved that Neh’mu died before the day of the rite when he was forced backwards into the Warbaa’d statue at the Inner Sanctum – the true scene of the crime.

Wright’s deduction didn’t clear Fey of suspicion, so he called for a witness who could verify what really happened: the deceased Tahrust Inmee. He surprised the court by suggesting they use spirit channeling to achieve this, and Fey caused an uproar by volunteering to be the medium to do so. Rayfa was particularly outraged that an outsider would claim to be capable of this secret art when she was not, but agreed to give the defense a chance to attempt to summon the abbot. If they failed, they were to be executed immediately. Though skeptical, Rayfa was gracious enough to promise to stop calling Fey a neophyte if she succeeded. In order to assuage concerns of the possibility of summoning an evil spirit accidentally, Rayfa prepared a Magatama of Parting as a contingency. To the shock of everyone in the courtroom, Fey succeeded, and Rayfa had to step out to compose herself.

She returned in time to learn the harsh truth of the deaths of the abbot and his disciple. The Lady Kee’ra that had been attacking rebels was not a patriot as she assumed, but Rheel Neh’mu, who turned out to be a government-sanctioned assassin. He was working under her father to wipe out all resistance to the crown, and his last targets were the Inmees. Beh’leeb confessed to killing him in self-defense, and Tahrust admitted to orchestrating an elaborate suicide that would use the Divination Séance to falsely implicate Maya as a serial killer in order to protect his wife and the rebels’ secrets. After the truth was made clear, Rayfa granted Beh’leeb’s request to use the Magatama of Parting to send her husband to the Twilight Realm in peace. Rayfa left the trial in a depressed haze, no longer sure of herself, her nation, or her moral convictions. She met Wright and Fey in the Accused Lobby after the latter had been cleared of all charges. Fey tried to assure her that her role as the royal priestess was not an insignificant one. She reminded her that people faithfully looked to her as the one who gave the mitamahs their voice, and that she'd have to decide what's right and wrong as queen someday. Wright added that her séance helped to uncover the truth, and the problem lay in the DC Act. Shortly after their exchange, an explosion was heard. As the bailiffs went to check it out, the trio was visited by Beh'leeb, Are'bal, and Dhurke. The legal revolution of Khura'in was now underway.

Inga's death Edit

Main article: Turnabout Revolution

Rayfa Padma Khura'in .........Mother! I am done letting you have your way! Turnabout Revolution

One week later, Rayfa, still conflicted by everything that had happened during Fey's trial, was watching the palace courtyard from her veranda at around 2:30 p.m. when she saw a dog attack Nayna and steal her hat in front of Inga's private quarters. Rayfa went down to the courtyard to help, but when she got there, Nayna was nowhere to be seen. Shortly after this, Rayfa saw her father leaving his private quarters in a hurry and heading for Amara's Tomb.

At 2:45, Wright arrived at the palace with his subordinates Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes, having returned to Khura'in after a few days in the United States. Wright and co. were accompanied by Dhurke, and informed Rayfa that Inga had kidnapped Fey and they were there to conduct the hostage exchange. This angered Rayfa, who said her father would not do such a thing, but Queen Ga'ran then arrived at the courtyard and confirmed that what Wright and Justice said was true. Upon seeing Dhurke, Ga'ran tried to have him immediately arrested for the assassination attempt of twenty-three years before, but he explained that Inga had asked him to make the hostage exchange personally and that they should call a truce until Fey was safe. Dhurke entered the tomb, but Ga'ran's guards soon went inside to find Inga dead, and Dhurke was arrested for the murder.

Although stricken with grief over her beloved father's death, Rayfa tried to put on a brave face when she approached Wright and Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth at the bazaar, saying she wanted them to assist her in investigating her father's private quarters. Their investigation revealed an old picture of Queen Amara hidden in Inga's safe; upon seeing the Defiant Dragons' mark on a law book in the picture, Rayfa realized that Amara had never actually been assassinated as everyone in Khura'in believed. She confronted Ga'ran about this, saying it was unacceptable for the royal family to hide such a fact and that the people deserved to know the truth. Ga'ran, believing that Rayfa was out of line and needed to be disciplined, told her the truth about her parentage; this revelation left Rayfa even more depressed than before, causing her to question whether there was anything she could still believe in.

The next day, when Dhurke was brought to trial for the murder with Ga'ran prosecuting and Justice leading the defense, Rayfa's mental state, coupled with the queen's oppressive treatment of her, caused her to have a nervous breakdown and collapse when attempting to perform a Divination Séance. She was later called to testify about seeing Inga heading toward the tomb the previous day, and Justice asked her to try to perform the Séance one more time. Despite Ga'ran's protests and claims that Rayfa was worthless as a royal priestess, Wright and Justice encouraged her to try again, with the former saying he would never have been able to prove Ur'gaid and Fey's innocence without Rayfa's help. Rayfa stood up to her mother, saying that she had come to realize that her Insights were not infallible and that lawyers were necessary in Khura'in to debate the contents of the Divination Séance with the royal priestess until the truth was revealed.

The Divination Séance worked, revealing that the time of Inga's death had actually been 2 p.m., before Rayfa saw him in the courtyard. Justice deduced that Nayna was actually the missing Queen Amara and that she had channeled Inga's spirit to disguise the time of his death. Furthermore, it was revealed that Dhurke was already dead – having been killed by Inga and channeled by Fey several days prior – and that Amara had channeled his spirit in the tomb to make it appear as if he had committed the murder. Amara confessed to committing the murder and framing Dhurke for the crime, but Rayfa, now knowing that Amara was her mother, said she could not have killed Inga and pleaded with Justice not to let the trial end there.

Justice agreed to continue with the trial, eventually proving that, although Amara had tampered with the scene, she could not have committed the murder, and he then indicted Queen Ga'ran herself as the murderer. Rayfa assisted him in bringing Ga'ran to justice by testifying about how she had seen the queen heading into the palace from the courtyard around 2 p.m. She also performed a Divination Séance for Justice's biological father, who had died during the attempt on Amara's life years before, allowing Justice to determine that Ga'ran was behind both the past and present incidents.

Following Ga'ran's dethronement and arrest, Rayfa was set to become the next queen, with Amara and Nahyuta Sahdmadhi assisting her until she was capable of channeling spirits.

Personality Edit

Rayfa initially came across as rather haughty and aloof, especially when faced with defense attorneys. She believed, as much of Khura'in did, that her powers made her infallible when passing judgment on the accused, giving her a somewhat overinflated view of herself and an arrogant disposition. She regarded crime, especially that which insulted her country, as a blasphemous personal affront, and would often grow impatient with trials that required more than the Divination Séance and become irritable when contradicted or her "imperfections" (namely her lack of omniscience or her liking of things seen as immature) were brought up. As shown by her less-than-proper reaction to the first time her Insight was truly contradicted, she was not used to being proven wrong or told off for her ego, and when upset could become petty and immature. She did not hide her bitterness about her embarrassment in court, being extremely quick to take offense throughout her time with Wright during his investigation. She was always eager to insult him for any reason she could think of. She also had a rather dark sense of humor, once remarking that the heavily-armed bailiff of the court would "be happy to oblige [Wright] with a bullet or two" as a "souvenir".

However, Rayfa occasionally showed considerable maturity for her age, soon learning to swallow her pride after making a scene at Ur'gaid's trial. She took her responsibilities very seriously and made a great effort to live up to her own and others' expectations of her, and in fact a lot of her outbursts came from her belief that she must come off as infallible. When not acting in her capacity as the royal priestess, she would display a far more casual and emotional personality, even a bit playful at times. She also has an extensive vocabulary, but sometimes runs out of flowery language she knows, leading her to stutter and awkwardly invoke far simpler language to finish her sentences.

Despite Rayfa's outwardly imperious personality, Ga'ran's cold and aloof parenting style, combined with her lack of affection for her adoptive daughter, made her underconfident and high-strung, which would cause her to become depressed when failing in even the most subjective way and culminated in a nervous breakdown after Inga's death and being asked to perform a Divination Séance on him, leaving her to publicly wonder if she should even become queen given her self-declared incompetence. With the encouragement of Wright and Justice, however, she was able to break free of Ga'ran's malevolent influence and developed the ability to accept partial success and minor failures, as well as not being the sole voice of truth in trials.

Name Edit

Her middle name, "Padma", is one of the names given to Nelumbo nucifera, a species of lotus that plays a central role in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.

Development Edit

Rayfa's hairstyle was designed to be reminiscent of the shaman queen Himiko, with the hair loops also being meant to resemble the Holy Mother's halo, as well as the hairstyles of Maya Fey and Pearl Fey. [2]

Her staff was modeled after the Buddhist khakkhara, while the bells on her wrists are based on Japanese suzu bells, whose sound is associated with spiritual power. The ribbon between her arms is meant to make her resemble a Khura'inese butterfly, which has wings that are attached in a loop at the bottom and is believed to carry the souls of the departed to the Twilight Realm in Khura'inism.[2]

Note Edit

Rayfa is one of only six characters in the Ace Attorney games to have a known birth date. The only other characters to have a known birth date are Dustin Prince, an unseen and unnamed relative of one of Shi-Long Lang's subordinates, Paul Atishon, and real life individuals Sōseki Natsume and Queen Victoria.