At one point Maya would have stuttered and tripped all over herself in front of a woman like this. However, it was impossible to get to this point of her life and not grow a spine. At least in the face of living people.
"It has been a long time and well I wouldn't call it hiding, Your Highness," Maya said, looking at the fiery woman. She scrutinized her carefully. Evidently news of Yūrei no Machi had not reached this far to the continent or Akane at least didn't know Maya was involved with it. Let alone in charge of it. It would appear that only Z had any idea of what Maya had been up to recently. Weird. Deciding it wouldn't be wise to throw all her cards on the table at once she kept that detail to herself. This woman was very... power hungry. Maya could tell that much.
"I run a gym now. And actually... there is something I would like to talk to you about." One hand continued to rest on the bag on her hip, feeling the heavy object under her palm. Maya though she could discern that eerie chuckle again that liked to echo in her otherworldly senses. She frowned. Belatedly she wondered if it was smart to take this thing outside of Yūrei no Machi. She didn't even know what it exactly did yet.
Z walked into the room and looked around nervously. He really didn't know what to do at an occasion like this one and felt somewhat out of place. He didn't really have a romantic interest at the moment and didn't have the best formalwear. All he had was a simple suit and he fidgeted a bit as he looked around for someone that he recognized.
He had been surprised when he received an invitation, thinking that there would be no way that he would be invited to any event by the Red Queen as he called Akane. To put it bluntly, she kinda intimidated him with her regal and formal aura and he didn't expect to be on the invite list at all. Walking through the reception, he thought that he was right to keep his pokemon in their balls so that there wouldn't be a ruckus or a problem to deal with. Things looked really formal and he really didn't want to have to deal with some of the antics that his partners would get into at a party like this.