Welcome to Gaia! ::

Teaching is a careful thing. One must be sure to allow a student to come to their own conclusions, but one must also be sure not to let them wallow in too many wrong conclusions or they will lose sight of how to find the right one.

So, in the spirit of teaching, and blunt, brutalitus honesty Maximos swooped in an filled in the empty spot at the end of her "Hmm". He said.

Your crap.

Ouch.

You are, a blinding, blatant, advertisement to all of my flaws as a creator.

He she shook his head.

And it bothers me, because you deserve much better.

Another sigh.

I've spent the majority of my life with shadow, and the all of my time on Gaia working with Lunaic formations and arrays, and this...

He made a sort of sweeping gesture in front of him, as if in one flick of the wrist taking in all of Teira.

...This is what I made? Pathetic. My most precious deserves better. And so.

Max took a step to the side of the coffin, and performed an exceedingly formal bow, his tone full of lavish. His voice akin to a ringleader about to present his greatest act.

My dearest Teiraesia Kos, my mystery girl. If you would do me a grand honor and put aside your offense, or confusion or whatever negativities you may be feeling and place your hand inside that skull? You'll find it can only fit your fist, and the switch inside can only be turned by you. Just as what lies inside, is my greatest masterpiece, for you and you alone...

And he would hold the pose until she either flicked said switch, or kicked him in the face for all he said.

The click of the switch seemed to echo on forever and across the whole house. The eyes of the skull began to glow a brilliant red in one eye, and a deep eternal black in the other. Its jaw quivered, as Teira might notice that its teeth werent exactly dull....

And then all of the chains fell loose at once, and fell to the floor dragging the skull with them. It would fall off of her harmlessly and its mouth would clang shut when it hit the ground.

Now, was the cue for Maximos to rise, and swoop in. And that was sort of what he did. He rose, rubbed a new sore spot on his forehead, and then swept in!

All of a sudden Max had all the swagger of a used car salesmen, mixed with the finesse of an artist displaying his newest art, and perhaps an engineer explaining to you exact how and why your car works.

With one wide gesture of the arm, Max swung open the coffin, and there laying so perfectly still with arms across her chest and a rose in her hands...funeral style. Lay Teira. Naked of course.

Mostly.

Teira the first, would be staring at Teira the second....but Teira the second was, somewhat disturbingly split in two, from head to groin, and either side rested on either end of the coffin, hands laced between.

Viola!

Maximos proclaimed. What Teira might first notice was that her double, had innards. She wasnt hollow.

I present to you, a new you!

There was a moment of silence, as if the perfect amount of time for her to say something, or think of saying something before Max spoke up.

I know you couldnt stand being hollow. Now your not. Your entire inner shell is lined with Lunaic wards and enchancement. It will make, touching, feeling, living, and absorbing essence that much easier, while still keeping you save. Also, you have real organs! Those dont come easy!

His feet clanged a set of jars by the side of the table filled with neon green liquid.

They're flesh too! You dont have a complete skeleton, that would get in the way...

He leaned in gesturing to various innards as he spoke.

But you have a spine, ribs, and a skull, and a brain! A real brain!

His hand came inwards, grabbing at a dead hand as he said.

Watch this!

And proceeded to break her right index finger in two.

Veins! They'll pump actual Lunaic Blood through your system!

Purple and black oozed from her finger, unmotivated by her heart. As the blood droplets hit the floor she would be able to see purple runic characters swirling in black, like vegetable soup.

And look at this!

He placed the finger back where it belonged and soon it sealed back. And then proceeded to punch her double...square in the nose. The nose did not crack! So he did it again...and then again. And finally on the third whack, her cheeks cracked slightly and gravity pulled down purple black drops.

Your twice as durable! While your skin will crack, it will be far harder, and only if your inner shell has cracked to match. You'll be able to survive far more. You'll be alive! No more of this "doll" talk. But...

Her cheeks slowly repaired themselves as Maximos' hand passed over them, erasing the injury.

...Life has a cost.

He said gravely, looking the real Teira square in the eyes.

These organs are not for show, they manage your bodies systems. If they are damaged or broken, or injured, they will stop functioning and then...

All of a sudden the mirth in Maximos' face was gone. All that was left were two very serious eyes peering at, and into Teira.

...You will die. Death for you will be different than most others. You were not born, so your attachment is weaker. You will be expelled from the body until such time as it can repair, or if the injury is too great, until you can find me, or a medium, or someone with soul sight to assist you. I cannot begin to stress to you the importance of this...

Like a parent telling a child how serious a job it is to walk and train and love their new pet. And then, suddenly an idea rushed in his head, and the serious face shattered away like glass when struck by a brick and he said.

Oh!

He said as if this new thought completely overshadowed the last.

I noticed you er...grew.

His eyes fell to her chest, as blush rushed his cheeks and he said.

So I gave her matching em....endowments.

And there Max was! He was happy and smiling, and so very proud of his new creation! He was absolutely ecstatic! In horribly honest truth Max had rushed and blurted out his full description so fast he hadnt really listened to a word she said. He had played this scene out in his mind so many times that he performed it now from instinct and memory alone!

Truth be told, he couldnt have repeated half of what he had just said. And somehow, by the looks he was receiving he got the idea that maybe this sounded alot better in his head than in person. At one point, he most certainly remembered wanting to snap back.

PARDON!?

But he didntl. He was confident in his masterpiece. Liquid Lunaic? That was brand new. Mixing flesh parts with shadow parts? Also knew. The spell stitching inside of her...whew...so complicated. And honestly, if she had clothes on, and was in one piece how could he show her off properly? She wouldnt be able to SEE her new bones and organs.

He hadnt built her because her last form was a failure. He built this because her last form was fragile, and weaker, and this one would keep her safer longer and resolve issues she had brought up in the past. Right now the being in the coffin was a doll, useless, thus why he treated it so. And the being across from him was his sister. Until she was in that, she was never a doll to him...

With his arm extended out wide and a smile on his blush filled face, Max waited for her reaction.

A hug maybe? A jump for joy?

Max's head whipped back, his body soon followed, along with a stream of red that poured from his nose and with a thud he hit the ground. A thud soon followed by a symphony of broken glass and crashes and clashes as the weaker parts and poorly balanced things on bookshelves and stacks and the workbench itself came crashing to the ground.

That was one hell of a punch.

Then, as the debris settled and Max's form was sprawled out on his back, one hand clutching his nose he said weakly, and nasally.

I bas Walder's idea...

A shakey right hand rose like the tentacle of some large aquatic beast and felt the air until it found the edge of the table, at which point Max hoisted himself up to a seated position. The fingertips of his left hand worked his nose back and form feeling for a break. His face looked as if someone had tied something to it and tugged it down, all of its edges drooped. It was pathetically sorry.

She hated it!

He spent months on that, getting parts and researching spells and she hated it!

He said women take pride in their bodies! They enjoy them! They want to look and feel feminine! That if I felt so bad about what I made, I should make you something more real!

It was more desperating pleading for her to understand than anything else, even as his hand dropped down and he looked at her with half apology half dread. Somewhere he knew, he just knew, that Walter was snickering.

I wanted you to be able to see all your new parts! I promise I wore gloves! And and and....

It was probably a mistake, but caught up in the moment Max's hand snapped back at Teira's chest and he said.

I didnt make those like that! Those would only grow if you wanted them too! So since you wanted them I gave you those!

At which point he snapped his pointer to the doubles chest. It jiggled. And for some reason he looked horribly appalled, and scrambled to pick up a fallen pan, to deflect another oncoming punch in his shame, and horror.

She was turning red. Bright red, and he cradled both hand tight around a flat pan used to hold various reagents of various natures, some unable to be touched by flesh.



Max wanted to inform her that when crafting something of this complexity you do not use hands. Hands change the final product and make the texture based on a memory, or an opinion. The faulty cameras in our minds are flawed, and thus the result is flawed. For this sort of Shadowcraft one is simply a conductor in a creative orchestra. The shadows know the natures of their sources and will mimic them if allowed and properly motivated. Maximos hands did pass over and direct the making of Teira's new form but....he never touched her. And even still, he wore gloves!

He wanted to express this! He wanted to share this, but as his face quirked his nose stung and his mind graciously replayed the events of a few seconds ago for him.





He looked up, having fallen victim to one of Maximos' greatest flaws, the act of getting wrapped up in a train of thought and losing ones grip on the events surrounding them. In this case, Maximos looked up and saw that Teira had infact stripped...and was fondling herself.





Blankness. Nothingness. As his brain had just frozen solid in place and did not, and could not fathom how to react. He was having a system crash. A pale face of a blue screen of death. Though, suddenly no one could be sure whether the blood still running from his nose was all due to Teira hitting him.

Like a bad lawn mower his face twitched as if trying to process. But would immediately fall blank again. He held out his hand to say something, and then said nothing and his hand fell.

He reached out again, opened his mouth and spoke silence. His hand hung extended.

He found his thoughts were being jammed by subconcious chorus's of "She's like your sister!" or "She's like your daughter!" and "You've seen ALL of that before!" , "You made all of that! " then "You should have made them smaller...." There were other thoughts as well, like how he wanted to give her the body, like how pleased he was that she wasnt swinging on him. Quite basically she had evoked so many responses that like a series of fat men trying to rush a small door, not one was escaping. Instead they were all trying to work out which one should take precedence. Max blinked hard stopped the fight when he heard "Well maybe she would mind..." somewhere in the chorus.

Yes...

A response broke free, an agreement to her previous statement. Though if she had continued to grow as she was previously, and if Max's calculations both should be roughly the same size. The new pair however, a good deal more realistic. With a shadow form, too much pressure at any spot can make a crack, but these...

Another reaction attempted squeezing half of itself through the doorway.

You...

Max slide himself forward, on the ground on all fours, very slowly until he came to the edge of the coffin. His hands touching the floor, in his lap, sitting on his knees. Something like a fledgling smile playing on his lips. The reaction fought, it kicked, it flailed. For some reason, about then Max realized something that managed to beam through the crowd like a burning red beacon and escape the door first, sending his entire response of cue.

...Arent wearing gloves...

Suddenly that seemed very important, and he stared at her hands in a way that made it obvious it was in fact her hands, not what was in them. He looked like a severely neat man who had walked into his office to find his desk out of order. His brow furrowed, his nose quirked. But it quickly passed, because size and action demanded that what was in her hands be noticed and also because another reaction slipped through the door chased very closely by "Next time smaller", it arrived first solely because it rushed on by another realization. His eyes were rising. He said.

You...

She wasnt screaming or swinging or raging. Mismatched eyes were looking into hers.

...Like...her?

This was a lean that went two ways. Perhaps a reason his words were so difficult. But so close, so very real...he was helpless. The opportunity presented itself so perfectly...

She leaned forward, and so did Maximos. His eyes said nothing, it was as if they didnt know what infact to say.

"Is that how it's done? Do you wear gloves when you touch yourself, Nii-chan?"

The proper answer was "sometimes". Because sometimes he was shadowcrafting things to, and from, himself. BUT. He did not say that. He at first, did not say anything at all.

She might notice while her eyes darted over him that his right hand was rising. It rose like a puppet on strings, every joint was limp and it simply lifted. Then it slid forward, so that by the time she was done talking, his bandaged right hand was resting on her doubles thigh. Not resting per say, his fingers were splayed out like a limp spider, his fingertips touching the knee and slowly rising up.

No...only when I touch you...

By now his hand had reached her hips. It paused, his eyes darted quickly to his hand and then back to her. Max wasnt blushing, but maybe he was too pale to blush? He was however intent on her eyes, focused, locked even.

"Is it better that way?"

The puppeteer instructed his digits to move. His hand bent like a wave, his flat fingers pressing against the doubles hips ever so lightly and sliding up, across the belly.

Its safer...otherwise...you never know...but...

"Mmm!"

Teira squeezed. Maximos' hand paused. He smiled back at her, but he kept the distance between them close. His eyes were intense, and yet soft. As if he was irrevocably locked in what he was doing, but what he was doing was nothing too serious. Then his hand continued.

"She's beautiful, Nii-chan."

Hands are amazing things. If Maximos could pick one sense he would die before losing, it would be touch. Especially with a hand like this, cursed as it was, that tasted and felt so much more. The hand rose up, it traced the firm, shapely cut of her abdoment, it rose up, making a line up the ribs.

Max bit his lip bottom lip. His hand turned sideways, running his pinky and the edge of his hand up, carefully, like one afraid to disturb a perfectly fragile artwork. His hands slid between the subject of so much flustering that was her breasts and up to the center of her chest. Not groping, just resting.

I'm glad.

He said, with a soft smile, his tongue running a line across his lips. Teira herself could see him clearly, though doubtful she could feel anything. Something about his eyes gave the hint that her brother wasnt doing what it seemed. Like this was very important, honestly important. Disturbing it might be bad, or dangerous. He was concentrating so hard. His hand turned so that only his middle finger was actually touching her doubles chest, though he could not help what touched his palm. It was very curious. And all curious moments birth questions, she asked...

"Things will feel different in this body?"

I dont know...

And all of a sudden, the soft and warm smile on Maximos' face flattened and ripped outwards like it might tear his face in two. His lips peeled back into a grin. A very twisted grin. It all happened so fast...too fast. Too fast for any chance at stopping him from someone pinned under two a body. Max was up his knees, sitting slightly taller.

Runes flashed suddenly over his right arm, screaming out a brilliant royal purple and midnight blue light.



They were so fast they sounded like one. It was mysterious at first, but it would become entirely too obvious what has happening soon enough.

Teira would feel a sudden pressure slamming into her doubles chest, and before she could react it was on her chest. Her body refused to listen, as if for a moment it was not hers but a second skin. Clothing. Clothing that was too binding to let her move and that would not give or bend.



She would be able to feel a horrible piercing sensation, like something had invaded her without permission but without pain. And she might quickly realize that Maximos was now over her, with his right arm, not only pierced through her doubles chest, but through her own.

He was inside of her.

His hand swam in the blackness that filled her like it was water, she would be able to feel the shadows stirring as his fingers moved from their straight dagger-esque form, to splaying out and reaching for something. Something deep in her chest, and then...

Cold. Impossible, screaming cold. And blackness. But it wasnt the first time she was here. She might feel herself very quickly collapsing. It was not pleasant, but not painful. It would feel like she was losing parts of herself. If a person with amnesia could feel the memories escaping...this would be that feeling. Though she wasnt truly losing anything.

All of a sudden, the "clothing" that had become her body was gone and she would feel very, very small. Palm sized. Infact, there were five icy pillars surrounding her tiny glowing form, and around them was an endless pool of warmth. But she was being ripped upwards, out of the pool, out of comfort. It clung to her, but she would be able to feel the snaps of chords breaking, like friendships lost.

It might feel like she traveled a long way, but in effect she only moved six or seven inches. But when the motion stopped she was no longer in a pool. She was in a maze. Tunnels stretched out in all directions, hundreds on hundreds, they formed a massive maze that would feel impossible for her tiny self to navigate. This maze had no sky persay, but there was an enormous glow coming from above and it appeared to be peering through a visible V cut in the maze ceiling.

Then there was warmth. The five icy pillars pulled away, and she would feel herself growing to fill the space they made. Bigger and bigger until the hands rose out of the ravine in the sky, and then like a raging torrent of warmth she would feel herself explode outwards. Suddenly Teira was in every cavern, every catacomb, every twisting tunnel of this place. Suddenly, she was so big that she WAS the maze. Though she could not understand it fully yet. She was there...but she hadnt seen everything.

Now suddenly things were moving inside her. She could feel extremities, she could feel fingers and toes. Then details, she could feel lips and eyes. She could feel the split in her person smacking together in some Matel action figure factory type press. She would be able to feel the hole in her chest close. Something was thumping inside her, something was squirming, liquid was flowing all through her carrying life...Life, felt different. Life made each of those parts feel like they desperately meant something as opposed to just being extensions of ones self. All of her organs were all dear long lost lovers and needed to be cared for and sheltered. That was because her brain said so.

A brain. A spine.

She would feel them because as instinct told her eyes to open she would be able to note that things she commanded her body to do did not automatically happen. The messages traveled through something, then down her spine and out across her body. Her head was suddenly so much more crowded. Thoughs about being sure to breath, thoughts about how much blood she had, thoughts about making hair grow, cells grow, nails grow. Is that light? What are we seeing? What are the eyes saying? What is that upside down image? Answer. NOW. Immediately there were billions on billions of thoughts that she alone had to manage or instantly DIE. And she had to manage these and still have thoughts for herself?! It was impossible.

But in a single moment, like being tossed from a hot and busy room full of people to being immersed in a cold bath in a dark room it all went silent. Concious, and subconcious split. She would suddenly understand what a "brain" was for. She had "instincts" now that felt more cemented than before. Her first breath would be a gasp, taken without her command, because she needed it, not wanted it. She could taste the air. Life meant that every touch, every sound, and every sensation no longer felt like it was being broadcast through a shell, or coming from the other side of a glove. Or heard through a wall. On the other side of a shell. Clear, but distant. But now so definite and impossibly close.

Her first sound would be closer and more real than any other sound had ever been. Instead of sounds crossing the gap between the spirit and real world, they were processed directly in her head. The sound was Maximos saying.

...You tell me.

She was alive. This transition could not be easy. She could not be eased into it. And for a being that had not truly been alive yet, there was no explaining it.

She was alive. It was rough, but birth always is.

She was, finally, alive. And in her first moments Maximos was there before her with simple smile on his face, still clutching that pan with his left hand, while his right hung limply at his side.

Maximos felt like a monster. Like he was doing some horrible thing.

Part of him hated it, part of him deep and far behind the heart reveled in it.

There were screams and please through his hand and a wave of emotions he wished he could relent to. But they were lose, they were swallowed by the very malice that possessed the arm itself.

He was causing her so much pain, so much agony. But...birth was agonizing. Nothing in life worth having was easily attained and life itself was no exception. It was those that made it through this struggle that earned the right to live.

Her chest heaved, and she breathed such ragged and desperately deep breaths. He could feel the burning scrape at the end of each breath. And then she leaned on him. Her breathing slowed and calmed, and he knew, he knew that this was not over. But he wrapped his arms around her, very gently, not constricting or squeezing. It was a worldless way of saying, "I'm here."

And then the next wave struck.

"AHHHHHHGGN!"

No one in this world is born possessing anything, no one is born clothed, and more over no one is born alone. Teira would be no different, neither Death, nor Fate, nor even Life could pull him away from her here and now.

And then, she wrapped her arms around him, pulled him down to her and raising her face to his, she pressed her lips so gently, so tenderly to his in a soft caress.

And they kissed.

He didnt pull away, he only stiffened for a moment before letting the moment flow. His face was as redder than her hair, like a balloon that just might pop if the wind blew right. But he was smiling, he was smiling from ear to ear the sort of wide and honest smile that almost never saw the light of day.

Slowly she drew back, her eyes meeting his as she smiled and settled back against him. He spoke. He felt hear pounding heart echoing against his chest. He felt her hands over him, like the hands of a child feeling everything for the first time, but only if that child had an adults mind. Soon she was settling, easing, into life, into reality. And she spoke.

"Definitely different, but not in a bad way...

... Better, I think."

He smiled, his mismatched eyes staring into hers. Maximos' mind was swimming. From outside he could not tell if everything was working according to form. The heart was beating, but was the brain sending? Was the spine coordinating? Were the organs all functioning? Did this body work? But more than that, he was swimming in feelings. Pride. Doubt. Fear. Concern. Happiness. All and all, he couldnt say anything. He just didnt know what to say. If he tried, it likely would have sounded as if he had just swallowed a dictionary and was vomiting up words randomly. But his eyes showed it all, his face said more words than any volume.

"Bath soap..."

His face turned a sort of red in the cheeks. Yes. Yes he did. He also smelled of a few not so pleasant things which he was sure she could also smell. This added a good deal of self consciousness to the list of tumultuous ideas and thoughts robbing his words. Of course, overlapping it all was a layer of relief. If she was noticing things like his scent, she wasnt dying in agony. That was good. And just as soon, his mind became clear as Teira said.

"I love you, Nii-chan."

His eyes snapped open wide. His mind rushed to not more than half an hour ago on the Island's surface. His mind replayed the scene slowly, so he could hear it, and feel it again.

"Hmmm....I love you Nii-Chan! I dont wanna leave!"

Maximos dropped to his knees nearly drowning in the imaginary hug that followed. His sword quivering in a shaky grasp. Pain crept around him like an old friend ready to drag him away with it forever. He didnt say those words that day, he couldnt...

I...lo...

He couldnt say it then. He couldnt say it on his knees in the dusty training ground. Teira might even recognize the pause, awkward an unnatural and then.

I...

Her hand squeezed his, and his squeezed in return, he gulped as if swallowing something large that had blockaded his throat for far too long and said.

I love you too...

And then again, slower and softer...

I love you too...

She made a face, like something was suddenly wrong. Like he had made some sort of mistake. A horrible face to make in the wake of a man saying something he felt so afraid to say. He wanted to immediately apologize for all of it! For the kiss, for the words, for something else he might have done but did not know! But then she said...

"Ah... Nii-chan...

... You were touching...

...and you weren't wearing gloves."

...And relief poured over him. He pulled her closer, keeping their hands interlaced as he put his arm around her and pulled her close. Things were so like last time. Teira was born and immediately she was close, she was touching him. But last time he felt so scared, so stiff. Now this time she was close, and he returned the sentiment. And then he whispered, only because he knew she'd hear. He said.

Its alright...I think its safe this time...

But as he held her, his head over hers and looking behind her, he made a gasp of sorts. He nearly forgot! It was something melancholy. But it was something more beautiful than he had ever planned it to be. Make spoke, his voice no longer uncertain but carrying a sort of bittersweet melancholy.

Born of my shadow...borne by her spirit...

A small, sad breath.

But we cant cannot carry you anymore...you must carry yourself...I know you are ready.

His hand would slip from Teira's, both resting on her shoulder as he gently pushed one and pulled the other, signaling her to turn around.

Turn around my dear...she served you well...now say farewell...

Behind Teira, was Teira. The old Teira. Perhaps now, in this new body she could understand why Max could have called the old a doll. And that was how she looked now. Her legs were bent, but her hands were folded over her chest, and her eyes were shut...sleeping. In her hands was a rose, a black rose that was once in this new forms hands.

She looked peaceful, serene. Like a porcelain doll. Completely with cracks. Small pencil lines. But they were spreading. A wind was blowing on the old Teira that niether Max nor the new could feel. Slowly bits of her were blowing away like ash caught in a gentle breeze. Filling each crack and beneath each ashy flake was a pale, violet glow. It was the last embers on a dying flame.

More and more of her form was covered until all at once it collapsed under its own weight. It was nothing messy, rather that she was there at one moment, and gone in the very next leaving only a pile of pale glowing violet and royal purple ash, the glow quickly fading. Soon all that would be left was this body, formed of Teira. Formed by how Teira had made herself over her life. No longer anyone else. And then, there was nothing.

Nothing but a black rose, resting on a very small mound of ash, inside of a coffin.

"In death, there is life. One must die to be reborn."

He smiled now.

It was a soft, fragile thing that barely played at the edges of his mouth.

She had a learned a lesson here that an assortment of vegetables could never teach. She had not really been living until he left his life. He had been born again, in death. But more so, she could never appreciate what it truly meant to die, until she had experienced the gift of life.

Now perhaps, Teira would understand the preciousness of the form in which she currently lived. Could she imagine Maximos where she was, placing her remains in a bottle but knowing that her death, was not an evolution but simply a loss? And so now perhaps she could treat her life with caution. True, her soul could last outside longer than most others, but it would still be prey for the Reapers. A fact that the Shadow of Death could not revel as much as his lips beckoned him too.

In Teira's death, and rebirth there were a thousand lessons and sentiments that he wished he could expound on. But, the very need to expound on such would show she was not ready to learn them. And some may need time to penetrate and permeate.

"Thank you."

She said, his eyes meeting hers. He could see it was true and honest, and that she had learned much simply from the fact she had saved to ashes and rose. She did not leave the body, but preserved the memory. She appreciated.

Words escaped for response. "Your welcome" was too pathetically small. What he wanted and needed to say, she already knew and so the point was to bring it to the fore and remind her of it. And he did, with a smile. She knew the kind. The rare kind that shows flecks of a man, a hero, a good person now lost so long ago. It made a very distinct line to those that looked close enough, it shined out above the other smiles. And he met her eyes with it.

The moment could have last an eternity if there wasnt a knock on the door.

It was a Skellion, Skellie for short. A tall outline of a man cut out from shadow and pasted against shadow, it wore a gray theatre mask with two beading violet eyes, and its black hand knocked against the inside of a partly opened door.

Maximos looked up at it, and nodded, and it bowed, shut the door, and left. Then he turned back to Teira, an apology that was never spoke on his features as he said.

We really mus'nt keep Walter waiting. He's in the gymnasium preparing your next present.

Maximos moved to stand, and help Teira. Because, Teira might notice something the moment she tried to stand....She was heavy. She had bone now, and flesh, and meat, and blood! That was all much heavier than an empty shell. What was more, she had to work her legs and she had simply never done that with these legs before. It might take some work but Maximos would help her to her feet and to the door.

A bandaged hand would rest on the door and begin to shove it open before he suddenly froze in place like a deer in headlights. He'd turn back, with something of a grimmace and say.

And what would Walter say if he saw you dressed like that?

That, being nothing.