Angela nodded, “You might as well invite everyone at Raile’s as well. I’m sure everyone could use a small outing. Mia might like Piper and Nyssa too. There’s also Reva. She needs to meet all types of people and that would be the Talon residence.” Angela smirked a bit before checking over Mia’s feet once more.

“Mia?”

Mia perked up at her name and tilted her head.

“We’re going to start the surgery now… Is that okay?”

Mia looked over to Xeik and her eyes were suddenly filled with anxiety. It took her a few moments but she reached for his hand and held it before nodding over to the goddess. There was a smile on her face.

“Everyone needs someone they can trust. I’m glad you have Xeik,” Angela pat Mia’s head and the lycan smiled towards her and nodded once more. After using some herbs on her Mia was fast asleep on the table. “Now, pay attention. Someday you might have to do this.” It was a long surgery and Angela was basically almost reconstructing Mia’s feet. It was using a variety of tools and magic at her disposal.

Once she was done she set some stitches and applied a balm before wrapping them. It took several hours and Angela finally washed some blood off her hands. “Operation a success. After a few days to a week, Mia will be able to walk normally.” She gave a grin to Xeik. “We can use that wheelchair for now for her. You’ll have to wheel her around for the time being or carry her. I’ll watch her while you send the invites.”

Mia woke up and attempted to move her legs but Angela stopped her, “Try not to do that Mia. You could hurt yourself.” The lycan woman looked around for Xeik but eventually her head back down with a pout.

She only perked back up once Xeik came back. She looked tired but once more it had been a big day for her. “I have a balm for that brand on her thigh. It won’t get rid of it completely but we can heal it to almost look gone,” Angela told Xeik with some confidence. “Her skin is so pretty it's a shame she has such a thing on her.” She directed Xeik to the wheelchair. "That's what you'll be pushing Mia around in."

Xeik was glad he could be here to comfort Mia, even if it was in the slightest of ways. Watching Angela work was, as always, an experience. He took mental notes, and watched carefully as the procedure went off without a hitch. There were questions that he asked, and others that he stored for later when the goddess could focus on an answer. Soon, after hours of operating, she finished up and smiled at Xeik.

With her permission, Xeik went off to invite everyone to a dinner for the evening, and when he came back, Mia had woken up. “Oh good, you’re awake.” He walked over to her, and squeezed her hand. “How are you feeling? No dizziness?” He was sure that Angela would have taken care of it otherwise, but it was a habit.

With care, he lifted and set her into the wheelchair, and gave her a stern look. “No getting up. If you want up, let me know.” The healer knew how stubborn she was, despite not knowing her for long. “Well Mia, it seems we’re having a fairly large gathering for dinner tonight. You’ll get to meet a lot of people who I consider friends. Just…they’re all a bit eccentric in their own way.” He had a thought, and wondered if perhaps he shouldn't have invited so many people. It was definitely too late now.

“Well, let’s go get you ready. I’ll have Raine help me pick out an outfit for you and get you changed. How does that sound?” Xeik asked as he nodded to Angela. “Do I need to do anything else to help set up, Angela?”

Mia smiled up at Xeik when he asked her how she was and shook her head at the dizziness. She seemed pretty okay now. Mia puffed up her face when he told her not to get up but she relented and nodded once he told her to simply ask.

Her face showed she was fascinated by what Xeik was saying and she excitedly smiled and nodded. Once they got back to his room Raine was there waiting. “How are your legs?! Are they feeling better?”

Mia made a puffy face and looked up at Xeik.

“Oh, he isn’t letting you do whatever you want? Don’t worry soon you can disobey him whenever you want! We can run and frolic!”

Mia got all excited at the prospect of it but looked up at Xeik waiting for his reaction before politely declining Raine. Raine held a sad face, “Oh okay. Well, at least you have some loyalty here Xeik.” Raine teased him as she got a few dresses. They were all gold or yellow. “Xeik, which one do you think we should throw Mia in? I’m sure we could have her try all of them now.”

Mia got excited at the prospect of trying dresses on and pulled on Xeik’s sleeve. She had never had the chance before. “Then we can do your hair! I think playing with hair is a lot of fun! I do Tamara’s hair all the time!”

Raine was already waiting for them when they got back to the room. Xeik was glad to have help with Mia, especially when it came to fashion. Having grown up the way he had, he barely had any sense for it, and usually just wore the same old clothes that he always had. It was lost on him when someone tried to get him to dress differently, although Angela had been pushing him to at least try different things when they went out.

At Raine’s suggestion at disobeying, the healer gave her a stern look. “Do I need to have a conversation with Angela about your privileges again? I’m sure I’ll have plenty to discuss with her over your behavior…” Mia seemed content to listen to Xeik though, which was a good sign. He couldn’t handle a second Raine.

“I don’t want to stress her,” Xeik said as he looked at all of the dresses. “We can just pick one and go. They all look pretty to me.” Once again, Xeik’s lack of fashion sense was showing. He was pretty much hopeless when it came down to it. At least Mia was enjoying herself, and he smirked. “You like the idea of being in a dress? Just wait till you try heels.” He paused. “Err, not that I know what that’s like…” He glanced away. “Anyway, let’s you dressed up. Here, I can help with at least getting you on the bed.” He waited for her to be ready, and he picked her up, putting her on the bed.

“Of course, we could just ask her which dress she likes, right? It’s going on her body. What do you think, Mia?”

Raine looked at Xeik with a pout and Mia watched before mimicking Raine. Both of the women were pouting at him now. “Unfair Xeik! I am just helping Mia with her new freedom!” Mia nodded but still decided to side with Xeik in the end which made Raine frown a bit.

“You can’t just put her in a dress! Lady Celeste and Lady Angela spend hours picking out my clothes! We would disgrace them!” Raine spun around in the cute outfit that the Volkov women had picked out. She was like a living doll to them. It made her wonder if Mia would also be an extension of it or they would leave her alone.

Mia decided she didn’t like puffy dresses as Xeik helped her stand in front of a mirror. The faces she made at them was making Raine laugh. Finally, there was a white silk dress that was deeply cut in several areas. The white silk covered her just enough while the gold details took up most of it. It was clinging to her body’s curves. “I think this accents your assets as Lady Angela calls them.” The dress was halter style and looked very nice on her. Raine looked down at her own chest and frowned. “I do not have any.”

“Your butt looks cute too!” Mia heard Raine and tapped Xeik for his opinion. Cute sounded good but was her butt really ‘cute’? Raine stuck her tongue out in concentration as she braided Miranda’s hair and pinned it up delicately with white flowers in her hair.

It took them a bit of time to find the dress that Mia liked the most, but when they did, and she was settled back in the wheelchair, Xeik laughed at her question to Raine and him. “I wouldn’t know too much about it. I know that Ayaa gets catcalled a lot about her shape, though, and I’d say you’re a bit sapphire than she is,” he said with an objective eye. “I do like the way Raine has your hair, though. I wonder if Ayaa would like that…”

It had, of course, not been revealed that Mia knew that Xeik was Ayaa, so this entire conversation might have been a tad bit confusing. It was a tough thing to go about doing, as separating the two had always been a thing for Xeik. There were very few who knew the dual identity of Xeik and Ayaa, and the less who knew the better. Between his work and his previous life, it had been essential to keep them separate.

Mia tilted her head at Xeik and nodded. She wanted to apologize still about Aaya but hadn’t found a way to do it. She had actually had a conversation with Raine about it. Raine was good at guessing Mia charades. “Xeik… I don’t know how to tell you this…”

Mia looked up at Raine who was taking Xeik by the shoulder. “But Mia knows you are Aaya,” Raine was patting him on the shoulder. Mia once more gave an affirmative nod. “She’s known since she first met Aaya. She could smell that you and Aaya were the same person. She was upset that she was so rude to Aaya.” Raine kept looking to Mia to confirm and Mia kept nodding.

“She tried to tell you she was sorry but you didn’t get it. Most likely because you didn’t realize she knew you were Aaya.” Raine patted Mia’s head. “She would like to hang out with Aaya more. It took me three hours of playing charades with her to figure this out by the way. You can thank me later.”

Xeik looked at Raine, and then to Mia, and sighed. So, it was easy enough for her to tell because of the scent? That was something that he would have to work on in the future. Probably perfume or something else to mask his own scent. He smiled. “Well, I guess that’s that… It wasn’t to deceive you, I promise. It’s just…to be safe.” It was a little hard to explain to Mia, but he tried his best. “The short version is, I used to live a dangerous life, and it was to keep myself safe. Now, it’s because I want to help people, but there are a lot of people who are afraid of men for a variety of reasons…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t understand your apology,” Xeik said with a quick half bow. “We accept it.” He smiled. It was starting to make a bit more sense at her reaction to Ayaa. Mia may not have a lot of experience in the world, but there was certainly some depth to the way she felt her emotions. “Well, I’d be glad to share both sides of myself with you. But for now,” he looked in a mirror. “I think Angela would kill me if I showed up looking like this. Knowing Simone, she’ll probably make Lewis show up in something fancy too…” He sighed.

“All right, Raine…help me pick out an outfit. What do you think I should go with?”

Mia clapped excitedly at hearing that he finally got her apology. Her happiness was overwhelming Raine and Raine clapped too finally. “She’s been waiting for you to understand. I asked her if she wanted me to tell you but she didn’t want me to force it on you that she knew. She thought eventually you would get it.”

The lycan thought about what he said and nodded. She was finally understanding the difference between male and female. She started to make hand signs at Raine and Raine was nodding. “Let me get this right.” Raine was making hand signs back at Mia and Mia would shake her head or nod. “Okay, she says she understands male or female but it doesn’t matter to her. That right?” Mia nodded. “You are Xeik and Aaya and both of you are important. Is that right?” Mia nodded furiously. “She likes you both!” Once more Mia nodded.

Raine got excited, “I’m glad you asked! I brought the temple colors! Wouldn’t you bet that Mia’s dress matches what I brought you!” Raine was quick to dress him up in white and gold. It matched the colors most associated with Angela. “You two look really cute! Like me and Maalik!” Mia was always hearing about Maalik and so she did some signs at Raine who did some back. Once Raine understood she blushed.

“We… are? Like Lewis and Simone?” She was bright red. “IT’S BEEN NICE TALKING TO YOU BOTH BYE! SEE YOU AT DINNER!” Mia was in shock as the bird ran out. She looked up at Xeik for an explanation and finally, she shrugged.

Xeik was impressed with the way that Raine so expertly put outfits together. Despite her being a living doll for Angela and Lady Celeste, she seemed to have a great deal of knowledge on how to match outfits. The only person Xeik would rate on equal ground was Simone, and that was a comparison he hoped to never see. But that was neither here nor there, and not important for the time being.

“It’s a good outfit,” he said. “Thank you Raine.” Mia seemed to ask the phoenix a question, and when she repeated it aloud, she suddenly bolted out of the room. The healer started to laugh when Mia asked for an explanation, and he held up his hand. “One moment…” He took a breath. “Raine is super shy. You get used to it, but sometimes it’s a good laugh.” He walked over to her, and took her chair. “All right, all ready then? Off we go.”

When they arrived, there were already a few people there. Rhenakos and Osiria were first, which was a strange surprise. The demon hunter was already into the drinks and food, and when he saw Xeik, raised his hand. “Ah, so this is the rescue chick we’ve been hearing about? Miranda? It’s a pleasure!” He held out his hand. When Mia refused to take it, obviously untrusting of the brutish man, he shrugged. “I don’t blame you.” He introduced Osiria, and the girl in her arms, Reva.

“Izzy should be here as well, if Toya lets her,” Xeik replied. “I invited them as well, but you know how they are.”

Rhenakos nodded, “She’s been a lot better behaved, but since she practically lives with Toya now, I don’t get to see her much. I hope she shows.” It was one of the rare moments where Rhenakos looked sincere and worried. He knew that he and Osiria had fucked up raising her, but they had learned, and hopefully Izori didn’t suffer to the consequences.

“Oh look, Lewis and Simone are arriving,” Xeik said as he pointed. “The other children that you didn’t get to meet. That’s Lucas, and the girl holding his hand is Ezili. You’ll like them. That’s Rex. If he looked like Rhen, it’s because he’s his son. Complicated, I know…” He wasn’t sure if Mia really cared about the relationships. “And Mira and Fiori there. And Lewis and Simone are holding the twins, Janus and Lila.”