Elemental Cats

While Nil, Lucy, and Mindle talked to Asilean and Taienra, exchanging stories and getting to know each other better, Toz went to look for Scrael.

Toz understood and empathized with her need to be alone. But he could also tell her need for comfort. And since a group of people coming and telling her it's gonna be all right might be overwhelming to Scrael, who had lived a lonely and hard life, he decided to talk to her privately.

Not to mention how he wasn't going to only give Scrael empty words of comfort. The situation with Taienra and the island had inspired him, and he had come up with something that might help Scrael. But he would only proceed if Scrael agreed, and for that, he needed to talk to her.

Toz found Scrael looking at Hods clear up the remains of the three void beasts. Although the catfish that died first hadn't left much behind, its remains splattered around the small clearing at the edge of the island where the battle had taken place.

It was a hassle to clean up, but Hods did it seriously, even if it looked like his mind was wandering.

Scrael sat far away enough that Hods didn't notice her presence. Hods didn't catch Toz's arrival either and just kept cleaning and gathering all the void meat in piles.

Toz sat down next to Scrael without saying a word. It wasn't until Hods started carrying the clumps of void meat to the storage that Toz opened his mouth.

"How're you holding up?"

"I've had worse."

Scrael put up a brave front. But Toz knew that even if she had experienced more threatening injuries and gotten closer to death, those injuries only left behind scars. Scrael's missing leg was something that wouldn't recover on its own and only leave behind a mark of it happening.

"I know it's not exactly a perfect solution, but how about a prosthetic leg?"

Toz didn't know how to gently bring up the idea, and since Scrael preferred being told things straight, even if she might not know it herself, Toz simply told her his suggestion.

Scrael was still too down to immediately jump around with hope at the idea, but her ear twitched, and she looked at the stump at the end of her right leg.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Several things. Taienra's situation got me thinking that we can try something similar, and then there's also the option of creating something of metal."

"Taienra?"

Scrael had been busy confronting reality, so she had missed the introductions. Toz went on a quick tangent as he briefly told her about Taienra and Asilean, as well as his proposal for the two to join their group of island-dwellers.

Scrael listened half-heartedly to Toz's short topic change as she pondered on his suggestion and visualized what it would look like with a wooden or metal leg. However, the only thing she could think was that Lucy would make a fuss about how cool it was.

Imagining Lucy's reaction brought a slight smile to Scrael's face, and she decided there wasn't a need to create much of a stir for something as small as losing a single paw. It wasn't even the entire leg.

After it had happened and she lost her leg, Scrael had been too caught up in her emotions to think about things rationally. If it had been before she joined Toz's group, she would have almost instantly begun thinking about the next steps she needed to take to survive. There was no way she would have let half a missing leg incapacitate her so much if it had been her previous self.

But her new self, where she allowed herself to feel things other than her survival instinct, wasn't someone Scrael disliked. Instead, it made her happy. She had people helping her in times of need. And the thought of the ones close to her was enough to bring a smile to her face. That alone was enough reason for Scrael to be happy about the change in herself she had experienced ever since joining Toz and the cats on their adventure through the universe.

"Let's do it."

Scrael looked at Toz with an eager and resolved expression. She looked forward to trying out various ways to create prosthetic legs. And even if the legs didn't work as well as she hoped, she wouldn't give up. Even if her body was crippled, she still had her magic.

Although she had spent her life honing her physical reinforcement abilities, it wasn't too late to begin practicing casting magic instead. Conjuring lightning bolts with enough power to blast the void shark to smithereens didn't seem like a useless skill to possess.

What helped Scrael further her resolve was that she was surrounded by talents at fine controlling mana, which she could trust would help her if she asked for advice on how to improve her delicacy regarding mana and magic.

"Great!"

Toz could feel that Scrael was no longer saddened by her lost paw. She had regained her spark and was ready for the next challenge that life would throw at her.

Toz began creating several sets of paws with a tiny part of the leg to replace the part that Scrael had lost.

The first ones he created were only to get the shape and the details to match. The functionality would come when they could be sure the leg would match.

It took Toz a few tries until he made one similar enough to what Scrael was used to, but he finally made a silvery grey leg. The leg looked like a mirrored version of her left leg but made of metal.

The leg Toz constructed was longer than the part Scrael had lost. In order to attach it to Scrael's leg, Toz had made the upper part hollow so she could place the stump there.

The leg fit decently enough for Scrael to use it temporarily, and she moved around smoother than without it. But the stiffness of the metal still made it uncomfortable to use for longer periods of time.

"Try using magic."