It turns out you can’t sleep in a magic-induced dream. Trapped inside the metal armor and unable to proceed with the dialog with the NPCs, Yuki practiced her magic casting. By practice, she meant testing her patience and acquiring more than a few units of frustration. Moving her paws restrained by the armor wasn’t easy, but she had nothing else to do.

Yuki lost track of time and the looping dialog. Pudgy Spymaster, Evil Witch Old Lady, and Mister Shiny General kept repeating the same conversation again and again. The king kept glancing at Yuki, waiting for input from her side, and the queen touched her belly protectively. Yuki trained, forcing the movements through the heavy metal constraining her paws.

There was no warning of change. One moment, Yuki waved her arms, simulating casting the magic; the next, pain assaulted her face, arm, and eyes. Yuki jerked, crying out in surprise. She felt the strong smell of burning wood and fresh blood. She heard the panting breaths of Jenny. Movement jostled Yuki up and down and to the sides. Yuki’s heart beat fast, but in the darkness, surrounded by soft something, she calmed down. Even in pain, Yuki noticed the thirst. She wanted water, and not only that, but she was tired, so tired she almost fell asleep while Jenny ran.

The movement kept going for a few minutes until they finally stopped. The darkness faded to reveal blurry colors and the blonde’s silhouette.

“You’re going to be okay, Biscuit,” Yuki heard Jenny say before the girl’s fingers traced slow movements on Yuki’s back and hindquarters.

It wasn’t comforting, but Yuki didn’t have the energy to complain. Instead, she pleaded for water. “Jenny, water, please.”

Cool, refreshing water splashed near Yuki’s face, and she lapped it, not caring that she looked more like a dog than a rabbit. When lapping wasn’t fast enough, she tried to drink like she would do on the before. The noise she made was gross, but quenching her thirst trumped all that. She drank until she couldn’t anymore and promptly fell asleep after.

…

Yuki woke up but didn’t move. The pain hadn’t gone away, and even with her eyes open, she could barely see. She spotted Jenny sitting nearby, looking at the ground. Yuki took a deep breath and sat up.

Her left paw didn’t move like she wanted, but it didn’t hurt as much as she expected. Well, it didn’t hurt at all. That was bad, right? Jenny made Jenny noises by her side, but Yuki was too scared to pay attention. Had she lost her paw? That couldn’t be it; she could still — barely — see and move the paw. She just didn’t feel anything.

Yuki’s vision was also horrible, her eyes stung, and the more she blinked, the worse it felt. Her mouth felt swollen, and she smarted. Putting all the growing panic out of her mind, Yuki concentrated on casting the spell. It wasn’t easy. She couldn’t chant properly. Her paw didn’t move like she wanted. In the magic dream, Yuki had practiced moving with her arms restrained, but it didn’t help with the situation in the real world. Her arm just refused to move like she wanted or moved too much.

It took Yuki four attempts, plus a five-minute panic break before she got it right. She applied all the possible shaping to the spell duration and waited for the effects to manifest.

Two castings later, Yuki was mostly herself again. With the first casting, the pain subdued and her vision improved. After the second, she felt as good as new, even if her fur hadn’t regrown. Yuki had never seen a furless rabbit before, but if they were anything like those sphinx cats...

Oh god, she hoped Jenny wouldn’t think she was ugly just because of a momentary bout of baldness.

Yuki looked around, having not paid attention to her surroundings while concentrating on the spell. She was on Jenny’s lap, lying on a pile of soft fabric. The girl’s attention was directed to a book Yuki hadn’t seen before. The book had several diagrams and numbers and scribbled text. To Yuki’s surprise, she could read it, knowing her command of the language came from the magic dream. Where had Jenny found a spellbook? Was it a dungeon reward?

Weird. Well, enough procrastinating. If Jenny was going to hate Yuki because she lost her perfect fur, she would like to know it sooner rather than later. The rabbit hopped out of the cocoon, looking around. They were in Rusty’s arena, far away from the door. She nuzzled the girl’s arm. “Thank you, Jenny.”

Jenny started, then yelled. “Biscuit!”

Yuki prepared for the look of pity, but Jenny just picked Yuki up and hugged the rabbit. “I’m so glad you are okay, and I’m sorry for letting you get this hurt, I’ll do better.”

Yuki didn’t understand what the woman said, but by the reaction, she guessed Jenny didn’t care about the lack of fur. Given further consideration, Yuki realized that it was expected. The blonde didn’t know the joys of the top-tier fur fluffiness. Yuki would have to educate her pet when her fur grew back. She enjoyed all the pampering, talking, prodding, and touching.

Perhaps it was because of the iron tang of the magic in the room that it took Yuki so long to smell the blood on Jenny’s arm, but once she had she couldn’t ignore it. Yuki briefly considered if she should check for other injuries but It wasn’t needed. A quick peek into her status showed eight magic points left. Yuki cast the regeneration spell again, mentally patting herself on the back for her foresight.

Everyone needed a healing spell in a fantasy world or tame a pet healer if using the magic yourself wasn’t possible.

FatElf

Spoiler

Behold!

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