*****

"How's your… injury, Mia? Although I hope there is not any, does anything feel out of place?" Syr inquired as she attended to replace Mia's bandages.

"Much better, I guess? Nothing's wrong, don't worry about me. This isn't the worst I have experienced…" She stated before whispering to herself, "This is actually better than a lot of others if anything…"

Her wounded shoulder was brought to a healer in order to be checked and then closed, in order to stop the bleeding. But a huge scar was left behind and needed cleaning from time to time and bandage in order for the massive wound on her to not open.

Abhi has locked herself up in her room for a whole day now after waking up yesterday, she's also yet to eat anything, and it has been worrying everyone in the pub. Well, of course, she will, she was almost defiled, after all. Nothing we can do right now but make her feel safe.

Everyone's mood, along with the customers', has been dampened as well. Everyone is worried about her. Even more, when what happened to her somehow leaked somewhere.

"Sigh Goodness dear, I really should check up on her…" Mia audibly mumbled to herself.

Syr raised a brow and said, "But if you do, who knows what she might feel if she sees your arm… or the lack thereof."

" Yeah, and it's also better that we give her time to calm herself down but…" She paused, "Syr, it's been a whole day now. It's best that she eats something, she hasn't even drunk anything after getting abducted. Can't you go into her room and hug her a little? And then feed her. I know she needs it the most now."

"Very well, I guess I will go. But only unless I get today as a free day off?"

Mia snorted, "Just go, please."

With a satisfied giggle, Syr turned to leave Mia's room.

As Syr approached the door leading to Abhi's room, it suddenly burst open, catching her off guard as Abhi darted past her. Suppressing her surprise, Syr hurriedly trailed behind Abhi as she quickly vanished down the staircase.

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They'll kick me out… they definitely will… Mia lost her arm because of me, there's no way to undo that, there's no way they won't kick me out now…

Abhi has spent the past twelve or more hours lamenting over everything that has recently happened.

The reason why all of this unfolded was because of her weakness. Had she been more cautious and not fallen into the hands of that man, none of this unfortunate incident would have happened.

Had she thought harder and analyzed her situation more then Mia would not need to protect her. She was a thirty-three years old man, for goodness' sake! She should have known better!

She had magic too! One that was out of the ordinary! One that she could have used, had she been more creative and ruthless then Mia would still have her… arm?

Shouldn't healing magic be a thing? Maybe I could…

The cogs in her head started to spin as she looked at her finger. She made an icy little knife with her magic and cut her own finger without any hesitation. It hurt, but she ultimately ignored that and started to focus on her magic.

My magic does as I wish and follows my every command, then this shouldn't be…

She opened her eyes wide when the burning feeling in her finger disappeared and what was left was just dripping blood.

"It worked…" She whispered to herself in astonishment.

Without pause, she cut herself again, but this time, she gave herself a deeper and bigger wound. She once again focused on her magic and her will.

And it worked again… so this time, she cut the same finger off…

It was painful, so much so that she almost screamed out at the top of her lungs, but she held it in. She will just wake everyone up and ruin their nights with worry. After a minute or so, the pain started to numb and Abhi got to work. The process was painful, it's like a plant was crawling out of her bones and tearing through her skin. And after enduring that painful experience, she opened her eyes to see her new finger. She rinsed the blood off and looked at the results.

Her finger is back like nothing ever happened (ignoring the small puddle of blood in front of her).

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Having discovered a new use for her magic, Abhi spent the rest of the night figuring out how to improve her discovery and make the pain disappear. By the time she was finished, the speed of her healing had improved drastically and the pain has disappeared and was replaced by a pleasant warm feeling. But even though she had made good results, this cost her of her sleep and almost a whole mug of her blood.

But that doesn't matter, she now has the means to reclaim herself and give Mia her arm back. She knows she can grow Mia's arms back, she still has her own arms, after all.

So with a crazed look in her eyes, Abhi dashed out of her own room and immediately went downstairs to treat Mia's arm.

She found her standing in the kitchen like usual, the sight of her struggling to cook an omelet made Abhi's heart clench and made her feel even more guilty. She wanted to turn back and hide from the sight again, but her determination to give Mia her arm back won over her fears. She wanted to help and undo her mistakes, and for that, she must not turn around again and show them that she can be useful too.

She ran to her and tried to catch Mia's attention so she could begin her treatment.

"Abhi! I see that you finally left your room. Come, you haven't eaten anything yet, I'm just about finished with this meal. Join me later… what is it?" Mia was interrupted when Abhi started pulling on her still-attached arm.

She said nothing, no point in that anyway. She just pulled her to the counter and tapped on the stool, telling her to seat on it. The look on Abhi's face wouldn't accept no an answer so Mia did as Abhi instructed, which is to seat on the stool.

Abhi climbed up the counter and held her hands just above Mia's stump. It was probably closed by magical means, which means that their healing magic is not enough to regrow limbs.

That also means that what I'm about to do will attract a lot of attention… but if it means I get to stay here, with them… then that's a small price to pay!

With determination fueling her, Abhi closed her eyes and got to work. Her magic flowed from her heart into Mia, giving her a warm pleasant feeling. Like sitting in front of the fireplace on a cold rainy day, it was nice and nostalgic. But as the heat increased more, that's when she started to notice the difference. This feeling, it's healing magic!

"She isn't trying to heal you, is she?" Syr walked up to the countertop and looked at Abhi with worry.

"She probably is…" Mia replied.

"Do you think she's feeling guilty? I mean…" As Syr was talking, Abhi's hair started to radiate a bright yellow and green. Her eye as well, specifically her left eye, was glowing even through her eyelid.

"Wait, Abhi!?" Mia started, but her voice was just drowned by Abhi's sheer hyperfocus, she couldn't hear anyone but the humm of her own magic leaving her body at a very fast rate. She started needing to collect more from the atmosphere, fortunately, the customers were leaking their magic for some reason so she managed to gather more than she did back when she first did.

Her heart was racing, her left eye was hurting, but she didn't stop. She wanted to give Mia her arm and she wouldn't stop until she did. No more running from problems, no more drowning from depression, no more of that. This was her fault and she's going to fix it.

Meanwhile, Mia couldn't move. Not literally, she could. But if she did then who knows what kind of problems might happen if she did. Especially with this much magic flowing into her and her arm.

Wait, my arm?

She looked at the stump where her arm previously was in. It was moving, and it was moving outwards like it was growing. Not much later, a thin small hand sprouted off the stump and continued to grow along in length and size. The same is true for her arm in its entirety. It was growing, she could feel it.

"Syr, are you seeing this?" Mia asked Syr towards her left. She was left astonished as well.

"Woah, what's with the brightness!?" Anya came into the kitchen, in her arms were stacks of plates and mugs.

Abhi ignored all outside noise and focused even deeper. She could feel it, Mia's arm is growing. She could tell because her magic drainage accelerated even further, meaning that there was more flesh to feed magic to. So with the demand, she provided. Her left eye started to feel like boiling hot oil was poured into it as she gathered magic from the air into her and into Mia. Her heart was loudly beating now as well, but that's no matter. She was too focused to even recognize these pains her body was suffering from.

Mia started to notice the heat radiating from Abhi's left eye. She felt it through her absurd adventurer stats. And she didn't like it the least bit, but if she stopped Abhi now it might only cause permanent injuries, but at the rate she's going she will cause injuries.

She's rushing things, if she goes any further she will only injure herself!

So although Mia wanted her arm back, if the cost of it was her daughter getting hurt, then she could wait. She has already shown results, they just need to further polish her skills so she won't get injured on their next try.

But before Mia could push Abhi away, Abhi opened her eyes as her left eye blinded them from the sudden brightness and started leaking a red liquid. Her left eye was bleeding!

And just like that, Mia Grand obtained her arm back.

"Mia, your arm!" May noticed the bright light seeping from the kitchen so she went to check, and much to her surprise, Mia had grown her arm back.

By the end of the treatment, the magic demand was so high that Abhi almost couldn't keep up. She gathered all magic that she could and dumped it all onto Mia's arm all at once as she opened her eyes, hoping for the best.

And the view couldn't be more satisfying than anything else. There it is, Mia's arm. Back to where it should be.

"I… I did it!" She shouted at the top of her lungs!

And only now did the pain in her left eye and her heart hit her, making her wince in pain as her hands reflexively held where it hurts. She saw the blood on her hands after she touched her left eye, realizing that it bled.

Calm down and make your magic flow stabilize! Idiot!

She gathered the magic, that started to enter the empty space she had made with her previous stunt, collected them into her body, and healed her own eyes.

Even the unstable magic residue within Mia's regrown arm…

"Urk!?" And like that, right in front of her healed eyes, Mia Grand's arms, dried up like a tree being sucked of its moisture…

*****