Thyssa woke up in a warm bed, in a dark room. Her first groggy thought was that she must have dreamt the strange doctor. But her body felt strange, and there was a warmth around her neck.

She clenched her hands – for they were hands, not claws. She put her hands to her face, round and soft, no longer dominated by a maw of fangs. And now with a nose. That was weird. It wasn't as rigid as she expected – she'd never had cartilage in her body before. She just kind of assumed, the few times she'd glimpsed pure humans, that their noses were just bones. She felt foolish about that now. The softness was everywhere. She knew humans had skin, but hadn’t really imagined it felt like this. Instead of armour, she was clad in some fabric like spider silk. Light as it was, she wasn't used to clothes, and the sensation of it, on top of the collar, was a lot for her.

So this was what it was like to be human. Her heart was beating furiously, but she couldn't help an eerie, dizzy feeling – she couldn't process all this. It was too much at once, too much information, but she was greedy for even more surprises. She needed to know how she looked!

Thyssa crawled out of bed to look for a light. She suddenly found no need, as the room lit itself as soon as she was standing. Able to see her surroundings, she scanned the room. A shelf of books. A desk, with paper and pens. She was struck by how colourful everything was. And then, what she was looking for. A mirror! She crept up to it, and stopped in shock when she saw her reflection.

For some reason, on some level, Thyssa had assumed that, even if the Benevolent Heart worked as hoped, her body would only be a grisly approximation of a human. Even in her forbidden dreams, she couldn't imagine herself as something lovely. So the gentle young woman staring back at her was wide-eyed with surprise. The eyes themselves were surprising. They weren’t just glossy bumps anymore, they were human eyes, with irises and pupils and everything.

The new eyes explained the vibrant colours – beautiful eyes made to see beautiful things! She could see the beauty in the spring colours on the walls. The Benevolent Heart, tied around her neck by a cord, was a glistening iridescent pink. Her hair, a gentle white. She’d never had hair before. It was very soft – she kept running her fingers through it. So much nicer than nerve cables!

She looked about the same size as before, but short and fat instead of long. She had broad shoulders and strong limbs. Without bone spikes and tumour limbs sticking out of her, she could stand upright, meaning that, short as she was, she was still farther from the ground. She was very proud of this for some reason. Everything about this body was a surprise, but an exciting surprise, not a nasty one. For the first time she could remember, she liked her body.

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Thyssa lost track of time admiring her new self in the mirror, doing flattering stretches, making fun faces, playing with her long messy hair. She was in heaven, and the heaven was her.

She was interrupted by the figure in the doorway.

“Enjoying yourself?”

It was the doctor. With her new eyes, Thyssa could see her colours, drink in her beauty. She was an older woman with candy-pink hair, clad in white and silver. She was tall and stately – and clearly much more used to walking on two legs than Thyssa was. She was beautiful like a temple, something divine and forbidden: one of the perfect humans. Thyssa felt a heat under her skin, embarrassed that such a dignified creature caught her flirting with herself. She’d felt shame before – all malforms did – but, in this body, it was more intense.

“No, don’t be ashamed. You were very brave.” Thyssa noticed the voice had a much sweeter quality than before. Had she become more sensitive? Or had she become the sort of thing people wanted to be kind to?

“That must have taken a lot out of you,” said the perfect woman. “You must be very hungry.” She opened her hand, which held a bunch of red fruit. “Would you like to try one?”

Thyssa tried to respond, but her throat and mouth had changed too much to speak from.

The perfect woman looked disappointed. “I suppose you're not used to speaking as a human, are you?” Her face shifted to an encouraging smile. “Don't worry. I can teach you in time.”

She placed the fruits on the desk by the mirror. Thyssa grabbed one of them and looked at it. It wasn’t poisoned like the fruits in the Land of Monsters – the vaguely conical shape was too coherent, and it was all a solid, gentle red, no weird gradients.

“It's a strawberry,” said the perfect woman, a warm smile on her face. “I thought you might like to try some fruit from my garden, since you can eat it now. Try it. It's very tasty.”

Nervous, but too curious not to try it, Thyssa ate it normally – that is, she lunged her head forward and seized the strawberry with her teeth, then bit down again to break it apart in her mouth. The taste overwhelmed her. Everything in the Land of Monsters had some degree of bitterness – usually quite a lot – and sweetness was completely absent. This fruit was quite sweet – not bitter at all. Even the sourness was gentle, not a harsh acid. The leaves were a little unpleasant, but not so much as to ruin the whole thing.

The perfect woman laughed to herself. Thyssa looked at her, suddenly ashamed, wondering what she had done wrong.

The perfect woman stifled her laughter. “I'm sorry. It's just, you're very cute.”

That heat under her skin again. She'd never imagined anyone would see her as cute, especially when going for a bite. She was having trouble processing it all. Maybe she liked being around someone who wanted neither to run or to eat her. Maybe she liked being cute. Maybe she liked it a great deal. She took another strawberry, and found it was sweet as the first.

She could get used to this.