Grégoire woke up coughing. He felt dehydrated; his skin felt cold and battered.
He looked around and saw he was thrown in a pile of trash in the same alleyway he had been beaten in. He stood up, leaning against the wall, and started heading out.
Hopping on his one foot, he saw a crowd of people.
It was the market. As he hopped out into the open, he kept getting weird glances from some people.
As he kept hopping, he recognized the buildings. It was the same area from the monster attack.
He eventually found the small carpet Gogli had been performing on last time. This time she wasn't performing; she was chatting with a lizard-like humanoid woman who held the waist of a smaller one with her tail.
While Gogli kept chatting, Grégoire just waited so he wouldn't interrupt.
As the woman left, Gogli saw Grégoire in the state he was in. Her eyes widened in terror.
"How..." she whispered to herself, then ran toward him. "How a- Why!?"
"Some men attacked me at my home," Grégoire said. "I don't know how or why."
Gogli assessed his body and noticed his foot was missing.
"Okay buddy... let's go get you fixed up, okay? Do you know where you could have left your foot?"
"It might be in the alleyway..."
Gogli turned her back in front of him and crouched down.
"Hop on." She looked behind at him and smiled weakly.
"Okay..." He wrapped his arms around her neck tightly as she lifted him up. He pointed toward the alleyway.
When she put him back down, they started searching for his foot. Not even a few minutes passed before Gogli saw it-nailed to the street floor, held there by a needle.
She pulled out the needle, walked to a corner, and vomited. Then she went back, picked it up, and gave Grégoire his foot.
She crouched once more and carried him to a small clinic.
They sat in the waiting room for a moment until a male doctor entered and took them in.
"I know you kids won't answer what happened even if I asked," the doctor said.
Grégoire opened his mouth, but Gogli quickly covered it.
"He got attacked by a meb-oca," she said. She looked uncomfortable.
"Ah, okay." The doctor's eyes widened in surprise.
He grabbed Grégoire's foot, placed it close to where it had been cut off, and it reattached itself to his leg.
"I wouldn't put a lot of pressure on it for a bit if I were you, okay?"
Grégoire nodded and pushed Gogli's hand off his mouth.
As the appointment went on, Grégoire passed out cold on a chair in the office.
"Are you sure he got attacked by a meb-oca?" the doctor asked. "He doesn't seem to have any poisoning from bites or scratches." He sighed and looked at Grégoire. "Gregory, was it?"
"I healed his poisoning so he wouldn't be in so much pain," Gogli said with a sheepish smile.
"I guess that makes sense." The doctor shrugged.
"It'll be 10 silver coins."
Gogli's eyes widened for a moment. "Really?"
The doctor leaned against the wall. "Yeah, I have patients with exposed brains on the regular. This is no biggie."
Gogli bowed gently. "Thank you. I don't carry much cash so this is a blessing." She handed him a gold coin.
The doctor nodded and set it on his desk. "A patient is going to arrive soon. It'd be best if you two could clear out of my office soon."
"Of course." Gogli nudged Grégoire awake. "We gotta go, brother."
Grégoire woke up and looked at her. He looked completely out of it.
Gogli giggled softly at his expression, helped him up, and they left the doctor's office.
They sat down on a small bench outside. After a moment Grégoire spoke.
"I've been an inconvenience to you. I even made you get out of work to help. I'm sorry, Miss Gogli."
Gogli looked at him for a moment, then patted his back.
"I'd much rather you say thank you than say sorry."
Grégoire smiled at her. "Thank you, for everything."
After they parted ways, he vaguely remembered the path back to the manor and somehow managed to find it.
He opened the gate and saw the shattered window as he walked toward the door. He pushed it open, headed upstairs to his room, and froze.
Charlie was sitting on his bed. She had a big bump on her head and looked pissed.
"Hello," Grégoire said, the way one might speak to calm a large, angry animal
Charlie ignored the greeting. She stood up and left without a word.
Grégoire gave her a strange stare, then picked out some clothes from the drawers and went to take a bath.