Seam's sewing

Kris took a last look through the classroom. There was something sad about the scattered toys.

On a whim, they picked up the cat doll and stuffed it in their bag.

When they got home they sat it on their bed.

It was clearly old and beloved, because it was almost falling apart. Its right eye had been replaced by a button, and its left eye was missing altogether. Its right hind leg hung loose, with the stuffing peeking out. There were a few smaller tears in other places.

Kris dug around in the closet for the sewing kit. Then, back in their room, they plugged in Asriel's computer and turned it on.

There were stitching tutorials online. Kris watched a few, found them a bit complicated, and decided to wing it.

They stitched the seams shut, one by one. They didn't end up looking neat. They were closed, though, and that was the important thing.

A new button went over the left eye. It was smaller than the other button, but at least it was yellow. All the larger buttons had worse colors.

Finally they pushed all the stuffing back inside and stitched the leg to the body.

The end result was that the doll looked slightly uglier than before, but held together. That was alright.

Kris put it in their bag. Tomorrow they'd put it back in the old classroom.

-----

Seam woke up in the shop, like most mornings, but feeling different.

A lot of the small aches that had been constant enough to ignore were subdued. The right hip was as functional as the left hip again. Vision was broader than it had been yesterday.

Seam tried to set a few steps without a walking stick, and kept perfect balance.

This happened sometimes. It might take five years, or a hundred, but Seam's ailments would be healed, at the cost of new scars, and going on would be easier.

The walking stick went into storage. It would be needed again later. But hopefully not for a while.