For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Then the lizard slowly lifted its head, turned to look at its own newly-restored tail with an expression of frank astonishment, flicked it once to confirm it was real, and looked back up at Raizen, who was still gasping over the nest with sweat dripping off his chin.
"...Huh," the lizard said quietly. "Well. I'll be damned."
The lizard took its new body out for a test drive immediately. It rose onto all four legs with the wobbling concentration of a newborn foal, stood there swaying while the back half figured out what the front half already knew, and then attempted a lap of the nest. The first three steps went fine. On the fourth, the new tail - which it had apparently forgotten existed - swung wide, clipped the folded edge of the blanket, and dragged the whole rear end sideways. The lizard tipped, scrabbled, and slid off the edge of the nest onto the mattress with a soft thump.
