The formerly pristine garden was a field of mud, splintered wood and broken pavement. Ignoring the cold, John swathed through the swampy ground, his expensive shoes sinking deep into the mud. His socks were drenched after two steps, splatters of dirty water sprinkled over his suit pants.

None of that mattered, only Undine did. Before John even got there, the water spirit had assumed a new form. This time it was not cause for concern. Undine had become a blob, an elliptic, skipping stone shaped blob. John looked her over and saw a series of swirling red lines where the corruption had befallen her. He wondered whether these were supposed to be there from the transformation or an elemental type of scar tissue.

The curiosity about this competed with how livid he was. John felt a confusing mixture of emotion right now: relief, worry, anger, a sort of comedic disbelief, and the overarching euphoria of having overcome yet another terrible incident.

Well, almost overcome, the void where Undine’s spiritual connection to him had been still reminded him that not all was fine, like a freshly removed tooth.

Nia, looking a bit translucent, stubbed Undine. The surface jiggled like firm pudding. Without changing her expression in the slightest but with the intent interest of a playful cat, she kept poking the blue ball until John kneeled down next to Undine.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he burst out after a moment of silence. “You ripped a part of my soul out, or at least what it felt like on a pain scale, and almost managed to corrupt yourself to unfixable levels. The only thing that prevented it was the sheer luck that we had a blank here!”

Said blank was suddenly taking John’s face and turned it towards her. Then her pale lips were on his. Under other circumstances he would have found this awesome, but he really wasn’t in the mood right now. Regardless, she was what had solved this situation, so the best he could do was try to make it good. Before he got to answer the kiss, however, Nia already pulled back.

Now a little less translucent, she stood up and walked off. John could not read that girl. “What was that about?” he asked Lydia.

“She is anchoring herself, so she won’t fade into the other side,” the princess said with crossed arms. She and her bodyguards were forming a not particularly well-meaning semi-circle around them. “Get this over with, so we can discuss what we do next!” the iron girl demanded.

John turned back to the shamefully quivering blob that was his former water spirit. “I am not going to take responsibility for this, Undine,” he said to her. “I asked you to tell me what was wrong, repeatedly. I thought you, of all people, would be honest. I am disappointed, I really am. Your hypocrisy is staggering, but…”

He took an incredibly deep breath, it left him audibly through the nose, and he leaned forwards. With nothing he could hug or anything of the sorts, he simply put his forehead onto the round blue shape.

“…I am just so happy you are okay,” he whispered, feeling the vibrations underneath his hands. He just remained there for a solid minute until he finally mustered up the will to move again. “Well, now that you can’t weasel your way out of it by just sending me emotions for once, let’s hear you say ‘I am sorry’ properly!” he announced and got up.

There was no reply, Undine just kept being a blob of sadness, misery and uncertainty in the middle of the mess she made for herself.

John sighed, “You know, our contract is null and void right now, you broke it yourself.” The quivers of the blob increased, and he took a step backwards. “You have two choices right now: either you apologize properly, tell me exactly why you did what you did, or you will be a renegade. The mana you have right now should allow you to stay in this world for a few hours, maybe you will find someone else? Maybe you will just slip back into your home plane? I know what I want you to do, but I won’t force anything on you,” John said as he walked away from her.

He arrived next to Rave, who was watching this whole thing go down with the expression of someone who had bitten into something sour. She didn’t like the drama, nor did John, but it had to be done. He couldn’t just forgive Undine for this one.

The other four elementals were torn on the matter. They were all around Undine right now. ‘Tell her what you want and then come with me,’ John instructed them. ‘We’re going inside.’

‘But, but, but,’ Sylph sniffed in his mind. ‘I don’t want Undine to leave! Make her stay!’

‘I can’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do,’ John thought back.

‘But, but, but…’ Sylph cried, wordless. A blue strip flew by John as Sylph entered the house.

He kept his back to Undine; he didn’t want to look at the pile of misery she was. What if he was wrong and she wanted to leave? What if she never apologized? Aclysia and Rave each were by his side, taking his hands as the other elementals said what they needed to.

“You know, I thought you were the best of us,” Salamander said, the embers of admiration having ignited the fire of disappointment; “You never got involved with the flood of bull crap, you had your dignity and all that jazz, and you knew when to open your mouth. Turns out you are an even worse fuck up than the rest of us.” The blaze elemental spat onto the ground before making her way over to John.

Sylph, now in her human sized form, ran past John at that moment. Carrying dozens of items. Sniffing, Sylph spoke, her quick words a palavering of sadness, “I-i-i-i—if you are going, you should have these, these are yours, right? Yes they are… Undine, hey, Undine, can you answer me? Just this once?” the tempest elemental pleaded as she placed the ships that Undine always had with her when she bathed, her one own possession, on top of the blob.“I swear I will not annoy you as much, I know you don’t like me talking this much. I think. I actually don’t know, you never say a lot, you just sometimes get annoyed. I mean, I mean, I would be so happy if you got annoyed right now. Please, you can shout at me as much as you want, just say something, please, pleassseeee?”

But the blob stayed silent.

“Waaaaaaah,” Sylph started crying on top of the blob.

“Come,” Gnome gently put a hand on her sister’s shoulder. The fact that she had nothing to say to Undine was, perhaps, the most damning thing about this whole situation.

“Noooo, Undine, please, I swear I won’t give you nicknames anymore! You can even eat all of my sweeeeets!” Sylph shouted as Gnome picked her up and carried her away. Gnome only glanced back one more time, her eyes spelling out that, while she had no words for her, she would miss her nonetheless.

That left only Siena. The catalyst for this whole debacle. “Are you blaming me, I wonder?” Siena mumbled. “I couldn’t say you are completely wrong. I knew how weak a state you were in, I wanted to see something exciting, I wanted you to break out of your shell, and instead I got this. Perhaps I should have just kept goading you into speaking your mind. I… don’t know.” A long pause. With forced certainty, Siena continued. “You pulled the trigger in the end, don’t come and blame me for your choices.” The nightmare elemental dropped into the veil of night.

That was everything. John had nothing left to say either. He was as disappointed as Salamander, as sad as Sylph, as helpless as Gnome and as certain as Siena (as much as he hated to be of the same mind as her). If Undine was unable to raise her voice now, this game would only repeat itself the next time she was unhappy, and John could not face this again.

“Let’s go, if she doesn’t want to stay, that is her decision,” he mumbled with a quivering voice. He was about to leave a part of himself behind, something that had been so ingrained in his soul that it was part of him. An extension of himself, now missing, the void she would leave behind could never be truly filled, even if he found a replacement.

He walked, slowly at first, then at a normal speed as, with every step, his certainty that there was going to be no apology, no justification even, from Undine grew. He passed Lydia and her bodyguards. “Ready for capture,” the princess said. John stared at her with disbelief.

“Don’t expect me to let something the strength of Undine roam around freely,” the royal told him with the certainty of the executioner’s edge; “No emotions will ever come between me and my duty to my country. If there is as much as a shred of a chance that she will fall to corruption again, I will have her killed.”

“I didn’t think ya could be this heartless, anal queen,” Rave hissed.

Lydia crossed her arms behind her back, her face an emotionless mask. “Easy to say for someone with no greater responsibility than their own amusement. I do not have the luxury of your freedom of consequence. My heart may be heavy, my shoulders may tremble, but I will carry the burden of rulership,” the princess’ tone was ironclad.

“You will have to win your own damn tournament in that case,” John reminded her.

Lydia stared, her jaw circling. Suddenly, she looked very tired and raised a hand. “I am only going to test her for any remaining corruption, John. Please, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“And what if you find any?” Aclysia wanted to know, dagger still in hand. Lydia’s eyes closing was enough of an answer.

Regardless of Undine’s choice, John couldn’t let that happen. He would protect her and if it was the last thing he di-

A word spread through the air. A word of absolute clarity and wonder. Not a word John understood, not on the level of comprehension of language, just a word, sung with the brilliance of a glass harmonica. Soon the word ended and was replaced by another one. A song in a language still incomprehensible to John, but now known as elemental, resonated in his ears and spread throughout his being.

John had to think of the siren from ancient myths. A creature whose sweet song made sailors run their ships on riffs. The song of Undine’s corrupted state had been, without a doubt, that. What he heard now wasn’t sweet allure. It was a song that needed no words to be understood, a song of incomprehensible foolishness, of sadness, regret, and of loss.

John turned around to see Undine sitting in the swamp of her own making. She sang of endless nights, of loneliness, of mistakes. John once again passed Lydia as he walked towards Undine once more. The princess didn’t stop him. She heard the lyrics of far-flung jealousy, of fear, of sorrow. She heard, and she must have understood, for she was part elemental herself.

The song had nice parts, parts that almost drowned out the negativity of it all. They always returned, the feelings of loud disharmony, of hypocrisy and of the hatred for oneself. John stumbled the last few steps through the mud and hugged the singing girl as she was crying from blind eyes that saw nothing.

And the song ended in the words that John had asked her to say, “I am sorry, I…” John squeezed her as intensely as he dared to. He embraced her and she whispered words to him. Words that had been bottled up for far too long. Words that he would keep to himself. Words that finally flowed freely.

It was the start of mending.

The formerly pristine garden was a field of mud, splintered wood and broken pavement. Ignoring the cold, John swathed through the swampy ground, his expensive shoes sinking deep into the mud. His socks were drenched after two steps, splatters of dirty water sprinkled over his suit pants. None of that mattered, only Undine did. Before John even got there, the water spirit had assumed a new form. This time it was not cause for concern. Undine had become a blob, an elliptic, skipping stone shaped blob. John looked her over and saw a series of swirling red lines where the corruption had befallen her. He wondered whether these were supposed to be there from the transformation or an elemental type of scar tissue. The curiosity about this competed with how livid he was. John felt a confusing mixture of emotion right now: relief, worry, anger, a sort of comedic disbelief, and the overarching euphoria of having overcome yet another terrible incident. Well, almost overcome, the void where Undine's spiritual connection to him had been still reminded him that not all was fine, like a freshly removed tooth. Nia, looking a bit translucent, stubbed Undine. The surface jiggled like firm pudding. Without changing her expression in the slightest but with the intent interest of a playful cat, she kept poking the blue ball until John kneeled down next to Undine. What the hell were you thinking? he burst out after a moment of silence. You ripped a part of my soul out, or at least what it felt like on a pain scale, and almost managed to corrupt yourself to unfixable levels. The only thing that prevented it was the sheer luck that we had a blank here! Said blank was suddenly taking John's face and turned it towards her. Then her pale lips were on his. Under other circumstances he would have found this awesome, but he really wasn't in the mood right now. Regardless, she was what had solved this situation, so the best he could do was try to make it good. Before he got to answer the kiss, however, Nia already pulled back. Now a little less translucent, she stood up and walked off. John could not read that girl. What was that about? he asked Lydia. She is anchoring herself, so she won't fade into the other side, the princess said with crossed arms. She and her bodyguards were forming a not particularly well-meaning semi-circle around them. Get this over with, so we can discuss what we do next! the iron girl demanded. John turned back to the shamefully quivering blob that was his former water spirit. I am not going to take responsibility for this, Undine, he said to her. I asked you to tell me what was wrong, repeatedly. I thought you, of all people, would be honest. I am disappointed, I really am. Your hypocrisy is staggering, but He took an incredibly deep breath, it left him audibly through the nose, and he leaned forwards. With nothing he could hug or anything of the sorts, he simply put his forehead onto the round blue shape. I am just so happy you are okay, he whispered, feeling the vibrations underneath his hands. He just remained there for a solid minute until he finally mustered up the will to move again. Well, now that you can't weasel your way out of it by just sending me emotions for once, let's hear you say I am sorry' properly! he announced and got up. There was no reply, Undine just kept being a blob of sadness, misery and uncertainty in the middle of the mess she made for herself. John sighed, You know, our contract is null and void right now, you broke it yourself. The quivers of the blob increased, and he took a step backwards. You have two choices right now: either you apologize properly, tell me exactly why you did what you did, or you will be a renegade. The mana you have right now should allow you to stay in this world for a few hours, maybe you will find someone else? Maybe you will just slip back into your home plane? I know what I want you to do, but I won't force anything on you, John said as he walked away from her. He arrived next to Rave, who was watching this whole thing go down with the expression of someone who had bitten into something sour. She didn't like the drama, nor did John, but it had to be done. He couldn't just forgive Undine for this one. The other four elementals were torn on the matter. They were all around Undine right now. Tell her what you want and then come with me,' John instructed them. We're going inside.' But, but, but,' Sylph sniffed in his mind. I don't want Undine to leave! Make her stay!' I can't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do,' John thought back. But, but, but' Sylph cried, wordless. A blue strip flew by John as Sylph entered the house. He kept his back to Undine; he didn't want to look at the pile of misery she was. What if he was wrong and she wanted to leave? What if she never apologized? Aclysia and Rave each were by his side, taking his hands as the other elementals said what they needed to. You know, I thought you were the best of us, Salamander said, the embers of admiration having ignited the fire of disappointment; You never got involved with the flood of bull crap, you had your dignity and all that jazz, and you knew when to open your mouth. Turns out you are an even worse fuck up than the rest of us. The blaze elemental spat onto the ground before making her way over to John. Sylph, now in her human sized form, ran past John at that moment. Carrying dozens of items. Sniffing, Sylph spoke, her quick words a palavering of sadness, I-i-i-iif you are going, you should have these, these are yours, right? Yes they are Undine, hey, Undine, can you answer me? Just this once? the tempest elemental pleaded as she placed the ships that Undine always had with her when she bathed, her one own possession, on top of the blob.I swear I will not annoy you as much, I know you don't like me talking this much. I think. I actually don't know, you never say a lot, you just sometimes get annoyed. I mean, I mean, I would be so happy if you got annoyed right now. Please, you can shout at me as much as you want, just say something, please, pleassseeee? But the blob stayed silent. Waaaaaaah, Sylph started crying on top of the blob. Come, Gnome gently put a hand on her sister's shoulder. The fact that she had nothing to say to Undine was, perhaps, the most damning thing about this whole situation. Noooo, Undine, please, I swear I won't give you nicknames anymore! You can even eat all of my sweeeeets! Sylph shouted as Gnome picked her up and carried her away. Gnome only glanced back one more time, her eyes spelling out that, while she had no words for her, she would miss her nonetheless. That left only Siena. The catalyst for this whole debacle. Are you blaming me, I wonder? Siena mumbled. I couldn't say you are completely wrong. I knew how weak a state you were in, I wanted to see something exciting, I wanted you to break out of your shell, and instead I got this. Perhaps I should have just kept goading you into speaking your mind. I don't know. A long pause. With forced certainty, Siena continued. You pulled the trigger in the end, don't come and blame me for your choices. The nightmare elemental dropped into the veil of night. That was everything. John had nothing left to say either. He was as disappointed as Salamander, as sad as Sylph, as helpless as Gnome and as certain as Siena as much as he hated to be of the same mind as her. If Undine was unable to raise her voice now, this game would only repeat itself the next time she was unhappy, and John could not face this again. Let's go, if she doesn't want to stay, that is her decision, he mumbled with a quivering voice. He was about to leave a part of himself behind, something that had been so ingrained in his soul that it was part of him. An extension of himself, now missing, the void she would leave behind could never be truly filled, even if he found a replacement. He walked, slowly at first, then at a normal speed as, with every step, his certainty that there was going to be no apology, no justification even, from Undine grew. He passed Lydia and her bodyguards. Ready for capture, the princess said. John stared at her with disbelief. Don't expect me to let something the strength of Undine roam around freely, the royal told him with the certainty of the executioner's edge; No emotions will ever come between me and my duty to my country. If there is as much as a shred of a chance that she will fall to corruption again, I will have her killed. I didn't think ya could be this heartless, anal queen, Rave hissed. Lydia crossed her arms behind her back, her face an emotionless mask. Easy to say for someone with no greater responsibility than their own amusement. I do not have the luxury of your freedom of consequence. My heart may be heavy, my shoulders may tremble, but I will carry the burden of rulership, the princess' tone was ironclad. You will have to win your own damn tournament in that case, John reminded her. Lydia stared, her jaw circling. Suddenly, she looked very tired and raised a hand. I am only going to test her for any remaining corruption, John. Please, don't make this harder than it needs to be. And what if you find any? Aclysia wanted to know, dagger still in hand. Lydia's eyes closing was enough of an answer. Regardless of Undine's choice, John couldn't let that happen. He would protect her and if it was the last thing he di- A word spread through the air. A word of absolute clarity and wonder. Not a word John understood, not on the level of comprehension of language, just a word, sung with the brilliance of a glass harmonica. Soon the word ended and was replaced by another one. A song in a language still incomprehensible to John, but now known as elemental, resonated in his ears and spread throughout his being. John had to think of the siren from ancient myths. A creature whose sweet song made sailors run their ships on riffs. The song of Undine's corrupted state had been, without a doubt, that. What he heard now wasn't sweet allure. It was a song that needed no words to be understood, a song of incomprehensible foolishness, of sadness, regret, and of loss. John turned around to see Undine sitting in the swamp of her own making. She sang of endless nights, of loneliness, of mistakes. John once again passed Lydia as he walked towards Undine once more. The princess didn't stop him. She heard the lyrics of far-flung jealousy, of fear, of sorrow. She heard, and she must have understood, for she was part elemental herself. The song had nice parts, parts that almost drowned out the negativity of it all. They always returned, the feelings of loud disharmony, of hypocrisy and of the hatred for oneself. John stumbled the last few steps through the mud and hugged the singing girl as she was crying from blind eyes that saw nothing. And the song ended in the words that John had asked her to say, I am sorry, I John squeezed her as intensely as he dared to. He embraced her and she whispered words to him. Words that had been bottled up for far too long. Words that he would keep to himself. Words that finally flowed freely. It was the start of mending.