Mig nodded and strode confidently up to the throne, taking a knee in front of Resthollow and lowering her head. Resthollow put her palm on top of Mig’s head, a surge of Issi that even Elach could sense coming from every direction focusing directly on top of Resthollow’s hand. The issi coalesced into a dagger, curved and bladed on one side and straight with notches on the other, a shining steel blade that hovered above Resthollow’s hand like an executioner’s looming axe. There was no hint of white at all on the blade, it’s guard and hilt also made of steel, and Elach surmised that Mig had asked for steel Issi when she bonded with Resthollow. Without warning the blade pierced through Resthollow’s hand and into the top of Mig’s head. And then the two of them stayed like that, unmoving, for ten minutes. Elach assumed that they were working out the terms of the bond in Mig’s headspace, but he couldn’t be sure until he got his turn.

Elach raised his head from where he was sitting when he thought he heard Mig mutter something incomprehensible, but they were still locked in place. Though something was changing; a steel grey tattoo was etching itself onto Mig’s bicep. Most of the guards he’d seen had had steel grey hair, so why was Mig getting a tattoo from her bond? Was it because this wasn’t Mig’s first bond, or did people have some kind of control over what Issi does to their bodies and all the guards had chosen the steel hair? Elach ran a hand through his own hair as he wondered what would change for him, and what had already changed for Kayvee.

Another ten minutes of mumbling from Mig and the occasional affirmative coo from Resthollow followed, then the knife piercing Resthollow’s hand dissolved into steel grey Issi that flowed down into Mig. Her tattoo shimmered in the light as the Issi found a home in Mig’s container, looking more like her arm had been etched with actual steel than a steel-coloured pigment. Mig groaned and rolled her arm, tilting her head at an awkward angle to get a better look at her new tattoo.

“Tattoo number two down.” Mig said in a scratchy voice. “How do I grow this seed, Resthollow?”

“I will explain everything you need to know once Elach has his bond. I do not wish to repeat myself when he is able to understand my words.” Resthollow said, their voice clear as ever, and they beckoned Elach forward.

“Right, bondless and all that.” Mig nodded, scanning the room and locking on to a pitcher of water in the corner of the room. “Mind if I partake?”

“Go ahead, but try to leave some for Elach.” Resthollow said, and Mig beelined it to the refreshments. “Are you ready, gardener?”

Resthollow manifested another dagger, and anticipation welled up in Elach’s gut. He strolled stiffly forward, kneeling in front of Resthollow just as Mig had, and said the words that would put him at the starting line. “I am.”

He didn’t see Resthollow thrust the dagger through her hand, but the shrieking of metal on metal followed by a burning sensation at the crown of his head let him know that they’d started. A bizarre feeling of introspection pulled him what felt like backwards and down, falling through the countless floors beneath him until he landed in his headspace. The closet was a tiny bit larger, the lotus fountain in the middle of it far more solid and still dripping streams of water down into the nothing below. But there was one huge difference; the lotus bud was gone. Shards of leaves that looked like broken eggshells floated in the fountain, never being pulled down with the streams, their black and purple sheen obvious against the clear water of the fountain.

Resthollow was standing on the other side of the fountain, surveying the small space without any hint of judgment or prejudice. They walked up to the fountain and dipped one of their fingers in the water, rubbing it to their thumb and separating them as a long clear strand stretched between them. Elach narrowed his eyes as he mirrored resthollow’s action, but the water still acted like normal water for him. He went to wipe his hand against his shirt, but then he remembered that it was still down there in the void. So he wiped it on his pants instead.

“Did you bond with a newborn wisp, Elach?” Resthollow asked with curiosity.

“How did you know?” Elach snorted. “Was it the fact that my headspace is fun-sized?”

“Yes.” Resthollow answered, ignoring Elach’s sarcasm. “But most newborn wisps cannot create anything like this.” Resthollow motioned at the fountain and the un-floor. “Their creations normally have only the bare necessities; a mound of dirt, a puddle, a sunbeam. The absolute minimum for a wisp of their Issi type. What kind of wisp did you bond, Elach?”

Elach wanted to tell Resthollow everything, but then he remembered Hollow’s caution. They ran instead of dealing with the living city, fearing for their own safety. And that made Elach pause. He heard something snap, but it was muffled by the power in his headspace. His vision blurred and Resthollow teleported back a few feet to where they were standing before they asked him about his wisp, and he felt like he shouldn’t be able to remember this. And that he would have forgotten if he wasn’t being protected by his headspace and the flowing lotus.

“I bonded with a wisp that looked like a purple flower bud mottled with black. It was out of desperation, before you rescued me and Kayvee from the Issi beasts and the intruders.” Elach explained. A part of the truth, but missing the most important bits.

Resthollow nodded. “Your headspace does have the qualities of a newborn wisp. Did you bond with a newborn wisp, Elach?”

Elach raised an eyebrow. Resthollow had already asked him this. Had they forgotten, or were they reiterating? “I guess?. There were other flower wisps that were fully bloomed, so I guess a flower bud would be a newborn.”

“That explains the small space you have here.” Resthollow gestured around the closet, ignoring the fountain that they’d zeroed in on previously. “Do not worry. Your container and headspace will grow as you do.”

“Good to know.” Elach muttered, scanning the room once more for the lotus bud. He assumed it was normal for the wisp to be gone, but from what Resthollow had first said his headspace wasn’t normal. “So how do we go about getting bonded?”

“My presence should have been enough to begin the process.” Resthollow said, looking around for any trace of their Issi. “Though I suppose a newborn wisp might not accept Issi so readily. Take this; it will aid them to accept my power.” Resthollow opened their hand with a palm facing upwards, a vortex of shining grey Issi condensing over their hand. They tossed Elach the sphere of steel when it had fully formed. He caught it in one hand, the sphere pulsing with warmth and Issi like an egg about to hatch. “Focus on the Issi within that seed and will it into existence. That will start the process.”

Elach held the seed to his chest and focused on the warmth it gave off, trying to let it into his own little world. It took a while, the seed pulsing and unraveling bit by bit into a swirling tempest of steel ribbons around a core of Issi, until he finally felt it’s hold loosen and Issi flooded over him and into his headspace. He opened his eyes as the feeling subsided to see that the Issi was spreading all throughout the room, coating the walls and non-existent floor until it touched the waters spilling forth from the fountain.

The Issi lost its hold on Elach’s headspace, sliding off the walls as if they were suddenly coated in oil, falling through the floor until it was just a little speck in the distance below. Elach’s heart sunk and he looked at Resthollow for any kind of advice on what had just happened, only to find their faceplate locked on the Issi tumbling into the void as well.

“So I’m guessing that’s not supposed to happen?” Elach asked.

Resthollow didn’t answer for a long moment, slowly looking up to lock their faceplate to Elach’s eyes. “It is not. Your headspace completely rejected my bond. This has never happened, not once in all of the bonds I have created with all of my vassals.”

“Maybe we could try bone or fortification Issi?” Elach tried, but Resthollow didn’t answer his question. “It doesn’t have to be steel, I just want a bond.”

“I cannot bond with you. You reject my steel, for reasons I cannot fathom.” Resthollow decreed, and Elach’s headspace started spinning. He was thrown off to the side, slammed into a wall while Resthollow held their ground. They were no longer looking at him. He'd failed, somehow.

Resthollow's Issi concentrated in his headspace, the deafening screech of metal on stone forcing him to clamp his hands over his ears. “You have other types of Issi!” He shouted over the growing cacophony. “Can’t I try to bond with one of them?”

“I am sorry I could not provide you with the steel you sought.” Resthollow said with a deep sadness in their voice. “I will try to find a substitute that could attempt to replace the Issi you would gain from the failed bond.”

“Why are you ignoring me?” Elach screamed in desperation. He could feel tears running down his cheeks, his stomach tying itself in knots. He'd never felt anything like this before. “Try something other than steel!”

“What are you talking about?” Resthollow asked, and then Elach heard it. A quiet snap in the background, barely audible over the deafening roar of issi. “You haven’t spoken in the last minute.”

Elach rose to his feet in front of Resthollow not five minutes after they’d started. Something had happened in his headspace that he wasn’t supposed to be able to remember. It was like he was an audience member who had drunkenly stumbled onto the stage, and the actors had just continued without acknowledging his presence. Resthollow apologized once more, but it felt broken and far off to him. He didn’t know how long he would remember this, but he needed to try and keep these memories as long as possible. Now he could feel the holes in his memories; the bizarre talk with Kayvee in the inn, the times in the void, and then just before Resthollow addressed the five of them.

“How’d you bond so fast?” Mig asked through a mouthful of pastry. “My first bonding took almost an hour and you were only out for five minutes. What happened?”

Elach pushed down the awful feeling welling up in his gut and silenced his errant thoughts. “The bond failed.”

“Oh.” Mig paused with the next bite halfway to her mouth. “Sorry.”

“I realize that this is not of equal value to a true bond, but I can arrange for some gifts to be given.” Resthollow said, rising from their throne and dispersing the knife into Issi. “Keep this for yourself.” They handed over the seed Elach had tried to bond, the bands of steel wrapped around a now empty core. “Maybe you will find some use for it. I will arrange a place for you to live and coin to cover a half year’s worth of expenses and frivolous things. Hopefully come next solstice your headspace will be mature enough to accept my bond, once you have cleared our trial once more.”

Elach seriously doubted that. Something had prevented him from bonding with Resthollow, and it most certainly had something to do with his wisp. His thoughts delved deeper into the problem, but a quiet snap erased them from his mind. He had a place to live for the next long while, so he could focus on trying to improve himself without taking on a bond. It had to be possible, or else there would be tales of people bonding newborn wisps and getting stuck for the rest of their lives.

“I am sorry I could not do more for you, Elach. But I do have to explain to Mig how to grow the seed she has been given.” Resthollow said sadly, motioning at the door.

He could take a hint.

"Maybe next solstice." Elach said with a forced smile.