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Vur sat with his legs crossed, holding each of his elementals with one arm. Sheryl and Diamant were in his right hands, and Zilphy and Mistle were in his left hands. Zilphy and Mistle had their skinny arms crossed against the rocky bodies, facing away from each other with their eyes closed. Sheryl was twiddling her thumbs, her lips pursed as if she was whistling, but no sound came out. Diamant just looked like a rock, neither his arms nor eyes showing. In between the gap in Vur’s legs, there was a turtle shell with four shiny eyes peeking out of both ends. On top of Vur’s head, Stella was lying on her stomach, her chin propped up with her palms. She chewed on a piece of grass, her legs bent at her knees and fluttering in the air.
“Okay, you four,” Vur said and nodded. “You have to get along with each other. None of us are going anywhere until the problem between the four of you is fixed.”
Sheryl raised her hand. “I actually have no problems with anyone. Can I go back inside of you?”
“Ahem,” Mistle said, her eyes cracking open. “You might not have any problems with us, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem with you. I, for one, don’t like you.”
Sheryl blinked twice. “What? Really?” She pointed at her face. “You don’t like me? Have I done anything to wrong you? How come you never told me before?”
“Well, since we’re airing out our grievances, I thought I should mention it,” Mistle said. “I honestly don’t like any of you, except Diamant, of course. That includes you, Vur. I really dislike you as my contractor. I only listen to you because of our contract. And you, little fairy”—Mistle pointed at Stella—“I dislike you even more than I dislike Vur. In fact, I borderline hate you, but I don’t actually hate you because hate is such a strong word.”
Vur tilted his head, and Stella had to grab onto his hair to prevent herself from rolling off. Before he or Stella could say anything, Sheryl spoke up, “Wait. Explain to me why you don’t like me first.”
“You’re a fire elemental,” Mistle said. “That’s a good enough reason for me.”
Sheryl’s coallike eyes widened. “I can’t help that I was born a fire elemental.” She turned towards Vur. “I’m being discriminated against.”
Vur nodded and shook Mistle up and down. “Bad. You can’t do that.”
Mistle groaned and clutched her head, which also happened to be a part of her body. “And this is why I don’t like you. I’m not a dog that needs to be trained! You keep treating me like I’m subhuman!”
“You’re an elemental,” Stella said, still chewing on her piece of grass.
“You keep treating me like I’m sub-elemental!” Mistle shook her fist at Vur. “Do you see the difference between the way you treat Sheryl and the way you treat me?”
“That’s because Sheryl doesn’t discriminate,” Vur said and nodded. “She’s a good person.”
“I’m a good person too,” Mistle said, biting her lower lip. “You just haven’t given me the chance to show it. Haven’t I done exactly what you asked me to do?”
“If you have to go around saying you’re a good person, then you’re not a good person,” Stella said and shrugged. “People know you’re good without you having to say anything. Like Sheryl.”
“You’re going to make me blush,” Sheryl said, her already red surface turning even redder.
Mistle narrowed her eyes at Sheryl. “This is why I dislike you.” She jabbed her arm at Zilphy, nearly pushing the green rock off of Vur’s hand. Zilphy yelped and scowled, turning around to glare at Mistle. Mistle nodded. “And I don’t like her because she stole my man.” She tilted her body up to meet Vur’s eyes. “You said that none of us are going anywhere until our problems are solved. Well, I guess that means we won’t be going anywhere for a very long time. I’ll have you know, ocean elementals are very patient.”
“I vote we get rid of her,” Zilphy said and raised her hand. “If she has so many problems with us, then she should get out.” She smiled at Vur. “There’s no need for someone like her to be contracted with someone as awesome as you.”
“No, there’s a need,” Stella said. “She has to water my roots. Without her, there’s no water. And without water, there’s no plants. And that can’t happen. Mistle stays. Next solution!”
“I say we give her to Grimmoldesser over there for a week to let him reeducate her,” Sheryl said, pointing at Grimmy, who was sleeping in the distance.
“Sheryl,” Stella said. “We just established the fact that you’re nice. You can’t go around offering cruel and unusual punishment right after we did that. No reeducation from the evil dragon. Next! Deedee, any ideas?”
“Yes, I have a great one, in fact,” Diamant said, his eyes opening for the first time since Vur started his group meeting. “As we all know, I’m the source of most of the drama. If we remove me from the equation, then there should be no issues. How about Vur and I drop our contract—”
“Rejected,” Stella said, cutting Diamant off. “After tricking you into a contract, we can’t let you go free that easily.” She leaned over Vur’s head and looked down into his eyes. “How about you, any ideas?”
“Deedee has a point,” Vur said. “Mistle and Zilphy don’t like each other because Mistle thinks Zilphy stole Deedee from her. Then the easiest way to fix this is to marry Deedee to Mistle too.”
“No!” Zilphy shouted.
Vur blinked. “Then you and Deedee can get a divorce?”
“Also no!”
Vur frowned and lowered his hand that was holding Zilphy. “What do you three think?” he asked the remaining elementals.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Mistle said. “This is the best idea you’ve had since I became contracted to you.”
“I disapprove,” Diamant said.
“Yeah…, I’m kinda with Deedee and Zilphy on this one,” Sheryl said and scratched her head. She stiffened. “And I’m not saying that just to be at odds with Mistle because she said she didn’t like me.”
“Vur? What are you doing? Have you seen Mary…”—there was a sigh—“Mary Junior around?”
Vur turned his head. Tafel was walking towards him. He pressed all the elementals back into his body and retracted his retractable arms. “Who’s Mary Junior?”
“The turtle thing with the snake tail,” Tafel said. Her gaze landed on the turtle that was trying to blend into the ground between Vur’s legs. “Mary’s looking for it.” Her chest throbbed when a tear dripped out of the turtle’s shell. “I think I’ll tell her I couldn’t find it.”