Indeed, he was at the bottom of the lagoon, in its dark and hidden depths. An ice cocoon had formed around him in his dormancy but he could hear the will of the children, could see them as they moved about and on with their lives; but Tenzin did not serve this place any longer. Still, he was trapped. Still, he would assist the children as was his duty to them.

A request from the edge of the lagoon trickled down to him. His icy egg cracked and fell to his feet, wings stretching in the vastness of the depths—but he remembered, too, that he could not rise quickly. Last time had been... less than ideal. With a gentle but single downward press of his wings, he rose through the water as if gliding. A brief but easy wave welled out of the lagoon's surface, washing over Pisces in a shallow flood of icy water.

And he emerged slowly, his talons bracing him against the inner wall of the lagoon so that only half of his body was exposed. He observed the flooding and was more pleased by the shallow aftermath than the destruction he had wrought before (oops). Still, it was inevitable. His wings reached up and out, bracing against the wet stone with powerful force, encircling his visitors.

Nemean, the winged dog had said. Throwing up goo?

He searched for them at the lagoon's edge. He could help. So was his duty to the children.

"Your friend?" he echoed, peeking down to them, oblivious to any disturbance they may have had by the water overflowing just moments ago. Their issue sounded strange indeed. The Quartz seemed old as far as the children went. Had it truly been corrupted? Tenzin let the water feed back to him as it receded into the lagoon. He could not sense Nemean's foul traces within it, and was left to wonder what may truly be affecting the feline.

"Hello," he greeted them both, his mind lost in the thought of ailments. Was the goo perhaps blood? In any case, if the child had accepted that it was dying—or at least knew of this—then he was not sure he could help much. But they could try something. Tenzin would. His mind raced.

"What color is this goo?" the phoenix asked, his eyes wandering Pisces as he thought.

He listened, observing the goo placed before him and listened still. Tenzin did not know of a realm in which there were other sprites like Nemean, and it made him sick to think of such a thing. "How awful," he commented quietly, studying the goo from afar. But if it were truly Nemean behind such a thing, he could not imagine a worse fate for the Gembound to be tethered to.

"Let me see," he said softly, closing his eyes to look within—into the Quartz that was the source of life, of magic. What ails this creature? he asked.

Indeed, there was Nemean's influence, hidden and tucked deep within the roots of this Gembound.

His eyes fluttered opened in shock, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Can you swim? Would you come into the pool with me? Perhaps my waters may see clearer," he suggested. "You may brace against me, but I am sorry; it will be cold."

He waited as they decided and felt pride to know how kind the children were to each other at times. Of course, there were certainly dark times, but these moments warmed his heart. As Nassir entered the water, Tenzin held his breath for the first few moments until it became clear that the Gembound could not swim. Without mentioning the issue, he dug his talons deeper into the rock and pulled a wing into the water, sweeping it carefully and slowly below Nassir to create a platform of ice. The phoenix kept its wing under the water, to support both Nassir and the ice platform.

With Nassir now within the waters of the lagoon, Tenzin closed his eyes and focused on the Quartz the he could sense. Slowly, as he read the situation, it became clear to him that Nassir's body was poisoned but functional, and so the Gembound had not entered a state of reformation. It was a terrible thing, Tenzin thought. He could do nothing to cure poisons such as this, natural and fair.

But he could help Nassir reform, if that option was viable for the child.

"It is not a simple thing," he said at last, his voice quiet and caring as he looked down toward the leopard. "There is a poison within your blood, but it cannot be drawn out—it is a part of you now, and does not kill you, but certainly damages you." Tenzin hesitated. He did not know how to suggest such a thing to one of the born children.

He could not find a way to sugarcoat it. "Unfortunately, your options may be to live as you are, or force yourself into a state of reformation," the phoenix said slowly. "During reformation, you will be healed, but I cannot predict how your Quartz and the magic that dwells within you will choose to do so."