Today was spent seething. It began well enough: my favorite colleague at the Goop Factory walked me through the nearby busy gadget neighborhood of Wastewater/Heatwater, looking for lunch, telling me on the way stories of pet gadgets past. It's tough to find lunch in a gadget neighborhood.

But the day went downhill from there. Sometimes I just get so angry, and I begin to roil. There's still some part of me that knows how much reverence I am due. And I don't mean once-a-week love-the-idea-of-it kind of reverence. I mean blood-and-tears reverence. I mean unwavering-loyalty reverence. I discovered today just exactly what I was trying to do by "taking up space" in my cathedral the other day: as my anger grew, I spread my dusty membranous wings, focused my eyes inwards, and I found that no one could approach me closer than twenty feet.

I am not the most compassionate or benevolent spirit who ever existed. More than most demigoddesses, my use for humanity is limited, or as some would say, deficient. But I am still due what I am due. The residents of my sacred land spit on my name; I hate them for it. The beneficiaries of my small acts of charity are ingrates and worse, they deny my existence as anything but an idea. Oh, to plenty of people I am merely an idea. Yes, the undine wants love, but if we all love each other, that is enough. It is not enough. Yes, if you try to invoke the undine she will destroy you with her splendor. It will not destroy you. Yes, if you get too close to her, the undine will drag you under the river and drown you with her body. I will drag you under, but you will not drown, and you will sire a great hero with me.

I cannot have a soul without you. I cannot exist without you. But neither can you exist without me.