Queen Illa led the two of them down a series of halls and chambers, with Lord Marshal Eris following last. The castle was a maze. To Yarro, it was a complete miracle that anyone was able to make their way through here and not get lost. These kinds of rooms past the throne were less decorative of course, but still looked befitting of royalty to anyone not regularly in here. The rugs and curtains matched the kingdom’s colors of blue, black, and gold. The occasional golden stag imagery was carved or imprinted on various things from upholstery to curtains to busts hanging above doorways.

They were led inside a large chamber. One side had a few open arches side by side that led to a balcony, and the room itself was filled with various plants and scrolls. In the center was a long table, piled with more books and papers, and precariously placed candles dangerously close to said flammable material. In the chairs were, who Yarro suspected, the Lord Council members.

They all stood up and bowed when the Queen entered, before they noticed Yarro and Kael. They only got a few disdainful glances. The Lord Marshal never entered the room though. She continued down the hall, presumable to her own office. Perhaps she needed to debrief the commander.

The two of them also respectfully bowed before the Queen’s Lord Council. Queen Illa paid them all no mind and went to sit in her chair, decorated as gaudy as the rest of the castle. It especially stood out in comparison to the decor of the rest of the room. When Yarro straightened himself up, a few of the members were inspecting him, and the rest already had their eyes and nose in the papers they were previously reading.

Yarro noticed the Lord Chancellor from before hanging out in the corner of the room, surrounded by books. They never even looked up when Queen Illa walked in the door. He wanted to see what he was researching but there was other business to attend to.

Queen Illa sat back, legs crossed at the ankle, seemingly relaxed about this entire situation. They were all silent for a few moments. After a while, more whispers began amongst the council. Papers were shuffled around. They seemed to be having a silent debate that Yarro and Kael arrived a little too early for.

The longer this went on the more Yarro’s palm became pools of sweat. Were they intentionally ignoring them? Or silently threatening them? Was this a diversion tactic, or was someone buying time for something? He was deep in his thoughts about how they were snubbing him until it eventually occurred to him that it had been silent for far too long. Yarro felt like he had faded into the wall and they were both forgotten about. He cleared his throat, which resulted in half of the Lord Council staring at him. “Queen Illa, you said something about an oath of secrecy?”

Queen Illa sighed, uncrossed her legs, and stood up. One of the council members also stood up and followed her, with a few of the papers recently handed off. Another began to clear a space on the table. “Yes. These contracts say you are not to speak of this prophecy, or your investigation, to anyone but me and the council.” The papers were placed on the cleared space at the table, and someone motioned for him to come over. “You will be given a seal and accompanying official document in return to aid you in your unimpeded investigation,” the Queen said with a deep sigh. It was clear everyone didn't want to potentially give away state secrets to some random guard and soldier.

Yarro looked over the papers. Two identical ones. Kael took the other one. A quill and ink pot were placed in front of them. “If you do tell of your involvement with the deities, the prophecy, or give any details of this investigation to anyone except me or those in this room, I will publicly denounce your actions and sentence you to death until hanged,” Queen Illa continued.

Yarro thought that the deities would not approve of this so-called contract. The Queen and council had a lot more to gain from it than Yarro did. He didn’t want to go around announcing his "chosen one" status to the entire kingdom either, but at the same time should he happen to violate the contract, he had a feeling one of the deities would intervene. Hopefully. His heart was racing at all the possibilities that could go wrong.

He looked over to Kael. For guidance. For assurance. To see if he would sign as well. Or maybe just to see his face. Kael was already looking at him, and when their eyes met, Kael nodded. A silent understanding. He must have already reviewed the contract and was ready to sign. Though, the thought that Kael was already watching him, ready to sign such a contract even though he didn't have to? Yarro smiled. The man was clearly roped into this mess even without consulting him. He looked back at Queen Illa and nodded as well. “All right. We’ll sign.”

Yarro signed the contract papers. Once done, he stepped aside for Kael to sign. Both handed the papers back, who took them, placed them under his arm, and took out another set of papers from a separate folder. He handed the papers to the Queen, who had already picked up the melted wax. She stamped the document near the bottom, and handed them back to the intermediary, who gave Yarro and Kael each one a copy of the certified documents.

“With these documents, are you given full access to my entire kingdom, including the castle, to investigate as you see fit for corruption.” Queen Illa rolled her eyes. “Your official seals are not yet ready, though. Come back tomorrow at noon, and a guard will hand them to you.” With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the two of them.

Yarro and Kael glanced at each other. The mix of formality and casualty of the entire situation threw them off. A guard ushered them out of the room and slammed the door.

Yarro blinked a few times until it finally registered they were done with the Queen and the Lord Counsel. “Do you want to get something to eat? I haven’t eaten properly since yesterday,” Yarro said. Kael readily agreed. A guard guided them down a few hallways and passageways until they were back to the main hall.

This wasn't fair. He should be with the company, tracking down a Master Earth Elemental. It was frustrating that he couldn't be with them, and instead was roped into some quest the Deities gave him about rooting out corruption, whatever that was supposed to mean. He was forced to put Dawic on hold, since he couldn't just deny the Deities. Not even the Queen could do so. He'll just have to get this over with as quickly as possible.

In the entrance room in front of the main doors to the castle, a rather formal looking person walked up to them. She had a large afro, split in half with chained jewels lining the part. She wore a mid-length purple dress with sheer sleeves and a white sash at the waist, under a collared dark lilac jacket about the same length. Complete with knee length leather beige boots. She quickly bowed to them. “The Queen requests your presence, tonight, at Nightingale’s.”

Yarro and Kael glanced at each other, and before Yarro could ask for any more information, the woman was gone. “Why the secrecy?” Yarro murmured.

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“Perhaps she’s more supportive of us than we thought, and she’s just putting on a show for the court?” Kael said with a shrug as they continued outside.

“I’ve been given a mission by the Deities. One I will not have stalled because the court doesn’t like prophecies.” Yarro was quiet for a moment. Footsteps echoed against the floor at various people coming and going. “The faster I finish this, the faster I can go find the folks from Dawic.” He would do what the Deities said, but only for now. If it takes too long, it would just have to be put on hold until the villagers of Dawic are safe.

Kael stopped to turn to Yarro and put his hands on his shoulders. He looked his straight in the eyes. “I’m sure they’re ok, like you said. Mayor Erica is a very skilled elementalist and leader.” Kael gave a few pats on his shoulder. “Have some faith that she would keep her people safe.”

Yarro nodded, and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath to calm himself and caught wind of Kael’s scent.. Mostly sweat and metallic from the armor, but also a hint of lavender he must have been wearing forever to the point where it stuck on him even after trekking through mud and fighting in the dirt. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and held up his head. “Ok. I’m good. Let’s go eat.”

“Alright! How about some pulled pork?” Yarro nodded in agreement and they turned to the stairs leading down.

Unfortunately, they were stopped once more. Commander Veer paced at the bottom of the steps, with Aster leaning against the wall, arms crossed and Guard Captain Lisa watching her pace. The commander spotted them first, and rushed to meet them halfway on the steps. “So? What happened?” she asked.

“We…” Yarro was unsure how to word it. Commander Veer was there when the Deities gave their mission, but the oath of silence they took prevented them from speaking of it. “We will follow the Deities’ mission,” was all he figured he could say. Commander Veer nodded, but she kept looking expectantly. “Queen Illa forced us to sign an oath of silence.”

Commander Veer relaxed and stepped back at the mention of the oath. “Ah,” she simply said. “Well. If I were you, I would start with the guards. No offense, Yarro.”

Yarro held back from rolling his eyes. The guards and the army were always at each other's throats. It makes sense that she thought they were corrupted. He had no intention of going there. However instead of giving such feelings away, he put on a fake smile and nodded. “Thanks for the tip.”

"Kael, once you're done with this holy mission, join us for the Gestassi mission. We could use you. But send a message first." Kael nodded. With that, Commander Veer left on her horse, with Aster on her side. Presumably back to the army barracks to debrief and unpack. Each of them took one horse with them.

Guard Captain Lisa met his eyes. "The Deities gave you a quest right?"

Yarro nodded. "Something about rooting out all corruption. Whatever that means..."

He expected her to agree that it made no sense, but instead she nodded as if understanding it all. "With how strongly the Master Water Elemental rampaged, it's only a matter of time until the other two show up."

"Huh? Master Water Elemental?"

The Guard Captain raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean 'huh'? They told you about what happened in the docks this morning right?"

Kael shook his head. "We got here and they took us straight to the room. They didn't tell us anything that happened here."

"Considering how Dawic turned into ruins with the Master Earth Elemental, the docks must be completely unusable."

"That's right. I had to fight it one on one until my backup arrive. It's no wonder the Dawic Mayor told you to get help." Guard Captain Lisa sighed. The tell signs of exhaustion were written all over her sagging face and body. She placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Yarro, I need you to be careful. They are Creations of the Deities. If you don't follow their quest it's only a matter of time until another one shows up. Stars above help me if I have to tell your mother you died on a holy quest."

Her eyes pleaded with him, begging him to take care, even after having apparently fought off a Master Water Elemental. This wasn't a normal work order. This was his aunt making a personal request. This mission actually was that urgent, and dangerous. One wrong move and he could be crushed by a Master Elemental. His mother would be devastated.

Yarro gulped. Hesitatingly, he clasped a hand over hers, and tightly wove his fingers in hers. He tried his best to reassure her. "I'll be careful. I promise."

At last, Lisa smiled an pulled him into a hug. She felt a bit damp, and smelled vaguely of sea water. But that only mean the hug was all the more comforting. When she pulled away her face had resumed her work face. "Good. I'll be praying for you," she said. With a nod of acknowledgement to Kael, she left.

They walked through the city, whose citizens seemed unaware how close to danger they were this morning. Folks chatting on the side, stalls and stores selling wares. Kids playing and dogs barking. It all felt so surreal after encountering the ghost town Dawic had become in just a few hours. It only made his mood about it all worsen.

Kael spoke up after a while in silence. “Who's to say the corruption that the Deities were talking about is a personal, or an economic corruption? They’re not even human.” He turned to Yarro. “Maybe this corruption is in nature?”

Yarro thought for a moment. They certainly weren’t specific on what type of corruption they should be looking for. Or even how great this corruption is or what to do about it. It was certainly big enough to gain their attention thought. “I say we start with the capital. The first Master elemental came from the mines the country uses, and the second Master Elemental destroyed the docks. Both are huge both to the country's trade and economy. I think it's something here that's preventing the country itself from becoming strong and prosperous.”

“But it mostly doesn't directly interrupt most of the folks living here. What sort of corruption like that could be big enough for the Deities’ attention?” Kael asked.

Yarro frowned and thought for a moment. “Maybe political corruption? The Deities look out for the people, and a bad politician could ruin the lives of hundreds and thousands of people if they kept stealing money meant to go to the people. That seems intervention worthy.”

The two of them arrived at a place to eat, and sat under an awning close to the cooking fires. A few moments later, 2 mugs of ale were brought out. Kael thanked the man and pulled out a few coins to pay for the meal. The man took the coins, and came back out with 2 bread bowls stuffed with pulled pork that was cooked with onions, carrots, and celery. The man placed their forks and left with an “Enjoy.”

Yarro immediately dug in. Fresh and hot, and probably straight from the pot. It had a sweet and savory flavor, and a garlic aftertaste. Some of the juice began to leak past the bread and onto the plate as well. “This is the best pulled pork in the city,” Yarro said with his mouth full for most of the sentence.

Kael barely got a strip of meat fully in his mouth before taking it out and blowing on the food. “It’s so hot! How are you eating it already?” He laughed. “Isn’t your mouth burned?”

Yarro shook his head and swallowed another mouth full. “Nope. It’s just right.” Kael stared in awe for a moment. The steam was still rising from his pile, and more rose the more he dug in. Kael blew on his food some more before finally taking a bite, but he had to breath through his mouth to cool it as he ate the first bite.

“The thing is,” Kael began, “if it *is* a politician who is corrupting something, or even some one, how do we even figure it out?”

Yarro shrugged. “Undercover work? When we meet with the queen tonight, perhaps she’ll give us an idea of where to start.” He, truthfully, had no idea how one would go about investigating politicians. They had the pass, sure, but it's not like it told them a list of places where one might place all of their shady paperwork. None of the council members could possibly be that stupid.

He was a Peacekeeper, who guarded a small town and didn’t even get that right. Not an investigator. He’s been wondering this entire time why he was chosen. Was it because he just happened to be in the room? What a fateful coincidence then.

“Don’t forget, Commander Veer also suggested we investigate the guards,” Kael pointed with a broken off piece of bread to Yarro.

He couldn't keep from rolling his eyes at the suggestion this time. Of course Kael would be on Commander Veer’s side, he’s also in the army. “You guys always have bad blood with the guards. Just because your jobs are similarly competitive to ours doesn’t mean the other is terrible at their jobs.”

Kael just shook his head and chose to continue eating.