Yarro and Kael left the public baths smelling much better than before. The cinnamon soap he had chosen before was still strong in his nose. Kael wore a pale yellow, long sleeved tunic tucked into his knee length loose green pants. Yarro worse an unbuttoned white tunic with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tucked into a pair of loose brown pants, with a brown open vest. The pants themselves were tucked into boots that went up to the calves.

“Let’s put away our things first. I’ll meet you by the castle lawn in about half an hour?”

Kael nodded. “Sure. See you in a few minutes,” he said before he walked off in the opposite direction.

Yarro rushed back home to drop off his dirty laundry, then immediately headed back out to the castle. He found Kael kneeling on the base of the Earth Deity’s statue. His head close to the ground but not touching it, and arms parallel to his knees. His mouth muttered something that Yarro couldn’t quite make out the words of.

Yarro came up to Kael, the mutterings becoming all the more clearer. He listened silently as the prayers he vaguely came back to him. He figured he should follow along, even if it was only mentally, but he couldn’t even do that. It had been far too long since he had to utter a single prayer. When Kael was done, he first sat up, then stood up. He formally bowed once more before Yarro finally spoke up. “I didn’t know you prayed.”

“Not often,” Kael shrugged. “But I figured we'd need it for whatever mess we’re about to head in to. Ready?”

Yarro nodded and the two of them headed up the long set of stairs and went into the castle. On the interior, there was a bustling amount of servants bringing things this way and that, running with things in their hands or sometimes not at all. Yarro and Kael awkwardly stood in the front of the entrance for a few moments before a lone guard in ceremonial armor came up to them. Though the armor was not as fancy as the previous guard they had encountered, it was still obvious that he would be useless in an actual fight. How unfortunate.

This guard held out a blue jade medallion and the official seal carved on it. One in each hand. The two of them each took one. “These are your seals. You will get only one, and they will be returned once your mission is complete,” the guard said. “Follow me.” They turned around without waiting for any acknowledgement and walked down a hallway in the back corner of the entryway.

Yarro tucked away his seal in his pants, and followed the guard down a series of hallways and up a few flights of stairs to the records room. Shelves and shelves of dusty books and a few old desks in the center of the room and a few more by the windows. For a record room, it was a lot smaller than he thought it would be. At the very least, it was well lit. “Thank you,” Yarro said to the guard.

“I shall wait out here, to escort you back out when you’re done,” the guard said and quickly bowed. They stationed themselves next to the door outside the room, and stared at the wall across.

After a moment, Kael gently closed the door behind him. “Right. Where should we start?”

“More like who should we start with?” Yarro asked. He wandered down a few aisles. “Should we start from the top of the food chain? Even then that's quite a lot of people.”

“It would be too easy for us to just find some open corruption with the Queen and King, or even their aides or council members. They wouldn’t let us be here if it were,” Kael said. He pulled around a random book and flipped through it. He had quite a serious look on his face. Studious. Yarro hadn’t seen this side of him before but he liked it.

“Unless they were going to kill us…” Yarro trailed off as he watched Kael closely for any reaction. Kael had paused at the thought, only to look up at Yarro, mildly concerned.

“Nah,” he said and put the book back where he found it, evidently not finding whatever he was looking for. "Queen Illa wants to introduce us to the Capes. No way she would kill us." Kael went through a few more aisles while Yarro merely watched him work. There was something about this aura around him, the way he moved and worked, that Yarro found attractive. At this point he completely forgot the question he was asking.

Eventually he snapped himself out of it and dug in what books he could find based on the tips he received while also trying not to get in Kael’s way. Yarro spent what felt like ages trying to find just one book. The room wasn’t even large enough for one to get lost in, yet it held too many books to look through.

Yarro's thoughts began to wander farther and farther from the reason they were in here in the first place. There were heaps upon heaps of books on the country's trade, a lot of which either came from or went to the now destroyed port. Turns out, having a capital city nestled right in the peak of a bay off the Deep Waters meant tons of shellfish. Though, recent years have seen a steep decline in the amount being traded off, with more having to be traded in. There seemed to be less and less fishers in the lists too.

The sun had raced across the sky until it reached early afternoon, when Yarro spotted a discrepancy in a book. “Kael, look,” Yarro said. With the book in hand, he began to move towards the other, who seemed to barely even register his voice. “The Lord of Commerce reported a profit in the thousands but yet, his taxes in this other book say otherwise.”

“Aren’t all politicians like that?” Kael did not even look up from his book. Just because they do it, doesn't mean that it was alright. Truth be told, Yarro was pretty bored and wanted to be done already. It was a miracle he had found anything at all. He was a soldier after all, not a researcher.

He shrugged and showed the book to Kael. They both looked over it and with the help of some other book that Kael had found earlier, they came to the conclusion that the Lord of Commerce was indeed laundering money. Yarro began to gather all the proof he had for the Queen, but Kael had other ideas.

“This doesn’t seem like what the Deities were talking about though,” Kael said. “It seems too minor.” He went back to searching through books and ignoring him.

Yarro pouted. He thought he had found something worthy. Kael must have a higher threshold than what Yarro considered "extreme corruption". His thoughts began to drift back to his dream. What sort of corruption would cause the spirits of the land and elements to wreak havoc on their country and destroy the people in it? He suppose it wasn’t some simple money laundering, meaning their quest was far from over. But the Queen should still know about it either way.

Kael snapped a book shut, causing Yarro to jump out of his own skin after being lost in his thoughts. “Let’s sneak into his office. I can’t stop thinking about what you found. What if...there’s more?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“The Lord of Commerce? We don’t know where he is though. What if he’s in his office?”

Kael paced around for a second. The soft light from the windows illuminated his face as he thought, looking at no particular place. The stray hairs from his wavy black hair formed a golden halo around his head. The light cast a harsh and long shadow, that made his features look sharper than he normally did. His long eyelashes fluttered, glowing in the bask of the sun, and he found Kael's eyes glancing back at him. “We can always sneak off and have a servant check. And if he's there, distract him.”

Yarro half-heartedly shrugged and pointed a thumb towards the door. “What about the guard standing right outside? Maybe he’ll know where the office is. I mean, these seals are supposed to let us go anywhere we want, right?”

Kael blinked and looked back at the door. He must have totally forgotten there was a guard while they were investigating. Then he shrugged, in a willing-to-try way. The two of them opened the door. There standing across the hall was the guard from before who directed them to the small library, in the exact same spot they had left him. “Excuse me, but can you show us the way to the Lord of Commerce’s office?”

“No.” The answer was immediate. How strange.

“It’s related to our quest as the Deity’s Champions. I think we found something,” Kael said. He was holding the seal up.

Upon referencing the Deities, and showing off the seal, the guard seemed to soften. He looked like he was in an internal debate with himself for a moment before he stepped forward and formally bowed. “Very well. If it is related to your quests from the Deities, then I will gladly assist you in the interest of national safety. Follow me.” With that, the guard headed back down the hall, the way they came from.

The two looked at each other in awe for a moment before following the guard through yet another series of hallways and stairs. He had been in this castle multiple times by now but each time he felt his sense of direction unraveling like a stray thread. Yarro was grateful the guard had agreed to show them the way, otherwise they would have never found the office, much less a servant to help them.

On the way over to the office, Yarro caught sight of the King and a few others whispering. “... They need to be ready by the end of the week… Lacruss waits for… It’s only a matter of time…” was all he caught before the group noticed them passing in the hallway. He snuck a peak and saw their group staring rather suspiciously. He heard another “We need to move fast before…” as he walked out of range. Yarro wondered why they insisted on being so secretive. It was probably just state secrets they weren't privy to, but it still made them suspicious.

Eventually they arrived at a rather plain looking door, and inside was a rather plain looking office. The guard presented the office, but stood outside the door, a few steps away. Kael closed the door behind them after thanking the guard. A desk in front of a few bookcases, a few chairs by the window to the right, and a fireplace behind that. The room itself was completely empty of the normal knickknacks and sentimental items one would normally have in their office. It was quite different from Guard Captain Lisa’s office. Hers was filled to the brim with various paperwork, junk, sentimental items, and even various weapons and armor. If it wasn't for the roaring fire he would have thought this office was empty.

Yarro inspected the fireplace. Why was it on in the middle of summer? The flame flickered across his face in a mesmerizing dance. It wavered back and forth, licking the edges of the logs into a crisp. Ash dusted the bottom. It seemed to pull him in. Yarro had the urge to stick his hands straight into the fire, but managed to resist. Just barely.

“Yarro?” Kael asked. He blinked and turned around. “Are you ok?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Yarro asked.

“You’ve been staring at the fire for a while.”

Yarro turned to the fireplace again and realized he had been doing exactly that. “It just… seems lonely,” he said.

Kael studied him for a few seconds. He obviously didn’t believe him, but he didn’t say anything either. In the end he went back to searching the desk, while Yarro chose to search the bookcase. Despite looking rather empty at first glance, the bookcase was stuffed with various extra papers that didn’t seem to belong. Pages of various math problems, and budgets throughout the years. Random expenses and incomes for completely different things. The life of a Lord must be stressful if they had to keep track of these sorts of things.

"How about you try that eye trick again?" Kael asked, out of the blue. Yarro turned back to him. There was a slight curve of his lips and a pleading look in his eyes.

"I... guess I could try. I'm not sure how it happened the first time thought."

Kael smiled, and briskly walked to in front of him. "Close your eyes," he said. He raised his hands and Yarro did as he asked without question just as a hand clamped down on his eyes. "Now. Think of the Fire Deity. Think of what it felt when you were first blessed by them."

He slowly recalled the burning sensation first in his body, then the eyes. He remembered the loving warmth that was sent into his very core and he brought it out. The heat flowed through him. The very same warmth. Yarro focused it on his eyes, and soon it traveled up, gathering beneath Kael's hand. He thought he imagined the feeling until Kael yanked his hand back suddenly.

Carefully, slowly, he opened his eyes. His eyes felt warm, but not on fire like they did when he first opened his eyes with the Fire Deity's boon. Kael looked upon him, smiling as wide as every. Clumps of earth drifted off of him in a brown haze. "I did it," Yarro breathed out. He held up his hands. Bubbles lifted off him. With a squint, he could see a warm orange glow. The Fire Deity's boon, no doubt.

His eyes drifted all around the room. The fireplace was lit in a blaze of glory, even though he had saw before it had clearly died down after extended use. Traces of warmth radiated from the area, and even a bit past the fireplace. He turned to the desk and bookshelf. Everything was normal, except for one smudge of embers.

Yarro found the hidden papers not stuffed in books but rather behind the books, wedged between the shelf and the backing of the bookcase. “Look at this,” Yarro called out as he reached out. Kael seemed to intentionally brush his hands against Yarro’s as he took the new papers.

Yarro’s face froze at the sudden touch. They shared a moment of eye contact with their fingertips touching, before Yarro pulled away and looked down in slight embarrassment. He blinked hard in an attempt to force the warmth away from his face so it could seem like he was doing something. Kael flipped through the papers with a little smirk plastered on his face. Something caught his eye a few moments after and his face turned into the studious look from before.

“Interesting,” Kael said. “Because this matches not only with what we found in the library, but also what I found hidden in this desk. Look.”

Kael placed down the papers besides the ones he found in the desk he had just put down. Yarro compared the two and the information matched up perfectly, but didn't match what was officially recorded. He stared between the papers in disbelief. “We need to take these to Queen Illa,” Yarro said.

Kael frowned. He must have gotten impatient with Yarro trying to escape from the quest. “Hold on. I still think we should investigate the guards, like the Queen said.” Yarro really didn’t want to. This seemed like a cut and dry case. But he was more afraid of what the Queen might do to him if they didn’t look into it, even if it was a dead end. She did suggest the idea, but by now Yarro now had a sneaking suspicion it was more of an order. And there was also that group of guards he needed to ask about.

Kael watched him, to the point where Yarro felt like he was actually being stared down. He leaned away in reaction. “Alright,” he said with a huge sigh. "For you, since you're so insistent."

Kael blinked, evidently surprised by the answer. “Then… the best place might be in the southern district. From what I’ve heard, the guards there are basically their own sector, and most of the slaves and non-elementals live there was well.”

Yarro nodded. Usually the guards who aren’t as skilled in their element, or who don’t even have an element, get sent to the southern district, since corralling and keeping the peace with non-elementalists would be the easiest. “Let’s go right now, then. But first, we should put everything back the way it was. Don’t want to rouse any suspicion.” Kael began to fix the desk, and Yarro went to fix the books as best as he could remember. Hopefully they got it correct.