Ian was surprised that Euryphel dropped him off so suddenly after only meeting for a few minutes. At the very least, the prince had deposited him in a room filled with art. Ian walked around the salon, inspecting the various old portraits adorning the walls.

Fifteen minutes later, the guardsman from before came to find him.

“Hello again,” Ian said cheerfully. “What kind of practitioner are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The man laughed. “You’re blunt. I’m a Mountain practitioner and earth elementalist.”

Ian nodded, inspecting the man’s vital energy, noting the way it seemed to flow around his legs and up into his torso like a tree soaking up nutrients from soil.

“The prince sent me to give you your first task,” the guardsman said. “You’re to eliminate the vermin in the palace. Start with the outer palace, and once you’re finished there, move on to clear the inner palace and then the kernel.”

“...Interesting,” was all he had to say. He hadn’t imagined his first assignment would come so soon and be so mundane. He didn’t necessarily consider the task beneath him, but to use a peak practitioner for vermin control seemed a bit...excessive.

The guardsman rubbed his nose. “You aren’t allowed to move around by yourself without the tentative approval of the Prime of Fives, so I’ve paired you with someone. She should be appearing any moment now...” the guardsman said, frowning.

A few seconds later, a woman entered the room, her face covered in a sheen of sweat. A leather jerkin pressed taut against her abdomen, straining as she took in a deep breath. Ian recognized her as one of the guardsmen who had escorted them into the palace.

The guardsman looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

She gave a small salute. “Hello, sir.”

“The prince has met with the decemancer, Julian Dunai, and has hired him to perform a much-needed extermination,” the guardsman said. “Dunai is permitted only to eliminate small vermin, of the size of a rat or smaller, in accordance with common law. If you see him do anything outside of that, you’re to report immediately to me.”

Ian looked between the two of them, finding it refreshing that the guardsman gave such instructions with him in the room.

“Understood,” the guardswoman said.

Nodding, the guardsman walked off into the corridor and soon rounded a corner, leaving their line of sight. Ian took a moment to appraise the guardswoman, paying attention to the swirling eddies of energy running through her arms and stomach.

“Moon practitioner, water elementalist?” he asked, wincing as though already anticipating being wrong.

The woman shot him a surprised look. “What?”

“...”

“Why did you ask?”

Ian shrugged. “Humor me.”

“You guessed right,” the guardswoman replied. “What gave it away?” There was genuine curiosity in her chocolate eyes.

“It’s the way you look,” he said evasively.

The guardswoman rolled her eyes and smirked. “I think I like you, Julian Dunai.”

“Call me Ian. And how should I call you?”

“Guardian Druni,” the guardswoman smiled. “Isid’ra Druni.”

Ian doubted that Euryphel had the foresight to guess his status as an Infinity-Looper before meeting him; he’d previously wondered how the prince would react if an unknown, powerful practitioner entered his city unannounced. Evidently he’d considered Ian’s appearance a serious threat, sending his strongest tier of guardsmen, the Prime Guard, to escort them into the palace.

Ian gestured forward. “Well, Guardian, shall we get started?”

—

Ian and Druni traversed the outer palace, a massive ring-shaped building with nine sides. Without lay the grassy grounds surrounding the palace, then the city beyond; within were countless rooms prepared to entertain visitors or display artwork and artifacts. For most visitors, their only impression of Ichormai would be of the outer palace, the inner palace and kernel closed to those without noble blood or special permission.

The outer palace was at times like a museum, its high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and numerous small parlor rooms filled with artwork and statues giving it a classical aesthetic. The floors were made of stone like marble or granite, the walls white or cream, though occasionally adorned with banners bearing the banner of the SPU: a blue starburst on a white background, with each point terminating in a thin, curved arrow.

Wherever they walked, Ian quickly siphoned up the vitality of any vermin hiding under- and overground. Considering that this was Euryphel’s palace, he decided to desiccate the leftover bodies, figuring that the prince wouldn’t appreciate the smell of decaying rodent wafting through the spacious halls. He’d enlisted Druni’s help for that part.

She eagerly displaced the moisture in the rodent bodies into the air. While her range of liquid manipulation wasn’t large, she could desiccate the corpses once Ian moved them closer.

“Why have you come to the SPU?” Druni asked, giving him a sidelong glance. “Your companions were fairly tight-lipped.”

“The simple truth is that I’m looking for work.”

“Where are you from, exactly? I can’t pinpoint your accent.”

“Shattradan,” Ian replied. “Solar province.”

She nodded her head slowly. “So...why come here, leave home?”

Ian considered her words while killing a nest of cockroaches several feet underground.

“What do you know about me, Guardian?” Ian asked, pausing his extermination. He crossed his arms, giving her a questioning look.

“You’re a decemancer, for one,” she replied with a snort of laughter, placing a hand on her hip. “I don’t know much else, other than that your arrival was unexpected, and that the prince hurried to welcome you. Your family’s prestige wouldn’t be enough to warrant such treatment.”

“You’ve seen me practice, Guardian; why do you think he welcomed me?”

“You’re pretty good for a decemancer,” she admitted wryly; at this point, they had swept half of the outer palace. “I could see why the prince might be interested in recruiting you as an exterminator.”

Ian chuckled. “Right.”

“But truly...are you representing someone from Shattradan?”

“No.”

The Guardian frowned. “With whom are you affiliated, then?”

“Would you believe me if I said I was a free agent?”

“No.”

Ian laughed and shook his head before changing the topic. “Guardian Druni, you’re an excellent elementalist. I bet half the corpses you touched will turn to dust of their own accord before the help sweep them up.”

She smiled coyly. “I try my best; it’s not often I need to participate in exterminations.”

“I’ve been wondering: members of the Prime Guard don’t seem nearly as up-tight as standard soldiers.” While Ian wasn’t super familiar with the SPU’s rank-and-file soldiers, he was intimately familiar with the bearing of his Godoran subordinates while serving as a Corona in the Godoran command layer. Off hours, or out of the public eye, they were casual with one another. But on the job, they all transformed into model recruits, their posture ramrod stiff and their faces stoic. Ian could imagine the same being true for the soldiers in the SPU...and yet, the guardsmen didn’t display that same regimented strictness.

Druni chuckled and fingered the hilt on her belt. “Half the benefit of joining the Guard is getting to do away with all that oppressive nonsense,” she said. “We’ve all earned the right to speak and act how we want, within reason.”

Ian considered this, then nodded. “How many Guardians are there in total?”

“Fifteen,” she stated. “I’m number twelve. Urstes is number one, if you were wondering.”

“Who?”

“The man who introduced us,” Druni explained. “The earth elementalist.”

They continued to sweep through the outer palace. The more they walked its cavernous corridors, the more disoriented Ian felt; he wished the palace had signs to point out landmarks, such as the main entrance or the guest wing. While each room and hall was distinct in its own right, often impeccably decorated with antiques, the rooms all blended together in Ian’s mind.

About an hour later, they finished; Ian decided that he might as well move on immediately and make the palace vermin-free, especially since the inner palace and kernel covered a much smaller area than the outer palace. He figured he could finish both of them in less than an hour, especially now that he and Druni had gotten into a synergistic rhythm of extermination-dehydration.

Druni had no qualms moving ahead. “Since Urstes said that you’re cleared to enter the inner palace and kernel, let’s continue. The inner palace is accessible from just around two twists of the corridor.”

He followed after her; eventually, they came upon a heavy-looking door wrought out of a bronze-colored metal. She pulled on the door’s ornate, leaf-tendriled handle and led him into the inner palace’s sylvan interior. Beyond the threshold was a small, grassy courtyard; two people were sitting on the grass, meditating under the shade of a blossoming tree.

“Just so you know, the inner palace is usually reserved for nobles and their families. There’s also a lot more life here; don’t accidentally kill the grass or I’ll be in trouble.”

Ian snorted and looked at her with eyes full of mirth. “Make sure you don’t accidentally dehydrate the flowers,” he retorted.

They swept through the inner palace without much issue. It was easier than Ian expected since much of the inner palace was an open, grassy grove, without spaces for vermin to hide. Once he located a nest underneath one of the inner palace’s residential wings, the rest was picking off lone rats and a few colonies of termites that had taken up residence in the thick wooden beams of the residential eaves.

When it was time for them to enter the kernel, Druni paused, tilting her head. She looked at Ian with a pensive expression.

“The prince says that you’re to leave the kernel alone for the time being, he’s apparently having a room renovated and doesn’t want any disturbances.”

“Okay,” Ian said, nodding. “We can come back later. What task does the prince have for me in the meantime?”

Druni shook her head. “Nothing, apparently.” She cocked her head again, as though listening to someone. “You should take the time to get settled. Your aunt is waiting for you in a guest room in the outer palace.”

—

Guardian Druni led Ian to his aunt, navigating with familiar ease through the confusing labyrinth of corridors. Eventually, she pointed to an ornately-carved wooden doorway. “This is the one.”

Ian nodded; he had been able to sense Aunt Julia’s vital signature from the hall. He could see her sitting upon what was likely a bed, her hand clutching what should be a glossY.

“Thanks for the escort,” Ian said, smiling.

Druni smiled back, but didn’t leave. When she still didn’t leave after he opened the door and even proceeded to follow him inside the guest room, Ian felt that he suddenly had a better understanding of the situation. Druni, so it seemed, would be there to stay, at least for the immediate future.

“Aunt Julia,” Ian said, “meet Guardian Druni.” He gave Druni a look. “She’s been escorting me through the palace for the better part of three hours.”

Aunt Julia stood and smiled politely. “A pleasure, Guardian.”

“Please,” Druni replied. “It’s an honor to meet the venerable Julia Verina Dunai.”

Aunt Julia seemed to stand a little straighter. “And how do you know of me?” she asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

“You’re the Life practitioner that set up the vitality array beneath the capital assembly hall a few years back, correct?”

Aunt Julia chuckled. “Those arrays are one of my specialties,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll be asked to provide a similar array in the near future. It’s almost time for the New Year ball.”

Druni smiled. “Perhaps.”

Aunt Julia suddenly gave Ian a look. “You know, the aura of Death around you isn’t entirely unbecoming,” she commented. “But doesn’t it exhaust you, letting the energy lay upon you like a heavy mist?”

Ian’s lips quirked. “Not at all. It’s quite comfortable.” Now that he’d been commissioned to kill the palace’s vermin, he finally had an excuse to keep a cloud of Death energy around him. Otherwise, he was forced to draw Death energy from the two soul gems–the unsocketed eyes of the wyrm–in his pocket. The aura around him was like a protective security blanket.

“Hmm. It must be a quirk of decemancers,” Aunt Julia said dismissively. “There’s a reason people commission life arrays to spice up a party,” she added. “Death energy is naturally oppressive.”

“I like to think of it as clingy,” Ian joked, referring to the natural tendency of Death energy to enter and propagate through living matter.

Aunt Julia shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure Guardian Druni agrees with me, but no matter. Julian, we should go out into the city and get new glossYs while your mother undergoes the oath-breaking procedure.”

“It’s happening now?”

Aunt Julia nodded. “Iolana was escorted away a short while ago.”

Ian looked at Druni. “Are you supposed to follow us outside the palace?”

She ran a thumb along the scale-pattern plate armor on her wrists. “It’s up to my discretion. Do you wish for me to accompany you?”

Ian turned to face Aunt Julia. “I think we’ll be alright on our own.”

Druni nodded knowingly. “That’s fine. Then I’ll see you both upon your return. You’ll be entering through the gates like proper visitors this next time; tell the gatekeepers my name and I’ll collect you.”