The four lesser apocalyptical horsemen of Panic, Bewilderment, Ignorance, and Shouting took control of the room. -- Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

In almost every way Gengxin was exactly the same as Mirio remembered. His cousins were trying to murder each other, his cousins' wives were trying to murder their husbands' secondary consorts and their husbands' other children, the eunuchs were stealing from the treasury, and there was at least one attempted murder in the palace every other day. Business as usual, in other words. From time to time he was tempted to look back on Seroyawa with more fondness than it really deserved. Then he remembered that it was every bit as much of a mess as Gengxin and the only reason it seemed better in comparison was that the royal family was smaller.

But there was one way in which Gengxin was very different to how he remembered. He'd met Zi Yao a few times before and never paid much attention to him. His youngest cousin had been born sickly and so far the years had not improved his health. Mirio knew his uncle had sought the help of many doctors from all over the world to find a cure. No one had ever succeeded.

Until now, apparently. When Mirio first heard of the foreign doctor who could stop Zi Yao's seizures he'd almost laughed in the chief eunuch's face.

"For over two hundred years every doctor who's examined Zi Yao has said he can't be cured," Mirio said. "This new doctor has to be a fraud."

The chief eunuch shook his head. "We've set traps for him. We've tested him again and again. We just can't find any proof he's lying. You see, he doesn't claim to be able to cure the Ninth Prince. He just says he can control the seizures."

"And he can?" Mirio asked disbelievingly. "How? Who is he and where did he study to gain knowledge no one else has?"

Ever since the chief eunuch had cornered him on his walk around the gardens Mirio had expected to be asked for some favour. He wasn't at all surprised when the eunuch's voice took on the wheedling tone of someone who wanted something and was determined to get it no matter what resistance they faced.

"That's what all of us want to know, your Highness. We suspect dark magic."

It took a great deal of self-restraint not to scoff. "I've never heard of dark magic being used to heal anyone."

"Neither have we!" the eunuch hastened to say. "Yet there is something very odd about that man even if it isn't dark magic. We want to make sure he isn't a threat to the kingdom. He won't talk to any of us -- I think he knows we're suspicious -- so we thought... since Your Highness is a foreigner... and since Your Highness is familiar with the Saoridhians..."

"You keep saying 'we'. Who are 'we'?" Mirio asked dubiously.

"Myself and the other eunuchs, and the maidservants, and the cooks, and the court physicians, and the astrologers, and the ministers, and the soothsayers, and some of the princes, and the Noble Royal Consort, and the Chief of the Peacekeeping Corps."

The Noble Royal Consort was one of his uncle's concubines and the mother of the Second and Fifth Princes. Zi Yao was the son of a consort with a much lower rank. Light dawned. Suddenly the mystery of how a foreign doctor had gained so many enemies was solved.

I see, Mirio thought. If Zi Yao lives he'll become another threat to the Noble Royal Consort's sons. Apparently this doctor can partly cure Zi Yao. If he leaves Zi Yao's health will deteriorate again. So she opposes the doctor and her supporters follow her lead.

As for all the other people who the chief eunuch claimed were suspicious of the doctor, that was easily explained. No one liked a foreigner barging in and being able to do what everyone else had failed at.

"So you want me to find proof he's up to no good," Mirio said bluntly.

The chief eunuch looked around nervously. Who he expected to overhear them when they were in the middle of a large garden, without enough cover nearby to conceal so much as a stray cat, was a mystery.

"Well... Yes, your Highness."

It was a ridiculous and presumptuous request. The doctor was probably guilty of nothing worse than having unusually effective methods of treatment and being a foreigner. Common sense told Mirio to have nothing to do with it.

Kiriyuki and Abihira spent their lives disregarding common sense. Mirio had usually been the one left to pick up the pieces and mitigate the damage if at all possible. Why shouldn't he see what it was like on the other side for once?

"I'll consider it," he said.

Under other circumstances Abi would have been very curious to find out what her new powers were capable of. Could she completely turn into a phoenix? Would she always be stuck with just a pair of wings attached to her immortal form? How was she to turn back? Under the current circumstances, unfortunately, all of those questions would have to wait for later. Much later. One of the parasites was dead. The other one would be much more difficult to deal with.

The possessed Ilaran stood frozen in place on the landing. He hadn't moved since Abi turned into a phoenix, or even when she destroyed the other parasite. Experimentally she flew closer to him. He still remained fixed to one spot. All that changed was that she suddenly heard the real Ilaran's voice in her head. "Heard" was an understatement. He practically deafened her.

What do you think you're doing?

Abi squawked and almost fell out of the air at his yell. When she recovered she did her best to make her annoyance show in her telepathic voice. I'm trying to kill that thing and save you. What does it look like I'm doing?

You idiot, if you come any closer you'll kill me too!

...Oh. She retreated to a safe distance. Now she couldn't hear Ilaran any more. She didn't know whether that meant she was out of his telepathic range or whether he'd simply stopped talking.

She considered the situation. Obviously the thing to do was force the parasite out of Ilaran's body. Time to try an exorcism.

Abi gathered her magic, and promptly let it dissipate when before her amazed eyes the small flames around her wings blazed up. The effect lasted only a few seconds. As soon as the last traces of the planned spell disappeared, the flames went back to being little more than flickers of light.

For the first time it truly dawned on Abi that part of her body was on fire. She didn't feel any pain, she didn't even feel much heat beyond a sort of gentle warmth, yet her wings were burning. Until now she hadn't realised the name "fire-wing[1]" was literal. Another thing to think about later.

Once again she began an exorcism spell. This time she was prepared when her wings turned into a roaring fire. Even so it was still alarming. Also alarming was the fact she seemed to have a lot more magic now. And it was very hard to control. She cast the exorcism in the wrong direction and with enough force to blow a hole in the palace wall.

The possessed Ilaran remained as still as a statue. But Abi just knew the real Ilaran was giving her an unimpressed look.

What idiot gave her so much magic? They might as well have handed a bomb to a toddler!

After the second parasite's fiery demise Ilaran found the one possessing him had loosened its hold on him. He immediately tried to kick it out. What followed was somewhere between a magical duel and a fistfight. Blows flew back and forth without either being injured or gaining the upper hand. All that he knew he achieved was distracting the parasite so it couldn't flee.

Add to that the fact the only person who might be able to help might also accidentally kill him for the second time in as many weeks. Really, at this rate he'd need to check himself into an asylum as soon as he got un-possessed.

The only good thing was that Abihira was at least staying away from him now. Less chance of a painful death that way.

He was so preoccupied with fighting the parasite that he didn't notice her cast the exorcism spell. The first he knew about it was when it struck him.

It hurt.

Yes, it got rid of the parasite. But it did that by essentially grabbing hold of the parasite and wrenching it out of Ilaran's body. It felt like someone was trying to tear him in half. Finally the pain ended. The parasite was gone. Ilaran, back in control of his own body for the first time in what felt like an eternity, collapsed on the landing. The taste of blood still lingered in his mouth.

He'd planned to make himself vomit later to get rid of the unfortunate servant's flesh that the parasite had eaten. The taste of her blood did that for him. A wave of nausea swept over him.

Abi hadn't expected her exorcism to work so well. In fact at first she'd thought it was backfiring horribly. Ilaran screamed and thrashed around like he was being tortured. Then the screaming stopped and a cloud of dark magic formed above his body.

So that's the parasite, Abi thought with a shudder. The thing looked like a mass of smoke, but she could catch glimpses of what looked like teeth and bones in the middle of it. Now to destroy it.

Taking care to stay as far away from Ilaran as possible -- and pretending not to notice him being sick -- she flew closer to the parasite. It shrank back from her. She was just beginning to think it would be easy to get rid of when it charged at her.

Abi flung herself backwards. In the process she accidentally did a mid-air cartwheel that led to her falling to the floor. She stared up at the ceiling for a minute as she tried to remember how to stand up. She pushed herself to her hands and knees just as the parasite charged at her. It struck her right in the chest. For a horrible dizzying minute she felt like someone was trying to push her soul out of her body.

Instinctively her wings folded around her to defend herself. They grazed against the parasite. It recoiled with an audible wail. Smoke rose from its body. Abi found herself fully in her body again. It was a very disorientating feeling.

She glared at the parasite. Absently she noticed that the flames around her wings were once again blazing up like a bonfire.

The parasite was apparently not very intelligent. It charged at her again. Abi lashed out at it with her wings. Neither of them struck it. They didn't have to. She watched in astonishment as a jet of blue fire shot from her wings straight towards the parasite.

Within seconds it burned to ash like the previous one had. But the fire didn't stop there. It rocketed across the room, hit the wall with a sound like an explosion, and burnt right through the wall into the room beyond.

Horrified, Abi retracted her wings and folded them back behind her shoulders. Luckily that put out the fire. But the damage was done. There was now a large round hole in the wall. The smell of smoke filled the air. A sizzling sound in the room beyond suggested that something else had caught fire.

Abi looked down at the floor where she'd fallen a minute ago. She groaned. There were two large scorch-marks on the tiles where her wings had been. She could already hear what her grandmother would say about that. It looked like she was going to be landed with another fine soon.

She was so preoccupied by the shocking state of the palace that she didn't notice Ilaran get up and walk down the stairs. It took her a minute to notice him standing at the bottom of the stairs and giving her a very unimpressed look.

"What?" Abi asked defensively. "I saved you, didn't I?"

Ilaran scowled. "You were the one who put me in danger to begin with."

Unfortunately she couldn't argue with that. But surely he could show just a little bit more gratitude!

Apparently he thought the same thing. After a pause he said reluctantly, "Thank you."

The two of them stared silently at the damage for a while.

"I didn't mean to do all this," Abi said at last.

Ilaran muttered something under his breath. "I know you didn't. If you'd meant to do it, probably you wouldn't have succeeded in doing any of it. I have just one question." He stared at her as if she was a particularly strange insect under a microscope. "How have you managed to live for over a thousand years without destroying the entire planet?"