"Report, Initiate" the taskmaster said to me.
"Portia Windelm." I replied. "Contrary to the name, she's a Pure Water."
The taskmaster just grunted his agreement with my discovery. Clearly, as I'd thought, this was not exactly news to the organization. The fact that it had taken me a week went entirely unremarked and was hopefully just as expected.
My initial sweep had been a success, nearly too much of one. I'd looked for people who didn't react to my thoughts, and I'd found more than a few. The rest of the week had been dedicated to further investigating them. Most of them just hadn't been paying attention; the next time I'd gone by with thoughts of hunting in my mind they'd reacted accordingly. It didn't take long until I had only a few suspects left. Portia was the first I'd found and by far the strongest lead, since she'd made no secret of her garden's continued success even through the city's droughts.
Finally, the taskmaster seemed to decide something. He turned to go, making a gesture that clearly indicated I was also to leave. Shit, had I failed somehow? If I left, I might never find my way back here, the organization was legendary for not being found when it didn't want to. That was practically the only thing anyone outside of it knew of it, which only reinforced the legend. I spoke up.
"Nazir Windelm." I said. "Her husband. He's a Pure Earth."
That got the taskmaster's attention. He turned, looking me over. "You were supposed to find Hakan Alsden."
"I did," I said. "He was a less strong lead, but I suspect he is a Pure Air; his windmill has never ceased operating."
The taskmaster nodded. "I see. Come with me, initiate." He didn't wait for me to do so, but instead resumed walking the direction he'd begun moving earlier. I stood and ran to catch up, relieved that I'd correctly determined the identity of the city's three Pure.
"Tell me how you discovered Mr. Windelm," he ordered.
"It was incidental." I said. I thought it strange that he'd focus on the one that was the easiest of the three to find, but didn't comment on it. "I noticed that he was the one who got his wife's attention when I came by, the thought of seeking the Pure in mind."
The taskmaster nodded. "Future tasks may require more subtlety on your behalf, initiate." My specific strategy appeared to have been anticipated, but his tone didn't seem harsh at all. "If Mr. Windelm was the one to alert his wife to your seekings, it seems unlikely that he would be Pure."
"That is what I believed, as well. Every time I neared their house or any place that had them both, he alerted her."
"Then what gave him away?"
I didn't like to admit I hadn't planned this part, but luck had its place in our organization. "Coincidence. On the fourth day, I was investigating both Mrs. Windhelm and making my way to the Alsden Mills. I did not have time to do both, so I hired a rickshaw to take me through the city at a higher speed."
"And?"
"Mr. Windelm did not alert his wife. Both remained entirely ignorant of my passing."
The taskmaster stopped moving suddenly. He turned to face me and even though he'd always looked a bit upset, now he truly looked angry. "Initiate, I am taking you to our Queen, do you understand?"
I didn't. We were two stories underground in the abandoned city that the city proper was built on. Clearly Her Royal Highness was not down here.
"You, Initiate, are a Pawn. I am a Rook - in fact, the only one. Should you ever address me as anything other than 'taskmaster', you would call me 'Rook'. I am bringing you to the Queen. Do you understand?"
Now I did. Clearly, my detective work had impressed. "Yes, Taskmaster Rook."
Rook's mood did not improve. "That's Rook Taskmaster, not that it matters if you won't tell me what the hell your story has to do with your discovery! I'll not be made a fool of in front of the Queen!"
I tried to refrain from visibly gulping. The taskmaster had been a hard case when I was merely auditioning for my current role, and actually being a member of the organization didn't seem to improve my standing in his eyes. I got to the point: "I've done some research since I was last here, to confirm my discovery. The Pures do more than just manipulate their elements - in a way, they are their element. Anything that happens to it, they understand. They can sense through their element."
Rook nodded slowly, his face slowly losing some of the rage that had built. "Good of you to research that. Not many know that particular relationship. That's how you'd find them in a subtler way than just yelling at the top of your mind."
"That's how I did find him." I said. "He must have been there that first day, seen me, and been alerted by someone else before I noticed he needed the help. He didn't memorize my features, though, he memorized the way I walk. Any time I was near, he'd know it through the earth. The rickshaw threw him, though. And when I visited again the next day with a rock in my boot and using a cane, again he did not respond."
Rook continued walking down the hallway again, and I followed. "You've done good, Initiate" he said grudgingly.
We made another turn and he opened a door. The inside was nothing like I'd expected: While the organization's halls were far nicer than you'd expect from being in a rotten abandoned underground city, this room was lavish. Paintings adorned the walls, a massive oak desk took up much of the space, and the floor itself appeared to be expensively carpeted.
"Rook." The woman behind the desk was smiling at both of us. "To what do I owe this surprise?"
Rook saluted, but his tone was more casual. "Doubt it's a surprise to you. Our Pawn found himself three of the Pure."
The Queen looked over at me, her eyebrows raised. "Oh, that is impressive. He found all three?"
Something was off about Rook's tone, but I couldn't place it. "No. He found two of the three, and then one more we didn't know about."
The Queen's face broke out in a smile. "Nazir Windelm. Clever, clever clever. I was beginning to think nobody would find him, tremorsense is such a versatile tool."
"You knew." Rook didn't sound surprised.
The Queen laughed. "Of course I knew, Rook. Oh, don't worry so much. I'd have let you know if he became a danger, but he's far more careful than his wife. Honestly, you should have figured it out earlier. Mrs. Windelm never rotates her crops!"
Rook just nodded at this. "Of course, Queen."
"You've done well, Rook, finding this one. I wouldn't normally send anyone who wasn't a Bishop on an errand like the one I have in mind, but he is good, he is very good."
"Bishop One and Bishop Two are due back in a week." Rook volunteered.
The Queen just frowned. "One, maybe. But Bishop Two is dead, I'm afraid. I'm sorry, Rook."
Rook's face dropped. I'd seen a lot of negative emotions in that face, but I'd never seen this. "He... how?"
"The Empire's Intelligence Service discovered him. Waited until he was leaving the empire to begin the journey home, and they ambushed him. I'm told he fought well, but it was too far away for any of our resources to help."
Rook just seemed to accept this information. "Permission to leave, Queen?"
"Of course, Rook. Take all the time you need."
Rook left the room, the door closing quietly behind him. I continued standing, unsure if I was supposed to even be in the room anymore.
"Sit, Pawn, sit. There is the question of what to do with you. Knight One and Knight Two are unlikely to give up their spots anytime soon, and neither of them want the kind of likely-to-get-themselves-killed missions a Bishop merits."
I sat in a chair I hadn't noticed before. "My, ah... Lady Queen - which of the Pure did I miss?"
She smiled again. I knew better than to trust the facial expression of anyone in this organization, and her surface thoughts were giving nothing away at all, but she seemed genuine. "Ah, you were told there were three and you found three, but Rook indicated you were only supposed to find two?"
"He didn't say as much." I said. "But when I named Mr. Windelm, he said I was supposed to find the miller instead. And just now, it seemed obvious that he didn't know when you pointed out the crop rotation."
"But you did notice the rotation. If had just been the footsteps, that might not have been enough. But that clue, the same one that confirms Mrs. Windelm's status, also confirms his."
"Exactly!" I said. "I did notice the rotation, though I hadn't mentioned that to Rook yet."
She waved that away, "Oh, dear boy, I know. I knew the moment you discovered it. I suspected that you were talented, so I made sure to keep tabs on you."
She could have meant that other agents of the organization had followed me. She could have meant that some of the street urchins had sold the information of my comings and goings. She could have meant a lot of different things, but one possibility, one impossible impossibility, came to my mind.
"Oh," she said, though I'd done my best to try to mask it, "but you are a good one. How would you prove such a suspicion, though? Even if I was what you suspected, how could I prove such a thing?"
There was one way-
She leaned forward on the desk and looked me directly in the eyes. "Initiate. I am a Pure Mind."
And she proved it the only way she could: I believed her.