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I look toward the ceiling. The damaged braces support the gallery rather than the spire wall. The floor beneath them is littered with small fragments of black stone, but no fresh dust marks the larger debris.

“The gallery may be unsafe,” I say. “The lower floor is stable.”

“You are not a builder.”

“Neither are you.”

One guard makes a sound that could be a cough disguised as a growl.

Grolm turns his head. The guard straightens, but the movement triggers another cough. He presses a fist to the plates over his chest. The Volvath beside him breathes through his mouth, slowly and deliberately.

I study Grolm. A dry rattle enters the end of his next breath.

“How many guards assigned to this level have the same cough?” I ask.

“That does not concern you.”

“Then at least three.”

“The charged air irritates the lungs during storm peaks.”

“The storm has no peaks. It never ends.”

“Volvath lungs are stronger than human lungs.”

“Stronger lungs can still collect dust.”

I step closer to the nearest coughing guard. He looks toward Grolm rather than allowing me to examine him.

“You work patrols along the exterior walks,” I say. “The red grit catches beneath your neck plates. You carry it inside, breathe it again, and sleep in rooms warmed by dry sigils. Eventually the airways swell. Then the mucus thickens and traps more dust.”

The guard’s crimson eyes narrow. “You diagnose through armor?”

“I diagnose through the noise you make while breathing.”

Grolm places himself between us. “My guards do not require human remedies.”

“Then they can continue coughing until a Soz’garoth numbs the pain and sends them back outside.”

The second guard coughs into his fist.

I return to the rusted planter and brush dust from my fingers. “I can prepare a tonic that loosens what has settled in their lungs and reduces the swelling. It will not make the charged air disappear, so they will need repeated doses during severe weeks.”

Grolm studies me. “What payment do you demand?”

“Clear this floor.”

“No.”

“Remove the dead plants, broken shelves, and ruined planters. Leave anything structurally attached for a builder. In return, I will prepare enough tonic for the guards currently affected.”

“Lord Obsidius can order the tonic from you.”

“He can. I can also tell him the dosage requires materials I do not possess because his captain declared my workspace unusable.”

The two guards behind him exchange a glance.

Grolm notices.