Accountable Science: Part 11
Askier stood in the empty doorway to Jorrus’ hotel room. His golden eyes peered around as he entered, searching for any left behind traps or clues to where the Viera was heading next. Askier found neither. The Garlean rabbit had left the room remarkably sterile and devoid of anything useful or dangerous. Clearly the man had been living out of a bag. Askier snarled and picked up a chair before he hurled it against the window. The glass cracked and the chair splintered in several pieces as it fell to the floor. “Askier.” Tray called, running to the door. He was panting from taking the stairs and sweat was on the red-haired miqo’te’s face. “One..one of muh little birds got word to me. Seen someone lookin’ like our man going north. Rented a chocobo from him.” Askier turned and marched for the door, moving down the hall, expecting the more muscled Tray to fallow him. Askier’s coat billowed behind him as he walked. “North Limsa, huh? Figured he’d be heading for a ship, not further inland. He knows we’re after him and that there’s no way off up there…” The Garlean paused as he opened the door to the lift and stepped in. Tray muttered something about ‘Should taken the lift’ but Askier wasn’t listening. Rather he was recalling something. Something personal. Running north was basically running into a cage. Ocean everywhere, rough terrain, and few people. But six years ago, when Askier had been a Garlean agent himself, one of his escape protocols had called for the exact same maneuver should he be cornered in Limsa. The idea was that anyone on your tail would spend too much time searching the docks for you assuming you were going to escape by sea when the real escape was… “No.” Askier chewed his lip. “There’s no way the Garlean’s would still be sticking to Adonis’ plan from that long ago…” How could they? Adonis’ shadow network had been a personal creation. It had no official connection to the Garlean military. Could someone from Adonis’ network have passed word on? Had someone just happened to copy his idea? Or… Askier hadn’t had time to think about it but now that he did, could someone else have come along and taken over Adonis’ old network of shadows and agents? Certainly, Osric and his allies had seen to the dismantling of all of Adonis’ work this side of the sea, and rumor was Adin Adonis’ family had been crushed by political rivals during their moment of weakness after the patriarch had died at Osric’s hand; but had the cancer somehow survived? Had one of Adin’s agents managed to survive the purge and regrown the shadow network? Tray’ju had said the Monetarist Frandrin Mandrin had been in the pocket of a Garlean organization after all and that someone called Mr. Blue was pulling the strings. Was it mere chance that Jorrus, Askier’s former apprentice, just happened to be working for the same shadowy figure that had pulled Mandrin’s strings? Or had Jorrus been chosen? The Oriensang would certainly earn whoever managed to gift such a weapon to the Garlean military a great deal of respect, but its development had been highly classified and secretive. Not many would know about it. Could it be that this Mr. Blue, having learned of the Oriensang from Adin’s records, appropriated Adin’s former shadows like Jorrus as his own and slowly rebuilt the shadow network over the years? That could explain why the escape plan was exactly the same for Jorrus as it had been him. Askier stepped out and began walking quickly. “Where we goin’?” Tray asked. “I need tuh ask for more info.” “I think I know where he’s going, Tray.” Askier answered, flicking his tail as they headed for the stables. “How?” “Cause it’s where I would be heading.” @cfs-melkire for mentioning his char :D
