Nectar did what she had always done when lines of communication broke down. It wasn't the first time a fire had disrupted her plans, and the tiny dwelling that made up her contact point for deliveries going up in flames didn't surprise her except for it being sooner than she'd expected. What did surprise her was the fact that no one had contacted her in regards to her status. The fire had been three days ago by her count and Johnes wasn't usually that loose when it came to keeping an eye on things.
The whispers started as just that, but her ears in the popular places had caught them. First, small words. Johnes was there that night. Second, murmurs just above silence. Not a fire. An explosion. Third, statements. A set-up. Finally, days later without so much as a word to defy it, acceptance. Mr. Johnes, one of the myriad drug kingpins in Limsa Lominsa, was dead.
Nectar's instincts had been sharpened from years of survival. There were others in her profession who were likely cut from the same ragged cloth, but none of them were her. She wasn't believing it for a few reasons. Chief amongst them, no one dies in Limsa without someone else taking credit. Right on the heels of that was the fact there had been no word from anyone in the hierarchy - Johnes didn't keep right-hand men but he did have those who would fill the role of contact and jurisdiction. Lummox, Feeble, even Springboard had reached her before when they needed her services. She was still carrying her last shipment, too. There's no way they'd let that much product float out in the aether without having an eye on it.
The product. She had been a user since before beginning her work for her allegedly-deceased benefactor. Johnes had begun refinement of the Naldust market a year prior, and through some means he had managed to creature a drug more pure than even the cretins in Ul'dah could muster. It was only recently that he was able to get his production costs and shipping potential under the bottom line of the politicians and imbeciles in the Jewel, and while Nectar lacked the insight as to how or why, the lucre was there. A better, cheaper high - what's not to like? There was lots of talk of expanding, of slipping into another underworld and setting up shop. With the product she was carrying. That no one else seemed to be worrying about.
In the wolf-eat-wolf world, there are those who eat and those who are eaten. Perhaps her years of toil, of suffering, of keeping her head down had finally paid off. She figured she could off-load enough in Limsa to get her to the Jewel without incident, and once there she could make connections with those who'd be interested in more. She'd let Limsa run its course, and get in touch with whomever was left when the fires were put out. If she already had a share of the world in Ul'dah, when someone else showed up to do business she could see herself in as a point of contact...
That was all it took. The dream of a better world, one with power and money. The ability to Decide, instead of being Decided For. With a smile, she helped herself to a pinch of it, working it into her hands and wiping the rest into the creases of her eyes. A contact dust, absorbed into the skin for immediate results. She'd be dead in a matter of minutes.
All around Limsa, the jaws of the serpent closed around its own tail.
The whispers started as just that, but her ears in the popular places had caught them. First, small words. Johnes was there that night. Second, murmurs just above silence. Not a fire. An explosion. Third, statements. A set-up. Finally, days later without so much as a word to defy it, acceptance. Mr. Johnes, one of the myriad drug kingpins in Limsa Lominsa, was dead.
Nectar's instincts had been sharpened from years of survival. There were others in her profession who were likely cut from the same ragged cloth, but none of them were her. She wasn't believing it for a few reasons. Chief amongst them, no one dies in Limsa without someone else taking credit. Right on the heels of that was the fact there had been no word from anyone in the hierarchy - Johnes didn't keep right-hand men but he did have those who would fill the role of contact and jurisdiction. Lummox, Feeble, even Springboard had reached her before when they needed her services. She was still carrying her last shipment, too. There's no way they'd let that much product float out in the aether without having an eye on it.
The product. She had been a user since before beginning her work for her allegedly-deceased benefactor. Johnes had begun refinement of the Naldust market a year prior, and through some means he had managed to creature a drug more pure than even the cretins in Ul'dah could muster. It was only recently that he was able to get his production costs and shipping potential under the bottom line of the politicians and imbeciles in the Jewel, and while Nectar lacked the insight as to how or why, the lucre was there. A better, cheaper high - what's not to like? There was lots of talk of expanding, of slipping into another underworld and setting up shop. With the product she was carrying. That no one else seemed to be worrying about.
In the wolf-eat-wolf world, there are those who eat and those who are eaten. Perhaps her years of toil, of suffering, of keeping her head down had finally paid off. She figured she could off-load enough in Limsa to get her to the Jewel without incident, and once there she could make connections with those who'd be interested in more. She'd let Limsa run its course, and get in touch with whomever was left when the fires were put out. If she already had a share of the world in Ul'dah, when someone else showed up to do business she could see herself in as a point of contact...
That was all it took. The dream of a better world, one with power and money. The ability to Decide, instead of being Decided For. With a smile, she helped herself to a pinch of it, working it into her hands and wiping the rest into the creases of her eyes. A contact dust, absorbed into the skin for immediate results. She'd be dead in a matter of minutes.
All around Limsa, the jaws of the serpent closed around its own tail.
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
