“Dead ends. Worthless, awful dead ends and wasted time! Time that could be better spent on helping people!” Your ears perked as you rounded the corner to the Aetheryte plaza, and found S’olahr and Erden barely an ilm away from one another, locked into a death glare.

“You better not get any funny ideas, you hear me?!” Olahr barked, pressing his right pointer finger into Erden’s chest. Erden held a stern, unamused expression, but did not flinch. “Or else--”

“Or else what?” You ask, crossing your arms as you approach. Olahr looks ready with a rebuttal, but ends up holding his tongue. “This only works if we can all trust each other, don’t you understand? That’s what being part of a team means.”

“How can you expect--!” Erden and Olahr said in unison, before turning back to one another.

“I swear to the gods both above and below, if this bickering ends up derailing the investigation, or worse, putting us into legitimate danger because you can’t cooperate…” You pinch the bridge of your nose. “I should tell Phekda about this.”

“Woah, woah!” Olahr held his hands up. “That won’t be necessary. Phekda is a busy woman, and we wouldn’t want to cause her any undue stress. Right, Erden?”

“...Mhm.” Erden leaned back against the nearest wall.

“I don’t even fully understand where all this scorn is coming from.” You refrain from letting out an audible sigh. “You’ve both killed people when you thought it was the justified thing to do, right?”

“What!?” Olahr turned bright red. “What a ridiculous oversimplification of the situation. I have only killed in the name of the forest as the elementals have bid it so! Erden was just chopping heads left and right for some quick cash!”

“Isha used to be a conjurer of stillglade fane, just like you. She even became a Hearer for Halone’s sake.” Erden sneered. “Her every command was in the name of correcting aetherial imbalances. You know, the kind that corrupt sprites?!”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that the wellbeing of nature was in the forefront of your mind all this time?” Olahr gained a smug assuredness about him. “You enjoyed every damn second that you were killing rich people, admit it!”

“Nothing about that was enjoyable.” Erden said sharply.

“Then why do it!?”

“BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!” Erden threw his arms up. “Yocho, Adney, Fyrgeiss, Idelle! All wealthy bastards who haven’t a worry in the world about their future-- how to make ends meet, how to make it through the damn day! But it’s never enough for them, they’ve got to pillage from the poor and the vulnerable, ruin their lives in any way they can, and for what?!” His voice began to waver. “The legal channels don’t work, and how could they? They were put in by the same people I’m trying to hold accountable.”

“And what gave you the right to decide the fates of these people?” S’olahr took another step closer. “How long until you or this Isha, make a mistake? Decide to brutalize the wrong person? Will you just throw your hands up, say, ‘Oopsie Daisy!’ and move on with your life?”

“That won’t happen with my Echo!” Erden shook his head. “And can you stop pretending that I don’t feel any remorse at all about taking lives?!”

“Just calling it how I see it!”

“And when you fling rocks straight into strangers skulls, is that an action you feel ‘remorseful’ of? You sure seem to do it with relative ease and little thought!”

“AUUUGH ENOUGH OF THIS!” You finally yell out before taking a step away. “Look at how godsdamned obvious this situation is! You both have clearly decided that there are situations where taking the lives of others is needed, and you also both agree that it’s not the ideal approach. Furthermore, you also did this in the better interest of the world and the people you care about, and neither of you actively enjoyed doing it, seeing it only as a necessary evil act. Have I got that right?”

The two silently stared back.

“Yet, SOMEHOW, you have ALSO decided that the other person doesn’t feel any hesitation or regret at all in the process of taking a life, despite knowing how horrible it feels to do so.” You have to pause for a moment to simply breathe, before turning your attention to Olahr. “We have all decided that what Erden was doing can’t continue. The chaos it causes is not worth the benefits that he is hoping for, so ultimately we are yielding to your point of view-- the importance of proper governance and processing, and double-checking and investigating.”

“And yet, you are right.” You turn to Erden. “The systems that be are not good at challenging the powerful of the world, and the people of each city are meant to have faith that the system will allow those who would oppress them, be it by money or by strength, to be stopped before the opportunity presents itself. Clearly, there needs to be some other way that the masses will be able to hold the few strong accountable, and we can try to figure that out together.”

“But for heavens’ sake, do not sit around bickering in circles about the minor logistics about who was being more moral, or more lawful, or whatever! We can’t change the past, and we need to be able to be amenable with one another if we want to change the world for the better, like we ALL want to do.” When neither seems satisfied with this, you are compelled to add, “You don’t need to be the best of friends. I just don’t want to turn corners and see live interrogations which are just begging to make things worse. Okay?”

“No, of course that’s not ‘okay.’” Olahr puffed out his chest. “Once again you’re not talking about this with the nuance and significance it deserves!”

“I…actually have to agree with S’olahr on this one.” Erden spoke slowly and deliberately, but he couldn’t keep eye contact with you. “This isn’t just a matter of logistics. S’olahr is trying to cast me into the ranks of thoughtless and emotionless serial killers, all the while promoting a ‘solution’ that is so susceptible to self-corruption that I wouldn’t be surprised if a child had come up with it.” Erden paused for a moment. “...Unless you agree with him? Do you really think…so little of me?”

“What?!” You raise your hands defensively. “No, no! That’s not what I…”

“We will never be the same.” Erden says finally. “Olahr will take any order blindly from the elementals or the Padjal, placing his complete confidence in their authority, meanwhile I actually take the initiative to confirm what I’m being told before taking decisive action to change it.”

“Meanwhile Erden will take any threads of malice and decide that’s enough to end a life over it. The elementals and the Padjal, however, only declare life worthy of taking when it threatens the realm at large.” Olahr turned to Erden directly. “Idelle Maifine wasn’t all bad. Despite what you think of her, and any…flaws she had, she was a major advocate for improving the city with funds she had to spare. Even if you were worried about the wellbeing of Ala Mhigans, it doesn’t give you a right to kill a woman who is only exercising her basic right to speak about her history as a Gridanian and what she believes is right for the city. It makes me wonder what else you’ve swept under the rug for the people you’ve killed that I don’t know anything about.”

“But her speeches were spreading corrupting, umbral aether!” Erden said defensively. “Surely that has to swing it past just simple basic rights. It would’ve put people in a lot of danger by making corrupted sprites?”

“Respectfully, Erden, what in the seven hells are you talking about?”

“Can we just drop this for now?” You practically beg. “I’m sorry for trying to bridge the gap-- clearly that was not my most well thought out plan. The fact remains that right now, we need to solve a mystery, and time is of the essence!”

“...Fine.” Olahr kept side eyeing Erden.

“Whatever.” Erden looked at the ground and away from Olahr.

“...Thank you. What did you manage to hear from Shinobu?”

“She was very helpful.” Olahr began. “Well. Kind of. Not really.”

“She was able to identify the poison very quickly…because she made it. There’s nothing illegal about making it, after all, as long as it is marketed towards use against regenerative monsters that feast on aether as they fight.” Erden explained. “She wasn’t willing to divulge a list of who she has sold it to, though, citing her rights as a merchant of Ul’dah to keep buyer confidentiality.”

“Other than that, we didn’t get much information besides what we already knew.” Olahr added. “The poison requires contact with the blood to function and serves as a powerful anticoagulant, preventing healing magic from having any noticeable effect. This is due to the voidsent blood infused within it, of course, which has the added ‘benefit’ of also being toxic to the body.”

“I do have one idea on how we could proceed.” Erden began.

“...You do?” Olahr asked curiously.

“When one buys poisons, there is no way to verify how effective they are before their use. As such, it is often common buying practice to pay half up front and the rest after its application.” Erden tapped the side of his cheek.

“How do you know so much about buying poisons, exactly?” Olahr asked flatly.

“We used them in Wineport to deal with all manner of monsters trying to eat our crops.” Erden glared back. “We needed a very particular and strong kind in order to deal with them properly, so we ended up eventually getting professional relationships going for this exact kind of thing. It stands to reason that a professional ‘assassin,’ would wind up with a similar relationship with Shinobu, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but who knows how long it could take before whoever bought this to show up again? It could only be a few hours, or it could be a few weeks.” You point out. “We can’t exactly sit here in shifts for that long, we all have other responsibilities to attend to.”

“No, of course not.” Erden agreed. “But if we could get someone else to keep an eye on who goes in and out of the Alchemist’s guild every day, and we narrowed the field down to people who are tall enough to fit the profile, then we might be able to catch whoever is responsible, and better yet, they’d be conducting a transaction which directly connects to their involvement!”

“Now that is a solid plan!” You feel a rush of determination. “We could easily get a member of the Paladins’ guild to keep an eye on the guild for us. Since they are positioned around that area anyway, it should be a simple matter.”

“But even if this theory is correct, wouldn’t the assassin just pay back via letter? Moogles do that kind of thing all the time.” Olahr pointed out.

“Not for Shinobu!” Erden said triumphantly. “She can’t stand moogles, and insists that all transactions be handled in person.”

“Honestly, any sensible merchant would demand the same.” You chuckle. “Alright, I’ll go report this to the paladins. Did you two have any other affairs to attend to in Ul’dah before we return to the waking sands?”

“I don’t think so.” Olahr stretched. “Ah, but what did you learn from the guild?”

“...Mmm.” You struggle to find the words. “Perhaps it is best saved for after we return.”