Later in the week, Selphie was going over the
budget for Trabia when she heard a muted roar
from outside of the Garden. Half a minute later,
the sentries who had been on guard at the entrance
raced into her office, an irate Fujin right behind
them, a fierce scowl on her face. She caught up with
them halfway across the room, and grabbed the collars
of their uniforms, neatly stopping both of the students.
They still managed to get out what they had to say,
though.

"The Ragnarok! The Ragnarok is heading towards the
old Trabia Garden!"

"Get the patrol in with chocobos, and bring 'em in.
I'll be going to greet them myself." Selphie replied,
leaving the papers where they were. "Fujin, grab
Seifer and Raijin and make sure you three stay
out of sight."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"I want Moira and Jax to accompany me. Tell them to
get their fur uniforms up and to meet me in the foyer."
Selphie called over her shoulder, adjusting the carrying
sak holding the nunchaku on her back as she headed for
the door to her office.

Five minutes later, Selphie and the two cadets were
on chocobos headed towards the old Trabia Garden.

When they arrived, the forms of twenty confused
cadets and five SeeDs were looking through the
ruins. The two cadets on duty at the gates
halted the three chocobo mounted Trabians at
the gate. "Who goes there?" one of them said,
obviously ready to sound an alarm.

"Headmaster Tilmitt. These are cadets Jax and
Moira." Selphie replied crisply, unwrapping her
scarf enough to allow the cadets to see her
face. "What's going on?"

"Active Headmaster Zell Dincht sent us up to
be trained at Trabia, Ma'am." one of them
replied.

"Who's in command on this?"

"Xu, Ma'am."

"Where is she?"

"She's on the Ragnarok, Ma'am."

"Stay here." Selphie told Jax and Moira. "Back
these two up, and kill any monsters you
see." The two cadets saluted and dismounted,
keeping a firm hand on the chocobos. Once the
chocobos were tied in place, the two cadets
pulled out their weapons and settled into guard
position.

The Ragnarok was just about a quarter of the
way around the old Garden. Selphie nudged
her chocobo into a trot, and it obligingly
trotted off towards the airship.

Xu was listening the the report of a cadet
in the entryway to the hold when Selphie led
her chocobo up the ramp. "Xu?"

"Selphie! Good to see you." The short brunette
smiled at her. "We were worried when we couldn't
find anyone."

"We moved the new location to a cave system
about five miles northeast of here." Selphie
told her.

"Really? Come inside and mark it on the map."

Selphie obliged her, and Xu handed her a tube
like the messengers for Balamb usually used.
"Zell asked me to give this to you." she told
Selphie. "He also said to tell you that the
GFs in Balamb have disappeared.

"Huh?"

"That was their reaction too." Xu shrugged.
"All of them are gone, and I do mean all.
Squall and Quistis are throwing hissy fits
over it."

"What do you mean, 'hissy fits'?" Selphie
asked, concerned. "Xell told me they were
acting wierd..."

"Yeah. Squall's not concerned with anything
not related to killing any monster that
crosses within a hundred mile radius of him.
Quistis is the same. And they're using Rinoa
as a weapon of war, letting her drain her
Sorceress powers to kill things then going in
and killing what's left. Esthar's running
out of monsters."

Selphie frowned. "Tell Zell to try to get them
to loosen up. That doesn't sound like Squall
or Quistis. What about Rinoa?"

"She's on sick leave for exhaustion."

"Well... Squall and Quistis can't use her up
like that if she's up here. Try and ferry
her up here, and just tell the two of them
that she asked for a vacation and you
granted it. Send Irvine or someone else in."

Xu considered that, and nodded. "Okay. If
I can get her to agree..."

"Tell her it's for Squall, that he won't
like her getting real sick, and he'd like
her up here." Selphie suggested.

"Sounds about right." Xu nodded. "Anyway,
I'm going to call the cadets back, and
we're heading for the new site. No need
to make them go over five miles in these
conditions in those uniforms."


***


An hour later, the new cadets had been
assigned to doubles, and the Ragnarok was
on its way back to Balamb, via Esthar.

"What I really need," Selphie told Fujin
as the two went over the files on the new
cadets "Is a quartermaster. I've had the
senior cadets dealing with the problem up
until now, but..." She shrugged. "We
really need more SeeDs."

"TEST. MAKE SEEDS." Fujin suggested.

"I don't have that authority." Selphie
tapped the message tube she held in one
hand against the palm of the other, and
frowned. Sighing, she twisted the top
open, and fished out the message, and
read it over. Most of it just repeated
what he and Xu had said, but the other
paper...

"Permission to induct cadets of Trabia into
SeeD given. SeeDs will be allowed to stay on
at Trabia or request transfer to Balamb,
Galbadia, or Esthar Garden. Esthar Garden?"
Selphie looked up at Fujin. "Looks like
Zell and Xu have been busy."

"INTERESTING." commented Fujin.

"In four months time, Trabia is expected
to present Headmaster, Commander, and
Garden Master to the SeeD council in
Balamb." Selphie read on. "A report of
activities is expected, along with a
expense report." She curled up the paper.
"Okay. Fujin, I need you to go to Dollet.
Find someone who needs monster extermination,
let out the word that Trabia is open for
business and able to ship out to wherever
its needed."

"AFFIRMATIVE." The silver-haired woman
headed off, back straight.

Grabbing the intercom, Selphie flipped it
on. Sitting down at the desk, she leaned
back in her chair, intercom mike in hand
as she cheerfully sang out "Seifer Almasy,
report to the Headmasters Office."

Seifer showed up within a minute. "I passed
Fuu in the hall." he said. "What's up, oh
beautiful and glorious Headmaster?" His
voice was thick with sarcasm.

"I need to know who in the senior cadets
is eligible by SeeD standards to take the
exams." Selphie replied, ignoring the
sarcasm. "Can you list them, and write
up the test?"

"You got permission to hold a field exam?"

"Yeah." Selphie grinned widely. "Xu evidently
dealt with it. So. List. Test. Now!" She said,
a cheerful look on her face as she pointed at
him.

"Right away, Frau Tilmitt." Seifer gave her
an exaggerated bow.

"Hey!" Selphie leaned back in her chair, and
massaged her forehead. A headache had
sprung up all of a sudden. "Darn it. I hope
I'm not sick." She shrugged, and did her best
to ignore it as she set to work.


Authors Notes: This actually ran on longer than
I thought it would. Mea culpa. In the next
chapter, Trabia Garden finally gets to see
some action.