XI


As Nida entered the Quad, one of the Festival Committee members tapped him on the shoulder, drawing him off to one side. "Word to the wise," the girl muttered under her breath. "Selphie is really cranky today. Don't tell her I said that."

Nida nodded, and the girl hurried off. Glancing around the Quad, Nida spotted her dragging a long box toward the hall near the stage that connected the Quad to the ballroom on the very edge of Garden. Moving over to her, he grabbed one edge of the box and tried to help. "I have a question," he asked.

"Mm?" Selphie said. She had a look on her face that gave the impression that she was either going break out in tears or kill someone, Nida wasn't sure which. She was deliberately not looking at him.

"If you have to make a choice between trusting one of your friends of trusting your own common sense, which do you choose?" Nida asked. Selphie glanced at him in surprise.

"Er... your friends, I guess," she said.

Nida sighed. "That's what I was worried about," he said.

Selphie stopped in the middle of the hall, opening the box to reveal it packed full of greenery. Pulling out a branch, she handed it to Nida.

"What's this?" Nida asked.

"Holly," Selphie said. "One of the traditions was to... deck the halls with boughs of holly. The band is going to be singing about it at the Festival."

"Oh," Nida said. "What do I do?"

Selphie pulled out a braid of silver ribbon, handing it to him. Pulling out another for herself, she said "you tie it up in this, then we can staple the ribbon to the walls. It's pretty easy."

"Sure," Nida said, sitting down and grabbing a bough. Weaving the ribbon around it, he watched as Selphie worked with hers. There was something a bit too violent about the way she was treating it. "Selphie?" he asked.

"What?" she demanded sharply. Nida's eyebrow jumped--she really was cranky today.

"Are you all right?"

Selphie seemed to freeze. Only her hands shaking gave the indication that she was still alive.

Oh, hell, Nida thought as Selphie's composure collapsed completely. Putting aside the holly and ribbon, he got up to go sit next to her. Placing an arm awkwardly around her shoulders, he tried to be comforting. It was never something he had had practice with. "What's wrong?" he asked gingerly.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way!" Selphie sobbed, hands crushing the holly she was still holding. "Everything's going wrong!"

"What do you mean?" Nida asked, wishing he had taken that advanced course in counseling he had been offered. He had never expected to become the ersatz morale officer for the Committees....

"I wanted everything to be happy," Selphie began. "Everyone was so worried because of the Tribunal and the new Headmaster coming and--and I wanted to do something really nice and make everyone feel good and have a holiday, but now the Headmaster is calling in an Inspector who might shut down SeeD, and I have to make sure that he's impressed, and no one understands what the Christmas festival is about, and then Squall--"

From there, the words became incoherent. Nida feigned attentiveness, mind wandering. What was he supposed to say to cheer her up, dammit? He and Selphie were the opposite ends of the spectrum! She was an optimist, he was a cynic. She wanted people to share in the joy of Christmas, he didn't care. And she had been doing her best to cheer everyone up in regards to this whole mess a long time before he came along. If this was what happened at the end of that road, Nida would have been much more comfortable locking himself in his room and hoping for a Galbadian missile strike or something.

Dammit, Selphie was right. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"Selphie...." he started, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say in a situation like this. He was tempted to say that he understood how she felt, but that would probably require some emoting on his part.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"...let's take a walk," he finally said. Selphie nodded unhappily, allowing Nida to pull her to her feet. Nida offered her his elbow, and--with a weak smile--she hooked her arm through it.

Tuning, Nida started off towards the ballroom. There wouldn't be as many people working there as in the Quad--the only decorating to be done in the ballroom, he understood, was to put up wreaths and garlands with candles, and that could wait until the gargantuan task of decorating the Christmas Tree in the Quad was finished.

As they entered, Selphie's eyes darted around the expanse and she seemed to deflate. "We're never going to be finished decorating in time," she said gloomily.

"Come on," Nida said. "Forget about that. You have enough on your mind right now." Thinking about the sheer overabundant decorative glory in the Quad, he gave a wry smile. "And, anyway, if you do even half of the job you did in the Quad, it'll be the best decorating job this place will ever have seen. Besides, who will notice if it's not just perfect? Everyone's going to be too busy dancing."

Selphie blushed, glancing away. Nida frowned.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"No, it's not that," Selphie said hurriedly. "It's just that... well... I can't dance."

Nida stared at her. "Oh, please," he said. "Even I can dance. Hell, even Squall can dance! Stop pulling my leg."

"No, really!" Selphie protested. "I never learned."

Nida glanced back towards the Quad. Why the hell not, he thought. It'll cheer her up, and it won't involve me reassuring her with tales of tender moments from my own past. "Do you want to learn?" he asked.

Selphie stared at him. "What?"

"I could teach you," Nida said. "It's pretty simple."

Selphie started laughing. It was the most bizarre sight--tears were still glistening on her cheeks, but soon she was doubled up, howling with mirth. Nida felt himself blushing.

"You can't possibly find the concept of me dancing that amusing," he muttered.

Selphie shook her head. "It's not that," she said. "It's just that... for a second, you sounded exactly like Squall."

Nida was now desperately confused. "Squall offered to teach you to dance?"

"No!" Selphie shook her head. "That's not it. It's just that... oh, never mind. It was... at least two years ago, anyway." She smiled. "I must have really looked depressed," she said.

"It's not hard to tell." Nida crossed his arms. "I hate to say it, but you are lousy at pretending you're happy."

Selphie nodded. "I know," she said. "But... come on. You wanted to teach me something?"

Nida nodded, holding out a hand. "As long as this doesn't become the next Stem Bolt incident," he said.

Selphie nodded, taking his hand. "I'll try not to tease you," she said.

"Let's dance," Nida said, and grinned.