Their journey was made in an awkward silence. Fujin and Raijin did not say a word in Rinoa's presence, although the former occationally had to remind her companion of the fact. And Seifer always made it his business to be as far away from her as he could; he normally wouldn't even look at her.

Now, they were following one of the railways that led into Timber, now silent as the trains had stopped. The sky was reddening, and the sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains to the west. They would probably arrive at the town just in time for sunset.

Rinoa was alone. Fujin and Raijin were off to one side, and Seifer had gone on ahead in what had become the standard formation for them. She guessed that they were trying not to make her uncomfortable, but as it was, she felt isolated, lonely. All she could do was keep walking doggedly on, staring at Seifer's back.

It had certainly given her plenty of time to sort out what was happening. She had gone over the situation in her head dozens of times. The last time she had seen Seifer, he had junctioned her to Sorceress Adel. The experience had been one of the most horrifying in her life, but somehow she had never been able to blame Seifer for it. She had not realized why until recently. Seifer had been manipulated from the beginning by Sorceress Ultimecia; he had never been acting on his own accord. He had been nothing more than a pawn in someone else's grand scheme.

And, in a way, so had she. Ultimecia's possession of her had been a major part of both her plot to achieve time compression and Esthar's plan to defeat her. She had not been manipulated exactly, but she had been used to achieve someone else's goals. She could understand Seifer's situation, at least to a degree. That was a bigpart of why she could not condemn him for his actions.

The other part was that Seifer would never have been involved in all this if he had not come to Timber, to help the Forest Owls.

For the first time, she noticed the tendrils of smoke rising above the horizon. At first, she assumed it was the last remnants of the Galbadians' burning the town, but then realized that it had already been several days. Certainly the fires would have gone out by now.

Seifer called back. Rinoa looked around, but could not see another soul. Nonetheless, she checked her Pinwheel.

Timber rested on the top of a shallow hill, and had been designed on two levels. The center of the hill had been dug out, and the rail station had been built into it. As the town grew, an upper level had been built on top of the hill as well, and another pair of rail stations were added. This was when Timber's public-transport rail network had emerged. When the project was complete, the city had been a masterpiece in architecture.

Now, as Rinoa scaled the hill and looked out over the town, all she saw was a blackened ruin.

Seifer had been right; Galbadian soldiers were patrolling the streets, and all the entrances were blocked off by Army transports. Not that it mattered; now someone could enter the city from just about anywhere.

Man, this is bad, ya know? Raijin said, in an uncommonly hushed voice.

Fujin agreed.

Rinoa ingnored the two and ventured farther into the ruined city. The smoke, she saw, led from a number of small fires in what had been the city streets. People in tattered clothes were clustered around, huddling up against the autumn chill.

Campfires, she realized. For the people who don't have homes any more.

One of the men at a nearby campfire noticed her attention. What're you lookin' at? he snapped.

Rinoa took a step back, despite the fact that a good five meters already separated them. Nothing. I'm sorry.

The man nodded, and started to look away when a glint of recognition shone in his eyes. Hey, I know you. You're that girl from the TV announcement...that resistence faction, right? The Forest Owls?

Rinoa blinked. Well, yeah....

I knew it! He leapt to his feet and quickly covered the distance between them. You're the one who did all this! If it weren't for you, the Galbadians would have left us alone, and my family would still have a roof to sleep under!

Stunned, Rinoa took another step back, but this time, her legs nearly gave out from under her.

Stupid kid! The hell did you think you were doing? Huh? Crackdown wasn't good enough for you, so you figured to see how far you could push em, is that it?

I...I only wanted...it was all for...Timber's future, Rinoa stammered.

The man gestured around him, at the blackened skeletons that had once been houses and the rubble-filled streets. This the future you wanted? Cause it don't look so great to me!

She shook her head, unable to even look at him. I was only trying...to help, she pleaded, fighting back tears.

He snorted. Well, thanks a lot. Next time, why don't you take your help' and —

Seifer planted himself in front of her. There a problem here?

The Timber man glared at him. The hell are you?

Get out of my sight, Seifer growled. They stared at each other for a moment, then, with a last disdainful look at Rinoa, the other man turned and stalked back to the campfire.

Rinoa retreated as far as her legs would take her, evenually collapsing on one of the railroad bridges that criscrossed the town. From there, she could see out over most of the city. Or the ruins that had once been a city. She could see movement in the streets; Galbadian army vehicles, soldiers clearing off the railroads. After all the town had been through, what had been accomplished. Now, Timber was all but destroyed, and there were more Galbadians than ever.

It's my fault. If I had thought my actions through, I would have realized how dangerous a situation I was in. But I thought that, once SeeD came, we would be able to do anything. I thought the Galbadians wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop us.

I thought...this was a game.

She remembered how furious she ahd been when she learned about the Galbadians' occupation of Timber, and the role her father had played. She had marched straight to him and announced that she was joining the resistence. From that point on, it had all been about beating him. She had managed to convince herself that she really was interested in Timber's future, rather than her own little family fued. She had persued her goal with a kind of fanatiscism, and would not admit, even to herself, that she was anything less than committed.

Squall saw it. So did Quistis. How many other people knew that I was a joke? Was I the only person I managed to fool?

She buried her head in her arms, and stopped trying to hold back the tears.

- - = = = = - -


At first, Seifer tried to hide the fact that he was watching her, but it soon became apparent that she wasn't going to notice. He kept his distance, standing in the ruin of what had once been someone's house. If Fujin and Raijin knew what was good for them, they'd set up camp and leave him alone.

He hadn't known what seeing Rinoa again would do to him. Trouble was, he still didn't. He was doing his best not to think about it, but he knew that it wouldn't last. The longer they travelled together, the more he would have to face her.

Yeah, well that's not going to happen, he thought icily. She'll want to run straight back to Squall, and everybody's hero'll take it from there. Since when did anyone bother to give a second thought about me, when they've got Mr. Leader around to make it all better?

His hand had closed around his gunblade. Forcing his grip to relax, he turned away and searched for his companions.