Iris stood perfectly still, staring at the dark SeeD in front of her. If she had anything which resembled an intuition, this was not going to be pretty.
"It really is you," the SeeD said in utter disbelief. Iris could detect a note of the sort of pain which comes from having salt rubbed into old wounds in his voice.
"Yes, Lloric," she said quietly.
For a moment, it looked like the young giant would create an emotional display of affection, but then his features hardened.
"What are you doing here, Juniko?" he asked in a barely neutral, slightly cold voice. Iris could tell that it still covered a storm of unsorted emotions though. Still, the cold note in his voice was a sharp jerk on her heartstrings.
"I live here," she answered in a quiet voice.
"Could've fooled me, the way you ran off," Lloric said, now with a note of anger in his voice. "Just disappearing without a word. And Headmaster Cid wouldn't tell where the hell you went."
Iris winced. "I asked him not to. Please, Lloric..."
Lloric's features remained unreadable. Without a word, he picked up his katals which had clattered to the floor, and went his way, leaving Iris standing in the hallway.
For a while, she just stood there, unable to move. It took her several minutes before she turned back on her heel and strode into the opposite direction, where her friends were still laughing and carrying on. Even Seifer was smiling, an unusual sight on his face.
Zell turned around at her approach.
"What happened to the half sodas?" he inquired.
Iris recoiled. "Huh...? Oh. I'm sorry, I forgot."
She received strange looks from the whole group.
"What's wrong, Amnesia Chick?" Irvine asked kindly over his quarter-filled glass.
Quistis glared at him playfully. "Shut your pretty face, Irvine, you might pass as reasonably intelligent if you do," she instructed. Irvine's mouth snapped shut obediently.
That done, Quistis got up from sitting on the floor, grabbed hold of Iris's arms and steered her back the way she came.
"I'll make sure she won't forget this time," she called to the others.
Once they were well out of hearing distance, Quistis stopped walking and let go of Iris's arms.
"Alright, who walked over your liver?" she asked.
"It's nothing important," Iris mumbled and looked at the floor.
"Yeah, and I'm having a secret affair with Headmaster Cid. What's wrong?"
Iris lifted her head slightly to look Quistis in the eyes. The blonde met her amber gaze squarely. The question behind it was evident. She was right, of course. Why should she tell someone she hadn't seen for two years?
The instructor gripped Iris's arms again and her features took on a look of fierce determination.
"Look, Juniko, you may have been away for a long time, but that doesn't mean I'm not your friend any more," she said quietly. "You have kept your mouth shut for me, and I am willing to do the same for you. Is that clear?"
Iris had to narrow her eyes a little to stop them from welling up. For a moment, it had really been as if she had never left the Garden.
Both of them sat down with their backs against a wall. After several minutes of silence, Iris finally spoke again.
"I ran into Lloric a minute ago."
Quistis remained silent, and waited for her friend to continue.
"I... guess he was more upset than I thought he would be."
Had her voice just cracked a little? Quistis eyed the girl next to her curiously.
"Did he take it personally?" she asked quietly. She had never really understood why Lloric had been so stubborn about not forgiving Iris for running out like that. Quistis herself, who knew her well, was sure that it had to have been for a very good reason, and the implication Cid had made when he told them that SeeD Juniko Bardok had left the Garden was all the confirmation she needed. As for the others, they were inclined to believe her. But Lloric? It amazed her that he could hold on to a grudge for a whole two years, especially since he was not the type to do such a thing.
Iris nodded to answer her friend's question.
Quistis bit her lip, then finally asked the question she had wanted an answer for ever since Lloric had held his grudge.
"Iris... do you know how come Lloric is won't get over this?"
The brunette laughed bitterly.
"Think, Quistis. If someone ran out on you, what would make it particularly bad?"
Quistis frowned a little. She wasn't sure she liked the direction this was taking.
In the same harsh voice, Iris continued, "How would you have liked being deflowered, and then have the culprit run off like that?"
Quistis cringed.
"Is that what happened?"
She looked sideways at her friend again. She suspected that the answer was affirmative, judging by the way Iris's hands were clutching her head, fingers buried in her unruly locks, her eyes tightly shut.
Quistis clapped her friend on the shoulder and got up.
"Come on. Let's finish our errand."
"Tell me again why we're doing this," Iris told Quistis and Zell, who were almost forcibly directing her towards the pub at Balamb.
"You need something to take your mind off some things," Quistis said in a business-like tone, and almost yanked her friend through the door of the Balamb pub.
Zell, though he only had a vague idea about the reason for this excursion, had joined the pair.
"Three rum'n'cokes," Quistis ordered briskly, and shoved a note into the grinning barkeeper's hand.
"Why, Instructor Trepe, what an honor," the middle-aged man said, maintaining his evil grin.
Within a minute, all three SeeDs held a glass of dark brown liquid with ice cubes and a half slice of lemon.
Iris swapped her glass from one hand to the other, not really wanting to start drinking it.
"Do you need an extra invitation?" Quistis demanded. "Drink."
"Quistie, you know I don't like this sort of stuff."
"Tough," Quistis informed her. "I'll make sure you won't get your hands on any of your beloved Liptonice tonight."
Iris peered at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Wanna bet? she tought as she watched her friend drain the whole glass in one gulp. An idea was already forming in her mind...
"Well, look at the distinguished guests over there," Zell interrupted her train of thoughts, pointing at a table of three men with the hand he held his glass with.
Iris followed the direction of his gaze, and continued to watch the three men out of the corner of her eye. She guessed them to be about in their mid to late forties. The shortest, a man wearing a blue jacket, still looked surprisingly well-preserved, though something about his body language convinced Iris he had to be middle-aged. He had long dark hair, and had obviously been extremely handsome in his young age.
"President Loire," Zell whispered in her ear.
Iris looked at him in surprise.
"Laguna Loire?" she asked quietly.
"One and the same," Quistis confirmed from her other side.
Iris continued to eye the man in question. He looked strangely familiar, though she had probably seen a picture of him at some point. As she watched, Laguna broke out laughing at something the dark man opposite to him had just said, his hands curled around a beerglass he took a sip from every now and again. The dark-skinned man he was talking to flashed a wicked grin, which was a shocking contrast to his skin. Kiros Seagill, if she wasn't mistaken. Lloric's father, a wicked voice in her mind told her, causing a small jerk on her heartstrings.
Hastily, she turned to look at the third man sitting at the table. Even sitting down, Iris could see he was ridiculously tall. She wouldn't have been surprised if he had turned out to be seven feet in height. This man said nothing, but just listened to the conversation. He had a battle-hardened look about him, emphasised by the scar which ran along one side of his face and the faded blue bandanna. Ward Zabac, obviously.
Iris's eyes darted to take one last look at Laguna Loire, and accidentally caught his gaze. Whoops.
Iris turned her attention back to Quistis and Zell. Zell had moved to Quistis's other side to tell her some sort of story which only he seemed to understand. While Quistis rolled her eyes and focused on her second glass of rum and coke, Iris tried her best to catch Zell's eye. When she succeeded, her eyes darted from Quistis to her glass, and back to Zell. Zell raised an eyebrow. Iris grinned mischievously.
"Work with me," she mouthed behind Quistis's back.
Zell grinned evilly, and wrapped Quistis in another complicated story while Iris attended to her friend's glass.