"Ke!"

Three steps to the right, feint, duck, lunge! Slice! Parry to the right and down, trap the blade... left foot forward, right foot forward, spin on left foot, free the blade and swing....

"Ke!"

The training was hard, and what felt like gallons of sweat trickled down her face. Feet balancing lightly on the pad of Float magic below her, she slowly fought her way back towards the shore. The Float was losing strength--soon, it would run out. And she was still fifteen exercises and at least twenty meters away from the bank.

Plant foot, feint, parry upward to disarm, spin on right foot, swing with left foot, trip, stab!

"Ke!"

Another move successfully executed. Fourteen exercises and twenty meters to go.

It was getting on near dawn--someone was bound to come by and wonder what someone of her age was doing practicing swordsmanship in the middle of a lake soon. The sun was about to break over the horizon, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day--

...duck, roll, bring weapon up to bear, lunge--

--trip--

"Ke--nooo!"

Tumbling forward, she barely managed to catch herself in time. The sparkling-clear water was centimeters away from her face, and she thought that she could see all the way to the bottom of the lake from here.

Damn.

"I am sorry, Gami-ke," she whispered into the water. "I will try to train harder."

Standing up, she steeled her resolve and strode back out to the middle of the lake. Thirty-three exercises and thirty meters to go--and her Float was running out.

It just wasn't worth it some days.

~


"You aren't serious."

Xu leaned back, enjoying the look on the younger SeeD's face. "On the contrary," she responded. "I am very serious. It's been too long since you've been out on assignment, and Garden needs a boost in enrollment. Therefore, you are the natural choice for a mission like this one. Esthar will popularize it to no end."

Squall's face disappeared behind a black-gloved hand that took it upon itself to attach itself to his forehead. "Why not a normal mission?" he asked.

"According to Cid, you have a certain style that prospective SeeDs would find very glamorous. In addition, we're certain that you can carry this mission through. You're one of the best combat SeeDs we have, and this is a tough assignment. You can win it, giving SeeDs everywhere a better reputation."

"You're not serious."

"I think we've been over that possibility before," Xu said.

Squall groaned.

Xu pushed a stack of papers at him. "Here's the full crime reports, as well as information on the other details of the mission. Your team will consist of you, Selphie Tilmitt, and Rach Nives. Oh, and you'll be taking a cadet with you--think of it as a prerequisite for his Exam. That cadet would be..." Xu shuffled through her papers, and smiled. "Irvine Kinneas."

"You cannot be--"

"Oh, but I am." Xu smiled sweetly. "You'll leave today from Balamb Harbor at nineteen hundred, and arrive in Jacce Harbor within fifty-six hours."

"Fi--fifty-six?" Squall asked, doing a mental double-take at the number. His face must have registered a certain amount of surprise, because Xu started to laugh.

"Fifty-six," she confirmed. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure your companions will liven things up."

Squall felt, but did not show, a sick pang of absolute horror.

"I'll make sure your cabin is equipped with a supply of Sleep spells," Xu said merrily. "Whether you use them or yourself or others, I'll leave up to you."

Standing, Xu made her way out of the cafeteria. Squall stared at the pile of papers in front of him, gingerly picking one up.

Before he could begin to read, a rather sullen Irvine appeared at the table. "They said I was supposed to see you," he grumbled.

Squall looked up--and did a real double-take. Irvine was wearing, instead of his normal hat, the most patently ridiculous thing Squall had ever seen in his entire life--a hat made exclusively out of bright yellow feathers, with an abnormally large one sticking out at a jaunty angle. Resisting the urge to Firaga the thing, he forced himself to calmly say "Irvine?"

"This had better not be about the hat," Irvine warned.

Squall bit off the rest of his question.

Irvine tapped the papers. "Am I getting assigned or something?"

"This evening we're leaving for Esthar," Squall said. We're on assignment."

"Great! What do we do?"

"I haven't had time to read the briefing," Squall answered. "We'll figure it out on the way."

"Er... so I guess we'll be on with the bulk of the mission before a week is up?"

"I would guess so," Squall responded acidly.

"I hope it's not going to be anything too publicized," Irvine remarked.

"As a matter of fact, it's a recruiting campaign," Squall said.

Irvine's hand moved up to rub the side of his hat. "Damn," was all he could say.