When the moon is full, we all wear Festival masks and the demons dance among us. Look! There is the Prince and the Capering Fool, there is the clawed Kheft and the robed Lich. There is the Bloodied Man, and the woman with her face on backwards. We dance to the music of a long-silent drum that never forgets its old songs. We step in patterns and sing in tongues. Those inexplicable things, unexplainable things, are known so fully these nights when they are so strange to us in the morning.

-

It usually wasn't this hard to find Xu.

Seifer had been wandering the halls of the Presidential Palace for several minutes, and it didn't help that none of the palace aides seemed to be able to give him directions--either coherent or correct. He had already tried all the obvious places--offices and labs and the like--and Xu was nowhere in evidence.

He was weighing his options, nearly convinced to just leave, when he ran into Quistis as he was rounding a corner.

Temper already a bit on the short side, Seifer demanded "Where's XU?" before considering any concerns of civility.

Quistis nodded to him, an unvoiced sigh evident in the look she gave him. "Hello, Seifer. How's your day been?"

"Terrible. Where's Xu?"

Quistis glanced over his shoulder, down the hall from which he had come. "Probably back at Garden for the day," she said. "I assume she contacted you, then?"

"You could say that. Do you know what this is all about?"

"There's going to be a general briefing later today," Quistis said. "I assume we'll all find out, then."

"When later today?"

"Over dinner."

"And she couldn't have just told me that, of course." Seifer shook his head--then noticed something. On the side of Quistis's face, hidden by long locks of hair, there was... something unusual. He motioned vagely toward it. "--what's that?"

Quistis stiffened, turning her head slightly to as to move the bandage out of Seifer's line of sight. "Nothing," she snapped.

Seifer seemed amused by her evasion. "Oh?" he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly. "Looked like something."

"Nothing you need to worry abou--" she began, and froze in the middle of the syllable. Before she had been given a chance to react Seifer had stepped in, brushing back her hair and pressing two fingers into her cheekbone.

He smirked, quietly and mockingly. "Looks like you've had a bit of an accident, Instructor. What was it, a Grat?"

She reminded herself to breathe. Reminded herself that she wasn't in any danger. (Not an enemy. Not an attack--) "It doesn't matter," she said, calculating each sound to make it seem more certain than it really was. "Why should you care?"

He dropped his hand, quiet smirk enduring. "Concerned, that's all," he said. "I hope it won't leave a scar."

Her skin was still raw from the injury; she could feel slight pangs where he had touched her. They raced across her skin, biting back toward bone. "It shouldn't," she said. After a moment she added "I'm not that careless," aiming for a sharp repartee and falling somehow short.

Seifer raised both eyebrows, mock-wounded. "I'll remember that," he said, ever-so-cooly.

"Good day, Seifer," she said, a note of finality in her tone. (This shouldn't hurt this much--!)

"See you," Seifer said, and stepped past her--

--and a moment later, there was the sound of a body hitting the floor.

He spun, scanning the hallway for threats on instinct. None was apparent--but Quistis was on the floor, not moving.

(...the hell?)

Seifer crouched, rolling her over onto her back. She was quite clearly unconscious--breathing shallowly.

"...Instructor?"

He shook her by the shoulder, wondering if he should be trying to get some kind of medical assistance to her.

"...hello? Quistis?"

She groaned slightly, and her eyes opened--moving sluggishly across her field of vision. She stared, as if she wasn't quite sure where she was.

A moment passed.

"...what happened?"

Seifer's eyebrows raised. "You fainted," he said.

"I--"

"Fainted. Collapsed. Went unconscious. You sure you're all right?"

She sat up, putting one hand out to the wall for balance. Forcing a smile, she tried to sound reassuring. "...I think I'll be going back to Garden for a while. The stress of the last few days must be getting to me."

(Like hell. Trained SeeDs don't collapse just because things get a little stressful.) "...what happened to your face, Instructor?"

Quistis kept the smile on, as if trying to hammer the message It's perfectly fine through Seifer's skepticism. "It's utterly immaterial."

She had hit the side of her face against the ground when she had fainted, and the bandage was pulling loose. There was a faint smear of red along her cheek--and something hit Seifer like a lightning bolt. (I'll know it when I see the blood.)

"Someone attacked you," Seifer inferred darkly, pulling what he could from the garbled messages the Voice has told him. "Didn't they?"

Quistis stared at him in open astonishment. "How did you get that, Osan?"

Seifer felt as if he had been slammed against a wall. "What did you say?"

Quistis stood up, leaving him crouching on the floor. She looked uneasy--nervous, and far too ready to push him off the track. "I said how did you get that notion?"

"No, you didn't." Seifer jumped to his feet. "You called me something. You called me Osan."

Quistis way eying him, what was beginning to mount toward panic in her eyes. "Maybe I'm not the one who's been too stressed over the past few days--"

"Shut up and answer, already!" Seifer shook his head--and came very close to grabbing and shaking her. "Someone attacked you. Who was she?" (Whoever she is, she'll have something to do with this damn Voice and whoever the hell keeps confusing me with Osan--)

"She?" For a moment, Quistis was only taken aback. "I startled Squall, and he hit me. There was no she involved. Are you...."

"Where is he?"

"How should I know?" Quistis was getting annoyed, now. "What's going on? Taking a sudden interest in my well-being?"

You're going to lose her and there's no way you can get her back, the Voice echoed--or maybe it was an echo of the Voice. Do something.

(Shut up shut up shut up, already!) "...yes! I am, okay? Now tell me where the hell Squall went!"

"I don't know!" Quistis's patience finally snapped. "he attacked me, and then he ran off without saying a word! I haven't seen him since."

Do something, the Voice repeated.

Seifer snarled. (Well, if you could give me some useful information for once, I might--)

The Knight has the Dragonship, the Voice responded, startling Seifer by being helpful for once. He shares that territory with the Sorceress, now.

Do something.

Seifer nodded civilly to Quistis. "Right. See you around, Instructor."

Then he took off down the hall, leaving a very confused Quistis behind.