Seifer sighed in frustration as he looked around the shabby Garden. Several students ran to and fro, rebuilding the structures and doing other things to rebuild their fallen school. He looked around and said, "I never knew I had done all this damage… I must've killed a lot of people…"
He walked towards a student as he asked, "Hey… I'm looking for the one in charge here. I'm the student from Balamb Garden they asked for…."
The student he asked looked up at him and smiled as he pointed, "Go talk to Captain Seishiro. Just go to the infirmary…"
He nodded as he went to the infirmary, which was marked by a big red cross on one of the tents. He opened the flap and looked around.
It was filled with sleeping and wounded students on the beds, with the wounded ones moaning in pain. A couple of nurses were flitting about, seeing to the moaning ones and checking their vital signs. One of the nurses passed him and he caught her elbow. She turned to him and he gasped.
She was almost close to his height, and she was far more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen. She had sky blue eyes with gold glasses, framed with black lashes and brows that now wore a confused expression. She had a heart shaped face, framed by silver locks that held a nurses cap. A perfect nose and strawberry lips completed the ensemble.
"Uh… can I help you?"
The girl's melodious voice made him snap from his reverie and he stammered, "Uh… I'm the guy sent from Balamb Garden. I'm supposed to talk to some guy named Shiro…"
The girl smiled as she said, "I see… can you wait here a moment please?"
He nodded and she mentioned to one of the nurses. The nurse nodded and soon another nurse came into view to replace the silver-haired girl.
The girl turned to him again and said, "Please follow me. The office is this way."
She turned to her left and Seifer had no choice but to follow her. They went outside and made their way to another tent. As he closed the flap, the girl removed her white apron and nurse's cap, revealing her SeeD uniform, her braided silver waist length hair and her sword underneath. She smiled at him and made a salute, "I am Meiou Seishiro, SeeD Captain. I am currently in charge in the rebuilding of Trabia Garden. And you are?"
He made a salute and said, "Seifer Almasy. I was sent here by Headmaster Cid…"
She sighed in relief, "Thank goodness! I have been waiting forever to have someone like you. I believe Headmistress Edea gave you an idea of what to do here…"
He nodded.
She smiled, "May I see your credentials, Mr. Almasy?'
Seifer leaned over and presented his papers as she put on her glasses. She scanned them over and her brows knit in a worried scowl. She looked at him, and he felt as if she was looking for some signs that he was a trouble-maker. She put her glasses aside and said, "I can see that you are one of the students who are troublesome to the Garden…"
He shook his head, "I can see that they even write that in the files…"
She looked at him intently, "I must warn you, Mr. Almasy, that I will not tolerate incompetence here. I will give orders as needed, and disobedience is not an option. There is a certain reason you are brought here. So I hope that what ever that reason is, you will show it in an appropriate way. It may sound foolish, but as the leader of the rebuilding, my orders are absolute. Disobediences have a corresponding punishment. I expect everyone to follow… and that includes you, Mr. Almasy."
He smirked to himself. This girl thinks I'm that stupid… we shall see soon. He kept his thoughts to himself and simply said, "Understood."
She scanned his face again before nodding, "Everyone here has a job to do, so I'll assign you to your corresponding responsibility." She scanned the papers again, "Since you were a member of the Discipline Committee, I might as well assign you to ours."
Seifer scowled, "What am I supposed to do?"
"Simple enough. You search our grounds, looking for sleeping or lazy students. Any action that disobeys our code…" Meiou took a small folder from her desk and gave it to him, "Our terminals are not functional yet, so you might as well read this. These are the rules of Trabia Garden, and the sanctions needed when faced with a violation. Read them carefully."
Seifer read a page of the folder and said, "So, whoever I see that disobeys the code is sanctioned, am I correct?"
She nodded, "If needed, yes. Now, I am sure you are tired. Your room is on the third floor of our dorms… since it was the only section of the school that wasn't severely destroyed…"
He smirked, "Did you see how it happened?"
She sighed as she stood up and lifted the flap of her tent, "The day Trabia was destroyed? Yes, I saw everything. From the moment the missiles hit our Garden to the moment some of classmates died. I saw everything…" She turned to him, "Everyone is working hard to rebuild our home, Mr. Almasy. And though you are not from this Garden, I hope you will work just as hard to rebuild it."
Seifer acted as if he was reading the folder but he just hid his smirk underneath.
Meiou scowled at him and said, "Mr. Almasy."
Seifer looked up and saw that she was becoming irritated with him. Her look wiped the smirk off his face as he answered, "Yes… Captain Seishiro."
Meiou's brows rose for a while before she opened the flap and left.
As soon as the flap fell, Seifer smirked again as he read the folder. But as he read one of the rules, his smirk faded. You call this sanctions?, he thought, Well, since I am here, might as well… 'bend' the rules a little…
