The Makings Of A SeeD

By Bhamv

Chapter 11 – Linn's Secret

Author's note: This chapter is actually more of a continuation of chapter 10. I felt it would be easier to write if I split it into two.
A soft rustle of robes... the sudden silence that falls over the crowd... I stare at the Garden faculty member... I can't see his face, I just see the piece of paper in his hands... I hear his voice, I hear my name...

"Quistis Trepe, of Squad A."

I feel relief, I'm so happy my heart could burst. I'm a SeeD now! I'm a SeeD! I step forward. The faculty member says some other things, but I don't hear them. I can only hear my own heart screaming with delight... I'm a SeeD, I'm a SeeD! The faculty member leads us away, towards the elevator... I start to follow, but suddenly I feel eyes staring at me, at my back. I turn.

Dark hair, dark uniform, dark eyes. A pair of dark eyes staring at me. Vincent Nimcoti, his eyes on me. Looking directly at me, yet through me at the same time. His eyes...

Full of disappointment...

And sadness...

And fear...

And hatred...

The hatred! He hates me! He hates us all! He's staring, just staring, he won't stop staring...

Quistis awoke with a start, her blue eyes flying open. Gradually they focused on the blank white ceiling of the room in Linn's Taverna. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly, then she took another, and then a third.

Her Guardian Forces, suppressing her memories, had removed her recollections of the day she'd passed her SeeD examination, but recent events had forcibly pulled those thoughts to the forefront of her mind. Despite the magnitude of the day she had become a SeeD, she'd long forgotten the details of the day itself until last night's reminder. Quistis couldn't remember the last time she had recalled the sound of the Garden faculty member's voice, or how she'd felt when she heard her name. Or the eyes belonging to the failed candidate, the eyes she had just dreamed of. Strange, perhaps, that she would dream so vividly of the events of that day, from over three years ago. She could still feel those eyes on her.

Then Quistis felt it. The gaze that was actually staring at her, the gaze that had woken her. Twisting in her bed and peering to one side, she found Linn standing at the doorway of the room, staring at her with a hint of a smile. How long has she been standing there?

"Good morning. Breakfast is ready, if you want any." Linn said, presenting the image of a gracious hostess.

"Thank... thank you." Quistis said. Rinoa and Selphie, sleeping on the beds to her left, had begun to awaken and stir. Linn gave them one final smile, then went off to knock on the boys' doors across the hall.

Thirty minutes later, the SeeDs were gathered in their corner booth from last night, joined by Linn, Fujin and Raijin. All were picking slowly at the plates of food before them, with the exception of Zell and Raijin who were wolfing their breakfasts down as if they hadn't eaten for days. Linn turned to Squall and said in a playful tone, "Now, Mister Squall, I believe you had some questions for me?"

Squall was privately irritated at Linn's tone of voice, as if she was a teacher talking to a young child. Keeping his annoyance under control, Squall said, "I just wanted to know more about you and your background, that's all."

"Well, before I answer that question, let me ask one of my own. Why are you, all of you, here in Esthar? What do you plan on doing here?" Linn said in the same joking tone.

Squall hesitated, he hadn't expected such a direct question. Linn took advantage of the silence to add, "You should tell me the truth, Squall. I can tell when you're not being truthful. And believe me when I say you will find the truth to be advantageous."

Squall and the SeeDs considered this. Because their mission was a covert operation, it seemed obvious they shouldn't reveal their true intentions to someone they had just met. However, Linn's boast of being able to see through dishonesty rung true; she had seen right through Squall the night before, and Squall was the most stoic and poker-faced of the group. Glancing at one another, the seven youngsters conferred silently before looking at Squall, letting their leader make the final decision.

A further moment of silence passed before Squall decided on a course of action. "You said the truth would be advantageous. What did you mean by that?"

Linn replied, her voice positively oozing with laughter now, "I mean, of course, that I already know exactly who you are. Squall Leonhart, SeeD and commander of Balamb Garden, accompanied by six other Balamb SeeDs, including Seifer Almasy, former Knight of Sorceress Edea."

Seifer stiffened at the mention of his former occupation, which he was not very proud of. While under the delusions of grandeur brought about as Sorceress's Knight, he had fought and tortured his childhood friends, launched intercontinental missiles at unsuspecting targets, excavated Lunatic Pandora and brought about the Lunar Cry, and thrown his former girlfriend to the mercy of Sorceress Adel. Squall, on the other hand, was eying Linn with a newfound wariness. How had she discovered so much?

"You wonder how I know so much, Squall?" Linn asked, as if reading Squall's mind. "The answer is simple, and twofold. Firstly, I am not merely a barmaid in a tavern. My aunt and uncle are Flo and Dobe of Fisherman's Horizon. I believe you know them."

Squall now regarded Linn with surprise. She was the niece of the mayor of FH?

Linn continued, "Aunt Flo is my mother's older sister. Before they'd left to found their own town, Uncle Dobe and Aunt Flo had often talked to my parents about their ideals of pacifism and peace. My parents were convinced by their rhetoric, but they didn't go with the others when they all left Esthar to build their own dream world. They had to stay behind, to take care of my brother, since he was very young; I hadn't even been born yet. They opened this very tavern."

Linn then turned to Squall, "You asked, last night, how I came to run this place? It's very simple, it was my father's. He named the tavern after me, with the obvious hope that I would follow in his footsteps and own this place one day."

"Your family, where are they now?" Quistis asked, fascinated by this turn of events.

Linn's expression hardened with memory but her voice grew more emotionless, "They're dead. They didn't go with Uncle Dobe and the others, but they still believed in what he had to say. They stayed behind to try and convince others. I was quite young, but I remember... I remember that day soldiers came and killed my parents, because they had been trying to tell people fighting is wrong. Then they killed my brother, because he tried to stop them."

There was a moment's silence as Linn lost herself in recollection. Then she drew a deep breath through her nose and continued, "There were those who did not approve of what those soldiers did. My parents' friends, mainly. They formed a resistance movement, very disorganized and without any clear goal, but everyone had the same ideals. To solve problems peacefully, and to oppose the Esthar government if it began to show belligerence. We've never really had a leader, or tried anything big. We don't even have a name. But at least our members are halfway decent at gathering intelligence."

"That's how ya knew about us?" Zell asked.

"Yes. Members of our group pass through here daily. One of them recognized Seifer a while ago, and it wasn't hard to connect him to the rest of you. That's how I knew who you are, and that's why I said it would be better for you to tell the truth. I would obviously know if you lie."

Squall asked, "You mentioned there are two reasons, what's the other one?"

Linn looked up into Squall's eyes with sudden shyness mixed with determination, like a woman about to bare the deepest secret in her soul. "The other reason... is that... I'm..."

"She's a sorceress." Rinoa finished, flatly.

Linn's head whipped around in surprise and she stared at Rinoa in panic. Rinoa stared right back, without a trace of a smile or any hint of compromise in her eyes. Linn turned away, and said, "Yes... she's right. I'm a sorceress. I don't remember how I became one, but it only happened recently, in the last few months. I just remember I was asleep in my bed, then there was this purple smoke... I thought I'd dreamed it, but the smoke entered my body, and when I woke up... everything was different. I could see things, hear things, do things that I'd never imagined before. I wasn't certain about it, wasn't certain about my new, um, status. But after a while I came to understand and accept." She then turned back to Rinoa, and asked, "How did you know? How could you have known?"

Rinoa replied, "I guessed. I know a lot about sorceresses. Your abilities, the way you use your eyes... it's obvious. And, I think I know how you got your powers, too."

Squall finished the thought for her, "Sorceress Adel... you received Sorceress Adel's powers."

Linn held up her hands in a defensive posture, "Please understand, there's always been a stigma attached to sorceresses. People fear them all over the world, but none more so than in Esthar, where memories of Adel's reign are still fresh. Also, only in Esthar do they have the technology to seal and imprison sorceresses. I can't let anyone else know about me, they'd take me away and put me in a bag for all eternity."

Seifer spoke, his voice loud and confident, "No they won't."

Linn looked at Seifer for a moment, then smiled. "Perhaps they won't. In any case, I trust you all to keep my secret for me. I know you won't want to call unneeded attention to yourself." Linn said, sounding more like herself. "Regarding what you're doing in Esthar... you're here to stop a war from breaking out, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are." Irvine replied, while the other SeeDs nodded in agreement.

"Then we are on the same side. I believe I will find you to be a powerful ally, and I think you will discover the same about me." Linn said confidently. "The members of the resistance who come and go and pass through this bar, as well as the many denizens of Esthar City who keep me in business, will provide you with all the intelligence you will need. I, myself, have many skills you will find applicable, and I offer them to you on only one condition."

"And what condition is that?" Squall asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Do not exclude me. I ask that you include me in all of your plans and operations. There is the possibility that your pride will bristle at this suggestion, but I urge you all to ignore foolish ego." Linn's voice then dropped to an emotional purr. "Let me finish my uncle and aunt's work. Let my family's deaths be worth something."

Squall, as ever, was expressionless with his reply, "Give us a moment to talk about it."

"Don't be fooled, guys. She's sounding like she's asking for our help, but she's got all the advantages." Zell said to the circle of SeeDs seated on the wide bed in Squall and Zell's room. Fujin and Raijin were standing guard outside the chamber door while the conference took place inside. "She's basically saying, 'I'm going to be crashing your party whether you like it or not.'"

Seifer snorted, "Thank you, Mister Know-It-All Chicken Wuss. Got any other brilliant obvious observations?"

Quistis cut in before Zell could launch a scathing reply, "The problem is that we don't have much choice. Even if she wasn't telling the truth about her whole background or resistance movement, she's still the only contact we have in Esthar. We'll need her help."

"That's a good point, guys!" Selphie piped up, "We don't know anything about Linn! What if she's just pretending to help us, but actually plans on turning us in to the authorities first chance she gets? We'll probably get hanged and our deaths'll be broadcast on national television..."

"Yo, Selphie, is that your greatest fear or something?" Zell asked.

"Well, you've got to admit it's scary!" Selphie said, her eyes widening in mock fear and giving her a slightly hyperactive manic appearance.

"All right, that's enough." Squall said, taking control. "It wouldn't make sense for Linn to turn us in. We know she's a sorceress, she admitted it to us herself. I think she did it as a show of faith, to give us one advantage to counter her many advantages."

Rinoa nodded at Squall. "That makes sense. When Sorceress Adel was killed, everyone assumed her powers went into me. I thought so too, myself. But as soon as I saw Linn, I could sense something about her... like Adel had come back to life in her body."

"What powers do you think she has, Rinoa? Is she anything like the sorceresses we know?" Irvine asked.

"Well, we've seen her read minds, I don't think I've seen any sorceresses do that. Maybe Edea could, but I sure can't." Rinoa said, thoughtfully. "Her powers are probably more like Adel's. Also, since she only recently became one, maybe she's still discovering what she can do as a sorceress. I mean, it's not like anyone teaches you how to do it. But one thing's for sure, she can be dangerous if she wants to be."

"I'm not too worried about that. After all, SeeD are meant to fight sorceresses... well, dangerous ones at least." Squall said, then made his decision. "All right, it's settled then. We'll accept her offer for now. But everyone stay alert. Remember we're in enemy territory." With that, he bounced off the mattress and walked to the door. Pushing it open, he was unsurprised to find Linn waiting outside with Fujin and Raijin. "We've decided. You're in."

Linn's lips curled into her now-familiar half smile. "It's an honor."

Oh boy, a hanger-on! Things just keep getting more and more interesting, don't they? Please tell me what you guys think! -Bhamv