Chapter 3

Against her father's wishes, expressed in an tersely written letter, Rinoa prepares to return to Timber at the end of August. She says goodbye to Ari and her uncle, and to Seifer.

"Promise you'll write to me?"

Seifer nods and presses his forehead against hers.

"I think we're going to be seeing each other again." he tells her. Rinoa laughs.

"I don't think so."

"No?"

"No."

"Care to make a wager?"

Rinoa laughs again and buries her head in his chest.

"Go. You'll miss your train."

"Say goodbye to Fujin and Rajin for me."

"Hurry up."

Seifer watches Rinoa step up to the train platform. She switches her suitcase to her left hand and waves before disappearing into the train. Seifer watches it pull out of the station and descend into an underground tunnel, before turning around to hike back to garden alone.

Rinoa finds an empty compartment at the back of the train. A train attendant helps her lift her suitcase into an overhead storage shelf. It's a comfortable car – the outside wall is mostly a wide window looking out on the passing tunnel, illuminated by lights that fly by as a stripe of orange. There are two padded bench-style seats across from each other, with a knee-high table between them.

She curls up on one of the bench seats and holds the ring on her necklace. She lifts it to eye-level with thumb and forefinger and watches the patterns that the passing lights make on the silver.

She sits at the bench of a small electric keyboard. She is nestled in a woman's lap, with her tiny sandles hanging above the woman's strappy heeled shoes. Rinoa plays the lowest notes on the keyboard with a forefinger and revels in the noise.

"Rinoa, shhh!" the woman scolds her. She is talking to a man standing next to the keyboard. Rinoa makes a face. Then the woman gets up, setting her on the bench.

"Mrs. Heartilly," the man is saying, "if he doesn't turn up, am I to assume that you won't be performing tonight?"

"No, don't cancel anything yet…" the woman sounds very tired.

Rinoa plays a short, cacophonous improvisation of very low notes alternating with very high notes, and then bangs on the keys in the middle. Sliding off the stool and crawling under the keyboard, she watches her mother walk away, massaging her temples and talking to the man. He's wearing a snappy business suit and an ugly yellow tie. She reaches up and plays several notes that echo around the backstage area because she's kneeling on the pedal.

"What on earth am I sending you to lessons for?" laments the woman as she returns with the man in tow. She picks Rinoa up and rests her on her hip. "Mama!" Rinoa announces to the man in the business suit.

"Piano lessons for a three-year-old, Mrs. Heartilly?" the man says, amused.

"If she has her mama's natural musical aptitude, she'll need a head start" says Mrs. Heartilly, giving him a tired smile.

"Now Mrs. Heartilly…"

They leave the backstage area and cross a dark stage. Mrs. Heartilly carries her daughter between the aisles of empty chairs while the man tells her about tardiness and inconsideration. Rinoa doesn't know what he means, but he sounds angry. She hides her head in her mother's hair, hoping he isn't angry that she played with the keyboard. The three get into the backseat of a big black car. Rinoa stares out the window at the passing lights and cars while Mama and the man talk. When she gets bored, she goes to sleep with her head in her mother's lap. The woman strokes her hair and calls her "Rina".

"Timber!" says the train announcer "Next stop…Timber!"

The smell of the Timber train station is familiar and soothing – half airport, half city street. Rinoa steps down from the train, dragging her suitcase, and drinking in all the smells and sounds and the sight of Timber. Old women carrying purses and grocery bags shuffle among stray cats and loitering children, salesmen of pretzels, comic books, and novelty items circulate amongst them. The adults are all dressed casually, and stop to talk to one another at the street corners and the edges of the train platform. She wonders if it's really been only three months that she was away; she feels almost like a different person. It's as though another Rinoa has returned from Balamb, and the city welcomes her as a stranger.

Rinoa: Seifer was right about us seeing each other again. Sooner than I thought too – about a year later I was back on the same train for Balamb, this time as a representative of the Forest Owls. Though our mission statement remained the same, our tactics had changed dramatically. A few months after Zone's father died, he began to take charge, both in his family, and in the Forest Owls. Zone is Zachary's codename. Mine is "the princess"… Watts and the others started calling him 'chief' and 'boss' and by the time he sent me to Balamb garden to speak with the headmaster, he was generally acknowledged as the leader of the Forest Owls. I was to attend an inauguration ball for new members of SeeD.

For some reason the ball brought back memories of watching my mother on stage. Everyone was dressed nicely and conversing politely to the sound of a quartet of strings and the clinking of glasses. Not usually my kind of party, with the distance I keep from my father and "high society". The people at my mother's concerts in Galbaldia Hotel had dressed and talked like this.

I met Seifer at the entrance, as we'd planned. Our email correspondences had been casual and familiar but….short. An exchange of salutations, written formalities, and whatever information needed to be given. "im taking my seed field exam tue, so the ball will be wed. 7pm – meet entrance to b.garden 5pm." I don't know what I expected – not "I love you" or "I've missed you" – just "I'm excited to see you" for example. I'd missed him, and was excited to see him. I still wondered about the 'love' part, though I hadn't seen him in person for almost a year. It was strange seeing him again, but we fell back into our pattern of comfortable familiarity. I got to spend more time with Fujin and Rajin than I had during my previous visit to Balamb, since I was staying at the Garden itself. Fujin has a disconcerting habit of speaking in loud, staccato, single words. Seifer and Rajin seemed to understand her well enough, though it was difficult for me. It took me an awkward five minutes to figure out that "SALT" meant I was to pass it to her. Apparently Rajin and Ari had been in regular contact since I'd gone back to Timber. I wondered whether I should check to see that my father hadn't joined any pacifist organizations. Rajin talked about her in what I'm sure seemed to him to be a casual manner, mentioning her no more than three or four times in a conversation.

But I liked it best when we got to spend time alone. Since I'd last seen him, I'd made some of the stupid dreams I told him about wandering the Balamb docks and beach into realities. For example, the Forest Owls now had a base. Instead of meeting at the houses of the members, we gathered in the oversize train car that Zone's family used to live in. We'd also helped push a bill that prohibited arrest or detainment of citizens by Galbaldian officers without reasonable justification. It was passed and put into effect a month before I left for Balamb. That was probably the Owls' biggest accomplishment in the time I was with them, but if I could enlist the help of Balamb's SeeDs, we'd planned to make the reasonable justification bill look like a joke.

I don't know how Seifer planned to fulfill his dream, but he didn't seem to be getting any closer. He took his third field exam while I was staying at garden, and didn't pass; failure to follow orders. So I went to the inauguration ball alone.

As I've said, it wasn't my kind of party, but I am an open-minded person. I sat at an empty table sipping champagne until a blond man in a highly decorated uniform, maybe in his 20's, asked me to dance. He was a better dancer than I, and I commented on it. He explained that SeeDs learn basic etiquette as part of the standard curriculum. I couldn't imagine Seifer learning continental style use of silverware and how to waltz.

The blond SeeD excuses himself to speak with the headmaster, which reminds Rinoa that that's what she is here to do. The Forest Owls have been sending requests for SeeD assistance to Garden since November, but the reply never varied. Rinoa is sure, though, that if she can explain her situation to the headmaster, speak with him face to face, she'll be able to make him understand the plight of the citizens in Timber and agree immediately.

"I guess it's that kind of dumb-ass optimism that keeps us doing what we do." Zone had joked. "If you think you can get him to do it, go for it. Just don't expect compensation for your train ticket."

And so, with Zone's blessing, Rinoa had returned to Balamb. She watches her dance partner carefully, making note of the man he goes to talk to. A short balding man with brown hair, glasses. She twists the chain of her necklace around her finger and finishes her glass of champagne, waiting for the SeeD to leave. She surveys the room in the meantime. It's really elegant, with a bar and several tables at one end, a dance floor lit by evening sun from a skylight that takes up most of the ceiling, and an elaborate, pillar-framed entrance at the other end. There aren't very many people dancing – each couple has about ten feet of room to themselves in every direction. Most of the crowd is gathered at the bar, or at the small tables in front of it. Very few are standing near the entrance across the floor - there's one female SeeD with flipped brown hair talking animatedly to another with a blond ponytail down to her waist. The blond edges away from the other girl, almost backing into someone standing against a pillar. (Poor Rapunzel.) Rinoa thinks. The guy she almost tripped over is very good looking, even at a distance. She seems embarrassed and quickly walks away.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees the blond SeeD she danced with leave the headmaster. Rinoa is barely out of her chair when another group of SeeDs carrying drinks and plates of food start talking to him. They leave quickly, and Rinoa starts to stand up again, when the headmaster is intercepted on his way to the bar by an aging instructor. Rinoa grinds her teeth in frustration, and stands up. She'll wait a while. Soon enough the party-goers will start to leave – the ball doesn't end until one. The headmaster will be sure to stay for the whole thing, and once the room thins out he'll be more accessible. Rinoa crosses the room to the dance floor and looks for a partner to pass the time.

The man in the corner catches her eye. He looks good up closer too. Messy brown hair, blue eyes. (Very nice eyes) she thinks. He probably has a nice smile, though isn't smiling now though, or talking to anyone. Neither does he seem to have left his post next to the pillar since she saw him almost half an hour ago. He's gazing up at the ceiling. (What's so riveting on the ceiling?) Rinoa looks up. In the hour and a half since she arrived, night has fallen. The spread of stars above her is breathtaking. The stars are rarely visible from Deling City or Timber with their pollution and city lights. It looks as though she could reach up and pluck a star out of the glass ceiling. A blur of light streaks across the sky.

From his place at the entrance the SeeD must have seen it too. She glances over at him to find him looking back at her. She smiles and points up at the sky. (I saw it too.) He cocks his head to the side, questioningly. Rinoa drops her arm and crosses the floor to where he's standing, her pulse a little fast.

(Well, when in doubt, say what's on your mind).

"You're the best-looking guy here."

He doesn't say anything, but takes a sip of his champagne.

"Dance with me?"

(C'mon…say yes.) The SeeD still doesn't speak. He looks at her stonily. Rinoa, uncomfortable with the silence, begins saying whatever comes to mind.

"Let me guess... You'll only dance with someone you like. Ok then... Look into my eyes... You're-going-to-like-me... You're-going-to-like-me... Did it work?" She laughs awkwardly, drops her hand, which she's been swirling in front of his eyes like a sorceress hypnotizing her victim.

(Stupid…stupid…stupid.) Rinoa wishes she could sink into the floor. Or walk out of the ball. But she has to stay and wait for the headmaster. Maybe she can just walk away from this SeeD and avoid him for the rest of the night.

The SeeD coughs, sets his glass on an adornment of the pillar.

"…I can't dance."

Rinoa examines his uniform. Though plain compared to the medal-adorned jacket of her last dance partner, his is clearly the same kind. (If he's a SeeD, then he'll have taken dance lessons.) Is he trying to make her leave? Surely not, he must be unsure of himself. Maybe it's been a long time since the lessons.

"You'll be fine" she assures him "Come on. I'm looking for someone. I can't be on the dance floor alone."

She guides him away from the pillar and onto the floor. He allows himself to be led with reluctance.

Rinoa: The dance we started was pretty slow; I figured that even if this new SeeD's dance lessons had been a while ago, he could handle it. When we got out onto the floor I put his hands into dancing positions and started to lead. He tripped right away and fell into me. I picked his hands back up, and he took the lead, though he was still dancing clumsily. I haven't met a real beginner with a lead that assertive yet. He led us in exactly the wrong direction, and he bumped shoulders with another couple. I don't think he'd intended to; he looked pretty embarrassed.

I told him I was pretty sure he knew how to dance. He shrugged stonily and, as the music changed, began to dance a perfect waltz. At first he looked tense, though he did every step perfectly, but as we both got into the flow of the dance, I could feel his muscles start to relax under the thick SeeD jacket, and his expression softened. He led me into several inside turns, and we stepped close together as the music faded into a softer version of the waltz.

Celebratory fireworks went off over our heads; I could see them through the domed class ceiling. My dance partner looked up at them peacefully, and sort of half smiling. While he watched the fireworks, I watched him. His eyes were nicer in this softer version of his face, their gray-blue standing out against pale skin. He had a fresh scar across his forehead, between his eyebrows, and his hair hung down loosely across his forehead.

I felt vicariously peaceful and relaxed, looking up at this strangely beautiful SeeD. It was strange, because I didn't expect someone who kills for a living to look like that up close – soft and pale.

A sudden movement across the room caught my eye. Over the SeeD's shoulder I saw a young, blond talking animatedly to the girl with flipped hair I'd seen earlier. A few feet away from them, headmaster Cid was standing by himself.

Quickly excusing herself, Rinoa hurries off to catch the headmaster before he gets away again. She would come back as soon as he agreed to meet with her. Maybe she could even make her pitch right here in the ball. Would that be tacky?

She reaches the head master and bows respectfully, her cheeks flushed and her hair a little disheveled. "Headmaster Cid? My name's Rinoa Heartilly, I'm very pleased to meet you."

A/N: As I'm sure you've figured out, Rinoa's thoughts are enclosed in parenthesis, just like in the game. Please review & tell me how it's looking!