Chapter 12

Quistis leads the SeeDs up to the reception room, on the fourth floor. The guest dormitories are on the ground floor, and unlike Balamb garden, Selphie points out, they don't have elevators.

"The building doesn't meet handicap regulations." she complains, halfway up the winding set of stairs."

"Well, there's an elevator between the second and fourth floors, but it requires a card key, otherwise it would be swarmed with students." says Quistis. "There's one instructor in a wheelchair, Jason. He flies from the ground floor the outside exits of the first and second in those flying chairs you saw outside."

Selphie giggles. "I wonder why they painted that like, robin's egg blue color."

"They're pansies." Zell says cheerfully. He's been in high spirits since learning of the independent classification of the attack on Deling. "We take out his body double and try to kidnap him in the middle of a speech on international television. I'm so amazed th-"

Quistis turns sharply, looks up and down the staircase, then edges past Rinoa to face Zell. "The contract between Balamb garden and the Forest Owls was confidential, and it needs to remain so." she says quietly. Zell starts to argue, thinks better of it, and nods. The rest of the walk to the reception room is silent.

The reception room is comfortably furnished with two couches facing each other, a coffee table bearing a vase of artificial flowers and several magazines with articles about Galbaldia Garden between them. Selphie stands in front of a window, surveying the view from the fourth floor. Zell, Selphie and Rinoa take seats on the couches, and Quistis and Squall stand, leaning on a couch, one hand on her hip, Squall with his arms folded.

"Quistis," Zell asks after a minute, "Did the headmaster say whether Seifer…" he trails off into a silence heavy with implication.

Quistis sighs. "The trial is over and the sentence has been carried out."

Rinoa doubles over, feeling as though someone punched her in the stomach. Selphie sits next to her and puts and arm around her, which Rinoa ignores. (You can trace the whole wretched thing back to me. I'm a murderer. That's ridiculous, I didn't ask Seifer to come here…I just…gave him the information and the motivation he needed. He came to help us. And that woman, the sorceress. Is she dead too, did she help Seifer? Or did she…make him let Deling go? I killed him, it traces back to me.)

"He was executed." she says calmly. "Of course he was, he attacked the president. He sacrificed himself for the 'Forest Owls'…"

Quistis shakes her head. "It was your group that got Seifer involved in all this. You're a resistance faction, right? You must have been prepared for the worst. I'm sure Seifer was, too." Rinoa isn't listening. She pulls her feet up to her chest and rests her chin on her knees. "I'm sorry…I guess that wasn't much consolation."

"I didn't like the guy, but…executed?" Zell says helplessly.

"I don't have any good memories of him." says Quistis "his rivalry with Squall…" (Squall and Seifer were rivals?) "The two most talented students in Garden. I've seen troubled children but he was beyond troubled. Well, we were the same age. I guess he wasn't really a bad guy. (Troubled child? Most talented students…Quistis is only 18?) Rinoa feels an unreasonable urge to laugh. She calms down. (I feel more guilty than sad. I guess I kind of already knew, I just didn't want to think about it.)

"I…really liked him." Rinoa admits. "He was always full of confidence, smart. Just by talking to him I felt like I could take on the world."

"Your boyfriend?" Selphie asks.

(Were we dating, when we were seeing each other everyday? Maybe…)

"I don't really know. I think I was in love…I wonder how he felt."

"Do you still like him?" Selphie asks. (You are merciless…yes.)

"If I didn't I wouldn't be talking about it. It was last summer; I was 16. Lots of fond memories…" (And there were. Quistis may not have had any good memories of Seifer, but I do. Walking on the pier and getting so drunk we tried to swim down the hallway…Fujin and Rajin. Where are they?)

But there is also the memory of Seifer's white knuckles on his gunblade handle when he told the sorceress that he was not a boy, and the grip of his hand on her shoulder as he left. In his grip and his expression, which had always been confident and comforting, there was something unfamiliar – fear.

"He's pretty late," Quistis remarks, checking her watch.

As if on cue, the door opens and the headmaster sweeps in, his long coat billowing. The SeeDs stand robotically and salute him simultaneously, bringing their feet together and their right hands to the sides of their heads, elbows tucked in neatly. Rinoa imitates them as best she can.

"At ease."

The SeeDs stand with what looks like anything but ease to Rinoa, with their hands clasped behind their backs and their feet wide apart. Martine gives an amused smile to Rinoa and a knowing look to Quistis. He paces the length of the room, returns to the SeeDs gathered around the couches, and sighs, as if unsure how to begin, though it's clear to Rinoa that he has a speech already in mind.

"Good day. I have here official orders from headmaster Cid addressed to Squall Leonheart." He withdraws a sealed manila envelope embossed with the SeeD emblam from a pocket in his endless coat. Squall steps forwards to take the envelope. "You're Squall Leonheart?" he confirms. Squall nods. (No, he's Vinzer Deling. In disguise. What's with these SeeD formalities?)

"Following regulations, I have reviewed these orders. After careful consideration of our options, we have decided to fully assist and cooperate with Headmaster Cid. Actually, we too, have been planning for this quite some time now." Martine begins pacing again, drawing out the suspense of his announcement. (Well, it won't do much for me, at least. I don't really give a shit what you have to say…)

"In order to stress the importance of this mission, I must first brief you on the current situation. You all know that a sorceress of indeterminate background was recently appointed a peace ambassador for the Galbaldian government." He shakes his head gravely. (Melodrama…)

"However, this appointment is merely a cover up. There will be no peace talks, only threats." Martine runs a hand along his greasy scalp and flicks his ponytail from his coat. "The sorceress creates fear among people. Therefore, peace talks are impossible. Galbaldia is planning to use this fear to negotiate favorable conditions for itself."

Martine pauses, puffs out his chest, and braces himself for the climax of the speech. Rinoa rolls her eyes inwardly. (Maybe cynicism is a lesser known stage of grief?) "It has become increasingly clear that Galbaldia's ultimate goal…is world domination. Garden is no exception. It is a fact that the sorceress is planning to use this Garden as her base...We have very few options available to us."

The headmaster pauses again, this time to let his statements register. Quistis, and oddly, Selphie, take the news in stride. Rinoa, the daughter of the general of the Galbaldian army with an active interest in politics, is not taken aback either. Galbaldia's political moves for the past four or five years have pointed towards a major conquest. The boys are more surprised. Zell's jaw drops, though he has the sense not to talk, and even Squall raises his eyebrows.

"We entrust world peace and the future to you. Details of the mission are enclosed in these official orders. Any questions?" (A few. Why them? Inexperienced SeeDs who've just returned from another mission, exhausted, and slept for two days to recover? And what are you going to do with me? Why am I here?)

"Sir," Squall says quietly "what about Ms. Heartilly?"

(Oh, now I'm Miss Heartilly! Well you and your fucking SeeD official procedures can all go to hell, Misters Leonheart and Martine. Damn it! Dammit dammit dammit!) Rinoa envisions herself hurling the vase of plastic flowers at the headmaster, overturning the coffee table, punching out the window overlooking the rolling plains of the Galbaldian east coast…

"Ah yes." Martine straightens his coat collar importantly. "Because she cannot return to Timber at the present time, you will escort Ms. Heartilly back to her residence in Deling city."

The headmaster leaves the room, and Rinoa sinks to her knees on the floor, weeping into her sleeve.

Zell: We stayed one more day at Galbaldia Garden after we got our assignment. Squall poured over the orders from Cid for freaking hours on end. Quistis slept for most of the day saying she had a headache, but I think that was to get out of a private "getting re-acquainted" dinner in the headmaster's office. Selphie and Rinoa spent most of it holed up in Rinoa's room. Selphie was teaching her about magical theory. I visited several times to look for a jacket I hadn't lost, relay a message I knew Squall had delivered himself, and check the time on the pretense that the clock in my room had stopped, each time staying for several minutes to talk. Rinoa was beautiful, but that was too intimidating. Besides, I'd been flirting with Selphie since our field exam, and I thought she was starting to warm up to me.

When Selphie had Rinoa start meditating, for which she needed complete silence, I got down to some serious research. I may not seem like the type, but I'm known in my hometown as an insufferable know-it-all. I don't follow politics though, and the headmaster's bit about Galbaldia planning to take over the world was news to me. As I read through modern history books and online articles about the appointment of the sorceress as an ambassador, patterns started to emerge. Deling's presidency (or dictatorship, as the more left-wing articles called it) had become steadily more tyrannical since his election three years ago, and Galbaldia's policy in occupied areas, more controlling.

The sorceress was a mystery. Though the articles I found described her in great detail – her traditional dress, her refusal to speak to reporters, and her incredible mastery over magic – they said nothing about her origins. It was as though she had appeared on the political map overnight. No age, nationality, or even a last name was given. She just went by "Edea".

I printed out some of the articles to give to Squall. He was reading our mission description for the seventy-zillionth time. When I got to his room, Selphie and Rinoa were already there. I was pretty surprised; Squall is not really a social guy, but it turned out he'd gathered them to brief us on the mission. After the we-entrust-the-future-to-you speech, I was really curious about what we were going to do. I stood in a corner, since the girls were taking up the bed, and Squall was in the only chair. Quistis had been looking for me. When she got back, I assumed we would start, but Squall kept shuffling through his papers. Selphie and Rinoa about Rinoa's lessons and Quistis kept checking her watch. I figured that, like me, she was wondering what Squall was waiting for. Finally she said,

"He's really late…"

I told her I was right here, but she brushed me off, saying

"No, not you. A G-Garden student is going to go with us."

"A student? On a SeeD assignment? Is that even legal?"

Quistis shrugged, like legality didn't really matter, as long as he was on time. Incidentally, Irvine Kinneas's participation in the mission was clearly against Garden's policies, but then I think a lot of regulations were broken in connection with that mission.

Guns have been obsolete since the 20s, when HS personal shields became widely available and every other form of injuring people from martial arts to swordsmanship exploded in popularity. The nature of warfare, self-defense, and the drug trade were revolutionized, but the long and short of it is, the shields were developed zoologists, not weapons specialists, who were busy trying to invent a gun that could shoot monsters. The zoologists in northern Esthar studied monsters' inborn protection against gunfire. I won't go into the laws of electromagnetism, but monsters are defined by their protective shielding against objects moving at a certain speed, ranging from about 300 m/s to up to 600 m/s in smaller monsters. They duplicated that protection for human use, and by 1030, the little boxes that clip to a belt were being manufactured in bright patterns and colors to appeal to young children. Of course, some people choose not to wear the shields, normal guns being so outdated that the risk of being shot in some cities is virtually zero.

By "best shooter in the garden", Irvine meant that he was an excellent sniper. A sniper rifle was invented in the late 30s that penetrates HS personal shields, and to some extent, the natural shields of monsters. The rifles are still rare, expensive, and very heavy. They're thin, but they're six feet long.

After about twenty minutes, we realized Irvine wasn't coming.

"I don't understand," Quistis said to no one "I definitely told him to meet in the guest dormitories at one o' clock. Our train to Deling leaves in three hours, we need to-"

"Quistis," Rinoa cut in "was Irvine wearing a cowboy hat?"

"Yes, you've met him?"

"No…but I think I see him."

Rinoa pointed out Squall's window to the small lawn in front of the outside entrance to the dormitory. I didn't like him, pretty much as soon as I saw him – first of all he was too tall. I'm sure his cowboy hat, which looked like it was made of fake leather, added several inches. He wore the stupidest purple vest – he should have gone the whole ten yards and bought a suede one – and a brown trench coat. It billowed out behind him when he walked; I'll bet he got the idea from his headmaster. His pants had decorative, diamond shaped patches on the knees, and worst of all his hair was longer than Quistis's, pulled into a long, brown ponytail.

He was lying in the grass when we went outside to meet him and, though he must have seen us coming, waited until we were about ten feet away to get up.

"So," he said. "I guess I'm with you rubes from Balamb." I didn't know what a rube was, but it sounded snotty. His voice was too low, also, lower than Squall's. I'd have bet he was talking in a low register on purpose.

"Marty explained the job. So you cool with me helping you?"

I was pleased when Squall told him "Depends on your attitude."

He gave a fake, short laugh. I'd have sworn he looked at me when he said "I say things to get a rise out of some people. Just don't let it bother you and we'll get along fine."

Squall introduced him around. He shook hands with Squall and me (he was wearing fingerless gloves, like some freaking biker) and then took off his hat and kissed each of the girls' hands. Quistis pursed her lips like she wanted to snatch hers away. I noticed he looked up at Selphie after kissing her hand and raised his eyebrows, still holding it. I wished she'd roll her eyes or even tell him off, but she just blushed and looked away. We all went inside.

He asked, "So what kept you?"

"I apologize" said Quistis "I meant for us to meet inside the dormitory."

He waved a hand pretentiously "It's cool."

"So what are the orders?" I asked, through clenched teeth.

Squall sat at his desk, Selphie and Rinoa on the bed.

"Our next mission," he said quietly "is no ordinary assignment. It's a direct order from both Balamb and Galbaldia gardens. We're to…assassinate the sorceress."

I was pretty shocked, though I tried not to look it. I'd figured we would be bodyguards for some rival politician in the peace talks, or carrying out espionage to collect information on the sorceress, though I couldn't see why they'd want three rookie SeeDs and a sacked instructor. Quistis's elbow, which she was leaning on Squall's chest of drawers, slipped off and she caught fall quickly on the opposite wall and slowly collected herself, glancing around to see who had noticed. Selphie and Rinoa looked at each other, and then at Squall, eyes wide and lips parted. I don't know if Irvine was surprised. I was trying not to look at him.

Squall cleared his throat and continued, ""We're to shoot her from afar. Kinneas will be our sharpshooter. We're to support Kinneas to our fullest. Should the sniper fail, we are to attack head on."

"Thanks for the support, but I never miss my target."

Squall ignored him, "Eliminate the sorceress. That's our order. We're going to head to the capital of Galbaldia, Deling City. There, we'll meet up with General Caraway to go over the details for the plan."

Squall put Cid's orders back in the enveloped. "Our train to Deling leaves from East Academy Station at four. We'll meet in the garden parking lot in an hour and drive from there to the station. Quistis, you got a key from the headmaster?" Quistis nodded. "Alright. Dismissed."

We filed out of the room. Quistis looked a little disgruntled by the "dismissed". I think she'd assumed, like I had, that Cid would want her leading the mission. On the way out, Selphie said to Rinoa "You know that forest might not be so bad this time. We won't have to pee in the woods or run out of drinking water."

The rest went back to our rooms while Irvine headed back to the main hall of the garden. Selphie turned to watch him go, and Rinoa and I turned to watch her. Irvine spun a full 180 on his heel, tipped his hat to the girls, and continued down the hall. They didn't respond, but I did. With nausea.