Author's Note: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters; they're the property of Square-Enix or whatever it calls itself now. I simply study them beyond all health. Thank you.

"Oh, Quistis!" Slightly out-of-breath, Rinoa waved her hands above her head and started for the car about to pull out of the parking lot, sighing softly at the sudden stop in the vehicle's movements, and at the window rolling down. "Please, wait!"

"…Yes?" She slipped her head out the window to catch a look she didn't need at the one trying to catch her. "Did you need something?" Her tone was two shades too aloof to be properly curious, and quite properly polite.

"Um…yeah." The darker-haired girl barely noticed that she did fidget a bit, approaching the car, though she put her head back up and looked Quistis straight in the eye before she spoke. "Do you think we could talk?" Her tone didn't reflect any nervousness. She was proud of that, though that pride waned to see the considering look that flashed in the SeeD's eyes before she did anything more than nod—which she did, a moment later.

Quistis also allowed a small smile, before speaking up. "Sure. I was just on my way to Balamb to pick up a few things. If you wanted to talk, I don't mind the company." The pause she left next, as she started to roll the window and gesture to the other door, was not entirely intentional. "We haven't spoken for a while."

They were friends, but it was no secret that they weren't exactly close, and the Sorceress—for a moment—was intimidated by that cool, polite, almost innocuous statement. The moment passed, and as Rinoa remembered why she'd chased the older woman down like this in the first place, she beamed and stepped around to let herself into the other side of the car. "...I guess we haven't, huh?" Without being asked, she buckled her seatbelt, looking right back pleasantly at the driver as Quistis turned to check.

Turning the keys in the ignition, Quistis offered a light shrug. "There's been a lot to do. Besides, I'm sure that Selphie is hounding you about a party for Squall's birthday by now. You're about to have your hands full."

"...Oh, don't even get me started. But it'll be fun!"

"I'm sure. Selphie could make the flu fun, if she tried hard enough." With that, the car pulled out of the parking lot and into the tunnel, and the both of them were off, leaving behind the girl in question with little more than the sound of the engine and brief, quiet laughter as Rinoa tumbled the logistics of that particular order in her mind.

"…You certainly sound like you're looking forward to it, Quistis." Rinoa stayed straight in her chair as they came out to the light of a pleasant, if cloudy day, hands on her knees.

"Of course I am." For a brief, distracted moment, Quistis's thumbs tapped against the steering wheel as she glanced to her mirrors. "…Though, Squall might be a different matter, I think."

Rinoa prepared to retort something, maybe a protest that really, he didn't rush out the last time—but, she found it catching, and she instead let her friend's comment hang in the air, drifting through the car like an old song might. "Um…" Rinoa fidgeted.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I open the window?"

"Go ahead."

She did just that, and took a deep breath of the air flowing into the car from it before she said anything, while Quistis, apparently ever-patient, just kept her eyes on the road and waited. It took a few seconds, but Rinoa turned back, and managed a smile as she said what she'd meant to. "…You know a lot about Squall, don't you?"

One golden eyebrow arched, but Quistis didn't so much as glance at Rinoa in answer to her question. "…Yes, why? I've known him for a long time."

"Oh, he was your student, wasn't he? I think I even saw you, at the ball!" Rinoa frowned. "You seemed a bit busy. I guess you usually do. …Did you even dance?"

"I didn't. But that's not what you wanted to talk about, was it?"

"Why'd you quit, anyway? I mean, I think you'd be really good at teaching." Trees flashed by in the window, and Rinoa turned from them to try to make sure she caught Quistis's answer.

"I'd really rather not talk about it, if that's alright."

Disappointed and a bit confused, Rinoa blinked, and turned her eyes to the road that Quistis seemed so dead-set on watching. Still frowning, she looked back at Quistis and opened her mouth as if to speak, and then waited.

Quistis didn't waste the opportunity. "Besides, weren't you wanting to talk about something? I'm sure that my career wasn't it."

At length, Rinoa nodded, and took a good look out the open window again before rolling it halfway up. "Alright, alright." It was mostly mock-disgruntlement, though Rinoa didn't like much being left out of the loop. "I did. I wanted to ask you something. You mentioned…well." She pushed the button and let the window finish closing before she continued. "You used to like Squall, right? I mean, liked, like. You know what I mean."

Quistis answered cautiously, her hands still on the wheel and her eyes still forward. "…I used to think I was in love with him, yes, if that's what you mean. Is something the matter?"

"No, I was just making sure. It'd be kind of embarrassing to think that I was remembering wrong. But, that wasn't it. I was just wondering something. You'd known him a long time, right? How long did you like him?"

"That's a hard question. I've been watching out for Squall for as long as I can remember, maybe longer. I couldn't say when it became what it was."

"Oh. Well, that's still a really long time, right?" Rinoa spoke expectantly, starting to gesture a bit with her hands without really even thinking about it. "To like someone, and then just have it kind of disappear? I mean, did you have anyone else, or was it just Squall?"

"I had a few dates here and there, sure, but nothing serious or long-term." The easy part of the question she just threw out; it's accepted in general at the Garden that Quistis Trepe does not have time for such frivolous things. "It was mostly Squall, though, yes, but it didn't disappear. I mean, it isn't like I've stopped caring about him, just as all of us do."

"But…still, isn't it strange, for you to have just given up like that? Why? What made you stop going after Squall? And how can you just say you didn't feel it at all, like you're just turning off the lights or changing the channel? I mean, love doesn't work that way!" Her tone grew a little more intrusive than she'd even meant, and Rinoa was leaning slightly in the seat, asking, as they drove along down the road toward Balamb Town, passing more forest. "...Sorry, but…"

She could see the town up ahead, and she could see Quistis still quietly watching the road, considering the question. Rinoa declined to interrupt what she was thinking, instead just going over what she'd already said, settling back into her seat and fidgeting again, as the car went over a rock—the first they'd run over in the trip. She sighed, looking down again, when something brought her attention back up.

"Rinoa."

"Hm?" She turned to see Quistis still driving, but her eyes actually drifting down to the dark-haired Galbadian, if only briefly. "I'm listening."

"Do you ever go to the training center? On your own, I mean?" Quistis still had that half-distant tone she sometimes just couldn't seem to get rid of, but was at least talking.

"No, not really. I think I've had enough of fighting." 'Go on', she was still thinking, but Rinoa—too used to dealing with Squall—didn't really press the issue, instead just waiting.

"Well, that's alright. There's a funny thing about the Garden, and why it's so famous for what it does. I have a bit of a theory. Everything in the Garden can teach a lesson—not just the classes and the terminals, but every aspect can have something valuable to learn, even if the students don't realize it. Maybe, especially if they don't realize it. The Training Center is like that. It's the only facility that never closes, and the main rule is really very simple, despite being part of one of the most important lessons you can learn at that school." She glanced again, from her mirrors to Rinoa, to make sure that the girl was listening.

Rinoa was listening. "…Okay." She didn't stop. "What is it?"

"Don't engage in battles beyond your ability." The rattling-off of that rule sounded just like a recitation of a textbook for a class, like Quistis had rehearsed it and given it before as a lecture to students who might think they were special. Rinoa, however…

"But wait a minute, that doesn't make sense. We've done—" Quietly interrupting her, Quistis gently asked, "Please, hear me out?"

After receiving a hesitant nod from Rinoa, Ex-Instructor Trepe continued with the lesson, thoughtfully elaborating. "That rule isn't really about being afraid to push your limits. The only way that you can learn and become better is to do exactly that. Really, the rule is about knowing yourself, and being able to honestly look at the situation and answer, 'Can I do this?' It isn't an easy lesson to learn—and it's hard, because most of the time, you can't teach it, either."

Rinoa thought on it, eyeing the dashboard and chewing her lip. "…But…"

"Besides, it's not like I didn't try. But, I learned. I can be his Instructor, his advisor, and I'd like to think his friend… but I'll never be his princess." Quistis grinned, a bit, tilting her head over to Rinoa. "That's yours. But, I don't mind. To be honest, I don't really even like fairy tales."

Chuckling weakly, Rinoa nodded. "I think I might be able to understand. But what if you're wrong about whether you can do it? Isn't it better just to try, just in case, if it's something that you really want?"

"Maybe." Quistis put the palm of her hand up to the sky as a sort of a shrug. "But isn't that the second problem?" The hand slipped back onto the steering wheel as they drove into Balamb.

Quistis kept her eyes on the road, but spoke after a moment of thought. "Isn't it harder to find out what you really want in the first place?"