Down in the barracks area of the airship, Vivi was pacing back and forward in front of his mage cadets. He wasn't a good speaker, he didn't have the rage that Steiner possessed, nor the confidence that Zidane had. He said "please" and "thank you" to people he was meant to be telling what to do. This made him very uncomfortable. Normally people told him what to do, while shouting loudly.

'Alright guys,' he said softly, 'we have a duty to do. We need to escort the King and Queen everywhere.'

He nodded to a couple of knights who brought forward a model goblin with a pointy stick. 'You need to see this as the enemy, please. Um, he wants to stab you, possibly eating you after. Um, so you need to kill him first. This is how you do it.'

There was a sudden surge of unexplainable foreboding music that happened every single time there was going to be a fight in Gaia. It fit the occasion perfectly, but was still very irritating for the Mage General, who had heard it about twenty thousand times. He summoned a great ball of fire from his staff, and fired it expertly at the mode, which blew up into a million pieces (these pieces were very small and you couldn't see them. Alright, I admit, it was meant for effect. There wasn't really one million pieces. It seemed like a good idea at the time though).

'That's how you do it,' said Vivi proudly, looking at his stunned students.

'He's completely gone,' said one of them.

'Yeah,' beamed Vivi, who was shot up with a sudden sense of pride, 'it's good, isn't it?'

'I could have gotten Phoenix to do better,' said Eiko, who was sulking in the corner of the room.

'Sure,' said Vivi, 'but you couldn't summon him five hundred times without needing a lie down.'

'Huh,' said the White mage.

'And he leaves a nasty smell,' commented Vivi, adjusting his hat, and turning back.

'Huh,' said Eiko again, only slightly louder this time.

Just then they heard the sound of metal feet stamp on the stairs. After a few seconds, the large form of Steiner appeared. 'Hello master Vivi,' he said, 'I've come to help with the training of these fine recruits.'

'Oh good,' said Vivi, 'I was just showing them a fire spell. But you can brief them. You're better at that sort of thing.'

Steiner bowed happily, elated to be complimented by Vivi, who was a lot more sensible, able to hold his temper a lot better, and probably a lot more powerful as well.'