'There, good as new,' Doctor Kadowaki said, a short, stubby little man with kind-looking dark eyes.

'Thank you,' Reis said, the scar above her nose still present but smaller. It would take a while to get rid of it, even with the dragon blood running in her veins.

'I suggest you find Quistis and see what she wants. She's been talking about you for awhile to Headmaster Cid,'

'Alright, doctor,'

'Always a pleasure. Keep out of trouble for awhile, it will heal,'

Reis walked out of the pearly-white medical chamber, ignoring the gaze of the stunned male See-D's as she passed by. Sometimes being perceived as beautiful can be irritating...

Balamb Garden was an enormous circular building, with a pillar-like elevator in the centre, surrounded by mini-fountains and a water feature. In fact, it was virtually a building built on stilts, above a flat circular water pool. Students walked by carrying books on fighting tactics, while others talked about combat or played cards on the large wooden benches. It really resembled lunch break in an Ivalician military academy, from what she heard from Ramza during their time together.

'Reis Dular, guest from unknown location, please report to Floor 3 immediately. Reis Dular, guest from unknown location, please report to Floor 3 immediately. Headmaster Cid wishes to see you,' the announcement speakers blared out from the heights of the building, echoing in every little room and hallway.

'Great. What now,' she muttered to herself, climbing up the broad tiled steps to the elevator. Hitting the number '3' on the elevator control panel, she hummed to herself while waiting for the black object to descend to her.

'Hi, Miss Annihilator,' the leader of Squad 3 said to her, giggling, 'I wonder what's Cid going to tell you, it's been ages since he said something like that,'

'I wonder myself,' Reis replied sarcastically.

'Oh, you're tactless. He's probably going to invite you to something,'

'Really?'

'I don't really know,' she laughed, 'See you around, Miss Annihilator,'

Sometimes it's strange to talk to people like that…at times it's annoying, and at times it's acceptable. This time it was annoying.

The elevator arrived with a soft ding and the doors slid apart. Stepping into the yellow-lighted interior of the black elevator, she pushed in the number '3' on the elevator interior controls. Up it went, higher and higher, until she arrived in a red-carpeted foyer lined with miniature palm trees.

'The headmaster is waiting inside,' the voice of Quistis said from the side of the elevator, 'Please go in,'

Uncertain of what to expect, Reis pushed open the double doors to Cid's office. Inside was a man, of average height and wearing one-inch glasses, pacing around on the stone floor of his office. On his red pullover was the Balamb Garden crest, small but visible.

'Ah, you must be Reis. Come, have a seat,' he said, pushing a plump cushioned seat towards her.

'Thank you. Now, what were you going to see me about?' Reis asked, sitting down on the squishy seat.

'I have heard of your stunning performance through the comments of all the squads present on operation Dollet. I am honored to have such a fine swordswoman assisting our mercenaries. If it were possible, would you care to join this Garden? It would be a pleasure to have such a talented person working alongside the others,'

'It would be a pleasure to work along, sir. What exactly am I intended to be employed in?'

'Hmm…good question…it is nice to have you out on the front lines of missions, where you may be the key to deciding the success or failure of a mission, while it is also a good idea to pass on your skill to some of the students. Please decide for yourself,'

'If that is the case, I will teach the students,'

'Splendid. Now, your first task is…(Cid checks the timetable on the wall)…you will have to train some students in the training centre. That is in the hallway northeast of the central elevator on the ground floor,'

'I will take my leave. Be assured that those students will be trained up to scratch,'

Reis strode out of the room, joining Quistis in the elevator. She pushed the button labeled 'GF' on the control panel, and the elevator slid shut and began to hum its way down the pillar.

'So, what did he ask you to do?' Quistis queried, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

'He asked me to be a…well, instructor. I'm supposed to be teaching the students at the training centre now,'

'Aren't you lucky! I had to work my hours off trying to achieve instructor status. And even now I'm a lesser instructor,'

'How long have you been working for Cid, just out of curiosity?'

'Oh, not long. Only five years as a fully-fledged See-D'

The elevator dinged again and the doors slid open. Waving each other goodbye, Reis began to walk her way towards the training centre.

The students in the training centre stared at her as she walked into the balmy jungle environment. Where's Quistis, they wondered.

'Good afternoon, students. I am a new instructor, Reis Dular,' Reis announced, stroking the ivory handle of her katana, 'I will be teaching you a refined form of sword skill—much different to those that you will have been taught by previous instructors,'

The students whispered among themselves, grasping their sword handles tightly.

'Firstly, I would like to demonstrate-'

'Excuse me, miss?' a rowdy-looking person shouted from the back of the crowd, 'What exactly do you mean by 'refined sword skill'?'

'I will explain it to you now. Can I have ten volunteers?'

Slowly ten hands rose up in the air, their owners gazing around uncertainly.

'Good. Draw your swords. Don't worry, I won't really hurt you,' she said, after seeing the fearful looks on their faces. Apparently the rumor of her slaying the entire platoon of Galbadian soldiers had raced through the school like a wildfire.

'Attack me,' She said, drawing out her katana as quick as lightning, holding it in a defensive position at shoulder level.

Three of them attempted a wild swing, which she dodged. Striking their swords easily out of their hands, she twirled around, back into her defensive position. The seven remaining students circled her in a regular attack pattern, one that she knew would be easy to defend from. Jumping as soon as they lunged forward, she landed neatly on top of their crossed and now tangled swords, causing them all to collapse as she stomped squarely in the centre. One managed to draw his out, and slashed at Reis in a desperate bid to prove that the instructor was wrong. A rasp of metal against flesh, a spray of blood and a quiet cry of pain. Reis struck the blade from the horrified student's hands, and quickly wiped the blood on her shoulder, assessing the damage. It's not bad, it will heal in a day or so…

'Errh…Miss, are you alright?' a student asked, dumbstruck for a moment.

'It's quite alright, I've had worse,' Reis replied, squeezing the wound in an attempt to stem the blood loss.

The students began to take steps backward as a shadow loomed over Reis. Not noticing this, she wondered why they were backing away from her.

'Miss Reis…look behind you…' the students said, cowering against the fence.

She turned around, after a large glob of liquid dripped onto her shoulder, soaking her silk dress in a watery fluid. A large, red and unfriendly reptile stood over her, its tiny hands dangling strangely from its overlarge body, the mouth bristling with razor-sharp teeth.

'What about it?' she yelled back to the students.

The reptile roared, and began to lower its head ready to bite off Reis' head, just as she threw a silver dagger straight into the beast's cranium. Reeling over, the creature fell dead in an instant, the point of the dagger having gone through the flesh and bone of its head, piercing its brain.

'No big deal. Now, let's get back to the lesson, shall we?' Reis continued on, completely calm and unaffected by the beast.

'The essence of a powerful attack…who thinks they can tell me?'

All the students put their hands up.

'Alright, let's have a crack at it. You, what's your answer?' Reis said, pointing at a big, burly student.

'Muscles,' he growled, 'You can't take anything down without muscles,'

'True, but not quite true in some cases. Magi can use their minds to kill. What's your response, hm?' she said, pointing at a skinny little girl in the corner.

'Speed and agility,' she piped up, voice shrill and piercing.

'Correct, but not quite so. You cannot kill with only speed and agility. Sure, you may be able to run circles around your opponent all day, but you can't take them down. Next! You there, what's yours?'

'A good weapon,'

'That would help a lot, but what good is a weapon if you cannot wield it properly? Take me for an instance. I cannot use, say, a pair of ball-and-chains. What good would that be to me if I hit myself in the process? The answer that we are looking for here, is wrath. Use your anger to your advantage. Concentrate on the desire to destroy your opponent, and your will to destroy will quickly turn into a destructive capacity comparable to the strongest muscle or the clearest mind,' Reis explained, waving the blade absent-mindedly, clipping off a few leaves off a nearby thicket.

'Secondly, determination. Think that you will live. That you will survive. That you would come out victorious. Your determination to survive will become stamina when it is strong enough. Enough talk for now. Let us practice what we have discussed here today on the monsters of the training centre,'

The group hacked and slashed their way in turn, some using magic to obliterate every last trace of their opponent in unforeseen power, some even amazed and stunned by the intensity of their own attacks when Reis' techniques were applied. By the end of the day, plant-sap-stained, blood-covered and mud-coated, the group moved back out of the training centre, exhausted.

'Gee, that was a very effective lesson, Reis—oh, I should call you instructor,' the skinny girl said to her in the showers, smiling at her through the steam. She had blasted a T-Rexaur's head to shreds of flaming scrap with a single Fira, aimed in between the eyes.

'It's all your own achievement,' Reis replied, rubbing some disinfectant on her wound, biting a stick in the process, 'It's not my effort,'

'Still, we all thank you for teaching us those methods. They're sure to be effective in our See-D test,'

That evening, during the dinner hour…

'So, how was your first day teaching, Reis? Oh…wounded already?' Quistis asked, apparently indifferent to seeing the wound on her shoulder.

'Oh, it was alright, I killed a T-Rexaur with single dagger and one of my students blasted another one's head with a Fira. Quite satisfying, to be frank,' Reis replied, in between mouthfuls of mashed potato.

'Ah, I see. I could never get my students to do that, they all run away at the sight of one. Childish wimps, really,'

'Who're you calling childish wimps, Quisty?' Seifer sneered, thumping Quistis on the shoulder and walking off again, laughing madly.

'He's like that ever since he failed the See-D test…again…' Quistis muttered, rubbing her throbbing shoulder.

'He FAILED it…and again? How?'

'Oh, he disobeyed orders, as usual…'

'Right…Well, I'm going to see where I'll be staying for the night. Farewell,'

Reis walked away from the noisy cafeteria tables, placing her empty food tray on the clean-up table. Striding off to the dorms, she noticed that Squall and Zell were wearing flashy new uniforms. Smiling as she waved them a greeting, she felt for once…a sort of motherly feeling…a feeling of protectiveness, towards her students. Shrugging off this new thought, she checked the table on the wall.

'Room 29-C1-Block 2. Right. Oh well, better find it and sleep,' she whispered to herself, running a long, slender finger along the names and rooms list.