'Attention all students and staff,' the announcer spoke, his voice echoing around the numerous halls of Balamb in its ordinary fashion, 'Tonight will be the grand ball to celebrate the graduations of the new See-D. All lessons today would be cancelled and students are advised to pick dress uniforms. That is all for today. Dismissed,'

'Damn. I was going to take you all for a trip down into the training centre for battle meditation practice,' Reis muttered, thrusting a fist into her other open palm. The other students groaned, and then put away their weapons, walking away dejectedly. They had expected another interesting and useful lesson with that new instructor, Reis. In the matter of a week, she had become the most popular and widely-anticipated instructor, mainly due to her unorthodox training methods and their efficiency.

'Miss Dular, can you please teach us anyway?' a student asked, turning his head around.

'If you wish, but please, call me Reis. Don't call me a miss,' Reis replied, smiling.

It was this kind of…sister or brotherhood that made Reis even more popular among the students. Where they had to call the other instructors formally, Reis permitted them to call her by her first name. The students began to grow on her, kind of interesting and unique…each of them, from the smallest little magic-based trainee to the biggest, brawniest big-weapon-brandishing See-D. Nevertheless, it was a job, and they had to learn…even if it meant to be a sort of mother teaching a child the basics of living; a living of war and violence, the sort of life that she was used to.

All the students had now gathered around her again, eyes looking expectantly into her beautiful face. The scar had vanished from above her nose, leaving it spotless and unblemished. She sighed, and levitated slowly above the ground, eyes closed and hands together in a sort of meditative stance.

'The basics of battle meditation…' she began, breathing slow and easy, 'It is a wonderful art to practice…that cool, calm aura…the exact thing required to produce maximal results in a battle. Try this. I need two volunteers,'

Immediately all the hands sprung up, some of the girls jumping up and down to try and get her attention. Picking two people at random, she told them to face different directions.

'Which of them would be more efficient, if I casted Berserk on one and told the other to calm down, and then ask each to fight me in turn?'

'The one with Berserk,' a boy said, waving a gun-blade in the air, 'He's got added strength,'

'True, but remember. Added strength does not necessarily mean that they are more efficient,'

'The one that's calm,' a little girl piped up, barely visible in the crowd.

'Precisely. Let's see for ourselves, shall we?'

Reis placed her hand on one of the volunteers' heads, while instructing the other to focus on a single point and think of nothing. The students gasped as the volunteer with her hand on his head glowed red, veins popping out from his temple, breathing loud and irregular, clearly Berserked, and a well-done job at it.

'En garde!' she shouted at the Berserked volunteer, waving her katana blade at his long sword. Rushing forward with a snarl, the Berserked volunteer was easily sidestepped by Reis, receiving a sharp blow to the back of his neck by Reis' hand. Collapsing, the student was immediately cured by Reis, a few cures and a remedy heading his way.

'You, try now,' Reis said, beckoning at the calmed-down student.

Moving slowly, the student appeared to be easy prey at first-not until Reis had thrown a lunging stab at her though. Parrying it easily with her steel rod, she struck Reis' weapon arm with her fist, throwing it forward like a piston. The katana fell on the linoleum floor with a clatter, Reis' arm bruised where the girl had struck it.

'Very good. Now, class. Do you understand, what it means when I say that battle meditation is effective? You have seen the proof of calm's superiority here, right in front of your eyes,' she said to the open-mouthed group, who had previously thought that their teacher was invulnerable. Perhaps she was being easy on her opponent, they didn't know. Picking up her katana, Reis dismissed the class, congratulating the girl who had disarmed her. Running off with an embarrassed blush, the girl waved a goodbye, as Reis waved back, smiling.

'Well, very nice demonstration,' Quistis' voice spoke from behind her, causing Reis to jump in shock.

'Thank you,' she replied, running a hand in her long blonde sheets, 'So, what are you going to wear for tonight's event?'

'Oh…that…well, I haven't…decided…on…that's right, my dress,'

'So you haven't prepared at all for the ball. Well, no need to hide it from me, I haven't either. See you later tonight in the hall!'

Reis filed through her clothes cabinet. The Garden had kindly donated her several sets of clothes…but none quite right for the occasion. One, her very own white silk dress, had been worn and dirtied through use in classes, while the others were too work-related-like to be used in a party.

'No, this won't do…I'll have to ask for some material,' she muttered to herself, sliding the closet shut.

'Oh, Selphie,' Reis called, to the girl opposite her dorm room, 'Do you, by any chance, happen to have some spare silk floating around in your dorm somewhere?'

'Sure, Miss,' Selphie replied, 'I just finished making a dress, what do you think?'

It was rather shabby…bits of red silk still were hanging in tatters over the join between the red and the white, while the dress itself was overlarge for Selphie at the neck, though rather tight at the hips. This doesn't show…skill…? She thought to herself.

'How much material do you have left? I may make one for you too, while I'm at it,'

Selphie blushed, and quickly hid her shabby work as footsteps approached. Drawing out several large sheets of silk, linen and cotton cloth, she lugged them all onto Reis' bed, with a box of needles and thread balancing precariously on top of the wobbling pile.

'Stand still,' Reis whispered into Selphie's ear, as she began to put measuring strings on different aspects of the girl's form, as she did before in Ivalice when she made a shirt for Beowulf. Hoping that it would be similar for a dress, she bit her tongue gently while measuring the distance between Selphie's neck and her hips.

It was more difficult than expected. The job took hour upon hour, as the two ignored their hunger and thirst when the lunch bell rang, sewing away seams and cutting away loose strands of this and that. More than once Reis pricked herself on the thumb as she tried pushing a needle through several layers of cloth, uttering soft curses each time she did, though not loud enough for Selphie in the other corner of the small room to hear.

'There, finished,' she gasped, wiping her sweating forehead, holding up a fine, white silk dress for Selphie to admire. It was rather tight-fitting, although permitting free movement, the sleeve long and elegantly laced at the cuff. There were pleats on the lower half of the dress—not small and few like those on miniskirts, but diaphanous, huge, numerous pleats, edging their way all around the skirt's edge.

'What do you think?' Reis cried out happily, slipping on her one. Simple, yet elegant. That was always her style. This time it proved true as well; a red silk dress, split halfway up near the thighs, the back longer than the front and nearly dragging on the floor. It was nearly sheath-like; her contours were clearly outlined for all to see on the top, the sleeves short and elegant, with a little bit of gold lace at the hem.

'Absolutely stunning!' Selphie screamed, causing Reis to fall over onto her bed, now littered with scraps of cloth and bits of thread, 'Oh, you're so going to be the attention of the party. Let me suggest something though, wear some red high-heeled shoes with it, you'll look even better. Not that you need extra height,' Selphie commented, looking up at the tall, willowy woman, 'You're tall enough as you are, but those shoes would help,'

'Alright, but you will help me clean up this mess in exchange for that dress,'

An hour later, the two were in the showers, having packed their mess into an overflowing bin. Selphie commented on the strange fact that Reis' hair—no matter how wet—did not change its texture. Where most people would have their hair curled up or matted by the invasion of water, Reis' hair stayed as smooth, soft and wavy as it usually was—if only sopping wet. Tying it back into a knee-length ponytail, with a lesser sheet of blonde covering her shoulders, Reis sprayed on a delicate perfume onto herself, before helping Selphie tie her hair into a tight, elegant bun. They were all set for the big thing now…the ball.

All the boys turned their heads towards Reis and Selphie as they walked into the room, breathless, stunned. The girls looked on enviously, having to tap their partners on the shoulder to regain their attention, if only somewhat more reproachful as their female counterparts berated them soundly.

'So, who are you going to be dancing with?' Selphie asked Reis, holding a boy's hand in one of hers.

'Umm…I haven't quite decided yet,' Reis said, stifling a shamed giggle.

'Typical you, always spontaneous. Well, there would be a lot of boys out there waiting for you,' she whispered to Reis, pointing at a group of boys that were all goggling at her.

'Thanks for that,' Reis replied sarcastically, blushing vermillion, 'I think I'll go with him,'

She pointed at Zell. Partnerless and friendless, he stirred a great wave of sympathy from within her soul. Treading gracefully on the marble steps, she offered a slender hand to Zell, shocked and amazed at the same time. He thought he had no girls…but to receive the fairest of them? WOW! THIS WAS HIS LUCKY DAY!

'Come on, show me what you've got on the dance floor,' Reis muttered in his ear, stroking his arm.

'I-Instructor Reis? The slayer of the Galbadian platoon? Could she really dance?' he said to himself, oblivious to the fact that Reis was right next to him at that precise moment. Regaining his manners, he replied politely, 'Yes,'

'Dance away then,' she said fiercely to him, as the band began to play a slow tune.

Waltzing slowly, Reis began to show her dancing prowess. Stepping lightly here and there, with the occasional rapid twirl to the incredulous stares of the onlookers, and also that of Zell, she began to literally lead Zell in all of the steps, quite the opposite of what it is normally. Moving faster as the band struck a faster note, Reis began to take Zell's breath away as she danced like the wind, her steps like feathers on a gentle breeze, soundless, weightless. Somersaulting over Zell's head in the climax of the dance, amid the cheering of the watching students, she began to slow down, seeing as Zell was virtually exhausted at the rapid pace of her dance. Laying a hand on his side, she led Zell's hand onto her shoulder, taking light and easy steps in waltzing rhythm once more, allowing him to regain his breath.

'Nice…but not quite perfect. I couldn't say that my dance was perfect either, to tell the truth,' Reis said, fresh as though she had not danced at all.

'T…Thanks for the praise, instructor,' Zell muttered softly, bending over against the side pillar, sweating furiously and panting like a dog, 'Wow…I'm amazed you're not even sweating,'

'Quite light for me. Anyway, where's Squall and the others? Seifer? Quistis?'

'Shh…you'll disturb those two,' Quistis giggled in her ear, 'Come, have a seat. Look at those two lovebirds,'

There was Squall in the centre of the dance floor. Accompanied by a woman in a black top and blue dress that she did not recognise, they were dancing the most peculiar quickstep ever—Squall was treading rather heavily and clumsily on the marble, while his dance partner dodged his rather ungainly steps with the nimblest of movements.

Suppressing giggles and laughter, the two looked on to the strange pair, covering their mouths with their hands as they doubled over when Squall toppled over during his attempt to twirl his partner on the spot. At least Zell did not do that.

'Ok, I've had enough fun for tonight,' she told Quistis, standing up, 'I'm going to bed,'

'Good night, Reis,' Quistis said, waving as the graceful woman walked away. She's very young, I think…but who knows?