Reis knocked on the Cid's office door. She wondered why he had called her to his office this early, and only the day after she was discharged from the infirmary.

Does he have no heart? Can I not rest for a moment in my life? Reis thought disdainfully in her mind as she tapped her feet on the red carpet.

'Ah, Reis. Come in,' Cid said, bowing and welcoming her into his sunlit glass office.

'I would like to ask you one thing,' she began irritably, 'What is it that you want now?'

'I understand if you are upset or troubled by the events of last week,' he said, 'But there are other, more pressing matters at hand,'

'What now?' she asked, gritting her teeth to stop herself from shouting.

'Squall, Zell and Selphie…the See-D's sent on a mission, are requesting assistance,' Cid explained, pacing back and forth, 'We have decided here, as a staff, that you and Quistis be sent to assist them in their mission,'

'Even with this condition…Even after I had just been discharged from the infirmary…You now send me off to a mission outside? What are you thinking of? Are you and your staff so…so…heartless, that they send me out!' she snapped, slamming her fist down on Cid's oaken table.

'Calm down, Reis!' Cid shouted, standing up, 'Think of it as an honour. It has been a long time since an instructor had been sent on a non-test mission to assist students! You, and Quistis, would be the first to have this privilege, one that had not been given for at least thirty years! You would become the forefront of all the instructors, the figurehead of them, the leaders of the lot. Would you decline this?'

'I will do it for the students and the instructors…nothing else, especially your gratitude,' Reis spat, turning on her heels and striding out of the chilly sunlit office.

Blood started seeping down the reopened wound on her thigh as the elevator descended. Ignoring Quistis' questioning look when she arrived at the ground floor, Reis stormed towards the car park without another word, the two katanas dangling low on her back on this day, trailing on the floor as she walked. Quistis jogged alongside her, the dragoner needing only one large stride for two of her steps.

'Reis, calm down…' Quistis said, unlocking a black car and tossing the keys to a student, who saluted Reis and Quistis.

'How can I calm down when that…that…insensitive beast tells me that I'm on a mission as soon as I get out of the recovery room?' Reis cried, clenching her fist around the bleeding thigh, 'You can see for yourself that I'm not quite healed yet,'

'True…but don't forget; half of those See-D's keep on fighting no matter what wounds they receive. Don't think that you'll get any special treatment from Cid just because you are popular among them,'

'If you say so,'

The car started up, leaving the dark garage with a loud roar. Balamb was only a short distance away, past a couple of tree stands and a broad plain. It was a seaport city, with a train link to the mainland. Neutral in disposition, it was neither an ally nor enemy to any empire in the land…or so Quistis says.

'We're here,' Quistis said, opening the door on Reis' side.

Seagulls soared overhead, some diving in for the odd fish and things, ignoring the carefree chatter of the youths down below in the concrete-lined streets. The citizens gave occasional waves to Quistis as she passed; apparently the town knew her and the other students well. The sea was fresh; Reis could feel its refreshing breeze on her face. How I wish I could live near the sea…

'Come on Reis, we've got to board the train now,' Quistis shouted, motioning Reis to follow her as she glanced at the clock on the wall of the newsagent.

The train was quite comfortable in Reis' opinion. At least it isn't as rough as a chocobo caravan… There were a number of rooms in the compartment, locked by strange keyholes that appeared to be slits on protruding boxes. Quistis slid a card with a black stripe on it, and the door lock clicked and opened.

'Make yourself comfortable. We will arrive at the destination in a few hours…' Quistis said to Reis, sitting down on a bed and reading a magazine that she obtained from a small rack.

'Quistis…there is a favor I would like to ask of you…' Reis muttered into the senior instructor's ear.

'What is it?'

'I would like you to leave me alone, by myself, in this room for a few moments,'

'Why?' Quistis asked, closing the magazine.

'I need to talk to someone that you won't be able to see. I sense their presence, but I cannot see them, and neither would you. Please, let me speak in the near-silence, I will need as much of it as possible,'

Quistis stared strangely at Reis for a moment, before exiting the compartment, still holding the magazine.

'Beowulf?' Reis spoke, rather loudly, 'Beowulf, are you there! Or somebody! Mustadio!'

'Yes, Reis, what is it?' the voice of Orlandu said, loud and fearsome, 'Do you need someone to talk to?'

'Well yes! I've just been burnt half to death, been only recovering for a week and had to get out on a mission!' Reis shouted back, exasperated.

'Hmm…got to be tough for you. Even I had more time when I had a broken leg. But anyway, what do you need to see someone for?'

Reis thought for a moment.

'Orlandu…You're a holy swordsman, right?'

'Yes, that's correct,'

'What're you doing in Goug?'

'The remnants of Delita's royal guard are preparing to siege Goug. I've been excommunicated and branded a traitor, exiled from the Nanten knights, and now I'm guiding the defense of Goug. Alma's hiding somewhere in the town, and Mustadio's out training all the mechanics in the arts of marksmanship. It's quite a stressful situation for him, I'm afraid. Thankfully your dragons have come from the north, that should help us,'

How did they…know about this? How did my beautiful serpentine friends know?

'Alright, I'll leave you to that. But I would like to ask you something,'

'What is it?'

'Can you teach me how to use some of the Holy Sword skills?'

'I don't know if it would work. But we'll see anyway. Try this—No, not now, later, when you fight a monster. Say,

'Armor won't help the heart stay sharp!

Shellbust stab!'

'That would destroy your opponent's armor. Next, try this.

'The doom of a planet on one's soul…

Crush Punch!'

'That would possibly kill someone. I heard from Beowulf though, you could already kill something with a spell. Oh, and one more…very useful, this one…

'Destroy weapons with fury!

Hellcry Punch!'

'Don't expect to be able to use these immediately, they took me awhile to learn, as an apprentice knight when I was young. Try them out first outside a serious battle. I must go now, the enemy is going to come to Goug within a few weeks at most. I will hope that Mustadio has trained those mechanics enough with their guns. Farewell,'

'Orlandu? Oh, blast it, he's left…' Reis muttered angrily. She wanted to talk to Beowulf again…

'Alright Quistis, you can come in again now,'

'Who were you speaking to anyway? As far as I know, these trains don't have portable telephones,'

Whatever is a 'telephone'…some way of communicating?

'I was communicating to my friends somewhere else,'

'Oh…right…'

Something about her way of speaking doesn't convince me that she understands. I hate it when this happens…I was misunderstood as a dragon, and so did my dragon friends. It gives us all no end of trouble…

'Get some rest, we're arriving at our destination in two hours,' Quistis said, lying down casually on one of the beds.

Reis lay down very carefully onto the bed, though there was nothing there to hurt her. It had been in her nature to mistrust every new place she visited, ever since her dragon days had left her with a deep sense of mistrust towards the remainder of the human race, though not those that she had been with for a while.

'So where did you come from, Reis?' Quistis asked, her hands under her head.

'Ivalice. You may think that I'm crazy because you haven't heard of it, or you may believe me and think no more of it. Take it either way,'

'I've never heard of it, but I'll believe you. Is that where you got your incredible strength and skills?'

'I've…well…learned skills very quickly, even as a child. But yes, having lived in Ivalice for thirty-nine years has given me a little bit of strength. I had been hunted down for twelve years near the end of the Lion War,'

'Thirty-nine years! Are you mad?' Quistis yelled, sitting bolt upright, 'You're much older than me and yet…you look no older than eighteen! How do you do that!'

'I have no idea myself,' Reis mused, placing her head on the soft white pillow.

'Whatever you tell me, you can't be older than eighteen, it's impossible that someone that is thirty-nine years old appears no older than a See-D on graduation day,'

'Believe whatever you want…'

The train ground down to a halt in a desert two hours later, departing again to leave the two women on the dry, concrete-built station out in the middle of nowhere.

'Where exactly are those students that needed help? I thought we arrived at our destination,'

'We have, but we still need to walk there. Come on,'

Walking was a horror for Reis. Inching their way through the barren, stony desert, under the blistering heat of the blazing desert sun, sweating away in the merciless, scorching air…the wounds on her shoulder and leg may open at any time, and her burns, which had just healed, may become worse once more…oh, it was a horror. Biting back her lip as she trudged through each step of golden, glowing sands, she endured the painful sensation on her feet, just like that on the other parts of her body, baking in the dry, heated wind.

An hour later, Reis collapsed, sitting down under an odd palm tree near a small forest. Panting loudly, her rose-coloured lips cracked and dry, she needed water badly. Seeing a large, barrel-like cactus, she thought of all the water within. She had to crack that open.

Unsheathing a katana and creeping forwards, Reis steadied the blade with both hands, trembling as she did. Concentrating entirely on the cactus breaking in two, she swung down her blade, whispering the words, 'The doom of a planet on one's soul…Crush Punch!'

Immediately, as though crushed by an invisible sledge-hammer, the cactus was squashed down to a mere paper-thin basin-shaped woody object, its juice and water filling the centre. Shivering at the thought of this happening to a person, she gladly picked up the rather thorny basin, drinking the bitter water with relish as the liquid moistened her parched lips. Quistis looked on in amazement, rubbing her eyes, before running to Reis, holding her up.

'Poor you, so exhausted…I'll need to have a word with Cid after this…Come on, Galbadia Garden is only a short way away,'

'Galbadia…Garden? Isn't that the name of the nation of which I killed an entire platoon of soldiers?'

'Yes, it is, but all the Gardens are neutral territory. We're simply mercenaries for hire,'

Mercenaries for hire…No allegiances, no loyalties. Sounds like a dangerous life. Make a ton of money, earn a legion of enemies. How intelligent.

'Quistis! Over here!' the cheerful voice of Selphie said, waving at them.

'Selphie! Come, help me with Reis!'

The two women helped the exhausted dragoner into their car, the two other men looking horrified. Reis opened her eyes and saw…

'Hey, how's it going, babe?' a man with a large cowboy hat asked, spinning a large pistol in one hand.

He called me a 'babe'…Get lost, you villain, I'm already engaged. If only I could split his head in two with my sword at this very moment…which wouldn't be very ethical…

'Good, thank you,' Reis replied, stiffly, her eyes gleaming furiously.

'We're going to assassinate Senator Edea,' Squall said, scratching his head, 'And this girl-hunter has to do the job. He'd better do it good…'

Precisely. I don't want to be with him for too long…

'If the plan fails, we will need as many See-D to kill her close up, should the sniper miss,'

'You're going to snipe the senator?' Reis gasped, clapping her hand to her mouth. Atrocity! Dishonorable fiends!

'Exactly. And I will be the one to do the honors of saving the world from her evil clutches,' the show-off cowboy said, spinning his pistol and whistling merrily.

If only I could punch off his stupid hat, it's so tempting…

'Oh, and Reis, Quistis, I'd like you to meet our client, Rinoa. She's fighting for Timber's independence, and killing the senator would do the trick. Saving the world and liberating Timber. Two birds, one stone,'

Oh my…It's his dance partner from the academy ball…

'Hi,' the woman said, shyly, 'I'm Rinoa, daughter of General Caraway…although I prefer not to think of him as a father,'

She HATES her FATHER! Blasphemy! Oh…wait, I've been branded a heretic. So I shouldn't say that.

'Greetings,' Reis said, offering a hand, 'I'm Reis Dular, an instructor at Balamb Garden,'

'And I'm Quistis, also an instructor of Balamb Garden. We're here to assist you in your mission. Where's Zell, by the way?'

'Oh, that fool,' the cowboy interjected, annoying Reis still more, 'He got captured by Galbadian soldiers when he drank too much liquor at a nightclub. Caused a brawl and injured four dozen bystanders, if I counted right. He's now in Galbadian Maximum Security on Floor thirty-three,'

Floor…thirty…three? Wow, that's some building…

'Anyway, we'll be driving to Galbadia's capital, Deling City. It's named after Vinzer Deling, the president,' the cowboy shouted, trying to raise his voice over a sudden gust of desert wind, 'Come on, all of you, into the car, I'll drive,'

Reis reluctantly sat down in the front seat, because her leg was still bleeding and the front seat was the only one wide enough to allow Reis to prop her leg on the other as she wiped it with bandage fragments on the way to the city. Deling was a distance away, and she could not help being rather disturbed by the new person's wolf-hungry gaze, staring straight at her breasts without shame.

Hmph…another coveter of another man's woman…if Beowulf was here, he would have torn off this man's head by his own hands…