Chapter One:
"It's so big!" Tessa whispered as she looked around. At sixteen she was one of the younger transfers to Balamb Garden. The large building was a pseudo-dome that was painted white with a blue trim that looked as though it ran the span of the entire building.
The grounds of the Garden were home to hundreds of species of plants, some miniscule weeds and others large trees that loomed high over the ground, their leafy branching spreading wide and casting friendly shade for the students to lounge under.
Tessa held her suitcase at her side and crossed the courtyard to the administration building. She'd read in a book about the history of the various Gardens that the Balamb Garden she was at was actually the second Balamb Garden. There was another one that could fly and sail, but it had been given to the students at Trabia Garden because its Garden had been struck with missiles during the most recent Sorceress War. In fact, Squall, the SeeD that had defeated the Sorceress Ultimecia, was the one that had convinced Balamb Garden's headmaster, Cid, to turn the mobile Garden over to the students of Trabia.
Tessa was hoping to get a glimpse of Squall, because her best friend Liana had said that he still lived and operated out of Balamb Garden. She was excited mostly to be in a big Garden, because her last one had been home to only a few dozen SeeDs and a couple hundred students.
Tessa stopped outside the gatehouse, the one that stood outside the administration building, and set her suitcase down. She peered through the window and saw a man snoozing. He looked tall, well built, and his hair was blonde. He was wearing jeans, a blue shirt, and a long tan coat that stretched from his shoulders to his ankles. He also had a nice face with the exception of a scar between his eyes. His nameplate simply read Seifer. Tessa rapped on the glass and the man awoke with a snort.
"What the hell do you want?" he asked irritably. Tessa felt his eyes travel up and down her body before he gave a tired shrug.
"Um, I'm supposed to check in with the headmaster. I just transferred here from Lotia Garden," Tessa said nervously. Right away she didn't like this man, this Seifer.
"And why should I care?" he asked. Tessa squinted to see his face because of a sudden glare on the glass. "Fuck! Hold on!"
Seifer jumped out of his seat and opened the door to the gatehouse and dashed out of it. Tessa turned and watched his progress, watching as he began chewing out an underclassman that had just used a Fire spell.
He grabbed the kid by the scruff of the neck and drug him back to the gatehouse. "You know you're not supposed to use magic outside of class or the training facility. You're on cleaning detail in the cafeteria for a week."
"Yes, Sir," the boy grumbled before skulking off. Seifer smirked and narrowed his eyes, all but ignorant of Tessa's existence.
"Excuse me," Tessa spoke out again. "But could you help me?"
"Sure, what do you need?" Seifer asked with a yawn.
"I need to see the headmaster," Tessa said as a female student in a tight civilian outfit walked by.
"Huh?" Seifer asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the passing girl.
" I NEED TO SEE THE HEADMASTER!" Tessa screamed. She was irritated that she had had to repeat herself three times for the security guard.
"Why didn't you say so?" Seifer said flippantly. He jerked his thumb in the direction of the administration building. "He's that way."
"Thanks," Tessa said sarcastically. She made to pick up her suitcase but Seifer kicked it out of her reach.
"This stays with me. I need to check it for contraband. You must have come from some real backwater Garden to not know the drill," he said with a sneer.
"Whatever," Tessa said with a flick of her wrist. "I have an appointment."
---
The administration building held a design similar to that of the main building of the Garden. The only major difference was the size. Tessa wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt and nervously formed fists as she walked up to the door.
She unclenched her right hand and pulled open the large glass entrance door. The stiflingly warm air hit Tessa in the face and caused her eyes to water. Blinking away some of the moisture, she made her way to the reception desk.
The desk was untidy, covered with papers, manila folders, and the like littered the surface. There were several empty cups of coffee and candy wrappers in and around the wastebasket. Sitting behind the desk was a pretty brunette woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"I'm here to see Headmaster Cid," Tessa said as she stood at the desk.
"Antessence Matleo?" the woman asked.
"Yeah," Tessa said with an eye roll. She hated her name with a passion.
"Right through that door," the woman said with a point to her left. Tessa followed the gesture and saw a plain wooden door she hadn't noticed when she had come entered.
"Thanks," Tessa said with a bow of her head. She walked to the door and knocked. She heard a grunt followed by the shuffling of papers.
"Come in," a breathless voice called out.
Tessa grabbed the knob and turned it. She heard the click signifying that it was open and pushed. The door creaked open to reveal an office completely unlike that of the reception area. Everything was so neat and sterile, nothing was hanging loose and the desk was completely devoid of paperwork. It made Tessa feel even more apprehensive.
"Hello, Antessence," the man named Cid Kramer said.
Tessa recognized him from his pictures in the books at the Lotia Garden library. He was slightly heavy, a brunette, and wore wire-rimmed glasses.
"Hello, Headmaster," Tessa said. She saluted, unsure of what to do in such a situation. She'd never met with her previous headmaster, so she didn't know any etiquette.
"Sit down," he said, indicating a plush chair in front of his desk. Tessa sat down and looked at her feet. "I don't usually do this, but you're a special case."
"Pardon me, Sir?" Tessa said with a quizzical look and tone.
"I normally don't meet with my students when they join the garden, but you are a special case," Cid told Tessa.
"What is it, Sir?" Tessa asked. She felt her mouth go dry.
"I don't want to drudge up those memories just yet, but I figured I'd break with protocol and let you know that you could come to me with any problems," Cid told her.
"Okay," Tessa said awkwardly. "Thank you, Sir."
"No problem," Cid said happily. "I'll just have one of the SeeDs, Xu, show you to your dorm."
The conversation fell and silence quickly filled the room. Uncomfortable, Tessa stood up and walked to the door. "Goodbye, Sir."
"Goodbye, Antessence."
---
"You must be Antessence," a tall, leggy brunette said. She had a round, alabaster face and wore her hair down around her shoulders. She wore her SeeD uniform well, the black fitting her taut body and the gold stripes accentuating her ample bosom.
"Xu?" Tessa asked. She was clearly in awe of the fact that so many of the students and SeeDs at Balamb Garden were highly attractive.
"Yes, I'm to take you to your dorm, Antessence," Xu said dully. Her attitude seemed to contrast sharply with her looks.
"It's Tessa," she corrected. "Antessence is far too formal for my taste, Ma'am."
"Ma'am? Am I that old?" Xu said contemplatively. "No, I'm only 25."
Tessa rolled her eyes. Adults were so obsessed with looking young. When she got older she wouldn't need to do that.
"Oh, right, your dorm," Xu said in a distracted way. She turned on her heel and walked away.
Following as quickly as she could, Tessa stopped long enough to grab her suitcase as they passed the gatehouse. Seifer made to jump out of his chair until he saw that Tessa was with a SeeD. Tessa watched as he slumped back in his chair, and the last vision she had of him before turning back to Xu's retreating form was Seifer grumbling inaudibly.
They reached the entrance to the main building of the Garden and Xu made a gesture for Tessa to wait. Tessa held her suitcase handle with both hands while Xu talked with the old man at the entrance counter. Xu made some half-hearted gestures in Tessa's direction while talking to the guy.
He peered over Xu's shoulder and squinted his eyes to look at Tessa. All Tessa could tell was that he only added to the number of wrinkles on his wizened face.
The old man shrugged and handed something to Xu who seemed to reluctantly take it. She walked back to Tessa and held out her hand. In it was a keycard; black and gold like the SeeD uniform. On it was a series of numbers embossed in dull silver.
"That's your passport here. You don't leave, you don't enter, you don't eat in the cafeteria, and you don't check out book from the library without it," Xu said with a yawn. "If you lose it, then it's a hundred Gil for a new one, so I'd keep track of it if I were you.
"Also, you have to go to the Quad to pick up your uniform. If you ever get lost, there's a directory in the lobby. Now let's go find that dorm room of yours."
Xu led Tessa through the metal detector (Tessa read that it had been installed with the rebuilding of the Garden at the request of parents, even though it always went off whenever students and SeeDs carried their weapons into the building.)
They passed the directory, which Tessa easily noticed. It was rather large and seemed to be a gathering place for girls who were playing the Triple Triad card game. Tessa had never gotten into it, considering it to be childish indulgence.
Next came the library, which Xu pointed out. She explained in a droning voice about how there weren't that many books available since most of the books had gone with the old Garden to Trabia garden. However, there was an excellent Internet connection.
We didn't have the Internet available for student use back at Lotia Garden! Tessa thought with excitement.
Next on the brief "tour" was the training centre, but Xu didn't talk much about it. All she said was that there were homegrown monsters in it.
"Here's the parking lot. The only time we use the vehicles is for faculty and exams, though. If students, and this also applies to SeeDs, wish to go to Balamb; they have to walk the trail. Don't worry; it's completely devoid from monsters. They tend to avoid heavily populated or heavily traveled areas."
They walked a little further and stopped outside a pair of double doors. "Here's the dorms, and that door," Xu said as she pointed a little further down, "leads to the cafeteria."
"Which room is mine?" Tessa asked.
"Hove me your key card," Xu said with a sigh. Tessa pulled it out from her pants pocket and handed it to Xu. Xu looked at the numbers and handed the card back to Tessa. "You're in room 32E."
"Thanks," Tessa said. "I appreciate it."
"Yeah right," Xu said as she walked away.
Tessa looked at her key card and followed the numbers painted above the dormitory doors until she found 32E. She reached out and turned the knob, pulling the door open.
Right away she was met with a girl of about her age that was sitting at a little table and writing furiously. The girl looked up and Tessa saw that her dark face had traces of acne and that she was wearing glasses. Her hair was in dreadlocks and the beads clicked with every movement. Relieved to see someone that looked like they didn't belong in a movie, Tessa let out a long breath.
"You must be the new girl, I'm Latasha," the girl said with a smile that revealed a set of white teeth. Tessa was afraid to return the smile because her teeth were yellowed from three years of smoking, even though she'd given cigarettes up over six months before transferring.
"Hi, Latasha, I'm Tessa," the girl replied.
"I have the room on the left, just so you know," Latasha said. "Otherwise, make yourself at home."
"Sure thing," Tessa said. She went ahead and smiled despite her misgivings. Latasha didn't seemed to notice, which set Tessa at ease.
She walked to the empty room. It was sparse, containing only a bed and desk, in addition to a solitary window with over the bed. The bed had a single pillow, sheets, and a thin blanket. She set her suitcase down on the floor and walked to the bed. She sat down and ran her fingers along the bedspread. The fabric smoothly slid between her fingers. She thought it felt light and assumed it was because of Balamb's traditionally warm yearlong climate.
"Exciting, isn't it?" Tessa heard someone say. She turned around and saw Latasha standing in the doorway, her arms crossed. "I remember when I first arrived at the Garden; I was ten. They stuck me in this dorm with a girl named Joanne. She graduated at the last exam and is now serving in Dollet."
"I…" Tessa said speechlessly.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Everyone does, eventually," Latasha said. "I'm majoring in firearms, you?"
"Medical," Tessa told her proudly. "Bur I also study hand-to-hand extra-curricular."
"Sure," Latasha said with a shrug. "But don't forget to pick up your uniform before you start classes tomorrow. I have to go, Professor Aki will kill me if I'm late."