Squall and Rinoa walked up to the enormous colored palace of Esthar. It amazed Squall how advanced Esthar's technology was compared to the rest of the world. Currently President Laguna was going through a very hard political time; being forced to share his country's technology and not to mention being shunned for keeping it isolated for so long.

They waited as the floating disk came down to escort them into the palace, when it reached the top Squall and Rinoa went into the president's office only to be greeted by his two bodyguards and friends, Kiros and Ward.

Kiros bowed and greeted the two "Welcome back, unfortunately Laguna is… busy right now with a little situation."

"I knew it" Squall thought to himself

"If you would like to, please sit down," Kiros also said, speaking for his fellow Ward who had lost all speaking capabilities during the Sorceress War.

Squall didn't hesitate, Rinoa followed suit and sat next to him. He realized that the SeeD's would have to be leaving soon to return to garden. If Laguna didn't show up soon Squall would have to come back early the next day to hear what the president had to tell him.

Minutes passed before Laguna finally entered his office.

Squall looked at him, face completely expressionless. The president looked back and smiled sheepishly, there was no doubt in Squall's mind that something was going on.

"So I see you got my message! Great!" Laguna started off happily, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long, so many matters have come up"

The room went quiet as everyone waited for Laguna to tell them more. Even Kiros and Ward were waiting patiently.

"Well it seems that there's a lot of tension going on right now" said the president.

"That's nothing new to me…"

"As you know, Galbadia's been very quiet lately. Their former president, Vinzer Deling, is gone and Ambassador Edea resigned leaving things in the hands of Seifer"

Squall could remember the night of the parade when the Sorceress Edea, also known as their Matron, killed president Vinzer Deling in front of the worlds very eye. But back then Ultimecia had controlled her. After being released of her awful grasp Edea wanted nothing to do with the Galbadian government.

"But Seifer's been missing for a year now…" Rinoa said catching on; Squall couldn't help but notice her eyes gleam with sadness. Before meeting Squall Rinoa believed that she was in love with Seifer. Even though he had chosen to oppose her she still harbored feelings for him.

Squall couldn't blame the guy for disappearing though, after controlling the Galbadian army almost everyone knew his name, and hated it even more. He was better off.

"Exactly!" said Laguna, breaking Squall's train of thought, "Now we don't know who's running the place, they refuse to make contact with anyone"

"Why did you request SeeD to come early? We could have been fine on the regular schedule for you to tell us that" said Squall.

Laguna laughed and through a huge grin he bellowed, "I know! But I wanted you guys to see Ellone today!"

Squall sighed angrily, he should have known. He could see Kiros and Ward shake their heads at their friend too.

Rinoa was pleased over this news however, perhaps to help keep Squall's anger from becoming apparent to the Esthar President.

"Oh really? I haven't seen her in such a long time, thank you Mr. Loir"

Before Laguna could respond the door in back of him opened up to show a young woman clothed in a light blue dress, a white puffy bow was tied around her waist. Her hair had become shoulder length and she still carried around a beautiful satin green sash that curved around her arms gracefully.

Squall and Rinoa stood up to welcome her.

"It's been such a long time Squall," Ellone smiled shyly.

"Same here" he said, returning her kind smile.

"Ellone, you may not remember me…but…uhm…I'm Rinoa" The girl garbed in blue put her hair behind her ear and held out a hand for Ellone to take.

"Yes I remember you, you're Squalls girlfriend as well am I right?"

Rinoa laughed and nodded her head. Squall ignored their teasing and looked out at the sky that was now colored with brilliant colors of the setting sun.

"We have to go," he said still looking at the sunset. Rinoa agreed and they bid their farewell. Just in time as Laguna was called in for another meeting, probably regarding Galbadia for all Squall knew.

By the time Squall and Rinoa made it back to the airbase all SeeD's were already inside waiting for Squall to return and let them go home. Outside Quistis and Zell greeted the two.

"'Bout time man!" Zell complained.

"Yes, we've been waiting for quite a while Squall, Shall we?" asked Quistis.

Squall nodded and walked towards the Ragnarok, signaling for everyone else to get on.

"Squall!" cried a voice not long after the Ragnarok landed at garden. Squall looked around to see Nida running after him.

"Squall, Hi!" Nida said catching up to the brunette. "I've been looking for you all over!" he said between gasps of air.

"We just got back" was all Squall said, Nida laughed.

"Well, just came to inform you that the SeeD Exam starts soon."

"Have we got a client yet?" Squall asked starting to remember about the exam

"Luckily we just got a client this morning! It's not as exciting as our exam was but it's still as efficient"

"Exciting? Guess you had a better time fighting the back lines than following Seifer…"

"The SeeD's this year are going to Centra..."

Squall stopped Nida out of surprise "Centra? But it was destroyed years ago."

Nida nodded "Yes, but our client is paying good money to go investigate the ruins down there, we had no choice but to accept!"

"Whatever…" Squall said walking away from the cadet.

"The written test is tomorrow, don't forget!" Nida shouted hoping Squall would still hear him. Squall sighed. "Still doing things for Xu? Will he ever learn?"

Squall took the opportunity to get some time alone and headed to his room. The earlier events of the day troubled him. Twice he had almost gotten himself hurt in battle from monsters that were hardly a threat to him.

"What's wrong with me? I can't be troubled like this all because of…." He looked over to the door; someone was on the other side knocking to come in.

"Squall?" the voice asked. Squall got up to unlock his door, Rinoa appeared on the other side carrying a tray of assorted foods.

"I thought you'd be in here!" She said smiling "I know you're having a rough day, so I brought you some dinner." Moving aside he let her enter the room, she put the tray gently on his bed and started putting together a meal.

"You must be hungry Squall I haven't seen you eat anything all day! What would you like on your hotdog?"

Squall hesitated to answer "Rinoa… I'm not hungry…"

The girl stopped for a moment to let his words sink in. Slowly she put the food back down on the tray.

"Squall…that's okay! You'll eat when you're hungry right?"

He stared at her. He could admit he felt sorry for her failed efforts, but he didn't feel like having company at the moment.

"Yea, I will…thanks" he finished.

Rinoa smiled and walked up to him, staring into his eyes. He looked back, losing himself in those eyes. For a minute his world had become tranquil, his vision filled with the soft auburn in her eyes, as they became closer all his thoughts vanished. His eyelids started to close…

Suddenly Squall drew away from Rinoa. Quickly, he looked at the floor to hide his expression from her.

"Goodnight…. Rinoa"

"Squall…" Rinoa said worriedly getting closer to him again. He drew back.

"I said goodnight!" He cried still staring at the ground.

Slowly Rinoa walked toward the door, once her hand reached for the knob she looked back at Squall with a hurt look on her face.

"Goodnight…Squall…"