"...And you have an appearance before Parliament. According to the speech Chairman Chan wrote for you, you're supposed to call for the reopening of the Odine facility, so we can continue the research into the Lunar Cries."

Laguna nodded. "Yeah, yeah...but I had a better idea!"

Kiros and Ward groaned, near in unison. Laguna jumped up from behind his desk, for some reason causing the floor to become translucent through to the cityscape below, an effect which invariably made him dizzy. Distracted by the sensation of the floor disappearing out from under him, Laguna lost his balance and collapsed unceremoniously on the floor. "Aah!" he exclaimed, as he struggled back to his feet. "Man, I really need to get this thing fixed."

"...," Ward said.

"Hey!" Having regained his footing, Laguna picked up a folder that had been lying on his desk. "Anyway, I thought that I could read this speech I wrote last night, instead. It's about how we should start being more active in foreign affairs, and —"

"Let me guess," Kiros interrupted. "You want them to start funding Garden."

"Hey, did you see these figures?" Laguna asked. "Like, 80 percent of their funding now is coming from Galbadia! The Galbadians tried to invade Esthar last year! Couldn't we say, like, we've got national security concerns or something?"

"The new president of Galbadia has pledged not to interfere with our internal business," Kiros said, "as long as we stay out of theirs. This could look like we're trying to buy Garden out from under them, maybe as a preamble to invasion."

"Hey!" Laguna exclaimed. "Whose side are you on?"

"This is what Chan will say," Kiros replied. "The Parliament already voted down your initiative to end the policy of isolation; there's no way they'll agree to start sending tax money to an organization that doesn't even have a base in Esthar."

"I'm getting to that!" Laguna declared. "See, in exchange for our funding, another Garden will be constructed in Esthar!"

"So we'd be paying them to use our land for a base of operations?" Kiros asked.

Laguna scratched his head. "Well...yeah."

"...," Ward declared.

"Yeah," Kiros agreed. "They'll never go for it. Plus, if you don't read the speech Chan wrote for you, he really won't be happy."

"But it doesn't even make any sense!" Laguna complained. "Why is the chairman of Parliament writing my proposals for me? Aren't I the president?"

Kiros and Ward looked at each other. "Do you think we should tell him?" Kiros asked, as if he hadn't done so dozens of times before.

"..." Ward nodded.

"Guys..." Laguna said, somewhat exasperatedly.

"Laguna," Kiros began slowly, in the tone he might use with a nescient child, "You're a figurehead. Parliament only keeps you around because they made you into this big hero of the revolution; it keeps people from thinking too hard about how the Parliament is mostly the same people who were making the laws under Adel. You have no power. Acting like you do is just going to get you into trouble."

"Oh, come on!" Laguna exclaimed. "I'm the president of Esthar! The hero of the revolution! If I make an appeal to the people, I'm sure they'll back me instead of a bunch of old geezers in Parliament!"

"Laguna, the people believe what Parliament tells them," Kiros said. "It's always been that way. If you force them to take sides, you can't expect them all to back you. Besides, the army would take Chan's side. It'd be disaster."

"Arghh..." Laguna sat back down behind his desk. "I hate this, you know? I mean, I come in here every day, and the first thing I see is this memo from Chan telling me exactly what I'm supposed to do. I really want, you know, just once, to get out of this damn office and really do something for the people out there. Because, I mean, otherwise, what the heck am I doing here?"

"...," Ward said.

"Laguna, we understand how you feel," Kiros agreed, "But there's nothing you can do. It's not just Parliament; all the people want is a government that takes care of business and stays out of their way. They don't want to think about politics or anything like that. If you try to stir something up, Parliament will say that you're trying to manufacture a problem so you'll look like the hero, and the people will buy it, because they don't want to have to think about it."

"...," Ward agreed.

Laguna shook his head, sighing. "Kind of makes you wish for the good old days, huh? Man, what I'd give to be back out there, traveling all over the world, visiting exotic places, meeting new people..." He trailed off, gazing down through the floor at the city laid out beneath him.

"Always out of money, not knowing if we'd have a roof over our heads, wanted by the law in four countries..." Kiros added, hinting sarcasm.

"...," Ward finished.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Laguna agreed. "The sky is always greener from the other guy's yard."

"?" Kiros said.

"?" Ward added.

"Oh, whatever." Laguna picked up the speech, honestly trying to read it. "'Distinguished representatives and fellow citizens of Esthar; it is in the interest of a matter of notable urgency and clear national concern that I...'" He dropped the paper back onto his desk. "Really, guys, don't you at least miss how we could really make a difference? Back then, it was like our lives counted for something. Now, I feel like we're back up in Trabia, making that stupid movie all over again. Except this time it's been filming for eighteen years."

Kiros and Ward exchanged a look. "Laguna,..." Kiros began, but he trailed off with a sigh.

"There has got to be a way," Laguna declared, standing again. Shaking his head, he made for the exit. "I've just gotta think, and it'll come to me."

The doors hissed open to admit his passing, and he barely looked as he headed out into the hall. Behind him, Kiros looked to Ward.

"I'd try harder," he said, "but I'm actually hoping he'll figure something out."

"...," Ward agreed.

It was mid-afternoon on a finals week, so few people populated the stands for the off-season hockey tournament. Garden was playing, of course, and a small group of loyal fans had taken over their customary section, cheering with just as much enthusiasm as if the stands were filled. Garden's victim today was the Lanker State team, and the traditional rivalry between the two schools was enough to bring a fair number of blue-and-green clad spectators to the opposite side of the stands. Even so, Lanker was playing with three of its best players out on injury, and their best shooter had been removed for a penalty; with Garden up by three at the half, the game was all but over.

"Is it my imagination, or is Darven playing a little sluggishly out there?" Headmaster Martine, watching from one of the top rows, frowned at the gold-uniformed student playing forward.

Palmer, the head of the Garden faculty, frowned, leaning forward in the seat beside him. "It's not like him to get tired," she said. "He's been leading all this season."

"Most likely he simply knows that Garden will win no matter what he does, and has given up on trying," Martine said. "The coach should have a talk with him about that."

"Headmaster, I hate to take your attention away from your game, but I was ordered here with rather important business." Occupying the seat on Martine's other side, Galbadian General Tolmar nonetheless spared a moment to observe the student's movements as well. "Still, I think you're right. It would never be stood for on the Army team."

"I don't have any authority over Headmasters Xu or Logan," Martine said. "The decision was an internal affair for Trabia."

"The President isn't quite convinced of that," Tolmar said. "Expanding T-Garden's curriculum to include a SeeD force is economically ridiculous. The costs of supporting a facility as remote as Trabia are all but prohibitive for any large-scale operation, yet both the other masters seem intent on expanding. I don't need to tell you how suspicious that looks."

A roar went up from the Lanker side as one of their players broke through Garden's defense to score an unlikely shot. Martine shook his head. "Typical end-of-season laziness. All of a sudden, they're too good for their training." To Tolmar he added, "I don't suppose I need to tell you that Xu was particularly motivated on the Trabia matter."

Expressionless, Tolmar nodded. "I'm fully aware that my government's funding contract with Garden places the Trabia facility outside our influence, but this might be a good time to remind Headmaster Xu that her Garden is not. And that the future status of our funding to Garden is contingent to her good will."

"Garden policy dictates that no two Gardens may undertake missions with conflicting interests," Palmer pointed out. "If your government is concerned that Trabia might be used to undermine Galbadia, you can assure them, that isn't permitted."

"I'm familiar with your policy," Tolmar said, "and that's not entirely true. I know that the Gardens can't pursue missions which directly conflict with each other, but you've no rule barring one SeeD team to conduct one mission to help a certain party, while another team performs a completely different mission which will nonetheless harm that same party. Lord Naraka wishes it known that, if such a situation were to arise and cause harm to Galbadia, he would consider it a serious breach of good faith."

"I'm sure Headmaster Xu is aware of the contract stipulations," Martine said. "But I will inform her of your president's concerns."

Tolmar nodded. "That's all I can ask. Also, the issue of advanced training for our soldiers in para-magic has come up again. Galbadia simply doesn't have enough trained instructors in the field, so I was sent to request that G-Garden take on a few dozen of our elite soldiers at a time for instruction. Since you have another facility now to handle SeeD candidates, it was thought you might be able to spare the room. You'd be compensated, of course."

Martine and Palmer looked at each other. Just then, one of Garden's players slammed head-on into the Lanker player who had control of the puck. The Lanker student fell hard, but the Garden player recovered, gained control of the puck, and went on to score.

"Your players seem to have regained their dedication," Tolmar observed.

"Damn nasty trick, though," Martine said, "especially against a losing team. ...In any case, we'll have to compose a contract outlining the details, but I think it should be manageable."

"Yes," Palmer agreed, with only a bit of hesitation. "Most of our higher-level students choose to join the Galbadian Army in any case; forming a class shouldn't be difficult."

Down on the field, the Lanker student was being removed by a medic. The referee signaled that the move was legal and the point was good, and the teams returned to their sides to continue the game.