June 5

It was already late morning by the time Quistis arrived in the cafeteria for breakfast. Selphie had dragged her into town to meet the band she wanted to play at this year's Garden Festival. It had been well past curfew when they got back, and they had been forced to swim in through the moat to avoid capture.

Receiving her breakfast, she looked around for a place to sit; the cafeteria was filled with new students in new uniforms, and Quistis felt a little out of place in her casual clothes. Spotting a familiar face at a table by the window, she navigated her way over with her tray. "Hi, Xu!" she said. "Mind if I join you?"

Xu looked up from a clipboard containing some kind of official document. "Quistis!" She smiled. "Of course not. Have a seat."

Quistis obliged. "Has Selphie talked to you about the Garden Festival yet?"

"I think so," Xu replied. "She wants to rent a barge and have it at sea, right?"

"Right. And how she wants the Balamb Actors Guild to perform Black Vendetta opposite the band."

Xu blinked. "Black Vendetta?"

Quistis nodded. "Apparently, they've been working on this comical adaptation. There's this Shumi who they've got to play Hyne."

"Now there's something I have to see!" Xu said, laughing.

"You know," Quistis mused, "it's really funny how neither of us doubts for a moment that she could do it, too."

Xu laughed again, taking a sip of her coffee. When she spoke next, her tone had become slightly more somber. "Quistis, do you remember about a year ago, when you lost your instructor's license?"

"Yes?"

"I've done a lot of thinking...and I think I've decided that, in truth, we really did you a favor."

Quistis smiled. "I won't argue with that. Once I got used to being just another SeeD, I found out I actually enjoyed being in Garden." She took a bite of toast. "So how's the Headmaster life treating you, by the way?"

Xu gave her a look. "It's horrible. I got maybe four hours of sleep last night, because I had to handle some conflict between one of our long-term SeeD deployments and the Galbadian police. Then this morning, this comes in just as I'm sitting down for breakfast." She tapped the clipboard, sighing. "You have no idea how lucky you are to lack leadership qualities."

"What is that, anyway?" Quistis asked.

"Well, you're not going to like it, either." Xu handed her the clipboard. "It's a SeeD request. For you."

Quistis read the request. "'Republic of Galbadia...requests the services of SeeDs Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Squall Leonhart, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, three others to be decided by Garden, and "Nida"...transport provided to classified location...long-term mission, exact duration unknown.' Is this a joke?"

"Read the payment offer."

Quistis scanned down to the bottom of the page. "...Wow."

"Keep reading."

At the very bottom of the form was written a few lines of text in small print. "'This request falls under Article 16, Section 4 of the General Employment Agreement between Balamb Garden and the Galbadian Republic,'" she read. "'Appropriate payment is included. This request is not open to negotiation. Approval or denial of request is required within 72 hours of reception.'"

"Article 16:4 states that matters of extreme urgency to either Garden or Galbadia must receive full cooperation, or the entire agreement will be nullified. Basically, we have to approve this request, or we lose all our funding from Galbadia."

Quistis raised her eyebrows. "So you're actually going to send us off on a mission for Galbadia, when you don't even know where we'll be going or how long it'll take?"

"I don't have a choice, Quistis," Xu said. "Without Galbadia's funding, we won't have enough money to keep the Garden open. That's why we had to enter into the agreement in the first place."

"I know; there isn't any other way." Quistis sighed, handing Xu back the clipboard. "But if we give them this, what are they going to ask for next time?"

Xu shook her head, looking down at her coffee. "Quistis, I don't even know what they're asking for this time."

"It's just so unfair. Just a year ago, it was governments like Galbadia who were the enemy. Now, we're doing their dirty work for them. It just seems like there has to be some other way."

"Believe me, Quistis, if I found another way, I would jump at it. But I'm still looking."

The two passed into silence, with Quistis turning her attention to her breakfast and Xu staring at the clipboard. They remained that way for some time.

"Forget it."

Selphie folded her arms. "C'mon, Nida; I saw you in the one-act last year!"

"That was humiliating. I almost tripped over my tail."

The other SeeD turned to leave the library, but Selphie headed him off. "But you covered it really well! I could really believe you were trying to crush the princess!"

"It's not going to happen."

"Come on! You're only in one scene! After playing the Evil Dragon King, it should be easy!"

"I can't sing."

"You don't have to! Only the leads sing!"

Nida sighed. "Why are you putting an opera in the Garden Festival, anyway? I thought you had the Balamb Actors Guild in here to perform something."

"I do! We're only going to act out the battle scene between Prince Ralse and Draco! You'll have maybe three lines; the rest is just standing there looking mean!"

"Ask Squall."

"I want Squall to play Prince Ralse!"

"Look." Nida sighed. "Every time I have to act, or speak in public, or anything like that, I embarrass myself. Remember when I had to make that speech right after becoming a SeeD?"

Selphie giggled.

"Plus, I had my heart broken by someone in the Dollet Theater Troupe, and I promised myself I'd never act again."

"That's just an excuse! And I bet it never really happened!"

"I'm not doing it."

"Come on!" Selphie pleaded. "You're always talking about how no one ever notices you; this is the perfect way for them to see what a great guy you are!"

"Pass."

Before Selphie could respond, Paige came running up. "Guys, come on!" she said, motioning them to come with her. "There's something on the news you need to see!"

Nida didn't need much excuse to abandon the conversation, and though Selphie was more reluctant, both followed. Paige showed them behind the desk to a monitor which was set to the Online Dollet Times, on which a video release was playing.

"By admitting that the power interruption three days ago was a result of a terrorist attack," an announcer was saying, "Galbadia has departed from its claim that the situation in Timber is firmly under control, and the so-called 'resistance factions' have all but disappeared. The Galbadian government, however, has indicated its belief that the group responsible — several leaders of which have been taken into custody both during and after the attack — is receiving support from a source outside Timber, with their own reasons for creating instability in the region."

The three looked at each other. "This is huge!" Paige said. "I mean, the Galbadians will never admit that there's anything wrong in Timber, and now someone actually blew up a power station! What do you think it means?"

"They were talking about support from outside Timber," said Nida, frowning. "So they'll probably try to blame it on us."

"Heey," said Selphie. "I wonder if Rinoa's still in Timber with the Forest Owls?"

"Probably," said Nida.

"I wouldn't want to be around Squall when he hears about this," observed Paige.