June 6

Light was streaming into the library from the high windows facing east, bathing the students underneath in a warm, bright glow. It was late in the breakfast hour, and many students were taking the opportunity for some last-minute study before the beginning of the few classes still in session during the summer. A quiet murmur of hushed gossip filled the air.

Paige was placing returned books back on the shelves; although her status as a SeeD and graduate now prevented her from being on the Library Committee, she still liked to help out whenever she could. Besides the fact that she still had friends who worked in the library, she simply liked the quiet atmosphere of this part of the Garden.

"Hey! How's it goin'?"

She started, before recognizing the voice. "Don't sneak up on people like that!" she said scoldingly to the boy who had appeared beside her.

Zell shrugged. "Hey, y'know, if you were paying attention, I wouldn't be able to scare you like that."

Smiling, she batted him with a book. "What are you doing here, Zell? I'm working."

"Hey, you don't even work here anymore, remember? 'Sides, I was just wondering if you've got the latest Weapons Monthly yet."

Paige frowned. "You've got a subscription."

"Yeah; well, that one hasn't come yet this morning, and I want something to read on the trip. So?" He looked at her expectantly.

She folded her arms. "Zell, you know where the magazines are."

"C'mon, show me. Isn't it your job to help out people who need to find stuff?"

Shaking her head, she led him over to the magazine rack.

"Yeah!" Zell intoned, spotting the July edition still resting on the rack.

"Keep it down!" Paige cautioned. "And you can't check those out, you know."

"Don't worry; I've got a plan." Zell patted his pocket, and the soft jingle of gil could be heard. "Where'd you guys move the copy machine?"

"Zell!"

"What?"

Paige sighed, giving up on pressing the point. "...So you saw the mission schedule on the Directory?" she asked.

Zell nodded. "You bet." He absently began flipping through the magazine before glancing up at her. "Hey, so this'll be your first mission, huh? How are you feeling about that?"

She smiled. "I don't know. A little nervous, I guess. I'm still kind of surprised that I actually passed the SeeD exam."

"Hey, I gotta ask." Zell closed the magazine for a second. "You never acted like you really wanted to be a SeeD. Why'd you even bother to take the exam? You could've just graduated and got a job at the library full-time or something."

Paige shrugged. "I've been asking myself that too. And I really think it's your fault, Zell."

"Wha?" Zell blinked.

"Well, you were always going off and leaving me back here at Garden wondering if you were okay," she said, glancing around to be sure no one was listening in. "I thought if I was a SeeD and could go out and fight too, I wouldn't be so worried. Besides, I thought maybe we might get assigned together sometimes."

Zell laughed. "And hey, looks like we are gettin' sent out together! Well, I sure don't mind the company."

Paige smiled as Zell went back to flipping through the magazine. "I really am glad you'll be out there with me," she said. "I keep getting scared that I won't be able to handle myself when the time comes."

"Don't worry about that," Zell said confidently. "They screen you for that sort of thing in the SeeD exam, you know. Oh, hey; check this out!" He held up the magazine, displaying a picture of a fighting glove with some sort of metal box attached to the back of the hand. "This thing's called a Motor Drive; they say it's got a machine that'll give it more power when you swing. I feel like getting one just to see what that's like!"

Paige went back to stacking the books, shaking her head but unable to contain a smile.

"...and I've even got this jazz band from Dollet to come over to play! Turns out that Michel's dad knows the owner of a night club where they play a lot, so he asked them if they'd want to play at the Garden Festival, and they said yes!" Selphie was literally bouncing with excitement. "They're gonna be coming over in July so we can practice! Oh, I just know this is gonna be the best festival ever!"

Quistis couldn't help but smile at her friend's enthusiasm. "You really are good at this, Selphie. Especially with the job you did last year; I'm still amazed you even managed to have a Festival after all that happened."

The two of them were seated in the shade of one of the larger trees in the Quad, Selphie with her near-ubiquitous clipboard in hand. Here was where she liked to do most of her planning for the Garden Festival, and midmorning seemed to be her favorite time of day to devote to the endeavor.

"Well, there just had to be a Festival!" Selphie said. "Especially after bad things happen, people need something they can smile about!" Demonstrating her amazing ability to switch gears almost in midsentence, she went back to flipping through the clipboard once more. "...I still need some more extras for the one-act, though. The Balamb Actors' Guild is gonna be doing Black Vendetta, and I wanna get people from Garden to do this one! You remember how much of a hit it was last year!"

"Selphie, I'm still trying to live that down," Quistis protested. "It was awful. Nida practically smothered me with that dragon costume."

"But the whole Garden loved it!" Selphie insisted. "Oh, that reminds me. I still need to ask Squall if he'll play Prince Ralse. Don't you think he'd be just perfect for the role?"

Quistis didn't, but she was laughing too hard to say so. "Well, good luck getting him to agree," she managed eventually.

"I haven't even seen him lately, though," Selphie mused. "Garden business must be keeping him really busy."

"Well, we're all getting called up for a mission today," Quistis observed. "I'm sure you'll have some chance to ask him then."

"Yeah!" Selphie agreed. Then her attention was caught by a passing SeeD, and she jumped up from the circular bench. "Hey! Lauren, did you get my note about maybe getting some of the junior classmen to be extras in Black Vendetta for the Garden Festival?"

Quistis laughed again as she rose from the bench to follow her enthusiastic friend's latest adventure.

"...I understand we have contractual obligations here," Xu said, "but there must be certain disclosure requirements that Galbadia must observe. This request tells me absolutely nothing beyond, 'Get some SeeDs together, here's what we'll pay.'"

Frowning at her from the other side of the vidscreen, Martine sighed. "I'm afraid that meets the minimum disclosure requirements that were set out in your extended contract with Galbadia," he said. "They don't have to tell you anything else; and if they haven't already, I doubt you'll get them to."

"But this is totally improper," Xu insisted. "We don't even have enough information to put together a proper team; Galbadia hasn't even said what kind of a mission it is."

"This contract names most of the team members already," Martine said. "That's an acceptable substitute, according to Garden protocol."

Xu shook her head. "There has to be some way I can at least hold out for more information. At least I could call for some kind of extension or demand proof of the urgency of the request."

"The only time you're authorized to disregard the emergency clause of your contract is if you feel the contract doesn't offer adequate pay for the deployment. Considering how much the Galbadians offered, I doubt they'll be receptive to such a complaint."

"But we won't get the payment until the mission is complete," Xu argued. "How do I know they won't just keep the team indefinitely and hold back the money for that reason?"

"If you don't hear anything from them after one hundred days, you can demand more information," Martine replied. "Until then, your hands are tied." He sighed, glancing somewhere offscreen. "I warned you this contract was a bad idea, Xu. And for exactly this reason; by signing it, you gave Galbadia free rein to demand whatever they wished of you."

"I had to sign it," Xu said defensively. "Just covering damages from the Ultimecia business had already put us more than a million gil in debt, to say nothing of the costs of rebuilding Trabia Garden. And Galbadia could have easily made it difficult for us to attract new clients. There was no other way out."

"Well, now you have another situation to which there is only one way out." Martine paused, looking as if he had something to add. "The Galbadian liaison to my Garden raised a concern of her own recently," he said, "with the request that I pass it on to you. She wanted to make sure that you were aware of her government's objections to the training of a SeeD force in Trabia."

Xu nodded slowly, and a chill seemed to run through her as realization dawned. "That's what this is really about, isn't it? Galbadia is using this as a way of demonstrating what they can do to me if they so choose."

"I didn't know anything about this request until you sent me the document," Martine said. "But I wouldn't put it past them to put forward such a display of power."

Xu was silent for a moment, nodding absently at Martine's words. "I tried, you know," she said sadly. "No one else even wanted to do that much. After Cid and Edea...once they weren't with us anymore, everyone assumed Garden was finished, too. At the time, I felt that I had to take on the responsibility, and find some way to keep Cid's dream alive." She sighed. "Now I feel like it might have been better just to let it die."

"I had a similar conversation with Cid ten years ago," Martine said. "He was concerned about the effect Master NORG and his faculty would have on your Garden, and Galbadia on mine. I asked him if he was considering the possibility of disbanding Garden, and he told me, 'Absolutely not. Garden is bigger than any of us. As long as it exists, there is hope, no matter how bad things get.' I've reminded myself of those words many times over the years."

Xu nodded again. "I hope he was right," she said. "Because I don't know how much longer I can keep on doing this."

"I wish I had some encouraging words of my own to share with you," Martine said, "but the truth is, I felt the same way a year ago, when Galbadia took control and ousted me from my own Garden, in spite of all I'd done." A shadow passed over his face. "And things seem only to have gotten worse since then."

"I hope you're more encouraging than this when speaking to your students," Xu said, smiling wanly.

"I could say the same thing of you," Martine replied, returning the smile. "...I'll speak with Galbadia about this; there is a slight chance they might relax their demands once they feel their point has been made."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Xu said, nodding.

"Good day, Headmaster." Martine ended the call, and Xu, sighing heavily, buried her head in her hands with her elbows resting on the table. She needed a little time to collect herself, then she was going to get that extended contract with Galbadia and read it from cover to cover.