Keri paced absently about the briefing room, occasionally pausing behind the seat she had chosen for herself but had yet to sit in. She had arrived a bit early for their mission briefing, along with the other three SeeDs who had been summoned on the morning bulletin, but by now the time had come that the faculty could arrive with their briefing at any moment, so the anticipation — and apprehension — among the SeeDs was mounting.

Though this would be her first mission as well, Keri herself was not particularly apprehensive. Aside from what little experience she had gained in the odd events that took place in the aftermath of the Third Sorceress War, she guessed that, since the team she had been appointed with was composed primarily of non-combat specialists, their mission probably be more of a support role, where someone else did all the fighting and dangerous work. But none of this did anything to reduce her curiosity; she had only been granted her full SeeD status at the final term review less than a week before. Most new SeeDs at Galbadia Garden would wait for much longer before receiving their first assignment.

"Would you stop that?" demanded Sean, another new SeeD here for his first assignment. Already seated, he did look rather nervous. "It's really distracting."

"And what are you doing that's so important?" That was Tavin, a friend of Keri's and the only veteran SeeD in the group. Sean glared at him, but didn't respond to the other SeeD's challenge. Even so, Keri stopped pacing and took a seat.

Not long after, the door slid open to admit a pair of individuals in Garden administrative clothing. As Keri joined the others in rising to attention, she noticed that the person in the lead was Ms. Palmer, the head of the Faculty. This struck her as rather odd; Palmer tended to work behind the scenes, and the students would rarely ever see her under any circumstances.

"At ease." The other man, a member of the Faculty whom Keri found familiar but couldn't name, remained standing as Palmer took a seat at the head of the table and the SeeDs retook their seats as well. "All SeeDs are accounted for," he announced, scanning over their faces and checking a clipboard he held in his hand.

Palmer nodded. "Very well; let's begin. As you are no doubt aware, you four are here because you have been contracted for a SeeD assignment. Your client for this mission will be the Republic of Galbaida." The other faculty member now distributed folders to each of the four SeeDs. "Your mission will be to assist in the capture or destruction of a pirate vessel which has been raiding Galbadian interests for the past several weeks. Galbadian Intelligence believes them to be operating out of a hideout somewhere in the northern Centra region, but they have so far been unable to precisely locate it. All pertinent information is in the files that have been given to you."

She paused, removing her reading glasses and looking directly at the SeeDs for the first time. "You'll be operating from a seaborne Mobile Command Unit for the duration of this mission. The vehicle is waiting in Dollet harbor; you'll depart on the 12:00 train and report to the ship's captain no later than 16:00." Here she paused again. "And always remember: as SeeDs, you have an obligation to the integrity of Garden and the principles on which it was founded. That supersedes everything."

She stood, and the four SeeDs returned to attention. "Dismissed," said the other Faculty member.

The four SeeDs permitted their confusion to manifest itself the moment they were out in the hallway and safely away from the observation of the faculty. "They're sending us off on a Galbadian ship?" Sean asked. "Since when did we join the G-Army?"

"Idiot," Tavin replied coldly. "Garden coordinates with Galbadia for a lot of its missions. How d'you think we get all the military-grade equipment?"

"What was that thing she said at the end?" Keri asked. "About upholding the integrity of Garden? That seemed kind of strange."

"Yeah; it's the first time I've had anyone do that," Tavin agreed. "First time Palmer herself came down to do the briefing, too."

"This must be important," said Mara, a taller girl who made the fourth in their team. "It didn't seem like we were just being sent out to hunt down some pirates. They didn't tell us everything."

"It doesn't matter," Tavin said. "We know our job, so let's get it done without any stupid questions. Everyone okay with that?"

His tone made it clear this was a rhetorical question. Nonetheless, Sean and Mara smartly saluted, uttering "Yes, sir!" before heading off to collect their gear. Keri sighed.

"You know, I really hate it when you get like this," she said, walking with him towards their own dorms. "People give me weird looks because I hang around with you."

"I don't need some idiot rookies like them screwing up my mission," Tavin retorted.

Keri rolled her eyes. "You've got a great team spirit. It's so clear why they made you the leader."

Tavin glared at her. "It's not the leader's job to baby-sit his troops. Either you're up to the job or you're not; and it you're not, then you don't deserve to be here and there's a dispatch officer somewhere who deserves a stiff boot out the door."

Keri knew well enough not to argue; Tavin was very consistent in his inability to back down. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

He faltered in his step, looking genuinely surprised. "What'd you just say?"

"This is your first long-term deployment," Keri pressed. "And you're in command, with a team without any operational experience at all."

"You've got experience."

Keri rolled her eyes. "I spent nearly all of that mission in the library translating Kashkabald prewriting. That doesn't really count."

"Sure it does. You did field work on the Lunatic Pandora, and you kept your head on straight under tough circumstances when some other kid would run crying for his Moomba doll."

"Well, thanks," Keri said noncommittally. "But you're dodging my question. Are you worried one of us will mess up on this mission, and you'll get blamed for it?"

Tavin fixed her with a particularly fierce glare; he could guess that Keri really thought Tavin was worried about making a mistake himself. But he said nothing; and simply set off again at a quicker pace.

Keri sighed, but decided not to pursue him any further. Whatever he was worried about, Tavin had always been rather touchy under pressure; she could only hope that no dispatch officer would suffer on his account.

In the past year, Seifer had gained a familiarity with the city of Timber that rivaled that of his former home in Balamb Garden; although if he had to find his way along the main streets from one district to the other, he would nonetheless be completely lost. His familiarity was of a different nature; he knew the back alleys and deserted side streets better than the cats who had made them into their own shadow community. He had easily slipped from the bus station onto a run-down boardwalk and into an alley which ran directly behind the Timber Maniacs building, despite his status as the most wanted man in Galbadia.

He let himself down a set of stairs and through an unlocked door into the basement of the building, which housed the printing equipment for the weekly publication. The large machines were not particularly active now, as the next issue had yet to be written; and the room was almost totally silent. Seifer's footsteps echoed as he stepped in onto the hard stone floor, as did the sound of his closing the door behind him.

Almost as soon as the door was shut, five figures stepped out from their hiding places behind the machines. Seifer recognized two of the Forest Owls by name, from introductions made by Rinoa two years before; the others were more recent members whom he had observed from a distance over the past year. He also noticed the conspicuous absence of one specific face.

"Where's Zone?" he asked. He'd never been particularly impressed with the supposed leader of the Forest Owls, but the boy was always at least hanging around.

The others looked at each other uneasily. "He quit, sir," said one, a kid Seifer recalled as Watts. "He said he couldn't take it anymore. Kane's our leader now, sir." He nodded to the boy in the center of the formation.

Seifer narrowed his eyes at the indicated person. Kane was the other face whom he could attach to a name; Rinoa had introduced him to Seifer as the Forest Owls' newest member. He hadn't found much of note about the boy at the time, but he didn't need to be reminded how much things — and people — had changed in those two years.

"Fine," he said. "Have you got it?"

Kane nodded, glancing at Watts. The other boy stepped forward, offering Seifer a storage disk. "We got the info, sir; but it's in code. We don't know what it says."

Seifer stopped just before taking the disk. "Then how do I know that it's what I need?"

"The Galbadians sent a message to their military command in Monterosa just after they captured Rinoa," Kane said. "They got a response back thirteen minutes later. They sent out another the next morning. All three had the same subject header, so we know they're all related. Plus, they were the only top-priority messages the relay station's handled in the last month."

Seifer frowned. Challenging the memories he had of the Forest Owls, Kane's explanation seemed to show a respectable degree of intelligence. "Fine," he said, taking the disk and turning to leave.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Seifer entertained the notion of ignoring Watts' voice, but already his body had decided to turn back around. "You got something more to say?" he asked.

The Forest Owl seemed to be particularly uncomfortable, glancing uncertainly back at Kane and the others. "Rinoa's...really changed, sir. Ever since she came back from...well, everything that happened last year, she hasn't really been herself. She didn't talk as much, and whenever she did it was always about Galbadia, how we could get them, force them out of Timber and all. And..." He paused, his gaze shifting to anything but Seifer. "She never smiled, sir. She didn't ever look happy anymore. About anything. I remember she always used to talk about you, sir, and I...I thought you could maybe do something."

A number of thoughts ran through Seifer's head. First was, Rinoa's been captured by the Galbadians, and this is what he's worried about? As the details of Watts' statement nonetheless began to work through his mind, the thought was replaced by Rinoa thought about me? Has this guy been in a coma for the last year? Then, even as he mentally kicked himself for opening the door to some pathetic self-pity bout, he realized that he really was giving Watts' words a considerable amount of thought.

"I'll see," he said brusquely, and retreated out the door. Back in the alley, he made his way towards the outer districts of town, and returned to his somewhat involuntary obsession. He'd been able to tell that Rinoa had looked more than a little distant over the months he had been shadowing her. But he had attributed this to her separation from Squall; he'd assumed that she would be brooding over him, much as Mr. Leader had become ever more obsessed with her. But as he thought back, he came to wonder. She had awakened early every day, and worked well into the night, running back and forth and meeting with various resistance groups or staging raids on the Galbadians. She'd thrown herself into the work with an almost unnatural zeal; yet, Seifer realized, he had never thought it at all unusual until now.

As he came within sight of his destination, a mostly subterranean parking garage at the edge of town, he realized why this was: he had lived his own life in the exact same way, ever since he had entered the SeeD program back at Garden. From dawn till curfew, he'd found pursuits that would keep him too busy to even think about life; from training to work on the Disciplinary Committee and even his studies. He had been so set on his goal to become a SeeD that nothing else ever seemed to matter.

He shook his head as he slipped into the garage, heading for where Fujin and Raijin should be waiting with the car. Considering where his own attitude had landed him, the thought of Rinoa casting away her own life in the same way was not a pleasant one.

He glanced down at the disk he still held in his hand. Any concerns about Rinoa throwing away her life would be rather pointless if he let the Galbadians end it for her anyway. He had to find her; and he only hoped that the Forest Owls had truly overcome their incompetence enough to help him find a place to look.