Rinoa was still asleep. It was now afternoon, and Squall was getting noticeably edgy. Seifer was getting impatient as well, though not entirely for the same reason.
"The hell you waiting for, Squall?" he asked. "Galbadia's gonna be combing these woods. You think they won't find us if you just sit here all day?"
Squall cast him an annoyed glance, but didn't respond directly. "...Rinoa?" he asked, kneeling beside her. "Please, give me a sign."
"Look, she's been like that since you found her, right?" Seifer asked. "I don't think you're gonna talk her out of it." That got his attention. "I don't care what happened at the last place; she needs help, and she won't get it here."
"...I need to know she'd be safe," said Squall. "The Galbadians could be watching the hospitals."
"So maybe we get her out of Galbadia," said Seifer. "You made it into Esthar once before, right? They know plenty about Sorceresses and magic and all that."
"Too far," Squall said. "And last time, they tried to freeze her, like they did with Adel. I can't trust them. I won't take the chance."
Seifer frowned. "...Fine, then you've gotta try Garden. Even if—"
"No!" Squall snapped, jumping to his feet. "I can't get Garden involved!"
"Well, who else do you think there is?" Seifer demanded. "You haven't got a lot of options here, Squall! And you can't just run through the woods forever and hope she magically gets better somehow!"
"You don't think I know that?" Squall demanded. "I did all this to protect Garden and protect Rinoa! I'm not going to jeopardize either of them!"
"You're jeopardizing both, right now!" retorted Seifer. "You think the Galbadians forgot you're from Garden just because you ran off on your own? And suppose there is something wrong with Rinoa you don't know about yet. She could be dying! You wanna take that chance?"
"Since when did you care?" Squall demanded. "You've tried to kill her before!"
Seifer's jaw clenched. "This isn't about me."
"So stay out of it." Squall turned away, and walked off toward nowhere in particular.
Seifer shook his head, and turned away himself. Towards the edge of the treeline, he saw two other figures, silently watching from a safe distance; Seifer went to join them.
"Looks like we're not leaving yet," Seifer said.
"I dunno, man," said Raijin. "I've been hearin' noises in the distance. Like engines, ya know."
"Closing in," Fujin agreed.
"Figures," said Seifer. He glanced back at Rinoa. "I don't care what Squall says, she needs a doctor. And there's not enough forest around to hide from the G-Army for long. I'm gonna see if Commander Hero'll take her into town, at least; there's some Resistance connections we can call up, see if they can help."
Fujin looked grim. "Won't."
Seifer frowned. "Look, I know they don't know Rinoa's a Sorceress, but she's got history with them. Besides, we can keep 'em from turning her in."
But Fujin was shaking her head. "No," she said, and nodded to Squall. "Won't agree."
"Yeah, so he's too busy kicking himself right now to think straight," Seifer said. "Still, he's gotta—"
"More than that," Fujin said. "He's given up everything to keep Rinoa safe. Now it's the only thing that's keeping him going, and he can't let himself trust anyone else. The longer this goes on, the worse it'll get. He'll want to get away from us before long, too."
"I think she's on to something there," said Raijin. "Squall's never been much for teamwork, ya know."
Seifer looked back. Squall was sitting now, pressing his hand to his head and shaking. The guy's a wreck, he realized. ...I wish I couldn't sympathize.
"You guys go into town and track down the Forest Owls," he said. "When you get back..." He shook his head. "We'll think of something."
- - - — — - - -
Miranda had been kept waiting in the conference room of the South Lanker naval compound for a good ten minutes. The two soldiers who had escorted her there from her apartment were standing on either side of the door, staring straight ahead with carefully blank expressions. She had been relieved of her notebook, pen and shoulder-bag, and the room was almost comically spartan; she was vaguely curious as to whether the Galbadians had actually cleaned it out just so she wouldn't do any reporting on their property.
When the door did open, it admitted a stern-looking woman in a Galbadian general's uniform, carrying a thin briefcase; after nodding for the guards to step outside, she set the briefcase on the opposite Miranda. She remained standing herself, positioned so that the Galbadian emblem patterned into the center of the table stood directly between them.
"General Tolmar," Miranda said, raising her eyebrows. "Wow. Uh...nice to meet you. ...I don't suppose you'd want to comment on —"
"Be quiet," snapped the general. Opening the briefcase, she withdrew two folders, setting both on the table in front of her and opening one. Miranda craned her neck, and made out a trio of photographs that appeared to be of her. "Ms. Foster, you are becoming a problem for us."
"Is that my file?" asked Miranda. "You have a file on me?"
"You're proving to be one of your media's more troublesome reporters, Ms. Foster," Tolmar said. "And we've taken notice."
"Thanks," said Miranda, her tone just a little less flippant than usual. "My dad always did say you could judge a person best by her enemies."
Tolmar looked in no mood for attitude. "What do you know about Frostwater?" she asked.
Miranda blinked. "...Well, I know you guys were drinking something wacky when you came up with your code names."
"I know the question at the briefing came from you," Tolmar said. "Your conversation with Mr. Haden was overheard, and he has already been dealt with."
"Dealt with?" Miranda asked, leaning forward. She was beginning to feel a little light-headed. "What do you mean? —Look, it wasn't his fault; I practically forced him to —"
"We know precisely what your, and his, involvement was, Ms. Foster," said Tolmar. Her voice was low, but carried a dangerous tone. "Don't waste my time. Simply know that the consequences for you, him, and many others can become far more severe if you do not cooperate here. Now, what do you know about Frostwater?"
Miranda shook her hand, putting a hand to her temple. "I know it's the biggest operation you guys have ever put on, and it's gonna be happening soon, if it isn't already. I've been trying to find out more. You're not making it easy."
"You're to stop pursuing the matter immediately," said Tolmar. "This is an issue of the utmost national security."
"Look," said Miranda, "I get it. But I'm not from your nation, and it's not my job to protect your security."
"No," said Tolmar. "It's mine. And that includes making things as difficult for you as necessary to prevent you from revealing classified information to the public."
"Right," Miranda said sarcastically. "Because what could be more dangerous than if people know anything about what you're really doing?"
"This is not a philosophical discussion; this is a very practical one. I have seen too many lives lost due to rash actions to have any illusion that the public is done a service by letting you carry on as you please. Now, your career is that of one who is ambitious but not particularly thoughtful, especially where your actions' impact on others is concerned. That changes now, or your career will come to a very swift and unceremonious end."
Miranda had never been threatened so directly before, and certainly not by a top-ranked general. Her heart was pounding, but she clenched her jaw and willed herself to stay in control. "...You know," she said. "I can think of worse ways to go."
"I can make it worse," said Tolmar. "Your newspaper will be shut down; your father will lose his contracts with Galbadia and be investigated for tax fraud. Your college friend Deg, who runs a subversive website, will find himself charged with sedition. I could go on — but I trust you see my point."
It took Miranda several seconds to think up a response. "I—" she started, but her voice caught. "You c—"
Tolmar simply folded her arms. "This is bigger than you, Ms. Foster," she said softly. "And it's bigger than me. And it's not about ideals or morality. It's about responsibility, and survival."
Miranda sat down, and rested her head on her hand. She felt dizzy, and very deflated.
"...Fine," she said, almost whispering. "You win. I'll drop it."
Tolmar was silent for a few seconds herself before responding. "Then that will be all," she said, looking down at the center of the table.
Miranda took another few seconds to compose herself, then stood. She took another look at Tolmar, then turned to leave.
"Ms. Foster," Tolmar said, just before she opened the door.
Miranda turned around. Tolmar picked up the folder containing Miranda's file, and returned it to her briefcase. Then she picked up the second folder and slid it across the table towards her. Miranda, confused, glanced down at it, and saw the word FROSTWATER printed on the label.
Even more confused, she looked up at Tolmar.
"Remember everything I said," the general warned. "And no part of this meeting should make it back to your paper. Is this clear?"
Miranda frowned. "...Yes, ma'am."
"Good."
The two stared at each other for another moment; Miranda thought for the first time that she caught some trace of emotion behind Tolmar's expression. Or maybe it was her imagination.
Tentatively, she picked up the folder, turned, and left. Once she was gone, Tolmar closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, shaking her head. Then she closed her briefcase and left the room as well.
- - - — — - - -
Keri had been staring at her meal for the past five minutes. She hadn't eaten at all that day, having spent most of it going through processing at the Galbadian naval base they had been dropped off at; but she wasn't remotely hungry either.
"You know," said Mara, "I can't stop thinking about the mission. It's the stupidest thing, but I think I've figured out where the...whoever they were, where they went."
"Oh?" asked Keri.
"We had it all wrong," she said. "I mean, pirates raid shipping, and what shipping there is in Centra happens in the northeast. So we figured they'd keep around there, and use the storm for cover. Except they weren't pirates. They didn't want to raid ships; they just wanted to get away from the Galbadians."
Keri frowned. "So the guy was right. They went back north."
"No, they couldn't go north," said Mara. "They would have known they'd run into the Galbadian fleet that way. And they couldn't go south; their ship was damaged, so they wouldn't go for the wide sea." She shrugged. "They went east. The one direction the Galbadians couldn't close off."
"Toward Esthar?" Keri asked.
"Yeah. We never thought about it, because for pirates it'd be stupid — Esthar's even meaner to them than Galbadia, there's no shipping to raid, and nowhere to put ashore. But these guys aren't pirates."
Keri had to admit, it was coming together. "Esthar wouldn't have allowed the Galbadians to get close to their waters, and our balloons couldn't cover that area because of the winds."
Mara nodded. "And based on how long ago they must have left that island, they had a window. They could have already left Centra by the time we found that debris. I'm guessing they head for the Balamb archipelago, make more repairs, then run up to Trabia."
"Well," Keri said, raising her eyebrows. "It all makes sense."
"Yeah." Mara smiled wryly. "Mission accomplished."
The other two members of their group had barely said a word since their mission had been canceled. After a moment of silence where the four of them unenthusiastically picked at their food, Sean spoke up. "So, Tavin," he said. "About that time in the conference room, when you —"
"We're not talking about that," said Tavin.
"Oh, we're not?" asked Sean. "That's too bad. 'Cause, see, I kinda do want to talk about how you went totally crazy and said it was okay to track down fellow SeeDs."
"Sean, stop it!" Keri said. "He didn't say that."
"What's your problem, anyway?" asked Tavin. "You're a SeeD. Your mission is to execute your client's wishes. That's the end of the story."
"...Tavin?" Keri asked, astonished.
"You think those guys were acting under Garden authority?" asked Tavin. "Garden can't authorize missions that go against Galbadia – it's in the contract. They must've gone rogue; so why should they get our protection?"
"Oh, so this is all letter of the law for you, then," said Sean. "So we don't have any kind of obligation to fellow SeeDs in your book? Would you throw us out the window that easy?"
"If you went off the book, yeah I would," said Tavin. "It's called responsibility."
"It's called being a robot!" retorted Sean. "I dunno who the hell thought you'd make a good leader, but —"
"That'd be Palmer," Tavin growled. "I don't know who thought you'd make a good anything."
"Shut up, both of you!" Keri snapped. "We were just used, okay? The Galbadians didn't even respect us enough to tell us what our mission was! And I bet they didn't tell Garden — but maybe they did, and Garden didn't respect us either! But at the least we could respect each other!" Before anyone had a chance to say anything, she turned and stalked away.
She stopped at the railing looking out over the beach. It was closed off to the public, being so near to the naval base, but she could watch a small cluster of warships in the distance sailing off to the southeast.
She still didn't know why the Galbadians wanted the other SeeDs so badly, or why they had become so edgy all of a sudden. There was something much bigger going on, but she didn't know a thing about it beyond the vague sense that it was there. And all they could do was go back to Garden and report that their mission had fallen apart. It was enough to make her want to scream.
Shaking her head, she turned away and crashed right into another young woman who had been approaching her, knocking the woman's shoulder-bag to the ground and spilling its contents onto the sidewalk.
"Sorry!" both of them said immediately, both bending down to recover the items – most of which were sheets of paper with notes scribbled over them.
"Don't worry about it," said the other woman, quickly collecting the papers. Keri detected a distinct Dollet accent. "It's fine."
"No, this is completely my fault," said Keri. "I was just distracted, and —"
"I understand," said the other woman. "Really. I've had a pretty crazy day too." Everything was back safely in her bag, and the two straightened. "So, uh – you're from Garden?"
Keri looked down at her uniform. "Galbadia Garden, yeah. You're from Dollet?"
The other woman nodded. "Born and raised. I'm a reporter for the Times there now." She extended her hand. "Miranda Foster."
"Oh," said Keri, taking it. "Keri Thorsen."
"Nice to meet you," said Miranda. "I mean, besides the collision, but..." She hesitated for a second. "So, I heard you...yelling, earlier."
"Um." Keri grimaced. "That was —"
"No, I'm not —" Miranda sighed. "Look I just kind of...had a story fall through, and I was wondering. I ran into some SeeDs in Dollet a few days back, from Balamb, and they said they didn't know much about their mission either. So I'm wondering how, uh, forthcoming the Galbadians have been being with SeeD about the jobs they want you to do, or —"
"Keri." Tavin had come up on her at some point during the conversation. "...What's going on here?"
"Oh, hi," said Miranda. "My name's Miranda Foster; I'm a reporter with the Dollet —"
"We don't talk to press," Tavin said, grabbing Keri's arm and dragging her away.
"Tavin!" Keri protested, trying to pull her arm free. "Hey – stop it! I know how to walk!" He finally released her, but kept heading back to the table. "What is with you?"
"You know the protocol," said Tavin. "The hell were you talking to a reporter for?"
"I didn't say anything," she said. "She was just..." She stopped walking.
Tavin took a few seconds to notice, then he stopped too. "...Now what?"
Keri didn't answer right away; Miranda's words were just now working through her mind. "...It's not just us," she said. "Something she said. This whole thing is..."
"Forget about it!" said Tavin. "Look, I'm sorry, but we can't just decide to change the rules when we don't like them! The mission's over, so what we do now is we go back to Garden, make our report, and wait for our next assignment! That's the way it works!"
"...You know what?" Keri asked. "If this is what the system's like when it's working, maybe it needs to break." She turned around, and started back towards Miranda.
"Keri!" Tavin grabbed for her arm again, but Keri dodged. "Galbadia basically runs our Garden, okay? You remember what they did the last time we pissed them off?"
"Tavin, you were the maddest of everyone at what they were doing to us!" she said. "I don't care if there was a contract, I don't care if we got paid! We're SeeDs, and they can't just do what they please with us! I'm not okay with that!" She fixed him with a challenging glare. "Why are you?"
Tavin hesitated for a second, then looked past her at Miranda. Then he winced, raising his fists like he wanted to hit something, and relaxed a moment later. "...Hell with it," he finally said. "Do what you want."
Keri paused for a second. "...Thanks, Tavin," she said, touching him lightly on the arm.
Then she turned around and headed back to Miranda, who hadn't moved. "...Should I ask?" she said.
"I..." Keri started, before realizing she had no idea what to say. "Um...I don't really know how to...say this. I guess I'll just..." She sighed. "I think the Galbadians are up to something. They were acting really weird, like...suspicious of us. It got worse day by day; I feel like it's gonna happen soon. Plus..." She paused, as she saw a shadow passing over Miranda's face. "...Do you know?"
Miranda nodded. "...It's insane. I've got the story of my career, and I can't write it. I'm sorry."
Keri frowned. "Well...can you do, um..." Another idea struck her. "You said you'd been talking to SeeDs from Balamb Garden?"
"Yeah." Miranda frowned as well.
"...Do you think you could get in touch with them again?"