Epic Prelude
Chapter 5
It has been a week since the contest commenced, but anyone was yet to make a move since everyone was too preoccupied with the upcoming SeeD examination, it was impossible to make the necessary preparations. It had been a busy time especially for those who decided to take up the SeeD Test, but for Rinoa, it was just one more step before she makes it as SeeD, she just needed the medical certificate to participate in their field test at the Deep Sea Research Center that following day. She asked Squall to come along with her to the Infirmary for her check up, teasing that she might be pregnant.
As they were idly walking along the hallway, with Squall stiff with the thought of fatherhood, they spotted Xu striding out of the Infirmary fuming red and with apparent disappointment in her eyes. She walked pass Squall and Rinoa without saying a word, they simply heard her grumble words like, "...just a few days late...could have bet on him—a doctor! Now she's stuck with Seifer..."
The couple's stare followed her until she made a turn at the corner.
"I wonder what got her so upset?" Rinoa wondered out loud.
Squall didn't bother to answer, he didn't know it anyway. Instead, he opened the door for Rinoa and entered following her in the Infirmary. When he saw the man sitting at Dr. Kadowaki's desk, immediately he gave the slightest smile at the man.
"Squall...Squall Lionheart?" The man stood up his seat and looked at Squall with recognition.
"Hey, long time no see." Squall raised his hand in acknowledgement.
"How have you been?" he gladly asked with a smile.
"I'm good. I've made it as SeeD." He casually answered, then suddenly remembered why they were there in the first place. "By the way, this is Rinoa Heartily, she's here for the medical check-up. She'll be taking the SeeD field test tomorrow morning..." he searched the room with his eyes and asked, "Where's Dr. Kadowaki?"
"She'll be at Galbadia Garden for the next few months. I'll be taking her place for the duration." He replied scratching his head. Apparently Cid has failed to announce his switch with Dr. Kadowaki and he had been explaining himself to everyone who had been coming in and looking for her. "Hi, I'll be your doctor for today, Dr. Gavin, but you can just call me Gavin if you like. It's a pleasure to meet you Rinoa." He took the moment to formally introduce himself.
Rinoa could only stare at Gavin as he smiled an irresistible smile, with his almond shaped eyes ached, she felt absorbed in them as she gazed, glued into those deep set of golden brown irises. He was undeniably more handsome than anyone she had ever met, she had to admit, even more handsome than her boyfriend who at the moment she forgot the name.
He was tall, about 6'1", slender with light muscular framing, and his long russet hair with a few blonde streaks was neatly tied behind his back to make a good contrast with his flawlessly ivory complexion and his perfectly ironed white coat. She was certain he was a god reincarnated into a man for his face was so clear without imperfection and his eyes, his eyes seemed so different from the rest that it was easy to get lost in its infinite spheres of earth-tinted hues.
Rinoa looked at him stupidly forgetting her boyfriend's presence.
"Like I said, we're here for her medical check up." Squall coughed to rid Gavin's trance off Rinoa.
"Yes, of course." He took his stethoscope and gently placed it on Rinoa's back, politely requesting her to breathe normally since it seemed like she wasn't breathing at all, obviously choking at his presence.
The check up went smoothly compared to other female cadets who came in before them. With Rinoa's medical certificate signed, they bid Gavin thanks then started to walk for the exit.
Just as Squall was about to close the door, he turned back at Gavin and asked, "By the way, have you and Quistis met?"
"No, I'm afraid not...I just arrived yesterday, but Xu and I already met so I think she may have informed her already." He replied with a calm smile.
"Yeah, I saw her on her way out...she seemed a little off."
Gavin chuckled, "She has her reasons."
"I think I know why." He chuckled back then closed the door behind him.
The moment she heard it click, Rinoa immediately asked with interest, "How do you know him? Where did you meet?"
"He was an apprentice physician at Galbadia Garden when Quistis introduced us. I think it was over four years ago since we last met." Squall casually answered, seemingly unbothered by Rinoa's curiosity.
"Quisty? Was he her boyfriend!" Rinoa teasingly asked with even greater interest.
"I don't know...maybe..." his tone was as uncertain as his words.
"OH MY GOSH! Really!" she jerked in utter surprise.
"I said I'm not sure...they did have a mutual relationship as far as I know, but I don't know if they did become lovers. She was just fourteen I think, and Gavin was already nineteen when they met at Galbadia."
"What happened?"
"...I don't know the details...but I may have a figured out why Xu was so angry." He said, changing the topic into something that was more current.
"Was she in love with Gavin as well?"
"Don't be silly. She's frustrated by the fact that Gavin arrived a little too late."
"For what?"
"Didn't you hear her? If Gavin had arrived before we made the bet with Selphie, Xu would have rooted for him instead of Seifer."
"Yeah, you're right!" Rinoa agreed, enlightened. "We could bring back the love! Gavin and Quistis make a perfect pair!"
"What about Seifer?" he asked, disappointed at her lack of sensitivity.
"Ohhh..." she couldn't answer, and it made her sad.
"I've been thinkin' about it...I kinda like the idea of Quistis and Seifer being paired up." He winked at her, and right away it lifted her mood.
"Yeah...me too." She smiled back, glad at his words.
o O o
They ran down through the Deep Sea Ruins with intent determination. Pacing across the uneven cobble path, everyone was pumped up; no Grendel, Iron Giants nor Ruby Dragons were left undefeated. Seifer, as always, was aching for the glory of battle. They had two hours to complete the mission, and they had already gone half-way while only fifteen minutes had elapsed. They were certain that they'd be done at least half an hour early.
The clamour of their soles and the clanking of their weapons echoed about in the hallowed depths of the ruin. There were only nine participants for the year's SeeD test, and their party was one-third of the whole. Their role was critical to the success of the entire mission—and failure would mean real devastation to their reputation on their role in the previous war. Everyone in the Garden had known about their involvement in defeating Ultimecia—as for Seifer—his role as supposed Sorceress' Knight and leader of Galbadia. It was a one-sided choice, between proving their title as heroes or total disgrace in history, as heroes who didn't pass the silly SeeD exams. They could not fall behind anyone's expectation, and Seifer in particular was opting to making a record of finishing the SeeD test the quickest.
"A'right, just two more floors till the Deep Sea Deposit!" Seifer huffed to his team as they jumped off the 14th Level, effortlessly killing two Blood Souls which stood their path.
"A clean headshot!" Irvine bragged as he blew off the smoke from his rifle's nuzzle.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself—I get to have the final blow!" Seifer said, unimpressed.
"Guys! Quit arguing and let's go!" Rinoa excitedly interrupted as she started for the stairs to the next floor below.
"Hey, I give the orders around here." Seifer muttered, quickly surpassing Rinoa's advances, leaving her to trail behind. "Hurry up, you're making delays!"
"Ack! Gee, sorry for having such short legs!" Rinoa fidgeted, doubling her efforts to catch up.
"Heads up! Two Grendels comin' our way." Irvine warned, loading up his Exeter.
"Listen up cowboy, it's my turn to send these monsters to hell." Seifer said in arrogant tone as he quickly ran towards one Grendel, and in a circular motion, thrust his Hyperion at the monster causing it to groan in anger.
"Die you filthy scumbag!" he yelled, giving it another blow.
"My turn!" Rinoa said, casting Blind twice, the monsters could only look so foolish with their visions impaired.
"Nice move Rinoa." Irvine praised in gratitude as he pummelled the two with a series of quick shots.
"Alright, give way—I'm endin' this battle right now!" Seifer casted Firaga on the monsters, when the Grendels were engulfed in flames, he jumped up and with all his might sliced the ground with a cross mark. Quickly following up the slice with a Tornado, the monsters flew up the air and fell down with incredibly high damage that they dropped dead the moment they touched ground.
Seifer laughed at the sight of the carnage.
"Wow Seifer, you're really strong!" Rinoa acknowledged patting his back.
He was huffing and puffing right after the battle.
"You should save your energy for the Ruby Dragons." Irvine suggested as he made his way further down the path.
"I'm not exactly the type of person who loses energy." Seifer replied with a scowl.
"I'm only sayin'." Irvine said, not minding his arrogance.
They pursued the ruins further until they reached the broken statue of a sorceress. They were instructed to retrieve a pound of blue crystals found in that particular area. Seifer immediately took out his Hyperion and started smashing a clump of crystal on the edge of the suspended pavement. He gave several hard blows but the crystal remained intact, unscratched even.
"The hell's wrong with this thing! It won't budge an inch!" Seifer complained, finally got tired of hitting the crystal.
"Maybe we can remove it with magic...let's see..." Rinoa concentrated for a moment then started casting a series of spells.
"Aero!"
"Blizzarga!"
"Thundraga!"
"Firaga!"
"Demi!"
"Quake!"
"Flare!"
"Holy!"
"Meteor!"
"Okay...how 'bout this—ULTIMA!" After she casted Ultima, she fell on her butt, exhausted.
"Hmmm...why don't we destroy the rock it's attached to instead of the crystal itself?" Irvine casually suggested rubbing his chin.
"Sounds like a plan. A'right, stand back, I'll blow this piece off." Seifer ordered, taking his stance, he concentrated all his energy on his right arm, then stabbing the ground with his gunblade and pulling the trigger, made a deep dent on the ground exposing the deeply-rooted crystal.
"Excuse me, but we, Squad B are in charge of extracting the crystals and retrieving them to the Garden." An unfamiliar voice called out from behind.
Seifer turned around at the boy, furious, "Where the heck have you been! We've been blowin' our butts just to scratch these things out!"
"Ergh...sorry but we had trouble keeping up with your pace." Another young cadet explained.
"Then if you're gettin' the crystals, what are WE suppose to do?" Seifer impatiently asked.
"New orders are that you guys will be on standby and herd off every monster that comes in our way."
"What? Be on standby? How boring." Seifer complained, annoyed by the new order.
With not much option, Squad C was left with no further choice but to wait until Squad B has collected enough crystals to be retrieved back for sampling. It took less than seven minutes for Squad B to dig out the crystal with the proper apparatus; something that Seifer's squad has failed to realize was given to Rinoa.
"Oh, so this is what it's supposed to be." Rinoa softly uttered, taking out from her pocket a small metal box.
"Who knew, you had the apparatus the whole time we were wasting our energy on that stupid rock." Seifer sarcastically smirked.
"Oops, sorry..." she whimpered.
o O o
When it was finally time to head back up to the surface, they felt a sudden tremble coming from below. They ignored the clamour, thinking that it was just some rocks falling off the edges; but their assumption quickly proved false when a huge serpent-like dragon emerged from the bottom depths and hissed fumes of Poison at the unsuspecting party. Quickly, they cast Esuna on themselves to rid off the poison and drew out their weapons the moment they recovered.
Seifer turned around to give orders to Squad B, but they were all running with tails between their legs, leaving the box of filled crystals.
"Cowards! Come back here!" Seifer yelled at the paranoid cadets. His blood boiled at the sight of their cowardice.
"Damn fifteen year olds. I bet they weren't expectin' this." Irvine jeered at their disputed companions.
"I guess we'll have to put up the fight on our own." Rinoa excitedly concluded, but with a hint of fear beneath her dark eyes.
The creature was colossal with its serpentine body glittering in violet hues; it must have reached the length of over fifteen meters. Its eyes had slits of reds which furiously gaped at the three as it lifted its head in intimidating stance overtopping the trio by several meters. It coiled its spear-like tail and readied itself to attack.
Immediately, Seifer summoned Cerberus after which Irvine casted Protect on everyone while Rinoa casted Haste that when the attack came, its damage was greatly reduced below average.
On the second turn, Seifer wasn't able to hold himself and rushed to the serpent hacking hard its chest, giving a good damage and causing it to bewail at the pain inflicted. Irvine, instead of giving it another blow decided to cast Aura hoping to finish off the beast after a few succeeding turns. Rinoa was about to call for Angelo's aid when Seifer stopped her.
"Wait! Cast Scan on that thing first!" Seifer ordered, preparing himself to attack using a Limit Break.
"Roger!" Rinoa followed without an argument. She scanned the monster and began to explain the situation. "Looks like we're up against a high levelled GF called an Emperor Hydra that specializes on Fire and Poison attacks. Fire and Water can't damage it, while it absorbs Bio, but is weak with Tornado…and it seems to be guarding the Blue Energy Crystals of this ruin. Better get ready, this may take a while to bring down."
"So, we're up against a GF huh. This will be an interesting battle." Seifer gave a crooked smile at the competent GF. He knew he'd be enjoying the fight.
"Don't get too excited just yet! Here comes the flame!" Irvine warned as the hydra spewed whirlwinds of fire at the party causing heavy damage.
"Dammit, that thing's mine!" Seifer roared sprinting out of the flames and casting Tornado at the monster and slicing it in midair and giving it another additional thrust when it slammed hard on solid ground.
"I guess you can't use your Limit on that thing." Irvine yelled, amused when he aimed at the monster's head and pummelled it with a series of Armor Shots.
"Guys, consider on our defences as well!" Rinoa complained at the two guys who were forgetting they were at a critical state. Casting Full-cure three times and grumbling at the two, she took out her whistle to prepare herself on calling Angelo.
"Sorceress, you concentrate on defence and healing while the two of us will go for the offense." Seifer commanded readying his Hyperion for an attack.
"Why can't I get to hit the GF!" she mumbled as soon as she heard him speak.
"Heads up, another one comin' our way." Irvine interrupted before Seifer could give an answer.
The monster drew back its head and opened its mouth, inhaling deep and long, it made a disturbing sound behind its throat before spraying green gaseous foam at the party and damaging them fall below condition plus Poison to add to their mishap.
Irvine diverted his time to casting Triple Esuna while Rinoa with another set of Full-cure, leaving Seifer for the attack. He casted Tornado three times, and using the same technique of slashing the enemy while it was suspended defenceless in midair.
Guardian Force began to feel the strain and casted Full-cure on itself.
"SHIT! Damn thing's wasting our time! We only have 40 mins. to get back up with the crystals those wuss cadets left!" Seifer exclaimed with rage when he saw the monster completely recovered after its last cast.
"We gotta withdraw, after all, this isn't part of the mission no longer." Irvine figured, reloading his Exeter with Pulse Ammo.
"NO! I'm not runnin' from a fight! It's after the crystals. It's gonna chase us all the way to the top anyway, might as well get rid of it." Seifer protested as he dashed towards the monster and did the very same thing of casting Tornado three times and striking it hard on the air.
"I'm with the captain's decision!" Rinoa enthusiastically approved, then, together with Angelo pummelled the GF with their Wishing Star combo causing for critical damage the moment it smacked on the ground. "Good boy!" Rinoa cheered, giving Angelo a doggie biscuit.
"I ordered you to be in charge of defense and healing!" Seifer argued, looking harsh at Rinoa.
"But that's no fun!" She argued back with the same level of rudeness.
"Guys! We're in the middle of a GF battle and our SeeD Exams here! Save your argument at the Ragnarok." Irvine reminded as he shot the hydra with several Hyper Shots. But the moment Irvine's bullets subdued, it casted another Full-cure on itself along with an attack, swooping its tale and hitting hard the three with bone-cracking blows.
"Dammit, we can't go on like this! We only got 33 minutes left!" Seifer cried out rushing at the monster and bashing it with several whirls of his Hyperion. He completely ignored the fact that he received a huge gash on left shoulder from the monster's whipping tail. He began to feel the real pressure of the test, he was running out of time and that there wasn't going to be a next time. He stabbed the monster over and over like a lunatic, draining his energy with his endless strikes.
"Dude, calm down! We can still make it." Irvine said as he stood close to Seifer and started shooting it with another round of Pulse Ammo.
"I GOT IT!" Rinoa suddenly screamed from behind. The next thing they knew Angelo came flying at the thing like a cannon. "Go on boy! Push it off the edge!"
True enough, Angelo's hit was so hard that it caused the GF to stagger at the edge of the suspended ground. Seifer, realizing what Rinoa was planning to do, quickly ran towards the serpent and rammed it with all his might causing it to fall off the edge, but not before it took hold of his coat dragging him along for the ride.
"SEIFERRRRR!" Rinoa's scream echoed throughout the Deep Sea Ruins.
"Bullshit!" Seifer struggled with the beast but yelled out his orders before completely falling with the GF. "Get the hell out of here! And bring along the crystals! I'll be fine!"
"Shitshitshit!" Irvine fidgeted when he saw Seifer lost into the darkened pit. "I'm going after him!"
"Let me go with you—"
"No! Captain's orders, get the crystals up and report to Xu and Quis about the situation—GO!" Irvine insisted pushing the crying Rinoa away, while he quickly ran down the descending free-floating ancient stones.
Rinoa ran up with hesitation, taking several glances behind hoping that the two boys would soon follow. She tightly held close to her chest the box which contained the crystals, while her eyes flowed down a stream of tears as she tried to grasp the unexpected turn of events.
Meanwhile, Seifer continued his struggle against the serpent, releasing himself from its coil. At that few seconds of fall, he couldn't hear a thing, not even the monster's groan. For the first time, he felt the true fear of death. Down the bottomless pit, he knew it was a one-way ticket straight to hell. When he saw the bottom of the ruin, he took one last deep breath and closed his eyes, gripping hard the GF's mane on the back of its head and simply waited for his welcome in the afterlife.
Irvine heard an intense clamour on his way down which shook the ground for a temporary while. He simply closed his eyes, knowing it would be no other but the Emperor Hydra and Seifer, finally smacking at the bottom.
It was pitch black, and he felt a terrible pain on his back. He was afraid to open his eyes in fear that he might see the faces he had once punished during the previous war. For a moment, he groaned and winced at the stabbing pain in his body, then slowly mustered the courage to open his eyes. When he did, he saw a bright light above him at a distance draped with long-entwining vines. He blinked his eyes and then slowly looked to the left and saw free-flying blocks of stone ruin with specks of bluish light emitted by the crystals attached to it. He gave out a long breath before he slowly forced his way to stagger up. He was alive. He survived the fall, all thanks to GF which received all the blow from the fall. Trembling knees and throbbing pains gave him a hard time to get up that he had to use his Hyperion as a cane for support on his battered self.
"You are a truly brave warrior. For your courage, I will aid you on your battles ahead." The Emperor Hydra humbly said before junctioning itself onto Seifer.
"Heh...heh heh." He chuckled with apparent amusement for what just happened. He looked at the ground and found the GF had left a couple of things for him, a clump of Dark Matter and a couple more blue crystals. He honoured himself to take his well deserved prize. "Great, a Dark Matter, just what I needed."
"Seifer! Seifer! Dude, I thought you were done for!" Irvine exclaimed as he made his way down to Seifer with an obvious sign of gladness and relief in his face.
"Yeah, I thought so too. I guess I'm more invincible than I thought." He smirked, stretching out his hand in full.
"Well, tell that to the Headmaster, we've got 24 minutes left." Irvine replied as he took Seifer's hand to help him up.
"That's not too short, let's go!"
When they began to run, all traces of pain seem to have just melted away. Their adrenaline was pumping and there was no way they were failing the test, not for being late that is. They quickly jumped across ledges and sprinted as fast as they could up the levels. With the Enc-none ability that came along with the Emperor Hydra, warding off monsters became the least of their problem, it was time that was the burden. On the fourth floor, where they only had 7 minutes left, they met up with Rinoa, Quistis and Xu, who, at the sight of Seifer were all struck with relief.
"Seifer! I thought we lost you!" Rinoa cooed, giving Seifer a quick-tight hug.
"Let's talk later. We only got our last minutes left to make it to the surface." Seifer replied peering at all their eyes. Rinoa's was still recovering from her weeping, Xu simply looked glad he was alive, while he found Quistis almost teary-eyed behind her sweet beam. He gave her the slightest hint of a smile before he continued his way up.
"Meet you ladies at the Ragnarok." Irvine suavely said holding his hat.
"Oh shoot! Guys, wait for me!" Rinoa complained as she redoubled her steps to chase after them.
"That's something we don't see every day." Xu giggled, following the three cadets with her stare.
"I'm glad I'm over that." Quistis giggled back, folding her arms.
Finally, at the 35th second of their time limit they reached the surface and all were panting with fatigue.
Immediately, when Seifer caught sight of the cadets who were sitting at the Ragnarok's entrance, he approached them with piercing eyes.
"You dumb lousy wusses! You almost got me killed!" He reproached, taunting to hit them, but they were simply speechless and shaking that he decided not to waste his energy on cowards, instead just stick up a dirty finger at them.
"That's enough. You're alive...and that's all that matters." Quistis intruded as she came out of the vicinity with Xu.
He looked at her, and in that instant found her stare a lot different from their first encounter inside. Her gaze was less jaded. Her eyes were no longer teary, instead, it was a warm familiar stare, one which made him feel like she was very glad to see him.
Seifer gave them another fierce stare before getting in the Ragnarok.
It seemed quicker on the way back, but the intensity of the pressure was twice as hard for Seifer. Did he make it? Was it good enough? Did he deliver the mission right this time? Endless questions idled on his mind as they made their voyage back into the Garden.
o O o
The moment they landed, they were all asked to proceed to the Second Floor Hallway while Quistis and Xu were made to report at the Headmaster's office. Shortly after, three names were called, Irvine, Seifer and Rinoa. They quietly took the elevator up to Cid's office where they were all greeted with half-smiles.
"I heard it was only Squad C who carried out the mission without falling back. The two other squads immediately retreated when they heard the monster's cry which automatically forfeits them from passing the SeeD Field Test. We don't actually tolerate coward SeeDs, now do we?" Cid started, giving Seifer a quick glance at his last words. "Now, I have bad news and good news. I'll start with the good news. I believe you all showed exemplary skills on this year's SeeD test, and I am very proud to tell you how pleased I am with your conducts...but the bad news is...you failed your quota of retrieving a pound of blue crystals." Cid sadly announced with a frown.
"What?" Rinoa reacted in disbelief. "But Squad B said it was exactly a pound before they left."
"Perhaps so...but did you ever checked on them while you were running? Were you sure nothing fell off on your way up?" Cid interrogated with suspicious eyes.
Rinoa was left silent to ponder on his words. She felt guilty. She felt a few pieces fell, but completely ignored it because at that time all she could think of was Seifer being dead.
"Wait a sec—I have a couple more in my pocket." Seifer suddenly recalled, then took out from his coat's pocket the blue gems and added it to the pile. Slowly, its weight went up and eventually reached over a pound by just a few more grams.
Cid clapped at the sight, "In that case, that's mission accomplished."
"Alright! Good job there buddy!" Irvine hailed at Seifer's timely save.
"Congratulations! You just made it a SeeD, Mr. Kinneas and Mr. Almasy." Cid applauded the two with a smile.
"What about me?" Rinoa whimpered in a weak-distressful tone.
"I'm afraid you didn't pass Rinoa." Cid tried to answer with formality, but it came out sounding sad, even to his ear. "You deliberately disobeyed a couple of your captain's orders as well as irresponsibly retrieving the crystals. If it wasn't for Seifer, your batch could have made history whereby none passed at all. But I'm afraid your flaw was in your inability to divide your emotional state from carrying out an order. Please do understand, we cannot let our personal life get involved with our duties. It's a basic principle as SeeD." Cid explained with all compassion, looking sadly at Rinoa's disappointed face.
"I understand..." She bleakly uttered looking at her feet.
"Irvine, you passed as SeeD with a Rank 5 standing." Cid announced, getting his topic back into business. "While Seifer, you passed as a Rank 6 SeeD." Cid added, happily shaking Seifer's hands. "You may now be dismissed, except for Seifer and Quistis."
Everyone cleared the room, save for the two who gave each other confused stares.
"We had an agreement, did we not?" Cid started, looking a Quistis.
"Yes sir." She saluted with a forlorn expression.
"Seifer passed as SeeD and that's one point for you...but he passed with only a Rank 6. I said he must at least attain a Rank 7 for you to get your licence back, right?"
"Yes sir."
"So I've decided to grant you your licence under one condition."
"Yes?"
"You will be teaching our Junior Classmen on the Ethics of Combat and Basics on Para-magic. It's your reward for getting the job half-done."
Quistis gave out a doubtful smile, while Seifer gave and all out laugh.
"This is great! I can't wait to see you babysit." Seifer said, holding back himself from bursting again.
"I guess it'll be fun to teach the kids." She half-heartedly said, sternly looking at Seifer.
"But of course! I've thought about it and found your teaching skills compatible with the younger batch. I will be giving you your schedule for the next semester along with your new Instructor's Licence." He convincingly chuckled, dismissed her, and then turned to Seifer the moment she left the room.
"Well, what can I say? I can never be more proud than to see you make it as SeeD."
"I know...about time." He smirked.
"And it seems I already have your first mission for you."
"Heh, that's convenient. I hope it's a good one."
"It is, I guarantee." Cid said with a smile.
Sneak Preview:
Mission to Date
Chapter 6
"Is that joke?"
"No, that's part of your mission."
"Do all missions require a dinner date?" Seifer sarcastically asked with a raised brow.