That guy tried to scare us! declared the older of the two boys who had been left to guard President Deling, as Quistis and Nida returned to the basement. Most of the SeeDs, along with Seifer and Rinoa, had gone upstairs with the Forest Fox daughter; but Quistis hadn't wanted to leave the President with only the children.

We didn't listen, though! added the younger boy proudly. We told im we're gonna free Timber, an' then he'll pay!

Good for you, said Quistis, placing a hand on each of their shoulders and drawing them gently away from Deling. I've got a new mission for you, though. There are some Galbadians upstairs, and they're looking for this man here. We're trying to hide him, so they can't know he's down here; but you two need to go upstairs so the soldiers won't be suspicious. Can I trust you not to say anything that might tell the Galbadians you know anything about where he is?

You bet! said the older boy. We'll be totally sneaky! They won't suspect a thing!

I'm glad to hear it, said Quistis. Remember, be very careful, or we could get in big trouble.

Nida watched as the two children hurried up the stairs, and refrained from voicing his concerns about the vaguely suicidal nature of their predicament.

So it seems you can't evade the Galbadian military after all, Deling crowed. I'll see you in the Desert Prison by the end of the day.

The two SeeDs looked at him dispassionately. We should hide him, Nida said.

I agree, Quistis said.

They quickly gagged the president, then searched for a way to conceal him from sight. Soon, Deling was sealed inside a previously empty refrigerator box, tightly muzzled.

It doesn't look like there's a good place for us to hide, said Quistis, once this was done.

Nida looked around; indeed, the basement was not very large, and Deling's concealment had taken up most of the available space. Under the stairs? he suggested.

Quistis frowned. We'd barely fit, and we'd only be hidden if they didn't come down here. Let's see what we can do with these boxes.

What they managed to do was squeeze into the space between the washing machine and the wall, which put them close to the house's fuse box. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with about five centimeters of free leg room caused Nida to become quite uncomfortable quite fast. The fact that the person he was shoulder-to-shoulder with was the Instructor Trepe,

Are you all right? Quistis whispered, likely picking up on Nida's discomfort from the numerous alternate postures he was soon experimenting with. She looked almost serene sitting beside him, leading Nida to believe the stories about how she could maintain perfect composure in the middle of a hurricane.

Nida practically jumped at the sound of her voice in his ear. he said reflexively, though not with any degree of conviction.

You should try not to think about it, Quistis said. Try to focus on the GF; that seems to help.

Nida nodded, Yes, ma'am.

Silence followed for a few more moments, before Nida determined that the lack of conversation was making him substantially more self-conscious as time dragged on. What do you think our next move should be, ma'am?

You're still under contract from the Forest Owls, she whispered back. But it was Seifer who captured President Deling, and he was acting as a rogue agent. Your employer will have to decide what to do with the president, but I need to get Seifer back home to stand for disciplinary action, and find out what happened to Squall. She shook her head. If neither of them had gotten themselves tangled up in this, it would be much simpler.

I've been getting that impression, Nida said.

Oh, and it's important that Deling not know that any of us are from Garden, said Quistis. If he did, Galbadia would certainly retaliate.

Nida glanced apprehensively at the refrigerator box where the president lay, but Quistis had done a good job of keeping her voice down. That makes sense. I don't know how good these Forest Owls are at keeping secrets, though.

Quistis nodded sympathetically. This must be especially strange for you and your team, she said. For your first mission, things are turning out quite unusually.

Yeah, I was just thinking that, Nida confirmed.

She smiled, although Nida could barely tell since he was unwilling to look directly at her. Well, for what it's worth, she said, you seem to be doing an admirable job. I suppose Seifer taking his team off-mission during the field exam was a good warm-up for his interference here.

Oddly enough, Nida hadn't made this connection before. I hadn't thought of it that way, he admitted. But yeah. I hope this doesn't turn into a normal thing, though.

She didn't make any noise, but Nida was fairly sure that Quistis laughed at this. Then she sighed. I don't know what I'm going to do with Seifer, she said. He was so angry when he found out it was only the three of you dispatched to Timber. While still whispering, she gave an impressive reproduction of Seifer's tone, though thankfully not his actual voice. What!? They might end up fightin' the whole Galbadian force, and all they dispatch are three rookie SeeD members!? Dammit, I'm going to Timber!' ...I never would have guessed he was serious about it.

Nida had absolutely no idea what he ought to say. That Instructor Trepe was actually having a conversation with him was strange enough, even setting aside the fact that they were in a Timber family's basement with the president of Galbadia tied up inside a refrigerator box nearby.

Silence settled back in, which led Nida to feel more awkward than ever. There were footsteps upstairs, possibly belonging to the Galbadian troops; but neither of them could tell what precisely was happening above them.

It's all right, said the voice of the Forest Fox leader from the stairs above them. They've gone, for now at least.

Nida and Quistis both peeked around the edge of the washing machine to ensure that there were indeed no Galbadians waiting to ensnare them once they came out of hiding. There weren't, so they crawled out into sight; in doing so, Nida discovered that his legs had become quite badly cramped.

What's the situation? Quistis asked.

Soldiers have locked down the entire city, said the Forest Fox leader. They're bringing in more forces from the Dingo garrison and elsewhere, and all traffic into and out of town has been shut down.

Quistis nodded. That'll complicate our escape. To Nida, she said, We might be able to sneak out somehow, but certainly not with Deling among us.

I should probably ask our employer what we want to do with him, said Nida, glancing at Deling's refrigerator box. Uh, so if we leave him here for now, is there—

We'll watch him! declared the older of the two Forest Fox boys, as they both bounded down the stairs past their mother.

added the second. He ain't goin' nowhere!

He isn't going anywhere, corrected his mother.

We'll be upstairs, Quistis said, leading the way up the stairs. Selphie, Zell, Rinoa, Seifer, and the Forest Fox daughter were waiting in the kitchen.

I still don't get it, Selphie was saying. What did you and Squall come her for, anyway?

Seifer glowered at the wall and didn't answer.

...It was to help us, wasn't it? asked Rinoa. The Forest Owls. He didn't acknowledge her, either.

Excuse me, said Quistis. We should consider where we go from here. Deling can't stay in this family's basement, and all of us should look into escaping from Timber. To Rinoa, she added, I don't know what you'll want to do. But I need to get Seifer back to Garden for disciplinary action —

Oh, the hell you are, said Seifer. Just try it, Instructor.

Quistis glared at him, fiercely enough that Nida felt intimidated even as a simple witness. I will use force if I have to, Seifer. Don't push me to demonstrate.

Seifer did seem surprised at the harshness of her rebuke, though he still seemed less intimidated than angry. He and Quistis did indeed look almost ready to come to blows; Nida felt obligated to step in, but couldn't really think of anything to do that might improve the situation.

Rinoa said, defusing the situation for him. If you're going to leave town...I know all the trains have been shut down, but there's the old Horizon Bridge railroad. It's been shut down for the last 17 years, so it might not be as heavily guarded.

How far is it? asked Quistis.

You can get there through the alley out back, said the Forest Fox daughter. It's pretty far, but the alley's basically abandoned; there might not be any guards. Hey, I could show you the way!

Nida wasn't sure about this idea. For one thing, they'd need to find a train that could and would run on these tracks, and the tracks would have to still be operational despite not being used for seventeen years, and the Galbadians had already shown themselves as able to destroy a train that day. Still, he didn't think it was his place to say.

Nida, what do you think? Quistis asked.

Nida said. ...Well, I guess we can't stay here. And I can't think of any better idea. And he had been trying. So it's worth a try, I suppose.

Quistis nodded, thoughtfully. I think you're right. Okay, so we'll try to work our way to the Horizon bridge station.

Another problem occurred to Nida. Should we really be dragging Deling through the open streets? he asked.

This prompted more thinking. ...Well, we got a new refrigerator not that long ago, said the Forest Fox daughter. The box should be downstairs; you guys can carry him inside that.

Hey, yeah! said Selphie. It'll by like in all the spy movies, when the hero hides in the trunk of a car!

agreed Zell. That'd be awesome! We should totally do it!

Nida sighed. Quistis shrugged, with a smile whose meaning Nida couldn't immediately identify. She had moved on to logistical discussions with Rinoa and the Forest Fox daughter before Nida realized that the smile had been conveying irony – to Nida. She had, in fact, been smiling at him. For Nida, this was a tough concept to fathom.

He sighed again.