Zell’s ramblings about Garden had finally started to make sense, and Celes turned to Quistis and asked, “They made you a teacher? At eighteen?”

“Weren’t you an army general?” said Quistis pointedly.

“That’s different,” Celes protested. “I wasn’t like the other children. They always told me I was special –”

Quistis scowled. “I’ve heard that one before, too. As if that gives them the right to cheat anyone out of a normal childhood.”

Celes thought back to those long days in the laboratory, shackled to a sedated esper, and said, “You’re right.”