The small boat, almost as if it were a cradle, rocked its passengers back and forth, soothing him into a peaceful sleep. In truth, the young man could have slept through a hurricane. Nothing was going to keep his eyes from closing. The reason for this was that the other day, he had been disturbed in the middle of the night by a telephone call. It was made by his boss, Headmaster Cid.
Apparently, the recently rebuilt Trabia Garden was having a crisis and needed SeeD members to assist them in stopping the chaos. Cid had explained how hundreds of the residents at Trabia were infected with a very serious, not to mention contagious, disease. Thus, Trabia Garden has since been completely locked down, allowing no one to either enter or leave without special authorization.
In the meantime, doctors everywhere are working around the clock in order to find a cure. These men and women are mixing, combining, and using up their entire supplies of herbs and potions. This is where SeeD comes in. The doctors have asked that they send out some of their employees with the instructions to search for herbs and other ingredients used in potion making.
Zell was among those who had been selected for the job. He was assigned to look for the Phlemnesium Herb on Kempi Island, but it was a twelve hour trip from Balamb with the crappy little rowboat issued to him by SeeD. (By the time Zell had dragged himself from the comforts of his snug little bed and reported to Headmaster Cid at the docks, this was the only boat, if you could call it that, available for use.) Zell was just four hours away from Kempi Island when he stopped in exhaustion for a rest.