And then his handing over Garden to Squall seems odd to me, too -- that makes me wonder if, with the Garden Civil War over and the Faculty gone, he doesn't know how to run the place and was freaking out over Edea and just sort of handed it off.

I was really confused about this move until the end of the game. I'm convinced that Cid handed the control of Garden to Squall because he knew Squall would be a key player in the sorceress conflict-- Squall would have to be, he reasons, because Edea had seen him (and received the idea of SeeD from him) when she received the dying Ultimecia's powers.

Then I start thinking about it too hard and the time loop stuff confuses the hell out of me. DDD: