ａｍｎｅｓｉａｃ

"It... It wasn't a waste of money! You and Lucina and everyone--none of you ever smile properly. I know I don't remember what the future was like, and I know that--sometimes, that's a blessing," his voice shook as he spoke while looking Gerome in the eyes (or, well, where his eyes should have been). This was audacious of him to speak like this to someone who had obviously lost so much. But he couldn't just stay silent, either.

Tiki watched as Morgan thought up and spouted out his answer. As she had expected, there was very little the boy knew. Rather than answering Morgan’s question, she began to speak of her kind.

"Manaketes are much more dragon than we are human… Once, far in our past, we existed only in dragon form… We were forced to take on human forms and put our power into these dragonstones for the sake of our existence… We were dying out."

Tiki closed her eyes. Would he even understand? Would anyone? This species looked for any human feature they could. They looked for any similarity between others and themselves that they could. It was why the Divine Dragon tribe was the only tribe that would ever find even a bit of acceptance in this world, and why Tiki woke to them being the only tribe left on their continent.

She feared that Manaketes would forever be reduced to being known as humans with abilities of transformation.

"Tiki..." His words came slow and hoarse, choked with emotion he felt he had no right to express. There was a long pause after that. He knew not what more to say. The young tactician hung his head, hands fidgeting with the hems of his sleeves. This was hardly the first time he'd hurt those around him with his naivety. The other children, his mother--even the Shepherds. A small mass of dread collected in the pit of his stomach as he began to remember all the doubts he had shoved into the back of his mind.

"Hello Morgan. I’m sorry, I’m a little busy at the moment. Do you need something? We can just talk here." 

I win!

Hearing Morgan from a distance, she turned towards him, immediately sensing his excitement. “Dragon..born!? Wooahh, it’s bursting with cool! Nice one!”

Was… Morgan… completely mad?

Gerome was left speechless by the young tactician’s outlandish behavior and poses. He glanced around to be sure no one had witnessed the shame the rider felt by merely associating with the boy.

"Fantastic, right?" Morgan's selective hearing drowned out Gerome's criticism, leaving him to interpret only the wyvern rider's shock. "There were so many different colours, I ended up buying a bunch of them! I thought I'd share them with everyone, so we could match while fighting! Yours are black, Cynthia's are grey--oh, Owain's are yellow, and Inigo's are white because he really likes lilies. Severa's are dark red, and Brady's and Yarne's match--they're brown--isn't that cute? And I bought Lucina blue ones (that's obvious), and Nah's are..."

Hearing Morgan from a distance, she turned towards him, immediately sensing his excitement. “Dragon..born!? Wooahh, it’s bursting with cool! Nice one!”

Idiot. A bigger idiot than Gerome had previously imagined if he thought he could talk a mask out of the wyvern rider’s pocket.

"You leave me no choice," Morgan murmured in a monotone and hung his head. The tactician turned his back on the wyvern rider, as though he was about to leave. Then...

Turning towards Morgan and letting go of her little slip up, she returned his smile. “Thanks for reminding me. But now that means we get to bathe her! You can definitely help me with that one. We can do it together—I can show you how and everything! I’ll get a sponge and a bucket and a rag and everything else…”

"…unless we bathe her under a tiny waterfall or something. I’ve always wondered how effective that would be. It’s probably way faster, no doubt. But it’s the warmest part of the day, so… “

He watched for a while as the pegasus knight busied herself with gathering supplies for their task. It was a relief when she called out for him--he hated feeling useless when there was activity afoot.

"Got it!" He called back before approaching the pegasus, smiling as he reached over to take her unstrung reins. "Hello, pretty peggy! You'd sure like a bath, wouldn't you?" The tactician paused in the middle of coddling her. He whimpered and held his nose with one hand as he led her to a nearby grazing post.

Stare.

Did this boy really think that…? Tiki gazed at Morgan in disbelief. It had been a long time since she met such an ignorant child. Far too long. She about pitied his unknowing of the world.

"…No." she sighed. "But I can teach you of my kind. As well as the differences between your species and mine."

"Oh, oh, I know! Manaketes can live for ages, and have pointy ears! Also, sleep for as long as you want! And I think you can talk to Naga, as well—!" The boy’s smile returned as he exclaimed and shot up an arm as though he were answering a school teacher’s question. Unfortunately, much like a student, he also had an insatiable curiosity.

"Wait, does that mean the Goddess is real, too? If that’s the case, why do people think she doesn’t exist? Do people who believe in Grima also believe in Naga? Why does Grima exist? If all he can do is bring about destruction, there’s nothing for his followers to gain—it doesn’t make any sense!" He continued rambling to himself, until he suddenly gasped.

"... I don't have pointy ears. Is that why I can't turn into a dragon?"