Arthur: Happy anniversary, Master Sage!

Arthur: Your brilliant guidance throughout the past year has made it possible for us to celebrate this joyous occasion.

Arthur: Every day spent by your side is my pride and joy.

Cain: Happy anniversary, Master Sage!

Cain: Your unwavering trust in us means more than you can imagine.

Cain: It’s what has kept us going all this time. And will continue to do so for the hardships to come.

Riquet: Happy anniversary, Master Sage.

Riquet: You gave us hope in times of despair, and it’s thanks to you that we can celebrate all the good that we’ve done.

Riquet: I’ll always remember the kindness and courage you’ve given me.

Oz: You’ve come a long way since the day we met.

Oz: I shall continue to serve you.

Cain: Wo~w, now that’s a real killer-line!

Riquet: Right!

Arthur: It’s not something just anyone can say, but I want to give it a try, too.

Arthur: …You’ve come a long way since the day we met.

Cain: …You’ve come a long way since the day we met.

Riquet: …You’ve come a long way since the day we met.

Oz: …

Oz: Let us return to the main topic, if you will.

Arthur: My apologies!

Arthur: Since it’s our anniversary, I’d like to take a trip down memory lane with you.

Arthur: We’ve reminisced over plenty of our most memorable encounters and incidents, so…

Arthur: This time around, I suggest we take the occasion to talk about something we wouldn’t normally bring up, however trivial it may be.

Cain: Hoho, we’ve got tons of those together, don’t we, Akira?

Riquet: So do we!

Oz: …

Cain: Oz? You there?

Oz: …I am listening.

Riquet: Then give us a sign.

Arthur: You must’ve been terribly deep in thought! How wonderful!

Arthur: We’ll save the best for last then, Master Oz. If there are no objections, I’ll go first.

Arthur: Not too long ago, the Master Sage complimented my nails.

Arthur: The chamberlain at the royal palace is adamant on trimming them for me, but I find it hard to stand still for such a long period of time…

Arthur: Ever since, though, I’ve been paying close attention to the procedure and eventually got the Master Sage to let me trim their nails!

Arthur: Not to brag, but I might be a full-fledged manicurist now.

Cain: Certainly a great skill to have!

Cain: And I bet Akira was real thrilled to have you do that for them.

Riquet: How wonderful! It’s never even occurred to me to trim my nails.

Riquet: Your diligence and attention to detail are as inspiring as always, Your Highness. Your nails are looking spick-and-span even today.

Cain: Sure are!

Arthur: Ahaha, you’re all too kind.

Oz: …

Arthur: Ah, here, Master Oz.

Oz: They look good.

Riquet: Now then, I’ll go next.

Riquet: A few days ago, I asked the Master Sage to teach me how to write in their native alphabet.

Riquet: Imagine my surprise when they told me they use not one, but three writing systems! They’re called ‘hiragana’, ‘katakana’ and ‘kanji’.

Cain: What do they need all that for?

Riquet: Apparently, it’s because you need all three to properly express things. I was in awe!

Riquet: But also really intimidated… Learning one way to write is already hard enough, so three sounds impossible!

Oz: It’s certainly not easily achievable. Perhaps only a select few in the Sage’s world are capable of this.

Arthur: I’ve seen the Master Sage write in their language before.

Arthur: It’s a fascinating mix of elegant curves and confident strokes.

Cain: Hmm, could it be a social thing? You know, one class of people use this one, and the rest use the others?

Cain: Like if you’re a noble, a knight or a commoner?

Riquet: Then perhaps there’s a distinction between how you would communicate with God, others, and yourself?

Arthur: Perhaps they’re used to distinguish between sound, meaning and something in-between?

Riquet: How would you make the distinction, Oz?

Oz: …One for friends, foes and self.

Cain: Makes sense to have words exclusive to those you consider close! It must be the greatest feeling in the world to know with certainty when you’ve gone from an enemy to an ally.

Oz: …Of when you’ve conquered them?

Cain: Close enough! Made a friend was what I was looking for. I guess it’s my turn to talk now.

Cain: On our way back from our last mission, Akira and I passed by my hometown. And, of course, we couldn’t miss the river that’s been a big part of my childhood.

Cain: Telling Akira all kinds of stories got me feeling really nostalgic, so…

Cain: We went in for a swim.

Cain: It felt strange, but in a good way. Like bringing a piece of the present into the past.

Arthur: Inviting someone to experience your hometown can be a very intimate moment indeed.

Riquet: Mhm, it’s fun to revisit all your favourite places and make new memories with someone you love.

Oz: …

Oz: The Sage has been to my castle before.

Cain: That’s great! Is that the memory you wanted to share?

Oz: …Yes, however…

Oz: …

Oz: The Sage also came to my room a few days ago.

Oz: They were talking, and I was listening. When they finished, I had no further comments.

Oz: With nothing left to say, the Sage seemed troubled. They were fidgeting and looking around nervously.

Oz: The room gradually fell silent.

Oz: Then, their gaze settled upon the fireplace, and slowly, they seemed to return to a state of calm.

Oz: Eventually, they fell asleep. I could only watch over them.

Oz: …

Oz: It felt nice. That moment we shared.

Arthur: …Wow…!

Arthur: That does sound like a very calm and peaceful time.

Arthur: I’d love to do that together sometime as well.

Riquet: Me too! But…

Riquet: Oz, you need to work on your storytelling. You talk so slowly, I felt like I was going to fall asleep just like the Master Sage.

Arthur: Lord Oz’s voice can be very calming.

Cain: I knew you had your soft spots, Oz.

Oz: …I do.

Riquet: Is today also going to become one such fond memory for you, Oz?

Oz: No.

Riquet: You’re supposed to say yes! Read the room!

Oz: …You’ve come a long way.

Cain: Even you thought that line was cool, huh.

Arthur: I hope we’ll make many more little, but precious memories together with the Master Sage from now on.

Cain: Yep, we’ve got the whole future ahead of us.

Riquet: Let’s spend lots and lots of time together!

Oz: Sage.

Central Wizards:

Oz: The moon tonight is so beautiful that it is disgusting.

Arthur: Perhaps I should refrain from saying this, however…there are times when I cannot help but admire that large moon…

Cain: I remember you saying this world’s moon is big. What’s it like having a sky with such a small moon?

Riquet: There is a clear view of the moon through the big dining room windows late at night. Would you like to come see it with me tonight?

Northern Wizards:

Snow: The fifteenth night is an evening to drink with the moon as a backdrop… I see, it seems there is yet another fun festival in store for us tonight.

White: Sage, I often see you often gaze up at the moon. I wonder if perhaps the moons we each see differ from one another.

Mithra: Sigh… I really will kill you one day.

Owen: Why is it that the moon is feared by all? …Even though it's so beautiful.

Bradley: If that moon weren’t the “Great Calamity”, I’d’ve loved to try drinking to it.

Eastern Wizards:

Faust: Hmph, tonight seems to be another unnecessarily beautiful moonlight night.

Shino: I don’t think I can enjoy watching that calamity.

Heathcliff: Of course, I love the sight of sunlight filtering through the trees during the day, but the way the moon’s sunlight hits the leaves at night is lovely as well… Ah, “moon’s sunlight” doesn’t quite make sense does it…?

Nero: That's the “Great Calamity”; so pretty you can hardly believe it.

Western Wizards:

Shylock: For the troublesome man whose love for the moon destroyed him, it seems to be a joyful night.

Murr: It looks like the moon is pretty close today. But if you get too close, you’ll be pushed back.

Chloe: Do you think the moon has a family? Two “calamities” would be pretty scary, but sometimes I wonder if it ever gets lonely…

Rustica: Master Sage, I heard the moon in your world is quite small. Perhaps it is still a child?

Southern Wizards:

Figaro: Don’t you think tonight’s moon is abominably beautiful?

Rutile: The moon is shining more brightly than usual tonight. Despite the fact that it’s so beautiful, why…

Lennox: Something so beautiful robbed our companions of their lives… I don’t really want to think about it.

Oz finds you buried in a pile of snow near his castle. He sensed some strange magic lurking about and went out to take a look. He never expected to find a baby dragon half dead in the snow. Oz considered just leaving you there and letting nature run its course… but your desperate cries stopped him. He looks back and sees you looking at him, eyes burning with a will to live regardless of how you're basically turning into a popsicle under the North's harsh conditions. (He remembers Arthur. He remembers the dying child in the snow. He remembers warmth, happiness, laughter and how those happy days disappeared in the blink of an eye. Oz burned everything that reminded him of that child and he regrets it. He misses Arthur. His heart is aching.)

Oz

When you wake up, you find yourself in an unfamiliar room. You hear the crackling of a fireplace and the sound of a book's page turning. Oz sits near the fireplace, quiet and still. His eyes, which were gazing at old pages of his book, turn to you when you rise from the mess of blankets and pillows. You flutter your wings before approaching him, still unsteady and weak. You collide onto his face and slide down to his lap, clutching your head in pain as you look up and give him a small squeak filled with gratitude. Oz thinks you're very strange.

The first thing he did after you recovered was to send you back to wherever you came from. You look like you've only hatched from your egg recently, so the mother couldn't be far. He doesn't want to deal with a rampaging dragon thinking that he stole its child. When he does find a dragon that might be your parent… To put it simply, you freaked out. A shrill scream comes out of you as you jumped behind Oz and clung to his ponytail. You frantically climbed up his mass of hair using your little paws and hindlegs before smacking to the side of his face and holding on like a koala bear.

You blamed your newly acquired animal instincts for the breakdown because all of your senses are screaming at you to run away. The dragon was huge. Easily towering over the highest skyscrapers you've seen in your original world. It's talons were sharp and can probably tear you to ribbons and its flaming breath would surely incinerate you if you got too close. In short, you had an awful time. When Oz comes back home, he is greeted with the sight of his teachers and Figaro chatting by the fireplace. (Another surprise visit. Oz gets them often from them after Arthur left.) And in return, they are greeted with a very distressed baby dragon on top of Oz's head.

Oz lives a very quiet life in his castle. He doesn't do much so whenever you're bored, you're either exploring his castle, or dragging Oz to go outside and touch some grass (snow?) because staying inside and staring at the fireplace all day can't be good for him. Oz complies with your demands more often than not. All you need to do is tug his ponytail. (You can't resist, alright? It's so soft--)

Snow and White adore your presence. They really do seem like doting grandfathers with how they coo at you, give you headpats and hug you close. Figaro's more distant, preferring to observe you and your amusing antics. You were wary of him too so you didn't mind his distance. You preferred it in fact. But when you see him staring off into space with a lonely look in his eyes, you figured that being a little affectionate wouldn't hurt. He looks like he needs someone's presence anyway, so you fly up to him and you nuzzle your cheek against his. The look on his face was priceless. (You did have to deal with him attempting to take you as his own familiar after that though. Oz has a surprisingly strong grip.)

You cuddle up against Oz whenever it is time to sleep. You're warm, so you make a pretty good heater. To the point that Oz finds himself holding you close after he wakes up. Sometimes, in the early hours of the morning, Oz just stares at your sleeping form, wondering how a creature like you managed to just come into his life and stay for so long. Before he knew it, the phantom images of Arthur ceased to haunt him. Of course, you could never replace the child he raised, but your presence made his days… more comfortable? Warm? It's a shame that you weren't awake at that moment. If you were, you would have seen that tiny smile on Oz's face as he imagined Arthur meeting you.

Riquet

You, quite literally, crash into Riquet's life. He meets you one night after finishing his prayers before bed. His prayer was trivial at best, perhaps just a silly, little wish of a lonely child -- he wanted a friend. And a few moments later, he hears his window breaking. There, on his floor surrounded by broken glass was a small creature with cute little wings and adorable doe eyes.

Honestly, you just wanted to practice flying. You had no intention of crashing into some poor soul's window in the middle of the night, but here you are -- being poked, prodded, and squished by a very curious wizard child. A group of acolytes came a few minutes later after hearing the commotion. They weren't too thrilled about seeing Riquet with some unknown creature but after hearing Riquet's protests of how you were a "gift from God" and that "God answered his prayer", they couldn't do anything.

The Church leader reluctantly agreed to let Riquet keep you under strict conditions: you must be collared and watched at all times, you must not interfere with Riquet's duties, you are not allowed to go outside, blah, blah, blah… To summarize, you were a prisoner. It would be easy for you to get out and never come back, but there was no way you would leave Riquet all alone -- not when he was still so young and obviously longing for a companion; so you stay and comply with their stupid rules.

It was kind of surreal how you were experiencing Riquet's childhood. The game's story made it clear how his childhood was fucked up -- how he was locked up in some hellhole while the adults manipulated him and drilled their beliefs into his mind. But it felt so much worse when you see the abuse happen in front of you. It made you sick. And worst of all, you couldn't do anything about it, otherwise they would take you away.

You do the only thing you can for Riquet -- provide him comfort. You let him hug you after a long day, you listen to his ramblings about the outside world and what he imagines it to be, you pray alongside him -- closing your eyes and shouting to some higher being up above to make time go faster so he can get out of here and meet the friends he deserves to have. You nuzzle your cheek against his when he cries silently in the middle of the night, promising that you'll always be with him. Your words come out as little squeaks, but you hope your sincerity and well wishes reach this poor kid that didn't deserve such a hard life. The one in front of you right now wasn't the sassy Riquet who can scold the strongest wizard in the world. This Riquet was barely ten years old (he's so small, you thought he was younger), deprived of a happy childhood.

Riquet's a bit clumsy with taking care of you, which is understandable. You weren't a common household pet and he was a kid. So you don't mind if he feeds you way too much or brushes you a little too hard whenever he needs to clean your fur and wings. Learning how to fly is… a challenge. Mostly because Riquet thinks that you would learn more quickly if he throws you off from a high place. You swear that your soul nearly got reincarnated again during the first time it happened. You did manage to flap your wings and catch yourself before you turned into a pancake, but it wasn't worth the trauma. After that, you vehemently refused to come with him whenever he mentioned flying.