[ Tatara stares at Ahito, eyes sharp. He senses his frustration, and that his frustration is with him, specifically, but a big part of him finds it hard to sympathize, or care. He's frustrated by the situation and lack of information. Yeah. Why wouldn't he be?

Either way, he grasps a tome of royal purple and gold, nestled in the grass, and holds it up. ]

A previous sage mentioned that someone, a long time ago, used to go back and forth between this world and another. And he was looking into how that person was doing that with Arthur—Central Country prince and sage's wizard.

[ He puts the book down, on top of the open one in his lap. ]

But Arthur's gone. Whatever info he has, I won't know what it is until I can talk to him. I'm pretty sure these things are related.

[ The longer they're gone, the greater danger these foreign wizards are of in replacing them permanently. ]

I also think that moon rock the Southern wizards brought back might be related. I don't know how your people view it where you're from, but the moon is an awful, unlucky thing here.

[ A pause. ]

You're North, aren't you, Ahito-kun?