Chapter Text
Well, this was it. The last day before the final battle with the King. You…don’t know how to feel. Or more accurately, you don’t know how you’re supposed to feel, because currently you’re a bit overwhelmed with needing to save your country tomorrow. Being the “chosen one” is a lot more stressful than those books you love make it out to be.
And normally that’s fine, because you could always distract yourself with something before. Get help, find the orbs, help any survivors, learn new Craft skills, plan fun nights for your friends, but…but the thought of the looming fight has taken most of the space in your head ever since you arrived in Dormont sometime in the evening yesterday.
Since this is the last time you and your party might sleep together as a group, and since tomorrow is such a big day, you think maybe you should plan something nice for the others. Just in case something bad happens tomorrow that you don’t want to go into detail about right now! And, and! As a thank you! For all their help, and for sticking with you throughout your journey. You look around town to hopefully get some inspiration for idea…
And then it hits you.
A sleepover! The clocktower only has three beds, sure, but they’re all in the same room! And, and! You haven’t had one for a few weeks, since you’ve all been sleeping in separate tents through the long journey back to town. It’s perfect! You should tell everyone! Once you…remember where they are. Okay, make a mental checklist! And probably a real one! Just in case you need one of them for later.
Odile said she’d get supplies in the shop, and you haven’t seen her since, so it’s safe to assume she’s still there.
Bonnie went east to look for extra ingredients as the recently appointed Snack Leader, a role which they were taking very seriously.
You recommended Isabeau to wish for something at the Favor Three if he wanted, but you haven’t seen him either. Judging by how indecisive he usually is, he’s probably still trying to think of a good wish.
Siffrin is…actually, you haven’t seen them since they told you they were going to take a nap a few hours ago. And they…still haven’t come back. Huh. You should probably wake them up. And tell him about your sleepover idea!
“Siffrin!” You yell as you make your way to the meadow. The rogue in question is laying in the middle of the field, peacefully lying on his back with his limbs splayed out. You feel a bit bad waking them up, but…if they sleep all afternoon, then they won’t be tired at night, and he’ll be tired in the House and you’ll take too long to get to the King and-
No, don’t think bad thoughts. Think about the sleepover! Your friends! Coming so far with them! There, feeling better already!
“Siffrin!” You yell out again, trying not to be too loud, and lean over him. “Siffrin?”
He stirs, opening his eye groggily. There we go!
“Good morning! Well, more like good afternoon, I guess…Were you taking a nap? That’s just like you…Only you could sleep peacefully at a time like this, hehe! I guess that’s smart…we better get some rest while we can!” You say sincerely, since you can’t even dream of napping right now. Siffrin, in turn, lets out a tired mumble. You let him sleep for a bit longer, then tell him to meet up with you soon.
You rush back into town and wait at the base of the Change God’s statue, hands in your pockets, when you feel a cluster of familiar papers. Oh. Those. Well, they could be a good distraction while you wait for nighttime to roll around, you suppose. Less stressful than saving a whole country at least. But then again, you could…maybe ask Siffrin to tell the others instead? You should probably go back to ask them to-
Oh, they’re here already! That’s convenient! “Siffrin! You’re up!”
“Hey Mira.”
“Hey Siffrin! Hehehe!” With mutual greetings exchanged, you ask how their sleep was. He says it was a 9 out of 10. Oh. Because you woke him up so abruptly. You panic for a second, only to realize he was just teasing you, classic Siffrin style.
“Next time I promise I’ll let you sleep in! So we can get the elusive ten out of ten score!” You promise, before finally remembering. Crab, you didn’t tell him about the sleepover because he was too sleepy! But since you wanted to ask for his help anyway…better to knock out two birds with one stone, you suppose.
“Um, I have an idea for tonight…” You begin, clasping your hands together. “This will be the night before we go fight the King, so I felt like we could make it special somehow…So, I was thinking, how about a sleepover? Let’s all eat good food together! Sleep in the same room! Maybe tell stories! It would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
You feel more confident in the idea the more you explain, but then…
“…Okay?” Says Siffrin, unsure, accidentally shattering your dreams into a million pieces. On no, you lost him. It was a stupid idea, wasn’t it? Thinking about it…yeah, besides the shared space, it’s what you’ve been doing every day, hasn’t it? You apologize and try to change the topic, but your friend quickly backpedals, much more awake now. Ah. You recognize this, you do it all the time when you say something stupid and try to make up for it before the other person gets upset with you.
Siffrin tries very hard to sound enthused, so you ask for his help, which they seem more than happy to provide. You thank him and tell him he should go ask for a favor at the Favor Tree, even if they don’t practice the Change belief like you, Isa and Bonnie. Thinking about it, you…hadn’t asked for anything yet either, being too stuck in your own head for most of the day.
“A-actually, Siffrin?” You turn to him before he heads out on his side quest. “Would you…mind if we went to the Favor Tree together? I could, um, show you how to do it! If you’re curious, that is.”
It’s unorthodox. Usually people wish for things in privacy, or with their partner at best, but Siffrin doesn’t know much about the Change belief! And he sometimes asks about it! And…and maybe it’s a little selfish, but you wouldn’t mind trying to teach him about it while you still can.
…
What you didn’t expect, is for Siffrin to teach you something instead.
“What…do you mean you don’t do it like that?” You ask after Siffrin looked at you weird and told you that he wouldn’t have wished like that. He looks at you like you just said something so fundamentally wrong, like one plus one is three. Like it’s so obvious that you, and the whole of Vauguard have been wishing at Favor Trees all wrong for your whole lives.
“Can you…show me how you do it?” You ask again, and that seems to brighten them up a bit. The thought excites you too, it’d be nice getting to know a bit about Siffrin’s culture! Especially since they barely told you anything about it…Oh well! Better before the end of the world than never!
“Yes! Okay so, you need a leaf first!”
“A…leaf?” You ask. “Does it have to be, like, a specific leaf?”
“No, just whichever one you like most!”
“Oh, okay!” You clasp your hands happily, looking on the ground, picking up a nice, round leaf. It’s small, a little frail perhaps, but still very pretty. “What next?” You smile at him. He smiles back.
“Alright. Then you breathe your wish into the leaf three times.” Siffrin instructs.
Ah, and here comes the hard part. What to wish for. Well, not really hard, you know you want Vauguard to be saved. You want to save your country, your friends, live up to everyone’s expectations, but that’s so many things to wish for! So…you just need to pick one.
Well you already wished to save the country with the Vauguardian method, so you should probably wish for something else, otherwise it might go to waste. So you think, then glance at Siffrin, and…you think back on your journey.
You haven’t known them long, but despite how mysterious they are all the time, you really grew to like Siffrin. Sure, they tease you a bunch, and their puns are awful, but he’s well-intentioned, and he stuck by you ever since they saved you from that Sadness way back when. He said he wanted to go back to travelling, and since you plan to go on your own pilgrimage after this anyway, you think it would be nice to have a friend to travel the country with! You want to get to know them better, learn about their country more! You want to stay with them!
You repeat your wish three times into the leaf like Siffrin instructed, feeling a little silly about this new method he taught you. But you suppose screaming your hearts desire into the air isn’t any less silly than this.
Siffrin tells you to fold your leaf and let it go, so you do, thanking him for the help and letting him get back to telling the others about the sleepover. As for you…
You still have some annoying papers you need to deal with.