Eventually, Lock and Tina head south, past mountains and forests and into a desert, fighting off monsters along the way. It soon becomes evident that what Lock can steal varies depending on the opponent. At this point, most have minor healing items.

Before long, they reach a large stone structure in the middle of the desert. Guards riding chocobo, which are large birds used like horses, patrol the area, and another guard stands by the entrance. He stops them.

Inside the castle, "The Mines of Narshe" finally stops, replaced by the regal-sounding 1-7 "Edgar & Sabin".

A merchant in a side room sells some odd machinery. Buy a Blast Voice and Bio Blast if you have the money, but skip the Auto Crossbow, since you'll be getting one automatically before long.

The party proceeds to the throne room. A young man with golden hair in a mid-back length braid sits on one of two thrones, wearing a green and blue outfit with a regal blue cape. He briefly consults with Lock, then stands and looks at Tina.

He walks over to better look her over, then heads back.

The NA version makes this sound like an accusation. I think she's just curious.

He turns and wiggles his finger chidingly.

He uses the English word "lady", which is uncommon (though not unheard of) in Japanese. It might be appropriate to use a more exotic term here and elsewhere, especially considering he's the only character in the game to use the word (except one instance later on used to assert that only Edgar would say "lady").

Lock leaves, and Edgar begins to walk out. Tina just stands there, perhaps wondering what exactly just happened.

She's not necessarily talking about him. Actually, given her next line, it's more likely she's wondering what's wrong with herself for not swooning over him.

Edgar starts walking away, talking to himself.

There's a line in the ROM that fits here but isn't used in either version:

Edgar leaves, looking a bit downcast.

It's something of a staple of Japanese dialog to avoid stating outright what can be implied. Though sometimes it's frustrating.

Tina wanders about the castle, which isn't especially unremarkable for a castle, except that it's in the middle of the desert and seems to have a lot of complicated half-hidden machinery. There's also this interesting tidbit in a side basement room.

Surely he's not saying the castle itself moves... is he? Regardless, Tina eventually speaks to a person in a side tower who allows the story to advance.

Begin flashback: Edgar sits in a room of the castle, and muscular young man stands nearby. He resembles Edgar, but his golden hair is spiked on top in addition to a braid in back similar to Edgar's, and he wears what looks like a blue bodybuilding outfit, with wristbands and a sleeveless shirt. 2-2 "Coin Song", a more subdued, almost mournful, variant of "Edgar & Sabin", plays (the title makes sense later).

Edgar abruptly gets up and heads for the exit.

End flashback. "Edgar & Sabin" plays again.

Substantial name change here. Also, the original says nothing about him looking like his father, and doesn't claim that he was still a "little" child when he left, just smaller than Edgar.

Tina wanders around some more, and Edgar is back in the throne room when she returns.

The music cuts off suddenly, and a guard runs in.

Edgar looks annoyed. 1-8 "Kefka" plays, a track that starts out sounding mischievous before swelling into full-blown maniacal.

Meanwhile, out in the desert, Cefca and two Imperial soldiers approach. Since Cefca was previously only seen in Tina's sepia-tinted flashback, it was impossible to see the garish mix of red and green in his outfit. What appears to be an unsightly cheap light brown wig with a similarly ugly red feather nevertheless fails to divert attention from his beady little eyes.

Cefca notices the soldiers as if for the first time.

They rush to attend to his sudden whim.

Cefca laughs maniacally, as he often does, then gets a sudden look of annoyance.

Cefca and the soldiers walk up to Figaro Castle and are met by the gate guard.

As the three enter the castle courtyard, Edgar comes out to meet them. He speaks first to the soldiers, probably to put off having to deal with Cefca.

Edgar is rather more confrontational, far too much in my opinion, in the NA version. Certainly he isn't happy to see them, but showing that openly would be terrible diplomacy, especially since they're supposed to be allies. In the JP version, he does a good job of keeping his composure and being relatively polite and pleasant, at least superficially, while still making it quite clear that he isn't pleased to see them here.

Oddly, this soldier's response never displays in the NA version, even though the text is in the ROM. Edgar's line ends with the wrong code (0x00), making the dialog end instead of clearing the textbox and continuing (0x13).

In the JP version, the mention that Cefca reports directly to the emperor indicates that he's someone of particular importance, and someone that it's especially unwise to upset. The NA version makes it sound like he's just another minion.

In the JP version, Cefca doesn't bother trying to cover things up. He just barges in, demands to know if the girl's there, and it's none of anyone's business whether she's important or not. Just give him what he wants, or he'll throw a hissy fit. Bothering with a lie would probably strike him as a waste of effort.

Cefca and the soldiers finally leave, and Cefca's music also stops. Edgar walks over to speak with Lock. "Edgar & Sabin" resumes as the conversation begins.

Lock steps away from the doorway, and Tina walks out. Edgar speaks in an aside to Lock...

...before addressing Tina...

...and he then leaves toward the throne room.

He leads Tina to the east tower, which, like the western one, is only visibly joined to the main castle by some kind of beam that, whatever it is, doesn't seem to contain a connecting corridor.

The expression 窮屈な思いをする (kyuukutsu na omoi wo suru) means to feel ill at ease, and in the JP version, he's definitely apologizing for making her feel that way, rather than telling her not to.

But why is she acting almost like she just met him, why is she suddenly using more formal speech (in the JP version), and when did she have time to talk to Edgar about Lock (or anything else, for that matter)? Maybe her memory's acting up, though that still doesn't explain the part about talking to Edgar. Was there a story rewrite and they just forgot to revise this line?

After his initial kneejerk reaction, Lock recovers his composure and gets back on topic.

Hey! The NA version is missing the deep stuff about free will! :-P

Lock leaves the room. The music fades out.

She's supposed to be contemplating what it means to have her own will, not whining about how to tell what the right thing to do is...

Scene change: Edgar lies in bed in his room on the other side of the castle, likely some time later. Soon, however, something bothers him and he gets out of bed, moving towards the doorway. "The Empire "Gestahl"" plays.

He rushes over to the courtyard to find the castle on fire, and the soldiers helplessly panicking.

I'm just wondering... isn't the castle made of stone? So... how is it on fire? Also, the castle soldiers need to work on discipline, unless they're faking it.

At this, Cefca strides in with his two guards.

...and after making Edgar too confrontational earlier, the NA version drops an exclamation point now that it's called for...

Edgar calmly walks to the far end of the courtyard and speaks to the soldier in front of the main door.

He disappears inside, and Cefca walks up to Edgar.

Possibly at an offscreen signal, he suddenly runs to the edge, jumps off, and lands on one of three chocobo that run up just then. "Locke" starts playing.

Cefca's first sentence is in unusually respectful language, adding to the snark.

As Edgar rounds the back of the castle, he yells...

...and Lock and Tina, already in position on the beam to the side tower where Tina was staying, hop on the other two chocobo. Cefca comes out to watch as Edgar circles around to the front of the castle. There Edgar pauses long enough to shout...

A great rumbling knocks Cefca off his feet, and the castle begins to sink into the sand.