(EXTREMELY LONG ANSWER WARNING)

god I am so extremely into this question. I sort of like to break his early wandering up into a few stages!

I think a lot of his very immediate wandering was pretty defined by just complete confusion- he was never given an explanation in any way of his state of being. Learning things like "you are invisible to all things" and "nobody can hear you" and "you cannot touch, interact with, or even move normally through the world" would be very significant learning curves and I think that some amount of time would be spent in a very scattered, confused state of trying to understand what /being/ would mean from now on. Not being able to really walk (if he can't touch anything, he can't... walk on the ground...) and not yet understanding what physical space meant to someone who isn't a part of it anymore meant he didn't wander at first so much as unintentionally End Up places, in a strange slideshow of locations that he struggled to control the flow of.

There would also be the adjustment of time- or a lack thereof, with the Flood stopping the passage of days. This, combined with his now invisible state meant that time essentially meant nothing at all; things just happened and stopped happening and there was no indication of other change to help along processing or mental reset. (This is still an issue, but having access to the Source's day/night cycle and the ability to go dormant as Roku's rejoined shard offers what is somewhat like a sleep state, to his mental state's great relief.)

So- at first, I think his actions were a lot of him just standing places. Disconnected, unintentional places- locations he thought about and was suddenly at, without meaning to have moved at all. Very much the "man standing beside a light post who's gone after a car passes by" sort of energy- observing in mute silence before he's gone again, spirited away to some other place he once knew. I affectionately think of this as the shock stage. He cannot even start to think about what's going on; it's too overwhelming, and he narrows down his scope to what he CAN control.

Learning to pretend to walk and drift more intentionally was an early focus just to give himself some semblance of understanding and control, which began his wandering in earnest. With some grounding in reality, even if it was pretend, he could even start processing what he was actually seeing as His World, even if he was no longer a part of it. This moves into the anger / FIGHT stage, defined by seeing Too Much of what has become of the world. People are not just suffering, they're being slaughtered. The moments after the halting of the Flood are filled with entire towns being wiped out and cities being abandoned entirely; try or not, he's present for too many of these moments, and his instinct is that something needs to be done and he needs to fight back, and he cannot. There's a LOT more of the SHB style "trying to do something and nothing happens" resistance around this time, where he cannot accept that he can't do anything, and has to be forcibly reminded time and time again by being the last one standing in towns left silent.

If you've seen Godzilla Minus One, I think that the survivor's guilt story there is a VERY accurate representation of pretty much the rest of his descent, aside from the uh- part where the main character starts healing. He does not do that. Grief and guilt are the soon-following neighbors of anger, when forced at last to understand that this is his fate. If he had been wandering before, now it's desperate and senseless. Walking but also fraying between here and there- following the edge of the Flood wall until he's seen every inch of its parameter, seeing too many familiar routes and towns cut in half or left in ruins, and ever aware of the crushing lack of passing time or possible End Point of it all.

This is, I think, where the fraying starts happening- there are only so many times you can be the last one standing in a town you once loved, in the deafening silence after a single Sin Eater wiped out every last living thing. Similarly, there are only so many times you can hear survivors desperately trying to find any reason that this could be happening to them, and find blame in the obvious culprits of himself and his friends. The complete isolation, lack of passing of time, and lack of any sort of reprieve (he can't even sleep) would be absolutely unbearable for the most mentally sound person around and considering all that had gone down before his death, he would hardly be in a strong state of mind! Which turns into fraying, disassociation so strong his soul starts coming apart at the seams. But this is a very slow process, and at first, in those early post-Flood times, manifests mostly as a sort of deepening mental rut; the repeated questioning of why he's here, why he was left behind, why did this happen, why did he do this, etc etc.

This early time is also probably where most like... actual breakdowns or emotional outbursts might have happened. It's an unbearable state of existence, and before the fraying gets severe enough that he can't gather his thoughts enough to form a reaction, these are the times when he's most likely to vocally plead with Hydaelyn or actively show grief. It's through spending everything he has on fruitless efforts and his upset being met with the same agonizing silence that he mellows out into the Ardbert of ShB- like, what's the point? What difference will anything make? It's now a necessarily friendly mellow, just a deadened one. Early ShB Ardbert just wants to die, and makes that terribly clear. (this is the Apathy Stage. he is not actually apathetic, but like please god just let him die to escape this punishment. a selfish thing to ask, when faced with the suffering of his world.)

AS FAR AS his actual actions- at first he goes to check on people he knows! Towns, familiar faces, etc- keeping tabs on what he remembers, especially as time drifts strangely on and people age and he has no way to comprehend time beyond that. This is, however, something he stops doing pretty fast, and starts retreating to places where he won't see people up close; it turns out to be deeply self-destructive to linger too close. This helps lead into his SHB behavior of watching from the sidelines and keeping his distance, even fully aware that he's invisible. He has been removed from the narrative; best not to fight that by getting too close.

kolin would absolutely give you 20 gil. kolin would wink and make it 2,000 gil. kolin has no sense of the worth of gil anymore and is one of those rich people who would not know that ice cream is worth 20 gil and not 2,000.

this also boosts his potential reputation as someone Generous and Benign, which is good for someone who is neither, and he would LOVE to have a reputation as a shady and threatening person who also does decent things and cannot have fingers pointed directly at him. It's fun for him in a shitty, "I'm untouchable and can get away with anything" smug way, but ALSO don't ask him for anything more than harmless favors because he Will Not participate in anything meaningful and that's a Promise

HONESTLY REALLY CHARMING not in a particularly rich/handsome way, but a little goofy and a little too genuine. Not sharp or high pitched but there's no chocolatey laugh here, just a joyful one. A loud laugh that can easily turn into a snort or some sort of physical reaction like smacking something/bending over, specifically when laughing at Friend Jokes- it's half an honest response to the joke, and half that he thinks his friends are the smartest + funniest people in the world and it's half admiration making his laugh so loud. also like 10000% a chronic cry-laugher like I think he is the most likely of all his friends to have tears in his eyes after laughing even if he's the least likely to cry over anything else, yk

THAT SAID I think those kinds of laugh are very limited post-death, though still sneak out when he's taken completely off-guard by unexpected humor. Olyzas has gotten him good a few times with completely out of left field commentary or unexpected crude humor. He laughs less often, but the same way- he's made of memory, and he laughs at things now with the same exact laugh as when he was alive. This makes it something fairly special, and thus unlikely to show unless he's especially comfortable.

He's also pretty prone to extremely undignified giggling when he's flustered, which is a very young, boyish sound that he covers his mouth for or fully turns away from, but on god you'd never hear him admit to such a thing.

(he also laughs in awe/surprise a lot; a different sort of laugh, breathy and quiet. It's his response to most things that amaze him, which is, in turn, most things- to laugh is to admire, and he admires a great many things in the world. He's not really conscious of this behavior, and does it a lot when he's reminiscing or watching people do things.)

OH MAN...... This is a fun question to chew on!!

He only had one that he knew, which was his grandfather! Due to the complete lack of knowledge about his parents or any other family beyond that they're all dead, and his last name ("fyst" was a family name used for soldiers), I imagine that there's some story there that he was never privy to. A mystery he'd never know the full story for; all he knew was that he had his grandfather.

(For what it's worth, I imagine his grandfather was well aware of what had happened to Ardbert's parents and the rest of the extended family, but the boy was young and never knew his parents and didn't need to be burdened with all that.)

In my HC his relationship with his grandfather was good! Good, but not extremely close; his grandpa did his best with suddenly having a tiny child to take care of, but he was old and gruff and a ranching man with a soldier's history. Well meaning, loving in his own way, but not one to say it out loud. A case of Ardbert loving his grandfather more than he knew his grandfather loved him; not unusual for him, but definitely something that would go on to influence his inability to read other's feelings about him in the future.

On top of that, his grandfather had just lost his child, and was facing the strange heartbreak of now caring for the grandchild he had been so proud of his own child for having. For an already emotionally reserved man, this meant withdrawing even more from expressing how he felt about the child.

Thus, his view of Ardbert was as a child who deserved a better world than the one he himself was currently struggling to come to terms with. This meant finding him a teacher and raising him on gentler things; stories and Amaro care, and a hands-off sort of almost fear of intervening. Ardbert knew and loved his grandfather as his beloved and only family, but his grandfather was Security and Home as much as he was a person, someone he could scramble back to after scraping his knees as a tot or hang on to the sleeve of while learning how to avoid the hand-severing bite of otherwise placid amaro. He knew the security maybe more than the man.

That all said, his grandfather also died early. 18-19 is a pretty tender age to lose a grandparent, and he was taking care of him for several years beforehand- likely more or less full time. Later years would be dominated by trying to take care of affairs alone and handle his only family's failing health, so I imagine his fondest memories are from before then. Early childhood things- being a tween or pre-teen set loose in the woods of his tiny island, coming home scraped up and dusty and tired to the man who would always have dinner waiting. A fond fog of his grandfather as the man who's rough old hands showed his smaller ones how to hold out feed for the amaro.

Loved, not fully understood, and by the end of his life, the last tether keeping him from escaping the confines of his island. He looks back on those times with a fond, bittersweet nostalgia for a man who had tried his best, gruff and unaware of who that little boy would grow to become.

He has a few!!

They're mostly related to social discomfort, and generally have to do with distracting or avoidance. While he's very confident and charismatic as a whole, personal questions leave him off-balance, especially when asked in privacy; he's very accustomed to easy back and forth conversation with an emphasis on asking and listening, but talking about himself is another matter. This discomfort manifests as what you can see in MSQ- directing his eyes away, turning askance to avoid direct confrontation, and crossing his arms as a form of solidity and barrier. These aren't conscious choices, and are extremely obvious giveaways for when he's uncomfortable or self conscious.

(he also unconsciously has a resting glare; he's not aware of this unless it's pointed out, but even while calm or smiling, has a severity to his brow that tends to imply intensity that may or may not really be there.)

Some other physical habits are learned from repetition! He leans more weight on his right hip than his left, thanks to learning the weight of Bravura on his shoulder. He walks fore- and mid-footed due to wearing shoes that don't protect his soles, preferring the agility and lack of weight they offered instead.

A fear-based and reinforced habit that he displays only when significantly uncomfortable is keeping himself with a wall to his back, or otherwise staying with his head angled to see behind him. This particular habit is far more likely to occur in the dark or around large dogs; despite behind dead, he hasn't entirely unlearned it, and seeks out places to haunt where he knows there's something solid behind him, even if it won't realistically make any difference. (This is a Shadowkeeper scar, and one he is both aware and almost protective of.)

AND FINALLY, strictly post-death, he has an unfortunate habit of trying to Touch things. This wasn't exactly an unusual thing to do while he was alive (yay tactile touching things fun), though he did so more often while discussing anything in private to give his hands something to do- but it hasn't worked in 100 years and you'd think he'd learn. Unfortunately he hasn't, and in conversation will reach for objects and just kind of hover his hand around/through them while talking to keep his eyes on something easier than personal subjects.

(answers this two years late. hi. it got lost in my inbox IM SORRY)

I mean this lovingly but my Bert would honestly be like. not a good dad.... LMAO it wouldn't be out of a lack of care, or trying- he loves kids, he loves hanging out with them and making them laugh, and I think he always had a great fondness for seeing kids growing up as he'd travel about and return to old stops.

But having his own is a different story- in life I cannot imagine he would ever have been satisfied settling down anywhere to raise a child, nor would he have felt good about being an absent father that's always away adventuring. To have a kid would just feel irresponsible, no matter how much he might love that kid. If he'll never be home to be there with them, or worse would need to bring a child along on increasingly dire and violent adventures- well, probably best not to even think about it.

That, and I think by the time he'd be in a position to consider kids, it would be by the point that a kid would feel like a terrible idea. By the age where he'd feel mature and secure enough for a kid to be a possibility, settling down would be absolutely off the table- the "hero" role would weigh far too heavy, the demands too demanding, and it would already be to a point where he'd be starting to question his ability to stay true to his words and promises to others ("you lose track of broken promises" etc etc). How could he possibly be responsible for the upbringing of a child, when the world is asking more and more of him? As time goes on I think the concept would become terrifying.

LUCKILY HE'S DEAD NOW but at the very least, while he wouldn't have been a good parent, I think the kids he met while traveling adored him. Not built to be a parent in life- but a traveling hero that the kids would emulate and crowd around and be loved in turn. (THIS IS A TOOL FOR LATER. DONT WORRY ABOUT IT BERT)

This is a fun question, thank you!!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR0wILUXYAA6IKM?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 armor breakdown link)

It's a solo task, but tedious. A lot of his layers are pull-over style or otherwise take little actual effort to put on- some layers are already combined (such as the various scales of his skirt) or have fairly simple clasps. Getting to the "overclothes" part of his armor is easy enough and mostly just takes the complexity of "can you put on a shirt" (which is pretty manageable even at his groggiest/most hung over), and the plate armor on his chest and hips set son fairly simply.

The five billion support straps and belts take a Little Longer! That said, his armor is built to be sturdy, serviceable, and easy. While there are a lot of belts to keep everything secure, they're simple ones, and nothing is superfluous; if he can tighten a strap or clip on a belt, then he can manage the whole process just fine on his own.

It probably takes about 10-15 minutes with most of that time being devoted to making sure that armor is correctly aligned and settled; I imagine he's gone through enough budget sets of armor that didn't quite fit that he knows by now how a small discomfort or pinch can be dangerously distracting!

i took a very long time thinking about this one!!

Some necessary background context: His Shard had a calamity similar to the War of the Magi some time before Kolin was born, and it made the practice of black and white magic similarly forbidden- but unlike on the Source, where these schools of magic ended up drifting further apart post-war, the surviving mages on his shard chose survival in numbers, and survivors from both sides of the conflict came together in a very few select towns that they founded themselves, where magic could be freely explored while working together to hide it from the outside world. This was, for his shard, the birth of Red magic- the collective effort of mages of all sorts pooling their knowledge to prevent any sort of conflict coming up again between magical strains.

His town was one of these mage towns! As all of these settlements were completely self-sustaining, farming was a major occupation, and thus his family were farmers. He himself briefly lived that life, enjoying shepherding and finding peace in being out in the fields with flocks of livestock and air to fill with whatever he felt like playing (as a Shard, his was particularly musical). But he was never really that close to his family- they were busy, and his town tended towards communal child rearing. Everyone was close, but nobody was necessarily someone he considered family.

That changed when his Echo awoke, and he joined up with the town's crystal caravan! That meant meeting Quun, who would become his best friend, and everyone else on the caravan team- some who came from home, and some who joined up later with nowhere else to go. While his parents may not have ever been that close to him, THESE people were family. These were the people that taught him survival tactics, songs from across their world, poetry, haggling, and everything in between, and were the people that he- through emerging natural charisma and a keen mind for leadership- ended up rallying into his own little flock.

Quun deserves special mention, as the closest of them all. They were a yuke, a kind of person made entirely of magic that coalesces into physical form around a skeleton of enchanted armor- essentially, magic learning to be a person. Quun never REALLY got the "person behavior" part down, with perpetually floppy limbs, imbalanced strides, a tendency to fall over while running and a complete inability to speak. To the outsider, it made Quun endearing or unsettling, but often hard to relate to- but Kolin was able to figure out communicating with them via writing, and learned this way that they were a poet- their journal entries flowing like lyrics. To this day, many of his songs are based on Quun's writing, and he has a perpetual soft spot for the socially unusual or poetically minded sorts, which really explains Olyzas a lot ngl

(He got Quun back later, after Endwalker! the rest of his companions are time-stopped or dead, alas, but he's made his new family and protects them even more ferociously than his last.)

I'VE BEEN SLEEPING ON THIS AND THEN WROTE A NOVEL OF ENTIRELY HEADCANON BS

So the First doesn't... have, any festivals. Not that we've been let in on anyway, and if the shock and awe at the concept of Ryne's festival at the end of the Eden quests is any indication, I'd say that people haven't really had it in them to celebrate much of anything for about ever since the Flood. This makes it very hard to do market research because we have no indications of what kinds of festival might be customary, but WORLDBUILDING IS MY PASSION so!!! here's my Thoughts:

-Kholusia before Eulmore happened was largely made up of fishing and farming communities with a heavy lean on hops, wheat and ale brewing. while there'd almost certainly be season-based harvest festivals and gatherings to celebrate the migration of specific fish into the local rivers, I imagine the most popular, highly anticipated celebration of the year would be something more collaborative with everyone living in the region- considering the local dwarves, the brewer's culture before the Flood, and the German inspiration of Novrandt, I like to think there was a very beloved beer festival much akin to Oktoberfest! something where the dwarves and people living in the lowlands can gather together and have brewing competitions, cookouts with the season's vegetables and best fish, and much-needed trade establishments for fertilizer, Talos hearts and materials, brewing machinery and other goods each community needs from the others.

Considering he is a chronic Beer Enjoyer and thrives in tavern hangout style socialization, as well as the fact that he and Lamitt both grew up in the area, I can only imagine that the local holidays would be the home of a lot of very comfortable memories- the baby steps to seeing the world as something bigger than an island he'd only just escaped.

-Dwarves, on the other hand, are very focused in on invention and tech, with a heavy lean on tradition keeping any sort of celebration sure to last through the generations. I can absolutely imagine there being anniversary celebrations of particularly renowned inventors, science fair style festivals, mining competitions, etc- ruled, collectively, by a very strict set of rules and rituals followed to the letter. Maybe not quite as inviting to outsiders, these ones, but something Ardbert would have been aware of simply out of proximity (the sound of heavy machinery travels far) and through Lamitt's own stories, having been banned from ever participating again.

-Voeburt!!! is a whole kingdom!!! you better BET they'd have holidays! Considering they're a mirror of Ishgard, I think it'd be Very Funny if they had Ishgard's holidays, minus the religion- something akin to Starlight, something akin to Valention's day, something akin to Hatching Tide (the latter of which I want to say for personal reasons used to take place in Wolkendorf because it's cute and the lore doesn't exist so it's my lore now). Nothing the same, for sure, but the general idea of "we have a holiday in the winter to bring a little warmth to the frigid cold" and "this is marriage season so here's our Love Holiday" and of course "spring rules: holiday edition". Ardbert seems like the kind of person who'd really like winter holidays, and considering his fond reminiscence on winters in the city, he'd certainly have been there for a few of them.

and as for a favorite- man, I can't think of him and his fondness without always thinking back to his talk about the cold of Voeburt and the way he'd loved the people there. Voeburt was a huge kingdom with entirely different ways and people, far from the tiny towns he'd once called home, and somewhere he went with the full collection of friends he'd found in his travels- what warmer memories, than holidays spent with the people you love the most, sheltering and warm despite the cold? I don't think he's the kind of person to make a huge big deal out of celebrations- his holiday party equates to being with his friends (who he already lived with, so that's automatically going to happen), drinking, probably stupid drinking games, gift giving, and attempting (attempting) to see some holiday sights without getting noticed/dragged into things. Easy enough at first, ninja training as time went on and people started looking for them/recognizing them more. :,) It's nothing he can replicate- his holidays, like his concept of home, had nothing to do with particular habits or places- it was the people, and the people are gone.

Nowadays, Starlight is... bittersweet in its familiar nostalgia. Important in a whole new way, after Endwalker- Roku (our canon's WoL) dying briefly after the Endsinger fight left Ardbert a whole new sort of drained and weak, and it was around Starlight that he was able to finally recover enough to drag his aching soul shreds over to find Olyzas and confirm he had not, in fact, been swept away in the Aetherial Sea. Neither of them had much energy for anything but looking out windows for the holiday, but it marked something special.

this... is a fun little question

ardbert is, at his core, an extremely good-with-people kind of person who can pretty much get along with anyone- his companions were all very different people, after all, and he loves them all unequivocally, even Cylva. so I think getting along w/ the scions would be the easiest thing he's ever done, and he would likely adore the whole lot of them- if they were his people, they would be /his people/ and he'd be a steadfast companion for every single one of them. the twins especially are so similar to him when he was young- leaving home too early to go off and be heroes without any idea what they were getting into, and the entire learning curve of trusting other people and realizing their failings. I think he would adore Alphinaud for this, and Alisaie's protective rage speaks to him on a personal level. had he the chance to be their friend, I think he'd very quickly become Big Brother to them both.

that said- man, i just think his relationship with Urianger and Thancred would be 100% a mess. even /without/ the fact that Urianger directly worked with him in Heavensward and the whole... Minfilia Situation in ShB, Urianger's tendency towards lying and aversion to direct, honest communication would be vexing and frustrating to someone as honest and genuine as Ardbert- especially because in all other ways he would /absolutely adore Urianger. that's best friend material right there. bookish, withdrawn, hard to get close to and always a little bit somewhere else- sounds a whole lot like Nyelbert, his best friend from the First, and exactly the kind of person his charisma and extroversion would be tempered and quieted down for, lending to more personal and deep connections. ...but the lying!! the secrets!! just talk to him man, they can figure something else out!!

this would only get worse with getting closer to and further understanding Urianger's motives and personal strife about the topic- like, argument level, "can't you see we love you can't you see we're hurting for you too please trust us with the person we love" sort of arguments.

....thancred.

thancred.

thancred would be messier. thancred would be less "i adore you in every way why are you doing this" and more "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS". it's all the communication problems of Urianger without the reasons he can understand and the personality he adores- a good drinking buddy, a trustworthy friend through and through, but he would not accept Thancred's unwillingness to communicate NEARLY as gracefully as the WoL does in ShB. there would be a LOT more arguing with Thancred, at first asking and then demanding that he become better than this- an anger sourced out of love, of course! but that's the kind of anger Ardbert feels most keenly.

a mess.

SPEED ROUND SPEED ROUND watch me not make this speedy at all

sweet or spicy: between the two, spicy! between the two and other flavors, other flavors entirely :,D savory, meaty, and creamy foods are peak on the flavor profiles he enjoys the most (the famously mentioned Lamb Stew chief among them) with sweet things ranking fairly low unless they're evened out with other flavors- yes he wants sugar in his coffee, yes he wants this coffee strong enough to dissolve the roof of his mouth, both is good. spicy is an adventure more than a food- there are fond memories attached of challenges with his friends to eat extremely spicy things (or the warmth of his friends offering to share food that they grew up with, and reminding him in shocking 3D that his kholusia diet had not prepared him for Spiced Cactus Meat) but he doesn't seek out anything spicier than hot sauce on eggs.

seasons: ALL LIFE IS GREAT THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL but legitimately i think he'd probably find a lot to love in every season, so he'd be hard pressed to choose. winter might be oppressively cold, but he dresses warm and the cold is made up for by moments of warmth- and the quiet of the snow is nice. spring is muddy and the weather isn't reliable but it's beautiful and as a traveler, he gets to see it spread and watch animals emerge. summer is /hot as hell/ and wearing heavy armor + heat isn't a stellar combination but getting done with adventurer work for the day and falling face-first into a cold lake IS a stellar combination, and there's nothing like a cool summer night for campfires and friends. fall is back to being the perfect temperature and everything smells nice. this hasn't changed in death- sensations fondly recalled when he can't feel them. why make him choose, tbh

early bird/night owl: in life, early bird by force of habit and work! gotta get started early in the hero business, especially when they need to travel by foot. that isn't to say he's /good/ at mornings, especially after long, tiring days before- i imagine he's more like a slumped over pile of warrior clinging to coffee until he shakes off exhaustion. by actual preference, i think it's kind of like the seasons question- he loves late nights hanging out drinking or telling stories with his friends, but also loves the feeling of being so tired at 9 pm that he's already dead on his feet and asleep before he hits the bed, and there's nothing quite like waking up for the sunrise and the quiet of moments like that. post-death, the idea of "sleep" is a little nebulous- and time has completely lost meaning. olyzas is nocturnal, so late nights mean late nights spent hanging out with them when he has the chance to split off from the WoL- early mornings are calm and quiet and preferred times for wandering and seeing the Source at peace.

beach or mountains: THE BURDEN OF CHOICE IS OVERWHELMING beach, by a hair's margin! sand and waves and sunshine are the bulk of many warm, treasured memories with his companions, and make up a core part of his childhood on the island. ...but mountains mean hiking and good views and why can't he just be in love with the entire world all at once

ANOTHER THING I HAVE THOUGHT A LOT ABOUT thank you for the question!!

our only established Parental Lore is that they were "normal", lived on a tiny island w/ no other kids Ardbert's age (so probably not a lot of young families), and that his dad knew how to raise amaro + taught him how- so they probably owned at least one. I've settled into the headcanon because of this that they were quiet, reliable folks. The sorts of people that you could only visit once every ten years but nothing in their house or habits would ever change- same garden, same routine, same old amaro chewing grass in the yard. The sort of people that would seek out a life of near-complete solitude on an island only barely big enough for what could be considered a "town". (if anything- a central store, a town hall, some little market setup for selling what each farmstead grows or makes)

people that, in all honesty, probably had an extremely hands-off take on raising a child! some things would be necessary (no kids his age means there certainly wouldn't be a school, so his learning to read or count would need to be homeschooled) - others would be practical, or as a form of bonding. i imagine his father was a softhearted sort of dude that would teach a kid to take gentle care of creatures, the kind of treatment Ardbert shows Seto later, when he finds Seto abused and malnourished- a softspoken, humble man who bonded more through teaching and silence than lively conversation. i can't imagine his mother was that different, though SOMEONE had to teach him to read and write so it may well have been her, challenging her kid to reading and spelling out words at the market to keep him from running off.

as far as the ongoing relationship- Ardbert was a busy guy who always traveled and had a host of friends as his acting family, so I can't imagine he went home much, but with parents and a home like that, there wouldn't be much reason to! I like to imagine he wrote home now and then, and certainly sent along money or gifts when he found something practical enough that they might like it, but he's described them in writing as quiet lives- people who exist in their own universe, entire lives that could be lived and die and few if any would ever realize they were there. no less important for their lack of raised waves, but never able to fully comprehend how big the world was, or how important in its fate he had become. it was something he loved them for- always treating him like their funny wayward son, and his friends like extended family- but the island would never be more than cramped and stifling when his love lied with the world beyond.

unfortunately for him, tiny islands were the first to sink when the Flood irreversibly stole the tide from Kholusia's shores. if it wasn't the flooding, it was the sin eaters- doing as tiny lives do, and disappearing before he realized to look for them being gone.

HI I LOVE THIS QUESTION

snack wise- it seems like amaro eat like guinea pigs, mostly subsisting off greens with a few vegetables and fruits mixed in. because Seto in particular was a malnourished rescue case, I can only imagine he hardly ever had access to decent feed before getting picked up by Ardbert, so getting him quality food would have been a priority right away (despite not being terribly well established adventurers at the time- i can't imagine money was flowing in rivers quite yet!). I think even from an early point Ardbert's favorite snack for Seto would be the equivalent of non-GMO organic $12 a bundle kale when he could afford it, much to the confusion of his companions LMAO- a habit that would continue into the days of fame and fortune (and infamy). even better when he could get something local- going on walks with Seto to find little farms and homes and offer to buy lettuce from their gardens so Seto could always try something new.

(good deal for the locals, too, if the warrior of light comes up and is like "hey can i buy your lettuce for my dog :)" and gives you enough money for it to buy another small house)

as far as where he'd like to go with Seto- Rak'tika! due to the restrictions on the area it would hardly be a common stop, but as Seto got stronger at flying, Rak'tika would be a sort of personal challenge and goal- to regain enough strength to some day fly above the blanketing canopy of the trees. It's a fond memory for Ardbert of the day it happened- Seto's careful ascent up twisted branches and the break through to a dizzying, endless sky, the treetops a shifting sea below. howling, unrestrained wind that spoke very clearly about how this place was not meant for them, and the distant birds flying yet higher above. the reminder in their victory that the world they lived in was bigger than they would ever be able to experience- but that with each other, they could see parts of it that alone neither of them ever would.

(outside of that- personal fondness for Voeburt in the winter because amaro are so funny covered in snow. and getting tackled by an amaro scorned by an unexpected snowball is funny if you're ardbert.)