“Sorry,” she shrugged, “I lost it. This one’s fine, though. Just needs a bit of cleaning...”

“Lost it? How could you lose it?! It was my favorite!”

While Tessandra and Darsan were bickering, Cessilia and Kassian finally parted, looking at each other with the same smile.

Just then, the silver-scaled dragon growled loudly on top of the rocks and jumped down as well. Its long body made every movement look very elegant, and its small wings flapped so it barely even touched the rocks at all. When it landed, it began to growl loudly, curling its body in circles around Cessilia.

“Kian!” she exclaimed, hugging the large snout. “I missed you t-too!”

“By the way...”

Darsan cleared his throat, looking a bit embarrassed.

“I hope there was no friend of yours out there? Because they were not welcoming, so I had to have a little bit of a... fists-first kind of chat with them.”

“Nope,” sighed Tessandra, “pretty much everyone wants to kill us at the moment.”

Darsan grimaced, turning back to Cessilia.

“...It’s that bad?”

She nodded, and glanced toward Ashen’s body, lying by the lake. Kassian followed her glance, and when he recognized the young man, he sighed.

“...Oh.”

“I’m g-glad you’re here,” muttered Cessilia.

“Don’t worry,” said Kassian, caressing her hair. “It’s going to be alright. Darsan, help me move that guy.”

The two of them walked directly toward Ashen’s body, carefully lifting him up. They had glanced toward Jisel and Nana, but without Cessilia or Tessandra to make the introductions, they only nodded briefly and kept moving to focus on Ashen. As soon as they looked away from her, Naptunie almost ran to Cessilia’s side.

“Those are your big brothers? They really look so much like you! They are so tall too! And this new dragon... It’s such a pretty one!”

“His name is K-Kian,” said Cessilia, patting the silver-scaled dragon.

“He’s bigger than Sir Dragon, isn’t he? Or is it just that its body is longer?”

“He’s larger,” said Jisel, who had approached cautiously, her eyes on the Silver Dragon, “...but it’s a water dragon. So his body is longer than it is large...”

She looked like she couldn’t help but stare at the dragon, with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Cessilia suddenly realized Kian was probably around the size Jinn should have been if its owner had not died. She still had very mixed feelings toward that woman, but, bit by bit, she felt like she was starting to unveil those layers Jisel had hidden within.

Soon enough, her brothers returned. They were using Darsan’s fur coat as a stretcher. Cessilia’s heart tightened as she saw Ashen, lying there in a poor state.

“...Let’s get you out of here,” muttered Kassian.

Quickly, he and Darsan secured Ashen on Kian’s back, and Cessilia and Tessandra helped Nana climb on top.

“...You getting on or what?” Tessandra asked Jisel.

“...I’ll be fine,” she grunted.

“Fine. Your call. I ain’t nice enough to offer twice.”

Darsan and Kassian exchanged a look, probably intrigued by the situation, but nobody said a thing. Instead, Kian suddenly grabbed Jisel between its claws, making the woman scream in fright, and jumped in the air. It was a quick, but thrilling little trip to the outside world. Nana, who was just starting to get used to this, had to hold on because of all the loops her stomach made in a quick time span. Kian landed easily, less than a minute later, on the cave’s beach. It was still raining quite a bit, and the sand was drenched and all muddy, but it was nothing like the downpour earlier. Jisel squirmed out of the dragon’s clutch, looking a complete mess, and took several steps back, as if scared by the creature.

“I said I was fine!”

“...You’re welcome,” grunted Kassian, giving her a disdainful look.

On the beach, Darsan had indeed reduced the numbers of their enemies by a significant amount. Some men were still lying in their own blood, most alive but clearly in no state to fight. They even retreated, crawling as far away as they could from Kian and the passengers on its back. On one side of the cave’s opening, though, Jinn the Red Dragon suddenly came out, limping, with an injured front paw. Jisel immediately went to her dragon, patting its snout in a comforting manner.

Kian growled after the other dragon, and Jinn did the same, each dragon warning one another. Under the moonlight, Kian’s shiny silver scales were even more impressive, and the dragon’s body seemed a bit bigger as well. Jinn kept growling, but also retreated, staying close to Jisel. She didn’t say anything, standing by her dragon with a sullen expression.

“...Where are we going?” asked Kassian, his eyes glaring at that woman.

“We need to g-get him healed as soon as p-possible,” muttered Cessilia.

“To the docks!” said Naptunie. “I’m sure we can find someone from my family to help us!”

“Anywhere c-close will be fine,” nodded Cessilia.

“Alright. Hold on.”

Without another look at the beach, Kian got into the water, floating happily as if the dragon was in its element. The sea was calm despite the rain, and the dragon’s silver scales shined from the faintest streaks of moonlight. Its body was undulating, remaining close to the seashore, but behind the line of houses, and unless someone was standing at the edge or on a higher viewpoint, no one would spot them.

The trip to the docks was fairly short, but on the way there, what they saw of the Capital shocked them. Kassian even urged Kian to slow down and remain where the dragon would be mostly hidden. There was a lot of movement in the streets, too much for the late hour and in such bad weather. They could see men running with torches and swords, people shouting, sounds of swords clashing.

“...What’s going on?” muttered Nana, worried.

They listened for a few more seconds, but the more they did, the clearer and more depressing the situation was.

“It sounds like the Yekara are taking control of the city,” grunted Tessandra. “I suggest we lay low for now...”

“What?” exclaimed Nana. “What about my family? The tribe? A-and everyone?”

“Let’s just g-go quietly,” said Cessilia, exchanging a glance with her brother.

Kassian nodded, and sure enough, Kian quietly let them off between two boats on the dock, but even there, the situation was tense. They could see the Yekara going from door to door, loudly banging on them and forcing the owners to open, arguing with people.

“Well, sounds like they are searching for someone,” Darsan said, tilting his head.

Four annoyed pairs of eyes on him made him grimace.

“Oh... Sorry. Got it.”

“...I think we can get home,” muttered Naptunie, glancing around.

“It might not be safe for your family, Nana,” Tessandra warned her. “We don’t know what the Yekara will do if they find us there.”