“Well, it seems to me like you need it, for starters. Plus, just because we haven’t been interacting with you or His Majesty doesn’t mean we haven’t been watching. In fact, we have been watching for a while now, and the arrival of your party did seem to stir a few interesting changes in the Kingdom.”

“You mean like the Yekara taking over the whole city while your King is bleeding to death?” scoffed Tessandra. “Yeah, sounds like a ton of fun for you guys to show up now?”

“We suspected what the Yekara had planned,” nodded Aglithia. “We only chose to get involved at the right moment, and when we knew there would be a side we could fully support.”

“...You watched my sister because of her relationship with the King,” said Kassian.

The woman nodded.

“Exactly. Not only with His Majesty but with the Family Leaders, as well,” she explained, glancing at Bastat. “Until recently, my clan had major doubts in King Ashen’s abilities as a leader. His relationships with the tribes weren’t good, and he had distanced himself from the people. Much to our surprise, Princess Cessilia’s arrival changed a lot of things and had us reconsider our position.”

“Great,” retorted Tessandra. “So if things went sour, you were just going to hide and watch this Kingdom fall into the hands of brutes?”

“...It wouldn’t have been the first time.”

Cessilia realized all the current tribes and clans were those who had survived Ashen’s father’s tyranny. Either by making themselves small, or making and breaking alliances at the right time. Some like the Dorosef, who were essential to the survival of the people, couldn’t just disappear so easily, but scholars like the Cheshi were rumored to be, would have been the ones most at risk. For their clan to have survived until now, unthreatened and unbothered, was truly surprising.

The woman named Aglithia took a couple of steps forward, her eyes on the King lying on the table. Kassian reacted to her approach, a hand on his sword, but everybody remained silent. This woman didn’t look like a scholar. There was an aura around her, something that fighters could recognize. They could only see her face and neck, but they could guess her strong shoulders and fit body under her cloak. She turned her eyes to Cessilia again.

“My clan is older than this Kingdom itself, and we have rarely involved ourselves in politics unless the situation called for it. Which king rules is not our concern, unless it causes issues for the people. Hence, we spoke against the tyrant and allowed his son to take over. Now, we aren’t fond of the Yekara Clan and their ambitions, but we were going to wait and see if King Ashen turned out to be a better ruler than what we had observed so far. That is, until the Princess appeared by his side. As I said, we have been watching you since you arrived.”

“Spying, you mean,” groaned Tessandra.

“Yes. Among other things.”

Aglithia glanced over her shoulder and, to their surprise, none other than Nupia stepped forward, bowing.

“You little–!”

“The triplets are at my family’s service. We had put them inside the castle to work for His Majesty and evaluate him, but when you arrived, we changed our plans and made sure they would watch you instead, Princess. As it turns out, you are a fine heiress to the long line of Dragon Masters.”

This time, Cessilia exchanged a glance with Kassian. The way that woman said that was as if she knew as much about their dragons and their family as they did...

“...What do you know about our family?” asked Kassian. “About the dragon owners? Or Dragon… Masters?”

“I know a lot! I know more about your ancestors, though. The first Dragon Masters... Oh, don’t be so surprised. I told you my clan was old, very old. We were around even before this continent was split into two nations.”

Once again, Tessandra and the siblings were baffled. Even Bastat looked completely at a loss. There was a time the Dragon Empire and the Eastern Kingdom were united as one? They had never heard of such a thing, at least, not as a historical fact. There were a few legends they had heard, bits here and there, and what one could imagine from the past, but neither country had been very diligent in keeping records. Even the Dragon Empire’s centuries-old palace had limited archives and no mention of such a thing.

Facing them, the Cheshi woman smiled again, nodding briefly.

“I suppose you’d be surprised to hear such a thing. However, I cannot tell you too much. There are secrets I cannot reveal that belong to my family only. At least, not yet. I did come here to extend an invitation, though. On my clan’s behalf. The Cheshi Clan wants to meet the Dragon Princess, and perhaps, establish an alliance. We don’t have much of a military force, but we do have a few secrets that might be of help to you if you decide to go against the Yekara Clan.”

“If...?” repeated Cessilia.

“Well, you could also decide to leave and go back to the Empire.”

“I won’t b-be abandoning Ashen!”

“I didn’t expect that either. After all, you could both very well leave this Kingdom to the Yekara Clan. It is really up to you, to fight this war or not.”

Cessilia hesitated. She had even forgotten about such a possibility. She had only been here for several days, yet she hadn’t even considered going back to the Empire at all… She surprised herself. Most likely, it was because of Ashen. Cessilia knew she was free to come and go, but Ashen had responsibilities as King. Plus, she knew his character enough to guess he’d hate to have to flee to her country, especially if it was because of someone taking his position and ruling over his people. He would never concede victory to that adopted brother of his, let alone the Yekara. She had seen how he truly valued this place and its inhabitants.

She slowly shook her head.

“We are n-not leaving,” she declared.

“Glad to hear that!” smiled Aglithia. “Then, the invitation stands. You’re welcome to come and meet our Clan Leader tomorrow at dawn.”

“How?” frowned Tessandra. “The whole city will be blocked by the Yekara!”

“Don’t worry. I will come and get you.”

Well, that didn’t answer the question at all. Aglithia gave them a quick nod, and before anyone could inquire any further, she turned around to leave, Nupia following after her.

The room remained silent for a few seconds after she had left, everyone slowly soaking the information in.

“...I can’t believe even the Cheshi are going to get involved,” Bastat finally said. “It has been weeks since I even saw one of their people! They stay so holed up in that fortress of theirs, no one would notice if they really remained quiet all along... What are you going to do, Lady Cessilia?”

“Would you t-trust them?”

“Honestly? Yes. The Cheshi are exceptionally wise. It isn’t just a rumor. They have intervened many times before, to help with natural disasters or solve trade issues. They even created the current money we use, and their ancestors came up with half the city’s architectural plans. Some say all kings validated by the Cheshi are meant to rule until their death. They were also the first ones to doubt King Ashtoran’s rule, and many say there would have been a lot more deaths if the Cheshi hadn’t intervened to prove some people’s innocence or invalidate the crimes they were arrested for. They even spent a lot of money to free some people who were imprisoned for not paying their taxes.”

“...Sounds like good folk to me,” shrugged Darsan.

“We’ll see about that in the morning,” declared Kassian.

Cessilia nodded, her eyes going back to Ashen. She and her brother had done all they could. The table was covered in blood and had turned into a surgery ward for a short while, but at least, they had stopped the bleeding and managed to reduce his fever. Although they had stitched him up back and front, now it would all be up to Ashen to survive the night. She was tired, but she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep a wink until she was absolutely sure he was fine, awake, and out of danger.

“Do you know if there are more of those beignet things, wherever they came from?” asked Darsan. “Those were really good, and I’m starving, we literally skipped dinner to fly here.”

“I can send someone to ask,” nodded Bastat with a smile. “You can all stay here comfortably. I have two rooms ready for you upstairs if you need them, and plenty of blankets as well.”

“We probably shouldn’t move while the Yekara search the city for us,” groaned Tessandra.

“...I’m worried about the p-people in the Inner Capital,” muttered Cessilia.

“Don’t worry.” Bastat smiled at her. “The Eastern Kingdom people are more resilient than you think. No one wants another tyrant to rule again. We can fight back in small ways, even for the most unarmed of us. Just focus on His Majesty and yourself for now. ...For tonight, at least.”

“What, just grilling them is a no-go then?”

“We can’t fry the whole damn city, Darsan!” Tessandra rolled her eyes.

“Then what the heck do we have dragons for?!”

“Oh, shut it,” groaned Tessa, getting up. “Come on, let’s just get your beignets. I want to check if we can get some information from outside too...”

“Alright. Oh, by the way, can you introduce me to that sexy gal from earlier?”