“Ashen... your m-mom was one of theirs.”

He frowned a bit, his eyes going down to their hands. He sighed and faintly nodded.

“I had a hunch... Perhaps a part of me always knew, and that’s why I couldn’t bring myself to trust them after they basically abandoned her. I know how my mom was, though. She probably wasn’t very... receptive either.”

“C-can you work with them?”

“I’ll make do,” he chuckled. “It’s not like I have much of a choice... and they are still part of this Kingdom after all. Your friend Naptunie is right. It’s high time they took part in this. Plus, the armor is pretty cool indeed.”

Cessilia chuckled. She liked the set she was almost done putting on too. It had a dark purple shade with pink undertones, something that reminded her of Cece. Her dragon was a very unique silver color, with shades of magenta when her scales shone...

“Will you b-be alright?” Cessilia asked with a frown. “Your injury was...”

Her eyes went down to the spot under his armor, but to her surprise, Ashen guided her fingers for her to touch his abs. Cessilia blushed, but even more surprising, she felt the very distinct and familiar touch of smooth skin that characterized a scar. She frowned, confused, and her fingers followed the line, confirming it. A new scar? How could there already be such a clean and neat scar? While she got lost in her questions, Ashen suddenly shuddered.

“Um... Cessi. It tickles.”

She blushed and took her hand back, realizing she had been caressing him unintentionally. Flushed and looking aside, Cessilia cleared her throat loudly, taking a step back.

“How... how d-did?”

“I gave him some blood.”

Her eyes went to Kassian, who was ready on the side in beautiful blue-gray armor, his arms crossed and a couple new weapons lined his back. He stepped forward, his eyes on Ashen.

“I gave him some of my blood... so he could heal faster. Dragon blood is surprisingly efficient, and we had already established he was compatible the first time we found him...”

“Really?” exclaimed Cessilia, surprised. “I d-didnt think about that.”

“You’re not the only one who got lessons from mom,” chuckled Kassian, giving her a quick kiss on her temple. “He’s not fully healed, but it will be enough for today. It’s not like the King can take a rest day while we reconquer his Kingdom, right?”

His green eyes went to Ashen, who nodded, an air of humility painted all over his face. Cessilia wondered how these two had come to an understanding while she was gone... It seemed like they had resolved a thing or two, and now, they were back to that precious bond of deep trust between them. She felt a bit happy about it, although she could still feel some tension.

“You look handsome in this, b-big brother,” she said with a faint smile.

“Thanks. Father used to have armor like this... one made of Krai’s dead scales. It wasn’t as well-crafted as this, but I was always curious about it. Krai was the only dragon that shed his scales, so there was only his that could be made, and not enough material to replace it.”

“I’m glad these will be helpful to you!” declared Lady Aglithia. “They all suit you very well.”

Cessilia glanced around. Indeed, they had picked well. Ashen’s silver-white armor was perfect with his hair, and covered the injured area too, which was the main reason she had picked it in the first place. Tessandra’s armor was perfect for a very mobile bearer, and Kassian’s was a perfect balance between a heavy defense and enough freedom of movement as well. Nana could only carry forearm protections that Darsan was helping her tighten and a small dagger, but it would probably be enough. Cessilia had no intention to have Naptunie in the middle of the battle, anyway.

“Cessi, whatever the plan is, we should get started soon,” Tessandra declared, her eyes looking out the windows. “The sun has nearly risen.”

Only a short span of time had passed since Cessilia and Aglithia had come back from the Cheshi household, but each minute was unbearably precious at the moment. She nodded, and used the table Ashen had been lying on the previous night to lay down the map in front of them.

Thanks to the Cheshi’s years of keeping an accurate track of the changes within the Capital, this was probably the most accurate representation they could find of Aestara and its surroundings, including the four bridges. Everyone gathered around, serious and ready to listen to Cessilia’s plan.

“We n-need to keep the fight within the Inner Capital,” she said, her finger surrounding the main island. “We c-can’t bring Kian or K-Krai in, as they would destroy t-too much and risk harming people, b-but we can use them to c-confine the fight.”

“If anyone tries to cross a bridge, they should grill them!”

“But we have people willing to fight in the Outer Capital too,” said Nana. “My tribe’s people that were outside the walls are already gathering, so are the rest of the Hashat, and even the surviving Pangoja!”

“We d-don’t need to block all the bridges,” nodded Cessilia. “Krai can t-take the southeast one, Kian the northeast, and D-Darsan the northwest. We should leave the southwest one, where we are now, open for people to c-come in and help us. If we focus all our s-strength on one bridge, it will b-be more manageable.”

“It’s a good plan, Cessi, but we are running out of time... Sab is running out of time. We don’t have time to wait until we reconquer all the way to the Inner Capital! They will see us coming!”

“We c-can use the Cheshi’s secret tunnels,” declared Cessilia.

Aglithia nodded, and stepped forward, pointing out several locations in the Inner Capital.

“Almost all of our secret tunnels lead to the main residence of our tribe, and from there, we have dozens of access points into the Inner Capital. We can be anywhere in minutes, and launch a simultaneous surprise attack, if we find a way to signal one group to another from far away.”

“We can use colored fires!” exclaimed Naptunie. “With the right ingredients, I can easily create fires that will blow up fast, are easy to control, and can be seen from far away!”

“Let’s do that, then,” nodded Kassian. “We can split into groups, each leading one, and start several fights in the Capital. One will be focused on rescuing the hostages, the other on invading the castle to take it back and kill the Yekara Leader, and whoever else they might put in our way.”

“Darsan will lead everyone coming from the outside and guide them into the Capital. The breach of the gate should alert the Yekara enough and force a lot of them to come out, but it’s going to turn into an all-out battle if the citizens get involved... we risk injuring a lot of people in the process.”

“I can have my people spread the word,” said Bastat. “We can suggest the citizens stay inside, or go where it’s safe, just remain out of the streets. I’ll also try to ensure the injured are taken to the Hashat hospitals. Lady Ishira and I have grown close, I’m sure we will work well together.”

“Kassian, Aglithia, Cessilia, and I need to lead the attacks inside then,” said Tessandra.

“I’m sure many more will follow us once they see what is happening,” nodded Aglithia. “If they see an organized, armed resistance, there is no doubt the other tribes will come out of hiding and help too. They may not be fighters, but they are not helpless. They wouldn’t have survived the Tyrant’s reign otherwise.”

Next to her, Naptunie nodded firmly, also agreeing to this. In fact, Cessilia, Tessandra, and Ashen thought just the same. They had seen for themselves, many times, that the Eastern Kingdom’s tribes were resilient. Although there would definitely be trouble and damage within the Inner Capital, they had to hope everyone would be able to defend themselves, at the very least.

“We estimate the Yekara troops to be a thousand people,” suddenly said Aglithia.

“...A th-thousand?” groaned Cessilia.

“Yes. At least, within the Capital. We suspect they might have more forces prepared outside of the Capital, and hired a lot more people using the Pangoja’s money. We’re talking about mercenaries, bandits, and hired fighters.”

“That’s going to be a fun bunch to punch!” exclaimed Darsan, getting excited all by himself.

“More like a lot of trouble,” groaned Kassian. “That means we will have enemies coming from all sides and without much order. Even if the dragons manage to keep their external reinforcements out, their goal will be to make the fight last until they kill Ashen.”

All eyes went to the white-haired king. His dark eyes were still riveted on the map, but he straightened with a smirk on his lips.

“They can try,” he said. “It won’t be the first time they’ve tried to get rid of me, and I’m not willing to let them win.”

“...I’m sorry to report, your... adopted brother survived,” muttered Aglithia. “He’s wounded, but some of our spies confirmed they saw him getting geared up for battle.”

“He’s mine,” immediately growled Ashen. “Let me fight him.”

In fact, Cessilia was more than happy to let him do so. Ashen’s state was, at the very least, probably as bad as his brother. She would have said something against it if she hadn’t seen that adopted brother of his crushed partially by an enormous rock. Even if he had survived, she doubted the man was back to his full capacity.

“...What about th-that woman, Jisel?” she asked Aglithia.