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?”
“No fucking way! You stay out of that red-haired vixen’s way!”
“Red-haired? No, the other one!”
“...Wait, you mean Nana?”
They kept arguing while leaving the room, and Bastat left after them.
Now that she was alone with Kassian, Cessilia sighed and stepped away from the table to wash her hands. Her brother did the same next to her. For a while, neither of them said anything as they went to sit on the little bench Tessandra and Darsan were on earlier, opposite Ashen. They naturally sat very close to each other, and Cessilia let her head rest on her brother’s shoulder. Kassian smiled and put an arm around her shoulders.
“So... You’ve been busy, huh?”
“Yeah... This K-Kingdom really has a lot going on.”
“You know, for someone whose lover was almost killed and had to flee after a fight, you seem happy.”
Cessilia suddenly lifted her head off his shoulder, staring at her brother with a shocked expression.
“Happy?” she repeated.
