To their surprise, Kian suddenly arrived with an excited growl, flying next to Cece, mounted by Kassian.
“We’re done over there,” he said.
“Kassian!” exclaimed Cessilia, surprised. “Already?”
“A lot of them were mostly trying to regroup at their headquarters, but it seems like someone already set it on fire...”
“On fire?”
Kassian’s eyes went to the other side of the battlefield, where Cessilia found Nana and Darsan together, chatting excitedly. She turned her eyes back to Tessandra, who shrugged.
“Don’t ask,” sighed Tessa. “I think Nana has turned into a little terror on her own. ...Aren’t you guys going to come down? I’m breaking my neck just watching you up there!”
Cessilia turned to Ashen.
“...You really need to get treated for that poison, Ashen. You can barely stand.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “The last time I did, I almost got killed.”
Cessilia smiled, a bit happy and a bit torn inside. However, Cece had clearly chosen her camp. She lowered herself until the two of them could jump down and land safely. Unfortunately, the Silver Dragon was too large to land there without crushing everyone on the plaza. Luckily, Kian was right there, and as soon as the dragon’s rider got off its back too, the older Silver Dragon was only happy to play around with Cece. Soon enough, the two sibling dragons began to play around in the sky, flying and chasing each other’s tails with excited growls while Cessilia and the others gathered on the ground.
“...What do we do with them?” Cessilia sighed, looking at the Yekara soldiers.
All of them were still looking confused, and staring at their dead leader with a strange interest.
“Darsan and I can gather them for now,” said Tessandra. “I’m sure there will still be a few trying to flee, so we can make sure we get all of them first...”
Ashen shook his head, looking annoyed. He had his arm around Cessilia’s shoulders to support himself, but couldn’t help but grimace often. Cessilia turned to her cousin.
“...Is Ishira around?”
“Ishira? Uh... didn’t she set up some sort of relief tent or something outside?”
Her eyes went to Ashen, and she raised an eyebrow.
“...Did you get your butt rescued again, Your Majesty?” she smirked.
“Not at all. Cessi had time to drink tea while I did everything. I even poured it for her.”
“Yeah, sure. Anyway, you’re starting to look as white as your hair, so if I were you, I’d actually make that stop by the house, two streets behind me. The Hashat took over a house and are treating people there. It’s easy to find, just follow all the big babies whining.”
“Noted.”
Ashen sighed, and leaned closer to Cessilia, gently kissing her chestnut curls.
“I’ll be right back.”
“I’m coming with you. I want to check on the injured people and see if there’s anything I can do while Tessa and Darsan gather the Yekara soldiers.”
“I’ll hunt the mercenaries too,” said Kassian, “from the sky. Like Tessa said, some will probably try to flee or hide... Kian!”
Above them, the two dragons were getting a bit too excited, and their growls were growing terribly louder. Not only that, they had begun snapping at each other, their play getting a bit more violent. Kassian sighed, but with a little smile on his lips.
“I can’t blame him. He must have missed his little sister...”
He exchanged a smile with Cessilia, who nodded happily. Indeed, the two dragons’ enthusiasm was heartwarming to see. She knew her older brother was also probably very happy to see Cece back...
“You know, there’s nothing little about our Cece now,” chuckled Tessandra, who was staring at the duo above too. “Kian’s the one looking like he’s the little brother now...”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Kassian.
He winked at his little sister, making Tessandra roll her eyes.
“Ugh. Anyway, you’d better take those two out of the Capital’s skies soon before they destroy something. Plus, once Krai joins the fun, they are going to be impossible to calm. Thank the gods we left that stupid Dran at home...”
Cessilia couldn’t help but think about all of Cece’s siblings at home too. The smaller dragons would be so happy to see their older sister was back...
“Cece will help you put out the fires too,” she told him.
Kassian nodded, and turned around to climb on the roof, probably getting to a higher point to catch the dragons’ attention.
“Cece is back?!”
Darsan had run to them. For some reason, he was dragging four men by the collar with each hand, and Nana was following right behind him, her eyes lit up in awe.
“That dragon is so pretty!” she exclaimed.
“There you are, the pair of walking natural disasters,” scoffed Tessandra, putting her hands on her hips. “Yes, she is.”
