“Thank you.”
The two of them exchanged an understanding smile. Cessilia was glad that there were some loyal, hardworking young men like Sabael still following Ashen. If people had only been following him because of his alliance with a princess of the Dragon Empire, it would have been far more difficult. Yet today, many Royal Guards had valiantly fought against the Yekara, despite the odds, to defend whom they thought of as their legitimate King. Not only the guards, but many citizens had cheered for Ashen as well. She could tell when they had walked into this house; many eyes had gone to him, the brave white-haired King. In her heart, she was probably the proudest of his achievements. This Kingdom was indeed in a bad state, but if things continued like this, with one less enemy in their way, she had high hopes for its future.
Feeling a bit better, and relieved about Ashen’s condition and safety, Cessilia went back downstairs to help, as promised. In fact, many eyes were happy to see her too, recognizing the Princess’ unique appearance. As the battle had ended, many more people were brought in to be treated, and soon, luckily no one was able to bother Cessilia unless it was for a valid injury. Lady Bastat was no healer, but she was doing an amazing job orchestrating everything, even overseeing the stocks of fresh towels and warm water, and coordinating with the other tribes and families to know who could provide what. Strangely, Cessilia felt most relaxed when she was healing someone. The smell of medicinal herbs and the touch of medical tools were making her feel she was in the right place. Helping lessen someone’s pain was much more rewarding than inflicting injuries, and she was happy to set her weapons aside. She was so used to treating people that she could do it without much thinking, one patient after the other, for hours. In fact, it was Lady Bastat that finally got her to stop and take a break, almost pulling her away from her last patient and to the side. Then, she made Cessilia sit down, and handed her a familiar fish beignet.
“Thank you,” Cessilia smiled.
“You deserve much more than that, but that’s all we have for now,” sighed Lady Bastat. “You should rest, my lady. We’re pretty much done evacuating the battlefields, people coming in now only have light injuries. Many are already busy trying to clear the streets, and I think your other older brother is helping them as well.”
“Did you hear from Tessa?”
“She sent someone to say not to worry,” Bastat nodded. “They have the situation under control.”
“They arrested all the Yekara already?”
Cessilia and Bastat turned their heads, finding Sabael and Ashen standing there, both looking surprised. As a reflex, Cessilia walked up to the King, glancing down at his abdomen.
“I’m fine,” he immediately said. “I shamelessly took a nap while you’ve been working hard.”
“Most people would be passed out for one more day from your injuries, Your Majesty,” Sabael shook his head. “That was only three or four hours.”
“Anyway,” Ashen sighed, “I want to go see how my men are. The Yekara too, I need to decide what to do with them...”
Just like that, the three of them agreed to go out and find Tessandra, leaving Bastat behind to keep supervising the healing and food distribution.
On the way back to the battlefield, Cessilia was amazed by everything that had already been done in the few hours she had been busy treating people. The streets were mostly cleared, most of the rubble having been pushed to the side, and people were already loading carts with what had to be taken away. The bodies of their deceased allies were covered by sheets, and some people were trying to identify them or line them up. Many families had come out of hiding to help sweep the streets, give a hand to those whose homes had been destroyed, or distribute food. Cessilia even spotted children happily handing out warm drinks. The rain had stopped too, and as if to salute the end of the fighting, the sun was starting to shyly appear between the clouds. She held Ashen’s hand with a warm feeling in her heart as they walked down the streets, crossing paths with more and more people who happily waved at their easily recognizable King. She could definitely see herself happily walking down those streets for many more years...
“Oh, look who’s here!”
Tessandra cheerfully waved at them. Funny enough, she, Darsan, and Nana were eating fish beignets around a fire, taking a break as well. Tessandra walked up to them first, suddenly jumping at Sabael’s neck and hugging him.
“Tessa!” he exclaimed, obviously embarrassed. “Easy, please...”
“Did you get treated?” she asked, immediately pulling his jacket open. “Did you? It’s not going to leave a scar, is it?”
“I-I don’t know... Why?Will you leave me if I get a scar?”
“Of course not!” she slapped his arm. “I’m just going to get mad if I don’t have someone to burn back for damaging my boyfriend!”
“Your boyfriend?” Darsan suddenly frowned. “Since when?”
“You really are slow, Darsan...”
“There’s someone who actually wants you?” he laughed.
“Yeah,” Tessa retorted with a sour expression. “I think it’s a family thing, they really have poor tastes...”
Her eyes went to Nana, making Darsan frown, confused again. Cessilia chuckled, relieved to see all of them seemed completely fine. Nana had a few bandages on her hands and legs, but she was happily smiling at Darsan and Tessa’s antics, her plump cheeks stuffed with warm food. Behind the trio, the battlefield was almost cleared already, with more of the Royal Guards still working to sort things out.
“What about the remaining Yekara?” Ashen asked, frowning.
“The Cheshi locked them all up,” said Tessandra. “We suspect some of them are still hiding, but we probably got most of them.”
“I would say so too,” suddenly announced Kassian’s voice.
They turned around, and Cessilia’s older brother approached from behind them, looking a bit tired. Nana immediately jumped to hand him a beignet.
“Oh, uh, thank you.”
“Where have you been?” Tessa frowned. “I saw Kian and Cece flying south minutes ago!”
“I just made a quick stop,” said Kassian, glancing down at his beignet and avoiding eye contact with her.
Cessilia didn’t say anything, but she did notice the new bandage around his dominant hand...
Suddenly, Kassian looked up at the sky, and Cessilia and Darsan did the same, getting the same feeling he did. The three siblings were the first to notice the new silhouette in the sky. Soon, all of them had their eyes up, staring at the dark clouds.
“Who is it?” Darsan kept asking, visibly nervous. “What color is the dragon, I can’t see!”
“Oh, you’re so in trouble,” chuckled Tessandra. “They are going to kick you right back to that stupid mountain...”
“A mountain?” asked Nana, confused.
“I-it’s nothing!” Darsan said, embarrassed.
Cessilia kept squinting her eyes to try and see the dragon’s color too. It was hard to tell, as it was flying amongst the dark clouds and still quite far away.
“...I think it’s green,” she suddenly muttered.
