“Here you go ladies, the best fish beignets in the Capital.”

“Thank you!” exclaimed Nana, receiving her order and her brother’s with sparkling eyes.

Cessilia and Tessa were a bit excited to receive theirs too, and they thanked Beli before walking away. It was clear she had to go back to work and help her sister sell those beignets, and Cessilia couldn’t help but stare a little longer at the small family business, which doubled in speed as soon as Beli was in her spot.

Next to her, Tessa frowned and finally bit the beignet hungrily.

“Careful, it’s hot!” exclaimed Nana.

“Oh, don’t worry, we can handle the heat,” replied Tessa with her mouth full. “...Damn, this is really good!”

“See? I told you!”

Cessilia smiled and took a bite of hers too. It was very good indeed. The dough was crispy, savory, and hot, and the fish inside was half-cooked, melting on her tongue with all the flavors of the sea. She already loved it, and for a while, none of the three girls spoke anymore as they focused on eating those beignets while walking down the streets.

Things around them were getting a bit busier now, a lot of people were either on their way to the Fish Market or coming back from it, while the smaller shops were opening. Cessilia noticed a couple of accessories shops she was interested in, notably the nacre jewelry she had already grown somewhat fond of. She also noticed some stones lined up, of different colors, with various uses as bracelets or necklaces, and asked Nana about it.

“Those are worship stones!” she exclaimed. “We believe that each god has a stone they channel their natural energy into, and we purchase those stones for prayers. For example, those dark green ones are used to protect the houses from malevolent people, and the white ones are a symbol of purity, for weddings! Most families have at least one of each nowadays, but it is good luck to get one or two from the gods you choose to venerate the most! In my family, we like the Goddess of the Sea, so we purchase those nacre stones! Oh, and my brother is a fighter, so he takes the black ones, from our Goddess of War! You don’t have those? How do you guys communicate with your gods?”

“...I guess you call him Daddy?” chuckled Tessa, glancing toward Cessilia.

“In our c-culture,” said Cessilia, “our g-gods are humans or d-dragons. My father g-got his t-title as the War G-God when he was young and won many wars. I b-believe our p-people worship d-dragons more, though.”

“So they won’t eat them, basically,” added Tessa. “I think our religion is a bit more... practical than stones like that. All of our gods did exist at some point, most often past emperors or princes that had dragons, or heroes of some sort.”

“I think I like our gods better,” shrugged Nana. “They are all still alive, and very powerful too! When we have a hurricane, everyone prays for the Goddess of the Sea to calm down. My family even has a little temple for her!”

“That must b-be a p-pretty one,” said Cessilia.

“It is! I will take you guys to my family house when you want! It is a bit crowded, but we will welcome strangers anytime!”

As they kept walking, Nana described her house to such lengths that it felt like they had been there and knew every room already. Cessilia and Tessa didn’t interrupt her, though, as they were finishing their beignets while looking around. Their trio was slowly but surely getting to the lower levels of the Capital, and now, Cessilia could only see the tips of some of the castle’s towers when she turned back, her vision blocked by all the buildings in between. In front of them, however, behind some of the houses, a wall was starting to appear, and the closer they got, the bigger it grew. Before long, they were really standing in front of the Inner Wall Naptunie had described. It was clear most of it had been recently built, and it was strangely clean for something merely made of stones. Their little group was heading toward a pair of very large doors that were kept open, but with four men in armor guarding it and checking everyone who went in or out. The process seemed smooth, but Cessilia could see the long flow of people waiting to get in.

Nana, who once again seemed familiar with everyone they saw, quickly walked to one of the guards standing to the side to ask about her brother’s whereabouts. He pointed to a little house at the corner of the street, which was clearly some sort of armory.

“Just wait for me, I’ll be right back!” she claimed before going in.

“Sure,” said Tessa, a hand on her hip.

She turned to the gate, frowning a bit.

“Seems like we really got the easy way in,” she sighed. “Judging from here, people at the end of that line probably wait for at least an hour before they can get in... That’s quite impressive security, considering there are four guards. I wondered why we didn’t see many inside, but this is different from our Capital.”

“Everything is d-different,” nodded Cessilia, “b-but it’s nice. I think Auntie Shareen would b-be curious t-to see how they d-do things here...”

“I wonder. She was never fond of the Eastern Kingdom since they attacked us two decades ago. I’m even surprised she agreed to this at all. Now, well, it’s nice to be far from home. I’ve always been curious as to what was past our border... Damn, Kiera will be dead jealous once she finds out you were actually allowed to come here.”

Cessilia chuckled at the mention of her little sister. Indeed, Kiera’s unwavering passion for adventures had already taken her pretty much anywhere she could go in the Dragon Empire, despite its considerable size. However, the Eastern Kingdom had always been the limit. They definitely couldn’t get past the guarded border, and none of the dragons would fly past it either, not without an order from the Empress or the War God himself. In fact, Cessilia realized she was the first one in her family to come so far in the Eastern Kingdom since... probably a few generations ago. She knew from her deep love of books, including the history ones, that the Kingdom and the Empire had once been united as one, but that was eons ago, a time no one but old, dusty books could keep a memory of.

“I need to mention, though, how come everyone in her family looks that similar? I mean, you have seven siblings and there aren’t two of you that look alike as much as Nana looks like her uncle or her cousin. It’s crazy! If it wasn’t for their hairstyle and clothes, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

While listening to her cousin, Cessilia glanced behind them. Sure enough, the triplets were still there. They had been following them all day, a few steps behind and as silent as shadows, but always on their trail. Because those three were rather petite too, no one really seemed to notice them either. Unlike in the Dragon Empire, the servants of the castle didn’t have any particular outfit it seemed, so she figured they could pass for anyone in the streets of the Capital...

“I swear,” chuckled Tessa, still going on. “Nana is as cute as those beignets, but if her brother is another male copy of her, I’m going to laugh and ask how they do this... Do you think they can marry within their family here? I mean, I know no one does that anymore in our Empire, but we know it used to be a thing, right?”

“T-Tessa, don’t b-be rude, p-please...” sighed Cessilia.

“I’m not! It’s the truth! Wait and see. I bet her brother is going to be her physical twin. I’m buying Krai’s next ten meals if he is... if he is... uh...”

The words just wouldn’t come out as Tessa’s eyes were riveted on the door Nana and her older brother had just come out of. In one glance, Cessilia could see why. Nana’s older brother was defying all of her cousin’s expectations, and in a surprisingly good way, at that. He was one head taller than his sister, very muscular under his armor, with long black hair that was tied low, a serious look on his face. His chiseled chin was covered by a short layer of beard, and his strong eyebrows were enhancing his beautiful eyes, one brown and the other one hazel. When he turned his gaze to them, as Nana showed him the duo of cousins, Cessilia very clearly heard Tessa’s gasp.

“...I th-think you’re p-paying for all the next meals, T-Tessa,” she chuckled.

It looked like her cousin didn’t even hear her at all. In fact, Tessa left her mouth open and her eyes wide open right until Nana and her brother were just two steps away, and Cessilia gave her a little nudge with her elbow, keeping her from totally embarrassing herself.

“This is my older brother, Sabael!” proudly announced Nana, totally unaware of Tessa’s reaction. “He is a guard of the Capital; as I mentioned, he will accompany us outside!”

“You’re lucky I’m not on duty,” retorted her brother, with an unexpectedly low voice. “Are you the Princesses she talked about?”

His eyes kept going back and forth between Cessilia and Tessa, visibly a bit unsure about the situation there. Just like everyone else, he seemed surprised by their appearance but still tried to remain somehow polite instead of too obvious.

“Yes,” nodded Cessilia, realizing her cousin was still mute. “Th-Thank you for acomp-p-... t-taking us out th-there.”

“Yeah, I’m not too sure about that. Is this seriously related to that... to a real dragon? We’ve been getting reports from the south since earlier. We weren’t too sure, but no one could make that up... I’ll be glad if it’s nothing too serious, and you girls can really do something about it...”

“I told you, it’s their dragon!” said Nana, enthusiastically. “Uncle Yobah agreed to it too, so we’re just going out to feed their dragon, ask it to be uh... nice, and then we will be back here, I promise.”

Her brother sighed, glancing toward Cessilia and Tessa with a doubtful look. Unlike his sister, Sabael looked a lot more distrustful.

“...Fine,” he grumbled. “Since our uncle agreed to this, I won’t argue. At least you asked me to come along, I wouldn’t trust it if it was just you... Is it just the three of you?”

Cessilia glanced back, and Nupia stepped forward, bowing quickly.

“We are accompanying the Princess as well, by order of the King.”

“By order of the King?” repeated Sabael, visibly stunned once again. “Alright... Fine.”

He let out a little sigh, grumpily glancing at his little sister again before turning to Cessilia and Tessa. However, he seemed resolute now, and the presence of three Royal Servants appeared to convince him.

“I’m Sabael, guard of the southeast Inner Gate. I hope I wasn’t disrespectful to the... Princess,” he mentioned, glancing toward Tessa.

“Oh, she’s the Princess!” immediately said Tessa, who seemed to have found her voice again, and a bright, charming smile with it. “This is Cessilia and I’m Tessandra, her cousin. But everyone calls me Tessa. You can call me whatever you want, handsome.”

She held out her hand proudly, and Cessilia pinched her lips, as she was having a hard time not laughing. She knew her cousin enough to know when she was overdoing it and trying to be as attractive as possible... Tessa had always been very pretty, but she could be a real temptress when she had set her eyes on someone. Cessilia couldn’t really blame her, though. Sabael was definitely a very attractive young man. Next to them, a little group of young women who had just walked past the gates kept stealing glances toward the very handsome guard. Only Naptunie seemed totally oblivious to the reactions her brother caused among females, or perhaps she was used to it.

“We should be able to go soon,” she said. “Uncle should have that cart here anytime now... Oh, there he is!”

Indeed, a younger boy was running in their direction, pulling a large cart with, as promised, three enormous fish lined up. He was surprisingly fast considering the load behind him, but Cessilia noticed his cart only had two large wheels instead of four large ones, and he was simply pushing a large sort of handle in front of him, the weight being balanced effortlessly behind him.