“Raissa is with Mom,” answered Tessa. “Kiera... was with us until an hour ago, I think?”

Cassandra sighed.

“She probably ran off somewhere again... Did she leave Kiki here?”

The two girls exchanged a look.

“I’m not sure...”  finally muttered Tessa.

The Princess’ mother didn’t look too happy with that answer. To Yassim’s surprise, she turned her eyes toward the sky and the walls of the garden, as if she was looking around for something.

“Krai!” she suddenly called loudly.

Yassim froze, hearing a sudden, loud noise one second later like an earthquake, as well as a gust of wind. He could tell something big was moving on the other side of that wall, something very, very big. A fright chilled the old man’s body, as a shadow suddenly grew in front of them. Something dark and incredibly huge...

“There you are,” sighed Cassandra.

The gigantic Black Dragon stood with all its might, grabbing the top of that wall with its claws as if to support its humongous weight with it. Yassim was struck both by the magnificence and scary size of that creature. Its scales were shining like onyx under the sunlight, and its big, red eyes were like ruby jewels, both gleaming and frightening. It moved its body with surprising grace considering its size, and its movements were akin to a snake or a feline. Its front paws landed one after the other in the grass, and Yassim couldn’t help but take a step back as this creature was now in the garden, headed in their direction.

“Krai!” exclaimed the two younger boys, running toward the beast.

It was terrifying to see such young children run fearlessly toward the Black Dragon, but no one else seemed shocked. Instead, Cassandra crossed her arms and the Black Dragon kept coming forward, its gigantic tail whipping the air around. Krai growled softly, a growl that echoed throughout the area and left Yassim wondering how big that mouth was... and those fangs.

“You... You let Kiera leave again, didn’t you?” Cassandra scolded the dragon. “Did she feed you meat, Krai? You can’t let the children trick you with treats each time!”

The Black Dragon laid down in front of the human woman, its head between its paws, and growled again, a short one this time. The two boys immediately began climbing to play on its back. Yassim was astonished. A huge creature like that, with such sharp claws, was lying like a house dog in front of the Princess? No wonder that woman was considered a living deity!

“You’re supposed to watch all the children, you know,” Cassandra added. “...Were you napping?”

Krai turned its head to the side, visibly ignoring her scolding. Yassim was truly unable to believe his eyes. Was it only an impression, or had the dragon purposely turned away to... pout?

Cassandra sighed, putting a hand on her hip.

“Fine, I guess I can use the good old method then... Call the little ones, Krai, please.”

The dragon rose its head, this time glancing toward the lake, and let out a long, more high-pitched growl. Yassim had a hard time keeping his eyes off the majestic yet terrifying creature, but a myriad of little sounds coming from the lake convinced him to glance in that direction next. The water was moving, making small swirls at the surface. ...Fish? The waves seemed too large to be the work of mere fish...

“...You should step away from my aunt, old man,” said Tessa.

Realizing she was talking to him, Yassim carefully distanced himself from the Water Goddess, who was walking toward the lake. All of a sudden, something jumped out of the water at full speed, splattering the grass around, and began running in the Water Goddess’ direction. For a second, Yassim mistook it for a gigantic snake, but it was way too fast. This thing obviously had limbs, four of them, and... a pair of wings. Another suddenly jumped out of the water, of a different color, and another one after that. In a few seconds’ time, no less than four little creatures with scales of various shiny colors were running on the grass at a scary speed to get to the Princess.

Yassim couldn’t believe his own eyes... Those little ones were all tiny dragons! Baby dragons!

The man was completely baffled. He knew the Dragon Empire had dragons, but he didn’t think he’d see so many of them at once, from so close too!

Just a few seconds later, the Princess was surrounded by those small creatures, all trying to climb over her or making high-pitched sounds at her feet. They were moving around a lot, but thanks to their very different colors, Yassim counted four of them. The biggest was a black one, about as big as a large dog or a snow leopard, but including the tail, it was the length of two of those. It was rubbing its body like a cat against the Princess’ leg, and this dragon was a lot like the large one she had called Krai, but with a smaller tail and wings, and a longer body. It was arching itself in Yassim’s direction, with glowing sapphire eyes and some faint growling. Another one was next to it, also moving around the Princess, visibly trying to approach her without climbing over a light-green dragon, which was just a bit smaller. The two smallest were the ones climbing all over the Princess, trying to get around her shoulders or in her arms. They were both still a bit too big to be there, and were flapping their wings and kept bickering to get more space, even growling at each other in annoyance. One was a bright orange-red color, while the other was dark blue, and it was only thanks to the difference in color that Yassim could follow their bodies, flying around and bickering, until Cassandra clicked her tongue.

“Enough, you two!”

As soon as she did that, both of the small ones jumped down on the grass, a bit quieter, but still rushed beneath their older peers to rub themselves against her ankles too, like angsty kittens.

Then, a fifth dragon came out of the water, more shyly than the others. This one was gray, and even bigger than the black and blue-eyed one. Yet, it looked like it was almost afraid of the Princess, and tried to slither away.

“Kiki.”

The dragon froze, and Krai suddenly growled at this little one too. As soon as the big Black Dragon had growled, all four of the little dragons quickly scattered. The two small ones ran to the little boys, hiding behind them, while the other two went to the elder sister, Cessilia, curling up next to the folds of her purple dress, one on each side, and put their heads on her lap. She chuckled and petted them, but they all had eyes on poor Kiki.

Cassandra sighed and walked up to the Gray Dragon.

“Kiki, go find your owner. And you’d better stay with her this time!” she said.

As soon as she was done talking, the Gray Dragon flapped its tiny wings, and although it looked like they wouldn’t be strong enough to carry its weight, the little one managed to get itself above the wall. Even after Kiki was gone, Yassim was still unable to process what had just happened, what he was seeing. Dragons! Baby dragons everywhere!

“Children, go see your Aunt Phemera for a little while,” Cassandra suddenly said. “I need to talk with your older sister.”

They all obeyed immediately without a complaint, apparently happy to go see “Auntie Mera”, their little dragons following after them. Once those four and their dragons were gone, only the two older girls and the huge Black Dragon were left in the garden. Calm befell the garden and Cassandra smiled at her daughter.

“Cessilia, this man has something to ask you.”

Cessilia exchanged a look with her cousin.

“...Is it alright if I stay, Auntie?” asked Tessa.

Cassandra nodded gently, and the two young women stood up, Cessilia keeping her book tight against her chest. Once she was standing, Yassim noticed that the young lady was obviously tall for her age... perhaps another family trait, from her father’s side this time. He had heard rumors about the War God being as tall as a giant... Although he had expected the rumor to be a bit of an exaggeration, Cessilia was definitely not a petite woman. She had her mother’s slender figure, though, but more defined muscles, which he could see from her exposed arms. Perhaps because she was a young woman, she wore a bit more jewelry: bracelets, earrings, and also a wide-band golden choker around her neck, covering most of it.

Tessa briefly glanced toward her aunt before her dark eyes went to Yassim. Now that he was seeing her from a bit closer, her cousin also had a hint of green in her eyes, although it was very faint.

“Cessilia is my eldest daughter, she’s eighteen years old,” said Cassandra. “She and Tessa were born in the same year, which is why they are so close.”

“...Auntie, what is this about?” asked Tessa, frowning.

Yassim could see the defiance in her cousin’s dark eyes; she was probably well aware of their nations’ bloody history together. She didn’t bother to hide her frown and acted somewhat cautious, with a hand on her hip. Unlike most women he had seen in the Dragon Empire, Tessa was wearing pants and a cropped top that flattered her flat stomach and curvy figure better than a dress would have, and she wore only green too. Although, she was also wearing several items of gold jewelry, even in her long braids. Yassim also noted how she stood slightly off profile, as if she was ready to step in between him and Cessilia at any moment. Unlike her, though, Cessilia looked much more relaxed, just a bit curious and surprised.

Cassandra glanced his way, so Yassim understood she was expecting him to explain himself alone. He nodded and bowed once more to the two young ladies.

“Good morning, my ladies. I am Yassim the Wise, a close advisor to His Highness, King Ashen the White.”

“...K-King Ashen?” repeated Cessilia.

Yassim was a bit taken aback by the Princess’s visible surprise, but he nodded, thinking she ought to be shocked by the reason for his visit after all.

“Yes, my lady. I have come to the Dragon Empire to extend my King’s request that they provide him with a... possible future queen for the Eastern Kingdom.”

“You want to send Cessilia as a prospective wife, Auntie?” asked Tessa, clearly shocked too.

“Only if she wants to go,” said Cassandra, very calm, her green eyes on her daughter.

For a few seconds, mother and daughter exchanged a long look in silence. Some silent discussion seemed to be happening between them, between Lady Cassandra’s calm and gentle expression and that little spark in her daughter’s eyes. Then, Cessilia turned to Yassim.