Cessilia was conflicted. Her eyes kept going back to the pile of bodies. Even though she now knew who they were and what they had done, she still felt something was terribly wrong about all of this. She didn’t like the idea that Jisel had cheated the battle in Ashen’s favor, either, but she knew this had probably spared him, and a lot of the soldiers, some wounds and effort. Perhaps it had even saved lives.
“This is too horrible,” muttered Naptunie, still upset. “To think those people were still under those bandits’ tyranny all this time! It makes me sick just thinking about what that granny had to go through...”
“Don’t think too much,” sighed Tessandra. “You getting sick won’t help them. Can your tribe really provide food here?”
“We can,” nodded Sabael. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Great. But I doubt the Dorosef can feed all the other villages in the same situation...”
Cessilia felt the same. Even if the Dorosef provided some help, it would be temporary, not a long-term solution. She looked around. They had to help those people so they would get back on their feet by themselves.
First, as she had promised, Cessilia spent time looking at the wounds of the people the old woman brought forward to meet her. They were clearly lacking the proper medicine and supplies, so they had to make do with what they had, as well as explain to them how to tend to the most basic wounds, sterilize things, and create their own supplies. Not only her, but Tessandra, who had also learned some rudimentary medicine, helped too. There weren’t many people left to tend to, but they did their best. Even Naptunie was happy to run errands, distribute some snacks she had gotten earlier that day from her aunt, and learn what she could from Cessilia. It was clear her thirst for knowledge knew no bounds, and she even quickly got over her disgust of blood and exposed flesh to help out. Meanwhile, Sabael was recruited to help repair the damages, unplug the well, and gather what materials could still be useful. It was cute to see him run around, eager to help and eager to get out of a certain lady’s line of sight...
For a while, their little group stayed in the Muram Village, helping in every way they could. When she was done healing those who could use her help inside the houses, Cessilia took a walk around the village, showing the women which wild plants could be propagated and used for herbal medicine, or to make tea to warm everyone up. Some women were already knowledgeable, so it was a quick tour, and soon, it became clear she had done all she could. She sighed, the women going back to prepare a larger pot of tea for everyone.
Next to her, Nana stepped forward to hand her a little cup of water.
“You’re so talented,” she muttered. “I understand better what they said about your mother being a legendary healer...”
“My m-mom remembered the t-teaching of her ancestors and t-taught me and my siblings t-too. B-but it won’t be enough t-to help this village. We can heal th-their wounds, b-but th-they will need more food soon.”
“They should make a trip to the Capital!” exclaimed Nana. “Nowadays, they are trying to encourage the growth of more crops, like before... I can even ask one of my uncles who trades outside to come all the way here. If their lands can be farmed again, I’m sure they just need to buy new crops to start anew.”
“That would be nice, young lady,” said the old woman, appearing at their side. “However, our lands have been ravaged. We wouldn’t even know where to begin, between all the blood that has been spilled, and the soil that has to be dug... It will take us weeks until we can be ready to farm anything again!”
“Th-that, we c-can help with.” Cessilia smiled.
To their surprise, she walked out, and Tessandra, who was smiling as well, obviously knew exactly what her cousin was going for because she followed right after her. Cessilia walked away for a bit, leaving the line of houses to get to the lands. As the old lady had said, there was no ground to cultivate from... yet.
“K-Krai!” she called out. “Nana, d-do you still have s-some f-food with you?”
“I have a few more snacks, yes... Why?”
“C-can I have it?”
“Oh, is it for Sir Dragon? Of course!”
Cessilia took the little snacks, which were small and sweet versions of the beignets. Then, she walked up to the ravaged field, and dug as deep as she possibly could, with her hands, and buried one, before covering it back with the soil. She walked away, and did that again, until all six of the little snacks were hidden underground, around the same time Krai arrived, tilting its head.
“...I don’t understand,” Nana whispered to Tessa. “She isn’t expecting them to grow, right?”
“You should step back, Nana,” Tessa chuckled. “It’s going to get a bit messy around here.”
Naptunie frowned, but carefully took a few steps back along with Tessandra, noticing Cessilia was doing the same now, walking up to them with a little smile.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. In front of them, Krai had begun walking around the area, and sniffing the ground, deeply interested. She was shocked. The dragon could sniff the treats when Cessilia had buried them so deep? Yet, to her surprise, it suddenly began digging into the ground. It was so violent, Nana jumped back a little. With its tail wagging in the air, Krai’s sharp claws violently ripped full wagon loads of soil out of the way. Such a large dragon was digging to get such a tiny snack! Naptunie was in awe. It was a bit funny, and also a bit scary. Quickly, Krai found the first of the snacks, and ate it right away, before sniffing the ground again to find the next one.
That wasn’t all. As the dragon dug out the second and third treats, Naptunie realized Cessilia hadn’t placed them in random spots. In fact, she had calculated how deep she should bury them, how much soil Krai would be able to dig out, and even from which direction the dragon would dig it, making sure they crossed paths. What she had thought to be some random digging game was now turning into a large-scale plan to completely labor the land, and it was unfolding in front of her eyes, in a matter of minutes!
“This is amazing!” exclaimed Naptunie.
“I c-created this t-technique with my b-brothers w-when I was young,” chuckled Cessilia. “Mother wanted to c-create new fields in the n-north, b-but we had to d-dig deep and it was really t-tiring for my older b-brothers and the workers. I noticed th-the d-dragons love to d-dig for treats, so I made several at-attempts to have them d-dig as a game. B-but we c-could only b-bring one d-dragon at a t-time or they ended up f-fighting and making a b-big mess... In th-the end, we hid a b-bunch in the lands, and it worked so well, we p-prepared large fields for farming...”
“So that’s how you came up with that technique?” laughed Tessandra. “No wonder the north became so prolific in just a few years, with dragons to do the work!”
“Th-they had fun d-doing it!” protested Cessilia.
Even without her saying it, it was obvious. Krai was happily digging, making little mountains and deep trenches of soil all around, which meant a large area was already plowed. All the villagers who had been brave enough to come and observe were speechless. Cessilia turned to the older lady when the dragon was looking for its last treat.
“K-Krai d-did a lot, b-but you will still have t-to work to b-bring this place b-back to what it was. It r-rains a lot in the area, so you c-can p-prepare to farm again and organize th-this land as you want. Many villages are p-probably in the same situation as yours, so you c-could try growing many d-different kinds of crops, and later b-become a reference for th-them. P-prepare a lot more food for th-the nearby v-villages who will t-take longer t-to get b-back on t-their feet. You c-can establish this village as a future p-point of trade.”
For a few seconds, the old woman seemed a bit lost, and Cessi wondered if she should explain again. Yet, to her surprise, the older woman took a deep breath and bowed. Behind her, several villagers did the same, or even got on their knees, all showing deep respect and gratitude toward the Princess. The whole area was silent, and Cessilia, shocked, took a step back.
“N-no! P-please, it’s not necessary...”
“Please let us thank you, my lady,” said the old woman. “Without you, we would still be hiding in our houses in fright, instead of thinking of the future. And thank you for using such a noble creature to help us prepare to farm again. I promise we will work hard, and do our best from now on. Thanks to His Majesty and you, it feels like this Kingdom might still face a new dawn after all we have endured! I hope I’ll live long enough to see it!”
Cessilia felt horribly embarrassed, but when she glanced to the side, both Tessandra and Nana were smiling at her, clearly happy with this resolution too.
“Y-you’re welcome...” she muttered.
“Alright,” said Tessa. “Cessi, it’s starting to get late, and I see more of those dark clouds from earlier. We should go back now if we don’t want to get caught in another storm...”
Quickly, they bid goodbye to the old lady and all the villagers they had met. Naptunie once again promised to send them food from the Dorosef Tribe, and the Muram Village thanked her too, as well as Tessa and Sabael, for their help.
Cessilia had an odd feeling when Krai took off from the ground. She was glad they had been able to help this village, but their situation was probably the same as many others... Who would be able to help them all? This was an issue of a Kingdom-wide scale. Some weren’t even freed of the bandits yet. She couldn’t imagine what those people had gone through, but she could see a glimpse of it in their eyes. Hell, surely...
Just like Tessa had predicted, the rain began to fall on their way back. Krai tried to fly quickly, not fond of that weather, either, but the Black Dragon couldn’t spare them from the downpour. They were all a bit relieved when they finally landed on the outskirts of the Outer Capital, as the wind at least wasn’t as terrible down there.
