“And you shouldn’t be rude toward these ladies, Father. As far as I’m concerned, they are my relatives.”

His words surprised Cessilia and Tessandra once again, but in a good way, this time. The young man seemed about their age, but he had no issue overpowering his father’s anger with his composed but firm tone.

“...The Princesses are my guests,” he said. “I’m sorry there seemed to have been some miscommunication.”

“Ha! Is that what Oroun set up? Does that bastard think I am not the leader of this family anymore?”

“...I did not ride all the way here to hear your nonsense, Father.”

“These women are–!”

“My mother’s relatives,” said Hephael. “...She’d be upset at how you’re treating the few people left of her family.”

The anger on his father’s face literally melted away. Instead, it was as if the man had been slapped with humongous guilt. He slowly stood up, glaring at his son, and without another word, left the room. They heard his steps going away, and an awkward silence was left behind until Ishira let out a sigh of relief. Tessandra scoffed.

“Well, I officially like you better than your dad,” she said to Hephael. “Now, what the heck just happened?”

“I apologize,” muttered Ishira.

“I’m the one who should apologize,” sighed Hephael, who walked around the table to take his father’s seat next to his cousin. “It seems like my father intercepted my message... I am the one who wanted to meet you and sent Ishira. I forgot my father has a bad habit of butting in.”

Next to him, his cousin looked mortified. They barely exchanged a silent greeting before she helped him take off his coat and poured him tea. Hephael looked at least much nicer to his cousin, briefly patting her shoulder as he took the drink.

“We did not come here to hear our dads be insulted.”

“I offer my most sincere apologies about that too. The truth is, my mother spent most of her life coldly rejecting his love, even after he freed her, married her, and gave her a son... and it is much easier blaming the other party involved than his own nation for what was done.”

He drank the tea in one shot, while Tessandra and Cessilia exchanged a confused look.

“...So you d-don’t b-believe the D-Dragon Empire was the one t-to attack the Rain T-Tribe?”

Hephael sighed.

“It’s not a question of belief, Princess. There was a war, and a small tribe’s village was caught between two rival nations. You and I are proof the survivors ended up as slaves in both countries, didn’t they? ...Although it might be hard to admit, it’s easy to know what happened. Both the Kingdom and the Empire were responsible for the disappearance of our mothers’ homeland.”

“...That’s not exactly what we heard,” hissed Tessandra, visibly upset.

Next to her, Cessilia didn’t say a word. In a way, Hephael’s words made complete sense. If the Eastern Kingdom alone had raided the Rain Tribe, how would their mothers have ended up in the Dragon Empire...? That was a part of their past that their mothers had never talked about much, either. There was too much trauma behind those memories, and it was too soon to talk about some things. Cessilia was old enough to know her parents’ history, and so was Tessandra. In fact, both girls had experienced hardships because of it. Despite the accomplishments of the Water Goddess, it didn’t change the fact that her skin color was foreign to most people, making it nearly impossible for the girls to have a childhood like others. Not only that, but once their mothers had found some survivors from their tribe, only a handful, they had met people who had gone through real hardships and heard tragic stories.

Hephael sighed and put his glass to the side for his cousin to fill it again. Despite Ishira’s submissive attitude, there was clearly a silent understanding between them, and they definitely acted like siblings to each other, completely unlike the tension with his father earlier.

“I don’t blame you,” he sighed. “To be honest, it took me a while to stop sharing my father’s point of view as well. My mother never really recovered from what had happened to her, and her story was never really clear either. She was literally terrified of any man resembling a soldier, causing her to spend a lot of time in this house, hiding from the outside world. I loved her, but she was a very... troubled woman, and I hope she’s found rest now.”

He and Ishira exchanged a glance and a little smile toward each other. Hephael gently caressed his cousin’s hair. The young woman seemed to be a lot more reassured with her cousin in the room.

“My aunt was the one who acted most like a mother figure to me, and also took care of my mother,” explained Hephael. “Because of her being unable to stand being around men, she had a quiet, secluded life. Meanwhile, my father kept leading the family outside the Capital, as we were originally travelers. I think she is the main reason we ended up here in the first place. My mother’s knowledge in medicine took our family in a new direction... leading us to where we are today.”

“So your mother was the only... woman from the Rain Tribe?” asked Tessandra. “We were told there were, uh... other people with your tribe.”

“Oh, there are. My mother was actually the first adult from the Rain Tribe to join the family. My father fell for her after seeing her at a slave auction, although he’d never owned a slave before. He then tried to find and buy back more of her people, trying to help my mother overcome her traumatic past. He even renamed our family after it became clear her knowledge of medicine would be the new focus of our people... The other people from the Rain Tribe he found were three young women and six children. One of the young women sadly committed suicide shortly after, and another one died in childbirth. The last one is still doing fine as of today, and she’s traveling with our people as we speak. She’s happily married with five children, and I’d love to introduce her to you if we get the chance.”

“W-what about th-the children?” asked Cessilia.

Hephael turned to her and nodded.

“Two died of disease, but the four others grew up fine, and are actually our best doctors. They are not... fond of the Capital, though, they live with the itinerant part of our family with their own families. ...Can I ask about your mothers? To be honest, we have only heard from afar about the stories from the few people who could travel between here and the Empire...”

Cessilia and Tessandra exchanged a smile.

“Our m-mothers are named C-Cassandra and M-Missandra. Th-their maternal g-grandfather was the t-tribe’s chief... Th-they were c-captured and sold s-separately after the attack. My m-mother b-became a slave for nobles b-before she met my d-dad and they fell in love...”

“My mother was sold to the prostitution district and worked until a patron helped her buy her freedom,” said Tessandra. “She was already a free woman when she and my aunt reunited. After a while, she actually married one of the Empress’ other half-brothers, my dad and Cessi’s paternal uncle. Cessi and I are actually cousins from both sides. Since then, they have both been looking for other people from the original Rain Tribe, and they’ve only found a handful of their descendants so far...”

“That’s heart-warming to know,” smiled Hephael. “...I wish my mother had been alive to hear that some of her relatives survived.”

“C-can we ask her name?”

“Hendira… My mom’s name was Hendira. She did mention a village chief a couple of times... but that’s all I know, I’m sorry.”

“It’s already p-plenty,” Cessilia said with a smile. “We will t-tell our mothers more of their p-people survived.”

“Did you ever go to the village?”

Cessilia and Tessandra exchanged a shocked look.

“...It’s still there?” muttered Tessandra.

“Well, there isn’t much left,” sighed Hephael, “but... the location is to the south of this continent. I was shocked at how it is exactly on the border between the two countries, to be honest. I went there a couple of times to pay my respects... There isn’t much to see, though, so do not expect anything if you go. Grave robbers stole whatever the soldiers hadn’t already taken...”

“We will g-go,” said Cessilia, not even thinking twice.

They hadn’t even thought about the possibility of ever seeing the remains of the Rain Tribe’s village. That place had always been an enigma to them, the remnant of a memory their mothers shared with them. To think they’d be able to go was a bit unreal.

“I believe Ishira shared with you a... present.”

“Th-thank you for th-that.” Cessilia nodded.

“I’m afraid we don’t have much more to offer, honestly. The knowledge we have is mostly what the Rain Tribe gave my mother, and what she gave us. Although we have done our best to increase that knowledge, you will have probably seen as much from your mothers.”

“It d-doesn’t matter. Th-this is p-proof that their p-people survived even on th-this side of the b-border...”

“It’s not like we were expecting much, truthfully,” added Tessa. “Our mothers were pretty... realistic even when they began searching for their people. It’s good to know at least a few more survived. …But, do you know more about who was really the first to attack?”

Hephael sighed.

“...My father’s words got to you, didn’t they? To be honest, I never got a straight answer either. They all said everything happened so fast, and some soldiers were fighting on top of everything... Their descriptions of their armor weren’t described the same way twice, and given that they were taken into foreign lands when they’d never taken a step outside of their village...”

Cessilia and Tessandra nodded, but both girls were left to their own thoughts. Hephael was right; it did bother them a bit. When Ishira kindly invited them to start dining, the young Family Leader helped himself too.