“Come on.”

Without warning, Sabael took her hand, and pulled her out of the tent. As soon as they were gone, Cessilia chuckled and Ishira sighed.

“Can those two be any more obvious? It’s almost painful to watch!”

“...I don’t get it,” muttered Nana. “Is my brother chasing Tessandra now, or...?”

“It’s what you c-call push and p-pull,” chuckled Cessilia.

“Ah... Oh, well. I’m glad they don’t seem to be fighting anymore! I will get back now! Let me know if you need more beignets, we are preparing a new batch. I think the Yonchaa Tribe is bringing us more ingredients too!”

Naptunie left. She looked as tired as them, but rather happy to be helpful in organizing the distribution around. She had put up an efficient system to have the recipes and dosages all ready to be measured up, so more people could help both in the temporary kitchen and for the ingredients preparation. Plus, she had an incredible memory, being able to tell who had how many buns and cups of tea since they had begun distributing.

“...I never thought I’d say this one day,” muttered Ishira, “but that Dorosef girl is more capable than I thought. I thought she was just always busy studying, but to think she can use all she learned on the field...”

“N-Nana is much m-more than she seems,” said Cessilia proudly. “She’s very b-brave too.”

“Indeed... Our Kingdom has some really capable young women around. You’re even more impressive, Lady Cessilia. You know, I’m thinking of expanding that system you created.”

“The system I c-created?” she repeated, surprised.

“The visiting doctors! I never thought about the doctors visiting the patients rather than the other way around! We have so many patients visiting our doctors offices and hospitals every day, I never realized there might be so many people in need of a doctor who wouldn’t go to see one themselves. I’ve been talking with some of those people we saw, and I was a bit surprised. Some people don’t dare come into a doctor’s office, or can’t, for some reason. Many overestimate the cost of medicine, or don’t even know my family offers free consultations for the poor twice a month...”

Ishira smiled, putting one of her braids behind her ear.

“I may have... never thought of sending one of our doctors out here,” she said. “The Outer Capital has always been absolutely insecure since I was a child. Our family used to live far from the rest of the population, to protect my aunt and the knowledge we inherited from her and the people of the Rain Tribe. When we... got on the King’s side, and we were given mansions inside the Capital or bought locations, we thought of our security first, as usual, but...”

She took a deep breath and turned to Cessilia, with a smile.

“You, a foreigner, came here and you just spent hours organizing a rescue for people you knew absolutely nothing about. You didn’t care a single second about hiding your knowledge of medicine and you didn’t once use your power as an Imperial Princess, or even that dragon. You spent hours under this downpour treating each citizen as if they were your equal, with no care for their background... Princess Cessilia, I think you have a lot more to teach our Kingdom than medicine. ...Do you have any idea how impossible it is to have members of different families cooperate like this without any sort of payback between them? Now, look. The Yonchaa and Dorosef donated food alongside one another. I am... treating people one after another without knowing who they are or asking for any money. People were so... helpless, for so long, we forgot what it was to simply help someone else.”

Ishira turned her eyes inside the tent. There were a dozen people inside, calmly chatting and treating wounds. All of the doctors were volunteers from the Hashat Family. They were tired, only there to serve complete strangers’ needs, but they were all smiling, reassuring, and treating them with the greatest of care too.

“...I never thought I’d be as proud of my family as when they are sharing what we tried so hard to protect and keep to ourselves for free.”

“The Rain T-Tribe would be proud,” nodded Cessilia.

“I think so too.”

The two women smiled at each other. They felt a bond between them, not only from their similar age and interests but because of their familial roots. Perhaps they were more closely related than they thought.

“You know... I always had doubts about our King,” muttered Ishira, “but... of all the people I have seen today, I think he surprised me the most. I never saw His Majesty act so vulnerable. Genuinely I always saw him as a demi-god, but a lot of people remember him fighting for this Kingdom. Perhaps he might not be so bad to follow after all....”

“C-come on,” Cessilia smiled, “let’s g-get back to it.”

The two women went back to treating patients. There were no big emergencies, luckily, and even as the other Hashat arrived to help out, only a handful of people were taken to the Inner Capital for further care. Most people they saw had light injuries or diseases that could be handled with known treatments, but as time went on, it was obvious some people were coming for conditions that resulted more from the journey there or long-term issues than any emergencies. Still, both girls and everyone else kept treating patients, losing themselves in work and feeling happy about it.

Without their knowledge, Ashen and Tessandra had arrived and been spying on Cessilia for a few minutes at the entrance of the tent, watching her working hard while each drinking a cup of tea.

“Her mom’s best student,” chuckled Tessandra.

“She already knew every herb and plant when she was young,” smiled Ashen.

Tessandra gave him a glare, staring at his form up and down, and taking a step aside.

“I still don’t like you, for the record,” she blurted out.

“...Noted.”

“And if you ever hurt my cousin again, I’ll make you pay. I may not have a dragon but I can still barbecue your ass anytime.”

“...Duly noted.”

Tessandra clicked her tongue, a habit of their family he had forgotten, and stepped inside. Ashen sighed. With Cessilia being so sweet and gentle, he had forgotten the women in her family all had dragon blood in their veins...

“Cessi?” Tessandra called out.

“T-Tessa! ...Is everything g-going well outside?”

“Very well. But it’s getting late now, we’ve been here almost all day. I think they can do without us now. The members of the Dorosef Tribe are running out of supplies, but everyone has been decently fed at least once already, and the Yonchaa promised to bring some more vegetables for the local kitchens to boil and share. Plus, I don’t think you’ve noticed, but the rain has calmed down more.”

“Oh...”

Cessilia looked up, and indeed, she could hear the sounds above the tent were calmer than before. She nodded.

“G-good, then...”

“...And, I’m sorry to remind you, but I think you’ve got a banquet to attend?”

Cessilia’s heart dropped. The banquet! She had completely forgotten all about it. She had spent hours in the tent, caring for the sick and getting completely absorbed in treating one patient after the next, she hadn’t realized how late it had gotten outside. She nodded, a bit stunned as if she had been sucked back into reality.

“I’ll go grab Nana and Sab,” said Tessandra. “See you in a minute.”

Cessilia agreed, and as her cousin left, her eyes fell on Ashen, who had been waiting behind. She sighed and walked up to him.

“Is it v-very late?” she asked, worried.

“Not as late as she made it sound. But we should go back now. We’ve done plenty here, the rain is calming down, and I think you deserve some rest before the next battle...”

Cessilia chuckled nervously. Indeed... She had been standing up for hours with only a couple of beignets in her stomach. Now that she had stopped focusing so much, she could almost feel the fatigue weighing on her. After a quick word to say she was leaving to the doctors in the tent, which no one opposed, she stepped out, holding Ashen’s hand.

The scene outside had changed quite considerably. The queue for the beignets was now reduced to a few dozen people, and no one was looking as famished or desperate as before. In fact, the streets were much emptier, and instead, people had gone toward the dozens of tents that had appeared outside, scattered between the streets.  Naptunie and Sabael came out from one of those streets, looking a bit tired as well, but calm. The rain was no more than a gentle drizzle now, nothing that they couldn’t handle on a daily basis.

“I still can’t believe so many people came,” muttered Tessandra, glancing at the queue. “I never thought I’d ever get sick of handing out fish beignets...”

“I was surprised too,” said Nana with a sad expression, “but I chatted with a few people, and they said a lot of them came from nearby villages a bit farther away, not all of them are from the Outer Capital. The flood was worse in the lowlands and midlands, and this is the highest part of the Outer Capital, so they gathered here, hoping the Ki–I mean, someone would help them out... There really aren’t normally this many people in the Outer Capital, but they didn’t have a choice. The word spread quickly after we began distributing food too! Many people arrived later, I think by word-of-mouth...”

Cessilia had that feeling too. A lot of the patients they had treated today looked exhausted, not from the downpour but from the journey to the Outer Capital. She had treated many foot wounds, twisted ankles, and other injuries that indicated the people had come from perhaps even farther away. Had the rain taken over all of the Kingdom, driving people all the way here? As the little group was getting ready to head back to the castle, she couldn’t help but glance around, surprised by the difference from the previous situation of the Outer Capital. Now that the flood was completely avoided and left as a scary memory, people looked a lot more relaxed, not so bothered anymore by the rain, even for those hanging around against the buildings’ walls, shielding themselves under the edges of the rooftops.