“What about the t-tents?” she asked. “And c-clothes. Where d-did those come from...?”

“Many tribes had to come here because of the rain too,” explained Sabael. “When they heard what we were doing, they simply installed their tents here and offered people to come in. I heard the Yonchaa Tribe and Hashat Family brought some of their people back here from the outer lands just to help out, and the word spread...”

Cessilia was shocked. This many people were all tribes from outside? She knew there were more tribes than the ones with a head seated at the Council, but looking around, she could see so many different kinds of people, attires, and body decorations, giving many clues about all the vibrant tribes that existed outside the Capital’s walls. Many were comfortably chatting with people from different tribes too, and food, money, or clothes changed hands like that. What had happened here? It looked like the former Outer Capital that was so insecure and its people reserved had now become a cultural crossroad!

“I’m so glad many people showed up to help,” sighed Nana. “I don’t mean to complain, but I think we almost emptied my tribe’s food stocks... We usually have a lot, but I think my uncles will have to fish twice as much from now on! You know, we even worked with the Yonchaa Tribe to make new types of buns! They were so nice, and they helped us make a ton more. We had meat-filled ones!”

“God, don’t ever let Krai hear about that,” chuckled Tessandra, “or any dragon, for that matter. I swear your tribe’s cupboards will be raided by something bigger and hungrier than a mob...”

Nana chuckled and glanced toward the large mountain of dark scales lying against the wall. Krai had apparently decided to simply wait there, a bit bored and taking a nap at the periphery of the streets. There was a continuous crowd of shocked and fascinated people glancing at the dragon, pretending to walk around in the rain or staring from the windows. Some children were even playing to see who would dare to get the closest to the dragon, screaming and running back when it suddenly breathed out or moved its eyes to them. Now that they were fed and the water had gone down, the children weren’t scared to play around anymore and actually seemed to have a lot of fun distracting themselves with that giant, scary toy.

“...You can tell that big boy is used to kids,” chuckled Tessandra.

Cessilia, however, had her eyes a bit away from the group of bashful kids. A young girl was crouched down, staring at the others with her head in her arms, scared and crying. There was no adult near her, but she had proper clothes on, and Cessilia was sure she had seen that child with locals earlier.

“...J-just a minute,” Cessilia muttered to their little group.

She walked away from them, going to the scared little girl. The child raised her head as she heard her approach, surprised. Cessilia crouched down to her level, smiling at her.

“...You’re n-not having fun?” Cessilia asked. “Are you p-perhaps hungry?”

The girl shook her head, her eyes going to Krai with absolute fear in them. As soon as she thought the dragon’s red eyes had crossed with hers, she jumped and hid her face.

“K-Krai is not scary,” said Cessilia. “D-dragons are nice.”

The little girl shook her head vehemently.

“No. Dragons are so scary...”

Cessilia frowned, a bit confused. Has that child seen a dragon before? She extended her hand, offering to help the girl stand up. The child took it after some hesitation. She was visibly scared of Krai, but also intrigued by the Princess, staring at her green eyes with curiosity.

“D-do you want me t-to show you? K-Krai really is nice.”

The girl stood there, her eyes riveted on the dragon. Cessilia smiled and very softly, began humming. Her voice was low, soft, but a continuous flow of sounds. It was a song, but she wasn’t singing any lyrics. Still, something strange happened. Her voice began echoing. There weren’t any walls, but Cessilia’s voice seemed to be gently bouncing off around them as if the rain was her instrument as much as her voice. Hundreds of very faint, small, and high-pitched echoes of her voice resonated around them.

Everyone close enough to hear stopped whatever they were doing, mesmerized by this unique music. On the other side, Krai rose its head and got up, walking to her. The little girl noticed and curled her body up even more, retreating against the wall. She watched as the dragon’s snout appeared under Cessilia’s arm, rubbing itself against her. Krai was growling very softly, to the same rhythm as the song.

“...He will eat you,” muttered the little girl, still scared.

Cessilia stopped humming and petted Krai’s nose, her song still echoing a bit around them.

“He won’t. ...See? He’s my f-friend...”

The little girl shook her head.

“No... Dragons eat people. Dragons are so scary...”

“N-no,” Cessilia said, “he won’t...”

“But I’ve seen it,” muttered the little girl. “Dragons eat people.”

She suddenly stood up and ran away, leaving Cessilia confused.

“...What the heck was that about?” muttered Tessandra.

Just as perplexed, Cessilia kept staring in the direction the little girl had left. How could that child have witnessed dragons eating humans? She wasn’t even ten years old, and living in the Eastern Kingdom too... She pensively kept patting Krai’s warm snout, thinking.

“I d-don’t understand...”

“Maybe she was scared by something else,” said Ashen, taking her hand.

“B-but she clearly said she had seen d-dragons eat people. I d-don’t think she c-could have mistaken d-dragons for anything else...”

“Could there be other dragons...?” muttered Nana, a bit worried.

“No,” immediately said Tessandra. “Our aunt and fathers made sure to hunt all the other dragons when she became Empress, to avoid issues or a future rebellion. Only the Imperial Family has dragons, and there isn’t a dragon that we don’t know of. Our aunt let a few of her other brothers’ sons’ dragons live, but on the condition that they stay under surveillance at the Imperial Palace. We know them too. They wouldn’t have dared to do something like that. They wouldn’t even be able to cross the border without her knowing.”

Cessilia sighed. She couldn’t shake off that odd feeling she had.

“B-but that girl was really scared of K-Krai...”

“It doesn’t mean she’s actually ever seen other dragons. Perhaps she heard some folk tale about dragons eating humans. It wouldn’t be so surprising, either, given the past between our countries...”

Tessandra was so strongly rejecting the idea of dragons they wouldn’t know of, Cessilia didn’t dare add anything to that, but she still felt very insecure. Ashen gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she was reminded of where she was, the rain gently falling and the banquet she still had to prepare herself for. She sighed and turned away, following him. Tessandra followed closely, keeping her arms wrapped around herself, and pretending not to see Sabael who was walking very close to her and stealing glances in her direction...

Naptunie, closing their little group, was frowning, thinking.

“So... you mentioned your uncles’ sons, but the daughters really don’t have dragons?”

“Aside from Cessi and her sisters, no,” said Tessandra.

“We d-don’t know why,” said Cessilia, “b-but the d-dragon blood is more potent with th-the male heirs. The g-girls aren’t normally b-born with d-dragons, my generation is the first. T-Tessa and her sister are a b-bit special too, though.”

“Really?” exclaimed Nana, already excited to hear more.

“It’s nothing,” blushed Tessandra, who kept pretending not to see Sabael. “We are just stronger than the other women born with dragon blood...”

“How so?”

Naptunie wasn’t going to let go so easily. Tessandra sighed, and they bid goodbye to Krai, leaving the large dragon in the Outer Capital, to step through the doors again. While they got on the bridge, Cessilia couldn’t help but glance at the portion of the wall that had been destroyed and was still letting a faint but continuous stream of water down into the river. The damage made to the wall was much more impressive on this side of the wall... She couldn’t even tell if it would ever be able to be repaired someday. She glanced up at Ashen, but the King didn’t even spare a glance toward the damaged wall, his eyes riveted on the other end of the bridge. Cessilia smiled. He really had no intention to repair this, at least for now. Perhaps this would be only the start of more of that wall being taken down...

“It’s not as impressive as having a real dragon,” said Tessandra, sounding a bit embarrassed. “My sister and I are just... a bit different than what the dragon blood women used to be, like our aunt.”

“T-Tessa and her sister t-take a lot after our water d-dragons,” explained Cessilia.

“There are water dragons?” exclaimed Naptunie, her eyes shining twice brighter.

“My m-mother calls th-them that,” smiled Cessilia. “Many of my b-brothers and sisters’ d-dragons are d-different from Krai. They d-don’t fly as well and c-can’t fly such long d-distances, but they are f-formidable swimmers. We used t-to watch them race all the t-time in summer.”