Ciara heard the shouting and yelling of the castle-guards and the growling of what was undoubtedly a dragon, albeit a young one, and immediately set into a run.

"It is quite a high-pitched growling, is it not?" Elias asked as they ran.

"Yes," Ciara said, already panting. She never seemed dressed for the occasion when it came to these things. "It is a young one." It even sounded quite familiar

Just then, Sunrose raced right past them overhead. She was already snarling before she even reached the commotion properly.

The dragonelle promptly landed, snarling and glaring furiously at the Dragon Slayers surrounding herself and the young one.

That confirmed it for Ciara - she knew that young dragon for sure.

Even if it wasn't much, she strained to run just a little faster.

"Stand down!" she yelled with whatever air was left in her lungs.

Surprised, the Dragon Slayers and Royal Guards, holding their swords and spears, all turned to see her struggling to reach them.

"Stand down.. this instant.." she panted as she finally reached them, needing just a few moments to catch her breath again. She swore her shape had disintegrated in the duration of her stay in this kingdom - they were spoiling her too much! "Do not... hurt... the dragon...."

She knew, after all, just how protective her sister was of her dragon. And Sunrose was no different, standing above the young dragon and warily glaring and snarling at the men.

One of the Slayers looked at her skeptically.

"Do you know this dragon, princess Ciara?"

She nodded, smiling when a happy squeal sounded from the little creature. Seconds later, he flew right over the stunned heads of the guards and stormed right into her open embrace, forcing them both to the ground.

"Princess!" someone yelled, followed by the heavy footsteps and the clanking of armor.

She laughed and shook her head. "It is all right." She giggled at the feeling of the drake's rough, cat-like tongue running over the skin of half of her face. "You are just a little over-excited, are you not, Aporo?"

The young dragon yipped as he pulled back to look at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

He was a young wind dragon, and as such had the trademark serpent-like, light gray body and two pairs of wings. However, he had a bit of water dragon mixed into him as well, so he wasn't as feathery and soft as the wind dragons were known to be. Rather, he was much more streamlined like the water dragons were. His wing resembled those of water dragons, though it was impossible for him to stand on them the way Kaisog did his.

Because of mixed genes, the double pair of wings and the more streamlined body, he was incredibly fast. Much more so than any other dragon.

Kaisog landed right behind them, curiously moving his snout closer to sniff at the younger drake. Aporo immediately reacted to the big dragon's approach and unflinchingly looked up at him, his tail swiping from side to side on the ground. He yipped once at Kaisog and then jumped off her, running a little away. He stopped once he realized no one was following him and looked expectantly back at Kaisog over his shoulder.

Kaisog understood what the young drake wanted and immediately chased after him in play. One would never think those two were almost a hundred winters apart in age from the way they were behaving.

She smiled when Alex offered her a hand to get up from the ground and quickly brushed the worst of the dirt off her dress.

She turned to the other guards again, some of whom had returned to their posts already. Some had stayed back, keeping a vigilant eye on the dragons. These were primarily the Dragon Slayers, naturally.

"Did any of you see where the rider of that dragon went?"

One of them looked back at her, looking less than impressed by the whole ordeal.

"Some man and woman crawled off its back and stormed right into the castle." He promptly turned around and began talking with his colleagues.

Well, at least he answered her question. And it seemed her sister had brought her husband with her.

Knowing Madia, though, she wouldn't be taking long in there. Especially with someone like the king.

True enough, loud voices could be heard coming from the open gates. Only moments later, her sister's blonde head popped up in the entrance, closely followed by Zelno. And then a slew of angry guards.

The woman's face lit up as soon as she saw Ciara though, and she burst into a full sprint. Ciara sped up as well and met her half-way, both with their arms open wide. The two met in a tangle of arms and long, blonde hair.

"Oh, C. I have been so worried about you." Madia squeezed the younger girl in her arms.

Ciara frowned at that, hearing the way her sister said it.

"Why did you worry? I am doing just fine." After having convinced at least some of the people here to give dragons a chance, and actually spending her days doing something productive, things had been really wonderful here.

Madia pulled back again, placing her hands on her sister's cheeks.

"I can see that now, and I am eternally happy for it." Tears gathered in her warm eyes.

Knowing how rare it was for her stubborn sister to cry in front of people - or at all, really - Ciara looked to Zelno for answers. This must stick a little deeper than just ordinary concern to elicit a reaction like this one from her.

And the guard dutifully replied, all while gently rubbing Madia's back.

"We received word that you may be mistreated by the king here," he explained, easily calming his wife down meanwhile.

Ciara blinked at that. Where did such rumors come from? It was true the king wasn't the most pleasant person, but going so far as to say he was mistreating her? That was a gross exaggeration, and she didn't like the idea of it.

"Who would dare say such things?" She was unable to hide her emotions from her voice. Didn't they understand that a slight rumor like this one might be enough to set the war in motion for real? However true it may be.

Madia sighed, her face settling into an expression mirroring Ciara's.

"That would be the Water Kingdom," she said, an edge of hatred setting her voice aflame.

Her two friends and bodyguards reacted at this.

"How did you come by this information?" Alex asked.

Madia looked straight at him, her eyes narrowing into slits.

"I do not see why I should tell you, whoever you may be."

Before Alex could jab back at her, Ciara stepped in.

"They have a right to know, Madia," she told her sister. "After all, they would be the ones fighting the war, which might come from this after all. Besides, they are my friends, so I would tell them anyway." She smiled light-heartedly at her sister.

The older of the two sighed once again, this time more so in frustration, but gave in in the end.

"Fine then," she muttered. "Their king sent a messenger to us, informing us of those apparent lies offering to ally in an effort to save you."

Ciara's eyes progressively grew wider the more her sister said. "This is madness."

Alex stepped a single step forward, closer to Ciara, a stubborn frown on his face.

"As you can see, no such thing is happening here - we would not allow it. And neither would your brother, had he seen the slightest inkling of it."

Madia silently valued him with a glare. Ciara kept her bewildered gaze steadily locked on the other woman.

"Surely, you did not...?" she trailed off, letting the question hang in the air.

Madia paused for a moment, her eyes wide. "No! Of course not!"

Ciara breathed a sigh of relief. If they'd taken the Water Kingdom's word for it, war surely would've broken out over nothing. Over her. She'd never want something like that to relate to her name.

Madia shook her head, her blonde hair bouncing all around her. "We would never make a decision like that without consulting you first. We all agreed on that back home." Zelno nodded as well, confirming her words.

A soft smile crept up on Ciara's face. "I am glad to hear that. Truly." She suddenly didn't feel as out-of-the-know as she did just a moment ago.

Madia smiled as well upon seeing the smile on her sister's face, framing it between her hands.

"Enough about that, though." An incredibly soft expression took over her features suddenly. "We heard about everything from Aem. Are you really okay here without anyone by your side?"

A similarly gentle expression grew on Ciara's face as well. She knew her sister was really asking whether she was doing okay here without Kaisog.

"I have been okay this entire time." She moved back from the hands on her cheeks and looked to the two guards behind her with a smile. "I have made a lot of new friends here." She turned the same, bright smile on her sister. "And I also have Kaisog with me still." She glanced up at the sky above, where the two drakes still danced in the sky, now joined by Sunrose as well.

Madia followed her gaze to the dragons as well.

"You do, huh," she muttered in a sigh, all of them simply watching the three for a moment. "He is handsome."

Ciara nodded, smiling just a little brighter.

"And very big too, is he not?" Zelno pointed out. "He does not look fully grown either."

Now he mentioned it, he wasn't wrong. Kaisog had easily grown far over Sunrose's head - and she wasn't necessarily a small dragon either.

Once again, she nodded. "Yeah. He is."

Well, it'd be fine either way. There was certainly space for it here anyway.

Another moment passed between them all, simply enjoying watching the dragons goofing around.

"What about you guys?" Ciara finally asked. "Will you be fine throughout the winter?"

Madia nodded, letting Zelno do the talking for once.

"Certainly. All the new crops from here have really made things easy on us."

Madia locked her steady gaze on Ciara. "Even if we were not given anything more, we would easily survive this year with what we have."

Ciara smiled lightly, internally shaking her head at her sister. "I am glad to hear it."

Even if that were the case, they wouldn't be seeing her home just yet. She'd only just begun here.