The humans had impressed Ves’ra quite a bit. They were way smarter than she gave them credit for at first, binding the monster to the ground after luring it with an illusion. She really wanted to know how they did both, she couldn't do a illusion and the two shamans seemed unable to do them too. The magical chains looked even more useful, something to ask the shaman about when she returned to the village.
She would wait for the humans to return to their homes first though, a beast as powerful as that wyvern was sure to be delicious. Although the humans took more of their prey than ever before, taking its scales, claws, teeth and stingers, they left the most important part behind - the meat. Once she was sure the humans left she entered the clearing and cut out the hearts and liver.
...
Bliss.
…
Not even the wolf came anywhere near that taste, she really didn't understand why the humans left that much.
She wouldn't complain, the more left the better for her!
Once she ate her fill of wyvern she looked at the spot the humans had buried their dead, contemplating on digging him out too.
Eating another intelligent being didn't sit right with her in the end, so she decided against it. It was high time to returned home anyways, she missed sleeping with her band. She took as much of the wyvern’s meat as she could carry set out to return home.
She came back in the early evening, exhausted and ready to fall on her furs and sleep for a week. She didn't do that though, she first had to report back to the chieftain. She was already waited for, bidden inside before she could ask to enter.
“Come in, I was waiting for you. You took quite long time.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I encountered some humans, they were searching for something and would have found the village.”
“What did you do? I hope you didn't kill them?”
“I didn't, they didn't look tasty and were clearly intelligent.”
“What did you do then?”
“One of them spotted me while I stalked them and they invited me to eat with them.” She recounted her meeting and subsequent journey with the humans.
“A wyvern huh, well we were quite lucky the humans took care of it, one as big as that could easily hunt all of us down.”
“You know wyverns and humans than?” She asked.
“Let's say my youth was quite turbulent and leave it at that. You did good though, it’s never worth to fight humans, if you kill one of them they will always come back in force. Do you want to learn their language?”
“Of course I do! Only communicating with magic is tiring!”
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“Very well, you will visit me after you are done hunting everyday and I will teach you what I know. Did you achieve your original purpose?”
“No, I explored lightning magic, but it’s of no use offensively. It’s quite good defensively though. I can enchant myself with lightning, so the next thing to attack me will get zapped. The spell will last about an eighth of a day, so I’ve kept it up constantly ever since I discovered it.”
“That's a good idea. Now, go and rest, I'm sure you had to push yourself to keep up with a bunch of humans, I know I did.”
“My magic really helped. I would have had no chance without the extra heat I stole from the environment.”
“That's a really convenient spell; I’ll have to admit. Do you think you could target other beings with it?”
“I'm not sure, the shaman told me it’s nearly impossible to affect others with magic if they don't allow your energy inside.”
“Let's test that shall we, heat me up like you did with yourself, it could prove invaluable for you later on.”
In fact, she was able to affect the chieftain, both if she was blocked and if she was let in. Of course being willing was better, she could directly warm the chieftain’s flesh, opposed to only being able to heat up her scales.
“Your village will most definitely prosper. Now, go to sleep; you look like you’ll fall asleep standing where you are if you don't.”
“Yes chieftain.”
Once she entered her hut she lay down on her furs and fell asleep immediately. She woke later when her band returned, but nothing stopped her from resuming her sleep apart from a short greeting.
She was up and ready to go in the next morning, willing to resume her normal life for as long as possible. She really didn't look forwards to summer, especially what came after.
The next days passed in a haze, everything was nearly perfect. They hunted small game and an occasional deer. They didn't encounter any dangerous animals and sustained no injuries. Ves’ra got her first lesson in the human language ‘common’ on the day after she returned. It was a complex language compared to their native tongue, but she was sure she’d be ready to communicate in it within a few more months.
Excitement spread over the village about a week after the humans left, some kind of villagewide feast was planned, just like on the day she was born. There were no new eggs in the village - that couldn't be the reason. She was curious, even going as far as asking her siblings for knowledge, but they were as clueless as she was.
The adults remained frustratingly silent and no amount of prodding produced any results - that never happened before! Once it was clear she wouldn't get any answers she stopped, all she could so was wait and see.
Four days before the feast was to be held she was called to the chieftain’s hut and given a very interesting task.
---
A day later Ves'ra and her band were further from the village than the others had ever been. They were also talking carelessly, completely different from their normal behavior.
Suddenly their heard something heavy crashing through the woods, accompanied by very angry squealing. They went alert immediately, their prey finally found them.
They were ready only seconds later, and not a second too soon as a boar charged them from the underbrush. Four of her band grunted as a sturdy rope made of bark rose between two trees in between them and their prey, tripping the large beast. Before it had a chance to get back on its feet a heavy branch with a head of ice came down on its head, knocking it out cold.
“Good job.” She said. “Now break its legs and load it up.”
They were on their way back home a few moments later, having knocked out their prey again after breaking its legs.
She entered the chieftain's hut that evening, distaste about what they did to the boar still fresh on her mind.
“I did what you asked me to do. Why does it have to suffer? That's unnecessary and not something we normally do.”
“It's for the feast. You know that fresh meat just tastes better, and we don't hunt boars. The only time we do is for a feast, when either the shaman or me will go and hunt one for the village. Hunting without killing is quite hard, we fully expected you to fail on the first few tries so we sent you out earlier. You'll be sent out a second time on the day of the feast, now that we know you can manage yourself.”