About ten hours after the other kobolds lay down to evolve Ves'ra felt one of her spells go off - at least one kobold hatched just now.
She left her familiar's side, grumbling about the irresponsibility of having eggs after summer. Ves'ra had set up the hatchling's chamber like the hut back at her village of birth - hatchlings had to move out of it to be worth of joining the village.
The hatchling had no problems escaping, and looked just like any kobold that just hatched. She bundled the hatchling up in a bunch of cloth - a plant-mage was perfect for creating cloth - and started warming some food.
"How do I call you?" She asked, not expecting an answer. The hatchling was a male, but that would only come in play when he earned his second name.
"You're Vhe." She told the sleeping hatchling. Vhe was joined by another three hatchlings - probably his brood-siblings. She called all of them Vhe, their second name would be determined by the band that took them in.
---
The kobolds of the village finished the first part of their evolutions six hours after Vhe hatched. She didn't see any physical changes when they joined her at the communal fire, but that was to be expected - you couldn't gain mass when evolving, and a body took time to change.
Ves'ra mentioned the six kobolds with a forming bond over.
"I hope your bond is still there?" She asked. "I completely forgot about that, sorry."
"I can still feel him chief." They told her.
"Good, then you should visit them, shouldn't you?" She said.
"As you command."
Arvog took another day to finish his evolution - wyverns were a lot more powerful than kobolds, so his energy took more time to change his essence than that of a kobold.
The kobolds of the village already started to change - she forbid them to leave until their evolution was finished - most of the mages started walking more upright while the body-enhancers bulked up considerably. Hunting that drake had really been luck, Ves'ra doubted she could hunt enough for thirty ravenous kobolds and an even more ravenous wyvern.
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Most of the village took five days to a week to finish their evolution. She had been right - the mages looked a lot like her, though a little smaller and more stocky. The fighters bulked up considerably, only gaining a couple of centimeters in height.
Arvog took the longest to finish growing, needing nearly two weeks to gain his new form. Ves'ra didn't know what he was now - he still looked the same, even though he grew alot, the base of his wings shoulders now reaching her head when walking.
She started creating a harness the moment she noticed him growing, she really wanted to fly!
Ves'ra already waited for three days, leaving her familiar time to get used to his new body, but that stopped now.
The whole village stood around them, watching as Ves'ra strapped herself on her familiars back. They were ready moments later, and excitement spread through her.
"Let's go!" She cried, and Arvog jumped into the air. They rose noticeably slower, but rose they did. It was glorious, the air flowing over her scales. She looked down and whooped, flying was great.
Still, fighting like this would put the both of then at a serious disadvantage, so Ves'ra cast two spells. One to take the heat infront of them and warm Arvog's blood, and another to take the air in front of them and gather it under his wings, making it denser.
Arvog lurched forwards, suddenly finding a lot more purchase in the air. He dove down on her request, it was perfect. As they plummeted down towards the ground Ves'ra started wondering, why didn't she teach her people how to cast true magic, how to bind their energy into a rope and a lot of other, smaller things?
That wasn't what she would do, so why did she?
The human. It seemed she was being influenced unconsciously, because keeping knowledge to oneself wasn't the kobold thing to do. She’d take care of that once they returned, but only after an extensive flight!
---
The last month and a half had been incredibly productive. They had widened the clearing in front of the cave, built a small keep on top of the entrance and used the stream to built a moat around the keep. None of them lived in the actual keep - it was solid, ten meters tall and twenty wide with only a few walkways to reach the battlements.
They decided against using magic stone - instead using solid granite - because they didn't know how dispelling worked, and didn't want to risk the keep breaking down with them inside. By now all of the eggs were hatched, and the first batch of eggs was laid.
“What do you plan to do in the summer revered chieftain?” A younger Tes’va asked.
“We continue as we have, though we’ll have to evacuate eventually, I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of humans coming sometime after summer, more than we can take.” She explained.
“Why are we still here then? Wouldn't it be safer if we left now?” She asked.
“I would, but I have obligations outside of the village, and someone wants to know when the humans come.”
“How will you tell them if you're here?”
“They gave me a way, don't worry about that, I highly doubt anyone will be able to catch us. I don't even plan to fight, we’ll collapse the keep the moment we see them.”Ves'ra said.
“I see, that's good to know. I’ll start to send some hunting parties out then.”
“Do that.” She said, before turning to look over the forest in front of her. She couldn't wait to move again, hunt for more monsters like the drake and evolve into something even more powerful.