Most of the original townspeople were young women, young widows and fatherless daughters who had their men stolen from their arms during the war with Markwell. The few remaining men were mostly either gone and enlisted in the army, the crippled, or the elderly. The women had grown strong to replace the strong figures that had once provided for them. They learned their own trades and started their own businesses. Then, a frisky dragon4dragonspecies came around and settled their desires. When they all learned that they were with his child, they worried whether it was ‘his’ child and not some seed planted by a demon. It was a relief that the Duke, a national hero, would welcome them, because the kindness in his heart. Plans for the youths and a second wave of children were forming among the mothers when a mass invasion of former companions passed through, and everything derailed. But most of the women recognized that the individuals were merely scared and hungry, so they donated their resources and time to the church.
Of the hundred and thirty-eight individuals of the town standing before the companions, except the three dragon-blooded, only eleven were men. Eight were guards, one, Yirk, was a teacher at the academy, and two were passing-through merchants who decided to settle with their wives and children, leaving a total of one hundred and nineteen women involved in the plan to make a lot of dragonoid babies. The rest were the wives of the guards. However, not all of them could carry at the same time. Even if Lazar were capable of it, shops and business still needed to be run, and some needed to care for those in labor. All this left about thirty women for the next wave of dragon children. Naturally, Lazar did not know about this. If he did, he would have probably fled the country.
Of the thirty available, ten managed businesses such as the inn, the smithy, the general goods store, and other places. With their help and some forethought and aid from the nobles of the land and the priests of the church, they quickly set up a soup-line. First, individuals were requested for their background information: where they were born and when, what professions they were qualified for, age and medical history, who they accompanied, and what assets they held. Next, they would be served some hastily made food, and one of the ‘wife brigade’ would direct them to an empty house. If they discovered individuals from the same family, they would send the latecomers to the same place. Six hours quickly passed, and many of the companions volunteered to help, causing the desperate thousands to orderly be accorded homes and fed.
KMega6KMegacharacter could not help them forever, and after it turned dark, he left the effort in the capable hands of the brigade before retiring for the day. As he was leaving, he found Lazar landing on the other side of the church, where many of his lovers were with their newborns. It seemed over thirty had entered mass labor; KMega felt bliss and wonder as he gazed at the over fifty infants. KMega only gave the dragon a nod before leaving to find Astrid7Astridcharacter who was dealing with a few guests from the Dark Sky brood. Then he remembered it was about time for their wine shipment, so he left them be.
***
Astrid was in her dragon-form talking to her guest. Although large and powerful, it was not ideal for hugging KMega at night, so she only returned to her true form when she needed strength or had to handle important matters. This was important, many of the younger dragons of the Dark Sky brood had come over, and many more would soon arrive. During the tests of the first trial, five of the young that had gone out had not come back, and the disappearance rate had tripled ever since, leading to two or three going missing a week. Many of the older dragons investigated and found humans lurking in their normal hunting grounds. It was then confirmed that some of the young had been killed by them. So as to not weaken future generations by turtling up, the young were being sent to a safe location while Neirlar consulted with his higher-ups about this matter. The dragons had no treaty with demons, so when they had killed his daughter, it had been fine for him to interfere, but with the humans was different. He could not immediately seek his revenge even if he had the opportunity.
