One after another the girls finished with their classes. Renee had chosen to be a Berserker, Rachelle a Hunter, and Reika chose to be a cleric. Between them, they actually had a pretty good adventuring party formed. Cyrene let them pick gear from the nest so that they wouldn't have to be naked and hiding in her hair all the time, but the immediate differences in their appearance were a cause for celebration among the sisters.
Now, even if someone didn't know which was which, they could tell them apart by class.
Cain could read in their minds that they weren't in a hurry to level up though. Unlike Luna, who reveled in seeing new things and places, the rest of the sisters were happy to remain exactly where they were.
Once they had gotten adjusted to wearing clothes and had the basics of their system functions down, they were back at the remains of the food that the kitchen had brought down earlier, eating themselves into another food coma, while Luna barely managed to remain awake, wrapped around Cain's wrist.
"It looks like it's a Lamia thing. Eat, sleep, repeat." Cain laughed, gently stroking the girls' backs as they slept.
"It's not a bad way to be. But it looks like you will only have one partner for your upcoming adventures. Or maybe three. You wanted to take Jin and Jessica with you before you realized that the eggs were going to hatch so soon didn't you?" Cyrene asked.
"Yeah, it did give me the quest, and it mentioned the avatars, which I am almost entirely certain are them. So, I plan to bring them with me once they have gained enough levels to at least safely travel by my side without being killed by random threats. That shouldn't be long, they are both progressing quite quickly. Luna here should also level up in a hurry, thanks to her Ancient Quality physique, and it will move even faster once we get to the Southern Continent. She can spend some time with the Echoes, learning all about farming, and then we will go explore new places." Cain explained.
That sounded very good to Luna. She hadn't forgotten her theory that the one with the food was secretly the most powerful, so learning to farm from experts that could cultivate Mythic crops was an important step into her future plans.
Jin came to visit them toward the end of the day after she had exhausted herself in the tower. She and Jessica had spent over four hours touring port Nefheim before they returned, and the Dragonkin was lamenting the loss of valuable practice time, even if she did have a lot of fun shopping and meeting new people.
"We're back. Though you likely knew that already. Are these all of the sisters?" She asked quietly, not wanting to wake them up.
"Yes, those four were all born today, and with Luna, that is the whole clutch. They're not a very outgoing bunch, but they do love to eat and sleep. I think it's a Lamia trait since they have so much growing to do." Cain replied with a smirk, looking down at Luna who was clearly comparing her own size to her sisters now that Cain had mentioned it.
"I can understand that. When I was little I spent most of my time either hungry or sleeping. Dragonkin also come from eggs and start out much smaller than human children. Because of that, the more Dragon blooded we are, the more we need to eat when we are little to gain strength and grow up healthy and strong." Jin agreed.
"You should get some sleep in a proper bed though. You spend most of your time in here next to the nest, but now that they have all hatched, there is no reason not to change back to a normal bedroom." Jessica added, her Cleric's instincts kicking in and giving her the urge to mother everyone around her.
"Good idea. Once the girls wake up, Cyrene can gather them and we can head back to the bedroom. There are plenty of good places to sleep in there, including padded baskets that I'm sure the girls would love." Cain suggested, thinking of the pillow-filled baskets that Laura had placed in random bedrooms in every city so she could comfortably sleep wherever the urge caught up to her.
[Sure, just giving away my beds. But Lamia do like to cuddle, so it might not be all bad.] Laura thought, imagining a cuddle pile of snake bodies and a Dragon Pixie. With their relative levels, there was no way that the girls could injure her, even Laura's delicate-looking wings in Pixie form could knock them aside, so she had nothing to fear.
The girls weren't out for much longer, and immediately returned to the safety of Cyrene's hair once they were mobile again, talking about various hairstyles they could modify her long locks into for more comfortable riding.
"Or you could ride on my shoulders," Cyrene suggested, but the girls only looked at her as if she had missed the point.
"A nice double heart braid, with half the hair left loose would be perfect. That's four spots to ride on, and a layer of cover to hide behind when necessary, with easy access to the arms when the food arrives. I even have a [Hunter's Mark] ability that I can use to let me know when there is prepared food nearby." Rachelle suggested to her sisters, while Cyrene shot Cain a pleading look.
"I should introduce you to Maggie, one of my Lieutenants. She is an Orcish warrior, and her hair is in dreadlocks that she often ties in bundles. I think you would like riding with her." Cain suggested, not really diverting the topic.
"Oh, that could be good too, like a forest of trees. The braids would be thick enough to easily climb without using your hands too. Father guy is a genius." Reika decided.
[You don't even rate a name from them, you poor, unfortunate soul.] Moana laughed in Cain's mind.
[At least one of them likes me. I am just going to go with it for now. Obsession Demons are hard to manage at the best of times, and arguing with them is usually pointless because they never change their point of view.] Cain mentally laughed.
Maggie's amused thoughts were the next that Cain noticed. [That's right, just leave them with Cyrene and they will come around eventually. She just needs to introduce them to your glory and benevolence. It is quiet here at the Castle, so I can drop by in the morning if they want to visit.]
[I'm sure they would appreciate it and so would Cyrene if it keeps them from tangling her hair into an unmanageable knot trying to make it easier to climb.] Vala's contribution to the conversation made everyone else laugh and Cyrene nodded rapidly in agreement, momentarily forgetting both that her hair was full of Lamia Hatchlings, and that the conversation was in her head.
"We are missing out on something, aren't we? You two have some super secret silent conversation techniques that you haven't taught us, right? Well, that's expected, give me another two or five years to get comfortable here and I am sure I'll be ready to start learning those sorts of things." Remi announced, being the first to notice there was a reason their hiding spot had been jostled.
"Very perceptive. But I think you might get bored before two years are up." Cain pointed out.
"Once you get too big to hide in my hair, you will start wanting to see more things every day, I'm certain of it." Cyrene agreed while the girls all made disgruntled noises.
Their mother was much smaller than most of the people that they had seen so far, so hiding in her hair to relax wasn't a great long-term plan. The girls shared a glance and silently agreed that they would start making plans for an alternate safe sleeping spot tomorrow. They were done with the nest, but they hadn't seen anywhere else yet, so maybe there were already places prepared where they would be comfortable.
After a moment's thought, Renee decided to speak up. "I will admit that you might have a point, but we won't be letting you chase us off until we find a better spot."
Tamii brought them more food, along with a hand-drawn map of the Manor, so that the girls could familiarize themselves with the building that they were in. All eyes went to her hair, pulled back into a loose plait since she had just been training with her clones and the Blood Dancers.
"That's good hair as well. We could climb all through the braid. Ladies, grab a handful, I think we can do it right now." Renee announced, taking the lead among her sisters, and Cyrene's hair quickly started to rearrange itself.
"It's like a grooming spell or having your personal handmaiden. Rather convenient if you ask me." Tamii told an annoyed faced Cyrene with her best attempt at being serious.
"Just wait, one day they will get attached to you as well," Cyrene muttered.
"Why would we do that?" Remi asked, curious about who this new person was.
"That is Tracii. There are four identical copies of her, and they are the Lieutenants that serve under Tasha, the Spider Acolytes that are Cain's Commanders. They will be helping with childcare duties, and the Blood Dancers that they also look after are eager to meet you all." Cyrene explained.
"Oh, there are more important people around. We should see them tomorrow, or maybe the day after. If we find a good room, tomorrow might be entirely taken with naps and meals." Remi said, thinking deeply about what her potential schedule might be.
"I will ask the girls if they want to bring you all lunch tomorrow. You can meet Tasha then, and if you ask very nicely, I think she might even make you spiderweb hammocks. They are the ultimate in comfort, and she can hang them in all sorts of places since the webs are magical." Tracii laughed, and Remi gave her four thumbs up.
"Bring the food with us. We are moving to my rooms upstairs. I'm sure Cyrene is looking forward to a proper bed again instead of the nest, and the girls should at least see some of the house." Cain's order set everyone moving, with Tracii picking up the platter and leading the way, much to the dismay of the girls who could no longer reach it.
Luna had no such issues. She simply summoned a pair of the small birds she had seen outside, that Cain called Budgies, and had them bring her bits of food from the platter as they walked. The inequality was not missed by her sisters, though she pretended not to notice it at all.
