Page 2 of Bitten in the Wild

I waved goodbye and left them to their mate bickering. Castor and Axlin always found a middle ground. They were good like that. Still, I heard enough bickering in the dining room to last a lifetime. I hoped when Melon and Casimir found their true-mates they got along better than they did.

***

An hour after checking on Castor’s baby, I landed in the clearing closest to the forest where the mushies grew. The properties of the mushrooms in question varied by which authority or researcher you believed. So, naturally, I believed none of them. If a claim was unable to be peer reviewed, verified, and repeated by a different party, it was just that – a claim. For something to be true and accurate, it must be repeatable by anyone with the qualifications and access to the same materials. The only thing everyone agreed on was that the mushies in theirraw form made everyone trip balls. That I didn’t need to prove or experiment further on.

I stripped off my shirt and stuffed it into my bag when I spotted the cabin that worked as headquarters for the priests, healers, and forest wardens who guarded the forest and oversaw those who came to experience the mushies firsthand. With my permits in hand, I crossed the clearing and knocked on the cabin door. I wondered if they like most people at work here, would be doused in their version of pheromone blocker spray.

“Who is it?” a gruff voice called from the other side of the door.

“Doctor Izora Moonscale,” I answered.

Moonscale was not my surname back on Earthside, but it was just easier for us to follow suit on Starscale 1 and go by the surname of our birth flight.

“Doctor what?” the gruff voice called back.

“Healer Izora Moonscale,” I tried instead, furrowing my brows.

“And you have a permit for eating mushies?” the voice called back.

“No, I have a permit from the council who oversees medicinal practices and….”

Laughter erupted inside the cabin and I blinked. My dragon reared up on his hind legs like the impatient beast he was.

“Come on in,” the gruff voice called. “Had to fuck with you a bit. No one knocks around here. Not at this door. It’s flight property, not personal property. Come on in!”

The Starscale concept of property was one I was still adjusting too. Anything that wasn’t personal property was considered flight property. It should’ve been simple, but that included businesses, offices, and random buildings built by dragons to serve a temporary purpose but left standing. You could be asked to leave flight property for misbehavior, butno one ever asked why you were somewhere that seemed odd. Except the forest. There were rules about the forest that homed the mushrooms.

I pushed the door and it opened easily. Inside the cabin were several desks, a mini kitchenette, and two doors leading out of the main room. A clinic and a restroom by the smell of it. A pair of dragons lounged on one of the desks, the shorter sitting between the taller one’s legs. They were true-mates by the smell of it.

“I’m Cevin,” the shorter one said. “This is Bluing. He’s a fucknut, but he’s my fucknut.”

“Mates, I take it,” I nodded.

“Let’s see this permit,” Cevin held out his hand and I passed off the paper.

“Take a seat,” Bluing said, proving himself the owner of the deep, gruff voice.

I looked around and pulled over one of the rolling desk chairs. Cevin stared at my permit for a long time as if looking for proof it was a forgery.

“You got all that?” he asked several minutes later.

“Excuse me?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” Cevin frowned, his brow furrowing.

“You didn’t say anything,” I said gently, because who knew what hour of his shift he was on.

Bluing laughed, but Cevin rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Mate,” Bluing hugged his partner close. “He’s new on the flight link. He’s like a hatchling that way.”

“I’m going to write Hush a letter when he leaves,” Cevin said to his mate. “He needs to host a class or something for the Moonys to know how to use the link properly, but for now, I’ll speak aloud.” He turned his attention to me and took a long, deep breath. “This piece of paper permits you to collect officialmedical samples. It permits you to wander the woods without disrupting the ecosystems or the dragons partaking in the fungi of the forest. We ask that you give them a wide berth out there, but if you come across someone who looks in need of help, please inform us via the flight link. You do know how to do that much, correct?”

“Yes, I know how to speak on a flight link,” I said, doing my best to not grit my teeth.

“Good,” Cevin nodded, “because if you get lost that’s our best way to find you.”

“Don’t forget about the wildlings,” Bluing reminded him.

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