Chapter Six

Nycto

I woke up when Mom left. She was hungry and wild dragons couldn't go long without food unless it was a real emergency. Her leaving reassured me that Izora would survive the poison I unknowingly fed him. When a wild dragon lost a mate all the others gathered close around as if to fill up all the empty spaces such a loss must leave imprinted on one's soul. She left and the others were going about their own wild business, so we were probably out of the woods. Well, health wise we were out of the woods. I wouldn't blame Izora if he packed up and left saying he never wanted to see me again. The only thing that kept me from pacing the nest was his strong arm holding me tight to his body. That would surely change when he woke up.

"What?" Izora grunted out the word.

He was always disoriented before he drank his too sweet coffee. Good thing I never used the sugar the flight sent for anything else or he'd have been out the first day he was here.

"I'm sorry, Izora," I said, clinging to the arm he still had wrapped around me.

"It's okay. You can wake me up when you're scared," he said, blinking at the bright sun peeking down through the thick forest canopy.

"No, I'm sorry about the mushrooms. I eat them all the time. I grew up eating them. My parents eat them. All the wild dragons eat them," I said, holding on to him tighter with each word I spoke. "I didn't poison you on purpose."

"The thought that you did it on purpose never crossed my mind," he yawned. "Do we have anything to drink up here? Feels like I've been chewing cotton all night."

"I'll get something. Don't leave before I get back, okay? I want to talk about this before you take off. I don't blame you for leaving, but ---" the words got stuck in my throat.

"You're not coming back to the ship with me? I just want to run some things by the captain and maybe do some bloodwork on myself to see what's going on there. I'm not dying. At least it doesn't feel that way. Moonscales and Starscales aren't that different. It seems some of the flight members have turned mushies into a hobby. It's not killing them. It probably won't kill me."

"To the ship? You're going back to Earthside?!" My heart dropped into my belly.

"No!" Izora shook his head. "Mate, I'm confused. I'm not sure if it's from the mushies or not having coffee or what, but you're not making any sense. The ship is anchored for now. The captain and his family live there with his cousin. It's not flying anywhere right now."

"You're not leaving me because I poisoned you?" I asked, holding back a sigh of relief I didn't want to let out too soon.

"No," Izora pushed himself upright and reached out for me with his eyes still squinted. "Why would I leave you?"

"Because I poisoned you! Last night was scary. I've seen other townies act weird after eating the mushies, but it was different with you. You're mine and you didn't eat them to be weird. You ate them because I cooked them for you!"

"Because you always eat them," he nodded. "Mistakes happen, but I think this one might've been a lucky break."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Let's go in. I need something to drink. Maybe some coffee. It's like my tongue is trying to stick to my mouth," Izora said, shaking his head.

A moment later he stuck out his tongue and looked down as if trying to see it.

"It looks normal to me," I said to help him out. "I'll get you something to drink if you don't feel up to going down the slide. I almost killed you."

"I wasn't dying," Izora shook his head.

"It was like you weren't even in your body for a few minutes," I said.

"Come on," he said, taking my hand.

Izora grunted as he lifted the trap door and nodded for me to go down first. I hesitated.

"You're not going to lock me in and fly away, are you?" I asked.

"Sweetheart, mate. Get your ass down that slide. So I can come in and get something to drink. I'm not leaving you out here to freak out on your own. Go!"

I went down the damn slide and found my feet as Izora started down the slide. He stopped himself with his feet and sat on the edge for a moment longer than normal.

"Do you want me to bring you water and coffee out here?" I asked.

"I'm okay. Just feels like someone sucked all the water out of me with a straw. Almost like a hangover from college."

"Are you sure? I don't mind. It's my fault and---"

Izora sighed and shook his head before pushing himself up to his feet.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked again.

He took my hand in his and tugged me close before kissing my forehead.

"A hangover never killed anyone. Besides, I'm on a whole new world. Something weird was bound to happen at some point. I am going to suggest Castor not let the others come out and eat them, but that's about it."

"You were gathering them up when I smelled you for the first time," I said and led him down the cavern to the kitchen.

"I wanted to run tests on them to see if they had any other uses," Izora admitted. "I wasn't going to trip on them."

"Good. I don't think you should have any more. I don't think I'm going to eat any more of them. What if I eat them and the oil is on my tongue or something and I poison you again?"

Izora let out a long breath and opened the fridge. He took out two bottles of water and handed me one.

"Drink," he ordered, and I did because I wasn't in any place to argue with him after my cooking poisoned him.

"It did not!" he growled, picking up on my thoughts over our link.

"It did, though."

"I forgive you," Izora said, his voice softer than before. "I don't think you did anything wrong, but since you insist you did, I forgive you. If we ever get connected to Earthside, I'm running an allergy panel on you before you eat anything they bring over."

"Okay," I nodded, unsure of what the hell he meant, but I smiled because it smelled like he was telling the truth when he said he forgave me. "I'll start the coffee, if you tell me why you think it was a lucky break that I poisoned you."

He opened his mouth to object to what I said about poisoning him, but stopped himself.

"Sit," I said, pointing to a chair.

"Bossy."

"You're one to speak."

"Maybe that's why fate brought us together," he laughed and grabbed another bottle of water before sitting down at the kitchen table.

I started the coffee and Izora told me about his vision. I made him tell it to me three times before I was satisfied. Elves who were also dragons made sense. Dragon shifters could have kids with elves. So, of course, there could be dragon elves. I'd never heard the story the lady from his vision told him.

"I think it was an actual vision, Iz," I said, leaning back against the stone counter while the coffee brewed. "Like I said, it looked like you were dead for a few minutes. Still breathing and all that, but you weren't in your body. I couldn't wake you up. I couldn't feel you."

"Your mom said to think about my problems," Izora laughed.

"Next time maybe don't listen to her," I said, forcing myself to smile. "I'm so fucking relieved you're okay."

"I think I will listen to her next time. This is the best lead we've had about how to connect to the Other World gateways since we landed."

"I hope you found out everything you needed to know because I'm not poisoning you again."

"I insist that you don't," he grinned up at me.