"What the hell happened to you?" Vance's muffled voice shouted from inside the tent. "You metal or something?" Clink.

"Cut it out. I'm a dragon like Mars. Got any food?"

"Yeah, a little." He paused. "Is it for you or the lizard?"

"It's for Mars."

Vance scoffed. "I don't have a clue what that thing out there is, but it turned you into a freak. That's bad news."

"No, you don't get it," Izzy chimed in. "It's really her. She's got the same bad attitude and everything." In a smaller voice, she added, "But I'm glad she's okay."

"You're both crazy." Vance scoffed. "Our only ticket home is dead. We live in the snow now. Better trapped here with the bear people than killed by some Mars look-alike. It's like a stray dog. Feed it, and you'll be stuck with-" He yelped.

"You have no idea how much I want to rip off your head right now," Aster said in a strangely monotone voice. "Stop giving me reasons why I should go through with it, and hand over the damn jerky."

My stomach lurched, and I felt just as dizzy and disoriented as when Aster used my magic before. He shouldn't have been using fire magic on Vance; someone was going to get hurt, and even if Vance deserved it, Izzy didn't.

"What the- just take it, freak," Vance shouted.

Moments later, Aster stormed out of the tent. My vision was still fuzzy, and my head swam, but I could've sworn he he was taller. And he had horns?

I blinked as he marched around the fire and plopped down next to me, cursing as he sat on his tail. It was easily twice as long as it'd been before, but that wasn't the oddest change about him. His face had turned into a short snout, and he opened his mouth to reveal gleaming fangs. Pitch black claws and a crown of dark horns added to his draconian features, but it was the dark gray armored plates that really finished the look. Shaped like an endless eight-pack, they trailed down his chest and spine.

Aster dropped a leather bundle on the ground as he stared at his tail. "Did you...?"

I shook my head. Even with the stench of the fire, I could smell his raging hormones. If void dragons were anything like fire dragons, he hadn't been joking about wanting to rip Vance's head off. That kind of emotion was more than enough to trigger a transformation. Of course, he shouldn't have been able to transform at all, which was why he'd needed to borrow my fire magic.

"This is normal, I guess. I don't know much about void dragons, but I know from experience that our magic is linked to our emotions. And you smell pissed."

He scoffed. "I haven't pissed myself. I'm not a whiny baby Vance, scared of anything that's new or interesting."

"'Interesting' is one way to describe a creature capable of ripping him limb from limb, but that's not what I was talking about. I'm sure as soon as you calm down, you'll go back to being less... draconic."

Crossing his arms, he leaned back against my side. His racing heartbeat vibrated through my feathers. I could only imagine how much he wanted to jump back up and tear Vance to shreds. But knowing the normal semi-pacifistic Aster, I could only assume he would regret that in the morning. I had to distract him somehow.

But first, dinner. I untied the leather bundle to find a pitiful amount of jerky. As selfish as I felt, I ate it all without sharing. Aster didn't seem to care. He was still glaring at Vance's tent.

An idea came to me. "Hey, how about we go for a run?" Hunting was just the thing to take the edge off all that adrenaline coursing through Aster's veins.

"You're in no shape to run. You need to rest." He let out a little growl. "I'll be fine."

"Hmm. Yeah, well, I've got to go to the bathroom, and I'm not sure I trust you to stay here alone without murdering Vance, so..." I stood.

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you inviting me to go to the bathroom with you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Just run around a bit, okay? It'll take the edge off, and I'll be back in a minute. Then you'll get your feathered couch back, and you can keep glaring at Vance's tent in comfort." I padded away from the circle of tents, glancing back a few times to make sure he wasn't going toward Vance's tent. To my surprise, he actually took my advice and started jogging away from the tents. Good.

I took care of business and went back to lounging by the fire. It didn't smell like human blood, so no one could've been seriously injured. I yawned. Even though I was still hungry, the jerky had at least taken the edge off. Exhaustion outweighed hunger, and I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to muttered English cursing and the sounds of people milling about. Stretching my wings, I opened my eyes to see the borin camp was almost entirely disassembled. They'd strapped their tents and kills to their dufflars, and now they mostly seemed to be packing a few random things while staring at me.

I stood. Sharp pain in my legs brought me back down again. Gritting my teeth, I forced my legs to extend all the way. It worked—just barely—but I had to support myself with my arms and wings as well, which probably made me look just as ridiculous as I felt. When I glanced around for the cursing, it seemed to be coming from behind a nearby snow drift.

Feeling like a crippled parasaur, I hobbled around the snow drift. I wasn't sure what I'd expected to see, but Aster standing in his boxers while Izzy pounded his wet, stained pants between two rocks wasn't it. They both froze like I'd caught them in the middle of hiding a murder.

Indeed, it sure looked like Aster had committed a murder. Those stains looked suspiciously like orangey dufflar blood, and they certainly smelled like it. Aster must've dug into the hunters' stash. Well, at least it was better than murdering Vance.

Aster threw up his hands in surrender. His fingernails had gone back to normal, and the armored plates and horns had receded away."I swear, this isn't what it looks like."

What, did he think this scene looked remotely intimate? Both of them looked like they would've rather been doing literally anything else right then. "It looks like you're making Izzy clean dufflar blood out of your pants."

He dropped his hands to his side. "Well, I guess it is mostly what it looks like, but I didn't make her do anything. She volunteered 'cause I'm rubbish at it." Grimacing, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Last night is a little blurry, but I'm pretty sure I tried to catch dinner for you. And I succeeded." Awe and disgust warring on his face, he winced at a trail of blood leading off a little ways. At the other end of the trail was a mangled dufflar.

Izzy cursed at the soaking and bloody pants, which had apparently decided that no amount of melted snow or pounding of rocks would rid them of the blood stains.

She threw down the rocks. "What I wouldn't give for some bleach. Or running hot water. You know what, I give up. The blood suits you anyway." She grabbed the pants and tossed them at Aster before marching back toward the camp.

"Hmm... don't suppose you know any magic laundry tricks?"

I shook my head, trying to seem attentive, but I only had eyes for the dead dufflar. "That's a wild dufflar, right? You didn't take it from the hunters or dig it up from inside the camp?"

"Nope. I caught it myself." He started to pull his pants on, then winced and took them back off. He wrung out a decent amount of water before holding them up to me. "Are you up to drying these? No pressure if you're not; I guess I don't need them. It's just... awkward."

"Sure." That was one thing I could do with little to no magic; my venom was flammable, and clicking my teeth together sent off sparks that ignited it. It wasn't quite as strong or easily-controlled as other types of fire, but it was certainly hot enough to dry his jeans. Still eyeing the dufflar, I blew a steady stream of flame at Aster.

He jumped back with a yelp. "Hey, I'd like them without burn holes, thanks."

"Yeah, right." I backed up a little and tried again. This seemed to do the job, more or less. But it drained my venom sacs, which wasn't great news. I needed to eat fat and bones to replenish my venom.

Aster glanced at the dufflar corpse and gagged. "Go ahead. It's all yours."