During their hunting trip to L'hatzif, due to some… Mushroom-related incidents, Wild Child, Pumpernickel and Cacao have decided to prepare a small lecture for the whelps. The air was a little humid, but warm, good conditions for spending the time outside. They have prepared it outside, making a comfortable spot under two big caps of the tall mushrooms. The brick doe has made sure that everything was comfortable for their students, gathering many colorful pillows for them to sit down on. Nearby the cozy sitting area, she prepared a few bowls with snacks like dried meat and crackers as well. One of the shorter mushrooms with a broad cap was used as a table of Wilde's specimens of mushrooms he was going to show to Snowdrop and Squall, as well as for some chalk and a sponge. A chalkboard was prepared as well, leaned against a mushroom's trunk and with a big "MUSHROOMS AND FUNGI 101" written on it with green chalk

"Alright, alright, do we have everybody there?" The silver bull asked, making a circle around the cozy pillow space. There were supposed to be two whelps, but only the snow Tark'ee was sitting on her spot with her front paws tucked under her chest. "There were supposed to be two… Where is the winged one?"

"Umm…" Snowdrop looked around. "I swear that Squall was right there a moment ago!" She replied, gesturing to an empty space on a pillow beside her.

Pumpernickel sighed - he was not good at babysitting the whelps and was just about to ask Cacao to look for him, when a small mushroom bounced off his head.

"Hey! No throwing stuff on the teacher!" Wilde warned him, crossing his arms on his chest. "Or you won't get stickers"

"Fine…" a voice of the Aerobic Tark'ee came from the top of one of the tall mushrooms and he hopped down back onto his pillow, kneading on it a little with his paws before settling down.

"Alright, everyone's here it seems" The rust Tsabhua stated, taking one more look around their small makeshift studying zone. Two whelps out of two - the third one stayed behind with Dumpling taking care of them. "Welcome to my mini class! I don't think I have to introduce myself, but today - as we are in L'hatzif - we are going to discuss mushrooms and safety measures that have to be taken around them"

"Because from experience we know that whelps love tasting new things before consulting the adults, which is a very dangerous and irresponsible behavior," Pumpernickel added calmly, peeking at Squall who was a bit busy tugging on his pillow with his beak - clearly very focused. "Recognizing different types of mushrooms will help you stay safe and healthy in the future"

"… It was Squall who gave the mushroom to Truffle!" Snowdrop suddenly announced, pointing at the other whelp.

"What?! I didn't!"

"Hush, it's okay now," Cacao laid down next to the whelps, curling her tail around them to make sure they did not run off just in case. "Now quiet, let's listen to Wild Child"

"Thank you, thank you" he nodded with a smile, happy that she silenced the whelps at least for a moment. "So, we are in L'hatzif, which is full of mushrooms - we have mushrooms back in Rekes too, but we will study them when we're back in Lymanter. Mushrooms can be delicious, yes, but some of them can be dangerous. I am going to classify them into three categories - edible, non-edible and toxic"

As he said that, he picked a piece of chalk and wrote down the three categories in uppercase on the chalkboard.

"What is the difference between non-edible and toxic?" Squall raised his eyebrow at Wild Child. "Does that mean that the toxic mushrooms are edible?"

"No, they are absolutely not," Pumpernickel shook his head. "Non-edible mushrooms are not really toxic, but are often horrible in taste and might leave you with a tummy ache. Toxic mushrooms will give you a worse tummy ache and might make you very very sick.

"Remember to not eat even edible mushrooms without preparing and cooking them first. They might be filled with worms" Cacao added.

"Eww!" Snowdrop and Squall said simultaneously.

"Good point," Wilde nodded. "They also could've been peed on by a wild animal - it's equally disgusting. Or worse-"

"Wilde." The brick doe furrowed her brow, seeing that the two students were already looking nauseous.

"Alright alright, back to the mushrooms," he quickly changed the topic. "Edible, non edible and toxic. An example of an edible mushroom from L'hatzif could be the Crees Spore."

The bull made his way to the table with the teaching materials and dug through one box. He picked up a mushroom with a round, brown cap and rotated it in his fingers.

"This is a specimen I have collected here," Wilde explained. "The Crees Spore is absolutely edible and you can recognize it by the fact it has a brown hat - kind of like a beanie - often with some lighter spotting on it. Here, I will give it to you to take a closer look. Notice that it has a calmer, more natural color"

He leaned down and gave the mushroom to Snowdrop and Squall. The two whelps have grabbed it and analyzed it. Cacao bowed her head down and warned them to not eat it. It seemed that they were disgusted by the possibility of it containing worms.

"Hey psst" Wild Child poked Pumpernickel with his elbow. "Wanna talk about the Sythe Shroom?"

"Who, me?" He tilted his head. "You're the main teacher"

"But~ You are the co-teacher! Come on, try it!"

The silver bull sighed.

"Alright, now to the toxic mushrooms, listen very closely." He began and took another mushroom out of the box. "This one is called the Sythe Shroom. It has a shorter stem and while the hat is also round, it's white and bright blue. Mushrooms are like the opposite of candy - while candy are usually better when they're colorful - more color for a mushroom means it's more toxic"

Then, he gave the Sythe Shroom specimen to Squall and Snowdrop. Cacao observed carefully, making sure none of them ingested it.

"Generally in nature, plants, animals and fungi use bright colors to say please do not eat me - I am toxic to the predator" Wild Child added.

"Oh yes, exactly" Pumpernickel agreed. "Just as he said"

"Wait a minute…. The aerobic Tark'ee whelp suddenly interrupting, squinting his eyes as he analyzed the mushroom. "I am pretty sure that I have seen Cacao put one of these mushrooms into our mushroom soup… Were you trying to poison us??"

"Well, there is one thing your teacher forgot to mention" The doe chuckled softly, reaching out to pat both Snowdrop and Squall's heads. "The Sythe Shrooms can be eaten, but you need to cook them for a very long time. By using high temperature, their toxins can be neutralized and the shrooms can be used in soups and other mushroom dishes safely"

"Ooooh…" The two nodded and peeked at the specimen once again.

"So does that mean that all mushrooms are edible when you cook them for long enough?" The snow whelp asked.

The trio of adults sighed - it seemed that there was more explaining to do…