Page 121 of A Soul to Touch

She could almost hear her own reflection tell her that she was that stupid.

“He’s dying, huh?” She gave a sour scoff. “Hard to imagine a Duskwalker dying when the guild has done everything possible to kill them.”

The story of the great bear-skulled Duskwalker was that it’d had its throat cut and then fell into a river. They’d thought it drowned, and because it had never been seen again, they’d thought they’d killed it.

She’d never fought against a Duskwalker herself – she imagined she’d be dead if she had.

They couldn’t even hold them back properly with enchanted weapons. She’d heard they would just rip their own limb off to escape. Then it would be seen again, full-bodied like it had never had an arm or leg torn from its body.

But she knew his facial crack wasn’t healing simply because it hadn’t since she’d first seen him in the clearing, nor had it in the two weeks since he’d come back after leaving her to go the Veil.

Why is this happening?she thought, as she finally shovelled some porridge into her mouth. She was hungry. She hadn’t eaten today and starving herself wasn’t going to solve her problems.

Regardless of anything that may or may not happen, Mayumi was glad he’d come here. She was thankful for everything she’d experienced with him. She just refused to accept that this was it. That there was no solution.

All her life, Mayumi had never looked at things as unfixable problems. Everything had a solution. Sometimes it just required an out-of-the-box thought pattern.

He said it hurts.

So gluing his skull back together with certain adhesives would be painful. She tried to think of anything she could bear placing over one of her own wounds, and anything she knew would burn was immediately taken of her list.

She also couldn’t nail it back together. That left her with very little, and what remained tended to be short-term fixes.

Sitting on her counter was a teacup.

Her father had shown it to her when she’d been young, and he’d explained the significance of it.

What had once been a broken cup was now worth more than most things in her modest home. Her grandfather had bonded it back together with the use of gold dust mixed with tree resin.

If only I could just take his face off and do the same thing.The resin would sting, and she’d need to get into the crack from both sides for it to be effective.

Anything that required a similar bonding, where both sides needed to be worked, was also taken off her list.

“Screw it,” she bit out as she picked up her bowl and finished what remained. “Standing here thinking about it isn’t going to help.”

Mayumi washed up her bowl, spoon, and the pot she’d used to make her food and then stomped to the coat rack where shehad her weapons belt. Then she slung her bow and its matching quiver over her shoulder and went outside to shove her boots on.

Placing her thumb and middle finger to her mouth, she let out a loud, ear-piercing whistle in the clearing. She started in surprise when Faunus fell from the sky right in front of her.

He’d obviously been sitting in the trees.

“I’m not a dog.”The irony of him saying that when he was in his more monstrous form didn’t miss her.“Don’t call for me like one.”

Mayumi rolled her eyes. “Whistling is a form of communication we use in the guild for long-distance calls. I didn’t know how far you’d be.”

He snorted a huff, which she took as him accepting her reason. He did seem a little grouchier than normal, but she figured that was because of earlier.

He’d just revealed that he was dying, and she’d asked to be alone to deal with the way being rejected and the truth of everything hurt. Probably not her most sympathetic or wisest choice, but she didn’t know how to deal with shit like this. Whenever Mayumi had grieved in the past, she preferred to be alone.

In her own way, she knew she needed to accept this possibility and prepare her mind just in case things didn’t work out. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try everything in her might to prove him wrong.

“Can you take me to town?” His orbs immediately turned green, and she didn’t miss the little growl he tried to hide. So, for good measure, she added, “Please?”

“I just took you there a few days ago. You said you wouldn’t have to go back for a few weeks.”

He really doesn’t like me going there.

Mayumi stomped closer, grabbed him by the underside of his snout, and pulled his head closer as she leaned forward. She pressed her lips against his fangs.

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