Page 141 of A Soul to Steal

I figure he just needs someone to show him.He took in the sound of rock scratching against stone.Can’t learn if no one teaches you.

“Human?” Aleron asked, tapping a claw at the ground to grab his attention.

He peeked at what he’d written and shook his head. “Human has a ‘u’ and not two ‘o’s.’”

He snorted a huff through his nose hole, making Gideon stifle the urge to smile with humour. “I do not understand why letters and words must be so complicated,” he argued as he attempted it a second time. “It looked right to me.”

When he’d written it correctly, Gideon nodded. Aleron continued on with a new word.I’m just glad he doesn’t feel bad about getting words wrong. I wonder if it’s because he knows I won’t judge him for it.He hoped his past self had at least given Aleron that confidence in him.

“Mavka,” he stated confidently, as if he wouldn’t budge on it being incorrect even if it was.

“I’m not sure how to spell that,” Gideon stated with a shrug. “I’d never heard the term before I met you. We call you Duskwalkers.”

“Duskwalker is wrong. Mavka,” he rebuffed, pointing at his carving. “It means forest creature.”

“And Duskwalker means a creature from the Veil that can walk in both the day and night,” Gideon argued warmly. “Unlike Demons.”

“Hmm. I guess both can be correct.” Aleron stood and walked over to where he’d previously written words until he took up all the room on the floor. He pointed to his name. “What does Gideon mean?”

Staying where he sat, he shrugged once more. “I’m not sure.”

“Emerie?” Gideon shrugged again. “Why do they not have meanings? Ingram means raven of peace, and it was given to him because of his skull. Aleron means the winged one, to fly.”

“Maybe I’m called Gideon because I’m so giddy.”

Aleron swiftly turned his skull to him and snorted out a deliberate huff as if disagreeing. He cast him a coy grin; he kind of liked playfully bickering with him. Then he looked over the Duskwalker kneeling before him, and a question crossed his mind.

“I’ve been wanting to ask, since I don’t really know all that much about your kind. Can all Duskwalkers fly?”

“No.” Aleron shook his head, which caused a light rattle to come from his skull. “I am the only Mavka I know with wings.”

“Oh cool. That’s pretty badass then. I bet you’re one of the strongest and fastest Duskwalkers since you can just fly and use your wings for extra momentum.”

Aleron’s tail feathers vibrated in what he figured was joy from his compliment, then he lifted his skull with thought and... hummed. Gideon’s ears pinkened, having realised a little while ago that whenever Aleron hummed, it was a sign he may have said something like this before.

He’d grown a little self-conscious about doubling up on conversations.

“I guess it’s lucky you didn’t know how to fly before. You would have been able to get into towns really easily,” he rambled, rubbing at the side of his neck when Aleron drew closer.

He plonked his butt where he’d been sitting in front of Gideon earlier. It was a little far, but gave him plenty of space to write.

Suddenly Gideon’s gut twisted. “You’re not planning to do that anymore, right? Eat humans... I mean.”

Since Aleron had never been violent or cruel towards him, he’d forgotten what he was, what he could be. A human-eatingDuskwalker. He’d started seeing him as just Aleron, the person who had a bat skull and spiralling goat horns for a face.

Seeming to note the difference in his body language, or perhaps his spiking heart rate, Aleron tilted his head.

“No, I do not plan to do this,” he confirmed, sitting up and facing him. “Because of you, I no longer feel hunger.”

Gideon lowered his hand from his neck with his lips and brows tightening. “Because of me?”

Aleron placed his hands in his lap and scratched at his writing rock as if fidgeting. He looked nervous and unsure.

“Mavka gain humanity by eating humans, and anything we eat makes us bigger and stronger. Yet none of this makes us feel whole, content, or satisfied. I was always filled with this insatiable hunger, but that disappeared the moment we bonded. Mavka are soul eaters, and what we seek is our...” His orbs flashed white, instead of finishing his sentence. His skull turned to the left, then twisted and twitched as he fidgeted further. “Sorry, this is not a conversation you are comfortable with.”

The fact that Aleron felt the need to apologise made shame itch at Gideon’s nape. He let out an awkward, false laugh.

“It’s all good. I did ask.”

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