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“Yes, and spirally horns on his head. I have only seen him from afar, but he lives in a human dwelling.”

“Where does he live?”

“In the Veil, like all Mavka. He did not like it when we trampled over his... I don’t know what it is called, but it was filled with human food plants, like your berries.”

“A vegetable garden?” Emerie hummed, tapping at her lips. “Why would a Duskwalker need a garden, or a house?”

Ingram’s big shoulders shrugged beneath her knees.“I don’t know. He has always lived there. I think that is where the Witch Owl wants us to go.”

Emerie didn’t need to ask who that was, not when she’d seen Lindiwe turn into a giant owl in front of her.

Still tapping her lips with her fingers, she eventually pursed them in thought. “Lindiwe said we should go to your brothers. I’m guessing this wolf-headed Duskwalker is one of them?”

Once more, he shrugged.“I am unsure. He is Mavka, as we all are.”

That... didn’t really answer her question.

“Well, where did you come from then?”

“I... do not remember, Emerie,”he answered honestly, rotating his head to look upon her with his usual purple orbs. She’d figured out over the course of the last three days that they were his normal colouring, since no emotion seemed to be attached to them from what she could tell.“The first thing I remember is my kindred.”

Since his bony face was eerily staring at her, she was forced to watch his orbs be swallowed up by deep blue. Her lips flattened, knowing that meant something akin to sadness, and the darker the colour, the deeper his sorrow.

Her heart ached for him, even though she didn’t know why he was sad.

Before she could question him on it, his head snapped forward, and he said,“The Witch– Lindiwe... said she is my mother. She said I came from her, that all Mavka came from her.”He halted his steps to scratch at the side of his neck in obvious irritation.“What does this mean? Did she grow us like a tree? Or did she bleed us from her veins?”

Emerie’s jaw dropped, then threatened to unhinge and fall off.

“Excuse me... what?!” she shouted in shock, causing him to flinch. “What do you mean you came from her and that she’s your mother? She’s a...” Emerie was about to call her a human, but then remembered what she’d done.

She’d turned into an owl and a Ghost.

Oh my god, she’s not human! What is she then?Emerie was willing to bend the rules of reality to accept this, only because she’d seen what the woman was capable of.

Lindiwe had also gone out of her way to save Ingram. Now that she was thinking back, she’d also bravely grabbed his beak affectionately in the forest. It’d been with care, like a motherly, concerned touch.

“Okay, so she’s your mother.” She rubbed down her right cheek, then jaw, to stroke her chin. “That would mean she gave birth to you.”

Ingram’s silence was telling, and she sighed as she craned her neck back.I’m about to have the birds and the bees chat with a Duskwalker.She pursed her lips.And I have to do it without explaining what sex is.

Snapping her head forward, she glared with determination at the back of his white raven skull and little sandy goat horns.

“When a mummy and a daddy love each other very much, they–” She knew she’d immediately lost him by his skull twisting one way and then the other.

“What is a mummy and a daddy?”He spun his head around to look at her with yellow orbs.“I also do not know what love is.”

Fuuuuuuuck,she internally groaned.I’m out here doing a saint’s work. The gods better smile upon me.Maybe not human gods, but Duskwalker ones – if they had them.

“When two people care about each other very deeply, they come together and make a baby.” When his damn head tilted again, she quickly spoke before he could interrupt her with another freaking question. “A baby is a small human. They are made within a woman’s... belly. But they didn’t eat them! Just to clarify. There’s a special place inside us that can grow life, and that’s what she did. She grew you inside her and then gave birth to you. She gave you blood and breath, and she is the reason you are here.”

His beak opened, and then clipped shut. He faced forward so he could watch where he was going.

Emerie cringed. “Does any of that make sense?”

“I think so... She is a creator of life. I did not know other creatures could do that.”

Okay, so that’s a good start.