Chapter Text
Raine sighed. “You’re lying again. It’s like I don’t even know you. So, I’ve made a decision. I’m joining the Bard Coven, and… I think we should see other people. I’m sorry, Eda. It’s over.”
Eda started gasping and groaning. Her hands began to grow claws and feathers. The Owl Beast started growling.
Raine furrowed their brows, concerned. “Are you okay? Is this the curse?”
Eda started panting. “Ha ha! It’s fine! E-everything’s normal! You can l-leave n-n- AH!”
“Eda,” Raine shouted as Eda collapsed to the ground.
Eda started breathing even heavier. “I- th-there’s a p-potion in m-my bag,” she managed to say.
Raine nodded and went over to Eda’s bag. They found the potion as quickly as they could and gave it to Eda, who gulped the liquid down.
“Eda-”
Eda grabbed their arm. “Please don’t leave,” she said. “I-I’ll tell you.”
And so she did.
She told them everything.
And about a year later, Raine had still joined the Coven, so they could search for a cure in places only higher-ups in the Covens could get to, but they and Eda were still partners. Oh, and they had a kid, too. That’s probably important to mention. His name was Ezralyn, nicknamed Ez.
He had bright red-orange hair, with his right eye being golden-orange, like his Mother‘s, and his left an emerald the same shade as his Zaza’s.
When he was about two years old, it was discovered that his Magic was a red-orange color.
And that he was just as chaotic as his parents.
He loved to play with his “Uncle” Hooty, as he started calling the demon. He loved to play in the mud. He loved Music, too. He loved it when his Zaza would teach him Bard Spells, and when his Mama would teach him how to make Potions.
When he was about three, they discovered the curse was hereditary, almost giving his parents heart attacks.
When he was four, his parents took him to the slayground for the first time.
Ez made friends his age, with the names Amber, Katya, and Derwin. Derwin was the braincell and the responsible one, and Katya was somewhere in the middle, loving chaos, but being a little more responsible about it. Amber was just as chaotic as Ez was, though. And both his parents noticed she stayed over a lot more than the other two.
When he was five, he started at Hexside, with his three friends. (And Amber may or may not have “accidentally” called Raine Zaza from time to time, and Eda and Raine definitely did not basically adopt her as their own in all but name, what are you talking about?)
At six, the four officially started on the Bard Track, the one they would “stay on for the rest of their lives”. And he got a little sister named Lucelyn. She had dark orange hair, and her eyes were the opposite of Ez’s, and her Magic was a dark green. He also started seeing his Zaza less and less because of their job.
He was eight when he last saw his Zaza.
“Zaza! Zaza, Zaza, Zaza, Zaza, Zaza!”
They smiled at their son and crouched down to his level. “What? What, what, what, what, what?”
Ex smiled. “Look what I made!” He pulled out a necklace with a wooden pendant he had carved an L into. He had a matching one with an E on it around his neck. He had given one with a messier E to Eda a few months prior, and one with a little-less-messy R to Raine just a few weeks before. He had also given one with an A on it to Amber just a few days ago (which definitely made her part of the family, but they all still denied it).
“Oh wow, you’ve gotten pretty good at carving, huh?”
Ez nodded. “Yeah! And I’ma give it to Lu!”
The Bard smiled. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”
Ez smiled and ran over to where Lu was playing with Hooty, and Raine went to talk with Eda.
Ez heard something about a promotion. That was a good thing, right? But then why did they sound so sad saying it?
He went up to his Mom as his Zaz left.
“Mama? Why was Zaza so sad?”
“Because kid, we won’t be able to see them for a while.”
“Why not?”
“Because in their line of work? It would be dangerous if they got caught with me.”
“But why?”
“Because I’m a Wild Witch.”
“Well that’s stupid.”
She chuckled as her son pouted. “Yeah, kid, it is. But that’s just how the world works, unfortunately.”
Mama had brought the two of them to the slayground a lot, and Lu made some friends there, too..
Lu had made two friends, Willow and Amity.
A year after she met them, when she was four, and Ez was ten, was the worst day of his life.
“Hey Ez,” Katya greeted as she walked up to the Owl House.
“Hey Kat. Hey, Am! Katya’s here!”
Amber came out of the house with four boxes of apple blood. “Is Derwin almost here,” she asked as she gave the two their juice boxes.
“I dunno,” Katya said as Ez shrugged.
“Hey guys!” Derwin said as he ran into view.
They all greeted him as he got closer to the house.
“Are the tiny ones here,” Katya asked.
Ez nodded. “Yup. But Hooty’s gonna be watching ‘em, so we should be fine.”
“Cool. I’ma go say hi to Lu.”
“Me too,” Derwin said, following her inside.
All of Ez’s friends (and possibly older sister if anyone would admit it, but shh) liked his younger sister and her friends, so they liked to say hi whenever they could.
Ez and Amber followed them inside, too.
Just then, the Owl Lady walked into the living room. “Hey, how’s ‘bout you three go play outside with Hooty, huh? I gotta talk to these four about something.”
“Okay, Mama,” Lu said excitedly.
“Yes, Ms. Eda,” Amity said.
“Okay, miss Lucy’s mom,” Willow agreed.
Eda chuckled as the three girls left.
“So, what did ya want us for,” Ez asked.
“Well, you three-” she pointed to her kids’- kid’s- friends-“wanted to learn how to make potions, correct?”
Amber gasped. “Really? You’re gonna teach us?”
She nodded. “Yup. So, first thing’s first, safety…” she went on to explain why safety was so important in potion making, and how to stay safe. Then she explained that the new Potions Books were bogus and messed everything up, and the best way to make Potions more powerful and actually effective was by following the instructions in older books, which were written in Old Tongue. Which the three didn’t know, so they would have to start with learning how to read that.
They got a bit into the lesson when Hooty and the two girls who were not Clawthornes came rushing in, with tears in the girls’ eyes.
“Woah, what happened?” Eda asked.
“W-we were j-just playing a-and-” Amity tried to say.
“Lu just- sh-she just-” Willow couldn’t talk around her tears either.
“LUCY’S GO-O-ONE!” Hooty wailed.
“What? W-wait- I- okay, just calm down, and try telling me what happened.”
It took a few minutes for the girls to calm down, but finally Amity spoke up.
“W-we were just p-playing by the l-lake and I ac-accidentally p-pushed her in, and th-then she was gone! She wasn’t in the water!”