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Luz awoke to the first rays of sunlight shining through her balcony window. Blinking the last vestiges of sleep away, as her naturally sunny personality kicked in, she quickly jumped out of her bed, changed into her usual outfit, and rushed downstairs to the closest kitchen.
Maneuvering through the array of drawers and shelves with practiced ease, she quickly wiped up a veritable cauldron of pancake batter, which was gradually transformed into a growing stack of pancakes, with her taking one for herself every now and then. By the time the last of the batter was poured out, the stack reached above her head. King was a still growing boy after all.
Carrying the large platter with both hands, Luz rushed through the corridors, greeting the few people up and about this early, soon arriving at King’s room. As she entered, King perked up, happy to see her, or maybe her carrying his breakfast. Probably both. After Luz’s quickly hurry across the room to reach him, King gave a “Morning Luz” before promptly impaling multiple pancakes at a time with a claw, before swallowing them in a single bite. Luz, for her part, happily watched him demolishing the stack, appreciating his enjoyment of her cooking.
With a small burp, King sat back in his throne. “Thanks Luz, great as always.”
“No problem, King, you know I enjoy it.” Luz replied, “So, got anything for me today?”
“Actually, yes.” King said, revealing a scroll pinched between his thumb and index claws.
Luz, practically jumping up to grab the scroll, had her question floods out, “Ohhh, is it a treasure hunt? Or do I get to beat up some pirates? Or a Cult?”
Laughing, King cut off her question by handing the scroll to her, “No, no, but it does include an interest of yours.”
Practically vibrating, Luz pulled out the scroll, before stopping still in confusion. “Finding the source of human artifacts?”
“Yes, recently there have been a sudden growth in the number of reported human artifacts on the Isles. And while it come be caused by a large stash washing up onshore, or some counterfeiters, most of them are not just real, but in surprisingly high condition. Someone may have found a natural portal, or even made one with some Titan’s Blood.”
Luz considered the details of the scroll, before nodding, “Of course, I’m sure my natural charm and bartering skills will come in handy. But of course, I’ll need some snails for travel expenses. Oh, and any artifacts I find I’ll need to hold onto for evidence.”
Rolling his eyes, King tosses her a bag of snails and waved her off, “Yeah, yeah, just make sure to bring back a souvenir for me.”
Luz shot him a thumbs-up before running off. Soon enough, she reached the front Keyhole-shaped Door of the palace, jumping on her staff before flying off. Soon the stone face of King’s Palace and the precipitous cliffs that encircled it were distant specks as she traveled to the Father’s Isles.
“Goodbye, new frieeeend!”, Hooty said, before swinging open.
That was odd, Evelyn thought. Not the words per say, Hooty was always friendly to an amount that would have been worrying for a House Demon meant to defend from intruders, if it didn’t somehow increase his defensive ability. But the fact that the new prospective customer appeared mildly befuddled at worst at Hooty’s presence, rather than deeply annoyed or freaked out as was the usual reaction. Oh well, better than the sadly common event of them running off back to Bonesborough screaming about too many teeth.
“Welcome to Evelyn’s Human Artifact Wondertourium! The #1 spot for authentic and intact Human relics in all the Isles. What are you looking for?”
“Uuuuuh, just browsing for now.” Wait, a second…
“Aren’t you a little young to shop here?” Evelyn asked.
“…I don’t know what you mean.” Yep, that was a kid. As confirmed by the deep tone she was now trying to affect with her voice.
“No worries, you’re not the first to skip school.” Eve had many fond memories of being a member of that group.
“Ohhh, school! Yeah, no, I’m actually homeschooled, and I got the day off, so I decided to come check out the rumors of someone selling of Human Goods,” the young witchlet explained as she pulled down her hood.
“Oh, a connoisseur. Well, let me know if you need any help.”
A few minutes passed as Evelyn kept an eye on the young girl as she started to dig through the sprawling mess that was the Wondertourium’s organization system. The calmness was interrupted by the sounds of someone carrying something heavy upstairs from the house’s basement.
“Hi Evie”, her partner in interdimensional crime greeted, as he nudged the basement door open with his foot, carrying a new load of goods from the human realm. While she wasn’t sure about buying ‘thrift’ items to resell instead of just digging through the local dump, she’s couldn’t deny that it was easier. Besides, if Caleb wanted to spend his money on her, she wouldn’t complain.
“GASP” Did…did that customer just literally say the word gasp? Evelyn watched, befuddled as the young tan girl seem to (figurately not literally) teleport to her crush business partner.
“Are you a Human? How did you get to the isles?” The witchlet said, “Where are your gills?”
“Ah, excuse me miss?” Caleb cut in, trying to recover from the onslaught of question, “My name is Caleb Wittenbane. And you are?”
“Oh, right, sorry, that was rude of me. I’m Luz, Luz Clawthorne.” …wait a minute.
“Nice to meet you, Luz. Can I help you find anything?” Caleb said, managing to regain his footing.
Luz noticeably hesitated, “There is this one human book series I’ve ran into before, and I was hoping to find if there were any new volumes to it. But I don’t see it here.”
Caleb nodded, “Sure, what’s the name?”
Luz beamed. “The Good Witch Azura!”
Caleb made his ‘something-on-the-Isles-that-confused-but-not-horrified-him’ face. “A fantasy series? That’s probably why it’s not on display. Based on past feedback, we thought that most witches or demons wouldn’t be…interested in humans’ mistaken ideas of magic. Let me check downstairs.”
As he left to dug through the stacks of treasure in the basement, Evelyn spoke up again, “SOOO, you said your name was…”
Luz froze, her eyes started darting around, trying to avoid eye contact, “Uh, Luz Claw-, Claw, uh, Clawbones!”
“Clawbones?” “Yep!”
“Not Clawthorne?”
“Nope, just Clawsbones, old family name, centuries old, from the Left Leg.”
“Really? Cuz, I have cousins in the Toes, and I haven’t heard of any Clawsbones when I visit them.”
“Oh, not in the Toes, we’re a Tibia family.”
A pregnant silence filled the air, as Evelyn stared at the young tan girls, who was visibly nervous, her seemingly near-constant smile looking more plastered on now. Evelyn opened her mouth to continue her line of questioning, only to interrupted by Caleb coming back up. “Turns out we had a copy of the fifth book. I’m not sure if the one you’re looking for, but it looks like it released this year.”
“Yes, that is it, can I get it? Like, right now.”
Caleb blinked, “Sure? Is that everything you want?”
Luz repeatably nodded, before freezing mid-way, “Wait, there was one thing”, rushing over to a collection of toy jewelry and grabbing…a Burger Queen paper crown?
“My brother loves things like this.” She said to the unspoken question on his face.
A look of understanding passed on Caleb. “I get it, I remember when I got my brother got a wood sword and mask, he wouldn’t get rid of them at all. Let me bag those up for you.”
As Luz ran out the door, Evelyn turned to Caleb in disbelief. “Do you have any idea who that was?!”
Caleb shrugged, “From your reaction, I’m guessing a big deal. She didn’t really seem like a celebrity or some rich heiress though.”
Right, human. “Titan Yes, she was a big deal! Clawthrones are one of the holy families! Heck, one of the first holy families, from all the way back from the King’s Coronation four centuries ago. Some say they were the first holy family. Half my extended relatives even claim that we were descended from one.”
Caleb nodded, still nonplussed. “Well, that sounds like a big deal. What does that actually mean though?”
“It means she probably lives on the King’s Throne Island itself. She knows the King themselves and might work under them directly. People even say that many of the royal families were granted immortality by the King, and are the same members that were originally exalted, but that’s probably just gossip.”
An odd look appeared on Caleb’s face, similar to the one when she explained what tooth fairy actually were. “Wait, you said that the Clawthornes appeared 400 years ago? And they are immortal?”
“Well, yes to the first, but I said the second was just a bunch of rumors. Why?”
Caleb didn’t answer immediately, his finger tapping on the sales counter as he looked up in thought. “Back in Gravesfield, there was old ghost story about a girl named Luz, an escaped slave that ran into the woods, and got abducted by a witch. And the story dates back to the 1600s.”
Oh, dang, that was a lot more of a spooky coincidence than she expected. “So, what, you think this Luz is the same one?”
Caleb shrugged, “Eh, probably not the same, but maybe a descendant. After all, I’m pretty sure pointed ears and red eyes weren’t a common feature in humans, even back then.”