Chapter Text
"Okay, let's try it out again. Ahem. Road work ahead?"
"...I sure hope it does?"
"Yes, you got it!" Luz cheered. She had been teaching Gus and Willow about vines for the last fifteen minutes. At first, they thought it was a plant thing, and Luz had to explain in great, often incomprehensible detail, what she actually meant. It took her a while to realize she just could've shown her friends some vines on her phone back in her room. After a few compilations, it was almost as if they understood it less.
"Okay, your turn, Willow." She turned toward her friend. "Lemme think a minute." she paused. "Okay, I've got one. Hurricane Katrina? More like..." she gestured.
Willow furrowed her brow. "More like… gah, I know this one!" Gus was a few seconds away from blurting out the answer himself.
"Hurricane T- tornado?" She hesitated. "No, that's not it."
Gus exploded. "Tor-tilla! More like Hurricane Tor-tilla!"
Willow groaned in frustration. "What even is a tor-tilla?"
"Hey, it takes years to understand the deep complexities of meme culture." Luz said. "You don't have to get it all immediately."
"Who even thinks of this stuff?" Willow leaned back. "It's like a bunch of people just smashed a bunch of words together. Is it, like, funny or something?"
Gus gasped. "Willow, how can you insult human culture like this? They probably operate on a level far beyond our understanding. I bet they wouldn't even welcome you to Chili's if they heard your slander."
"No, she's right. It's pretty stupid." Luz chimed in. "But that's what makes it great, I think."
Willow sat back up. "I'm just saying, I'll probably have to make some flashcards or something in order to remember any of them." She faced Luz. "You said they're called 'contemplations?'"
"Compilations." Luz corrected. "I mix up those words all the time, too."
"Rest assured, I shall study hard!" Gus exclaimed. "By the time we get to school tomorrow, I shall be a vine expert."
Luz smirked. It wasn't very often she got to tell her friends about her world. She was always so caught up in this one. Between school, Eda's lessons, and just the general tomfoolery going on in the Boiling Isles, not to mention the Emperor, there just wasn't much time for her to fall back on old memories. Seeing her friends try so hard to understand a piece of her life, even if it was something stupid like vines, just blurred the line between her worlds even more. She didn't even consider it a bad thing at this point.
There was a knock on the door, followed by Eda opening it immediately. "Yo, I don't want to intrude on whatever weird thing you guys are doing, but it's getting kinda late, and I don't want kidnapping to be on my list of felonies. So, uh, your friends have to go home, Luz."
"What? Can't you guys stay the night?"
"Sorry Luz. School night." Willow said.
Gus shot up. "Merry Chrysler, Miss Clawthorne!" He made his exit, Willow behind him.
"Hey, just call me Eda- aaaaaand, they're gone." She chuckled. "Man, that kid's weird. I like him."
"Well, he's about to get weirder." Luz stood up. "I was just teaching them about vines. So if he says something totally nonsensical without context in the next few weeks, that's why."
"I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, I have to leave real quick. Gotta make some last minute purchases."
"Why? Oh no, is the curse acting up? Don't worry, I'll go get-"
"Hey, Luz, calm down. It's just groceries. Completely normal. I'm not a thief all the time."
Luz immediately calmed.
"So, you know the drill, take care of King and Hooty, all that stuff…" the older witch trailed off and looked at her apprentice. Her eyes grew sadder. "Hey, Luz?"
The human looked toward her, entirely too innocent, even now. "Yeah?"
"Are you… okay with me leaving you alone?"
Luz gave her a knowing look. "I won't be alone, though. I've got King and-"
"You know what I mean, kiddo." Eda interrupted. There was a slight twinge of pain in her voice. It almost wasn't there. "Like, after all that stuff with Belos, and the Emperor's Coven, do you get, y'know, scared when I'm not around?"
Luz averted her eyes for a split second. "Eda, I'm-" she took her notepad of glyphs off a shelf. "I'll be okay. Trust me."
Eda looked at the child for another second before nodding. "Okay, I trust you." She called for her staff and walked toward the door. "I'll be back in a few. Don't drink anything in the cabinet that looks questionable!" And with that, she left.
Luz looked after her for a few moments, clutching her notepad. She slowed her breathing, after realizing it was quickly becoming rapid. Of course she was scared. Not for herself. She could take care of herself easily enough. She went up against Belos and lived to tell the tale, after all. No, she was always scared for Eda. Her magic was almost completely taken from her. What if she gets into trouble she can't get out of? What if she gets into a fight, and can't defend herself as well as she used to? There were so many possibilities, and they all ran through Luz's head. They've only really been apart when Luz goes to school. And then, she has work to distract her. Now, she has nothing.
Well, not really nothing.
"King! Where are you hiding, buddy?" Luz half heartedly shouted. She heard a yell from Eda's room.
"I'm trying to steal the nest while I have a chance!"
The human went and peeked into the room, only to find King snuggled up into a ball with his toy, blanket, hat, and of course, all in Eda's nest. Luz's heart may as well have melted completely at the sight.
"Just checking. Don't you break anything in there, now." She went to close the door.
"Actually," King squeaked. "Could you keep that open?"
"Oh, sure." Luz said, opening the door again slightly. "You scared of the dark?"
"Yes, that's what that is." King mumbled. "Totally. Just, don't tell anyone I said that."
"These lips are zipped." Luz said as she walked back toward her room.
It's okay. I didn't hate the dark until recently, either.
-----
Eda rode her stick only a few feet from the ground recently. She was incredibly lucky this power wasn't taken from her, but she wasn't about to risk falling from too high up.
She took a lot less risks these days. She really wasn't capable of much. She just knew the spells that Luz did, and the kid can only learn so fast. It didn't help that she kept losing her notepad of glyphs. She'd often walk into the living room in the middle of the night only to see Luz on the ground, copying a seemingly endless stream of glyphs from one notepad to another. It always felt terrible to lose one, and she couldn't handle asking the kid to make another. So she often went a few days just not doing any magic until the notepad turned up again.
Unfortunately, this was one of those days.
She didn't have a big list of things. Just a few items for the kitchen, tear down a wanted poster or two…
Oh, and also meet her sister.
They didn't really talk after the whole incident. Eda offered a place at The Owl House, but Lilith tuned it down. Something about dignity, righting past wrongs, Eda didn't really understand. But Eda also needed space to process, so she accepted. But now, she got a letter from Owlbert telling her to be at The Knee at a specific time. It could've been a trap. It almost definitely was. The only thing that made Eda think otherwise was her sister's handwriting. After spending years in school copying her homework, Eda could recognize it a mile away
There were so many conflicting emotions going through her head, and so many of them contradicted each other. For one, she was so, so hurt. This curse took years away from her life. She was permanently stunted from reaching her full power. Even now, as it's nearly all gone, she couldn't even do the most simple of spells. Not to mention, the years taken from stress alone.
But yet, there was another voice. Lilith hadn't exactly fared well, either. She really spent decades trying to reverse the curse. She even gave up her magic taking it away. Maybe neither of them would ever reach their full potential.
Either way, Eda was far from forgiveness. She wanted an explanation, first and foremost. And she was going to finally get it.