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There were countless things that Raine remembered vividly about Eda that hadn’t changed over the years that they had been apart: the way she snorted when she laughed, the way she traced the etching of a rainstorm on her mandolin subconsciously, the way her hair fell around her face and framed her features beautifully, the way she looked at Raine with a softness that was and had always been reserved just for them.
She was just as reckless, just as hilarious, just as charismatic as she had been when they were 14 at Hexside and innocent to the hardships of the world, 21 in the fielded outskirts of Bonesborough and hopelessly in love, 26 in those same fields and walking away from each other; separated by curses and covens and everything they used to promise would never interfere with their future together.
But now, nearly 50 and finally freed of anything that could possibly keep them apart for any longer, Raine was learning brand new things about Eda.
She had been softened by motherhood, that much had been clear to them since the picture of her, Luz, and King had flown out of her hair as she prepared to give her own life to stop Belos. But that only became more comprehensible after the fact.
Eda had always had a softness and gentleness to her, one that only Raine got to see in quieter moments. After Grudgby games, when she would collapse against them in exhaustion and they would offer her a cold drink and a towel. After scary incidents of turning into the beast, when she would curl up in Raine’s arms and cry, asking them why they hadn’t left her out of fear like everyone else had. During bard performances, when Raine would run away out of fear and straight to Eda, who would play them music and sit with them in the beautiful fields that were theirs and theirs alone.
Even with Raine, Eda had always kept that side of her close to her chest. She had a reputation, certainly not a desirable one, but a reputation nonetheless. She was the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, there was no room for vulnerability.
But upon moving into the Owl House after Belos’s defeat, it was clear that Luz and King had broken Eda’s guarded heart wide open.
While Eda had been rather forgetful and spontaneous in her youth, she never missed a single thing when it came to Luz and King. She had a list of necessities sitting in plain view in the kitchen every week with bulleted points of different things that they needed. On the same day every week she would tell them goodbye and spend the day in town, trading her human items for things that her kids needed.
Not long after settling in, Raine found a hidden stash of money, a stash that had a note attached to it in Eda’s handwriting that read, “Luz’s bed fund”. Any extra money she made was set aside so she could save up and buy Luz a real bed.
There was a warmth in the Owl House, the one the new Clawthorne family owned, a warmth that was so unlike what Raine had felt anytime they visited Eda in her childhood home, when Gwen never talked to Eda about anything other than curing her curse and Lilith rarely ever talked to Eda at all. Eda was fundamentally the same, but she was so much happier.
Raine knew that when they moved into the Owl House, they would already be stepping into an established family. They didn’t feel unwelcome, how could they feel that way when Eda was overjoyed at the thought of them living together, of them living the life they always used to dream of having? But they knew that it wasn’t just Eda that they would be living with, it was Luz and King, too.
They were nervous, but they wanted this life with Eda. Hell, they had wanted it for what felt like as long as they could remember. They didn’t remember a time without Eda.
Raine was ready to step into the role of a parent and embrace Luz and King because that was what life with Eda would be like. And they couldn’t have been happier at the prospect of the future.
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King was where they began, and he was also the most difficult at the beginning.
It wasn’t like he was apprehensive of Raine for any personal reasons. He was the baby of the family, they knew that much. Even if he had been with Eda longer than Luz, he was still pampered and cherished like the youngest of the bunch. Eda was all that King had in his life up until Luz entered the picture, and the same was true for Eda during that time. King was there for Eda when Raine wasn’t, and they appreciated him deeply for that fact. They had a special and unbreakable bond so really, they understood.
But that didn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating when they attempted to bond with him or have some time with Eda for themself and King wasn’t having any of it.
It was easier when Luz was in the Boiling Isles, as she could usually keep him occupied so he wasn’t vying for Eda’s attention. But when she split her time with the human realm, spending weeks with her mother there, it was harder.
It started off small, mainly because Raine was still trying to figure out their place in the Owl House and where they fit in. Eda was more than accommodating and welcoming, always with an arm around their waist and her lips at their cheek. But it was awkward.
King would sleep with Luz when she was in the Boiling Isles, which left the nest for Eda and Raine. But whenever Luz was away, King made Eda’s arms his home, making it difficult for Raine to hold her. Eda was sympathetic, shooting them an apologetic look and attempting to adjust so that they could still have contact with Raine throughout the night, but King always remained curled up against her chest.
More casual touches throughout the day were prevented by him in the same way. Eda and Raine had been physically affectionate in their youth, but any attempts to share their love language with Eda while she was distracted was halted by King climbing up his mother’s leg and perching on her shoulder, hiding himself in her hair and cuddling into her with a pointed look at Raine.
Eventually, Raine realized what the problem was: they were like King in the sense that it had always just been them and Eda back in the day, they didn’t know how to cohabitate with someone who was just as important to Eda as they were, in a way much different than Lilith had been in the time pre-curse that she had been an extension of their relationship.
So they decided to take the first step in fixing that. They and King could figure it out together.
One day, after Eda had left for the town with a kiss to Raine’s lips and a kiss to the crown of King’s head while Luz was at school, Raine sheepishly pulled King aside.
The demon looked up at them with an aggravated expression, but they didn’t falter. Raine knew that Eda wanted them and King to be able to bond, and they hoped that talking to him would do just that.
“Do you have a problem with me?” Raine asked, keeping an accusatory tone out of their voice. “I’m genuinely asking, because you really do not seem to like me.”
“What gave you that idea?”
Raine raised an eyebrow, not impressed. “Anytime I try to touch Eda or have some alone time with her, you’re right there jumping in between us. Whenever I do something nice for you in an attempt to extend an olive branch, it just seems to make you more agitated.”
King softened every so slightly, and Raine thought that they had finally made a dent in his rough exterior. “Do you really wanna know what it is?”
Raine nodded.
“I’m scared of losing Eda.” King confessed, looking down. “Eda was the only person I had until Luz came here, and when she did, I knew where I stood. Eda loves Luz the same way she loves me. But with you, it’s different.”
Oh , Raine thought. They realized what the problem was immediately.
“You’ve known Eda for longer than me or Luz have, and she loves you differently than she loves us. It’s not that I don’t like you... I just don’t want Eda to forget about me completely because she’s so wrapped up in paying attention to you.”
“Oh, King.” Raine crouched down, placing their hand on top of King’s head in what they hoped was a show of comfort. “I don’t think I could take Eda away from you if I wanted to.”
Raine stepped back and sat on the couch, patting the spot next to them. King hopped up and settled onto the couch beside them, turning and looking up at them.
“Motherly is far from the first word I would have used to describe Eda when we were young. She was spontaneous and rebellious and marched to the beat of her own drum. She always had a soft side, but even with me, she never showed it that much.” Raine smiled softly at the memories of Eda flooding through their head.
“When we met again, after I formed the Bards Against the Throne, I could tell that something about her was different almost immediately. It wasn’t until I saw the picture of her, you, and Luz at Grom that she was carrying around that I realized what it was.
“Eda loves you and Luz more than anything. She was willing to give up her life because she thought that you and Luz were leaving and she believed that nothing mattered if you both left her.” King seemed surprised at that, opening his mouth to ask for context, but Raine continued. “Just because she loves me differently than she loves you and Luz doesn’t mean that she loves me any more or you any less. If there’s one thing I know about Eda, it’s that she has plenty of love to go around.
“When we defeated Belos and Eda invited me to move in here, I knew what I was stepping into. I knew that it wasn’t just me and her anymore, I knew that I would be accepting you and Luz, too. I was fully ready to embrace that, but I can’t do that if you don’t make an effort to make it work.”
King looked down apologetically, but nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry, Raine. I’m glad she has you in her life. You really do love her, huh?”
Raine looked up and turned their head, eyeing the wanted poster above the couch with a lovesick grin. “Yeah, I do. I don’t remember a time where I didn’t.”
Laughing almost evilly, King said, “Well, just don’t wait too long to take Eda’s name. Luz told me she’s going to talk to Camila about changing her name to Luz Clawthorne in the Boiling Isles, so me and her are already a step ahead of you.”
Raine sputtered, their entire face turning a deep crimson. Titan, they hadn’t even been in the Owl House for that long, were they really that obvious?
King cackled, hopping off the couch and waddling towards the kitchen. “I’m kidding! Maybe…” He hopped up on the counter and grabbed what Raine had learned was Luz’s phone. “Cat videos are a great way to bond!” He stated, curling up on Raine’s lap and making that his spot for the day.
Raine knew they’d never live it down when Eda and Luz returned home later that day to see Raine and King on the sofa, the latter curled up in the former’s arms, both fast asleep. But Eda spent the rest of the day grinning from ear to ear and King followed them both around, taking to climbing onto Raine the same way he did Eda, and Raine was happy with how things were working out.
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Thankfully for Raine, Luz was much easier to bond with.
She was strange, to say the least, but only because she was so much like Eda that Raine started to think their initial thought that Eda had moved on from them and had kids with someone else wasn’t so far-fetched, but they supposed that was why Luz and Eda had ended up befriending each other in the first place.
She was wide-eyed and never limited herself to one type of magic, and Raine even discovered that she had changed the rules at Hexside so that young witches could study in several different types of tracks, something that reminded them of a younger, redheaded Eda who would tell them about everything she was seeing and learning through the detention track doors that opened to classes for nearly every magical track at the school and made them smile.
Luz accepted Raine with open arms, happy that Eda had somebody who loved her so much. She was fascinated with Raine’s bard magic, always right at their side and fascinated with everything they were doing whenever they pulled out their violin.
Raine learned that Eda had never once mentioned knowing anything about bard magic, despite Luz asking about it, something that was undoubtedly attributed to them. But the upside was that teaching Luz bard magic was their own way of bonding with her and learning more about the human that Eda had taken in as her apprentice but had become her daughter.
Her enthusiasm and awe was so much like Eda’s that it shocked them, but they were glad that Luz was just as eager to learn bard magic as they were to teach it. And if the soft looks Eda sent their way were anything to go by, Eda was beyond happy seeing two of the people she loved the most becoming close.
It was easy to see why Eda had taken such a liking to Luz and why the human idolized the older witch. Luz had an energy and a passion for everything in the Boiling Isles so unlike anybody they had ever met before; except for Eda, who had run away from home at a young age and traveled the Isles, never staying in one place for too long until she and Raine started going steady in their early adulthood.
But Luz still didn’t seem too sure about what her relationship with Raine was. Eda was clearly a second mother to Luz, and Raine’s relationship with Luz put them in the position of another parent. But Luz and Raine weren’t close enough for them to have earned that title yet.
Which is why they were surprised when one day, while Luz had a day off from school and Eda was out in town, Luz approached Raine sheepishly and plopped down on the couch next to them, a question on the tip of her tongue.
Raine noticed the girl and set down their book, turning to them with a soft smile. “Hello, Luz.” They greeted, raising an eyebrow. “Did you need Eda? She should be home before too long.”
“No, no, I’m not looking for Eda. Actually... I wanted to talk to you.”
“Me?” They were surprised that Luz wanted to talk to them over Eda, who was known as the best person to ask for advice, even in Raine’s opinion. She had lived more in her 49 years of living than most witches had in their 100 years, and despite some of her lesser judgement at times, she knew what people needed to hear.
“Yeah. I usually would go to Eda but I don’t think she’s the one for the job. At least from what I’ve heard about your relationship with her when you were younger, you planned all the dates.”
Raine knew that Luz was dating Amity Blight, which had been a bombshell in and of itself, because Raine never would’ve dreamed that Eda’s kid would get with one of Odalia Blight’s children, but the two seemed happy and Amity seemed like another child to Eda in some ways, so they supposed it worked.
But Eda had always been the more romantic one in their relationship, as Raine was usually too flushed and shy to actually make the first move, so they weren’t entirely sure why Luz was coming to them rather than Eda.
“I know Eda means well, and she’s good with relationship advice, but not necessarily with dates. Whenever you two go on dates, it usually consists of you kicking me and King out of the house for a bit so you two can have the couch to yourselves for a cuddle-and-movie date.” Raine couldn’t argue with that. “But I also know based on the admittedly few stories about you two when you were younger that Eda has told me that you two had some more extravagant and romantic dates back in the day.”
“Do you need help with a date for Amity?” For a moment, Raine saw a lot of their younger self in Luz, and they were hit with a memory of them coming to Lilith bashfully and asking for ideas on how to ask her sister out. In a similar fashion, Luz blushed deeply and nodded.
They tapped their chin with their finger, thinking for a moment, before visions of a beautiful field surrounded by snapdragons and brightly shone on by the sun filled their mind. “Do you and her have a special spot? Somewhere that you go to often, or that is special to you both?”
Luz’s face lit up. “Yeah! There’s the Grom tree, where we danced while we were defeating Grom.” She looked back up at Raine, her eyes asking them to continue.
“Well, you could plan a picnic there. Turn it into a regular thing that you do.”
“That’s a great idea, Raine!” Luz enthused, her grin spreading all across her face. She nearly leapt across the couch, hugging Raine in a motion that was unfamiliar to them by anyone except Eda. Before they could respond in any way, Luz was hurrying out of the room, no doubt on her way to take Raine’s advice.
She peeked back out to look into the living room from around the hallway wall a few seconds later, another thought coming to mind. “By the way, if you ever wanna take Eda out on a date outside of the house, King and I can hold down the fort here. You both deserve it.” And then she was gone again.
Smiling, Raine picked their book back up, their head spinning with ideas. They hadn’t properly romanced Eda since they were in their early adulthood, as everything with Belos had exhausted them after they first got together. They knew that she had a newer, nice suit that they wore to Grom, one that they unfortunately had never seen her in.
Maybe they’d take Luz’s advice.
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Raine knew that Eda still struggled with the idea of being a mother some days.
It often struck when Luz was visiting Camila in the human realm, or when King was visiting his father, who he had recently gotten in touch with. Raine knew that nothing would change how the kids viewed Eda, but it seemed that the only person who didn’t know how much her children loved her was Eda herself.
The worst time had been when both were happening simultaneously, and Eda and Raine had the house all to themselves.
Eda was acting thrilled, and to some extent she was, but Raine knew Eda better than they knew themself. They didn’t miss the way Eda’s eyes kept trailing over to the How to Deal With Empty Nest Syndrome book sitting on the stand next to the sofa.
They spent the day milling around the house, doing some cleaning that they usually couldn’t do with the kids home, chatting and kissing and laughing in between, but Eda still seemed distant. It wasn’t until they were settled on the couch that night, curled up together under a blanket, Eda watching something on her scroll and Raine reading a book with their head resting on their girlfriend’s shoulder, that they decided to confront her about it.
Raine sat up, disrupting their position, and Eda seemed jolted from a daze. She turned to look at them as Raine said, “What’s going on, Eda?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“
Eda
.” Raine deadpanned. “Come on. You promised we’d never keep anything from each other again.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s not like it was back then, I promise. I’m not trying to keep anything from you. Just... I don’t know how to express what I’m feeling without sounding stupid.”
Raine reached their hand up to cup Eda’s cheek, and their heart fluttered at the way she leaned into their touch and relaxed at the contact. She shut her eyes and sighed, reaching her own hand up to meet theirs. “Just tell me. Whatever it is, it’s not stupid. Not if it’s making you upset.”
Adjusting their position, Eda sank in her seat a little bit, enough so that she could press her head against Raine’s chest and press her nose into their throat. “Usually I have Luz or King here, but they’ve never been gone at the same time before.
“And it’s messing me up because I wasn’t lying when I told you that they’re not mine mine, they’re not. I miss them and feel empty without them in the house but I feel guilty about that because they have other parents. Luz has her mom, who had her and raised her long before I ever took care of her, and King has his dad who knows more about what he is and can help him in ways I can’t, and it just makes me scared that they don’t need me anymore.”
“Eda, look at me.” In response, Eda leaned her head up to make eye contact with them. Eda may get stuck in her head a lot, but Raine could help bring her back out. Help her see the bigger picture. “King and Luz love you more than anything in the world. Titan, King took your last name because he wanted people to know that you raised him. And Luz absolutely idolizes you, I’m still in contact with some people who became teachers at Hexside and they all tell me that Luz talks about you nonstop, gushes about how she has the best mentor and teacher and witch mother than anybody on the Boiling Isles could ask for.
“I know you struggle with feeling like you have people who actually care about you, you always have. You were Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. But you’ve always wanted to be more than that.
“You’re Eda Clawthorne, King Clawthorne’s mother. You’re Mama, Luz’s witch mother and the woman who took her in and taught her all about magic and gave her a family when she felt like she needed one. You’re Lord Calamity, the love of my life.”
Raine took Eda’s face in both of their hands, pressing their foreheads together. “Just because Luz sees her other mother and King sees his dad means that they’ll ever replace you. That they’ll ever love you any less. Besides, you have me now. We always talked about our future, having a family together. And while this may not be exactly what we had in mind, it’s perfect.
“I could tell the moment I saw the picture of you, King, and Luz at Grom that those kids needed you more than you’d ever know. And I was right.”
Tears fell out of Eda’s discolored eyes, staining her pale cheeks. She leaned up and closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to Raine’s in a kiss. They spent a few moments in that position before Eda pulled away, and the happiness on her face made Raine aware of the love they had for Eda flowing throughout their entire body, almost seeming too big for them.
“I love you.” She murmured, her voice soft but the meaning of her words loud enough for the whole world to hear. “I’m glad you’re a part of our family, too. Something always felt missing when it was just the kids and I, and now I know that missing piece was you.”
Raine pulled Eda into their arms, and they melted into a hug together that conveyed all of the love they had and all of the life that they had lived together.
Some days Eda’s curse flared up and she grappled with the feelings of insecurity she had battled all her life, but she let Raine help her through it like they had always wanted. Some nights Raine woke up from their nightmares with their wrist throbbing in pain, but Eda was always there to comfort and ground them. Some days Luz and King had their own struggles, but they had their mother and their new parent to help them through it.
They had their problems, but at the end of the day, they were a family. And Eda and Raine finally had that forever that they used to talk about on their hill.