Chapter Text
Fifteen-year-old Ezralyn and Amber Clawthorne had decided to go explore the woods next to their house.
They decided it would be fun.
And it was!
Until they got lost.
“Where are we?” Amber was starting to get on Ez's nerves.
“For the twentieth time, I don’t know!”
“Well, jeez, you don’t have to get so worked up.”
“I-”
The two siblings instantly got quiet as they heard a branch snap.
“Is anyone there?” They heard a voice call.
They looked to each other and shrugged. Well, they were Clawthornes, they could get out of any kind of trouble, so this mysterious person should be fine, right?
“Uh, over here,” Ez called out.
Then, another Witch came into view. They had bright orange hair, pale skin, and scars across their face and on their hands and probably ran up their arms, too. They looked kind of familiar to Ez, to be honest.
“Uh, wh-who are you,” Ez asked.
“My name is Dell Clawthorne. Now what are two young Withlings doing in the Bat Queen’s forest?”
“Uh, we got lost and- wait, did you say Dell Clawthorne? That’s Mama’s Dad’s name! Ha! Hey, Am! We’re meeting our Grandfather!”
“Awesome!”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Grandfather? Ah, so you’re Ezralyn. And, what was your name? The adopted one, ah, Amber?”
“Yup, that’s us,” Amber said, grabbing her brother in a chokehold.
“Hey, let go!”
Dell chuckled. “You two remind me of your Mother and her Sister when they were your age. Follow me.” He led them to a cave, with bones on the floor.
“Ooh,” Ez said, turning to his sister, “y’think some of these could be used in potions?”
“Maybe we should bring some back, just in case.”
They both picked up some of the animal bones as they followed their Grandfather.
“So, where are you leading us?” Ez asked. “And why is it so far into this cave?”
“Because it needs to stay hidden, otherwise anyone could find them.”
“Find who?” Amber was curious.
“Them,” Dell answered, turning and waving his hands behind him, gesturing at all of the Palismen that had just come into view.
“Woah.” Both teen’s eyes were wide with wonder.
He chuckled. “I was also fifteen when I discovered this place, and since then I have been helping the Bat Queen take care of all the Palismen that have been Lost or Forgotten.”
A red Cardinal with a scar across their eye flew up to the young Clawthornes and chirped.
“Aw, hey you,” Ez cooed at them as they landed on Amber’s shoulder, “what’s your name?”
They chirped again, and unfortunately, Ez couldn’t understand them.
Dell chuckled at Ez’s pout. “His name is Flapjack. He’s been here for a while.” He walked off somewhere the kids couldn’t see.
“Oh. Well hello, Flapjack,” Ez said as he started scratching the Palisman’s head.
Amber swatted away her brother’s hand and started petting the Palisman herself.
Ez stuck out his tongue at her. “Do you think one the Palisman will wanna be one of ours?”
Amber shrugged at the question. “I’unno.”
“Possibly,” Dell answered, “or-” he pulled out two pieces of Palistrom Wood-“you could carve your own.”
They both gasped.
“Woah, really?”
“No way!” Flapjack jumped away at Amber’s excited hopping.
“Wait, could we bring our friends here so they can get Palismen, too?”
Dell chuckled. “Sure.”
And so they did.
Amber found an excited orange collie who she instantly bonded with, his name was Bobo.
Derwin found a brown capybara who liked him, and her name was Berry.
Katya carved a white bat, naming him Sammy.
Ez carved a bluejay, naming him blue.
Mama told him it was a creative name.
To be fair, she had an owl named Owl bert.
He said as much, and she quit teasing him.