Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After three days, Raine finally set their foot out of the Owl House and were on their way to Bonesborough with Eda to meet up with the rest of the team and make their first performance in front of the crowd as the team that saved the Boiling Isles. The kids were already there to help Darius, Eberwolf and Steve get things ready. A large meeting awaited them in the middle of Bonesborough's marketplace, where all the witches, demons, and other creatures who wanted to know what would happen to their society now that Belos was gone were probably present. Raine didn't want to go at all, yes they wanted to see their kids and team again, but they didn't want to give a speech in front of a big crowd. To be honest, Raine was still so tired of everything that they wanted to turn around and go back to the Owl House, yes there was absolutely no furniture in this house and it wasn't a very comfortable place to be, but still, it was the place where Raine felt most at home, they hadn't felt this feeling in years.

After the last battle, and after reaching the Owl House, Raine had slept for a long time, they had slept all day, night, and half of the next day. Being a puppet wasn't much of a vacation, and their bones still had all the stiffness that being the leader of the rebellion and the Day of Unity had given them, at worst moments they could still feel the sharp pain of the draining spell running through their veins, and Belos' possession only made things worse. As soon as Raine finally woke up, Eda checked their injuries, and it turned out that they had a dislocated knee and a small crack in the bone of their left arm from where Belos had bitten them, luckily all these injuries were nothing that a healing potion and a few hours of rest couldn't heal. During those three days, Eda didn't allow any guests in the house, she wanted Raine to get a chance to rest, and the only communication Raine had had with their kids and their team was a single crystal ball call that had lasted for hours and during which Raine and Eda had explained what had happened.

"So, are you going to go back to live in that headquarters or...?” Eda's voice floated into their thoughts as they flew, they both sat on Eda's staff as Raine's staff needed some repair work, the Bard's arms around the cursed witch's waist.

"Do you want to get rid of me that badly?" Raine asked back with a smirk.

"Ha, keep dreaming, nerd, you'll never get rid of me again. I just didn't want to be pushy and say 'Hey, Rainestorm, I don't know if you know this, but you're my hostage now, I'm not letting you leave my house anymore, so pack up your things wherever they are and move in, ' "

"Hmm, you want me to move in?" Raine cooed, leaning their head against Eda's shoulder," Not moving a little fast? We only started dating again like yesterday,"

Eda turned her head towards them with a clear glint in her eyes, "You don't want to move in with me?"

"I didn't say that," they leaned forward, connecting their lips with Eda's for a sweet kiss," But I'm not a one witch deal, you know, It's take one bard, get three more deal,"

"Mmm, I think I'll take that deal if it means I can carry this piece of art back into my house,”

Their lips met again, this time for a little longer, both of their eyes closed, their minds lost in the moment and each feeling of the other. Raine opened one of their eyes slightly, and a split second later they opened wide up, they pulled away from Eda in fright.

She wanted to whine and pull them back into the kiss, but Raine yelled first, "EDA, A HOUSE!"

The Owl Lady turned her head to see where they were and was startled to find that they were seconds away from flying into the wall of a tall building, quickly, Eda pointed the staff down, and they landed safely but with hearts pounding on adrenaline.

"I think we'll walk to the marketplace," she said, and Raine nodded in agreement.

The marketplace was not far, and even from where they were now they could see how many people had come, the streets were full of people, and Raine felt their anxiety rising, and it was only made worse by the fact that many were looking at them and whispering something about them.

"Sorry, Mx,” a small voice said from behind them, and when Eda and Raine turned and looked down, they saw a small child with big eyes standing there.

"Can I help you, dear?” Raine asked smiling at the child.

The little girl shook her head and held out her hand to Raine, a blooming flower between her fingers, "This is for you," she said, "As thanks for saving us!"

"Oh," Raine hesitated a little, but still accepted the flower, smiling gratefully," Thank you," the kid smiled and ran off back to her parents," That was strange," they looked back at Eda, with a confused look on their face.

"Nah, that was cute," replied Eda, taking the flower from Raine's hand and putting it in the chest pocket of their vest, it was a brand new vest and Eda believed it looked amazing on them," Now you look very handsome and presentable, I have to keep an eye on that no one would look at you too much, can't let anyone steal you from me,"

Raine laughed, playfully pushing Eda away, "You dingus,"

All the way to the marketplace, there were many people who stopped to thank or compliment them, Eda absorbed all the attention, enjoying it while Raine felt their palms become sweaty and their breathing become irregular, they didn't like the attention at all. They finally got to the place where they were supposed to meet up with their team, and from afar they could see Amber and Katya waving at them, they waved back, Raine was suddenly so happy that they had decided to leave the house, they had missed their young bards.

Raine started to walk towards them, but Eda stopped them, "I'm going to find my parents, I...I want to know if they're okay. I see you later?"

"Sure," Raine replied, giving Eda's hand they were holding a squeeze, "I'll see you soon. Say hi to your parents for me?"

She nodded, "They are going to be over the moon to hear that we are together again," she tilted her head forward, placing a quick kiss on their lips before rushing off to find her parents in the large crowd.

Raine's eyes followed her, with a loving smile on their face, they didn't even notice the three youths running towards them before the three pairs of arms were wrapped around them for a strong hug. The three were so happy, they were laughing and squealing with joy as they jumped around, their hug almost breaking Raine's ribs, the older bard couldn't catch a word of what they were saying, but it didn't matter to them at the moment because they were so happy to see the three of them again. After a few long minutes of hugging, the teens finally let go of them, and Raine saw a few tears of joy on their faces, and they also felt some on their own.

"It's so good to see you again," Amber said, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her shirt, "Your scars look so much more awesome in real life,"

"Umm, thanks, dear?" Raine replied with a half smile, they weren't exactly a fan of their scars, but at least the others thought they were cool," How have you three been?"

"There's been a lot of work to do," Derwin said, "We basically spend our days making sure the Coven Scouts don't cause any trouble, they all can't accept that the job they worked for years to get is gone, and that they were the villains all along,"

"Oh, I kinda feel sorry for them,"

"Yeah, us too," Katya replied and then added, "Although not all of them are 100 percent on our side right now, many of them are. Having Steve on our team is a big plus at the moment,"

Raine opened their mouth to answer, but they were stopped when someone's hands fell heavily on their shoulder, and when they looked at their shoulder, they saw a familiar white-gloved hand there, they looked up, and Darius was standing next to them, happy looking Eberwolf on his shoulder.

"Hey, you two,” Raine greeted them, their face breaking into big smile, they were so happy to see their two fellow fighters, their best friends.

Eber greeted them with a happy sound, and Raine could have sworn there was a single tear hiding in the corner of Darius' eye. The two of them had been really good friends as kids, but after Darius joined the coven and Raine was a wild witch with Eda for a while, they stopped communicating with each other for years, but as Raine started to get higher and higher in the coven, they started communicating more and more, and after that little murder attempt in the woods, they had quickly become close again and considered each other not just fellow fighters, but the closest thing either of them had to a sibling. And knowing that they all survived that war was a relief to both of them.

"So, Owl Lady finally let you out of her nest?” Darius asked with a teasing look.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Raine lied, knowing full well that no one would believe them.

"Hmm, and the kiss she gave you was just a friend to a friend?" Katya smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Raine wanted to say something, but again they couldn't because Amber was faster, "Is mama Eda our mother now?"

The former leader of the Bard Coven blushed heavily, the smile on their face answered their daughter's question, and she pulled them into another hug, the other two teenagers quickly joining in as well.

"We are happy for ya," Katya said.

And Derwin added, "Yeah, you two deserve it,"

"Thanks, kids," Raine thanked them.

The team headed back to the marketplace where a big stage was set up. More and more people appeared, and Raine had a hard time not paying attention to all the pairs of eyes that were looking at them, they didn't know why, but they heard so many whispering their name and it seemed to them that everyone were looking at them.

"Umm, is it just me, but do you also feel like everyone is looking at us?" Raine asked in a half whisper, their nervous eyes darting between the three kids.

The three looked around, not at all nervous or embarrassed to see the attention of all these people.

"Nah, it's just you," Amber teased them.

"I think they're only looking about you," Katya added.

"But why," Raine asked, wrapping their arms around themself a little more.

Their kids were silent for a moment, exchanging glances with one another before Derwin explained, "Let's just say the Collector told so many people how his new friends defeated Belos. You were a big part of their story, one of the big heroes. Those stories spread very quickly."

"Also, you're the leader of this team, no one did more for our freedom than you, the people really appreciate it," said Katya, with a proud smile, patting Raine on the shoulder.

Raine wanted to sink into the ground, they wanted the Titan to swallow them up and never let them back up. They would have laughed if they hadn't felt so miserable. The truth was that Raine didn't feel like a hero, they never wanted to be a hero, and their only goal was always to do what was right. And after all those times they failed, they didn't want to accept the title of hero, no, Eda and her kids were heroes, Darius and Eber were heroes, their own kids were heroes, Lilith and Steve were too, but Raine was just a witch who failed so many times and whose mistakes everyone else had to correct. Their brain told them so, and they didn't have enough self-belief left to believe otherwise.

"Head Witch...I mean Mx Whispers," someone said and Raine turned to see a whole bunch of people standing behind them.

"Yeah?” Raine stopped, addressing all of these witches and demons, their heart pounding even harder as more people turned their attention to them.

"We wanted to ask, how did you manage to escape Belos' possession? It's very impressive,"

Raine smiled nervously, "That...I was very motivated?"

"How many years were you involved in the rebellion?" asked a young schoolboy.

"Um, I don't know...I lost track a long time ago,"

They hoped that there would be no more questions, but instead, two questions were asked at the same time, and before they could answer one, a third came from somewhere behind the crowd. There were so many people, and there was only one Raine, the people's questions coming at them were like a suffocating wave. Raine, however, was a polite witch and they did their best to answer even though it was extremely suffocating and their voice began to shake more and more. On the outside, they gave the impression that they had the situation under control and knew what they were doing, but on the inside, they felt like they might burst into tears. The questions kept coming, they were asked for information about the rebellion, about the future of their society, and if Raine didn't hear wrong, there seemed to be a few people in the crowd who were very interested to know if Raine was single. It was too much for them.

"Please save your questions for later," Darius's voice finally came out, "The meeting is about to start and we will tell you everything you need to know."

However, his words were not strong enough to stop the storm of people's questions. Raine could no longer hear what was being said or who was speaking, all the sounds were like one big noise in their ears. They didn't even notice how they were led out of the crowd until they had already reached the backstage, where ordinary citizens were not allowed. But even though they were now in a quieter place and away from the crowd, Raine could still hear all those questions in their ears and feel all those eyes burning into their skin. They squeeze their eyes shut, feeling their body tremble. It's pathetic, they think. After all these years, something as small as a few people's attention and a few questions is enough to make them tremble and panic. What a hero, what a leader, rather a coward. Weak. Pathetic.

They have fought for their life, been locked in a jail cell, brainwashed and controlled, possessed, and whatnot, but still, they are not tough enough. They can't do this, they are not good enough...

"Raine? You good?" they could barely make out Darius's voice amid the screams that were going around in their head.

They tried, they tried so hard to get their emotions under control, they couldn't be weak right now, their team needed them. However, no matter how much they fought their feelings, things inside them only seemed to get worse. They can't show their weakness, their team deserves better.

"I...I need to...” they couldn't even finish their sentence without feeling a sob catch in their throat, they even surprised themself when they suddenly ran off, leaving the worried team behind.

Crowded streets whizzed past them as they ran, the worried voices of strangers asking if they were okay fueling them to run even further to where there was no one. No voice, no pair of eyes, no one to whisper their name and talk about them. The air was barely moving in their lungs, they didn't know how long they had been running, but it had been long enough that they had reached a place where there wasn't a soul on the streets, and out of the corner of their eye they spotted a familiar house. Without hesitation, they headed towards the house and by using a very familiar bard spell to open the door guarded by magic, they entered, closing the door behind them. They had entered a house that was dusty and desolate because no one had lived there for quite a few months: The Batts Bunker.

Raine headed to the room where they had held so many meetings as well as organized movie nights and Whispers family sleepovers. They didn't even sit on the couch, instead sliding to sit against the nearest wall, trying desperately to keep the tears from escaping and get their breathing back under control.

They didn't even know why it had happened, the last time they panicked that much about people was when they were still a child, a young, inexperienced child who was afraid they would make a mistake in their violin solo. Time had passed, they were no longer a child, their problems were no longer tiny and harmless but big and life-changing, life-threatening...no, not life-threatening, not anymore, they were safe now. They had to be reminded of this often. After years of not knowing if they would live to see the next day, they couldn't live without feeling that big ax of death hovering over their head. They were used to not showing their emotions, not showing their fear, pain, panic, not even worry and love, and some part of them still believed that they couldn't show them because the people expected them to be a leader, not a weak loser.

Crying was not allowed because when you have the survival of thousands of people on your shoulders, how can you cry and show weakness? Weakness gets you killed.

Breathing in and out deeply, Raine tried to calm themself, they tried to force the tears back into their eyes, and banish their sobs deep inside them.

Why was all of this happening right now?

The old door creaked open, and three pairs of footsteps walked on the old wooden floors, but Raine didn't react to it, they couldn't even hear them. Those footsteps approached before they stopped at the door, relieved voices whispered before the footsteps echoed again, coming closer.

"Hey, you okay?"

Raine finally looked up, a little surprised to see three familiar faces there, some part of them had thought they were back in the castle, that they were going to get killed now, as weakness always died within the golden walls of the castle.

"I'm okay," they said, eyes drooping.

The Batts sat on the floor next to them, but not so close that it was suffocating for them. Raine blinked their eyes, hoping it would help, they weren't willing to cry, not in front of their kids, not in front of anyone. They were supposed to be the strong one, the leader.

"You can cry," Derwin whispered, Raine felt that he had put a little bit of Bard magic into his voice, it was a little trick that Raine had used on their kids when they were battling panic or nightmares.

They smiled a little with pride but it quickly went away when they felt their arm twitch with nervousness, they quickly grabbed their arm trying to stop it from twitching only to find their other arm was doing the exact same thing. A pair of green eyes looked up for a moment, giving a nervous smile to the three worried youths, they wanted to stay strong for them.

"I'm fine,” Raine lied again.

Katya slowly shook her head, "No your not, and that's okay,"

Raine's lungs began to take in air faster, and they had to bite their cheek to keep from making a pitiful sound, "It's just a stupid panic attack, It's fine, just my dumb anxiety,"

"It's not stupid," Amber said, her tone light, "Everyone has a right to not be emotionally strong all the time,"

"You can't do stuff like this when thousands of people depend on you,"

"Sometimes even the strongest have to rely on someone else," their son said, and the girls nodded in agreement, all three of them sitting closer to them.

Katya placed her hand on their shoulder, "You may be our leader, but that doesn't mean you have to carry all the pressure alone. And needing help and crying when you're having a hard time doesn't make you weak,"

Amber added, "The truth is that you are the strongest member of our team, possibly the strongest witch in the entire realm, and that's because you never gave up. No matter how many times your plans failed, you tried again, no matter how many times you got knocked down you came back stronger,"

"I...I don't even know where it all came from," Raine admitted, feeling embarrassed, "The anxiety I mean,"

"You've been through so much," said Derwin, "You've endured more stress than any of us over the years."

"That doesn't mean I can just break down like this when there are things I must do and people who need me,"

"Even the strongest need their moments,"

Raine sighed, the first tears escaping their eyes, "Everyone expects me to be the leader, but I can't...I...I'm not good enough,"

"Heck yeah, you are, you're literally the most qualified person ever," Amber said with a wide smile, her eyes shining, "You are the first witch we know who not only saw that Belos was full of shit but decided to do something about it. If you hadn't started rebelling, Darius or Eberwolf wouldn't have done it either, or anyone else, not even us. We would all be dead if you hadn't started this fight.

"Besides, you don't have to lead alone, the whole team is here, we're all doing it together,” Katya said, giving their shoulder a supportive squeeze.

The Bard couldn't hold back anymore and the tears began to flow freely and they let out the first cry, they felt like they needed it, they needed to get it all out. The oldest of their kids, wrapped her arms around them, and Raine cried on Katya's shoulder without any shame, they could show their emotions in front of their kids, the trio would never judge them. Amber and Derwin joined in the hug, and the four Bards spent some time holding and comforting each other.

When they finally went back to the rest of their team, Raine felt a lot more in control and like themself again, and they were able to step up and be there for people who looked up to them, who saw them as someone they could trust, who saw them as a leader.

Yeah, sometimes you need to cry and get everything out so that you can go on even stronger.

Chapter Text

The pub was quiet even though it was lunchtime, but that was to be expected, their society was still in ruins and it was a wonder that any food places or shops had even decided to open their doors. Of course, Raine was very grateful for that, because there were so many new things that they needed to buy. Raine, Eda, and the kids had worked non-stop for two weeks to retrieve all of Eda's belongings that the Coven Scouts had carried away. Finding them was easy, getting back home not so much, and putting them back in their places was a job that took days, Eda had so much stuff and sadly many of the items were broken or damaged and it had been horrible to replace all of them. But now that all of Eda's things were back home, it was finally time to officially move Raine and the Batts in by bringing all their things into the house and finding a place for them.

The kids were all so excited, Amber had woken Raine up at eight in the morning and demanded that they leave Eda's cozy nest and her warm embrace so they could go buy the hundreds of things the three teenagers had put on their list. They needed Raine with them to be a walking wallet and someone to carry their things, and although many of the shops were still closed, Amber, Katya, and Derwin managed to buy so many things that Raine had decided to back off before they were drowned in bags and escape to the Grimreapper pub. Being there was like a vacation, a moment of peace and quiet with a cool glass of appleblood. Of course, they loved their kids, but going shopping with them had always been a nightmare, and it still was.

"Hey, hot-stuff,” a voice called from behind them, and when they looked over their shoulder, they saw a sly-looking beautiful woman taking a seat on the empty bar stool next to them.

"Hey,” they replied with a smirk before taking a sip from their glass.

"Do you come here often?"

"Not really. You?"

She leaned against the table, throwing her head back a little, "You can say that, before I had kids I used to come here a lot," she leaned closer to Raine, the smile on her lips growing slyer, "You're here alone?"

"Right now yeah, but I'm waiting for my girlfriend, she was supposed to visit her sister and then join me so we can go and start moving my things to our shared home."

"Hmm, your girlfriend must be one very lucky witch," her chair shifted even closer to Raine, so much so that if either of them made the slightest move their noses would bump into each other," A beautiful piece like you, your girlfriend should be stupid to leave you waiting here alone like this, visible and tempting to all,"

"You're terrible at this, Eda,” Raine finally said with a smirk, turning their face away and taking a sip of their drink.

"Hey, I did great, I'd like to see you try,"

They turned their gaze back to their girlfriend with a smirk, "You want me to make you fluster?" she nodded, a daring look in her eyes.

Raine's smirk grew before they finished their glass, placed it on the table, and got up from their chair, and before Eda could react, Raine had closed the distance between them, their hands on either side of her, trapping Eda between themself and the bar table. The cursed witch felt the air stopped moving inside of her, her partner's warm breath on her cheek made the hairs on her neck stand up, and all the blood in her body rushed to her face, turning it a strong red.

"You look a little red, my dear," their voice sounded a tone lower, and it came so close to Eda's ear that it made her vision blurry, her brain screamed error," You feel warm. Are you falling sick, Miss Owl Lady, or in love with me?"

Her mouth was as dry as a desert that hadn't seen rain in centuries, her face burning like the sand in that same desert, "I...mmm..."

"Eww, get a room you two," came a not-at-all-happy voice, and like lightning Raine turned around, stepping away from Eda, to meet Amber's disgusted look, Katya's bright eyes, It looked like she was already writing notes in her notebook, and Derwin, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, his arms were awash with shopping bags.

"I...I didn't know you'd spent so little time shopping," Raine apologized, sitting back in their chair and reaching for coins in the bottom of their pocket to quickly pay the bartender and leave.

"Yeah, yeah," Amber crossed her arms over her chest," Let's get moving, will ya? I already want to go design my new room,"

"Our room, Am,” Katya reminded her.

"Yeah, whatever, let's go, we still have so much to do," she turned around, rushing out the door, Katya hurried after her.

Derwin, left alone with all the bags, growled and followed them, not so enthusiastically, "If they buy one more thing, I swear, I..."

Raine could not hear the end of his sentence, but they believed that it was not something they wanted to hear anyway. They turned back to Eda, and saw her still red, but moving again, pouring in the full cup of water she had ordered.

"Did I fluster you, my love?"

She cleared at them, with a look that could kill, but made Raine fall in love with her all over again," Shut up, smart ass,"

"I take it as a yes," they quickly leaned forward to plant a quick kiss on her red cheek, "Let's go before Amber and Katya use up all my savings and my retirement fund," they tossed the coins from their drinks onto the counter and grabbed Eda's hand, leading her out of the dark pub.

If they had known what was about to happen, they would have grabbed Eda and run off somewhere no teenager could find them, because even though Katya and Amber had said they had bought everything they needed, they still ran into four more stores and bought a total of six bags of extra stuff, buying pillows, blankets, posters, window stickers, clothes and things that Raine didn't even know what they were, but the young witches seemed to adore them, Raine was still trying to figure out why Derwin needed thirty-eight scented candles. When they finally got away from the shops, Raine breathed a sigh of relief again, they took all the bags back to the house and then left again to go to the old bunker and haul everything to Owl House.

"Books...why do you have so many books?" Eda asked, she had already packed fourteen boxes of books and Derwin had just opened another door behind which was a room with eight bookshelves.

"Raine and Derwin basically eat books when they have the chance," Amber explained, taping the box with more than two dozen flutes inside, why anyone needed so many flutes was a mystery to Eda.

"Oh, I remember that, I once sent Raine to the store to buy milk and they came back with nine books, by the way, they didn't bring milk,"

For the next three hours, they spent emptying the bunker, packing things up, and throwing away the things they no longer wanted. When they finished they had dozens of boxes, mostly instruments, books, a few boxes of clothes and other personal items, and some with crockery, which Eda was very happy to get to the Owl House, as that house broke an average of two cups and three plates a day. There were many times more things than Eda could have imagined, she had always known that Raine was not a very materialistic witch, and she had not expected that many things would come along with them, but she forgot two big things, Raine did not come alone, and teenagers are big hoarders, and well Raine had three of them.

How many trips did they have to go back and forth to get all those things to the Owl House? No one knew, but there were enough of them that after the fourth time, Eda forcibly dragged Luz and all her friends to help, giving them zero chance to fight back. Hours later and a back injury or two later, all those boxes had found their way into living room of the Owl House, but no one had the energy to start unpacking and looking for places for them, so instead they made a very quick dinner and crawled into bed.

Eda and Raine had just come out of the shower and were getting ready for bed in Eda's room when Eda started talking, "Do you think it would be wise to make a music room in the attic? The four of you have so many instruments that we wouldn't have a centimeter of wall or closet space if you placed them all around the house. Or would the sound be better in the basement? Those walls echo well there, and there's more room, too. We can put a new floor in there and make it a little nicer down there. What do you think?"

The bard smiled, their whole insides filled with a warm feeling, "It's sweet how much you think about our comfort,"

"Well, of course, I have to find as many reasons as possible to keep your head from ever thinking about leaving again," she laughed, "Besides, this house needs new blood, change...change is good. And well, I...I want your kids to like it here,”

Raine frowned a bit worriedly, they placed the comb they used to brush their hair on the cabinet next to the mirror, and turned to Eda, reaching out to her, and grabbing her hand, "Do you...do you think they don't like it here?"

"Who knows these teenagers, better to be safe than sorry,"

"Eda..."

"Hey, this new life is new for all of us, and I don't know these kids, and they don't know me. I want to get to know them because they're your kids and well, I want to start things off right."

"I...I know the feeling," they said, looking a bit concerned," Umm, what do Luz and King like?"

The Owl Lady laughed loudly before placing a kiss on the bard's cheek and answered their question, "King loves cheese food, and conquering kingdoms, he is also a big cuddler, although he will never admit it, he likes to play like any nine-year-old, he loves to read books about wars and demons, the darker and bloodier the story the better. Never show him horror movies or murder documentaries, he'll get too many ideas. What else? Oh, he adores his stuffed animals, he considers them his little army. If you ever want to give him something, a new cuddly toy is always a good idea or a demon book is also a good one. He hates swimming and only takes a bath when you threaten him, he constantly gets into trouble, often gets stuck in the arm of my sweaters, and tries to steal snacks from the kitchen cupboards. If you don't want to get into trouble on the street, look where he keeps his little paws because he steals everything from the shelves that isn't nailed down."

"Like mother like son,"

She laughed again, a loving smile on her face, "He sure is,"

"What about Luz?"

The smile on Eda's face grew even more, "She's seriously the weirdest kid I've ever met, but also the best. She adores anything magical. She's a nerd who can never get enough of cheesy love stories, much like you," she slapped them playfully on the shoulder laughing, but Raine didn't let that distract them, they wanted to know everything, and soon Eda continued, "Luz...she...is stubborn, never gives up, blames herself for all the problems in the world, she...she doesn't understand that she is life-changing and amazing, even if she sometimes screws things up.
I think she would love you no matter if you try to win her favor or not, she already adores you a lot, but if you want to bond with her, I don't know, tell her some story from our youth? She is a sucker for backstories,"

"Okay, that I can do," they took her hand again," Don't be mad at me when I tell her embarrassing stories about you,"

"I never do anything embarrassing,"

Incident number 1812, when you were carrying griffin nests to the roof of the school, but you fell down and got stuck on the flagpole, and you couldn't get down yourself, Or when we went swimming and Odalia stole your clothes while you were changing in the girls' locker room, and the only thing that you were able to find was swimsuit with unicorns that belonged to some little kid, or when..."

"Okay, okay I get it, now shut up before King hears something and starts blackmailing me,"

They both laughed, falling into peaceful silence for a few moments. Neither of them said anything, Raine repeated Eda's words in their head. Eda's kids sounded wonderful, Raine knew that they were wonderful kids, they just hoped that they would win the favor of them. Raine had a lot of experience with kids, having taught hundreds, helped dozens, and adopted three, but that didn't mean being a step-parent didn't scare them. The Batts had all chosen to be with Raine, they had made that decision themselves and Raine had accepted them without any conditions, but Luz and King couldn't decide who Eda would take home with her.

There was a very large part of them that was afraid that they would not be able to create a relationship with Luz or King that was at least somewhat close to the relationship between a child and a parent. Raine wanted it, but did the kids too?

"So...what are your hooligans like?" Eda finally asked, and Raine felt laughter creeping up on them, as they both seemed to have the same fear: the fear of being a bad step-parent.

"Well, they love music?"

"I know that, Rainestorm,” she laughed, “But what else? What are they like outside of rebellions and the end of the world?"

"Crazy? To blame for most of my gray hair. But also sweet and very thoughtful, even if it doesn't always go their way. Whenever I was too tired to do anything or I was so overworked that I got sick, they always surprised me with food, a warm glass of apple blood, and a peaceful evening. None of them can cook but they always did their best," the smile on their face brought dimples to their cheeks, they had aged as well as the most expensive apple-blood in Eda's opinion, "Amber is the loudest kid I've ever met, she has so much energy and sparkle, wouldn't even stay still in a bottle. She loves everything sweet and sour and hates every vegetable ever discovered. Every year she makes a new craft for my birthday, she is extremely good at origami, but never give her glitter, it will never leave the house, I found it in our old living room four years after she used it. She often gets jealous, because for many years it was just the two of us, but I guess by now she has come to terms with the fact that I am constantly adopting more kids, and she secretly likes it. She always listens to music very loud and plays it even more loudly, she is the complete opposite of Derwin. He is calm, quiet, never calls attention to himself, and can spend days practicing music or reading books somewhere in silence without anyone noticing him. He can always take my breath away with the music he writes, the boy is so talented but even more insecure than I was back in the day. But when he feels comfortable enough to come out of his shell, he can talk to you for hours about things that interest him, and by hours I mean hours, the last time he told me about a novel he read, the talk went on for six hours, and we didn't even get to the plot, "

"Sounds like another nerd I know," the Owl Lady laughed, bringing a deep red color to Raine's cheeks.

"Well, I don't know, if I remember correctly you're much worse, Miss I'll-borrow-fifteen-books-at-once-from-the-library-using-Raine's-card-because-my-own-had-three-thousand-snails-of-debt-on-it,"

"Yeah, your point is? At least I'm taking advantage of the service of getting free books, and not spending my money on them, ya know, like a nerd,"

The bard shook their head laughing, they were waiting for the day when Eda would admit to herself that she was a nerd, "Anyway, where was I?"

"Your son is a nerd?"

Raine rolled their eyes, "Just like everyone else in this house," they whispered before continuing, "Katya wasn't always very into music, she liked it but she wasn't a bard, she was in the oracle track at school, but before she could graduate, she was imprisoned for her fanfictions, and the imprisonment led to forced coven sigil which turned out to be the bard coven one, she was not given a chance to choose for herself. Luckily things worked out in the end. I taught her Bard magic and she ended up falling in love with it. She's trying her best to learn new instruments and stronger spells, she's doing pretty well, she has hopes of becoming a very strong bard, but I hope there is a way to get rid of the sigils, and she can regain her magical freedom, but in the meantime, I'll teach her everything I know and help her feel good and comfortable with her own magic. She loves musicals, like a lot, loved them even before she started doing music herself. Don't tell anyone, but she once told me that when she was about thirteen, she used to have a celebrity crush on me, she had watched all my musicals, and well...let's just say it was an awkward conversation for both of us, and luckly that 'crush' disappeared years before we met,"

"I can't blame her for having the hots on ya, you looked good on those stages,"

"EDA!"

"But it's true, Rainestorm. That leather jacket in the one show where you played when we were in our twenties, that fancy dark blue costume you wore that one time you were playing the bad guy in that fairy tale retelling movie, your hair colored black and all, ooo, and that dress in that historic show...uhh call the fire department because something's about to catch fire here."

"Oh dear titan give me strength," Raine sighed, their face redder than the sunset," Please let's talk about something else,"

"Of course...so...your daughter had good taste as a teenager," out of nowhere, a pillow suddenly flew, hitting Eda right in the face," Okay, okay, I get it, I'll shut up,"

And luckily she kept quiet, and thank the Titan, she did because otherwise Raine would have sunk into the ground and regretted every decision in their life to open their mouth and tell Eda about it. The truth was that they were still freaked out by this information, and not just because they now considered Katya their daughter, they were afraid to find out how many other teenagers have or once had feelings for them. Downsides of being a celebrity.

"Your kids sound like a nice mess to be around," she said, pulling Raine down into the nest with her, her head falling to rest on their chest.

"How are we supposed to survive with five kids?"

"Hey, don't forget all Luz's friends and Hunter, don't you remember Darius insists you hang out with this boy, you know, for both of your mental health, and knowing our adoption rate, this boy will have two more last names in no time,"

"Yeah, your right," they said removing their glasses and placing them on the edge of the nest to keep them at a safe distance at night, this nest could be dangerous at night as Eda was a terrible squirmer in her sleep, and wouldn't stay put, it wouldn't have been the first pair of Raine's glasses which Eda had crushed in her sleep.

They were both extremely tired from the long day, and they quickly fell asleep, but the last thought in both of their exhausted minds was how to get to know each other's kids as quickly as possible. They both loved each other and already cared about the other's kids, but in order to create a family out of it, they had to win the favor of all kids, no matter how difficult the mission turned out to be. 

---

Several very busy days passed, during which the construction work at Owl House was left unfinished, Eda decided to go to the Hexside to help with the cleanup so that the students could get back to school quickly. Raine spent long days with Darius, Eber, Steve, and a few other trusted people holding meetings about what would happen next for their realm, they needed a new legal system, new laws, and ideas on how to run their island, they were currently thinking about forming a council, and maybe organize something like 'presidential elections' as Luz called them. This gave them all only little time to spend as a family, as Eda and Raine were doing their own thing, Luz was in the human realm dealing with her high school there, King had decided to visit Eda's parents and finally get to know his grandparents, and the Batts were constantly on the run, to help people rebuild their homes. None of them had time for more than sitting around the dinner table together in the evenings and grabbing a few quick bites before going to bed.

But one day Raine saw an opportunity they couldn't refuse, it was Saturday morning, Darius had threatened to lock them in the Conformatorium for the weekend if Raine didn't stay home and rest, and it happened to be one of the few days that Luz was in the demon realm and hadn't planned any dates with her girlfriend or adventures with her friends, just a quiet day at Owl House doing her new school project.

Raine had just finished washing the dishes from breakfast, kissed Eda on the cheek, and sent her out of the house with her lunch in hand, she had decided to go out today and help her sister out with some stuff, and since the Batts had already joined Steve and flown to the Titan's hip the night before, to help the farmers there plant some new crop, there was no one else in the house but Raine, a very sleepy Fiddlesticks who had only returned from Dell and Hunter's care a few days ago and was still tired, King who was currently upstairs in his and Luz's room writing a letter to the Collector, and Luz who was sitting on the living room carpet, examining a strange metal box. The bard witch had no idea what their stepdaughter was up to, and what a weird school project it was, and they decided to take it as an opportunity to bond a little with the young human girl.

They approached the living room, standing in the doorway at first, watching as Luz pressed various buttons on the metal box as if trying to make it do something exciting, her tongue sticking out from between her lips as she concentrated.

After a while, Raine walked into the room, "Is your school project to assemble machines?"

The girl looked up, and Raine could have sworn her eyes lit up when she saw them, "Oh, no, it's a camera, it takes pictures," she said, showing Raine the machine.

Raine sat down on the carpet next to her, casting an inquisitive look at the black device, "Hmm, it looks a lot like one of the devices we have. Does yours also scream when it takes a picture and bites you when you try to get the picture out of its mouth?"

"Um, no, ours are a little less extreme and a lot more boring," she placed the camera in her lap, sighing before continuing," I have to turn in my photography homework on Monday, but I'm out of ideas on what to photograph, I can't find anything in the human realm which would be interesting, but I can't take pictures here because otherwise my teacher and the class will see the demon realm and with humans...umm it might not be a good idea if too many of them know about this place, you know."

This got Raine thinking, they remember back when they and Eda had just been two innocent, dumb teenagers, they had stolen one of those picture-monsters, and had fun with it until it ran away from them and neither of them ever heard from it again, their photography career may have stayed non-existent because of this, but still they knew a couple of good places to take pictures.

"I might know a few spots,” they said, instantly getting Luz's attention.

"Tell me!"

"Well, I know a flower field with very magical Snapdragons, or a cave in the Knee with sparkling ice crystals, and some places in the forest where at the right times of the day there is a light reminiscent of a fairy tale,"

"Wow, that all sounds amazing. Do you have time to take me there, like right now?"

"Why not, let me find Fiddle and we can go,”

This day turned out to be much longer and more fun than Raine had believed, the time had passed so quickly, and they could feel the muscles in their face starting to ache from the amount of laughing they had done. Luz was crazy in the best way, and even though Raine worried a lot for her safety as Luz climbed everywhere to get the perfect picture, even into narrow cave areas, and hung off the edge of the cliff, just to get that exact angle, it had been a fun ride nonetheless. By sunset, they had found an amazing spot on the Titan's raised left arm, sitting on one of the five fingers, looking at a new angle of the sunset that neither of them had seen before.

"This world never gets tired of surprising me," Luz said while taking another picture of the beautiful sunset.

Raine nodded, their hand stroking the head of their palisman who was sleeping in their lap.

They both knew they had to start flying back soon before the sky got too dark for them to see their way back home, but before they left, Luz wanted to make sure she got all the pictures she needed. Her camera had beautiful pictures of nature that showed the beauty of the Demon Realm and not its weirdness, her teacher nor the class should not be able to notice that it was a completely different world. She also had a few pictures she had secretly taken of Raine, and also a few for what she had even managed to get the shy bard to pose for, but Luz's favorites were pictures of tiny moments, for example, the moment when Raine showed her a trick how music and bard magic can make ice crystals glow as if they were full of electricity, the moment when Fiddle and Stringbean were playing together in the snow, and when Raine tripped over a branch and fell into a giant clump of Snapdragons, their clothes still stained with the flower blossoms and pollen.

"Did you get all the pictures you needed?” Raine asked, their fingertips gently tickling Fiddle's sides to wake the fox up to prepare her for the short flight back home.

"Yeah," she said, smiling at them, "Thanks, Raine, I couldn't have done this without you,"

"You're welcome, kid," Raine replied before standing up and holding out a hand to her, "We should go home before Eda comes looking for us, I left her a note saying we'd be back later, but knowing her, she will not breathe easy before we're home,"

The day had gone well, and Raine was happy that they had gotten to know Luz at least a little more, it had been fun to learn something new with her. However, they were surprised when Luz showed up back at the Owl House on Monday night, Raine had just come home from a long day, and they didn't expect to find Luz waiting for them in the living room a second after they entered the house.

And even less, they expected Luz to wrap her arms around them, hugging them while she happily said, "My teacher loved these pictures, she said they were the best and most unique nature pictures the students had ever submitted to her. Thank you so much, Raine!"

The Bard's hesitation and discomfort disappeared and they hugged the girl back, "I'm glad I could help you,"

"Oh, you were very helpful, oh, that reminds me I have something for you," and before Raine could react, Luz had ran out of the living room, and Raine heard her call out, "Wait right there, I'll be right back, "

Raine smirked, Luz's excited behavior no longer surprised them at all, she was much like Amber. They took off their boots, leaving them by the door, and then went to sit on the sofa, a whole bunch of snaps going through their back, it had been a long day, and all they wanted was to find Eda in this messy house, and sink into the comfort of the nest with her and sleep in her arms until the next morning, but before they could do that, they had to wait for Luz, she was a higher priority for Raine at the moment.

A minute or two later, Luz came back into the living room with some printed pictures and an old-looking cardboard box.

"So, umm, here are the pictures I took on Saturday if you want to see them," she sat next to Raine on the couch, handing them the pictures, which Raine accepted looking at them with great interest.

"They are very beautiful, Luz, you have a talent for this,” they replied once they had looked at all the pictures, handing them back to the girl.

"I still have a lot to learn," she said, putting the pictures away, then turning her attention to the box in her lap, "That actually brings me to this," she handed the box to Raine who hesitantly accepted it, they opened it, being surprised to see a camera that looked older than Luz's own, but still in good condition and very well kept, Raine looked at her with a confused look, to which Luz explained, "It's my dad's old camera, me and mama found it in the basement during cleaning. I was thinking that if you were interested, maybe you would like to learn photography with me? I had a lot of fun on Saturday and thought we could do it again and if you have your own camera it would be even more fun, we can bring Eda and the others with us when I get more cameras but for now it can be just the two of us thing,"

Raine felt speechless, they didn't know much about Luz's life outside of the Demon Realm, but Eda had mentioned that her father had died of a sudden illness that had taken him from his family in a few quick months. Knowing that Luz wanted to give them something that had once belonged to her father was a big deal for Raine, as they had once been a child who had lost one of their parents at a very young age and it took a very special person for Raine to trust any of their mother's things to someones else's hands.

"Are you sure about this?" they asked her a little worried," If it belongs to your father, I wouldn't want to..."

"No, it's okay, I'll trust you with that, besides, how much can it be worth if it's stuck in a box? Things bring much more joy when they are used." she carefully took the camera out of the box, holding it out to the older witch," So...what do you say...will you be my photography buddy,"

And how could you say no to that?

They smiled at her, carefully taking the camera from her hand, holding it like a treasure they were afraid to break.

"I'll show you how it works. You have to look through that hole to see what you're shooting, and that button takes the picture. In addition, there are things like ISO, shutter speed, and camera aperture size that have to be set according to the light, see, they work like this..."

---

"Is that straight, Rainestorm?"

Raine tilted their head thoughtfully, scrutinizing the photos that Eda had nailed to the wall in the corridor, "This third picture from the top is slightly skewed to the left, and our grom picture is about two millimeters too far to the right,"

The Owl Lady looked at the framed pictures, and even though she couldn't see what Raine saw, she still shifted the pictures a bit, "Better?"

The Bard wrinkled their nose, "More or less,"

"Seriously, Raine?"

"Maybe the wall isn't straight,"

"I give up,” Eda threw up her hand in frustration and got off the chair.

Raine gave her an apologetic smile, "It looks good, crooked or not,"

"They're not crooked, you are!"

Raine just shook their head and smiled, not saying anything further, but instead, took another good look at the decorated wall. There had been pictures there before, mostly random pictures of nature that Eda had stolen from somewhere, some pictures of Luz and King, but now the whole wall was full of framed photos. There were old pictures from Eda's childhood, family portraits with Dell, Gwen, and the two little Clawthorne sisters, happy pictures of Lilith and Eda from when life was easy and carefree, there were a dozen pictures of Eda and Raine's youth, their first months as friends, but also many of the major milestones of their ten-plus-year relationship were presented there in the form of pictures. All these pictures had been sitting in the attic for years, but now Eda didn't want to hide them, but instead presented them on the wall so that everyone could see who her family was. In addition to these pictures, Eda had insisted that Raine add pictures of the time they had been without her, and while Raine added pictures of their little rebel family, Eda added some she had of King, Luz, and herself. This wall looked better than either of them had expected.

They smiled proudly at each other before heading downstairs to see what the kids were up to. It was a Wednesday afternoon, which meant Luz was at school in the human realm. Everyone else was at home though, as the Batts had decided to take a few days off so they could finally work on decorating their room. For several weeks now, they had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor in a room filled with piles of boxes and shopping bags. Even Raine hadn't found time to unpack all their things, the only things that had found a place in Eda's room were clothes, a couple of instruments, and four of their favorite books, all the other things were still neatly packed in boxes that were waiting in the far corner of the room for the time when Raine is ready to unpack them and find a place for them.

"Derwin, for the last time, we don't have room for such a large bookshelf," Amber said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We would have if you didn't insist on that closet that takes up twenty-eight point four percent of the entire space in our room," Derwin argued.

"I need a place to put my things!"

"What seems to be the problem?" Raine decided to interrupt, sitting on the floor with their kids.

Immediately, all three pairs of eyes were on them and Amber and Derwin started to explain the situation in a high voice at the same time, Raine couldn't pick up any words and they looked at Eda for help, who just shrugged and sat on the sofa to watch what was going on from afar. Raine sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose in frustration.

"Amber, Derwin, please stop! Katya explain what's going on before my head explodes."

Their oldest daughter smiled and replied, "We can't decide how to fit all our things in our room. It seems impossible even if we use a punk bed," she slid a stack of papers with various possible room layouts drawn on them towards Raine.

"Yeah, when Eda and I first built this house, we didn't think there would ever be more than the two of us living here, so we didn't build the house very big. The room you guys have was once my music studio and Luz and King's was a guest room, or rather a room where Eda kept her stolen stuff and brewed her potions," Raine explained while examining the layout plans.

"And look where life has taken you," Amber laughed, "Better build more rooms to the house quickly before we scratch each other's eyes out."

"It's not that easy, honey," Raine replied, "It took Eda and I years to build this house, we lived in the tower behind the house for two years without running water or a bathroom before the house was ready enough to move in and then it took us more than a year to finish the house more or less,"

There was silence in the room during which Raine's three teenagers exchanged disappointed looks with each other, they had no problem sharing a room with each other, but still, they were used to more privacy than the Owl House could offer. Raine tried to think, they thoroughly reviewed the plans of the room, calculating one and another possibility of installing furniture to indicate the most useful use of the space.

Eda, who was still sitting on the couch, watched the scene in front of her with a worried look. She didn't want to risk Raine leaving, and she also wanted to keep these three young bards under her roof, she wasn't close to them, but she wanted to be, and it was important to her that both Raine and the kids felt comfortable and at home, and if that meant jumping over her own shadow, stealing building materials, and spending sleepless nights building extra bedrooms, she was willing to do it.

She cleared her voice and said, "How about we fix the connecting passage between the house and the tower, and remodel the rooms in the tower? The tower has four floors, enough room for three bedrooms,"

Raine and the kids all looked at her, "Wait is this an option?" Katya asked hopefully.

"As Raine said before, we lived there once. Yes we should maybe replace the floors as they are old and a bit rotten and the stairs leading up should need to be fixed too, but otherwise, it should make great rooms up there. I...I can clear my calendar for a while and the four or five of us if...if Raine has time to join us, can build all of this together,”

Suddenly, Raine realized what Eda was trying to do and they decided to play along, "Sorry, love, but I probably can't help you guys much. I have a lot of meetings and other things coming up. But you four go crazy,"

"Hmm, a room in the tower...I'll take the top floor!” Amber announced excitedly.

"Fine by me, the fewer stairs the better," said Derwin.

"This tower is big right?" Katya asked as she was already drawing new designs," Like big enough for a decent desk?"

"Certainly," the Owl Lady replied getting up from the couch and joining the others on the floor," Big enough to hold anything your little hooligan souls want. I've used the tower for years to hide my stolen things, I've stored whole cartloads of goods in there. So when you're ready we can go to the Human Realm and steal...or buy construction materials and start building right away,"

The three were very excited and agreed immediately, in less than ten minutes all three had dressed up in the best human realm disguises they could find, covering their ears with hats, and in the case of Amber, a medical face mask to hide her pink skin, and her wings were hidden under a sweater. They waited anxiously outside in front of the portal door, waiting for Eda to finally join them.

"They're excited," Raine said, helping Eda hide her ears under a bandana, "They've never been to the Human Realm, so keep an eye on them,"

"Don't worry, Rainestorm, I will bring your kids back alive,”

"Our kids, dear,” Raine corrected her, the small remark forcing a smile on Eda's lips, “Also, if you steal, please don't get caught. I can't buy you out of the local police and I don't think Camila would be too happy do to so."

"Yeah, yeah, Rainestorm, don't worry, I'll make sure everything's going to be okay. I have a bunch of human realm money set aside, I did a lot of pickpocketing there back in the day, we can also buy the necessary things,"

Raine smiled contentedly, they kissed their lover and then sent her out of the house to the portal where Amber, Katya, and Derwin were already waiting for her. Raine watched as the four of them left through the portal and went to another world, they weren't worried, they trusted Eda and her knowledge of the human realm, she had taken them there many times, and not every time things ended with the police chasing them, it didn't happen more often there than in their own realm.

They were sure that the four of them would have a great day of bonding. A little run from the police was part of the bonding if it is Eda you are bonding with.

---

The new Owl House building project had turned out to be more time-consuming than Eda had believed, they had been at it over a week already. Eda had spent hauling building materials through the portal door and erecting new stone walls, replacing wood floors, and dealing with the endless excitement of the three young witches.

At first, Eda had been uncertain when things came to the three bards, she knew almost nothing about them, and depended a lot on her gut feeling. She had no problem being someone's weird aunt, being the weird apple-blood aunt who joked and playfully teased was something she had done before, but these three weren't Luz's friends or any kid on the street to make good-natured fun of when their parents weren't looking, these are Raine's kids, her step-kids, and she wanted to be the same kind of parent to them as she was to Luz and King.

The more time she spent with the three of them, she realized that she had nothing to worry about as the three of them were a complete riot and Eda loved it. Even on their first visit to the Human Realm, they managed to get into so much trouble that Eda and they had to make a deal that Raine would never hear about it. They surprised her a lot. First of all, who would have thought that Derwin is so good at pickpocketing, they hadn't even reached the first store before he handed Eda two wallets and said something like, "There was a woman who shouted at two kids she didn't even know, they were just riding their staffs that have wheels under them, she seemed like a woman with a not so easy attitude, so I decided to teach her some karma, oh and the other one belonged to that guy Luz told us about, at least I think it's him, he was holding a sign, 'Demons and witches are among us,' I felt like he deserved it,"

Eda was so surprised that she couldn't say anything, she just accepted the two wallets and hid them in the bag she had brought from home. Later she learned from Raine that before they met Derwin, he had been a street kid who survived entirely on the things he managed to steal. Who would have guessed it?

The next surprise hit her when they got to the hardware store, and Katya suddenly pulled out one of her several notebooks and began organizing their entire shopping trip. It turned out that all the time the three of them had spent waiting for Eda at the portal door they had spent making a very detailed list of everything they might need, and the list was so neat that Eda only had to add a few more things. Thanks to this list, their trip to the hardware store went very quickly, and the next big surprise soon hit Eda. She hadn't even finished paying before Amber had already announced that she had convinced one of the workers to bring all of their purchases to the front of the abandoned house where the portal door that led them back to their realm was. When asked how she had done it, Amber told her the story of how she had been bored at the store and had gotten a little too curious when she saw two employees flirting with each other in the middle of the paint pots," He told this girl that his girlfriend must never hear any of this, apparently he was cheating on his girl, so and I decided to scare him a little, I pretended I knew his girlfriend and blackmailed him into giving us free transportation,"

Very impressive, really. She would never have believed that these children had such skills.

And the following days taught her even more about these kids. Throughout the time they spent building and renovating, they talked and joked, and Eda also learned a lot about their past, and how each of them found their way into Raine's care. And Eda felt herself falling more and more in love with this mint-green-haired bard. The backstories of all three were tragic, and without Raine, they would either be dead, in prison or stuck in an abusive environment. The three were tough, strong, and fantastic young witches, and reminded her a lot of herself and at times Raine when they were young, and she also saw similarities between Luz and King in the three. It seems they were a family meant to be. Found family of fighters and those abandoned by society who had found their own way to become the best version of themselves.

Her biggest surprise was how good these three were at running and hiding from the police, but that was probably what being in the rebellion taught you. Why was the police chasing them? Let's just say that a furniture store didn't really like how Amber tried to jump-test their mattresses or how Katya tried to test how strong the wood of the Human Realm desks was by scratching the wood with a nail she found on the floor, she just wanted to see if it was scratch free or not, it turned out that it wasn't and human realm tables do not have scratch free spells on them, Eda and Katya both agreed that there was no point in buying such a table, and the shop didn't seem happy that they weren't going to buy the table anymore, and well, the fact that Eda tried to hide one of the store lamps in her hair, and that Derwin got into a fight with a middle-aged woman over decorative pillows did not improve their situation, and so the police was called.

It had been a fun trip.

Back at home, they had a lot of work to do, first they had to clean the entire tower, there was a lot of dust, some garbage, empty boxes, and broken items that even the coven scouts hadn't bothered to take away when they emptied the house. Next, they tore up all the parts of the rotten floor, it had been absolute agony, Eda had broken two nails and she had never missed her magic as much as she did now, luckily she had her harpy mode that was very useful for the job but she only remembered it when the damage to her nails was already done. Installing the new floor was easy until Amber decided she wanted two different colored patterned floors in her room and Eda felt like running her head against the wall as the girl kept changing her design ideas, but in the end, Derwin and Katya helped her come to a decision and they finally made her striped floors with lighter and darker wood. A couple of window panes needed replacing, and the walls needed a thorough cleaning, but the most difficult part was rebuilding the passage connecting the house and the tower, as it had been damaged years ago and Eda had not found a reason to repair it, but after three days of laying stones, they had completed a passage connecting the first floor of the tower with the second floor of the house.

When Eda finally got the feeling that the job was done and their next only concern was getting the furniture into the rooms and then she could give the three young people free rein to design the rooms however they liked, she was ready to escape to her room, possibly kidnapping Raine along the way, and stay there for a couple of days until her back stops hurting and the desire to see people returns, but that was the moment when the kids suddenly surprised her with not so nice news.

"Wait aren't we building walls?" Amber asked as Eda announced that they were done, "You know, so we would have three closed rooms and not three open spaces that we all walk through when we go up the stairs to our rooms."

"Yeah, rooms, rooms with doors," Katya added, nodding along.

And Eda, wanting to be the best step-mom she could be, immediately turned around again and replied, "Let's go to the store and buy some more materials. There should be a couple of old doors in the basement that we can restore,"

In the end, the project on which she had planned to sacrifice a few days had turned into two weeks full of a lot of work, but the smile she saw on the faces of the three made it all worth it. And as soon as everything was finished and each one of them was very happy to show her the final result of each room, they started thinking and writing down ideas of what the music room in their basement should look like.

Yes, Eda was no longer worried about being a stepmother to the three of them. Yes, she would probably never be as close to them as Raine is, but she was sure that no matter what, these kids did not want to run away and did not consider Eda to be just someone who robbed their parent from them. Was she a parent to them already? Not quite. Will she ever be? Probably not, because they were no longer children, they were barely teenagers anymore. But still, she wanted to hope that if these kids ever needed her, they would know she was there for them. And if they want it, she has no problem with being a mom for them, because these kids are a riot and Eda loves riots.

---

Raine hadn't lied when they'd said they had a lot to do. They spent most of their days in meetings making tough decisions and writing up detailed plans for their society, what time they had free in between they spent hanging out with Darius and Eber, visiting their mother, and sitting at home watching their three kids and their girlfriend work on the tower, from time to time they helped them, but mostly Raine had decided to stay away, so that Eda would have the opportunity to spend as much quality time with the kids as possible. This gave them the opportunity to unpack their own things, they lined up all their books by color and put them on the bookshelf in the living room, they hung most of their instruments on the wall of Eda and their shared bedroom, the ones that didn't fit there found a place in one of the closets that Eda emptied out for them, from their boxes they found some more photos which they added to the wall in the corridor. The more of their belongings they put everywhere, the more they began to see the same house they had left behind years ago, but this time it felt even more like home.

They had just finished their unpacking for the day and thought of going into the kitchen to grab a cup of water, they were not at all surprised to find King clinging to the ceiling lamp, trying to reach for one of the tall kitchen cabinets.

"What are you doing, buddy?" they asked smiling, they hadn't had many opportunities to interact with King, the two of them had at best shared five sentences with each other during the month that Raine had lived there, but still Raine had heard a lot of this little Titan from both the boy's mother and older sister, and all the strange things Raine had seen him do no longer surprised them.

"I'm looking for cookies!” King announced as he struggled even harder towards the cabinet, but unfortunately, his short nine-year-old arms couldn't reach the cabinet handle.

"Need help?"

"Yes please!" and before Raine could react, King jumped down from the lamp straight onto Raine's shoulders with feline precision.

Raine just smirked and moved the chair in front of the cupboard, and then climbed on top of it, as soon as they opened the cupboard, King jumped in, pushing away all the seaweed snacks that Katya loved, pushing past all the instant coffee packets that Luz brought over for Katya and Derwin, he also ignored all the nuts, dried fruits and other healthy snacks that Raine had filled the cupboard with, and didn't even touch the pack of Hex-Mix that was there.

"Wha? Where are all the cookies?" Raine heard his voice coming from the cupboard even though they no longer saw him in the middle of all those snacks.

"Wasn't there any in the bottom cupboard?"

"No!" replied the little demon with desperation in his voice," Did Eda forget to buy them?"

"I'm afraid someone might have already eaten them, buddy,"

"Traitors!"

This is when Raine started feeling really bad, they remembered that Eda had bought them, but they also remembered how Amber had eaten a whole pack by herself a few days ago, and how Derwin had eaten some with his morning coffee, and how Katya had said that she had used them to feed the birds that nested on the roof of the tower. King's unhappy face and how he was trying to find cookies in the cupboard where they usually keep the pans gave Raine an idea, but before they could say anything, they peeked into their dry goods cupboard and fridge, and when they were sure everything they needed was there, they turned back to their little stepson, giving him a supportive smile.

"When I was a kid my mothers taught me how to bake, I think I still remember my mama's cookie recipe. Would you like to help me make them?"

"You can bake?" the boy looked up at them with a bit of hope.

"I sure can, and I can teach you too if you want,"

Raine didn't get any words for a response, but they sure got an excited kid who jumped on top of the kitchen table, happily clapping his paws together, his tail swinging happily back and forth. The bard smiled at the cute scene, and began pulling out all the necessary ingredients from the cupboards while King asked them all kinds of questions like, "What are we going to put in these cookies?" and, "How sweet will they be?" and, "Wait, are we going to put chocolate chips in there too?"

It was a very sticky way to spend their day, as King had a real sweet tooth, big enough to stick his tiny paws into the batter as soon as Raine inserted a new ingredient. Raine watched as the nine-year-old titan took a big bite out of the stick of butter as if it was a candy bar. After two hours, after a lot of ingredients eaten raw, after a lot of sticky mess left to clean for later, the cookies were done and ready to eat by the young Titan, and Raine was happy to see the boy's big eyes light up as he took the first bite of the cookies.

"You must stay," the King informed them, "You are now an official subject in my kingdom, the baker,"

"Thanks, kiddo,” Raine replied with a laugh as they cleaned the sticky bits of dough from King's fur.

Raine wasn't sure if being a baker was really their thing, but if they could be a part of this kingdom, they would happily play the part of a baker.

---

It was very late at night when Eda finally joined Raine in their room, her face had some pink wall color painted over it, her shoulder-length hair was more messy than usual, and she looked extremely tired but still had a smile on her lips.

"Kids' first night in their new rooms,” she said, and Raine could hear the pride in her voice.

"You did amazingly, love. You're a very good mother,” they put their book away and reached out to welcome their lover into the nest with them, Eda falling tiredly into their arms, a contented look on her face.

"You too," she said, "You are an amazing parent, mx photographer or should I say mx baker,"

Raine smiled at their girlfriend, a great feeling of adoration filling them, and they had a great desire to give her a big squeeze, "I love you,"

"Love you too," she replied snuggling closer to their chest, she opened one of her sleepy eyes, looking around the dim room, seeing all those instruments on the walls and Raine's books everywhere, her heart skipped a beat and a warm feeling filled her insides," The house,” her tired voice echoed from her once more.

"What about it?"

"It looks like home,”

"Yeah, it really does,"

It felt more like home than it ever had before. This house was meant to have a big family living in there, even if it wasn't built with that in mind, it was always meant to be just like that. 

Chapter Text

"King, for the last time clean up your toys, because if I trip over them one more time, I'll throw them into the sea!" Eda shouted from the living room, to King, who was sitting at the kitchen table, impatiently waiting for Raine to finish preparing lunch.

"They're getting ready for their training camp which starts after I get my tummy full!" King yelled back, narrowing his eyes at Eda who walked into the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest.

"They've been there on the floor for three days!"

"It's a long training camp!"

Eda growled and sat down at the table, she was tired of fighting with her nine-year-old son, it was common for the two of them to pick on each other, whenever Luz was in the human realm King always seemed to be more stubborn and mischievous in the ways that Eda did not like. Eda had to constantly tell him to clean up after himself, to wash all the mud from outside of his paws before he climbed on the couch, or to not sleep in places where he couldn't get out of later, but every time Eda felt like she was talking to a wall.

A plate was placed in front of her, and when she looked up, she met Raine's smiling face, "By the way, Luz called in the morning while you were still sleeping, she's coming over tonight, her school is closed tomorrow for some kind of holiday, she has an extended weekend thanks to that, "

"Luz is coming here?” King's head lifted from his lunch, his tail wagging happily.

"Yeah, and it would be very nice if the house was nicely cleaned by the time she gets here. So what do you think, could you pick up your toys off the floor while Eda and I clean the rest of the house?"

In response, King nodded enthusiastically, quickly gulping down the last of his lunch, then rushing out of the kitchen. Eda sighed a sign of relief, hoping that finally, those dozen toys covering the living room floor like a minefield would be cleaned up.

"You're much better at this than I am,” she said, taking the first bite of her breakfast.

"I doubt it, love," Raine replied, sitting next to Eda at the table," Also, Hunter is coming here today too, if that's okay with you. Darius is going to the Knee with Alador and Steve for a couple of days, the Coven Heads have been spotted there, and Darius wants to make sure that they are not up to anything bad. He doesn't want me to help them since Terra might be there, and he doesn't want to leave Hunter alone, and since Luz is coming here today too, he thought it would be the best option."

"Yeah, sure, I don't mind, you've half-adopted the boy anyway, who I am to stop it,” she laughed a little, giving them an affectionate smile.

The Bard smiled back as they began to eat their lunch. The house was quiet at the moment, and it was a nice change from the usual commotion that was going on, but in less than two hours their three oldest kids would be back, and in about three hours, Luz and Hunter should be here as well. In the meantime, the couple can enjoy a bit of silence, with a mug of warm appleblood and a good lunch, just silence and the two of them...

Eda's ears perked up in alarm when she heard the sound of something very large and heavy falling over. Both she and Raine were instantly up from their chairs, running into the living room to see what had happened. As soon as they entered the living room, they were met with a bookshelf that had been overturned, the books and everything else that had been on the shelf had been scattered everywhere, and some of the more delicate things appeared to be broken.

"KING!" the cursed witch turned her head towards the young Titan, who was standing on all fours at the end of the sofa, his back arched like a frightened cat," For the love of the Ti...what were you even trying to do?"

"I...," King looked between Eda and Raine, one of them angry, the other somewhat amused, "I wanted to get a book, there...there was a book with an awesome cover,"

Eda's eye was twitching as she tried not to yell out at the nine-year-old, luckily Raine was quick to intervene," Don't worry about it, buddy, let's just clean it up together okay?"

"Okay," King jumped off the couch, picking up the first book at his feet.

Eda just walked away from the mess, leaving her son and partner to deal with it, she went back to the kitchen, sat back in her chair, but didn't touch her lunch. Sometimes it seemed to her that she didn't know how to be a mother, too many things irritated her, especially lately. Raine was much better with it all, they were able to stay calm, and they spoiled the nine-year-old a lot more than Eda did, although she also knew that Raine did a lot of it just because they wanted to stay on their stepson's good side. However, Raine made it all feel so easy, they always had it under control, while Eda had her ups and downs, and at the moment she seemed to be on her downtime. She was tense and tired, and the last thing she wanted was to live it out on King, but damn, he made it so easy sometimes.

"KING, BUDDY, NO, DON'T EAT THAT! KING NO! KING! EDA! HE ATE SOMETHING THAT FELL OUT FROM BETWEEN ONE OF THE BOOKS! EDAAAA!"

"Ugh,” she growled, pushing herself up from her chair again.

---

Whenever the whole family was together at the Owl House, Eda felt much better, her soul seemed lighter and she enjoyed the noise that a full house brought with it. Her family was currently in the kitchen, Raine and Katya were cooking dinner together, and Luz, Hunter, Derwin, Amber, and King were playing cards at the kitchen table while waiting for their dinner. Eda was about to join them, she just needed to put back a few things and...

"Augh...” something caught behind her feet and she fell, landing on the living room carpet, King's toys still lying all around her, and when she looked down at her feet, she saw that King's new snake stuffed animal was tangled around her legs," Again? Uhh..."

It seemed to be just a matter of self-control not to pick up all the damn toys and set them on fire, so she wouldn't trip over them ever again. Did the toys have some kind of vendetta against her? Why does she keep tripping over them?

She felt pissed, and she couldn't understand why King couldn't clean them up. Maybe another parent would have cleaned them up themself, but Eda refused to do so, it was a matter of principle for her.

The kitchen was full of laughter as she walked in, and she could have sworn that King gave her the side-eye, and he was smirking at her. However, Eda said nothing, wanting to serve her revenge more sweetly and end this dead circle where she tells King something that he doesn't listen anyway. No, she had to plan something to teach him, something with spice...

Ignoring the kitchen table behind which there was a place for her, Eda walked towards her favorite musician, wrapping her arms around Raine, who was cooking soup in front of the stove, stirring the food slowly.

"Hi, there beauty," Raine smiled.

"Hello to you too, hot stuff. Is there any way I can help? I can help bring things to the table,"

"I think I got it covered, but thanks, love," Raine replied, adding the last ingredient to the soup.

"Are you sure, there are a lot of kids who need to be fed,"

"What are you planning, Eda?” the Bard smirked, a mischievous look in their eyes.

She smiled back, a little surprised that Raine could see through her so easily, she tilted her head towards their ear, whispering in their ear, "There is a brat who still didn't clean up his toys, my knees have no skin left on them. I think that he deserves a little revenge for not listening,"

Raine sighed and shook their head a little, but still handed Eda an empty bowl, then filled it with two ladlefuls of soup, "Don't go too far," they whispered to her, "He's just a kid,"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, just a little bit of your favorite spice will do fine for my plan,” she replied, giving them a quick kiss on the cheek before setting the bowl down and grabbing a bottle of spice from the cupboard.

One drop, two drops...just in case, three drops of Boiling Islas' spiciest sauce should do the trick. When she looked at Raine again, they were standing there with a not-so-proud look, a bowl of soup in each hand. Together they brought a bowl of soup in front of each of their kids before taking their own bowls and heading to the table, but before that Raine placed a glass of griffin milk on the table, sliding it smoothly towards King without him noticing.

"Uuu, it smells amazing," Luz said running the tip of her tongue over her lips, "Do you still have that spice?" she asked Raine who nodded and handed the girl a bottle from which she let one very careful drop fall into her soup.

Raine themself had used two drops in their soup.

The family started eating, but Eda and Raine didn't touch their food, Eda watched intently as King blew on his soup bowl to cool it down, and Raine just held their head with one of their hands, refusing to look at the young Titan. They did not agree with Eda's way of teaching her son a lesson for fulfilling his responsibilities, but they also did not question Eda's ways of parenting.

When King was satisfied with the temperature of his soup, he grabbed his bowl with both paws and raised it to his mouth, quickly drinking the entire contents of the soup. At first, everything seemed to be okay, he brought his bowl back down and even licked his lips clean of the soup, but suddenly, a hellfire was lit in his eyes, he dropped the bowl, dropping it on the table.

"Ahhh,” he cried out, his eyes narrowing, his hands desperately trying to fan the wind into his mouth as if it would extinguish the fire that was going on in his gut.

Raine gave Eda a tired look and pushed the cup of milk closer to King, and when the boy noticed it, he immediately grabbed it and drank it down in seconds. As the milk was gone, he fell back in his highchair, eyes watering up. Everyone else looked at him with wide eyes, not understanding what had just happened, but some of them were now looking at their soup with much more suspicion.

"WHY!” King asked angrily, at first he wanted to be mad at Raine, but then he remembered who had put that bowl in front of him.

"What do you mean?” Eda asked, pretending to be as confused as everyone else, and she ignored Raine's heavy sigh beside her, and the bard dropping their head on the table.

"You know exactly what I mean," King said jumping onto the table, "You tried to poison me!"

"Maybe I accidentally brought you a bowl meant for Raine or Luz, who knows, I'VE HIT MY HEAD ON THE FLOOR SEVEN TIMES BECAUSE SOMEONE DOSEN'T CLEAN UP HIS TOYS AROUND HERE AND I KEEP TRIPPING OVER THE FUC...”

"Eda!” Raine interjected, their head still against the table.

"Ah, so this is what's going on," King finally understood, and put his paws on his hip, and despite being angry, he looked extremely cute," And just so you know, I cleaned them up, I put them on the sofa, but then Colonel Grant turned out to be a traitor, and we had to take him down, our battle was tough but we came out victorious,"

"Hmm, so that's why one of your bears didn't have a head anymore," Eda rolled her eyes.

"You crossed the line, nobody messes with my feast! Edalyn Clawthorne, I am declaring a war against you!"

Eda laughed out loud, biting her lip with her fang as she said," You are declaring a war against me?"

"Yeah, so choose your army, Owl Lady, and know that whoever you choose, you are going down,"

"Oh, is that so?" she asked giving him a challenging look, King nodded and Eda smiled," Fine, then I'm going to choose your dear sister. Luz, you are part of my kingdom like it or not,"

For a moment, King looked surprised and glanced between Luz and Eda before his gaze sharpened again and he replied to Eda, "Fine, then I'm going to choose your partner!" he jumped over all the soup bowls and landed on Raine's shoulders, each paw holding either side of Bard's head as if they were his prisoner.

"What is going on?" Raine asked, completely confused, but seeming to accept their fate.

"Well...I am taking the Blondy," Eda replied.

Hunter looked up from his soup, no longer able to ignore the situation, "Wait we have to be a part of this too?"

"Hmm," King seemed to think for a moment before pointing his finger at Katya, "You are my advisor, you must write down all my glorious words and victories!"

"Sir, yes, sir," Katya replied, playing along.

As soon as King had picked, Amber raised her hand, trying to get Eda's attention, "Pick me, Mama Eda, pick me!"

"Why not, kid," Eda decides," I have Luz, Blondy, and Amber,"

"And I have my loyal royal advisor Katya, the nerd boy, and your partner who I can use as a trap to make you give up!” King laughed evilly, making everyone else go 'awww'.

"I'm a royal advisor," Katya said proudly, pulling her notebook out of her pocket.

Derwin looked at her with narrowed eyes before he sighed and muttered, "What kind of title is 'nerd boy' anyway?"

"At least you weren't told to your face that you were part of the team only to be sacrificed," Raine replied, dropping their head back onto the table with King still sitting on their shoulders.

King was already laughing triumphantly, and Eda was smiling despite everything, she had always been amused by her little tyrant son and his crazy games.

"Eda," Luz's worried voice came from beside Eda," It's just a harmless game, right?"

"For now," Eda replied, a big smile coming to her face.

"Okay...I'm worried,"

---

By the end of the dinner, both kingdoms had negotiated all their rules and divided their lands. Kingdom Owl Lady owned the top floor of the house and Kingdom King the Fearless Lord the first owned the first floor.

The rules for their declaration of war were:

1. Going into another kingdom's territory means battle!
2. Allowed weapons are pillows, water guns, and tickle attacks.
3. The winner is the one who can capture the leader of the other kingdom or who can make the leader of the other kingdom surrender
4. War lasts as long as one kingdom wins.

All the housemates had to clear their calendars of all activities, as King insisted that everyone's priority must be on this very important war where justice is being fought by King who wanted to fight for the rights of his toy army to train on the living room floor and Eda who wanted each toy soldier to find their way back into the toybox after each play.

The rest of the evening was left for both kingdoms to prepare themselves, collect their supplies, and build their loyal forts. Both kingdoms had an hour to bring everything they needed to their kingdom areas, the Eda kingdom hauled a whole bunch of snacks and drinks upstairs because they didn't have access to a kitchen, and King's subjects gathered a bunch of blankets, pillows, clothes, instruments, books and anything else these three Bards thought they needed from their rooms since who knows when they would have access to their bedrooms again. When both kingdoms were ready, Eda and King shook hands and then retreated to their respective areas to begin their war in full preparation in the morning.

As Katya, Derwin, and Raine built a fort of pillows and blankets in the middle of the living room floor, King stood on the windowsill explaining to them his war plan, which consisted of surprise attacks in the middle of the night, and his plan to attack Eda from behind and tie her up with a sheet, and if all went according to plan and no one dies making their sacrifice, they can celebrate their victory with a victory cake. Raine smirked to themself the whole time King was explaining his 'brilliant' plans, and when King got to the point where he wanted to tie Eda up, Raine had to hold themself back from laughing because they knew it wasn't going to be an easy mission, it was possible if the right ways were used, but they weren't going to saying it in front of their kids. Why did Raine know how to bind Eda? Science and...a few things that are not said out loud to minors.

They built a fort with a simple structure surrounded by kitchen chairs and a coffee table, cushioned with a dozen pillows, and covered with several blankets. Inside this fortress were their living quarters, where they had made nests of pillows for themselves to sleep in, and where they kept war plans hidden in pillowcases.

Until the moment when King fell down on the pillow from exhaustion and fell asleep, he talked about various plans and everything he wanted to do. Both Raine and the other two Bards thought it was extremely cute, and to his delight they played along with his every quirk, telling him he was a good ruler and cheering him on with his every plan. As their leader fell asleep, Katya and Derwin both went about their usual bedtime activities, Derwin reading a book and Katya watching comedy videos on her scroll. Raine felt a little out of their comfort zone, it had been a long time since they had done anything resembling a sleepover-style evening. They never thought they'd get to the point in their life where they were forty-five years old and staying in a pillow fort with two teenagers and a nine-year-old titan, but to be honest, they didn't regret it as it was a unique way to spend time with their family, and they appreciated every opportunity very much. The only shame was that Eda was not next to them, it was the first night in several months where the couple did not spend the night in each other's arms. Fortunately, they were able to quench their longing by texting Eda through their scroll.

In Eda's kingdom, things were quite different, teenagers were lying everywhere on the floor of her room, stretched out on thin mattresses, wrapped in blankets, some snack packs already opened. Luz and Hunter, each laying on their mattresses, were talking about plans to take all the rebels and their friends on a little vacation trip to the human realm in a few weeks, both of them offering each other places where to take everyone so they could get the vacation they deserved. Amber was already asleep, her hair in front of her face, her limbs that were covered in pink pajamas were poking out from under her blanket.

Eda was lying in her nest, staying much more on Raine's side than her own, one of their pillows was still there and Eda was wearing one of their shirts, everything had their scent on it and it was holding her back from rushing downstairs and kidnapping one of the opposing kingdom members. She smiled because Raine was texting her.

'King takes it so seriously, he made us take an oath promising that we will not betray him or we will be big mean heads,' the Bard wrote, making Eda laugh.

'Any plans I should be concerned about?' Eda asked, hoping to get a hint, but she wasn't surprised when Raine answered.

'Nice try, my lady, but I won't betray my king,'

'Ooo, the royal sacrificial lamb is playing their part?'

'Nah, I already got a new role, I'm now his royal steed, carrying him around everywhere. I'll take that as a promotion,'

Eda laughed out loud, 'Even the royal steed can become a sacrifice if needed,'

There was no response for a few seconds, but finally, a response came which made Eda blush a little, 'Do you want me to be sacrificed? I wouldn't mind being a sacrifice for a Harpy queen ;-) ,"

Oh...OH...

'Sush you, the kids will hear,' she answered her mouth going dry as sand.

There was no answer.

For a long time.

Until finally...

'Eda...we are texting, love...they can't...you know never mind,'

It took the Owl Lady a while to realize how stupid she had been with her earlier message, Raine had always been able to fry her brain with less than a sentence, or in this case a text message, 'That was stupid,'

'No, that was cute,' a few seconds later an additional message came, 'I don't even have to be there and I can still make you a mess,'

She smiled at the thought, her heart singing with love for this weird and terribly flirtatious musician, she decided to change the subject before she can't stop herself from storming downstairs to drag Raine somewhere where no one could find or hear them, 'Tomorrow is going to be fun, we have some pretty good war plans too. Hunter is a total expert,'

'How long do you think this war thing can last?'

'Exactly how long it will take for this ungrateful little puppy to promise he won't leave his things lying around anymore,'

'Oh, fun,' came their quick reply, and a little later they added, 'I'll never sleep upstairs again :-( You're both so stubborn, neither of you will give up,'

'You miss the nest already?'

'Our fort is so small that Katya's foot is kicking my ribs and King is squirming so much in his sleep that I had to turn my back to him so he wouldn't break my glasses and give me a blue eye,'

'Sounds like you're having a blast there,'

'...sure,' they sent another text,' I think I'll try to fall asleep before Derwin starts talking in his sleep and I can't fall asleep but want to hear what he has to say. Good night, my love.'

'Night night, hottie. I'll see you tomorrow on the battlefield, I will wear a special war face paint just for you ;-) ,'

'Can't wait to see it,'

---

In the morning, with the first rays of the sun, the little King also woke up, he didn't waste a single moment of time but immediately woke up all his soldiers, his toy soldiers woke up easily, but for some reason, none of the witches felt happy to wake up so early in the morning. He gave them half an hour to go to the bathroom, brush their teeth, change their clothes, and put on armor made of pillows, and cover their faces with war paint in the colors of the King's kingdom, white and black with a hint of purple and yellow. All the while his soldiers were getting ready, the young Titan was beaming with excitement and joy, he couldn't wait to win his first battle.

"We will surprise them with our early attack. After today, Eda will never again dare to serve me anything but the best feast! Hehehee,” he laughed, tail wagging happily.

As soon as they were ready, King climbed onto Raine's shoulders, holding the stiffest pillow the house had, he led his team to the bottom of the stairs, listening carefully, the upstairs was quiet.

"It's time, my loyal subjects, time to change things around here. On the count of three, we attack! One, two, three, GO!"

Katya and Derwin ran up the stairs with a war cry, Raine, having King sitting on their shoulders, quickly followed. But something unexpected happened, and before they reached the top of the stairs, a pillow flew out of nowhere and hit Derwin in the chest.

King's eyes widened in surprise," NO! THEY SAW THROUGH OUR PLAN. ATTACK! ATTACK! AND IF YOU DIE, YOUR SACRIFICE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!" he jumped off Raine's shoulders, running up the stairs, attacking the first thing in his path with his pillow, which turned out to be Hunter's long legs.

The ex-soldier started acting out the scene where King's surprise attack left him wounded, but he still does everything he can to protect his queen's kingdom, not very skillfully, but with a good effort. Katya and Derwin were the next to arrive upstairs and they were immediately attacked by Luz, whose palisman had transformed into a water pistol that shot pink water full of glitter. Raine was the last to arrive, and they didn't even get to catch their breath before Amber jumped out of nowhere and attacked them with her favorite decorative pillow.

"Amber, your pillow leaves feathers everywhere!” Raine replied, doing their best to block their daughter's attacks and not be too concerned about the floor filling up with more and more feathers.

"Cleaning up is the problem of the future us!" Amber announced, sounding like a serious warrior in the middle of a life-changing battle.

Raine continued to block her attacks with their own pillow, but never attacked back, and at one point, Amber seemed to get bored.

"Why don't you fight back? Are you a soldier or not!" she tried to trick them into cornering themself, but Raine was more cunning and made a sudden turn to get away from Amber, but quickly the teen was on their heels again.

"I'm not going to hit my kid, pillow or not," Raine replied, backing into Luz's room, Amber still hot on their heels, throwing them with pillows strapped to her back.

"You're not willing to fight her, but maybe you're willing to fight me,” came a sudden voice from behind them, and before Raine could react, they were pushed onto Luz's bed, someone's hand tickling their sides mercilessly.

"EDA!” Raine laughed as their partner tickled them in all the places she knew would torment their ticklish body the most.

"This is a war, Rainestorm, and you are my opponent, so expect no mercy," she said.

Raine bit their lip so not to laugh, but they couldn't hold back their laughter when they saw Eda's face, and to be more precise, her special war paint that was a copy of Raine's face scars but in a bright purple shade that shone very brightly on Eda's pale face.

"How did you manage to get them so accurate?” Raine asked with interest despite their laughter and the fact that they could barely breathe.

"Let's just say that I am an expert of your face,"

Much to Raine's relief, she stopped tickling them, but before Raine could breathe a sigh of relief, they were attacked with a pillow and this time they attacked back. The couple tried their best to stay serious about it, neither of them wanting to spoil their son's war game by not committing to it fully. However, it was complicated by the fact that Eda only had one hand, and it was difficult for her to hold the pillow, and Raine was extremely careful not to accidentally hurt their girlfriend. Eda's pillow flew out of her hand, and she decided to pin Raine to the floor to attack them with another tickling attack, but before she could, Raine grabbed her hand, bringing it to their lips and kissing her knuckles. This act made Eda's eyes widen in surprise, a red tint appearing on her cheeks like a beautiful blood moon on winter night.

"You look amazing, I love your helmet," they laughed, pointing to their own pillow that was tied to Eda's head as a helmet.

"It has your smell,"

They smiled fondly before adding with a laugh, "Such a tragic love story, lovebirds fighting on opposite sides,"

"A royal steed in love with rival country's queen, a true underdog tale,"

"Under the dog what tale?"

"It's some kind of saying from Luz's dictionary," she replied leaning a little closer to them, "Anyway, where were we?" her hand grabbed their chin, lifting it up a little more as she leaned even closer to them.

They were so close for a kiss, but stopped when a voice called from the door of the room, "HEY! LESS FLIRTING MORE FIGHTING!" a very stiff pillow flew against Eda's head but the throw itself wasn't too strong but still strong enough to knock over her helmet made out of Raine's pillow.

She looked towards the door to see King standing there, "The King of the Kingdom of...I don't remember anymore," she stood up, leaving Raine lying on the floor, she got into a fighting stance, pulling out a water gun from her hair and then pointing it at the Titan, "We meet again, now our real battle may begin," and before King could protect himself with a pillow, he was hit by a blast of warm water.

"Eww, that's wet!" King whimpered, trying to run away from Eda's water gun like a cat believing the water would melt him alive, Eda ran after him, shooting him with more water.

"You are finally getting that bath!" she announced triumphantly, "If only I had added soap!"

"I BAN WATER GUNS! THEY ARE BANNED NOW!"

"No way, you little demon, enjoy your bath!"

"MY SACRIFICES...I MEAN MY FAITHFUL SUBJECTS, PROTECT YOUR KING!"

---

The war between the two kingdoms had lasted longer than any of them could have expected, it had started on Thursday night and it was now late Saturday night, and most of the soldiers had drifted off to sleep. The last two days had been filled with many battles, both pillow fights and water gun battles, both floors of the house were full of glittery water, bird feathers, and what not, all the residents of the house knew with fear that as soon as this war was over, they would be faced with a terrible cleaning job. This situation seemed even funnier when they thought about the fact that this war had started because of a little mess and it ends in a much bigger mess.

It was late at night, almost midnight, and Raine was lying awake in a crumbling pillow fort, with King fighting in his sleep, Katya who had already given Raine's ribs a few pretty dark bruises with her twitching legs, and Derwin who in his sleep was reviewing the latest book he had read. Raine wasn't sure why they couldn't sleep, maybe it was that heavy feeling in their stomach, their normally healthy food-loving digestion wasn't used to eating takeout twice a day. Maybe it was longing, the longing for the warm witch-shaped fireplace in between their arms, which comfortably warmed their cold-fearing body. They missed the nest and they missed Eda who was in the nest. Who would have thought that they were so spoiled by Eda that they could not stand three nights without her embrace? How had they managed to live for a decade without her?

With a heavy sigh, they decided to escape their kingdom and slowly find their way upstairs to the forbidden territory. Their heart was singing for a forbidden love story, and how could they stop themself from following it when the melody sounded so sweet?

Making as little noise as possible, they pushed the door open, there was the bedroom they had missed, illuminated by the moonlight, on the floor of which three of their kids were sleeping and where a royal nest was present. The nest was luring them like a siren's song. Carefully they climbed over Amber and tried to sneak up on their queen without making a sound. They climbed into the nest, smile attacking their face as they saw Eda cuddling their pillow, she was fully asleep on their side of the nest, Raine's favorite blanket wrapped around her, and Raine noticed she was wearing one of Raine's favorite nightgowns. The Bard reached out to brush one of the silver curls away from her face, they felt a little cuilty as Eda's eye slowly blinked and she seemed to wake up. Slowly she turned her head, narrowing her eyes to see better in the dark room.

"Rainestorm? What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice low from sleep, the sound so beautiful to Raine's ears.

"I couldn't sleep," they replied, a little embarrassed, "I missed your body heat,"

A smirk lifted Eda's lips, "You got cold, didn't you," they didn't even have to answer her for her to know the answer, "How you survived the Knee I will never understand,"

"Will you accept a soldier from a foreign kingdom into your lair, or will you banish me back to that cold living room, a lair that smells like the sweat of teenagers fighting a war?"

In response, Eda opened her arms, allowing the freezing Bard to hide between them. They sighed in peace, sleep quickly drifting to them along with the warmth that emanated from Eda's body. And it didn't take long before both soldiers had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Neither of them knew how serious a war crime they were committing.

---

When the upstairs kingdom awoke with the first rays of the sun, no one seemed surprised to find the Bard of the opposite kingdom sleeping in the arms of their queen, it was only a matter of time before the two's strange urge towards each other broke through the borders.

Since the morning was calm, and it seemed that the King of the downstairs kingdom hadn't woken up yet, the teenagers decided to waste their morning scrolling around in their scrolls and eating the leftover fast food that the courier had brought them the night before, the courier's face was priceless as before he got to the front of the house, someone yelled at him from the window saying to him not to go to the front door, and then they had asked him to place the food in a bucket that was tied to a rope, and which they then pulled to the second floor of the house through the window, and when the food had reached the top, they sent money down to him with the same bucket. 

So yeah, the morning was calm, and no one even expected a battle to happen in the next few hours, so they were ready to just enjoy their Sunday morning.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

No one was surprised when an angry scream came from downstairs, and no one even bothered to raise an eyebrow when the bedroom door flew open. As they looked at the door, they met a young Titan who had the hair on his back angrily spiky, and his big eyes were angrily narrowed, one of his small feet was hitting the ground in rage.

"I knew!” he said before running towards the nest and then jumping onto the edge of it, “TRAITOR!” he screamed and pulled the pillow from under Eda's head, throwing the cuddling pair with it.

Both Raine and Eda finally woke up, still confused from sleep, Raine almost completely blind, as their glasses had disappeared somewhere inside the nest overnight.

Eda was the first of the two to recover, she turned her gaze to her son, a confused look on her face, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with YOU?" King angrily crossed his arms over his chest, a look so strong that it would have scared many people into running toward the forest, but Eda just rolled her eyes.

"It's too early for nonsense, King, explain what's wrong, or leave us alone and let us sleep."

"Ahah, let me go back down and let my kingdom's soldier continue to defame my kingdom's name?"

"Oh, is that what the problem is?" Raine asked, they had finally found their glasses, "I'm sorry, Buddy, I couldn't sleep and...”

"TRAITOR, YOU ARE A TRAITOR!"

"King, It's just a game, calm down,” Eda tried to say, but her words seemed to float past the young Titan.

"You slept with the enemy! You came over to the enemy's side to do your disgusting adult-hugging thing,”

The two adults looked at each other trying to hold back their laughter. They found it funny how King still thinks cuddling is the worst thing couples do. He was a classic case of a child who gagged every time his parents kissed or showed each other some kind of affection, but at the same time, he wanted to be the center of attention all the time and demanded cuddles more than a cat with separation anxiety.

"The court is what awaits you! You have fifteen minutes to extricate your traitor's body from this nest and appear before the court! And don't expect us to take kind, we are never kind to traitors!” King announced before jumping out of the nest and storming out of the room, his voice could still be heard commanding his remaining soldiers somewhere in the living room.

The bedroom upstairs remained silent, as Eda and Raine tried to digest what had just happened, and the teens who were still lying on the floor in their sleeping bags tried to hold back their laughter, as the look on the faces of the two older witches looked as if they were two teenagers who had done something naughty and had been caught by their parents in the middle of the act.

"King seems so angry,” Amber grinned.

"It seems to me that he has forgotten that this is all a game. It's just a game right?” Luz asked in confirmation, looking more worried than she probably should be.

Eda shrugged, she wasn't sure about that answer anymore. It wouldn't be the first time King got too deep into the game, but it hadn't happened in a long time. Eda had thought that nothing like this would happen again after the Collector situation.

"Maybe we should end the game," Eda asked, turning her head to Raine, seeking their advice.

"He is having fun, maybe let it continue until tonight? Luz and Hunter both have to go to school tomorrow anyway and I have a meeting,” Raine offered, earning a nod from their partner in response.

After a few minutes of lounging in the nest, Raine finally pulled themself up and walked over to the closet to pick out some clean clothes for their trial, they went into the bathroom to change, Eda joining them. Eda brushed her teeth while Raine changed their clothes, she couldn't be bothered to change her own clothes as she was very comfortable wearing the ones she had stolen from Raine's closet the night before.

"Worried about your court hearing?” the cursed witch asked, her mouth foaming with toothpaste.

"This isn't the first time I've stood trial and been accused of being a traitor to the country," the Bard replied with a smirk as they closed the last button on their shirt.

She spat out the toothpaste from her mouth, then turned her full attention to them, adjusting the collar of their shirt, "You dressed up so nicely for your hearing,"

The Bard looked down at their clothes, then frowned back up, "These are my normal clothes,"

"Exactly, all dressed up so pretty," she smiled at the red color that covered her partner's face in seconds, and how their eyes seemed to be locked on her lips that slowly leaned forward.

But of course, they didn't get to meet before their son's voice echoed throughout the house, "Tick tock, it's time, time for justice! Everyone gather on the stairs! The trial is about to begin!"

Raine sighed, they knew it was just a game and their only judge was their nine-year-old stepson, who would forgive them all their mistakes as soon as they promised to bake cookies for him. But still, the paranoia that over the years had grown on their soul like a tumor, deep in their mind there was a part that for a moment felt as if they were in a really big mess, and they were facing a punishment that only their ex-emperor could come up with.

Suppressing that feeling with a laugh, they left the bathroom, Eda by their side, an arm around their waist. They reached the stairs, their oldest kids looked excited and amused to see what was about to happen as this was something new to their game, their youngest child however still looked pissed, his eyes narrow and hard as if he was trying to scare the culprit.

"Raine Whispers, your treacherous ways have made your loyalty questionable. I believed you were loyal to me, but it seems I was wrong. Your treachery hurts not only me, but our entire kingdom,”

"I have heard that before,” they smirked at Eda, who laughed back.

King didn't seem happy that they weren't taking it seriously, "Treason is a serious crime, so you better take it seriously!"

"I'm sorry, my King," Raine replied, giving their stepson a small humble bow, "I'm all ears, your highness,"

The boy seemed satisfied, he gave them a small nod and then added, "I've had time to think about this situation, and I find there's only one right way to teach you right," he turned to Katya and snapped his fingers at the girl who took a water gun from her belt and handed it to King, he looked wide-eyed at the toy gun in his hand before smiling sinisterly and pointed the gun at the Bard witch's chest, "Any last words, traitor?"

"Yeah, umm, how can I learn from my mistakes when I'm dead?" the bard asked with a smirk.

And just as they had imagined, an uncertain look immediately appeared on King's face, and he tried to think through his own logic before he growled angrily and said, "Choose better last words!" he menacingly raised the gun a little higher, his tiny hands shaking slightly from the weight of the water gun.

Raine turned their head towards Eda, the look on their face looked as if they had accepted their fate, the smile on their face a bit sad but from their eyes, Eda could see their laughter and how much fun this situation was for them, "I love you, Eda, I'll see you on the other side, "

"Raine, no...” Eda played along, reaching for them as if she was trying to grab them, but didn't reach them before King pulled the trigger on the water gun and sent the cold water flying towards his step-parent.

The cold water hit their stomach and a frightened voice came out of Raine's mouth, their hand coming up to the wet spot on their shirt, they looked around in shock and surprise, looking at their wet shirt a few times before falling backwards with exaggerated drama, landing dead in Eda's arms.

"Raine, Raine....Look at me, love..." Eda's voice sounded desperate, but still not enough to hide the slight laugh that fell on her lips, as she looked at the dumb face Raine made as they pretended to be dead," You nerd, don't you dare to die on me now, we had a plan! A plan to dethrone King with our mushy love, but I can't do it without you anymore!" Raine, had to bite their lip to keep from laughing, they wished they could open their eyes to see Eda's face as they knew that it had an overdramatic look of desperation," You will pay for this!" she yelled at King, who looked very proud, "You will pay for taking my beloved from me!"

A surprised yelp came out of Raine as Eda suddenly picked them up off the ground, but since she wasn't very good at carrying people with one hand yet, Raine slipped from her arms, almost falling to the stairs if they hadn't quickly grabbed Eda, "Are you trying to throw my dead body down the stairs?" they asked, opening their eyes suddenly, watching her with a glare that said, 'Don't try to drop  me or you'll be sleeping on the couch for the next year,'

"Well, if your dead body squirmed less, there wouldn't be any danger," she picked them up again, but this time Raine kept their arms tightly around Eda's neck.

As Eda carried Raine back upstairs, King turned to his remaining soldiers, explaining to them that the same fate would await them if they stepped over the edge. Katya and Derwin both nodded with a laugh, swearing eternal loyalty to their king. They headed back downstairs, and the residents of the Eda's Kingdom went back upstairs, as soon as the bedroom door closed, they all burst out laughing.

"What's it like being dead?” Amber asked, falling onto her mattress laughing.

"Pretty comfortable," Raine replied, burying their head in Eda's shoulder.

However, their comfort was quickly ruined when Eda threw them into the nest, and started covering them with blankets, "So, time for the funeral!"

"Eda!" the Bard laughed, trying to get out from under the blankets, but when Eda fell on top of them, comfortably cuddling their blanket-wrapped form, they gave up and accepted the situation of being buried under the blankets and their girlfriend.

The Kids continued with their previous activities, quietly preparing for the next battle that would begin only the King knows when.

---

It had all started out fun, the thrill that the battles brought with it, all that fun and safe adrenaline that filled his tiny Titan body made him feel like things were easy again, like things were right and familiar for him again. The last year had been difficult. He had lost a part of his personality and replaced it with a new, much more mature one. He always didn't like it, he missed his games, he missed the simple times when he commanded his army of toys, where his minions were houseplants and the clinking kitchen pots that hung in the kitchen. This whole world was under his control, the whole world he knew was under his control, nothing bad ever happened. He had his castle, his home The Owl House, and everything was fine. But then his world changed, his innocent war games came true, and the people he cared about got hurt. Overnight, a tiny child who commanded a toy army suddenly became a god, a Titan, an orphaned child living on the corpse of his late father.

But now everything was fine again, he was back in his home, but for some reason, it didn't seem like the same house anymore. His new life doesn't seem to be the same. The new one was better, that was for sure, he had a big family, Eda was happy, they were safe, everything was wonderful. But still, there were parts of him that missed it, some old feelings that haunted him and that he wanted to feel again. He knew he might not get that feeling back, but he tried.

This game of war brought that feeling back to him, he felt in control of his surroundings again, as if nothing could ever topple his strong castle ever again.

The game had been so much fun. It had been...it wasn't anymore. It was as if the people had lost their enthusiasm, King could see it, he knew they were playing and pretending it all just for his benefit. The first few days had been fun for everyone, but by today everyone seemed to be tired of this monotonous pillow fight, and the flying jets of water no longer made anyone laugh, but were already annoying and made the victims growl in frustration.

Raine's execution had been the most interesting event of the day. Every resident of both kingdoms had gathered on the stairs for this purpose. But the battles that followed were dull and boring, everyone tried their best to make it interesting for King, but he knew how tired they all were and that they already wanted to go back to their normal lives. And so did he.

He missed all those great nights with Luz and Eda and that big bunch of Bards that Eda had brought to the house, she had said that Raine and the trio came voluntarily, but King thought there might be a little kidnapping and Stockholm syndrome situation going on, at least in Raine's case. He missed Eda, yes she often pissed King off with her bossy attitude, she had never been so stubborn about some toy on the floor, but people change, especially in an end-of-the-world situation. He missed Luz, with whom he hadn't been able to spend time properly, he realized with sadness that Luz would go back to the Human realm tomorrow morning.

After each hour that King sat alone in his fortress of pillows, he felt worse and worse. Katya and Derwin had left hours ago to play cards in the kitchen, and King didn't feel like stopping them and setting them up for the next battle. This royal, magnificent fortress was cold by itself, no matter how many blankets and pillows it contained, and the longer he looked at the emptiness of the fortress, the more bored and lonely this young Titan felt.

Sighing heavily, he finally climbed out of the fort, and before he could decide otherwise, he climbed the stairs. The upper floor was almost completely silent, but Luz's laughter could be heard from her room as she talked to her girlfriend through the crystal ball. As much as King would have liked to spend time with his sister, he had a more important mission and that was to reconcile with his mother. So a little uncertainly, he strode towards his parents' room. It was quite late in the evening, and he was not surprised that when he opened the door of the room, he met two adults lying in the middle of the nest, Raine's head resting on Eda's chest as they slept, Eda's arms resting around the musician, the cursed witch's scroll hovering at her eye level, she laughed at some kind of video playing in it.

Eda didn't seem to notice him at first, so he stepped a little closer, but still, Eda's attention was on a video that sounded like videos of stupid ways witches have gotten hurt, "Eda?" his voice was quieter than he had planned but enough to get Eda's attention.

Her first reaction was to reach for the water gun that was sitting on the windowsill next to the nest, but when she noticed the look on her son's face, her gaze changed, "Hey, you okay, Kiddo?"

At first, he nodded, but a moment later he shook his head, hugging closer one of his new toys that he had brought with him for encouragement, "I...I came to say...that...that I give up,"

"Oh,” Eda seemed surprised, but then smiled with fond pride, waiting in silence for King to continue.

"So...this war isn't so much fun anymore. I...I thought that I wanted to win and feel that victorious feeling that I...used to feel. But I don't want to continue this war if others aren't having fun and if...if you really don't like that my toys are on the floor and that you get hurt because of them...I...I don't like that,”

She gave him a bigger smile and patted the empty spot in the nest with her stump, "Get in here,"

Quickly, King climbed into the nest and curled up next to Eda's free side that wasn't occupied by Raine. Eda wished she had another hand so she wouldn't have to choose between holding Raine or scratching King's head, she decided to leave her hand where it was as she didn't want to risk waking Raine up and tried to use her stamp to pet her kiddos skull.

"Yeah, it's not working," she laughed after awkwardly trying to pet him, calling King closer to her so she could cuddle him more comfortably with her half arm.

They were silent for a few moments before King cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry I didn't clean up after myself."

"And I'm sorry I got mad at you," the mother sighed, cuddling her son a little closer, "I thought that once I got out of the end of the world, life would be a lot less stressful, but I still have moments where...I don't know...it's hard for me to understand that this life is our new reality, and that things are better, and that we're all safe, this feeling makes things stressful at times,"

"I know the feeling,” King buried his face firmly into Eda's side, his tiny paws clinging to the witch's shirt a little tighter.

"It's still a little weird, isn't it? It was just the two of us for so long, but now...our home is full of people,"

"Are you happy? I mean, does our new life make you happy?"

"Yeah," Eda answered without hesitation and added, her gaze moving briefly towards the sleeping Raine," I feel like our life was meant to be like this, that we have finally arrived at the right place. Of course, there are moments where I miss our old life because it had things that were good and that I loved, but still, I wouldn't change the life we have now for anything," she turned her gaze back to King, asking a question to which she already imagined the answer, "Do you miss our old life?"

She wasn't surprised when she felt a very small nod against her side, and a moment later King replied, "I would never want to go back to that because...I love our family but...that old life had a feeling that I miss, I can don't explain it

"I understand,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss the top of his head, “You needed to grow up too soon. But now you kind of get to start over, you're still a kid, so...feel those childish joys, even if it means you leave your toys on the living room floor and I trip over them,"

"I'm going to take them to my room after I'm done playing, so you won't get hurt when you trip over them."

"Thank you, kiddo. Good night,"

"Good night, mom,"

And so the war between the two kingdoms ended, and peace was established. Their truce lasted a week before Eda stumbled upon an...guitar...

Chapter Text

"I can't believe you did that even when I told you not to!” Raine's annoyed voice echoed through the house, reaching the ears of the nine year old who was sitting in the kitchen drawing a picture of a new demon he had invented in his mind.

"Uhh, calm down, Rainestorm, it's not that big of a deal!" Eda's protective voice spoke up next, her voice sounding like she was just as annoyed with her partner as the bard was with her," You constantly overthink and you're constantly on my neck with every smallest thing I do that you don't like. It's suffocating ya know!"

"Well, sorry that I worry about your reputation! Your tricks might have worked when Belos was in power, but the new law and the council won't accept it. I can't buy you out of trouble forever, Eda! My job is also in jeopardy because you can't keep your hands to yourself,"

"Then maybe it would be good if you lost this stupid political job because you have lost all your sense of humor, not to mention your sense of mischief, in this house we celebrate mischief!"

"Okay, then maybe you should pay your bills with mischief!"

"I did it for decades!"

"Well, you can't do that anymore, Eda! Why don't you understand that?"

"Why are you trying to change me?"

"I'm not trying to change you, I'm trying to protect you! Your trial for your past crimes is just around the corner, and you're making it worse by stealing what...A CANDLESTICK, LIKE WHY YOU EVEN NEEDED THAT?"

"IT SHINED!"

"IS THIS SHINE WORTH GOING TO JAIL? I CAN'T SAVE YOU UNLESS YOU TRY TO SAVE YOURSELF, EDA! I DON'T HAVE THAT POWER, EVEN MY JOB..."

"AGAIN THIS DAMN JOB, YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE, YOU'RE ALWAYS AT WORK, IT'S LIKE YOU KNOW NOTHING BUT WORK AND THOSE DAMN LAWS, YOU'RE NOT EVEN ELECTED TO THE COUNCIL YET, NONE OF YOU ARE, YOU'RE ALL JUST SOME BORING WITCHES WHO TRY SHOVE YOUR DUMB IDEAS DOWN OUR THROATS!"

The next loud sound King heard was the front door slamming loudly closed, as if someone was rushing out of the house, followed by Eda's voice calling for Raine to come back. He heard his mother leave the house, running after his step-parent, and the whole time they were gone, King's heart raced with anxiety, the fact that King couldn't hear them anymore made him afraid. Eda and Raine had never fought, at least King had never heard or seen them fight. They were constantly obnoxiously close and affectionate, constantly kissing and flirting and just being like King liked to say," Ewwww!"

But now, they are fighting and King realizes that he prefers their lovely-dovelyness much more than their hatey-yellingness.

It has been years since such anger and shouting was heard in The Owl House. It had been a dark night, at the end of which Eda vowed that she would never date again, after her last date had left her with a broken lip and handful of hair torn out of her head. King had been so tiny that he didn't have any power to protect his guardian from the angry date's. Eda had had a bad taste of lovers for so long, and the decision to leave the dating sea had been a good one, a one that needed to be done, but now that she was back in the sea and found a new partner, King was scared. He feared for his mother's safety, the thought that she might be hurt again made him angry and worried. The boy had believed that Raine was different, they were gentle and loving, not only with Eda but also with King himself, none of Eda's ex-partners had treated King like their child but a pet who could not be hurt emotionally, but Raine treated King well as if they cared about him. Was it just a play, a mask? It wouldn't be the first time! Was Raine just like everyone else?

King heard the door open again and two pairs of footsteps could be heard, there was no more yelling but instead a deathly silence. Eda walked into the kitchen with a neutral look on her face that King couldn't read, but still there was something negative in her eyes. The next pair of steps were heard going up the stairs, and after Eda had poured herself a glass of appleblood, a violin could be heard playing from upstairs. The cursed witch sat at the table next to King slowly drinking her appleblood, watching with a smile what her son did, she asked him what he was doing, and what new demons his imaginative head had come up with. The tiny titan was a bit unsure and confused, he didn't understand why Eda had suddenly seemed to forget that less than fifteen minutes ago she and her partner had thrown verbal knives at each other, yet he explained to her his new favorite multi-toothed, eight-legged spider-dragon, the worst nightmare of every arachnophobe as it was a giant tarantula that had dragon teeth, wigs and spit fire. His mother listened with interest, nodding along, and when her mug was empty, she told him not to stay up too long, got up from her chair, put her cup in the sink and headed upstairs, the violin playing ending a few minutes after Eda left the kitchen, and after that not a single sound came from the master bedroom the entire evening.

The next morning when King went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, he found his parents kissing in the kitchen, but they quickly pulled away when they saw their son at the door, Raine quickly turning back to the stove, and Eda raising her mug to her lips to hide her blush. The Bard smiled at him telling King that the breakfast will soon be ready and if he wanted some juice or milk with it.

All of this was just like any other normal day...strange...was it the calm before the storm?

---

"For the love of Titan, Eda, put that bottle down!"

"Are you my mom? I don't think so,” Eda replied, raising her bottle of appleblood back to her lips.

"Have you done anything else today besides drinking?" the bard asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's mama's day to relax, and nothing is more relaxing than a little shot,"

"A little shot?" Raine pointed to the whole bottle in Eda's hand, their eyebrows raised high.

King raised his head to look at the Bard witch, he had found a comfortable sleeping spot on top of the shelf, and it was a good thing he had as he now had a good view of the two witches. It had been a few days since their last big fight, and King had hoped it wouldn't happen again, but now that he heard that tone in Raine's voice that had been haunting him for the past few days, he feared the worst.

"What else is there for me to do, storm?" Eda asked waving the bottle at Raine, her words slurring slightly due to the alcohol," You won't let me go out, so what else am I supposed to do,"

"I'm not forbidding you to go out, Eda, I don't want you to steal when you go out, that's a completely different matter!"

The Cursed Witch muttered something that King couldn't hear, but he knew it couldn't be anything good from the look Raine gave her.

"Seriously, Eda?" the Bard ran a hand through their graying hair, their face adding more frustration with each passing second," Why do you think that me wanting you to find help for your kleptomania is some sort of attack on your personality? Eda, love, I'm trying to help you because I love you, but heck you're making it really hard sometimes," the anger in their voice quickly turned to sadness, and King had to lean forward to hear their next words, "It feels like nothing has chanced from the last time,"

At those words, Eda got up from the couch, putting the bottle down, and King could have sworn he saw fear and panic in Eda's eyes. Was Eda scared of Raine?

At some point, Raine had turned around and was heading out of the room, but Eda stopped them by taking their hand, pulling them back towards her ever so slightly, the Bard wasn't looking at her, but she was looking at them, and the look with which she looked at them was one of the clearest looks of fear King had ever seen. But Raine didn't seem angry, why was Eda afraid of them?

"I...I'm sorry,” she whispered.

King saw the Bard sigh heavily before they turned and said, "Go to bed, you're drunk as a sailor, we'll talk later."

"Are…are you going to leave?” her voice had a clear tremor in it, and King wanted to break Raine's neck, because it was their fault that his mother felt fear at that moment.

Raine shook their head, and Eda looked clearly relieved, "Go to bed, I'll stay downstairs to clean up a bit. We'll talk tomorrow,"

Eda nodded, the earlier panic slowly easing from her body, she gave the other witch a look that looked like a question King couldn't understand, and after Raine gave her a small nod, Eda leaned forward and gave the bard witch a small kiss on the lips before she wished them goodnight and walked out of the living room, her footsteps could be heard going up the stairs until they finally disappeared into the bedroom the couple shared together. King kept looking at Raine, ready to see them grab a knife or something else meant to hurt his mother, but all he saw was the Bard witch starting to pick up the bottles and snack packs that Eda had left in the living room.

King took a moment to think through what he had just seen, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of protectiveness growing inside him, and with it a growing anger towards the musician who had come home from work and suddenly started nagging at Eda who did nothing but was enjoying her favorite drink, and worst of all, this Bard had the nerve to send Eda to bed at seven o'clock in the evening. What a jerk. Why hadn't King seen this before? Why hadn't he noticed earlier the frightened look with which Eda had looked at the other witch just a moment ago? How many times before had Raine caused her such fear, but King hadn't been there to see it?

Just like last time, both witches acted the next morning as if nothing had happened, and they were once again the happy couple in love that everyone believed them to be. Only King seemed to know the truth, the nasty truth behind all this pretense. King swore that he will keep an eye on this musician, he will not allow anyone to hurt his mother again, no matter how much he liked Raine as a step-parent, he is willing to do anything to protect his mother!

---

"RAINE WHISPERS, WHERE THE HECK YOU PUT MY BOOTS!” Eda's voice rang out, making King jump slightly.

He and Luz were currently in the living room, Luz was reading him a strange new fantasy book that she had started to get interested in.

"The ones with the heel taped back to the boot?" Raine's voice came from the kitchen where they were preparing packed lunches for their older kids who were getting ready to go into town to help with the construction work.

"Yeah, the ones, were the heck are they? I need them! I'm going to meet Lily!" her loud footsteps rushed down the stairs and out of the corner of his eye, King saw her run into the kitchen.

"I threw them away, they were in pieces, Eda,"

"They were the most comfortable boots I've ever had!"

"They had more glue and tape than leather," Raine argued, clearly not understanding why Eda cared so much about the old broken boots, "We can go and buy you new ones,"

"Nice, first you take away my right to steal and now you take away my right to have comfortable boots, I'm starting to feel a similarity here,"

"Oh, now you're comparing me to him," Raine spat that last word out in disgust, "Does throwing out broken boots make me as bad as he was?"

"You said that, not me. And if you ask me, the fact that you brought Belos into our fight says a lot about your own self-esteem. Are you afraid that the whole politics thing is too much for you and it turning you into a witch ya don't want to be? The elections are quite close ya know,"

"You're really willing to go that low for some broken boots?"

"Maybe that will prove to you how serious I am about these boots,"

"You're such a child,"

Their bickering continued, and King felt more and more gloomy after each word exchanged, he looked at his sister who was still reading as if she didn't even notice two adults attacking each other's weaknesses.

"Why...why are they fighting?” King asked trying to get his sister's attention.

Luz looked up from her book towards the kitchen for a moment, listening to some of the words exchanged, then turned back to her book, saying to her brother in a light voice, "Sometimes adults just do that,"

"Why?"

"I think it's stress, sometimes it's just easier to take out your stress on each other than to actually deal with your real problems. It doesn't mean they actually have bad blood against each other,"

"You sure?" he looked up at her with a hopeful look.

She nodded, giving him a reassuring smile that only soothed the tiny nine year old a little. Slowly the sounds in the kitchen became quieter and soon nothing untoward or hostile could be heard in the living room. However, it didn't last long until suddenly Raine rushed out of the kitchen, grabbing their palisman and bag from next to the the living room sofa, Eda followed them with a calm step, holding up to them a paper bag with their lunch that was hanging on her hook-hand.

"I lost track of time, AGAIN," the Bard fumed at themself, searching for their snail bag in the couch cushions, "I'll buy you new boots after work today. Size 8 was it?"

"Don't worry about it, Rainestorm, I have more boots than I can wear. You can make it up to me with a nice dinner after this whole court thing is over and the only stress on our shoulders is our six kids and the election next month."

"Uh, don't remind me. I can feel my hair getting grayer every day," they finally found what they were looking for and put the leather pouch full of coins into their shoulder bag.

Eda walked over to them, running her fingers through their slightly longer hair, "Well, the good thing is that you look good in gray," she slipped their lunch bag into their shoulder bag before saying, "Hurry now, I'll finish the kids' lunch bags myself,"

"Thank you, dear," they smiled at her before it sank and they added, "I'm still wondering why I have to go to Adrian Gray's trial, it's not like I know a lot about his crimes,"

"People trust you, in their eyes you are a hero, so they want you to be there when criminals finally get what they deserve," she said to them, smiling as she put a hand on their shoulder.

The Bard gave her a smile and said, "And that's why you need to contact your lawyer, Eda. I can't sit in a courtroom while they sentence you to prison. I know you don't deserve it, and you're more of a hero than me or enyone from the rebellion will ever be, but...”

"The people don't want to forget the bad stuff I did, I know, Rainestorm, I promise, after I'm done with Lilith, I'll break open the door to that lawyer dude's office and I'll talk with him,"

"That's all I'm asking you to do, thanks, dear. I can now breathe a little easier at Adrian's trial today and…Terra's trial tomorrow,” their body shuddered noticeably just at the thought of her.

Eda squeezed her hand slightly on their shoulder, giving them support and encouragement through that light touch, before she asked, "Do you want me to come with you tomorrow?"

"Yes, please," the Bard answered quickly, and they went even faster when they noticed how much the clock had moved with that short time they and Eda had been talking," Okay, I really have to run now, I see you later. Bye kids!"

"Bye, Raine!” Luz answered them, but Bard had probably already run too far to hear her.

With a last fond smile, Eda pulled her gaze away from the door Raine had just left through and headed back to the kitchen, probably to finish packing lunches for the kids. The room fell silent, during which King's eyes were still fixed on the place where his parents had talked a while ago.

They again had acted as if they had never fought in their lives. This was not normal, usually by that time bruises would have already appeared and actions that cannot be taken back would have occurred, usually Eda would have long ago kicked out her admirer, broken up with them or in some worse cases, erased them from the face of this world.

"I told you," Luz's voice suddenly came out, drawing King's attention, "They got their anger out and now everything is fine, it just seems like a stressful time for both of them,"

King nodded, hoping Luz was right, but still a small but loud voice inside him told him to keep an eye on these two because you never know when good blood can turn bad.

---

"I can't believe you lied to me,” the Bard growled through their teeth, their eyes behind their glasses sharp as knives made of pure steel.

"You would have freaked out when I had told you, just like you are freaking out right now,"

"Of course I'm freaking out because my girlfriend who has a court hearing next week is telling me right now that she doesn't have a lawyer anymore, and that she's going to defend herself in court."

"Jeez, Raine, if you're really worried that much, I'll find a new one," she tried to reassure them, but her voice was clearly annoyed with them, as she didn't want to do it at all and didn't understand why Raine couldn't just breathe and let Eda do her own thing," I'll find someone better, someone who won't spend hours telling me what a bad person I am, and how the only way to get me out of jail is to beg and cry. My self-esteem and reputation are also worth something, and clearly he didn't understand that,"

"You can't find another lawyer because he was the only one willing to represent you, it took me weeks to find that one!"

"In this case, you should trust and believe me when I tell you that I can do without a lawyer! But you don't seem to believe in me at all."

The two were at it again, and King could not but hide behind the sofa, watching them like fire which he feared. No one else was home, Luz was back in the Human realm, and the Batts spent the night at their old hideout in Latissa, as they had important business to do there the next day. It was just Eda, Raine and King, and for the last half an hour, the two adults had been fighting, it had started when Raine had come home from a big meeting and they had heard by chance that Eda had had a fight with her lawyer and now she didn't have someone to defend her in the upcoming trial. This knowledge had infuriated Raine, and this fire had been fueled even more by the fact that Eda had lied to them, she had told them that the last meetings with the lawyer had gone well and they had a lot of evidence of Eda's good character and good deeds that would ease Eda's case and hide the fact that there is probably no witch in this realm from whom Eda has not stolen anything from.

"And I've been to dozens of court hearings in the last few weeks, most of them have ended in life sentences, the shortest sentence that was given was Kikimora and she got forty years plus one hundred and fifty years of community service!"

"Well, I'm not Kikimora or Terra or I don't know who, I haven't hurt anyone...actually...I take it back, I have killed and eaten a few assholes who by the way totally deserved it,"

"I believe they deserved it, but still the court…”

"The court can go where the sun don't shine,"

"FOR TITANS SAKE, EDA, YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL!"

"WOULDN'T BE THE FIRST TIME, I'LL JUST NEED TO ESCAPE, EASY,"

"AND IS THIS THE LIFE YOU WANT TO LIVE FOR THE END OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE IF IT IS I DON'T KNOW HOW I CAN KEEP MY JOB AND BE WITH YOU AT THE SAME TIME. BECAUSE THESE TWO THINGS ARE IN VERY GREAT CONFLICT WITH EACH OTHER IT SEEMS,"

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME? DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE ME AGAIN?"

"NO, THAT'S THE LAST THING I WANT, THAT AND SEEING YOU GO TO JAIL,”

The fury between them grew, and at one point King could no longer hear what words were been said, all he could hear was the way they spoke, and how their voices grew louder and louder, especially Raine's. The Bards hands were moving around as they yelled, their body language strong and furious, and that was all King could see. A fury, a terrifying fury that made King tremble as if he himself was the recipient of that fury, but it was even worse, it was his mom who was at the reciving end of this anger, the woman who had protected and raised him, someone he had wanted to protect but hadn't been able to. But he can do it now, and when he saw Raine take a step closer to Eda, he could no longer sit and watch from the sidelines.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME, ALL I WANT FROM YOU IS YOUR HONESTY AND FOR YOU TO LISTEN TO ME, BUT YOU JUST WON'T!” Raine took a step towards their girlfriend looking at her with a look that seemed to change from anger to despair.

"AND YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND EVERYTHING IS FINE,"

"YEAH I DON'T BELIEVE IT BECAUSE THE LAST TIME YOU SAID IT IT WAS FALSE"

"I HAVE CHANGED,"

"BUT HAVE YOU?"

Those words seemed to break something inside Eda, and her gaze changed to something lighter and sadder, "Rainestorm, I'm sor..."

"DON'T SAY YOU'RE SORRY IF YOU CAN'T ACT LIKE YOU ARE!" Raine's voice had never carried so much emotion, and it hurt Eda in a way she never thought it was possible to be hurt, they were afraid for her, they feared for her future, their future together...and Eda had been too blind to see it...again...

"Rainestorm,” she took a step closer to them, trying to reach out to wipe the tears of rage and despair from their cheeks.

"DON'T TOUCH ME,' they shoved her hand away, and tried to take a step past her, but something stopped them, some faint force held them back, and when they looked down behind them, they saw their tiny stepson, holding onto the fabric of their pant sleeves, pulling it towards him as if he was trying to hold Raine back, "King...what are you doing buddy?" they asked, anger gone from their voice, and they wiped their eyes clean of tears.

King opened his eyes looking up at his step-parent with fear and tears, the look was enough to make both parents regret not making sure King was out of earshot, "I…I won't let you to hurt her," he said pulling them from their clothes, he used all his strength to pull them away, but couldn't do more than stretch a little out of the fabric of their pants.

"King, darling..." the Bard crouched down, causing King to let go of them and step back, the fear he looked at them with made the bard regret the way they had let their tone and emotions get the better of them," I would never hurt her, why would you think I..." but they stopped themself from ending the question, remembering a late night conversation that they and Eda had had a few months ago, a difficult but very important conversation where they had both shared the biggest demons of their lives and past with another, "Oh...darling...no, I would never do such a thing," they turned their eyes to Eda, asking her for help, and so the cursed witch sat down on the floor next to them, helping them calm their son down.

"Hey, King...everything's fine," she began by saying, holding out her hand to him.

King, however, did not take her hand, instead looked between the two witches with the same gaze from before asking in a trembling voice, "Why are you acting like you don't hate each other all of a sudden?"

"Hate each other?" Eda looked at her partner, who looked at her with a concerned look, both of them worried about what their son could have meant by that, and what fears could be in his young mind, Eda looked back at King, answering him with honesty," We don't hate each other, quite the opposite,"

"But then why are you fighting? The last time you and one of your partners had a fight...things didn't go well,"

"It's different," Eda assured him, now understanding what was bothering her young son.

"How?"

"We love each other," Eda replied simply before explaining, "King, all the previous ones were just some jerks I was with to get something out of them, I never loved them, and they didn't care about me. Most of them tried to sell me to Emperor. With them, I had to fight for my life sometimes because I had made a mistake in judging their character and...things went bad because of that," King noticed how the rage returned to Raine's face, but it wasn't against Eda, but against all those witches and demons with whom Eda had been with and who instead of loving her had hurt her," But Raine and I don't fight, at least not like this, we just...look, buddy, every relationship has hard times, and often we can be blind to to see why another does something that bothers you or how you yourself do something that hurts the other, it just happens occasionally, but that doesn't mean we can't get over it."

"What Eda's trying to say is that our fights aren't because we hate each other or that we're actually mad at each other, it's because we worry," Raine added, placing their hand over where Eda's hand becomes her prosthetic," I fight with her because I care about her, wow that sounds bad, what I'm trying to say is that we're going through a stressful time, but that doesn't mean we can't get over it, and that suddenly we don't love each other anymore, or.. .that we would want to hurt another,"

"So…are you two going to be okay?” he asked, getting a nod from both of his parents in response.

"Yeah, kiddo," Eda smiled gently," Don't worry, whatever fight we'll have we'll fuc...talk! Talk it out," she took Raine's hand into hers, looking at them lovingly before adding, "We've been through so much, just to get a chance to be together, we wouldn't throw it all away so easily,"

King nodded, finally understanding everything, and before his parents could open their mouths to say anything else, he jumped towards them, trying to wrap his short arms around both of them as best as he could. The parents didn't waste a moment, and immediately hugged him back, happy that this situation was resolved, and that their son is not afraid anymore, nor worried about things that no child should worry about.

---

Later that night, after King was put to sleep, Eda and Raine were sitting in their room, Raine sat at their desk filling out some paperwork, and Eda sitting on the edge of their nest thinking about everything that happened earlier.

"I'm sorry, Rainestorm," her voice rang out, surprising her better half who looked at her questioningly as if they didn't know what she was apologizing for," I'm sorry I lied to you and…," she sighed ," also for many other things. I've been a pretty terrible partner these past few weeks," Raine opened their mouth to argue against, but Eda stopped them, "No, don't defend my honor, Rainestorm, I know what mistakes I've made, and I want to own up to them," she took another long breath and then said, "I'm scared too, I...I'm worried about this trial, I'm pretty positive I'll charm my way out of it but...there's a chance that I can't and...I don't want to leave you, neither you nor the children. Sometimes," she looked down at her hand and her hook, eyes looking sad and emotional," sometimes I'm afraid you're leaving, every time I see that disappointment in your eyes, I'm afraid it's the last time I'll see you. I try so hard to be a better partner for you but...ugh I keep failing! Oh..." her breath caught when she felt Raine's hand on her cheek, and as she looked up, she saw their eyes with some tears behind them, but they also smiled at her, which was a good sign.

"I'm sorry too, I...I shouldn't bring all my problems home from work, much less take them out on you. It's just too much right now, your trial is next week, the election is just around the corner, we have to make sure all council seats are filled with only trusted witches and demons, plus I want someone right like Darius to be the president as the future of our entire realm depends on it. If something goes wrong...who knows what will become of us. And...there is also the fact that Terra's trial takes so long, and that every time I have to be a witness and talk about my traumas and the things Terra did to me, and I really don't want to talk about that stuff," they sat down on the edge of the nest next to her, wrapping an arm around her and resting their head on her shoulder, her own arm immediately wrapping around them, "Of course I don't want you to change, I love you, I love everything about you, even your horrible kleptomania, but...,"

"It's something that has to stay in our old world," she agreed, "This new world we fought for...stealing just doesn't fit in there."

"I want you to get the place in society that you deserve, you deserve the recognition and respect of a hero,"

For a few short minutes, they let the silence wash over them. They were tired, the stress of the weeks were heavy on their shoulders, luckily if everything goes well, after a couple of weeks they won't have to worry about it anymore. Eda's name will be cleared, and she will be able to join society as an honorable witch who had saved their realm, and Raine will be able to breathe easier as everyone who hurt them is in prison where they belong, the council members have been elected in fair elections, and Darius has become the president who, in cooperation with the Council, will create a better future for everyone.

"Hey, let's make a deal that if we ever have another fight again, we'll do it somewhere in the woods where the kids won't hear us," Eda said, resting her head on top of theirs.

"Agreed,"

Chapter Text

So many sleepless nights had passed, and even though a lot of work had been done, Raine couldn't shake the feeling that they had forgotten to do something important. For many days, Raine had worked hard, filling out paperwork, communicating with witches and demons interested in politics. All this had been to ensure a positive fate in the government and presidential elections that were currently going on, and the end date of which awaited them in two sunrises. At the moment, it seemed that there was three final results possible that could happen at the end of the elections.

The election for the Council members was not in any trouble, as only those people who were really reliable and cared about the fate of the world had applied for it, the election for the president was the dangerous part because there were three different types of candidates who wanted the position. There were those candidates who wanted the position for a good salary and so the people will worship them, these candidates were ordinary people who knew nothing about politics and lacked leadership experience. In addition to them, there were candidates whose coming to power could mean the end of the world for their realm and its people, these were the witches who thought that the only right way to rule was the sole power of one witch, and the only right way to keep order was to go back to the coven system and bring back the laws that Belos had written, these were the witches who couldn't leave the past behind. The truth was that Raine believed with all their heart that there was only one candidate who was right for the job and the duty, and that candidate was their best friend, Darius Deamonne.

Why? Because Darius is a noble man that Raine trusts with their life, they had been through a lot together, and Raine knew that Darius always had the people's best interest at heart, even if he wasn't very good at showing it and had done many mistakes, Raine knew he was a good man, intelligent and great with people, he had all the qualities a good president needs.

Raine had made it their business to make sure that Darius' election posters were visible everywhere and that people knew what a good witch he was. This job had taken a lot of Raine's energy, and their wrist was so exhausted from all the essays and paperwork they had written.

It was very late in the evening, the house where they were currently making all the political decisions and did all the work in was empty and dark at that point of the night, and Raine had remained there alone, sitting at the desk, writing in the dim candlelight. They were currently in the process of writing a plan for a big all-island-wide media broadcast where the names of the new council and the first president would be revealed in front of both the people and the cameras. There was a lot of planning to do, as Raine wanted to make sure everything was flawless when their best friend got the title and the job he deserved.

"You're still here," came a low voice from somewhere in the darkness of the room, Raine suddenly looked over their shoulder, slightly startled as they had thought they were alone, but their racing heart calmed down as they noticed who it was.

They rubbed their tired eyes, and adjusted their glasses before turning back to their writing task, "There is still so much to do,"

Heeled-booted footsteps sounded and finally stopped at Raine's desk, Darius pulled a chair over, sitting next to them to watch what they had been up to for the past several hours alone in that dark meeting room, "You know, there are other people who can do all this work, it's the work of many witches, Raine, you don't have to do it alone,"

"It's fine," they said," Everyone has a lot of work to do, let them do other stuff,"

"What other stuff, you've done it all by yourself, as always,"

Raine rolled their eyes and reached out to grab their coffee cup, they grunted in frustration when they found that mug empty again. They started to get up from their chair to refill their cup but were stopped by Darius's hand on their shoulder pulling them back into their chair, Raine was too tired to resist so they sat back in their chair placing the mug back on the table.

Darius sighed as he made himself more comfortable, sinking into the not-so-comfortable chair, how Raine was able to sit in it for hours was a mystery to him, "Trust me, everything will be fine,"

"How do you know that? There are so many who still don't understand that what we did was necessary and that Belos was not the messenger of God that he claimed to be."

"I'd like to believe that our population has more brains than not," he said, resting his head against the chair," All jokes aside, Raine, you should rest. It's not good to overwork yourself like that,"

Another tired sigh came from within the Bard witch, and they rested their head on the taller witch's shoulder, "There is so much more to be done," they whispered, exhausted eyes drooping shut.

"Not so much that we can't do it tomorrow. Besides, it wouldn't be very good if you were too exhausted by the time the big moment arrived,"

"It's not me whose big day it is, I ran for the Council, there are twenty-one seats and fifty candidates, not the worst chances," Darius heard how their voice sunk deeper and deeper inside them as sleep swallowed them up.

"You never know," Darius smirked, glad that Raine's eyes were closed to not see it, "Life can surprise you, and you can get more than you thought," the bard didn't answer anymore, too deep in their weariness to be able to do anything or even think clearly, Darius's words floating through their head like a fog, they sat there for a few long minutes, Raine sleeping with their head against Darius' shoulder, and the other witch reading through the documents Raine had written, until finally he turned his head to the sleeping musician and said decisively, "I think its time for you to go home to your kids and partner, songbird," carefully without waking them, Darius picked them up from the chair, grabbed their bag and staff, and carried them out of the house.

He wasn't the best flyer on the staff as he hadn't done it in a long time but still with great care he had managed to fly Raine back home using their own staff, when they had reached a familiar house they landed and Darius picked Raine up in his arms once more and walked with them to the door, tapping it with the toe of his boot. After about a minute, the door opened, and a witch with messy hair stepped in front of Darius, wearing a shirt that looked like it was stolen from Raine's wardrobe, a steaming cup of appleblood in her hand.

"They fell asleep behind the table," Eda said not making it a question but as a matter of fact, there was a fond look on her face as she looked down at the sleeping witch in Darius's arms.

"They are so terribly stubborn, they would have stayed there if I hadn't dragged them back home."

Eda set her cup down on the nearest surface, and held out her hands so that Darius could hand the sleeping musician to her. Darius went inside the house to put Raine's palisman and bag somewhere they could find them in the morning before he wished Eda goodnight and left the house, closing the door behind him. He hoped he wouldn't see Raine until noon the next day, because if this Bard didn't sleep in tomorrow morning, Darius would be more than ready to pick them up again and carry them back home.

---

The flipping feeling in their gut was so great that the very thought of breakfast made them nauseous. Their nerves were in a thunderstorm, a tingling sensation tormenting them from deep within their skin.

Raine can't remember a day they've ever been this nervous, the closest mornings being the morning before The Day of Unity and the whole week before their Bard class final exams.

The people have voted, hundreds of thousands of votes have been read and recorded, and today in two hours, twelve minutes, and forty-two seconds they will be made public, and Raine was terrified. In a little more than two hours, they will find out if they have to start a new rebellion, and if they really sacrificed more than a decade of their life just so their people could spend a few short, quick months free from mad dictatorship.

They read through all of their notes, doing one or two more proofreads of Darius's speech that they had written for him.

"Raine, darling, my beautiful genius Bard, calm down before I hit you," said Eda, who for the last half hour had been watching how her partner nervously played with their food and breathlessly read dozens of papers, the entire kitchen table was covered in paperwork.

The Owl Lady's brow furrowed as Raine didn't even react. She rose from her chair, abandoning her mug of appleblood and her half-eaten breakfast, and strode to the other side of the table, her hand coming up to rest on the shoulder of the worried Bard witch.

This finally caused Raine to look away from their papers, their tired eyes rising to Eda, who sighed sadly at how dark those sleepless nights had made Raine's undereyes the last few weeks.

"Take a big breath, hun, and calm down, everything's okay," she whispered, her hand moving to their cheek.

The bard opened their mouth to reply, but before they had a chance, their stepson's strong voice spoke up, "Well, I don't know, Terra and some other old Coven Head are running for the power, they have quite a few zombie minded followers who would vote for them,"

Raine trembled at those words, clearly panicking, and Eda was quick to throw a warning glance at her son, "King, you are not helping!"

"No, he's right," Raine answered finally, their hands gripping their scarred cheeks," How is that even possible? They are in prison! How can felons who have been convicted by a court run for president? It doesn't make any sense! We need a law against that, as soon as we have our council we will make this into a law,"

"Nothing has gone wrong yet," Eda moved her hand back to their shoulder hoping she would manage to calm Raine down," And if by some crazy, badly miraculous way things go wrong, we'll start another war. Things have been a little too calm anyway,"

Eda's words brought a slight smile to Raine's exhausted face, they knew that Eda was saying all this just to calm Raine down, that she didn't miss the war and was enjoying the more peaceful life, the safe and good life...the life that was now in danger again.

The smile faded as quickly as it had come, their only relief being that soon the wait would be over, and they would finally know what their future holds.

They heard Eda sigh beside them, but they no longer had the heart to look at her and see all the worried emotions that Eda's gaze reflected.

The minutes ticked by, and at one point the time had come, and they had to sit on their staffs and fly to this world-changing event. All the way there, Raine's hands were shaking as they held onto their staff, their palms sweaty beyond reason.

Raine tried to stay positive, tried to repeat Eda's soothing words in their head like a mantra, but the fear was stubborn to seep into their bones. Today will decide everything. Their people have made their decision.

They landed at the ruins of the old Emperor's castle, despite only a few short months having passed, the grounds of the castle were overgrown with grass, filled with trees and flowers, the plant witches had been working overtime to hide this cruel memory of Bellos gold-covered castle. Now instead of that, there was a stage, and in front of it a large number of people who had already gathered.

Raine's legs trembled as they stepped off their staff, their feet touching the stage that had been set up there a few days ago. A supportive hand landed on their shoulder, and their Eda gave them a smile. All the weight of the world was easier to carry with her by their side.

"Come on, let's go find Goo-Boy and the others,” Eda told them, linking her fingers with Raine's.

Backstage, people were running around nervously, every last one of them as nervous and anxious as Raine themself. Witches, both young and old, each a great help in volunteering to build their realm, did their assigned jobs, who handled the last-minute votes, who handled the media broadcast, who put the finishing touches on the stage. It was a beautiful sight, witches and demons, regardless of age, coven witch or wild, all coming together to do something that counts. This sight alone was enough to bring some relief to Raine's worried heart.

'Whatever happens, we can do it. Our people can come together and do what it takes,'

With one last deep breath, Raine pulled their pieces together and stepped forward in the direction where they heard Darius's low but strong voice.

Darius looked like he was the only witch in the entire field of vision who seemed to be cool and collected, the clothes he had on were perfectly wrinkle-free, and clean as if they had just been taken out of the closet, even his abomination hair seemed to be more well-kept than usual. As his gaze caught Raine, Darius immediately dropped his conversation with one of the young volunteers and walked towards Raine and Eda with his hands folded behind his back, a satisfied look on his face.

"Good, I was worried that the clothes I made you wouldn't fit properly," he said, looking up and down Raine's clothes.

"In less than fifteen minutes, the results of the voteing will be announced, and all you have to say is that you were worried about my clothes?” Raine asked, raising an eyebrow.

The taller witch shrugged his broad shoulders, "Nothing else to worry about. There are only two ways things can go, and we can handle either of them,"

"I wish I had your confidence,"

"Well for starters," Darius stepped in front of them, his hands coming up on the Bard witch's shoulders," Lift your shoulders, keep your posture straight. The straighter your back is, the more confidence you have. And whatever you do," his hand wiped the dirt from Raine's robe, "Don't ruin my masterpiece, honestly it took me half a day to make sure your clothes look like a million snails. And please breathe," he took a deep breath and waited for Raine to follow him," Good, now go and do your job, mx coordinator,"

He patted Raine on the shoulder and then walked forward, ready to greet the next group of witches.

"He is right, oh Titan, he is right! I have to do my job!" Raine summoned out their folder full of papers," So, Perry! Where's Perry? We need to check the cameras, check the system, and don't forget..."

The Bard hurried off, and Eda had no choice but to stand there, hand on hip, head shaking with an amused smile. Her darling Rainestorm was a total workaholic. With a small smile, Eda decided to go and find Luz and the other children.

-

The time had come, Lilith had just stepped on stage to give a quick speech to the crowd and then read out the name of the new president. The envelope with the fate of their world was between Lilith's fingers.

Raine stood behind the stage, their gaze peering out from between the curtains in Lilith's direction, their fingers gripping the folder tightly in their hands.

"You're really overthinking all of this,” came Darius's voice from behind them.

The Bard turned around, their hand moving into their folder, "Oh, it's good you're here, you left so quickly before I didn't have time to give you your speech notes," they handed Darius four sheets of paper, but Darius, however, did not take them but looked at the four pages with an unamused look.

"I don't need them,” he said, turning his gaze away to where Lilith stood, 
animatedly speaking to the crowd.

"Of course, you need them, or do you want to improvise your speech?"

Darius sighed, and he sighed heavily but said nothing more.

The further Lilith got with her speech, the more people began to gather at the curtains behind the stage. All those who had applied for the council were either standing behind the stage or in the very first row in front of the stage, ready to step on stage at any moment. In addition to them, there were also four of the five witches who had run for president, only Terra was not there for obvious reasons, as the plant lady had already been in prison for over a month, only one month of her one thousand four hundred and thirty-six year prison sentence. Because their law book was not quite ready yet, there was no law against Terra running for president, and her former employees had done some pretty good publicity for her.

On the other side of the stage, peeking out from behind the curtains, Raine saw Eda, and their large group of teenagers, all smiling and waving at Raine, Eda and Luz both giving them a thumbs up. Raine smiled back at them, waving at them.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Lilith said, "But now, witches and demons of the Boiling Isles, let's stop the waiting, and let's open the first envelope to find out who our new president and vice president will be,"

The crowd in front of the stage became deathly silent, the candidates took a tiny step closer, each of them ready to step on the stage to take their honor and title, only Darius did not move, but stood behind Raine, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixated on Raine, who nervously chewed their lips. The Bard felt like they might collapse from the excruciating anxiety, some of them could have sworn they could feel Terra's presence behind them, as if their fate was already sealed.

"People of the Boiling Isles, welcome your new president," Lilith slowly opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper with two fingers, her two different shades of eyes reading, a big smile suddenly appearing on her face," Witches and Demons, your new president is..."

The crowd's shout of joy was the next thing that reached Raine's ears, their brain couldn't even register what Lilith had said, but with everyone now looking in their direction, there was only one option.

They turned to Darius, a hand grabbing his arm to push him towards the stage, "Go!"

"Why?” Darius asked back.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Raine asked back, eyes wide with confusion, "Go! Your time has come!"

"Hmm, I think we should go together,”

"Why?"

Darius' hand fell on Raine's shoulder, "Just trust me, okay,"

The two stepped out from behind the curtains, the loud cheers of the crowd sounded even louder. People clapped, whistled, and shouted Raine's name, the bard had never been so confused.

"What's going on?" they asked, looking between Darius, Lilith, and everyone else on the stage.

"You won the vote!" Lilith said with a giant smile, between her fingers was the presidential badge designed by Katya, the cursed witch stepped in front of Raine sticking the badge into Raine's robe.

Raine shook their head, they tried to step back, but Darius' arms around their shoulders stopped them, "No. I...I didn't run for the...no, that's not possible!"

Eda and the kids also came on stage, Luz was quick to hug Raine, the bard didn't understand a single word that the teen human said. Raine's eyes were fixed on Eda, whose smile reached her ears, suddenly Raine knew exactly what had happened.

"Eda, what did you do?"

"Me? I didn't do anything...alone," she replied, looking up at Darius, "It was his idea,"

Raine looked up at Darius who looked just as smug as Eda, "All we did was put your name on the list of candidates, we didn't even do any ads or anything," Darius explained, "It seems like when the people went to vote and they saw your name on there, they just chose you,"

It was still absolutely crazy.

No part of Raine had expected this. There had been a reason why Raine had not run for president. Stage fright, self-esteem issues, anxiety, and a very, very dark and traumatizing past were just some of the reasons why Raine didn't believe they were good enough for this. How could anyone ever believe that a witch like Raine would be good enough for that?

"You got sixty-two percent of the votes," Lilith said suddenly, "Darius is in second place with twenty-three,"

"Tens of thousands of witches and demons chose you," Darius added, "You can do it,"

"No, no I can't," the Bard replied, taking a step away from everyone, "I...I can't,"

"Hey,” their best friend said, Darius's hand was outstretched to them, “You're not doing this alone. I am your vice president, we will do this together. We rebelled together, and now we lead together."

"You really believe we can do it? That I..."

Darius nodded, and Raine finally took his hand, and they turned to face the crowd.

It wasn't the first time Raine heard people calling their name. People have clapped for them hundreds of times when they played music, when they were in musicals, when they got their Coven Head title, and when they performed in parades, but never before had clapping brought them so much pride and honor.

Raine clapped back at the crowd.

It took long minutes before the crowd quieted, and Lilith handed Raine and Darius envelopes containing the next 21 names, meant to announce who had been given a seat at the council table.

Steve and Eber were among the candidates with the most votes.

-

The entire Owl House was filled with the echoing sound of celebration, the entire found family had come together to celebrate Raine and Darius' big win and Steve, Eber, and Lilith getting into the council. Hunter and Luz had just returned from the Human Realm with pizzas, and Eda had opened the best Appleblood she had at home.

Everyone was happy and full of faith for the future. All but Raine.

The Bard had crept away, climbed to the top of the tower, and sat on its railing, legs dangling over the edge. The air around them was chilly, and Raine had to pull their robe more around themself to keep the cold at bay, but as they did so, their brand new badge caught their eye.

The skull of the Titan with a red ribbon decorated with a golden line.

This design had been the idea of ​​their kids, a way to honor the Titan. A way for the Titan to give his beloved land and people to someone trustworthy, so that someone who deserves it can lead them and take care of them. Why had Raine been the choice?

The wind around them slowly died down, the song of the birds and the beautiful music of their realm sounded louder and clearer. Raine closed their eyes, letting all these sounds wash over them.

The sea waves were like a soft wind orchestra, whose notes grew with the waves, and when they reached the beach, they sank back down to become quieter. The wind was like a harp played by the trees. The laughter and joy of their family was the violin and double bass that brought joy to every song. The birds were like singers who had learned every note by heart. This world music sounded like a message. But what does this message say?

"Still in shock?"

"I'll probably never get over it,” Raine replied as Darius sat down next to them, a glass of Appleblood in each hand.

"You have four years to accept it...and maybe four more, and four more, and then again...probably as long as you live, to be honest," Darius handed Raine a glass, and Raine was very relieved when they smelled that almost life-saving smell of alcohol.

They took a sip and sighed contentedly before setting their mug down next to them, "I still don't understand why?"

Darius set down his own glass and placed his hands on either side of himself, his gaze looking up at the starry sky, "People trust you,"

"They are therefore all mad,"

"Why do you think that?"

"Let's be honest, Darius, there are hundreds of witches out there more qualified. Heck, you were right there," Raine grabbed their mug again but they didn't take a sip from it they just held it as if it would help them stay together," I will mess it up, I...I'm too anxious, heck my biggest fear is public speaking, THAT'S HALF THE JOB THE PRESIDENT DOES! How should I…”

"Raine, calm down,” Darius shook his head disapprovingly, “You worry too much,”

"Yeah, that's my point!"

"Well, that wasn't my point," the other witch answered," My point was that you always think the worst, and you don't see how capable you are and how many difficult things you have been able to handle. You were A Head Witch, you were the leader of the rebellion, you can do so much. Yeah, you have some flaws, but who among us doesn't? I'm an Abomination witch who hates mud and dirt, my magic is literally purple mud!"

"Huh, you're a freak too,"

Darius laughed lightly, "And now this duo of freaks are the leaders of this world. So...drink up and let's rejoin the party, tomorrow is the big day,"

"Wasn't today supposed to be the big day?" Raine asked, taking a sip from their glass.

"Nah, today was just the warm-up. The real work starts tomorrow. We have meetings, getting to know the whole council, and your favorite...interview with the media,"

The Bard winced, "Can I take a sick day?"

Raine sighed as Darius shook his head.

---

"Eeeedaa! I'll be late if you don't let me go!"

This captivity had already lasted for twenty minutes, Raine had just finished eating breakfast when suddenly their very loving and very pampering partner found them in the kitchen, wrapped them in her arms, and imprisoned them between kissing lips.

"Not my fault," Eda replied placing three more kisses on Raine's blushing face," I won't see you all day! And I'm so hecking proud of you!" more kisses...so many kisses.

Walking away seemed like a downright sin, a cruel, terrible crime, but Raine had to. Duty called and soon an angry Darius will too if Raine doesn't get their Bard butt to work on time.

"I will miss you too," Raine replied, fingers playing through Eda's messy just-out-of-the-bed hair.

"You are my life," she sighed against Raine's shoulder.

"Are you trying to manipulate me into staying home?"

A smile pressed against Raine's neck before it turned into a slight bite and then a kiss, "Of course not. I'm just trying to make sure you come back home to me as soon as possible," Eda lifted her head, wide pupiled eyes looking at Raine with a look that made their heart beat faster, "I'm really so proud of you. The people made the right choice,"

"Don't pretend you weren't my first vote,"

"I neither confirm nor deny that statement," she bit her lip and leaned forward to capture Raine in another long, warm kiss," Go now, Mx President, the realm awaits," she nipped at their lip and then stepped away, the grin on her face turning into a bigger one as she snorted," Oh, I am fucking the president, who would have ever expected that, hah,"

"EDA!"

But Eda had already walked away, sly as a fox and beautiful as an owl.

Raine shook their head, hoping it would clear their mind of all those dizzying and mind-numbing thoughts. It didn't work.

As a last hope, Raine grabbed their bag and their staff and rushed out, heading towards the council building.

Landing in front of that building felt different today. Normally, they knew what awaited them, they knew their place in this building, but starting today everything will be new. Even the way people looked at them was different, usually, no one looked at them for more than a few seconds, but today people...knelt?

"Good morning, Emper...I mean, President Whispers," greeted a witch who Raine didn't know but knew they worked in the council building.

"Umm, good morning," Raine replied, stepping in front of this witch and extending their hand to him," Can...can I help you up? Did something happen? Did you drop something?"

The witch stood up without Raine's help and shook his head, "No, President Whispers, I'm good, umm, good day, President Whispers,"

"G-good day," but before Raine could finish their words, the witch had already run away as if he was suddenly in a hurry or running away from someone.

Confused, Raine continued walking, but they suddenly stopped when they noticed three more witches kneeling, each in unexpected places, as if they had stopped mid-walk and suddenly dropped to their knees.

"Did...did you all drop something?" Raine asked, but they didn't wait for an answer but ran towards the door of the council building and hid inside, they were more than a little freaked out by what they had just seen.

"Good morning, Emperor Whispers!" a voice suddenly sounded from beside them, at which Raine seemed to jump out of their skin.

They looked down to see the young demon kneeling at their feet, "Hi, umm, it's actually 'President' not 'Emperor',"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Emp...president Emperor...no...I mean, uh, I'm sorry," the young demon suddenly jumped up and ran off in the direction of the offices, her big cat ears firmly pushed against her skull as she ran away.

Raine looked in the direction where she had run, there were two more people in the same corridor, who as soon as they noticed Raine, fell on their right knee, head down, echoing 'good morning, Emperor,' sounded as if from one mouth.

And as Raine stepped back, they heard at least three more voices saying the same thing.

No, that's not right. Why does everyone call them 'Emperor'? And why is everyone on their knees, head down as if they would be petrified into stone if their eyes ever meet Raine's?

Raine was struggling to breathe, and they decided to run. Up the stairs, and into the office that was assigned to the president. FOR THE PRESIDENT NOT THE EMPEROR!

They closed the door behind them, their back pressing against it as if they were worried someone would try to open it.

"Rough day?” the voice asked, and Raine felt like they wanted to hug the owner of the voice, just because he hadn't said 'good morning, Emperor'.

"Something's wrong," Raine announced, pointing at Darius, "We messed something up. They think I'm the 'Emperor'! They...they called me 'Emperor'. THEY KNEELED! Darius, they knelt!"

A dark eyebrow rose, "Interesting, I thought we explained all that before the voting started,"

"Well, clearly we didn't do it well enough. We need to fix this now! I...I can't do this, I...I'm not Bellos!”

"Don't worry, Raine, we'll take care of it," Darius got up from his chair and pulled his scroll out of his pocket," I'm going to call Perry and ask if he can move up our interview for an earlier time. You go to the meeting room and greet the council, I'll be right there."

Raine nodded and walked out of the office. They refused to raise their eyes for fear of seeing someone else kneel before them. The thought of seeing even one more person kneeling in front of them made Raine want to scream, luckily the council would never...

"Good morning, Emperor Whispers!" over a dozen voices rang out as soon as Raine opened the door, their eyes popped up, their gaze filled with horror as they saw nineteen witches and demons kneeling, the only ones still sitting in their chairs were Lilith and Steve, and of course Eber who did not sit on the chair but squatted on the table.

"Wha…what's going on?” Steve asked in a whisper.

"Now, everyone up, please!” Raine sounded more desperate than they probably should have.

As if their words were law, all nineteen members stood up, their heads still looking down. Raine could have taken it as a small victory, but no, they had to stop this madness.

"What's going on with you all? Yesterday you were normal and today...what are you even doing?"

A council member named Jeyda was the first to dare to say, "You...you are the..."

"The president, yes, in some confusing way I am the president now," Raine said, "But that doesn't mean I'm any more than any other citizen. I'm still just me, I'm a person, I'm not an emperor. Now please treat me the same way you treated me yesterday and let's start the meeting," Raine walked across the room and sat at the end of the table," Darius will be joining us soon, but in the meantime, Council Member Mermanor, could you please tell us how Ladissa's cleaning program is going?"

All the council members, except for Eber, sat in their assigned chairs, the word 'Emperor' was never heard in that room again.

---

It took over a week to wipe the word 'Emperor' from the lips of their people and replace it with 'President'. People no longer knelt, but greeted them with a polite 'hello' or 'good afternoon'. This week had been horrible for Raine, they couldn't go to the market with their children or go on a date with Eda without every last person who saw them suddenly falling to the floor and wanting to kiss Raine's boots in fear.

The fear had finally started to disappear. Raine was their President, Raine served them, not the other way around, and if the people want to honor them for their hard work, that was their decision, not their obligation.

History had turned a new page, a page without any ink stains writing of any emperors.