It's been a week, since Raine was ripped from their cocoon. A week, since the Day of Unity occured. Since the day meant to end all days, passed without a hitch.

All is fine.

Raine sits beside Eda on the sofa, leaned against her arm. Further in the living room, King and Luz sit reading, reading about demons, reading, searching, for more clues of King's past. The Owl House is peacefully, perfectly quiet.

It had been so loud, trapped in their self-torn prison. Their bard magic, such an intricate part of themself, had been turned against them. Turned inward. Ringing. Screeching. Their coven seal still burns, if they think about it too deeply.

All is fine.

Their fist clenches.

"I know it's over. I know I'm safe," Raine sighs, and leans their head against Eda's shoulder, curling further into her side. It is quieter, this way. "But it's hard to feel like that's true when… when a part of me revolted…"

Eda takes their hand in hers, squeezes reassuringly, kisses their forehead.

There is a furrow between her eyebrows. Raine finally notices just how weary she looks, these days, a little weathered, rough around the edges.

Is this what it was like- with the Owl Beast? They want to ask, but they know it would be presumptuous of them, to compare the two.

Their hand does still shake through the spell circle, sometimes.

"I know." A pause, followed by a soft snort that stirs feelings within Raine. "Coven magic is a lich, ain't it?"

"Oh my Titan, yes," They laugh, and the sound aches as it leaves them. Echoes. They snap their mouth shut, frown lines deepening as they press their forehead against the curve of Eda's neck.

"The curse has not been kind to you," They say, sadly, as a particularly conspicuous distraction.

They need not ask. A few decades away and they could see it as soon as they set their sights on her, could see it in the set of her shoulders. Her laughter had not obscured it, her pain, but that's never stopped her from trying before.

She seems resolutely determined not to hide, this time.

"Hmm. Yeah, well…," Eda shrugs. "We've come to an understanding, me and Beasty. We're vibing these days."

"I'm almost afraid to ask?"

"Here's a couple words for ya, then: Owlet, Beach Sunset, Harpy Woman."

"That... clears up nothing."

King has fallen asleep, wrapped around Luz's shoulders like a particularly fluffy, horned travel pillow, while Luz continues to thumb through the pages of her book.

Eda's smile as she regards them is bogshine warm, and Raine wants nothing more than to write a composition that could capture this moment, and her essence, fully and completely. To be vocalized until the end of days.

Except…

"I'm gonna get you back on that lute," Eda murmurs.

"Are you?"

The screaming willow of their instrument had felt wrong, the strings too taut and foreign beneath their fingertips. The splinters had never stung so sharply before, either.

"Absolutely. You'll be stringing out rhapsodies again before you know it, Dewdrop."

"I'm not so sure… but as usual your confidence is infectious."

"Even if you don't feel comfortable with... well, you know… you could always serenade me with your words. I don't mind," Eda purrs, with a wide, toothy grin, rumbling laughter.

Raine covers their face, before Eda can notice just how much of a mess that still makes them. The flirting. "You do this on purpose, Eda!"

"Do what?"

"Fluster me."

"What can I say?" Eda asks in faux innocence, and she pulls away their hands and kisses them gently on the cheek. "You're cute when you're flustered."

"So are you," Raine shoots back, and it's Eda's turn to flush, bright pink and warm.

"Uh-huh, sure."

Silence befalls them once more, after a moment. Raine just gazes up at Eda, breathing her in, the curve of her smile and the twinkle of her eye (and no, they're not as bright as they used to be, but goodness they still shine like star fog, and it's all Raine can see).

And it would all be very peaceful, if Raine's mind weren't so active.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just, left you–"

Eda looks down at them, stricken. She scoffs. "What are you talking about? Of course you should have. I was freezing you out, and you never deserved that. You deserved better than what I was givin'."

They hum noncommittally, "We could have worked it out, talked it through." Even as they say it, they disbelieve.

"I wasn't ready, yet," Eda replies with brutal honesty. Then her tone softens, slightly, "But if it's any consolation, I'm ready now. Come on, ask me anything!"

"You mentioned something about a Harpy woman, earlier?"

Eda's grin is concerningly wide. "Ha ha, yeah, that–"