Chapter Fifteen

Thursday was devoid of any shenanigans, which Willow couldn't help but feel grateful for. A day before her and Hunter's first official date, both of them were jittery with excited nerves and could barely keep their hands to themselves all through school. Amity had suggested they spend the day after school apart to help them focus and they had reluctantly conceded to the logic.

Little did Willow know that Amity and Luz had an ulterior motivation for that piece of advice.

"Girls' Day!" Luz shouted, jumping in place with a spin and a fist in the air. "C'mon, Willow! Let's go shopping and get you all set up for tomorrow!"

"Wha-? Luz, I can't," Willow had protested feebly. "I'll just wear one of my dresses from home; I have a few laying around. Besides, I don't have the spare snails for a shopping trip."

"Money is no object," Amity cut in with a smirk, holding up a roll of bills. "I'm covering it." Amity raised a hand at Willow's attempt to argue. "Think of it as making up for all of the shopping we missed out on as kids. Besides, I still know you, Willow." Her grin widened and she leaned in to whisper, "I know you want to impress him."

Willow's cheeks were practically glowing, but she nodded. There was no way she could hide it.

"Then let's go, ladies!" Luz said, reaching into her bag to reveal one of Willow's casual dresses. "Change out of your uniform, quick! We can't go shopping in these," she said, indicating her own uniform. Willow rolled her eyes and they all ducked into one of Hexisde's girl's rooms to change, coming out ready to shop.

At Willow's insistence, they avoided serious shopping in the ritzier parts of the market. Not only did Willow not feel comfortable shopping there, but she was unwilling to take advantage of Amity's generosity. They mostly window-shopped in those areas, places Amity was rather familiar with given her background. Luz would frequently squee at certain dresses and say how good they would look on Willow or on Amity before zipping off to look at something else. As for the witchlings, they were more entertained by the antics of their human companion than the clothes.

After some time, they moved to the more reasonably-priced areas and Willow agreed to try some things on. At first it was cute blouses and pants to try for a "lighthearted, casual kind of thing" in Luz's words, but soon enough Amity coaxed her into trying some simple dresses.

It took several tries in various shades of green and yellow for Luz to stumble upon an idea. "What if we try red or purple?" she asked, tapping her fingers together in thought. "They're the opposites of your usual colors and it'll probably really make an impression."

"Since when are you a fashion expert?" Amity asked lightly.

"Oh, I'm not and I never will be," Luz admitted cheerfully. "But if there's one thing I know how to do it's make a lasting impression."

"True," Amity and Willow chorused before giggling with each other.

As they looked through their current store for something along Luz's suggestion, Amity looked around and noticed a familiar figure that made her narrow her eyes. "I'll be right back," she said before subtly following her target.

"Coven uniform, Hexside uniform, coven, coven, coven, school, coven …" Hunter muttered to himself as he flicked the hangars in his current quarters' armoire to the side. "Do I seriously not have any casual clothes?"

Evidently, no he didn't. When even was the last time he'd gone somewhere casually, and not on some form of coven business? As he seriously thought about it, he came up dry. Titan, had it really been that long?!

He glanced at one of his coven uniforms and recalled the time in Latissa, when he had stripped the obvious parts of his uniform to divert the hand-dragon. Coven scouts hadn't recognized him then and it was kind of-sort of nice … But he didn't want Willow to see him in any form of his coven uniform.

Sighing with resignation, he crossed his chambers in the Bonesborough precinct to a small, locked strongbox and produced a key for it before unlocking and opening it. Inside were several neat rolls of snails from his personal stipend. He rarely spent his own money unless it was on books and other research materials, as imperial funds from the coven provided for his room and board.

"Rascal, come on," he called, the cardinal flitting to his shoulder and tweeting excitedly. "Uh huh, yeah. We're-" he blanched and shuddered, "-going shopping."

And that was what found him in his basic attire he'd decided not to wear on his and Willow's date, his mechanized staff retracted and tucked into a pocket just in case while Lil Rascal rode on his shoulder. As he moved through the marketplace, people tended to give him a wide berth, his body language confrontational and his face set in a grim expression. In the rare times he shopped for himself, Hunter's given name perfectly described his style: he was a hunter. He found what he needed at a reasonable price as fast as possible and went home.

To him, shopping for fun was as incomprehensible as kindness from Kikimora.

But this wasn't about him, it was about Willow and giving her a wonderful night out. And so he did what he could to relax, even if he wasn't very successful, and recalled what little he knew about fashion — men's or otherwise — to try and come up with a respectable outfit for tomorrow evening.

As it turned out, shopping for clothes with little to no prior experience and only a palisman's opinion to go off of was a recipe for mounting frustration. He cycled through button-up shirt after shirt with few that struck him as anything but tedious. Or maybe that was just this outing. Every time he considered giving up, he grit his teeth and thought of Willow. But his irritation was building slowly and was bound to erupt eventually.

After an hour or so, he was gritting his teeth hard enough to chew nails. He barely noticed as he all but stormed into Grimalk's Garments and further into the men's section. As before, he started carding through the racks for something he thought Willow might like, but he was tired of green and wrinkled his nose at anything floral-themed.

He was about to turn on his heel and try again in a different shop when Lil Rascal's friendly chirping caught his attention and cooled his mood just a little. He looked backward and found Amity standing before him, her arms crossed and eyebrows arched as Ghost sat at her feet, her expression matching her partner's. Neither looked all that impressed.

"Having trouble?" she asked dryly. Hunter glanced away moodily, still surly with the entire situation. Amity scoffed and turned, beckoning him to follow. "C'mon, I can help." Hunter perked up at that and traded a glance with Lil Rascal perched on his shoulder, who tweeted encouragingly and flew to catch up.

"Traitor," he groused with no real heat behind it and also followed.

Amity led them to a stand of taller racks and motioned for them to stay before returning to Willow and Luz. Hunter ducked back a little further until he could barely see what was going on. His curiosity was burning, but he didn't want Willow to see him like this. She was talking to Amity and Luz, who seemed even more excited than usual and was gesturing to something in Willow's arms that was blocked from his sight by Amity's profile. They all turned to head to the dressing rooms and Hunter saw a flash of purple in Willow's arms before she was out of sight.

Hunter narrowed his eyes in confusion before a soft purr at his feet drew his eyes downward to Ghost. The cat palisman licked her paw and curled her tail around herself in a stationary gesture, her blue eyes on him to pin him in place.

After a few minutes, Hunter looked up at the sound of Luz loudly squealing in what he was pretty sure was delight, then being shushed by the other patrons and her loud whisper of "Sorry." Hunter stepped back behind the clothes racks as the girls came back into view, and Amity handed Willow a roll of snails before saying she would track down Ghost before they left and to check out.

When Amity came and picked up Ghost, she glanced around to get her bearings before carding through a few shelves of men's clothes and deftly removing a few very specific articles. As it turned out, the relative simplicity of men's fashions made it more straightforward to organize.

"These are what you want," Amity said simply, handing him the folded clothes. "They'll go well with Willow's outfit." With that, she turned and left without looking back.

Hunter was a little confused at Amity's actions, but he looked through the things she had handed him and decided it wasn't some cruel gambit; she was really trying to help him. A smile twitched at his lips at the thought of the standoffish Blight still slowly warming up to him even after their incident at the library, even if she was probably just looking out for Willow. He shrugged and whistled for Lil Rascal before making his purchases, careful to make sure the girls had left, and headed back to the precinct for the night.

Eda watched with bemusement from her place on the couch as her apprentice paced back and forth across the living room, babbling in that other language she would dip into now and again. Her gestures and hand motions were enough to paint a general picture of what she was thinking and saying, at least enough to show she was focusing on Willow's upcoming date.

"So, this date's with the Golden Twerp, right?" Eda said dryly, taking a sip from the glass of apple blood in her hand.

"Yep, yep, yep," Luz chirped, still pacing with wide, shining eyes. Unlike most teenagers, Luz was very forthcoming about her solo adventures. She'd long told Eda and King about the beat up blond with no magical powers, calling him a "bad, but sad, boy" and making them both laugh.

When Luz had come home to the Owl House about a week later, ranting and raving that the Golden Guard was now a student at Hexside and trying to figure out Willow's connection to wild magic, Eda had been uneasy about it. As far as she was concerned, Willow and "Goops" were her unofficial kids almost as much as Luz herself. But Luz had seen fit to let it play out, and so Eda had kept her nose out of it.

Then the romantic thing had stirred up, and Luz had been thrilled. Eda had been amused more than anything else, all too aware of how quickly attraction could arise at their age with such prolonged contact. And while she didn't know the twerp very well, having only been threatened by him once and having Luz's account of Latissa, she was very aware that Willow was a hot commodity. Hence, she was surprised but far from shocked at the turn of events.

"And you're sure you're not gonna spy on 'em during?" Eda prodded, a wicked smile across her lips as she prodded the fire bees nest.

"Ugh, Eda! No, of course not!" Luz's eyes shifted a bit and Eda raised an eyebrow in silent challenge. "Okay, fine. It crossed my mind, okay? But that's it! Willow is my friend, my best friend, and I want her first date to be as romantic and private as possible." She stopped pacing and grimaced a little, "Besides, knowing my luck? I'd give myself away and ruin their night."

"Thought about it a lot, huh?" Eda continued to prod, and Luz groaned and stomped up the stairs to her room, though Eda could tell there was no real anger there. Pfft, teenagers.

As soon as she heard Luz's door slam, she stood up and held out her free hand to let her staff fly into it. She twirled it a bit out of sheer muscle memory before unscrewing Owlbert. The palisman awoke and hooted in greeting.

"You still up for tomorrow night?" Eda asked conspiratorially. Owlbert trilled and nodded with a determined look. "Good," Eda said with a grin. If everything went well, she'd have blackmail material up to her pointed ears, for the Golden Twerp or Willow.

Okay fine. And she'd know for sure if Willow was okay … or whatever.

In the mess hall of the castle, Scout Steve picked at his food with his visor up and a thoughtful frown on his face.

Steve was something of a generic-looking guy, the kind of person you wouldn't look at twice in a crowd. Unless you counted his matching silver hair and eyes, and his cheekbones sharp enough to cut leather. He sighed as his appetite refused to stir and dropped his fork to push his tray away.

Steve looked up to the large painting of the Emperor that graced the mess hall, smiling a bit as patriotic fire arose in his chest. He had faith in the Titan and in his messenger, Emperor Belos. The Day of Unity, whatever it was, was coming soon and would bring great things!

Then his smile wavered and fell at the thought of recent events. The Golden Guard, the Emperor's right hand and commander of the coven, had been sent on a secret mission to ferret out a source of wild magic in some politically-charged situation, aside from one mission to track down an elusive wild witch.

Steve had been a part of that grueling and exhausting mission. He had witnessed the cunning and skill of the Golden Guard pitted against the underhanded tactics of a wild seer and come out on top. And then he'd seen their commander defend a young girl from twitchy scouts. That incident had earned more respect than any execution ever could, in Steve's eyes. To him, the Golden Guard was the one meant to lead them to the Day of Unity.

But the Golden Guard was not here, in the castle. And in his absence, Kikimora had begun to try her hand at maneuvering among the coven. She had been working her way into the graces of the scouts and captains, taking credit for positive changes such as improved food and blaming the Golden Guard and his "lackluster leadership" for things that went wrong.

Steve grit his teeth at the thought. Kikimora had done the same to Madam Lilith during her tenure, and it had irked him just as much. He'd admired Lilith, of course. Who wouldn't? She was powerful, intelligent, beautiful, and oh-so devoted. Even if her devotion to her wild witch sister had outweighed her devotion to the Emperor. That still stung whenever he thought about it, but … he had a little sister who was chronically ill, a case of manticore poison that would spread without treatment and cause unbelievable pain — made worse by the fact that pain was all it caused until it could reach her heart and kill her.

Steve was ruminating over his current and former commanders when he noticed a particular captain, denoted by her shawl-like cowl with gold trim. Captains were allowed some leeway in their uniforms as a privilege of their rank, often based upon their magical specialty. This one was of the Healer, Captain Brigid Gall. She was known for being firm but fair among the middle rank of the Emperor's Coven.

And more relevantly, she had always seemed close with the Golden Guard and to care for him on a personal level.

Steve left his tray and shuttered his visor before he approached the captain, who was settling to eat at a higher table. "Captain Gall," he greeted with a salute.

"Scout," she greeted back. "At ease." Steve relaxed, placing his hands behind his back in relaxed attention. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Forgive me if I overstep, Captain," Steve said, "but I was wondering if, um, you had … news about our commander?"

Captain Gall froze at the words before glancing around. She gestured for him to draw closer and he did with a nod of respect. "What business is it of yours, Scout?" she asked, severely but … not harshly.

"It's probably not my place to say, Captain," Steve said quietly, "but Kikimora has been causing … disturbances among the ranks, ma'am. I fear his absence is leaving us vulnerable."

The captain was silent for so long that Steve considered saluting and leaving while he could, before she said, "What is your name and badge number, Scout?" As she asked, she cast a light-blue spell circle around his head, a spell he recognized to monitor vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and sweating. He also knew that it could be used as a simple lie detector.

Steve gulped silently. "Um, uh, Steve Menor. Scout iota-one-zero-one-two."

"Hmm, I seem to recall you were trusted by Madam Lilith before her defection. You were her escort on more than one occasion."

"Yes ma'am," he confirmed.

"I also recall that you were a part of the strike team sent to deal with Cuth the Thulu alongside the commander," she said.

"Yes ma'am," he answered.

"And your concern for the Golden Guard is related to the functionality of the coven?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," he replied confidently.

The captain seemed satisfied, as the circle dissipated and she did not immediately discipline him. "The Golden Guard has been on a secret mission in Bonesborough for almost three weeks. He is covertly investigating the source of wild magic among the youth of Hexside school."

Steve processed this for a moment. "Huh. I never really considered his age would suit that kind of mission."

"From what we know, he volunteered for it after witnessing a duel among witchlings alongside Lady Feronia."

Steve nodded, having read the reports on that little incident. It had caused quite a bit of property damage and a full half of the participants had vanished without a trace. "Has he been turning in reports, ma'am?"

"Almost daily, on the Emperor's orders," Captain Gall said. "According to them, he's been making fast headway in gaining the confidence of one student in particular."

"Might it be the Owl Lady who's teaching this?" Steve asked. Or Madam Lilith, he silently added. "It seems the sort of thing she would do to undermine the coven system."

"Actually, no," Gall replied. "The Owl Lady largely acts alone. Her apprentice attends Hexside, but she is a human with no bile sac and so can only use wild magic. And the Emperor has deemed her of ... little concern."

'Little concern?' Steve thought with a shiver. He'd seen the aftermath of the human's assault on the Conformatorium. She'd taken on dozens of guards and scouts and come out of it practically unscathed! It strained his trust in the Emperor's judgement to not gather as many scouts as he could and capture her himself. You know, theoretically.

"So not the Owl Lady," he conceded. "Then who?"

"That's exactly what the Golden Guard is trying to find out," Gall said.

Steve nodded and saluted. "Thank you for your time, Captain," he said. He turned to leave, but the sound of his name stopped him.

"Scout Menor. If I could arrange it, perhaps you would prefer a temporary placement in my team?" Captain Gall asked nonchalantly. "I have been assigned a mission to examine the Healing Coven facilities in Bonesborough and would appreciate the extra hand."

Bonesborough. Where the Golden Guard was no doubt staying.

"I would appreciate that very much, Captain," he said before taking his leave.

Chapter fifteen, everybody! Leave a review, if you please. They make me so happy!

*Hunter's "coven, coven, school, coven, school..." gag was suggested by my brother, and I couldn't help but put it in.

*Grimalk's Garments is influenced by Madam Malkin's Ronbes from the Harry Potter franchise. A "grimalk" is an old-school term for an elderly cat.

*I head-canon that Amity has an eye for fashion and style, whether naturally or due to her upbringing.

*Captain Brigid Gall is the captain from Kikimora's attempt on Hunter's life, the one who asked if he was ... and then gasped when Kikimora showed his mask and seemed to feel sorrow about it. **Brigid is the name of an Irish mythological figure who is connected to healing, and gall is an archaic term for bile also used to poetically mean bitterness. Her Healing specialty was inspired by her uniform, which I can't help but connect to an old fashioned nurse's shroud.

*I head-canon that, even though they are permitted to use all forms of magic, agents of the Emperor's Coven still tend to favor whatever form of magic they specialized in in school. I figure few branch out to more than a few approaches, and a very rare handful have competence in all of them.

*Steve's last name "Menor" is Spanish for "minor" and was chosen in the sense that he is a minor character. His badge number, 1-0-1-2, is a play on the phrase dime-a-dozen, as he's kind of a red shirt.

*I really like the idea that Luz has become something of THE DREADED to agents of the Emperor's Coven. I mean, how would you feel if a child rampaged through you and your friends - supposed elite among the elite - with barely a scratch?

At any rate, I hope you all enjoyed it. Next up: the date!