AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This is cross-posted from Archive Of Our Own. I've known for a while how small the contributions are to The Owl House on here, so I finally decided to help it expand by posting my story here. I'm not entirely expecting it to get a lot of traction here, because so few stories and people exist on this site right now, but it's worth a shot if it reaches just a few more people.

This is the first of three stories I'm going to post here, the other two (both currently incomplete at the time of posting this chapter) will be added over the next few days. The first one that has the most chapters at the moment will be posted in increments leading up to Valentine's Day.

(Also if it feels like I'm starting in the middle of a story as opposed to the 'beginning', that's by design. There will be plenty of back story and exposition later on after Luz and Amity meet.)


It was early evening when the bus came to a begrudging halt in front of the station, its patrons old and young alike rising from their seats and making their way to the doors to get off after the bus driver. One of the patrons, seventeen year old Luz Noceda, descended the stairs of the bus to the outside world with her phone held up to her ear. Her expression was blank, disinterested as she rounded the corner to the luggage compartment to retrieve her belongings. She stood in the middle of the crowd of people, shoving her free hand in her pocket casually and fiddling with the pocket lint found there to cover up her underlying anxiety.

"Sí, mamá, I just arrived." she said into the phone. She took a step forward while the crowd was thinning, still a good few feet away from the bus. "I'm getting my stuff now."

"Bien, I'm glad you made it safely. You'll let me know when you find Eda, right?" Camila asked.

"Promise. I gotta go, I need both hands to carry my things." Luz said. She was almost apologetic about needing to hang up with her mother. Almost.

"Muy bien, querida. Te quiero." Camila said, her voice soft. If Luz didn't know any better, she would think that was her mother's way of showing her own bit of regret. Through the tone of her voice. But Luz did know better, and she didn't care for it.

"Yo también te quiero." Luz responded. She did her best not to deadpan it, and took her phone from her ear to hang up the call.

Tucking her phone away, Luz was finally close enough to duck into the storage compartment and grab her stuff. Two black suitcases and a moderately large blue travel backpack labeled with her name on the straps of the backpack and handles of the suitcases. She moved aside out of the way of the other people still trying to get to their belongings and got herself situated, hiking the backpack onto her back and extending the handlebars of the suitcases to their full height. She grasped them tightly and held them as close to her personal space as possible, setting a course for the station building.

The doors slid open when she approached them and she stepped inside, noting the sign hanging above the entrance that said 'Sacramento, CA Bus Station'.

We're not in Connecticut anymore, Toto. Luz thought to herself, and granted herself a small laugh at her own joke.

She walked further into the bus station, eyeing the place and trying to see if she could pick out her mother's friend in the waves of people coming in and out. Luz wheeled her suitcases over to the nearest bench and leaned one of them against the seat so she could pull out her phone. She brought up her texts with her mom and scrolled back enough until she found the picture of the woman she was looking for; a rather pale, tall lady with long gray hair and yellow eyes. Based on those characteristics, she shouldn't be too hard to pick out of the crowd.

Luz put her phone away again and grabbed her suitcase, walking back towards the center part of the building to scan the people around her. Her eyes would linger on anyone with gray hair, but it wasn't until she noticed a particularly shaggy head of gray hair a distance away that she suspected that's who she was looking for. Shoving down her bit of fear, Luz took a step forward and made her way towards the woman who was in mid conversation with a security guard.

"Ma'am, I don't make the rules." the guard said to the woman. "You're not allowed to sell merchandise here."

"Ah, it's not even that big of a deal. Just a few knickknacks." the woman debated. "It's not gonna hurt anybody, and I'm just trying to kill some time before-"

"Eda?" Luz spoke up when she was close enough, hoping that her guess was right.

The woman turned around, and Luz was slightly caught off guard by the fact that this woman had only one yellow eye while the other was a pale gray. Other than that, it was definitely Eda by the way her face lit up in excitement and relief at the sight of Luz. She raised her arms to gesture at the teen.

"Hey, Camila's kid! Luz, right?" Eda greeted. "Glad you made it in one piece!"

"Miss, you know this woman?" the guard asked from behind Eda, leaning over to meet Luz's eyes.

Luz glanced between them, Eda rolling her eye(?) and tsking her tongue. "...You could say that." Luz finally answered with a shrug.

The guard nodded. "Good enough. Can you make sure she doesn't try to sell anything else while she's here? If I catch her again, I'll have to detain her."

"Yeah, sure." Luz said.

Satisfied with her response, the guard gave another stiff nod and left them to return to his rounds. Eda discreetly flipped him off behind his back before waving him off. When she faced Luz, she was smiling again. "Don't mind him, kid, he's just got a bit of a stick up his ass." She held out her hand towards Luz's bags. "Here, let me take one of those off your hands and we'll head to my truck."

Deciding not to argue, Luz slid one of her suitcases over to Eda's hand and followed behind her when she started for the exit. The bus station was a lot less full at this point, a majority of busses having departed and only a few left outside. They passed the spaces for the busses out to the extended parking lot. They walked by a few aisles when Eda suddenly stopped and made a turn towards a red Ford Explorer Sport Trac.

"Here she is!" Eda said, and gestured for Luz to come with her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key, pressing the button to unlock the doors and returning Luz's suitcase back to her. As she rounded the front of the truck towards the driver side, she called back, "Just toss your things in the back next to King."

"King?" Luz asked as she took hold of the door handle and popped open the car door.

And that's when a black mass of something lunged at her. Luz let out a yell and dropped her suitcase handles to raise her arms in defense, the large shadow crashing into her and nearly knocking her down. Luz stumbled backwards and tried to hold the thing down away from her face, sputtering and grunting in effort.

"King!" Eda yelled, coming back around to the passenger side of the truck. She snapped her fingers and pointed at her feet. "King, down! Now!"

The mass stopped trying to jump Luz and slinked over to Eda's feet, and once Luz came to her senses she realized the shadow that attacked her was actually a large black wolfdog with an odd white patch of fur in the shape of his skull on his face and a clipped ear. He hung his head when he sat down beside Eda, shooting the puppy dog eyes back and forth between the two of them.

"I told you, no scaring the company." Eda went on to scold him. She looked up at Luz. "Sorry about that. He gets really excitable around new people."

Luz waved it off with her hand, choking out a laugh. "Ha, no, it's fine. Just would've appreciated more of an explanation before I opened the door." She hunched down a little and walked over towards King. His tail started wagging timidly behind him and his ears perked up. Luz offered her hand for him to sniff it, allowing him to get to know her scent. King gave her hand a lick and Luz beamed, reaching further to scratch him behind the ear. "Yeah, that's a good boy..." she praised quietly, and King's tail wagged even faster.

Eda grinned, patting Luz on the back. "Come on, there will be plenty of time to bond with him later. We gotta get you home and situated in your new room."

Luz could feel her demeanor almost drop at that, but she didn't let it show as she straightened up and returned to the open car door to put her things inside while Eda returned to the driver's seat. King jumped in after she was done per Eda's direction and Luz shut the door behind him. She hopped into the passenger seat and clicked into the seatbelt while Eda started up the truck, looking over her shoulder to back out of the space. Once she'd done so, she put the truck and it lurched forward towards the street and to the highway.


It was about a half hour before Luz saw the highway signs directing them to Woodsborough, and another forty-five minutes from that point to actually reach Eda's place. The sun was just starting to touch the horizon when Eda turned into her driveway, the sky a vibrant burnt sienna stretching from the sun and darkening farther out into pinkish and purple hues. Luz yawned when the truck came to a stop in the driveway and undid her seatbelt, stepping out just a moment after Eda.

"Grab you stuff, I'll get the door open." she said, already walking towards the front door.

Luz opened the back door, chuckling a bit when King hopped out and raced to catch up with Eda, and dragged her bags from the car. She used her hips to close the door back, secured her grip on her things, and headed around the truck to the house.

Well, house was a bit of an understatement as Luz came to realize when the building came into view. The first floor appeared to be a kind of cafe, and on top of it was a two floor apartment. The sign above the door read 'The Owl Cafe'. Luz eyed it curiously, skeptically, and slowly made her way to the now open front door. Sure enough, inside was a decently sized cafe area and what looked like a small antique section off to the side filled with all kinds of little doodads, from old clocks to toys that looked like they'd been abandoned years ago.

"Through here, Luz!" Eda's voice came from the back of the cafe, and Luz made a little note in the back of her mind to ask about the cafe later on when they had a moment. She turned heel to follow the direction of Eda's voice which was through the kitchen.

Eda had the door at the back of the kitchen propped open and waiting. When Luz came into view and reached the door, she dipped into the stairwell with Luz close behind and ascended the stairs with King's nails echoing off the walls ahead of them. Upon reaching the door at the top she pulled out her keys again and unlocked the door. She pushed the door open and gave Luz a grin, motioning inside after King had already entered. He disappeared from view but Luz could hear his retreating paws for a bit before it went quiet entirely. She had a passing thought of where he was off to before Eda broke through her wonder.

"Welcome to my humble abode." she said happily.

Luz squeezed past her into the apartment and looked around. The door had led them into Eda's actual kitchen, a moderately sized but cozy kitchen with an island in the center of it. To the right was a small dining room and Luz assumed the rest of the apartment opened up from there. She heard Eda close the door back and the woman came into view in her peripheral. "Bedrooms are upstairs, we gotta cut through the dining room. The stairs are in the hallway between the den and the living room."

Eda led Luz through the kitchen, through the dining room, and down a hallway to the left past the den to the stairs. At the end of the hall was the living room, and Luz guessed by the looks of it that there was a bathroom diagonally across from the stairs. Eda trekked up the stairs and Luz lifted her suitcases to get them over.

"You'll be taking Hunter's old room, mainly because he had his own bathroom and I know you teenagers value your privacy." Eda said. "And I have my own bathroom, so you don't have to worry about any awkward run ins with me, either."

"Hunter?" Luz said. She stepped onto the landing and hesitated before trekking after Eda down a hallway again.

"My son." Eda explained. She came to a stop outside of a closed bedroom door. "Well, adopted son. He's already left for his little roadtrip to his college early, but I'm sure you'll meet him soon. He'll probably come to visit after his first week of classes."

"Oh, well, I don't want to put either of you out when he comes back-" Luz began, but Eda snorted a laugh and waved her hand dismissively.

"Kid, relax. I already told him I'd be giving you his room and he's okay with it. Besides, there's two more bathrooms in this place and a guest room he can sleep in." she said.

Not giving Luz another opportunity to argue Eda opened the door to the bedroom and stepped back, waiting for Luz to step inside. Luz understandably hesitated, but after a moment took a step past Eda into the bedroom.

It was, of course, bare inside except for a few dressers, two doors which Luz assumed could lead to the closet and the bathroom respectively, a full XL bed in the middle of the room. The walls looked like they'd just recently been repainted white and the gray carpet underneath looked freshly shampooed and vacuumed. It was kind of heartwarming to Luz to think that Eda, and probably Hunter, had gone through the trouble to make sure the room was ready for her. The room was a good size where Luz didn't feel crowded at all, even with the three mid-sized dressers along two of the walls and the size of the bed.

"This is Hunter's old furniture. He left it here for you to use, part of the reason why he left early. So he could get new furniture for the apartment he'll be sharing with a friend of his. The mattress is new, though." Eda said. She leaned against the doorframe, analyzing Luz's stature for a second. "I was a little worried that the bed would feel a bit too big for you, but you and Hunter are about the same height so it should be perfect. Probably just an inch or two difference." She glanced around the room with a soft smile. "Well, what do you think?"

Luz didn't answer right away. Her brain was still processing when she let go of her suitcases and shrugged her backpack off her shoulders to the floor. She made her way over to one of the doors to the side of the room and opened it, revealing that it was the closet. It wasn't a walk in, but it had more than enough space for her clothes. The next door opened to the bathroom. Everything was white, though there was a pale blue bath mat outside of the tub. There was a medicine cabinet with a mirror over the sink. The tub and shower could surely accommodate for someone her height which she was grateful for. When she went through her growth spurt back at home, she was about a good two inches from hitting her head on the showerhead if she stood too close. It was perfect for her mother, though, who was significantly shorter than her.

She retreated from the bathroom and stood in the center of the room, looking around one more time before meeting Eda's expectant gaze. Luz offered a small smile.

"It'll do." she joked, and Eda rolled her eye (seriously, what was up with that?).

"Alright, don't be a little shit. I can tell you like it." the older woman said. She patted the doorframe and stood up straight. "I'll give you a minute to get situated, just meet me downstairs so we can figure out some food for you. I'm sure you're starving." As if on queue, Luz's stomach growled and her eyes went wide out of mild embarrassment. To her credit though, Eda just smiled knowingly and nodded. "I'll see you in a bit."

Eda disappeared from the door and, now alone, Luz opted to collapse into a seated position on the bed. It was a comfortable mattress, pretty soft and she sunk into it quite nicely when she rested her full weight into it. She clasped her hands together between her knees and huffed a sigh, hanging her head. She was grateful for Eda giving her some time to herself. She needed the chance to fully and properly absorb the fact that this was going to be her life for the next year at the very least. Luz set her jaw. Part of her still resented her mother to sending her across the damn country. And while another part of her understood why, the other half was much louder and a lot more angry.

Speaking of her mother, Luz realized she'd forgotten to let her mother know that she'd arrived at Eda's. She sucked in a tense breath and reached for her phone in her pocket to send her a quick text. She also noticed she already had a missed text from her and clicked her tongue.

Mamá (6:54 pm):

Luz? ¿Qué está pasando?

Luz let out another sigh and typed out a reply.

Luz (7:14 pm):

Lo siento, mamá. I'm at Eda's now. Didn't mean to worry you.

She didn't wait for a response and instead tossed her phone aside and it bounced on the mattress before settling into the material, silent and stagnant. Conflicted emotions started to arise in her system and she let out a groan, scratching at her hair under her beanie and mumbling a soft curse to herself. Deciding it was a good time for a distraction, she gave her attention to her luggage and decided to see how much unpacking she could get done for a bit. She stood from the bed and grabbed one of her suitcases, laying it out and undoing the zipper to open it.


About half an hour had gone by, and Luz was barely halfway done with the first suitcase. She might've overwhelmed herself a bit with trying to figure out what could and should go where. That, and she was trying to get used to the idea of using someone else's dressers. The most she'd gotten done was putting her toiletries away in the bathroom and hanging a few of her flannels and jackets in the closet. When the nagging in her stomach started the get the best of her, she decided it was time to head back downstairs and get something to eat like Eda suggested. She left her suitcase open on the bed and left the room, trudging to the stairs and down to the kitchen.

"Ah, there you are." Eda said when she entered. She was searching through some of the cabinets, and King poked his head out from the other side of the island. "I was wondering what was taking you so long."

"Sorry, I got caught up with planning what to do with my stuff." Luz said. She sat down on the stool at the end of the island. King slinked around and sidled up against her calve, and she reached down to pet his head absently.

"S'alright." Eda said. She closed the cabinet she was searching through and moved to the one beside it. "I didn't expect Camila to send you so soon, so we're a little scarce on food right now." She added apologetically, closing that cabinet as well. Despite that, though, she gave Luz a smile and took out her phone with a little wave. "Lucky for us, there's a really good Chinese food place that'll deliver. We can go out for some groceries and stuff tomorrow. Sound good?"

Luz returned the smile, and her stomach sounded off as an added confirmation. "I'm down."

"Great." Eda looked to her phone screen and pulled up the app, scrolling to the restaurant's tab and opening it up. She handed her phone to Luz. "Here, pick what you want first. Don't worry about cost. I'm sure a girl your size can eat."

The brunette chuckled. "Yeah, kinda."

Luz scanned their menu for a little bit before opting for something familiar; beef and broccoli, shrimp egg foo yung, and an extra side of white rice. She gave Eda back her phone and waited patiently for Eda to finish the order by leaning down and giving King some belly rubs when he flopped over eagerly onto his side. With the order complete, Eda grinned and slid her phone back into her pocket.

"Food should be here in an hour or so. Trust me, though, the wait is worth it." She nodded towards the door leading out of the kitchen. "Why don't we head to the living room and find a movie to watch while we wait?"


Dinner came and went, with the two of them choosing a movie from the early 2000's that Luz had seen almost a hundred times Legally Blonde. She wasn't complaining, she quite enjoyed the movie and Eda's commentary made it better. But once the movie was nearly over and her food containers were basically empty, she started to feel a little heaviness in the eyes and yawned, stretching her arms over her head.

"Time catching up with you?" Eda asked, smiling.

"I think so." Luz said through the rest of her yawn, groaning at the end.

"You're probably just jetlagged. What time is it in Connecticut, eleven something? You'd normally be in bed by now, huh?" Eda stood up from her arm chair and held a hand out for Luz to hand her her trash, nodding her chin towards the hallway. "I'll handle the mess kid, you go get ready for bed. Tomorrow we'll hit the town."

Luz obliged, handing over her garbage and getting to her feet. "Thanks, Eda." she uttered, rubbing at her eyes.

"No need to thank me. Go on, I'll see you in the morning." Eda said. "Oh, and there are some blankets, sheets, and a few pillows in the linen closet near the upstairs bathroom."

The two when their separate ways, Eda leaving for the kitchen with King (who was hoping to catch some scraps before Eda threw everything away) and Luz dragging her feet back to the stairs and carrying her tired body upstairs. She paused at the linen closet and opened it up, taking in the choices of covers among the shelves along with extra towels. She did some sorting until she found a set of simple black sheets that would fit the mattress, and a matching black blanket and set of pillow cases. She folded them over her arms and picked out a couple of pillows to set on top, then carried them back to her new room. She dropped them beside her previously abandoned suitcase and cleared the bed so she would have space to make it. The sheets were nice and soft and smelled of lavender and mandarin, the blanket just the same. The pillows were also soft, and had just enough fluff to them to not feel uncomfortably flat. They smelled different from the covers but still had that nice hint of mandarin to them that probably came from dryer sheets, Luz suspected.

Once the bed was made, Luz sat down on it and bent down to untie her worn sneakers. She kicked them off to the side, and when she took off her socks she tucked them into the sneakers. She unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, getting to her feet to shimmy them down her legs before sitting again and tossed them on top of her still open suitcase. Her shirt followed soon after and she was left in just her sports bra and boxers. Oh, and her hat. She reached up and took her hat off, almost ready for it to follow suit after her other clothes, but one glance at it and she stopped herself to clutch it tighter in her fingers. The beanie had been the last thing she bought before leaving Gravesfield, and she remembered her mother smiling at her when she came home wearing it.

"Te queda bien, Luz."

The darkness of her room became a little bleary and she realized that tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Her face grew hot, her breath coming in shorter bursts as she tried to get her emotions back under control. The creaking of the bedroom door pulled her from the rapidly developing rabbit hole in her mind and she turned her head to see the outline of King's profile peeking in. Luz choked on a laugh and reached up to wipe her eyes.

"Hey, bud." she muttered softly. She patted the spot beside her gently, invitingly. "Wanna come in?"

King eased his way into the door and padded up to the foot of Luz's bed. His tail wagged happily when he bounded up onto the mattress, making the bed shake a little under his weight and drawing out a weary laugh from the brunette. She discarded her hat in favor of moving further up the bed and guiding King to follow. He did so and plopped himself down next to her, his tongue lolling out in pure happiness when she scratched behind his clipped ear. Luz reclined onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, continuing to pet him until her eyes started to flutter closed. Her pets became slower along with her breathing, and despite King's nose prodding her cheek she didn't pick up the pace. The wolfdog let out a small whine and rested his head on her chest while she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

And thus concludes the first chapter of 'ILMBWIWY'! I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed! And for those of you wondering where Amity is, don't worry! She's coming soon. This and the second chapter are dedicated to world building and addressing minor back story elements, so unfortunately you guys might have to wait until chapter three for Amity to be introduced. But if the summary is anything to go by (and trust me, it is), you guys will like what's in store.