A Family Member Not Forgotten
The ride back to the Owl House was a gloomy one, namely because of one "knocked-down" human. It was clear the actress's words had affected Luz more than the family first realized, and her bravado had faded immediately after leaving the Oily Garden.
Her sudden mood change was worrying her witch family greatly. Eda in particular was nearly beside herself; she wanted nothing more than to go back to that place and tear that actress a new mouth hole. But right now, her motherly instincts were telling her to comfort her daughter, and the motherly side of hers quickly won out.
She let out a mute sign and moved to comfort her daughter, but her father beat her to the punch. Dell kneeled in front of Luz, and gently lifted her head so the two made eye-contact.
"You should let what others say affect you so much," the ex-crafter said warmly.
Luz tried to look away but Dell kept a soft but tight grip on the "knock-down" human's chin.
"I said what I meant back there; you are my granddaughter. It doesn't matter where you come from or what species you are, you are family and I'm proud to call you a witch," the warmth that Dell was radiating was so bright it could heat up the knee in an instant.
Luz had happy tears in her eyes as she launched herself into Dell's open arm with a cry of 'abuelo'. The Clawthorne women all wore matching smiles as the human-witch snuggled into Dell's embrace and giggled as the elder witch's beard tickled her face.
Eda was quick to take out a camera she had hidden in Roca's saddle, and took a picture. The photo came out and the wild witch's smile turned warmer as she looked at the item.
"You know, with all the pictures we had taken this week, we could make one great photo album," Lilith suggested warmly.
Eda just gave her sister a knowing smirk and went to put the picture in her usual spot. She frowned as she put the picture into her hair and felt it go stuck. Her frown turned into a scowl as she tried to push the new picture farther into her mane.
"Ah farts," Eda groaned dejectedly, "It happened, my hair has been glued together."
The entire Necoda-Clawthorne family began to laugh warmly at Eda, and the wild witch soon grinned in a good-natured way.
"Yeah, yeah, get it all out," she grumbled playfully, as Lilith managed to snatch the camera and took a quick pic.
Soon, the family had turned home and headed inside, to finish dinner and just continue to enjoy each other's company.
"Hmm, I think the oracles were right, a storm is coming," Dell mused to himself, "I can feel it in my bones."
After finishing dinner, the Noceda-Clawthorne family settled in for a night of watching tashy human media. Eda grumbled when she saw that her kids wanted to snuggle with parents instead of her, but it was all in good fun.
Dell's prediction came true after the family got readied for bed; a howling rainstorm had started.
Howling rainstorms were a bit different from boiling rainstorms; namely the heavy winds cool the rain enough that it is just very hot and not boiling. Unfortunately, those very same winds also sound like a howling beast, and could lead to a very scary experience.
This wasn't the first time Luz had experienced howling rain, but her current emotional state was making her very scared. She tried to be a big girl and brave the storm…by hiding under her covers. She was holding her Otabin toy her witch Abuela gave her a few days ago, and King was tight to her chest.
The "knocked-down" titan wasn't doing much better than his big sister. King was curled into a tight ball and he had his ear covered. He whimpered when the wind howled again, and it sounded like a Slitherbeast to him.
Luz saw her little brother shaking and once again tried to be brave, for King; she tried to calm herself and wrapped an arm around King. The action seemed to have worked on both, as their nerves started to settle and soon both were about to fall asleep.
Suddenly, the wind howled again, and both were instantly awake. Another howl, this one reminded Luz of the beast Belos summoned during her fight with him, and she was done. She wasn't going to pretend to be a big, brave girl anymore. Instead, she would be the scared little girl she currently was, and scooped up her little brother.
Clenching the "down-knocked" titan and her plush to her, the human-witch bolted out of her room and down the hall. Her mommy Edy had said that she could sleep with her if things were too scary. Of course, Luz had decided she was a big girl and wanted to sleep on her own. She was now regretting this decision greatly.
Thankfully, she reached the door leading to her witch mama's room and the door was open. Luz didn't waste a minute and hurried in. She was about to hop into Eda's nest, but what she saw made her stop dead.
(A minute earlier)
The owl beast grumbled to itself as it tried to get comfortable. It figures she had decided to come out at the worst possible time, and now it was stuck indoors, with the howling wind affecting her acute hearing enough to make her irritated. That, and the stuff her other half's mother put her in her feathers wasn't helping her mood either.
The owl beast shifted in the nest of her other half, and tried once more to get comfortable to get some sleep. The howling wind made that nearly impossible, and this caused a hiss to escape the beast.
It wanted to blame its other half, as part of the deal they had made was that, including feeding, was allowing the beast to roam one night of each month. But, the beast knew something odd has been happening with her half for a while now. Still, that didn't stop it from taking control when the time came.
And now the beast was regretting every single minute of it.
With a disgruntled grunt, the beast shifted positions again, and tried to drown out the noise outside of its territory. A sudden noise, one from inside its territory caught its attention and snapped its head in the direction of the entry. Territorial instincts took over and the beast let out a snarl as the intruder entered its territory.
The threatening noise stopped when the beast saw her other half's hatchlings stumbled into the room. The female hatchling came to a dead stop when she saw the beast. The beast noticed how scared the two hatchlings were as it rose to its near full height.
The beast strolled out of the nest and up to the hatchlings. It started to circle the two hatchlings as its territory instincts and motheral instincts were starting to clash. It wasn't long (and with a little help from its other half's own feelings) that its motherly side won out, and started to coo, much to the surprise of the hatchlings.
"No eat? the female-Luz, the beast remembered, asked curiously.
The beast might have cackled at this, but a howl of wind caused the two hatchlings to flinch, and it quickly decided to comfort the poor things. So, it took a massive step forward, and lowered its head. Luz let out a cute noise and the other hatchling-King, made a noise the beast had never heard before, as it gently took them by the neck of Luz's shirt.
The beast went back to the nest and gently set the hatchlings down. It looked at the two hatchlings and noticed how scared they still were and decided that a good cleaning would help to calm them down.
The beast nudged King, and Luz seemed to get the message. She set the titan down and the beast began to clean him before he could move. He tried to squirm his way free, but a low growl from the beast basically said 'you are my hatchling and you will listen to me' stopped King dead.
Luz, feeling some of the tension building from the storm lifting, giggled as she watched her little brother getting a bath. It took two minutes for the beast to clean the "knocked-down" titan and move onto Luz.
The beast gently moved King to the side with a front claw while moving Luz closer to it with a back claw. The "knocked-down" human let out a cute 'eep' when the beast's wet tongue touched her head. Now it was King's turn to giggled at the disgruntled look on his big sister's face, no doubt irritated at having a bath for a second time that night.
The entire affair had taken about seven minutes in total, but soon, the two current children were clean and they had visibly relaxed…until another howl of wind happened and they tensed up slightly.
The beast saw this, and quickly acted; it wrapped its body around its hatchlings and began to softly coo. The simple action did the trick and the two relaxed again. It wasn't long before King climbed into Luz's arms and hugged her plush. It wasn't long after that Luz leaned into the owl beast body, allowing its warmth to put her into a deep sleep..
"Wuve you, Mama Owda," the "knocked-down" human muttered as she drifted into sleep.
The owl beast stared at it…her hatchling, turning over that name she just used in her head, and past her other half. How long it had been, she wondered, since she felt this way, since she felt love? She continued to look at Luz and finally understood why her other half loved this hatchling so much.
With a soft coo, the newly named Owda curled her body around her hatchlings just a little more, and fell into a blissful sleep.
(The next morning)
Even before her coven days Lilith was an early riser, so she decided to check on her niece and nephew before heading downstairs and starting on breakfast.
"Hopefully those two weren't kept up too long," Lilith muttered hopefully.
This was the last day before Luz and King were to begin the process of returning to their rightful ages, and she didn't want them to spend it half-a-sleep because the howling rainstorm was stronger than the oracles had predicted.
The former coven head wasn't all that surprised to find the current children's room empty when she checked there. She remembered that her sister had offered to let her kids sleep with her the night before, and Lilith figured that was where they were now.
The eldest Clawthorne sister reached Eda's room and saw the door was open a bit. She smiled slightly as she fully pushed opened the door and peeked her head in.
"Edalyn, I suppose since your door was open, Luzura and King had joined…you," the words died on the former coven head's lips as she took in the sight before her.
She stood transfixed on the current children in the embrace of the famous owl beast. However, she noted that the beast was giving off a different aura than normal; it-she, something told Lilith to address the beast, almost seems domestic. If she didn't know any better, she would think the beast was now similar to Roca.
But that was just silly, even by this family's even changing standards.
The beast must have sensed Lilith because she stirred slightly, and looked up at the witch with half-open eyes. She was surprised to see true intelligence in those eyes instead of the feral fireceness they usually carry.
The beast let out a soft growl as she looked at the children in the nest. It was like the beast was talking to the raven beast inside of Lilith and her beast was telling her a few things; like the owl beast wanted to be called Owda from this day forward, and that the kids needed just a little more rest.
"I understand…Owda," Lilith replied awkwardly.
Wow, Lilith thought, was the ever weird, treating the owl beast like a citized witch. She shrugged it off a second later and just watched as the beast let out a soft coo, making sure the kids were still sleeping and then went back to sleep herself.
Lilith, despite the awkwardness of this situation, she couldn't help but smile as she looked at the scene. She just decided to chalk up this latest development to her niece's strange magic, and walked away.
Lilith returned a few seconds later, camera in hand, and took a couple of pictures. The beast stirred slightly from the sound of the shudder, but otherwise remained sleeping. Infact, Owda just curled her body a little further inward and Lilith heard her niece say something in that second language of hers.
Lilith smiled as she took one final picture and decided it was time to get breakfast starting. "Yes, we will have one great album when this week is done," she muttered foundly.
(M Corner)
Well, this was a patch-work of a chapter; the way I wanted to structure this story was one and done chapters detailing an event or events of one day. The opening scene of this chapter was actually the closing scene of the last chapter, but I was dangerously close to a word limit I have put on myself, and decided to cut it from the last and merge it with this upcoming mini-chapter.
But even talking shop, the next chapter will be the one that everyone has been waiting for…the Lumity will shine bright! So, until next time Ghoul Break fans and fellow regressor/De-agers, might the Light of the Isles continue to burn bright.