I imagine this goes down similarly to the way Eda met King. I feel like he probably followed her home, and after awhile she was like, well, what the heck, why not, and he just became part of the pack. Lol. Anyway, I got the idea for this story after reading "Eda's Softer Side" by Monster1000. Check that out if you want.
The sun shines, hot and warm against her back, making sparkling spectral flashes against cheap, costume jewelry floating aimlessly above them. She leans casually over the edge of the booth, arm hanging off red fabric, her mouth curving with the ravenous grin of a predator moment's from the catch.
The foolish shopper before her had no idea what he was up against.
"I know what you want" She tells him, friendly and amiable, a sales woman through and through. He stands a little taller, large ears perking up with good natured interest, and immediately, she knows she has him hooked.
She sinks her talons in. Waves her finger with a lazy swipe, and a gaudy necklace with large, turquoise beads swishes by out of the collection, whipping around the enraptured demon with a faint whistle. His eyes widen, and he laughs, as the thing stops between them.
Eda talks fast, "This one's special. A rare collector's item from the human realm. It's lightweight, and fashionable, and it'll bring out the color of your eyes, as you wear it around your waist, or on your hip"
He squints, tapping his scruffy chin with a clawed finger, staring at the item with mystified wonder,
"What is it called?" He asks.
She snatches the necklace up out of the air, dangling it limply between two fingers, studying it,
"I mean… it's a belly pendant, obviously"
He nods reasonably.
"I do need one of those"
She grins with satisfaction, face splitting, sharp gold tooth gleaming.
"Of course you do, and this beautiful morsel is the one for you"
He reaches for the felt pouch at his hip, fingers grasping hand stitched edges, pulling it from the loop. Eda gives a satisfied hum, as she watches him, moments from opening it. She can already smell the snails, can taste the satisfaction of another successful sale.
Gotcha!
That's when she hears the first noise, a soft whining, faint from the distance it carries on the wind. She doesn't think much of it, since this was the Isles, and the Market, no less, and it wasn't unusual to hear odd noises over the cacophonous din of transactions.
It was probably nothing.
"How much?"
She makes a show of considering,
"An even 50, pal"
Only, the sound does not stop. It instead becomes louder.
"I've got 26"
She hears the howling, loud and piercing, ignores it doggedly until she can ignore it no longer.
It's driving her crazy.
Then she slams her hand against the stall, startling the squirrely little demon gazing at her wares.
"Sorry. Hold onto that thought" She vaults over her booth, leaving her stolen earth jewelry to clatter to the ground, "I need to find out what's making that noise"
King walks aimlessly behind her, jagged jaw dripping with complaints. She ignores him, following the noise like a hound.
She turns another corner, shouldering her way past muttering demons, slowly clamoring from shop to shop.
"Hey, bozo, will you please shut… up"
She's surprised to find a child, curled up, hidden in the storage unit beneath a potions stand, heaving, shoulders shaking, hardly able to breath. And a human child, no less.
"Oh god"
She kneels, reaching down. The little boy could be no older than 12, still round faced, and big eyed. He was scuffed and bruised, wrapped up in a big red hoodie tattered at the edges.
King sniffs at his hand. Face crumpling with dissatisfaction,
"What is that?"
"It's a kid, ya fluffy idiot"
He shrugs with mild indifference,
"Looks like a dirty lump. Whatever. Let's just bounce" He turns swiftly away, clutching at his limp, stuffed rabbit, "I have minions to rule over!"
Eda shakes her head with exasperation.
"We're not going to leave him laying in the middle of the market, King. The kid is bleeding"
"So?"
"Something's probably going to eat him. Really want that on your conscience?"
She smirks down at the furry little beast, who appears to weigh his options for a moment, before shaking his head.
"Nah" King throws the next statement carelessly over his shoulder, "You're carrying him though"
Eda huffs, before heaving the unconscious child into her arms.
Looks like she wouldn't be completing any more transactions today.
Drat! She'd really wanted those snails.
It's a couple hours later. The child was finally coming to, eyes slowly fluttering open.
Eda and King both sit up, roused by the possibility that something would finally happen.
They'd been watching him, laying despondent like a rock. Luz, the lucky bastard, had managed to escape the mind numbing boredom, having slipped out to meet up with her little school friends. Milo and... Dust… no, uh… Rusty… or, something like that.
Whatever.
Eda smiles at the child, staring at him closely.
"Hey, kid. How're ya feeling?"
The boy scrambles upward, eyes blown so wide they're like saucers. He can feel unfamiliar blankets beneath him, soft, and lumpy, scratchy against his arms. The room spins, and his vision swims.
"Where am I?" He gulps, shaking with fright, "Who are you?"
"Hey, hey. Relax, kiddo. I don't bite" She laughs, but it does little to relieve the tension in the room, "Okay, I lied. Sometimes I do, but I promise it's not often"
King clears his throat. Eda rolls her eyes.
"Not too often"
The child laughs at least.
The child is frightened of her. She isn't sure exactly why, but it's obvious as day or night that's the case.
Eda has always been good at detecting it, that sense of awe, of trepidation. Somehow, his eyes bore into the back of her head, but dart away as soon as she turns, and if she addresses him, he freezes stiff as a statue.
Eda's both intrigued and frustrated by the end of the week, as the child flips over backwards to avoid her.
She throws her staff down with a huff, trudging into the house, covered in mud, speckled with little burn marks and sooty ash.
Luz and the kid are seated together in the living room, huddled side by side. They pause in their discussion as soon as she comes in, staring at her. Luz smiles, bright and happy.
The child is still staring at her, a deer in headlights.
"Heya, Eda" Luz slings a communal arm around the kid, "This guy's name is Edgar, and he can't remember where he came from"
A little smile graces her lips, satisfied. She quickly grasps onto to the little distraction presented to her,
"Oh, so you finally managed to coax a name out of the little bugger?"
"Yup" Luz gives a little bow, or at least the best one she can from her seated position, "Kudos to me"
"Good job. We'll be getting this little leech home yet"
'Cause Eda was by no means a babysitter. She'd made a huge exception in bringing Luz under her wing, and only because the girl was so capable on her own, anyway. She had no plans on keeping another kid around, one she had to care for, watch over and teach.
Eda wasn't a mother; she didn't have time, nor vast stores of patience.
Nope. Best find where he belongs, and get him back there.
She takes a seat beside the two on the floor. The child flinches away from her, big eyes just a little nervous.
Eda scowls.
"So, how'd you end up here, kid?"
He doesn't answer, turning away instead, almost withdrawing into himself.
Eda can't help but scowl again.
This was getting ridiculous.
"I can't stand this anymore!" Eda exclaims, finally, a frustrated growl ground through clenched teeth.
King jumps, surprised by her sudden outburst. He gazes at her upside down, from where he's leaning haphazardly from his perch atop the armchair.
He calms, rolling his eyes,
"Overdramatic, much?"
Luz giggles.
Eda considers the possibility, before shaking her head.
"No! Of course not"
King just nods, as if he knows where this is going,
"What is it this time?" He asks.
"I'm pretty sure this kid finds me intimidating, or something"
King snorts,
"You are intimidating, o'mighty Owl Witch"
Eda crosses her arms over her chest, overcome with indignance.
"Don't be ridiculous" She replies.
She was delightful, thank you very much.
Luz gives a little hum.
"King isn't wrong, Eda. I was scared of you at first"
"What?" Eda exclaims.
"Nothing!"
Eda huffs.
"Whatever. I'm tired of tiptoeing around my own house"
Luz's face twists in sympathy.
"Yeah, that sounds frustrating. To be fair though, he's probably lost… and scared and confused. The Boiling Isles can be a lot to take in, like a lot, especially for a fleshy human like me, or him, ya know?"
Eda didn't know. Not really. She wasn't a human, and she'd never lived anywhere else, had never resided in a place, for more than a month at a time, that didn't have acidic hailstones and child eating puppies and 5 legged carnivorous plants known for their tendency to spit fire.
This was normal for her.
But she got the idea. Of course such unbridled chaos would be too much for most humans.
She nods reasonably.
"Yeah. I get it"
Edgar adjusts, in increments. He'd been marooned in the isles for over a week now, and he knew where everything was, at this point. He still refused to venture outside, preferring the relative safety of the house,
Right now though, he wanted a cookie.
Edgar balances precariously on the step ladder he'd procured from the dusty little attic deep in the recesses of the house, reaching for a high shelf in the kitchen. His fingers just brush against the edge of the box, as he stretches, further and further, to reach it. He inches closer toward the edge of the stepstool. Frustrated.
So close, yet so far.
"Hey, careful. You're going to fall and break your neck"
Edgar freezes mid-motion. Stumbling at the top of the ladder.
Eda rushes over, overwhelmed at once with concern, and with a burning frustration, because he didn't ask for help.
This ended now, she decides.
"Alright, that's it!" She snatches him up by the armpits, plucking him right off the step stool, and setting him gently down on the floor.
She grabs whatever he was reaching for with ease, handing it to him, all in one swift, agitated motion.
"There," She lets out a breath, "Is this what you wanted?"
He gazes at the package of nougat cookies and nods timidly.
"Good"
She kneels down in front of him, hoping to appear more approachable. The last thing she wanted was to seem domineering, unapproachable, and at seven feet tall, she knew she towered (intimidatingly) over the kid.
'Now tell me what's going on"
She reaches out to touch him. He flinches away, and she quickly withdraws, as if burnt.
"You're scared of me" It's not a question, more a tremulous statement, warping with disappointed finality, "Why?"
"Is it the teeth?" She asks softly, pointing at her golden fang (they were sharp), "I already told you, I don't bite, kid. Besides, little boys don't taste very good"
She laughs. He doesn't join in the amusement.
Edgar shakes his head rapidly.
"No"
"Okay. What is it, then?"
"You just remind me of my mom" Already, tears are pooling in his eyes.
Her brows furrow, as she wonders about the story behind that. Then, she quickly decides that she didn't want to dig into it. Not right now.
It's near midnight. Eda was up late, cooking up her next ingenious scheme. She sits leaning on the arm of the sofa, staring at the human magazine she'd scavenged from the garbage with a backdrop of golden lamplight.
Edgar clamors up on the couch, grasping onto some dingy blanket he'd probably wrestled from King. The little demon had a huge pile of them he'd stuffed away somewhere.
"Hey, Kid," Eda says, absently, as she flips the magazine page.
Now that was interesting! Who knew humans streaked powder across their faces? Was that a nutrient solution, perhaps? She hums, fascinated by all she was learning about human products, like 'make up'.
She's so raptly interested, she doesn't notice how tired the child beside her looks. He's wiping at his eyes, red rimmed, wet and hagrid.
Still frightened, a fish out of water.
She stiffens, as he suddenly curls up into her side. She jumps, frozen, hands hovering at her sides, as he nuzzles into her, clearly desperate for the comfort of another being. She sits awkwardly, for a moment.
She was awful at comforting people, always had been, since she was a tiny little tike, blurting out things like, "shut your mouth and stop whinin' sis".
She sees that's what the child needs, though, comfort, so she puts her arms around his shoulders, pulls him close, and squeezes, reassuring as she can manage. He murmurs something into the side of her stomach, something unreadable, and then he begins to snore.
He's drooling, even, spit pooling against her skin. She lets him be, if only because he'd had such a rough few days.
Kid needed his rest. He'd been through more than enough.
When she's finally sure he's asleep, she brushes long hair from his forehead with a sweet tenderness, placing a kiss to his temple.
"Night, kiddo" She murmurs softly.