The next day, Luz woke up, her eyes red from crying most the night.
'Gotta get up for school.' Luz thought, picking herself up and holding her stomach. 'Gonna need to grab a big breakfast too.'
Luz got up and grabbed her uniform. She went for a quick shower and headed downstairs, seeing Gwen was still there for breakfast as Eda was cooking.
"Gwen?" Luz asked.
"Luz! I was so worried!" Gwen said as she got up and hugged her! "You didn't come down all night! I was so worried!"
"I was... a bit upset."
"I know and I'm so sorry for that. I wished that my search wasn't for nothing, I truly did." Gwen said as she saw Luz's red eyes.
"Yeah... so do I." Luz said, grabbing a piece of meat and leaving the house.
Gwen watched in sadness, as did Eda.
"You know, one thing that might make her feel better is a gift." Eda said, "Mind going to pick it up for me?"
"Anything to help Luz feel better." Gwen said with a nod.
Elsewhere, Luz walked up the steps to the school. She finished her meat along the way and licked her hand clean, taking a breath of relief from the food as she gazed at the school.
'Another day.' She thought, not feeling as energized as usual and for good reason.
"Luz!" Her friends said, coming over to her.
She felt a bit better seeing them and gave her best smile, hoping they didn't notice her red eyes from crying all night.
"Hey guys." Luz said to them.
"Are you ready for today?!" Gus asked.
"Why?" Luz asked.
"Because there's going to be a Coven Head to give a special presentation today!" Amity said.
'Wow, I've never seen her this excited.'
"That's great to hear, which Coven Head is it?" Luz asked them.
"The newest Coven Head of the Bard Coven, Raine Whispers." Willow said.
"Cool, I really haven't seen Bard Magic before."
"Then you'll be in for a treat." Skara said as she walked up to the group.
"Hey, Skara, where's your new girlfriend?"
Skara sighed lovingly at this, just loving how that sounded no matter how many times.
"Just turning in some homework to her teacher. She's not as excited me but she's so supportive of coming with me." Skara said, "I can't wait until the day we're married, waking up next to her everyday will be amazing."
"Getting a little ahead of yourself, my little Note." Boscha said, walking up to her, "But I do love the idea."
The two shared a small kiss as Gus gagged playfully and pointed inside of his mouth.
"Don't be like that, Gus. You'll understand when you find a girlfriend someday." Willow said as she patted his shoulder.
"It's weird seeing this side of you Boscha." Amity said, "You act so... nice."
"One could say the same about you and L-"
Amity covered Boscha's mouth and dragged her away from Luz's earshot... to Amity's knowledge.
"What are you doing?!" Amity asked in a whisper to Boscha!
"What? If you can point out my love for Skara making me nicer, why can't I do the same?" Boscha asked.
"Because... because you can't!" Amity whispered.
"Titan, you're so gay for her that it hurts." Boscha said, "Just go ask Luz out."
'Amity likes me? ME?!' Luz thought with a growing blush.
They thought they were far enough away, and if Luz didn't have her spirit animal hearing, then they might have been.
"But what if-What if she says no and harshly rejects my feelings?" Amity asked, worried.
"You and I both know she's too nice to do that." Boscha said.
"You don't know her like I do, Boscha." Amity said.
"Then what do you think? Could you see Luz saying "yes" to bring your girlfriend?" Boscha asked as she crossed her arms.
"I…I don't know." Amity said before muttering. "After everything she's been through, could she really have time for love?"
That made Luz think... she had so much on her plate right now, she didn't know if she could handle a love life. Keeping herself hidden, her mom in who knows what kind of condition, a portal home completely out of reach, and Belos of all people possibly after her. How could she been thinking of falling in love at a time like this? Or even being able to love someone out of worry they might get caught in the crossfire?
'I'm not capable of love.' Luz thought, 'Especially from someone as beautiful as Amity.'
She decided to stop listening to them and refocus on the Coven Head presentation.
"So, what's bard music like?" Luz asked Skara.
"Where do I begin? Most people underestimate it but Bard Magic has so many uses outside of sounding beautiful." Skara said before pointing to her mouth. "Like by whistling into a liquid, you can change its properties. Like making it tastier or change the flavor to something else."
"I see someone has been learning some of my tricks." A new voice said.
Everyone turned around as Skara suddenly squealed, looking up to see the Bard Coven head themself standing before them!
"You're Raine Whispers!" Skara said excitedly.
"I hear you're quite the Bard." Raine said.
Skara blushed at this and tried not to faint in front of her hero before calming herself down.
"T-Thank you. I've been studying Bard Magic and plays instruments every since I was 5." Skara said.
"Not bad kid, maybe, if you're interested, you can be my apprentice." Raine said, handing Skara a card, "In case you're interested. I need to go get prepared for the demonstration."
Skara couldn't even reply as she gasps silently at the card in her hands, the thought of an apprenticeship with the head of the Bard Coven was almost too good to be true!
"Skara?" Boscha asked, walking up to her and waving a hand in front of her face, "Okay, she's broken."
"What did we miss?" Amity asked.
"Oh nothing, just the bard coven head just came to us and offered Skara an apprenticeship!" Gus said with a grin.
"Well, that would explain why she won't do anything." Boscha said, "She's frozen in shock."
"Wow, I've heard of fainting when meeting you heroes but not freezing. Is there a way to fix her?" Luz asked Boscha, avoiding looking at Amity for obvious reasons.
"There is one." Boscha said before turning to Skara and SLAPPING her in the face!
"OW!" Skara shouted in pain.
"All better!"
"Did you have to slap me?!" Skara asked.
"I didn't want to but snapping in your face wasn't doing it." Boscha said before she kissed the cheek she slapped. "All better?"
"No." Skara said as she turned away. "But I didn't say stop."
Boscha gave her another kiss.
"Keep them coming until I say so or the bell rings." Skara said as Boscha kept kissing her injured cheek.
"Okay, but just this once." Boscha said between kisses.
Luz walked away from them, wanting to think a little bit about... Amity.
'I don't have time to be distracted by love…..and I don't need false hopes of love.' Luz thought, heading to her first class of the day.
There was also the thought of the Bard Coven presentation to distract her as well, she could see what Raine Whispers could do. Still... the thought of dating Amity wasn't something she would be upset with. In fact, it made Luz a bit happy at the thought of having a girlfriend, but the worry of another person she cares about getting hurt to protect her would be worse. That wasn't something she ended up focusing on too long though, as Raine's presentation started a little over an hour later. The school auditorium was filled with students and teachers, mostly Bard students, that wished to see what Raine wanted to show them or tell them. All that was left was for Raine to come out from behind the stage... which was going to take a minute.
'Okay, you got this! You got this!' Raine thought to themself as they took deep breaths to calm down!
If Raine could point out one weakness to themself, it was that they had TERRIBLE stage fright! Even after all these years, Raine still had problems performing or speaking in front of a crowd. They mostly blamed Eda for it... because it was mostly Eda's fault during that stupid play they were in.
'This is bringing back certain memories.' Raine thought as they took deep breaths to try and calm down.
They went on stage. All the Bard students and bard teacher cheered for her, making Raine a bit less nervous that they had some positive support.
"And without further ado, Raine Whispers." Bump said, gesturing to Raine.
"Y-y-yes, thank you, Principal Bump." Raine said.
Bump chuckled a bit before moving away, still seeing Raine's stage fright even at an adult age.
"H-h-hello... students." Raine said.
Raine tried their best to give a smile and a wave, hoping they didn't notice their nervousness.
"I am here today to show you all that can be possible with Bard Magic, despite what others may think of it, it can be a very powerful tool." Raine said.
The Bard students clapped loudly at this, knowing it's the truth. They believed that Bard Magic could be the ultimate magic, no matter other witches or covens said about it and Raine was going to prove that right now.
"Okay, the first thing about Bard Magic can be used through even the smallest sounds you can make. Such as a simple whistle or tapping your foot." Raine said.
Raine tapped Their foot, and some small objects began to float.
"This is an example of gravity manipulation; a constant sound helps keep it maintain b-but inconsistent sounds could make it unstable." Raine said as they tap their foot in a small rhythm, "Just a small amount of the things a Bard can do."
The bard students, especially Skara, wrote this down and made notes to try this later. Even Luz was interested as she wrote this down as well.
"As for instruments, most witches thing it just takes playing an instrument for Bard Magic to happen but that's where most people are wrong." Raine said, summoning their violin, "It takes a steady hand, and a sharp mind."
They plucked a single string, making everyone feel extremely calm all of a sudden.
"Our instruments act as conduits to our magic. Aiding us in what we desire to do. Some of them already have magic in them but that's for one single use. A true Bard witch can use their instrument to do as many things as they wish." Raine said, "Whether it be controlling emotions all the way to controlling someone."
For an example, Raine plucked another string as they looked to Principal Bump and coated him in light red magic. He began moving and marching on his own.
'And that is payback for the detention.' Raine thought.
"Hey, okay Raine. That's enough." Bump said as he was marching up to the stage, doing a little dancing with his arms crossed and his legs kicking. "Stop this at once."
"Ahahahahahahaha!" The audience began to laugh, enjoying it greatly.
After a few more minutes, Raine decided that they were done with the presentation.
"Thank you all for coming." Raine said, "I have very important business to attend to, keep working hard and you can become a great bard like me."
The crowd clapped and Raine went backstage... where they collapsed.
"How did I get through that?"
"That's a good question."
Raine looked up and saw Boscha, going through a folder. Raine's eyes went wide.
"How did you get that?" Raine asked.
"Oh, I have my ways." Boscha said, "So, the Bard Coven Leader is planning a rebellion? Interesting... I wonder what Belos would think?"
"You wouldn't dare." Raine said, "I'm trying to save the Isles, you can't tell him."
Boscha closed the folder and held it out.
"I won't." Boscha pulled the folder back as Raine tried to grab it, "On one condition... I want in."
Later, Luz was walking back to the Owl House. Gwen may have been back, but she suggested that Luz continue to stay there for the convenience of being so close to Hexside and being so close to her new friends. Plus, it would give Luz and Eda more time to bond. Luz opened the door and saw Eda and Gwen talking.
"And you didn't tell me that Raine was gonna be at Hexside why?" Eda asked her mother.
"Because you would've made a fool of yourself or them." Gwen said with a smirk.
Eda was about to respond to that but noticed Luz.
"Oh, Luz! You're back." Eda said with a small smile.
"Hello, Luz. I hope you had a great day at Hexside." Gwen said with a wave.
"It was... okay." Luz said.
"Well, we know how to make today great." Eda said, handing Luz a small box, about the size of a ring box, "Open it."
Luz was confused but opened it. Insides... was a small gold fang.
"Figured it would be nice for you to fix that hole in your teeth." Eda said, "And this is special, this tooth can change to fit in with the teeth of that... cat... thing... you have."
"Panther, but this is…incredibly weird but also thoughtful." Luz said with a smile, taking the gold fang out of the box. "But how do I put it in?"
"Here." Eda grabbed the tooth and opened Luz's mouth.
She screwed the fang in and closed Luz's mouth.
"There... now we match." Eda said.
Eda smirk and pointed to her own gold fang, which gave off a small shine as Luz moved her mouth around a bit to get a feel for her new tooth.
"Hmm, it feels….different but not in a bad way." Luz admitted.
"Thanks, Eda."
"No problem, Luz." Eda replied.
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