Huntlow Week - 2022
Day One - Palismen
Clover buzzed a sigh on the tree branch she had staked a claim on, her eyes unfocused as she considered everything that had happened of late.
Her carver and partner, a Frynos demon who used his magic to maintain an orchard of crabapple trees, had been arrested by the forces of the newly-crowned emperor for "wild" magic. Her carver had ordered her to flee … and like a coward, she had. She'd wandered until she'd found the ancient palisman who was said to protect others who had been left behind, the Bat Queen.
Clover sighed again at the thought of her partner's fate.
'Hello!' chirped — literally chirped — another palisman that landed on her branch. Clover looked up apathetically to find a red cardinal looking at her … with one eye scratched out.
'What happened?' Clover asked in shock, her protective instincts taking over.
'What, the scar?' the cardinal asked. 'Meh, I've had that for almost three-hundred years. Kinda forget about it sometimes.' He twittered bashfully. 'I just wanted to introduce myself. You're the new bee, right?'
'Yes, I'm new,' Clover replied, and like a house of hexes hold'em cards, her mood came crumbling back down. Down so hard she fell back to the branch as if gravity had doubled upon her.
'Well, hello there, New,' the cardinal twittered cheekily. 'I'm Flapjack!'
Clover couldn't help but buzz in amusement at the awful joke. 'I'm Clover,' she amended.
'Clover? Where's New?' Flapjack asked in mock-shock, looking around. 'She was just here!'
'You're not going to drop that, are you?' Clover asked.
'I don't drop rattle-worms,' Flapjack said. 'This, I will drop for my new friend.'
'Friend?' Clover asked. 'We just met.'
'Is that really a big problem?' Flapjack asked. 'I think we can be friends today, and every other day. Right?'
'I don't know,' Clover said. 'I- I just-'
'You lost your partner,' Flapjack said, his voice lacking the joy that he'd carried the entire conversation. 'It's like you've lost half of yourself. Like a rotten, gaping hole in your body that you don't know what to do with.' He looked down. 'And you don't know if it will ever get better.'
'You-?' Clover started.
'Yeah. Like I said, almost three hundred years.' He looked up to meet her eyes. 'Clover, I'm not going to lie and say that it goes away. It doesn't. I- I miss my carver every day.' He shook quickly like birds tend to do. 'But it gets a little less-bad every day … if you let it.'
Clover looked around at the grove of the Bat Queen, deep in the dark woods. Palismen were all around her, of every animal shape imaginable. All of them bore marks of some kind, from daily use to abuse. And all of them had a cloud of sadness about them … even Flapjack. But the cardinal's was less pronounced, like an overcast day rather than a sky threatening boiling rain.
'Okay,' Clover said, shaking herself and gently butting her head against Flapjack's breast. 'Care to introduce me to some people?'
'Gladly!' Flapjack chirped. "Race ya this way!' And with that, he took off like a crossbow bolt. Clover buzzed in delight and raced off to catch him.
Over the next half-century, Flapjack and Clover were all but inseparable. Had any witches and demons been in a position to observe them, they might have assumed the palismen were romantic — forgetting or not caring that palismen were animated, sapient wood carvings who bore neither the parts nor the desire to procreate.
The Bat Queen was a little bit different in that regard, but then she could also talk, so …
Flapjack and Clover collected a sizable group of close friends, too. Many palismen who flocked to the Bat Queen had been abused and fled from their partners, and so found trust difficult. Others had more trouble getting over their partners' deaths and were difficult to console. But still others — Cora the manticore, Melody the cricket, Liberty the belled goose, Copper the spidery-pig, Mewl the long-necked cat, and more — came to become a tight-knit group. A colony, in Clover's mind.
And the members of this colony were among the first to volunteer for the Owl Lady's idea for paliman adoption. All of them had seen the events of Owlbert very briefly joining them before returning with the human, and they knew of the Bat Queen's respect for Dell Clawthorne's daughter. And so they would trust her and strive to bond with new partners.
Clover had been overjoyed to bond with Willow, and those joyous feelings had only grown as she got to know her new witchling partner. Her only regret had been leaving her dearest friend Flapjack behind when he didn't end up bonding with any of the students.
It was only later that she would discover that he had bonded with another witchling. And in further time, they would be reunited.
'I'm so glad we're together again,' Clover said, nuzzling up to Flapjack. Emmiline was hanging out with the Blight girl's recently-carved palisman Ghost, leaving the old friends in privacy. As for the witchlings, they were all on Mrs. Noceda's couch with the mother herself and Vee the basilisk watching an old horror movie. Dracula, Luz had called it with utmost enthusiasm.
'Me too,' Flapjack twittered. 'And I'm even more happy that you've found such a wonderful witch friend.'
'Oh, that reminds me,' Clover said, then swung her abdomen to knock Flapjack off the bookshelf they were sitting on. Flapjack tweeted in shock before flying back to the shelf.
'What was that for?' Flapjack twittered.
'You bonded with the nephew of a palisman-killer!' Clover scolded quietly to keep from disturbing everyone. 'Could you be any more reckless?!'
'He resonated with me,' Flapjack defended. 'And it's a good thing he did. If I hadn't been there …' Flapjack shuddered. 'I don't want to know what would have happened to him.'
'It did end up saving the Boiling Isles,' Clover admitted, deciding to believe the most optimistic outcome. It had been a few weeks since everyone had gotten here, and none of their attempts to reopen a portal had borne fruit.
'We'll get back. You'll see,' Flapjack said.
'I believe you,' Clover said sleepily. Because ever since the day they'd met, she would always believe Flapjack.
Three days later, the palismen were watching their charges interact. Hunter looked different this morning, his hair cropped close to his head. And while everyone had commented on it, no one knew the real story behind it.
That is, no one besides their palismen whom the witchling and grimwalker had independently gushed to over it.
Oh Clover, he's going through so much! I wish I could take that pain away, he deserves so much better! *Sigh* At least I was able to help a little. I think the haircut is a great start. *Blush* Plus, it really is cute.
What do I do, Flapjack?! What does it mean?! I mean, do friends give each other haircuts to relieve trauma? If it's just a friend thing, then why do I feel all warm and tingly whenever she's around? *Sigh* Is it weird that she can look so beautiful in pajamas?
'Hunter is in love with your girl,' Flapjack reported out of the blue. 'It started with the Emerald Entrails and got more intense over Penstagram. Then the Hexside thing made it way bigger and it's been even more on the rise since we got here.'
'What a coincidence,' Clover giggled. 'Willow's head over heels for your boy. And just the same, he wowed her with his flying skills, intrigued her with his distant attitude, endeared with his humility to admit he was wrong, and then more when he tried to take a sickle blade for the team. Penstagram, Hexside, and now that little thing last night … Feelings have taken root and begun to bloom.'
'Plant puns? Really?' Flapjack twittered.
'Of course. You've met my partner.'
The palismen returned their attention to the witchlings — well, witchling and grimwalker even if Clover didn't realize it — and observed as they seemed to dance around each other. They would be so distracted that they would almost run into each other, adorably babble apologies with blushing cheeks, maneuver out of the way while avoiding touching each other, and then carry on before it all happened again a minute or two later.
'Maybe we should help,' Flapjack suggested.
'No, I'm sure they'll figure it out soon,' Clover replied brightly.
They did not figure it out soon.
It had been a few weeks since the haircut, and Hunter and Willow seemed determined to focus more on the portal than acknowledging their growing feelings. Granted, on one hand it was noble to place aside one's desires for the greater good of their friends …. But on the other it was both ridiculous and almost painful to watch!
'To be fair, their hard work is paying off a little,' Clover mused. 'That hamster wheel idea for us palismen actually seemed to work for a second. You know, before the fire started.'
'But they're denying their feelings!' Flapjack tweeted. 'That can't be healthy!'
'We can't force this, Flapjack,' Clover said. 'Besides, you're older than me. How are you being less patient?'
Flapjack closed his beak and looked away. Clover stirred her wings as a thought came to mind.
'Is this about your previous owner?' she asked.
'I'd really rather not talk about it,' Flapjack said. He flew off and began pecking away at the floorboards of the cabin, as had been his habit for the last several days.
Clover wanted to press, to find out what was bothering her dearest friend so much. Flapjack always seemed so bright and carefree that it was easy to forget that the scar on his eye was not the only one he bore. Others littered him, invisible to the eye. She did, however, buzz closer to speak.
'I'm here for you,' Clover said. 'You know that, right?'
'I know,' Flapjack twittered gratefully.
Things picked up quickly when Amity found what Flapjack had been looking for: a rebus puzzle. Searching the town, finding answers at the historical society, planning luz's surprise and preparing for this "Halloween" event … Willow was enjoying it so much, and Clover was beyond thrilled! They were close to getting home!
Finally, the evening came and the witchlings were dropped off by Camila to enjoy the festivities. Clover peeked from Willow's decorative hood to watch as they explored the town square.
Then came the hayride and the story of the Brothers Wittebane.
Clover absorbed the tale with awed horror. A tale of tragedy considering what they all knew about the real Philip Wittebane. Clover fluttered at the representation of Flapjack in the illustrations. Could that be real …? She resolved to ask him tonight.
Things seemed to settle down after the hayride … at least until Luz and hUnter went missing. Clover was frightened for her friends, but Camila and Vee came through with a way to find them. After a hike through the woods … everything went horribly.
Belos was alive! And he was possessing Hunter, Flapjack trembling with fear on Luz's shoulder!
With the rest of the palismen, Clover leapt into action as a staff to aid her witchling and Willow's silent love. They fought valiantly, but no one wanted to hurt Hunter, and it was too much of an advantage. Then Flapjack, the brave fool … he tried to attack Belos himself, and …
Everything for the next several minutes felt … distant. Numb. As if it were happening to someone else.
Clover felt her own heart breaking as Flapjack, her dearest friend besides Willow, cracked under that monster's grip. Hunter regained his will and tried to end himself, but Camila saved him. Belos fled Hunter's body and opened a portal — the very goal the witchlings and palismen had been working towards for months —and fled.
But Hunter wasn't moving …
And then Flapjack, the brave, caring fool …
If palismen could cry, Clover would have been weeping as her oldest friend surrendered his life force in an act of purest love to bring Hunter back, his wooden shell dissolving into motes of light.
After some reassurances, everyone entered the demon realm again. "For flapjack," Hunter said, and Luz agreed. So did Clover, and she felt Willow's resolve as well.
As they passed through the arch and found the devastation before them, Clover looked between her wonderful Willow and Hunter. She saw Willow's hand twitch toward the … grimwalker, before she pulled it away. She felt Willow's burning desire to comfort the boy she had fallen for, but also the unsurety if it was appropriate after what, and who, he had lost. Or if it was reciprocated …
She also saw Hunter look back at her as Willow lowered her head in shame, his eyes shining with a desire to be comforted, but also to respect Flapjack's passing and mourn. And to not be a burden.
'These kids,' Clover thought. 'Madness is coming, and I don't know what will happen.' She tensed her little legs, gripping Willow's shoulder in a reassuring hug. 'But mark my words, they will both make it through this. And if I have to drag them both by the ear, I will make sure that they are honest with each other about their feelings! Titan help me, if it is possible in any realm, I will make it so!'
Her core ached with grief for her friend. Memories of their time together played across her mind's eye, memories she resolved to never forget. And the barest thread of hope emerged when she thought about Flapjack's essence easing into Hunter, the chance that he remained in some form.
'For Flapjack …'
And so begins my contribution to Huntlow Week, 2022. Six more to go, one every evening!
*Frynos demons are the mushroom-heads like from "Thems The Breaks, Kid."
Hope this was a good read ...! Because there's more where that came from!