You might have thought that now that her husband was gone, Camila lived alone in her little shop, but that wasn't the case. There was another tenant, or rather two; and both resided on a small flowering plant in a pot placed near a window.
"Gus! Psst! Hey, Gus! Are you still awake?"
The one who had spoken was a tiny dark green cricket, with black wings and a thin down around her head similar to a tuft of black hair, which she kept tied in two tails that went down his neck; she had large olive eyes and antennae as long and black as her 'hair'. She was little smaller than the other members of her species and had an oddly plump appearance for a cricket, but despite this she also seemed quite strong.
"Yes, I'm awake, Willow. Wait a second, I'll come down to you"
At the top of the plant there was a black and blue flower, a truly beautiful shade; and after a few moments a small brown spider with very dark hair emerged from it. Like the cricket, he also had strange hair-like tufts on his head, but they were shorter and with lighter shades. He had black eyes and despite his spider-like appearance he inspired a sort of tenderness. "Here I am! What did you have to tell me?"
Normally any cricket would have run away when faced with a spider, but this one didn't bat an eyelid and actually smiled at him. "Have you seen Camila's new creation? Isn't it a masterpiece?"
"Huh? No, I still didn't see it. I've been busy chasing flies all day. You know, since Camila did the cleaning yesterday, the windows were left open for a while and the house was filled with them..."
"Oh, Gus. You're always so diligent..."
"It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And they're delicious! You should try one of them sometime"
"Heh heh! I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. You know I only eat leaves"
Gus and Willow had been living in Camila's shop for a few years now. If they had lived in their natural state, both probably wouldn't have lasted long: they were what, in common parlance, could easily be called unfit to survive. Willow was born too heavy, which meant she couldn't jump too fast and when she flew she often couldn't balance well in the air; any bird would have feasted on her. And because of this, none of the other crickets were in favor of staying near her, leaving her alone and friendless. In the end, running out of options, she had made the only choice possible: to go live among humans. It was well known that humans were the only species that also took care of the others: everyone knew the beautiful story of dogs and cats, who had become humans' life companions and spent their days in kennels or comfortable homes where they didn't go hungry and it wasn't cold in winter. Unfortunately, it was also true that humans were quite selective about their animal friends, and didn't particularly like insects; but Willow had been lucky enough to meet Camila, who had a too good soul to leave a creature in need alone, and so she had allowed her to live in the plant she had on the window, and every day she brought her a couple of good leaves to eat. A few months later Gus also arrived: unlike Willow, he had survived better in the wild. Even though he was a spider, he wasn't able to make webs, but he had learned to camouflage himself with his surroundings to capture the prey; in practice, he had become a master of illusions. Even so, however, it was difficult to catch flies or other flying insects, so he too had in the end approached the human town in the hope of receiving some help, but the humans didn't like spiders very much and many had tried to crush him. Gus eventually took refuge in Camila's shop and hid in a crack in the wall, where he used his camouflage color to catch flies. Camila, however, found him anyway, but instead of chasing him away, she allowed him to live with her. Initially Willow hadn't liked Gus's presence very much, since crickets and spiders were enemies by nature, but it hadn't taken long before an unusual friendship was born between the two which over time had strengthened to the point of making them inseparable. And so now Willow lived at the base of the plant, where she took care of cutting the roots that were too long and removing the weeds like a good gardener, while Gus instead lived at the top of it among the dark flowers and used his skills to capture more flies as possible so that they didn't infest the shop of their kind host.
"Besides, I discovered a new trick to attract them!" Gus said, then raised four of his paws and waved them in the air in a circle. "If I move like this, I can create the illusion of a flower moving, so I don't even have to lurk on one and risk ruining it!"
Willow giggled. "You're always resourceful, Gus" she said, feeling good for him. For some reason she had always felt like a sort of big sister towards the spider, even if he also knew how to act in a mature way when he wanted, so every time he discovered something new she couldn't help but feel proud. "Anyway, as I was telling you, have you seen Camila's new creation? It's the one over there!"
Gus looked in the direction he was pointing and saw the human-sized puppet sitting on the shelf. "Wow! She's very beautiful! She looks... she looks like a real person!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad Camila hasn't lost her artistic talent. You know, I was afraid that after what happened..."
Willow's smile didn't fade, but it was accompanied by a small note of sadness. Manny's death had affected them too; they didn't have as close a relationship with him as they did with Camila, but he was still a good person and had always treated them well. They had been very sad about his passing. But what made them even sadder was seeing Camila left alone and getting more depressed every day; they had tried to help her as best they could... but they were just a cricket and a spider, and they couldn't do miracles and make the pain disappear. Luckily Camila recently seemed to have recovered somewhat, and judging by how passionately she had carved the new puppet, she seemed to have rediscovered her old inspiration. "She called her 'Luz'. I think it suits her"
Gus took a good look at the puppet, then he nooded. "Yes, I think so too. I think it's a good name for her... what is it!?" he exclaimed suddenly, feeling something move in the air; being a spider he was very sensitive to even the smallest vibrations, and therefore he knew for sure that something was coming. And in fact, the window flew open without anyone opening it, and something that looked like a gigantic bird entered the shop. Gus and Willow, frightened, ran to take refuge under the plant, but despite their fear they couldn't contain their curiosity and crawled out just enough to be able to see what was happening. And their mouths opened wide in amazement.
The creature that had just entered wasn't a bird. She had a body similar to that of a human being, but she was covered in red and ocher feathers that wrapped her like a dress; her hands and feet ended in claws, but for some reason Gus and Willow felt that they weren't the predatory claws of a beast, but the claws that a mother eagle used to protect her young from predators. Two large grey-brown owl-like wings extended from her back. Her face was white and pale and with very pronounced cheekbones, and she had golden eyes like gems; her gray hair was long to the base of her back and also seemed to be made of owl feathers. She had a strange backpack similar to a house on her back, and in her right hand she held a wooden wand ending in a tiny owl.
"I can't believe it..." Willow whispered. "It's a fairy!"
Humans tended to imagine fairies just as humanoid creatures with just a few wings on their backs and a magic wand in their hands; however, Gus and Willow, being animals, knew that fairies were beings much more connected to nature and therefore in their true form resembled animals, especially birds. Sure, they could change shape to make themselves more pleasant to humans, but they were still much more animalistic beings than the collective imagination let on. Even though Gus and Willow had never met a fairy, their animal instincts knew for sure what the entity before them was.
The fairy moved silently, in a rather graceful manner, and did not make any noise... at least until something emerged from the strange backpack on her back. At first Gus and Willow thought it was a snake, but then they realized it was actually a very long-necked owl. "Eda, have we arrived? Oh, never mind! This place is definitely very beautiful! Look at all these new friends!" the owl exclaimed, speaking in a very high-pitched and at times annoying voice, and then he leaned towards the various puppets. "Hello! My name is Hooty, and I'm a familiar! And this grumpy old lady is my master, Edalyn, but you can call her Eda! She's a fairy of the woods! We're here because she lost a piece of Palistrom wood, and now we need to find it before a human ruins it and..."
"Hooty, be quiet! You'll wake someone up!" the fairy whispered, placing a hand over his beak. "And these are just puppets, they can't hear you! And by the way, it's your fault we lost that Palistrom wood anyway!"
"Why? You were the one who made it fall while you were flying!"
"Yes, and you should have warned me! Don't wait until we got home and I noticed it myself!"
Willow and Gus looked at each other rather perplexed. They had always imagined fairies as always kind and smiling entities, but that... Eda seemed more like a grumpy and bored old woman.
The fairy raised her wand, and the owl upon it opened its eyes and illuminated the room with a silver light; the light then took shape, until it became a rope that connected the wand to the puppet that Camila had made that day. When she saw it, an expression of dismay was painted on Eda's face. "Oh, no! We're too late!"
"Why? It seems like a beautiful job to me! After all, you also wanted to carve that Palistrom wood, right?" Hooty asked confused.
"Is not the same thing!" Eda muttered heartbrokenly. Palistrom wood was the material with which the fairies carved their magic wands: it was a special wood with a life of its own, which however had to be shaped into a physical form for it to really come to life. The creatures that were generated from it were called Palisman, and they were the magic wands that the fairies used, like the one Eda was holding in her hand at that moment. But... "The Palistrom wood must be carved by a fairy like me, because when we do it we teach the wood how to be alive. This is why carving a Palisman is an operation that takes weeks, sometimes even months; it is necessary that the wood learns to be alive to become one. But whoever made this puppet made it in just one day, and what's more he was a human, who therefore couldn't teach the wood how to be alive! In lesser words, this puppet is now ... well, just a puppet"
"Uh... I see. That's very bad" Hooty murmured, feeling a little guilty. He and Eda had picked up that Palistrom wood that morning because Eda wanted to carve new wands for the fairy apprentices, but as they were flying home it had fallen and just in that moment Hooty had gotten distracted by looking at the shape of the clouds. And now therefore that Palistrom wood could never have become a living being. "So... what do we do now? We return home?"
"First of all, stop talking loudly! I'm trying to think! And if you continue like this you'll wake up the owner of this house!" Eda muttered, and only then she seemed to remember a detail. "Wait… the owner didn't wake up, right?"
Trying to make as little noise as possible, the fairy looked into Camila's room, where she found the woman soundly asleep. Eda breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately she seemed to be a heavy sleeper. "Good, she's sleeping!" Hooty said, obviously not lowering his voice in the slightest, but miraculously Camila continued to sleep. "We can get back to dealing with Palistrom wood and... Eda?"
The fairy had become silent and a strange expression was painted on her face. She seemed quite sorry for the person who was sleeping in front of her. And indeed it was exactly like that: being a fairy, Eda could read people's hearts, and could therefore feel the pain that Camila had recently felt. She found this rather unfair: judging from what she was seeing, that woman was a wonderful person who had made many children happy with her puppets. She didn't deserve to suffer such a loss. But Eda could also see that after carving the puppet with Palistrom wood, her heart had become more peaceful. And she could also feel a deeper desire, almost invisible, but at the same time radiating in Camila's heart...
Finally she made a decision. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing" she said, walking towards the puppet. "This woman has already carved the Palistrom wood. I just have to give it life"
Hooty looked at her confused. "But... you just said that this puppet cannot come to life. The Palistrom wood must learn to live while being carved by a fairy..."
"And so it is. Therefore, this Palistrom wood cannot come to life by itself" Eda said with a small sneer. "But if I gave it a little nudge… it can do it"
Hooty raised an eyebrow. "But aren't spells like that forbidden?"
"They're not forbidden, they're just... unorthodox! And a little dangerous sometimes... but I think this is worth the risk" Eda answered, raising her wand. "That woman carved this puppet with so much love, and she would really like it to be her real daughter. She deserves that wish to come true. So... let's make her happy!"
A beam of light emerged from the wand which illuminated the room like a small moon, dazzling Gus and Willow who were forced to close their eyes; when they managed to bring the room back into focus, the fairy had already disappeared and the window was closed again, and the shop seemed to be back to normal.
The two little arthropods were silent for a while, then Gus finally had the courage to speak: "What just happened!?"
"To be honest... I have no idea" Willow admitted. "But... is it just me, or does that puppet have her eyes closed now?"
In fact, the shop hadn't returned exactly as before: the puppet that Camila had named Luz was now slightly tilted on one side and had her eyes closed, as if she were sleeping. And her chest was constantly rising and falling, almost as if... "Is she breathing!? A puppet that can breathe!?" Gus exclaimed. "What are we looking at!?"
Willow, for once, was even more wide-eyed and confused than Gus. "I... well... I don't know, okay? I'm not an expert of fairies!" she finally exclaimed in exasperation. "Rather, in your opinion... what will happen now?"
The next day Camila was awakened by a delicious smell, as if someone had just baked bread. Confused she sat up, and managed to focus on a smiling face that was right at the foot of her bed. "Hi, mom! I made you breakfast!"
"Uh... thanks, Luz, you're a sweetheart" Camila murmured with a yawn. It took her a few seconds before she realized what was happening. "WAIT, LUZ!?"
Just to give some tips:
1) In Collodi's original book, Pinocchio is not brought to life by a fairy and is not made of magical wood, he is simply a puppet made of ordinary wood that comes to life for no real reason (and without anyone asking questions in this regard, not even Geppetto!). This is because Collodi's book, despite being a fantasy story, was highly metaphorical. The idea that a fairy brought him to life was created by Disney, while the fact that he is constructed of magical wood comes from the 1972 Japanese animated series; in both cases they are narrative choices aimed precisely at justifying how a puppet can come to life, given that those who watch a film or a cartoon often end up asking themselves such questions. In this story I decided to combine the two things both to give a touch of lore (which we will explore later) and to justify some events that will happen in the future and which simply based on Collodi's narration would make no sense to exist (especially because the characters of The Owl House are very different from those of Collodi). No spoilers, so... just wait and read.
2) Even the idea of Jiminy Cricket who immediately meets Pinocchio and acts as his conscience is also invented by Disney, even if it was later taken up in many other films and cartoons because... well, it's beautiful. In Collodi's original book Jiminy Cricket actually has a very marginal role, and I've always liked the Disney version, and also I needed an excuse to put Luz, Gus and Willow together, so... here's what came of it out. I chose to give Willow the role of the cricket because among Luz's friends she has always been the one who was the most 'voice of reason' and therefore was perfectly suited to the role; Furthermore, crickets are known to be very important in the ecosystem of the microworld since by feeding on grass and leaves they are practically nature's gardeners, and this went well with the Plant Magic that the original Willow possesses. As for Gus, I didn't want to separate him from his friends, so I decided to make him an 'arthropod advisor' too; I decided to make him a spider because... well, spiders are pretty much the best illusionists in nature, and so he was perfect for the role. Only mantises are better illusionists than spiders... but since mantises are basically serial killers, I thought it wasn't suitable for Gus' gentle personality. A spider was more appropriate as they are known to be very placid and calm, but can become aggressive if threatened, just like Gus. Of course, spiders are killers too... but mantises are more sadistic. Much, much more sadistic.
3) The fact that both Willow and Gus have physical defects is a narrative choice I made to connect to the canon of The Owl House, where both are ostracized precisely because they are not good at controlling their magic (which, from the point of view of the Demon Realm, it's basically the equivalent of having a genetic defect). Since in canon Willow was a bit chubby, here I gave her a more massive build than that of normal crickets, which prevents her from flying properly (all flying animals must in fact respect certain rules in order to fly. I know, gravity is a bitch), which from a cricket's point of view is the equivalent of being dead since anyone can kill it effortlessly, and in nature there are many things that prey on crickets. Gus, on the other hand, I made him unable to make webs to give him the possibility of being 'even more of an illusionist than the other spiders', as we will see later. And before anyone in the comments comes to complain because I dared to say that for an animal to live with a human is a beautiful thing, because 'nooo, animals must stay in the beautiful and pure nature, not be corrupted by human cruelty'... guys, no. Nature is not a beautiful place, it is a place where everything is constantly trying to kill each other. Animals aren't pure and don't have hearts instead of eyes, and humans aren't all evil. Humans are literally the only species that at least cares about others; no other species does this (except for very rare cases in which trauma or maternal instinct is almost always involved), very often they don't even care about their own families (cannibalism is extremely common in nature!). For an animal to become friends with a human is equivalent to being free from an eternal warfare that has existed since life appeared on this world. There's a reason why wolves, after realizing the advantages they had by staying with us, never left and became our friend dogs. I know that there are a lot of assholes among humans who abuse animals, but we're not all like that. I'm pretty sure that the majority of people who have a pet treat it with the same love as a family member. So don't idealize animals and don't demonize humans, because they are both two completely wrong things both from a scientific and moral point of view.
4) Eda's fairy form is basically Harpy Eda.
