Apprentice Ship

Derwin hummed a tune under his breath as he added notations to document copies for Raine to review later, comfortably sitting on Eda's couch in the Owl House. His ears twitched at a very faint rumble and an even fainter shake of the ground, before shrugging and getting back to work. He'd gotten used to it in the last few hours.

He responded far more to the polite knock at the front door to the Owl House, looking up in surprise. He snorted at the empty hole in the door when he remembered that Lilith had taken Hooty on a trip to the Leg to investigate some archaeological find or another. He settled his papers and stood to answer the door.

"Sorry about that," he said to the door, knowing his voice would carry through Hooty's hole. He opened the door with a kind smile and arched an eyebrow at the waiting witch. She was a slim young woman with a waist-length, emerald-green plait and golden eyes, wearing a Hexside uniform with indigo sleeves and cyan leggings. "Ms. Blight?" he asked.

"That's me," the young woman said. "But call me Emira, if you don't mind."

"What about Cyan Vision?" he asked with a sly tilt to his smile, propping a hand on his hip.

"Would you like to be called the Merry Minstrel on your off-time?" Emira asked back, crossing her arms with a sly grin of her own.

"Good point," Derwin chuckled, stepping back and motioning with his arm for her to enter. "And you can call me Derwin, if you like."

"Sounds fair," Emira chirped. "You wouldn't happen to know where my brother is?"

"Your brother?" Derwin asked. His eyes widened in comprehension. "Ah, Eda's new apprentice, right? The goofball?"

"Watch it," Emira said, leveling a pointer finger at him with a teasing glower. "That's my baby brother you're talking about."

"Baby?" Derwin asked, reclaiming his spot on the couch to resume his paperwork. "I thought you two were twins?"

"I'm the oldest, so he's the baby brother," Emira said loftily, folding her legs and lifting her nose in an over-the-top haughty motion.

"I'm sure," Derwin drawled as he finished his note from before. He tried to resume his work, but his attention kept being drawn away by his new companion and fellow official coven head apprentice, Ludwig Carrol having kept his position after the Day of Unity after three oracles had confirmed that the Adrian Grey personality was gone for good. In particular, he kept glancing through the corner of his eye at her long legs before looking away and mentally chastising himself.

"What are you working on?" Emira asked, her tone curious.

"Raine has been looking into cross-discipline magics," Derwin said. "With the restrictions on wild magic ready to be relaxed while so many people are still branded into one branch, the Council has been interested in seeing how each single branch can impact or influence the others."

"Such as?" Emira asked.

"Such as," Derwin said, putting down his pen and straightening his posture, "and this is just coming from my own experience," he added, patting his inner forearm where his coven sigil would bel located, "there are old tales of Bard magic being used to stimulate healing and recuperation. Others say it can bolster the growth of plants or soothe beasts." He shrugged. "And that's only off the top of my head for one branch."

"That's really cool," Emira said. Then she hummed in thought and added, fingering the hem of her sleeve, "It honestly makes me wonder if illusions could help with Healing."

Derwin lowered his brows in thought. "Hmm. What about diagnosis?"

"Diagnosis?" Emira asked.

"I'll admit I have no skill in Healing," Derwin prefaced. "But I've been to infirmaries often enough to have seen a diagnosis spell or two in action." He scratched his head. "I wonder if mixing that kind of spell with an illusion could make the process more, I dunno, visual? Or clear?"

Emira smiled brightly. "That's a really good thought!"

Derwin smiled as a thought came to mind. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Emira said with a shrug.

"Did you start with Illusions or Healing?"

"Illusions. Why?"

"For a follow-up question," Derwin said, eyes glittering. "What made you want to add Healing? I'm going to guess you already knew some Healing magic."

Emira blinked and looked down, gathering her thoughts. "I did. Edric's always been kind of a ditz and he'd get hurt every now and then. And after-" she swallowed thickly, "-something happened to Amity when she was a kid, she poured herself into academics and then into grudgby to cope with it, with our parents' crazy standards only adding a gallon of fuel to that fire. I taught myself Healing magic to help them. Big sister, you know? I-" She pulled her feet up to rest her chin on her knees. "I had to show it somehow."

She stiffened at a touch on her shoulder and looked to find Derwin's dark, soulful eyes looking at her. "That's very noble, Emira," he said.

Emira huffed a laugh. "Yeah, well, I wasn't always the best sister, especially to Mittens. Kind of a terrible one, sometimes."

"Have you worked on that?" he asked. "Become better?"

"I've tried," Emira admitted.

"Well, there you go," Derwin smiled. "That's a good sign in itself."

Emira looked at him with an unreadable expression for a moment before she shook herself in place. "What about you?" she asked. "What made you pick Bard magic? I mean, a lot of jerks think it's a weak field."

Derwin huffed a laugh and removed his pince-nez to rub his eyes before returning them. "It's a long story."

Emira glanced at the door to the interior of the Owl House and cupped her ear as if listening. "It seems like I've got time," she replied, propping her chin on her palm and clearly waiting.

And so Derwin told his story of first seeing Raine play at a covention and publicly asking them to teach him. It soon had Emira giggling, and that made Derwin blush and his stomach tumble. He was glad his dark skin would probably hide it.

"I know it's completely out of nowhere," Emira said, good humor still in her voice, "but where is Raine, anyway?" Derwin caught another muffled boom down the halls and felt the vibration in his boots, Emira tensing at the sensation before she chuckled. "I'm guessing Ed's down in the basement with Ms. Eda."

"Got it in one," Derwin joked, holding up an index finger to illustrate and then lowering it. "Raine's outside with King."

"Doing what?" Emira asked.

"They're …" Derwin said with a small smile, "playing catch."

He kept his eyes on Emira's as he spoke, and was surprised at the faint widening at his words, the glimmer of comprehension in the gold of her irises. Her mouth fell open just a little before her lips closed again and her smile grew warm, wistful … and a little sad.

"That's-" She sucked in a sharp breath and blinked a few times, even brushing the heel of her hand over one of her eyes. "That's nice," she decided.

They talked for a little while longer before the front door opened with a whistle and the Head Bard and Last Titan ambled in, the latter riding on the former's shoulders and carrying some ball mitts and a faceball, a common leather ball that actually screamed when it was thrown.

"Hello, Derwin," Raine greeted, then noticed their guest. "Ah, Ms. Blight," they added with a faint bow that kept King on their shoulders, "welcome to the Owl House."

"Blight Sister!" King said happily, dropping the sports gear and scrambling to his feet on Raine's shoulders, much to the bard's clear discomfort, before launching himself toward her with a very Eda-like cackle. Emira reached out and grabbed him from the air by his sides with apparently practiced ease.

"You know I don't like that nickname," Emira said, her nose theatrically scrunched up even with a small smile.

"Yeah, well, your name is also too close to 'Eda'," King shrugged before scrambling up her arm to settle on her shoulder.

"Gah, you're getting too big for that," Emira groaned with a faint laugh.

"Enjoy it now," King crowed, "because soon I'll be way too big!"

"You already are," Emira said, and grasped his horns to flip him forward with a "Weh!" in a controlled turn that landed him upright and against her hip, one of her arms curled around him to keep him there. The position was surprisingly … motherly. "There," she said, "that's better."

Raine and Derwin laughed gently together, the resemblance between mentor and apprentice quite clear, as Eda and Edric finally emerged from the basement, which Eda had turned into a safer potions lab for teaching Luz or Edric. Both were a bit singed in places, but Eda looked content and Edric was grinning like a fool with a new batch of potion vials and a stack of books in his arms.

"Heya, Em," Edric greeted. "Come to check on me?"

"Come to make sure you get home safe," Emira bantered back. "Poor Copper shouldn't have to be the only one to suffer that."

Copper poked his face out of Edric's bundle and snorted at her, his snout scrunching up.

"Thanks, Copper," Edric said fondly, one finger freed from his books to trace a spell that scratched the pig palisman's head with an illusory hand. "And Ms. Eda, I'll have those ingredients to you with my attempt at a pacification potion."

"Eh, take your time, Blight Brother," Eda said, ruffling his hair. "You know I'm not a fan of deadlines."

"We all know that," Raine said, sidling up to Eda and knocking her hip with theirs.

"Okay, old people being cute," Edric teased. "I'm gonna make myself scarce. See ya, Ms. Eda!" With that he raced out the door. "Waiting on you, Sis!"

Emira rolled her eyes and started for the door, but Derwin took her hand to stop her. "Hey, uh, Emira," he said, clearing his throat and letting go of her hand when he had her attention. He adjusted his pince-nez in what looked like a nervous habit and smiled. "This may be sudden, but, erm," he cleared his throat again. "Would you like to get dinner?"

"Are you asking me out?" Emira asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am," Derwin said, his smile unwavering.

"Sure," Emira answered with a smile of her own. She ran her hand through her hair as her cheeks flushed. "I think I'd like that a lot."

"Great," Derwin said. "How's tomorrow sound? Say, six? We can meet up at the library."

"Sounds pretty great," Emira replied, summoning Liberty. She traced a spell circle that summoned a piece of paper and handed it to him, her scroll runes. "See ya then, Handsome," she said with a wink and flew off.

Derwin watched her fly off with Edric and turned on his heel. "Not a word," he said to Raine and Eda, not even looking at them. "Not a word."

"Wow, that was smooth," King crowed.

"Not a word, Ed," Emira said warningly as they flew home.

"I didn't say anything," Edric replied with a hint of smugness. Emira glanced at him with an unamused look before focusing back on flying. Things were silent for a few nice minutes as they neared the manor. As they landed in the backyard, though, Edric couldn't resist a final barb.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said quickly and then raced for the door.

"I'll get you for that," Emira said, smiling darkly to herself.

The next evening found Derwin leaning against the steps of the Bonesborough library. It had been a bit of merry chaos preparing for this date without his roommates finding out. Katya was a sucker for anything romantic and Amber would tease him mercilessly, like the little sister he'd never had. It had taken a favor from Raine to distract them enough for him to slip out of their apartment unnoticed.

"Well, well," came a familiar voice that brought him out of his thoughts.

Derwin stood straighter as he looked to find Emira standing at the foot of the steps, her hair in its usual plait and dressed in a sleeveless, knee-length silk dress with a sweetheart neckline in a matching shade of green, black tights, and kitten-heeled shoes with decorative buckles. A fine gold chain hung around her collarbone and rubies glittered at her ears that contrasted with the dress.

"Don't you clean up nice?" Emira asked with a teasing lilt and a half-smile as she looked him up and down.

Derwin was dressed in a loose, long-sleeved shirt of white linen, laced at the collar in an endearingly old-fashioned style, a red sash wrapped around his waist in place of a belt, and black slacks under knee-high leather boots with the shaft folded over. His hair was pulled back in a short tail that drew attention to his polished, gold-rimmed pince-nez and the glittering eyes behind them.

"I may or may not have raided Raine's closet," Derwin said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "The witch has great taste."

"So I can see," Emira commented.

"And they're not the only one," Derwin added with a playful smile, clapping his hands and pressing the tips of his fingers to his lips before pointing them at her. "You look stunning, Emira."

"Why thank you," she replied, her cheeks pinking as she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward in a flirty pose. They both laughed and Derwin bowed and swiped his hand to the side in a beckoning gesture. "Shall we?"

"I hope you know where you're going," Emira commented as she got moving, hips swaying.

"I do," he assured, falling into step with her.

Emira couldn't believe her eyes.

Derwin had led her to a basement restaurant, homey, cozy, and smelling of wonderful, savory food and woodsmoke. A lovely woman greeted them warmly and commented that they were certainly on a date, leading them to a two-person table near the bar manned by a burly, bald, bearded, bat-like demon. After taking their drink orders, the woman sautered away to serve another of the sparse patrons.

"Emira?" Derwin asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Emira replied with a genuine warm smile. "I've heard of Sherry & Jim's before, but I've never had a chance to try it."

"Neither have I," Derwin admitted. "Raine told me about it once. They said it was some of the best in the city." He smiled. "I wanted to save that for a special occasion."

"So why not go after Belos was brought down?" Emira asked. "It's not like everything was torn up by the Collector." She shivered as a chill settled over her and then was gone. Derwin tilted his head, then slipped his pinkie fingers between his lips and gave a low whistle. Faint red magic swirled around her … and then she felt warm, as if standing before a crackling fire.

"I've been too busy," Derwin said, in answer to her question.

Emira giggled behind her hand. Usually she preferred to play it cool, but Derwin had already seen a softer side of her that very few outside her family had. They chatted in between ordering their meals, the subject eventually moving on to family.

"So it was just you and your aunt?" Emira asked.

"Yep," Derwin shrugged. "I can't really complain, either. She was always really supportive, always trying to help me find my place."

"Didn't you say your friend Katya was raised by her aunt and uncle?" Emira prodded, eyes glittering.

"I did," Derwin confirmed. "And I made that connection a long time ago."

"She hasn't?"

"She doesn't know," Derwin explained, then grinned. "And if she finds out," he leveled a finger and a smile at her, "I'll know who to blame."

Emira laughed as their food came, Sherry smiling knowingly at them both before moving on. "Well, I can't imagine being an only child," she said between bites. "It comes with being a twin. Ed's always been there."

"That kind of sounds like a mixed bag," Derwin said. "And I don't just mean Edric specifically."

"Yeah, it has been," Emira said, though her tone was fond. She lifted an eyebrow and her smile widened as she settled her chin on her hand. "You know, I just realized that the other BATs are probably like the siblings you never had."

"Is it that obvious?" Derwin asked drolly. "Katya's like the cool big sister and Amber is anyone's annoying little sister whom you can't help but love back." His eyebrows lifted as a thought occurred to him. "But I wonder if you know about that."

"What do you mean?"

"I've met Amity many times, and she doesn't seem like an annoying little sister," Derwin explained. Then he shrugged. "Then again, no experience with younger siblings here," he hooked a thumb at himself, "so what do I know?"

Emira chuckled, the sound more sad than humored. She swirled her apple blood in her glass with a sigh. "Mittens was annoying in that she was always tattling on me and Ed. We'd do something stupid but fun and she'd rat us out." She sighed. "Dumb thing to complain about, now, but it seemed big at the time."

"What changed?" Derwin asked.

"Luz." There was no hesitation in the answer. "She came into Amity's life like a chaotic whirlwind, breaking rules for the sweetest of reasons, and broke down the walls that Amity had spent years building up." She paused. "I honestly never thought I'd see her so happy," Emira's smile turned radiant, "and I couldn't be happier for her."

Derwin smiled back and placed a hand on hers. "See what I mean?" Emira tilted her head in question. "Becoming better."

That was the perfect cue for their food to arrive.

"I gotta say, Raine was not exaggerating about their food," Derwin said as he and Emira took a walk through the streets of Bonesborough.

"I'm even more glad I finally got to try it," Emira commented, her arms wrapped around one of Derwin's. She blinked as her instincts whispered that she was being watched and surreptitiously glanced around. She spotted two blurs as someone, two of them, ducked behind stands in the marketplace to hide.

"Head's up," she giggled. "I think your sisters found out about tonight."

Derwin sighed and removed his pince-nez with his free hand to rub his eyes. "What would you suggest?" he asked, replacing his glasses. He grinned and added, "Mistress of mischief that you are."

"Ooh, I like that," Emira laughed, hugging his arm tighter. She hummed in thought before an idea came to mind. She glanced at Derwin with a wicked smile and led him to the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. "We could give them what they want," she said, stepping up onto the lip of the fountain and tugging Derwin up with her.

"Give them-?" His question was interrupted as Emira draped her arms over his shoulders. Her eyes glittered and she leaned in to place her lips against his. Derwin choked on a gasp before losing himself in the kiss, his hands settling on Emira's waist. The kiss was soft and unhurried, almost chaste. Emira drew back first and laughed softly at Derwin's dazed expression.

"Was, uh," he stammered a bit, "was that all for their benefit?"

"No," Emira said flippantly. "They were an excuse to make it happen."

"Are they still here?" Derwin asked teasingly. "We may have to make sure they get the message."

Emira laughed and pulled him into another kiss, just as long and deeper, more passionate. They drew apart … and Emira started to slip off the fountain in her high heels. Derwin caught her and drew her into his chest.

"I've got you," he assured her.

Emira curled into the embrace and smiled to herself. "Yeah," she sighed. "You do."

Chapter eleven! This one was a little tough to write, but I'm happy to present it!

*I decided to take a flipped perspective here, compared to my one-shot "A Blight And A BAT." We're seeing the growing attraction largely from Derwin's point of view.

*Derwin's backstory for choosing Bard magic is explained in chapter ten of "Strength in Body and Mind."

*Based upon their kinship in "Reaching Out," which is fully canon in "Ash & Ebony," Edric is now a second apprentice to Eda, after Luz.

*Faceball is an unofficial Boiling Isles equivalent to baseball. The ball is covered in skin and has a mouth that screams when thrown. It was influenced by the Cup of Ephemeral Glory in "Eda's Requiem."

*I actually came up with Derwin's laced "sailor" shirt before I realized that it was a lot like Raine's young adult attire, and then I couldn't get it out of my head.

*The restaurant is the same from chapter sixteen of "When Marigolds Bloom."

*What is it with me and the idea that Katya likes to spy on her friends' dates? Hehehe...

As always, I hope it was a fun read! Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!