Kaufetag 4, Fifth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | The Owl House

"'Your reign of terror is over, Gildersnake!' Azura proclaimed, pointing her magic staff at the beast. The Spell of Exile was her last hope to defeat the wretched creature. With a shout of 'Vertreibe!' and a blast of magic, the Gildersnake was vanquished, never to harm the citizens of Hruthin ever again."

Luz closed her copy of The Good Witch Azura: The Darkness Strikes Back and looked down at King, eyes staring up at her with a look of wonder.

"So, what do you think?" Luz asked, gauging the demon's reaction to the ending of the novel.

"It was so filled to the brim with mushy fantasy drivel that it was actually good," King replied, climbing to his feet amongst his collection of plushies.

"I'm guessing you liked it, then? Oh, and look at the little flipbook I drew." Luz opened the book back up and showed King the tiny drawings she had made in the margins. As she flipped the last few pages back and forth, a drawing of Azura fired a blast of magic from her staff, striking the Gildersnake, and causing it to explode into dozens of tiny pieces.

King laughed at the drawings. "Hah! I can do better than that. You know, as the King of Artists, I was renowned for my unmatched skill when it came to drawing things exploding. I was the best!"

Suddenly, the portal door appeared, opening to reveal Eda and Owlbert walking through the divide between realms. Behind him, Owlbert dragged a giant burlap sack stuffed to the brim with random items from Luz's neighborhood.

"All right freeloaders, it's market day. That means we've got to set up shop early before someone steals my spot," Eda said, grabbing the sack from Owlbert and slinging the human goods over her shoulder. Reaching down, she then scooped King up with her free arm. "Come on, let's go!"


The streets of Bonesborough were quieter than normal for this time of day. Usually, there would be a constant droning in the background of hundreds of voices screaming, all trying to get passersby to buy whatever item they were peddling. Luz didn't mind the quiet, though, as it allowed her to re-read The Good Witch Azura: Revenge of the Gildersnake without constantly being interrupted by something trying to eat her.

As Luz turned the pages, she couldn't help but occasionally run her fingers over her now-pointed ears. Sure, she could have gone out as the Kaugh, but that transformation took a lot of magic to pull off. Magic that, while overly abundant given her being in a realm full of magic-filled witches and demons, she didn't feel right taking from others.

Except for Warden Wrath. He could step on a colorful interlocking plastic brick for all she cared.

So pointed ears on an otherwise human Luz it was. Heck, she looked like an actual witch now! (Even if she didn't have the awesome outfit that Azura always wore.)

"Where is everybody?" Luz asked, looking up from her book. Human Collectibles was the only stand around. "Are they all playing hide and seek or something?"

"I have no idea, kiddo," Eda answered, shrugging her shoulders.

Just as Luz was about to return to her book, two sets of footsteps could be heard running up to the stand. Looking up, Luz saw that it was Willow and Gus who were the guilty party.

"Hey, Willow! Hi, Gus!" Luz greeted the two, closing her book and hopping over the table.

"Luz, where have you been? We've been looking for you all day," Gus said.

"I've been at the Owl House, and then we came here at 9. Like we do every market day," Luz replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Right," Gus said.

"See? I told you she wasn't at the all-you-can-beat buffet," Willow interjected.

"So, why were you guys looking for me?" Luz said, wondering what could get the two of them so excited.

"Well, we wanted to invite you to come to the Covention with us," Willow answered. "There's even going to be a mystery guest this year."

"Ooh, that sounds fun. But, what's a Covention?"

"It's where students from all the magic academies go to look at every coven there are before they get placed into one after graduation."

"So it's like a magical career fair? That's awesome!" Luz said, elated at the prospect that she could see all the different types of magic. "Eda, can we go?"

"What? Absolutely not! Coventions are where fun goes to die and all the happiness gets squashed out of you while you get turned into a stooge for the Emperor." Eda responded flatly, crossing her arms and standing her ground.

"Please, Miss Eda? It will be so cool and magic-y," Luz said, doing her best puppy-dog eyes and batting her eyelashes. She held the look for a few seconds before Eda finally relented.

Eda let out a long groan. "Fine, we'll go to the Covention. Just stop doing that face. Its cuteness is making me sick." She paused for a bit before continuing. "Besides, I might as well see how the Emperor is brainwashing you fools nowadays. Haven't been to one since we were kids."

Luz perked up. "'We'? Who's 'we'?"

Before Luz could question her anymore, Eda cut her off by saying, "That doesn't matter. It happened a long time ago and isn't important. Let's just get this over with."

Grabbing Owlbert and magicking away everything non-essential, Eda stomped off towards the Covention hall, with the kids following quickly behind.


The gang of witches, Luz, and King stood huddled in a dark corner outside the Covention. Eda wrestled with a cowl, trying to force her mountain of hair to fit into the hood. Luz did her best to help, stuffing the remaining locks into the hood with a little assistance from King.

"Why do we have to do this, again?" Luz asked after Eda managed to tuck the last strand into the cowl.

"To keep a low profile. Do you think I'm wanted just for pick-pocketing bozos on the street?" Right as Eda said that, a cascade of small trinkets and accessories fell out of her hair, clattering to the floor. "Mostly." Scooping up some of the fallen objects and placing them back in her hair, she continued. "But the thing that has really got the Emperor's knickers in a twist is that I refuse to join a coven. So that's why I need the cowl. I need a disguise. I don't want to go to jail." She stopped to count on her fingers. "For the fourth time."

"Well, maybe seeing all the wonders of the coven system could persuade you to join one," Willow said hopefully.

Eda laughed and let out a snort. "Hah! Fat chance that'll happen, kid."

Now donning a completely fool-proof disguise, Eda and the others entered the Covention.

As the group walked through the main foyer of the hall, Luz could barely keep her jaw from plummeting through the floor. This place looks amazing! she thought, taking in all the sights. Rows upon rows of booths filled the hall, all of them advertising one coven or another. Above her head, student witches flew by on broomsticks. She also couldn't help but notice the giant banners hanging from the ceiling. She counted 9 in total, each of them with its own distinct color and logo.

Gus noticed Luz looking towards the banners and jumped in with an explanation. "Those are for each of the nine main covens: Healing, Plant, Beast Keeping, Oracle, Construction, Bard, Illusionist, Abomination, and Potions. There are hundreds more to choose from, though. You just have to find which one suits you best."

"Woah," was all Luz could respond with.

Picking a row at random, the group walked past all the booths that had been set up. As they did so, Willow named off even more covens that a witch could join. "There's Scrying Coven, Baker's Coven, Acting Coven, Debate Coven, Tiny Cat Coven–"

Eda groaned from the back of the group.

"And how could I forget the Grumpy Coven?" Willow continued without missing a beat.

"You wanna repeat that?" Eda said, disgruntled at the remark.

Willow let out a yelp as she ran away from the annoyed Owl Lady, with Luz, Gus, and King following close behind.

As the gang neared the end of the row, they turned back around, just in time to see Eda throw a small blue bag in some random witch's face before yanking their hood over their head. As the Owl Lady ran over to meet back up with the kids, Luz saw the cutest little fox creature she'd ever seen.

The fox-like demon was seated on a stool, postured in a very proper manner. It stood at roughly the same height as a child, and it was dressed in a sleeveless gray tunic, torn-up brown shorts, and dark brown boots. Luz could also see that the demon had a mess of auburn hair and burnt orange fur.

Luz couldn't help herself. She ran over as fast as her legs could go and began petting the absolutely adorable demon. While it was initially hesitant to the sudden contact, it relented, giving in to the affection. The demon's fur was surprisingly smooth and silky, Luz realized. Switching tactics after a few seconds and rubbing her finger under the demon's chin, it let out a small yawn.

"Luz, stop that! That's Eberwolf. He's the head of the Beast Keeping Coven," Willow said, chastising Luz for her behavior.

"But he's so cute!" Luz rebutted, now giving Eberwolf head rubs.

"Yes, and he can also have you thrown in the Conformatorium. Let's check out the other covens."

"Fine. Bye Mr. Eberwolf!" Luz said, waving goodbye, which the demon enthusiastically matched.

Suddenly, a light-blue clone of Luz popped into existence behind her, peeking over her shoulder. "Bye Mr. Eberwolf!" the clone repeated, before running over to another booth and vanishing into a nonexistent wind.

"Woah, what was that?" Luz asked, astounded.

"Ahh. I see you've been drawn in by the wonders of the Illusionist Coven," Gus said, "We enjoy magic with a hint..." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear a few steps away, "of pizzazz." He finished with a bow as two other coven members poofed behind him, each flanking a side.

"Acceptance? Camaraderie? A sense of belonging and not feeling like an alien?" Luz couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Covens sound like a dream come true! Why haven't you ever joined one, Eda?"

"Are ya sure about that, kid? Watch closely," Eda said, motioning towards another teenage witch who had been swooned by the flashiness of the Illusionist Coven.

"When you fall for the bait and join a coven, all your other magic gets locked away." A blue sigil appeared on the pimply-faced witch's wrist as a light blue color spread through their veins. "Now, all that kid can do is illusions. Nothing more, nothing less," Eda explained.

She then summoned a fireball in one hand and an orb of water in the other. "And that is why Emperor Boo-los has me as Public Enemy #1, and why I'm also the most powerful witch on all of the Boiling Isles." She dispelled the two spheres with a wave of her hand.

As the group walked away from the Illusionist Coven, Willow and Gus listed off coven after coven, each of them getting progressively more specific. At some point, King had been lured away from the group and he was currently AWOL. He was probably being promised dark deeds done in his name or something silly like that.

"Of course, the People-Who-Look-Like-Doppelgängers Coven is a very rare coven to get in to," Willow said.

"Yeah, but it's even harder to qualify for the Dross-Detecting Coven," Gus countered.

The gang, sans King, approached a doorway flanked on both sides by guards. Above the door, a banner hung depicting two pairs of wings and a sword on top of a triangular shield. Luz couldn't help but think she had seen a design similar to that back in Gravesfield. She was pretty sure she had seen something similar on the town welcome sign. Coincidences happened all the time, though, and this was probably no different. It was a relatively simple design, after all.

Gus gasped. "I can't believe the Emperor's Coven is actually here this time! Do you think I can get an autograph?"

"I guess we'll have to go and find out," Willow replied, and the two young witches ran into the theatre.

Luz moved to follow after her friends, but slowed up when she noticed that Eda hadn't moved from her spot.

"Aren't you going to join us, Eda?" Luz asked.

"Absolutely not. The Emperor's Coven is just a bunch of yes-witches for Bonehead. They're the worst of all the covens. I'm fine waiting out here," Eda replied.

"I get it. Conformity: bad. Self-reliance: good. But, I'm also still learning all the ins and outs of this world, so I'm going to be making my own choices and that includes whether or not I join a coven. I'm going inside, alright?" Luz then turned and walked into the theatre.

After Luz found a good seat in one of the upper bowls and had sat down, Eda rushed over and plopped down in the seat next to the basilisk.

"Hey kid. Changed my mind. I want to see this hot mess go down."

Just as she finished saying that, the lights surrounding the theatre dimmed.

It was time for the show to begin.