Esper is sitting on the couch, sewing up her new jean jacket. She managed to find fabric among Eda's human objects and cut two squares out of both fabrics she found. She then sewed the patches over her jacket's ripped sleeves. The sleeves now had two new patches on each arm, one pink and the other dark blue.
Luz walked into the room with the basket in her hands, "Hey, that looks almost as good as new!"
The witchling smiles, rubbing the back of her neck, "Aw thanks, Luz. I... Ran out of blue fabric and pink looked cuter. Uhhh, is that blanket moving?" She raises an eyebrow curiously.
Eda spoke up, "Probably an offering! Ah! Being the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles has its perks."
King rubs his paws together. as he pulls a blanket off the top of the basket, revealing a snoring baby bat. He smiles widely, "Mm, fresh meat!"
Esper's eyes widened and walked behind Eda. Her childhood friend shook her head, "No, not eating that."
Eda pat Esper on the head to reassure her, "Witches eating babies is so 1693. What is this?"
The redheaded witch looked at the basket, seeing a paper attached to the baby, "Oh hey, there's a note."
King grabs the note, "Take care of my child till morning. Yi Yi."
The old witch shook her head, closing her eyes, "Nope! Babies are awful! Not happening!"
The smaller beast read the rest of the note, "You will be handsomely rewarded. X-O-X-O-X-O-X, Bat Queen."
Eda opened her eyes again, "Bat Queen?" King pulls a few snails out of the basket. Eda's eyes widen, "Reward?"
Esper tilts her head, "Who's the Bat Queen?"
King sniffs the snails as Eda speaks to the young witchling, "She's the wealthiest demon on the Boiling Isles. Get in with her and you're set for life." She takes one of the snails, "So, we keep this thing alive for a few hours and we get paid. Pfft, easy!"
Luz's eyes sparkled as she looked at Esper, "Our greatest adventure yet! Learning about love and life through a child's eyes!"
The older witch shook her head, "Nope! Not you. You have to return the books I checked out from the library." She summoned a stack of books that landed in the young human's arms.
Luz actually cheered holding the stack of books, "Oh! Hooray!"
The older witch then looks to Esper, "Now you-"
Esper held up her hand, "Eh, no need, Eda. I just got done babysitting this one-" She points to Hooty, who said hello excitedly before beign pushed away by her, "I am not doing this again so soon! Sayonara, have fun with the bat baby!"
Eda shrugged, giggling, "Pfft, that was easier than I thought. No need to hurry back you two, take as long as you need!"
The redhead sighed as she walked into the forest, away from The Owl House, "Okay so, what to do, what to do... Oh, I could call up Gus and Willow and see what they're doing today!"
And that she did, Esper, Willow and Gus were walking around town together. They were just hanging out like normal teens. The three stopped at a bizarre ice cream parlor, sitting down. Esper had the Boiling Isles equivalent of chocolate and they engaged in light conversation.
Willow raised an eyebrow, "So Esper, I've had this question for a while. You are a witch but you were raised in the human realm? How did that happen?"
Gus spoke up, "Yeah! I want to know too! Do you remember anything of your original parents?"
Esper looked down at her ice cream, "I mean... I would like to know... Who am I supposed to be? Where did I come from? How did I get to the human realm?"
Willow looked at and Gus and then back to Esper, "Which are all... Interesting questions we don't know the answer to yet. Gus, how's the memory viewing spell coming along?"
Gus rubbed the back of his neck, "Ugh, not well. That spell is just so advanced... Esper, have you had any weird experiences with your memories so far?"
Esper licked her ice cream, "Well, when we snuck into the school, I had some weird vision. Remember the knife Principal Belos took out of his sleeve? I don't know why but... I think it unlocked some sort of memory. I couldn't move and everything went quiet but I remembered seeing that knife somewhere before..."
Willow spoke up, "Maybe touching the knife would help?"
Esper finished the rest of her ice cream, "Uh... Maybe? But I'm not allowed on school grounds at all. Oh! Is there like a missing person's thing we can check? Maybe my original parents filed a report somewhere!"
Willow raised her hand, "That actually sounds like a good place to start, to the town hall!"
The three eventually got to the town hall and were directed to the desk where missing witches were filed. Willow and Gus let Esper go in by herself. Esper rubbed the back of her neck as she talked to the reciptionist, "Hey so um... You have any reports about a missing baby from like... 14 years ago? Maybe 13? Small, seaweed green eyes, dark-ish skeen with red hair that I doubt anyone would have seen go through a human portal but ended up doing just that? Any of that sound familiar?"
The woman looked at her blankly before looking at the very little reports she had of missing witches on her desk.
The redhead sighed as she walked out of the building to her witch friends, "Nope, no luck here either. Turns out, you guys have a lot more freedom here than on Earth."
Before Willow and Gus could speak, an old woman's shrill voice rang in the air.
"I can feel it, the master of play is here somewhere. We must prepare and fight back against his arrival!"
Esper's eyes glew upon hearing the old woman's voice, "Huh?"
Gus noticed her eyes glowing, "Woah, what was that?"
The witchling blinked, rubbing her eyes, "I don't know but I sure felt it. Quick, who's that lady?"
Willow peered to the voice's origin in the crowd, "Isn't that the old hermit lady who lives by herself in nature? Izmeralda?"
The young illusionist, "Oh yeah! I think that's is her name!"
Esper gazed upon the old woman, she had long flowing black hair, albiet it was starting to gray, with sticks and leaves popping out of it. Her eyes were the color of seaweed and she had olive skin. Her clothing was strange, with a dark green dress layed with a light tan undershirt with a lighter green tunic on top of it. The dress was littered with light green patches, indicated that the woman would mend her own clothes but didn't have any matching materials. The most interesting thing Esper had seen on her was the freckles that littered her skin, something similar to her own.
The redhead smiled brightly upon seeing her, "I have a good feeling about this, she even has the same eye color as me! And our names are similar, Izmeralda, Esperanza, come on! Maybe she knows what happened to my parents."
The plant witch grimaced, "Are you sure? She kinda seems... You know."
Esper nodded confidently, "Oh I'm sure it's fine. She kinda reminds me of my grandma back on Earth in a way." She then walked up to the strange woman, "So, Miss Izmeralda, what is this about a master of play?"
The old witch turned to her quickly, "The master of play, the one who uses those close to him as puppets. With some assistance, I can help prepare the land for his reign..."
The younger witch shrugged, "Oh well it sounds like you need some help."
Izmeralda awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, "Huh, really? People normally run away when I speak of them ...Well, would you like to be my apprentice?"
Esper thought about it for a second, "Well, I'm already a student of the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles buuuuuut who says I can't have more than one teacher? ...Uh, if it means I get to spend the whole day with you and learn more about your past, sure! I could be your apprentice for the day." She turned to Gus and Willow, "Let me hang out with her for a few hours and I'll see what I can get out of her."
The duo nodded in understanding and left, though they both made sure to remind each other to come back within a few hours to check up on Esper.
The first thing Esper did with Izmeralda was collect fire honey around the forest, nearly ending with a fire. Then they managed to make from reinforced rope from fibers of the leaves from the trees from the Boiling Isles. They had some hair from the giant beavers living near the lake. Which ended with the two of them running from the giant animals.
Finally, the two were kayaking down a lake in order for Izmeralda to collect the glowing algae from the water. This is when Esperanza decided to ask the question. Esper took a deep breath, smiling awkwardly, "So, uh, Miss Izmeralda... Don't freak out but I think you might be my grandma."
The old woman shook her head, putting the cap on the bottle of algae, "Nope, never had children."
The younger witch's smile faltered as they made it to dry land, "Oh, uh, maybe you're my great aunt then?"
Izmeralda shook her head, getting out of the kayak to carry it, "Eh, my brother doesn't like children."
Esper tripped and groaned, "Ugh, dang it! I'm sorry, ma'am, I really did mistake you for someone else. It's kinda complicated but I've been looking for my family all day today. And I kinda only became your apprentice to see if you were related to me." Unknownst to Esper, her trip caused her pant leg to rip, revealing her birthmark. The blue mark of a moon within a sun glew briefly before returning back to it's normal dark blue color.
The old woman helped Esper up from the ground, "Oh it's quite alright, child. I had fun today with you, you're quite the firecracker. You know, how about you come back any time you want? It was fun having you for company and I can always teach you a trick or two." After letting Esper go, she offered her hand to the young witchling.
Esper smiled, extending her own hand to her, "I would like that, Miss Izmeralda. When would-"
Suddenly, Izmeralda screeched upon seeing Esper's birthmark, backing away from Esper before she could touch her hand, "You're one of them! A star touched one, even!"
Esper's eyes lit up, "Huh? One of who! What's a star touched one?"
"One kissed by the sun and the moon! You won't have me for your games, star touched one! Get away!" The old witch then threw a potion at Esper, who did duck before it could hit her. The tree behind her began to melt from the potion.
Izmeralda continued to ramble, "I escaped long ago and I won't let you bring me back, tell Bill or whoever sent you to leave me alone!"
The redheaded witch raised an eyebrow, "Bill? Who's th-"
To her surprise, Willow and Gus suddenly ran in front of her. Willow summoned a large vine from the ground, "Woah woah, please calm down, miss!"
Gus turned to his friend behind him, "She didn't hurt you, did she?"
Esper was still surprised, shaking her head, "No, she missed. I'm fine."
The old witch spoke up, "You witchlings have to stay away from a star touched one! All they do is cause chaos for their master, they're a curse!"
Esper raised an eyebrow, "Curse?"
Willow shook her head, still standing strong in front of Esper, "No way! Esper is our friend, not some curse! You're not making any sense!"
The young illusionist looked up at Esper, "Yeah, don't listen to her, Esper!"
The redheaded witch nodded, feeling reassured, "Yeah... Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Gus. Thanks, Willow." The plant witch remained standing in front of her friends with the vine ready to block and attack. Gus turned to glare at the old witch.
Seeing that the children weren't going to back down, she backed away. She kept her glare on the trio, retreating into the forest like the hermit she is.
Esper blushed, rubbing the back of her neck, "It's just that... Back home, Luz and I were always protecting each other. Well, mostly me protecting Luz. no one else really stood up for us like that... So, uh, thanks, guys."
Willow quickly brought Esper into a hug, holding her in the air briefly, "Of course!" Gus joined in the hug, "Yeah! We're not going to let some old lady ruin our friendship with you!" The redhead was almost suffocated by them but hugged her friends back. Her smile was grateful as they continued to hug.
Willow and Gus let Esper go and each held one of her hands. The plant witch kept a gentle smile for her, "I think it's been a long day for all of us."
The illusionist nodded, blushing, "Y-yeah, we'll walk you home."
Esper smiled at the both of them, still holding their hands, "I'd like that... Thanks, guys."
Upon being dropped off by her close friends, the redheaded witch walked into the Owl House once again. She was greeted by the sight of Eda asleep on the couch with King and the three baby bats in her arms. She raised an eyebrow to her Luz, who got there moments before she did, "Wow, I can't believe they're all asleep."
"I know right..." Before the human could continue, the Bat Queen returned to collect her babies. When she made sure all her babies were accounted for and dropped off the reward for Eda and King, she gave Luz a whistle to summon her when needed. Which made Esper's eyes sparkle. Luz yawned and started walking to their shared room, "You know, I think we should be getting to bed too. Come on, Esper."
Esper stretched, following her childhood friend, "Oh yeah, I had a long day too.I need some shut eye over here."
Later in the night, Esper tossed and turned in her sleeping bag. Various voices rang in her dream, remembering both the events of that day and the days of old.
"Your parents cut your ears to look like that you know! You're a freak!" "All they do is cause chaos for their master!" "Hey guys look! It's the girl with the weird pointy ears!" "Star touched ones are a curse!" "Weirdo!" "Curse!"
She woke up suddenly, taking deep breath as she took in her surroundings. She was safe in her shared room with Luz, who was sleeping in her own sleeping bag right next to her.
Esper lifted up her pant leg to look at her birthmark. She looked to Luz with a guilty expression before looking back at her birthmark. The witchling was about to wake Luz up when she stopped and shook her head. As the old witch's words rang through her head, she then covered it with her pant leg again, hiding it before going to bed...
