The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

36. EP 15: Redemption and Mourning

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 15: Redemption, Mourning, and Self-Discovery

Following the events at HECK, a lot of things happened for the CATTs and the Hexsquad in particular. The reveal that Darius was a member of the CATTs, and that Osran had also defected to them from the Emperor's Coven had shaken the Isles, resulting in a split within their covens. All the CATTs that were in the Abomination Coven and close to Darius immediately fled with him before a new Coven Head could be named, while those who were in position to become the new Coven Head, or weren't known to be friendly with Darius remained to work as spies. The loss of Darius from the coven also meant that there was a good chance the Abomaton MK II's might become a problem again, as Belos would no doubt oversee the reverse-engineering of the surviving models a lot more closely to ensure he got his soldiers. Eber was also under increased scrutiny, as she was known to be close friends with Darius. Still, she played the part of a friend deeply hurt by their friend's betrayal, and while she was being watched, there had been no moves to replace her, especially with the Day of Unity getting closer.

A large number of Oracles from Osran's Coven also defected; he was old enough to be the only Coven Head they'd ever had, and the likely successor had them ready to jump ship to the CATTs. Osran himself was a welcome addition to the rebels too, as not only did he bring recruits, but he offered sage advice that proved very helpful in different situations. He'd been one of the first Coven Heads and had helped Belos unite the Isles and form the Coven System, and a lot the experience he'd gained from back then was helpful to the rebels.

Willow had still felt a little down; her getting carried away in her duel against Hunter had lead to this, but since Osran and his Oracles might not have joined up without the final straw of Belos' and Adrian's plan, the CATTs and her friends didn't feel the need to get angry with her. She was a 15 year old who'd let the adrenaline from a fight get to her; that wasn't unusual. Still, she'd thrown herself into her duties for the CATTs to make up for it, and had spent a huge amount of time with Hanu working on Digale Island's newly constructed farmland. She'd also spent a lot of time with Amity, sparring against the other girl frequently so they could both let off steam and get stronger.

Lucy had also visited Bonesborough once under an illusion, so she could make sure her "Grandpa Osran" was okay, and spent some time hanging out with Gus, who made good on his old promise to show her some fun stuff around Bonesborough. Everyone in town and the CATTs knew who she was despite her disguise, but Darius made it clear the girl was not to be bothered unless she broke the truce, and she was to otherwise be treated like any other kid.

While all this was happening, Luz had been hard at work on the Portal while Rasiel read through the books on the Primordial Wellspring. He felt he was close to finding a way to safely travel through them, while Luz felt like she was moving at a snail's pace…

The Portal Notes had been fully translated thanks to a team effort, and now a team of Luz, Lilith, King, Matt, and Boscha were nearly constantly working on constructing the Portal whenever they were free from school or work. They were making good progress, but it was slow and they were still missing several elements to make a stable portal. Their progress was also slowed by Eda and Raine ensuring they all took regular breaks and days off (which only Luz and Lilith really needed to be reminded to do). It was during this project that Matt discovered that making A Portal was surprisingly easy; a lot of the stuff they needed could be substituted with similar junk or esoteric trinkets that they could find in Eda's shed. To prove this, he had spent a day cobbling together an extremely unstable portal; it hadn't led to the Human Realm and had imploded soon after, but it had still been a portal. The difficult part was refining it into a permanent, portable, and stable portal.

Still, it was proof of progress, and soon after they found themselves hitting their first potential roadblock. It was shortly after breakfast on the first Saturday following the events at HECK, and Luz was in the front yard of the Owl House with King, Hooty, and Matt, pouring over the next step of Philip's notes and the materials they had to hand. Eda and Lilith were stood nearby and chatting with Amity, while Boscha was taking a day off to hang out with Skara and the Banshees. Willow was off working the Digale Island farms with Hanu again, while Gus was currently in Eda's shed, looking through some Human Junk she'd recently found in a Trash Slug. They had a deal that he got first pickings before she put it up for sale, especially since Human Junk was rare without the portal.

"It looks like the door itself had Titan Bile soaked into it as a kind of varnish… and glass veins of blood too." Luz muttered as she looked at the notes. "When the door was active, all the blood focused into that big yellow eye. Come to think of it, the Titan Blood in the Portal Key was inside a yellow eye too."

"What's with those eyes anyway? The messed up portal I made had two wonky ones." Matt frowned.

Luz shrugged; "No idea about the weird ones, but according to Philip's notes, an "Oculus of a Titan" is one of the ingredients needed for the permanent Portal Door… one we don't have."

King shuddered; "You need a Titan Eyeball for this? Creepy! Then again, when you saw visions of my Dad, didn't you say he was missing an eye?"

"Yeah!" Luz nodded; "The flesh and blood eye probably shrank and fossilised into the crystal-looking eye over the years after his passing. Philip must have found it at the skull… but Belos probably has the other one, since he was plotting to make a portal too." she then looked at the notes and saw a diagram of the Portal Key; "The eye on the key looks like it has the same proportions as the eye of Orion's soul when I met him on Titan Trapper Island… I wonder if its related. The notes say the eye on the key formed on its own after the key was completed."

"How's it going over here, Batata?" Amity smiled, walking over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek.

"Not too bad. With time, making the door shouldn't be too big an issue, but we're still missing three major components. The Oculus of a Titan is just one…"

"What are the other two?" Eda asked, deciding to join the kids with Lilith.

Luz looked at the list and replied; "Palistrom Wood to carve the key from, and the Linking Spell from the Collector. Apparently the Collector showed Philip some trick with the Glyphs to link his door through the In-Between Realm to the place he wanted it to go. But Philip's notes on it are weird… he said it was like putting himself into a trance. He didn't remember what he'd done when it was over, but the Portal worked."

Luz's Human Cellphone suddenly began vibrating and the girl stiffened and looked forlornly at the device, before sighing and poking it to make it stop vibrating, then shoving it back in her pocket. Her friends and family looked at her with concern.

"Everything okay, Owlet?" Eda asked.

"Yeah, just a reminder for something I was supposed to do with Mami today. But with the original portal stolen and this one…" she gestured to the wooden door she'd been working on; "…not working yet, I can't go. I guess it's just bumming me out a little." Luz said, not looking at anyone.

It was obvious she was trying to hide how much the situation was really bothering her, so the others decided to be supportive and give her a little space. They'd let her talk about it when she was ready. Amity sat beside Luz and nestled close, while Lilith changed the subject back to the door.

"Well short of raiding the Emperor's Castle to find the Collector's mirror, we can't do much about that second thing yet. But we can get you Palistrom Wood!" Lilith smiled.

"How? Didn't Belos have Hunter and Lucy take it all?" Luz pointed out.

Lilith shook her head; "Not all of it! Dad still has some!"

Both Eda and Luz went a little pale (something Amity noticed immediately, since she hadn't expected that reaction from Luz). King's eyes practically shone though; "Grandpa! Maybe we can go visit him?"

Lilith nodded happily; "Yep! After he came back from his most recent travels and missed us because we were dealing with the Time Pools, Mom took him on a vacation to Palm Stings for a couple of weeks. It's getting cold and that plays havoc on Dad's bones, so Mom took him somewhere warm to relax. I was invited, but I had to stay behind and work."

"So that's why you've been staying at the Owl House again. I'd wondered but was worried you were fighting with Gwen again." Amity said, smiling with relief.

Lilith patted the girl's head, grateful for the concern, then looked to Eda; "Dad is the only person left with Palistrom Wood outside the Emperor's Coven. This is the perfect excuse to go and see him, and let him meet his grand kids."

Eda hesitated, while King ran up to her and pulled on the hem of her dress; "Can we go Mom? Please? I wanna meet Grandpa!"

Luz put a hand on her little brother's skull; "King, Mom is still working through some stuff with Abuelo and the Owl Beast. She might not be ready yet."

The others looked at Luz in surprise; they hadn't expected her to be so hesitant. It was almost like she didn't want to see her Abuelo… Eda was taken by surprise too, but that snapped her out of her worried thoughts. She reached down and ruffled Luz's hair, and pat King's head.

"Thanks Owlet, but Lilith is right. This is the perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone. I'd already promised myself I'd go see Dad and finally hash things out, and this could be my last chance before the Day of Unity." Eda said, sounding a lot more confident and sure of herself than she felt.

Luz gave a little smile in response; "Okay. Then I guess that means we've got our mission for the day. You, Tia Lily, King, and I will all go to visit Abuelo. Matt, could you stick around with Amity, Gus, and Hooty and keep working on the portal?"

Matt grinned and saluted; "You got it, Boss."

Amity opened her mouth to agree, but Lilith spoke first; "Actually, I'd like if it Amity came along too. I'd like Dad to meet my apprentice." she then leaned down and whispered in Amity's ear; "Plus his future Granddaughter-in-law!"

Amity's entire face went as red as a tomato at the obvious implication, making Lilith chuckle softly. Lilith also had other reasons; Luz was clearly not fully herself today and could use her girlfriend's help to make her feel better… plus Lilith really wanted to show the girl off to her Dad. Their bond had grown stronger with every passing day, and there had been multiple occasions where Amity nearly slipped and called Lilith Mom. Lilith was eagerly awaiting the day she'd slip completely and she could finally have that talk with her apprentice/daughter figure.

Naturally, Amity nodded her agreement with her blushing face and they all prepared to head off to visit Grandpa Clawthorne. Luz went to the shed where Gus was still rummaging around to let him know where they were going while King told Rasiel inside the house. To Luz's surprise though, Gus grinned.

"You're going to meet Eda's Pops? Isn't he like the last of the Clawthorne Clan's amazing Palisman Carvers?" Gus asked.

"Yeah, he is. Are you interested in carving Palismen?" Luz asked, tilting her head.

"Normally no, but look at this." Gus said, reaching into his shirt pocket and pulling out his Palisman Emmiline. The little chameleon scurried up his arm to his shoulder and chirped at Luz, who smiled and pet her in return. Gus then pointed to one of Emmiline's crests, which had been broken since before Gus bonded with her.

"Emmie's front crest is still busted from a long time ago, and even after bonding with me it hasn't healed! I know it's bothering her." Gus frowned.

Emmie looked bashful as Luz examined the injury. It was very old and scarred over with what appeared to be dried bark; the Palisman equivalent of Scar Tissue. "I could heal it for you? I'd have to remove the bark, but with a numbing spell it shouldn't hurt."

Gus shook his head; "Nah, I want to be the one to help fix her up. I was thinking that if you were going to get some Palistrom Wood from a Palisman Carver, I could come along too and ask him for help carving a new crest for Emmie."

Luz smiled proudly; it warmed her heart to see Gus trying to help his Palisman by himself. "Let's go ask Mom." she said.

Predictably, Eda was more than happy and the team of five became a team of six. However this left Matt alone with Hooty, which he protested vehemently.

"Luz, you can't leave me alone with him!" Matt whispered, terrified as Hooty loomed nearby with his usual vacant eyes and happy smile.

"Why? Hooty's not dangerous to friends." Luz said, puzzled.

"He ate my last boss!" Matt retorted.

Luz and the listening Amity smirked. Back during the Hexside Club Fair, Eda had forced Luz to take another day off to attend, so she and Amity had decided to found an Azura Book Club. They'd gotten some attention (mostly from students interested in getting closer to the Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles, plus Eileen from the HAS) and some had asked where they could get copies of the books. It was then that Amity had revealed she'd bought her books from a store in Bonesborough, shocking Luz who assumed she'd gotten them from Eda, since the books were human in origin. Amity had argued they were written by a witch, and that had lead to them discovering that the portrait of Mildred Featherwhyle in Amity's book depicted her as a witch instead of a human like Luz's book did. The result was Amity and Luz (along with their perspective book club members) investigating the situation and coming up with wild theories all day. Sadly, it had ended anti-climactically when the Book Store Owner said the books had originally been provided by one "Tibblet-Tibblie Grimm Hammer III", who had gone missing. Luz recognised the name as the real name of the little pig demon Tibbles, and Eileen mentioned Matt had worked for him. One confrontation with the boy (still sick with the Fire Flu at the time) later, and the truth was revealed; Tibbles had been selling Azura books that washed up in the Human Realm and had Tinella Nosa impersonate the author while Matt had been hired to use his art skills to edit the photos.

Amity had been a little peeved at Matt ever since (since she was the only one to fall for Tibbles' scam), and Luz had teased Matt that Hooty ate Tibbles, which is why he went missing. The result was Matt having a crippling fear of the admittedly unsettling Bird Tube.

"Don't worry Matt, I'm sure you'll be fine! You and Hooty will be great friends in no time!" Amity said with a smirk, making Hooty snap his attention to Matt.

The cheerful demon wrapped himself around Matt in a hug, making the boy squeak in fear; "Oh boy, we'll definitely be friends, right Matty?!" Hooty hooted happily.

"P-Please don't call me that." Matt stuttered back.

"Okay! Than I'll call you M-T! That sounds fun!"

Matt groaned; "I literally can't stop you, so whatever."

Amity giggled and Luz reminded Hooty to play nice with his new friend, before they both went to join Eda, Lilith, King, and Gus in getting ready for the trip. The Clawthorne House was just on the other side of Bonesborough so it wasn't far, but Luz knew that with her luck, if anything could go wrong, it would.

With that thought in mind, Luz ignored another reminder message from her cellphone and they all headed off to visit Gwendolyn and Dell Clawthorne!

[Meanwhile]

Hunter and Lucy were rather surprised to find themselves summoned back to the castle from their most recent missions, and asked to report for an audience with Emperor Belos. In the few days since the HECK incident, Belos had been keeping them both busy with missions to different parts of the Isles, overseeing attempts to suppress rebellions that had been emboldened by the CATTs, or checking the construction of Unity Plaza just beneath the Titan's Skull. Both were happy to be kept busy and be allowed to leave the castle, especially after the HECK mission ended in failure. Hunter and Lucy had accurately stated they'd been taken away by the Traitor Darius, but that they'd escaped, which meant they still had Belos' trust… as much as anyone did at least.

However, with all that had happened that day, both of the Emperor's Hands had questioned the man, wanting answers for Adrian's actions and Osran's claims. Hunter still remembered how Belos' expression had become one of anger, and how he and his sister had braced themselves for an outburst, yet shockingly none had come. Belos had calmed himself and answered their questions; Osran had been lying about what he'd seen in the future in order to convince Lucy, who'd become like an apprentice to him, to defect with him and bring Hunter along too. As for Adrian; the young siblings hadn't actually seen the Imperial Orders he'd been given close enough to read them, so Belos explained that the orders had actually just been for Adrian to investigate and ensure there were no signs of brainwashing. Assuming the Emerald Entrails had been free of mind control, they'd have been given the option to refuse joining the Emperor's Coven.

That meant that as far as Hunter and Lucy were concerned, their Uncle hadn't done anything evil. It had all been lies and misunderstandings caused by the Rebels. Hunter tried to be cheerful about that, but something about the whole affair had still been niggling at the back of his head, and Lucy hadn't been convinced at all that Osran was lying. She instead justified it to herself by remembering that predictions of the future are never set in stone, and tried to excuse what Osran saw as the worst case scenario, caused by Adrian being overzealous and brainwashing the Emerald Entrails into loyal citizens, and then her Uncle questioning them without realising that or the oaths of secrecy they'd taken.

Neither Lucy nor Hunter were totally convinced even by their own arguments, but they couldn't bring themselves to further doubt the man who'd saved and raised them after the loss of their respective parents. Especially not when he was being so kind to them lately, even as he kept them at arm's length… "Purely so I don't accidentally hurt you again with my affliction." was the reason Belos had given.

A part of the siblings feared that Belos was only being so kind because he was worried they'd turn traitor too, since they'd admitted that Darius had tried to recruit them. Both wanted to reassure their Uncle that they were loyal, but also wanted to enjoy him being kinder to them, like when they were younger. Come to think of it, a fear of betrayal by those closest to him might be why he was keeping them at a distance too… The two hadn't been alone with him since before HECK.

In fact, this meeting was the first one Belos had summoned them to since HECK, and both children were eager to see what it was about.

They entered the throne room and approached their Uncle, resting in his throne, then knelt before him.

"We are at your command, Emperor Belos." they both said, bowing their heads.

"Ah, I am glad to see you looking well. Thank you for coming so quickly." Belos said kindly, his wizened face bearing a tired smile.

"Of course, Uncle. Do you need us for something?" Hunter asked.

"I do. It's something I can only entrust to the two of you. Your abilities to sneak into places and get out quickly are needed for a vital mission." Belos began, lifting a small chip of blue Palistrom Wood from a bowl beside him. He began to chew it, his face wrinkling with displeasure as he did; "The Palistrom Wood you both collected from Spriggan Manor has been keeping my illness at bay, but we are running low. I have enough for a few weeks, but not enough to last until the Day of Unity. However my spies have been unable to locate any more Palistrom Trees on the Isles, and the Bat Queen's forest remains abandoned. My options are limited."

"Shall I attempt to scry for some Palistrom Wood, Uncle?" Lucy asked.

Belos shook his head; "No need. While they have not found any wood, my spies have discovered that the father of the Owl Lady, Dell Clawthorne has returned to the Isles from a recent excursion. He was a renowned Palisman Carver before an incident with his daughter's curse crippled him. When Lilith was still loyal, she mentioned her father having once had a stockpile of Palistrom Wood and I want to know what happened to it. I also believe the Owl Lady may have stolen wood from Spriggan Manor so her father could use it to grow more, and if he has been successful, our Coven needs to retrieve it."

"I was under the impression the wood was stolen so Luz could carve a Palisman… though come to think of it, she didn't have one with her at Eclipse Lake or in Cartilia." Hunter rubbed his chin in thought. He shook it off quickly and looked back at his Uncle; "So you want us to find and retrieve Dell Clawthorne's Palistrom Wood?"

Belos nodded; "Yes, and if possible, I want you to capture the man himself. There is no greater expert on Palisman Lore since the Bat Queen disappeared. I'm hoping he may be able to find a way to make these…" he held up another wood chip, "… more effective. Or at least more palatable…" the Emperor grumbled that last part.

Hunter nodded immediately, but Lucy frowned; "Doesn't Dell Clawthorne live within Bonesborough's legal borders? Trying to kidnap him or steal from him will break the truce agreement."

"The truce agreement is primarily to keep Bonesborough as a neutral territory. However the CATTs hold such strong influence there that the town is a rebel territory in all but name. Breaking the truce will mean nothing more than the Coven Witches living there being driven out of their homes, though Luz is likely too kind to allow that. And even if that does happen, seeing innocents driven from their homes may shake her faith in the CATTs, and reclaim some of the support we lost with the defection of two Coven Heads." Belos explained casually.

The siblings weren't too sure how to feel about the almost callous way their Uncle spoke of his supporters losing their homes and being used for propaganda against the CATTs, but considering Belos was currently chewing on wood chips again, they chalked it up to his condition bothering him.

"So our mission is to try and recover Dell Clawthorne's Palistrom Wood and capture the man himself if possible?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Between your shadow movement and Hunter's lightning flash magic, you should be able to infiltrate his home, capture him, and escape with minimal fuss. Avoid engaging in fights if possible. This mission requires stealth, so do not take any scouts or subordinates with you." Belos ordered.

His Elites nodded and bowed their heads once more, then Belos dismissed them to begin their mission. They immediately returned to their rooms together, so Lucy could get her staff and Hunter could pick up Flapjack (he didn't dare bring the Palisman to meetings). Lucy got her staff easily, but after a few minutes of Hunter not returning to meet her, she went into his room to see what the delay was about. She found Hunter arguing with Flapjack, the little bird tweeting rapidly and occasionally pulling at the long strand of hair that always hung in front of Hunter's face.

"Hey! Flap, stop it! I know you don't like Uncle, but this is an important mission! We're only getting some wood and an old guy, not any actual Palismen!" Hunter argued.

"Does Flapjack not want to go on the mission?" Lucy asked.

"No, he doesn't want any of us to go. He keeps saying we should leave the Clawthornes alone." Hunter sighed. "But look Flap, I know you don't like it but this is an important mission! Uncle NEEDS Palistrom Wood! I thought the wood we brought back from Terra's place would be enough, but I guess I miscalculated…"

Flapjack tweeted, looking suspicious. Hunter replied; "Yes, I know Uncle is telling the truth! What else would he even need Palistrom Wood for?"

Another tweet was Flapjack's response, and Hunter sighed; "I don't know why you hate Uncle so much… well I guess I do, with the whole Palisman eating thing, but he's stopped that now!"

Lucy watched the two bicker a little bit longer, but even as they bickered, Flapjack had landed on Hunter's shoulder and was preening his hair, while Hunter was petting Flapjack in return. Even when arguing, they clearly cared deeply for each other.

"You know, I'm a little jealous of you two." Lucy said, making both look to her. "You're both so close, and when you fight together as witch and staff, you're so in-sync that you're like one person! It's incredible."

Hunter blushed a little; "Aw, it's nothing much. And Flap does feel like he's a part of me. I guess that comes with him being a Palisman."

Flapjack tweeted in agreement, making Hunter laugh. Lucy felt her jealousy grow; having someone who understood you so deeply must be wonderful. For the longest time, Lucy and Hunter only had each other, but now her big brother had someone even closer to him than she was… It made Lucy feel happy for him, but also left her longing for something like it for herself.

"I wish I had a Palisman…" Lucy admitted in a small voice.

Hunter and Flapjack stared at her for a moment, a sad look in both their eyes. Flapjack then chirped quietly and Hunter grinned; "Great idea, Flap! Lucy, we're going on a mission to steal Palistrom Wood, so why don't we see if we can get a log for ourselves too?"

"B-But they're meant for Uncle!" Lucy gasped.

"Sure they are, but I know Uncle doesn't need that much more wood. He only needs a little more to last until the Day of Unity, I'm sure! So who cares if he gets one less log?" Hunter grinned; "I've always been curious about Palismen, and especially carving them! Maybe I can carve yours for you!"

Lucy beamed; when she'd first been brought to the castle to live with her Uncle, and Hunter had finally warmed up to her, her big brother had taken to carving her little toys out of wood, since Belos didn't see the point in buying such things. Hunter may not be any good with a needle and thread, but with a block of wood and a chisel he could make just about anything! To have a Palisman of her very own, carved by her big brother's own hands? That would be a dream come true!

"You'd really do that for me?" Lucy asked, overwhelmed with emotion.

Hunter nodded; "Of course! I get to fulfil an old dream, you get a Palisman, and Flap here has a friend to hang out with when he needs to hide from Uncle! It's a win-win-win!" Flapjack tweeted, and Hunter rolled his eyes; "And Flapjack insists on you knowing it was his idea."

Flapjack puffed his chest out proudly, and Lucy scooped him up and nuzzled him against her face; "Thank you, Flapjack!" she then hugged Hunter; "And you too, Hunter! You're the best!"

Hunter smiled and ruffled his sister's hair; "I know I am. Now let's go! We've got even more reason to want this mission to go well now!"

With that, the trio left the castle and took flight with their staves, planning to stop in Latissa before travelling the rest of the way via the shadows. However as they flew away from the castle, a pair of hate-filled eyes followed them.

Kikimora, using a pair of stolen binoculars, watched as they flew away from the castle without an escort of scouts for the first time since the fateful day Kikimora had lost everything. The diminutive demon had barely escaped with her life after her attempt to get those two brats and the old fogey out of the way had failed, and now she was a wanted woman across the isles! She'd considered joining the CATTs or one of the smaller rumoured rebel groups, but she'd done a lot of nasty things for the Emperor during her tenure in his coven, and she doubted she'd receive a warm welcome… especially since she'd also nearly killed the Blight Girl, the Owl Lady's weird dog, and the Arch-Angel herself!

Kikimora couldn't even go home, as her loathsome cousins would turn her in to the Emperor in a heartbeat. They'd never gotten along…

And so here Kikimora was, using her knowledge of the area around the castle to find a safe place to hide out while foraging for food and looking for her chance to get revenge. She didn't have much hope of surviving too long, regardless of who won the Civil War, but Kikimora wanted to at least destroy the brats that had ruined her life before she went down! Unfortunately, they were usually well protected and left with escorts of scouts.

But not today it seemed. They were leaving on their own, and Kikimora knew she wasn't likely to get a better chance! As stealthily as possible, Kikimora began to follow the two, using a stolen flying broom. She'd get them if it was the last thing she did!

[Meanwhile]

Luz found herself experiencing a weird case of deja vu as she walked with her Mom and Aunt to the home of her adoptive grandparents. They'd flown most of the way, but once they reached the woods that Gwen and Dell lived in, they'd landed and begun walking, which led to them following almost the same path that they had when in the past with Philip, looking for Evelyn's home. As they walked, Eda decided to actually take the group on a short detour to the old site of Evelyn's home, which was long gone by now.

Upon arriving at the site, they found a large plot of cleared woodland and the remains of a garden wall, including the gate Luz, Eda, and Lilith had once passed through. No other signs of the house or its garden remained.

"This is where I found the portal; buried in the dirt just over there." Eda said, pointing to a random spot. "Evelyn kept her end of the bargain. It's funny though; we're the ones who asked her to do it, but if she'd never done, I might not have found the portal, met Luz, and gone on that whole adventure."

"That makes my brain hurt…" King groaned, rubbing his skull.

"Mine too, buddy." Luz agreed, before looking sadly at what remained of Evelyn's home. "This is kind of sad though… Evelyn's house was so warm and homey. It's sad that it's gone."

"It's the Clawthorne way, Owlet." Eda said. "We like to travel and set down roots in new places. When we leave, if we have no one in the family who could benefit from what we leave behind, then we destroy it so someone else can make use of the space."

"That's right." Lilith nodded; "Maybe Evelyn and Lillian moved away to avoid Philip and destroyed the house afterwards. Or maybe after Evelyn passed, Lillian moved away with a child of her own. We don't know how many generations stayed in this house before they had no one to leave it too. But we do know that some Clawthornes have always lived in this area… there are similar plots of land like this throughout the woods where they lived. At our height, we had a whole mini village of our own out here. But must of us uprooted and left the isles when Belos started his War of Unification. Our Father and Grandparents were the only ones left by the time the Savage Ages came to an end."

Luz and King listened with rapt attention, and even Amity and Gus were fascinated to learn a little more about the enigmatic Clawthornes. Their clan had a reputation for four things; Palisman Carving, their wanderlust, a theme of birds, and being… eccentrics. They'd been well respected before Belos took power, after which the fear of wild magic and all things connected to it made the Clawthornes seem even more like oddities.

Eda eventually sighed and said; "Well, enough putting it off. If we don't go now, I'll chicken out and run away again."

The others smiled and agreed, and followed the Clawthorne sisters along another path towards their childhood home, which was only a short distance from Evelyn's. The path may have been short, but it was poorly maintained and twisting, so it was rather hard to follow it to the house. They soon found it however, discovering a quaint little cottage in a clearing of its own. It wasn't dissimilar in appearance to Evelyn's old home, though it was a bit larger and lacked the impressive garden, instead having a more modest plot of herbs.

"I haven't been here in years, but it still looks the same as ever." Eda commented.

"It took a lot of spring cleaning to get it back up to snuff." Lilith said. "Mom was travelling so long to find a cure for the curse, and Dad was on his own travels, so the house got a little dusty in their absence."

"It's a nice place." Gus looked around; "Real rustic."

"It looks so homey." Amity smiled.

"It is. Well, here goes nothing…" Eda sighed, before taking a deep breath to steel herself and walking up to the front door. She gave it a stiff knock, and the sound of her Mom's voice echoed from inside the house.

"Just a minute!"

A moment later, the door opened and Gwendolyn Clawthorne appeared in the doorway. She opened her mouth to greet the guests, then registered just who had come knocking.

"Witchlet!? And the little ones!" Gwen gasped, having expected Lilith but not Eda and the kids. She also noticed Amity and Gus; "Oh, and the little Dove's girlfriend! I don't think I've met you before though, young man." she said to Gus.

"I'm Augustus Porter, a friend of Luz, King, and Amity. You can call me Gus." the boy introduced.

"Gus! Delighted to meet more friends of my Little Dove and Crow. A Little Crow who has finally come into his wings I see! Witchlet told me about them in her last call, but it's still quite a surprise!" Gwen gushed, kneeling down to pet King's head with one hand while putting the other on Luz's shoulder. She then looked at Luz and frowned; "Are you alright Little Dove? You seem a bit out of sorts."

Luz smiled; "I'm fine, Abuela. We're all decided to tag along with Mom as she visited home."

Gwen didn't look like she fully believed her, but she wasn't going to be pushy like before. Instead she turned to her daughters and gave them each a hug and a kiss on the cheek; "It's wonderful to have you home dears. But Edalyn, you do know your father is here, right?"

Eda nodded shakily; "Yeah, I do. It's why I came… we need Palistrom Wood for Luz's new Portal Key and… and I think it's time I stopped running away."

Gwen gasped softly, then smiled widely as tears built in the corners of her eyes; "Oh Witchlet, your father will be so happy to see you! I'm very proud!"

"Thanks Ma." Eda replied, still looking nervous. "Can we come in?"

"Of course, everyone come inside! Your father is upstairs, but I'll go get him. Oh I cannot wait to see the look on his face!" Gwen grinned, practically as giddy as a school girl as she led the group into the house. The front door opened into a large room that served as the main hub of the house, as well as a dining room. Doors to the kitchen and living room could be found on the back and right walls, while a staircase leading upstairs was in the back left hand corner. Everything was decorated in a very homey fashion; firewood stacked off to the side, family pictures covering the walls, herbs hanging from hooks, and a thousand little knicks and marks in the wood that told the history of the people who lived there. It was a wonderful place, and Luz and Amity both felt a spark of excitement; it looked like the home of the Snowy Crone that became Azura's mentor near the beginning of the first Azura Book!

Gwen immediately made for the stairs, while Lilith told the others to go to the living room while she went to the kitchen to make some tea. Eda then led the kids into the living room, which was a smaller room with a fireplace, shelves of books, some comfy armchairs and couches, and even more family photos. Luz looked around at all of them, seeing Eda and Lilith as young girls of varying ages, as well as Gwendolyn when she was younger. But the pictures she looked at most were of Dell; a handsome looking man with fiery hair like his daughters, tied back in a pony tail and with a good sized beard to match. However, Luz once again felt some deja vu from the golden eyes and slightly hooked nose, as well as the way the hair on top of his head sat. They reminded her of someone… her first thought was Lillian, but while the nose and eyes matched, the hair didn't…

Come to think of it, Lillian had seemed a bit familiar to Luz too, and the young Angel still couldn't figure out why.

Luz was drawn from her thoughts by the return of Lilith, who served a sweet tea for everyone to drink, and even laid out a bowl of strange little green cakes, each the size and shape of a leaf. These weren't for the witches among them however, but rather for the Palismen. Ghost, Emmiline, Owlbert, and Corvanc eagerly tucked into them, supervised from a nearby vantage point by Gwen's Palisman Hawksley. Seeing their Palismen snacking made everyone smile and helped distract Eda from the inevitable reunion. But after only another minute, the living room door opened and Gwen returned, followed by her husband Dell Clawthorne.

One look at him was enough for Luz to see that her Abuelo had aged a lot worse that her Abuela. Gone was the man's fiery red hair, and in its place was a thick, untied mane of snowy white, almost the same shade as Luz's own hair. His beard had grown much longer too, and was now braided into a somewhat complex style with two red bands and what looked like a bird skull of some kind. His clothing consisted of very dark red pants, reddish leather boots, and a grey overcoat with a tan brown belt, and dark brown fur on the elbow-length sleeves and around his neck and shoulders. Red pouches also hung from his belt, and fingerless gloves that reached all the way into his overcoat covered his arms. However, the most striking difference was his scars… Dell had lost his left eye, and had a rather nasty scar running down the left side of his face. Similar scars could also be seen on his hands, peeking out from the sleeves.

Luz gulped; those scars had been inflicted by the Owl Beast… her Mom had told her and King all about why she hid from her own father, so Luz knew all about that horrible incident. Still, seeing the results of it was quite different from just hearing about it… Luz wondered if the bigger beard and sleeves were meant to hide as much of his scarring as possible.

Dell also carried a staff as a walking stick, and perched on his shoulder was his Palisman; a yellow cardinal with a serious expression and a small scar on its beak. Eda had told Luz about the little fellow once; his name was Goldfrey, and her father had often had the Palisman watch his children when they were little so they wouldn't get into mischief, since Hawksley was more of an accomplice than a watcher.

Gwen had obviously kept the identities of their guests a secret, as the moment Dell looked into the room, he saw Eda sitting there nervously and immediately froze. For a moment, there was complete silence as a thousand silent emotions passed between father and daughter, before Dell found his voice.

"Witchlet… Welcome Home." he said softly, a voice thick with feelings.

Eda's eyes began to glisten; "H-Hey Dad. Um, sorry I missed you when you came to visit the other day. There's… there's a lot we need to catch up on." she said, slowly standing up.

Dell nodded, a sad smile on his face; "Still the same old Witchlet, always running about and getting into trouble. I'm surprised to see you here, but I was ever so pleased to hear that you and your mother had reconciled."

"Yeah, it's been crazy. I'm actually sort of a rebellion leader now… not exactly the career path you and Mom probably wanted for me, but I like to think I'm doing good work." Eda said with a half-hearted smirk.

Dell chuckled; "My dear, I think "Rebel" has been your occupation since the day you were born. Now, we have a lot to talk about and catch up on, but before that… can an old man get a hug from his baby girl?"

Eda rolled her eyes and huffed, pretending like she was reluctant. But as she walked into her father's arms and embraced him, everyone in the room could see how tightly she gripped the back of his shirt and how her shoulders began to shake as she hid her face in her father's chest. The rest of the Clawthornes present all beamed with delight, and Luz especially had tears in her eyes, making Amity put an arm around her. There was still a lot going unsaid between Eda and her Dad, but the hug was a first step to rebuilding their relationship.

When they finally pulled apart, Eda kept her face hidden until she'd cast an illusion on herself to fix her make up and hide the obvious signs of her crying. No one was fooled, but no one mentioned it. As she moved to stand beside her father, Dell smiled at the rest of their guests.

"Now, I apologise for neglecting the rest of you! Sweet Flea, it's wonderful to have you home again. I'm sorry we left you alone for two weeks while we went off on vacation." Dell smiled at Lilith.

"Don't worry Dad, I had work anyway. Between the Museum, the CATTs, and my apprentice, I'm quite busy these days!" Lilith replied.

Amity fidgeted upon being mentioned, and Dell smiled at her; "Ah, so this is young Amity Blight. Very nice to meet you my dear; Lilith has told me much about you. You make her very proud as an apprentice, and I hear that isn't all you are to our little family."

Amity blushed; "T-Thank you sir. It's nice to meet you too! Lilith has been teaching me a lot!"

"I'm sure she has. Now, who might this lad be?" Dell looked to Gus.

Gus introduced himself, then made a little illusion of confetti around himself, making Dell chuckle. "Well met, Gus. I'm always happy to meet another of my grandchildren's friends. And speaking of grandchildren…"

He turned to look at Luz and King, who'd stood to greet him properly and now looked a little nervous. Luz had no grandparents from her birth parents (her father had been orphaned in his childhood, and her Mami had been raised by Crest Chastity), and neither did King, so both were excited about meeting their Grandpa.

"Hello, Abuelo. I'm Luz!" the young Arch-Angel introduced.

"And I'm King! Hi Gramps!" the little Titan added, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Ah, so you two are the Little Dove and Crow that my Beloved and Sweat Flea have told me so much about. Come, give your Grandpa a hug." Dell beamed, pure joy radiating from him as he held out his arms. King leapt up into his arms and Luz happily accepted as well, both smiling brightly as they shared their first hug with their Grandfather. When they pulled apart (King flapping his wings so he was hovering at Luz's head height), Dell stroked his beard and looked closely at them both.

"It is truly a delight to finally meet the two of you. I've been so looking forward to it. It was quite a shock to learn I had two Grandchildren all of a sudden, especially for one of those children to be an Angel and another to be a Titan!" Dell smiled. He still remembered how Gwen had nearly screamed the house down when Edalyn had called her to finally tell her the truth about King. It was honestly quite a shock for them both, but Gwen and Dell cared more that Luz and King were healthy, happy, and their family than they did for any bloodlines or species.

He reached out and patted King's head; "You're a strong young lad from what I hear. Discovering how to combine the glyphs of your father and mother to perform spells similar to a witch's magic. You're a little genius, just like your Mom." he praised. He then winked and said; "Truly the King of Grandsons!"

King blushed happily; "Aw! Best Grandpa ever!" he cheered, moving to land on the man's shoulder. Luz was a little worried Dell would topple over, but he was sturdier than he looked. The man chuckled and ruffled King's fur, then turned to Luz.

"And look at you… you're as beautiful as the rumours paint you, my dear." Dell said, cupping Luz's cheek, making the girl blush adorably; "And quite the powerful child too from what I've heard! Truly, I cannot thank you enough for saving your Mother from the Petrification. I was horrified when I heard… I'm so sorry I wasn't on the isles at the time, or I would have helped."

Luz smiled and shook her head; "It's okay, it all worked out! And it's kinda strange hearing someone call me beautiful. I never thought of myself that way…" she admitted.

Amity huffed; "I call you beautiful at least five times a day!"

"Yeah, but you're my awesome girlfriend! It's different when you do it." Luz argued.

The others laughed, and Dell ruffled Luz's hair affectionately; "Oh, you remind me of myself and Gwen back in the day. No matter how often she insisted I was handsome, I never quite believed her. Still, she married me so I suppose I can't be too bad." he said, stroking his beard with a knowing grin. "When you see your Mami next, be sure to pass along my compliments; she helped raise a fine young lady."

Luz's face fell for a moment and everyone was surprised to see her eyes start to glisten with tears, but before anyone could say a word, Luz rubbed her face and smiled again; "Thanks, Abuelo. I've never had a Grandfather before, but I think I agree with King; you're the best!"

Dell chuckled again; "Now now, flattery will get you nowhere. I think I owe you and your brother enough presents and spoiling to make up for lost time as it is! Though that reminds me; your Grandma told me that you carved a Palisman with Edalyn. May I see them?"

Luz nodded, and summoned her satchel where she kept her Palisman Egg. She pulled them out and carefully unwrapped them from the scarf she was using to keep it warm; "Here they are. I haven't been able to make them hatch yet, but I polish them every day before bed, and I talk to them a lot and make sure to keep them warm."

Dell gently took the egg, his hands tremoring slightly, and examined it closely; "Hmm, very well carved. You and your Mom did a good job. Though if they haven't hatched yet, then there must still be something inside you that's keeping you from forming a proper connection. Some personal demons to overcome."

"I-I guess. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with my life after Belos is dealt with. I've got ideas but nothing more." Luz admitted, accepting her egg back. She carefully bundled them back up and kissed them, then whispered something softly and placed them back in her satchel. "But we didn't come all this way for my problems! We came to see you, and so you and Mom can talk things out!"

Eda flinched and quickly added; "Well we also came to see if Dad had some Palistrom Wood so you could make a Portal Key!"

Despite gathering the courage to come to her childhood home and face her father, as well as the warm welcome she'd gotten from him, Eda was still trying to put off talking about what happened in the past. She knew she had to at some point today, but in her mind, later was better!

The rest of the group gave her knowing looks, noticing the blatant redirects from both Luz and Eda, but none of them called either of them on it. Instead, Dell just smiled understandingly.

"You always were the type to put things off to the last minute, Witchlet. But that's fine; I'm happy to help." he turned back to Luz with a more serious expression; "Since Edalyn regularly calls your Grandma now, and Lilith speaks to us both when she's home, I know pretty much everything that has been happening, including Belos getting your portal. If I can help by giving some of my Palistrom Wood, then I'll happily do so."

Luz smiled brightly; "So you do have some leftover from your carving days?"

Dell hummed, then stroked his beard with a knowing grin; "I'd say I have more than a few leftovers. In fact, why don't I show you all what I've been working on in recent years."

"A secret project?" Lilith asked, not having heard of anything like it from him since moving back home.

"Indeed. I've been waiting for when I could get you and Edalyn to visit together again, since I wanted you both to see what I've been working on. It's easier to show you all than explain, so follow me." Dell said, walking out of the living room with King still on his shoulder.

His daughters and the kids all followed him, while Gwen decided to stay behind and start making some lunch for everyone, since she'd already seen his big secret. Dell led them out of the house and then deeper into the woods, towards a large plateau. Luz looked at it curiously; the forest on the east side of Bonesborough, where the Clawthornes lived, had a large plateau on the southern side that stretched across several acres of land, and which was surrounded by the forest. The plateau was registered as a nesting ground for an endangered species of Minor Dragon, known as a Grass Drake, and so the Beast-Keeping Coven had made the whole plateau a no-go zone and placed an invisible barrier to stop people landing on it. Not long after learning to fly, Luz had fallen afoul of the barrier when she tried to explore the place, and she'd not been eager to try again.

Dell led them directly to this plateau and switched Goldfrey to staff mode before pointing him at a seemingly random part of the plateau's side. In a flash, a doorway appeared which Dell promptly unlocked with a small key hidden inside the bird skull he used to tie up his beard.

"Cool, a secret door hidden by an illusion!" Gus grinned.

"If you think this is cool, then let me show you what's inside." Dell said mysteriously. He threw open the door and led the group through a very short tunnel, until the emerged into a forest grove. However, it was immediately obvious that this was no normal grove; the trees within were all covered in blue bark and had greenish blue leaves, marking them as Palistrom Trees. Everyone gasped as they looked around at what was hundreds of Palistrom Trees, all growing tall and healthy. Eda looked up and saw the sky above them, but based on how large the plateau was and how short the tunnel had been, they had to be inside it!

"What is this? Is the plateau an illusion? Or was that door some kind of portal!?" she asked incredulously.

"The former, Witchlet." Dell said, pleased by everyone's amazed expressions. "I hollowed out the original plateau with some help from a friend in the Construction Coven, then had another from the Beast-Keeping Coven label this place a no-go zone to keep people away, and a third friend from the Illusion Coven covered the place with a permanent illusion, so everyone outside would see it as a regular plateau, with the occasional Grass Drake roaming about on top. In reality, the plateau is now just a circular ring of rock that serves as a border between the regular forest and my second greatest creation; the Palistrom Grove!"

Everyone gaped; they'd expected Dell to have a few leftover logs, or maybe even a whole tree, but this? This was well beyond their wildest dreams! There was enough wood to carve a Palisman for every person on the Isles!

"Man, if I'd just screwed up the courage to come here earlier, we never would have had to tangle with Terra and her creepy coven!" Eda muttered. A part of her regretted that, but another part thought of Terra becoming a recluse, and the Owl Beast revealing the truth of its existence to her… Eda didn't want to give up either of those experiences.

"I think the effort made it more special." Luz comforted, "Plus we got Hanu away from Terra thanks to that, and she's been a Titan-send for the plants back on Digale Island."

Eda snorted and grinned; "True! But how did you make all this, Dad?"

Dell smiled sadly; "After my injury, I knew I couldn't be a Palisman Carver any more. But I still wanted to do my bit to preserve the Way of the Palisman. So I decided to cultivate this forest. My friends and I prepared this place over the space of only a few months. I had wanted to bring my daughters here to plant the first Palistrom Seed together, but you ran away before I could, and Lilith shut herself off soon after."

Eda and Lilith both looked away out of guilt, but Dell walked over to them and gently pointed their faces back at him; "None of that. I understand why you both did it, and I hold no grudge. I've waited the better part of two decades to show you both this, since I wanted you to be together. This forest is also the reason for my travels; I scoured the island for Palistrom Seeds… I had only one when I started, but the Bat Queen provided me with a few more when I told her my plans. But Palistrom Trees do not produce seeds until they are nearly fifty years old, so I had to sail beyond the Boiling Isles to find others."

Amity gasped; "So you've been travelling the world to find more Palistrom Seeds!?"

"Indeed. They aren't as rare beyond our borders, but they are still uncommon and fiercely guarded. I saw many places in my travels; lands built on other Titans, and continents that weren't made from Titans at all. I've met many people, and after helping some and befriending others, they gifted me the seeds I needed. This is the result of my twenty years of work." Dell declared, gesturing grandly at his grove.

"Incredible…" Luz breathed, completely entranced by the forest of blue.

King nodded in agreement, then asked; "But wait, if this is the second greatest creation, then what's your first?"

Dell smirked; "Why, my daughters of course! I think you'll agree they're a tough act to follow!"

Eda and Lilith both blushed, while the kids grinned at them. "Dang it Dad, don't get all sappy in front my kids! I'll be hearing it from them for weeks!" Eda complained.

"Only because we'll tell Titi and they won't let you forget it." Luz teased.

"It's a little embarrassing to be considered superior to something as grand as this grove." Lilith began, "Especially considering the things I've done…"

"We're both in that boat, sister." Eda grumbled.

Amity rolled her eyes; "I think the only people left who haven't forgiven you two yet are yourselves!"

Dell nodded in agreement, then grinned cheekily; "They are both infuriatingly stubborn. They get that from their mother."

"DAD!" the sisters protested, making everyone laugh. Even Eda and Lilith laughed after a moment, just happy to be enjoying a family moment again.

The little group then spent some time exploring the Palistrom Grove as Dell told them a few stories of his experiences outside the Isles and eagerly asking questions about his grandchildren. He also seemed to include Amity among that number, taking a big interest in her, though Amity wasn't entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because she was Luz's girlfriend? He didn't neglect Gus either, but the boy was more interested in hearing stories of Dell's travels than talking about himself. Noon soon came and instead of calling everyone back to the house, Gwen came out to the grove with picnic supplies, declaring that it was a nice day out and they should celebrate the reunion of their family with a proper picnic, as they often had in the past. The kids eagerly agreed, and so Dell lead them to a nice grassy clearing in the grove where they could sit and enjoy Gwen's home-cooked food.

It was while they were enjoying this meal that Dell took note of the others Palismen. He'd already petted Owlbert and Corvanc, but now he turned his attention to Ghost and Emmiline… and shockingly, he knew their names already.

"You two are both doing well, I see." Dell said, feeding them some more of those Palisman snack cakes. "I haven't seen you two for quite a while! In fact, I think it's been over a year for you, Ghost."

"You've met Ghost and Emmiline!?" Amity exclaimed.

"Of course. I first met them both years ago, when I went to the Bat Queen's forest in search of seeds. I spent a lot of time with the Palismen; as a former carver, I'm seen as something like an Uncle to them." Dell explained. "The last time I visited, before the Bat Queen abandoned the forest for her new hideaway, was a few months ago. It wasn't long after that dreadful Mandragora attack. I was very surprised to hear that Ghost bonded with someone and left the forest; I thought this picky kitten would never accept another witch. I'm glad to see I was wrong."

Amity smiled as she watched Dell pet Ghost a bit, before the cat trotted over and curled up on Luz's lap. That was both a good thing and a bad thing; good because Luz loved it and Amity loved that her Palisman got along with her girlfriend, but bad because Ghost tended to only do it if she was invited to by Luz… If Luz didn't invite her first, then it usually meant Ghost could sense Luz was upset about something.

Dell, unaware of this, then turned his attention to Emmiline. He gently scratched a finger down her back, making her chirp happily. However the sight of her broken crest made him frown. "Still hasn't regenerated I see… I suppose the injury is old enough for the wood to scar."

Gus nodded; "That's part of why I came. I wanted to make a new crest for her! Would it be okay to take some wood to carve? The crest is small, so I only need scraps or twigs."

"Of course. There's plenty of wood you can use, so long as your careful in harvesting it. Though you'll need to ask Lilith or Edalyn to teach you how to properly carve." Dell said, holding up his scarred hands which were still trembling slightly; "My hands aren't fit for purpose any longer."

Everyone present knew how that had come about, and a grim mood descended on their picnic. Eda in particular bit her lip, trying to think of a single thing to say… She and her curse had cost her father his dreams and career. Dell had loved being a Palisman Carver and Explorer, almost as much as he'd loved his family, yet one bad moment had taken all that from him. The nerve damage in his arms kept him from safely carving, and recovering from the injuries had taken time and that meant he'd lost his chance to go on the expedition to the Mandible. He'd lost so much because of her and her curse, and even the knowledge that she hadn't meant to do it and the Owl Beast had been a frightened animal did little to lessen her guilt.

Unable to take the silence any longer, Eda scarfed down the rest of what was on her plate, then abruptly stood up. "I'm going to, uh, take a walk. Around the grove. Be back in…eh, later."

Before anyone could argue, she walked off as fast as she could, disappearing into the trees. Owlbert went to fly after her, but Dell reached out and gently held him. "No, Owlbert. I should be the one to handle this. Let me go talk to her."

Dell slowly got to his feet; "The rest of you enjoy the meal; I need a few minutes with my daughter."

"Dad…"

"Dell…"

Lilith and Gwen both watched sadly as the man walked off into the woods in search of Eda. They both knew this talk was something those two sorely needed… with the future so uncertain, they needed to put the past behind them. Gus kept quiet, seeing as he had no place getting involved in their family business, while Luz, Amity, and King were all left to think about the situations with their own dads. King who'd never gotten to know his, Amity who'd only recently started having a positive relationship with hers, and Luz who'd lost her own father too soon.

"I hope those two can make up. I know how much it meant to me for Dad and I to finally start being a proper family with Edric and Emira… Maybe this'll help them both heal old wounds." Amity sighed sadly.

"Yeah. Mom and Grandpa will get along again, I know it. Grandpa is getting kinda old; who knows how long he has left…? Mom would regret it if she couldn't make things better with him before he was gone." King said.

Gwen chuckled; "We're not that old yet! We all just aged a little prematurely because of the stress of everything. We're in our sixties, so we've got another 30 years in us if we stay healthy!"

The others smiled at that, though Luz remained in her own little world. King's words had unintentionally picked at an old wound… one never knew when the people they loved might leave their lives forever, and it's all too easy to end up with regrets and words left unsaid. Luz didn't want her Mom to live with any such regrets.

Her phone buzzed again and Luz felt a pain in her chest. She turned off the buzzing and hugged Ghost to her chest, hiding her face in the cat's white fur. The others looked at her with concern and Amity stroked her back, waiting for Luz to be willing to share her problems with her.

Meanwhile, Eda had ended up breaking into a sprint the instant she was out of sight of the others. She didn't know where she was running to or what she planned to do when she got there, and she hated that it felt like she was running away again, but she just couldn't help it. Seeing her dad's trembling hands and hearing once again that he couldn't do what he loved because of her was just too much. She ended up running all the way to the dead centre of the grove, were the largest Palistrom Tree had been grown. It towered over the others, and nearly peeked above the plateau walls. The roots kept other trees from growing too close, so it was almost like the large tree had its own little clearing.

Sighing, Eda sat herself down on one of those roots. "Great job, Owl Lady. You ran away again… when did I become such a coward…?"

"I wouldn't call you a coward."

Eda shrieked in surprise and turned to see Dell descending into the clearing atop his staff. He smiled at her kindly as he landed and dismounted, then stood in front of her and the root she sat on. "May I sit with you?"

Eda said nothing, averting her eyes from him. She did shuffle along a little though, making room for her father to sit beside her. He did so, then looked up at the canopy above. The sunlight was streaming in between the leaves, creating a shower of gold that left countlessly little spots of light all over the ground and the two Clawthornes.

"This tree is the first one I planted. The one I'd wanted to plant with you and Lilith. I might have spoiled it a bit, so it grew quite large." Dell smiled proudly, patting the root he sat on.

"But you couldn't plant it with us because I ran away… just another thing I ruined…" Eda shook her head miserably.

"Witchlet, this has been going on for twenty years. This pain you're holding on to is not healthy." Dell sighed; "So much has happened in these years… you disappear from Bonesborough and the next thing I know, you're fixing up my old tower and building your own home in front of it. Before I know it, the only way I can see you is on a wanted poster! And then there's the petrification ceremony… I cannot tell you how it tore my heart out to return to the isles and learn what had happened. To learn you'd almost turned to stone forever, with all that pain still twisted up inside you. Without me having said what I wanted to say to you since the day you ran away…"

Eda hugged herself; "After all I've done… after all I've ruined… why did you keep coming back to see me? No matter how many times I ran away and snubbed you, even after hurting you like I did, why did you keep coming back? Why couldn't you just give up on me?"

"Because you're my daughter and I love you." Dell said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Not once in my entire life have I regretted having you as my child. And what kind of parent wouldn't chase after their child who is so clearly hurting? If Luz had run away back to the Human Realm, can you say honestly that you wouldn't follow her and try to bring her back into your life? Even if she ran or hid from you, wouldn't you keep going anyway?"

Eda gasped softly as her father's words lost some of their kindness and he let out more of his frustration. It was only a small amount by most people's standards, but for Dell it was quite a surprise. "Believe me, there were times I thought about giving up. Times I thought; "I'm getting too old for this, I can't keep chasing her." or "This is Edalyn's decision, I can't be selfish and force her into a meeting she doesn't want." Yet despite it all…"

The man shook his head, then gently reached out and grasped his daughter's hand in one of his own; "… I couldn't stop. I wanted to ease your pain… I wanted to make our family whole again. But most of all, I wanted to correct the greatest mistake of my life."

Eda looked at him with surprise; "Your greatest mistake…?"

Dell nodded sombrely; "Yes. The one thing I regret most about my time being your father. Do you remember the day after the incident? When we spoke in the hospital? What I said to you?"

The woman looked down, unable to meet her father's eye. She nodded, and in a small voice she said; "You said that it was alright. That you forgive me."

Dell nodded; "I did. And that is something I should never have said."

A flash of pain entered Eda's heart, but she had no argument to make; Dell was right. "Yeah, you shouldn't have… I ruined your life. How could I deserve forgiveness…?"

"No!" Dell snapped, pulling Eda closer to him and putting his hands on her shoulders. Eda's shoulders shook, and she tried to convince herself it was just her dad's trembling hands, and not her own sobs trying to break free.

"No." Dell repeated, more softly this time; "What I said was wrong, not because you were unworthy of forgiveness… but because there was nothing to forgive."

Eda's eyes widened, but before she could protest, Dell kept speaking; "Witchlet, you were a child only a little older than your own daughter. You were inflicted with a curse through no fault of your own, and the curse flared up. No action you took caused this to happen. You were never to blame for what happened that day… but by offering forgiveness as I did, I inadvertently reinforced the idea that it was your fault."

"But-!" Eda began, but her father pressed a shaking finger to her lips.

"Edalyn, answer me honestly. What could you have done to prevent this from happening? What mistake did you make to cause this?" Dell asked seriously.

Eda opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She closed her mouth and opened it again, as if trying to force the words out, but still none came. What could she have done? Stayed up late so Lilith couldn't sneak in and curse her? Tell Lilith from the start that she was going to refuse to duel her? Not come down to dinner that night? Not hugged her own father when he got home?

None of the things she did were bad things. She hadn't been able to control the curse; she had no Elixirs yet, and the Owl Beast was still too new to her body and too frightened and angry to speak to, even if she'd known she was a living thing back then. It slowly dawned on Eda that there truly was nothing she could have done, and it must have been obvious on her face too, as Dell smiled and began to gently stroke her hair.

"Do you see now? There was never anything to forgive. You were arguably the only person in our family not at fault for that whole affair." Dell said; "When I first came home, your mother and sister told me everything that happened. How Lilith had cursed you… my Sweet Flea and I had a long talk about all that. To her, I did offer forgiveness and understanding. I didn't realise how much I was neglecting her; like your mother, I saw her as independent and capable, without the need for her Daddy to give her guidance. I didn't see how leaving like I did and throwing myself into this project meant I wasn't paying enough attention to your mother, letting her get scammed by that Wortlop."

Tears began to fill his eyes; "I failed you and your sister as a father, and your mother as a husband. Your mother failed you girls too, and Lilith failed you as a big sister. But each of us have to move forward and let the hurt inside us go. The past is the past, and all we can do is learn from it. We have all forgiven each other, just as I know you've forgiven us too. And while we have still got a while before we can forgive ourselves… my beloved Edalyn, you alone need to know there is nothing to forgive."

The tears slipped down his face, and Eda found herself biting her lip even harder, tears streaming down her own cheeks as her body shook with repressed sobs. After all the years of pain and guilt and self-loathing, the knot that had twisted up inside her was beginning to loosen. Dell held his arms open, a wordless invitation to his daughter, and unable to contain it any longer, Eda broke down into sobs and threw herself into her father's arms, crying her heart out as they embraced. Dell cried too, even as a smile pulled at his lips.

"You've done more than enough, my Edalyn. Let it all out… let it all go. Let old wounds heal, and old scars fade." he whispered in her ear whilst rubbing her back.

However as Eda sobbed, she began to feel the Owl Beast stirring within her. She gasped and pulled away, very nearly throwing her Dad away from her. Looking down at her arms, Eda saw feathers beginning to emerge.

"No! No no no no no no no! Please, not now!" Eda cried, falling to her hands and knees as the Owl Beast pushed harder against her, trying to emerge. "You've been calm this whole time! We made peace! So why now!? Please, any time but now!"

She reached into her hair for one of her stored Elixirs, but Dell reached out and held her hand, stopping her.

"D-Dad!? You need to get away from me before I hurt you!" Eda cried, one of her eyes turning black.

Dell shook his head; "No, Edalyn. This is something we both need to face. Your mother told me that the Owl Beast is intelligent, right? That she can understand us? Well I think she's been listening from behind your eyes. I think she wants to come out and see me."

"W-What!? How can you think that!?" Eda yelled.

"Call if a hunch. Owl Beast, if you can hear and understand me, then listen! If you truly mean me or my daughter no harm, and simply wish to come out so we can speak face to face, then stop your struggling for a moment. You don't need to force your way out and break the trust you formed with Edalyn!" Dell shouted, his good eye focused on Eda's black one.

To Eda's immense shock, the Owl Beast stopped her thrashing. She went still within Eda's body, not retreating back and undoing the partial transformation, but not pushing forward and trying to emerge any more. She went still, and Eda felt the soft hand of Luz's blessing soothing the rough edges where Eda stopped and the Owl Beast began.

"Y-You really just want to see my Dad?" Eda whispered.

Feelings of regret and guilt filled Eda, and the memory of the Owl Beast being rejected by her own mother flashed through Eda's mind. Was the Owl Beast trying to come out so she could apologise? Was she trying to further its bond with Eda by making amends in her own way? It would explain the sudden attempt to escape… the Owl Beast was an intelligent animal, but she was still an animal, so she likely didn't fully understand why forcing her way out in such a way was damaging their bond.

"Owl Beast… I'm going to let you out." Eda decided, praying to the Titans, the Seraphim, and anyone else who would listen that this wasn't going to backfire terribly. "Please don't hurt my Dad. I won't be able to say its not my fault this time, since I let you out."

She got feelings of agreement in return, and Eda took a deep breath and met her father's eye; "Well Dad, here we go. I hope you're right about this…"

Dell smiled and nodded; "I am, I'm sure of it. The Owl Beast is part of you now, and I like to think I know my daughter quite well."

Eda gave one last smile, then allowed the Owl Beast to overtake her. The transformation was usually painful without Elixirs in her system to numb the pain, but since Eda wasn't resisting, it came painlessly this time and she soon transformed into the form of the Owl Beast. In fact, for the first time ever, her transformation was perfect and even her face was replaced by the face of the Owl Beast.

Dell watched as the Owl Beast let out a quiet screech as she stretched her large body. His heart was beating wildly and he found himself breathing hard, his old wounds stinging at the sight of the creature. Even now, so many years later, seeing the Owl Beast still brought him back to that night when everything had fallen apart. A deep seated primal fear within him made Dell want to scream and run away, but he needed to do this… so they could all put the past behind them!

He began to slowly inhale, then exhale just as slowly until his heart calmed down, then reached out to the Owl Beast. She had stopped stretching and was now watching him carefully, and upon seeing the hand reaching for her, she lowered her head and gently pressed her head against it. Dell gasped quietly, then sighed with relief.

"So you really are intelligent… I think you and I have a bit to talk about too." Dell said, before frowning; "I don't want to lie; I hated you for a long time. You took my career and dreams from me. You took my youngest daughter from me, and drove my wife on a mad hunt to remove you. Your presence caused my eldest daughter to seclude herself from me out of guilt. For so long, I wanted to rip you from Eda and destroy you…"

The Owl Beast looked him in the eye, and Dell saw his own scarred face reflected in those black orbs. He sighed; "But it wasn't all your fault. Not really. You're not a curse, you're a living being that was sealed in a scroll by some otherworldly monster, then trapped inside a young girl that was terrified of you. You tried to escape and be free; I can't fault you for that. My daughters and wife acted the way they did of their own free will; you didn't make them do it. Your presence may have caused all this, but you didn't want to be here any more than we wanted you to be here."

Dell reached into his pocket and pulled out a magic party popper, just like the one that he'd used all those years ago. It had been this that set off the Owl Beast's attack on him.

"For a long time, I wondered why you attacked so viciously. I thought maybe Edalyn was just stressed and couldn't hold you back; her father was going away for a while after all. But then you showed Edalyn your memories, and she told her mother and sister, who then told me, and now I think I understand. When that monster, that "Huntsman", captured you… he used something like fireworks to attack you, didn't he?" Dell asked.

The Owl Beast shrank in on herself, giving a little bark of fear and shame, edging away from the party popper.

Dell felt his heart ache; "You attacked me because when you saw me use this, you didn't actually see me. You saw the Huntsman. Your trauma made you lash out in fear, didn't it?"

The Owl Beast gave another little bark, quieter than the last. It seemed to be one of agreement. Dell saw this and then slowly placed the party popper on the ground and backed away a step.

"If that thing caused you stress and pain, then do with it what you will." Dell offered.

There was no need to say it twice; the Owl Beast immediately leapt at the thing and tore it to shreds with her beak and claws, while the magic inside her caused the remains to decay into nothingness. Once it was gone, the Owl Beast sat up and barked with relief, making Dell smile.

"A little second hand catharsis. I can't give you the Huntsman, but I could at least give you this." he said; "Now, I said these words to Eda once, though I shouldn't have. Instead, I should have said them to you from the beginning; I forgive you. Both for your sake and my own, I forgive you for attacking me. I am also sorry, for frightening you all those years ago."

The Owl Beast looked at him for a long moment, then slowly nudged him with her head until she'd forced him to sit back down on the root. She then lay beside him and rested her large head on his lap as she gently preened his beard. It was a gesture of both apology and forgiveness. Dell laughed and pet her head, reminded of when Eda had been a little girl sitting on his lap and playing with his beard. The Owl Beast then closed her eyes and she began to glow, before shrinking back down to the form of Eda's Harpy Mode.

Eda opened her eyes with a soft gasp, and looked up at her father; "D-Dad?"

"Hello again, Witchlet. The Owl Beast and I had a nice talk; I think things will be alright now." Dell smiled.

His daughter chuckled tiredly and got to her feet, still in Harpy Mode; "That's an understatement if ever I heard one. The Owl Beast has calmed down completely." she said, putting a hand to her chest. To her surprise, the knot of guilt and pain she'd felt loosening throughout her talk with her Dad had finally come undone completely. It felt like she'd awoken from a long slumber and a very old pain had finally begun to fade.

Dell felt similarly; facing the Owl Beast and letting go of his old grudge towards it had been liberating, and it had clearly helped his daughter too. He smiled at Eda; "I'm glad to hear she's doing well. Speaking of doing well, that new form of yours is quite extraordinary! I imagine Raine must be quite smitten!"

Eda smirked; "Their face was all dopey and lovestruck for a while after seeing it for the first time."

Dell chuckled, and before either of them knew it, the two were laughing together just as they had over twenty years ago. When they stopped and Eda returned to her normal form with a whispered thanks to the Owl Beast, Eda hugged her father once again.

"Thanks Dad. For everything. I think I needed this more than I realised." Eda said earnestly.

"We both did. Thank you for gathering the courage to come and see me, and for bringing along my adorable grandchildren!" Dell replied, "Now I think it's time we both leave the past in the past. Life's too short to get caught up on the parts we've already lived, instead of the part we're living."

Eda nodded in agreement; "Yeah, I think I'd like that. Besides, now that King and Luz have met you, they'll want to see you more often! Every time I call Mom, at least one of them will pop out of nowhere to tell me to say Hi from them!" she laughed.

Dell chortled; "Marvellous! I wasn't joking when I said I had a several years of spoiling them to catch up on!" he stood up and grabbed his walking staff; "Shall we get back to them? I'm sure they're worried about us."

"Yes. But first… I wanted to ask you something." Eda began, looking nervously at her father's hands. "Would it be alright if I ask Luz to take a look at your hands? She's an amazing healer; I'm sure she could heal them! Heck, if she can't heal them normally, she could chop 'em off and regrow them!"

The old man's eyes widened; "That's rather alarming!"

"Luz has done it before, as Mom probably told you. She let her own hand get cut off so she could remove the sigil Belos branded her with. The CATTs have actually been considering it as a way of getting rid of the sigils on some of our members too." Eda reached into her hair and pulled out a gross looking black potion; "I even made this to completely deaden the nerves in the arms so it wouldn't hurt." Eda explained.

"I'm surprised you found such a way to get around Belos' sigils!" Dell exclaimed.

Eda nodded; "We thought Luz was a special case at first, but then some others burned their sigils off with acid. We haven't figured out a way to get them off without hurting the patient or rewriting it with another sigil. But when we researched it more, we ended up having to order everyone not to try and remove the sigils on their own yet."

"Why is that?" Dell asked.

"Removing the sigils violently seems to damage the victim's magic. Raine, my pal Morton, and a few others all got theirs removed, but it resulted in them losing about a third of their magic and weakened their hearts. The weakening of the heart isn't too serious; it only causes some minor chest pains if they try to push their magic too far, but we don't want to risk it until we know more, and we can't afford for our entire force to lose a third of its strength." Eda explained grimly. If Raine hadn't already given up most of their magic because of the curse and relied on Luz's blessings, they'd have lost a lot of power.

Dell frowned upon hearing this; "And what of Luz? Is she okay?" He feared she'd also been effected… he already had one hell of a bone to pick with Belos, but if he'd stunted Luz's magic with his sigil stunt, Dell would burn down his castle with his own hands!

Thankfully Eda smiled and nodded; "We examined Luz thoroughly and she's in fine health; no weakness in her magic or her heart. We're not sure if its because she didn't have her sigil for as long, or if the sigil was different from normal, or if Luz's angelic biology meant it effected her differently, or some other reason. But the bottom line is that she's A-Okay."

"Thank the Titan." Dell sighed with relief, before perking up a bit; "Back to your request; if Luz is willing to give healing me a shot, then I will happily agree to let her try. But if she does end up needing to regrow my hands, I'd rather it not be her who removes them."

"Got it. I'll ask Lilith to do that part." Eda decided.

Her father agreed, and the two walked back to the clearing where the others still waited. They arrived to find the meal over and everyone just chatting together; Amity had been drawn into a talk with Lilith and Gwen, while Gus was playing with King while all the Palismen sat around Luz, save for Ghost who was actually resting on Luz's lap. Eda frowned upon seeing Luz just quietly watching the others; it was unusual for her to sit out and there was no way the others would exclude her. Come to think of it, she'd noticed Luz had been off all morning, but she insisted she felt fine so Eda had no choice but to believe her.

Luz was the first to notice they were back, and smiled at them; "Hey Mom, Abuelo. Did you have a good talk?" she asked.

Eda nodded; "We did, Owlet. Your Gramps and I had a big long talk and got everything out of our systems. You don't need to worry about it any more."

Luz and the others all smiled brightly. Gwen and Lilith looked especially pleased; "Thank the Titan! It may have taken twenty years, but we can finally all bury the past and be a family again!" Gwen said.

"Yes. It'll be nice for all of us to have a fresh start. I never imagined we'd all get to be together like this." Lilith added.

"I'm happy for you, Lilith." Amity smiled, patting her mentor on the back.

"I'm happy for you guys too. Not all families can get along, so it's great that you can." Gus added.

King nodded enthusiastically; "Yes! We will be the Kings of Families! When we finish the portal, we need to get everyone to visit the Human Realm, with Tia Cammie and Vee! I want to have a BIG family dinner! The neighbourhood will tremble before our familial love!"

Luz giggled and scratched her little brother's skull; "You said it, King." she then stood up and approached Eda and Dell; "We're all glad you and your Dad could work things out. As a kind of celebration, I was thinking I could…" she looked meaningfully at Dell's hands, making both him and Eda smile.

"Actually, I'd already suggested to Dad that you try and heal him up. Do you think you're up to it?" Eda asked.

Luz nodded; "I'll fix his hands, I'm sure of it. Even if I have to remake them from scratch! But the eye…"

Healing scar tissue wasn't really possible unless it was removed first; Healing Magic tended to only heal things that the body considered to be "wrong", such as wounds, sicknesses, and other such problems. But by the time it had scarred over, the body had adapted to its new circumstance and no longer considered itself injured, even if there was still obvious improvements that could still be made. This was a limitation of all Healing Magic regardless of origin, meaning Luz would have to essentially re-inflict the wounds Dell suffered so she could heal them properly, or simply remove the damaged area from him entirely and make them from scratch… easy to do with extremities like the hands, but not something like his face.

Eda frowned at the idea that Luz might not be able to fix her Father's eye, but Dell himself didn't seem bothered; "I'm accustomed to having one eye, and I can see perfectly fine with it. It is my dominant one anyway, so if restoring the other one is going to be a problem, then I wouldn't worry. If my hands are restored, I can become a carver again with just one eye."

Luz smiled; "Then I can definitely do that much! But with injuries that old, I'm going to have to remove your original hands and it could be a little unpleasant even with numbing magic."

Eda pulled out the black vial of Nerve Deadening Potion; "No worries Owlet, this'll keep his arms immune to pain for about twenty minutes, and minimise bleeding." she turned to Lilith; "Lily, I want you to be the one to do the amputating."

No one objected to that and Lilith didn't even ask for an explanation, assuming this was part of her penance for everything that she'd done. She wasn't keen to chop off her Dad's hands, but it was necessary to restore his dream and his career.

The trio of Luz, Dell, and Lilith moved a little away from the others and turned so that they wouldn't be exposed to the sight of blood and gore. Dell drank down the potion Eda had given him and waited for a minute, before all feeling in his hands completely disappeared. Lilith conjured a small knife and nicked his finger with it to make sure he felt no pain, then once she was satisfied, she nodded to Luz and prepared a blade of magic. Everyone watched on with apprehension as Lilith raised the blade carefully, then brought it down on one of Dell's wrists. Dell didn't so much as grunt as his right hand fell from his body, and Luz quickly shot a powerful red light beam at it to disintegrate it into nothingness. She then immediately conjured her Crystal Healing Lotus and began to heal her Abuelo until an entirely new hand, perfect and unscarred, had been formed. The two then repeated the process with his left hand; severing it, destroying it, and regrowing it fresh and healthy.

The whole process took about twenty minutes, and the second hand had been fully regrown just as the potion was wearing off, so Dell felt nothing but a slight ache during the last few seconds. He looked down at his new hands, free of scars, and clenched them slowly, then opened them again and looked closely at them; the skin was smooth and soft, and lacked any of the little marks he'd gained from his years as a Palistrom Carver, yet they also felt strong and dextrous without even the slightest sign of a tremor.

Everyone held their breathes as he reached down to the grove floor and picked up a fallen twig and then drew a small carving knife from his pocket.

Holding that knife and some wood in his hands awoke years of muscle memory and he deftly carved the twig into a small pendant of Palistrom Wood. The pendant was shaped like a little dove with its wings spread, and Dell finished his first act of carving in years by conjuring thin rope to act as the necklace for the pendant, then tied it around Luz's neck as a gift.

"Thank you." Luz beamed, delighted by the present.

"No, thank you Little Dove. I can carve again…" Dell breathed, beginning to chuckle; "I can truly carve again! After twenty long years!"

Gwen rushed over to hug her husband, both elder Clawthornes smiling with tears in their eyes. The two laughed and embraced, and were soon joined by Eda and Lilith. After all this time, Dell had finally been healed! Between that and Dell finally managing to reconcile with his youngest daughter, it was the best day ever!

Luz and King were soon dragged (very willingly) into the Clawthorne family hug too, and after a sly look at his eldest daughter, Dell cast a spell to make one of the nearby tree roots pick up Amity and drag her into the hug too. Amity was a little confused, but considering everyone else was now grinning at a blushing Lilith, Amity was the only one who didn't know the true reason she'd been included. She just assumed it was because she was Luz's girlfriend.

This left Gus as the only one not in the hug, but he was cool with that; this was a family affair after all and he didn't want to intrude… besides, the Palismen all jumped onto his head, shoulders, and back to keep him company.

When they eventually pulled away, Dell put his hands on Luz's shoulders; "Thank you, Little Dove. I truly cannot express how grateful I am. You truly are a wonderful young Arch-Angel, and I'm proud to have you and your little brother as my Grandchildren."

Luz blushed, but the thanks weren't over yet. Gwen grabbed her face and peppered her cheeks with kisses; "You pulled off another miracle! Thank you so much!"

"Yes, thank you Luz. Not only for healing Dad, but for letting me be a part of it. I feel a little guilty that I needed another of my old mistakes to be fixed by you, but knowing I got to help makes it feel a little better." Lilith smiled.

Eda nodded and ruffled her daughter's hair; "Well done, Owlet. If not for you and King, I probably wouldn't have ever had the courage to come here today. I owe you both more than you can imagine."

King preened a little at that, while Luz shook her head; "You don't owe me at all, Mom. We're family, right? Families help each other."

Everyone smiled and agreed, but just as they pulled apart and were about to decide what to do with their afternoon, Luz's phone suddenly began vibrating again.

Luz's friends and family watched with wide eyes as a switch seemed to be flipped inside Luz. The sound of her phone made her go pale for a moment, then her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. The girl bit her lip and her shoulders began to shake, as all the positive emotion from the last few minutes became completely inverted. She shakily reached into her pocket and switched off the vibration again, then when she noticed everyone looking at her worriedly, she looked down at the ground, almost like she was ashamed.

"A-Ah, sorry. I-I think I need to go for a little walk. That all tired me out and… sorry." Luz mumbled, not even sounding convincing to herself. She turned and hurried away, actually heading out of the grove entirely as her friends and family called out to her. Before they knew it or could give chase, she was gone.

"What was that about? Did we upset her?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"She seemed so happy a moment ago, then that strange noise happened as she bolted. What was that?" Dell asked with a frown.

Eda grimaced; "It's her cellphone. It's like a Human Realm Scroll. It's been vibrating a lot this morning, and every time it does, Luz gets upset. It started small, but as the day's gone on, it seems to be getting worse."

"Do you think she's getting messages from Camila? Maybe Belos is opening the portal door and they're coming through, but Luz can't respond?" Gus suggested; "Camila must be really worried…"

Eda thought about it, but then Lilith pointed out; "It can't be that, or Eda and the rest of us would surely have gotten messages on our scrolls too. Camila would definitely try us if she couldn't get through to Luz, and from what I've seen, the text message function works very similarly between Cellphones and Scrolls."

Lilith actually had a theory that one of their cultures had mimicked the other, but she wasn't certain which had made their invention first.

"Whatever the reason, we should go after her and make sure she's okay." Gwen decided.

"No." Amity shook her head; "Luz will just feel worse if we all crowd around her. I bet she already feels guilty, thinking she's ruined everyone's good mood. Let just me and King go after her."

"Good idea." King agreed, before looking sheepishly at Eda; "Sorry Mom, but if she's upset because of something with her Mami, then having you there too might make her feel guiltier."

Eda nodded; she knew how her daughter's mind worked and King was right. It was best to let Amity and King comfort her and calm her down first, then reassure her when she felt good enough to come back. "Go on. Make sure Luz knows none of us are upset with her. We'll all stay here." Eda agreed.

"I'll use the time to teach Gus here to carve a new crest for Emmiline. My daughters can be my assistants." Dell grinned, getting no argument from Eda or Lilith.

"And I'll pop back to the house for a bit to take care of the dishes and prepare some fresh tea!" Gwen smiled.

With everyone in agreement, King hopped on Amity's shoulders and the two headed out of the grove with Ghost trotting along beside them. Gwen left with them, then split up; heading to her home while Amity and King tried to find where Luz had gone.

They searched around for about 30 minutes; King's nose couldn't really tell where Luz had gone, as her scent seemed to be everywhere, likely due to her using wind to speed herself up as she fled. It was strongest towards the coast, but that was still a wide area to search and the sea air further disguised her scent. Sadly with Luz being an Angel, Amity couldn't use her spirit to scry for her either, so after finding no sign of Luz in the forest, she instead decided to try a new trick Darius had taught her.

Amity tied her hair back into her old partial ponytail style, then drew a pink spell circle which turned her hair into abomination slime like Darius' always was. Her eyes then turned green with black sclera, like an abomination's eyes, and the ponytail section of her hair separated from her and shaped itself into the form of a bird. Amity could control this bird like it was a part of herself, and see through its eyes like Darius could with his own creations, so she had the Abomination Bird fly in the direction that King said Luz's scent was strongest. A few more minutes passed and Amity couldn't see Luz anywhere, but then she suddenly had a hunch and flew her bird to where she thought Luz might run to.

"Found her." Amity said softly. "She's beneath the Crystal Blossom Tree. The one we made together at Grom."

"Oh… should I stay back after all?" King asked. That tree was kind of a special place for Luz and Amity.

Amity smiled and shook her head as her abomination bird fused back into her hair, which turned back to normal. "No, you should come too. If this is family stuff, she'll probably feel better to have the "King of Little Brothers" with her."

King perked up at that and nodded eagerly as Amity switched Ghost into Staff Mode and flew towards the tree. It wasn't actually very far from the Clawthorne home, and they soon landed a little ways away from it, then walked up. They found Luz in her full Holy Raiment with her wings grown to full size as she hugged her knees and stared out at the ocean. Her phone was abandoned on the ground nearby, and the crystal petals of the tree's blossoms were slowly disintegrating in the autumn weather, creating a glistening flurry of pink that fell gently all around then.

Amity admired it for a moment, then looked to Luz; "Can King and I sit with you?"

Luz sniffled and nodded, so King leapt off Amity's shoulders and sat on Luz's left side, while Amity carefully sat down on her right. They both got close enough to give Luz comfort without crowding her.

"Luz… you've been a little off all day. Every time your phone goes off, you get more and more upset. We want to help you, but we can't if we don't know what's wrong." Amity said gently. "You've always been there for King and I when we've had problems, so can you let us be there for you?"

Luz looked to Amity, then sniffled once again and wrapped her wings around her girlfriend and little brother, encouraging them to nestle closer. King ended up cuddling into her lap, while Amity held her hand.

"I'm sorry… today is supposed to be a happy day for Mom and everyone, but I keep ruining it…" Luz mumbled.

"Luz, you gave Grandpa his hands back! There's no way you've ruined anything!" King protested. "We all just want you to be happy along with us!"

Luz's phone began to vibrate again and the girl let out a small sob, making Amity use some abomination slime to grab the phone and look at it. She poked the screen and it turned on, revealing the source of Luz's distress… it was an event reminder that read: "Event with Mami; Anniversary at Gravesfield Old Graveyard. When: 5:00pm"

Both Amity and King stared at the reminder for a few seconds as their minds processed what they were looking at. They then froze as it finally sank in; if Luz and her Mami had something they had to do together in a graveyard, it could only mean visiting the grave of someone precious to them, and there was only one candidate they knew of.

"Oh Luz… today is…" Amity began.

"The anniversary of my Papi passing away." Luz said, barely speaking above a whisper to stop herself from sobbing.

Amity and King both felt their hearts break a little for the girl. Everyone in their little group of family and friends knew that Luz's father Manny had passed away; Camila had told them a bit about it during the first day they visited her, and it had already been fairly obvious from context clues. Luz also rarely talked about her Papi, but whenever she did, she wore a sombre smile.

"I-I'm sorry… it happened so long ago, I shouldn't be falling apart like this!" Luz sobbed, wiping her eyes yet doing nothing to stem the flow of tears. "It's just…"

"Different now." Amity finished for her. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have supported you."

Luz shrugged; "I didn't want to bring it up. Everyone was working hard for the CATTs and to help me with the portal, and it felt insensitive to talk about my problems when King lost his Dad too, and you only recently started connecting with yours again. Plus everything between Mom and Abuelo… I just didn't want to make a fuss."

That broke their hearts even more… despite how close they'd all become, there was still a little bit of Luz that felt unworthy of their concern. Who felt she had to grin and bear her pain for the sake of everyone else. Amity sighed and kissed Luz's cheek softly; "There's a fine line between an Angel and a Martyr, it seems." she muttered, more to herself than Luz.

King remembered back on his island, when he'd learned what he was and the truth of his parentage. He'd felt so miserable and alone, and Luz had been the first one to embrace him and set him straight; to show that he wasn't alone any longer. It had been her that gave him the name King Clawthorne-Noceda. She'd comforted him in his grief, so he would do the same for her.

"What were you and Tia Cammie gonna do today?" King asked, hatching a plan.

"Papi always bought Mami and I flowers for our birthdays, so after he passed away, we started picking flowers for each other. Then we'd visit his grave, and me and Mami would spend the day together. It's nice… but…" Luz's voice began to crack, "… but this year I'm not with her! And I don't have any flowers! A-And Mami doesn't even know why I've not come home and I can't talk to her to tell her and make sure she knows it's not because of her!"

The young Angel began to break down even more; "I was trying to hold it together so I didn't ruin things for Mom, but everything between her and her Dad just kept making me think of Papi! I shouldn't have run off and ruined the picnic, but I couldn't hold it in any more and… and I felt myself slipping back into how I used to be! A weak, pathetic little brat that couldn't do anything to help anyone!"

Amity held her a little tighter; "Luz, you were never pathetic or a brat! And you're allowed to not be perfect all the time! You're the one who taught me that! You shouldn't stop yourself from grieving just because others might be sad about it!"

Luz sniffled, but didn't seem to take those words in fully. Amity bit her lip, unsure of what else to say; the only family member she'd lost was one she'd cut from her life by her own choice. She knew nothing of true grief. Thankfully King had a fairly good idea, and there was something else about Luz's grief that bothered him. There was more than just sorrow for her father there; there was a hatred, directed at herself. The way she called herself a weak, pathetic little brat had been full of more vitriol than King had ever heard from her!

"Is… is there something more to this?" King asked, hoping he wasn't being insensitive. "I know not being able to talk to Tia Cammie and explain what's happening must be really hard, especially today. And I know that helping Mom reconcile with her Dad on the anniversary of your Papi passing away must be even harder… but none of that is your fault. But you sound like your blaming yourself again."

Luz's eyes widened a fraction as she avoided looking at her brother or girlfriend. King and Amity knew immediately that he was right, and both gently took one of her hands in their own.

"Luz, you know we both love you. No matter what it is, we won't judge you. So please, if it will help ease your burden, then tell us. We want you to be happy, just like you've made us happy." Amity urged, before bringing Luz's hand to her mouth and gently kissing the back of her fingers.

Luz stared at her for a moment, then looked back to King, whose expression offered nothing but understanding and love. She managed to give a watery smile; "I love you both too. This is… you'll think I'm stupid…"

"No way! You're my big sister! I won't let anyone call you stupid, not even you!" King huffed.

Luz giggled despite her tears; "Okay… this is something I haven't told anyone. I think Mami knows, but we've never talked about it… Mami told you how Papi died, right?"

Amity nodded sombrely; "He died from an illness, if I remember right. I don't know which one."

"No, I don't either." Luz said, looking out towards the sea again; "And don't you think that's strange? I've asked Mami and she's always refused to tell me. But isn't it weird that Papi died of an illness? Considering Mami is from Crest Kindness?"

Amity and King blinked; that was strange. Crest Kindness were the Healers and Doctors of the Divine Realm; basically their equivalent to the Healing Coven. Considering what they'd seen Luz do with Angelic Healing Magic, what kind of disease or sickness could Manny Noceda have contracted that his wife couldn't heal? Luz saw their expressions and smiled sadly.

"See? Weird, right? Mami is refusing to tell me something, I just know it. I think… I think it's because of me, and the condition I was born with." Luz said, voice cracking again; "I've always wondered about that, but recently I've been afraid that Mami couldn't heal Papi because she didn't have enough magic. She's a regular Angel, so she has a lot less than I do now, and she had to constantly give up some of it to me to keep me alive. So I thought… what if Mami couldn't heal Papi because she was too drained from keeping me alive? What if… what if it's my fault Papi died?"

Amity paled and King's eyes widened as Luz once again began to sob; "Before I found out about the blessings, I thought that if I'd been a proper Cherub with working magic, then maybe Mami and I could have worked together to heal him! I was always scared that the reason Papi died was because I was weak, but now I'm terrified that I was right all this time! I can't stop thinking; if I'd been a normal Cherub when I was born, Mami wouldn't have needed to give me magic and she might have been able to save Papi! And this year it's even worse! Because now I have all this power but it's too late, and I can't even be with Mami, who might think I've run away and blame herself!"

She broke down completely and cried her heart out, as Amity and King both tearfully embraced her, cuddling her with all their might. It was a question that had plagued Luz for most of her life, and after helping Eda heal her own father, on today of all days and in the situation she was currently in, that question had been repeating itself in her head over and over, louder and louder.

Amity wondered if the idea that Luz contributed to her father's death was why she was so desperate to help people and be a good Angel… perhaps she subconsciously felt like she had to make up for it? Well whatever her reasoning for thinking the way she did, Amity and King both agreed on one thing; they knew in their hearts that Luz was wrong.

"Luz, I understand why'd you be frightened of something like that. But I'm certain that isn't true! There's no way you are in any way responsible!" Amity declared, looking her lover in the eye with a serious expression.

King nodded; "Yeah! You were just a Cherub and you needed those blessings to live! If it was a choice between saving your life and saving his own, I just know your Papi would choose to save you! Like how my Dad sacrificed himself to seal away the Collector, thinking he was protecting me! Or how Mama self-destructed to drive off the other Archivists! Even if Dad had been wrong, they both did everything they could to protect me, even giving their lives! I could say that they might both still be alive if I'd never been born… but I know Mama and Dad would rather have died than not have me! They wouldn't have sacrificed themselves otherwise!"

Luz frowned; "B-But still, if I hadn't been so weak-!"

"Luz, I don't think the blessings to you had any effect on your Papi passing away." Amity cut her off seriously. "I know you're emotional right now, and this is a really sensitive topic, but try to follow with me when I say this; you give Eda, Lilith, and Raine Angelic Blessings regularly, right?"

The young Angel nodded slowly; "Y-Yeah… I usually refill Mom's magic every week, and Lilith and Raine every two weeks."

"And how long does it take for your magic to refill after you give a blessing?" Amity asked.

Luz thought about it for a moment, then replied; "A few hours? I usually give it to them at night before I go to bed."

"So you're back to full strength within one night. And how long do you think it took your Mami to recharge the magic she gave you with each blessing? Let's be generous and say it took her a whole week since she's a regular Angel and not an Arch-Angel; she gave you blessings once a month, Luz." Amity pointed out.

For a moment, Luz looked puzzled, but then she gasped quietly as she got what Amity was trying to say. Her Papi's illness had been persistent and lasted a long time; it had weakened him and ultimately taken his life over the space of years. He'd had it before she was born according to her Mami, and it had taken him years after to finally pass away. Based on that, if healing him with her Mami's full power was possible, there would have been plenty of windows for her to do it! That eased Luz's newer fear, but it didn't negate her original one however.

"But even if you're right, isn't it possible that I could have helped Mami save him if I'd had power like a proper Cherub back then?" Luz asked.

"Perhaps." Amity conceded, accepting the possibility that Camila might have only needed a tiny bit more power, "But more likely, you wouldn't have been able to help anyway. There's no way a Human Condition would take that much magic to fix! From what you've told me about how your healing works, you can't cure things that are genetic, right? If a problem is built into a patient's DNA, you can't fix it."

Luz nodded; that had been confirmed during her healing session at Caduceus Grand Hospital.

"Maybe that's what your Papi passed away from then. Perhaps the reason Tia Cammie didn't tell you was because she was afraid you'd think you had it too, or because she was afraid that condition was why you were born before you were ready and had stunted magic." King suggested.

Luz looked shocked by that idea, but it was the sort of thing she could see her Mami doing. Luz's body was different enough from a human's that a lot of DNA or genetics specific conditions simply couldn't manifest in her, thanks to her Angelic Blood, but that didn't mean she couldn't have suffered some symptoms or minor versions that her Angelic Blood didn't prevent. And Luz had to admit that as a child, if she'd heard her Papi had died of a genetic disease, she would have been afraid of dying too and attributed her stunted development to that. Had her Mami hidden the nature of her father's condition to spare her that fear?

"You guys really think so? You really think nothing I did or could have done would have changed things?" Luz asked in a small, but hopeful voice.

Amity and King both nodded confidently, and even Ghost (who'd been watching silently from Amity's side) meowed in agreement.

"Luz, if our theory is right and your Papi's illness was genetic, then even your current self couldn't heal him. The only thing that we know of that could potentially have healed him is a Panacea Mirror, but with that needing two Angels of different bloodlines, you and your Mami couldn't have made one anyway, no matter how strong or weak you were." Amity reasoned.

"And it really sucks that you can't be there today… but Tia Cammie would never think you'd run away from her! She knows you love her and Vee! She's probably worried about you, but you not being there isn't your fault! The portal key was stolen while you were literally sick and bleeding out! Tia Cammie will understand, I know it!" King declared, finally able to act on the little plan he'd thought up a few minutes ago; "And since you can't be there with her, maybe you could instead do something here with us?"

Amity smiled brightly at that idea; "Yes! We don't know exactly what rituals you have in the Human Realm, or how an Angel mourns their loved ones, but if it involves flowers and spending time with those you love, then we can pick some flowers and do something here!"

Luz managed to smile a little; "Y-Yeah. That would be great!" she said honestly, before chuckling to herself; "Thanks Amity, King. I guess I really was just being stupid."

"No Luz, you were grieving. You were only a little girl who'd just lost her father when that theory first popped into your head. Something like that is going to stick with you, and you were too little to think rationally and realise everything we just talked about. And since it's been in your head for so long, you started just accepting it as true without thinking about. You just needed someone with a new perspective to listen and help you realise that you were wrong. That doesn't make you stupid; it just makes you a person." Amity replied soothingly.

Luz's smile grew a little wider; "I guess you're right. I really do have the most Awesome Girlfriend." she blushed, leaning over to kiss Amity properly. When she was done (and Amity was the colour of a tomato), she turned to King and kissed the top of his skull; "And the world's best little brother too."

King nodded proudly; "I am the King of Brothers! Even Amity said so!"

Amity chuckled; "I actually said "King of Little Brothers." because if I'd just said brothers, then Edric would have pouted. We get along a lot better now, and that's thanks to your influence, Batata."

"And you helped me feel better after I found out I was a Baby Titan and my parents were gone. It's obvious that when you can help, you do. I bet Tio Manny would be proud of that." King added.

"I'm glad I was able to help. You know, Papi's last words to me were that he believed in me, and that I'd become an amazing Angel one day… I always worried I was going to disappoint him. But maybe I did okay after all." Luz smiled wistfully, tears still in her eyes and pain still in her grieving heart. Despite that pain though, she still smiled and felt happy to be with her loved ones. "I'd like to pick flowers with you guys later. I may not be able to see his grave with Mami, but I can still send Papi my prayers."

"Maybe we could all help? I could let the others know what today is? It wouldn't ruin anyone's day, and I'm sure they'd be happy to help." Amity suggested.

Luz nodded, accepting that idea. She didn't want to talk about it any more just yet though, so Amity sent text messages to everyone whose contact details she had on her scroll. A few sent back immediate replies, promising to spread the word to those Amity might not be able to contact herself, and within minutes, she was sure the entire rebellion knew what was going on. She'd even gotten back a message from Eda that read; "Thanks for the heads up, Boots. Tell King I said thanks for looking after his big sister. And thank you too, for being there with her. Tell Luz none of us back here are mad or upset; we're happy with all she's done for us and me, her Tia, and her Abuela and Abuelo are all looking forward to giving her a big hug."

Amity smiled and relayed Eda's message, making King and Luz giggle.

"Mom's the best. I guess we should be getting back though…" Luz said, beginning to stand up. However her legs began to shake and she found herself collapsing back onto her knees. "Whoops. I guess I still feel a little weak… got a case of the old jelly legs! I might need a bit more time."

Amity and King just smiled and remained sat with her; "We've got all the time in the world."

With that, the three of them sat together under the Crystal Blossom Tree and looked out at the sea, enjoying some time together. The grief was still within Luz's heart, but even separated from her mother, she knew she had people to support her and help her through it.

[Meanwhile]

Hunter and Lucy were quietly watching the Clawthorne House from the shadows. They'd been observing it for a little while, but when they'd arrived they'd found it completely empty, so they'd been forced to camp out and wait for signs of their quarry. Lucy had taken a brief peek around inside the house for signs of Palistrom Wood or Dell Clawthorne, but aside from some leftover tea and cakes in the kitchen that looked to have been used recently, there was no sign anyone had been there for a while. From what she could tell, they'd had guests and then left somewhere…

However a short time ago, Gwendolyn Clawthorne had returned to the house alone and was taking care of things in the kitchen.

"Should we try and ask her about her husband?" Hunter asked. "She could lead us to him or tell us where he went?"

"Good idea. We should ditch the uniforms though, and I'll need to change my face." Lucy replied. Showing up to the Clawthorne House looking like an adopted Clawthorne might not be the best idea if they wanted to maintain their cover.

Hunter agreed and the two cast spells to change their clothes to simple tunics of dull gold and silver, plus black pants and brown boots, while Lucy also cast a simple illusion on her face to make her look like a nondescript girl with black hair and green eyes. They then emerged from the shadows and walked to the Clawthornes' front door and knocked on it.

A moment later, Gwen answered the door with a smile, though her eyes looked oddly sad. "Oh! Hello dears." she said, greeting the children. "You must be friends of Luz, right?"

The two of them paled and exchanged looks; "What makes you say that, Ma'am?" Hunter asked.

Gwen sighed sadly; "The message that Amity sent out to all of Luz's friends and family of course! Such sad news. I never knew my poor Little Dove was having such a rough day. You came to visit her, yes? Well she's off at the moment, but she'll be back soon. You're welcome to wait with us."

The Hands of the Emperor felt their hearts lurch; if Luz was here with Amity, then this mission just became a LOT harder. Bordering on impossible in fact. Still, maybe they could still salvage this… Luz wasn't present at the moment after all. They were both a little hesitant since it seemed Luz was having a rough time, and neither wanted to make an enemy of her any more than they already had, but the orders from their Uncle were absolute.

"Thank you, Ma'am. We'd like that." Hunter answered.

Gwen smiled; "Please dear, call me Gwen. Come along now, I was just about to head back with some tea."

"We can help." Lucy said.

"Thank you dear." Gwen said kindly, leading the two into her kitchen and handing them each a platter to carry. Hunter held one with tea and cups, while Lucy was given one with cakes and other snacks for afternoon tea. Gwen then led them back out of the house (much to their confusion), and to the entrance of the Palistrom Grove, which she opened up with a wave of her staff. Since Dell hadn't yet locked the entrance so Luz could get back in, a simple illusion was all that hid the tunnel.

Hunter and Lucy looked curious as they followed Gwen into the grove, then gasped with shock as they took in the sight that greeted them. An entire grove of Palistrom Trees hidden within what appeared to be a regular plateau… enough wood to keep Belos' affliction at bay for a thousand years! They'd come expecting a few logs, but this was like hitting the jackpot! Hunter grinned wide as he caught Lucy's eye; he'd have more than enough wood to create a Palisman for her! Heck, he could make Palismen for the entire Emperor's Coven and STILL have enough wood left over to keep their Uncle happy!

The two were so distracted by the sight that they didn't notice Gwendolyn smiling at their reaction as she led them to the clearing where the others were. When they reached it and walked in, Gwen called out to her family and guest; "I'm back with some tea! And a couple of Luz's friends have dropped by."

That snapped Hunter and Lucy back to attention and they looked to see who else was present. They immediately saw Dell Clawthorne sitting on a stool and carving a twig of Palistrom Wood, but despite half their mission being to capture him, the siblings were more focused on the other three people present. Gus was sat on a stool beside Dell, also roughly carving at some scrap pieces of wood, while Eda and Lilith were sat nearby, their conversation stopping dead as they looked at the pair of new arrivals.

Both groups of people froze as they recognised each other, with only Dell and Gwen having no idea who the two newcomers really were. Lilith remembered Hunter's face from the few times she'd seen it back when she was the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven, while Eda had only seen it briefly when rescuing Luz, Amity, and King from the Finger Island after the Titan Trapper Incident. Lucy's face may have been disguised, but her being with Hunter made it pretty obvious who she was.

"Well well well, if it is ain't the Emperor's top stooges!" Eda smirked dangerously, casually waving her hand and making Lucy's illusory disguise vanish, allowing Dell and Gwen to see her real face. They both gasped in surprise, while Gwen frowned.

"Oh dear… I jumped to the wrong conclusion." she fretted.

"Don't worry Mother, this works out for us." Lilith said, drawing her staff; "They undoubtedly came here for nefarious reasons. But now we can capture these two and rob the Emperor of his best tools!"

Hunter panicked and summoned Flapjack into staff mode and prepared to fight, while Lucy allowed her silvery Angelic Wings to spread out behind her as she brandished her own staff. Eda, Gwen, and Dell all switched their Palismen into staff form as well, and Dell casually cast a plant spell to cause some Palistrom Tree roots to rise up behind the two and cut off their escape. It may not be possible to grow Palistrom Trees with magic, but they could still be manipulated with it! Eda also created a ball of light on the end of Owlbert's staff, ready to destroy any shadows Lucy tried to flee into.

Hunter and Lucy gulped, moving back to back as Dell, Gwen, Eda, and Lilith slowly encircled them, ready to fight and restrain them. They hadn't expected the Owl Lady or former Head Witch to be present! The chances of taking the two of them on in a battle and winning were slim, but them AND their parents? Their chances of success were virtually nil! That left them with only the option to escape!

With Shadow Movement impossible with Eda preparing a light spell, and the tunnel out of the grove closed off with roots, Hunter decided to go up. He grabbed Lucy by the waist and immediately used his lightning flash spell to zip up above the canopy and try to escape via the sky… only to slam straight into the invisible barrier that kept people out. Hunter took the brunt of the impact, but both siblings were stunned and fell to the ground, barely being saved by Flapjack catching them on his staff. However even he was soon grabbed by a vine conjured by Lilith and dragged to the ground, where the Clawthornes once again encircled them. However Dell looked hesitant all of a sudden, which drew his family's attention long enough for Gus to throw himself between the Clawthornes and the trapped elites.

"Wait! Don't hurt them!" Gus yelled, Emmiline on his shoulder.

"Goops, I know you're buddies with the Sentinel, but they came here to do something bad for the Emperor! I saw their faces; they were surprised to see Lilith and I, so I bet they came to target our parents!" Eda growled.

"They're technically breaking the truce. The Clawthorne residence is considered a legal part of Bonesborough. Even if we're not inside the town walls, we're still within Bonesborough's legal borders." Lilith added.

Gus shook his head; "I don't know what they're really here for, but we can't just hurt them! They're not bad guys, even if Belos is! Don't forget, they risked getting in a lot of trouble so they could bail out me and the others back at HECK! They let us go, so we owe them!"

Eda frowned; "Ugh, it's not like we want to hurt them. We'll just keep them somewhere out of the Emperor's hands. We'll make sure they're all nice and comfy and whatever. Isn't that good enough? We are at war, Goops."

"I-It just doesn't feel right." Gus argued, faltering. He wanted to repay the two for standing up for him and the Entrails, but he really didn't have a good argument for letting two dangerous enemy elites just roam free. Lucy looked at him gratefully, glad that he'd at least tried. However Hunter saw an opportunity to get out of this now that he'd had a moment to calm himself.

"W-Wait! Technically, we haven't done anything but carry tea and cakes for Mrs Clawthorne!" Hunter pointed out, before wincing at the spilled snacks that he and his sister had been forced to dump when they were attacked. "Just entering the town isn't against the truce! And we were invited into your house and this grove by Mrs Clawthorne, so you can't say we trespassed!"

The others all turned to Gwen, who nodded; "I thought they were friends of Luz! Considering the news we'd just gotten, I assumed they were coming to see her."

Hunter and Lucy saw as Eda and Lilith began to look unsure; if Belos really did send them to do something and they captured the kids, he could claim it was the CATTs who broke the truce, and that could potentially get them kicked out of Bonesborough… or at the very least, open them up for more overt attacks without losing the Emperor any support.

"Why are you here?" Eda demanded, pointing Owlbert at Lucy; "I want to hear it from you. I know you're like Luz and can't lie, so spill it. What are you really after?"

Lucy gulped; "P-Palistrom Wood! Uncle needs some more to keep his condition at bay until the Day of Unity!"

Dell stroked his beard; "With the Bat Queen gone and the wood he was cultivating himself already used up, Belos must have realised I was the only person left on the isles who might have some left over from my carving days. Palistrom Carving is a largely lost art in this era, so he had no others he could go after first."

"Y-Yes." Lucy stuttered out.

"What should we do about this, Edalyn?" Lilith asked; "If we capture them, we're breaking the truce. But if we just let them go, they'll tell Belos and he might decide that getting his hands on this grove would be worth breaking the truce himself, before sending an army."

"We could erase their memories with an Amnesia Tincture." Eda suggested.

"But Belos sent them here, and he'd know their memories were messed with. He'd have proof we broke the truce." Gus pointed out.

"True, though him sending them here would also imply he was going to break the truce too… though I bet that jerk would claim he was sending them for peace talks or something." Eda frowned.

"Maybe they could take oaths promising not to tell Belos about the grove?" Gus offered.

"If it lets us keep our freedom and keeps the truce in place, I'd agree." Lucy piped up; "But I'd end up having to lie to Uncle."

"If you let us complete our mission by taking some wood back to the castle, say just a few logs, we can just say we managed to steal all the Palistrom wood you had available." Hunter said; "If we do it right, we can make a situation that is technically true, while keeping this place a secret from Uncle."

Gus smiled, glad they were cooperating, but Eda and Lilith were still suspicious. "Why should we trust you?" Lilith asked.

Hunter scowled; "Because I'm offering a solution that helps everyone! Don't forget, we didn't just try to help Gus and the Captain at HECK! We also let him and Luz escape with the Palismen weeks back, and mislead Uncle to make him think they were destroyed by the Ash Moth!"

That was a fair point; Hunter had sort of lied to his uncle to repay them for saving him and his sister from the Ash Moth. Truth be told, Hunter didn't want to see Belos take this entire forest; it was incredible, and once the Day of Unity passed and Wild Magic was erased, it could be used to give so many people Palisman companions! And so long as Belos had enough Palistrom Wood to stay stable in the meantime, that was all that mattered! Sure he might be mad if they didn't succeed in kidnapping Dell Clawthorne, but a partial success was better than a total failure, and there wasn't a hope in hell of nabbing the man and getting out of here now! Especially if Luz was going to return soon and further tip the scales!

Lucy decided to help by making an offer; "I-If you let us engineer a situation where we can complete our primary objective and be able to mislead Uncle without lying, then we'll swear oaths not to tell anyone about this grove."

Gus looked ready to agree immediately, but the Clawthornes looked to one another to discuss it.

"I'm not sure about this. The girl can't lie without pain and I doubt a kid this young could hide that kind of pain easily, but it's still a risk." Eda frowned.

"She and the boy did help the Little Dove's friends though, and saved those Palismen against their Uncle's orders." Gwen pointed out; "I'm inclined to trust them enough to let them make an oath."

"I agree with Mom. This is the best option… and I fear that if Belos becomes more unstable without Palistrom Wood, he could hurt these two. We do owe them, especially since Lucy saved Luz's life on Titan Trapper Island." Lilith said.

"So it's looking like we'll agree to the oath plan… What do you think, Dad? This is your grove and wood after all." Eda asked.

Dell stroked his beard as his eyes remained fixed on Flapjack. He recognised the rascally Palisman from his visits to the Bat Queen's Forest… that bird was a good judge of character; if he had bonded with Hunter, then the lad had to be a good person on the inside. But one thing did bother him.

He slowly approached Lucy and knelt down so he was eye level with the sitting girl. "What's your name, child?"

"Lucy." she replied nervously.

"A nice name." Dell smiled; "Now you said a moment ago that stealing some Palistrom Wood was your primary objective. What else were you sent to do?"

Lucy gulped and her mind raced. If she admitted they were there to kidnap him, the Clawthornes would never let them go! Thinking fast, she tried to find a solution without lying, eventually blurting out; "I-I want a Palisman too!"

The others all blinked in surprise, while Dell tilted his head; "You came here to get a Palisman of your own?"

"W-Well that wasn't an order from Uncle… but ever since Hunter bonded with Flapjack, I've been jealous. And since we were ordered to steal Palistrom Wood from you, Hunter suggested we use some extra to carve me a Palisman! Uncle gets his wood, Hunter gets to fulfil one of his dreams and carve a Palisman, and I get a bonded partner of my own just like him and Flapjack! Everybody wins! At least, that's what we thought…" Lucy explained hastily. It was technically true and a part of their plan after all, it just wasn't the part that would get them in trouble.

Dell actually smiled kindly at them; "So you want a Palisman and your brother wants to try his hand at carving! Well then, I think we can accommodate each other!"

Hunter and Lucy both gaped at him, while the others looked at Dell with shock; "Dad, are you serious!?"

"Of course! I've recently regained my ability to carve Palismen, and I have an eager student!" Dell grinned, releasing the captives from their restraints. He helped Hunter and Lucy to their feet, then slapped Hunter on the back; "Isn't that right, Lad?"

Hunter grinned, looking extremely excited; "Yes sir! I've been wanting to try carving Palismen ever since meeting Flapjack!"

Dell laughed; "A very eager student! Wonderful! Now let's make a deal; I'll give you five logs of Palistrom Wood. That's how many I had left when I had to retire the first time. You can give them to Belos and accurately tell him that those are the last of the logs I bought, and I haven't bought more since. In return, you will make an oath not to reveal my grove to him. Agreed?" he offered his hand. Hunter shook it enthusiastically; this was the best outcome he could hope for!

He then turned to Lucy; "And you, young lady. I will give you a log I grew myself and your brother can carve it into anything you want for a Palisman. I'll teach him how. In return for that wood and the lesson, I will have the same oath from you. Do we have a deal?"

Again he offered his hand, and again it was accepted. Lucy was so excited; finally a Palisman of her own!

She and Hunter made the agreed upon oaths, and promised not to do anything else that could risk breaking the truce until they'd gone home again. Gus was overjoyed that his friends weren't going to get hurt, while the Clawthorne Ladies accepted the situation with varying levels of exasperation. Eda was the most reluctant, but she could see her Dad was eager to carve a Palisman again, and so she couldn't bring herself to refuse. Still, she pulled Hunter and Lucy close to her so she could whisper a warning to them.

"Look, today has been an emotional day for my family. Not only did I finally get to talk to my Dad again for the first time in almost 20 years, but we also just found out its the anniversary of the day Luz's father passed away… a day she normally spends with her Angel Mother at his grave, which she can't do this year thanks to your monster of a master. So mark my words; if either of you do anything to hurt my family today, I will personally feed you to the Owl Beast. Do we understand each other?" Eda whispered, her voice dripping with barely restrained anger. She was in full Mama Bear mode, and she'd be damned if she let these kids make things any harder for her kid!

Hunter and Lucy, both turning as pale as snow, gulped and nodded. Lucy especially felt a huge wave of guilt, and mentally decided that it would probably be best if she kept Shade in his Oracle Stone today…

Upon their agreement, Eda let them go with a flick to their foreheads; "Good, so long as you little sprogs know where we stand."

"We do." Hunter agreed, feeling a little less scared now that Eda wasn't being terrifying any more.

Dell smiled; "Then you two can come with me and join Gus. It's time for old Dell to continue his first class on Palisman carving!"

Hunter practically ran to his side as he led them back over to the stool he'd been sat on before, while Lucy followed alongside Gus, the two sharing a smile with one another. Dell conjured a couple more stools for them to sit on, then once all three kids were sat and eagerly watching, Dell addressed them.

"Alright, now I've been teaching Gus how to carve a new crest for his Palisman, Emmiline. I know I'm going to be teaching the lad… what is your name by the way?"

"Hunter, Mr. Clawthorne." the boy answered, back straight like an eager school boy.

"Hunter. I'll teach you how to carve a Palisman, but I would like to know if you would like to assist, Lucy? A person doesn't need to carve their own Palisman if they aren't confident or don't wish to, but if you'd like to give it a try, I'll happily teach you." Dell offered.

Lucy thought about it for a moment, then answered; "I think I'd like to do a little bit of it. I want most of it to be Hunter, since this means so much to him, but since it's my Palisman, I'd like to carve the last little bit. Like maybe the face, or the beak?"

Dell smiled; "The beak? So you've decided on what you want to have carved?"

"I have. I'd like a bird like Flapjack." she replied, coming out of her shell a little more as Flapjack chirped and happily sat on her head; "He's Hunter's partner, but he's been a good friend to me. I'd like someone like him! And maybe he and them can be partners like me and Hunter are."

"I see." Dell hummed, "A bird like Flapjack. I'd suggest a Cardinal like him or Goldfrey here. Or perhaps a similar kind of bird, like a Blue Jay? That would be a good compliment to Flapjack; blue to red, like you are silver to your brother's gold."

Lucy smiled, and her eyes flicked towards Gus and his blue tunic and Emmiline's blue scales. "Blue is one of my favourite colours." she replied.

"Then a Blue Jay it is! Are you familiar with those, Hunter?" Dell asked.

The boy nodded; "I am. I researched many birds like it when I was looking into the best care methods for Flapjack."

"A conscientious new partner is a wonderful thing for any Palisman." Dell nodded approvingly. He then conjured a staff with a long saw blade on the end. "Now it's tradition for a witch to harvest the wood themselves when possible, especially if they don't carve it themselves, so take this..." he handed the saw staff to Lucy, "… and go find a good thick branch to cut. Use magic to hold it in place and catch it, but not to cut it. Cutting Palistrom Wood with magic is like cutting flesh with a hot blade; it will cauterises the edge of the fibres, which makes it harder for magic to flow through them and makes the resulting staff weaker."

Lucy stood up and held the saw staff tightly, not feeling too confident. "Is any branch okay?"

"Just feel around the trees with your magic. You'll know when you've found the right one." Dell told her. He then looked to Gus; "Why don't you go and help her, Gus. The scraps from her branch can be used for more attempts at making a crest for Emmiline."

Gus nodded, briefly looking over at his attempts so far… none were up to snuff for the picky Lady Emmiline! He had a great eye for detail, but just because he could perfectly visualise what he wanted didn't mean he could make it magically manifest with a knife and a scrap of wood.

"Excellent. In the meantime, I'll teach Hunter here about the tools of the trade and get him familiar with them." Dell said, conjuring a roll of leather, which he unrolled to reveal pockets full of carving tools. Hunter's eyes lit up as he looked at them and began to rattle off what he'd learned about each one in his research into Palismen carving, while Lucy smiled and led Gus off in search of the perfect branch. They passed the Clawthorne Ladies, who were cleaning up the remains of the abandoned tea and cakes, and Lucy briefly made eye contact with Eda. The Owl Lady's expression softened a bit upon seeing the girl's fearful eyes, and she smiled and gestured for her to get moving.

Lucy nodded to her politely, then left the clearing and began to roam around the grove with Gus, trying to feel with her magic. After a few minutes of no responses, she hummed; "I'm not sure if I'm doing this right…"

"Me neither." Gus replied with a jovial expression; "We're hunting for a stick in a forest. I feel like the others would tease us for having such a hard time."

Lucy giggled; "Yeah! It does feel a little silly. Still, at least I got to come and hang out with you in your home town again! It was a lot of fun last time."

"Oh yeah it was! I'm still surprised you wanted to explore the old castle on the edge of town so much. Eda ate the last guy who was squatting there." Gus said, referring to Adegast.

"I like old, abandoned places. They're interesting! And now that I'm an Oracle, I can feel all the history. Abandoned places are full of the memories of the previous owners, and it doesn't take much for me to hear their voices and listen to their stories." Lucy explained with a happy smile. She'd always been considered a quiet and gloomy child (though the quiet part hadn't been her fault), so she felt a connection to quiet and gloomy places.

Gus blinked; "Wait, you can speak to their spirits? I thought Shade was the only Oracle Spirit that wasn't scared of you. You're an Angel after all."

Lucy shook her head; "He is, but the spirits in places like that aren't really… spirits? It's hard to explain, but it's more like they're echoes of emotion and magic. They're not sentient, so they can't be scared of me. The real people those echoes come from have probably moved on a long time ago."

"You're starting to sound like an expert. My Dad's an Oracle and I never heard anything about that stuff!" Gus said, genuinely impressed.

Lucy blushed and twiddled her fingers; "That's nice of you to say. My ability to hear them is pretty rare according to Grandpa. But my Oracle skills have got nothing on your illusions. You made illusions that can trick not just the eyes and ears, but the nose too!"

"And the tongue." Gus grinned proudly; "I've been figuring out how to use water vapour with illusions to create taste illusions! Sprinkle a little morning dew on some nasty veggies and I can make it taste like the best ice cream in the world! Too bad I can't do anything about the texture though."

Lucy giggled again, but Gus wasn't done; "But my achievements are mine and yours are yours. You shouldn't put yourself down by comparing yourself to others; we're all good at different stuff. In fact, I was thinking that you could use that "listening to magic echoes" thing to find your perfect branch!"

"Huh… that might just work!" Lucy brightened; "Let's try it!"

Lucy closed her eyes and began to focus her magic on her senses, then extended them outward through the shadows. Gus watched as a purple aura surrounded Lucy, and when she opened her eyes again, they were glowing in the same shade, looking like sparkling amethysts. The shadow at her feet expanded outward like the roots of a tree, linking to every other shadow within range of her, including Gus and Emmiline's. When the shadow stopped expanded, Lucy smiled and all the shadows snapped back to normal and her eyes stopped glowing.

"I heard the echoes! I've got the perfect branch! This way!" she said, skipping off deeper into the grove. Gus followed her eagerly, and they eventually came across a strange Palistrom Tree… or rather, a pair of strange Palistrom Trees. One was large and strong, looking like a fairly healthy specimen that was bigger than all others in the grove, save for the first tree Dell had planted. The other was smaller than the average tree, and had seemingly wound itself around the first tree as it grew. It was a darker blue than the other Palistrom Trees, and there were marks on both trees that looked like scars, as if the two trees had been cut apart. Still, despite the oddness of the smaller tree, it was still growing strong and had many thick branches, one of which Lucy reached for.

"Gus, can you hold it still for me with magic while I saw it off?" Lucy asked.

"Sure. Let's try this." Gus said, conjuring some snow and shaping it into a hand to reach up and grasp the branch. Once he was holding it still, he nodded for Lucy to start sawing.

Lucy began using the saw spear to cut through the branch, and while the saw was nice and sharp, it still took a surprising amount of effort. After a minute, Gus volunteered to trade places with her, having her hold the branch with shadows or Shade, while he sawed. However she politely declined and kept working, building up quite a sweat. Finally, after five minutes of sawing, she cut the branch clean through and Gus was able to lower it to the ground.

"Phew! That was hard work! I can feel my arm muscles burning!" Lucy sighed with relief as Gus used his ice and water magic to dab the girl's forehead, cooling her down and wiping away her sweat.

"Good work! This branch is perfect! Let's get back to Mr. Clawthorne." Gus smiled.

Lucy nodded and they headed back, finding that the Clawthorne ladies had returned and were now sat together on the picnic blanket, chatting over some fresh tea. Luz, Amity, and King had not returned yet, so the only other people in the clearing were Dell and Hunter, who were carving some wood scraps into various shapes. Dell was challenging Hunter to try carving different things, and he was eagerly rising to the challenge and carving away, all while Flapjack and Goldfrey sat together on a nearby branch and watched.

"We're back!" Gus greeted them.

The men looked up with a smile; "Ah, you've found your branch." Dell replied, "Ooh, and it's a good one! I know exactly what tree you took that one from!"

"Do you know every tree in your forest?" Hunter asked.

"Ha! Of course not! But look at this darker blue hue." Dell said, accepting the branch from Lucy as she and Gus took seats on their stools. "I'd recognise it anywhere; only one tree in this grove has it."

"Yeah, we found a weird tree that was growing like a spiral around a big one!" Gus explained to Hunter.

"The darker tree is one I planted about 13 years ago. It sprouted and grew into a decent sapling, but then its health declined. I tried everything to save it, but ultimately the only thing that worked was grafting the sapling onto the side of a strong and healthy tree that was growing unusually fast. As I hoped, this saved the smaller tree and allowed it to grow strong enough to support itself, whereupon I cut the two trees apart so they could grow independently again." Dell explained; "Though even when separated, the smaller tree continued to grow around the larger one, and its hue darkened. I'm not entirely sure why, but it could be the result of its own inner magic blending with the magic of the larger tree. Either way, it should make for a fine Palisman!"

"Shall we get to carving then?" Lucy asked eagerly.

"Indeed! Your brother is quite talented with his hands! I'll start by having you strip the bark, twigs and leaves so we have a good clean log to work on. Then Hunter can carve the majority of the Palisman itself with you finishing the final few details. Meanwhile Gus can use the scraps to keep working on Emmiline's new crest." Dell said, having everything organised in his head already.

There were no arguments from the kids, though Gus did say to Lucy; "You can help me carve Emmiline's crest while Hunter works on your Palisman, if you want."

"That sounds great! I'm not as good with my hands as Hunter is, but I'd like to give it a try!" Lucy replied, accepting the branch back from Dell as he scooted his stool closer to her. Dell then handed her a carving knife and began showing Lucy how to properly strip the bark and cut off the excess twigs and leaves, while Hunter showed Gus some tips on carving small shapes.

Lucy found carving the branch to be tiring (her body was still quite weak so she became worn out easily), but it was rewarding to see it slowly turn from a wild looking tree branch into a clean cylinder of dark blue wood. Dell then used a saw to cut the log to a perfect length for any Palisman Lucy could want, and left a pile of wood scraps on the floor between them all, ready for Gus to work on.

Dell then moved his stool closer to Hunter, handing the boy the prepared log before giving Lucy one last look; "So, a Blue Jay is what you'd like? We won't be able to alter it very well if you change your mind later."

"I'm certain that a Blue Jay is what I want." Lucy replied.

With that fully decided, Dell and Hunter got to work on carving the Palisman. Dell allowed Hunter to do all the actual carving, instead offering tips and advice while absent-mindedly carving some scraps of wood to keep his new hands occupied. Hunter dove into the work with gusto, a happy smile on his face as he worked, much to Lucy's joy. Meanwhile, Gus picked up a good sized scrap of wood and handed it to Lucy, as well as one of Dell's carving knives.

"I'm not as good as those two, but I'll show you a bit of what Mr. Clawthorne taught me before you showed up. We're working to carve a new crest for Emmiline." Gus explained, pointing to the Palisman sat on his shoulder. Dell had already expertly carved off the scarred wood that had formed over the broken edges of her crest, and a thin layer of special varnish had been applied to stop the wound from hurting or getting dirty as a new crest was made.

Lucy took a good look at the edges of the broken crest, as well as how it compared to the smaller one behind it. Thanks to this second crest, Lucy had an idea of how the first one was supposed to look as she began carving.

For a while, the little circle of carvers fell into a comfortable silence, with only the sound of carving and Dell's occasional muttered tips to Hunter breaking that silence. Lucy had dextrous fingers, so she was actually a fairly good carver, more so than Gus at any rate, but she lacked his eye for detail and found it very hard to properly visualise the crest she was trying to carve unless looking directly at Emmiline, which meant taking her eyes off her work, leading to mistakes and mishaps. It wasn't long before both Lucy and Gus had a small pile of weird, misshapen crests in front of them from their failed attempts. Gus's attempts were too rough and looked incomplete despite him doing his best, while Lucy's were more refined but didn't look right and didn't fit the edges of Emmiline's crest so they couldn't be attached.

"I don't think we're very good at this." Gus sighed, throwing away yet another attempt (which looked more like a beetle horn than the head crest of a chameleon).

"Yeah… Sorry Gus, I think you'd be better off asking Hunter for help once he's done with my Palisman." Lucy frowned, "Out of the two of us, he's the more reliable one."

Gus frowned; "I wouldn't say that. You seem pretty reliable to me."

Lucy chuckled; "Thanks, but I've got nothing on Hunter." she said softly, so her brother wouldn't hear her.

"You really look up to him, huh? It must be nice to have a big brother. Have you always been super close?" Gus asked. He wondered, because he remembered that Amity used to not get along with her siblings.

Lucy shook her head; "Actually, when I first woke up after I lost my parents and voice, and Uncle brought me back to the castle, Hunter didn't like me at all and I was terrified of him. I had no memories and no idea what was really happening, and Hunter didn't like that he now had to share Uncle with me. He was never mean or anything, but he kept his distance and looked annoyed with me all the time, so I avoided him. We only saw each other when Uncle had us training together… but I was a slow student compared to him and messed up a lot, which made Uncle mad at both of us."

Gus scowled; "Sounds like Belos…"

Lucy ignored that comment; "But one day, everything changed. I messed up again and Uncle told us both to get out of his sight. I felt bad and tried to say sorry to Hunter, but he got mad and yelled at me for ruining everything. I was pretty small, so I thought Hunter and Uncle would be happier if I left, so I tried to run away. I got caught and dragged back to Uncle, and since he was already upset with me, he got even angrier! He…" Lucy began to hug herself, "He lost control of his condition and lashed out. That's when I got this scar on my nose…" she traced the scar across the bridge of her nose.

"That's awful! How could he do something like that to a little girl!?" Gus exclaimed.

"Like I said, he lost control of his condition. He didn't mean it." Lucy said in a small voice, before continuing; "Hunter heard me scream from outside and came running, and threw himself in front of me to protect me. That's how he got that big scar on his cheek… Uncle calmed down after that, but told us to see the healer and return to our rooms. I remember Hunter picking me up and carrying me, and the whole walk to the healer, he cried and apologised to me over and over, saying he hadn't meant to scare me away or make me want to run. He said we were family and he shouldn't have treated me like that. In return, I said I was sorry for always messing up and getting him in trouble, and getting him hurt… but he told me it wasn't my fault."

Lucy looked over to her brother and smiled wistfully; "That night, he let me sleep in his room with him and we cuddled together all night. We talked, and he told me he'd help me be better in training and protect me if Uncle got mad again. He said that he'd be my big brother… and ever since, he has been. I'm only as skilled as I am thanks to him. He's… he's the person I look up to most. I want to be as great as he is, but I don't know if I ever will be."

Gus blinked in surprise, feeling like he now understood Lucy and Hunter a little better. He'd known for a long time that Hunter was more than just a lapdog of Belos, having a lot of kindness in him despite following his Uncle's orders without question, but to see him more in the role of a devoted big brother was eye-opening. However Lucy's words did bother Gus a little.

"I'm happy that you and Hunter were able to become so close, but I'm starting to think you really don't think highly of yourself." Gus replied.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lucy frowned.

"Well, you compare yourself to everyone around you and always negatively!" Gus explained; "Back at HECK, you compared yourself to Luz as an Angel and said you couldn't measure up to her. You compared your magic to mine earlier and put yourself down then too. And just now, you compared yourself to Hunter and said you'd never be as good as he is. It's like you don't see how amazing you are because you keep measuring yourself against people you think are more amazing than you."

Lucy fidgeted; "B-But what I said is true, isn't it? Luz is a better Angel, Hunter is a better Hand of the Emperor, and you're better at magic. I am inferior to you guys."

Gus shook his head with frustration; "Lucy, there's always someone better! It's fine to acknowledge that someone is better at something than you are, but dismissing what makes you incredible is no good! Luz is a super power Arch-Angel, but she can't use Oracle Magic at all, while you're amazing at it! In fact, Hunter and I can't really use Oracle Magic either! Or Darkness Magic!"

"I-I guess." Lucy conceded; "But-"

"No buts." Gus cut her off, "You can't judge yourself based on other people! If you judge yourself based on how good you are at being like Luz or Hunter and your point of comparison is Luz or Hunter, then obviously you'll come up short! Anyone would!"

"That's true…" Lucy nodded slowly; "But then what should I do? What do I aim for if not being more like them?"

"How about instead of trying to be the best person like Luz or Hunter, you try to be the best person like you. Be the best Lucy that you can be, and become even more amazing at being yourself! Focus on what you're good at rather than agonising over what you're not. You'll never be a better Luz or Hunter or Gus, but you can always be a better you." Gus declared, smiling widely as he pumped his fist and Emmiline chirped.

Lucy felt her cheeks warm and her heart beat a little faster. "Focus on the things I'm good at… and be the best me I can be… I-Is that how you live your life?"

Gus nodded; "Yep! A while back, I hit a rough patch where I doubted myself too. I thought I wasn't good enough with just illusions…" he remembered the incident with Luz being arrested thanks to Callisto Alembic, and how he'd not been able to help her or the others. "But I realised I had to become better in my own way. I couldn't lose confidence in myself, as "myself" is the only person I'll ever be."

A bolt of inspiration struck Lucy, and she smiled happily; "You're amazing, Gus. Before, I'd have said I wanted to be more like you… but now, I guess I know that wouldn't make either of us happy. I'd never be as good at being you as you, after all!"

Gus beamed, blushing a little at the warm words; "Aw, thanks Lucy. You're pretty amazing yourself! Now if only we could pool how amazing we both are together and get this crest carved!"

"Well, why don't we?" Lucy said, coming up with an idea. "You've got the eye for details, and I've got the fingers that can make those details. We could work together to carve Emmiline's new crest!"

Emmiline chirped happily at that idea, so Gus nodded; "Great idea! I'll make an illusion of how it should look next to the wood, and you carve the wood until it and the illusion are identical."

Lucy agreed and picked up a fresh scrap of Palistrom Wood, while Emmiline climbed onto her shoulder and Gus created the illusion of how the crest should look, making it float beside Lucy's hands. Taking a deep breath, Lucy began to carve, taking it slow and steady. Every now and again, Gus would rotate the illusion to a different angle, while Emmiline would chirp a bit of advice which Gus would translate. While Lucy may not have the talent for carving that Hunter did, she was good enough at making such a simple shape, and after a short time, she had something that looked just about perfect!

"I think I'd be hard-pressed to make this better!" Lucy declared, using a bit of sand paper to smooth the tip of the crest.

"It looks pretty near perfect to me! Emmiline, do you want to try it on?" Gus asked.

The little Chameleon chirped her agreement and hopped into Gus's hand, while he used the other to gratefully accept the finished crest from Lucy. He then slowly attached it, making sure the edges of her body and her new crest were perfectly aligned. Both children smiled joyously as they saw the crest slide into place, leaving barely a seam behind… a seam that soon vanished with a faded green light as the bond between Gus and Emmiline allowed it to fully meld with her and become part of her body.

The two children cheered delightedly, and everyone looked over to see Emmiline with her new crest, looking as pristine as the day she was carved.

"Great job, Lucy! You too Gus!" Hunter praised.

"Indeed! Very well done!" Dell nodded approvingly, casting a cursory eye over the new crest to make sure it was perfect, and found no flaws worth mentioning.

"Good job Goops. You too Munchkin." Eda grinned, as Lilith and Gwen both clapped for their efforts.

Gus preened under the praise, while Lucy blushed and smiled bashfully. Emmiline briefly jumped on Lucy's shoulder and rubbed against her cheek gratefully, before returning to Gus and chirping something with a mischievous look in her eye. Gus promptly turned red and hissed; "Emmiline!"

"What did she say?" Lucy asked curiously.

Gus somehow managed to blush deeper; "Uh, she was just teasing me… Say, um, what do you think of flowers?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Flowers?" Lucy repeated. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh, Amity wants Luz's friends to each give her some flowers for her Dad, and I thought you might know better than me what she might like, being a fellow Angel and all." Gus explained hastily; "Sorry if that was a dumb thought."

Lucy wasn't sure why Gus suddenly seemed more bashful, but she just smiled and said; "I'll help you think up some good flowers to give to Luz! I know a tiny bit of Plant Magic, and Hunter has been studying it more since his fight with Willow. Maybe we can work together to carve some wooden ones out of the leftover Palistrom Wood?"

Gus perked up at that; "Yeah, good idea. Let's do it!"

Lucy beamed and she and Gus scooted their stools a little closer to one another as they began to try and carve some flowers, all while Emmiline watched with an amused grin from Gus's shoulder.

[Meanwhile]

Kikimora was practically holding her breath as she crept down the tunnel that she'd seen her two young enemies travelling through earlier. She'd followed them all the way to the Clawthorne House whilst remaining hidden, and had then watched from stealth as they disappeared into the shadows to watch the house. She'd been terrified to move after that, lest they spot her, but they'd eventually emerged and disguised themselves, leading to them following the Owl Lady's mother of all people down the secret tunnel in the wall of the Plateau. Kikimora had initially followed them from a distance, but before she could reach the end of the tunnel, tree roots had suddenly shot out of the ground and blocked her path. For a moment, Kikimora had been terrified that she'd been found out, but it turned out the roots were conjured by the Clawthornes to stop the brats' escape and not hers, so Kikimora decided to retreat back to a safe distance.

However, a lot of time had passed since and there'd been no signs of the two brats! She'd seen the Owl Lady, Lilith, and their mother return from the tunnel to get some fresh tea, then go back through, but she hadn't seen or heard a word since! Had they captured the brats? Perhaps destroyed them? Kiki needed to know! As such, after a while spent agonising over the decision, she finally decided to bite the bullet and try to traverse the tunnel again. A simple illusion hid the tunnel entrance and made it look like the stone wall was still present, but since she'd seen the tunnel already, Kikimora knew she could just walk straight through, where she found the roots had been lowered, allowing her into the grove.

The diminutive demon looked around in awe at the massive number of Palistrom Trees! There was practically a whole forest of the stuff! Maybe if the Brats really had been killed, she could bring Belos the head of their killer and tell him off this forest! That was sure to get her reinstated in the Coven!

Creeping forward as stealthily as she could, Kikimora followed the sound of voices until she reached the edge of a clearing and peeked out. What she saw there shocked her even more; Hunter and Lucy weren't dead, captive, or even injured! They looked to be helping the Clawthorne Patriarch create new Palismen!

A sinister smile crossed Kikimora's face as she quietly summoned her scroll. Forget her previous plan! If she brought Belos back evidence that showed his two elites were actually working with the Rebels, he wouldn't just reinstate her, he'd make her the new Coven Head and his new Right Hand Woman! And perhaps she'd even be able to watch as the little traitors were petrified just like her beloved Princess!

Kikimora had to hold in her chuckles as she began to record the little gathering, and paid special attention as Hunter seemed to finish carving what appeared to be a new bird Palisman, which he then handed to his grateful sister. Kikimora zoomed her scroll in to get a closer look at what Lucy was doing, and watched with a sinister grin as the girl began putting the finishing touches on her Palisman by carving it's beak and eyes herself, copying an illusion of a Blue Jay that Perry Porter's boy was making. When Lucy was done carving, she held the Palisman up with joy and then hugged it to her chest as those around her congratulated her.

Kikimora's grin grew wider and crueller; that Palisman wasn't long for this world! Belos would devour it as soon as she told him about his treacherous niblings! She hoped she'd get to watch! However, in Kikimora's haste for revenge, she'd over looked something important while picking her hiding place; the tree she was hiding behind kept her hidden from the people in the clearing, but not those who might have been returning from outside the grove themselves. She soon realised her mistake when a familiar voice cleared their throat behind her.

"Ahem."

The little demon flinched and slowly began to turn around, finding three people stood behind her with stern faces and crossed arms. Luz, Amity, and King were all stood there watching her, having finally returned from their emotional talk together at the Crystal Blossom Tree.

It had been Luz who cleared her throat to get Kikimora's attention, and Amity who spoke next. "Well well well, it looks like a wanted criminal has found her way into the grove. Whatever should we do?" she said, pretending to be dramatic.

"I think that depends on her, Hermosa." Luz replied; "What are you up to, Kikimora? Trying to worm your way back into the Emperor's Coven?"

Kikimora shuddered, realising the jig was up. Well, she'd gotten a few minutes of recordings, so that should be enough to see those brats cast out and turned to stone like she almost was! Now she just needed to escape her current predicament!

"W-Well, I was just in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by and- TAKE THIS!"

She suddenly threw a fireball directly at Luz's face, but a barrier sprang up to stop it before it could get close. Luz had been expecting something underhanded after what the little demon pulled at the Knee after all. Amity immediately switched Ghost into staff mode to retaliate as Luz dropped the barrier again, but King got there first and roared in Kikimora's face, blasting her straight into the clearing with a scream.

Kikimora landed hard right in the centre, her head almost getting buried in the dirt. She pulled her face from the forest floor and looked up, only to pale as she saw that now every single person present was staring at her.

Everyone except Lucy, Luz, and King immediately pointed their staves at the shocked Demon; "Is that Kikimora!?" Lilith exclaimed.

"How did she find this place? She's not with you two, is she!?" Eda demanded, looking at Hunter and Lucy.

Both shook their heads; "No way! She's a wanted criminal for trying to murder us, remember!? She almost took out your kids and the youngest Blight along with us!" Hunter reminded the Owl Lady.

"Wait, Hunter!? Lucy!?" Luz exclaimed, "What are you two doing here!? What happened after we left!?"

Amity and King were equally confused and turned their attention to the Hands of the Emperor, while the Clawthornes and Gus looked back, opening their mouths to try and explain. However in that moment, everyone's attention left Kikimora for a split second, and that was all the slippery demon needed! Leaping to her feet, Kikimora conjured a fireball and tossed it into the trees near Dell, causing a small explosion that ignited the trees around them.

"Fire!" Dell yelled, immediately pulling the three kids near him away from the flames and putting himself in front of them. He then conjured a barrier around the flames to try and limit their spread. In the meantime, Kikimora had taken the opportunity to flee with her scroll while the others were distracted with the flames.

"Dang it! She recorded the grove! If she gets back to Belos, he'll know about it!" Amity yelled.

"No! We can't let her escape with those recordings!" Hunter declared, immediately flashing after Kikimora. He wouldn't let himself or his sister be labelled a traitor over this!

"Hunter, wait!" Lucy cried, leaping into a shadow to give chase.

Luz prepared to use a light spell to force her out, but Gus stopped her; "Don't! We can trust them to take care of Kikimora! We need to stop the fire before it burns down the whole grove!"

The young Arch-Angel begrudgingly agreed; Dell's barrier was keeping the flames from spreading, but they'd already reached a good chunk of the forest before he could get it up. She gestured for Amity and King to help her fight back against the flames, while Dell came up with a plan to put them out.

"I'll lower the barrier in a moment! When I do, I need Edalyn and Lilith to use plant magic to move the trees around the flames away so they don't catch fire too. Luz and King, use your wind magic and glyphs to pull the air away and help starve the flames. Gus and Amity, use water and abominations to smother the flames! Gwen, use your own fire magic to help prevent the fire from spreading! I'm going to try and heal the damaged trees as soon as the flames are driven off them! If I act fast, I can save them!" Dell ordered, his mind working rapidly.

"GOT IT!" everyone shouted at once, all of them immediately rushing to complete their assigned task. Dell lowered the barrier as he said, and they all got to work.

As Gus was conjuring snow to smother the flames, his mind went to Lucy and Hunter, chasing after Kikimora. "Please be okay!"

[Meanwhile]

Hunter and Lucy emerged from the hidden grove side by side and scanned the forest outside of Bonesborough for signs of Kikimora, who'd slipped out of sight after setting the fire. Lucy was still clutching her completed Palisman to her chest as she looked around for signs of the renegade Claw Oni. If Kikimora got to the Emperor with those recordings, she and her brother would be in big trouble!

"Blast it, I can't see her anywhere!" Hunter growled, "Should I fly up and try to see her from the sky? No, the forest canopy would hide her…"

"I'll find her!" Lucy declared, calling Shade out of his Oracle Stone and conjuring a Crystal Ball to place him inside. Her eyes glowed purple as she performed a scrying spell, using Shade to show her where Kikimora was hiding. The result showed the little demon creeping around nearby, specifically right next to the Clawthorne home.

"I've found her! Come with me!" Lucy yelled, taking Hunter and Flapjack into the shadows with her. Within seconds, they reached the Clawthorne home and leapt out of Kikimora's own shadow, making her scream in surprise.

"You're not getting away! Give us that scroll!" Hunter demanded, conjuring a lightning bolt and firing it at Kikimora.

She managed to just barely leap out of the way in time, then threw another fireball at Hunter, who deflected it easily. Lucy then tried to grab Kiki with her shadows, but Kikimora responded with another fireball bright enough to disperse the shadows. The little demon then tossed the fireball at the Clawthorne House itself, setting it on fire. Hunter immediately moved to contain the fire with a barrier to stop it spreading, imitating Dell. However he couldn't stop the fire AND keep it from spreading since he could only cast one spell at a time! Lucy was about to step in to help, but that gave Kikimora a moment to flee again, rushing off into the bushes.

"Titan damn it! The Owl Lady will kill us if our fight burns down her parents' house! Go after her, Lucy! I'll keep the fire contained until it burns up the air inside the barrier and goes out on its own!" Hunter told her.

There was no time to argue, so Lucy simply nodded and turned to pursue Kikimora, using Shade to stay locked onto her even as the little demon tried to keep out of her sight. Eventually, Kikimora ran through the empty plot of land that had once been Evelyn's home, and Lucy had a clear shot at her. The young Angel conjured a simple throwing knife and tossed it at Kikimora, clipping her ankle and making the demon stumble.

The traitor fell into a roll, drawing a spell circle as she went to prepare a powerful blast of pink magic. However as she turned around to blast her pursuer, she smirked.

"Wait, you're the only one pursuing me? The half-formed Angel that can't even fly?" Kikimora laughed mockingly, making Lucy scowl; "I'm insulted that those Rebels and your annoying brother didn't take me seriously enough to send a proper challenge after me! Annoying voice aside, at least the boy was capable on his own! You're nothing but a shadow!"

She shot her prepared blast at Lucy, who dove into the shadows to avoid it. Lucy then leapt out of Kikimora's shadow and aimed a blast of magic at her back, but the clawed hand on the back of Kikimora's head had already drawn a spell circle and shot a blast at her first, actually managing to graze Lucy's cheek as she tilted her head to the side at the last moment. Yelping in pain, she hid back in the shadows until Kikimora conjured a bright flame that dispersed the shadows, forcing Lucy out of them.

The girl growled and put her free hand to her face, feeling the mild burn Kikimora's spell had left on her cheek. She didn't have time to deal with it though, as the flames Kikimora conjured were blasted towards her in a huge stream. Unable to go into the shadows, Lucy instead used Oracle Magic to form a purple barrier around herself akin to a crystal ball. She had Shade keep an eye on Kiki so she wouldn't escape, but it seemed the little demon was confident enough in her victory to not want to run. That angered Lucy greatly; who did this traitor think she was!?

Clearing her mind, Lucy transformed her clothing back into her uniform and placed her Palisman in her hood so she could fight with both hands, then used a pair of Oracle Spells to both see through Shade's eyes and imbue him with some of her magic. Shade became incorporeal and dove into the ground, then emerged behind Kikimora and slashed at her back with his claws. Kiki screamed in pain as his claws slashed through her clothes (she was still in her coven uniform, though tattered and dirty from weeks in the woods) and left shallow cuts in her back. Kiki countered by turning the stream of flames from Lucy to her spirit, who naturally made himself incorporeal.

With the demon distracted, Lucy dropped her barrier and conjured a pair of throwing knives that she imbued with decaying Darkness Magic. She then threw them at Kikimora's shoulders, though the hand on the back of her head was able to deflect them with bolts of magic.

"I know your tricks, brat! I've been practicing in anticipation of getting my revenge on you! And you're not the only one I've been training to counter!" Kikimora declared, suddenly releasing her flame spell so she could use her primary hands to draw a pair of spell circles; one yellow and one bronze. The bronze spell caused the ground beneath Shade to rise up in the form of a sandy cage, much to the spirit's confusion. However before he could pass through it and escape, the yellow spell was revealed to be a transmutation spell that turned the sand into salt, which burned Shade even as he tried to become incorporeal, preventing him from leaving the cage.

Lucy growled under her breath; so Kikimora had tricks to deal with Oracles! It must have been due to Osran also being on her list of enemies!

With Shade now effectively out of the fight until Lucy could break the salt cage, the Dark Angel conjured some more throwing daggers, then tossed them at Kikimora whilst using a simple illusion to make it look like she'd thrown hundreds of them. Kikimora didn't try to dodge, instead creating a simple barrier, then returning fire with some conjured iron spikes. Lucy avoided most of them, but was forced to parry a few with her artificial magic staff, which she summoned to her hand and spun around. Sadly the spikes were too sharp and sturdy, and the staff soon broke, with the last spike clipping Lucy's shoulder and leaving a nasty cut.

Seeing the red blood dripping down the girl's shoulder, Kikimora smiled nastily; "You see? You're useless without back up from the Golden Brat! Take your shadows and spirit from you, and you can barely fight! Even that conjuring trick is one you learned from the Golden Brat!"

"Shut up! You don't get to insult my brother!" Lucy snarled, losing her temper and making her wings flare out.

Kikimora was unimpressed; "Do you think those glorified feather dusters are going to scare me?" she asked coldly, firing a blast of flame at them. Lucy dodged to the side to avoid it, then tried conjuring a bolt of lightning of her own, just like Hunter. The Lightning Element was one of the components of Oracle Magic, so Lucy knew how to use it a little, especially thanks to some tutoring from Hunter. However, Lucy wasn't very good at casting it, so it took her a whole second to charge the purple coloured lightning in her hands and shoot it at Kikimora; more than enough time for a seasoned Coven Member to conjure a wall of rock to block the bolt.

"Even when imitating that tacky brat, you're useless! If you weren't an Angel, Emperor Belos would have left you to die in whatever gutter he pulled you from!" Kikimora sneered. "And as soon as he gets his hands on the Noceda girl and finally has a real Angel for his plans, you'll be tossed aside!"

"That isn't true!" Lucy yelled, even as a voice of doubt wondered if it was. She tried to fire another bolt of lightning while also secretly manipulating the shadows behind her, making them sneak around the ruined walls of the area to get Kikimora from behind, but Kiki just side-stepped the lightning and shot a fireball at Lucy, ensuring it was bright enough to disperse the shadows and ruin her plan. Lucy hadn't expected such a quick counterattack and when she dodged to avoid it, she wasn't able to get out of the way completely and her leg was singed.

"Ugh…" she whimpered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"Pathetic. If you weren't Belos' niece, you'd never have replaced me as his assistant! Face it you little brat, you're nothing! You can't compare to me as Belos' assistant! You can't compare to the Noceda Girl as an Angel! And you can't even compare to your brat of a brother in being a challenge!" Kikimora declared, a vile grin on her face as she saw the pain Lucy was in. She punctuated her words by using magic to tear chunks of rock out of the ground and launch them at the girl, who was forced to roll to the side to avoid them thanks to her injured leg.

However rolling also had the unfortunate circumstance of causing her Palisman, still not yet bonded with her, to fall out of her hood and be left on the ground, thankfully small enough to avoid being smashed by the rocks. Lucy and Kikimora both noticed it at the exact same time, the former gasping with horror as the latter grinned cruelly. Kikimora conjured a blast of fire and shot it straight at the Palisman, aiming to incinerate it.

For a moment, time seemed to slow down for Lucy, who stumbled as she tried to reach for her Palisman. The burn on her leg impaired her and there was no way for her to reach it in time, and as that realisation hit her, all the words Kikimora had hurled at her began to repeat inside her head over and over. They reminded her how weak she was, how inferior she was, how much better everyone else was. How she'd never be a proper Angel like Luz or a proper Hand of the Emperor like Hunter…

But beneath Kikimora's venomous words was another voice… a far more pleasant one. It was the voice of her first real friend, and the boy who'd helped her feel better about herself. It was the voice of Gus.

"Be the best Lucy that you can be, and become even more amazing at being yourself! Focus on what you're good at rather than agonising over what you're not. You'll never be a better Luz or Hunter or Gus, but you can always be a better you."

The best Lucy she could be… that was not a person who would let her Palisman die before even taking its first breath!

Tapping into the very depths of her Darkness Magic, Lucy's eyes began to change; their purple irises began to glow and their sclera turned as black as the shadows, and Lucy's hand turned pitch black, as if it were made of darkness. The darkness then expanded outward, moving faster than Kikimora's flames, and formed into a giant black hand, which grasped the blast of flame and snuffed it out of existence.

"W-What!? How did you do that!?" Kikimora snarled. "That flame should have been bright enough to repel your shadows!"

Lucy took her moment of shock and used it to grab her Palisman and cradle it to her chest, making sure there was no damage done to it. Seeing not even a scratch on the wood, Lucy smiled and sighed with relief, before turning to glare at Kikimora.

"Shadows are both destroyed and cast by light… but Darkness itself swallows everything, even light. My shadows were always destroyed so easily because Iwas weak. I was subconsciously putting myself down and refusing to acknowledge the person I really was. I was raised to believe that an Angel was supposed to be the epitome of Light, and because of that, I saw myself as inferior and stunted my own Dark Magic to try and be more like a real Angel. But I'm done with that! I'm done holding myself back to try and be more like someone I'm not!" Lucy declared.

She took a step towards Kikimora, her limbs coated in darkness (partly to help deal with the cut on her shoulder and the burn on her leg, as the darkness reinforced her limbs). Kikimora flinched back in fear of the Dark Angel and shot a bolt of magic at her. Lucy caught it with her free hand, making it disappear into nothingness within her darkness.

Lucy looked Kikimora in the eye and yelled; "I am not my brother! I am not Luz! And I am done pretending to be otherwise! I am done being nothing but their shadow! I am Lucy, and I will never be anything but myself! I will become the best me that I can be, and nothing less!"

Her heart beat loudly in her chest, and Lucy felt her magic flare. For the first time in her memory, she felt confident in the person she was and had made a decision on what she wanted for herself. All those emotions flowed through her, and within her heart, Lucy felt something new begin to form.

Her Palisman began to glow a bright blue and purple, shocking both Lucy and Kikimora. Lucy held the Palisman in both hands in front of her, and watched with joy as it began to transform from dark blue carved wood into a fully flesh and blood Blue Jay with colours of its own. The Blue Jay Palisman stretched its wings and began to fly in front of Lucy as the light faded, showing off its true form. Their feathers were all in beautiful shades of blue, primarily a deep blue on the majority of their body, with pale blue on their face and near their wings and tail, and with dark blue (almost black) tips to their wings and tail. Even their legs were a shade of bluish grey, with the only non-blue detail of their bodies being their eyes, which were golden as a homage to the young man that had carved them.

Lucy watched with a steadily growing smile as the Blue Jay flitted around in the air in front of her for a few moments, then gently landed on her outstretched hands, nestling into them a bit. Their feathers felt so soft and Lucy fell in love with them immediately, and she cuddled them to her face with a barely restrained squeal of delight.

"I can't believe it! My very own Palisman! Hello!" she gushed, overjoyed.

"Hello! It's so nice to be alive!" the Blue Jay tweeted back, a feminine voice sounding off inside Lucy's mind. "And you're my very own partner! I hope we can be friends!"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically, deciding to think of the Blue Jay as a girl. The little bird could feel her emotions and had no problem with that, especially as Lucy replied; "We'll be the best of friends! I need to think of a good name for you!"

"LUCY!"

The girl and her Palisman snapped their heads towards Shade, still trapped in a salt prison. He was pointing at Kikimora, who was trying to use their distraction to sneak away. Lucy smirked as she saw this and turned back to the Blue Jay; "The name will have to wait a bit. Are you ready to show that pint-sized jerk who's boss?"

"Of course! Let's go, Partner!" the little bird tweeted, transforming herself into staff mode for the first time. The first time Lucy held her staff, she felt a rush of power and familiarity. The staff was perfectly sized and balanced for her, and she twirled it around in her hands like it was second nature, before pointing it at Kikimora.

"You were talking a lot of trash a minute ago, but now you're fleeing? Kind of pathetic if you ask me! But don't worry…" she twirled her staff once again and created a massive purple spell circle; "I'll make this quick!"

Lucy then slammed the end of her staff into the ground and caused the shadows to rise up from her feet and pass through the spell circle, growing massively as it did so and forming a giant black hand of darkness that lunged towards Kikimora. She shrieked and tried to stop it with a blast of magic, but the blast was absorbed and erased like it was nothing, forcing Kiki to dodge instead. She avoided the hand just barely, but Lucy made it swerve and grab Shade's salt prison, causing it to turn black and decay, freeing the spirit.

Shade immediately returned to Lucy's side and she cast another spell with her staff as she remembered Amity's trick from back at Eclipse Lake. She'd flooded her spirit with enough magic to make her spirit look like Hecate from her favourite books, so Lucy decided to do the same to Shade and caused him to be coated in darkness as he changed shape from a standard Oracle Spirit. The bandages on his face was consumed by shadows and vanished as his form became more like a standard male witch. Like Amity's version, he wasn't very distinctive in his facial features besides having a slightly hooked nose and a tear in his ear, modelling himself on Hunter just as Amity had modelled hers on Hecate. He wore a Golden Guard style uniform made of shadows, and had hair like Hunter's, also made of shadows as a ball of dark purple energy formed in his chest. Finally, he wielded a shadow replica of Flapjack, and sprouted a pair of angelic wings made of darkness.

"This feels very strange! I don't think this is what I looked like in life, but I can deal with it. Let us finish this!"

"Let's!" Lucy agreed, leaping into the shadows as Shade did the same. They then each popped out on either side of the terrified Kikimora and pointed their respective staves at her. They charged purple lightning and then fire bolts of low-powered electricity directly into her from both sides, making her scream as her body convulsed. With her unable to move or fight back any longer, Lucy and Shade raised their staves and then swung them down, coated in a tiny bit of magic, and clubbed Kiki over the head, knocking her out.

It was a simple, easy, and kind of anti-climactic end to their brief fight, but Lucy refused to give Kiki any more respect than she'd given her!

With the enemy unconscious, Lucy allowed her magic and the darkness to relax, her eyes and limbs turning back to normal as Shade returned to his usual appearance. She briefly conjured some chains to wrap Kikimora up in, then picked her up as if she was luggage as her new Palisman turned back into a bird and nestled into her hair.

"You feel a little different now, Lucy. I can sense you in two places, as if that bird truly is a part of you. Interesting." Shade commented.

"Well, a Palisman is supposed to be a part of you! But we should get back to the others; I don't want Gus to think Hunter and I just ran away." Lucy replied. "Beside, I want to show off my new friend to them all! And I need to give Kikimora to them."

"You're handing her over to the Rebels? Does your Uncle not want her as well?" Shade asked.

Lucy briefly remembered the petrification and destruction of Hettie Cutburn, which made her shudder. "That's a death sentence. I may hate her, but I don't want her dead." she replied.

The Blue Jay tweeted proudly, and they all began heading back to the Clawthorne Home to meet up with Hunter. When Lucy arrived, she found that the fire had been starved out (with only a small hole burned in the house's roof), and Hunter was now surrounded by Gus, Amity, and the Clawthornes, who had only just put out the flames and repaired the damage in the forest. They all turned upon seeing Lucy approaching with Kikimora, and smiled with relief.

"You caught Kikimora. Thank goodness; that's one problem we don't have to worry about." Lilith said.

"And you bonded with your Palisman! Good job, sis!" Hunter beamed, rushing over to hug her.

"Seriously, you did awesome! I wish I could have been there to see this baby come to life!" Gus grinned.

Lucy giggled, especially as Flapjack and her Palisman began to fly around each other, tweeting excitedly and playing a bit. She could see that Flapjack was immediately taking a big brother role to his new little sister, just like their parters had hoped.

"Thanks Hunter, Gus. But I couldn't have done it without you guys, especially you Gus. The things you told me earlier about just being the best me I can be was just what I needed to bond with her!" Lucy said.

"Congratulations, young one. It isn't always easy to form a bond with your Palisman, so be proud of your accomplishment." Dell smiled.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to bond with mine yet. I'm a little jealous!" Luz said, wearing a small smile of her own. Gus had given her, Amity, and King the short version of what had been going on as they'd raced out of the grove in pursuit of the siblings and Kikimora, so she had a good idea what the situation was. Thanks to her talk with her girlfriend and brother, she was also feeling a little better about the situation, and had resolved to mourn her Papi in a healthy way, without blaming herself any more.

Lucy felt a strange amount of pride at having surpassed Luz at something, before shrugging it off. She wasn't going to compare herself to Luz or Hunter any more! She'd be herself and nothing less!

"Yeah yeah, good job Munchkin. You did good catching the little creep that almost burned down the grove and my parents' house." Eda smirked, before glaring at the unconscious Kikimora; "Now what do we do with her?"

"I was going to let the CATTs take her prisoner." Lucy said, handing Kikimora to the Owl Lady; "Uncle will likely petrify and shatter her, and despite everything she's done, I'd rather not see her die…"

Hunter scoffed a little, but honestly he felt the same deep down. He was just mad because Kikimora had always been a thorn in his side. Eda and Lilith accepted Lucy's idea and cast sleep spells to make sure Kikimora was out cold for a while. They'd take her to Digale Island later and make sure she had a nice cosy cell to stay in… after a Blabber Serum interrogation.

With that decided, Amity said; "So what happens now? Gus told us you two swore an oath not to tell Belos about this place in return for some wood and Lucy's Palisman. You've got the Palisman, so are you just going to take some logs and go home? What'll you tell Belos?"

Lucy smiled; "I'll tell him that Kikimora attacked us and set fire to the rest of Mr. Clawthorne's Palistrom Wood. It's the truth, and he'll assume it was all destroyed. And as far as I know, except for the wood we "acquired", it was." she winked, making the CATTs and Clawthornes' grin. They would also tell him that the CATTs came to save Dell, leading to the capture of Kikimora but also making it impossible to capture him for the Emperor. Belos wouldn't be happy, but he'd accept so long as he got his wood.

Hunter nodded; "We're grateful for the way you've treated us. We're enemies, but you were good to me and my sister, and now my sister has a Palisman and I got to fulfil a childhood dream by carving one for myself! Thank you."

"You're welcome, Hunter." Dell grinned, patted the boy on the shoulder; "And thank you for saving our house! A hole is easy to patch, but building a new home is a bit of a pain!"

"Quite right!" Gwen chortled, before winking at the two Hands of the Emperor as she quietly added; "And thank you both for visiting. Dell got a real kick out of helping you after so long without being able to carve! If not for our poor Little Dove's circumstances, I'd say you came at the perfect time!"

The siblings smiled bashfully as Dell then said; "Feel free to come back sometime when this war is over and done with. You've got a talent for carving, Hunter. I'd like to see you master it!"

Hunter stood a little straighter as his chest filled with pride. "I will, sir! Thank you again!"

"And thank you again for my Palisman too! I still haven't come up with a name for her, but we're both very grateful!" Lucy said, the Blue Jay chirping on her shoulder.

Dell accepted the thanks then gestured for everyone to wait as he headed back to his grove to get the Palistrom Logs for the two (and seal the place up again). As he was doing that, King sat on Luz's shoulder and watched as the nameless Blue Jay began flapping around Gus's head, playing with the boy and chirping at Emmiline, who was still preening over her new crest.

"So, you still haven't come up with a name for her? Don't you have any ideas?" King asked.

"I wanted something similar to Flapjack, since they're supposed to be siblings… but I don't know what a Flapjack is!" Lucy groaned.

"Almost no one at the castle knew when I asked. Uncle was the only one who did, saying they're something like a Pancake… but we don't know what that is either!" Hunter huffed.

Everyone else present was clueless as well, except for a giggling Luz. Everyone turned to her and she said; "A Flapjack and a Pancake are kinds of Human Realm breakfast food! Like Scrambled Eyeggs."

Everyone blinked in surprise, before breaking out into giggles. Even Hunter chuckled, despite his incredulous expression; "Your first partner named you after breakfast food?" he asked with a grin.

Flapjack chirped proudly, liking his own name despite the origins. The Blue Jay also chirped, apparently happy to go along with that naming scheme. Lucy saw this and smiled.

"Luz, could you tell us more names like that then? Just list them and my partner can chirp at the one she likes!"

The Arch-Angel agreed and began to rattle off names; "Let's see… Cereal. Toast. Eggs. Bacon. Croissants. Bagels. Muffins. Waffles-"

Lucy's partner began to chirp happily at that last one, making the girl smile. "So you like Waffles?" Lucy asked.

The newly named Waffles chirped again, hopping up and down on Lucy's shoulder adorably. She clearly liked the name, and Lucy found it cute too, so it was decided. "Waffles it is then! We're going to be the best of friends!"

Waffles playfully pecked Lucy's cheek, making the girl giggle, and seeing the giggling child so happy made the others all smile, even Eda and Lilith, who'd been the most wary of her. Luz felt a little jealous of her being able to bond with her Palisman while her own was still in their egg, but that was more about her not knowing what she wanted out of life beyond her immediate goals.

A moment later, Dell returned with five hefty logs of Palistrom Wood, which Hunter had to use magic to carry due to their size and weight. He also brought a small bag that he handed to Lucy.

"This is yours, I believe. If you and your brother are about to head home, I think now is the time to give it." Dell told her.

Lucy smiled gratefully while all but Gus looked at the bag curiously. The girl opened it up and pulled out a small wooden bluebell that she'd carved from wood scraps along side Gus. Shyly, she held it out to Luz.

"Um, sorry if this is overstepping, but Gus told me what today was for you and what you were missing, in part because of me, so I thought I'd make you this." Lucy said, blushing. "I-It's for your Dad."

Luz gasped as she accepted the wooden flower. "Thank you, Lucy. This means a lot to me." she whispered, feeling a little choked up.

"I-I'm glad. I wish you well." Lucy bowed her head, then stepped back. Her eyes then flashed purple as her Oracle Stone glowed as well. When the glow faded, she added; "Shade also apologises for stealing the Portal Key from you. He did it to make me happy without realising the pain it would cause."

Luz and the others scowled, certainly not happy about what the Spirit had done… still, it was thanks to Shade that Luz had survived the ordeal on Titan Trapper Island, so Luz decided that today was a day for forgiveness and new beginnings.

"Tell Shade I accept his apology. I forgive him, but I'd like to avoid him for now if that's okay." Luz replied evenly.

"He's too scared to come out near you anyway." Lucy smiled.

Hunter, who'd gone silent since Lucy handed Luz a flower, decided that since he'd also intruded on the Arch-Angel's family on such an important day, it was only right he make an offering as well. He summoned Flapjack back to his hand and drew a small green spell circle and conjured a Fulgur Bloom; a yellow flower that grew on Titan Earth when natural lightning struck it.

"I've been learning a bit of Plant Magic in the last week, so here." he said, handing the flower to Luz; "An offering to your father. He must have been an incredible man to have won an Angel's heart."

Luz accepted the flower and gave a watery smile in return; "Thank you Hunter. You're not as much of a bad boy as you like to make us think."

Hunter huffed bashfully and got onto his staff to fly off; "Yeah well, you may be trouble, but I don't dislike you. Now we need to get home before it gets dark and Uncle sends a search party. Come on, Lucy."

His little sister nodded, then blushed and said; "O-One minute, Hunter!"

She then walked up to Gus, still blushing as she said; "I really wanted to thank you for your help today… you've been a good friend Gus, even when I've been involved in bad stuff… so I wanted to give you something. C-Could you close your eyes?"

Gus smiled; "Aw, you don't have to do that! We're buds! But if you insist…" he closed his eyes. He expected Lucy to take his hand and place something in it, but while she did take his hand, the only other thing he felt was something warm and soft against his cheek, as well as the scent of lavender and vanilla filling his nose. The touch disappeared as soon as it came, and Gus opened his eyes and looked around with confusion.

Lucy was completely red-faced as she got onto her new staff for the first time and floated up to Hunter, who looked half amused and half annoyed. Everyone else was grinning at him, while King had his tongue poked out with a look of disgust on his face. It took him a moment to register what Lucy had just done, and then promptly gave Amity a run for her money with his tomato impression. Luz even teasingly used an illusion to make his hair green and shaped like tomato leaves. Gus shook off the illusion and looked up at Lucy, and the two shared a bashful smile and wave, before Lucy and her brother shot off in the direction of the castle, their mission at least a partial success.

"Well, I think we can say that we all got something good out of today." Lilith smiled.

"Quite right, Sweet Flea." Dell said, before reaching behind him and revealing another log of Palistrom Wood; "I also grabbed the wood needed for Luz to make her key. I'd like to leave the grove alone for a little while; I was able to heal all the damage caused by the brief fire, but using that much magic on Palistrom Wood can make it sickly around other forms of magic, and I'd rather not have to deal with that."

"That's fine. We should start thinking about dinner soon! I hope you'll all stay! And maybe help these old folks fix up their roof!" Gwen smiled, casting her eyes over to the burnt hole on top of their home. Hunter had done a good job in limiting the spread of the flames, but there was still a two foot square hole in the roof.

Most of the others responded positively (minus Gus, who was stunned silent for a moment), but Eda actually came up with another idea. "Hey listen, since Dad and I have only just reconnected after all these years, and we're going to be doing something for Luz's Papi back at home, I was thinking… why don't you two come home with me?"

Dell and Gwen both blinked in surprise, while the others looked intrigued. "Mom, are you asking them to come live with us!?" King asked excitedly.

"Sort of. There isn't room in the house, but I thought they could temporarily move to Digale Island until the Day of Unity passes." Eda said; "I know those kids won't rat you out thanks to the oaths they took, but I wouldn't put it passed Belos to come after you anyway. He sent those kids here knowing it could break the truce, and I don't believe for a second that getting the wood was their only orders. I'm worried he'll come after you guys to get to us."

"That's honestly a fair reason to worry. You two aren't defenceless, but you're no match for Belos' army if he comes calling." Lilith agreed. "Plus with the house temporarily damaged, it's as good an excuse as any to move to Digale Island. If she's willing, Luz could also make a Teleportation Circle so Dad can still visit his grove."

Luz nodded immediately; "I'd be happy to help. I'd have to make it outside since the barrier would get in the way, but only I can activate it, so it would be safe. If we make the other end on Digale Island, we'll also have an emergency escape route if something happened while we're at the grove."

Dell and Gwen exchanged looks; they'd honestly been thinking about doing more to help the CATTs ever since they heard of their daughters' involvement. Dell would love to be able to use his grove to make Palismen for the members, and Gwen would love to be able to see her daughters and grandchildren more often! And since she'd had a habit of joining different Covens during her search for a cure to Eda's Curse, she had a lot of insight into the different covens. The opportunity to spend more time with their family and help them at the same time was all they needed.

"I agree. It'll be like a second vacation, and with the Day of Unity so close, it'll only be for a month." Dell decided, looking to Gwen; "What about you, dear?"

"Of course! You don't even need to ask!" she replied happily, "In fact, give me a moment to pack all our things and we can get going right away!"

With that, Gwen bustled off to begin packing. Luz expected they'd be waiting for a while as her Abuela got everything she wanted to bring to her new temporary accommodations, but then to her surprise, Gwen simply cast a few spells and every single item in the house was packed into a single bag with a magically expanded interior, which she then carried out as if it was the most casual thing in the world. Literally the only thing she hadn't brought was the house itself!

"Whoa… I sometimes forget how amazing magic can be…" Luz commented.

"Well we Clawthornes are travellers and explorers by nature!" Gwen smiled. "We're good at packing luggage!"

King and Luz both giggled, while Amity made a note to ask Lilith to teach her those spells later. However with that done and the evening fast approaching, they decided to take a pleasant stroll back through town to the Owl House. As they walked, Eda took a moment to speak quietly with Luz and make sure she was feeling okay, as well as give her condolences for her loss. The Owl Lady felt a little bad that she'd had Luz helping her with her daddy issues on the anniversary of her own father's passing, but Luz had replied that she was actually happy to have helped, as helping Dell had felt a little like she was making up for not being able to help her Dad. Of course, thanks to Amity and King, Luz realised she wasn't at fault for that, but it had still helped.

Gwen, Lilith, and Gus had also each taken a moment to walk beside her and quietly offer their condolences, and promised to do all in their power to make Luz feel better on such a difficult day. It made Luz feel warm and loved, and while she worried about her Mami in the Human Realm, she knew that her little sister Vee was undoubtedly making their Mami feel loved as well. Luz just hoped it was enough to make up for her absence…

About halfway through their return walk, Dell moved to walk beside Luz, making her smile.

"Hey, Abuelo. Sorry I haven't had as much time to speak with you today. But you and King looked to be having a good chat." Luz said. True enough, King had spent the first half of the walk using his wings to flap along beside his Grandpa, chattering away about anything and everything that crossed his mind.

Dell smiled; "Indeed, we were having a nice talk. But you are my grandchild too, and today of all days, I wanted to be with you for a bit." his smile dropped and his bowed his head solemnly; "You've done so much for me today. Without you, I wouldn't have my hands back, or more importantly, my beloved Edalyn."

"Mom did that on her own." Luz countered.

"But she found the courage thanks to your influence. Had you not come to this world, I would have likely lost both my daughters. I owe you much, and I am deeply sorry that all this had to happen on such a solemn occasion. You have my deepest condolences for your loss; your father must have been a wonderful man to help raise a child as kind as you."

Tears prickled at the corners of Luz's eyes; "T-Thank you, Abuelo. That means a lot. It's been a long time since Papi passed away… it wouldn't normally feel this fresh, but with everything going on…"

Dell nodded in understanding; "The Winter Winds bring fresh pain to old wounds. It is a saying here in the Demon Realm, and I've found it true for wounds of the heart as well as the body. Sadly there is no salve for a wounded heart beyond time and compassion, so all I can do to help you is provide a distraction."

"A distraction?" Luz repeated.

"Indeed! And what better distraction than a story! Telling stories to grandchildren is a favourite pass time of grandparents, I've been told!" Dell chortled as he stroked his beard.

Luz giggled and King and the others (who'd been quietly eavesdropping) all walked a little closer together so they could listen too. Dell and Luz knew they were listening, but neither had a problem with it.

"This story is more of a family history lesson, but it would do you good to learn about the family you've been adopted by." Dell began; "For instance, did you know that both your Abuela and I are from different branches of the Clawthorne Clan? We were both Clawthornes before we married, though our common ancestor lived about 500 years ago, so a good 30 generations split us apart. Your Abuela's branch of the family was originally from beyond the Boiling Isles, after their progenitor sailed away five centuries ago. It was only when Gwen's grandfather and his wife moved back here that the Boiling Isles gained a second branch of the clan. Meanwhile, I am directly descended from the branch that remained in the isles. In fact, you know a distant ancestor of mine from about 20 generations ago; one Evelyn Clawthorne."

Luz gasped a little. Logically speaking, she'd known one of Eda's parents was descended from Evelyn, but it was still exciting to hear about it. Dell smiled at her reaction; "Oh yes, my dear wife told me all about your trip through a time pool, and your meeting with our ancestor after Edalyn and Lilith both called and told her about. I confess, I don't know much about Evelyn herself, or her tragic love story, but her daughter is of great interest."

"Lillian?" Luz questioned.

Dell nodded; "Indeed! You see Lillian would later become rather famous in the Boiling Isles as the Pale Dove."

Eda and Lilith both gasped; "The Pale Dove was a Clawthorne!?" Lilith exclaimed.

"That little girl who played with Luz became such a legendary figure!?" Eda cried.

The others looked shocked as well, with only Luz being confused; "I haven't heard of the Pale Dove…"

"She's a legend! Some people doubt she ever existed!" Amity explained; "Remember that Dragon Graveyard Island that Miss Miphari said Belos took her and some others to on an expedition for Galdorstones? Well the Pale Dove is the one who supposedly created that place! A powerful Supreme Dragon attempted to attack the Boiling Isles with an army of its children, and the Pale Dove drove them to the island and defeated them all, turning the island into a graveyard for them!"

Luz's eyes widened; "No way! But even Seraphim are supposed to struggle against Supreme Dragons! How did Lillian grow up strong enough to beat one AND it's kids!?"

"She didn't." Dell said with a wink; "People make legends from history like they make mountains out of molehills. The truth was passed down in my family; in reality, Lillian Clawthorne had a close friend who became obsessed with becoming a Supreme Dragon. He followed all the steps, but he failed to get the blessing of the Titan and murdered a young dragon for its heart, so when he devoured it, he transformed into a form of Grand Dragon known as a Draco Lich. In his madness, he attacked the Boiling Isles, and Lillian was forced to slay him. She later took his body to an island they had discovered together and laid him to rest there. However dragons like to bury their dead with other dragons, and so others brought their fallen there too, and when explorers discovered it and the grave left by Lillian, they assumed she had killed them all. The legend spun on from there."

Luz frowned; "So Lillian was forced to eventually kill her own friend… I hope she was okay after that."

"She was. She was only 30 at the time after all, and she lived to be 120! She had many children and a wife that was supposedly famed for her beauty and gentle nature." Dell smiled. "That story is one that Clawthornes pass to their children when they turn 16, since they're usually wise enough by that point to not spread it around. Sadly circumstances kept me from telling Edalyn and Lilith, but it's worth mentioning that Lillian is who we named Lilith after."

Lilith smiled; "I'm named after the Pale Dove?"

Gwen nodded; "You are! It's tradition to name our children after prominent figures within the clan. Edalyn is named after Edaros, the man who founded my branch of the clan when he led his wife and children out to sea and discovered another Titan. That Titan has since sunken beneath the sea, but the legend remains within the family."

Eda grinned while her children looked amazed; "Cool!" King grinned.

"But the story about the dragon isn't what I wanted to tell you. It's actually another story, but our naming traditions do factor into it." Dell said, "You see, Lillian also passed down a story that all of us in her branch of the family are supposed to tell their children when they're young. Certain… other circumstances kept me from telling my own daughters, but now is as good a time as ever!"

Gwen looked a bit sheepish all of a sudden, and the younger Clawthornes all got the impression she was the "other circumstances" Dell was referring to.

"The story is actually a very short and simple one. When Lillian was small, she made a friend… a friend with white hair, golden eyes, and white feathered wings like a dove. She was "A Good Angel" and saved Lillian and her family from a wicked man, whilst teaching them that in all species and groups, there existed good people and bad people. For Lillian and her mother had believed Angels were all cold and cruel, but this one saved them even after her mother fought her. It is said that Lillian carved the wings of her Palisman in remembrance of the Good Angel, and from that came her eventual epitaph of the Pale Dove." Dell said, reciting the words his own mother had said to him at many a bedtime in his youth.

The others were all stunned to silence as Luz raised a hand to cover her mouth, which hung open in shock. Her eyes glistened as she realised the story was about her! Her trip to the past had echoed through the history of the Clawthorne Family, leading partially to the creation of a Boiling Isles Folk Hero! She almost couldn't comprehend it, and the only words she could choke out were; "Lillian remembered me… She was so small and we only played together for one afternoon, so I was sure she'd forget! But she really did remember…"

Dell smiled; "Gwen was almost knocked off her feet when Eda called and told her about that little trip. When she told me about it, I too could barely believe it. But it was true, and because of your visit, my branch of the Clawthorne Clan was taught not to fear Angels. That's why I didn't raise Edalyn and Lilith to believe Angels were evil, and to make up their own minds about them."

"Which turned out pretty lucky for me." Eda said; "I used to hang on your every word when you told stories! If you'd filled my head with bad stuff about Angels, I might never have taken in Luz!"

The Owl Lady and King both shuddered at the thought, which made Luz smile and hug them both. Meanwhile Lilith frowned and said; "Why did you never tell us this story?"

Gwen sighed; "It's my fault. I was from a different branch of the clan from outside the isles, and I was raised with the same hatred of Angels that permeated most of the Demon Realm. When I was pregnant with you Lilith, Dell told me that story… but I was afraid of Angels, and I didn't like the rhetoric that Belos was spreading about them being servants of the Titan. I told Dell not to tell you or your future siblings the story until you were adults, because I was scared you'd be suckered into believing all Angels were good, since Belos was already spreading talk like that. Instead Dell and I tried to keep you girls neutral on it, teaching you to judge on a case by case basis… not that we expected you'd ever meet an Angel."

The old woman then looked guiltily at Luz; "I am sorry if that offends you, Little Dove. I don't hate Angels, but I remember enough stories about them from my own childhood to be wary of trusting them all like Belos wants. Not including you of course! You're still my precious grandchild, along with King!"

Luz smiled; "It's okay. You're right that not all Angels are good like Belos says. I know that some of us must have done awful things in this world… they haven't exactly been the nicest people in their own realm from what my Mami told me. Plus the stories about Witches and Demons in both the Human and Divine Realms are just as bad as the stories about Angels here. I think as long as all of us are just judging people by what they do and not what they are, it's okay."

"That's right. Things aren't always what they appear to be after all!" Gus chimed in, already planning to put on an illusory show of "The Truth of the Pale Dove" to the rest of the Hexsquad.

Amity nodded too; "It all worked out. Besides, if Eda and Lilith had known the truth before going into the Time Pools, they might have acted differently and accidentally changed things!"

"Stop, talking about time stuff is gonna make my head hurt again!" King complained. He'd tried to ask Rasiel how the whole thing with the portal had worked, since Evelyn only left it where it was because Eda asked her to, and Eda only asked because she knew Evelyn did so… the resulting lecture on time lines, paradoxes, and other temporal magic weirdness had made his brain feel like melting.

"I'm with you on that! Let's just leave it all at; Luz is a Good Angel and the Clawthornes are awesome!" Eda declared, smiling triumphantly.

Everyone chuckled and agreed, ending the conversation… with the sole exception of one final anecdote from Dell, which he whispered to Luz to further cheer her up.

"Here's another little fun history fact about Lillian… her first child was a son, whom she named Lucien."

He then winked as Luz stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out the significance of that… until it suddenly hit her; Lucien… it sounded an awful lot like Luz-ien.

For the whole rest of the walk home, Luz had a secret little smile on her face. Her little friend had named her child after her… Luz never knew she'd made such an impact on the girl's life, though she supposed driving off her evil Uncle probably made a strong impression, along with being a "Good Angel" after hearing stories of how evil her kind was for her entire short life. Perhaps Evelyn had encouraged such thinking, since she knew Luz would one day be adopted into her clan…

Luz was still thinking about all this as they reached the Owl House, and were met by several of their friends. In fact, pretty much every ally that wasn't on Digale Island was hanging around outside with Hooty and Matt, who looked to have made a little more progress on the Portal Door. Luz was surprised to see so many of them, especially since they hadn't mentioned stopping by for a visit that evening.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" she asked, noting that she seemed to be the only one surprised to see them all.

"The CATTs leaders called us all together for an important meeting." Willow answered with a coy smile; "They said it was a matter of great importance."

Everyone else nodded or voiced their agreements, making Luz blink and turn to Eda. "An important meeting?"

"Yep! Sorry I forgot to mention it to you when you got back earlier. Things got out of hand with the Golden Goof and his little sis, so it slipped my mind." Eda shrugged.

The mention of Hunter and Lucy caught everyone's attention, as did the presence of the unconscious Kikimora slung over the Owl Lady's shoulder. They also noticed Dell and Gwen, who smiled and introduced themselves. Luz blinked in surprise, feeling an odd atmosphere in the air, though she quickly shrugged it off. The call for the meeting must have gone out while she was at the Crystal Blossom Tree with Amity and King.

"Well, I can take us all to Digale Island then." Luz said, only to receive a shake of the head from her Mom.

"The meeting will be held here." Eda said; "We just need to go pick up everyone on Digale Island and drop Kikimora off in a cell."

"Okay… shall we go then?" Luz said, certain there was something she was missing. Whatever it was, she hoped it wouldn't take all evening; she had plans with Amity and King to find some flowers!

"You and Mom go to the island. The rest of us will stay and fill the others in on what happened at Grandma and Grandpa's place." King said, shooing Luz and Eda along to the Teleportation Circle.

Luz was even more confused, but agreed and sang the song to activate the circle and reach Digale Island, where she was immediately met by a crowd of people led by Raine.

"Ah, there you two are!" Raine smiled; "Lilith sent a message giving us a brief idea of what happened. We'll put Kikimora in a cell beneath HQ and interrogate her sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, we all need to head back to the Owl House for an important meeting."

A couple of CATTs members that Luz wasn't familiar with came along and grabbed Kikimora, then bowed formally to Luz and scurried off with their prisoner, leaving the poor Angel terribly confused. Even more surprising was that Treble was joining the group heading back to the Boiling Isles, despite not setting foot there since being made a spy. Luz had no idea what this meeting was, but it had to be important with so many people taking part!

With no desire to delay any further, Luz took everyone back through the Teleportation Circle to the Owl House, where they all assembled in front of the house. As they assembled, Luz looked at the crowd with surprise; there were so many of her fellow CATTs!

There was obviously her Demon Realm Family of Eda, King, Lilith, Raine, Gwendolyn, Dell, Hooty, and Rasiel. Then there was the Hexsquad members; Amity, Gus, Willow, Skara, Boscha, and Matt. Then Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus of the Magic Mixers, and Katya, Amber, and Derwin of the original BATTs. And then of course there were the other allied coven heads, past and present; Darius, Eber, Mason, Luna, and Osran. On top of all of those people, there were the twins Edric and Emira, their father Alador, Treble the Basilisk, Matt's big brother Steve, Viney's Mom Valtora, and Sea Captain Salty too. That meant there were over 30 people attending the meeting, which included just about everyone within the CATTs that Luz knew personally and considered a friend.

"What's going on? What's this meeting about?" Luz asked.

Everyone exchanged looks, then reached behind their backs, into their pockets, or began to cast spells. Luz blinked in surprise, then gasped as every single person produced a flower. Each one was different; some were picked somewhere, some were grown with magic, some were carved from wood or stone, or made from abomination slime… but each and every one was different.

And they were all being offered to Luz.

"I-I… w-what's going on?" Luz asked, her voice wavering as realised what the flowers were for.

"Did you forget?" Amity asked, stepping forward with some Crystal Blossoms she'd picked from their tree; "I said that if you couldn't pick flowers with your Mami and visit your Papi's grave, we'd pick flowers and do something here. You did say I could tell the others too."

"B-But I thought you told them just so they'd know why I was being so weird! I wasn't expecting everyone to do this…!" Luz cried, so much emotion inside her that she didn't know if she wanted to smile or burst into tears.

"Well we couldn't just do nothing after hearing someone so important to us was hurting!" Skara chimed in.

"That's right! Amity told some of us what was going on, and then we spread the word to all your friends within the CATTs. We'd have spread it further to people outside the CATTs, but we didn't want to ruin Eber or Mason's cover." Willow added.

"We all communicated with each other and came to the agreement that we'd all offer flowers to make up for you not being able to be with your mother." Raine smiled gently.

"You have been there to support every person here, some in big ways and some in small ways. What kind of friends would we be to you if we didn't at least come together to help you mourn?" Rasiel asked.

Eber barked in agreement and Darius said; "You've been fighting for us, Little Light. Let us do this small thing for you."

A completely stunned Luz looked back and forth through the crowd, looking each person in the eye and receiving a kind smile from them in return. She was so overcome with the outpouring of support that tears began to stream down her face, even as she smiled brilliantly.

"Everyone… thank you so much! You all mean so much to me! I can never thank you enough! I love all of you!" she cried.

Those closest to her heart moved to embrace her, while the others smiled at her. They were all glad to see that their gesture had gone over well!

For the rest of that evening, the large group sat together outside and enjoyed a barbecue dinner together, all while spending time asking Luz for stories and fond memories of Manny Noceda, and returning the favour with happy stories of their own passed on loved ones. A few chose not to share, and a few lucky ones had nothing to share, and while there was some laughter and many tears, everyone came together for the girl who'd sacrificed so much for each of them. When the meal came to an end and there were no stories left to tell, Luz and the others tied the flowers to balloons of Abomination goo and set them to fly off into the sky, where they disappeared beyond the clouds.

"I don't know if you'll see these, Papi…" Luz thought as she sent up a white and gold crystal flower of her own, grown with her magic. Eda was hugging her from behind, while King was curled around her shoulders and Amity was holding her hand.

Luz smiled contentedly and watched her flowers disappear into the sky; "… but I hope you can see me. I'm doing well, and became an Angel you can be proud of. I have a big family to take care of me now… so please rest easy!"

Her silent prayer reached beyond the veil of death, and was heard by a soul that never strayed far from her… a soul that always watched over her. But they also reached another soul; that of Orion, and for a moment, the glyphs on Luz's body glowed very faintly as the power of the Titan allowed the recipient of her prayers to give back a wordless reply.

For an all too brief moment, Luz felt as it there was another pair of arms hugging her… a pair of strong, familiar arms. She smiled tearfully and placed her free hand against her heart as she whispered her thanks to the Titan.

And that was how Luz's day ended; surrounded by loved ones and the smell of flowers.

[Meanwhile]

Camila and Vee sat together in the old Gravesfield Graveyard, which was inaccessible now thanks to a moat of water with no bridge to cross it. The two had flown over it together earlier, flowers in hand, and had lingered until the sun began to set. Vee felt a little awkward being at such a solemn and private moment, but her Mama had insisted that she was family and very much welcome. Her Mama had told her that Manny would have loved her to pieces just like she did, and it made Vee dearly wish she could have met the man whose grave they now sat in front of.

Her Mama had spent a portion of the visit cleaning the grave and clearing away weeds, all while talking to Manny as if he was right there with them. She told him all about Vee, and what Luz had been up to since last year's visit, and apologised that his daughter couldn't come in person. Vee still remembered those words clearly…

"Luz can't be with us this year, Manny. I don't know what happened in the Demon Realm, but it's stopped her from coming back to visit. I know she'd never run away and abandon us… it's worrying that she hasn't been able to come home again, but we both know our daughter is strong! I know she's fighting to find her way home again, with the rest of our expanded family by her side! Not that I need to tell you of course; I bet you're watching over her right now!"

Camila had said that so confidently, but it was something she and Vee both believed. They'd been scared and worried when Luz had missed that first weekend visit, and each one since, but they knew Luz would come home eventually. They had no idea what had happened to the portal, but they were sure Luz would find a way back to them!

Finally, as it began to get dark, Camila said goodbye to Manny, kissing her fingers and pressing them to his headstone, before gently taking Vee's hand so they could fly home together.

"Goodbye, my love. Keep watching over our Luz while I can't." Camila smiled sadly.

Vee still didn't know what to call Manny, so she just waved as she and Camila took off flying together, leaving the sombre and quiet graveyard behind. But as they flew, Vee couldn't help but wonder to herself… why was Manny buried in the old, seemingly abandoned Graveyard and not the newer one closer to town? Manny's grave looked centuries newer than all the others… save for a single grave beside it, with a curiously blank headstone.

Vee put that out of her mind though, and as she flew home alongside her Mama, her thoughts went to Luz; "Whatever you're doing Luz, I hope you're safe!"