Gehetag 2, Sixth Lunar Disappearance, 50 CE | The Den of the Bat Queen
Luz and Tre slowly made their way back to the main section of the Bat Queen's den, with Luz still carrying her molt in her arms. It needed to be commemorated, and she wasn't going to let her very first shed be eaten up by the local wildlife. Maybe she could hang it up on the wall next to Eda's giant wanted poster? It could be kind of like how Mamá kept that Garter snake skin in a frame on her nightstand. Yeah, that would be awesome! It would totally match the whole "absolute chaos and randomness" aesthetic Eda had.
As the pair entered the main park, Luz could see Eda and Ivy talking about something, with Eda holding a few sheets of paper and Ivy occasionally pointing to specific things on those pages. King, who was a fair distance away, looked to be taking a nap under one of the numerous trees, his tail curled up under him, and his paws acting as a makeshift pillow.
"Hey, Eda! Look what I have!" Luz called out to the Owl Lady, holding up her shed skin for all to see. The witch turned at the call of her name to see her apprentice practically speed-slithering over to her, dead skin in hand.
"Look at it! It's so cool!" Luz could barely contain her excitement as she handed the molt over to Eda. The Owl Lady gingerly inspected the skin, careful to not damage it in the slightest. The skin itself was nearly see-through, but Eda could make out the general imprint of Luz's scales. Eda handed the skin back to Luz after giving it one last look.
Eda chuckled and ruffled Luz's hair, which earned a smile from the girl. "I knew you had it in ya, kid. So how was it?"
"It was so weird, but so awesome at the same time!" Luz exclaimed. "Like, Tre had this knife that we used to cut my face open, and there was this log tunnel that I went through that would catch onto my molt, and then I would slither out of it super slowly, and it felt so odd, but when I finished I felt all better."
"Dang kid, remember to breathe, won't ya." Eda said once her apprentice finished rambling.
"Hehe, sorry," Luz apologized. "It was just so cool!"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Eda said. "Well, while you and your buddy were off playing with knives, Ivy and I had a very productive conversation about how I can keep you from not passing out because you forget to eat. Hooty won't always be there to save you, ya know?"
"I know," Luz replied. "and, uh, sorry about that, by the way."
"What is there to be sorry for?" Eda asked rhetorically. "You screwed up and made a mistake, but now you're learning from it. Look, kid. You're a basilisk, so that means you gotta have some magic in ya. I said it before, and I'll say it again: you aren't gonna be eating me out of the house just because I have to cook up something with a little extra magic in it. We've got bloodberries, fairies, and way more that you can use to fill your gut with morphing juice."
Luz suddenly wrapped Eda up in a hug, which the Owl Lady reciprocated, giving the basilisk a few pats on the back.
"Thank you, Eda," Luz said before breaking off the embrace.
"Eh, don't mention it, kid. Titan, you're making me all soft and mushy with so many of these parallel arm things," Eda replied, only partially in jest.
"Hey, Eda, is it okay if we put my molt in your hair pocket dimension thing?" Luz asked. She wanted to keep it safe and her mentor's hair was probably the best bet.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah sure. Hand it over." Luz complied, and the Owl Lady rummaged around in her hair a bit before withdrawing her hand.
"Alright, your shed is safe and sound. Do you wanna keep it or something?" Eda asked in kind.
"Pretty much, yeah," Luz replied. "Since it's my first one, I feel like it's special. I don't wanna just throw it away and let some random fairy eat it."
An alarm went off on Eda's scroll. Eda summoned the device to see what the cause of the disturbance was. Potion for M. Rasmodius Ready, the screen read. Oh yeah, she had potions to make. The Owl Lady let out a groan.
Eda turned to Ivy. "While I would love to stay and keep chatting, I've got some work I gotta finish up." She then looked towards Luz. "Can you go wake up King, kid? We're heading home."
Luz opened her mouth to object to them going home so soon (She had just met other basilisks! Couldn't she have another hour?), but shut her mouth and complied with Eda's request. The young girl slithered over to the sleeping demon and gently shook his shoulder, rousing him from his slumber.
"Come on, buddy, you gotta get up. Eda says we're going home." To that, King slowly go to his feet and slowly yawned.
"I'm tired…" the King of Demons (and Luz's heart) said.
"I know," Luz replied. Then, an idea struck her. "Would a piggyback ride make you feel better?"
King's eyes lit up instantly at the offer. "Yeah!"
Luz smiled. "Alright, hop on!"
King scrambled up onto Luz's back before hooking his arms around her neck like the world's fluffiest cape. "Away, fair chariot!" he proclaimed, which earned a laugh from Luz.
As the pair returned back to the others, Ivy stopped Luz. "I know we didn't get to talk much, and I know this is kinda a long shot, but if you ever see Five, can you tell her that Tre and I are okay and with the Bat Queen?"
"And that we miss her!" Tre added.
"Yeah, that too," Ivy said.
"Totally!" Luz replied. "I'll be sure to keep a lookout." Luz gave the other two basilisks a salute
"Hey Tiny One, Tiny Two, are ya ready to go?" Eda called out. "My potions aren't gonna bottle themselves, and unless one of you is gonna sprout a pair of wings in the next five minutes, I'm your only ticket home."
"Calm down, Eda, we're coming."
As Owlbert descended from the sky and slowly touched down, Eda and Luz (with King still riding on her back) quickly hopped off the Palisman. It was only when the three went through the front door of the Owl House that King finally ended what felt like the world's longest piggyback ride, clambering down to the floor before just as quickly climbing up onto the couch.
"Alright, I'm gonna be in the kitchen finishing up Rasmodius' order," Eda announced. "That means you two get to pick what we do for lunch. No burgers, though. I'm getting sick of having to fend off Hooty from eating the patties every ten seconds."
"BUT THEY'RE SO DELICIOUS, HOOT HOOT!"
Luz joined King on the couch, draping her tail over the armrest. The two sat in relative silence for a few seconds before Luz spoke up.
"So, what do you want for lunch?" she asked the diminutive demon.
"Hmm…" King tapped a claw against his chin. "Spaghetti and heatballs?"
"Eh, I feel like we just had that, though," Luz replied, shooting down the offer. Plus, the heatballs weren't the kindest to her stomach when she tried them the way King liked them: absolutely drenched in hot sauce to the point of being more of a stew then a pasta dish.
Wait… stew. That gave Luz an idea. "I know, we can make some sancocho!" the basilisk proclaimed.
"What's 'san-co-cho'?" King asked, sounding out each syllable of the foreign word.
Luz gasped. "Sancocho is only one of the best foods in all of existence! It's a stew you cook up with chunks of beef and chicken, along with some yuca, plantain, auyama, and a ton of downright heavenly spices. Mami and I would always make some together on rainy days back home, and it always turned out incredible." Her mouth was watering at the mere thought of the dish., but then she thought some more and realized that they weren't any cows or chickens on the Boiling Isles. "We'll probably have to make a few substitutions, though," the basilisk added quickly after.
"Mmm… sounds yummy. Let's do it!" King said.
"Cool," Luz replied, before calling into the kitchen. "Eda, we know what we wanna do for lunch!"
"Alright, but I'll still need about half an hour to finish up this last order," Eda responded.
Luz slithered into the kitchen, with King following close behind. Eda stood next to a bubbling cauldron filled to the brim with a light green liquid. Dozens of potion bottles were strewn about on the counter, with some filled, but most were empty.
"So what's the plan?" Eda asked, dipping a bottle into the cauldron.
"We're gonna make a really good stew called sancocho. It's got chunks of meat, fruits, veggies, and lots of spices," Luz explained. While she did so, she scoured the cabinets, pulling out a mixing bowl that was large enough to marinate the meat in, as well as grabbing a pot that could hold all the ingredients once everything was cooking.
Now it was time to actually prepare the ingredients. First, though, Luz thoroughly washed her hands. She didn't want to risk contaminating anything, after all. Opening some more cabinets, Luz set out a bottle of lime juice, a few sprigs of cilantro, some oregano, a clove of garlic, and a salt shaker. There was a problem, though, as Luz had no idea what substitutes they had readily available as a beef stand-in.
"Hey, Eda, do we have any meats by chance?" Luz asked.
"Yeah, we've got some griffin flank in the fridge," Eda replied, motioning with her ladle.
Luz pondered that for a second. She knew griffins laid eggs (which were quite tasty in her opinion), so maybe griffin flank would taste like chicken? It was worth a shot. Luz opened the fridge and looked around before spotting a wrapped package with "GRIFFIN" written on it in marker. Jackpot. Luz took out the flank and unwrapped it, untying the string and drawing back the brown paper. Ooh, this looks fantastic! Luz thought.
Reaching under the stove-top, Luz grabbed a cutting board and chef's knife. Setting the flank in the center of the board, Luz began to slice the meat into small chunks. If she was back home, mamá would be the one doing the knife-work, but here Eda was busy, and she didn't trust King to not hurt himself, so that left Luz. Like she had hoped, the griffin flank had about the same consistency as a chicken's, which allowed the knife to effortlessly glide through as she made her cuts. When Luz finally put the knife down, she had around 3 dozen chunks of griffin on her cutting board, which meant there was plenty to go around for her, Eda, and King.
After placing the used knife in the sink and depositing the now-sliced griffin flank in the mixing bowl, Luz began preparing the marinade. First into the concoction went the cilantro and the oregano. Then she added a few shakes of salt. Luz always liked her chicken (or, in this case, griffin) on the saltier side, so she hoped the the other's wouldn't mind. She still had to prepare the garlic, though, so Luz got out a smaller knife and trimmed the ends of the the clove before crushing it and removing the skin. Once the garlic was finely smushed, she added it to the mixing bowl. For the final touch on the marinade, about a lime's worth of juice was added to the mix.
Now that the marinade was ready, Luz began working the mixture together with her hands, making sure that every chunk of griffin got properly coated. Once the meat was seasoned to Luz's liking, she set the bowl in the fridge to let all the flavors seep into the griffin chunks. After another quick hand wash to clean off the germs and juices, Luz took a moment to appreciate her work so far. Ooh, this is gonna be SO GOOD! she thought.
Since she had some free time while waiting for the griffin to marinate, Luz slithered over to check on Eda, who was busy filling the last of the potion bottles.
"So do most people usually order this many potions?" Luz asked, eyeing the large quantity of bottles crowding the table.
"Not really," Eda answered. "Ras always likes to do one giant bulk order every few years. It may take a long while to fulfill the order, but once its delivered he doesn't bother me until he needs to re-up. Pays top snail, too, so I make sure to get his done with high quality stuff."
"Huh, that's cool," Luz replied. "Well, the griffin's marinating in the fridge," she continued, pointing her thumb over shoulder in the direction of the fridge. "It should be ready for cooking in about an hour, so I'm just gonna reread some Azura for the time being."
After slithering into the living room and crawling up onto the couch, Luz looked into her backpack and pondered which one she should start reading. The Field of Deadly Fates was pretty good, but Luz was on a time crunch, and Deadly Fates was notorious for how long it took to get into the main plot. She wasn't really feeling The Darkness Strikes Back, so that one was out as well. Luz would have opted for The Fall of Zargothrax, but then she remembered that she had given her copy to Amity. Luz hoped that the emerald-haired witch was finding as much enjoyment in the book as Luz had when she had initially read it. Luz especially liked The Fall of Zargothrax since that was the book where Hecate and Azura had officially become a couple. (Maybe Luz would someday find someone to be the Hecate to her Azura? That was a foolish thought, though.) Deciding to let fate decide, Luz stared up at the ceiling and grabbed a book at random. Revenge of the Gildersnake. Could have been worse, honestly.
Setting a 45 minute timer on her phone, Luz curled up, resting her head on her tail, and began reading.
Azura was beginning to question her title as a truly Good Witch.
"Your reign of terror ends now, Gildersnake!" Azura shouted. She leveled her staff to her shoulder and
The alarm Luz had set went of, the incessant beeping drawing her attention away from the book. That meant the griffin should be ready for cooking.
Slithering into the kitchen, Luz found that Eda had cleared the table in preparation for lunch and was now absentmindedly looking at posts on her Penstagram. After going over to the sink and washing her hands, Luz opened the fridge and pulled out the griffin. It looked perfectly done. Luz surmised that all the times she had hovered Mamá while she cooked had paid off.
Now it was time to start cooking with gas!
Grabbing the large pot from before, Luz added a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and turned the heat on to high. After the pot got to the right temperature, she added the griffin chunks in, grabbed a ladle, and began stirring. She was being careful with her stirring, though, as she had seen Mamá get splashed by hot oil a few times before, and those looked like they hurt big time.
As the minutes passed, the griffin began to brown nicely, which meant it was time to add the water in. Lowering the heat to medium and grabbing a measuring cup, Luz added 4 cups worth of water to the pot and waited for it to start boiling.
"Hey, Eda, do we have any yuca or squash?" Luz asked.
"Hmm?" Eda looked up from her scroll before comprehending the question. "Oh, yeah we've got some. Yuca's in the bottom left cabinet by the stove, and there should be some squash in the top drawer of the fridge."
Luz looked in those locations and did indeed find the ingredients she needed. Grabbing another clean cutting board and a knife, she then went to work slicing the two into inch-long pieces, making them big enough so that King (who was notoriously stingy about his food) could pick them out if he so chooses.
Once the pot came to a boil, Luz slid all the chopped yuca and squash in with the scrape of a knife. Fishing out a properly-sized lid, she then covered the pot and turned the heat down to low. After another few minutes of waiting around, the broth had finally began to take shape. Now was Luz's favorite part: taste testing!
"Eda, come over here and tell me how this tastes." The Owl Lady obliged, making her way over to the pot of sancocho. Luz took the lid off so Eda could get a spoonful of broth.
As Eda mulled over the flavor profile, she clicked her tongue three times. "Hot dang, kid that is some good stuff. But do you know what will make it even better?"
"What?" Luz replied. She had tried to follow Mamá's recipe as faithfully as she could given the circumstance.
"A little bit of heat," the Owl Lady said. She then searched around in her hair before pulling out a tiny bottle. Uncapping it, she let a few drops fall into the stew.
After stirring the pot to spread the hot sauce around, Luz took her own spoonful and tried the updated broth. It was incredible!
"This tastes great, Mamá!" Luz exclaimed.
And then she realized what she said.
Morphing human and running up the stairs, Luz slammed the door to her room.
Mierda.