Hey. I've got no excuse except the job market is a bitch that wants me all to herself. Take it before I disappear again, lol.

Boiled Lamb

~|o|~

"I must say that breakfast was one of the best I've had in a long time!" Lambert sighed, drumming his paws off his belly like a drum as he followed his hosts back to the living room.

"Do you even need to eat? What, with being a god and all?" Luz questioned, making him purse his lips and wag his head.

"Technically no? But what kind of life would that be, one where I never enjoy a splendid veggie bowl?" He shrugged.

"Wow, I never thought of it that way! An immortal life without tostones would not be worth living!"

"I don't know what that is, but the name intrigues me." Lambert laughed then turned to the witch. "Regardless, thank you for the meal Miss Eda. Compliments to the chef."

Eda flipped her bangs and smirked. "Just another one of my many talents."

'Humility being one of them. I can use that.' Lambert noted. "So when can we get started on discovering the secrets of true resurrection?" He rubbed his paws together in excitement. Luz bounced next to him on her heels, waving her hand.

"Oh! Oh! And we can get to learning some new spells too! I wanna see if I can turn something into a frog!"

"Sorry Squirts!" They both sagged as Owlbert flew in and turned to staff form in Eda's hand. "Today I gotta get my merchandise back before it gets confiscated. After that I'm finding a pawn shop who'll take our guest's gold. Then I can get started on this job tomorrow."

Lambert frowned, but nodded his head. "Fair enough."

"Darn." Luz grumbled. "Well what am I supposed to do all day? School isn't until tomorrow!"

"You… are embarking on the most vital of duties!" Eda declared. Luz immediately perked up.

"Really?! What is it?!"

"You… are picking up some groceries!" The witch announced with a smile, little fireworks flying from her fingertips.

Luz only wilted again. "Awww man, Edaaa!" She moaned.

Her teacher sighed. "Sorry Luz, I know I've been putting it off, but things keep popping up. We will have another lesson soon. Just please take care of this for me, will you?"

The human remained somber for a few moments before taking a breath and plastering a smile on her face. Lambert hardly needed to read her energy to feel her disappointment. "Okay Eda…"

Eda gave her another apologetic look, then turned to her guest. "Now as for you, what are you getting up to today? I'd rather you didn't root around in my house while I'm not here."

Ignoring her poor attempt to hide her mistrust, Lambert planted his hands on his hips and stretched his back. "Ah, well I was thinking of looking for a clearing to make a summoning circle."

Luz's eyes widened and sparkled with wonder while Eda only narrowed hers. "A summoning circle? What do you need something like that for? If you're thinking of bringing a bunch of demon buddies to crash at my place, our deal's off."

He shook his head. "Of course not Miss Eda. I just need to make one incase I need to be contacted by my followers or return in the event of an emergency."

"Your followers can't take care of themselves?"

He laughed sheepishly(pun intended), scratching his neck. "They're… a little dependent and quick to panic. It's just better to be safe than sorry."

Eda hummed. "Well… as long as that's all it's for, I won't have a problem with it. So long as it's a fair distance from my property! Demonic summoning hurts resale value."

He bowed slightly. "Thank you for your generosity. I'll get it done at sunset, that's the best time to set the connection."

Luz paused. "Then what will you be doing all day?"

Lambert shrugged. "I'm not sure. I suppose I can do more exploring."

The human clapped her hands. "Then how about you come with me to Bonesborough?"

Lambert thought about it for a second. "You know… that's a good idea. No one took me seriously the other day, so I would appreciate an actual tour."

"Exactly! You can help me with the groceries and I can show you around!" Luz hopped about, wearing a bright smile.

The animated conversation was suddenly cut by Eda clearing her throat. "I'm not sure I can allow this."

"Come on Edaaa!" Luz pleaded, clasping her hands together and bowing her head. "Lambert can help me carry the groceries and I can show him the sights! I wanna be a good host too! If anything, I'll be safer with him here! You saw how he took care of those guys yesterday!"

Once again the witch seemed torn, grimacing and rubbing her head. Lambert watched from the sidelines.

'Good to know I have a string to pull.'

Eventually Eda groaned. "Fine. Fine kid, you win."

"YES! Woohoo!" Luz cheered, jumping so high Lambert wondered if she was part bunny.

Eda rolled her eyes and turned to Lambert. "You might as well wait outside. This is going to take a while."

Snorting at the human's adorable antics, he nodded. He pulled the door open and stepped outside.

"Good morning new best friend!" Hooty carroled from his spot in the front door. "Might I say you are looking wonderfully tasty this morning, hoot hoot!"

Lambert's brows knit together. "Thanks… I think." He said as the door closed behind him.

Meanwhile, Luz continued to dance around! "Yesyesyes! This is gonna be so fun!"

"Luz…" She looked to Eda, who was tapping her foot and beckoned her closer with a finger. "...a word."

Reining in her eagerness (just barely), Luz ran up to her mentor. "Yup? What is it?"

She froze when Eda put a firm grasp on her shoulder and leaned down to meet her eyes. The severity that lay there dampened the girl's excitement.

"I really want you to be careful today, alright?"

She snorted. "Don't worry Eda, I know that yesterday was a bit of a scare, but I'll be extra-"

"Luz." Eda shook her a little. "I'm serious here. I don't like the idea of you getting too close to Lambert."

"Uhh…why?" Luz questioned, glancing about. She wasn't used to getting this kind of tone from her normally carefree, unapologetic mentor. "Lambert's a cool little dude! He saved King yesterday!"

"He did. And I still don't trust him." Eda clicked her teeth. "There's something off about him. I can smell it. He wasn't lying when he asked me for help yesterday, but he wasn't telling the full truth either."

"Are you sure that you aren't being too paranoid here? He was begging and everything."

"You don't live as long as I do by trusting people when they first start crying. Call me a cynic if you want, but he still gives me a bad feeling. Though that is probably his magic, if you can call it that."

Luz gaped. "What?! Come on Eda, that stuff was wicked! I mean sure, the tentacles were all nasty, but the rest of it was really cool! No need to say it isn't real magic."

"That's the thing Luz, that wasn't normal magic. You remember our lesson on how witches cast their spells?"

"Yeah. A witch's bile sac generates its own magic which the caster can use to draw a spell circle that gives it structure!"

"Exactly. A witch's body takes in raw materials that they convert into magical power. But what I didn't tell you before is that there are two more components." Eda held up three fingers. "That being emotion and intent."

"Ooh!" Luz gasped. "Really? That's so cool! Like if you are happy, will it make your magic stronger?"

Eda grimaced as she struggled to find the words. "In a way, but not the point I'm making here. See, magic on its own is a completely neutral force. It's not naturally benevolent or malevolent, it just is.

Luz pursed her lips. "I don't get it. Wouldn't some spells be more bad compared to others? Like a fire spell burning things?"

Eda wagged a finger. "Ah, but at the same time, fire is warmth and energy. It keeps us alive when we are cold, illuminates darkness and can be used to burn away excess elements. On the other hand, water may be what we use to drink, clean and cool down, but it can also crush and drown if you aren't careful."

"Oh… wow, that's… pretty cool." Luz nodded, then wrinkled her nose in confusion. "But what does this have to do with Lambert's magic?"

"I said that magic on its own is neutral. Think of magic like clay. On its own its mud, but witches can shape it into whatever they want. Instinctively, they put their feelings and thoughts into their creation. It changes it, warps it by their emotions and intent. Like clay, you form it into a pot, a vase, a brick, etcetera."

Luz then watched as Eda's countenance took a more grave, pained even, look to it. Her eyes sharpened but slightly vacant oddly enough. Like she was off somewhere else.

"But this means if someone has more… negative emotions, their spell will take that form to match it. This pure, negative form of energy is what is called dark magic as cliche as that sounds."

Luz's eyes widened. Dark magic. A term that is thrown around as a fairly prevalent trope in a lot of the books, comics, shows and games she was so enamored with. While one part of her wanted to squee in excitement (because come on, that is pretty cool), the implication of what it could mean caught up to her in an instant. Thoughts of things like instant death spells, horrible mind control, agonizing transfigurations floated around in her head. While they had always been somewhat scary on paper or screen, there was that disconnect that always made Luz feel safe at the end of the day.

The fact that she was now in an actual world of magic made all of these distant concepts suddenly a lot more terrifying.

Eda took her silence as a sign to continue, holding up three fingers again.

"They usually come in three levels. First there are jinxes. They are spells formed by an intent to annoy or just inconvenience someone. Stuff like curdling the milk they just bought or splashing mud on their new shoes. They are the only forgivable form of dark magic, harmless mischief. I used them all the time as a kid."

"That file was so thick it could be used as a doorstop." Luz said under breath.

"Not the point." Eda scolded. " Anyway, hexes are spells that are the next step, when someone wants to make someone miserable. This can take the form of making the victim feel lonely, afraid or paranoid. Emotional hexes that attempt to break the spirit, mind control, haunt dreams, that sort of iffy stuff."

Eda took a deep breath, almost as if steeling her resolve.

"The last and most forbidden level are spells when you want to cause the victim grievous harm or make them suffer for a long time. Can you guess what we call this tier?"

Luz's blood ran cold. A pair of wide, black eyes flashed in her head. A nightmarish mish mash of a roar and trilling shriek echoed in her ears.

"A… a curse." She stammered out.

Eda's shoulder's heaved and she nodded. "Got it in one. A curse is one of the worst things a witch can do to a person outside of outright killing them. They are some of the most deadly spells in existence. The worst part is, that most of the time the caster does not want the person to die. They want them to feel intense pain for as long as possible. Whether that be from a torture spell, crippling them or… turning them into something unrecognizable."

Luz couldn't help the tremor that went down her spine. "That's… that's terrible."

Eda shook her head. "You have no idea. The thing with curses is that it's not an easy thing to do. The emotional energy that must be mustered for a curse has to be great. You have to WANT to hurt someone with everything you have. Feel such fury, such HATE that nothing will come of the spell but devastation of all kinds. It just makes me wonder who I ticked off so bad that they would curse me all that time ago." She muttered, idly rubbing at her gemstone on her chest.

Luz's bleeding heart ached at the thought of the pain the curse had caused her mentor for however long she had had it. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of person would do that to her.

She frowned. "But… what does this have to do with Lambert?"

Eda's grip on Owlbert tightened. "I bring this up Luz, because I am honestly scared of him."

Luz's jaw nearly hit the floor. To hear her prideful and powerful mentor blatantly admit such a thing?

"When we fought yesterday and when he took care of those guild mooks, I could practically taste the negative energy coming off of him. That crown…" Eda shivered. "... that thing is bathed in so much curse magic it was like a beacon. I could never imagine a creature that could hold so much anger, bloodlust and loathing without going insane."

"But Lambert hasn't gone crazy!" Luz protested.

"That's what scares me." Eda muttered. She lowered herself on one knee and looked at her apprentice directly in the eye. "That is why I am warning you to be careful. Do not give him anything he can use over you and for Titan's sake, never make an agreement with him. Do you understand?"

"I don't-" Was all Luz could stammer before Eda gripped her shoulders and gave her a vigorous shake.

"Do! You! Understand?!" She repeated urgently.

"OKAY! OKAY! I get it! Lemme go!" Luz yelped.

Eda gave her shoulders one last squeeze, then finally let her go. "Good. Here's the list, oh and use this coupon for pix-away." She pulled out the slips of parchment.

Luz took the bundle and took a look. She frowned. "This coupon expired before I was born."

Eda waved it off. "That's why you throw the money and the coupon to them before you run. Thrift shopping 101 kid. Have a good, safe trip, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it." Luz said, stuffing the paper in her pocket and turned to the door, still shaken from her teacher's startling behaviour. Her gut instincts told her that Eda was overexaggerating. That there was no way someone like Lambert, someone so small, cute and polite could be an evil curse slinging monster. She liked to think she had a good judge of character, having found Eda, King, Hooty and her friends at Hexside.

Then again, that sort of lack of thinking has gotten her into trouble just as much. Adegast or the Blight twins to name a few. And Eda was more experienced in this kind of thing, she couldn't refute that. For as much as Luz disliked such pessimism, it is what has kept the witch alive all this time, curse and all.

Luz halted just shy of touching the doorknob, her head perking up.

"Wait… curse?"

"Huh, whazzat?" Eda raised a brow.

"You're saying that Lambert can use curses, right?" She asked.

Eda narrowed her eyes. "Yeaaah?"

Luz felt an idea form in her head with the force of a lightning storm, spinning around with excitement. "Then if he is so good at them, maybe Lambert can look at you and help you with-"

A quick fingersnap and Luz's cat-eared hoodie came to life, the collar pulling itself up and the laces tying themselves together over their owner's mouth. Eda gripped the bridge of her nose.

"Okay, Imma stop you right there Luz. There is NO way that you are telling Woolboy about my curse."

"Mmm-hnn-hnn-mmf!" The indignant teen's protests came out muffled and Eda kept talking.

"Look kid… I appreciate you looking out for me. But I have my system. I've learned to deal with my problem. I can live with it. There is no way that I am going to trust that little munchkin with my biggest secret on the tiniest hope for a cure. Especially when I don't know if he would use it against me or not. So do both of us a favor, throw that idea away and pick up the groceries."

Eda snapped her fingers again and Luz's hoodie fell limp. The teen spat out some lint and nodded slowly, as let down as a dog bereft of a bone. "Okay. See you later." She sighed and exited, pulling the door closed behind her.

With a heavy heart, Eda watched her go. She hated dampening her little human's spirits like this, but it had to be done. Lambert needed to be kept at arm's reach, for all their sakes.

Speaking of, chores needed to be passed out.

"King!" She called out. "Where are you buddy? I've got some books in closets I need to go through for our guest's little project!"

No answer.

Eda frowned, looking around.

"King?"