Eda wasn't sure about having a human as a student when she first met Luz. But over time the kid grew on her, she was capable of completing tasks and picked up Potions pretty easily. Plus King seemed to get attached to her pretty quickly.

Though there were some things that did concern her. When Luz was asking to stay and learn from her, the human ended up saying something along the lines of "I don't think I have a home to go back to." Or something similar and Eda had brushed it off at the time, but it never really left her mind.

When King had recounted the incident with her curse, King mentioned that Luz said something about being a waste of space. Which worried King, and rightfully so. It worried Eda as well but there wasn't much she could do about it at the time.

So instead of dwelling on it she started teaching Luz about potions. Cause it was at least something that Eda could teach her while she looked up ways for a human to do other types of magic with glyphs. That one night Eda woke up with Luz in her room, Luz had a nightmare of some sort. Eda knew how nasty nightmares could be, she's definitely had her fair share of them.

Eda tried, she really did. But she was never good at the feelings stuff. So she tried to get Luz to open up and when that didn't work she tried to let her know her door was always open for her. Whether it was to talk or a place to stay. Eda was glad that the following morning she remembered the previous night's events and decided to get Luz something. Which ended up being a custom made belt to hold her potions and dagger.

Luz never did come to talk to her about any problems she may of had. After enrolling the kid into Hexside and returning home she didn't expect Luz to start tearing up just from something so mundane as school. The comment about Eda being nicer than other people Luz knew bothered Eda for a long while.

She's also noticed Luz being uncomfortable whenever Eda touched her. Whether it be a ruffle on the head or a pat on the shoulder, Luz seemed to flinch when she wasn't expecting it or even if she was expecting it. Eda hadn't noticed at first, but then started to see the pattern. Though Luz has definitely seemed to be a bit better on that front and she hasn't asked for Eda to stop, so she assumed it was okay. Though she probably should have asked before she even started to give her physical affection.

But nothing compared to now. Luz in her cursed form snarled at her and King. Out of all the things Eda has noticed, this was something unexpected and horrifying. No one deserved a curse! Let alone a child like Luz. She realized now what that nightmare could have been about and Luz knowing that Eda was cursed as well, she possibly could have been looking for comfort. But Luz wasn't the type to ask for physical touch or give out any herself, not really anyway. King seemed to be an exception.

Eda wished she knew sooner to help her through this, instead of Luz suffering by herself. She wondered how long Luz was cursed without her knowledge, wondered how she kept it at bay with no elixir. There wasn't anything she could do about it then, but there was something she could do now.

Picking up King, Eda had to dodge out of the way as Luz lunged for her with a viscous snarl. Luz knocked things over as she turned around to attack them again. Eda dodged a paw swipe and spun a spell circle. "Time to go to sleep." Eda said as the spell hit its target. Luz growled, stumbling slightly as the spell took effect her eyes drooping. She finally collapsed onto the wooden floor with a thump onto her side.

Eda breathed a sigh of relief, that should buy them some time to figure something out before she woke up again. "What happened to her?" King asked quietly. Eda sat down on the couch with a sigh, watching Luz's sleeping form for a moment before answering. "She's been cursed, King."

"Will she be okay?" He asked. "She will be in time, but we gotta find her some elixir." Eda explained, setting King down and standing back up. She headed towards her potions room, King following behind her. "I don't think my elixir would work, Luz's curse is more canine than bird." Eda thought aloud. "It'd be to dangerous to try mine."

After a few minutes King's eyes widened as he remembered something. "Eda! I know what elixir she needs!" Eda turned to look at him in surprise as he continued. "Awhile ago Luz had me help with making a potion while you were out for a few days. I bet that was her elixir!"

Eda thought it over "did she tell you what it was for?" King shook his head. "You might be on to something there, do you know where she's hiding it?" Eda asked. "I would assume in her room, right?" King replied. "Then let's get looking." Eda headed back to the stairs and headed up to Luz's room.

Luz woke with a splitting headache. Groaning she forced herself to sit up, looking around revealed that she was in a greyed out void, shallow black water beneath her but her clothes weren't wet. Ripples formed in the water as Luz stood up, there wasn't anything nearby. She suddenly remembered what happened before she ended up here.

She'd lost control of her curse right in front of the Owl Lady. Luz inhaled sharply, she screwed it all up. Her hands shook as she looked down at them, mind racing. Eda would ask questions and be suspicious of her, if she hadn't puzzled the pieces together already. How was Luz to explain when she got her curse? Her elixirs? Things wouldn't line up properly- everything Luz has done up to this point, just to fail here?

Luz's legs felt like jello, she fell to her knees and clenched her fists, staring down at them. Her eyes blurred with tears and she growled in frustration. Her mission couldn't fail here- it just couldn't. Once she was awake again she was going to get that key. She'd brute force her way to get it if she had to. Surely Eda was weaker now than when she'd started this mission? Luz shook her head as the tears rolled down her face. Even if that were the case Luz was still weaker in magic skill.

But... did Luz want to get the key anymore? Of course she did, it was her only way to be free of her curse and to return home in the Human Realm. But was the Human Realm even home anymore? Luz threaded her fingers through her hair, when did that become a question?

A long howl echoed throughout the area, Luz snapped her head up eyes wide in alarm. It finally decided to come chase her, but where was it? She forced herself to stand on shaky legs, wiping away the tears so she could see better. She could cry later, but right now she had to run.

Eda and King entered Luz's room, closing the door behind them. King suggested the elixirs might be in her bag, Eda shook her head. "I don't think so. If she was hiding this from us wouldn't you think of a more hidden place?" King shrugged. "Well where would you hide them?" He asked. "Under the floorboards or in a chest. Or both." Eda immediately replied. The two paused then turned to look at the chest against the wall, then looking back at each other. "The chest?"

"Yeah the chest." The two went over to the chest and opened it, finding multiple bottles of the potion and other junk that Eda had shoved in there forever ago. Eda picked one of them up and squinted at it. "I'll have to test it before we give it to her. So let's head back to the Potions room."

A loud crash sounded from downstairs followed by a snarl. The both of them were caught off guard. "She's awake already?" Eda wondered, she shook her head. That wasn't important. "Alright King, stay in here. I'll come back when the coast is clear." She stood up, but King pulled on her dress. "But I wanna help!" He protested. Eda sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt. How about this, Luz will probably need a lot of comfort after this. So how about you make it more welcoming in here? Use you pile of stuffies over there, just don't leave this room. Okay?" Eda pointed her thumb at the pile of stuffed animals in the corner.

King thought for a moment and gave in. "Okay..." Eda patted his head before leaving the room. She made her way to the stairs and peered down. Luz wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Eda could hear the scuffling of paws coming from the kitchen. Eda made her way down as quickly and quietly as possible and entered her Potions lab, locking the door behind her.

She exhaled quietly, relieved. "Alright let's see what you are." Eda muttered, looking at the potion in her hand. She set it down on the counter and grabbed her cauldron. The potion she had to make was relatively simple, only a few ingredients and not very many steps to prepare it. Eda grabbed the three ingredients she needed. Poppy seeds, Cornflower petals, and a Slitherbeast claw.

Eda was about halfway done with the potion when she heard something sniffing by the door. She paused for a moment and watched the door wearily, praying to the Titan Luz didn't start busting the door down. Eda carefully started to continue making the potion, glancing up at the door when there was a noise. Claws scraped against wooden floorboards, a low growl coming from the doorway.

Eda was almost done, she just had to add the last ingredient and then a drop of the potion she wanted to identify. There was a loud thud against the door followed by a snarl. Eda added her last ingredient and snatched the elixir off the counter. She added a drop to the potion as Luz slammed against the door again with a yowl. All Eda had to do now was wait for the potion.

Luz slammed against the door again before yelping loudly. Eda looked up from the potion in concern, it sounded like she hurt herself. She'll deal with that later. She looked back at the potion as words formed on the surface. "Lupus Domitor. This elixir specializes in keeping canine like curses at bay. Perfect!" Luz slammed into the door again and this time the hinges flew off the door with a clatter as the door fell onto the floor.

Luz's cursed form stumbled in, seemingly not expecting the door to fall off. Eda picked up the elixir and casted a spell quickly before the human turned wolf demon could recover. Another sleep spell hit it's mark, but the wolf beast fought to stay awake. Luz swiped a paw and Eda easily dodged, however the items on the counter didn't, clattering to the floor. The potion spilling all over the place. Luz whined as her legs buckled beneath her, finally falling into unconsciousness.

Eda breathed a sigh of relief and headed over to easily pour the elixir down her throat. Eda ruffled the top of her head, causing one of Luz's ears to twitch. Eda decided to go get King and hopefully by the time she returned Luz would be back to normal so she could carry her to a more comfortable place.

Luz awoke with a groan, the first thing she noticed was that her shoulder hurt a lot. The second thing was that she was surrounded by stuffed animals, and third she was in her room with the door slightly ajar. She wondered why her shoulder hurt so much, she felt completely drained of all her energy and then some. Her nightmare came back to her, running from her curse and realizing that she lost control of it in front of Eda and potentially failing her mission in the process.

Luz put her arm over her face but that proved to be a mistake as her shoulder throbbed with a sharp pain. She hissed in discomfort, moving her arm back down. Luz closed her eyes, what was she going to do now? There was a knock on her door and Luz opened her eyes again to see Eda peaking her head in. "Mind if I come in?" She asked. "Sure." Luz replied quietly, she was sure Eda was here to ask questions about her curse.

Eda came into the room, a glass of water in hand as she sat down next to Luz. "I figured you'd be thirsty." Luz nodded, sitting up she winced from the ache in her shoulder. She took the glass from Eda using her other arm and muttered a quiet thank you before downing the whole thing.

"How ya feeling kiddo?" Eda asked after Luz was done. Luz set her glass down before replying. "Like I was trampled by a Slitherbeast." Eda chuckled awkwardly "that sounds about right. Especially after you rammed yourself into a door multiple times before knocking it down."

"So that's why my shoulder hurts so much." Luz grumbled, Eda laughed genuinely. "We should probably take a look at that. Come on, let's head to my room. I've got a healing kit in there." Eda picked up the glass and stood. "I'll meet you in there, gotta put this back." Eda left the room to head downstairs into the kitchen.

Luz got herself up with only a little bit of trouble and headed to Eda's room. She wondered when Eda would start questioning her, maybe she was waiting until the right moment. Luz entered Eda's room and sat on the edge of her nest, King was sleeping curled up inside. Eda came in soon after, waking up King when she started rummaging through her closet for the healing kit. King sleepily climbed up onto Luz's lap, curling up to go back to sleep. "I'm glad you're okay..." he mumbled.

Luz smiled softly and started petting him, when Eda returned to her side with the kit. She kicked a stool over near Luz so she could sit down. "Alright let's see." Eda muttered, opening the kit and humming in thought. "I'm gonna do a quick diagnosis spell to see what's up." Eda explained, Luz nodded while Eda casted her spell. "Not to bad, that's good." Eda spoke aloud, she grabbed a couple healing stickers.

"Alright hold your arm out for me." Eda instructed. Luz did as she was told, sticking her arm out to the side. Luz whimpered, her arm shaking slightly as Eda applied the stickers to the correct spots. "There, you can put your arm down now." Eda said, Luz breathed a sigh of relief. "It should heal within a day or two."

"Thanks..." Luz said, Eda shook her head "you don't need to thank me, just get plenty of rest. Try not to strain your arm too much." Luz nodded. "Your welcome to crash in here tonight if you want." Eda offered. Luz looked at her, contemplating the idea. Well, she was really tired. She... kinda didn't wanna be alone now either. Eda ruffled her hair as she flopped into the nest, leaving room for Luz if she wanted.

Luz glanced at the door then back to the nest. Luz felt like she didn't have much time left with them, and if that was the case maybe she should stay in here tonight. Luz nudged King off her lap, he grumbled but didn't protest. Luz slid into the nest a bit awkwardly as she laid down on her back. Once she was settled King came over and cuddled into her side, leaving her in the middle. Eda threw a blanket over the three of them, but didn't turn the light out just yet. Luz suspected now Eda would start asking her questions.

"I'm only going to ask one question cause I know we're all tired but... do you want to talk about it?" Eda finally said after a moment of thought. Luz gave her a confused look and Eda continued. "I just figured, well now that I know about your curse maybe you'd wanna talk about it. It doesn't have to be anything specific. If you wanted to complain at how awful the elixir tastes or be angry and vent your feelings about your curse." Eda explained. "Or if you wanted to cry about how unfair it is that a kid like yourself has this now, and now you have to live with it." Eda added in a much softer tone.

"I-" Luz paused "I don't know Eda, it... it's just a lot." Eda nodded in understanding "I know kiddo, take your time. I'll be here to listen, it doesn't even have to be curse related." Eda shifted onto her side and propped her head up with one arm, facing Luz showing that she was listening. Luz might as well be honest about some things on her mind. She wondered if Eda could give her advice on what she should do about her situation. Of course being completely vague in who and what exactly she was talking about. Plus she could divert Eda's attention away from the curse onto something different.

"You remember that man that Grom turned into? The person whose taking care of me?" Luz started, Eda nodded with a hum. "Well, he promised to help me get back to my mom again. However I had to do some things in order for him to be able to find her." Luz explained hesitantly, unsure if she should talk about all this still, but she pushed on anyways. "At first it was fine! I did what I was told and he said we were getting closer to finding her." She paused, sniffling. "That was seven years ago, Eda."

Eda's eyes widened in surprise. Luz turned onto her side to face Eda, luckily it was her uninjured shoulder side so she was able to tuck her arm under her head like a pillow. "Now though, he says we're close. We just need one more thing, but I have to steal it and- I don't know..." Luz sniffled again, tears in her eyes. "I found myself here before I could fully decide to go through with it, but it's everything I worked for for seven years down the drain if I don't go through with it!" Frustrated tears rolled down her face, she turned her head to bury her face in her arm in an effort to hide.

Eda reached out her hand hesitantly, then decided to go for it. She shifted onto her back and pulled Luz in for a side hug, rubbing her hand up and down Luz's back. Luz was startled at first and instinctively tried to pull away, but Eda didn't let her go, so she gave in. Once Luz settled beside her, Eda used her free hand to comb her fingers through Luz's short hair.

Luz closed her eyes for a moment, it felt nice like this. She rested her head on Eda's shoulder, relaxing completely. She sighed opening her eyes again so she could continue. "And because of this curse, I can't go back to the Human Realm. There's no elixir there, and I just- I don't know what to do with myself now."

"If I did steal this thing and go back to him, what if he doesn't do his part of the deal? Wh-what if he hurts me again if I don't steal it?" Luz's voice cracked, she buried her face in Eda's shoulder as she inhaled a stuttering breath. "He's hurt you?" Eda asked, dismayed. Luz nodded against her shoulder, sniffling again.

Eda watched her sadly for a moment, still combing her fingers through Luz's hair. It broke Eda's heart to see Luz like this, curled up against her side shaking with muffled sobs, clutching Eda's shirt tightly in her hand. If you told Eda a couple months ago that she would be comforting a crying human, she'd think you're crazy. But now? All she wanted was to shower this human kid with love. She just wished she knew how to make the kid feel better.

"This guy sounds like bad news, trust your gut and stay away from him. You can find a better way back to your mom than through him." Eda started. "Heck- I'll help you find your mom! We can fly around the Human Realm on Owlbert and search for her. And if we ever come across that guy I'll punch him for you... multiple times, cause once isn't enough." Eda vowed, looking back at Luz. "Maybe you'll be able to go back and forth between realms, get your elixirs here then live with your mom." Eda continued, hugging Luz just a little bit tighter.

Luz was looking up at her, face tear stained and eyes glistening with a saddened look, but she had a small smile on her face and Eda counted it as a win. Eda's gaze softened "I won't let him hurt you kiddo, promise."

That wouldn't be a promise Eda could keep, Luz knew that but... she appreciated the conviction in her tone all the same. Luz wiped the tears away with her hand "if you don't mind, Eda, today has been exhausting. Both physically and emotionally." Eda nodded in understanding "right. Go to sleep kid, I'm here if you need me." Eda finally turned out the light with a spell, but it didn't do much as the early morning sun started to rise.

Not even a minute later and King crawled over to sleep inbetween them, snuggling up to Luz. Luz pat him on the head, feeling safer than she's felt in years. The three of them drifted off to sleep one by one. Eda was the last one, still wondering how and when Luz got her curse in the first place before drifting off herself. Hugging Luz tightly, hoping to keep her safe from the world.

Eda was the first to wake late in the afternoon. She carefully got up, making sure not to wake King and Luz and got herself some elixirs. Drinking them and heading out of the room and downstairs. She passed by her Potions room and paused, the room was still a mess. Door on the floor, potion ingredients scattered throughout the room, the cauldron tipped over with it's contents still on the floor. Eda sighed, she had some cleaning to do.

It took her about fifteen minutes for her to clean the mess and put the door back in place. Hooty slunk his head through the doorway as she was putting the last items back in place. "Luz's friends are here." He trilled. "I'll be there in a minute." She replied. Why were Luz's friends here? She wondered, heading into the living room. Which was also still a mess, the couch had claw marks on it, objects scattered on the floor, and the table was flipped on its side.

Eda avoided the mess for now, casting a spell to at least fix the table and went to answer the door. There stood Luz's friends, Glasses, Goops, and Minty. "Hello Ms. Eda we came by-" Willow started before Gus interrupted her. "Is Luz okay? Did she die!?" Willow gave him a deadpanned look. "She didn't die Gus." Willow then paused, seeing the messed up living room behind Eda. "Right?"

Eda chuckled "no she's fine, just exhausted from last night." Eda answered. "Luz wasn't at school today, so we'd thought to stop by. I also picked up her homework." Amity explained. "well she's still asleep, but you're welcome to come inside if you want." Eda said, leaving the door open for them as she headed back inside.

They came inside, the door closing behind them. "Uh, what happened in here?" Gus asked, picking up a human object from the floor and fiddling with it. "Uhh... King?" Eda answered, hoping that was a satisfactory answer. She wasn't going to reveal Luz's curse, if Luz wanted them to know she could do it on her own terms. The kids looked at her in confusion but shrugged it off.

"Want anything to drink?" Eda asked, they all nodded and Eda went to the kitchen. Luckily the kitchen wasn't destroyed, mostly because Eda cleaned it last night while waiting for Luz to wake up. She brought the drinks and set it on the table, the kids seemed to have pulled out their homework. They thanked her, "I'll go wake Luz. Titan knows we don't want to mess up her sleep schedule too much." Eda said, heading back upstairs.

She opened the door to her room slowly and entered. Luz was sitting up, petting a still sleeping King. "Hey kiddo, feeling better?" Eda asked in a hushed tone, so as not to wake King. Luz hummed and nodded, her eyes were red and puffy from sleep and crying last night. "Well your little friends are here. Minty brought you the homework you missed from school today." Eda pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, hand on her hip.

Luz looked up at her "they're here? Alright well, I'll be there in a minute." Luz replied, giving King one last pat on the head as Eda left the room. Luz stood up and followed her out, but headed to the bathroom first to wash her face and change her clothes. It was a bit difficult getting her purple and white striped shirt on with her injured shoulder, but she managed.

She headed downstairs into the living room, pausing at the sight of the partly destroyed room. Eda was sitting on the couch sipping a cup of Apple Blood while casting spells to pick the items off the floor. Her friends were sitting around the table, seemingly doing homework. Guilt flooded her system as she looked over the claw marks on the couch. It could have easily been Eda or King, she was lucky neither of them seemed hurt.

Pushing her guilt aside she greeted her friends. "Hey guys." She waved, her friends looked up at her and smiled. "Luz!" Willow and Gus exclaimed, while Amity waved back. Luz came over and sat beside them on the floor. "What are you all doing here?" Luz asked. "Well when we didn't see you at school today we were worried. So we decided to come to check up on you." Willow explained.

"We ran into Amity after school and she asked us if we'd seen you. After that Amity suggested to pick up your homework from your classes since we would be heading here anyways." Willow finished as Amity pulled Luz's homework out of her bag and handed it to Luz. "Oh... thanks guys." Luz took the homework and set it on the table, feeling warm and happy.

Eda finished her spell casting and her last bit of Apple Blood. "Alright kids, I'll be in my potions room if you need anything. I need to catch up on some potion making." Eda stood from the couch, popping her back. They acknowledged her and Eda left the room.

"Well I guess we can make this a study session?" Luz questioned. "Sure, I can't stay too long though." Amity replied. "We kind of started a study session anyways." Gus gestured to the papers and books scattered on the table. "Right, well, mind if I start with Bard? I didn't get much of a chance to practice yesterday and it's the easiest." Luz said. "Of course!" Willow replied.

Luz ran upstairs to grab her flute and piccolo. She'd gotten the piccolo after a week of classes since her teacher was impressed by her flute skills after just starting the class. She grabbed the piccolo case out of her bag but paused. Her communication mirror was flashing, alerting her of a call. Alarmed, Luz picked it up quickly. Looking around to make sure no one was around before answering.

Kikimora appeared on the screen, "finally. I've been trying to contact you for an hour now." Kikimora sneered. "I'm sorry I've been busy-" Luz replied before being cut off. "The Emperor wanted me to deliver a message to you." Luz stilled, eyes wide as Kikimora continued. "He's getting very impatient with you and is sending Lilith to capture the Owl Lady as top priority. Find that key, or work with Lilith to capture the Owl Lady. You have three days." She informed, hanging up soon after.

The mirror clattered to the floor, slipping out of Luz's grip.

Luz was out of time.