Night Light

Episode 5: Mom Off

"Oh, I hate this stage." Eda complained, desperately trying to pry Luz's hands off her hair without hurting her.

"I love it!"

"Easy for you to say."

Eda finally escaped the infants grasp, standing up and huffing.

"Whoa! That hurt."

Luz, laying on her belly, lifted her head up, reaching for Eda.

"Oh, no, kid. Stay down there for a little bit. Mama is beat." Eda plopped on the couch next to Luz, yawning and looking across the coffee table at King, who was creating demons for his demons book.

Luz cooed loudly, rolling from her belly to her back, reaching for Eda once again.

"King! Oh my Titan, King, did you see that?!"

"Yes! Yes!" King jumped on the coffee table.

"She rolled over for the first time!" Eda hugged Luz. "Wow! Oh, you did good, kid!"

Eda laid Luz on her belly once more, her and King watching intently.

Luz, upon seeing the excited looks of King and Eda, attempted it again, being successful.

Loving the excitement, Luz attempted to roll from her back to her belly, but proved unsuccessful.

"Oh, don't worry," Eda said, ruffling Luz's hair, as if she knew what the infant was thinking. "You'll get there! Now, who wants to go to the park?"

"Oh, me, me, me! The king of demons would like to go to his throne!" Eda rolled her eyes, picking Luz up and heading for the door.

"Yes! Yes! Oh, how I will reclaim my throne in seconds!"

Eda laughed, walking along the dirt trail that lead to the park.

Suddenly, a woman bumped into her, shoving Eda back.

"Oh. It's you." The woman said in disgust. Eda winced at the overly exaggerated 'you'.

"Oh, goodie. A Blight."

"Much better than a Clawthorne, we are."

"Oh-ho-ho. I will have you know, Odalia, that my sister is head of the emperors coven! Which, you know, yuck, BUT! That makes me of higher importance than you."

"Oh, please. And is that your just as equally useless kid?"

"Hey! You can talk trash about me all you want, but you leave her out of this!"

"Make me."

"You know what?! Odalia Blight, I challenge you to... a mom off!"

King whimpered, yanking away, but being restrained by his leash. "All I wanted to do was go to the park..."

Eda dropped the leash, not taking her eyes off of Ms Blight, and not changing her expression.

"Yay! Park free!" King scampered away, leaving only Luz, Eda, Odalia, and Odalia's baby, Amity.

"Well? Let's do it."

.

.

.

.

.

Eda cracked her neck, growling lowly. Odalia smirked, a sheer shard of confidence ripping through her soul.

"First challenge. Who can change a diaper the fastest." Odalia said.

"Oh, easy pea-"

"Without. Magic."

"Ooohkay, can still do this."

Odalia threw a blanket on the ground, both women kneeling down and placing their babies on the blanket.

"On your mark," Odalia started. "Get set..." Odalia held up a finger. "GO!"

Eda and Odalia immediately started changing the already clean diapers, rushing against the clock to finish.

Eda unclipped Luz's onsie, unsnapping her her diaper, and quickly putting a new one on her.

Odalia struggled to get Amity's tutu off, as she had so heavily decorated it.

Finally, Eda grabbed baby Luz, holding her into the air to present her only seconds before Odalia. "I won!"

Odalia scoffed. "I went easy on you. Besides, i'm just getting warmed up."

Eda smirked, holding Luz close.

"Well," Odalia started. "The next challenge is, uh... who came most prepared."

Eda inhaled sharply through clenched teeth, pulling a bottle and pacifier from her hair.

Odalia chuckled lowly, grabbing her diaper bag from the stroller Amity was in.

Odalia only simply opened it to show Eda, presenting lots of different things inside. Eda huffed.

"Fine! You win this round. What's the next?"

"Hm..." Odalia got lost in thought. "You can make their baby laugh first."

"Wow, pretty soft challenge for a Blight."

"Shut up, or by Titan will you regret it."

Eda rolled her eyes, presenting Luz in front of her and smiling at the infant. Luz smiled in return, loving the look on Eda's face. "Let's do this, kiddo, alright?"

While Eda was talking to Luz, Odalia was desperately trying to tickle Amity, tell her jokes, make silly faces, anything she could think of to make rhe baby laugh. But all of it was in vain, because Amity's eyes were focused on Luz.

Eda simply laid her baby down, and blew raspberries on her belly. She learned that that was a sure-fire way to get the infant to laugh.

Sure enough, Luz was giggling loudly, grabbing Eda's face.

Odalia sighed, anger building up.

"How?! Why can't you just laugh?" Odalia asked her child, who was still focused on Luz.

Eda laughed herself, sitting her kid up.

"Well?"

As Eda asked that, Luz's hat fell off, revealing her rounded ears. Odalia gasped.

"A human?! That's... that's impossible! So... that means... she isn't actually your child." Eda shook her head in disbelief, already knowing where this was going. "So I automatically win."

Eda scoffed. "That... that isn't fair! So what if she's human?"

"This was to see who was the best mother. You obviously aren't even a mom."

Eda felt her heart crack. She glanced away, cradling Luz close. "Come on, Luz." Eda stood up, walking away slowly.

"Ah, yes. Figures. Run away, just like a Clawthorne would."

Luz whined upon seeing Eda upset. Luz's emotions seemed to work in contrary to Eda's. If Eda was happy, it showed, and as a result, Luz beamed with her, not quite knowing why, looking up to Eda as a role model.

Eda hadn't known hearing those words would hurt so bad. Luz wasn't her kid by blood. She knew that. But Luz was hers in her heart, and frankly, upon seeing Luz reaching for the face of Eda, that, was plenty enough for her.