The Owl House: Emperors and Thorns

Any Sport in a Storm

Hunter sews a sigil onto his cloak as Flapjack lands on his shoulder and chirps at him, "Yeah, it does look good as new!" he holds up his cloak to look at it. The sewing work on it looks shoddy and strings start coming off, not to mention the cloak has bandages on it, "...And I have no idea what I'm doing." he sighs, "I should probably pay Cerise a visit. I haven't seen her since..." a blush grows on his face as Flapjack chirps teasingly, "Yes, since she nearly turned the Boiling Isles into a jungle."

Someone knocks on Hunter's door. He opens it and finds two Coven Guards standing outside. One of them passes a letter to him. Hunter opens it and reads the letter, which is from Emperor Belos.

"My duties are keeping me busy. I entrust you to lead the Coven Heads today. Consider this a test." he smirks, "Hmm."

...

Hunter heads over to the throne room, just in time to see some of the Coven Heads coming out, "Good. You're all here. We can get started-" the Coven Heads ignore his presence and simply push past him, "Hey! Ugh! Wha-Where are you- Ugh! I said wait! Come back here!"

Raine stops and turns around to look at him, but Terra pushes them and they walk away.

Hunter pushes the doors open and walks into the throne room angrily. He sees Darius and Eberwolf looking at some scrolls, "Darius! Eberwolf! Why is everyone leaving? We're scheduled to have a recruitment meeting."

Darius sighs and turns around, "Good morning to you too, little prince. We've decided to reschedule the meeting, so go play arts and crafts or...whatever it is you do. Oh. Looks like you've already started." he uses his abomination goo to grab Hunter's cloak.

"Hey!"

Darius looks at the hand sewn sigil and laughs, "This is impressively bad. Wait, is this the old Golden Guard sigil?"

"Of course it is! And this is no way to treat the emperor's-"

"Nephew?" Darius raises an eyebrow as Hunter stares at him furiously, "I knew your predecessor. He was my mentor. One of the strongest witches I've ever known. But you...Hmm." he stares at him judgingly.

Hunter looks nervous, "But Belos says I don't need magic to serve the coven."

"And I say you don't deserve to wear that patch." Darius walks away together with Eberwolf, holding Hunter's cloak in his hand.

Feeling insecure, Hunter turns around and calls after Darius, "Wait. What should I do? How do I...earn it?"

Darius looks exasperated, "Ugh, sweet mother of Titans. I-I don't know. Find new recruits for the Emperor's Coven? The best and the brightest witches in all the land. Then maybe, you can get this back. How about your little girlfriend? Cerise, right?"

"How do you know about Cerise?" Hunter blushes a little.

"I went to school with her parents. Cosmo Clawthorne even named me her Godfather. Cerise is one of the most powerful plant witches I have ever seen. More powerful than Terra. Anyway, why don't you recruit her and anyone else you find the best?"

"I'll do it."

Darius walks away, "Of course you will. You're very good at doing exactly what you're told."