"Eda, I will give you my left lung if you buy two less apple blood cartons than usual." Luz gestures to the eight cartons in Eda's arms.
"No way, I need these. We're about to fall on some pretty hard times, kid. If these are on sale, I'm taking them before we can't afford them." Eda refuses.
"You're seriously addicted. King and I can't get you off the roof again." Luz snickers at her mentor.
"I have enough will power to stay away, I've moved on to one cup in the morning and one at night." Eda starts but Luz completely tunes her out.
A masked figure with a large sword runs from the balconies of building with a big sword. They swipe it across different ropes and banners fall from each one saying "Join the Rebel Army." Luz had no idea there was a resistance to Belos. Eda notices her apprentice completely not listening and looks to see. Eda's immediately interested too. No one has ever done something like this.
Hundreds of scouts are chasing this person but they're demeanor seems careless. The crowd watches as they jump off of one of the balconies and starts monkey-barring across the bottom of them. They look young, sprightly even. Not to mention they've gotta be around 5'2-5'6.
They let go and purposefully use one of the shops cloth covers to bounce into the square. They land with a roll, way ahead of the scouts before running off into the market area. They stop running right next to Luz and Eda to see this purple and shiny rock. Luz is too starstruck to say anything and frankly, so is Eda.
"Hm, shiny." The person with a feminine voice shoves it in their pocket before dropping ten snails on the counter. "I need this job to eat, gotta eat to live, you get it. I'd explain more if I had time, bye!"
And with that, they're gone. The scouts make a mess among the market on the way out to go find this person. Luz is still so shocked and interested at the same time.
"You wanna go follow them, don't you?" Eda laughs at Luz's expression.
"More than anything in the world."
They follow after this person in the same direction. Everything is covered by trees so it's difficult to see. They take Owlbert to fly above the tree and see from higher up. Luz wants to be just like them. A cool, teenage, vigilante with a dark side? That's the dream come true. And this person obviously doesn't like Belos.
Suddenly, she can see movement. The trees part way as the person flies on their palisman. Neither Luz or Eda can make out what it is but the rebel is speeding off into the distance. Eda starts flying after but not too quickly. They're still a good distance behind so the person won't see. Luz is anxious and excited to meet this mystery person. She's also convinced she's about to make a new best friend.
There's a big wall of mist the person flies straight through. Eda thinks for a moment about what to do. Should they go through it or should they turn around? She doesn't want to put Luz in danger again. But then again, Luz is a curious kid and it's better that she explores this with Eda instead of sneaking out like she has previously.
When they go through the mist, everything is different. There's a big building and a tower beside each other with vines along the side. By the time they get over there, they see the person land on the side of some stairs beside the big building. There's a balcony sort of area met by two stairs on either side just above the door. They remove the mask and Luz's jaw immediately falls to the floor.
It's a young girl, around 15 or 16 with long, curly, hair and tan skin. She places her palisman against the wall before beginning to walk up the stairs. Eda lands carefully in the shadows of the building. Luz can't jump off of Owlbert quick enough to listen and see what's happening. Eda follows behind with quiet footsteps.
They hide by the stairs in a perfect position to hear and see the girl. She has bags under her mean looking eyes. But she actually has a smile as she walks up to this older witch watching the forest. They're both wearing this armor that's cooler than anything Luz had ever seen from the Emperor's Coven. That's when Luz realizes that there's hundreds of soldiers running. She had been to distracted to even look at her surroundings. This is exactly what happened and how she felt like meeting Ed and Em in the library.
"Good afternoon, Lieutenant." The older man nods at the younger girl.
"Good afternoon, Captain." She says back before turning her attention to the soldiers, men and women soldiers.
"Did you complete the mission at the market?" He asks.
"With flying colors." She laughs and puts her hand up for a high five. He seems a little confused but reaches up to not leave her hanging.
"I knew you could do it." He smiles.
"What can I say?! They're quick but I'm much faster." She crosses her arms, wreaking of nothing but confidence.
"That's right. Can you take over training? I'm getting too old for this." He admits before turning around.
"Of course. Take care, Captain." She nods with a somewhat sadder face.
She turns back to the soldiers who have started walking. The two observe as she pulls a sword out of its sheath and holds it on the side of her. She leans on it with her left leg crossed behind.
"She looks cool but I would look like an idiot doing that." Luz whispers to Eda.
"Quiet, Luz. Maybe we should go back to the Owl House." She replies unsurely.
"No way, not yet." Luz excitedly grins.
"If you're all gonna walk and complain, I'll add twenty more laps. This isn't science camp, come on!" She yells and they all immediately obey. "And if you two take a picture, it'll last longer." She smirks in Luz and Eda's direction.
"Sorry, sorry. I saw you in the market and I had to see who you were." Luz puts her hands up and stands from their hiding spot.
"Clearly." The girl laughs. "Woah, Eda the Owl Lady? You're a legend."
"I'm flattered but you must not have heard that I have no magic now. Thanks to Belos." Eda rolls her eyes with a smirk.
"Ugh, Belos. More like smell-os, am I right?" She snickers again. "But yeah, I heard. You don't need magic to be a badass."
"I had no idea there was a rebel army. Or that someone around my age could be Lieutenant to one, congrats girl!" Luz smiles bigger than ever.
"Thank you. You just gotta impress the right people. I mean, these soldiers can't even run twenty around here without complaining. I'm Lieutenant because I run forty every morning before they wake up. They need to shape up soon with the Day of Unity coming so quickly." She sighs as she stares at the soldiers.
"I mean, I couldn't run one with my little nerd legs." Luz says and it actually makes the other girl laugh. "So you guys wanna stop the Day of Unity?"
"Without a doubt. But I also wouldn't mind having Belos' head hung up on my wall." She laughs and Eda can't tell if she's kidding or not.
"Hold on, they're finishing laps. Stick around if you want." She winks at the two of them before sauntering down the stairs and to the field.
"I love her already." Luz tells Eda with a wide smile.
"Me too. At least we found a lot more people who wanna stick it to Belos." Eda laughs and pats Luz in the back.
"I know right? But how do we know we can trust her? Or get her to trust us?" Luz asks, already coming up with ideas in her head.
"We participate. Let's see what she's doing next." Eda gestures down the stairs.
The last soldier running joins the group and their Lieutenant looks ready to speak. She slaps a glyph on the floor by her feet and a bunch of vines make a perfect pedestal for her to stand on. Luz and Eda try to nonchalantly join the group but get some stares. Most look at Luz's ears first and then realize Eda was on wanted posters.
"Okay, everyone pick a partner, we're sparring. Don't forget, keep your head up. I'm sick of seeing your eyes on the floor, how are you gonna fight if you can't see? But on a lighter note, you've all improved so much and I'm really proud." She changes her mean frown to a smile and they all clap. She seems to have their respect even at her age. They're all way older than her.
They all pull out their swords and get ready to fight the person they picked. The young girl jumps off of the vines she was standing on and walks over to Luz and Eda again who are still watching everyone and everything in awe. They're all so well trained and good with the swords.
"You two wanna try?" She asks with a smile.
"Heck yes I do! But I've never used a sword before so I might need some help." Luz gets a little more shy with her sentence.
"That's alright. Here, you can use this one for now. I usually like to dual wield but I'll go easy on you." She laughs as she quite dangerously tosses the sword for Luz to catch. Eda almost has a heart attack but Luz catches the handle effortlessly.
"I'll cheer from the sidelines." Eda takes a seat on the bench in front of them.
"Okay so first, hold the sword as comfortably as you can. There's really no super wrong way to hold it. Some people say there is but as long it it's comfortable and your grip on it is okay, it doesn't matter." She starts and Luz adjusts the sword in her hand.
"Got it."
"Now, widen your stance a bit. The last thing you want is to be completely stiff when fighting, that's how you pull a muscle. Lower your body a little bit too, that's very important." She continues.
"This is my favorite thing ever." Luz says before awkwardly jabbing the sword around in the air. She recreates things in books and comics she's seen.
"Please, don't do any of that in a fight." The Lieutenant tries to stay serious but end up laughing at the end.
"Okay, okay. Maybe my methods are purely fictional and made for ages six to eleven." Luz awkwardly gets back into position.
"Maybe. Anyways, like I told my soldiers, keep your eyes up, preferably on me. You never know when or where I could strike so you need to be attentive. Your left foot should be in the front, right in the back. Face your hips to your opponent and keep your weight pretty distributed." She explains and Luz carefully follows instructions.
She continues to explain the steps to a basic attack. Luz picks it up surprisingly quickly to Eda's surprise. Never in a million years would Luz have pictured herself to be here. Sword fighting with a resistance army in the Boiling Isles. She learns three basic attacks and two ways to block hits but she hasn't pieced them together. Or even had a regular opponent before. Only someone who's teaching her and going easy.
"Fight me for real." Luz says out of breath from the last tactic.
"Actually? I don't think that's a good idea, I like to show off." She laughs at the request.
"I wanna see how I would do against a professional." Luz insists.
"Okay, it's your funeral." The girl shrugs and gets in the stance. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Luz tries to look confident.
"Obviously, no actual stabbing." The other girl assures before lunging in with her sword.
Luz actually manages to block that hit. Luz attempts to hit back but the girl dodges it perfectly and slides to the other side of Luz. Eda is watching in hopes that the Lieutenant doesn't have a track record in murder. Luz quickly turns around but the other girl is hot on her trail. No wonder she's Lieutenant.
Luz walks backwards as she blocked and dishes out hits. She isn't doing as bad as she thought. At least until she receives one hit on the side of her sword that catches her off guard, giving the other girl the perfect opportunity to take her sword. She hits the sword up into the air and catches it, now dual wielding again.
"Sorry, dude. Here, stab me." She laughs before handing the sword back to Luz.
She lifts her arm up the slightest bit and Luz places the sword between her arm and torso without actually stabbing. She then pulls it out and the Lieutenant falls to the floor and starts fake dying.
"Soldiers, avenge me!" She shouts dramatically with a big grin and they all come running to Luz.
She's a little scared for a moment before they lift her up and crowd surf her. She can't stop laughing as they move her around the crowd cheering. They place her back gently to the floor and she sprints back over to Eda and the girl.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't even get your name. Or tell you mine, I'm Luz." Luz introduces.
"I'm Elizabeth, but just call me Ellie." She does the same before Luz goes to fist bump her.
"We should get going and get out of your hair but thanks for everything." Eda goes to do the same.
"No problem, see you around."