The Otter and the Cat

Ch. 3: Surprising Bonds

Inside, the twins where messing with Amity by holding string in front of her. She tried to ignore it, but her new instincts won't allow it.

'Don't do it, don't do it. You are better than this!' Amity thought but she couldn't look away from the string dangling in front of her!

"Come on, Mittens! You know you want the string!" Emira said, holding the piece of string.

"Go on, give it a few bats!" Edric said as he held his scroll, recording this.

Amity got low on the ground and her tail and hind legs started to wiggle. She jumped at it and began to bite and claw at it. The twins giggled at this as Edric was sure to upload this to Penstagram later.

"That's a good girl." Emira said, moving to pet Amity.

Amity did the only sensible thing... and bit her hand.

"Ow! Worth it!" Emira hissed in pain!

Amity walked away and found somewhere that no one would disturb her, the top of Odalia's bookcase. It was tall so no one would be able to reach her there. Amity laid down and felt her eyelids get heavy.

'A little nap won't be bad, right? Mom should be back in a few minutes so it won't be that long.' Amity thought, falling asleep.

The ride to the Owl House was quiet, and Luz isn't a fan of silence, so she decided to break the ice.

"So, Mrs. Blight, what do you think of the Azura books?"

"I think they are rather.... flowery. I honestly don't get them but some kids your age seem to like it." Odalia said with a shrug, "With that being said, Azura and Hecate deserve each other."

This surprised Luz, making her turn to the blight mother as Odalia looked down to her.

"What? I can support a ship, it doesn't matter than I am an adult." Odalia said to her.

'And suddenly I feel more comfortable around Mrs. Blight.' Luz thought as she smiled.

"You know, you're a lot easier to hang around with when you aren't threatening to kill me."

"Well, I have done some... reflecting." Odalia said, lightly petting Luz, "I'm not the same woman I was that night. I can't say that I'm perfect but I'm a better mother because of it."

"That's good to hear. I was sort of worried that you would be mad at Amity for her new hairstyle." Luz said to her.

"Oh, I was mad, but I let Amity be. She seems a lot happier than before and maybe that was because of having you around, her new girlfriend." Odalia admitted.

"You knew?!" Luz said in shock, knowing for a fact Amity didn't want to tell her mother about them.

"Everyone knows. It's all she's talked about for the past several days." Odalia said, "Besides, she blushes around you all the time, it was pretty obvious."

Odalia started to rub Luz under her chin.

"Oh, yeah, that's the spot." Luz said.

"Though I don't see the appeal, as long as you make Mittens happy and that helps her work to become a better witch, then that's fine by me." Odalia said as Luz chirp under her scratching. "Hmm, so that's what human world otters sound like when they are happy."

Luz tilted her head.

"So, why did you let Amity join Beast Keeping?"

"I thought it would be good for her in case her abomination magic wasn't enough. You probably don't know this but a Beast Keeping witch can not only tam and summon beast, they can also dawn their beastly attributes. Tracking, combat, foraging; you could do any and all of it like any animal." Odalia said to Luz.

Luz looked at her.

"It sounds like you know what you're talking about." Luz said, "Is there another reason you were so accepting of Amity joining Beast Keeping?"

"N-n-no. Not at all." Odalia said.

Luz tilted her head cutely as she pondered what the truth could be.

"Did you.... want to be in the Beast Keeping coven but weren't allowed?" Luz wondered aloud.

Odalia closed her eyes.

"Yes." She said, "I always wanted to be a Beast Keeper, but my mom forced me into the Oracle Track."

"So, when Amity asked, you felt so happy that you couldn't say no?" Luz said.

"Happy? I was ecstatic." Odalia admitted, "It was also at that moment that I realized how much I was like my mom. I have forced her to do things that benefit me, not her. When she asked if she could dual track with Beast Keeping, I couldn't say no. I suppose I should thank you for it."

"I guess I did help just a bit by convince Principal Bump to let students take more than one track." Luz said like it was no big deal.

"Something no student has ever done before. You're surprisingly convincing." Odalia said with a smirk.