Sunset ^beta

Life in the Owl House was good. Happy. Stable.

Raine was busy running the Boiling Isles. Eda was busy running a brand new university. Both were busy taking care of King (and occasionally Luz, when she visited, though at eighteen she didn't need quite as much taking care of).

Eda and Raine had never really talked about having kids together before their break up — they’d been (relatively) young, and Eda had been distracted by her curse and Raine had been distracted by their work and the state of the Boiling Isles. After Belos's defeat, the Owl House already felt pretty full of kids. The fact that those kids weren't biologically related to either of them didn't matter.

But then on their way home from Luz’s King-ceañera, King had sighed wistfully and wondered how it would be like to be the big brother or sister, instead of the little sibling he always was to Luz and her friends.

Of course that wasn't enough of a reason to have a baby, but it was enough for Raine and Eda to actually have the conversation they’d been (unintentionally) avoiding.

After some doubts and worries — would a child with their shared genes inherit Eda’s curse? — they decided to take the leap. They’d been through so much apart and then together — surely they could handle the adventure of new parenthood, curse or no curse. Besides, they weren't precisely new parents anyway (even if Eda had inadvertently treated baby King more like a puppy than the Titan he really was).

Raine and Eda went to see the same experienced Healer the Parks did years ago when they decided to have Willow. As expected, she couldn't make any firm predictions about the curse. Some curses were never passed down to descendents, some were passed down in a weakened form, and (extremely rarely) some intensified. Still, Eda had lived with her curse for decades — somehow they’d manage.

Raine opted to carry the baby — the Healer had concerns about Eda transforming into her harpy form while pregnant and they preferred keeping the baby close to using a growing pod.

Unsurprisingly, King was over the moon when they shared the news. The Collector was fascinated. Luz and all the BATTs immediately volunteered to babysit. Camila had plenty of advice and pulled out Luz’s baby photos. (They were adorable.) Darius lifted a skeptical eyebrow when they told him, but offered congratulations after getting elbowed by Alador. (Baby Emira, Baby Edric, and Baby Amity were also adorable.)

The pregnancy itself was fairly easy. Raine had a bit of morning sickness for the first few months, but nothing that frequent snacking and peach ginger tea (courtesy of Camila) couldn't help keep at bay.

Little Rhapsody gave quite a shriek soon after she made her grand entrance, but that was to be expected from the daughter of the former Head Bard and the Owl Lady. Her (already abundant and wild) hair was a mix of aqua and flaming orange — like sunset over the Boiling Sea — and they guessed her eyes would eventually settle to gold. (A few weeks later, they'd be proved right.)

After the first night, a parade of visitors came to visit at the hospital, and both Raine and Eda were grateful when they could quietly retreat to the (relative) calm of the Owl House.

They had expected the sleepless nights. (Well, sort of. Intellectually, they knew that they would be sleep deprived, but they hadn't expected quite this level of zombiefication.) They had expected spit up, and diaper changes, and crying.

They hadn't quite expected the reality of a baby Owlbeast.

***

“Don’t worry, we’ll be just fine!” Luz carefully took two month old Rhapsody from a reluctant Eda. As she cradled the baby to her chest, she made sure to support her floppy little neck. Once her hold felt secure, she did her best to copy the sway that she'd seen Raine and Eda do.

“Are you sure? Maybe Raine or I should stay behind…” Worry was written all over Eda’s face.

Luz couldn't help but smile as she shook her head — the Owl Lady had certainly changed since they first met.

“Luz is a perfectly capable adult. I'm sure she can handle it.” Raine gave Luz a reassuring wink. “Besides, Rhapsody is basically like a sack of potatoads right now — she can't exactly cause much trouble.”

Eda sighed. “I guess you're right.”

“Can we get going already?” King asked impatiently. “It's supposed to be me time.”

Luz shifted Rhapsody so she could grab one of her itty bitty hands and wave it at her parents and brother. “Bye-bye! See you soon!”

Raine, Eda, and King finally left for a day of fun — as much as King loved his new little sister, he needed some undivided attention from his parents — and Luz brought Rhapsody back inside.

She really was like a sack of potatoads.

Luz set her down gently on her activity gym mat. Rhapsody’s arms flailed and did manage to connect with a dangling Slitherbeast toy, but it wasn't clear if that was intentional or just a happy accident. (In any case, she still enthusiastically said, “Good job!”)

Tummy time wasn't too torturous, though Rhapsody still could just barely lift her head and was clearly done after a few minutes.

They looked at some board books together — a mix from the Human Realm and the Boiling Isles — and Rhapsody gave some pages an experimental suck.

Luz smiled fondly at her little…sister? niece? Eh, the labels didn't matter. “Aren't you a voracious little reader?”

She was rewarded with a smile and a soft coo.

But then Rhapsody started yawning and rubbing her eyes with her little fists.

And that's when she began to realize that her parents weren't with her.

Luz bounced Rhapsody as she wailed, her little face a perfect, almost cartoonish depiction of absolute despair.

“Rock-a-bye baby…”

The crying intensified and the baby’s face turned red. Apparently, Luz's lullabies weren't on par with those of Rhapsody’s musically inclined parents.

For what felt like an eternity, Luz swaddled and swayed and shushed, but all to no avail.

Rhapsody was inconsolable.

And then the feathers erupted.

“Oh my Titan!”

The baby Owlbeast was thankfully smaller than Eda’s old form, but unlike witch!Rhapsody, Owlbeast!Rhapsody was decidedly not just a stationary sack of potatoads.

As much as Luz didn't want to interrupt King’s night out with his parents, this seemed to qualify as an emergency. She tried to call Eda while chasing after a (surprisingly fast and coordinated) Rhapsody.

“No, no, no.” Eda's number went to voicemail.

Rhapsody-the-Owlbeast — the Rhapsowlbeast? — screeched.

Luz whipped out one of King’s light glyphs — thank (literal) Titan they worked again and she had some in her pocket — and being blinded slowed Rhapsody down a bit.

“Stringbean, a little help here!”

The snakeshifter roused from where she had been sleeping and landed in Luz’s outstretched hand already transformed into her staff form. Before Rhapsody could get further away, Luz fashioned a glowing net to (hopefully) keep her in place. It probably wouldn't have worked against a full grown Eda-the-Owlbeast, but maybe the Rhapsowlbeast was weaker.

Rhapsody beat her wings against the net and let out another loud cry, but it held.

For now.

Luz took advantage of the opportunity to try calling Raine, and this time, she managed to get through.

“I'm really sorry to bother you, but we have a little Owlbeast situation!”

“Owlbeast situation?” Raine repeated in shock. “We’d thought…well, nevermind. We’ll be right there.”

***

After it was all over, Eda sprawled out on the couch next to Raine and Luz, shellshocked.

It was hard to believe the sleeping baby witch in the Moses basket had just been a feathery, squawking — mobile! — bundle of rage.

When they first arrived at the Owl House, Raine had played calming lullabies, but by that point, their baby Owlbeast had gotten so overtired that even the best bard on the Boiling Isles couldn't put her to sleep.

Thankfully, the Owlbeast apparently responded (relatively) well to Eda’s Harpy form. Rhapsody eventually allowed herself to be picked up, and fell asleep in her Harpy Mama’s arms.

As soon as she heard what had happened, Camila rushed over through the portal, and was now serving everyone some lemonbalm tea. (Well, everyone but King — he’d opted for the Human Realm delicacy of hot cocoa.)

“I'm so sorry, Luz. Camila. We thought that if she’d inherited the curse, we would have seen signs by now.”

Camila squeezed in between Eda and Luz and patted Eda’s arm. “You were both just doing such a great job meeting her needs and soothing her as soon as she got upset.”

Luz looked miserable. “I'm sorry for making her unhappy.”

“Mija, that's just how babies are.”

Raine shook their head. “Luz, it was going to happen sometime, and we’re lucky you were there when it did. We're all safe — Rhapsody’s safe — thanks to you, and that's what matters.”

***

As they feared, Eda's elixir wasn't baby-safe in its current form, not even at a lower concentration. A group of healers and potions masters — including a couple who had developed the current recipe — were trying to find an alternative, but warned that it would take at least a few months.

“I’m scared,” Eda admitted in an uncharacteristically small voice. “What if she gets hurt? What if she hurts someone else?”

Raine nuzzled her neck reassuringly as they snuggled in their cozy nest.

“We’ve talked about this. It's not like when you first got cursed and no one knew what was going on. We know more about how to control it now, and we have a pretty amazing village that will help.”

“But she transforms so much now, Raine!” She started to sniffle, and Raine tightened their grip around her waist. “Sure, I lost my magic eventually, but I never turned into the Owlbeast multiple times a day!”

“Well, fear is a trigger, right? She's a baby who’s finally starting to really notice the world around her, and the whole world is new and scary. Of course the Owlbeast takes over.”

Eda wiped at her eyes. “I guess that makes sense.”

She shifted until they were facing each other, so Raine took the opportunity to push back her hair and kiss her forehead.

“We're two of the strongest witches on the Boiling Isles. We can manage a baby Owlbeast.”

***

Eda had to admit that while the lead up to Rhapsody transforming was often stressful, stroking the feathers of a sleeping Rhapsowlbeast was rather relaxing.

“Is this why you like it when I fall asleep in harpy form?”

Raine smiled and dropped a kiss on her hair. “Partly.”

***

King peered at the sign Eda had put up in the kitchen. So far, the number had never gone above zero.

“Maybe we should change it to 'hours' instead of ‘days since the last Rhapsowlbeast incident’?”

***

Fantastic. Rhapsody had left them another “present” on the floor during her latest episode.

“I thought we wouldn't have as many owl pellets to clean up now that Hooty’s traveling with Lily so much and I just change into a harpy, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Do you think it's better or worse than wet spit up running down your back?” Raine asked dryly.

“Good point.”

***

The new elixir formulation was ready just in time.

Raine’s leave of absence had long ended — Darius had been doing a reasonable job of holding down the fort with Jerbo’s help, but that was at the expense of his other responsibilities.
There had been a conveniently timed school break that allowed Eda to (mostly) focus on childcare full-time, but the new semester was about to start up and she was getting busier.

If Rhapsody kept transforming at this rate, something would have to give. Soon.

(The costs of replacement furniture were also starting to add up significantly.)

They invited Camila over for a quiet celebration at home. Eda provided the apple blood while Camila brought a bottle of Mamajuana in addition to some presents for Rhapsody — a dosing pacifier for medicine like the one she used for baby Luz as well as a needleless syringe that was particularly effective for some of her avian patients.

Titan, the elixir better make a difference, Eda silently hoped as she sipped on the Human Realm rum. She couldn't let down her students, and of course, Raine couldn't let down the entire Boiling Isles.

***

In the absence of other options — no daycares seemed particularly eager to take in baby Rhapsody — Eda had put her daughter in a back carrier and taken her along on her students’ field trip to the new Palistrom groves. She’d fussed a little, but was mostly distracted by nature and eventually fell asleep.

The Bat Queen approached after Eda dismissed the class.

“I heard you were having trouble finding childcare for your little one.”

“You could say that again,” Eda snorted.

“I too have had this problem.” The Bat Queen handed over a business card. “This one isn't cheap, but she is capable.”

Rhapsody chose to wake up just as Eda was sticking the card in her hair.

“Oh hello, witchling!”

While the Bat Queen was undoubtedly trying to be friendly, suddenly seeing her up close could be daunting to anyone.

The Owlbeast took over, and was very displeased about being restrained.

“Shrieking isn't helping,” Eda muttered as she struggled to remove the carrier so she too could transform.

The Rhapsowlbeast began to calm down when she saw her Harpy Mama, and loosening the carrier straps helped even more.

Eda found some emergency elixir and coaxed her daughter into drinking it. “Good girl,” she murmured, stroking her feathers.

Soon enough, Rhapsody began to doze off, and Eda continued to hold her as she transformed back into a baby witch.

Yeah, taking Rhapsody to work every day wasn't going to be sustainable, even with the elixir.

***

Raine had never seen a witch with an umbrella Palisman before, but appreciated the parrot design.

They gulped a little at the nanny’s fee, but they weren't exactly in a great position to negotiate.

“When can you start?”

***

Their nanny was a Titansend — between the elixir and her own magic she did an exceptional job keeping the Owlbeast at bay and allowed Raine and Eda to pick up all their professional responsibilities again without worry.

Eda sometimes felt a tiny bit guilty how rejuvenated she felt away from Rhapsody, but that just gave her the energy to love on her daughter more when she got home and took over childcare from the nanny.

***

King knew he probably shouldn't. He knew he probably shouldn't, but it was so tempting.

Witch!Rhapsody was very sweet and adorable, but…she wasn't all that interesting. She didn't seem much like a person, really. Certainly not someone he could really play with — the most she could do was crawl.

But Owlbeast!Rhapsody? Owlbeast!Rhapsody could get into shenanigans.

And boy was this playground in need of shenanigans.

He glanced at Eda. Yup, still snoring lightly on the bench.

Rhapsody was secured in the stroller, but that was easy enough to fix.

His sister flashed him a brilliant toothless smile and he (almost) didn't want to spoil her good mood.

But he did it anyway.

***

Raine rushed over as soon as they could. Titan, the press was going to have a field day. They could already imagine the headline: “Monstrous Daughter of Prime Minister Raine Whispers and the Infamous Owl Lady Destroys Local Playground.”

“You fell asleep? Eda, what if something more serious had happened?”

“Something more serious than totalling the play structure?” she snorted.

“Eda.”

“Look, I'm sorry, ok! I was tired!” Eda’s voice cracked.

All of Raine’s anger evaporated. Of course.

Raine took a deep breath. “I shouldn't have raised my voice. I'm sorry. I know you have your own curse to deal with it. I was just…worried.”

“Worried about me and the kids, or just your image?” Eda asked bitterly.

They flushed guiltily. “As Luz would say, ¿porque no los dos? Of course I love you and the kids, but there's an important vote coming up that will really improve life on the Boiling Isles…”

“And this didn't help.”

“Not really, no. But my staff will find some way to spin it.”

“King’s grounded forever, of course,” Eda said conversationally.

Raine smiled. “I'm no oracle, but I foresee many community service hours in his future.”

***

“You’ve got this, sweet potato,” Luz whispered in her ear.

Amity rarely volunteered at the library these days — Lilith’s museum was keeping her busy — but Eda had made a special request and Amity couldn't refuse her girlfriend’s mentor/bonus parent.

For better or worse, there was a decent-sized crowd, though a few families turned around when they recognized the other attendees. Raine and Eda were (thankfully) bracketing their toddler, and had matching expressions that were half-dread and half-hope.

“Good morning, everyone! Let's start with our welcome song!”

***

The library remained intact and the Rhapsowlbeast had only devoured one book during storytime — Raine sheepishly paid the replacement fee — so all in all, it could have gone much worse.

(They’d had to replace ten books last time with a different volunteer. Plus a shelf.)

***

Starting when Rhapsody was about two, jingles from the Human Realm show Daniel Tiger formed the primary soundtrack of the Owl House.

“When you feel so mad that you wanna roar, take a deep breath, and count to four! One, two, three, four!”

“Give a squeeze, nice and slow, take a deep breath, and let it go!”

Raine had to admit that they were catchy — if banal — and did seem to keep Rhapsody from transforming if they busted out a Daniel Tiger song early enough.

(It turned out that the potty training song also came in handy. The Human Realm did have its own bard magic.)

***

“We…mostly…handled you when you were a teenager that turned into an Owlbeast. We’ll manage this little threenager.”

Her dad ruffled a (slightly shaking) hand through Rhapsody's distinctive hair, and Eda winced.

“I just don't want you getting hurt again, Dad. She's getting stronger and more temperamental.”

He gripped King’s shoulder. “Grandparents need to spend time with their grandchildren.”

“Exactly,” her mom chimed in. “And it's impossible for us to spoil them properly if you're still here.”

She shooed away Eda, who reluctantly headed towards the door.

“Now who wants some fresh fairy pie?”

***

Thankfully, her parents managed to get through the visit without incident.

Her dad gave her a wink when he handed over a sleeping (witch-form) Rhapsody. “See, nothing to worry about, kiddo. And King was a huge help.”

The young Titan preened, and Eda smiled wide enough to show all her fangs. Maybe they could manage to be a normal family after all, curse be damned.

(Well, just “normal” enough for their little ragtag group of weirdos. Too normal wouldn't be any fun.)

***

Uncontrolled magical outbursts were developmentally appropriate at age three, but the chaos Rhapsody could cause with a kazoo rivaled what she could do as the Rhapsowlbeast. Raine couldn't help but be a little proud, but unfortunately, Rhapsody was also coming dangerously close to depleting her magical reserves. For a normal toddler, that might mean an unexpected nap, but for Rhapsody, that could mean losing her magic forever.

And that led Raine to an uncomfortable train of thought. Of course sigils were terrible — they’d essentially disabled most of the adult population of the Boiling Isles — but thanks to Alador’s collaborations with top healers, they were now reversible in most cases.

The reversal procedure was especially effective on the young.

If they put a sigil on Rhapsody…maybe that could buy them time. Until Rhapsody gained more control over her emotions (and magic). (Or until they were able to discover new ways to counteract the effects of the curse.)

King hadn't quite discovered all his glyphs yet, but he was making progress. Luz, Eda, Lilith, and Hunter proved every day that you didn't need a fully functioning bile sac to be a powerful witch.

This could save Rhapsody’s magic before it was corrupted like Eda's. And if the effects of the sigil couldn't be reversed later…well, it was extremely likely she would have lost her magic anyway, and any music she would make would destroy indiscriminately instead of inspire.

(Raine still missed playing duets with Eda.)

***

Newly sigiled Rhapsody cried when her kazoo no longer made her toys fly, but Raine cuddled their daughter and gave her a new xylophone.

“Music for music’s sake has its own magic, my little sixteenth note.”

***

“This is going to be the best year ever!” Skara squealed.

Eda and Raine exchanged glances.

The young bard was practically bouncing at her teacher's desk. “Don't get me wrong, Auncle Raine — I love shaping the little minds and hearts and bile sacs of the next generation to build a brighter future for the Boiling Isles! — but last year’s preschool class was just a little too easy. Rhapsody will be an excellent challenge!”

She unfurled an enormous poster covered with elaborate diagrams.

“Based on what you’ve told me about common triggers, I’ve made a few modifications to our schedule to keep the Rhapsowlbeast at bay. We’ve got snacks, music time, elixir time, circle drawing practice, recess… And if that’s not enough” — she gestured enthusiastically at some of the most complicated squiggles — “we have different approaches for how to safely subdue the Rhapsowlbeast based on time and location!”

Eda knew that most bards developed excellent lung capacity, but still wondered if Skara would ever pause to breathe.

“And look!” She showed off something that looked like a bracelet with a giant button. “I’ve got Viney on speed dial! If there's ever a problem, she'll come straight away!”

She beamed. “Any questions?”

“She's slightly terrifying,” Eda whispered to Raine as they left Hexside.

“Anyone who takes care of our little Rhapsowlbeast has to be.”

***

Family Meditation Time was rapidly becoming one of Raine’s favorite parts of the day.

A little after dinner but well before bedtime, all four of them would sit in a rough circle. As Raine played some soothing music, the others would close their eyes and focus on their breathing.

Since Rhapsody was all of four, they had to keep it short and sweet. Their early sessions were less than a minute long, but after a few months, they were able to stretch that to five. (Still an eternity for a preschooler.)

“Rhapsowlbeast Incidents” were now down to about once a week, and Raine attributed at least some of Rhapsody's control to the relaxation techniques they practiced.

***

Rhapsody snuck into her room and locked the door. It was only after she was flopped onto her bed that she let herself sob into her favorite stuffie.

Hexside was so much harder ever since she’d graduated out of Skara's class two years ago.

They had actual magic classes now…and somehow she was both too powerful and not powerful enough.

When she was five, her parents had explained why they’d sealed her regular magic away, and while she couldn't really be too mad at them for that, it was hard being the only person in her classes who couldn't just draw spell circles in the air. Instead, she mostly had to use glyph workarounds, and since King, Mama, Aunt Lilith, Luz, and Hunter were responsible for practically all the known glyphs and glyph combos and they were all family, she wound up knowing more than her teachers did about how she could make the magic work.

Not everyone appreciated that.

(Of course, not all circle spells could be done with glyphs — it frustrated Luz to no end that they still hadn't figured out the glyph equivalent of abominations. And when there wasn't a glyph combo, Rhapsody was judged for failing at something that was easy for everyone else.)

And she knew she performed perfectly in music class — Zaza had been Head Bard for Brother’s sake and she’d learned to read music practically before she knew her letters! — but nothing ever happened when she played and sang. Sometimes she tried to pretend some of the magic was hers when it was an ensemble piece, but she knew the truth. (Grandpa Dell, Zaza, and Hunter had some theories about Palistrom wood and instruments and Hunter was starting to experiment, but no matter how much Rhapsody begged, they said she was still too little and Palistrom wood was still too rare for her to see if Palistrom instruments would let her safely do bard magic.)

Potions class wasn't so bad — she didn't stick out as much there. (Sometimes it was hard to concentrate and not lose track of how long she'd been stirring or simmering, but then Zaza suggested timing things to song lengths and that helped.)

But even in her non-magical classes, there was the constant flutter of the Owlbeast. She'd been learning to control it her whole life, but “incidents” happened often enough that most of the other kids (understandably) didn't really want to get too close. When someone was brave enough to try to become her friend, she’d start getting flustered trying to keep the Owlbeast inside, and then sometimes she’d get so flustered it would come out too fast for her to take any elixir.

And then she’d be alone again.

It wasn't fair, and it was all the stupid Owlbeast’s fault.

The Owlbeast was why she drove away all the other kids and why she couldn't just do magic like everyone else.

Mama said the Owlbeast wasn't really that bad, but the Owlbeast let her turn into a harpy.

It only turned Rhapsody into an out-of-control monster.

She tried to meditate and avoid getting hangry and just stay calm — everything her parents said would help — but it wasn't enough.

She didn't want to be the Rhapsowlbeast anymore.

***

“Uncle Hooty?” Rhapsody’s adorable face beamed up at him.

“Yes, dear child?”

“You helped Mama figure out how to turn into a harpy, didn't you?”

“Yes, that was me!” It was always nice to be appreciated.

“Could you tell me the story?” Rhapsody’s golden eyes grew enormous. “Please?”

“Of course I can, sweetie!”

Hooty wrapped himself around her, and she giggled as he moved them to the couch.

“It all started when…”

***

Rhapsody had come by her cleverness honestly — from both her parents — so maybe they shouldn't have been surprised that she’d deliberately dose herself with a draught of sleeping nettles at age eight.

They’d discovered her — and the missing potion ingredients — too late, and had to wait out her nap.

A gleeful Harpy Rhapsody jumped out the window and took to the skies soon after waking, and Harpy Eda followed in hot pursuit.

“Now hold on a minute, young lady!”

“Maybe this is a good thing?” Raine wondered out loud. It was probably better that Rhapsody had (apparently) come to some sort of internal accord and had control over her transformations.

Even if she could fly.

Raine squinted — Eda and Rhapsody were now tiny specks in the distance, but it looked like Eda was gaining on their daughter.

Well, they’d gotten through the Rhapsowlbeast years (relatively) unscathed. Hopefully, they could handle Rhaps-harpy too.