Chapter Text
“What a twist! Who could’ve possibly seen that one coming?”
Everyone jumped at the noise and turned right towards the window, where Hooty was resting his tubular body against the sill, listening to the story.
“Hooty! Were you eavesdropping on my bedtime story this whole time?” King shouted.
“I have ears all around the house, hoot hoot,” he said, “and they are liking what they’re hearing. The drama, the romance, the suspense, and that background music, wowee.”
Raine couldn’t help but blush.
“Yeah, we’re glad you like the story but could you please never interrupt us again?!” Eda said.
“I had a pretty smooth segue with Alador overhearing Willow and Hunter, and you kind of… messed up my flow,” Raine added.
“Alright, alright,” Hooty said, “I can be quiet. I’ll be over here. Listening. Silently.”
He retracted from the window until just his beak was really “inside” the house, staring intently at Eda. It had only occurred to her just then that she had never once seen him blink.
“You wanna keep this going for a bit?” Raine whispered.
“Sure,” she replied, “I’ve got a few ideas.”
They nodded and picked their bow back up, playing a light, casual melody.
“Now, King Alador knew as well as anyone that Odalia wouldn’t take this news lightly. So, he enlisted the help of the two people he could trust with absolutely anything, especially secrets.”
Princess Emira and Prince Edric were passing the time by reading together in their private study, when their father burst into the room, desperate to get their attention.
“Let me guess, Dad,” Emira said. “Our mother banished yet another perfectly good princess and more than likely made an enemy out of another kingdom.”
Alador thought to himself a moment, then nodded slightly before shaking his head.
“I don’t think that’s what he’s here to tell us,” Edric said.
Alador gave Edric a thumbs up before pointing out a nearby window to a conveniently placed willow tree.
“You’re really here to tell us about… the tree?” Edric said.
Right as Alador started shaking his head again, Emira said, “No, stupid. I think he’s trying to tell us about Lady Willow.”
“Amity’s lady-in-waiting?”
“Obviously. How many other Lady Willows do you know?”
“Well, none. But it’s probably a very common name–”
He was interrupted by Alador snapping his fingers right in his face.
“Alright, alright, I’m paying attention!” he said. “Now what are you here to tell us about?”
Alador pointed quickly at the willow tree again, then brought his hands close to his chest and swayed them back and forth, like a cradle.
“Lady Willow… broke both of her arms?” Edric said.
“What the–” Emira slapped her palm to her face and shook her head. “Why is that how you chose to interpret that gesture?”
“It looks kinda like both of his arms are in a sling!”
“Ugh, he could not more clearly be holding a baby.”
“Oh, right! So… Lady Willow… found a baby on her doorstep?”
Alador shook his head, then put his hands in front of his stomach and moved them in a spherical motion.
“Lady Willow… is…”
He stroked his chin a bit, before coming to a realization.
“Are you telling us that Lady Willow is pr–”
Emira and Alador covered his mouth with their hands before he could say anything else.
“Not so loud!” she said. “What if someone heard you?!”
“But this is so exciting! Do you think we should plan a baby shower for her or–”
“There’s not gonna be a baby shower! Not as long as our mother can still banish her from the kingdom for getting pregnant without being married!”
Edric deflated a little at that. “Oh, right. I didn’t even think about that. It’s been so long since that marriage law was enacted that I kinda forgot Lady Willow and Sir Hunter aren’t already married.”
“Yeah, it’s so hard to believe it’s only been two years,” Emira agreed. Alador sullenly nodded with her, then pointed to both of them and drew pinched fingers across his lips.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure no one else finds out,” she said.
The next morning, the entire royal family was gathered in the throne room, awaiting anyone seeking an audience. Odalia sat on an imposing throne in the center of the room, with Alador in a much smaller one next to it, and their children standing beside them. At the sound of the final bell that marked the eighth hour of the day, Sir Hunter walked through the throne room doors and bowed.
“Ah, Sir Hunter,” Odalia said, “what brings you to our throne room on this lovely morning?”
“My queen,” he said, “I have an urgent request to make of you.”
“Then rise and tell us.”
He stood up on shaky legs and took a deep breath. “I heard about Princess Victoria’s banishment yesterday–”
“Ugh, don’t remind us of that unfortunate failure,” Odalia said. “Poor Amity has been inconsolable since it happened. You wouldn’t want to make her cry.”
Hunter looked over at Amity. She certainly wasn’t in a good mood, but he wouldn’t have described her as “inconsolable”. The word he would’ve chosen was “numb”, or maybe “empty”.
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” he said. “But I would like to volunteer to find her a new suitor myself.”
Amity’s eyebrows quirked up in slight interest, but they receded once Odalia gave her a stern look. “Sir Hunter, you must be delusional. Where would you find a bride for our Amity? Every nearby princess has proved herself to be insufficient.”
“I don’t intend to find one nearby. There’s a pass through the mountains to the north, I’ll take it through the marshlands beyond and find a princess there.”
“Oh dear, it’s worse than we thought,” Odalia said to herself. “Sir Hunter, no one has ventured to the northern marshlands in centuries . And for good reason. We highly doubt you’ll find a princess of any kind up there, let alone one up to our standards. So, for that reason, your request is–”
“Come on, Mother, it’s at least worth a try!”
Everyone in the room turned towards Emira in shock.
“Emira!” Odalia said. “How dare you interrupt me!”
“Oh, so you can complain all you want about me not taking my Crown Princess duties seriously until I disagree with you?!”
“You know nothing about duties–”
“I think Emira’s right.”
A quiet voice disrupted their argument.
“You should at least give Sir Hunter an opportunity to find someone,” Amity said.
“Oh, Mittens,” Odalia sighed, “you don’t understand. We only want the best for you. And we’re afraid the best isn’t going to come from beyond the northern marshlands.”
“But how can we know that for sure?” Amity replied. “Like you said, no one’s been there for centuries. Besides, sending one of our best knights there would surely open some lucrative opportunities for an alliance, especially if I do end up marrying one of their royalty.”
“Princess Amity is absolutely right,” Hunter said. “I only want what’s best for our kingdom, and venturing north would do us a lot of good, even if a marriage… uh… falls through.”
Alador, Emira, and Edric furiously nodded in agreement while Amity looked up at Odalia with pleading eyes. She leaned back against her throne and mulled over Hunter’s request for a bit before saying, “Very well. We suppose we will grant your request. However, if you fail us, there will be a harsh penalty.”
Hunter’s relief quickly turned sour as he looked up at his queen. “Penalty, Your Majesty?”
“If whatever princess you may find proves herself insufficient, you might find yourself stripped of your title. Or banished, if we find said failure particularly egregious.”
He cast his gaze down at the ground in an attempt to hide the growing anxiety on his face. “I understand, Your Majesty. I will not fail you.”
“Good, good. Now, we suggest you start preparing for the long, arduous journey ahead of you. You are dismissed.”
So, he turned around and walked out of the throne room, where he found Lord Augustus waiting for him in the hallway.
“Willow sent me to check in since she isn’t feeling very well,” he said. “How did the audience go?”
Hunter thought about his answer for a moment before saying, “It went… well?”
Augustus raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“The queen granted my request, but it took a bit of persuasion and she threatened me if I found a princess who ‘doesn’t meet her standards’.”
“What did she threaten you with?”
“Either demotion or banishment, I guess depending on how bad of a mood she ends up in.”
All Augustus could do was stare ahead in shock. “Wow, she’s willing to do that to her most accomplished knight? She’s crazier than I thought.”
“Tell me about it,” Hunter sighed. “You should’ve heard what she said to the Crown Princess. She was so mad she slipped out of pluralis majestatis.”
“Wow, now I really wish I was there to see that.”
Before long, they reached the door that led outside. Augustus stepped forward to envelop Hunter in a hug, which he gladly accepted.
“Don’t let Willow worry too much about me,” he said.
“Good to know that I’m free to worry about you as much as I feel like.”
He chuckled as he opened the doors and stepped outside. From there, habit took over and he was crossing the stone path to the royal stables. Flapjack was in the middle of getting his daily groom from the head stablehand, a woman who called herself Viney.
“Hey, Sir Hunter,” she said as she brushed through Flapjack’s crimson coat.
“Good day, Princess Viney,” he replied.
Viney rolled her eyes. “You know, you don’t have to address me by any kind of royal title just because I’m married to Emira now. Titan knows no one else does.”
“Well, you’re royalty to me. No matter what anyone thinks.”
She didn’t respond, just silently brushing Flapjack until there was a thick coating of hair on the floor of the stable.
“He’s all ready for you now,” she said. “Where are you taking him today?”
“Oh, I’m actually going to be gone for a while,” he said. “Odalia is letting me go through the pass in the mountains to the north of here to find another suitor for Amity.”
“Hmm, in that case, you should get some supplies from Jerbo. It sounds like you might be gone awhile.”
“Hopefully it won’t be too long. Only a few weeks at the latest.”
“Tell him to pack two months worth of food, just in case.”
“Oh, oh, is this the part where Luz comes in?!” King said, tapping his tail against the wooden floor.
“Patience, King,” Eda said, taking a sip of apple blood to soothe her voice a little. “I was just getting to that part.”
She continued. “And so Hunter set off on his noble quest to find Amity a bride so he could marry his one true love. He ventured through the northern mountains without difficulty, but unfortunately, when he reached the marshlands…”
“Come on, Flapjack! You can do it!”
But even trying to lift a hoof out of the thick, muddy swampland was a strenuous task, and Hunter had to worry about losing balance as the effort shook Flapjack’s entire body.
“Just a few hundred feet more,” Hunter said, “I think I can see a castle in the distance! Or is that just a big fort? It’s so hard to tell.”
One of Flapjack’s hooves went plop into the mud, followed by the slorp of one of his other hooves starting to exit the mud.
“Alright, buddy. I’ll help you.”
Hunter slid off the saddle, making a substantial splash as he landed and splattering mud all over Flapjack. Odalia quickly became the least of his worries. Viney was going to destroy him when he got back.
“I can pull you through the mud.” He gripped tightly onto the reins and tugged slightly as he trudged through. “See? We’re going faster already.”
Flapjack turned back to look at his tracks in the mud and whinnied doubtfully. Hunter just kept on pulling, his armor clanging and boots splashing in the mud. After a few minutes, he started panting heavily, and everything in front of him turned fuzzy before he fell face first into the swamp.
He woke up a few hours later on a wooden cot, his armor stripped off and a warm cloth on his forehead.
“Oh, good, you’re awake,” a kind voice said.
He turned his head to face whoever had spoken, and saw a middle aged woman wearing a simple dress and a modest golden tiara nestled among her thick brown curls.
“We haven’t gotten visitors from your land in a long time,” she said, “so it’s sad that we have to meet this way, after you collapsed like that in the middle of the swamp. Are you feeling better?”
Hunter sat up in his cot putting a hand on his forehead to keep the cloth in place. “Yeah, I think I am.”
“Very good,” the woman said, “then allow me to introduce myself. I am Queen Camila of the Marshlands. My child Vee found you and brought you here.”
He was a bit thrown by her not using the royal plural, but he just brushed it off as a difference in custom. “Sir Hunter of Bellefair-by-the-sea, at your service,” he said, bowing as much as he could in his position.
“We’ll be serving dinner in just a few minutes. It would be an honor if you could join us, if you’re well enough, of course.”
Hunter stared at Camila. Her offer seemed genuine. And he felt fully rested for possibly the first time since he became a knight. “Sure. I will join you.”
Camila smiled. “Wonderful! I’ll let the servants know to save you a place at our table.”
And with that, she was gone. Hunter found it very strange that she mentioned talking to the servants herself. As far as he knew, Odalia wouldn’t have been caught dead talking to common kitchen staff. The only thing the two women had in common was their title.
He took the cloth off his forehead, placed it on a nearby end table, and swung his legs over the edge of the cot. It was lower to the ground than he was expecting, since his feet touched the floor. He got off the cot and stretched a little, then walked over to the open doorway. The hallways were completely empty, probably since everyone in the castle was getting ready for dinner. Does everyone here eat together? Hunter thought to himself. The idea was extremely strange to him; most days he just ate with his fellow knights; on special occasions with Willow, Augustus, and the rest of the lower court; but certainly never with the royal family. They always ate alone.
But, he figured that this would be as good an opportunity to ask Queen Camila about finding a suitor for Amity.
His armor was nowhere in the room (someone was probably washing the mud off of it) but there was a pair of house shoes sitting by the door. After slipping them on, he walked into the hallway. This time, there was someone in the hallway, and they nearly ran him over before skidding to a stop.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t know you were already up!” they said.
At first, Hunter assumed that this person must’ve been one of the palace servants, but once he got a good look at them, he noticed that they were dressed very similarly to Queen Camila, minus the tiara. They also looked a lot alike, except for the fact that their hair was green and blue, in a shape that reminded him of the large, leafy plants Willow had in her garden. And were those… some kind of scales on their face?
“Oh! You probably don’t know who I am,” they said. “You may call me Vee. I’m the one who found you passed out in the mud and brought you here.”
Hunter bowed slightly at the waist. “Thank you. Her Majesty Queen Camila of the Marshlands told me about your most kind act when I awoke. She has also graciously invited me to partake in a meal with you all. Would you do me the honor of showing me the way to the dining room?”
Vee raised an eyebrow at him and started to giggle. “Humans from your land must be very polite, huh? You don’t have to do all that ‘Your Majesty’ stuff around us, Camila really doesn’t like it.”
“Strange,” he thought out loud, “Odalia wouldn’t hesitate to demote me for not upholding formality.”
“Is that the name of your queen?” Vee asked. Hunter nodded and they said, “She sounds cruel and uptight.”
“She… kind of is.”
Anxiety rushed through his body when he fully realized what he’d said, but Vee giggled some more and gestured for Hunter to follow them through the corridor. It barely took them a minute to get to the dining room, which was almost entirely occupied by a stone dining table. About thirty people were seated while six servants pushed out carts full of food and handed them out to people.
“This is your seat for tonight, Sir Hunter,” Vee said, gesturing to an empty chair close to the head of the table, where Camila was already seated. He sat down and Vee did the same in a chair next to him.
A servant placed a plate of steaming, sauce-covered quail in front of him, and without thinking, Hunter reached for his fork and knife. Vee placed their hand on his wrist and said, “We always wait until the servants have their own plates to eat.”
He thought that was a nice gesture, although that thought quickly soured once he remembered that it would be unthinkable in his own kingdom.
In a few minutes, everyone was served, and the servants picked up plates of their own from the carts and sat down on the opposite end of the table. But just before everyone started eating, Camila stood up.
“We have been blessed with a guest tonight! Please welcome Sir Hunter of Bellefair-by-the-sea!”
Everyone turned towards him and started clapping. He shakily waved his hand in return. After a few seconds, Camila sat down and everyone started eating.
Right as Hunter got a chunk of meat off one of the quail bones and started cutting it into pieces, Camila said, “So, what brings you to our humble little kingdom?”
He momentarily set down his knife. “Oh, I came here in search of a possible marriage alliance.”
Camila raised her eyebrows. “A marriage alliance?”
“Yes. You see, we’ve been looking for a bride for our queen’s youngest daughter, Amity, for some time now, but all of the attempts were… unsuccessful.” He didn’t want to sound desperate, so he conveniently didn’t mention the banishments, the marriage law, or Odalia’s ultimatum.
“Hmm,” Camila said, taking a bite of her quail.
“Perhaps Vee would make a good match.”
“Wow, I’m flattered you think that,” Vee said, a blush high on their cheeks, “but I’m actually courting someone else. Besides, it would probably bring your kingdom bad luck if your princess married a changeling like me.”
“Oh,” Hunter sighed, taking a bite of the quail. Not even its perfectly juicy and spiced deliciousness could improve his mood. Although, he could get the recipe from this castle’s chef and give it to Jerbo when he got back, so this journey wouldn’t be a total waste of time…
“I CAN COME WITH YOU!”
Hunter looked up and nearly spit out the quail. A young woman who looked very similar to both Camila and Vee was leaning towards him, an ear-to-ear smile on her face.
“This… is my daughter, Luzura,” Camila said, “but everyone just calls her Luz.”
Luz sat back down in her seat across from Hunter, ripped a leg off her quail, and started taking bites out of it. Somehow, she managed to not get any of the sauce on her gown, but there was no way she’d fit the queen’s standards.
He had a feeling that he’d be a fool to not at least try.
After all, he couldn’t risk being away from the kingdom for much longer, with how sick Willow had become.
“Your Majesty,” Hunter said, out of habit, “I believe your daughter would be a… sufficient match. If you permit it, we will be on our way to my kingdom by tomorrow morning.”
Camila seemed put off by his formality, but she thought over his request. “I think that would be a wonderful idea! I’ll make sure your horse is ready by then.”
Luz ripped the last chunk of meat from the bone, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and smiled. “We are gonna be such good friends, Sir Hunter.”
“That feels like a good point to stop at for tonight,” Eda said.
“Weh?” King said. “But we were just getting to the good part!”
“Mama’s running out of steam,” she yawned.
Raine let out a loud yawn of their own. “Yeah, it’s right around our bedtime now.”
King pouted again and dramatically plopped onto his blankets. Not even a few minutes later, he’d fallen asleep.
“Hooty, shouldn’t you be getting to sleep, too?” Eda said.
“I suppose I can squeeze in a few hours of shut-eye, hoot hoot,” he said, then left his spot by the window.
After he left, Eda and Raine shut the lights off in King’s room, then walked into their own bedroom.
“So, do you think the story’s working?” Eda asked.
“Seems like it to me,” Raine replied.
“I guess we can only know for sure tomorrow morning.”
They got into their nest and fell asleep just a few minutes later. The only resident of the Owl House who wasn’t asleep was Hooty, who furiously tapped away at his typewriter, determined to capture every detail of the story he could. He was absolutely sure that Lulu would love every minute of it!