Bloodied Wings

Part 3

Just outside the forest...

Luz searched for Gwendolyn, despite her father's and Eda's warnings.

The woman was dusting off her clothes and trying to remove the leaves from her dress. Such a sweet-hearted woman... somewhat high strung but everyone in the family had that, her own dad has told her that.

"Trust me when I say her head isn't screwed on straight. Though madness does run in our family, Gwendolyn is a new level of crazy."

"Sometimes family members have a falling out and there's nothing to be done about it."

Wait, where did that come from?

Luz tried to shrug that away as she approached the woman.

She had a lot of Eda's features, and also can see bits of her own father too.

"Um hi." Luz greeted the woman, "Sorry that Eda ejected you like that."

"Oh, no, no, Dear. Don't fuss. I do not blame Eda for her actions, it was the beast that caused the rift in our family. Not the entire family, just... well you know." Gwen answered.

"Actually, I know how you feel. There's a rift in my family, too. My mom, she's really scared of this place and... wants to keep me in the human realm forever. But I want to show her that humans can live here, that we can survive." Luz admitted with sadness in her voice.

That's when the idea popped into her head.

"What if... there is a way to solve both our problems?" She suggested, showing a bit of an Eda look to her, "What if I can help you find proof and you can help me cure Eda?"

"Really? Okay, that sounds good. What do we need to do?" Luz wondered.

"I have been studying at the feet of a master, someone who understands this type of thing. But in order to complete the ritual that would save Eda, we need to speak with the final objective and collect the final piece of the puzzle."

Luz nodded and followed Gwen.

At the Castle...

Emperor Belos breathed as Parfait brought him his tea, helping to soothe his nerves after a run-in with his wayward family member.

"Philip, there is one in every family. Sadly, there are many in ours, but Madness is truly in the bloodline." The advisor sighed.

"True indeed. I see my dead brother everywhere I go, smiling at me and giving me comfort, though never talking." Belos admitted, "But Gwendolyn... ugh Gwendolyn...."

"What the heck was that?!? A monster is infecting my daughter and you give her a rock?" She snarled at the pair, "And you, you know these things better than anyone in the realm-."

"Don't you dare question my competence, Clawthorne? You may have married into the family, and a very, very distant member of my blood, a single drop, but that doesn't mean I will tolerate your rudeness." Belos sneered at the woman, "This is beyond your knowledge and beyond your meager magic-."

"You are calling me meager-!"

"It's not our fight. I can't help her, you can't help her, the only one who can is Eda. Only she has the power to-."

"There must be a cure!! Tell me, you must know! You are the Healing Coven!!" Gwendolyn demanded.

"There is none, this curse is beyond our knowledge. But there is a way to keep the Beast at bay. The Potion Coven creates elixirs for the emperor-."