Thump, thump, thump.

Amity blinked a few times as she heard the sound before turning in the direction of it. She was almost off Hexide grounds but… Was that a Grudgby ball? That shouldn’t have been possible. Not from this distance. Besides, the court was likely busy with Bosha and her team right now. If she was hearing anything, it was them.

Thump, thump. Thump.

The serious girl bit into her cheek before groaning. She shouldn’t go. She wouldn’t have in the past. But she could just imagine that stupid idiot’s face smiling at her and telling her they had to go. “What if it was something fun?”

“What if it tries to kill you?”

“Hey I asked first.”

Amity giggled at her joke before turning red as she could lightly hear her own word’s echo back at herself. Why did she say that out loud? What if someone heard her? Calm down, Blight. No one is around. You’re fine.

Thump, thump, thump.

Okay, now she had no choice. The person who had the ball had to die. It was the only option. No one could know of her Luz impression after all. No one.

======+++++======

“And then Amity’s abomination exploded out of nowhere! It seemed to calm down when I let her down but I don’t know why.”

Willow and Gus both rolled their eyes at the latest in a thousand stories that made them want to scream at Amity and Luz. At least it usually gave them a laugh or two and they were enjoying Luz slowly getting herself up from the ground after having ‘exploded’.

The three then all stopped as a low, primal growl filled the space around them. Looking around, they at first didn’t see anything until a flash of green gave Willow a target. “I’ve got you!” The nature bound girl made a quick circle at the set of trees that the person had dashed behind before the two oaks began to shift. Their branches split apart, stretched, and both were told to grab anything that might pose a threat.

Which meant that once they’d become more prickly, they didn’t move. Willow blinked a few times before looking at her hand. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t always either. I’d bet that it’s a matter of nature not attacking nature though.”

The three turned around to where a woman stood on the road. Her fiery red hair was cut short but was still such a mess that no barber could have touched it in years. She had a couple cuts across her cheeks, nose, and a pretty bad one on her forehead, but her green eyes shined with the same sort of energy that any adventurer with half the career she had would have. She wore a pretty simple, brown tunic and ratty, gray pants that did a mostly good job at hiding the fact that she was ripped.

Then again, she would need to be to wield the broadsword on her back. It was almost as long as she was tall, though the fact that she stood only a foot taller than Luz made the fact a little less impressive. Not that any of that stopped Luz from pulling a full hand of sigils from her sleeve and holding them like a set of knives. “What do you want?”

The three young witches heard another growl from the direction that Willow had animated the trees from before they watched a line of green energy slip between their legs. It moved more deliberately than simple wind and it was the same color that, just for a second, the warrior’s eyes shone as the energy returned to her. “Say, do you like games?”

Luz glanced at Gus and Willow before looking back at the warrior. “Yes?”

The warrior raised one of her arms up and began to stretch as she smirked at Luz. It wasn’t at all three. No, Luz could tell the look was only for her. That whatever the woman had planned, she didn’t even consider Gus and Willow to be factors. In spite of that, she sounded pretty relaxed as she said, “Then hit me as hard as you can. If you can knock me down with one spell then I’ll go with you. You can’t, and you have to follow me, alone.”

Luz narrowed her eyes before grabbing one of her plant sigils, slapping it on the ground, and then running at the warrior as she said, “Deal!”

======+++++======

Amity stepped up to the Grudgby court and frowned as she saw a single figure on the playing field. For a second, she thought it might be Lilith with how tall she was and her long, black hair, but it was too ill kept. She looked like she’d been on the road for a few weeks with how ratty her hair was and the small stains that were on her black robe. Her lightly tanned skin was the final nail in the coffin for Amity though. Lilith didn’t get out enough to not keep looking half dead. “You summoned me?”

The woman bounced the ball against the court one more time before catching it and throwing it through one of the hoops near her. “Yes. And, before you ask, I requested this space from Principal Bump for the afternoon. After I let him know of my intentions, he was more than accommodating.”

Amity narrowed her eyes as she came around to the woman’s front. She had deep, blue eyes that shot through her like ice, but only up until when she gave the small child a smile. Then it warmed enough that it only threw Amity off more. “I hope you’ll excuse me for not believing that.”

The woman shrugged slightly before snapping. The smell of metal filled the air momentarily before a lightning bolt cracked from the woman’s hand, shot towards the grudgby ball, but then at the last moment she shifted her finger a little so the blast slipped to the other side of the ball and blasted it back towards her. She then held up her other hand to catch it, all while looking at A-

Smack!

The woman stumbled forward before reaching back and grabbing the back of her head. She seemed to take a fairly long moment to just breathe before she lowered her hands with a sigh. “Well, there goes impressing you.” She then pinched the bridge of her nose and said, “My name is Diane and I promise that I don’t mean you any harm. Me and my partner had heard things about you and a friend of yours named Luz and we decided we wanted to make a quick stop to say hi.”

Amity narrowed at the witch. Her parents made a note of knowing any proper magic user and she’d never heard the name Diane before. That meant she was likely a wild witch. That wasn’t trouble her and Luz needed and so she moved a hand behind her back to start making circles with. “Well, you’ve said hi. Now go.”

Diane sighed as she began bouncing the ball again. “Okay, next approach then.” She then caught it and smiled as she tossed it into the air. “Say, how many times do you think I can bounce this off my head before it hits me in the face?”

Amity blinked in confusion before saying, “Uh, even once could crack your head open you know?”

Diane then turned her head to Amity and the sort of smile she gave the serious girl almost stopped her heart from how dead on it was for one of Luz’s dumb grins. “So is that o-”

“None you idiot! Are you trying to give me a heart attack!”

Diane smirked as with a wave of her hand she summoned a wall of fire that slammed the ball into one of the goals before it came anywhere near her head. “Did I suddenly make you think of someone?”

Amity stepped back as her heart almost stopped. “Wait, who…”

Diane waved her hand in front of her. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m kidding. I just know all too well how it is to be close to a complete idiot. Speaking of, she should be-”

“Amity, I’m here!”

Diane and Amity both turned to the tree line where Luz burst from. The energetic girl sprinted full force at Diane before throwing one of her sigils on the ground, stepping on the ice spike that it summoned, and then throwing three fire cards at Diane’s feet. The tall witch looked down before giggling.

And then, you know, being consumed in a bonfire that reached to the sky.

Luz landed next to Amity before looking back and widening her eyes at the pillar of flame. “Um… Did I do that?”

The warrior, who was still rubbing her nose from Luz vaulting herself at her. She had red sigils on one of her arms that glowed as she hopped onto the court and crossed her arms. “Well, from what I can tell, you did do a good job. But, uh, sorry to tell you, but Diane don’t burn.”

Both of the younger girls paled as the flames began to intensify around where a silhouette of a woman was beginning to form. Luz looked at Amity before hissing out, “This girl ambushed Willow, Gus and I on our way back to Eda’s and dragged me back here.”

Amity bit her cheek before making an executive decision. If one of them was a possible bounty hunter for Belos and the other was a potential wild witch, she wasn’t about to risk that fire pillar suddenly being directed at them. She brought her hands forward, showing a half dozen pre-prepared, purple circles before she expanded one of them and put it to the ground. The other five expanded to become layers inside the first and glowed on the ground as Luz slapped down sigils of plant, light, and ice into the circles.

The flames then vanished as the symbols on the warrior’s arm vanished. Diane looked… Furious was an understatement. She locked eyes with Amity, and the serious girl paused under the force of the look alone.

Diane then turned around on a dime and screamed, “What the heck, Kat?”

Kat rolled her eyes before crossing her arms. “What? You told me I could get Luz here anyway I wanted to so I decided to make a game out of it.”

Diane pressed a hand against her temple before hissing out, “And that game made her want to attack me because…”

Kat snickered as she came closer and poked the witch in the side. “Well, you always get to be the serious wanderer who everyone wonders ‘Ooh, who’s she? What’s her deal?’ I wanted to give it a try for once.”

“When I do it, I don’t make a mob.”

“That was one time!”

“One time is enough!”

Amity and Luz blinked at each other for a few moments before serious witch hesitantly let her circles fade. Luz slowly, carefully peeled her cards off the ground before the two of them walked towards the now bickering couple. After another minute of the two arguing, Amity coughed and asked, “So, are you going to finally explain anything?”

Diane and Kat paused before the witch put a hand over her quickly reddening face. The warrior wasn’t quite as ashamed of all of this as she chuckled and put her hands behind her head. “Sorry. We heard some stuff about you two and, well, recognized enough of ourselves that we wanted to come over and see what we might have to teach.”

Diane then brought her hand away from her face to add, “But I felt the magic you two were channeling. I think any advice we’d have to give you would be how to make sure your idiot doesn’t get herself killed before you two can get married.”

Kat rolled her eyes before snapping back, “And making sure one of you doesn’t think she needs to be Atlas all of the time.”

Luz and Amity turned bright red at the accusation before Luz gestured between the two of them and said, “Oh, uh, we’re just friends. Nothing more. Promise!”

Diane and Kat looked at each other before Diane asked, “Were we as cute back when we did this whole song and dance?”

Kat looked away for a second before saying, “Well, at the time I was dragging you back to be a slave to my tribe so… Maybe?”

Amity squeezed her hands shut tight before dealing with her embarrassment by shouting, “Why would anyone want to be like a crazy person and a wild witch!?”

The older woman paused at the question before Diane stepped closer and slipped her hands around one of Amity’s before not letting her just yank it away as she showed how surprisingly strong she was. “I understand your fears, but repressing who you are will only ever hurt you and,” she said as she glanced at Luz, “pull you away from where you actually want to be.”

Meanwhile, Kat offered a hand to Luz. “Don’t listen to her. We both know how important crazy is, right?”

Luz barked out a laugh before looking at the hand. She paused for a second before grasping the warrior’s fingers. “I mean, how else are you supposed to keep things interesting, right?”

Kat smiled at that before sighing and whispering, “Keep those instincts of yours kid. If you really are anything like the two of us, she’ll need you and while you won’t always be able to fix it, a shoulder to cry on does far more than you can imagine.”

Luz was quiet before Kat spun around the energetic girl and smacked her on the back hard enough to almost knock the poor girl over. “Now you two get going. We should be off ourselves after all.”

Amity finally yanked her hand away from Diane’s as the tall witch stepped out of her way. “Don’t listen to them, Luz. We don’t need the trouble after all.”

Luz looked at Amity for a moment before sighing. Amity looked back before turning away as her cheeks turned red. “What do I have to do to get you to move?”

“Azura cookies?”

Amity sucked in her lips at the reminder of the stupid dessert they’d made up before saying, “Fine! But I have homework to do first.”

Luz jumped up as she yelled, “Yes!” and then ran after Amity. Neither saw as Archmage Diane and her guardian stepped closer. They both brought a hand up to touch the others’ to form a little heart between them. The two smiled at each other before sighing and fading away.

And the next morning, the Blight household would wake up to their youngest daughter screaming about a ring suddenly appearing on her right ring finger and not being able to take it off. Luz wouldn’t notice hers until the third time she waved at Amity and made the poor girl run screaming because of it.