Azura spun a pen with her fingers as she double checked her math. Belos didn’t let her stay in the castle, and she couldn’t really blame her, so she went to one of Aunt Cluz’s old haunts in a ravine near where B grew up. Or was it a ravine made from when the house here ‘mysteriously disappeared’? It didn’t matter now. What mattered was what all signs pointed to for when she was.

Specifically, before the Day of Unification. The history books warped on when it was exactly, it happened with temporal mechanics, but there weren’t even glimpses of it no matter how many history books she checked. People from this time wouldn’t see them of course but they would act as a warning, a recollection, for someone from the future. The lack of signs meant that there was plenty of time before it though..

Which meant that if her moms were under Belos’ gaze, Luz wouldn’t have a way home currently. Wouldn’t be able to see grandma. She knew that, at least if you asked Luz how it happened, that Camila had a heavy hand in Amity and her getting together. Though Amity would tell you that it was all her, Azura thought with a smirk. She couldn’t force A to do anything she didn’t want to though. Almost no one could, even Luz.

She might be able to do something about Camila though. She couldn’t give Luz a way home of course as it would simply be too dangerous. Even in her time, where there was a permanent portal between the worlds on the Blight Estate where it could be watched by at least a dozen guards and abominations at any given time to keep it safe and those who passed through tracked, Belos still couldn’t be trusted with free access between the worlds. Just in case. The risks of free travel between the worlds even made Azura pause, though more for how to keep everyone safe for the journeys rather than whether eithers denizens would hurt each other. Not in the world she planned to make at least.

She didn’t have a lot of options though. She could talk to her parents and push them together but that’d be dangerous, especially due to, you know, time paradoxes. Then again, literally anything she did would likely create some sort of paradox. She shrugged at the idea before getting up from where she sat. It wasn’t like something as minor as fucking up space and time was really all that concerning. She’d just fix it if something went wrong.

She paused for a second before laughing from the fact that for once her brother couldn’t scream at her for how insane that sort of thinking was.

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

“Luz Noceda, correct?”

Luz jumped at the voice before putting her bag in front of her head, just in case the strange voice tried to attack her or the like. She then slowly lowered it as they said nothing. The figure was clad in what looked like white ninja garb with flourishes of light purple at her gloves, mask, and boots. “Um, hi?”

The stranger nodded before bowing to Luz. “While you may not recognize this form of myself, I assure you that I am an ally. A ‘good witch’ you could say.”

Luz looked the figure up and down before squealing. “Another Azura fan!? Oh, you could join Amity and I’s book club. We could really use another member and Boscha starts screaming anytime she gets past the first page!”

Yep. That sounded like B. The stranger shook her head though. “Simply call me Azura, please. It will make things simpler as I cannot tell you my real name.” Azura was then very, very happy that her mask disguised her stupid smile at the joke.

Luz slowly nodded, even as she narrowed her eyes. “You’re talking an awfully big game. Why should I trust you?”

“Porque creo que los grifos respiran arañas, las serpientes son grandes finales y puedo hacer esto.” She then reached up and pulled at her eyebrows to make it look like she was playing with her brain. (Because I believe griffins breathe spiders, snakes are great finales, and I can do this.)

Luz’s eyes widened before she whispered, “Are you me?”

Azura glanced away. The truth would be a flat no, but then Luz wouldn’t trust her, let alone trust her as she needed her to. Normally garnering trust through falsifying her identity wasn’t a problem for her. For all to be accepted, she was willing to have no identity. To assume a false identity was another problem, especially one that would be so important to her mother. But if she wanted to pay the least bit of attention to temporal concerns, she couldn’t say who she actually was.

So, with a deep breath in, she decided to try a middle ground. “I am, but not as you expect.”

Luz frowned a bit at the response before meeting the bright, yellow eyes of the stranger. They were some of the clearest, most beautiful she’d seen. In fact, they reminded her of Amity’s, at least at her crush’s most confident. Eyes that promised that they acted with a purpose, but mixed with just a touch of softness that Amity, at her most focused, lacked. So, instead of making Luz shudder from chills, it weirdly warmed her. “Okay, I guess, but why are you here?”

Azura nodded as she breathed an internal sigh of relief. It was good that Luz was as accepting as she was. “I am here to fix something that weighs on your mind and has been for… ten days I would guess?”

There was a pause as Luz obviously tried to figure out what happened ten days ago before the young girl’s eyes widened. She then took a step back as tears crept at the edges of her eyes. “We… I… Mom…”

Azura held a hand up to try and calm her. “I cannot give you a way home, but I can send a message and perhaps get one back. A chance to tell Camila that you’re safe and happy and to be told by her that she’s glad you’re happy.”

Luz fell silent before grabbing her arm. “But… But what if she isn’t? What if she’s just angry for me running away to be here? For making friends with people who are so strange? For falling in love with…”

“Mija, you are not like your mother! Your mother was strange, yes, but you might hurt people if you keep this up, and not just with snake bites!”

Azura shut her eyes against the words. That was after the Hexide incident. Three months into her exile to the human world that Amity had forced upon her. To live with her grandma while A figured out what to do. It would lead to them beginning to travel together but… No. That wasn’t what was important. “M-Luz, stop. Breathe. Think about her. If you were to tell her you were happy and safe, do you think she could be really upset? That’s all she wants for you after all, isn’t it?” Just like it commonly was for Amity and her, or so Azura liked to pretend.

Luz was quiet as she looked to the side. When she finally did speak, she still couldn’t look at Azura. “You… You really think you can? Because if so-”

“I can’t take you there. It’s… complicated.” Azura then flinched as she saw the tears coming down her mother’s face. It could be anyone and she’d hate that they were crying but this was Luz. Luz almost never cried unless it was out of joy. She didn’t even think she’d managed to make the energetic girl cry, no matter how much trouble she caused. Guess that streak was broken now. “What do you say?”

Luz sucked in her lips as she spent a moment in thought before asking, “Can you wait for just… a day. I should have something prepared by tomorrow.”

Azura nodded. She could say that Luz could take all the time she wanted, but her mom would just start yelling about how she’d already wasted enough time and turn into a mess again. If this gave her the time to do this right then she would have it. “No more than that.”

Luz nodded her eyebrows furrowed in determination. “Don’t worry. It’ll be something…” She faltered before doubling down on putting on a brave face. “Something that’ll make up for the lies!”

Azura smiled at that. That was the Luz she knew. She only hoped that her mom was right and that it would make seeing her grandmother hurt less than it was already going to.

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

Tap tap.

Azura sighed as she looked at the crack in the palisman. She didn’t have Belos’ nails, she had a bad habit of chewing on them, so she cracked them like eggs most of the time when she had them. Even on nights like tonight where she accepted that it was necessary, her stomach churned at the idea of using them like this. And no, not just because of the taste.

But without her mom supplying her magic, she needed to get it from somewhere and these little guys were the best way to give her some. Or, more accurately, set the energy that Titan sat warmly inside of into a bright boil so they gave her magic. Not that she ever did so without permission. They may live inside of her but that didn’t give her the right to force them to help her.

Fortunately, they normally got along pretty well. Even tonight, she could feel the hum of their energy in her ears. They were letting her take her time though. They’d said any piece they wanted to while the two had waited for Luz. Her eyes glanced over at the messy book at her side and smiled a little before she sighed and looked back at the palisman. “Come on, Azura, now or never.”

So, after one more slow breath, she lifted the palisman up, split it in half, and drank its juice in one extended gulp.

Her eyes snapped as they began to glow green just before she hit her knees. Her heart was in her ears and pounding at such a frequency that her skull vibrated in tune with it. The energy shot through her body, reinforcing it and burning it at the same time. She couldn’t breathe as the very air around her warped from the heat coming off of her body.

“I’m sorry.”

Azura wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as her body slowly stopped shaking and her heart began to slow. It would stay accelerated for about half an hour, at which time she’d lose the sort of casting that witches could do, but until then she would know the sort of power that was currently accessed only by Belos. She then began to stand as she said, “Why? It works, doesn’t it?”

There was no response, not until she pointed a finger to the sky. A green spark came off of it as the whole digit glowed the same bright, radioactive green as the palisman’s innards had been.

Unless you’re reckless with it, this spell will take too much energy for me not to know what you’re doing.

A green light appeared at the tip of her finger while another showed up at her feet. The second mote moved in tandem, but also mirrored, with her own hand. The first time she’d done this in front of Belos was when she finally convinced him that she’d stolen Titan from him. That the god and this pathetic, little human were working in tandem. It was exhilarating everytime, even if she kept thinking that it was going to make her heart explode.

It made casting so much easier though as she finished the circle effortlessly. She could merely touch the inside of the circle with a thought and the sigil she needed would appear.

“Azura. Focus.”

The young woman blinked a few times before nodding. She didn’t need sigils yet. This part merely asked for a lot of magic to access what she needed to in the first place. She raised her left hand high before slamming it upon the surface of the circle. It warped the air for a moment before she felt Titan’s energy surgeon through her and slam into the circle with more force than she’d been prepared.

When she retracted her hand, she saw a second portal behind the first one. She blinked a few times before snapping, and accidentally turning a tree behind her into a toad, and saying, “That’s right, there would probably be nothing in there right now, would there?” She then bit her cheek as she looked into the swirling energies. It looked like a whirlpool of rainbow colors that sucked in light more than it emitted any.

The first proper lock is knowing how to pull it out.

Azura dipped a finger into red, blue, yellow, white, and then black, stabilizing each color as it was touched. Each color was effectively a different code. What you have your fingers in when you push in determines what you get from the small pocket dimension. Her mom liked to mostly use it for soft drinks on long trips. But, tonight, when Azura pushed in, she felt something much firmer than an aluminum can. Much more important than an iced coffee. Much- “Ow!”

Azura threw what she had retrieved on the ground before sucking on the part of her palm that was just under her pointer finger. She then mumbled, “Every friggin time.” She then lifted her hand away, sighed in relief at the cut not being too bad, and then knelt on the ground in front of the box that sat there.

It was made mostly of black wood, which her parents said was the biggest change they’d made to the design of it, and had no visible openings despite being a suitcase. Blood Blossom Wood in fact, rather than any sort of oak. For some reason Luz almost always mentioned how much harder it was to burn when that got brought up. Otherwise, design wise, it had three circles to the left, right, and above a large, yellow eye with a vertical slit for a pupil. The eye itself had cracks on it though supposedly that had never damaged its magics, something all of her parents got annoyed by.

But it was a portable way into the human world which was what mattered.

I know you and my mom don’t get along too well so we won’t force you to see her but we want you to have the option.

Azura blinked a few times at the thought. It had been probably almost a year since she’d seen grandma. She could joke that this counted, but Amity and Boscha would just yell at her for trying to weasel out of seeing family like that. She had been busy though. Didn’t think about it. It was too much work…

She sighed before starting to work on the second lock, or the first of the ones that mattered for if Belos ever got a hold of it. It was theoretically all you would need to keep something from him, but he could always find someone else to fill the three circles.

First was left, where a bright, shining light glyph belonged. “Bright.”

Then at the top was a plant glyph that was then set free to form its own sigil in gnarled, rotting roots. “Blight.”

And then finally on the right, a blazing, raging fire sigil burning that threatened to burn the briefcase.

With the three in place, the wood bristled and energy ran in lines from the sigils to the handle. The handle that had bit her briefly because it had two thorns on it where the midpiece met the swings that connected it to the briefcase. With the energy, the whole handle sprang to life with a dozen, small thorns. Blood Blossom thorns. Thorns that would recognize the person who was holding the portal by their thoughts.

I don’t like making the last lock hurt you, but this way only a Noceda or a Blight can use the portal, and it will recognize if you’re being forced to and still deny access.

All to make sure Belos never got free access to the Human Realm without Amity there to keep him in check. She reached forward, gripped it tight, winced at the cuts on her and the quick attachment the thorns made to try and keep her there, before she cleared her mind. “Camila.”

The eye glowed bright as Azura let go of the briefcase and left abomination goo on the thorns. Soon the wood unfolded to show a door taller than her before it swung open to show a forest on the other side. The Human Realm. Where she was supposed to be, if you believed genetics meant a damned thing about your place in the world. It was the last place she was needed though if you asked her.

It didn’t matter though. She was going for work. It was just another step to getting to Belos. That helped her try and stay calm as she picked up the journal that Luz had given her and then stepped through, the portal closing behind her. Fortunately, the locks didn’t work on this side so Azura wouldn’t have to cut herself again. Or, for that matter, try to use sigil magic somewhere where it didn’t work.

She paused again outside of the abandoned shack that the portal had always led to before taking off in a brisk stride. While she moved, her clothes shifted to be a baggy shirt that might as well have just been a pride flag in a past life. Her pants were a touch subtler as one leg was magenta, the other dark blue, and with a purple belt. Felt fitting for if she was going to be seeing the Noceda half of her family.

She swung a left as she broke out of the forest. The sun was setting as she moved to the front of her grandma’s house and didn’t help her feel more comfortable with doing this. She could still be at the hospital after all. If she wasn’t here, maybe she could just leave the journal here? No, she needed to actually speak to her grandma. She only hoped it wouldn’t hurt either of them too much.

Knock knock knock.

The door was yanked open in less than ten seconds as Camila shouted, “Luz!?”

Oh. Azura knew she should have expected Camila to hope it was her daughter, but it still caught her off guard as she raised her hands up “Nope! Not quite!”

Camila’s eyes faded a little as her shoulders drooped. She looked like an absolute mess. She’d probably gotten at best one night’s sleep in the past week, her hair was out of her normal bun and left to fall wherever it wanted, and Azura wondered when she’d last changed out of her scrubs. Tears threatened to come down as she looked Azura up and down before she whispered, “You look so much like her…”

Azura shook her head. She had expected grandma not to be at her best but this…This made things weirdly easier as she pushed her way through the older woman. “I know. I get that a lot actually. People think your daughter and I might be sisters or something actually.”

Camila’s eyes widened as Azura made her way to the kitchen and began putting a pot of water on the stove to prepare some hot chocolate. The younger woman was on autopilot with her movements to try and comfort her grandma, though it could have been anyone with how devastated she was. It was simply how Azura’s brain worked. Camila, on the other hand, had other priorities. “You know my daughter? Do you know where she is?”

Azura reached up to the cupboards and was thankful that the cocoa packets were where they’d always been. “Yeah! We actually go to the same school. Now, marshmallows; yes or no?”

“S-School?” Camila tilted her head as she watched the stranger put powder into a pair of mugs. “But Luz hasn’t been back to school yet…”

Oh. Yeah. “Um, she actually has been. For the past three months.”

That got Camila to turn as her eyes narrowed. She then grabbed Azura by the shoulders as she yelled, “That’s not funny! She was at Summer Camp! Or… Or was supposed to be…”

Azura reached up and put Luz’s journal in front of her mother’s face. “Wait, I promise, I’m not lying! This is from her.”

Camila became as still as a statue before she grabbed the book. “R-Really? But… But why this instead of a text? Or even maybe a letter for once.”

Azura brushed herself off before placing a hand on her grandmother’s shoulder. “I’ve looked inside of it and while it won’t answer all of the questions you have, it’ll answer the ones that matter.”

The older woman was quiet for a few moments before whispering, “Like if she’s safe?”

Azura smiled at her grandmother before whispering, “Read it and I think you’ll have your answer. Now, do you want milk? Because I’ll finish these while you read.”

Camila nodded before walking away to her dining room table. Her mind was far too frayed to interrogate the stranger too much. Not after spending over a week thinking her daughter was either dead, or on the other side of the country, or maybe even the world if Luz’s hate for her was that great. She hadn’t meant to push her away. She was just trying to help her prepare to be an adult.

The older woman shut her eyes for a moment to get herself to get together before actually looking at the book. On the front of the cover, in glitter, it solely said I love you. Underneath were two purple otters. A smaller, darker purple one, just as Camila knew her daughter liked pretending to be, and a larger, lighter purple one that was holding its child. That was enough to almost make Camila break down right back into tears but she had been promised answers. Answers she so desperately needed.

I should have told you most of this a long time ago. Before I couldn’t come back. Before I couldn’t tell you.

The first two pages, along with the words, was filled with what had to be two dozen pictures of the weird, energetic girl in all sorts of positions. Jumping around in some cute, multi colored uniform, sleeping peacefully in a sleeping bag, waving frantically in front of desks, and almost anything else Luz had been able to come up with or find that was mostly of her. But, in the middle, was her staring at a picture of her mom with tears in her eyes.

Something took my book. I know I said I was done with it but I couldn’t let it go. It led me to somewhere I thought impossible.

This set of pages was filled with landscape shots of the Isles. Vistas that had been given to her by Eda and Lilith from their journeys across the land. Nothing but the most beautiful, grotesque, or terrifying. Nothing that didn’t show the Isles as they were at their best. As Luz saw them.

On the other side, I met my mentor. She’s a witch and promised me that she’d teach me to be one too. I know you won’t believe me, but I promise it’s true.

All sorts of Edas were on the left page, from her as a young troublemaker, her standing tall as The Owl Lady, her asleep on the couch, and even one of her and Lilith together. On the right was a mess of different pictures of Luz casting spells, including what sigil was in use in the corner of each. And in each of them, she was either screaming in passion, or smiling softly. There was even one of her blushing as she appeared to be holding a rose she’d made out to someone who was out of frame.

She isn’t the only witch though! There’s a whole school dedicated to magic! Even better, I got accepted into it!

This one was a pleasant pause for Camila’s heart, at least theoretically. After all, her little girl always liked school and seeing her get into one that seemed so large and possibly important… Well, it made her forget it was a magic school for a moment as she flipped the page.

Best yet, you know how you wanted me to make friends? I’ve got some of the best on the Isles now!

And there wasn’t a bit of page left to be seen under the photos. Some even got in the way of others and had to be carefully lifted to see them, and that was without mentioning the ones that stuck out off of the side of them. And they were of the best memories she had with Gus, Willow, King, Edric, Emira, and, in one corner, even a couple of the selfies that Boscha and her had taken since they’d come together. There was one notable absence.

There’s also this girl who… Describing Amity Blight to you feels almost impossible but I couldn’t ask for a better best friend.

Almost every photo was stacked with another on top this time. Pictures of Amity staring into the distance in class, sleeping on her bed, looking deep into Luz’s eyes, the two curled up together as the rains fell, the two at Grom, Amity with her abominations, with her familiar, with her parents when she still only had brown hair. If Luz could get it, she put it in here. Or, could get a copy of the picture at least.

Everything hasn’t been perfect though. We’ve had enemies. Had adventures that threatened us.

One page was spent on people like Adegast, Warden Wrath, Kikimora, the Slitherbeast, Grom, though his photo was paired with a tree sitting behind Amity and Luz as they finished their dance, and Tibbles. There was also Lilith, who confused Camila slightly, and then Boscha, who really confused Camila as she looked back at the friend’s page.

The right side of the page had only one picture thought.

But I never truly got scared until they threatened you. Until they wanted a way to get to you.

Belos. Emperor Belos, as imperious as he’d always been. Camila shivered just by looking at him.

He wanted a way to our world. Wanted the portal that brought me here in the first place.

The page showed what few photos Luz had of her and the portal but it was sparse, outside of her also mentioning that it got weirdly good cell and wifi signals which managed to make Camila laugh, even if at this point she was sobbing. She didn’t dare let her tears hit the photos though.

I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him hurt you.

The page was filled with more of Luz casting magic, though all fire spells, all with her looking deadly serious, and all with Eda’s staff. It was finally the page that made Camila have to pause. After all, the rest were good. They warmed her heart. They were everything that she could want for her little girl. But to see that Luz would protect her, and how strong she looked casting these spells. How serious. How much all of this had to matter to her, especially as Camila could tell that she was on the brink of tears in one of them, it was too much for her. Not when she could only think about how often she’d thought that all that Luz cared about were words on a page or pictures on a screen.

There was a slight clink that brought her back to the world as Azura put one of the mugs she’d prepared in front of Camila. “Don’t worry, there’s only one more page.”

The older woman paled before she looked at the journal. There had to be more. She needed there to be more, especially if her little girl wasn’t coming back. Azura didn’t let her wait though as she turned the page.

But don’t worry. You’re in my thoughts, always, and while I know you won’t accept most of this, I hope you’ll still accept my love, no matter how long it takes for me to get home.

The final page had no photos. It still had pictures, but no photos. Instead, Luz had grabbed everyone she could for two things outside of the photos they could give her for the scrapbook. The first was their signature. The second was an otter.

So many otters.

For each otter someone gave her, Luz had made one to go with it. Under Principal Bump, there was a tired one with a crab, demon, hat thing while Luz batted at his nose. Willow’s sat on a large sunflower beside Luz as the two napped. Gus had about eight of his otter around a very happy, albeit confused, purple one. King’s was extra toothy and obviously drawn to be fearsome while the Luz otter put dog ears on it. Hooty’s was part owl and Luz flew through the sky on top of it, with a claw print of sorts right underneath them for Owlbert. Boscha’s was obviously upset and didn’t want to be there, probably because the potion’s major was not the best at drawing by any means, while Luz’s otter rolled around on fire next to it. Lilith’s stood on its hind legs majestically while Luz had given her a long cloak with which to have her otter peek its head out from under. Edric and Emira’s was a combo of Ed’s green otter being lazily flatted on the floor while Emira pounced at Luz from behind. Odalia and Alador didn’t have otters, as they hadn’t had time to draw anything, especially that the head of the Blights would be happy with, but had left signatures that Luz laid on sleepily. Eda’s was the last one outside of the middle two, with hers trying to lay on its back and nap while Luz looked like she was about to dive into her stomach.

And then the last two. Amity had refused to just be given ten or fifteen minutes if this was her chance to leave a good first impression on Luz’s mother. She had spent over two hours on the piece while Luz had run around like a chicken with its head cut off. The only input Luz got in on the piece was agreeing that the sketch was good before Amity began doing lines and colors. And it was breathtaking. She was a Blight though. Impressive in all ways.

Including her ability to, when it was necessary, put aside her own annoyances to make Luz happy. The two otters were curled on their backs, forming upside down Js as their foreheads met in the center. Amity’s was dark green with half of her normal, brown star showing on her forehead, while Luz was the richest purple she’d ever been drawn as. The Blight otter had slightly puffed, rosey cheeks as it glanced away from the other otter. Luz’s had a wide smile and sparkling eyes that had her light sigil in them. Their paws were barely not touching but they did appear to maybe be reaching for one another. The final touches were a black, ominous aura coming off of Luz while shining, golden light came off of Amity.

And the auras also solidified the fact that the two made a perfect heart together. People had to remind Luz how busy she was in order to not get her to pass out permanently in embarrassment while Amity’s head had steamed as she screamed about how a heart felt right for sending her mom love. Of course, that didn’t explain Amity’s message that was split between the two otters and left in exquisite cursive.

For an otter with a dark side- -I am happy to be an otter with a light side.

Sincerely,

- Amity Blight

But that was also the last part. The last page. Azura watched as Camila closed the book as she sipped her hot chocolate. She then put her cup down and whispered, “If you need some time, I understand, but I also want to let you know that I can take a message back with me.”

Camila slowly nodded. She almost didn’t have words. She almost couldn’t think. Between the photos, the words, Luz’s smiles, her tears, her friends… “She said I wouldn’t accept this. Why?”

Azura paused for a second as she tapped a finger against the table. It wasn’t her place to speak for her mother. But, with what her and Luz had talked about in the past, “You sent her away because she was weird. You keep saying stuff like you loving that part of her but…”

Camila shut her eyes before lifting the book up a little. “But I do love them. I just… Just want her to succeed. To be happy. And she used to come home crying so often. To sit in her room with those books or curl up in a blanket in front of the television. She would always bounce back and run into the next day with everything she had but…”

Azura placed a hand on Camila’s shoulder. “But?”

Camila opened the book back to that final page. To everyone who would play along with her silly otter jokes. The jokes that some had even weaponized against her little mija at school. At… her school. Not Luz’s. Hers.

Camila grabbed a piece of paper before writing something quickly and giving it to Azura. “Here. If I overthink it I’ll just contradict myself again.”

Azura nodded before wishing Camila a good night. A wish left unheard as Camila finally broke down entirely. But at least she had some sort of comfort, or so Azura hoped. She could only pray that Camila’s note…

Oh. Crap.

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

Luz yawned as she finally woke up. Yesterday had been exhausting. Or, the past two days had been since she hadn’t slept until maybe two hours ago. She simply couldn’t. She had had so much to do to get something ready for her mom. To make something that would mean something. To make her understand even a little bit how important this place was to her. The image of Amity’s otters brought tears to the edges of her eyes as she considered how much effort even her friends had put into it. What if their efforts had been wasted too and her mom wouldn’t even respond? Azura had promised that she’d get her a message back as soon as possible but what if her mom was so angry she never sent one back? Would Azura come back and tell her or would she just be left alone with her thoughts?

“Squeak. Squeeeak.”

Was that… squeaking? Otter squeaking? Baby otter squeaking!? Luz gasped just before she saw a rainbow colored otter who then ran over to a folded piece of paper in the corner. Luz tilted her head a little before picking it up.

Dear Mija,

I miss you, but I’ve also never seen you happier. So long as you are safe and smiling, that’s all I want. I’ll still be here when you do come home and I can’t wait to see how strong of witches you and your friends become. I just hope that when you do come to visit, you bring this Amity Blight girl with you so I can meet her.

Love,

Mom.

Luz covered her mouth as she thought she was going to cry, a thought that was too late as she’d started bawling the second that it said ‘Mija’. There was so much that made Luz’s brain spin, which wasn’t helped by how exhausted she was. But she said visit. Did her mom plan to let her come back? And she wanted to see her be a witch? But witches belonged in the Isles. Would she be okay with that?

Not that any of that mattered. Not when she still didn’t know if she could ever go h-

“Squeak!”

Luz looked up and saw the otter standing on top of some sort of box. A box with a bright, yellow eye on the front of it. The young girl’s heart almost stopped at the sight before the otter jumped to the side and nudged a note forward for Luz. It was hard for her to read through the tears, but she still did so as fast as she could.

I shouldn’t be giving this to you. We both know how dangerous it is if Belos gets this, even if the instructions on the back of this note will show that it should be next to impossible for him to use it. But your mom loves you. And she gets you better than you think she does. To keep you two apart when I can do something about it would be to knowingly torture two people who just want the other to live the life that’s best for them. As future Empress of the Isles, as one who seeks to free all from prejudice and bring unity through love and understanding, I cannot allow this.

So please, Luz, be happy. Be free. Be weird. Just as everyone wants you to be.

Love,

-The Good Witch Azura

Luz stared at it all, unable to process any of it. Finally, she grabbed her mom’s note and the briefcase before slipping them behind a pile of forgotten clothes before she laid down to get some sleep. She could worry about things like home in the morning. Her mom would want her nice and ready to give her the biggest glomp she could when she went home with Amity at her side. After all, who better to show the best parts of the Isles than the most beautiful girl in the world?