Archive of Our Own

In the early hours of the morning, inside the magical Owl House, the former head of the Emperor's Coven Lilith awoke.

Lilith groaned as she cast aside the blankets and crawled out of the grubby mattress her sister Edalyn gifted her. The bed didn't even have a proper bed frame, and rested flat on the floor, but it was better than a nest. She'd never understand her sister's fascination with nests.

In truth, Lilith didn't want to be awake, but after years of rising early for Coven duties, she found it hard to sleep past seven, no matter how few hours she slept. Lilith had gotten to bed very late at night, killing time and brain cells in a two-bit tavern while Luz met her mother for what would likely be the last time. After everything she did, Lilith felt it was in everyone's best interest that she gave Luz and her mother their space.

Looking back on how she acted, Lilith could only feel disgusted with herself. Only a few months ago, the witch believed Luz was merely a feeble human, little more than Eda's pet. A useful tool, and a cute plaything perhaps, but nothing worth caring about. But during her stay at the Owl house, Lilith grew to realize what sort of person Luz was and how horrible she was to mistreat the young girl.

To Lilith's surprise, Luz was an incredibly bright, intelligent, energetic, and infinitely kind girl. Luz was the sort of person who would give a starving man her bread, even if Luz was hungry herself. She cared deeply for her friends, and cried when they got hurt. Even after everything Lilith did to the human, Luz was far more forgiving than even her own sister, and while that struck Lilith as terribly naive and overly trusting, she still admired Luz for it.

However, Luz's forgiveness only deepened Lilith's guilt, which seeped into the witch's very bones. How could she have so callously tried to snuff out a light like Luz? More importantly, how could Luz forgive an awful, wretched creature like her so easily? It didn't make sense to Lilith, and whenever she looked Luz in the eye, Lilith couldn't help but look away, burned by the very innocence that she desperately admired.

With such guilt dragging her down, Lilith resolved to make things right again, to truly earn Luz's forgiveness. That's why Lilith spent night after night learning glyph magic, why she tried so hard to fit in at the Owl House, why she pulled so many strings and risked her life to retrieve the portal door from Emperor's Castle. If there was something, anything Lilith could do to cast aside this tremendous weight on her chest, she would do it.

But in the end, Lilith couldn't ease her guilt. Despite all their hard work, the portal door couldn't establish a full connection to the Human Realm. All of Lilith's efforts were for nothing, and the best she could do for Luz was give her one last chance to bid farewell to her mother. It was a hollow victory indeed.

At least, that is what she presumed. After Lilith drowned her guilt and found only emptiness at the bottom of a hard apple blood bottle, the witch returned home to the Owl House at such an ungodly hour that everyone else was already asleep. After Lilith stumbled inside, she spotted the sad remains of the portal door lying in a pile of sawdust and wood chips on the living room floor. The very sight of it was like a stab to her heart, and when Lilith felt a sharp burning in her throat, she didn't hesitate to empty her stomach in a nearby chest.

With a foul taste in her mouth, Lilith dragged herself to bed and fell into a fitful sleep. When she awoke, she could only glare at the morning sun and groan at the throbbing headache that enveloped her head.

"Sweet merciful Titan, it feels like someone's driving a spike through my skull…" Lilith groaned, rubbing her brow as she did her best shake off the pain. "I'm getting too old to binge like that…"

So, here she was, getting ready to meet the day in all its woes and hardships. As Lilith rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she debated whether it was best to give Luz space or cheer her up with a distraction. On one hand, the human was surely grieving the loss of her mother, but on the other hand, perhaps some friendly company could lift Luz's spirits?

"Actually, perhaps Eda would do a better job cheering her up," said Lilith. "She's always telling me I'm the fun killer."

Perhaps it was best for Luz to simply skip school today, as much as she hated to say it.

Stumbling into the Owl House's only bathroom, Lilith looked around. It was a mess as usual, with a plethora of brushes all over the counter. How Eda ever managed to tame that mane of hair of hers, Lilith would never know; she was honestly surprised Eda's hair didn't simply eat combs.

As she brushed the foul taste of last night's binge out of her mouth, Lilith eyed herself in the mirror. Ever since she moved into the Owl House, the witch had let her hair grow more wild. While it wasn't as curly or bushy as in her childhood, Lilith's hair was hardly straight either. As for the color, Lilith's black hair dye was beginning to fade, exposing the orange roots beneath along with a multitude of gray hair from Lilith's new skunk stripe.

"Wretched thing…" Lilith muttered, trying and failing to bury the gray hairs under her curls, hoping they were the only side effect of the curse to rear its ugly head. Or perhaps it was just the extended stay at her sister's house that was making her go gray? Dealing with all the house's inhabitants day in and day out was far more stressful than dealing with the Emperor's Coven, even if it was more liberating. She'd never had to pry a fellow coven member from a chandelier before, and scold them for nearly giving her a heart attack, after all.

With a huff, Lilith rinsed out her mouth and headed for the stairs. She paused at the top to take a deep breath and plaster on a supportive, if strained smile, then gracefully descended.

Once Lilith reached the foot of the stairs, the echo of conversation drifted through the Owl House. If she focused on the words, Lilith could make out the telltale sounds of King and Luz spoke in the kitchen. The closer Lilith drew to the kitchen, the more she noticed the sweet aroma of cinnamon and sugar.

When Lilith strode into the kitchen, she half-expected to find the human glumly staring into a bowl of cold cereal, but instead found Luz prancing around, grabbing and tossing various ingredients to Eda, who manned the stove. King stood on the countertop, paws raised over his head as he half-cheered, half-ordered them on, all the amusement of an unfamiliar woman with brown hair so messy that it put Lilith's to shame.

"Stir faster, my minions! Faster!" King barked like a hungry hellhound. "Add more sugar and fry faster, so we may feast! I don't know who this 'French' guy is, but he sure knows how to make toast! Never before have I known such sweet, syrupy delights!"

Well, that explained the smell. While they weren't made with the eggs of a chicken(Lilith had no clue what that even was, but apparently everything tasted like it?), Luz had supplied a rather tasty and sweet breakfast recipe that had become a common staple in the early mornings before she went to school.

As King shouted more orders, Luz cracked some cockatrice eggs into a bowl before whisking them like a madwoman. She then sprinkled in cinnamon and sugar along with a cut of butter before dunking in a slice of bread. Once the bread was thoroughly soaked in the egg concoction, Luz passed it over to Eda, who fried the bread slices on the stove.

"You know, you could help anytime you want, King," said Eda. She gave the furry demon a wry smile. "You know what they say: those who don't work don't eat."

"Hey, I am helping! Do you know how hard it is bossing you guys around?" King rolled his eyes. "I swear, some people never appreciate the hard work I do around this place!"

The unfamiliar woman chuckled and patted the top of King's head. "I don't know how someone so little could be so loud, but you are certainly cute."

"I am not cute!" King stomped his itty-bitty foot like the adorable demon he was. "I'm a great and powerful demon, and I command your respect!"

"Don't you mean 'demand our attention?'" asked Eda.

"Same thing!"

"Hey guys! Are we playing the yelling game again? Hooty hoot, I wanna play!" Hooty's face appeared from the kitchen window, which was a lot more shattered than Lilith last remembered it. Dinner must have gotten away from Eda again.

As a single entity, everyone in the Owl House shouted so loud that the house demon's feathers blew from the collective breath.

"NO! Not now, Hooty!"

"Aw, I never get to have any fun!" Hooty complained, slithering off to his door to pout.

By adding her voice to the choir, everyone noticed that Lilith stood in the kitchen doorway. While Luz gave a friendly wave, Eda raised an eyebrow.

"There you are, Lily. Was wondering where you were," Eda said, lifting the frying pan up as Luz tossed in another slice of french toast. The sizzle of frying eggs filled the air. "Get home late, did we? I seem to recall someone left a little present for me in the spare treasure chest."

"Oh. right. Yes, sorry about that, Edalyn. I was busy with… things to do." Lilith eyed the mystery woman again and raised an eyebrow. "Is anyone going to introduce me to our guest?"

"Guest? Oh, you mean Cam?" Eda nodded her head. "Yeah, sure. Guest. I suppose guests don't pay rent, do they? I sure do have a lot of guests."

Eda gestured to Camila. "Lilith, Cam. Cam, Lilith. Lilith is my sister, and another 'distinguished guest' living under my roof."

Luz laughed. "This is my mama, Lilith! She decided that if I couldn't come home, she'd have to come here!"

Oh. Cam. As in, Camila. Camila Noceda, the woman who Lilith drank herself into a damp oblivion to avoid. The mother of the child who Lilith attempted to murder a few months ago. That woman was… going to live here from now on.

Perfect, just perfect.

"Well. It's certainly a pleasure to meet you." Lilith forced a smile on her face before offering Camila her hand. Humans shook hands to be polite, yes? The witch desperately hoped Luz didn't tell Camila anything about kidnapping the young girl, or using her as a meat shield, or trying to shove Luz onto a bed of razor sharp spikes.

Lilith's hand was met with an uncomfortably tight grip and a stiff shake.

"Charmed," Camila said in response, before promptly turning her back to Lilith. Camila couldn't be frostier if she used a glyph to encase Lilith in ice.

Ah. So Luz did, in fact, tell her mother every last painful detail. What a wonderful way to start a morning.

Luz, bless her oblivious soul, didn't notice anything wrong and continued talking.

"We have big plans today! I'm gonna show Mom around Hexside and introduce her to Principle Bump. Then while I'm at school, Eda will take her to see the Marketplace to buy her some fresh clothes. My Mom didn't get a chance to grab anything before she left, and the clothes I brought along with me won't exactly fit her…"

Eda shook her head. "I don't even want to know why you planned to bring an otter costume to a hoity-toity summer camp, kiddo."

"Because it's otter-ly adorable?" Luz fired a pair of finger guns, but Eda wasn't amused. Lilith couldn't help but notice the bags under her sister's eyes; did she have trouble sleeping too?

"That's not a real answer and you know it."

"Aaaanyway!" Luz quickly turned back to Lilith. "Did you want to come with us? Get out of the house, get to know your new roomie, maybe evade the law with us bad girls?"

The biggest flaw to Luz's oblivious nature was that she often put people in awkward positions. The silence from Camila spoke volumes about how little she wanted to spend a day in her company, yet Lilith couldn't deny Luz without good reason. Quickly, Lilith's eyes darted around the room in search of something, anything to get out of this.

When her eyes fell on a cookbook lying on the countertop, Lilith said, "I, er, I'm afraid not. I have books to read, yes! Important books for important research."

Lilith quickly poured herself something to drink, if only to have something to do with her hands. When she took a sip, however, Lilith immediately gagged and coughed heavily. Goreange juice always tastes awful after brushing one's teeth.

Mercifully, Luz seemed to buy her excuse while Eda rolled her eyes. Her sister probably thought her a coward for not biting the bullet and confronting Camila, but anyone with the slightest sense of perception felt the heavy tension between Camila and Lilith. The human mother seemed determined to not speak in Lilith's presence, and when Lilith took a seat at the kitchen table, Camila scooted her seat closer to Luz.

The tension could be cut with a knife, but before the once cheerful atmosphere was completely ruined, King hopped in his seat and said, "You know what this conversation needs? More me! Let's get back on track, people, this breakfast won't cook itself, you know!"

As soon as the fluffy demon spoke, the room lightened up a bit and everyone went about their business, with Camila laughing and cooing over King's antics while Eda and Luz finished the french toast. Lilith simply sank into her chair and dreaded the coming weeks, wondering how she could ever dig herself out of this situation.

Lilith sat on the sofa in her sister's living room, apprehensively paging through a book she'd not even glanced at the title of, and hadn't absorbed a word of. Eda, Luz, and Camila had left shortly after breakfast that morning, and now it was nearing the time Luz normally arrived home, and Lilith wasn't looking forward to being in the same room as the elder Noceda.

It wasn't that she didn't feel she deserved Camila's distrust, or that she should be acknowledged. It was more that this just added to a long list of a lifetime of things Lilith felt guilty over.

She knows she hasn't earned Eda's forgiveness. Taking part of her sister's curse onto herself had been a big step, but it didn't make up for years and years of suffering from it, or bragging about it to Eda's face, or attempting to hurt Luz to provoke her. She also hadn't felt she had yet earned all of Luz's forgiveness, despite being handed it so easily, and now she had wrecked another person's life. First her sister, then she hurt Luz, and now a mother had to uproot her entire life just to be with her daughter because of her.

It never ended. Each and everything she did piled up on itself, stacking even more guilt onto her shoulders that she felt she would never truly be able to repent from. For every step she took, it felt like another mile had been added.

She let out a sigh, and closed the book she hadn't been reading. To her mild amusement, she had finally noticed it was titled "How to Pick up Fair Maidens," and she had to wonder exactly where her sister had even picked it up. Just as she had set it aside, the door burst open, slamming against the wall with an "Ouch! Geez!" From Hooty.

"Good afternoon, Lilith!" Luz cheerfully greeted her, flinging her backpack down to the floor and racing in for one of her "hugs." Despite her inner turmoil, she felt a little of Luz's cheer rub off on her as she squeezed the witch just a little tighter than would be considered comfortable.

"How's it going, Lily?" Ah, it seemed that Eda had arrived at the same time, with Camila in tow, their arms full of various bags. Her sister looked at the book beside her before raised an eyebrow at her curiously, and Lilith flushed. If anyone should be giving that look to anyone, it should be Lilith to Eda for even owning a copy! "Did you enjoy your reading time?"

Lilith quickly disengaged from Luz's hug, and scooped the book up in her arms, blocking the title from anyone's view. "Yes, it was quite interesting, we really should talk about it later, since you seemed to have read through it so often." She gave her sister a momentary hard glare, as if daring her to tease about the book Eda had very obviously dogeared a few pages and looked through enough times to wear down the spine.

Eda shrugged, getting the message that if she took Lilith down, Lilith was taking Eda with her.

"I'm glad you had a good day, ours was pretty good, too! My Mom got to meet Willow, and Gus, and Amity at school today!" Luz took the seat next to Lilith as she excitedly recounted her morning. Lilith took that moment to shove the book she held in between the couch cushions.

"It was very nice to meet all of your friends, Mija." Camila spoke up, with a hint of pride in her voice, setting her own bags down next to Luz's backpack, as well as taking the ones from Eda as well. "And your school was very... interesting. I'm glad that it makes you happy."

Luz beamed, bouncing in her seat. Lilith smiled as well, this was far from the sight she had expected to see Luz in today, after all.

"How did your shopping go?"

There was a short moment of silence, before Camila seemed to realize that Lilith had spoken to her.

"It was..." She trailed off, not really taking a moment to even look at the witch, "fine, I suppose. I could see myself getting lost in all the tents and stalls they have."

Lilith folded her hands in her lap. At least she wasn't being completely ignored anymore.

"And we didn't even have to run away from any guards! So everything went pretty well, I'd say." Eda chimed in, plopping down beside her sister, opposite of Luz. "I'm sure we picked everything up, but I did notice you had your eye on something."

"Oh, yes." Camila nodded, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. It was some kind of poster, advertising a job opening. "I happened to stumble on one of these, and thought maybe I should head out again tomorrow to look for any more open positions."

"You really get onto that stuff quick, don'tcha, Noceda?" Eda smirked.

"It is the responsible thing to do, if a bit fast. Shouldn't you take the time to settle in first?" Lilith asked carefully.

"C'mon, Mom. You just got here, and are already looking for work? Where's your sense of adventure?" Luz leaned forward in her seat, eyes shimmering just at the thought of all the cool things her Mom had yet to see that she could show her. "We still need to go on a magical journey of self discovery, and terrifying, brutal action!"

"What I need is to make sure my daughter is provided for." Camila told her sternly, crossing her arms. "Eda has done a fine job so far, but you heard her last night, once she's out of all this junk to sell, she's out of a job. We can't rely on her forever, and we shouldn't take advantage of her hospitality any longer than we absolutely need to, so I'm going to make sure I get a good job to cover any bills."

she gestured to her bags of newly acquired things, "And to pay back Eda for her generosity so far."

"Never thought I'd hear my name be used alongside the term 'generosity," Eda chuckled, before waving away Camila's concern.

"Don't worry about it, Cam. You and Luz can stay as long as you like. I live off the grid anyway, it's not like I even have bills-" she coughed something that sounded very much like 'or taxes,' "To pay. Even if I don't have a reliable source of income, I have some savings stashed away, all we really need to worry about is food, anyway."

"And eventually you'll run out of funds for food as well. How much do you pay to feed the four of you? And now you have to add me to that as well? … How much does the house need to eat?!" She paused, shuddering at the horror of what Hooty must eat to survive. "One of us needs a job, and I've been so busy working my entire adult life that I wouldn't know what to do with all the free time anyway. So, tomorrow, I'll be going job hunting."

Lilith brightened. Camila wanted something, and she could help provide. This could be a way to earn Camila's forgiveness for everything that has happened. And actually earn it, this time. "I'll go with and assist you."

"Wait, what?" Camila's eyes bulged behind her glasses a little at the suggestion.

"You said yourself, you could get lost in the maze of stalls, so having a guide along will be perfect. And I'm sure the job hunting will go twice as fast with a pair."

"I could take her," Eda volunteered, seeing the conflicted look on Camila's face.

"Nonsense. You already took today off from working your own human "treasures" stall. You can work, while I help Camila."

Eda had a hard time finding any flaws in that logic, and she could sense her sister's eagerness to help, so she backed down. "Alright, as long as Cam is fine with it."

All eyes turned to Camila. Luz just seemed confused why this was even an issue. Finally, Camila sighed, and gave a nod. "Okay, you're right, I could use the help of a local. We'll head out to the markets right after Luz goes to school in the morning."

The next morning, the three adults dropped Luz off at school, nearly giving Principle Bump a stroke when he saw both Eda and Lilith at school at the same time. Poor man looked like he was having flashbacks to their youth.

They made their way down to the markets, and helped Eda set up her shop. While Camila was very chatty with Eda, she only ever curtly responded to anything Lilith had to say as they worked.

The two bid Eda farewell, assuring her that they would be fine, and they would meet her back at the Owl House later in the afternoon, if not sooner because of the Emperor's guards.

The two walked in silence, surveying the area for any Help Wanted posters. Lilith nervously wrung her hands as they walked, trying desperately to come up with any kind of conversation topic that would endear her to the human.

"So... you were a... nurse, back in the human realm, is that correct?" she threw out in an attempt to get Camila to talk.

"Yes, I was." Camila nodded, not bothering to elaborate.

Lilith closed her eyes, and inwardly sighed, before trying again. "What exactly do Nurses do? We don't exactly have any here on the Isles, but I'm sure if I understood everything it entailed I could be of better assistance in finding a job with the same skill set."

Camila pursed her lips, and hesitantly responded "Nurses take care of people, make sure they're taking their medicine, help them recover. It can be a very long, thankless job."

"So, you're a human version of a healer? I thought those were called Doctors?"

"That's an apt description, yes. Nurses are different from Doctors though. We can't prescribe medicines, or perform surgeries, but we do spend a lot more time with the patients. Doesn't stop those bigheaded MD's from thinking they're all better than us with our Nursing Degrees, though." Camila scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Lilith smiled, though it was more to hide her confusion over whatever Camila was talking about. At least the woman was talking to her now.

"Well, I don't think you currently qualify for any high-level positions, but Luz has been working on different types of healing glyph. I'm sure she would be happy to teach you, and once you have a job, you can afford any classes you need for advanced witch medicine and a higher position."

"I had the same idea, Bruja, though I'll need to put more thought into it. Nursing through magic seems very strange to wrap my head around." She approached another sign, with a bunch of little "Take one" tags with the contact information for the job. Not all that different from the ones back home.

Lilith wasn't sure what Bruja meant, but progress was progress, and she made sure to carry on the conversation and recommend places Camila could go to learn.

The two eventually made their way back to The Owl House, having gone through a majority of the market. Lilith was sure to put this day down as a success.

They'd hardly settled in when Eda came back home, huffing and puffing, her arms full of papers.

"Hoo boy, give me a sec... Barely got away from some guards... and I didn't want to lose these babies." She gestured with her head down to the papers.

Camila rushed over to take the stacks away from Eda, only to laugh at the witch. "Eda, why did you grab all these posters? We already got a bunch of these, there aren't any new ones here."

She leafed through the stack, and sure enough Lilith recognized them all as places she and Camila had already been through.

"Yeah, you grabbed a single poster, like amateurs!" Eda hooted, stretching and straightening out her back after being hunched over the heavy stack. "I took all of them!"

"And why exactly would we need all of them?" Lilith rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation.

"Easy, if no one else sees these posters, no one else will ask for the job. Cam here gets to pick any one of these and will be the only applicant, so they'll have no choice but to hire her!" Eda grinned enthusiastically. "So, who here wants to get us a fire glyph and burn these suckers before anyone can trace their theft back to me?"

Camila looked halfway between amused and displeased with Eda's actions, but lost to the amused half and let out an unlady-like snort. "You old, loco Bruja, you didn't need to do that!''

She gives Eda's shoulder a shove. "Now let's get rid of these before Luz gets home, I don't want her to think I encourage this kind of behavior."

Lilith frowned. It was great that Camila wasn't angry, but did Eda really just one up her without even trying?

She shook her head. That was just her competitive nature speaking. Today had been a victory.

It stopped feeling like a victory when Camila didn't make any efforts to speak to her again that night.

A few more days had passed, and Camila, while always polite, still rarely spoke to Lilith willingly. Most conversations between them happened because Lilith started them, or when others joined in as well. Camila had managed to get a job selling produce in the market, though, and had taken the time to give Lilith her thanks for her help, so Lilith still counted this as some form of progress.

Today, Luz had plans to meet with Amity at the library, and Camila asked if she could come along as well.

"If I'm going to live here, I should know as much about this place as I can. Besides," She sent Eda a look, "I can't always trust my guides to always be truthful to me, not after that prank with that demonic looking man the other day."

"It was funny, though!" Eda defended herself.

"You told me complimenting the size of his horns was a good way to be polite, not that it was a way to come on to him!" Camila shot back, though it was all in vain as it just made Eda laugh at the memory.

Seeing another opportunity to ingratiate herself to Camila, Lilith also decided to tag along.

"Looking for more fascinating books, eh Lily? I'm sure Cam could show you a few tips." Eda teased, elbowing her sister between the ribs. Lilith was beginning to think she'd never live that book incident down.

The trio made their way down to the Library, Eda and King declining Luz's invitation to also join her. As soon as they entered the Library, Luz ran off towards the children's section to search for Amity, loudly whispering an excited "Azura Book club!" as she left.

"And here I always thought that book series was driving away all the people she could be friends with." Camila murmured with an edge of regret to her voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Lilith tried not to sound like she was prying, though that was very much what she was trying to do.

"This all got started because I thought she needed to grow up a little, and give up on some childish things, like her Azura books. I sent her to a camp to get over witches, and she ended up finding witches instead." a bemused Camila answered.

Without another word, Camila began to search around the library, getting a good feel at the layout. After passing through several rows of shelves, she decided to begin her search for whatever answers she wanted in the history section.

The history of the Boiling Isles was extensive, to say the least. There were books ranging all the way back to Grabthar the Hammer, one of the first conquerors of the Boiling Isles. And then there was Ril the Terrible, who overthrew Grabthar in a bloody civil war. And then the one who came after Ril, and then the one after him, and so on. There sure were a lot of conquerors who had ruled over the Isles.

Though, given how Belos came to rule, perhaps conquerors never stopped ruling the isles to begin with.

Lilith felt it would be best to stay close by to where Camila was. Just in case she needed any help. She lingered nearby, a few shelves over from Camila, pretending to browse through the titles of the books. She took a peek in the other woman's direction out of the corner of her eye, only to find she was leaving the aisle, and quickly made to follow after as subtly as she could.

They stopped in the Geography section, though they didn't stay any longer than they had in history. They weaved through a few more aisles, and found themselves in the nonfiction section, where various biographies written by and about important figures were kept, and then kept on going. They were knee deep in the cook books when Camila suddenly stopped walking, almost making Lilith crash into her, and turned around, giving the witch a smile that showed she was clearly out of patience.

"Yes, Lilith? Did you perhaps need something?" Camila asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I'm... sorry. I-I just wanted to be nearby, in case you, er, needed any help with anything. I didn't mean to intrude."

Camila took a deep breath, and held it for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose as she let it back out. "Alright, thank you, Bruja. I appreciate that you want to help. But this is a library, it's not exactly rocket science. I don't need any help at the moment. And I have always found it a little difficult to read with someone breathing down my neck."

She hardened her gaze at the particular someone she was talking about. "I will be fine, if I need your help, with some translations, or some added context, I will find you and ask for it. Now, didn't you have a book you had wanted to find for yourself while you were here, hm?"

Lilith slowly nodded. If she hadn't already known, she would definitely have figured out that Camila was a mother, because she hadn't felt this small since her own mother lost her patience at her when she was a little girl. "I'll, uh, just... leave you be then. I hope you find whatever it is that you're looking for."

She turned tail, and stiffly walked off, feeling Camila's glare burn into her back as she went.

The witch spent the rest of her afternoon hiding in the human books section. She had the least chance of running back into the woman there, after all.

The library incident hadn't gone well at all, and may have even lost her some of the goodwill she'd built up. At least Lilith had found a nice human book of grim stories and poetry by some human named Poe. She couldn't wait to read the one about the raven.

She had almost given up trying to win Camila's trust and forgiveness for her role in everything, but her guilt ate at her enough to keep trying. After another week, she found another chance to prove herself to the human.

Camila was unfamiliar with the food of the Boiling Isles, and even more-so on the ingredients used in said foods. If she was going to live here, she insisted she must learn how to cook, but it had been going slowly. She cooked dinner for everyone twice a week, usually with Eda's guidance, but Eda wasn't much of a cook herself and between the two, the food was even worse. But tonight, Eda had been tired from running her stall all day, so Lilith, the better cook of the Clawthorne sisters, had to help Camila in the kitchen.

She feels like this is the one, her big chance. She ties her apron around her waist, and starts to help Camila choose a recipe.

"I really hope you aren't a Gordon Ramsey type in the kitchen." Camila jokes, mostly to herself since she didn't expect Lilith to get the reference.

"Wait, what does one of the rulers from Ee-Gipted have to do with cooking?" Lilith asked, confused by what the nurse was talking about.

To her surprise, this actually made Camila laugh. It was the first time she'd gotten her to laugh in the two weeks she'd lived there. It was a sound she'd grown accustomed to hearing, mostly from Eda, Luz, and especially King, but she'd never made the human laugh herself before.

If only she knew what it was she said that was so funny.

While the start of the night had gone well, it became a bit bumpier once things had progressed a little more. Camila was used to being the head chef of her kitchen, and didn't take directions well.

While Lilith was thankful she was great at all the chopping and dicing, almost everything else was still very new to Camila, who didn't know how any of the ingredients tasted, which went good with each other, and how long they took to properly cook. Ingredients on the Boiling Isles were a lot hardier and made of tougher stuff than weak earth food, it seemed, as Lilith had to babysit the stove whenever Camila turned down the heat to what she thought was reasonable.

"Our rain is literally boiling hot, Camila." Lilith had to remind their guest after turning the heat up on the stove for the third time. The vegetables were never going to properly saute at this rate.

However, for every time something went wrong or sour between them, something clicked and went right, and the two were actually joking. After her slip up about Ee-Gipted, Camila had started grilling her about everything she knew about the human world, and her knowledge was all so incredibly flawed that it amused the human to no end.

She learned that the Earth was not in fact, a flat disk. Nor was it hollow. The Great Wall did not circle around the equator, but was instead located in someplace called China.

"Do you also believe the moon is made of cheese?" Camila teased, gesturing to the block of Bonesborough cheddar she was grating.

"Wait, moon, as in singular?" That just made Camila roar with laughter again. It was easily the most relaxed and the most tense Lilith had ever been around the human woman, as she tried to balance out making Camila enjoy their time working together, and fixing all of her rookie cooking mistakes without angering her.

Dinner was soon served, a halfway decent attempt at a fusion of Dominican and Boiling Isles cuisine. It wasn't too bad, though Camila insisted it was too bland. She compared the spices available to something an Englishman would use. Not that Lilith or Eda knew what an Englishman was, but it did prompt a few more questions about earth.

"Wait, if this is one of your traditional dishes, why is it made in a place called The Dominican Republic? I thought you guys were from some place that speaks in, what was it kid? Spainlish?" Eda asked, sampling a bite.

"We speak Spanish, which is spoken in the Dominican Republic, but also in a place called Spain." Luz explained.

"Oh, are those two close?"

"No, there is an entire giant ocean separating the two."

"You're going to have to explain that one to me." Eda said flatly.

"The Boiling Isles aren't the only place with their fair share of conquerors, Brujas." Camila chuckled, "Trust me, if there is anything our worlds have in common, it's those."

Lilith smiled as she took another bite, feeling quite accomplished.

The night was nearing its end, and Lilith was stuck on dish duty while Eda, King, and Luz headed to bed. Luz had school, Eda needed to man her stall, and King was just too short to reach the sink, leaving her with the job. As she cleaned up the last of the pans and plates, she watched Camila, still sitting at the table and reading through one of the books she had got from the library.

She finished up, dried her hands, and made to wish Camila a good night when the woman stopped her. "Do you have a moment to talk?"

"Oh, uh, yes, of course. What is it that you want to talk about?"

This was the first time that Camila had made the first approach to speak with her, which made her blood pressure spike from the shock. Lilith quickly took the seat opposite of Camila, The human woman shifting in her seat as she did so. Lilith imagined she wasn't any more comfortable about talking to her than she was.

"The past few weeks haven't been easy on me. You have been very helpful in helping me transition, but there have been times where you have been... hovering, to put it lightly. There have been times when this has been a little agitating, even a little uncomfortable. It's not like with Eda, you always seem like you have something to prove."

Oh, that's what this was about. Lilith made her feel uncomfortable. "I see. I apologize. I just wanted... needed to help." The witch's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Why do you feel you need to help me?" Camila prompted.

Lilith turned away from the human, looking out the window and into the night. "Because... After everything I've done, I still feel guilty. Camila, I've done a lot of wrong in my life. And I'm trying to fix it, to earn forgiveness."

Lilith closed her eyes, and let out a shaky breath, "But... I never feel like it's been earned. I know Eda will forgive me for what I did to her, no matter what I do, because she's my sister. She'll never say it out loud, but after she got over the initial spark of anger, I knew it was only a matter of time before it was water under the bridge to her. And Luz. She forgave me the moment I came to live here."

The witch turned to face Camila once again, finding her courage to look her in the eye, even as he hands clenched around the fabric of her dress in her lap. "I felt... empty. Like if I was just handed that forgiveness, then it didn't really mean anything because I'd done nothing for it. And then, all of the things I did led up to right now, with you stuck in our world, instead of enjoying your own with your daughter. I'm to blame for that as well."

Camila pursed her lips and nodded. She took a moment to respond, and Lilith gave her all the time in the world she'd need to form her response.

"If it was just landing me in this world that was your fault, I think I might be able to forgive you." Camila admitted. "You have done a lot for me. You've tried to make amends. That is admirable. I'd have preferred an apology instead of all of this fuss, but..."

Her face turned stony "But even if you had apologized, I can't ever fully forgive you, Lilith. Not for what you've done to me, but what you almost did to my daughter."

Lilith didn't dare interrupt, as Camila clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. The human had clearly been holding this all in for the past two weeks, and now it was ready to come out, and Lilith wouldn't dream of stopping it.

"You nearly killed my baby, Bruja. If it had been an accident, I may have found it in my heart to forgive you someday, but you tried to kill her knowingly. You planned it, you used her as bait, and the only reason you tossed her aside was because you didn't think she was worth the effort to kill after you had gotten what you had wanted. And I will never forgive that, no matter what you do to try and make amends."

Lilith could feel her throat tightening with shame. It was all true, and she had no defense.

"Luz has always been very kind, and she's forgiven you, and because of that, I will be courteous to you. I may even be kind sometimes. But I will never fully trust you. I will never fully forgive you. It makes me so... furious even now just thinking about what you did." She glared at the witch in front of her. "I mentioned before, how there was a difference between Doctors and Nurses. When someone becomes a doctor, they make a solemn vow to never willingly cause harm to another person."

Camila leaned forward in her set, bringing her face closer to Lilith's, and she could see the steel behind her eyes. "As a nurse, I never had to make any such vow. If, for even a moment, I think you might hurt a hair on my Mija's head, you will not live to see another morning, magic or no, do you understand me, Bruja?"

Lilith's mouth felt awfully dry, and her lip quivered as she meekly nodded her head. That word, Bruja, when spoken had always felt like a nickname, but used here, against her, she realized it had too much bite to have ever been used as sweetly towards her as it had been for Edalyn. "I understand perfectly, Noceda."

"Good." the woman rose from her seat, book left forgotten on the table as she made to leave. She stopped for a moment, lingering in the kitchen doorway as if she wanted to say something else, either to add another threat or wish her a good night, Lilith didn't know, but instead just let out a sigh as she marched on up to her room.

Lilith sat at the table for a long time, frozen as if she was the one Belos had tried to petrify into stone all those months ago, trapped within her own thoughts. A sudden rustling of the trees, of nocturnal wildlife outside the window eventually broke out of her trance. Her breath hitched as she buried her face in her hands and held back burning, shameful tears. As she sniffled, she laughed, a single, empty, humorless chuckle, croaky from her constricted throat.

For all that stock she had put into trying to earn forgiveness, it had almost felt more relieving to finally have someone as angry with her for her decisions as she was with herself.

The next morning, Lilith woke up late, for the first time in over two decades, since before she had joined the Emperor's coven. Despite being such a small change, barely twenty minutes past her usual waking time, it felt like a world shatteringly large change.

She clumsily brushed her hair and teeth, hardly noticing her frayed and haphazard visage. The trip downstairs had her nearly tumbling headfirst after she missed a step, and upon making it to the landing of the ground floor the smell of cinnamon and sugar greeted her once again. In the kitchen everyone was already at the table and eating breakfast.

"Good morning," She greeted them, though her tidings sounded shallow. The greeting echoed back in a chorus of sleepy voices, all lacking their usual energy, but perhaps that was just Lilith's imagination.

She sat opposite of Camila, the two traded brief glances, but neither spoke. Not to bid each other a good day, nor to speak of anything they had talked about last night. Lilith tightly gripped her fork, and stabbed at the French toast her sister had placed on her plate.

This was fine.