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Chapter Text

The heels of her shows clacked against the stone floors as Amity walked down the hallway to her mother’s office. As she went, her heart was racing. Terrified of misstepping and upsetting her mother, Amity took a deep breath. She knocked on the door.

“Yes?”

“Mother, I would like to speak with you.”

“Come in, then,” Odalia said.

Amity gently opened and shut the door behind her as she entered. Her mother’s office was almost the same as it had been the last time she had entered, a few years prior. The titles of the books on the shelves were different---her mother was almost always working on some new project.

“I would like to be excluded from attending the Emperor’s traditional Year’s End banquet.”

Odalia looked up from her desk, and looked at Amity. “What excuse shall we give if your absence is noted? It is great honor that the Titan’s Emissary permits us to join him.”

Amity laughed in her head. Most of the nobility were allowed to participate, even the various counts were invited. Her mother continued.

Amity racked her brain, trying to think. “My next year at Hexside will be more academically rigorous. I am already studying more in advance. Will that be suitable?”

“It is... acceptable. And it is only a slight embellishment. What are your actual plans?” Her mother interrogated.

Amity frowned. “This past year, Lady Park has proven that her magical ability has developed significantly. As such, I have started to repair our relationship. I believe she could help further improve the family image.” She took a quick breath, and added to her statement. “I.. believe that it was a mistake to separate us as children.”

Her mother hmm-ed. “Possibly. Your initiative is appreciated. But you haven’t outright answered my question.”

“I will be spending the Year’s End with Lady Park.”

“How long will you be with her?”

“From what I understand, her stepfather is quite traditional. It is likely that I will be there all day, and possible a portion of the night, so that we will be able to celebrate fully the old ways.”

Odalia nodded. “Good. The traditions of the old days are important, and should be preserved. You have mine and your father’s permission to be absent. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“No, Mother. That was all.” After that, her mother dismissed her and Amity went back through the manor towards her room. Still feeling anxious about their conversation, she ran through it in her head trying to see if had made any mistakes. As far as she could tell, she hadn’t. But she still worried.

“Hey, Mittens!” Emira called out, interrupting Amity from her circling thoughts. “So, did you get permission to spend the day with your girlfriend?”

“What! No, we’re not---Oh, you’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

“I mean, she was, but it looks like we may’ve been somewhat right. Come on, spill,” Edric said from beside Emira.

“No. I don’t want to talk to you two about it. You’re probably just make fun of me, anyways.” Amity muttered that last part beneath her breath and continued walking. Her brother and sister looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and let her go.

After she entered her room, Amity let out a sigh of relief. She placed sound dampening wards on her room, and squee-d. She was so happy to be able to spend the day with Luz. And teach her about Year’s End. Yes. Amity giggled.

Then she remembered, and checked the clock. 14:07. She had forgotten to contact Willow. Amity rushed over to her vanity and cast a spell on it.

The surface darkened, then lit up to reveal Willow reading a book on her bed. Amity waved her hand, trying to catch her attention. She jumped at the movement. Willow marked her place, set down the book, then ran over to the mirror on her desk.

Amity gave her a sheepish grin, then fogged her mirror and wrote on it. ‘You weren’t waiting too long, were you?’

Willow shook her head. ‘It’s alright. Were you able to get permission to spend the day with us?’

An emphatic nod. ‘What’s the plan? How do you and your dads usually celebrate? We just go the Emperor’s castle.’

‘Wow, Ames. Way to rub it in that your family’s super important.’

Amity winced. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘I’m teasing you.’ Willow wrote in a silent giggle.

‘Is this your payback from me tormenting you for years?’

‘Yep. Alright, I was thinking that you and Gus could meet me here... maybe around 1? Băbbās said that he would help me pack some decorations to take over to the Owl House. Then me and Dad are going to bake some bread the day before. Some of it, at least. Luz is going to want try.’

Amity nodded, and wrote that down. ‘Are we going to heading over right away?’

‘Yes,’ Willow wrote. She grinned and continued. ‘ Unless you want to spend time with my dads and not Luz.’

Amity groaned and hid her (blushing) face. ‘Not you too. Ed and Em have called me out already as well today.’

‘Because it’s obvious, and I’m not sure how she hasn’t noticed your crush on her. After we’ve brought everything over there, we’re all going to decorate. Even Eda.

‘After that, Gus want’s us to do something his family did when they lived up north to celebrate. Something about composing poetry. Think that might be something you’d like to try?’

Amity ooh-ed. ‘That sounds fun. Anything else?’

‘Cook some môhăsīs wraps, some nut porridge—Oh, Gus said that his parents were going to roast a urēṭa ḥī-ḥărtūs for us. And then at about about 12, we’ll eat.’

Amity scrunched her face. ‘What’s a môhăsēs wrap?’

Willow gasped. ‘You’ve never had one?! They are delicious. You will be trying them.’

Amity threw her hands up. ‘Alright, alright, I will.’

‘That’s all we have planned. Do you want do anything?’

‘No. I’m good.’

‘Good, I’ll see you in two days then. Good night!’ Willow waved.

Amity waved back then Willow cancelled the connection.

Chapter Text

Amity looked up at the Park household and took a breath. She hadn’t been on this side of Bonesborough in years. Not since her parents had forced her to stop being friends with Willow. By now, she knew that it had hurt the both of them. Not just her. And that her behavior towards Willow had hurt her a lot, which had probably encouraged Boscha and the others to bully her as well.

She started walking up the pathway, an Abomination following behind her. The gate had opened easily once she had confirmed who she was. Amity hoped Garret and Bernard, Willow’s dads, didn’t hate her too much. The sun was just starting to peek through on the horizon; she would be early, but not by too much.

Amity used the knocker to rap upon the door. She could hear a sharp clacking noise echo through the halls. Willow opened the door with a smile on her face and gestured for her to enter.

“Hey, q̣lō qătēw ṣôfădām,” Willow yawned.

“Tenēwr q̣lō qătēw ṣôfădār!” Amity said. She started to enter but stopped as Willow held up a hand.

“The Abomination will need to stay out here. Dad said that all of the goo is out of the walls, even some of the tougher spots, so he doesn’t want more being tracked in,” she said as they walked in the house.

Willow explained more of the plans for the day as they went. Amity paid attention, but was distracted just by how many pictures the Parks had on their walls. Most of them were of Willow growing up.

Her mom was in a few of them across the years. There were quite a few of her dads, either with each other or with Willow or alone. There were others of the Parks in front of various landscapes. Amity assumed that these were from family vacations.

This was quite different from the Blight Manor. There, the walls had works of art from many different creators, from paintings to sculptures. There were the annual family portraits, but those were left to be displayed in her parent's offices. The ones her parent's had done of her and her siblings on their birthdays were kept in their bedrooms.

“You there, Ams?''

She jumped. “What? Sorry, I got distracted. What were you saying?”

“Just the plans for the day. What were you thinking about? You weren't blushing or smiling, so not about Luz,” Willow said with a grin.

Amity pouted. “I don't think about her that often. I was looking at the pictures.”

“Good morning, girls,” Bernard interrupted from the table, a mug in his hands.

“Ās ăsôj sôruṭôj, Bărnard Ḥărto bonô Art ̲–” Amity started, dropping into a curtsy whilst talking before he stopped her.

“There's no need for any formalities. It's a bit early for that. It is good to see that you two are friendly again. Did you bring a cart with you or anything?”

Amity nodded. “I have an Abomination waiting outside to help.”

Bernard looked surprise. “You brought a whole cauldron with you?”

“No? I have it standing outside, It's not that hard to do so.”

“Huh,” he stood from the table and grabbed a box from the side closest to Willow and started bringing it outside. :The other box next to you, Willow, has the pastries we made yesterday. Amity, the urēṭa ḥī-ḥărtūs is on the counter in the kitchen through the door to your right.”

Amity nodded, and walked through the door he had mentioned. Once she had, she was greeted with the smell of cooking food. She saw Garret leaning over the counter, sipping from a mug. He adjusted his glasses and smiled at her.

“Good morning, Amity. Here to grab the roast”

“Yes, sir.”

“It's right there beside you. I hope you all have fun.”

“We'll try to,” She said, and grabbed the pan off of the counter. As she exited the kitchen, she heard the front door open and tried to speed up. She also overheard the tail end of Willow and Bernard's conversation.

“Are you sure you want to be friends with Amity again? You didn't tell us everything, but we know that she and her friends have been---at the very least---mean towards you, if not bullying you. Your dad and I are worried that this might end like the last time.”

“It's fine, Dad. I think Amity really does want to be friends again. That, and she has this massive crush on Luz.”

Amity stopped and groaned. Her ears flattened and her face flushed. She wasn't going to leave her be over this, Amity realized. She took a breath and tried to cause her blush to subside. Once she had composed herself, she opened the door to join them outside.

Bernard turned to her. “There you are. Your control with the Abomination is very impressive, by the way.”

“Thank you. Abomination, arms out,” She commanded. After it had done so, she handed the roasted beast to it. Willow and her dad did the same with the packages they held.

“We'll be heading off then. Love you, Dad. Tell băbās I love him, too. I'll see you two tonight!” Willow said as she hugged her dad.

“It was good to see you and Garret again. I thank you for helping us with this,” Amity added. With that, Willow, Amity, and he Abomination started off towards the Owl House.

Chapter Text

Luz was sitting on the bed Eda had gotten her a few weeks prior re-reading her Azura book. She had found copies of the others in the series, but not the seventh. That was probably for the best, she thought to herself.

Once it had become clear that Luz would be staying at the Owl House for the foreseeable future, Eda had taken her to get some actual furniture. It had been a relatively mild experience. The worst that had happened was that they'd had trouble finding a store that Eda hadn't been banned from.

Luz would have been reading a book on teleportation Amity had found in her family's library, but she had made Luz promise to her she would at least try to take breaks. When she heard Hooty's voice leak in from the open window, she rushed towards the living room to spare her friends from Hooty.

“Hey!” She shouted as she threw the door open. It was only once she felt the door thud and a shout of “Ow!” as one of the bends in Hooty's neck slammed into the outer wall that she realized what had happened. “Ooh, sorry, Hooty.”

“Another friend, Hoot!”

“Uh, yeah. Hey, Willow and Gus! Amity!” Luz shouted. Willow wore a slight variation of her usual dress. Its colors were brighter with a floral print and it was longer, going down a bit past her knees.

Gus was wearing a mint tunic with a gold vine pattern around the collar. His pants were darker, and his boots went higher along his calves.

Luz's face flushed when she saw Amity's dress. Like Willow's, it went down to her knees. But it was made in a much softer material and was deep magenta in color, with geometric shapes stitched into it in navy blue. She cleared her throat.

“You, uh, look very pretty today, Amity. Not that you don't always! But—” She cut herself off.

“Uhm, you also look pretty,” Amity said as her face reddened.

“Ḥe-ād-mădēvu, they're both doing it now,” Willow said under her breath. Amity shot her a look.

“May we enter?”

“Uh, yeah. Come on in,” Luz said while stepping aside, her face still a bit red. Luz watched in confusion as Willow practically pushed Amity in before her. “What was that about? I thought you two were friends again?”

“We are; there's a superstition that the first one to enter a house will determine the fate of the household for the next year.”

“I mean, this is Eda's house, I don't see how me entering first matters.”

“Hush. Where is she anyway?”

“Eda's in the kitchen making herself some breakfast. I'm not sure she really wants to join in.”

“Too bad,” Willow said. “She's going to celebrate with us. Grab one of the boxes from Ams' Abomination.”

They worked together to bring the boxes inside and placed them on top of Eda's coffee—apple blood, Luz reminded herself—table. Amity put her Abomination into standby outside the house afterwards. Willow, meanwhile, went in to the kitchen to get Eda. Luz couldn't hear what she said to Eda, but she followed her out regardless.

“Now,” Willow began. “This box has some decorations me and băbbās got.”

“Wait!” Gus interjected. “This is a banner I made. Look!”

He held up a vibrant green piece of fabric. Embroidered upon it in gold was s even pointed star within a triangle, which itself had a circle overlaid atop. “This is the symbol of Ēl M uʿāʾo , the Old God of Order. It represents things like luck and money!”

“Fortune, actually,” Amity cut in. “The meaning is mostly the same, but fortune is a bit broader.”

“Eh. Money is easier to remember,” said Eda.

“Wait, 'Old Gods'?”

“Worship of Ḥī-mădēf , The Titan, has superseded the worship of the actual gods,” Amity explained.

Luz leaned forward to examine the flag. “Huh. It kind of looks like a glyph.”

“I know! That's what I thought. But it didn't do anything when I pressed it.”

Willow thought. “It might have been simplified. You'll have to research that later, Luz.”

She passed it to her. “Here, you can hang this up.”

Luz took it from Willow, and brought it over to the wall behind the couch. After a bit of though, she pinned it in place on Eda's wanted poster, blocking out the top. At Eda's “Hey!” from behind her, she have a sheepish grin and said, “Sorry, I'll make sure to take it down without tearing it.”

“If there won't be any other interruptions,” Willow looked around at the others. Seeing no one else about to talk, she continued as she pulled out a statue of a woman with a crescent moon atop her head. “This is Šēn , the God of the Moon.”

The figurine was carved wearing a long robe that covered her from beck to toe. The hair and eyes were painted black, while the rest was white. Her left hand was crossed in front of her gut, holding a candle. Her right hand was behind her back, a dagger held in a reverse grip pointed toward the ground. Willow placed her on the table.

She pulled another figure out of the box. This one was a man with a sun atop his head who was wearing... very little, Luz realized with a start. His skin was painted black, while his clothes, hair, and eyes were white. His right hand was in front of him, carrying a straight-edged sword pointing upwards. His left hand was crossed behind him, holding a lantern. Willow placed him facing towards Šēn .

“This is Šēn ’s brother, Rīʿ , God of the Sun. Throughout the year, they’re constantly fighting. On the Winter Solstice, when the day is longest, you know that Rīʿ is winning. On the Summer Solstice, you know the opposite; Šēn is winning.”

“Whoa, that's so cool! Why are they fighting, though?”

Amity jumped in. “Their parent is Ḳ rănōs , the God of Eternity. When he dies, one of them will inherit reality. But he refuses to choose one of them.”

Luz scrunched her face. “Wait, I thought the winter solstice was the shortest day?”

“It is in the northern hemisphere. But the Isles are in the south,” Amity explained.

“Alright. Is that all the decorations you brought?” Eda asked with a clap of her hands. When Willow nodded, she continued. “Did you have something else planned? If so, let's move on.”

Chapter Text

The idle chatter of the others surrounded Amity has she worked on her poem. Gus had explained that it was only supposed to be a couplet, maybe two. Luz had knocked hers out within a few minutes. To the Titan, Amity loved her. From her smile, to her constant optimism, Luz was beautiful. Well, near-constant optimism. As it became clearer that recreating the portal-door wasn't an easy fix through some quick 20 minute adventure, that joy had started to fade. Willow had told her a few weeks ago—the weekday after the Saturday of her and Luz's not-date—that she had been having periods of melancholy.

Amity's mind stopped. She'd said that she loved Luz. Oh. She supposed she did, upon some thought. She would have to wait til later for an appropriate freak-out.

“Ams, you there? You haven't touched your paper in a minute.” Willow said, her voice breaking her from her thoughts.

“Uh, yeah. Just thinking.”

Eda snerked in the corner. Her couplet had been bare-boned, freestyle, she called it. “I know what —or who—she was thinking about.”

Amity flattened her ears and stared at her paper. Luz looked confused, her brows furrowed, and after a few seconds her face reddened as she realized Eda at least thought Amity was thinking of her.

Amity cleared her throat. “Uh, I think I'm done, anyway. Sorry to keep the rest of you waiting.”

“That's alright!” Gus chimed in.

Eda cleared her throat. “Just to get things over with, here's mine, again now that Blight is listening:

This is stupid,

But it isn't as bad as it could be.”

“That isn't much of a couplet,” Amity blinked, before continuing under her breath. “And I was listening the first time.”

“I mean, I told you my feelings toward this whole thing in the poem.”

“Do you not like this holiday, Eda?” Luz asked, mildly concerned.

“Not particularly,” she admitted. “But I don't want to talk about it.”

Willow cleared her throat. “Right, well here's mine:

The sun helps to grow the plants,

so too do my friends and family.”

“Cheated a bit at the end, huh Willow?” Luz asked.

She smirked. “Heh, a slant rhyme is technically a rhyme.”

“That works! Here's mine:

I wished to share this with all you,

So that you all may have fun, too.”

“That's pretty good, Gus!”

“Thanks!” he replied, with a beaming smile.

“I'm not that good at poetry—I'm better at prose—but here it is:

This world is new to me, but

you've made it a home for me.”

“Better than Eda's,” Willow teased. Eda rolled her eyes in the corner.

“What about you, Amity?” Gus asked.

“Well, this is what I came up with:

ḥj-ājs kăt̲a mwī dīs,

tās kăt̲āl mwē zirē,

tās īn-faft̲āl šī-sid̲āl ḳanāʿ šīs',

ḥj-ājs mī-faft̲a šī-sid̲a ḳanāʿ ăq̣sē.”

“Aww,” Willow coo-ed. “That's so sweet!”

“Not to be rude or anything, but what does it mean?” Luz cut in, bashfully.

“Oh! I didn't even think about that you might not know Linqôw Ḥī-siʿetēreḥ . All of you, you're just so nice to me, even though I was horrendously mean to you. Being around you, it just, makes me actually happy.”

“Aww,” Luz coo-ed, and hugged her. “I like you too, Amity!”

Amity froze for moment, before wrapping her arms around her. Well, the best she could. Luz had a tight grip around her chest, making it awkward to give a proper hug. She had to stop herself from give a contented sigh. It felt nice to be hugged by Luz. You got the feeling that things would work out.

They separated when Luz took a step back. Her face was flushed, and she didn't look Amity in the face. “Sorry, I should have asked if you were alright with me hugging you first.”

Most of her wanted her to hug her again. The parts of her that were still thinking said, “That's... okay. I'm... going to get some water.”

She ignored Eda's snickers in the background. Once she was out of view from the living room, she cast a privacy spell around herself, and cheered. This mostly consisted of her jumping in the air and laughing to herself.

“Can I come in?” Willow whispered from outside the bubble. “Done giggling?”

Amity nodded bashfully, embarrassed at being caught.

“Also, you used the singular, not the plural, Ams. I don't know why you haven't just asked her out yet.”

“I'm just not sure if Luz even likes me,” Amity muttered. “As everyone keeps bringing up, I haven't been that subtle. And yet, nothing from her.”

“Come on, you must have seen how she acts around you.”

“Yeah, she acts differently when she knows I am there. But is it because she likes me, or something else? I was a bitch to her the first few times we were together. She might still be upset at me, even if she is trying to be friends.”

“Come on. I mean yeah, your bullying made my life a living Gehenna for years, but you're trying to be a better person so I'm trying to move past that so that we can be friends again.”

Amity winced. “ Sorry.”

“My point is, just ask her. The worst that could happen is that she says no.”

“That may be true, but if she does that might things weird between us, and I kind of like where we are. I'd rather have this ambiguity over a no.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Fine. But I won't keep playing wingwoman for you two forever, you know.”

“I know,” Amity sighed.

“Come on, let's go back out. Hopefully, Luz will have stopped her own internal crisis.”

Chapter Text

After Amity had left the room, Willow followed her shortly later. Luz started panicking and pacing the room talking to herself. “Why would I do that? Why did I say that? I’ve probably made her feel awkward now. Why did I do that?”

“Kid, I wouldn’t worry about Amity being uncomfortable because you hugged her. Or that you said you liked her.”

“I’m just not completely sure she likes me.”

Eda stared at her. “How?”

“I didn’t even realize that you two had a crush on each other until Willow told me. But even then, it is really obvious,” Gus chimed in.

“I mean, my crush on her is obvious, but hers towards me? Her leaving to get water could just be because I made her feel uncomfortable. I don’t know,” Luz groaned, burying her face in her hands while still pacing.

“Kid, Luz, it’s going to be fine. Though seriously, ask her out. She’s going to say yes. Unless you wait too long.”

King waddled down the stairs, carrying Francois. He rubbed his eyes and said, “Is Amity gone?”

“Finally joining us?” Eda asked him.

Gus, answering him, “No, her and Willow are in the kitchen while Amity gets water. Why?”

“Ugh, I stayed upstairs because I wanted to avoid Luz and Amity being weird and blushy near each other.”

“Fine, I’ll ask her. But if this blows up in my face, I’m blaming you.”

“It won’t, and good ’cause this tension or suspense or whatever between you two is starting to drive us crazy.”

Still pacing, Luz began to think about the best way to ask her out. She had sort of already done so, remembering their not-a-date last month. Willow had helped with that, so maybe she could ask her for help with this.

But any date planning would have to wait until after winter school. It was going to be hard enough making up eight months of schoolwork in just a month. Amity and Willow entered the room.

“Amity! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s fine. Really!”

“Are you sure 'cause—”

“We could talk later? If that would be better?”

“Yeah! Alright.”

What did she want to talk about, Luz wondered. Did she actually like her? Or was she going to tell her the opposite, that she wasn’t interested? Luz hoped she was.

“Alright, now that we’re all back, let’s—Oh! King’s here! Did you enjoy your nap?” Willow asked.

“The King of Demons wasn’t taking a nap! I was plotting.”

“Of course,” Willow said, nodding.

“Now, me and my dads made some food yesterday, but we’re going to make some more ourselves.”

She pulled out the dish of môhăsīs wraps and set it on the table. Willow picked one up, then removed the steamed husk and showed it to Luz.

“Now, this is called a môhăsīs wrap. It’s called that because the husk of the môhăsīs is wrapped around the dough while it’s steamed. It’s considered ‘lower class’ by a lot of people; which is stupid because they’re delicious.”

“Wait. Is that a tamal?”

“Tamal?”

Luz laughed. “I think it is. Looks like it, anyways. They’re alright, but I think postadas are better; they’re made with plantains instead of corn.”

They spent the next hour making various stuff. (Wild) magic is quite useful when it comes to food, Luz found out. There is no real need for ovens when you can just carefully use a fire spell.

She also never wanted to make ebrīm again. Tree nuts are not suitable for making porridge and what you had to do them was disgusting, to say the least. Those poor fairies.

And that roasted whatever, was interesting. Apparently dog-sized rodents are a thing that can terrorize your garden. They don’t taste that bad, either, as Luz found out. Sort of a mix between pork and beef. Gus told her that some families breed them specifically to eat.

By the time it was mid-afternoon, things had slowed down. Their conversations had shifted from about the Year's End, and towards whatever came to mind. Eda had made them take the decorations down about an hour ago, and she had relaxed a bit.

But soon, Gus and Willow pointed out that their parents would probably want to celebrate with them as well, so they should be heading out soon. Gus left soon afterwards, but Willow made Amity wait a bit before the two them did the same. Willow had noticed Eda's whispers to Luz and her nudging of her towards Amity. She alerted Amity by prodding her as she approached.

“Hey, Amity. Is it okay if I ask you something? In private?” Luz's face was slightly flushed and she couldn't quite keep eye-contact with her.

“Yes.” Came the reply; was Luz about to ask her out? Amity followed her into the hallway.

“Um, so. I'm going to be a bit busy trying to do all of the make-up work I need to do if I want to start my second year of Hexside. But I was wondering if maybe afterwards, you might possibly want to go on a date?”

She was, Amity realized. “I would love to! I could help you study, too. Maybe like a study date?”

“Great! You don't have to help me study, not that I don't want your help. But study dates aren't, you know, particularly romantic for a first date.”

“It's fine. I can tutor you, then, you can take me out for lunch. Or something.”

“Sounds good to me. I'll talk to you later?”

Amity nodded, a wearing a wide grin on her face. The two of them rejoin Eda and the others in the living room. She was pretty sure everyone noticed how happy she was, but she just gestured towards Willow and they starting walking back to the Park's.

Fortunately for Amity, Willow waited until they had walked a fair bit from the Owl House to ask her any questions. She immediately pointed out her blush and small grin, but she did say she was happy that they had finally acknowledged their feelings. If only so that things might be at least somewhat back to normal between the four of them.

“Willow, is it alright if I go home with you? Just for a couple of hours. I told my mother I would be back sometime after sunfall.”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Thanks. You're a good friend, Willow.”

“I know.”

She started laughing, with Amity joining in after a moment. The two walked through Bonesborough with the abomination walking behind them and the sun just starting to fall overhead.