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Amity strolled through the market, a shopping list in one hand, a bag of groceries in the other, and Azura in a baby carrier on her chest.
She looked over the list, “Hmm, let’s see, all that’s left on the list is a gallon of apple blood, a wheel of spider cheese, and... the heads of King’s enemies?” She let out an annoyed sigh, “I told Luz to keep the list out of King’s reach.”
Azura cooed, instantly putting her in a good mood. “Aww. Come on sweetie, let’s take care of these groceries, then we can go home and I can have a conversation with mommy about how King might not be a positive influence on you.”
She was so preoccupied with Azura’s cuteness that she didn’t pay attention to where she was walking and bumped into older woman.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she apologized.
“Well, you shou–“ the older woman was about to say, but she stopped when she got a look at Amity, “Oh, it’s you.”
Amity’s remorse was replaced with disgust, “Oh, hello, Odalia.”
Amity’s mother looked down at Azura. “What. Is that?”
“This is my daughter,” Amity replied in annoyance.
Her mother scoffed, “Your ‘Half-Breed’ daughter.”
Amity’s scowled at her, “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“I don’t understand how you turned out to be such a disappointment,” she said disapprovingly, “despite my best efforts, you went and married that human, and now the Blight name has been muddied by this... mutt.”
Azura let out a giggle, completely oblivious to her grandmother’s insult. Amity growled, her face turning red with anger. She then inhaled deeply through her nose and breathed out.
“You know, sometimes I think maybe I should reach out to you, maybe I should tell you about how well my life is going,” she said sarcastically, “then I wake up and realize that you‘re the worst, and that you’d be a horrible influence on my daughter.”
Amity started to walk past her mother, who was utterly dumbfounded by her flagrant disdain for her. “And I suppose you think the Owl Lady is a better influence?”
Amity looked back at her, “Definitely, heck knows she’s got more class in her little finger than you ever did.”
Amity then walked away, leaving her mother there, completely silent.
***
Amity sighed as she sat on the couch with Luz. “It’s alright, honey,” Luz said, trying to comfort her, “besides, it sounds like you handled the situation pretty well, all things considered.”
“Yeah,” Eda agreed, holding Azura, “I mean, what monster calls their own granddaughter a ‘mutt?!’”
“I’m already coming up with plots to get revenge on her,” King said, waving around a sheet of paper with something scribbled on it.
Eda kneeled down and looked at King’s scribbles, “Why do you need fifty-one goats?”
“It’s simple,” King said, “all we need to do is unleash fifty of them onto her property: their irregular grazing patterns will ruin her lawn for generations to come!!!”
“What about the last goat,” Amity asked.
“We stuff it in their fridge,” King said, “when she opens it up, well...” He then held up two pages, the first which depicted Odalia opening the fridge, the second showing the goat busting out, hitting her in the stomach.
“Okay, King, that’s actually pretty funny,” Amity snickered, “but it’s not worth it.”
“What do you mean,” King shouted, outraged, “she called Azura a mutt, she deserves it!”
“I know, King, I’m angry about it too,” Amity explained, “but retaliation would just bring us down to her level.”
King crossed his arms, “Alright then, how do you suggest you go about getting back at your mom?”
“The same way I’ve been getting back at her all this time,” Amity said, “I just ignore her.”
Eda and King each raised an eyebrow at her. “Explain,” Eda demanded.
“We cut all ties with each other,” Amity explained, “she stays out of my life, and I’ll stay out of hers, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier.” She then made a forced grin, fooling absolutely no one, especially not Luz.
Luz instantly knew something was up with her, but Amity definitely wasn’t going to say it in front of Eda or King. “Uh, Eda, King, you think you can go feed Azura real quick.”
King didn’t get it, but Eda immediately picked up on Luz’s intentions. “Sure, kid,” she said before grabbing King by his collar, “come on, you.”
Once Eda and King we’re out of the room, Luz started to question Amity further. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”
“Of course, Luz,” Amity lied, “why wouldn’t I be?”
Luz placed her hand on Amity’s. “Amity, please, talk to me.”
Amity looked at Luz and sighed. “I just... don’t want to be associated with my mother anymore,” she explained, “I mean, this is the who forced me to abandon Willow, threatened to sabotage her entire future, tried to mold me into her conceited, elitist little heiress.”
Luz was about to place a hand on Amity’s shoulder, but she just threw her hands up into the air. “And don’t even get me started on all that crap she pulled on the day of unity!”
“Yeah,” Luz said, suddenly remembering how readily Odalia supplied the emperor with abomatons and how she knew his plans to kill all life on the Isles, “That’s definitely hard to forget.”
“And forgive,” Amity said under her breath before letting out another sigh. “I envy your relationship with your mom. When I met Camila, I feel like I finally got a glimpse of what a good mother is supposed to be like, and sometimes I wish I could have that with my mom, but then reality kicks in, and I remember that she’s too full of herself to change.”
“It’s good that you want to fix your relationship with her,” Luz said as she placed her hand on Amity’s shoulder, “and who knows, maybe she’ll surprise you one day.”
“I doubt it,” Amity said, “but to be honest, I’m most afraid of what she might try to do to Azura.”
Luz was taken aback, “What do you mean?”
“I know I might sound a little paranoid,” Amity prefaced, “but I’m worried that she might either try to sabotage her future to get back at me, or get close and try to turn her into the person she wanted me to be.”
Luz placed held Amity’s hand. “Well, whatever happens, I’ll be by your side, ready to help you, for better or worse.”
Amity cracked a small smile and kissed Luz on the cheek. “Thanks, honey.”
With her wife feeling better, Luz felt it was a perfect opportunity to ask a question she had been wanting to know for a while now. “So, how exactly did you get your mom to let us get married?”
“I told her that if she didn’t back off, I’d become a stripper,” Amity explained, surprising Luz.
She sat there for a minute, completely silent, before bursting out in laughter, thinking Amity was joking.
“It’s not a joke, Luz,” Amity said, completely deadpan, “I took pole dancing lessons and everything.”
“Oh,” Luz said, blushing, “Uh...”
“You want a private show later, don’t you,” Amity asked.
“YES, PLEASE,” Luz replied quickly.
Amity let out a little chuckle, “You’re lucky I love you so much.”
***
Elsewhere, in a rundown motel, a familiar woman was pitching a fit.
“You stupid, selfish, vainglorious fool,“ Odalia roared, “it should’ve been so easy, but of course you had to screw it up in spectacular fashion, just like always!”
She pinched the bridge if her nose before looking back at the object of her discontent: her own reflection in the mirror. “All you had to say was ‘I’m sorry and I miss you,’ yet you somehow you managed to screw even that up!”
She then walked to her bed, sitting down and rubbing her temples, frustrated with herself. The past years were hard for her, she tried to continue running Blight industries on her own, but without Alador’s abomination expertise, the company fell to ruin. Then of course there was the divorce, she thought she’d be in for a win, but the judges didn't look too kindly on the woman who supplied the emperor with his killing machines, so Alador was given everything, and she was given nothing, not even visitation rights for the kid, not that they even wanted to visit her anyway.
She tried to get back on her feet through a series of jobs: accountant, teacher, receptionist, burlesque dancer (yeah, that one was really uncomfortable for everyone), and finally cleaning lady, but they all either proved too demeaning or she was fired for poor performance. Now, she was reduced to telling fortunes at the market for cheap, but she only made enough to keep living in a cheap motel.
Over the years, through all her misfortunes, she looked back at where it all went wrong. At first, she blamed her family, thinking they sought to sabotage her from the very beginning, then she started to blame Luz, Willow, and Gus, thinking they ”corrupted“ Amity, who got the rest of the family to turn on her. However, after much introspection and reflection, she realized that the problem ultimately lied within herself. She then started to think about what her life would be like if she had acted differently, if she had chosen her family over profits.
Now, she hoped to one day be able to look her family in the eyes and apologize for her wrongdoing, and hopefully be forgiven. That day wouldn’t be today, but she still held out hope that maybe it would happen soon, and her luck would finally turn around.
”Someday,” she said, looking out as rain pelted her window, “someday, I’ll earn your forgivenes.”