"Hoot, hoot! Mail time!"

Luz grimaced and clenched her teeth, knowing what was about to come. The horrendous sound of Hooty vomiting up soggy letters and packages still made her stomach turn, despite all the things she'd seen, heard, and experienced so far on the Boiling Isles. She had been sitting on the couch watching the crystal ball while King snoozed on the cushion beside her and Eda was presumably making dinner, or concocting a new potion scam in the kitchen. It was always hard to tell, and sometimes one simply led to the other.

Hooty floated across the living room, his feathered, worm-like body still firmly attached to the outside of the front door, and hovered over Luz. "There's one for you!"

"Hooty, wait!" She called out, reflexively trying to push him away.

"Huraugh!" A ball of soon to be ignored bills piled up in her lap in a soggy mess, followed by a choking cough and stiff envelope that flitted onto her face like a wet feather.

"Hooty!" She yelled angrily before her eye caught the return address on the envelope. "Wait? For me?" She asked, as the sweaty bird worm shrunk back to his door. "From Amity?!" she smiled, wiping the bile covered mail off of her lap.

Amity and her siblings had been voluntold by her parents to attend an extended family gathering that weekend for some Boiling Isles holiday that included only blood and marital relations. At first, Luz was going to insist that Amity's mom was just purposefully excluding her again, but Willow and Gus confirmed that they had to attend their own family functions. Luz had made an off hand joke about 'not being able to attend…yet…' that had Amity go deathly quiet and red before disappearing. It was only hours later that night that Luz realized what she had said was implying.

So, she was stuck at the Owl House, as even most of the market was shut down as well. King still hadn't gotten any word from his mysterious father, so he had no where to go, and Eda… Eda wasn't ready yet to have a family holiday with both Lilith and her parents.

For most of the weekend, Luz had sat in the Owl House, thinking longingly about how to build a better portal back to the human realm. She spent time watching her uncarved palistrom wood with her tools in hand but little inspiration, and when she got truly bored, hauling buckets of boiling ocean water from the nearby coast in a futile attempt at filling the heartshaped crater in the backyard that Hooty had inadvertently dug a few weeks ago.

Luz ran a finger under the flap of the envelope, and pulled a folded letter out. The envelope had been covered in a thin layer of wax that had kept Hooty's saliva from ruining the letter inside, and Luz smiled. "I'm pretty sure I couldn't have found a better girlfriend in the human realm." She whispered, reading the letter. As she scrolled over the words, she made a face of confusion upon reaching a word she didn't know. "Eda!" She shouted, still reading. "What's skyclad mean?!"

A torrent of dropped pans and pots crashing erupted from the kitchen before a long pause until finally, she called back. "Why?!" It wasn't like Eda to bother finding out the background to most of Luz's questions, instead typically chalking it up to human naiveté and simple answering, whether she actually knew or not.

Luz climbed off of the couch and took the letter into the kitchen. "Amity is inviting me to a skyclad event, but I don't know what that is."

Eda was surprisingly quiet for a moment, an assortment of pans that she had dropped piled precariously on the table as she seemed to nervously be stirring a bubbling green liquid on the stove top. "How long have you been dating that girl?" She asked.

Luz looked away, blushing. "I don't know…" she mumbled, nervously rubbing the back of her neck where her hair had started to lengthen. "Like two weeks?" She said, then looked down at her shoes, continuing. "Four days, eight hours, and…." she spotted the clock on the wall. "Thirty five minutes…"

Eda turned to face her and snatched the letter from Luz's hand as the human girl's lips continued to move silently, her eyes still on the clock. "Stop that." Eda ordered, and Luz clamped her lips shut; though her eyes still darted to and from the clock. "Skyclad is an old term. From before Belos took over, when witches learned their magic from the island, and nature. I didn't think it was still used nowadays."

"Okay, so it's old people talk. What does it mean, though?" Luz asked. "I don't want to show up looking like an idiot, and it's too late to write her back. Whatever it is, is tonight!"

"Whoa. This girl is serious, then." Eda noted, reading through the letter. "Isn't Boots into the whole coven thing though? What would she want with a wild magic…"

"Are you going to tell me what it means, or not?!" Luz ranted, throwing her arms into the air dramatically. "You're killing me, here. Is it some kind of sacrifice, or hunt the human ritual, or something?"

"It's naked." Eda said flatly. "Wild witches used to cast big spells skyclad, because it was thought that it made them closer to nature. To the island."

"Ew!" Luz cried, freezing in place. "I mean, what? Amity is inviting me to…" her dark skin turned deep red with the thought.

"I believe you humans call it, skinny dipping? Streaking? Whatever, I'm surprised your blushing mess of a girlfriend had it in her." Eda snorted, dropping the letter on the table and turning back to the pot on the stove.

"That's it?! That's all you're going to say about it?!" Luz gasped.

"What do you want me to say? You don't want to go, don't go. If I know anything, kids will do what they want to do, and telling them no just makes them want to do it more. Remember the time I told you not to go looking for that staff of whatever? Second the door was closed, you were out the window."

"But…"

"You're a smart kid, Luz. You wouldn't have survived here this long if you weren't. I trust you."

"A terrible decision!" King called as he entered the kitchen as well, stretching his furry little arms and legs. "What are we talking about?"

Luz snatched up the letter again and reread it to herself.

Dear Luz,

I hope you're safe and haven't had too many adventures while I'm away. I miss you greatly, though I'm not sure if I wish you were here, or I was at the Owl House. No one here knows me quite as well as you do, and I've gotten tired of having to wear a mask for my parent's benefit. It's made this family visit awkward, to say the least.

I don't have a lot of time to myself right now, so I will have to make this short before my cousins interrupt again. I'd like for you to join me in a skyclad ritual. It's typically reserved for new witch couples, but I would really like to try it with you. I know that I probably wouldn't be able to ask you in person, so I'm taking this opportunity to write it out instead.

I'm not sure when this will reach you, but I will probably be on my way home by the time it gets there. If you're interested, meet me at the Grom Tree.

Sincerely, Amity

"How am I supposed to take this? At the Grom Tree? Out in the forest?!" Luz asked aloud, pacing between the kitchen and the living room. "This is weird, right? Is this weird? For the Boiling Isles, I mean."

Eda shrugged, making an uncertain noise. "I dunno, kid. It's been awhile since I've had a serious enough relationship to take part in…"

"Please don't finish that." Luz interrupted. "I don't know if I'm ready for that. How is Amity ready for that?!"

"Ready for what? King's out of the loop!" King announced, climbing up on the table and demanding to be informed.

"Boots has invited Luz to a skyclad meeting in the woods." Eda said, much to Luz's embarrassment.

King shrugged. "Is that all? I'm naked all the time, you don't see me complaining!"

"That… is an unfortunate realization." Luz said. "I'm going to go think about this in my room."

"Don't think too long. Dinner's almost ready." Eda replied.

"Ooo! What is dinner?" King asked, trying to peak into the pot from his perch on the table. Eda looked into the pot for a moment to find it looking back at her. She shrugged.

"Okay, Luz." she said, looking at herself in the mirror. "You are an attractive young woman, with an awesome girlfriend, who is totally not crazy or trying to prank you. You can do this. Donde fueres, haz lo que vieres." She had spent a half hour in her room pacing, before finally stopping in front of her reflection. She had missed Eda's call for dinner, completely oblivious to her surroundings. "But should I do this? I mean, I've spent all this time trying to become a witch, but is this really necessary? Eda said witches during the Savage Ages did it to get more connected to the island, but would it help me? Is it such a big deal? I've been in pool change rooms before, this is just like that, right?"

"Luz?"

The sudden voice at her door made her shout out in surprise, and she ducked behind her mirror to pull her hoodie back on. "Amity! Uhm, I didn't hear you knock… Did you knock?"

Amity reflexively closed her eyes and slapped a hand over them upon seeing Luz for a moment. "Whoa! Luz, I am so sorry! I knocked, but you didn't answer. Eda said you were up here thinking, but was giving me a weird look so I wasn't… uhm, what are you doing?"

Luz nervously stepped out from behind her mirror again, holding her midsection and clutching her shirt. "I uh, was getting ready to meet you at the Grom Tree." she laughed, having difficulty looking at Amity directly.

"Can… can I open my eyes?" Amity asked, still partially hiding outside the room.

"Oh, yeah!" Luz replied. "Nothing you won't be seeing soon anyway, right?" she chuckled again. The heat in her face was nearly overpowering, and she pulled at her shirt repeatedly to get air flowing over her skin.

Amity parted her fingers and opened one eye to make sure Luz was decent before taking her hand away. "What does that mean…" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, ah, y'know. For the skyclad ritual."

Amity paused for a moment. "I'm not sure I know what you mean. The ritual…"

Luz continued to giggle nervously. "Is totally cool. I mean, I'm totally cool…" she insisted, extending an arm to lean on her mirror that pivoted under her weight, tossing her into a heap and spinning around to catch her in the back of the head as well. "Ow…"

Amity rushed over to offer an outstretched hand, unable to keep from grimacing in empathy. "Are you okay?"

Luz rolled over, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, I…" she began, then frowned and looked away. "No, I'm actually not. I'm not sure I'm ready for being… y'know…"

Amity helped her to her feet, and they sat facing each other on Luz's sleeping bag in the center of the room. "I don't think I do." she admitted, and Luz turned away again, blushing heavily.

"Naked." she whispered. She was feeling like she had when she first asked Amity out behind the Owl House, and she couldn't stop moving her hands and biting her lip. To her surprise, Amity seemed more confused than embarrassed, with that cute crooked smile that implied she wasn't sure if she should laugh or be disgusted.

Amity covered her mouth, but Luz could see the grin widening behind her hand. "Oh Titan, sometimes I forget you haven't been on the Boiling Isles very long." she said, snatching up Luz's hands in hers. "The skyclad ritual isn't exactly what it used to be. I mean, it kind of is…" she tried to explain, and Luz's expression just made her laugh more. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… my grandmother taught it to me over the weekend, and I wanted to share it with you."

Luz's embarrassed look turned to one of repulsion. "Your abuela taught you?"

"It's a ritual to share memories. Experiences. I want to know you, Luz. I want you to know me. If it's too soon, I understand. We've known each other for just a couple months, and most of those haven't been… well, friendly."

Realization seemed to finally come to Luz's features, and her eyes took on their sparkling glimmer that Amity had come to love. "I would love that… and we don't have to…?"

Amity finally blushed. "No… unless?" she giggled, Luz's embarrassed grin was her reward. She settled down more comfortably, turning Luz's hands over in hers and letting a breath out. "Ready?"

Luz took in a breath and closed her eyes, releasing her breath shortly after. "Ready."

Amity ran her thumbs on Luz's palms in small circles that started to glow a faint purple before brightening. She closed her eyes, and began reciting the chant that she had learned from grandmother Blight. "Memories faded, memories new, experiences jaded, let me share them with you."

Both of their mouths dropped open, and their eyes shot open, glowing a brilliant purple that bathed their surroundings in light and snuffed out the various lanterns that Luz used to brighten her room. Visions began to swirl in their collective mind, from Odalia and Alador threatening them to make sure Willow was never allowed into Hexside if they remained friends with her, to being chastised by the principal of a human school about harassing other students with imaginative assignments. Luz watched as she saw the Golden Guard threaten her with hunting down her human if she didn't hand over the portal key, and Amity began to cry as she watched Camila Noceda slip from her ethereal arms. They experienced it all, together; through the bullying from their fellow students in the human school, to the emotional abuse from the Blight parents, and the feelings of infatuation they both had for each other leading up to getting stuffed into an owl pellet and floating through Hooty's makeshift Tunnel of Love.

As the spell faded hours later, Luz found herself in Amity's arms with a wet shoulder and stinging eyes, in an awkward embrace as they still remained in a cross legged position on the floor. "Why didn't you tell me…" they said in unison, then laughed.

"I think I see why they call it skyclad still." Luz said, slowly pulling away and wiping her cheeks.

"It kinda bares everything, yeah." Amity said, sniffling and letting out a restrained laugh. "I… felt what your mom means to you, Luz. We are going to get you back to her."

Luz lunged forward again, squeezing her eyes shut and sobbing as she wrapped her arms around Amity. "Thank you, Amity. I miss her so much, but I know I would miss everything here as well."

"Thank you, Luz. For doing this with me. I've never had anyone I would have trusted enough to try it, and I'm glad you were here to help me with that." Amity admitted, standing and pulling Luz to her feet as well. "We're going to figure this out, okay? Together."

Luz took her time nodding, but smiled. "Together."