Faith & True Colors

Lilith Clawthorne's eyes fluttered open as the dawn came yet again to the Boiling Isles. As her vision came into focus, her heart lurched at the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. For the briefest of moments she feared she had been captured by some wild witch during a raid. Then everything that had happened came rushing back to the forefront of her mind and she realized … she wasn't far off.

Excepting that she wasn't captured, she just had nowhere else to go. And that the wild witch she was staying with was her sister. And that now she was a wild witch.

Lilith groaned as her back ached from sleeping in a bed roll for the last two weeks. Edalyn had claimed it was the best she could do on short notice after the "events" that had brought her here, but Lilith had a feeling her dear sister also got some sick enjoyment out of the situation.

Not that she didn't deserve it, of course.

"Alright, Lilith. Get up," she ordered herself. With a grunt of discomfort, she rolled onto her front and lifted herself to her feet to start the day, taking up an old pair of her glasses Edalyn had found for her some time ago. Hopefully she could get to the house's only bathroom first and let hot water wash the aches away. She snorted aloud to herself at the idea of Edalyn getting up before the sun was well above the horizon. And the little demon that lived here was hardly better as an early riser.

No, it was Miss Noceda that she had to worry about. Miss Luz Noceda, Edalyn's human apprentice who had stormed the Emperor's castle to rescue her mentor. Luz Noceda, who had faced down the Emperor and lived to tell the tale, claiming a piece of his broken mask to boot. Luz Noceda, who had swallowed her pride and her fury to allow Lilith to help her rescue Eda.

Luz Noceda, whom Lilith herself had used as a hostage and living shield to defeat and capture her sister.

As Lilith entered the blessedly empty bathroom and turned the shower spout to as hot as it could go — belatedly recalling that it was the weekend and thus Luz would likely be sleeping in, too — she felt a familiar wave of guilt and shame wash over her as she stripped from a borrowed nightgown and turned on the hot water. Memories rose up with vivid detail over what she had done.

She had captured Luz at the Emperor's castle and sent the girl's friends with her staff as a message to Edalyn. She had dueled her sister again, all the while using Luz as a distraction and even a shield to throw Edalyn off. She had tossed Luz off the side of the castle bridge into a moat of spike-thorns; it was a small miracle Edalyn had been able catch her before she was impaled upon them.

And then she had pressed the human girl closer to the thorns, forcing her sister to use up the rest of her magic in a last-ditch effort to save Luz's life. Lilith had forced her own sister to succumb to the very curse that she herself had foolishly, stupidly placed upon her all those years ago.

And as if she couldn't have done worse, she had taunted the human as she took Edalyn away.

Lilith's heart burned with shame at her actions as she soaked under the scalding water. Sure, she had been pressured by Emperor Belos. He'd been more than clear that had she not delivered Edalyn by sundown after weeks of failure to capture her, Lilith would have been banished from his coven and deemed a wild witch, then immediately captured and petrified as such a status earned under Belos's regime. But that didn't even begin to excuse her actions; no, not at all.

After all of them had escaped from the castle and to the Owl House, Edalyn in her cursed form — her mind somehow restored by Belos — carrying them upon her wings, Lilith had done what she should have all those years ago. She had taken upon herself half of Edalyn's curse. It had restored her sister's true form, though her magic was crippled and Lilith's was weakened as well. And in trying to free her sister, in allying herself with wild witches in direct opposition to the Emperor, she had lost everything she had to her name except for her staff and the dress on her back.

But it was hardly redemption. No, it was merely the first step. A sign that she would try to be better, to in some small way make up for her stupid, selfish actions — past and present.

Lilith turned the water off and dried herself before looking in the mirror and settling her glasses. There were faint bags under her eyes, made even more noticeable by her naturally pale skin; that seemed so foolish when she had little to do anymore! Her hair was as bushy and curly as it had been in her youth, as she had no cosmetic potion to straighten it and was unwilling to use her now-limited magic for something that was now so pointless. Parting her hair revealed the barest hint of red roots edging the black, the color beneath the dye that she'd taken up to look more intimidating, alongside the grey streak from the curse she now bore.

But it was her eyes behind the lenses that she hated most of all. Not the heterochromia that had come with splitting the curse; appearance meant little now. No, it was what her eyes represented: a monster, a murderer, a traitor. Not to Belos, but to her own sister.

Lilith swallowed against the rising bile in her throat and shook away the imaginary cloud hanging over her head, turning the sink on to wash her hands of some imagined stain. Even if she didn't deserve it, Edalyn and Luz had been beyond kind enough to offer her a place here, even after everything she had done to them both. The one thing that allowed her the few moments of sleep each night was the knowledge that she would fix what she could.

If it killed her, she would atone for her crimes against Eda and her apprentice!

With that faint burst of determination, Lilith turned the sink handle a little too hard and it broke, somehow slicing a clean line down her palm that began to bleed, drawing a hiss of pain. Lilith tried the other handle and found it didn't work.

"Let's hope that's not an omen," she sighed.

"You are strong. You are smart. You are fearless. You are Amity Blight."

Amity whispered her mantra to herself one more time as she passed the treeline that led to the Owl House, cutting her personal pep talk off as she drew nearer to the house and to its guardian, that infernal bird tube. The creature called Hooty turned sharply at the sound of her footsteps with a moronically excited look that withered to naked fear when he saw her. Good, the house demon remembered what happened last time he'd made her angry. With hardly a squeak of terror, Hooty opened the door to let her pass.

"Luz?" Amity called.

"She's upstairs."

Amity smiled at the sight of Willow on the living room couch, a cup of tea in her hands as she was apparently waiting for Luz as well. Amity raised an eyebrow at the fact that Willow was comfortable enough at the Owl House to raid Eda's tea before she took up a tea cup of her own and poured a drink before sitting beside Willow, not touching, but still close.

Though they had made remarkable progress in repairing their friendship — thanks in no small part to Luz — Amity was still wary of pushing boundaries. Almost ten years of neglect and bullying on top of suddenly severing their friendship due to Willow's "weakness" was not something that was just brushed aside.

Amity cast a sideways glance at Willow, who seemed to simply be enjoying the silence. And with that look at her oldest friend, she felt a familiar weight of shame and grief settle over her. Shame at what she had done so long ago — even if it had been under her parents orders and overall for Willow's own good — and all the mocking condescension since. Grief at the loss of so many years hanging out with Boscha and her gang when she could have had that true friendship with Willow.

But she also felt a faint sense of warmth and hope. Against all odds, she had been given the chance to make up for all of her mistakes, to earn back even the smallest piece of what they'd had before.

And to meet Luz, the human who made her cheeks burn red and her heart race.

"Amity?" Willow asked gently, looking at her with such compassion. It confounded the mind how she had remained such a caring person after so many years of mockery and solitude. "Is everything alright?"

"Just thinking," Amity replied.

Willow opened her mouth to reply when they both looked toward the doorway to the rest of the house at the sound of the stairs creaking. A shadow crept across the wall, but something told Amity it wasn't Luz. Luz was vibrant, animated. It must be the Owl Lady waking up.

But no, it wasn't Eda either. The woman who emerged from behind the wall was unfamiliar, dressed in a baby blue nightgown and large round glasses similar to Willow's with poofy dark hair hanging down her- wait a moment. In a flash, Amity imagined the woman's hair straightened and glasses gone, and she realized who it was. Lilith. And in the moment of shocked recognition she noticed something else: Lilith's hand was stained red with blood. Amity's vision went red.

"ABOMINATION, RISE!" Amity shouted, casting a wide spell circle to summon the largest abomination she could. The construct rose from the circle, one a head taller and far bulkier than her. "ATTACK!" she spat, her own fury echoed in her creation. The abomination roared with an echo of its master's rage and charged —

— Only to be wrapped in thorny vines and dragged to the ground.

"Amity, what are you doing?!" Willow cried in shock, her own eyes glowing green as they did when evoking powerful magic. Her hands were aglow, too, as she clearly had conjured the vines to bring the abomination down.

Amity, though, was too far deep in rage and panic to answer. She instead screeched in fury and tackled Lilith to the ground herself, her grudgby training kicking in like she'd never stopped playing. She continued to scream as she blindly rained feral blows upon her former mentor, blind to the fact that Lilith had recovered from brief shock and was fending her off quite well.

This lasted for a few more moments before Willow's vines, now thorn free, wrapped around Amity and dragged her off the woman to suspend her in the air. "That's enough!" Willow barked, her tone unrelenting.

"Thank you, Ms. Park," Lilith said, her tone heavy with resignation as she rose to her feet and adjusted her glasses.

"What did you do?!" Amity demanded, ignoring Willow and struggling against her bonds. "If you hurt Luz, I swear to the Titan-!"

"Hurt?" Lilith asked, genuine confusion in her mismatched eyes that dampened Amity's fury just enough to stop struggling. Lilith blinked and looked down at her hand that was still stained red. "Ah, no. That's all me, Ms. Blight." Her posture folded a bit, as if under some great weight. "If you ladies will excuse me." And with that, she shuffled away toward the kitchen.

Amity's temper had burned low by this point and she was more confused than anything else. Why was Lilith of all people here, and apparently living in the Owl House? Amity's silent questions were cut off by gravity taking hold as Willow dropped her from her vines and commanded them to neatly and decoratively arrange themselves on the walls.

"What was that?" Willow asked, her voice even and hard as stone.

"What do you mean 'what was that'?" Amity asked, pointing at the doorway. "Why is she here?"

"She's been living here since they all escaped the Emperor," Willow explained.

"But why?" Amity asked, her voice higher than she'd wanted. "She was the one who captured Eda. She kidnapped Luz. Why would they let her live here?"

"You noticed Lilith's eyes, right?" Willow asked. "That was a side effect of taking on half of Eda's curse. It was how Eda got her normal shape back, even if her magic is still kinda messed up." Willow removed her glasses and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "And they let her stay here because she doesn't have anywhere else. She helped free them, and I guess Eda thinks that pays for a room." She replaced her glasses and returned her gaze to Amity.

"So why didn't anyone tell me?" Amity demanded, less harsh and more insistent.

"Gus and I didn't know until a few days after," Willow admitted. "We thought it would be a good idea to lay low after we, y'know," she shrugged her shoulders, "stirred the crowd."

Amity pressed her lips into a line at that severe understatement. More like they had whipped a crowd into a frenzy, bordering on sparking a rebellion. Granted, it had been to save Eda and Luz, but Amity had seen that broadcast on the crystal ball. And she was honestly afraid of how it might come back to hurt Willow.

"Luz and Eda eased us into the idea," Willow admitted. "Granted, we were there at the petrification; we saw Lilith help Eda shake off the petrifaction. And we saw her escape with the others. I guess that made it easier to accept." She grimaced. "Then Luz told us the whole story about where Eda's curse came from."

Willow went on to explain the origins of the curse, and the situation that had led Lilith to cast it upon her younger sister. "But after they got back," Willow continued, "Lilith took half the curse upon herself. It restored Eda's real form." She smiled a bit. "And the rest is history in the making," she finished.

Amity thought over everything she had been told, and everything she had seen on her crystal ball — which admittedly wasn't very much — and had one question left. "So why am I just hearing about this? You said you and Augustus have known for days."

"Eda and Lilith asked us not to talk about it outside the Owl House," Willow replied. "Lilith says the Emperor has eyes everywhere, but the House and the grounds are protected by Hooty. And they don't want us implicated in anything bigger than what we've got on our plate."

"And that includes me?" Amity asked, a little hurt.

"Actually, Luz wanted to tell you right from the start," Willow admitted. "I was the one who said we should wait. Just in case the Emperor's Coven started trying to make connections to Luz's friends." Willow's gentle expression hardened to something distant. "Let's face it, you don't exactly have a good history defying them."

Amity winced at those words that hurt more than fangs or claws ever could. Her parents were in the Emperor's Coven, and if they knew she was close to Luz, and by extension Eda, they wouldn't hesitate to abuse that link in any way they could to serve the Emperor and gain even more status on the Isles.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHO'S HURT?!" There were thumps coming down the stairs and Luz slid past the doorway before backtracking to appear with her hair still damp, her hoodie on backwards with the cat-eared hood flopping below her chin, and her witch's wool cape folded over her shoulder. "Who screamed?!" She blinked and seemed to calm down. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?"

Amity felt her face heat up at the sheer insane adorableness that was Luz, not to mention the feeling of Willow's knowing smirk directed at the back of her head.

"Amity found out Lilith is staying here," Willow explained, "and she may have overreacted. Also, your shirt's on backwards."

Luz glanced down and laughed before shucking her hoodie, leaving her only in her tank top — the sight of which made Amity cough with embarrassment — before putting it on correctly and buttoning her cape into place. "Yeah, I heard someone scream, but I was sleeping too hard for it to register until just now. Then I kinda panicked and rushed down here, so, uh …" She clapped her hands together with a sunny grin.

"So, who's ready for a girl's day of magic training?"

Lilith was about to take a bite of her dry toast before the sound of a muffled explosion rattled the Owl House. Panic rising at the thought of an attack from the Emperor, she bolted for the door and threw it open with her staff in hand to find Luz, Willow, and Amity engaged in mock-battle. Amity had summoned another abomination, while Willow had the thorny vines she favored writhing like kraken tentacles. Luz seemed to be acting as a referee of sorts, or perhaps a one-girl cheer team.

Lilith retrieved her toast and apple blood before leaning against the house and watching. As she observed she habitually, if silently, critiqued each girl's performance, as had been one of her duties as head of the Emperor's Coven. She noticed that Willow seemed a little too hesitant to go on the offensive in a way that Lilith sensed was less to do with self-esteem problems and more fear of her own strength. Amity, oddly enough despite her generally cool-headed demeanor, was more prone to relying on her offense to double as a defense.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of the kitchen door opening and closing to reveal Edalyn coming to watch as well, nursing her own cup of apple blood. She watched the children with similarly practiced eyes, though the faint smile on her face showed she considered it more of a game.

"Oh, now it's gonna get interesting," Eda murmured, drawing Lilith's attention back to the children.

Willow had traded places with Luz, who was holding a long carved stick reminiscent of a palisman-less staff. Willow called for the match to begin and Luz thrust her staff forward, golden-orange flames spewing from the top at Amity. Amity moved her abomination to take the blast, the flames chewing through its leg to bring it crashing to one knee. In its vulnerable state, the abomination removed its head which, with a quick spell from Amity, lit on fire before it was tossed like a huge wad of hellblaze.

Luz yelped and clapped the butt of her staff to the ground, magic pouring forth into a barricade of ice that shattered under the force of Amity's attack but still left Luz unharmed. With a swipe of her staff, Luz conjured a mass of vines much like Willow's that lunged at Amity and forced her to leap out of their path, then turned and wrapped around her abomination before tearing it to shreds of sludge.

"Man, that kid just keeps on surprising me," Eda chuckled. "I can't believe she jury-rigged her own staff with a branch and a whittling knife. Carve a few glyphs in the wood and it makes a decent substitute, eh?"

"It is quite clever," Lilith admitted. "You must be proud."

"Guess we know who the better teacher is now, huh?" Eda cackled, elbowing Lilith in the side.

But whatever smile Lilith may have offered died at the thought of the covention all those weeks ago. What she had done to Eda and Luz, and to Amity. Lilith wasn't blind — she had seen how much her actions had damaged their teacher/student relationship … if one could even call it that. Really it was more of an arrangement of mutual status: Lilith got to show off her talented prize pupil and Amity got to boast she was taught by the head of the Emperor's Coven.

At the time, Lilith had been too mired in her own concerns to consider it very deeply, but now … now it genuinely saddened her. She had shown no faith in her "strongest protégé" and had abused what respect they had shared. And all to one-up her sister.

It seemed she might never learn from her mistakes.

Lilith's thoughts were interrupted by the feel of her sister patting her shoulder before Edalyn strode to call the match and move on to her and Luz's practice with their glyphs. With Edalyn's personal magic diminished to practically nothing, Luz had graciously been teaching her what the human had learned of glyph magic, all while they worked together to discover more. And training with their current selection was imperative if they were to survive the ire of Emperor Belos, tentative pardon or no.

Lilith gave a sad smile at the easygoing banter and clear genuine care and respect that Edalyn and Luz shared, a relationship reminiscent of a beloved aunt and niece as much as a mentor and apprentice. Lilith glanced at Amity and Willow having their own conversation apart from them, Amity smiling at something her old friend was saying.

And she briefly wondered what it would be like to have that kind of bond with an apprentice.

Amity affectionately rolled her eyes as Willow told her a story about her trip to the carnival with Gus after the start of term, in which they, Luz, and King had run afoul of some small-time enemy called "Tibbles," whatever that was. As she listened, she couldn't help but glance at Luz herself as the human worked with Eda to apparently develop faster and more efficient methods of casting glyph magic.

Amity's faint blush at the sight of her crush faded as she watched more closely, struck by the easy nature of Luz and Eda's relationship. There was no tension between them; no fear from Luz and no expectations from Eda. Well, no negative expectations, anyway. Eda clearly expected quite a bit from Luz, but it was like night and day when compared to her own parents. The elder Blights were cold and distant, expecting nothing but the best … or else. Eda was clearly proud of Luz, but would accept her shortcomings and simply work to improve them.

"Amity?" She flinched at the sound of Willow's voice and turned to her with an embarrassed flush. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Amity said, wincing at her own habitually distant tone. It was a learned defense to keep people at arms length, to hide any weakness or insecurity.

"Really?" Willow asked, gaze level and clearly not buying it. She followed Amity's line of sight and quirked an eyebrow at the sight of Luz trying to use ice magic to create some other kind of glyph. She looked back at Amity, her thoughts turning and carefully hiding a smile. "Amity, if you want to get something off your chest, I'm here."

Amity pressed her lips together and took a deep breath before speaking. "It's just … I kind of wish I had a teacher like Eda."

Willow's eyebrows shot up and she blinked in surprise. That wasn't at all what she was expecting. "What do you mean?"

"Okay, maybe not like Eda," Amity clarified, "she's way too much like Edric and Emira. She'd drive me insane within the first few lessons." She smiled a bit. "She's good for Luz and they clearly have such a strong bond." Her smile faded. "I guess that's what I wish I had. A teacher who cares, who wants nothing more than to see me do well."

The words 'unlike my parents' went unspoken, but Willow caught them loud and clear. Willow turned those thoughts over in her head for a moment. Willow didn't have that kind of close teacher/student bond with anyone, but she also had two dads who clearly loved her unconditionally. Amity, from what she could tell, had nothing even close to that from her own parents. The closest thing she had to it was her trickster older siblings, who clearly cared for her but whose pranks could run the gamut from insensitive to almost cruel.

Willow brought herself out of her head to look at her old friend. Amity's distant exterior might have fooled anyone else, but Willow saw the sadness in her eyes. And not just that, but … loneliness. Much like her own eyes had been before they all met Luz. Willow's line of thought was interrupted by the sound of the side door to the Owl House opening and closing as King emerged and joined Luz and Eda for attention.

But Willow's gaze lingered on Lilith, who was standing by that door. Even from this distance, she could see the older witch's downtrodden posture. The former coven head was also watching Luz and Eda work on their glyphs, her expression a mix of secondhand joy and crushing regret that settled into a decidedly blank expression.

Willow couldn't help but compare it to Amity.

"What about Lilith?" she asked.

Amity's eyes shot open and she looked at Willow as if she'd lost her mind. "Are you kidding?!" she screeched.

The silence after her words was almost a tangible thing, everyone around the Owl House distracted by the question. "Everything okay over there?" Luz called.

"Fine!" Amity shouted back, her burning face now due to embarrassment. Thankfully Luz, that adorable bonehead, shrugged it off and continued her practice. Amity glanced at Lilith, who was still watching them with something like concern on her features. Amity's lips tightened into a thin line at the clearly false expression and turned her head away in the most dignified, condescending, Blight manner possible.

"Weren't you Lilith's protégé before?" Willow picked up her questioning exactly where she had left off, seemingly unaffected by the last minute or so. "I seem to recall that's how the whole witch's duel thing happened."

"Yes, I was," Amity bit out. Most of her wanted to just drop the conversation, but she knew that Willow wouldn't do that. She was too caring for her own good — always had been — and Amity didn't have the patience to keep up resistance, especially in the wake of their newly reforming and still tenuous friendship.

And if she were completely honest, she wanted to get this off her chest.

"Lilith taught me for a year before the last covention. She said she hand-picked me, and maybe she did." Her frown deepened just a bit. "But I'm pretty sure my parents had something to do with it," she added bitterly.

"We had private lessons twice a week on everything but abominations. She said that if I really wanted to join the Emperor's Coven, I'd have to get a handle on all magics. She left my track to me and focused on other stuff." She grit her teeth, her lips twisting with ire. "But we were never close. We were a means to an end to each other, at best. Then after the duel, I just cut ties with her." Amity's throat grew tight with pointless grief, no matter how much she hated it. "It's not like there was much to cast aside."

Willow's eyes were soft with concern for her childhood friend as she mulled that over. No doubt Amity still had a lot of unresolved tension toward Lilith. The elder Clawthorne had broken Amity's trust, no matter how little it was, and that was about as personal as it could get for someone who trusted as rarely as Amity did.

Any yet, in the brief time she had known Lilith, she had felt a certain … resemblance between them. They were both naturally distant and aloof, talented in magic, focused on their goals … and shouldering the guilt of letting someone they cared about down and the years of neglect that followed. True, cruelly cutting ties with a childhood friend "for being weak" was hardly comparable to cursing one's younger sister and then hunting her as a criminal … but the emotional pain was as comparable as could be.

Willow's line of thought was broken by Luz calling her over for an inspection. As the tentative plant magic specialist of the Owl House Crew, as Luz had unofficially dubbed them all, she had taken it upon herself to help Luz with her use of plant glyphs whenever she could.

As she made her way to her friend, smiling at Amity over her shoulder, she glanced at Lilith and decided she would take a page out of Luz's book. She would see what she could do to help.

Lilith was reading through a book on potions when Willow found her alone. The training day had broken for lunch and Willow found the elder Clawthorne in the living room, eating alone as she read. Though the woman's demeanor was as stoic as Willow had ever seen, she couldn't help but sense the air of melancholy that hung over her like a cloud blocking the sun's light.

"May I join you?" Willow asked.

Lilith looked up sharply, eyes wide with surprise before settling again into intentional calm. "I, um … I don't see why not," she answered hesitantly. "I warn you, I doubt I'll be good company."

"It's fine," Willow assured her with a small smile. She sat on the couch alongside Lilith and took a bite out of her sandwich. She glanced Lilith up and down and couldn't help but marvel at the changes a few weeks of living as a tentative outlaw had wrought. Aside from Lilith's glasses and poofy curling hair, she had apparently changed clothes since the morning. Rather than the foreboding charcoal dress she had always been seen wearing in public, such as at the covention, Lilith now wore an ash-grey long sleeved, off-the-shoulder shirt with some strange human icon on it, and a ragged brown skirt, though her leggings and boots remained the same.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Willow said.

"I believe you just did," Lilith replied dryly. "But go on."

"Why didn't you join us all during our practice?" Willow asked. "You're an experienced witch and I'm sure we could all use some critique. Plus, if we sparred against you, it would be a lot more like dueling members of the Emperor's Coven."

Lilith sighed and marked her place in the book before closing it on her lap. "Part of it was to conserve my magic," she replied. "Taking on part of Edalyn's curse has left me weakened, and that is … frightening. If Belos or his agents attacked the Owl House, I would need to be at full strength to face them. As you said, I am the most experienced in their methods."

Willow chose to ignore the fact that, according to Luz, Hooty had driven off every raid of the Emperor's Coven for years, including those led by Lilith herself at her full power. "And the other part?" she asked.

Lilith looked at Willow for a long moment. "You won't speak to anyone about this," she said. It was a statement, not a question. Willow nodded. "I don't belong here. Edalyn may have been gracious enough to let me stay, but it changes little. I kidnapped Luz and almost killed her, I forced Edalyn to succumb to her curse, I even sent you and Augustus to deliver the threat." Lilith's lips tightened, and faintly trembled. "I couldn't interrupt the time between all of you. It- it wouldn't be right."

Willow sighed through her nose and considered her next words as carefully as she could. "Amity didn't either," she said. That seemed to draw Lilith's attention. "A few weeks after term started back, we were extracting memory photos in class. Luz got one from me, a picture of a party with Amity when we were kids. Back when we were best friends." Willow blinked back the faint wetness in her eyes at those bittersweet memories.

"Amity must have found it and burned parts of it to make sure no one found out about that. But the fire spread and it started tearing my mind apart. Luz brought Amity and Gus to the Owl House to see if Eda could help. So Eda sent them into my mind."

"A mindscape translocation," Lilith noted. "That sounds just dangerous and partly-legal enough for Edalyn." She shook her head and motioned for Willow to continue.

"Luz and Amity started fixing things up here," she prodded her temple, "and got to the very last one. The one Amity had burned. And then my inner self got involved trying to remove Amity from all of my memories; and then it tried to burn away Amity, the real Amity. It showed them why I believed Amity had broken our friendship. She- she said I was too weak." Willow took a moment to regain her composure. "And then Amity showed us the real reason. Her parents forced her to leave me behind or else they'd keep me out of Hexside."

"Where are you going with this, Ms. Park?" Lilith asked, her voice tight.

"After all of that, my inner self decided to restore my memories and let Amity go. And I remembered it all. Luz, of course, was thrilled I was back to normal, but Amity … she just tried to leave us alone." Willow smiled just a bit. "And I told her I remembered. I told her that after what I had seen and learned … we weren't friends, but it was a start." She looked up at Lilith, right in her mismatched eyes. "I think that Eda letting you stay here is your new start. Eda's offering a chance to make things right, a lot like I did with Amity. But you have to meet her halfway."

Lilith's gaze dropped to her lap as she considered everything Willow had said to her. This girl who hardly knew her had divulged something deeply personal to make her point, and Lilith would be lying if she said she was not shaken by that. But that personal tale had leant her words a weight they could not have otherwise borne.

"You really believe I can make amends with my sister?" Lilith asked.

"Not just Eda," Willow replied. "I meant with Amity, too."

Lilith's eyes widened and her gaze snapped back to Willow in shock. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice carefully level.

"You miss having Amity as a student," Willow said without pretense. "You see Eda and Luz together and it makes you regret that you don't have that."

Lilith looked away in shame. Was she really so easy to see through? "It doesn't matter what I may want," she said. "I threw away my mentorship with Amity. It's yet another thing I can't fix."

"Yes you can," Willow argued. "Amity misses it, too. I can tell. But it's like with Eda, Lilith. You have to meet her halfway. Only this time, you have to be the one to act first."

Willow finished her sandwich and stood to return her plate to the kitchen before everyone got ready to resume the training session. But she paused at the doorway. "The things that matter in life are never easy," she said before stepping back into the kitchen.

Lilith watched her go before — not for the first time since she'd come to the Owl House — reconsidering her stance in life.

"Abomination, rise," Amity ordered, a golem about her size rising from the spell circle she had conjured. "And now," she muttered, tracing another spell. The spell circle burst into a purple flame that streaked toward the abomination's chest to plant itself like a simmering coal. The fire spread and consumed the construct, which howled with echoes of battle lust.

Amity smiled at first, but then the abomination began to dry out, to harden, to stumble and crumble into something like charcoal. It turned into a statue and collapsed into dirt under its own weight, the fire fading to a more natural orange before beginning to spread along the grass. Amity hissed in vexation before taking a bucket of water and tossing it over the grass to quell the spreading blaze.

Again.

Amity rapped her forehead with a knuckle, as if that would get her brain working better. She could light up heads just fine, but an entire abomination was too much? "What am I doing wrong?" she asked out loud.

"It's not your technique," a familiar, cool voice explained, "it's your material."

Amity's lips tightened as she turned and found Lilith observing her, the woman's hands behind her back as she had stood during their past tutoring sessions. "What do you want?" she asked icily.

"To help," Lilith replied simply.

"I don't need your help," Amity spat, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Perhaps not," Lilith said, "but seven failed burning abominations would say you could still use it."

"Fine, then I don't want your help," she said, arms tightening. Why wouldn't she just go away? There was silence for several moments before Amity looked back and found Lilith in exactly the same position, looking at her with … patience. Not forced, why-are-you-being-so-difficult patience like she got from her parents, but honest I-just-want-you-to-succeed patience. It wasn't like luz or Willow … but it was on the same map.

"What do you mean by 'materials'?" Amity finally asked.

"I'm sure you've begun to study differences in abomination compounds?" she asked, and Amity nodded. "Several variations emerged to handle spells such as the one you have been casting." She gestured at the pile of dirt at Amity's feet, and several similar piles from her previous attempts.

"The basic formula they teach in schools is more of a jumping point for you," Lilith continued. "It's a way to get you used to putting the components together and treating them before you start to get innovative. To master the basics before you alter them." She nudged the dirt pile with her boot. "I've seen your own variation, Amity, and it is remarkable for a student," she said, a faint smile on her lips and in her tone, "but it wasn't created to handle consistent excessive heat."

Amity narrowed her eyes at the compliment, both because she knew Lilith was aware they were her weakness … and in shame that it was working. A part of her, that no-holds-barred winner who craved validation and praise, was preening under it. But this was Lilith, the woman who had crushed their mentorship under her heel just to one-up her sister. Lilith, who had kidnapped Luz, tried to kill her, and captured Eda to be petrified.

Lilith Clawthorne, who had sacrificed everything, including the manticore's share of her power, to try and set things right. Who was trying to start things anew. Who Willow, perhaps the wisest girl Amity had ever met, thought she could still see as a mentor.

"What would you suggest, then?" Amity asked coolly.

That single sentence grew into a discussion on components of abomination goop, how different minerals and compounds reacted to different stimuli, how they could encumber or even compliment each other … By the end of the day, Amity had plans to devise a new formula for a burning abomination that would still be strong enough for standard tasks.

She might even get extra credit from her teacher.

Lilith passed her fingers through her hair, getting a good view of her red roots that were far too long to ignore. Years of habit had her itching to use some of the human hair dye Luz had found in Eda's store room to return her locks to a uniform color … but she sighed and let that pass.

She was no longer an agent of the Emperor's Coven, and so had no reason to be "intimidating." but far more than that, she felt it was a reflection of past weeks, of her becoming a new and better person during her time in the Owl House. No longer would she hide her relation to Edalyn, even if Eda no longer bore the lighter red hair of their youth. Or that the silver streak in Lilith's hair was growing wider and joined by more grey threads.

This was who she was now. And that was not a bad thing in the slightest.

Lilith finished her morning routine and headed downstairs to find Luz and Amity chatting at the side door in the kitchen. Both of them were giggling uncontrollably about something Lilith dared not try to understand — Edalyn was right, growing old was a pain.

And as she walked into the kitchen, Lilith couldn't help but stop and notice the thick auburn slowly replacing green in Amity's hair. After Odalia had been put in her place with the Incident, Amity had been free to let it grow out. And she had done so with relish. Luz had apparently offered to cut it short and rid her of the green in one go when it was long enough, but Amity had turned the offer down. She claimed it served as a reminder that she was still growing, still becoming better than her parents' expectations.

"Morning, Lilith!" Luz called with a wave. Lilith smiled and approached. Luz had grown far more comfortable with her ever since she'd begun living in the Owl House, and vice versa. One might think she had begun to view the elder Clawthorne as another surrogate aunt, much like Eda. And vice versa.

"Hey, I just noticed!" Luz said giddily. "You two kinda sorta match!" She pointed at Lilith and Amity's roots with obvious glee. "I can't believe I didn't put it together before. Two cold and powerful witches, hiding their true selves behind hair dye. Then they begin a journey of redemption and self-discovery to reclaim who they really are!" By the end, luz had added grandiose hand motions to the impromptu performance. "It's kind of poetic, if you think about it," she said with a laugh.

"I suppose it is," Lilith scoffed lightheartedly. "Now, shouldn't you ladies be on your way?"

"I would be so in favor of you taking a hooky day!" Eda called from the stove.

"We're going," Amity agreed with a pointed look at Luz. No matter how much she changed, Amity was a stickler for rules. Luz shrugged and ran to give Eda a quick hug before running out the door and challenging Amity to a race. Amity smiled, her cheeks rosy, before she glanced at Lilith. Before she could react, the girl had wrapped her in a hug as well. Lilith was stunned at the display of affection, and even more surprised at how quickly her arms had curled around Amity's smaller frame.

"Bye, Lilith," Amity said as she stepped away and left for Hexside.

Lilith felt a warm glow in her chest, one that had been more and more frequent ever since she and Amity had begun mending their relationship. A glow that was snuffed out when Eda slapped her on the back. "Gotta admit, I guess you are a good teacher," Eda said before returning to the stove.

"Thank you, Edalyn," Lilith grumbled. But under the irritation at her sister's antics, there was genuineness in her words. They may have started out in the wrong way, but Lilith wouldn't change what she and her apprentice had any more than Eda would with Luz.

Because sometimes … things just work out that way.

I actually started this weeks ago as a comparison of Lilith and Amity's personalities and circumstances. Then it grew into a narrative, then I lost inspiration ... And then all this new information for Season 2 dropped, and suddenly the premier was only a few weeks away! There's no doubt canon will steamroll this tiny piece of fan work ... but I hope it makes someone happy.

If you liked this, leave a review! They are always inspiring. Anyway, here's waiting for season 2! Only one day left, people! Woohoo!