Ludo walks out into the bright sunshine of the new day. The morning dew sits on the grass as the sun beats down on his face. The embracing warmth feels so good to Ludo. After saying his goodbyes, he departs for home again, making sure to avoid the route that led him into a hot mess with the Septarians from before. A little detour through the swamp, he doesn't mind. Ludo feels lighter than air after that horrible tasting remedy offered to him by Buff Frog, but boy did it do the trick. He dances merrily along his route home, singing and whistling to himself like some sort of vintage cartoon character.
The enjoyment isn't long lasting though as Ludo hears cries for help from the depths of the swamp. He recognizes the voice, a female voice, but doesn't know exactly where its coming from. He rushes in towards the general direction of it. There she is, the same Septarian that ran from him the day before in the cave. She's sinking in the mud and can't get out. Ludo thinks for a second about leaving her there, but it soon passes when he realizes that karma can easily come back to haunt him. Quickly, he looks for a means of getting her out. Over towards the edge of the water he spots a long twisted vine, and throws it into the mud towards her. Sinking fast, she grabs for it and he pulls her in. She climbs onto the shore, tired, she lays back, catching her breath.
Ludo: So we meet again. Mind telling me your name this time?
The Septarian tries to catch her breath.
Septarian: Jade... it's Jade.
She opens her eyes, and looks up at Ludo with bright green eyes.
Ludo: Okay Jade, I'm Ludo. This is the second time I've saved your butt now. Mind telling me what you're doing around here, since I keep bumping into you?
She gets up and starts walking.
Ludo: Hey! I'm talking to you!
Jade: Leave me alone.
Ludo: Oh come on. Is this any way to treat a guy that's saved your life twice?
Jade looks down at him.
Jade: If you really must know, I'm on a mission.
Ludo: Ooh, what kinda mission? Are you like a spy or something?
Jade: I wouldn't be a very good spy if I told you I was a spy now would I?
Ludo goes to say something but retracts.
Ludo: Point taken.
Ludo continues to bombard her with questions whole she grows mildly annoyed by his curiosity. Still, he leads her down a mile to a river, realizing she must be hungry after all that traveling.
Ludo: Watch this.
Ludo undoes the bands of his beard, letting it roll down and sticking it unto the water.
Jade: What are you doing?
Ludo: You'll see.
Ludo sticks his beard in the water. After a few moments, he receives a tug.
Ludo: Ooh, got one. No, two.
He pulls his head out the water, showing two medium sized fish munching oh his beard.
Ludo: Okay, now we just need a fire.
Ludo goes and grabs some sticks and branches and throws them onto the ground.
Ludo: Now watch this. Another trick I learned.
He goes to rub two sticks together, and for about a minute of friction, Ludo gets tired. Jade stares amusedly at Ludo's futile attempt at showing off machismo and natural prowess.
Ludo: Well, I'll get it eventually.
He's out of breath. Jade rolls her eyes, and pulls out a match, stroking it along her leather and throwing it onto the sticks. Ludo looks over in exasperation, folding his arms.
Jade: What? I have tricks too. I also have a blade.
She pulls out a dagger, the same one she had before. and starts cutting the fish. They impale the fish on sticks and cook them over the fire. They sit there in silence for a bit. She looks at Ludo, who is looking at his fish as it cooks, the fire glistening off his yellow orbs.
Ludo: So, you never actually told me what kind of mission you're on.
Jade: I really shouldn't tell anyone my mission, especially someone like you who's family is buddy-buddy with the Butterfly family.
Ludo: I wouldn't go as far as to consider myself a friend of the Butterflies. I've been quite a trouble-maker towards them actually.
Jade: Really? What kind of trouble-maker?
Ludo: Well, I used to follow Star Butterfly around and utilize my army of misfit henchmen to overwhelm her and sieze her magic wand for myself.
Jade: Sounds kinda dangerous, messing with a girl with a wand. She probably doesn't even know how to use it properly.
Ludo: I've gotten many boo-boos that would say otherwise.
Jade: Boo-boos?
Ludo: Yeah. You know, injuries.
Jade: I've never heard someone call them "boo-boos" before. How old are you?
Ludo: 23, why?
Jade: Oh, because I was starting to think you were some little kid.
Ludo: Little kid? What little kid has a full-grown beard?
Jade: I don't know, kappa kids, bird kids? I'm Septarian and even I'm not all that familiar with monster anatomies.
Ludo: Well?
Jade: Well, what?
Ludo: You still haven't told me your mission. I've told you a little bit about myself, so the least you could do is let me in on what your mission is. I understand if you can't talk about certain things for fear of compromising_
Jade: My mission is to destroy Queen Moon.
Ludo: What? Why?
Jade: She took something from me, something I'll never forgive her for.
Ludo: That's awful. What did she take?
Jade: My father.
Ludo: That stinks. I never heard of Queen Moon taking the life of someone.
Jade: Well she did. She took my dad away from me.
Ludo: That dad of yours have a name?
Jade: He liked to keep to himself. A lot of people simply knew him as "The Lizard", but to those he knew, they called him Toffee.
Ludo held the stick up to his mouth, and as soon as he heard the name, his heart sunk.
Ludo: Toffee?
Jade: Yeah. Why? Did you know him?
Ludo: Nope, never heard of the guy.
Ludo was lying. There's no way he can ever tell her that he knew Toffee, and especially not tell her that he was actually alive and that up to just recently Ludo had a part in killing him. He looks at her though, and he can see the resemblance. She looks a lot like him, but with green eyes and a more brown hair color as opposed to his jet black hair. Curious, he inquired more about him.
Ludo: So, uh, what was this Toffee guy like?
Jade: He was tall, and handsome, and strong. He was very tough on me as a kid, and made me rough it some times, to "make me strong" as he put it.
Ludo can relate to that.
Ludo: Sounds like a bit of a jerk to be honest.
Jade: No, you're wrong.
Ludo feels both bad and surprised that she took such offense to that statement.
Jade: You know nothing about him. He was a great dad. He loved me, and was always good to me. He was a good father and because of his pressure on me, I've grown to become self-reliant and a strong warrior.
The prospect of Toffee being a good father positively floored Ludo. As coldly as Toffee had been to him, he found it very hard to believe.
Jade: My dad left me when I was very young. It was about twenty years ago the last time I saw him. I was just a little girl. He was a general. One day, when I was five years old, my dad leaned over and said to me that he was gonna go off on a mission. He was to take down the rulers of Mewni. I was scared. I knew the Queen was a force to reckon with. She has this powerful wand, and knew some insane dark magic that could kill Septarians. I begged him not to go. He looked at me and saw the tears in my eyes, and it almost made him break down. He always taught me to be strong, and to never let my emotions get the best of me.
I fell down, got cut, scraped, even had a broken leg by three years of age. We Septarians are quick healers, but when we're that young, we still haven't the grasp on regeneration. I never shed a tear prior to that day. But I loved my dad, and the prospect of him going away for so long, on a mission that put him in the fate of those monster slayers, after hearing the horror stories of Solaria and the Queen of Fire, I couldn't take it. He looked so sad to leave me. So he took off his ring. This ring, that he wore on the middle finger of his right hand, and he gave it to me. He told me it was good luck, and that I should keep it close to my heart and always think about him when I look at it. He then gave a really long hug. I wish it could have been longer. If I could freeze time, I would stay in that moment with him, forever, just to not see him go. He told me he'd be back. I waited. Days turned into weeks... weeks into months... months into years. He never came home. I never saw him again.
She looked over to Ludo, who had been embarrassingly brushing away his own tears at the story.
Ludo: Ah jeez. I'm sorry.
Ludo rubs his eyes in desperation to hide his weakness.
Ludo: Hey, um... hypothetically...
Jade: What?
Ludo: What if your dad was still alive?
Jade: There's no way. That means he would have failed his mission, and I know my dad. He's the best. He never failed at anything in his life. He was a perfectionist.
Ludo: But I mean just hypothetically... what if he did?
Jade: Hypothetically, he wouldn't be able to return home. He would be a disgrace to my people.
Ludo: So you admit, there's a possibility that he could be out there?
Jade: Are you saying my dad failed and never came home?
Ludo: No, no... but like you said, if he did fail his mission, he wouldn't be able to show his face around your village right?
Jade: My dad is not a failure.
Ludo: Queen Moon is still alive right?
Jade: Yeah. So?
Ludo: That means he didn't complete his mission.
Jade: It doesn't matter! I'm finishing the job.
He could tell she was getting angry.
Ludo: Look... I'm sorry If I'm getting you worked up. I know your dad means a lot to you, and I thought maybe it would brighten you up if I brought a little hope to you that he could still be out there. I'm just saying maybe this a bad idea. I've seen what that wand can do. I've been trying to get a hold of it for years because I wanted to take over all of Mewni with it and rule with an iron fist. But I know that the Queens have done some very powerful spells with that wand that could destroy monsters. Jade, I don't want to see you get hurt... or worse.
Jade: Oh Ludo... you're so sweet, but I have to accomplish my mission.
Ludo: You don't have to go through with this. I think it's a really bad idea. Please reconsider.
Jade looks at Ludo, and pities his sincerity and innocence.
Jade: Look... I'll take what you say into consideration, but only because I like you. Still, I gotta get going.
Ludo: Oh come on. It's getting dark out. You can't travel at night. We could stay here, telling ghost stories or something.
Jade: Ghost stories, Ludo?
Ludo: yeah! Like this one time, when I was a little boy. I went up in my attic, which was dark and filled with cobwebs, and it smelled funny, and I went up there, and there was this one ghost up there, and it scared the bejeebus outta me! I ran all the way down stairs, only for my dad to go up there and tell me it was a coat rack with a sheet over it. I'll tell ya what, I felt really silly. And of course, blockhead me, I go up there years later and get scared by the same ghost. Oh brother!
Jade laughs at his ridiculous story.
Ludo: What? I was being serious.
She laughs even harder.
Ludo: Stop laughing, its not funny!
Ludo blushes with embarrassment.
Jade: What? I just think you're cute, that's all.
Ludo looks over to her, his face turning red. He's managed to make her smile and had broken her previously cold demeanor, and getting over his embarrassment, he finally notices the impact his anecdote had on her.
Ludo: You do?
Jade: Yeah. You're a cute, funny little guy, Ludo.
Ludo: I don't like being small.
Jade: What's wrong with being small? I'm small.
Ludo notices that Jade is a mere three feet tall, slightly taller than he is, and relatively short for a Septarian. Compared to Toffee, she is positively minuscule, with an athletic build, broad physique, somewhat of a dimply face and rounded snout compared to her father.
Jade: The only size that matters is the size of your heart, and you got a big one Ludo.
Ludo smiles at her. They finish their fish, continuing to chatter until they've finished their fish, rubbing their bellies with satisfaction.
Jade: Well Ludo, it's been fun, but I gotta move. Thanks again.
Ludo: Aw, really? But I was just getting to know you.
Jade: Yeah. Anyway, I hope you have a safe way home. You do know your way, right?
Ludo: Yeah, I'll be fine. I mean look at me. Do I look like a guy that can't handle his own in a tussle?
Jade laughs at him again. She walks up to him and leans over, kissing him on the cheek.
Jade: See you around Ludo.
In an instant, she was gone. Ludo stood there, holding his face where she kissed him, with a big dumb smile on his face. He then realizes he was alone. He has to get home before it gets too dark. He whistles, and after a mere moment, Eagle and Spider descend toward him.
Ludo: Take me home, girls!
Eagle grabs spider with Ludo on board, and hoists them into the air, flying them away towards New Castle Avarius. He talks to his girls mid-flight as they approach the castle, telling them all about how he was sick and how he met the Jade.
Ludo: You know girls, it's been a really wild last couple of days. A lot has changed for me so quickly. I'm really starting to question myself about things. I think maybe mom was right. I'm gonna do it girls. I'm gonna set things right.
The eagle drops him off at his window so as to not disturb his family as they sleep. He bids them good night, but lays in his bed with his hands behind his head. His excitement, along with the fact that he'd been asleep for so long, has thrown his whole sleeping schedule off. He has plans, big plans. He just lays there, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the future, and thinking even more about Jade.