Hi Amity,

Are you sure that Luz is okay with all this stuff about her dad being in this report? You should probably ask her. Don't worry, you have plenty of time. It won't be published for a while.

Also, I know that we can't resurrect Luz's dad, but maybe it's possible to use oracle magic to find his killer? I don't know much about it, but I've heard that it's possible to scry in the past. If I'm out of line, just say so. I can take it.

Your friend,

Gus

Don't worry, Gus. Luz has been looking over my reports and giving them her seal of approval, including yesterday's. She says that her father would be overjoyed to know that he'd have a place in in our historical record.

With regards to your other suggestion, I've ran it by Luz, and we both decided against it. Even if we could launch such a spell in the Human Realm without attracting attention, we wouldn't be able to do anything with the information we gained. Magic is not admissible in court here, so the justice system here would be powerless to punish Señor Noceda's killer. Luz would rather not know who it was than know and not be able to do anything about it. But we both appreciate the thought. You're a good friend, Gus. I should tell you that more often. [Aw, you're a great friend too, Amity!]

Okay, enough mushy stuff between the two of us. We need to get to what truly matters here: mushy stuff between Luz and I. Well, you'll be pleased to know that first thing in the morning, I took the bus up north to the premier tertiary educational institution in the region, the University of Washington, to grab the books I promised to get you. [Yay!] Though Seattle has larger, more impressive bookstores, I picked the school's bookstore because it has a lot of textbooks sold there. I'm just glad that I have all this money because that stuff is expensive. I think you'll be pleased with them.

After I got the books, I bought a sandwich and some tea from the bookstore café and sat down to read my books. I like the tea here. It's certainly a lot better than coffee. I was so engrossed in my meal and my reading that I didn't see someone sit down at the table across from me until they said, "What's a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"I'm not interested; I have a girlfriend; go away," I said without bothering to look up from my books. When they didn't go away, I looked up to glare at them.

Only to find that said person was none other than my girlfriend herself! I'm surprised that I didn't faint from embarrassment then and there. "Luz! Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for you to go away." She didn't seem offended at all. In fact, she seemed to find the whole thing amusing. "How'd you find me here?"

She smirked. "Oh, it wasn't easy. I had to use every ounce of my cunning."

"This was totally dumb luck, wasn't it? You just took a wild guess at a bookstore I might be and hoped I'd be there."

Luz tried to look innocent. She failed abysmally. "Huh? No idea what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh," I said, letting the full force of my skepticism into that comment. "Well, as long as you're here, what do you have in mind for today?"

"We're going to…the zoo!" Luz said, gesturing grandly as if she was presenting something magnificent to me. Since I had no idea what she was talking about, the effect was lost on me.

I sighed. "Luz…what's a zoo?"

Luz yelped, looking aghast. "You don't have zoos back home?" Her eyes widened in shock, and I knew that it wasn't from the lack of zoos in the Boiling Isles. It was because she had referred to the Boiling Isles as home. It may have been the first time that she truly understood that. "Um, yeah, well, basically, a zoo is a place where you can go and see wild animals. They're kept in enclosures."

I tilted my head. I wanted to make sure that I was understanding her right. "So you imprisoned a bunch of wild animals so you could gloat over how superior you are to them?"

"No!" Luz said. "I mean, kind of? But it's not like that, not really. They're well fed and looked after. They're safe there too, safer than they'd be in the wild. And people don't go there to gloat over them. They love seeing them!"

I still suspected that gloating had at least been the original intention, but who was I to judge? If our wildlife wasn't so absurdly dangerous, we'd have probably done the same thing. Besides, I was looking forward to seeing examples of Earthly fauna. Other than humans, the orca, and the occasional bird, I hadn't seen many animals. Anyway, Luz knew much more about these things than I did. If she thought it was moral to keep these animals in this zoo, then I trusted her judgment.

"Okay," I said. It sounded fun, and after yesterday's visit to the cemetery, fun was something that I think Luz needed now. "Just let me finish this meal and then we'll go there. Are you sure you're all right? Yesterday was tough on you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice distant. "I should have known better than to think that magic could bring him back. I mean, if it could do that, I probably would have heard of it already. But I had to ask. I wouldn't have been able to stop wondering if I didn't. It was tough. But talking about him helped."

After we got back from the cemetery, we spent the evening talking about Señor Noceda. Camila told all sorts of stories about him, including some that Luz had never heard before. I feel that telling you those stories would be a breach of their privacy, but the thrust of it was that he was a decent, caring man who very much did not deserve to die.

I finished my meal and we went on the bus to the Woodland Park Zoo. It's not just spring break in the Boiling Isles and in Luz's hometown of [REDACTED BY ORDER OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE] [I'm serious, Amity, stop doing that.], but also in the Seattle School District. And it turns out that kids love zoos. It's amazing to see so many children enjoying themselves, being carefree, being happy. I wish I had gotten that chance.

The Woodland Park Zoo is a big place – ninety-two acres. There was a lot to see. Fortunately, Luz took a lot of pictures with her phone, so I don't have to spend a lot of time describing the animals I saw. Verbose descriptions and I are not friends. [I can't help but notice that you and verbosity are on great terms when it's Luz that you're describing…]

Anyways, the first thing that Luz insisted that I see was the penguins. Earth has seven continents: North America (where Luz lives), South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. Antarctica is exceptionally cold, and human civilization is not sustainable there. Yet wildlife exists there, including the penguins. They are technically birds, but cannot fly. However, they are exceptionally skilled swimmers.

Oh, yeah, probably should have mentioned this earlier, but to the best of our knowledge, humanity is the only sapient species on Earth. Luz has a sneaking suspicion that the species known as cats is also sapient, but it should be emphasized that this is only a theory and not one with any scientific backing to it. These penguins? They're not sapient. Probably not sentient either, but who can truly know these things? Not I.

"Look at them, Amity!" Luz shouted at me as we watched the penguins swim happily in their enclosure. At least I assumed they were happy. "Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen?"

"Well," I said, pretending to think about it, "I can think of one person who's cuter."

"You're right!" Luz said. I was surprised to hear that. Normally, compliments flew over her head. "King is way cuter than those guys!" Ah. There we go. "But he's not here and they are!"

I poked her nose playfully. "I mean you!" She blushed. "Tienes suerte eres mi valiente defensora," I told her.

"Hey, your Spanish is getting better!" Luz said. "Pretty soon, the two of us will be able to watch telenovelas together without the subtitles."

"Absolutely," I told her. I had no idea what a telenovela was, but it didn't seem like it would be imminently relevant, so I let it slide. "Luz, are you absolutely sure these penguins are happy here? They wouldn't be happier in Antarctica?"

"Well, they were born and raised here," Luz pointed out. "They probably don't even know any differently."

As you know, Viney has been tutoring me in beast keeping magic. She spends so much time with Emira that they practically live together, so I figured if I had to listen to them be sickeningly sweet all the time [Do you know how hypocritical you sound right now?], I might as well get some education out of the whole deal. One of the spells that she taught me was an animal empathy spell. If these creatures were sapient enough to have an opinion on their captivity, the spell would allow us to learn what it was.

Luz looked horrified when I told her this. "Do you really think we've been hurting these animals all along?"

"I think we shouldn't discount the possibility. I have to know, Luz. Even if nothing can be done about it, I can't knowingly partake in this if that's the case."

She nodded slowly. "Okay, but you do know that if it's the case – and I really think it isn't – we really can't do anything about it. We can't tell people about magic, and if we do a jailbreak here, we'll get arrested."

"I understand," I assured her. "I'm probably just being paranoid, and we can laugh about how silly I'm being later, right?"

Luz squeezed my hand. "You're a good person. I wouldn't laugh at you for that."

And that, right there, is why I love her.

The animal empathy spell would only work on sapient beings. If it didn't work, then the creatures weren't sapient enough to manage to connect our brains, and I could enjoy my day at the zoo in peace without these pesky moral quandaries. Luz decided that we'd use it on the gorillas. Gorillas are the closest relative to humans at the park, and thus the most likely to be sapient enough to be effected by the spell. (Chimpanzees are closer relatives, but the zoo doesn't have any of those.)

The gorillas are kept behind glass, and I couldn't help but feel pity for them. I may not have been kept behind glass in a literal sense, but in the end, my parents saw me as nothing more than just a fancy trophy for them. "Let's get this over with," I said. I wanted the spell not to work. If it worked, then I would have to deal with the fact that these creatures were prisoners, and I could do nothing to save them.

We waited until we were sure that no one was around, and then I cast the spell, making an orange circle briefly appear in the air. And that was all that happened. No connection was made. The gorillas were not sapient enough for the spell. I had never been so happy to see a spell fail.

"WITCH!" a voice screamed from behind us. I wheeled around to see a middle-aged woman glaring at us as if we were the source of all evil. Her face was red and her whole body was practically vibrating with fury.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I squeaked. I tried to sound composed and confident, but I was failing abysmally. The fear was all over my face; it was transparently obvious.

"Don't you lie to me, you demonic creature," the woman hissed. "I saw you use witchcraft!"

Abruptly, the woman grabbed at my hair and pulled it so it exposed my pointy ears. I shrieked. "Get your hands off me!"

"DEMON!" she shouted. "Demon, demon, demon!"

The woman's screams had attracted a large crowd. "You're crazy!" Luz told her. "I'm just here on a date with my girlfriend! Leave us alone!"

"I saw her cast a spell," the woman said grandly to the crowd. "She was trying to enchant this poor, confused young girl. She's a demon!"

"Just because she has a birth defect that makes her ears pointy does not mean that she's a demon!" Luz argued. "Besides, I happen to think it's cute. And I'm not confused at all! I'm an out loud and proud bisexual, and you can take that to the bank, lady!"

Denial seemed to be the best course of action here, so I played along. "Gee, you're so sweet, Luz. Still, I wish I did know magic. If I did, I'd cast a spell to make homophobia disappear!"

"Help me seize this thing!" our accuser yelled at the crowd, fully expecting to round up an angry mob.

But no one moved a muscle. "Leave her alone!" a man in the crowd said. "They didn't do anything to you!"

"I saw it!" the woman shrieked. "I saw her use magic!" Laughter erupted from the crowd. They weren't laughing at us. They were laughing at her. Maybe somewhere else, at some other time, the woman's statements could have riled up an angry mob to attack me. But here? Now? The tide of history was bearing down upon her, and she was not able to withstand it.

"Fine!" the woman shouted, throwing up her arms. Maybe she had sensed that the crowd was overwhelmingly against her. "If you want to stand idly by while demons corrupt our youth and bring them to conduct licentious acts, then so be it!" She stormed off.

"Are you all right?" a zoo employee asked me. I realized that I still had my ears uncovered and quickly covered them. "I'm so sorry you had to experience that. If you'd care to accompany me to the administration office, we can see about refunding some of your ticket."

Luz shook her head. "Thank you for offering, but Amity and I just want to put this behind us."

And then, in front of all those people, she kissed me. And the crowd applauded, Gus. They applauded. There was a time, not too long ago, when the crowd would have gladly followed that woman's lead. When they would have thrown us in the gorilla enclosure to get eaten. But not anymore. They changed. Humanity can change, and that's one of the things that makes them amazing.

Luz gave a wave and a smile to the crowd, and then she ran for it. The change was so abrupt that I was left standing there for several seconds, trying to figure out exactly what had happened to my girlfriend. Then I spotted her and I ran after her.

"What's going on?" I asked her when I finally caught after her. "Why are we running? Are we in danger?"

Luz looked panicky. "Amity, did you see anyone with their phones out, recording that incident?" she demanded.

"No, don't worry. No one was around except that woman when I cast the spell."

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about then! I'm talking about afterwards. The last thing I want right now is to go viral."

"You think she might have infected you?" I asked, now sounding as panicked as she did.

"Uh, no, that's not what I meant. I mean, if we were being recorded, we could become famous. Internet famous, you know?" I most certainly did not. "I mean, not for very long, but still, what would happen if they did some digging and found out that there was no record of you anywhere?"

Ah, so that was what she was worrying about. "You don't have to worry about that, Luz," I assured her. "Lilith took care of setting up my cover. They planted records of me in Canadian government databases, that boarding school in British Columbia you said I went to, and a whole bunch of other places. They even gave me a fake passport, see?" I took my passport out of my jacket pocket and showed it to her. She looked impressed, and finally seemed like she was starting to calm down.

"We can leave, if you want," I suggested. I'd be sad to not see more animals, but if Luz was too upset to stay, then I'd leave.

Luz firmly shook her head. "Absolutely not. I am not going to let that [REDACTED] stop me. We are going to have a fun time," she announced, in the same firm and confident voice that one would use to say we are going to slay that dragon.

We decided that we should get some space from the people in that encounter, and we went towards the northern part of the park. The Northern Trail was constructed to resemble the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest. It was a heavily wooded area, and you could almost believe that you were in the wilds of nature rather than in the largest zoo in the region. We saw the wolf exhibit. Apparently, these are the ancestors of the domesticated animals called dogs common in human households. We saw the brown bear exhibit. Those fellows were impressive.

And then we got to our destination. The river otter. Luz loves otters. They're the animal that she feels the most connection to. I don't have the slightest clue why. I don't understand the appeal. I do, however, understand the appeal of watching the look on her face when she sees them, and that's good enough for me.

River otters are semiaquatic mammals. They spend some of their time in the water and some of their time on land. They prey on fish mostly, but have also have been known to eat amphibians, and have even been said to eat dogs and birds if they're desperate enough. They communicate largely through scent marking. You don't want to know how they do this.

All of this and much more (though I didn't catch the rest) Luz related to me as we approached the exhibit. Like the penguins, the otters were given an exhibit with plenty of water. They were lounging out on rocks, though, when we approached them. Luz waved at them as if she was expecting them to wave back. Maybe she was?

"Can I tell you an embarrassing childhood memory without, you know, you laughing at me?" she asked me. Her voice was light, but I could sense an undercurrent of nervousness behind it. She was genuinely afraid, on some level, that I would laugh at her.

"Of course you can. I'd swear an Everlasting Oath, but I don't think we should risk using more magic right now."

She looked relieved to hear that. "Well, when I was, like, really young, I read the Harry Potter books. Have I ever mentioned those?" I shook my head. "Yeah, well, I really soured on them after Rowling said all that transphobic stuff, so that's not a surprise. At least Phalanx is completely supportive of the LGBT community."

I squeezed her hand. "Oh, Luz. You don't need to be embarrassed having enjoyed something just because its creator turned out to be a jerk."

"Oh, no, that's not what I was talking about," she said with a laugh. "Yeah, so Harry was a wizard and one of the first signs of his magical power turned out to be that he could talk to snakes. And I thought, well, I'd totally be able to talk to otters if I had magic. So I might have sneaked off every time Mami and I came to the zoo and tried to converse with the otters here."

"And now, ironically, you do have magic, but you can't use it to talk to them," I pointed out.

She let out a huge guffaw. "Yeah! Yeah, I guess you're right there!" She kissed me. "But I think I prefer being with you than being able to talk to otters."

After the long walk along the Northern Trail, I was getting hungry. "Hey, Luz? ¿Cómo se dice otter?"

"Nutria," she responded.

"Well, mi nutria con un lado oscuro, let's get ourselves some lunch." My otter with a dark side thought that was a great idea, so went over to the zoo's food court. It was called the Rainforest Food Pavilion, but other than being situated in the middle of section of the zoo containing the rainforest animal exhibits, it didn't resemble a rainforest in the slightest.

I let Luz do the ordering for us. She let me borrow her phone while I waited, and I was relieved to find out that while accounts of the incident at the gorilla enclosure had reached the general public, no pictures had been taken. Public opinion appeared overwhelmingly on our side, although Luz has cautioned me that what one sees on the internet and real life aren't always the same thing.

The internet is by far the most transformational invention humanity has ever invented, and I don't think they fully understand yet just how transformational it is. Inconceivable levels of information is available in just seconds to them. Pretty much anything that you want to know about anything can be found. People thousands of miles apart can make connections, regardless of whether or not their economic circumstances would allow them to meet in person.

But there's a darker side to it as well. Lies are just as easily accessible – if not more so – than the truth. They spread far quicker than truth and can be far more damaging. The worst of humanity exists on the internet in addition to its best. You can be anonymous online, which means that people are free to be their true selves – both for good and for ill.

"They have dairy free milkshakes here!" Luz crowed when she got back to the table with our food. She had ordered hamburgers for us, since I'd loved them so much when we went to Seattle Center. "How awesome is that?!"

Luz is lactose intolerant, which means that her body can't handle dairy products. As the name suggests, milkshakes are a human drink made from ice cream, dairy milk, and sweeteners. This particular milkshake, according to her, was made from coconut milk and soy ice cream instead of their dairy equivalents.

"I don't know," I told her. Was she expecting an answer? "How awesome is it?"

"TOTALLY awesome," she responded loud enough to get people to shush us and then gave me a high five.

It was then that I noticed something. "Luz, you forgot to get me a milkshake!"

"Oh, no, I didn't forget," she said. She looked vaguely uncomfortable. She held up two straws. "I thought we could, um, drink out of the same glass. It's kind of a romantic tradition we have here. At least according to movies." She grimaced. "Yeah, I'm being weird now, aren't you?"

I grabbed one of the straws out of her hand. "You really must be not paying attention, Luz, if you haven't realized that I love weird by now."

We both used our straws to drink from the glass, which had the probably deliberate side effect of us having our faces very close together. I am so relieved that she didn't ask me to do this earlier in our relationship, as I would have exploded from sheer cuteness overload. She was close enough to kiss.

So that's exactly what I did. She let out a cute little squeak of excitement. She still hasn't outgrown the cuteness overload stage of our relationship yet. I hope she never does. "You're so adorable like that," I told her.

"You're adorable too," Luz said. With both of us drinking from the milkshake, it was finished with in record time. The taste was okay. I've had better. But the experience? It was utterly priceless.

As we ate our burgers, I noticed that Luz looked like she wanted to say something. "Um, so I might have lied back there. About being out loud and proud." She laughed nervously. "I'm not. I mean, I'm proud! There's nothing wrong with being bi. I know that. But I'm not out fully. Publicly. Mom knows, and you know, and my friends here know, but no one else does."

She twisted her hands nervously. "I haven't told Gus or Willow or Eda or Lilith, and they all must assume that I'm a lesbian. And I know that they'd be fine with it, that they wouldn't care, so why am I keeping it from them?!"

"Hey," I said softly. "It's a big deal. And it's your choice when and where you come out to people. Not theirs. You don't owe anybody anything." She looked like she was about to cry. "And I'll be there for you if you decide to tell them."

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Luz said so quietly that I almost missed it.

I frowned at her. I didn't like it when she thought so little of herself. Years of being ground down by society had left her with the impression that she was somehow unworthy of all the great things happening to her. And, yes, I am self-aware to know that I am a massive hypocrite on this matter, given my own opinion of myself. "It's not about who deserves what. I love you, and you love me. It's that simple."

"I guess it is," she said, in a somewhat awed tone. "I guess it really is."

With the mission of cheering up Luz accomplished and our food eaten, it was time to go forth in pursuit of even cooler animals to see. Luz took me to the savanna section of the zoo. These animals originated in Africa, and humanity has long been interested in them. Lions, humungous cats with fearsomely sharp teeth, have been regarded as a symbol of royalty and power. The zebra, an adorable black and white striped animal, are regarded as a symbol of beauty and grace. The hippopotamus has been associated with motherhood and childbirth because of the females' intense protection of their young. They were all astounding creatures, majestic and beautiful.

"And I saved the best of this bunch for last," Luz bragged. "You see, Eda told me about this guy, and I think you'll find them to look pretty familiar! It's just time for their feeding."

So we went around a corner and saw a giraffe.

[[REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED]!]

I couldn't help it. I screamed. The zoo was home to frigging giraffes, Gus! I couldn't believe my eyes! These creatures were embodiments of pure evil, and there one was right in front of me with nothing but a measly fence separating me from utter doom!

"What's going on?" Luz asked me frantically, no doubt noticing the look of pure fear on my face. "Did something happen?"

"It's a giraffe!" I said, barely maintaining the presence of mind to keep my voice down to a reasonable level. I was practically shaking from terror. "Are you insane? You brought me to see a giraffe! It's seen me! It knows who I am now!"

She kept looking confused. I couldn't believe that she did this. Did Eda not bother mentioning to her the horrid depravities these monsters had committed? "Luz, what did Eda tell you about giraffes?"

"Um, just that they were exiled because they were 'a bunch of freaks.'" Ugh. Trust Eda to skip over the really important details. Maybe it wasn't her fault. She had probably been busy playing pranks when she was supposed to be learning about the atrocities of the Camelopardic Empire.

I took a deep breath, trying to not look at the giraffe, lest it realize that I was not human. "Luz, the giraffes were exiled because they were evil incarnate. They once ruled the Demon Realm with iron hooves. I shudder to even think about the things they did to witches back in the day. It took a combined alliance of demons, fae, and witches to even gather enough power to exile them. Killing them was just beyond our abilities."

She continued to look bewildered. "Yeah, well, maybe that history was…exaggerated a little? Because they haven't done anything really bad since they've been here. I'm pretty sure I'd know if they did."

"But what if they've grown more subtle?!" I demanded. "What if all these horrible things humans have been doing to each other were because giraffes were pulling the strings?"

She was silent for a few moments. "Okay, I'm trying really hard not to burst out laughing here because I know you're serious, but honestly, Amity, it's getting harder and harder."

"We have to kill them," I decided. I readied magic, but Luz grabbed my arm to prevent me from making a spell circle.

"We're not doing that," she hissed at me. "Look, maybe going through the portal made them docile, took away their intelligence. These are animals. They're not sapient. They're not evil. They're just living their lives."

I hesitated. The idea of giraffes not being evil was just absurd to me. On the other hand, they were really in your face about their evil. Subtlety was not their thing. They were also exceptionally arrogant. If they were pulling a long con, it would probably have collapsed already. As much as I hated to admit it, Luz was right. They weren't threats anymore.

"Okay," I said, gritting my teeth to even get the word out. "But we've got to get out of here. I refuse to be anywhere near that beast."

Luz must have decided that this was a good enough compromise, so we walked away. I nearly collapsed when we were far enough away that I was confident we were safe from it. "I guess from your perspective I must look pretty crazy, huh?" I admitted.

She kissed me on the cheek. "Haven't you heard? We're all mad here," she said, sounding like she was quoting something. I could get behind the sentiment.

"I think I'm done here," I admitted. "Seeing that giraffe just knocked me for a loop."

"No problem!" Luz said, sounding as cheerful as ever. "Besides, you need to be well rested for tomorrow!"

"What's tomorrow?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

She gave me a huge grin and grabbed a pair of tickets from her hoodie pocket. "Prepare yourself, Amity, because tomorrow we are going to Emerald City Comic Con!" My confusion must have read on my face, because she went on to say, "A comic convention is, well, it's kind of like a covention, except instead of covens advertising themselves, it's comic book companies and publishing companies. They have celebrities there, authors and actors and such, who sign autographs."

Luz paused for dramatic effect here. "So get ready, because tomorrow, we're going to meet Leandra Phalanx!"

I gasped. "The author of the Good Witch Azura series?! That Leandra Phalanx?!"

"Yep!"

I was pretty sure that my shriek of joy could be heard miles away, but I didn't care. My lifelong dream was about to come true, and it was all thanks to Luz.