Amity and her friends split up shortly after, each heading to their own homes, and for once she was happy about it since she could no longer stand Boscha's constant ranting which for some reason had taken a particular dislike to Luz. She walked for a few more minutes before reaching a large mansion that stood on the top of a hill almost in the center of the town, surrounded by an immense garden and an extremely ornate and refined wall and gate. The words 'Blight Manor' were engraved in gold letters above the entrance and shone in the light of the setting sun in the distance.
Amity entered and was greeted by a whistle that announced the arrival of a stocky butler slightly taller than her... but thst come in front of her wasn't a person, but a mass of pieces of metal covered in a uniform, with instead of a head it had a purple sack with a sad expression painted on it, surely put there by her stupid siblings. That was one of her father's many discarded projects, which they had decided to use themselves so as not to waste. The butler was nothing more than a wheeled thing poered by a simple hydraulic system that would come and get her jacket when she got home, and then it turn off and do nothing else; in short, the complete opposite of Luz, who, despite being made of wood, moved and acted like a real person. Amity wondered how her father would react if he found out about the puppet; based on what her two siblings had described to her of his personality, he would probably be able to try to take Luz and dissasemble her to find out what power fueled her... but she couldn't be sure. After all, she knew the man too little to be able to express an objective opinion.
With these thoughts in mind she reached the living room, and there, sitting on a sofa, she found a woman waiting for her. She was a very beautiful woman; although the signs of age were starting to become evident, she still didn't have a single wrinkle on her face or a single white hair in the middle of the green and silky tangle on her head that she kept collected in a bun. Her body, although no longer as thin and slender as it had probably been in her youth, still had all the curves in the right places and no one could find a single flaw in it. But what attracted the most attention was her face: she had magnetic blue eyes that seemed to light up as soon as they rested on Amity, and her lips curved into a smile that seemed the sweetest in the world. "Mittens, honey! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. So, how was school?"
"The usual, mom" Amity replied sitting next to her. She felt almost in awe of being less than a meter away from this perfect woman, a role model she had looked up to ever since she had been able to speak. Odalia Blight, matriarch of the Blight family, was exactly what she always wanted to be: extremely beautiful, extremely intelligent, with a noble bearing, she always knew what to say and do, she never showed a single hesitation and everything seemed to move exactly as she wanted. In one word, she was the personification of the perfection.
Her mother smiled sweetly at her, then she returned her attention to the papers she was holding. As usual she was working; Amity had always seen her mother do nothing but work unless she was sleeping, eating dinner, lunch, or entertaining clients. She knew she had to be grateful to her for that, since it was thanks to her mother's assiduous work that she was able to live in that luxurious house surrounded by every privilege, and therefore she had to reciprocate this generosity that had been given to her by trying to be a suitable daughter for bear the name Blight. "Tell me, what happened? Did you have difficulty with something they explained to you?" her mother asked her without taking her eyes off the paper she was reading.
Amity shook her head. "Absolutely not, mom. It was all extremely clear and easy to understand. I didn't have trouble for even a second"
Odalia turned her head slightly towards her. "Really? Yet I feel you are upset, Mittens" she told her. "Are you sure nothing bad happened to you? You know you can tell me everything, right?"
As soon as her mother's eyes fell on her, Amity felt like someone was peering into her soul. It was incredible how her mother could always tell if she wasn't being completely sincere. She knew it would be her duty as a good daughter to tell her the truth and admit that she had a hard time with the teacher's explanation, but she didn't want her mother to think she wasn't smart enough to figure it out on her own. She didn't want to disappoint her. So in the end she put the blame for her apparent upset on something else: "Nothing much, it's just that a new student arrived today. She's a puppet and is particularly... exuberant"
"A puppet at school?" Odalia showed a very quick moment of confusion, which vanished as quickly as it had come; Amity knew her mother had already figured it all out without her explaining that Luz was an animated puppet. Her mother was too smart; much more than her for sure. "This is new! At this point why don't they also consider the chairs as students? Well, after all we know that odd things happen every now and then. Tell me, did she bother you? Do you want me to do something?"
Amity smiled feeling her heart warm at her mother's concern. "No, mom, I think I'll just ignore her. She's not harmful after all"
Odalia seemed extremely satisfied with that answer. "Well done, Mittens, that's how you have to behave. We Blight don't let ourselves be influenced by certain inferior individuals. You become more mature with each passing day, I'm so proud of you"
Amity was filled with happiness at those words. "All thanks to your teachings, mother"
"Of course it is thanks to my teachings, no jewel can be born if there is not a good sculptor to shape it" her mother replied. "Even though sometimes even the most precious jewel can end up falling into the mud and being ruined beyond repair, as happened to those degenerate siblings of yours... do you know that today I learned that two days ago they created problems in the town hall? In the town hall, do you realise? They will make me die of a broken heart sooner or later. Luckily I still have you, who knows how to be a good daughter"
Amity felt a pang of irritation towards her siblings, who never did anything but cause damage by tarnishing the Blight family name; she thought they were really ungrateful for behaving like this after their mother worked so hard for them. Determined to cheer her up, she said: "Don't worry, mom, I'll always be your good daughter. In fact, I'm going to study straight away now, so I'll get you another excellent result on the next test!"
"Oh, Mittens, you're so adorable. I'm so lucky to have you" Odalia said, patting her on the head. "Go ahead then; I won't hold you back. Work hard and make yourself worthy of the name Blight!"
Amity smiled even more and started to leave, but suddenly her mother's hand tightened around her arm like a trap; her heart skipped a beat, because she knew that meant she was annoyed. She turned quickly to her and saw that her eyes had become slightly more arched. "Mittens, what does this mean?"
Amity broke out in a cold sweat; had her mother found out what she had been up to that afternoon!? "Um... I can explain..."
"Your hair isn't dyed well. Look at this, one piece of your bangs is completely asymmetrical" Odalia interrupted her by tapping her forehead. "I thought you no longer made certain mistakes. How many times do I have to tell you that a Blight always has to pay attention to their appearance?"
Amity didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief that her mother hadn't found out what really happened that day or whether to feel terribly guilty about that mistake. It didn't take long before the second emotion totally took over. "You're right... I'm sorry, mom"
Odalia sighed. "Amity, I know it's hard for you to dye your hair every day, but you need to be more careful" she told her in a very tired voice. "I'm saying this for your own good, appearance is very important when you have to relate to other people; a good first impression is worth a lot in any field. This is why we Blights must make sure we don't have the slightest flaw. Perfect hair, perfect nose, perfect eyebrows, perfect height, perfect weight: everything has to be perfect, you understand? I know that at your age you probably consider these recommendations of mine boring and useless but..."
"No, no, no!" Amity exclaimed with almost panic in her voice. "I would never think that your recommendations are useless, mother! I know well that you only scold me for my own good, I can only be grateful to you!"
A smile appeared on her mother's face again. "Sometimes I forget how diligent and judicious you are. Well done, Mittens, I like you that way. Well, since you have understood your mistake yourself, this time I will avoid lecturing you; so just go to fix yourself, my little perfect Mittens" and she put particular emphasis on those last words.
"Thank you, mom! I don't deserve so much leniency!" Amity responded by almost bowing, and then she ran towards her personal bathroom. She closed the door behind her and immediately went to the mirror to check her hair. And as her mother had said there was indeed a corner near the base of her forehead where the hair wasn't dyed correctly; a very small point, almost invisible, but which at that moment seemed enormous to her. "Oh, no... how did I not notice!? Did anyone else notice? Oh, dear... mom must have thought I was irresponsible! I have to fix that now!"
She immediately grabbed the hair dye and dipped the brush into it, but when it came time to spread it over her hair she realized that her hands were shaking as if they were leaves in the grip of a hurricane. "Oh, no... come on, not now! Stay still! I can't make a mistake... I can't make another mistake! I can't disappoint mom again!"
No use: her hands completely ignored her plea and continued to shake even more violently. "Enough!" she screamed again. "Please! I can't make mistakes again! I have to be perfect again! I can't ask mom to fix me again... I have to show her that I can handle myself... she was so proud just now... I can't call her now and tell me to dye my hair! I can't disappoint her! She told me I'm mature... how would she react if after less than a minute I asked her to help me fix my hair as if I were a little child...?". She looked at her reflection in the mirror, seeing that her eyes were almost popping out of their sockets. "It's okay. It's okay. You just have to calm down. You can do this. You have to do this. You have to be perfect..."
"Amity?"
The girl stopped suddenly upon hearing that voice; she turned quickly towards the window and saw that a large bird was perched on the windowsill with wings so large that they practically covered its entire body while it was in that position. Amity's eyes lit up and without even thinking she ran towards the window and opened it, allowing the creature to enter and also no longer having to remain in that crumpled position; and so it finally stood up and revealed that it wasn't a bird at all, but a beautiful woman with pale skin and pointed ears and wonderful green eyes and curly red hair, whose entire body was covered in brown and black feathers; two large raven-like wings emerged from her back, and her feet and hands resembled clawed paws. But despite her rather intimidating appearance, Amity didn't show the slightest fear and hugged her warmly: "Fairy godmother!"
The woman rubbed her cheeks lovingly. "Amity, I've told you a thousand times, you don't have to address me by that title. Just call me Lilith"
Amity reveled in that touch; even though her interlocutor's hands were covered in claws, she had never been scratched by them when she was caressed, but rather had only felt the soft rubbing of the feathers. "Sorry, it's stronger than me" she said. "Why are you here?"
"I was flying nearby and decided to come see you" Lilith replied, then she became more serious: "You seem agitated. What happened?"
Amity went a little red in the face. "It's nothing, don't worry. I just... overreacted, as usual. I just need to fix this flaw in my hair, I don't need your help, so sorry if I made you worry..."
"Amity, you never have to apologize if someone who loves you worries about you" Lilith replied. "And besides, your hands are still shaking"
Amity quickly hid her hands in her pockets. "That's not true! They're not shaking!" she exclaimed, although she did it in such a false tone that she didn't even convince herself.
Lilith assumed an expression halfway between concern and sadness, then she knelt down to bring her face to the level of her pupil. "Why don't you sit down? I'll paint your hair" she proposed.
"No!" Amity almost screamed. "N-No need... I'm not a little child. I can do it on my own"
"Amity, I never thought you were a little child. Letting yourself be helped is not a sign of weakness" Lilith replied. "Please let me dye your hair. I promise I'll do a good job"
Amity was silent for a second, then she gave up and sat down. Lilith took the brush from her fingers, which didn't seem to be about to stop shaking anytime soon, and then she set about painting her hair. "It's a very small flaw. Are you sure you want to remove it? It's not noticeable at all"
"It's not true! It's really noticeable! It's huge, I was stupid not to notice it before!" Amity said.
Lilith seemed to be summoning all her self-control not to hug her. "Amity..."
She shook her head. "Fix it... just fix it. Please" she asked in a tone so subtle it almost seemed like a plea.
The fairy held the brush motionless in the air for a moment, and then she lowered it and did as Amity had asked (or rather, as she had practically begged her to do). In a few seconds her hair was returned to be uniform, symmetrical and perfect again, even though any normal person probably wouldn't even see the difference from before. "That's it. Is it better now?"
Amity looked at herself in the mirror, and a wave of relief washed over her heart when she saw that the flaw in her hair was gone. Her hands finally stopped shaking. "Thank you, fairy godmother" she said with such an amount of relief that it felt like the fairy had just saved her life.
"I already told you... oh, never mind" Lilith said, then she put a hand on her shoulder. "Amity, please listen to me: you shouldn't react like this over a small flaw. No one would have noticed. You didn't even need to dye your hair again..."
"Yes, it was necessary! That defect was very evident, mom noticed it immediately!" Amity snapped. "Don't try to console me, fairy godmother. I made a mistake, that's what's happened. I let mom down, I showed her that I'm not a good daughter"
"Amity, how could you not be a good daughter?" Lilith asked trying to reason with her. "You always obey your mother, you work hard at school and sports, you do much more than what is normally expected of a girl your age. You don't need to be perfect in anything to..."
"A Blight can't be anything but perfect!" Amity exclaimed even more vehemently. "If I ignore even the smallest flaw, then I will start to ignore even bigger faults... and I will end up becoming a degenerate like my older siblings! I can't allow it! I... I have to continue to be perfect!". She pulled away from the fairy's grip, even though it hurt her to leave that loving touch. "Look, thanks for your help but... now I have to go in my bedroom and study"
"I can help you with that" Lilith told her.
"No! No, I can do it on my own" Amity replied. "You… you can go. You don't need to stay here, I can handle myself"
Lilith was silent for a moment. Amity didn't have the courage to look into her eyes: she knew that she would find pity and love in them, and that if she looked at them she would no longer have the strength to ask the fairy to leave her alone. "Okay" Lilith said finally, and then she reached her hand towards the girl's neck; with extreme delicacy she grabbed a small string that emerged from the collar of her shirt, and pulling it slightly revealed a necklace that Amity kept hidden under her clothes, which ended with a sphere-shaped jewel made of what looked like onyx and on which was painted some sort of of crescent. Lilith held it in her hand for a moment, then she dropped it onto the girl's chest again. "But remember, I'm here for you. I'm always here for you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me, anytime". And having said that she went out the window and opened her wings, and she flew away into the colored sunset sky.
Amity let out a deep breath, trying to get her heartbeat to return to normal; her hands touched the jewel around her neck and felt the warmth of her fairy godmother's touch on it again, after which she hid it under her shirt again. Having done this she went to the window to close it; while she was doing so, she noticed that in the street beyond the gate there were her older siblings, Emira and Edric, who were greeting someone. It was probably a friend of theirs. Amity didn't see who it was because when she looked they were already almost gone behind an alley, but she could clearly see a white cloak and what looked a lot like a red cardinal flying next to them.
First appearance of Odalia. Absolutely a loving mother we all wish we could have. Her being a good parent to Amity is about on the same level with how Belos can be a polite and kind boss to Hunter... nah, we're not at that level yet, Belos is still number one.
