Amity and Luz were at Luz's house, relaxing and getting some much-needed downtime.
It had been about a week(or was it more than a week? Days were blurring together) since the Battle of the Boiling Isles had been fought and won. The initial shock of beating Belos had died down, for the most part, but that was not to say that it was all over. The Collector's mayhem combined with the Isles literally coming alive had left quite a bit of cleaning up to do, to say the least.
Luz had been all in on the rebuilding from the start, partly because of some feelings of responsibility for the Isles' state and, Amity suspected, guilt. Amity thought this was completely ridiculous, and had said as much, with Camilla and Eda backing her up on the point;
"Luz, stop trying to kill yourself! You pulled Belos out of the Titan's heart and saved the world! The Titan raising its arm was not your fault!" Which sounded like a very stern lecture, and might've been if the effect hadn't been ruined by the caring tone that had invaded it after the first few words.
It had gotten through Luz's head that it was physically impossible for her to work every hour of every day. However, Eda had still had to order Luz to take a day off every once and a while.
So, Amity and Luz had gone back to the Human Realm(courtesy of the Collector's newly-installed portal) and spent one said day off having fun together. They had gone to the beach, and Camilla had gotten them ice cream. It hadn't even had any natural things in it other than plants, but it had still been delicious. This would have shocked Amity had she not lived in the Human Realm with Luz for some months.
That evening, the couple sat out on the porch watching the sunset, Amity's hand on top of Luz's. Phantom and Stringbean slept nearby, tired after a long day of chasing seagulls.
Some part of Amity was laughing at how much this scene was like one of Luz's romance novels, but Amity did not notice or care at the time.
As they relaxed, Amity glanced at the sleeping Palismen, and a thought occurred to her that hadn't before, one that made her stifle a laugh. Luz noticed.
"What is it, Amity?" she asked.
"I've got a question."
"What question?"
"You could've chosen any name. You could've gone for a nice name like Clover, or a cool name, like Phantom, or a pun, like F- uh, a pun." (Amity hoped Luz had missed what she had almost said. Amity also knew Luz hadn't.)
"So why did you name your Palisman Stringbean?"
Luz giggled. "Oh, that question. Well, I was pretty sure that was the name she wanted, and it's such a cute name! Besides, doesn't she look like a Stringbean?"
No, Amity wanted to say. The little purple snakeshifter had ears like a cat, a heart on her face, and a little orb on her tail. She did not look like a bean in any respect, even if (Amity admitted) it was a cute name.
"Yeah, I guess." was what she actually said. "But you couldn't have given her a normal name?"
Luz burst out laughing at that. "Amity," she said, "am I 'normal'? At all?"
Amity grinned. "Point taken." she replied. "Of course you're not. You're Luz. I wouldn't like you any other way."
Luz's smile turned mischievous. "So there's even a possibility you don't like me?"
"You know the answer to that question." Amity said, and leaned against Luz.
No, it wasn't over. It would likely never be, at least not in Amity's lifetime. Tomorrow, she and Luz would get back to work rebuilding the Boiling Isles.
But that didn't mean they couldn't be happy.
So Amity thought as night fell, Luz close by her side. Peace had come.