The next day Luz and Amity met to hang out, alone this time; after all, they both wanted to spend some time alone with their significant other. And indeed that was a beautiful day for them, as they always were whenever they were together; but after a while Amity, with the intuition that only a soulmate could possess, realized that something was troubling her girlfriend. "Luz, what's bothering you?"

The puppet sighed. She had hoped not to point that out to Amity, but obviously she couldn't hide anything from her. "It's just that... well, you know that Raine and Eda are in love with each other..."

"Even a blind person would notice that" Amity confirmed.

"Eh eh! Yes. And I would be so happy if they were together" Luz told her, then her face darkened. "But... Raine told me that there are problems if a fairy loves a human being... they didn't tell me what, but they seemed quite serious about it... and they said that it scares Eda"

"Uh... I didn't know that" Amity replied, and it was true: she couldn't remember any book she'd ever read mentioning any obstacle in a relationship between fairies and humans. "Have you tried talking to Eda about it?"

"Yes, I tried this morning. But she was very evasive, as usual. She clearly doesn't like to talk about it... seriously, sometimes I think Hunter's attitude of never talking about the past is a contagious disease, because I see too many people avoiding it" Luz grumbled with a little irritation in her voice, but also a lot of understanding. She knew how difficult it was to recall bad memories, and so she didn't completely blame Eda for not wanting to talk about them. "I would like to understand, to know why they try to resist the desire to kiss each other every moment like we do. I would like to know if I can help them, or at least give them my opinion on this thing"

Amity thought for a moment, then she said: "Well... you could ask Lilith"

Luz's eyes lit up; she hadn't thought of that possibility. "Do you think she'll tell us?"

"Well, she's a fairy too and she knows her sister, so she definitely knows what's wrong. It's worth a try" Amity answered her. "In the worst case scenario she will just tell you that she doesn't want to talk about it"

Luz agreed that her girlfriend was definitely right, so they both headed to Lilith's house. As soon as they arrived they were welcomed by Mike Socks, particularly happy to see them, who flew towards them passing through the window; the fairy came to open the door a few moments later. "Oh, hello, girls! Come in! I wasn't expecting your visit. Do you want anything?"

"No, thanks, we're fine" Amity replied, then she pointed to the puppet next to her. "Luz wanted to ask you something... about Eda"

Lilith was about to make a joke that she would reveal any dirty secret of Eda's that they wanted, but seeing Luz's stern expression she realized that she must not have something funny in mind. "Sure, tell me"

"Um... it's about... Eda and Raine" Luz replied, and easily noticed a dark veil pass over Lilith's face. "Feel free not to answer if you don't want to, but... well... what exactly is it that stops fairies and humans from loving each other?"

Lilith inspired deeply. She was silent for a few seconds, then she asked: "Eda didn't want to tell you about it, right?"

Luz shook her head. "I tried to ask her, but she was very evasive"

"As I imagined. Eda doesn't like to talk about this topic" Lilith sighed, and suddenly she looked very tired. "Go into the living room and sit down. It's going to be a long story"

The two girls obeyed and sat on the sofa, and then waited; Lilith returned shortly after and gave them a couple of hot herbal teas, and then she sat on a small chair in front of them while she sipped one herself. "So… where should I start?" she murmured, and she seemed to be addressing herself more than them. "Well, for starters, you should know that fairy love is not like human love"

Luz and Amity wore confused expressions. "What does it mean?"

"Humans are not truly bonded to each other, even after they have married or stayed together for decades. Although two soul mates are symbolically said to be bonded forever, in reality they have no bond. This is why it is possible that sometimes a love ends, or one of the two cheats, or all the other various things" Lilith explained, and then her face seemed to soften a little: "Humans after love begins don't stay together because they have to, but because they want to. Every day they wake up and unconsciously decide to continue loving that person. They are the ones who decide to allow them to enter their hearts so much that they consider them a part of them. Even if nature has not given them any constraints, they humans can decide to create one just out of love... and this in my opinion is a wonderful thing"

Luz and Amity couldn't help but smile back. Explained that way, love between humans seemed truly extraordinary. Lilith took a sip from her cup, then the smile faded from her face. "For fairies it's the opposite. They don't just consider the person they love like a part of them... that person IS part of them" she said. "When fairies fall in love... their souls merge into one"

Luz and Amity almost spit out the herbal tea they were drinking. "What? So... they become a single person?" the puppet exclaimed with wide eyes. "Is it like the connection between me and Eda, or like your pain-sharing spell?"

"Oh, no, it's something much deeper. The one between me and Eda or between you and Eda is just a magical connection, nothing more. The one between two fairies in love is a real fusion of their being. They always remain two separate people, with their own distinct minds; but from that moment on, each of them will be able to perceive the other and always know where they are, and will be able to share every feeling and thought with that person without even needing to speak to each other. two will always know if the other is angry, sad, happy or upset" Lilith replied. "The fusion of souls begins from the moment the two fairies begin to unite in a relationship and culminates with marriage. From that moment, they are united for life and will never stop loving each other. But... this also has some negative sides"

Luz and Amity clearly noticed the darkening veil that adorned Lilith's eyes, and realized that it couldn't be a good thing. "And what happens... if one of the two gets hurt?" Amity murmured, already imagining the answer.

"If they are physical wounds, only the person who is injured suffers; but for mental ones... they are also shared. If one of the two has a trauma, the other will also suffer with the same intensity" Lilith he replied, then she added: "And if one of the two dies... the soul breaks"

Luz's wooden heart almost jumped into her throat. "So… you die…?"

"Oh, no, it's much worse. You can continue to live, because the brain, the heart and all other internal organs continue to function. But you lose a part of yourself forever" Lilith replied. "It's as if a piece of you were torn away and never returned to you. It will be more difficult for you to have thoughts, feelings, even decide how and when to move your body. And also... the pain is terrible. Since in the moment you feel your soul breaking your first thought is certainly 'Oh no, they're dead!', the piece of soul that remains inside you absorbs all your suffering and at the same time that of the dying person, becoming a receptacle of desperation and regret. It is no coincidence that almost always when this happens the fairy in question goes completely crazy and needs someone to take care of them, because they become incapable of caring for themselves and would willingly let themselves die"

Luz and Amity felt pain in their chests as Lilith described that to them. "That sounds horrible" they muttered almost in unison.

"Because it is. Believe me, death is far preferable" Lilith answered them, without taking her eyes off the cup in her hand, as if she didn't want to look them in the face. "But when a fairy falls in love with a human... it's worse"

"Why?" Luz asked in a small voice.

"Because as I explained to you before, humans don't really share their essence with their halves. They choose to love someone. But faeries have to. So, what happens when these two realities collide?" Lilith replied. "Simple: the human cannot share their soul with the fairy, but the soul of the fairy still binds to that of the human. Which means that this connection is much, much more powerful than normal: the soul of the human has within itself that of the fairy, but that of the fairy does not have within itself that of the human. The whole system is... unstable. And if the human dies... or is even just on the verge of death... or is seriously injured... what the fairy suffers is terrible. In the previous case the fairy lost a piece of her soul, but this soul was still made up of two souls, so in any case the fairy still had a complete soul. In this case, however... their very soul breaks in half"

Luz instinctively grabbed Amity's hand. She wasn't liking where that conversation was going at all. "And… what happens in that case?"

Lilith sighed deeply. "Have you ever felt the feeling of being torn apart from the inside? No longer being able to control yourself and your emotions? Becoming completely unable to manage your actions, and letting them be governed by hate, happiness, anger, joy or pain as the case may be, without you having any will in this? Well, this is exactly what happens. The fairy goes completely mad, becomes unable to control themselves, and become governed solely by what their now tortured heart feels, without no rationality to keep it in check. You can imagine what happens in these cases". Her hand trembled slightly. "As you can imagine, that fairy's first thought is to take revenge on those who took away their love, and with no rationality left to stop them, they unleash the worst things. In the best case scenario she hurts that person and then turns into an... Owl Beast, or at least another monster... because they have done a bad deed, but this eventuality is extremely rare; it is as if a fairy's body instinctively remembers that they must not do it, and since the fairy now is totally controlled by instinct, they manage to punish the other person without turning into a monster, but at the same time they are totally incapable of understanding what this action will cause to other people. To give you an example... you know the story of how Belos was born, right?"

Luz shivered, and Amity held her close to comfort her. "That fairy… Evelyn… she…?"

"She had lost her rationality, yes. Caleb's death had driven Evelyn completely mad... and the result was the birth of Belos" Lilith answered. "Evelyn was no longer thinking at that moment. She didn't think about what the creation of such a monster could unleash on the world, maybe she didn't even imagine it. She just wanted to punish him for his actions and completely followed the desires of her heart. She wanted him had the chance to become more powerful than ever, just like he wanted, but at the same time he was imprisoned forever, and that's why Belos can't rise from the sea and can't even use his immense magic to support his body for be able to do it, even if with that same magic he could lift a mountain and throw it away. But since she was a pure person of heart anyway, she instinctively added a possibility of redemption in his punishment, namely that Belos would return to normal if he admitted that he was not infallible and had saved a thousand people... but obviously that monster has always been careful not to do this". She paused briefly, then she added: "This is what happens when a fairy and a human get married, and it's just the most egregious example. There have been countless throughout history, though not on this scale. That's why fairies normally tend to avoid romantic relationships with humans, and they immediately distance themselves if they realize that they are feeling love towards someone... in the sense of relationship based on lovers, I mean, not that towards children or pupils or friends"

Amity and Luz had remained silent the entire time. They felt a bitter taste in their mouth. It was a lot to take in. "So… Is Eda afraid of a situation like this happening with her and Raine?" Luz asked.

But Lilith shook her head. "She's not afraid of this happening... she's already been through it once. She's experienced firsthand what it means" she replied, making the two girls' eyes widen. "Many years ago… at the height of their relationship…Raine died"

Luz and Amity froze. "W-What?"

"They were only dead for twelve seconds, but they were still dead. Their heart had stopped" Lilith said. "They had mistakenly ingested a particularly poisonous mushroom and were suffering terribly; Eda had tried to cure them but had failed, and so she had rushed them to our family for help. Our father, who was an expert in these healing magics, had immediately understood what the problem was: some of the poison from the mushroom had entered the bloodstream and could not be removed unless the flow stopped. The only solution was to use a spell that would stop the heart, extract the poison and then reactivate the organ. There was no time to explain to Eda, so... he simply made it aware of the consequences. Raine was only dead for twelve seconds... and in those twelve seconds Eda's soul was made literally in pieces". The fairy trembled slightly. "I... I will never forget that scene. My sister's face had become whiter than a corpse and her eyes had gone dead. She couldn't understand why our father had just... killed... Raine, but she was aware that it must have been him. In less than a second she let out a scream that I didn't think would ever escape her lips and her magic exploded like a volcano and hit my father with all its power. And then, Raine woke up, and for her it was like being born a second time. When she realized what had really just happened... she threw herself on the ground crying with remorse and desperation, and fortunately Raine prevented her from banging your head repeatedly on the floor". By now Lilith was gripping the cup in her hands so tightly that it threatened to break it. "Since then our father has had one eye less, scars all over his body, and can no longer move properly. Even just picking up a glass of water and bringing it to his lips is an inhuman effort for him. He will never recover, those are magical wounds, they will never heal"

Luz and Amity were petrified. They seemed to have even forgotten to breathe. They both wanted to ask something, but they couldn't even articulate the words.

Lilith tried to calm down, and she took a last sip of her herbal tea. "Eda blames herself for what happened that day, and she doesn't want to risk it happening again. That's why she broke up with Raine, and they agreed with her at the time because they understood her reasons. Not only that, but she also isolated herself from the rest of the world in the forest where she lived. She no longer went to visit our parents... she doesn't have the courage to look our father in the eye. So... this is the answer you were looking for, Luz. Eda loves Raine, but she doesn't want to risk something like this happening again. And personally, as much as I would like her to find her happiness, I can't blame her"

"But it wasn't her fault!" Luz exclaimed.

Lilith shook her head. "Luz, even though what I'm about to say will hurt you... even what happened to your mother wasn't your fault. But tell me, do you feel less guilty?"

Luz bit her lip; what Lilith had just said had hurt her heart, but at the same time she felt she had partially understood how Eda felt. After all, everyone told her too that what had happened to her mother wasn't her fault... but she wasn't able to believe it. And even if she wanted to have her mother back at all costs, if by some miracle she had reappeared she wouldn't even have the courage to look her in the face.

From her silence Lilith comprehended that she had gotten there alone. "I see you understand" she murmured. "Luz... in these cases it doesn't matter who is to blame, it only matters how the person in question sees the situation, and this has nothing to do with reality or rationality. Unfortunately in these cases it is fear and trauma that dominate a person's mind"

Luz remained silent and looked down, and just stared at her shoes; Amity in turn didn't say a word, not sure what to say. Lilith got up from the chair she was sitting in. "Well... now you know why Eda is afraid of being together with Raine even though she wants to. Now it's up to you to decide what to do with this knowledge" she said as she picked up the cups. "Do you still want something?"

Both girls shook their heads. Their stomachs had closed so much that they knew that if they tried to put anything in their mouth they would vomit it.

Well, now you finally have the explanation of why Eda is so afraid of loving Raine. This is also partially based on actual folklore, as in many parts of the world it is thought that fairies, spirits and other beings from another plane, being more spiritual, share their essence when they love a person, unlike humans who being made of matter they can at most bind their souls, but never unite them