Summary: Naomi is leaving Avalor, and she doesn't know for how long. Before she can, though, she has a difficult conversation to get through first.

Naomi's hand hovered by Mateo's door, unable to knock. The palace was quiet that evening, a far cry from the day's adventure of sailing, magic, and laughing curses, and disturbing it felt both wrong and necessary. Wrong as an intrusion, an act of being where she shouldn't. Necessary because far from being peaceful, the silence weighed on her, giving her nothing to drown out the 'what ifs' plaguing her mind. What if she was rushing into things? What if she regretted her decision? What if she wasn't ready to leave?

She couldn't have these doubts harassing her if she wanted to make it through the upcoming conversation. Maybe she should avoid talking to Mateo altogether. But she had some time to kill while Elena was preparing the ship title, and the alternative was to wait it out with her thoughts in the silence.

So instead, she knocked.

A muffled 'come in!' came from inside, and Naomi entered the room, closing the door behind her. Mateo was on one of the curved, central sofas, a heavy reference book open on the table in front of him and a teapot beside it. He was engrossed in his reading, pausing neither to look up as she approached nor to sip from the teacup steaming in his hand. As Naomi got closer, two things caught her eye. One: the book was open to a drawing of a creature that looked an awful lot like the Chiki-Chiki from that afternoon, surrounded by similarly shaped creatures in different colors and patterns, all with the same unassuming faces. Retroactive research, then. Hopefully he wasn't being too hard on himself for not being able to catch the odd gnome alone.

Two: there were no tea bags on the table, used or otherwise, with just a bowl of sugar sitting out next to the pot.

Raising an eyebrow, Naomi tried to stealthily peer into his cup and caught a glimpse of liquid the color of tar, followed by a whiff of roasted beans. She let out a laugh at the sight. "Oh, good! It's just coffee."

Mateo jolted and finally looked up at her, his drink sloshing dangerously close to the rim. He seemed bewildered as Naomi sat down next to him, and he glanced between her and the cup like it might tell him what she found so funny.

"I didn't see any tea bags," she explained between giggles, unsure herself why she'd found it so amusing. Perhaps just the nerves. "So I thought you were maybe…"

"What, drinking hot sugar water?" He shook his head at her, a wry smile on his face. "Come on, not even I'm that weird." Letting out a chuckle of his own, he set his cup down and grabbed his wand. "Did you want some?"

She managed a nod, not trusting herself to speak without snickering again. Mateo twisted around in the seat and pointed the wand somewhere behind them. He'd gotten a lot more confident in his magic; he neither needed to say the spell out loud as he hit the drum, nor watch the bespelled cup as he guided it to the table, turning back to Naomi instead with a smile.

"So, what brings you here? I'm assuming it wasn't just to make fun of my beverage choices." He tapped the drum again and there was another pulse of orange light. It wove around the pot and lifted it up alongside the new cup, pouring a stream of coffee into it as the two continued to slowly spin in the air. Okay, now he was just showing off. Naomi plucked the cup from the air as it rotated past her, and Mateo did a proud little shimmy as the teapot settled back down, its mission complete.

"You mean lighthearted teasing isn't a good enough reason to stop by?" Naomi asked. "That's a shame." And then she took a sip of the coffee and gagged, nearly choking on how overwhelmingly bitter it was.

Mateo winced. "Oh, yeah, sorry. The sugar helps." He spared her the theatrics as he handed over the sugar bowl, and Naomi snatched up several cubes, still working her mouth like it would get the taste out faster.

She took another tentative sip, the sugar added. "Jeez, that's strong," she muttered. "I'm beginning to understand why you don't sleep."

"I sleep," he protested, and then, "Well, I was planning on staying up late tonight, though." Naomi snorted and glanced up at him with a knowing expression before taking yet another sip, trying to acclimate to the taste while he spoke. "I want to do some more research on that gnome from today. Apparently it's part of a class of creatures known for being small, agile, and dangerous despite their looks, with each one having a specific, singular power it's been imbued with. What's really interesting, though, is that they're technically all artificial.

"They were created by a sorceress called 'Chatana' back before the fall of Maru, but they were all supposed to have been sealed away a long time ago. Elena said she fought the Anchimon last year," he tapped on a red-orange illustration of a monkey-like creature with flames on its head and then moved his hand to the teal-colored image of the laughing gnome from that afternoon, "and the Chiki-Chiki was unsealed today. I mean, I know they're unrelated—Vestia and Cruz released the Anchimon, and technically I released the Chiki-Chiki—but we still don't know what set off the warning that led us to it in the first place. And if Chatana's creatures are going to be a recurring problem…"

"How big of a problem are we talking?"

"Big. She's made more than just these tricky little guys. Giants, and monsters, and I'm not sure I want to fight any of them. The Chiki-Chiki was bad enough."

"Aw, but you sounded like you were having so much fun," Naomi teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Mateo rolled his head toward her, his face deathly serious. "I may never laugh again." Naomi snickered, and he could only hold the expression a few seconds longer before bursting into giggles himself. His smile quickly faded into a grimace, though, as he moved a hand to his stomach. "Ah, ow, seriously, that really did hurt today."

She let out a sympathetic hum as her eyes wandered back to the drawings. The shadows of sunset fell across the page in a way that made their harmless smiles look menacing. She swallowed, the bitter drink burning on the way down.

"I wouldn't worry too much," he went on, taking note of her furrowed brow. "There might be a lot of her creatures sealed out there, but there's been nothing to suggest a pattern in them getting released, and it's not like Chatana herself is still around. Besides," he held up a hand like he was swearing before the Grand Council, "I've learned my lesson about not reading spells out loud directly off of mysterious stone temples in the jungle."

"I think the real lesson of the day is that you need to brush up on your Old Maruvian."

He let out a high-pitched whine that quickly turned into an uncomfortable laugh, and then into a scoffing sound. He fumbled his way through a few other attempts at dismissal before snatching his cup off the table, downing its contents in one go. Even he shuddered at the taste, setting the cup back down with his face twisted in disgust.

"Well," he started, "if I want to study Old Maruvian, I have to get resources from Professor Mendoza, and she… doesn't like me very much. For some reason."

"The reason is that you keep wandering off with artifacts from the museum without telling her."

"I only did that once or twice! M-maybe a few times. And the time with the cursed sword doesn't count, because it was Gabe that took it, not me!"

"But you kept it for…" Naomi prompted, cueing him.

He opened his mouth, closed it again, and slouched on the seat, crossing his arms. "Six months," he sighed. "Which I didn't mean to do. But then Shuriki came back and I started doing all that research on the Scepter of Night, and the sword just fell through the cracks." Glancing back at her, his mouth curled into a mischievous smile. "Anyway, I figure I don't have to rush on the Old Maruvian as long as we have you around, right?"

Just like that, Naomi's good humor vanished. The already bitter coffee turned to sludge in her mouth, and she set her cup down hard, wringing her fingers in her lap. "So, about that."

Mateo straightened up. "Naomi? Are you okay?"

No, she wasn't. The caffeine had done her nerves no good, leaving her jittery and tense, and she regretted stalling. "I actually came to tell you something about that." She took one last, deep breath. Now or never. "I'm leaving Avalor."

Mateo tilted his head. "Oh. As in, for the weekend?"

"As in, indefinitely."

"Huh. Okay." He scratched his ear. "So, did your mom get a new job again, or…?"

"No. This is my choice."

Why wasn't he reacting? He still looked more confused than upset and he politely nodded as she answered him. It felt like he was just humoring her. Or maybe he was just trying to put on as even-tempered of a front as possible, after how he'd reacted the last time she told him something like this.

"You're taking this really well," she said carefully, not quite keeping the anxiety out of her voice. She'd been braced for anger or distress, but somehow, this was worse. It wasn't that she wanted him to be upset, but the idea that he might not care if she left stung.

Awfully enough, he actually laughed, the sound burying itself in her chest. But then he explained, "Well, the last time you said you were leaving Avalor," he made a sweeping gesture up and down her body, "you obviously didn't." He leaned sideways against the sofa's backrest, propping himself up on his elbow and grinning. "I'm guessing you'll change your mind at the going away party again."

Oh. It wasn't that he didn't care; he outright didn't believe her. This was going to be painful, wasn't it?

"Maybe I would," she said. "Which is part of why there isn't going to be a going away party. I'm leaving tonight, pretty much right after we're done talking. Elena's giving me a ship, and she's getting the paperwork ready for it right now."

Watching his face as she spoke hurt. His easy smile turned disbelieving, and then dropped off entirely. By the time she was done he was sitting up again, properly alarmed. He searched her face frantically, his eyes flickering around to try and spot any trace of irony or deceit.

"You're serious?" he finally asked, sounding stunned. It was all Naomi could do to nod stiffly. "But… why? Did something happen?"

"The reason I was out today happened. I went sailing again for the first time in ages, and I realized how much I'd missed that, and how much I wanted to be back out there." She continued to knit and unknit her fingers, unable to look him in the eye. "Actually, I was hoping you could do me one last favor."

Despite his apprehension, Mateo nodded immediately. "Of course. What do you need?"

"Can you tell Gabe what's going on for me?" As she'd expected, Mateo balked at the request, already looking like he regretted asking. Naomi quickly explained, "I wanted to say goodbye, but I don't know where he is right now, and I didn't want to ask Elena to tell everyone because she's already doing so much for me. And I—I'd look for him again, but this is already really difficult, and I'm so scared of how everyone else is going to react." She took a deep breath through her nose, staring at her half empty coffee cup. "I can just tell that the more people I have to talk to, the harder it's gonna be for me to actually leave."

A warm hand fell on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She met Mateo's eyes, wide and sad. "Maybe that means you shouldn't go."

She put her hand over his. "I have to. It's—do you remember when we were helping you move, and I asked why you even bothered studying magic?" Mateo nodded, confused again, and Naomi continued, "You said it felt right in a way nothing else did, like you couldn't imagine doing anything else with your life. Being out on the sea today…"

She could still feel it. Salt and sea spray in her nose, the wind tousling her hair, every second of freedom like her first real breath in years.

"That's what it was like. It felt like magic to me."

Comprehension finally dawned in his eyes, but it did nothing to banish the sadness in them.

"I don't know," she went on. "Maybe this isn't what I want. Maybe I'll get so homesick I'll turn around and come back after just a week. But if I don't leave now I might never do it at all, and I can't spend the rest of my life not knowing. I have to go."

He didn't reply at first. His newfound understanding settled in around him like a physical weight, pushing him back against the sofa. Lips pressed together, he searched the empty space between them like it held a counterargument, anything that could convince her to stay. "This is really important to you," he finally said, not quite a question, and Naomi nodded. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, like something final, and when he opened them again, he could only offer her a sad smile. "Then I wish you the best."

Standing, he reached down to help her up, a clear enough signal that the conversation was over. Something tightened behind Naomi's ribs. For all her talk of needing to go, for how much she knew she had to be back on the water, ripping off the bandage and actually leaving still managed to be daunting, like she might tear a line of stitches back open with it. Back to being an outsider, after all this time. She took Mateo's hand and stood.

"I'll talk to Gabe for you," he said as he walked her to the door, "and anyone else you need. And…"

He'd opened his arms for her.

Naomi didn't wait for a second invitation. She threw her arms around him, squeezing like she might never get another chance. His arms came up to circle her back, warm and careful, and Naomi buried her face against his shoulder.

"I'll miss you," he mumbled.

"Yeah. Take care of yourself, you big nerd, or else—" she swallowed, her voice thick, "—or else I'll just have to come back to Avalor and drag you out of your workshop myself."

She felt his laugh more than she heard it, a shallow stutter in his chest as he held her a little tighter. "I guess we wouldn't want that, huh?" He leaned back just enough to look at her, his hands coming to rest at her elbows. "Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I can't be any stranger than you."

Mateo blinked, and then he wheezed, twisting away from her to double over. He laughed in earnest, slapping at his knee.

"Well, it wasn't that funny," Naomi said, but she was smiling again herself, almost able to pretend the tears gathering in her eyes were from mirth instead of misery.

"You're turning puns against me?" Mateo blurted, rounding back on her. "That's not allowed!"

"Consider it revenge for the last several years' worth."

"Pfft, get out of here! You've got a whole ocean of people to tease!"

"I didn't realize you were in such a hurry to get rid of me." The laughter having died down, her face softened again into something more somber. "So, I'll be seeing you."

She didn't bother with a 'soon' or a 'later'. She didn't know. She couldn't know.

But Mateo still mirrored her expression. "Yeah. Be seeing you."

And she stepped out into the hallway. The sea called.

I remember when the show was first airing, we got to this episode, and more than confusion or distress or curiosity about where the show would go with Naomi gone, my first thought watching it was, "Yes! A natural endpoint for my fanfiction! She'll probably come back for the finale and I can do just a cute little epilogue then but otherwise, I can end here!" And then Naomi came back literally two episodes later and dashed those dreams lmao! I thought I'd be writing this fic forever. Luckily, the last third of season 3 didn't add too much that I wanted to work with for this character dynamic, so there's still only 2 more chapters after this.

Also, to address the elephant in the room: yes, this is 100% a dick move to Gabe on their part, and deep down, they both know it. Admittedly, that particular subplot won't get resolved in this particular fic, but rest assured that I have some other projects cooking that'll give Gabe a chance to get properly (and justifiably!) upset with them both.