About The Roses | Lumity Soulmate AU

Chapter 10 - Explanations

"Luz, don't tell me... Is Camila your mom?" Eda interrupted. Not that she was interrupting more than a shocked silence between the pair.

Luz tore her gaze away from her mother and met Eda's eyes. The older woman looked confused. That would make three of them. Luz nodded. "Uh, yeah... This is my Mami."

"Luz, answer my questions. What is going on?" 

"What are you doing here, though? How did you even get to the demon realm?"

"I asked you first, jovencita. Tell me what's going on right now." 

Luz took a deep breath. She'd hated lying to her mom for the past two months and after the scare with almost losing the door to the human realm, she had missed her mom more and more. And so, they moved to the couch, Eda leaving the room to give them some time to reunite, and Luz told her mother the story. She told her about chasing Owlbert into the demon realm and about deciding to stay in the demon realm to learn magic. She told her about learning her first spell, about making her first friends, about going to Hexside, and about their battle with the Emporer. She was careful to leave out several of the more... dangerous... details of her stories so as not to worry her mother. By the time she finished, Camila sat frozen in her seat. 

"I'm so, so sorry, Mami. I never wanted to lie to you but I didn't want to worry you. I thought that if you thought I was at that horrible camp, you'd think I was safe. But I feel safe here. I've learned so much about magic, about myself, in the Boiling Isles. This is where I'm meant to be." 

"I..." Her mother trailed off. "So you've been here, in this terrifying place filled with... with magic and demons and danger? This whole time? All alone?"

"I haven't been alone! I have Eda, who I guess you've met already? We'll loop back to that. I have Eda, and Lilith, and King, and Willow, and Gus, and Amity! I have a lot of friends and people I can trust. And I have myself. I've really grown here, Mami. I fit in here. The Boiling Isles is my home."

"I can't say that I understand. I also can't say that I'm not upset at you for lying to me. What if something had happened to you here? I would've never known where you were or what happened." A tear ran down the woman's cheek.

"Lo siento mucho, Mami. I never meant to hurt or scare you."

The two sat there for a while, understanding Luz's story and making their peace with it. Once Camila was able to wrap her head around everything, Luz realized that there were still several unknowns in the situation.

"Wait, how did you get here?" 

Eda walked back into the room at that moment. Whether she sensed the lowered tension or was eavesdropping, Luz didn't know (though she suspected the latter).

"I can help with that part." She sat down on the couch next to Camila and rested her hand atop hers. Camila intertwined their fingers together and raised their hands to plant a kiss atop Eda's hand. Luz's eyes bulged.

"Mami, Eda, what the HECK is happening?" she exclaimed.

"Well, kid, Owlbert wasn't feeling well so I decided to go root through some human dumpsters on my own. While I was in the human realm, I heard my soulmate."

"WHA WHAT! Eda, Mami, are you two...?" She pointed her finger between the two and then down at their hands. "No. Way." 

"Edalyn came and found me as I was walking home from work. I didn't know soulmates were even a thing but I guess she could hear me even though I couldn't hear her. She told me that we were soulmates and that she could prove it if I followed her. I thought she was about to murder me when she took me into that old house," she laughed, looking affectionately at Eda. "But as soon as I walked through the door and ended up in this house, I could hear her in my mind. Our soulmate... thingy," she explained.

"Indicator," Luz corrected without thinking.

"Right... my soulmate indicator."

"So, I explained all about the Boiling Isles and even showed off a few of my tricks," Eda raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"EW, I DID NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT!"

"No, my actual tricks. Titan, you humans and your assumptions," Eda snorted. She drew a circle in the air and produced a small explosion of confetti accompanied by her overenthusiastic jazz hands. "Anyways, I showed her around the Boiling Isles and told her about our world and then we came back here just a few minutes before you got home. Where were you, by the way? It's late. Where you out making out with that Blight girl or something?" Eda teased. Luz turned bright red and immediately regretted telling Eda about her crush on Amity.

"I- We aren't talking about me right now!" Luz exclaimed, burying her face in her hands and earning a hearty laugh from her mentor.

"Wait, who? Luz, do you have a girlfriend?!" Camila exclaimed, confusion and hope in her voice.

"Not about me! And the same question could go for you."

Camila stuttered but Eda seemed unphased by the accusation. "Yeah, I guess I'm dating your mom, kid. Just call me your mama owl." She snorted, clearly finding the coincidence amusing.

"Yeah, I won't be doing that. But aweee! The two women I love most are together!" Luz fawned over the new couple. "Wait, how is that going to work? Mami, are you going to live in the Boiling Isles?"

"Well, we haven't worked out all the details," Camila explained. "We're thinking that I'll stay here and go back to the human... realm? Is 'realm' the right word?" Eda nodded. "I'll go back to the human realm for work and social events and such. We'll play it by ear. It's still a lot to process and I haven't quite decided how I feel about this place."

The three stayed there chatting all night. There was a bit of tension between Camila and Luz but it was covered with love and relief in seeing one another again.

"Now," Camila said, her tone changing to teasing and curious. "Tell me about this girl that Edalyn mentioned." 

Luz felt her face grow hot again. "Well, her name's Amity, and... she's my soulmate." It felt strange to say those words out loud and know that they were true. Not in a metaphorical sense like she had always heard back home. But for real. They were literally made for each other.

"Mija, you're too young to-" Camila paused and seemed to hear something. "Oh right, soulmates are actually real. This is, this is really going to take some time to get used to." 

"Yeah, it took me a while too," Luz laughed. "Mami, she's so wonderful. She has these beautiful golden eyes and she's smart and caring and funny and, oh! She likes The Good Witch Azura too! She's really incredible, Mami, you'd love her." 

"I'm sure I will. You've always been a good judge of character."

"Kid, you never told me that Blight was your soulmate!" Eda exclaimed, looking offended. 

"Sorry, Eda. I only just found out today. Look!" She looked up at her mom- moms she guessed now, though she knew it would take her a while to get used to that thought- and uncapped a pen. She quickly jotted down a "Hey cutie" followed by a small rose. She could almost feel Amity's blush as a "Hi, sweetheart" wrote itself on her arm. She looked back up at the watching women. Her mother's eyes were wide.

"Yep, it's seriously gonna take me a while to get used to this strange place."