Calamitous Intervention

Sundew Serenade / Civil Wart

Quite a lot of time had passed since Luz first arrived in this world. She kind of lost track, but she felt it had been at least two months. However, that wasn't important to her at the moment, as Luz was at Felicia's tea shop, sitting at a table and conversing with one of her best friends, Ivy. The two had been conversing about their day so far, and Luz decided to bring up a certain book series she had loved so dearly.

"I'm telling you, Ivy, you should at least give Azura a try," Luz said. "It's sooo good!"

The young frog looked unsure about this idea. "Eh, maybe, but I'm not really a book fanatic. I'm more about adventure, y'know?"

"Azura has a lot of adventure in it. Most of the book is about going on adventures. I showed it to Maddie, and she liked it. You never know," Luz teased with a cheeky grin.

Before Ivy could make up her mind, the two of them heard the door chime and turned to see an elderly female frog with light green skin, white hair, large glasses, lipstick, and a pink dress walk into the tea shop with a bounce in her step. Luz had never seen her before, though she noticed that Ivy seemed to frown.

Ivy was surprised to see the old frog, but when she noticed Luz staring at her, she looked down and felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Before the human could ask what was wrong, the elderly frog approached their table with a cheerful expression.

"Oh, why, hello there, Ivy!" she greeted, pulling Ivy into a hug, much to the young frog's chagrin and Luz's amusement. "My, how you've grown since we last met!"

"Err... Hi, Grandma," Ivy awkwardly replied, patting her shoulder to try to signal for her to let go, which took a moment longer to work than Ivy would've been comfortable with.

Shortly after they broke the hug, Felicia walked into the dining room, surprised to see her mother in Wartwood again. It had been many months since the elderly frog went on another voyage.

"I didn't know you were coming over, Mother," Felicia said, but she smiled regardless and hugged the old frog. "If you would at least send me a letter beforehand, I'd have prepared us a meal."

"Oh, sweetie, that isn't necessary," the elderly frog assured her daughter. She then turned toward Luz, just then noticing her. "Oh? Who might this be?"

"Her name's Luz," Ivy cut in. "She's my best friend. Long story."

"Luz, huh?" The elderly frog rubbed her chin, feeling like she had heard that name somewhere. "I've heard rumors of this town having an interestin' creature with gangly limbs. I suppose those stories are true then." She paused before blinking herself out of her thoughts. "Goodness, where are my manners? Name's Sylvia Sundew. It's a pleasure to meet you, Luz."

Sylvia held out her hand, which Luz eagerly shook. "I had no idea Ivy had a grandma," the human said. "She hadn't told me about you."

"Uh, I just haven't thought about it much since you've been gone for a while," Ivy lied, sweating a little. Both Luz and Sylvia noticed how oddly Ivy was acting, as if she wanted to get away from her grandma.

"Well, it was quite a pleasure to see you two again," the old frog told them, hugging Felicia once again. "I'll have that batch of tea ready for you soon."

As Sylvia left, Luz turned toward Ivy, who looked relieved. "So... why are you acting so weird around your grandma? Do you... not like her?"

Ivy's eyes widened when she said that, waving her hands frantically. "Oh, no, no, it's not that I don't like her; it's just that... errr... It's kind of a long story. I'll tell you another time."

The human really wanted to ask more, but seeing her friend's discomfort, she decided to drop the subject for now. "Alright. Thanks for the meal, Ms. Sundew!"