Chapter Text
The Tower of Tomes. The Tower of Memories. Throughout its existence, it has garnered many names.
But for Agott, it always meant “future”. This was where she would've called atelier if she hadn't been disowned by the Arklaums, by the woman she once called her mother.
And now, standing at its entrance hall, it feels surreal.
She stares as books and pages fly overhead, the light from the sun coming in from the huge stained glass windows, casting colorful rays onto the scenery. Several stairs seem to move on their own accord, taking older witches that are in the library to places she can't even comprehend.
Where should she even begin? It feels overwhelming– So many possibilities and–
“Agott?”
Coco's voice catches her attention. The girl has a few scratches on her face, her hair is a bit messier, and her cloak is tattered in random places. Agott is sure she doesn't look any better. The librarian's trial took a toll on her. On all four of them.
“Yes, Coco?” Agott blinks, trying to contain the swamp of emotions she feels.
“You wanna come with me? To find the picture book?” Coco invites her, offering her a blinding smile that shines through the cuts and bruises she displays.
“I– I don't think I'll be able to help. The Tower doesn't help people find any book, only those that truly matter to them.” Agott brushes a curl of her hair off her face, embarrassed.
What's her problem? She feels so scared all of a sudden– Tetia went to find clues about her past, Richeh wants to find a way to save Euini. If Coco goes ahead, she'll be alone. If she finds Agott all alone, what will Agott say to her? Stupid, stupid, stu–
“It's okay!” Coco says, clearing the clouds of judgment that obscured the younger witch’s mind, “I'm not asking you to come with me because I need your help. I want you there because you're my friend.”
Agott feels her mouth dry at her words, meeting Coco's eyes, who is a bit ahead of her. Her heart is thrumming at a very worrying pace.
She doesn't trust her voice, so she merely nods her head and gives Coco what she hopes is a reassuring smile. It seems to work, as the girl somehow manages to make her own smile brighter than any star and runs ahead, calling for Agott.
— ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ —
“Do you really have no book or note you want to find?” Coco asks her as they let the staircases take them up to the upper floors. She had heard of these stairs, always moving and somehow always knowing where to take their users so they find the thing they're looking for. Coco is leaning against the baluster, her chin resting on top of her hands, while Agott stands a step down, back against the surface as she stares at pages and books flying by.
“Not that I can remember now, no.”
“Well, if you ever remember or discover one and want to come back…” Coco smiles at her, and Agott replies with a small laugh, covering her mouth with her fist as she remembers where they are.
Coco takes the silence to continue, “It's the least I can do. Plus–” her golden gaze stares up, "I don't think I'll ever be tired of this view…”
Her eyes sparkled with the wonders of magic that Agott saw in Coco's eyes so many times, but that had diminished in the last few months. And who could blame her? From what Agott gathered, Coco saw a lot of the ugly things during Silver Eve, things that she still refused to talk about even months later.
Agott sighed, just glad that she was seeing that hope and cheer glimmer in her eyes again.
The stairs locked in place, and Coco quickly jumped up the steps up it, urging Agott to follow her.
In some ways, Agott wishes she had something she wanted to look for in the Tower. Coco tried to explain to her how she knew what path to take to find what she looked for. She described it as something similar to a gut feeling, but upwards, near where her heart is. Agott wishes she could understand how it worked.
If she were the head librarian, she would need to understand the secret behind it–
She froze in place, a gut feeling warning her. But not in the way Coco had described. It was the gut feeling of knowing you were being watched.
She looked around, wiping her sweaty hands on her cloak. She couldn't find it, not behind the shelves, not in any slightly more hidden nooks– but it remained.
She almost considered it to be the paranoia of being at the Tower, but then she looked up and saw them: dark purple eyes bore into her, framed by long black curly hair. The head librarian stared at her from one of the staircases that were passing by–
Oh.
Agott felt her heart drop to her shoes, and her knees buckled. The staircase wasn't just passing by– it was getting closer, intending to set right where the one Agott and Coco rode was just a minute ago.
As the distance between them lessened, Agott's body acted in a familiar way it hadn't in years. Her shoulders stiffened, her posture got corrected, and her fingers tightened around fistfuls of her cloak.
Adina was the perfect portrait of grace and glory. She had always been. Agott doesn't remember a day when her posture wasn't perfect, when her hair didn't have a single strand out of place, when her outfit didn't lack a single wrinkle. It wasn't different now.
She kept her gaze on Agott, cold and almost unblinking. The young witch cracked under the pressure like thin ice in the final weeks of winter.
Neither of them said anything to each other until the head of the house was standing in front of her, mother and daughter separated by a few meters, but also what felt like a whole continent.
“Agott.” Imposing as ever, her voice almost seemed to echo.
“M–” the word got stuck in her throat, “Adina.”
“I heard the words that you and your sister-apprentices had passed the third test. Thought it would only be fair to come and congratulate you myself.”
No praise. Barely an acknowledgement of her feats.
“Yes.” Agott felt like she would pass out if she tried to say more than one word at a time.
“I also see that…” Her dark gaze swept the girl's figure from head to toe, “The Librarian's Trial was passed, although with some clear degree of difficulty.”
“I–” What to even answer? ‘I’m sorry, I will improve’? ‘I don't care about what you think’? ‘I want to scream and cry because these are the first words we exchange with each other after almost three years’? She didn't have the strength and courage to say any of them.
“What is it? If you have something to say–”
“Agott!”
Coco's voice made Agott snap, her shoulders relaxing for just a second as she looked in the direction of the girl, who was running back.
Without acknowledging the head librarian, Coco stopped right beside Agott, a bead of sweat dripping down her scarred cheek, “What happened? One moment you were beside me, the next you were gone!”
“I– I just–”
The head librarian cleared her throat, loud and clear, finally making Coco acknowledge her presence, although her gaze stayed exclusively on Agott.
“Oh! I'm– I'm sorry!” She gave the older woman a signature Coco smile and bowed to her slightly, “I'm Coco! Are you one of the librarians?”
One of Adina's eyebrows raised as dark purple eyes fell on Coco. The temperature of the room seemed to plummet.
That look–
Agott cringed inside at the gaze Adina directed at her friend. Sharp, assessing, glacial, and judgmental. Agott knew it intimately.
Agott physically braced herself, expecting Coco to falter under it, for her smile to dim, and for her shoulders to shrink as hers always did.
But Coco seemed unfazed, letting out the awkward giggle she always did when she felt like she should say something when silence reigned in a conversation.
Agott could only stare. How did she–
“...Yes. I'm Adina Arklaum, the head librarian of the tower of tomes.”
“Oh.” Coco narrowed her eyes before realization seemed to hit her, and she snapped her fingers, “Oh!”
Agott was going to die. Could she ask to be buried under books about decorative sigils?
“You're the outsider apprentice, if my memory serves me, correct?” Adina continued the conversation, seemingly determined to ignore Coco's antics.
“Yes.”
“And what interest does an outsider have in the Tower of Tomes?”
Agott stiffened under the words, but Coco answered immediately.
“I want to save my mom!”
Simple, honest, and kind. So Coco, but so informal for the standards usually directed at the librarians, lest the leader of them.
Agott's eyes widened slightly, and though she didn't notice, so did Adina’s.
“She was turned to stone because of forbidden magic, and I thought maybe if there was anywhere that might have answers…” She looked with wonder at the place around them, “It would be here.”
Silence followed.
Then Adina spoke.
“And you believe an outsider possesses the ability to accomplish such a thing?”
The words were calm and collected, and Agott saw the effects of them almost immediately.
Coco froze.
Her expression faltered with painful familiarity–eyes widening slightly, breath catching, guilt and doubt flashing across her face so suddenly that Agott was thrown months backward in time, to the first conversation she and Coco exchanged.
‘I’m sorry about your mother. But because of you, she'll never be human again.’
“You don't know her.”
It took a second for Agott to even notice it was her voice speaking, that it was her body moving to step closer to the older witch.
“Because if you did know, you'd have no doubt that Coco can do it.”
Adina looked at her, surprised. It was the first time she looked the least bit confounded.
“Coco learns faster than any witch I've met, even adults!” she continued, formality flying out the window as she let something deeper and more instinctive replace it, “She’s been learning magic for less than a year and look where she is! She is standing in the Tower of Tomes, one of the most important places for witches! She passed the first test on her second day, and without her creativity and ideas, I wouldn't have passed the second or even the third test!”
“Agott…” Coco whispered her name meekly. Agott ignored it, letting the river of feelings she had locked away flow free.
“She was born an outsider, yes, but she has accomplished so many things that even older witches couldn't have done it. She loves magic more than any witch I know, but more importantly, she–” Agott felt the words get stuck, but she had to get them out, “She loves her mother more than anything!”
Adina’s eyes widened.
“If anyone can find an answer to save her from her fate,” Agott turned to face Coco with a smile, feeling unshed tears prickle her face, “It's Coco.”
As Agott panted and stared at Adina, she realized that this was the first time she had ever intended to interrupt her without fear stopping her. She felt like her knees could give out at any moment.
But then she felt a warm hand cover hers, and Coco spoke, her voice soft yet firm.
“You were wrong about Agott, ma'am. She isn't dull or talentless. She is, actually, the most talented and hard-working witch I've met.” Coco faced the older woman, determination in her eyes, “I don't know what original spell she presented that day, but I know for sure it was amazing because that's what Agott's magic is. Amazing, beautiful, and many other things, because that's exactly who Agott is! Maybe for your family it was useless, but–” Coco laced their fingers together, “For me, for our master, for our atelier and for the entire city it helped to save, it is the most important thing.”
Silence followed her words. Agott squeezed Coco's hand so hard it must've hurt.
Adina’s expression did not visibly change, but something unreadable flickered behind her eyes. For the first time, Agott felt truly seen by the woman.
“I see.”
Nothing more. No reprimand, no criticism, just those two words.
She nodded her head, taking a deep breath, “I apologize for my hurtful words, Coco. I am glad my daughter has friends like you.”
Agott gasped at the words. She had heard that ever since Agott ran away from the hall, Adina had stopped referring to her as her daughter. In turn, Agott decided not to refer to her as her mother. But now–
Adina turned on her heels gracefully before both young witches could say anything else. She approached the staircase she had used earlier before turning her head back.
“I expect proper conduct within the Tower from both of you. Otherwise, I wish you both good luck.”
Agott could only watch as the head librarian was carried off by the magical staircase. She didn't even know she had been holding her breath until she disappeared from her sight, and she finally let an exasperated gasp out.
“What just hap–”
Warmth collided against her, surrounding her entire body.
Agott let out a surprised noise as Coco's arms enveloped her tightly, keeping her from buckling down into her knees.
“Agott!” Coco whispered into the side of her head, almost into her ear, “Thank you!”
Agott felt her face explode with heat almost instantly.
“I– I only stated facts.” Agott tried, but she knew plausible deniability wouldn't work here. So she hugged Coco back as tightly as possible.
‘That's what Agott's magic is. Amazing, beautiful, and many other things, because that's exactly who Agott is!’
The sentence echoed inside her head. Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Coco thinks her magic is beautiful because Agott is beautiful.
Her heart feels like it's going to burst out of her chest.
Coco lets go of her, pulling back but still keeping their distance close. Agott can't help but stare at her, at the tears she hoped were happy sliding down Coco's cheeks, at her hair swaying as the wind from the notes and tomes flying over them created a light breeze, her ever so soft golden gaze that Agott had to tilt up–
Wait.
Was Coco even taller now?
Agott stopped for a moment to study, eyes gazing upwards and– Yes. Coco was even taller than her, which she guessed was around four centimeters.
If Agott was completely honest, she herself hadn't noticed the change until now, until Agott noticed that Coco was tall enough that her warmth embraced her entire self, from head to toe. Coco was tall enough that now the downwards tilt she did to meet Agott's gaze was prominent.
“Agott?”
The shorter witch blinked twice and lightly shook her head. Damn, she was staring. That's weird.
“S-Sorry, just– a bit stunned.” Not a lie.
“I get it.” Coco let out a soft giggle, a hand coming up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, her other hand holding Agott's and giving her a light squeeze. “If you need a minute, it’s okay.”
Agott nods, squeezing Coco’s hand and taking calming breaths, remembering the technique Master Qifrey had taught her when she was a kid and was frustrated with her work.
“Alright. I-I think I’m good.” Agott used her free hand to wipe a tear that threatened to slide down her cheek, “Thank– Thank you too, Coco.”
“I only stated facts.” Coco echoed her words with a cheeky smile that made Agott giggle, hiding it behind her hand. “Now… Come on! Let’s go find the book!”
Coco pulled on her hand, leading Agott in the direction she had come from a few minutes earlier. Agott let herself be led by the girl.
As Agott stared at Coco from behind, her taller frame bathed in the warm light from the windows overhead, framed by books and the place Agott had always dreamed of calling home, she felt her heart skip a beat.
‘Home.’
Maybe that can be a person.