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Olruggio frowns at the tiny black berries, crouching with his forearms on his knees. “Are you certain these are the right ones?” He looks up at Qifrey.
Qifrey is bent over at the waist, examining the dark berries with a hand at his chin. Dewdrops from the recent rain drip from the leaves just behind him. “Yes,” he answers finally, releasing the miniaturization spell on his wicker basket and picking a small cluster.
Olruggio frowns. “How are you so sure?”
Qifrey plucks a single berry and examines it in the dappled sunlight. He pops it into his mouth.
Olruggio shoots to his feet. “Qifrey!”
Qifrey just chuckles, fingertips to his lips as he looks over. “I’m fine, Olly.”
“If you get sick, I’m taking you to the med hall right away.”
Qifrey picks another bunch. “I would hardly risk poisoning you and Master Beldaruit with a few little pies.”
Olruggio eyes him. “I can never be sure with you.” He retrieves his own basket and starts collecting.
Qifrey just laughs again. He’s in a good mood. It’s nice to see him like this. Down in the Witches’ Hall, there’s always tension in his shoulders and a darting look in his eye. He has trouble sleeping, often dozing on the couch in Olruggio’s windowless chambers. The ocean depths seem to bring out the heaviness in his heart.
But up here under the open sky? He stands tall and confident and a small smile always sits upon his lips. His gaze turns soft and his laugh comes easy.
Still leaning over the bush, the sunlight catches on Qifrey’s hair in a brilliant fashion, making the wildest strands shine like threads of silver. His profile cuts a perfect silhouette, his lips parted in concentration, lips that maybe someday he could-
Olruggio swallows hard and forces himself to look away. They’re here on a task, even if it is quite different than their usual responsibilities. He fills his basket to match Qifrey’s.
Once they’re finished, Qifrey collects the baskets and shrinks them again, storing them in the folds of his robes. Piece by piece, his blue fabrics have changed to white as he has come closer to graduating from apprenticeship. One more test and they’ll both be considered independent witches.
They exit the grove of trees and Qifrey stops, closes his eye and turns his face to the sun. It’s hard not to stare at him. He opens his eye. “Let’s stay a bit longer.”
Olruggio feels his heart skip. “Are you sure? It’ll be getting dark in an hour or two.” He wants to smack himself.
Qifrey looks at him with that little smile. He looks positively radiant, the light wreathed around him as if he walks with the grace of the heavens. “We’ll be back before the sun sets, just like we promised.”
Olruggio can’t argue with that.
They follow a gravel trail to the bottom of a grassy hill. Birds chirp in the distance and dragonflies zip past their hands, skating over the grass. The sun warms his skin, almost makes him feel hot in his robes. Or maybe it’s because he can’t stop stealing glances at Qifrey, at the perfect waves in his snowy hair, at his slim, ink-stained and now berry-stained fingertips. Olruggio rubs at his forehead. What is up with him today? Suddenly he can hardly bear to keep the secret of his feelings any longer. Who knows what might happen after the fourth test? Qifrey hates the Hall so much, he’ll probably leave the very day he graduates.
And what is Olruggio going to do when he graduates? Ever since they were little, Qifrey followed Olruggio everywhere. He listened when Olruggio explained the history of this family and that family, when he explained what very young witches did, memories and milestones that Qifrey missed as an outsider who was brought into magic later.
Everyone always said that Olruggio had this bright future, that as a prodigy he would reshape the witching world. Sure, he was pretty clever as a kid, but now he just makes contraptions. Qifrey was always made out to be a problem child, but he’s the one with real passion, the one who’s experienced both worlds, the one who’s suffered the worst kind of pain magic can invoke, as well as the best kind of happiness.
“Olly?”
He stops. “Hm?”
“Are you alright? You seem a bit lost in thought.”
“Oh, you know.” He clears his throat. “Just a contraption I’m working on.”
“Need any help with it?”
“…Not yet.”
They walk on a while longer. Suddenly, Qifrey stops in his tracks. “Look at that,” he whispers, his eye glittering the most vivid blue.
Hiding among a grove of trees, set at the edge of a small glade, is an old little atelier.
It’s long sat abandoned. The tiled roof is half caved in and vines have grown over the walls. A little wooden fence around the perimeter has crumbled and disappeared in some places. A bluebird lands on the roof and chirps, looking around. A second bluebird joins it.
Qifrey takes off towards the atelier, his robes billowing. “Come on!”
Olruggio runs after him.
It’s even more beautiful up close. The stones are still smooth and the wood is thick with very few knots – it’s a shame so much care and artistry has been left to waste.
Qifrey cautiously pushes the front door open, both of them still out of breath. It swings easily and he steps inside. On the third step, the wood stair creaks and breaks under Qifrey’s foot and he stumbles with a yelp.
Olruggio leaps down and catches his hand, steadying him on the ground floor. “You okay?”
Qifrey looks at him, eye wide from the shock. They’re standing so close, their chests are almost touching. Qifrey’s hand is warm and firm in his, still holding tight. “I-I’m fine.” Slowly, he pulls his hand free. He tucks a stray strand of white hair behind his ear and nudges the diamond-shaped bridge of his glasses. “Thank you.”
They look around inside. It’s still mostly clean, despite the debris from the roof blocking off the rest of the rooms. He wonders if it’s the work of hidden contraptions, seals drawn inside the walls and under the wood floors.
Qifrey walks around the little kitchen space and the broken dining room table. He pauses at a bookshelf that stretches up to the ceiling and examines shelves that have long been a home to flowers, bird nests, and impressive spiderwebs. He stops in the middle of the space, where the sunlight beams down through the roof. With a sigh, he twirls around, his robes flaring wide before curling against his legs.
He lifts his face to the sky and spreads his arms. “I want to live in a place like this.” There’s so much longing in his voice, it aches. “Where the sunlight comes from every window. A place that feels like home. I want to take on apprentices and give them the things I wish I’d had, frivolous comfortable things.” He grips his arms and looks at Olruggio. “It wouldn’t just be about studying magic. It would be so much more than that.”
Olruggio steps forward. His legs feel numb all the way down to the soles of his boots. “I…. I’d like to help you.”
Qifrey smiles. “You would? But… what about your own apprentices?”
Olruggio laughs. “I’m not cut out for that.”
Slowly, his smile fades and his voice drops. “You never told me that. Olly, I assumed you’d take the fifth test, I thought… I thought we’d be together on this….”
Olruggio steps closer. “We will. The reason I don’t want my own apprentices is because I’d rather share yours. If you’ll have me, that is.” He bites the inside of his bottom lip and seizes all the courage he has. He takes Qifrey’s hand and squeezes. “Qifrey, I… I want us to be together too.” His heart is racing and his throat constricts painfully, but he can’t stand to squash the hope in Qifrey’s eyes any longer. He sucks in a breath and squeezes out the confession he’s dreamt of so many times, the words that have ghosted the tip of his tongue again and again on other days so much like this one. “I love you.”
Qifrey clasps his hand over his mouth, something like fear written across his face.
Olruggio flushes red. “Why do you look so worried?!”
Qifrey drops his hand. “I’m not! I’m….” Tears well in his eye. “Oh Olly, I’m so happy!” He throws his arms around his shoulders and drags him into a crushing hug.
Olruggio hugs him back, his ears still ringing with his own words. I love you. Did he really say it? Was it really that easy?
Qifrey draws back and cups Olruggio’s face, his touch so gentle and tender. “Olruggio… I love you too,” he whispers. And then his lips are close, so close, and when they kiss, it seals the promise of their future together.