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Coco didn't mean to eavesdrop. She didn't! She really, really didn't! She's not that sort of person— excluding the bit of peeping that got her into this mess in the first place— and she respects her master enough to give him some privacy!
...Excluding the bit of peeping that got her into this mess in the first place.
But she's stuck behind the pantry door, and if she were to try and slip out now, she'd definitely get spotted, so the best she can do is plug her ears and wait for them to be done.
But Master Qifrey just raised his voice, and she can hear the words through the palms of her hands, and he sounds angry, and he never sounds angry, and—
"Olly." When Master Qifrey sounds angry, she is learning, he sounds cold as ice, and much harder to melt, "Do not start."
"That's not fair," Master Olruggio says back, more tired than anything, and Coco gives up on the futile game of covering her ears. She shakes out her hands, staying as quiet as possible— she shouldn't be here! She shouldn't be here! She—
"You have no idea what is fair." Master Qifrey actually hisses, and the sound makes her flinch. His voice goes soft and dangerous, "This isn't—"
"Because you won't give me one!" Master Olruggio suddenly raises his voice— Coco shrinks back against the door of the pantry. He doesn't even sound mad, just— sad and desperate and upset. "You won't tell me anything, and if you're not telling me, I know you're not telling anyone. Just let me help you, damnit!"
There's a moment of silence so dense Coco feels as if she might choke on the air. When Master Qifrey breaks it, and he is the one to, his voice is so quiet she almost doesn't hear it.
"I've told someone else." His voice has gone flat.
"....what?" Master Olruggio audibly has the wind taken out of his sails.
"I've told someone else," Master Qifrey continues, and his voice raises again, enough for Coco to hear the words clearly, "Someone who isn't you. And it has not helped, I assure you."
"Who..." She hears a light thump of fabric as Master Olruggio slumps into one of the chairs at the table. "No, it doesn't matter. That's fine."
"It isn't!" Master Qifrey blurts, "It's— stop doing that!"
"It's fine," Master Olruggio repeats, voice quieter, and she hears the shaky inhale Master Qifrey takes, "I don't have to be the only one, as long as you're okay. Okay? It's fine. Just... if I can help, in any way—"
"You can help by not doing this!" Master Qifrey explodes, voice cracking, "By doing anything other than being you!"
Coco's shoulders tense as another silence, worse than before, descends.
"..."
Master Qifrey's voice suddenly softens, "Olly, I didn't mean that. I just—"
"Is that it?" Master Olruggio's voice sounds thick, but it's steady, and completely devoid of bitterness, "I can handle that, Qifrey."
"No, that's not what I—" Coco hears a rustle of fabric and a slight scrape as the chair shifts. "Olly, I love you, you know this—"
"Do I?"
It's at this point that Coco tries desperately to plug her ears again— she shouldn't be hearing this! But their words carry through, and they make it hard to breathe.
"I'm not sure I do, Qifrey."
"Olly—"
"You sure do your best to make me think anything but that." Master Olruggio sounds so tired— he always does, overworked and sleep-deprived, but the sheer exhaustion in his voice just now feels like a tangible weight, "I don't need... whatever it is you think I do."
"Oh, you have no idea how little I've given you," Master Qifrey's voice drops into a whisper, so much repressed bitterness built up in those words he must be able to taste them on his tongue, "How unfair this all is. Do you know, I wish—" there's a light thump, "I wish you weren't here. With me."
"..."
"You're wasting yourself on me, isn't that obvious?" His voice is soft and coaxing and miserable in a way Coco never wants to hear again, "You deserve more than being my crutch, Olly. I can never repay you, can't you see that?"
Silence stretches for the third time— now, it's just quiet and heavy and sad.
"You were a sinking ship from the day I met you." Master Olruggio finally speaks, and he just sounds tired and fond, "You think I don't know what I'm getting myself into? That's the problem. You think I don't know what you're gonna do to me."
There's a scrape of the chair as he stands, and his footsteps sound towards the door, "You're not getting rid of me, Qifrey. Get that through your thick skull and stop trying to repay some imaginary debt. There's none of that between us. You're the most important person in my life." The door creaks open, "That's never going to change."
Then the door has closed and the kitchen is so, so quiet.
Coco doesn't dare move, waiting, waiting, for Master Qifrey to— to do anything. As far as she can tell, he's just standing there, so utterly silent that it becomes all too easy to think she's alone in the kitchen. She doesn't even know if he's breathing.
Finally, though, she hears some indication of life from him— a quiet, muffled sniffle, and then a sigh so sad it sends a shiver down her spine.
His footsteps are nearly silent, but as the only noise in the kitchen, easy to trace as he slowly makes his way up the stairs.
Coco only dares to move when she hears the distant click of his room's door. The moment she does, she lets out a huge breath, slumping back onto the floor and staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
What was that???
She really, really shouldn't have heard that. Any of it. Coco timidly crawls out from her impromptu hiding place, standing awkwardly in the dark kitchen. She's forgotten what she even came down here for, glancing around aimlessly. One of the chairs is pushed out slightly, and under the table...
Coco frowns, going over to the kitchen table. In the darkness, something... silver is gleaming?
She crouches down and reaches out to pick it up, and finds it thin and light and laced through with veins. She holds it up, frowning.
A leaf?
She turns it this way and that, but aside from the odd silver sheen, it seems to be... just an ordinary leaf. Huh. Did it come from outside? She glances at the door. She hasn't seen any trees with leaves like this nearby...
The sound of Master Qifrey's door clicking open sounds from upstairs, and Coco startles, bolting for the stairs, leaf clutched in her hand, and scampering into her room as quiet as she can. She closes the door just before she hears the floorboard creak on the landing, and heaves a silent sigh of relief. Safe.
His footsteps pause outside her and Agott's room for a moment, before moving on. Coco sneaks to her bedroom, crawling into bed like she should have done an hour ago instead of going down to the kitchen for... she doesn't even remember!
She tosses onto her side, pressing her hands over her eyes.
What was that????????
She's so curious now! Gah! She rolls back over, biting her thumb in contemplation. From what she's seen, her Masters' relationship is... pretty close. They seem to know each other incredibly well, and she's seen them bicker, sure, but it's always more like an old married couple in her mind. Never... never anything like that.
And the leaf... she unclenches her hand, bringing it close to her face to inspect it with a frown. It got a bit crinkled, but is still just... a leaf, shiny silver on one side and a dull grey on the other. She squints at it, spinning it between her index finger and thumb, but it provides no answers.
Coco sighs and places the leaf on her bedside table. snuggling back under the covers. No use ruminating. Sleep will probably help...
—
Sleep did not, in fact, help.
Coco squints against the glare of the sun, rolling over with a groan. She didn't sleep very well. The thoughts of last night come through unbidden, and she frowns into her pillow, slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position.
How is she going to go about things normally, knowing all of that? Well...
She hears a small 'pwee', and glances over, blinking as she sees Brushbuddy curled up on her bedside table, pawing at... the leaf?
The leaf!
"Ah! Hey! No!" She exclaims, snatching it up, only to yelp as Brushbuddy flings itself at her, scampering up her arm to make little grabby motions for the leaf, which she holds high above her head. "It's not for you!" She tells it, only to break out in a giggle as it squirms along her neck, trying to climb her other arm. "Stop, that tickles— hey!"
Finally, she manages to grasp it by the tail, holding it upside down and giving it her best stern look. She's still a little red in the face, and the innocent 'pbiii?' it gives her doesn't help, but she puffs out her cheeks and holds the leaf away. "You can't eat this, okay? Why do you even..."
She pauses, lowering the leaf as a thought occurs to her. She looks at Brushbuddy. It blinks back, paws dangling. "Do you..." she starts to move her hand, then pauses, narrowing her eyes at it, "Don't eat it. No eating. Okay?"
"Pwee."
Slowly, she holds the leaf out to it— immediately, it nuzzles up against it, clutching it with tiny paws and making pleased little 'brrrr's. It reminds her of a cat with catnip, and—
"Wait a minute!" Coco gasps, and Brushbuddy gives her a puzzled look. She looks down at it, "You're attracted to the smell of magic ink, right? I've seen you snuggling up like this to my dried seals!"
"Pweeee?"
"So this leaf..." she muses, holding it up to the light. Grey against the sun. Wait... where has she seen this shape before?
"What was it called?" She asks Brushbuddy, setting it down on her bed. It gives her a 'pwee' and very helpfully stretches out on its belly, "The tree that makes magic ink? A... a..."
The silver side catches the sunlight.
"A silverwood!" Coco exclaims, beaming.
"Pbii."
"Thanks, Brushbuddy." She scratches its back before slipping the leaf into her pocket and hurrying out of her bedroom. That's a clue!
Still, how did it get there?
—
"Master Qifrey, where do Silverwood trees come from?"
He goes dead still at the stove. Coco fidgets where she sits at the table, but doesn't retract her question, and waits for him to turn around.
He doesn't.
"...may I ask where this question came from, Coco?" Master Qifrey's voice is delicate, but the underlying wire pulled tight enough to snap comes through easily.
Coco puts on her best innocent face, giving a little shrug even though he's not looking at her.
"I was just wondering," she half-lies, "At the Starry Sword, we saw that big one, so I just got to thinking... why silverwood trees? They're the only ones we can get magic ink from, so is there something separating them from other kinds of trees? Do we... do we know why they're special?"
"No." Master Qifrey's answer is uncharacteristically curt, and he seems to sense this, finally turning around with a slightly strained smile. "I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that question, Coco. I don't know much about trees, let alone Silverwoods."
"Oh... okay." Coco's gaze returns to her tea, "Well, thanks for listening to me anyway, Master."
"...Of course." His voice is taut in a way she hadn't heard before last night.
I feel like he's lying, she muses, busying herself with taking a sip of tea, I don't really like that feeling. But... maybe he has a good reason to? I'll just ask somewhere else...
"Oh, Coco?"
She perks up, "Yes?"
"I'm going away for a few days," Master Qifrey tells her, "To the Great Hall. I have a few errands to run— I'm leaving this afternoon, I should be back by the day after tomorrow."
"Oh." She blinks at him, "Okay. Um... travel safe."
He smiles, small and a little more warm. "Thank you. Olly will take care of your lessons while I'm gone. He's very knowledgeable, but you may have to take your own initiatives in getting him to teach you anything."
"You two know each other really well," Coco wonders aloud before she can stop herself, and this time, definitely doesn't miss the way Master Qifrey's shoulders go taut.
"...yes," he says after a moment, and she gets the uncomfortable sensation of listening to someone choose their words very carefully, "We've known each other since we were both apprentices."
"Wait, really?" Coco's eyes widen, "For that long?"
"How old do you think we are? I was an apprentice only... oh, two decades ago?"
"That's a really long time," she giggles, "But really? You two studied together?"
"...we did not have the same master, but... yes, we were together for much of our apprenticeship." Master Qifrey murmurs, leaning back against the counter with a sigh, "And then he made the mad decision to come all the way out here with me..."
That last sentence is said nearly under his breath, and Coco isn't sure if she's supposed to reply to it or not, so just timidly tries, "He's an inventor, right?"
"Yes, and a famed one at that." Master Qifrey's gaze is on the floor, "Such a radiant star..."
The silence stretches for a moment, and Master Qifrey shakes his head, looking up with an apologetic smile, "Goodness me, I seem to have started rambling! I do apologize, Coco. I've been thinking about these things lately, I suppose, and your question made me nostalgic. Now, how about you show me the seal you were working on yesterday? Have you figured out how to make the water into a ring yet?"
Coco blinks at the abrupt subject change, but doesn't fight it, giving a slow nod and pulling her palm quire out. "Sure, um... I've just been using region to shape it, and I think it's mostly been working..."
She doesn't notice the leaf fall out of her pocket as she withdraws her palm quire, floating gently to the floor. She does notice Qifrey's gaze immediately snap to it.
Oops.
"Coco," Master Qifrey's voice is dangerously pleasant, "Is that yours?"
"Is what mine?" Coco immediately winces at how bad she is at this— she follows his gaze, peering down at the leaf, "Oh, the leaf? No, it's weird, I..." she perks up, "I found Brushbuddy playing with it this morning, actually! It must have gotten stuck to my dress somehow..."
"Really," Master Qifrey sounds a little amused, and Coco silently curses her lack of skill in lying to someone's face, "Well, I suppose the little darling could have brought it in from outside."
"I haven't seen any trees with these leaves around here, though," Coco wonders, reaching down to pick the leaf up and place it on the table as if she's only just now getting a good look at it.
"...Coco."
She stiffens. "Um," her voice is tiny, "Yes?"
"You know this is a Silverwood leaf, correct?"
"Um— oh, really?" She almost face-palms right then and there. The smile Master Qifrey gives her just makes it worse, and she buries her face in her hands with a groan.
"I'm no good at this!"
"And thank heavens for that," Master QIfrey huffs, plucking the leaf off of the table, "It's usually not a good sign when a child is an adept liar."
Coco peeks out from between her fingers, watching him hesitantly. But when an adult is...?
"I would ask that you put this business out of your mind," Master Qifrey places one of his hands, cool and pale, over hers, gently pushing them down from her face. When she looks up, startled, she finds an oddly somber look on his face, "I'm sure you have questions, but the answers are not meant for you, my dear."
"But, Master—"
"Coco," he looks at her— really, truly looks at her, not like an adult to a child, not like a master to an apprentice, but as a witch to another witch, "Please."
She falters, holding eye contact for a moment longer before sighing and dropping her gaze to the floor with a slow nod. "Okay, Master Qifrey," she mumbles, reluctantly honest, "I'll stop thinking about it."
Coco hears a quiet sigh of relief, but looks up before Master Qifrey can turn away.
"Just— just let me know if there's anything I can do to help?" She pauses, "Please?"
Master Qifrey holds her gaze for a long moment, before smiling, thin and small.
"Of course, Coco."