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It all starts, as far as Coco could tell, when Agott sprinted into Richeh and Tetia's room, where they were all studying together.
Her hair was notably messy, practically sticking up at all ends, and her eyes were wide and frantic.
"We're not going on the field trip next week."
They all snapped their heads up in shock.
"What? Why?!" Tetia cried. "We've been studying travel spells all month!"
"Yeah, and it's my first time camping!" Coco agreed. "We have to go!"
Agott glanced suspiciously over her shoulder and closed the door firmly.
"Master Qifrey's in preheat."
The other three all fell silent. Taking in this information with the gravity it deserved.
Richeh went limp, kicking her book away and dangling halfway off the edge of her bed.
"Richeh didn't want to sleep outside anyways. "
"How do you know he's…" Coco trailed off meaningfully.
Aggott groaned and pointed a finger at her ridiculously mussed hair.
"Walked past him on the way to get snacks. He nearly suffocated me. And stole my cloak. And I never got the snacks. Sorry."
As she settled cross legged on the plush rug that took up space beside Tetia's bed, it was immediately obvious what she meant. Agott's normal scent, muted and milky as all pups were, had been completely smothered in a powerful waft of Qifrey's, warm and herbal like tea leaves and bread.
It was so strong, Coco did not doubt her claim that she had been deprived air in the process. Qifrey's normal scent marks were usually done anywhere between once or three times a day, in the form of a gentle swipe of his wrist and only left a small note of himself lingering in the nose.
The powerful smell coming off of Agott now, practically rendering her indistinguishable from a tea cake fresh out of the oven, could have only been done by a very tight hug and the use of the more potent glands just below Qifrey's jaw.
Coco fiddled with her fingers nervously.
She had been living in the atelier for a few months now, and sometimes she still felt very out of place. Especially so when the matter of pack was considered.
Witches commonly pack bonded with their apprentices, Coco knew. An apprentice's atelier essentially became their new family. It was especially true in Qifrey's atelier. She, however, still remained unsure where she stood in that dynamic.
She had only ever been pack with her parents, and then only her mother, after her father passed.
Pups were not meant to be packless. It was practically considered taboo. But Coco…still had not assimilated fully into the atelier's pack.
With her mother in a state of limbo, not dead, but out of reach indefinitely, she felt a deep conflict within herself that left her still on the edge, as though, despite living in the atelier for as long as she has, somehow, she was still somewhere on the outside, looking in.
Coco did not know what being adopted into a pack she wasn't born into entailed. She wasn't sure how exactly it was done, and was even less sure that her most private desires to be known as undeniably family to Qifrey and the other girls and master Olly too, were not a betrayal to her poor mother.
How could she explain such a thing? How could she ever save her mother and look her in the eye and expect forgiveness not just for turning her to stone but for accepting another dam's claim as well?
But the longer Coco went without a proper pack bond, the more apparent it became why pups were not meant to go without.
The longer she'd gone living away from her old home, and the longer it had been since the last time her mother had scented or laid claim on her, the more Coco felt off. She felt like a frayed length of twine. It was harder and harder to sleep, and the casual scenting she received from her teacher and fellow apprentices felt more disorienting and strange.
Like wanting something she couldn't describe, with a longing that was nearly tangible.
But, she supposed, she'd just lost any chance to ask Qifrey any of the pack related questions she'd already been putting off for weeks, if he was really in preheat.
Whatever that entailed, anyways.
"What I'm, what exactly does this mean for us? I mean-" her cheeks reddened. "My family are all betas. I don't actually know anything about, um-"
"It's okay," Tetia soothed with a reassuring grin. "Agott's just being dramatic. Master Qifrey's heats aren't all that bad."
"Speak for yourself," Richeh said solemnly. "I'm already mourning my personal space."
"And my cloak." Agott grumbled. "It's nearly winter. It's cold outside.
"As if any of us are going to be let outside," Tetia snickered. "Besides, Master Olly will start heating up the atelier once he realizes-"
She gasped.
"Oh no! Master Olly-"
"-Will be back from his trip tomorrow, remember?" Agott cut in. "He won't miss anything."
Tetia sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I'd forgotten. We really would be in a corner without him. None of us are allowed to mess with the hearth."
"Which is a dumb rule," Agott grumbled. "We already use fire spells in our lessons."
As the premier fire expert in the atelier, the gruff alpha had a certain level of authority over any and all rules involving fire safety. The one he held the most strictly, was that absolutely no pups were allowed to mess with the large fireplace that kept the atelier warm year-round. Even just to toss a log in when it got low, it was expected that the girls would find an adult for this task.
Tetia, who had been the first apprentice Qifrey ever took on, and had lived in the atelier since she was eight, had once attested that Olruggio even used to layer the hearth and the surrounding area with so many spells and contraptions meant to keep small pups away from fire that it used to be impractical to spend any time at all in the living room, an issue which Qifrey had eventually put his foot down on.
"Why is it important that master Olly be home? Is it because they're mates?"
"Essentially," Aggot confirmed, still fussing over her hair and attempting to wrestle it back into order.
"Master Olly makes sure Master Qifrey eats enough, and distracts him from trying to smother us all the time. Like a shield." Tetia said.
"Or a sacrifice," Richeh added with a smirk.
"And Master Qifrey can't nest properly if the whole pack isn't home," Agott said. "He gets very stressed during the whole affair as it is. You'd think we live in a war zone, the way Master Olly has to convince him every time we're not surrounded by threats or about to be snatched up by wild animals or something."
Coco frowned. That didn't sound very reassuring at all.
"Aw, poor Qifrey…how long does this all last?"
Richeh hummed and crooked a hand in the air vaguely.
"Depends."
"Four days of preheat and two days of heat, typically," Agott clarified briskly. "But sometimes his preheat is longer or shorter by a day, and sometimes his heat is longer if he gets too stressed."
"And afterwards Master Alaira usually picks us up and looks after us for a day or two, but since she's…not available anymore, we'll probably go to Master Nolnoa's or something." Tetia added.
"Why?"
Tetia shrugged.
"Master Olly says it's because Master Qifrey gets a bit sick at the tail end of his heat, so we go elsewhere so he doesn't have to worry that we're taken care of while he focuses on tending to him."
"Richeh's parents also sent Rili and me away." She chimed in. "But usually, we were sent as soon as our dam's preheat was over and in the Great Hall, we just joined one of the Creches instead until they sent for us again."
"Oh."
Richeh's parents, Coco often thought privately, whenever she spoke of them, did not sound like particularly attentive caretakers.
"It's going to be fine," Agott said decisively. "Don't worry so much."
"If you say so," Coco said nervously. "I'm still upset about the field trip, though."
"I'm not," said Richeh.
"We know, Richeh," the other three said in unison."
It was clear, Coco thought to herself, that the comments about smothering had not been exaggeration at all.
The girls had all hidden way in Richeh and Tetia's room for several hours. Eventually, however, it was nearly dinner time and hiding was no longer an option.
When they all made their way down the stairs together, Coco nervously flagged at the back of the group with Agott.
Tetia, however, seemingly had no such reservations.
She bounded down the stairs with a wide grin and immediately made her way over to their Master, much to Coco's surprise.
"Master Qifrey! What's for dinner?"
When Qifrey spots them from his place near the stove, his eyes light up. It takes Coco by surprise that he should be so happy to see them. Which is not to say that he isn't always happy to see any of the girls. Because truly, absurdly, he is always happy to see them. Even when they're running to him for salvation from their latest run-in with trouble.
But the second Tetia is flinging her arms around his waist Qifrey positively glows.
A strong burst of Qifrey's scent blooms in the air, tinged with a particular variety of pleased omega that Coco's brain cannot resist reading as Pleased Mother. Much to her private embarrassment.
And there is something else. Something new about Qifrey's scent. It's a little sweeter, in a way that clings in her nose. Unconsciously, Coco gravitates closer to his orbit.
Qifrey pulls Tetia into a visibly very tight hug, and leans down to bury his face in her hair with a pleased hum. Similarly to the state that already befell Aggot, he ruffles and thoroughly scents her hair. Unlike Agott, Tetia giggles breathlessly as though she delights in being treated like a python's dinner.
"Mmm, hello sweethearts," Qifrey said, a quiet purr building up in up in his chest. "We're having stew tonight."
"Stew's nice," Aggot agreed, still standing a safe few feet away.
Richeh closed her eyes and marched up to Qifrey with her arms open like she was a heroic martyr offering herself up for tribute.
Rather than let Tetia go entirely, Qifrey tucked her against his side to make room for Richeh in the embrace with his free arm. Richeh went limp against his chest and allowed the ensuing scenting and hair-mussing with only a few squeaky grumbles under her breath.
Qifrey's scent bloomed stronger with every pup he scented and Coco felt herself shuffling closer. She gripped the hem of her dress anxiously in her hands, unsure of why, exactly, she felt so unsettled.
As betas, her parents did not scent as often as alphas or omegas did. There was no impulse to coat a territory in a blanket of unspoken claim. It was nothing Coco had ever thought about before. The occasional swipe of her mother's wrist had been something she put up with but never demanded. Qifrey's scent marks, though certainly nice, had never felt any different.
But now, she felt a creeping pit in her chest. A sense of urgency entirely alien to her. It made her restless, to the point that she could not remain still, nearly enough to make a childish whine rise at the back of her throat-
Thin, nimble fingers caught ahold of her sleeve, and suddenly Coco was being yanked directly into the middle of the impromptu group hug. Those same fingers threaded themselves into her hair, combing and scratching at her scalp.
There is a shift, some readjustment, and then her face is tucked against Qifrey's neck, his scent glands directly on the crown of her head as he nuzzled her with a pleased hum.
That same sweet scent full of Happy Mother-satisfied omega-claimed pups hits her like a physical blow.
Coco stiffens, then goes completely limp against her teacher, and to her mortification, she really does whine. A high pitched subvocal known to all as uniquely stressed pup that makes the other girls answer back in alarm.
Qifrey, already zeroed in so keenly on the four of them, is releasing the other girls in an instant, crooning worriedly. He pulls away to hold her by the shoulders at an arm's length, and worse, Coco realizes her eyes are hot and something wet is sliding down her cheeks.
"Coco? Coco, what's the matter, sweetheart? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
Qifrey is frantic, scent twisted rapidly from content to worried and Coco feels horrible because she doesn't know what's wrong with her either, just that Qifrey having pulled away makes the strange feelings worse.
Qifrey's hands flit over her person, searching for any sign of injury. He presses his wrist against her brow to check for fever and Coco finds herself nearly leaning all of her weight into the touch. She's hiccuping in her fumbling attempts to suck in enough air to tell him that she's fine, it's all fine, really. But the air won't come through the sobs and even Richeh is crowding in on her out of concern.
Coco shook her head frantically, hiccuping.
"N-no I'm fu-fi-hine! I'm s-sorryy! I'm-"
Qifrey hushed her softly, cupping her cheek to tilt her head back and feel her pulse with two fingers.
"You're not running a fever-but your heart is very fast. Are you su-"
He paused. Then he tilted her head back a bit further and sucked in a breath.
"Coco….sweetheart, what's happened to your glands?"
Coco's face burned. She knew he was staring directly at the inflamed gland peaking from the edge of her collar, surrounded by red marks and scabs.
She carefully avoided his eyes.
"I-I just…um. Sometimes I scratch-Only a little! they just get itchy sometimes."
Qifrey hissed and she flinched, fresh tears welling up, ashamed.
Immediately he cut himself off with a sharp bite to his lip.
Qifrey sighed and turned towards the rest of the girls.
"Agott, dear, can you keep an eye on dinner for a few minutes? And Richeh, get the hearth table from the closet?"
Both girls nodded and quickly rushed to their respective tasks.
"What about me, master Qifrey?" Tetia asked expectantly.
"Ah, of course, Pet. Blankets, please, darling. I think we'd all best have dinner by the hearth tonight once I've got your…once Coco has been taken care of."
"Okay!"
Qifrey straightened up with an odd huff, still worrying his lower lip between his teeth. He gently placed a hand between Coco's shoulders and led her away from the kitchen.
Coco tried to warble out a few more apologies but every time she was only shushed gently.
Qifrey led her into the washroom and prodded her to settle onto the bench beside the bath while he opened up a cupboard above the handwash basin, far out of the reach of the younger members of the household without the use of sylph shoes.
Inside the cupboard was a selection of bandages and small tins and vials with the healer's symbol engraved on the sides as well as crisp little labels with tightly scrawled writing.
Wasn't that…medicine? Was that allowed?
Qifrey noticed her curious (albiet still quite watery) stare and mustered a reassuring smile, only a little strained at the edges.
"We can't be disturbing the healers for every little scrape and bruise, now can we?"
"I…guess not."
He selected a small, wide tin and knelt back down at Coco's side while easing the lid open. The smell of the strange, thick tincture inside was odd enough to make her nose wrinkle.
Coco undid the first button of her collar and pushed it aside just enough to display her glands.
Though she was expecting it, the first cool press of Qifrey's fingers on her neck still made her flinch.
"Sorry," He murmured. "Poor circulation does not make for particularly comforting hands, I know." With a rueful twist to the corner of his mouth.
"It's fine."
He carefully traced her gland and clucked his tongue in disapproval.
"The itching that made you scratch was likely caused by dryness. Your glands are meant to be producing more oils than I'm seeing here…have we not been scenting you enough?" His brow furrowed and more of that awful, sour worry filled Coco's nose. "I haven't seen dry glands like these since I took in Richeh, but that was caused by pack neglect…"
Coco shrugged, staring at a particularly interesting patch of tile near her feet.
"Coco?"
Her breath hitched.
"…We were already such a small pack, before I drew that sigil."
Clarity dawned in Qifrey's eye.
"This is about your mother?"
Coco whined. Some of the horrible piercing fear that she usually only dwelled on at night from the safety of her bed filling up her chest.
"What if-what if it takes a really long time to save my mama? What if it's years from now a-and-" She whined louder, eyes stinging and burning for all that she had no tears left in her body to shed.
"M-master Qifrey, what if I save my mother and we're not pack anymore?"
"Oh, sweetheart," Qifrey breathed, all too ready to catch her when Coco threw herself into his arms with a wail.
"I-I like it here so much! Isn't that horrible?"
"Coco-"
"I love the atelier and I like-I like it when you and Master Olly scent me an-and I love Agott and Tetia and Richeh and I don't want to leave any of thi-this behind when Mama is saved-Doesn't that make me awful? It's so selfish-I'm so selfish-"
"Coco!"
Qifrey squeezed her tightly.
"Coco. You are not a bad child for feeling safe and loved in a new home! If anything I am very relieved to hear that you feel safe here. We care for you very much, sweetheart."
"Bu-but, my mama-"
"I did not know your mother for longer than a few hours," Qifrey interrupted gently. "But it was clear as day that she loved you very much. I cannot speak for her, but I can say that if any of the other girls had been put in a situation like yours, stars forbid, then I would only be incredibly relieved that they were safe and cared for."
Qifrey hesitated for a moment, carding his fingers through Coco's hair while she sniffled into his chest.
"Coco…I cannot tell you what will happen once your mother is saved. The future is a very uncertain thing. I cannot promise you that the outcome will be simple, or that there will not be complications." He said.
"The only thing I can promise, is that you are never to blame for loving the people around you, and that no matter what happens, we all care for and support you just as much."
Coco shuddered.
"I want so badly to belong here…but I can't possibly deserve it."
"That's fine. It was never about deserving."
"W-what do you mean?"
"You can't control who loves you, Coco. You're already pack, whether you want to be or not." There was just a bit of teasing in his tone.
Coco hiccuped and looked up at him with naked hope in her eyes.
"I-I am? Really?"
Qifrey laughed softly.
"Yes, sweetheart. Practically from the second I brought you home."
"Oh," She breathed. "Oh."
Well then.
This was, she thought, all rather a bit silly then, wasn't it?
They all have dinner by the hearth just as Qifrey instructed.
Richeh had dragged a low, round table from the hall closet and there are blanket's from nearly every corner of the house piled about,along with cushions to sit on.
Qifrey personally bundles Coco up so tightly she scarcely has enough room to wriggle her arms free so she can take a bowl of stew from Agott.
The other girls are similarly fussed over and Richeh's patience draws thin enough that she snaps her teeth (only once!) at him. Qifrey as a rule does not nip as many dams do, not even playfully, but he does show his fangs at her a bit, which is surprising enough. Another small sign that he's not entirely himself. Still, Richeh settles with minimal huffing and even accepts a tiny bit more fussing, though really only because Qifrey pushed a bowl into her hands and the food kept her properly distracted.
Qifrey is particular about their food on the best of days. He's got all sorts of opinions about nutrition and energy and rarely does a week go go by without at least one lecture on the importance of vegetables and variety and other things that, admittedly, the girls have all heard so often it really just goes right into one ear and out through the other. Tonight, however, he watches them all like a hawk. It takes pointed prodding from Tetia for him to start on his own bowl, but he still watches them all to finish their bowls, then tries to convince them they should all have seconds. Only Richeh takes him up on this.
Afterwards, Tetia asks if he'd read to them before they all went to bed. She has a sly look in her eyes when she asks but Qifrey doesn't seem to notice, agreeing without thought.
blankets are all piled into something that is almost a nest, but could never properly qualify for all that it is haphazard and for all that the sitting room is hardly the place for one. Coco is tucked against Qifrey's side and Agott for all that she had protested being in their teacher's space the entire evening, had boldly claimed his other side, her cheek smushed against his arm to get a better look at any pictures. Tetia is strewn over Agott's lap and Richeh lays over Qifrey's legs in a boneless sprawl.
The low snap and hiss of the fire combined with Qifrey's steady voice is a lullaby like no other. He recites from one of Tetia's favored novels (full of knights and adventures and princesses, as she is ever so fond of) with a practiced ease.
They all make the usual promises. No less than three chapters, but no more than ten. They will all head straight to bed afterwards.
It is a fool's negotiation. One Coco personally never wants to learn from.
Richeh is already asleep by the end of the first chapter. Tetia follows by the third. Agott and Coco are the only ones still fighting sleep by the fifth, but in truth Coco has no idea who fell next.
She does not recall closing her eyes. When sleep comes, it feels less like a surrender and more like a particularly long blink. One moment she is tucked safely into Qifrey's side, watching the fire dance with hazy vison whilst her teacher's voice washed over her. The next, she is sprawled amongst the blankets with a cold nose and Tetia's arm flopped over one of her legs.
The hearth has gone dim and the atelier is a hazy blue with pre-dawn light, and she cannot place what's happened or why she's awake until she registers heavy footsteps plodding across the floor.
For a split second, her heart leaps to her throat and she is a breath away from keening for help when the scent of woodsmoke fills her nose and a familiar warm, callused hand rests upon her brow.
"Shhh, it's alrigh' wain, go back teh sleep."
The fear immediately collapses into joy.
"Olly," She breathes, leaning fully into his hand.
"Tha's right, just me, pup," he rumbles. "Settle now, didn' meant teh wake yeh."
"'M glad you did," She mumbled, eyes already drooping again. "We missed you."
Olruggio blushed and Coco giggled sleepily at his easy embarrassment. She was less pleased however when he decided the best tactic would be to attempt a retreat. She clutched his sleeve and whined when he tried to pull away.
He froze, eyes darting over her head where Qifrey and the other girls were still asleep.
"shh!"
Coco tugged at his arm and did her very best to drag him down.
"Don't go," She pleaded. "Olly, don't go, we missed you."
"I just got home, wain," He tried to console her. "I need teh change of my traveling clothes, and get some things settled-"
"Do it later, pleaaase?" She begged. "Rest with us, just for a little while?"
Olruggio grimaced, and did not answer.
She thought about it, and decided to take drastic measures.
Coco widened her eyes, and wobbled her lower lip; the very image of woe and pity.
"Please, Olly?"
The benefits of this particular tactic, as Richeh had taught her, was that the longer Olruggio attempted to stand firm, eventually her eyes would start to water from holding them open so long.
In this case, it wasn't necessary.
Within the span of a full second, Olruggio groaned and knelt down. Coco giggled at the way his knees cracked but victoriously scrambled back to make room for him in the not-nest.
Olruggio kept glancing over at Qifrey as he settled down, searching for any sign that he was disturbed by the noise.
"He won't wake," Coco whispered confidently.
"Oh yeah? Why's that, wain-oof!"
The second he was on the ground Coco scrambled on top of him, ignoring his wheezing to fit herself on his chest without fear of being dislodged, because Olly would never.
Coco relaxed and lay her chin against his shoulder with a sigh.
"Agott negotiated for ten chapters last night."
Olruggio raised his eyebrows.
"Ten? Stars!"
"Mhm."
"Ach, I'll make 'im some tea later."
"Mmm…"
Olruggio chuckled softly. Callused finger pads began to card through her hair.
"Tired? Sorry again fer wakin yeh."
"'S fine," Coco mumbled. "Was a long night."
"Somethin happen?" He asked with a twinge of concern.
Coco shrugged, eyes slipping closed.
"Sort of. I was silly."
"Oh?"
"Yeah…didn't know I was already Pack."
Olruggio stiffened.
"You- what?"
Coco yawned.
"I said it was silly. Tell you about it after breakfast?"
"Coco-"
She pressed a hand over his mouth.
"Shuuush," She hushed him, just as Qifrey had hushed her yesterday. "Sleep now, Olly."
"Mmph-"
A pillow slammed into Olruggio's head, startling both of them.
"Stop talking, Richeh is trying to sleep!"
Olruggio wheezed and fumbled with the pillow while Coco giggled unhelpfully.
"Sorry, sorry, we're sleeping now! Right Olly?"
"Ergh…"
Tetia snored and flopped her legs over Olruggio's.
Thoroughly trapped with no hope of escape, the alpha seemed to finally accept his fate and fell quiet.
Coco hadn't lied to him. She was rather tired.
Still, she couldn't help fighting the pull of sleep for a while longer, to stare out into the dusky blue of the early morning.
She watched the dust motes float in the air and listened, feeling the hush and the rustled of the trees and the long grass outside in the downs. The breathing of the pack, from Qifrey's light sighs to Tetia and Olruggio's snores.
This was her pack.
Tucked in against Olruggio's side, with the girls all close and Qifrey's scent marks still thick in the air, Coco felt herself relax once more. All her worry and stress was too far away to disturb the sense of safety draped over the atelier.
Whatever the future held?
It was a problem for tomorrow.