Chapter Text
By the time they arrived at the small island town of Kalhn, the monthly market had already taken over the square and spread into the smaller cobbled side streets.
“Remind me again why we’re here?” Agott sighed deeply, tapping her finger against her other arm impatiently.
Colourful awnings and crooked stalls laced with all manners of goods could be seen all over as merchants tried to outdo each other and attract customers with spells.
Qifrey responded with his usual patient smile “I’ve been meaning to refresh some of our stew pots and it always seems to be local markets that have the freshest ingredients.”
He paused for just a moment. Giving a soft hum before encouraging her, ever cheerfully “Why don’t you have a look around and try to enjoy yourself a bit? It is a market after all!”
“I would be enjoying myself if I was back at the atelier, I have my second test to study for!” Agott retorted but Qifrey’s smile didn’t let up. She was about to say more when Coco suddenly grabbed her hand and started pointing excitedly at nothing in particular.
Despite being part of this world for a good few months now, she was still amazed by the smallest of things. “Agott, you have to show me how all this stuff works! You’re the smartest out of the apprentices!” She was basically jumping with joy at this point.
After a somewhat reluctant agreement, Agott was dragged away by Coco.
Church bells rang overhead, harmonising with the soft tinkling of wind charms that lived under the cloth canopies littering the area.
“Master Qifreyyyy!” Tetia said with puppydog eyes. “I need new clothes for when I practice! Can I have some pocket money?” The little girl begged.
“Did we not get you new clothes quite recently? Are you really in need of more?” Qifrey doubted Tetia’s claims.
“Well- yes but I um… I accidentally burned it practicing my pyreball” she blushed in embarrassment, causing Qifrey to quietly relent and hand over some extra money.
“Thank you Master! Thank you, thank you!”
She quickly scurried off. And is almost instantly lost in the crowd of pointed hats that surrounded them.
“You have got to stop spoiling them.” Olruggio sighs, coaxing another smile out of Qifrey. They both know that’ll never happen.
A small stall filled with fresh fruits and vegetables can be spotted from across the square. Everything was obviously freshly picked and taken care of to provide incredible taste.
While Qifrey quickly rushed over, Olruggio felt a small hand tug on his cape. Richeh, The only apprentice still present was pointing at a stall selling chocolate covered strawberries while looking up at him expectantly.
He looked down at the girl.
Up at the strawberries.
Then back down at her.
“…fine. Just don’t eat too much or you’ll get sick” He hands Richeh some money to go taste some different foods.
Qifrey returns with a bag of vegetables, he leans on his friend’s shoulder with a smile “Looks like it’s just us now Olly, shall we have a look around? I still need to buy some herbs!”
Something catches Olruggio’s eye “Nope, it’s just you” as he escapes Qifrey’s grip, causing the man to stumble a bit while he heads towards the alcohol.
Qifrey frowns before looking at the brushbuddy on his shoulder and giving him head scratches with his finger “Well at least you’re still here puff-puff” he chuckles as he breathes in the salty sea air mixed with the delicious market food.
“Biiiiii!”
The Kalhn market was in full swing now. Loud, lively and impossible to ignore.
Qifrey carefully adjusted the growing number of shopping bags that hung from his arms with a tired smile.
“Now then.” He adjusted his glasses “Can one of you explain to me why I’m suddenly holding everyone’s purchases?”
Tetia and Coco giggled whilst all of the girls except Agott avoided eye contact.
“You encouraged them, Master.” She said bluntly
“Me? I did no such thing!” He retorted dramatically
“You gave them money.”
“That hardly counts!”
Qifrey felt a hand on his shoulder “it definitely counts.” Olruggio sighed
Qifrey turned his attention to Tetia as he noticed the large pile of folded fabrics in her arms.
“…Tetia.”
She froze.
“You do remember that your wardrobe only has a limited amount of space. Yes?”
She laughed nervously, Qifrey continues.
“If you plan on buying this much, you will have to clear out some of your older clothes.”
It took her a moment to respond while she processed the information with a horrified expression. “Get rid of them!?”
“You haven’t worn some of them in ages, Tetia.”
“But I might want to!”
“What about the old faded pink one with rips on the sleeves, it’s been ages since I’ve seen it!”
“It- it’s just a few rips! I can fix it! Please Master!”
Qifrey thought things over for a moment, he should really hold his ground here but…
He looked down at Tetia, who was on the verge of tears.
“I… I suppose we could turn them into period pieces. Teach you guys the spell of reduction.”
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Tetia briefly handed her clothes to Richeh before practically jumping on Qifrey for a hug. The older man was taken aback for a moment before gently embracing his daughter.
He took a minute before standing back up to his full height. Olruggio spoke up first “we should get going, I’d rather not fly home in the dark.”
“Yeah. Let’s get going.”
“Girls, gather round please so I can show you this spell.” Qifrey chirped as the morning sunlight shone through the windows and onto him.
The four girls gathered around him in a circle so they could all see, Olruggio watched as he leaned against the doorframe.
“This spell can be a bit harder for some people as if you mess it up, you could accidentally destroy your clothes and shrink them wrong. The key is being consistent and confident.”
He pulled out his palm quire to demonstrate “We will start with a central repetition rune.” he pulls his hand away occasionally so the girls can get a good look. “We will then surround it 4 times with inverted expansion symbols.” The four apprentices were glued to Quifrey’s pen gliding seamlessly across the paper. “We will finish it off with four diamond symbols on the outer ring, anything within these symbols will be affected by the spell.”
“Now this is the part you must be careful with… if you get caught in it, it’d be a disaster!” Qifrey then drew an incomplete circle before tearing it out of the palm quire and laying it on the ground, he puts part of one of Tetia’s dresses within the circle before closing it and finishing the spell.
In the blink of an eye, the faded pink dress shrunk down to something that would fit on a doll.
The girls all looked eager and were already pulling out their palm quires to copy Qifrey’s actions. “Now, remember to be confident but careful! We would normally have tiny boxes to help store these clothes and draw the sigils on but we’ve run out, so we will have to make do with the palm quires.”
Olruggio cut in “I can grab some, I have to run some errands anyway. Might as well get some while I’m out.”
Qifrey frowned ever so slightly “but you’ll miss breakfast! Maybe even lunch too! Nutrition is quite important, I’ll have you know”
Olruggio rolled his eyes “I’ll be back for dinner at the latest. Is there anything else we need?”
There is no response to that so he shrugged and left to get ready. Qifrey sighed and turned his attention back to the girls.
“Why don’t we practice a bit and then I can start making our breakfast?”
Agott decided to disagree “I think we can handle practice without supervision, you should get started on breakfast without us.”
“Are you sure you’re all okay with that? This can be a hard spell…”
That seemed to motivate Agott even more “All the more reason you should let us prove ourselves by allowing us to practice alone!”
“You should all know that none of you have anything to prove to me, you’re all quite capable apprentices…”
“Then we’re capable enough to manage this!” Agott huffs
“Yeah! We can do it!” Coco and Tetia joined in, somehow in sync.
Quifrey looked to Richeh, who didn’t say anything but nodded along with her peers.
he put his hand on his chin as he thought it over. He looked down and shook his head in tired amusement “I suppose I can allow it… but you must remain careful!”
The girls celebrated at the opportunity.
“We promise master.” Agott confirmed
Qifrey turned to leave “Don’t hesitate to come through to me if you need assistance.” He waved dismissively as he entered the hallway and shut the door behind him.
Olruggio was just walking by, Qifrey fell into step beside him.
“I feel like a proud parent when things like this happen.” Qifrey exclaimed, ever the dramatist.
“They're bound to grow eventually” There was a small uptick of the other man’s lips, but he’d never admit it.
Olruggio stopped and turned to Qifrey, “I shouldn’t be too long, so behave.”
That earned a chuckle from Qifrey “Don’t take too long with your errands, Olly.”
There seemed to be something that Olruggio wanted to say, but he hesitated and ended up staying quiet. “I will see you soon.” He mumbled before turning towards the door of the atelier, a pegasus carriage already waiting outside for him.
The ever ambitious Coco was the one to start drawing first, the other girls watched her closely, being careful not to interrupt her concentration.
Just as she was about to close the circle, Agott warns her “Don’t. You accidentally drew the normal expansion signs instead of the inverse.”
“Huh? Oh!” Coco laughed nervously at her mistake, bringer her hand up behind her head.
Agott rolled her eyes “let me show you how to do it.”
Agott began drawing on her palm quire, following her master’s instructions down to the letter. She took a moment to take a deep breath and do some circles in the air with her pen before creating an incomplete one.
“Pass me a dress, will you?” Agott orders while she prepared the unfinished spell on the ground. Coco quickly ran over with a dusty old yellow dress.
The other girl grabbed the dress and placed part of the sleeve in the center of the spell, just as Quifrey had. She grabbed her pen once more and closed off the circle.
Coco gasped in amazement as the dress shrunk “Wow Agott, you did it first try!”
“Well- that’s what happens when you pay attention! That’s all…”
“My turn! My turn!” Tetia squeals in excitement.
“Richeh also wants to try…” She says calmly.
Tetia went next, she messed up her outer circle the first few times out of excitement but eventually managed to draw the spell perfectly and shrink one of her dresses.
Richeh didn’t need much guidance, she managed to technically draw it perfectly on the first try. But she drew the spell too small and it wasn’t that effective, leading to her having to draw another to fully shrink the clothing.
It was Coco that struggled the most with the spell, it was always just a bit too unstable to safely be used. Agott had to step in once again and guide her through the steps.
She eventually managed to make a stable one with the help of her peers. She too, shrunk one of the dresses.
“I did it! I really did it!” Coco smiled widely.
“Now we just have to practice.” Agott nodded with determination.
They took turns performing the spell one after another, until they got through half of the large pile of clothes.
“We’ve still got so much to do…” Tetia complained.
“They’re your clothes, Tetia.” Richeh reminds her, causing the other girl to huff indignantly.
Coco glanced at the pile “There is quite a bit left…”
“They’re important!” Tetia insists.
Agott pinched the bridge of her nose “Somehow, I find myself doubting that.”
Coco suddenly perks up “What if we put several inside the same one!”
“No.” Agott refused firmly and instantaneously.
“What if… we make it bigger so it’s easy to put them all in the same one!”
“No.”
“What if-“
“No!”
Coco frowned “You’re no fun sometimes…”
“I think it’s a great idea! Master is always saying that good ideas are an important part of being a proper witch!” Tetia firmly sided with Coco
“Imagine how impressed Master Qifrey would be with us…” Richeh mumbled quietly, that seemed to get Agott’s attention.
“Well- if you’re all going to do this stupid thing anyway, let me make sure you do it properly.” Agott gave in.
Agott immediately took charge of the small group of apprentices, grabbing a large sheet of paper from the corner of the room and setting it up near the door. “Coco, you’re good at straight lines. Start drawing the glyph.” Coco did a mock salute and began drawing.
“Tetia, start folding and stacking the clothes, we want to fit as much in the circle as we can” Tetia responded with a quick nod and began organising her messy pile of old clothes.
Agott pointed to Richeh next “Richeh, help Coco and check her spacing in the glyph. With larger spells like this, it needs to be exact or we could mess it up, and that won’t be happening.” Richeh didn’t respond but immediately approached Coco and kneeled down across from her.
After a solid five minutes, they are able to finish the spell. It looks impressive.
Maybe too impressive.
“Is it… supposed to be this big?” Coco asked.
Agott hesitated.
“…Probably.”
Tetia began to lower her clothes into the centre of the glyph.
“Who’s going to close it?” She asked
“I think Agott should do it! She was the reason we managed this after all!” Coco pushed Agott forward.
Qifrey quietly hummed a tune to himself, he heard it at that market the other day and it had been stuck in his head ever since. Who knew songs could be so catchy!
“Buying that liongoat cheesy bread at the market was a good call. These breakfast sandwiches are going to be amazing, the girls are going to love them!”
He carefully placed the potato on each sandwich before turning his attention back to the bacon and eggs. The bacon looked just about done, the fried eggs probably needed another minute or so.
He placed some lettuce on top on the potato before ever so gently lowering the bacon down onto the lettuce bed. Presentation really makes a meal after all…
Oh look at that, the eggs looked sufficiently fried! Qifrey used his spatula to complete each sandwich before finishing it off with some classy salt, pepper and extra cheese.
“Perfect, now I just need to go get the girls.”
“Alright, is everyone standing back?” Agott double checked before she finished closing the circle.
“Yup!”
“Mhm!”
“Yes.”
With three affirmatives, Agott began closing the circle.
The door opened and Qifrey took a step in, that familiar bright smile plastered on his face.
“Girls! Breakfast is rea-“
Agott finished closing the circle.
There was a brief light before… well, nothing.
None of the girls could say anything.
Dread began to creep in…
Coco broke the silence “Wh- where’s master Qifrey…?”