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Agott feels her surname on her back like an incredibly heavy rock. It’s not a boulder, spherical and consistent. It is a rock. It is sharp, and rugged, and solid. It bites in between her shoulder blades and presses down on her neck. It digs into her hips and hands as she tries to pry it off her lower back. It crumbles, with sediments falling into her eyes. Agott feels her surname in her chest like an incredible still heart. It does not beat, it is so stagnant that she must move around it. When Qifrey took her in he did not decide for himself whether or not the rumours were true. He asked her if she did it. She said no, and the two letters ripped from the very back of her throat as though they were intending to stab him, for even suggesting that she could say anything else. He nodded and turned his head to the setting sun.
“Well then,” He started. “So everything shall be alright.”
She could’ve screamed. She could have cried and thrashed. She could have stuck a hand against him if he were not so big, and she not so small. How could anything be alright? Nothing could come from this except for suffering. A blemish on her record, a plague on her existence.
“Believe me,” He said to her, “The seriousness of these allegations are not lost on me. But you have only just met me, and you have told me they are lies. I have no weight in your life for you to lie to. So, I must believe you.”
He was the chosen destination for her filth. For her corruption. The man who towered over her was unbeknownst to her. A terrifyingly empty and hollow figure to which no identity she could assign.
She sat silently at the table where he had placed a bowl of food in front of her. Soft and warm. Equivalent to a warm blanket wrapped around her to her stomach. She stared down at the floor, shaking subtly, yet violently. A dark and damp realization came over her. She would never be home again. Qifrey stood in the kitchen, pretending he wasn’t looking at her through his peripheral vision. He pretended to be cutting vegetables. When the door creaked open, neither of them looked.
A man, tall, broad, and strong, walked in. He placed his cap on a stool by the door and ran his hands through his hair in a rugged exhaustion. He blinked sleepily and wandered into the kitchen. Qifrey sucked in a breath and the knife clattered against the cutting board. The man paused in the kitchen, staring at Agott. Her small head lifted and his eyes met hers. As quickly as his face distorted into somewhere between confusion and annoyance, Qifrey was pushing him back by his shoulders, flat palms, whispering.
“Who’s the basket case?” The man said before he was out of earshot.
“Oly, please.” Qifrey whispered harshly.
Her eyes shut in an ashamed sadness. They squeezed to force the tears to disappear. She curled in on herself, her shoulders heaving in silent cries. She had only ever learned to cry without sound. Her lip quivered as if drenched and standing in the cold. Her temples began to pulse as her head rushed with blood. After what felt like years alone. The man walked into the kitchen with a crooked attempt at a half smile, and clothes in his hands. He held them out to her.
“Sorry little lady,” he said. “Got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t you go clean up, yeah?”
She looked up at him with hollow eyes, sensing the pity entering the room before he did. A few steps away from them Qifrey was in the doorway. She watched the man as he placed the clothes on the table beside her food, which was now cold. He sighed deeply and walked away without saying anything else, he leaned in to Qifrey as he left, whispering something Agott didn’t hear. Qifrey’s face softened and he shook his head, whispering something back.
Agott felt her face heat up. Adults were always talking about her behind her back. It made her feel small, and everything be damned if she felt any smaller than she already did. When her voice came into her ears it sounded too strong to be her own. It imitated a confidence that she knew she did not feel.
“If you two are going to talk about me. I would much prefer I be involved in the conversation.” She said defiantly, standing up from her chair and puffing her chest out at them. Qifrey approached her and knelt down, she bit into her bottom lip, she felt blood burst into her mouth. She backed up.
“Don’t patronize me.”
Qifrey tilted his head. “Please, will you eat a little before bed?”
She looked down at her clenched fists, nails digging into her palm. She thought of what to say. Lines of, ‘don’t offend me’ and ‘I’m not helpless’ flooded her mind. Instead she pushed past him and ran through the doorway, the other man stepped out of the way and followed her as she ran down the stairs to where her new bedroom was. She locked herself inside.
So, Agott went to bed hungry. Hungry, exhausted, feeling sweat and dirt cementing onto her skin, alone, and so incredibly angry.
Over time there was a change, very brief, very fleeting. Mornings that smelled of light smoke and dough, afternoons that smelled of sweat and ink, and nights that smelled of soap and linen.
Qifrey threw his cloak around his shoulders and nodded to Agott with fervour.
“I’m sorry, but I must go to the Great Hall for a few days alright? If you need anything, Olruggio is still here, and if you ever for a moment need me back I will be.”
Agott huffed on the stairs, looking down at her pad of paper where she was practicing casting seals. “I’ll be fine.”
Qifrey’s hand came to the top of her head and trailed down the left side of her head to her chin before leaving softly. Her head cracked up to look at him. He had a very small and genuine smile on his face.
“You always are, aren’t you?” He said with a high rise in his chest before exiting through the door.
Agott felt blood rush to her cheeks. She placed palms to her face and hid in them. Qifrey was very nice to her, it made her feel small.
Over time, though, she felt as though that feeling of being small was different from when they first met. Before, it was a distasteful size to be. An insignificant quantity to be. As though being small was equivalent to being transparent, Qifrey would look right through her, leaving her exposed and vulnerable.
Now, being small was almost nice. Qifrey took care of her. Cooked her meals, cleaned her shoes when they got muddy, steadied her hand as she drew in frustration. Small almost began to mean child. She felt like a child, that is to say, she felt like she had an adult in her life.
Agott was quickly reminded that she could be afforded no such luxury.
In the present day she stirred in her sleep. Crushed by rocks of all sizes. She clawed her way through them, but they pinned her down by her wrists and her ankles. She tried to pull herself out from the rubble but she couldn’t.
Voices screamed at her. More rocks fell.
She could smell the disgusting scent of her own sweat and blood. She pressed her head against a rock to try to lift it with her skull. She had rolled onto her stomach, staring at her pinned wrists. If she could only get one free. She writhed.
This was a reoccurring problem. Though she’d rather dig her own grave than tell anyone about them, especially Master Qifrey.
Her left hand came free, she ran it along the bruises and scratches of her right arm. She was going to be buried alive at this rate.
“What a pathetic offspring.” Voices screamed. They weren’t loud, they weren’t filled with emotional and expressive rage, but they were screaming none the less.
“Generations of librarians, noble witches, and custodians of knowledge accumulate into such a small thing.”
Small.
The rocks are so big.
She is so small.
Qifrey is big.
She is small.
Tears fell from her eyes as she pushed against the flesh of her right arm. Her wrist was completely pinned down. The gap in the rocks was too small for her hand to fit through. She felt her other limbs swell with the impact of her seething. She cried and pathetic whines came from her throat.
She shook violently, as violently as the rocks around her would allow her too. She begged within herself for someone to come save her.
No one would.
She knew this and still she cried.
“Qifrey!” She wailed, and the voices laughed.
“Do you think he will save you? You think he’s your master? He’s your prisoner, trapped within the burden of caring for you.”
She shook her head and pushed further into the flesh of her arm.
“Perhaps.” A quiet voice came directly in her ear. “If you snap your wrist, if you break your hand, you can pull it out.”
Everything came still. She stared at her wrist.
‘Am I seriously considering this?’ she thought to herself as she took heaving breaths. The next larger than the other, preparing herself.
Her eyes shot open. Cold sweat trailed down her temples. Qifrey kneeled at the side of her bed.
“Agott?” He asked quietly. His hand fell from her shoulder, he had been trying to wake her up.
She looked down at him, his eyes open in a mix of worry and curiosity. She noticed the presence of time in the bags under his eyes and the wrinkles at the edges of his eyes as he softly smiled.
“Are you alright? It’s not like you to sleep in.”
Agott pulled her shoulder away from his hand. That’s right. She isn’t the one he needs to worry about. Tetia, Reicheh, and Coco could have all his attention for all she cared. He didn’t seem to mind her skipping meals with the rest of them to continue studying, for he didn’t force her to sit at the table. He must’ve only come here because she was acting out of accordance with her usual behaviour.
“I’m sorry, Master Qifrey,” she said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. He stood. “I must’ve overslept. I’ll work on my chores at once.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to stop her breathing from shaking. Fear slowly seeped away from her waking form. Qifrey took his breaths as though she were fragile. This increased the heat in her face, how offensive.
The other girls had already started on their practicing for the day, having already had breakfast. Perfect, they were hours ahead of her. No problem, she’d just work harder to make up for her lost hours. Besides, she worked later into the night than the three of them combined. So she’d have to skip a meal or two, nothing she hasn’t done before.
After her morning chores she spent the rest of her time holed up in her room. She didn’t want to risk distraction in her shared workspace with Coco. Her knuckles turned white with concentration as she etched casting seals and spells into mountains of paper. A knock at the door pulled her out of her hours-long concentration. She huffed.
“Yes?”
“Agott,” Qifrey’s voice came through the door. “Will you be joining us for lunch?”
“I’m afraid I’m not hungry.” She called out in response, wand still moving diligently.
“Ah, I see!” Qifrey said in a lighthearted voice that she could tell he was pushing for. “Well then, shall I leave a plate for you at your door?”
“That would be nice, thank you.”
“Do eat, please.” He said in a sigh she assumed she wasn’t supposed to hear.
Agott hummed an agreement and heard a light clicking sound of the porcelain plate being placed on the ground. A few moments passed before she opened her door to bring it in and place it on the edge of her desk. She immediately went back to practicing. She had ink stains on her hands so frequently that they were equivalent to burn marks. She felt new callouses form and her old ones began to tear. That dull aching in her fingers is an indicator of her merit.
Eventually lines began to blur with the exhaustion of her eyes. She took deep breaths to steady her hands shaking with hunger, and blinked harshly to clear her eyes watering from exhaustion.
Hours later, there was another knock at the door. “Girls!” Qifrey’s voice rang out.
When Agott opened the door Tetia, Rechieh, and Coco were staggering into the living room where Qifrey and Olruggio were putting on their caps.
“Something urgent has happened, and we have both been summoned to the Great Hall.” Qifrey explained. “I hate to leave you four alone, but will you be alright for the next little while?”
“Of course we will.” Agott said.
“What happened?!” Tetia asked as she tugged on Qifrey’s cloak.
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say.” Qifrey sighed.
“You girls just try not to burn the house down.” Olruggio said, nodding at Qifrey and holding open the door.
When the girls were left alone, things went normally for about an hour. Then Richeh, without any observation from Qifrey began to work on her own spells, using Tetia as a partner they went to the front yard to practice.
Coco tucked herself in the bay window and began twiddling with her wand. She eventually approached Agott’s room, which was still closed, and knocked on it three times solidly.
“Agott,” She asked through the door.
Agott hummed back.
“You’ve been in there all day. Do you want to take a break with me in the living room?” Coco offered.
“No thank you, I think I’ll pass.”
Coco made a whining sound in the back of her throat. Agott vaguely registered her walking away. Presumably, to join Tetia and Richeh in curiosity of their new magic.
Agott didn’t need that. She didn’t need connection. She didn’t need friends. She didn’t need sisterhood. She didn’t need anyone other than herself, didn’t need anything other than her wand. That was the only way to get through the rest of her life combating the piercing ache under her bones that has existed since the day she was born and her elders began to talk.
Desperation and anger contaminated her blood. How could something as pure as connection be a resolve to that fact? Oil and water was her and friendship. The more she threw herself into her work the less time she had to mull in her thoughts. The less time she had to imagine herself in front of her elders, legs shaking, mouth dry yet filled with sick saliva of anxiety with a taste of blood.
There was no use focusing on that, however. She was going to make it out of this Atelier. Enter the virtuous library with her hands bloodied if need be, scaling the vicious walls with nothing but her callouses to support herself. It must be nice to lack the responsibility of a surname as weighted as her own, though she was grateful the burden fell on her. Who else is better equipped to handle this tragedy than someone as hungry as her?
She would sulk in the tar of her ink. She would do whatever it took to be up there with the witches with names forbidden to be lost to time. She would claw and scratch and maul her way through her own body if need be to be up there with the greatest of all time.
So let the others play. Let the others explore. Let the others share meals. Let them see what good it is going to do them when push comes to shove. Yes, yes this conviction is her best one yet.
Her eyes began to sting as she scratched on her paper. She dropped her wand only to crack her knuckles and neck. She blinked away exhaustion, ignored hunger gnawing at her stomach, squeezed her shaking wrist to steady it, pressed her knuckles into her thigh to stop the jelly-like feeling from spreading throughout her body. Her throat burned for water, even though that was ignored.
A knock at her door made her knock her ink vial and spill a few drops on the page. She huffed and whipped her head around.
“Yes?” She asked impatiently. She heard Tetia’s voice.
“You’ve been in there literally all day! We made dinner, please come eat! Have you even eaten today?” She yelled through the door.
Agott huffed again. “There is no need to yell, I can hear you perfectly fine. I will eat later. You may leave it out, I shall put it away.”
Tetia persisted. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think you should come eat with us!”
Agott pushed herself to stand on wobbling legs. She stormed over to the door and opened a crack to fit her head and shoulders through.
“How many times do I need to tell you people that I’m fine!” She huffed, frustrated boiling over in her tone.
Tetia frowned. “You look terribly.”
“Thank you very much.” Agott rolled her eyes and began to close the door. Tetia stuttered. Agott paused.
“Have you been sleeping?! Not sleeping, eating or leaving your room? I’m getting worried about you.”
Richeh came into view then. “Is she coming?” She asked.
The two girls looked at Agott, waiting for an answer. Agott forced a breath through her nose and out her mouth.
“As I said. I will eat later, please leave it out for me, I shall put it away once I am done.”
“Hm, okay.” Tetia conceded, but not without a deep frown. As they turned their backs, Tetia kept peering over her shoulder with pleading eyes. Once her and Richeh left, Agott let out a sigh of relief.
Sure, her stomach was hurting, and her head felt a little watered down, but the aching in her hands just felt too good to lose. It proved she was getting closer to her goal, to her purpose.
As the night fell, the other girls went to bed. Coco appeared at her door. She said she wanted to wish Agott a good night, and that she hoped she would sleep well.
What a strange wish. A wish that had no weight in Coco’s life. What did it matter to her how well she slept? What did it matter to anyone, for that matter.
Her room began to reek of candle wax, ink, and cold food. With the moon at its peak, her head hit the table. She finally succumbed to the exhaustion gnawing at her.
She was already under the rubble. She was grateful, for that meant she didn’t need to endure the pain of the rocks falling. She slammed her hands against the freezing rocks. She huffed a breath and brought her left fist to her right palm. She shifted to her right and jerked her elbow up through the cracks. She clawed at the sediment. She closed her eyes and held her breath as pebbles fell.
Does anyone know she’s under here?
She managed to push a few rocks around, but the change in structure caused a rock to land directly on her chest. She wheezed. The voices of her family came from all around her to taunt and mock.
The lack of oxygen was making her dizzy. Just as her vision was blurring, light peeked through the cracks of the rubble. Her eyebrows knit together as she squints.
She sees hands pulling rocks away, digging. Qifrey’s face appears. He groans as he removes the larger rocks from around her. The one of her chest is lifted. She feels her eyes begin to water.
“Master Qif-“
He keeps digging. Around her. She pushes herself onto her elbows and looks beside her. His face is covered in worry and desperation. He grunts as he continues to dig. He pauses for a second, his eyes light up and begin to water.
He reaches below him and pulls something out.
Someone.
He lets out a breath of exhaustion as he cradles Tetia. He places her to the side as he reaches below again. Richeh and Coco climb out of the rubble. He pulls all three of them into a tight embrace.
“I was so worried!” He exclaimed. Brushing and smoothing their hair. “None of you are hurt, are you?”
They all shook their heads. Agott’s chest heaved. She felt blood rushing to her head.
Why did he dig her up?
“Master Qifrey.” She said but he paid no attention.
“My girls.” He said as he helped them to their feet.
Agott helped herself to her feet. The four of them began to walk away, Olruggio came running. He placed a hand around Tetia. Richeh grabbed his pointer finger and he put his other hand on Coco’s head.
“I’m so glad they’re all safe.” He said. Then he nodded at Qifrey. “And what about you?”
“Perfectly fine. We’re all okay.”
Agott took a step and a sharp pain rippled through her body. She crumbled onto her knees. Her ankle felt broken.
They began to walk further.
“Wait! Master!” She called out. “You’ve forgotten about me!” Her voice cracked.
A hand grabbed the back of her collar and lifted her up. She struggled against the air. She was dragged backwards and slotted on her knees. On a sharp rock with a pad of paper, a wand, and ink beside it. The hand grabs the back of her head and smashes her head into the paper.
“Work!” It screams at her. “This is all you have!”
Agott winced and clutched at her nose.
“Work!” The hand clenched the back of her head.
“No!” Agott finally began to cry. If only Qifrey would just turn around, maybe he just didn’t see her.
“What did you say to me?!” Voices ring out.
“I don’t want to!”
“Work!” It slams her head again. She cries and whimpers into the paper.
“I don’t want to! I want to go home!”
“You have no home!” Voices screamed. “You live inside your work, that is all you have. You are
nothing if not a devoted worker!”
She cried and curled into herself. Every shake made the rock jut into her body. The void around her was filled with her sobs, heart aching and gut wrenching screams. Begging Master Qifrey to come back.
Agott’s head whipped up drenched in cold sweat. The force knocked her backwards and she fell out of her chair. She’d fallen asleep at her desk. Her heart was racing. The wind whistled and she flinched.
The shadows in her room took form. She shuddered. Grabbing her tools she left her room and took refuge in the living room. With her back against the seats of the couch she lit a candle and forced herself to take some deep breaths.
Her hands were shaking violently, though she couldn’t tell if it was from fear, hunger, or exhaustion. She winced as she burned herself with the match.
The quiet and desolate atmosphere brought her back to a mundane and aching kind of focus. She grasped her wrist so tightly as to steady it, and went diligently back to work.
Though she kept messing up. Lines were uneven. Circles weren’t symmetrical. Casting symbols were sloppy. She huffed and gripped her wrist tighter. Yes. The only way through this quality of work was to force herself to perform at her standard through constant pressure.
Agott pressed a hand firmly against the floor on the corner of her paper. As she struggled with her wand against the paper, something slipped and the wand scraped off the page quickly. It poked her hand, she winced and pulled her hand away, which knocked over her ink bottle with the sound of breaking glass against the wooden floors.
She sucked in a breath.
“Ugh!” She quietly roared. The ink was slowly rolling along the floor. She tried to gather the shards of glass, but whimpered when they cut into her hand.
She doesn’t hear the footsteps or the door, but she hears the voice.
“Agott?” Master Qifrey asks. Holding his cap against his chest. “Good God, what are you still doing up?”
Agott sucked in another breath before she realized it was a sniffle. She watched tears fall into her hands covered in glass fragments.
“I knocked over my ink.” She said in a hushed voice.
Qifrey took a hesitant step toward her. “So we will get you more.”
Agott used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. Qifrey gasped almost silently and kneeled beside her. He looked down at her hands.
“Don’t pick it up!” He said softly in a hurried expression. He grabbed her hands and pulled them towards him. She pulled back, biting her lip and looking away.
“Why are you crying?” He said, so very softly. So softly Agott could throw up.
“I can’t get the seal right.” She admitted. Shamefully. “I can’t get it right and my-“ She violently shakes her hands.
“And my hands hurt!” Her voice cracks. She frantically tries to pick the glass up again. Qifrey struggles to grab her hands.
“Don’t- Agott-“ He said in a slightly panicked voice. “Sweetheart put it down.”
She pushes him away slightly and lets her hands fall to her knees. She sniffles and blinks back her tears but they fall nonetheless.
Qifrey takes a long look at her. Her sunken eyes, cheeks beginning to hollow, pale skin, panicked sweat.
Qifrey grabs her wrists and hushes her. “Hey, hey.” He says. “Let me clean them for you.”
He begins to pull shards from her hands.
“You mustn’t touch broken glass, you know better than tha-“
“I know!” Agott huffed. She sniffled. “I know that I know better. I know that I know things, I know that I should know a lot more!”
His hands flew away from her as if he believed he had burned her.
Qifrey looks at her with an expression she’s never seen before. His eyes were so wide. His lips quivering slightly. He stands and helps her to her feet. Her knees buckle and she falls forward into him. Her head was spinning.
She lets herself be pulled along. Vaguely hearing Master Qifrey as he tucks his arms under her shoulders.
“Oh Agott, what have you done to yourself?” He whispered.
Qifrey lights the lanterns in the kitchen and sits her down at the table.
A full circle moment, Agott realizes.
Qifrey kneels in front of her and begins to pull the shards of glass from her hand once. She feels limp and lets herself fall so her head lands on the table. Qifrey gasps and holds her head up with one of his hands.
“You haven’t eaten or drank anything.” He says. His eyes rapidly scan her face. “Your face…you haven’t been sleeping either have you?”
He seems to cut himself off from his thoughts as he grabs the vapor bubble and pours water onto her cut up hands. She winces and tries to pull away. He holds her wrists tighter.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers. “I’m sorry.”
He quickly leaves for just a moment to grab bandages from the cupboard. Agott’s head is barely supported by her neck. He supports her head the millisecond he is close enough to her. He gently lowers her head to the table as he wraps her hands.
Agott looks at his face. His eyes are glistening. Was he crying? What reason would he have to cry?
With her hands bandaged, Qifrey brushed the side of her head with his left hand, biting the inside of his cheek.
“What happened, dear?”
“I told you. I knocked over my ink.”
“I don’t give a single care towards that ink.” He said in a scoff that had no malice behind it. “I mean, what happened to you, Agott?”
She blinked slowly.
Qifrey sighed and stood up. He reached into a shelf and pulled out a loaf of bread. He tore it into small pieces and handed it to her.
“Please. You must eat.”
She put the bread in her mouth and cringed at the taste. It tasted like defeat.
After minutes of silence. Agott sat upright. Small inklings of strength returning to her body. Qifrey stayed kneeling on the floor the entire time.
“My dear.” He said. “If only you could see how you look right now. I am so worried.”
“I just wanted to practice.”
“I understand that.” He said gently. “But what of your health? As your teacher and caretaker that is what I care the utmost about.”
Agott glared at the floor. “You don’t need to pretend. I know you never wanted to be my caretaker.”
Qifrey made a wounded sound. “What?” He began to sound rushed. “Wherever did you get the idea that I don't want you here?”
“My family forced you to take me.”
“No,” Qifrey shook his head. “That is not true. I chose to keep you here all these years, because you are a brilliant student, yes, but also because I care.”
“It’s not the same. With the others you actually sought out to make them your apprentices.”
“That has no effect on how much I care about you.”
Agott squeezed her eyes as tears began to flood through her.
“Please.” Qifrey asked. “Tell me what’s been happening.”
“Nightmares.” Agott admitted. “Childish hm? I keep having nightmares of being buried alive in an avalanche. Sometimes you come and dig, but you save the others and leave me. Then a hand appears, made out of air, and smashes my head against the rocks demanding Inqork.”
Qifrey’s eyes widened. Agott’s face burned.
“There. Is that what you wanted me to say?” She hissed.
She gasped as she felt a weight around her. Qifrey wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head into his shoulder.
“I could never leave you,” he said. “Not even if my life depended on it.”
“Wha-“
“This scares me very deeply.” He said into the top of her head. “To see you like this is so incredibly worrying. My dear girl, how could I have let this happen to you? I am so sorry.”
“You haven’t done anything wr-?”
Qifrey pulls back and sits on his heels. “I am the adult, you are the child. If I have allowed your brain to become unsafe for you, then I have allowed myself to fail as an adult to the highest degree.”
Agott opened her mouth to say something but his words cut her off.
“I am so horribly sorry, Agott.” He placed a hand on his chest. “I promise, you can come to me with anything and I will do everything to make it better.”
Agott froze as more tears fell from her eyes. “What?” She whimpered.
“You’re safe here,” He continued. “With me, Oly, and the other girls, you are always going to be safe.”
She lowered her head as she cried. Qifrey brought her into his shoulder once more, rubbing circles on her back.
She must’ve been crying loudly because Coco appeared in the doorway. Qifrey looked to her, just as he was about to say something, Olruggio brought a hand to Coco’s shoulder, urging her back to bed. Agott hadn’t noticed him coming back either.
“Glass is cleaned up.” He said over his shoulder.
Qifrey’s eyes uttered a solemn thank you.
Agott continued to hiccup in Qifrey’s hold. “I’m so hungry.”
He quickly pulled away to allow her to take more bites of bread. Her hands began shaking again. Qifrey was by her side as she struggled to swallow the food. She chugged a glass of water he placed on the table and her eyes began to flutter shut.
She stumbled towards the couch in the living room and fell onto it. Tucking her head in her hands. Qifrey looked down at her with surveillance of a terrified man.
Olruggio entered the living room with two blankets. He threw one over Agott and pressed the other into Qifrey’s chest. Out of his pocket he pulled two heating stones, placing one under Agott’s blanket by her feet, and holding the other one out to Qifrey.
“Thank you.” Qifrey said, his eyes not leaving Agott.
“She’ll be alright.” He noted. Qifrey nodded.
“She always is. Isn’t that terrifying?”
“I could say the same thing about you.” Olruggio huffed as Qifrey wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and sat down beside the couch.
“You two are too similar for good sense.” Olruggio ran a hand through his hair. “Just try to get some sleep.”
Qifrey bid him good night and let his eyes return to Agott’s sleeping form. Worry bit into his bones. If only he could do something to help her, to undo the lessons she has taught herself.
His own eyes began to flutter shut after an hour or so. His head landed beside hers, and the room was filled with soft breath.
Maybe for now, this was all he could do.