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Habits of the body are hard things to break, even for a witch. You’ll be hungry around the same time every afternoon for lunch, and your body will become accustomed to waking up at a certain hour even without an alarm if you do it long enough. These habits are normal for witches and people alike, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying.
For Olruggio, his most annoying bodily habit was having to wake up to take a leak a couple hours before he was ready to take on the day. Every single morning around five AM, Olruggio’s body stirred itself awake and he was filled with the annoying need to pee. He hated that his sleep was fated to be disturbed, but it’s something he had grown to accept. Over the years he had tried everything to get a full night sleep without having to piss in the morning, but nothing seemed to work. It was easier for him to just get up and to take a quick leak before going back to bed than it was to lay around in bed all uncomfortable and unable to sleep because of his painful bladder.
There were some good things about waking up so early, even if they were small. Just like waking up to use the bathroom was a habit for Olruggio, so was walking out of his way to pass the kitchen on the way back to his room. Unlike him, Qifrey was an early riser. He always liked to start the day with the sunrise and have breakfast prepared for the girls when they woke up. He was a good teacher… a good caretaker for those girls. Seeing him make them breakfast while he moved like water to the melody of whatever song being played by the magical music box on the counter always made Olruggio’s heart swell. Some people woke up to see the sunrise, and while Olruggio only woke up to use the bathroom- he was also happy to get out of bed to see Qifrey.
After using the restroom, Olruggio passed by the kitchen as he always did, but the music box was silent and Qifrey was nowhere to be seen. As he stood in the entryway, Olruggio immediately knew what was wrong, “‘eadache then.” He muttered, tightening his robe around himself as he stepped inside the empty kitchen. Qifrey was rather good at hiding his migraines from the girls and he treated them as much as he could, but there were still days when the pain was bad enough to leave him bedridden.
There was even less Olruggio could do than Qifrey to help his headaches, but that didn’t mean he was powerless. He was happy to step up to help his friend, to take some of Qifrey’s load until he could manage it all, and to attend to him when he needed it. One of the few things Olruggio could do to help Qifrey’s discomfort was to brew him a cup of tea. After dealing with his migraines for years, Qifrey had figured out that certain herbal teas helped dull the pain. Olruggio picked up on the knowledge after having smelled the brew in Qifrey’s glass whenever his pain was bad.
Olruggio went to a shelf near the window and took down a clay teapot and a jar of loose leaf, lavender-mint tea. He put the jar of tea on the counter and filled the pot by the tap in the sink. When the pot was full, he put the lid on it and looked around the kitchen for the pot’s matching coaster-tray. He eventually found it on its side on the same shelf where the pot and tea had been. After Olruggio made sure the casting seal on the coaster-tray was still intact, he placed it on the counter and put the pot on top of it. Once the pot made contact with the magical tray, the seal lit up and began to produce a heat that would boil the water in the pot.
While the water heated, Olruggio found the mug Qifrey tended to use most often (a clear cup that Richeh had made from the magic of her woven crystal bands) and a tea-infuser spoon. He grabbed a generous amount of the loose tea leaves with the spoon and dropped it into the crystal mug. As he put the jar of loose-leaf tea back on the shelf, the water began to boil. He poured the water into the mug and tidied up the rest of the mess he had made while the tea brewed, then he put the tea spoon in the sink to be dealt with later.
With a yawn, Olruggio took the mug in his hands and started for Qifrey’s room. The water within the cup was still hot, but Olruggio’s palms had been tempered by his fire magic. Unless it was serious or at a large scale, the heat didn’t bother him. He didn’t knock when he came to Qifrey’s door, he just pushed it open and stepped in quietly. The room was dark, all of Qifrey’s various lamps and candles he used were out and the enchanted windows let nothing but moonlight and starlight in. Even within the darkness, Olruggio knew where to go. He could see the outline of Qifrey’s bed, and his body under the lumpy quilt he slept with.
“You up?” Olruggio asked, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed.
The mound of quilts shifted and then parted as Qifrey pulled them off his face. “Unfortunately.” He muttered with a sigh.
Olruggio nodded, “Your head is it?” He spoke softly, reaching out a hand to bury his fingers into Qifrey’s messied hair.
Qifrey hummed and breathed slowly under Olruggio’s touch. “All my problems tend to stem from it…”
“Aye, many of my problems too.” He joked as he withdrew his hand from Qifrey’s hair. Olruggio offered him the cup of tea. “Drink up. Careful, it’s still hot.”
Smiling, Qifrey reached a hand out from under the covers. Before he could grab the tea, their resident brushbug darted down his arm and nearly dunked its whole head into the steaming cup. “Careful, now!” Qifrey breathed a small laugh as he took the mug. “You’ll burn yourself, Fluffy.”
The brushbug shot Qifrey a withering glare, stamped its little foot, and hopped off the bed to run out of the open door.
“Ah, guess he doesn’t like that name either.” Qifrey shook his head softly and sat up with the tea in his hands. He looked into the cup with a fond expression. “Thank you, Olly.”
“Think nothin’ of it.” Olruggio moved further into Qifrey’s bed and pushed away his blankets so he could lay next to him. They had their disagreements on what made a good bed. Qifrey liked soft, downy stuffed bedding with barely any pillows and Olruggio preferred a firmer bed with as many as ten pillows. While he didn’t care for Qifrey’s bed, he was happy to lay in it if he was with Qifrey.
Qifrey blew on his tea and took long, slow sips. Olruggio reached for his spectacles on the night table and handed them to him. “You stay in this mornin’,” He said, “Let your eyes rest a bit.”
As he took his glasses and pushed them on to his nose, Qifrey pursed his lips. “I’ve got to make the girls breakfast and today’s laundry day. The bedding all needs to be washed.”
Olruggio dismissively waved his hand and wrapped his arm around Qifrey’s shoulder. “I can feed the girls,” He grinned, “And I’m quite capable of washing a sheet.”
“Not so much folding them though,” Qifrey laughed again but then winced. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he leaned into Olruggio’s touch. “Alright-” He conceded with a sigh. “I do appreciate it, Olly. Thank you.”
“Keep your thanks,” Olruggio muttered as he kissed the side of Qifrey’s head. “You can come down when your head is feeling better, not a minute sooner.”
“As per orders of the resident Watchful Eye?” There was a teasing tone in Qifrey’s voice as he turned his head and buried his face in Olruggio’s neck. “I suppose I must comply then.”
Olruggio whittled away the time he could laying with Qifrey and keeping him company. He left only when it was nearing the hour when Agathe, the earliest of the risers, would soon wake up. He took Qifrey’s empty tea cup and kissed the top of his head before he left. There wasn’t much he could do for Qifrey’s pain, but there were some things he could, and they just had to be enough. He hoped they were enough, anyways.