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Agott was in the kitchen putting away the leftovers from this morning’s lunch. It was very nice outside, so she had told Qifrey and Olruggio that they could go do their shopping in Kalhn and leave the chores to her without worry. And of course, Richeh and Tetia didn’t hesitate to go with them, leaving her alone in the atelier with Coco.
She rinsed the last plates, feeling her hands gradually grow cold and damp, before setting them out to dry. She went to open the windows to air out the room and try to get rid of the delicious but very persistent smell of smoked Cordfish that had been eaten with pasta and horncap mushrooms. Smoked dishes were particularly appreciated by the atelier’s occupants, and this one was one of Master Qifrey and Master Olruggio’s favorite meals to cook. They had spent years going to lakes and rivers to fish these fish, then smoking them with magic and preparing the dishes for the next day during the night, when all the apprentices were finally under the influence of sleep after a long day of lessons. They also often took the opportunity to share a few glasses of wine, judging by how Master Olruggio was always found snoring loudly on the couch every morning.
The outside air felt wonderful on her skin as the sun’s rays warmed her face. The quadryphons flapped their wings in the middle of the bright blue sky, further proof that good weather had indeed returned.
“Ow!”
As she enjoyed the view, Agott suddenly heard a cry coming from one of the rooms whose window was open, more specifically, Coco’s room. But she wasn’t worried; on the contrary, she even let out a small puff of laughter before heading toward the source of the noise.
She walked through the atelier’s empty hallways, looking at the photo frames hanging on the walls, recalling their many years of teaching, while the only sound she heard was her footsteps on the wooden floor. She arrived in their shared study room. On her side, her desk was perfectly organized, each of her drawing tools neatly placed, the wands stored in their cases next to the ink pots, and the sheets used for tracing spells stacked in a very orderly manner.
The same could not be said for Coco’s side, where papers were scattered everywhere on her desk, her wand simply lying in the middle of the pentacles she was working on, and her ink vial wasn’t even properly closed, risking spilling its black liquid all over the wood.
Agott looked at this spectacle with a kind of despair on her face, wondering by what divine miracle Coco managed to find anything in her belongings and how she hadn’t accidentally set the atelier on fire yet after all this time. She still took the time to at least close the ink vial properly to avoid any possible incident if it were to tip over onto the pentacles.
Once crouched in front of the desk, she could see Coco’s spells more closely. Since her first days at the atelier and her water spell that had splashed Agott’s face, she had greatly improved, and thanks to her spells she had managed to triumph during the queen’s blessing alongside her comrades and friends. Spells she would continue perfecting to one day become a teacher herself like Master Qifrey.
“Ow!”
A second cry came and pulled her out of her nostalgic thoughts. She went down the stairs toward Coco’s room before stopping in front of the closed door, while muffled sounds came from the other side. She knocked on the wood to signal her presence.
“Knock knock knock. Coco? Is everything okay?”
“Uh… yes… yes everything’s fine…”
Hearing Coco stammer through the door, Agott raised an eyebrow with a perplexed expression.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes… perfectly… you don’t need to come in, I promise…”
“Very well, I’m coming in.”
When she opened the door, the first thing Agott saw was Coco — her face panicked, and her hair completely tangled, to the point that the brush she had been using was stuck in it.
“Agott, I can explain everything.”
Agott suddenly burst into laughter, curling up on herself, laughing so hard she struggled to breathe and tears formed in her eyes.
“Hey! Stop making fun of me.”
Agott kept laughing loudly while Coco’s face gradually turned red from embarrassment. Agott eventually managed to catch her breath and wipe her tears.
“Sorry Coco, but I couldn’t hold it in.”
She approached Coco, who had turned her head away as if she were starting to sulk because Agott had laughed at her. However, when she reached her, Agott gently turned Coco’s head toward her with her hand before running her fingers through her hair.
“What were you doing with your hair?”
“You promise you won’t make fun of me again?”
“I promise.”
“…I was trying to make a braid…”
Agott tilted her head slightly to see the disaster that had been made of Coco’s hairstyle.
“Really?” she asked, before unintentionally letting out another laugh.
“Hey, you promised!”
“Go sit in front of the mirror, I’ll make your braid.”
“And what next?”
“Go sit.”
“…Yes ma’am.”
Coco lowered her eyes and obeyed. She sat in front of the mirror, arms crossed, avoiding Agott’s gaze. Agott sat on her knees behind her and began by untangling the hair around the brush before brushing it.
“You could have asked me for help from the start instead of doing this to your hair.”
“I know, but I didn’t want to bother you while you were cleaning the kitchen.”
“Don’t say nonsense, idiot you know very well it would never bother me.”
“And I wanted to try getting myself ready for the dinner Lord Beldaruit is organizing to congratulate us. It’s not every day that the apprentices of your apprentice earn their witch diplomas.”
“It’s only next week, we have time. You shouldn’t worry about that. But next time, don’t try it alone, ask me or one of the girls, it’ll be wiser. You wouldn’t want to show up with horrible hair at such an important event.”
“No, that’s true.”
Agott kept brushing Coco’s hair again and again to untangle the last persistent knots. Over the years, her hair had grown much longer and now reached her back. But even though she had practiced a lot with Richeh’s hair, Coco was still terrible at doing her own. So she always asked Agott to do it, and although she pretended it annoyed her, Agott particularly loved doing Coco’s hair.
Thus, after finishing brushing, she began braiding Coco’s hair, running her hands through the long blonde strands. Once she finished, she looked at the result at the same time as Coco and saw in the mirror that she was starting to blush.
However, that thought didn’t last long, instead, she realized her own hair had grown too and was starting to be too long. As she looked at her reflection, Coco noticed Agott wasn’t doing well while touching her hair; she immediately understood the problem and stood up.
“Your hair is too long, right? Your turn to sit, I’ll cut it. Don’t move, I’ll go get scissors.”
Coco hurried out to fetch a pair of scissors, while Agott remained alone sitting in front of the mirror. But as she looked at herself and at her curls that now reached almost her shoulders, the only thing she truly saw in her reflection was her mother. The very same who had abandoned her when she was just a child, who had never believed her when she defended herself against accusations of plagiarism, and who even years later had never bothered to apologize. She saw her cold gaze again, heard her icy voice as she forbade her from ever learning under her again.
Her hands in her hair began trembling violently. Tears streamed down her face. Her breathing instantly became erratic. She could only breathe in tiny gasps. Her vision blurred and darkened. Then she fell from her chair, clutching her chest with both hands as her heart beat at an abnormally fast pace. With each heartbeat, each gasp, her vision blurred more and more, and all she saw now was the gleam of her mother’s eyes judging her.
“The Arklaum family has no need for failures like you, Agott.
Agott.
Agott.
Agott.
Agott.”
She heard her name echo with her mother’s voice inside her head. She grabbed her skull with one hand while the other clutched the fabric of her shirt even harder than before, almost piercing her own skin through it with her nails. The sensations became unbearable, so much so that she began screaming between the rare moments when she could breathe. Her ears rang; she heard no sound except her own cries and sobs. Her body began convulsing without her being able to stop it. She had no control left. Suddenly, she heard a vague, muffled noise, then what seemed like footsteps approaching her, as if someone were running.
“Agott! My god, Agott, please stay with me. Look at me, Agott. It’s going to be okay. I’m here for you. Everything will be alright. Look at me. We’re going to breathe together, okay? Like we always do. You inhale for 4 seconds and exhale for 6 seconds. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. You’re doing a very good job, Agott. Keep going with me. Inhale. Exhale. You don’t have to worry anymore. I’m here. It’s going to be okay. I’m here for you.”
Coco stayed beside Agott to help her breathe for a good ten minutes before she finally felt better and could breathe normally again.
“I’ll cut your hair right away if you don’t mind.”
Coco then began taking the longest strands of Agott’s hair and cutting them carefully. But after only a few snips, she stopped because she was trying not to cry.
“I’m sorry for leaving you, Agott. I’m so sorry.”
Hearing that, Agott began crying again and turned to throw herself into Coco’s arms. Coco held her too and rested Agott’s head against her chest, letting her sob against her heart while she stroked her hair to comfort her.
“Go ahead, Agott, cry as much as you want, as much as you need. I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”
They stayed like that for a long time, with Agott sobbing against Coco while Coco held back her own tears and focused on comforting her. When she finally recovered, Agott hugged Coco even tighter.
“Thank you, Coco, for always being there for me during my anxiety attacks. Even though this one was particularly violent.”
Coco stopped stroking her hair and instead kissed it, embarrassing Agott in the process.
“Can I know what you’re doing?”
“I like your hair. But I have to cut it, so you will kindly stop moving your head, young lady. Close your eyes for now.”
Agott obeyed and closed her eyelids, feeling her hair gradually being cut by the scissors’ blades.
“You can open your eyes.”
Agott opened her eyes and looked in the mirror with apprehension, before seeing her hair short again, just like it usually was. What she saw was finally her own reflection.
“I outdid myself on this one,” Coco exclaimed proudly at her work.
“Thank you for everything, Coco.”
“It’s nothing, you know. We’ll always be there for each other, right?”
Coco held out her pinky finger.
“Promise?”
Agott smiled and hooked hers with Coco’s.
“Promise.”