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Coco waved Qifrey, Richeh and Tetia goodbye before closing the atelier’s door, breathing deeply and getting ready for another day. The three of them had some stuff to buy and Qifrey left Coco and Agott under Olruggio’s care while they were away, which should be almost the entire day. Though Olruggio was taking a nap, leaving Coco and Agott to be the only ones awake.
Slowly walking upstairs, Coco was already nervous at the thought of spending so much time with Agott and only Agott, giving Olruggio most likely wouldn’t leave the room until much later. She assumed the wine Qifrey had brought to him the last time he was in Kalhn with his students had something to do with it. She was sure her master would come back with another bottle.
“Agott,” Coco softly called for her as she opened their room’s door. “They already left.”
“I see,” Agott spoke calmly. “I’m assuming master Olruggio is still asleep.”
“He is,” Coco nodded. “Master Qifrey said we can wake him up if he need something.”
“I have nothing to ask of him now,” Agott’s eyes remained on the spell she was trying to draw. “I’ll keep that in mind though.”
By then, Agott had learnt to tell what Coco’s intentions were just because of her timid silence and how her eyes didn’t seem to leave her and how she had begun to slightly fidget. Of course Agott wouldn’t say it out loud, but she found that adorable. She waited for a few more seconds, in case Coco was trying to find the right words to voice whatever was going through her mind.
“I know you said I didn’t have to wait for you to eat today bit I thought we could cook lunch together later today,” Coco then blurted out, her tone low but eager. “I really don’t mind waiting.”
“Sure,” Agott replied quicker than she expected. “Do you have something in mind?”
“There’s this stew recipe I used to make with my mum,” Coco took a deep breath. “It’s been a while since I made for– well, obvious reasons,” she eyed the floor before meeting Agott’s gaze. “I’ve been craving it for a while now.”
“Coco, are you sure?” Agott’s tone shifted from relaxed to concerned. “There’s no need to cook it if that will being you memories you would rather keep in the back of your mind.”
“I wish I could keep them in the back of his mind,” Coco let out a humourless laugh. “Master Qifrey told me that I shouldn’t bottle up these sort of feelings, so I’m trying not to.”
It wasn’t be the first time Qifrey had tried to help his students to properly process their emotions and wouldn’t be the last time either. He had noticed Coco trying to bottle up all the guilt about her mother’s situation and if experience had told Qifrey something among other things, it was that keeping it it all in could end up in disaster. He knew it first-hand, but couldn’t help his case.
“I’ll help you with that stew,” Agott assured as her lips curved into a smile. “Just let me know when you’re hungry.”
“Thank you,” Coco’s smiled tenderly. She knew Tetia would’ve thank her back, had she been in the atelier with them. “For now I’ll do the same as you and keep practising my spells, I promise that I’ll go somewhere else if I’m being too loud.”
Agott giggled a little. “I’m getting used to the mess you make sometimes, don’t worry.”
“Sorry!” Coco put her hands together in front of her face. “I’m doing my best to improve as quickly as possible, I swear.”
“I know, I witness that every day,” Agott shrugged. “No need to act so serious.”
“No offence, but it’s funny that you are the one saying that,” Coco teased. “It’s quite nice to see you calm and less emotionally distant than you usually are.”
“It’s usually not on purpose,” Agott’s gaze switched from Coco to the empty piece of paper in front of her, not feeling brave enough to voice her emotions while facing Coco’s warm gaze. “I’m trying to work on that.”
“I can tell,” Coco showed her a kind smile. “I’ll leave you be now.”
Those words were the last ones pronounced inside the girls’ room for a while. Only the sounds of pen being flooded in the ink and papers being wrinkled or thrown away were heard. Coco threw away significantly more papers than Agott, but that wasn’t something that surprised either of the girls. Agott took a peek over her shoulder more than once, catching Coco gripping her hair.
After meditating it for a moment, Agott broke the silence. “Do you need a break?”
“I could use one,” Coco admitted, spreading her arms on the wooden desk in front of her and burying her face in them. “I feel like the harder I try, the less round my circles turn out.”
“Leave the spells for later, frustration can get the better of us at times,” Agott stood up then, slowly walking towards Coco, her hand hesitated to pat her back for a few seconds before finally doing so. “Are you hungry?”
“A bit,” Coco whined. “I don’t what’s gotten into me today.”
Agott found it odd as well, giving how energetic and cheerful Coco used to be. Though she knew that sometimes, there days in which one simply didn’t feel like doing anything – though in Coco’s case, Agott had the feeling that there was something else behind. Coco was usually open about what she felt and thought, yet Agott didn’t ask, not wanting to drag Coco further down.
“I’m sure cooking will clear your mind,” Agott tried, unsure how to cheer Coco up. “Come on, stand up and leave whatever spell you were trying for after lunch.” Something moved inside Agott’s chest when Coco turned her head to the side, looking up at her with gloomy eyes. “Let’s go, Coco,” she awkwardly offered a hand, one Coco gladly took before standing up.
Agott wasn’t sure why, but she found herself longing to see Coco’s smile again. Along with Tetia and Qifrey, Coco was usually the one trying to cheer everyone up, trying to make the best of every situation – yet the sight of Coco being so downcast caused Agott to feel a very particular kind of sorrow, one she couldn’t recognise yet. Perhaps because she never experienced it before.
“Let me check something,” Coco spoke on their way to the kitchen, walking towards the door of Olruggio’s room on her tiptoes and placing her ear against the door. “Still deep asleep, I can hear his snores through the door.”
“I don’t know how master Qifrey puts up with that whenever they take naps together,” Agott’s commented casually as they went downstairs.
Though the words made Coco stumble. “When they what?”
“Haven’t you noticed?” Agott tilted her head. “Master Qifrey and master Olruggio are in some romantic–” she paused, thinking of the right word. “Entanglement, I guess.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Coco placed a hand underneath her chin as her mind reminded every moment of closeness between Qifrey and Olruggio that she had witnessed until then. Not only the napping together thing she had just found out about, but many other things. Casual yet intimate touches, Qifrey’s nickname for Olruggio and the gentle tone in which he spoke it, Olruggio being a bit too permissive about things he shouldn’t when it came to what took place in Qifrey’s atelier. “Total sense, in fact,” her eyes went wide open. “I’ve been so blind.”
Agott let out a small giggle. “All of us react the same way when we find out.”
“No wonder why,” Coco slightly raised her voice. “Are they keeping it a secret? They wouldn’t be that discreet otherwise.”
“They’re not as discreet as you think,” Agott laughed a little too louder than she intended. “Still, master Qifrey told us that it’s really important that we keep it a secret.”
“My lips are sealed,” Coco moved her thumb and index across his mouth as if zipping them. “I’m happy for them though.”
“They seem content enough with how things are, that’s all I really care about,” Agott shrugged. “Now, stew,” she looked at the cupboard where food was kept. “I wait your instructions.”
“Right!” Coco rolled up her sleeves, motivation suddenly back inside her body. “We should start by chopping potatoes, meat, carrots and onions. Then we boil then in a pot and then–”
“Little by little, Coco,” Agott opened the cupboard in which they stored the food, taking one by one the ingredients. At least being focused on cooking seemed to improve Coco’s mood. “How about you chop the food and I start boiling the water?”
“Can we do it the other way around?” Coco suggested. “I’m confident enough about my fire spells and I want to put them into practice.”
“Sure,” Agott said with a shrugged as she placed the food on the table before grabbing and knife and proceeding to chop everything, bit by bit.
Agott gazed at Coco from the corner of the eye as she raced back down to the kitchen, paper and pen in hand. Her tongue poked her upper lip as she drew the spell with a speed Agott found more than admirable for a beginner before closing the circle. She shook her head when she realised just how much she was staring and silently thanking Coco for being so focused on that spell.
They made enough stew to eat for dinner with the others later, perhaps to have for lunch the next day as well, they realised once they began pouring some of it in a couple of wooden bowls. Agott watched closely as Coco began eating, feeling odd at being in silence when Coco almost always had something to say. She didn’t even ask if it tasted good, something which Agott could expect.
“Coco,” Agott called then.
Coco raised his eyes from the bowl. “Hm?”
“This is– uh,” Agott cleared her throat. “This is quite good.”
“Is it?” A small smile appeared back in Coco’s face. “We used to eat it on really cold days.” Used to, the small faded the moment the words left her mouth. She had barely even processed that her mind assimilated that she was living her life away from her mother, unsure of when and how she will save her.
“Your fire spell has improved a lot, you took very little to draw it,” Agott tried again.
Though Coco was quick to notice there had to be something behind Agott’s stuttering. “Agott, did something happen?”
“I want to cheer you up,” Agott blurted the words out without thinking. “And I don’t know how.” Looking anywhere but at Coco and getting even more nervous at the other girl’s silence, Agott could only think keep taking. “You’ve been gloomy all day and I didn’t want to pry but and the same time felt guilty about doing nothing to help you.”
Agott’s awkward mumbling and her eyes still not daring to look at Coco caused her to not see that Coco had stood up and walked towards her. She only noticed when two arms suddenly wrapped around her in a tender embrace. Coco’s hugs were exactly as the girl acted: sweet, gentle, loving. When Agott hugged her back, Coco instantly buried her face in the other girl’s shoulder.
“Can we stay like this for a little more?” Coco asked, her voice close to breaking.
And Agott couldn’t say no. “As long as you need.”
That affection was something they realised they both needed. Agott didn’t know how or when she had become so soft around Coco, but if she was honest with herself, it felt more than right. Even if she wasn’t ready to say those words out loud. She melted into that embrace as well, pulling Coco closer in an attempt to give Coco with the comfort she was unable to provide with words.
“Thank you,” Coco whispered lovingly when they pulled away. “It’s just one of those days in which I miss my mum more than usual, I’ll be fine.”
“Of course you will,” Agott gently patted her shoulder. “You’re much stronger than you think, Coco. Even if I refused to see it at first.”
“Let’s leave that in the past,” Coco’s voice grew more cheerful. “And you’re much gentler than what you think, you know. I just knew you have a good heart–”
“You’re starting to sound a bit too much like master Qifrey,” Agott awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “In any case, I’m glad I could be of help.”
In a daring gesture, Coco grabbed Agott’s shoulder and leant in, placing a small kiss on her cheek. The thought of what she had just done by impulse caught to her just a second later. “I’m sorry–”
“It’s fine,” Agott shook her head quickly before covering her mouth with one of her hands. “Let’s just keep eating before this gets cold,” she waved her hand and clumsily took the spoon again, almost dropping it in the process.
Agott would rather drink her magic ink than admitting Coco’s kiss almost makes her heart jump out of her chest. Though when Coco simply nodded and walked back to her seat with a familiar lively smile beaming on her face, Agott’s embarrassment lessened a little, substituted by a new yet not uncomfortable mushy feeling. A happy Coco, that was all Agott wanted to see again.