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Soulmate charms are items or accessories that bonds two people together through fate. These accessories or items could be as obvious as matching heart necklaces, or as subtle and simple as owning the exact same item. Often, in their lives, the charms manifest in another object, making the quest for their soulmates even more challenging.
People dedicate a significant portion of their lives to the pursuit of exploration for their partners. Or as they say—other halves. For her parents, the form of their charms were in their wedding bands, years after they've met. Two soulmates could have already met by the time either— or both of them have realized the other is their soulmate.
Unfortunately for Coco, it seemed as though the world was conspiring against her in finding her soulmate. For heaven’s sake, she doesn’t even know what her supposed charm is! At the age of twelve, when a soulmate charm were to appear, she was instead met with sheets of paper and magical ink to free her mom.
She hardly ever thinks about her soulmate, but when Tetia recently brought it up—she couldn’t help but wonder about her supposed ‘other half.’ Could they be a girl or a boy? An outsider or a witch? What if they don’t like her personality? worst-case scenario, they reject her completely.
“Coco, master has informed us that we will be having our lesson outdoors today.” Agott informed from the door of their shared bedroom.
In response, she nodded. "Alright Agott, I'll just see you there" Coco said as Agott took her leave.
Recalling back to the last previous thought she had, whilst she grab much needed materials for the lesson outside. The memory of it left a small sense of concern for her—She most certainly wishes for none of that to happen. I really do hope that my soulmate doesn't hate me…
After she had finished packing all her things, she stepped outside and met up with everyone else.
Once she had arrived, Qifrey instructed them all to take a seat on the grass, before he started, "Alright, girls! Today, we’ll delve deeper into the study of sigils associated with air and wind." Stepping off to the side, behind him showed an arrangement of large parchment and sticks. "At the end of this, we’ll have the opportunity to experiment with the seals that you all will create. Perhaps we can even organize a friendly race!"
At the sound of the last line from Qifrey, the girls all collectively hoorayed. Well all but the exception of Agott, of course.
The day's lesson went by smoothly and with little to no interruptions. Coco managed to craft a simple miniature parachute that carried a basket below it. Tetia drew a large seal on a cloth that allowed it to pull a circular piece of wood that was levitated with a sigil of wind, to which Richeh attached the both of those things together using her magic. Riding it like a surf board on air. And lastly, Agott practiced the use of such spells with her book and palm quire.
"Gather round girls!" Qifrey yelled out from the shade he was in, and immediately all the girls came running back to him from the field. "Now, with all your contraptions and crafts, we’ll compete to see who can finish three laps around the atelier in the shortest time." Whipping out a time clock from his pocket, he said merrily, "I'll be timing you all~"
Tetia and Richeh were first to volunteer to start. They flew off together with their surf board type air contraption. Seeing the two create such a high fast vehicle, Coco couldn't help but feel the need to practice the use of her sylph shoes much more.
Closing the two seals on her sylph shoes, she took off at fast speeds just near and around where Qifrey and Agott stood waiting for both Tetia and Richeh.
Coco had been practicing getting used to such speeds with her shoes, especially with the overly elongated seal that she drew.
Speaking of sylph shoes, that reminded her of the shoes she had returned to Agott. Was she getting accustomed to it now? Coco did mention that Agott could redraw the seals herself if they were difficult to fly with.
'I wonder if she ever changed them for herself'
Well, she can think about that later. The two other girls were nearing the end of their laps around the atelier, and soon it would be her turn.
First and foremost she needed to land. But in all honesty, though she'd been practicing her flying skills, she has yet to master the art of landing. Most attempts have ended in a pile of leaves, a tree, or mud.
Unluckily for her, it had just drizzled earlier that day, and only a puddle of mud was her only choice of landing.
Crashing down head first into the puddle, mud splashed everywhere around her. Pulling herself up she looked down at herself. She was almost completely covered in mud. Her cloak and dress were not spared at all from the dirt.
Coco whipped out her palm quire, holding it up in front of her after drawing a simple water spell to clean herself with. The water gushed out, spraying most of the mud off from her cloak, hair, shoes, and face.
After the water stopped, Coco inspected for any more remaining mud, and as expected, she was cleared from all the filth. But looking down at the soles of her sylph shoes, instead of seeing only the mud washed off, the seal was washed off along with it.
She stared in utter disbelief. Fortunately it was only the left shoe's seal that was washed off.
Qifrey popped up, "Coco? Is there something the matter?" rushing towards her with a worried expression on his face.
"Master Qifrey! my left shoe's seal got erased when I sprayed the mud off with a spell…" Coco said, defeated.
Qifrey rushed to check the shoe, and as she said, the left side of the seal was almost completely wiped off. "Oh my. Don't worry dear, It's alright. We can schedule the timing for a different day, would that be fine for you?"
"Master—!" Agott called to Qifrey stumbling towards the two. "Master, Coco, what happened?"
"It's alright, Agott. You don't need to worry!" She reassured, "Its just..… The seal on my left shoe got erased…"
"How about you wash up inside and get changed first, hm?" Qifrey said to which Coco nodded, turning her direction to head back.
"Perhaps, she can borrow my left shoe master?" Agott's words halted Coco's steps. Mouth agape, Coco turned back her head in the direction of the curly haired girl. Even Qifrey was stunned by her sudden offer.
Hesitant for a moment, regaining some sense of composure, Qifrey opened his mouth to speak, "I appreciate you for trying to help Coco out," he paused, "although, I am certain that other halves of two different sylph shoes wont work together"
Persistent, Agott still insisted on doing so. "We could still try." Holding her shoe up with one hand, showing the seal that Coco drew for her. "Coco drew this seal for my shoes, I'm sure there's a possibility that it'll work."
Coco watched, no words nor thought passing by her. Just awestruck by the way Agott was so willing to help her. Qifrey exhaled a breath, finally nodding in approval to let the girl lend Coco her shoe.
Agott's face seemed to light up at that. She thanked her master before heading towards Coco. Handing the shoe over to her as Coco sat down to exchange her ruined sylph shoes for Agott's.
Taking a quick glance at the soles of both shoes, the placement of the halves of the seals were almost identical to their original halves. Coco was really starting to think that Agott's idea isn't so far off afterall.
The moment Tetia and Richeh came back, Coco started her time. Linking the two soles together, surprisingly worked. She blasted off at an even faster rate than compared to her own pair. And, even more shocking was that for some odd reason, it felt as if she had more control with her direction and maneuvering with this kind of setup more than before.
She breezed around the atelier in a matter of seconds, arguably, maybe even faster than Tetia and Richeh's. When it came down to the end, Coco managed to land at-least decently, which wouldn't be much if she didn't have a track record for crash landing.
When she met up with the others, Qifrey congratulated her with the time of 0:54 seconds, beating Tetia and Richeh's indefinitely.
"I'm surprised that two different soles can manage to activate the spell" Qifrey said, curiosity plaguing his mind about the strange occurrence. "fascinating, i once borrowed two different sylph shoes and they were not able to activate at all. I must say, maybe, that spell of yours is somewhat special, Coco."
Coco stood proud at the praise Qifrey had given to her. A big wide smile plastered on her face.
Hehe! Master said my spell for Agott is SPECIAL, one of a kind! Like it's the perfect match.
Wait, wait, hold on. wait, master said that he's tested it himself, no two different pairs of sylph shoes can work together. So why can mine and Agott can…
"Coco, may i have my shoe back now?" The curly haired girl's voice broke Coco's train of thoughts.
"Oh—! Oh right, here Agott" Coco stammered while fumbling to remove Agott's shoe, before handing it over.
Over one quick glance at the sole once more, she could see a slightly different pattern compared to the ones on her own. Though she had made both the seals almost the same way, there were very distinct features between the two that for Coco, could not be ignored. There should be NO way for it to activate a spell.
There was no way that it was possible. Yet, there was no other reasonable explanation for such occurrence to happen.
The only reason Coco's right shoe and Agott's left shoe were able to activate the spell was because, that was THEIR soulmate charm of each other. Coco was appealed with the realization, her face growing a bright reddish hue. Agott is my soulmate..!!!