Chapter Text
The journey home from the Silver Eve festival was a welcome respite from the stressful days of the festival. As the cart travelled farther and farther away from Ezrest, the capital faded in the distance. The same could not be said for the events that had transpired.
That night would leave deep scars in Coco. The mental scars from the monstrous leech, Tartah's departure to join up with the brimmed caps, and Qifrey's confession. Then there were the physical wounds who had a more immediate weight in her mind. Those wounds she had received as she blocked a spell fired by lord Engendale, the former Wise in Friendship, now donning a Brimmed Cap. Coco had seen the spell being fired at Qifrey from behind, and with no time to think she acted on instinct. She had tried to push Qifrey and herself out of harm's way, but she ended up being hit on her face right beneath her left eye. The doctors did all they could to heal her wounds, but they were unsure how severe the damage to her left eye would end up being. For now, the left half of her face was bandaged and was to remain that way until they got back to the Atelier.
Coco was seated next to Agott, with Richeh and Tetia opposite them in the wagon. Qifrey and Olruggio took turns steering the wagon and sitting in the back with the apprentices. The journey home slowly let the apprentices let go of their anxieties in preparation of their continued studies. This was true for all except for Coco. Rather, her worries grew the closer to home they got.
"What happens if I can't use my left eye again?"
"Will I still be able to be a witch?"
The thoughts were surfacing again. These thoughts came back to her multiple times a day.
"Qifrey only has one eye, I will be fine."
She tried to reassure herself. It worked just a little bit.
"Will I get kicked out of the Atelier?"
"Will the Agott, Richeh and Tetia still accept me?"
"They care about me and will support me."
"What if I injure my other eye as well?"
“Could forbidden magic be the only way forward?”
“Will the path of the brimmed cap be the only one left to me?”
The thoughts kept darkening in her mind. The reassuring thoughts could only do so much against the terrible anxieties swirling in her head. Coco kept these feelings bottled inside.
“The first thing I’m doing when I get back is to take a long, warm, relaxing bath.” Tetia sighed. “I feel so dirty after all that happened and I wish I could just wash it all away.”
Agott and Richech both smiled in agreement.
“If only a bath would be enough to wash all of it away.”
Coco did her best to smile at the thought as well. She didn’t find it easy to smile with how she was feeling, but she did not want to worry them. She had worried them plenty enough in Ezrest.
Suddenly she felt a hand grasp her own, squeezing it firmly. It was a hand she had become well acquainted with during the Silver Eve festival.
“Looks like it wasn’t enough to fool her.”
She allowed herself to be comforted by her connection to Agott, which shone a ray of light in her mind. Feeling how tired she was, Coco sought out Agott's shoulder and rested her head.
"Agott is by my side."
With that thought in her mind she was able to stop worrying and rest.
Agott could not know what thoughts were clouding Coco’s mind, but she did not need to know that to understand that Coco was struggling beneath her mask. Her smile looked fine, but Coco’s eyes betrayed her. There was no luster in her golden eyes. Offering her hand to Coco, Coco had accepted and she was now resting against her shoulder.
Agott thought back to when she first got to know this girl who was now resting on her shoulder. Their relationship had not started out anything close to this, but Coco being Coco had slowly managed to bring Agott out of her shell.
It had been that way from the very beginning with Coco. Even when Agott had wanted nothing more than for the Outsider to disappear from their atelier and her life. Even then Coco had managed to show her new paths and inspired her.
“How did she not despise me after all I did to her? The first thing I did to her was blame her mother’s crystallisation on her. I set her up to fail the first test, sending her out unprepared in unfair circumstances. Despite all that, she still didn’t think less of me and continued seeking my approval and friendship.”
If Agott had succeeded in getting Coco to leave the Atelier she would not be who she was today. Coco would not have given her a pair of sylph shoes ruined in a very specific way. She quite liked these ruined sylph shoes.
Coco completing the Dadah Range test was not the only thing that had surprised and inspired Agott. It was merely the first in a long series of events that had led to Agott being who she was today.
“What path would I have traveled without her influence?”
Agott did not like how she acted when they were trapped in the dragon maze back during their first visit to Kalhn. Yes, Coco had been ignorant, clueless, and ignored basic witching rules that everyone had been taught when they were young. That did not excuse how angry Agott got, nor the hurtful words she had shouted at Coco. Tetia had put it perfectly when she talked to Coco and said that as more experienced apprentices it was their responsibility to look out for and guide Coco. Coco couldn’t help that she was in a world she knew almost nothing about.
“I should thank Tetia for holding us all together when it mattered the most. I think even Coco would have been discouraged without Tetia’s acceptance back then.”
Coco had then come up with an idea so far out of the way of Agott’s thinking, but it had worked. Another path Agott would never have seen without Coco.
When Dagda’s and Custas’ travelling party had been trapped in the flood Coco had managed to ground Agott. Agott had been so focused on her own growth that she momentarily forgot what magic was to be used for in the first place. Agott had been far superior to Coco in magical skill, but Coco was far ahead of Agott in what magic was to be used for and why.
“Would I still have focused on growing my magical skill with the only goal of getting back at my family without her influence here?”
During Agott’s original second test Coco had shown so much growth in such a short time, even managing to get the better of a Brimmed Cap resulting in a hope for Euni. Then she had also been instrumental in their impromptu retake of the second test administered by Beldaruit himself. Coco always had so many ideas. And here she was starting to be able to realize them on her own.
“Even without living with magic and studying it for years she grows so fast.”
Even before the terrors started during Silver Eve Coco continued shining. She had a fantastic spell for the parade that would bring happiness to so many people and Agott almost felt a small amount of shame that her own spell was not made with happiness in mind. This time Coco inspired her in a more direct way, and Agott scrambled into action to support Coco’s spell with all she had to make it a success.
“Just when did she manage to nestle into my heart for me to value her happiness so highly?”
Finally it came to the capture of the Monstrous Leech. When Coco flew into action it felt almost natural for Agott to immediately follow her. Coco had shown her so many new paths, and she wanted to see them all.
“Is there anywhere I wouldn’t follow her?”
Time and time again Coco’s unique outlook on things had led towards solutions Agott would never have considered. Agott had at first mistakenly attributed that to Coco being an Outsider. She knew better now. Coco was just a lovely unique soul who had inspired Agott over and over, and if Agott stayed with her Coco would guide her even further.
Agott leaned on Coco’s head, closing her eyes. Her hand tightly grasping Coco's, she drifted off to sleep.
“I wish to one day inspire her how she has inspired me.”