Chapter Text
Coco realized Master Qifrey and Master Olly were in love on a bright summer afternoon as she dug her toes deep into the sandy bottom of a creek.
The four of them—Riceh, Agott, Tetia, and herself— were in the water working on their control of small water spells. Agott had helped her roll up her leggings and tie up her skirts so they didn’t get wet, but it was a failed effort. Within a few minutes of being in the creek, the edges of her robes were soaked.
Master Qifrey stood in the water as well, but he didn’t bother to pull up the loose fabric of his cloak. Coco knew that he probably had at least a dozen spells he could draw to dry himself, and she hoped one day to learn them all.
Drawing became tricky with the rushing of water and small fish nibbling at her feet. Paper grew wet, and her hand shook. For her efforts, she managed to soak not only her front, but also Richeh’s long blue locks and the tips of Agott and Titeia’s caps.
A few months before, she would have worried that the girls would be upset with her, but that fear no longer hindered her. It had taken time, but she felt safe and close to her fellow apprentices.
As each day passed, Coco learned more about them, their own strife and troubles, and those aches of rejection stilled, much unlike the cold water racing over her feet.
It was in this creek that Coco saw something she hadn’t seen before.
“Master Olly is taking a nap, girls,” Master Qifrey called to them, drawing their attention away from their practice.
Olruggio, or Master Olly as they called him despite his insistence he was not their teacher, had fallen asleep on the hilly riverbank. He was stretched out like a lazy cat with an arm thrown over his eyes and his legs crossed at the ankles. Haloed around his dark hair were red clovers and dark grass.
“I bet he was up all night making something super neat!” Tetia giggled.
Agott crossed her arms. “Which would have been done a long time ago if he got proper sleep for once.”
“I think he was drinking,” Richeh added.
Master Qifrey placed a finger to his lips, indicating silence, and he drew out his notebook. Coco’s stomach turned in the familiar way it did when she knew she was about to see magical mischief, and she reached out to Agott’s arm in curious trepidation.
With a flick of his pen, a blue sigil rose from Master Qifrey’s paper, and with a few flying water drops, a transparent figure appeared in the air.
“It’s a cat!” Coco loudly whispered in Agott’s ear. “Do you see?”
Agott tapped Coco’s wrist, and while Coco did not know if it was to silence her or to agree, she took it as the latter. Slowly, the cat made of water stalked through the air as though walking through invisible tall grass towards Master Olly.
Next to Coco, Tetia giggled, and Richeh let out a soft ‘hm’ as the water cat got closer and closer until finally, it pounced on Master Olly’s stomach, immediately bursting into a puddle of water and waking him up from his nap.
“What in all the worlds!” Master Olly yelled as he jumped to his feet, igniting his soles and hovering off the ground. “Which one of you threw water on me?”
Coco and the other girls fell into silly laughter that they tried to hide between their hands, but Master Qifrey was not so lucky. He smiled wide and his cheeks were shiny pink.
“Whatever do you mean?” Master Qifrey said in a happy voice. “We are all in the creek down here, and you are all the way up there. How do you ever imagine we could have doused you with water?”
“If I had to guess, magic?”
Master Qifrey winked at the girls before answering. “Magic? We would never use it to harm anyone, would we?”
Master Olly glared at Master Qifrey and soared to the edge of the creek, still hovering so he was eye to eye with him. “Don’t you just sound like the cat that drank the milk? Got somethin’ to say, Qifrey?”
It was very clear that the laugh that broke from Master Qifrey was not intended, but it was far too late for him to recover, for the next moment, Master Olly was pushing him into the creek.
The four girls screamed in delight as they watched the two grown men wrestle in the water. Master Qifrey’s back was to the rushing water and cool stones as Master Olly straddled his upper chest, holding both of Master Qifrey’s arms to his sides. At first, Coco worried they were really upset with each other, but after a moment, she realized that Master Olly wasn’t trying to strangle Master Qifrey, but was actually tickling him!
“Take that, you scoundrel!” Master Olly yelled as he moved his fingers under Master Qifrey’s chin. “How do you like gettin’ soaked!”
As the girls rushed to the creekbank to cheer on their teachers, Coco noticed something. It was subtle, and too different for her to truly understand, but there was something in the way Master Qifrey looked up at Master Olly.
Wait, no, or was it the other way around?
The closer she looked, the more she saw the glimmering reflections in their eyes and how bright their smiles were. Master Qifrey hooted loudly, begging for mercy through stomach-clenching laughs, and Master Olly was relentless but clearly had no real plan to cause him pain.
“You think you are so tough?” Master Olly hollered as he moved his fingers up and down Master Qifrey’s sides. “Come on then, defend yourself, Sir Witch!”
“Alright, alright!” Master Qifrey called out. “I yield!”
Master Olly panted as he rose up from his crouched position. “Well, then, that is probably the wisest thing I have ever heard from-”
Master Olly did not get to finish that statement, for suddenly their positions had switched, except that Master Qifrey had not managed to get hold of Master Olly’s arms. After a brief struggle, Coco watched as their hands clasped, and their shared laughter was too much for any real battle of strength to produce.
“Master Qifrey wins!” Tetia shouted as she clapped. “Good show!”
Agott shook her head. “I’m not sure there was anything fair about that fight.”
“Master Qifrey cheated,” Richeh added.
As the girls discussed the battle and whether it was fought evenly, Coco’s gaze never left their teachers. Their hands were still clasped as Master Olly stared up at Master Qifrey, whispering something that was too faint for Coco to catch. Master Qifrey smiled in a way Coco had never seen before, and she wondered why that was. What had Master Olly done to win such a special, gentle smile from Master Qifrey?
***
That night, Coco rested in bed with the memory of Master Qifrey’s smile for Master Olly in her mind. There was something so strange about it, but she couldn’t place her finger on it.
The more she pondered, the more she remembered other instances, such as the other night when the girls attempted to sneak into the kitchen after dark to steal a few mountain apples. They had caught their teachers awake and talking quietly to each other as they sipped Silvernectar Wine. There had been nothing ominous about what they had seen, just Master Olly and Master Qifrey talking, but it was the strangeness of seeing them alone with each other that Coco felt that she was intruding. They ended up back in their beds without the apples.
Knowing she would not sleep until she talked this curiosity out, she climbed into Agott’s bed.
“Go back to sleep, Coco,” Agott murmured even as she scooted over to give Coco space and lifted her quilt for Coco to slip under.
It had become a routine of theirs: when one couldn’t rest, she would climb into the other’s bed and talk until she was sleepy enough. Sometimes that meant they fell asleep, cuddled like little kittens curled around each other. Being close to Agott made Coco remember snuggling against her mother and feeling her calming scent and purr. It made her feel less homesick.
“Why does Master Qifrey look at Master Olly the way he does?” Coco whispered.
Agott didn’t reply, and Coco had to repeat her question with a little nudge.
“What do you mean?” Agott mumbled.
“Master Qifrey looks at Master Olly differently than he does anyone else,” Coco explained. “Have you noticed how he stares just a little too long at him?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Well, I have, and I can tell you he does!”
Agott groaned and threw the blanket over her head. Coco followed her under.
“Do you think it means something?” Coco whispered.
Agott loudly sighed. “Master Qifrey told me once that he had been friends with Master Olly since they were children. They are very close, that is all.”
“Right,” Coco answered. “You are right.”
She popped her head out from the blanket, thought for another minute, before diving back down under the quilt.
“Agott, I don’t think-”
Agott intertuped. “Coco, it is late!”
“Yes, but I need to tell you something!” Coco argued and lowered her voice when Agott hissed for her to be quiet. “I have a theory. Will you listen to me?”
Coco threw the quilt off their heads so they could see each other in the moonlight streaming through the windows. Her curls were tusseled and she looked tired, but not angry.
“How about this: you tell me your theory, and then you let me sleep on it,” Agott answered. “I shall give you my honest thoughts on it in the morning.”
Quickly agreeing, Coco took in a deep breath to shake off any remaining nerves at presenting her thoughts on the matter. “I think it is very possible that Master Qifrey is in love with Master Olly.”
Agott blinked. “Pardon?”
“But wait!” Coco held up a finger. “I think that Master Olly is also in love with Master Qifrey.”
Agott blinked twice more before sighing. “Alright. Is that your entire theory?”
Coco pondered for another moment before nodding. “Yes, that is my theory.”
“Grand. Now off to bed.”
Keeping her promise, Coco climbed back into her own bed. She wasn’t sure what Coco would say in response, but it felt good to get her thoughts out. Feeling much lighter, Coco closed her eyes and fell into a comfortable sleep.
***
Coco woke the next morning to Agott staring down at her.
“Agott?” Coco muttered.
“You are right,” Agott answered.
Coco cocked her head to the side, not quite certain what Agott was talking about, before it struck her. “You think so?”
Agott nodded. “Yes, but I think there is a small problem.”
Coco sat up in her bed, feeling wide awake and ready to tackle whatever stood in Master Qifrey’s and Master Olly’s happiness. “What is the problem? Whatever it is, we can surely defeat it to help them!”
Agott put her fists against her hips in a powerful stance before answering. “The problem is those fools don’t realize it.”
“Oh.” Coco’s heart dropped.
“Yes, pathetic, I know,” Agott answered.
It made so much sense. Since Coco had become an apprentice, she always wondered why Master Qifrey and Master Olly chose a life of unbonded bachelorhood. While Coco didn’t know much about adults, she didn’t notice either of them sneaking away for a few days to deal with the things her mother hadn’t taught her about yet. When they would go to the market, she saw how the townsfolk crowded Master Olly, who would then bicker at them for bothering him when he was out on an errand. Master Qifrey didn’t even seem to notice the heads that turned his way, and any attempt at sweetness anyone shared with him slid off him like oil to water.
But when they were at home in the Atelier, they were always near each other. There were plenty of nights when they danced by the fire as the girls practiced their instruments. Coco couldn’t even keep count of how many picnics they had under the warm sun, and once their bellies were full, Master Qifrey and Master Olly would rest in the grass shoulder to shoulder and talk while the girls picked flowers.
Her teachers were so close, yet there seemed to be something between them.
“That is so sad.” Coco’s eyes burned with tears. “Oh, Agott, how could they not see it?”
Agott lowered her head to Coco’s ear, as though she was telling her a secret. “Grownups can be very empty-headed, Coco.” She put her hand on Coco’s shoulder and squeezed it. “That just means we are going to have to help them see it.”
Coco gasped and grabbed Agott’s wrists. “We are going to be matchmakers!”
"Or something like that at least."
With a new goal in sight, Coco jumped out of bed, ready to make a plan.