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Life in the atelier quickly adjusted to having a new household member. Well, except for the new member, of course. Jujy made clear from the first day that it was a temporary thing. Her master just needed some time to find himself after what happened during the Silver Eve. Agott didn’t ask many questions, it seemed to be something that really hurt Jujy when she thought about it.
Coco seemed to know more about it, being there when it happened, whatever it was. But she complied with Jujy’s wishes not to talk about it.
But other than that, Jujy fit right in. The atelier didn’t really have a bed for a fifth apprentice, so Jujy would sleep in a cot in one of the girls’ private bedrooms every night, creating a rotational cycle. Jujy was incredibly clever and quick-witted, carefully settling into a routine she wasn’t much used to. She was impressed by the several assignments they did outside, even tagging along with the girls to help Master Olly with his winter chores.
Agott liked Jujy, with everything that happened after the procession, she never had time to properly thank the girl for helping in making Coco’s invention dazzle the outsiders. It took a few days for her to catch her by herself to do it.
They were both outside, observing the snowfall after lunch, Jujy straying behind from the other atelier residents.
“Oh, that?” The girl looked up from where she was drawing her spell, “No worries! I’m glad to know it worked out.”
“Regardless, I need to thank you. Even if the parade had to be stopped, you helped Coco and me out despite just talking to us for five minutes.” Agott clenched her hands on her cloak’s hem, “You helped make Coco happy when she felt like it was all over.”
Instinctively, she hid her cheeks behind her arms, feeling them heat up at the memory of that moment, of how Coco looked under the moonlight sky, the refracted lights that passed through the bird sculptures hitting her face and illuminating her smile.
At her side, Jujy made an inquisitive noise, tilting her head at Agott. She opens a knowing smile that almost made Agott fear what she was thinking.
“Oh, it's nothing, anything to help two lov–”
“Agott! Jujy!” They both perk up, looking in the direction of Coco’s voice as she runs down the snowy hills, “I’m teaching Tetia and Richeh about snowball fights! Wanna come?”
Agott pushes a stray hair strand behind her ear, trying her hardest to calm her cheeks back to a normal hue.
“Yeah! Sure, we want to!” Jujy answers before Agott can properly process, “Agott, go ahead.” She pushes Agott a bit, the girl stumbling.
“Wha–”
“I’m just going to finish this fire spell, then I’ll go. Don’t worry about me, go spend time with Coco!”
A bit confused still, she skips ahead, meeting Coco, who grabs her hand and pulls her uphill. Even through their gloves, Agott can feel the heat radiating from Coco’s touch.
She looks back, and for some reason, Jujy is not doing any drawing.
“We’ll be making trios for today’s chores, alright?” Master Qifrey says, “Tetia, Richeh, come with me, we’re going to do outside work. Jujy, Coco, and Agott, you three are responsible for the indoor chores.”
He hands Agott a paper with a list as she nods, looking at the two older apprentices and passing it around.
“I think we can start by organizing the dried herbs in the kitchen.” Agott says, “How does that sound?”
Coco nods enthusiastically, but Jujy has an inquisitive look on her face before her mind catches up with the question, and she nods, quickly taking a turn for the kitchen.
Not even Tetia is that excited when it comes to organizing those.
Quickly, the three apprentices find themselves with the basket of herbs in front of them as they sit at the table. Small parchment papers cut to serve as labels and small jars to put the herbs are in front of them as they work, Coco humming a song that strangely calms Agott.
“Which song is that, Coco?” Jujy asks eventually.
“Oh! It’s from my old village. It’s a love song basically, my mom used to hum it while she worked, and I guess I got the habit.”
“A love song…?” Jujy whispers under her breath, and Agott watches as her hands stop working. She clears her throat, “I… I think I need to go to the bathroom! You two can handle it for a bit, right?”
“Sure!” Coco answers, giving Jujy a thumbs up while Agott just nods, not taking her eyes off her work.
She hears Jujy’s steps go upstairs, Coco returning to humming the song, the melody somehow helping Agott’s rhythm.
Several minutes pass, and it's only when there are only a couple of herbs to put away that Agott notices Jujy is still missing.
It isn’t all nights that are especially cold in the atelier. With Master Olruggio’s magic, the whole place feels protected and as warm during most of the nights. But sometimes, when snowstorms get particularly strong, there’s no denying the cold that bites their skin.
Agott shivers as she closes her book, bringing her legs closer as she bundles herself more in the blanket she has around her shoulders.
She was studying with Coco an hour or so ago, but because of the time, Coco had fallen asleep a few meters away from her, face smooshed against an embroidered pillow as she breaths in and out. Agott watches her, the way the flames of the almost dying fire of the hearth cast a low orange glow on her body and face, green hair turning almost an olive color and falling across her face.
Agott gasps when Coco turns in her sleep, shivering as she tries to make herself smaller in hopes of getting warmer.
Dummy, Agott thinks, looking at the blanket she has around her body and sighing.
She gets up, unwrapping herself as she lies right next to Coco, putting the blanket on top of both of them, hoping to keep them warm.
“You must’ve been really tired if you fell asleep in this cold, huh?” She mumbles, leaning on her elbow as her hand comes up to her face and brushes the hair off her face.
Agott stills as she hears the creaking of wood and steps. She looks in the direction of it, finding Jujy, already in her sleepwear, looking at both of them with a surprised face, before she raises her hands like she is admitting defeat in some way.
“Sorry, sorry. I'll come back later.”
She immediately turns around, without giving an explanation for her behavior.
Agott can’t help but not go back to her book for the next ten minutes, trying to decipher what Jujy thought she was interrupting.
“What are you going to gift Coco for the Winter Fest?” Jujy asks as both girls lie in their beds, tonight the temporary apprentice sleeping in Agott’s quarters.
“Huh?”
“Gift. Winter fest! For Coco!”
Yeah, she heard it the first time. But Agott was still confused about what that meant. She supposes she could buy something in Kahln for everyone, but it wasn’t really expected of children to gift other children during Winter Fest. It was usually something parents and masters did to them.
“Not sure…? I mean, I think I can find some time to go to Kahln and find something for her–”
“WHAT?!”
Agott pauses at her indignant scream, looking at Jujy like she has grown quadryphon wings. To be fair, Jujy is looking at her with the same look.
“What what?”
“You’re– You’re not going to give her something more personal?”
“I mean, why would I–”
“Because that’s what you should do for Coco! She’s special for you, right?”
“I–” Agott feels her cheeks heat up, breaking eye contact with the girl sleeping on the cot, “I… She is, but–”
“Then you need to do something special, handmade! Not something anyone can buy at a witch’s market.”
“And you suggest…?” She was confused but definitely intrigued now.
She and Jujy ended up staying up past their bedtime, Jujy giving pointers on what to do as Agott wrote it down on her palm quire.
Something personal! Something that shows that you care and think about her! That you pay attention! Something she’s going to keep close!
Agott ends up settling on making a charm for Coco’s witch’s belt, sketching some designs over the next few days, and buying supplies for it.
Agott doesn’t know why she’s doing all of this. Isn’t Coco going to find it strange this gift out of nowhere? It’s not like she’s going to give anyone else a gift. But Jujy was so insistent on it. It was true that for Agott, Coco was the closest person in the atelier, her best friend. Maybe Agott had missed the traditions of the great hall changing since she left?
She flusters herself crazy trying to understand, but does it anyway, Coco noticing that Agott seemed to be staying up later than usual. Agott lied to her, saying she was studying while in reality, she was handmaking the charm during the only time of the day she knew Coco wouldn’t be able to see it.
When it Winter Fest comes around, Agott doesn’t dare to gift Coco in front of everyone, instead calling her to a secluded corner and gifting her, thousands of made up excuses about why she did it and why she’s the only one getting a gift from her already on her tongue but they are swallowed when Coco hugs her tight, saying how much she loves it and how she will now have a part of Agott around whenever she goes.
Due to the malfunctioning of her brain because of how close Coco was, she couldn’t see the way Jujy high-fived herself and gave Agott a thumbs up as she spied on them.
“Hey, can I ask a question about you and Coco?”
Jujy starts as she and Agott sit together in the latter's shared study. Coco is absent, having left to go watch the snowfall with Tetia and Master Qifrey.
“I guess you can.” Agott doesn’t look up from the paper, trying to rationalize how to make the goal in her mind work.
“How long have you two been together?”
Agott furrows her eyebrows at that. That’s a way to phrase the question. For a moment, she isn’t even sure of what Jujy means.
How long have Coco and I been friends? She breaks the question down in her brain.
“I guess… A little before the silver eve procession.”
“Really?! You two looked so in synch up there, I would’ve guessed it was much longer!”
Agott smiles at that. Maybe Jujy is right. She might consider that night she and Coco had a heart-to-heart to be the first step of their friendship, but for Coco, she guesses it happened way before that. Maybe even before they went to the Great Hall or the trial of the Serpent’s Back cave.
“I guess… Maybe you’re right. It wasn’t just one thing. Maybe it was several things that just accumulated together on that particular day.” Agott guesses that Coco’s love for magic and talent was something that drew both of them together without each other noticing in the first place, “It was hard not to, I guess. Coco is very special.”
Jujy audibly coos, and Agott feels her cheeks heat up, “That’s so sweet! When did you realize it?”
Again, the question rattled inside her brain for a moment, Agott trying to pick it apart and understand what Jujy meant by it. When did I realize Coco was special and talented? Maybe that’s what she meant.
“I guess… I think I always knew, but I refused to acknowledge for… more personal reasons.” Coco passed the Dadah Range test less than three days after discovering the secret of magic, while Agott was the last of the newest generation of the three families’ kids to do it.
She might’ve tried to pass off ten as a prodigy thing to intimidate Coco, but Agott was at the late end of the curve for apprentices. Richeh herself passed when she was barely nine. Stars, she was stupid, wasn’t she?
Jujy doesn’t ask more questions after that, but Agott catches a glimpse of a satisfied smile on her face, and she wonders what is going through her mind.
“Agott, can I borrow your notes about decorative sigils? Coco told me you’re good at those, and I’m kind of struggling.”
Jujy leans on the doorframe of Agott’s bedroom, her head to the side as she taps the end of her palm quire to her chin, deep in thought.
Agott looks up from her textbook with a small smile, “Sure, it's the purple notebook with gold detailing on the top shelf.” She points to the bookshelves on the side of her study.
“Thanks!” She skips a few steps, humming before she grabs the specific notebook amidst the messy shelf, “Can I give it back to you later?”
“Yes, don’t worry. I basically know those sigils by heart. Take all the time you need.”
Jujy smiles at her, clutching the notebook close before she closes the door, Agott coming back to her book. Although something in the back of her mind nags at her, making her think she is forgetting something.
She doesn’t think about that feeling until later that night, way after dinner and her night shower, when the temporary apprentice appears at her door.
“Hey…”
“Oh, hello Jujy.” The girl sits beside Agott at her table, sliding the notebook towards her, “Did you make use of my notes?”
“Oh! Yeah, they’re really good! You should like… become a magic textbook writer when you grow up.”
Agott rolls her eyes, taking the book and opening it. She hadn’t thought about these notes in a while. It’s always good to revisit.
Jujy stays at her side as she flicks through the page, and Agott feels like the girl wants to say something by the way she is holding her breath. She doesn’t, and Agott doesn’t press.
As she flicks to another page, Agott realizes what the nagging feeling from earlier was.
She blushes as she faces some classic anatomy studies she did to clear her mind in between the notes, and the subject is Coco. Coco smiling, Coco casting a spell, Coco’s hands holding her pen, Coco in her apprentice’s outfit–
“Ah.” She realizes why Jujy was acting so awkward, “Sorry, I didn’t remember this was here.”
She wants to bury her face in the snow outside and let the cold claim her.
“It’s fine! The drawings are awesome, your anatomy is great! I don’t really do traditional drawing, so seeing these made me want to try.”
Agott’s fingers absentmindedly trace the edges of the charcoal drawings and the paper, trying to protect something she hadn’t shown anyone.
“T-That’s good.” She pushes a strand of her hair behind her ear, “Again, sorry– I can remake my notes in another notebook if you still need them.”
Jujy smiles, the tension on her shoulders falling, “It’s cool, Agott. As I said, I was just…” She pauses and pouts for a moment, “Surprised, I guess that’s the word.”
Agott lets out a sigh and closes the notebook, shoving it in between the mountain of papers she has yet to clean for the night.
“You…” Jujy starts after a short moment of silence, “You really do adore Coco, huh?”
Agott flushes, moving her face away from Jujy’s vision in a futile attempt to hide her blush. Of course, she does. Who wouldn’t find Coco’s love for magic nothing but amazing? Coco is the hardest working witch she knows, it's hard not to adore this determination of hers.
“Yeah…” She whispers, after a moment, almost like she’s scared of admitting it, “Of course I do.”
From her angle, Agott doesn’t see the way Jujy almost squeals at her words.
Jujy and Agott are on dishwashing duty when the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.
Agott hands Jujy a dirty plate as the girl shoves it under the water, the two working in silence for several minutes. Well, until Jujy decides to break it when she misreads Agott’s silent movements and ends up splashing water everywhere.
She grabs the rag Agott offers her, wiping the soapy water from her face as she looks at the younger witch and casually starts, “You know, I really admire how patient Coco is.”
The sudden name makes Agott still, looking at Jujy with a clear and confused face mixed with a frown, “Patient?”
“With you.”
Agott’s eyes widen as her frown gets deeper, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
At Agott’s accusatory tone, Jujy pauses. She looks deep in thought, and Agott, not for the first time since Jujy moved in, wants to know what is going through her head.
“Well…” She starts, setting the rag down on the rack by the sink, “You aren’t exactly easy to read.”
This conversation is just making Agott more confused by the second.
“What– I-I don’t see what this has to do with Coco.” She turns around, grabbing one of the plates from the pile they’ve set aside.
“It’s just– I’m just saying it's admirable how much your girlfriend can understand you that well!”
Silence reigns in the kitchen for several moments, the sound of the water running and tiny soap bubbles popping being the only symphony. Agott almost lets the plate slip from her grip, and the world seems to stop for her.
Agott, unfortunately, doesn’t immediately deny it. Because her brain just screeches to a halt, the word girlfriend not being processed as something that is incorrect, but as a possibility. Suddenly, and yet for just a split second, her mind is flooded with images that make her whole body flush.
Walking around town with Coco holding her arm. Kissing Coco’s hand and holding it without any embarrassment. Coco introducing Agott as her partner to others. Coco’s face leaning towards her with that same brightness she always has when it comes to magic–
She shakes her head, feeling the heat gather at her cheeks as she looks at Jujy like she has grown a second– no, third head.
“...My what?” There’s no way in Zozah she heard that right.
Jujy blinks at her, confused as well, “Your girlfriend!”
“Like, girl friend? A friend who is a girl? Right?” She is panicking.
“No… I mean, girlfriend girlfriend. The one you date, hug, kis–”
“COCO IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!” Agott almost shouts, not letting Jujy finish the sentence, or else risk her mind supplying her with unwanted images she doesn’t even know where they came from. She is sure her face has never been redder.
Jujy blinks once. Then another time.
“What?”
“We– We are not dating.” Agott says through gritted teeth. She is glad everyone is busy with their stuff and possibly didn’t hear her outburst. But she isn’t risking it.
“You’re not?!” Jujy’s voice sounds like she has just been told dragons aren’t real. Well, they are, but that’s not the point–
“No!” She brings the plate she is holding to almost hide her red face. A beat passes, and she meets Jujy’s eyes, desperate to bury any and all suspicions, “And I certainly don’t think of her in that way.”
Agott doesn’t understand why, the second those words leave her mouth, they feel like a lie, burning her throat in their wake.
Jujy stands still as a stone pillar for several moments, and Agott wonders if she is rewinding the interactions she has seen between the two girls.
“Oh.” She whispers, “Oh.” For the first time since she met Jujy, the girl looks genuinely lost and confused, “I… I think I may have misunderstood–”
“Yes, you did!” Agott sets the plate down back in the pile, feeling like she needs to sit down or else she might just pass out.
“Although, you–”
The door of the atelier bursts open, the chilly wind and snow entering, making both girls shiver.
They walk towards the common room, wanting to know who the crazy idiot was that was outside at this hour and in this climate–
“Coco!” Agott shouts, the girl struggling to close the door because of something she had in her hand. Despite the cold, she rushes ahead, helping her.
Finally, when the door closes and the cold winds have vanished, she turns to the girl who is panting, face red from the cold, and with a thick layer of snow on her hair and cloak.
“Agott!” The girl greets her with a bright smile despite the shortness of breath.
“What– What were you doing outside in this weather, Coco?! Are you crazy?!” She points an accusatory finger in her direction before taking a deep breath and pushing the snow off her shoulders, not caring about the cold that bites on her unprotected skin.
“I– Sorry. I just– I went outside to get this…” She opens her gloved hands, revealing the charm Agott had gifted her weeks ago. Agott’s heart skips a beat.
“Didn't– Didn’t you lose it when we were flying to Kalhn yesterday?”
“Yes!” She beams, “I saw how sad you looked when you noticed it had fallen. I– I couldn’t just let it get lost!”
“And you went out in this weather to find it?”
“Of course I did.” Coco beams at her, and Agott feels like she is going to throw up, the butterflies in her stomach partying. Coco’s tone is as if Agott had asked her what color the sky is, as if it were obvious. As if Agott is important enough to be worth the trouble of risking her life.
“You– You didn’t have to do that. It’s not like it’s expensive or anything–”
“But it’s important to me because you made it,” Coco argues. She presses their hands together, the charm between skin and the thick gloves she was wearing. Agott feels like crying, but she holds it in as Coco continues, “I couldn’t just let you be sad or worried about it.”
Agott is about to argue, but Coco spins the world around her, leaning forward and placing a quick kiss on her flushed cheek.
“There. Now you can stop worrying about it or me. I’m fine.”
The contact of lips to skin lasts maybe half a second, but it’s enough to make Agott’s brain malfunction, the touch replaying in her mind as if it were surrounded by thousands of repetition seals. It was an innocent gesture, a spontaneous way to make Agott feel better, so Coco. And yet, Agott starts spiraling, the images from earlier resurfacing in her brain.
Coco, as her girlfriend, kissing her. Coco, as her girlfriend, kissing her. Coco, as her girlfriend, kissing her.
Coco, as her girlfriend, kissing her–
Agott’s eyes are wide as she stares at Coco’s eyes, her face looks like she has just been thrown into a pyreball, her body completely rigid as she lets out a sound that doesn’t resemble any language.
“Agott?” Coco notices Agott’s shift in behavior, her smile being replaced with a worried expression.
Agott doesn’t answer her. Not able to do it even if she wanted to.
“Are you okay? Are you sick? Oh no–”
From near the entrance to the kitchen, Jujy watches the exchange. The way Agott is failing to breathe at Coco’s affection, at how Coco is worried about her right after she frankly risked her life for a gift that, despite Jujy’s thoughts, wasn’t even romantic in the first place.
The pieces click into place inside her mind.
She wasn’t wrong. Just… early to the conclusion. Way too early.
She turns on her heel and sighs, “Well, isn’t that lovely?”
This makes her presence known to Coco, who turns in her direction, confused at what she means, while Agott looks like she is just shy of a syncope, “Jujy?”
She looks at Coco, shaking her head, “Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry.” She lets out a relieved sigh before smiling at the two witches at the entrance, “I guess… Some people just need a bit more time.”
She turns back to the kitchen, refusing to elaborate, leaving behind a confused Coco and a mortified Agott.
They will figure it out eventually, Jujy thinks, coming back to her chores, at least I hope so