Chapter Text
Qifrey scribbles on the sheet of paper, a sigh leaving his lips at the sight of the criss cross of ink over failed glyphs. He has been working day and night on coming up with a glyph that can help his professor, Sage Beldaruit.
Help because the Professor has been fussing about how he misses witnessing mammatus and iridescent clouds. Quite big and new words for an 18 year old Qifrey. And he didn't know what those clouds were like, he didn't intend to inquire about them either, but maybe judging from the way his face must have scrunched up, Beldaruit had gone on a long spiel describing said clouds.
“They are quite the sight, Qifrey,” Beldaruit had begun, slouching a little into the pillow that supported his back. A fond smile on his lips, “Iridescent clouds are like rainbows in clouds, a phenomenon that occurs when the sunlight bends around the edge of cloud droplets and as a result the different colours that compose of the white light, diffract by different amounts.”
Beldaruit looks at Qifrey with a bright grin, “It is truly beautiful, like a rainbow— or several colours beautifully wrapping around a cloud's edge.”
Qifrey tried to imagine that but he can hardly picture the sight of the clouds besides the stark white and grey that he is well familiar with, because of the heavy rain on the day Beldaruit and the Knight Moralis had found him and the occasional visit to the land above whenever Beldaruit was in the best of his health.
“Mammatus clouds, however,” Beldaruit held his chin in thoughtfulness and Qifrey noticed he had slouched down further on the bed, his back in an aching curve that the Professor's body wasn't very aware of. He tuts, leans over the bed and with his somewhat spindly arms he helps pull Beldaruit up into a proper comfortable position. Beldaruit lets out a huffed laugh, mutters a quiet ‘thank you, dear.’ and pats his hair. “Now, where was I?”
“The Mamma clouds.”
“Ah yes— Mammatus, Qifrey, they are Mammatus clouds.” Qifrey hates Beldaruit's teasing giggle, “They are like pouches– say, have you tried candyfloss, Qifrey?”
He nods at that, suddenly feeling interested about the clouds. What does candyfloss have got to do with those weird clouds?
“Mammatus clouds are just like that, and they look especially pretty when the sun is low and casting its glow on the clouds. However, sometimes, there are chances that these candyfloss-like clouds might bring storms or snow fall.” Beldaruit sighs. He turns a little to the side to scratch at a particularly itching patch on his back. His face scrunches up in pain when his blunt nail brushes against the upturned skin and Qifrey looks away, head dipping.
After some shuffling around, Beldaruit finally settles and sinks into the pillow. He looks at Qifrey sitting beside his bed and a wistful look glosses over his tired face. He reaches out to place a palm over Qifrey's folded ones in his lap, Qifrey looks at his Professor, “I really do wish for you to see them, Qifrey. I think you'll love them.”
And then, Beldaruit is ushering him out of his bedroom, telling him to go back and sleep because it is too late now for a kid to stay awake.
‘I'm 18, Professor!’ Qifrey had groused, ‘'Please do not call me a kid !’
And Beldaruit had only laughed as he watched Qifrey walk out the bedroom grumbling about how he is definitely not a kid because he had fantastically passed the Third Test.
As Qifrey walked to his bedroom, he came to the conclusion that his professor was rather very fond of those fancy clouds. If Qifrey gets a chance to see them, maybe he can work on a glyph design to bring those clouds to his now disabled Professor. Because even though Qifrey won't ever admit, he is truly happy that Beldaruit took him in so he wants to do something more than just be an apprentice because of whom Beldaruit is subjected to all those nasty stares and whispers.
He finds himself a few days later, stuck in his desk and scribbling away on sheets of paper, trying to come up with a glyph that could work. But! none of the glyphs seem to do it. Sometimes the keystone is too small or big, sometimes the distance is weird so the glyph is unbalanced, sometimes it's the wrong combination of keystones and the glyph backfires on itself. He has never felt so frustrated before.
Okay, maybe he was frustrated when Olruggio had refused to help him with this one unknown glyph (that Olruggio was so sure it was Forbidden). Maybe he was also frustrated when that one witch, Kukrow, that stupid oxygen thief! had the audacity to make fun of his right eye as well as going so far as to mock Professor Beldaruit's health. Qifrey had really badly wanted to punch that waste on the mouth but Olruggio had held his fist down and sternly qiped at Kukrow.
Qifrey sighs and his hands reach up to thread through his matte hair. He wrinkles his nose when he realises how tacky his hair feels. He hadn't had a proper bath because he was too busy experimenting with glyphs to properly pay attention to his own hygiene.
When did Qifrey get too attached to this self-initiated work? Is it because it is for Beldaruit?
“Qifrey!”
His bedroom door slams open to Olruggio marching in with a grin as bright as the sea gets when the sun hits it right. He plops on Qifrey's very neat bed, a clear indication that the snowy haired witch hadn't slept a wink. Olruggio's mouth purses as he takes in the bed but he holds himself back from commenting on it, instead he fixes Qifrey with wide excited eyes.
“Tomorrow I'm taking my Fourth Test!” Qifrey perks at that, placing his pen down and turning to give an excited Olruggio his full attention. “I was wondering if you would want to tag along with me and Professor, you know.”
Qifrey remembers how he and Olruggio had taken the Third test together, braving through it with vigour and the hope of seeing the other at the end. He remembers how happy he had been when he had spotted Olruggio at the end, heaving on his knees (probably tired after all that went down at the test, it was tough). He remembers exchanging tassels right before walking into the Test and that the weight of Olruggio's tassel over his hat had been a constant comfort for Qifrey throughout.
And now, a few years later, Olruggio was the first one among the two of them to attempt the Fourth Test. Qifrey knows he is not yet that qualified enough to take the test with Olruggio like the previous three, Beldaruit had gently knocked that knowledge into his stubborn mind one lecture.
‘You have yet a lot to learn, dear Qifrey,’ The Wise in Teachings had said, his sealchair clopping gently against the pavement as they walked outside the Great Hall. ‘I understand that Olruggio and you share a close bond and have taken the three tests together up until now. However, your history with magic and spells is a lot different than Olruggio's which means there are things that you have yet to learn which he has learned, I'm sure you might have noticed that already.’
Qifrey had nodded, eyes downcast and mood a little sullen but he had understood what Beldaruit had wanted to tell him.
“So!” Olruggio claps his hands, “Please come? I want to see you at the end of the Test even if we aren't taking it together.”
Heat spreads under Qifrey's skin and he flushes, hiding his face in his hands that rest over the backrest of his chair. He smiles, eyes flitting to look at a bashful and equally flushed Olruggio sitting cross-legged on his bed.
He nods, “Yeah, absolutely, Oru.”