We pick things up right where we last left off. Tartah is about to ask Qifrey what had happened to Nolnoa. Unfortunately, Qifrey acts as if he thinks Tartah is just thirsting for general knowledge, so he cheerfully invites Tartah to ask him anything. The boy is startled by the witch’s eagerness (again, likely an act), so he doesn’t actually get the chance to actually confront Qifrey. Sigh, I’m disappointed… but I probably should’ve seen this coming.
Qifrey is told that Coco simply has a cold from exhaustion and not getting enough sleep. Of course, I don’t want to downplay a cold. It could kill ya. But you know what else is true about colds? Totally preventable… assuming you have a responsible adult to make sure the kid is getting enough rest and sleep everyday. Buuuuuut the best we can do is Qifrey. Do people still think he’s the bee’s knees? Whatever, I’ll just keep being a hater until the end of days.
Later that night, a fire breaks out in town, so a man begs Qifrey to help put it out. For some reason, his first instinct is to not help. Look, I get it. His lack of attentiveness led to her getting sick. Plus, Coco has been having nightmares (he doesn’t know that), and confesses to herself that she’s afraid to be alone (again, he doesn’t know that). Even so, are you really going to potentially let people die just because your apprentice is sick? I guess all the yelling must have woken Coco up, ’cause the kid has to do the right thing and tell her master to help people out.
Tartah eventually returns to the hospital to find his hat, and discovers that Coco is still awake. Apparently, he can’t get home without it. Some asshole guard actually yelled at him instead of being understanding. But this actually works out for the best, since Coco needs someone by her side. Unfortunately, Coco’s fever is flaring back up. The boy then goes through the painstaking process of trying to figure out the right medicine to give Coco. Wait, did the entire hospital staff leave? Every single person? We don’t have a single nurse staying behind to keep an eye on the patients, i.e. Coco? That can’t be right… But for the moment, it’s all up to Tartah, and try as he might, he still can’t distinguish between the colors.
Seeing him struggle — and probably still feeling guilty about their last encounter at the ink shop — Coco tries to help Tartah out. She comes up with the idea of inverting that disintegration spell she knows. In theory, the inverted spell should turn the unidentifiable powders back into their solid form, thus allowing the boy to identify the correct medicine she needs. But in her state, she can’t draw smooth lines (not that she was great at it when she wasn’t sick), so the end result is less than satisfactory. Nevertheless Coco encourages Tartah to take up the pen and draw his own spell. And what do you know, he manages to do it on the first try. And with it, a whole new way of seeing the world has opened up to him. We just had a flashback where every single adult told the kid to give up on magic. In five minutes, Coco has done more for Tartah than most of the adults in his life (I assume Nolnoa is supportive of him). It’s ridiculous, no? I know anime heavily skews towards youthful protagonists, but boy do the adults suck! Well, if there’s anything Tartah should take away from this, it’s that he should never count himself out just because he’s surrounded by naysayers.
As it turns out, there was someone here after all. Oops. But you can’t blame a kid for being a kid and thus panicking in a dire situation. What’s important is that Tartah and Coco bonded tonight, and the former’s dreams of becoming a full-fledged witch are still alive. As an aside, Qifrey doesn’t manage to get back to Coco until dawn breaks, but it’s not really his fault this time.
In the morning, before returning home with his master, Tartah finally asks about the blinding light. Of course, Nolnoa doesn’t remember. On the other hand, Qifrey feigns ignorance. He then stands there kinda ominously as Tartah walks off. I wonder if he’s contemplating erasing Tartah’s memories too. This guy…
As Tartah departs with his master, he yells out to Coco that he’ll make a pen for her one day. He’ll even personally hand-deliver it. Well, it never hurts to make more friends. And in a way, this actually works out in Qifrey’s favor. If things hadn’t worked out so wonderfully for Tartah — if he hadn’t made a new friend and a fond memory — he might have kept pushing for the truth. But like the kid says, he has a new mission now, i.e. making that pen for Coco. He’ll be too busy to think about what happened that day. Plus, Qifrey might not want to do anything to Coco’s new friend so maybe Tartah is also safe from any potential memory erasure.
Coco also has somewhat of an epiphany, but she’s still got a long road ahead of her before she can find a copy of that forbidden tome.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— That’s what I’ve been saying! Scold him! Scold this careless jerk!
— But Qifrey will do something that looks cool, and people will just go back to singing his praises. C’mon, Tartah, you gotta focus! Get back to confronting Qifrey! Coco’s asleep and the lady has left the room. You can ask your question now. But of course, we leave the matter unsettled. Now’s not a good time, Qifrey says. Whatever, man.
— There’s a lot of blushing in this episode, but they’re just kids. Don’t ship kids.
— Hey, don’t go being all friendly with Nolnoa after what you just did to the poor man!
— Also, look at that asshole guard cowering in the corner.
— I wonder if Agott’s demeanor towards Coco will soften now, especially considering how A) she should realize that Coco harbors no ill intentions and 2) c’mon, the girl got sick because she was trying to become a better witch. Have a little empathy. For now, however, all we get is Agott walking away all embarrassed.
— The villains continue to do what they do best in fiction: conspire vaguely about the next step in their evil machinations.
