With a rare opportunity to gain experience in rescue operation, Agott’s determined to participate! But Quifrey had some legitimate reasons to be concerned and hesitant about letting Agott participate, and although Olruggio gave her the green-light to join him, it didn’t take long for him realize why Quifrey didn’t think she was ready yet.
The only reason Olruggio had even permitted Agott and the others to join was really to observe how the rescue process unfolded, and be there to assist on the side. Except Agott was furious when she realized she wasn’t going to actually partake in it. Instead, the actual operation was left to Olruggio and Quifrey, who despite being a Water Master, showed he was struggling against the force of nature to temporarily split the water away while they retrieved the individuals trapped in the wagon that had washed out and overturned in the riverbed.
There was also another lesson in this: The purpose of carrying magic contraptions. As they are not permitted to draw the spells in front of the public, they must either do it stealthily under their cloak, or have it prepared in advance. All those rings we saw Olruggio had in that bowl in the last episode consist a spell. And not only are they seemingly weatherproof (unlike Agott’s shoes which Coco got smudged), but they are useful for situations where they need to share with their apprentices or other Witches. Another example was Quifrey’s gorgeous Raincleaver. A blade inscribed with casting spells. The girls were absolutely awed by it, but magic cast on weapons requires caution, so nobody’s allowed to touch it (go figure).
But the problem with Agott is that she’s driven by frustration to prove herself. She comes from a prestigious household, her mother is supposedly a genius Witch who refused to take her as her apprentice. For her whole life, she has been judged heavily by both her family and peers for failing to live up to the standards that had been entrusted onto her due to lineage. That’s why she’s so desperate. For Agott, she’s not practising magic because she loves it, but because she’s trying so hard to prove her worth to the mother who had abandoned her.
And I’ll be real here: I was a very concerned about the mindset she was falling into in the beginning there. Agott was excited, thrilled even to be in a position of power where there was no one else to rely on but her. Someone was in a crisis, but all she could think of was how this opportunity was ripe to prove her worth– and that’s dangerous. It’s a slippery slope, especially for a child who seeks validation of their abilities. One success could become intoxicating to them, urging them to continue acting recklessly under the cocky thoughts of ‘they were wrong, I was right’ kind of thing. Thankfully it didn’t actually come down to that because Agott actually got spooked when all eyes fell on her, anticipating what spell she’d use to save the boy.
In the end, it was actually Coco who cast the spell that would ultimately save Custas. She was able to do so because Agott was able to create a distraction to allow Coco to draw the spell away from prying eyes, as she was the one closest to him to do it… Except they now have a new problem. While Coco was able to successfully save Custas, it looks like either Coco didn’t draw the spell properly, or the Brimmed Hats are involved in this mess because the Knights of Moralis are now involved.
The girls are in deep trouble for two reasons. First (the only legitimate one) to begin with: Neither Coco nor Agott have the clearance to be casting any magic in front of people. Although they’ve done their parts to do it discreetly, they are still by the rules of the house, are not allowed until they past the second test. So that’s one major rule they’ve broken.
The second however, is more complicated. They didn’t realize it at first, but apparently the rock pulverizing spell went completely wrong because now the riverbed is being completely decimated. The probable reason why the Knights of Moralis classify this action as “taboo” is because should the river be destroyed, it will impact the people and villages who rely on it to survive, leading to great consequences.
But for all we know, there could have been potentially a chain reaction responding to Coco’s spell that they might have planted down somewhere in advance. For all we know, it could be on that bloody wagon, the boulder that was pinning Custas— or hell, maybe that kid is actually in the cahoots with the Brimmed Hats. Honestly I’m a little suspicious of this kid because either he’s really that stupid, or this was all part of a grander theme to set Coco up. Naturally Coco’s absolutely shocked and horrified by the result of it, especially since she’s certain this was not the spell she drew.
So thanks to this new mess, she and Agott have been captured by the Knights of Moralis. And since Coco acknowledged she was the one who had cast the (stone pulverizing) spell, she’s in a sticky situation. Incredibly, instead of actually going through procedures to properly figure out if Coco was the one to have cast this spell, these Knights of Moralis are literally jumping the gun, declaring it had to be her fault, and she’s undoubtedly working with the Brimmed Caps— seriously! If this is really the way they go about erasing people’s memories, then all the more reason why Quifrey to harbour such mistrust with these so-called “Moralis” Knights. Virtuous and ethical my ass if this is the way they do things!
The biggest problem however is that now the Knights of Moralis are here, we’re bound to see Quifrey facing off against them should he arrive on time. Agott did send a flare to call him back with the light bird, so he should already been rushing back. If for whatever reason neither he nor Olruggio intervene first, I suppose it’ll be up to Coco. It would be wild if the brimmed hats actually got involved, because that’ll just get her into deeper shit, so that’s very unlikely to happen.
Sheesh, I feel like, every time Coco and Agott, or any of the girls for this matter get left without adult supervision, this kind of shit is going to happen. Quifrey, you REALLY can’t afford to leave these children without adult supervision!
