Au where the Brimhats take Qifrey.
A rough idea I don’t have time to flesh out.
Qifrey and the girls get cornered by some Brimcaps and on starts talking. The reveal that the are the witch that experimented on Qifrey.
They reveal his past to the girls, the silverwood experiments how they put him in all different scenarios to see what would make the tree grow, how they tortured him to see what would make the seed shrink.
“the goal was to see if we were able to kill a silverwood tree, but you were a failure. And the knights were closing in so I left you for dead. Buried alive in a coffin deep under ground, whether you suffocate, drowned, starved, or the tree took you I didn’t care. But I didn’t think you’d live. I’ve been watching you. It’s incredible how long you’ve kept the tree at bay.”
The girls are horrified and Qifrey is trying to sad to make this witch shut up but he won’t risk the girls. They know now. No what a failure he is. Know that he was an outside that started learning magic at age 8 with no memory. That he was cursed to die if he ever loved the to much.
It’s a t this point Olruggio knocks the witch away with a fire spell. He had arrived earlier and was trying to sneak as close as he could to get a good shot without hitting Qifrey or the girls but was taken in by the story as well.
Qifrey now knows Olly is there and but before the two can do anything the witch is back up and on them. Asking if Olly would like to know just how Qifrey’s been staying alive. Qifrey is yelling at her to stop. Which to his surprise she does.
“You know there was always one experiment I never got to run on you. I always wondered if watching everyone you loved died would be enough to kill the silverwood seed. I couldn’t test it on you cause you didn’t love anyone but now…”
and she lays into the all. She as them pined and about to die when Qifrey tells an offer.
“Just take me! Run every experiment you want. No one’s stayed alive with a silverwood seed as long as I have. That has to be valuable to you. Take me. I won’t fight or run. But let them live.”
The girls and Olly are screaming at him but the witch accepts. Taking Qifrey away. He gets a short moment to say goodbye, telling the girls he loves the and begging Olly to take the teaching test and keep the girls safe. To not look for him.
Obviously Olly and the girls are going to look for him.
While Qifrey is being experimented in again he gets put with Custas, Tartah, and Ininia.
He and Custas have a good talk. He understand Custas rage but it shouldn’t have been directed and Coco and Tartah. He explains how their hands were tied with the threat of having their own minds erased if they told him about magic. Explains Coco’s history and the lose of her mother. It’s not perfect and Custas is still upset but Qifrey makes him and the other two an offer.
“If you want to learn magic you need to start with the basics. And you have a fully lisenced teacher right here willing to help you.”
“Because you remind me of me.”
In between torture sessions Qifrey is training three new apprentices. He sees the abuse between Ininia and her master and declares that the students have a right to pick their master and he would take her. The Brimhats tell him that’s not how they do things and that if he wants to claim the three as official students he’s going to have to fight for them.
Slowly the three warm up to him and start looking for a cure to 3/4 of their groups silverwood affliction.
Meanwhile Olly has not stopped looking for him.
The girls are technically learning under Beldaruit now but they are helping with looking for Qifrey or reseating silverwoods.
By the time the two groups reunite it’s been some time and together the two groups are able to figure out how to ride Qifrey and the others of the Silverwood tree.
Just in time for the knights of morales to show up and try and take Custas, Ininia, and Tartah away. Qifrey defends them Tartah was abandoned by their society for a condition he couldn’t help, Inina had a horrible master and just needed guidance. Were they really going to punish a boy who just wanted to stand? It’s a tense conversation and a lot of yelling but they finally allow Qifrey to keep hir three new students with the understanding that if any forbidden magic happens from this point forward, all four of them are getting their memories erased.
