

Wasn’t the point that Eyeball could mess with Coco’s ink anytime they wanted?
And that mixing blood with ink seemed to make the magic far more powerful, hence the explosion of light when Qifrey tried it?
Coco didn’t know anything about the paired bottles, she just thought magic ink did that.
And this seems to explain how Coco, already clearly shown not to be the most effective witch, was able to desertify an entire river.



Yeah, that’s the big mystery.
My guess is that they go around the country setting up honey traps that only kids with magic potential are drawn to, and then try to lure them to the brimmed side.
It also sounds like there might be some, uh, lingering resentment over the whole “purging of healers and unapproved magic users” thing, so I’m thinking revenge might be a motivator.