Ciri paid a visit to Kovir, planning to meet with Triss. She knocked on the door and Triss opened.
"Hi Triss," Ciri said.
"Oh, hello little sister," Triss said, a little disappointed.
"Were you expecting someone else?" Ciri asked.
Just then, a voice rang out. "My dove, I'm back," Eskel said.
Ciri stepped aside and Eskel gave Triss a hug. Ciri's eyes widened.
"Well hello there Ciri. In case you're wondering, yes, Triss and I are a couple now," Eskel explained.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you two," Ciri said sincerely. She knew Triss was very heartbroken by Geralt's decision to choose Yennefer. Furthermore, Eskel and Triss had a failed relationship before and Ciri was happy to see that they tried again successfully.
"I guess I'll just find an inn here somewhere," Ciri said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Triss said, pulling her arm. "I don't want you to leave just yet. You just arrived." She pouted.
"But Triss...," Eskel started.
"Hush." Triss silenced him by placing her finger on his lips. "We've spent many days and nights just the two of us already, I wish to have my little sister here as well."
She ushered Ciri into the house. "There's a spare room I've used for storage. I'll clear it out and place a bed there. It's not much but this way, you'll have a place to stay," Triss said.
...
"I want to be more... motherly. In fact, I want us to be parents," Triss said. "Like Geralt and Yennefer.
Eskel groaned. "You've definitely been spending too much time with Yennefer."
"Let's take in your child surprise... what's her name? Deidre," Triss said.
"Are you crazy? She gave me this scar on my face! I will NOT be taking her in," Eskel said.
...
Ciri heard them squabble and waited. There was silence as they returned to their bedchamber. Then came the familiar sounds of love making. They did not cast a silencing spell, perhaps Triss forgot.
Ciri could hear them loud and clear. Checking that the door to her own room was locked, she undressed. She played with herself, heat coursing through her body as arousal took over.
She sighed. Ciri was attracted to both males and females but at the moment she had no one. Mistle had delighted her with mouth and fingers but she was dead now.
Ciri was frustrated. Everyone who wanted to bed her always inadvertently ended up dead. She could not make love to a dead person. Her body had gone cold, no longer aroused.
The sounds from the room next door had also stopped. Ciri grabbed her pillow, placing it between her thighs. She humped it, wrapping her legs and squeezing, but the pillow was too soft to successfully replicate a firm body.
Ciri gave up and pulled her blanket around her, crying herself to sleep.
...
"How are things between you and Yennefer?" Triss said out of a sudden.
"Yen? Oh she's living happily with Geralt," Ciri said flatly.
"I didn't ask about her and Geralt, silly." Triss chuckled. "I asked about her... and you."
"I don't know! I don't know who to trust anymore!" Ciri said emotionally. "I thought Yennefer was going to sell me out to Emhyr. Isn't that what the Lodge of Sorceresses would've wanted?"
"Ciri..." Triss said. "Yennefer had no choice but to work with Emhyr. She wanted to find you so badly she was willing to do anything. She loves you, Ciri, she wouldn't hand you over to Emhyr, not when she's just found you."
Triss looked away guiltily. "In fact, I took part in the Lodge of Sorceresses's plans because I was afraid of Philippa. But Yennefer begged me to save you, to take her place with Geralt if anything happened to her."
"She... she did that? And she had to beg you and offer Geralt? How could you?" Ciri cried. "I had no idea."
Triss tried to comfort Ciri but she pulled herself away from Triss's grasp. "Just know that Yennefer truly loves you like her own daughter."
"So I was wrong about everyone. I was wrong about Yennefer, about you...," Ciri said. Triss flinched. "And most probably I was wrong about Avallac'h as well."
...
"Ciri?" Eskel said. "What happened? I come back and find Triss so unhappy she won't eat."
Ciri kept silent and stonily turned her back on him.
Eskel sighed. "I guess this is how Geralt feels like if you and Yennefer fight, huh?" He asked.
At the mention of Geralt and Yennefer, Ciri relented and faced Eskel.
"I know Geralt cannot choose between us because he loves us both very dearly. I love Geralt so I don't want to make him choose," Ciri said. "About Triss... I just found out she was working for the Lodge of Sorceresses."
"Ciri, did you really think Geralt and Yennefer would let the Lodge of Sorceresses or even Emhyr play their politics on you-" Eskel said.
Ciri remembered the time she talked to the Lodge and found Yennefer and Geralt spying through a peephole, their worried faces. The time they were willing to commit suicide on Emhyr's command for her sake.
"-over their dead bodies," Eskel said.
The time she found them dying and Ihuarraquax revived them. She remembered how much she begged for them to live, for her to be able to see them alive again. How could she have forgotten?
"I know this sounds like I'm just defending Triss because I love her, but she personally took part in the Battle of Kaer Morhen because she loved you. She went even though she already parted ways with Geralt because Yennefer personally asked her for help.
"She was willing to set aside her feelings towards Geralt and Yennefer because she wanted to save you. All of us were willing to risk our lives for you, Ciri," Eskel said.
He was right, everyone could have died because of her. Vesemir was one of those who fell victim to the Wild Hunt.
"I'm sorry, Eskel," Ciri said, hugging him. "I'll go apologise to Triss as well."