Hey everyone, let me know what you think. Taking some liberties and immersing myself in the world of The Witcher.


Eyes of the Sky

The sun shone brightly one spring morning in the middle of Kansas when Wendy Amelia Jones made her way into the universe. She came on exactly the day that she was expected to two parents that would dote on her for the rest of their time.

With a kind and sunny disposition, her parents never failed to spread the word to complete strangers that their little Wendy was special. She had all the makings of taking the world by the hands and making it hers. Intelligence with a thirst for knowledge. The beginnings of a beauty that would make hearts stop and draw every gaze in the room. An ability to see the kindness someone needed even when they were by all appearances undeserving.

Yes, their Wendy was something special… Only not in the way they imagined.

For Wendy Amelia Jones was born with a destiny.

She would go on travels beyond anyone's imagination, make discoveries that were impossible to believe and yes, somehow meet individuals that will bring her pain, joy, and the love unlike any could hope for.

But for the moment, she was just a girl from Small Town USA, content to read books on history, a love for romantic movies with happy endings, and falling asleep with moonlight shining through her window.

She had dreams of exploring lost cities and telling the story of those that once lived among their walls. Of reading about lost languages and unearthed treasures.

That is until the night she became the sole survivor of an accident. An accident that swept her beloved mother and father from her and she was taken in by her heartbroken Pop.

The love Wendy had for her Pop and his for her couldn't be put into words. There were days where they went without a word spoken between them. They had no need to speak about their thoughts, because they already knew. Wendy knew that Pop grieved the loss of his daughter and before that the loss of his wife, and Wendy mourned the loss of her beloved parents.

Pop was left with an early teenage version of his daughter's replica for it was her that Wendy had taken her strawberry blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes. Even her need for glasses had been taken from her mother. The only difference between them lay in her mother had sleek hair, whereas Wendy had her father's waves.

Despite the pain she knew looking at her must bring him, Pop cared for her. He told her in the way he brought her a cup of tea while she studied her exams or drove her three hours to the nearest museum for lectures.

She occasionally read to him stories of Troy or the Five Emperors and learned to make peach cobbler just as her Gran made. She learned to keep the account books as Pop raised sheep and sold them to local kids participating in the Four H club and agriculture classes at school.

It was an evening a year after the deaths of her parents when she and Pop were sitting on the porch swing, watching the sun set and the lightning bugs float around that Wendy made a decision. She sat with her knees pulled up and her head leaned on Pop's shoulder with him humming Desperados Waiting for a Train when she realized that she could never leave him.

Maybe she could go to the closest community college to become a teacher at the same school she went to now. Or perhaps even work at the local nursing home as a nurse aid... that way she wouldn't have to leave Pop for weeks on end.

Wendy didn't know what she would do once she graduated but one thing was for sure. She was staying in their small town because despite their long silences and routines, all she had was Pop and she was all he had.

That evening, there on the porch swing, Wendy silently made a promise.


"How was work?" Pop asked from his usual spot at the kitchen table, rifling through the days mail.

Wendy with her hair falling from a slipping ponytail, dropped into her own usual seat across from him. She glanced down at the stain of some unknown substance on her scrubs, possibly mashed potatoes, possibly denture cream.

"Ms. Harris didn't like the fact that Mr. Chevok sat with Ms. Gumbert during cards. She decided dinner was the best time to voice it and somehow my hair is what got pulled."

Pop tsked and tossed another piece of mail into the discard pile.

"Ms. Harris wasn't truly offended I think but she does enjoy reliving her days when she could liven the place up." Wendy continued, pulling her scrunchie free and scratching her head.

Pop didn't answer but stared at an envelope he'd paused on.

"Pop? What's wrong?" Wendy couldn't stop the knot of worry in her stomach.

"This is for you." Pop said quietly before handing the envelope over to her.

It was thick and heavy, a multitude of international stamps, and addressed to her. The sender read one Freddie Snope. The last name Snope stuck out to her but she just couldn't recall why. She flicked her gaze to Pop who had an impassive expression but nodded for her to open the envelope.

Wendy was tired. She liked working at the nursing home. The residents all had a fascinating history and loved to talk about their experiences with someone so young and lacking in her own. But that didn't mean caring for them wasn't exhausting.

She wanted to take her shoes off, change into something with fewer stains and turn on the newest Netflix documentary about murders in old timey London. But if Pop wanted her to read the letter just then… well then, she would.

Wendy didn't get past Mr. Snope introducing himself as a professor at Cambridge before she calmly set the letter down and met the serious gaze of her Pop's blue eyes.

"Read the letter Wendy." He said in his level quiet voice.

She felt the sting of tears and shook her head.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Wendy glanced at her clenched hands held tightly in her lap.

"I made a promise and reading that letter is going to make it difficult for me to…"

"To what? Sit there watching me get old and life pass you by?"

Wendy's gaze snapped to his in surprise. She sat there at a loss for words, while Pop rubbed a hand over his brow, shaking his head.

"This is my fault, I know. I was content to have you to myself. You never formed close relationships in school, you ignored all the universities that ever attempted to even meet with you and now… I'm watching you waste that extraordinary mind on bickering old folks."

At that Wendy sat up indignantly.

"I adore those bickering old folks, and I have no want to change my life Pop. I'm happy here."

"No, you've settled. What are you gonna do when I'm gone? Keep playing it safe with helping Chevok juggle his ladies?" Pop dropped a hand onto the table. "Dammit Wendy, you should be out there digging up dinosaur bones and finding lost languages! Not… not here in Bumfuck Kansas ordering feed for sheep or wiping wrinkled chins. You have your whole life ahead of you. Twenty is too soon to give up."

Wendy had never heard her Pop cuss a day in her life, never seen him express such frustration or make his thoughts so well known. But she crossed her arms and tilted her chin stubbornly.

"I'm sorry Pop but I'm not reading that. It was one thing for me to toy with the idea of going a few hours over for a teaching certificate but a whole nother burrito for me to even read a letter from Cambridge."

"I've already paid for everything. Plane ticket is in the envelope. It's just to meet up with Freddie, he and I go way back when he did his own touring the world as a kid. He's followed your education for years through me and he wants to take you on an expedition, something about old German cave dwellers being found… See if maybe he can relight that fire you used to have in you before… well before."

Wendy's shoulders slumped, and she was sloppily putting together a rebuttal when Pop reached over and tipped her chin back up.

"You've gotta try Wendy. If you get there and it turns out that the old dreams you had are well and truly gone, then come back home and we'll go back to being an old sheep herder and an old folk herder. But you've got to try." He paused and took a deep breath. "Yo-your mother and father did not want this kind of life for you."

She could see the strength it took for him to say that final sentence. It finally dawned on Wendy that this was costing him everything and he was right.

"I-I'll go. But I'm calling to check on you every day. I want to know what you had to eat, if any of the babies have been born, and if-"

"Alright, alright, you have a deal."

Wendy felt her heart twist at the smile on her Pop's face. A mixture of relief, pride, exasperation, and more than a touch of worry. She sat there attempting her own smile, but it never quite reached her eyes.

Traveling half way across the state took a week of planning for her and here she was zipping half way across the Earth, leaving Pop behind to fend for himself… it wasn't excitement thrumming through her blood- it was gut wrenching fear.


"Is Anne feeding Elizabeth well? I know in the past she ignored her lambs more than she mothered them." Wendy said quietly into her phone, holding the hood to her raincoat securely over it.

"Anne is taking care of Elizabeth just fine. And so is Mary, Matilda, and Princess Kate."

"I really should change her name to Duchess Kate, since technically-"

"Shouldn't you be tracking down bones in a cave?"

Wendy sighed and looked at the small group of students and professors in the distance as they secured their gear and prepared for the rainy trek and descent into a newly discovered entrance to Pottenstein.

"Just finished hiking from the Pottenstein, it took us about sixteen hours total. Another five hours then we'll descend, and it sounds like we're going to be down there for several days. I may not be able to call you till we come back to the surface. I had a hard time finding service here as it was, and I imagine who knows how far below the surface will be even worse."

"And when you do, I'll update you on everything that's gone on with the babies and their-"

A series of hacking coughs came through the phone followed by a quick clearing of Pop's throat.

"You ok Pop?" Wendy asked, frowning.

"I'm doing fine. Now get in that cave and discover something new to tell me and everyone else about."

"…Alright Pop. I'll call you as soon as I can."

"I'll be waiting. Bye."

"Bye Pop." She said quietly, before turning her phone off and stashing it in her waterproof backpack.

She glanced up to where the small group of spelunkers had been and her heart stopped. They were gone.

Wendy quickly made her way up the slippery hill and found not a soul in sight. The rain fell harder, filling what remained of the faint footprints they had left behind. She turned every which way but only found trees and rain

"Oh, come one, seriously?" She grumbled before settling on going what she hoped was straight from the last point she had seen them. They couldn't be too far ahead, but then again, she had been on the phone awhile.

Rain and fog covered her glasses and she shivered against the cold German rain, her boots squelching in mud and leaves. It wasn't long before each tree began to look the same.

"Can anyone hear me!" She called out in a barely higher voice than usual, and naturally no one replied. "Oh, this is not good…" She whispered. That sick feeling she'd had since receiving that damn letter, intensified. She sat on a fallen tree, staring around herself helplessly.

"I have exactly three granola bars, five dehydrated meals, and enough water for three days. I have no idea what in the wilds of Germany is safe to eat. I'm cold and wet and I don't know where… I'm going to die out here." Wendy whispered. Her hands limply between her outstretched legs. "Wait!" She cried out in excitement and fumbled with her backpack and pulled out her phone.

She bounced her knees nervously, waiting for it to power on before dropping her chin to her chest in a new wave of defeat. No service. With a sigh she heaved herself back up and pulled her pack back on, walking in erratic zig zags, hoping for a little higher being help, if there was one, and giving her even the smallest bit of signal.

Eventually Wendy gave up, turned the phone back off and stored it. By then however, the rain had stopped and so did she.

Hunger and exhaustion were beginning to set in and she sat below some random tree, mud soaking into her jeans and boots. She must have dozed for several hours for when a rustling sound woke her, what little light the sun had given was well on its way behind the tree line and hunger chewed at her angrily.

As the rustling continued, a new fear settled in her chest. There was all manner of wild predator in the German wilds. Bears, wolves, snakes probably. And all she had to defend herself with was a little fold out shovel and a headlamp, which she quickly pulled from her pack and scanned the trees nervously.

Nothing. But there was more rustling. And it seemed to be growing louder.

Wendy shifted on her feet, searching for the source of the sound but between limited light and spotty glasses, she was having very little luck. Just when she was at the point of screaming out of pure frustration, she realized the sound was above her and she looked up to see a bright red squirrel leap from a branch to, scurry along it then leap to another, rustling leaves as it went.

Relief flooded though her bones and she lowered her shovel.

"I should eat you for scaring me like that." Wendy mused and smiled when the little creature sat still on a low limb, watching her. "Shouldn't you be in bed? You're likely to get eaten by an owl or something, messing about like this."

Naturally the squirrel didn't respond but it did zip down the trunk of the tree to snag a nut or seed of some sort.

"Good idea." Wendy muttered and dug out her own granola bar. The squirrel watched her with rapt interest. "Don't look at me like that, I have limited food. You have an entire forest to munch on." A tilt of the head and flick of it bushy tail later and Wendy broke off a piece and held it out to her forest companion. The offering was accepted and quickly devoured.

"You look satisfied… I don't suppose you know where I could get a cheeseburger and fries do you?" A black-eyed stare. "Alright how about, where I'm supposed to go now?" To her surprise the creature suddenly zipped into the trees, disappearing into the shadows. "Was it something I said?"

Wendy shivered, it was going to be a terribly long night with as cold and wet as everything was. "I need a fire. Fire will keep me warm and it keeps critters away…. Right?" She whispered to herself and went over all the steps of lighting a fire, remembering reading about it once.

Nothing she did worked. Her zinc fire starter never even sparked, the kindling was too wet, and she was too tired to keep trying. Again, she gave up and settled back into her spot against the tree.

Then extraordinarily the squirrel appeared again, right up to her muddy boot, making the sort of noise that one would expect from a small furry animal.

"You came back." She smiled. "That earns you a name. How about Arthur?"

The squirrel ran a short distance before turning and watching her.

"Oh- do you want me to follow? I've seen this in movies. Ok little Arthur, show me the way home." Wendy called in an overly cheerful voice. She didn't truly believe the squirrel was making a conscious attempt to help her but what else did she have to lose?

She groaned heavily and pushed herself back to her feet, the light of her headlamp guiding her along. She followed Arthur through trees, around bushes and even across a rain swollen brook when suddenly he zipped ahead and out of sight.

"Hey!" Wendy called and jogged a few steps before stopping and scanning the dark forest. "Where am I supposed to be?" No answer except for the sudden loss of solid ground below her. "Wha-?" Wendy looked down as the mud, tree roots, and rock gave way and she found herself falling. There wasn't time to scramble for solid ground, only for a quick shriek that turned into a choking gasp for air when she landed on her back.

Fire erupted in her leg and she cried out in pain. Looking down she found her leg trapped beneath a rock. Immediately she pushed at it, biting her lip against the pain sharp edges digging into her skin brought. With a final cry she pushed the heavy rock from her leg and inspected the damage with a shaking hand.

"First aid, first aid. What do I know about first aid?" She closed her eyes, picturing the doctor's office pamphlets she'd read or the YouTube videos during the flight to Germany. Once she had her pack off she pushed her jeans to her knees before pulling out the small kit, proceeding to disinfect, use butterfly tapes on the deeper cuts before wrapping her thigh in gauze. With jeans and supplies back in place she attempted to stand and found that her femur might be bruised at worst.

"Thanks a lot Arthur." She growled and glanced at the hole from which she fell. Her jaw dropped when she found a ceiling not of natural rocky surface as expected but of cut stone bricks, meticulously placed and mortared well over two stories high.

Sweeping her light down the stone and root walls to a matching floor to a tall statue of a robed figure.

Her already racing heart sped up even more as she limped around the statue, her eyes wide. She took in the features of the statue and unable to look away, fumbled for her journal in one of the pockets of her pack.

Quickly she sketched down what she saw. The impossibly high cheek bones, sharp jaw and unsmiling lips. Eyes that looked straight ahead and the ears… Wendy stared at the ears for a long time before finally sketching the pointed tips.

He was missing an arm and it didn't take her long to figure out that she must have hit it first when she fell before it in sequence landed on her leg.

"Thanks for breaking my fall somewhat…" She whispered. "Sorry about the arm…"

Her sketch done she scanned the small room. There were three doorways, but her instinct told her to take the one the statue was eternally gazing at.

"I can't believe this is happening… I'm actually exploring a- a structure that for all appearances no one has been in in centuries, millennia even. Sure, I'm lost, trying to ration my food, wounded, cold, wet, tired, will more than likely die down here… but…" Wendy felt a bit of that old dream come back to her as she adjusted her pack and adjusted her head lamp. "I'll have one helluva story to tell you Pop." She decided then that she wasn't going to die down there. She would find a way out and back to her Pop.


The door Wendy chose led to more doors with more statues guiding the way. Stairs led deeper underground and many times she was diverted to a new hallway and set of rooms by collapsed stone and other rubble.

She found it curious that there was a distinct lack of artifact to be found outside of the statues. One would normally expect pottery and art to be found from the occupants but there was just… nothing. The mystery grew when the final doorway led to a small room with a glowing pool in the center. Arches adorned the walls in a beautiful manner and she took a moment to sketch one.

If she'd had a fanciful mind, Wendy nearly would have considered the glowing blue pool magical. The silence surrounding her almost sounded like music, a song she might have heard in a movie set in the medieval age. She shook her head, knowing it couldn't be possible, and the music faded away.

There was something causing the water in the pool to glow, and something urged her to find out.

"But then… I'll have to undress, and my bandages will be ruined…" She stood at the edge, staring down into the still water. Sighing she decided to give it ago and slipped her glasses off and stashed them in a pocket of her pack.

Someone who spent their time reading horoscopes in magazines would have told her that fate must have been impatient with her that day, for she'd barely begun to unsnap the pack from her shoulders when for the second time she lost her footing. Perhaps a stone came loose or maybe her boots weren't as slip resistance as the description had claimed but the next thing she knew she was wind milling her arms in the air before falling face first into the impossibly chilly water.

Wendy never saw what caused the pool to glow almost magically. She could blame it on her terrible eyesight, the sudden rush of cold water, or just the absolute panic she felt, stealing the moment way from her but she did feel the pull of a current and she was absolutely helpless to fight it.

It took all of her will power just to keep herself from sucking in water instead of air. She just hoped that wherever the current took her, it was somewhere with air. She felt herself swept away, twisted this way and that. Her shoulder hit a rock wall painfully, causing her to briefly open her mouth before she remembered not to breath.

Black dots began to blur her already blurry sight and her lungs burned.

Wendy didn't remember surfacing, of dragging in that first breath of much needed oxygen. Nor did she remember the panic as her heavy pack began to drag her back under until she found something to hold onto. But she did do these things. She somehow hauled herself onto some drift wood and promptly passed out.


There were few things Iorveth would admit brought him genuine enjoyment. An arrow hitting its mark, a well packed pipe, and yes even a day without having to deal with a single dh'oine. Two things that Iorveth absolutely did not enjoy were days of travel spent on the back of a horse and in so the destination in which he was traveling. Novigrad.

Iorveth resisted the urge to shudder with dread as thoughts of Novigrad swept through his mind. A more pitiful place couldn't be found in the Northern Kingdom, full of zealots, murderers, madness, and greed as it was.

But if Geralt was in as great of need as Zoltan had led him to believe, then Iorveth supposed he would put aside his revulsion for the cesspool and do what he could.

He checked the buckles on the saddle one last time, kicked sand over his fire and led his horse away from the edge of the river where he'd spent the night. He stopped, adjusted his scarf covering his hair and the worst of his disfiguring scar then glanced back at the river to find a curious sight.

He stood silently as a body, half submerged and half laying over a barrel, floated past. He had no desire to get his armor wet and he wanted to make it to Dandelion's tavern before sundown, so he determined to leave the creature be.

Besides, they seemed to be holding on well enough and would eventually-

Iorveth sighed as naturally, the barrel knocked into a rock, jarring the creature from its security and beneath the surface.

"Well surely they will surface, face up, and continue on their journey." It took but a moment for the Aen Seidhe to realize that the creature was not in fact resurfacing. "How much ale did you have…" he grumbled quietly and quickly splashed into the river. It was shallow but wide and moved swiftly.

This knowledge caused Iorveth to curse quietly. As luck would have it, the water was clear, and he could make out a dark shape just under the surface. Long hair floated across the surface, Dandelion would liken its color to some sort of fruit he was sure.

Within a moment, he'd thrust his hand under water, grabbed a handful of fabric, and hauled the body back to shore, dropping them unceremoniously. He rolled his one good eye to the sky and shook his head.

If the shape of the ear peaking through the wet hair was anything to go by, he'd just saved a human.

"Fantastic."

Using the heel of his boot he nudged the humans shoulder till their face was visible. Feeling as if it were becoming a habit, he sighed again. A female dh'oine. He scanned her attire, a frown settling on his brow.

A black jacket of unfamiliar design, dark blue trousers ripped with a freely bleeding wound, sack strapped around shoulders and waist, and boots that were again of unfamiliar design.

Before he carried her all the way to Merigold, he supposed he needed to make sure she was even still alive. He shook her shoulder, which granted him a quick cough of water landing on his boots before she groaned and sky blue eyes squinted up at him.

"L-Lord Elrond?" She managed to whisper before again passing out.

Iorveth huffed before cutting the straps of her bag and then tying it to the horse. Next, he scooped her into his arms and after some juggling he managed to get them both seated on the horse and back on the road to Novigrad.

"No… you're Yagari…"

Iorveth glanced down at the woman, her eyes already closed if they were even open again to begin with. The language she spoke was unfamiliar to him. She rode with her head against his shoulder, drying hair curling and covering most of her face. He noticed the dark shadows around her eyes, and the otherwise sickly paleness of her skin. When a sudden shiver wracked her body, the first arrow of alarm shot through him.

He urged the horse into a much faster pace for he needed to get the fruit haired lass to Merigold. Now.