Iorveth, Skalen Burdon and Yarpen Zigrin were standing outside Saskia's quarters, waiting anxiously for Philippa to come out so they can know about Saskia's condition. The whole city of Vergen knew that if the DragonSlayer dies, they will give up and surrender to Henselt. Without her leadership, their small armies won't stand a chance as they are already outnumbered by the Kaedweni.

But the people of Vergen don't want Saskia's welfare just for the sake of the city or the war. They respects her, admires her courage, honesty, warrior spirit and she was also very kind, always helpful and always wants best for the people under her rule. She is practically the ruler of Vergen, since Prince Stennis is completely an idiot like his father. People loved her and they will follow her anywhere, they want her to stand on her feet again and guide them to victory.

Finally the sorceress came out from Saskia's quarters, her face grave.

"What's the news of her condition?" Asked Skalen Burdon.

Philippa released a deep sigh "Not well, I afraid. The poison is attacking her body faster than I anticipated. I am trying my best to contain the poison. But we need a cure soon...very soon or she will die."

"She can't die! We must help her. Whatever you can do, do it quickly." Yarpen said.

"I know what can cure the poison, but to make it I need certain ingredients and herbs. I am afraid no normal man, elf or dwarf can get them in time or get them never. This is a specialists work."

"We will get them. My men will help. Just give us the list of what you will need." Said Iorveth.

"You don't understand, it will be a waste of time and we don't have luxury of it. Just go and get me the Witcher, he can do this a lot faster than all of you."

"I will do it." Said a voice as he came to sight, with two swords on his back.

"You! You will help?" Asked Skalen Burdon.

"Of course he will help. Didn't you heard his story which I told you, that how big his heart….." said Yarpen.

"Stop it Yarpen. It's not the time to dwell in those matters. I need to act fast to save Saskia." interrupted Geralt. He moved towards Philippa and stood in front of her. "Give me the list of the ingredients, I will bring them before sundown. Just tell me where to find them."

"You will find every details in the list. Here." Said Philippa as she gave Geralt a note.

"Good, I will be back within time." He assured them.

Just Geralt was about to leave, Skalen stepped in front of him "But how do you know about Saskia? And why are you so much eager to help her?" He asked.

"Triss told me about Saskia. I don't meddle in politics, so this one will be a favor for friends actually." Geralt shrugged.

-[/\]-

FEW HOURS AGO

As Triss and Geralt were sitting in the bed, her head on his shoulder as he tightly held her soft hand with his own. He gently stroked his lips over her hair, at the same time deeply breathing her scent. Triss feel as her cheeks begin to color as she blushed, she just wished this moment to last forever. Triss didn't want to break this happy time too soon, but Geralt suddenly asked a question after a long silence between them.

"Triss, can you tell me about the mysterious mist I heard about?" He asked.

Triss flinched suddenly hearing his voice which pulled her out from her dreams "Um..the mist is the effect of the curse on Henselt, the King of Kaedwen by his former advisor Sabrina Glessivig." She replied.

"When and how did this happen?"

Triss explained all of what happen to him, started from when she enter the mist with Ves, Roche and Zoltan. The talk between her and the King, how the curse had been ignited, how the war was going right now and,

"I...I was looking for you, catching every clue, anything that will allow me to find you. I was depressed because i didn't even had any clue about where you was. After some thought, I decided to teleport myself and Zoltan from the camp to here in Vergen, to find you. And yes," Triss tightened her grip over his hand "You are here."

Geralt hovered over her shoulder and pulled her closer to his chest "I know." They sat in silence again as the time had stopped.

After a while, Geralt spoke "This is getting pretty complicated, Letho, the mysterious witch, the curse. I need to know more about the mist, why did Henselt executed his own royal advisor?"

"Sabrina and Henselt never got along too well. And during the war between Kaedwen and Vergen before, she casted a spell which caused large fireballs to rain from the sky. But the consequences were rather severe, many soldiers of Kaedwen died along with Vergen's, which made Henselt furious on Sabrina so he ordered her to be executed."

"But what activated the curse?"

Triss again explained to Geralt everything she had learned from Dethmold and others. The curse had affected Henselt for sometime after Sabrina casted it. A comet appearing in the sky, Henselt's only son being killed, a conspiracy forming against him and the death of an innocent holy man at the hand of the King. The curse itself was for all the soldiers who died in previous war to come back as undead specters and to fight for an eternity as it slowly expand to all direction. Even in death, Sabrina made sure Henselt would die painfully and never conquer Aedirn.

To let Geralt know about the situation in Vergen, Triss continued "It seems that there is not only conspiracy against Henselt but there is one against Saskia too. She was poisoned while attending the war council in Vergen. Someone mixed Thaumador with her drinks and that poison is pretty dangerous. Philippa Eilhart, the sorceress who healed you is attending to her at this moment, preventing the poison to spread inside her body. Geralt I…."

"What is it Triss? You know you can tell me anything." He urged

"Geralt I think we should help Saskia in any way we can. She is an honorable, wise person. I don't want you to meddle in politics," As her eyes focused on the ground, Triss continued "I know you feel uncomfortable when serving in Foltest's court and you remained there because of me. But..."

"I never regret the time I spent with you. You are right I don't like to meddle in politics, still I will tend to Saskia's matter and see what I can do about it.." He interrupted.

"Thanks Geralt, but after helping Saskia we will go to the other side of the mist. Roche, Ves and Dandelion are waiting for us there. I think we shouldn't make them wait too long." Triss smiled.

"What about Letho? You learned anything about him?"

Triss focused her gaze into Geralt's eyes and said "Geralt, we don't need to find Letho anymore. He doesn't matter, we can leave and start our search for Yen right now if you want. I know it will be selfish to leave our friends behind but we can, if you want."

"No, Triss. I need to find Letho, if not for me, for you at least. I have to make sure that your name is cleared of all the false charges placed against you. Still, I have a feeling that Letho knows something about my past."

"What do you mean he know about your past?" Triss asked

Geralt stand up, he start to go around the room as he look unfocused. Finally he said "When Letho released me from captive in the cave, he said something like see you later...old friend. My mind was a bit fuzzy at that time but I don't think I heard it wrong."

"If that is the case Geralt, then we really need to find Letho. I will try to find some information about him" Triss stopped, she lost in her thought for a moment as Geralt turned his head to look at her "Thank you Geralt, for what you said...about clear my name...I can't say how much this means to me." Her voice was thick with emotion.

Geralt sat down next to her, his hand caressed her cheek "Triss, you don't need to say anything. I know how you feel. You are the most important thing in my life."

Triss gave him a bright warm smile "Thanks Geralt, I love you so much, I feel so bad when you're not next to me. I don't want to lose you again. I just can't imagine my life without you." Triss said. Still she suddenly remembered that faint petal of the Rose from her talk with Cedric and her thought drifted to the possibility of losing him, her heart may not be able to withstand such pain this time.

"Love you too." Geralt said then gave her a long kiss. Surprised by his action, but Triss just closed her eyes and enjoyed what he is giving her.

"All right. Let's go and help Saskia." Said Triss smiling.

"Wait Triss, are you all right now? You looked a little confused before..."

"I'm fine Geralt, now that you're here, with me, it's all what I want." Then she pecked his lips lightly before exiting the room.

-[/\]-

Triss Merigold being herself a member of the Lodge of Sorceress, she knew what it can do or capable of doing. She didn't know about others, but Philippa and Silé always make her feel that they are brewing something. After hearing Philippa plan to create an independent state in Vergen as Triss asked her about how she is gonna do it. After that Triss didn't have any contact with her sisters of the Lodge. She didn't know what were they doing or what they were planning to do. And then Foltest got assassinated by Letho, she is sure that the Lodge was involved in Demavend's assassinations and somehow her King too.

Other times Triss didn't liked it when the Lodge insisted her to hide from Geralt that she is it's member. She never wanted to hide anything from him, but she know that Geralt never wanted to get involved in politics. Triss knew he stayed in Foltest's court solely because of her, although she doesn't know how Geralt will react if he knows that she is with the secret organization that secretly kills king and put her and him though all this trouble. She was afraid to tell him, but one day she will, better for Geralt to hear that from her than anyone else. Triss is determined to help Geralt recover his memory, even though if that mean her heart get broken in process. She is ready to find her old friend Yennefer, and she hope they can and will remain friends after all what happen.

Everything is secondary now for her, the trapping of court life, politics, her ideal for the better life as a mage. Geralt is accused of being a murderer of a King and he needs her help. Triss heard what happened to Saskia and she is pretty sure that all these things are somehow inter-related. She is afraid he will be dragged into something from which he won't be able to back out. She knew that Geralt won't like the fact that she is putting herself in this mess because of him. He already confessed that he didn't care what the world thinks of him, the only thing that matters to him now is for her to be safe and cleared of all accusations, so she can be free and happy. Geralt was always like that, always caring for the ones dearest to him and never thinking of himself that drove her to him at the first place and made her fall in love with him.

So with all these things in her mind she started walking towards Philippa's quarters. It's time to end this fiasco and lay her card in the table. She entered the house without knocking as Philippa was doing something in her lab, at the sound of the door opening she immediately stopped whatever she was doing and came to stand in front of Triss.

"Triss Merigold," Philippa stated "Don't you know the manners that you should knock on the door before entering someone else's room? Or being in love with the Witcher made you forget whatever manners and courtesies we were taught?" She continued angrily.

"Don't bring my personal life into this Philippa. This is between you and me. And to answer your question I remember all the manners and courtesies we were being taught. I show them to the ones who deserves it." Triss countered.

"What is the meaning of that? You dare to insult me?"

"Don't play dumb with me, I know you and the Lodge are behind these assassinations." She snapped

Philippa sat down, as she said calmly "How can you accuse me and the Lodge like this without any proof? And don't forget you are also included in the Lodge."

Triss cared deeply for politics, courting, the Lodge and their promise to secure the future of the mage once. But all her feelings now is ignored and abandoned by her fellow sister, they didn't care about her opinion at all. Maybe not all the sisters, Keira and Rita are always her friends but Philippa and Síle certainly didn't even consider her idea, and it looked like both of them have dominated the Lodge for a long time. She made a mistake for joining them once, she shouldn't have return to them, she should have left the Lodge after Rivia's massacre. Triss Merigold have made a mistake before, but not anymore and not now.

"Don't remind me that. I regret it now. I wish I never joined the Lodge." Triss took a deep breath "I knew about your plans to create an independent state in Vergen, and then Demavend gets killed and I think there is no coincidence here."

"Regret? After all that we've done for you, after all the success you've achieved when you were in the Lodge. And now you regret it? This is tactless Triss." Philippa continued, her face showed no emotion.

"I made a mistake and already paid for it, my King have been murdered, I need to run away. I am not here to judge you, I won't intend to meddle with the Lodge anymore, I had enough of it. I thought Lodge was created to seek the welfare of magic and not to assassinate Kings and take over the world, this has gone too far Philippa."

"And we are still doing just that. The Witcher must have put all the neutral nonsense into your head. Don't you see? We continue to care about magic, the Lodge did that and will always do it. I don't know about the king's assassination, the Lodge is trying to get to the bottom of this so..."

Triss fold her arms over her chest, she felt some anger is starting to rise in her face, but she said calmly "Don't try to bring Geralt into this, I don't care what you think, but I will not allow you to speak ill about him and for your information, yes he affected me and he made me a better person."

"Oh Triss, please stop thinking with your vagina." Philippa said "You are so enamored by the Witcher your thoughts are clouded. But be careful I don't think someone will be happy about your relationship, you know what I mean."

"This conversation is going nowhere. I am going to find proof and I won't rest till I find it. Somebody hired the Witcher thug named Letho to get rid of Demavend and believe me, I know who is behind this.."

Philippa eyes started to look confused as she stand up "What are you suggesting at? Just to the point, I don't have much time."

"I think you know. Still I really don't understand why the Lodge ordered Foltest's assassinations, he had nothing to do with Vergen, killing him achieved you nothing. So now talk." Triss said with anger in her voice.

"I won't answer to you. Who are you to accuse me like this and claim for answer? Now i am asking you to leave the house. This talk is over." Philippa said, her finger pointing to the door

"Ah! You still don't see that I am involved in the mess the Lodge created, so I have the right to know the answers. Letho killed Foltest, he also killed Devamend, don't try to play dumb "

Triss and Philippa started to argue so heatedly that they didn't heard or saw that the door of Philippa's quarters opened and someone came in.

"I won't answer to you! You whore…." Philippa shouted. Next thing she knew the door flied towards her but she managed to deflect it in the last moment. Standing at the doorway is a man with a pair of yellow cat-like eyes which was filled with fury and rage. the eyes of a killer, the White Wolf. She thought.

"Better take back what you just said to Triss, or you will soon regret it" Geralt said as he slowly unsheathed his steel sword, his eye narrowed as he moved forward, sword in hand "I am not killing you now only because you saved my life. But next time you say that filthy word to her you will lose your tongue and that's a promise." Said Geralt as Philippa took a step back, if a fight breaks out there is no way she can win again the Witcher and the Sorceress.

Triss stepped in between Philippa and Geralt "Don't worry Geralt, nothing happened. But we should leave" She requested.

"Here are the ingredients, hope you make good use of this." He threw the ingredients he had gathered to the table and turned towards Triss "Let's go from here."

"Alright." Now Triss just saw what Geralt is willing to do to protect her and how much he cares, trust and respects her. One bad word to her and he was ready to harm Philippa badly. Still she felt more miserable for hiding things from him. He showed so much devotion, respect, trust and love towards her that she returned by secrecy.

As they move towards the city gate, Triss said "Thanks Geralt. But what you did for me just now, wasn't necessary."

"No one insults you Triss. Sorry for losing my temper." He responds.

"It's all right. How did you get all those things so fast?"

"Iorveth and some of his elves helped. Also Zoltan decided to stay here and help Vergen, I don't know about this but he seem determined."

"At least Saskia will be fine now. I knew Zoltan may do that. But it is really dangerous, he may lose his life here."

Geralt nodded to acknowledge her concern"Yes, but we will look to this in another time. So what were you doing in Philippa Eilhart's quarters? And why was she insulting you?" He asked

At that moment Triss decided it was time to reveal everything to Geralt. But it should wait until they reach Henselt's camp "I will tell you everything Geralt, I will explain everything. But first we must go to Roche's camp. Our friends are waiting there." Triss said as she fell into her thoughts. She didn't want to hide it from him anymore, these moments in Vergen which they shared together were so wonderful. After such a short but hard separation Triss didn't wanted to tell him everything right away. And now, perhaps it's time to tell him about the Lodge of Sorceress and her involvement in it. Maybe he will hate her or will look at her with disbelief in his eyes, in any case she will accept and understand any of his choice.

"Time to go." Geralt interrupted her thoughts and finally they teleported away from Vergen.