The God's Will (Ciri)


The fortress had grown dark as the day passed, not just by the literal sense, since a big part of the interior's lighting was due to the sunlight that would pass through the many holes in the ceiling and walls, but also in the metaphorical sense as well. Earlier today, after the reunion, during their preparations, fiery jokes and comments about their enemies' lack of courage and strength in battle flooded the old walls, as well as the laughter that reciprocated them but now, as the sun would settle down and the hour H would get closer and closer, only hushed whispers and prayers of fear and something close to desperation could be heard. Fear was settling in the warrior's hearts, as her own was slowly being filled with anger and hate. This was her fight! Her struggle! But her only task was to stay put and stay out of the way while her friends and family would fight and die around her, for her! She took a deep breath, before those feelings could go any further, she didn't want to punch anyone just yet, then she started to look around the fireplace for something she could do, she needed a distraction, fast. If it was for her she would go on a ride on Roach and hunt a few forktails that dared to come too close to the fortress, but she wasn't allowed to get out of the inner gates, 'it is too risky' they would say 'they might caught you off guard' they would say. Who the hell do they think she is!? She has been running from the hunt for so long she almost lost track of the time and they are trying to teach her how to do what she had grown to be the best at!? Infuriating, simply infuriating! She took another deep breath, this one deeper and longer. Her fists were twitching, and the face of Hjalmar, who was dangerously close to her, was beginning to look really punchable. In a swift motion she got up and started to walk around the hall, looking for something to do, or someone to talk with, until her eyes set on Geralt and next to him, close to him, really close to him, like terribly close to him, they were almost holding hands of how close they were, Triss. Not Yennefer, Triss. Well, that was weird, she saw Yennefer kiss him earlier today, she also saw his surprised and discomforted face after said kiss, but she thought little of it. To her it was simply a surprise loving kiss, and the 'discomfort' she saw, she thought it was born through the embarrassment of being kissed in front of an audience. But maybe there was more to it, and now that she thinks about it, she did notice their always small distance between each other throughout the day, always in holding hands reach. Were they… together? And if they were, how did it happen? Was it just another short separation her adopted parents were passing through? Why Triss? What was happening there!?...

FINALLY! Something to do! And something entertaining at that! Actually, this was one of her favorite childhood activities, meddling in her father's love life, what a wonderful thing to do! But, although wonderful and entertaining, to be done in the right way, it needed subtlety and carefulness, intelligence and determination, this is not a task for the weak of heart. And, although she is strong of heart and determined to accomplish this mission successfully, she would need a rigid plan, a many-stepped, complex plan that would require both her time and energy. This was no simple mission, one that could cost her sanity, but she was determined and, when she is determined, there is no one that can stop the Lady of Time and Space herself, not in this world, not in any other. She was ready.

Step one: Find a good theme to talk with them about.
This first step was pretty self explanatory, all she needed to do was to find a good theme to talk with them, to distract them while she set her plans in motion. She nodded to herself with a proud smile and turned around to face them, however, to her surprise, the spot where the couple once were was completely and utterly deprived of human life. She looked around to look for them but soon sighed in defeat. This would be hard, she knew, but it would be much harder than she thought.

Step one: Find a good theme to talk with them about. Find those two.
This step - or rather, correction of step - was also both simple and self-explanatory, however it required a bit more cunning and strategy for the main ground they were on had some 'mines' that could distract her from her main objective. In summ, all she needed to do was to find them, avoiding at all costs any open armed old witcher that may or may not take several minutes of her time to tell for the hundredth time how much of a she-devil she is and how much he had missed her. Not that she didn't like that, she loved the old man as a granddaughter/niece loves her grandfather/uncle, maybe more, depending on the family, but Uncle Vesemir couldn't possibly understand the depth of her plans and the importance of time to its success.

With that in mind, and with renewed determination boiling through her veins she started to look around for the couple who vanished without a trace to be followed. If she was a true witcher, a mutated witcher like the four others in this keep, she could follow their scent, or sounds, or light footsteps on the dust that no normal human eyesight could notice. Unfortunately she wasn't one and could only trust on her limited senses. However she had a secret weapon, a weapon that only she, the other witchers and maybe Yennefer and Dandelion - apparently Triss possessed the same power as well -She knew him better than anyone else, even better than himself sometimes. So, she is Geralt and is with her lover, where would she go if she was him in this situation. If time wasn't limited, she would probably go to the best bed of Kaer Morhen to… relieve her mind of problems for the upcoming battle. However not just the time was limited but the bed wasn't in the room anymore nor usable at that. It was just outside of the gate broken to pieces, apparently it had 'fallen from the balcony'... somehow. Anyway, not getting off track, the bed wasn't an option and she doubts they would have to do anything there anyway. So where would she go with Triss?... "Probably to the darkest corner?" She wondered a little about that thought until it came as nitid as thoughts can go. "Defenetally to the darkest corner." She thought a little more on that and nodded to herself "Kitchen, not so many people there." With that in mind she soon walked to the kitchen's door and slowly opened the door, not entering right away. For that, on the outside she heard a "Shhh" from a masculine voice and a woman blissfully giggligling, trying to be silent. "Found ya." She told herself with a giant smile. First step: Check.

Second step: Engage with them in an interesting and captivating conversation.
This is a variation of the original first step, but taken to action. Now all she had to do was to find the right theme and to engage in the conversation the right way. She couldn't just enter the kitchen with a "Hey, how many you think we'll lose today?". It wouldn't be right, not to mention rude, since they were clearly having a moment of their own. No she had to be subtle, she had to engage in a talk with them without them noticing that she was engaging in a talk with them… now… how would she do that? As she thought on her next course of action on the outside of the kitchen, she must have left the door open because the redheaded woman, with a face of bother and something close to anger, got out, probably ready to scorn anyone who dared to interrupt her in her sweet moment. However, as soon as she saw her, luckily she greeted her, probably forgetting such interruption, the anger turned into pure happiness. "Ciri!" She said hugging the life outta her. "We missed you so much! Come, enter, me and Geralt were – uh – getting something to eat." As the sorceress entered the kitchen Ciri stood still for a moment, not knowing how to react to that giant stroke of luck, she smiled to herself and mentally screamed in victory. Another job well done. Step two: Check.

Third step: Get Triss the hell outta there.
Here is where things would really start getting complicated, as this day in Kaer Morhen demonstrated, these two were inseparable, like said before, always 'holding hands' reach, like two teenagers in love, she would even say it was cute. She could simply ask them both about it, true. However she knew that, for maximum effect she should get Geralt alone. Not that she didn't Triss to tell her the truth, it was just that… that… Well, she didn't have exactly a reason not to talk with Triss about this, she simply felt it would be better with Geralt alone. She soon followed Triss just to see her kiss her frowning father on the cheek and whisper something in his ear that erupted a smile on his face almost immediately. It was actually there, in that moment, that she knew she was screwed, separating these two, for just one minute even, would be harder than anyone could ever imagine. She almost, almost, pondered giving up. But no! That is not an option, in the end, the sweet taste of knowing even more about her father's love life would be worth any amount of cringe she would feel for their sappy, cute relationship they just showed they had! She had only to be determined! "I missed you guys as well. I would come back earlier but with the Hunt and your and Yen's death…" She said hugging her father by choice.

"Yes, we know, Ciri." He answered. "But maybe it was good you didn't, I wouldn't remember you."

She got visibly confused. "Why not?"

"Oh, we didn't tell you?" Triss gasped before slapping her own forehead. "Of course we didn't, with everything happening… "A sigh of her own interrupted her." When we found Geralt alive, he didn't remember anything of his life. He didn't remember who he was, or me or the witchers."

"Really?" Ciri gasped surprised.

"Yeah." Geralt replied, while his right arm would be hugged by his lover and his also right shoulder would be used for her to rest her chin. "Didn't remember anything about my life. I could remember the practical things like how to move around with the swords and all, but the rest had vanished."

"So how did you get back to normal?" She asked, interested, she had to be careful, or she would be dragged into the talk as well. She couldn't allow herself! She had to be stronger! Her mind had to be on the plan and only on the plan!

"As weird as it sounds." Triss chuckled. "With a flower. A rose of remembrance, have you heard of those?" Ciri shook her head. "The legend says if you give one to your loved one it never dies." She said with a big smile as she would snuggle against Geralt's arm, he also smiled. Ciri could sense that was something about those roses and those two, but maybe it would be a story for another time. "But let's talk about you, instead. Tell us about your travels."

She thanked the gods for that change of subject, it would be the perfect time to send Triss away. "I would love to, but I think Yen called you. You don't want to see what it is?" As soon as she said that in mistake, the lover's muscles immediately tensed up visibly. "What!? No! Not that! Another thing!" "Uhhhh…" She had thought about this option of getting Triss out of there when she was entering the kitchen but she quickly rejected it, since she knew Yennefer could not be ever so happy to see Triss right now. For some reason, as a stupid reflex, she used this card even so.

"Ummm…"

"A-are you sure, it was Yennefer?" Geralt asked, worry in his face.

"Ummm… You know what?" Ciri, with soft tears of cold sweat forming on her forehead, tried to call back her mistake. "Forget about that, it must be nothing urgent, and I would love to tell you about my travels."

Ignoring the younger woman completely, Triss squeezed Geralt's hand and kissed his cheek. "It's better if I go see what she wants." And soon started to walk towards the kitchen door.

In a desperate reflex Ciri jumped towards her and grabbed her hand. "NO!" Triss was visibly surprised and confused by that action as she would look at her with that typical 'what's happening?' kind of face. "Uhhh… I mean, I would really love to tell you about my stories, really. There are some really interesting ones." Cold sweat now flooded her forehead as the redheaded woman, reluctantly, looked away to the door for a moment before opening her mouth to talk, probably to say it was really best if she went. However in desperation her mind made up an idea that would definitely make her stay… for good or for ill. "D-did I ever tell you I made a boyfriend back in one of those worlds?"

"You what?" Geralt asked, worry in his voice as the over-protective father he could be, went on to show himself.

"Really!?" Triss gasped, forgetting immediately about Yennefer. Ciri, nervously, nodded with a smile as her father's lover would embrace her, again, with all the strength she could muster, the sound of her ribs cracking non too healthily were almost audible. "I'm so happy for you!" It works like a charm. Triss released her for a moment with a giant smile, just for her to answer all of her questions. "What's his name!?"

Ciri froze for a moment, she didn't actually have a name ready so she discreetly started to look around the room for any kind of clue she could use to help her in any way possible. "Ummm…" ´Her eyes set on a lamb leg on the table. "Lam…" on a human skeleton on the other side of the room, as far as possible from the tables and the actual food. They used it to learn human anatomy, to learn where to hit while in a fight with one, they used to learn that sort of things in the lunch break, the rest of the day was dedicated to monsters. "...ske…" Her eyes then set on Geralt, who had his arms crossed, his face with annoyance and worry and a very, very, very, very small amount of happiness. "...ge…" Finally she looked back at the food and the first thing she saw was a bag with a small label 'cooking ferment' "...fer." "Lamskegefer!" She immediately said, to her it had been an eternity since she last spoke but, judging by how the others acted, it hadn't passed so much time after all. "Lamskegefer." It was a little bit hard to pronounce that name, but she managed to say it the way her mind had made it sound. "That's his name… Lamskegefer."

"Lamskegefer?" Geralt spat, he had also a little difficulty to pronounce that. "What kind of name is that? I wouldn't trust anyone with that kind of name."

"Geralt, dear, he's from another world." Triss rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's a common name there."

With that said she looked back at Ciri, looking for approval from her, she promptly nodded. "Y-yeah! It's a really common name there! Lamskegefer… really common… L-lamskegefer."

Her train of thoughts were broken by Triss' voice once again. "So tell me, Ciri." She said with a somewhat foxy voice. "How was Lamskegefer? Was he handsome?" She then gasped as the perfect question came to mind, a question she had to whisper in her ear. "Was he good in bed?"

"Triss!" Geralt called out, not wanting to hear that kind of things from his daughter.

"What!?" She squealed defensively. "I'm curious! I want to know!"

A small discussion erupted between Geralt and Triss to determine if Ciri should or should not reveal the more… subtle… details of her travels to them, the younger woman sighed. This would be much, much harder than she thought, downright impossible even.

Third step: Get Triss the hell outta there. Get Geralt the hell outta there.
She had an idea, a simple idea. All she needed to do was distract Triss for a few moments, grab Geralt's hand, and teleport them out of there, maybe to a room she knew that stood upstairs, just a level on top of her. Although, however simple, it wouldn't be easy. Triss was a very smart woman, cunning as a fox - Dandelion would like to say -, she would need to be more intelligent, more cunning she would need to… outfox the fox. "Heyheyhey." She called, putting herself between the couple, making them stop to argue. She didn't exactly have some 'script' to follow, but she was proud of her ability to improvise. "I'll tell you anything you wish to know but…"

"Please don't." Geralt pleaded.

"Please do!" Triss chirped.

"But!..." She continued with a 'don't interrupt me' glare towards both of them. "But first, I have something to say… What's that!?" As she said this she pointed to a random direction behind Triss, which, as expected, worked like a charm. Triss, curious, looked at where Ciri was pointing, not finding anything worthy of such a reaction. While this, Ciri, in a small moment, not ever taking her eyes from the redhead's… head, grabbed her father's hand and, with a small turquoise blue and magical glitter they were gone, just to appear in one of those rooms upstairs.

Triss, confused by her friend's reaction to, what looks like, a stone wall, looked back at her, just to find a place with no one but her, the glowing and glitter already gone. "That wha…?" She stood still for a moment. "Ciri?... Geralt?" She scratched her head in confusion before starting to walk around, trying to find them. "Ciri!... Getalt!"

She had outfoxed the fox. Step three: Check.

Fourth and final step: Understand what the hell is happening around here!
This would be the easiest of steps, like said before, she knew the man like the palm of her hand, she knew exactly how to take the information with but the power of her own words. So, with naught but a moment to start this interrogation, she shot her finger to his nose and spoke, tone assertive and demanding. "You have a lot to explain."

"Me?" He said scoffing her finger away from his nose. "What about you? You just teleported us away from Triss. That was really rude, Ciri."

Dammit! Her only weakness! Being realistic! That was the bad side of knowing this man like no one else, was that the knowledge between them two was both-sided, he just knew how to call out for her heart of gold to make her repent her actions. She had to be strong, stronger than him, the White Wolf himself. "Yeah, yeah." She started, her head getting lower with a slight blush of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I'll apologize later."

"Good." He nodded, like a father scorning his undisciplined child. "Now, what do you want me to explain?"

"Oh yeah, that. Ahem!" She cleared her throat and recomposed her, mentally rereading her 'script' of what to say. Once she resembled where she was and what to say next she took a deep breath and shot her finger back to where it once was, just a few millimeters away from his nose tip. "You have a lot to explain! You..."

"Yeah that much I got from last time you told me that." He chuckled.

"Shush!" She called out, her face turned again into that 'don't interrupt me' glare. That made him chuckle more and apologize silently, raising his hands in surrender. "You, Triss, Yen. What's happening?"

"Oh. That? Might as well ask me earlier. In front of Triss even, she wouldn't mind talking about that… And it wouldn't be so rude as vanishing out of nowhere."

"I apologized already!" She called defensly, pulling her finger back to herself.

"You oughta apologize to Triss, not to me." He said, crossing his arms with a smirk.

"But I..." She stopped herself before this could continue, she knew her father's game and wouldn't allow herself to give him the taste of victory. "Could you please not change the subject and tell me what's happening? Please?"

"What is there to tell?" He shrugged looking at the window in the room. "Me and Yennefer broke up, me and Triss got together. It is as simple as that. Not much more to say about that."

"There is." She augmented. "Because I saw Yen kiss you earlier today… You're not double timing them, are you?"

He looked at her, his face offended. "Ciri! I would never do that!" As her response Ciri crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows in the 'really?' look of hers which made her father by choice lower his head a little. "Okay, maybe I would, in another life." He explained, immediately raising his face again. "But I changed Ciri, I really did. The amnesia and all. Had no choice but to change." He walked towards the window and opened the cracked glasses to breathe better. "I'm actually planning on settling down with her for good. No secret lovers or bumps in the hay with a random woman, not even whores. I..."

She laughed, amused. "Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. You are honestly telling me you are willing to give up whoring for Triss?"

Geralt opened his mouth with determination to say yes but soon closed it again, not muttering a word. He stood quiet for a moment, pondering on the possible moment that he would be forced to be away from Triss for a long time. And to imagine it without the wonders of the pleasure of the flesh it was terrifying, simply terrifying. He shivered at the thought. "You know what? Maybe I'm moving a little too fast. I'll think about that later." His daughter just laughed, not being able to hold anything back.

"Knew it!" She would call between untamed laughter. "Knew it!"

"Can you stop!?" Geralt said, a slight embarrassed blush on his pale cheeks.

"Sorry." She said after a moment, chuckles still escaping her lungs and tears in her eyes. "Sorry. That was… uhh.. That was unworthy of me."

"Ugh…" He grunted looking back at the valley outside the window.

Her last chuckles were laughed as she cleaned her tears with the arm, blurring her already blurred makeup a little bit more. "I'm sorry. The kiss, what happened?"

"I don't know why she kissed me." He responded, his eyes still set on the view. "I have a few ideas of why she did it, none of them good. I like to believe it was just a happy reflex since it was I who brought you back. But I wouldn't like to dwell on it."

Cirilla took a moment to understand her father, but it didn't take long for her to get his meaning. Triss was arriving when she kissed him and she did watch it. "You think she would do that? That would be rather childish for her, don't you think?"

"Like I said, I like to believe that wasn't her intention but… As I said, I don't want to dwell on it."

Ciri nodded. "And what made you do it this time? Break up with her? And why Triss?"

"Well…" He sighed. "Me and Yennefer, we were never happy, we had our momentary blisses, very good momentary blisses, but we were never happy. We weren't good for each other, even with our love. With the djinn's spell we couldn't just get away like this but we dealt with it."

"You did?" Ciri asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Yennefer asked for my help to retrieve a djinn from a sunken ship. She wanted to use it to cut the last djinn's spell, the one that linked us. Of course that I just learned that much much later, when I pinned her against the corner. She didn't think it was a good idea to tell me the reason we were there sooner."

Ciri rolled her eyes with a disappointed shake of head. "Of course she didn't. What happened then?"

He crossed his arms and leaned his back against the wall. "Well, we went to dive… better, I went… Did you know? The sea ground in Skellige is just beautiful, the sea life, the rocks, the drowners, its just perfect! It almost makes you forget about the cruciating cold." She chuckled. "But anyway, we found the ship she was after - or half of it, to be more precise -. We had to teleport to the other half… on the Ard Skellig mountains' peak."

"Oof!" She chuckled again. "That oughta be lovely."

"It was. The view, hmmm. Just breath-taking. Anyway, we found the djinn, we fought the djinn, she wished the wish away and we were free." He sighed, his mocking smile fading. "Then… I just ended it there."

"Just like that?" She asked surprised.

"Yes, I still had feelings for her, still do. I had to finish it as fast as possible."

"Don't you think you're moving a little bit too fast with Triss then?" She asked. "Since you still love Yen?... And since she clearly still thinks about you as well?"

"I don't know… Am I? Maybe I am, but who cares. For the first time I am happy with Triss, feeling secure, safe. And, because of how she acts, I presume she feels the same. Maybe we're being a little cruel with Yen, right, but - I'm sorry for saying it like this - I don't care. These are unsure times, any of us can die any minute of the day. I won't deprive Triss and myself of bliss because Yen doesn't like it."

"Yeah, yeah. All in all you're right. I just don't like to see her hurt like this." Ciri sighed and a happy smile creeped her face. "But, with that appart, I'm happy for you. You seem to be really happy with Triss and she with you. I'm… I'm proud of you."

"Proud?" Geralt chuckled.

"Yeah!" She chuckled back. "Don't know why, but I am. I'm proud of you."

"Well, thanks. Now, if your curiosity has been sated, we should go back downstairs." He said with a smile as he would walk towards the door.

"Actually." Ciri started stopping him in his tracks. "Now that we're here upstairs, I would like to go somewhere first." Once she said this, she got out of the room but, instead of going towards the staircase, she went in the opposite direction.

"But… Triss is waiting for us." He called, following her nonetheless.

"Ugh." She grunted in fake annoyance, to be honest she was rather amused by her father's answer. "Don't worry Geralt, she is able to live without you being constantly less than five centimeters away."

"Ha ha, very funny." He rolled his eyes. "But it's not like that. It's just, you know… she has no idea of where we are and why we vanished in thin air."

"Godsdammit, Geralt, you're not letting that go, are you?"

"As long as you don't apologize to Triss, no, I'm not." He smirked.

She chuckled and waved her hand nonchalantly at him. "Yeah, yeah, now shut up, we're here." Before her, a wooden door, closed shut. She took a deep and, for some reason, nervous breath and slowly opened the door, gasping in wonder at the insides. It was exactly as she remembered, a little more dusty… a lot more dusty but apart from that, it was like she had jumped through time to her childhood. The small bed where she would sleep with the single, empty sword rack above it, on the wall. She remembers passing her nights through staring at that rack, dreaming of completing it with her own sword and of her future witcher's life. The few children's toys on the dusty ground, the small bedside table with an unlit candle and a pile of books about monsters, potions and oils, the wardrobe where once she held the few dresses Triss made and helped her make. It was exactly as she remembered. She chuckled, a small nostalgic tear wetting her scar as she slowly entered the room. "It's… it's exactly as I remember." She chuckled once more. I-I-I feared it would be different, changed, that I wouldn't recognise it but…" She stopped there with no more words to say, she sniffed and chuckled again.

Geralt, with a happy smile and chuckle, leaned against the door frame. "Yeah, Vesemir wouldn't allow us to mess with anything here. Actually he forbade us from dusting the room in fear we would change anything by accident." The woman laughed, sniffling again. "You did quite the number on the old witcher."

She cleaned her tears and chuckled once more "He's a sweet, I'll have to thank him." As saying this, she was walking towards the bedside table, she carefully grabbed the first book on the pile, one that was open. "'Ghouls and Alghouls'. I remember this!" She said looking back at Geralt with a smile.

"Yeah, the one of John of Brugge right?" Ciri nodded. "What was it again? Uhhh… 'The Encyclopedia of All Monsters'?"

The ashen haired woman to be certain, closed the book to look upon the cover. "'Necrophages: All you Need to Know'. The brickiest of bricks." She chuckled. "Gods, I hated this book."

"...Funny…" Geralt wondered.

"What?"

"I had this dream… You know what? Forget about it, I'll tell you later about it." He stood silent for a moment and then sighed. "Before you say anything." He said, not to Ciri, it seemed. Then he pointed to the younger woman. "It was her idea."

"What do you…?" It was at that moment that the red-haired woman entered the room, with a look of pain, confusion and a small bit of anger. "Oh…"

"What happened?" She asked. "Why did you just vanish out of nowhere?"

"Sorry Triss, my fault. I wanted to speak with Geralt alone."

The anger small in her eyes dissipated. "Okay. You could tell me, I would understa… wait." Just now she noticed where they actually were. "Is this...?"

"Yeah." Geralt responded with his own smile.

Her hands went to cover her agape mouth. "Oh Gods, it has been so long…" She stated, walking towards the wardrobe. "Is it…?" She opened the wardrobe and laughed. "Ha. Hahaha! It's here!" She said taking a turquoise dress from the forniture. Father and daughter who were confused by the sorceress' actions until now smiled when they saw the dress. "Do you…? Do you remember this?" She asked them with a tear of her own falling.

"Of course!" Ciri responded, grabbing the handed dress. "'I'm… I'm ind-indisposed.'" She said mimicking her childhood voice almost perfectly.

"Hahaha!" Triss laughed. "I can't believe it, it looks like it was in a different life!"

"That's because it was, in some ways." Geralt responded, Ciri nodded.

"Do you believe that I didn't do a single dress after this one?" Triss asked, mainly Ciri, making her eyes shoot open with surprise. "That's right! I was so drawn to this one that I didn't do anything else." She then in an instant, just because they were speaking of this theme, gave a look up and down towards Ciri's body and, mainly, her clothes. "That oughta be fixed, however." She hissed. "When this is over, I'm definitely making you new clothes."

Ciri looked down at her own clothes. "What's wrong with my clothes?" The sorceress didn't give a sound, all she needed to do was place her hands on her waist and give a 'really?' kind of look for her to understand and agree. "Okay, yeah, you're right. I need new clothes." They all stood silent for a moment, nothing in mind to say, until Ciri, with a smirk spoke. "But, keeping in this 'new life' subject. What about you two? Geralt told me. What should I call you? Big sister ? Or step-mother?" She asked Triss.

The older woman, with a smile and chuckle of her own, opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came. Then, in that moment of silence, Triss' face turned to deep thought. And then, after another silent moment, it morphed into deep deep discomfort as her spine shivered. "I prefer not to think about that." Geralt clearly was as uncomfortable when he nodded at her comment.

"I'm joking." Ciri laughed. "I'm joking. As long as you're happy I don't care what to call yo…"

"What the hell are you doing here!?" The strong voice of Hjallmar was heard, once they all turned to him, he was at the door frame, shirtless and with a giant smile on his face and equally giant ax and sword on hands. "You're gonna miss all the fun! The Hunt has finally arrived! Let's go!" Saying this, he immediately legged it towards the staircase, his laughter becoming more and more distant.

Geralt looked at Triss who was looking back. With a sigh and lips peck, Triss also started to run away from the room, this time towards the walls. Geralt, right as always, - at least when it's Ciri they're talking about - turned around already expecting to see a sword ready to spill blood. "Ciri, sheath that."

"But…!"

"We already had this argument, Ciri. Sheath that. You are not going to fight the Hunt."

"Why not!?" She snapped defenssly. "I've been doing this for seven years! You don't think I know what to do!?"

"By the gods Ciri." Geralt said, unsheathing his own sword and slowly walking towards the door. "We already talked about this, and we won't talk about this again. Just follow the damn plan."

With her fingers she pressed her eyes for a second and then opened her mouth to reply, although soon closed it for Getalt was there no more, if she was to concentrate on the smallest of sounds around her, she would be able to hear his steps running downstairs. The woman grunted in annoyance with a glare towards the door-frame. She walked to the bed and launched herself to it, twirling in the air and landing on her back, her blade resting on her chest. A magical whisper sounded towards the room and the creeping cold that had started a few minutes ago suddenly stopped. Yennefer had just finished her part of the plan while she was here, laying on her childhood bed. The leather of the hilt would clench at her tightening grip. She hated this, she hated to be treated like a defenseless child. She was never defenseless, never, not even when she was a child, much less now. But everyone would still treat her like that, it was revolting! The leather clenched again. No! She is sick of running! She is sick of hiding! She is sick of depending on others that might lose their life to protect hers! She is sick! The leather clenched again, this time louder as well did the bed grate with her movement as she got up. This ends here. This ends today. This ends now. She gets up and looks upon her sword. "It's now or never Zireal." No one would die today, not one more life in trade for her own, she wouldn't allow it, not while she still draws breath.
Well… sometimes the Gods are just not on our side…