"Do you have to go already?"
Yennefer sounded wistful and Ciri couldn't blame her, since she had only stayed at Corvo Bianco for a few days before announcing that she was leaving, but she had felt an urgent need to leave Toussaint ever since the bandit attacks against Sylvette and Ruiseart had ceased. And it wasn't just because she had to go pick up Kelpie before she ended up on the innkeeper's dinner table.
She felt too stifled in the land of fairy tales. The kingdom's bright, sunny atmosphere should have done wonders to lift her mood but all of the fables she'd heard, the talk of fiery romance in the land of wine, and too-cheery dispositions of the Toussaintois had had the opposite effect of ruining her mood until she finally couldn't take it anymore.
"I can portal you there-"
"No, it's okay," Ciri insisted. "I can teleport."
It's not like Avallac'h will be a problem, she thought. He hasn't been for this long, he won't start being a problem now.
She had debated broaching the topic of Avallac'h to Yennefer but in the end, felt it would just take too long for her to explain everything from the very beginning, like why she had sought out the elven sage in the first place after they had already parted ways, thinking it would be the last time they ever saw each other. At the time, she was sure that she had said goodbye to her teacher, friend, and confidant for good… and then she got poisoned and he was the person she ended up seeking out for help.
Now, it was up to her to figure out the best way to approach this problem that had been weighing on her shoulders for weeks now and she didn't need anyone butting in, not even to give her advice. Plus, what if Yennefer accidentally blabbed to Geralt? It was definitely a possibility Ciri had considered and for that reason, she kept her mouth shut.
I know I'm grown but parents will be parents…
She decided she would rather tell them that their friendship had collapsed once and for all than to admit that she was still holding onto a fragile hope that she and Avallac'h would find a way to reconcile their friendship, apologize to each other, and see things return to the way they used to be before their rather nasty spat occurred.
One of the few upsides to enduring Toussaint for as long as she had showed itself when Geralt took her into town and personally paid a grandmaster armorer to bring the armor on her diagrams to life. She finally had her very own set of Wolf School gear, which she never thought she would ever come to possess. It made her feel proud to be a witcher and she smiled whenever she saw herself in her new armor or just happened to look down and saw herself not wearing her typical outfit.
She was still glad to have her white shirt and brown riding pants because now she could rely on it as a spare change of reliable clothes in the likelihood that her armor was being repaired but it couldn't hope to beat her Wolf armor.
"I have to go now," she said apologetically. "But I'll return soon."
She hugged Yennefer and Geralt goodbye and promised she would come visit soon and then stepped back to give herself some much-needed room. Ciri smiled at her parents one last time and then teleported away.
When she arrived at the village, the memory of them being accosted by bandits was fresh in Ciri's mind and likewise, in the minds of the villagers, who glared at her warily as she passed through the same streets that she, Ruiseart, and Sylvette had run through not that long ago. Apparently they had caused quite an unforgettable chaos that some villagers even dared spit in her direction, though that nonsense stopped quickly when they saw Ciri reach for the sword on her back.
She paid the innkeeper for her troubles using the coin Yennefer had given her for that exact purpose and then rode off with Kelpie towards Velen.
When she made it to the heart of the country, she was greeted by drab-looking farmland and immediately wished she was back in the land of fairy tales even though she had just run from there but she needed money and wasn't about to encroach upon Geralt's hunting grounds; he may have retired but old habits died hard and there would still be times when a witcher was needed to handle the common folk's problems. Plus, she had returned for a reason.
One of these days, I'm going to seek him out and talk to him, Ciri promised herself, no matter how angry he is at me… or how angry I am at him.
On her way out of Armeria, the last town on the border between Sodden and Temeria, she had run into a merchant friend who handed her an announcement that he'd plucked from a notice board, believing it was right up her alley.
She faintly remembered some details - Ciri had barely skimmed it before deciding to accept the notice Cecil had grabbed - but she couldn't remember where she was supposed to go and tugged on Kelpie's reins to make her stop and then reached into the pouch on her belt to refresh her memory.
There won't be a wedding until the haunting in the chapel is dealt with.
If you come across a witcher, please send him up to Trouthelm and tell him to ask for Edmar.
A reward will be given for fixing our problem.
Enticed and equally curious, Ciri rode up to Trouthelm, which was a few miles northeast of Brunwich, and sought out Edmar once she arrived at the village. Quickly, she was directed to a house located on the edge of the village on a hill overlooking the river, where she found a man chopping wood in the corner of his yard.
"Are you Edmar?" she asked as she neared.
"Aye. Who's asking?"
"Me. I'm a witcher."
"A witcher? I thought witchers were all-"
"Men?" Ciri finished for him. "Sorry to disappoint, not all witchers are male."
"Whaddya want?" Edmar asked, already sounding exasperated with her.
"I'm here about the notice you posted. Will you tell me what's going on?"
"Ah! Thank Melitele you came for that! You see, witcher, my sis is to be married but we can't have the wedding."
"Did something happen?"
"We tried to hold the ceremony but all of a sudden, we heard this awful shrieking before my sis and her husband-to-be could give their vows."
Sounds like a pretty nasty specter, Ciri mused to herself. An angry one, too.
"Did anyone die recently?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because it sounds like you have a haunting. I ask if someone died because if their death was violent, which is likely what happened, their spirit isn't at peace and it's lashing out at everyone around it."
"Ah, well, nobody died recently. The last person who died was Bert but his death happened last winter and we held two weddings since then."
"So it's not Bert."
"Do you know why this specter chose to haunt the chapel, Miss Witcher?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Now then, if that's all the information you have for me, let's talk about my pay."
After agreeing on an amount, Ciri set off for the chapel located on the fringes of the village by the docks and immediately, she couldn't help but notice all of the flower garlands draped over the wooden fence that encircled the chapel grounds and rotting flower petals lying on the ground in front of the building. A particularly large pile of petals lay abandoned near a statue of Melitele to the left of the door, where a basket had tipped over.
Nobody had bothered picking it up, probably because they had been too afraid to venture near.
Looks like it was supposed to be a nice wedding.
With a deep breath, she opened the door and went inside.
The chapel was dim but her eyes adjusted quickly to the light, thanks to the sunlight filtering in through the skylight, and the first place she looked was up towards the rafters on the assumption that there was a body hanging from a rope, which was why she assumed that the chapel was being haunted in the first place. Even in the dim light, she discovered that the rafters held nothing but a few old cobwebs.
"Peek a boo."
Ciri screamed, pulling her sword out so quickly that the metal sang as it exited her sheath and the noise echoed in the quiet chapel, making her feel as if her ears were ringing.
She frantically looked around but saw nobody in the chapel with her, nor had she heard the door open and shut, and dashed down the middle of the aisle with her sword at the ready, head moving quickly from side to side as she checked every row of pews for the scummy bastard that had decided to scare her but found nothing.
Suddenly, she felt a cold chill settle over the chapel that hadn't been there before. It was moderately cold outside, given that it was early autumn, but it wasn't freezing; Ciri suddenly felt like she was standing in the middle of a blizzard.
"Behind you."
Ciri whirled around so fast that she nearly got whiplash and there, behind the pulpit at the front of the chapel, stood a person… or a ghost. She could only detect a faint outline of him thanks to the light filtering in through the skylight. As she tiptoed closer, Ciri caught a glimpse of unimpressive clothes, meaning that this person had probably been a fisherman or farmer in life, a goofy smile, and a half-shaved head and realized this man was the one to blame for her frantic, racing heart.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"I'm Viktor," the ghost revealed. "Who are you? What brings you here?"
"I'm a witcher. A man named Edmar asked me to investigate what was haunting the chapel. I presume you know him?"
"Ah, Edmar. Me and him used to catch snails together when we were boys."
"So why are you haunting this place?"
"Haunting? I live here!" Viktor scoffed, as if he was offended.
"You didn't always live here," Ciri pointed out. "You're here for a reason."
"And what would that reason be?"
"I don't know but I'm trying to find out. Do you mind answering a few questions for me?"
"Ask away."
"How did you die?"
"How? By my bloody brother-in-law! Or rather, future brother-in-law, had I lived," Viktor scoffed. "Drove an axe right through my head, he did!"
"Who was supposed to be your brother-in-law?"
"Edmar, of course!"
"Why would he kill you?"
"Because I wanted to marry his sister and he didn't like that. Apparently, a marriage had already been arranged with some other bloke but I actually loved her!"
"Did she love you back?"
"You think you're sooo funny," Viktor scoffed. "You know, you wouldn't be the first one to ask me that! Although, you are the first one to ask me that after I died…"
"Answer the question," Ciri huffed, rolling her eyes. How did this ghost always manage to get them off topic without even trying? "Did she love you back?"
"Aye, she does! Why don't ya go and ask Rosalina yerself to make sure? Instead you're here, pestering me-"
"I'm pestering you? I wouldn't be here if you hadn't decided to haunt the place so, if anyone's guilty of anything, it's you!"
"Well, I didn't ask to be a ghost, either!"
"You're a ghost because someone probably killed you."
"No kidding," Viktor scoffed sarcastically.
"And now you haunt this place… because you love Rosalina?"
"Nay, because I can't let her get married! That's why I stopped the wedding from happening! And well, yes , also because I love her!"
"Why are you trying to stop the wedding?"
"Because I was supposed to marry her!"
"Unfortunately, that ship has sailed, Viktor."
"I don't believe that! I still have a chance!"
"You're dead. You lost your chance, unfortunately."
"You're so pessimistic, witchy!
"I'm not pessi-"
"Do you know what that feels like, to love someone so much that you would die for them?"
Ciri found herself at a loss. How could she hope to answer Viktor's question, which felt like a trap and a question with no answer all in one.
"I don't know… I think I did, once upon a time."
"Once upon a time? So you don't love 'im anymore?"
"Doesn't matter."
"C'mon, tell me!"
"It's none of your business," Ciri started to say, only to realize that Viktor had disappeared.
Before she could ask him "where did you go?", she felt her body grow cold and foreign thoughts that weren't her own suddenly flooded her head - deep, passionate thoughts of Rosalina, for instance - and she realized exactly where Viktor had gone. She had no control over her body but her thoughts were still hers despite the intrusion and she yelled, "get out of my head!" in hopes that her thoughts would be loud enough to drive out the intruder who had made himself home in her body.
"I'm sorry!" Viktor apologized as he came to appear in front of her, though the witcher truly doubted the sincerity of his words. "I just want to keep you from making the same mistake I did!"
"You and I are nothing alike!"
"I think we're more alike than you're willing to admit."
"I highly doubt that!"
"You love 'im, don't you? It kills you to harbor that secret because you think the elven bastard doesn't love you back."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ciri bristled. She wasn't sure if she was more irritated by the fact that Viktor had referred to Avallac'h as an "elven bastard" or that he'd gone digging around inside her head and found the one thing that could make her blood boil in an instant.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! How long has it been since you've last seen him?"
"None of your business," Ciri spat. "And if you ever enter my body like that again, I'm going to make you leave this place by force-"
"I'm not leaving until I marry Rosalina!" Viktor suddenly boomed. His shout was so loud that Ciri clapped her hands over her ears to shield them as it bounced off the walls of the chapel in a loud, reverberating echo that left her convinced that the place was going to crumble with her still in it.
When the echoing finally stopped and Ciri was able to peel her hands away from her head, she grimaced at the ringing that remained in her ears and glowered at Viktor.
"Are you trying to make me lose my hearing?" she snapped. She had barely been on the Path for two years and was not about to be forced into an early retirement because some petulant, immature ghost had popped her eardrums.
"Until I marry Rosalina, I will not leave!" Viktor repeated childishly.
"If you don't obey, I'll make you go, one way or another!"
"You wouldn't be the first to try!" His words stopped Ciri from grabbing her sword, throwing down a bomb of Moon Dust at his feet, and cutting him down. "I can't leave this world! I cannot be killed!"
"What are you saying? That you always come back even after being killed?"
"That's exactly what I've been saying to anyone who will listen but noooo , everyone just wants to kill the bloody ghost just to say that they did!"
"So something ties you to this place…" Ciri deduced. Looking at Viktor she said, "do you know where you were killed, or if anyone found your body?"
"There wasn't a funeral, that was for sure," Viktor scoffed disdainfully. "But I think I remember where I was killed."
"Lead the way."
She followed Viktor out of the chapel and away from the village towards the swamps and wasn't sure if the unease she felt was due to a specter following her around or the swamps themselves, which reminded her of her dash through Crookback Bog and her first encounter with those awful Crones, but she swallowed it down and forced herself to keep walking. The long trek from Trouthelm to the swamps gave her enough time to consider the possibility that Viktor's death may not have been accidental like she had initially believed because if it had been an accident, he would have died in his bed or drowned in the river.
He had informed her that he had been a farmer when he had been alive, which lowered the possibility of him being mauled by wild animals unless he was purposely venturing out into the forest to arm-wrestle with bears.
As stupid as he seemed, even Viktor seemed to know where to draw the line with his own shenanigans.
It took some roaming around through the swamps since Viktor didn't remember exactly where he'd been at the moment of his death, until she came across a corpse lying face-down in the muck with a deep, bloody gash in its head. When she turned it over, she could see a faint resemblance to Viktor's ghostly form on the otherwise dessicated body and swallowed hard as she began her autopsy of the corpse.
A blow to the head is what killed him, she noted to herself. A single strike with some kind of bladed weapon shattered his skull and cut straight through to his brain. He probably didn't even feel it when he was struck… which at least means that he died painlessly. There's no weapon, though, and I don't see any footprints.
It didn't surprise her that much. The swamps were flooded nearly year-round and they were the one place where evidence could be destroyed almost effortlessly. There was no way of knowing which direction the killer had gone or how long ago Viktor had been killed, though Ciri was willing to guess an estimate of about two months just judging by the level of decay on his corpse.
"My necklace, it's missing!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Victor mocked. "I was wearing it when I died! For Melitele's sake, I never took it off when I was alive!"
"So whoever killed you likely took a memento," Ciri remarked as she climbed to her feet once she had finished examining Viktor's rotten corpse. "I'm certain that your necklace is what ties you to this world. If I can find that, I can send you off-"
"Hold on, hold on!"
"What is it?" Ciri sighed in exasperation.
"You swear you won't send me to the next life without helping me get married?"
"Fine. I'll do everything in my power to help you get married, but don't get your hopes up!"
Though Ciri knew that it would have less trouble and effort to just force Viktor to move on instead of going through all the trouble of finding the item that tied him to this world, hosting a wedding for him, and somehow convincing Rosalina to "marry" a ghost, she wasn't that cruel and couldn't bring herself to attack him.
Sure, this method was more tedious but not every monster contract had to end with her killing something… or in this case, someone. As "easy" as it would have been to force Viktor to move on, she just couldn't bring herself to do it, especially now that all the evidence she'd gathered was starting to point towards a murder and she was likely going to need Viktor's input.
"You're not so bad after all, witchy!"
Ciri ignored him and stomped back to Trouthelm with purpose, where she sought out Edmar.
"Have you found out anything?"
"Did you know anyone by the name of Viktor? I believe he is the one haunting the chapel."
"Viktor?" Edmar echoed. "Are you sure? I swear he left Trouthelm some months back…"
"Found his corpse in the swamps," Ciri said, though that still wasn't an explanation about how she knew that it was Viktor, or even how she had learned his name in the first place. "You might want to give him a burial."
"Of course, of course! Do you know what killed him?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure who did nor why."
"Who? So you mean to say it wasn't an animal?"
"He was killed by a blow to the head," Ciri revealed. She didn't see the point in hiding the truth from Edmar when he would figure it out for himself when he went to collect the body. "Do you know if anyone had a problem with him?"
"No, nobody did," Edmar insisted. "He grew up with most of the people in the village and we were all friends as youngins, got along well even as adults. He was even smitten with my sister."
"Really? Are you sure nobody had problems with him?" Ciri hated that she sounded so accusing, as if she didn't believe Edmar, but she just couldn't believe that nobody had issues with him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have ever come to the village to investigate the haunting and Viktor would be alive and likely married to Rosalina like he wanted.
"I swear on my life! Viktor may have been a brute at times but I didn't kill him! He loved my sister, why would I want to get in the way of that?" Edmar insisted.
"He's lying!" Viktor shouted; Ciri found it odd that only she could hear him, as Edmar didn't flinch even though the ghost was shouting right in his ear, and did her best not to wince. Later, once they were alone, she was going to give the ghost a piece of her mind for trying to ruin her hearing again . "He's the one who killed me!"
"Do you know who might have wanted to kill him?"
"I don't know, it could have been anyone," Edmar admitted.
"Was Viktor, erm, troublesome when he was still alive?"
"Oy, I take offense to that!" Viktor seethed. "Everyone liked, nay, loved , me!"
"He liked to drink a lot but I'd say he had a good heart. He was loyal, cared for the entire village, and never turned his back on anyone who needed help."
"Color me surprised…" Ciri muttered under her breath.
"I didn't catch that," Edmar said.
"Yeah, he didn't catch that," Viktor mocked.
"So you're saying that nobody in the village would ever think about killing him? Nobody at all?"
"Aye, that's exactly it."
"Thanks for the information. Can you point me to Viktor's home?"
"It's three houses over, that way," Edmar said as he pointed to a dilapidated-looking hut near the middle of the village. He handed her a key and said, "let yourself in. Nobody will get in your way. Good luck to ya, miss."
Ciri took the key and spun on her heel, leaving behind Edmar in his yard, and let herself into Viktor's house, where she started her investigation once she had lit some candles to make it easier for her to search the place. After all, there was no point in aimlessly stumbling around in the dark.
"Hey, Viktor, does everything look alright to you?"
"Aye, everything looks in order," the ghost reported as he apparated, coming to sit on top of a dresser at the foot of his old bed.
"Nothing looks out of place?"
"Nay, like I said, everything looks fine. Hasn't been touched since the last time I was home."
At least I can say with relative certainty that Edmar didn't tamper with any evidence, Ciri thought, though she still wasn't confident that she would find anything in the house. She just had a feeling that it was going to be a fruitless waste of time but unless she found any other leads, Viktor's house was her best starting point.
She hoped that she would come across another item that had gone missing or even a letter that could point to a possible suspect but Viktor didn't seem the type to send letters; Ciri doubted he could even read. She scoured the whole hut but found nothing… until her eyes fell upon the outline on the wall by the door, where an axe had once hung from the nails still embedded in the wood.
"The axe is missing."
"Edmar probably killed me."
"You don't know that."
"I do know. It's missing, and he's using an axe to chop wood right now."
"So what if he is? I need more evidence than a missing axe on the wall."
For all Ciri knew, Viktor had lost or misplaced the axe and never bothered to put it back in its usual spot. Him being dead and lacking a lot of his memories meant that Ciri wasn't necessarily willing to trust what he was saying, not unless she could back up his claims with evidence. But unless she found solid evidence that would point her to her next viable lead, she feared the trail would remain cold.
"How much more proof do you need that Edmar murdered me! He's using the same exact axe right now!"
"It's an axe! Countless peasants have one!"
"Yes, but not one like that!"
"You don't even remember who you were with the night that you were killed! I can't exactly trust your less-than-stellar memory!"
"I'm telling you that Edmar killed me! I'm positive!" Viktor insisted. "As for my memories, they're foggy but they're there! I haven't forgotten anything!"
"But what if we're both wrong and I sentence an innocent man to death for your murder while the killer goes free? Didn't you ever think of that?" Ciri spat. "If he ends up wrongfully condemned, then Rosalina will have lost you and her brother!"
"R-right…" Ciri breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing Viktor finally gain a bit of sense. "Never thought of that."
"I have work to do so if you could please leave me alone for a bit, that would be lovely ."
"You know where to find me," Viktor mocked before he disappeared in a flurry of smoke.
Finally, some peace and quiet, Ciri thought with a sigh of relief.
She finished up her investigation, flipping over every last piece of furniture and searching all of Viktor's drawers and containers but ended up finding nothing, though she wasn't sure what she had been expecting to find in a modest fisherman's cottage.
There was the question of the missing axe but that was circumstantial at best. Even if she could somehow convince Edmar to allow her to borrow his axe and try to match it to the wound in Viktor's head, Ciri doubted it would matter, even if it did match. That, and she didn't want to give him the impression that she suspected him of murder… at least, not until she had more definitive proof.
While he insisted that nobody in the village had hated Viktor, it wouldn't hurt to ask him if Viktor had any enemies outside of Trouthelm.
"Who are you? What were you doing in Viktor's house?" a young woman with blonde hair demanded as Ciri walked into Edmar's yard; she was a bit surprised to be suddenly bombarded by questions but then realized that the woman must have seen her leave Viktor's house.
"She's a witcher, Rose!" Edmar called from the henhouse a short distance away. "Came to handle the haunting at the chapel!"
"A witcher! Well, it's nice to meet you. Is there anything I can do to help with your investigation?"
"May we speak, in private?" Ciri asked Rosalina, who agreed before asking her to follow her down to the docks, where they found themselves alone. Only a lone man in a boat was fishing in the river but he was so far out from shore that Ciri was not worried about him overhearing their conversation.
"What did you wish to speak to me about?"
"Were you betrothed to someone named Viktor?"
"N-no, I wasn't," Rosalina admitted, "but I wanted to marry him!"
"You wanted to?" Ciri echoed, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "Why didn't you?"
"My parents arranged for me to marry someone else, a man named Marciano von Baelor. He is the son of a merchant and they thought it was befitting of me to marry into a good family."
"But do you want to marry Marciano?"
"I suppose I don't have any other choice, now do I?" Rosalina sniffled tearfully, looking genuinely torn over the path her life had gone down. "Viktor is dead and this betrothal is all I have."
"But do you want to marry Marciano?"
"I… I really don't."
"Why don't you marry someone you like? Viktor would want you to be happy."
"You're right, he would," Rosalina sniffled in agreement. "Edmar must have told you all about him."
"Somewhat…"
"You're talking about Viktor like you knew him. You would have liked him."
"I'm sure," Ciri gritted, though she didn't agree. Rosalina was clearly a saint of a woman to think that Viktor was a good man. He was quite annoying as a ghost and she could only hope he hadn't been that unbearable when he had been alive.
"So how did Viktor get along with the rest of your family?"
"Edmar loved him and they got along really well. They were like brothers, though our parents didn't share the same sentiment towards him."
"Why is that?"
"They felt that it would be better if I could marry up in society and that Viktor wasn't good enough for me," Rosalina sighed. "They felt that I would be miserable as a fisherman's wife but I don't know how to be a merchant's wife, either."
"I'd like to speak to them myself. Can you point them out to me in the village?"
"They're both dead, so I'm afraid you can't."
"Oh. Well, can I speak to Marciano?"
"He lives in Novigrad, conducts all of his business there. You can find him in Gildorf."
Ciri found him in Gildorf, alright, though not at his shop like she had expected; if Rosalina knew where exactly Ciri had found him, she would have likely died on the spot. As morbid as it sounded, at least it would be much easier to hold a wedding if she and Viktor were both dead, though she didn't need two ghosts haunting Trouthelm's chapel, either, especially since Viktor was more than enough of a nuisance all on his own and the last thing she needed was dealing with a distraught and angry spirit, which Rosalina would likely become if she died after learning of her fiancé's betrayal.
Of course, Ciri couldn't hope to be so lucky to investigate Marciano on his own.
Viktor had insisted on coming along, and it made doing her job all the more difficult. Not because he got in the way or anything - Viktor carried himself very well for a ghost that talked tough - but she couldn't stand hearing him make comments in her ear every few moments, especially when she approached Marciano in the brothel.
"Bastard's cheating on Rosalina!" Viktor spat contemptuously. "If I were alive, I woulda knocked him a new one!"
Good thing you're not alive, then, Ciri thought.
Marciano was well-dressed, wearing fine, embroidered silks that looked foreign and shone softly from the sunlight pouring in through the windows of the Passiflora.
"Are you Marciano von Baelor?" Ciri had a description of the man that assured her she had the right man but she didn't know how better to get his attention.
"Depends on who's asking," the man said coyly as he took a sip of wine. His dark eyes glittered with danger like a viper's and Ciri could see the cruelty in his smile, which didn't reach his eyes.
"Me. I'm asking."
"And who are you?"
"A witcher."
"Well, witcher, I don't have any monsters that need killing but you're lucky that I like a beautiful woman with scars," Marciano cackled pompously. "Shows me that you've gotten around."
"Oh, I get around," Ciri sneered without missing a beat.
"I've never taken a witcheress before. Let me know if you'd like to… go for a ride."
"I'm a witcher , not a witcheress," she corrected in response to Marciano's challenge, eyes narrowing, "and you couldn't hope to take me, not even if your life depended on it."
"Is that so? Well, then, come upstairs, let's have a drink together and try to get to know each other."
"Just drinks. And I'll need you to answer some of my questions."
"Yes, yes, of course."
"Just say the word if you want me to possess him! I can make him run into a wall until he passes out, or jump from the balcony!" Viktor offered, though Ciri ignored him as she followed Marciano up the stairs to his room. "Nobody will ever know!"
"Control yourself," she hissed under her breath. The last thing she needed was to be implicated in a murder she hadn't committed just because Viktor couldn't control his ghostly temper.
"Did you say something, my dear witcheress?" Marciano asked, stopping where he stood on the stairs a few steps above her so he could look back at her.
"No, nothing," Ciri assured him while resisting the urge to glare at Viktor.
That damn ghost was more trouble than he was worth and she already wanted to be rid of him, if only so she could enjoy some peace and quiet instead of having him follow her around like a puppy that was smitten with her.
He just couldn't take the hint to leave her alone for a few hours so she could have some time alone with her thoughts without running the risk of having a ghostly intruder settle into her head, especially when there already wasn't much room to begin with. With how much Avallac'h occupied her thoughts despite her attempts to move forward from him, it was a miracle she had any space for anything else.
Marciano entered the room first and held the door open for her, allowing her to step into the furnished suite and then closed the door behind them for privacy. She heard the soft click of the lock but didn't feel scared at all. She had her powers and her sword, if need be, which she actually knew how to use unlike the dagger that Marciano wore on his belt for decoration and intimidation. He truly had no idea who he was dealing with.
"So what kind of questions does a witcheress have for a humble merchant like me?" Marciano asked as he sat down on the velvet red couch and gestured for her to sit next to him; Ciri ignored his suggestion and decided to stand with her arms crossed over her chest to make herself appear more intimidating.
"Yer definitely not humble, ya prick!" Viktor spat contemptuously. "Keep yer grubby paws off Rosalina or I'll do worse than haunt you!"
"Are you familiar with the name Viktor Aubellard?"
"Can't say I am," Marciano answered almost immediately, which made Ciri wonder if he had even taken the time to consider her question.
"Are you sure?"
"Fairly positive. I meet so many people every day that I can hardly remember all their names but somehow, I manage."
"So you would remember someone with the name of Viktor Aubellard if you met him?"
"I suppose I would if I could associate the name with a face," Marciano shrugged. "Why do you ask? Is this Vincent a friend of yours?"
"Viktor," Ciri corrected, "and I suppose you could say that. See, Viktor is dead. He was murdered."
"I-Is that so?"
Marciano's reaction to the information she had given him struck her as odd, especially with the way that he suddenly stiffened after being relaxed and calm just a few moments ago. The news clearly had an effect on him because he was suddenly nervous and fidgety and in his attempt to do damage control where none needed to be done, Ciri only became more suspicious.
"What happened to him?"
"Killed with a blow to the head. I think he was killed by an axe, likely the same one that belonged to him."
"I-I see…"
"Is something wrong?"
"I just remembered that I have some associates coming over to discuss some business so I'm going to have to ask you to leave, witcheress."
"Why?" Ciri challenged. "What's your hurry all of a sudden?"
"I already told you why. If you don't leave right now, you're going to be in a world of trouble," Marciano threatened as his hand flew to his belt.
But before he could draw his dagger, Viktor sprang to his feet and shouted over him, "Not on my watch!", before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Distracted by Viktor's sudden disappearance, Ciri's eyes flickered over at the chair where her ghostly companion had been sitting and when she looked back over at Marciano, she saw the danger in his eyes disappear as they turned glassy. Was he…
"You would hate to hear this bastard's thoughts!" Marciano suddenly blurted out, except… it wasn't Marciano. It sounded nothing like him, as his cadence was completely different from what it had been a few moments ago. And then it hit her.
"Viktor?"
"Aye, it's me!"
" What are you doing?" she hissed.
"Giving you time to search the place! Now hurry up!"
It was so odd hearing Viktor speak in Marciano's voice but Ciri nodded and proceeded to search the room while reminding herself not to panic because she was currently in Viktor's presence, not Marciano's , and didn't have to worry about the merchant suddenly calling for guards to arrest her for ransacking his room.
The room was quite large and it appeared that Marciano had made himself right at home and had no plans of leaving because his coffers were empty and all of his clothes had been laid out on the top of the dresser and in the drawers. She found nothing among his clothes and made her way across to the other side of the room to search his vanity, where she proceeded to sift through his jewelry.
"All this money and he doesn't appreciate Rosalina one bit. If I had been this rich, I would have spoiled her better than any duchess or queen. He doesn't deserve someone as wonderful as Rosalina."
"I have to agree with you there, Viktor," Ciri hummed.
"He just wants to marry her because she's very pretty but he looks down on her because he thinks she's low-born. He plans on getting rid of her once she's no longer young and beautiful. What a shame, he doesn't know how lucky he is. I wish I could have grown old with her."
Ciri opened her mouth but found herself at a loss as she stared blankly at the giant, gaudy rings in front of her. She wasn't sure why her heart suddenly hurt so badly.
"I'm sorry, Viktor…"
"It's fine. Ya don't have to feel sorry for me."
"I can't bring you back but I'll do my best to help you get married," Ciri said, mostly just in an attempt to fill the air rather than to remain silent. She didn't know what else to say and she hated that her heart hurt this badly.
"I know ya will." Viktor sounded confident. "Now, c'mon, stop feeling sorry for me and keep searchin'!"
"Who said I feel sorry for you?" Ciri heard Viktor laugh and she busied herself searching through the rest of Marciano's things, rolling her eyes at his gaudy rings and expensive necklaces.
The only jewelry she wore were her medallions because she felt that nothing else was necessary. Vesemir's medallion was her sole memento of her dear uncle and her Cat School medallion had an equally special place in her heart. Then again, if her medallions didn't have a purpose, she doubted she would have worn them in the first place.
Maybe I would have made an exception, Ciri thought.
After all, witchering was her whole life and after fighting so long and hard to get to the point where she could travel freely throughout the world, carrying a sword and slaying monsters instead of sitting on an uncomfortable throne while someone else called the shots from the shadows, she probably would have worn a big, fluffy ball gown if it was adorned with the silhouette of Wolf School's medallion, like carefully-placed gold leaf patterns she had seen on the dresses of noblewomen when she was still princess of Cintra.
Okay, maybe I would draw the line at a dress. I won't even be caught dead in a dress.
Ciri shut the lid on the jewelry box once she had finished searching through it and forcefully shoved aside the chair before pulling out the drawer of his dresser and dumping out its contents.
A flutter of papers spilled out as well as something heavy that landed with a loud thunk! on the hardwood. When Ciri swept away the papers and located the heavy item, she found herself holding a chain necklace made from a crude-looking black metal, which struck her as odd because it wasn't with all the other jewelry and it seemed… too plain for a show-off like Marciano.
"That's my necklace!" Viktor exclaimed.
"So Marciano took this as a memento of his kill…"
"Slimy bastard! And to think he wants to marry Rosalina!"
"At least our business here is done," Ciri concluded as she slipped the necklace into the pouch on her belt.
Or so she thought.
When she had stooped down to pick up the necklace, Ciri noticed another coffer beneath Marciano's bed and crossed the room in a matter of seconds, stooped down on hands and knees, and pulled it out. Unlike the other coffers, this one was secured with a hefty metal lock that refused to budge even when she tugged on it hard.
There was no breaking into the coffer without potentially damaging what was inside and the lock was proof that Marciano was trying to hide something.
"Does he have any keys on him?" she asked Viktor in desperate hope that she wouldn't have to pry the lock open by force.
"Nay, I can't find any keys, though he does have this. Here, a gift from me," Viktor said cheekily as he tossed her a coin pouch. Ciri, however, didn't move to catch it and it hit the hardwood with a loud, metallic clink!
"I'm not stealing his coin, you idiot."
"You're already stealing back my necklace. Might as well treat yourself!"
"No, Viktor. The necklace is different."
"You know," Viktor hummed, "maybe I'll stay in Marciano's body forever. I can have a second chance with Rosalina."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Ciri said as she shook her head.
"And why not?"
"There's a good chance that Marciano murdered you. Would you want to occupy his body, knowing that he stole your life from you?"
"I know it's not ideal but it's a way for me to live a happy, fulfilling life with Rosalina. I could give her everything she ever wanted and deserves…"
"Just think, Viktor: it won't be the same. If you have a child with her, it'll still be his blood," Ciri pointed out desperately. "You'll always have to hear his thoughts and Rosalina will be married to Marciano, not you. And what if something happens and you suddenly disappear from this spiritual plane one day? Then you'll leave her and any children 'you' have with a murderous maniac who doesn't love Rosalina."
Viktor faltered, stumbling on his words as he struggled to come up with a counterargument to what she had just said, and fell silent when he finally admitted defeat.
"I… I see your point."
Ciri stood up and let out a sigh.
The lock refused to budge and with no key in sight, she was going to have to find some other way to break it open and refused to leave until she did. There were no tools in the room and she knew that for sure, having searched the place top to bottom, but she did know someone who could loan or even sell her some tools so long as she asked nicely.
"I'll be right back. Can you behave while I'm gone?"
"Of course," Viktor assured her. Still, Ciri decided she would hurry because she didn't trust Viktor any farther than she could throw him and that wasn't very far, even if she used her powers to gather up necessary momentum to send him flying.
Ciri ducked into the bathroom and teleported into the alleyway behind the Passiflora, made a quick trip to Hattori's shop in The Bits, where she purchased a hammer from him, which he personally recommended as the best kind of tool for lock-breaking, and teleported back to Marciano's room in the brothel.
"Did you go somewhere? Where did you get that hammer?" Viktor asked when she emerged from the bathroom with a hammer in hand.
"Magic," Ciri answered sarcastically, though there was a hint of truth to her statement. She simply felt no need in giving Viktor all of the details to her life story or she would be here all day, telling him the long tale of Lara Dorren and the shockwaves caused by the spilling of her blood on the tragic, fateful day of her death.
"I didn't know witchers could do conjurin'!"
"Right, let's break the lock," Ciri remarked as she diverted the topic to the issue at hand.
She didn't really feel like talking about herself, the kind of magic that witchers were capable of casting, and just wanted to wrap up her contract, which already had her feeling tired and stretched thin even though it was far from over.
"May I?" Viktor requested, holding out his hand for the hammer.
Ciri passed it to him and stepped aside to give him too. so he could do the honors. He raised the hammer high above his head and brought it down; with a couple of powerful blows, the lock broke and Viktor was able to lift the lid, revealing a bloody axe inside.
"Marciano definitely killed you. There's no doubt about it."
"Right, then. We've got everything we need! Off we go, back to Trouthelm!" Viktor chirped cheerily, though Ciri could hear some strain in his voice.
As she busied herself with closing up the coffer, as she couldn't carry around a bloody axe in broad daylight without getting stopped by the Temple Guard under suspicion of murder, Ciri heard footsteps trailing away from her and was about to ask Viktor "where did you go?", wondering where he had taken Marciano, when she heard the locks by the balcony clicking into place. Viktor reappeared before her a few moments later with a smug look on his face and she blurted out,
"What did you do?"
"Locked him outside on the balcony to give us some time to leave," he reported cheekily. "No need to thank me."
"You bitch! I don't know what you did but you better open the door right this minute!" Marciano shouted as he banged on the door.
"The bugger's quite angry."
"He's going to draw unnecessary attention to us," Ciri hissed. "Go possess him again!"
She couldn't believe what she had just asked Viktor to do but it was necessary, or they would have the entire Temple Guard swarming the brothel in no time flat.
"But we're leaving for Trouthelm!"
"He knows that I figured out he killed you. We need to bring him with us so we can turn him in. Otherwise, who knows where he'll run off to!"
"Right, didn't think of that. Be right back."
Viktor disappeared once more and Ciri unlocked the door to the porch once he confirmed that he had possessed Marciano once more. And then, they were on their way.
Viktor, as Marciano, was strong enough to carry the coffer down the stairs, which allowed Ciri to follow after him without needing to strain herself lugging around a heavy trunk. They left the brothel and as they made their way back onto the street, Ciri told Viktor where Kelpie was stabled by Hattori's shop in hopes that the blacksmith knew someone who could loan them a beast of burden to pull a cart that could bring their murder weapon back to Trouthelm. She would have used Kelpie but she wasn't that kind of horse and would flat-out refuse to tug a cart and Viktor would need a horse as well, if he was going to have any chance of making it back to Trouthelm before nightfall.
"Let's go see if we can borrow a cart and maybe a donkey or horse from someone."
"Right-o."
"Can you carry the coffer to the blacksmith on Glory Lane? That's who we need to speak to."
"No trouble at all."
Ciri was positive that she and Viktor were out of the woods when she suddenly heard a familiar but dreaded voice call her name and not just any name but her elven name.
"Zireael, what were you doing in that brothel? And who is that dh'oine you're with?"
Ciri stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face the owner of the voice. When she saw it was Avallac'h, her lips turned downward into a scowl.
"I'm on official witcher business. None of your concern," she snapped. Why was it that the first time she teleported within Novigrad's walls, Avallac'h had found her in an instant? Ciri swore he had been waiting for her to exit the brothel, having felt the pulses of her magic as she teleported between the brothel and Hattori's shop for a necessary tool, and silently kicked herself for being so reckless.
Of course he would come find me now that I'm back in the city. I should have walked…
"Please don't speak to me that way-"
"I shall speak to you however I please! Now, if you don't mind, I have places to be-"
"Before you go, may we speak in private?" The witcher swore she sensed a pleading tone in Avallac'h's voice, which was unusual for the otherwise-stoic elf and made her long for a time when she was still able to interact with him without feeling the bitterness that had wrapped around her heart like thorns and made her long for a friendship that already felt like it had been damaged beyond repair because of their argument.
"You oughta talk to him," Viktor suggested, though it took all of Ciri's willpower not to roll her eyes, certainly not when she was in view of Avallac'h. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on the coffer."
She begrudgingly agreed and followed Avallac'h behind the brothel to the fountain so that they could speak without all of Novigrad eavesdropping on them.
Viktor was likely to nag her about it later on but as much as she wanted to just spin on her heel and storm off, she knew she couldn't run from her problems forever, either.
Now was as good of a time as any to find out if she and Avallac'h were done associating with each other for good.
Ciri wished she had it in her to admire the pretty flowers and glittering water spouting from the marbled fountain but she was just so agitated, both by the complicated facets of her current contract and Avallac'h's presence, that she just couldn't.
All she noticed were her own thoughts and the elven sage's presence on the bench across from her; she'd seated herself on the edge of the fountain, not wanting to sit anywhere near Avallac'h but of course, this meant that she had to look at him and she didn't know what was worse.
She hadn't been expecting to run into him and almost wished she hadn't, despite her promises to herself that she would seek him out eventually. Destiny had taken over and decided to reunite them after so long, though it hadn't been nearly long enough for Ciri.
Get on with it, elf, she thought in hopes that he would somehow telepathically read her mind. You wanted this chat, you talk first.
"Is that Wolf School armor? It… suits you well."
"Quit the chit chat, Avallac'h." She didn't want to hear compliments about her armor; it wasn't why she had agreed to speak to him.
If they were going to talk things out, they needed to do it now, before she lost her patience and left.
"Very well. I haven't seen you in ages, Zireael," Avallac'h started, sounding almost… wistful? "I thought you'd return by the end of the day, especially since you were injured, but you disappeared."
"I'm surprised you're still here. Thought you would have gone back to Tir ná Lia," Ciri snarked. She managed to resist the urge to add, "to that she-elf you seemed to like so much", but only because that would have been too cruel of her. After all, Eris was a figure of the past and that was where Ciri preferred that she stay.
"I stayed in Novigrad even after you left."
"Why?"
"I was hoping to see you again."
"And if you didn't?"
"I would have waited as long as needed."
"You would have been waiting for quite a long time. Fortunately or not, elves live a long time." She was aware of how callous her words sounded but she couldn't bring herself to care.
"Why do you speak to me with such disdain? I thought we were going to talk-"
"You don't know?" Ciri snapped as she jumped to her feet. "You seriously don't remember what you said to me that day?"
"It seems you forgot what you said to me as well," he snapped, jabbing a finger in her direction as his calm composure shattered.
"I would say that what you said was far worse!"
"You become angry when I express concern for you but you would likely be just as furious if I showed none!"
"Because it's just about the Elder Blood with you! That's all you care about!" Ciri snapped in frustration. "You obviously didn't care that I got bit by a Katakan! Admit it, I'm just the vessel-"
"Do you really believe that?" Avallac'h asked. The meaning in his voice was hard to decipher but it felt like he was halfway between taunting and interrogating her. His voice never sounded nearly as sweet as she would have liked it to be and couldn't help but wonder if he had been this way with Lara, or if her betrayal had turned him into this cold elf obsessed with the Hen Ichaer.
Or did you run away because he was always this way? Where the only thing that seemed to matter to him was your blood? Ciri silently asked Lara. If that had been the case, she couldn't really blame her ancestor for making the choices she had.
"Yes, I really believe that! If I didn't have the Elder Blood or if there was a way that you could remove it from my body, then it really wouldn't matter whether I lived or died!"
"Zireael…"
Ciri's face fell into her hands - what are we even doing here? she wanted to blurt out - but suddenly found that she couldn't find the words to articulate how she truly felt.
This conversation was already starting to feel like a repeat of their argument and she hated how uncomfortable it made her feel. A part of her wished they could just put this all behind them and pretend they had never argued, but it wasn't so simple and it wouldn't have been fair to herself if she allowed everything to be swept under the rug, either.
"The Elder Blood is a part of you, but it is not the only thing about you."
"So you realized I'm more than just Lara's descendant, that I have interests and a personality and that I'm not some el-"
"I'm very aware that you have a personality," Avallac'h remarked, though he didn't sound mocking in the slightest. Ciri didn't want to get her hopes up but she swore his voice sounded… admiring? "A very fiery one but there's nothing wrong with that."
"I'm surprised you can even put up with me."
"Whoever said I was putting up with you? I find your personality quite charming, even when you get angry. You are you, Zireael. You are not Lara, and Lara is not you."
"I don't know how to feel about what you just said."
How could Avallac'h be so talented at saying the most cryptic things, which made her doubt whether he was giving her a compliment or just stating a fact? Of course she wasn't Lara… but what did he mean by, 'Lara is not you?'
Did she even want to know?
Why can't you be straightforward for once? she wanted to shout at him.
"Zireael, you seem… perplexed."
"I'm… I am confused," she admitted. "There's so much I wish you could clarify but I don't have the time right now."
"Are you in a hurry?"
"I am. I need to hold a wedding for a ghost and bring his killer to justice," she sighed, though part of her really would have liked to stay. Unfortunately, the day was waning and she wanted to be done with this burdensome contract, collect her payment, and retire at an inn for the night.
Avallac'h shot her a peculiar look and for a moment, Ciri was worried that he would ask her to take even more time to explain the messy situation she'd found herself in, but all he said was,
"Do you require assistance?"
"I don't, but I wouldn't mind sitting down to talk more afterwards. Where can I find you?"
"At my shop."
"I'll be there as soon as I'm finished with my work," Ciri promised as she forced herself to her feet. The sooner she got this wedding over with, the better. "See you soon."
"Va fail."
Avallac'h could only watch as Ciri returned to a finely dressed man carrying a coffer on his broad shoulders, as if he had no regard for the expensive silks he was wearing, and tried to ignore the spike of envy that shot through him when she told him, "let's go" before leading the way. He couldn't help but feel some disdain for him, having heard two of his customers complaining to each other about how he was well-known for having benefited from the mage burnings and persecutions of non-humans, and wondered what Ciri was doing with someone that awful.
He could only hope that she knew who she was dealing with and was interacting with that man only because she had no other choice.
"You should have kissed him! What better way to make up than to… kiss and make up!" Viktor babbled once they were barely out of earshot and all Ciri could do was roll her eyes.
"Shut up, Viktor."
The ride back to Trouthelm was a quiet one. Ciri heard nothing from Viktor, who kept to himself and didn't make any comments as he rode alongside her on a horse they had borrowed, which pulled a cart holding the coffer containing their murder weapon.
She was grateful, for it gave her enough space to be alone with her thoughts.
She tried to focus on her contract, going over the various steps and requirements for such a complex, elaborate ritual - she was going to need to burn a bundle of herbs composed of lavender, juniper, and mistletoe and find a willing stand-in for Viktor that would help serve as a conduit between the spiritual plane and the mortal one - but she needed to be able to accomplish that without putting any humans in harm's way or placing too much stress on Viktor, for she didn't want him to turn into a vengeful specter at the last moment if something in the ritual went wrong.
She liked him the way he was as a ghost, despite how irritating he could be at times.
When they stopped to give their horses a short rest and time to drink water, Ciri even took the time to skim the index of Magnificent Monsters and Where To Discover Them and then reread the chapter on specters for any insight into such a complex matter but unfortunately, the author had no answers to the questions she had, such as, "how does one marry off a ghost?", besides the observations already written in the chapter on ghosts, specters, and other supernatural beings that she could already recite from memory.
Once they were about half-a-mile out from Trouthelm, Ciri and Viktor both hopped down from their horses and she grabbed a spare rope out of the cart and tied it first to Kelpie's saddle, making sure that it wouldn't unwind, and then, using one of those impenetrable sailor's knots Eskel had taught her, bound Marciano's wrists so that he had no hope of escaping once he regained control of his body.
"You can dispossess him now," Ciri said once she tugged on the knots to ensure they would remain in place.
"Let's get this bastard."
Even if she couldn't see him in his ghostly form, Ciri would have known the exact moment that Viktor released his possession on Marciano because he went from having a calm disposition to cursing and yelling at her in the blink of an eye.
"Unhand me, you bitch! You don't think I don't know what you did to me?"
"What, what did I do to you?" Ciri challenged as she climbed into her mare's saddle once more.
"You hexed me! You took over my body and made me do strange things, think strange thoughts!"
"Oh, please, if I really hexed you, I would have made you juggle and do a silly dance for me! You're lucky you ran into a witcher and not a vengeful sorceress!"
"Where are you taking me?"
"To Trouthelm. It's time for you to confess your crimes to the lord of the lands."
"What? Unhand me right now!"
"Not a chance," Ciri snapped as she grabbed the dagger on her belt and pointed it straight at Marciano. "If you so much as struggle or touch my horse, I will stab you in the eye!"
"I'll tell everyone what you did!" Marciano gasped.
"Go ahead, tell them! It's not as if they'll believe you!"
"You think you, you witch? I'll have you burned!"
"Go ahead and try," Ciri taunted. "In fact, let's see who's faster: me having you hung for murder, or you finding enough people to help build a pyre to burn me alive. Last time I checked, you're the one who's tied up. Oh, and don't try to struggle! That's a Zerrikanian merchant's knot - it won't unravel no matter what you do!"
With that, Ciri encouraged her horse to start moving at a trot, as Trouthelm wasn't far. She considered making Kelpie gallop to mess with Marciano's head and put some fear into his heart, even for a few moments, but that would have been too cruel, even for scum of the earth like Marciano, who deserved whatever punishment the lord would assign him. It wasn't her place to be his executioner, only the person who brought him to justice.
"Have you any news? A-ah, Marciano," Edmar stuttered when they arrived, looking a bit spooked at the sight of the merchant. "Apologies, I didn't see you there at first!"
"No need to apologize," Ciri remarked as she hopped down from her horse. "He's no threat."
"What's the meaning of all this?"
"I know who killed Viktor."
"Who?"
"Could you go find the lord to these lands first? There's plenty that he needs to hear."
"Best of luck to ya," said Viktor. Ciri silently said "thanks" back and prayed that she had uncovered enough evidence to bring Viktor's killer to justice.
After some time passed, Edmar returned with an older-looking man with plenty of grey hairs in his beard and hair; he wore fine clothes made of clearly expensive silks that set him apart from the peasants he ruled over but nothing overly gaudy like Marciano, whose numerous rings and big, heavy necklace immediately drew attention to him, as if he were flaunting his wealth. He had patient eyes, and Ciri could only hope that he would take the time to hear her out.
"Lord Vesserad, this is the witcher we hired to handle the haunting," Edmar supplied as he introduced them.
"You know, witcher, when I granted Edmar permission to hang up a notice about the haunting in the chapel, I did not expect anyone to go hunting for a murderer," the lord remarked. He seemed to have connected many of the dots just from seeing Marciano tied to her mare.
"Trust me, good sir, it's all connected."
"Is it? Very well, show me."
Ciri wasted no time in showing the lord the evidence she had discovered, climbing into the carriage and lifting the lid off the coffer so she could show him the bloody axe inside. She also handed him Viktor's necklace, which made Rosalina gasp in shock.
"That belonged to Viktor!"
"He went missing some months back, Lord Vesserad," Edmar said. "Ciri found his body in the swamps earlier today."
"Where did you find the axe?"
"In Marciano's room at the Passiflora," Ciri supplied.
"The Passiflora?" Rosalina echoed in shock. She looked ready to faint and it was only because of the support Edmar gave her, allowing her to lean on him, that prevented her from collapsing in a heap.
"What tipped you off that he was the one who did it?" asked Vesserad, ignoring Rosalina.
"He started acting strangely once I told him that Viktor was dead. He knew that I figured it out and tried to draw his weapon on me."
"But how do you even know she can be trusted? What if that coffer belongs to her? Witchers are demons in the flesh, they cast hexes and make you believe lies!" Marciano shouted.
"I barely have enough coin to last me in between contracts and you think I could afford a gaudy coffer such as this? I live out of a satchel and sleep at campfires most of the time!" Ciri scoffed.
"It is as she said. Compared to you, Mr. von Baelor, she does not live a very extravagant life," Vesserad agreed. "Now then, if that is all you have for me, witcher-"
Ciri's heart sank. Was the evidence she brought forth and her investigation into the matter not enough?
"Marciano von Baelor, you will be hanged on the morrow. Guards, take him away!"
Justice is served, Ciri thought triumphantly. After collecting the payment from the lord, who she assured that the chapel was no longer haunted, just because it was simpler than having to explain that Viktor was still hanging around, she went over to speak to her ghostly friend.
"It's almost time for you to get married. Are you excited- hey, is something wrong, Viktor?" Ciri couldn't help but notice that her favorite ghost looked rather… despondent, deep in thought as if something was bothering him.
"Well, while I was in Marciano's body, I dug through his mind and recovered some of the memories I'd lost," he revealed.
"And?"
"I remembered telling him that he shouldn't marry Rosalina because I loved her, and he responded with 'as if love matters in a marriage?' before complaining about how I wanted to knock him a new one."
"But?" Ciri wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
"But I didn't knock him a new one. I told him he would lose Rosalina with that attitude but then… I saw myself die. It was so vivid… and scary."
"I'm so sorry, Viktor."
Ciri could not imagine how Viktor was feeling at this new revelation or how he was keeping it together so well. As a ghost, it was just as likely for him to completely lose whatever control he had left and become a truly fearsome specter. After everything they'd gone through, Ciri did not want them to part ways like that.
She wished to speak with him some more, to try and uplift his spirits but before she could, Rosalina approached her once the other villagers had dispersed and gone back to their business.
"So is that it? Has the haunting been dealt with?"
"Well, almost… there's just one more thing I need to do," Ciri admitted uneasily. "And I need your help to do it. Could you keep it between us?"
"Of course," Rosalina promised.
Ciri took the time to explain exactly what she needed from Rosalina and could only hope that she would not run off screaming that she was a witch trying to cast a hex on her. Instead, the woman listened intently and then voiced her approval of the idea.
"Right-o. I'll be in the chapel," Viktor informed her before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"So you see, you could look at it as a wedding," she admitted. "Er… with a ghost."
"With Viktor's ghost? Is he here with us right now?"
"He's waiting for you in the chapel."
"Oh, dear! I'm not presentable-"
"I think you look lovely, exactly as you are," Ciri assured her, "and Viktor will think so, too."
It took her a few more moments to convince Rosalina that she looked beautiful - every impression she had gotten from Viktor was that he loved her exactly as she was, without needing any additional frills - but along the way, Viktor's bride had gathered a bouquet of flowers from the flora and fauna growing around the village and was finally ready by the time they made it to the chapel on the edge of the village.
She took her place on the right side of the podium while Viktor stood on the left with his stand-in, a white rooster Ciri had managed to procure for the ceremony. She lit the herbs, placed them in a pewter bowl on the podium, and then looked to her bride- and groom-to-be.
"Right, everything is in order. We can begin whenever you're ready."
"Can Viktor hear me? I would like to tell him some things before we start."
"Yes, he can," Ciri assured her. "I'll tell you what he says."
"Well, Viktor," Rosalina sighed, "I wish things could have turned out differently. I wish I had known the truth about Marciano somehow… so that I could have prevented you from dying that day."
"Rosalina, I… I also wish things could have turned out differently. I wish we could actually be getting married, in the way that it would have actually counted."
"He wishes things could have been different, that he could actually be getting married to you right now."
"As do I," Rosalina admitted. "He would have been an amazing husband, I know it."
"Which is why… Rose, I want you to be happy. Once this is over, go out into the world and marry someone you love. Find someone good, someone who's the complete opposite of that ass Marciano."
"He wants you to be happy. Go find someone that you love to spend the rest of your life with."
"I-I… I will. Once I'm ready."
"Ciri, when we're done here, go to my hut and move the rug under my dresser. I want you to give what's in there to Rosalina."
Ciri promised him that she would do that and then married them off. Once the ceremony was done and she had recited the right words to give Viktor a proper send-off, Ciri watched as he faded away with a wide smile on his goofy face until only she and Rosalina remained in the chapel, which suddenly felt terribly empty.
His last instructions remained stuck in her head and as soon as the wedding was done with, Ciri went to his home and pushed aside the old, tattered rug, where she found a small chest filled to the brim with coins, which she handed to Rosalina.
"Viktor must have been saving that for you."
"O-oh…" Rosalina choked on a sob. "I cannot believe this! Oh, Viktor…"
"He truly loved you."
"Y-yes… yes, he did!"
"Take care, Rosalina."
"Thank you for everything, Ciri. Here, from me… and Viktor," Rosalina said as she reached into the chest and handed her some coins.
It was difficult to refuse her and after she had pocketed the coin, Ciri left Trouthelm and made the long ride back to Novigrad, feeling relieved yet heavy-hearted all the same.
When she arrived at Avallac'h's shop, the sign on the door had already been flipped to read CLOSED, which prompted her to go through the back door because he never allowed customers into the store once he was finished for the day and she felt it was safe to assume that the front door was locked.
The back door, however, wasn't unlocked and she walked in, where she was greeted by the elven sage himself. She could tell that he also felt apprehensive about being in the same room as her again after so long. It seemed that even the well-spoken, highly educated Aen Saevherne was at a loss for words, just like a certain silver-haired witcher.
"Zireael-"
"Avallac'h, I'm sorry for being so cruel," she blurted out. "I assumed that the Elder Blood was all that mattered to you and I was blind to the fact that you do care about me. Otherwise, you would have given me up to Eredin a long time ago."
"The thought never crossed my mind, Zireael. Not once."
"Never?" she echoed.
"Never. I would go to the ends of the earth for you."
Ciri let out a shaky yet gleeful laugh. "I suppose that's more than I ever thought I would hear coming from your mouth. And I suppose you already have."
She was still here after all, not buried under a headstone next to Vesemir and Leo, and Avallac'h was one of the many individuals she had to thank for the fact that Eredin had not succeeded in using her to meet his ends.
She moved forward, closing off some of the space between them but hesitated at the last moment, wondering if it was okay for her to hug him, but then he opened his arms and she fell into his embrace. He smelled like cedar, pine, and countless other herbs and not only did the combination of scents remind her of home but they had been one of her few comforts while on the run. Whenever he had been near, Ciri had always felt content and safe, even in the most stressful and dangerous of situations.
"So how did your contract go?"
"It went better than expected," Ciri reported. "Nobody got hurt and I put away a murderer."
"Good to hear. And did I hear you correctly when you said you had to marry off a ghost?"
"That is exactly correct."
"Were I not friends with a witcher, I would have never believed you."
"Good thing you are," Ciri quipped, lips curved up into a smile that Avallac'h returned.
"Now then, are you hungry? Would you like to go eat something?"
"Yes, let me just leave my things upstairs."
"Go ahead."
Ciri sprinted up the stairs and as she stepped into Avallac'h's bedroom, intending to stay just long enough to place her satchel inside the room, she happened to look up and saw a wooden box sitting on the dresser by his bed. It prompted her to dig into her bag and pull out her music box before walking over to the dresser, where she opened hers and then Avallac'h's and smiled at the sight of the girl and her prince being together once more.
She eventually realized that she must have gotten too distracted looking at the figures in the music boxes because she heard Avallac'h knock on the door and call out,
"Zireael, are you coming?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes, coming!" Ciri called as she snapped out of her daze.
She spun on her heel and left the room as she followed after Avallac'h, leaving behind the princess on the dresser, who stood next to her prince once more.