~ Monster That Kills Your Soulmate ~
"If the gods could grant me one blessing, it would be to take you off my hands!"
Jaskier's vision blurs at this pronouncement, and not because of the tears that well up in his eyes upon hearing it. The mountain fades away, a misty forest appearing in its place.
A shadowy creature with many long, branching antlers reaches out an inhumanly elongated arm and slides its claws under the band of his flower crown.
"No," he begs, tears streaming down his cheeks. "No, please."
The monster pulls.
The crown snaps apart.
Jaskier wakes up three days later at the Temple of Melitele in Ellander, with no idea of how he got there.
It's the middle of summer when Lambert shows up at Kaer Morhen, fist clenched around blackened blossoms of thistle and feverfew, and asks Vesemir if he's heard anything about 'the monster that kills your soulmate.'
Vesemir doesn't respond immediately, just looks at the handful of ruined flowers with a questioning gaze.
"They're not mine," Lambert says defensively.
Whatever happened to the person that the crown belonged to clearly has left him shaken, though.
Geralt does not see the creature snatch Jaskier away. He turns his back on the bard after saying his piece. A mere moment later, the dandelions wilt and fall from his flower crown.
Geralt puts a hand to his head, discovering that the rest of the crown is still intact. He turns around, not knowing what to expect. There is nothing to see. Jaskier is simply gone.
Ciri was grateful to Cahir for saving her life, but nothing more than that.
Perhaps, with time and patience and understanding, she might have grown to feel something more for him. But he insisted on pushing the issue, talking about how they were soulmates and destined for one another, and not giving one whit of the support she needed to process the loss of her family and home.
And so she ended up yelling at him - what the words were, she doesn't exactly recall now, only that it was a bitter and blistering rejection. She turned and ran into the night, and in the corners of her eyes the scenery changed into a misty wood and she felt a slight tug at her temple and then flower petals were rolling down her back and he was still chasing her and she kept running until she could not hear him behind her anymore.
Ciri wakes from her nightmare, relieved to find that the person sleeping beside her is one of the dryads of Brokilon Forest, not the man who haunts her nightmares.
More and more rumors of the Monster That Kills Your Soulmate are cropping up among the general population of the continent, and it isn't long before there are contracts posted asking for witchers to hunt the creature down.
Geralt wonders, not for the first time, if Jaskier was killed by the creature. He can't bring himself to ask Yenenfer about it.
A letter arrives on Tissaia's desk, addressed to her in an unfamiliar hand. The contents of the letter seem unremarkable at first, but after the formalities are taken care of, there is a terse request for any information she might know about 'The Monster That Kills Your Soulmate' with the creature's description capitalized as though it were an official name. This tells her more about the severity of the situation than anything else.
The letter is signed simply:
-Vesemir
Eskel is the next wolf witcher to show up at the keep out of season, his head ringed by a crown of bright poppies and roses of a red so dark they are nearly black.
His questions about soulmates are more deep and pointed than any that Geralt or Lambert had previously asked, leading Vesemir to dig out all the books he has that mention anything about soulmates. Eskel proceeds to ransack Kaer Morhen's library for any book that mentions Melitele at all.
Whatever answer he is looking for isn't uncovered by this research.
Eventually the subject of Vesemir's soulmate is brought up.
"We met once, centuries ago," Vesemir answers, "and have chosen to live apart since then."
It does not escape Eskel's notice that he is being cagey about his soulmate's identity.
"When did you meet?"
"Centuries ago," Vesemir repeats.
"When exactly?"
Vesemir sighs. "When I was young, in my first year out on the Path. It was at an inn in some backwoods town. I was standing there with a stinking bag of monster parts, bleeding into my armor, trying to scrape together enough coin selling off trophies from my hunt that I would be able to patch myself up and have dinner that night." He pauses. "I felt my medallion vibrate as she walked in. Everyone turned to look at her. We caught each other's eyes, and... well. Everyone was staring for a different reason then. It certainly didn't feel like a goddess's blessing to me, and I'd say my soulmate agreed with that based on how quickly she turned around and left."
"Who is she?" Eskel asks, frustration bleeding into his tone.
"She's a sorceress."
Eskel leaves it at that, not inquiring which sorceress specifically is bonded to Vesemir.
Tissaia has learned what the creature really is, and she allows the panic induced by that revelation to guide her actions. There is no time to waste waiting for a letter to be delivered (not that she has the patience or composure to sit and write one at this point, anyway).
She opens a portal that brings her directly to her soulmate's side.
Vesemir's medallion vibrates, and his hand is on his sword hilt before he sees who is stepping out of the portal.
He releases his grip on it as she says without preamble, "I received your letter."
There is no trace of cold mask of indifference she wore at their first meeting. Her expression is open - panicked and fearful.
He starts to reach for her but stops himself, his hand dropping back to his side.
"You know what the creature is," he says.
"Yes."
"And how to fight-"
"No," she cuts him off.
"But we-"
"Don't you dare," she snarls, stepping close to wrap him in a fierce embrace. "That creature is a servant of the gods, and is one of the few things other than death that can release someone from a soulmate bond!"
He is tense and still, and she doesn't know whether he's more shocked by the information or her actions.
Slowly, carefully, he slides one arm around her waist and holds her close.
"That monster kills people," Vesemir says.
"It kills people who take advantage of the bond to abuse their soulmate. If someone simply wishes to be unbound from their soulmate, it breaks the bond without killing either of them."
Yennefer and Geralt stand side by side in the misty woodland where the Guardian of Soulmates dwells, waiting for the creature to appear.
They are prepared to fight if they have to.
It approaches out of the mist.
The creature heaves out a gusty sigh when it sees who has come to visit.
"I freed him," it says, and they both know he is referring to Jaskier, who they recently learned was indeed still alive. "There is nothing else I can do for the two of you."
"You can't... break this?"
The creature's many-branched antlers rattle as it shakes its head.
"That binding is djinn magic. Not within my purview. If you want it removed, find a djinn."
It's difficult for Vesemir to consider what he's going to do about all the inquiries from people who want a witcher to slay the soulmate-killing monster when his own soulmate is standing here pressed against him, clinging to him like she's afraid he'll disappear as soon as she lets go of him.
"You've never wished for our bond to be dissolved?" he asks softly.
He feels the ivy leaves in her hair slide against the underside of his jaw as she shakes her head.
Tissaia pulls back slightly, so she can look at her soulmate's face as she says, "And neither have you, or-"
Their tender moment comes to an abrupt end as Vesemir's head snaps toward the door and his free hand grips the hilt of his silver sword.
"Okay, I realize there's no good time for this, but-"
Eskel freezes with the door halfway open.
"Eskel, what-" Vesemir starts at the same time that Eskel says, "Wait, who is-"
Eskel spots the ivy in the woman's hair and realizes exactly who she must be.
"Your soulmate's here?"
"Yes," Vesemir replies tersely. He drops his arm from around her waist, and takes a half-step to the side. His hand is still on his sword hilt. "I wrote to her to see if she had any information about the soulmate-killing monster and she came to tell me what it really was."
"Glad that mystery is solved, then," Eskel says, with no small amount of sarcasm. "Going to introduce me? I brought my soulmate to meet you too, by the way."
He pushes the door open further and leads his soulmate into the room.
The distinctive clop of hooves tells them her species even though she's wearing a dress with a full skirt to conceal her legs from view, and the flower crown nearly obscures her horns entirely.
"Your soulmate is a succubus?"
"I didn't think that was possible."
"I didn't think it was either, and yet here we are."
~end~