"Lambert!" Ciri greeted cheerfully, running towards the Witcher and throwing her arms around him warmly. Lambert enthusiastically returned the embrace, dropping the reins of his horse so he could pick Ciri up and swing her around before setting her back down on the stone courtyard as Eskel approached them.

"Lambert, it is so good to see you," Eskel embraced the younger Witcher, and Lambert sighed and rolled his eyes playfully in Ciri's direction.

"Yes, it's good to see you too, you overgrown lump. How was your year?"

"The same as always, and you?"

"The same."

It was their customary greeting at the start of each winter at Kaer Morhen, the familiarity of the conversation reassuring the two that the other was well.

"Where's Geralt?"

"Inside, he's finally brought his bard here for the winter," Eskel smiled.

Lambert beamed, "finally, no more sad pining. What's he like, as annoying as Geralt says?"

Eskel and Ciri exchanged a look, and Lambert frowned, "What, what's wrong?"

"We were attacked on the way up the mountain," Ciri explained softly, her eyes downcast. Lambert took his horse's reins again and the trio began to walk to the stables.

"I saw the scorched earth from where somebody had burned something big…what was it?"

"Wyvern, I burned it the other day. Geralt was hit by the tail in the arm, and he'd sent Ciri ahead with Roach so he didn't have his potions. He wasn't well by the time I found him…but the bard…I've never seen someone so badly hurt and yet live. Looked like the Wyvern had grabbed him like a dog with a bone…blood everywhere…internal bleeding, cracked ribs…it was lucky that Ciri had a way of contacting Yennefer. She was able to patch him up mostly, but he's still recovering."

Lambert shook his head and the trio busied themselves with unloading Lambert's horse and getting them settled. Ciri hurried off to see if she could find an apple to feed Lambert's horse, and some for the other horses too so they didn't feel left out. Eskel and Lambert watched her go.

"How bad was it, really?"

"Bad…like I said, I've never seen someone hurt that badly and still live. The thing is…he was already showing signs of trying to heal before Yennefer got here, and I'm still amazed he lasted long enough after the attack for Ciri to get up here, tell us, and for me to get down to where he and Geralt were. I was convinced he was going to die in my arms when we riding back up."

"How did he survive, if he was hurt that badly?"

"Yennefer did some sort of…I don't know, some spell…it looks like Jaskier's father was a Witcher."

"But...that's not possible."

"According to Yennefer, it is. She seems to think it wouldn't be too complicated for a mage to temporarily make a Witcher fertile."

"If it's so easy, why hasn't she done it to Geralt yet?" Lambert frowned, "isn't she desperate to be a mother?"

"She's got bigger fertility issues than us. Even if she did something to Geralt it wouldn't work on her end of things, or, at least, that's what I've picked out from the odd comment. I havent's wanted to ask, I didn't want to risk annoying her" Eskel told him. Lambert nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, fair enough. She's scary when she's pissed off. What are we going to do about the bard then, if he's half Witcher…does he…is he like us?"

Eskel shook his head as Ciri came back into sight, "He looks like a normal human, acts like a human, smells and sounds like a human, otherwise I'm sure Geralt would have caught on by now after over twenty years. Only obvious sign is that he doesn't age like a human. Jaskier is 42, but he looks like he's fresh out of college, in his early twenties maybe. Geralt had considered maybe some elf blood, but never brought it up. We've figured that he has much better healing than a human has as well, but he's still recovering, so we haven't been able to really see if he's got anything else…different yet."

"Do we know who it was?"

"No," Eskel replied as Ciri fed the horses their apples and began to rub down Lambert's horse, allowing the two to gather Lambert's belongings and head towards the keep.

"Yennefer is planning on portalling down to Lettenhove tomorrow to see if she can find some more information. I was planning on going with her. Jaskier's already told Geralt that he won't go back there, so I don't know if Geralt is going to come with, or stay behind with Jaskier and Ciri. If nothing else, we might find out which school."

Vesemir was waiting at the keep's main door for the pair, and he embraced Lambert warmly, before allowing Lambert and Eskel to go up to Lambert's rooms while Vesemir began to prepare their evening meal. Once he'd put his things down in his room, Lambert surprised Eskel by turning and walking back out of his room.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to see this half Witcher bard who I've heard so much about, obviously," Lambert rolled his eyes in reply. Eskel sighed and followed Lambert from the room.

Lambert didn't need Eskel's assistance to know where Geralt's bard had been put. Vesemir had been gradually preparing the room across the hall from Geralt's for Jaskier for years, and the bard's injuries would not have changed where he was put.

"Wait, before you go in there…you need to know something," Eskel whispered as the approached the door to Jaskier's room. Lambert stopped.

"What, are he and Geralt finally fucking?"

"No, they're not…at least I don't think so. Just…don't bring up his family, ok?"

"The bard's?"

"Yeah…they're…there is a reason why he hasn't seen them since he was nine and we'll leave it at that. Just, go gentle on him and Geralt, they've been through a lot lately."

Lambert nodded in understanding, and they continued at a less rushed pace. After Eskel gave him a pointed look Lambert rolled his eyes and knocked on the door before he opened it.

Geralt was on his feet in a moment pulling Lambert into a hug.

"I was beginning to worry you weren't coming."

Lambert knew Geralt well enough to know exactly what Geralt was really saying…that Geralt had been worried that Lambert wouldn't come to Kaer Morhen this winter, or that Geralt was worried that something had happened to the younger Witcher during the year, and he wouldn't come back ever again.

Given their profession there was always a possibility of one of them not coming back, and all of the Witchers were aware of it, all of them remembering Witchers whom had survived the purge, and who had returned to the keep each winter, but then had suddenly stopped coming. It had been years since the Wolf School had lost a Witcher, but all of them knew it only took one hunt to go badly in order for the number of Wolf Witchers of Kaer Morhen to drop once again.

"I had to come and make sure you hadn't made too much of a mess with Ciri," Lambert teased.

Geralt growled, swatting at Lambert playfully. Lambert dodged around Geralt easily and approached the bed. Jaskier looked younger than he expected, having been hearing about the bard for so long, but then, Eskel had warned him about Jaskier's youthful looks.

The bard was awake, propped up against pillows, and looking curiously at them, a smile spreading across his face. He wore a loose-fitting shirt that Lambert was sure was one of Geralt's, and he could see bandages poking out from beneath the shirt, evidence of the wounds inflicted on him by the Wyvern.

"You must be Lambert," the bard greeted with a nod and a smile

"And you must be Geralt's bard," Lambert replied with his own nod in greeting.

"Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove, but you can call me Jaskier."

"I definitely prefer Jaskier. So…Geralt finally dragged you up here to freeze your balls off with us for a winter?"

"Ah," Jaskier's cheeks tinged pink, "I didn't take much in the way of persuading, to be honest."

"He's not wrong," Geralt nodded, 'I'd barely gotten through inviting him and he was saying yes and asking what he should bring with him."

"I Promise you this, once I am fully recovered, I will regale you with my full repertoire of songs, and I will be open to requests. I hope to do some composing while I am here, so I hope you both," Lambert waved his hand at Lambert and Eskel," have a think about any hunts you've been on that deserve to be immortalised through song or poetry…and I do hope you don't stint on the details like somebody," Jaskier gave Geralt a mock stern look.

Geralt rolled his eyes, "whats the point, if I give you details you still end up changing things around so everything sounds better."

"That's not the point, and you know it." Jaskier replied. Lambert couldn't help the smile that was spreading across his face at the bard's sass directed towards Geralt. Teasing Eskel and Geralt was a favourite hobby of Lambert's, it had been since before he underwent the trials. Having someone to work with was going to make the winter so much more entertaining…and if Geralt's witch friend was right, and Jaskier was half Witcher, it meant that hopefully Jaskier would be coming to Kaer Morhen for many winters to come.

Geralt groaned and looked at Eskel, as if he knew exactly what thoughts were going through Lambert's mind.

"I don't like the look of this, they're getting on too well."

Eskel nodded, his face pinched, "I have a bad feeling about this."