Somehow this took longer to write, made three copies, as I wasn't sure how to start. Or maybe I'm running a bit low on the writing juice after working in tight pace, but you gotta hit the iron while it's hot right? Anyways, this was getting a bit long for my taste so I decided to cut it here for now.
Hopefully you'll enjoy?
It was drizzling outside that night. Making soft pitter-pattering against a window, the sound filling the room. Letho's rest was disturbed and he vaguely sensed it wasn't even morning yet. Annoyed of the time he was woken at, the witcher turned to see the cause. The irritation of his dispelled straight away. Irene, the little one, was tossing next to him. She was whimpering and kicking covers away. An obvious nightmare. Something they both had become accustomed to from each other. Sitting up the Viper placed hand on the child's chest, gently jolting: "Hey, kid." In her night terror, Irene turned away and yelped: "N- No, let go!" "Irene," he tried again, louder this time and touching her red hair. The reaction he got was something he wasn't ready for. Eye flashing open, full of fright and lingering images, the girl bit his arm. Hard enough that he yanked away with a snarl. This snapped the girl out of it and to realize her mistake. Tasting copper and seeing the man hurt, made Irene's heart drop. Holding his arm Letho saw the shallow but bleeding wound, then the kid slipping away. She scrambled under the bed. The witcher, covering the minor injury with his sleeve, sat there for a moment.
The attack had surprised them both. Before Irene had merely cried and wriggled, when woken from her nightmares. Going feral like that, had never before happened. After short waiting Letho got up and kneeled next to the bed. He looked at what reminded of a scared animal hiding in a hole. The kid stared back at him and slowly moved away. Showing regret.
"Please. I'm sorry," the child plead: "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry I didn't meant to bite! I didn't do it on purpose, please-"
"Irene, it's okay," he gently but firmly cut between, ignoring the numb aching of his arm. "Just come out of there."
"No," she declined frightfully. At first Letho thought, quite sadly, that she was afraid of him. "I ain't gonna hurt you. It was an accident, like you said."
"No," Irene sobbed, wiping her mouth and sobbing. "There's something in the walls."
Straightening up the witcher examined their surroundings. Not hearing anything from the walls, he stood up and went to his satchel and pouches. He still had the cat medallion, which had belonged to Irene's former guardian. Holding it he didn't feel the silver piece reacting. It was just the child's nightmare. "There's nothing in there," he assured while again kneeling next to the bed. The girl however didn't believe, shaking her head and staying there. Letho sat down, back against the bedframe and pondered the options. If she wouldn't come out, he could give her a pillow and a blanket. Let her sleep where she found it safe. Yawning, he shook his head and wondered: "What was your dream about?" He expected to get vague answer or `I don't remember´.
"I was back in the forest," Irene answered in tiny voice. Letho was shocked. "I'm with the other kids. But I don't remember their faces, even as I try. When they mention someone who the witch took, I can't recall that. The others are mad at me and I feel bad. I try and try but I can't remember anyone." Wiping tears away Irene continued telling, as if a dam had broken. "We play a game and start running. But everyone disappears. I shout but nobody comes. I see mam, waiving. I go to her. But... Then I fall. And I'm inside the walls."
The girl's voice shakes even more: "I try finding a way out. I shout for you, Dandelion and Zoltan. But nobody hears! Then-" She whimpers. "Something crawls behind me. And pulls my hair. It's the witch. She- My eye- I try getting away." Irene goes quiet under the bed.
Letho of course felt bad. That kind of thing however, nightmares, abuse, traumas... Were part of being a witcher, unfortunately. It could be argued that Irene and the other kids didn't know of the consequences, which seemed to be true. Though, that too was kinda how it worked. In his time, they said you had a choice. But really, what other options there had been? Either finding your way through wilderness, most likely getting killed by a drowner, or take equally shitty chance with the trial. The moment you were taken into the fortress, or even taken by a witcher, you were screwed.
"...Before my Trial of the Grasses," Letho started. "I was scared. We, the kids, all knew the risks of it. The potential death. The possible side effects," he wasn't sure where he was going with this. But he tried anyways. "Had already lost some friends too. Though, one of them had been kinda an arsehole. Marn. I once lend him by book, and he filled it with stupid dick pics. I filled his shoes with horse shit while he slept." The Viper shortly laughed, remembering the boy's horrified face. "Once, we stole booze from an instructor. Heard it was expensive stuff he had brought. Me and Marn didn't like the taste though, and we tossed it away. Never got caught." These were bittersweet memories. They were bunch of stupid brats back then... "He died during the trial." After all, the survival rate was never high. "When I was put onto that table, I puked first. Before they even started. Then, when they did... I cried. I wished, that someone would had stopped it." Letho had wished somebody had been there for him. At least helped him through it. But no, the trial was something you did on your own and either pulled through it or succumbed to it. Nothing else. Irene had maybe done it with her so-called mam beside her, but she still had lived through it with her own strength. Brought to her limits and survived. It showed the girl wasn't weak, she was special. Surviving that crappy concoction of those idiots against the odds.
Letho never talked about it how he felt. Of the concept of witchers, the education, the trials, the abuse every kid went through. He had just accepted it all. It happened, it was part of it. You survived it all, so just let it be and keep on going. Because what else there was to be done than accept? As a witcher, you really couldn't turn your back to it, the school, the responsibility and other witchers. Now though, when almost all of it was gone?
"It's fucked up what they did. To you and the others," Letho partly echoed Auckes' words. The assassin still couldn't completely condemn what was done in his past. But he could judge what had been done to Irene and the kids. It had been pointless. Done by bunch a pusses, who couldn't accept the truth, that their time is over.
"And it's okay if you don't want to remember it."
"But I want to," the girl, who had emerged from under the bed, mumbled. Sitting next to him, she hugged her knees. "I too wanna remember the others. I think we were friends." Struggling with what to say, Letho shrugged: "You will, with time. When you are ready to face what happened." The child looked up to him: "You think so?" The witcher gave the cat medallion to Irene, that he had been holding on. The girl hold the shaped piece on her palms, sad and solemn. Then she revealed: "Mam used to give me a potion, before the trial. Whenever I kept remembering bad things and couldn't sleep." Puzzled, he asked what kind of potion. "Don't remember. Mam said it takes away all the bad memories, that I don't need." Letho started thinking about it, a potion that makes you forget. That actually explained the kid's kooky memories. "What if," she hesitated, clenching her fingers around the feline head: "What if I keep forgetting?"
What if I forget you, she seemed to ask with that look.
"Come here," Letho said while pulling the troubled child into his lap, she sitting sideways and leaning against his torso. The man leaned his forehead against hers, smirking. "Think you could ever forget this pretty mug?" That earned him a giggle, Irene shaking her head with a smile. Then she again apologized: "I'm really sorry I bit you." He waved it off, saying it wasn't more than a bug bite. Not the worst. That lead him, by request, to tell about the scar on his head, the v-shaped one. That lead to the story of how he met Geralt of Rivia. Then explaining what a slyzard is. And the Wild Hunt. And so on, from one subject to another, Letho kept talking in low, deep voice. Till he noticed Irene had fallen asleep. Leaning against him, she was holding the medallion and with other hand grasping onto his shirt. Curled up and in peace finally. And it still wasn't morning yet. Tired and still unsettled of the new revelations the kid had pulled out of him, he put them both back to bed. Pulling up blankets, the man let out a sigh and went back to sleep. Leaving things for the morning.
As both witchers slept, Irene ignored small discomfort from her empty eye socket. The faint burning just made her cuddle closer to her guardian. The feeling was quickly over, as was also the vibration of the cat medallion inside her fist.
Around midday the witcher and his child were outside of the city, wandering into woods. Letho was pleased when the new environment cheered up the kid. During breakfast, Irene had been quiet and timid. She hadn't been as excited of her new boots like yesterday, when she had admired the shiny buckles and showed to others. And when it was time for the medicinal tea, she had hesitated. Asking did she need to take it. There hadn't been any backtalk when he had said yes, but she hadn't been happy either. The nightmare clearly was still haunting, as she also froze when Dandelion complained about the rats. Guess Letho would tell the bard to get a cat or poison after all, because Irene wasn't going into the walls for now. So, the Viper had decided to bring her out of the tavern and the city. The forest was in full transformation at middle of the spring. It would also mean possible work, either by hunting regular animals or monsters. Bears, drowners and nekkers for example would emerge from their hidings. Other creatures too would get active and some gather into herds. The assassin considered should he try paying his debts like that. It was something he was used to at least. Maybe he would use Zoltan, who was an ex-merchant, as a middleman to keep his identity hidden from clients.
"Letho, look look!" Irene called. She hang from a tree branch with her legs. He hadn't paid attention to what she had been doing, and never had seen her climbing trees, so he was genuinely amazed. "Good job," he offered, smiling as she happily giggled and climbed back up. Walking he could hear around how she rustled among the branches and jumped from tree to tree. Showing curious swiftness and agility. She hadn't showed this side of hers before, playfully hanging and peeking in fast space here and there. It reminded the witcher of one of her memories, of her falling from a tree due to one of the fits. Then how she had hugged Triss after told that the herbal tea would reduce the condition. Irene dropped from next to Letho, grasping his hand and skipping along his steps. "Did you see? I'm fast, right?" "Yup, very fast," he nodded and lifted his arm, having the kid hanging from it. "Gotta be careful though. Someone might confuse to a squirrel, or an elf. Sent arrows after you." She let go and put hands behind her hooded head, having confident strut. "I'll be careful! And no-one will catch me, I'm Irene the Swift, fastest Cat ever seen!"
Letho came to a halt, wearing serious expression. "Is that what you want to be then?" The girl stopped couple steps away, surprised and confused. She frowned and answered: "Well, mam was a Cat? And I'm from the school of Cat? Doesn't that mean I'm one too?" She wasn't half-wrong. Technically, she became a witcher among the Cats, with their formula, and got half-assed education from them. Yet Letho wanted to displace those facts. It wasn't proper witcher training she had received. "What do you think a witcher is?" Did the girl understand what it meant, had they even explained anything to her? "Witchers were originally created against monsters, to protect humans," the girl told, thoughtful and recalling what she had been taught. She also studied his reactions, sensing this was something important. "But as nowadays there's less monsters, witcher's work and respect is gone. So, unlike other schools, Cats have evolved with times and become more... Mmm, more suces, sucesful-"
"Successful?" Letho helped, his arms crossed while listening this bullshit she had been fed about the school.
"Yeah, successful! As assassins, evolving in ways that other schools couldn't for them staying in the old ways."
In other words, they had been telling the kids how Cats rule. Pretty big talk, considering they went from having a proper school to nomads and then after their caravan had been destroyed, they went into hiding. Their fame was one of the worst even, though Vipers might be rivaling nowadays at that one. "Do you know what an assassin is then?" The girl only nodded. "Do you want to kill people?" Irene lowered her gaze and shook her head. "But you want to be a Cat?" She pondered it for a moment, then shrugged, raising her look to him: "I guess? What else would I be?" Letho was taken back, realizing the girl more likely just wanted to be part of something than actually admiring the ways of the Cats. He had forgotten that basic need while he had judged her desire to be part of the felines. Letho had to be more careful it seemed, as Irene's identity was still developing.
"Like I said, when you first met Triss," he reminded while walking next to the kid, softer lines on his face: "You don't have to be a witcher. You can decide what ever you want to be." Grasping onto his hand, she grinned: "Can I be a squirrel then?" Letho laughed, tugging the little one along as they moved forward again: "We'll see. You would need to wear furs and sleep outside."
"Then I don't wanna be a squirrel." He nodded: "That's good. You're fine as you are now." After some walking, Irene asked something she hadn't repeated since the brothel: "What school are you from then?" Guess there wasn't mind at not telling, but he would also need to explain why it should be kept as a secret. Just like her connection to the Cats. They were surprised by Triss however, of all people, as she noticed them for afar: "Letho?" The kid glanced and let go of him, running and climbing up a nearby tree. Irene's speed was something suspicious, the man thought while looking after her for a moment. "I thought she and I had become a bit closer," the sorceress amused dryly, approaching with basket filled with fresh herbs and mushrooms. "Don't worry, she's just shy," Letho assured, looking at where the girl was hiding: "She wanted me to try making her hairdo like yours."
"No I didn't!" was shouted from somewhere. The adults chuckled, the man yelling back for Irene to stay close to them. "I will!"
"Irene?" the redheaded woman wondered. "Yeah, made her pick one from a list," the man explained casually. "Well it's a lovely name," she said out loud for the girl. "Where are you two going?" The witcher explained that he wanted to see the child's skills at signs, so they were looking for some body of water for the training. The sorceress revealed knowing a possible, secluded spot, inviting this way herself to join the two. A crow stood on a branch and ruffled its feathers in the woods. The bird didn't notice approaching danger, not even able to give last croak before snatched into merciless, deathly grip.
"That could explain the girl's messy memories," Triss agreed after hearing about the last night, she and the man walking side by side. "To alter someone's memory can be tricky and even destructive, depending on the method and what kind of memories wanted to change or take away," she theorized, thinking what possible potion could have been used on the child. "The older and longer the memory, the more risks are included." Like causing neurological damages: poor coordination, seizures, confusion... Or cognitive ones: trouble understanding or recognizing things and even drastic mood swings. Although, Cat's formula was said to affect the brain in a bit similar matter, especially the behavior. Rumored to either cause psychopathic behavior or enhance it. It was never cleared which way it was.
"Think Irene will develop more problems in the future then?" Letho worried, checking with his hearing that the girl was near. "Hard to say," Triss confessed: "The potion had been given, repeatedly I assume, before the trial. And the mutation is supposed to make more durable bodies. But, as this was an experience, I honestly can't say what will happen to the girl in the future. She may stay the same, develop something new or get worse. Only time will tell." It wasn't a promising prediction. Not something he wanted to hear. Letho then startled, looked up and took couple of steps away from the confused sorceress. "Letho?" He reached up as something tumbled down from the trees. The Viper caught his kid, Irene falling into his hands and holding something. "...I caught a squirrel?" she hesitantly said and held the terrified furry creature. She should had been fine with the fall but it had been pure instinct from Letho when he heard the faint yelp and branches snapping. "And fell from a tree," he scolded lightly and placed her down. "Sorry," she repent, but only for a moment before looking up with a smile again: "Can I keep this one?" The answer was imminent: "No." Then seeing that damn sad puppy look, he continued just as firmly: "Dandelion won't surely like it." Irene didn't accept this argument easily, changing her target to Triss and lifted the squirrel: "But it isn't like a rat?" The sorceress, though wanting the child's trust, wasn't any easier: "I'm sure the squirrel has its own family that it wants to return to." Irene softened a bit, glancing at the animal which rapid heartbeat she could feel and hear. She felt a bit sorry for it. "And I'm sure it would be sad taken from its home to a strange place."
That did it after a moment, the redheaded girl crouching and placing the paralyzed squirrel onto the ground. Then nudged it when it first didn't want to move: "Go on, shoo." The animal lunged to the sorceress and climbed against her. Triss screamed, dropped her basket and waggled around. The witcher child and her guardian couldn't help but laugh at the scene, the sorceress helplessly shaking and shouting: "Get it off get it off, shoo!" Finally the squirrel jumped off her and scurried away. The poor tormented mage glared at the duo. Irene lost her humor and stepped close to her protector, offering sheepish apology.
The sorceress accepted it, fixing her hair and muttering something while collecting things back into her basket. At first Irene took a hesitant step, then with a push from Letho, she went helping. It was uncertain did the child trust the woman how much, but she wasn't completely rejecting as how the sorceress had helped so far. After the ingredients, the girl returned back to the man and grasped his hand, shyly hiding behind him. Smiling Triss started showing the way to the place she had mentioned before, curious to see Irene's abilities at witcher signs.
