A/N: so i didn't think anyone on here was interested in this but Tsumujikaze Yumi kindly reviewed and reminded me to crosspost so thank you very much, hope you like this xox

Ch.8. Beneficial Blue

It's three days before they need to leave the house again.

"Yenny, why are you frowning?"

Oh, and she's taken to frowning a lot over said three days. She can't help it, she'd felt something wrong with Lord Ambrose's house and Julian had said the same.

"It's nothing, Julian. Are you hungry?"

Julian shakes his head, simply curling back into her lap again as he starts playing with the fabric of her dress, which seems to be a nervous habit of his. She can't understand how it brings him comfort but she can't bring herself to stop him either.

(It's somehow comforting to her too.)

A part of her hates this, hates that she can feel so… comforted… by someone so small and fragile and confusing - It's dangerous and she doesn't like that.

"Do we have to go back?" he asks, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Yennefer sighs, running her fingers through his hair. "We do. You can stay here if you want but I'd rather you were with me."

He tightens his grip on her dress and makes a strange noise before replying, "Stay with you, like you said."

(She can't believe he still wants to stay.)

"Okay well, we'll have to leave soon then. Are you ready?"

Julian finally sits upright and stares at her, almost amused. "Aren't we matching again?"

Yennefer doesn't know how to comprehend the fact that four words can mean so much to her so she just settles for nodding and watching as he grins before running off to go find his chemise.

She takes the very brief moment of solitude to inhale and exhale slowly. She's not paranoid, of course not, but even a simple job is different now that she has someone else to be worried about.

Maybe everyone at Aretuza had been right in thinking that life should be a one-woman show and that needing other people or having other people need you is just a euphemism for having a weakness, a liability, a way for things to go wrong and-

"Yenny, I need help with the buttons!"

(Either way, it doesn't feel right to deny Julian her help.)

"Hang on, Julian," Yennefer sighs, kneeling down to see what he's done.

It's not that bad, to be fair, he just seems to be struggling with doing up his doublet again. She does it for him without questioning it, only for him to frown at her. "You can't see the matchy jewel!"

"The what?" Yennefer blinks.

Julian pokes her shoulder. "My new jewel. You traded for it."

Oh.

(She's pretty sure she'd trade almost anything for him if he needed it.)

"Your necklace? Hang on…" she trails off, unfastening the top button so he can pull the necklace out and have it on display.

She doesn't tell him that she's reinforced it with magic so it will never fall off or get lost. The only way it will come off is if he removes it himself but he's yet to show any signs of wanting to do so.

"Are you ready to portal now?" she asks softly.

Julian nods, but lifts his arms above his head, curling his fingers. She sighs but lifts him up with one arm, making sure he's secure before creating a portal and stepping through it.

He makes a pained noise as they do, clinging onto her as if his life depends on it. But a few moments of her stroking his hair later, he grins widely. "Your magic is fun."

(He always says that as if she isn't capable of destroying the continent.)

"Let's go find this rogue mage, okay, little one?" she asks instead, lowering him to the ground and letting him take her hand as they start walking, following the trail of uncontrolled chaos that seems to buzz in the air.

It's not long before they reach what looks like a small hut. "I wish these idiots had better decoration skills," Yennefer mutters.

"Yours is way nicer," Julian agrees, and she's abruptly reminded that she might need to be careful what she says if there's someone else with her. It really wouldn't do to have Julian call unhinged mages idiots, now, would it?

"Who are you?" someone asks sharply, drawing their attention to the man standing at the doorway.

Julian gasps and steps behind her, his free hand clutching at her dress once again.

(It's oddly satisfying.)

"Yennefer of Vengerberg, here to determine whether or not you're actually Lord Ambrose's problem."

"Leave now and I won't be forced to fight you," he replies, all but growling at them.

Yennefer rolls her eyes. "You wouldn't last five minutes but do go on wasting your breath if it pleases you."

The other mage lowers his hands and looks over them both, shaking his head. "I'm not the problem here and I have no intention of orphaning the boy. Haven't you been to his manor yet?"

She's not sure what he means because there's no way someone with such appalling aesthetic sense could defeat her and there's no way he could know who Julian's parents are, but she chalks it down to him being somewhat crazed.

"What about his manor?"

(She doesn't like the idea of having missed something.)

Julian steps out from behind her and squeezes her hand. "It was bad energy, like you said."

The other mage looks at Julian in shock and Yennefer is immediately hit with the urge to remove his eyes for daring to do so. But before she can say anything, he nods at Julian. "Yes, exactly. There's another mage staying with him and poisoning this town."

Yennefer shakes her head. "That's a heavy accusation to make for someone surrounded by chaos. Where's your proof?"

"You weren't following my trail, Yennefer of Vengerberg, you were following the residue of his magic on me," the other mage says, stepping inside his hut with the nerve to assume she's going to follow.

She immediately has every intention to set the place ablaze but Julian tugs on her hand so she decides to let the mage live for a little longer. Just until she knows what's happening anyway.

(If Lord Ambrose is playing her, he's not getting away with it.)

"What's your name?" Julian asks the mage.

"Marcio, and you?" the mage, apparently called Marcio, replies.

Julian glances up at Yennefer before replying, which warms her heart just a little. When she nods, he turns back to Marcio and grins. "I'm Julian."

"Where are you from, Julian?" Marcio asks as he searches a very disorganised desk.

Yennefer squeezes Julian's hand as he shuffles uncomfortably and clears her throat. "He's with me. Now, are you going to make a fool of yourself for much longer?"

Marcio sighs. "I made a note of every time someone went missing. And each time, there was a witcher in town to slay a monster exactly a week later."

At that, Yennefer's curiosity piques. Along with confusion and the slightest of awe, because if what Marcio is implying is actually happening, there's a darker shade of magic involved that really shouldn't even be possible.

(But it also shouldn't be possible for anyone to desire being with her as long as Julian has and yet here they are.)

"What kind of monster? Big scary ones with lots of teeth?" Julian asks, his eyes wide.

Yennefer blinks, almost having forgotten that he's a child and had never seen a bestiary of any sort.

Shifting uncertainty, Marcio nods. "Sometimes. It's rarely the same one twice."

"Are you going to fight them, Yenny?" Julian looks back up to her, no doubt in his eyes that she can do such a thing. Gods is it empowering to see the faith, however misplaced, that he has in her and her abilities.

She nods at him. "Of course. But first I think we need to figure out where they're coming from, monsters don't usually have a rota."

(Not even the ones inside her head.)

Marcio chuckles. "They're coming from Ambrose's manor. I haven't been able to get closer than a mile or so."

Yennefer raises an eyebrow. "We were inside just a few days ago."

"The mage knows of me and my attempts to stop him but you weren't a threat to him-" he holds his hands up, fingers splayed, as Yennefer narrows her eyes- "only because you didn't know what I know about him."

"You're lying," Julian blurts.

Yennefer resists the urge to look at him and instead watches Marcio glance at him nervously, his teeth briefly worrying his lip before he laughs. "Why would I lie to you?"

(She's so tired of everyone lying to her.)

She shifts her gaze to the room they're in, searching for anything to verify his version of the truth. Amongst all the chaos and clutter, there's nothing to suggest he's making things up, except for…

"Is that him?" she asks, nodding her head to a scribbled drawing that'd clearly been discarded in anger. One of the men in the drawing is clearly Marcio but the other she doesn't recognise.

Marcio follows her gaze and pales just enough to confirm her suspicion. "You were working together on whatever it is happening in this town, weren't you?"

Julian steps behind her once again as Marcio's smile curls into a grimace, both of his tiny hands now clasped around hers as he goes quiet, clearly waiting for her to do something, seeking her protection.

(How dare Marcio even talk to Julian through his lying teeth.)

"It wasn't my fault! It wasn't meant to be like this, it was just-"

"Toying with chaos that you couldn't begin to understand?" Yennefer interjects, clenching her jaw. "Mages like you don't deserve magic."

Marcio steps back at the venom in he words, as he should, but he doesn't give up, shaking his head slowly. "I wasn't lying before, I swear it. He really is responsible for the disappearances and I need your help."

"Yenny doesn't need yours," Julian says quietly.

(It takes all her willpower not to smile at that.)

Not that Marcio would have noticed because he's too busy looking startled. "Please, there are innocent people in this town."

Any other day, Yenenfer would have rolled her eyes, told him that there are so-called innocent people everywhere, and left him to clear up his own mess. But any other day, she wouldn't still be internally smiling at the trust a small child has placed in her.

She sighs. "I couldn't care less about your pathetic partnership and its failure. I will do what I came here to do and if you even think about interfering, I will see you as part of the problem. Do you understand?"

"He does," Julian replies for him, grinning.

Marcio stays silent as Yennefer sends him a biting glare and leads Julian out of the hut, back towards the manor. He remains silent as they leave, for which she's grateful as she'd rather not expose Julian to the sight of a dead mage just yet.

(He deserves better than her violence.)

"How did you know he was lying?" she asks Julian.

He just shrugs. "I don't know. His words weren't right, that's what always happens when people lie."

Yennefer can't figure out what that means but she doesn't push him to explain because she doesn't want to know who else had lied to him. Well, that's a lie, she does want to know, but she doesn't want to upset him by asking.

And anyway, he's one of very few people who have actually managed to help her so she doesn't mind giving him the benefit of the doubt. She just nods at him. "Let's go fix this mage problem, okay?"

Julian nods back eagerly. "And then can we have jam again?"

This time she can't help smiling, she really can't. So she lets herself do so and nods. "Of course, little one. We can have all the jam you like."

"Thank you!" Julian beams as if she'd just promised him the moon and stars.

(She would promise him those as well in a heartbeat.)

As the two of them continue walking, she makes a mental note to somehow acquire more jam on their way back.

canon who ? but yeah, here's more that i forgot to upload over here :p

thanks for reading ! toss a review? xx