Chapter 15: Lesson #1

"You're holding the hilt incorrectly," Geralt grumbled, moving Ciri's hands to the proper position on the hilt of the dull blade. She kept her feet planted in the position he had showed her, scared that if she moved she would forget where to place them.

"Won't these cut us to little bits?" Ciri asked, eying up the silver blade in her hand and his with unmasked fear.

"You won't be able to get a hit on me," Geralt smirked, twisting the thin sword in his hands with an evil glint in his eyes.

Ciri gulped, her mouth gone completely dry. "So you're just gonna slash me to little bits?"

Geralt rolled his eyes. "Of course not. These blades are so dull, they couldn't cut paper. Run your fingers along the blade." Ciri did as he said, and was surprised to feel such a defined curve on the blade. "The worst they will do is leave bruises. Now come at me."

Ciri's stomach twisted as she looked at Geralt, his sword in one hand as he stood waiting for her to attack him. Lifting her sword, she brought it down towards his torso, only for him to quickly lift his arm and her blade ricochet off of his. The metal-on-metal contact sent a shockwave up her arm, causing her to drop her sword. "Pick it up," Geralt barked. "You are weak, no muscle or strength. Swing again."

Picking up her sword, she looked at him again and swung. He easily blocked the blow. "Again!" She swung. He blocked. "Again."

This continued, Ciri moving forward and stabbing, and slicing, just trying to land a blow on the Witcher. He blocked every move with such ease that you would think he was swatting a fly away. This continued for a long time. Frustration filled her, and she wished she could land a blow, to show Geralt that she could do this. Yet nothing worked. Every swing was so weak, with strength that could never match the Witcher's, and she was so slow, that he could easily have stepped out of the way if he'd wanted to.

Her frustration made her strike faster and harder, the metal sending harsh quakes up her arms with every hit. She had never once held a sword, and she never imagined it would be so taxing just to wield one offensively. Despite the discomfort and exhaustion in her muscles, she continued to swing. She did not want Geralt to be more disappointed than she was sure he already was. She kept going until her arms trembled with every blow, and sweat beaded down her brow, stinging her eyes. Her knuckles were white from the firm grim she had on the hilt. Yet this continued, and Geralt did not allow her to stop until she hit her knees.

Her breath came out in pants, as she struggled to catch her breath. Her shirt was soaked with sweat, her hair wild from the effort, and her pants dirty from the sand she kneeled in. Geralt looked completely put-together, as if he hadn't been blocking her blows for the last hour. "We have a lot of work to do," Geralt said, as he picked up her sword and put the two blades back against the wall with all of the other training gear. "Same time tomorrow."

Ciri gawked at him as he turned his back to her and walked back toward the castle. He had to be joking. She was going to be stiff and tired for days after this, and she was jumping right back in tomorrow?

Grumbling to herself, she dragged her aching body into the castle and back to her room, where an already steaming tub of hot water waited for her. She peeled off her sweat-soaked clothes and tossed them in a pile by the door to be taken and laundered, before climbing into the bath. The smell of lavender and something spice-like hit wafted up her nose as she sank back into the hot water. Perhaps Yennefer had something added to the water to help ease her muscles.

Either way, it was so relaxing that she stayed sitting for almost an hour, her mind thinking of nothing in particular as she sat there. She had a magic lesson with Yennefer early tomorrow morning, followed by the sword lesson again with Geralt. Between the two of them, they were going to turn her into a puddle of exhausted princess.

A long time had passed before Ciri finally gained the energy to wash her hair and body, ridding herself of all the sweat and grime of the morning. Once satisfied that she was clean and no longer smelled like a street urchin, she pulled on a simple blue dress from the wardrobe and slipped on her shoes. Then she set out to find some lunch.

The hallways of Yennefer's castle were so eerily empty. Her grandmother's castle always had servants and knights and other members of royalty wandering the halls. There was always someone around to talk to or to at least see. Here, she was lucky if she passed one servant on her walk through the castle halls.

The servants must have read her mind again, as a plate of bread and veggies sat at her table awaiting her when she entered the dining hall. Silently she ate alone, wishing there was someone her age in the castle to speak with. Yennefer was probably off with Bran, while Geralt and Jaskier were off doing God-only-knows what. It would be nice to have someone to keep her company, but adults had better things to do than sit around and entertain a lonely princess.

Sighing, Ciri ate what she could of her meal, before departing outside to go spend some time with Aspen. Her limbs were getting heavy and sore from the workout earlier, and she knew she was going to be extremely sore tomorrow.

Aspen nickered at her when Ciri approached the pasture gate. "Hey beautiful girl," Ciri said softly, moving her hand to rub the mare's neck gently. She opened up the gate and placed the halter on Aspen, before leading her out to the tie post by the barn. There, she began the long, peaceful task of grooming the mare, making her almost sparkle in the afternoon sunlight.

Her horse had put on more weight and muscle now that she was in a happy environment, and not on the move constantly. Ciri was sure the same could be said about her, as she noticed she filled her dresses out a bit more now and had more energy and life to her. She felt better physically, now Ciri just needed to work on healing mentally. Though, that was probably going to take a great deal of more time.

Moving into the barn, Ciri grabbed an apple from the treat stash, and held it out in front of her. Aspen looked at it curiously, before taking the whole thing in one big bite. "Aspen!" Ciri scolded, laughing despite her shock. "You're supposed to bite it!"

She watched as the mare struggled to chew the large apple, but grinned when the mare finally got the right angle and chomped down on the apple. The munching could be heard, and a bit of apple juice and spit slipped between the mare's large fuzzy lips, landing on the ground in front of them. Ciri laughed again as she moved to untie her mare and released Aspen back into the field

Looking around, Ciri smirked when she saw all the other horses looking at her expectantly, almost as if they were wondering why they hadn't gotten apples. After a long moment of staring at them, Ciri dropped her shoulders. "Alright, alright, I'll groom the lot of you. Spoiled horses," she chuckled.

So that's how she spent her afternoon, alone with the horses, taking the time to groom each one and spoil them with an apple before returning them to their green pasture. It was a good day in her opinion, and she kept grooming until the sun set and the dark began to settle in.