Chapter 26: Old Friends

Ciri walked beside Geralt silently, following him to the dining hall where Yennefer and Jaskier already sat at the table. They both smiled at her when she walked in, causing her to smile shyly and look down. Her mind told her that she could trust them, but the years of isolation and verbal / physical abuse made it hard to get used to human contact again so quickly.

"It is so good to have you back, Ciri," Yennefer smiled widely, as four trays of food were laid in front of them. The meal was fish, more specifically salmon, and roasted vegetables from the garden outside. Ciri's mouth watered and her eyes widened in shock. It had been a long time since she'd had any sort of decent meal. The Nilfgaards mostly fed her stale bread, porridge, and potatoes.

"I'm going to say you didn't have this good of food, eh?" Jaskier asked curiously, noticing her expression at her plate.

Ciri looked up for a moment, before her gaze turned back to her plate. "No, I ate mostly servant meals… or sometimes I think what was meant for the pigpen. That's if they even remembered to feed me," she trailed off. She noticed Geralt's fists clench where they sat on the table, but he said nothing.

"Well, there will be none of that here," Yennefer frowned. "Dig in and don't be shy."

They ate slowly, especially Ciri who savoured each bite like it would be her last. She had never even been a big lover of fish as a child, but the rich flavors that had been kept from her for so long was changing her mind on the delicacy. The vegetables were divine, a mix of carrots, roasted potatoes, and turnips.

"What happened when you guys stormed the castle?" Ciri asked after she swallowed her last bite. "I really don't remember much after walking towards the alter."

Geralt shifted, looking over at Yennefer and Jaskier with a cautious expression. The look sent a sinking feeling to Ciri's gut – what had happened? "The King… well, it turns out that the King's alias was Duny, the Urcheon of Erlenwald," Geralt stated.

Ciri's mind spun. "What? That cannot be! That was my father's name…" her voice trailed off as a memory slammed into her from the Wedding. Her father… he planned all this. The death of her mother, her grandmother, and then trying to Wed her. The blood left her face, and she swayed slightly where she sat in the chair. "He tried to marry his own daughter. He was going to make be produce his heirs."

The disgust and revolt turned Ciri's stomach so much that bile rose in her throat. She swallowed it down, trying to keep her dinner inside of her. Geralt merely nodded. "Do you remember what happened afterwards?" he asked.

She let her mind look back, and recoiled when she saw herself ripping the man limb from limb, and finishing it off by tearing the very heart from his chest. Unable to hold it back any longer, she slammed back from the table and her supper reappeared, ripping up from her throat with the acid from her stomach. Heaving and coughing, she spluttered up all that was in her. She dry heaved for a few moments, a large warm hand rubbing her back and holding her hair out of her face as she finished.

Tear streaks marred her face as she looked up, embarrassed at what just occurred. As she stepped back away from the table, and away from Geralt who stood so close beside her, a servant rushed forward to get rid of the mess. "I'm sorry," she gasped out. "Gods, did I actually kill him like that?"

Geralt and Yennefer's silence answered her question. Her hands moved up to her face to cover her mouth in horror. She backed up, hitting the wall, before she began to turn to flee. Geralt's hand shot out, grabbing her arm and stopping her in her tracks. "It's alright," he rumbled. "The low-life deserved worse than he got. I would've killed him slower than you, had I beaten you to him."

"No one blames you, or thinks what you did was wrong Ciri," Yennefer said, stepping up beside her to place a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at them for a brief moment, before looking down. "I'm a monster," she whispered. "People would hire you to kill me."

Geralt growled at her, shocking her into looking him in the eyes. "You are no monster. The monster is the man you killed. The monsters are the Nilfgaards, who kept you locked away under their torture for four years."

When Ciri said nothing, Jaskier came up and took her hand gently. "Come with me for a minute," he said to her, turning to wink at the mage and Witcher. She looked at them curiously, but allowed Jaskier to lead her out of the dining hall and outside the castle. He led her around the front of the castle, and the site that met her made her knees weak.

Tied to the post in front of her, stood Aspen, her beautiful bay mare. She looked the same as she always had, staring at her with her large brown curious eyes. Ciri slipped free of Jaskier as she walked slowly up to her mare, raising her hands to stroke the mare's neck as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "Hi beautiful girl," she whispered softly, moving to stroke the mare's forehead, right between her eyes. The mare let out a raspberry, and nudged at Ciri with her soft nose. Lost in the moment, she didn't notice as Jaskier walked up beside her, leading two more horses.

She whirled when a horse blew in her hair. Roach's large, chestnut face was right in front of her. The mare's fuzzy lips brushed over her hair and face as she nickered. Ciri rubbed Roach's neck gently, before turning to look at the plucky pony beside the chestnut mare. Beast was nudging in her pockets, looking to see if she had any treats on her. "Sorry boy, there's no snacks here," she chuckled. Smiling in pure happiness that all three of her horse friends were alive, she tried to spoil them all with attention.

"They missed you, you know," Geralt's voice said, coming up beside her.

"I missed them as well," Ciri smiled, looking at the three horses who now stood tied grazing. "I'm so grateful you kept Aspen."

"We could never sell her," he replied, sounding almost shocked at the idea. "She was yours. Whether you were coming back or not, we were going to keep that mare for the rest of her life. We knew you'd want her safe. Young Bran has come quite taken with the horses, and is starting to learn to ride."

Ciri jumped at the mention of Bran. He was barely just over a year old when she'd been taken. "Is he here?" she asked, turning to look at Geralt.

The Witcher nodded. "Bran is in his lessons right now with one of the teachers brought in. Yennefer teaches him some stuff, but we have proper educators come in to help him learn simple skills."

"Will I be able to see him later?" Ciri asked, turning back to face Aspen.

"Of course," Geralt replied. "We'll see him tonight."

She smiled at that, and reached up to pull Aspen's forelock back to the center, running her fingers down it to smooth it down. After a long moment, she pulled back and turned to Jaskier. "Thank you for bringing me to see her," she murmured to him, eyes downcast.

"Anytime Princess," he smiled, giving a quick bow, before turning to untie the horses to bring them back to the field. With a look of longing at her horse, Ciri allowed herself to be led back into the castle by Geralt, longing for when she was strong enough to ride Aspen again. Yet, with her arm looped through Geralt's, she didn't wish to be anywhere else than where she was at this moment. How she dearly loved her Witcher.