Yennefer allowed Kain to guide her to the spot and then gave a practiced wave of her hand. The portal appeared and she gestured for him to step through. Seconds later they were outside what remained of the Crone's home. Which wasn't much. The magic that had been present in the swamp was no more than a faint tickle in the air, a remnant she knew would eventually fade in its entirety. She pushed her observation aside and carefully scanned the area, searching for the bodies, waiting for Kain to take the next step.

It had been days, and the burnt shrine still smelled of something foul. The rain that had been falling since the fire did nothing to wash it away yet, and Kain thought the healing of this place would take a while. It brought back the memory of the Skellige garden, and he cast a quick glance Yennefer's way; she was strolling before the hut like a black ghost seeking for its body. The mist was hanging in the air like a thin shimmer, but the heavy, molasses-like feel of black magic soaking the earth was not as prominent, anymore.

Kain approached the black remains of the shrine; a shiver rippled through his frame as if from cold. The vision of the Crone and her cackling, cracked voice promising to get Ciri and eat her feet were too close – right there in the blackness of the burnt wood, still there.

He tore his eyes from the charred ruins with effort and turned his back on it, focusing on the task. He stood, unmoving, for a moment, his eyes closing, his hands turning as if probing the air while he breathed slowly and deeply, cleaning his mind of everything personal. It took a bit of effort, but not much time. He opened his eyes and began to move, his vision scanning the swamps sharply, reading the terrain and its energies with no emotion.

He found the bodies almost immediately and crouched beside one that was different from the others. Kain estimated that the elf used to be a mage. His mouth was gaping, his skin darkened and as dry as a snake's shed skin, so his snarling even teeth shone bright white. The only perfection left in the body reduced to a mummified carcass drowning in the armor now too big.

Kain hesitated – his reluctance to witness Ciri's doing was too personal and nearly shook off his trance. He took a few deep breaths, cleaning his mind once again, and touched his fingers to the corpse's forehead.

Yennefer stopped her searching and eventually came to stand beside Kain while he focused on finding the truth. Save for Kain's breathing steadily becoming a bit more labored, there were no other sounds in the swamp. As if the magic that had once been there had taken nature with it, too. She also knew it wouldn't be long before it found its way back.

Kain squeezed his eyes shut as a jolt of pain shot through him, melting into something bordering on pleasure. Sexual pleasure that traveled to his loins and stirred his nerves. He felt the power, the elation, the euphoria of feeling the life being taken by force the victim was unable to withstand. His torment was the fire burning in her brighter and hungrier, and it overtook her.

Her eyes are closed… her head thrown back… an emerald glow around her like a ghostly swamp light… and she is laughing… laughing… while he screams…

Kain jerked back from the corpse, nearly falling on his ass before he caught himself getting up, staggering a few steps back, panting like he had just run a mile or two. His hand went to grasp the jerkin where his medallion was; it felt like it was still vibrating against his chest bone. He felt nauseous, and the bog air wasn't helping.

Yennefer hardly flinched as Kain jolted back from the body he'd been fixated on, hardly moving to help him since he'd righted himself. The look on his face and the way he clutched his medallion told her that what he was seeing or had seen wasn't going to be something she wanted to hear about. She dreaded the news. Nothing of her posture gave away that concern.

"Don't push yourself. You forget that only a day ago your life was hanging in the balance. If anything happens to you out here, I doubt Ciri will forgive me."

With the trance gone, the transferred sensations were leaving his body, and he could restore his breathing and pulse.

"I'm fine," he responded finally, lowering his hand from his chest. "Ciri... She lashed out. With anger and hatred and… something more. She was elated by her own power and couldn't stop herself." He thought back to his incident with Yennefer with a prick of guilt. "Or rather wouldn't. Like me…"

Yennefer watched him, perplexed and wary. "Care to elaborate?"

He looked her in the eye. "I have to tell you something that's been overdue. About what ran between you and me in the woods that day. I was so damn angry. I could've suppressed it... I just didn't want to. Your following me made me want to make you pay for that intrusion. Having Dijkstra in my head doesn't excuse me, and I know it. I want you to know it, too. I'm sorry. I would've taken it back."

Yennefer wasn't expecting the apology for their former mishaps. Especially while they were out in the bog taking care of another issue. She nodded to let him know that they'd moved on. Neither of them had been innocent.

"It's the past. I'm lucky I didn't anger you so much that you might have killed me," Yennefer mused, gesturing to the body. "If I didn't know what I was looking at, it might have been hard to distinguish."

She inspected the dead with more physicality than magic, scanning the ground for the soldier's weapon, sighing as she straightened up.

"At least we can confirm she was triggered. But why the change—did they blast her with magic? Were you able to see the entirety of their battle?"

There was a lot of it in the Bog and what had been before was dark, darker than most could dream of handling or would want to.

"What she did here is nothing like what I did to you, however," Kain said. "I overwhelmed your body with magic, and you passed out. This..." He took a deeper breath, searching for words. "She said it right - she sucked the life out of this one. And it brought her carnal pleasure. I haven't seen what she did to others, but I heard screams."

He looked around in search of other bodies.

Yennefer followed his gaze and then slowly started away from his side, navigating the dirt and fog, pushing aside anything that looked useless, until her foot collided with a hand. A hand not attached to a wrist – parts of his fingers missing. She bent to get a closer look and then shuffled over to the next limb. They were spread out like crumbs in circles. Large pools of black blood indicating where they'd died. She might have believed they'd exploded if she didn't know any better, but the cuts were so clean, so precise, that it was easy to see that Ciri had used her sword.

To think that she'd enjoyed it, that there had been some kind of intimacy to it – it scared Yennefer, for she didn't know Ciri that way.

"We should get back," Yennefer said and straightened up. "Unless there's more you'd like to do to paint an even bigger picture?"

Kain approached one of the lumps - it lacked a head and both arms were cut off, as well as one of the legs. His bowels were spread around the torso like grotesque ribbons.

Kain eyeballed the body, transfixed. Yennefer's voice sounded far away. He made himself look away from the remains and to the enchantress.

"I don't know why she did it," he confessed. "She wanted them to suffer - like she told us. All true. But... I don't know why it had to be this particular way of using her magic that's unlike her."

Yennefer needed to see for herself. She wanted answers and further explanation. She gracefully dropped to her haunches next to the dismembered body and buried her hands into the ground stained with blood. There was no life in him to speak of and whatever magic, if any, he did possess was no longer present, but the earth, and what remained of his past life in his lifeblood would allow her to see some semblance of a picture.

She closed her eyes and chanted until she could feel the sticky grains of sand cling to her hands like a second skin. The image of their brief battle came in flashes of green, grey and red. The soldiers hadn't stood a chance.

When one limb yielded no further result, she moved to the next body part for a different perspective until eventually, she found her way to the shriveled husk.

What she saw was as Kain had described. Nothing but the glow of magic and the look in Ciri's eyes. She really had enjoyed killing him. Yennefer couldn't blame her. Eredin and his men warranted the carnage, but the look on her face, the joy and dubious cruel pleasure was something Yennefer struggled to come to terms with.

She returned to Kain and shook the dirt from her hands.

"Something is missing from her eyes. If I didn't know any better – I might have surmised that she was being controlled. Easily explained with magic."

Kain glanced back at the dead mage, his snarling teeth, too white between the mummified dark lips.

He shook his head, "It makes no sense. I felt her pleasure. Her anger and her triumph. It was..."

He raised his eyes and met Yennefer's, his puzzled expression turning helpless.

"It was hers. What she felt was hers."

And yet, the eyes said something entirely different to Yennefer. Ciri had changed a lot since her return but the confidence she displayed this morning, what Yennefer saw in her mini-skirmish spoke volumes of something else completely.

She sighed.

"After you left to see that griffin of yours yesterday, did you two have words? Why would she come back here?"

"I was going to the woods to heal. I didn't know Griffin was there. She asked to come with, and I said no. She stayed behind when I left. I know nothing of what she was doing. I thought she'd spend time with you or Geralt."

"Why'd you say no? I assume she wasn't happy? Was there nothing you could read on her face that might have triggered anything? Her energy slightly off? Was she hurt?"

Kain gave her a weary look. "Of course she wasn't happy about my no. I wanted to be alone and told her the truth. She was sad. But I couldn't think it would trigger anything like that.

"She is impulsive - yes. She has a lot of anger in her that she herself admits to harboring. It's hard for her to deal with it, but no one can help her with it - it's not a disease or poison to cure her from. But this," he pointed at the corpses, "this is not just that anger. It's more. It's power and magic and its drive that's rooted in her emotions. But it doesn't seem like a possession. At least not until we figure out what exactly could be possessing her while letting her stay herself. It's unusual for a possession, wouldn't you agree?"

Yennefer wanted to cover every possible detail to lessen the fact that she herself hadn't noticed anything peculiar. She should have.

"It is unusual," she agreed. "Could be that she used so much of her magic against Eredin's men, too soon after the destroying the crones, that it's still inside her—that it hasn't had a chance to be expelled—and explains why she chose to seek you out last night. What better way to work something from your system than to exorcize energy the old-fashioned way?"

Ciri already had a taste of pleasure that day. That thought made Yennefer feel slightly better about what she'd seen.

It made Kain think again, and he couldn't help wondering whether Ciri felt a hunger for pleasure every time after using her magic. Whether she truly had these two so connected.

"You trained her as a child, Geralt told me," he said, focusing on Yennefer again. "What was she like then? Angry? Eager? What was her response to magic when you taught her?"

"Ciri's always been a bit angry. Angry at losing her family in the war, angry at not being good enough at something or feeling as if she picked it up too slowly, angry at being born a girl and not a boy to become a witcher mutant. She's hard on herself. Continually. And she's always running. From herself mostly."

Yennefer had to wonder why that was. Was it that she was afraid of who'd be there when she stopped? Seemed fitting that she'd developed magic that allowed her to jump such huge gaps in space. A parallel.

"But she's always been determined, and a very quick learner, so much so that I considered enrolling her in the sorcery academy."

Kain wondered what it would've made out of Ciri had Yennefer put her in that nest of power-hunger. He didn't really want to imagine, however - what they had here was bad enough.

"What about puberty?" he asked. "Any lascivious connections to magic - has she ever expressed those?"

Yennefer's features twisted from solemn to amused, an unwitting chuckle escaping her lips. If only Kain knew – if only Geralt.

"I wouldn't say there was ever any carnal connections to magic, as much as there was curiosity. I'm assuming you've heard the rumors that virgins can't be sorceresses?"

"No, I haven't. Among druids, even virgins can get far in the craft. And I was decent at it before I lost my virginity. Unless that rule works solely for women in Aretuza?" He narrowed his eyes inquisitively, "Did you have to stop being one to learn?"

"No, of course not," Yennefer answered, her smile widening. She was reminded of Ciri. "It's a misconception. Virgin or whore, if you have the affinity for magic – you can practice. It's those that don't know or have certain formations about virginity and purity that believe differently. As a child, Ciri had an almost compulsive fascination with the subject. However, as far as I was aware, she never got any such pleasure from my teachings beyond the emotional connection we formed in time."

Kain contemplated it. There could be some side-effects Ciri could have kept from Yennefer back in the day, but then he could trust the sorceress honestly knew nothing of it.

Unless she had gotten the truth out of Ciri's head and lied about it now in favor of keeping the girl's secrets.

It could be either one.

"All right," he sighed. "It could've come later, when she was out of your influence. And I don't believe I'm the one to ask her such questions. We should all be careful what we ask her about - she should not feel we deem her unwell. But we have to find a way to figure out what's happening to her. If—"

He held it for a moment, pondering the scary thought before giving it voice. He looked at Yennefer grimly.

"If it's her actual Hen Ichaer power waking up and changing her, there is scarcely anything we can do to reverse it."

"If it means to destroy her, I'll find a way to calm it." A promise Kain would know held merit if he'd heard the lengths Yennefer had gone to find Ciri.

The dying garden flashed in the back of Kain's mind, with a prick of dislike. He pushed the image away.

"This power is a part of her, in her very blood," he reasoned. "You cannot take away her blood, nor force her to be docile. You can cure Ciri from being Hen Ichaer no more than you can cure Geralt from being a witcher mutant."

"I would never expect Ciri to be docile or try to neuter her. That could never be, but don't underestimate the lengths I'd go to protect her." A lot of people could attest their misery to that.

Kain flashed a brief wry smile, averting his eyes. "Oh, I can't underestimate the lengths you'd go. I've seen some." He sighed, pushing it away again, and turned back to her. "None of us can do anything useful until we know what's wrong with her, if anything is wrong at all. So arguing about protecting her is useless at the moment."

Was he talking about Yennefer's pushiness or had he witnessed something else she wasn't aware of? Not that it mattered. She felt no guilt for what she did to find Ciri or for anyone that got hurt in that wake. She had been desperate.

"I'm not arguing, Kain, I'm declaring a fact. I'll do what I have to protect her. At any cost."

She glanced around, letting the subject fall away.

"Is there anything else needed or shall we return?"

At any cost, he thought with another bout of dismay.

"There were three of them," he told her. "I wonder if there are more units roaming this world in search of her. We'll have to be alert for any rumors of such."

"I'll send another message to Triss and let her know what's happened. I'm sure they're alert anyway, but… we never know."

"If the Lodge finds out about Ciri's change of character, it might turn against us. Whatever you tell Triss she passes on."

"I know that, Kain. The Lodge can't be trusted and I'll never discuss Ciri or her changes with them. All Triss will know is that the Wild Hunt attacked us here and that they need to watch their surroundings more intensely."

He strolled a few paces, contemplating. "Avallac'h is probably the one with the most information about Elder Blood properties, but I wouldn't put it past him to play on that and maybe turn it to his favor and our disadvantage."

"You don't trust him to have her best interests at heart?" Yennefer asked curiously.

"Aen Elle never stopped being the people he cares about. I'm afraid Ciri has never become more important than his true kin."

"He certainly has a low opinion of other races. But how can you be certain it hasn't changed? That he doesn't have some type of feeling toward Ciri? He's been helping her run from Eredin. His king. Why would he do that if not for love?"

Yennefer didn't trust Avallach, not in the slightest and she agreed with Kain about his view, but she was interested to know why he himself thought so. Had Ciri told Kain something she hadn't been able to share with Yennefer directly?

"Eredin killed his king," Kain corrected. "Avallac'h has no loyalty to him, but he's loyal to his people, his world. That battle in Oxenfurt - he was there, but killed no elf. He knocked them out with his magic, enabling the surviving ones to flee with their lives. He never fought against them, Yennefer. He never will. His only enemy is Eredin."

"Then we'd best keep a close eye on the elf upon his return. If he returns." There was a hope that he wouldn't, that he'd drift away and that would be one less person to worry about, but Yennefer also knew it was wishful thinking.

"We better get back before she finds out," Kain suggested.

"We best," Yennefer agreed, summoning up the portal. They passed through and appeared in the same spot they'd left from in the gardens.

"I'll find Geralt and fill him in on what we found out. You should try and get some rest, Kain, I think you overdid it with the recollection magic out there. You're still in need of healing and we can't afford to have you push yourself too much."

"I'm fully healed," he informed her. "Have been since the day before. You shouldn't worry about me."

He went past her and around the Temple to get back from another side.

Once Ciri had tended to the horses, Onyx and Roach included, she made her way back to the garden where Geralt still sat at the table.

Yennefer and Kain were gone, however.

Ciri wrapped her arms around Geralt's shoulders from behind and leaned in. "All by your lonesome, Witcher? I would have expected you and Yennefer to be glued to each other while we're here."

Geralt feared the urge to grab her and shake and demand what had gotten into his perfect Ciri who took pride in aspiring to be like him and kill solely when necessary. His Ciri who feared for people around her and wished to stop the war and violence. The urge was strong, but he had to be stronger.

He made himself smile. "She's not all that fond of my being glued to her unless it means staying in bed for days."

"There are beds here," Ciri smiled, resting her chin on Geralt's shoulder. "You should take advantage of that while you still can. Who knows if we'll have such luxuries in the next few weeks."

"I can't stay in bed for days, Ciri. It's nonsense. We're not alone, we both have things to think about."

She released him and straightened, shrugging. "You once told me I can't dwell on the coming war alone. To make room for other things."

He considered her with an inner worry and outer interest. "Have you?"

Ciri took a seat on the bench beside him, thoughtful for a moment. "I am trying. You should, too."

She looked around, at the garden and the few priestesses who were still out.

"Where are the others?"

He shrugged. "You know them. Both need alone time. Yennefer's probably in search of more books and Kain could be talking to Nenneke. They seem to like each other."

"And you, old man?" Ciri regarded him playfully. "Are you so tired from your battle with the Crones you do not want to spar with your daughter? It has been a while. Might be fun."

He finished his apple - feeling no taste of it - and tossed it under a rose bush. "Eager to fight, are you? Maybe I should take you back to Kaer Morhen and its training yard."

"Eager to relive the happiest time of my childhood – if only for a moment," she corrected him. "There has to be something about my sloppy technique you can criticize and have me improve."

"Sloppy technique?" he inquired ironically. "Haven't you bested three Hunters the other day?"

"With my unparalleled speed and magical prowess, yes. But I never made use of that back at Kaer Morhen, did I?"

"You didn't know how. You were just a little girl with strange dreams. No Elder Blood trouble back then."

"I was still hunted, so I wouldn't say no trouble." Ciri shrugged. "Only difference now is I am aware of the benefits as well as the not-so-pleasant aspects."

"What are those?" he narrowed his eyes. "How do you see it now?"

She looked at him as though he had missed something pivotal. "The jumping, of course. Being able to utilize my power in battle. It's a great advantage. I wouldn't be nearly as useful without it."

"And down-side?"

"Being hunted. Wanted for the wrong reasons."

The Witcher sighed. "They're desperate, Ciri. Anyone would be if their world was dying. Doesn't make them right, but shifts the perspective a bit, as Kain would say."

"You think I haven't considered that? Avallac'h instilled that in me many a time." She gave a sardonic smile. "And I might even be willing to help them, had it not been for the fact they plan to eradicate everyone living in this world to make room for themselves."

"It's not all that simple as it sounds, either," Geralt said. "This world has claws, too."

Ciri regarded Geralt shrewdly. "Are you trying to make me empathize with Eredin and his plight?"

"Not Eredin. This one has to die. There is no other way to stop him. But the rest of them - I don't know, Ciri. He is the snake's head. Without it they might have no teeth left to bite with."

"That's not the impression I got when I was there," she responded. "We're nothing but dirt to the lot of them. Slaves or corpses – that's the option they would give us. And believe me, Eredin did not start that philosophy."

"But he's the one driving it. Ge'els stopped supporting him, as he told us. He might share his knowledge about the regicide with others who loved the king - there might be many."

"So you agree with them then? I should sacrifice myself to bring them to safety? They see it as my duty. Do you?"

"What exactly makes you ask me that?!" Geralt demanded, exasperated. "I never said that. What I said was they might lose most of their will to invade and fight us if Eredin died. Don't you agree it might be possible?"

"Possible, certainly. But not likely. You said it yourself – they are desperate. They know they will die unless they move elsewhere or someone stops the frost."

"Are we truly the only world they can count on? Can't they find a better target?"

"And who would bring them there, you think?" Ciri arched a brow. "Their target doesn't matter as much to them as their means of transportation."

"They have several mages," he scoffed. "Their skills surpass ours, so they might find a way if they need to."

"You think more highly of them than I do," Ciri scoffed as well, folding her arms over her chest.

"I never thought highly of them. I merely admit they have advanced magic. Had they put more effort into finding ways to save themselves rather than fixate on you, they might've been safe already."

"They're too stubborn to see past what they think of as their property."

Ciri reached for an apple. Some of the morning's breakfast was still laid out.

"But we can bring it up with Avallac'h. If anyone has an idea of what trials and errors they've gone through in the past, it's him."

"I'm sure he has ideas. But does he ever share them?"

"Only if it's in his interest to do so."

Geralt gave her a sardonic look. "How much do you know about his interests?"

"I know he is loyal to his people and that everything he does is in favor of them. He wants to save his world. His kin."

"And he's been honestly grooming you to be their sacred cow all these years." Geralt clicked his tongue, disgusted.

"He's been grooming me to be their savior," Ciri corrected reluctantly, taking a bite of her apple and rising to her feet.

"You don't treat saviors like that," he murmured.

"Oh, you do if you're Aen Elle and your savior is a filthy human."

He studied her. "You two are no longer friends, I take it?"

"We never were. I simply thought differently. You know this."

Avallac'h had changed a lot since Ciri reunited with her family. His hold on her had become too tight. Suffocating.

"What do you think now?"

"I think I am just a means to an end for him."

Geralt perked up an eyebrow, "You mean you're still that sacred cow."

Ciri scowled. "Stop saying cow! You're going to give me a complex."

He laughed despite himself. "A very beautiful, majestic cow," he jibed.

Her eyes were still narrowed, but her anger not real.

"Mhmm. You're lucky I am not Yennefer. She would have turned you into a toad by now."

He chortled and tore a piece from a pastry. "Mages."

"You summoned me, Milord," Yennefer teased as she approached the two, giving a lazy bow, joining in on their joviality, happy to see not everything had changed.

"Where have you been keeping yourself?" Ciri asked, eyeing the sorceress curiously.

"The library. I found a few interesting texts in Nenneke's collection."

"On The Hunt? Something that can help us?"

"Unfortunately not," Yennefer mused. "Something more for myself."

"What would that be?" Geralt leered. "How to keep your skin tight and your behind perky forever or a hundred and one use for algae?"

"You think I need help in that area?" Yennefer retorted, arching a brow, her lips twitching into a half-teasing smile, daring him to give her the wrong answer.

"It's not about what I think when it's you sorting through scrolls and parchments," he grinned.

"And yet," she said, inching in closer so that she could bend down and meet his eyes. "You're the only one making hazardous suggestions."

"Haven't made any. Unless you're scared of algae."

"Not at all," Yennefer murmured, her eyes narrowing with mock threat. "Maybe later you can show me where you believe I need to apply algae."

Ciri wrinkled her nose. "I am all for you two getting back together, but... not right in front of me."

The Witcher pulled a sly mien, eyeing Yennefer. "I suppose I can show a couple of places, all right. If Ciri excuses me that sparring session we were about to have."

Ciri wrinkled her nose again, taking another bite of her apple as she headed towards the rest of the garden. "Certainly. I'll find other means to entertain myself."

Geralt's smile dimmed once Ciri turned her back walking away, and he wasted no more time leading Yennefer back inside the Temple and to her room where she could fill him in on their daughter's little adventure.

Kain took his time strolling around the back gardens of the Temple, brooding over the brutal visions. His mind rolled the scene over and over while he struggled to find any indication of Ciri not being herself.

It was a horrid display of power and cruel gloating of it, but it was so frighteningly... her.

Kain wondered what Mousesack would've said on this.

"Headache?" Ciri asked, falling into step beside Kain. She'd searched her senses and felt him wandering.

His face looked pinched with discomfort, his brow slightly furrowed. Unusual for him.

He was so deep in his heavy thoughts he nearly jumped like a spooked cat when she spoke.

"No, just thinking," he said, releasing the breath that got hitched in his throat in surprise.

Ciri couldn't help but laugh, the surprise evident all over his face. "Must have been some deep thoughts if you didn't hear me coming."

"I didn't expect company," he admitted and indicated the yard with a wave of his hand. "Not many walk here during the day, as it turns out. Majority of their chores lies elsewhere."

Ciri grasped his outstretched arm and brushed his sleeve up with her thumb, seeking the scar she had left there after closing his wounds in the swamp. They were gone. She stared, mesmerized, running her thumb over the very spot the scar had been as if wondering if it had just been concealed. "You're a superb healer."

Her touch sent a tingling impulse through his arm. "It's not me," he corrected. "I ask the nature and it helps like a loving mother would."

Ciri hemmed in mild agreement, eyes still fixed on his arms. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more than close the wounds."

"You saved my life. There's nothing more than that."

"For a moment." Ciri's eyes took on that glassy quality again; she was withdrawing into herself. "I cursed you. You could have been living in peace and quiet. But your blood called to mine. And I was greedy." She released Kain's arm, snapping out of her state of deep thoughts. She smiled as if suddenly a little self-conscious. "Hm, not sure where that came from."

He smiled and took her chin in his hand, their eyes locking. "You brought me to my family. I could never fault you for that. No one would."

Ciri's face softened with gratitude, reassured by Kain's words. "I suppose I did. Funny how these things work."

"Not so much when you just let life show you the path." He withdrew his hand and resumed his stroll. "The hard part can be trusting it."

"And if life takes you to a horrible, frightening place?"

"Like what?"

Ciri shrugged. "I suppose the better question would be, how can you be certain life is leading you down a path you need to go or if you are just making the wrong choices?"

"That knowledge is not in your head. It's in your heart. It always knows better. It should feel right. And sometimes it takes a while before you can find that feeling. All the thoughts and doubts running around in your head own your attention, and you forget how to ask your heart."

Ciri's heart had always led her to trouble and pain. At least, initially. But she supposed, once she stepped back and was able to see the bigger picture, a lot of what had seemed like reckless decisions had taken her where she needed to go. Back to Geralt and Yennefer.

"You learned that as a child?"

"The theory - yes. Practice takes all your life."

Ciri slipped her hand into Kain's, like they were two young lovers on a casual stroll.

"Do you think we will live longer than other people? If we don't die by the sword, I mean."

"I never thought about it." He shrugged subtly and peered at her with interest. "Would you like that?"

"I don't know," Ciri admitted truthfully, brow slightly furrowed. "I'd like to outlast all my enemies. So I can see them perish. But I want to go before Geralt and Yennefer." She paused. "Don't tell Geralt. It will make him worry."

"There's hardly any child that wants to outlast his parents. It goes both ways. To your luck, both of them have the potential to live for a very long time if they survive their battles."

"They will." Ciri was adamant about that. "They've promised to never leave me. So they shan't."

Kain thought there were plenty of things that could force them to break their promise, but refrained from voicing it. Her volatile temper called for caution.

Geralt lowered heavily on a chair, his elbows propping on his knees as he hunched forward. What Yennefer told him was awful, impossible. It couldn't be Ciri.

Not his Ciri.

"What... What do you think it could be?" he asked eventually in such a quiet voice Yennefer had to strain to make it out. He raised his head slowly and looked at her. Pleading. "What happened to her?"

Yennefer kept her voice low. "We figure that it might be a type of possession and that the use of too much magic might have triggered something in her. I can't be sure. I— I didn't notice anything strange in her since our return from the Bog. Unless we're to take into account her inability to show any patience toward Nenneke. Then again, Ciri has never been known for patience. She also doesn't want to feel like a child. There could be a lot of factors."

She sighed.

"You've seen her real mother display magic, right? Do you remember there being anything remotely carnal about what was happening to her?"

"No!" Geralt scowled, sorting through his memories of the Cintra princess and her burst of magic. "She only let it out when she thought her lover would die. She tried to protect him - much like Ciri back at Kaer Morhen. Pavetta's magic was triggered by despair and fear for the man she loved."

"What about you?" Yennefer asked thoughtfully. "Have you ever cut something into half and experienced blinding bliss? Do you think you would taking down Eredin?"

The Witcher gave her a long look where both bafflement and judgment were splashing. "You want to know whether killing things makes me hard? No. Is it different with you?"

"No," Yennefer supplied. She knew that already, but there had been times she hadn't witnessed and she wasn't all-seeing even if she did make a point to know as much of his business as she could. She had no other thoughts on the subject. "I guess, all we can do now is keep an eye on her and hope that, if it is linked to her magic, it'll quieten down eventually."

"But her magic is only growing with time," he argued. "What if whatever bad effects it has grow with it? What... What do we do?"

"Then I find a way to make sure she doesn't hurt herself and silence the magic within. Dimeritium works on me, it's only a matter of finding what would work on her."

Geralt heaved a long sigh, ran his fingers through his hair, and lowered his face into his hands wearily. "It's Elder Blood, Yen. You can't silence it. Only death does."