Conjunction

Chapter 24 - The Abyss

Geralt woke with a start when the pale dawn light began streaming through the windows and hit his eyes. The memory of the dream hit him and he sat bolt upright, looking immediately to the other side of the bed. She was gone.

His eyes darted around her room in alarm. He saw her dark armor hanging by the wardrobe, but her boots and cloak were absent. When he stood, a flash of color from the bed caught his eyes and he looked down at her pillow again. He saw a small bundle resting there, wrapped in soft cloth and tied with a ribbon. A small slip of paper was tucked under the ribbon with his name inked onto it in light script. He paused in surprise and reached for it. He untied the ribbon and unfolded the cloth, finding within a pair of very simple looking black leather gloves. When he touched the leather he recognized the feel of it as the same as the leather armor she wore.

The gift itself did much to calm his earlier worry, but he wouldn't rest easy until he found her. The images from their dream the night before raced through his head repeatedly. Something had changed last night, and he was uncertain whether or not it was a change for the good. The last image he remembered was Solona stretching out her arms, tilting back her head and diving head-long into the abyss that separated them.

"Triss, Vesemir. Has anyone seen Solona this morning?" he asked brusquely when he reached the main hall in the process of buckling up his gear and pulling on his gloves. He paused only briefly, surprised at how comfortable and supple the gloves were, and how well they seemed to fit his large hands. Everyone looked at him blankly.

"She's not with you?" Triss asked.

"She was gone when I woke up," he said. He caught the serious stares that Vesemir and Triss were giving him, and said, "I just need to find her first, then we can work out... that issue, if we need to."

He heard a soft whoof and felt a nudge at his gloved hand. Lusa stood looking up at him expectantly for a second, then turned his large, furry head towards the front door. Reading the dog's intentions, Geralt nodded and said, "Alright, let's go find her, boy."

ooOoo

Solona stood at the edge of the huge outcropping of rock, staring out at the snow-covered valley and the castle below her. Her horse stood a few paces off, snorting and pawing his hoof at the snow covered ground looking for any bit of greenery he could graze on.

If she had come up here the day before and stood on the edge of this cliff it would have frightened her, but this morning she felt free. It was such an odd sensation, being able to reach back into her past and finally confront the darkest moments without hesitation or fear.

She kicked the snow away from the cliff's edge and sat, dangling her legs over the side. It was beautiful up here on top of the world. She remembered a much earlier dream she'd had when her journey was only beginning. She remembered... flying... over this very spot. The dragon had been the key all along, but she had been blinded by her fear of the past and hadn't seen it. She could feel them again, too. Their low whispers were stronger at the back of her mind now. It was as though she'd had a constant storm raging inside her as long as she could remember that had drowned out all the important details. But the storm had finally ceased, and the sun had come out, casting its warm light over the landscape of her past. And in the bright light of day the things that had previously seemed ominous and dangerous were rendered suddenly impotent of power over her.

It was so peaceful. She pushed her hood back and tilted her head back letting the sunlight warm her face.

She could hear the clink of a harness and the thump of hooves moving up the path she had followed to get here. She heard Lusa's panting and the big dog rushed up to her suddenly and licked her face in eager greeting.

"Good boy, Lusa," she said quietly and scratched him on the head before he ran off to explore.

A few moments later she heard the creak of Geralt's leathers as he walked up behind her. He paused quietly for a moment and then sat down next to her, his leather-clad legs hanging over the edge of the rock they sat upon.

"I was worried when I woke up and you were gone," he said softly.

She responded by reaching out and grasping his hand tightly in her own. She could sense the tension in him. She had a lot to say but wasn't quite sure where she should begin.

"Thank you," she said finally. He turned his head and studied her quietly while she continued. "Thank you for being patient with me. I've been incredibly selfish and it wasn't until today that I realized how much you've had to deal with... how much I've put you through."

"Solona..." he began. She shook her head at him. She wasn't finished yet.

"And I know I said it last night, but I'm sorry. What I did was stupid, and it jeopardized everything - not the least of which were the lives of people we both care about."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She gripped his hand tighter and said quietly, "You're everything to me, Geralt. If I had lost you over some foolish stunt of mine... "

Wordlessly, he lifted her hand and tugged at the fingers of her glove, pulling it off, then pulled off his own glove. He twined his naked fingers in hers again and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her bare skin tenderly while meeting her gaze.

"I thought I'd lost you last night," he said gruffly. The raw emotion in his eyes made her breath hitch in her chest. She hadn't even thought about what it might have been like for him. She had been such a fool.

"I'm..." she began and he shushed her.

"No more apologies. We're past it all now. We're alive. You're alive."

"I love you," she said softly.

His hand clenched hers tightly. "I love you, too."

He seemed to hesitate for a second, then reached into a pocket and drew out a small parcel with a ribbon tied around it.

"I wanted to give you this yesterday," he said. She looked up at him surprised, reaching out to take the small object from his offering hand. She held the box and stared at it for several seconds.

"Are you going to open it?" Geralt asked expectantly. She gave him a small smile and pulled at the end of the ribbon, then tore off the paper. When the paper fell away it revealed a small carved wooden box with what looked like a flower carved into the lid. She pulled the lid off and inhaled a sharp breath when she saw what was inside.

"Geralt..." she breathed as she pulled the ruby ring from its velvet nest. "It's beautiful."

"It's enchanted," he said. She laughed softly and he gave her a perplexed look. "What?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's nothing," she said quietly. "What's the enchantment?"

"It's a Lifelink enchant. If you wear it, your life force is linked to mine. If you're ever mortally wounded the link will keep you alive as long as I'm alive, until you can be healed. Triss knows more about it if you're curious."

She laughed softly, "You probably should have given it to me yesterday. It might have saved you some heartache."

He smiled at her and nodded in agreement, "You're probably right."

She sat staring at the ring for several moments.

"Will you wear it?" she finally heard him ask huskily. She looked back into his eyes and felt their familiar, comfortable connection for the first time in several days.

"Yes," she whispered as she gazed into his eyes, and slid the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. It fit perfectly.

He looked relieved and there was a visible change in his posture as his muscles relaxed.

They sat in comfortable silence for a time, their fingers entwined. When the sun was past its zenith they finally stood. They faced each other for a moment and their eyes met. Geralt studied her face and was briefly mesmerized by how different she looked. Her eyes seemed wiser and more serene than he remembered. The look made her seem all the more beautiful to him. He lifted his ungloved hand and gripped her jaw, tilting her head up as he bent his own and met her lips with his. He kissed her languidly, satisfied just to feel her soft lips against his own. The kiss itself seemed enough to quench whatever lingering need he still had to be physically intimate with her, and when he pulled away they both sighed softly, then fell into a tight embrace, comforted by each other's closeness.

When she pulled away from him and started to turn to the horses, he pulled her back abruptly.

"Solona," he said and gestured to her neck. "Your amulet."

She glanced down in surprise and gasped when she saw both the dragon and the wolf were glowing brightly and pulsing with hidden energy. She grinned at him.

He gave her a perplexed smile in response. "Do you know what it means?"

"I think it's linked to my dreams somehow. In my dream... our dream... I finally figured out how to cross the abyss. I have a feeling that if I hadn't we wouldn't be able to complete the ritual, and this was a signal that we're ready."

"It will still be several weeks before we head south again," Geralt said as they mounted their horses. "And your changes still need to be completed."

"Yes, I know. But having that dream finally behind me makes me realize how much my past was weighing me down."

"Solona," Geralt said in a somber tone. "We need to talk about last night. We didn't exactly exercise much self restraint."

She was quiet for several moments. The previous evening was still a blur to her from beginning to end, and she was still trying to put the pieces together in her mind. She hadn't let her self dwell on the implications yet, but supposed that it was necessary to address at some point.

She sighed. "In a day or two I might be able to tell one way or the other. Right now, it's still uncertain. I'll talk to Triss when we get back. There was an herbal tea I could take in my world that would... bring on my courses. It's not the same as the tea that prevents pregnancy altogether. Maybe there's something like that here. Either way, I don't regret it. I could never regret it."

"Neither do I, but we still have quite a mess to clean up," he turned to look at her with a wry smile, thinking about how wild she'd been the night before. He wondered if he'd ever see that side of her again.

She smiled back ruefully, "I hope we didn't break anything valuable."

"It's unlikely. The most valuable things in there are the books. The furniture can be repaired."

She gave him a shocked look. "How much damage did we actually do?"

"How many bruises did you have when you woke up?"

She hadn't thought about it. She'd healed the bite mark he'd given her, but realized now how tender parts of her felt. She felt like she'd been in a brawl, and realized that's pretty much what had occurred.

"Well, hopefully Vesemir isn't too mad."

Geralt shook his head, "I imagine he's more worried than angry. That's just his nature."

She nodded and they continued their ride in silence, the rhythmic sounds of the horses' hooves echoing through the valley.