Ciri groaned. Yennefer was an intensely private person, and while Ciri had encouraged Geralt to go with his gut on how to ask for her hand, she hadn't anticipated having to explicitly instruct him to do so in private. Too late now. She could only watch as he looked up at Yennefer from one knee in front of their entire workforce. I really hope she takes this well…
"Yen…" Geralt started. Yennefer's face betrayed an unadulterated expression of shock, her violet eyes wide and her pink lips agape in the shape of a small 'o'. Ciri hoped wholeheartedly that Yennefer was shocked in a good way, and not because Geralt's choice of locale was giving her doubts about his cognitive capabilities. In private, Geralt, you bloody dolt, she mentally berated again.
Yennefer said nothing in response to Geralt's single attempt at uttering her name, and Geralt seemed to have completely lost his ability to speak. The whole crowd had stopped moving and talking all at once, as if someone had put a freezing spell on them, though Ciri knew that they were simply spellbound by the scene unfolding before them. And so, with nobody speaking – especially not Yennefer or Geralt – the entire estate was silent. And awkward as hell.
Ciri took it upon herself to fix the situation. She sidled up to Geralt and kicked him swiftly in his boot, hoping to knock him out of his stupor. "Geralt," she hissed through gritted teeth.
That seemed to do the trick, as Geralt did snap out of his daze and begin to speak again - although what came out of his mouth next was regrettably very, very different from the speech that they had rehearsed.
It started with the word 'Gwent'.
"Gwent," Geralt declared ridiculously as Ciri suppressed another groan, "is not something I'd ever thought I'd see you play, Yen."
Yennefer was a statue.
"But you keep surprising me. Every day, you surprise me. Every day, you do or say something that amazes me. Like help me sort shit out in my head" (Really, Geralt? "Shit" in a proposal speech?), "or dirty your hands to pick grapes and plant seeds when our workers are sick, or just make me laugh and give me memories that keep me going while I'm away, or… so much, Yen. You do, you are… so much."
Ciri waited with bated breath as Geralt's clumsy speech, against all odds, actually started to take shape.
"You're my best friend, Yen. You're my advisor, my dearest companion, the love of my life, my soul mate, and the best sex I will ever have." (Good god, man...) "I love you, Yen. With everything in me, because you're my everything. And the only thing I ask you now…"
Geralt paused, his eyes blinking as if panicking in thought. Why he chose this moment, of all moments, to actually think before he spoke, Ciri hadn't the faintest clue. But then she realized it, too: She had the ring.
She Blinked to him, slipped the ring into his hand, and Blinked back, hoping it would look smooth but knowing that that aspect of the endeavor would fail miserably. However, it did serve to break Yennefer out of her trance.
Ciri watched Yennefer shed two tears, the corners of her lips curving so high that they actually met her eyes. She couldn't have imagined, even if she'd tried, what euphoria on the face of Yennefer of Vengerberg would look like, but she was witnessing it now. She had never seen her mother so truly happy, and the sight of it warmed Ciri's own heart unspeakably.
Yennefer stifled a sob, and when Geralt continued to stare blankly at her like an idiot, apparently having lost his ability of speech again, she choked out words that would forever be known as the start of the rest of their lives: "May I be your wife, Geralt?"
Geralt shot up so quickly that Ciri nearly couldn't track him. He crushed his lips to Yennefer's, the two lovers embracing in their kiss while Yennefer's body quaked softly with quiet sobs and Geralt shivered more violently than Ciri had seen him do in the past few days. When they finally parted, Geralt, Ciri supposed, decided he needed to make sure.
"So you'll be my wife, Yen?"
"Yes, you dolt." Mother took the words right out of her mouth.
As Geralt shakily slipped the ring onto Yennefer's finger, their foreheads never breaking contact, the crowd now a frenzy of cheers and hoots, Ciri felt a sob rise in her own throat. Through thick tears, she saw the blurry shape that was her mother motion for her to come to them, and she obliged.
Yennefer and Geralt welcomed their daughter into their arms, and the three of them, all once unloved, all once abandoned, all once alone in the world, wrapped each other into this new world that they'd created for themselves: A family – imperfect, weird, and fiercely loving. Ciri cried openly as her parents took turns kissing her on the head, then kissing each other more fully, knowing that this ending, one of love and hope, was what they had fought for, what they had earned, and what they will keep as their most prized possession until the last of their days.