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The shimmering wispy field surrounded the witchers, standing in order to protect them both. The child was staring Triss with distrust and the sorceress looked back with neutral expression, upholding her own ward. Letho, still holding onto the casting hand, rumbled: "When I asked... You said that you don't know witcher signs." The tone of his cut the girl's focus, a tremble traveling through the dome when she finally turned to him. Under Letho's gaze she faltered: "Mam taught me... But just Quen! You, you didn't ask about that sign." The Viper let go. He didn't relent when the child started showing distress towards him. He stared her down: "Telling half-truths and leaving things out is still lying. Just in more elaborate way." He should had known that she can cast. She should had told when asked. Letho had little tolerance towards deception. Previous experiences had left everlasting bitterness, so now he was disappointed. Noticing this, his resentment, the child was distraught. The dome shattered and faded in glowing sparkles.
"Why did you lie?"
Her right leg started shaking and she was unable to bare his stare, lowering hers. "I'm sorry," she whispered. When asked again, his tone calm but callous, she panicked: "I don't know! I- I'm sorry!"

He is mad, he's mad, he's gonna go, she doesn't want him to leave!
"Um, excuse me?"

Both of them looked at the sorceress who had silently observed the scene. "I think you are too harsh on her, Letho." The man disapproved, stoically stating his view: "I'm her guardian, she can't lie to me." The redheaded woman nodded, turning emerald eyes at the young witcher: "Did you trust Letho, when he asked that could you do signs?" Sniffling, not looking at either of them, the girl shook her head. "But if he had asked, yesterday for example, would you had told?" This time there was a nod and a whimper: "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." With that said, Merigold gave a pointing look at the Viper. Like he had said earlier, the girl is just a child. She had lied but not from malice. She was obviously regretting it now, when seeing him mad about it. "I'm sorry," was again sniffled and Letho, turning his gaze to the floor, rubbed his neck. He was frustrated, with himself. It made sense for her not trusting him back then. In a way. Still, it stung, but he could see the logic and the fact she was still a kid making mistakes. Even with him.
She isn't a witcher pupil.
"I'm trying to help you," he tried to explain: "But if you keep things from me and don't trust me, it will make things harder to know what I should do."
"I trust you," she mumbled into the pillow, her puffy and red eye watching from behind hanging hair strands. Anxious because of him. He didn't like it, not the smell nor the look, not on her. "Will you now tell me the truth, when I ask about things?"

She didn't answer, making the Viper even sadder, till she confessed: "I don't want to remember." The look she gave was haunted and shivering: "Don't make me remember, please." "You mean when you were mutated," the sorceress wondered, startling the girl. Letho leaned forward to make her look back at him. "Please," the child repeated. After a moment he bowed his head: "I won't. But I want you to let Triss look at you." Lifting a hand before she could argue, he offered a compromise: "Nothing you don't like, won't be done. And I'll be here. Would that be okay?" She glanced at the smiling sorceress, who had dispelled the ward, but was still unsure. Triss decided to use the moment and crouched near the bed. The little one leaned away, moving closer to the man and away from the woman.
"Did a mage hurt you?" Merigold asked, voice full of calculated sympathy: "Is that why you're scared?" After hesitation, there was a tiny tilt of a head. "I see," Triss mumbled and tried to plan how to connect with the girl. "You did the Quen very good, it was impressive. You said mam taught you?" Again, just a wordless nod. Merigold wanted to ask a lot of more but could see now wasn't the right moment. There was a lot of sinkholes to avoid with this one, trauma caused by a mage making it tough. She would need to use the bond between the child and the witcher. So she proposed, that they would eat first. They weren't in any hurry, and the girl hadn't eaten anything yet? Hearing she had some pastries before, Triss waved her hand dismissively. She and Letho went downstairs while the kid stayed in the room.

Outside in the hallway, the redhead gave more serious tone: "We need to know what happened, who was it and what they did to her." "I know," the Viper grunt, yet also argued: "But not now." Triss agreed, the girl was too on the edge. There could be a way however to know what happened, without endangering the child's mental health. After she would trust the sorceress more, which would be their main object for now. They talked with Dandelion and Zoltan down at the cabaret, Letho taking three meals and she three drinks. The sorceress also had two different decks of Gwent cards, borrowed from the dwarf. She was planning carefully the steps she would take towards the girl, hoping the fear towards mages wasn't rooted so deep that it couldn't be unearthed.
"How was it with Ciri?" The sudden question interrupted Triss, the man shrugging at her bafflement: "You helped raising her. Was it hard?"

She wasn't sure what to say. Not because she didn't have anything to say, but because the trip to the Vixen's den wasn't long enough. He was asking about raising a child? She stopped and voiced her doubt: "Are you actually prepared to parent this child?" Not faced, the Viper answered: "If Geralt won't take her in, who else?" It was surprising, and odd. He didn't strike the woman as a father figure. Though she had seen witchers capable of taking care of a kid, she didn't know about Letho. Though he showed obvious care towards the girl. "You gonna raise her like a Viper?" "Of course not," he turned and continued walking: "She's more a rabbit than anything else." When they came back, the man stepping in first, there was rush of steps and small hands grasped around the witcher's waist. Halting and looking down, he wondered what the kid was doing. She hugged him tightly, with her face hidden: "I'm sorry I lied, Letho. I won't do it again, please don't be mad, I promise I won't do it ever again, please." The tangy smell of stress was just as strong as before. He had thought the matter had been resolved, but at the child it still lingered. With the bowls in hands, he looked behind at Triss who gave back a teasing smile.
"Go back to bed." The girl didn't budge. "I'm not mad anymore. Go sit on the bed and we'll talk." Reluctantly she let go this time and went to sit at the edge of the mattress. Letho put down the food on a nearby small stand. Then he went sitting next to her. She immediately sought assurity, though cautiously, by leaning against his side. Watching the sorceress coming in, putting away the mugs and standing near the closed door, he looked back down at the little one. He put an arm around her, pulled her close and then leaned against his thigh with other arm. "You still feel bad? Or scared?" She curled more against him: "Yeah." He asked what she was scared of or still feeling bad about. "...That you're angry. And, going away... Leaving." It was new to him. Part of him wanted to test and see was the girl attached, because he was a dangerous man who could protect her, or because she genuinely wished for his presence. He decided she didn't deserve those kind of mind games. Instead he pat her head: "I'm not angry anymore, and I'm not going to leave you. We are gonna be honest from now on though, right?"

After the child agreed, the stink was gone by the sweet scent of relief. Letho also relaxed from a tension he hadn't noticed. Triss served them all the food and drinks, taking the free chair for herself next to the bed. The sorceress tried to make small talk and the kid answered little. After the dinner the woman suggested game of Gwent. This sparked the child who accepted eagerly, choosing familiar Scoia'tael deck and leaving the blue cards of Northern Realms for Triss. Letho meanwhile put away most of his weapons, potions and other gear, before returning next to the concentrated child. During the game, the younger witcher didn't notice but the older one did. Merigold did subtle changes while playing, which lead to the girl's victory. When it happened, that happiness and excitement was uncontainable. "Letho, I won, look!" Placing heavy hand onto the bouncing imp, he chuckled with a smile: "Yeah, you did. That was good... But don't let down your guard with this one." Turning his gaze to the mage, he kept the smile while hinting: "Part of this kind of game is tricking your opponent to play as you want." Though not understanding completely, not the true purpose of it, the child nodded and collected back her cards. Triss gave the man hidden, annoyed look. He was supposed to support her attempts to befriend the child, not the other way around. The Viper however didn't believe tricks would do that, not in long shot. He also didn't like the false victory she was given, instead of letting her have it with own skills and decisions.
During the next round, Triss tried to converse more: "Ah, Zoltan has my card here." Placing it onto the second round of hers, rising her numbers with seven points. The girl leaned to look at the card, seeing how the sorceress had been painted on it by standing fearlessly among enemies with fire raining from sky. "It's pretty," she commented and placed Isengrim Faoiltiarna card on her row of archers, adding one point to other cards' numbers. Triss was sure to praise this move, hearing Zoltan had taught it, before asked: "Hey, we haven't fully exchanged names yet. What is your name?"

The kid lifted and dropped her shoulders: "I don't have one." Of course the subject was probed more, the woman carelessly playing some card. "Mam said... That she would give me a name. Names are special, so I should only get it after I've become a witcher. Then, she would name me."

"Do you want to be a witcher?"

Both were surprised by Letho who had been quiet for long time. Now he waited for the child's answer, his snake eyes curious. Instead the witcher child wondered wasn't that what she was now? Wouldn't she grow up to be a monster hunter? The Viper shook his head: "You don't have to be witcher, if you don't want to. That's for you to decide and no-one else's. As also the name, you can choose your own, no need to do any pointless trials for that kind of thing." The single cat eye blinked at this new truth, puzzled. She had been told that she would become a witcher and that's what she is now. But that wasn't what occupied her mind at the moment. "Can you give me a name?" the child asked, shocking the Viper yet again. At first Letho was going to outright decline, threaten that he would name her Bucket or something else dumb. But the little one's pleading gaze stopped that from happening, showing yet again how she saw him. He turned a new page in the conversation and pointed a card in her hands.
"After this round, Triss will examine you. I would place that one on the melee row."

As agreed, Letho stayed in the room, sitting on the bigger bed with his back turned and going through his equipment. The girl was still on alert but let the woman come near. "... I'm sorry I yelled before. And casted that sign." Giving out faint sound of amusement, Merigold shook her head: "None harm was done, it's in the past now." Triss examined the child, making small tests and seeing there wasn't any concerns needing urgent attention. She explained everything out loud, what she was going to do, asking for permissions and telling what she found. All in all the child seemed healthy, as a one with witcher physiology. However, when she was asking to see under the loosened bandages, that covered one side of the redheaded girl, she was denied. "No," the kid shook her head and stepped away. "I only want to see there's nothing bad going on," Triss patiently told: "You can take the dressing off yourself and I will only look, no touching." Letho felt the stare on his back and turned around on the mattress: "Go ahead." Having his support, the child looked back at the sorceress and took the bandages off. The mage leaned and studied.
The eyeball had been completely removed and the hole sewn shut. It has nicely healed, the thread needing removal though. The needlework was clean and surgical, not done by just anyone. "Do you ever feel anything in your left eye socket?" The kid winced but kept standing in front of the witch, giving a quick nod. "When... I cry, or something, it starts hurting." "When was this done?" After a moment of silence the sorceress emphasized that she really needed to know, but was answered with retreating one: "I don't remember. Can we stop?" Considering the options Merigold decided to push a bit: "The stitches needs to be removed."
"No."
"It will be done under effects of a potion, you won't feel-"
"I said no!"

The Viper stood and walked next to them, lowering to the child's eye level: "Girl. She's right, it will be better having those off." He didn't give up when she looked sad, just repeated to her that this was important to do. For her sake. He promised that it wouldn't hurt at all. "You promise?" He promised, even agreeing to hold her hand through the process. Nothing bad would happen. Triss told her to lay on the bigger bed while she took out two bottles from her bag. When she opened them, Letho frowned at the smells. He approached the sorceress who was preparing at the desk. There was more than just desensitizer among those things. "What are you planning," he asked as quiet as he could, glancing at the laying child. "Treating her," Triss whispered back: "Trust me." He didn't, no more lowering his voice: "Hallway, now."
"Letho?" the girl asked from the bed, mirroring his alertness.
The witcher told her to stay in bed as he would have a word with the sorceress, everything was fine. Out of the room and door closed, the scarred man stepped into the woman's personal space. "What are you going to give her?" Sighing she explained: "I was going to tell you, after she was unconscious. I will give her a drink that will sent her into deep sleep, and won't feel a thing when I take the stitches. But I will also give her sensitizer towards magic." She leaned towards him: "I'll cast a spell, that will let us enter her subconsciousness and see what she really remembers of the trial and of those who did it."
Letho stepped back. He wanted to argue, saying that was against the deal, technically. He had promised that nothing the girl didn't want to, wouldn't be done.

"She won't remember anything, or even know," Triss promised: "She will surely say no if knowing beforehand. You've seen how she reacts, Letho. She's traumatized, deeply. It will help us, to help her, if we know what happened."