Geralt wasn't sure what to expect when he'd reached out to Yenn, mostly because while he was allowing her to teach Ciri, he'd been less than communicative with her after the incident with the Deathless Mother.
Before they had parted ways, she had given him the talisman on the grounds that it was only to be used for emergencies, implying that it was specifically for anything related to Ciri, so he expects at least a small amount of annoyance, maybe even outright dismissal when she responds. What actually happens is far more confounding than anything he could have possibly imagined.
The light from her portal is almost blinding in the dark of the basement, and he has to shield his eyes from it, recovering just as Yennefer steps through, wearing a simple blouse and skirt, hair slightly unkempt and looking as though she'd just woken, though her eyes are bright with alarm.
"What's happened? I thought Ciri was safe with the others at-?"
She stops short when she spots Jaskier, and Geralt is surprised by the spark of concern that flashes across her violet eyes as she quickly pulls her hair back into a loose ponytail, herding him to the side with an extended elbow as she kneels close.
Her eyes flick towards him questioningly as she leans low over Jaskier and places her hand on his cheek, healing a small cut she finds with a swipe of her thumb, frowning when he doesn't so much as twitch at the contact.
Geralt stares for a moment, but remembers the unspoken question and answers it as succinctly as he can,
"He had a run-in with a monster."
Yenn, brilliant as she is beautiful, quickly picks up on his tone, her hand now following the same path Geralt's had minutes before, carefully turning Jaskier's head and carding through his hair to look for hidden injuries.
"What kind?"
"The human kind."
She hums at that, not sounding overly surprised as she continues her examination, rubbing her fingertips together to rid them of some dried blood before skimming them carefully over his side to check for any extra bleeding or irritation around the gash there. She seems satisfied for the time being, but pauses when she spots his leg, and if Geralt were anything but a Witcher, he would have been tempted to step back at the sudden look of icy contempt the falls over her face.
"And the monster…is it dead?"
He looks pointedly towards the bottom of the stairs, and Yenn follows his gaze,
"Thoroughly."
And while she grimaces slightly at the sight of the remains, Geralt also sees the slight quirk in her lips before she turns her attention back to the bard.
"Good."
Yennefer then splays her fingers over the center of his chest and mumbles a spell, watching closely as Jaskier shifts, brows knitting in distress before they smooth and he seems to fall into a more peaceful and natural sleep.
"Alright, that should ease his pain for a while…and give us enough time to get him out of this hellhole."
She looks warily around the room, idly running a hand through the bard's hair with what can only be considered affection. Geralt tries to ignore his ever mounting confusion, opting to get things moving in favor of asking questions.
"Here, let me get him."
Yenn nods, making room for Geralt to step in, though she still hovers close.
"Just be careful."
Again with this. What had happened that the two of them were suddenly so close?
The last time he'd checked, they'd been nothing if not catty with each other upon any proximity. There has to be a story there that he's missing.
Thanks to the damage to his side, throwing Jaskier over his shoulder is out of the question, lest he re-open the wound and cause even more damage, so he opts instead on a traditional carry hoping wherever Yenn portals them to is close to a room or a bed.
He slides one arm under Jaskier's shoulders and lifts him enough to ensure that his head is resting securely against his shoulder, then places his arms over his stomach before Geralt hooks his free arm under his knees and lifts him fully off of the ground with a grunt.
The bard is all lean muscle, which means he's heavier than he looks, which is saying something from a man that makes an effort to look as unimposing as possible.
Yennefer gives him a moment to fully rebalance himself before she re-opens her portal and steps to the side to let him pass, following close behind and tactfully ignoring the way Geralt comes through looking green around the gills. He shoulders past his nausea, barley pausing to take in his new surroundings as he bee-lines for a bed tucked into the corner of the room, laying Jaskier on top of the neatly made surface knowing full well Yennefer might complain about blood stains on her linens.
But she doesn't. She just gets straight to work, pulling bottles out of a cabinet, along with a mortar and pestle, then directing Geralt to go and fetch water while she starts kindling in the room's fireplace. They work in tandem, and Geralt can't help the pang of longing he feels at just how right it feels.
When the water is put over the now roaring fire, Geralt moves back to Jaskier's side and works to divest him of his blouse, making quick work of it by simply cutting it away when he realizes that it's beyond saving anyways. He has to stop when he goes to pull at the edges near the wound on his side, fetching a soaked cloth and applying it where blood has dried, plastering the fabric to his skin. He works at it patiently, satisfied when it lifts away without pulling, casting the cloth to the side before moving on to his legs knowing Yennefer is waiting behind him with a tray to clean the wound while he continues his ministrations.
She quickly takes his spot, and he catches a glance at the face she pulls at the jagged wound, lips tight as she runs another wet cloth over the site. They both tense when the action finally garners a reaction from Jaskier, who shifts slightly with a gasp when the cloth runs over the worst of the bloody gash. Yennefer simply leans forward, smoothing a hand over a loose strand of hair as she speaks lowly, then the tension once again leaves him and he settles.
Her timing couldn't have been better as Geralt begins the process of removing Jaskier's mangled boot, cutting it around the site of the gouges and wincing when the bottom slides off with a squelch of blood that has pooled in the heel. He drops it to the floor with an unceremonious thunk, then takes up the wet cloth again to work away at the fabric of his pants, manipulating the leg as needed to ensure that he misses nothing. This process takes far longer than last time, and Yennefer is already applying a clean bandage to Jaskier's side by the time he finally manages to cut the rest of it away, leaving his leg bare from the knee down. She hisses in a breath when the wound is fully revealed, and Geralt has to grit his teeth.
He would have assumed something had gotten a good bite in, if he hadn't seen the bear trap. The wounds are deep, some exposing the bone of his shin though thankfully not having broken it. There is already a possibility of this causing a permeant disability to his leg, if the bone had broken or shattered, he might have lost it entirely. What's worse is that- by the tears in the open flesh- Geralt can tell that at some point, Jaskier had been dragged while the trap was still in his leg, which causes a flash a white hot rage to wash over him, tempered only by the reminder that the man responsible has become his own gruesome home decor.
Jaskier's ankle is also slightly swollen, and Geralt can just make out the darkening of bruises underneath the blood. He makes a note to cover it with cool cloths once they're done treating his leg, then once again moves so that Yennefer can take his place, circling over to an extra basin of water to rinse out his cloth before returning to see about taking care of some of Jaskier's smaller wounds.
He starts with his head, cupping the base of his neck for support as he rolls it to the side to work at the cut near his hairline. The skin beneath his palm is warm now, almost too warm, but Geralt isn't concerned about it. Jaskier has been through a lot, and his body is now fighting it's own battle- it's something to be expected. They'll just have to keep a close eye to make sure he doesn't get any worse.
Yennefer chooses then to speak up, not looking up for where she is still concentrating on purging the wound of small pieces of cloth and debris.
"What in the hell did he get himself into Geralt?"
She sounds more upset then accusatory, and Geralt only pauses for a moment to break up a clump of dried blood in Jaskier's hair before answering,
"I don't know the full story exactly, but from what I can tell, there was a man kidnapping and killing people from the village. Jaskier got caught up in it, and somehow ended up saving a boy while trying to fight him off."
Yennefer looks over at that, eyes soft as they land on Jaskier's sleeping face.
"He saved a child?"
"He did, then the boy found me and told me where to find him."
A thought occurs to him, and he slips a hand into his pocket and pulls out the oddly shaped necklace, slipping it over Jaskier's head before he continues his work. It feels somewhat like fitting a missing piece into a puzzle, getting once step closer to being whole.
"I wish that I could say that I was the one to finish the job, but his work came back to bite him in the ass; the boy's mother was one of his victims, she came back as a wraith and got her revenge right about the time that I got there."
Yenn nods, once again immersed in her work,
"And his leg? Do you know what happened?"
"Bear trap."
Yennefer falls silent, one bloody hand clenching tightly around her equally bloody cleaning cloth, causing some of the liquid to roll down her arm leaving small diluted red trails. She ignores it.
"If he weren't already dead, I would have killed him myself."
"Not before I got to him." Geralt all but growls out, which causes Yennefer to laugh to herself.
"What a pair are we? Finding the most pushy, mouthy, loud, and stupidly brave puppy on this continent to be adopted by."
Geralt can't find it in him to argue and just lets out a long sigh.
"I'm going to need to keep him in a yard if he keeps this up."
With that, the two continue to work in companionable silence, wrapping the last of Jaskier's larger injuries and settling him into the blankets when they're done, neither of them keen on leaving afterwards, instead finding different spots to sit, watch, and wait.
A/N: can I just say that I totally admire people who are like "yep this is only going to be X number of chapters" because I do not have that ability. I constantly underestimate just how little I can write with a lot of words, all while fearing I'm not being descriptive enough... that being said, if I had to guess, I'd say this only has one, maybe two more chapters to go...maybe. Anyways, thank you for reading and reviewing, you guys bring me life.