A/N: This is a sequel to "A long December" (set a few days after the end of the previous fic). You should probably go and read that one first, otherwise many parts of this will not be making much sense, I'm afraid... :)
The focus this time will be on protective!Jaskier. – It's all about the balance… 😉 Hope you enjoy! ❤️
Geralt silently observed his bard having dinner.
He held the fork in his left hand while cutting the meat with his right – as usual – but then switched the fork to his right hand to bring the next bite to his mouth. Over and over.
"How's your arm?" he finally asked, even though the diagnosis was clear: Jaskier still couldn't bend the elbow enough to even feed himself with that hand.
"Doesn't hurt much now," was Jaskier's unusually short reply.
"Hmmm…" Geralt downed the last of his ale, eyes still on his friend. Then: "We should see a healer before we get back on the Path tomorrow. Innkeeper told me there is one down the main road, just outside of town. It would be on our way…"
Jaskier frowned slightly at him. "You really think that's necessary?"
The witcher shrugged slightly. "We should just make sure there is nothing more to be done. Who knows when we'll come across another healer…"
When Jaskier still didn't seem convinced, he added more quietly: "Even though it's not your 'strumming arm', we shouldn't risk you permanently losing range of motion just because I don't know enough about human healing…"
"It wouldn't be because of that," Jaskier admonished him lightly. "But alright. If it's on our way anyway."
"Oh, a witcher! What a rare sight…" The healer was an older man with a kind face and a friendly smile. "And… what have we got here… a bard maybe?" He regarded both of them for a moment before taking a step back from the door and gesturing them in. "You must be… Geralt of Rivia then, with his bard Jaskier, I assume?" He didn't wait for them to reply. "What can I help you with? Some herbs maybe for one of your potions? Or healing utensils for your next hunt? Or–"
"No," Geralt quickly interrupted him. "Jaskier hurt his elbow a while ago and the range of motion is slow to come back."
The healer's gaze went from Geralt to Jaskier and he nodded once.
"Alright! Let us take a look then in the back room…" He gestured them through an already open door. "Please lose the doublet and chemise."
"Uh…" Jaskier hesitated briefly, but finally just nodded. "Yeah, alright. Sure."
As soon as his upper body was undressed, the healer took in the bandages around his ribs and elbow and performed a surprisingly quick movement with a knife to cut through both.
"Oi!" Jaskier reflexively protested. "I mean… a little warning would have been nice?"
But the healer was already focused on his elbow, that was still impressively swollen even though the bruises along his forearm had faded to pastel-colored shadows of their former selves. He carefully started straightening and bending the arm.
"Hmmm… This was a fall?"
"Uh, no. It was during a… tussle if you will. My arm was… sort of… rammed into a wall, I guess?"
The healer nodded slowly. "What have you been using on this?"
Geralt handed over the ointment he had been applying twice daily over the last few days.
The healer sniffed at it. "This is good. But I'll give you something more specifically targeting the swelling. It's what prevents normal movement of the joint right now. As soon as the pain allows, you should also work on bending the arm, even against the resistance you are feeling. – You should be fine in a few weeks…"
Without waiting for a reply, he turned towards the rib section next – that still looked horrible, dark bruising obscuring the complete left side of Jaskier's torso.
"A couple of these are broken," the healer remarked calmly. "Did you know that?" Somewhat curiously, he turned towards Geralt at the question.
The witcher obediently replied: "Yes." Then, when the healer was still looking at him: "I thought the position of the bones felt good, so I didn't think there was much more to do than bandage them."
The healer nodded. "There is not. But this is a dangerous injury." He started to apply a fresh bandage.
"I'm aware," was all Geralt gave back, but the healer simply continued:
"If something else happened and one of the bone fragments was to move, it could puncture his lung or even his spleen. Either one would likely be fatal."
"Uh…" Jaskier interrupted their strange little dialogue. "It's not the first time I've broken a rib. I'm being careful, don't worry."
The healer looked at him at that and his gaze briefly rested on the bruise still lightly shadowing his eye. Then he let his eyes roam over his upper body again.
"You're a little on the lean side, son. Are you getting enough meals?" A small smile.
Jaskier briefly frowned at the somewhat strange wording, but then replied truthfully – if somewhat vaguely: "I've had a bit of a stressful winter."
The healer wordlessly regarded him for another long moment before finally just nodding slightly. "We'll leave you to get dressed again then. Unless you would like some help?"
Jaskier shook his head. "No, thanks, I'm… alright." He was still a little confused by the man's suddenly strange demeanor.
The healer nodded and gestured Geralt out of the room.
Once the door was closed behind them, the healer turned towards the witcher again. "I hope you understand that the bard cannot suffer any more trauma to his chest right now."
Geralt nodded. "I know. I won't take him on any hunts."
The healer hesitated briefly.
"This didn't happen on a monster hunt though, did it."
Geralt evenly met his gaze. "No."
"I would imagine what you do is very stressful at times," the healer carefully continued.
Geralt frowned slightly at that, but didn't reply anything.
"And with your… disposition – which allows you to do the job really – it must be hard to switch between states of intense fight and… recuperation."
The frown on Geralt's face deepened.
"But you have the advantage of weight, strength and training on the bard. And he is a human. – It is not a good idea to… unload, if you will, all that tension on him. Things like these can get very dangerous very quickly."
Geralt briefly stared at him in surprise before managing a weak: "You've got this wrong."
A small smile. "Do I? I've seen it countless times. And you clearly do have a history of violence, don't you." He didn't wait for a reply. "There was a lot of force behind his injuries as well. Ribs don't even break all that easily, you know… And you certainly look like a very strong man."
"Jaskier is my friend."
"Oh, I know! Your reputations far precede you, and I've heard all the songs. But abuse like this? It's often done by those closest to the victim, and the bard certainly seemed tense about me seeing all of his injuries."
At that, Geralt just nodded. It wasn't his place to tell Jaskier's story to this virtual stranger; he deserved far better than that. Instead, he wordlessly handed over some coin and accepted the ointment they were supposed to be using from now on.
Shortly after that, they were on their way again.
After a couple of minutes of silence, he saw Jaskier looking up at him, a small frown on his face.
"Is everything alright?"
Geralt just nodded.
The bard took up some light chatter after that, but when Geralt responded even less than usual, he finally just started humming softly while steadily keeping the pace at Roach's flank.
After a while, he finally addressed the witcher again: "What's going on, Geralt. And don't you just grunt at me now! Something happened between you and that healer. Tell me what."
A brief hesitation; then: "He thought it was me who hurt you."
Jaskier immediately stopped walking. "Well, did you tell him that he was wrong…?"
A small shrug. "He didn't seem to believe me."
"And so what… You just left?! You made us just leave?!"
Another one-sided shrug. "Doesn't matter."
"Oh, no no no, it matters. It absolutely, completely matters! – I'm going back." With that, he simply turned on his heel.
"What… Jaskier! Stop! We're not going back – we've been travelling half the morning already."
"Then you go on, or wait here; I'll find you again. But I'm not going to let it, you know..." He gestured slightly with both hands. "...just stand like this!"
Geralt gave a resigned sigh and reluctantly turned Roach around. "You do remember that we're only doing half days right now, right?" he made one last attempt to stop the human. "Going back means half the day will be over once we've returned to the healer's house."
This time it was Jaskier who shrugged. "We can make camp just outside of the city walls, for all I care… I'm not letting him think that you're an uncivilized brute who beats up people half his size, Geralt!"
"What do we care what he thinks?"
Jaskier stopped walking abruptly again at that.
"What do we care?" he finally echoed incredulously, both eyebrows raised. "We care, Geralt, because you've dedicated your life to protecting humans, not hurting them. We care because we're friends, and you value life and family, and you're not a fucking animal!"
After he had thrown a slightly modified version of those same words at the healer a few hours later, he finally looked marginally satisfied while the healer looked mostly stunned.
"Oh dear… So I really did get this all wrong, didn't I."
"Yes. You did."
"I'm really sorry I upset you enough to come all the way back here with my… unwarranted conclusion."
Jaskier frowned slightly at that. "Don't apologize to me! It's not my feelings you've hurt."
"Jaskier," Geralt grumbled unhappily from somewhere behind him.
"Feelings?" The healer smiled a little. "Are you sure that's even–"
"Yes, feelings!" Jaskier immediately interrupted. "Oh, you disagree…?! Well, which one of us is the expert on all things… witchery, you or me, good Sir?"
This time, the healer smiled a little sheepishly. "Clearly not me."
"Exactly." Jaskier confirmed with some satisfaction. "Geralt has feelings just like everybody else. Which you have hurt. – So?"
The healer dutifully turned his face towards the witcher.
"I am truly sorry, Master Witcher, it was an honest mistake. I was looking out for my patient and too quickly jumped to the blatantly obvious conclusion when I clearly should have looked further."
"Blatantly obvious?!" Jaskier echoed incredulously. "This is not an apology, it's another insult!" When the healer threw him a questioning glance, he immediately clarified: "You really think it is 'blatantly obvious' that a person who has been trained to fight monsters and protect humans regularly beats up his closest human companion?!"
"I clearly misspoke," the healer immediately gave in. "I am truly sorry, Master Witcher," he then tried again, "I should not have accused you of something like this without knowing anything about it. And I should have listened to you when you tried to defend yourself." Then, throwing first Jaskier, then Geralt a short glance: "May I offer you a bed for the night as a sort of… compensation for your troubles?"
Geralt's quiet "Absolutely not" was easily outvoiced by Jaskier's enthusiastic "Indeed, you may!"
The bard quickly continued: "In fact, that is a brilliant idea. Because you know what? Prejudices such as yours really stem from fear of the unknown. Which in this case would be witchers. And what better way to get rid of said unknown than by… well… getting to know it. Them. The witchers, that is."
"Jaskier…" Geralt voice had taken on a slightly threatening undertone.
"Oh, you disagree?" He turned towards his friend. "You don't think that he would have never reached his unjust conclusion if he knew just the tiniest bit about you…?" A brief pause. "Exactly." Then, now determined and also a little bit gleeful: "So, I will go to the market now and bring back some wine and food… Wouldn't wanna be coming with empty hands to an invitation like this now, would we. And you two can get started on the whole… getting to know one another thingy. – In all honesty?" he then added, a thoughtful expression on his face, "It can be very practical at times to know a witcher, and also a healer, clearly. So, this is a win-win situation for everyone involved, don't you think?"
The healer had to smile in earnest now at the verbose deliberations of the bard and he marveled briefly at the witcher's patience. Then he gestured both of them into the house. "I have both wine and food. Not half bad even – many of my patients pay me in kind. So now, let me just start from the beginning… Welcome to my home, witcher–"
"Geralt," Jaskier once again interrupted him.
"Geralt," the healer quickly corrected himself, "Jaskier, welcome to my home. It is truly a pleasure to meet you both – more thoroughly – in person."
Jaskier turned towards Geralt and looked at him expectantly.
"Uh… likewise?" was all the witcher managed in return.
Jaskier rolled his eyes slightly, but then just nodded. "Okay, good. Now that that's out of the way: Geralt, why don't you take care of Roach while I help the good man set everything up…"
"Or maybe you could rest for a while, which is the whole reason for us only doing half days right now, remember?"
The healer smiled again at that and already found some of his preconceived notions corrected by the witcher himself.
"He is right, you should rest. Maybe play me a song while I prepare our meal?"
Jaskier hesitated briefly, but then just nodded.
"Alright, sure. What would you like?"
"Well, something about the nature of witchers, of course…" A small wink.
"Oh, they're basically all about that, good Sir. But I think I have just the right one for you, just give me a second…"
And with that, Jaskier took out his lute and did what he did best: he educated the healer for a while about monsters and witchers and heroics and friendship.
And – the healer thought – about what it meant to stand up for another person in light of a perceived injustice.
And when he passed the guest room late that same night, a fresh bout of shame came over him when he saw the witcher gently help his friend out of his chemise before carefully checking that the bandages around his ribs were still correctly in place.
The way that this man, who had so clearly been trained to fight and kill, handled the bard – like something precious, something loved – made him briefly wonder whether something more was going on between these two than just genuine friendship.
But then again, it didn't really matter, did it?
Because love was love, and these two clearly cared about one another.
He was just about to turn away from the ajar door to go to his own bedroom when the witcher suddenly handed the bard something that looked suspiciously like… candy? But that couldn't be right, could it.
The bard laughed at that and shook his head, but he accepted the item readily enough.
And with that, the healer quietly pulled the door closed the rest of the way, giving this scene the privacy it deserved.
And he walked away knowing that – just like the bard's annoyingly catchy tunes – he would not be able to forget about this day for a very long time. He would keep what he had learned and seen in his head and in his heart. And he thought that he might dream tonight. Of flashy bards and taciturn witchers and how the combination entirely unexpectedly still made a lot of sense. And he would thank Jaskier in the morning for not giving up on him; for believing in the good in people even when they showed their worst.
But for now, he would just sleep.
Because he had grown today and faced his short-comings, and tomorrow would be another day.
Full of caring witchers and strong bards who valiantly did not back down when it came to defending their friends.
He smiled.
He could very much live with that.
The end 😊
Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think. ❤️
