A/N: Chapter updated (02/05/2023)

He woke up early, even before the sun was up, excited about the prospect of training. Still, he couldn't believe he willingly agreed to her using some of his memories when letting mages into your mind was generally a bad idea.

He washed up and then sat in bed watching her sleep, patiently waiting for her to wake. But, as was the case every day, that only happened after her alarm went off and even then she grunted and stuffed her face into the pillow. She sat like that for a moment before turning her head toward him and lazily opening one eye.

"Of course, you're already up!"

"Morning, sleepy!" he said with a wry smile. "Come on, therapy and let's go."

He scooted down to be closer to her and it didn't escape him that for the first time in a while, she caressed his chest, as if searching for the best spot, before settling on his heart. Energy rushed through him, both from her healing and the thought that he was on his way to mending some fences. Once she was done, he jumped out of bed.

"So, you've told me what I'm fighting, but what you haven't said is with what I'd be fighting. I don't have any armour or sword..."

"Let me worry about that. Dress however you want and I'll take care of the rest when we get there. For now, wear something suitable for a forest outing or a picnic."

She dressed casual, in a long sleeveless dress and flat sandals, and packed a picnic basket with food, cutlery, glasses, a blanket, and some drinks.

"We don't look like we're going to train in anything, let alone fighting," he commented on her preparations.

"That's the point. We're not supposed to look battle-ready. Were you expecting plate armour and an assortment of weapons?"

"I prefer leather or light armour to plate," he deadpanned.

"Do you trust me?" asked with a crooked smile.

"Apparently, I do... And it's not like I have a choice. You still have my soul, remember?" he teased.

"You're a hard man to convince," she said, rolling her eyes.

She drove until there were no more buildings in sight, only lush green grass and a thicket of trees in the distance. As the road took them closer to the trees, it became a small tame forest. She turned onto a dirt path and drove deeper, eventually stopping next to a clearing.

He grabbed the basket and followed her, trying to keep his natural distrust at bay. Gathering his patience, he watched her lay out the blanket and sit like she was trying to get a suntan.

"Describe your armour and weapons."

"Does this work like the monster descriptions?" he asked instead.

"Yes and no. You'll see in a second," she said with a slight smile. "Unless you've changed your mind," she added.

He sighed but did as asked, describing in detail each piece of armour finishing with the runes on the swords and the oils he used on them.

She closed her eyes and placed her hands on the ground in front of her. Her fingers dug in and the dirt moulded into the items he had described. One by one, he picked them up and looked them over with a critical eye. He expected illusions, but, even upon closer inspection, he couldn't tell the difference between them and the real thing. The swords were sharpened to perfection, and the armour had no flaw he could discern.

"Satisfied?" she asked, but her tone told him she was well aware they were all perfect.

He nodded and put them on.

"What now?" he asked once he was ready.

"Now I'll build a construct for you. You'll be able to fight monsters inside it, but beware that even if they're illusions, getting hit will hurt just as much as the real thing." He nodded, so she continued. "I'll be with you inside and whenever you want to stop, just say so."

In the blink of an eye, his surroundings changed from a peaceful forest clearing into a cracked, dried earth, barren world. The wind howled and blew black leaves in every direction, and the sky was a deep shade of red marred by dark clouds.

Criss was still sitting on the ground, but her face was emotionless, with eyes bright white. Light shimmered under translucent skin and her long, dark hair was blowing in the wind. She looked inhuman, like a force of nature incarnate, with no trace of gentleness. He involuntarily tensed up.

"Are drowners fine to start?" she asked.

For a moment, he questioned everything he knew about her, but her voice was still warm despite her inhuman appearance and the calming sound of it reeled him back into the present. He gave a short nod.

His first opponent appeared. A single drowner. He danced around it, avoiding its attacks while taking his time to observe its behaviour and getting his muscles ready for the real fight.

Her illusion was exquisite. Not even his witcher eyes could discern any difference between it and an actual monster. Once his curiosity was satisfied, it was time to see if it bled the same as a real thing. He leapt upon it, twisting himself to gain momentum. His sword came down with force and slashed it clean in half.

As soon as the body melted into the ground, two more drowners appeared further away. She was upping the ante.

He wasted no time with them. He drew one aside and killed it before going on to the next. Next thing he knew, there were three new ones. He wondered if he would end up fighting a dozen of them but, after he made quick work of the three, the next monster she conjured was an alghoul.

Same as with the drowner, he wanted to study it, so he moved around it instead of attacking. It was just as accurate as the drowner, down to the rotten smell. He circled it again and maybe he was rusty or just too careless and relaxed, but he stupidly got hit with one of its spikes. Pain spread fast through his body. Cursing the curiosity that drove him to gawk at it instead of fighting, he pacified it with Axii to neutralize the spikes and went in for the kill. Real fights only ended when one of them was dead and he planned to be alive at the end. He just needed to be more careful.

After he killed the alghoul, a pair of ghouls appeared in its stead.

He fought monster after monster, dodging most attacks, but not all, and when they clawed at him, waves of pain rippled through his body. His muscles strained as he was far from peak condition and nowhere near fully recovered, but feeling his hand on the sword hilt was worth the pain. He was never more alive than when he was staring down his opponent, weapon in hand. The harder the fight, the better he felt.

Each fight was more difficult than the last, with barely a moment's rest in between. A pair of feisty arachnomorphs tried to catch him in their web, but eventually, he trapped one with Yrden while setting fire to the other with Igni. At least his signs seemed to be as strong as ever, even if overall he was not at his best.

By the time he called her to stop, his whole body hurt and he was out of breath. The monsters disappeared instantly and he slumped to the ground to catch his breath.

The sky turned from red to blue as the world around him dissolved and he was once again in the forest clearing. It all looked as before, with no sign of the battles he led only moments ago; only the sun was higher in the sky. It must have been past noon, which meant he had been fighting for hours.

"You are a superb fighter," she said, coming to his side and bringing with her a piece of cake and a glass of cider. She handed them to him. "You must be famished. I didn't expect you to last so long." Her voice was doused in earnest appreciation.

"And I didn't expect you to be so relentless and merciless," he replied, but quickly regretted his words when the smile faded from her lips.

"Sorry it felt that way. I was just trying to make it as real as I could," she said, biting her lip before getting him more cider.

"Hey, no! Shit! I didn't mean it in a bad way!"

"How is being merciless a good thing?"

"You didn't take it easy on me and that's good," he replied with a shrug. "It reminded me of training with Lambert and Eskel."

"Lambert and Eskel?"

"My witcher brothers. Same school as me, Eskel and I grew up together, Lambert is younger than us and considerably more annoying. We're still hoping that part of him will dull with age, but it only seems to grow sharper."

"I'd say they might be fun to meet, but I hope you're the last witcher Ciri brings half-dead on my doorstep. I also hope you won't end up hating me after these training sessions."

"Hating you? There's no chance of that happening. I asked for this, remember? Although, I could use some of your energy right now or I might fall asleep here and I doubt you feel like carrying me back to the car."

Her face brightened up, and she happily poured her energy into him. Just as she was about to black out, he pulled her to his chest and held her there until she came to.

"Was I out for long?" she asked, glancing at his arms around her.

"Maybe a few seconds." He let her go and stepped back, clearing his throat. "How come the swords and armour didn't disappear? Aren't they like the rest of your construct?" he asked, trying to take her mind off his prolonged embrace.

"No, they're not. Don't they feel real to you?"

"They're just like the ones I have back home. Even their weight down to an ounce."

"Glad to know I got them right," she said smiling. "You should pack them up for next time."

"Are we leaving already?" he asked, eyeing the picnic basket. She had packed plenty of delicious food and he was hungry enough to devour every bite.

"It would be nice to sit and eat here, but I didn't think you'd want to linger," she answered.

"I just thought it would be a shame to let all that good food go to waste."

"Alright then," she said, sitting back down on the blanket.

She laid out all the food between them and they both dug in.

"Is this something you do back home?" she asked while she sipped her cider.

"Which part?"

"Eating out in nature. Having a picnic with... friends."

"Sometimes, but it's not the same. Most times we eat out simply because we're on the road. We don't go out of our way to do it. And most times I'm alone, I seldom have company on the Path."

"It must get lonely."

"You get used to it after a while. And there's always the winter to look forward to."

"Why the winter?" she asked, confused. "Is it the winter celebrations? Wait, do you even have those?"

"We have Yule, but it's not that," he said, shaking his head with a smile. "In winter, most living witchers gather at Kaer Morhen. We sharpen our swords, exchange tales, drink and laugh. It's a chance for all of us to feel normal for a while. Vesemir always..." His smile withered. "He always made extra White Gull, before we came. Without him, the place won't be the same."

"Sorry," she said, reaching out for his hand.

"Don't be. I should be sorry for bringing down the mood. We were having such a lovely time."

"You're allowed to feel grief. It's normal and you're not bringing anything down." She handed him another piece of dessert with a soft smile.

He had put on a brave face while they were out, but his body ached on the way back and the shower somehow made it even worse. All he wanted was to sleep it off. He let himself fall onto the bed face first, wearing just a pair of shorts.

"It's been a while since I hurt like this after training. It's like a boar ran into me at full speed..." he complained without moving.

"I can give you a massage," she suggested.

"I was hoping you would do that thing where you take the pain away."

He buried his face in the sheets and closed his eyes, trying to relax, but his muscles were tense and painful.

"That's for actual injuries, not for muscles aches."

She climbed on his back, then scooted down so that she was straddling his hips.

"What are you doing?" he said, looking confused over his shoulder.

"Giving you a massage, as I said."

She leaned towards the nightstand and pulled out a bottle. Before he could say another word, she poured its content onto his back. The smell of oranges filled the room as her hands glided over his skin, diligently massaging him with nimble fingers, finding his sore spots and rubbing the pain away.

He muffled a satisfied moan into the sheets and masked it with a cough. Her touch was unbearably arousing. Even worse, he could feel the heat of her thighs against his back and he couldn't help think how pleasant it would be to sink into that warmth.

Fuck! Doesn't she know what she's doing to me right now?

She leaned in to better rub his sore shoulders, and her warm breath sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. He could already imagine her lips on his skin. It was more than he could take and he was hard enough to put a hole through her mattress. Her hands moved lower and her hips swayed back, brushing against him. A lesser man would have bucked her off and climbed on top of her by now. But he was a witcher and there was one last thing he could do: go into a deep state of meditation, the kind he used to speed up his healing. This put him to sleep and he no longer felt the touch and warmth of her legs around his hips, or her lovely hands moving over his skin.

He woke in a daze, hearing her talk to a man outside the open bedroom door. He listened in on their conversation as he put on a pair of trousers and a T-shirt before going to meet the man who was peering over Criss' shoulder into the bedroom.

"I totally forgot you were landing today. I've been so busy lately..."

"I can see that," the man joked, looking at Geralt. "You have a naked guy and a bottle of lube in your bed, that looks busy indeed..."

"It's massage oil..."

"So... lube." He burst out laughing. "Look, I'm not judging, but you could have told me and I would have gone straight to a hotel instead."

"You can still sleep on the couch while you're in town..."

"What? And hear you make sex noises with whatshisname? Hell no! I'd rather not do that, sis."

"It's not like that..."

She broke off when Geralt came up behind her to greet the man he guessed was the brother Criss had previously mentioned.

The man was a little taller than Criss, with a medium build and the same hair colour as his sister, but with pale green eyes. And those eyes were now measuring and assessing Geralt's worth, not that he could blame him. If he had a sister, he might have done the same.

"Sorry, this isn't a great way to meet. I'm Geralt," he said, extending a hand.

"I can think of at least one way this could have been worse," the man replied with a grin. "I'm Andy... Criss's big brother... Um, it's nice to meet you, Geralt." He shook the hand Geralt proffered. "I wish I could say I heard a lot about you, but apparently my sister tells me less than I expected."

An awkward silence fell and rather than talking about how sleeping in her bed painfully meant nothing in their case, he decided on a change in topic that wasn't about him.

"Don't know if Criss told you. She got tenure, she signed the papers yesterday," he said while rubbing his neck and looking down at an embarrassed Criss.

Andy's face lit up. He hugged his sister, lifting her off the ground.

"That's amazing! Congratulations! We have to celebrate! I was sure you'd give up. Did that fucking Grinch of a Dean give you trouble?" He put her down, clasping her shoulders with a stern look. "You didn't..."

"Of course not! You should know better than to even ask," she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then how?"

"Actually... Geralt helped me. He scared the bejesus out of the Dean and might have broken a couple of fingers..."

"Damn! Never known you to agree to violence." He looked from his sister to Geralt. "But I'm glad someone was looking out for her."

"I wouldn't call a firm handshake, violence," Geralt replied with a wry smile. "Your sister is an amazing woman who had helped so much, this was the least I could do," he said, looking to see his host turn pink.

"So, how should we celebrate?" Andy asked cheerfully.

"We were actually going to have a drink tonight..." she began.

"Drinks! Great start! We can go to that club downtown, you know, where we went for John's birthday... Oh, I should call John, Kathy too and maybe Sylvie..." He clapped his hands. "Let's turn this into a party!" he said with enthusiasm.

Geralt caught her eye as if wanting to ask if this is what she wanted, but she just shrugged. "It'll be fun. They have good music and I haven't been out dancing in a while."

Dancing wasn't Geralt's idea of a good time, but there was no way he would spoil her fun, so he nodded and she whispered back a hushed "Thank you!" Her brother was already on the phone, inviting her friends on her behalf and she didn't seem to mind.

"I'm going to get out of your hair and check into a hotel. We'll meet there..." Andy checked his watch. "Let's say 9? It's 6 now, so that should be plenty of time."

"Sure, we'll see you there. Let me walk you out."

"See you later, Geralt!" Andy waved, grinning, and Geralt just nodded back at him.

Once her brother left, she returned to the bedroom to find him laid out on the bed.

"Sorry, I totally forgot my brother was coming. He always stays here when he's in town, so he has a key. I woke up to noise from the hallway, but by the time I got up, he was already in front of the bedroom door. He assumed..."

"I heard what he assumed," he interrupted.

She blushed a pretty pink and stared at the carpet.

"We should get a little more sleep if we're going out later."

"That's not a bad idea, your construct really did a number on me this morning."

Her massage had taken away his pain, but he was still tired and he imagined they wouldn't be back until the early hours if partying here was anything like back home.