Here is another little snippet. There's also an epilogue as a bonus chapter. If you'd like to read it, please send me a message.
For the Whumpuary prompts 1 "Headache" and 19 "head injury"
"What— What happened?" Cahir asks huskily and with an effort when he wakes up late in the afternoon. Yennefer had lunch with Ciri and Dara while he was fast asleep on Regis's pain-killing and sleep-inducing tea. The teenagers slept late, skipped breakfast and only got up shortly before noon after what must have been a very exciting night. They both were quietly beaming and secretly holding hands under the table. Ciri was wearing a silk shawl around her neck, something she has never done before, and Yennefer has a good idea why. With his dark skin, Dara does not have this problem, but if she had had a very close look, Yennefer is sure she would have found a couple of love bites on his neck, too. Young love, so cute. Were Istredd and she like this? Maybe. But it was a long time ago, a very long time.
"Do you remember anything, love?" Yennefer asks, stroking a stray lock of hair from Cahir's brow.
Cahir shakes his head. And draws in a sharp breath through his teeth.
"Careful, darling. Better don't move too much," Yennefer cautions. "You almost died. One of the towers came crashing down and buried you and Ciri. You saved her, but you were badly injured."
"Ciri, is— is she here?" Cahir asks, furrowing his brow with concentration. Everything is confused and hazy in his head and it is hard to find the right words and string them together into a coherent sentence, no matter how short and basic.
"Yes, she is here, and has been for a while. I fear you missed the Yule celebrations."
"Yule?" Cahir stares at Yennefer. "How? It— it was— just summer?"
"It's the end of December. Lots of snow. All the witchers are here, and Ciri, Jaskier, Triss, Istredd and Dara."
Cahir remembers who Ciri is, and Jaskier is the bard they were travelling with when searching for her, he is almost sure of it. Triss, the name sounds familiar too. Cahir tries to recall who she is. Long, curly chestnut hair comes to mind. A sorceress. She helped save him when Ciri brought him to Kaer Morhen, right? After— Shit, his head hurts too much to think and everything is a swirling, disconnected mess that does not make much sense. For a moment he does not even recall his own, long name. Fuck, has he lost his memory yet again? Panic rises in his chest and he begins to tremble.
"Cahir, what's the last thing you remember?" Yennefer asks, taking his shaking hand in hers. It might not be a bad thing for Cahir not to recall the almost fatal accident and what caused it, but this sounds as if there is a much bigger memory gap than just the minutes or hours before the tower came tumbling down.
"I— I don't know. I can't think. I—I'm sorry."
"No, I am sorry, love. It's too early. You need to rest. We can talk about it when you're feeling better. Don't worry, you'll remember more, I'm certain of it. It's probably just the headache. I'll get you more of Regis's tea. I'll be back in a minute." Yennefer gives Cahir a tender kiss and gets up, not sure if she believes what she just said. She hopes she is, but what if not?
Well, winter at Kaer Morhen is long. A lot of time to tell stories and fill in the blanks.