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To talk to him in person, you'll need to be in Cadens or go to his domain, a snowy mountain fortress. Yard is open; doors are locked. If he isn't around, leave a delivery with the white wolf.
To talk to him in person, you'll need to be in Cadens or go to his domain, a snowy mountain fortress. Yard is open; doors are locked. If he isn't around, leave a delivery with the white wolf.
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he's still caught up on that - the fact geralt looks good. the fact that they're in the horizon, so geralt has chosen to look good, what all has been happening that has him looking better than sam can really remember him looking. it's a thought that distracts him as he brings his bottle to his lips and takes a drink, shrugging. geralt hasn't turned to look at him, and after sam's gotten enough from his glance, his eyes move to the horizon. the water. the sunset. ]
Much of the same. [ a beat, and then a huff of a laugh. ] Nothing worth complaining about, at least. Feels like it's been a sec since I've been able to say that.
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He turns finally to look at Sam. A thoughtful expression surfaces. Though Sam's one of the few he's invited to Kaer Morhen, more often than not, he finds Sam at his house instead. Just feels right. But he realizes that, too, has been a bit. Sam, at Kaer Morhen. In fact, Sam's yet to see it fully pieced together since he stopped to help repair a table. Since Jaskier helped him fill out the cellar.
Perhaps it's time.
Like most of what Geralt says, the invitation arrives out of nowhere, without much explanation. ]
Come with me. I have something to show you.
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so, for all intents and purposes, sam is ready to hunker down to the distant, ambient sounds of a lousiana evening when geralt speaks again - the invitation abrupt, yes, but not entirely out of character. ] Oh- sure, yeah. [ sam sounds a little surprised, but not taken off-guard as he takes another long drink from his bottle and sets it down on the wood of the porch, pushing to his feet from where he'd settled. ]
Lead the way.
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The ground levels out, as it often does for welcome visitors, the path an easier trail up the mountain. From the outside to the main hall, it looks no different. Warmer, perhaps, the fires roaring brighter; the furniture is pieced together, the tree no longer split down the middle. Only a scar remains up the length of its trunk.
Where Geralt goes, though, is a place he's never ventured in anyone's presence. Not until recent. And he knows, of course, that Sam has been near it, or outside it. That room that once lived down here. He decided not to ask when he felt Sam's presence just as he had felt Yennefer's and the others. Didn't seem like it needed to be talked about. Sam knows enough to understand.
Once foreboding and barely lit, the stairs are now filled with softly glowing candles, the tiles below a warm ivory. He pushes open the wooden door—reveals the temple that lays beyond. Despite being underground, sunlight streams through the stained glass windows.
He glances back at Sam—silent, but watching. ]
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sam doesn't so much as hesitate as they pass by, further down the trail and where the path flattens out at the base of geralt's mountain range. sam does pick up on the details of it, the brighter flames, the lighter air. the chill remains, yes, but it doesn't feel nearly as edged or unforgiving. even still, he follows geralt inside - through the grand hall where sam had last helped him rebuild furniture, passed the large scarred tree. that had, to sam's memory, been the last time they'd been here together, though as geralt keeps walking, he realizes where it is they're headed, and sam feels a bit of his stomach drop. ]
Geralt- [ sam starts at the top of the stairs, but the rest of it is cut off when he sees the changes. when he remembers - no, knows - that geralt would have felt him here last time, in the midst of the chaos of the horizon, bouncing from one location to the next in search of julie.
now, though, even the descent is brighter - warm candles lining tiled steps. it doesn't look anything like the place sam had seen before, that had been one more fact carved into sam's understanding of who geralt is. instead this place feels...intentionally inviting. intentionally soft. sam's eyes go from all that is around him back to geralt again to find him watching, silence, at the bottom of the steps, at the wooden door, and colored fragments of sunshine that peer through.
ah, sam thinks, as he takes the next step, and then another. following geralt down these steps and through the doorway, thinking that perhaps he might be seeing what it is that geralt has been wanting to show. maybe, perhaps, has been an influence on the whole of him. better, more solid, warm. ]
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You remember Nenneke? [ He's mentioned her once or twice. During one of their many late night talks over some ale. ] This is the temple. Where I stayed.
[ He doesn't explain what happened to the pitch-black room filled with old horrors. Or why now. After all this time. What changed that made him finally tear it down. It's a combination of circumstances: the influx of people who stumbled upon it, Dean's insistence that they take it apart, his own understanding. That it was time. That he'd buried it long enough.
Reconstructing the temple does not erase anything. He knows that. He would not want it to, either. That isn't the point. It's...a start. A place he can look at and remember that not every part of his history is mired in pain and loss.
Maybe that's the reason he wants Sam to see it. Because Sam—it's always been different between them. He's allowed Sam to worry about him in ways he rarely accepts from anyone else. Something beyond whether he's hurt or not, if he lives or dies. ]
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sam's eyes turn to geralt when he mentions nenneke and the temple, and sam doesn't even bother holding in the audible- ] Ohhh- this is it. [ and it all settles into place.
sam walks further inside, his footsteps quiet even on the marble floors. he's not looking for anything in particular, but the space seems to invite him to look, to find a place and settle, and that might be what puts the pieces together for him. because while a part of him does wonder why, if the horrors he'd seen tucked down here are really gone, or if this is just some kind of mask over the hurt of it, but he doesn't think so.
he's seen just about every step in the healing process, both forward and backward, side to side. part of him still can't quite believe how much of the horizon is just that - the insides of everyone's traumas, the lives they want people to see and some they don't, all just out there in the open. but this, this holds true to the part of the process, too. the good part, the healing part.
none of it is linear, he knows that better than most, but this is good. and maybe sam needs a little good right now, too. he doesn't know when he started, but he's smiling as his eyes keep scanning the warm paint, the flickering of candles, the gentle smell of incense in the air. when he turns back to geralt, the smile is still there - happy. for him. in more ways than he thinks he'll ever be able to vocalize. ]
I like this place. [ which is said easily, casually. a kind of silent recognition of what sam assumes geralt is trying to say. that this is good, that things are good, that they can get better, too. ] You never told me it looked like a spa.
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He's yet to stop and give it any real thought, what this means. Maybe he never will. But Jaskier had asked him where else he felt safe, when he'd wondered out loud what to build in place of the bloodied stone walls, and this was his answer. Right here. It is the first time he doesn't fear what shadows might spill forth and consume the home he'd built.
He smiles, makes a little huff. ] We weren't sent here to soak in the baths. Beds were nicer, though.
[ He strolls through the corridors alongside Sam. Plenty to see between the rooms, the statue, the scrolls and books. He stops just outside one of those rooms—pushes open the door. It is not his. Blank; a room for travellers and visitors. ]
If you ever get tired of your boat.
[ An invitation. One day, he might work on that boat with Sam again just because. After tinkering with his bike alongside Dean—there's an appeal to the act, meaningless as it is in the Horizon. And it carries warm memories. ]
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You sure? Cause this place definitely screams 'great baths' to me.
[ but it's said with that same smile, equally kidding. but it is something to see; the books, the warm tile, the smells in the air. sam gets a little lost in all of it as they walk, feeling a bit like a tourist as he oogles the unfamiliar sights. he's still lost in it when they came to a stop and geralt pushes open the door, and sam's brow arches.
he's about to say something about how the room feels a little blank, like there should be more things in there compared to the rest of the temple, but before sam has the chance geralt says if you ever get tired of your boat and oh, oh, sam gets it now.
the smile that spreads across his face is...well, it'd be a bit cheesy to say touched, but he supposes that is what the feeling is. aware of its importance. not shocked, exactly, but not having expected it. he looks at geralt for a moment, and then a moment before, before he gives a nod and steps inside to get a better look at the space. it is blank, but it is not empty - the same kind of welcoming air fills this space as all the rest. ]
I guess I can only fix it up so many times before needing a break. [ a beat, and then sam's eyes turn back to geralt.
because while geralt might not be one for words, sam knows that sometimes they do need to be said. ] Thank you. This is...pretty spectacular.
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Mm. A few baths. [ He allows a small smile, waits for Sam to take in the room. More lies in the expanse beneath Kaer Morhen—underground, he can spread as wide as he wants, or at least that's how it feels when the structure manifested—but this, here. This is the important part. His domain has not been openly inviting to others until now.
And he thinks Sam does need a break. From fixing things up. He isn't referring only to the boat.
Sam says the words out loud, and Geralt simply nods. Yeah. ] When the Horizon went to shit—I was searching for Julie, but. [ He pauses. A lot happened. ] It transported Dean down in that place. He insisted we tear it apart, so...we did.
[ Should've done it a long time ago. But maybe he needed the space that push first. ]
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especially when it means that sam can know the importance of this moment, too. of this whole place. of the open, welcoming, inviting air of the halls and this room. sam will be moving in over the next couple of days, bits and pieces of furniture, items, various things that say sam that will just start showing up.
geralt says a few baths and sam simply shoots him a look, a kind of uh-huh before his attention is back to the room. to the agreement between them. to searching for julie. sam remembers that, remembers how his own search through the horizon had brought him places he never meant to go. sam nods when geralt mentions he and dean tearing the place apart, huffing...not quite a laugh, but an entertained sort of exhale. ]
Little on the nose but it's worked. [ he means as far as trauma healing goes, but he can't really complain.
there's a pause, and then sam's demeanor seems to shift. less upbeat and warm and a little more serious. ] How's she doing, by the way? [ he means julie, and from his tone it's pretty obvious that he's worried. ]
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He snorts softly. It is. But Dean is not the most subtle man in existence. Neither is Geralt. He prefers tangible problems; it only makes sense the Horizon best yields to him when he can physically pull it apart and build it with his hands. ]
Mm. [ He knows Julie and Sam had their falling out, though it seems they've fixed it now. Geralt hadn't asked. Didn't feel like his business. Julie's told him...concerns, though she seems all right since he's returned. Not as worn down. ] Better. Think she's planning another party. Perhaps things will stay quiet a little longer.
[ He'd half-expected bloodshed during the Dimming. That there wasn't is. Promising. He just wants a few weeks where he can find a contract, slay a beast or two. Visit Jaskier's park full of trees. Take a look at Roach's cracked hoof. Not worry about who's to be swallowed whole by the Horizon next. ]