gynvael | abraxas:: INBOX

[ Her message is not wholly unexpected. Jaskier's informed him, of sorts, and once Geralt confirmed through Jaskier she is indeed safe, he's let things be for now. Decides she doesn't need him hounding her while she's already got her hands full.

But when she contacts him, he answers quickly. ]

Sundown.

[ And that's where she'll find him, outside in the snow on a stump just within the walls. Roach is in her stables, the wolf stretched out under the stars. Geralt waits patiently, his mind turning over what she might want to speak to him about. Has she found something? Or has something happened? ]

[ Ciri confirms, but there's nothing more she wants to say over messages like this. This is something they need to discuss in person -- or as close to it as the Horizon provides.

She joins Viktor in the wagon around sundown, under the pretense of needing to rest. Though that's probably true, as well.

Ciri materializes outside her cottage at the edge of the Keep and walks over, visible through the crumbling side of the wall. ]

Geralt.

[ When he stands to greet her, Ciri launches herself into his arms. ]

[ The moment she appears, Geralt stands. Then she's coming towards him—and he doesn't think twice about wrapping her up in his arms. It's funny. He'd been...not unconcerned, but not yet letting himself fret when he'd had little more to go on than Jaskier's assurances that Ciri had promised him she was on her way home, that no one was hurt.

But now that she's here, he can tell not everything is all right. ]

Ciri. [ He pulls back a little to look at her—not that injuries always appear in the Horizon, but it's instinct all the same. There's slight furrow to his brow. ] Are you okay?

[ When it's been taking practically all of her effort just to find solutions to each new problem, fielding (understandable) questions and concerns from Viktor, and earning their ride back by standing guard and hunting -- and that's after the whole mess that led them here -- Ciri's barely had the time to stop and process. Now, suddenly, all the stress and fear she's been keeping bottled up spills out, her guard finally cracking when she saw Geralt. It doesn't matter he's not really here. It feels real enough.

For a few moments, Ciri just hugs him, and lets him hug her, and closes her eyes. She releases a long breath, and some of the tension, finally, along with it.

Though she isn't injured here, Ciri still looks a bit harrowed, jaw tight. Frightened, even. ]

I'm all right. Had worse.

But-- Something happened. I did something. I didn't mean to.

[ Another shaky breath. ]

Let's sit down.

[ I did something. His concern only grows—there are shadows under her eyes, a distracted tension in her shoulders—but he nods. It's not only about what she may have done. It's also about who might have seen, what's been left behind. But those are questions he puts away for now. Whatever it may be, he knows they'll...

Take care of it. The most important part is that she remains safe.

He sits down with her by the training posts, the snow falling gently around them. A familiar piece of their old home. (Sometimes, he does wish he can still talk to Vesemir. Even after everything—there aren't many he would turn to for advice. And more and more these days, it feels as though he needs it.)

He leans forward. ] Tell me what happened.

[ It gives her a minute to try to gather her thoughts (again). Figure out where to start. Ciri sits across from him, staring down at her hands settled on her knees. ]

You've met Viktor. [ She'll start at the beginning. ] He's been expressing interest in seeing the desert for himself, but he's not... well equipped to do so alone. I agreed to escort him. Just a half-day's excursion to that striped rock formation close to the city.

We got unlucky. There was a wildcat, and Viktor's horse spooked and threw him. I tried to help, but--

[ Laid out like this, it all sounds so stupid. She's gotten too reliant on being able to use her abilities. She should have known better. ]

I used my powers. I only meant to portal him to safety. [ It doesn't need to be said Viktor's not much of a fighter, physically speaking. It's not his fault. Ciri was fully expecting to fend off anything as needed, and it never should have been a problem.

Finally, she looks up, worry furrowing her brow. ]

Geralt. We ended up at the crater. Surrounding the monolith. The Singularity.

[ As she explains, Geralt's expression shifts from mild concern to something much deeper before it evens out again. Ciri using her powers could mean a lot of things. It could mean she screamed and cracked half the city in two, it could mean she had another spell backfire.

Or it could mean she made a portal. Apparently. To the Singularity?

He's been there. That's a ways out. Is she still there? A sudden spike of uncertainty pierces him, his mind already running through what the hell he needs to do if she's that far from Cadens with no horse and a man who seems prone to being toppled by a strong breeze. But—

No. She'd have prioritized that, asked for help to return before explaining anything else. Especially with a companion she feels responsible for.

He sets the questions beginning to pile atop each other aside. The last time Ciri was near a monolith...he doesn't know if proximity to the Singularity causes anything to worsen. (What of the devices that have been stationed? Would they sense Ciri's magic with her so close to the structure? Would it matter? Magic is magic. Ciri's is not different. She simply has more of it than most.) ]

But you didn't approach the crater?

Edited 2022-06-17 02:08 (UTC)

[ Ciri shakes her head. ]

I think you misunderstand. The portal opened right at the edge of the crater. A few feet more, we'd have been in it.

I have no idea if that was sheer luck -- if you can call it that -- or something about the crater itself. If it... Protects the Singularity, considering no one can enter it.

[ She's heard what happened the first time Thorne brought the Summoned there. She felt the pull. ]

But I can't help but think--

Something brought me as close to the Singularity as possible. I certainly didn't try to go there. I meant to grab Viktor and get us maybe a few feet clear. [ She might sound a bit defensive here, but it's only because she blames herself. It's her fault, whether or not she meant to. ] I practice. I can do that, reliably.

...usually.

Edited 2022-06-17 03:07 (UTC)

[ A stretch of silence follows. He looks down at the snow-covered ground, trying to think. From anyone else, Geralt would say that's an absurd thought. Ciri is not the only one who possesses the ability to teleport and open portals. Not here. And no one else has been accidentally dragged to the crater.

But that's the very essence, isn't it? Nothing which happens to Ciri ever does so to any other.

Why now, though? What changed? It can't only be Ciri's power. This isn't like when she tried magic with Jaskier for the very first time. She's been practicing, received lessons with Yennefer, has been training with him and on her own. Her control has grown better, not worse. Something must've shifted. And he's not certain he likes the sound of that. ]

You told me once, you felt a pull. Towards the monoliths and the monsters which spawned from them. [ Geralt studies her carefully. ] Did you feel the same pull? When you used it this time or in the past?

[ She watches his face, the way his expression changes as he takes in what she says. She can practically see him turning it over in his mind, examining the implications. He asks the questions she expected him to ask.

Ciri nods. ]

I felt... something. When I was there, not before. When I got there, by the crater. I felt the pull of the Singularity, but I don't know if that is why I ended up there when I never meant to. It never crossed my mind. It wasn't some unconscious decision.

I don't think it was an accident. If I'd missed the mark, if I'd portalled a mile away, or even back home, or some random place in the desert-- that's an accident, a problem with channeling the chaos.

This? It's too much of a coincidence.

I just... I have no idea what it could mean.

[ He doesn't know, either. The problem is that the Singularity has proven unpredictable. And as much as Ciri has a unique connection to it, they're all connected in some way. That much is undeniable. Even Geralt, back in the early days when he hesitated to enter again, that tether never vanished. Did not grow weaker or diminish. It was always there. A string, stretching towards it. He'd warned Ciri about it before taking her into the Horizon.

Sometimes he wonders if agreeing to do so had been the wrong decision. What if—?

He rests his arms on his thighs. Exhales. ] When Thorne took the first of us to the crater, I felt that pull, too. We all did. But...your connection may be more magnetic. Caused you to portal in its direction. Like being pushed by the ocean current.

[ It's only one possibility. But it is the simplest one and Geralt has always preferred to consider what is simplest first, before jumping ahead to further conclusions.

Although. Hm. ] You said you meant to portal Viktor to safety. Is that the first time you've used it on another?

[ Ciri leans forward too, mirroring his position with her elbows on her knees. She bites her lower lip. This hadn't occurred to her. ]

...yes. The first time here. [ Though Geralt knows that she could do it in other places. Had done it with him, as well. ]

That is a factor I haven't practiced with before, but I thought it was my best option at the time and had no reason to expect it wouldn't work. I couldn't let Viktor get hurt after I promised to keep him safe out there.

[ And he'd gotten hurt anyway. She'd made it worse. It goes unsaid, but it's clear she's thinking it.

Ciri sighs, lifting one hand briefly to push back some loose strands of hair, though they only fall over her face again. ]

There's more.

[ He lays his hand on her knee. Yeah. He knows what she's thinking. ] You protected him.

[ Not you were trying. She did protect Viktor. He needn't ask to know that she's the reason Viktor is still alive—and likely largely unharmed. She'd have told him if the incident had led to more grievous injuries.

It isn't an easy thing to believe. He understands that, too. Shouldering responsibility for things that feel so much within your hands, and yet.

There's more makes him pause before he can ask if she portalled them back successfully. He frowns. Tries not to let the steadily mounting worry show. ]

Something else happened at the crater?

[ This is the part that has shaken her the most, and it shows. In front of Geralt, she doesn't really try to hide it. Ciri closes her eyes a moment longer than a blink, summoning up the memory, still so clear. The ice-cold horror she'd felt when she realized what was happening. She can't explain that to anyone else but Geralt, not in a way that they'd understand as well as he would.

Again, Ciri nods, and when she looks up again, her expression is grave and drawn, lips tight. ]

Mm. I--

I was injured. The wildcat got me. Not too bad, but it bled a fair amount.

[ She doesn't bother explaining the other fight, the giant desert bugs with the disgusting not-faces; maybe another time, when talking about the monsters they've encountered is the topic, and not however the fuck her abilities are responding to the Singularity's interference, or whatever it is. ]

I was at the very edge of the crater, where the pull felt strong. When my blood hit the earth, it--

These creatures appeared. Like plants with mouths and horrible little claws.

[ She meets Geralt's gaze, holding it. Certain. ]

They only sprang up where my blood fell. Not Viktor's. Only mine.

[ A heavy weight settles on his chest. Ciri is not often frightened by much. When she is, Geralt has long learned it means something...complicated. And it does not take for her to explain in full before that weight feels crushing cold. He only needs to hear it bled.

They both know about her blood. Maybe it was naive, maybe he was just being too fucking hopeful to imagine her Elder Blood would have less meaning here, in another world where they do not know of its history, its properties, where he knows she has bled before and has seen no sprouting blooms. (He has looked. He's never said, but every time he travels the desert, he looks for any signs of feainnewedd. There have been none.)

He's quiet for a moment. In the worst of ways, he cannot say it makes no sense. It does. Ciri's blood was once used in conjunction with magic and alchemy to stimulate mutations. Chaos is far stronger here. Near the Singularity itself, the source of magic could have easily reacted with her blood from proximity alone.

Any other time, he would have gone to investigate immediately. Here, it's far more complicated. Few go to that crater. He's not certain drawing attention would be a good idea. ]

Do you believe your blood drew them out of the earth? Or that...it created them? [ He suspects the answer. But he has to ask. ]

I didn't exactly have time to do any systematic experiments. [ She snaps, without quite meaning to. Her hands clench into fists in her lap. ]

They weren't there before. Then they appeared.

Viktor was bleeding too. No creepy little beasts appeared for him.

[ She'd checked, despite the chaos. She'd definitely noticed. ]

Geralt. I've never done that before. It's not like with--

[ A glance at the Keep, reflexive, for just a second. ]

The monoliths. They came out of the dirt, not the Singularity itself, but I'm quite certain it was because of me.

[ Her snapping draws him out of his ever-narrowing focus on what the fuck this all means. If there's anything he should do, preemptively. Viktor is not a threat. But even so, Geralt can't help but think: he doesn't know the man. Not like that. Not enough to trust him with something that involves Ciri. It isn't only about what Ciri may or may not be capable of doing. It's what someone might believe she's capable of.

(Fuck.)

His gaze softens. Geralt rises from his seat to crouch down beside her. ] It'll be all right. I'll make sure of that.

[ He does not know how. He just knows he will. He'll find answers, if there are any. In the meantime, nothing has changed. His aim is still to protect Ciri. This is just one more item on a growing list of things no one can ever be told.

Not even Yennefer, he realizes. Perhaps it says something there are now those he's met here he would trust with Ciri's secrets more than Yennefer. He tries not to think about it. Swallows it down. It stings. ]

Can you tell me where you and Viktor are now?

[ Ciri follows him with her gaze, shoulders slumping as she lets out a long breath. ]

How? [ She challenges, though her voice is quiet, the anger gone. The question is less because she needs an answer, and more to point out there isn't one. That she doesn't need Geralt to pretend there is. ]

We're on our way back now from Aquila.

[ Which is also very far from the crater, and that's a whole other part to the story. ]

[ He sighs. She isn't wrong. There is no solution, not in the sense she's asking. And he isn't interested in one; that's not what he means. Ciri is who she is. He wants to keep her safe. All of her. Even if what she is occasionally leads to strange creatures that spring out the ground where her blood has spilled.

It's fine. (He has a headache.) He'll take care of it. Somehow. ]

Good. [ He doesn't ask about that, either. She must've teleported again. Landed not in Cadens, but close enough. Aquila isn't the middle of the desert. They can find a wagon, hitch a ride with a merchant. At least she and Viktor have not been separated. That would be an entirely complicated issue, one he isn't letting himself dwell on because it didn't happen. ] When you're returned to Cadens, tell me. And Ciri...

[ He pauses. ] You know I won't let anything happen to you. But I also taught you how to protect yourself and others. Viktor's in safe hands with you.

[ He knows it may not feel that way to her at the moment. But the truth is, the unpredictable nature of her Chaos is, in its essence, not much different than the times when he misread a monster, missed signs he should've seen. Was sidelined by something out of fucking nowhere. There's only so much you can account for. She's kept the two of them in one piece. That's what's important. ]

[ She lets it go. Neither of them have the answers; she's not telling him because she expects him to fix it. They're going to figure it out together, somehow. That's what matters to her-- and that's all she needs, really. The reassurance, for now, is enough. Just being able to see Geralt and talk to him and knowing she is not alone, even at this distance, is enough. She never has to be alone in the silence of the vast desert without anyone to talk to ever again, not if she doesn't want to be, and for that, she is grateful. The Horizon is more than a convenience, even if its implications surrounding their connections to the Singularity are sometimes difficult to conceive of.

Ciri leans closer, head bowed, not quite touching. ]

Neither of us is badly hurt. We were able to bargain with a merchant heading toward Cadens, and Viktor can ride in the wagon. We'll be back in about a week. I'll let you know.

[ She looks up again, seeking out his gaze. ]

When will you be home?

[ It's just the easiest word to use now. And it's true, isn't it? It doesn't matter if Geralt often likes to wander anyway. They can still call it home. ]

[ He nods. If either of them need looking after when they've made it back, Ciri knows Nadine will be able to do so. And Jaskier will tell him if there's anything else. Or otherwise send him another panicked message. He hardly blames his friend, but. Not exactly the words he wanted to see scrawled across the rocky desert ground. He'd paused his journey with Sam for those hours it took to hear from Ciri again—waited to see if he needed to turn around or not.

Those had been immeasurably long hours. ]

Near the end of the month. [ Home. He catches her eyes. Yeah. It is home. A place he returns to, where he knows people will be waiting for him. ] We'll talk more then. Jaskier tells me he has your horse and pack.

[ Not the best situation, but not the worst. Ciri is unharmed. So is Viktor. She has a way home. He won't relax until she actually is in Cadens, but it's a start. That's always the contradiction, isn't it? That even when he trusts her capabilities, he still worries deep in the back of his mind. Maybe that's simply how it goes. ]

I'm glad Nixie made it home.

[ She'd have been. very sad if her horse got killed out there all alone. It's one less thing to worry about, at least. She'll be glad to see Nixie again.

But that reminds her--

Ciri sighs, scrubbing a hand through her hair again just enough to rumple it. ]

I'm going to need a new sword.

I, ah. Dropped mine in the ocean.

[ There is a hint of apology in her voice; it's the sword Geralt commissioned for her, and she's still a bit upset about it, even if she knows there was no other choice. It's just a piece of metal. ]

[ The ocean? Geralt frowns, but it isn't that she lost her sword. It's that, how did it end up in the ocean? There's nothing overlooking the water near the Singularity and Aquila is the only place in the Cities that has a shoreline—

Oh. ]

I once lost my sword down a golem's pit. [ It happens. He knows what she's feeling, though. A blade is more than a piece of steel. It's a steady companion, too. ] We'll get you another together.

[ Should be simple enough. They're not near as short on coin these days. Benefits of a world where monsters aren't dwindling, and of having a famous bard in one's household. ]

[ Ciri catches the momentary confusion in his expression; she's grown familiar with Geralt's many little frowns. Her breath escapes sharply, almost a laugh, maybe a sigh. ]

I accidentally portalled us into Andromeda Bay. Viktor can't swim.

[ She probably doesn't need to explain more. Even on her own, it'd have been hard to swim to shore carrying a sword. Trying to keep them both from drowning, it'd been impossible. ]

I know. I have the coin. I just thought... to tell you.

Edited 2022-06-18 22:47 (UTC)

[ She doesn't. Viktor's a bit more important than a sword. What happened sounds like chaos at best, but at least everything seems to be sorting itself out.

He doesn't want to think about the next time something goes wrong.

He studies her for a moment, sensing what she's saying without actually saying it. Remembers how she lit up, when he'd taken her to retrieve her blade. Not her first, but the first he'd given her. The first he could recall giving her, at the time. ]

You'd have to wait until I'm home. But I could come with you. Commission another like before.

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