wiedzminka | ❧ IC INBOX: Abraxas

[ it has been some weeks since she last spoke with, or saw, ciri. ever since she'd been called into that meeting with the queen and had found geralt there, to the fear she was being watched and any attempt to return to the horizon would - in turn - be watched as well.

her conversation with geralt was an expertly timed, paranoia-driven discussion that only happened because of the care it took for yennefer to get there. but that didn't stop her from looking for ciri first - to see if there were any clues, any notes, of how angry she would be with yennefer for once again disappearing.

( and she refuses to let herself be disappointed when she finds nothing at all )

that means, though, that it is another few days before a note will be found left at ciri's cabin - either slid under the locked door or wedged into the doorframe. it is not a particularly long letter, but the script will be familiar from the messages they've sent back and forth across the continent, except this will not be in sparkly script that shows up behind their eyes. ]

I apologize for the delay in your lessons and with reaching out.
I am now back if you would like to speak.
I'm sure you have questions.

~ Yennefer of Vengerberg

[ After what had happened with Geralt, Ciri has been more careful than ever with the messages used across long distances. The only people she really reaches out to, when necessary for a brief note on the go, are Jaskier and Rinwell. Geralt, on rare occasion. If she needs to talk to someone, she sets up a meeting here.

Yennefer has come to the right place. A few days later, when she checks back, she'll find a note pinned to Ciri's door in response. Yennefer's tent moves and isn't always there, so Ciri simply puts her reply where she received the note, knowing that Yennefer will check back eventually.

It contains a date and a time. Beneath it, a postscript: ]

You don't have to sign your full name. I know.

[ It's her way of telling Yennefer there's no need for the distance between them. Ciri might not have... forgiven her, exactly (she doesn't know if there's anything to forgive her for at this point, or why), but there's no need for formality. They can talk.

She waits, on the suggested day. The door to the cottage is open. Kelpie grazes freely outside, nibbling at bushes dusted with snow. Ciri sits at the table, polishing a sword that doesn't need upkeep in this place that doesn't really exist. ]

[ yennefer does comes to check ciri's cabin in search of a reply, because yes, her tent does tend to move, her domain an ever changing landscape of the various lives she's lived. the trick to finding yennefer in that domain, she's found, is having a yennefer who wants to be found.

but right now - with the queen keeping tabs and the uncertainty of how far that reach may stretch, yennefer doesn't want to be found by anyone. not unless she plans it, not unless she knows it's safe. that is why she is the one who comes back to ciri's, why she finds the note with the date and time, ciri's little post script, and then yennefer is just sort of smiling to herself. relieved, in a way. ( honestly, relieved in more ways than she realized. )

she arrives on time on the suggested day, stopping only momentarily to feed kelpie an apple and to pet her nose gently before heading towards the cabin itself. she pauses at the doorway, even while it is open, and knocks on the frame three times. just in case. before she gives a small smile towards ciri when she sees her seated inside. ]

I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.

[ Ciri senses her coming -- not because she has any of a 'normal' witcher's extra powers, but because this is her domain, and she has been waiting, listening, expecting Yennefer to approach. She is already looking up when Yennefer knocks, and acknowledges the pause to ask her permission with a nod. ]

Not at all. Come in.

[ Ciri does not stand to greet her, like she usually does. But she begins to pack up her supplies into their leather, folding them away and setting her sword to the side while Yennefer takes a seat (if she wishes to).

The cottage is sparse as ever, the table this time devoid of anything to eat or drink as she'd been using it. But it is warm inside, and a fire crackles in the hearth, above which are mounted antlers (with the skull still attached).

Ciri takes in Yennefer's appearance with sharp scrutiny, watching her movements, her expressions. Her greeting is neutral, her smile a little less warm than it might have been before. ]

How much time do we have?

[ yennefer notes the fact ciri does not stand for her. notices the differences in the meetings they've had before and now. it is not anything sharp, or unwelcoming necessarily, but a wariness. a wariness that yennefer had known to expect. so even as she pauses for that moment in the doorway to wait for that come in, she is not surprised by the tension she finds.

her eyes do scan the room, noting the differences, and feeling herself settle into ciri's mood. when she makes it to the table, she does sit with a familiarity that perhaps isn't as fitting. ]

As much time as we need. [ a beat, before yennefer continues. ] Thorne believes me in the Horizon for reasons that are not entirely incorrect, but will not bring attention here either. They will not become suspicious of how much time I am here. Not this time.

[ Ciri's shoulders relax, slightly. With a wave of her hand, she crafts a pitcher of wine from the endless cloth of the Horizon, completing the set with two matching goblets. ]

That is a relief.

[ She pauses, taking the moment to pour, then to slide one of the goblets across the table to Yennefer. Ciri takes her own in front of her, fingers clasped around the stem, without lifting it.

Her eyes meet Yennefer's, steady. There is no accusation there, not exactly -- but there is a distance, a fence if not a wall. ]

Geralt insists you did not know. [ Before Yennefer can confirm or deny this, Ciri continues: ] I believe him. What's happened is already past. I'm not interested in what you missed. It's done. What I want to know is--

Was it worth it?

[ as ciri's shoulders relax, so do yennefer's, her eyes turning to the pitcher of wine and the two goblets before turning back to ciri herself. she finds herself curious - about the tension that is still in the air, about what ciri might be thinking, about where this conversation will lead.

but yennefer is here, and she's prepared to answer questions. that was the whole intent of this, after all.

her eyes meet ciri's and she can see the distance there (tries not to let it pain her, but it does all the same), though she also notes the lack of accusation. at ciri's question, yennefer lets out a breath, sitting up a little more in the seat she's taken. ]

The Queen comes from a military family- old, and powerful, in the ways of magic as much as the ways of politics. It means she's used to getting her way, no matter what it takes. Her husband is all but absent when it comes to ruling Thorne, so any and all final decisions will come directly from her. [ she knows it is something of a lead, and may sound a bit like yennefer is trying to defend her actions, to explain herself - but more than anything yennefer realizes she wants ciri to understand. ]

She's already proven that she's willing to act out against the Summoned, putting their lives in jeopardy for the sake of her own agenda. Whatever it is Ambrose has planned, it won't mean anything if the Queen doesn't agree. And if she chooses to lash out against the Summoned, there will be very little Ambrose, or any of the other mages, can do to fight her. She has the people of Thorne's loyalty, and everything she does is for them, above all else. And if anything were going to happen that would spawn a war, or if anything would happen that would put you in danger, it will be because of her.

[ yennefer pauses here, before she reaches for the goblet, her eyes pulled from ciri for just that moment until she continues. ]

I made a mistake, allowing anything to happen in that castle that would connect me to Geralt, or to you. It is not a mistake I will make again. [ there is a tension that courses through her at that. at the admission, at the knowledge that the only reason it happened at all was because of her. her jaw tightens, before she takes a breath as she turns back to meet ciri's eyes. ] No, I did not know. [ a low grade anger still sits under those words, but yennefer is not planning on getting into that, here. ] But now that my loyalty has been proven, as far as the Queen is concerned... I will know, next time, and I will be able to do something to stop it.

[ Even though Yennefer backs up a few steps to explain, Ciri doesn't interrupt her. She listens, sipping at her wine without really paying any attention to it, soaking in the information. The situation in Thorne is only a vague picture in her mind, clear enough that she understands who the main players are, though their individual goals and squabbles matter little to her. The more they push pawns around internally, the less time they'll have to focus on things that might actually affect her out here. Ciri doesn't think it's irrelevant, of course; the pressure is building, and one of these powder kegs will blow sooner or later. But she doesn't have any loyalty to the kings and countries of this world (or any other, frankly, not after she'd watched her home burn). Minimizing damage for everyone's sake is a worthy goal. It is incidental, alongside her only real goal of keeping her family safe and together, and eventually bringing them home.

She will let Yennefer deal with royals and mages. It is what Yennefer does. ]

I already told you. It isn't the mistake I'm interested in. It's what comes out of it.

[ Ciri sets her cup down with a metallic clink against the wood. ]

Does the Queen herself confide in you now? Or will she keep testing because that is what people like her do?

[ She leans forward on her elbows, intent on Yennefer's face. ]

You're pushing her toward something. Simple reconnaissance isn't your style.

[ It's not a question; they both know it's true, even though Ciri doesn't know what, exactly, Yennefer is trying to get out of the Queen of Thorne. She wishes, somehow, Yennefer hadn't involved herself with the highest power in that country, but it's a stupid wish she wouldn't dare say aloud. Ciri wasn't surprised when Geralt told her. She isn't surprised now. She just needs Yennefer not to lose sight of what's important. For all their sakes. ]

What has the price Geralt paid bought you?

[ the truth of the matter is that ciri isn't wrong - the politics of this world, the factions broken between thorn and the free cities and solvunn, the tensions building in the space between, they don't mean much for her, directly. they rarely do. and as yennefer has watched first hand, countries and settlements and cities will fall, and they will rise again. the difference, this time around, is the singularity. a single source of unimaginable power. and thorne is the only one trying to understand it. that will com to affect ciri, just as it will come to affect them all, but that is not the question that she asks.

yennefer watches her listen, watches her react, watches her take in information and understand it from where she sits. what she's learned. she is no fool, and certainly not a child by any means, and it catches yennefer yet again, how in her words and expressions she sees geralt. brash and direct, stubborn. and then with it, a spark all her own. yennefer sits up a little in her chair, sets her own glass of wine down on the table. ]

She is the Queen of Thorne, Ciri, I know better than to assume her actions. But she will not keep testing me, and will listen to my counsel, where before her only directives were from other native Thorneans or her own mind.

[ ciri's observation sits in the space between them, and yennefer doesn't feel the need to confirm or deny it - holding onto ciri's eyes with her own. she is not afraid of ciri's attention, but more than that, she is not uncertain about her decisions. does it still sit, uneasy and rotten, in the pit of her stomach what happened to geralt? yes. does what she saw, in his mind, follow her to bed each night? yes. but she will not back down from her own decision to stay behind. just as she won't back down from the process she's already begun.

and when the question finally is asked, yennefer does not back down from it. does not so much as blink, despite the taste that rises in the back of her throat. the price geralt paid. as much as the question pulls that from her, though, the answer is clear. simple. and it hasn't wavered since she made this decision. ]

Access to the only person in Thorne, potentially on this entire continent, that would have the reason, means, and power to harm you.

...I see.

[ Yennefer answers confidently. She doesn't even question it. If it's worth it.

Geralt never had, but Ciri doesn't expect him to; she knows what he would do, the lengths he would go. She knows Yennefer, too. Better than Yennefer perhaps realizes.

Ciri looks away, arms crossing over the tabletop, shoulders tight. ]

Please do not pretend it's only for my sake, Yennefer. You know that's not fair.

[ maybe that is what's most unsettling about all of this - that yennefer knows ciri knows more about her than she realizes. that ciri has a knowledge and understanding that yennefer herself doesn't have. it edges on uncomfortable, if only for the place yennefer had found herself before she'd met ciri in those dungeons. i've lived two or three lifetimes already she'd told tissaia, fully expecting, almost knowing that it would be her end.

and yet there was ciri, who had all of these memories, all of this knowledge, of a yennefer that she herself hadn't expected to exist. who was that yennefer that she knew so well? and why did she feel a constant itch that she was failing to live up to her?

yennefer feels her jaw tighten at the thought of it, at the way ciri's shoulder's tighten. ]

I don't pretend. [ she says, her tone not exactly sharp, but with the promise of an edge, if she needs to. yennefer can recognize the urge to be defensive, the way her body tenses in the seat, but she exhales another breath and looks at ciri.

she is not sorry for it. not for her reasons, or what she did. she is sorry for the fact geralt was a part of it, sees it as a mistake that she will not make again, and with all the protectiveness she can feel from ciri, yennefer can see echoes of geralt himself. ] But you asked me what the price had been for, and that is the truth.

[ and the worst part is - she's being honest. there might be more to it, might have other legs and other advantages and other things yennefer could get out of it, but the bottom line had always been ciri. the promise she made geralt. the promise she'd made herself, that first day in the cells. the spark. ]

[ She doesn't exactly flinch, but the sense of tension winds tighter across Ciri's shoulders and the set of her jaw, her arms pressed into the tabletop like she's trying to keep herself grounded there. So she won't reel back, or withdraw, or simply fucking leave.

Honestly, she'd hoped Yennefer would say something else. That she would admit to the political advantages with more enthusiasm, or explain the strategic value of Geralt's sacrifice in the grand scheme of their goals here -- access to the Singularity, to some more powerful magic, something like that. It would be easier that way. Maybe.

Maybe it wouldn't twist the guilt like a knife in her gut. Again.

Ciri breathes out slowly, closing her eyes a fraction longer than a blink. ]

All right. I understand the advantage.

Keep us informed as well as you can.

[ unfortunately, for perhaps both her and for ciri, yennefer has aged past the excitement over court politics. decades in aidern's court saw to that, and even while she finds herself in thorne, even while she knows what she's doing and can expertly work herself around this place, the enjoyment? the excitement? is not there.

she watches ciri tense under the words, can assume the reasons why, but she waits for ciri to speak all the same. and she's not wrong in hoping for another reason, yennefer has a list of things she gains out of each move she makes, but ciri had asked for honesty. asked for the reason. and this was it.

yennefer's eyes move back to her goblet on the table as ciri finally exhales, unsure of what to do with this moment. with this tension. ciri says keep us informed and yennefer finds herself nodding before a thought strikes her. ]

Speaking of. [ she does not feel the need to please, necessarily. she is not sitting here offering information to ciri in hopes that it will ease this space. but yennefer does sit up a bit more as she continues. ] You'd asked me to check in your friend- Alina.

[ The change of subject is as much a relief as it is a fresh worry. Ciri sits forward with a start, her attention narrowing. ]

How is she? Is she safe?

[ yennefer looks apologetic when she sees ciri sit forward. gods she wished she had better news, but any news at all is better than nothing.

she takes a slow breath ]

She made it to the castle not that long ago, and she was welcomed into the castle. I had plans to speak with her more, once she had time to rest, but in the few days time they had disappeared. She and her- friend. Mal, I think his name was? Together. [ yennefer shakes her head. ] I spoke with some of the other Summoneds and it is apparently not uncommon, but no one seems to have any more information. I did some searching myself, but couldn't find a trace of them anywhere. I'm sorry, Ciri.

[ As quickly as Ciri had brightened, the truth of Yennefer's news makes her expression shutter. She sits back again, slowly, jaw tight. When Yennefer finishes explaining, she returns a tight nod. ]

I see. I appreciate you telling me.

[ Then, she pushes back from the table, chair scraping against the floor as she moves to stand. ]

I do not feel like studying today.

[ It was never really on the table, honestly. It's been a while, and Ciri isn't quite ready for it, or quite ready to really unpack everything Yennefer's said. Now, with the news of Alina--

She can't sit here pretending to be interested in further conversation anymore. ]

Stay safe, Yennefer. Be careful.

❧ IC INBOX: Abraxas

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