wiedzminka | ❧ IC INBOX: Abraxas

[ 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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