#I don't want to sound like I'm being mean to Triss but that was the best way I could think of to put it

[angst-fairygodmother]

Sing Once Again With Me: Madame Giry’s Tale (The Witcher; A Phantom of the Opera AU)

A/N: Alternate title: Yennefer explains. This was a hard chapter for me, and a turning point in the story, because I had to decide if we were dealing with a man or a monster. Word Count: 1370 Content Warning: None; Exposition heavy Taglist: @ficsandcatsandficsandcats​ @joz-stankovich​ @sennextheassasinkingoflight​ Previous Chapter: Masquerade/Why So Silent Cross-posted to AO3: here

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yennefer stared the guard down with a look somewhere between wry and the kind of bored where people start disappearing without a trace. He appeared to be reading the papers she brought with her for the fourth time.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” she snapped. “Are you going to let me see the prisoner or not?”

“You know, we don’t allow…conjugal visits until the person has been condemned.”

“You know,” she mocked his tone near perfectly. “I could make your death incredibly painful.”

The guard swallowed nervously and rushed to stand and lead her back into the heart of the prison. Geralt sat, head bowed over his knees, on the rough straw pallet in the darkest, dankest cell in the building. He was still in his party clothes, though the doublet was unbuttoned, his hair unbraided, and in general he looked worse for wear. In fact, as she inspected the witcher, Yennefer guessed that he had been subjected to torture, or at least a harsh beating, more than once in the days since his arrest.

“There is to be a trial,” she told him without preamble. “Jaskier’s spent a year’s worth of earnings to find you a defense.”

Geralt looked up, startled by her voice as it echoed against the stone, briefly considering that she was just an illusion. Only the nonsense she spoke told him she might, might be real.

“Whose earnings?” he asked, voice cracking with disuse. “I know well enough that he doesn’t save money.”

“He took an advance. He indebted himself to the music hall for you. So you had better not screw it up.”

Shame made Geralt drop his head once more, staring at the hands he saw stained with blood even if no one else did, before turning back to the sorceress.

“Tell me what’s going on here Yennefer.”

“There haven’t been any new sightings or events since the masquerade…everyone is rehearsing the Phantom’s show because they’re too frightened not to. Most people don’t believe that you’re him, but there’s still enough people pushing the narrative that they won’t just release you.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. The creature, spirit, whatever. Tell me about it.”

“What makes you think…” she was cut off by Geralt’s snarl.

“Your wife implied that you know more than you’re letting on Yennefer. And when she wasn’t busy vaguely threatening me with piscine nicknames, she also told me how much you’ve come to care about Jaskier. I can’t protect him, or Y/N, or anyone else, if I don’t have answers. Please Yen?”

She sighed. “Very well. I hate it when you’re right.” She rubbed one hand against her temple in frustration. “I don’t know Valdo Marx, though I spent enough time in courts to be familiar with him by reputation. And of course, from listening to Jaskier’s stories.”

Geralt raised an eyebrow expectantly.

“He used to perform at the music hall; he was their lead for years. Until a few years ago when the city was sacked…”

“Nilfgaard,” Geralt growled, unsurprised that the empire was the root of yet another problem in his life.

“By Cintra.” Yennefer corrected pointedly. “And the music hall was all but destroyed. Valdo Marx was listed dead after everything was over, but they never actually found his body.”

“So you think that the thing beneath the music hall could actually be Valdo Marx?”

“Well no. Not just him…”

Geralt sighed in frustration. Even after all this time, with everything at stake, she was still holding out on him.

“I think, and I could be wrong, I haven’t been able to find proof, that Valdo Marx merged with something much eviler, or was taken over by it. I might even know the creature that is…inhabiting him.” She turned away from Geralt’s piercing gaze, wrapping one arm across her chest to grip the folded elbow of the other. “I brought it here when I was younger and…stupider.”

Geralt sighed, knowing that she was referring to the years of her desperate, reckless quest to undo her sterilization by Aretuza.

“I came here chasing a rumor, and because it wasn’t a city considered important enough for the Brotherhood to bother with. There was supposedly a creature here, a spirit older than the city, maybe even older than humanity. It was said to be made of pure chaos, to be dark and powerful, to hold sway over the fabric of reality, to play with life and death like one might light matches just to let them burn out. I thought…if I could bind the creature to a single place for a while, I could bargain with it.”

“Yennefer…” the tone of Geralt’s voice bored a little too close to pity for her taste and she shot him a glare.

“It worked. I was able to bind the spirit, to a point in the catacombs that is now long buried under the basement of the music hall. When I left, I didn’t bother to consider the spirit; I had no more use for it, and didn’t care what happened. That is part of why I took the position here, to make up for that. But when I went down, it was gone, and it left behind no violent sign of escape. I thought it must have been freed. So I waited. And now all of this happening, I can’t buy as a coincidence.”

She began to pace, the swishing of her skirt highlighting her agitation.

“I didn’t bind the spirit alone though. I had help. It would have been too powerful otherwise, overwhelmed me. And after the djinn…well I did learn. There were three other mages who helped me do it, but I don’t think we can turn to any of them to help undo it. Sabrina is dealing with something of her own; Istredd’s lost behind Nilfgaardian lines. And Triss …is soft. I think she would view the creature as a something to save instead of destroy. We have to do this ourselves.”

She stopped, facing Geralt head on and meeting his gilded eyes in all their anger.

“I don’t know how or why it merged with Valdo Marx. He may have been trying to escape or survive the attack and accidentally released or he may have done it intentionally. But it is some shadow of his memories that is why the creature has fixated as it has. Having human vessel is making it more dangerous and unpredictable than it would have been alone.”

“If something happens to Jaskier…” the threat did not need to be finished, his tone said enough.

She laughed, harsh and mirthless. “I am less afraid of your wrath than I am of my own self-hatred, should anyone else come to harm from this.” She met his sharp gaze with one of her own, burning equal parts rage and fear. “I’ve no love or loyalty left to the spirit Geralt. And if you seek to destroy it, I’ll help you. But if at any point it comes to a choice between you or her, I will not lose Y/N.”

“I understand Yennefer. I would never ask…” his shoulders slumped, knowing that he was probably lying even as he spoke.

She reached through the bars to give his hand a gentle squeeze before turning sharply on her heel and returning to the prison office.

“You have a single piece of easily planted evidence,” she accused the guard captain before she was even through the door completely. “The rest of your case is based on conjecture and prejudice.”

“Excuse me?” the guard captain snapped, standing from his desk and blustering, fat walrus-like mustache wobbling. “How dare you barge in here?!”

She looked him up and down and narrowed her eyes. “Do you really want it getting around that you arrested and held a man for murder based on a single word from the lyrics of a ballad?”

“The trial hasn’t taken place yet. What would you have me do, Mistress…?” he waved his hand as if waiting for her name.

“Yennefer of Vengerberg.” She smiled somewhat smugly as he paled. “Release the witcher…into my watchful custody. I’ll ensure he shows up for the trial, and we can put him to use in the meantime.”

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

I'm still not over the eskel thing. I cant even comprehend it, you know? Like they could have made him look incredible and then the juxtaposition of his personality! (Don't judge a book by its cover opportunity!) And I've seen things of "omg it's book accurate" ...in what book? He was my favourite character, and I feel like they really missed the mark. (I'm not hating the actor, I hope he gives a great performance ) I'm hoping that the cool demeanor is like a fake out so he will show his calm and kind side

It’s not book accurate in the slightest, just sounds like people trying to rationalize/justify the showrunners incompetence, or they just want a pretty boy Eskel so bad to drool over that they won’t acknowledge he’s clearly not based on his source material or game versions. Eskel above all should look scary and sound intimidating on his first meeting with Ciri and Geralt at Kaer Morhen. Standing alone in the dark recesses of run down Kaer Morhen to greet them, emerging near a torch illuminating his mutilated visage, his voice sounding harsh and metallic, growly, menacing. The book describes him as looking like a monster wearing human clothes, so even the good side of his face is probably a bit beastly, not a good looking or pretty man even before the scars, or likely even when he was young. If he were good looking or pretty apart from the scars it would have almost certainly been noted in the material by Ciri or Triss, and it wasn't. He is described as disfigured, not with a little scar drawn on his face. From Ciri’s perspective I personally imagine him looking something physically closer to Sandor Clegane from A Song Of Ice And Fire when I read his first appearance in the narrative. He's supposed to be intimidating, nearly making Ciri scream... until he opens his mouth and Ciri actually listens to his friendly words, and realizes that he is smiling at her. And there forward he goes from a frightening, monstrous stranger to her and the reader, to the kindest, most reasonable and socially adept and mature Wolf Witcher at Kaer Morhen, now that she and we and later Triss actually get to know him better.

A lot of people are making a big deal about his scars, but as lame and lazy as they are (likely they didn’t want to waste time or effort on him because he won’t be around long), it's not just the scars, that’s not the worst of it. Eskel is a rugged, nearly hundred year old veteran Witcher by that point, he's seen and done it all, like Geralt. He’s been through it. He is not a teenager wearing Witcher clothing, like he seems to be in the show, looking more like a pre Trials student than a grown ass Witcher. He's just too damn young, nothing grizzled about him, has a soft, normal voice and looks show Ciri's age. Wouldn't surprise me if the idiot showrunners went for a romantic angle there before he gets killed off, or some teasing of one. I seriously believe they have made Showskel a combination of Book and Game Lambert, the youngest Witcher who isn’t as close to Geralt, more mean and abrasive, and Leo from the first Witcher game, a young redshirt Witcher who is killed off to inspire angst in the others, and especially Geralt, complete with a funeral ceremony (burned on a pyre in Leo’s case, as it should be, instead of being like an edgy cult and feeding him to wolves xD). 

Meanwhile they’ve aged up Lambert, made him more overtly rugged and manly like Geralt, a veteran Witcher, and are clearly priming him to be the ‘brother’ Geralt grew up with, the same age, a friendly disposition, and getting huggy with Geralt, which they most certainly didn’t do in the books. Only Eskel got the brotherly hug, from a man who doesn’t like to show his emotions much, which says a lot. When Geralt thought of Eskel it was always with fondness. Showskel is almost certainly Wolf Chow either way from all the signs, I definitely believe those leaks, the trailer and behind the scenes stuff is corroborating them (along with the show Witchers absurdly and irresponsibly inviting a band of strangers, prostitutes to secretive, professional Kaer Morhen for the winter and Vesemir the old school no nonsense Witcher leader is somehow allowing it instead of kicking them clear out of Kaer Morhen Valley. Also why are there so many Witchers at Kaer Morhen? There are only four Wolf Witchers left in the world, plus Coën the Griffin visiting, too many extras, more redshirt Witchers?) 

I wonder if Eskel’s original actor really dropped out over scheduling issues, or because he saw the disrespect Eskel would get, that it was a walk on role to be killed off, discarded. Or if it really was scheduling issues, was Eskel rewritten entirely when he was recast younger, merged with Lambert and traded spots with him, and Lambert given his role in the original script instead? We may never know, but it’s something to think about.

But I digress. Those are my thoughts on the matter. Give me a break, showrunners.

I’ll be hate watching the trainwreck show like I did with the later seasons of Game Of Thrones though, narrating and nitpicking the hell out of it with a bunch of posts. That'll be fun, at least, it was for Game Of Thrones. I’m a glutton for trainwrecks that way.

[skaldingrayne]

@limerental​ Here you go, as requested:

1) book!Coën is not a Wolf witcher || TWN has said there is only one school in their canon (Kaer Morhen) and TWN!Coen wears a Wolf medallion

2) book!Coën's first winter at KM was Ciri's as well, he was also an outsider like her || TWN! Coen is (again) already part of the wolf school which kind of makes him just another of the witchers around her

3) book!Coën "was young, apparently the same age as Lambert" according to Triss in BoE - who is relatively young herself (Jaskier is possibly older than she is), so i doubt she'd be calling someone over a century-old "young" || in Netflix's NotW Geralt is the youngest and - as there is only one school - TWN! Coen would have to have been at least old enough to be a full witcher out on the Path at the time of the attack, making him even older than Geralt who's already over a hundred come S2

4) book!Coën did not bully Ciri || TWN! Coen did - a century old monster slayer, and he’s spending his winter helping Lambert bully a human kid

5) book!Coën did not dance with sexworkers brought to KM and then intentionally drugged past being able to remember anything about the night || TWN!Coen did

6) book!Coën "had unusually pale, yellow-green irises and the whites of his eyes, riddled with red threads" (BoE) || TWN!Coën has heterochromia. Now this might be a visual design choice to make that difference in eye mutations between him and the other witchers obvious, or it might be related to Atour saying he had an eye injury when he was young. But because of the nature of witcher mutations, TWN!Coen's non-mutated eye is functionally different than a mere cosmetic choice - it would mean that at the very least his eyes have differing visual levels (which would cause issues on it's own) or could even be a sign of some level of vision loss. And as someone who's had minor vision loss before and has family who's suffered major, I can report back that such a thing does indeed make a difference in one's life

7) book!Coën spells his name with an ë || TWN!Coen has been anglicized to remove the ë, kind of like how some of my ancestors were forced to change their names to not sound too “foreign” when they immigrated to America. To be clear this is not “just removing the umlauts”, it makes it an entirely different letter and is a purposeful misspelling which is generally considered rude to do to a person of another language/culture. It would be like changing Yennefer to Jennefer or Ciri to Siri - it’s not the same name (alright, admittedly this is just a personal annoyance than a true character change, but it’s still rude. names & culture are important)

8) book!Coën had the awesome teaching/foreshadowing moment with Ciri about even the best of fencers all winding up in the same place/in cemeteries || TWN!Coen did not get to have that teaching moment because the line was given to Geralt

These seem like major differences to me though - both physically, in his personality, and in his backstory. So much so that they feel like totally different characters. TWN!Coen doesn't feel to me like someone who's going to march off to Brenna, for instance. So while Atour remains my face claim for Coën, when I write him it's the book character who gives him life. When I read him, I want more personality and backstory than TWN saw fit to give him. Otherwise he's just another Aiden really - which can be fun, but only if I'm in the mood for an OC

When you said "there was no other clarification of 'book canon Coën' besides that tag" - except that tag is on a whole entire fic which would presumably provide the clarification you're asking for, right? If you don't want to read that fic, that's fair. Walk away. But to *not* check your evidence before you go jump online and impugn someone who's just helping readers looking for more book-personality Coën?…Like I said, seems like it says far more about you than it does the writer

Are you upset that people are canon blending characters (as you mention with Triss), or are you upset that people are trying to specify which canon they are using instead of just blending (the whole Coën thing that started this mess)?

Now as to your tags:

IDK, when I see someone specifically described as pale, I tend to assume that's because everyone else *isn't* (see: Earthsea)

I DO in fact think it's a leap to assume Sapkowski intended the characters to be default anything because a) it’s not just some sort of fantasy Poland - he said they came from all over in a different world and b) there's no such thing as "default white" any more than there is any other kind of “default skin tone.” Look, Western Europe and Eastern Europe have A History, the countries within those regions have A History, the regions within those countries have A History, and to write it all off as "white" so as to conveniently ignore all the cultural/economic/political/historical/social differences that shape them seems as reductivist as lumping people from Spain/Mexico/Puerto Rico/Cuba/Columbia/Peru together as just “those Spanish speaking countries”. You seem like the kind of person interested in doing better and trying to promote diversity, so these comments were pretty surprising TBH

Sapkowski is an old *Polish* guy - which means he grew up in a country absolutely obliterated by the Nazis, lived through communism and revolution, watched his country and people rebuild. And then - at the age of 38, which um...is not actually that old? - he wrote the start of what would become an amazing series of books about power and politics and race and oppression and marginalized groups all dressed up as fantasy so people would read it. I do not know why you would demean his age or culture instead of celebrating it, especially as you otherwise seem to enjoy these books written by an "old white guy" *about* an "old white guy"?

@skaldingrayne Going to address this too because I've seen it a few times now... I'm confused about what you and others see as the huge difference between book and TWN canon Coen? The show absolutely made changes to KM and the Witchers (none of which I enjoyed really) but Coen and Lambert are fairly faithful adaptations in my opinion. I do not see any real difference between book and TWN Coen so had to assume it was just a rejection of anything TWN on principle which I will not begrudge literally anyone and found questionable because there was no other clarification of what was meant by "book canon coen" beyond the tag. In a climate where there are "fans" of the witcher who openly express their disdain for the diversity of the show, I don't think its that unusual to be initially skeptical. Enough people do that sort of canon blending with Triss that I am already wary from experience. But truly, what is this huge difference that everyone is seeing?

[morganlegaye]

Is The Witcher 3 (PS4) good? I know a lot of people love it, but what do you think? I already tried it two times but I stopped both times shortly after starting the game... I don't even know why exactly. I mean I'm not the biggest fan of playing a man and not being able to choose my own (female) character (like in Dragon Age)... maybe that's my problem. But you seem to like this game a lot so it has to be good?! And would you recommend the novels?

I actually got recommended TW3 in like … 2016 I think, and although I know many people only ever played TW3, I wasn’t like that and started with TW1 because I wanted to know and experience the entire story. That was important for me. However, TW1 is slow, the travel is shit, and the combat sucks. I now recommend people just read about it and move on to TW2 before doing 3. I feel like you’re missing out on a lot if you just play 3, and maybe that’s why you can’t get into it either: you don’t really understand what’s going on.

I do understand the whole ugh I have to play a guy thing. That was a hugeeeeeeeeeeee thing for me when I started playing the series. Also I remember complaining about Geralt’s VA in the beginning lmao. He sounded so monotonic. Now I can’t picture Geralt as any other voice. Shit grew on me I guess, haha. Anyway, about the guy thing, I ended up really liking Geralt so I stopped minding so much. Also I may just be super biased but once you get to Yen in TW3 like……. i’m just happy I can romance that idc if I need to be a guy to do it cause jesus she is absolute perfection lmao 

actually tbh i saw a screenshot of her when i was looking up stuff about the series before i started playing TW1 and i was like oh my god look at that beautiful fucking woman i can’t wait to romance her and like even going into TW3 i had no idea who she really was or what her personality was like but she ended up being my fave character anyway so yay

ANYWAY. Please give it another shot. The story and that characters are so, so good. Read about 1. Play 2 and then 3. Do NOT read the books until after you’ve finished the games because I really enjoyed the games but lmao after starting to read these I see why TW1 was such shit ahaha. They fucked up so much (triss was way too involved, yennefer was no where to be found despite being an extremely predominant part of geralts life, alvin was like another weird version of ciri, etc). They did try to fix a lot between TW2 and TW3 though. But I also don’t blame sapko just taking a lump sum of money for selling the rights to that loosely based game. like. there’s no way he could have known the series would have ended up becoming as huge as it did after just seeing that lmao (i did hear he’s trying to demand more money from the company though lol)

I, do, however, highly recommend reading the books once you’re done. I haven’t been able to put them down.

[witcherfics]

Chapter 4/Probably 6. This one's longer by a lot, but now I know what plot points I want to hit in each chapter, so now I have a plan!

Warning: rape/non-con in graphic detail. Skip from *** to the second *** if you don't want to read it.

The remainder of the fic will refer to events that happen in that time, but not in as much detail.

"Kagen, huh? Alright, one apology letter coming up. Hey, Geralt, love..."

Geralt was sitting in his own room, Jaskier in his arms. Eskel had returned to the keep soon after him, finding nothing on his own mission, and was now sitting at Geralt's feet, Jaskier's fingers in his hair. If they were to get more information, it would be up to Mouse.

"Yes, Lark?"

"I want to join you at the negotiations table tomorrow." Geralt and Eskel both stirred at that, but Jaskier kept talking. "You know I'm good at it, and if I'm sat in your lap, they'd have to take you as well. We could bring Yenn too, for extra protection."

"You know, Wolf, he is being sensible. I'm certain that Aubrey or Triss could help the Cub hold down the fort." Geralt's scent changed to exasperation. He knows that Jask is right, but he doesn't want to put him in that kind of danger.

"Fine. We'll take double the number tomorrow then. A proper army, just in case. And you stay beside Yenn and I the entire time."

"Deal," Jask grinned. Then someone knocked on the door.

It was Mouse and Treyse, both looked excited and concerned.

"I got some reliable rumours from a whore in Cintra. According to her, a customer bragged to her about how powerful a sorcerer he is. He also mentioned later that he's only staying a few days for business, and complained about how bland northerners make their food. She suspects Nilfgaard, and high ranking at that, by the way he talks. His accent was hidden, but there were a few tells in his speech that to her sounded like a noble trying to speak the lower language. And since Nilfgaard is so much more strict than anyone about its classes of language, it makes sense."

Treyse looked at his niece, a bit of pride in his scent that he couldn't quite tamper out. Then he turned to Geralt and Eskel with a look of sympathy. "We'll keep looking for your father, Wolf. Already we're sending word to all our little birds in Nilfgaard. We've even got a few minor nobles that Mouse had made diplomatic connections to before she joined us that are willing to pass on secrets, and an agreement to cooperate with Cintra where Nilfgaard is concerned. I say a week until we find him for certain."

Geralt didn't like it at all. Just sitting there waiting for others to get the information didn't suite him at all, but if he went up to Nilfgaard and accused them of taking Vesemir prisoner, that could be grounds for war. A war that Geralt isn't ready for yet. Somehow, they'd have to not only find where Vesemir is, but get him back without having revealed who did it.

"In the mean time, I'll go meet this stranger in negotiations. We'll leave Jaskier and some of the council here, and argue that we have to bring it back to the full council to deliberate and that we can have a counter proposal in two days. We'll keep dragging it on from there, should give you enough time to find what you need. Sorry, Lark, you'll have to wait for the second meeting."

-------

There is a moment, after getting thrown a distance, or clawed open, or otherwise badly injured, that a Witcher feels their body break and has to decide to keep fighting despite the injury. Vesemir felt his body break in the dungeon, as blow after blow rained down upon him. His head was spared, to keep him from getting knocked out, but the metal rod his tormentor wielded wroght bruise after bruise on his body. Few bones were left in one piece from the onslaught. Each blow pulled another groan of agony from Vesemir's lips, falling out with a mouthful of blood.

Vesemir beard the metal clatter to the ground. He no longer had the strength to even attempt to hold himself up, instead savouring the relief for just a moment. Then, a new pain, this time sharp, in his leg. He fought the exhaustion to look. The tip of a knife poked out, and in a detached sort of way he realized that it had gone through the meat of it.

Through all this, Vesemir was not paying attention to the man's words, but what he heard after adjusting to the now-wounded leg brought fear to even his heart.

***

"I wonder if your arse is as ugly as the rest of ya, Witcher. I guess it doesn't matter really, a hole is a hole to me."

No... No, not that. Fuck, how could he face... How could he... How dare he look anyone in the eye if he's weak enough to let someone force that on him? Fuck, to pretend he's even worthy of his sons after...

Vesemir knew his mind was spiraling, but as the man cut away the last of his clothing, as Vesemir hung, too weak to shiver against the cold, he felt an incredible shame rise in his chest.

The man prepared him a little at least. His finger burned as it pressed inside him, wet with just a bit of spit, probably to save the other man some chafing. Vesemir knew that the bit of pain he felt at that was nothing compared to what was to come.

The finger left, only to be replaced by something much wider. He wanted to clench against the intrusion, but forced himself to relax. Wouldn't do to lose more blood, and the energy it would take if he has to fight an infection on top of everything else. As if he could do much.

The man held his dick there for a sec, as if preparing. The he clenched Vesemir's waist, and pushed in all the way in one quick go. In, out, in, out, never giving him time to adjust to the intrusion. It reminded him of that time that the Snakes introduced him to curry, and it burned just as bad on the way out as on the way in, but worse. So much worse. Vesemir gave another scream, and started getting light headed. As he passed out, he was grateful.

***

Vesemir slept fitfully that night, but at least he was left alone in the dark, dank cell. Every inch of him screamed in pain, and having not eaten all day he wasn't healing like he should, his body already automatically adjusting to the lack of food. Whenever he woke, he prayed to a god he hardly believed in for Geralt to find him soon.

For Want of a Saviour

Rating: M

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Geralt, Eskel, Jaskier, Vesemir, Yennefer, Treyse, Mouse, OC villainous mages

Other tags: torture, hurt comfort, whump, inspired by the AWAU

When [redacted] wants information, they get clever. When [redacted] gets clever, someone usually suffers. This time it's Vesemir.

Chapter 1/?

--------

Authors Notes: Hi, me writing for @inexplicifics's au again? More likely than you think. Be careful, this contains graphic torture, which may include rape, but I haven't gotten that far in the planning yet. That's why I said chose not to use rather than stating any warning in particular.

One second, Vesemir was in Skellige, discussing Ciri and the logistics of her inheriting Cintra with Pavetta. There were a few people out of earshot, but none that were concerning to Vesemir. The next moment, the ground had litteraly disappeared beneath his feet.

This is not unusual in a Witchers' line of work, but it is usually preceded by downing some potions, sharpening a silver blade, and putting on some armour. It is usually followed by hanging upside down from a monster tentacle, or claw, or what have you.

What is not usual is the distinct feeling of a portal, the loss of his tracker charm, and unconsciousness.

---------

Geralt was training with Eskel when Yennefer ran into the yard. "It's Vesemir," she cried, "his tracker charm was broken!"

Fuck, Geralt thought, then considering that such a word is particularly relevant, said out loud. "Fuck."

Geralt didn't bother with messengers, instead yelling for everyone to meet in the main hall immediately. The fact that he never bothered with gathering the council first said much.

Geralt surveyed his people. "As most of you know, Vesemir recently went on a diplomatic trip to Skellige with only two others. His tracking necklace was broken, indicating trouble."

Yennefer took a place beside him. "The two with him have written to say that a portal appeared under Vesemir's feet, and they weren't near enough to grab him in time. His tracker is showing up near Brokilon, of all places." The hall somehow, impossibly became more tense.

Geralt took over again. "One of each school will join those in Skellige in interviewing Eist and Calanthe. The Council and twenty from each school will investigate near Brokilon. Jaskier and Ciri will be in charge here, with Aubrey to assist them. School heads, have your men chosen and ready to leave in fifteen. Treyse, a word with you once you've given your orders, please."

A chorus of "White Wolf!" rang through the hall.