The White Werewolf || Season One: Ties That Bind

Chapter Forty-Five

Loc Monduirn, 1245

"So how did it happen?" Jaskier asked lazily.

"How did what happen?" Geralt hummed.

They were all lying at the edge of Loc Monduirn with their toes in the water. Jaskier and Geralt were both shirtless. Robin was only wearing her undergarments. Her petticoat was pulled up and she was reclining contentedly against Geralt's bare chest. He had his arm around her and was playing with her loose hair.

"You thinking so differently about monsters," Jaskier clarified. "I thought witchers were supposed to be very cut and dry. It's a monster, so you slay it, especially if there's money involved. Is it because you're a werewolf too? Or is there something else you haven't told us yet? We both know you have many undiscovered layers."

Geralt chuckled. He was too relaxed to be annoyed with Jaskier's constant prying at the moment. "Things are rarely as black and white as people want them to be, Jaskier. Even the technical definition of monster that we learn as witchers is fundamentally flawed."

"And what's that?" Jaskier murmured.

"We are taught that monsters are not humanoid in form and possess no sentience intelligence. Now, that's well and good, but what if a creature possesses one and not the other?"

"Like the sylvan," Jaskier remembered. "He was certainly intelligent."

"He was," Geralt agreed. "So you see the problem. Besides the creatures that are naturally dangerous because of their appetites, like the kikimora and the zeugl, most monsters put that classification to the test."

"And some monsters are solely human," Robin chimed in. "You told me about the first one you killed."

Geralt briefly repeated the story to Jaskier, who nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose it was that early lesson, and my own nature, as you pointed out already, that made me decide to follow my own instincts when it comes to monstrosity. I decide what I see and act accordingly."

Robin opened her eyes and beamed up at him. "It makes you quite a man, Geralt of Rivia."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," he teased, bending to kiss her.

"Right in front of me?" Jaskier protested blithely. "The gall of you two."

Robin stuck her tongue out at him and he winked at her.

"All right," Jaskier decided. "That makes enough sense. But what about the monsters people invent? When we met, you said the monsters I was singing about weren't real. Since monsters do exist, why do people feel the need to make up new ones?"

Geralt shrugged. "People like to invent monsters because it makes them seem less monstrous to themselves. It makes them feel better, which in turn makes it easier to live."

"Hm," Jaskier mused. "Maybe I should write a ballad about that."

"Go ahead, but don't expect any great applause," Geralt cautioned him.

"Oh, right, because I'm so used to receiving thunderous applause all the time," Jaskier snorted.

Robin sat up and stretched. "This is far too morose of a conversation for such a lovely day," she announced. "Let's go swimming!"

She stood and ran into the water, diving under to get herself entirely wet. When she popped back up, she pouted since neither of them had followed her.

She smirked and raised a hand, then flicked her wrist and sent a huge gout of water forward to splash them both.

"Bollocks!" Jaskier yelled, immediately rising and running to the water, wading in and splashing her back while she laughed uproariously.

Geralt cracked one eye open and observed them, slowly sitting up. For a moment, he just watched them fondly.

When Robin sent another gout of water towards him, though, he moved faster than a man of his bulk had any right to, dodging it and diving in to grab her around the waist. She shrieked playfully as he held her fast so Jaskier could splash her.

It was a lovely moment of levity that they all felt they greatly deserved.