And yet... Here we are

Witcheress

Jaskier awoke when light pushed into the room and warmed his face. As he sat up, he groaned. In his haste last night, he had left his doublet on. The buttons had pressed designs deeply into his skin. He glanced beside him only to see an empty bed. Geralt never waited around after he woke, so the bard shouldn't have been surprised. Jaskier stood and fixed the blankets as he went.

He walked to the window and stole a glance outside. He saw the same Witcheress he had seen practicing for days. She ducked, pirouetted and dodged in time with the pendulum. Her foot placed carefully on each pole she rested her foot atop. One way led to safety, or rather the stone slabs of the courtyard. But the other way seemed to be a straight drop off of the cliff. To aid in her practice, he supposed, she wore a blindfold as she swung. The bard did find it odd; he thought Witchers only took boys to put through the trials.

Jaskier held his breath as she stumbled and almost plummeted from safety. Quickly, he grabbed his lute and made his way down the stairs. He didn't give Geralt or Yennefer, who were arguing in the kitchen, any heed. Instead, he uncased his lute in hopes of looking like he was doing something more than worrying for the girl's welfare. Quietly, he plucked at the strings as he listened to Lambert order her around.

"Wrong!" Lambert yelled. His voice echoed through the courtyard, easily drowning out the tunes of his instrument. "You're getting too close! Don't hack blindly at it!"

Jaskier chuckled but made no comment about the blindfold impairing the girl's vision. Her white hair also fell into her freckled face, but he supposed that didn't matter with the black cloth over her eyes.

"I told you, the very tip of your sword," Lambert continued to call out, "aim for the carotid artery. Where's the carotid artery on a humanoid? On top of its head? Concentrate!"

The girl swung out of time with the pendulum. The wooden sword was knocked out of her hand. She stumbled. Her foot missed the next pole. She lurched backwards, falling opposite of the stone slabs. She gave out a childish yelp.

Jaskier didn't think. If he had, he probably would have waited too long, or stayed frozen out of fear of the constantly swinging pendulum. He grabbed the girl's leather vest and pulled her towards him. He let go of his breath only when the girl caught her feet on the slabs and stood once more.

"By the gods..." Jaskier mumbled to himself. His heart raced in his chest.

"What were you thinking!" Lambert demanded as he walked to where the two stood. Ciri quickly pulled off her blindfold when she realized it wasn't Lambert who had grabbed her.

"Were you just going to let her fall?" Jaskier protested in turn.

"I know you." Ciri said slowly as she looked up at Jaskier. "You're the one who's been watching me train from the tower, aren't you?"

"This is Witcher's work. You wouldn't understand, bard." Lambert spoke no more harshly than he always did. Still, it made his profession sound like an insult.

"I was not going to sit idly by and watch a girl fall to her death." Jaskier defended. He turned his attention from Lambert back to the girl. He paused when he noticed her eyes. They were not yellow, nor held narrowed pupils like a cat. She had not undergone the mutations. "I have been, yes."

"Have you been seeing me improve?" The girl beamed as she stood up straighter. She pointed her nose slightly towards the sky.

Jaskier smiled himself. "I would say you have-"

"Ciri, enough." Lambert argued. "Back on the poles. Practice with the pendulum. Soon enough you should be able to practice with all three."

Ciri. Jaskier paused as he thought about the name. His memory fought itself as it tried to remember Pavetta without any memory of Geralt attached to it. He gripped his forehead in pain. The bard stumbled.