And yet... Here we are

Celandine

Jaskier woke to the morning sun, as was his wont. He didn't put on his doublet, nor his shoes before he made his way down the tower's steps. He walked into the keep to silence. Ciri sat on the floor reading a book that reminded him all too much of the textbooks he read in university. Vesemir slept in the chair in front of her; Jaskier assumed he had been watching her study and had nodded off. The bard didn't see any of the other men. Ciri sighed and thumped her head on the book. The bard smiled.

"What are you reading?" Jaskier sat beside her.

"The difference between ghouls and alghouls. I just finished the section on the difference between wraiths and noonwraiths not too long ago."

"Do you only worry about how to kill monsters? When you aren't practicing with the pendulum to fight them, you read about their weaknesses. Is that all your time consists of?"

"Pretty much."

"That's unfortunate." Jaskier joked softly. He bumped the girl's shoulder; she didn't share his amusement.

"It's needed." I'm going to be a Witcher so I can help people."

"Witchers help people who give them coin Ciri. They don't aid in helping people who don't pay because that normally deals with politics."

"Not you too." Ciri huffed and put the book down on the ground.

"What do you mean?"

"Geralt already told me about his neutrality philosophy." Ciri looked over at the troubadour. She narrowed her eyes, curious. "Do you stay neutral."

Jaskier chuckled to himself and shook his head. "No Ciri. I wish I had stayed neutral, but I have never been able to."

"Why?" Ciri asked. She sat up a little straighter and scooted closer to the bard.

"I have loyalties that lie in the intertwines of politics." Jaskier admitted.

"Loyalties?"

"Friendships." Jaskier clarified. Rather than mentioning his blind patriotism in Redania and his subsequent spying career or the fights started by his lovers, he would rather tell the girl that. "There have been many times when my relationship with Geralt has put me closer to death than I would like to have been. Not that all of that was political, but some of it was."

"Hmmm." Ciri muttered before she looked back at her book. She sighed as she flipped through the pages she still had left to read. "I'm tired of studying." She whispered and looked at the bard.

Jaskier looked around. He still couldn't see any of the Witchers beside Vesemir still asleep in the chair. He weighed his options before he stood. The troubadour brushed off the dirt from his trousers. He extended his hand and Ciri took it curiously. Jaskier pulled her to her feet. He gave one last sparing glance for a Witcher before he began walking towards the tower.

"We'll teach you something other than ghouls and wraiths today." Jaskier decided aloud. Ciri trotted behind him up the stairs.

When they reached the top of the tower, Ciri immediately sat at the desk. She kicked her feet subconsciously, since her legs were too short to rest them on the floor. Jaskier reached for his lute case by the bedside. Carefully, he pulled the lute from it and walked to the girl. She took it into her hands curiously, holding it upright. Jaskier tried not to wince as she picked at one of the strings.

"We'll learn about music. Hopefully you'll find it almost as interesting than monsters." Jaskier smiled before he took the lute back from the girl. He grabbed a chair and sat beside her. "This is the fret," Jaskier brushed his hand over the neck of the instrument. "And these nobs tune the instrument, they're called pegs. Are you listening, Ciri?"