Van Bereaver

Chapter 8- Aretuza

Sage

As I had hoped, Cirilla had become mentally strong. In her strength, she began to show signs of power that Nenneke claimed she saw during their training. I could feel some kind of energy emitting from her.

Geralt said he wanted to take her to Aretuza so there we were there, trying to convince the headmistress Tisaia de Vries and the rector Margarita Laux-Antille of the school to let Geralt stay.

"This school is for women only... except on celebrations," Margarita, Rita, said. "We will let the beann'shie and the Source stay. You will have to go, white-haired Witcher."

"How sexist of you," Geralt grumbled. I knew he was just being over-protective. He had just gotten the girl and was already being told to let her go.

"It is either us or the Chapter will place her wherever they want or train her themselves to be weapon of chaos," Tisaia told him. "Leave us or else."

Geralt was ready to pick the latter when I motioned for us to talk in private. He let out a huff at the two leaders and his eyes stayed fixated on them as he relunctantly stepped to the side. Finally, he set his amber eyes on me and I tried to smile.

"I'll stay here with her," I promised. "I'll take good care of her as I did when you found us, okay?" He crossed his arms, not budging with my deal. "Geralt." 

"Fine," he breathed. "If anything-"

"I will protect her with my life." I knew my eyes showed desparety when I said this because I felt the need to say it. It was the truth. The child was more than us.

"If anything goes wrong, take her to Kaer Morhen. It is located in the Blue Mountains of Hertch in the Kaedwen Kingdom. It is a fortress for the School of the Wolf. I've done some thinking and she needs to be trained like a Witcher."

I pursed my lips, witholding myself not to refute with his decision. Drifting my eyes away from his gaze, I nodded. Geralt turned on his heels and went to say his goodbyes to Ciri.

"Oh, we're going to have so much fun," Rita said, dropping her strong demeanor. She linked her arm in mine and led me further down the dark halls that were lit by yellow candles.

Opening a door, we entered a bath hall where other mages were sitting in the steamy pool, washing themselves. Margarita immediatly stripped her clothes and stepped into the water where it rose to her breasts. I only noticed a face as Sabrina Glevissig and I thought Triss Merrigold would be there but she wasn't.

"Aren't you going to join?" Rita asked.

"I think she's shy," one of the mages whispered. "Her clairvoyance might make her socially awkward."

"Perhaps a virgin."

"No thank you," I finally said. My voice was every bit of stern so I wouldn't seem weak in front of them. I wasn't embarrased from their snide comments. Although it was true, I had enough self-respect to not give into it. "Could you point me to the library?"

"Down the hall to your right," Sabrina said. She hadn't made any comments before and gave me a soft smile.

I slightly bowed and backed out of the bathing hall. Once the doors closed, I heard them burst into a fit of laughter I ignored. This was the 'if anything' Geralt had mentioned. But, it wasn't about me, it was about Cirilla.

I gasped when I entered the library. It was out of excitement from the vast section of books. There were ladders that I would need to climb in order to search for what I wanted. I didn't mind spending an endless amount of days in this library reading and becoming an expert. I had learned much more from the sribe Jarra in the temple and I was ready to put my knowledge to use.