His Little Bird: Jaskier

Chapter 20

After the long journey, Y/n awoke when she felt the familiar freezing bite of snowflakes falling upon her cheeks. Fluttering her eyes open, she pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she looked at the rocky mountains that lay ahead, and in those mountains, was the witcher stronghold. Geralt's one true home. The place where witchers were born. Kaer Morhen. She sighed in relief at the familiar sight of the castle, Jaskier looking on in awe of the place. "That's... wow. Wow, it's huge," he said as they approached.

"I'd say it's even better up close, but I'd honestly be lying," she said, and the confused look on his face made her chuckle slightly as she huddled into him for just a little bit more warmth. "Fret not, my dear bard. It looks worse than it is."

"Oh, joy," Jaskier sarcastically spoke, wrapping his arm around her with a light grin.

They soon passed the gates of the large structure, and Ciri tied up her horse to a small stable as Y/n and Jaskier waved goodbye to Yarpen and the rest of his company before they headed off to their own trail. The three of them walked inside, and were greeted with the many familiar faces of Geralt's witcher brothers. To all of them, Y/n was the only being with monster blood in her veins that they would not try to kill.

"The Little Bird is back!" the familiar red haired witcher, Lambert, exclaimed as he approached her with a large smile. The others started to pile in behind him as they saw the familiar young princess enter with the familiar siren. "Last time I saw you, you were golden haired and angry eyed, girl. Looks like you've gone soft now, hm?" Lambert jested as he noticed the closeness between Y/n and Jaskier beside her.

"This is Jaskier," Y/n introduced them, and when Jaskier went to shake his hand, Lambert merely looked on with a raised eyebrow, causing Jaskier to retract his hand sheepishly. "He's been by our side for quite some time now."

"I think he's been by more than your side," Lambert spoke, drawing a laugh from many of the other, however few, witchers that sat in the dining hall.

"Jaskier, go and find a room. The warmer ones usually will have rats or mice, I'm sorry to say," Y/n quickly said to the bard, who let out a quiet groan at the thought of spending more time with rodents, but nodded his head and left her side. Once he was gone, she turned back to Lambert and said, "I see your manners haven't improved at all, Chicken-Hair. "

Coën, a good friend from her times in Kaer Morhen, stepped forward when Lambert's face dropped at the old nickname she used for him. "Her tongue certainly hasn't softened. If anything, her song has only gotten more potent."

The other men laughed at his statement, and she greeted the rest of the witchers warmly, just as she had the last time. After spending a few years with Geralt, he had allowed her in on the secret that was Kaer Morhen, and brought her to the stronghold with each winter. She grew to know all of the witchers that resided there, and mourned the losses of each that didn't return each year. "Where's Eskel?" she asked, looking through the familiar faces for the kind hearted witcher with the scars upon his face. When all their expressions turned sour, her own dropped in dismay. "No... What happened??"

"Some sort of freak mutated leshy infected him. He... He had to be taken out," Lambert said grievously, looking down at the floor with his arms crossed.

"Eskel fought as hard as he could. In the end, we had to do what was best," she heard the familiar gruff voice of Vesemir say, and looked over with a sad smile to see the elder witcher approaching. "Y/n, my dear. It is so good to have you back. I wondered where you went when Geralt came here with Ciri."

Y/n gave Vesemir a hug and a kiss on the cheek, saying, "Complications ensued. We departed ways for longer than we planned."

Vesemir gave her a smile and said, "You're back with whom you belong. That's all that matters." Y/n gave a smaller, strained grin at his words. Belonging with the witchers? "Are you going to sing for us this time?"