If life could give me one blessing...

Geralt is alive - part 4

Vesemir sat heavily on his chair at the dinner table, and he looked at the others around it. The mood in the keep has been steadily worsening. Even the sorceress seemed to be affected to some degree, meanwhile Geralt had dark holes for eyes, shoulders slumped and heavy with guilt that he stank of. The old master sighed and rubbed his forehead again.

He knew he has been acting cold towards the pup, but not even Vesemir could forget this so easily. After all, he still felt a bit of unreasonable guilt clenching his own insides, making it harder for him to behave neutrally. But well, enough of brooding and wallowing in pity. It was time to do something, so he invited the witchers who were the closest to the bard to this meal in hopes of shedding some light onto the situation.

"Ehm," he waited until he had their attention, before starting his somewhat prepared talk. "I didn't want to tell you yesterday in case it worsened, but the bard woke up yesterday," he said running his eyes over them. Geralt's eyes widened, before he avoided his master's gaze, meanwhile Ciri lifted her head up, hope clear in her eyes.

"I believe most of you have already shared this information, but in case you didn't, I will tell you now. Jaskier, as a unicorn, is suffering from heartbreak. It is a condition that should prevent the otherwise immortal beings from surviving forever in grief after losing their loved ones. When their love dies, they experience heartbreak, go through the stages of grief, when they are mourning the loss, before they set off on their last journey, walking till they see their love once again in the afterlife," he paused, looking over the witchers. The only ones surprised to find out were Ciri, Coen and Letho, the giant viper, who apparently befriended the bard in some of he winters when Geralt parted from him. It was just like the unicorn to befriend the biggest and scariest being in the vicinity.

"Ehm, excuse me, but how do you know all this? The only thing I've ever heard about unicorns is, well, just rumors," asked the griffin and the others looked curious to say the least.

"Well, back in the days, when he called himself Zima, and before we got him his human body, he told me many things. He wasn't exactly a secretive individual and at this point, I wouldn't be afraid to say that I know the most anyone except them themselves knew about unicorns," explained the witcher.

"That's all nice and well, but isn't this actually bad news? This thing certainly looked like that last journey bullshit," grumbled Lambert.

"The wolf has a point. When I met the songbird some year and a half ago, he sure looked to be mourning the white wolf fiercely. The song was actually quite catchy," added the usually silent viper and other turned at him.

"You met him after that?" Geralt mumbled but from the look on his face, he didn't mean to say it out loud. The viper turned to him, a nasty frown on his face.

"The fact that you left him, doesn't mean the other witchers did, white wolf," he hissed accusingly, and Geralt flinched.

"Okay, you can solve this some other time, but I didn't call you here for you to bicker. I called you in here, because this, in fact, truly is his last journey. But you are forgetting one important detail. Jaksier loved Geralt, and he is not dead. He is sitting right here, perfectly alive," he looked at the younger wolf again.

"Jaskier walked to reunite with his love, who, in fact, wasn't waiting for him in the afterlife, but here. What more, what I talked about, what I knew, it was only the love between two unicorns, as no unicorn has ever fallen in love with another species before. I believe, that thanks to getting a human body, Jaskier is different. He has fallen in love with a witcher and even though his heart is broken, Geralt is still alive.

This, I dare hope, could mean, that he won't die. It gives us time to think and to do something about this. So I don't want you to be brooding all over the keep," he looked straight at Geralt again, "I want for us to try and bring him back. We have to hope. Jaskier has been human for over forty years now. Maybe his heart has changed too. Maybe there is still some way to fix this," he said, watching the thinking faces around the table.

"So, can I visit him now?" asked Ciri after a moment of silence and the old wolf felt a gentle smile returning to his face.

"Only, if you won't do it behind our backs," he permitted. After all, they needed all the help they could get. Because what would a witcher know of healing broken hearts?