Songs of Fire °Jaskier, The Witcher

°0.9°

0.9 |when we were young|

IT HAD BEEN ALMOST A YEAR. A year since Valeria and Geralt claimed the Law of Surprise. A year since she last saw the bard, one of her only friends. Even though, she tried to deny it, deep in her heart she missed the singing man. One of the good things of Jaskier not being with them anymore is having Rhenvys by her side again. Now that the bard was nowhere in sight, it was safe for the dragon to be close to his mother.
Valeria stared at the clouds while absently stroking Rhenvys' head.
The creature nudged his head against his mother's hand, clearly not content with the way she didn't pet him right. 
Logs of wood were dropped next to her.
"You know you could help with cooking dinner."
With a small smile she eyed Gently trying to start a fire.
"But now I have someone doing it for me."
The Witcher slowly looked up with an annoyed expression.
"You could at least start the fire, princess."

With a sigh she looked down at her child. Rhenvys had grown a lot. His head was already getting too big to rest in her lap. In two years she might be able to ride on his back.
"Ignis."
Gerald jumped back when the flames of Rhenvys were larger than expected. The warmth bit at his feet when it got too close but luckily for the Witcher it didn't touch him.
"Goddammit, Valeria! You nearly burnt my feet off!"
Stroking the dragon with one hand, she lifted the other and pointed her finger in the air with a mischievous smile. "Correction, Rhenvys nearly burnt them off. Besides, just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you can act like a grumpy, old man!"

"How would you feel if you haven't had a proper rest for nearly a year!" In his burst of anger the Witcher had stood up. Rhenvys stood up as well and let out a shrieking sound.
"Shhh, it's alright. Geralt's just a bit grumpy."
Her hand stroked the side of the beast and he relaxed his muscles. Rhenvys carefully layed back down and rested his head in Valeria's lap again.

She could hear the heavy sigh escaping Geralt's mouth.
"It's alright, Geralt. You don't need to apologize. I understand how you're feeling."
A reassuring smile was directed to her old friend.
"You had to put up with a lot of things from me as well all these years."
She lifted Rhenvys' head off her lap, who purred in protest.
"Get some rest, Geralt. I'll take care of dinner."

Valeria busied herself with preparing dinner while Geralt rested against the trunk of a tree. He eyed Valeria in concern when Rhenvys stepped towards him. Clouds of dust flew through the air every time the mighty beast took a step towards Geralt. Valeria only chuckled softy knowing what was coming.
Rhenvys let himself fall down next to Geralt and his head now rested in his lap, this one a bit more fitting for the size of his head. The dragon nudged Geralt's muscled arm signaling the Witcher that he needed to pet him.
Valeria couldn't help but smile at how uncomfortable Geralt seemed. Although the man had raised the dragon with her, he was still wary of the creature. Ofcourse, it didn't help that Rhenvys had grown from something of the size of a rat to something larger than a horse. How times have changed.

Valeria had known Geralt for four months now. News had already traveled across the Continent about a certain Mother of Dragons.
Rhenvys not larger than a rat looked up at his mother and the Witcher with his big eyes. Every time he heard the sound of metal clashing, he cocked his head.
A grunt escaped the fragile girl when she lifted her sword again.
"Stay focused!"
She blocked another incoming hit from Geralt with her sword.
Her frustration was growing. They had been training all day and still she had no victories. Hell, all these months that they had been training hadn't brought anything. She still lost every fight.
Geralt noticed her lack of attention yet again. He pushed her to the ground. Valeria fell on her back and Rhenvys started flipping his little wings in anger.

Valeria didn't hear the mentoring words from Geralt. Her mind was solely focused on her failures. She closed her eyes, feeling the anger and frustration rise up. She balled her hand into a fist while the other gripped the blunt blade even tighter. Was this truly all that she was? A failure? The last living Blackfyre and probably the weakest of the bunch.

Geralt fell silent when he noticed she wasn't listening. He stared down at the girl whose breathing became heavier. He hoped she wasn't going to cry. He had no idea what he had to do then.
"Valeria?"
The girl didn't respond and even Rhennvys stopped moving. Geralt stepped forward. Valeria's eyes shot open and they were as black as the night. She jumped back up on her feet and started charging towards the Witcher. She let out battle cry after battle cry. Their swords clashed together. Valeria's hands started glowing and Geralt's sword became warmer by the second.
"Valeria!"
Valeria retreated her sword. The blade caught on fire and the burning sword came crashing towards Geralt. In a swift move, he kicked her in the stomach and she fell back. Her eyes went back the normal and the flames from the sword disappeared.

With a gasp Valeria sat up. Tears streamed down her cheeks. With her soft voice that didn't dare to speak too loud she asked herself helplessly.
"What just happened?"

Valeria stared down at the fire while a rabbit was cooked above it.
"You seem lost in thought."
Her eyebrows knitted together.
"I was just thinking. You should try it too sometimes."
She put up a fake smile.
"Insults won't distract me, Val."
With a sigh she swept a strand of white hair out of her face.
"It is nothing important. Don't worry so much about me and get some rest."
Geralt looked down at the sleeping dragon on his lap. "Hmm, that's a bit hard with him."
Valeria playfully rolled her eyes and threw a twig against Geralt's head.
"Admit it, you love him."

Her hand reached into the fire to pull out pebbles from it. It was merely a whisper but it made the woman gasp in shock. "As you do with the bard."
More twigs were thrown his way and even the small stones Valeria had pulled from the fire.

"How dare you make such an assumption?!"