Love As You Are

Chapter 2

The second time Jaskier finds Geralt, he thinks perhaps the irrefutable, tremendous joy of seeing Jaskier again will trigger the soulmark and a tight-lipped confession from Geralt.

It doesn't.

Geralt doesn't so much as smile at him. Though he does, after only a bit of cajoling, allow Jaskier to buy him dinner. As a thank you, of course, for how much success Jaskier has found with his first witcher-centric song. He loves performing it like nothing he's loved performing before, though he does not tell Geralt this part.

"I knew you'd be unable to resist the prospect of dining with me." Jaskier grins.

"Don't flatter yourself, Bard," Geralt says. "I'm not stupid enough to turn down a free meal. Food is food no matter who's paying for it."

Nonsense. Utter nonsense. There are plenty of people Geralt would not accept a free meal from, but Jaskier does not point this out.

Over dinner, Geralt even asks, "How's the new lute?"

It's hard to tell if it's a genuine question born of true curiosity and care, but Jaskier answers as though he's sure it's in good faith. "Wonderful, thank you. Your reputation improves with every note I strum and every word I sing."

Geralt rolls his eyes as he tears off a piece of bread.

"What brings you to Novigrad?" Jaskier asks.

"Work. There's not much to be found, these days."

"Have you found anything then?"

Geralt devours nearly an entire loaf of bread and hunk of cheese. "I'll check the notice board in the morning," he says between mouthfuls.

"How do you manage to eat all of that?" Jaskier asks, caught directly between impressed and horrified.

"Witcher metabolism."

Jaskier pushes the rest of his plate of potatoes over, and Geralt shoots him a surprise, grateful look and devours that too.

"Now that I've done you a favor..."

"Shit. Should have given me the chance to decline if those potatoes came with strings attached."

"What's done is done. All I ask in return is for a story. Any story you like."

"I could tell you one about a bard killed by a Witcher."

"Any story but that one."

Geralt takes a sip of ale and leans back in his chair, eyes tilting upward in thought. Jaskier pulls parchment, ink and a quill from his satchel, and looks at Geralt expectantly with the pen poised.

Still looking like a starving man, Geralt takes a giant bite out of an apple. He swallows and says, "A few months ago I was hired by a merchant to retrieve some cargo from his downed cart."

The parchment and quill may have been premature. "Please tell me there's more to that story."

"Drowners. The merchant was attacked near a swamp full of them. One got its claw in me, but I cut off its arm and finished off the rest."

Puzzled, Jaskier prompts, "...While the claw was still...in you?"

"Yeah." Geralt takes another sip of his ale.

Jaskier jots this down, wondering fleetingly if that left a terrible scar or was but a mere flesh wound to a witcher of Geralt's stature.

There's something in this story he can work with, but he's going to need to find a way to get Geralt to give him more details. Realistically, though, Jaskier knows he'll be the one inventing many of the details as long as he's got the basics to work with.