The White Wolf With Blue Eyes

Chapter Four

Geralt felt as though he’d just fallen asleep when Ciri had woken up screaming.

The sound hurt his ears, but when he came to Ciri’s side, the sight only hurt him more. The fear in her emerald eyes as reality slowly began to take hold of her again. She was shaking and her face was pale as sweat beaded her forehead.

The Witcher took hold of her hand, doing what he could to soothe her and bring her back to the waking world slowly.

“Ciri- I’m here,” He said softly, over and over he muttered words of the same vain to try and calm her down.
When Ciri finally clenched his hand, he relaxed slightly, glad that she knew he was there.

“S-sorry…” She muttered. Geralt could still hear her heart hammering in her chest as she began to control her breathing. “I woke you, didn’t I…?”
Geralt sighed, sitting on the foot of the bed.

“I was reading,” He lied. “Jaskier passed out downstairs,”

The girl nodded, not looking around to confirm his story. 

It was nearly dawn anyways and the first rays of light were beginning to rise in the east.

“Let’s eat,” He offered. “I’ll wait for you downstairs,” 

Ciri nodded, letting him leave as she dressed for the day.

As Geralt made his way down the steps, he realized that this had been her first episode like this since Kaer Morhen. He’d thought these dreams had ended when Triss had some along to help, but his hopes were once again crushed as he sat at a table, waking Jaskier by ripping away the blanket someone had placed over him and folding it, placing it on the bar.

“Rrrggghhhhh- no need for the aggression-“ The bard muttered as he woke, rubbing his eyes and stretching his arms.

When Ciri came down, Geralt let her sit next to him and eat in silence. She nibbled half-heartedly at her food and Jaskier decided to take over the conversation by telling the other two about his rather horrid headache.

“I think I’ll go to the library- A nice, calm, quiet library…” He mused.

Geralt nodded. 

“I need to look for work,” He stated simply. “Take Ciri with you,” He half-suggested, half-ordered.

“What? Oh- sure… I’ll go,” She muttered, clearly not having paid attention.

As the group finished their food, Jaskier sighed heavily and offered Ciri his arm with his typical charming smile. 

When she smiled in return and took his arm, Jaskier felt a bit better. He hadn’t seen her so reserved before and despite his racking headache, he could tell something wasn’t right with her.

“I hope they have something written in Elder-“ Jaskier stated as he walked her around the city. “I don’t want to be the only one learning,”

“Reading is boring…” Ciri muttered, half regretting having not gone with Geralt.

“Bollocks-“ Jaskier argued. “Part of your rune-y magic-y stuff comes from reading about it- right? And Yenn would want you to practice-“

Ciri shrugged in agreement, still refusing to look up.

When Jaskier finally found a sign that read “Library” (rather, “hall of written word” if it were to be directly translated) he was amazed to find a huge, stone building carved into the side of the mountains. Ivy crept up tall pillars and bloomed the colour of dark wine. Runes carved into the pillars called upon the Great Wolves and the Great Pack to protect the structure and to keep it a sacred place of learning. One set of runes even said to let not but the learned and those who wish to learn enter.