Embers

Bottled Appetites

Eira POV

She hadn't replied to Geralt when he had told her about the Djinn. That there was a bottled Djinn somewhere in the little stream that they followed. Every few metres that they had walked, Geralt had stopped to start fishing with a small net. Every fishing spot, took hours to clean out , and Eira had been silently watching him.

It was stupid. Yet, she didn't dare to speak up anymore after the cave. The witcher had tried small talk in his own, grumpy way. The Elemental wouldn't have it. Not when Geralt grew more reckless and put his own life at risk due to sleepiness. She asked more then one time what the reason of his sleepiness was and didn't got an answer from the Witcher.

"You can help, you know," Geralt grumbled and turned to look at her.

He stood in the knee high water with the net in his hands. Eira stretched her legs a bit and leaned back against the tree.

"I can," she admitted. "I won't, though. Seeing that using a Djinn to cure your sleepiness is dangerous. The Djinn needs three wishes."

He stared at her, but Eira stubbornly crossed her arms before her chest and answered his stare with one of her own. Her decision was made in this ; she wasn't going to help.

"Then why are you here for?" He asked with a light tinge of anger in his voice.

"To try and keep you from killing yourself," she snapped.

Eira saw the Witcher shrug and go back to his fishing while Eira closed her eyes. She let her head rest against the tree and enjoyed the cool breeze that caressed her skin.

Some hours must have passed and Eira felt herself doze off. When two hands came to rest on her shoulders, her eyes snapped open and Eira saw the Witcher still in the water.

"Jaskier," she whispered and glanced over her shoulder with a bright smile.

The bard grinned widely, the corners of his eyes smiled with his mouth before he pressed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. In one swift movement he sat beside her and Eira felt her magic hum happily inside her. Especially when he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him.

"Found you," he said happily and let his gaze travel over to Geralt.

"What on Earth is he doing? Fishing?"

Eira sighed, an unhappy sound and her lips formed a tight line when she followed the bard's gaze.

"What's wrong?" Jaskier asked, noticing her discomfort.

"He can't sleep," she said. "He decided it would be a good idea to fish a Djinn out of the river and make a wish."

Jaskier arched a brow and stood up to walk towards the water.

"Geralt," he said and the Witcher turned to face him.

An annoyed look crossed Geralt's face and he sighed that even Eira could hear.

"Bard," he said and turned to throw the net out again. "What do you want?"

"You think fishing for a Djinn is a good idea?"

"Yes," was all Geralt said while pulling the net back in.

"Why?"

"Because I can't fucking sleep!" The witcher snarled and Jaskier glanced at Eira who had left her place by the tree.

She knew this had the potential for a fight and went to touch Jaskier's arm.

"Leave it," she murmured, "I tried. You can't talk to him."