Embers

Crumbling

Chapter 26 : Crumbling

Eira's POV

It had been months since she had spoken the confession to Jaskier. Eira had waited outside that castle on a reaction of the bard.

A reaction that didn't came.

He stood motionless and stared at her silently for quite a while. Before Jaskier had turned around and left her next to the crumbling building. Eira stood alone and stared at his retreating silhouette. Not only the castle next to her was crumbling into pieces, something inside her broke with watching the bard leave.

"Stupid question," Yennefer's voice came, "what made you think he could handle the fact you're an elemental? He's a bard."

Eira grit her teeth and her fingernails were pushing into her hand palms.

"He had heard ..."

"Ah," Yennefer shrugged and came to stand beside Eira. "You could easily lied to him again."

"I never lied," Eira defended herself in a whisper.

"Hiding something is equal to lying, little one."

The sorceress' voice wasn't maleficent, nor was it cold and Eira glanced up at Yennefer. The woman even smiled faintly at her.

"You don't need him," she said before Yennefer walked away. "You don't need anyone."

"Where's Geralt?" Eira shouted before the sorceress disappeared completely.

"Sleeping."

She was gone the next second through a portal Yennefer had summoned. Leaving Eira alone, standing before the broken castle.

It took hours before the Witcher woke up and walked over to the elemental. Eira sat on one of the rocks, staring towards the road while her head rested in her hands. Maybe Jaskier would come back and talk to her? Maybe he would at least say something.

"Where's the bard?" Geralt asked from behind her.

Eira glanced over her shoulder and shook her head.

"Gone," she whispered, keeping her voice as silent as possible because she knew it would break otherwise.

"Already? Normally, the bard makes a grand gesture when he has to leave."

Eira stood up and stared at the road again.

"No, Geralt," she spoke softly, "I mean that he's gone."

She was met with silence for some time before the witcher's heavy, gloved hand came to rest on the small of her back. Eira dropped her head, faced the ground before she closed her eyes. She didn't want to cry, yet the sobs escaped her throat anyway.

"It's okay, Eira," Geralt murmured. "He'll be back."

Yet, months and months later, Jaskier didn't come back. At first, Eira kept a lookout at the horizon when she travelled with the witcher. To see if the bard's silhouette would appear. At night, she found herself roaming around again without getting any sleep.

Geralt kept a close eye on her and didn't speak ill of the bard. He didn't even mention the bard's name nor something that had to do with him. The witcher tried small talk, took her to fight monsters or went to Inn's to play a round of Gwent. Eira knew Geralt was trying to get her to think about something else than Jaskier.

After a while, the elemental stopped looking behind her shoulder to see if the bard would be there. She gave up entirely that Jaskier would ever be back to talk to her. It broke something deep inside her, but Eira kept moving and following the Witcher.

They took on a lot of contracts and collected loads of coins. Her powers grew because she used them so much.

Geralt learned her to meditate. It took her a few weeks to really learn and appreciate it, but soon , they spend their evenings and half of the night, sitting next to each other with their eyes closed.

The elemental got to know every sound of the forest or small villages. To know what animal passed or jumped by without having her eyes open. The scents around them penetrated her nose more clearly and Eira felt calm every time she meditated.

She never forgot about Jaskier. He was always at the back of her mind and the elemental got angry with him.

"You need to understand," Geralt started one evening at the campfire, "that Jaskier will need time."

"You told me to not tell him," Eira murmured, gaze on the flames before her. "You warned me."

Geralt turned to face her slightly.

"He must realize you're not a Black Elemental," he grumbled. "He's stupid."

"Does he even know that not Elementals were evil?"

"He studied at Oxenfurt. He knows his history."

That made Eira feel even worse inside, but she refused to shed one more tear over the bard.

Not alone

Eira snapped her head up and looked to Geralt.

"Did you say something?"

The witcher frowned and shook his head while proceeding to poke the fire.

"No," he replied, "you need sleep."

"I'm fi..."

"Eira," Geralt locked eyes with her, his features stern and his mouth in a tight line. "You need sleep."

She wanted to argue, yet felt how tired her vessel was.

"Ok," she admitted, feeling like a child who just got scolded. "I'll sleep."

"Stay close," Geralt spoke when she stood up. "I don't like the scent that lingers here."

Eira sniffed the air, shrugged slightly before she wandered into the woods.

"I won't,' she shouted over her shoulder and found a peaceful place to sleep under a large oak tree.

Falling asleep was easy, waking up ... wasn't.

At first it started in the distance, a far away wail or cry that Eira hardly noticed in her slumber. Her nose twitched, a mosquito zoomed close to her ear and the elemental turned on her other side and slept solid again.

"Eira," a whisper through the forest.

The elemental frowned in her sleep, her fingers dug into the grass underneath her.

"Eira!"

More urgent this time and Eira turned around in her sleep.

"Eira! Wake the fuck up!"

Her eyes snap open the moment a mouth with sharp fangs lingered before her face. The elemental gasped, threw her arms before her face out of defence and ground herself for the attack.

It never came, instead a loud, high scream filled the forest when the Witcher pulled the wild woman away from Eira. With one arm movement, Geralt threw her a few feet away of them.

Eira crawled up, all sleep gone from her mind and stared wide eyed at the woman who jumped up in one, swift movement.

"What is that?"

Eira took a small step back when she saw how the woman-monster bared her fangs and hissed at both of them. The Witcher pulled his silver sword and pushed Eira a bit more behind him.

"Bruxa," he said. "A vampire."