The Witcher The Swallow and The Monster

A Bard's Muses

(F/N) awkwardly rubbed his arm, he was standing by the horses, Ciri was hugging Triss goodbye. Geralt had already said his goodbyes to Ciri, she had seemed so reluctant to leave his side. But after a tearful goodbye, from Ciri, she finally had to let go. (F/N) looked at the Temple of Melitele, he didn't understand why Ciri had to go here, he didn't understand why he couldn't come along, there was so much he just didn't understand.

All Geralt told him was that Ciri would be better off here, under the care of Nenneke. The trip itself was horrid, Triss had gotten severely ill near the start, and the convoy they had rode with was attacked by those Scoia'tael thugs, he knew he was supposed to be neutral, but he hated them. (F/N) ran a hand through his (H/C) hair, he felt angry, sad, and hopeless, but he tried not to show those emotions.

Geralt saw that (F/N) was conflicted, he looked at him, and immediately knew why, "Go say goodbye to Ciri."

(F/N) looked at his master, he tried to keep a neutral face, "I don't want to, I don't think..."

"Then don't do it for yourself, do it for her. You're not gonna see her for awhile."

The ward bit his tongue, knowing that he was out of excuses, but he still tried to get out of it, "She should really be..." his master interrupted, "Go say goodbye."

(F/N) sighed, the 13 year old boy was unhappy, but he tried to hide his true feelings. It would be nice to ride with Geralt alone, to not have to bicker with the girl, to not see the look of affection in her eyes, to not have someone to laugh with, to not have the only friend he had ever had. (F/N) realized he was falling to keep his emotions back, Triss gave him a sad smile as she walked past him. She knew that the goodbye would be hard.

Ciri smiled when she saw (F/N), her cheeks turned bright red, and she unconsciously looked at the ground. The boy smiled slightly, "Ciri...I'll...I'll...I'll miss you." The ashen haired girl smiled, "I will to, (F/N)...you were..really nice to me."

(F/N) nodded he reached out and hugged her tightly, she hugged him back, he suddenly felt tears in his eyes. He was crying, no he couldn't be, he was a witcher! He was too tough for that! That's when he heard Ciri snivel, she was crying even harder. The pair held onto each other for much longer, suddenly Nenneke was walking up to them, saying that she needed to take Ciri now if she was to be moved with the other girls.

Before they broke away Ciri whispered something in his ear, something he would never forget, "I love you." (F/N)'s eyes widened, he stood there dumbfounded, the priestess took Ciri's hand and slowly lead her off. The girl waved to Geralt and Triss, but she was looking at (F/N)'s eyes for something, a response, a nod of the head, something. The boy slowly looked at the girl with his (E/C) eyes, and slowly a smile spread across his lips. Ciri felt the tears start to come to her eyes yet again, (F/N) didn't hide his emotions this time. Ciri shouted, "(F/N)! I'll write to you! We'll see each other soon!"

(F/N) nodded, he was equally as emotional, "Within the year! I-I love you to!"

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(F/N) walked outside of the city walls, and headed to some of the cottages nearby. That's where he would find Vespula. The witcher was skeptical that any of Dandelion's muses would know anything about his whereabouts, but there wasn't any harm in asking. The witcher remembered hearing that name, in one of Geralt's stories, something about a doppler getting hit with a frying pan.

(F/N) mentally crossed the name out on the list as he walked up to the cottage that the troubadour had written down. When he saw a group of men gathered around a single woman, they were either wearing face paint or flashy masks, all of them looked like jesters of some kind. The woman, the witcher assumed was Vespula, spoke, "I will get every last copper - with interest. Gimme a week, please!"