A Wild World- A Witcher FanFic

Chapter 23

"Where did you get that!"

"The same place you got your azalea I'm sure, although likely from much longer ago."  A soft smile spread across her face, crinkling her gentle eyes.  "This is all I have left of a dear dear friend of mine.  He lived a very simple and rough life in a world only us two can even begin to imagine."

"Auntie why did you never tell me any of this before." I couldn't help pursing my lips, not knowing made me feel like a young child. Just old enough to get told what to do but not to be included in the gossip.

As if sensing my tension my ever loving cat Cherry padded into the room and made herself comfortable squished in my lap.  Briefly scratching her ears to appease her highness, I returned my attention to Auntie.  Smirking at Cherry, she continued.

"Come now, would you really have believed me if you yourself hadn't seen a world like that with your own eyes?"  

Her piercing gaze made me fidget in my seat.  I hated it when she was right.  

As if curiosity was plastered in bold print over my face Auntie began to unwind her story.  Piece by piece it seemed to flow effortlessly from the depth of her ancient memory.  At first it came slowly and then as if a damn had burst inside her too the events charged one after the other.

She too had been like me, and through a series of overwhelming and unfortunate events she had found herself careening through the Witcher world. 

However, where I had only spent a short time, Aunt Elinor had lived there for years.  She had found skill as a weaver in a small village, and settled with the notion of living a peasants life. The foul swamp on the village edge in Temeria with the monstrous fauna was key to the soon romantic tale. All it took for a whirlwind change was: a swamp teeming with drowners; a terrified out-of-place girl; and one timely witcher. Life carried on for Elinor, but with passion, drive, and a new travelling lover.  What then ensued was all but history.

 The sigh leaving her lips threw weight onto her shoulders, making her seem aged well beyond even her years.

"Wait but how did you get back to this world Auntie?" My question cut through the forlorn gaze she had pinned to the medallion. 

"Ah well, that was a true tragedy that I mourn everyday."  

Firmly grasping my hands, she gave them a squeeze before continuing. Perhaps she needed the reminder that someone of real flesh and blood was here, with her and it wasn't all just a bad dream.

 "I never understood magic. He did a little, but neither of us could imagine the magic generated by hatred in some people.  I was visiting the large white castle in the mountains when it happened. . . a mob, no a horde of angry peasants and mages attacked.  So many witchers were there, and students too. I thought they could hold out, but then magic began to rip through the air. Chasms of magic tore pen and bodies flew.  My witcher, my Krios,... he gave me his medallion as I was torn away by the magic that brought me to him."

Stifling a sniffle Aunt Elinor dabbed her watery eyes with her old embroidered handkerchief.  Her weathered copper skin seemed to lose a hint of the joyful life underneath.

The luminous glow of the setting sun cast slow dancing shadows across the floor, making my room seem that much more foreign.  All those months I was in a world with a different sun, a different moon, and with very different creatures.  It was a wild world.

Casting a sideways glance at the steadily ticking clock, Auntie patted my leg and gently pressed the cold silver wolf head into my palm, the metal points pricking my skin.

"Cassiopeia," her voice tensed and low, "here, this world, is my home now.  Here with you and Cherry that spoiled feline.  Krios, he died that day you know, so there is nothing left if I go back.  What good is an old lone woman in medieval times after all." She managed a half laugh before continuing.