{ pfsb } a letter and a meeting

[jaskoleczka]

Time is passing strangely for Ciri; it's difficult to tell if she has slept entire days or only a few hours. There is no way to mark the days aside from weather, and that changes quickly enough that it is wholly unreliable.

(The Bar, in her infinite kindness and usual sympathetic meddling, has in fact created a mild time loop in Ciri's room, giving her time to recover and somewhat ignoring the distressed flurry which has emanated out in ripples from her arrival.)

She comes downstairs, therefore, determined to more fully explore this strange place. There are stables she wishes to visit, and the woods remind her very slightly of those around Kaer Morhen...but her plans are abruptly canceled when, along with the strong hot tea she'd ordered, Lady Bar provides her also with a note.

Anyone watching would see Ciri rub at her forehead as if to quell a sudden headache, then lay a hand on the bartop and request something in a soft voice. Quill and pen appear, and she bends her head to write briskly and neatly:

Reverend Daughter,

I am terribly sorry for the distress I have caused. Please know it was not intentional.
I welcome your request for a meeting. I am at your disposal and shall visit Room 99 within the hour.

- Ciri

Folding the note, she looks for a waitrat to charge with its delivery and watches as the messenger scampers up the stairs before she turns with a sigh back to her tea.

Which she is now wishing was something a good deal stronger.

---

It's about half an hour later that she stands at the door of Room 99 with no idea of what to expect, knocking lightly with gloved knuckles.

Comments

[jaskoleczka]

"And what sort of assistance and protection do you render?"

Ciri's mental image of cultivators is starting to look more like the Knights of the Round Table who she rode with for such a short while and less like the sorcerers she remembers from the Continent: grim men concerned more with political intrigue than with helping the people of the villages they ignore.

[lightamidchaos]

"Remove curses. Liberate, suppress or eliminate ghosts, or monsters, or demons."

A pang strikes his heart as he repeats the words of Wei Ying's vow, and his.

"Stand with justice, curb the violent, and assist the weak."

[jaskoleczka]

Something incredible happens to Ciri's face as he lists his goals and repeats his oath; her eyes light and for the first time her smile is nothing but genuine pleasure.

"A witcher," she says, triumphant. "Or something like one, anyway – more selfless, undoubtedly, something more than just a monster hunter, but – oh yes, I know this." The line of her smile turns wistful but no less brilliant.

"The man who raised me – and his brothers in arms – was something very similar."

[lightamidchaos]

He looks surprised, even as curiosity flickers in his glance.

"You do? He was -- they were?"

Remembering something Ford-daifu had said, then, and how Ciri had responded, he asks,

"Is this the Geralt you mentioned before?"

[jaskoleczka]

"Oh, yes," she says, even as she blinks away sudden stinging tears. They don't fall – she's more master of herself now than she was when she came here a shattered, terrified mess – but they make her green eyes gleam like spring grass shining with dew.

"Geralt. The White Wolf. A witcher of Kaer Morhen." Her smile is slightly watery but warm with memory. "I told you destiny dogged my footsteps since before I was even born. Geralt of Rivia was that destiny."

[lightamidchaos]

He did not mean to upset her. Carefully, he tries to edge toward another part of what she has offered.

"Kaer Morhen would be your sect, then?"

[jaskoleczka]

"It's alright," she says at his expression, and laughs as she rubs the heel of her hand into her eye. "I only miss him, is all. And hearing what you do...yes, I suppose you could say that. Kaer Morhen was once home of the School of the Wolf, one of the Witcher schools. There are no more witchers being taught there now; there or anywhere. They have lost the knowledge of how to create more."

[lightamidchaos]

"Ah. Then I hope you are able to see him again soon."

Ford-daifu had said he was all right, he recalls, and Ciri had been very pleased to hear it.

"Lost the knowledge?"

[jaskoleczka]

"I hope so, too."

Geralt, gruff and serious, would undoubtedly be embarrassed by her wish, but she can still remember how those yellow eyes of his warmed with pride when she ran the Gauntlet, can almost hear his voice warning or cajoling or soothing her.

"Mm," is a thoughtful noise into her mug. "Yes. Witchers are mutants. The schools took boys – orphans, usually, children with nowhere else to go, or a child surprise – and trained them, but the trick to creating a new witcher lay in secret concotions, potions. The Trial of the Grasses, it was called."

She takes another draught of her ale and sets the mug down. "The potions were dangerous. Only three in ten boys might survive the Trials...but those who did were gifted eyes like a cat to see in the dark, faster reflexes, greater speed, a host of physical gifts, along with the ability to use special potions and oils. And then they were set on the Path to fight the monsters plaguing the Continent.

"But there was a battle, a long time ago, long before I was born, and the recipes for the Trial were lost. So now there are no new witchers, and in fact there are very few left in the world at all."

[lightamidchaos]

How desperate her Continent sounds, he thinks; how desperate they must have been, to have worked so to find a concoction that would transform ordinary children, without the ability to cultivate qi or form a golden core, into something like cultivators.

And then to have lost it.

"I am sorry," he says. "Do your sorceresses fill that void, now that the recipes are gone? To cultivate - or practice their magic, I suppose you would say - and protect?"

[jaskoleczka]

"The sorceresses? No. They concern themselves with loftier matters: political intrigues, advising kings and nations. No –"

She shakes her head. "I'm afraid the peasants and farmers and everyday laborers of the Continent have only two choices: try to defend themselves and most likely die trying, or post a notice or contract and hope that a witcher rides their way."

[lightamidchaos]

"Mn."

Loftier matters. It is disappointing, but he knows those who would see it the same way.

"The people that you describe - farmers, for example - in my world could send a message to one of the cultivation sects and ask for help. I will not say that all respond as they should, but--"

He shakes his head.

"It is what we all should do."

[jaskoleczka]

She nods. "That was what the mages originally intended for the witchers when they were first created, I believe. A sort of knightly order that would ride out to fight wraiths and vampires, strigas and ghouls."

It didn't work out that way. She can almost hear Geralt scoffing at the idea of himself as a kindly, noble knight whose only mission is to rid the world of evil.

She gives him a curious look at his demurring. "Do they not all respond the same way?"

[lightamidchaos]

"It depends on the sect. Some have fewer resources, or less training. Among the four great sects, we have sufficient resources, but there have been those who are more willing to focus on hunts that bring prestige and glory than smaller troubles, despite how important the smaller troubles may be to those affected by them."

The perfect blandness of his expression may reveal his distaste for that.

"Neither my brother nor I believe that is appropriate." Although between the two of them, he suspects, he himself has -- or will take -- more freedom to act. "I shall hope we can set a standard."

[jaskoleczka]

Prestige and glory; she can just see Geralt's sharp, humorless smile at the thought of witchers being paid in anything more than curses and coin.

"Are cultivators paid for these services?" she asks.

[lightamidchaos]

"Sometimes."

He considers that, then amends,

"Most of the time. It is common for something to at least be offered. Such gifts, or rewards, or payments, are not always accepted, depending. I suppose it may be like the contracts you mentioned?"

He looks the question at her.

[jaskoleczka]

"Witchers are not so selfless," she smiles. "Having no other way to make their way in the world, they depend on payment for services rendered. There are times when whole villages must pass around a hat to collect enough for a witcher's fee.

"I imagine it sounds mercenary, but witchers are shunned by society; hated and feared wherever they go. There are very few options left to them if they wish to live another day without starving."

[lightamidchaos]

He nods.

"Rogue cultivators - those not affiliated with a sect, who may choose to live more freely - often do the same."

"Why are witchers hated and feared?"

[jaskoleczka]

"They're monsters," she says, simply. "At least, that is how they are viewed. People say the mutagens that give the witchers their strength and speed and abilities remove all ability to feel human emotions. They have yellow eyes like a cat, their fees are too dear. People still fear a witcher might steal their children, even though, as I said, they have lost the ability to create new witchers."

She shrugs, slightly. "Is there no myth surrounding the cultivators of your world? Are the people you help always grateful for it?"

[lightamidchaos]

"I am sorry. People do not always accept anything that is different. Or new."

A momentary darkness flickers in his glance.

The Yiling Laozu is dead! Isn't it great?

"Usually. For... traditional cultivation, at least."

[jaskoleczka]

"Not to worry," she says. "To be perfectly honest, even the witchers who raised me at Kaer Morhen, well..."

The thought makes her laugh. "They're a bit rough around the edges. They can take a little getting used to."

Her beer is gone; she pushes the mug aside and crosses both arms on the bartop to lean on them, looking at Lan Wangji with undisguised curiosity. "Traditional? Is that how the sects distinguish themselves? Some use traditional methods and others are more unorthodox?"

[lightamidchaos]

He shakes his head, at that.

"No. Different sects may specialize in different practices, as Gusu Lan does with musical cultivation, but they are generally all traditional."

He takes a careful breath.

"More unorthodox methods... are not approved of. Even when they may be useful, or effective. There are reasons, but they are not -- all well thought out."

[jaskoleczka]

"I see."

This seems an uncomfortable topic for him, and she's sympathetic.

"As you say, people often fear and dislike that which they don't understand."

[lightamidchaos]

"Yes," he says, very simply.

[jaskoleczka]

For a while she only nods and sits in companionable silence, ordering another mug of tea of her own to keep his company.

"I've never seen anything like your musical cultivation, or what you manage with Bichen," she says, at last. "Are all the sects as creative with their methods?"