Chapter 63

"What the fuck's wrong with you, old man?! Did you miss the days where you beat the crap out of kids so much that you decided to take it out on the one guy who actually gives a shit about your dream?!" Lambert shouted at Vesemir. We'd moved inside to the main hall, away from the now-driving snow and the cold outside, to have this discussion. It… wasn't pretty. Apparently Ivar had badgered Leo into telling him what had happened the other day, and had almost gone ballistic as a result.

"You weren't there, Lambert! He wasn't taking even the most basic of precautions to protect himself! To protect our secrets! If it hadn't been me that he was talking to, he would have been robbed and killed!" Vesemir tried to defend himself.

"And I suppose just fucking telling him how stupid he was to his face wasn't an option? You've got no problem telling me that all the time, but you don't brutalize me to drive the point home." Lambert pointed out with a glare.

"I concur. I will be the first to admit that Markus does not always have the most sound judgement, in fact he has made several mistakes he admits to, but surely there was a much more civil means to convey that fact. You are fortunate he is so naive and good-spirited or he would be resenting you like most people." Ivar lectured.

"Kinda harsh, man. I did say I would take your input more…" I muttered.

"And you kept the truth of this from me!" Ivar yelled. "That you were beaten black and blue!"

"It wasn't that big of a deal! Sure it sucked but I got healed up pretty fast afterwards and I do get what Vesemir was trying to teach me since I have been a bit overly undercatious." I tried to explain.

"A 'bit'?" Vesemir scoffed. "Lad, you're walking around with the secret to replicable Witchers in your head. Kingdoms have fought over that - thousands have died for that! My students, my friends, my teachers - all murdered because some uppity king or upstart mage wanted it! How did you know I wouldn't do any of that to you?"

"Yeah, well if you ask me that knowledge should be purged from the world for good. Let us die out like the world wants." Lambert groused, glaring between me and Vesemir. "But since Markus here seems to think more of us running around is a good thing, don't you think it was kinda stupid on your part to potentially piss him off? What if he bailed? Or worse, gave a bad formula? Sold it off like you're so afraid of just to spite you?"

"I would never!" I argued. "I'm not that petty."

"You might not be," Lambert conceded, "but we've all met a lot of people who'd cut off their own noses to spite their face." Vesemir, Leo, and Ivar all nodded solemnly at that. "So whoop-de-do, you're a fuckin' paragon of virtue! Means shit all when nobody knows each other and can't predict how they'll react!"

"Markus," Ivar said suddenly, "why didn't you say anything? Did the grandmaster here swear you to secrecy or something?"

"No! Of course not! I just… didn't see it as a big deal? … Okay, I know that sounds weak saying it out loud and all, but I wanted to avoid any awkward arguing, like the kind that is happening right now. I wasn't mad about it and I got the reason why, sure the execution of it wasn't my favorite learning method but… look, can't we just move past this?" I asked awkwardly. Ivar just looked at me if I'd grown an extra head, or as if I'd told him it was about to rain butterfly wings.

"So you thought that - wait, Vesemir, just what did you do to him?" Lambert asked Vesemir pointedly.

The old Witcher sighed in exasperation. "The Breaker, Lambert. You know all that it entails. 'Break the body to break the mind.' Severe corporal punishment for Witchers. It's not supposed to be pleasant."

"Didn't this guy lose his memories about training though? Wouldn't that mean that was basically the first time he has ever dealt with it as far as he knows? Me and Eskel could handle that shit no problem, we went through it plenty of times as trainees, but him? Don't you remember what happened to kids who went through that shit before they got their mutations?" Lambert asked accusingly.

"That only happened once, far as I know, and that for a trainee who killed another one in a sparring match. It was either that or execute him. Don't you think that waving around Witcher secrets like he's been doing was deserving of that? To say nothing of offering the equivalent of five years' worth of successful contracts to a complete stranger."

Lambert choked for a moment at that number, and regarded me with wide eyes. "OK, how the hell did you come up with that kind of money? And why did you just offer it to Vesemir?"

"I… I kinda completed a job for the prince of Kovir before I came down south, that is where most of the money came from. He was very generous. The rest were a mix of jobs on the road and selling off items I found. Also did contracts for the Aedirnians, Seltkirk to be specific. All together, by time I met Vesemir it was roughly around 10,000 of local currency. I offered the whole thing to him to let Ivar stay here since I knew non-Witchers are usually not allowed in home fortresses." I explained. "I wanted to convince him and help out the school." I shrugged.

Lambert's mouth worked soundlessly as his brain seemed to be trying to process what I'd said. Leo just patted him on the back, likely because he felt the same when I first said it back in Ard Carraigh. Finally, he managed to speak through the shock.

"If Vesemir hadn't already pounded some sense into your head, I'd have done it just for that cock-up alone. Do you have any idea how much that much money is worth? To put it into some manner of perspective, an average day's wage is two or three ducats in this kingdom. And you're just throwing that kind of money at a guy you don't even know? Shit, kid, how did you even make it this far pulling stunts like that?"

"As I am slowly finding out, I've been lucky. And Ivar here is a good guide and is thankfully not a really good con artist." I admitted.

Lambert smirked. "If he was a really good con artist, how would you ever know?" He sobered, and looked back to Vesemir. "Seriously, old man, it's like he just got dropped here and doesn't know the first thing about life in these parts. He doesn't need the Breaker, he needs a doctor."

"That's not far off." Ivar mumbled under his breath. Louder, he said "The point is that while the lesson you imparted wasn't wrong - in fact it's one I'm still trying to teach him - your methods could have been better. I'm no Witcher but I am planning to be a professor and know there are other means to impart common sense along with knowledge."

Vesemir pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to ward off a headache. "I'll admit, I may have permitted my temper and concern to get the better of me. Hard not to, dealing with mistakes like this - mistakes that could not have just hurt him, but Witchers everywhere. But even then, this isn't my first time dealing with overconfident foolishness. What I did would have been considered merciful back in the old days - the old grandmaster would have just killed Markus and considered it done."

"So you won't admit you were wrong then?" Ivar challenged.

"No, I still believe my reasoning was sound. The actual beating was beyond the norm, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be healed with a quick application of White Rafford and Swallow." Vesemir said with no shame.

"Vesemir, White Rafford's Decoction is meant for serious, traumatic injuries. Just what did you do to him?" Lambert asked suspiciously.

"Broke both his elbows, dislocated shoulders, traumatized torso, broken nose, crushed instep, battered knee, and a few other odds and ends. Nothing too far beyond the ordinary." The old man shrugged.

Lambert and Ivar seemed to be competing for most appalled or outraged expression. "Nothing beyond the- VESEMIR! Were you trying to cripple him?! I was a piece of shit when I was a trainee, but none of the instructors ever beat me nearly as bad as that! And even then, my nose still aches when it rains!"

"I'm honestly fine, really. We can make more potions for emergencies." I spoke up.

"Shut the hell up, kid! What gave you the fuckin' idea that this was about wasting potions?! This is about the old man-" Lambert snarled the phrase "-having no sense of proportion or common decency on dealing with an amnesiac!" He whirled on Vesemir, and for a moment I was afraid he was going to attack the old man. "You knew he lost his memory - you really couldn't treat it like an error of experience rather than malice?"

Oh great, now I feel guilty Vesemir was being ganged up on because of my false backstory. Though Ivar knew the truth and he was still laying it on thick.

Ivar's face was thunderous. "If it weren't already snowing, I'd be of half a mind to grab Markus and Dogmeat and leave for the capital! To think that we came in good faith, only to be rewarded like this! The one place in the world Markus should be safe among fellows and he was brutally attacked! Not trained - attacked!"

Vesemir's own face was set like stone. "This isn't Oxenfurt, scholar. Our training is hard; our methods of discipline, equally hard. For mistakes of the magnitude he committed, there had to be equally harsh penalties. Ignorance and 'best intentions' are no substitute for good judgment; a fiend isn't going to care that you had the best intentions. A king won't care about your ignorance of the situation - they'll take your head off just as easily, if not more so. Better he experience harsh consequences here, with people who will advise him and bind his wounds, than in Vizima or Ard Carraigh."

"Oh what's the point? The old man will never admit that he's in the wrong, even when he clearly is." Lambert was nearly shaking with frustration at this point, leaning towards Vesemir with teeth bared in a snarl. Ivar bore a savage scowl, uncharacteristic on his normally jovial face. Leo was sitting in the corner, looking massively uncomfortable and awkwardly trying to stay out of it all like a smart and sane person. Vesemir had his arms crossed, spine stiff as a board and a face like a thundercloud, his mustache bristling furiously. And me? I was standing in the middle of this storm, arms spread helplessly as I wanted to bring some kind of peace to the situation, but wasn't sure how to do so.

So it seemed appropriate that the double doors to the main hall creaked open at that time to permit a snow-covered, heavily bearded man to enter the main hall. He wore a heavy black cloak that was nearly white with snow, and a rime-covered bushy beard covered his face. He quickly closed the doors behind him to keep the rapidly falling snow out and turned forward.

He had one hand raised in greeting, but froze at the horrendous tableau with which he was greeted.

"Uh… hello? Is this a bad time to show up, or the right time?" The man possessed a deepy, raspy voice and seemed torn between confusion and humor. Despite the beard, his voice and the ugly scar on the side of his face made it clear that Eskel had come home in the middle of an… interesting moment.

We all just stared at him and each other.

---

Eskel leaned back on the bench where he was eating a bowl of warm stew, the snow having finally melted from his beard. He sighed as he was regaled with everything he'd missed, from me meeting Vesemir and Leo, to my lecture/beating, to our various adventures cleaning out ghosts and monsters in the vicinity, to finally the argument he'd arrived in the middle of.

"OK," he said after we'd finished talking, "my thoughts. Lambert, you're still an ass. Vesemir, you're set in your ways, and need to consider alternate training methods than the ones you used in the bad old days. Markus, you're one lucky son of a bitch, and I'm half-convinced that cyclops turned the part of your brain responsible for common sense into mush. Ivar, you're odd, to put it generously, but you seem to know your stuff. Leo, keep up the good work. And Dogmeat, you're adorable." He tossed her a piece of beef, which she snapped out of the air. Grinning at the dog, he downed his ale.

Eskel, telling it how it is in that awesome baritone of his.

"Now then," Eskel continued, "seems to me we have a couple of ways we can move forward. We can keep harping on this issue and piss everyone off, or we can try to learn from it and move forward like sane, mature adults. And since I have to spend the next few months living elbow-to-elbow with you idiots, I know which option I'd prefer."

"I vote for Eskel's plan." I said with a raised hand, one that was followed a bit hesitantly by Leo.

"I would prefer no more fighting either between people I respect." he said a bit shyly.

"I am not entirely happy with the idea… but I suppose it is not much different than disagreement with scholars back home either, else we would never get anything done."Ivar signed. He did shake a finger at Vesemir though. "As long as we learn from this, of course! If anything like this ever happens again, rest assured we will have words." The sight of Ivar trying to threaten Vesemir would have been hilarious if it weren't so touching.

"Yeah, why not. Everyone listens to Vesemir or Eskel, but Lambert's ideas never see the light of day." Lambert just grumbled and went with it.

"It's all about presentation," Eskel said lightly. "Don't be such a sourpuss all the time, you'd be surprised how far that takes you."

As for Vesemir? He rather surprised me. Approaching me, he put one hand on my shoulder. "Lad, I won't lie and say that I didn't take things too far the other day. That said, I believe every word I told you there. I'm sorry for beating you as badly as I did, but not for the beating itself. You earned every one of those blows. Regardless, moving forward I'm going to treat you like a new recruit, one who needs to learn the culture of being a Witcher just as much as the skills of one."

"And I… promise to be more cautious around you? Just in general? Maybe think of it as training so I'm not caught off guard by people with less than pure intentions in the future." I suggested, trying to at least take something out of this whole experience without being a total idiot.

"You shouldn't have trusted me when we met, Markus. I hope by the end of your stay here, you'll have discovered your own reasons to trust us by that point." Vesemir lightly corrected me. "Don't worry, I don't plan on beating the tar out of you again unless you do something very deserving of it."

Before I could say anything in response however the world exploded, literally in the form of a loud boom and something forming in the center of the main hall! Vesemir, Eskel, and Lambert all had their steel swords drawn in an instant, hands outstretched to make Signs if necessary. Leo pulled over a table and was hunkered down behind it, along with Ivar. I found that I had reflexively put up Quen and my fingers in the ready position for Aard.

The non-euclidian mass in the center of the hall refined itself into a rune-encrusted portal, through which stepped a tall, red-haired woman wearing traveling leathers and a cloak and a large pack draped over her back.

"Damn it Merigold, you couldn't have given us a bit of warning?!" Vesemir snapped as he sheathed his blade.

"Oh, great. She's here. Is it too late to pretend we're under attack again by some evil mage? We could always hide the evidence." Lambert groused as he lowered his sword.

"Aw, but it's so much fun watching your reactions! Besides, there's a blizzard outside - did you honestly expect me to get myself covered in snow when I could just walk in here?" Triss Merigold's melodic voice responded as the portal behind her collapsed in a muted boom.

"We know, some of us had to actually ride through it." Eskel muttered as he sheathed his own blade.

I lowered my hand and watched as Leo and Ivar got up from behind the upturned table, which Leo was already trying to set upright as Ivar stepped forward with excitement. Dogmeat followed not far behind him from her own hiding place under a chair from the loud portal that I guess for a dog would sound like thunder.

"I'm counting more of you than I was expecting." Triss took us in, focusing on myself and Ivar the most. "Care to introduce me?"

"Ivar Holien of Kovir and Poviss, at your service milady. Currently working towards becoming a professor of all things monster related and hailing from the University of Lan Exeter. It is a pleasure to meet one of the heroes of the North." Ivar said with equal parts giddiness and respect while taking her hand for a kiss. Something she took with a smile, likely because she was used to this treatment in Foltest's court.

"An unexpected pleasure to meet you. I never expected Vesemir to permit a total stranger to be allowed in Kaer Morhen."

"He was the plus one for another Witcher - this one, to be exact, and the one you are going to work with the most preparing the Grasses for Leo." Vesemir gestured towards me, which I took as my que to introduce myself to one of the most powerful mages in the North and possibly the world.

"Markus of Kovir, hailing from the School of the Griffin, though memories of that are hazy at best and nonexistent at worst." I introduced myself with a handshake. "I hope we can work well together, with Vesemir looking over our shoulder the whole time of course."

"Unless she wants to be under a geas." Vesemir pointed out.

"I'm not looking for permanent employment here, sorry Vesemir. You're going to have to look for some other poor mages willing to tie themselves down here to work for you." Triss said good-naturedly. "I look forward to working with you, and thanks for breaking down Vesemir enough that he is actually willingly to involve me in Witcher secrets."

"Look all you want and hypothesize, but we do ask that you do not do any unsanctioned experiments please. Only thing we are trying to do is make sure the process is as safe as possible and honestly, if we didn't need a mage pretty sure Vesemir wouldn't have called you no matter how close you two may be." I said gently since while I knew Triss was a good person I didn't want to fall into the same trap of judging people solely on metaknowledge.

That and pretty sure like most mages Triss would really love to study the heck out of the Witcher mutation process even if she didn't share it with others. Still having notes on her anywhere outside of Kaer Morhen would be dangerous and she was technically a part of the Lodge of Sorceresses as well who have their own agenda - or agendas as the case may be, since for every two sorceresses you get gods know how many agendas.

"I can understand and follow the rules, don't worry. Now, where will I be resting? It took a few portal trips to get here from Vizima after all so I'm rather tired and could use some rest." Triss turned to Vesemir.

"You can hole up in the tower since I know you mages love that sort of thing." he smirked.

"That is a terrible, but sadly very accurate, stereotype. I personally do it for the peace and quiet, but other mages like the idea of literally looking down on the unwashed masses, stewing in their own sense of self-worth." Triss said.

"Being honest about who you are is the first step to self-improvement Merigold, I'm proud of you." Lambert sniped as he picked up a tossed-aside mug from when the table was flipped, frowning at the spilled booze as Dogmeat tried to lap it up.

"Ha ha. Funny as always Lambert. Anyway, I only brought a few things now but I will have to portal more of my equipment and other things later. I'll do that tomorrow after I get some rest."

"I think we could all use it after the day we had. Between hunting chorts, walking through snowstorms, and dealing with a great deal of arguing I think we should all turn in a bit early. Help cool our heads and be ready for the morn. Winter will have us snowed in pretty well soon so might as well get comfortable." Eskel said as he walked off, likely to his own claimed room in the fortress.

"Between all the stupidity and now Merigold I need to nap as well. See you all in the morning, assuming the sorceress doesn't curse us or something." Lambert said while walking off.

"Well sadly a few of us need to clean up this mess." Vesemir said, gesturing towards the toss-aside contents of the table. "Leo and I will handle that before heading off to rest as well. You two should do the same." he nodded towards us.

"No arguments here. Today was much longer than I thought it would be." I sighed as I headed towards my own room.

"I for one find the library to be a much more comfortable sleeping spot, especially since I found a rather comfortable reading chair in the back! I will adjourn there." Ivar said his farewells.

Dogmeat just started eating things off the floor, helping the cleaning process.

"Why am I always stuck cleaning up." Leo grumbled as everyone left.

"Cause you're the youngest one here, and we older folk can boss you around." Merigold smiled as she made her way to the staircase leading to the old tower.

"Come on Leo. I want this floor cleaned so well we can eat off it later if we have too. We might have to if we abuse our table any more." Vesemir encouraged him as he brought over a mop.

"Yes sir." Leo sighed.

Dogmeat just barked with happiness, why wouldn't she with so much meat on the floor!