Toussaint (Part 2)

That night was sleepless, but the two woke up in each other embrace with a satisfied feeling.

"Stand up. Don't forget what we have planned to do." - a woman spoke in his ear.

"I remember. He is not here yet, stay with me for a bit more." - a man tried to grad the woman, but the latter dodged agilely and escaped the bed, standing straight naked with no sign of shyness.

"No can do! Geralt, as much as I am intrigued by your desires, especially the one with a rope, an apron, a pot of honey and a kitchen table, we don't have time for that." - said Yennefer with a sultry voice, while licking her lips and giving her signature seductive smile.

"You are reading me again." - grumbled Geralt and stood up.

"And I like what I see. Who would have known that the iron man Geralt can be a never-ending source of inspiration for bedtime activities? I think you chose the wrong job." - she smirked. - "Now, don't talk nonsense with me and dress up."

Yennefer waved her hand and conjured a black outfit. She looked with satisfaction at the gawking sight of the witcher. Geralt looked at how cloth gradually covered her perfect body with regret.

"Rope, apron, honey and kitchen table. So, can we try it?"

"It depends." - Yen said and threw the underwear at the man. - "Dress up already."

"Can you turn around?"

"What haven't I seen there? Hurry up." - said Yen and marvelled at every detail straightforwardly. She liked the view.

Geralt finally put on the clothes and armor. He gave Yen reproachful gaze.

"Oh my, Geralt, my dear, of course I know that half of the woman population of the world will bite their nails off missing the view, but I'm quite satisfied with my role here. So don't be a shy virgin and let's go."

"Ah..." - sighed the witcher and heard a pearl laughter. He smiled slightly, tilting his head to the side. - "He is here already. And not alone."

The inn wasn't rowdy in the morning, yet it was very loud. It seems that an entire platoon of soldiers came inside to cause havoc, but in reality there was but one man.

An invincible man of culture and poetry.

"You can't be any more chaotic and loud, Jaskier."

"Geralt! It is a disaster, a catastrophe, an ending of the world!" - cried the bard like a little girl. Near him, a woman with red hair hid her face in the palm. She sighed. It was a very long, tired sigh full of exasperation.

"I don't know how you can do this, Geralt. I found myself on a thought of kicking his butt after an hour, after two I suddenly wanted to roast something purple and after three I nearly burned him alive." - said Triss with helplessness. Her anger long ago evaporated, leaving only the feeling of utter defeat.

Yen looked at her. Her eyes from a calm look filled with shock, but soon she hid it well. Illusions never worked well on her.

'Alan can help with it.' - she said with telepathy.

'I know. I will ask in due time.' - came a rather calm response. Seems like Triss didn't mind it that much. Yen nodded with relief.

"Geralt, Geralt, I tell you, my life is finished. My scenic visage I forged for years is done for, gone, puff like a smoke, like Leticia from the nearby village! I waved it goodbye in a desperate attempt to find a new lease of life... Geralt..."

"Jaskier." - said Yennefer with a polite smile.

The bard shut it this instant.

Triss stared at Yen with uncovered admiration.

"Geralt..." - whispered Jaskier. - "She is even scarier than I remember last time. Have you done something? Entered the wrong hole?"

The witcher tripped on even ground. The witcher, who never trips.

"Hoho... I'm old but my hearing is okay." - said Yen, while snapping her fingers and purple lightning sparked there.

Jaskier nearly had a heart attack hearing the sound. He began looking around and breathed out only after a moment of confirmation that the bane of his life is not here.

'Of course he is not here. How can he be here? Keep it up, Jaskier, you can do it. That mother son duo won't defeat your intellectual countenance and unrivaled poetry. You can do it, you can do it.'

"So, what happened?"

"Geralt, don't..." - said Triss with begging tone, but it was too late.

"Yes! Right! Ragnarok, End of All! Only you can save this world from descending into ignorance and loss of the best that ever happened to the art from the history of creation. Geralt, you just look at me, look!" - Jaskier nearly cried.

"What?" - Geralt said in confusion and got irritated. - "Get to the point already!"

"My feather! It is gone! Gone!" - said Jaskier, but when he saw dark looks of Yen and Geralt, he knew that no one can understand his suffering. The desperation he felt while looking at the mirror for half an hour less than usual in both morning and evening! - "You... you lot can't comprehend the fragile soul of the artist!" - he said while pouting.

"Buy a new one." - said Geralt bluntly, but seeing the wronged and red look of the bard, knew this instant, that he made a mistake.

"Jaskier, one more word and I will get angry." - said Yennefer. - "We will take care of your feather problem later. Now I want to know what happened to Vilgefortz and where is he?"

"Why do you need him?" - Triss sat down and others followed. Yen surrounded them with a spell.

"He is dangerous. To Alan and Ciri. We need to remove him."

"By removal..." - Jaskier asked cautiously.

"Oh, I mean to send him an invitation for a wine party where you will be singing about his noblesse, while all the beauties of the North will feed him with black caviar and boiled quail eggs. Of course I and Geralt will beg for his mercy all this time." - scoffed Yen. - "Jaskier, what can it mean? I know your brain is small, but it can't be that tiny. We need to kill him."

"I heard he was hurt during a battle with a demon." - said Triss. - "Right now his whereabouts are unknown."

"Yen. Alan once mentioned to me one thing. He said something about Stygga."

"Hm.. what is this place? He told me about it too."

"It is a fortress of Cat School witchers. But currently it is in ruins. The Cat School was destroyed many years ago. It was somewhere in Ebbing."

"So, Nilfgaard it is. Should have thought about it earlier. And now we have to cross the border and a war-zone."

The inn got rowdy with customers. Some gave glances at two sorceresses, but didn't dare to do anything.

"Why not use a portal?" - said Jaskier his genius idea.

"Out of the question." - said Yen and Triss at the same time.

"Portals are very easy to sense from a long distance and track down. It is fine to use them on the territory of Temeria, but in Nilfgaard someone will notice us in no time. Every legion and mercenary troop will be on our tail. Let alone Vilgerfortz will know we are arriving. I can at most teleport us to the border of the warzone, from there it is better to refrain from using magic as much as possible." - said Triss.

"Yes, and for you to know, Jaskier, even to travel from northwest of Temeria to Brugge I need to make several jumps. To Ebbing? About a dozen, maybe even more. That is too exhausting and I will need rest. That means opening a portal to a proper resting place with inns, preferably towns or even energy nods." - followed Yennefer, while swirling water inside the glass. She looked at the surface and mumbled something.

"That is why I don't like portals." - said Geralt.

"No, the reason you dislike portals is different. Stop grumbling, my dear. Or should I tell you another spell to say?" - said Yen and gave a fast glance to Triss. To her surprise and relief, the latter ignored it all. No matter what Yennefer said outwards, inwardly Triss was a friend she hated to lose.

And it seems that the serious issue concerning Geralt that was like a wall between them disappeared like a smoke on its own.

"Very funny. For you to know I nearly lost my head back then."

"Your problem. Who told you not to know different languages." - disregarded Yen his blaming look and turned her head to the side, feeling guilty, but not showing it. - "Jaskier, thank you for helping us."

"What? No! I'm going with you." - said the bard firmly.

"Oh, really? To do what? To cause another trouble?"

"It can't be that bad." - tried to defend himself Jaskier, but saw three pairs of sceptical eyes. - "Geralt! Even you! I can understand Triss and Yennefer, but where is your camaraderie, where is the tough man friendship? Don't tell me you can make up your mind to abandon me? Here, alone, without a coin and even a feather..."

Geralt gave a helpless glance at Yen, and the latter sighed with the upcoming headache.

"Whatever. But Jaskier, please, be a dear. Keep you pants on and head clear of alcohol during our travels. And try not to cause too much trouble and draw too much attention. It is better that you won't even give concerts at all."

"You can't do this to me! How can I live without women?" - protested Jaskier.

"My word is final." - said Yen and turned to Triss. - "Where will you go?"

"You know it. With the war raging on the borders, I need to return. Keira is already at the palace and I need to go there too. We need to protect the Northern kingdoms. King Foltest already making plans."

"Yeah... plans." - scoffed Geralt. - "Too late for that, no? Where were Redania, Temeria and Kaedwen when Aiedirn was invaded and burned to the ground?"

"Geralt..."

"No, you know what Triss, Geralt is right! When Nilfgaard burned down every single village slaughtering everyone, Temeria turned their tail and negotiated with Emhyr. In the end? They will not attack and Nilfgaard will not invade Temeria borders. And what about Keadwen? When their southern neighbour was slaughtered, they entered their territory and stood on the other bank of Dyfne, not even trying to cross it. They divided the northern territory of Aedirn with Nilfgaard. What more shameful can be, aside from that act from the royalty, that is more befitting the marauders?" - exploded Jaskier in a speech that he rarely gave. The one involving politics and people.

Geralt sighed. His look was distant and forlorn.

"Ciri was right. About neutrality. About everything. She was right that neutrality can be harmful and an act of a coward. Only I, the archaic, naive and straightforward witcher was wrong. North is done for."

"I don't want to hear that from you!" - said Triss with anger. - "From you, who did nothing!"

"Triss!" - Yen ground her teeth at her friend. - "Go and serve your marvelous king. But you better think whether or not he is worth it."

"I will." - she stood up and left in large strides, not taking even one look at the trio.

"Perhaps you shouldn't..."

"Shut up, Geralt. You know, I learned one thing from Ciri too. I once saw how she gave a splendid kick at the nose of a boy on the street. Naturally I reprimanded her, but do you know why she did it? Because that boy said something hurtful about witchers. About you and Alan. She didn't even care. And I'm too tired to care as well." - she said and leaned on Geralt's shoulder. - "Triss needs to see it on her own. She is too stubborn to admit things just from a couple of talks. Like all of us. She will understand and cool down."

They ate in silence and later left the inn on horses. Triss travelled to Wyzima to confirm something that she needs to know. Yennefer, Geralt and Jaskier to the south, where the frontline was. They were devising plans.

Meanwhile, a certain bird was searching for them with a letter tied to its leg.

A bird with smartness in its eyes, sent by Alan from a wine province, from Toussaint, the land that will soon experience the bloodiest case it ever heard of in its history.

"And my feather!" - cried Jaskier on the background.

"Buy a new one!" - raged Geralt there too.

Yennefer sighed.