Chapter Text
Jaskier
They stay in Brokilon for a month before Yennefer is well enough to portal. Jaskier has loved every second there, but he can tell the others are missing a proper (human) house.
Learning about his mother and his people, has filled a hole in him that he never noticed was there. Getting together with Geralt and bonding with Ciri brings him so joy unlike anything he has ever known.
And then there’s the magic. It’s different from the magic of mages or witchers, which he assumes is the reason he never noticed it, but it is powerful. He always knew he was more than human, but he never knew just how strong it made him. It instils him with a genuine confidence that goes beyond what he ever thought himself capable of.
“I am going to miss you, Me An Taedh,” Morénn says as they hug goodbye.
“I will come back to visit,” Jaskier promises, “And maybe I will bring my sisters next time,”
They have been talking about it. Everything Jaskier has learned while getting to know his mother’s home and partner, he wishes for his sisters too.
“I can’t wait,” Morénn says. “Va faill, Wedd Brokiloéne,”
Ciri is well loved in Brokilon as well. By the time they’re done saying their goodbyes, Geralt and Yennefer are getting rather impatient. Jaskier can’t bring himself to care. He has a home now, like Lettenhove was supposed to be. Geralt and Yennefer can wait.
Geralt
They exit the portal in Yennefer’s garden. The ground is covered by a thin layer of frost, revealing that winter has begun to set in while they were away. Brokilon is apparently not affected by seasons the same as the rest of the continent.
Ciri is taking in the place, seeming sceptic about the small cottage. She stays close to Geralt, and he gently rests a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm.
Jaskier is gone in a second. They follow him into the cottage where they find him cradling his lute and talking to it as if it was a baby. Geralt shakes his head at him but can’t keep the fond smile off his face. He doesn’t even notice when Yennefer leads Ciri upstairs to her room, too busy gawking at his bard being adorably childish.
Geralt walks over and kisses him on the forehead before sitting down by his side.
“I missed her,” Jaskier says.
“Your lute?”
“Obviously,” Jakier starts picking a melody.
“Will you play for us tonight?” Geralt asks, realising that he too has missed this.
“You couldn’t stop me if you tried,” Jaskier winks at him.
“Good,” Geralt smiles, “I like hearing you play,”
“Thank you, love,”
Geralt feels like he might burst from the feelings awoken by the nickname. He manages to keep his reaction to another fond smile and a slight blush.
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They decide to stay with Yennefer for the winter. The pass to Kaer Morhen would be frozen over by now, so they don’t exactly have anywhere else to go.
On Jaskier’s insistence, they make a lesson plan for Ciri. Geralt would be happy to have her learn whatever comes up, but apparently that is not how princesses are supposed to learn.
Between the three of them, they are more than qualified to teach her anything she needs. Yennefer helps her understand and control her magic, Geralt continues to teach her fighting, and Jaskier teaches her about art, music and literature. Archery becomes a joined effort. Jaskier helps her make her own bow, and Geralt teaches her to use it. Jaskier depends too much on his magic to teach the human way, but Geralt gladly steps in.
Ciri has her own room, but her nightmares still bother her. Sleeping between Geralt and Jaskier has helped this past month, so she regularly joins them in their room during the night.
On one such night she comes into their room with red eyes.
“Can’t sleep,” She grumbles as she crawls under the covers.
“What is wrong, Cub?” Jaskier asks her. Geralt gladly lets him do the talking. He is after all the emotionally capable one out of the two of them.
“I miss grandmother. And my home. I’m all alone now.”
“Shhh,” Jaskier runs his hand through her hair as she silently sobs, “You are not alone. You will never be alone.”
“I have no family left,” She whispers.
Geralt feels that like a punch in the gut. He remembers being a young boy without a family. It breaks his heart to see Ciri go through the same.
“You have us now,” Geralt promises.
“But you’re just…”
“Not all families are family by blood. We can create our own family,” Jaskier says gently.
“You can be my dads?”
For the first time since he was a boy, Geralt feels tears running down his cheeks.
“Nothing would make me happier,” Jaskier wipes a tear off Ciri’s cheek, “Me Luned.”
“Really?” She smiles.
“Of course, we will,” Geralt assures her.
“Now sleep, Luned, we’ve got you,” Jaskier says.
“Goodnight dads,” She hums as she settles down between them, asleep within minutes, content smile on her face.
Geralt and Jaskier lies awake for a while. Their hands are connected over the blankets where Ciri is sleeping. They look at each other with wet eyes, saying nothing as to not wake Ciri. Geralt has never felt so loved.
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Yennefer has not stocked up enough food for four people to last through the winter. It is not exactly a problem, as it is still possible to portal to the nearest town or city to buy more. Only, they don’t have that much money, and everyone else are also short on food during the winter months. They choose not to, instead relying on what they can hunt in the woods.
The first time Jaskier joins him on a hunt, Geralt is surprised. It is of course practical, now that he has learned to use a bow, but it is still a change to their usual dynamic. Geralt starts looking for tracks like he usually would, and Jaskier follows silently. He has a look on him that Geralt has learned means that he is doing some dryad magic thing.
They are closing in on a rabbit when Jaskier stops. Geralt looks back to see what is going on and sees him soundlessly sending an arrow in between the trees. That is a dumb thing to do. This close, it might just scare away the rabbit before they get to it. But Jaskier would surely know that, so there must be a good reason.
“What are you doing?” He asks, surprise and curiosity keeping the anger from surfacing.
“I think I got it,” Jaskier whispers.
Geralt looks into the woods and sure enough, at a distance, so far that he didn’t notice the rabbit before, and so far, that Jaskier would barely have been able to see the creature, the rabbit lies with an arrow through the neck.
“How did you do that?” He asks in wonder as they make their way to collect it.
“I could feel it was there,” He shrugs.
Geralt stops to stare at Jaskier, who just stares back with a confused look on his face.
“What?” Jaskier says in that very Jaskier way, that Geralt used to find really annoying.
“You are a marvel!” Geralt says and pulls Jaskier close for a kiss.
“Well, it’s nothing, really,” Jaskier mumbles as his face turns to a slightly redder hue.
Like so many things about Jaskier, Geralt finds it adorable. If this is how he generally reacts to compliments, Geralt should complement him a lot more.
They hunt a lot together after that. If it was anyone else, Geralt would feel intimidated by how little he is needed on their hunts, but he is more than happy watching Jaskier in his element. He moves with a grace and shoots with an effortlessness that is truly breath-taking. Sometimes he feels like he is only there to watch Jaskier and carry home the kill. He is fine with that.
Jaskier
Jaskier has been helping Geralt deal with his emotions for months now. He will of course always be there for Geralt, but he knows it would not be healthy for their relationship, if he becomes too dependent on Jaskier for emotional support. And it will undoubtedly cause a problem if Geralt ever needs help with emotions related to Jakier. Therefore, he comes up with a plan to help Geralt learn to do it himself.
With help from Yennefer, he makes a perfect gift for Geralt. At least he hopes it is. He gives it to him one afternoon, where Yennefer and Ciri are busy in Yennefer’s lab with whatever magic they are currently working on.
“A book?” Geralt raises an eyebrow as he takes his gift.
“I know, but hear me out,” Jaskier lets the words just fall out, barely giving himself time to breathe, “So about the whole feelings thing, and because I really hope you won’t try to lock your feelings away again, because that was kind of a nightmare for all of us, I mean… never mind. Well talking about your feelings seem to have really helped you, but I know it’s still hard for you, and you need something that doesn’t depend on other people,” Jaskier pauses for a second, “Well I figured, you know, writing about feelings can be helpful, even if it can feel a bit awkward at first, but it will give you time to find the right words, and it can even help to read back later. I had Yennefer cast a spell on it so no one but you can read it, so you don’t have to worry about that, so I thought maybe you would give it a chance?” Jaskier takes a deep breath.
Geralt is just looking at him. Then he looks at the notebook. Then back at Jaskier.
“Thank you.” Geralt seems closed off, but Jaskier knows it means he is thinking about it, “I will try.”
That evening he sees Geralt writing in it, and he feels so proud of his witcher. He has gotten so far these past few months.
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Jaskier is good at reading people and Yennefer has been acting weird. Well somewhat. He has noticed a few things.
She is often pacing around, constantly checking on rooms and people, just to leave again. She regularly walks around the house and picks up every book just to look at it and put it back down.
Her magic projects are becoming very ambitious, and even though he knows little about it, they seem more experimental than usual. Currently she is trying to control the fucking weather, and no matter what she says, Jaskier doesn’t believe that limiting the spell to the area around the house, makes it any less crazy.
Then there is the constant bugging of the rest of them. It’s like she is fishing for gossip or trying to meddle in their lives, but living together, there is little new for her to learn about or meddle in.
Instead, she resorts to something more like childish pranks. Like the time she cursed Geralt to say everything on his mind (which turned out to be a lot of very sweet and sappy things and Yennefer removed the curse after about ten minutes, claiming she was going to puke), the time she cursed Jaskier to be mute (which only made him louder out of spite), the time she literally attached them at the hip (and they tried to go hunting like that, just for the fun of it), or the time she turned Jaskier into an actual songbird (to be fair he had just been teasing her for coming up with the nickname in the first place), or the time she made his lute the size of a coin, or the time she made his lute the size of Roach (he still unsuccessfully attempted to play it in both cases).
At least she leaves Ciri in peace, but Jaskier suspects it is only a matter of time before Ciri will be assisting her in her pranks, something he both dreads and looks forward to.
It is all quite clear; Yennefer is bored. What is less clear, is how you’re supposed to provide enrichment for your under-stimulated sorceress friend. Jaskier makes it his mission to figure something out. Not that the chaos (the non-magical kind) she creates trying to entertain herself isn’t, well, entertaining, but it is a bit much.
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One morning, while Geralt is training with Ciri, Yennefer calls Jaskier into her lab.
“I’ve been looking into body altering magic,” She begins, “It is very limited what I will be able to do, unless we take your womb,”
“My womb?” That was not what he expected to hear.
“Yes,”
“Is that all? Take it!”
“Hold you horses,” She smiles, “I want you to think carefully about it. Once it’s gone, you can never get it back. You can never bear a child. Even if you don’t want it now, I need you to understand that you are giving up that choice. Don’t take it lightly!”
“Are you kidding, I have been wanting this thing gone for as long as I can remember. And I already have a child. Yen, I’m not gonna change my mind on this.”
“I will need a few weeks to prepare,” She says, “Think about it in the meantime,”
“If you insist.”
For those few weeks, Yennefer seems a little less bored. Jaskier concludes that projects make for good sorceress enrichment.
Geralt
Geralt and Ciri train in the garden every day. She is doing well and is ready to try practising with a real sword. Despite knowing she is ready, Geralt still feels anxious about handing it to her. She is small and the sword is sharp. Like he was told during his own training, it’s better to make the stupid mistakes in the safety of your home with people to help you. He still prefers her not to get hurt at all, though.
It goes well for a few days, which is how he should have seen it coming. She becomes cocky, she lets her grip slip, and she nicks her shoulder. Geralt is by her side her in a second, getting the sword far away and gently leading her to the house while supporting her, in case she is going to fall.
“Stop fussing!” She complains, “I’m fine,”
“You are not fine, you’re bleeding!” Geralt insists.
“What happened?” Jaskier comes running to meet them outside, “Are you okay, Luned?”
“I’m fine, Adhairich,” She assures him, “It’s just a cut,”
“Just a-” Jaskier sputters, “You are as bad as your father!”
Ciri raises an eyebrow.
“You mean the one who seems to think that a cut in the shoulder makes me unable to walk?” She asks. At that Geralt loosens his grip on her a little.
Jaskier laughs.
“Don’t worry, Me Minne,” He tells Geralt.
“She is hurt!” Geralt insists.
“I know, but she will heal,” Jaskier turns to Ciri, “Let me have a look?”
Jaskier rolls up her sleeve to reveal the injury. It is not all that deep, but it could definitely benefit from some stitches. Singing, Jaskier runs his fingers over the cut making new skin grow. Within a minute there is nothing left but a scar.
Geralt constantly marvels at Jaskier’s power. He doesn’t get to dwell on it though, because Ciri insists that they should keep training.
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Geralt has been thinking about something for a while, not quite knowing how to bring it up.
“The song I overheard before we went to Brokilon,” Geralt begins, but doesn’t know how to continue.
“What about it?” Jaskier asks nervously.
“Was it…” He trails off.
“About you?” Jaskier finishes the question that Geralt can’t make himself ask, “All of my songs are.”
“Can I hear it again?”
Instead of answering, Jaskier starts playing.
”I've got you under my skin.
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
I've got you under my skin.
I've tried so not to give in.
I said to myself: this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist when, darling, I know so well
I've got you under my skin?
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear:
Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
'Cause I've got you under my skin.”
Geralt feels the tears threatening to fall. He recognises the feeling in the song all too well. He had been avoiding it like humans avoid the plague, but he felt it nonetheless.
“When did you write it?” Geralt asks in a near whisper. He thinks he remembers hearing the melody some time before the djinn, but it can’t have been that long, can it?
“Well, it’s changed a little over the years,” Jaskier admits, “But the first version I wrote during the winter after we first met.”
Feeling a lump in his throat, Geralt embraces Jaskier and holds him tight.
“I love you!” Geralt says. The words feel laughably insufficient, but it is all he can manage.
“I love you too,” Jaskier runs his fingers through Geralt’s hair, “Anything wrong, my dear?”
“I’m sorry it took me so long,”
“I know,” Jaskier takes his face in his hands and kisses him gently.
They are interrupted by Ciri bursting out from Yennefer’s lab.
“Look what I-” She stops in her tracks to cover her eyes, “Dads, please! Don’t be gross!”
“Sorry, Luned,” Jaskier laughs, “But we have two decades to make up for,”
“Not while I’m here!”
“You weren’t here,” Jaskier argues.
“Adhairich, you’re impossible!”
“She’s right,” Geralt smiles.
“Why thank you, love of my life, for having my back,” Jaskier mopes.
“You are the most impossibly stubborn man on the continent, and I am so lucky to have you, because anyone else would have given up on me long ago,”
Jaskier stares back at him with wide eyes.
“Like I said, gross!” Ciri says and retreats into the lab.
“I… You…” Jaskier tries, “I would have waited for decades more, happy to just be near you, Me Minne,”
“Like in the song?”
“Yes,” He smiles, “But I never knew how much happier I would be to really have you.”
“Enough!” Yennefer’s voice sounds through the door, “You two need to get a room!”
“Stop eavesdropping then!” Jaskier shouts back.
“I’m just trying to see if it’s safe to go to the kitchen,”
“It’s not.” Geralt replies making Jaskier laugh.
“We could go upstairs though,” Jaskier suggests.
“Please do!” Yennefer shouts.
And so they do.
Jaskier
It is the day before Yennefer will be magically transforming his body, and Jaskier is standing in her lab. He has been wanting this for as long as he can remember, and he doesn’t want to wait a second longer.
Geralt asked his if he was nervous, and he surprised even himself with his answer. He is not nervous at all. Even if she fucks up marvellously, (which she won’t because this is Yennefer,) he is still convinced she can’t really make it worse than it already is.
“Removing your breasts will leave scars,” Yennefer explains.
“Please don’t call it that,” Jaskier winces, “And I really don’t give a fuck about scars,”
“Okay,” She smiles gently, “Your chest will have scars, but I can quite easily alter the shape of the rest of your body. I just need to know what and how much.”
With an enchanted mirror, Yennefer helps him show her what he wants. It is uncomfortable standing naked in front of the sorceress, revealing all he has been hiding for so long, but he trusts her. It will be gone soon anyways.
His battered chest binder has been discarded on the floor. Knowing that as of tomorrow he will never need to wear the accursed thing again, makes him almost giddy. Okay, that is a bit harsh. He is grateful he had the binder, but he will certainly not miss it.
“I can’t change your… eh, crotch,” She says, “But without your womb, your bleedings will stop,”
“As long as the bleeding stops,” He shrugs, “The rest doesn’t really matter,”
Yennefer nods.
“Thank you, Yen,” Jaskier takes Yennefer’s hand to get her full attention, “Really, it means a lot!”
“Of course,” She smiles, “I know what it’s like, living in a body you despise. I don’t want you to have to live in that pain for any longer.”
Jaskier makes a mental note to ask about that at a later time. Preferably after the intake of more than a little alcohol.
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Jaskier wakes up in his bed to the sun shining through the window. He had expected to be in pain, but there is nothing. He is just a little numb. Slowly to avoid pulling at the healing skin, he lifts the covers to look at Yennefer’s work, noticing with the movement that his shoulders are a bit broader.
He leaves off the blankets to feel the sun on his skin. Most of his body hasn’t been exposed to sunlight since he was a baby.
He is naked apart from his undergarments and a bandage around his chest. It is thin though, and running his hand over it, he can feel that the extra skin and fat is gone. His waist has filled in and his hips are narrower. He can’t stop smiling and running his hands over his body. He feels so free lying there in the sun, no need to cover anything up.
The door opens, interrupting him as his thoughts turns to the songs he could write.
“You’re awake early. How are you feeling?” Yennefer asks.
“Amazing! Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it,” She brushes him off, after all this time still uncomfortable with genuine positive sentiments, “Should I get the others?”
Jaskier nods.
When Geralt comes in about three seconds later, he freezes in the doorframe and looks over Jaskier’s body.
“Nope!” Yennefer interrupts them, “None of that for at least a few days, he needs to heal!”
“Shut up,” Geralt tells her and goes to Jaskier’s side, not taking his eyes of him for a second, “You look amazing,”
Geralt joins him in bed, and they lie curled together, skin touching skin. Jaskier feels light and content, like a particularly bad chapter in his life has just ended.
Geralt
As long as Geralt has known him, Jaskier has been dressing very modestly for a bard. The past few months he has been a little less careful, and Geralt has noticed just how much trouble his bard has gone to, to hide his feminine features.
In hindsight he probably should have brought it up. He thought he was respecting Jaskier’s privacy by pretending he didn’t know, but in reality, he was just forcing him to hide more. Having seen the extent of it, Geralt knows it must have been painful at times. Especially walking as far as he did with the tight bindings around his chest. Thank the gods he is a dryad, because it would have broken him if he was human. Geralt knows Jaskier is stubborn enough, that he would have let himself get hurt, rather than admit it to be more than he could handle.
Seeing Jaskier relaxing in the sun in that state of undress, big carefree smile on his face, takes Geralt’s breath away. He always found Jaskier attractive, but like this, he is beautiful beyond words. The sun dancing on his skin. The even brighter smile.
Despite his urge to explore every inch of his partners altered body, they obey Yennefer’s command. They stay in bed together anyway, cuddling, talking, kissing.
“I’m sorry I never said anything,” Geralt tells him.
“About what?”
“You’ve been hiding this part of yourself when you didn’t need to. I should have told you I knew,”
“Don’t you worry about that, me minne,” Jaskier turns to place a kiss on his jaw, “Sure, it would have made some things easier, but we’re here now,”
“I shouldn’t have made you walk so much either,”
“Thank you, I will be bringing that up constantly,” Jaskier grins, “But why do you say that now?”
“If you had been human, you couldn’t-”
“I’m not, though,”
“I didn’t know that,”
“Well, you always were a bit thick,” Jaskier teases, “But I love you,”
“I love you too,”
It takes a few days, but soon Jaskier is as healthy as ever. He moves with a new confidence, he stands up straighter, and he occasionally trains with Geralt and Ciri bare chested, which Geralt finds embarrassingly distracting, and Ciri finds nauseating (mostly because of the flirting).
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“I have been wondering about dryad magic,” Yennefer tells Jaskier at dinner one day.
“Why didn’t you ask around about it in Brokilon then?” Jaskier asks.
“Oh, no, not like that,” She says, “I have been wondering how it will work with other types of magic.”
Geralt does not like where this is going.
“Are you trying to rope my into one of your experiments?” Jaskier asks Yennefer, who is clearly getting ready to argue, “Because I would absolutely love that!”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Geralt asks him, ignoring Yennefer’s victorious grin.
They both look at him as if he just announced he was replacing Roach with a barghest.
“Of course not,” Jaskier explains, “That is why we simply must try it!”
After dinner Geralt and Ciri are exchanging worried glances as Jaskier and Yennefer rushes to her lab.
Jaskier
“So what exactly do you have in mind?” Jaskier asks as they step into Yennefer’s lab.
“I was thinking of how winter is kept at bay in Brokilon. Your magic might be what I’m missing for-”
“I told you, you can’t control the weather!”
“You’re right, I can’t,”
“And I definitely can’t,”
“That’s why we are trying it together,”
“I still think you are absolutely out of your mind to want to control the weather.”
“Not control it, just milden it a bit,” She says with that smug look she has when she knows she has already won.
Jaskier is itching to argue with her, but even if it doesn’t work, it will still keep Yennefer entertained. They might as well try.
It is not easy to figure out how to go about it. There are no books on dryad magic to consult, as dryads tend to pass on information verbally. They take a more hands on approach in their research, trying to create small bubbles of controlled environments, until they happen upon something that will work.
It only explodes once and burns off their eyebrows. Yennefer makes hers grow back with some stupid magic trick, because she has no sense of solidarity. Jaskier almost attempts to do the same, even though he is unsure if it will work. He ends up leaving them to regrow themselves, after seeing how much it makes Ciri laugh.
Geralt is less amused and tries convincing them to stop experimenting. Jaskier refuses to give it up. Now that they are working on it together, he sees the appeal of experimenting with magic. And to be quite honest, he grows just as bored as Yennefer does. They both need something to keep them occupied until spring comes.
The winter is already loosening its grip when they finally make the full-size spell, making spring start early in Yennefer’s garden. Jaskier loves spending time out there while Ciri and Geralt trains, tending to the herbs and vegetables. With a little help from his magic, they have fresh vegetables for dinner, long before the winter truly leaves the rest of the continent.
Ciri
Ciri’s life has changed a lot over the past half year, and she knows little about what the future will bring. All things considered, she is okay. She has a family again.
She will spend this summer with her aunt Yennefer. Next winter will be like this one, or they will go to Adhairich’s family in Brokilon, or to Dad’s witcher fortress. Either way she will be safe and, most importantly, she won’t be alone.
Come next spring, she hopes they will allow her to join them on the path. For now, they want to make sure the threat of Nilfgaard has passed. They insist she needs more training, before being ready for the path anyway. Well, spending the summer with Yennefer will certainly teach her things (though knowing Yennefer, there is no predicting what kind of things that might be).
When she first heard of Geralt and their bond of destiny, she assumed he would train her to become a witcher. He is clearly excited to do just that, but her fathers have told her time and time again, that what she chooses to do with her life, is her choice alone.
She thinks she might go the witcher route anyway. Destiny was onto something, when it connected Geralt and Ciri, because they really are similar. If there is anyone whose footsteps Ciri were to follow, she would want it to be her dad’s.
She is a little relieved to not have to be a princess. It was a boring and lonely life. With her new family she feels accepted and free like never before. As much as she misses her grandmother and Eist, she loves her new life. Whatever it may bring.