Chapter Text
“Well?” the woman asks, glancing over at her companion. “What do you think?”
The man only hums, sitting astride his horse and looking towards the great house the woman is gesturing at.
She rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on. It’s a fair prospect!”
“Pretty enough,” the man responds, his gaze sweeping over the landscape.
“Oh, I know it’s nothing to Kaer Morhen,” the woman jibes, sending the man a smirk when he glares her way. “I know, I know. But I must settle somewhere! I’ll take it with or without your approval.”
“I’ve no doubt you will,” the man says easily, flicking his hair over his shoulder. “You’ll find the society something horrid.”
The woman laughs. “Country manners?” Her purple eyes sparkle with mischief. “I think they’re charming. I was raised right here, in the country, you know.”
Her companion raises an eyebrow. “I thought your father tried to sell you.”
“All in the past.” The woman flaps a hand at him. “He’s no longer in the picture. So?” She leans forward eagerly, but her smile is sharp. “If I take it – the man who currently owns it is a complete savage, I’ll have you know – will you stay a while?”
The man lets out a put-upon sigh, one that’s merely for show. “I suppose,” he grumbles at last, and receives a bright grin for his efforts.
“Wonderful,” the woman nods once. “I shall close with the attorney directly. And by ‘close with’, I mean – “
“Charm him into doing your bidding, I know,” the man recites, clearly a well-known verse. “Alright then.”
“Your enthusiasm never fails to amaze me, Geralt,” the woman quips, nudging her horse forward into a gallop.
He stays where he is a moment, looking to the heavens as if for some sort of divine guidance, before urging his own mount to follow in his companion’s wake.
Jaskier had been content to simply go home after the temple gathering, but his mother was always keen to somehow make a scene, even if it was only for their family.
“Mr. Pankratz!” she screeches, hurtling past her children to the front of the little group. Triss catches Jaskier’s eye and he shrugs at her, falling into step beside one another as they endure what’s likely to be another long-winded bit of gossip.
“I bet it has to do with those two strange riders you saw on your walk a few days ago,” Triss whispers conspiratorially, shaking her head a little as Shani and Priscilla laugh overly loudly behind them. “Visitors always make the tongues wag.”
“Mr. Pankratz!” comes the screech again. “Vengerburg Park is let at last!”
The man himself looks over curiously. “I thought it was let.”
“Oh, it was, to that vile old man,” his wife responds coolly. “But never you mind that. Do you not want to know who has taken it?”
“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
“Why, then, it is taken by a young woman of large fortune from the north! A single woman of large fortune, my dear!” Her voice hits that high tone again with her excitement, and both Jaskier and Triss wince. “She came down on Monday to see the place. Her name is Yennefer, and she will be in possession by Yuletide.” She takes a breath, but then continues just as rapidly as before. “She has five thousand a year! What a fine thing for our children.”
That catches her husband’s attention, and he turns, ignoring the smug look on his wife’s face. “How so?” comes his question. “How can it affect them?”
“Oh, Mr. Pankratz,” his wife despairs. “How can you be so tiresome? Surely, you must know that I’m thinking of her marrying one of them.”
Jaskier and Triss freeze, shooting each other a look. They both know what their mother is like, once she’s got her talons in something she won’t stop until she sees it through, which often spells out disaster.
“Well,” Jaskier begins, in an attempt to lighten the somewhat diminished mood. “That is only natural. Of course a single woman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a spouse.”
Triss, Shani, and Priscilla giggle at that, Mrs. Pankratz whirling to shoot them a glare from the front of their little troupe.
“Yes, he must indeed,” she says icily, turning back to her husband. “And who better than one of our four children?”
Triss elbows Jaskier in the ribs. “Who better indeed?” she teases. “Naturally, we all know she’ll be right up your alley.”
Jaskier sniffs in mock disdain as his younger two sister laugh behind them at the joke. Deciding to get his own back, he glances at his older one with the best innocent expression he can muster.
“Certainly,” he responds, voice mockingly aloof. “Although, my dear Triss, I can’t imagine it will be much difficulty on your part.”
She swats him, Shani and Priscilla breaking out into more laughter at their sister’s offence.
“Watch it, or I’ll make you do my chores for the rest of the month.”
“Unlikely. I never do chores.”
“We know!” three voices ring out, and Jaskier grins to himself.
“Regardless, I’m sure this new Yennefer will hardly interact with the likes of us country folk,” Triss decides, ever the sensible one. “Mother will realise that too. She’ll drop it by the end of the week.”
She doesn’t.
It’s Monday, three weeks later, and Mrs. Pankratz is still griping.
“Oh, what I try to do for you children is ruined!” she wails, collapsing into a chair in the living room. “Ruined!”
“We heard you the first time, Mother,” Triss says gently, looking up from her book and catching Jaskier’s eye. He too is fed up with this, but for some inexplicable reason Shani and Priscilla seem to have followed in their mother’s example and started griping.
“Your father says he will not visit Lady Yennefer at all, even though she arrived a week ago,” Mrs. Pankratz laments, fanning herself more for effect than to cool off.
“Mama,” Shani pipes up from near the hearth. “Can’t you reason with him?”
“What are we going to do if we’re never allowed to meet anyone?” Priscilla’s brow is furrowed.
“Mother, I’m sure he is teasing you,” Triss tries to mediate. “He will call on Lady Yennefer as sure as he would call on any new neighbor of ours.”
Mrs. Pankratz shakes her head in despair. “No, no, Triss, how can you say that? You know your father has a will of iron.”
“You’re in the right, my dear,” the man himself confirms, stepping into the sitting room with his pipe already lit. “But I’ll tell you what I’ll do, if you’re that adamant: I shall write to Lady Yennefer, informing her that I have four children and she’s welcome to any of them that he chooses. They’re all silly and ignorant. Well, the younger two at least.”
Jaskier rolls his eyes fondly, catching the smile his father sends him before turning back to his lute, going back to his task of oiling the strings. In the background, his parents and younger sisters continue to argue about the possible merits of paying their new neighbour a visit.
“I doubt we shall see much of this Lady Yennefer,” Triss says to him softly, her book open on the table in between them.
Grinning, Jaskier looks up. “You’ve already been wrong about this situation once, Triss,” he says lightly. “Best not make it a second. You’ll lose your trustworthy reputation."
Triss shoots him a withering look, before sighing and straightening. “Ah, well. It is probably for the best.”
“Lying doesn’t become you. You’re as curious as the rest of us.” He pauses. “Well, except for me.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” Triss smiles back. “I’m sure a lady of her fortune is likely to travel with a retinue. A nice man in her company, perhaps?”
Feigning ignorance, Jaskier looks back down at his instrument. “I have no need for a man.”
“Bullshit,” his sister hisses back, and it’s enough for his eyes to widen and look up. She’s grinning, self-satisfied. “Have all of the men who’ve passed through Lettenhove slipped your memory so quickly, then?”
“Passing fancies,” he shoots back. “And, besides, just because they passed through the town doesn’t mean that I – “
Before he can finish what was sure to be a scathing rebuttal, a loud shriek rings out. Normally, with the context, he and Triss wouldn’t pay it much heed, but unlike the earlier tones this one sounds of glee.
“What’s happened?” Triss asks, rising slightly from her seat.
“Oh, Triss!” their mother exclaims, rushing over to squeeze her eldest daughter’s arms. “Your father has merely been vexing me, you were right!
Jaskier raises his eyebrows at their father, who simply shrugs. “I only informed her that I already had paid Lady Yennefer a visit, to welcome her to the area.”
“He does care for us!” Mrs. Pankratz gushes, turning away from her daughter to rush to her husband, doting on him all the while. Jaskier, however, turns back to his older sister with narrowed eyes.
“I guess we do have to meet her after all,” he says, with no little disappointment.
Triss sits back down, patting his hand comfortingly before pulling her book back closer. “Think of it this way,” she tries. “Shani and Priscilla will be out of the house, not even half as insufferable as when they’re cooped up. And maybe,” a sly smile slips onto her lips. “Maybe we will find you a nice man in the Lady’s company.”
Jaskier snorts. “Unlikely,” comes his response, a grin of his own appearing. “You, however, will definitely be soon in the Lady’s graces.”
Triss chuckles, shaking her head.