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Leaving the little lord with an embarrassing situation that he’d have a hard time explaining to the healer was satisfying enough that Yennefer didn’t really think through the destination of her portal until it was closing behind her and the little bard following after her.
‘Oh, what a lovely home,’ Essi said, glancing around. ‘Thank you for agreeing to take me along.’
‘Well, I was hardly going to leave you in the clutches of… that,’ she said, sidestepping the issue for the moment.
Thankfully she had at least portalled into the front hall rather than straight into her bedroom as she sometimes did after tedious court functions. She was tired and cranky, with a headache brewing behind her eyes. Despite the magic that had long since straightened her spine, she could still feel the muscles between her shoulderblades and at the base of her neck twinging and pulling in a horrifyingly familiar way. All she wanted to do was remove her heavy dress and fall into bed. Instead, she had to entertain a bardling. Joy.
‘I don’t think he was dangerous,’ Essi said, playing with the ends of her hair. ‘He was certainly persistent though, and I thought it would probably be better to leave sooner rather than later. I know portals are usually pretty expensive; what would you like in return? I could write you a song?’
Yennefer watched the girl perk up at the idea of writing something about her, and suddenly felt a twinge of sympathy for Geralt. She’d always thought he’d been a little ungrateful about all his ridiculous fame, but now she was beginning to reconsider that idea.
‘Save your songs, bardling,’ she said, waving for the girl to follow her. Surely one of the guest rooms would be serviceable for the time being? It seemed rude to just kick Essi out the moment they arrived. A single night before sending her out on the road couldn’t hurt anyone.
Three days later, Yennefer was cursing herself for her wayward thought. Essi lounged by the fire, twanging away on her lyre. She didn’t seem to have a tune in mind. Yennefer sighed and turned a page in her book, just as Essi plucked another discordant note and wrinkled her nose. The process repeated for several long minutes before Yennefer finally slammed her book closed and turned to the bardling.
‘Are you specifically composing a song designed to distract me?’ she asked, rubbing a thumb between her eyebrows.
‘As a matter of fact, I’m trying to compose the most annoying song ever written,’ Essi said, almost distractedly as she frowned at her lyre.
‘Your friend has already taken that achievement,’ Yennefer quipped, rolling her eyes. ‘Tell me, do you plan to take his silly hat too, when you take that crowning glory from him? I’m going to have to make sure I’m there to watch. I’m sure he’ll cry.’
Essi giggled, finally looking up. ‘Sorry, I’m just trying to get the chords to behave themselves, but it’s taking a little work. Would you rather I did this elsewhere?’
Yennefer sighed, ‘Honestly, I’d rather the author of this book had, at any point in his life, developed a modicum of style or flair or even an understanding that one day someone may read his book and need to stay awake through it. It is the dullest, driest, most infuriatingly masturbatory piece of writing ever created and yet it is also the only book that deals with the practical applications of wyvern venom in antivenin preventative concoctions.’
Essi blinked at her.
‘It’s boring and I still need to read it,’ Yennefer clarified.
‘Something light, but not too soothing, then,’ Essi said, nodding as she began to play.
Yennefer sighed when she saw that Jaskier was at Geralt’s side, yet again.
‘Hello Geralt, and bard,’ she said, sliding into the seat across from them.
‘Hi!’ Essi said, waving cheerily to the two men as she joined them.
Geralt blinked at her. Then blinked at Yennefer.
‘Hello?’
Yennefer rolled her eyes.
‘You… have a bard now?’ Geralt asked, squinting at Essi and her lyre.
‘I know a bard,’ Yennefer corrected. ‘She was travelling in the same direction as I was. It only made sense to come together. Now, what are you doing in the area?’
Geralt started explaining the contract that had brought them so near to the Cintran court where Geralt was no longer allowed. Yennefer listened and definitely didn’t notice when Essi and Jaskier left the table to buy more drinks. She definitely didn’t twist a tendril of Chaos around her ears to sharpen them enough to hear Essi declaring that, yes, she did have a sorceress now and Jaskier shouldn’t do anything to scare her away. She definitely didn’t feel any sort of way about that.
‘So, the mayor danced naked down the street and then kissed a drowner,’ Geralt said.
‘That’s nice,’ Yennefer replied, listening to Essi laugh as she hugged Jaskier around his ample middle.
Geralt reached over the table and poked her in the nose. She abruptly lost the thread and jolted back to attention.
‘I knew you weren’t listening,’ he said.
Yennefer rolled her eyes at him again. ‘Maybe try saying something interesting, and I’ll be more inclined to listen to you,’ she said. ‘Just get to the point and tell me what you want me to do about your problem.’
Geralt’s lips twitched, but he didn’t smile, so she didn’t have to throw anything at him.
Yennefer no longer worried when she came home to find someone else there. Her wards had long since been tailored to allow Essi access to her home whether she was there or not. There were, of course, places she couldn’t go, but there was no need for her to be left standing in the rain when she could be in the parlour.
Yennefer did, however, worry when she came home to find Essi curled up in the armchair, sobbing into her folded arms. Yennefer hurried over and perched on the arm of the chair, pulling her close.
‘What happened?’ she demanded. ‘Was it that idiot lordling again? I swear I’ll turn him into a toad this time.’
Essi sobbed out a laugh. ‘No, it wasn’t him. It’s stupid. I shouldn’t be crying about it.’
‘If it upset you, it’s not stupid.’ Yennefer growled.
‘I just… my set didn’t go very well. There were some masters there, from Oxenfurt, you know? And I’d wanted to impress them. One of them… one of them called me a silly little girl playing at barding,’ she admitted.
Yennefer scowled at that. ‘What a horrid little rat,’ she huffed. ‘Did he even listen to your playing? Stupid little man.’
Essi sniffled. ‘I never mentioned it was a man,’ she said quietly.
Yennefer snorted. ‘It’s always a man. Think they know everything, and if you dare challenge their worldview, they feel the need to tear you down to make themselves feel better about being shown up by a woman.’
She wondered if it was possible to track down the little toad who’d upset Essi, maybe make his outside match his inside. She could turn him into a slug.
Essi snorted, ‘You’re right, of course, but I didn’t play well tonight. It’s my shoulder.’ She reached up to rub it. ‘I don’t know why, but the muscle keeps spasming and it made me miss some notes. Not obviously, unless you know what you’re listening to, but… well, he knew what he was listening to.’
Yennefer frowned. Now that she looked, she recognised the way Essi was hunched round to protect an aching muscle. She could see the tension in her posture. She wasn’t sure how she’d missed it before. She placed a hand on Essi’s shoulder and sent a pulse of warming Chaos through the muscle and began to knead out some of the tension.
‘Well, I’ll take care of your shoulder and then we can go and take care of the stupid little man that wouldn’t know good music if it slapped him in the face with a wet fish,’ she said with a snooty little sniff.
It worked like a charm and Essi laughed. ‘You don’t need to do that for me,’ she protested.
‘Hmph. Of course I do. You’re my bard, after all.’