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This was not going to work.
Aleksander could hear speaking outside, muffled and a bit angry sounding. They'd arrived at the Witcher's Keep some two minutes ago, and already there was offense. Aleksander hoped it was not the Knights who caused it, though he was rather certain it was. He was tempted to peak out the window and see for himself who was yelling at who, but nerves held him still instead, worried he'd be caught being nosy. The voices got louder, clearly arguing now, and the door to the carriage ripped open -
And standing there was quite possibly the most handsome man Aleksander had ever seen in his life. He was back lit by the sun, causing quite the halo of gold around him, and turning his shoulder-length dark curls into an almost honeyed brown. His eyes - golden iris' and cat-like pupils; Witcher eyes - were narrowed darkly.
"For fucks sake!" The Witcher yelled. "We said no more humans!"
Aleksander blinked. That was… very different from the Knight's tales of the Witcher's anger at being sent the wrong human. The Viscount Julian, who had been sent nearly half a year ago, had been sent with silks and golds and gems to be presented to the Warlord in, Aleksander knew, and the Knight's had returned spewing tales of the Witcher's going mad with rage at being disrespected and insisted the Warlord cared not for the type of man they sent; that the rumor had been wrong.
That's why Aleksander was here now. Because he was decently different from the Viscount, and thus clearly the Warlord's true preference.
(Because surely it was that specifically of the type of man that had been wrong, not the rumor itself. Surely, the great and wise King Vizimir of Redania, and the gracious and polite Duke Velen, couldn't be wrong!
Aleksander had perhaps spent too much time cursing his cousin and Grandfather along the journey.)
Behind the Witcher the Captain exclaimed, "We fixed the issue! What is the damn problem!?"
The Witcher snarled over his shoulder at the Captain, teeth inhumanely sharp and terrifying, but when he reached into the carriage and grabbed Aleksander's hand, it was in a shockingly gentle grip, and the Witcher applied nearly no pressure, asking Aleksander out of the carriage instead of demanding.
A moment later Aleksander found himself almost with his back against the closed door of the carriage, standing a bit behind the Witcher as he argued readily with the Captain about respect and listening.
A shiver ran through Aleksander and he was absently glad they denied to send him in the silks and gems and golds that they had sent Viscount Julian in. It was rather chilly in the Witcher's lands, even though it was not even mid autumn, and had he been any less dressed than his fanciest set, he feared he would have been a bit miserable.
"We've brought a tribute opposite that of the insulting last; we have corrected the offense!" The Captain insisted, one hand on his sword hilt and the other gesturing wildly at the Witcher.
The Witcher exclaimed, "Like that shit matters! No more humans means no more fucking humans! Stop sending people who don't want to fucking come here! The only acceptable thing about this is how he's dressed!" with his hands in the air, gesturing just as wildly at the Captain. Aleksander bit his lip. If they said no more humans and were already quite wroth over him, then what would happen when and if they found Milena?
Because she was still in the carriage. In the seat - hiding - because she had snuck onto the damn thing the day Aleksander had been sent. She'd found out the night before via her eldest sister, a comment made under her breath about how she ought to go see her dearest friend before she never saw him again.
Milena had snuck into his room the night his fate was announced, aided by Patryk and two of the maids, and laid with him on his bed, over the blankets, crying silently but for sharp breaths in his arms. She'd begged the gods quietly, under her breath and between her near-soundless sobs, though Aleksander wasn't sure for what.
She'd left before morning, though long after she should have left as well, and then the next morning Aleksander had been shoved into a carriage and sent on his way.
And within the first hour, a sneeze came from the seat in front of him.
That'd been a somewhere near month ago. On the way to the Witcher Keep, Aleksander had taken all of his meals and his free time in the carriage, keeping Milena company and sharing his meals with her so she didn't starve. They spent the entire ride trying to figure out how they were going to make this work, and while they had nothing concrete, they at least had somewhat of an idea.
What they had figured was that Aleksander would likely have all attention on him, and whatever the Warlord intended, and so Milena would sneak out the other side of the carriage, and then figure it out from there. Of course that all heavily depending on how many Witchers came to witness the tribute, and if it happened within the Warlord's walls or outside of them, and more beyond, but they were working with quite a lot of uncertainty, so they were planning for what they could, and they'd figure out the rest.
Aleksander hated the uncertainty, but he couldn't very well tell the guards that Milena was there. They both heard the jokes the men had made in the night around the fire. But he hated even more knowing that she was going to try and be sneaky in the Witcher's lands. If she got caught…
Aleksander swallowed down his nerves and fear as best he could. He just had to trust that Milena could do what she needed, or figure it out well enough. Aleksander, for his part, needed to not cause offense, and perhaps grab the Witcher defending his honor's attention, because if he was so keen to defend Aleksander, then perhaps-
Another Witcher came by and grabbed Aleksander's arm in a firm yet gentle grip, and then pulled him smoothly to the front of the carriage. A guard moved like he meant to follow, but another Witcher stepped up with a grin, putting himself between them. He said something, but Aleksander couldn't hear it before the Witcher who had grabbed him pulled his attention away.
"Who the fuck is in there?" The Witcher demanded, voice low. He was quite terrifying, with bright yellow eyes and a very, very dark scowl on his face. He had a set of scars along his face and a sharp widows peak to his dark hair, giving him a very wicked look.
Aleksander stiffed. No. How did he know? Had she already tried, and they'd seen her? "What-"
"Don't fuckin' lie to me," The Witcher said, scowling angrily down at him. "I can smell it. Who is in that godsdamned carriage?"
He could smell - oh, gods, please - "My friend," Aleksander answered, fear squeezing his throat. He desperately hoped that he could smooth this well enough that no one need die. "She was appalled that I'd been sent here alone, and snuck into the carriage so I wouldn't be,"
The Witcher paused, and his expression broke into heavy confusion. "… You fuckin' mean that,"
Aleksander blinked. "I… Yes?"
The Witcher looked over at the guards. "Do they know she's in there?"
Aleksander winced. "No. It would have been… unwise. Her family does not know she joined me either - or at least her mother and father don't. Her sister's might, as her eldest sister is who told her that I had been volunteered," Which was perhaps too much information, but oh well.
"Been volunteered," The Witcher repeated with a snort. "More like volun-told. Fuck that shit, honestly. Oi; Aiden!"
The Witcher - Aiden, the other had called him - that had pulled Aleksander from the carriage turned, saw Aleksander by the other Witcher and not behind him anymore and gave a squawk of outrage. "Lambert, you asshole; you stole my noble!" Aiden yelled.
Aleksander blinked. His noble?
"Well send those fucks on and come get him, then. Geralt doesn't want to see these jackasses again," Lambert responded, crossing his arms.
"How dare-!" The Captain started, but Aiden turned and took one step towards him, cutting off his words to make him stumble back slightly instead.
"We dare because you do. Wolf spared you once," Aiden said, voice cold and carrying across the courtyard even facing away from Aleksander like he was. "Spared you and told you to never come back, and to tell your King he doesn't want people as damn tributes,"
The Captain looked at Aleksander and smirked slightly, and Aleksander flushed with embarrassment, knowing what the Captain was no-doubt thinking. Aleksander's preference was unfortunately known to the court, though it'd been politely ignored because 'rumors were just rumors, little cousin; think nothing of it!'
He still wasn't sure why the rumor had even started. He'd been sure to never look at anyone - let alone another man - for too long, but alas. No matter how hard Aleksander had tried to hide it, to bury it, it'd come out anyway.
Aiden took a step towards the Captain, a hand very clearly landing on the hilt of one of the long knives at his hip. Aleksander could hear him snarl, an utterly terrifying sound that caused the Captain's slight smirk to drop into fear.
"Ah, fuck," Lambert said with a very heavy sigh. "Do me a favor and go get your friend out of the carriage; I need to throw these jackasses out before Aiden kills them,"
Aleksander blinked - Kill them? Was the offense so great they would risk such a thing? - but nodded and hurried to the other side of the carriage. A Witcher was there, leaning against the side. He had bright red hair and a rather cheerful smile, and he gave Aleksander an amused look but didn't attempt to stop him.
Aleksander hesitated pulling the door open.
"We all know she's in there," The Witcher said lightly, and quietly, smile not giving away a thing of their newly-mutual deception. "So what is she?
Aleksander blinked. They all knew? How quickly did word spread with the Witchers? And was he asking her size? "She is small," he answered. "Shorter than myself, and very slight,"
"Oh, we all figured she's small." The Witcher said with a laugh. "None of us could see a second person when Aiden opened the door. I'm asking what she is. She a pixie or something?,"
"Ah - no. No, she is most certainly not a pixie," Aleksander said, giving the Witcher an odd look before he finally opened the door and gently knocked on Milena's hiding place. It took her a moment, but the seat soon lifted, and Milena's head poked up. She gasped softly at sight of the Witcher beside Aleksander, and tried to duck down again, but Aleksander quickly caught the seat and stopped her.
After a few quick whispers to explain the Witchers were helping them - which he was rather certain was a good thing, considering how much they apparently despised the Knights and how Jaskier and Aleksander both had now been treated - Milena carefully exited the carriage, wincing deeply at the no-doubt bone deep ache being compacted for nearly over a month in a carriage, and carriage seat, had given her.
Gweld, as the Witcher introduced himself, very carefully placed Milena on his right, and Aleksander on his left. Then, a few more Witcher's came up, forming a sort of wall around them, like a protection detail, or perhaps a sign of discontent and mistrust. Either way, considering how tall and broad each of them were, there was no way Milena was seen by Aleksander's guards.
Aleksander thought he heard the Captain call his name, but he ignored it and let himself be guided up a set of stairs and into the Witcher Keep.
As soon as they were inside, their Witcher Wall fell away, and they all wandered off with nods or waves or tilts of their heads.
"That was…" Milena started, trailing off slightly.
Gweld gave her a slightly less cheerful, but still amused look, "That was…?"
"That was kind of them," She finally said. "To hide me from view in such a way,"
"Indeed," Aleksander agreed wholeheartedly. They very well could have just told her to sprint up the stairs and hope, or sent her down the mountain again, or worse than both, given her to the Knights.
Gweld stared at them, his head turning between them. "… Kind." he repeated, like the word was weird.
Milena frowned slightly, looked as though she thought on it again, and then nodded and shrugged. "Yes. Kind,"
"The Witcher who first pulled me from the carriage - Aiden, another said his name was. Master Aiden was quite wroth when he tore open my door," Aleksander said. "Had one of the Knights opened my door as such, I very well would have expected them to pull me from the carriage with enough strength to bruise me. I would expect such handling necessary, but still. Master Aiden however, his grip and strength both were so very gentle I would almost say he used no strength at all. That was a great kindness as well, as with how angered he had been at least some grip would have been expected, but he made quite sure not to,"
"That is incredibly kind!" Milena agreed. "The footmen in Roggeven were gentle if we needed to be moved, but they would still move us. And a further kindness is, well, me," Milena said, gesturing to herself. "I'm rather obviously not meant to be here, and yet you were entirely willing to sneak me in. May I ask why that is?"
Gweld's mouth was hung slightly agape, and instead of answering them he just stared at them.
"I told Lambert to come and get me when the carriage got here!" A new voice said, loud and somewhat shrill, and both Aleksander and Milena turned to see a brightly dressed man hurrying into the large entry/dining hall they'd been brought into. Aleksander recognized him at once, though the Viscount looked remarkably happier and more comfortable in the bright blue bardly outfit he wore than he had on horseback near over half a year ago.
"Viscount Julian!" Milena said, a soft gasp with her words. "You look well!"
The Viscount paused, his eyes wide, and then his expression darkened. "They did it again!?" He demanded to the air, and then to Gweld "To two more!? What are they thinking, sending a- two duke's children!?"
Aleksander laughed a tad ruefully. Milena bit her lip and smiled apologetically. Gweld snorted. "They sent him," he said, jabbing a thumb a Aleksander. "She snuck along and the guards were nonethewiser,""
Viscount Julian's mouth fell open. "Ye gods!" He exclaimed. "It was but a carriage, how-?"
"She hid in the seat," Aiden suddenly said, popping up directly next to Aleksander. He threw an arm over his shoulders, startling Aleksander. "Which is a marvelous show of sneakiness and flexibility that, as a Cat, my dear, I must say I am impressed. The depths hidden in that carriage weren't very deep, and still rather smaller than you. How did you get by without being noticed?"
Milena blinked, a pretty pink crossing her nose and cheeks as she ducked her head slightly. "I- the carriage is newer, and I knew from experience that a majority of the newer carriages have extra storage underneath the seats, though not very much,"
"'Not very much' is a godsdamned understatement," Lambert said, popping up beside Milena. She gasped, turning to him in surprise and then quickly curtsied. Lambert looked at her with a dark scowl. "How in the fuck did you fit under there? And not go insane, at least - or come out with a hunch somewhere fuckin' unfortunate."
Aiden sighed heavily, and then whispered very badly to Aleksander and Milena, "He gets bored," Milena covered her mouth with a hand and giggled. Aleksander had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. Absolutely nothing was going as Aleksander had expected or hoped, and in fact it all seemed to be going much better.
"Fuck you," Lambert snapped. "You wouldn't've been able to sit for a whole month in that thing!"
"Oh, well - I wasn't in the seat for the entire journey," Milena corrected. "Sasha was quite quick to find me, as the seats were very dusty underneath and I hadn't been able to hold back all of my sneezes. I would hide when the carriage would stop, and of the night while the guards slept I would sneak out the opposite door of the carriage to stretch and walk around a bit. And Sasha shared his food with me along the way so I wasn't hungry," Milena turned to him with a warm and grateful smile, which he returned warmly and bowed his head.
"The very least I could do was to keep you as comfortable as I could when you had refused to allow me to come here alone," Aleksander said. Aiden squeezed Aleksander's shoulder's slight, grinning widely. Lambert was looking at Milena with slightly wide eyes, his brows still heavily furrowed.
"Aww." The Viscount said softly, hands clasped over his head. "You both are utterly sweet, and incredibly brave besides. Lady Milena, I'm to assume your parents are unaware of your presence, then?"
Milena gave him a wry smile. "Do you believe I would be here if they did?"
Viscount Julian laughed softly. "Fair point. Well, I suppose I'll be drafting two letters to the King, as since you've come all this way I doubt you'd be at all willing to return. Not that I would blame you, of course,"
Milena laughed softly. "No. I very much do not wish to return - my father and all his fellows who voted yourself and Sasha to be offerings could very well drop for all I care,"
They were the same words Milena had told him in the carriage, though much louder, but they both still deeply touched and shocked Aleksander. The hard shift between the dutiful daughter Milena had always been, to who had decided to sneak into Aleksander's rooms of the night, and then later his carriage and travel to Kaer Morhen with him in secret, wasn't surprising if you knew Milena and knew how much she had silently hated the ways of court, but it still was deeply heartwarming and boggling that Aleksander was her deciding line.
The Viscount smiled and nodded. "And I've no doubt you mean that entirely. Well. I suppose all that remains is to get you both into your own rooms and let you rest after such a cramped journey. We'll discuss with Geralt - the Warlord; do refrain from calling him such, it took quite a lot to not let him go up the mountain before you arrive - but we will discuss what you'd both like to do tomorrow, when you're not road weary and unsteady from nothing going as you had likely expected,"
"Thank you, my Lord," Aleksander and Milena said at the same time.
"Please," He said, smiling warmly. "Just Jaskier,"
Aleksander looked him up and down, re-noting the bardly outfit, and smiled. "I am glad your parents were so wise to send you. You would have never been happy in court,"
Jaskier paused, blinked, and then laughed. "Wise, yes. As wise as your cousin." Aleksander chuckled. "And, well… perhaps not that court. Or any Court of the continent's Kingdoms, but… My Lord's court? It is far finer a Court than any I've ever experienced,"
"Bard," Gweld snorted.
"Songbird," Aiden said cheerfully.
"We're a fuckin' Court?" Lambert asked.
Jaskier, Gweld and Aiden all started laughing. Aiden leaned heavily on Aleksander, pressing his chin into Aleksander's shoulder as he shook them both gently with his mirth. Gweld put a hand over his eyes, laughing. Jaskier was a bit more polite, a hand over his mouth to hide his smile, but it was still obvious.
Lambert looked at them darkly, scowling angrily, before he glanced down at Milena and then sighed. "Fuck all of you. I didn't know just because we have a fuckin' bard that we're a damned Court now!"
"I think it came when Geralt killed a King," Jaskier said amusedly. "And perhaps it solidified when the first tribute was accepted from Kaedwen,"
As the Witchers and Jaskier all continued to tease Lambert, Aleksander took a moment to think over Jaskier's words. My Lord's Court, he had said, his tone full of respect and affection. If Jaskier - a man of many degrees and great intelligence considering his graduating of Oxenfurt had been of high honors and marks - had decided, very finitely, that the Warlord's home was preferred to all others of the continent… then it very likely was.
"Then perhaps…" Milena said slowly, "If you care so for it, then perhaps Sasha and I should give it quite the chance ourselves," She looked at him, eyes searching.
Aleksander looked from her to Lambert, who was looking at her like he couldn't understand her but Aleksander thought perhaps he really wanted to. Then he looked to Jaskier, who was all but glowing, standing tall and happy and wearing clothes he clearly wanted to wear. And then to Aiden, who was giving Aleksander an almost hopeful and pleading look, his lower lip caught slightly in his teeth.
"Yes," Aleksander said, looking back to Milena. "I believe we should,"