The elves created secret passages everywhere

[magicalarchaeologist]

WHO: Istredd and anyone!
WHAT: Catch-all for September
WHERE: Thorne, Horizon, Nocwich
WHEN: Nebulous all over September stuff.
WARNINGS: Spoilers for The Witcher season 3! PTSD from details within the season.





Starters Below!

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[magicalarchaeologist]

There was nothing anyone could have done to stop him. It was literal chaos inside and Istredd had to choose in a split decision. He did know it was a risk, but he's always had eyes on the bigger picture. The plight of the mages was seriously but so was the plight of the entire continent. He had to prioritize. He truly didn't count on Vilgefortz thinking he was important enough to wait for. Istredd's not used to being seen, usually so good at falling through the cracks and being forgotten. If he valued himself as a prisoner worth having, he might have been more cautious, but he didn't see how he would be in danger until it was too late.

This place has made him more aware of what he has to offer and it's brought him alive. So the visions are disturbing and devastating and knowing his fate is no doubt violent is going to haunt him. And in response, he will hold onto the here and now. And to her.

"As long as I draw breath in this sphere, you'll never be without me." That's Istredd, a romantic to the core, but he says it with such surety, like an unbreakable vow. He did vow to himself never to forsake her again, to be the rock she needed to make up for her loneliness. This is stronger than that because he believes in it, in them. He fell in love with the girl from the pig farm, and he stayed in love with the witch. Loving Lucifer and this life he made doesn't change that. If only made his heart bigger.

He keeps her in his arms, grasping to her, needing that contact. Their grief is a living, breathing thing. A monster. He nods at the few people named. There's almost none of them now. The age of the Brotherhood and their mages is over. There's no way of knowing what can be made for them. No court power, only their own. He knows she can find a path.

Istredd didn't ask, didn't feel like he could, not with her who had been so thoroughly abused by Stregobor. Still, she knew without saying, and it hits him like a punch to the chest. Stregobor was a monster but there will always be that boy inside of him who loved him. No attempts at cutting it out worked. At least Yennefer had the benefit of knowing Tissaia's love. He gives a small nod in gratitude, letting out a breath. "You would know if he survived."

That is the truth, because Stregobor would never be silent. He would have already tried to take back over and turn them into his servants. So he's gone. "They're all gone. Our leaders." The oldest mages. "Where do we go next?" He still feels like a we.

[vixening]

Maybe that is a danger in and of itself - the belief that he can continue on this way, not being seen. Not being noticed. Yennefer knows that each of the Summoned within the castle has eyes on them, knows that no matter how much they might ward themselves, protect themselves, all it takes is a slip. She's a different person now than she was only a year and a half prior - a different mage, a different woman, a different sorceress. All this to say, if the Queen, or Ambrose, did decide to take a little too much notice...

It's a thought for a different time. For now, Istredd is looking at her - through her - making vows and weaving romantic words and she very nearly smiles at it all, almost wants to laugh. She came here to reassure him, to find out what he remembered and to remind him that she wouldn't just leave him like that to be- well. To die, like so many of the others had. And yet here Istredd was, making grand gestures, it's very nearly ridiculous. But it is also him, in enough ways that she can't help but feel it too, tucked somewhere behind her ribs. Pushing outwards, despite it all.

His grief winds through her own, the loss feeling both fresh and lived in. After so many decades, so many lifetimes, spent knowing that you were walking in the shadows of generations of still-living mages, and now knowing you were of very few still remaining...

It feels somehow apt and also shallow, to think of how this is all the dawning of a new era. And still, Yennefer doesn't know if she has any other words for it. Wonders, briefly, if it even matters - their home, their sphere, all that stood once before, was crumbling. But here-

What matters to her in that moment is the pain in her chest, the mirror of Istredd's, learning the news. She understands, even if she would never go as far as to compare Stregobor to Tissaia, she understands the complexities. The attachments. Tissaia had hardly been a loving, maternal figure in her life - but they did not get to choose who raised them. Who made them. She watches Istredd's face, keeps her hands around his arms and squeezes once more. A reminder she hasn't gone far, that she won't. And while there is a small voice in the back of her head that is not yet convinced that they've seen the end of that wretched excuse for a man, she doesn't see her theories as important to the topic.

"Those of us left from Aretuza have been talking. We wanted to..." Yennefer tightens her lips for a moment, shakes her head. She feels like she was right there, just there, standing in that room with them. She takes a breath. "We were rebuilding. Starting anew. Chaos is never going to leave the Continent, but the ways we learned to control it were outdated. Without the Brotherhood, we were going to make something else."

Were. Yennefer may not recognize, just yet, how much she does mean that past tense. Not that it matters right now. Which is why Yennefer finally lets go of Istredd's arms, her hands going to his face, her fingers running over his beard. "We are here, and we are not going to let anything like that happen. Not here, not when we know what can happen."

We can probably wrap on yours!

[magicalarchaeologist]

It's strange that they've seen royals and empires rise and fall, kingdoms get taken over, changes in the world happen to prove that no organization is untouchable, and yet when it came to their door, it seemed inconceivable. The Brotherhood has had an unbreakable hold on the continent and all the powers within it for so long that they became blind. No matter what they imagined as an attack on them, it wasn't believable that they could be wiped out. Not the way it happened.

Istredd's come to terms, or somewhat come to terms, with a lot of the darkest aspects of how they were raised. His complicated feelings about the Brotherhood and Stregobor haven't stopped existed with its demise, but he's dealt with it more. Even put words a few times to how deeply disturbing their raising actually was, albeit with a shrug and acceptance that it still happened and there was no turning back the clock. But there was an enabling, by never trying to change it, yet what could they do?

Now they can start fresh. No court power, no, but also no eels, they had the freedom to learn how to train people without the trauma. Yennefer knew what it was like to guide Ciri, to train with love rather than indifference, and it woule make a difference in whatever she built next.

"I can think of no one better to start it anew." And Istredd means it. She may not be the softest of them, but she's the strongest. Yennefer's never shied away from doing what has to be done, but at the same time, she's learned new ways. She's adaptable in a way their leaders could never be.

Istredd sighs and puts an arm around her waist, keeping her close. His other hand brushes her hair back, his eyes fixed on hers. "It just gives us more reason to find a way to make this our home. To find an anchor." It's his passion project, to find a way to lock the Summoned to this place, for those who want to stay. Now he's someone who has nothing good to look forward to.

"The Summoned are our people now, here." Istredd puts some care and compassion into Thorne at large, at some of the people who aren't the powers that be, but he's very certain of who he is really here to protect. "But just to remind you, Yenna, if our experience hasn't." The memories of them trusting each other, working together. "I love you. We will always be a team. The Brotherhood and Thorne be damned."