[ He opens his eyes again. His fingers twist gently through her hair. Where does he start? A lot is the answer, but much of it occurred at Thanedd. And he doesn't know how to even begin to explain the chaos that erupted on the island.

He rolls over to face her, sitting through the memories. For him, despite the subterfuge and endless betrayals, the events that led him to Aretuza are much more personal. ]

When the war caught up to the rest of the north, I hid Ciri from the world so she would be safe. Then they started taking other girls in her place. Experimenting on and mutating them. I couldn't...just stand by.

[ He would do anything to protect his daughter, but to allow that to go unchecked for her sake is something else entirely. Ciri would not have stood for it, either. They both knew what needed to be done. ]

The mage behind it—I don't know. I've never confronted anyone like him.

[ Mages can be troublesome in their own way, but there are limits to their magic. Balancing their Chaos in combat is a delicate exercise. Vilgefortz had no such constraints. His magic made it impossible to disarm him, and he seemed to have an endless well of it. Maybe that's what won't leave his mind. The simple fact that he hasn't any idea what he could've done differently. Except, perhaps, taken Ciri and run. ]