[ The question of what their absence truly means is complex. Ciri comes from his future; she does not recall a time when he vanished to Abraxas for two years. Geralt's memories, when they arrive, do not involve his life upon this sphere. Feels as though they're caught between realities. Is there a life where he never finds Ciri? Does it make a difference when his memories don't wholly cross one another?

Fuck if he knows. ]

I'd return to Kaer Morhen each winter. Did it for a hundred years. Then I was here and...

[ And he no longer could. That's why the fortress sits here. Restrained to his imagination, devoid of his kind. He knows how it feels. For all the decades he spent alone on the Path, he could always return home. Then it was gone. ]

It isn't easy to have family taken from you, over and over.

[ He's rebuilt his family so many fucking times. His brothers. Ciri. The Summoned he's found here. He's tired of losing them, but if there's one thing he's learned, it's to protect what he has. ]