[ he knows she doesn't believe him, and he doesn't blame her for it, either. can tell there are years and years of walls and protection built up around who she is, and he has done this enough to know he's not going to just slip through those defenses. so he doesn't expect anything at all, hopes that maybe she won't just stand up and bolt, and takes another sip of his ale. ]

Maybe. [ he says, with a thoughtful noise. ] But Geralt asked me to come find you before he passed out. So I'll be around for a little bit longer, at least.

[ it's not fondness that sam says those words so much as a kind of easy comfort. like a joke he's told before, with a practiced sort of put out tilt.

but the tone of it fades pretty easily, especially when he notices the familiar way she speaks. he can see more geralt in her than he can't, and it settles him into something a bit more serious, himself. a look that is equal parts curiosity as concern and patience, all rolled into one. ]

What happened out there? With Jaskier. [ a beat, and then sam's hands go up - preemptively defensive. ] You don't have to tell me everything, or anything at all, if you really don't want to. I'm just still trying to figure things out.