( closed; quest ) the long and winding road

[sorser]

WHO: Stephen, Thancred, & Yennefer
WHAT: Three individuals go on a quest to help perpetuate better magical monitoring of the Singularity!
WHERE: ALL OVER THORNE
WHEN: End of March into mid-April.
WARNINGS: Some eventual monster-related violence and injury! But nothing else for now; will add as needed.



(( quest info here ))

Comments

[sorser]

[He's hopped off his horse by the time Yennefer presents them with the full explanation, and even as he momentarily breaks his gaze away to smooth down the mane of his mare, he can hear the weight behind the words. The flicker of hesitation; he knows, then, that they are being taken into confidence, and that this cannot be easy for her to admit.

His gaze slides back over to Yennefer, only briefly looking at Thancred before returning. Stephen's own reply is measured.]

It isn't a precaution that anyone can blame you for. And not a burden you have to share alone.

[Stephen doesn't ask for the name of who Yennefer is referring to. There's no need. Her reasons are enough, and they're valid as-is. He exhales faintly, turning again to dig into his horse's saddlebags, removing the final device. Strange how empty their load of supplies feel now that they're reaching the end of their journey.

Even as he looks down, prepping the thaumametor, then casting his gaze out to where he needs to go to plant it firmly in the ground, he continues.]

I've stayed in this kingdom because it's where all the research is. Where we have the highest chance of actually understanding what's happening with this world's magic, and where I can be of some use in unraveling that mystery. [But-] Not because I want to help Thorne gain more power, but because I don't trust them to not make some irreversible mistake -- one that we will suffer the most for, because of it.

So your goal isn't that far removed from mine. Consider it a shared one.

[They don't need another Relena on their hands. And if whoever Yennefer is talking about is that powerful, all the more reason to aid her in preventing anything... problematic happening in the future.]

[sorser]

[At some point, he gives up in his attempt to sit up, what with Yennefer pressing down into his eking wound, her reprimand, and the pain radiating from where the wolf had sunk its jaw into his middle. All he can see, then, is her face an angle, the curve of her jawline and how it tenses with every word spoken. Thancred had demanded the aid of magic, and he can see every minute change in her expression, the desperate attempt at focus as she presses down against his wound, the lost look in her eyes as she tells him, definitively, that she can't.

Stephen realizes, almost blearily, that this comes as no surprise to him. During their journey, he had felt no inkling of magic from her, not even in passing. It had been reasonable to think that she was keeping it tamped down for a reason he couldn't understand, but he knows now that was a grand assumption on his part. For someone as powerful as Yennefer, to not have felt even a whiff of magical energy from her was odd -- how obvious it should've been, but so readily overlooked with his mind at the task before them.

Before he knows it, the fury of a fight comes to an end, met with only the quietly retreating footfalls of the remaining wolves disappearing into the woods. He hisses in a breath, seeing the silhouette of Thancred now standing over him instead.]

It's all right... It'll be fine. We don't need magic-- not for this.

[A vague and piteous reassurance, but a part of it is for Yennefer's sake. He'll be fine; the pain is damnable, and this bleeding is staining his clothing and Yennefer's coat, but he's familiar enough with the human body to know when he's really in danger, and when a wound needs to be cleaned and tended to before real danger sets in.]

Just keep pressure on it. We have some- some basic medical supplies in our saddlebags. Someone's going to have to clean me up and suture me together. Infection is what worries me for now.

[Not blood loss. No vital organs have been torn into. When his body is not fighting off a state of dazed shock, then he may be able to use his own healing magic to speed up the process; but for now, he needs an old-fashioned first-aid kit to get him through this, and a steady pair of hands.]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred finds himself on one knee, with Stephen in close proximity. His head continues to pound with pain, and he sucks a breath deep into his lungs and lets it out again, allowing it to clear the haziness from body and mind. He doesn't expect it would be wise to stand until he's taken a few more breaths, and so he focuses in on Stephen, who seems to have also experienced a vision.

It's as if they all have the Echo. Did the Singularity do this to them? ]

You saw something, did you? Something from my memory.

[ He closes his eyes for a moment, takes a few more breaths. In and out. ]

It was different from what I experienced with Yennefer. We viewed the memories together, not...

[ Whatever it is that just happened. ]

[vixening]

[ yennefer isn’t sure if she’s thankful that thancred doesn’t react to her confession, or if she should be more worried about how well she’d kept it a secret as well. thankfully, the closing in of the remainders of the pack close in on them. she watches as his gun blade (she thinks he called it that some time ago, back during their conversation around the fire) explodes out into one of the creatures, as his attention immediately turns to the next. it’s a small comfort (a comfort she’s not sure she’s felt in a long time) knowing she can turn her eyes away from the creatures, return her focus to stephen, and the blood on her hands.

yennefer breathes, forces the panic and the swell of everything else to settle back inside again. stephen has, thankfully, stopped fighting her to sit up which allows her a chance to really look at the wound, at the open flesh, the bite marks left behind. it’s not lethal, at least not on its own, from what she can tell. when thancred approaches a few moments later, the chaos around them finally settled and his question asked, yennefer shoots a look to stephen’s answer. curious, in a way - he knows of healing, too, then? of course he would. (even if that reassurance does calm a bit of her fluttered nerves.)

she shifts her hands slightly, reapplying the pressure to keep the blood loss as bay. to still her hands. when she looks to thancred, a moment to make sure he hadn’t also been harmed in any way, she nods once. ]

I have potions - some that will keep the infection from setting in and something for the pain. Thancred- can you grab my bag?

[ the device has been all but forgotten, at this point, and will most likely remain that way until they get stephen patched up. ]

[vixening]

[ she snorts, once, at stephen’s sarcasm - the slowing adrenaline leaving her exhausted but satisfied. as stephen checks the readings on the watch and the device finishes getting settled, yennefer glances over to watch - only slightly curious, but not enough to ask. ]

You’d think our arrangements would have at least covered drink. [ she means ambrose, and all of the preset arrangements he’s made for them so far. she will admit, traveling from city to city via portal has been an enjoyable way to see thorne - and ambrose should have covered their room and drinks, too. then again - it’s pretty obvious by now that yennefer will blame just about anything on ambrose if she can, considering once they make it back to the castle she won’t be able to be as vocal about said opinions.

she hands off the reins to each of their horses, climbing up on her own’s back before she takes a single, deep breath, her face contorting at just how much she is starting to smell. ]

Agreed. [ to thancred’s comment about returning before nightfall. ] I need a bath and a bottle of wine, or you both will have to suffer for it. [ she turns her horse back in the direction they came and - with a final look to make sure both thancred and stephen are ready - starts off first at a trot until they make it out of the wet sand, which is when she pushes her horse just a bit faster.

they do manage to make good time, though she imagines it has a lot to do with the flat farmland they’re traversing across. their horses arrive up to the gates just after nightfall, and with a little bartering and discussion, they do find a decently sized inn, and acquire rooms and baths for all of them. yennefer has reached the point of smelling rancid herself, so thankfully the innkeeper is quick to show her to the baths and their rooms, and yennefer leaves the rest of the accommodations to stephen and thancred, making some comment about finding them both down in the tavern once she is done, and then she is gone. ]

[funbreaker]

[ There's a heaviness in the air, though it has little to do with the clouds gathered overhead. Thancred can sense that Yennefer is on the precipice of telling them something, and how it sits on the tip of her tongue before she finally lets it free.

She speaks of someone, a she, with great power that the Queen might wish to take for her own. While Thancred can only assume that this person is not in Thorne or he would have noticed her, that doesn't mean that she's out of danger in Yennefer's mind. Yennefer is here to keep an eye on things, to assure this person's safety, and Thancred can relate. Himeka also possesses great power, though how much the people of this world know of it he couldn't say. They'd locked her up, seen her as a mistake, so maybe they didn't understand just how much she is a force of nature, one capable of immense feats.

Stephen speaks up first and Thancred glances over, his gaze drawn down to the thaumametor, the final one before their long job will have come to an end. Once he's said his piece, Thancred moves over, intending to stand watch and keep a close eye on their surroundings while Stephen sets up the device. With how the last one went, he'd rather not take any chances. ]

Consider it shared with me, as well.

[ He lets out a breath, a wry smile forming as he realizes that he's willing to tell them more of himself, of his skill set. Yennefer has trusted them far more than she does most, in his understanding. It's only fair to return the favor. He squares his shoulders as he addresses them. ]

I may not have magical prowess of any sort beyond some knowledge I've gathered over the years from my companions, but I've done plenty of sneaking around in enemy territory and gathering intel. With the three of us working together, I suspect we'll be able to keep a close eye on the likes of the queen and ensure that our fellow Summoned are not put into danger.

[ After working with his fellow Scions for so long and knowing without a doubt that he could trust them with his life, it's strange to now be extending his trust and his services to others. Yet he's been through enough with them that he believes that both Stephen and Yennefer have the ability and conviction to carry out their shared goal. ]

[vixening]

[ not a burden you have to share alone. she knows he says that to bring her comfort, to help her feel less like she’s carrying this weight and more like she’s sharing it. but all it does is make her think of geralt, who doesn’t believe her trustworthy enough to withstand the pressures. who had looked at her like someone else, with distrust and betrayal. and of course there is jaskier, alongside him. ciri, who can protect herself. alone. the comment, for only the briefest moment, makes yennefer pause. consider what it is she’s done here, telling them both.

despite the dangers it opens up, despite the risks she takes by saying this aloud, she finds she does not regret it.

thancred moves around stephen, then, to keep his eyes to their surroundings. to make certain they don’t have another run-in with the local fauna. yennefer, meanwhile, keeps an eye on stephen - on the way his hands work confidently, almost in spite of the scars that mar them. they’ve done this enough times, now, that it feels almost habit - how to set the device, how to check the watch. yennefer’s jaw is tight but she keeps her eyes on the movements, part of her wondering if this last device, if the connection between them all, would be what finally does it and shows them what this all had been about.

I don't trust them to not make some irreversible mistake stephen says, and yennefer agrees with him. nods in that agreement. feels...well, honestly, she does feel relieved by stephen’s agreement with her, can’t help but feel relieved to know that for all she may be without her own magic, stephen’s strength in chaos and magic was admirable to begin with, and seems to only grow.

thancred’s exhale is what draws her attention first, and then his wry smile. she is curious, because his loss of his magics had been something they discussed early on, but it is the sneaking around in enemy territory that has her brow arching, some of that earlier tension easing with the shared, understood fact that they are all on the same side. or at the very least, aligned. ]

So you’re some kind of spy, then? [ it’s mostly a joke, lighthearted, as stephen finishes up with the last of the steps, waiting for the device to calibrate.

it is yennefer’s turn to let out a breath, then, her hands loosening from the fists they’d curled up into. ]

No one else can know of this. [ it feels obvious to say, but she says it anyway, a kind of tone attached that this isn't her first time keeping secrets in a rumor-filled, politically driven court. ] I assume I can trust your discretion, but it has to be said.

[vixening]

[ yennefer's eyes do roll at stephen's rhetorical question, choosing not to answer that at all, though she does almost feel herself join him in laughing. it's thancred's mention of ambrose, though, that catches her attention - as any mention of that man usually does. ]

I doubt they're going to want to send more out into the country any time soon. Ambrose hasn't let most Summoned away from the castle. We're too valuable. But who knows- we come back victorious enough, he might not be able to tell us no.

[ it is an interesting concept - one that she would enjoy having at her disposal, if at all possible. the limits placed on travel, even within the same kingdom, have always felt restricting. more so, now that her magic is...the way it is. access to more regular portals that allow them across the kingdom as a whole...

she doesn't really let herself get too hopeful with it, and instead she feels herself settle a bit more comfortably in place. pulls her coat more tightly around her. she expects this routine of theirs to continue - for stephen to meditate or pull out a book, for thancred to finish cleaning his weapon.

the question he asks, though, cuts through what she'd been expecting - effectively drawing her attention, even if the question is directed to stephen. ]

[vixening]

[ when thancred turns back to her, yennefer almost wonders if she should have interrupted him. if he wants to have been pulled from the memory at all. but he does turn to look at her, does blink a few times, knows that she is here too, watching, and it does shift something in the air. brings a different level to this experience they're having together.

and maybe that is why yennefer does reach for him - because the privacy of this moment, the intimacy...it's something she wouldn't want to be surprised by someone else's eyes. some else's presence. thancred blinks, looks to her and then thinks. answers. half a year.

yennefer's eyes turn back to the girl, watches her with her shoulders high and her expression a tight, complicated determination. because you made me who i am. her chest tightens at the way thancred is holding himself, both the image of him in this scene, and the thancred looking at her. thancred who is working his way through his answer. ]

Did something happen?

[funbreaker]

[ Stephen is confident in his assurance that he will not be bleeding out any time soon, at least not with their help. The fact that he's alert and speaking so clearly means that it must not be so bad, at least not yet. Thancred would rather not see what happens if the wound goes untended, however, well aware of how it might fester if left alone.

When Yennefer addresses him, he's quick to nod and jump back to his feet. As he turns to the horses he can see they've been well and truly spooked by everything that just took place, but thankfully they'd tied them up prior to being ambushed by the wolves, so they haven't scattered.

Thancred approaches, hands lifted in front of him to assure them that no harm is meant, and he takes care to make sure that Yennefer's horse has calmed down and isn't going to reflexively kick out at him before he ventures too close. He steps near enough to access Yennfer's pack where it's saddled on the horse and slide it free, before returning to the pair.

For all that Stephen is keeping his head during this (he's been badly injured before, hasn't he? Something to do with his hands...), there is a paleness in his face, the blood having all rushed out. His clothes are stained and while it is likely not as bad as it looks, they need to stabilize him quickly before some other denizen of the forest decides to take advantage of the situation.

Thancred kneels next to Yennefer, nodding to her as he sets the pack on the ground between them. ] Do what you must. I'll apply the pressure to his wounds. [ He leans forward to do just that, placing his gloved hands to where Yennefer's had just been to ensure that the blood flow is stemmed. He sends Stephen a weary smile in the process. ] Hang in there. We can't count you out just yet.

[sorser]

[Stephen huffs out air, though it’s difficult to say whether or not it’s from Thancred’s applied pressure to his middle or his comment. He mutters something half-heartedly, but does little more than that. He doesn’t want to waste the effort — and oddly, knowing that the two of them are here, to take care of his wound to the best of their abilities, gives him just enough leeway to let the the exhaustion set in, the adrenaline dissipated and making him feel wrung dry.

He remains that way through the initial cleaning process; that part is easy. But the bleeding won’t stop eking on its own, and when the cauterization happens—courtesy of one of Yennefer’s potions that feels like acid fire—it’s all he can do to not scream. Maybe he does, at some point, the pain nearly as bad as the wolf’s jaws. He bites down on something hard. Feels hands against his body, holding down wayward movement, and for a moment curses the fact that they hadn’t brought some miracle, magical anesthetic with them during their journey.

It’s over, at least, blessedly quick. Between the process and the pain inherent in it, it doesn’t take long for him to drift off before either can even wrap bandages across his middle. The world fades at the edges, then blacks out.

He wakes up with a start sometime later, lain down across makeshift outdoor bedding, staring up at the swaying branches of an overhead tree. Disorientation flickers across his face before he remembers where he is — what had just happened, and he tries to sit up. He’s awarded with his efforts with a dull throb across his middle, and he curses.]

Agh. Shit…

[He presses a hand to his newly-tended wound, which feels taut from a clean set of bandages. His clothing is still stained from his own blood, but at least he’s not actively bleeding any longer. Small mercies.]

[vixening]

[ with thancred off to grab her bag, yennefer also manages to reach over and pull one of her still enchanted daggers out of the hind of the now-dead creature, keeping on hand on the bleeding as best she can. what comes over her is a kind of clinical calm, after everything - moving through steps she has seen, biology she'd been taught. she won't admit it, but it is a help that stephen is still conscious and apparently has some extensive knowledge of bodies, with how he can help direct her even while lying flat, even while slowly bleeding through, though she can see the way the exhaustion creeps up on him. or, perhaps more accurately, how it overtakes him.

thancred returns not too long after with her bag, and that seems to set her off in another direction - the steps to cleaning, to working back together, to fixing this. thancred takes over applying pressure and yennefer - though not exactly chatty, she does seem to be talking to herself a bit through the process. which potions she made, which will be most useful, what her process had been. she takes out one for cleaning, washing her hands and the dagger place and then she turns to the wound itself. at some point stephen winces, his body trying to pull away from the pain of it, and yennefer quickly turns to thancred - catching his eyes from across stephen's body. ]

Can you...? [ with a nod, yennefer assumes thancred understands what she means - hold him down, keep him steady, as it's about to get worse.

first, it is one of her potions - a concoction of her own making. stephen, as expected, tenses. she glances to thancred again, sets one of her own hands against one of stephen's shoulders, and then applies the red hot dagger that stephen had enchanted himself, the smell of burning flesh and blood and the ingredients of her own potion filling the air. then - as soon as it had started - it's over, and she pulls away from him and tosses the dagger aside just in time to watch his eyes roll back into his head and his body go limp.

yennefer sits back on her knees, then, lets out a breath as her own amount of adrenline rushes out of her. it's over, he's going to be fine, now, and there is almost a small smile gracing her lips when she thinks about it. as she rips her forehead with the back of her wrist. ]

Well- that's one way to keep things interesting. [ there is no small amount of sarcasm wrapped up in the words as she looks over to thancred, then back out to the clearing around them, at the dead bodies of these plant-like wolves. ] He'll be out for a bit longer, I suspect. Should we...?

[ make him comfortable? set up the thaumometer? either way, yennefer gets to her feet and back to work - wrapping the wound with clean bandages, moving stephen away from the device, setting him up back near the horses and a makeshift bed, and then turning their attention back to the device. both she and thancred are moving a bit more slowly than before, their own levels of exhaustion and various smaller level cuts and bruises making themselves known. yennefer isn't exactly chatty as they work (clearing a small space for stephen, getting rid of some of the corpses of the creatures, calming their horses, and then of course the device itself), but she does notice what feels like a strange lack of...worry. or concern. they know about her magic now, in more definite terms. know that she's been without it this entire time.

and yet - it doesn't feel nearly as exposed as she might have thought. if thancred wants to speak about it, she won't cut him off entirely, but she is also okay to work in relative silence as they set up the device and calibrate it.

stephen was just as she and thancred have finished with the device and started back over to where they left him. ]

Don't mess with that. [ she says, watching his hand go to the bandages. ] We're low on bandages, I'll have to get more once we make it back to Nott, so we'll need to make those last. { and then she's at her bag, pulling out another potion and handing it off to stephen. ] For the pain, if you want it.

[funbreaker]

It depends on how determined you are. The soreness will become something like a difficult friend, eventually.

[ It's not that Thancred doesn't also get sore after days of riding, but his muscles are certainly more accustomed to it and so it doesn't slow him down overly much. Yennefer is much the same.

While Thancred may not know Ambrose as well as his two companions, he won't count out the possibility of greater freedom just yet. ] I think we should at least attempt to bargain with him. They've let us out once, what's the harm in doing so again? [ Yes, there's plenty of harm, Thancred's fully aware of that, but they can certainly try to spin their argument a different way.

For now, back to his request. He nods down to his gunblade, lifting up one of the cartridges that fits into the chamber so that Stephen can take a look. ]

While I haven't had cause to put this into action yet, I'll have you know that these can do quite a bit of damage. They'll be even more effective if they're imbued with aether, however. [ He pauses then, remembering that different stars have different terms for such things. ] With your... magical energy, if that makes sense. It's not something I can do myself, and until now I had companions who would do it for me. [ He can't stop his gaze from flicking over to Yennefer in that moment. He'd already admitted his lack of ability to her, and while it's hardly a secret, he does take care with who he tells. Now Stephen will know. ]

[funbreaker]

[ As soon as Thancred catches sight of that searing dagger-blade along with the resolute expression on Yennefer's face, he understands what she plans to do. Her verbal request is hardly necessary as Thancred pulls one hand back from Stephen's middle to pull his own belt free. He shoves the leather between Stephen's teeth before Yennefer does what she has to do, cauterizing the wound and then following it up with her potions and remedies.

It's a mercy that Stephen loses consciousness after all that, and Thancred nods to Yennefer, in agreement that they need to secure the area and finish what they came here to do in the process. ] All in a day's work, I suppose. [ He murmurs the words as he helps Yennefer, giving her what she needs to further stabilize Stephen, calming the horses further, and even dragging some of the wolves' corpses away so that they don't attract any scavengers too close to their makeshift camp.

He takes point with the device as well, finishing up Stephen's work with calibrating it. As soon as the thaumametor (not so different from an aetherometer, he thinks for not the first time) is rotating the way it should be and the watch is set, he returns to where Yennefer's seated and Stephen is laid out. ]

That was close. We'll need to be more careful while in this area. [ He draws a hand across his face, the exhaustion finally beginning to set in after that fight. There's a moment of silence then, a moment where he could broach the subject of Yennefer's magick, but it's around then that Stephen comes to. Yennefer is quick to scold him and hand him something for the pain. ]

The wolves are all dead or gone, the device has been set up. [ And again, Thancred sends Stephen a crooked smile. ] You're lucky you have us.

[funbreaker]

You could say that.

[ Thancred heaves out a breath from his chest, glancing up to the glass ceiling of the Crystarium and all around them. ]

This place we are now, it's not my home star. I won't bore you with the details, but myself and my companions were brought to this other world quite unexpectedly. [ Sound familiar? Thancred's abduction to Abraxas is not the first time that he's found himself in a foreign place with little-to-no warning. ]

I was here, in Norvrandt, for five years before we found a means to return home. And in that time, I took her under my wing. [ He nods to Ryne, who's finishing off her speech. "To honor these names and these memories, I will stand with all the people of this land, and strive for a better tomorrow."

Who taught her to be so eloquent, so heartfelt? Not him. It comes from within her.

They're coming up on it, on some of the last words they ever exchanged face-to-face. He watches as Urianger turns to his past self. "Thancred," Urianger prompts. "I believe the honor of responding should rightfully be thine." ]

[sorser]

Yes. I did. But it was like a flash, like something just… deposited the memory in mind. Without even bothering to ask, mind you.

[And it left him dizzy, nauseous, and confused once he had returned to reality — much like Thancred had experienced, as well. Why? Not that Stephen had hoped to traipse through anyone's memory, but the fact that the experiences were different at all meant there was another variable at play.

He shakes his head.]

You were on a— a ship. A spaceship? [He was under the impression that Thancred hailed from a place far more… medieval than what he had witnessed. His personal domain, versus what he had just seen, are hard to reconcile.]

Speaking to a bird-like young woman who definitely did not have life's best interests in mind. What did she do? Try to suffocate all of you?

[What happened after?]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred can't begin to imagine why his experience with Yennefer had differed from the exchange that just took place between him and Stephen. Their recent proximity to the Singularity might have something to do with it, but he can't shake the fact that it's all so similar to the Echo. There's no saying that such a power doesn't exist in Abraxas just as it does on Etheirys, and yet this is the first he's heard of it. Or experienced it, rather.

He glances up as soon as Stephen starts to explain what he saw. That memory is much fresher than what he saw with Yennefer, the details still etched clearly in his mind. He nods slowly, not wanting to worsen any of his symptoms. ]

The Ragnarok.

[ There's a lot to explain there, perhaps too much for him to manage when his head is pounding and his stomach is churning.

All the same, he reaches out for a nearby tree's trunk and uses it to stabilize himself as he gets to his feet. He leans up against the tree, still a bit shaky. ]

Her name is Meteion. It's a long story, but yes, she meant to snuff us all out right then and there. That was the last event I recalled before arriving in Abraxas, but I've been assured it was not in fact our final moments.

[ By Hythlodaeus, of all people.

Thancred lets out a groan and slides a hand down his face. ] And what I saw was... you in some realm surrounded in color, facing off against an immense being who was, so far as I could tell, mainly just a face. It kept trying to kill you, and you kept returning, until it grew tired of you.

[vixening]

[ yennefer catches the weight of the sigh more than anything, and as thancred turns his face to the ceiling, the sky through the glass. she listens, because she can tell when something is more weighted than otherwise, and for all the time she and thancred (and stephen) have spent together, this feels like something else. less light, less easy.

five years. which means this place, this process, isn't new to him. he is used to being pulled across spheres, into new worlds. and if he was truly caught in that last one for five years, this must have felt no time at all.

her attention turns to the girl again, to her speech, words important and meaningful even though she still looks so young. part of her knows that this moment means something significant to thancred, if only because why else would she be seeing it? but the heaviness of it makes her feel...uncomfortable, isn't the word exactly, because she's not uncomfortable. if anything, there is almost something about it that feels familiar.

like she has been an outsider to a similar moment, a similar bond.

still, for now, she nods. looks from the other who says thancred's name back to the thancred she is standing with. who is watching this for not the first time.

this is... when we had to bid each other farewell. ]

She's very impressive. [ yennefer means the speech, but her eyes are still on the circle in front of her. on this response thancred is about to have. ] Are we about to hear your speech as well? [ the slightest joke, a hint of a smile, yennefer tests the waters to see if this is something thancred would rather be brought out of, or if he's okay to get swept up. ]

[funbreaker]

[ It is a heavy moment, one that is both difficult to watch and also impossible for Thancred to look away from because he might see something different from this angle. Even if the details are only being filled in by his own mind, he might find the tiniest addition, a shift in Ryne's face or body language that he hadn't caught in the moment.

She is very impressive, and Thancred's chest swells with pride the moment that Yennefer says as much. He is certain Ryne would have been just as mature, just as accomplished, even without his guidance — and yet the pride is there all the same. ]

She is. She's...

[ But he doesn't need to say the words, not now. His past self strides toward Ryne, slow yet purposeful, and once he's standing before her, reaches out to rest his hand atop her head. Ryne shuts her eyes as he speaks. "I know better than most how much you've grown," he says, voice soft yet sure, "and I have every confidence you'll make your people proud."

His voice hitches for a moment as he continues. "Gods know, I'm proud of you. I always will be. You deserve all the happiness in the world and more."

As he pulls his hand back, Ryne tries and fails to hold back tears, which drip down her cheeks as she gasps out a breath. Thancred, both in the past and present, watches her with the most bittersweet of smiles. ]