30Geralt ignored the looks that his brothers and Vesemir were shooting him, he did have the emotional capacity right now to deal with their guilt and their emotions over this when he had to deal with it himself. He had to focus, he had to concentrate on making it through this without causing any upset, without mucking this up, he just needed to get through it and…and then deal with the aftermath of what he was having to do.
The survival of the Witchers that were left rested on his shoulders, and that was not a light weight that he had to carry. He had been a child when Kaer Morhen had been attacked, he had not long gone through the Trial of the Grasses and he and the others were recovering from the after-effects of it, he more than the others considering the additional mutagens that had been pumped through him, but he remembered Lady Zerbst trying to keep them calm, trying to comfort them as they could clearly hear the sounds of the attack happening above them, as they could hear people dying, as they could hear what the humans were saying about Witchers and what they thought of them. He remembered Lady Zerbst, Vesemir's Illyana, helping get them away from it, and he remembered standing there with the other children, looking up at the burning of Kaer Morhen, wondering what would now happen to them.
He remembered what it was like thinking that they were going to be wiped out.
Now it was only him and his actions over the next few days that would stop that from happening again. The humans were looking at them suspiciously and were watching them with the growing hatred in their eyes. Murmurings had reached them, mainly from friends that they had made along the way, one of them Triss and King Foltest who had reached out to him to warn him of the potential that was heading their way.
It had been a long two years as they tried to work their way around it, they tried to soothe the concerns about them, they had kept their heads down, they had stopped staying in towns to try and keep their interactions to a minimum with the humans. And it hadn't worked.
Finally, the remaining Witchers had pulled together, meeting at Kaer Morhen, taking shelter together, for the Winter to try and work out what they were going to do. It had been a long talk, and there had been many conversations and ideas that had been passed around until finally, they had sent of Triss and Yennifer, requesting their help and advice.
Geralt was fairly sure that asking for their help could not have been a more deciding factor to lead him to where he was right now and what he had to do. Triss and King Foltest had come up with an idea to help that would bind the Witchers to Temeria and so place them under his protection, of course, Foltest would be gaining the strength of the Witchers, his lands would be kept as clear of Monsters as possible for a much-reduced price, which would allow his economy to flourish, and as subjects of Temeria, any attacks on the Witchers would be an attack on the Temeria, especially because Foltest planned on giving them an official military title.
It had been a lot of negotiating, it had been tough and it had been a difficult balance to be able to get something fair out of the deal until Vesemir pointed out that if the Witchers died out Temeria would be as vulnerable and alone to deal with the monsters of the world as everyone else. That had balanced out the deal just a little and they had finally battered out a deal that both sides were happy with.
But there had been one more detail that had been decided. As in all good agreements and contracts with royalty Foltest had decided that the best way to bind them together and declare their alliance as a long-lasting one was good old, arranged marriage. It had quickly been decided that the Wolves had to be one of the ones that married whoever Foltest chose considering that they had really been the driving force for the negotiation, and they were now somehow the face of the Witchers and had come to represent them.
In the end, Yennifer had made their choice for them in a way that they had not been expecting and had made Geralt's choice an easy one.
Lambert was with Aiden, something that he had been shocked to release that they had all known about. Geralt refused to take anything more away from his youngest brother who already resented their life so much. They had known about Lambert and Aiden, but seeing them together made them realise that they were in love, even when they had been trying to hide their relationship still.
Eskel's confidence wouldn't cope with the horror that the other person chosen would no doubt feel at being lumbered with being married to a Witcher, if the person reacted with horror it could seriously damage the gentle-hearted Witcher, and Geralt couldn't allow that. The person would no doubt be forced into this marriage, exceedingly reluctantly, and would be angry or upset with the reality that they faced, and the most obvious thing for them to lash out with at Eskel would be his scars that he was already so self-conscious about and…Geralt couldn't allow that.
Vesemir had been through so much for them and had given up so much for them that Geralt couldn't allow him to make yet another sacrifice for them, couldn't allow him to give up more of his life for them, especially considering the man had not been with anyone since the death of Illyana and Luka, the two people that he had loved and lost within such a short time of each other. Asking him to have to tie himself to someone after such a long time, especially a young human who would resent him, it was something that Geralt couldn't allow.
These thoughts had been going around and around in his head, and he knew that it was circling around and around in the heads of the others as well. It had to be one of them, and there were all good reasons why it shouldn't be them. The thought going through his family's minds for it not being him was the fact that he had his thing with Yennifer.
Then he found out that Yennifer had been with Istred for three years, while still carrying on the thing with him, she wanted to have her cake and eat it, and the decision was made. Part of it was spite and part of it was the realisation that he had nothing else to lose really, and he wouldn't allow the others to have to take this burden. He agreed to be the one to marry without informing the others, and once they found out, it was too late, the decision was made and it was done.
Which left him here, a year later standing outside the door to the great hall where his soon to be groom was waiting for him for their first introduction. They were in Lettenhove, the home of the Viscount whose son Geralt was going to marry.
The centre of Tameria, Lettenhove was one of the beautiful, rich, bright cities, small but rich, successful in their farming, they were rich mainly due to the productions of fabrics, mainly silk fabrics, that they produced and sent out across the continent. It was a small but powerful place and the perfect option to marry off to a Witcher, not too powerful and rich that they would be automatically insulted at the request that a child of theirs would marry a Witcher, but not poor enough that it would not create a strong bond between the Witchers and Tameria.
His groom had been chosen out of the 5 children of the Viscount of Lettenhove, the oldest son which they had found unusual, that an heir and a male heir at that had been chosen to be his groom that had been shocked about. Though they weren't shocked to find out that in the marriage to Geralt the man would be handing over his right to inherit the lands to his sister.
In the hall was waiting the Viscount De Lettenhove, his wife, his five children including Geralt's groom to be, there were the higher-ups of Tameria waiting in that room ready to witness the marriage of Geralt and Julien De Lettenhove that would be the last official tie of the Witchers to Tameria, and the start of their alliance.
Geralt took a breath and braced himself to be faced with the young groom that he was going to be married to. He wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen, he knew some information about his groom to be from Triss, his name was Julien, he was 19, he liked music and he had already passed exams at Oxenfurt for his musical talent having gone there early given his talent at it.
He took another couple of breaths and straightened the damned doublet that he had on, apparently needing to make a good impression. He readied himself to face his groom to be, steadying himself and readying himself for the political dance that he was going to have to take place in over the next few days and try not to offend anyone and cause this to blow up in their faces like one of Lambert's bombs.
By the Gods, he hoped Julien didn't start crying when he saw them.
He pushed open the doors and walked in, feeling his family moving into place with him, they strode down the impressive hall to where the Viscount was waiting at the end of the room with his family, and Triss who was there as Foltest's representative for this.
They reached the Viscount and Geralt made a small bow to him, keeping his eyes locked on the man, desperately not wanting to look over the children to find his groom to be by the no doubt horror on his face.
"Geralt of Rivia, welcome to Lettenhove. I trust that your lodgings were to your liking?" The Viscount asked politely. His tone was calm and polite, which was a lot better than he had been expecting.
"They are very comfortable, thank you for being so accommodating for us," Geralt nodded.
"We are to be family, ensuring that your rooms are to your liking is the least that I can do," The Viscount said, and Geralt found himself blinking at the man who had just announced in front of the Court of Tameria, all the nobles, Lords and Ladies and other Viscounts that were also filling the room and having a good stare at them, that they would be considered family.
"That is very kind of you, we thank you for such a statement, after such a long time on the road it truly was wonderful to arrive to such a wonderful greeting," Vesemir stepped in to speak for him.
"Wonderful. This is my wife Olesia," The Viscount was being surprisingly polite. Geralt turned to look at the woman standing beside the Viscount, she was a formidable woman that much was clear right away, her brown hair lay down to her waist, braided intricately with fine silver strands woven through it, her green eyes watched them sharply and her high cheekbones seemed even sharper with her straight, expressionless face as she looked them all over, her eyes continually coming back to Geralt. It was quite clear that she was not incredibly impressed with the turn of events, and with them.
She nodded her head to them however after a few moments.
"And my other children, Felcia, Tanek, Liuz and Albin," The Viscount waved his hand to his left and the children standing there by age it seemed, his daughter that was nearly the mirror image of the Viscount and would be taking the place of Julien as heir. She was a year and a half younger than him at 17, the boys were aged 15, 12, 7 and 5, all of them dressed in similar outfits of doublets and trousers with neat boots, all of them in the same scarlet red colour as Felcia's dress was in, all of them in similar neat black boots and black trousers. They were all standing there with the same straight-backed posture, even the youngest though his eyes were a little wide as they watched the Witchers.
The older siblings were watching them with slightly wide eyes of their own, though theirs were in the understanding that this was the group that their brother would be marrying into, and they looked at Geralt with intense stares. They were a little subtle with it, though they were not old enough to disguise it in the way that their mother and father were able to do.
There was one son short though and Geralt turned his eyes back to the Viscount after nodding politely to the children, the sinking feeling in his stomach growing at their expressions.
"It is traditional in our country for the couple that is to be…married to meet after the rest of the family have met each other," The Viscount said, to his credit only just catching on the word marriage. "Julien will meet you this evening the hour before our meal,"
"Of course," Vesemir smiled.
"I will ensure that you are ready for the meeting and find the correct place," Triss said stepping forward.
"We look forward to forging this alliance between our people, and we thank you again for your hospitality and warm welcome," Vesemir said politely, nodding his head slightly to the Viscount who managed to smile a little at the correct address.
"We look forward to the future that we are forging together," The Viscount said, and even though next to him his wife's lips pinched the room applauded politely at the show that they had put on.
Geralt felt as though he was wading through mud and fog as he turned and made his way out of the room with the others, Triss' arm linked through his to guide him as they made their way through the corridors to the rooms that they had been given.
"You look as though you are about to throw up," Lambert said staring into Geralt's face as soon as the door was shut behind them.
"I feel like it," Geralt groaned sinking down onto the sofa.
"Honestly, you have nothing to worry about I think from what I have seen of Julien over the last day," Triss waved her hand.
"You saw the way that his brothers and sister looked at us, do you really think he is going to look at us any differently, never mind the way his mother was looking at us!" Lambert snorted and then grimaced at the look that Vesemir shot him before nodding his head to Geralt, who was looking a little greener. "Sorry,"
"I think you're going to be surprised," Triss laughed.
Geralt sucked in a deep breath as the sound of footsteps reached their ears, seven people from the sound of it, and he realised that he was about to be faced with his groom to be finally. He had spent most of the afternoon trying to picture what Julien would look like, and trying not to think about what his reaction to them would be after seeing his family's reactions.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
He repeated the words over and over to himself, praying to whatever god would listen that the human wouldn't cry upon seeing them, definitely praying that he wouldn't start pleading with his parents not to make him marry Geralt.
Before he could complete another loop of these thoughts the door opened and the Viscount, his wife and children walked into the room, and Geralt's eyes were drawn immediately to the young man who had to be Julien.
It was difficult not to.
The family were still dressed in their scarlet red clothing, Julien was wearing a bright iris blue doublet and sky blue shirt under it that was definitely unbuttoned lower that was appropriate for nobility. Between the decorative slits in the sleeves of his doublet was a bright blue fabric that was embroidered with shining silver thread forming delicate little flowers, his trousers were the same bright sky blue as his shirt, and his boots while a smart and expensive leather with ornate silver buckles and silver thread decorating them with more flowers, they were clearly well worn and seemed to have seen some travel.
It seemed that Julien grew bored of his family staring at the Witchers with apprehension now that they were out of sight of the court and the other nobles, allowing themselves to stare at who they were to be bound to, and of the Witchers staring at him with bemusement and nerves while Triss watched on amused.
Before Geralt realised what was happening the brightly coloured young man just walked right up to him with a slight grin on his face.
"Well, you're not half as horrifying as everyone was making you out to be! You're quite handsome! In a rugged, well-travelled way, but handsome nonetheless!" Julien said brightly.
"Julien!" Olesia hissed while Lambert let out a started laugh.
"But he is," Julien leant a little closer and tilted his head to take Geralt in more, his blue eyes twinkling brightly and mischievously.
"Honestly," Tanek sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I am Julien, obviously," Julien waved his hand over himself in a ta-da motion and looked at Geralt expectantly. Except Geralt's brain was struggling to catch up with this sudden turn of events and he found his mind utterly blank as he blinked at the brightly coloured man. He had been praying that he wouldn't be crying and pleading, while fully expecting exactly that, and instead, he was greeted with…this.
"He isn't a simpleton, is he? You promised me that he was interesting," Julien frowned turning to Triss who let out a bright laugh while Julien's family grimaced behind him.
"I am not a simpleton!" Geralt growled out before gritting his teeth as Julien's family flinched back a little.
Except for Julien.
The human let out a bright laugh and clapped his hands, "he speaks!" He declared to the room.
"Erm," Eskel seemed to make the noise unintentionally, but he found himself under the attention of the young man.
"Hello, and which one are you? Eskel or Lambert?" Julien smiled.
"I am…erm…Eskel?" Geralt's brother said uncertainly.
"Well, it is lovely to meet you Eskel," Julien held out his hand which Eskel took quickly, obviously trying to be careful not to hold the slightly delicate, long-fingered hand in his too tightly, only to have to tighten his grip when Julien started shaking it enthusiastically.
"Yes, you too," Eskel managed to say.
"That means you have to be Lambert, the arsehole!" Julien grinned at Lambert.
"I see Merrigold has been talking about me," Lambert narrowed his eyes on Triss who smirked back at him.
"No, you just have that type of face," Julien said cheerfully. Lambert opened and closed his mouth for a second before he let out a slightly startled laugh.
"And I am Vesemir," The oldest Witcher nodded when Jaskier turned his eyes onto him.
"You have to have seen quite a lot! I hope that you will tell me some things in exchange for all this! I am not above using bribery just to warn you, especially while I have it, I would love to hear some of the adventures that you have been on and the things that you have seen!" Julien said enthusiastically.
Geralt watched him utterly confused, through it all the young human had not moved from standing so close in front of him that he could feel his body heat coming off of him, and he could smell the slightly spicy-sweet perfume that the human was wearing, subtle but pleasant.
"Stories, for what sorry?" Vesemir happily seemed as baffled by the human as Geralt was.
"To write stories, I am sure that Triss informed you that I am a bard, I would love to get to write stories about you and some of the things that you have done and seen. For all of you, though of course, I will have to focus more on my husband here and his stories, it is only right after all," Julien grinned up at him before tapping his chin thoughtfully, his expression becoming serious before he nodded to himself, "the White Wolf, that would be the perfect name for you. No negative connotations for you, or something that would accidentally be insulting?"
"The…what if I don't want you to write stories about me?" Geralt scowled darkly at the strange young man who was baffling him. But the Bard didn't seem bothered.
"We are marrying because you need to be under the protection of Temeria because a load of people want to kill you off, what better way to assist in helping to ensure that you are not killed off by improving your reputation! Spread stories about the good that you do, the difficulties that you face in protecting humanity and the sacrifices that you have to make and have made already, write and sing about the heroes that Witchers are and the lives that you have lived, make you heroes and touchable and real at the same time instead of some myth of the boogeyman living under the bed and it will help in your reputations!" Julien waved him off, literally, he waved his hand in the air.
"He has a point," Eskel said after a few moments of silence.
"Of course I do!" Julien nodded. "Now, you must be hungry, come on let's have something to eat!" he turned and made his way towards a door that obviously led to the dining room, leaving the Witchers and his family standing in the greeting room in silence in his wake.
"Julien! The greeting is meant to take an hour!" The Viscount seemed to come back to himself and called after his son.
"That is ridiculous, we're going to marry anyway whether we talk right now for an hour or a minute, and we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other. They have been travelling for weeks to get here, and the food is already ready! He proved he's not a simpleton so he can eat and talk at the same time," Julien called back before the sound of a chair being pulled out reached them and of Julien dropping into it.
"Please, let us eat," The Viscount said with as much dignity as he could manage, waving them through.
"Geralt, sit next to me," Julien smiled patting the seat beside him. Geralt made his way over to him and sat down almost automatically. "Are you ok? You are looking a little lost, I know that this isn't the ideal situation and you have probably been forced into this, but I am sure that we can make the best of this situation," Julien…comforted him, saying the words that Geralt had thought he would have to try and get across to a distraught young human.
"I…you're not what I was expecting," Geralt managed to say.
"I get that a lot don't worry," Julien laughed as their families filled the table around them.
"You aren't bothered by this?" Geralt frowned.
"I was a little at first, though I always knew that I was going to be in an arranged marriage so it wasn't exactly as though it was a shock, the fact that you were a Witcher and the reason for the marriage was a little shocking. But then it got me out of having to be Viscount when I volunteered to be the one to marry you when the King narrowed it down that it would have to be someone from either here, White Orchard or Lower Sodden, and I get to travel and go on adventures and see the world instead of being stuck in Lennenhove having to do something that I am terrible at and not very interested in, while risking causing war because I am awful at watching what I say! And at least you are not a boring old fuddy duddy lord or vapid lordling who is likely to be distracted by his own reflection," Julien grinned.
"You volunteered?" Vesemir asked interested.
"You don't want to be Viscount?" Lambert added.
"Yes, I volunteered, figured that it was the best chance that I had to back out of having to be Viscount without causing insult to our family and cause rumours that would be ruining for us, this way our family seem to be taking a hit for the good of the Country and to appease the King, and I get to gracefully bow out of being Viscount for Felcia who would really have been doing the job anyway. And no I didn't want to be Viscount, I like travelling and exploring, and I just want to be able to play my music and create masterpieces, I am terrible at the political stuff long term, and I find it horrific, never mind being stuck in the manor and Lettenhove," Julien explained as everyone filled their plates.
He paused and eyed Geralt's plate, then Geralt, and then reached out and filled his plate up with more meat and potatoes on top of the smaller amount that Geralt had taken to be polite.
"Julien has never been matched for the noble life, we spent most of his childhood tracking him down in the woods and trying to get him to focus on studies in regard to running Lettenhove, the only thing that he took interest in and spent hours upon hours learning and practising was music," Olesia said slightly fondly as she looked at her son.
"He got accepted into Oxenfurt two years early, and on his own merit as well, he got a scholarship to go, and without using his real name, or telling us," the Viscount said proudly, and to Geralt's amusement Julien actually blushed under the compliment.
"What is it that you play?" Eskel asked curiously.
"I play the lute, that is my favourite instrument, and much easier to carry around while travelling, though I can play numerous instruments," Jaskier smiled.
"Have you had a chance to look at the hoe that the King has set aside for you?" Olesia asked, her eyes flicking to her son, clearly wondering at the place where he was going to spend a good part of his life.
"No, they haven't had a chance yet, they have travelled here directly from Kaer Morhen, the Wolf School Keep, they will be heading there after the wedding," Triss explained. "The King is actually just finishing trying to ensure that it is ready for them."
"We plan on spending our time between there and Kaer Morhen when we stop travelling and go to rest, the house in Temeria will need to be kept with a couple of Witchers there at all time as per our agreement with the King," Vesemir explained.
"I am sure that you will be able to visit Julien there regularly," Eskel offered kindly to the worried family.
"When myself and Geralt are there of course," Julien nodded.
"What?" The four Witchers turned to look at the young man who was eating neatly, but enthusiastically.
"I will be there, when Geralt is," Julien shrugged.
"You're not going to be travelling with me," Geralt frowned.
"Of course, I will be, we are to be married, I want to travel, you travel, I will go with you," Julien shrugged.
"You won't be!" Geralt shook his head.
"I will be!" Blue eyes narrowed on him stubbornly.
"What I do is dangerous, you can't travel with me," Geralt said firmly.
"Pfft, travelling is dangerous, and I am not proposing that I pick up a sword instead of my pen and fight with you, I will leave that to you and write stories about it, and you can keep me safe while we are travelling, which I imagine is what actually takes up most of your time. Besides what better way to start spreading positive word about Witchers than singing songs about one while travelling with you," Julien challenged.
"It is dangerous," Geralt growled a little.
"I will just follow you then," Julien huffed.
"That is…"
"Geralt," Vesemir hissed and Geralt snapped his mouth shut realising that he was arguing with his groom to be in front of his family.
"Still going to follow you," Julien grinned.
"Julien," Olesia sighed.
"What? I have no plan of you marrying me and then dumping me off in a house and disappearing for most of the year, we're to be married, and I intend to travel with you," Julien said firmly to Geralt, whose mouth opened to respond, but what he was going to say right then he had no idea.
Luckily for him, Lambert decided to open his damned mouth for him.
"He thought that you would marry him and then run screaming to the other side of the continent to try and avoid him, he was planning on having to track you down at least twice a year to make sure that you were still alive and ensure that King Foltest couldn't accuse us of not seeing to the alliance properly,"
"Don't worry you definitely won't have to track me down," Julien grinned at Geralt.
"You are very confusing," Geralt sighed.
"We have plenty of time for you to get used to it," Julien laughed. "Now, try this wine, I am sure that you will enjoy it!"
"I am not sure if I have a headache or not," Geralt said as he dropped down to sit on the sofa, feeling more than a little loft after the meal.
"I told you he would not be what you were expecting," Triss laughed.
"A little heads up would have been nice," Vesemir snorted as he made himself comfortable in an armchair by the fire.
"And miss out on getting to see your faces, never!" Triss laughed.
"Is there something wrong with him?" Lambert asked as he flopped down onto the floor.
"Lambert!" Eskel hissed.
"What? He didn't even flinch when Gedralt growled at him while his family looked like they were getting ready to have to face jumping out the window to stop themselves from being eaten," Lambert snorted.
"Julien sees the world differently I think, he sees people and situations differently, in quite a unique way. I believe that he has a chance with his songs and the way that he sees things to help change the way people view Witchers," Triss said thoughtfully.
"So he can work miracles then," Lambert mocked.
"So pessimistic," Triss scowled at him.
"Realistic Merrigold, some pretty songs about it isn't going to change centuries of how people view us. They want to string us up and wipe us out, what do you think that some nice songs about us are going to do!"
"I guess we will just see," Triss smirked.
"I am going to go for a walk," Geralt sighed tiredly.
"Are you ok Geralt?" Triss asked gently catching his hand on the way past. He squeezed back as he answered.
"Yes, I just need to think a little, and catch up with everything,"
"That young man definitely needs some catching up," Vesemir said as Geralt made his way down the corridor, the others murmuring in agreement.
He made his way along the corridors until he found the door that led to the massive back gardens. He struggled to imagine that someone that had grown up somewhere like this, that had lived in this luxury would want to give all this up to follow along with him on the road, travelling with his hard life and giving up all this luxury and riches. But then…he did not think that he would want to stay somewhere like this, he did not think that he would enjoy living here all the time. He enjoyed travelling around and seeing different places, experiencing the loudness of the city and the busy streets and different faces, he enjoyed the difference of travelling out to this area of the Continent where things were richer and brighter, where the air was filled with the scent of crops, he enjoyed moving out to the areas where things were poorer but the people more honest and hard working.
He would hate to be stuck in one place having to deal with the vipers' nest that was politics and dealing with all the idiotic Lords and Ladies.
He paused when the sound of a lute strumming reached his ears, and without thought, his feet turned towards it, following his hearing as he wound his way through trees listening to the music, there was something thoughtful about it, Geralt thought that Julien was working out the tune, especially as he would play the same but over and over until the end part which he would change. He was humming along with the music, and as Geralt moved past a set of trees he was able to see the young man seated on the ground resting his back against a tree.
He was still in the clothing that he had worn for supper, but the doublet was fully undone revealing his neat shirt underneath. His head was resting against the tree and he had his face turned up towards the darkening sky, though his eyes were closed and he was strumming away on pure memory and instinct.
He was handsome in a beautiful way, but his personality made him even more good looking, and Geralt could not take his eyes from him as he stood there for at least half an hour watching him play. He could not figure the human out in the way that he could figure most people out within a short time of being in their presence. He had to be unlike anyone that Geralt had ever met before, aside from being seemingly not scared of him or the other Witchers, and willing enough to marry a Witcher that he had actually volunteered for it, he seemed to want to genuinely help change their image with his songs, his heartbeat hadn't given away any trace of a lie each time he had brought it up.
He wanted to travel with Geralt, seemingly happy to be open about the fact that they were married. He had been completely fine arguing with Geralt and poking at him where most humans were terrified when they argued with him, normally over coin that they had promised him and then tried to skimp on, their heartbeat thundering in his ears with their fear while the scent of it mixed with adrenaline stunk up the air. None of that had been present when arguing when Julien had been arguing with him, the closest that he had gotten to it had been his heart thumping with adrenaline as he became annoyed at Geralt saying he couldn't travel with him.
"Toss a coin to your Witcher
Oh, Valley of Plenty
Oh, Valley of Plenty, oh
Toss a coin to your Witcher
Oh, Valley of Plenty.
At the edge of the world
Fight the mighty horde
That bashes and breaks you
And brings you to mourn,"
Geralt was impressed with the younger man's voice, it was deep and rich, something about it that he could only think of as musical in itself. He couldn't help himself from snorting at the words though, it seemed as though the younger man was determined in his mission, he was starting already.
Julien's eyes snapped open and he looked quickly to Geralt, though as soon as he saw who it was he actually relaxed, a small smile touching his lips.
"You can come and join me instead of hovering you know, I don't bite," Julien offered.
"I might bite, most humans are terrified that I am going to eat them alive," Geralt said making his way over to drop down near to the man that he would be marrying in a few days' time.
"Hmm, silly. I spent years reading and learning stories and myths, legends and fairy tales, old wives tales and songs, and I learned how to write stories and songs, how to make them whatever you wanted them to be, taking one thing and making it something completely different. The rumours and the stories don't match the facts with Witchers," Julien shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Geralt asked.
"They say that you have no emotions, but I have heard of enough times that Witchers have dealt with monsters for pennies, or just food that can be spared, turned down payments because a family could not afford to pay for the child that they had saved or the young wife that they had returned. If you really ate humans alive and ran off with human children to sacrifice them, there would be more than a few scary stories out there, and the morons out there would have wiped out Witchers long ago,"
"They want to wipe us out now,"
"Because people fear the unknown, and the fear the minorities that they don't understand, and when people are scared they lash out with anger and violence which they come to regret later when they realise the truth. That is why I am determined to get songs about you out there, to make sure that you are understood, to make sure that you don't become the unknown and scary, people are much less likely to lash out at something that they understand and feel as though they know,"
"Why do you care so much about stopping us from being wiped out?" Geralt frowned.
"Because you don't deserve to be wiped out because people are idiots when they're scared, because I am to be bound to you and to your family. I am going to be your husband and you are going to be mine, if I am going to find something to dedicate my music and my words to what could be better than in trying to help my husband and those he cares for,"
"I was expecting for you to sob through most of these next few days and beg repeatedly not to be forced to marry me," Geralt admitted and Julien threw back his head to laugh.
"Honestly, out of the many marriages that I could have ended up stuck in, this is far more preferable," Julien said once he stopped laughing, his fingers moving thoughtlessly on the lute again, creating a beautiful melody.
"I am a Witcher," Geralt said confused.
"Yes, that is what you are, I am a Bard, doesn't mean that I am exactly like the stereotype of a Bard and that every single Bard is like me. I don't care what you are Geralt, I don't believe the rumours about your kind, I was worried about who you were and what type of person you were, but the risk for the life of freedom away from being Viscount was worth the risk, and it seems that it has paid off," Julien smiled at him.
"What do you want out of this marriage?" Geralt asked.
"I want a real marriage, for us to try and get on, even love each other if we can, I will be faithful to you, but I expect the same in return Geralt. My parents were an arranged marriage and they truly love each other, I have always hoped that my arranged marriage would be the same, and my mother told me that it takes work and effort at first, it takes understanding each other and learning to love the other person, and I was always determined to take that into my marriage,"
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to try, I want you to try to learn to love me. I want you to let me travel with me and show me the world, I want to see new things with you, explore new things with you, I want to live my life with you and for us to build something real together,"
"You're an idealist Julien," Geralt shook his head with a huff.
"And you are a misery guts, but I shall be bright enough for the two of us," Geralt blinked unbelievingly at the young man who had just poked him in the cheeks to go along with his words. "And I would far rather you call me Jaskier, it is my Bard name, the one I chose for myself with the life that I have chosen,"
"Buttercup?" Geralt tiled his head, and he could not stop a small teasing smile from lifting the corner of his mouth. "It matches,"
"Why I do feel as though that was an insult!" Julien, no Jaskier squawked loudly and dramatically.
"Come on little flower, let's get you back inside," Geralt shook his head, standing and holding his hand out to him. The Bard huffed, but there was a red blush on his cheeks, a blush that made Geralt stir in his trousers as the Bard took his hand and allowed him to pull him to his feet.
He pulled a little harder than was needed and pulled the young man close into his personal space, looking down at him and that red blush staining his pale skin, the blush that was just for him.
"You're cold," Geralt cupped the Bard's face.
"I get lost in my music sometimes," Those large blue eyes looked up at him in such a manner that he could not have stopped his words or actions if he had tried, something that he did not feel very inclined to do.
"I guess that is something I will have to keep an eye on while we are travelling," Geralt said before tasting the smile on the younger man's face, leaning down to seal their lips together. The Bard tasted as sweet as he had expected and he kissed back with the same passion and eagerness that he seemed to show everything else. "Come on, let's get in,"
Geralt didn't say anything when Jaskier slid his hand into his, seeming more than happy to push Geralt's boundaries and to see what happened. Geralt found himself tightening his hand around the smaller one in his as they made their way back up towards the manor, Jaskier humming the tune that he had been working on while Geralt watched him, seemingly happy to just walk together.