Once again, Hestia de Aretuza was no where to be found. Rumors told a story of revenge and how the Emperor kept her captive, others said she was dead, turned to ashes and there were the optimistic ones, who believed she was hiding somewhere close to...
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Hestia had tried everything. Plans and more plans that went wrong and only generated even worse consequences, more torture, more pain, more cold, more isolation. She spent hours and hours of her days thinking about what she could do to escape, to get out of this damned purgatory, because at this point she preferred to be dead, straight to hell or to heaven, she just didn't want to suffer so much on earth.
Everything hurt, thinking was exhausting, remembering made her want to cry, there wasn't much left but to sink into depression and let the days go by until one day, time would take her. She was afraid that Letus experiments would work, that he would steal her powers for himself and cause even more pain and suffering.
Sometimes she closed my eyes and imagined what it was like to fly over with griffins in Skellige, the smell of Yohanna's food, her laughter taking over every room of that gigantic castle. She thought of Fiona, her friend's hands running through her hair as they stared at the sky, counting stars and talking about constellations. She missed Jaskier getting into trouble in some bar after playing, she missed having Baldric to help her make decisions, all the times Serena made her believe in herself.
She also thought about Tissaia, she missed the motherly warmth she once had, she barely had time to talk to the woman before everything went to hell. It was hard, really, it was hard to understand how everything had gone to shit so quickly. He thought about Yennefer too, if she was okay, if she was finally a mother.
It was hard to think of the days that Hestia had any kind of stability, since they were so rare and it was always Geralt who came to mind. It was with him that she had lived her best days, that she had been truly happy. It was only with Geralt that Hestia learned what stability was, what it felt like to feel safe, to sleep well at night, Geralt was the solution to her problems, only with him she had peace, only with him she felt complete, and it hurt so much to know that he was gone without even saying goodbye.
But who could truly love a monster like her? How could anyone have compassion with a fire-breathing being?
She couldn't judge him, but at the same time she judged him, because his pain was excruciating and she had so many doubts, doubts that would never be resolved because she would never see him again. At least that's what she believed.
All she wanted was to see Geralt just one more time and Ciri, yeah, she wanted to finally be able to hug Ciri and tell her that it wasn't her fault, that all she wanted was to keep Ciri close. She wanted to apologize to her, to tell her that she tried to fight for her parents and for her but it was too late. She wanted to tell her how she looked so much like her mother, that she had her father's strength. She wanted to know about how her life had been, if she was happy, if she had powers like Pavetta, she had so many questions that she would have to let her imagination answer.
Sweet, sweet Ciri, she wanted to meet her again.
And as for Geralt, she wondered if he had found another woman, if he had gone back to Yennefer, if he was living a happy life with someone else. Had he forgotten her? Did he ever care? Was everything they had lived through just an illusion? The illusion of being loved, of being wanted, of being cared for. She asked herself every day if he ever really loved her, because she loved him, every second, every day, every month, every year, she loved him until today and even with a heart full of hurt and resentment, she would do anything, absolutely anything to find him again, she would even forgive him for leaving, for breaking her hurt. She just wanted to look into the man's golden irises one more time, smell his scent, touch his body, feel his warmth. For he was her world, Hestia willing it or not.
She tried to stop loving him, but it was impossible. Even in the anger, even in the pain, even in the resentment, even... even feeling betrayed, she still loved him with every cell in her body.
And it was while looking at the same wall she had been looking at for years, that she felt the presence of the man. She thought it was another one of her dreams, another one of her visions with him, like the one she had not long ago, hoping that he would understand her hints. For some reason her body seemed to heat up, so she knelt down, placing both hands on the stone floor, and to her surprise, it was warm. She laughed, a nervous laugh because she didn't know what was happening, she didn't understand how this was possible, she was in the coldest place in the whole fucking Continent but now she felt warm? After five damn years she finally felt warm and that made her cry, made her cry like a child who found her way back home.
She rubbed her hands against the stones, closing her eyes and letting the warmth embrace her, her fingertips were no longer so cold or purple, her hair seemed to come to life and her face lit up. She didn't shiver anymore, she felt comfortable for the first time in half a decade, and she couldn't believe it was real. It had to be a dream, yes, a dream.
But her theory of it being a dream was quickly destroyed, as was the wall in front of her exploded, disintegrating in a huge explosion that caused Hestia to throw herself backwards, covering her face and holding her breath so the dust wouldn't get into her lungs.
"HESTIA!" Geralt's firm voice called her and in disbelief, she stood up quickly, stumbling over her own feet, her heart seeming to be in her throat, the desperation to get to the hole becoming greater, the anxiety consuming her, until she reached the edge, passing amidst the debris and the small flames on the ground, and resting her hand on what was left of the wall.
She then looked at the field in front of her, several soldiers in a battle cry rushing toward her captive. And Geralt? Well, Geralt was standing on his horse, Roach, a sincere smile on his face, holding a torch in his hand.
"HESTIA!" he shouted again, making her cry with happiness.
He had found her.
He had come after her.
It had not been an illusion.
He had found her.
"Hestia!" now Ciri's voice made her look across the cell, now open "we have to go, come on" she reached out her hand to the mage, who with tearful eyes ran into the girl's arms, hugging her tightly as she cried.
"You came, you came, you all came" Hestia repeated incredulously.
"And you really thought we wouldn't come? Did you really think we would give up on you so easily? Well, Hestia, we would go to the most deserted places on the Continent to find you, we found you".
