Songs of Fire °Jaskier, The Witcher

°1.9°

1.9 |please don't do this to me|

JASKIER HADN'T STOPPED GAPING AT THE WHITE HAIRED WOMAN In FRONT OF HIM. He was still far too afraid to come even close to her since she was too busy stroking the tough scales of the black dragon.
He couldn't belief his ears at the words of Borch, who surprisingly was alive. All of this was far too much to handle for the bard who was awake for only a few hours.
He didn't even notice as said woman finally left Borch and her own dragon.

Rhenvys slightly nudged his mother with his head, wanting her to continue petting him as the gold dragon was talking to her.
"In truth, it wasn't necessarily the Witcher I wanted to come on this hunt. It was you, lady."
Valeria started tracing Rhenvys' scales so he wouldn't bother her anymore.
"But why?" she asked confused.
Borch held his hands in front of him as he turned towards the cave.
"I am certain you know what lies in there?"
For a moment he turned his head as she nodded. The dragon's gaze lingered on the entrance for a moment. With a sigh he averted his eyes and turned back to the woman.
"I wanted you here because I will need someone to look after it. When that egg hatches, the dragon will need a mother," he paused for a second, admiring the woman busy with gently patting her dragon, "and since its mother's death, I know no one better suited to look after a new born dragon than you, lady."
Valeria stopped her movements. She gulped trying to keep her emotions down. Biting on the side of her cheeks, she avoided the grin from spreading on her face.
"I'd be honoured, sir. I will protect this child with my life and raise it as if it were my own."
The old man proudly stared at her and bowed one last time.
"I wouldn't have thought any different."

Now that Borch had left her side, it was time to clarify what went down to Jaskier, who was still busy gaping at her in the distance. His eyes seemed empty of thought and she wondered if he even noticed her feet walking towards him.
When she stood in front of him she gently whispered his name.
With a startle he stood up and even though he was towering over her, he felt so small. They stood there in silence for a moment simply eyeing each other in curiosity.
After a few minutes of silence Jaskier broke it "so this whole time that I was gushing about the legendary tales of the Mother of Dragons, she was standing right there infront of me?"
Valeria looked down towards her feet with a sad smile.
"Well, I did tell you there was still a lot you didn't know about me."
Her head shot up when the sound of laughter erupted the silence.
The bard started rambling with a laugh. "I sang infront of the fucking Mother of Dragons! She gifted me a lute!" His arms shot up. "The actual Mother of Dragons even complimented my singing!"
Valeria's eyes widened as Jaskier jumped forward and he held the side of her arms while shaking her in excitement. Luckily the next part he exclaimed a bit softer than the rest.
"To make it even better, I kissed the Mother of Dragons."
For a moment he silenced. His eyes averted to her lips for a millisecond before he smashed his lips onto hers while she stood there helplessly.
Jaskier quickly broke the kiss and stepped back with raised arms as Rhenvys stood up with a growl.
"I just kissed her again and nearly died but that was definitely worth it."
Valeria just stared with a confused yet loving smile.
"Please tell me all of your stories so I can write the most beautiful songs about it," Jaskier rambled on.
Valeria took ahold of him, forcing him to look at her. "Jaskier, jask, jas! Please just calm down for a second," she laughed. "I'm glad you're taking it all in so well but please just take a breath."
The bard nodded quickly while his eyes darted between Valeria and the dragon a few feet behind her. His eyes stopped stopped to gaze only at her for a second and he gave a final nod before collapsing down.
Valeria just stared down in shock at the unconscious bard on the ground.
Geralt walked up beside her and hummed.

"He certainly took it well."

...

Some time had passed and Valeria had decided to enter the cave where the dragon egg lay. Her heart lamented the sight of the corpse again. How tragic yet beautiful it was to see the green dragon curled up beside the egg. Before entering, Jaskier had woken up again thankfully while she spotted Geralt and Yennefer about to talk. Deciding to give the pair some privacy, unlike a certain bard, she knew it was the right time to see her new child.
She guessed it was appropriate to call it that.
Kneeling beside the green egg, she gently stroked a finger over its surface. Her eyebrow raised at the texture. Even though it was an egg similar to what Rhenvys was born from, this one felt so different.
Raising her head, she stared at the egg's actual mother.
"I promise I'll take good care of him," she whispered.

Her head whipped around when Yennefer came storming in. She seemed to be crying and the mage seemed surprised at the sight of the other woman.
The witch began to walk out again, apologising for the intrusion but stopped in her tracks at the sound of Valeria's voice.
"Are you alright?"
Turning around, Yennefer scoffed.
"Does it look like it?" she asked harshly.
Valeria still tried to show kindness and stepped forward. Even if it was just to put herself between the mage and the egg.
"It was a stupid question, I know. I apologise. I do not know what happened outside and you don't have to tell me."
She stopped until she was right infront of the witch who eyes her suspiciously through her teary eyes. Valeria smiled.
"You probably don't trust me and you have no reason to but if there is ever anything you need, please know that I'm ready to help you."
Yennefer furrowed her eyebrows. More tears threatening to spill from her eyes at the kind words.
"Why?"
Valeria's eyes settled on the witch's wrists as if she knew what scars were hidden there.
"I know a broken spirit when I see one."
With that Yennefer turned around and left.

Valeria heard shouting and decided to see what was happening. Leaving the safe space of the cave she spotted Jaskier walking towards her with a wounded expression.
She ran towards him and blocked his path. He, however, swerved around her trying to walk past her but her grip on his arm held him back.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
He yanked his arm out of her grasp without even one glance towards her direction and walked on just muttering a simple "nothing".
Valeria paced after him demanding to know what happened since he was clearly upset about something.
Having heard the sounds of an angry Geralt from inside the cave, she could guess the Witcher might have said something.
Once again she reached out to grab onto his arm whilst demanding an answer. Jaskier whipped around, an angry look on his face while he dramatically made sure she couldn't touch him.
"Can't you just leave me alone!"
Valeria took a step backwards.
"Can't you see that I'm sick of your presence! I don't want you around demanding all sorts of things, thinking you're some sort of queen!" Jaskier shouted while throwing his arms up in frustration.
"I'm not your friend so leave me be."
Valeria stood there, not being able to move. Tears welled up in her eyes as the words settled. The bard just avoided her gaze with an angry look.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she silently nodded.
Without a further word she turned around and walked away. She would not grant for the hastard to see her crying so hwne she was far away from him, she allowed the sobs to escape.
Her cries became even louder when she noticed that even Geralt had disappeared and left her alone on that mountain.

They had all left her.

Jaskier's eyes grew wide as he just realised what he had said. Rubbing a hand through his hair he started pacing while muttering all sorts of curse words.
He never meant any word and he didn't even understand why he did it, it just happened. It was probably because he was hurt himself because of Geralt but it still didn't give him any right to react to the woman he loved like that. He groaned while rubbing his eyes. He had to make this right.
As quick as his feet could carry him he ran back towards the cave he saw Valeria disappear in. He was close enough to hear her cries coming from inside and he felt even more horrible.
Taking a deep breath, he found the courage to start pacing towards the entrance.
He stopped in his tracks.
The black dragon that once looked at him in what seemed nothing more than curiosity now walked forward so its body blocked the entranceway.
That curious look was gone and had replaced itself with a meaning glare and a growl as Rhenvys approached.

Jaskier wanted to go in there and apologise so badly. He wanted to ask Valeria to join him to the coast and get to spent the rest of their time together. How badly he wanted her by his side.
He stood there for a moment contemplating on calling out her name.
But in the end, the usually loud bard remained silent and walked away.