Kyana Of Cintra

88

Kyana's eyes went wide as she faced the mother, who looked her straight in the eye. What happened to her being invisible? The theories that this was one of Geralt's memories were out the window. Kyana looked over the mother's shoulder to find boy Geralt had disappeared, leaving her alone with the mother. She looked into the mother's eyes, whispering to Geralt. "It's magic." She stated, hoping this would be enough to shake him from his hallucination. "This isn't real." 

The mother snorted, gripping one of the now empty plates from the table and placing it on the kitchen surfaces. "I'm real enough to your mind." Kyana watched her warily, moving around the table to place distance between them. The mother smiled at her strategic movements, proud of her son's excellent choosing of the woman before her. 

"Who are you?" Kyana asked, fearlessly meeting the mother's scrutinizing gaze. 

"I think you already know that." The mother said, tipping crumbs out of the nearby window. The mother turned, her hands now empty as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "My name is Visenna. I'm Geralt's mother." Shock didn't come to Kyana; she did already know. Her name was foreign however, something Geralt hadn't mentioned, if he had known at all. Kyana nodded her head in greeting politely, watching Visenna grin. "He picked a polite one to marry. Good." 

Kyana frowned, her eyebrows furrowing. "If you're Geralt's mother, where have you been all these years?" Visenna shrugged, moving over to an old wooden chair in the corner of the room and sitting in it. "Why did you leave him?" Kyana tried again, hoping to get an actual answer this time. 

Visenna smiled up at Kyana. "I do not wish to talk to anyone of these things. Anyone but Geralt. It is our business alone." Kyana was suspicious, but let her keep her privacy. "I was hoping I'd get some time to talk to you, especially when Geralt's mind is reminiscing the memory of me." Visenna huffed, inspecting the cup that had suddenly appeared in her hand. "The amount of memories of you both he subconsciously showed me was remarkable." Visenna offered a hand to the seat opposite her; the bench the boy had taken up formally. 

Kyana hesitantly sat down, her legs apart so that her elbows may rest on them. Visenna observed her stance and huffed in amusement into her cup. Kyana was the most powerful woman Visenna had and would ever meet, yet she sat like a man, like Geralt. It amused her to no bounds. "I'm Kyana." She introduced herself, leaving the ring on her left hand's ring finger to speak for itself. 

Visenna nodded, gazing at Kyana from her wooden chair. "I know who you are, Queen." She spat her title like poison in her mouth, surprising Kyana. She finally found out where Geralt got his spats of bipolar emotions. "You'll ruin my son." Kyana rose an eyebrow as an easy smile curved one side of her lips upwards. 

"Sweetheart, you 'ruined' your son the minute you abandoned him." Kyana retorted, leaning against the table with newfound confidence. "He's been raised well, and not by you. Do not lecture me on breaking the unbreakable." Visenna frowned at Kyana's intelligent retort, refusing to believe she had met any sort of match. 

"You will leave him one day, and you will crush him." Visenna insisted, leaning towards Kyana as a way to intimidate her. "You may think you love him beyond whatever titles you may possess, you may think he's unbreakable, but you will fracture him into a million pieces." Kyana smiled bitterly and leaned forward, effectively breaking down Visenna's intimidation. 

"You mistake me for yourself." Kyana smiled coyly. "We've already had this conversation. I'm abdicating my throne the second Ciri comes of age and once I find an heir. I'll be royal for a year, two years tops. He knows I wouldn't ever leave him to be Queen. If he leaves me, that's his decision entirely." Kyana replied, refusing to allow the woman she had never met until now to intimidate her. 

Visenna scoffed and took a sip from her cup. "Everything I'm saying is something Geralt wants to ask you subconsciously. Even he doubts your integrity, Kyana. Alas, I cannot change your mind; it has already made itself up." Visenna thought for a moment, before picking up a piece of paper from the table and reading it. "My son may very well stay with you, but not if he dies. At present time, I, as a healing mage, estimate he has 5 days, 11 hours, 3 minutes and 8 seconds left of life to live. You will not heal him without my help, so tread carefully, Kyana." Visenna warned, toying with the paper in her hands. 

"What do you want from me." Kyana asked, eyeing her warily. The paper in her hands would no doubt hold the formula of whatever would cure Geralt, and it wouldn't be handed to her for free. Visenna smiled at her prediction. 

"Nicely deduced." Visenna complimented, rising from her seat and gazing into a nearby mirror. Kyana had not seen the mirror before, and doubted it had been there when she passed the wall. "I want you to bring Geralt here." 

Kyana stared at Visenna in confusion, standing to turn and face her. "Bring him to you? What do you mean? This is already his subconscious. He can hear you." Visenna shrugged, playing with a lock of her hair and encouraging Kyana to step forwards, towards the looking glass. Kyana did so, staring at her in bewilderment, before glancing in the mirror and doing a double take. 

Kyana's hair was as black as it had been when she was born, the curls the inky colour she remembered in her early childhood. Her eyes were no longer silver and grays, but their original ocean blue. Her skin glowed with health and youth, just as her original features did. Kyana stared at her reflection. The last time she saw blue eyes and black hair staring back at her, she was a weak, unwanted child. "You looked so beautiful when you weren't a monster." Visenna commented as easily as if she spoke of a summer's day. Kyana looked at her in the mirror. 

"I looked so beautiful because I was clueless and weak. Experience will tarnish. Evidently, you know nothing of life." Kyana stated, turning from the looking glass in order to shut out what was staring at her. "Why should I help you after what you did to a child, your child?" Visenna started to run out of insults to throw at her. 

"Because there is a small part of you that believes me when I tell you he will die. No matter what you do, you'll agree for that minuscule chance of saving his life." Kyana sighed, knowing she was right. Kyana loved Geralt more than she had ever loved anything in her entire life, more than she valued herself. If that potion would save his life, she'd give everything she had to get it.  

"I'm sorry Geralt." Kyana whispered, staring into Visenna's eyes. "Fine. But, on the condition that he has to agree himself, and if he does, I'll be present." Visenna grinned, having achieved what she needed to achieve. 

"It is done." Visenna said, handing Kyana the paper. Kyana inspected it immediately, frowning when she discovered a list of unusual potions used years and years ago, long before Visenna was even born. Still, Kyana knew what she had to brew, nodded once to Visenna, and pulled herself out of Geralt's mind.