To Heal A Lonely Heart

The Calm Before The Storm

I woke with the first sunlight, groaning at the discomfort of the night, a root having poked in my side the entire time.

"Morning," Geralt chuckled, and I groaned again, slowly starting to sit up, "Slept well?" I shot him a glare, shaking my head and then wincing when my neck protested. "Ohh, darling," Geralt cooed, holding his arms out. He knew that if he kept mocking me, I would be pissed the whole day. Tiredly, I slumped into his arms, sighing when he massaged the sore spots.

"Morning," I finally muttered, "How many more graves did that thing...?"

"Three, then it went back into the crypt. It's limping on the left foot. Should be an easy kill. Quite old, but very hungry," Geralt filled me in while we packed up our camp. When we emerged from the scrub, I squinted at the light of the rising sun, still too bright after a night spent in the total darkness of being wrapped up in the witcher's arms.

Hand in hand, we made our way back to town. I had tried to take my bag from Geralt multiple times, but he refused. He ended up grabbing my hand tightly, so I couldn't try anymore, insisting that I shouldn't carry the heavy bags after having slept badly. That he hadn't slept at all didn't seem to matter. We got Roach and Shadow from the stables at the town hall and brought them over to the inn's stables instead.

"Let's get some breakfast, a bath and then some sleep, hm?" Geralt murmured on our way there.

"Sounds perfect," I agreed, "But gimme my bag now!"

Chuckling, he finally gave in.

We entered the empty tavern, the innkeeper greeting us friendly as we sat down at the bar.

"What can I get ye, Witcher?" he asked.

"Some bread and cheese," he answered for the two of us.

"And a room," I added, "Oh, and our horses are in the stables."

"They will be staying there for free."

"Thank you," I mumbled surprised, nibbling on a piece of fresh bread, having to hold back a moan as it was still warm. You rarely were allowed this luxury at an inn, not when witchers were still looked on badly.

"Tis nothing. My boy... he fell victim to the creature. It's the least I can do. You will make it pay for what it has done to us? Will you, Witcher?"

"I'll do what I have to, to stop it from terrorizing your town, no more, no less," Geralt spoke in his deep, rumbling voice.

"We appreciate that, Witcher. We truly do," the innkeeper continued, "You spent the night there, haven't you?"

"We have," my husband nodded, taking a bite from his bread, "The creature you're dealing with; a Graveir. This one is old. I'll go back tonight, and put an end to this."

"Thank you, Witcher."

"It's the job," he shrugged. And then the innkeeper let us be, to finish our breakfast in silence. My mood was still sour from the little amount of sleep I had gotten, that it was bad made it worse. I couldn't imagine how it had been on Geralt, but he kept it together quite well.

We finished eating and went up to our room. I filled the bath while Geralt shed of his armour, the heavy leather falling to the ground with a thud. He came over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind as I stared at the few bubbles floating on the water's surface, popping one after the other.

"What's on your mind, my love?" he asked softly, resting his chin on my shoulder, "Is it about Crevan?"

"No," I shook my head, then sighed, "It's about the Graveir. It made me think just... You're never really safe in this world, not even after you're dead. I mean, I knew that there were monsters that lived off rotting corpses, but this is the first time I had seen it... It just... It hit me, you know?"