I wrote a little drabble cause I had to express my thoughts on this quest from The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. Yes, I kept to the dialogue of the game, but I wrote things in my own words.
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“Only found half. Can you do anything with this?” Geralt asked Yennefer as he showed her the half of the seal that he found from a shipwreck he and the enchantress were searching for, for most of the morning. The two had already searched two other shipwrecks in the waters of Skellige. Yennefer had spoken to him at a local tavern of a sage named, Amos var Ypsis who had a djinn some time ago. She told the Witcher about the sage and what she knew. Why she wanted the power of the djinn was still a mystery to Geralt. He could have refused. Yet he chose to go through with this. He had to trust her; which he did.
“I can use it to locate the other half. To within a dozen yards.” Yennefer answered when he returned to their boat.
“And once we find that, we should find the Djinn.”
“Exactly. Ready? I’ll take us there on the count of three.” The sorceress replied, hinting the use of teleportation as their mode of transportation.
“Argh, no, not another portal…”Geralt groaned. He detested teleportation and portals. Yennefer knew this; but he didn’t have much of a choice at this point.
“Stop whining.” The sorceress playfully scolded him, then began to count, “One, two…”
With the wave of her arms, followed a white flash, and they appeared on a mountain top.
“… three.” Yennefer came out of the portal as casually as she would walk through them, Geralt, however…
He cried out as he landed in the cold snow, but quickly recovered and stood, confronting her. “Said you were going to go on three.”
“I did.” She replied simply, then went on. “Look, we must search the area.”
But Geralt stopped her. “Yen, not so fast. Gotta tell me what this is about first. Why do you want this djinn?”
“But you already know. A djinn’s power is priceless to a mage.”
“That I know, but I also want to know how you plan to use it. Wouldn’t go to these lengths if it wasn’t important.” replied the witcher.
“You’re right.” She said. “It’s important… even very important.” She hinted, not wanting to say everything, afraid he’d get upset.
Silence. Was all Geralt gave with his eyebrow raised in a questioning manner and had his arms crossed, clearly not budging. Being an on and off again romantic partner with the sorceress, he knew her well. Very well- and he knew she was up to something.
Yennefer sighed, defeated. She had to tell him. “How long has this been going on, Geralt?” She finally asked. “This thing between us? Fifteen, twenty years?” She looked away, pacing a little as she continued, “We repeatedly split up, then return to one another….” she spoke, her back facing him. “Something draws us to each other. But I can never be certain if it’s a true feeling, or merely a bit of mischief by a djinn.” continued Yennefer, finally facing him with uncertainty showing in her violet eyes. She had to know.
He was quiet for a moment or two. “So that’s it… this is about my last wish.” He had made a wish to a djinn about fifteen to twenty years ago, binding the two together.
“You asked that djinn to bind us together forever. I want to ask this one to take that wish back.”
“Why would you want to do that?” He asked, almost in a way where he sounded hurt. Which he was.
“To see what it’s like without it.”She answered. “To see if we’ll still matter to one another, or if we’ll be like two strangers.” She looked at him.
He looked back at her, eyebrows raised, but arms still crossed until he replied, “What if I don’t want to?” Something in his voice gave away his weariness. Was he scared?
“I’m afraid you no longer have a choice.” She said, trying to put her feelings aside. Or at least, putting up her defenses. “Come, let’s search the ship.” Yennefer lead the way to the ship.
The witcher followed her, making a comment on how the mage, Amos asked the djinn to take half of the ship onto a mountain top to get them away from the “once-in-an-eon-storm” that broke out years ago. To which Yennefer replied how the djinn perverted the wish. “Djinn’s are inherently mischievous.” as she stated.
“In that case, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t wish I’d disappear from your life.” Geralt replied.
“I’ve yet to decide how to word it.” said Yennefer. How would she word it?
So they searched the ship.
“Interesting.” Geralt mused as he headed below deck, looking through what was left in the shipwreck besides ice and frost. Using his witcher senses, he found a pair of boots that belonged to the mage, and those boots lead to a trail of blood, that then lead to a fallen book self. Geralt lift it up and found a dead body under it. The corpse was preserved from the cold, but the head… suffered severe trauma.
“Yen, I think you should see this.” He called to her.
“What do you have?” The sorceress called back as she came below deck, standing for a moment before seeing what it was that Geralt had found and approached him. “It’s Amos. Looks exactly like the etching in the book.” She told him as she examined the body. “Except his head was intact there.”
“Think the djinn did this to him?” He asked.
“No, it wouldn’t attack its master. This looks like a rather unfortunate accident.” She answered. “When the storm broke, Amos must’ve uttered a wish like, ‘Take us away, anywhere, to a mountaintop, even.’ And the djinn granted the wish literally. They had a hard landing, Amos was thrown off his feet and against the wall. The bookcase did the rest.” She explained.
He nodded in understanding. “Always knew too much studying could kill you.” He then knelt down by the body. “If he died while being teleported, seal still might still be on him…” He figured as he searched the body, and did indeed find the other half of the seal. “Behold.”
“Bravo.” The sorceress praised him. “Come to the deck, I’ve an idea.”
They walked back up on deck, and to the wheel where they placed both halves of the seal on the floor.
“Step back a bit.” Ordered Yennefer.
“What are you going to do?” Asked the witcher as he did as she said.
“Summon and tame the djinn. It’s not likely to be happy. Stand at the ready.” She told him, then chanted a spell, lifting the seals up from the floor with a bluish hue glowing from it, and summoned the djinn as she brought the two halves together.
Geralt turned as the sky darkened and thunder rumbled overhead. With a menacing snarl, appeared the djinn in a hazy cloud with the same thunder coming from it. The ghost like creature floated onto the deck and the witcher went head on into battle- naturally.
Yennefer had a plan, of course, which included Geralt fighting the djinn until she could draw it into a sphere of magic.
Geralt fought valiantly, his years of training at Kaer Morhen showing as he swung his silver sword with grace, but vicious accuracy until the djinn was weak enough for the sorceress to trap it into the sphere.
“Got you!” She called triumphantly.
Once trapped, it was clear that the djinn had a face. It was white like a phantom’s, but had no body.
“Your master died before uttering his last wish! I cannot capture you!” She spoke with the magic being. “We can struggle like this for eternity, or I can release you! If you do one thing for me!” She bargained with the djinn.
With a moaning growl, the djinn responded to her bargain.
“Do you see the spell that binds us?” She asked.
It responded once again, seeing said spell.
“Only a djinn can remove another djinn’s spell! Remove this one, and you’ll be free!” She told the djinn.
Geralt and Yennefer looked on as the djinn chanted an indication to remove the spell.
With a movement of her hands, she raised them and opened her arms, “You are free!” There was a high pitched ring in the air that followed with a white cloud as the sphere broke and the djinn was freed.
The skies cleared and it was light once again.
“Storm’s over.” Geralt approached Yennefer.
“Yes.” She breathed a deep sigh of relief. “It’s all over.” She crossed her arms, regaining her composure, but was looking away from him, clearly trying to gather her thoughts.
“Maybe we should sit?” He suggested. “You look a bit dazed…”
“I’m not.” She assured. “But we can sit.”
So they sat. The wind blowing and howling around them as they sat in silence for a moment.
“Feel any better?” Geralt broke the silence between them.
“I told you, I’m fine.” Yennefer insisted.
“Don’t need to play tough for me. That was a hard fight. Maybe not as hard as the last time we tamed a djinn, but still…”
The enchantress chuckled softly. “No comparison, I’m afraid. Half of Rinde suffered then.Now I’m merely a bit tired…” She looked down at the mountain for a moment, then looked back at him. “Thank you for coming, Geralt.” She spoke a bit softer. “I’d have a much harder time on my own.”
“Well, I never could say no to you.” It was true. He never could.
“Mhm… perhaps that will change now.”
“Feel anything? That anything is… different?” He asked.
Yennefer looked at him, gathering her thoughts. Did she? “Hmm…” She thought. “I expected… I don’t know what I expected, actually.” She confessed. “A bit of vertigo perhaps.”
“I thought…” She began again. “you’d become a stranger to me… that I’d look at you and not feel a thing…” She admitted as she looked at him.
He looked back at her, listening intently as always.
“But it’s not like that at all.” She went on. “Nothing’s changed.” She said, smiling finally.
Now it was his turn. Did he feel the same about her? She was hopeful that he did return her feelings even after all these years and even with the fact that the spell had been removed. Despite his last wish, Yennefer had fallen in love with him. There was no turning back now.
“Djinn mighta cheated us after all…” He trailed off.
She tensed, worried. Scared even. “Why?”
“Cause I don’t feel that anything’s changed either.” He smiled.
Her heart skipped a beat and her face lit up like the sun above them. A large smile grew on her face. But said nothing. Nothing needed to be said.
“I love you, Yen.” He told her, his expression soft and his tone genuine.
She smiled, happy. Truly happy. “And I love you.”
He kissed her. The lips he only desired, their sweet taste from the one that always did take his breath away. It was like the night they spent together when he made his wish, but better. The tender moment, however didn’t last too long as she bit his lip playfully.
“Ow! What was that?” He pouted.
She giggled. “It can’t be all sweetness and light.” She teased.
Geralt smiled. “Strange… done that so many times, but… it felt like our first kiss to me.”
“It was, in a way. Besides… once you say, ‘I love you.’ a kiss has to taste differently.”
She was right. Then, he began to think. Think on his desires and what he wanted.
“Maybe we oughta test a few other things? Amos’ cabin looked cozy…”
Tempting. But she decided against it. For now.
“Not so fast, Geralt. We’ll have plenty of time to visit cozy cabins later.”
“But… I doubt the world will end if we sit here a while.” She said to him and looked to the Skellige horizon.
He said nothing and looked into the same direction, silently agreeing with her. Then he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close and she rest her head against his shoulder.
Yennefer sighed peacefully as she admired the view in front of them, of the snow covered mountains of Skellige and blue skies with misty clouds lazily flying by. And their moment together. “My, it’s lovely.”
“Mhm. Think the spirits of Skellige favor us.”
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