"Never told you where I got it... did I? You’ve been kind enough not to ask. Most folk think it was some foul monster... which is fair enough, given my profession. I wish to Melitele that it were so. Would have been kinder for everyone involved...”
Eskel’s deep, calm voice murmured back to the silver haired young woman, yellow, bestial eyes closing partially, relaxing, at Daenerys welcome touch on his mutilated features. A gentle, warm touch... like the way she looked at him. When she looked at him, it wasn’t with fear, horror or revulsion... never had been since he met her. There was only care and concern there... and relief that he had made it back to her in one piece. His broad arms rose and enfolded around her, their exposed forms on the bed of their quarters on the Wall intertwining. The heat of the fireplace and of hers both as welcome as ever. His own fingers rose, stroking through her long strands of hair, and rubbing along her bare back slowly, appreciating her perfect form. Leaning in and pressing another slow, tender kiss to her lips, tasting her, showing his gratitude. After surviving what he had Beyond the Wall... it was only right she know who and what he was... who she was getting involved with, here. Especially after their rather passionate reunion when he had returned... and, if when all this was over, she still wished to remain with him. More importantly... he wanted to speak of it, to share it with the Queen.... knowing she could be trusted with it. She had already shared a good deal of her own experiences with him as it were. It was only fair... and only right. Looking back into those violet eyes he had become so fond of, he contemplated her, and the memories of the past. Daenerys was no stranger to painful decisions and actions, regrets of the past... he hoped she would understand his own. Though if she despised him for it, she could not hate him more than he did himself already. Beginning to speak of his mistakes gradually, taking his time with it. Speaking words he had never spoken to another... the other Witchers had been kind enough to never bring it up to him, since it had happened. It was enough that he’d had to live with it for as long as he had... a punishment he deserved. He was glad Wolf had learned from Eskel’s mistakes, at least... had not repeated them when he had been likewise bound to Ciri, as Eskel had once been to Deidre.
"There’s an old custom in my land, born of the belief in Destiny there, called the Law Of Surprise. If you claim it as a reward for a service rendered or saving someone’s life, they will owe you the first thing they they have but do not yet know of when they return home. Can even apply to living things, horses, dogs, people... pregnancies. Children Of Surprise, bound to the one who claims the Law by destiny. Many children were recruited that way, back in the day, for the Witcher Trials, at each of the Schools when they still functioned. Lambert, the youngest remaining of us, was recruited to Kaer Morhen that way. I was chopping wood in the forests of Caingorn a number of decades back, in my early years on the Path, when there was a commotion. The Prince of Caingorn had been travelling through those woods on a hunt, when he and his party were set upon by Werebbubbs. Fierce beings. I heard, came running just in time with my axe and killed or drove them all off, saving the Prince’s life. He offered me anything I wanted... especially gold. I should have taken it. Instead... having heard too many of Vesemir’s stories about the Law Of Surprise, I claimed it. Little did either of us know then... his wife was pregnant at the time. With Princess Deidre Ademeyn. I defied destiny, never went back to Caingorn to claim my Child Of Surprise... avoided the city entirely each time I returned to the Path. I wasn’t made to be a father... couldn’t bring another person into the Witcher’s life. That, and even if the secrets of mutations had not been lost to us, the Trials do not work on girls. They were designed for the physiology of boys... by the original founders... Cosimo Malaspina, Alzur and Idarran Of Ulvio, long ago, in the days of the original Order Of Witchers.”
“I thought she was better off in Caingorn anyways, getting a safe, luxurious royal upbringing and education, than being brought to the ass end of the North to a ruined school to live among mutant outcasts. Or so I thought. Destiny’s twisted sense of humor had other ideas in store... turns out she would have been better off at Kaer Morhen. She was born under the Black Sun... some old sorcerer fool named Stregobor claimed those born under it were cursed and fated to be evil, and should be locked up in towers for the rest of their lives or killed. The Council of Mages sent a Sorceress named Sabrina Glevissig to carry out Stregobor’s dirty work within Caingorn’s court... to undermine and examine Deidre. It went about as well as could be expected. Deidre ended up fleeing to Kaer Morhen when she was older... sought my help. To protect and save her from Sabrina, who had pursued her. I turned my back on her instead... chose the Witcher’s life of neutrality... and paid the price of it. Witchers are not Knights... not meant to interfere in the disputes and politics of the nobly born... to save Princesses and damsels from towers and from cruel sorcerers. In another joke at my expense, it was Sabrina herself who saved my life after Deidre maimed me... the one who drove her to insanity in the first place. Who is as responsible for it all as I am. Deidre fled, and became an infamous outlaw leader. I finally took responsibility for her, after I had healed. Two years later... I hunted down her and her band of criminals and put her out of her misery and that of her victims. Burned her body as well, to keep it out of Sabrina’s hands... the mages wished to examine the mutations reputedly brought on by the Black Sun... I didn’t give them the chance. Gave her a Witcher funereal... least I could do for her... for every other mistake I made. Been trying to learn from those mistakes ever since... to stop fleeing destiny... and to do what is right. Like what I’m doing here in this land, against these Others. Fighting at your side, for your subjects. A worthy cause at last. I was brought here for a reason... destiny steered my Path to you. Now I have the chance to do things right, perhaps... to make the attempt, at least.”
