[ it hadn't been that long ago, though at the same time, it has felt like lifetimes - when he had been nothing but the annoying bard who followed geralt around. who yennefer hadn't even wanted to spend time with when she was forced to, but did because of their proximity. because of where they were and what had happened to them both. they had found a comfortable enough distance to inhabit and very little else, and then-
well. now yennefer sees the realization of what has happened cross jaskier's features like a blow across his jaw. part of her nearly wishes she could take the words back just to save him from that, but she knows that she couldn't, she wouldn't, even if she had her chaos.
I'd just held an event there. weeks ago. that is what has her breath hitching, a kind of pain in her chest, because it had been so close. and what would she have done, if they had been there? if jaskier had been in libertas? if ciri? geralt? it makes her want to scream, the sound of jaskier's sobs matching the feeling between her ribs, and she holds him even tighter. ]
It's not your fault. [ her voice is quiet, when she says the words, because she knows what he's thinking. knows what he has wedged somewhere between the anger and the pain, and despite it all, there is the exhausted, primal urge to want to fix it for him.
it isn't his fault, just as the elves he couldn't save hadn't been his fault. but jaskier will take these things on, will have them weigh at him, as much as she wants to shake him free of it all. ellya - a woman scorned, a lover dead, and now? now a war between factions that had been building for years.
his threat to the queen's life has yennefer not quite laughing, but huffing out a sound that could be close. it pulls her out of the embrace enough that she can look up at him, that she can set her hand to his cheek. she does not feel it in the same way he does - wars between men are one of the few and only constants of time, no matter how many decades, how many lifetimes. but jaskier does not have lifetimes, and yennefer feels in this moment more than in any other, what that can do. ]
And it is the least of what is coming for her. [ she does not say it to be reassuring, exactly, but it had always been part of the plan. ever since those first few weeks after the jail break, as she had first started to settle within the ranks.
yennefer does not want the spot - yennefer has no interest in ruling - but a woman like ellya, when the people she cares about are within reach, cannot be left to her own devices. ]
no subject
well. now yennefer sees the realization of what has happened cross jaskier's features like a blow across his jaw. part of her nearly wishes she could take the words back just to save him from that, but she knows that she couldn't, she wouldn't, even if she had her chaos.
I'd just held an event there. weeks ago. that is what has her breath hitching, a kind of pain in her chest, because it had been so close. and what would she have done, if they had been there? if jaskier had been in libertas? if ciri? geralt? it makes her want to scream, the sound of jaskier's sobs matching the feeling between her ribs, and she holds him even tighter. ]
It's not your fault. [ her voice is quiet, when she says the words, because she knows what he's thinking. knows what he has wedged somewhere between the anger and the pain, and despite it all, there is the exhausted, primal urge to want to fix it for him.
it isn't his fault, just as the elves he couldn't save hadn't been his fault. but jaskier will take these things on, will have them weigh at him, as much as she wants to shake him free of it all. ellya - a woman scorned, a lover dead, and now? now a war between factions that had been building for years.
his threat to the queen's life has yennefer not quite laughing, but huffing out a sound that could be close. it pulls her out of the embrace enough that she can look up at him, that she can set her hand to his cheek. she does not feel it in the same way he does - wars between men are one of the few and only constants of time, no matter how many decades, how many lifetimes. but jaskier does not have lifetimes, and yennefer feels in this moment more than in any other, what that can do. ]
And it is the least of what is coming for her. [ she does not say it to be reassuring, exactly, but it had always been part of the plan. ever since those first few weeks after the jail break, as she had first started to settle within the ranks.
yennefer does not want the spot - yennefer has no interest in ruling - but a woman like ellya, when the people she cares about are within reach, cannot be left to her own devices. ]