The White Werewolf || Season One: Ties That Bind

Chapter Seventy-Four

This chapter contains a description of a panic attack.

Dragon Mountains, 1262

The next morning, Sir Eyck was found dead, but the expedition continued. Everyone suspected the Reavers, so the dwarves made a pact with Borch to use a shortcut and work together until they were ahead of the mercenaries and safely back on the dragon's trail.

Robin and Yennefer were still trying to probe at each other. Finally, Yennefer stopped and turned.

"We can keep trying to read each other's minds, or we can just talk," she suggested.

"Is it just me, or are you and that witch getting kind of friendly?" Jaskier observed skeptically.

Robin laughed. "We'd probably be friends if it weren't for her spell," she decided. "I'll be back."

Geralt grabbed her arm as she walked past him. "Robin, no," he protested.

"I'll be fine, Geralt. She can't hurt me, remember?"

He stared at the large bags under her eyes and the blood crusted under her nose and his brow furrowed. "You're too tired. You barely slept. You're using too much magic to sustain. You're not up to a conversation."

"This is my best chance to talk some sense into her," she reminded him. "Trail behind us if you're so worried."

He growled, but did what she said, stalking after them as they broke off from the rest of the party.

"Did you kill Eyck?" Robin wondered first. "I wouldn't blame you if you did, for the record."

Yennefer laughed. "Right, though? But no. It was the Reavers. That bastard Boholt killed my escort before he could accomplish the one damn task I actually needed him for."

"You really think he could have killed a dragon?" Robin pointed out incredulously.

"Eh." Yennefer shrugged. "Probably not. But he would have been a good distraction, at least."

Robin chuckled, then fell silent for a few steps. "Is there any point in trying to talk you out of it again?" she asked wearily.

"No," Yennefer confessed.

"Did you ever think we're sterile for a reason?" Geralt interrupted, following much closer behind them than Robin had intended. "For a lot of reasons," he amended. "One of the kinder ones is because this lifestyle isn't suited to a child."

He'd thought about it often. It was one of the main reasons he'd never returned to Cintra to claim his Child of Surprise. Besides the fact that he wasn't sure he believed in fate or its consequences.

There were other reasons as well, but he thought that one should be enough.

Yennefer ignored the witcher, so Robin tried again. "Please, Yennefer," she insisted. "Let me help you. Let's work together to find a way to get you what you want, whether it means repairing your body or not. You don't have to go on wild dragon hunts and cast unstable spells. There has to be a way to satisfy you that isn't so dangerous."

"I don't need your help." Yennefer rounded on her and they stopped walking. "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can," Robin assured her. "But you don't always have to."

Robin had spent a lot of time thinking about her conversation with Yennefer in Rinde. She didn't think the issue was really that Yennefer wanted a baby. She thought that Yennefer felt alone, and that the only way she could imagine to fix it was to have a child that was tied to her in a permanent way that would obligate it to stay with her.