Songs of Fire °Jaskier, The Witcher

°1.5°

1.5 |a dragon hunt|

VALERIA TRIED TO TUNE OUT JASKIER'S SINGING. She couldn't deny that she enjoyed having the hard singing again after the whole djinn thing but that didn't mean she wanted him to ask her every minute which word fit better into his new song.
One of the men that were waiting on Geralt complained that it already had been an hour. Looking at her nails dully, Valeria replied "congratulations, you know how time works."
In response the other man turned trying to steal money from Roach's saddlebags making Jaskier jump up.
"Bollocks! Oi! No, no, no, no!" he nearly fell down making Valeria snigger, "aah! You stop-stop that or I-I'll, uh.."
The woman laughed and patted him on his back. "Or you'll what, dear Jaskier?"
One of the man mocked them asking if the bard will sing them to death. Valeria glared at the man, stepping forward. Just because she could make fun of her bard did not mean anyone else could. She opened her mouth to protest but an unknown man beat her to it. "Perhaps you did not hear the man."
Two women approached as well circling the man trying to steal Geralt's belongings. Valeria simply stared with raised eyebrows at the new man, clad in gold scaled clothes, beside her while he tried to get the other men to comply. When they did not one of the woman pushed them down and snapped the man's neck causing Jaskier to yell out in surprise. Valeria just stood there with an impressed look on her face, trying to ignore Jaskier's tight grip on her arm.
At last Geralt returned as well while Jaskier pointed a tthe unknown woman like a child. "This woman just killed a man with her bare hands for trying to steal your horse."
Valeria noticed the bard still holding onto her arm as Geralt replied. "Maybe she'll make a better travel companion then."

...

Valeria looked around the tavern they were currently sitting in as all sorts of food and drinks were delivered to their table. She eyed the man named Borch in suspicion. Whatever could a man want? Her ears perked up at the mention of a green dragon being spotted. She clenched her jaw at the mention of men trying to hunt the creature down purely for the treasure it kept. Killing a beast purely for greedy purposes. Her anger turned into something of disgust when she could hear Jaskier's pathetic attempt at whooing Tea and Vea.
"You have the most incredible neck. It's like a... A sexy gooze."
Valeria chocked on her drink hearing those words and she tried to stifle her laugh. How could this be the man that has seduced so many women that he needed protection from them to go to a banquet?
"Gu-guzzling."
She shook her head with a grimace and whispered that he could better shut up.
Borch further explained, ignoring the bard's sad attempt of flirting. "He's commissioned a hunt to kill it. Four teams have signed on. The winner gets the dragon's treasure plus the title of Lord over one of his new vassal states."
Jaskier sounded excited about these rewards and expressed his desire to join immediately. Valeria whipped her head towards him with a glare and smacked his chest. Borch further exclaimed how he wanted Geralt to join his team.
Valeria shook her head immediately and responded for the Witcher.
"No, no. I'm sorry, but that's simply not happening."
The Witcher nodded in agreement. "She's right. I don't kill dragons. Take my advice; no treasure is worth dying for."
Borch tried to persuade Geralt further and even pointing out the different teams. Valeria already couldn't stand any of them, simply because of the fact that they wanted to kill an innocent dragon. Luckily they wouldn't participate. Her relief was shortlived however when the fourth team became known and she was staring right at the lilac eyed witch from before. Even Jaskier decided that the treasure wasn't worth it anymore and wanted to leave.
"I'm in."
Valeria stared at the Witcher in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
Geralt simply nodded absent-minded. She scoffed in return and left the table. On her way out she bumped her shoulders against the witch but she didn't even care. How could Geralt even do this. He raised a dragon with her and now he's going to hunt for another one! Valeria slammed the door of the tavern on her way out.

The day of the hunt had arrived and Valeria couldn't stand it at all. Until the very last moment she avoided any contact with anyone as best as she could. Geralt tried to talk to her last night but she simply walked past him and slammed her chamber door in his face. When he asked if she could come out and talk she simply replied with "No thanks, I'm in."
Approaching Geralt and Jaskier, she tried to calm herself a bit more. Yennefer was standing there as well. When the two women made eyecontact they just simply nodded towards each other and that was it.
The three day track began and of course Jaskier decided to walk next to Valeria.
Even though she could normally enjoy his company, even if she would never admit that to him, she'd rather not have his happy self walking beside her.
"Val, why are you so angry about this hunt? Imagine all the treasure you could gain from this," he exclaimed happily. The bard spread his arms out talking about all the things he would buy and all the beautiful ladies that he would have on his lands. Valeria scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, don't worry, my dear friend. You can come as well and join my lavish parties," Jaskier assured while throwing his arm around her shoulder. "And you are also very beautiful so do not fret about that either. Do not worry for you will not have to compete for my attention."
The woman tried to surpress her smile which wasn't hard when she thought about the way all that richdom would be his. She gently shoved his arm from her shoulders.
"Well, I'm not going to use or celebrate a treasure that was stolen from an innocent creature. How can you be so glad about killing a dragon?"
The bard shrugged and put his arm back around her shoulder.
"Well, I wouldn't call a dragon an innocent creature. I mean, they burn and kill a lot of things. So, I guess I can be glad about it because it will probably safe a lot of people."
Valeria stopped in her tracks and glared at Jaskier as he came to a halt as well. Not as gentle as before, she shoved his arm away and walked away with a scoff.
The bard just stared at her walking away while he could hear her mutter.
"Goddammit, Jaskier."

"Wait, what did I do wrong?"