The White Wolf and A Stray Puppy

First Meeting

I woke up to the soft cracking of a fire. Weak and hurting I opened my eyes. As my vision focused I was met with the all too familiar wooden ceiling of the town's inn.

Fuck. That bastard brought me back to the place I had risked my life to run from.

"Thank the gods, you're awake!"

I turned my head slowly to my right to see the man who had saved me sitting next to the bed he had lied me down in. Golden eyes looked at me, waiting for a reaction. Just that I could not show him one, I was too perplexed too react to anything.
After hearing the deep voice of my savior I was not sure what to expect, but what i saw now was exeeding my expectations by far.
That man was straight down gorgeous. Long silver-white hair, pale skin, those glowing golden eyes and the facial bone structure of a god.

I was speechless for a lot of reasons, but his looks were definitely one of them. Another being that my mouth was dry and my throat sore from screaming.

"Water, " I croaked out, barely audible, but he heard it. When he stood up to get a cup he revealed his full height, and man was he tall. That and the black leather armor he was wearing intimidated me a little, to be honest. He turned again and was about to hand me the cup, when he stopped to stare at me, thinking. What was he upto now?
He set the cup down again, stepped as close to the bed as he could and reached down for me. He helped me sit up, handed me the cup but left a hand on it, assisting me in drinking from it. I was still so weak, without his help, I don't know if I would have even managed to grab the cup, but I am certain that I would have spilled all the water.

"Thank you," I weakly smiled. The man smiled back, only slightly, but it was enough to make him less intimidating.

After a few quiet moments he spoke up. "What was a young girl like you doing all alone on the road?" So he knew that I was running away, huh?

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, looking at him, trying to figure out if I could trust him. After all he'd done for me since he heard my scream I decided to trust the white-haired man before me.

"I-I was r-running... from... here."

He probably had that figured out by now, but it was all I could tell him without telling him the story of my life.
He just nodded.

"What is your name?"

Thankful that he did not press any further I answered,
"Nienna. Why did you help me?"

Silence.
Now he seemed to be the one in thought. Then came a short answer as if it was obvious , "I heard you scream."

That is when a glint of silver caught my eye. It was his necklace, or more the pendant. A wolve with bared fangs. I had heard stories of people wearing these pendants, and most of those stories ended bloody.

"You're a Witcher," I blurted out before I could stop myself, "but you don't seem like a Witcher to me."

"And why is that?"

"A Witcher would have killed the men. A Witcher wouldn't even have come to help me in the first place. And a Witcher most definatly wouldn't have brought me with him to take care of me. But you are different." I concluded.

No answer came from him, just a deep "hmm" that sounded almost like a growl.

Then he stood up and went to the door. At first I thought he was going to leave me, but he bent down and reached for a big bag seated on the wall right next to the door. It had two swordhandles peeking out, but they were not what he was after. When he turned he held some cloth in his hand, almost like a bandage. He walked over to the fireplace, put the cloth into a bowl he had put there before I woke up, and poured boiling water over it, which he probably also set over the fire before i woke.

"If you let me, I will have a look at your wounds now, your dress had a good amount of blood on it when i found you."

I said nothing, just waited for him to look at me, as je was still facing the fire. When he turned to search my face for an answer I nodded.
He then walked over to me and sat back down on the chair he was sitting on when i woke up. He helped me lay down again. Just before he lifted the blanket he looked at me. "Can I?" I just nodded. To my surprise I was still dressed. From my previous life I was used to wake up naked, this now was so much better.

He lifted the hem of my dirty and damaged dress up to my knees and ran the warm cloth over me bruised legs. I hissed in pain at the pressure, even though he was trying his best to be careful. He continued to my thighs, but as they were hidden from the assault earlier, they were barely bruised. When he reached my stomach though he was met with a shallow cut, maybe three inches long. It was healing but still red and angry. He frowned. "Who did this to you?", I gulped, O preferred not to tell him, or anyone for that matter, but I felt like I had to. "A costumer."
I tried to stay as vague as possible, i didn't want him to know what I was, at least not yet. He was so nice to me, in fact, he was the first person in a very long time that was nice to me, and I was not sure if that would change if he knew what exactly I was running from.
He just nodded at my answer, and with an acknowledging "hmm" started to clean the wound.
I bit my lip to stop myself from hissing at the hot, wet fabric touching the sensitive, torn skin around the cut. To no use though. I hissed and the Witcher looked at me apologetically, when I noticed something.

"You never told me your name."

Without looking up from my wound he answered, "Geralt of Rivia"

I knew that name, I just couldn't remember where I last heard it. Then it dawned on me, "You're the Butcher of Blaviken", I gasped. He didn't look up, but I still saw his expression harden. He didn't like that title.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, hoping he would accept my weak apology, "I-I, I didn't mean to..."

He looked up at me, expression still hard until he saw my face, regret written all over it. His expression softened.
"It's alright, I get called things that are way worse," he said with a sad smile.

I felt sorry for him, his life is probably way worse than mine, and he can't run away from it.

He finished tending to my wound and got up. When I looked at him questioningly he explained, "I came here for a reason, somewhere out here is a monster that I'm going to hunt. I'll be back the morning after tomorrow, latest. Rest, Nienna, you need it."

And with that I closed my eyes, obeying to Geralt's wish. I heard how he picked up the bag with his swords and put it onto his back, the handles banging together. He opened the door and left. I concentrated on my savior's heavy footsteps down the hallway until they faded away, lulling me into sleep.

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Well, that is the second part of the story, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if I made any mistakes, so I can correct them.
Until then, byeee👋🏻
~Lisa