The Witcher The Swallow and The Monster

The Dusty Trail

(F/N) stood up and rubbed the part of his face that was exposed, he slowly felt himself wake up. He slipped his finger-less gloves over his hands, they were made of black leather, so his hands wouldn't get scraped up. He picked up his sword from off the dry ground, he slowly drew it from it's sheath, kieł, was its name. His hands shook as he took some cleaning oil out of his pouch and started cleaning it, the sword was one of his most prized possessions. It was made of a silver steel alloy, so it worked on monsters and humans. It only made his fingers burn slightly when his skin touched it.

The oil made the blade shine, it smelled of berries and herbs. (F/N) made sure to rub the rag in between the ruins that had been carved into the blade, he kept taking deep slow breaths, he was just a young witcher polishing his sword, he hadn't been about to battle the wild hunt and lose.

Geralt stood in front of the fire as he tossed a stick into it, he noticed his ward seemed off, "You alright?" (F/N) nodded and swallowed, he didn't want to talk about the events he had dreamed of, "I'm fine."

The witcher nodded, accepting the answer, he wasn't in the mood to have a heart to heart conversation, "Alright." The man merely held his hands out so the fire could warm them.  Vesemir sighed at his former wards dismissal, he sat up and leaned against a nearby tree. He looked at the young witcher and spoke with compassion, "I could hear you panicking in your sleep, you haven't done that for awhile."

(F/N) glanced at the old witcher with his red eyes, he nervously sheathed his sword, and started ringing his hands, "I just had a nightmare is all."

Geralt looked at the young witcher, his curiosity was nearly non-existent, "About?"

(F/N) swallowed and slowly put the oil away, he didn't want to discuss what had happened, but when your master asked you a question, it was expected they receive an answer. (F/N) quickly recalled what he could, "I was back at Kaer Morhen...I was a kid...you were there...so were you."

(F/N) gestured at Vesemir with his head, he slowly sheathed his sword and adjusted the sheath so it was on his back, "Ciri and I were training together, then Geralt came and then we all trained together."

Geralt clenched his hands slightly, at the mention of Ciri, he hadn't seen her in so long, just the mention of her hurt him. Vesemir on the other hand smiled when he reflected, "Those were the days...Hm, little she devil, she could talk you into doing anything."

(F/N) smiled a little and remembered back to when he and Ciri had tried feeding Lambert slugs, they got along so well back then. Vesemir smiled, when he saw the young witchers reaction, "You two were inseparable, I remember you would always be the one to help her anyway you could, but she had you wrapped around her finger."

(F/N) rolled his eyes, he wasn't that obsessed, the oldest witcher leaned forward, he rested his arms on his knees, he could predict where he was going, "Didn't end well, did it? Your dream?"

(F/N) shook his head, he remembered the ending of it all to well, "The Wild Hunt showed up...they were gonna destroy everything...kill everyone...I felt helpless, which I was, I was just a kid."

Geralt finally spoke up, that was one phrase he refused to hear, "You may not have been what you are now, but you were far from helpless, my training made sure of that." The young witcher looked up at his master and smiled under his cloth mask, but other than that showed no reaction. Despite the rumors of witchers being emotionless men, he probably felt more emotional after the trial of grasses. He thought about his interaction with Ciri, he remembered the part where she said she liked him, that had happened, well...a version of it happened, he had been fourteen and she had been thirteen, and the whole encounter had been a lot more passionate. But that was a long time ago. She had scene only seen him one time since he had...(F/N) abandoned that train of thought. He looked at his finger tips, they looked so different then from what he remembered.