The White Werewolf || Season One: Ties That Bind

Chapter Twenty-Six

The song Jaskier sings in this chapter is an adaptation of "Girl in the Tower" by Mark Seibert from the video game King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow.

Outside Brugge, 1241

Robin leaned against Jaskier, hugging him comfortingly. He was staring at the forest that stretched out in front of them.

"Home is just on the other side," he reminded her bitterly.

"I know, Jas."

"What do you think they would do if we stopped by?" he wondered, his voice more angry than sarcastic for once. "Welcome us with open arms? Me with my elven lute and you with your mutant man?"

"It's best not to dwell on it, Jas," she advised him. "They don't appreciate what either of us are or do. But that didn't stop us. We're free, living our lives. Take solace in that."

Jaskier sighed and scuffed the dirt with his boot. "I don't know how you're so calm about it. Father sold you, Robin. Sold you. And then told everyone you were dead, remember? How can you forgive that?"

"I can't, Jas," she replied patiently.

"So what? You're just going to forget it?" he snapped.

"Hardly, Jas," she assured him, not raising her voice.

Geralt sat down across from them, having finished with the horses. He didn't say anything, just watched Robin intently.

"Why aren't you more upset right now?" Jaskier asked in frustration. "Don't you want to march in there and show them how far you've come?"

Robin hung her head. "Of course part of me wants that, Jas," she admitted. "But what good would it do? They don't care, and you're never going to make them. Nothing that either of us has accomplished will ever impress them. I could have saved the world already and they'd sneer at me."

She sighed. "The best thing for you to do is focus on the people who care about you. The people who will support you. I know it's hard, Jaskier, and I know that for you it hasn't been as long since they betrayed you, but if you want to be happy, you have to move on."

"Your sister's right," Geralt chimed in. "You can't control how anyone else reacts, Jaskier. You can only control yourself, and search for people who are willing to accept you the way you are."

"Since when are you the reasonable one, Geralt?" Jaskier muttered.

The witcher shrugged, staring seriously into the fire. "I have a lot of experience in this area," he reminded the bard.

"I still don't understand," Jaskier persisted. "Father stuck you in a tower for a decade. In a fairy tale, that would make you a princess, but you really became more of a cautionary tale, at least for me. Don't disappoint your family, or else they're going to give you away."

"I escaped the tower, Jaskier. I found Geralt. I found you. Yes, I'm traipsing about the world hoping to save it from a dangerous magical plot, but there are worse goals to have. I know it seems odd, but I'm happy, at least for now. So the way I see it, there's no reason to dwell on what didn't work out. Just look forward instead."

Jaskier stood and walked to the edge of their camp. "I wish I knew how," he admitted before going off to be by himself.

Geralt convinced Robin to resist the urge to go after him. Eventually, he came back on his own.

He sat down across from them again and smiled. "Sorry I was so grumpy earlier," he apologized.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Jaskier," she assured him.