Songs of Fire °Jaskier, The Witcher

°0.4°

...

Valeria had been with her saviours for three years now. After Isolde brought her back from the death, it took months for her to be able to actually function decently well. The mage oversaw every tiny thing in her healing process until she was back into her old self. She was grateful for king Solomon's hospitality.
Of course she expected he wanted something in return. What she was less grateful for, however, was this:

"Good morning, cousin," dragging out the last word Hawking stood waiting with a smirk.
His eye patch was gone, a blue sapphire in the place where his eye should be. Just as hers, his white locks were tightly woven in a braid.
"How good of you to finally join me for training."
Rolling her eyes, she started wrapping her hands in bandages. "It's not like I had much of a choice, Hawking."
The man simply hummed in response. Even after these three years she still had to get used to him. Of course one of their first meetings was even worse than this.

---

"I think I've heard of the name Hawking Blackfyre before. My father's sister, Rhaella, had a son not too long after I was born with the same name." The man's eye simply gazed at her with a bored expression.
"You mean to tell me one of my family members was alive all this time. Don't you know what this means? We're cousins!" Valeria sounded quite happy at the fact that she finally had the chance to meet someone who belonged to the same family as hers.
Someone who could understand how it felt to live hidden away in shame of what he rfather had done.
"I don't give a shit if you're my cousin." The woman's eyes grew wide at that comment.
Hawking continued "All that matters is that we share the same family name and who cares if that is a sister or a cousin."
With that he walked away, leaving a stunned Valeria behind.

---

She used to think he hated her but soon enough she learned he was like that with everyone. He refused to talk about how he got to this place and what he knew about the rest of their family's fate. All she knew was that he was angry.
Angry at those that killed his uncle and stole away all of their wealth. According to him that was a good thing for them, that anger. It was a source they could use.
Hawking was the perfect example of the dragon blood Blackfyre. Unlike Valeria he did not possess a dragon but he didn't need it. He could wield fire all by himself. When she had asked how, he grumpily explained how he used that anger to fuel his power.
That is when she realised that power resided in her aswell. All those times, she got angry and her sword caught on fire for no reason became clear now. Now that was the turning point for the Blackfyre boy. Insisting that he taught her, a long and tiresome journey began. Everyday Valeria trained to master the element of fire.
Even now, she still didn't manage to conjure up flames out of nothing like her cousing but who needed that when she had a dragon with her.

"Soon enough, you'll be ready, cousin." Hawking praised boredly after their training session.
"Ready for what?"
He stalked towards her, a knife casually twirling between his slender finger. "To get vengeance of course." Shaking her head, Valeria furrowed her brows.
"I don't understand. What exactly do you mean?"
He scoffed, throwing the knife away and crossing his hands behind his back.
"Obviously, you want to make Nilfgaard pay for they have done. Don't you want to see them all burn?" Turning away from him, she disagreed "No, I am done with that. They have shown me not to interfere with their business and I will obey. I do not want to pay the same price again."
Tears pricked her eyes. She could not risk having to lose any more people or another child again.
Hawking cocked his head.
"But that is the exact reason why they should suffer" he seethed.
Stepping forward until his chest was almost touching her back, he continued.
"Every single person that associates themselves with that shithole Nilfgaard should die a most agonising death. At least that is what I would do."
Valeria whipped around. "No! There are innocent people there, I won't turn into the same monster as Nilfgaard." Her cousin rested his hands on the side of her head and lowered himself so they were eye to eye.
"Don't you understand, cousin. If you want to defeat a monster, you must turn into one yourself. None of those fuckers were actually innocent."
She shook her head, pushing his hands away. Turning on her heels trying to avoid her cousin's glare.

She felt his breath on the back of her neck as he whispered in her ear "How are any of those people innocent if they stood by and allowed for your land to be taken? Your people to be slaughtered, your friend to get murdered and more importantly your own child shot down infront of your eyes."
Tears were streaming down her face by now.
"How are they innocent, cousin? They probably celebrated your downfall just like they did with your father. They praised the soldier who shot that arrow at you child. Do you not want to see those people pay for their sins?"

It started to make sense now. They all had a part to play in this war. Even if some people did nothing, that was an active choice. They could have warned her, if they truly cared. But no one did. All those people just stood by and watched as her entire world burned down. She wiped away the tears and nodded. Hawking held the side of her arms.

"You are a dragon, cousin. So, a dragon you must be. Show them what will happen if they wake one."