Y/n Pov
"I'm impressed," Geralt says. "Maybe you did pay attention"
"I didn't. But I figured it out nonetheless" I responded.
I had told Geralt the story, leaving out the interaction at the end.
Yennefer led us through the forest, until we emerged into a village.
The priestesses all circled a small shrine. I learned a long time ago that interrupting religious things like this leads to problems. Ironically one of the people who taught me that is the one who charges forward.
"Pardon me sisters," Yennefer says. "I must ask you something urgently"
"Can't you see we're praying here" the priestess says.
"I can, and believe me under any other circumstances I would never dare interrupt. But I fear I must"
"Speak then" the elder says.
Geralt then walks forward. "We're looking for a woman, ashen hair, scar on her face. Like us," he signals to me and himself.
"No lass like that around these parts"
It's then a younger woman gasps from the other side of the group, she then points at me.
"Your Y/n!" she nearly screams.
I look at Yennefer and Geralt then step closer to Geralt. "I am. How do you know my name?"
"Ciri told me about you."
"So she was here?"
"She was. Left a while ago, these men in armor attacked and her and Craven escaped"
"Craven?" I ask.
"One of the sons of the village, he ran away instead of fighting."
"Do you know where Ciri ended up?" I ask her.
She shakes her head. "I don't. Craven would of"
"Where can we find him?" Yennefer asked.
"If he's alive" the elder says. "Would probably be at the abandoned garden. He wanted to kill Morkvarg"
"We'll head there and look for him" I say, then look at the younger woman. "What did Ciri say about me?"
She just smirks. "I don't think I should say." she smiles. "She did say you were 'drop dead gorgeous'. She was right"
A few of the priestesses voice their agreement. I slowly turn and begin walking away. Wanting to at least have Geralt between me and the priestesses.
Skelliger traditions could get a little frisky, and maybe another time, but not now.
We walked through the forest, Yennefer and Geralt talked lightly. But I couldn't get over the fact Ciri had apparently called me dropped dead gorgeous.
Good sign, but maybe it was one of those.
He's dropped dead gorgeous "BUT" he's bla bla bla.
I will learn sooner or later.
We finally made it to the gardens, we watched the werewolf eat some dead animal, before it ran away.
Geralt and I found the entrance and Yennefer followed us up and into the walkways above the actual gardens.
"We need to find this Craven, Geralt there's a network of tunnels beneath the gardens, you head down there. Y/n you look through the gardens themselves."
Geralt and I both shrug.
All three of us knew the chances were, if that wolf was still here, that the Craven had either run away or died. Both didn't bode well for us. We weren't about to go hunting a Craven on the run.
I make it to this house, I kick the door in and walk into it. Nothing. This place had been abandoned for years.
I walked around the gardens aimlessly. My hearing tuned in on Yennefer pacing, Geralt huffing and puffing his way 20 feet below me. I couldn't smell any dead bodies, and I wasn't seeing anyone.
"Y/n!" I hear Yennefer shout. I turn and make my way back to the spot Yennefer was. Now though, two more figures joined her. One was Geralt, and the other was a rotting decaying corpse.
"Is that our Craven?" I ask.
"I assume so," Yennefer said.
"Well what the hell do we do now?" I question looking at the dead man.
"Well, I could bring him back," Yennefer says, looking at Geralt.
"Isn't black magic against the magic law?" Geralt asks.
"It is. But for Ciri I'm willing to break such laws and much more" she says.
"It'll take a lot of energy" she says, setting her feet. "Nobody can interrupt... Y/n if someone comes near us... Stop them"
"... alright, you got it" I say.
I was unsure of this. But it was for Ciri.
Yennefer begins chanting her spell. I just watch, as the body of the man lifts and reanimates itself.
The jaw snaps back into place, the eyes roll back into his head.
A terrible scream comes from the man.
I couldn't listen to their exchange. It takes a lot to unsettle me, but this was deeply unsettling.
"She's t-t-t-t-the reason t-t-t-t-they b-b-banished m-m-mee" he screams.
"Tell me what happened!" Yennefer demands.
The man let's a loud cry fly from his mouth, before calming and he begins talking to us.
Flashback 3rd POV
Ciri fell from the sky, interrupting Skjall's morning routine. The strange man carried her to Skjall.
"Help me. Help us both" the man says.
Skjall led them to his and his family's home. The stranger leans down.
"Ciri.... Zireal" the man said. "Meet me by drowned dead rock... Do you understand?... Say it!"
"... Drowned dead rock" Ciri repeats.
Then fades to black.
Astrid- Skjall's sister - bandaged Ciri. Listening as Ciri would whimper the name Y/n in her dreams. Skjall's stayed in the home, awaiting the girl's awakening.
Ciri's dreams were filled with only one man.
Y/n.
Her Y/n. His handsome face, god she missed it. She was hoping to find him, but so far she's come up short. Sometimes, when she was feeling disheartened, she would see him smiling at her. That would be all she needed to get up and keep going. To see him for real. To feel him.
"Hmm" Ciri begins to wake up. "Y/n?" she questions. Hoping to see him.
Instead she sees a stranger sitting and staring at her. "Who are you?"
"Names Skjall" the man says.
"Where am I?"
"Hindarsfjall... That traveling companion of yours brought you here,"
"Who changed me? Was it you?" Ciri questions.
"No... My sister did it, I didn't see anything" Skjall says, fumbling over his words.
"Alright, relax. I believe you" Ciri says, leaning up. Skjall grabs her arm and helps her stand. It's then Astrid walks back in.
"Look at that." she says. "I leave for an hour and your already grabbing at the house guest"
"Astrid your as daft as dishwater. I was just helping her stand" Skjall says.
"Well whatever. Come on lass, time for the sauna. Your shoulders are far too tense" Astrid says.
"Thank you for the offer but I should really get going" Ciri says but is interrupted.
"Come on... It'll take a while til the horses are ready. Skjall will tend to the horses, and you can relax for a little bit... Come along." Astrid doesn't leave room for debate.
Ciri just shrugs and follows after a moment. Walking to a larger building, Astrid holds the door open and lets Ciri in.
"Here's the dressing room. Get those clothes off, in the room there's a door on the side of the wall, enter that and we'll meet you there" Astrid says.
Ciri walks into the dressing room. She looks all around the room, feeling slightly self conscious. She shyly begins stripping herself of her clothes, leaving her undergarments and bandages. She walks through the door and finds herself in the steaming hot room, where Astrid and an older woman await.
"Ah," Astrid says. "Come sit... this is my mother"
"Nice to meet you," Ciri says.
"How are ya dear? You were so pale when that stranger brought you in" the mother says.
"I'm fine" Ciri answers her.
"That man... he's ever so strange ain't he... Why does he wear that mask? Is he ugly?" Astrid asks.
"It's to protect himself," Ciri says. "We're sort of on the run"
"Oh. From what?" Astrid asks.
"I really shouldn't say."
Astrid just shrugs. "Is he your lover?"
"No... he and I aren't like that... There's no feelings" Ciri says.
"Skjall will be happy to hear that" Astrid giggles.
"What do you mean?"
"When you were asleep. He never left your side, stared at you like you were an oil painting." Astrid chuckles.
"Skjall asked you not to say anything" the mother quips.
"Did he?" Astrid asked. "Oops. So anyway, what do you think?"
Ciri just looked at her, Skjall wasn't unattractive.
But he wasn't Y/n.
Ciri's heart soared at the thought of Y/n.
"Sorry," Ciri says. "My heart belongs to someone else"
"Y/n" Astrid states.
"How did you know?"
"You were moaning his name in your sleep" Astrid jokes.
Ciri blushed deeply. Was she really? She asked herself.
"Tell me about him," Astrid says. "What's he like?"
"Y/n? he's um...." Ciri tried thinking of the word for the love of her life. "He's amazing"
She smiled to herself, and wrapped her arms around herself. "We aren't actually together. I've been looking for him for a while now, but once I find him I'm going to tackle him and just hold him for as long and as tight as I can"
"How sweet" the mother says.
"What about him makes you love him?" Astrid - whose face rested in her hands that rested on her legs - asked.
"Everything" Ciri was losing herself in thought. The words were just flying out of her mouth. "He can be a little hot headed, but he's one of the most selfless people I've ever met. His heart is so much kinder than anyone gives him credit for. Not to mention he's drop dead gorgeous."
"Hmm" Astrid smiled.
Ciri finally calmed herself. It'd been a while since she could just gush about Y/n.
In the years she traveled. There were two other people. One was Mistle, the other was a man from an altogether different planet. Ciri enjoyed her time with both, but ultimately, they weren't who she wanted. It was about three years ago she decided that Y/n was for her, and she was for Y/n.
Ciri knew about Cerys when it happened. She was jealous and hurt, but she couldn't do anything about it. Ciri had done the same thing first, with Mistle. Dandelion had told me that Y/n and Cerys split ways.
So maybe he was having the same mindset.
"I should get going," Ciri says standing.
"Alright," Astrid says. "Best of luck on finding your man"
Ciri dressed, fastened her sword to her back and walked out and towards the stables.
"Drowned dead rock is a little bit away, just over the hill," Skjall says.
"Alright," Ciri says. Petting her horse.
"Listen," Skjall says. "Astrid didn't say anything, did she?"
Ciri sighs and faces him. "You're a nice guy. I'm sure you could get any girl in this village. But me? I'm sorry Skjall but I'm taken."
"He's a lucky man" Skjall says.
"I'm sorry Skjall"
"Hey." the man smiles. "No harm done. Come on-"
The air had gone frosty. On the other end of the village, Ciri saw them.
"Get behind me," Skjall says.
Ciri frowns and walks around him and draws her sword.
The duo and a few others begin fighting the wild hunt. But for the most part the wild hunt begins slaughtering the village to try and get to Ciri.
"Ciri, we've gotta get out of here," Skjall says.
Ciri huffs, knowing he was right. She rushes over to the horse, and the two ride off.
Not sparing the horses, they eventually make it. Ciri tries to argue with the strange man but she is taken out by some sort of spell. Skjall tries to go and help her but a wild hunt member takes him down. The boat drifts off.
The next thing Skjall sees is an ugly man in a diaper checking him out. Before he fades to black.
Y/n Pov - Present time.
"Alright." I say placing my hand on Yennefer's shoulder. "We know everything let him go"
"C-clear my name" the man screams before he drops back to the ground.
Dead.
"You alright Yenn?" Geralt says.
"Fine," She mutters. "Took a lot of energy is all"
"I know of a creature like the one he mentioned," Geralt says. "It was in velen."
"It's a curse," I added. "Philippa told me about those kinds of creatures. Someone is that little being"
"Go and find him, then once you do, take him to Kaer Morhen. We'll study them there." Yennefer says then turns to me.
"I'm gonna head to Kaer Trolde real quick. I wanna see who actually ends up with the crown. After that I'll head straight for Kaer Morhen" I say.
"Very good. Be safe" Yennefer says then turns to Geralt. "Um, Geralt.. I have something I'd like to talk-" her voice fades as I walk back out of the gardens. Seeing the priestesses rush to the garden.
"Do you love her?" a voice asks me.
"What?"
"Ciri" Astrid asks. "Do you love her?"
I stared at her for a moment before I nodded. "With every fiber of my existence"
The woman smiled and nodded her head, before she followed the rest of the priestesses.
(Author here- I like Skjall, I think he's a good dude. But of my many playthroughs I've never had Ciri kiss him. Not as a jealousy thing, I'm not like that at all, it's more of just a realistic thing for me. I don't see how Ciri would respond in the romantic way to that situation really. Just my opinion, the game gives options for a reason.)