Ever since the banquet Jamie had been so freaked out over the fact that she had magic and she was the reason she had been stuck here for the past few years. Multiple years, she had been travelling with Geralt for multiple years now. And within the years, Jamie finally came to terms with her feelings for Geralt. But nothing ever came from her acceptance, she just kept it to herself.
Something else she kept to herself was how her magic began to really manifest since the banquet. She couldn't keep it for long because during a hunt, she got frightened and screamed, sending not only the monster back but also Geralt. Which made Geralt want her to stop accompanying him when he was out fighting.
Jamie finally looked away from the sky and glanced over to Geralt, he was throwing a net into a river. It wasn't murky like the swamp she met Geralt in, but just downright dirty and not clear water.
"It's been a few years Geralt." She finally spoke out to him with a small sigh, rubbing at her eyes, "Are you still going to tell me you're doing this because you want sleep?"
Jamie could admit that Geralt was having trouble sleeping, she'd wake up and he'd still be wide awake even though he would be lying in a bed. She'd stay up as long as she could to keep him company but couldn't stop herself from falling asleep herself.
"Why else would I be doing this?" Geralt practically snapped at her as he dragged the next back out of the water, "For fucking fun?"
A sigh left her lips, slowly falling down to the floor and sitting beside Roach. She couldn't blame him for being so agitated, he really hadn't had any real sleep since before the banquet. "I guess not."
Geralt dropped his arms to his side, hearing the defeat in her voice, "I'm just tired, Jamie, don't think anything of it."
Jamie sunk back a little more, "I know."
And Jamie did. There was no one else who witnessed him stir around in bed, trying to sleep and if he could close his eyes. They'd be open within a few minutes staring up at the roof. She wasn't getting as much sleep as she should be because she didn't want Geralt to be going through this sort of stuff alone.
Jamie didn't have to be here alone after living in a place without scary monsters like this, so she didn't want him to be alone. But for some reason, Jamie had been feeling alone lately. Maybe it was because she recognized her feelings for him and he didn't reciprocate. Or maybe it was something else. But even when with Geralt, Jamie felt a little absent.
Geralt shut his eyes and faced the water again, blowing air from his mouth he knew that he had something to do with Jamie sounding so defeated lately. She wasn't the same as she was before. It was like she was just less optimistic and it actually really bugged him. Something that really made Jamie herself was how she was so very different from himself, always full of smiles but lately that wasn't the case.
She tilted her head back to look at Roach, then let her eyes fall back on Geralt's form. Jamie inhaled deeply, something that was getting to her since she admitted her feelings, was how good Geralt looked. And she didn't have her friends Erika and Renee to freak out over a crush on someone and how hot he was. It was ridiculous how good looking Geralt was and pretty unfair. Jamie didn't have anyone to gossip to like a girl because her only friend here was Geralt and Jaskier, but she saw him so rarely. He was more like an estranged brother. Jamie kind of missed her bickering with him.
"Cause you all know that this bard loved ladies from Nilfgaard cause Nilfgaard can kiss my..."
Jamie blinked a few times and turned her body around, "Jaskier!"
"Jamie! Geralt!" Jaskier smiled over at them, receiving a smile from Jamie, "What's it been, months? Years? What is time, anyway?"
"I can agree with that-" She got up from the floor and wiped at her bottom before bringing him in for a hug, which he gladly returned, "I still can't register how many years I've been travelling with Geralt."
"I know, for very long and still..." Jaskier shot his eyes to Geralt in that knowing way, "Well, I heard the two of you were in town. Are you both following me, you scamps?"
"Yes, Jaskier-" Jamie chuckles from leaning against the tree Roach was tied to, "Our sole mission in life is to follow you around."
Hearing her teasing, Jaskier just kept the grin on his face, "I mean, I'm flattered and everything but you should really think about getting a hobby one of these days." He took a swig from his flask and groaned, "Ugh, do you want some?"
Geralt didn't turn at all, he just kept messing with the net so Jamie reached for it, "Ale or beer?"
"A bit of both, actually."
"Hm." Jamie shrugged and took a gulp of it, "Oh, that's an odd flavor. Odd but not bad." She watched as Geralt continued to ignore them and sighed, "So, how have you been doing?"
"Well, the Countess de Stael, my muse and beauty of this world, has left me." Jaskier extended his arms and exclaims this dramatically, then it dropped instantly as he tilted his head to the side and bluntly added, "Again. Rather coldly and unexpectedly, I might add. I fear I shall die a brokenhearted man."
"Oh, calm down." Jamie snickered with amusement, she patted his back a little bit, "You're not ugly, Jaskier. You'll find another woman to obsess over soon."
"Well, I could also die a hungry one, at the very least-" Jaskier admits to her, not at all really that affected by the loss of his muse, "-unless somebody fancies sharing a fish with an old friend?"
"Jaskier..."
Jaskier shrugged Jamie's hand off his shoulder and approached Geralt slightly, only for him to go walking off away from them to continue on with what he was doing, "Oh, are we not using 'friend'? Come on, Jamie's my friend." Geralt just kept ignoring him, making Jamie sigh and follow behind the two in silence, "Yeah, sure. Let's just give it another decade."
Jamie halted entirely, had it really been ten years. She didn't really feel like she was in her thirties, didn't even feel like she looked thirty. Granted, Geralt was much older than he actually looks. Something she learned a while back.
"Geralt, you're fantastic at a great many things-" Jaskier began, making Jamie see this not ending well for Jaskier, "-but clearly, fishing is not one of them. Have you caught anything today?" Without getting an answer, he shot his gaze over to Jamie, "Has he caught anything today?"
"No-"
"Hm-" Jaskier just continued his pestering of Geralt, "What are you fishing for, exactly? Is it cod?"
"Jaskier-"
"Carp? Pike? Bream? I'm just-" Jaskier fumbled with his hands, knowing that Jamie wanted him to stop bugging him, "I'm just listing fish I know. Zander? Is that even a fish?"
"It is."
Jaskier turned his head to Jamie, "And you know that how?"
"I'm not fishing." Geralt grumbles, throwing the net out into the water, after a few moments he started to pull it out, "I can't sleep."
"Right. Good." Instantly Jaskier looked at Jamie for clarification and she shook her head, "Well, that-that makes sense. Insomuch that it sort of... doesn't. What's going on, Geralt? Talk to me."
Jamie wasn't sure if Geralt would even talk to him about anything, if he wouldn't even tell her anything why would he tell Jaskier. And if he does tell Jaskier that was just going to make her extremely upset.
Geralt stood up straight with a sigh, looking at the two of them answering quickly, "A djinn." With that he threw the net right back into the water.
"A what?"
"I'm looking for a djinn."
"For a dj- for a djinn?" Jaskier gave an incredulous look over to Jamie but, yet again, she just shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against the tree, "A dj- Like a genie?" He just laughs at how ridiculous this sounded, "The floaty fellas with the... the bad tempers and the banned magics, that kind of genie?"
"Yes. It'll grant me wishes." Jaskier laughed again but louder this time, this really was ridiculous, "It's in this lake somewhere. And I can't fucking sleep!"
Jamie shut her eyes and when she opened them looked away with a sigh. She had her arms still crossed over her chest. Jaskier had grown quiet for a moment, but then followed Geralt as he moved further down the lake, "I don't mean to play priest's ear or anything, but has it occurred to you that maybe we're merely rubbing salve on a tumor? Not exactly addressing the root cause of the problem?" Jaskier noticed that Jamie didn't even follow them, she actually turned back around and went to Roach instead. That was when he knew there was a genuine problem, "Hm? I mean, maybe, just-just maybe this whole sleeplessness-ness has got something to do with what that druid Mousesack said to you in Cintra?" He tossed his empty flask to the ground, "You know, the Law of Surprise? Destiny? Jamie? Being unable to escape the child that belongs to you, et cetera, et cetera?"
"No!" Geralt retorts chucking the net back into the water, his scowl deepening with the crease of his brows, "It's not that."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Jaskier blinked and then shot down again, "But what if you're not?"
Geralt felt his jaw tense, he turned his head to glare at the bard then went back to the matter at hand, but Jaskier kept going on.
"You know, the Countess de Stael once said to me that destiny is just the embodiment of the soul's desire to grow." Jaskier moved off and took a seat next to the squatting Geralt.
Geralt without hesitating interrupting his train of thought with, "Did you sing to her before she left?"
"I did, actually, and she..." It hit him rather slowly, but the second it dawned on him he frowned, "Why, what are you implying?" Geralt just looked back at him, "Oh-" Jaskier laughs in irritation, standing up while placing his hands on his hips, "We are so having this conversation. Come on, Geralt. Tell me. Be honest. How's my singing?"
Geralt threw the empty net back into the water, kneeling down to pull it out again, not even turning back to answer, "It's like ordering a pie and finding it has no filling."
Jaskier shutters in utter shock, reeling back slack jawed by the very words Geralt uttered, he continued to stutter until exclaiming, "You need a nap! I mean, are you trying to hurt my feelings, Geralt? It's-it's down-downright indecorous of you, if I'm completely honest, and-" He stammered out, "W-w-wow. Wow. What is-what is that?"
"It's a wizards seal." Geralt wiped the mud off the top of the djinn urn, "The djinn."
"Do you mind if I-"
"Jaskier." Geralt kept a tight hold to the topper of the earn, sternly looking to Jaskier to release it.
"Take it back about my fillingless pie." Jamie tilted her head to try and see them through the trees, but barely does. Though, she hears them, "Take it back, and then you can have your djinny, djinn, djinn."
"Let go." Geralt wasn't even struggling, he just kept his arm firmly in place as Jaskier pulled.
"No! No, let go, you horse's arse!" Soon after, the top popped directly off, making the two stop. "Hm. That's a bit of an anticlimax." Then the breeze around them started to stir, "Or is it? Djinn, I have freed thee, and as of this day, I am thy Lord. Firstly, may Valdo Marx, the troubadour of Cidaris, be struck down with apoplexy and die. Secondly, the Countess de Stael must welcome me back with glee, open arms, and very little clothing. Thirdly-"
"Jaskier!" Geralt interrupts him, drabbing Jaskier by his coat and dragging him back, letting his temper get the best of him, "Stop! There are only three wishes."
"Oh, come on, you always say you want nothing from life. I mean, you've got Jamie but still, you somehow don't. So how was I supposed to know you wanted three wishes all to yourself?"
Geralt blew up completely, hearing him speak and be selfish, and the fact that he had to bring up Jamie, "I just want some damn peace!"
"Well, here's your peace!" Jaskier threw the urn down to the ground, shattering it.
This finally made Jamie get up and rush over to them, the wind was flicking her hair around. She gasps as Jaskier sinks against the tree behind him, "Jaskier!"
"J-Jamie-" Jaskier held onto his throat, feeling like he was choking, "Geralt, it's the djinn!"
Jamie came to jaskier's side, "Jaskier-" He held onto her tightly, using her to keep himself up as he coughed up blood, "What the hell happened?"
"He needs a doctor." Geralt just picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Jamie quickly followed after him. She looked at Roach and then to Geralt.
"Go, I'll just catch up." Jamie sees the unsure look on his face, "Just fucking go, Jaskier could be dying. I'll be fucking fine."
Geralt heard the animosity but obliged to her request. She watched him ride away and kicked at the dirt for a moment. Maybe if she hadn't been wanting to ignore the conversation, she could have helped. Maybe done something. Or possibly been attacked as well.
Jamie shut her eyes and held her hair, she felt like she was getting a headache. Or having a panic attack. It had been so long since her last one. She was just getting frustrated now. So frustrated she wanted to scream.
And now she had to most likely run to catch up with Geralt. Jamie knew it was best for Roach and Jaskier to just leave her behind, for her to just quickly find them later. Or Geralt coming back about halfway to get her. But that doesn't mean she was happy about having to truly be alone right now.
"God damnit-" Jamie rubbed at the side of her head, "God fucking damnit!" Her scream echoes into the woods, making the birds fly from the trees. When she opened her eyes, Jamie fell to the floor in a tent. She blinked a few times in complete confusion.
"Jamie?"
Her head twisted to the side, Jaskier and Geralt were staring down at her. Jaskier with wide eyes in the midst of his heavy wheezing.
The elf-healer that had just given Geralt information about a mage in town gasps at the sight of her, "You have a sorceress."
"She's not trained." Geralt grunted while lifting Jaskier up from the ground and shutting down whatever the elf was going to suggest. "Jamie, come on. We're going into town."
Jamie stumbled while she stood, almost falling back like she had jet lag or something. This must have been what she did to get here, to come to this universe. But it wasn't powerful enough to bring her back, just bring her back to Geralt. She listened to him this time, having her ride the horse with Jaskier and Geralt just pull Roach's reins.
If she trained could she somehow make it home? Would she even want to go home at this point? If it's been a decade here, then it has most likely been a decade there. And she didn't want to just leave where she could never see Geralt again because what guarantee would she have that she'd make it back.
"Wh-" Jamie stuttered for a second, still feeling funny, "Where exactly are we going again?"
"The mayor's house. He has a healer for Jaskier."
Jaskier wheezed from behind her, pointing and then waving his hands around.
"I don't know." Jamie mumbles to him, knowing he was asking about what she just did, "It's all new to me too."
Geralt looked up at Jamie, she had her eyes straight ahead of her so she didn't notice him. But he just frowned, if she wasn't careful with her powers something bad could befall upon her.