Blood of Elves

Obeying instructions, Ciri moved to Ye

The magician, pleased with the girl's progress, slowed the speed of her education. They had more free time. They spent their evenings reading books, together or separately. Ciri waded through Stammelford's Dialogues on the Nature of Magic, Giambattista's Forces of the Elements and Richert and Monck's Natural Magic. She also flicked through – because she did not manage to read them in their entirety – such works as Jan Bekker's The Invisible World and Agnes of Glanville's The Secret of Secrets. She dipped into the ancient, yellowed Codex of Mirthe, Ard Aercane, and even the famous, terrible Dhu Dwimmermorc, full of menacing etchings.

She also reached for other books which had nothing to do with magic. She read The History of the World and A Treatise on Life. Nor did she leave out lighter works from the Temple library. Blushing, she devoured Marquis La Creahme's Gambols and A

She made frequent use of her privilege to ask questions. And she received answers. More and more frequently, however, she was

the one being questioned. In the begi

And Ye

'How did you get out of the town, Ciri? How did you slip past the Nilfgaardians?'

Ciri did not remember. Everything broke off, was lost in obscurity and smoke. She remembered the siege, saying goodbye to Queen Calanthe, her grandmother; she remembered the barons and knights forcibly dragging her away from the bed where the wounded, dying Lioness of Cintra lay. She remembered the frantic escape through flaming streets, bloody battle and the horse falling. She remembered the black rider in a helmet adorned with the wings of a bird of prey.

And nothing more.

'I don't remember. I really don't remember, Lady Ye

Ye

Skellige. About how she learned about the Law of Surprise and that fate had decreed her to be the destiny of Geralt of Rivia, the white-haired witcher. She recalled the war, her exile in the forests of Transriver, her time among the druids of Angren and the time spent in the country. How Geralt had found her there and taken her to Kaer Morhen, the Witchers' Keep, thus opening a new chapter in her short life.

One evening, of her own initiative, unasked, casually, joyfully and embellishing a great deal, she told the enchantress about her first meeting with the witcher in Brokilon Forest, amongst the dryads who had abducted her and wanted to force her to stay and become one of them.

'Oh!' said Ye

Ciri giggled and her emerald eyes lit up devilishly.

'Oh, yes!' she snorted. 'What an expression! Do you want to see? I'll show you. Look at me!'

Ye

That laughter, thought Ciri watching swarms of black birds flying eastwards, that laughter, shared and sincere, really brought us together, her and me. We understood ~ both she and I – that we can laugh and talk together about him. About Geralt. Suddenly we became close, although I knew perfectly well that Geralt both brought us together and separated us, and that that's how it would always be.

Our laughter together brought us closer to each other.

As did the events two days later. In the forest, on the hills. She was showing me how to find.

'I don't understand why I have to look for these… I've forgotten what they're called again…'

'Intersections,' prompted Ye

'I am showing you how to find them because they're places from which you can draw the force.'

'But I know how to draw the force already! And you taught me yourself that the force is everywhere. So why are we roaming around in the bushes? After all, there's a great deal of force in the Temple!'

'Yes, indeed, there is a fair amount there. That's exactly why the Temple was built there and not somewhere else. And that's why, on Temple grounds, drawing it seems so easy to you.'

'My legs hurt! Can we sit down for a while?'

'All right, my ugly one.'

'Lady Ye

'Yes?'

'Why do we always draw the force from water veins? Magical energy, after all, is everywhere. It's in the earth, isn't it? In air, in fire?'

'True.'

'And earth… Here, there's plenty of earth around here. Under our feet. And air is everywhere! And should we want fire, it's enough to light a bonfire and…'

You are still too weak to draw energy from the earth. You still don't know enough to succeed in drawing anything from air. And as for fire, I absolutely forbid you to play with it. I've already told you, under no circumstances are you allowed to touch the energy of fire!'

'Don't shout. I remember.'

They sat in silence on a fallen dry tree trunk, listening to the wind rustling in the tree tops, listening to a woodpecker hammering away somewhere close-by. Ciri was hungry and her saliva was thick from thirst, but she knew that complaining would not get her anywhere. In the past, a month ago, Ye

The magician plucked the last burr from her sleeve. She's going

to ask me something in a moment, thought Ciri, I can hear her thinking about it. She's going to ask about something I don't remember again. Or something I don't want to remember. No, it's senseless. I'm not going to answer. All of that is in the past, and there's no returning to the past. She once said so herself.

'Tell me about your parents, Ciri.'

'I can't remember them, Lady Ye