Meeting a familiar face

Geralt rode Roach through the familiar cobblestone path that led to the main gat of the fortress. The gate was lifted for easy passage, and Geralt passed through into the courtyard where he saw Vesmir trying to maintain the inner walls of the fortress. "Ah Geralt! Back so soon? It isn't even winter yet." The old Witcher said as he turned around to face his pupil.

"Vesemir." Geralt said as he dismounted his horse. He walked up to his mentor and teacher and clasped his hand and hugged him in the Witcher way of greeting and saying goodbye.

"Tell me, what brings you here?" Vesemir said as he continued to work on the wall, adding cement, and generally preventing the whole place from crumbling.

"I've been looking for Ciri." Geralt said as he leaned down and took some cement to help Vesemir. Vesemir glanced over at Geralt discretely.

"We taught her well when she was a child, training here. She should be one of the better fighters out in the wild now. She has a good sense of what monsters exist out there, and how to defeat them, I don't think she is in any danger."

"That's what I thought too, but you know her, she never did take any of her teachings very seriously, and the enemy that pursues her now. I don't know how to deal with."

"What enemy is this?"

"The Wild Hunt." Geralt said.

"The Wild Hunt? Are you sure?"

"I had a dream, Ciri was training here as a child, Yennefer, Lambert, Eskel, and you were all here. The Wild Hunt came for her. They took her." Vesemir clasped his shoulder in a comforting way.

"It was just a dream, nothing more. Have you talked to Yennefer or Triss about any of this?"

"I was just in Novigrad, I heard that Triss was staying there, but I couldn't find her. It's probably for the best anyway, the Church of the Eternal Fire in Novigrad is starting to ramp up their human purity crap again. It won't be long now before the pyres are burning with dwarfs and Elves tied to the timbers, and you can be sure that sorceresses won't be safe from the persecution. I haven't seen Yennefer since Ciri disappeared. " Vesemir sighed and covered his face wearily with his hand.

"I have lived through too many wars, they are all waged the same way. I have seen this kind of persecution in the past, it is similar to the cause of the massacre here at Kaer Morhen. The cause of the persecution is fear. They fear what they cannot understand, and they also need a scapegoat. What better reason to explain the 'evil' in your city, than those who are unnatural?" Vesemir sighed again "War brings out the worst in people. Come, we're done here, I need a break. Come inside and we'll chat." The two Witchers walked the length of the courtyard to the entrance to the keep's big oak door. "Excuse the mess, it has just been me up here, I wasn't expecting visitors for at least a couple more months."