The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into A Dish Of Cold Revenge

 The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into A Dish Of Cold Revenge

     They move on through the installation on the way to the surface. It is then they notice Eloisu coming up on their rear. Iriisii looks her way, then looks at Rigmor, who shrugs her shoulders. She then turns back and continues on upward. Occasionally they see some of the others that have come to make this place their home. Iriisii says nothing but does offer a blessing through hand gestures. The effect of her blessings are noticed by all and those receiving are honored. Just before reaching the outer door, a slight breeze comes in from outside and a sheet of parchment is heard to rustle where the sheet is held to a table by an inkwell.

     Iriisii gently removes the inkwell and reads the parchment.

    

      To Iriisii Dovahkiin

  

      If you have made it this far, there is more to you than I first anticipated. To be honest I had no idea this place existed until I was directed hear in a dream. That in itself is unusual in that the last time I dreamed I was a mortal, and that was quite a long time ago.

      This makes me wonder if I have in fact been manipulated into antagonizing you into this chase. For what reason I have no idea, but I realize it is too late to back out now. This must continue to its conclusion no matter how much I wish otherwise. So on to the last act of this treacherous play.

      Come out of the door and turn to the setting sun. This is the direction you will need to travel. Go until you see the ruined towers of a city ahead of you. I know not its name, but it is not empty. Mortals are here, as are mutants, automatons of various strange designs, and creatures only vaguely resembling what they once were. Not all will seek your life, yet most will. Do what you have to do to survive. Reach me in the Coliseum in the center of the city. I and the boy will be waiting. He is unharmed and truthfully very well behaved considering the situation.

     Come alone or not, the choice is yours. I simply want to know why did my sister have to die, before we see who the victor in this will be.

                                              Sivad

     Iriisii shows the letter to Yennefer, then to Dettlaff. Yennefer breathes a sigh of relief that her son is still alive. Dettlaff reads it through and focuses on the signature, something about it. He feels he should know it, but the memory keeps slipping away. As if it does not want to make itself known just yet.

                                                                                *

     Iriisii opens to door to the outside, steps through, and looks at the signs of utter devastation that hides beneath the slowly recovering landscape. The others follow her out and take positions around such that they can cover their location from any attack. The silence is almost a solid thing, broken only by echoes of growls in the distance. Then the staccato of rapid weapons fire further away, punctuated by the sound of explosives. 

     Rigmor: "It looks like the carrion birds have survived pretty well", pointing at a circling group in the sky in the direction of the weapons fire.

     Iriisii: "Watch your step, there could be anything looking at and targeting us, even from a distance. Your shields are strong enough to stop nearly anything they can throw at us but don't depend on it. We don't know the capabilities of the weapons they have. Use your melee weapons wherever you can, no need to tell everyone just what we have and what we can do, unless we have no choice."

     Rigmor: "Where are we going?"

     Iriisii: "That way", pointing west, toward the setting sun still only a quarter down. "We still have some time to travel. There is a city in that direction, our goal is a coliseum in the center. What is between us and it? Your guess is as good as mine right now. Anything that attacks is fair game, kill it. If it runs let it run. But if it looks like it is coming toward you and it has anything in its hands or arms, kill it. There are more things here that can kill and damage than what we are likely going to be aware of, take no chances.

I want everyone returning with us when we are done here.

     I want Norok and Night Tiger in center point, outside of them will be Dettlaff and Telasine. Behind them will be me in the center, to my right, Desidarius, and to my left, will be Rigmor. Behind me will be Yennefer in the center, two of my 'Hand of Blood' on each side of her. Followed by Reaper behind her with two 'Hand of Blood on each side of him. Behind him will be Illyria with two Hand of Blood on each side. Byrsael I want you to roam up and down both sides of us, out about twenty feet. The remaining 'Hand of Blood' stay behind Illyria but be ready to assist anywhere we have need."

     They start out with the four at the point moving quickly a few hundred feet ahead. Soon Night Tiger stops and gives a low growl looking to the right. Telasine places a hand on his neck to stop any further movement while looking where he was. She sees a steep depression and moves with him to check it out. Looking down she sees a group of large insects clustered around something on the ground at the bottom, some large pieces of debris littering the ground.

     She starts to move them back but the Night Tiget refuses to budge. She tries to link with him to see what he sees but cannot. So she asks him to remain still while she moves away and whistles for Dettlaff. Dettlaff and Norok quickly show up and she moves with them to where Night Tiger waits. 

     Telasine: "He senses something down there and refuses to move. Can either of you sense whatever he does and tell me why he refuses to leave?"

     Norok gives Night Tiger a quiet growl and places a paw on his shoulder. After a few seconds, he tells Dettlaff and Telasine why Night Tiger will not move.

     Norok: "He says look at the white metal box close to the body. There is a young one inside, trying hard to breathe. The body is female, so likely she placed her child in the box before succumbing to the insects' attack. We must deal with them and get the little one out before he dies from lack of air.

     Night Tiger and I will draw them up here, then we deal with them."

     Dettlaff: "Wait, Iriisii has been teaching me low-level magic spells, Let me send a small fireball into the midst of those bloodsuckers, any I can kill will be fewer we have to deal with. The metal box should shield the child."

     Dettlaff positions himself with a clear line of fire and concentrates on the spell. As the fireball forms, he then releases it and it streaks straight into the group of insects. It detonates killing five outright, another three fall to the ground with their wings burned off, and the last four fly up to where Dettlaff stands waiting, sword drawn. 

     As the insects come over the edge, Night Tiger and Norok both grab one each in their jaws, crushing them, while Dettlaff and Telasine both make short work of the remaining two.

Telasine is the first to drop down, going first to the metal box. She sees some kind of lever on the side of the front lid, grabbing it, it pulls and releases the door to open. She grabs the toddler inside, wrapped in a traveling sling, and starts to hum a calming song to him. 

     He settles down as he feels himself safe in her arms, the humming melody easing him into sleep. Dettlaff checks the body of the mother to see if there may be anything to identify who she is, where she was coming from, or going to. Finding nothing, they return out of the depression to find Iriisii waiting.

     Telasine explains what happened and the action they took.

     Iriisii: "Well done. Give him to Illyria to watch over until we get to where we are going or we find someone who can care for him."

     Telasine hands him off to Illyria, who carefully loops the sling over her head and settles the child against her body.

     Iriisii tells Telasine: "If we cannot find a good and safe place for him, we will take him back with us. I will not leave him to predators, whether man or beast." She looks down at his mother's body, debating if they have time to bury her, then decides, to walk down to the body herself. She places the body in the metal box and before closing the locking door, she whispers, "rest in peace, know we will care for your son as one of ours, he will be safe and lack for nothing. This I give to you as my promise, thus vows Iriisii Dovahkiin, Progenitor Goddess of Eld", and slowly closes the door listening for it to latch. She then casts another spell, this one causing the ground beneath the metal box to crumble and move away from the box. When she feels it has settled deep enough, she releases the spell and the ground hardens once more.

     Not knowing if any Gods watch over this world, and thinking if something like this happened to it, she thinks they are long gone if ever they were here. She gives a heartfelt blessing to the spirit of this mother, who spent her last seconds of life protecting her child, hoping someone to come and take him to safety. She turns, walks back up, and resumes their trek, never seeing a faint wispy fog rise from the grave, fold itself in some kind of bow, and then rise up into the fading light of the sunset sky.

     They reach the outskirts of the city just as the last light fades away. Iriisii asks if there is any defensible building still standing nearby. Her 'Hand of Blood' to a man, fan out and check the local environs to see if there is something suitable. On their return they guide the party to a building, inside there is still one set of stairs intact that leads upward. They move up two flights of stairs before an open doorway allows access to a room large enough for all to gather. The walls are still sturdy, and there are openings where windows once were so they can keep watch on the outside.

     They set up bedrolls, and rummage for travel rations to eat. One enterprising 'Hand of Blood', slices thin slivers of dried venison into a mortar, adding some water, he uses the pestle to grind the thin slices into a paste, adding more water to make it a broth, and he gives it to Illyria to feed the child with. She thanks him with a smile and uses her fingertip to let the child suck the broth from it until it is gone and the child is asleep.

     Each of the 'Hand of Blood' pairs with someone else and each pair takes a guard shift until the morning light. They rise and silently make ready to proceed. They walk back down in single file and carefully looking out in all directions they form up once more and set off for the city center. Keeping to the edges of the building ruins, staying in the shadows, they furtively move onward, avoiding any groups of men or animals that they sight. Somehow their presence is felt, for the level of activity is greater than it has been for some time.

     They want to continue to avoid the groups out hunting this mysterious presence. So they move to skirt them, cautiously moving into an area where these men will not go. Iriisii knows that something lives here that these groups avoid and so she keeps her senses outward seeking. Hoping they do not run across whatever has this part of the city staked out as its own. They reach a point where they can turn back toward the city center, and she hears something. Moving everyone off of the street and behind a large wall, they wait. Then they hear a group of the hunters, slowly making their way along the street, the same way they came from.

     Iriisii motions for everyone to be as quiet as possible. Then they feel the tremor under the street, the hunters try to turn and run, but the tremors strengthen, knocking them down. Then the street splits and long tentacles lash out. When they contact a hunter, they wrap around the body and drag it screaming down under the street. Where soon the screaming stops as the sounds of bones crunching begins.

     Soon all of the hunters have met their fate. The hunters had become the prey, and as prey, they died at the claws and teeth of greater hunters. They wait until the sounds fade away, and the street is once again still and quiet. Iriisii gathers them up, and as quietly as possible moves away to the back of what remains of the building, locating a way through the wall and onward toward their goal.

     They do not encounter anything more until they reach the Coliseum. From their current vantage point, they see a crowd gathering between them and where they want to go. She needs to know what is going on, but they are too far to hear clearly. So she looks for any shadows close by to her as well as the group keeping a watch around the area. Seeing what she wants, she instructs everyone to wait here, she is going to shadow walk to where she can eavesdrop.

     Reaching the shadow close to her, she enters while chanting the invocation to the Shadow Lords to bless her efforts to shadow walk through their realm to the shadow she wishes to come out at. She effortlessly makes her way to that singular shadow, becoming one with it. Every time a pair of eyes glances over it seeing only deep shadow and no hint of who resides inside it.

     She listens carefully to what is being said, drawing inferences that tell her that her quarry is indeed in the Coliseum. It seems to have been feeding on these living here and stealing food for his hostage. A sign the boy is in good health. They seem to be discussing plans to go in and take care of this interloper. She wonders if they have enough members to even stand a chance and decides that they do not.

     Then she hears a kind of roaring sound coming. It is not an animal, it is too constant in volume and pitch, some kind of moving sled maybe. Best to wait and see. Soon it makes its appearance known and seems to have been expected. It is very large and holds a good amount of heavily armed and armored troops. Not that it would make a whole lot of difference to the Vampire Assassin.

     Then they start handing out weapons to the rest of the group already there. She knows ranged weapons when she sees them even if they are unfamiliar. Then someone ignites a small fire on the end of one of a few weapons attached to some kind of metal tube on their backs. Then she sees the whoosh of fire as the weapons are tested. This could change things if they got lucky. But her main concern is the boy. If they were to catch him in that fire, that will not do.

     She was willing to let these two adversaries fight it out between themselves. Now the balance has been tipped, and she must take an active hand. Linking up with Rigmor.

     Iriisii: "Rigmor, the situation has changed."

     Rigmor: "I thought as much when I saw their fire weapons. What do you want us to do?"

     Iriisii: "Be ready, I am going to make a really grand entrance. Tell Illyria to keep at least two of my 'Hand of Blood' by her side. The little one must be protected, he has suffered enough as it is by losing his mother."

     Rigmor: "I will tell her."

     Iriisii: "You will know when to begin when you see my entrance."

     Rigmor: "Be careful, please."

     Iriisii: "I will, never fear."

     Iriisii moves back through shadow to another further away and out of sight of the group by the Coliseum. She steps out of the shadow, gives her thanks to those mysterious Lords of Shadow, then morphs into a dragon worthy of a Progenitor Goddess.

     Rigmor is watching the group waiting for Iriisii's entrance when she hears the air rush by her, even as a huge shadow flies over her vantage point.

     She sees and hears the complete chaos ensuing when Iriisii unleashes her own fire on the hunters' gathering. Her flame is so hot, that whatever the material is that surrounds the Coliseum catches fire and burns where her breath flows over it. Then she pulls her head up, looking at the main part of the hunters. She then uses her Thu'um once more.

     Iriisii: "HEAR ME, YOU MURDEROUS SCUM, I GIVE YOU BUT ONE CHANCE TO RUN AWAY IN FEAR WITH YOUR LIVES. STAY AND DIE BY MY FLAME, RUN AND LIVE AGAIN FOR ANOTHER DAY! WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?"

     The Leader of this group stands and looks at her even as his hunters look to see what he will do. He knows if he runs, he is likely dead because he will be challenged for his position until someone gets lucky or he takes a knife in the back. If he is going to die, better it is fighting, but what is this that can breathe flame, yet speak with a woman's voice?

     The Leader walks toward her, "I see and hear only one of you, yet we are many. And we are armed very well indeed. Are you not so certain it should be you who had best be running?"

     Iriisii: "I do not think so, why do you think I came alone."

     Then Rigmor takes the cue and leaps up running with her two-hand sword raised above her head. Dettlaff, Elric, Byrsael, Telasine, Reaper, and her 'Hand of Blood' are all running full speed toward them. Just as the Leader began to issue orders, Iriisii stretches her neck out and grabs him in her jaws, shaking him side to side as his body separates and both halves go flying in different directions.

     By the time the rest get over the shock of seeing their leader bit in half, it is too late for them, and they go down like wheat before the scythe. Once it is over, Iriisii morphs back into human form. Her 'Hand of Blood' astonished at what she can now do, kneel and pray, "Shai-Hulu'ud". And Iriisii answers, "may his passing cleanse the way." She opens her arms wide, seeing his passing through the sands in her mind's eye. When she returns to herself and looks around, all the blood, bodies, and gore is gone. The surface they stand upon is pristine as if it had just been laid down.

     Her 'Hand of Blood' stands in awe, for when this tale reaches the desert winds, every warrior who can pick up a weapon will rally and join her cause. For now, she is truly the "Daughter of Shai-Hulu'ud, Mother of the Desert".

     Everyone else is also standing, looking at her in awe. Iriisii thinks what just happened?

     Rigmor walks up, "you don't know what happened do you?"

     Iriisii: "No, I don't, I felt myself back in the desert, I saw him passing through the sands of the desert. Cleaning it of bones, things left behind, after he went it was pure, pristine, sparkling."

     Rigmor: "We saw a ghost of a giant sand wyrm. It went through the area completely, and where it went everything was clean, no blood, no bodies, even the weapons, and the giant sled was gone as well. 'He' cleansed the way, just as you asked 'him' too."

     Iriisii: "We will talk of this later, for now, we still have business to deal with."

     As she looks up toward the Coliseum, she sees a small figure standing on the upper edge, backlit by the sunlight. As she concentrates on the figure, it turns and walks inside the Coliseum.

     Rigmor: "It was him wasn't it."

     Iriisii: "Yes, and now I wonder what he is thinking."

     She gathers everyone together, "this is what we came here for. He is in that Coliseum, waiting for us, waiting for 'justice' to be met out this day. Let us not keep him waiting."

     And they walk together as one toward the Coliseum, a few among them wondering if anything will be the same again after this day. They enter and look to find the way through. Iriisii walks forward unafraid, secure in the righteous cause she came for. The others follow as they now know, there is no one else worthy for them to follow. As they come out into the center, it is nothing but sand, as it was in the ancient days of the gladiators who fought, bled, and died in edifices like this one.

     Iriisii: "Yennefer come with me, everyone else stays here."

     Iriisii and Yennefer walk out onto the sand, approaching Sivad, they stop about ten feet away.

     Yennefer: "Where is my son, you bastard!"

     Sivad: "He is quite well, no harm has been done to him, I assure you."

     Yennefer: "As if your assurances are worth spit!"

     Sivad: "Watch..."

     Iriisii: "Careful with the next words you utter, Sivad. There are worse things than death, I can assure you of that."

     Sivad: "My apologies."

     Iriisii: "Why do expect her to adhere to decorum, you murdered her beloved husband, kidnapped her child, and threatened his life, and all to get a message to me. I would have thought you would have more sense than to follow in your sister's footsteps."

     Sivad: "And why would you think to know what I would...you...you are not a vampire...what are you to smell like one but not be one?"

     Iriisii: "I have one as my Vyrkolos."

     Sivad: "Vyrkolos! Impossible, the last one was millennia ago and there has never been a successful one!"

     Iriisii: "Until now. His name is Dettlaff van der Eretain."

     Sivad: "Eretain, where do I know that name? So much time has passed, I do not remember.

     Iriisii: "But I do remember."

     Sivad: "How? There is no way you could have been alive and with him that long ago."

     Iriisii: "Your books, scrolls, and legends about the role of the Vyrkolos are completely wrong. You know nothing about what we are capable of. What our true purpose is. We have walked in his memories, watched all that happened to put his feet on the path that led to me. And there was where I saw you. One of the few who survived that night in the Dark Forest when his mother released Sharra from her crystal prison.

     A young boy was sought to be killed because of what the Oracles said of him. Because of the lies that the ruling Vampire Council told because they knew the truth. And they feared what he would become, what he is already well on the road to becoming. We already have the support of the lesser races as they have sworn allegiance to us. The Oracles stand with us as well for they too know the truth."

     Sivad: "They lied to us?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, they did, but their time will come, soon but not yet."

     Sivad: "Then my time has indeed come. For the Oracles told me I would live until I met the Vyrkolos and his Aasimar mate. So for me, there is no future anymore. Do with me as you will, I have no power to stop you."

     Iriisii: "I am not the one with a life debt to call for you. And I am too high to call duel. No, the one who is to take your life is Yennefer once of Vengerberg, now my Imperial Sorceress, and my sister of 'Blood' and 'Flesh'. She has asked of me to be the one who decides your fate, and I have given her that right."

     Iriisii removes her sheathed sword and gives it to Yennefer.

     Iriisii: "Here, use this."

     Yennefer: "But how can I..."

     Iriisii: "You are in truth my sister, of 'Blood' and 'Flesh'. The sword will recognize you and do as you command it. I know Quintus would not ignore training you in how to use it, and you have availed yourself of training with Lilith, Letho, and Geralt. Look into your heart and know if you have 'Faith' in yourself enough to 'Believe' in yourself, there is nothing beyond what you can accomplish."

     Yennefer: "Thank you."

     Iriisii: "Remember, Faith and Belief are the two strongest, yet misunderstood powers in all of the Creations. Take them into your heart, and soar above the very heavens."

     Iriisii walks back to where the others are, turns, and watches the battle unfold.

     Yennefer takes the sword from its sheath, the hilt extends its needles to taste the blood of who wields it. It notes that the blood is different but also the same as she who made it. The blood will always sing its need, and this time, this wielder needs 'revenge'. Revenge as cold as the dark gulfs between galaxies, between universes. To achieve this depth of cold, she must be one with it. And for her to be one with it, she must become the 'cold'. 

     The blade channels the cold and feeds it to the Celestial Blood flowing through her veins. This will be her 'test', her 'Test of Apotheosis', for she has always been one who felt, felt pain, felt misery, and felt need. 'Felt' every moment of her life. Now she must learn to let that go, to release 'feeling' and 'become'.

     Yennefer lets her 'feelings' go, now is the time for another path, the path of becoming. She thinks for a split second, become what? Become anything is the answer that thunders back within herself. And then she understands, to do what she must do, here and now, she must become 'revenge'.

     Sivad is too far from her to see the change in her, her eyes go from firey to frozen with icy cracks splayed across them. The blade in her hand smokes with icy vapor condensing around it as she assumes a battle stance taught to her by her trainers, drilled into her until she doesn't even think about it, she just does it.

     As Iriisii watches, she feels the changes flow through Yennefer, knowing as well this will be her 'Test'. She bows her head and prays to Shai-Hulu'ud that she has done the right thing.

     Sivad draws his own weapon, and in mid-draw leaps to where he last saw Yennefer, completing the draw and extending the blade to strike. He does not feel the expected resistance of his blade piercing flesh. He has no idea what happened, never before has it failed. Then he feels a sudden line of cold, what he would imagine the cold of the grave would feel like, his grave. The line is along the length of his arm, and he feels it becoming numb.

     He leaps away and turns to look at Yennefer, unable to imagine what happened. He shakes it off and for the first time in a long time, enters the battle trance he was taught when he first underwent weapons training. But this time he goes further, harnessing his 'beast' to help because if he loses, they both lose. Back and forth they go, strikes, slices, ripostes, every kind of attack he had ever learned and she repels them all seemingly without effort.

     Barely has he been able to avoid any more hits, without his 'beast' he would have been dead three times over already. Somehow I have to pull this off, but I am out of tricks. Whoever trained her knew their stuff, had to be more than one. And she blends the styles so well, seamlessly. Maybe that would work, one last trick to try, but if it does not go perfectly, my head will follow. He diverts Yennefer's blade into the correct position, yes, he thinks this is it, just a moment more.

     Aretus watching the fight between his mother and Sivad, she is winning! Yes, kill him, mother, do it for father. No! I know that move, I must interrupt him somehow, the blade I hid, of course. But by itself it is not strong enough to disrupt him, wait, that is Iriisii over there, Mother said she is a powerful Goddess, she could bless my blade, that would do it. He quickly takes the blade bows his head and places the blade to the crown of his head. He desperately prays to Iriisii to bless his blade.

     Iriisii feels someone close by call upon her. She looks over and sees Aretus, he wants me to bless his blade. Very well, and she gestures with her fingers and reinforces it with her Thu'um, sending it to his blade.

     Aretus feels the blade grow cold, and hears the crackle of frost forming on it. Then he rushes out directly behind Sivad and plunges his blade into Sivad's back right next to his spine. The shock of the cold and Iriisii divine blessing on the blade, causes him to lose control of his sword hand just long enough for the sword to drop to the sand. And for Yennefer's blade to slide through Sivad's neck like a hot knife through butter. His head fell to the sand, his lips still gaping in surprise.

     Everyone rushes to Yennefer's side, as the sword retracts its needles, the effect it had on her yields to her normal state. Iriisii recovers it and the sheath, placing it on her back. She then looks around feeling a strange but gentle pressure come over her. She walks a short way the looks up into the bright daylight sky, spreading her arms wide, she calls out, "I call thee, my Father, Shai-Hulu'ud. Come to your daughter!" She feels rather than hears a voice respond to her across untold ages. "What would you ask of me, my daughter?"

     She speaks, "Let thy passing cleanse the way!"

     Shai-Hulu'ud: "As my daughter asks, let it be so."

     Iriisii comes back to herself and realizes she is being carried by Dettlaff. Rigmor is calling the Custodian for a door back to the Fortress. The door appears in front of them and opens to Rigmor's touch. All of them pile through, and before the door closes, Iriisii hears the cry of a sand wyrm.

     Rigmor notices she is awake and goes to her.

     Rigmor: "Do you remember anything of the last few minutes?"

     Iriisii: "I remember a gentle pressure in my mind, then I called out to Shai-Hulu'ud."

     Rigmor: "Anything else?"

     Iriisii: "He answered me, asked me what I wished of him. I answered, 'Let thy passing cleanse the land', then he said,  As my daughter asks, let it be so, I don't remember any more until I awoke with Dettlaff carrying me to the 'door' you summoned from the Fortress. What happened?"

     Rigmor: "You were floating above the sand, then a blinding flash of light and desert heat, then you collapsed. I had Dettlaff pick you up and carry you while we got out. I turned for a second and the Vampire's head and the body was gone as if they had never been there."

     Iriisii: "Custodian, what is occurring on the planet's surface we just came from?"

     Custodian: "Goddess, a giant sand wyrm is moving across the land, wherever it goes, behind it is normal."

     Iriisii: "What do you mean by normal?"

     Custodian: "Grass, shrubs, trees growing back, all trace of radiation in the soil, air, and water is gone. The damage from the nuclear war is being cleansed from the surface. I estimate it will take about a month before the entire surface is clean once more."

     Iriisii: "What about the people?"

     Custodian: "The people are unharmed. All radiation damage and mutations are being reversed."

     Rigmor: "This is not 'Rebirth' is it?"

     Iriisii: "No, something different. Older perhaps."

     Iriisii looks for Yennefer, who once she sees Iriisii, immediately goes to her.

     Yennefer: "Thank you, for what you did. I do not know what it was."

     Iriisii: "It will be just fine now, and congratulations."

     Yennefer has a look on her face that says she does not know what Iriisii speaks of.

     Iriisii: "You just passed your 'Test of Apotheosis'."

     Yennefer: "But I had to do it alone and I did not kill Sivad alone."

     Iriisii: "Not killing Sivad, wielding my blade. You have always been a very emotional person. I know some thought, even called you 'cold' but they knew nothing of what true 'coldness' is. You had to let yourself go and dive headfirst and deep into true 'coldness' in order to beat him. You had to become something you had never been before, had never thought to ever become, and you survived like I knew you would."

     Yennefer: "You knew I would survive it?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, you are far stronger than you give yourself credit for being. And because of that both you and your son are alive and well, and justice has been done to a murderer."

     Yennefer: "I think I would like to keep him near me rather than send him off."

     Iriisii: "I agree with you. He has seen how much you truly do love and care for him. And that should never be separated until the proper time comes."

     Yennefer: "When will that be?"

     Iriisii: "When he finds someone to love as much as you and Quintus loved each other."

     Yennefer smiles, "I understand now, thank you, for everything."