The surprise of a lifetime (Part 1)

Ciri is ready tear Jaskier a new one, she is holding him by the collar with her left hand and pointing right at his noise with her right. "I will break this if you interrupt what I'm about to say." She has always been the one to do that type of thing too. When I did stupid things when we were training at Kaer Morhen she would kick my ass. She was leagues ahead of me in fighting back then. "I am only saying this once Jaskier. Keep that whore away from Cera and me. If you don't, I'm going to kill her the next time I see her." Ciri has always kept her promises. A quality that is very hard to find anymore. It makes her so much more valuable to me as a person and my future wife.

She lets go of Jaskier's collar and crosses her arms waiting for a response. She is serious on making sure that Jaskier gets the message and keeps Priscilla away. "Okay Ciri, I can do that. Just please don't hurt her...." The man is pulling the friend card to protect someone he really likes. The sooner he commits the sooner Priscilla's attention leaves us. Which is good for everyone involved with this. Ciri gives a big sigh and almost doesn't promise to. She relents in the end and nods her head in confirmation. "Thank you so much. I'll leave you guy's to your plans today." He quickly leaves before Ciri can do anything else. She turns to me and walks over to the couch to sit down.

I notice that she is still limping from the soreness so I should keep carrying her today. While we are on our way to the lady who can help us outside the city we can stop by Brennen and tell him where we are staying right now. "We have a lot to do today. When we get back to the Rosemary and Thyme tonight we can talk to Jaskier about the plan he has to get the magic item fixed. That's if he's awake by the time we get back. For now, we are heading to Brennen's to tell him where we are living right now." She moves over to me and we are shoulder to shoulder, she leans her head on me in an attempt to relax.

I wait for a response and I cant help myself in enjoying this moment between us. Just relaxing together alone, just enjoying each others company with no sexual intent. It's a nice feeling to have. "Let me know when you are ready to leave Cera. Your the one carrying me." I don't mind that at all. I am seriously enjoying the quiet right now. Now that I think about it, we have been going and going since Crows Perch, I forgot to ask her an important question that we have been avoiding.

I wrap my arm around her lower back and lean her in more. I wonder if this is what all married couple's do, it's really nice to have solitude with the one I love. "Do we know what we are going to tell Yen and Geralt? I feel the longer they are in the dark the more mad they'll be." Yen would be furious that I got married without her being there for it. She is way better at magic than I am too, she could grow me a tail or make me bald.

Ciri laughs at my question. I am glad she thinks it's funny that we are going to piss them off. "That didn't stop us from having fun did it. I recall neither of us worrying about them when we have our moments together like this." She brings up a great point, we haven't tried to really do anything. Not really a priority when we have so much going on. We have no way in contacting them too.

I get up slowly and walk to the balcony attached to the room. The city is much worse than I remember, sad to see it fall so far because of a mad king. It's hard to see which is worse some times. Nilfgaard and the northern kingdoms is a dilemma in choosing the lesser evil. That is never a position you want to be in either, and these are the people that are suffering for it. "Do you think that when our journey is over we can retire to a farm or remote keep like Kaer Morhen together?" Thinking about growing old with Ciri is something that I could only dream of. Now it's a possibility after all this is over.

I feel her walk behind me and wrap her arms around me as I see the people below us and in the distance. "That sounds like the best idea ever Cera....Not having to worry about our enemies and having the days to ourselves...." When she says it like that I want it now. They wont stop looking for her and they will find out about me soon if they haven't already. We get closer to our goal everyday and the light at the end of the tunnel gets a little bit brighter.

I think we should get going now, we have important people and things to do today. I pick up Ciri and give her the same piggy back ride as this morning. "Time for us to go, just relax for now Ciri. It's a long walk." I tell her that and she just hums into my ear as she gets comfortable and leans her head on my shoulder and the side of her head on mine. I walk us outside the Minstrel and we make our way to Brennen first. The lady lives a bit closer to the woods than the city unlike Brennen. We should get back by nightfall, if not later after everything is taken care of.

I walk out of the Minstrel with Ciri on my back. I slowly walk the streets to the Oxenfurt gate, its the entrance closest to Brennen's home. I still have a walk ahead of me, but we can also see how the rings are doing right now. I have faith in his abilities to make beautiful things, makes me wonder why he is alone. He seems like the type of man to have a wife, hopefully his wasn't taken because of this war.

I continue to walk the stone path till we reach dirt. After another 2 hours of slow walking I make out a familiar house with stained glass window's. "Ciri we are almost there." I let Ciri know that we are approaching our first destination, but she doesn't respond. I turn my head slightly to see her face and I can tell she is asleep right now. Taking a nap while I carry her warms my heart, talk about a nice way to spend the day. "Ciri, it's time to wake up. We made it to Brennen's." I feel her shift a bit and soon she lifts her head slightly to take a look as well. We are in viewing distance of his house. Only a couple more minutes till we reach him.

She leans back down on me and sighs in comfort. "I fell asleep....Sorry about that." She wipes drool from my shoulder as she says that. I would sleep to, that's the best way to recover from injuries. We wont be so rough next time, that was a bad idea now that I think about what I did. We arrive at his doorstep soon and I knock on his door. We hear someone walk to the front door and open it.

Brennen looks at us with a smile. Guess he wanted visitor's today, people get lonely being isolated like this from society so I get it. "What are you two love birds doing here?" I hope that he isn't having any trouble working on the rings. They were complicated and intricate designs to do by hand. Mages would just enchant something to do it for them, but it doesn't come out very good when they do that.

He welcomes us in and I bring Ciri to the couch so she can sit down while we talk to Brennen. "We came by to tell you that we moved to a different place. It's called the Rosemary and Thyme on glory lane." He looks at us with a knowing smile. He must know that place is being turned into something men fancy more than they will admit. I sit next to Ciri to rest as well, we unconsciously hold hands. It has become second nature to have some sort of physical contact when we are together.

He walks over to his work bench and pulls out two rings. "I finished them last night so no need to deliver them now, they are my best work. You are lucky, I have had a boost in my work as of late." I cant hide my shock looking at the beautiful rings. They match perfectly to the rings we chose for each other. He hands me Ciri's and he hands Ciri mine. I know exactly what to do in this moment.

I don't hesitate and get on one knee in front of Ciri. We may be engaged, but we never got to have a moment like this together. I look at her a she has tears of joy, I feel like tearing up to. "Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. Will you marry me, Cera Riannon Dorren Amavet?" After I utter those words she totally breaks down. I watch and feel her lunge into me and squeeze the life out of me.

She pulls away from me with smeared makeup she just fixed earlier today. "Yes! I'll marry you Cera." After she say's that we lean in for multiple short kisses. I slide the ring onto her left hand ring finger and stand us up. She slides my ring on my hand and we just stare at them for a long time. We both take turns hugging Brennen for this amazing surprise. This is the best day of my life, it's now official. Ciri and I are going to be husband and wife.

I turn back to Brennen and thank him one last time before we head out for the next meeting we need. I am carrying Ciri once again as we continue our journey for the day. She hums a pleasant melody into my ear expressing her happiness. I will do whatever Brennen requests to repay him for the lovely rings he has given to us.