P.O.V. [Name]

I hummed as I continued what I was doing. As I was working I saw a small ball of light beside me suddenly appear. A sign that someone was inside of my hideout. I turned towards the entrance realizing this and grabbed my book and quill as began to make my way towards the exit. As I did I found that I couldn't hear anything. There weren't many people that would be able to make their way through this labyrinth without setting off at least a few traps.

Which could only mean one thing, they already knew the layout of this place. After realizing this I closed my book and began to walk deeper a bit more relaxed now. After a bit, I heard some clicking come from down the halls and it seemed to be coming towards me rather quickly. I held my hand close to my book as the figure slowly came into sight and relaxed when I saw who it was. It was Ciri and she seemed to be in fairly bad condition.

She was dirty, her clothes were ripped, and she looked tired. "Ciri? Are you okay?" I asked as I looked at her. I wasn't even aware that she was back yet. She looked at me and smiled before collapsing. As she did I moved forward to catch her and slowly lifted her up off the ground. Just how long has she been running? It must have been a while for her to be so exhausted. I don't think I've ever seen her just pass out like that.

Even after fighting bandits and monsters she never showed any sign of being tired. So I can only imagine how long she had to keep it up for her to finally succumb to her exhaustion. I took her back to my room and placed her on my bed. I began to work on a few items for when she woke up. It was a while but before long she eventually woke up and began to look around. "Nice to see you awake again," I said as I looked at her.

When she saw me she relaxed and looked at me with a smile. "It's good to see you again too," She said as she looked at me and I smiled as I looked at her.

"Yeah, I bet," I said as I looked at her. After everything, she's been through it's probably nice to see a friendly and familiar face. "When did you get back?" I asked as I looked at her.

"I don't know, a day ago maybe?" She asked as she looked at me. I nodded hearing this and reached into the pot that I was using to cook before pouring it into a bowl for her. "Help yourself, there's no way I could eat it all," I said as I looked at her, and she smiled as she took the bowl and began to eat it happily. "Although, I apologize if it tastes weird. Cooking never was one of my strong points," I said as I looked at her and she shook her head.

"It tastes great," She said as she looked up at me. I smiled hearing this and offered her a few bottles. Some of them were drinks and some of them were potions. "Here these should help as well," I said as I looked at her causing her to nod as she began to drink some of them as well. She looked around as she continued to eat and smiled a bit as she did.

"I see, that not that much has changed since I've been gone," She said as she looked at me and I nodded.

"Yeah, never really had a reason to change it. Not that many people know this place exists so it's not like I'm getting raided every week or something. And most of the people that are here never make it past the traps that I've set," I said as I looked at her with a smile. She nodded hearing this and held up her bowl which I took and filled back up. "So how much time do you think you have?" I asked as I looked at her.

She once again shook her head hearing this and looked at me as I handed her another bowl. "Any idea where dad is?" She asked as she looked at me and I took a moment to think about.

"Last I heard he was still chasing after Yennefer. I'm not sure where he is exactly though," I admitted as I looked at her.

"Do you think it's safe for me to stay here?" She asked as she looked at me. I shrugged hearing this as I looked at her.

"Safer than any town or village, and when you do leave I'm sure I can find a way to get word to you dad," I said as I looked at her. She smiled a bit hearing this and I began to think of a way to keep that promise.

"How long were you running?" I asked as I looked at her.

"I don't know, a few months at least," She said as she looked at me. I guess that explains why she was so tired when she got here. Even if she wasn't being literal having to constantly change locations few days and constantly be on the run would have caused anyone to get exhausted especially if they were running from something as dangerous as the wild hunt. "Are you sure it's safe for me to stay here?" She asked as she looked at me.

"Yeah," I said as I looked at her. "After you left I came up with a bunch of fail-safes. Most of them are ways to escape. They leave behind no clues at all, well none that don't require some intense looking but the wild hunt was never known for staying in the same place for a long time so we should be fine," I said as I looked at her. She seemed a bit nervous hearing this before looking at me.

"That doesn't sound too safe but . . . if you think it'll work then . . . I trust you," She said as she looked at me. I smiled hearing this and continued what I was doing. "You know . . . I've been thinking a lot about what you said to me before I left," Ciri said behind me and I tensed up when she mentioned this, and I could feel my face heating up at the thought of what I said. Those words of that day ringing through my head so clearly.

'I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to be there for every important moment. Every smile, and every Hardship. I know I'm just a commoner and nothing special. I know I don't have a medallion or prestigious family legacy. And I've done things that I'm not proud of. But if you're willing to look past all that. I also know that we'd be great together. I-I mean . . . sorry, I'm struggling to find the right words. Kind of funny actually considering how many times I've rehearsed this. But now that I'm actually here it all just sort of ran right out of my head. What I mean to say is . . . I love you, and I want together with you for as long as I can,'

I thought about that night a lot, and I was hoping that when we did meet again that she had by some miracle forgotten or at the very least that she wouldn't bring it up. Then again I did confess and even if I didn't get an answer then I guess getting an answer now would be better. At least then I could take this torch I've been carrying and put it underwater. I looked at her and she returned my gaze for a moment before speaking.

"While I was running, I had a lot of time to think about things. I realized just how much a lot of you meant to me. My father, Vesemir, Yen, Triss and . . . you . . . in fact you popped up more times than I'd like to admit. And for a while when I was running I wasn't happy. Not even thinking about the future when all of this was over was able to bring a smile to my face. I've smiled more today than the entire time I've been on the run and now that I'm back I realize why that is," She said as she looked at me.

"It's because . . . I'm with you," She said as she looked at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I looked at her. I was hoping I was understanding what she meant correctly and that I wasn't just setting myself up for disappointment like before.

"When I'm with you I feel like I can be myself. That's not something I can say about everyone. When you're around it's not even a matter of doing my best or not doing my best like it is with my father. I realize now what I didn't before, I know how much I want to be together with you too," Ciri said as she looked at me offer her hand to me. When she did I took her hand and she grabbed me pulling me closer to her quickly.

As she did she pressed her lips to mine. I was a bit caught off guard at first but once I realized what was happening I quickly relaxed into the kiss. It was a lot more intense than I had imagined, her tongue was running against my lips, almost threatening to force its way inside if I didn't open up. When I opened my mouth our tongues met in the center and we soon battled for dominance a battle which I quickly lost.

As she did I moved the hand that she had grabbed onto and began to intertwine my fingers with hers as we continued to make out. Now that I held her hand within my own, I could see how small and fragile they truly were. These hands that have saved me countless times, and probably taken even more lives. Her kind, warm, soft hands, I hope to cling onto them forever. We continued to kiss taking a brief break for air before once again kissing.

A light beside me then lit up causing us to stop. "Already?!" I asked as I looked at the light. When I did Ciri stood up and grabbed her sword. "This way," I said as I lead her to a circle with several symbols on it and opened my book.

"Be careful okay," She said as she looked at me and I nodded with a smile.

"I'll be fine, just make sure you get to safety," I said as I opened my book and several pages began to flip by themselves as several of the symbols floated off the ground and began to cover Ciri. I could the clicking of metal boots by the entrance to the room and when Ciri was completely covered in the symbols she disappeared and I began to write something in the book in front of me. As I did I felt someone turn me around and punched in the face sending me back.

I tried to get up but before I could he grabbed my throat and pinned me to the wall behind him. He began asking me a question but I wasn't listening. I was more concerned about the book he had knocked out of my hand. I held up my hand and began using as much magic as I could to make the quill write in the book. He continued to ask me before pulling back once again. When he went to punch me I closed my eyes but the punch never came and I opened my eyes to see that I was standing in a field.

I gasped for air as soon as I realized I could breathe again and reached for my book and quill to make sure they hadn't gotten damaged in any way. When I realized I still had them I sighed with relief. As long as I had them I could just rebuild another base and eventually work my way back up to what I was doing before. But for now, it's time to keep my promise to Ciri, and after taking some to think about it yesterday I thought of the perfect plan.

I think it's time to tip off his royal majesty to his daughter's return, I'm sure that once he knows he'll hire the perfect man for the job. The one person who knows her better than anyone else.