"Can I help kill the mean monster?" Stella asked.

"It is not safe for you to be with me when I am killing monsters," he informed.

"But I will be there one day, so why not get used to it now?" She asked.

"I don't want you to be used to it, Stella. You have had a hard life already, probably harder than mine. The last thing I want is for you to be afraid of me and what I do. It is in my blood. I don't have a choice, but you do. Plus, if one of those people is after you and is causing whatever it is to lure me away or waiting for you to come to them, I am not sure if I can keep you safe," he said as he took her to the Inn.

"Geralt, there is a reason why I was locked away from everything; I am a monster to them or something else. I am nothing special, and you can't protect me from everything. Who is going to protect you when you need it?" Stella asked.

"I don't need protecting," he stated.

"You have feelings, a heart, and a soul. You may not believe that, but I do. I  need to learn things, and if I don't know how to protect myself from things, then what's the point of teaching me how to fight if I don't know what I'm looking for?" She asked.

"You are looking for the people who hurt you," he said.

"Geralt, you are being stubborn," she said.

"I don't want you to get hurt; you are not ready. You can't even hold a sword correctly, and I don't have time to show you," he said as she sighed.

"Okay, fine, I will stay here then and be bored," she said as she sighed.

"It's great you want to learn things, but the important thing to me is that you feel safe to stay with us without running away. I don't know everything they did to you, and when the time comes, you will tell me, but I don't want you to think I'm like them and get scared," he said as Stella looked at him oddly.

"But you aren't them; you are a lot nicer than they have ever been to me already," she said.

"That doesn't mean your views of me will change if you see me do something as they did," he said as she nodded.

"Wait, Geralt can I go find Alexander?" She asked.

"Who's that?" Geralt asked.

"He is a nice man that saved me from a weird guy that called me a whore. He was nice, I'm not sure where he went, but I can maybe go find him," she informed.

"When did this happen?" He asked.

"While you were getting rooms, I didn't want to make you mad, so I didn't call for you. I'm sorry," she said.

"Stella, you won't upset me if you need help. If someone does that again, call me. Don't deal with it alone," Geralt said as she nodded.

"Okay, can I find him, please? Jaskier might leave again, and I want to have fun," she said.

"I don't know him, and he is probably gone by now or working. You don't want him to lose his living, do you?" He asked.

"No, okay, I'll stay here," she sighed.

"I'll make Jaskier stay here with you," he said as she nodded.

"Okay," she sighed, knowing Jaskier probably wanted to do other things rather than be with her.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere," Geralt said as she nodded.

"I wish I weren't so useless," she sighed as Geralt hunted some evil monsters.

Jaskier came into the room and didn't look too happy he had to be with her.

"I'm sorry you have to be here with me. I know you want to do other things," she said.

"It's not your fault; those people that had you wanted you this way so that you would be completely reliant on them for everything, but you are doing better than I thought you would be if that makes any difference. You even killed a monster without any weapons. How did you do that?" Jaskier asked as she looked at him, a bit nervous.

"I was lucky, I guess. It wasn't strong at all," she said as she looked at her hands.

There was a reason she was locked away after all. She didn't want to go back there; she wasn't going to. Geralt was gone for some time when, all of a sudden, they heard a dog barking outside their window. She opened it to see the wolf frantically barking at them and whimpering.

"Hey, it's Wolf!" Stella said happily.

"What? How is this possible?" Jaskier asked as the wolf quickly jumped in and started tugging at her dress, trying to get her to follow him.

"What is wrong, buddy? Does someone need help?" Stella asked.

"No! Geralt told us to stay," Jaskier informed.

"Since when have you listened to him?" She asked as Jaskier sighed.

"He wants to protect you, I have never seen him act this way with anyone, and if you get hurt, I know I will get hurt," Jaskier said as the wolf frantically tried to get their attention.

"Well, obviously, the wolf is trying to tell us something; his master might be hurt or worse! Geralt fights monsters, and if we are Geralt's friends, we help him do his job. He can't do everything. Let's go, Wolf," she said as the wolf jumped out the window, and she followed close behind.

"Wait for me! Dear God, I swear if she ends up hurting herself!" Jaskier said as she was dashing with the wolf.

Geralt was on the ground fighting three kikimoras. Even with his eyes black due to his potion, they were kicking his ass, which wasn't good for him. He could take one alone, but three were trying to rip his head off.

"Oh no, Wolf, can you make a distraction while I climb a tree? If I drop from a high enough point, I can maybe break the back closest to Geralt," she said as the wolf went out to make a distraction while she quickly climbed the tree.

Geralt got up weakly, ready to take on one of the monsters, when the wolf got in front of him and started barking and growling, making the monster try to lunge at him. The wolf got out of the way quickly and growled, and continued barking, making the monster even more upset. The beast lunged again, except Stella quickly jumped on its back, snapping it.

"Stella! Get out of here!" Geralt growled, but she grew out her nails and cut the monster's throat.

"You okay?" Stella asked.

"Stella behind you!" Geralt said as Stella quickly got out of the way and started fighting the other creature while Stella went to the last animal.

"Come on, Wolf! Let's show this thing... I don't know what to show it," she said as the monster quickly lunged at him, but they got out of the way. The wolf went after its leg while Stella quickly grabbed its head. It took off running while Stella tried to stop it by dragging her feet, but it wasn't working. The wolf barked as the monster was heading to Geralt.

"Come on!" Stella said as she started squeezing its neck as hard as she could.

The wolf quickly knocked Geralt out of the way as the monster Stella was fighting was trying to get her off it. It missed Geralt and slid into some trees making the wolf get out in front of the beast and scratch its face. The demon screamed as blood started to run down its face, and Stella quickly snapped its neck while Geralt killed the last creature.

"Stella?" Jaskier said as Stella was sitting on the ground with the wolf.

Jaskier missed the whole fight, and it was clear he would once again get a stern talking to and wouldn't enjoy that. He decided that it would be best to take the heads back to the guy and get the coin for him to hopefully ease up on the punishment he was going to receive later.

"You are such a good boy! My goodness, no wonder Geralt is so cranky all the time. This is hard work; how about we give you a different name? You are super nice, and I think Alexander fits you best. You seem nice like him," she smiled as Geralt wanted to yell and scream at her for putting herself in danger like that, but he was impressed that she was able to kill something with her brute strength like that. If it weren't for her, he would be dead, maybe or badly hurt more than he was already.

"Oh my gosh, Geralt, are you okay?" Stella asked, seeing the blood on his face and how bad he looked.

"I'm fine, don't come close to me right now," he said, not wanting to scare her away with his black eyes.

"You are not okay, let me see," she said as Stella and the wolf approached him, but he quickly turned his back to her.

She forcefully turned him around and saw his black eyes, but it didn't phase her. This cut looks terrible; we need bandages; I didn't know your eyes could do that; that's cool," she said as she smiled and touched his face.

The wolf barked again, and she sighed a bit. Stella picked him up and hugged him tightly.

"You are a good boy, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I love you, but you need to go home, okay? I know you have a home, and it's okay. I will be okay knowing someone loves you just as much as I do," she said as she kissed him on his nose and gently put him down. He started to head home. Stella ensured Geralt wasn't hurt worse once they got to the Inn.

"Geralt, you need to take off your armor so I can see how badly you got hurt," she informed.

"It's just bruising; I will be fine," Geralt said as she crossed her arms.

"Geralt, please," she said as he looked at her, slightly annoyed.

"No, take your bath, and I'll go in after I'm soaked in monster blood," he informed as he turned his back to her.

"Geralt, let me see, or I'm taking off your clothes for you!" She said, making him have a thought, but he quickly got rid of expressed opinion.

"Fine if you stop asking me," he said as she smiled.

"Well, of course, I will," she informed as he started removing his armor and shirt, making her gasp.

"Stella?" Geralt asked as she saw the scars from fighting all over him, but she didn't think they were from fighting monsters.

"Stella, it's okay; I got these from monsters," Geralt said as he tried to get close to her, but she backed off.

"Monsters did that? Human or?" She asked.

"Both, training to be a witcher also has left some scars. No one did what they did to you to me. I wouldn't let that happen also, so I want to train you. I know you aren't as helpless as you look, but no one showed you how to control your powers. I want to help you be strong enough so that if something happens to me and I cannot help you, you have a fighting chance. I don't want you to be in the situation you were in before I met you," he said as she looked at the brushes and nasty cuts he got from the monsters they fought.

"But if it means protecting the people I care about, I'll do it again. I'm still afraid of them, but not as much," she informed.

"I will make sure you won't have to; no, you have seen my bruises; will you please take a bath," he said, looking down at her.

"You are filthy too; it would be quicker if we bathed together," she informed.

"We are not bathing together," he said.

"Why?" She asked.

"I don't want to explain it to you. I am a man, and you are not. That is all you need to know," he informed.

"Okay... you know you will need to explain it better later," she said.

"I don't think you will ever be ready for that," he said as she put her hands on her hips.

"You will never know unless you tell me," she explained.

"You need to keep your innocence and save it for a guy that deserves it. Don't waste it," he said.

"What if I think you are worth it?" She asked.

"Don't waste your time; I'm not worth it. I have done many things that would make you think less of me, and so has Jaskier. We are not people you want to be around for very long," he informed.

"Just because you said that doesn't mean it's true," she said as she went behind the screen to remove her clothes.