Geralt was in his room with a whore next to him that was fast asleep. Geralt got dressed and grabbed his cloak; he wasn't leaving, but he knew it was cold outside at night around these parts, and she didn't have anything to cover herself up with. The woman was also thin, so she would lose her body heat quickly and might get sick. Geralt went outside to the barn, where Lillian was asleep near the horses. The woman wasn't covered up, so he put his cloak on her. Roach looked at him, and Geralt sighed.

"Don't look at me like that, I know. No, I don't have any feelings for this girl. I don't need anyone except you. I don't need anyone, and I don't care about any of them," he stated.

Roach looked at Geralt, and even though she couldn't talk back, she seemed like she was. Was she guilt-tripping him?

"Roach, don't look at me like that," Geralt said; she stared at him harder.

"Fuck, look, I don't need any human companion. I'm being nice, that's it. This will bite me in the ass, isn't it?" He asked.

Roach looked down, and Geralt took it as a yes. He sighed and cursed under his breath as he looked down at the sleeping girl. Geralt should have left the girl alone. This woman wasn't worth the trouble, sure, she was nice, but it could all be a ruse. Maybe the woman just wanted to get in his pants, hoping to escape her situation. If the woman got pregnant, he might let her go. The woman was resting peacefully, and Geralt looked down at the woman feeling terrible that he thought this woman could do such a thing. This girl didn't seem like the type, but he couldn't be too careful.

Geralt sighed and moved his cloak higher above her shoulder to make sure she was warm enough to sleep threw the night. Roach looked at him, and he sighed.

"I do not care about her! She could probably be after some man's cock so she can leave being a slave," he informed.

Geralt left and went back to his room, and sighed again. Geralt felt better if that made sense; he did something nice for Lillian. That could have been the only thing good that happened to her in a long time. Sad to think about, but maybe it was his way of repaying her for the kindness she showed him.

Lillian woke up and yawned, then stretched as the sun started to rise above the horizon. Her whole body hurt, but she was used to it; she had never slept on a real bed when Danny took over the mansion. That was almost twenty years ago. Lillian wished she aged because maybe she would be too old to do anything, and he would release her from the hell she was in. Lillian paused as she saw a cloak on her and started panicking. This cloak wasn't Danny's, and she knew better than to think that. Danny wasn't kind to her at all, and now, seeing a stranger's cloak on her made her worry.

She saw a long white hair on it and instantly saw it was Geralt's cloak on her. She hoped it was anyway because of the hair, but she had to look decent for her master now. She folded Geralt's blanket and put it on Roach so Danny wouldn't suspect anything. Her long blond hair was a mess, so she brushed it out. She took the hay out of her hair and fed Ash and Roach some apples, then ate one herself. It was going to be a short journey home, but Ash was getting old, and Danny was not a tiny man.

"Maybe when we get back, we can put you in the fields with our other female horses. You might be getting old, but there is no reason you can't have a little fun before you go," she smiled as Ash licked her face.

"I know I shouldn't be talking the such talk to you, but at least you would have children. Until I figure out what made me young, seemingly forever, I don't want to give my heart to someone and then watch them die while I live. You know I knew your father and his father too; they were all kind to me, how you are to me. Maybe a bit naughty at times, but I like the attitude in you. I wonder how long witchers live for, you know, it's sad that so many people hate them. All they do is do their jobs and then leave; it must be lonely. No one should ever be alone," she said as she stroked Ash.

"Then why are you alone?" Geralt asked, making her jump a foot in the air.

"My gosh! Sorry, I didn't hear you," she said as Ash tried eating her hair.

"Sleep well?" He asked as she nodded shyly.

"Thank you for last night; I'm not normally a heavy sleeper," she smiled shyly.

"You probably slept better because you had someone to talk to. You never answered my first question," Geralt stated as he went over to Roach.

"I choose to be, I don't know why I'm not aging, and if I find the cause, maybe I can stop it. I don't want to live forever," Lillian informed.

"I'm seventy-five years old; I get what you mean, but what if you start aging and live two hundred or three hundred years old? Whatever you are, your master is using it against you. You don't have to be enslaved; you are choosing to at this point," Geralt said as she looked at him, irritated.

"I made a promise before his parents passing that I would protect them. I know he mistreats me, but I made a promise, and I have nowhere to go. He branded me, so I am marked for life. I anyone sees me with this marking, then they capture me and sell me. At least he isn't raping me," she informed.

"Your right, sorry about what I said," he said as she smiled again.

"It's okay. I don't expect people to understand. Being an enslaved man would be very different from being a woman; we had to worry about being raped and having another man's child we didn't care for. You're lucky in that sense. Where are you heading off to next?" She asked as he shrugged.

"Where I am needed," he answered.

"Well, I'm sure a job will pop around here. There have been people winding up dead around here. I can't say for certain how many, but some people say it's around ten so far. I would wait a bit before leaving," she said.

"I haven't heard anything about a monster," he said.

"Because they are scared of you. Just give them time; they might be scared enough to ask you to kill it. Fear can make or break people," she smiled.

He nodded as he looked at her softly. He didn't even know he was doing it, but she was a kind person even though she was enslaved. Maybe he could ask her to leave Danny and get her to come with him. He didn't deserve a girl like her at all. He smiled a bit as he looked back at Roach but then snuck a glance at her as she fixed up Ash.

"I might stay here for a couple of days. Are you staying here long?" He asked.

"Me no, Mr. Mires has to go on a trip starting today, so I will be heading home and cleaning the whole time he's gone. If you head out of north where the broken sign is and continue to head north for about seven miles, you will get to our house. He also owns different properties, but that one is the main one. I take care of all of it by myself," she informed, "I'm not just a tiny maid, you know."

He smiled a bit at her, but maybe he was taking it the wrong way. She got a small bottle of clear liquid and gave it to him. He looked it over, and she smiled.

"I make healing remedies to; Danny isn't kind to the enslaved men. He almost works them to death, so sometimes I get called to help them," she said softly.

"Thank you, Lillian; you are not just a maid," he said as she blushed a bit.

"I try to be more than just that," she said as Jaskier came in.

"There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you. There is a job here. Well, I think maybe two for you if you are lucky," Jaskier informed, "well, hello, beautiful."

Lillian blushed and tried hard to hide it. By the looks of it, she wasn't called beautiful enough, which was a shame. Her cheeks were burning hot red, and she couldn't stop smiling.

"It's Lillian Joy, and you will get me in trouble if you don't stop," she warned with a smile.

"My name is Jaskier, but you can call me whatever you like; you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen," he said as her smile faded.

"Jaskier duck!" She hollered as Danny almost punched him in the face and landed on the ground.

"You useless bitch!" He yelled as she looked at him, terrified.

"Mr. Mires, he was leaving, and I didn't want you hurting yourself before your trip. He is friends with the witcher," she explained quickly.

"Witcher?! Your kind disgusts me just as much as her kind does. Don't you dare touch my property; I don't want another one of her scum kind on this continent!" He growled as he got up and looked like he was going to take another swing at Jaskier.

"Men like you disgust me; I don't like it when men treat kind women like her like horse shit," Geralt informed.

"You have been talking to this monster?!" He growled.

"I only answer his questions about Ash and what I was doing in the barn, Sir. Also, if there were any monsters around, he is a witcher, and it's his job... you said I was allowed to speak when spoken to," she said nervously as Geralt could sense the rising fear in her.

He didn't just hit her the one time. It had to be several times, and he had to have done worse to get a response like that out of her. Learned helplessness, as he called it, from years of abuse. She didn't want to be that way but had no choice but to be. He cut her off from everything and everyone, and she was stuck. He probably did it for years with little things before it was too late for her to get out.

"Not to a monster! I don't want you pregnant; how often do I have to stress that to you? If I find out you're pregnant, I will sell your child off or drown it in the lake!" He yelled, making her jump.

This had to be another reason why she wasn't married. He would kill her children because she was different, which was why she was kind to him. She knew the feeling of being hated for something he couldn't help. She looked down, hiding her face from all three of them, and Jaskier couldn't believe it. Geralt was letting him get away with this!

"You can't talk to her like that; she is a human being!" Jaskier protested.

"She is sixty years old! She hasn't aged a day; this girl is just as bad as that witcher. She is also my slave, so I can talk to her whenever I like! Joy come, we are leaving, and I suggest you get your monster bait under control, witcher; otherwise, he will end up dead!" He growled as Lillian picked up the rest of her stuff and smiled slightly at them.

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Riva and Jaskier," she said as Danny grabbed her arm hard until they got out of the barn.

"Geralt, you could have helped her!" Jaskier whispered and yelled.

"I couldn't do a dame thing she is legally his property Jaskier. There is nothing I could have done. Do you think he would sell her? He gets off making her life a living hell!" Geralt almost yelled at him.

"You talked to her?" He asked.

"So?" He asked.

"You care? I knew you would! Let's go get her," he said.

"No, Jaskier, life isn't always fair, and you can't save everyone. I want to, but he isn't a monster like the ones I hunt. We have to leave her alone. Also, I don't care. I was talking with Roach most of the time," he informed.

"You are a cold-hearted son of a bitch! She will die by his hand, and you don't give a rat's ass! I hope you will be okay with finding her corpse one day Geralt," he stated, annoyed.

There was nothing he could do, literally nothing. Even though she was very kind to him and he may be cared for for. Just a little, okay, more than a little. But he still couldn't do anything. She was his property, also marked for life.