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"You’re not lying to me? From one witcher to another, a girl who looks just like me came to the orphanage?"

"In the name of the Viper School, I, Monti, swear." The lad before her was in brown leather armor. His eyes were crimson, and he was thumping his chest. Tensing up, he said, "She looks like your twin. Only difference is that she\'s older. Oh, her hair\'s the color of hay, and her eyes are brown, and… wait a minute. When did you become a witcher, Falka?"

Monti squinted at the beautiful, regal girl before her. She doesn\'t have a witcher\'s eyes. "Yennefer told us you wanted to be the queen of magic. You\'ve never gone through the Trial either."

"Hey, I\'ve gone through witcher training. And I\'ve learned about magic under the guidance of Yennefer and Grandma Coral." Ciri spun once. She adamantly said, "They call me a genius, and being a witcher isn\'t contradictory to being a queen of magic."

She held Eileni tightly with her right hand, while the fingers of her left hand danced. Blue glints of magic shone in the air. Elements of water created a lifelike fish. The creature swayed its tail, swimming around Monti. Its gills flapped, and bubbles came out of its mouth.

The element of water was the most docile out of the four, and the isles stood around an abundance of water. Every spot was a convergence point. With all the assistance she could have, Ciri had shown great progress in water-based spells.

And then the fish exploded. Water splattered everywhere, including Monti\'s face. Resigned, he wiped the saltiness out of his mouth.

Ciri laughed. "Now let\'s get back on track. What\'s the girl\'s name?"

"Angouleme."

"Interesting name. I have to talk to her someday. If she really looks like me, she can help me." Delight filled the girl\'s heart, and she patted the baby in her arms. The baby\'s eyes were closed. She had braids, and she was adorable. Thinking her niece was teasing her, the girl grabbed Ciri\'s finger and sucked on it, letting out squelches as she did so.

Monti looked at her, and he laughed. When he came to Skellige, he found out Falka had a prominent figure as a grandmother and a baby as her aunt. When everyone saw that, they thought Falka had gotten married and had a child. She was mortified back then.

"Don\'t laugh." Ciri glared. She puffed up her chest and proudly said, "You\'re about the same age as me, and Eileni\'s my aunt. That about makes her your aunt too." She pinched Eileni\'s squishy cheeks, and the little one gurgled happily.

"You should respect her. C\'mon, call her auntie. Eileni\'s your mentor\'s Unexpected Child too, and she\'s part of the Lioness bloodline. She was born with the power to control chaos energy, time, and space. She can make your medallion buzz like a bee. What I\'m saying is that she\'s born to power. It\'s not embarrassing to call her auntie."

Monti froze up. He rubbed his nose and turned to his friends for help. Charname, Lloyd and the other young witchers were seated on the reef like statues, engaged in a fishing competition with Hjalmar and Cerys. Unfortunately, the witchers couldn\'t use any of their skills. They lost to the islanders. Cerys alone got more fish than all of them combined. They couldn\'t help Monti when they were in trouble themselves.

Monti blushed and shook his head. Gotta turn things around. "Um, so what\'s your grandma doing? She just left her baby to you."

"Grandma is…" Ciri\'s voice faltered. She held Eileni tightly, pursing her lips, and something glinted in Ciri\'s eyes. After Eileni turned one, Calanthe shifted her focus to the battle that would happen in the future. The ceasefire between Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms was still in effect. Nilfgaardian troops had retreated to the southern coast of Yaruga.

Yet battles still raged on in different parts of the Northern Realms. The non-humans had been assaulting human caravans without any end in sight. Thanks to that, the skirmishes and deaths in the Northern Realms were far higher compared to any peacetime. In Calanthe\'s words, the whole Northern Realms was like a slumbering volcano. All it needed was for meteors to strike, and it would erupt.

Once war resumed, the former queen of Cintra and king of Skellige Isles would seize the chance presented by the chaos, sending vessels to attack the coasts of Nilfgaard. They would then band with the liberation army led by General Vissegerd in Brugge to take back Cintra, avenging the fallen people and her husband, Eist Tuirseach.

Calanthe had told Ciri all about her plan. Under the witchers and sorceresses\' strict training, Ciri was no longer the cheeky princess who kept running away from home and did all she wanted. She smiled confidently. "Grandma has something important to do. Eileni is safe with me."

She opened up her left hand, and a cocoon wriggled in her palm. She was holding the Elder Blood. Joined with the power of Eileni, all she had to do was think about it, and they would be transported to Roy, the other bearer of the Elder Blood. It was their plan to evade the clutches of the legendary hazard, the Wild Hunt. They hadn\'t shown up thus far, however.

From Roy\'s warnings, Ciri was told that these warmongers and phantom knights were searching for people with Elder Blood. If caught, she would lose her freedom. Ciri seared that warning deep in her mind. She then turned to the witcher before her. "Let\'s get back to Angouleme."

Monti gazed at Ciri. For a moment, she had a look of solemnity far beyond her age. "Carl and Acamuthorm almost died saving her from the clutches of an orphanage operated by the omen god…"

***

"Dammit! They didn\'t invite me on that adventure! And I thought they were my friends!" Ciri howled in disbelief, and Eileni clapped her hands.

"Honestly, you should feel sorry for them. They did that without consulting anyone else. Once they got back, Vesemir grounded them for a year. They couldn\'t come on this trip."

"What about the poor children? Are they going to take the Trial? All of them?" Ciri looked at the reef. Lloyd was happily holding up a fat fish he caught. Hjalmar crossed his arms, giving disdainful comments.

"No. Most of them are too old for the Trial, so Kalkstein\'s coming up with a trial that\'s different from what we went through." Monti rubbed his chin. "Their tongue slipped when they were bragging about it to us. The new trial is dubbed Path of the Curse. If it comes to fruition, then those kids are going to be a new kind of witcher. It\'s a monumental project. They\'re going to have two forms. One regular, one for battle."

"Oh, can I also take that trial?" Ciri and Eileni widened their eyes at the same time, like they were cats that\'d just seen a pile of fish before them.

"You\'ll have to ask Roy for that."

"Which also means no." Ciri puckered her lips. "Let\'s talk about something happier. So why\'d only you guys come this time? Where\'s everyone else? It\'s been a while since I saw Vicki. And has Renee grown out all her teeth?"

"The two of them are working in apothecaries now, along with Conrad. They\'re running the new potion shop in Lan Exeter." Monti looked impressed.

"What about that cow?" Ciri gritted her teeth. She looked at her chest. It was growing, but not much. She could see the tips of her boots.

Monti\'s cheeks puffed, but he held back his urge to burst out laughing. "The cow? Oh, you mean Yoana?" Girls weren\'t the only ones who would compare their curves. The young witchers would compare their sizes too. Of course, the mutation granted them strength that far outstripped the regular man. It was compensation for robbing them of their fertility.

"She and her father, Klaf, have moved to Novigrad. They\'re running a smithy now. And mentoring apprentice blacksmiths from the House of Gawain. Speaking of which, blacksmithing probably toned Yoana\'s body well. She got curvier the last time I saw her."

Ciri stopped patting Eileni. She tensed up, her eyes gleaming dangerously. Monti felt shivers going down his spine.

"She lugs that pair of melons around all day. She\'ll get frozen shoulders and arthritis eventually," Ciri muttered. "And what about Calosi?"

That was one of the students who took up general classes back in House of Gawain.

"Thanks to Dandelion and Linus Pitt, that guy and about twenty other kids got to drop in on Oxenfurt\'s classes. Oh, Dandelion\'s a professor there, and Linus has a master\'s degree in natural history. Back to the kids. They spend all their time learning about poetry, history, and politics along with the elites. They got their dreams fulfilled. Spent a mountain of coins too. Serrit complained about it for a whole month."

Monti was more than impressed. He couldn\'t believe those orphans, once starving and fighting for survival, were enrolled into one of the two best academies in the world. The witchers can work miracles.

"Once Eileni is old enough to care for herself, I\'m going to Oxenfurt too." Ciri clenched her fists. "Alright, so they couldn\'t make it. What about Vesemir? Why couldn\'t he come?" Ciri pouted and pulled back her billowing hair.

"Lady Mignole\'s not getting any younger. Her health is declining." Monti sighed. He was reminded of a loving dame. Marena extended her love to the young witchers, and she was nice to them. Still, she was just a regular human, and her constitution was weak. "Vesemir\'s in Oxenfurt taking care of her. And the other guys."

Monti saw the concern in Ciri\'s eyes. He said, "Don\'t worry. It\'s just a common cold." A smile curled his lips. "But you know how melancholic people can get once they\'re at that age. They need someone to talk to. I might as well tell you what everyone else is doing now. Lambert, Auckes, and Aiden went to Upper Sodden in the south coast of Yaruga. Someone contacted them through Triss and requested for their protection of some important person. Lambert told me about it before he left. You should\'ve seen his face. Looked like he was going to the most expensive brothel in the world. I have no idea what\'s so magical about Sodden."

"He\'s a perv. What else could he be excited about? Women, of course," said Ciri with scorn.

Monti smiled. Yeah, that\'s it for Lambert\'s reputation among the brotherhood. He continued, "Coen is in Lan Exeter\'s ballroom with his girlfriend, Igsena. Kiyan and Evelyn are guarding the botany in Novigrad\'s outskirts. Eskel is in Kaer Morhen with his succubus, Pashia. Moore, Susie, Mino, and Gryphon took up residence there too. Not everyone has a romantic partner, though. Serrit and Felix are hunting and farming around Ellander\'s temple. Letho and Ivar stayed back in Gorthur Gvaed, sorting out the records the school had collected over the years. Said it was just in case something were to happen."

"The brotherhood got themselves two new sorceresses, didn\'t they?" Ciri stroked Eileni\'s braids. Eileni narrowed her eyes and gurgled in contentment.

"Lydia and Casiga? They went back to Thanedd for official business." Monti paused for a moment. "That\'s about it for us. Told you everything I could. Now it\'s my turn for a question. What about Geralt and Yennefer? It\'s been a while since I saw them."

Ciri puffed her chest out, as if she\'d done something incredible. "They\'re made for each other, but destiny broke them up in the past. Thanks to my unrelenting efforts, they\'ve patched things up. Now they\'re going to the druid\'s ring in Mayena. It\'s a visit to Visenna. That\'s Geralt\'s mother."

She winked at Monti and lowered her voice, "Perhaps we\'ll see a grand wedding soon?"

For the last two years, Yennefer stayed in Skellige, teaching Ciri about magic. She treated Ciri like her own, and Geralt would always visit his Unexpected Child. Like a bridge, Ciri slowly repaired Yennefer and Geralt\'s relationship. Thanks to her, the estranged lovers had rekindled old flames.

Monti smiled. He was happy for them. "What about Roy and Lytta? He\'s gone missing since he brought back the kids."

Like a trigger being pulled, Eileni\'s eyes went wide. She flailed her legs, extending her arms to the sun, and she said something. "Roy, Roy! Huggies! Spin spin! Upsy daisies!"

"Look at you! I bring you out to play every day, but all you care about is him!" Ciri rolled her eyes and pinched Eileni\'s nose. She sighed.

The Law of Surprise once again showed its powerful magic. Ever since Eileni was born, she was friendly to Roy. Friendlier than she was to her own niece. Jealous, she said, "They\'re having some alone time under the lake of the Valley of the Nine."

***

In faraway Toussaint were the marshlands, haven of wild animals. A lab was tucked away under the lake, and within it, a difficult mutation was coming to an end.

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