46

                                    

                                          
Kyana and Geralt traveled for a many years from forest to forest. Geralt couldn't sleep, his restlessness lasting for many, many months, while Kyana's leg had healed perfectly, allowing her to be strong and fight well. Kyana had often woken up in the early hours of the morning to find Geralt, leaned against a tree, reading or watching the night pass in silence. 
                          
Time had taken for Kyana to be convinced Geralt didn't mean what he said. He told her time and time again that he was brash and acting out of an ulterior motive, yet he never so much as hinted as to what that motive was. Over the years, Kyana forgot about it, but continued to have her moments of the most consuming doubt. Any attempt on Kyana's part of indicating affection towards Geralt ceased, believing somehow she had frightened him off.  It tore at her every day, although the pain was worth it if it allowed Geralt to remain at her side for one more day.
                          
After travelling for the 76th time since they saw Jaskier, an incredible decade later, Geralt couldn't take not sleeping anymore. He stopped by a lake, stringing a net into it to attempt to catch a pot, carrying a powerful source. He wouldn't let Kyana help him, instead taking his anger and sleeplessness to throw the net harder and harder. 
                          
"Geralt, please just let me help you." Kyana insisted, approaching him slowly. His stare snapped to her, immediately softening in his harsh gaze, but his reserve was still there. 
                          
"It's alright, I've got it" Kyana rolled her eyes, grabbing onto a corner and tossing it into the water, watching it fly further than when Geralt threw it. He glanced at her, before moving his eyes back to the ends of the net. They continued to throw in silence, always receding the net with nothing in it. The past few years contained the average conversation between them, as though nothing had happened all those years ago. It drove both of them insane. Kyana suffered the most on that front, not only had she lost the person she felt so deeply for, but Jaskier had stopped sending letters.
                          
Rustling in the woods disturbed them. "Geralt! Kyana! It's nice to see you again. What has it been, months, years? Ah, What is time, anyway?" Kyana gave a gentle smile, throwing the net half way over the lake before turning to greet her beloved friend. 
                          
"Hello Jaskier." He grinned back at her, acknowledging her greeting. Her appearance surprised him; she had grown her hair into a huge, fluffy lions mane of sapphires, her eyes appeared dim and sleep deprived, yet her body was undeniably stronger. He observed as Kyana and Geralt continuously threw their net into the lake. 
                          
"How are you doing, I hear you ask." Jaskier commented sarcastically, aiming his barbed reply towards Geralt, who had yet to say a word. Geralt rolled his eyes, too exhausted to care what Jaskier had to say. He had grown tired of the bard after seeing Kyana write several letters, and was so crestfallen when none had been answered. Jaskier, even if he was subconscious of it, had caused her pain, which in turn caused Geralt distress.
                          
"I didn't." He replied gruffly, concentrating on the task at hand. The rope burned his fingers, leaving red and sometimes bloody marks along his hands that Kyana had bound at least a dozen times, yet he refused to wear the bandages. Jaskier completely ignored him, continuing in his revelation of bottled feelings without realizing Geralt's eyes glowing gold in restlessness. 
                          
"Well, the Countess de Stael, my muse and beauty of this world, has left me. Again. Rather coldly and unexpectedly, I might add. I fear I shall die a brokenhearted man. Or a hungry one, at the very least, unless somebody fancies sharing a fish with an old friend?" Geralt ignored Jaskier, picking up the net and all but wrenching it from the water, walking over to a new area to escape the annoying fly buzzing around his ear. "Oh, are we not using 'friend'? Yeah, sure let's just give it another decade." 
                          
Jaskier was met with Geralt's silence. "Jaskier, leave the poor man in peace." Kyana pleaded. It wasn't until Jaskier mentioned it did she realize how long it had been. Kyana and Geralt had been travelling around for years together, and all this time, they had grown closer. It would be centuries before the universe would bestow a more beautiful friendship, and truer feelings, to the world. "He hasn't been himself, and I fear you're aggravating him."