something terribly clever… Jarre reads various learned books and knows it all, but I think…'
'It interests me, what you think, Ciri.'
'In Cintra… That time… Lady Yennefer, my grandmother was much cleverer than Jarre. King Eist was clever, too. He sailed the seas, saw everything, even a narwhal and sea serpent, and I bet he also saw many an analogy. And so what? Suddenly they appeared, the Nilfgaardians…'
Ciri raised her head and her voice stuck in her throat. Yennefer put her arms around her and hugged her tightly.
'Unfortunately,' she said quietly, 'unfortunately, you're right, my ugly one. If the ability to make use of experience and draw conclusions decided, we would have forgotten what war is a long
time ago. But those whose goal is war have never been held back, nor will be, by experience or analogy.'
'So… It's true, after all. There is going to be a war. Is that why we have to leave?'
'Let's not talk about it. Let's not worry too soon.'
Ciri sniffed.
'I've already seen a war,' she whispered. 'I don't want to see another. Never. I don't want to be alone again. I don't want to be frightened. I don't want to lose everything again, like that time. I don't want to lose Geralt… or you, Lady Yennefer. I don't want to lose you. I want to stay with you. And him. Always.'
'You will.' The magician's voice trembled a little. 'And I'm going to be with you, Ciri. Always. I promise you.'
Ciri sniffed again. Yennefer coughed quietly, put down the scissors and comb, got to her feet and crossed over to the window. The ravens were still croaking in their flight towards the mountains.
'When I arrived here,' the lady magician suddenly said in her usual, melodious, slightly mocking voice. 'When we first met… You didn't like me.'
Ciri did not say anything. Our first meeting, she thought. I remember. I was in the Grotto with the other girls. Hrosvitha was showing us plants and herbs. Then Iola the First came in and whispered something in Hrosvitha's ear. The priestess grimaced with animosity. And Iola the First came up to me with a strange expression of her face. 'Get yourself together, Ciri,' she said, 'and go the refectory, quick. Mother Nenneke is summoning you. Someone has arrived.'
Strange, meaningful glances, excitement in their eyes. And whispers. Yennefer. 'Magician Yennefer. Quick, Ciri, hurry up. Mother Nenneke is waiting. And she is waiting.'
I knew immediately, thought Ciri, that it was her. Because Yd seen her. I'd seen her the night before. In my dream.
Her.
I didn't know her name then. She didn't say anything in my dream. She only looked at me and behind her, in the darkness, I saw a closed door…
Ciri sighed. Yennefer turned and the obsidian star on her neck glittered with a thousand reflections.
'You're right,' admitted the girl seriously, looking straight into the magician's violet eyes. 'I didn't like you.'
'Ciri,' said Nenneke, 'come closer. This is Lady Yennefer from Vengerberg, Mistress of Wizardry. Don't be frightened. Lady Yennefer knows who you are. You can trust her.'
The girl bowed, interlocking her palms in a gesture of full respect. The enchantress, rustling her long, black dress, approached, took Ciri by the chin and quite off-handedly lifted her head, turning it right and left. The girl felt anger and rebellion rising within her – she was not used to being treated this way. And at the same time, she experienced a burning envy. Yennefer was very beautiful. Compared to the delicate, pale and rather common comeliness of the priestesses and novices who Ciri saw every day, the magician glowed with a conscious, even demonstrative loveliness, emphasised and accentuated in every detail. Her raven-black locks cascading down her shoulders shone, reflected the light like the feathers of a peacock, curling and undulating with every move. Ciri suddenly felt ashamed, ashamed of her grazed elbows, chapped hands, broken nails, her ashen, stringy hair. All of a sudden, she had an overwhelming desire to possess what Yennefer had – a beautiful, exposed neck and on it a lovely black velvet ribbon with a lovely glittering star. Regular eyebrows, accentuated with charcoal, and long eyelashes. Proud lips. And those two mounds which rose with every breath, hugged by black cloth and white lace…
'So this is the famous Surprise.' The magician twisted her lips a little. 'Look me in the eyes, girl.'
Ciri shuddered and hunched her shoulders. No, she did not envy Yennefer that one thing – did not desire to have it or even look at it. Those eyes, violet, deep as a fathomless lake, strangely bright, dispassionate and malefic. Terrifying.
The magician turned towards the stout high priestess. The star on her neck flamed with reflections of the sun beaming through the window into the refectory.
'Yes, Nenneke,' she said. 'There can be no doubt. One just has to look into those green eyes to know that there is something in her. High forehead, regular arch of the brows, eyes set attractively apart. Narrow nose. Long fingers. Rare hair pigment. Obvious elven blood, although there is not much of it in her. An elven great- grandfather or great-grandmother. Have I guessed correctly?'
'I don't know her family tree,' the high priestess replied calmly. 'It didn't interest me.'
'Tall for her age,' continued the magician, still appraising Ciri with her eyes. The girl was boiling over with fury and annoyance, struggling with an overpowering desire to scream defiantly, scream her lungs out, stamp her feet and run off to the park, on the way knocking over the vase on the table and slamming the door so as to make the plaster crumble from the ceiling.
'Not badly developed.' Yennefer did not take her eyes off her. 'Has she suffered any infectious diseases in childhood? Ha, no doubt you didn't ask her about that either. Has she been ill since she's been here?'
No.'
'Any migraines? Fainting? Inclination to catch cold? Painful periods?'
No. Only those dreams.'
'I know.' Yennefer gathered the hair from her cheek. 'He wrote about that. It appears from his letter that in Kaer Morhen they didn't try out any of their… experiments on her. I would like to believe that's true.'
'It is. They gave her only natural stimulants.'
'Stimulants are never natural!' The magician raised her voice. Never! It is precisely the stimulants which may have aggravated her symptoms in… Damn it, I never suspected him of such irresponsibility!'
'Calm down.' Nenneke looked at her coldly and, all of a sudden, somehow oddly without respect. 'I said they were natural and absolutely safe. Forgive me, dear, but in this respect I am a greater authority than you. I know it is exceedingly difficult for you to
accept someone else's authority but in this case I am forced to inflict it on you. And let there be no more talk about it.'
'As you wish.' Yennefer pursed her lips. 'Well, come on, girl. We don't have much time. It would be a sin to waste it.'
Ciri could barely keep her hands from shaking; she swallowed hard and looked inquiringly at Nenneke. The high priestess was serious, as if sad, and the smile with which she answered the unspoken question was unpleasantly false.
'You're going with Lady Yennefer now,' she said. 'Lady Yennefer is going to be looking after you for a while.'
Ciri bowed her head and clenched her teeth.
'You are no doubt baffled,' continued Nenneke, 'that a Mistress of Wizardry is suddenly taking you into her care. But you are a reasonable girl, Ciri. You can guess why. You have inherited certain… attributes from your ancestors. You know what I am talking about. You used to come to me, after those dreams, after the nocturnal disturbances in the dormitory. I couldn't help you. But Lady Yennefer-'
'Lady Yennefer,' interrupted the magician, 'will do what is necessary. Let us go, girl.'
'Go,' nodded Nenneke, trying, in vain, to make her smile at least appear natural. 'Go, child. Remember it is a great privilege to have someone like Lady Yennefer look after you. Don't bring shame on the Temple and us, your mentors. And be obedient.'
I'll escape tonight, Ciri made up her mind. Back to Kaer Morhen. I'll steal a horse from the stables and that's the last they'll see of me. I'll run away!
'Indeed you will,' said the magician under her breath.
