Juray had felt dark magic all the way in Lofeton as she spoke to the priestess to tell her she'd been able to lift the curse and they had their garden back. They rewarded her handsomely and she quickly made her way back to Freya's Garden. She could feel the energy in her moonstone pendant almost immediately drain as she set foot back in the garden. She made her way back to Geralt and Yennefer. To see her questioning a very dead Craven using necromantic magic. She'd arrived in time to hear him tell her how a mysterious mage had taken Ciri away and he later saw an ugly creature on the beach he woke up on.

"What became of that creature?" Yennefer asked. "Where is he?"

"Stop!" Craven cried.

"What?!"

Juray hadn't expected Yennefer to stoop this low in her search, noticing how the garden was whithering around them.

"Saw him at Donar's. But he sold him."

"To whom?"

"Don't know."

"Begone."

"Tell them! Clear my name!"

"Begone I say!"

Craven screamed before falling back, completely dead once more.

"Fucking hell..." Juray breathed. "What did you do?"

Yennefer was holding her head and looking sick.

"Yen?" Geralt took her arms. "You all right?"

"I'm fine now. The spell..." She shuddered. "Imagine putting wriggling cockroaches in your mouth... Or swimming in manure. That's more or less how it felt."

"We should get out of here before the priestesses arrive and see their garden like this," Juray said.

Yennefer nodded in agreement and turned toward where Juray was standing.

"The garden..." the priestess cried and Juray turned, stepping aside as she and the young woman from the village approached them. "Our garden! How could you...? We helped... and you – Inconceivable."

"Now, now...," Yennefer began.

"Don't you dare try to calm me. We've every right to be furious. Furious! And you..." she pointed at them. "You will pay for this!"

"We had no choice," Geralt said. "We'd never have learned what happened to our—"

"Do you really think you're justified?! That your hunt for a foreign woman gives you the right to destroy our garden?"

"I'm sure it doesn't in your eyes," Yennefer said.

"I shall make sure all of Skellige hears what the three of you did here."

"Wait..." Yennefer interjected. "I did this. I alone. Geralt tried to stop me... I refused to listen. And Juray wasn't even here."

Juray was surprised that Yennefer was shouldering the entirety of the blame.

"I might have known. They warned me about you..."

"Sorceresses..." the other woman spat.

Yennefer had the sense to look dejected.

"None shall open their door to you, none shall feed your hunger, and none shall tend to your wounds," the priestess cursed Yennefer. The women then left.

"Yen... you didn't have to do that," Geralt said.

"But I wanted to. I'd rather not talk about it. We must focus on what Skjall told us."

"Much better name than Craven," Juray said. "What did you learn?"

"He didn't run," Geralt said. "He was helping Ciri escape the Wild Hunt." He sighed. "Key to finding Ciri is that ugly... thing Skjall saw on the beach. That's what I think." He then frowned. "You know... Juray and I saw something... or someone who looked just like that."

"We did?" Juray asked.

"In Velen... Remember the creature we met that you sensed in the castle?"

"Baron said he won it in a card game in Novigrad from a Skellige merchant. There was magic I'd not sensed before."

"You must go and get the creature," Yennefer said. "I don't know – buy him, kidnap him..."

"The magic I was sensing must be whatever curse it's being subjected to. But we won't be able to talk to it unless we can figure out how to lift the curse. Its mind is a jumble... Can't have anything resembling a normal conversation with it."

"Nothing a sorceress and a couple Witchers can't handle." She looked at Juray. "Especially a Witcher that seems to specialize in curses."

Juray rolled her eyes, but she had a point. No Witcher had her track record of lifted curses.

Yennefer looked at Geralt. "Now, tell me – do you...?" she trailed off. "No, never mind."

"What?" Geralt asked.

Yennefer sighed. "Tell me... Both of you. Do you think... Is there a chance that thing might be Ciri? That... well... she's transformed by some curse?"

"Don't even wanna think about it."

"Geralt... We must." She looked at Juray. "Juray?"

"Maybe. From what we learned in Novigrad, she was looking to cure a powerful curse." She looked between the two. "We will only find out once we get Uma and figure out how to lift the curse."

"Didn't learn much here," Geralt sighed. "Though... though we can be sure Ciri's not in Skellige anymore. Not in Velen or Novigrad, either... She's disappeared. Again."

"Perhaps we should reexamine what we've learned. We might've missed a clue that would push us forward..."

"Certainly hope that's the case." He gave a disgruntled noise. "Ugh. Makes me wonder what she's gotten herself into."

"Trouble," Juray said. "As usual."

Yennefer gave a small smile. "Can't even begin to imagine. But we will pull her out of it, safe and sound. That I promise you."

"Ciri's trail in Skellige – we've followed it, exhausted the possibilities... Might be time to go back to the Continent."

"Before you do, Geralt, there's one thing... It's important."

"What's that?"

"Let's meet in Larvik, at the warriors' hall." She looked at Juray. "Just the two of us. We'll speak there."

"I can take a hint," Juray said. "I'll see if I can book passage back to the Continent. Head back to Crow's Peak and see if I can get Ardel to part with Uma."

"See you there."

~~~

Yennefer opened a portal back to Ard Skellig and Erimon's camp for Juray so she could pick up Shadowmount and head back to Kaer Trolle to find a ship back to the Continent and Geralt accompanied her to Larvik.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For your help in the garden. I'd not have managed without you."

"It was nothing."

"Geralt, you know me. I'm rare to praise, but when I do, it is sincere."

They arrived in Larvik and Yennefer went inside the tavern while Geralt tied off the horses.

"Begone from the village, barren whore!" Geralt heard someone say as he walked in. His attention went to who spoke, to see two men harassing Yennefer and his first thought was how he was about to watch their impending deaths. Yennefer was extremely sensitive of her inability to have children.

"You'd best take that back," she responded dangerously.

"Ye defiled sacred ground! The gods'll never forgive you for this!"

"Ye ain't welcome here, witch!"

Yennefer waved her hand, casting a spell that dazed the two men and they stumbled off as she stomped over to a table in the corner.

Geralt joined her. "Always did know how to win friends," he said in an attempt to distract her.

"I was provoked."

"Mhm, saw it happen. Wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Amos var Ypsis, a specialist on djinns – heard of him?"

Geralt shook his head.

"I found a tome he'd penned in the emperor's library. Var Ypsis set off for Skellige one day and was never heard from again. I asked some of the local folk. Some here still remember him."

"They know what happened to him?"

"The locals say they last saw his ship off the coast of Hindarsfjall. Then a once-in-an-eon storm broke."

"So he's probably fish food by now."

"Not necessarily. I must learn what became of him."

"Why? D'you know him?"

"No. It's not the mage who interests me – it's his djinn."

Geralt looked at Yennefer. The two had met because of a djinn. He and Jaskier had found one and Geralt had accidentally uttered a wish that caused it to attack the bard. Yennefer had been the only one to reverse the djinn's spell, but tried to capture it for herself and Geralt had used his last wish to save her by binding her fate to his. Their sometimes rocky, on and off again relationship had all be because of a djinn's spell.

"You sure this mage actually had a djinn?" Geralt asked, really not wanting a repeat of the last time they'd encountered one.

"His books strongly suggest he did. He describes taming one, harnessing energy from its power."

"Storm wouldn't pose a threat if he'd had a djinn. He could just utter a wish."

"Perhaps he had none left. Or something unexpected happened..."

"Why're you even interested? Remember what happened last time?"

"I remember. But the advantages outweigh the risks. If I can tame a djinn, I shall gain incredible power. And that could be useful to use one of these days."

Geralt sighed, the very reason she'd tried to tame the last one and almost destroyed an entire town in the process. But he knew she wouldn't give up this plan.

"All right. So what exactly do you expect me to do?"

"You must help me find this djinn."

"What?"

"I've no gold to offer in reward... but I shall be ever so grateful."

Geralt sighed. "Fine, I'll help."

"Thank you. A boat awaits in the harbor. Come."

"So you've managed to prepare everything already."

"I have."

"How could you possibly know I'd agree?"

"I didn't. Decided to risk it..."

"Lead the way."

"Just once you might try to take the initiative."

"Would you even let me?"

Yennefer smirked. "It would depend on the situation."

~~~

Juray found a merchant vessel that would be sailing to the Continent, but it would be several days until the captain would be ready to sail. A sailor told her about a tourney that she could enter, having recognized her as the champion of the Novigrad championship. With it being Skellige, the fighters just saw her as another warrior, with one of them being another woman. Juray was eventually sent to fight the Skellige champion in an arena.

"You've come to fight Olaf?"

"Assuming that's the Skellige champion, then yes."

The fight master smiled. "He's long awaited a worthy opponent."

"First time I've been in a tourney with an actual arena."

"Built thanks to another's generosity. Berna Bran donated her jewels."

Juray raised a brow. "Was this before or after she was executed?"

"Several years ago, when that boy of hers was just growing fuzz on his chin. Pity what she was mixed up with."

"Where's Olaf?" All the other fighters she'd faced had met with her to gloat how they were going to break her.

"He'll show, as soon as he's got an opponent."

"Let's do this."

"Fist fightin's a Skellige tradition. And here on Ard Skellig, that tradition's damn near hallowed."

"Then I'll fight if my life depended on it."

"What do they call you, Witcher?"

"Juray of Riverdell."

"Enter the arena, Juray of Riverdell." He motioned behind him. "Emerge victorious, and you'll have the honor of facing the Champion of Champions."

Juray stepped into the arena without armor or swords, wearing the sleeveless shirt she always wore beneath her armor.

"Fightin' is our sacred tradition!" the fight master announced. "The blood spilt in this arena bears witness to the clan's strength! The victor today will be the champion!" The door across from Juray began to open. "Yet any who is bold enough to fight is already a hero."

Out of the door stepped... a bear.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me?!"

The bear roared and charged at Juray. She dodged a paw, landing a blow to the side of Olaf's head. Olaf shook his head and growled. Juray used her smaller form to dance around him and dazed him with several blows to the head before Olaf fell. Juray stepped back and the bear tried to rise. He groaned and fell again. After a few minutes, the bear turned into an unconscious naked man.

"The winner is Juray of Riverdell!" The fight master cried, causing the crowd to roar.

Juray left the arena, surprised that she'd been able to defeat a berserker with just her fists.

"You defeated Olaf," the fight master said, clapping Juray on the shoulder. "'Twas a fair fight."

"For me or him?"

The fight master laughed. "You are the Champion of the Isles. Take pride, my friend."

Juray was replacing her armor when a middle-aged man approached her.

"Your fights have been most impressive," he said. "You've defeated men bigger than you who have underestimated you due to your gender."

"Don't forget the bear."

He laughed. "Ah, too true. Would you consider dropping these amateur hayseed thumps? Fighting professionally, perhaps?"

"Professionally?"

"I seek someone who has what it takes to dethrone the Champion of Champions. A certain Skelliger now holds the title. I believe you alone stand to beat him. Ask yourself: have I the bollocks to throw down the gauntlet to the Champion of Champions?"

Juray scoffed. "I just beat the shit out of a bear. I can try my hand at being Champion of Champions."

"Excellent! Come with me to Spikeroog. It's where the current Champion of Champions fights."

"I'm waiting on a ship to be ready to take me back to the Continent. I would hate to miss it."

"If you do, I will arrange passage on one of me own vessels. Have we a deal?"

"We have a deal."