Geralt sailed for what seemed like forever before he reached the mists that had taken many a Skellige ship. He stopped just before it and reached for the bottle at his hip he'd placed the magical firefly for safekeeping. Uncorking it, the firefly flew out of it and into the mists. Geralt then followed it. He could see why it was so dangerous, he could barely see in front of him. As the firefly led him through a safe path, he observed different Skellige ships, and a few that weren't Skellig. Geralt assumed they'd been merchant ships. Each one seemed to have run aground on the rocks. The firefly soon led him to land and he followed it up a path to higher ground, dealing with a few foglets on the way. Geralt reached a small house and the firefly stopped above the door.

"Firefly's stopped at the hut. Oughta look inside." He tried the door and found it locked. He then knocked. "Anybody in there?" There was no answer. "Damn..."

Someone sneezed as Geralt turned away to look for another way inside.

He turned back to the door. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Open up."

"Ach! Ye blew our fuckin' cover."

"Who are ye and whaddaya want?" a second voice asked.

"I'm Geralt, a witcher."

"Argh. Go away!"

"Looking for a young woman – ashen hair, scar on her face. Will you let me in?"

"No!"

"How many of you are in there?"

"Why d'ye need to know? Ye takin' a bloody census?"

Geralt sighed, starting to grow annoyed.

"By me mum's beard, get yourselves together, lads," a new voice said. "You there! Outside the door! Geralt – that right?"

"Yeah. Geralt."

"Listen, Geralt. Let's cut to the thick of it. We survived a shipwreck – recently. Beasts from the depths ate some of my lads, and the rest of us found shelter here. Not too special, that, as dangers litter this isle. But it does go to explain why we're a wee bit distrustful."

"No way you can get to this isle conventionally."

"Crikey," the first voice said. "Ye call a shipwreck conventional?"

"Leave it be, mate," the one who Geralt was assuming was the leader said. "Ye know what he means."

Someone sneezed again. "Let me explain. A short while past we was en route from Skellige to Novigrad. And Ferenc got talkin' with the captain, who sold 'im a magic firefly purported to know the way to a hidden treasure."

Geralt rolled his eyes. "Listen, let's make a deal."

"If that's a demon, it'll try to dupe us now."

"I'm not a demon. You don't need to fear me. Gimme a chance, I'll prove it."

"How do ye aim to do that?"

"Say I find your mates, will you believe I mean you no harm?"

"Aye, but I'd not count on either comin' too easy..."

"How many are there?"

"Three: Ivo, Gaspard, and Ferenc."

After the dwarves told him where they last saw their mates, Geralt headed out to look for the missing. He found Ivo very much alive, but the dwarf slipped off the rock formation he'd climbed on to look for any ships and fell to his death. Ferenc he found dead, having been killed by a fiend. Geralt, in turn, took care of the beast. He found Gaspard alive at the lighthouse, fast asleep. After talking to Gaspard, who apparently was nicknamed Sleepy for obvious reasons, Geralt escorted him back to the hut where he knocked on the door. "Brought you your friend."

"That so?" The leader said. "Let's hear him, then."

Gaspard had dozed off while standing.

"Wake up."

His eyes snapped open. "I'm awake!"

The leader laughed. "Gaspard! Stand back, I'm openin' the door!" Six dwarves emerged from the hut. "Gaspard! Hah! You seem a bit muddled."

"Beh, err, muddled? A bit drowsy, that's all."

The leader looked at Geralt. "What of the others?"

"Found one near a monster's den. He was already dead, sadly. Saw another fall from a cliff. Broke his neck."

"Shit. Rabenick told me to have an eye on the snot. 'Twas his nephew. Thanks for helpin'. And, uh, sorry I didn't trust ye."

"Argh." The grouchy dwarf said. "Everything's gone wrong. What'll we do now?"

"Got a boat, you can leave with me. But I need to find someone first."

"An ashen-haired lass?" another dwarf asked.

"Yes."

"Oh – dreadfully sorry."

Geralt just looked at the dwarf. "What do you mean?"

"She's cold. Spirit's left her."

Geralt felt he'd been hit by the biggest monster in the gut.

"Must've passed shortly before we found her," the leader said. He motioned for his men to follow him. "Let's wait by the boat."

Geralt hesitated a moment before entering the hut. It was a simple, one-room hut. At the back wall was a bed. On the bed, lay Ciri, unmoving. Geralt slowly made his way to her, hoping that the dwarves were wrong. He should have been overjoyed at finally finding Ciri. But that chance that he was too late ate at him. He sat on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. Ciri still didn't move. He then rolled her over onto her back. Ciri's arm limply hung off the edge and Geralt stood, his chest feeling like someone had just blasted a hole into it. Several different thoughts went through his mind, the first being to murder Avallac'h upon his return to Kaer Morhen. He'd searched for Ciri, followed her across the Continent. This couldn't be how it ended. He sat down hard on the bed, putting his head in his hands. His Ciri couldn't be gone. She couldn't be dead. This had to be an illusion. But he knew, deep down, this was no illusion. He turned back to Ciri, pulling her into his arms and holding her close, rocking back and forth.

Geralt limped through the forest, the merchant calling after him, the words that Renfri had said to him as she lay dying echoing in his head.

The girl in the woods will be with you always. She is your destiny.

Geralt stopped, listening, before he saw the girl running toward him. Dirty ashen hair, a scared look in her green eyes, blue coat and brown riding dress. She stopped when she saw him and the Witcher knew, just knew, this was his Child Surprise. The one he'd been looking for since the fall of Cintra. A relieved look came across her face and she ran to him, her arms out.

Geralt opened his eyes when he felt Ciri hug him. He pulled back in surprise to find Ciri smiling at him. And very much alive. She pulled him back into a tight hug.

"Geralt," she said, happiness in her voice.

~~~

After their happy reunion, they sat in front of the fire, Ciri sitting cross-legged on the floor and Geralt on a stool. Ciri pulled out her sword and tended to it.

"Guess not all of Vesemir's teachings've receded into oblivion," Geralt commented with a smirk.

"'A Witcher can forget to eat," she quoted, "To drink, to breathe, even, but a Witcher never, ever forgets to care for his blade.'" She set the sword down next to her.

"Uh, yeah, used to repeat that incessantly. Never tired of doing it, either."

Ciri looked up at him. "What creature was it?"

"Huh? Creature?"

She motioned to his face. "One that gave you the scar over your left eye. It's new, I don't remember it."

"Souvenir from the cockatrice of Spalla. Another addition to the collection, nothing special. Yours has healed beautifully, though."

"Avallac'h – he prepared some special ointments for me. But that was before the curse gripped him..." She looked into the fire. "Wonder where he is now."

"We lifted the curse."

Ciri looked up at him with a hopeful look on her face.

"He's at Kaer Morhen, waiting for you."

Ciri looked pleased. "Are you serious? You must be. You'd not jest about something like that..." She gave a laugh, a sound Geralt had missed. "A nice thing to wake up to."

"You trust him?"

"Avallac'h? He's not let me down to date. Not once."

"Why exactly is Avallac'h helping you? Sages've never been fond of humans..."

"He doesn't do it for me, it's about my power. As if it could ever be about anything else. Avallac'h tried to teach me how to control my ability. He was also making sure I didn't fall into Eredin's hands."

"What's Eredin after? What's he want from you?"

"What everyone wants," Ciri sighed. "Control of my powers. His homeworld faces annihilation. Eredin's decided to invade ours. Brilliant, wouldn't you say? Can't achieve much on his own, so he needs to bring an army. Except his navigators can't possibly move him and thousands of Aen Elle between planes. Their abilities won't allow it."

"Whereas yours will..."

"Exactly. And if I die in the process – well, that's a necessary sacrifice."

"How'd you ever start traveling with Avallac'h?"

"As soon as I'd left you and Yen on the Isle of Avalon, I found myself pursued. Eredin and his Red Riders were on my heels. I fled through many worlds, many times... They came very close to catching me, once. It was then that Avallac'h appeared, out of nowhere. He found a portal and took us to a world where Eredin couldn't find us for..." She thought a moment. "Oh, perhaps half a year."

"The world where Eredin couldn't find you, what was it like?"

Ciri smiled. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"People there had metal in their heads, waged war from a distance, using things similar to megascopes. And there were no horses, everyone had their own flying ship instead."

"Ciri, stop fooling around."

She laughed. "Told you you wouldn't believe me." She then sighed. "Ah, we should've stayed there..."

"So why'd you return?"

"I thought the Hunt had lost my scent for good. I thought I was safe. Besides, I... I wanted to find you, you and Yennefer."

Geralt looked at her and smiled. "You were looking for us, we were looking for you... Times I thought you were just a step away. Other times, I felt like I was going around in circles..."

"I'm not surprised. There were times I fled pell-mell headfirst and forward."

Although he knew how her journey went from the Crones, Phillip, Jaskier, and Sjkall, Geralt wanted to hear it from Ciri first hand. "So tell me how it happened. Step by step."

"Eredin located us mere moments after we landed on Ard Skellig. Soon after, he and his riders surrounded us. I thought it was over, the end. Turned out Eredin had other plans. He produced the phylactery, uncorked it. A fog enveloped us, and Avallac'h began gasping for air."

"That's how Eredin cursed Avallac'h, triggered his transformation into Uma?"

"Yes. He didn't wish to kill him. Humiliation, that's what he was after. But Avallac'h refused to succumb without a fight. He cast a spell that wrought havoc in the Hunt's ranks."

"And in a full half of a forest on Ard Skellig."

"Yet it also gave us time to flee." Ciri uncrossed her legs and stretched out, leaning back on her hands. "Avallac'h opened a portal, I leapt in. He was supposed to follow, right behind me, but something went awry. Impaired by the curse, he failed to reach the portal in time. We had agreed that if anything went wrong and we were separated, we would meet at his hideout in Velen."

"But you failed to meet there..."

"Yes, we failed to. Once through the portal, instead of Avallac'h's hideout, I landed right in the middle of Crookback Bog. I barely escaped the Crones. And then there was the baron. You know he took me hunting? I killed a wild boar with my sword."

"I heard," Geralt said, amused.

"A coincidence, really. I had no desire to hunt that day, but it felt wrong to refuse. I'd taken nothing remotely resembling a hunting weapon. I simply hadn't intended to hunt. I was wandering through the forest, breathing deep the air, and then I heard a strange sound, unsettling."

"Boar attacked you?"

"Mhm." Ciri nodded. "Big as a bison." She motioned with her hands. "And lumbering straight at me. All I had was my sword. Had to manage."

"Did just fine judging by how the baron's men remember it."

"Simple soldiers, the whole lot, but we got along splendidly. A shame I had to leave, flee, but I didn't want to bring the Wild Hunt down on them. Apart from which, I knew by then the curse was progressing, so instead of looking for Avallac'h, I decided to find you and Yen."

"So how'd you even meet a man like Whoreson Junior?"

"You and Yennefer were nowhere to be found. And I needed someone who could fix the phylactery. No ordinary craftsman would do. I needed a mage, one with extraordinary powers. Jaskier took it upon himself to help me. It was as if his honor depended on it. He arranged a meeting with a mage, but it proved a trap set by the Temple Guard."

"Hmm, failed to mention that."

"Eh, probably didn't want to worry you. Later we learned the Guard did that sort of thing regularly, in the hope of nabbing anyone who collaborated with mages. We needed to find another way. That was clear. Then Jaskier said he knew a man who owned a piece of Novigrad, as he put it, could do more than others. He was certain to know someone who could fix the phylactery."

"Whoreson Junior."

"Mhm. I suspected it might not be the best idea, but I was desperate, had no choice."

"You suspected right. Whoreson was not the ideal partner in crime."

"Damned simpleton got it in his head that we'd cheated him and kidnapped Dudu."

"Who you promptly freed only to have to flee to Temple Isle. Great idea."

"We hadn't planned it, had no time to consider. We just bolted. I didn't even realize the guardsmen were driving me into a trap. Suddenly, there I was -- and I knew I had to disappear. At once."

"And that's when you landed back in Skellige."

"The shore of Hindarsfjall – the first pleasant place that came to mind. Hjalmar and I used to swim there."

"Wait, so... you actually wound up there by accident? I thought you and Avallac'h had arranged something."

"No, he simply sensed me use my power. Just as Eredin can sense where I am, where I travel. In fact, Eredin arrived soon after I did, his riders in tow... Once again, things happened quickly: Lofoten, the Hunt's attack, my flight... And then... dreams, just dreams..."

"What did you dream? I've had nothing but nightmares lately, pretty horrible."

"Likewise, for the most part. In one, a monster grown from a stillborn child chased you and Juray. Ugh, that was horrible... Had another of Juray welding magic as if she were a sorceress. Seemed to specialize in ice spells." She gave a chuckle. "Had a few nice dreams. For example, in one we sat around a fire, drinking good wine, and all around people danced and laughed."

"I like that one a lot better."

"Me too. But these dreams, and the others, ended in some tower. No matter what I'd dream, in the end, I would enter a tower..."

"Recognize it? Know where it might be?"

"Not sure... I don't think so, but there was something familiar about it... and something terrifying. The tower was stark and dead, but at the same time I felt I had to enter it."

"Did you?"

"No, dreams all ended with me searching for the entrance. And the last time, instead of the tower, I saw your grizzled face. If not for the scar over your eye, I'd have thought I was still dreaming."

"I was afraid you were dead. Found some dwarves here. Said they'd tried to wake you, but you were cold as ice, and you weren't breathing."

"And yet you came in."

"Who listens to dwarves these days?" Geralt said with a smirk, causing Ciri to giggle. "Speaking of which – they're probably getting antsy. We should go. Got a boat on the beach. Once we land, we'll head for Kaer Morhen. On horseback."

"Right. Conventional means of travel." The two stood. "They're just better. Though a portal would be quicker..."

"And draw Eredin to us immediately. Rather not risk it." They headed toward the door. "Besides, I hate portals."

Ciri laughed, remembering all too well his aversion to portals.

They stepped out of the hut and headed back toward the beach. But once they were in sight of the shore, they saw the boat push off the dock.

Geralt threw his arms up. "Damn..." Geralt didn't want to shout to draw attention from the creatures of the isle. "Listen, we gotta think of a way to—" He cut off, noticing the sudden chill in the air and the fact he could see his breath when he spoke. He turned back to Ciri, who had a scared look on her face. He followed her gaze and saw the flagship of the Wild Hunt approaching the isle. "Get us outta here."

"They'll know where we've gone, they'll know how to find me!"

"They already do. Ciri." He took her shoulders and it seemed to snap her out of the panic she was starting to go into. "Take us home."

Ciri looked up at Geralt, then back at the Hunt as they began to disembark. She then took Geralt's hand and focused. A moment later, they were gone.