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“We’ll try one more, ok?”
“Yessir.” You kicked a stone that sat near your feet, hand swinging with Eskel’s.
“I’m sorry, love. I can drop you off at the inn if you’re too tired.”
“No, no. I want to stay.”
Eskel sighed, tugging you along to your last stop. You’d been out all day looking for a new contract. All leads had been dead. Mostly just people turning their mundane into monsters. Selfish really, to waste a witcher’s time.
The past few months had been slow. Contracts were few and far between, meaning coin was tight. You hadn’t slept on a mattress in two months, nor had you eaten anything besides what you and Eskel could hunt and forage in the woods.
Eskel felt so guilty about all of it. He’d dragged you around the city since sunup without a break. You were so obviously tired, but you eagerly followed him. Partially since you felt bad too. Eskel worked so hard to provide for the two of you. He risked his life every day, and you were eternally grateful, but you couldn’t help but feel like you weren’t pulling your weight.
Naturally, he countered this by reminding you of all the work you put into your lives. You patched him up when he was wounded; you fought when you needed to, and when locals weren’t treating him fairly, you stood up for him, taking a few hits more often than not. But most importantly, you were there for him. Through everything.
You were the fixer, the shy witcher’s protector.
“Alright, that’s it. Let’s go.” Your last lead had brought up nothing. Yet another day was wasted.
“Mhm.” You held Eskel’s arm, resting your head against him as you walked. In the dark, you couldn’t see the bags under your lover’s eyes, but they were there. And by the time you were at your small camp, he was asleep. You sprawled yourself out on the sleeping mat as much as you could, your limbs comfortably tangled in his. But even though you were tired, you couldn’t possibly sleep.
Your mind was buzzing, and it wouldn’t quiet. Upsetting thoughts flooded your mind. Like the weight that must be breaking Eskel’s back and how you had no clue how to help take some of that weight off. You suppressed a quiet sob and slowly wiped your nose, careful not to jostle the sleeping witcher.
You tried to focus on anything else. Like how Eskel’s chest rose and fell with his slow breaths, as yours did with your fast ones. Or the sound of the leaves in the trees above you. You were glad he wasn’t awake to see you like this. After half an hour and a couple deep breaths, you nuzzled your nose into Eskel’s chest and willed yourself to sleep.
In the next week, you traveled to Novigrad. Such a large city was bound to have at least one good job. And gods, you were happy. You loved the city, having spent much of your youth there.
When you entered the city, the bustling streets both excited and overwhelmed you. You had forgotten how much that had bothered you. But no matter, you were here for one reason and you were determined.
As luck would have it, there was a job. A haunting in an old house in the middle of the city. It payed well and looked especially promising. After talking to the man that posted the contract, Eskel set the two of you up in an inn, and when the sun eventually set, he left. You were sprawled out over the bed on your back, staring at the discolored and cracked ceiling. Your face scrunched up, and you sat upright, swinging your feet off the bed.
The chatter and the sound of utensils hitting plates floated up to your room from the tavern below. Your hand moved to fiddle with the bracelet on your wrist and an idea popped into your head.
It was a terribly reckless idea. The risks were too high. But you were overcome with the rush of it, remembering how well you did and how much it could help your current situation. You would relive your days of pick-pocketing here in the same city in which you learned the skill.
You weren’t thinking straight. Not only had you neglected the fact that you had not stolen in some time, you didn’t think about what you would tell Eskel, and how disappointed in you he might be.
You quickly pulled your boots on and headed out. You would have to find another tavern. Too much of a risk to do it there. The night was bitter, and you pulled your cloak closer to your body, covering yourself as much as you could.
This is for Eskel, you repeated in your mind as you took a seat at the bar. You reluctantly bought an ale and turned in your seat, observing the room in front of you.
To your left, in the far corner of the room, was a table which sat four men, all completely out of it. A small plate of fisstech sat in the middle of the table. They would be suitable targets, but riskier if you got caught. In the middle of the room was a wealthy-looking couple. Their heads were down and you could see they were talking. Maybe. A bard stood on a platform at the right wall and a small crowd of people stood watching him. And throughout the room, at small tables, and at the bar, were the rest of the patrons. They moved about freely, and you might be able to snatch something off one of them.
You turned back around in your seat, taking a large sip. Suddenly, you were pushed forward in your seat. A man had bumped into you and didn’t seem to notice you slipping your hand into his pocket. You only managed a couple of coins. Not looking at them, you stuffed the coins in your pocket.
Slowly, you did the same to two other patrons, then pausing to lean against an empty chair in the middle of the tavern. Absentmindedly, you tugged at the bracelet on your wrist, a simple chain that Eskel had gifted you. Glancing down at the table beside you, you got an idea. The man’s coat was hung over the back of his chair, a pouch full of coins. Swiftly, you unclasped your bracelet and let it fall from your wrist to the floor.
This gave you the opportunity to bend down, grabbing both your bracelet and the pouch. You had just clasped the chain when you heard a deep voice yelling beside you.
“That bitch just stole from me!”
It was as if your heart dropped into your stomach. Your feet moved before you could even think, thankfully nobody blocked your way to the door. The chilly night air choked you from how fast you were running. You circled your inn before entering, just in case anybody followed you. They had. It was just no one saw you enter.
As nonchalantly as you could, you walked upstairs to your room. Thankfully, your hood hid the panic on your face. You immediately stripped yourself of the cloak when you shut the room door behind you. Your chest heaved, and you noticed your whole body was shaking. You didn’t bother lighting the fire, better make it seem as if nobody was in the room.
When you calmed down a bit, and after your vision cleared of tears, you pulled your earnings out of your pocket. They were meager at best. And just the best of all, you noticed that you must not have clasped your bracelet on right and you had lost that too.
You mentally beat yourself up. How could you be so careless? And for once in your life, you didn’t know how to fix something. Eskel would come back and you would have no idea what to say to him. Not only had you gone out and stolen from someone, but you had gotten caught doing it. And you lost the bracelet that you held most dear, your prized possession.
You sat on the ground on the side of the bed, so anyone walking into the room couldn’t see you. Going to sleep wasn’t an option, so you sat up and dwelled in your thoughts.
Eskel had gone back to the man who posted the contract and had gotten his reward, the first honest money they’d seen in weeks. He stopped at a bathhouse so he could just crawl into bed with you when he got to the inn.
He was clean and in good spirits when he caught a glimpse of silver on the ground. Upon looking closer, he realized it was your bracelet. He was close to the inn, so he decided to check your room first.
His heart thudded against his chest as he climbed the stairs, pushing past some stray and staggering drunks on the way up. A feeling of dread filled him when he touched the door handle, but he turned it anyway. There was no light in the room, and no fire in the hearth.
He called your name, his voice was barely a whisper, but you heard it. You popped your head up from behind the bed, using your hands to help you stand. Eskel immediately noticed that something was wrong, starting with the tremor that still ran through your hands.
“What happened?”
“I fucked up. Eskel, I did something very bad.” You had never feared the witcher in front of you, but at the moment, you feared his reaction. How easy it would be for him to simply leave you here.
But he simply shed himself of his armor and sat on the bed, lit the fire, and sat, opening his arms for you. Sitting beside him, your side pressed up against him, you told him everything.
Somewhere in the middle of your story, you had gotten up. You had to brace your hands on the mantle to ground yourself. Your last detail was that a group of guards had been seated right next to the table you stole from, and they had each gotten a very clear view of your face.
Your name, that’s all he had to say and you started to cry.
“I can fix this.” You brought your hands up to your head, bringing one down only to clutch at your chest in a desperate attempt to calm your breathing. “I can fix this, I promise.”
“Darling, it’s going to be ok. Let me take care of things for once, alright?”
“But no, Eskel! You take care of everything! I caused this. I fucked this up for both of us! I need to fix it.” Your words were barely intelligible through your choked sobs. “I’m so sorry. I’m so-”
Eskel knew you were truly fucked. There was no way you would be able to make it out of the city with the city guards now having a clear image of your face to work with. But he wouldn’t bring that up. He would take care of this, and he would make things better.
“I- I’ll never be able to come back here, will I?”
“I’m sure that’s not true. You didn’t even steal that much. Give it a couple years, everyone will have forgotten this. Not that it’s a big deal anyway.”
Truth was, he didn’t know how big of a deal it was until he heard dogs barking outside. You tried to muffle your already soft cries as you looked out the window. At least they weren’t focusing on this inn.
“Oh gods, Eskel.” You brought your hand up to your mouth. “My bracelet, it must have fallen off when I ran. When I- I had to -”
“It’s right here, love.” He slipped it back on your wrist, clasping it with ease.
“We’ll be fine.” Eskel rubbed your back, helping with your panicked state. “We’ll be able to get out of the city through the sewers. It’ll be dangerous-”
“-and gross.”
Eskel laughed, glad you could joke. “Yes, and gross. But we’ll get through this. And on the bright side, we have more coin now.”
“Hardly worth it, Eskel.” You tried to sound stern , but you failed, bringing a laugh out of your lover.
The next week, you got into the sewers. When Eskel wasn’t dealing with the drowners that resided there, he was carrying you, so you didn’t have to walk through the sewer water.
Before you knew it, you were out of Novigrad. The moon was high in the sky and the two of you walked a little upstream to strip and bathe. The water was icy, but Eskel did a good job of distracting you. When you were both clean, he started a fire, and you both huddled close and finally relaxed.
“I love you, Eskel.”
“I love you too.”
“I’m still very sorry.”
“Don’t be. Now we have a fun story that we can look back on and laugh.”
You turned your head around as much as you could in your spot under Eskel’s arm.
“Maybe you will be able to. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. I used to be really good at that, you know? Like, the best.”
“I’m sure you were, darling. Now let’s go to sleep.”
“Hey. I’m not lying.”
“I didn’t think you were.”
“Shut up.”