Ch 38 Blood and Plans

'That looks good. I wonder what it is. I'm sure vyr won't mind just a bite. She doesn't any other time.' Ruby rationalized in her head. Having thought it out she reached over with a spoon to try some.

Right as she was about to dip her spoon into Vyr's bowl, a grip strong as steel stopped her. Looking up, Geralt was there holding her arm in place.

"You DON'T want to do that girl." He said getting the attention of everyone else.

"Uh, ok?" Ruby said, confused.

Geralt released her arm and looked at Vyr who was still lost in thought. Seeing that, Geralt gave her a slap to the back of the head and said "Wake up. Pay attention to your surroundings. Just because you've graduated doesn't mean you can forget your training."

"Sorry, Just got a lot on my mind." Vyr said before eating quickly.

"Why cant i try some of yours?" Ruby asked quietly to vyr as she leaned over"

"Because it's witcher food, and you're not a witcher." Geralt said having heard her with his enhanced senses.

"What's that supposed to mean? Why does it matter." Ruby asked

"Have you not told them about witchers?" Josh asked incredulously

"I mean i did sum it up, but no i didn't go into every detail." Vyr says a bit embarrassed, a small blush gracing her face.

As they started going over the ins and outs of witchers, more people showed up and joined them at the table.

As Artorias, Ciaran and Sif can in the elves were noticeably uncomfortable. They started shifting away from the three like they were plague bearers.

Seeing Sif walk over and lay down next to Vyr Fethi spoke up and tried to ease the tension " I can see why they call you Lady Wolf." with a small shallow following.

"Believe it or not, this is the first time most of those joining us have come here. Sif included." Vyr said petting Sif with one hand.

Seeing Vyr actually touch Sif, Fethi jerked in her seat as if she had been stung. Meanwhile there were various emotions going around as the others were explained the various witcher trials and training.

"Are you ok?" Vyr asked confused as she ignored the pity looks she was receiving.

(Fethi)"I would ask you the same. Should you really be touching that?"

"What sif? Why wouldn't I pet him?"

"Uh s-sure. Just don't let them near us. I'll take my leave." Fethi said, looking uncomfortable before getting up and leaving the room. The other elves that came with her soon gave similar excuses and left as well.

As vyr was watching them leave and wondering why they were so unsettled in the presence of her dark souls friends, Geralt got her attention and said "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Your "teammates". They have never been on a "hunt" before" Gerald didn't ask but stated firmly.

"Yeah about that. Where they come from is significantly more … i don't want to say peaceful, so easier would be the better word."

Geralt gave her a calculating look before guessing "and you want to fix that while your here. Don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Yang, who had been listening in.

"Well this is technically an outing where you're supposed to learn something and become a better huntress. That's part of the reason why Ospin let us come here. So it's completely optional but i thought it would be best if everyone got some hands on experience of what a real huntsman contract is like. Of course there will have to be some rules and things but yeah, what do you all say?"

"YES!" Ruby yelled with stars in her eyes as she vibrates excitedly in her seat, one arm in the air.

"Awesome!" Yelled yang as she was infected with ruby's energy.

"It would~ be a good experience. Alright I agree." Weiss said calmly, but her body language gave away her real feelings of excitement.

Blake on the other hand had given looks of pity and inner turmoil as she realized what Geralt and Vyr were meaning, and what this was really about. Looking at vyr she made eye contact before slowly nodding.

"Great then we will split up accordingly, and each group will take on a hunting contract."

"What are the groups?" Weiss asked

"Hrmm. Ruby, you, Geralt, and Trey will be group one. Me, Yang, Blake, and Josh will be group two."

"wait , what? Why am I being dragged into this?" Josh asked, surprised at having been pulled into the conversation.

"Aww why can we all go together?" Ruby asked pouting.

"It's for practice ruby. Being a good huntress means being able to work with different people on the fly. Besides it will be fine. I trust Geralt and Trey with my life. And i'll be going with Josh so it will be fine on that side too."

(josh) "OI! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hm? oh , nothing. Dont worry about it." Vyr said, waving him off.

"What would we do about the elves? We can't leave them here unattended." Trey says in a low voice.

"I mean we pretty much can. We took their weapons and armor, plus it's not like no one will be here while we are gone."

"You trust that Knight and his wife that much? He did stab you, remember." Geralt added.

"Yeah i don't want to hear that from you. Or should we talk about some of the more "questionable" training we went through? Damn that sounds bad. Whatever, you know what I mean."

"Still will they be enough?" Josh asked concerned.

"Honestly if Artorias and Ciaran wanted to take this place by force, we'd be hard pressed to stop them. Hell Kal could destroy the entire valley in ten minutes more than likely."

"Why do you always bring dangerous things home? Leave them were you found them dammit." Josh moans realising vyr was serious.

"Nah~. gotta collect'em all, you know?" Vyr says back playfully.

"Kalameet seemed pretty nice, he wouldn't do that anyway." ruby said happily.

"Yup, yup. Now what contracts are up for grabs lately Vyr said, pushing the conversation along.

*sigh* "The people in one of the towns a day, maybe two out, said they were having some troubles. Thanks to you teaching the locals common monster signs, they concluded it was a leshen. Thing is though, from what they told us it's a pretty old one. It's even gotten a couple of bears in its animal pack." Josh said listing out a job he had in mind to take.

"damn, that's pretty tough. Has it been a problem to the village?"

"Not yet but the sightings say it's been expanding its territory."

"Yeah one of the groups should definitely take that one. What oth-"

"I'm sorry but what is this leshin thing you were talking about?" Weiss asked, cutting in.

"A leshEn is something along the lines of a humanoid tree spirit. They can't talk but they can use tactics like setting up traps and ambushes. It uses stealth and planning along with its inborn ability to control plants and wild animals to attack and kill. They are known for being fiercely territorial so for one to expand near a settlement is really bad. Generally they are like a tall thin tree person with an animal skull mask. Almost all of them are made of some kind of tree, but this is not always the case." Trey said listing off reliably, from his memory.

"Thanks, Now we got two groups. We need another contract. Anyone got anything?" Vyr said with a nod at trey in thanks.

"I have a requested contract that could work." Geralt pitched in gruffly.

"Is that fine?" Vyr asked. If it was a requested contract that meant Geralt was staking his reputation on the line to take it. If it went wrong it could seriously harm his future. The whole reason he took the "of Rivia" even though it was untrue, was to help build rep when he was starting up.

"Hmpf. should be fine." he said slowly before continuing "the Requester is an old friend. Said they have problems in their territory. something's digging up graves to get to the bodies inside. Normally they could handle it but this time it seems whatevers doing it, is managing to get away without leaving tracks. At least not any they can follow."

"If you say it's fine, then it must be. Alright seems like we're set. Let's get ready today and we'll set off tomorrow morning. That's good with everyone?" Vyr asked, looking all around.

As everyone was breaking up and going to prepare, Geralt pulled Vyr to the side and asked "are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's not like i didn't think this through. Like I said, their world may be easier in general, but if I'm right. One of the nations are about to wage war on a massive scale. It's better to do this now than to have it happen on a battlefield." Vyr said with determination.

Geralt gave it a thought and could easily see the logic behind his adopted daughter's words. He gave an affirmative grunt and walked off. If this was going to happen like he thought, he and trey needed to be prepared.

As Vyr headed to the door she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. Blake was standing behind her and it was clear she wanted to talk.

"Is this really ok?" she asked nervously.

"Blake your smart. And I know you already went through this before. I'm not gonna ask, that's your business. If you wanna share i'll listen anytime. But you know they will have to go through this someday. Hunters and Huntresses will all have it happen eventually, Just like witchers." Vyr said calmly.

"Yes, but not yet. They don't have to go through it yet."

"Your right." Vyr said, surprising Blake. "We could just pretend it won't happen and everything will be fine. But as people who have been through it, we both know how dangerous it can be. They could freeze in the middle of a fight or just shut down after. At least this way they will be with tried and tested pros who can help them both during and after."

Even after hearing all that, it was easy to tell Blake was still second guessing herself. As she walked away she could hear vyr mutter to herself "we all have to be tested sometime. It's better they kill someone while they are in safe hands. Please forgive me Ruby."