Ciri smiled instinctively as she saw him come in through the door. She didn't know why she had that reaction to someone she'd only known for such a short time, and who'd already warmed her backside, but she did. It was like it had been with Geralt: She trusted him implicitly.



"Just reading", she answered his question. "That story about Frodo Baggins and the ring he has to destroy. The author of the story does seem to have a strange fascination with detail...maybe a bit too much", she said with a slight frown, having fought her way through one of Tolkien's tedious rants about trees just previously.

She grinned at the question about the cat:

"Why?", she asked with her by now characteristic smirk and raised eyebrow. "Has the one from yesterday returned? I wouldn't mind the challenge", she finished, only it hadn't exactly been a challenge. Except the sneaking part. Cats are notoriously paranoid animals, and she had been pleasantly surprised that she'd been able to do it.

When he sent her into the cellar to get pickles, she nodded, and then couldn't help but giggle cutely at his joke about the headless guy's credibility. She nodded and skipped towards the door. She found the pickles quickly enough, but decided to take him up on his advice to explore. There were indeed a lot of bottles here! She didn't know much about wine apart from it was drunk at court. Had she been older when Cintra fell, it was likely that she'd have learned a bit. But she wasn't, so she hadn't.



There were a lot of good spots here


Perfect place to hide if you need to stay low for a while her inner monologue told her, thinking that if she at some point found herself in hot water again with him, she could hide downhere until he changed his mind about....well....THAT. Makinga mental note of this, she got back up with the pickles.

"Here", she smiled and held out the jar to him. "Btw, the headless dude says hi", she giggled, and sat down, the slight remaining sting by now almost completely gone. "What are we having?", she asked, as she tried to smell it.


During dinner, she ate happily. She was content. There were no monsters here, and the upside of being away from Geralt and the others, was that her enemies also had no way of getting to her here.


Not unless they somehow also get transported here the same way you did, Geralt-of-her-head told her, and she gulped. She hadn't thought of that at all.



"When are we leaving tomorrow?", she asked, trying to take her mind off that fact, to something more pleasant. "And what're we gonna see? Anything interesting?". It was clear she was exited!

It's a good thing she spent some time exploring the vast underground storage. Now she'll know exactly where to go, when he sends her to get some wine or pickles or whatever else is there. Daniel grins, when she comes back and says headless guy sends his regards. Not scared to go into...well lit cellars, at least. Once the dinner is served, and almost eaten, the questions begin. She must have held it inside for so long. Daniel leans back in the chair, well fed and content, and starts thinking of tomorrow's plans.


"Okay, so we can go in the morning. When we get up, eat something and get ready. The town's like half an hour or so..." For a moment, he thought maybe they could go by bus, but that seems a bit abrupt introduction to mass transit. Could cause problems. "We'll take a look at some shops, maybe eat something fancy and there's...sort of a small castle. But not the kind you know. Kaer Morhen is more of utilitarian, defensible castle..." He starts quite certain in this knowledge, but then realizes he's not supposed to know anything about it... "Right? That sounds like a place witchers hang out. This one's more of a luxury based castle that used to be used by nobility." Daniel explains to best of his knowledge and capabilities so she understands.


"And in the evening some people will come and pick up an order, a bunch of swords and axes and some armor, so we'll need to be home by then, but don't worry, we'll have more than enough time to explore." A rough outline of following day.



"And I'd say it's time to send our order. Got any other ideas what you'd like to add there?" Daniel says in the end. Best not forget about the order, if they're to get the things anytime soon.

Ciri listened eagerly to his idea about the plans for the next day. Her mind was so much on it, that she completely missed that he shouldn't know about Kaer Morhen until sometime later that night.

"That all sounds good", she smiled. "What kind of shops? Is it a big town? I've been in a few towns when me and Geralt went back from Sodden to Kaer Morhen, but they weren't very big. But I guess that with these horseless carriages that go faster than anything should, people can come to town from much further away, so they can move there more easily, I guess", she shrugged as she took a bite.


"Oh, so, it's like the palace at Cintra?", she said with a smile. "I'd love to see that! But...does your King not mind commoners intruding upon his palace? Even if he doesn't live there all the time?", she asked, now somewhat confused. "Allowing just about everyone into your castle doesn't seem safe - you can get to learn all kinds of things. Best way to enter unseen, hidden passages, and the like? Isn't he afraid that his enemies might exploit this?". It seemed insane to her, but maybe the king was so beloved by the people that he didn't worry about it.



"Uhm...not really", she answered at the question of whether there was more to add to the order. "You have more books here than I can read in a lifetime, I think", she giggled "And I don't even know how to use that box", she gestured towards the TV, "so I'm likely too stupid to figure out how to use that rectangle-thing too", she said, with a grin in her voice, but there was self-deprecation in there too. She knew her strengths, and modern technology was not one of those. She could catch cats, though!


"Maybe...I don't know if the stuff we got already is good to pl...train in", she corrected herself from saying "play". She was too old to play, after all. Funny thing is, that a day ago she would never have come close to taking that word in her mouth. Something had changed. "If I need to run, jump, etc, those "Jeans" seem a bit...impracticcal. But I don't know what to look for", she finished with a bit of an embarrassed smile. But then went on, her eyes lighting up:



"I don't suppose you'll give me a sword?", she said, looking at him with the kind of look that fathers of daughters know very well: The "Pleeeeease can I have that, daddy?"-look.

Does he feel like explaining at length their political system? No, not really. She'll understand sooner or later anyway. "It's a bit complicated, but basic version is we don't have a king or nobility. But we used to have, then we killed most of them and now we're left with tons of leftover castles. They're all hundreds of years old, so people now go and visit them to see how they used to live...and why they got the axe. "You'll find out more in the documents you'll watch and read before you can go to school. A lot happened in the last couple hundreds years." With that, he's done with explaining the politics and government. Whatever the government, it's of little consequence to him in this village anyway.


Since she doesn't want to add anything, Daniel sends the order and sits in front of the TV, with controller in his hands. "Yeah, we'll buy you some that move a bit better. Anyway, you wanna learn how to use the box? Come on, you're not stupid, you just never seen it before. I'd say you'll pick it quickly. Come here, sit down and let's play something." Daniel lifts another controller and this time selects a rather simpler game, where they can each control one fighter and together kills hordes of monsters.



"And as for the sword...yeah, sure. I'll give you a sword. But not yet. I know a bunch of guys who can do sword stuff, so if you train with them and they say you know how to use it, I'll make you a sword of your very own." He can fully understand the need to own a sword in any thirteen years old. He had it, when he was thirteen. And at least this one has some idea how not cut herself with it, so it might be generally safer. Also, he really is completely unable to tell that look on her face that she can't have a sword. Maybe someday he'll find out why...

Ciri looked at him horrified as he told her they didn't have kings or queens, and killed them. She can't begin to understand how their society doesn't collapse into anarchy for lack of structure, order and laws, but she read him well enough to see that he wasn't really in the mood for a lengthy exposition of politics, so she dropped the matter. She guessed as well that there'd be plenty about that in the books she'll read.



When being told that she could have a sword once she had proven she could handle it, she smiled widely. That shouldn't take long.


"When can I start?", she asked. "Getting those people to evaluate me, I mean", she elaborated, before she followed him over to the couch and sat next to him as he started the box up by pressing a specific button. Every bit is new and interesting to her, even the simple logo that comes up during start up.

She tried to pay attention to his hands as the game started. She had already figured out that the control of the characters on the screen was done via that small object he - and she - was holding. As his character fought, she observed his hands carefully, to see which buttons he pressed to make his character do which moves. She might not know much about modern technology, but her

observation skills were on point, and she could deduce with the best of them.


So after a few minutes, she joined the frey, selecting a character as well - she picked a girl - and "jumped in", managing to cut down a monster that would have stabbed his character in the back. She giggled at the success, and while she of course fudged up more than a few times, and didn't get a single combo-attack right, she DID have fun, as she started to figure the controls out, and she used her real knowledge to get the better of some of the monsters, jumping up on a ledge and using the in-game crossbow to take out some of the lower-level creatures that threatened to swarm Daniel.



Eventually, though, it was getting late. But she wasn't about to tell him anything. She wasn't tired, and she didn't want to go to bed, so she kept going, very slowly starting to get the hang of the game, and let out a little shriek of triumph when she finally got one of the easier combo-moves to work, taking down a mid-level enemy that would have killed Daniel's character.



"That's twice I've saved you so far", she grinned triumphantly.


When eventually, however, he called it quits and told her it was time for bed, she looked at him and said:

"But I'm not tired!", she tried, giving him puppy dog eyes, but quickly relenting when he didn't budge. She didn't want to risk more trouble today.



Once in bed, was when she remembered that he'd told her something about Kaer Morhen he shouldn't know and then hastily added a good excuse. That puzzled her. The "excuse" was certainly legitimate, she'd told him enough about the place for him to draw that conclusion. But the voice he'd used made it obvious that it was an afterthought, and an attempt to "fix" his earlier statement. She decided to file that in the back of her mind for now. Adults were strange, she knew that already. But she trusted him enough already that she thought there had to be a rational explanation.



_________________________

The next morning, Ciri got up early - woke up exited for the day - and took a quick shower like he'd shown her how to do, and then made 110% sure she cleaned up after herself as well as she possibly could. Perhaps even a little better than when she'd entered it. She didn't want to risk a sore bottom again, and certainly not if she was going to be sitting in that horseless carriage for half an hour!
When she'd gotten dressed, a semi-long grey skirt, and white blouse, she headed downstairs to see if he was already up. She was both hungry for breakfast AND exited for the trip!

It turns that, just as he expected, Ciri picks up things quick. Oh to be that age again and just be able to pick up new skill after just observing it for a couple minutes. Soon enough, she's fully capable of controlling her character and fighting with it, and indeed saves the day more than once. But even so, eventually bedtime comes, at least for Ciri and he can already see another line of conflict forming by her relucatnce to go to bed. At least she's smart enough to understand only delay she could achieve would be for the time spent over his knee and gives up when she sees no other delays will be forthcoming.


Daniel cleans up, has a snack and some short read afterwards before retiring to bed himself. He finds it hard to fall asleep, anxious about tomorrow and her first real contact, curated as it might be, with civilization. In the end though, he gives up on worrying. Or at least tries to, and falls into a troubled sleep.


______________


His quick victory over the bedtime yesterday does not take long to come back and bite him in the ass. Yes, he can hear Ciri being up and about, going for a shower and then downstairs, probably looking to be fed and then for a trip to the city. Well too bad, he's determined not to wake up before his usual time. The result of this is another half an hour spent in bed, staring at the ceiling, before realizing he won't be falling asleep again and therefore might as well rise officially. Daniel gets dressed, considers a shower, but he was never one for morning showers. It's not the problem of the shower itself, but he doesn't find himself capable of facing cold morning air afterwards. He does check the state of the bathroom though, and is satisfied to find Ciri learned her lesson yesterday.


"Good morning. I know you're excited to go to town, so just let me grab a quick snack, and we can go. Go get dressed and wait for me outside." It doesn't take him long to get ready afterwards, and fifteen minutes later, he's pulling his car out of garage. He gives out a quick lesson on where to sit, how to work the safety belt and how to get out quickly if necessary.


"This thing moves way faster than a horse, see, so if you hit something, it's good to have some extra security." He finishes, before they're ready to go. As they leave the village and are soon going to be joining a full highway traffic, Daniel turns to Ciri.


"Ciri, just...some info for today. We'll be going to a place full of people, and full of cars. Keep close to me, don't wander off. If you see anything you just have to see up close, just tell me, okay?" He goes over some more common safety measures like looking across the street, stopping at red lights and so on, giving a crash course of not looking too weird when in town, and soon after, they're on a highway full of cars, with fields stretching to both sides and a with a city taking up the entire horizon to one side.

Ciri ended up not quite being able to wait, so she looked in the shiny box where he'd told her there was food. She took out what appeared to be cheese, butter, and then found some bread on the kitchen counter, and helped herself, so that her plate was empty when he finally did show.


"I thought I'd have to come wake you", she teased with a grin, then gave him a small hug, and cleaned her plate, putting the butter and cheese back in the fridge, and the bread back where she found it. When he instructed her to go get ready, she almost skipped to put on the jacket that she'd been given by the friendly neighbor she had not even met. It made her feel a little humble, but the exitement and energy she felt about today's outing more than outweighed anything else, and she was positively jittery.
When he - finally - came, she got into the car and made sure to strap in like he showed her. She was not fond of being restrained like this, but bore it, because it was apparently a precondition of going. He might have been able to see this, as he started to explain the purpose behind the restraints. Ciri gulped and nodded, making sure that her seatbelt was strapped in tight as it could now that he'd told her the reason for it.

And when he turned to look at her, she met his eyes, and listened. She nodded, but on the inside thought that she'd already seen cities before - how different could this be? Besides: There weren't gallopping horses in the middle of cities, much less these horseless monstrosities. What was there to worry about?

You don't know this world. You'd be wise to listen to him! her inner monologue told her in Geralt's voice, and she silently nodded again, promising to do as he'd said.
A moment after, she stared wide-eyed as she saw, out of the window, more "cars" than she thought were likely to exist on this entire planet, and what was clearly the outline of a city in the distance....but...no, surely that had to be several cities that just appeared to be close to eachother?

"That has to be the biggest city in the world!", she exclaimed in surprise and wonder as she gestured at the outline of it. "Is that where we're going? I thought you said we were going to a smaller town?". She was even more exited now!

Daniel looks at the city for a while. Certainly not the biggest...or cleanest, or most welcoming or comfortable. But certainly the only joke one can live in. "Oh no, it's one of the smaller ones. It's not even the biggest in this country, small as it is. We could get to three bigger cities within two hours." Daniel explains. But shitty as it is, he kinda likes the place. People come to watch his band, though there's usually around fifty of those...but still.



"Well, I've been planning to take you to a smaller town, but I suppose if we stick to periferies, we'll be fine. Tell me this. How would you feel if there were thousand of people around you, just going about their business? Plus cars and lights and noises...like, a lot of noises? Is that something you'd be okay with?" It might be overwhelming at first, which is why he wants to take baby steps, but if Ciri feels like it, and is brave enough, he might as well take her there and keep an eye on her the entire time.



"If you're okay with that, I'll take you." This just screams bad idea all over the place, but maybe she's stronger than she looks? "Ah shit...I guess I'll have to explain that, eh?" There's a plane taking off from the city airport. It can't be heard over the car noises from the highway. For now, he just lets Ciri watch and enjoy the sights. After a few minutes, he decides to turn towards the city when the road allows. Soon they'll be passing between rows and rows of factories...

Not having any frame of reference to answer his question with, other than the city she already knows about - Cintra - Ciri nodded eagerly and agreed on the spot. She wanted to see the big city. It sounded like a place full of wonder and mysteries, and she craved exitement and action.

"Yes!", she affirmed. "Yes, I'd like that! I've been in a city before, you know", she smiled kindly. "So...yeah, this place is of course different, but it's still a city. Don't worry, I'll stay with you", she said, with absolutely no embarassment of the kind that other kids would have when pressed to stay with a parent. She was intelligent enough to know that while she had been in a city before, she had not been in this one, and that meant she wouldn't know how to find her way around.

Staying with him just made good sense.
As the city approached, she saw more and more of the first suburbs, and then the industrial areas, and her eyes widened yet again. She had never seen such massive buildings!

"What...what ARE those?", she gestured to the factories and industrial warehouses they passed. "They look like fortresses or prisons maybe, but it wouldn't make sense to place those things right next to a city...unless the city grew up around the fortresses like the cities of my sphere did", she then mused to herself.
As they got closer and closer to the city proper, Ciri's mind was starting to blow, as she noticed the buildings starting to get taller and taller, and she did in fact feel a bit overwhelmed, but did her best to not show it.

"This is amazing!", she manged. "Your people must be master engineers to create such things - better than the dwarves, even!", she exclaimed, raining the highest praise she knew how to, on the people of the Czech Republic who could apparently create such marvels, that she knew of in terms of building stuff.


"Where's the marketplace?", she asked eagerly. "Surely in a place as grand as this city there must be a marketplace with everything the heart desires", she suggested, a light shining in her eyes at the prospect. Just imagine the splendor of this city's marketplace. Her own world would know no parallel to it!

"Those are factories. That's where we make machines, like this one. Hundreds of people work in each one. Well, in the older ones. The newer ones often don't even need that many people. And well...what you can see around is not a marvel of technology anymore. Most of them are obsolete or will within a few years. You'll find these all over the world, not just here." But thinking of his people as master engineers does kind of warm his old, shriveled heart, he has to admit. Soon enough though, factories make space for shopping centres, no smaller in size.



"We don't have a central marketplace. Shops are in those big buildings." All the shiny signs with shop names. "Might as well visit one of them, right?" Daniel says as he turn towards one of the bigger ones and starts looking for a parking spot, among hundreds of other cars. It takes a couple minutes, as usual, but finally, he stops. Once the engine is off, he turns to Ciri.


"So, here's the plan. You said you wanted some clothes you can train in, so we'll get that. Who knows, you might even find another sport you'd like to do. Afterwards, we'll go and get some food. I can live on sausages, but I suppose you can't, or at least shouldn't...that said, neither should I. Afterwards, we'll just see. Now, important part. If somehow you get lost, don't panic. Whatever happens, you are completely safe here. There are no monsters, no bandits, and you don't have anything they could steal anyway. In such a case, d'you see that thing?" Daniel points at the tallest, gaudiest, most colorful advertisement banner. "Go to that one. You can see it from everywhere, so just get to it, and I'll pick you up there. Understood? Let's go." Daniel grabs his backpack and gets out of the car. The air here is different. Much different. Full of city smells, smog, dust, car fumes. It's not a pleasant thing to breathe, if one isn't used to it...