[justmedk]

Ciri listened to his explanation. Once again, he seemed to be absolutely genuine, though she had trouble grasping that. The comparison to a windmill seemed ridiculous on its face, but after a thought, she made sense of it. To very primitive people, a windmill would seem like magic. For all she knew, this was something similar.
Apparently he read her mind, as he started his explanation with the assumption that she was from another world. Because if this was the kind of technology these people had, she was certain she was no longer in her own world. The implications were staggering, and she thoguht for a moment, before she "zoned back in" to his explanation.

Then he more or less asked her to put her money where her accusation was, and for a moment she stood staring. A lot of thought processes going on at once. Eventually, meaning after only a few seconds, however, she arrived at the obvious conclusion: Even if he was a mage, she really didn't have any choice. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how she'd gotten here or how to get back, and she had neither food, water, or shelter for the night. What option did she really have?

"Wait!", she called, and ran after him.

She nodded when he said that she must be tired. "Yes", she said, and then dared to trust him slightly by going on "And hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. And it was Lambert's turn to cook", she said with a bit of a frown. Lambert's cooking was better than nothing, but not by much. The added remark of Geralt and Vesemir's reactions to what would at that point be a very lengthy absence and a rather incredible story, was one she could also guess. it had been a close call a few times, with Triss intervening on her behalf with Geralt, but she was certain that he'd.....well....not be happy when she got back from here.

At the moment, she didn't care much. She just wanted to be back to where she knew what was going on.

When they got out of the forest proper and into the street, Ciri's eyes widened. Even the most remote rural area of our world is generally way above and beyond what Ciri was used to in terms of technology and industry, and this was no exception. Horseless carriages raced faster than gallopping horses, down what was clearly a road made from stones so fine and well-placed that they seemed to be all one material instead of what must be millions of tiny stones. The road was illuminated by lamps of some kind, but she could not see where the lamps were getting their oil from. She stared around trying to take in what she was seeing, incredulity written all over her face.
The strangeness of it was enough to make her feel less than safe, and before she thought about it, she'd taken his hand for some kind of comfort. When she realized, however, she discreetly let go again, slightly red in the face.

Arriving at his house, he would have plenty time to put away the more obvious items that she would recognize, because for several minutes all she did was stand in the entryway, mouth agape. Of course it was no palace, but it might as well have been. There were more of those oilless lamps all over, and while she of course recognized that it was not a king's palace, it was also clearly not a pauper's abode. Her rescuer was quite wealthy, it seemed.

Meaning he'll be less likely to be influenced by the promise of reward Geralt's voice in the back of her mind told her. But she decided to trust this stranger anyway: He hadn't yet done anything to indicate that he meant to harm her. There was a kind air about him, as there was about Geralt himself.

"This....this place is...incredible", she exclaimed after a couple of minutes of staring at the wonders of modern living wide-eyed. "You....you must be a man of great importance!"