Two knights in armors with dark green and dark purple details, with the symbol of golden crocus near the heart, had been travelling on horsebacks for two weeks. They were given a task by the queen to find someone capable of helping them getting rid of a monster, that has invaded the castle and persecuted its inhabitants, causing a lot of damage. The person they were looking for wasn't just anybody - he was a profesional in slaying monsters. He was a witcher. Hearing about his accomplishments, the queen made it clear that these two warriors should find the famous, thanks to the ballads, White Wolf.
      Where was our hero? Well, he was sitting in the Inn at the Crossroads located on an isle surrounded by the waters of Pontar in Velen. Sitting at the table, he was drinking temerian beer. He was accompanied by his dear friend - said friend was a bard, who made witcher famous with his songs. As the gray-haired man took another sip of his drink, the brunet next to him quietly criticized the troubadours performing on stage. For what he thought, with their performances they were hurting the art - and his ears and soul. Knowing Jaskier's nature, he would probably say his opinion out loud, so the entire neighbourhood could hear him, if it wasn't for Geralt, who stopped him to avoid any conflicts and drink in peace. Suddenly the music that was hurting Jaskier went silent, the rest of inn's bystanders stopped talking. It was all caused by arrival of two knights. They approached our duo, and the people around started to whisper.
"I beg you pardon, dear sir" the shorter knight said. "Are you Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf?" he asked, worried that they found the wrong specialist.
"That's what they call me" Geralt answered, placing his mug on the table.
"Oh, how wonderful!" the shorter knight replied relieved. "We were looking for you in many villages and towns, White Wolf".
The witcher narrowed his eyebrows. They had been sent to get him specifically? Someone must have really wanted his services. The taller knight unrolled a roll of parchment and began to read:
"Dear White Wolf, we've heard about your accomplishments here as well, and we hope that you'll help us get rid of a beast that invaded the castle and has been terrorizing its inhabitants for a while. Of course you will receive a well-deserved hefty payment for your help. Sincerely, Queen Elsa of Arendelle".
Jaskier listened to this with great interest. Arendelle? THIS Arendelle that only the duchy Toussaint surpassed in terms of fairytale-ness? He looked at his friend. "Don't you dare think about refusing" he tried to tell with his eyes. Geralt understood the message and turned to the knights:
"I take the contract" he said.
"Thank the gods!" the taller knight exclaimed, rolling the paper. "Do you need time to prepare for the journey or can we go right now?".
"I'm ready" Geralt stated, and when the knights had moved, he and Jaskier got up from the table.
The witcher gave the innkeeper a sack of coins to pay for his drink, then he left the tavern with Jaskier and the knights. Everyone has got up on their horses, only Jaskier staying on the ground.
"Geralt, can I... you know, Arendelle is really far away and..." Jaskier was disrupted by Geralt, who offered him his hand.
Troubadour with help of the witcher got up on Roach - White Wolf's loyal, irreplaceable horse - and smiled. It was probably the first time when Geralt allowed him to seat on Roach. Normally he would have to travel on foot.
"Your companion is going too?" the shorter knight asked.
"Where I go, he goes" gray-haired man explained and his friend smiled even more.
"Hendrik, think for a moment" said the taller knight. "How could have the ballads about White Wolf's achievements been created, if not by witnessing him slaying the beast? Of course master Jaskier has to accompany him!".
"That's a fact, forgive me, Arthur" Hendrik replied with remorse.
"We should not waste any more time" Arthur stated. "Let's go!".
And so they set off for Arendelle to meet the royal family.
      The journey took two round weeks. It didn't go without any obstacles along the way, whether nests of ghouls or bandits intending on attacking and robbing the travelers. None of them survived the encounter with the witcher's weapon, as they were too slow to hurt Geralt in any way. The knights were impressed by skills of the monster slayer and increasingly convinced that the queen has sent for the right professional. To say that they didn't have any doubts would be a lie. For what they believed, the achievements described in the ballads were exaggerated by them, and that in fact the White Wolf was not as good in battle as the songs made him out to be. Their attitude shouldn't surprise anynone - even though Jaskier would think of this as an offensive comment, it must be admitted that his songs has always bent the truth to some extent, so the gray-haired man would come out to be the greatest monster slayer that the Continent has ever seen. The simple folk paid no attention to it, swallowing everything like soup from a spoon. Other audiences, however, were able to catch these exaggerations, causing all sorts of doubts to arise in their heads. Yet they were dispelled once they had a chance to see with their own eyes how the witcher dealt with the threat. Unfortunately, not everyone had that honor. And we could talk about our hero for a long, long time, but let's go back to the story before we start to dissect too much. After reaching their destination, Jaskier was amazed by what he saw - the aura in Arendelle was bright, cheerful. Humans and non-humans around were smiling, talking with each other, living their lives as if nothing ever happened. As if many tragedies and conflicts that have been happening across the Continent did not reach this place. He refused to believe that any monster could have invaded there. The fairytale-like atmosphere also caught Geralt's attention. Used to something completely different, he felt a bit weird. We could say that it wasn't his natural environment. Once they had arrived at the castle gates, they dismounted from their horses.
"Who's there?!" the guard on the tower called out.
"Witold, it's us!" Hendrik informed. "Open the gates! And tell the queen that Geralt of Rivia is with us!".
Witold shocked by the knight's words looked out the window and when he saw the gray-haired man, his jaw dropped. He rushed to open the gate and lowered down the bridge, then he run for the ruler. Accompanied by two knights, Geralt and Jaskier entered the courtyard, where they were supposed to wait for the royal's family arrival. Meanwhile, Roach sneezed two times. Geralt stroked her snout, calming her. Before the servant announcing the arrival of the queen could even do anything, two women rushed into the courtyard. The first one had snow-white hair braided and blue eyes, wore a dark purple dress, and had dark brown slippers on her feet. The second one on the other hand had hair the color of strawberry blonde, more like ginger, tied back in a double braid, while the rest of her hair remained loose, and she had eyes as blue as the previous one. She wore a black dress with brown details and on her legs dark yellow pants and two black boots on her feet. They slowed down half the way, then calmly approached the guests.
"White Wolf" Elsa smiled. "Welcome to Arendelle. I'm Elsa, this is my sister, Anna" she introduced herself and the princess. "It's a great pleasure to finally meet you" she held out her hand towards him.
Geralt was surprised by the gesture. The monarchs he had encountered before usually didn't even want to look at him, they hired him to do his job and then he was paid through by an intermediary. But here? Here the queen has decided to give him a hand like she would greet an old friend. He shook her hand, and although he had a glove on, he could feel how cold the queen's hand was.
"The pleasure is all mine" he replied.
Next Elsa shook Jaskier's hand, and her actions were repeated by Anna. She greeted the witcher like one of her own, but when she wanted to squeeze the bard's hand, he took her's and knelt down on one knee.
"Julian Alfred Pankratz viscount de Lettenhove" he introduced himself with an official tone. "Please call me "Jaskier", Your Majesty" after saying that, he kissed her knuckles.
This act caused Anna considerable confusion. Geralt noticed what's going on. "Oh no. Again" he thought. Elsa smiled lightly. "Looks like my sister has an admirer" she thought. Jaskier stood up, while Anna cleared her throat.
"Alright... Jaskier. Oh, of course! How could I not recognize you immediately! You're the author of the wonderful ballads about White Wolf's accomplishments! I adore them!" she said.
"I am very glad to hear that, Your Majesty" he replied, smiling.
An uncomfortable silence followed this statement, but it did not last long, as it was interrupted by the queen clearing her throat.
"Let's go inside, we'll tell more about... the monster's attacks" she stated. "The stable boy will take care of your horse. By the way, what is its name?" she questioned curiously.
"Roach" Geralt answered.
"Cute and original" Anna complimented.
"Exactly" Elsa agreed. "Hendrik, Arthur" she turned to the knights.
"Yes, Your Highness?" Arthur asked.
"Take mounts to the stables and tell Kristoff to take care of them" she ordered.
"Of course!" the knights replied at the same time.
Hendrik took over the reins from the witcher and he and his companion headed towards the stables. The queen and the witcher moved ahead, followed by the princess and the bard. Jaskier wasn't listening to the conversations, the entire time he was looking at Anna. He couldn't take his eyes of her. He quickly came to a conclusion that she was the most beautiful woman on the Continent. In his thinking Francesca Findabair, who had the said title, couldn't hold a candle to Anna. There was something in princess that it was impossible not to fall for her charm. When our troubadour was admiring the woman next to him, her white-haired sister was telling Geralt how the affair, which caused him to be called, has started.
"Only food was disappearing at the beginning" she was explaining. "We thought it was someone from the servants, so we weren't really concerned about it. We've never seen a problem in that. But then people started disappearing. Our gardener, Farran, had been found first. His body was ragged, a piece was torn from his neck, the same from his stomach.... of which nothing remained".
"It looked like something had bitten him" Anna added.
"Exactly. The second one to go missing was Aerith, the chambermaid. She was in the library and her body was in same tragic condition as Farran's. Then other people stopped showing up. Lucius, Mirabel, Adam, Emily..." Elsa listed.
"Were the attacks repeated regularly?" the witcher asked.
"You could say so" Elsa replied sadly. "Every five days a new body was found. The last one was Tamara. Poor girl...".
"Where are the bodies? I need to take a good look at them" the White Wolf said.
"In the morgue, near the port" white-haired woman informed. "We can go there later".
Unexpectedly, a short creature ran out from around the corner. It was all snow-white - and from the snow it was created. Black buttons on torso, a nose made from a carrot and hair with hands from thin sticks were the contrast. Snowman approached our heroes.
"ANNA, ELSA, YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT!" he shouted. It took him a moment to notice Geralt and Jaskier. "Oh, hello dear guests! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" he introduced himself happily.
The bard blinked a few times, the witcher narrowed his eyebrows. Seeing their confusions, the sisters laughed.
"Gentlemen, meet Olaf" Anna said with a smile on her face.
"Is that... a living snowman?" Jaskier still could not believe in what he was seeing.
"Yes, indeed" Elsa smiled. "I was born able to control magic. And for some reason a power to control ice and snow. I had created Olaf in our childhood to be our playmate. It's always fun when he's around. He accompanies us ever since then".
"Exactly!" Olaf confirmed, nodding his head.
"It would confirm the rumours about the fact that you don't have a sorcerer-counselor" Geralt noted.
"That is right" the queen answered. "It's not like we don't trust sorcerers, it's just... that's the way how it always has been, most simply put".
"Olaf, when you came here, you were definitely scared by something" the princess changed the topic. "What happened?".
"Oh dear, really? Let me think..." the snowman scratched his head. "Ah, I know! I found Hortensio in the living room! What a terrible view it was! He was all red and bitten, like a cookie!" he recounted fervently.
Not wasting any time, the group ran into the direction of the room mentioned by Olaf. Before entering, the witcher drew his silver sword, while the queen placed her hands in a way she was ready to cast a spell or freeze someone. Geralt peeked inside through the ajar door. At first glance, no one was there. He also didn't smell anything except the stench of blood. He entered the room, followed by the queen and the princess, who snatched a candlestick from the nearest dresser. Jaskier and Olaf stayed behind. Geralt looked around. The creature responsible for massacring Hortensio has been long gone. The witcher approached the corpse, placing his sword back on its place. The rest stood nearby. The gray-haired man looked at the body.
"He had a large part of his stomach and liver bitten off... hm... interesting. He's missing veins in the arms, he also doesn't have the aorta... had been torn out with teeth..." he was talking to himself, analyzing the corpse.
"Is he always like that?" Olaf asked, whispering.
"Speaking out loud helps him concentrate" Jaskier explained quietly.
"Oh..." the snowman replied.
White Wolf widened the wound on the victim's neck with his fingers to get a closer look at the area from where the main vein had been bitten out.
"Fang marks... Olaf, before you came here, have you heard any singing?" he asked the snowman.
"Singing?" answered the question with a question the surprised rest of the company.
"Singing. Momentous, operatic" Geralt precisized.
"Well lemme think... I think I've heard something, but very faintly, as if it was... moving away" Olaf said.
"So just as I thought. A bruxa" the witcher stated, standing up.
"A bruxa? But it's strigas that feed on human meat and livers" Anna noticed. "The bruxa should have only drank his blood".
"That's right, Your Majesty" Geralt agreed, also impressed by princess's knowledge on the topic. "But I think we have to deal with a hungry individual, to which blood is no longer enough".
"How's that even possible?" Anna questioned.
"I'm surprised myself, I am not going to hide it" Geralt replied. "I suspect that its desire to satisfy hunger grows more and more. The attacks may occur more often".
"You'll hunt it down, right?" Elsa asked with hope in her voice.
"Of course. It's my job after all" the witcher said.
Hearing those words, the sisters sighed with relief.
      Hunting the bruxa down turned out to be more difficult than it could've been expected - the smart beast managed to hide, which made the witcher's task harder. On the first day, he failed to hit the trail that would lead him to her hiding place. For now, he could only advise during the dinner, to which he and Jaskier had been invited, that the queen and the princess should tell the servants and the guards to be careful, not to let suspicious women into the castle grounds and to watch out for crows and bats lurking in the area, because the bruxa could have transformed. After the meal, Anna led the guests to the rooms prepared especially for them. She explained that if they had any need, they would only have to pull the rope hanging next to the bed and one of the servants would come to the room. She wished them a good night and when she was leaving, the troubadour couldn't keep his eyes of her once again. Only when she disappeared behind a corner, he shook himself off, snapped out of a trance. Before he went to rest, he had decided to visit the room where his friend was supposed to be.
"I don't know about you, but I really like it here" Jaskier approached. "Marvelous kingdom. It is nice to be in a place where people don't argue for no reason".
"Mhm. And there are ladies here like a dream" the witcher replied ironically.
"Oh yes..." Jaskier realized after a moment what Geralt actually meant. "I mean... I don't know what you're talking about".
"Jaskier" Geralt scolded him. "It was hard not to notice the sheep's eyes you were making at the princess. Let's add to that the way you've introduced yourself to her".
"Well sorry, I cannot help the fact that I fell for her charms" Jaskier stated, perking up his head. "She's so clever... and beautiful... and clever... and beautiful... and she likes my music..." he was saying in a dreamy voice. "I have never met such a wonderful being".
"You said the same about Vespula. And Kora. And Miruna. And Rosalind" Geralt listed.
"Ay, those are the old days" Jaskier waved his hand at that. "None of them were as stunning as Her Majesty. And none of them were as clever. You've heard how she was talking with you about monsters. It is hard to find such a knowledgeable woman on this subject! Ah, I cannot wait until I see her again! We'll discuss for hours! Who knows, perhaps a new ballad will come out of it!" he told excitedly.
"Calm down, you mediocre romantic" the witcher replied.
"Oh, pardon me, only not mediocre!" the bard got irritated.
"Jaskier, who you... fall in love with, that's none of my business. And it's none of my business what are you going to do with that fact, and knowing you, you're already figuring out how to win her heart. I'm not a specialist in feelings, but listen to my advice. Think properly before you do something you'll regret later. I assure you, breaking princess's heart is the last thing you want to do" the gray-haired man warned.
"I would've never done such a thing" the brunet vowed.
"I know, Jaskier. I know" the witcher said. "But I know you long enough to be able to predict what's going to happen. It's all the same every single time. You fall in love to death, the feeling is mutual, you're happy in a relationship. And then you fall in love with someone else. You cheat on the first one with the second one and the whole process repeats. I know, who am I to speak about being loyal to one woman. But for your own good... and avoiding hurting the other person... perhaps you should try it".
The bard blinked a few times, being totally shocked with his friend's words. Although it came difficult, he was well aware that Geralt was right. He never paid much attention to how his previous partner might have felt after discovering that she had been cheated on. He thought over what he had just heard. Maybe it indeed was time to change?
"Goodnight, Geralt" Jaskier said, leaving and closing the door behind him.
"Goodnight" Geralt replied.

~⚔️~

Hi, hello, and welcome to the first chapter of this story! I hope you liked it and it made you curious for what happens next.
English is not my first language, so if any mistakes are present, please let me know.
Now I will say goodbye to you, greetings for all of you! See you around! Be well!