As Geralt approached his fourth birthday, his grasp of both his situation and the larger world around them solidified into something approaching adult comprehension. He spent long hours reading every text his mother could acquire, cross-referencing the historical accounts with the fragmented memories from his previous life. The picture that emerged was both fascinating and terrifying.
He was indeed Geralt of Rivia, destined to become one of the most famous witchers in the world. But this version of events was different—he retained his mother's physical features, and more importantly, he possessed knowledge of how the story was "supposed" to unfold. He knew about the School of the Wolf at Kaer Morhen, about Vesemir and the other witchers who would train him. He understood the Trial of the Grasses and the mutations that would strip away his humanity while granting him superhuman abilities.
Most significantly, he knew about his mother's role in all of this. In every version of the tale he remembered, Visenna would eventually give him up to the witchers, believing it to be his destiny. The knowledge filled him with a desperate urgency to change that outcome.
"I have dreams about the future," he began telling his mother during their evening conversations. He was careful never to reveal the true source of his knowledge, instead framing it as prophetic visions that came to him in sleep. "I see myself as a man, but changed. White hair and yellow eyes, like the witchers in your books. I see myself alone, hunting monsters, never knowing a home or family."
Visenna listened to these "dreams" with growing unease. Her own prophetic abilities confirmed that her son was indeed touched by fate in ways that defied normal understanding. The visions he described aligned with whispers she had heard about witcher destiny and the children chosen for such lives.
"But in all these dreams," Geralt continued, "I'm always searching for something. And now that I'm here with you, I know what it was. I was searching for this—for a mother's love, for a home, for someone who cared about me just because I existed, not because of what I could do or what destiny demanded."
These conversations became the foundation of a campaign that would span the next year. Geralt, drawing on wisdom accumulated over two lifetimes, began to systematically challenge every assumption his mother held about fate, duty, and the choices available to them.
The final year before the expected arrival of witcher recruiters became a masterclass in philosophical argument and emotional appeal. Geralt, now five years old but possessing an intellect sharpened by otherworldly experience, launched what could only be described as a sustained campaign to convince his mother that destiny was not the immutable force she believed it to be.
His approach was subtle and patient. Rather than directly arguing against the concept of fate, he began by exploring the nature of choice and consequence through their daily activities. When they encountered a crossroads during their walks, he would point out how choosing one path or another led to entirely different experiences. When they helped villagers with various problems, he would observe how the same situation could have multiple solutions depending on what people chose to prioritize.
"Mama," he said one morning as they watched the sunrise paint the Buina golden, "you always tell me that everything happens for a reason, that destiny guides our steps. But what if the reason things happen is because we choose to make them happen?"
Visenna considered this carefully. Her son's insights had grown increasingly profound over the months, and she had learned to take his questions seriously. "What do you mean, my love?"
"Well, take the sunrise. You could say it's destined to rise every morning, that it has no choice. But what if the sun chooses to rise because it loves the earth and wants to give it light? What if what we call destiny is really just love making the same good choice over and over again?"
These philosophical discussions were accompanied by more direct appeals to emotion. Geralt began sharing more details about his "dreams" of the future, focusing particularly on the loneliness and isolation that awaited him as a witcher.
"In the dreams, I'm always searching for something I can never find," he told her one evening as they sat by the fire, she mending clothes while he worked on his letters. "I meet many people, but they're all afraid of me or trying to use me. I help them, but then they want me to leave. And in quiet moments, when there are no monsters to hunt and no quests to complete, I dream of a place like this. A home by a river, with someone who loves me just for being her son."
The emotional impact of these revelations was devastating for Visenna. She began to see her potential choice to give him up not as a noble sacrifice to destiny, but as the destruction of something precious and irreplaceable.