Vesemir was waiting for them in the main courtyard, having been alerted to their approach by his scouts. The oldest of the witchers stood alone—a tall, grizzled figure with silver hair bound back and eyes that held the wisdom of centuries. He wore simple clothing, but every line of his posture spoke of deadly competence and unshakeable authority.
The courtyard itself seemed vast and empty around his solitary figure, emphasizing just how reduced the School of the Wolf had become. Where once dozens of witchers and trainees might have gathered to witness the arrival of potential candidates, now there was only the ancient master, standing in the shadow of towers that had seen far better days.
"Visenna of Buina," he said, his voice carrying the weight of formal recognition. "Your reputation as a healer precedes you. But I confess myself puzzled by your presence here, especially with a child of obvious potential." His gaze settled on Geralt with the calculating eye of someone who had evaluated thousands of potential recruits over the decades.
"Master Vesemir," Visenna replied, dismounting from her horse and helping Geralt down beside her. "We come with a proposal that may seem unusual, but which could benefit both my son and your school."
Vesemir's eyebrows rose slightly. The emptiness of the fortress around them seemed to underscore the unusual nature of their arrival. "Most parents who bring children here are eager to complete the transaction as quickly as possible. You speak as if you intend to stay."
"That is exactly what I intend," Visenna said, her voice steady despite the magnitude of what she was proposing.
Geralt remained quiet during this initial exchange, understanding that this was his mother's moment to present their case. The stark solitude of Kaer Morhen was even more pronounced than he had expected from his memories—the fortress truly was on the verge of becoming nothing more than an empty monument to a dying tradition.
The Proposal That Shook Foundations
In the great hall of Kaer Morhen, beneath banners that bore the wolf's head emblem of the school, an unprecedented negotiation began between two people whose choices would reshape the future of witcher-kind. The vast hall, built to accommodate scores of witchers and trainees, now echoed with emptiness as Visenna and Vesemir faced each other across centuries of tradition.
The proposal was audacious in its scope. Visenna would not simply surrender her son to the witchers and depart. Instead, she would remain at Kaer Morhen as a resident sorceress, using her healing abilities to guide and improve the Trial of the Grasses. Her presence would allow for a more careful and controlled approach to the mutations, potentially saving lives while still achieving the desired transformations.
"The current trials are like performing surgery with a battle-axe," Visenna explained, her voice echoing in the stone hall. "They work, after a fashion, but they're crude and wasteful. With proper magical guidance, the same results could be achieved with far greater precision and much higher survival rates."
Vesemir listened intently, his centuries of experience telling him that this woman spoke with knowledge that went beyond theoretical understanding. The weight of his failures pressed upon him—too many dead children, too many promising candidates lost to trials that should have made them stronger.
"You speak as if you have observed our trials before," he said carefully. "How do you know so much about processes we guard closely?"
Visenna had prepared for this question. She spoke of her extensive research into magical transformation, her studies of how enhancement spells affected living beings, and most carefully, she presented some of Geralt's insights as prophetic visions her son had experienced.
"I have studied the effects of magical transformation on living beings for years," she said. "And my son... he has dreams. Visions of what could be, what should be. Together, we believe we can offer improvements that would benefit not just him, but any future candidates who might come to Kaer Morhen."
The old witcher was quiet for a long moment, considering the implications. He had been the guardian of traditions that were slowly killing the institution he had devoted his life to protecting. The idea of fundamental change was both terrifying and strangely liberating.
"But can we trust you?" he asked finally. "A sorceress and a child with convenient knowledge about our most closely guarded secrets? How do we know this isn't some elaborate scheme?"
"Because, Master Vesemir," Visenna replied, "if we wanted to harm the School of the Wolf, we could simply leave and let time finish what it has already started. When was the last time you successfully trained a witcher to completion? How many candidates have survived all the trials in recent years?"
The questions hung heavy in the empty hall, for Vesemir knew the answers were damning. The school was indeed dying, and conventional approaches had failed to reverse that decline.
"You offer hope," he said slowly, "but at the cost of abandoning everything we have been for centuries."
"I offer evolution," Visenna corrected. "The preservation of what makes witchers valuable while discarding the methods that are destroying them. Your traditions can survive if they adapt. Without change, they will simply become museum pieces in an empty castle."
After hours of discussion that stretched deep into the night, Vesemir and Visenna reached a consensus that would reshape the future of the School of the Wolf. The negotiation had been intense, with the old witcher wrestling between his duty to preserve ancient traditions and his recognition that those same traditions were leading to extinction.
The agreement they reached was complex and carefully structured to protect the interests of all parties while allowing for the revolutionary changes being proposed:
Visenna would be granted the title of Resident Sorceress of Kaer Morhen, with living quarters in the tower traditionally reserved for visiting mages. She would have access to the fortress's libraries and laboratories, along with the resources necessary to conduct her research into improving the trials. In exchange, she would dedicate herself fully to developing and implementing safer mutation procedures.
Geralt would begin his training immediately as the first candidate for the experimental program. His trials would be conducted under his mother's direct participation and magical guidance, serving as the proof of concept for the new methods. If successful, these procedures would become the new standard for any future candidates.
The arrangement would be treated as a formal partnership rather than the traditional transaction where parents simply abandoned their children. Visenna would remain as an integral part of the witcher school's operations, her expertise becoming permanently woven into their institutional knowledge.
"But understand this clearly," Vesemir said, his voice carrying the full weight of his authority and experience. "Once the boy begins the trials, there is no turning back. Even with your magical guidance, the process will change him in fundamental ways. He will become something more than human, but also something different from what he was born to be. Are you prepared for that outcome?"
The question hung in the air between them, heavy with implications neither could fully foresee. Visenna looked toward where Geralt sat quietly in the corner of the hall, absorbing every word while pretending to study an ancient tome.
"I am prepared to help him become the best version of whatever he is meant to be," she replied finally. "And I believe that with proper guidance and love throughout the process, he can retain more of his essential humanity than previous candidates have managed."
Vesemir nodded slowly, recognizing the wisdom in her words even as part of him worried about the unprecedented nature of their arrangement. "Then we have an agreement. The School of the Wolf will attempt something that has never been tried before—the creation of a witcher guided by a mother's love rather than isolated by tradition's demands."
The formal documents were drawn up that very night, witnessed by the ancient stones of Kaer Morhen itself. For the first time in the fortress's long history, a parent would remain not as an outsider looking in, but as an integral part of the transformation process that would define her child's future.
As dawn broke over the Blue Mountains, painting the peaks in shades of gold and rose, both Vesemir and Visenna understood that they had crossed a threshold from which there could be no return. They had chosen evolution over tradition, hope over resignation, and love over the cold demands of destiny.
The School of the Wolf would either be reborn through their efforts or die in the attempt to change. But for the first time in decades, there was genuine reason for optimism about the future of witcher-kind.