Chapter Text
"Geralt!" Jaskier poked his partly transparent head through the bookcase in front of Geralt, grinning at the grunt he got in response. "I think I've found something rather interesting."
Unfortunately he pulled back before Geralt could put a book through his head, so Geralt closed the one in his hand gently and placed it back on the shelf. Honestly, he hadn't been sure if this little out-of-the-way cabin was going to hold anything of use, but it was currently the only lead they had on whoever had caused Jaskier's... condition. Jaskier flaunted his condition by floating back through a nearby wall.
"There's a hidden room over here, full of- well all sorts of magick-y looking things, I suppose you'll have to see for yourself. But surely they will be useful!" Geralt grunted, looking back to the bookshelf. Undeterred, Jaskier continued to speak. "Now, if we can just figure out a way to get you back there. If only you could go through the wall as I do. Ah, the trials of having such freedom of movement-!"
Putting Jaskier's constant (but amusing) soliloquy in the back of his mind, Geralt browsed the shelf once more. He caught a spot of slightly less dust, a book of simple green binding, nothing special, except that it was the only one of that color on the shelf. He pulled it out, then looked inside the gap he'd made. "Geralt, are you listening?" Jaskier called, but Geralt was too busy searching. Adjusting his eyes to the dark of the back of the shelf, he saw a little mark, a carved rune. Luckily it didn't look like anything specific, or trapped, so Geralt summoned the smallest amount of wind magic he could to one finger, and pushed out a tiny aard into the gap. The magic took, and the rune glowed for a brief second.
Geralt hummed at his success.
"What, what Geralt? Even I, master of many languages, have yet to understand every small intricacy of Geralt's grunts and hums. So please, enlighten this poor bard as to what you-"
There was a grinding, and a pop, and a crack appeared between the bookshelf and the wall behind it. Jaskier blinked, floating closer to look. Geralt reached into the gap, pulling the swinging hidden door open.
"Oh. Well then, fantastic work Geratl!"
Geralt huffed a laugh. "Come on bard."
They entered the hidden room together, and sure enough it was full of, as Jaskier said, "magick-y looking things." No doubt a sorcerer, or one who fancied themselves one, had used this place as a sort of quiet research location. Nothing said it was the one who had experimented on Jaskier, yet, so Geralt got to work looking through some of the materials.
"Don't touch that."
"Wh- Geralt, whyever not? I'm already a ghost, nothing can hurt me like this."
"You aren't a ghost," Geralt grumbled, "and you already know that last bit isn't true."
"Okay, fine, a book cannot hurt me like this."
"It can if it has the wrong sort of spell on it. Don't touch it."
Jaskier huffed, crossing his arms and pouting. "I don't see how I'm supposed to help if you're going to be like that."
"You're not."
Ignoring the little not-actually-upset speech that set off, Geralt continued to browse the materials. He kept from bothering anything which made his medallion rattle against his breastbone. Better not to end up cursed, or set off something which might set the cabin afire. Magic users, as a whole, tended to be a bit dramatic when it came to defenses.
"And never you mind about that time in Brugge, because everyone there is simply shaking with nerves, so it wasn't my fault that they didn't enjoy some of my jauntier tunes-"
Of course, Geralt had his own agent of chaos and drama traveling right alongside him. That thought stuck around in his mind, and he rolled it around in his mind the way one might inspect an interesting river stone. Jaskier was dramatic. Sorcerers were dramatic. Hmm.
"Jaskier." He waited until the bard paused and turned to look fully at him. "If you didn't want anyone finding some of your songs, something you... are still working on and it's not ready yet, where would you hide it?"
"My songs? Well I hide nothing from you my dearest witcher." Jaskier smiled, even at Geralt's flattest look. "Of course, back when I was still inside my body, I suppose I used to squirrel little notes and things away, if I wasn't currently working them out, that is. Why do you-?" Jaskier blinked and looked around the room. "I see! Fear not my most muscled companion! I shall search these nooks and crannies for you."
"Jaskier-" Geralt tried, but the bard was already shoving his hand and his head into various spots around the tables and desks, under floorboards beneath the chair, and various other small spots.
As quick as Jaskier could be to catch on, he was far too cavalier when it came to danger. At least it occasionally produced results.
"Ah-ha!" Case in point, Jaskier pulled his face out of a drawer with a triumphant, "There's a book in here, behind a false bottom. Didn't get a good look, given the lack of light, but what could be hiding here except important notes?"
Geralt was far more careful using his own corporeal body to search for the latch which held the bottom in place, and kept his movements slow to give himself time to react in case of a sudden trap. Luck held out though, and he extracted the book.
"Ew," Jaskier said, wrinkling his nose. Geralt fully agreed with him, given the hide bound item with vellum pages was decorated with preserved monster eyes. Still, he carefully opened it up, flipping through a few pages to check the contents, and nodded when he saw many detailed notes.
"Don't know if it has exactly what we need, but it's the closest we'll get." Geralt turned to leave, watching as Jaskier caught up with some comical flailing.
"That's it?"
"Yes."
"We're not even going to poke around for-"
"No."
"You're no fun Geralt."
"Your definition of fun is warped, bard."
"My definition of fun is based on things which are both intriguing and unique! Much like yourself."
"Oh, I'm fun now?"
They continued bickering, going back and forth with their teasing, even after they left the cabin and left with Roach--Jaskier's body placed carefully atop her--to find a suitable place to camp. While once Geralt would have been longing for peace and quiet, he found that he didn't actually mind the banter, the company. He may even have found it fun, even if he didn't say it in so many words. The little grins Jaskier gave him were enough to prove he saw it. Geralt only hoped that once they figured out Jaskier's curse he would stay close.