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Winters at Kaer Morhen had a tendency to get real boring real fast, especially once the first big storm of the season had arrived and trapped them quite thoroughly in Kaer Morhen valley, and the early-winter blizzards were so frequent that Old Vesemir didn’t even bother to make them clear out the training yard each day, knowing that it would be snowed back over before they could get enough swordwork in to make the immense effort worth it. That boredom, and utter lack of any other options, had Eskel digging out a package he’d received some years ago, just before all of the drama with Geralt’s Child Surprise had erupted, and forgotten about until now.
“...and then each turn we put down tiles from our hand to make a word, which has to be connected in at least one space to the other words on the board, and has to be all in one row or column,” Eskel explained carefully, leaning hard towards Geralt as he tried to keep the rules-card he was reading from out of Lambert’s reach. “Only words in languages which we all know count; only full words, and no- Lambert , cut it out! You can have it after I’m done, just wait one godsdamn minute, why do you even need-”
“Some of us learn better by reading than by hearing, asshole! And like hell am I gonna play without having the rules fucking memorized, you dickheads cheat enough at fucking Gwent , I’m not letting you get away with shit just because you know the rules better and didn’t bother to tell us the loopholes, give it- ”
…
“Where the hell’d you even get this, Esk?”
“Took a contract in Ban Glean to escort some Oxenfurt kids up the Liksela, right before that winter you brought Ciri up here that first time, I-”
“Wait, Ban Glean? The fuck were you doing down there? Thought you’d taken the northern loop that year,” Lambert interrupted, looking up from where he’d been frowning thoughtfully at his little array of tiles for the last quarter hour.
“Yeah, s’why I was so late that year, ‘d seen a contract posted all the way up in Aed Gynvael for some weird ass Leshen down there, figured it couldn’t wait if they were feelin’ that desperate. ‘Course, by the time I got there, some other witcher’d been there first, Cad? Nah, Jad? It was his second name that began with a kah sound; anyway, wasn’t any contract left for me in the whole city, other than escorting this dumbass little ‘Scholarly Expedition ’ up the river, ‘n I didn’t wanna have wasted the trip entirely, so…”
…
“Eskel! Tell Pretty Boy that ‘erinaceous’ is not a fucking word, where the hell do you even come up with this shit?”
“Is to! You’re the one who played fuckin’ Jend-, uh, fuckin’ Jentacular , you’re not the only one allowed to know fancy words, you little prick!”
“Sorry lambkins, looks like he’s actually right, for once - Erinaceous: of or relating to hedgehogs,” Eskel pronounced, looking up from the dictionary they’d had to dig out of the remains of the library to settle the Jentacular debate (and then several more after it).
“Ha!” Geralt punched the air in triumph. “I told you! Jaskier said-”
“HOONNNKKKK!” With a disproportionately loud crash and an angry honk, a goose (adult male, fairly large and healthy looking despite its rather unusual location for this time of year and the dishevelment of its feathers) flung itself through the window high up on the kitchen wall which was still missing most of its glass paneling.