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Early in October, he got a letter via magic bird.
He stared at it for several minutes before opening it, remembering the letter the year before when his pups had informed him they were returning early, bringing a guest.
Well.
His pups hadn’t told him, that had been Yennefer, and the ‘guest’ of theirs had been the omega they’d kidnapped at the start of the year who had since decided to keep traveling with them.
Suffice it to say he was apprehensive of the contents of this letter.
Taking one last breath, he tore open the seal.
At least this time it was from one of his own pups. Eskel had always had the most sense of the lot of them.
Heading back early for Jaskier’s health.
Will explain in person.
Please keep an open mind.
Eskel
Oh, Melitele give him strength, what had they done now?
The portal opened up in the courtyard, and Vesemir knew exactly what Eskel had meant the moment they walked through it.
Jaskier was holding on to Lambert’s hand, the others clustered close.
Pregnant.
Jaskier was pregnant.
Vesemir looked to Eskel first. “You said to keep an open mind,” he began slowly. “Explain.”
“The child is Aiden’s,” Eskel started, “remember how his mutagen was altered by the cats?”
“…He’s not infertile,” Vesemir groaned. “Right. Aiden? I hate to pry, but before you were with my pups, were you active?”
Aiden shook his head quickly. “Not with anyone that could conceive. Mostly just Alpha and Beta men, and the rare time I was invited to an Omega’s heat, the Omega brought their own contraceptive.”
Good. That was good. “So no unknown Witcher children running about the continent. Good. How far- no, your last heat was here.” Vesemir groaned. “…You’re going to be giving birth this winter,” Vesemir concluded.
“You’re taking this well,” Lambert commented, and Vesemir glared at him.
“Two years. It has been two years of this. If you come back with some new upheaval next year, I’ll…” what would he do? There was little he could threaten his pups with that he’d actually stick to, and they all knew it. “I’ll head down the mountain and spend my winter with Mignole’s grandkids like they’ve been asking me to.”
The group looked properly upset at that idea, and Vesemir shook his head at them. “Jaskier, come on. Let’s get you inside, and you can fill me in.”
Jaskier groaned as he sat down, and Vesemir sat across from him with a mug of hot milk he’d just warmed up for the kid.
“…I don’t know what I’m doing,” Jaskier admitted. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant till after they were taken- fuck, I have to fill you in on that.” Jaskier thudded his head on the table, and Vesemir took a seat, taking a few calming breaths of his own.
He should write to Nenneke, and ask if she had any advice on staying calm in turbulent times. “Talk me through what happened?”
Jaskier shrugged. “Well, the mage that had been hunting me had a way to block the bond, and Aiden and I didn’t know he’d found the others till he got to Aiden, who was able to kill the mage before my parents’ soldiers got to him- or did the mage send him through a portal? Either way. The mage is dead, but then my parents had everyone, but then I realized I was pregnant so Essi and I went back to Lettenhove and I used an old rule on the books saying if I got pregnant then I had to be married to whoever got me pregnant, and since I was mated to all four of them and none of them knew who got me pregnant-“
Vesemir did his best to listen in, but at a certain point he resigned himself to asking Geralt or Eskel to explain it again.
Eventually though, Jaskier got to the end of his summary of the last year on the path, and he stopped, taking another sip of his drink. “…And I don’t know what to do!” he continued, and Vesemir tilted his head, peering at Jaskier.
“That’s normal.”
“Really? It’s normal for parents to go into this with absolutely no idea how to raise a child?”
“I never knew what I was doing when I raised them,” Vesemir pointed out. “Granted, your child will be an infant, and I never had much experience with those. And your child will be yours by blood, which will also make a difference, or, so I've heard. But children are children. You give them food, shelter, teach them how not to die, and hope at the end they know how much you love them.”
Jaskier sat in silence for a few moments. “…you make it sound so simple, when you say it like that.”
“It’s anything but simple, I can promise you that.”
“…They’re going to be part Witcher, aren’t they.”
“I don’t know,” Vesemir admitted. “And that’s more than a little terrifying. The world has never seen a child like yours. And on top of possibly being a Witcher, they’re from a cat Witcher. The mutagens are dangerous enough as it is, they could come out with… a tail for all I know.”
“…That could be cute.”
Vesemir leveled him with a cold stare. “If you think Witchers are hated now imagine how bad it would be if people found out we could have tails.”
“Oh. Point taken.”
“Truth is… there’s no way of knowing what’s going to happen. You’re the very first person to ever carry a Witcher’s child. But… you’re the first person to have done a lot of things, aren’t you?”
Jaskier shrugged, but he was smiling, and the tension in his shoulders was easing a lot. “I… I just want to do this right. My parents failed so spectacularly, I don’t want to mess my child up just as much.”
“Your parents didn’t care. And that’s the difference. While it’s not impossible, it is hard to mess up your child when you’re trying to do right by them. That’s not to say you can slack off researching how to raise children, and you will have failures. Every parent does. But start with love. Stay kind, stay loving, ask for help when you need it, and most importantly: be willing to accept whoever your child turns out to be. Even if it’s not who you want them to be.”
“I want them to be happy,” Jaskier whispered, and there were tears in his eyes as he smiled, his hands wrapped around his stomach. “I just want them to be happy. To live, the way I didn’t get to.”
“They will,” Vesemir promised. “We’ll all make sure of that. Don't forget you have all of us helping you out. And we'll all be confused along side you. Now, tell me: how did Yennefer react?”