Surely I told you at one point. I was never an expert, mind, but...

[ Thancred shakes his head. That isn't what truly matters. The ability to weave spells had been ripped from him; Y'shtola had lost her sight. There had been consequences for most of them, with Himeka, Alphinaud, and Tataru fleeing to Ishgard in exile.

Yennefer's remark about his poor case draws a hollow laugh out of him. ]

Who said I was trying to convince you?

[ But of course, they both know why he's here.

He heaves out a breath and stares off to the other side of the room, where there are bottles and papers and other effects. Not that he's really looking at them. ]

Someone important to me... that was also the last day I saw her. [ He'd seen her in other forms after that, as the Word of the Mother, but not truly as just herself — as Minfilia. ] I told her to go ahead while I bought her and the others time, but still... [ His expression twitches as the pain of that old wound rises up, and he closes his eyes for a moment. ]

I make the wrong decision, and someone who matters to me gets hurt. That's always the trend, it seems. It happened to you in Nocwich. I don't...

[ He trails off, eyes blinking open again as he leans forward, hoping to take her hand. ]

I can't let that happen again, Yennefer.