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Pavetta (b. 1234 - d. 1257) was the princess of Cintra, daughter of Queen Calanthe and King Roegner, and the mother of Ciri.
Biography
Sometime prior to 1249, Pavetta met a man named Duny and the two instantly fell in love, even after she learned he was cursed and had a hedgehog-like head during the day. However, her mother, Calanthe, was set on uniting Cintra and Skellige, so when Pavetta turned 15 the queen held a betrothal party that, while many suitors were invited, it was clear Calanthe had already secretly arranged for Pavetta to marry Crach an Craite, despite the princess' numerous objections. Even as Pavetta tried to hold back from crying over this forced marriage during the banquet, remarking she could do better than Crach, Calanthe made it clear to her daughter that her feelings were of little concern as they needed the marriage to secure power for Cintra.
As the banquet continued, several of the suitors formally introduced themselves, such as Peregrine from Nilfgaard, but these were all dismissed by the queen as a reluctant Pavetta silently watched. While her mother talked with Geralt, who she'd invited to sit with them, a masked knight suddenly barged into the party and introduced himself as Lord Urcheon of Erlenwald and that he was there to ask for Pavetta's hand in marriage. As Pavetta looked on, Calanthe questioned why he hid his face and the knight explained it was due to a knightly vow to wait until midnight but Eist hastily knocked the helmet off, revealing a monstrous hedgehog-like head.
At this, Calanthe asked Geralt to kill the monster as Pavetta looked over at the witcher in horror, but Geralt refused, noting it was not a monster but a cursed knight. Incensed the witcher wouldn't do as asked, the queen then ordered her guards to kill Urcheon before the knight revealed Pavetta belonged to him through the Law of Surprise. As the Cintran guards attacked and disarmed Urcheon, one moved in to deal the final death blow as Pavetta cried out for them not to, but her cries went unheard as Geralt intervened, saving Urcheon. Calanthe then ordered for both Urcheon and Geralt to be killed but some, like Eist, suddenly came to their defense, noting the Law of Surprise had been called, and an all out brawl sprung up among the guests.
Having lost control of the situation, Calanthe entered the fray and managed to stop the fighting but, before more could be said, Pavetta ran over to Urcheon, revealing he was Duny and that the two had known each other before he introduced himself that night. Duny then revealed to the room that he had saved Roegner years ago and had claimed the Law of Surprise as payment, which turned out to be Pavetta, but when he heard Roegner had returned home to learn a child was on the way, Duny abandoned all hope of claiming the child. One night though after midnight, he still wished to see her from afar but destiny intervened and the two met and subsequently fell in love. As other guests remarked it was destiny and asked the queen to accept it, Pavetta spoke up, saying she loved Duny and would marry him. Hearing this, Calanthe handed over her sword and extended her hand to Duny as acceptance, but as he took her hand, the queen suddenly pulled out a hidden dagger and moved to stab his throat. Pavetta screamed out in horror at this betrayal, suddenly unleashing a magical shockwave that sent everyone else but Duny flying through the air, protecting Duny from being killed once again.
As her previously dormant powers emerged, creating a whirlwind around the pair, Pavetta began to speak in Elder Speech to Duny and they float up into the air, oblivious to the increasing destruction the whirlwind was causing outside their protective bubble. However, Pavetta was distracted by something out of the corner of her eye and looked over just as Geralt managed to throw a sign, knocking the two out of the air and stopping the whirlwind.
Having regained awareness, Pavetta and Duny were soon approached by Calanthe, who hugged her daughter before revealing she thought Pavetta's grandmother's gift had skipped her like it did with Calanthe, before admitting she'd apparently been wrong about that and many other things. Finally accepting destiny this time, Calanthe then announced to the room that Pavetta would marry Duny while Calanthe would marry Eist that night, thereby still securing an alliance with Skellige. The queen then performed Pavetta and Duny's ceremony, giving her blessing to their marriage. As the couple then kissed, Duny suddenly transformed back to his human form. While elated at this, Pavetta questioned how that was possible as it wasn't midnight yet, to which Mousesack noted that Calanthe's genuine blessing for them to be together must have lifted the curse.
As Geralt moved to leave, Duny called out to the witcher, asking what Geralt wanted as payment for saving his life. While Geralt tried to brush it off, not wanting anything, Duny insisted, not wanting to start his new life with a life debt. Still having no idea what to ask, Geralt claimed the Law of Surprise but stated he had no intentions of coming back for whatever it was. As he did so, Pavetta suddenly threw up, revealing to the group she was pregnant and thus the child would become Geralt's Child of Surprise.[1]
References
- ↑ Season 1, Episode 04: Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials