It’s time for Geralt to go to Cintra, and that means borrowing a horse from Yarpen Zigrin, who conveniently happens to be nearby. But, thanks to Yennefer, the Deathless Mother now has a means of escape.
The titular Voleth Meir, it turns out, is a demon who feeds on pain - the first Witchers were hired to imprison her, where she has remained in her hut. Speaking of that hut, when Geralt meets up with Jaskier, and the bard tells him about the words Yen used to teleport away from the Oxenfurt whorehouse, he puts the pieces together. It has convinced Filavandrel that now is the time to rebuild, not fight, which is not what Fringilla and Francesca agreed on in the hut, and the Council of Mages are terrified by the news. The news of that child is causing all kinds of problems. Of course, the double-agent, Dara, is already inside, ministering to Francesca and Filavandrel and their new child. Fringilla’s leadership over Nilfgaard is tenuous as best, especially with Hake being openly antagonistic, the threat of the White Flame’s imminent arrival, and the possibility of a Redanian sleeper agent despatched by Dijkstra having slipped through the gate with all the other elves and refugees. We’re starting to get that endgame feeling, the kind of thing you want from a penultimate episode where various disparate plot threads and characters all need to come together in time for the finale.