even though geralt did not believe in destiny, he unknowingly demanded the unborn child of princess pavetta and her husband duny as a reward for his services by invoking "the law of surprise". the child turned out to be a girl, ciri (otherwise known as ziri coming from the elder speech word zireael meaning "swallow"). at first, geralt did not take her because women cannot become witchers. however, fate or blind chance caused geralt and ciri to cross their paths thrice, and after the death of her grandmother, queen calanthe of cintra, geralt ends up taking the girl into his care, training and loving her as his own daughter.