Direct answer
Objectives follow journal display order. Some depend on your choices; follow the active objective in the game.
Result
Finally, after so many faint and elusive trails, Geralt had happened upon something directly tied to Ciri's disappearance. The Hunt had chased her and her companion to the shores of Skellige. There they had boarded a boat and sailed off into the unknown. A short while later, the boat returned, but with only one passenger: a twisted creature that, if a man, was very likely the ugliest in the world. The gnarled lump had found its way into Jarl Donar of Hindarsfjall's care, and so that is where Geralt went to next.