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A Different Chase (2554 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dove Falconhand, Andelver Aerasumé, Guenhwyvar (Dungeons & Dragons), Drizzt Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Dove had to admit, when she had chosen to go investigate the sighting of a drow up near Maldobar, she had not been expecting the matter to prove so unusual.
For all that there had been a fear of harm caused by the drow, by the time her party had arrived, he had acted to defend the farm family whose children had been the first to see him.
Fret had, after careful study, managed to identify the shapeshifter the drow had slain as a barghest whelp.
And while the fact that it had tried to kill the family in the drow's shape, apparently with one of the drow's own blades, might suggest that the drow's defense of the family was purely out of self-interest, his earlier interactions with the children, the interaction with the farmer immediately after killing the barghest, and the subsequent interaction with the oldest son when the boy went to give the drow supplies and warning, all indicated otherwise.
Tracking the drow from where he had been when the boy delivered the supplies and warning had been difficult, but Dove's party had managed it, leading to their discovery of a second dead barghest whelp, apparently slain by the drow and a great cat working in concert—though the cat's presence was proving quite puzzling, as it seemed to have appeared from thin air.
Since then, Dove had been carefully considering her options, and when they stopped for a brief rest, she spoke up.
"In light of the numerous oddities surrounding this drow, I think it would be wise for me to ask one of my older nephews to join us."
"Oh yes," Fret said, "one of the Tall Ones would be quite useful in this situation."
Kellindil cocked an eyebrow at that statement, and gave Dove a look that invited her to explain her reasoning.
"In addition to being skilled fighters, my nephews are all stronger wizards than I am," Dove said in response. "And perhaps more importantly, they all ride pegasi."
"Which would give us an instant means of knowing the drow's alignment, no spells necessary." Kel sighed. "Alright."
Dove looked to the other two members of the party, then. "Gabriel? Darda? Any opinions?"
Neither man had any, so Dove settled herself a bit more comfortably before saying, "Then give me a moment to reach out to them," and closing her eyes as she reached over Alustriel's anklets.
Andy had teleported in with Kairthon the next morning, and once the situation was fully explained to him, had taken some time to think about how he could use his spells to assist in the hunt.
After careful consideration, he had concluded that scrying, greater scrying (which he had only recently mastered), teleport, and arcane eye, combined with aerial scouting, could be used in a way that would allow them to ignore trail-muddling tricks and catch up to the drow faster.
So once he and Dove had memorized their spells for the day, that plan had been put into motion.
Now, three days later, he and the rest of the party were waiting to find out if, as had been the case for the last two days, Dove's second scrying of the day would be the one that let them move on to the next step.
A couple minutes later, Dove let out a relieved sigh. "He's asleep," she said. "But I think he must have realized how close we've gotten."
“Oh?" Andy said, cocking an eyebrow in inquiry.
"The panther I saw with him during the first scry two days ago is present again," Dove replied, "and seems to be guarding him."
"Good thing I've been memorizing hold monster since then," Andy said.
"Agreed," Dove said. Then she let go of the spell, and passed the mirror to Andy so he could start his greater scrying.
It was not much more than an hour after her drow had summoned her when Guen's senses told her she needed to look up.
Doing so, she saw... a pegasus? with a rider?... hovering above her drow. And the rider had to be a wizard, too, since the only way they could have gotten there without her noticing them before now was if they had teleported.
Getting to her feet, Guen moved to stand protectively over her drow, but once she had done so, she looked up again, and quietly made an inviting noise.
The pegasus responded by carefully coming down to land facing Guen, and lowering her head to bring her nose down to Guen's level.
Recognizing that for the invitation it was, Guen moved forward to rub noses with the mare.
Dove's mention of "a panther" had not prepared Andy for seeing one twice the size of any ordinary panther. And as a result, Kairthon had landed and was rubbing noses with... her, that was definitely a female... before Andy actually managed to start thinking through the implications.
Size alone would have been sufficient to make him suspect an astral origin for her, but the very clear intelligence in her actions confirmed it. Which, given her protectiveness of the drow, meant that he was more likely good than simply neutral—not evil having been confirmed by Kairthon's lack of desire to trample him the first time they had teleported to his location.
"Noble lady," Andy said quietly, his voice carefully pitched to avoid waking the drow, "my companions and I truly mean your friend no harm, but we do need to speak with him, to reassure others about his nature.
"Will you try to get him to come to us? We can offer aid to him, as well."
The panther, who had moved back to be fully over the drow, looked at him in a manner that Andy could only call considering, then slowly nodded her head once.
"Thank you, noble lady," Andy said.
Guen had watched the pegasus and her rider fly away until they were no longer visible, making careful note of the direction.
Now though, it was time for her to wake her drow and get him moving. Given that he had summoned her to guard his sleep, it would be better not to startle him awake, so she moved to lay down beside his head, and started licking his face.
Drizzt slowly roused to the sensation of a rough tongue repeatedly running over his cheek. "Guen?" he said groggily, blinking his eyes several times to bring her head into focus. "What is it?"
Seeing that her drow was now awake, Guen stopped licking him and made an imperious "follow me" noise.
Drizzt was well aware of what that noise meant, so even though he could tell he had not gotten his full rest, he got up and prepared to follow Guen.
But when he saw that she was starting to move along his backtrail, he balked. "Guen, no," he said. "My pursuers are in that direction."
Guen turned to look at her drow, and made the "follow me" noise again. But when he didn't obey, she went back to him and gently headbutted him from behind.
Guen's shove made Drizzt stumble forward a few steps, and when he had regained his balance, she had his sleeve in her teeth, and was gently tugging on it.
Drizzt sighed. "That's really the direction we need to go in?"
Guen gave a harder tug on his sleeve, then released it to nod and make an affirmative noise.
"Alright then."
Somewhat more than three hours after they had teleported back to the rest of the party, Andy and Kairthon were scouting ahead for potential obstacles along the course chosen for the day, when Kairthon gave a pleased nicker.
Shifting his attention from the terrain directly below them, Andy looked ahead of them to see what she had noticed, and saw the panther leading the drow in their direction.
"Well, my friend," Andy said, patting Kairthon's shoulder, "we'd best go tell the others he's coming."
Once Andy had explained his and Kairthon's earlier interactions with the panther, Dove had decided that it would be best for them to stop and let the drow come to them, rather than take the risk of complicating things by letting the drow run into them unaware.
And so, roughly half an hour later, they all saw the way the panther managed the drow once he noticed them.
Drizzt had balked again when he saw the group Guen was leading him towards, as they had to be his pursuers, but she had been even more insistent than before, so he had, reluctantly, continued towards them.
Fairly soon, Guen stopped—still several yards away from the group, which was reassuring to Drizzt—and made an inviting noise.
The four-legged... creature? being? Drizzt wasn't sure... with wings like most of the flying creatures of the Surface, moved towards them in response to Guen's invitation.
Guen waited until the pegasus had almost reached them, then, after making it clear to her drow that she wanted him to stay put for now, moved forward to meet the mare.
Seeing the friendly manner in which Guen rubbed noses with the four-legged, winged being—and he was now sure it was a being—reassured Drizzt even more.
So when she turned and invited him to come meet the being, he was quite willing to do so.
Looking around at the others as Kairthon solicited pets and scratches from the drow—who was giving them with a look of wonder on his face—at least reassured Dove that they were just as flabbergasted by the pegasus's reaction as she was.
"I knew he was most likely good, simply from how protective of him the panther was," Andy said, his tone one of stunned disbelief, "but that is something else entirely!"
"Yes it is," Dove agreed. "But as much as they're both clearly enjoying it, we still do need to actually talk to him. Can you get Kairthon's attention?"
"Of course," Andy replied. He gave the whistle he used to call his friend, and when she turned to look at him, he called, "I know you're enjoying your new friend's attention, dear one, but we do need to speak with him."
Kairthon's response was a snort and a stomp of one of her hind hooves, but after soliciting one more scratching from the drow, she and the panther took up positions to either side of him and escorted him the rest of the way to Dove's party.
Drizzt had been enjoying giving his new friend the attention they wanted, but he knew that Guen had to have a reason for bringing him to his pursuers, so when the two of them moved into obvious escort positions for him and started towards his pursuers, he went with them.
His new friend stopped and lay down when they reached the edge of the group, but Guen, after making it clear she wanted him to stay there, kept moving, heading for the only woman in the group.
Dove had been intrigued when the panther kept moving after Kairthon and the drow had stopped, but she most definitely was not expecting it when the great cat came right up to her and bumped her hand in an obvious request for petting.
And as she started to give the desired attention, Dove attempted to sense why the panther had requested it.
After a moment, the rumbling half-purr of the big cats a soothing background noise, Dove had her answer. The panther knew who—or rather, what—Dove was, knew that Dove would not harm her cub. But her cub had reason to be wary, and seeing that she trusted Dove would make it easier for him to trust Dove.
Looking over at the drow, Dove saw that he was looking at her with an expression of stunned astonishment, and possibly a little bit of hurt. "My friend," Dove said, "I think you had best go back to your cub and reassure him he still holds your loyalty."
The panther responded by pushing into Dove's hand briefly, licking it gently, then turning and heading back to the drow.
Drizzt had been both shocked, and somewhat hurt, when Guen had begged scratches from the woman, so when she came back to him, he couldn't keep himself from asking "Guen, why?"
Hearing that tone, those words, from her drow, Guen knew the Sister had been correct to say her drow needed reassurance.
So she gently butted her head against his chest, rumbling her promise that he was still her cub, still the one she would protect if things went wrong, then started to wash his face just like she would have for any cub of her body.
Dove watched with amusement as the panther's reassurance to her drow cub progressed from her washing his face into a friendly tussle between the two, the great cat so very clearly being careful with her strength and keeping her claws sheathed.
Soon enough, however, the tussle ended, and both panther and drow turned to look at her once they had settled themselves.
Doing her best to appear as non-hostile as possible, Dove moved to easy conversational distance from the pair and sat down again, then spoke in Goblin. "Must magic, no hurt, make good Surface words."
The drow looked at her consideringly for a moment, then turned his head to look at the panther. "Guen?" he said.
The panther rumbled reassuringly and licked the drow's face. Which was clearly all the answer the drow needed, as he then turned back to Dove and nodded.
Moving slowly, Dove cast tongues on him, noting his shiver as she did so. And once she was certain the spell had taken effect, she said "My name is Dove Falconhand. I can guess that your friend is called Guen, but what is your name?"
"I am Drizzt Do'Urden."
Explanations on both sides had taken some time, but when they were finished, both Dove's party and Drizzt had a good understanding of why the other had acted as they had. Which meant that the only matter remaining was figuring out where Drizzt should go from here.
"I truly do not think it is safe for you to remain in this area," Dove said. "The bounty hunter is holding a grudge, and is unlikely to be swayed by any arguments in your favor."
"What do you suggest, then?" Drizzt asked.
"I see two possible options for you," Dove said.
At a nod from Dove, Andy picked up the explanation. "As we mentioned earlier, you are not the only good drow. So the first option is for me to bring you to their main enclave, which is far to the southwest of here."
"What is the other option?"
"My husband and I live even farther from here than the good drow enclave is," Dove said. "So the other option is for me to bring you to my home, and he and I will provide the same language lessons and education about the Surface that the good drow would."
Drizzt spent some time considering the choices, but soon enough, he reached a decision.
"I will go with you," he told Dove. "Guen trusts you, and I have to admit that I am still somewhat skeptical of the idea of other good drow."
"That's quite reasonable," Dove said.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dove Falconhand, Andelver Aerasumé, Guenhwyvar (Dungeons & Dragons), Drizzt Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Even though Drizzt saved the Thistledowns, there's still a need to know why a drow was hanging around Maldobar. But without McGristle's presence, the many oddities result in quite a different chase.
A continuation of Merfilly's fic Two Drow?
A Different Chase
Dove had to admit, when she had chosen to go investigate the sighting of a drow up near Maldobar, she had not been expecting the matter to prove so unusual.
For all that there had been a fear of harm caused by the drow, by the time her party had arrived, he had acted to defend the farm family whose children had been the first to see him.
Fret had, after careful study, managed to identify the shapeshifter the drow had slain as a barghest whelp.
And while the fact that it had tried to kill the family in the drow's shape, apparently with one of the drow's own blades, might suggest that the drow's defense of the family was purely out of self-interest, his earlier interactions with the children, the interaction with the farmer immediately after killing the barghest, and the subsequent interaction with the oldest son when the boy went to give the drow supplies and warning, all indicated otherwise.
Tracking the drow from where he had been when the boy delivered the supplies and warning had been difficult, but Dove's party had managed it, leading to their discovery of a second dead barghest whelp, apparently slain by the drow and a great cat working in concert—though the cat's presence was proving quite puzzling, as it seemed to have appeared from thin air.
Since then, Dove had been carefully considering her options, and when they stopped for a brief rest, she spoke up.
"In light of the numerous oddities surrounding this drow, I think it would be wise for me to ask one of my older nephews to join us."
"Oh yes," Fret said, "one of the Tall Ones would be quite useful in this situation."
Kellindil cocked an eyebrow at that statement, and gave Dove a look that invited her to explain her reasoning.
"In addition to being skilled fighters, my nephews are all stronger wizards than I am," Dove said in response. "And perhaps more importantly, they all ride pegasi."
"Which would give us an instant means of knowing the drow's alignment, no spells necessary." Kel sighed. "Alright."
Dove looked to the other two members of the party, then. "Gabriel? Darda? Any opinions?"
Neither man had any, so Dove settled herself a bit more comfortably before saying, "Then give me a moment to reach out to them," and closing her eyes as she reached over Alustriel's anklets.
Andy had teleported in with Kairthon the next morning, and once the situation was fully explained to him, had taken some time to think about how he could use his spells to assist in the hunt.
After careful consideration, he had concluded that scrying, greater scrying (which he had only recently mastered), teleport, and arcane eye, combined with aerial scouting, could be used in a way that would allow them to ignore trail-muddling tricks and catch up to the drow faster.
So once he and Dove had memorized their spells for the day, that plan had been put into motion.
Now, three days later, he and the rest of the party were waiting to find out if, as had been the case for the last two days, Dove's second scrying of the day would be the one that let them move on to the next step.
A couple minutes later, Dove let out a relieved sigh. "He's asleep," she said. "But I think he must have realized how close we've gotten."
“Oh?" Andy said, cocking an eyebrow in inquiry.
"The panther I saw with him during the first scry two days ago is present again," Dove replied, "and seems to be guarding him."
"Good thing I've been memorizing hold monster since then," Andy said.
"Agreed," Dove said. Then she let go of the spell, and passed the mirror to Andy so he could start his greater scrying.
It was not much more than an hour after her drow had summoned her when Guen's senses told her she needed to look up.
Doing so, she saw... a pegasus? with a rider?... hovering above her drow. And the rider had to be a wizard, too, since the only way they could have gotten there without her noticing them before now was if they had teleported.
Getting to her feet, Guen moved to stand protectively over her drow, but once she had done so, she looked up again, and quietly made an inviting noise.
The pegasus responded by carefully coming down to land facing Guen, and lowering her head to bring her nose down to Guen's level.
Recognizing that for the invitation it was, Guen moved forward to rub noses with the mare.
Dove's mention of "a panther" had not prepared Andy for seeing one twice the size of any ordinary panther. And as a result, Kairthon had landed and was rubbing noses with... her, that was definitely a female... before Andy actually managed to start thinking through the implications.
Size alone would have been sufficient to make him suspect an astral origin for her, but the very clear intelligence in her actions confirmed it. Which, given her protectiveness of the drow, meant that he was more likely good than simply neutral—not evil having been confirmed by Kairthon's lack of desire to trample him the first time they had teleported to his location.
"Noble lady," Andy said quietly, his voice carefully pitched to avoid waking the drow, "my companions and I truly mean your friend no harm, but we do need to speak with him, to reassure others about his nature.
"Will you try to get him to come to us? We can offer aid to him, as well."
The panther, who had moved back to be fully over the drow, looked at him in a manner that Andy could only call considering, then slowly nodded her head once.
"Thank you, noble lady," Andy said.
Guen had watched the pegasus and her rider fly away until they were no longer visible, making careful note of the direction.
Now though, it was time for her to wake her drow and get him moving. Given that he had summoned her to guard his sleep, it would be better not to startle him awake, so she moved to lay down beside his head, and started licking his face.
Drizzt slowly roused to the sensation of a rough tongue repeatedly running over his cheek. "Guen?" he said groggily, blinking his eyes several times to bring her head into focus. "What is it?"
Seeing that her drow was now awake, Guen stopped licking him and made an imperious "follow me" noise.
Drizzt was well aware of what that noise meant, so even though he could tell he had not gotten his full rest, he got up and prepared to follow Guen.
But when he saw that she was starting to move along his backtrail, he balked. "Guen, no," he said. "My pursuers are in that direction."
Guen turned to look at her drow, and made the "follow me" noise again. But when he didn't obey, she went back to him and gently headbutted him from behind.
Guen's shove made Drizzt stumble forward a few steps, and when he had regained his balance, she had his sleeve in her teeth, and was gently tugging on it.
Drizzt sighed. "That's really the direction we need to go in?"
Guen gave a harder tug on his sleeve, then released it to nod and make an affirmative noise.
"Alright then."
Somewhat more than three hours after they had teleported back to the rest of the party, Andy and Kairthon were scouting ahead for potential obstacles along the course chosen for the day, when Kairthon gave a pleased nicker.
Shifting his attention from the terrain directly below them, Andy looked ahead of them to see what she had noticed, and saw the panther leading the drow in their direction.
"Well, my friend," Andy said, patting Kairthon's shoulder, "we'd best go tell the others he's coming."
Once Andy had explained his and Kairthon's earlier interactions with the panther, Dove had decided that it would be best for them to stop and let the drow come to them, rather than take the risk of complicating things by letting the drow run into them unaware.
And so, roughly half an hour later, they all saw the way the panther managed the drow once he noticed them.
Drizzt had balked again when he saw the group Guen was leading him towards, as they had to be his pursuers, but she had been even more insistent than before, so he had, reluctantly, continued towards them.
Fairly soon, Guen stopped—still several yards away from the group, which was reassuring to Drizzt—and made an inviting noise.
The four-legged... creature? being? Drizzt wasn't sure... with wings like most of the flying creatures of the Surface, moved towards them in response to Guen's invitation.
Guen waited until the pegasus had almost reached them, then, after making it clear to her drow that she wanted him to stay put for now, moved forward to meet the mare.
Seeing the friendly manner in which Guen rubbed noses with the four-legged, winged being—and he was now sure it was a being—reassured Drizzt even more.
So when she turned and invited him to come meet the being, he was quite willing to do so.
Looking around at the others as Kairthon solicited pets and scratches from the drow—who was giving them with a look of wonder on his face—at least reassured Dove that they were just as flabbergasted by the pegasus's reaction as she was.
"I knew he was most likely good, simply from how protective of him the panther was," Andy said, his tone one of stunned disbelief, "but that is something else entirely!"
"Yes it is," Dove agreed. "But as much as they're both clearly enjoying it, we still do need to actually talk to him. Can you get Kairthon's attention?"
"Of course," Andy replied. He gave the whistle he used to call his friend, and when she turned to look at him, he called, "I know you're enjoying your new friend's attention, dear one, but we do need to speak with him."
Kairthon's response was a snort and a stomp of one of her hind hooves, but after soliciting one more scratching from the drow, she and the panther took up positions to either side of him and escorted him the rest of the way to Dove's party.
Drizzt had been enjoying giving his new friend the attention they wanted, but he knew that Guen had to have a reason for bringing him to his pursuers, so when the two of them moved into obvious escort positions for him and started towards his pursuers, he went with them.
His new friend stopped and lay down when they reached the edge of the group, but Guen, after making it clear she wanted him to stay there, kept moving, heading for the only woman in the group.
Dove had been intrigued when the panther kept moving after Kairthon and the drow had stopped, but she most definitely was not expecting it when the great cat came right up to her and bumped her hand in an obvious request for petting.
And as she started to give the desired attention, Dove attempted to sense why the panther had requested it.
After a moment, the rumbling half-purr of the big cats a soothing background noise, Dove had her answer. The panther knew who—or rather, what—Dove was, knew that Dove would not harm her cub. But her cub had reason to be wary, and seeing that she trusted Dove would make it easier for him to trust Dove.
Looking over at the drow, Dove saw that he was looking at her with an expression of stunned astonishment, and possibly a little bit of hurt. "My friend," Dove said, "I think you had best go back to your cub and reassure him he still holds your loyalty."
The panther responded by pushing into Dove's hand briefly, licking it gently, then turning and heading back to the drow.
Drizzt had been both shocked, and somewhat hurt, when Guen had begged scratches from the woman, so when she came back to him, he couldn't keep himself from asking "Guen, why?"
Hearing that tone, those words, from her drow, Guen knew the Sister had been correct to say her drow needed reassurance.
So she gently butted her head against his chest, rumbling her promise that he was still her cub, still the one she would protect if things went wrong, then started to wash his face just like she would have for any cub of her body.
Dove watched with amusement as the panther's reassurance to her drow cub progressed from her washing his face into a friendly tussle between the two, the great cat so very clearly being careful with her strength and keeping her claws sheathed.
Soon enough, however, the tussle ended, and both panther and drow turned to look at her once they had settled themselves.
Doing her best to appear as non-hostile as possible, Dove moved to easy conversational distance from the pair and sat down again, then spoke in Goblin. "Must magic, no hurt, make good Surface words."
The drow looked at her consideringly for a moment, then turned his head to look at the panther. "Guen?" he said.
The panther rumbled reassuringly and licked the drow's face. Which was clearly all the answer the drow needed, as he then turned back to Dove and nodded.
Moving slowly, Dove cast tongues on him, noting his shiver as she did so. And once she was certain the spell had taken effect, she said "My name is Dove Falconhand. I can guess that your friend is called Guen, but what is your name?"
"I am Drizzt Do'Urden."
Explanations on both sides had taken some time, but when they were finished, both Dove's party and Drizzt had a good understanding of why the other had acted as they had. Which meant that the only matter remaining was figuring out where Drizzt should go from here.
"I truly do not think it is safe for you to remain in this area," Dove said. "The bounty hunter is holding a grudge, and is unlikely to be swayed by any arguments in your favor."
"What do you suggest, then?" Drizzt asked.
"I see two possible options for you," Dove said.
At a nod from Dove, Andy picked up the explanation. "As we mentioned earlier, you are not the only good drow. So the first option is for me to bring you to their main enclave, which is far to the southwest of here."
"What is the other option?"
"My husband and I live even farther from here than the good drow enclave is," Dove said. "So the other option is for me to bring you to my home, and he and I will provide the same language lessons and education about the Surface that the good drow would."
Drizzt spent some time considering the choices, but soon enough, he reached a decision.
"I will go with you," he told Dove. "Guen trusts you, and I have to admit that I am still somewhat skeptical of the idea of other good drow."
"That's quite reasonable," Dove said.
