Recursive fanfic: Forgotten Realms
Soulmarks in the Wheel (7094 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore, Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden/Alustriel Silverhand
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Alustriel Silverhand, Laeral Silverhand, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence
Series: Part 5 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
Inspired by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
senmut’s fic Impossible Connections and senmut and ilyena_sylph's series The Ranger and the Wheel.
This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from several of the fics in the series "The Ranger and the Wheel", since some scenes from those fics are covered in this one, with alterations based on the changes caused by Drizzt and Alustriel being soulmates.
If you are confused by this fic, please go read, at a minimum, the linked series, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with all of it.
1335 DR, late spring
The silver fire that had manifested while Laeral and Qilué removed the shroud that the Spider Queen had placed on him reminded Drizzt of the mark that had shown up on his wrist the day before he met Lindsar, and he remembered what she had told him about soulmarks.
“A person’s soulmark is representative, in some way, of their soulmate. It might be an item that is very important to the soulmate, an indication of their profession, some magic that is commonly used by them, something relating to their name, or even some combination of those, but it always is something that is strongly associated with the soulmate.”
So once the four of them had settled down to eating the food that Qilué had called, Drizzt asked, “The silver fire that appeared while you were removing the shroud—is that unique to the two of you, or are there others who can manifest it as well?”
Based on what they had said before starting the work, he suspected that it was connected to Mystra somehow—and he remembered what Aronna had said about ‘the Chosen of Mystra’, as well as Laeral’s comment about ‘If I am summoned to help’ when Hellgate Keep was finally ready to be permanently dealt with—but such a question made for a good starting point.
Laeral and Qilué exchanged a look, and then Laeral said, “Can I ask why you want to know about the silverfire?”
In answer, Drizzt pulled back his sleeve and showed them his wrist.
“Well,” Laeral said, “that is a rather good reason to be curious.”
“And to answer your question,” Qilué said, “the silverfire is unique to the Chosen of Mystra. Counting me and Laeral, there are nine of us, but I know that I am not your soulmate.”
“It’s not me, either,” Laeral added, “and while Dove and Syluné cannot be completely ruled out just for having soulmates already, it seems… less likely. Nor do I think it likely to be Khelben or Elminster.”
“And the Simbul is… ill-suited to be the soulmate of a male who escaped from a Lolthite city. Which leaves Storm or Alustriel.”
“When did your soulmark appear?” Laeral asked.
“Shortly after I was dumped on the Surface,” Drizzt replied. “So, eleven years ago.”
Laeral looked at Qilué again, and Qilué nodded once. ~Alustriel,~ Laeral sent, including Qilué in the conversation, ~have you gotten a new soulmark in the last… sixteen years or so?~ Knowing what she did of the oddities of soulmarks when drow were involved, she doubted Drizzt’s soulmate would have gotten their mark before he reached the Surface, but five years seemed a reasonable extension for the sake of being sure.
~Why do you ask?~ Alustriel replied.
~Because she just introduced me to an Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki who turns out to have a silver flame soulmark,~ Qilué said.
There was a long pause before Alustriel finally replied, ~…eleven years ago. The mark brings to mind the curve of a scimitar.~
~Then I do believe we’ve found him,~ Laeral said, ~as he wields twin scimitars, and his own mark appeared eleven years ago.~
~Bring him to meet me when you get a chance, then?~
~Of course, sister-mine.~ Letting the sending drop, Laeral focused on Drizzt, and said, “Alustriel is a match in the timing of her mark’s appearance and what her mark represents.”
For all that Alustriel knew that a ranger—especially one so favored as Laeral had said this one was—would always go where he felt he was needed, having to wait to meet her soulmate until he had dealt with whatever was causing the pull he felt was annoying, even if she still felt like she wasn’t truly ready for a new one. She was, however, very grateful that Laeral had chosen to go with him, as at least that meant that she was able to know how the quest was progressing, and getting to Silverymoon afterward would be a simple matter of a teleport.
Laeral having to go help the Simbul deal with an incursion from Thay was a further delay, and so it ended up being mid-fall before she was actually able to meet Drizzt Do’Urden. The youth he had displayed in that first meeting had been surprising, and a conversation with Laeral that night had left her appalled at how fast he had been forced to mature. And yet, his youth was also reassuring in a way, as it provided a very good reason to take things slowly with him.
While Korvallen habitually kept track of new people who were regularly seen with Alustriel, he rarely felt a need to actually say anything to her about them. But when she was seen in company with a drow—yes, the drow had been able to enter the city, and yes, he’d been brought by Laeral, and yes, he was said to be a Dreadbane, but still, a drow!—for the fifth day in a row, he couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
Given that Alustriel had been spending so much time with the drow, Korvallen took the unusual—for him, at least—step of sending her a note saying that he wanted to talk with her. A reply came just before evening court, inviting him to visit her after evenfeast.
He was waiting for her when she returned from it, and once she had changed from her evenfeast gown into something simpler, and they were settled on the divan in the outer room of her suite, he started the conversation.
He came out of it deeply off-kilter, not sure how to feel about Sharr having been replaced by a drow—which he knew was not actually true, but he needed time to untangle his feelings before he could be objective about Alustriel having a new soulmate—and somehow having agreed to spar with the man the following afternoon.
When Korvallen stalked into his rooms with a bottle of wine in hand, just after evenfeast, Besnell knew he had been correct in his instinct to send an invitation when he heard his friend had been being more snappish than usual.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked, once both of them were settled in the conversation area, glasses of wine in hand, and the bottle on the low table between their chairs.
Korvallen downed half his glass in one go. “Alustriel’s new soulmate.”
“I wasn’t aware she had even gotten a new mark,” Besnell said.
“Showed up eleven years ago, apparently. She hasn’t mentioned it because she didn’t feel like she’s recovered enough from losing Sharr to be ready for a new one.”
“But now he’s—it is a male, yes?—been found?”
“Laeral found him,” Korvallen agreed, “and brought him here to meet her.”
“The drow?” Besnell made sure to keep on top of the gossip about unusual visitors to the city, and the drow Dreadbane Laeral had brought had been much talked of for the last week.
“Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki. But it’s not his race that’s bothering me.”
Besnell took a sip of his own wine. “What is it, then?”
Korvallen knocked back the rest of his glass and poured himself another. “He’s thirty-eight!”
“Thirty-eight?” Besnell frowned and took a large swig from his own glass. That wasn’t even of age for a half-elf! And all reports indicated that this drow was full-blooded.
“Thirty-eight, and he nearly managed to force me to a draw!
“And he’s been a Dreadbane for nine years!”
Besnell had been in the middle of a sip, and only just managed not to spray it all over in surprise. “He became a Dreadbane at twenty-nine?!”
“That’s not even of age by Lolthite standards, and his teacher still took him to the Blight push!” Korvallen frowned at his glass and took an actual sip this time. “Admittedly, he says that no one in the stedding was happy about him leaving so young, but they weren’t willing make him stay when he was feeling a need to be out doing things so strongly. But still!
“At least they’ve agreed to take things slowly, between his youth, and her still not feeling ready.”
1344 DR
While some time in the stedding had been soothing after the visit to Aronna where it was so obvious that the swift mortality of humanity was creeping in, Drizzt had a feeling that Alustriel would be a better source of advice on how to cope with such, given her goddess-granted immortality and the human children and lovers he knew she had outlived.
So he said his farewells and headed off to Silverymoon.
“I’m starting to feel a pull, west and somewhat north,” Drizzt said during breakfast, two months after his arrival in the city.
Alustriel carefully hid her disappointment—this was the longest Drizzt had ever stayed, and she was very much enjoying his company—and asked, “Do you have any sense of where you are needed, other than that, or why?”
“Something to find, I think, for the why,” Drizzt said. “As for where, I’m having dreams of cold and a lot of bright whiteness.”
“Combined with the direction, that would suggest the Sea of Moving Ice or the Reghed Glacier, but given the inexact nature of such dreams, the actual need could easily be anywhere in the Icewind Dale or the portion of the Spine that forms its southern border.” Alustriel considered the time that would be needed to search such a large area, and made a decision. “I have something I can give you that would allow you to keep in touch while you are up there, and to ask for help if it is needed.”
“What is it?” Drizzt asked.
“A sending anklet.”
“Like the one that Laeral uses to talk to you and the rest of your sisters?”
“Exactly like it. I made it several years ago, in hopes for the future, and have been waiting for the right time to offer it to you.”
“Would it be okay to use it to send messages to be passed on to Lindsar?”
“Of course it would.” Even after knowing him for nine years, Alustriel was still surprised sometimes by how little consideration Drizzt gave to his own wants. “And if you’re reluctant to disturb me, Andy and Methri are the two of my sons most likely to be nearby, instead of halfway across the planet. Since the anklet connects to all of my sons’, as well as mine and all of my sisters’.”
“Then I will gladly accept it.”
1347 DR
After sunset, once he had prayed for his spells and sent the eagle that had come to his call off with his message for the dwarves, Drizzt moved on to the next step in preparing for the coming army—obtaining clerics.
Reaching out over the anklet that Alustriel had given him, he sent, ~I have allies coming, but we face a large Shadowspawn army within a day now, and have no clerics. At the glacier, above the Spine.~
The initial response was just a startled clamoring, but then Alustriel’s voice cut through the hubbub clearly. ~So you need as many clerics as we can get to you by… dawn, I would think? And I imagine that magical aid would be useful, too.~
~Dawn is a good deadline,~ Drizzt agreed, ~and any of you who can come yourselves would be most welcome.~
~Rae and I are near Mirabar,~ came from one of the Tall Ones—Drizzt thought it might be Tar—, ~and can fly up in time.~
~And I’m in the Luskan area,~ Bo added, ~so I can, too.~
~I’m not close enough to fly up,~ Andy said, ~but I’m able to teleport.~
~Same here,~ and if Tar was the one flying up with Rae, then that was Nae.
~Qi, I know your people will need things to disguise them in order to come,~ Syluné said, ~so I’ll start searching my trinket collection, and will handle the mass teleport for them, too.~
~I’ll set the Harpers to recruiting clerics here, then search my own collection,~ Alustriel said.
~Thank you both,~ Qilué said. ~I’ll save the handful of rings of illusion we have for a fighter escort, then.~
~Since Alustriel’s setting the Harpers to the task in Silverymoon, I’ll go recruit in Everlund,~ Storm said.
~Florin and I have some things to take care of first, but we can teleport up fairly soon,~ Dove said.
~And I can teleport up as soon as I set Khelben to recruiting clerics here,~ Laeral said.
~Thank you all, so much.~ Drizzt knew his relief was showing in his voice, but right now, he didn’t really care.
Finding out that Ysolde had been one of the clerics who came had been quite a surprise, but Drizzt determinedly did not fuss about it, as he knew she would respond by pointing out that he was younger than her—that fact had made things awkward between them for a bit when she had learned that he was her aunt’s new soulmate.
Properly meeting Syluné and her husband—as opposed to the brief introductions that had been made while preparing for the battle—had been a pleasure, and Aumry's request to trade technique was a true delight, though Bruenor’s reaction to him referring to them as ‘more of Laeral and Alustriel’s family’ had been surprising until he had a chance to actually think about how he tended to talk about his friend and his soulmate—at which point he realized that he really didn’t talk about Alustriel nearly as much as he thought about her, and when he did, it was in a different way than how he talked about Laeral.
Waking from another nap to learn that Bruenor had headed off to the Silverhand camp with a determined stride was a bit concerning, as Drizzt truly did not wish for there to be any strife between his dwarven friend, and the family of his soulmate. But there was nothing he could do about it until Bruenor returned, and his stomach was demanding food again, so he settled down with another bowl of stew.
Drizzt was just finishing the bowl when Bruenor got back, and his friend proved he knew Drizzt well when the first thing he said was “Peace, me elf, all’s well,” accompanied by a wave of his hand to indicate that Drizzt should sit back down. “…better,” the dwarf added. “Better than well, even. I— Drizzt, there're more o’ me clan!”
Drizzt put the bowl down again, and reached for both of Bruenor’s arms in joy. “That is wonderful news, my friend! What will we do from here?”
Bruenor clasped on, and smiled up at him, and Drizzt knew that his instinct to include himself in the plans had been a good one, even if his reason for coming up here would soon be dealt with.
“Well, I’m nae goin’ tae leave ye up here wi’ only these fool humans, so ye’ve got tae find what ye’re lookin’ for. Got tae get this whole mess packed up an’ get home. Start workin’ out there how tae move the whole clan south tae around Silverymoon, as that’s where me other clan are. Likely no’ til next spring when the passes open, so we’ve the whole season tae get wagons an’ beasts, an’ preserve food enow tae keep us all healthy on th’ trip an’ while we search.
“One o’ them Tall Ones knows a dwarf a bit older'n me, lives in Sundabar. I thought he was dead with all the others, Drizzt…”
“Ahh, my friend!” Drizzt gripped back as strong as he could, smiling gently. “I am glad to know I will not be leaving my friends here behind when I return to Silverymoon, as my search is unlikely to take much longer. Laeral muttered at seeing which nephew might stay, help us search by air. She is concerned by anything that could elude me so long.”
“So'm I, me elf,” Bruenor said, not for the first time. “But that— that’s good. Lady Syluné said there were moon elves in the Moonwood as found dwarrows in their forest, took ‘em tae the Citadels there—she didnae know how many, but every one is…”
“Another member of the clan to protect and care for, a part of the future we will make for them all,” Drizzt promised him. “And I think I must apologize that you did not learn of them sooner. As I am sure that Alustriel would have told me of them if I had ever mentioned your clan name to her.”
“Not yer fault when ye didnae know there were any other survivors,” Bruenor said. “But that’s the second time today ye’ve mentioned the Lady Alustriel in a familiar manner when ye've never done such before, least not in a way that seemed more than her bein’ the ruler of the city ye tended to stay in—if ye even mentioned her at all, that is.
“Ye speak of yer friend Laeral readily enough, so what makes the Lady sae different?”
Drizzt’s cheeks heated, and he was glad that his skin was too dark to show it. “She’s my soulmate,” he said. “Though I had not realized until earlier today just how much more I thought of her, as compared to actually speaking of her.”
1349 DR, spring
The morning of the day after Bo had brought Drizzt to the stedding had been occupied by telling the Stump of the battle with the Shadowspawn two years earlier, and the just finished battle to reclaim Mithral Hall.
After a relaxing lunch, Drizzt had spent the early afternoon answering Lindsar’s questions about everything else he had done in his years up in Icewind Dale, and now, her curiosity having been satisfied, he prepared to share some very significant news.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alustriel and I are ready to make our relationship official, once everything is settled with the Hall.”
“Well, I can’t say you’ve moved too fast, when it’s been nearly fifteen years since the two of you met,” Lindsar said, “but are you sure? You’re still so young.”
“We are,” Drizzt replied. “Even with the sending anklet, I still found myself missing her quite a lot while I was up in Icewind Dale.
“And we were able to steal enough time together earlier this spring for her to demonstrate that she no longer feels unready for a new soulmate.”
“Then I suppose it’s time for me to make you that blue tunic I’ve been saving the fabric for.
“And when you return to Silverymoon, I will go with you, to meet both her, and the dwarven kin you have claimed for us.”
Alustriel had been quite pleased to hear from Drizzt, during her lunch, that he had returned to the city, especially when he mentioned that his sister had come with him. She could not make the time to come meet Lindsar that day, but Drizzt had gladly agreed to make sure it happened the next morning, as it was not a season when she was inundated with morning appointments.
Knowing that Laeral had also been wishing to meet Lindsar for quite some time, Alustriel then reached out to her sister to let her know, and was promised an arrival that evening, as Laeral had some things she had to finish or delegate before she could come.
Her return from evenfeast—where she had heard that Drizzt and Lindsar were touring the Ogier-works and appraising their states—found both Laeral and a note from Drizzt waiting for her.
The note proved to have Drizzt and Lindsar's planned itinerary for the next day, which made it quite easy to plan a route that would intersect with theirs.
That done, she settled down to talk with her sister.
As they neared Deneir's Library, Laeral looked over at her sister and saw the soft smile she had expected to, given the tall, tufted-eared form of an Ogier walking outside the building with the current Full Scrivener, head bent down towards him, and Drizzt’s much smaller form beside the Ogier.
Built to appear as a stack of mingled scrolls and books, the building was lovely and intricate and a joy to see, but Laeral could tell that it was also in need of some work.
Alustriel called out a greeting to the Full Scrivener as they approached, along with an apology for interrupting.
“Ahh, Lady Silverhand,” the Full Scrivener said in a tone of surprised delight, “and Lady Laeral, too.
“We were studying the edifice for needs to improve it, as Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera has been kind enough to come learn what might need repairs.”
“Lindsar, this is the Arch Mage of Silverymoon, Alustriel Silverhand,” Drizzt said, his intent focus on Alustriel obvious to Laeral, “and her sister, my friend Laeral.”
“My greetings, Alustriel Silverhand, Arch Mage of Silverymoon, and Laeral Silverhand,” Lindsar said, bowing to them. “Your names sing in my ears, and your city, Lady Alustriel, is a joy to behold.”
“Your name sings in my ears, Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera,” Laeral replied, returning the bow in the Ogier fashion.
Beside her, Alustriel repeated the greeting and bow, then added, “and I thank you for your compliments. I love my city dearly, and am grateful for the aid your folk have given in making it what it is. I am very pleased to finally be able to meet you.”
“As am I,” Laeral said.
“The pleasure is mutual,” Lindsar said, “as my brother has spoken much of both of you.”
“Would you like to join us on our tour?” Drizzt asked. “Lindsar and I are very much enjoying it, even if that means, no doubt, that you may have a request soon for accommodations from our stedding, so that they can come and work on the buildings that were crafted by out people.”
“Kodome calichniye ga ni Wansho hei,” Alustriel said with a smile, using what Laeral knew was the old language common to the elan-lands and the Ogier alike, ‘the Builders are always welcome here’. “There are two floors of a wing of the Palace built for the comfortable use of your people, and they will be opened and ready when any of the masons choose to grace us with their presence.
“And if you are both sure that it would not be a disturbance to the purpose of the tour, we would be pleased to join it.”
“It would not be a disturbance at all,” Lindsar said.
1349 DR, late fall
For all that Korvallen strongly disliked the noise and hubbub of evenfeast, he was making a point of attending it tonight. Drizzt had returned from Mithral Hall about a week ago, and tonight was the night that he and Alustriel had chosen to make it plain to much of the city that they were in a relationship.
And since Korvallen was well known to be very protective of Alustriel, he knew that people seeing him interacting with Drizzt in a friendly manner would do much to reassure those who as of yet knew little to nothing of the ranger.
So when Alustriel arrived in the High Hall, on Drizzt’s arm, he was already there, and headed for the high table as soon as he saw them. He could feel the eyes on him as he moved, and his elven hearing picked up a rash of new whispers after his friendly wrist clasp with Drizzt. That he chose to sit beside Drizzt rather than Alustriel added more, and when he left the high table to join a group of elven merchants he was somewhat familiar with—at the same time that Alustriel and Drizzt moved to the Ogier table—that seemed to be a signal for people to start approaching him with questions about Drizzt.
By the time evenfeast was over, it felt rather like he had spoken to half the people in attendance, and he was quite glad that he had asked Alustriel and Drizzt if they were going to be open about being soulmates, as that fact had frequently been the one that made the most difference in people’s opinions.
Since Terava Sedai’s request was going to change his plans significantly, Drizzt brought the matter up with Alustriel that night, after she had returned from the evening festivities she had chosen to attend.
“I’m going to need to leave rather sooner than I had intended to,” he said, once they had settled on her divan.
“Trouble at the stedding?” Alustriel asked. “Or are you feeling pulled somewhere?”
“Not a pull, but the trouble’s not at the stedding, either,” Drizzt replied. “The Tuatha'an brought a request from Laeral’s friend Terava Sedai, asking me to come assist in dealing with a matter we had brought to her attention during our previous visit.”
“So you need to go to Tar Valon, then?” Alustriel reached out and took one of Drizzt’s hands in hers, unhappy at the prospect of an impending separation so soon after they had made their relationship official. “If it is something you can share, will you?”
“To Tar Valon, yes, but the letter specified spring, so I won’t need to leave for a few more weeks yet, even with a visit to the stedding before I head into the elan-lands.” Drizzt returned the clasp with the hand she had taken, but the other reached up to run through his own hair as he considered. He then took a deep breath. “I noted corrupted Aes Sedai. Laeral relayed this to her friend.
“She followed through, but their leads into the full conspiracy were cut when the ones they made out died.” He half-shrugged a shoulder. “They need me to find new leads, to expose the rot. I can go—I have a standing invitation—and teach more of the Underdark as I recall it for my excuse to be present.”
Alustriel nodded her understanding, then sighed softly. “Unless you simply wish the journey, there is no sense in walking—or riding—all the way from here to Tar Valon. We left ourselves a teleportation-marker on the slopes of Dragonmount centuries ago. Once you are done with your visit to the stedding, send to me, and I can have you there within a few hours. A day at most, if I am lacking in teleport spells that day and must wait to re-acquire it.”
Drizzt was staring at her as she continued speaking, the wonder in his eyes evident. “I… thank you, Alustriel. I truly did not want to have to leave so soon, but I could see no way around it. I knew I could not ask Laeral as the seasons would mean what we saw would be too different, but if you have a marker… that makes sense
“And that would let me arrive in spring, but not late spring, which might give me an edge of surprise if Terava Sedai’s plans have been discovered in the time since she sent me the message.”
Alustriel allowed herself to chuckle softly, a wry smile on her lips. “You are most welcome, my ranger. And I freely admit that I have an entirely selfish motive. The sooner you are able to help the Aes Sedai purge their Tower of its rot, the sooner you can return to Silverymoon.”
1350 DR
While it was a bit sooner than the weekly timing they had agreed on, the fact that Drizzt needed to reach out to Qilué now meant that it made no sense for him wait to check in with Alustriel. So once he had finished his sunrise vigil, the day after the first progress meeting, he reached out over the anklet.
~Drizzt?~ Alustriel said in response to his inquiry of her availability. ~Is everything okay? You weren’t due to check in for another day or two.~
~Everything’s fine,~ Drizzt replied, ~but since the planning we did last night now requires me to contact Qilué, I thought I might as well check in now. First of all, while I’m sure you must have guessed as much, the Amyrlin Seat is indeed uncorrupted, and is quite grateful for the ring.
~Which was a significant relief for Terava Sedai, as while she had put in place contingencies before bringing the matter to her, the possibility that the Amyrlin Seat might be Black Ajah and have reacted as she did in order to quietly deal with a problem in their security had not occurred to her until I mentioned that condition for giving the Amyrlin Seat the ring.~
~I did, yes, but it is good to hear you confirm it. And given that I think I recall Laeral mentioning at one point that her friend is a Brown, I can understand why such a possibility would not have naturally occurred to her.
~But what plans have been made that require you to contact Qilué?~
~I’ll get there,~ Drizzt said in a teasing tone. ~Continuing on the subject of relief and gratefulness for magical objects, the Amyrlin Seat has loaned me a pendant that will prevent any weave from directly touching me, unless the caster is someone of incredible power, and even then, it will blunt the effects.
~So while I still need to be wary of things created by a weave, like called lightning or a fireball, it has significantly reduced my own worries about what might happen if the corrupted ones try to use their power against me.~
~That is a relief,~ Alustriel agreed. ~And you, love, are being a tease.~
~And you love me anyway,~ Drizzt said. ~But back on topic, as one of the things they discovered before loosing their leads is that when an Aes Sedai is Shadow-sworn, so is her Warder, I have been given quarters in the Warders’ section of the Tower, and spend a fair amount of time sparring with them.
~Given that Red Ajah rarely, if ever, have Warders, that is only a partial solution, however, and as the Amyrlin Seat learned that two of the Sitters for the Hall are Black Ajah—one of the ones for the Red, and more surprisingly, one of the ones for the Blue—she cannot use the Hall to help with the process, which means that it is going to be a long and difficult one.~
~Much as I would like for this to happen swiftly, I do understand why it cannot,~ Alustriel said with a sigh. ~Removing the corrupted Sitters could easily send the rest of the Black Ajah fleeing, and she cannot use the Hall without doing that.
~But your tone has mischief in it, my ranger, so what clever solution to discerning more of the Black Ajah have you come up with?~
~I’m going to be giving classes in basic demonology, with the Reds and the Greens being strongly encouraged to attend. As they are the ones most likely to stumble over such threats, but it doesn’t single out the Reds for their lack of Warders.
~And to finally get around to why I need to contact Qilué, since the corrupted Sitters mean that when we do move against the Black Ajah, we will need to do so swiftly and take as many at once as possible, I am hoping that she, or at least one of her people, knows how to make the drow sleep potion.~
~I can’t say I like the idea of you deliberately spending large amounts of time in the presence of those who might be Black Ajah, but it is a good plan, given the Aes Sedai's demonstrated lack of knowledge about how to deal with demons.
~And thinking of the drow sleep potion to aid in capturing the Black Ajah was an excellent suggestion, even if it doesn’t prove possible.~
~I’m not exactly enthused about it myself,~ Drizzt said, ~but it’s only going to be fifteen or twenty at a time, for an hour.~
Further check-ins from Drizzt showed a slow but steady progress in identifying the Aes Sedai and Warders who were corrupted, but Alustriel could tell that it was all weighing heavily on him, even though he downplayed it much of the time—and she was certain that he was not showing it to those he was working with at all.
So when something set off her instincts during a check-in early in the second month of summer—and she truly could not say what it was, just that something had—she went and scried for him.
Finding that he was on the road instead of in Tar Valon at least explained why she had had a feeling that something was off, but it did not make her any happier, since the plan had been that he would send to her once things were finished, and she would come and get him.
However, given how much everything had been weighing on him, she could not quite find fault with his decision, as she knew that he would find more solace on the road than in any city, even Silverymoon. But since she also did not think that it was actually a good idea for him to be alone after having to deal with such intrigue, she reached out to Laeral.
After a brief explanation over the anklets, and a longer and more detailed one in person, Laeral was entirely willing to go join Drizzt on the road for as long as he needed in order to settle and regain his equilibrium.
1351 DR, spring
Drizzt reaching out to her over the anklets at some point during the night was not all that unusual, especially with his habit of traveling by night, but he tended to speak to Laeral separately, so her inclusion was enough to make Alustriel concerned even before he said, ~Black Ajah sister and her wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai.~
Alustriel’s cry of shock overlapped with Laeral’s spluttering and cursing, and Drizzt’s entirely commonplace tone—as though he faced murder attempts every day!—had not helped.
~Let me see through your eyes, dear one,~ Laeral said, once she ceased cursing. ~I’m coming to join you.~
~And I am too,~ Alustriel said, ~once I’ve informed Taern and gotten to a teleport point. Do not argue with me on this.~
~…alright,~ Drizzt said.
Alustriel dropped out of the link then, and sent to Taern even as she left her rooms. Taern was no happier than Drizzt had sounded, but that Laeral would also be there reassured him, and shortly after, she arrived where Drizzt and Laeral were.
“Alustriel’s here,” Laeral said. “So explain.”
Drizzt stopped brushing Thesaly, and looked at the two of them before pointing to a pair of bodies at the far edge of the clearing. “When I took my spells, the wilds were whispering of danger. And my Lady granted me that which I needed for the danger, though I did not know what it would be.
“The Warder cast multiple spells, before finding his death, and the corrupted one attempted… I think it is called balefire?… when I dropped the darkness I had thrown her way.”
Alustriel’s heart lodged in her throat at the mention of balefire, and she blessed Laeral for taking the time to figure out how to copy the anti-weave pendant, and Syluné and the Simbul for helping her with doing so.
Drizzt half-shrugged. “I didn’t mean for either of you to come. I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped, and knew I needed to be the one to tell Alustriel.”
“I know you didn’t intend us to come,” Laeral said, and Alustriel could hear hints of the same terrified rage she was feeling in her sister’s voice, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance we weren’t going to, when you sent a message like that.”
Somehow managing to find her voice again, Alustriel asked, “Are you certain it was balefire the Black sister used?”
Laeral had drawn a small diamond out of a purse as Alustriel was speaking, and cast light on it before moving to look at the corpses.
“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed,” Drizzt replied, even as he put on his spectacles and started following Laeral, Alustriel staying beside him. “Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.”
They had reached Laeral by then, and Drizzt added, “Thank you both, again, for the spellwork on my blades. They served me well.”
The head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body showed the proof of that, and Laeral said, “I’m glad to hear it,” even as Alustriel worked to control the pounding of her heart, the fear and dread—and then she gave up and reached to pull Drizzt in front of her, his back to her chest, to hold him tight, her chin tucked over his hair. The look on Laeral’s face said that if Alustriel hadn’t done that, she would have, and she did come over and take one of Drizzt’s hands.
“It’s alright, Alustriel,” he soothed. “It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me! The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”
Alustriel spread her hand over his chest, keeping him close. “So they did,” she agreed, “so they did. But it’s not only the threat to you that has frightened me, love. I would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return.”
Her throat closed up at that, because Sharr hadn’t. Thankfully, Laeral picked up the explanation. “If the Black Ajah have rediscovered the weave for balefire, there is danger to the Weave itself, to the Pattern.
“There is a reason that all of those who can use elan made a compact against it long ago. Even before the end of the Breaking. This must be brought to the attention of our Mother.”
“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he had seen in more depth.
Alustriel continued cuddling him, listening intently, but the more he spoke… the more certain she was that he was correct. And from the look on Laeral’s face, she felt the same way.
“Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes,” Laeral said when Drizzt had finished. “Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”
Then she looked over to the bodies, which had been stripped to their smallclothes. “Let them feed the carrion-eaters, and do some good for once in their miserable, accursed lives. Where were you planning to rest for the day, dear one?”
Alustriel was in complete agreement with that decision about the bodies, but at Laeral’s question about a place to rest, she shifted to release Drizzt, and Laeral took that as her cue to let go of his hand.
“Hadn’t chosen yet. All of their things are in the haversack Thyl and Lin gifted me with, though, so I can call the carrion feeders now, and we can find a place… if you’re staying with me for a time?”
“I would like to stay with you,” Alustriel said with a sigh, “but I did tell Taern that I would not be gone for long.
“Before I go, however, did the Warder get lucky enough that you need a potion?”
Drizzt glanced down at his hands, then his legs, shifted in his armor a little, and shook his head. “Doesn’t seem like it,” he answered her cheerfully after making that appraisal. “He was decently skilled, but the first blow that landed between us was mine, and it only took one more after.”
“Oh? That’s impressive even for you, dear,” Laeral pointed out.
“Hard to concentrate or fight when thorny vines ensnare you,” Drizzt said, and Alustriel could hear the satisfaction in his voice.
“In that case, I really do need to leave now,” Alustriel said. She leaned down to give Drizzt a kiss, then reached for the staff of Silverymoon in her bedchamber and used its power to pull herself to it.
When Laeral had returned from telling her Aes Sedai friend about the attack on Drizzt, Alustriel had approached her for advice on how to broach the subject of taking the Warder bond with Drizzt. That conversation had gone quite well, as Laeral had actually been thinking about the matter for some time. And now, a month later, Drizzt had returned to Silverymoon, and she was preparing to start the conversation.
Shifting on the divan to face him fully, Alustriel took a deep breath and said, “Drizzt, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Hearing the serious tone in her voice, Drizzt also shifted to look straight at Alustriel. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Alustriel said, “but the attack by the Black Ajah and her Warder has changed my feelings on an aspect of our relationship that I had previously felt that you should be the one to bring up.”
“And what is that aspect?”
Alustriel took another deep breath. “I want to take the Warder bond with you.”
“Is it just because of the attack?” Drizzt asked.
“No. I’ve wanted to take the bond for a while, but given your history with it, I felt it would be better to let you come to me about it when—or if—you were ready to take it.
“But with the attack… you could have been killed, because I didn’t know you needed help.”
“Even if we had been bonded,” Drizzt said, “it’s not like I would have been able to share my vision with you before the attack was over.”
“I’m working on solving that problem,” Alustriel replied. “Teleportation-markers and the staves of Silverymoon are both things that allow one to teleport to them, so if I can figure out how to adapt the magic, I can make something for you to wear that I will be able to teleport to without error, and without needing your eyes to know where.”
Drizzt gave a wry smile. “I want to take it, too. But your previous loss had left me hesitant to broach the subject with you, because I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Alustriel laughed softly, shaking her head as she drew him closer. “Aren’t we a pair? Tomorrow, then, after lunch? Since I’ll need to memorize the spell.”
“A good pair, I think,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “And tomorrow after lunch is fine with me.”
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore, Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden/Alustriel Silverhand
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Alustriel Silverhand, Laeral Silverhand, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence
Series: Part 5 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
The events of the series "The Ranger and the Wheel", if Drizzt and Alustriel were soulmates.
Beginning notes
Inspired by
senmut’s fic Impossible Connections and senmut and ilyena_sylph's series The Ranger and the Wheel.This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from several of the fics in the series "The Ranger and the Wheel", since some scenes from those fics are covered in this one, with alterations based on the changes caused by Drizzt and Alustriel being soulmates.
If you are confused by this fic, please go read, at a minimum, the linked series, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with all of it.
Chapter One: Going Slowly
1335 DR, late spring
The silver fire that had manifested while Laeral and Qilué removed the shroud that the Spider Queen had placed on him reminded Drizzt of the mark that had shown up on his wrist the day before he met Lindsar, and he remembered what she had told him about soulmarks.
“A person’s soulmark is representative, in some way, of their soulmate. It might be an item that is very important to the soulmate, an indication of their profession, some magic that is commonly used by them, something relating to their name, or even some combination of those, but it always is something that is strongly associated with the soulmate.”
So once the four of them had settled down to eating the food that Qilué had called, Drizzt asked, “The silver fire that appeared while you were removing the shroud—is that unique to the two of you, or are there others who can manifest it as well?”
Based on what they had said before starting the work, he suspected that it was connected to Mystra somehow—and he remembered what Aronna had said about ‘the Chosen of Mystra’, as well as Laeral’s comment about ‘If I am summoned to help’ when Hellgate Keep was finally ready to be permanently dealt with—but such a question made for a good starting point.
Laeral and Qilué exchanged a look, and then Laeral said, “Can I ask why you want to know about the silverfire?”
In answer, Drizzt pulled back his sleeve and showed them his wrist.
“Well,” Laeral said, “that is a rather good reason to be curious.”
“And to answer your question,” Qilué said, “the silverfire is unique to the Chosen of Mystra. Counting me and Laeral, there are nine of us, but I know that I am not your soulmate.”
“It’s not me, either,” Laeral added, “and while Dove and Syluné cannot be completely ruled out just for having soulmates already, it seems… less likely. Nor do I think it likely to be Khelben or Elminster.”
“And the Simbul is… ill-suited to be the soulmate of a male who escaped from a Lolthite city. Which leaves Storm or Alustriel.”
“When did your soulmark appear?” Laeral asked.
“Shortly after I was dumped on the Surface,” Drizzt replied. “So, eleven years ago.”
Laeral looked at Qilué again, and Qilué nodded once. ~Alustriel,~ Laeral sent, including Qilué in the conversation, ~have you gotten a new soulmark in the last… sixteen years or so?~ Knowing what she did of the oddities of soulmarks when drow were involved, she doubted Drizzt’s soulmate would have gotten their mark before he reached the Surface, but five years seemed a reasonable extension for the sake of being sure.
~Why do you ask?~ Alustriel replied.
~Because she just introduced me to an Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki who turns out to have a silver flame soulmark,~ Qilué said.
There was a long pause before Alustriel finally replied, ~…eleven years ago. The mark brings to mind the curve of a scimitar.~
~Then I do believe we’ve found him,~ Laeral said, ~as he wields twin scimitars, and his own mark appeared eleven years ago.~
~Bring him to meet me when you get a chance, then?~
~Of course, sister-mine.~ Letting the sending drop, Laeral focused on Drizzt, and said, “Alustriel is a match in the timing of her mark’s appearance and what her mark represents.”
For all that Alustriel knew that a ranger—especially one so favored as Laeral had said this one was—would always go where he felt he was needed, having to wait to meet her soulmate until he had dealt with whatever was causing the pull he felt was annoying, even if she still felt like she wasn’t truly ready for a new one. She was, however, very grateful that Laeral had chosen to go with him, as at least that meant that she was able to know how the quest was progressing, and getting to Silverymoon afterward would be a simple matter of a teleport.
Laeral having to go help the Simbul deal with an incursion from Thay was a further delay, and so it ended up being mid-fall before she was actually able to meet Drizzt Do’Urden. The youth he had displayed in that first meeting had been surprising, and a conversation with Laeral that night had left her appalled at how fast he had been forced to mature. And yet, his youth was also reassuring in a way, as it provided a very good reason to take things slowly with him.
While Korvallen habitually kept track of new people who were regularly seen with Alustriel, he rarely felt a need to actually say anything to her about them. But when she was seen in company with a drow—yes, the drow had been able to enter the city, and yes, he’d been brought by Laeral, and yes, he was said to be a Dreadbane, but still, a drow!—for the fifth day in a row, he couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
Given that Alustriel had been spending so much time with the drow, Korvallen took the unusual—for him, at least—step of sending her a note saying that he wanted to talk with her. A reply came just before evening court, inviting him to visit her after evenfeast.
He was waiting for her when she returned from it, and once she had changed from her evenfeast gown into something simpler, and they were settled on the divan in the outer room of her suite, he started the conversation.
He came out of it deeply off-kilter, not sure how to feel about Sharr having been replaced by a drow—which he knew was not actually true, but he needed time to untangle his feelings before he could be objective about Alustriel having a new soulmate—and somehow having agreed to spar with the man the following afternoon.
When Korvallen stalked into his rooms with a bottle of wine in hand, just after evenfeast, Besnell knew he had been correct in his instinct to send an invitation when he heard his friend had been being more snappish than usual.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked, once both of them were settled in the conversation area, glasses of wine in hand, and the bottle on the low table between their chairs.
Korvallen downed half his glass in one go. “Alustriel’s new soulmate.”
“I wasn’t aware she had even gotten a new mark,” Besnell said.
“Showed up eleven years ago, apparently. She hasn’t mentioned it because she didn’t feel like she’s recovered enough from losing Sharr to be ready for a new one.”
“But now he’s—it is a male, yes?—been found?”
“Laeral found him,” Korvallen agreed, “and brought him here to meet her.”
“The drow?” Besnell made sure to keep on top of the gossip about unusual visitors to the city, and the drow Dreadbane Laeral had brought had been much talked of for the last week.
“Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki. But it’s not his race that’s bothering me.”
Besnell took a sip of his own wine. “What is it, then?”
Korvallen knocked back the rest of his glass and poured himself another. “He’s thirty-eight!”
“Thirty-eight?” Besnell frowned and took a large swig from his own glass. That wasn’t even of age for a half-elf! And all reports indicated that this drow was full-blooded.
“Thirty-eight, and he nearly managed to force me to a draw!
“And he’s been a Dreadbane for nine years!”
Besnell had been in the middle of a sip, and only just managed not to spray it all over in surprise. “He became a Dreadbane at twenty-nine?!”
“That’s not even of age by Lolthite standards, and his teacher still took him to the Blight push!” Korvallen frowned at his glass and took an actual sip this time. “Admittedly, he says that no one in the stedding was happy about him leaving so young, but they weren’t willing make him stay when he was feeling a need to be out doing things so strongly. But still!
“At least they’ve agreed to take things slowly, between his youth, and her still not feeling ready.”
1344 DR
While some time in the stedding had been soothing after the visit to Aronna where it was so obvious that the swift mortality of humanity was creeping in, Drizzt had a feeling that Alustriel would be a better source of advice on how to cope with such, given her goddess-granted immortality and the human children and lovers he knew she had outlived.
So he said his farewells and headed off to Silverymoon.
“I’m starting to feel a pull, west and somewhat north,” Drizzt said during breakfast, two months after his arrival in the city.
Alustriel carefully hid her disappointment—this was the longest Drizzt had ever stayed, and she was very much enjoying his company—and asked, “Do you have any sense of where you are needed, other than that, or why?”
“Something to find, I think, for the why,” Drizzt said. “As for where, I’m having dreams of cold and a lot of bright whiteness.”
“Combined with the direction, that would suggest the Sea of Moving Ice or the Reghed Glacier, but given the inexact nature of such dreams, the actual need could easily be anywhere in the Icewind Dale or the portion of the Spine that forms its southern border.” Alustriel considered the time that would be needed to search such a large area, and made a decision. “I have something I can give you that would allow you to keep in touch while you are up there, and to ask for help if it is needed.”
“What is it?” Drizzt asked.
“A sending anklet.”
“Like the one that Laeral uses to talk to you and the rest of your sisters?”
“Exactly like it. I made it several years ago, in hopes for the future, and have been waiting for the right time to offer it to you.”
“Would it be okay to use it to send messages to be passed on to Lindsar?”
“Of course it would.” Even after knowing him for nine years, Alustriel was still surprised sometimes by how little consideration Drizzt gave to his own wants. “And if you’re reluctant to disturb me, Andy and Methri are the two of my sons most likely to be nearby, instead of halfway across the planet. Since the anklet connects to all of my sons’, as well as mine and all of my sisters’.”
“Then I will gladly accept it.”
1347 DR
After sunset, once he had prayed for his spells and sent the eagle that had come to his call off with his message for the dwarves, Drizzt moved on to the next step in preparing for the coming army—obtaining clerics.
Reaching out over the anklet that Alustriel had given him, he sent, ~I have allies coming, but we face a large Shadowspawn army within a day now, and have no clerics. At the glacier, above the Spine.~
The initial response was just a startled clamoring, but then Alustriel’s voice cut through the hubbub clearly. ~So you need as many clerics as we can get to you by… dawn, I would think? And I imagine that magical aid would be useful, too.~
~Dawn is a good deadline,~ Drizzt agreed, ~and any of you who can come yourselves would be most welcome.~
~Rae and I are near Mirabar,~ came from one of the Tall Ones—Drizzt thought it might be Tar—, ~and can fly up in time.~
~And I’m in the Luskan area,~ Bo added, ~so I can, too.~
~I’m not close enough to fly up,~ Andy said, ~but I’m able to teleport.~
~Same here,~ and if Tar was the one flying up with Rae, then that was Nae.
~Qi, I know your people will need things to disguise them in order to come,~ Syluné said, ~so I’ll start searching my trinket collection, and will handle the mass teleport for them, too.~
~I’ll set the Harpers to recruiting clerics here, then search my own collection,~ Alustriel said.
~Thank you both,~ Qilué said. ~I’ll save the handful of rings of illusion we have for a fighter escort, then.~
~Since Alustriel’s setting the Harpers to the task in Silverymoon, I’ll go recruit in Everlund,~ Storm said.
~Florin and I have some things to take care of first, but we can teleport up fairly soon,~ Dove said.
~And I can teleport up as soon as I set Khelben to recruiting clerics here,~ Laeral said.
~Thank you all, so much.~ Drizzt knew his relief was showing in his voice, but right now, he didn’t really care.
Finding out that Ysolde had been one of the clerics who came had been quite a surprise, but Drizzt determinedly did not fuss about it, as he knew she would respond by pointing out that he was younger than her—that fact had made things awkward between them for a bit when she had learned that he was her aunt’s new soulmate.
Properly meeting Syluné and her husband—as opposed to the brief introductions that had been made while preparing for the battle—had been a pleasure, and Aumry's request to trade technique was a true delight, though Bruenor’s reaction to him referring to them as ‘more of Laeral and Alustriel’s family’ had been surprising until he had a chance to actually think about how he tended to talk about his friend and his soulmate—at which point he realized that he really didn’t talk about Alustriel nearly as much as he thought about her, and when he did, it was in a different way than how he talked about Laeral.
Waking from another nap to learn that Bruenor had headed off to the Silverhand camp with a determined stride was a bit concerning, as Drizzt truly did not wish for there to be any strife between his dwarven friend, and the family of his soulmate. But there was nothing he could do about it until Bruenor returned, and his stomach was demanding food again, so he settled down with another bowl of stew.
Drizzt was just finishing the bowl when Bruenor got back, and his friend proved he knew Drizzt well when the first thing he said was “Peace, me elf, all’s well,” accompanied by a wave of his hand to indicate that Drizzt should sit back down. “…better,” the dwarf added. “Better than well, even. I— Drizzt, there're more o’ me clan!”
Drizzt put the bowl down again, and reached for both of Bruenor’s arms in joy. “That is wonderful news, my friend! What will we do from here?”
Bruenor clasped on, and smiled up at him, and Drizzt knew that his instinct to include himself in the plans had been a good one, even if his reason for coming up here would soon be dealt with.
“Well, I’m nae goin’ tae leave ye up here wi’ only these fool humans, so ye’ve got tae find what ye’re lookin’ for. Got tae get this whole mess packed up an’ get home. Start workin’ out there how tae move the whole clan south tae around Silverymoon, as that’s where me other clan are. Likely no’ til next spring when the passes open, so we’ve the whole season tae get wagons an’ beasts, an’ preserve food enow tae keep us all healthy on th’ trip an’ while we search.
“One o’ them Tall Ones knows a dwarf a bit older'n me, lives in Sundabar. I thought he was dead with all the others, Drizzt…”
“Ahh, my friend!” Drizzt gripped back as strong as he could, smiling gently. “I am glad to know I will not be leaving my friends here behind when I return to Silverymoon, as my search is unlikely to take much longer. Laeral muttered at seeing which nephew might stay, help us search by air. She is concerned by anything that could elude me so long.”
“So'm I, me elf,” Bruenor said, not for the first time. “But that— that’s good. Lady Syluné said there were moon elves in the Moonwood as found dwarrows in their forest, took ‘em tae the Citadels there—she didnae know how many, but every one is…”
“Another member of the clan to protect and care for, a part of the future we will make for them all,” Drizzt promised him. “And I think I must apologize that you did not learn of them sooner. As I am sure that Alustriel would have told me of them if I had ever mentioned your clan name to her.”
“Not yer fault when ye didnae know there were any other survivors,” Bruenor said. “But that’s the second time today ye’ve mentioned the Lady Alustriel in a familiar manner when ye've never done such before, least not in a way that seemed more than her bein’ the ruler of the city ye tended to stay in—if ye even mentioned her at all, that is.
“Ye speak of yer friend Laeral readily enough, so what makes the Lady sae different?”
Drizzt’s cheeks heated, and he was glad that his skin was too dark to show it. “She’s my soulmate,” he said. “Though I had not realized until earlier today just how much more I thought of her, as compared to actually speaking of her.”
1349 DR, spring
The morning of the day after Bo had brought Drizzt to the stedding had been occupied by telling the Stump of the battle with the Shadowspawn two years earlier, and the just finished battle to reclaim Mithral Hall.
After a relaxing lunch, Drizzt had spent the early afternoon answering Lindsar’s questions about everything else he had done in his years up in Icewind Dale, and now, her curiosity having been satisfied, he prepared to share some very significant news.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alustriel and I are ready to make our relationship official, once everything is settled with the Hall.”
“Well, I can’t say you’ve moved too fast, when it’s been nearly fifteen years since the two of you met,” Lindsar said, “but are you sure? You’re still so young.”
“We are,” Drizzt replied. “Even with the sending anklet, I still found myself missing her quite a lot while I was up in Icewind Dale.
“And we were able to steal enough time together earlier this spring for her to demonstrate that she no longer feels unready for a new soulmate.”
“Then I suppose it’s time for me to make you that blue tunic I’ve been saving the fabric for.
“And when you return to Silverymoon, I will go with you, to meet both her, and the dwarven kin you have claimed for us.”
Alustriel had been quite pleased to hear from Drizzt, during her lunch, that he had returned to the city, especially when he mentioned that his sister had come with him. She could not make the time to come meet Lindsar that day, but Drizzt had gladly agreed to make sure it happened the next morning, as it was not a season when she was inundated with morning appointments.
Knowing that Laeral had also been wishing to meet Lindsar for quite some time, Alustriel then reached out to her sister to let her know, and was promised an arrival that evening, as Laeral had some things she had to finish or delegate before she could come.
Her return from evenfeast—where she had heard that Drizzt and Lindsar were touring the Ogier-works and appraising their states—found both Laeral and a note from Drizzt waiting for her.
The note proved to have Drizzt and Lindsar's planned itinerary for the next day, which made it quite easy to plan a route that would intersect with theirs.
That done, she settled down to talk with her sister.
As they neared Deneir's Library, Laeral looked over at her sister and saw the soft smile she had expected to, given the tall, tufted-eared form of an Ogier walking outside the building with the current Full Scrivener, head bent down towards him, and Drizzt’s much smaller form beside the Ogier.
Built to appear as a stack of mingled scrolls and books, the building was lovely and intricate and a joy to see, but Laeral could tell that it was also in need of some work.
Alustriel called out a greeting to the Full Scrivener as they approached, along with an apology for interrupting.
“Ahh, Lady Silverhand,” the Full Scrivener said in a tone of surprised delight, “and Lady Laeral, too.
“We were studying the edifice for needs to improve it, as Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera has been kind enough to come learn what might need repairs.”
“Lindsar, this is the Arch Mage of Silverymoon, Alustriel Silverhand,” Drizzt said, his intent focus on Alustriel obvious to Laeral, “and her sister, my friend Laeral.”
“My greetings, Alustriel Silverhand, Arch Mage of Silverymoon, and Laeral Silverhand,” Lindsar said, bowing to them. “Your names sing in my ears, and your city, Lady Alustriel, is a joy to behold.”
“Your name sings in my ears, Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera,” Laeral replied, returning the bow in the Ogier fashion.
Beside her, Alustriel repeated the greeting and bow, then added, “and I thank you for your compliments. I love my city dearly, and am grateful for the aid your folk have given in making it what it is. I am very pleased to finally be able to meet you.”
“As am I,” Laeral said.
“The pleasure is mutual,” Lindsar said, “as my brother has spoken much of both of you.”
“Would you like to join us on our tour?” Drizzt asked. “Lindsar and I are very much enjoying it, even if that means, no doubt, that you may have a request soon for accommodations from our stedding, so that they can come and work on the buildings that were crafted by out people.”
“Kodome calichniye ga ni Wansho hei,” Alustriel said with a smile, using what Laeral knew was the old language common to the elan-lands and the Ogier alike, ‘the Builders are always welcome here’. “There are two floors of a wing of the Palace built for the comfortable use of your people, and they will be opened and ready when any of the masons choose to grace us with their presence.
“And if you are both sure that it would not be a disturbance to the purpose of the tour, we would be pleased to join it.”
“It would not be a disturbance at all,” Lindsar said.
Chapter Two: From Relationship to Warder Bond
1349 DR, late fall
For all that Korvallen strongly disliked the noise and hubbub of evenfeast, he was making a point of attending it tonight. Drizzt had returned from Mithral Hall about a week ago, and tonight was the night that he and Alustriel had chosen to make it plain to much of the city that they were in a relationship.
And since Korvallen was well known to be very protective of Alustriel, he knew that people seeing him interacting with Drizzt in a friendly manner would do much to reassure those who as of yet knew little to nothing of the ranger.
So when Alustriel arrived in the High Hall, on Drizzt’s arm, he was already there, and headed for the high table as soon as he saw them. He could feel the eyes on him as he moved, and his elven hearing picked up a rash of new whispers after his friendly wrist clasp with Drizzt. That he chose to sit beside Drizzt rather than Alustriel added more, and when he left the high table to join a group of elven merchants he was somewhat familiar with—at the same time that Alustriel and Drizzt moved to the Ogier table—that seemed to be a signal for people to start approaching him with questions about Drizzt.
By the time evenfeast was over, it felt rather like he had spoken to half the people in attendance, and he was quite glad that he had asked Alustriel and Drizzt if they were going to be open about being soulmates, as that fact had frequently been the one that made the most difference in people’s opinions.
Since Terava Sedai’s request was going to change his plans significantly, Drizzt brought the matter up with Alustriel that night, after she had returned from the evening festivities she had chosen to attend.
“I’m going to need to leave rather sooner than I had intended to,” he said, once they had settled on her divan.
“Trouble at the stedding?” Alustriel asked. “Or are you feeling pulled somewhere?”
“Not a pull, but the trouble’s not at the stedding, either,” Drizzt replied. “The Tuatha'an brought a request from Laeral’s friend Terava Sedai, asking me to come assist in dealing with a matter we had brought to her attention during our previous visit.”
“So you need to go to Tar Valon, then?” Alustriel reached out and took one of Drizzt’s hands in hers, unhappy at the prospect of an impending separation so soon after they had made their relationship official. “If it is something you can share, will you?”
“To Tar Valon, yes, but the letter specified spring, so I won’t need to leave for a few more weeks yet, even with a visit to the stedding before I head into the elan-lands.” Drizzt returned the clasp with the hand she had taken, but the other reached up to run through his own hair as he considered. He then took a deep breath. “I noted corrupted Aes Sedai. Laeral relayed this to her friend.
“She followed through, but their leads into the full conspiracy were cut when the ones they made out died.” He half-shrugged a shoulder. “They need me to find new leads, to expose the rot. I can go—I have a standing invitation—and teach more of the Underdark as I recall it for my excuse to be present.”
Alustriel nodded her understanding, then sighed softly. “Unless you simply wish the journey, there is no sense in walking—or riding—all the way from here to Tar Valon. We left ourselves a teleportation-marker on the slopes of Dragonmount centuries ago. Once you are done with your visit to the stedding, send to me, and I can have you there within a few hours. A day at most, if I am lacking in teleport spells that day and must wait to re-acquire it.”
Drizzt was staring at her as she continued speaking, the wonder in his eyes evident. “I… thank you, Alustriel. I truly did not want to have to leave so soon, but I could see no way around it. I knew I could not ask Laeral as the seasons would mean what we saw would be too different, but if you have a marker… that makes sense
“And that would let me arrive in spring, but not late spring, which might give me an edge of surprise if Terava Sedai’s plans have been discovered in the time since she sent me the message.”
Alustriel allowed herself to chuckle softly, a wry smile on her lips. “You are most welcome, my ranger. And I freely admit that I have an entirely selfish motive. The sooner you are able to help the Aes Sedai purge their Tower of its rot, the sooner you can return to Silverymoon.”
1350 DR
While it was a bit sooner than the weekly timing they had agreed on, the fact that Drizzt needed to reach out to Qilué now meant that it made no sense for him wait to check in with Alustriel. So once he had finished his sunrise vigil, the day after the first progress meeting, he reached out over the anklet.
~Drizzt?~ Alustriel said in response to his inquiry of her availability. ~Is everything okay? You weren’t due to check in for another day or two.~
~Everything’s fine,~ Drizzt replied, ~but since the planning we did last night now requires me to contact Qilué, I thought I might as well check in now. First of all, while I’m sure you must have guessed as much, the Amyrlin Seat is indeed uncorrupted, and is quite grateful for the ring.
~Which was a significant relief for Terava Sedai, as while she had put in place contingencies before bringing the matter to her, the possibility that the Amyrlin Seat might be Black Ajah and have reacted as she did in order to quietly deal with a problem in their security had not occurred to her until I mentioned that condition for giving the Amyrlin Seat the ring.~
~I did, yes, but it is good to hear you confirm it. And given that I think I recall Laeral mentioning at one point that her friend is a Brown, I can understand why such a possibility would not have naturally occurred to her.
~But what plans have been made that require you to contact Qilué?~
~I’ll get there,~ Drizzt said in a teasing tone. ~Continuing on the subject of relief and gratefulness for magical objects, the Amyrlin Seat has loaned me a pendant that will prevent any weave from directly touching me, unless the caster is someone of incredible power, and even then, it will blunt the effects.
~So while I still need to be wary of things created by a weave, like called lightning or a fireball, it has significantly reduced my own worries about what might happen if the corrupted ones try to use their power against me.~
~That is a relief,~ Alustriel agreed. ~And you, love, are being a tease.~
~And you love me anyway,~ Drizzt said. ~But back on topic, as one of the things they discovered before loosing their leads is that when an Aes Sedai is Shadow-sworn, so is her Warder, I have been given quarters in the Warders’ section of the Tower, and spend a fair amount of time sparring with them.
~Given that Red Ajah rarely, if ever, have Warders, that is only a partial solution, however, and as the Amyrlin Seat learned that two of the Sitters for the Hall are Black Ajah—one of the ones for the Red, and more surprisingly, one of the ones for the Blue—she cannot use the Hall to help with the process, which means that it is going to be a long and difficult one.~
~Much as I would like for this to happen swiftly, I do understand why it cannot,~ Alustriel said with a sigh. ~Removing the corrupted Sitters could easily send the rest of the Black Ajah fleeing, and she cannot use the Hall without doing that.
~But your tone has mischief in it, my ranger, so what clever solution to discerning more of the Black Ajah have you come up with?~
~I’m going to be giving classes in basic demonology, with the Reds and the Greens being strongly encouraged to attend. As they are the ones most likely to stumble over such threats, but it doesn’t single out the Reds for their lack of Warders.
~And to finally get around to why I need to contact Qilué, since the corrupted Sitters mean that when we do move against the Black Ajah, we will need to do so swiftly and take as many at once as possible, I am hoping that she, or at least one of her people, knows how to make the drow sleep potion.~
~I can’t say I like the idea of you deliberately spending large amounts of time in the presence of those who might be Black Ajah, but it is a good plan, given the Aes Sedai's demonstrated lack of knowledge about how to deal with demons.
~And thinking of the drow sleep potion to aid in capturing the Black Ajah was an excellent suggestion, even if it doesn’t prove possible.~
~I’m not exactly enthused about it myself,~ Drizzt said, ~but it’s only going to be fifteen or twenty at a time, for an hour.~
Further check-ins from Drizzt showed a slow but steady progress in identifying the Aes Sedai and Warders who were corrupted, but Alustriel could tell that it was all weighing heavily on him, even though he downplayed it much of the time—and she was certain that he was not showing it to those he was working with at all.
So when something set off her instincts during a check-in early in the second month of summer—and she truly could not say what it was, just that something had—she went and scried for him.
Finding that he was on the road instead of in Tar Valon at least explained why she had had a feeling that something was off, but it did not make her any happier, since the plan had been that he would send to her once things were finished, and she would come and get him.
However, given how much everything had been weighing on him, she could not quite find fault with his decision, as she knew that he would find more solace on the road than in any city, even Silverymoon. But since she also did not think that it was actually a good idea for him to be alone after having to deal with such intrigue, she reached out to Laeral.
After a brief explanation over the anklets, and a longer and more detailed one in person, Laeral was entirely willing to go join Drizzt on the road for as long as he needed in order to settle and regain his equilibrium.
1351 DR, spring
Drizzt reaching out to her over the anklets at some point during the night was not all that unusual, especially with his habit of traveling by night, but he tended to speak to Laeral separately, so her inclusion was enough to make Alustriel concerned even before he said, ~Black Ajah sister and her wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai.~
Alustriel’s cry of shock overlapped with Laeral’s spluttering and cursing, and Drizzt’s entirely commonplace tone—as though he faced murder attempts every day!—had not helped.
~Let me see through your eyes, dear one,~ Laeral said, once she ceased cursing. ~I’m coming to join you.~
~And I am too,~ Alustriel said, ~once I’ve informed Taern and gotten to a teleport point. Do not argue with me on this.~
~…alright,~ Drizzt said.
Alustriel dropped out of the link then, and sent to Taern even as she left her rooms. Taern was no happier than Drizzt had sounded, but that Laeral would also be there reassured him, and shortly after, she arrived where Drizzt and Laeral were.
“Alustriel’s here,” Laeral said. “So explain.”
Drizzt stopped brushing Thesaly, and looked at the two of them before pointing to a pair of bodies at the far edge of the clearing. “When I took my spells, the wilds were whispering of danger. And my Lady granted me that which I needed for the danger, though I did not know what it would be.
“The Warder cast multiple spells, before finding his death, and the corrupted one attempted… I think it is called balefire?… when I dropped the darkness I had thrown her way.”
Alustriel’s heart lodged in her throat at the mention of balefire, and she blessed Laeral for taking the time to figure out how to copy the anti-weave pendant, and Syluné and the Simbul for helping her with doing so.
Drizzt half-shrugged. “I didn’t mean for either of you to come. I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped, and knew I needed to be the one to tell Alustriel.”
“I know you didn’t intend us to come,” Laeral said, and Alustriel could hear hints of the same terrified rage she was feeling in her sister’s voice, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance we weren’t going to, when you sent a message like that.”
Somehow managing to find her voice again, Alustriel asked, “Are you certain it was balefire the Black sister used?”
Laeral had drawn a small diamond out of a purse as Alustriel was speaking, and cast light on it before moving to look at the corpses.
“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed,” Drizzt replied, even as he put on his spectacles and started following Laeral, Alustriel staying beside him. “Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.”
They had reached Laeral by then, and Drizzt added, “Thank you both, again, for the spellwork on my blades. They served me well.”
The head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body showed the proof of that, and Laeral said, “I’m glad to hear it,” even as Alustriel worked to control the pounding of her heart, the fear and dread—and then she gave up and reached to pull Drizzt in front of her, his back to her chest, to hold him tight, her chin tucked over his hair. The look on Laeral’s face said that if Alustriel hadn’t done that, she would have, and she did come over and take one of Drizzt’s hands.
“It’s alright, Alustriel,” he soothed. “It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me! The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”
Alustriel spread her hand over his chest, keeping him close. “So they did,” she agreed, “so they did. But it’s not only the threat to you that has frightened me, love. I would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return.”
Her throat closed up at that, because Sharr hadn’t. Thankfully, Laeral picked up the explanation. “If the Black Ajah have rediscovered the weave for balefire, there is danger to the Weave itself, to the Pattern.
“There is a reason that all of those who can use elan made a compact against it long ago. Even before the end of the Breaking. This must be brought to the attention of our Mother.”
“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he had seen in more depth.
Alustriel continued cuddling him, listening intently, but the more he spoke… the more certain she was that he was correct. And from the look on Laeral’s face, she felt the same way.
“Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes,” Laeral said when Drizzt had finished. “Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”
Then she looked over to the bodies, which had been stripped to their smallclothes. “Let them feed the carrion-eaters, and do some good for once in their miserable, accursed lives. Where were you planning to rest for the day, dear one?”
Alustriel was in complete agreement with that decision about the bodies, but at Laeral’s question about a place to rest, she shifted to release Drizzt, and Laeral took that as her cue to let go of his hand.
“Hadn’t chosen yet. All of their things are in the haversack Thyl and Lin gifted me with, though, so I can call the carrion feeders now, and we can find a place… if you’re staying with me for a time?”
“I would like to stay with you,” Alustriel said with a sigh, “but I did tell Taern that I would not be gone for long.
“Before I go, however, did the Warder get lucky enough that you need a potion?”
Drizzt glanced down at his hands, then his legs, shifted in his armor a little, and shook his head. “Doesn’t seem like it,” he answered her cheerfully after making that appraisal. “He was decently skilled, but the first blow that landed between us was mine, and it only took one more after.”
“Oh? That’s impressive even for you, dear,” Laeral pointed out.
“Hard to concentrate or fight when thorny vines ensnare you,” Drizzt said, and Alustriel could hear the satisfaction in his voice.
“In that case, I really do need to leave now,” Alustriel said. She leaned down to give Drizzt a kiss, then reached for the staff of Silverymoon in her bedchamber and used its power to pull herself to it.
When Laeral had returned from telling her Aes Sedai friend about the attack on Drizzt, Alustriel had approached her for advice on how to broach the subject of taking the Warder bond with Drizzt. That conversation had gone quite well, as Laeral had actually been thinking about the matter for some time. And now, a month later, Drizzt had returned to Silverymoon, and she was preparing to start the conversation.
Shifting on the divan to face him fully, Alustriel took a deep breath and said, “Drizzt, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Hearing the serious tone in her voice, Drizzt also shifted to look straight at Alustriel. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Alustriel said, “but the attack by the Black Ajah and her Warder has changed my feelings on an aspect of our relationship that I had previously felt that you should be the one to bring up.”
“And what is that aspect?”
Alustriel took another deep breath. “I want to take the Warder bond with you.”
“Is it just because of the attack?” Drizzt asked.
“No. I’ve wanted to take the bond for a while, but given your history with it, I felt it would be better to let you come to me about it when—or if—you were ready to take it.
“But with the attack… you could have been killed, because I didn’t know you needed help.”
“Even if we had been bonded,” Drizzt said, “it’s not like I would have been able to share my vision with you before the attack was over.”
“I’m working on solving that problem,” Alustriel replied. “Teleportation-markers and the staves of Silverymoon are both things that allow one to teleport to them, so if I can figure out how to adapt the magic, I can make something for you to wear that I will be able to teleport to without error, and without needing your eyes to know where.”
Drizzt gave a wry smile. “I want to take it, too. But your previous loss had left me hesitant to broach the subject with you, because I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Alustriel laughed softly, shaking her head as she drew him closer. “Aren’t we a pair? Tomorrow, then, after lunch? Since I’ll need to memorize the spell.”
“A good pair, I think,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “And tomorrow after lunch is fine with me.”