somariel | Have Your Cake Part II (Reply)

Starting to Find Family (2135 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
Relationships: Vierna Do'Urden & Zaknafein Do'Urden
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast
Series: Part 2 of Have Your Cake, Part 14 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

After a god meddles, a father finds his daughter.

Beginning notes

Inspired by my fic Divine Snit Fits Occasionally Bring Good Things.

It assumes familiarity with that fic, and the previous fics in the Have Your Cake series.

Starting to Find Family

Early 1338 DR

Vierna had only just returned to her rooms after singing Ellie to sleep when she heard Qilué's voice in her head. ~Vierna, I need to speak with you. Let me see through your eyes, so I can come to you?~

Vierna knew that her Lady's Chosen would not say "need" lightly, nor would Qilué be willing to use her single teleport frivolously, so despite her own surprise and need for sleep, she responded with ~See~, before focusing on the most distinctive area of her outer room.

Silver stars filled the air a few feet from her, and when they faded, Qilué was standing in front of her.

"I am very sorry for keeping you from your own rest," Eilistraee's Chosen said, "but something unusual occurred just before we started our own ritual, and you need to know about it."

"Don't worry about it," Vierna replied, even as she moved to take a seat in the conversation area. "But now you've roused my curiosity as to what could have happened near Waterdeep that would be necessary for me to know about."

Qilué waited until she had taken her own seat to reply. "We were very close to starting, when a naked drow male just... appeared, accompanied by a musteval.

"The musteval gave a very brief summary of what had caused Someone to send the male to us, and requested that we aid him, then vanished.

"But what brings me to speak with you is that the male gave his name as Zaknafein Do'Urden."

Vierna just stared at Qilué in shock for a moment, before she shook herself free of it. "He's free? He actually escaped?"

Qilué smiled softly. "So he is the Weapon Master you've spoken of so fondly.

"But while he is now free, what the musteval said of the circumstances makes me believe that he had not escaped before Someone not pleased with Lolth intervened in his life."

"My teacher," Vierna agreed, "and most likely my father.

"And while I would like to go greet him immediately, the fact that you believe he had not actually escaped makes me think it would be wiser to wait until he has had some time to become accustomed to freedom."

"That does seem like the wisest course of action," Qilué said. "And given that I did mention that there is another bearing the Do'Urden name among those I serve, it may be best to wait until he asks about who it is."

"Agreed," Vierna said.

As he started to settle in at the Promenade, Zaknafein did his best to give all of his attention to learning these new ways and the teaching he was doing, but his thoughts kept circling back to Qilué's mention of another Do'Urden among her people, and Rylla's comment, after his first spar with her, that there was only one person she knew of who might be his peer with the blade.

And so, just three weeks after his arrival, he chose to broach the subject with Elkantar.

Settled in his own rooms after the evening meal, with the other man seated opposite him, Zak took a deep breath, and said, "Qilué mentioned another Do'Urden among you. Do you know who it is?"

"That would be Vierna Do'Urden," Elkantar said.

"She's alive?!" Zak's voice almost squeaked in his surprise, and after he took a sip of water to wet his suddenly dry mouth, he continued in a more even tone. "Why haven't I seen her here?"

"Because she doesn't live here," Elkantar replied. "She leads our only other permanent settlement, up north in the Frost Hills."

Zak hummed thoughtfully. "Is she the one Rylla mentioned as possibly being my peer with a blade then, or is that someone else?"

"It's her. Rylla went to learn from her at one point, on Qilué's recommendation of Vierna being the best drow warrior under Eilistraee."

"Ah." Zak hummed thoughtfully. "Has she been told that I'm here?"

"Qilué teleported up to tell her the same night you arrived," Elkantar said. "It was actually her suggestion that we give you time to settle in here before we spoke of her by name."

"Understandable," Zak said. "And now that I know, I'd like to meet her again, but... do it here?"

"Wherever you're most comfortable having the meeting happen."

"Then can you speak to Qilué about arranging it?"

"Of course."

The next day, after the midday meal, Elkantar pulled Zak aside, and once they had found some privacy, the other man said, "Vierna suggested tomorrow evening for her visit. Is that suitable for you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll get Qilué to pass on your acceptance.

"But on another note, have you given any thought to where in the Promenade you wish to hold the meeting?"

"Other than somewhere private?" Zak replied. "Not really. Do you have a suggestion?"

"Qilué has offered her office, if you don't want to have it in your rooms," Elkantar said. "And I'm sure Rylla would be willing to do the same, if asked."

Zak hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "I'd feel more comfortable in Rylla's office than Qilué's.

"Because she's correct in thinking that I would like to keep the initial meeting out of my rooms."

"Do you want to handle asking her, then, or would you prefer for Qilué or I to do so?"

"I'm fine with doing it," Zak answered.

"Then I'll leave you to continue with your day."

Vierna had been quite pleased when Zak chose to come with her upon her return to Spirit Sanctuary, even though she could tell that there was still something troubling him.

But given that he was still well within the adjustment period that males went through after escaping, she knew it would be best to let whatever it was lie unless he brought it up with her, no matter how much she wanted to make everything right for him.

Which is why she was rather surprised when he came to her the very next evening, after the night's activities had commenced, and said, "We need to talk."

"Of course," she said. "Where do you want to do so?"

"Your rooms would be fine," he answered.

"Very well." Then she turned and headed for them, Zak falling in beside her.

The walk to her rooms was done in silence, but once both of them were settled in the outer room's conversation area, Zak sighed heavily and began to speak.

"When Qilué mentioned another Do'Urden among her people, you were very much not who I was expecting it to be."

"I had guessed as much. But that does leave me with the question of who you were expecting it to be."

"Your full brother. Drizzt."

"Will you tell me about him?" Vierna asked.

It seemed that that was all the prompting Zak had needed, because the tale of her brother just started pouring out of him.

And when he had finished, wrapping up with how he himself had come to simply appear at the Promenade's ritual night, Vierna slowly stood up and came over to his seat.

"May I hug you?" she asked.

Zak's response was a sharp nod, so, being very careful to move slowly enough that he could easily see what she was doing, she wrapped him in a gentle embrace.

After a moment of frozen stiffness, he relaxed enough to wrap his own arms around her.

And when he lowered them again, she released the embrace and stepped back, then took a seat as close to him as she could manage.

"Well, scrying ought to be able to locate Drizzt," she said, "so I can certainly handle that myself.

"But if you will allow it, I think the investigation into Who re-embodied you should be turned over to Qilué. As she has more resources to draw on for such than I do."

Zak sighed. "Given that I recall Elkantar saying something about Qilué being Chosen—with the implication of a stronger connection to Eilistraee than any cleric has—I think you're right. Regardless of how much I would prefer for you to handle it."

"A more direct connection to that deity is one of the benefits of being a deity's Chosen," Vierna agreed. "Though I was more referring to the fact that Qilué is Twice Chosen, giving that service to the human goddess of magic in addition to Eilistraee.

"But going back to Drizzt, can you tell me what color his eyes are?"

Zak blinked several times in surprise. "Huh. I think I want to hear more about how that works, later.

"As for Drizzt's eye color, he has purple eyes. Why do you ask?"

"Qilué's fairly open about it with our people to begin with, but it does tend to end up being a conversation for after newcomers have fully settled in," Vierna said.

"And given Drizzt's eye color, I can confidently tell you that you gained a granddaughter by his actions."

"I... What? How?!" Zak didn't think he could have been more surprised even if Malice herself had declared for the Dark Maiden.

Vierna smiled gently. "Roughly ten years ago, Eilistraee reached out to Spirit Sanctuary for whatever aid might be possible to give to moon elf followers of hers who had suffered a drow raid.

"We found two survivors. And while the elder of them had been injured badly enough that I was almost unable to save her, the younger one—a girl of about five—had no injuries other than a bruise near her temple, despite being covered in blood when we found her.

"Her nightmares about the raid are far less frequent now, thanks to intensive prayer sessions to recede it into distant memory, but the purple eyes of the man who stunned her have been a consistent feature of them from the very beginning."

When Vierna's own attempt to scry for her brother had just plain not worked, with no discernible cause, she had asked Qilué to try.

Qilué having the exact same problem had resulted in the discovery that Eilistraee was, for some reason, completely unaware of Drizzt, even though everything they knew about him indicated that She should be aware of him.

But since that was a mystery that could not be solved until Drizzt was actually found, the task of scrying for him had been turned over to the rest of Qilué's family, and Vierna had filled in Zak on the unexpected obstacle.

He had been just as displeased by the news as she was, but since there was nothing either of them could actually do to help, all they could do was wait.

It was just two days later, however, when Thyl arrived.

But while Vierna had been fully anticipating a visit from him, once he heard about Zak's arrival, she had not expected him to come by teleport.

And when, instead of asking to meet Zak, he said that he needed to speak with both her and Zak, she became concerned.

"Has something happened to Drizzt?" she asked, after she had sent the nearest child to find Zak and ask him to meet them in her rooms.

"No, I have good news," Thyl replied. "It just... needs more explanation than can be easily given by sending."

"Ah."

The walk to her rooms was accomplished in silence, and when they entered, Zak was already seated in the conversation area.

Introductions were made once she and Thyl had taken seats, and then she asked, "So what is this good news that is too complicated for a sending?"

"The good news is that we were able to confirm that Drizzt is on the Surface," Thyl said, "though we do not yet have a location other than 'northern mountains'."

"You're going to keep scrying until you get a specific one, then?" Zak said.

"That's the part that needs explanation," Thyl replied. "From all we can tell, he's been adopted by pegasi."

"Oh." Vierna had, through Thyl, learned enough about pegasi to guess how that had affected the Silverhands' decision making, and it truly was more than a sending could handle.

"And due to that," Thyl continued, "the consensus among the family is that we don't need to keep trying to discern his exact location, because the pegasus gossip network will guide us to him eventually."

Zak's face was a study in confusion, and Vierna had to repress a laugh before she clarified things for him.

"Thyl's family has thirteen bonded pegasus riders in it, and pegasi are at least as intelligent as the average human."

"Which means wild ones are fully smart enough to understand that Drizzt cannot remain with them indefinitely if he's truly going to thrive," Thyl continued, "and seek out a bonded pegasus to request two-leg aid for him."

"Oh," Zak breathed. "You'll still check in on him, though?"

"Of course."