Recursive Fanfic: Forgotten Realms
May. 30th, 2024 07:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
somarielDream Bonds, Drow Raids, and Family Ties (4073 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Zaknafein Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Soul Bond
Series: Part 20 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
While it wasn't unheard of for Korvallen to come to visit without warning, the agitation he was displaying was.
So rather than invite him to share her breakfast once Talira had let him into her rooms, Alustriel was more direct. "It's good to see you, Kor, but if you're looking for Sharr, he's up in the Moonwood right now, leading a patrol to investigate rumored sightings of drow."
That only seemed to increase his agitation, and when he spoke, she found out why.
"The rumors are true, because Sharr's been captured by drow."
Alustriel felt the blood drain from her face even as she made herself stand straighter. "Well then. His patrol wouldn't have been considered overdue for return until the morning after tomorrow, but given you must have found out through the dream-bond," and she paused just long enough for Kor to nod sharply before continuing, "then I will go talk to Taern immediately about sending a party to find the rest of the patrol.
"And I'll reach out to the family to start assembling a rescue party while I'm heading over to the Spell Tower."
Korvallen's agitation didn't ease completely, but his shoulders relaxed noticeably as he let out a small sigh.
"Thank you, Elué," he said.
Alustriel had not intended to sleep, not with Sharr in drow hands, but it seemed that her worry for him, helping with organizing the party to rescue him, and starting what was needed for seeing to the aftermath for the two elven villages that had also been destroyed by raids—including prevailing on Mena to go find out if it had been some of Spirit Sanctuary's residents who had been at the one that had clearly been disturbed by other people after the raid—was more tiring than she had expected, when it was piled on top of keeping up with her usual duties.
And so, two days after Sharr's patrol would have been considered overdue, with the rescue party having set off that morning, she found herself sinking into sleep, and then into dreams.
The first dream started out in the darkness she had expected, but before she had registered more than the sense of moving quickly, light flared, and she was able to see that her dream-bonded was engaged in a fight against drow.
He had killed two opponents—and done so so swiftly that despite her faint hopes, she knew this had to be her drow dream-bonded, not Sharr—when he suddenly lunged to one side, shoving someone else... out of the path of a magic missile, she saw, as he turned to face the wizard.
A huge panther moved between him and the wizard, snarling, but not attacking, and there was a stand-off that stretched out... until her dream-bonded threw a knife at the wizard.
The wizard ducked, and her dream-bonded vaulted over the cat, quickly ending the wizard, before retrieving something from the wizard's body.
Then the light faded away, and she could only sense careful steps, with her dream-bonded's hand on the shoulder of someone ahead of him.
But soon enough, they stopped, and blue faerie fire lit up a small cave, revealing that her dream-bonded had two other drow with him, one quite young—young enough to still have traces of baby fat, in fact—and one who was visibly mature.
The mature one's face was recognizable as one she had seen several times before, so she knew he must be from the same house as her dream-bonded, but the young one was entirely unfamiliar.
The young one appeared to be rather surprised by something when he looked at her dream-bonded, but he settled down fairly quickly to clean his own weapons.
After that, he cleaned her dream-bonded's weapon, and then, after a period of silence, said in Goblin—why was a drow using Goblin with another drow?—“Name Drizzt.
Her dream-bonded wrinkled his nose, and then she was utterly surprised. Because what he said—in Goblin, like the young drow had—was "Name Sharrevaliir. Small name Sharr."
The young drow—was he her drow dream-bonded, then?—grinned and pointed at Sharr, then spoke again. "Go up, send out. You leave. You live."
Sharr nodded, but looked between the young drow—Drizzt—and the older one. "You two live, after?"
Drizzt shrugged. "Try."
The older one growled a bit and added. "Will," in Goblin.
Drizzt looked at him, and then ducked his head, before nodding. "Will," he repeated.
And when Alustriel woke, she was certain that Drizzt was her drow dream-bonded.
Even though he knew it had to mean that Sharr had escaped, Korvallen was not entirely pleased by the dream he had had of his heart-brother in a small cave with two drow.
But before he had decided whether or not to say anything about it to the rest of the rescue party, Laeral, Dove, and his nephews all paused in their eating with the expression that indicated they were talking over Elué's anklets.
And when the expression cleared, Laeral said, in a quiet voice, "Alustriel says that her drow dream-bonded and one other drow are aiding Sharr in escaping."
Kor kept his sigh of annoyance entirely internal, hoping that if he stayed quiet, he would be ignored, but Thyl dashed that hope by turning to him.
"Can you tell us anything else, Uncle?"
Kor deliberately took another bite of his ration bar, but the patience with which the rest of the party waited out the chewing and swallowing was enough for him to relent and give some information.
"Him being Elué's drow dream-bonded explains why the young one did a double-take upon seeing Sharr's face under the light of faerie fire.
"His name is Drizzt, and they've given Sharr a sword."
With last night's dream through Kor's eyes placing the rescue party as having started down, Sharr knew he needed to tell Drizzt and Zaknafein that it was coming.
So after he accepted the food that the elder drow had given him, he quietly cleared his throat to get the attention of both of them.
And when they both turned to look at him, he said, in a low voice, "Kin party coming, to bring back to Surface."
That was not in any way anything Zak had expected to hear, but before he could say anything, Drizzt asked the question he would have. "How you know that?"
Sharr tilted his head in a thoughtful manner for a moment, then said, "Sleep, see through others' eyes."
Drizzt's eyes went wide at that, but Sharr wasn't done speaking. "Human mate gave party food, shelter, plans; heart-brother in kin party."
Drizzt's expression turned thoughtful at the first part of that, but before Zak could address his suspicions as to why, he needed more information. "Who coming, how many?" he asked.
"Sons, six." Sharr replied. "Mate's sisters, two. Heart-brother. Eilistraee cleric."
That last required Zak to exert iron control to not show his surprise at how easily Sharr spoke of one of the Dark Maiden's followers being in the rescue party, but he quickly stomped it down to focus on his son.
"Drizzt," he said, "have you been seeing through another's eyes in your dreams?" It was in Drow, which excluded Sharr, but he didn't want to have to take the time to wrestle with the concepts in Goblin, so that couldn't be helped.
Drizzt gave him a considering look, then nodded sharply.
Reverting back to Goblin, Zak asked, "Seen Sharr before, through other eyes?", remembering how surprised his son had been when Zak brought up his faerie fire and they first saw the elf's face in actual light.
"Yes."
Though he wasn't looking at Sharr, Zak could still sense the other man's double-take.
But he recovered quickly and asked, "Seen much or seen little?"
"Seen much," Drizzt replied.
"Know how other person look?"
"Hair silver, round eyes, female, think tall."
Sharr nodded as if he had expected that answer. "Alustriel. Human mate."
Zak narrowed his eyes at that, not liking the idea of Drizzt being dream-bonded to a human, nor that said human was a woman who already had a mate.
But this was also the second time Sharr had specified human mate, so he decided to ask the obvious question. "How many mates you have?"
"Human mate, elf mate, heart-brother mate," Sharr answered. And then he cut right to the heart of Zak's concerns. "Drizzt young. Drizzt control how things happen."
Zak wasn't entirely sure he believed that, but it was enough to settle his concerns for now. Drizzt, however, appeared to be bristling somewhat, and Zak wasn't sure why.
"Drizzt adult," his son said stubbornly.
Oh. Well, seeing how Sharr handled this would be interesting.
"Drizzt thirty, thirty-one, yes?" Sharr said.
"Thirty," Drizzt replied.
"Sharr and Alustriel youngest son almost fifty. Drizzt young."
And that seemed like an impossibility, from all Zak knew of humans, but they really needed to get moving, so he filed it as something to ask about later.
Remembering that the sigil she had seen in her dreams a few months ago had been identified by Vierna as being that of Vierna's own House, Alustriel had sent to Mena to inquire as to a good time for her to come and talk with Vierna.
Mena had sent back that an hour or so before dawn would be convenient, so Alustriel had taken the opportunity to sleep again before requesting a teleport visual from Mena.
And now, as she settled into a chair in Vierna's rooms, she was glad she had, because tonight's dreams had given her a name for the other drow with Sharr.
"So what is it that you wish to speak with me about?" Vierna asked, once she, Mena, and Alustriel were all seated.
"It appears that that my drow dream-bonded and one other drow—whom I recognize as a familiar face from my dreams—have freed Sharr and are aiding him in returning to the Surface."
Vierna's eyes widened in surprise at that news, but when she spoke, there was no trace of it in her voice. "I'd have expected such from your dream-bonded," she said, "but that another of the House is also helping has me... intrigued.
"Because the only member of it whom I would have even considered such a possibility for is the Weapon Master."
Alustriel nodded her understanding, then said, "Tonight's dream let me know that the drow who is not my dream-bonded is called Zaknafein."
"Then he is indeed the Weapon Master." Vierna took a moment to think things through, then continued. "Which leaves me suspecting that your dream-bonded may well be my full brother, as I have long believed the Weapon Master to be my father, and I simply cannot see him caring enough to help with such an escape unless the instigator was his son."
Chewing on her lip as she weighed matters, Vierna decided to go ahead and see if the other connection she now suspected did, in fact, exist.
"Have you seen what color your dream-bonded's eyes are?" she asked.
Alustriel blinked in surprise at the question, but answered it readily. "They're purple. Why do you ask?"
"The younger of the two survivors we found clearly had her survival deliberately hidden," Vierna began, "because although she was found completely covered in blood, her only actual injuries were a bruise and a scratch."
"And purple eyes feature strongly in her nightmares," Mena said, picking up the explanation. "So we think that whoever it was that hid her survival must have had such."
"I see." Alustriel hummed thoughtfully for a moment, then continued. "Then it might be best for us to give some consideration now to how to handle the first meeting between her and Drizzt.
"Given that I'm rather certain he's going to join the rescue party for the return to the Surface, but it would not be a good idea for any drow to openly come to Silverymoon until the outrage over the raids has cooled somewhat."
Laeral was in the lead currently, though Dove was not too far from her.
They came around a bend in the corridor, and Dove suddenly reached for her arm, making her stop.
A faint sound, ahead, not behind, repeated itself, and Laeral cast arcane eye to go in that direction.
She used it to go as far as it could, determining only the expected trio were in close vicinity, then conveyed the information and her plan via the sending anklets, knowing the boys would see her words relayed to the cleric and Kor via a regular sending.
And once she had a nod from Kor to indicate that he had been told, she gently scraped her foot across the floor of the tunnel.
Sharr and both drow startled at the sound, then after a brief discussion, the younger drow pulled something out of a pouch, set it down on the floor, and spoke a single word.
Dark mist gathered around whatever it was that the drow had set down, and then it coalesced into a panther twice the normal size.
The drow scooped up the figure—for that had to be what it was, despite the oddity of how it worked—and said something to the panther, after which it started moving in their direction.
~Summoned panther coming to investigate,~ Laeral warned via the anklets.
And then the panther rounded the slight curve that separated their party from Sharr's, and gave a quiet, but pleased sounding, mrowl.
Continuing forward, it came right up to her and butted its head up against her hand in a clear plea for scratches.
Laeral duly gave some, and then it flowed past her to beg the same from Dove.
Dove kept up the scratching for longer, but by her closed eyes and the expression on her face, she was using the time to communicate with it.
Eventually, Dove opened her eyes again, and the panther sat back on its haunches, then gave a quiet 'yip'.
"She's of astral origin," Dove said in a low voice, "and recognizes the two of us for what we are.
"She's also quite emphatic that her drow is a cub to be protected."
Andy's quiet "Her drow?" overlapped with Kor's strangled "Cub?!", but before either of their questions could be addressed, faint blue and purple light was visible around the curve, drawing everyone's attention, and then Sharr and the drow came around the curve.
Sharr was walking beside the rather young looking one, with the older one a few steps behind them, and both drow had faerie fire limning their hands, which they were holding out in front of them at about mid-chest level.
Upon actually seeing the rescue party, Sharr picked up his pace a bit, to actually get ahead of Drizzt, after pressing his hand down on the young drow's arm as a signal to not match his pace.
And just a few steps later, Kor did exactly what he had been expecting, and rushed over to embrace him tightly.
"Sharr," his heart-brother breathed, and Sharr returned the hug just as fiercely, feeling the same relief that that single word expressed.
"I'm here, Kor," he said. "I'm safely back with you."
Drizzt had not been sure why Sharr had indicated he should not pick up his own pace, but when the faerie rushed over to Sharr and embraced him, Drizzt realized that Sharr must have been expecting such, and had wanted to ensure Drizzt was far enough away to avoid reacting on instinct.
Turning his attention away from Sharr and the faerie that had to be Sharr's "heart-brother", Drizzt looked over the rest of the rescue party with an assessing eye.
The two tall women with pale hair had to be the "mate's sisters" Sharr had mentioned. One was in armor, with a sword on her belt and her hair in a braid—showing the rounded ears that marked her as a human—while the other was in wizard's robes, with her hair mostly loose.
The six faerie just as tall and pale-haired as the women had to be Sharr's sons, and Drizzt was intrigued to see that though all of them wore modified wizard's robes, they all also bore swords.
And their blunted eyes and ears had to be a sign that their mother was Sharr's human mate.
Finally, at the very back of the group, there was... another drow? A brief flash of confused fear went through him before he noticed the moons and swords worked into the robes the drow wore, and he remembered the explanation Zak had given about the drow who followed Lloth's goodly daughter.
And as further reassurance, he noted that the other drow was male, which Lloth would never allow any of Her clerics to be.
Bringing his attention back to the women, Drizzt caught theirs, and then, using the lessons Sharr had been giving him and Zak when they stopped to rest, said in careful Surface Common, "Name is Drizzt Do'Urden. Not speak much Common. Goblin is better."
Using Goblin, the one with the braid said, "Well met, Drizzt Do'Urden."
Then she repeated the greeting in Surface Common, and continued in the same language. " 'My' name is Dove Silverhand."
The very first word wasn't one that Sharr had taught them yet, but based on the firm tap Dove gave her chest as she said it, Drizzt thought it was a possessive.
"My name is Drizzt Do'Urden," he said, to test his guess.
"Yes." Dove was very pleased that Drizzt had correctly picked up the meaning of 'my', and decided to see how much more he could get from simple conversation.
So she pointed to Laeral, and said, "My sister is Laeral Silverhand."
Drizzt repeated 'sister' with a faint frown, then brightened and said the Goblin word for it.
"Yes," Dove said, smiling brightly.
Zaknafein had hung back a bit as Drizzt began speaking with the women, wanting to keep an eye on Sharr and the other faerie, but when the two of them broke their embrace and stepped back towards the rest of the rescue party, Zak moved forward as well.
"My name is Zaknafein Do'Urden," he said, once he was even with Drizzt.
Surprisingly, one of the tall faerie jerked on hearing his name, and although said faerie waved off the quiet question one of the others asked him, Zak noted the reaction as something to follow up on later.
After he finished his portion of food that night, Zak caught the attention of the tall faerie who had been introduced as "Thyl", then tilted his head towards the edge of the camp while mouthing "Talk?" in Goblin.
Thyl nodded in reply, and when he started to move towards an out of the way pocket in the walls of the cave their party had found to camp in, Zak did the same.
Soon enough, they were settled in the niche, and Zak spoke, in Surface Common. "Why you-" and he mimed the way Thyl had startled when Zak had introduced himself, "-at my name?"
"Spell for better Surface words?" Thyl replied—surprisingly enough, in Undercommon. "Not speak much of this; Drow and Goblin bad for this talk."
Zak thought things over for a moment, then nodded sharply.
And once Thyl had cast the spell, he got straight to the point. "I was surprised by your name because I had heard of you before all of this."
That was surprising to Zak, but he controlled his expression well enough to not betray it. "Oh?"
Thyl sighed and ran a hand over his hair before speaking again. "There are two permanent settlements of Eilistraeeans on the Surface.
"And the First Sister—the leader—of the nearer of them is named Vierna Do'Urden."
Zak couldn't help the shocked "What?!" that escaped him as joy warred with suspicion, but he at least managed to still keep it quiet enough to not carry.
"She knew the temple in your city would be a death sentence for her, so she left." Thyl gave a soft smile. "She eventually led a small band to the surface, and Spirit Sanctuary has been a home for drow, and others, ever since."
Having been forewarned of the impending arrivals, Vierna was on hand with Mena to meet Thyl when he teleported in with Zav'ren.
"It's good to see you both again," she said, once she could see them clearly. "Is there anything you feel I should know before Sharr's rescuers arrive?"
"The younger of them is only thirty," Rafi's son said, "for all that the Lolthites have counted him as an adult for most of a year."
Well then. Telling that to Ellifain would undoubtedly help in dealing with her trauma from the raid, once they got that far.
"Drizzt is also your full brother," Thyl said. "And Zaknafein has been told that you are the leader here, though it's clear that he doesn't fully believe it yet."
"I'd be surprised if he did," Vierna replied, remembering how cautious the Weapon Master had been when she was learning from him.
Then she nodded at Thyl, and a moment later, Lin arrived with her father and brother.
Stepping forward as soon as the teleport shimmer had faded, she said, "Zaknafein, Drizzt, welcome to Spirit Sanctuary."
And when she saw the two of them clearly, she was glad for the warning about Drizzt's youth, since it let her conceal her surprise on seeing that he still had traces of baby fat on his face.
But then her attention was drawn away from him when Zaknafein stepped towards her.
"You… you can't be anyone but my student," he said softly. "Daughter."
She smiled, eyes glistening a little at that immediate claim. "Father. My teacher." She offered her hands, and he took them, squeezing gently.
Drizzt had been just half a step behind Zak, so when her father released her hands, she turned to him. "And I am pleased to meet you, little brother.
"You did very well in managing to hide the child's survival, and she will have all the help she needs to recover from her experiences."
Drizzt's eyes widened significantly, and he gaped at her for a moment before stammering "You... you know about that?"
"I do," Vierna replied. "Those moon elves were followers of my Lady Eilistraee, and She asked for whatever aid we could manage.
"So the child was found quickly, and she and the one other survivor are being cared for by the dwarves that live here."
A tension that she had not truly noticed before lifted from Drizzt as she spoke, and when she finished, she found herself having to quickly reach out to support him as he wavered on his feet and tears started leaking from his eyes.
Carefully, she pulled him into a hug, and began rubbing her hand up and down his back as she would to comfort an overwhelmed child.
"Shh, shh," she soothed. "Everything's okay. She's safe and you're safe and everything is going to be okay."
For all that she and Sharr were comfortably curled up together in her bed, Alustriel found herself unable to fully set aside her thoughts.
So with a purely internal sigh, she shifted to where she could see Sharr's face, and said, "What were your impressions of my other dream-bonded, love?"
"He's good," Sharr replied, without even having to think about it. "To a rather startling degree for someone who managed to survive a full thirty years in Menzoberranzan."
Turning to better face her, he added, "And given what you've told me about the child he saved, I think that even if I hadn't been captured, he would have ended up leaving fairly soon anyway."
"And his father?"
"Very firmly neutral—and I had that impression even before learning he's also Vierna's father, though that did add weight to the impression, to know he'd survived that city for so long—but fiercely devoted to his children."
"Mmm." Alustriel shifted to steal a kiss from Sharr, then rested her head on his shoulder. "And I think his children return that devotion, given how Vierna spoke of him."
"I have to agree with that," Sharr said. "Drizzt was very tense when he first appeared, but after what sounded like a brief argument—that I now think might have been over how Drizzt could help an adult faerie, after he'd killed a child—he relaxed and gave leadership to Zaknafein."
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Zaknafein Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Soul Bond
Series: Part 20 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
My brain dropped on me the idea of merging the fics "Dreaming of the Other" and "Prisoner of the Drow" and the fic series "Sisters in Spirit". This is the result.
Dream Bonds, Drow Raids, and Family Ties
While it wasn't unheard of for Korvallen to come to visit without warning, the agitation he was displaying was.
So rather than invite him to share her breakfast once Talira had let him into her rooms, Alustriel was more direct. "It's good to see you, Kor, but if you're looking for Sharr, he's up in the Moonwood right now, leading a patrol to investigate rumored sightings of drow."
That only seemed to increase his agitation, and when he spoke, she found out why.
"The rumors are true, because Sharr's been captured by drow."
Alustriel felt the blood drain from her face even as she made herself stand straighter. "Well then. His patrol wouldn't have been considered overdue for return until the morning after tomorrow, but given you must have found out through the dream-bond," and she paused just long enough for Kor to nod sharply before continuing, "then I will go talk to Taern immediately about sending a party to find the rest of the patrol.
"And I'll reach out to the family to start assembling a rescue party while I'm heading over to the Spell Tower."
Korvallen's agitation didn't ease completely, but his shoulders relaxed noticeably as he let out a small sigh.
"Thank you, Elué," he said.
Alustriel had not intended to sleep, not with Sharr in drow hands, but it seemed that her worry for him, helping with organizing the party to rescue him, and starting what was needed for seeing to the aftermath for the two elven villages that had also been destroyed by raids—including prevailing on Mena to go find out if it had been some of Spirit Sanctuary's residents who had been at the one that had clearly been disturbed by other people after the raid—was more tiring than she had expected, when it was piled on top of keeping up with her usual duties.
And so, two days after Sharr's patrol would have been considered overdue, with the rescue party having set off that morning, she found herself sinking into sleep, and then into dreams.
The first dream started out in the darkness she had expected, but before she had registered more than the sense of moving quickly, light flared, and she was able to see that her dream-bonded was engaged in a fight against drow.
He had killed two opponents—and done so so swiftly that despite her faint hopes, she knew this had to be her drow dream-bonded, not Sharr—when he suddenly lunged to one side, shoving someone else... out of the path of a magic missile, she saw, as he turned to face the wizard.
A huge panther moved between him and the wizard, snarling, but not attacking, and there was a stand-off that stretched out... until her dream-bonded threw a knife at the wizard.
The wizard ducked, and her dream-bonded vaulted over the cat, quickly ending the wizard, before retrieving something from the wizard's body.
Then the light faded away, and she could only sense careful steps, with her dream-bonded's hand on the shoulder of someone ahead of him.
But soon enough, they stopped, and blue faerie fire lit up a small cave, revealing that her dream-bonded had two other drow with him, one quite young—young enough to still have traces of baby fat, in fact—and one who was visibly mature.
The mature one's face was recognizable as one she had seen several times before, so she knew he must be from the same house as her dream-bonded, but the young one was entirely unfamiliar.
The young one appeared to be rather surprised by something when he looked at her dream-bonded, but he settled down fairly quickly to clean his own weapons.
After that, he cleaned her dream-bonded's weapon, and then, after a period of silence, said in Goblin—why was a drow using Goblin with another drow?—“Name Drizzt.
Her dream-bonded wrinkled his nose, and then she was utterly surprised. Because what he said—in Goblin, like the young drow had—was "Name Sharrevaliir. Small name Sharr."
The young drow—was he her drow dream-bonded, then?—grinned and pointed at Sharr, then spoke again. "Go up, send out. You leave. You live."
Sharr nodded, but looked between the young drow—Drizzt—and the older one. "You two live, after?"
Drizzt shrugged. "Try."
The older one growled a bit and added. "Will," in Goblin.
Drizzt looked at him, and then ducked his head, before nodding. "Will," he repeated.
And when Alustriel woke, she was certain that Drizzt was her drow dream-bonded.
Even though he knew it had to mean that Sharr had escaped, Korvallen was not entirely pleased by the dream he had had of his heart-brother in a small cave with two drow.
But before he had decided whether or not to say anything about it to the rest of the rescue party, Laeral, Dove, and his nephews all paused in their eating with the expression that indicated they were talking over Elué's anklets.
And when the expression cleared, Laeral said, in a quiet voice, "Alustriel says that her drow dream-bonded and one other drow are aiding Sharr in escaping."
Kor kept his sigh of annoyance entirely internal, hoping that if he stayed quiet, he would be ignored, but Thyl dashed that hope by turning to him.
"Can you tell us anything else, Uncle?"
Kor deliberately took another bite of his ration bar, but the patience with which the rest of the party waited out the chewing and swallowing was enough for him to relent and give some information.
"Him being Elué's drow dream-bonded explains why the young one did a double-take upon seeing Sharr's face under the light of faerie fire.
"His name is Drizzt, and they've given Sharr a sword."
With last night's dream through Kor's eyes placing the rescue party as having started down, Sharr knew he needed to tell Drizzt and Zaknafein that it was coming.
So after he accepted the food that the elder drow had given him, he quietly cleared his throat to get the attention of both of them.
And when they both turned to look at him, he said, in a low voice, "Kin party coming, to bring back to Surface."
That was not in any way anything Zak had expected to hear, but before he could say anything, Drizzt asked the question he would have. "How you know that?"
Sharr tilted his head in a thoughtful manner for a moment, then said, "Sleep, see through others' eyes."
Drizzt's eyes went wide at that, but Sharr wasn't done speaking. "Human mate gave party food, shelter, plans; heart-brother in kin party."
Drizzt's expression turned thoughtful at the first part of that, but before Zak could address his suspicions as to why, he needed more information. "Who coming, how many?" he asked.
"Sons, six." Sharr replied. "Mate's sisters, two. Heart-brother. Eilistraee cleric."
That last required Zak to exert iron control to not show his surprise at how easily Sharr spoke of one of the Dark Maiden's followers being in the rescue party, but he quickly stomped it down to focus on his son.
"Drizzt," he said, "have you been seeing through another's eyes in your dreams?" It was in Drow, which excluded Sharr, but he didn't want to have to take the time to wrestle with the concepts in Goblin, so that couldn't be helped.
Drizzt gave him a considering look, then nodded sharply.
Reverting back to Goblin, Zak asked, "Seen Sharr before, through other eyes?", remembering how surprised his son had been when Zak brought up his faerie fire and they first saw the elf's face in actual light.
"Yes."
Though he wasn't looking at Sharr, Zak could still sense the other man's double-take.
But he recovered quickly and asked, "Seen much or seen little?"
"Seen much," Drizzt replied.
"Know how other person look?"
"Hair silver, round eyes, female, think tall."
Sharr nodded as if he had expected that answer. "Alustriel. Human mate."
Zak narrowed his eyes at that, not liking the idea of Drizzt being dream-bonded to a human, nor that said human was a woman who already had a mate.
But this was also the second time Sharr had specified human mate, so he decided to ask the obvious question. "How many mates you have?"
"Human mate, elf mate, heart-brother mate," Sharr answered. And then he cut right to the heart of Zak's concerns. "Drizzt young. Drizzt control how things happen."
Zak wasn't entirely sure he believed that, but it was enough to settle his concerns for now. Drizzt, however, appeared to be bristling somewhat, and Zak wasn't sure why.
"Drizzt adult," his son said stubbornly.
Oh. Well, seeing how Sharr handled this would be interesting.
"Drizzt thirty, thirty-one, yes?" Sharr said.
"Thirty," Drizzt replied.
"Sharr and Alustriel youngest son almost fifty. Drizzt young."
And that seemed like an impossibility, from all Zak knew of humans, but they really needed to get moving, so he filed it as something to ask about later.
Remembering that the sigil she had seen in her dreams a few months ago had been identified by Vierna as being that of Vierna's own House, Alustriel had sent to Mena to inquire as to a good time for her to come and talk with Vierna.
Mena had sent back that an hour or so before dawn would be convenient, so Alustriel had taken the opportunity to sleep again before requesting a teleport visual from Mena.
And now, as she settled into a chair in Vierna's rooms, she was glad she had, because tonight's dreams had given her a name for the other drow with Sharr.
"So what is it that you wish to speak with me about?" Vierna asked, once she, Mena, and Alustriel were all seated.
"It appears that that my drow dream-bonded and one other drow—whom I recognize as a familiar face from my dreams—have freed Sharr and are aiding him in returning to the Surface."
Vierna's eyes widened in surprise at that news, but when she spoke, there was no trace of it in her voice. "I'd have expected such from your dream-bonded," she said, "but that another of the House is also helping has me... intrigued.
"Because the only member of it whom I would have even considered such a possibility for is the Weapon Master."
Alustriel nodded her understanding, then said, "Tonight's dream let me know that the drow who is not my dream-bonded is called Zaknafein."
"Then he is indeed the Weapon Master." Vierna took a moment to think things through, then continued. "Which leaves me suspecting that your dream-bonded may well be my full brother, as I have long believed the Weapon Master to be my father, and I simply cannot see him caring enough to help with such an escape unless the instigator was his son."
Chewing on her lip as she weighed matters, Vierna decided to go ahead and see if the other connection she now suspected did, in fact, exist.
"Have you seen what color your dream-bonded's eyes are?" she asked.
Alustriel blinked in surprise at the question, but answered it readily. "They're purple. Why do you ask?"
"The younger of the two survivors we found clearly had her survival deliberately hidden," Vierna began, "because although she was found completely covered in blood, her only actual injuries were a bruise and a scratch."
"And purple eyes feature strongly in her nightmares," Mena said, picking up the explanation. "So we think that whoever it was that hid her survival must have had such."
"I see." Alustriel hummed thoughtfully for a moment, then continued. "Then it might be best for us to give some consideration now to how to handle the first meeting between her and Drizzt.
"Given that I'm rather certain he's going to join the rescue party for the return to the Surface, but it would not be a good idea for any drow to openly come to Silverymoon until the outrage over the raids has cooled somewhat."
Laeral was in the lead currently, though Dove was not too far from her.
They came around a bend in the corridor, and Dove suddenly reached for her arm, making her stop.
A faint sound, ahead, not behind, repeated itself, and Laeral cast arcane eye to go in that direction.
She used it to go as far as it could, determining only the expected trio were in close vicinity, then conveyed the information and her plan via the sending anklets, knowing the boys would see her words relayed to the cleric and Kor via a regular sending.
And once she had a nod from Kor to indicate that he had been told, she gently scraped her foot across the floor of the tunnel.
Sharr and both drow startled at the sound, then after a brief discussion, the younger drow pulled something out of a pouch, set it down on the floor, and spoke a single word.
Dark mist gathered around whatever it was that the drow had set down, and then it coalesced into a panther twice the normal size.
The drow scooped up the figure—for that had to be what it was, despite the oddity of how it worked—and said something to the panther, after which it started moving in their direction.
~Summoned panther coming to investigate,~ Laeral warned via the anklets.
And then the panther rounded the slight curve that separated their party from Sharr's, and gave a quiet, but pleased sounding, mrowl.
Continuing forward, it came right up to her and butted its head up against her hand in a clear plea for scratches.
Laeral duly gave some, and then it flowed past her to beg the same from Dove.
Dove kept up the scratching for longer, but by her closed eyes and the expression on her face, she was using the time to communicate with it.
Eventually, Dove opened her eyes again, and the panther sat back on its haunches, then gave a quiet 'yip'.
"She's of astral origin," Dove said in a low voice, "and recognizes the two of us for what we are.
"She's also quite emphatic that her drow is a cub to be protected."
Andy's quiet "Her drow?" overlapped with Kor's strangled "Cub?!", but before either of their questions could be addressed, faint blue and purple light was visible around the curve, drawing everyone's attention, and then Sharr and the drow came around the curve.
Sharr was walking beside the rather young looking one, with the older one a few steps behind them, and both drow had faerie fire limning their hands, which they were holding out in front of them at about mid-chest level.
Upon actually seeing the rescue party, Sharr picked up his pace a bit, to actually get ahead of Drizzt, after pressing his hand down on the young drow's arm as a signal to not match his pace.
And just a few steps later, Kor did exactly what he had been expecting, and rushed over to embrace him tightly.
"Sharr," his heart-brother breathed, and Sharr returned the hug just as fiercely, feeling the same relief that that single word expressed.
"I'm here, Kor," he said. "I'm safely back with you."
Drizzt had not been sure why Sharr had indicated he should not pick up his own pace, but when the faerie rushed over to Sharr and embraced him, Drizzt realized that Sharr must have been expecting such, and had wanted to ensure Drizzt was far enough away to avoid reacting on instinct.
Turning his attention away from Sharr and the faerie that had to be Sharr's "heart-brother", Drizzt looked over the rest of the rescue party with an assessing eye.
The two tall women with pale hair had to be the "mate's sisters" Sharr had mentioned. One was in armor, with a sword on her belt and her hair in a braid—showing the rounded ears that marked her as a human—while the other was in wizard's robes, with her hair mostly loose.
The six faerie just as tall and pale-haired as the women had to be Sharr's sons, and Drizzt was intrigued to see that though all of them wore modified wizard's robes, they all also bore swords.
And their blunted eyes and ears had to be a sign that their mother was Sharr's human mate.
Finally, at the very back of the group, there was... another drow? A brief flash of confused fear went through him before he noticed the moons and swords worked into the robes the drow wore, and he remembered the explanation Zak had given about the drow who followed Lloth's goodly daughter.
And as further reassurance, he noted that the other drow was male, which Lloth would never allow any of Her clerics to be.
Bringing his attention back to the women, Drizzt caught theirs, and then, using the lessons Sharr had been giving him and Zak when they stopped to rest, said in careful Surface Common, "Name is Drizzt Do'Urden. Not speak much Common. Goblin is better."
Using Goblin, the one with the braid said, "Well met, Drizzt Do'Urden."
Then she repeated the greeting in Surface Common, and continued in the same language. " 'My' name is Dove Silverhand."
The very first word wasn't one that Sharr had taught them yet, but based on the firm tap Dove gave her chest as she said it, Drizzt thought it was a possessive.
"My name is Drizzt Do'Urden," he said, to test his guess.
"Yes." Dove was very pleased that Drizzt had correctly picked up the meaning of 'my', and decided to see how much more he could get from simple conversation.
So she pointed to Laeral, and said, "My sister is Laeral Silverhand."
Drizzt repeated 'sister' with a faint frown, then brightened and said the Goblin word for it.
"Yes," Dove said, smiling brightly.
Zaknafein had hung back a bit as Drizzt began speaking with the women, wanting to keep an eye on Sharr and the other faerie, but when the two of them broke their embrace and stepped back towards the rest of the rescue party, Zak moved forward as well.
"My name is Zaknafein Do'Urden," he said, once he was even with Drizzt.
Surprisingly, one of the tall faerie jerked on hearing his name, and although said faerie waved off the quiet question one of the others asked him, Zak noted the reaction as something to follow up on later.
After he finished his portion of food that night, Zak caught the attention of the tall faerie who had been introduced as "Thyl", then tilted his head towards the edge of the camp while mouthing "Talk?" in Goblin.
Thyl nodded in reply, and when he started to move towards an out of the way pocket in the walls of the cave their party had found to camp in, Zak did the same.
Soon enough, they were settled in the niche, and Zak spoke, in Surface Common. "Why you-" and he mimed the way Thyl had startled when Zak had introduced himself, "-at my name?"
"Spell for better Surface words?" Thyl replied—surprisingly enough, in Undercommon. "Not speak much of this; Drow and Goblin bad for this talk."
Zak thought things over for a moment, then nodded sharply.
And once Thyl had cast the spell, he got straight to the point. "I was surprised by your name because I had heard of you before all of this."
That was surprising to Zak, but he controlled his expression well enough to not betray it. "Oh?"
Thyl sighed and ran a hand over his hair before speaking again. "There are two permanent settlements of Eilistraeeans on the Surface.
"And the First Sister—the leader—of the nearer of them is named Vierna Do'Urden."
Zak couldn't help the shocked "What?!" that escaped him as joy warred with suspicion, but he at least managed to still keep it quiet enough to not carry.
"She knew the temple in your city would be a death sentence for her, so she left." Thyl gave a soft smile. "She eventually led a small band to the surface, and Spirit Sanctuary has been a home for drow, and others, ever since."
Having been forewarned of the impending arrivals, Vierna was on hand with Mena to meet Thyl when he teleported in with Zav'ren.
"It's good to see you both again," she said, once she could see them clearly. "Is there anything you feel I should know before Sharr's rescuers arrive?"
"The younger of them is only thirty," Rafi's son said, "for all that the Lolthites have counted him as an adult for most of a year."
Well then. Telling that to Ellifain would undoubtedly help in dealing with her trauma from the raid, once they got that far.
"Drizzt is also your full brother," Thyl said. "And Zaknafein has been told that you are the leader here, though it's clear that he doesn't fully believe it yet."
"I'd be surprised if he did," Vierna replied, remembering how cautious the Weapon Master had been when she was learning from him.
Then she nodded at Thyl, and a moment later, Lin arrived with her father and brother.
Stepping forward as soon as the teleport shimmer had faded, she said, "Zaknafein, Drizzt, welcome to Spirit Sanctuary."
And when she saw the two of them clearly, she was glad for the warning about Drizzt's youth, since it let her conceal her surprise on seeing that he still had traces of baby fat on his face.
But then her attention was drawn away from him when Zaknafein stepped towards her.
"You… you can't be anyone but my student," he said softly. "Daughter."
She smiled, eyes glistening a little at that immediate claim. "Father. My teacher." She offered her hands, and he took them, squeezing gently.
Drizzt had been just half a step behind Zak, so when her father released her hands, she turned to him. "And I am pleased to meet you, little brother.
"You did very well in managing to hide the child's survival, and she will have all the help she needs to recover from her experiences."
Drizzt's eyes widened significantly, and he gaped at her for a moment before stammering "You... you know about that?"
"I do," Vierna replied. "Those moon elves were followers of my Lady Eilistraee, and She asked for whatever aid we could manage.
"So the child was found quickly, and she and the one other survivor are being cared for by the dwarves that live here."
A tension that she had not truly noticed before lifted from Drizzt as she spoke, and when she finished, she found herself having to quickly reach out to support him as he wavered on his feet and tears started leaking from his eyes.
Carefully, she pulled him into a hug, and began rubbing her hand up and down his back as she would to comfort an overwhelmed child.
"Shh, shh," she soothed. "Everything's okay. She's safe and you're safe and everything is going to be okay."
For all that she and Sharr were comfortably curled up together in her bed, Alustriel found herself unable to fully set aside her thoughts.
So with a purely internal sigh, she shifted to where she could see Sharr's face, and said, "What were your impressions of my other dream-bonded, love?"
"He's good," Sharr replied, without even having to think about it. "To a rather startling degree for someone who managed to survive a full thirty years in Menzoberranzan."
Turning to better face her, he added, "And given what you've told me about the child he saved, I think that even if I hadn't been captured, he would have ended up leaving fairly soon anyway."
"And his father?"
"Very firmly neutral—and I had that impression even before learning he's also Vierna's father, though that did add weight to the impression, to know he'd survived that city for so long—but fiercely devoted to his children."
"Mmm." Alustriel shifted to steal a kiss from Sharr, then rested her head on his shoulder. "And I think his children return that devotion, given how Vierna spoke of him."
"I have to agree with that," Sharr said. "Drizzt was very tense when he first appeared, but after what sounded like a brief argument—that I now think might have been over how Drizzt could help an adult faerie, after he'd killed a child—he relaxed and gave leadership to Zaknafein."
