Recursive fanfic: Forgotten Realms
Aug. 15th, 2022 02:33 pmBecoming with a Pegasus (5088 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/1
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: Alternate Universe - Fusion
Series: Part 10 of A Crossing of the Realms, Part 5 of Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel
Summary:
Inspired by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
senmut and ilyena_sylph's fics Ranger and Pegasus and To Become All They Are.
This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from "To Become All They Are", since some scenes from that fic are covered in this one, with alterations based on the changes caused by Bright Eyes's presence.
If you are confused by this fic, please go read "To Become All They Are" and the previous fics in my series Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with all of them.
1350 DR, summer
Laeral had had every intention of going straight from Tar Valon to Silverymoon as soon as she had recovered, but while she was waiting, Khelben had called for her. That had taken her back to Waterdeep instead, and eaten several days. Finally, though, she was able to take herself to the family teleport spot, and then go wandering to find either her sister or Drizzt, whichever she managed to locate first.
Alustriel, it seemed, was actually out of the palace on official realms business, but the page happily told her that Drizzt was up in the Spellguard tower.
Laeral gave a grateful smile and went that way, waving off other attempts to provide some service or information with a smile and a thank-you until she was well inside the Tower. Then she asked the nearest apprentice, and followed those instructions to a half-open door.
Drizzt was busy correcting Niska's pronunciation of what had to be a word in Drow as Laeral approached, so she knocked on the doorframe to alert them to her presence before stepping into the room. Drizzt swiveled to look at her as she did so, and his face lit up with a bright smile.
“Hello, my friend,” Laeral said. “Niska, it’s wonderful to see you, too.”
“And you, Laeral,” Niska answered, not bothering to get up, not when it was Laeral rather than Alustriel. Drizzt reached a hand out to her, drawing her over to him so he could half-hug her.
“It’s good to see you, my friend. And you have excellent timing, as yesterday I was out of the city.”
“You stayed at Mithral Hall that long?” Laeral asked, though her tone was teasing and there was a smile on her face as she hugged Drizzt back, playfully kissing his cheek.
“Actually, I was bringing Catti back to the Hall yesterday,” Drizzt replied, with a smile of his own. “Bruenor let me bring her here for a while, as a holiday of sorts.” Then he started to pack up all of the things he had been using to work on the lexicon. “Niska, we’ll get out of your hair, but I’ll be back to work on this tomorrow.”
“Of course, Drizzt. And don’t let her drag you into too much trouble,” the elf teased, smiling at Laeral.
“Trouble? Me?” Laeral widened her eyes and made her expression as innocent and guileless as she could manage… before the sparkle in her eyes and a smile took over. “Take care, Niska, I’ll see you again at some point.”
“Of course, Laeral. It’s always good to see you.”
Drizzt finished putting things into the scribe case, put it over on the storage shelf, and then took Laeral’s arm playfully, so they could find a place to sit or walk and enjoy th company.
“What brings you? Alustriel had to go to Everlund for the day,” Drizzt said, “and might not be back until tomorrow.”
“So I heard, but I came to see you anyway,” Laeral answered. “Not that I won’t stay long enough to see her, too. Where are we heading, dear one?”
Drizzt gave it a moment’s thought, then said, “Let’s go to my rooms, so we can sit in quiet. As the sun is very bright today.”
“Well enough,” Laeral said, and turned her steps that way along with him. “So what did you do with Catti while she was here?”
The conversation about Catti’s holiday kept them occupied until they reached Drizzt’s rooms. And once he had let them in, Laeral let the door swing shut behind them before she ducked her fingers into one of her hidden pockets. “Khelben distracted me on my way back from Tar Valon,” she told him, her eyes a bit more serious than before, “but I brought you something.”
“You went there?” Drizzt tensed a little, then forced it down. “Alright. What did you find for me? And Khelben didn’t get you into too much trouble, did he?”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle together,” Laeral replied, “and of course I went. I told you I was going to go get all my questions answered by Terava… didn’t I? I meant to. Mmm… less ‘found’, more ‘copied’.” She pulled out the medallion on its chain, and held it out to him. “Syluné and the Simbul joined me in the work, after Terava told us such a thing existed. Aumry has another, and the Simbul kept one for herself.”
Winter
Drizzt knew better than to try and dissuade Bright Eyes from coming with him and Lindsar to do whatever was needed with the beasts that had caused the slaughter Mihia had reported, but he did insist on wrapping her legs in fleece and making sure her specially designed blanket was properly adjusted to leave her wings unhindered before they left the stedding.
And for all that he did not like that she had been distressed by the actual kill scene, he was also somewhat grateful for it, since it meant that she actually listened to him when he asked her to be an aerial distraction for him and Lindsar during the actual fight. And he was sure that the fight had ended faster than if she had not gotten in a few good hoofstrikes on the back of each of the dire weasels’ heads.
1351 DR, spring
Even though she was currently only following carefully behind him, Drizzt had put the riding straps on Bright Eyes, so that she could carry his pack, and his bow and quiver as well, leaving him unencumbered for whatever fight might happen.
Something was wrong, the ground whispered, the leaves murmured, and he invoked the first of his spells, adding the barkskin to those parts of his body that were exposed. And since Bright Eyes was well accustomed to night fights, he did not have to worry about her ability to deal with anything that attacked her, especially given the full moon tonight.
Drizzt had traveled barely more than another twenty feet when a wrongness suddenly struck at him… and his mind lashed out at it, beating it back fully. An indignant snort from Bright Eyes as he drew his swords made him aware that whatever had attacked his mind had to be an area effect, but at least it also indicated that she had fought it off as well.
He was already scanning, though, seeking the cause, and his eyes slipped into the darkvision long enough to spot both sources of warmth.
Not much he could do about the one high—and he wasn’t going to send Bright Eyes after someone in a tree, either—so he made his way toward the other unerringly, Bright Eyes following him closely.
He’d not advanced very far when he had to fight off another spell trying to affect his mind, but ultimately it had as little luck as the first attempt. Grasping his second blade with thumb and lower two fingers, he made the circle with his other two fingers, and the tree that held the secondary target began moving whip-thin branches to entangle there, while the ground sent grass runners after the spellcaster, tangling his feet and legs.
A second, almost afterthought threw darkness around the tree to further keep that one out of the immediate fight. And then he rushed his opponent.
Drizzt had covered only half the remaining distance between him and his opponent when a field of springy tentacles sprang out of the ground and started trying to ensnare him.
“Are you just stupid?” he asked, nimbly dodging and leaping over the tentacles to get to his target. He was barely bothered by the difficult terrain the tentacles presented, though tuning out the angry neighs from Bright Eyes that had to mean she had not managed to take off before the tentacles ensnared her was harder. And then he landed in front of the spellcaster, one blade lashing out in a strike that was designed to disrupt concentration more than land a blow.
“No,” the spellcaster—the wizard-fighter—growled, as he brought up his own blade and blocked Drizzt’s strike.
As the fight continued, the other man proved to be a skilled opponent, but against Drizzt, he was not quite fast enough, and he could not avoid taking blows against his gauntlets and armor.
But even so, Drizzt knew he needed to end this swiftly. Wizard-fighters were dangerous to begin with, and he had no idea what the other person was capable of. He set up a dance of strikes that landed once, a light but glancing blow that nicked his opponent’s neck.
“Snare,” Drizzt cast, as soon as he knew he’d drawn blood, and tangling vines, thorn-rich, erupted from the point of contact to tangle the fighter.
Nor did Drizzt hesitate, as this man had been attacking him and Bright Eyes since before Drizzt could see him. The magical sword Laeral had long ago crafted to be keen came up and around, just as if this fighter-wizard were a Fade.
His head left his shoulders, and from the tree enshrouded in darkness there came a scream of agony and a howled curse, as well as the sounds of a being fighting desperately, without reason, against the entangling vines.
Drizzt put his defensive blade in its sheathe, and drew his knife from one boot before approaching that tree. He focused by his ears—he’d adjust for sight in a moment—on the likely target, and them dispelled his own darkness to see the one in the tree.
That they were bonded led him down an ugly path of suspicion on why he’d been targeted by two lone people in the middle of his home range.
But that would have to wait for later, since the instant the darkness vanished, a bolt of bright white light streaked from the remaining person’s hand. It surged straight down towards Drizzt—and vanished into nothing a bare hair’s breadth from his skin. His eyes watered with pain from the flare, but otherwise, he was whole.
“WHAT?! NO!!!!!!!” the person—the woman—screamed.
“Bless you, Sisters,” Drizzt said, even as his knife flew up toward her, motion begun as the power fizzled out, hopefully obscuring the cast from her awareness.
A Black Ajah sister, then, and her Warder, though versed in the magics of this region, he thought in the back of his mind.
He could tell when his knife sank home by the way the woman jerked, then reached up to scrabble at her neck, and a few moments later, she fell limp.
Drizzt breathed out slowly, now aware of the streaming tears from his eyes caused by the brightness, and looked between the two bodies. He listened with all he was for any further danger, one scimitar still in hand. He’d have to get the body down, search it for any clues that should go back to the White Tower. He didn’t even know the proper disposal rites for one of their corrupted ones.
Well, the scavengers left little in the end, he decided.
~Niska, my apologies, but can you request that Laeral contact me? There is not a great rush for it,~ he sent to his Spellguard friend. He would get the bodies and search them before Laeral arrived—she would have to be the one to inform Terava—but before he did that, he was going to make sure Bright Eyes was alright.
~Of course I will,~ came the instant reply—Niska slept no more than he did, after all—before the sending stone went quiescent.
When Alustriel sent ~Sister-mine, our ranger is asking for your attention, and sent to Niska to ask for it~, Laeral was glad that she had not been doing anything that couldn’t be easily interrupted.
~I thought he was back with you?~ she replied, puzzled, before adding, ~never mind, I’ll talk to him in a minute. He’s lucky I have sending prepped.~
She dropped out of that communion and reached for the actual spell, sending to her friend and companion. ~Yes, dear one, what do you need?~
~Black Ajah sister and wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai,~ Drizzt replied.
Laeral was grateful that the sending had cut off as Drizzt finished, because it saved her the embarrassment of Drizzt hearing her mental spluttering and the curse she muttered aloud alike. That he had said such a thing in the tones of ‘oh, it rained here’ made it no better at all, and she really rather wanted to shake him. She sighed heavily instead, raking her fingers through her hair, and scried for his swords to know where he was, before teleporting to a few yards away.
“What do you mean a Black once-sister tried to kill you? And a wizard Warder?” she demanded as she hiked the rest of the way to him and Bright Eyes.
Drizzt stopped fussing over Bright Eyes, and turned towards her. But instead of answering her question, he said, “Bright Eyes needs a potion. Do you have one?”
“What about you, Drizzt?” Laeral asked, exasperated, even as she got out a potion. “Do you need one too?”
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 then took the potion that she was offering, dug out a piece of trail bread, doused it in the potion, and held it out to Bright Eyes.
The pegasus carefully took the bread from Drizzt’s hand, and after a moment, the potion visibly took effect, as Bright Eyes shook herself all over and shifted her weight to place more of it on her right foreleg, which Laeral now realized had previously been held so that it was barely touching the ground.
“Okay, Bright Eyes has had the potion, so will you answer my original question now?” Laeral knew she sounded somewhat testy, but she rather thought it was justified, given the situation.
Drizzt stroked Bright Eyes’s neck a few times, then turned and pointed 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.” He half-shrugged. “While I am grateful for the potion for Bright Eyes, I didn’t mean for you to come, my friend.I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped.”
“I know you didn’t intend me to come,” Laeral answered, around her terrified rage, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance I wasn’t going to, when you sent a message like that. …balefire?
“I… are you certain?”
She drew a small diamond out of a purse and cast the appropriate spell on it, keeping her body between the gem and her friend, before she moved to look at the corpses.
“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed. Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.” Drizzt’s voice had gotten a little fainter as she moved away from him, but the next thing he said was not as faint to her ears, making it clear that he’d followed her over. “Thank you, again, for the spellwork on my blades.
“They served me well,” he said, as she took in the head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Laeral managed, while she worked to control the pounding of her heart, the fear and dread—and then she gave up and reached to drag him close, pulling him in front of her, his back to her chest, to hold him tight, her chin tucked over his hair.
Bright Eyes had come over with Drizzt, and she gave what could be best described as an annoyed nicker—as odd as that seemed—when Laeral pulled Drizzt in to her chest. “Easy, Bright Eyes,” Drizzt said. “Laeral just needs to reassure herself that I’m really here and fine.”
Laeral spread her hand over his chest, keeping him close, because while he was partially correct, she didn’t think he understood all of why she was so frightened.
Bright Eyes made what Laeral knew was the equivalent of a thoughtful head-tilt, then trotted over to them, and started nuzzling Laeral’s shoulder.
“It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me!” Drizzt soothed her. “The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”
“So we did, so we did,” Laeral agreed. “It’s not only the threat to you that has me frightened, dear one. I would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return. But 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. I must bring this to the attention of my Mother.”
“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he’d seen in more depth.
Laeral cuddled him for a few more moments, listening intently, but the more he spoke… the more certain she was that he was correct. “Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes. Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”
The bodies were stripped to their smallclothes, she saw with approval, and an utter lack of surprise. “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?”
“Hadn’t chosen yet, as I was going to stay near until you contacted me. 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 am,” Laeral agreed. “I would like to have you close while I sink deep enough in my mind to communicate with Mother, and then I want to see what this wizard-Warder had in his spellbook.”
“I will guard you, of course,” he said. “Do you want to ride?”
“I had not a doubt,” she replied lightly. “And if Bright Eyes is willing, riding would be helpful for at least a little while.”
“Well, my lovely one?” Drizzt asked.
Bright Eyes tossed her head, then turned and presented her side to Laeral.
“Thank you, my friend,” Laeral said, as she mounted. And as Drizzt led the way out of the clearing, she could hear the rustling of animals answering Drizzt’s call for carrion-eaters.
Leaving Bright Eyes to follow Drizzt on her own, Laeral then stretched out by her anklet to Alustriel. ~Drizzt is, in fact, fine. Ever-so-minor matter of an ambush by a Black elan-worker and her wizard Warder.~
~Ever so minor? As in he dealt with it and thus it does not matter?~ Alustriel answered, exasperation and knowing both in the send. ~Is he hurt, does he need a healer, and can you convince him to carry potions?~
~He’s not hurt at all, though he hadn’t even bothered to check until I asked him if he was,~ Laeral said, ~despite the fact that the very first thing he said when I arrived was “Bright Eyes needs a potion. Do you have one?”~
~Of course it was,~ Alustriel sighed, her exasperation coming across the link quite clearly. ~Of course it was.~
~And yes, I am going to see if I can use Bright Eyes having needed a potion to convince him to carry at least a few.~
Drizzt spent all spring, summer, and the early part of the autumn wandering the Silver Marches, meeting people, dealing with trouble as he found it, and generally imprinting the range he’d chosen on his senses.
But now, in mid-autumn, he felt it was time to head back to Silverymoon to settle in for the coming winter. Before he did so, however, he decided to take himself down the Sundabar pass, looking for a particular grove.
He finally found it, and as he suspected, it still felt welcoming to him, despite the caretaker being long gone. There was no cairn, no burial spot, but Drizzt knew Aronna would not have left this place before death claimed her.
He looked all around, found the spot that had been the lean-to before weather and animals had pushed it all over to rot and return to nature.
He made his camp there, intending to spend a day and a night in the place of his teacher before he went home. There was neither a reason nor a quest behind coming here, but it felt right to settle himself.
Bright Eyes had apparently recognized the grove as well, as she had started fussing and nuzzling at him once his camp was set, and he had to spend some time reassuring her as to his mood before she was willing to go forage for herself. And once she had, Drizzt chose to just explore the grove a little.
As he walked around, he moved closer to the den that had probably been Gnasher's… and as he got close enough to cast his shadow over the mouth in the dying light, something came barreling out at him.
The something was a badger, not yet full grown, but mature enough to be away from its mother, and it yelled at him for being there.
Drizzt had to smile, even as he backed away and crouched.
“Hello. It’s good to see one of you still here.”
The badger growled at him, flexing all of his powerful claws into the earth—and the growl turned into a whine, the badger’s muzzle dipping to the right paw to lick at the back of that foot before returning to glaring at him.
“Are you hurt?” Drizzt’s smile turned to an intense look of concentration, as he held his hand out. “I can help, if you are, small friend.”
The badger growled uncertainly, but then looked up at the strange one’s eyes and moved a little closer, lifting the right forepaw. He could feel that the strange two-leg wanted to help, not like the ones that left biting-metal. The biting-metal had not gotten him, a rock had fallen hard on his paw as he dug, but… the paw hurt.
Drizzt was thankful he had his cure on tap, sending that gratitude to his goddesses, before he reached out, inspecting it, and then he let the magic flow, easing the deep bruise and small fracture.
“There, little friend. Better?”
The badger tested the paw and then moved to rub against that outstretched hand, making a contented noise and crooning. Then he reared up, placing paws on one knee. The paw was better, and the feeling of the getting-better had said ‘friend’ and ‘safe’ and ‘food’ and the badger was… lonely.
“Oh.” Drizzt felt all of that… and understood it. “I have food. But… while I would like to have a friend again, I do not think you would enjoy being mine.”
The badger tilted its head and chittered a question, not understanding why the two-leg thought that.
“I have another friend, different from the kind you could be for me, who can take me up into the sky,” Drizzt said, getting the gist of the question. “And she and I do much of our traveling that way.”
The badger whuffed sadly. The two-leg was nice, but he did not want to ever leave the ground.
Drizzt did not like the disappointment he sensed from the badger, and after a moment to consider things, he said, “I know of a place where other two-legs like me often spend time. Would you like for me to bring you there, so you can see if any of them would like to have you as their friend?”
The badger considered the offer. Would he have company without being someone’s friend?
Drizzt sensed the meaning of this round of chittering, and smiled. “You would. The place is tended by many who are friendly, though they cannot be your friend the way I could, and I come there often when I am nearby.”
The badger chirruped agreement, and Drizzt rubbed a gentle hand over its head and neck before finding the spot that Gnasher had always loved to have scratched. “Come over to my bedroll, and we’ll work on the food thing first.”
1352 DR, early spring
The page on duty scurried in, between appointments, looking very worried. She waited for Alustriel to address her, though, hands fidgeting with her hem as she did.
“What is it?”Alustriel asked, already on guard because of her page’s posture—she did not like when things upset her pages, and if one of their foreign guests had done something untoward…
“Word from the gate, Lady,” the girl answered. “The ranger is back, but he was favoring his left side, and bandages were visible.”
Alustriel Silverhand did not lose her composure, or her poise, and she could hold three trains of thought and a number of spells in her mind at any given point. That information sent cold searing down her back, and she rose from her chair before the last word faded from the air. “Thank you for bringing me that word so swiftly, dear.
“Go and tell Danella to reschedule the rest of my appointments for the day, with my profound apologies.”
“Yes, Lady,” the girl said, going swiftly to see that matter handled. Danella would manage it quite easily, or draw in the Lady’s counselors that could handle anything difficult on the schedule.
If he’d been coming in on his own power, that meant he’d go to his rooms, after seeing Bright Eyes settled at the Harper Hall—and hopefully he’d let someone else handle any care the pegasus needed. Bright Eyes would certainly encourage such, Alustriel was sure. It would give her time to acquire anything she needed and meet him in his rooms, rather than make a fuss at the Harper Hall.
Alustriel contemplated going to the dispensary, but her own potions were on her belt and she preferred using those anyway. Nor was she going to be taking argument on him using one of them, though she truly hoped that he had already used at least one of the ones that Laeral had finally convinced him to carry—she would be quite displeased if he had not used any, but she knew him too well to expect (though she could hope) that he would have used more than one.
She was actually quite a few minutes in front of him, which gave her time to tell the page on this hall to bring a meal, then let herself in and lay warming charms on bed and couch.
Drizzt opened the door, and the bandages were visible up his neck along his left side, and she could indeed see that he was favoring that side somewhat.
“Lady… shouldn’t you be in court or appointments?” he asked softly. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but, it’s a surprise.”
“Very little happens in Silverymoon that I don’t know of, my dear,” Alustriel answered. “And news that you had come in injured was more than enough to bring me out of bothersome appointments.”
He sighed softly. “Didn’t want to bother you, but point taken.” He began, awkwardly, getting out of his gear so that he could clean up some. “Wizard was fond of earth spells. Shook the ground, threw it at me.
“Only reason he didn’t get a chance to break it under my feet was because Bright Eyes took significant offense to him throwing it at me, and struck from a dive, killing him with her first strike.”
Alustriel got up and came to help him get his pack and his gear off, gently as she could, wanting to get him comfortable before she put the potion in his hand. “How very unpleasant. Is it safe to say that I’m glad you weren’t injured any worse, or did you have the sense to take a potion once the fight was over?”
“I took a potion to heal the broken arm,” Drizzt replied.
“But not the rest of it?” Alustriel gave a soft sigh. “No, don’t answer that, I know what you’ll say. Why exactly were the merchants attacked?”
“Concealment spells, I think. My nerves pricked, but not enough,” Drizzt said. “A well-paid mercenary force, with a wizard. If Bright Eyes had not dealt with the wizard so swiftly, it would have been a much closer battle, but ultimately we made it through. I did tell the wizard with the merchant he needed to get more practical experience; he froze at first. The fighters with me, however, did not.”
Once he was out of the gear—which took some careful doing—Alustriel could see the bandages were all down the left side, indicating he’d fallen very badly, or taken the full force of the erupting earth spell on that side.
Mithral could only do so much against being bludgeoned by the ground itself.
Alustriel huffed unhappily and shook her head. “Well, he did live through it, so the next time he will—hopefully—do better.
“And I’m not surprised you had a broken arm, given how thoroughly bandaged your side is.” She fished the potion she wanted from her belt, uncapped it, and placed it firmly in his hand.
He gave her a rueful smile. “I feel like I should suffer through the remaining consequences of being off-guard, my love. But that would distress you.” He drank it down, shivering as it went to work on the rest of the injuries he’d taken.
“I would not be pleased at you being stubborn, no,” Alustriel agreed, “so thank you.”
Chapters: 1/1
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: Alternate Universe - Fusion
Series: Part 10 of A Crossing of the Realms, Part 5 of Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel
Summary:
The events of "To Become All They Are", in a universe where Drizzt and his teacher saved Bright Eyes's egg a few years before Drizzt met Laeral.
Beginning notes
Inspired by
senmut and ilyena_sylph's fics Ranger and Pegasus and To Become All They Are.This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from "To Become All They Are", since some scenes from that fic are covered in this one, with alterations based on the changes caused by Bright Eyes's presence.
If you are confused by this fic, please go read "To Become All They Are" and the previous fics in my series Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with all of them.
Becoming with a Pegasus
1350 DR, summer
Laeral had had every intention of going straight from Tar Valon to Silverymoon as soon as she had recovered, but while she was waiting, Khelben had called for her. That had taken her back to Waterdeep instead, and eaten several days. Finally, though, she was able to take herself to the family teleport spot, and then go wandering to find either her sister or Drizzt, whichever she managed to locate first.
Alustriel, it seemed, was actually out of the palace on official realms business, but the page happily told her that Drizzt was up in the Spellguard tower.
Laeral gave a grateful smile and went that way, waving off other attempts to provide some service or information with a smile and a thank-you until she was well inside the Tower. Then she asked the nearest apprentice, and followed those instructions to a half-open door.
Drizzt was busy correcting Niska's pronunciation of what had to be a word in Drow as Laeral approached, so she knocked on the doorframe to alert them to her presence before stepping into the room. Drizzt swiveled to look at her as she did so, and his face lit up with a bright smile.
“Hello, my friend,” Laeral said. “Niska, it’s wonderful to see you, too.”
“And you, Laeral,” Niska answered, not bothering to get up, not when it was Laeral rather than Alustriel. Drizzt reached a hand out to her, drawing her over to him so he could half-hug her.
“It’s good to see you, my friend. And you have excellent timing, as yesterday I was out of the city.”
“You stayed at Mithral Hall that long?” Laeral asked, though her tone was teasing and there was a smile on her face as she hugged Drizzt back, playfully kissing his cheek.
“Actually, I was bringing Catti back to the Hall yesterday,” Drizzt replied, with a smile of his own. “Bruenor let me bring her here for a while, as a holiday of sorts.” Then he started to pack up all of the things he had been using to work on the lexicon. “Niska, we’ll get out of your hair, but I’ll be back to work on this tomorrow.”
“Of course, Drizzt. And don’t let her drag you into too much trouble,” the elf teased, smiling at Laeral.
“Trouble? Me?” Laeral widened her eyes and made her expression as innocent and guileless as she could manage… before the sparkle in her eyes and a smile took over. “Take care, Niska, I’ll see you again at some point.”
“Of course, Laeral. It’s always good to see you.”
Drizzt finished putting things into the scribe case, put it over on the storage shelf, and then took Laeral’s arm playfully, so they could find a place to sit or walk and enjoy th company.
“What brings you? Alustriel had to go to Everlund for the day,” Drizzt said, “and might not be back until tomorrow.”
“So I heard, but I came to see you anyway,” Laeral answered. “Not that I won’t stay long enough to see her, too. Where are we heading, dear one?”
Drizzt gave it a moment’s thought, then said, “Let’s go to my rooms, so we can sit in quiet. As the sun is very bright today.”
“Well enough,” Laeral said, and turned her steps that way along with him. “So what did you do with Catti while she was here?”
The conversation about Catti’s holiday kept them occupied until they reached Drizzt’s rooms. And once he had let them in, Laeral let the door swing shut behind them before she ducked her fingers into one of her hidden pockets. “Khelben distracted me on my way back from Tar Valon,” she told him, her eyes a bit more serious than before, “but I brought you something.”
“You went there?” Drizzt tensed a little, then forced it down. “Alright. What did you find for me? And Khelben didn’t get you into too much trouble, did he?”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle together,” Laeral replied, “and of course I went. I told you I was going to go get all my questions answered by Terava… didn’t I? I meant to. Mmm… less ‘found’, more ‘copied’.” She pulled out the medallion on its chain, and held it out to him. “Syluné and the Simbul joined me in the work, after Terava told us such a thing existed. Aumry has another, and the Simbul kept one for herself.”
Winter
Drizzt knew better than to try and dissuade Bright Eyes from coming with him and Lindsar to do whatever was needed with the beasts that had caused the slaughter Mihia had reported, but he did insist on wrapping her legs in fleece and making sure her specially designed blanket was properly adjusted to leave her wings unhindered before they left the stedding.
And for all that he did not like that she had been distressed by the actual kill scene, he was also somewhat grateful for it, since it meant that she actually listened to him when he asked her to be an aerial distraction for him and Lindsar during the actual fight. And he was sure that the fight had ended faster than if she had not gotten in a few good hoofstrikes on the back of each of the dire weasels’ heads.
1351 DR, spring
Even though she was currently only following carefully behind him, Drizzt had put the riding straps on Bright Eyes, so that she could carry his pack, and his bow and quiver as well, leaving him unencumbered for whatever fight might happen.
Something was wrong, the ground whispered, the leaves murmured, and he invoked the first of his spells, adding the barkskin to those parts of his body that were exposed. And since Bright Eyes was well accustomed to night fights, he did not have to worry about her ability to deal with anything that attacked her, especially given the full moon tonight.
Drizzt had traveled barely more than another twenty feet when a wrongness suddenly struck at him… and his mind lashed out at it, beating it back fully. An indignant snort from Bright Eyes as he drew his swords made him aware that whatever had attacked his mind had to be an area effect, but at least it also indicated that she had fought it off as well.
He was already scanning, though, seeking the cause, and his eyes slipped into the darkvision long enough to spot both sources of warmth.
Not much he could do about the one high—and he wasn’t going to send Bright Eyes after someone in a tree, either—so he made his way toward the other unerringly, Bright Eyes following him closely.
He’d not advanced very far when he had to fight off another spell trying to affect his mind, but ultimately it had as little luck as the first attempt. Grasping his second blade with thumb and lower two fingers, he made the circle with his other two fingers, and the tree that held the secondary target began moving whip-thin branches to entangle there, while the ground sent grass runners after the spellcaster, tangling his feet and legs.
A second, almost afterthought threw darkness around the tree to further keep that one out of the immediate fight. And then he rushed his opponent.
Drizzt had covered only half the remaining distance between him and his opponent when a field of springy tentacles sprang out of the ground and started trying to ensnare him.
“Are you just stupid?” he asked, nimbly dodging and leaping over the tentacles to get to his target. He was barely bothered by the difficult terrain the tentacles presented, though tuning out the angry neighs from Bright Eyes that had to mean she had not managed to take off before the tentacles ensnared her was harder. And then he landed in front of the spellcaster, one blade lashing out in a strike that was designed to disrupt concentration more than land a blow.
“No,” the spellcaster—the wizard-fighter—growled, as he brought up his own blade and blocked Drizzt’s strike.
As the fight continued, the other man proved to be a skilled opponent, but against Drizzt, he was not quite fast enough, and he could not avoid taking blows against his gauntlets and armor.
But even so, Drizzt knew he needed to end this swiftly. Wizard-fighters were dangerous to begin with, and he had no idea what the other person was capable of. He set up a dance of strikes that landed once, a light but glancing blow that nicked his opponent’s neck.
“Snare,” Drizzt cast, as soon as he knew he’d drawn blood, and tangling vines, thorn-rich, erupted from the point of contact to tangle the fighter.
Nor did Drizzt hesitate, as this man had been attacking him and Bright Eyes since before Drizzt could see him. The magical sword Laeral had long ago crafted to be keen came up and around, just as if this fighter-wizard were a Fade.
His head left his shoulders, and from the tree enshrouded in darkness there came a scream of agony and a howled curse, as well as the sounds of a being fighting desperately, without reason, against the entangling vines.
Drizzt put his defensive blade in its sheathe, and drew his knife from one boot before approaching that tree. He focused by his ears—he’d adjust for sight in a moment—on the likely target, and them dispelled his own darkness to see the one in the tree.
That they were bonded led him down an ugly path of suspicion on why he’d been targeted by two lone people in the middle of his home range.
But that would have to wait for later, since the instant the darkness vanished, a bolt of bright white light streaked from the remaining person’s hand. It surged straight down towards Drizzt—and vanished into nothing a bare hair’s breadth from his skin. His eyes watered with pain from the flare, but otherwise, he was whole.
“WHAT?! NO!!!!!!!” the person—the woman—screamed.
“Bless you, Sisters,” Drizzt said, even as his knife flew up toward her, motion begun as the power fizzled out, hopefully obscuring the cast from her awareness.
A Black Ajah sister, then, and her Warder, though versed in the magics of this region, he thought in the back of his mind.
He could tell when his knife sank home by the way the woman jerked, then reached up to scrabble at her neck, and a few moments later, she fell limp.
Drizzt breathed out slowly, now aware of the streaming tears from his eyes caused by the brightness, and looked between the two bodies. He listened with all he was for any further danger, one scimitar still in hand. He’d have to get the body down, search it for any clues that should go back to the White Tower. He didn’t even know the proper disposal rites for one of their corrupted ones.
Well, the scavengers left little in the end, he decided.
~Niska, my apologies, but can you request that Laeral contact me? There is not a great rush for it,~ he sent to his Spellguard friend. He would get the bodies and search them before Laeral arrived—she would have to be the one to inform Terava—but before he did that, he was going to make sure Bright Eyes was alright.
~Of course I will,~ came the instant reply—Niska slept no more than he did, after all—before the sending stone went quiescent.
When Alustriel sent ~Sister-mine, our ranger is asking for your attention, and sent to Niska to ask for it~, Laeral was glad that she had not been doing anything that couldn’t be easily interrupted.
~I thought he was back with you?~ she replied, puzzled, before adding, ~never mind, I’ll talk to him in a minute. He’s lucky I have sending prepped.~
She dropped out of that communion and reached for the actual spell, sending to her friend and companion. ~Yes, dear one, what do you need?~
~Black Ajah sister and wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai,~ Drizzt replied.
Laeral was grateful that the sending had cut off as Drizzt finished, because it saved her the embarrassment of Drizzt hearing her mental spluttering and the curse she muttered aloud alike. That he had said such a thing in the tones of ‘oh, it rained here’ made it no better at all, and she really rather wanted to shake him. She sighed heavily instead, raking her fingers through her hair, and scried for his swords to know where he was, before teleporting to a few yards away.
“What do you mean a Black once-sister tried to kill you? And a wizard Warder?” she demanded as she hiked the rest of the way to him and Bright Eyes.
Drizzt stopped fussing over Bright Eyes, and turned towards her. But instead of answering her question, he said, “Bright Eyes needs a potion. Do you have one?”
“What about you, Drizzt?” Laeral asked, exasperated, even as she got out a potion. “Do you need one too?”
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 then took the potion that she was offering, dug out a piece of trail bread, doused it in the potion, and held it out to Bright Eyes.
The pegasus carefully took the bread from Drizzt’s hand, and after a moment, the potion visibly took effect, as Bright Eyes shook herself all over and shifted her weight to place more of it on her right foreleg, which Laeral now realized had previously been held so that it was barely touching the ground.
“Okay, Bright Eyes has had the potion, so will you answer my original question now?” Laeral knew she sounded somewhat testy, but she rather thought it was justified, given the situation.
Drizzt stroked Bright Eyes’s neck a few times, then turned and pointed 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.” He half-shrugged. “While I am grateful for the potion for Bright Eyes, I didn’t mean for you to come, my friend.I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped.”
“I know you didn’t intend me to come,” Laeral answered, around her terrified rage, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance I wasn’t going to, when you sent a message like that. …balefire?
“I… are you certain?”
She drew a small diamond out of a purse and cast the appropriate spell on it, keeping her body between the gem and her friend, before she moved to look at the corpses.
“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed. Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.” Drizzt’s voice had gotten a little fainter as she moved away from him, but the next thing he said was not as faint to her ears, making it clear that he’d followed her over. “Thank you, again, for the spellwork on my blades.
“They served me well,” he said, as she took in the head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Laeral managed, while she worked to control the pounding of her heart, the fear and dread—and then she gave up and reached to drag him close, pulling him in front of her, his back to her chest, to hold him tight, her chin tucked over his hair.
Bright Eyes had come over with Drizzt, and she gave what could be best described as an annoyed nicker—as odd as that seemed—when Laeral pulled Drizzt in to her chest. “Easy, Bright Eyes,” Drizzt said. “Laeral just needs to reassure herself that I’m really here and fine.”
Laeral spread her hand over his chest, keeping him close, because while he was partially correct, she didn’t think he understood all of why she was so frightened.
Bright Eyes made what Laeral knew was the equivalent of a thoughtful head-tilt, then trotted over to them, and started nuzzling Laeral’s shoulder.
“It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me!” Drizzt soothed her. “The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”
“So we did, so we did,” Laeral agreed. “It’s not only the threat to you that has me frightened, dear one. I would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return. But 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. I must bring this to the attention of my Mother.”
“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he’d seen in more depth.
Laeral cuddled him for a few more moments, listening intently, but the more he spoke… the more certain she was that he was correct. “Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes. Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”
The bodies were stripped to their smallclothes, she saw with approval, and an utter lack of surprise. “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?”
“Hadn’t chosen yet, as I was going to stay near until you contacted me. 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 am,” Laeral agreed. “I would like to have you close while I sink deep enough in my mind to communicate with Mother, and then I want to see what this wizard-Warder had in his spellbook.”
“I will guard you, of course,” he said. “Do you want to ride?”
“I had not a doubt,” she replied lightly. “And if Bright Eyes is willing, riding would be helpful for at least a little while.”
“Well, my lovely one?” Drizzt asked.
Bright Eyes tossed her head, then turned and presented her side to Laeral.
“Thank you, my friend,” Laeral said, as she mounted. And as Drizzt led the way out of the clearing, she could hear the rustling of animals answering Drizzt’s call for carrion-eaters.
Leaving Bright Eyes to follow Drizzt on her own, Laeral then stretched out by her anklet to Alustriel. ~Drizzt is, in fact, fine. Ever-so-minor matter of an ambush by a Black elan-worker and her wizard Warder.~
~Ever so minor? As in he dealt with it and thus it does not matter?~ Alustriel answered, exasperation and knowing both in the send. ~Is he hurt, does he need a healer, and can you convince him to carry potions?~
~He’s not hurt at all, though he hadn’t even bothered to check until I asked him if he was,~ Laeral said, ~despite the fact that the very first thing he said when I arrived was “Bright Eyes needs a potion. Do you have one?”~
~Of course it was,~ Alustriel sighed, her exasperation coming across the link quite clearly. ~Of course it was.~
~And yes, I am going to see if I can use Bright Eyes having needed a potion to convince him to carry at least a few.~
Drizzt spent all spring, summer, and the early part of the autumn wandering the Silver Marches, meeting people, dealing with trouble as he found it, and generally imprinting the range he’d chosen on his senses.
But now, in mid-autumn, he felt it was time to head back to Silverymoon to settle in for the coming winter. Before he did so, however, he decided to take himself down the Sundabar pass, looking for a particular grove.
He finally found it, and as he suspected, it still felt welcoming to him, despite the caretaker being long gone. There was no cairn, no burial spot, but Drizzt knew Aronna would not have left this place before death claimed her.
He looked all around, found the spot that had been the lean-to before weather and animals had pushed it all over to rot and return to nature.
He made his camp there, intending to spend a day and a night in the place of his teacher before he went home. There was neither a reason nor a quest behind coming here, but it felt right to settle himself.
Bright Eyes had apparently recognized the grove as well, as she had started fussing and nuzzling at him once his camp was set, and he had to spend some time reassuring her as to his mood before she was willing to go forage for herself. And once she had, Drizzt chose to just explore the grove a little.
As he walked around, he moved closer to the den that had probably been Gnasher's… and as he got close enough to cast his shadow over the mouth in the dying light, something came barreling out at him.
The something was a badger, not yet full grown, but mature enough to be away from its mother, and it yelled at him for being there.
Drizzt had to smile, even as he backed away and crouched.
“Hello. It’s good to see one of you still here.”
The badger growled at him, flexing all of his powerful claws into the earth—and the growl turned into a whine, the badger’s muzzle dipping to the right paw to lick at the back of that foot before returning to glaring at him.
“Are you hurt?” Drizzt’s smile turned to an intense look of concentration, as he held his hand out. “I can help, if you are, small friend.”
The badger growled uncertainly, but then looked up at the strange one’s eyes and moved a little closer, lifting the right forepaw. He could feel that the strange two-leg wanted to help, not like the ones that left biting-metal. The biting-metal had not gotten him, a rock had fallen hard on his paw as he dug, but… the paw hurt.
Drizzt was thankful he had his cure on tap, sending that gratitude to his goddesses, before he reached out, inspecting it, and then he let the magic flow, easing the deep bruise and small fracture.
“There, little friend. Better?”
The badger tested the paw and then moved to rub against that outstretched hand, making a contented noise and crooning. Then he reared up, placing paws on one knee. The paw was better, and the feeling of the getting-better had said ‘friend’ and ‘safe’ and ‘food’ and the badger was… lonely.
“Oh.” Drizzt felt all of that… and understood it. “I have food. But… while I would like to have a friend again, I do not think you would enjoy being mine.”
The badger tilted its head and chittered a question, not understanding why the two-leg thought that.
“I have another friend, different from the kind you could be for me, who can take me up into the sky,” Drizzt said, getting the gist of the question. “And she and I do much of our traveling that way.”
The badger whuffed sadly. The two-leg was nice, but he did not want to ever leave the ground.
Drizzt did not like the disappointment he sensed from the badger, and after a moment to consider things, he said, “I know of a place where other two-legs like me often spend time. Would you like for me to bring you there, so you can see if any of them would like to have you as their friend?”
The badger considered the offer. Would he have company without being someone’s friend?
Drizzt sensed the meaning of this round of chittering, and smiled. “You would. The place is tended by many who are friendly, though they cannot be your friend the way I could, and I come there often when I am nearby.”
The badger chirruped agreement, and Drizzt rubbed a gentle hand over its head and neck before finding the spot that Gnasher had always loved to have scratched. “Come over to my bedroll, and we’ll work on the food thing first.”
1352 DR, early spring
The page on duty scurried in, between appointments, looking very worried. She waited for Alustriel to address her, though, hands fidgeting with her hem as she did.
“What is it?”Alustriel asked, already on guard because of her page’s posture—she did not like when things upset her pages, and if one of their foreign guests had done something untoward…
“Word from the gate, Lady,” the girl answered. “The ranger is back, but he was favoring his left side, and bandages were visible.”
Alustriel Silverhand did not lose her composure, or her poise, and she could hold three trains of thought and a number of spells in her mind at any given point. That information sent cold searing down her back, and she rose from her chair before the last word faded from the air. “Thank you for bringing me that word so swiftly, dear.
“Go and tell Danella to reschedule the rest of my appointments for the day, with my profound apologies.”
“Yes, Lady,” the girl said, going swiftly to see that matter handled. Danella would manage it quite easily, or draw in the Lady’s counselors that could handle anything difficult on the schedule.
If he’d been coming in on his own power, that meant he’d go to his rooms, after seeing Bright Eyes settled at the Harper Hall—and hopefully he’d let someone else handle any care the pegasus needed. Bright Eyes would certainly encourage such, Alustriel was sure. It would give her time to acquire anything she needed and meet him in his rooms, rather than make a fuss at the Harper Hall.
Alustriel contemplated going to the dispensary, but her own potions were on her belt and she preferred using those anyway. Nor was she going to be taking argument on him using one of them, though she truly hoped that he had already used at least one of the ones that Laeral had finally convinced him to carry—she would be quite displeased if he had not used any, but she knew him too well to expect (though she could hope) that he would have used more than one.
She was actually quite a few minutes in front of him, which gave her time to tell the page on this hall to bring a meal, then let herself in and lay warming charms on bed and couch.
Drizzt opened the door, and the bandages were visible up his neck along his left side, and she could indeed see that he was favoring that side somewhat.
“Lady… shouldn’t you be in court or appointments?” he asked softly. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but, it’s a surprise.”
“Very little happens in Silverymoon that I don’t know of, my dear,” Alustriel answered. “And news that you had come in injured was more than enough to bring me out of bothersome appointments.”
He sighed softly. “Didn’t want to bother you, but point taken.” He began, awkwardly, getting out of his gear so that he could clean up some. “Wizard was fond of earth spells. Shook the ground, threw it at me.
“Only reason he didn’t get a chance to break it under my feet was because Bright Eyes took significant offense to him throwing it at me, and struck from a dive, killing him with her first strike.”
Alustriel got up and came to help him get his pack and his gear off, gently as she could, wanting to get him comfortable before she put the potion in his hand. “How very unpleasant. Is it safe to say that I’m glad you weren’t injured any worse, or did you have the sense to take a potion once the fight was over?”
“I took a potion to heal the broken arm,” Drizzt replied.
“But not the rest of it?” Alustriel gave a soft sigh. “No, don’t answer that, I know what you’ll say. Why exactly were the merchants attacked?”
“Concealment spells, I think. My nerves pricked, but not enough,” Drizzt said. “A well-paid mercenary force, with a wizard. If Bright Eyes had not dealt with the wizard so swiftly, it would have been a much closer battle, but ultimately we made it through. I did tell the wizard with the merchant he needed to get more practical experience; he froze at first. The fighters with me, however, did not.”
Once he was out of the gear—which took some careful doing—Alustriel could see the bandages were all down the left side, indicating he’d fallen very badly, or taken the full force of the erupting earth spell on that side.
Mithral could only do so much against being bludgeoned by the ground itself.
Alustriel huffed unhappily and shook her head. “Well, he did live through it, so the next time he will—hopefully—do better.
“And I’m not surprised you had a broken arm, given how thoroughly bandaged your side is.” She fished the potion she wanted from her belt, uncapped it, and placed it firmly in his hand.
He gave her a rueful smile. “I feel like I should suffer through the remaining consequences of being off-guard, my love. But that would distress you.” He drank it down, shivering as it went to work on the rest of the injuries he’d taken.
“I would not be pleased at you being stubborn, no,” Alustriel agreed, “so thank you.”
