somariel | Entries tagged with rating: t/pg-13

Dream 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:

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."

The Skeptic and the Ranger (2653 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: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Original Human Character(s)
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Canon Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

No matter what he had seen, Korvallen didn’t want to believe it.

The Skeptic and the Ranger

Drizzt had only just begun the trek back to his wintering cave, but when he saw a large force of goblinoids—three bugbears, six hobgoblins, and more than a hundred goblins—accompanied by a dire wolf and six worgs, come down out of the mountains on the southern side of the Silverymoon Pass and head towards Silverymoon's outlying farmsteads, he knew he had to follow them, no matter that it was well past when he should have headed back.

And several days later, sitting up in a tree with Guen as they watched the force assemble just inside the woods at the edge of a large farmstead, he was very glad he had.

Having seen that Silverymoon's protectors included the farmsteads in their protections, he had managed to convince a hawk to carry a warning to the sacred place of Mielikki's he was aware was in the city, but the goblinoids were clearly preparing to attack, and with no sign of the Knights in Silver, it was going to be up to him and Guen to do their best to protect the farmstead.

So when the force started to move out into the farm's cleared area, he gave a nod to Guen, who launched herself off the branch she had been resting on to land on the dire wolf's back.

And while even the bugbears stared in shock as Guen swiftly tore out its throat before racing to get between them and the farmstead, Drizzt used his bow to pick off some of the goblins.

Then, having managed to take out half a dozen before the bugbears began shouting orders, he slipped down from the tree, set the bow and quiver aside, drew his scimitars, and headed for the bugbear he had marked out as the leader.

The force of Knights and Spellguards Korvallen was leading was barely a mile from the farmstead that aerial scouting had identified as the goblinoids' target when they began to see goblins running towards them in a clear panic.

"What in-?" Kolarven's startled exclamation from off to the side broke off as some of the goblins saw the Knights, screamed, and then started fleeing to both the left and the right.

Signaling his horse to pick up speed, Korvallen looked at his nibling and gave a wry smile. "I think the fight must have already started."

The rest of the force quickly followed his lead in picking up the pace, and soon enough, they were all galloping towards the farmhouse.

At a few hundred yards away, the clash of metal on metal grew loud enough to be faintly heard over the thundering of the horses' hooves, and Korvallen signaled for the force to split and come around the farmhouse from both sides in order to catch the goblinoids in a pincer.

But when his half of the force rounded the back corner of the farmhouse, he couldn't help but rein in his horse and stare.

Closest to them, just a handful of yards out from the back of the farmhouse, an enormous panther stood guard, the bodies of four worgs and many goblins scattered the length of the house along a line that never got closer to it than the panther was.

A dozen yards or so beyond that, someone with long, unbound white hair and a green cloak was engaging a bugbear, dead goblins and eight larger humanoids, plus three canine bodies, strewn around the combatants. And all around the edges of the area, goblins were fleeing in every direction except towards the farmhouse.

A mrowl drew Korvallen's attention back to the panther, and it deliberately locked eyes with him for a moment before inclining its head towards him. And then it turned and raced towards the fighters, circling for the far side.

The bugbear stumbled as the panther passed behind it, and the other fighter took advantage of that to end the fight.

Then the other fighter turned towards them, and Korvallen felt himself waver in shock. The fighter who had been defending the farm was a drow!

But even as he tried to make sense of that, the drow swayed on his feet, and Korvallen noticed the numerous wounds he bore.

The panther had moved up right beside the drow when he swayed, and when he dropped his swords and collapsed, it caught him on its back before he could hit the ground.

Another mrowl from the panther shook Korvallen out of his frozen shock over the drow, and he began giving orders—including, somewhat grudgingly, for the drow to be given first aid.

By the time all the goblinoids and canines were buried and the farmers had been reassured, one of the Spellguards had put the drow in stasis, and when the force headed back to Silverymoon, they brought the drow with them.

With the hawk that had brought the message warning of the goblinoid force having come to the Glade, it was obvious that the sender must have been a member of Mielikki's church, but no one had given any more thought to the matter... until this morning, when She had been firm that Grevaine needed to be at the Sundabar Gate for the return of the force that had been sent to deal with the threat.

Her insistence had generated much speculation at the Cloister as to who might have so much of Her favor, but as the force came through the gate, Grevaine noticed the summoned mount led by a Spellguard, that was carrying a still form, and wondered if perhaps the insistence was because of injuries rather than favor.

Stepping forward, he caught the lead Knight's attention, and the elf signaled for the force to pause.

"Knight-Captain Korvallen," he called in greeting.

"Leaf Grevaine," Korvallen replied. "What brings you to greet our return?"

"Mielikki wishes for Her ranger to be brought to the Cloister." The words came out of Grevaine's mouth without any true thought, which was enough to tell him that regardless of any injuries, whoever this ranger was did indeed have Her favor, and quite strongly.

Korvallen's expression briefly looked like he'd bitten into a lemon, causing Grevaine to wonder why, but he turned and called out, "Kolarven, Talaris, you're to bring the ranger to the Cloister with Leaf Grevaine."

And even as Korvallen began to lead the rest of the force toward the Palace, a half-elf Knight and the Spellguard leading the summoned mount were moving towards Grevaine.

But the true surprise of the morning came when the pair got close enough for Grevaine to clearly see the still form on the summoned mount. Because the white hair and black skin made it clear that the ranger was a drow.

Which at least explained Korvallen's momentary sour expression, but also left Grevaine more curious than before as to how a drow had gained so much of Mielikki's favor.

"Saers," Grevaine said as the pair reached easy conversational distance. "Given his stillness, I'm assuming the ranger is injured, so if you could detail the injuries for me on the way to the Cloister, that would be of assistance in ensuring he receives the full healing necessary."

"Of course," the Knight said.

And as they turned onto the road leading back to the Cloister, the Knight began to explain.

Korvallen's skepticism of the drow ranger being anything other than neutral had been heavily shaken when his panther Companion proved to be an astral being, but it wasn't until they were met on their return by the third-ranked cleric of Mielikki in the city that he actually was willing to believe that the drow might truly be good.

Even so, however, he was still in a foul mood when he stalked into Besnell's office to give his report.

"Please don't tell me that you arrived too late," the other elf said as Kor settled into the chair in front of the desk.

"If not for the ranger who sent the warning and his Companion, we would have been," Kor answered, "but that's not what has me riled up."

"What is it, then?" Besnell asked.

"One ranger and an astral panther between them dealt with a dire wolf, six worgs, three bugbears, six hobgoblins, and more than ninety goblins," Kor said.

"Our force could have had half the number we actually sent and still been just as effective, since all we were needed for was the cleanup.

"And as if that wasn't enough annoyance, the ranger who is so frighteningly skilled is a gods-be-damned drow!"

Besnell blinked in surprise a few times before choosing his next words carefully. "At least we can be thankful he's not a typical drow, given his obvious skill?

"Since you wouldn't be so aggrieved if you'd had cause to kill him."

Kor sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Very much not a typical drow. Not only does he somehow have an astral panther for a Companion, he's apparently so favored by Khalreshaar that Leaf Grevaine was waiting for us at the Sundabar Gate to ensure that he was brought to the Cloister for healing."

"So his ability to deal with such a large force was not without consequence, then?"

Kor straightened up as Besnell's words cut through the fear that the drow's skill had generated in him. "No, it wasn't. Damn near killed him, in fact. We had to have one of the Spellguards put him in stasis just to keep him alive long enough to get back to the city."

Besnell nodded, then hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "Given the demonstrated skill, it might be worth seeing if he could help any of our people improve their own skills.

"If, of course, he chooses to stay in the city once he is fully recovered."

"Huh." Kor sat back and turned that idea over for a bit before speaking again. "Think I'd want to test him myself before agreeing, but, well, a good sparring partner would help with that recovery, wouldn't it?"

"Should I send a message to the Cloister with that offer, then?"

"Yes."

When he had collapsed after taking down the last bugbear, Drizzt had not fully expected to wake up, so when he did, he took a moment to just take in his surroundings.

He was lying in a sturdy cot in just his underlayer of clothing, with a warm blanket over him. The cot was positioned in front a large window overlooking a tree-lined slope down to an old wall, with a river on the other side of the wall, while the angle of the shadows cast by the wall and the trees indicated that the sun was low in the sky, though he was not sure whether it was morning or evening. And off to his right, there was a low table that held both his belongings, Guen's figure prominent among them, and a tray with a light meal, a cup, and a decanter.

Past that was a stone wall, and to his left and behind him was a canvas curtain, beyond which he could hear quiet voices and the crackling of a fire.

And most importantly, someone had healed him while he was unconscious, though some of the lighter wounds were still present under bandages.

But before he could move on to figuring out exactly what had happened, his stomach growled, and he set about getting the meal into himself.

He was just finishing when an older human male came around the curtain and smiled at him.

"I am glad to see you are awake, ranger," the man said. "I am Grevaine, cleric of our shared Lady, and we are within Mielikki's Cloister in Silverymoon."

"In Silverymoon?" Drizzt knew he sounded addled as he repeated the cleric's last words, but the last he remembered, he had been defending the farmstead the goblinoids had chosen to attack.

"Yes," Grevaine said. "The force that was sent out thanks to your warning brought you with them when they returned."

Now that Grevaine had said that, Drizzt could hazily recall seeing riders coming around the farmhouse right before he lost consciousness, but he nevertheless remained wary, knowing that he had to have received healing while he was unconscious.

"And what will be asked of me as repayment for my healing?"

It was only the feeling of Mielikki's amusement that kept him from bristling at Grevaine's laugh, but the cleric's reply still came as a surprise. "Ranger, Silverymoon owes you a great deal. Your healing is the absolute least that can be done to repay that debt."

Drizzt was uncomfortable with the idea of being owed anything for simply doing what a ranger must, but between his practical side and Mielikki's soothing, he felt he could resign himself to it.

But Grevaine's address of him also reminded him that he had not yet introduced himself. "I am Drizzt Do'Urden," he said.

"And do you have any further questions for me, Ranger Do'Urden?"

"How long was I unconscious for?" Drizzt asked. "Most of a day," Grevaine replied, "as the force sent returned this morning, with you under stasis, and it is now approaching sunset."

Drizzt nodded acknowledgement of Grevaine's words, though he was still uncomfortable with how much magic had been expended for his sake, and then another question occurred to him. "Why am I on a cot in a public room?" he asked.

"Mielikki was quite clear on the fact that you heal best when close to nature.

"But since it is getting rather cold for camping in the Sacred Glade, this room overlooking the river was the best we could manage." Grevaine paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, then continued. "And speaking of healing best, the Knights in Silver have issued an invitation for you find sparring partners among their number while you recover and, if you choose to remain in the city, after that as well.”

Though Alustriel had known that Kor's first sparring match with the drow ranger had been today, she was still surprised to find him waiting in her rooms after evenfeast, even knowing that he likely would have needed to vent to someone.

But she was careful not to show that as she said, "Is this a casual visit, Kor, or is there something on your mind?"

"You need to ask your youngest sister what in the Abyss she thought she was doing, letting someone as young as that ranger travel alone, even if he is able to give me a true challenge."

"I... what? What do you mean, Kor?" That was not even close to what she had thought he might say, and she knew her face had to be showing it.

Kor sighed, and when he spoke again, she could hear the very mixed emotions in his tone. "The drow ranger is, unless I'm greatly mistaken, younger than Del. And he's a full blood.

"So I want to know why he's traveling alone when your sister's people hold to the same age of majority as elves."

"Oh. My." That was... very young indeed to be traveling alone. "Well, give me a chance to change into something more casual, and then I'll reach out to her."

"Of course, Elué."

Qilué's bewildered surprise over Korvallen's inquiry had led to her consulting with Eilistraee about the ranger, and the results of that conversation had necessitated Alustriel meeting him, to allow Mystra to deal with whatever was preventing the Dark Maiden from perceiving him.

But once the shroud had been removed, Drizzt Do'Urden continued to settle into the city, learning from the other followers of Mielikki wintering at the Cloister, and regularly sparring with Kor—and sometimes other Knights as well.

As winter wore on, Drizzt eventually moved from simply sparring, to actually teaching, under a formal contract as an instructor, as well as signing on as a ranger-at-need.

And in the spring, he found a house in the city with assistance from the Glade.

Justice is Served (1523 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)
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Canon Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

Drizzt's actions in saving Alustriel's son from Shimmergloom cause word of Silverymoon's drow ranger to spread far enough that a certain vengeful bounty hunter hears of his location.

The results are entirely predictable... for everyone except McGristle.

A continuation of Merfilly's fic Soul Trap Undone.

Justice is Served

Though Alustriel had received the first report of a man asking about "the drow" later in the same day as Drizzt and Sharr's warning about Sharr having tempted fate, it was not until the next day, when she received three more reports about the man before her midday break—none of them positive—that she realized his seeking Drizzt was most likely the 'something interesting' she had been warned of.

The fourth report had been sent by an off-duty member of the Silver Watch, and it was in reviewing the description of the man that had been included that she realized why she felt that was true.

And after consulting with Dove to confirm the suspicions that the description had raised in her, she sent the current page on duty off to request that Drizzt, Sharr, and Kor all meet her in her rooms once her afternoon appointments were over.

Of all the reasons Drizzt had considered for why Alustriel wished a private meeting with him, Sharr, and Kor, McGristle having come to Silverymoon in search of him was not one of them.

However, that was exactly what she had just told them, if in rather more words.

But though he was somewhat paralyzed by conflicting emotions, Sharr and Kor were not.

And after a quick glance between them, Sharr cut straight to the reason Alustriel had asked for him and Kor to attend the meeting.

"You want our advice on what can be done to keep Drizzt safe while McGristle is in the city," he said. "Given that the man hasn't yet done anything that would justify kicking him out."

"Yes."

"Well, the obvious first step is to issue an advisory about the man and his grudge to the Knights, the Spellguard, and the Silver Watch," Kor said. "And it would likely be wise to include the Mielikkians as well."

Drizzt made a face at that idea, but he couldn't really argue with the sense of it, no matter how much he didn't want to bother others with his problems.

However, when Sharr then suggested setting a guard roster for him personally, he put his foot down.

"No. Making sure others are aware of McGristle's presence and the likelihood of him causing trouble is one thing, but I'm not going have anyone follow me around just because of that."

Sharr sighed. He'd known that Drizzt wouldn't like the idea, but had hoped he might be talked around to it.

But the ranger's tone was uncompromising enough that it was clear he would not accept any guard, no matter how discreet.

"Then what's your plan for the swift arrival of aid if it's needed?" he asked.

"Courage," Drizzt said. "If he stays at the Harper Hall, he can reach me anywhere in the city quite fast."

Alustriel exchanged looks with both Sharr and Kor, then sighed.

"That does sound like a reasonable plan," she agreed. "But please promise us that you'll call for him at the first sign of trouble, not wait until it's clear you need help."

Drizzt looked mulish for a moment, before Sharr spoke again. "If you tell him that you only want him to intervene if you actually need help, he'll listen.

"Though he may well use his own judgment on if you do, rather that wait for a signal from you."

Drizzt considered that for a moment—he knew he was reluctant to actually hurt McGristle, so it might well be better for him to rely on Courage's assessment of the situation—then nodded.

"That works. Especially since I'm sure I can convince him to be non-lethal if I tell him I want McGristle to face two-leg justice."

Though notes reporting that McGristle had asked the sender about "the drow" continued to arrive, it was not until the fourth day after the meeting that any of them mentioned having actually given him a useful answer.

That note had been somewhat apologetic, saying that while the sender would have preferred to rebuff McGristle, the fact that he had actually asked about "the drow ranger" instead of "the drow" made them feel that he should be encouraged in that change with a bit of information.

And since the note then went on to say that what the sender had told McGristle was that Drizzt often passed through the Market Commons in the early afternoon, on his way from the Palace to the Moonbridge, Alustriel gave orders for a discreet increase in the Silver Watch presence in the southern part of the Market Commons.

Two days later

Drizzt was perhaps two-thirds of the way across the Market Commons when he knew he was being watched by unfriendly eyes.

Being careful to not show that he was aware of the watcher, he continued walking, seemingly ignoring the sounds of someone moving through the crowd behind him with little consideration for others.

It wasn't long, however, before his hackles went up, and even as shouts of warning sounded over a snapped command in McGristle's voice, he was moving to the side, turning as he did so.

When he stopped, he was a few feet from where he had started, and looking back in the direction he had been coming from.

McGristle's dog was rushing towards him, the bounty hunter close behind, so he gave his call for Courage even as he drew his blades, and as soon as the dog was close enough, he stunned it with a hilt punch behind its ears.

That produced a roar of outrage from McGristle, and then Drizzt found himself having to fend off the man's axe with his blades.

Even fighting purely defensively, Drizzt was very clearly better than McGristle, but the man was being erratic enough in his movements that he was not certain of his ability to stun him without inflicting any other injury.

Then an equine scream of fury sounded from above, immediately followed by Courage striking McGristle's right forearm from a dive.

The crack of bones breaking under the strike overlapped with McGristle's howl of pain, and his right hand dropped from the axe haft, the forearm looking almost floppy as the arm fell to the bounty hunter's side.

Then, seeing an opportunity in McGristle's distraction with the pain, Drizzt caught the axe between his scimitars and pulled it out of the man's hand.

And even as he dropped it to the ground and kicked it behind him, the Silver Watch arrived to arrest McGristle.

Given Dove's involvement with chasing Drizzt after the murder of the farming family, she had come up to Silverymoon after McGristle's arrest, to assist with forming a strategy for laying out the unjust nature of McGristle's continued pursuit of Drizzt.

And it was as she, Alustriel, Sharr, and Drizzt were discussing that, that Drizzt brought up a new angle to be considered.

"Though this is the first time since the chase ended that McGristle has personally attempted to kill me," he said, "it may not be the only time he has sought to kill me."

"Oh?" Dove was quite curious about what Drizzt might be referring to.

"After Montolio took me in, the orc Graul launched an attack on his grove later that spring.

"And my gut feeling is that McGristle was involved in the attack, especially since even though Montolio misdirected him when he came to the grove in search of me, the dog knew I was there."

Dove hummed thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded her head. "Then I suppose I should get in touch with Kellindil, as I know that he stayed behind after the rest of us left, to keep an eye on you with the aid of his kin."

"That does sound like a good idea," Alustriel agreed.

When Dove's attempt to send to Kellindil had failed in a way that told her he was dead, she had then gone to the clerics of the Seldarine to ask for their assistance in contacting his spirit.

And since doing so had revealed that McGristle was who had killed him, charges for both raiding and murder were added to the ones for assault and attempted murder that the bounty hunter was already facing over his attack on Drizzt.

Figuring out who should preside over the trial was not easy, but eventually, it was agreed that Besnell was the best choice for impartiality, and the elf somewhat reluctantly agreed to the request.

On the day of the trial, the court was completely packed, and as the evidence was laid out for the charges from the attack on Drizzt, the feeling of the room grew tense.

But although a disturbance at some point had been both expected and prepared for, given how well liked Drizzt was in the city, it wasn't until the prosecution turned to the charges of raiding and murder that the tension broke with a cacophony of incredulous and angry shouting.

Once order was restored, the trial resumed, and the methodical presentation of the evidence continued.

And eventually, McGristle was judged guilty on all counts, then remanded into the keeping of the clerics of the Seldarine, who had claimed the right of execution.

If He Was Alive… (69631 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 48/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings 
Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s)
 Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail, Dove Falconhand 
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse 
Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly (AO3)|Sharpest_Asp (SqWA), with or without Ilyena_Sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

Fic notes

Sharr comes from Elué and Consort, where

senmut fleshed out the elf father of Alustriel's sons. Aiding Love to Grow is the AU of an AU that inspired me to start playing with other AUs of AUs.

Chapter notes

This chapter was inspired by To Begin in Settlestone.

To Begin in Settlestone

A few weeks after the spring equinox, Sharr received some surprising—and mildly concerning—news from Alustriel.

~Given the locations, it didn't seem necessary to tell you without more information,~ she began, as they were talking over the anklets after she had turned in for the night, ~but two weeks ago, Besnell received reports of a drow having openly approached both Rivermoot and High Hold by day.~

~But now it does seem necessary?~ Sharr asked. Then he switched to his own sending. ~Or is it that you now have more information?~

~A bit of both, actually,~ Alustriel said. ~Besnell sent a patrol to investigate, with Kolarven as lead and Niska for the Spellguard, and they returned today.

~But despite having swept all the way to the Surbrin and arced wide to return, they found no sign of the drow.~

~Absolutely nothing at all?~ Sharr said. ~That seems... odd.~

~Maybe so,~ Alustriel replied, ~but Niska could scry nothing, and the trail from High Hold was too old to follow by the time the patrol found it.

~So Besnell is increasing patrols to the north and west as a precaution.~

Sharr hadn't truly forgotten about the drow that had approached Rivermoot and High Hold, but with no further word of them, even with Silverymoon's increased patrols, he had set the matter aside as a curiosity.

So the following spring, he was actually rather surprised when Alustriel told him ~I now know what happened to the drow from last year.~

~Oh?~ Sharr said, starting a new sending so she could reply sooner.

~It seems he managed to make his way to Herald's Holdfast.

~As Old Night has informed me that the drow he has been hosting and teaching for the past year is on his way to speak with me.~

~He didn't say anything more than that?~ Sharr asked.

~No, he didn't,~ Alustriel replied, after the wait needed for her anklet to recharge. ~Which does suggest that whatever this Drizzt Do'Urden wishes to speak with me about could affect realm matters.~

~True,~ Sharr agreed. ~It'd be amusing if he found Mithral Hall.

~Given that his trajectory does suggest that he came from the Frost Hills.~

~Yes it would,~ Alustriel agreed. ~And we'll know soon enough, given how close Herald's Holdfast is to Silverymoon.

~Especially since I've sent word to my secretaries to fit him into my schedule as soon as possible after he arrives.~

The following night, Alustriel's tone was very amused when she sent to Sharr. ~It seems that you were correct in your guess as to why Drizzt Do'Urden wished to speak with me.~

~Wait, what?!~ Sharr yelped. ~Really? I was only jesting, because of the direction he came from!~

~Really truly,~ Alustriel replied. ~It seem that the deep gnomes who gave him a map to lead him out of the Underdark were trading partners with Mithral Hall.

~As he came out near Settlestone, and had been given specific warning about danger down a different tunnel than that one.~

~Which he then chose to explore anyway?~ Sharr said, amusement in his tone.

~Yes,~ Alustriel said. ~Though only after the onset of winter had driven him back underground.

~But beyond simply desiring to see the rightful heirs returned to their Hall, the reason he came to speak with me is because of the grave danger he discovered while scouting the Hall's undercity.~

~How bad is it?~ Sharr asked, starting a new sending for a faster answer.

~The duergar and their slaves would pose little problem for a dwarven army,~ Alustriel said, ~but there are also two shadow hounds that serve some creature of the Shadowfell—called Shimmergloom—that is worshipped as a god.~

~That is very much a reason for concern,~ Sharr agreed. ~But dealing with this "Shimmergloom" will surely require knowledge of what it actually is.~

~Which is why Drizzt has agreed to do a second scouting of the Hall,~ Alustriel replied.

There was an affectionate lilt to her voice on the drow's name, and Sharr couldn't help but smile. ~You're attracted to him.~

~Yes. And I'm very pleased that Old Night took steps to encourage him in informality with me by priming him with a tease about my library.~

~Tell me about him, then?~ And as Alustriel started to do so, Sharr settled in to listen.

Given that Alustriel was attracted to Drizzt, Sharr likely would have gone up to Silverymoon to meet him just on general principle, once she mentioned that she had convinced the drow to delay his departure at least long enough to acquaint himself with the city and explore the truth of Old Night's impression that he was ranger-born.

But given that Drizzt was a drow, Sharr felt it was even more important to meet him—for Korvallen's peace of mind, if nothing else—especially after the mystery of Eilistraee not knowing of him was discovered.

And as he got to know the wild-called ranger—because Old Night had been correct, and Drizzt had been literally enraptured the first time he visited Mielikki's Sacred Glade—Sharr realized that Drizzt seemed to reciprocate Alustriel's growing interest.

So he started to work on subtly encouraging the other man to at least broach the idea of his attraction with her.

And while Drizzt had not done so by the time he departed to do the second scouting of the Hall, Sharr could tell that he was giving the idea some serious consideration.

It was nearing autumn when Alustriel reached out to Sharr with the news that Drizzt was back in Silverymoon.

~Niska's patrol brought him in yesterday,~ she said, ~though it will be some time before he's actually ready to report on what he found.~

~Oh?~ Sharr said. ~Due to injuries, or is it something else?~

~Not physical injuries,~ Alustriel said, ~but he was considerably weakened when they found him, and looked grey.

~And the note from the Ladyservant after he was taken to the Glade said that he had suffered grave damage from shades, and will be staying in the Glade until they are certain he's recovered.~

~Mmm. I suppose that's not entirely surprising, given that we already knew the true threat is of Shadowfell origin.

~But it doesn't bode well that he was unable to avoid such damage.~

~No it doesn't,~Alustriel agreed. ~But he did seem to be recovering well when I visited him this evening.~

~I'm glad to hear that,~ Sharr said. ~Though I had the impression that he is not accustomed to being idle, so it does make me wonder what they found for him to occupy himself with.~

~He was reading a large tome by the light of an enchanted stone when I arrived.

~And on another note, he pledged himself to my service so easily that I couldn't help wondering if it's something inherent in elven blood that results in either rapid decisions or centuries of deliberation, with no middle ground between them.~

Sharr had to laugh at that. ~Or maybe it's something about you that causes those of us who hold you in high esteem to be able to make decisions so swiftly.~

He had to wait for her anklet to recharge before she responded, but when she did, he could tell from her tone that she was blushing.

~You really think so?~

~I do.~

It was several more days before Alustriel reported that Drizzt had returned to his rooms in the Palace, and the day after that was when Drizzt finally made his report on the second scouting.

~The true threat inside the Hall is an ancient Shadow Dragon,~ Alustriel told Sharr that evening.

Sharr let out a low whistle at that news, then sighed. ~Well, that would certainly explain why the shades were so thick Drizzt couldn't avoid them.

~What's the current plan for next steps?~

~The dwarven leaders I invited to the meeting are going to conduct a discreet search of the bloodlines of the survivors to see if they can find a proper heir,~ Alustriel replied. ~And I sincerely hope they can.

~Especially since Drizzt has volunteered to lead a small party in through his access when the time comes to actually reclaim the Hall.~

~Having a proper heir to speak to the death curse that would have been laid would definitely be safer than having to rely on clerics for protection from it,~ Sharr agreed. ~On another note, how are things going between you and Drizzt?~

~They're going very well.~ Alustriel's voice was almost purring with pleasure, and her next words explained why. ~I spoke with him privately after the meeting, and he confessed his feelings to me!

~We are, however, going to move slowly in seeing if a relationship between us will actually work out.~

~I am so happy for you, my heart's star,~ Sharr said. ~And yes, going slowly is a good idea.~

When Sharr had gone up to Silverymoon for a couple weeks right after Drizzt's confession, one thing Alustriel had spent some time talking over with him was how to manage her friendship with Niska in light of the fact that the other elf's past experiences with drow had her rather tangled up emotionally over Drizzt's presence, and Alustriel's growing closeness to him.

So when Alustriel reached out to him, shortly after the winter solstice, with the news that Niska seemed to have finally reached an acceptance of Drizzt, he was relieved.

~So what brought her change of heart about,~ Sharr asked, after expressing his relief, ~and how did she show it?~

~The change of heart seems to have been the result of both her and Drizzt having been among those who volunteered to go deal with a threat to one of the outlying farmsteads,~ Alustriel said.

~Specifically, that it was Drizzt's tactics that Kolarven chose to use to face a full tribe of goblinoids, and that he and Guen accounted for a third of the goblinoids—an entire company's worth—all on their own.~

~Ah,~ Sharr said. ~So she got shaken out of her prejudices, then.~

There was a pause for Alustriel's anklet to recharge, and then she replied. ~Yes. As for how she showed her change of heart, a few days after the force returned, she approached Drizzt to ask if he'd help her develop a true lexicon for Drow in exchange for her teaching him Sylvan.~

~Oh, that's a very good peace overture,~ Sharr said. ~Do you think she'd mind if I joined their work?

~Though I'll be coming regardless, since Drizzt and Guen having dealt with a company all by themselves is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for to convince Kor to agree to a spar with him.~

~I'll ask her,~ Alustriel replied. ~And if Kor doesn't agree to spar Drizzt after hearing that, I'll be very surprised.~

Shortly after mid-spring, Alustriel had informed Sharr that Drizzt was heading up to Luskan to follow the trail of trade goods in Mirabar bearing the Battlehammer crest, but it was not until winter was in full swing that he heard anything further about that quest.

~Given that Drizzt has not returned, I decided to ask Qilué if there was reason to be concerned for him,~ Alustriel said.

~And was—or is—there reason?~ Sharr asked. ~Though, you don't actually sound concerned, so I'm guessing not.~

~Correct. He is alive in the far north, helping a dwarven clan.

~So I have informed Fret that it is likely that Drizzt actually found more Battlehammers.~

While Alustriel's amusement over his knee-jerk reaction to hearing that the Battlehammer chieftain's daughter had straight-up called Drizzt an elf had been mildly annoying, Sharr had not at all been expecting an apology for it. And yet, a few weeks later, that was the very first thing she sent during their conversation after her return from the evening's festivities.

~I find I must apologize for laughing at your spluttering over the idea of Drizzt being outright called an elf,~ she said. ~Because even with Nae having told me that the man's daughter had done so, it was startling to hear Bruenor Battlehammer do so when he and Drizzt met with me today.~

~I can't really blame you for laughing,~ Sharr said, knowing that if their situations had been reversed, he likely would have dome the same, ~but your apology is accepted.

~And I am glad that... Bruenor, you said?... is so clearly able to look past Drizzt's skin.~

~Bruenor, yes,~ Alustriel replied. ~And it was very clear, just from their body language, that he has developed a genuine friendship with Drizzt, even if his words hadn't displayed it later.

~Which I am very grateful for, as it undoubtedly helped smooth things when Drizzt suggested—and offered to mediate—a compromise on my hiring wizards to him for reclaiming the Hall.~

~Well, dwarven pride was always going to be the stumbling block there,~ Sharr said, ~so I'm pleased Drizzt had a mutually acceptable solution for it.

~But how did the rest of the meeting go?~

And as Alustriel started explaining what she'd discussed with Bruenor, Sharr settled in to listen.

Though Sharr had gone up to Silverymoon to visit with Drizzt once the ranger finally returned there after the Hall's reclamation, he was overall relying on his nightly conversations with Alustriel to keep up-to-date on how the other man was doing with fully settling into his relationship with her.

Which meant that when Alustriel mentioned that something about the age of the child Drizzt had saved, in combination with some of the other tales of his life that he'd shared, seemed worth following up on, Sharr spent a while debating whether he should take on the task.

He still hadn't quite decided when Drizzt returned from a ranging injured, but when Alustriel complained about how difficult it had been to get the ranger to accept magical healing, and that he was being resistant to the idea of taking it easy for a few days, Sharr chose to go up with Korvallen to oversee Drizzt's recovery, and simply see if an opportunity to bring up the matter occurred.

As it turned out, Drizzt ended up giving Sharr the clue he needed entirely unintentionally.

One evening when the two of them and Kor were enjoying Guen's company in Sharr's rooms, the conversation turned to Drizzt's bond with her.

And in the process of explaining why the Mielikkians believed that the bond had begun even before Drizzt took possession of her figure, the ranger said, "For all that it made Masoj so angry, being able to work with Guen was the best part of the year of patrol."

"You were only on patrol for a year?" Sharr asked.

Yes?" Drizzt sound confused, but that was only noted vaguely, as the pieces of the oddity Alustriel had mentioned were starting to fall into place.

Sharr knew that Drizzt had gone straight from school to patrol, that the raid had happened during the time on patrol, and that he'd fled the city within weeks of the raid.

But up to now, no one had put that together with the fact that Ellifain had been five at the time of the raid, and was only twenty now.

Which, when combined with the fact that Drizzt had graduated from the fighters' school at thirty, made him distressingly young.

"So you're not even fifty yet?" Sharr was pretty sure he'd managed to keep his distress out of his voice, but there was nothing he could do about Kor sitting bolt upright at his words and staring at Drizzt in horrified shock.

"My thirty-first name day would have been shortly after I fled the city, not that long after the events with Ellifain," Drizzt said. "So yes, I am only forty-five."

"What?!" Kor's strangled cry caused Sharr and Drizzt to both turn and look at him.

Reaching out to wrap his arm around his pale-faced heart brother's shoulders, Sharr pulled him closer.

"Alustriel had mentioned that something seemed odd, when Ellifain's age was combined with some of the other tales of his life Drizzt had shared," he said.

"Is my age a problem?" Drizzt asked.

"No," Sharr said firmly. "It's just... shocking, given that even half-elves aren't considered adult until fifty."

"Ah. Whereas I was considered adult upon graduation."

Kor gave a heavy sigh, and Sharr shifted his arm so his heart-brother could sit back.

"Just one more reason to hate Lolthite drow," Kor said, "for forcing their children to grow up so fast."

"I am beginning to see that," Drizzt said.

A Curse Here, a Blessing There (4355 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: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Alustriel Silverhand, Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Inthylyn Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Rape/Non-con
Series: Part 4 of Have Your Cake, Part 16 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

Maybe the family isn’t big enough…

Beginning notes

This fic was inspired by

senmut and

ilyena_sylph's fic Making the Most of Magical Mayhem and my fic Magical Mayhem with a Pegasus.

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

A Curse Here, a Blessing There

1343 DR

Samiar knew, perfectly well, that drow were excellent liars, and one might be using tongues to speak, but… he also knew that it was not possible to fool a pegasus’s innate sense of a person’s nature. Even so, he still twitched his fingers through the motion for detect thoughts, focusing on the drow. "Drizzt Do’Urden, hm? Well, at least we are even on the matter of names, now, though I still do not know the name of your friend there.

"But what curse troubles you, that your own people could not deal with better than I?" The phrasing of his question was deliberate, as even though Drizzt was very clearly not evil, it was still possible that he was neutral, and a Vhaeraunite scout or information gatherer.

"My friend is called Lothalninil," Drizzt said. "As for my people, while the Dark Maiden has been good to me and my family since each of us escaped the Underdark, I remain wary of divine intervention in my life, nor do I wish to develop a habit of relying on those whom my ranging may have taken me quite far from."

That was the truth and nothing but, Samiar felt, reading the truth of the 'no divine intervention' and the 'don't want to depend on family' alike, though a stubborn thread of 'got myself into this, I'll get myself out of it' was woven through the latter. "And the curse?"

"I made a mistake in the last set of ruins I cleared. While I could feel magic, it did not feel innately tainted or wrong, and the box I took from there called to me, for it was inlaid with a cat much like my companion that drew you here."

Drizzt dropped his eyes, and Lothalninil bumped her nose against his chest. "The curse upon it escaped as I opened the box, and now… I need aid."

"You appear to be healthy enough," Samiar said curiously, raising a brow, then flicked his fingers, "no, no. Come, we will talk within my home."

If the pegasus—Lothalninil, he reminded himself—had not been present, he would have cast an arcane eye to keep an eye on Drizzt Do’Urden as he led the way to his tower, but she was, so he was willing to place enough trust in her goodly nature to expose his back to Drizzt.

Sharing drow culture and society notes, the language and writing examples, was familiar to Drizzt from the time he had spent doing the same with Sharr, whom he very much felt would get along quite well with Samiar.

It wasn't until Sam chose to share the tale of one of his youthful misadventures, however, that Drizzt realized just how correct that thought was. Because the other two elves featured in the tale were Samiar's cousin Sharr, and Sharr's friend Kor.

But although the likelihood of there being two such groups with both that structure and those names was vanishingly small, once Sam had finished the tale, Drizzt asked, just to confirm things, "Do you mean Sharrevaliir Silverhand and Korvallen Senahye?"

"Why, yes. How do-" Sam broke off abruptly and stared at Drizzt as the family names sank in. "Wait, Silverhand?!? Is that actually El-, I mean Alustriel, up in Silverymoon, then?"

Not sure what Sam's source of confusion might be, Drizzt chose to answer in the way he thought would have the least chance of being misunderstood. "Silverymoon's current ruler is Sharr's human consort, if that's what you're asking."

"Then we're going up there. If I'd known that really is Alustriel, I would have sought her and Sharr's assistance from the beginning."

As curious as Alustriel was about the guest that Drizzt had called an old friend of both her and Sharr, the timing of the page's message delivery had been such that she could not actually go find out until after evenfeast.

And now, having changed from her evenfeast gown to something more casual, she stood at the door to Drizzt's rooms and knocked.

"Come in" was called in Drizzt's voice—though, for some reason, it sounded higher than usual—so she let herself in.

As she entered, Drizzt and his guest were busy comparing the papers scattered across the table they were sitting at, but before she could do more than register that the guest was a sun elf, they both turned their attention to her, and she gasped in surprise.

"Samiar?!"

"Hello, Elué," he said, even as he got up and came over to her with his hands outstretched in greeting.

Bypassing any sort of hand clasp, Alustriel embraced Sharr's cousin tightly. He returned the hug with equal vigor, and they held it for a long moment.

When they mutually released the embrace, Alustriel took a step back, and reached out to clasp his hands. "It's so good to see you again. But how in the world did Drizzt find you?"

"He was looking for a cursebreaker," Samiar replied.

At that, Alustriel turned her attention to Drizzt, and had to stifle a gasp. Because though she could tell it was still Drizzt sitting at the table, he now had a female body.

"How are you, Drizzt?" she asked.

"Uncomfortable."

"Understandably." Then she turned back to Samiar. "It's easy to see why you wish to consult with me, but what is it about this matter that has you wishing to consult with Sharr?"

"The inscription inside the damned box that was the trigger is in Seldruin."

"And when I unknowingly triggered the curse by opening the box, the whispered words that accompanied it sounded vaguely familiar from my work with Sharr on comparing Seldruin with Drow," Drizzt added.

Alustriel nodded her understanding. "Well, I'd be asking him to come with Kor anyway, simply because of Sam's return, but I'll make sure to tell him Sam brought a translation challenge with him."

Drizzt had been insistent that Samiar should take some time to actually catch up with his family, so once the cursed box had been secured in the workroom Taern had set aside for Sam and Sharr in the Spell Tower, it was several days before any more attention was given to the matter.

The first day that Sam and Sharr worked on translating the inscription went well enough, with the box safely contained in an anti-magic field, but on the second day, Sharr happened to arrive at the workroom before Sam did.

Since both he and Sam had received a copy of the key for the workroom, Sharr chose to enter anyway, and settled down to review the previous day's notes.

He had not gotten very far into them, however, when an explosion in the adjacent workroom rattled the door and shook the furniture.

Setting the notes aside, Sharr stood up and turned to scan the rest of the room for anything else that might have been disturbed.

Movement on the central table caught his eye, and he experienced a frozen moment of shock as the cursed box slid over the edge of the table.

Then instinct kicked in, and he lunged to catch it. He only just managed to do so, grabbing it a bit below the visible line near the top.

And then, much to his horror, a seam appeared below where he had grabbed it, and the box swung open.

Samiar had just exited the stairs onto the level that held the workroom reserved for his and Sharr's work with the cursed box, when a door-rattling boom sounded from the other end of the hallway—which was where their borrowed workroom was.

Concerned over what effect the probable explosion might have had on the organization of yesterday's notes, Sam increased his pace down the hall.

Very shortly, he had reached the workroom, and was reaching for his key when he noticed that the door was not quite closed.

Knowing that had to mean that Sharr had arrived before him, Sam let go of his concerns about the notes, and opened the door.

But he had not gotten more than a couple of steps into the workroom before he noticed something of far greater concern.

Sharr was lying motionless on the floor, his head almost under the central table, with the cursed box close enough to his hands that it had to have been in them when he collapsed. But the most concerning thing was that Sharr had very clearly been struck by the box's curse.

Sighing, Sam stepped back out of the workroom, and knocked on the door of the adjacent one.

It was opened fairly quickly by a human male who looked to be on the younger side even for humans.

"Yes?" the young man said, a distinct note of nervousness in his voice. Which was not truly surprising, as Sam recalled Taern saying that the workrooms used for doing anything likely to explode were in a different area.

"Samiar Ravarel. Am I correct in thinking that you were responsible for the recent explosion?"

"Stordan Helder. Why do you ask?"

"Because it disrupted my own work in a way that had unfortunate consequences for my colleague," Samiar answered.

Stordan's face paled, and he visibly swallowed a few times before replying in a voice that squeaked with nervousness. "What can I do to help?"

"Go find Korvallen Senahye and bring him here," Sam said.

"I will, Saer." Stordan gave a low bow, then turned and headed for the stairs.

Once the young man had entered the stairwell, Samiar went back into his workroom.

The first thing he did was cast the anti-magic field on the box, but once that was taken care of, he used the sending he had memorized for the day to inform Taern of the incident.

Taern's response had been a sigh, a mutter about headstrong young idiots, and a promise to come as soon as he could.

Then Samiar set about checking Sharr over for any injuries that would necessitate moving him before Kor and Taern arrived.

When Sharr regained consciousness, he had to take a moment to just breathe—which felt so odd with the extra flesh on his chest—and catalogue the myriad new sensations his changed body was bombarding him with.

However, he was still working his way through them when the scrape of a chair nearby caused him to open his eyes.

He was lying on the bed in his own rooms, with Kor and Sam both sitting in chairs pulled up beside it.

"Good to see you finally awake again," Kor said, his voice gruff with worry.

"Finally?" Sharr repeated. "How long was I out?"

"Most of the day," Sam answered. "Which at least proved useful in allowing me to analyze the curse's traces on you."

"Did you learn anything useful?"

"There is an escape clause, and it's tied to both something physical and something time-based."

"Still would have preferred it if you hadn't had the opportunity," Kor grumbled.

Sharr sighed. "So would I, but I'll take it as a silver lining to misjudging where I grabbed the box when it slid off the table."

"How do you feel?" Kor asked.

"Uncomfortable. Everything feels so different, and it's making it hard to concentrate right now."

Kor frowned. "That's the only problem, though?"

"Yes."

Kor gave a sigh of relief, and Sam smiled.

"Well," Sam said, "you'll presumably be able to concentrate better once you get used to the new sensations.

"Since Drizzt clearly has no problem concentrating."

"Let's hope so," Sharr said, "But speaking of Drizzt, please tell me that he isn't blaming himself for this."

"He didn't even get a chance to do so," Sam said. "The headstrong young idiot responsible was already defying a direct order, so Taern came down hard on him."

Samiar was indeed correct about Sharr's concentration returning once he became more accustomed to the female body's differences, and a few days later, the two of them resumed their work on translating the inscription.

As the weeks passed, Sharr's sons came by to meet or re-meet Samiar—with Thyl also visiting Spirit Sanctuary, resulting in Vierna and Zak being informed that Drizzt had run afoul of a curse, if not the exact details—and eventually, about a month and a half after the translation work had resumed, Sam and Sharr agreed that they had finally determined the correct one, though the implications it carried were unpleasant.

And with the translation found, Alustriel began working with Samiar on figuring out how the curse might actually be broken.

A bit more than three and a half weeks later—and almost exactly two months after he and Kor had started exploring the more intimate aspects of the female body's differences—Sharr noticed a change in his balance, along with a few other changes in how the female body felt.

So that evening, while he and Kor were lounging with Alustriel in her rooms after evenfeast, he asked, "What sort of physical changes accompany a pregnancy?"

Kor jerked bolt upright on hearing that, but Alustriel just gave him a considering look.

And after a moment, she said, "What changes have you experienced, to cause you to ask that?"

"There's been a shift in my balance, my abdomen feels unusually firm, and the breasts are sore."

Alustriel took a deep breath before she replied. "Well, those are all symptoms of pregnancy, so if you're thinking you might be pregnant, you're most likely correct.

"But if you want me to, there's a spell I can use to confirm it."

"Please."

"Then give me your hand."

Sharr complied, and Alustriel cupped her hands around his, then murmured a single word. And in reaction, a faint silver glow arched in a crescent from her right thumb to her left, over his hand.

Alustriel let out a gusty sigh and released his hand. "You are pregnant. About two months along, according to the spell."

Kor made a strangled sound beside him, and Sharr turned to look at his heart's brother. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Are you?" Kor replied.

Sharr took a moment to actually think about it before he replied. "I... think I will be, once I get over the surprise.

"It's not anything I expected-" Sharr paused for a moment to look at Alustriel, who had made a surprised noise when he said that, but she waved for him to continue, so he did. "-and I'm sure there will be some difficult moments due to the mismatch between mind and body, but I'm pleased to be carrying your child."

Kor sighed and threw his arm around Sharr's shoulders. "Alright. But you will let me take care of you during the pregnancy."

"Of course." Then Sharr turned his attention back to Alustriel. "Why were you surprised I hadn't expected this?" he asked her.

Alustriel again took a deep breath before speaking. "What conclusions did you and Sam come to about the nature of the curse and its escape clause, based on the translation you settled on?"

Sharr knew there was a catch somewhere in that question, but he couldn't see where, so he simply answered it. "It's a lover's curse, possibly a spurned one. And I would have said that fulfilling the escape clause requires sex, but given that it's been two months since Kor and I started having it, and the curse hasn't broken yet, I'm not so sure."

"Men." Alustriel rolled her eyes with that exasperated mutter, then sighed. "May you learn the pain of your deeds most personally, by living the life you have given to me. To me, that says pregnancy, and some amount of time breastfeeding the baby after it is born."

Sharr groaned and threw his head back. "Physical and time-based. Why didn't I see that?"

Alustriel smiled wryly. "Because you're not a woman."

"Fair enough," Sharr laughed. "Fair enough."

Roughly two and a half months after Sam and Alustriel had begun their research into how to break the curse, they reluctantly concluded that the only options were requesting divine intervention or fulfilling the terms of the escape clause.

Drizzt had been just as displeased with that conclusion as they were, but after taking some time to think about it, he accepted Samiar's offer to be the child's father.

Drizzt's decision that he would stay at Spirit Sanctuary during the pregnancy resulted in Thyl—who had remained in Silverymoon after coming to meet Samiar again—going there to give Zak and Vierna a full accounting of the situation, so that, when Drizzt did come, they would not be surprised by either his appearance or Samiar's presence, and once Thyl returned, Samiar started on treating Drizzt as a friend he was interested in intimacy with.

Drizzt proved to be more skittish about the process than anyone—including himself—had expected, but Samiar was very careful about always making sure he was comfortable with whatever Sam was doing, and about a week and a half after they had started, Drizzt felt ready to move on to actual sex.

Which ended up not getting very far at all, as experiencing intimacy while naked caused the long repressed memories that were the source of his skittishness to return in full.

When Vierna emerged from her workroom for the evening meal, she was somewhat surprised to learn that Thyl had arrived on Steelheart not much earlier.

But since she was rather hungry, and Thyl did not appear to be excessively concerned, she was willing to wait until after the meal to learn what had brought him to Spirit Sanctuary so late in the day, when she knew that he had to have come from Silverymoon.

Once the meal was over, however, Thyl actually pulled her aside, and said, quietly, "I need to talk to you and Zak."

Well. That he was asking for Zak as well made it likely that whatever brought him here involved Drizzt, but since she knew how much her brother valued his privacy, she simply caught Zak's attention, and indicated a need to talk, with a tilt of her head towards Thyl, and then in the direction of the exit from the communal dining area that would lead to her quarters.

Zak gave a sharp nod in reply, and was moving towards that exit even as she and Thyl started that way.

The walk to her quarters was accomplished in silence, but once all three of them were settled in the conversation area, Vierna couldn't hold off her concern any longer. "What happened with Drizzt?" she asked.

Thyl sighed. "The careful progress he and Cousin Sam were making hit an unanticipated obstacle."

Turning his full attention to Zaknafein, he continued. "As it turns out that he had rather thoroughly repressed his memories of graduation, but exploring intimacy slowly eroded that, until they fully resurfaced when he and Sam attempted to actually have sex."

Zaknafein couldn't help but wince when Thyl finished his explanation, "I... probably should have considered that possibility," he admitted with a sigh.

Putting what Thyl had said together with her own knowledge of Lolthite society, Vierna came to an unpleasant conclusion. "He was raped. During his graduation."

"Yes." The answer came in two voices, Thyl and Zak having spoken simultaneously. And after they exchanged a look, Thyl gestured for Zak to continue.

"The graduation ceremony is for all students graduating that year," Zak said, "both male and female.

"The teachers from Arach-Tinilith and a favored student summon a demon for the student to have sex with, and the drugged incense induces an orgy among everyone else present.

"The incense is likely why it didn't occur to me that those memories could be a problem, since it affects the memory enough that I just plain can't remember anything between that and the end of the ceremony."

"That's useful to know," Thyl said, "because Drizzt very definitely does remember all of it."

Vierna hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe because of his innate sense of evil?

"Because a demon would be a large splash against that."

"That's probably the best explanation we're likely to come up with," Thyl agreed.

"And to return to the current situation," he continued, "since Drizzt is insistent that he still wants to go through with fulfilling the terms of the curse, any further attempts at sex are on hold until he's received aid in properly processing the trauma and has reached a point where he feels ready to try again."

As the weeks passed, Drizzt made slow but steady progress in processing his rape trauma and coming to terms with what had happened in a way that let him move forward with fulfilling the terms of the curse.

Finally, a bit less than two full months after the memories had returned, he felt ready to make another attempt at having sex with Samiar.

And after a day of careful discussion and planning, they successfully went forward with doing so.

The three week wait until a pregnancy could be detected by the spell Alustriel had used to confirm Sharr's was mildly nerve-wracking, even knowing that the curse had most likely been designed to guarantee fertility, but Drizzt managed to find enough to occupy himself with that he was able to avoid dwelling on the matter.

And once his pregnancy was confirmed, he and Samiar said their farewells to those they wished to give them to, then rode Lothalninil up to Spirit Sanctuary.

Samiar had left Spirit Sanctuary after seeing Drizzt settled in—though not without promising to return for the child's birth—but even so, Drizzt and his family were kept abreast of the progress of Sharr's pregnancy, as Thyl had chosen to remain in Silverymoon at least until Sharr gave birth.

Given that Thyl had been updating them by sending, however, it was still a surprise when he teleported to Spirit Sanctuary roughly three months into Drizzt's pregnancy, about five weeks after the Midwinter festival.

But even with his smile making it clear that he had brought good news, the Do'Urdens still gathered in Vierna's rooms as swiftly as they were able to, in order to hear what news had brought Thyl in person.

And once they were all settled, he launched right into it. "Dad gave birth around dawn," he said.

"Were there any complications with the labor or the birth, or for the baby?" Vierna asked.

"Nope," Thyl said. "Unless you count Uncle Kor almost dropping the baby when the midwife said it was a girl."

"That would only count if he had actually dropped her," Vierna said, before giving in to the giggles she could feel bubbling up.

Drizzt was snickering beside her, and Thyl was grinning broadly, but Zak just looked confused by their amusement, which helped her to bring the giggles under control once she had gotten the first rush of them out.

Seeing that Vierna had calmed her giggles, Zak gave voice to his confusion. "Why is it amusing that... Kor... almost dropped the baby?"

"It's not him almost dropping her that's amusing," Vierna explained, suppressed mirth still in her voice, "it's the reason he did so."

"That reason being," Thyl continued, "the fact that until now, Dad has only had sons. So no one was expecting him to finally have a daughter after thirteen sons."

"Oh." Zak took a moment to consider that, then smiled. "That is amusing."

Finally stopping his snickering, Drizzt asked, "What did they name her?"

"Faeliniel Senahye."

Vierna made a surprised noise at that, and when all three men looked at her curiously, she said, "Why'd they choose to use Kor's family name?

"Given that you've previously mentioned that elves pass family names along the maternal line."

"Because Dad never uses the one he received from his mother," Thyl said. "I don't even know what it is, and he's been borrowing Kor's or Charic's for so long, I'm not sure Mom knows it, either."

"Huh. Do you have any idea why?"

"Given that Grandmother and her brother left Myth Drannor before its fall, my best guess is that their family was of a high enough rank that Dad feels it's not safe to use the name."

Vierna quickly ran through what she knew about the fall of Myth Drannor, and winced. "I can see why."

Samiar returned to Spirit Sanctuary a month before Drizzt was expected to give birth, and just three weeks after the Midsummer festival—about five and a half months after Faeliniel's birth—Zanna Do'Urden was born shortly before false dawn, and experienced her first sunrise half an hour later, when Drizzt brought her along for his sunrise vigil.

Samiar chose to stay at Spirit Sanctuary after the birth, saying that he didn't want to miss a single moment with their daughter, and things soon settled into a routine for the new parents, with Sam doing as much to care for Zanna as Drizzt did, even if Drizzt was the only one who could feed her.

Time seemed to pass surprisingly swiftly with a baby to care for, and it felt like it was all too soon before the next Midwinter festival occurred.

But it was barely a week after that when Samiar received a very welcome sending from Alustriel.

As Drizzt settled down to feed Zanna after his sunrise vigil, Sam sat down beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Alustriel sent while you were holding your vigil," Sam said. "The curse on Sharr broke while he was sleeping."

Drizzt smiled at Sam in relief. "That is good to know. I had been getting a little concerned over how close we were coming to a year since Faeliniel was born without his curse breaking."

"I think we all were," Sam said. "But it appears that the curse breaks eleven months after the child's birth, so now we know when to expect it for you."

Having a definite end to the curse in sight eased something inside himself that Drizzt hadn't even been aware was wound too tightly, and his mood lightened noticeably over the next few weeks.

And sure enough, just a week before the Midsummer festival, exactly eleven months after Zanna's birth, he woke to find himself restored to his proper body.

If He Was Alive… (66884 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 47/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
 Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s)
 Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail, Dove Falconhand
 Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse
 Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

Doing It Again (A Bit Less on the Fly & with a Little More Planning) (10425 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Alustriel Silverhand, Eilistraee (Dungeons & Dragons), Vhaeraun (Dungeons & Dragons)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Time Loop
Series: Part 12 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

How would the events of To Do It Again change if the original timeline was the universe of Plans on the Fly?

Beginning Note

In addition to the linked inspiring fics, I highly recommend making sure you are familiar with the series To Steal a Priestess and Carving a Place, collectively called the Vierna’Verse by the authors, before reading this one.

The universe of “Plans on the Fly” diverges from the main Vierna’Verse late in the fic “Emergent Plans” and replaces the events of the rest of the fics in “To Steal a Priestess” with Vierna’Verse appropriate versions of the events of the book Homeland running from Drizzt’s graduation through the confrontation between Malice and Zaknafein over Drizzt’s actions on the raid, with “Plans on the Fly” itself starting just after that confrontation. And the changes caused by the events of “Plans on the Fly” most likely prevent the events of the fic “Plots Afoot” in “Carving a Place” from happening.

Additionally, this fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from “To Do It Again”.

Chapter One: Future Drizzt; Divine Negotiations

1298 DR

Drizzt sat in one of the map rooms, copying the fullness of the lands he had wandered. Alustriel had brought him to Silverymoon, and everyone was a stranger, even those whose names he knew, like Besnell and Taern. That last had taken him off guard; Taern was an older man, but human… and he was still an older man but human in this time as well.

He did not ask, though.

No, while Alustriel researched, communing with her sisters Syluné and the Simbul as more aware of time magic, Drizzt was putting his life in perspective. A copy of the map, the rough time periods he’d been in places, and what had happened there, was the thought he’d had.

He’d written a separate pair of notes, ones more personal, to give Alustriel. One warned about the attempt to assassinate Aumry that he had foiled, the other about the simultaneous attacks on Dove, Storm, and Shadowdale. Each was marked for the year prior to the events warned of within.

This map, though—Drizzt had to admit that he understood somewhat better just why people thought he’d lived too much in too short a time. He truly had done and seen much before settling in Silverymoon.

For Mithral Hall, he made clear that Bruenor had to be there, because of the dwarf curse. ‘The dragon sleeps’ was added, to contain any need to go ahead of the historic time to tackle that part. After all, if the dragon held the Hall, the drow could not take it.

Crenshinibon got a circle around the general area he had found it in, a questioning mark, and ‘very dangerous artifact; wizards beware’. Likewise, his comment for the tundra peoples themselves was ‘barbarians being themselves’ and the year that they massed.

Smaller notes, like his first meeting with Dove, the banshee lair they had located then, and the approximate location of the various individuals or groups he’d aided and when were dutifully marked in. Small or large, he made a map and time-line of his life.

The hardest note to write was the events of his very first time on the surface. If the family changed events then and there… Drizzt was uncertain what would transpire. But he owed Ellifain the chance to live well. So he detailed where her village was, and gave the number of fighters sent, including himself.

I beg of you to send the patrol back below. My dearest companion’s life, and possibly those of my father and sister, depends on me reaching the city once again.

Once he had it all spelled out in Common, he wrote another letter, this one on a thick piece of hide, using the impression script of his own people. He explained the events, giving details he would not want to be used to make matters worse for the unwary but good-wishing folk of Alustriel’s family. If they upset his time-line, he needed to leave a record, one that would help him use the map as a guide to be certain to save as many as he could.

This letter would remain with Alustriel as well. Only in the event of his untimely death or failure to emerge should it be opened, taken to Qilué to be deciphered.

That was the best he could do, appeasing his cautious nature and his need to protect in one fell swoop.

His careful work done, he put the map in a case, carrying it and the letters to the antechamber of the room Alustriel was meeting in this day. It was close enough to her usual break between courts that he didn’t mind waiting.

As she came out, accompanied by a Spellguard that Drizzt would never know in his own time, Drizzt stood and inclined his head to her.

“I apologize for intruding on your personal time, but I wished to deliver these to your safe keeping.”

Alustriel smiled warmly at him. That he had been keeping himself busy, and only rarely leaving the palace to go meditate in the Glade had not given her much time to assuage her curiosity about him, personally.

“I suppose, Saer Ranger, you will need to accompany me to my meal, then, to explain the items further,” she said, coming to his side.

Drizzt had shifted everything he carried so that his arm came up without thought, and Alustriel noted it.

This ranger existed within her inner circle in his proper time, and she was curious—oh so curious—why and how.

She guided their path to her rooms, where a meal was already being laid out, ample food for two people. Drizzt took in the differences in the room, something she also noted.

“Please be comfortable,” she said.

He nodded, setting the case and letters on a small table, but he did not, as normal for him, remove boots and sword-belt. This was not his Lady, not as she would be… maybe?

He did not want to chase the idea that their paths might not lead to the partnership that had been such an important part of his life for the last couple of years.

He took a seat at her table, and gave a smile to the staff before they departed.

“I thought it best to provide notes on my doings after I took up residence on the surface, and a letter for myself that I will entrust to you. As, once you unravel this spell, I have no way of knowing what I will know from any given point in time.”

“A wise precaution, as Sharr was correct. We cannot, in good conscience, allow you to have a difficult time of it, with what you did.” Alustriel smiled at him, even as he shook his head.

“The difficulties I faced, on the surface and in the Underdark alike, helped make me who I was, but there are certainly problems that I dealt with where an earlier awareness of them would be beneficial.

“As I have no idea how many some of the threats I dealt with had killed before my involvement.”

“That is… a good thing to be aware of. Hopefully, we can track such problems down before they are an issue for anyone,” Alustriel told him. “Tell me more of that over the meal? And anything else you believe will help protect people without causing larger issues? It will help me understand your notes more.”

“Gladly, Lady,” and Drizzt settled to talk with her.

“One thing that confuses me,” Alustriel said, as Drizzt walked her back from evenfeast, so that she could be seen by her people, “is why it took so long for you to meet any of my sister’s people.

“You mentioned that she herself came to teach you of the Dark Maiden while you were learning ranger skills from Dove and Florin, but by all you have shared, that was long enough after you took up residence on the surface that I would have expected you to have met—and learned from—one of the traveling bands before then.”

Drizzt sighed, but he smiled too. “I did not know this for some time, but apparently it was the Dark Maiden’s own choice to tread cautiously in regards to drawing me to Her worship. As She hoped that the continued love between me and my sister, despite our opposed natures, might provide a path to tempering the difficulties between Her and Her own brother.

“And so, while I did hear Her song in the moonlight, and She granted my blades Her moonfire blessing, She did not act to draw me to any of Her people.”

Alustriel made a quiet humming noise. “That is… an interesting choice. Do you know if Her hopes were—in any way—proving to be correct?”

“I know that Her brother never chided my sister for me, so… it is likely that they were, if only slowly.” Drizzt’s smile grew brighter before he continued. “Of course, I had the impression that She was not expecting progress to be swift.”

1314 DR

Eilistraee had paid close attention to the details when Her Chosen had shared the tale of the time-tossed drow ranger, as She knew that with the Silverhand family so invested in helping the younger version of him, it would be wise for Her to be more proactive about drawing him to Her than Her other self had been. And yet, with his beloved sister belonging so firmly to Her own brother, She also knew that Her other self’s caution had been warranted.

She had not dared to even try to so much as observe the younger version of the ranger during the remaining years of his raising in Her mother’s chapel, but once he was free of the chapel, Eilistraee looked in on him as often as She felt it was safe to do so. And every time, She became more certain that being more proactive would not only be wise, it was what would be best for Drizzt.

A test of how strongly good Drizzt’s nature was, made once he had moved into his father’s care, left Eilistraee astounded by the results, as his nature proved to be not just very strongly good, but so strongly called by the wilds that if She had not known exactly who She was Calling to, She would have easily believed she had Called to a wood elf!

And that meant that She had to negotiate with Her brother, as Drizzt would not fit among His followers, especially now, much better than he did among Their mother’s, and everything would go much more smoothly if He was aware of Her intentions and could ease matters with Drizzt’s sister.

While Vhaeraun was well aware that His sister still held some degree of affection for him, Eilistraee actually asking for a meeting with Him was unusual enough to rouse His curiosity, especially when She had offered to hold it on neutral ground—which was a welcome reassurance of Her good intentions, even if He had countered it with the suggestion of using the small domain She kept among the rest of the Dark Seldarine, as neutral ground was never truly private.

That She had accepted His counteroffer had made him even more curious, and now, a day later, the meeting was beginning. “What do You wish to speak with Me about, sister?”

“One of Your prized clerics has a beloved younger brother whose nature is, to be blunt, so strongly good, and called by the wilds, that he will not fit in among Your followers much better than he does among Our mother’s.”

“And why is this so important that it is necessary to bring it to My attention?” His words might seem indifferent, but with his hands, Vhaeraun asked, ‘City? House?’

“Because My Chosen’s family knows of the boy and is invested in helping him, once the two of them and their father leave the city of their birth,” Eilistraee replied, signing back ‘Menzoberranzan. Daermon N’a’shezbaernon.’

His suspicions confirmed, Vhaeraun asked, “And how did the Silverhands come to know of a boy that isn’t even old enough to attend the Academy, much less come to be invested in helping him?”

Eilistraee smiled. “That is a most unusual tale.” And then she began to tell it.

When she had finished, Vhaeraun was silent for a while, considering everything. Then he sighed, and said, “You wish for Me to reassure My priestess when the boy starts to hear You.”

“And to reassure You that I have no intention of interfering with Your plans for her.”

“Point. What are You willing to offer Me, as reassurance, and for Me to do as You wish?”

“I have only Called to the boy once,” Eilistraee said. “I am entirely willing to promise that I will not do so again until after the trio has left the city. And I am also willing to inform You when the Tall Ones set out to intercept the raid, so You can warn Your priestess to be ready to seize whatever opportunity arises from it being turned back.”

“Add that neither of us will try to influence the father,” Vhaeraun replied, “and that You will send some of Your followers—fully informed of Our agreement—to guide the boy to the Promenade once the trio has left the city, and I will accept those terms.”

“Agreed, then.”

Chapter Two: Changes Begin

1328 DR

“I am myself, and will ever be myself, no matter that the others around me are the strange ones for their lack of honor,” Drizzt said steadily, chin tipped up. His body was ready for a fight, if this man he had thought a friend and mentor took offense to his accusation on all drow.

Zaknafein felt his breath catch, his eyes widen, as he looked at the boy standing before him. Idiot, foolish, defiant child—but his son, not broken to Malice’s will after all.

“Darkness bless… how?” he murmured, soft and relieved, before his hands dropped his sword-belt to the floor and he extended both arms palm-out. “I did not dare hope…”

And yet, hope had gnawed at him with its bitter poison anyway.

Drizzt was confused for a moment, but that… that was obviously a peace gesture. He let his own belt drop and crossed the distance, wrapping his hands around Zak’s forearms. “You confuse me,” he admitted softly. “I thought us friends, but the school teaches how foolish that is. Yet—here you are, like this?

“I do not understand, Weapon Master.”

Zak laughed, a sound half bitter and half joyous, and shook his head before he leaned his forehead in to his son’s, hands firm around Drizzt’s forearms almost at the elbows. “You did not understand ten years ago, either, my young dancer. I picked that fight because I did not wish to see you made like your brother, or—night help me—even more like me.

“But when it came to the end… I could not find the strength to spare you, either.”

Purple eyes found Zak’s, as he filtered through the words, that day, and the way the fight had ended.

“You… wish me to be as I am, when it provokes my sisters, the Matron… all who know me?” he said slowly, his hands tightening. “But why? I do not wish to be like them, yet I have to walk carefully, as Vierna has been very clear about the potential consequences of failure to please any priestess, for all that she has more tolerance for me being myself if there are no others present.”

Vierna… let Drizzt be his strange self, if it was just the two of them? Why would she be willing to risk such, even if she was cultivating him with kindness like Zak suspected? That was a truly intriguing choice for a priestess as dedicated to Lloth as Vierna seemed to be.

Something in that thought sparked against an old memory, but Zak could chase it later. Right now, he needed to reply to his son. “I hate the Spider Queen, Drizzt. I hate what our people are, what I have done, all the endless blood and filth of our lives, all the joy in hate and,” he laughed a moment, “malice. You, my dancer, are the only real example I have ever had of anything better.”

There was Jarlaxle, but he was well aware his sometimes-lover would kill him for an advantage if truly necessary. He would not blame him much if he one day did… such was the way of the drow.

Drizzt took a slow, deep breath at hearing that, and then he smiled, eyes shining with joy. “I forgive that day,” he said, seriously, “but this is no way to live,” he added, his voice almost a breath of sound.

Zak thought he would destroy entire worlds to keep that light in Drizzt’s eyes, and was fairly certain he would have to. He took a soft breath of his own, and shrugged his shoulders, still holding Drizzt’s forearms. “I know,” he agreed, just as soft, “but what else is there? Where else is there?”

And that, the question of where else they could go, pulled a little harder on the memory that had been tugged at when he pondered Vierna’s actions with Drizzt.

“Even the wilds would be better than struggling to live against their lies and expectations,” Drizzt said. “Because… I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be part of what they wish me to be.” He pressed his forehead against Zak’s again. “We could survive, together,” he said, with all his heart latching onto this other drow that was not like the ones that made him so upset, all the time.

Zak considered that, a thoughtful hum in his throat for a moment. He had thought of running into the wilds, once or twice, but alone, it would be madness. The first time he needed to sleep, some monster would creep up on him, and that would be the end of him.

But two? When one of them was his dancer, his son, the only-near equal he had ever had?

And finally, the memory that had been jostled rose fully to the surface. The night Drizzt had been born, the Masked God had spoken to Zak, of Drizzt… and of Vierna. Vhaeraun Himself had called Vierna “most intriguing”. Was she not as sincerely devoted to Lloth as she seemed?

Bringing his attention back to the here-and-now, Zak replied to Drizzt’s suggestion. “Two might be able to survive,” he agreed. “Despite all the monsters and races that would hunger for our blood. …do you understand how hard it will be, though, my son?”

“You already know how hard life here will be for me,” Drizzt told him, “or you would not have chosen to battle me that day. Better to try, than face death, or worse, here.” Those last words, though, they hit Drizzt in his chest, as he heard the kinship claimed. He’d long suspected Rizzen had not sired him, but to know that? “Father.”

Zak smiled at him, one hand sliding from forearm up to cheek, nodding. “…I do, at that,” he agreed quietly. “We are going to have t—”

The floor shook. In Zak’s private quarters, a cup crashed to the floor.

In a breath, Zak had let go and rolled for his sword-belt, snatching it up as he went over it and latching the belt around his waist.

Simultaneously, he heard Vierna say, in the manner of a sending, ~Get Drizzt and meet me in the stables.~

With Vhaeraun’s comment about her freshly brought to mind, Zak was willing enough to reply ~Understood~, if still somewhat wary.

Drizzt was just behind Zak, following suit, his face going grim, and his mind switching to defense, away from the dreams of being free with his father—his father!—in the wilds of the Underdark.

“We will never have a better time than now to escape,” Zaknafein said over his shoulder, “if we are canny enough to do it.”

Drizzt caught up to him swiftly. “Then… work our way toward where our lizard riders would be?” he suggested. “At least one would help us, greatly.” He did not flinch as the house shook again, face full of hope.

Zaknafein nodded. He assumed that was why Vierna had made the request she did, since Drizzt was right, a tizzin would be a great help. And if that wasn’t why she wanted them to come there, well, they’d find a way to deal with it.

But would it be better to not surprise Drizzt with her presence there, so he said, “We might not be escaping alone. Vierna asked for us to meet her in the stables.” Drizzt cast him a questioning look at that statement, but a shake of Zak’s head and a signed ‘No time’ kept him quiet.

Zak would have preferred time to plan, to gather supplies, to do anything but simply run… but that was apparently not an option. So. Time to improvise, and get his son—and maybe his daughter—out of Menzoberranzan.

Matron Malice sending the Weapon Master on a long errand that lasted past Drizzt’s graduation had scuttled Vierna’s original plan for escaping with the two of them, and she was not going to reveal her true loyalties to the Weapon Master until she had a new plan, but even so, she had been keeping a pack filled with currency ready ever since she brought Drizzt home from the Academy, just in case an opportunity came up unexpectedly.

So when her Lord had warned her, a few days before Drizzt and Dinin’s patrol was due to return, that she should be ready to leave soon, she had taken the extra steps of adding some travel rations to the pack of currency, and coaxing one of her smaller pirate spiders into a jar for traveling.

The news of the failed raid left her wondering how her Lord had known of it, as the disfavor on the House because of Lloth’s anger was surely what was going to provide the opportunity to escape.

Coming up out of a light sleep because the house had just shaken was a surprise, but she also knew that there would be no better time to escape than with the House under attack. So even as she gathered her maces and the pack and jar, she sent to Zaknafein. And then, having received his agreement, she made her own way to the stables.

She was not surprised that she reached the stables first, but since time was of the essence, she went ahead and saddled a second tizzin after she had done so for her own preferred mount. And by the time she was finished doing that, Zaknafein and Drizzt had arrived.

As he slipped into the stables, Zak was pleased to see that Vierna was almost finished with saddling a second tizzin, her own already tacked up. Three would have been even better, but they could make do with just the two.

Moving to open all the doors, he told his son, “Tell one or two to hunt those without our emblems; the others will likely follow.”

He focused his amulet on the angriest of their herd, giving it the same directions, before moving to mount the second tizzin, as Vierna had finished with it while he was opening the doors.

Vierna was very glad that she had already mounted when Drizzt gave his command to one of the matriarchs, as his desire for them to hunt was so strong in his voice that she—and Zak too, she noticed—had to briefly reinforce her control over her chosen mount to keep it from following the pack.

As Drizzt mounted behind Zaknafein, she said, “I will follow your lead, Weapon Master.”

Zak nodded in response, and let his and Drizzt’s beast follow the herd out the doors, the beasts’ clawed feet and snapping maws making a path, and then sent it for the nearest wall and up, crawling out the destroyed gates upside down. From there, after a brief check to make sure that Vierna was following close behind, he headed the tizzin for the closest small passage out of the city entirely.

Zak was grateful that Vierna had remained quiet while he helped Drizzt work through his emotional crisis over having killed another drow, but once Drizzt had settled down to rest, he turned his attention to her.

Choosing to use the silent language so as not to disturb Drizzt’s rest, he asked her, ‘You’re not as devout as you seem, are you?’

Vierna was still for a moment that seemed like an eternity to Zak, and then she reached inside her robes and drew out… Vhaeraun’s mask! Well, no wonder He had called her “very intriguing”!

She held it to her face for three long heartbeats, then tucked it away again, before signing, ‘Full explanations should wait until Drizzt wakes.’

‘Agreed,’ Zak signed back. He paused, then decided to go ahead and add what he had wanted to say for so long. ‘My daughter.’

Vierna felt her chest tighten as Zaknafein confirmed what she had long suspected. ‘I’m glad it’s you,’ she signed back, before reaching out and offering her hands to him.

He took them, and she squeezed his hands gently, once, then let go.

‘Do you need to rest?’ she signed.

‘No. You?’

Vierna took a moment to consider, then signed, ‘Wake me in two hours. The attack woke me up.’

‘Okay.’

Chapter Three: A Sharp Turn in the Traveled Path

As she had promised, once Drizzt woke, Vierna gave the needed explanations—including that Vhaeraun now recommended that they head for a place called Skullport, which was apparently not a drow city, but had a significant drow population, including one of His temples—and then the three of them moved on, letting the pair of tizzin guide them to water.

They soon settled into a rhythm, Vierna riding while holding the pathfinding spell, and Zak and Drizzt switching off on which of them walked and which rode the second tizzin. The fact that they only had the one waterskin that Vierna had had in her pack and little food meant that she was always keeping those spells on tap, but they also gathered what food they found as they traveled, to reduce their need for such reliance. When they paused to rest, they would sleep in shifts, Zak taking the first watch, Drizzt the second, and Vierna the third.

The House amulets were holding with the tizzin, though Drizzt realized he didn’t actually have to lean into it to get them to do as he wished.

An encounter with a small war party of duergar had gained them more packs, more waterskins, and more rations, allowing Vierna to stop keeping those spells ready and replace them with ones more useful for dealing with the threats they might encounter.

As they were breaking their fast after one of their stops for rest, Drizzt asked his father and sister, “Have either of you been having dreams that seem… otherworldly?”

Vierna sat up straighter at the question, a frisson of concern running down her spine, but it was Zak who responded first.

“Otherworldly? How so?” he asked, cocking his head slightly.

Drizzt considered how to explain, and thought of his brief glimpse of the surface. “Tall things, with many branches, small things coming off them. I saw something like that on the surface, and most of the time, my dreams look like what I saw up there, mostly dark, with a bright circle high overhead that bathes everything in a silvery light, but sometimes it’s brighter and everything has bright colors and strange textures. I see small creatures that are warm, soft, with fur like the bats, but… more?

“Waters that flow and run and crash against things to spew foam and spray into the air. And the dreams with the bright circle in the dark have a beautiful song drifting through them.”

A beautiful song coming with dreams of a bright circle high overhead in the dark? Vierna’s frisson of concern turned to one of fear. Though she did not know what the brighter dreams might mean, that had to be the Dark Maiden’s song her brother was hearing. Was she going to lose him to Her?

“That is the surface,” Zak agreed, “bright during the day, when the ‘sun’ is up, and dark at night under the ‘moon’.

“I was taken, once, on a raid as you were. Most of the few creatures I saw were bat-furred, not slick or scaled. I wonder at you dreaming of it, though, when you have never seen it by day, and had other things to be concerned about during the raid.”

Drizzt ducked his head, then focused solely on his food for a moment, as he struggled with the words. Once he had an idea of what to say, he looked at his father again. “I felt right, when we first emerged. Curious, yes, but every smell, every sensation, the tiny lights above us… they called to me.

“But I’d put that away, in my fear to survive the onslaught of the giant misshapen faerie, to try and make certain Dinin made it back, to not get hit by the spells and blades they used.”

Vierna was too surprised by Drizzt saying he had felt like the surface called to him to question the phrasing about the faerie, but when their father did so, repeating it quizzically and lifting a brow at Drizzt, she paid close attention to her brother’s answer.

“They were so tall,” Drizzt said. “Taller than Briza. And their ears, their eyes… they were wrong, but not like Tanal Hrisski in school, the demon born fighter. Just… blunted? And they all used magic, and all of them had swords and knew how to use them!” Drizzt shuddered all over. “I felt like they were toying with us, all the way back to the priestess.”

While Vierna was certainly concerned about the fact that Drizzt was hearing the Dark Maiden’s song—and she could tell that Zak was concerned as well—she had not thought her concern was significant enough that her Lord would feel a need to speak with her about the matter.

And yet, after she settled down to sleep that night, she found herself in Vhaeraun’s realm.

“Be at ease, My priestess,” He said. “While your concern for your brother is welcome, it is not needed. His nature drew My sister’s attention years ago, and We have long since come to an agreement about the two of you.”

Vierna let out a sigh of relief on hearing that. “Thank you, my Lord.” She dipped a shallow bow to Him, even as her mind started spinning with questions that she was not going to ask—or at least, that she was not going to ask Him. Zaknafein might be able to answer some of them, after all, and some simply seemed impertinent to ask.

When Vierna signed ‘Need to talk later, while Drizzt sleeps’, Zak was sure he knew what she wanted to discuss. After all, he shared her concerns about the fact that Drizzt was being called by the Dark Maiden, and it would be beneficial to have a plan in place well before they arrived at Vhaeraun’s temple in Skullport.

So he was rather surprised when Vierna started the conversation by signing, ‘My Lord says we don’t need to be concerned over Drizzt hearing His sister.’

Zak couldn’t help a swift breath in at those words, but he at least managed to not make any sound that might disturb Drizzt. ‘That is… unexpected, if welcome,’ he replied. ‘Though I do wish to know why, and how He knew that Drizzt was hearing Her.’

‘What He said was that Drizzt’s nature drew Her attention years ago, and They have long since come to an agreement about the two of us,’ Vierna answered. ‘So He must have been paying close attention to me, in order to know when He needed to tell me that.’

Zak was very glad that he was sitting down, because that was… unbelievable. Vhaeraun and Eilistraee had an agreement regarding his children? Had, in fact, had one for years, and were still holding to it? ‘I wonder which of you has interesting times ahead,’ he signed, letting his shock out with an attempt at humor. ‘Assuming it’s not both of you, of course.’

Vierna gave a shaky smile of relief at Zak’s words. She had long since realized that he was—very understandably—doubtful, if not outright wary, of all things divine, so she had been uncertain how he would react to learning that she and Drizzt together had a significant amount of divine attention. ‘I very much hope it’s not both of us,’ she replied. ‘Because Drizzt is the obvious candidate if it’s only one of us and I like being comfortable.’

‘Which interesting times usually aren’t,’ Zak agreed. ‘And with Drizzt dreaming of the daytime surface, I have to agree with that assessment.’

‘Speaking of the surface, do you think that the strange faerie that turned back the raid acted the way they did because they knew one of the members of the patrol was of Eilistraeean nature?’ That possibility had occurred to Vierna almost immediately on learning that Drizzt had had the Dark Maiden’s attention for years, but Zak had a better sense of tactical and strategic decisions than she did.

Zak took a few moments to think that over, because yes, that would explain their actions quite well, but if they had known about Drizzt, there was another route they could have taken that would have held less risk for the faerie. ‘Maybe. But it would have been less risk to them if they simply captured Drizzt and killed the rest of the patrol. So why didn’t they just do that instead?’

‘Less risk to Drizzt to just turn the patrol back, though.’

‘Point. And even if they had some way of identifying him, plans get destroyed quickly when people are fighting for their lives. We can’t tell Drizzt, though.’

‘No, we can’t,’ Vierna agreed, having already reached the same conclusion. ‘He’s not ready to deal with divine interest in his life, and we’d have to explain the agreement to explain why we think the faerie acted that way.’

Catching a sound ahead of them—a half-heard murmur, a tiny impression of armor and cloth in the next tunnel they meant to use—Zaknafein’s hand snapped out in a firm, silent ‘stop’ that had Drizzt and Vierna both bring their tizzin to an instant halt, though Drizzt’s head tipped in question.

‘People,’ Zak signed, ‘ahead.’

Something in the sound had said ‘drow’, and Vierna had told him that morning that Vhaeraun had informed her they would be meeting a party of Eilistraeeans—who were fully aware of His agreement with His sister—today, but he could not be certain. They could be any of the other sentient races of the Underdark, after all. He drew the hood of his piwafwi fully around his face, then fastened the lower catch that invoked its more powerful concealment spells.

Precautions taken, he began to carefully slip along the wall of the tunnel towards the joining, watching the walls as carefully as he would watch for traps in the beginning of an assault on another House.

Vierna and Drizzt had both dismounted while Zak was arranging his piwafwi, and Vierna levitated up even as their father began to slip forward, a spell ready on her tongue for if it proved necessary.

Maze and Path—as Drizzt had taken to calling Vierna’s tizzin and the other one, respectively—each laid down to a gentle pat and push from Drizzt, lowering their profiles. Drizzt then levitated up himself, and slowly, carefully loaded a quarrel on the crossbow he’d liberated. He and Vierna would keep watch from above, and the tizzin would stay as they were until there was battle.

At that point, Drizzt knew they would join the fray; Maze had already shown her loyalty to them by trampling a charging fell-drake several days before, and Path had been just as fast to move to deal with it, even though Maze had beaten her to doing so.

Zak got in view of the people—drow. Four of them, with three carrying swords, two of which had fighting daggers as well. The last of them was in robes laced through with sword motifs and crescents. They were all moving with skill, but… not as much as Zak would expect for drow in such a deep part of the Underdark.

The robed one was definitely a woman, but the fighters could have been either gender with the way their armor and tunics—not piwafwi—fell. Between the lack of piwafwi, the skill that was not quite as good as would be expected here, and the swords and crescents on the robes, Zak thought it likely that this was the expected party, but he wasn’t going to consider them safe until he was certain of it.

One of the fighters suddenly signed a halt, and the other three turned towards that one, the one in robes signing a query Zak could not—quite—read from this distance. The fighter half-shrugged, and his responding signs were as difficult to catch as the robed one’s. They at least had skill in that.

The one in robes nodded, faced away from the rest of her party, and her fingers danced for a moment. Her red gaze slid from left to right in an arc… and stopped on him. Dead on him, despite that he knew his piwafwi blended him perfectly into the stone around him.

“Greetings, stranger—or strangers, rather,” the robed woman said in an easy, low alto voice. “Will you join us?”

Well, that was a clear invitation, and he wasn’t going to find out more without interacting with them, so he might as well take it. “Why do you wander the wilds, I would know,” Zak stated clearly, as he removed the extra protections to be more visible.

“Looking for those who have escaped cities where the Spider Queen rules,” the cleric answered, “for each who flees and is willing to abide in peace strengthens our numbers. My name is Ravenna.”

“Interesting, dangerous, and potentially unwanted,” Zak told her without a trace of more than bare manners. He was done giving unearned respect, and from the little he did know, an Eilistraeean cleric would not expect it the way a Llothite one would. “Zaknafein. And I’ve had my fill with religion, but peace does not come easily to a survivor of the Spider Bitch.” But even as he said that, he was signing, ‘Looking for anyone in specific, or just generally?’

Two of the fighters grinned at his use of that epithet for Lloth. “Plenty of call for our blades still,” one of them said in a masculine voice. “Sriva. We have plenty that would see us wiped out, once we escape.”

“All true,” Ravenna agreed, nodding at Zaknafein and Sriva. “I am regrettably sure that the best we can ask for is peace in our own community, not with the world in general. If it’s not that eight-legged malignant excuse for a goddess’s followers hunting us as traitors, it’s most of every other race trying to kill us for how we look.

“Frustrating, but it is what it is.” And as she spoke aloud, she also signed, ‘Looking for three people specifically, but glad to help others, too.’

That was probably as clear an indication that this was the expected party as Zak was likely to get while he was the only one visible, so he pitched his voice to behind him and said, “Vierna, Drizzt, come.”

Vierna dropped down first, but she waited until Drizzt had done so as well before she started moving towards their father. And after a moment, in which the quarrel and crossbow were put away, Drizzt began moving that way too, beckoning Maze and Path to follow.

When the new drow came into view, Maze and Path both hissed at them, and Maze even tried to get ahead of Drizzt and Vierna.

“Easy, Path,” Drizzt said, his voice gentle. “Stop that, Maze,” he continued, adding a reassuring pat along Maze’s shoulder. “Hello.” Seeing how… not exactly at ease, but at least not wary… his father and sister were with the newcomers, he didn’t bother to weigh their threat potential. Besides, the three of them against just four others was decidedly not an even fight, even with the cleric, and the advantage was on his family’s side.

“Night above!” Sriva exclaimed, but barely above a conversational tone. “Are you even old enough to be out of school?! …apologies, I should not have said that. Greetings. You likely heard, but I’m Sriva.”

Vierna had reached their father’s side by then, and signed against his hand, ‘Seems fairly young himself, to actually say such.’

‘Reminds me of Drizzt, yes,’ Zak signed back.

Drizzt didn’t bridle, but only because Sriva did look abashed a little to have blurted that out. “I graduated this year, yes,” he said. “I am Drizzt. The tizzin have decided being called Maze,” he patted her on the shoulder again, “and Path,” and pointed to the other, “is fine.”

Vierna was proud of her brother’s composure. And while she still did not want him to leave her, if he went with these people, his honesty and joyful nature would survive longer than if he stayed with her.

“Then you must be Vierna,” Zelzalle said, turning to the woman who was now standing beside Zaknafein. “Greetings to both of you, and to Maze and Path as well. I am Zelzalle.”

“I am,” Vierna agreed.

Maze snorted to be addressed, but quit posturing quite so threateningly at Drizzt’s utter calm.

“It has been a while since I’ve seen a tizzin,” Elkantar said, admiring the beasts. Both females, he thought, which… might be useful, down the road, if Drizzt stayed with them long enough. “They both look to be in excellent condition, though. I’m Elkantar, and our cleric is Ravenna.”

Chapter Four: Turning to the New Life

Alustriel had just come in from her nightly routine among her people. She was in the midst of undressing with the help of an unseen servant when she felt her sending anklet tingle before she was touched by one of her sisters.

~Alustriel, it seems everything has changed,~ Qilué began, ~as Elkantar has found your ranger… with his father and sister. The father is apparently very neutral to my cleric’s casting.~

~With his father and sister?~ Alustriel asked in shocked surprise (and not a little relief) before she continued, ~isn’t it more than five years early? How did they come to meet?~

That ran out her sister’s sending, and she set off her own. ~Not that I’m not glad, and Andy will be overjoyed… but how?~

~I do not have the full story yet, but they were already on their way to Skullport, with a pair of tizzin, and their amulets are fading slowly.~ Too slowly for the maker and the matron to both be dead, but Qilué thought it was entirely likely that it was the maker who was dead, and the ‘matron’ keeping them from fading faster was the sister with the ranger. Nor did she hold any grief over that. She waited through the recharge, then sent again. ~I will let you know more, once the ranger is safely at the Promenade.~

~Of course. Thank you,~ Alustriel answered, smiling across the sending anklet. ~ My love to you, sister.~

While talking with Ravenna as they traveled had been interesting, especially for the insight into how a woman of Eilistraeean nature managed to survive in a Llothite city long enough to escape, it had also revealed that the fact there was an agreement between Vhaeraun and Eilistraee, over her and Drizzt, was known in the Eilistraeean community. Having the needed discussion of the matter could not happen while they were still on the move, but Vierna did get an agreement from Ravenna to have it after they stopped to rest.

That discussion, which had included Elkantar and Zaknafein as well as her and Ravenna, had ended with the conclusion that Drizzt really did need to know the agreement existed, but Drizzt’s unreadiness for divine interest in his life made eliding things to imply that the agreement was a recent event that had happened because of the dreams he had mentioned a reasonable way to handle the matter.

Even knowing that the reason her Lord had advised her to leave the others earlier today was because He was sending some people from His temple to guide her the rest of the way to Skullport, seeing the faint gleam of faerie fire ahead as she came around a curve in the tunnel still roused the instinct for caution that had helped her survive in Menzoberranzan, especially since this was the first sign of other people she had seen in the few hours since then.

But as she stepped into the lighted portion of the tunnel, she saw that the faerie fire was in the shapes of Night Above animals—one called a ‘cat’, and the other a ‘raven’. Both were symbols Vhaeraun used, and in the light were four drow. Two were in masks that matched the one she had tucked inside her robes, and the other two each wore a paired sword and dagger. Furthermore, the genders of the group were evenly split, with both the clerics and their guards being one each of male and female. “Greetings,” she called across the twenty yards or so to them.

“Greetings to you, our fellow Shade,” the male cleric answered. “Our Lord has sent us to bring you safely to His temple in Skullport, Redeemed One.”

This could still be a trap, as Vhaeraun had warned her that in addition to those associated with His temple, there was another faction of His followers in Skullport, though it had fewer females than the Temple’s faction. But there was an easy way to discern which faction these four were from, even without communing with her Lord.

“Then I am glad to meet you and your guards, fellow Shades,” she said. “Has our Lord informed you of the… unusual circumstances… surrounding me?”

The female cleric laughed brightly. “You mean His agreement with the Dark Maiden regarding your family? Indeed He has.” Then she reached up and put back her mask. “I am Kaiyeth, one of our Temple’s Shadow Hunters, and I am most pleased to meet you, Vierna Do’Urden.”

“And I am Natoth,” the male cleric said, putting back his own mask, “also a Shadow Hunter. Our guards are Tebryn and Chaurah.”

Five weeks later

Once she and Zaknafein were safely in her quarters, with the door locked, Vierna gave into the urge she had refused to follow in public, and hugged him. And after a brief moment of startled tension, he relaxed and returned it.

“I missed you,” she said, once the hug had ended. “Not knowing when you were going to feel Drizzt was safely settled at the Promenade was hard on me.” And as she spoke, she moved to take a seat on the couch.

Zak followed her over and took his own seat before replying. “We should work on obtaining a pair of sending stones, then, since I knew three weeks ago that I was going to be coming here with the Promenade’s trade caravan.

“Though it makes the most sense for you and Drizzt to be the ones who hold them, given that I’m going to be cycling back and forth.”

“That was, what, a week and a half after you arrived at the Promenade? I’m not—quite—surprised that Drizzt settled in so fast, but what was it that made you willing to set a time to leave so early?”

“Partly that Drizzt had settled in well enough to play a small prank on me, and partly that he was very clearly in the process of being… semi-adopted, I guess… by Elkantar and his daughter, so he wasn’t going to be without support if I left.”

“Semi-adopted?” Vierna repeated. “What do you mean by that?

“While both of them were quite clear on the fact that they weren’t trying to take our places in Drizzt’s life, Elkantar was explicitly encouraging Drizzt to think of him as an… ‘uncle’, he called it, a parent’s brother. And Ysolde is very pleased that there’s now someone so close in age to her at the Promenade—she’s less than a decade older than Drizzt—and has been carefully building a friendship with him, and encouraging him to call her ‘cousin’ if he wishes.”

“Ahh, so it’s not adoption in the manner we’re used to, but it’s still—in a way—bringing Drizzt into their family.” Vierna hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “What about Ysolde’s mother? Or is it just the two of them?”

“Qilué is being very careful to let Drizzt set the pace in their interactions,” Zak answered, “as she is the Dark Maiden’s high priestess, and well aware of how wary men who have escaped Llothite cities are of powerful women.”

Chapter Five: Needed Changes and Revelations

1345 DR

Given Drizzt’s dreams of the daytime Surface, Vierna had known that he would eventually leave the Promenade to explore up there, so when Zak told her, once they were settled on her couch, that her brother had finally gone and done so, the only thing she truly found surprising was the frown on Zak’s face as he spoke of it.

“What has you displeased with Drizzt’s decision?” she asked. “You have to have known it was going to happen eventually.”

Zak sighed. “Partly a wish that he’d been willing to wait longer to go—though I’m well aware that if not for his work with the tizzin, he surely would have left before now—but mostly, I wish that he’d at least been willing to join one of the traveling bands instead of going off alone.”

Vierna frowned herself on hearing that. She was displeased by that choice as well, even if she could understand why Drizzt had made it. “Does he have any way of obtaining aid that doesn’t require him to be able to think well enough to use the sending stones?”

“Ysolde gave him a contingency necklace, that will transport him to safety if he’s injured badly enough that he would lose consciousness,” Zak answered.

“And Drizzt accepted it?” Vierna couldn’t help her incredulity, knowing just how much her brother hated even the appearance that people were going out of their way to help him, and the commission of a contingency trigger item was not a small thing. “Also, where exactly will it take him?”

“Drizzt said that Ysolde refused to accept any arguments over it, and he chose not to waste the effort, but she told me later that casting it as something selfish on her part, so that she would have less reason to worry about him, helped settle him more.

“And it will take him to a room, with potions, in Blackstaff Tower, which will send an alarm to the Silverhand, the Blackstaff, and any other mage in the Tower that the Silverhand trusts to come help, and send to the Promenade.”

Drizzt had taken the map tube and the letter, written in the style of the drow of the Underdark, after listening to a strange tale of a man he might have been in some other life. He did not want to open either near others, not after the Lady explained that they knew of him because — of him?

Time magic, he decided, made no sense.

Now, sitting on a ledge above the milling tizzin, away from everyone, he opened the map first. Faerie fire was enough to see it was the north of Faerun, all the way up to the tundra of the Far North, and annotated with dates and notes at several places.

Some of those dates were gone now, but new notes, in a handwriting that was not his own (and it was so strange to know that he had written those notes!) told him the Tall Ones had gone and dealt with events on his behalf.

”You saved their father, near the time that this you was born, or soon after. They wanted to take you on the surface, that first time, but you’d felt it was very important to go back.”

The Lady’s words stayed with him, and his hands shook a little when he opened the actual letter.

“With Mielikki’s grace, it is my own self that this letter is given to. I have enjoined Alustriel to only give it to another to be read if … I have changed things too much and you/I do not emerge in time.”

It was a strange opening, but the impressions in the hide were clear to Drizzt’s fingers, including the utter familiarity used in spelling out the name of a powerful arch mage.

“If my wishes were followed, you were sent back to Menzoberranzan after a raid. It was my hope that in saving the elf lord, father to my friends, that you/I would manage to escape with Father and Vierna without the need for Vierna to improvise with Father’s life on the line. If Father’s life still ended up in danger, I can only hope that your Vierna was as successful as mine. If she was not… I am sorry for the grief you and she know.”

Father — in danger — (or dead?) — NO!

He blessed this older time-tossed version of himself for taking the risk, instead of arranging to remove him at the time of the raid!

“There is no guarantee of how things will play out, so I cannot know if you have met Dove Falconhand. If you have not met her, and through her, her husband Florin, you may not know that the whispers that guide you in dealing with evil and threats to the wilds—if such exist, and how terrible if not—are from Mielikki. She is a goodly goddess, who holds no enmity with Eilistraee, and will be your staunch ally if you wish it. If you wish to learn more, I recommend seeking Florin Falconhand.”

Drizzt knew those names already, knew Dove to be one of the Lady’s sisters. His life was meant to tangle with them, it seemed?

“Barring that, Silverymoon’s clerics of Mielikki will accept you for who you are. Silverymoon is home to me—though I am always welcome to visit Vierna and Father—but whether it will be for you is one you must learn.”

The letter broke off, and then there were notes, larger than the ones on the map, giving more details about what had happened, who to watch out for, who to seek if he chose to walk those paths.

Drizzt looked at the map again, and saw not just adventure, but purpose, chances to take.

And then he noted, written in ink instead of impressions, at the very bottom of the letter, there were two more words, and a date.

“Beware Menzoberranzan.”

He sought the date on the map, and found it beneath one a little earlier, with a note that said ‘invasion’.

That… well. It was a long while off, and Drizzt had friends to meet before that. He put the map away, folded the letter carefully, and then laid back on the ledge to let it all sink in.

When he did move, it was not to return to the Lady, but to go find his father. At this time, he should be home.

“Father and I are coming to Skullport. I’ve learned some things and need to talk to both of you.”

Vierna had been worrying ever since Drizzt had sent to her with that message, so once he and Zak were both safely within her rooms, and she had locked the door behind them, she pulled him into a hug.

Feeling the unusual fierceness with which he reciprocated the hug, she asked, “Are you all right, Drizzt?”

“I… think so?” He eased up some, then, and shifted so he could see her face. “I just… I know why Vhaeraun and Eilistraee needed to have an actual formal agreement about you and me. I know why the raid was so carefully turned back. Which is fine. You’re here, and Father’s here… and that is perfect.”

“We are all here,” Vierna agreed, though he wasn’t acting like everything was fine, and Zak’s signed ‘Most he’s said yet’ confirmed her thoughts, “here and well and safe.”

And apparently some of her dubiousness had leaked into her voice, because Drizzt pulled back from her, gave a serious look to both her and Zak, and took a deep breath. “I could let you see the map and read the letter, but it’s very… hard to believe. Other than for the fact it is in my handwriting, and I can see my life having gone as described, if we had gone to one of Vhaeraun’s cities after leaving Menzoberranzan.

“And in a world that was different, we did do so.”

Vierna frowned, then started guiding Drizzt towards the couch, with Zak following. “Come sit down, little brother, and tell us what you’re talking about. Because you’re not making a great deal of sense.”

Drizzt obeyed, taking a seat between her and Zak before he tried to find the right words.

“I apparently lived a life to a point well past this one, and got ensnared in a time spell by an elf-witch. That was marked on the map, with ‘do not go’ and a year. I would have been in my sixties by that date.” Then he turned to look directly at Zak. “You… ended up with your life in danger, after the raid but before we escaped, and Vierna had to improvise to save you. In that world.”

Vierna did not like the idea that things had gotten to that point in the other world, but she could actually see how they might have. But before she could say that, Zak spoke.

“Did your… other-self, future-self, however you want to phrase it… say anything of how? Or why?”

“No,” Drizzt answered. “Only that he was hoping, by leaving warnings, that the events would change, and you would not end up in danger. If you still did, he hoped that my Vierna was as successful as his, and if she was not, he was sorry for our grief.”

Drizzt smiled wryly, and Vierna took advantage of his pause to speak. “I actually can see a way that events would have reached such a state.”

Drizzt and Zak both turned to look at her in surprise. “How?” Zak asked, voice low and intent.

“Drizzt, you said that you now know why the raid was turned back with such care. I can easily guess that it must have been due to knowledge left by your other-self. Which means in that other world, it must not have been turned back. But I cannot imagine that you would have participated in the killing.”

“I… No! I’d never…!” Drizzt sounded honestly horrified by the very idea.

Vierna reached out to rub his back soothingly for a moment before continuing. “So I find myself wondering, what would you have done if you saw a chance to spare the life of one of the faerie by making it look like you had killed them, especially if it was a child?”

“I’d take it, no matter how risky!”

Zak’s face lit up in comprehension. “Which would piss off the Spider Bitch. But Her disfavor on the House would not be publicly known, so Hun’ett would be more cautious about planning their attack.”

Vierna nodded. “Then, since Malice was already aware that another House was moving against ours, if she thought she had Lloth’s favor—whether for Drizzt’s supposed actions on the raid, or for another reason—she would seek to take advantage of that perceived favor to find out which House it was.”

Drizzt frowned, then gave a great sigh. “And when she was rejected because of the disfavor, she’d start investigating to find out who had brought it on the House.

“But I never would have told anyone, so how would she have learned of what I had done?”

“Not even me,” Zak asked, “if I was furious enough over what you were believed to have done to force a fight between us?

“Because if I thought the Academy had broken you to the point where you were willing to kill a faerie child, I would be. And you and I would have been considered the most likely suspects for having done something that angered Lloth.”

“Oh,” Drizzt said, “I see. Malice would have been spying on us, and learned that way.”

“Yes,” Vierna said. “And Father never would have let you be the sacrifice Lloth would have required to be appeased. So I would indeed have had to improvise to save him, as Malice would not have allowed any delay in performing the sacrifice once she had agreed.

“But that’s enough discussion of something that never happened for us. Your other-self left warnings, but you also mentioned a map earlier?”

Drizzt shifted closer to Zak, clearly needing the reassurance of physical contact after having what could have happened laid out so clearly, but once Zak had wrapped an arm around him, he answered.

“My other-self mapped out his life on the Surface, with notes for every place and time he had helped people, or dealt with some threat. He was quite busy, apparently. But the Tall Ones, Lady Veladorn’s nephews, have been handling the events on the map, to be sure that the changes to my timeline didn’t result in others being harmed.”

“I’m glad they have been, little brother,” Vierna said, “as otherwise you would be fretting over the places and people he had helped. Your other-self must have made quite an impression on them, though.”

“He saved their father,” Drizzt said soberly. “An elf lord, my other-self said. And that put all of this in motion, from them being so careful to turn our raid back, to Lady Veladorn knowing to send Elkantar to meet us, and even Eilistraee and Vhaeraun making a formal agreement about you and me.

“And… I think that me was very close to their mother. Because he wrote her name in the familiar sense, without any honorifics.”

Zak hummed noncommittally at that last bit, and Vierna herself had to suppress a frown. She really wasn’t sure what she thought of the idea that Drizzt might someday end up so close to such a powerful woman, though at least with it being one of Lady Veladorn’s Surface sisters, she could be sure that it would be entirely his own choice.

“So what do you plan to do now?” Zak asked.

“I’m going to use the map to guide me,” Drizzt said. “It may lead to some longer absences, but Vierna and I do have the sending stones.”

“I will miss you during those longer absences,” Vierna said, “but I know better than to try and talk you out of doing so.”

Even so, there were further things to discuss about his plan, but for now, she just wrapped her own arm around him, and settled in to enjoy the company of her family.

Hedging Bets (5179 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: Drizzt Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Original Drow Character(s) (Dungeons & Dragons)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence
Summary:

When Vierna is successful in bringing Drizzt back to Menzoberranzan, his future looks bleak.

But the Spider Queen's plans for him are not as straightforward as he thinks, and he might have some unexpected allies in the city.

Beginning Notes

Many thanks to

senmut for providing the original idea and helping with brainstorming. Thanks also go to

ilyena_sylph and

ukia_dragon for helping with brainstorming.

Like other fics that include Kastan, assumes Drizzt didn't escape graduation unscathed.

Hedging Bets

By the time Drizzt had fully returned to consciousness, he knew—with absolute certainty and deep regret—that the lead he had gained with his desperate dive under the drider to get beyond it, when it had reared up in front of him, had in the end still not been enough of one to let him escape from his sister and the mercenaries who had accompanied her.

And the restraints that had been added—some sort of bag over his head to keep him from actually seeing the tunnels around him, and his elbows bound together in addition to his hands being bound behind his back—made it clear that his only hope for another chance before they reached Menzoberranzan would be the fight with him that Entreri had been promised.

So despite the fact that the party was undoubtedly slowed by having to carry him, he began trying to support himself, rather than hang in the firm grips just below his shoulders.

It only took a few stumbling steps for those carrying him to notice, and the quiet "He's awake" from one of them quickly resulted in the party coming to a halt.

Once they had, Drizzt was carefully set down on his feet, steadied until he had his balance, and then the grips on his arms disappeared.

Noticing an approaching heat signature, Drizzt braced himself to ignore whatever verbal barbs his sister chose to sting him with. For although the fabric of the bag blurred the signature too much for him to actually be able to discern identity, he thought it was most likely to be Vierna.

The person stopped right in front of him and began to speak, their voice proving him correct.

"I'm impressed by how close you came to actually managing to escape, my lost brother, but you won't have another chance.

"Jarlaxle's pet human is rather displeased with the alteration of our agreement, but you've proven quite clearly why his fight with you will have to happen someplace far more secure."

And then, while he was still mentally reeling from having his one hope dashed, a yank on a rope around his neck started him stumbling forward again.

Fifteen days later

After a final check of the small packs she had prepared, Vierna secured them where they would be cleverly concealed by her outer robes, belted on her maces, double-checked the dagger she had secretly obtained, then cast a last wistful look around the quarters in Arach-Tinilith she had been granted upon her successful return with her lost—with Drizzt, she reminded herself firmly—and quietly slipped out the door to begin sneaking out of Tier Breche entirely.

Not too long after, concealed in the stalagmites below the westernmost edge of the side cavern that held the Academy, she let out a sigh of relief for having completed the first step of her plan without being noticed.

A look at Narbondel showed there was still most of half an hour before the total darkness known as "the black death of Narbondel", so after taking a drink from her waterskin, Vierna began sneaking west along the outer wall of the cavern that held Menzoberranzan.

And as she did so, she reflected—for far from the first time in the last few days—on how impossible her current actions would have sounded to her ten days ago.

But the zealotry that had consumed her when she found herself once more being favored by Lloth had eased since her triumphant return, and she had begun to see the inconsistencies between what she had been told and what it was clear others had been told that her fanaticism had blinded her to.

Some comments from Jarlaxle had helped her realizations along, and three days ago, she had fully grasped how she had been positioned as a piece in the power plays of House Baenre.

Which they were soon going to regret, as before she left the city entirely, there was one thing she was going to do to show that she was no one's pawn.

The sound of footsteps coming down the corridor woke Drizzt from the uneasy sleep that had proved to be all he could manage since he had regained consciousness—having been dosed with the sleep poison as soon as his sister's party entered Menzoberranzan—to find himself in this cell, each leg individually chained to the wall, his hands tightly shackled in front of him, and otherwise completely naked.

That there was only one set of footsteps meant it had to be Vierna—the guards who brought his allotted ration bar and cup of water always came in pairs—so despite the fact that he would much rather attempt to resume what sleep he could manage, he sat up and arranged himself into the most comfortable position his restraints would allow, as his sister had proven all too willing to use her whip to get his attention if he attempted to ignore her when she came to gloat and taunt him.

Much to Drizzt's surprise, Vierna paused to do... something... just short of the opening that had once held the cell's door for several long moments before she entered.

And when she did, he received another surprise, as her expression no longer showed the religious fervor that had filled it on her previous visits. In fact, he would almost call it "serene".

Drizzt couldn't help but flinch when Vierna came to a stop just out of his reach, since she only came that close when she intended to inflict physical harm, but instead of pulling out her whip, she ordered him to hold his hands out.

His wary hesitation produced a snapped "Hold out your hands, Drizzt!", in the tone she used when she was just a single provocation away from whipping him, so he hastily obeyed, despite his confusion over her use of his name, instead of the "my lost brother" that had been all she called him since he regained consciousness after his attempt to escape in the tunnels under Mithral Hall.

His confusion only increased when, instead of seeking to damage his hands, she stared intently at the shackles binding them and then, after a whispered word, reached out to touch the pair of half-links holding the shackles together.

And when she then proceeded to pull out a dagger, thrust it into the space where the half-links overlapped, and saw it back and forth until the links broke, he could no longer contain his confusion.

"Vierna, what...?" His attempt to escape, the second time he had been fed after waking in this cell, had—despite its spectacularly unsuccessful nature—been punished so brutally that he had not dared to try again, and now she was doing something that would help him to escape?!

"I will not be used!" she growled.

And while he gaped at her for what that statement implied, she put away the dagger, dropped a small roll of leather by his feet, and left the cell.

She did not go far, however, as she quickly returned, carrying a bundle that, when she opened it after placing it just inside the cell, was recognizable as his gear.

And before she left in truth, a small pack, a piece of parchment, a small potion vial, and—most importantly to Drizzt—Guen's figure, had all been added to his gear.

Still half-disbelieving what had just happened, Drizzt picked up the roll of leather as Vierna's footsteps receded, opened it to find a set of lockpicks, and bemusedly set about freeing himself.

Since her triumphant return, the redeemed priestess formerly of House Do'Urden had been in regular—and noticeable—attendance at the daily services held in Arach-Tinilith, though she had missed a few when something regarding the traitor had needed to be dealt with at exactly the wrong time.

She had not, however, ever missed both of the day's services.

So when she failed to attend the evening service, after having already missed the first-light one, Triel made her way to the quarters Vierna had been granted until it was decided which of the first eight Houses would adopt her, in order to find out why.

The rising priestess was not in her rooms, however, so Triel set about the business of finding out when she had last been seen.

And when she found out that the last sighting of Vierna had been by a guard who reported having seen her descending the stairs from Tier Breche down to the rest of the city, half an hour before the black death of Narbondel the previous night, Triel could only think of one reason for her failure to return.

"Go check on the traitor, and report back swiftly!" she ordered.

The lesser mistress of Arach-Tinilith who had received that order returned with impressive speed—in fact, it could only have been achieved by a pace just short of running—and made a deep bow to Triel.

"Matron-Mistress," she said, without rising from the bow, "the traitor is gone, and has been so for long enough that the cell has cooled completely."

"You are dismissed." Triel was moving even as she spoke. Just as no House had been allowed to hold the traitor or host the redeemed priestess before the priestess's status had been settled, it would not do for any other House to have the glory of recapturing the traitor. Which meant she needed to speak with Jarlaxle.

As he stood in the center of the main chamber of Bregan D'aerthe's compound, openly giving his men Triel's orders and more subtly giving the orders he wanted them to actually follow, Jarlaxle kept an eye out for the two people who had the most reason to give him the results he wanted from Drizzt's surprising escape.

Turning his head to answer a question, he noticed them emerging from the training area together, and suppressed a satisfied smile over how well sliding Zaknafein's grandson—who had very much inherited his sire's nature—in front of his pet human had worked out.

Entreri had become oddly protective of the boy who was so strongly reminiscent of the man that the assassin desired to test himself against, and Kastan was now getting the experience of training with someone who could draw out the full potential of Zak's lineage.

Catching Entreri's eye, Jarlaxle gave him a Look, accompanied by a subtle tilt of his head in the direction of the only exit from the compound accessible to the man, and watched with pleasure as the assassin discreetly guided the boy away, then returned his full attention to the fighters he was speaking with.

Jarlaxle's unspoken message—“You want out of here; the boy will do anything to help his father. Go make it happen.”—had been clear as day to Entreri, so he steered Drizzt's son towards the tunnel up to the city, signaling for silence when he saw the questions in the boy's eyes.

Once they were halfway up the tunnel, which had thick doors on both ends, he signaled for Kastan to halt, and once the boy had, gave him freedom to express himself.

Kastan had wanted to rush off as soon as he heard what was being said in the main chamber, but the human who had taken to teaching him—despite his obsession with Kastan's father—had steered him back into the compound at a look from Jarlaxle.

His obedience to the man's signal for silence had been grudging at first, but as Entreri took him through a part of the compound that Kastan had never been in before, and then into a well-concealed, upwards-sloping tunnel, Kastan began to believe he had missed something in the look Bregan D'aerthe's leader had given his teacher.

So when Entreri stopped them in the middle of the tunnel and let him speak, it was not an angry rant that came out of him, but a confused "What's going on?"

"I want to get out of this hellpit; you don't fit any better than your father did.

"We have a mutual interest in finding Drizzt, and Jarlaxle, for some unknown reason, doesn't want him to be recaptured."

"Oh." Even with his conclusion that the look had imparted more than he had realized, that was still not anything Kastan had expected to hear.

He took a moment to consider what was being left unsaid, then nodded. "You want us to work together to find my father and get out of the city, while Jarlaxle runs interference for us."

"Precisely."

As much as he truly did want to find Drizzt, Entreri had felt that Jarlaxle was being oddly optimistic in thinking that he and Kastan would succeed, when they had no way of knowing where the ranger had gone.

But then, once the two of them were actually up in the city, Kastan was extremely insistent that they should head for the west side of the cavern.

A hushed conversation about the boy's insistence had not produced any more explanation for it than that he had a feeling he trusted, so Entreri simply sighed and let him lead the way.

Kastan truly had no idea why he was so certain he knew how to find his father, but given that the feeling was accompanied by the same wordless but gentle song that had sustained him through the worst moments in his life, he was entirely willing to trust it, even when it seemed to be leading them right up to the west wall of the cavern.

And given that upon reaching the cavern wall, the feeling shifted so that it was now directing him towards the Westrift, he thought that trust well-founded.

Entreri's skepticism of Kastan's 'feeling' had subsided somewhat as it led them right past the ruined House that Drizzt had been held in, then turned to follow along the cavern wall towards some nearby tunnels, but when Kastan bypassed all of them, only to stop at the rim of the rift somewhat further along, it returned in full force.

"You can't really think he'd manage to safely get down there," he said, looking down at the near vertical cliff face that had no hand holds he could see.

"Give me a minute," Kastan replied, dropping to his knees to peer over the edge from a closer vantage point.

And... yes, there it was! "I see the route he used!" he exclaimed, then immediately started to climb down.

Once Kastan had started down, Entreri found himself able to pick out the route himself, so he sighed and began to follow the boy.

It had been long enough since he had lived in Menzoberranzan that Drizzt had known he would need some time to recall the various side tunnels leading out of the city and decide which of them was the best one to use.

So once he had followed Vierna's instructions on how to get out of their ruined House without being seen—which he was quite grateful for, since he had never had a chance to learn of any of the secret exits—he had followed a feeling to this cave in the south wall of the Westrift.

And although he had, at first, not been entirely sure of the feeling's source, the gentle melody lingering in his head when he woke from the much needed sleep he had taken after entering the cave had confirmed his suspicions.

Food and water from the small pack Vierna had prepared for him had been followed by a period of drawing maps of the city's walls while he worked on remembering the ways out, which of them were regularly used by patrols, which ones were mostly used by those seeking to leave the city discreetly, and, just as importantly, which ones in the latter category could be reached without the use of levitation.

Eventually, he had begun to feel a need to rest again, so he had curled up in a spot that was not easily seen from the cave's entrance, and let sleep take him once more.

Waking an indeterminate time later, he had resumed his mapping after more food and water, but just a few moments ago, his concentration had been disturbed by footsteps on the ledge the cave opened onto, which had soon been followed by a hushed discussion.

Taking advantage of the noise of the discussion, he had concealed himself in a fold of the cave's walls that would prevent anyone from seeing him without coming some ways into it, and now waited to see what would happen.

The sound of footsteps came closer before stopping, and then a voice spoke in Common.

"Drizzt?"

That was Entreri's voice! But while his instinctive reaction was to prepare for a fight, Drizzt could also feel Eilistraee's encouragement for calm and patience.

So he started breathing deeply and slowly, and waited to hear what else Entreri might say.

"I understand that you have little reason to trust me right now," Entreri continued, "but my companion and I are likely the only people in this entire city willing to actually help you escape."

After considering Entreri's words for a moment, Drizzt made a cautious reply. "Your companion?"

"A boy Jarlaxle stole out of one of the noble Houses. He's very much like you, in multiple ways."

After another moment of consideration, Drizzt sighed and stepped out where Entreri could see him.

"Then both of you should come in so we can talk."

Without looking away from Drizzt, Entreri made a beckoning gesture to his right. Footsteps approached quickly in response, and soon enough, a young drow male stood by the assassin's side.

Drizzt carefully hid his surprise at seeing that this male truly was a boy—just about the same age he had been when he first escaped—and asked his name.

"I am Kastan, of House Duskryn," the boy said—surprisingly enough, in Common.

"Well met, then, Kastan," Drizzt said, continuing the use of Common, since it made the most sense to use the language all three of them spoke. "I am Drizzt Do'Urden."

Kastan nodded acknowledgement, then followed Entreri as the assassin moved into the cave.

When Entreri and Kastan reached a point a few feet from Drizzt, all three of them sat down simultaneously, by unspoken mutual consent.

"Before we start on figuring out the best way to leave the city," Drizzt said, "I have to ask: How did you find me?"

Entreri shrugged and looked to Kastan, whose face heated for a moment before he answered.

"I... had a feeling about how to find you," he said. "I don't know why, but it was one I had reason to trust, so..." Kastan scrunched his shoulders up and ducked his head as he trailed off.

It wasn't hard for Drizzt to figure out the source of that feeling, but he understood why Kastan would feel embarrassed to admit to it, when he had no way to know there was a reasonable explanation for it.

"Did you hear a wordless, but gentle, song with the feeling?" Drizzt asked.

Kastan straightened, a look of surprise on his face. "Yes! You've heard it, too?"

"Only in the last few months. But I would have heard it long before then if not for interference." Drizzt made a dying spider gesture, and Kastan laughed, nodding. "The song is from Eilistraee, who is a Good drow goddess and seeks to guide those she can away from the Spider."

"Can I ask how you managed to escape?" Entreri said.

After a moment of carefully studying the other man, Drizzt said, "It seems Vierna was not pleased to realize she was being used to advance the ambitions of others."

In contrast to Kastan's clear surprise at that statement, Entreri looked like he had halfway expected that answer.

His next words confirmed that. "After hearing you had escaped, I wondered if she had been involved. Given that she demanded the figure from me yesterday."

And Entreri, Drizzt knew, was well aware of his feelings regarding Guen.

"On to planning, then," Drizzt said. "My memories are telling me that the tunnel I used to escape the first time is rarely used, and would be a most unexpected choice, but I am having trouble recalling exactly where it is."

"The boy'll be more help with that than I am," Entreri said.

Drizzt looked at Kastan inquiringly, and the boy nodded, then said, "Show me what you have remembered of the ways out of the city?"

"Of course." And Drizzt began to draw the map on the cave floor with the heat of his hands.

A while later, having finally determined that the tunnel he was thinking of was the one just to the east of the Academy, Drizzt sat back on his heels and sighed.

"I still think it's the best choice, but actually getting me there is going to be difficult."

"Your gear does make you rather distinctive," Kastan said apologetically.

"Then it's a good thing I've been keeping the mask on me at all times, isn't it?" Entreri said.

Drizzt gave the other man a sharp look. "That would be a most excellent solution," he agreed, after a moment of hesitation. He could not afford to reject such a useful tool simply because of how it had last been used.

"Mask?" Kastan asked.

"An enchanted mask that allows the one wearing it to change their appearance completely, including clothing and gear," Drizzt answered.

"Oh. That is a good solution. You can use the mask to become an ordinary male, and then the three of us will head for the Clawrift like we're going to report to Jarlaxle, except we'll continue to the north wall instead, and make our way to the tunnel."

"Exactly," Entreri said.

Four days later, Jarlaxle tipped back in his desk chair and contemplated the... interview... he had just had with Triel.

Despite a very thorough search of the city, and even a day's travel into the surrounding tunnels, no sign of Drizzt Do'Urden had been found, leaving his sister immensely frustrated.

Though, he mused, some of that was likely due to the fact that she had had to admit that Vierna must have been responsible for Drizzt's escape.

But more pertinently, he had been able to tell her with complete honesty that none of his men had found so much as a hint towards where the renegade had gone.

After all, Entreri was not actually a member of Bregan D'aerthe, and Kastan had—deliberately—never been properly inducted.

And though those two had been seen with another drow male, first heading towards the Clawrift, and somewhat later, entering one of the side tunnels near Tier Breche, that male had been in typical drow gear, and his weapons had been a longsword and dagger instead of Drizzt's scimitars, so he very clearly couldn't have been the renegade.

After allowing all four of the chair's legs to touch the floor again, Jarlaxle got up and left his office to start letting his men know that Triel had called the search off.

Nine days after the trio had left Menzoberranzan, in the tunnels under Mithral Hall, Drizzt and Kastan prepared to part ways with Entreri.

Those nine days had not been untroubled—both learning that Kastan was his son, and putting together what Kastan and Entreri knew to realize that Menzoberranzan planned to invade the Hall had shaken Drizzt—but they had certainly been less stressful than the ones that had preceded them.

But there had been good moments on the journey as well. In addition to the pleasure of getting to know his son, there had been a joyous reunion with Belwar, when the trio encountered a svirfneblin mining party he was leading—which had also enabled Drizzt to pass on warning of Menzoberranzan's plans, so the residents of Blingdenstone could make preparations for their own safety.

And after they had entered the tunnels under the Hall, Entreri had provided the unexpected but welcome news that not only had he not killed Regis, the halfling appeared to have been found by their other friends, as he was not where Entreri had left him, and the bindings the assassin had used were discarded at that spot.

And now, standing on the ledge where a tunnel opened onto the mountainside, the trio was having some parting words.

After expressing a heartfelt desire to never have to deal with drow again—though carefully phrased in such a way as to not include Drizzt and Kastan in that statement, Drizzt noted—Entreri started making his way down from the ledge.

Drizzt watched the assassin's progress in the pre-dawn light for a while, then turned to Kastan. "Time for us to go up the mountain, my son."

"Up the mountain?" Kastan repeated, his puzzlement clear on his face. "Not through the tunnels?"

"I feel it would currently be unwise to attempt to bring another drow in through the tunnels," Drizzt replied.

After a moment in which he was clearly thinking it through, Kastan sighed. "You're probably right. Where are we going, then?"

"I have a cave up on the west side of the mountain, that I use as a retreat when the rock becomes too much for me to bear.

"We should, I believe, be able to reach it before the light becomes too much for you, and then I can send Guen down the mountain to let my friends know I have returned."

Kastan nodded, then turned to face the mountainside. "Then let's get started."

Catti-brie had only just left the Hall, intending—as she had done so many times in the last few weeks—to go up to Drizzt's cave to offer some prayers to Mielikki for his safe return, when a roar from further up the mountainside drew not just her attention, but that of the dwarves standing guard at this entrance.

And as all of them looked up towards where the roar had come from, a large black panther came bounding down the slope.

Catti could not help but gape for a moment, which proved to be all the time needed for the panther to reach her and give her a friendly lick.

Shaking off her stunned surprise, Catti threw her arms around Guen with a cry of joy.

"Oh, I've missed ye, me friend," she said. "And sure'n as yer here, Drizzt is safely back."

Guen gave a pleased mrowl, then pulled back from the hug and looked at Catti, looked up the slope, then looked at Catti again.

"Me ranger's up in his cave then," Catti asked, "and wants me to come up there?"

At Guen's affirmative chirp, Catti turned to look at the guards, but before she could say anything, the leader preempted her.

"Runner in to the Hall for th' King and Rumblebelly, an' one down tae Settlestone for Wulfgar, aye?"

"Aye," Catti agreed. Then she turned her attention back to Guen, gave the panther a scratch behind the ears, and headed for the beginning of the trail up to Drizzt's cave.

It was getting on towards noon when Drizzt heard footsteps coming towards the cave. Turning to his son, he said, "I'm going to go out to greet whichever of my friends this is. You should likely shade your eyes before I open the windbreak."

"Of course, Father."

And once Kastan had done so, Drizzt opened the windbreak just far enough for him to slip out, pulling it as closed as he could manage from the outside after he had.

Turning to look down the slope, he was quite pleased to see that it was Catti-brie who was coming up the trail beside Guen. He knew that all of his friends were likely to be somewhat unsettled by him having returned with another drow, but Catti was the one who was least likely to make a fuss about it.

Quiet scuffing ahead of her drew Catti-brie's attention up from watching where she put her feet, and when she saw Drizzt standing just outside the cave—which had the windbreak pulled across the opening for some reason—she broke out in a smile, and took the last few yards at a pace just short of a run.

Catti's hug was just short of a tackle, and Drizzt was very glad he had braced himself for it when she had sped up.

"Ach, me ranger, but sure'n yer a sight for sore eyes," she cried.

"I am equally glad to see you again, my friend," Drizzt replied, returning the hug just as fiercely.

Catti-brie kept up the hug for longer than she usually would, just reveling in the solid proof that her friend was back, was safe, but eventually she pulled back and looked Drizzt in the eyes.

"I thought ye might have come up here tae counter havin' spent so long under stone," she said, "but there'd be nae reason for ye tae have th' windbreak closed when yer not in the cave, if'n that were the case.

"So why did ye choose tae come up here and send Guen down for us?"

Drizzt returned her gaze with equal seriousness. "One of the people who helped me to escape is like I am, and I did not think it would be a good idea to attempt to bring him in through the tunnels, or to approach either of the gates with him before the guards had been warned of his presence."

"Aye, that'd've gone poorly," Catti-brie agreed. "But me ranger, it's fer certain sure ye are that he's like you?"

"Eilistraee guided him to where I was hiding while I worked on remembering the ways out of Menzoberranzan," Drizzt replied calmly, knowing she only asked out of concern for him. "If he was not like me, he would not have been able to hear Her."

"That's well enough, then. Bring me in and introduce us?"

"Of course."

Introductions between Catti-brie and Kastan had gone well enough, though Drizzt could tell that Kastan's exact relationship to him had startled her.

But she had set it aside well enough to demand the tale of how he had escaped, and Drizzt had obliged.

And now, as he wrapped it up, he sobered greatly. "For all that I am now safe, there is more danger coming. Between them, Entreri and Kastan knew enough for me to be certain that Menzoberranzan intends to invade the Hall."

"Aye, we know," Catti said. "At the most, we've got a week and a half or so, before their forces arrive."

Drizzt could not help but gape at her for that statement, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Kastan was doing the same.

"I... what... How do you know?!"

"Ach, that's a bit of a tale, me ranger," Catti replied. "And if'n the both of you'll settle down, I'll tell it."

Drizzt stretched, forcing himself to relax, and once both he and Kastan had assumed comfortable poses for listening, Catti-brie began to spin out the tale of what had been happening on the Surface.

If Drizzt Had a Son… (2210 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Original Drow Character(s) (Dungeons & Dragons), Zaknafein Do’Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre 
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Past Rape/Non-Con
 Summary:

Inspired by “Prisoner of the Dwarves” and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from versions of those AUs where Drizzt has a son as a result of not managing to escape the priestess during his graduation from Melee-Magthere.

If He Was Alive… (66354 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 46/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings 
Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s) 
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail, Dove Falconhand 
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse 
Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

Adjusting to Family Found (2338 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden & Original Drow Character(s), Drizzt Do'Urden & Vierna Do'Urden
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Drow Character(s), Original Elf Character(s), Alustriel Silverhand, Vierna Do'Urden, Qilué Veladorn
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Rape/Non-con, unplanned parenthood, Family Reunions, reconciling with estranged family
Summary:

Now that his son is clear of hostile magic, Drizzt can start properly adjusting to the changes having a son brings.

Later, while they're at the Promenade, it turns out there are some more familial adjustments to be made.

A continuation of Merfilly's fic Prisoner of the Dwarves

Beginning note

Past rape is only implied by reference, but is much clearer in inspiring fic, so I felt it was worth warning for.

Chapter One: Needed Adjustments

Once breakfast with Alustriel was over, Drizzt led Kastan to the public practice yards for their spar. And as he had expected would be the case, the spectacle of him sparring with a near-equal drew many spectators. So when the spar was finished, Drizzt started introducing his son to the various Knights and squires that had been watching. After the introductions were done, they returned to Drizzt's rooms for their rest.

Upon their waking in the early afternoon, Drizzt brought Kastan to the Spell Tower for more introductions. And while Niska and Taern were the only two that he had actually planned, Drizzt did not hesitate to make introductions when they passed others in the Tower's hallways.

On leaving the Spell Tower, Drizzt guided his son to the Palace library. And once there, they settled down to continue Kastan's lessons in reading and writing.

Continuing Kastan's lessons in the library rather than his rooms had been a calculated choice on Drizzt's part, balancing Kastan's comfort against the curiosity of others as word of his presence spread. But in the late afternoon, perhaps an hour before sunset, it was Korvallen who approached them.

Once Drizzt indicated that the current lesson had reached a stopping point, Kor spoke. "Drizzt, Alustriel wants to know if you'll accompany her to evenfeast and a few events after, if I stay with Kastan?"

"Kastan?" Drizzt asked.

"Go, Father," Kastan said. "I could see this morning that you find... peace... being with her. I will be fine with Korvallen."

"Alright," Drizzt said. Then he turned his attention back to Korvallen and asked "Her rooms?"

"Yes."

Drizzt stood up then, and as he moved away, heading for the door, he heard Korvallen asking if Kastan wished to remain in the library, or go somewhere else.

Back in her rooms after evenfeast, while she was changing into a gown more appropriate for the events she planned to attend tonight, Alustriel broached a potentially delicate matter with Drizzt.

"I noticed, when you introduced Kastan this morning, no family name was used. Does he not want the Do'Urden name, or is it simply that you haven't offered it to him yet?"

"Haven't offered it to him yet," Drizzt replied. "I was waiting for him to be declared clear of hostile magic, but he—both of us, really—needed soothing after hearing what Laeral removed, and then we ended up talking about other things last night."

"You should make sure to do it once you return tonight, then," Alustriel said. "With your name becoming known as that of a good drow, Kastan bearing the same family name will smooth his path."

Drizzt sighed. "That's not a factor I had considered, but you are undoubtedly correct."

When he returned to his rooms roughly an hour before midnight—earlier than usual for having accompanied Alustriel, but still fairly late by objective standards—Drizzt sent Korvallen off to rest, then sat down on the divan and gestured for Kastan to join him.

Once his son had, Drizzt took a deep breath, turned to face him, and began to speak.

"While the society we both were raised in does not allow family names to be passed along the male line, things are different on the Surface.

"I have kept the Do'Urden name all these years, despite my rejection of its source, as a connection to my own father, who also bore it. And just as you inherited your differences from me, my own came from him, though his were not as stark as ours.

"In light of that, do you wish to also bear the Do'Urden name?"

"Do I...? Yes!" Kastan didn't know why he was blinking back tears when he was so happy!

"Tears of joy, my son," Drizzt said.

Kastan felt his cheeks heat. He hadn't realized he'd actually said that. "Sometimes, imagining being a free Do'Urden was what helped me keep going. But I didn't want to ask."

"Oh, my son," Drizzt sighed, pulling Kastan into a hug. "The only reason I didn't offer it earlier is because I was waiting until I could be certain it was safe."

The sequence of sunrise vigil, breakfast with Alustriel, practice yards, rest, lessons for Kastan, then Korvallen—or sometimes Kolarven or, more rarely, Niska—staying with Kastan while Drizzt accompanied Alustriel to evenfeast and some events quickly became a pattern, which held steady until the night that Mystra was injured.

That night, Drizzt was not willing to leave Alustriel, given what she said had happened. So before going to speak with Ellorie, he took the time to write a note for Korvallen, which he then asked the page to deliver along with the messages for Taern and the event Alustriel had been going to attend.

The next morning, after settling Kastan with Kolarven, Korvallen headed for Alustriel's rooms On his arrival, he was informed that they were also waiting for Taern, so he took a seat at the dining table and impatiently waited to learn what had caused Drizzt to send last night's note of 'Something happened with Mystra, staying the night with Alustriel, come for briefing over breakfast.'

Taern arrived shortly after, and though breakfast had not yet arrived, the briefing began.

The news Alustriel had to share was certainly quite concerning, and Korvallen was about to start pondering adjustments to guard schedules when Drizzt mentioned personally carrying the news to the Hall.

"My friend," Korvallen said, "while good faith does require us to let the Hall know, there is no need for you to be the messenger."

"But-"

"No. If you truly feel it is best for the news to come from you, we can send an official messenger to carry a letter from you."

For a moment, it looked like Drizzt was going to continue to argue, but Taern and Alustriel's strong agreement caused him to sigh and acquiesce.

The four of them then settled down to eat the meal that had just been brought, though discussion of necessary precautions was the subject of conversation, with a brief detour for Korvallen to convince Drizzt that Kastan would understand him sticking close to Alustriel today.

After that day, things mostly returned to the established pattern—at least until the gods were restored to their proper places.

When that happened, Drizzt allowed himself the one night to share in Silverymoon's—and Alustriel's—joy, then late the following afternoon, he and Kastan set out for Mithral Hall.

For all that the dwarves did not rely highly on the power the gods could give, the mood at the Hall was nearly as jubilant when Drizzt confirmed that the gods had been restored.

So it was not until after things had settled down somewhat that Drizzt had the chance to properly introduce his son to his friends there.

Two weeks at the Hall had given Drizzt's friends time to reassure themselves as to his wellbeing and get to know Kastan at least somewhat, but between his own desire to bring Kastan to the Promenade as soon as reasonable and the little signs he could see that showed Kastan still had a ways to go before most of the residents of the Hall trusted him as much as Drizzt, the ranger knew it was time for the two of them to leave.

His friends reminded that he was unsure of when he would return, Drizzt headed back to Silverymoon with Kastan.

And after a few days in the city, Alustriel gladly teleported them to the Promenade.

Chapter Two: Unexpected Adjustments

"Walk with me a bit, Vierna," Natoth said as he came up beside her in the corridors of the temple.

She looked warily at him, but inclined her head, and changed course to match him.

"Given that you have mentioned before that your brother had a significant role in starting the questioning that let you accept our Lord, what would you say to him if you had the chance?" Natoth asked her.

And as far as Vierna could tell, he was sincerely interested, not seeking information he could use against her.

But the wariness that had been ingrained in her by her time in Menzoberranzan still pushed her to question his reasons. "Why do you ask?"

"Our Lord tells me that your brother is currently at the Promenade of the Dark Maiden," Natoth replied. "And one of their trade caravans will be arriving in Skullport soon. So if you wish to write him a letter, I will personally pass it to the caravan master."

While meeting with the caravan master upon the trade caravan's return was usually a simple administrative task, sometimes there ended up being other concerns to address.

So when Qilué asked "Is there anything else you need to bring to my attention?", Shana's answer of "Yes" was not truly unexpected.

But being handed a sealed letter addressed to Drizzt, that Shana said had been given to her by a masked priest of Vhaeraun, was very much not what Qilué had expected the additional matter to be.

"Did the priest say anything to indicate what the letter is about?" she asked.

"He did," Shana replied. Closing her eyes, she recited the priest's explanation. "'A message for Drizzt Do'Urden, from a fellow cleric of my Lord, who rejected the Spider out of love for family after Drizzt escaped.'"

"That is... odd," Qilué said. "Odd enough that I am going to be very thorough about checking for traps before I give it to Drizzt."

"Agreed," Shana said. "The only reason I didn't discard it before we left Skullport is because that mask can't be faked."

Drizzt had listened to Qilué's explanation about the letter with a growing bewilderment—because he could not think of anyone Vhaeraun might have stolen from Menzoberranzan who would have a reason to contact him—and then went to find a well-concealed place to read the letter in solitude.

That place ended up being a ledge high up in the rothe cavern, and once he had settled himself, he opened the letter and began to read.

'Drizzt,

I am so very sorry. Sorry that it took seeing your reaction to something I took for granted for me to start questioning what we were taught. Sorry that it took our father's murder for me to actually move from questioning to true realization of how wrong Llothite society is. Sorry that that realization left my foundations so shattered that leaving to join you didn't occur to me until long after the opportunity was gone.'

This... was from Vierna? That was hard to believe, but the use of 'our father' left no other possibilities. And the apologies she gave certainly laid out a reasonable path by which she could have come to follow Vhaeraun. Curious now, Drizzt resumed reading.

'Vhaeraun supported me while I rebuilt my foundations, and when the House fell, I escaped with the aid of the leader of Bregan D'aerthe, who then made arrangements to get me to the Temple of Vhaeraun in Skullport.

While I will understand if you no longer wish to call me 'sister', I would like to see you again, as I have always cared about you, even if I didn't truly understand how deep my feelings ran until after you had left.

Vierna Do'Urden, Silent Sable, Skullport'

After folding the letter and sticking it in his belt pouch, Drizzt tucked his knees up under his chin, wrapped his arms around his legs, and started to carefully think things over.

His heart—the part of him that had never been able to fully let go of his softer feelings for the sister who had raised him—wanted the letter to be true, was insisting he should head for Skullport as soon as he could.

But his more rational and analytical side was urging caution, reminding him that there were ways others could have learned of the events referred to in the letter, and even if it was true, his responsibilities to Kastan made a solo trip through Undermountain quite unwise.

Sighing, he jumped down from the ledge and headed off to find Qilué. She should at least be able to tell him if such a conversion seemed realistic.

Qilué had, on the basis of the apologies offered, felt that it was entirely possible for the letter to be true, so after some further discussion—with both her and Kastan—Drizzt had decided to accompany the next trade caravan.

Now, standing off to the side as the traders unloaded the wagon, Drizzt looked around, sincerely hoping that the drow he had seen carefully watching the caravan as it entered the market square, only to leave swiftly after locking eyes with him, was going to let Vierna know he had come.

And even as he thought that, a slight disturbance in the same direction that drow had gone in turned out to be people making way for four drow—two in masks and clerics' robes, two very obviously guards.

The quartet approached the caravan carefully, moving so they were coming directly towards Drizzt, and then, at a reasonable conversational distance, they stopped.

"Hello," Drizzt said, doing his best to keep his wariness out of his voice.

One of the clerics—female, by the way the robes hung on their body—stepped forward and pushed back her mask. "Hello, little brother," Vierna said.

Drizzt had agreed to come to the temple for the much needed conversation between the two of them, contingent on Vierna's promise that it would be finished in time for him to return to the Promenade with the caravan, which she willingly gave.

Said conversation had been highly fraught, but it had ended with both of them in a much better place regarding their feelings for the other.

So when Vierna returned to her rooms after seeing Drizzt out of the temple, she sat down at her desk and started writing a letter to Jarlaxle.

If her nephew's mother had survived the attempt to invade the dwarven hall, it was time to dust off some old ideas and start planning a murder.

If He Was Alive… (63127 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 45/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s)
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse
Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

If He Was Alive… (62952 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 44/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s)
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse
Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

A Multiplicity of Crossings (10378 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 3/3
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: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s), Drizzt Do'Urden/Alustriel Silverhand
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Drizzt Do'Urden, Laeral Silverhand, Bruenor Battlehammer, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence
Series: Part 11 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

My brain dropped on me the idea of merging the fics "Impossible Connections" and "Ranger and Pegasus" and the fic series "SharrSapphire" and "The Ranger and the Wheel". This is the result.

Beginning notes

As this fic is a merging of multiple AUs, I highly recommend making sure you are familiar with the following fics and series before reading it:

senmut’s solo fic Impossible Connections,

senmut and

ilyena_sylph’s fic Ranger and Pegasus, the entirety of their series The Ranger and the Wheel, their series SharrSapphire through “The Sapphire’s Secret”, my fics SharrSapphire in the Wheel and Soulmarks in the Wheel, and my series Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel.

Additionally, this fic contains a small amount of borrowing from “The Sapphire’s Secret” and my fic “Becoming with a Pegasus”, and somewhat more borrowing from some of the fics in the series “The Ranger and the Wheel”, as well as from my fic “Soulmarks in the Wheel” (which in and of itself contains borrowing from some of the fics in “The Ranger and the Wheel).

Chapter One: Beginnings

1324 DR, spring

Waking one day, some twenty-six years since Sharr had gone missing, to find she now had a second soulmark was not a welcome shock for Alustriel. Her mark for Sharr was still as clear as it had always been, so she at least did not have to worry about that, but it was hard for her to imagine any new relationship going well when Sharr’s uncertain status would almost certainly cast a shadow over it.

And she was also somewhat concerned about how Del and Korvallen would react to such a relationship—Del because of how young he had been when Sharr went missing, and Korvallen because of how strong his feelings for Sharr were.

Nevertheless, that night, she told her sisters and her sons about the new mark, sharing her vision so they could see what it looked like, and asking them to keep an eye out for anyone who might be her second soulmate.

1333 DR, early spring

Andy had been thinking hard about how to bring up with his mother what he had glimpsed during his lesson with Drizzt earlier in the day, and had come to the conclusion that it would be best to be fairly straightforward about it.

So that night, when their conversation came around to Drizzt, as it usually did on the days that the ranger had had lessons with him, Andy said, “I saw something rather interesting during today’s lesson.”

“Another sign of how much Mielikki favors Drizzt?” Alustriel asked. “Or was it something else?”

“Something else,” Andy replied. “His sleeve fell back while he was reaching to stroke Bright Eyes’s head, and I caught a glimpse of a silver mark on the inside of his wrist.”

“Well, drow do scar silver, but I’m guessing you don’t think it is one.”

“Can’t be one. It’s positioned right on the tendons, and is big enough that such an injury would have impaired his use of that hand. Add that to the fact that he uses twin scimitars…”

“You think he might be my second soulmate,” Alustriel said.

“I do.”

1335 DR, summer

It had been nine long weeks since Laeral had informed her that Drizzt Do’Urden was indeed her second soulmate, but her sister and the ranger were finally done with their journey into the elan-lands and Laeral had teleported the two of them, and Bright Eyes, to Silverymoon this morning.

And now, having changed out of her evenfeast gown into something more casual, Alustriel was heading to Laeral’s rooms—as those were more neutral ground than her own—to properly meet Drizzt.

A knock on the door when she arrived at them got her permission to enter, and when she stepped into the outer room, she was quite pleased to see that Laeral had set things up so that Drizzt could choose which of them he wanted to sit with, while still allowing for easy conversation—the divans had been arranged so they were facing each other, and Laeral and Drizzt were currently seated on one, close to, but not directly beside, each other.

Taking a seat on the other divan, Alustriel looked to Laeral to see if her sister was going to start things off, or if she should.

Laeral smiled at her, then said, “Drizzt, this is my sister, Alustriel Silverhand. Alustriel, this is Drizzt Do’Urden, rider of Bright Eyes.”

“I am very pleased to finally meet you, Drizzt,” Alustriel said, “and for more reasons than just that you are my soulmate, as Andy told me much of you while you were taking lessons with him three years ago.”

“It’s good to meet you too,” Drizzt replied. “And Laeral mentioned that your entire family has been intrigued by me since then, so I’m not surprised by that.

“Though I will readily admit that I’m still uncertain how I feel about you being my soulmate.”

“Because I am Andy’s mother, and he is your friend, or is it because I am a woman with power?”

“The second.”

Alustriel did not sigh, though she very much wanted to. Thankfully, she had anticipated that this might be an issue, and taken steps to mitigate it. “I suspected that might be the case, and have had some long talks with Qilué since Laeral told me that you are my soulmate. And I will say, right now, that if anything I do or say makes you uncomfortable, please tell me. I can’t stop doing whatever it is if I don’t know it’s making you feel like that.”

The conversation rambled somewhat from there, as the two of them got to know each other, with Laeral contributing anecdotes and tales that hopefully helped make Drizzt’s image of her more grounded and approachable. And eventually, when Drizzt mentioned that his Ogier sister had been the one to explain to him what soulmarks were, Alustriel found the opportunity to bring up the matter of Drizzt not being her only soulmate.

“Did Lindsar ever say anything to you about the possibility of multiple soulmarks?”

Drizzt blinked twice, then looked at her quizzically. “No, she didn’t. That’s actually something that can happen?”

“Only among long-lived peoples, but yes,” Alustriel answered. “And I’m bringing it up now because I have two soulmarks.”

“I… can I see?” Drizzt asked.

“Of course.” Alustriel pulled back her sleeve and showed the inside of her wrist to him.

Drizzt looked at the marks for a bit, then nodded. “The scimitar-like one is clearly for me, but what is the other one, and who does it represent?”

“It’s the ancient elven glyph for ‘knowledge’. Sharr—Sharrevaliir, in full—was the Lorekeeper for the elves of the High Forest.”

“Was?” Drizzt tilted his head thoughtfully. “That makes it sound like he’s dead, but Lindsar said that soulmarks fade once the person they represent has died, and there wouldn’t have been any reason for you to bring up multiple soulmarks if that was the case.

“So what happened to him?”

“We still don’t know for certain,” Alustriel said, “but he’s been missing for nearly four decades.” She went on to explain the events that had led to such a situation, ending with, “…and the only reasons we’re sure he’s still alive are because my soulmark hasn’t faded and the Warder bond is still intact.”

“I hope he is found soon,” Drizzt said. “I would very much like to meet him myself.”

The next evening, Drizzt was somewhat more comfortable with Alustriel, enough so that she was willing to risk asking about what his life had been like before he came to the surface. Thankfully, he did not have a problem with telling her about it, though she frequently found herself horrified by what he was saying and had to expend a good bit of effort to not let that horror affect her reactions to him.

And then he mentioned that he had not yet finished his schooling when he was dumped on the surface, which, combined with Andy’s previous estimate of his age, left her curious.

“Your pardon, Drizzt,” she said, “but Andy was quite certain, when he met you three years ago, that you weren’t even fifty then. So I find myself wishing to know exactly how old you are.”

Drizzt blinked twice, wondering why it mattered—and surprised that neither Laeral nor Qilué had told her—but he answered the question readily. “Thirty-eight.”

Swiftly back-calculating his age at the time of the Blight push, Alustriel was not pleased by the result. “So you would have been twenty-eight or twenty-nine when the Blight push occurred?”

“Twenty-nine, yes.”

“You weren’t even of age by Lolthite standards, and your teacher took you to that?!” Alustriel knew that silverfire was sparking in her eyes as she spoke, but she couldn’t quite manage to care. The forced maturity of Lolthite society was upsetting enough, but that goodly people had allowed Drizzt to participate in an event as harrowing as she had heard the Blight push had been, when he hadn’t even been an adult in the eyes of the people he was born to, was infuriating!

Drizzt was fascinated by the manifestation of the silverfire he was seeing now, not having realized that it could happen outside of deliberate use, but then he was distracted by a warm spot developing on his chest. Reaching up to touch the magical sapphire he wore around his neck, he confirmed that that was the source of the warmth, and a quick look down confirmed that the stone wasn’t glowing, making this the second time it had reacted to silverfireby growing warm, but not glowing. That was something that would have to be investigated, but first, he needed to defend Aronna's decision—and probably Lindsar’s as well.

“Neither Aronna nor Lindsar were pleased that I insisted on leaving the stedding so young,” he said, “but they could both see how strong my need to explore and actually use my skills to defend others was.”

Alustriel sighed. If that need had been anything like the chafing Del had felt over the village’s smothering before Samiar took him as an apprentice, she could understand why the women hadn’t protested his leaving more strongly. But still… “Was it really necessary for your first true actions as a ranger to be at the Blight push, though?”

“Perhaps not. Lindsar was certainly not happy when she found out Aronna had brought me to it. But Aronna had wanted to go, even when she thought that she would have to miss it due to teaching me, and if we had not gone, I would not have become a Dreadbane. And bearing that title has eased my way just as much as—if not more than—the Ogier motifs on my faceguard and scimitars.”

“That… is a reasonable point,” Alustriel reluctantly agreed.

Turning his attention to Laeral, and cradling the sapphire in his hand, Drizzt said, “To change the subject entirely, I think you need to take a look at this gem, my friend.”

“Oh?” Laeral said. “What makes you say that?”

“This was the second time it reacted to silverfire by growing warm, without glowing—the first was when you and Qilué removed the shroud from me. And maybe I’m being overly suspicious because of what my soulmark is, but while I was willing to ignore such once, that it has now happened twice makes me wish to have it investigated.”

“I don’t think you’re being overly suspicious at all,” Laeral said. “That is definitely worth investigating. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the necessary spells memorized today, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Analysis of the sapphire had proved it to be a soul trap, but between needing to find someone with gemstone tools to break the stone, arranging a room in the Spellguard Tower to use for the breaking, Laeral and Taern's caution regarding the alignment of the trapped soul, and Alustriel’s desire to be present for the breaking, it was not until lunchtime the following day that they were actually ready to break it.

The first blow only shattered a spell that had been on the stone, but the second one broke the stone. A bright flash of blue light brought the smell of a spring day in the forest, and when the light faded, a full-blooded elf in hunting armor with ornate patterns was there.

“Sharr?!” The cry came from three voices simultaneously, Laeral, Alustriel, and Taern all not believing their eyes at first, though Alustriel could feel that the Warder bond was fully open again, as she was buffeted by a wash of emotions not her own.

“A little less loud, please,” the elf said, his own senses trying to take in everything now that he had eyes and ears and a nose, not just moments of consciousness and detection.

“Sorry,” Taern said.

Laeral and Alustriel, however, just continued to stare. He… that was Sharr, in the armor he’d disappeared from that battlefield in, the proper ceremonial armor for a Lorekeeper in a ritual hunt. And then, having wrestled down the flood of both her emotions and his, Alustriel all but threw herself at him.

“I… stars, you… you’re here, you…” Alustriel knew she was not really coherent as she wrapped her arms around her beloved tightly, but she couldn’t find it in her to care at the moment.

“I am, my star, I am,” Sharr murmured, returning the embrace just as tightly.

Laeral had sent to her nephews and shared her vision with them while Alustriel and Sharr were still embracing tightly in the first rush of emotional reaction to their reunion, but once both of them were willing to break the embrace, she and Taern had corralled the two of them—and Drizzt, too—back to Alustriel’s rooms.

Taern had then gone to speak to Alustriel’s secretary about rescheduling everything for the next few days, and while Laeral had stayed a bit longer—mostly to make sure Drizzt didn’t feel like he wanted her support—she was now on her way to the Knights’ wing of the Palace to find Korvallen.

Asking the squire on duty had gotten her directed to Korvallen’s quarters, and the door opened soon after she gave a brisk knock.

“Laeral?” Korvallen said, feeling a bit puzzled. “Is something wrong?” He hoped not, but he was not sure what else might have caused her to seek him out.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Laeral answered. “It would even be fair to say that something has gone very, very right, but Alustriel does need you.”

“Alright.” Korvallen stepped out of his rooms, then closed and locked the door before moving to follow Laeral.

Quickly recognizing that Laeral was leading him to Alustriel’s rooms, that left him free to wonder what Laeral had meant by ‘something has gone very, very right’ and why Alustriel would need him if that was true.

He hadn’t managed to reach any reasonable conclusions by the time they reached Alustriel’s rooms, so he set his puzzling aside, knowing that he would soon find out anyway.

A knock on the door got a response of “Come in”, so he opened it and stepped into the outer room of the suite. And then, as soon as the door was no longer obstructing his sight of the room, he stopped dead. That was… Sharr? In the armor he had been wearing on the hunt where he disappeared? And a drow? Sitting on the other side of Alustriel from Sharr? He reached up to rub his eyes, but the bewildering sight remained. “Sharr? Drow? What in the Abyss?”

Alustriel sighed. “No, you’re not imagining things, Kor. Sharr is here, and there is a drow sitting beside me.” Giving her sister a mildly annoyed look, she added, “Though Laeral really should have warned you.”

“I thought it was only fair for him to be as surprised as we were,” Laeral said, amusement in her voice.

“And yet you didn’t mention Drizzt, either.”

“Sisterly wrangling later,” Sharr said, placing a hand on Alustriel’s shoulder. “Right now, Kor needs an explanation.

“Alright,” Alustriel said. “Do come sit down, Kor.”

Kor came over and sat down on the unoccupied divan—Laeral taking a seat beside him—before saying “So explain.”

The explanation given—Alustriel having multiple soulmarks, the drow being her second soulmate, a magical sapphire that reacted to silverfire and turned out to be a soul trap, Sharr having been the one inside the soul trap—did not do much to reduce Korvallen’s bewilderment, but he knew that once he’d gotten over the multiple shocks he’d had, it would be easier to absorb and work through everything.

The city had reacted to learning of Sharr’s return by throwing a spontaneous festival, and between that and reunions with his loved ones, it was nearly two weeks later before Sharr truly had any quiet time to himself, but once things settled down, he made a point of seeking Drizzt out during the times Alustriel was occupied by her duties as a ruler, in order to get to know the ranger beyond the impressions he had gotten while still trapped within the sapphire, and so the ranger could get to know him.

He had only had to spar with Drizzt once to confirm that the ranger was indeed as highly skilled as his impressions had suggested, and after Drizzt had beaten Kolarven as well, Sharr was able to convince Korvallen to spar with the ranger. That match had left everyone quite impressed with Drizzt’s skill, and Korvallen had taken it on himself to improve the ranger’s single-blade techniques.

Sharr had also fairly quickly realized that Drizzt was much younger than his skill would suggest, and after learning the ranger’s actual age, was quite relieved that Drizzt and Alustriel had agreed to take things slowly.

As time passed, Sharr and Korvallen settled into a routine of spending spring and summer in the village, and fall and winter in Silverymoon. (Officially, Korvallen had been given a permanent assignment to protect Sharr when Sharr wasn’t in the city, but everyone knew that it was just an acknowledgment of what he’d be doing anyway.)

But even with that routine, Sharr still made a point of coming up to Silverymoon for at least a few days every time Drizzt visited the city, to continue the progress of him and Drizzt getting to know each other better.

Korvallen usually came with him, to spar with Drizzt and continue the ranger’s training in single-blade techniques, and Sharr eventually noticed that Drizzt seemed to find those spars and lessons to be almost exhilarating.

Asking the young drow about it one evening produced a surprising answer. “Korvallen reminds me of the House’s Weapon Master, back in Menzoberranzan,” Drizzt said. “He is the only person on the surface that I have ever met who would be able to give the Weapon Master a true challenge. And the joy of facing the Weapon Master and being pushed is literally the only thing I have ever missed of that city.

“To be able to know something like that again, and with one who shares many of my values? It is a true delight.”

Chapter Two: Moving Forward

1347 DR

Sharr and Andy abruptly stopping their conversation and getting the distant look that Korvallen knew meant they were talking over Alustriel’s anklets was not a good sign. So when both of them lost the distant look and refocused on him, he was ready for whatever the bad news was.

Or at least, he had thought he was. But Andy’s report of “Drizzt has a large Shadowspawn army incoming, up at the Reghed Glacier, and needs all the clerics we can get up there by dawn, as well as as many of our family as can come, for magical assistance” was significantly more trouble than Kor had been expecting.

And a single look at Sharr showed that he was going to need to head off some more. “You are not going,” Kor told his brother of the heart.

“But-”

“No. You’re bonded to Alustriel; Drizzt isn’t. And taking the risk of her losing both of you up there isn’t worth it.”

Sharr sighed heavily. “You have a point,” he agreed reluctantly.

Turning his attention to Andy, Kor said, “You teleporting up?”

“I am.”

“Then I’m going with you.”

Once the battle was finally over and he’d done at least a basic check of his people, Bruenor set Lespur and Fender to doing a more thorough check and making sure someone got some stew started, then went looking for Drizzt.

He’d been wandering the battlefield, calling for his friend, for long enough that he was starting to get a bit concerned, when he noticed a pegasus following a pair of people off the battlefield. One of them had dark hair, and looked like they were wearing plate armor, but the other had Drizzt’s pale hair and green cloak.

Bruenor hurried to catch up to the group, wondering which of the southerners the other person was.

He didn’t manage to do so before they left the battlefield, but he had at least gotten close enough to see that Drizzt was leaning on the dark-haired person.

The group’s pace had picked up slightly once they were out of the battlefield, so even once Bruenor had made his way out, he still didn’t manage to catch up to them until after they had reached the southerners’ camp.

“…any idea how risky that was?!” the dark-haired person—an elf, by the ears—was saying as Bruenor got within earshot of them. “It could very easily have ended with you being impaled by both of them, instead of the Fades impaling each other! I know better than to assume you weren’t thinking at all, but I’d love to know what you were thinking!”

The strange elf was scolding Drizzt like he was a child?! And his friend was just sitting there and taking it?! Bruenor’s temper roused and he stomped up to the southerner already bristling with anger.

“Where'd ye get off with scoldin’ me friend like that?!” he snapped. “Weren’t fer him, the entire Dale would’ve been overrun by that army!”

The elf turned to face Bruenor, his own face twisting up into a scowl, but before he could actually say anything, Bright Eyes stepped between them and gave an annoyed snort.

The look on the elf’s face shifted from a scowl to consideration, and then he opened his mouth anyway, but a shove from Bright Eyes made him snap it shut without saying anything. But before Bruenor could feel too pleased with things, the pegasus shoved him, too.

“Thank you, Bright Eyes,” Drizzt said. Turning to look at the elf, he said, “Korvallen, would you mind going to get me something to eat while I reassure my friend here?”

The elf—Korvallen, apparently—gave Drizzt a long look, cast another at Bruenor, then turned a considering one on Bright Eyes, who had started preening her wings, before sighing and saying, “Alright. But we will be resuming this conversation later.”

A sharp look from Drizzt and Bright Eyes both kept Bruenor from saying anything while the elf walked away, but once he was fairly certain the elf was out of earshot, he turned to Drizzt and said, “Why were ye just lettin’ him scold ye like that?! Ye’re no’ a child tae be scolded and sent tae bed wi'out supper!”

“Peace, my friend,” Drizzt replied. “Korvallen truly meant me no harm.”

“Harm or no’, he had nae right tae be scoldin’ ye like a child!”

“Actually, he does.”

Bruenor gave a disbelieving snort at that, but Drizzt was already continuing. “As not only is he close kin of a sort, he is keenly aware that had I been born in any goodly elven community, I would be barely more than halfway to being considered an adult, and he has many nephews—all older than I am—who have honed his protective instincts. Perhaps overly so, I will admit, but I find that preferable to the opposite.”

Bruenor considered his friend’s words carefully. Alright, if all that was true, then maybe the elf did have that right. “How’d a surface elf come tae be kin of any sort tae ye, beyond the most general?” That was the one thing in all of that that made no sense to him.

Drizzt pulled back his sleeve and showed Bruenor the inside of his wrist, where there was a mark of a silver flame sitting right on the tendons. “Through this.”

Well, that was surely a soulmark, no matter that Bruenor had never seen one before. But… “Nae way he’s yer soulmate, so ye’d better give the full explanation, me elf.”

“You’re right, he’s not; the Lady Alustriel is my soulmate. But Korvallen is brother-of-the-heart to her other soulmate.”

Knowing Drizzt’s tendency to downplay his fatigue when there were still threats to be dealt with, Korvallen insisted on staying with Bo and Laeral to find whatever it was that the ranger had been drawn up to Icewind Dale to deal with.

And while actually finding the damned thing had been easy enough, that it had tried to ensnare both Drizzt and Bo had been worrying enough before Laeral identified it as Crenshinibon.

Once that was known, Korvallen flatly refused to leave Drizzt’s side until it had been dealt with. Or at least, that had been his intent.

But between seeing that Drizzt really was taking it easy during the few days they spent in Shadowdale while Elminster, Syluné, and Laeral worked to figure out how to destroy the crystal, and knowing that Drizzt and Laeral would have to wait for an entire week for Valamaradace to get to where they were going to do the destruction, he decided that since they had already had to come to the Silver Marches just to ask Valamaradace for her assistance, there was no point in him actually continuing on to see the destruction, and chose to go back to the village once Vala's help had been secured.

1349 DR

Like he had with the Shadowspawn army, Korvallen had participated in the battle to reclaim Mithral Hall so that Sharr would be less displeased about not doing so himself, which meant he was present when Laeral decreed that Drizzt should be taken home to his stedding to recover from facing the shadow dragon. And since Drizzt was in no shape to keep himself on Bright Eyes’s back—the pegasus had, quite unsurprisingly, insisted on being the one to carry her person—Korvallen volunteered to be the one who rode behind him.

Bright Eyes gave several loud neighs once they had landed near the stedding, and fairly soon, the undergrowth moved slightly and a tall Ogier stepped out. Obviously male, by the long eyebrows, mustaches, and full beard, and wearing the camouflage clothing of a Protector. Korvallen was quite impressed by the man’s woodcraft, as he had not realized that there was anyone near until just before he had appeared. The Ogier's eyes did not quite brush past him to focus on Drizzt, but Korvallen had the feeling that if he had not still been behind Drizzt on Bright Eyes, the Ogier barely would have noticed him.

“Drizzt?” a deep bass voice said worriedly. “What has happened to you? What do you need, kinsman?”

Korvallen was prepared to answer if Drizzt was too out of it to do so, but the ranger was at least aware enough to say, “I want to go home, but do not trust my feet to carry me, Voran. Bright Eyes and my friend Korvallen got me this far.”

“Then we will go,” Voran said, and came over to stand beside Bright Eyes. “Do you wish me to carry you, or will you remain on Bright Eyes?”

“With Korvallen’s support, I can stay on Bright Eyes,” Drizzt said.

Voran then turned his attention to the elf behind Drizzt, bowing slightly. “My greetings to you, Korvallen, and my apologies for hastiness. We may be properly introduced later, but my kinsman needs to be within the stedding.”

“No apologies needed,” Korvallen said, even as the Ogier—Voran, apparently—turned and began to move through the thick undergrowth at a speed that had Bright Eyes trotting to keep up.

While there was no obvious marker of the stedding’s boundary, Korvallen could tell when they had entered it by the shift of Drizzt’s weight against him—the ranger sitting up a bit more, supporting a little more of his own weight—though Voran stepping to the side and turning to wait for them would have been a large clue anyway.

“Shall we bring you to the healers, Drizzt, or only to Lindsar?” Voran asked, once Bright Eyes had come up alongside him.

“Lindsar, please. I just want to rest.”

If Korvallen had not felt the instant improvement in Drizzt’s state simply from crossing the boundary into the stedding's magic-null zone, he would have spoken up to suggest Drizzt be taken to the healers anyway, but since there had been that improvement, he was willing to let the matter lie for now.

Drizzt drew in a deep breath of good air, that smelled like it ought to. “I have missed you all.”

“Of course,” Voran agreed, and resumed his trek, though at a slower pace this time, Bright Eyes staying beside him. “She is weaving today, not on the borders, so she will see to you. Truly, kinsman, what happened to you? Or is it too much to speak of?”

“Had to help my friends take back their home,” Drizzt said. “A shadow dragon… from a different plane, not Leafblighter’s forces… had taken their Hall. I was most useful at keeping the dragon distracted while wizards dealt with it.”

Korvallen snorted. “You certainly did distract it, but it could have been managed with less risk to yourself.”

Voran looked from Drizzt to Korvallen, then back. “Did the risks he took play a role in the dragon harming him so?”

“No,” Korvallen said. “The risks he took were physical ones, the harm the dragon did was magical. Which is why Laeral insisted he be brought here.”

“What did it do, then?” Voran asked, unsettled and uncertain. “Did it… breathe upon you with some fume only the Elders who study such things would know?”

“Dragons exude dragon fear. Shadow dragons more so. And… they are more unnatural than a native dragon, making it worse for me.” Drizzt shuddered a little. “It is… the world trying to turn itself inside out to be near one, for me. And it is evil, with no chance of redemption.”

“Terrible,” Voran said, and then he sped up just a little, so he could open the door of Lindsar’s home before Bright Eyes got there.

As the door opened, Lindsar settled her loom so that her progress was not in danger, and then turned to see who it was.

Voran was the one who had opened the door, but behind him, one he had stepped inside and was holding it open, was Bright Eyes, carrying Drizzt and an unknown elf.

“Hello,” Drizzt said, opening his eyes to see one of the most welcome faces in all of existence, having known when they entered the house by the change in the sound of Bright Eyes’s hooves.

“He wished to come home, to recover from a dragon battle,” Voran said, to spare Drizzt the immediate explanation.

“You are always welcome home, my brother,” Lindsar told him. “And it is very good to see you… but I do not like how unwell you appear. Voran, will you do me the favor of going to Jinana’s and asking for two bottles of her restoratives?”

“Of course, Lindsar,” Voran agreed, waiting until Bright Eyes was out of the way before turning to go. “I will be back with them as swiftly as decency allows.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Drizzt said. Then he leaned forward against Bright Eyes’s neck at a tap and a shift from Korvallen, and his friend carefully dismounted.

“Do you need help getting down?” Korvallen asked his young friend, once he was firmly on the ground again.

Drizzt took a moment to assess his condition, then answered, “I think that would be wise.”

Before Korvallen could move to start helping him, though, Bright Eyes gave a snort, and carefully lowered herself to lay on the floor. That made it much easier to get off, though Drizzt was still glad for Korvallen’s support. As soon as he was off of her, Bright Eyes stood back up, and Drizzt leaned against her.

Returning his attention to Lindsar, he said, “Lindsar, my friend here is Korvallen Senahye, Knight-Captain in Silverymoon’s Knights in Silver, and brother-of-the-heart to Alustriel’s other soulmate.” Shifting to look at Korvallen, he continued, “Korvallen, this is Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera, Protector of Stedding Corwal, and my sister.”

“Greetings, Korvallen Senahye,” Lindsar said, bowing to the elf. “Your name sings in my ears. And if you will forgive my abruptness, I think I should get my brother settled on the couch.”

“Of course,” Korvallen replied, returning the bow, but perfectly willing to skimp on the polite courtesies for the sake of getting Drizzt settled down to rest faster. “And I return your greetings, Lindsar.”

Suiting actions to words as soon as Korvallen had agreed, Lindsar scooped her brother up in her arms and carried him over to the couch, laying him down gently, then began to work upon the laces of his boots.

“Would you like for me to take Bright Eyes out to her shelter and get her settled?” Korvallen asked.

Lindsar paused in removing Drizzt’s boots and looked over at Korvallen. “That would be quite helpful, thank you.”

Bright Eyes gave an annoyed snort at that, and stomped one hoof on the floor, but Korvallen was well used to dealing with opinionated pegasi worried about their riders. “You can keep an eye on Drizzt through that window,” and he pointed at the one that had the best view of the couch, “just as well as if you were inside. And you do need a grooming, plus food and water.”

Korvallen was getting on quite well with Lindsar, but Drizzt was also rapidly improving, so since he had not intended to stay longer than was necessary to make sure Drizzt really was taking it easy, when Lindsar spoke of going to Silverymoon with Drizzt, several days after their arrival in the stedding, Korvallen took the opportunity to bring up the subject of his own return to the city.

Drizzt had agreed that he was feeling well enough to not need assistance to stay on Bright Eyes’s back, though he still didn’t think he was fully recovered, so plans were made for the two of them to leave on Bright Eyes early the next morning.

As the flight from the stedding to Silverymoon took most of the day, Drizzt and Bright Eyes stayed the night in the city, and the morning after they had arrived, Korvallen saw them off again, with a promise from Drizzt that he would go straight back to the stedding.

Though Kor had assured him that Drizzt truly was recovering well from his prolonged exposure to the shadow dragon, Sharr still started to grow somewhat concerned when it had reached the middle of the third month of spring—Mithral Hall having been reclaimed early in the second month—and there was still no word from Alustriel about so much as an estimate from Drizzt on when he might return to Silverymoon.

When he mentioned those concerns to Kor, however, his brother of the heart was quite firm that they were unfounded.

“It’s been five years since Drizzt last visited the stedding,” Kor reminded him. “He has a lot of catching up to do.”

But even with that reminder, he was still quite relieved to hear from Alustriel, most of two weeks later, that Drizzt had finally returned. He was even more pleased to hear that the ranger had brought his Ogier sister with him.

And when Sharr came down to the clearing below the village to call for his current pegasus friend, Korvallen was waiting for him.

“I hadn’t realized that you were planning on going up with me, this time,” Sharr said. “After all, you’ve already met Lindsar.”

“I may have met her,” Kor said, “but I didn’t truly get a chance to know her, as we were both a bit preoccupied by making sure Drizzt actually took it easy and keeping Bright Eyes mollified about not being allowed in the house.

“And I did promise her that she’d get a chance to see me and Drizzt spar, since she’s never had the opportunity to see him in a friendly match, and one certainly wasn’t going to happen while Drizzt was still recovering.”

For all that it had been early spring when Drizzt and Alustriel decided that they were going to go ahead and make their relationship official, everything else that Drizzt had committed to doing meant that it was late fall by the time they actually got a chance to do so.

Sharr and Kor both attended evenfeast on the chosen night, and though they had had to explain the concept of multiple soulmarks to pretty much all of the non-elves who had chosen to approach them with questions about Drizzt, they were quite pleased with the results of their friendly greetings to the ranger and the many conversations they had had about him.

Chapter Three: Continuing On

1349 DR, late fall

Settled beside Kor on the divan facing the one Drizzt and Alustriel were sitting on, Sharr was about to ask if either Drizzt or Kor had had a chance to visit the Tuatha’an caravan that had been the talk of evenfeast that night, when Drizzt preempted him by saying “I’m going to need to leave a few weeks earlier than I had intended to.”

“That it is not much sooner than you planned means it cannot be a pull,” Alustriel said, “and it seems unlikely to be trouble at the stedding that needs your skills, either, so… the Tuatha’an brought word of some trouble in the elan-lands?” She reached out and took one of Drizzt’s hands in hers. “If it is something you can share, will you?”

Drizzt did not remove his hand from Alustriel’s, but the other reached up to run through his own hair, and then he took a deep breath. “I noted corrupted Aes Sedai. Laeral relayed this to her friend Terava Sedai.”

Sharr instantly sat up straighter, and he knew that Kor had done the same beside him. For all that the Aes Sedai claimed to be incorruptible, he’d always had his doubts, ones that he knew Kor and the Chosen of Mystra shared. But this was the first time those doubts had been confirmed as justified.

“Terava Sedai followed through, but their leads into the full conspiracy were cut when the ones they made out died.” Drizzt half-shrugged a shoulder. “They need me to find new leads, to expose the rot. I can go—I have a standing invitation—and teach more of the Underdark as I recall it for my excuse to be present.”

“The only time you’ve been in the elan-lands with Laeral—or at all, as far as I’m aware—was that trip just before Laeral brought you to meet Alustriel,” Sharr said, “and that was nearly fifteen years ago. It’s taken them that long to run out of leads, and they still haven’t uncovered the full conspiracy? Just how big is it?”

“I have no idea,” Drizzt said, “but from what Terava Sedai wrote, each of the corrupted Aes Sedai can only reveal three others, and some of the ones revealed were long absent from the Tower, so it makes sense that it would take quite a while to get even as far as they did.”

“Are you sure this isn’t an attempt to lure you into the hands of the corrupted ones, so they can get rid of you?” Kor asked. “Given that no one else has ever been able to tell if an Aes Sedai is corrupted, you are a distinct threat to them.”

“Not completely. But given that Terava Sedai was uncorrupted, and Laeral and I gave her the names of all the others we had met that day who were clear, the only person involved who I don’t know for certain is uncorrupted is the Amyrlin Seat.”

“And finding out if she is corrupted is a priority.” Alustriel sighed. “Even with how much faster Bright Eyes makes it, there’s still no point in flying all the way from here to Tar Valon unless you simply wish the journey. We left ourselves a teleportation-marker on the slopes of Dragonmount centuries ago, so I can have you and Bright Eyes there within a few hours whenever you choose to go. A day at most, if I am lacking teleport spells that day and must wait to reacquire it.”

1350 DR

While Sharr and Kor did need to leave for the village soon after Alustriel had teleported Drizzt and Bright Eyes to Tar Valon, they chose to at least wait until after the first of the weekly check-ins Drizzt and Alustriel had agreed on.

That check-in, though a bit earlier than a full week, had brought the confirmation that the Amyrlin Seat was indeed uncorrupted—and quite grateful for the ring of detect evil that Alustriel and Qilué had spent much of the winter making—as well as news of the plans that had been made to maximize Drizzt’s exposure to the Aes Sedai.

The news that the process of ferreting out all of the Black Ajah would be a long and difficult one—and that apprehension would need to be swift and as total as possible—due to two of them being on the Aes Sedai’s ruling council was less welcome, but was counterbalanced by both the protective amulet that the Amyrlin Seat had loaned Drizzt and Drizzt’s own idea to obtain the drow sleep potion for use in the apprehension, if possible.

Even after they returned to the village, Alustriel continued to keep Sharr updated on what Drizzt had shared with her during the check-ins, including her assessment of how heavily it was all weighing on the ranger.

And then, early in the second month of summer, Alustriel began the update by grumping ~Drizzt went and changed plans without telling me.~

~Oh?~ Sharr said. ~How did he do so?~

~He decided to take the long way back to Silverymoon instead of letting me know that they were done so I could teleport him and Bright Eyes back,~ Alustriel said. ~Which, alright, given how much everything has been weighing on him, I can understand him needing the time on the road to settle himself.

~I just wish he had actually told me that. Because he didn’t even bother to mention it during the check-in. If I hadn’t gone and scried for him because I had a feeling that something was off, I wouldn’t even know that he had left Tar Valon.~

Given that the Highharvestide festival had not only been Drizzt’s first as an official consort of Alustriel’s, it had also been his first in Silverymoon, Sharr had taken it on himself to show the ranger around.

Watching Drizzt’s delight in trying all the various foods on offer, especially the ones that were seasonal to the harvest and slaughtering time, had been quite enjoyable for Sharr, and so had watching Drizzt watch everyone else enjoying the festival.

Sharr was as intrigued as Alustriel when, several days after she had brought Drizzt back from his winter visit to the stedding, the ranger had asked her to please see if Laeral could come visit. A time had been arranged, and now, a bit more than a week since Drizzt’s return, Sharr, Kor, Alustriel, and Laeral were settled on the divans in the outer room of Alustriel’s suite, waiting for Drizzt to arrive.

A brief knock preceded his entrance, and he was carrying a pair of cloth-and-ribbon wrapped bundles of equal size—one in each hand—when he came in.

“Hello, my Lady. Sharr, Kor. Glad you could come, Laeral!”

“As though I would refuse you wanting to see me, dearheart?” Laeral asked. From his seat on the other divan, Sharr had seen her brows raise at the sight of the packages—quite large ones, too—Drizzt was carrying, so he was not surprised when she then added, “And what are you up to?”

“Gifts, for both you and Alustriel, as Lindsar declined to keep one.” Drizzt smiled brightly, handing one to Laeral, then the other to Alustriel… and Sharr was amused to see him steal a kiss on her cheek before letting go of hers.

Then Alustriel and Laeral set to opening the packages, and Sharr could not help but let out an impressed whistle when he saw the thickly plush, pure white fur each contained. And that was before Laeral stood up to let hers unroll and it proved to be longer than she was tall and wider than her spread arms, even without counting the width of the legs.

“Drizzt, what is this?” Laeral asked. “Other than impossiblybeautiful?”

Sharr had been wondering that as well, so he was quite eager to hear the answer.

“Giant weasels, gone kill-mad, so I could not just move them on,” Drizzt said. “Lindsar, Bright Eyes, and I tracked them after the Protector that found them told Lindsar and I of one of their kills. Lindsar offered me both pelts, so I would have one for each of you.”

“Amazing,” Alustriel murmured. Then she murmured a few strange words, and her pelt was taken by invisible hands and spread out to display its full size.

Kor had tensed a little beside him as the invisible hands took the pelt, but Sharr had recognized the strange words as being arcane ones, so he laid a calming hand on Kor’s shoulder and whispered, “Unseen servants, no need to worry.”

“The tanning is… so perfect,” Alustriel continued, “they’re as supple as anything I’ve ever felt, for as thick as the skin must have been. She’s sure she didn’t want one?”

“She saw what they had done,” Drizzt explained, “and the pelts would be a reminder, bringing that image back.”

“Your sister, like so many of your people, is a gentle soul,” Laeral replied, before wrapping herself in the full fur. “Oh, it is wonderful! I don’t even know what I want it to be, but it is so very soft!”

Alustriel laughed softly, before sitting forward so the unseen servants could wrap hers behind her shoulders. “Mmm… so soft. And surely warm as anything. I am glad to have it not be an ill memory for her, then, and very thankful.”

Beside Sharr, Kor gave a laugh of his own. “You’re going to have to improve the gifts you give her now, my friend. Drizzt has just set a high bar to match.”

1351 DR, spring

Less than a week after Drizzt had set out for Mithral Hall to begin the year’s ranging, Sharr was lounging beside Alustriel on one of the divans in her rooms when she suddenly tensed, then sat up straight and cried, “What?!”

Recognizing the signs of talking over the anklets in her gaze, he waited until her eyes focused on him again, then asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Drizzt sent to me and Laeral. ‘Black Ajah sister and her wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai.’” The exasperation was strong in Alustriel’s voice as she spoke, and it got stronger when she added, “Said in an entirely commonplace tone, of course, as though he faced murder attempts every day!”

Sharr shook his head and sighed. “Usually, I’d simply say ‘Rangers!’, but that’s excessive even for most of them.

“And if you’re feeling a need to go to him, to reassure yourself that he’s okay, I’ll go with you.”

“Thank you,” Alustriel said. “I didn’t give Drizzt a chance to argue with me about that, but I could tell that he was not happy with the decision, and Taern isn’t likely to be any more pleased than Drizzt was. But between your presence and Laeral’s, that should reassure both of them.”

And with that, she rose from the divan and headed for the door, and Sharr followed her.

After a brief stop at Sharr’s rooms, so he could get his sword, they headed for the nearest teleport point, and soon enough, the two of them arrived in a clearing, where Drizzt was stroking Bright Eyes’s neck, and Laeral was looking at him with a displeased expression.

“Alustriel’s here,” Laeral said. “So explain.”

Well, that probably explained the displeasure, though Sharr wasn’t going to discount the possibility that something else had contributed to it.

Drizzt stopped stroking Bright Eyes’s neck, and looked at the three of them, before pointing to a pair of bodies at the far edge of the clearing. “When I took my spells, the wilds were whispering of danger. And my Lady granted me that which I needed for the danger, though I did not know what it would be.

“The Warder cast multiple spells, before finding his death, and the corrupted one attempted… I think it is called balefire?… when I dropped the darkness I had thrown her way.”

Beside him, Sharr could see the color drain from Alustriel’s face at the mention of balefire, and he wasn’t sure he hadn’t had the same happen. He wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned into the offered comfort.

Drizzt half-shrugged. “I didn’t mean for either of you to come. I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped, and knew I needed to be the one to tell Alustriel.” Looking directly at Sharr, the ranger added, “Thank you for coming with her.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Sharr replied.

“I know you didn’t intend us to come,” Laeral said, and oh, Sharr could tell from her voice that she wasn’t handling the mention of balefire any better than Alustriel was, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance we weren’t going to, when you sent a message like that.”

Alustriel shifted in a way that indicated she was ready to stop leaning on him, and Sharr dropped the arm he had wrapped around her. She then took a step towards Drizzt, and asked, “Are you certain it was balefire the Black sister used?”

Though most of his attention was on Alustriel and Drizzt, Sharr still noticed when Laeral moved towards the corpses, a glowing mote held where her body could shield Drizzt from it.

“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed,” Drizzt replied, even as he put on his spectacles and started following Laeral. Alustriel moved to join him, and Sharr and Bright Eyes followed behind them. “Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.”

The four of them had reached Laeral by then, and Drizzt added, “Thank you both, again, for the spellwork on my blades. They served me well.”

The head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body was certainly proof of that, and Sharr quite approved of Drizzt’s choice to handle the Darkfriend in the same manner as required for a Fade.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Laeral said.

And then Alustriel pulled Drizzt in to her, his back to her chest, and her chin tucked over his hair. Laeral took that as a signal to come over and take one of Drizzt’s hands, and Sharr started to stroke Bright Eyes’s neck when she shifted like she wanted to protest the manhandling of her person.

“It’s alright, Alustriel,” Drizzt soothed. “It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me! The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”

While Drizzt’s attempt to soothe the Sisters was definitely understandable, Sharr also knew exactly why it wasn’t going to help the way the ranger hoped it would. But it would be better for them to explain it.

“So they did,” Alustriel agreed, “so they did. But it’s not only the threat to you that has frightened us, love. We would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return.” Which was something that Sharr knew Drizzt still had some reluctance to consider.

Laeral then picked up the explanation. “If the Black Ajah have rediscovered the weave for balefire, there is danger to the Weave itself, to the Pattern.

“There is a reason that all of those who can use elan made a compact against it long ago. Even before the end of the Breaking. This must be brought to the attention of our Mother.”

“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he had seen in more depth.

Sharr wasn’t as well-versed in what balefire actually looked and acted like as the Sisters were, but he could tell from the looks on their faces, as Drizzt continued to speak, that they truly were becoming certain that the ranger was correct.

“Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes,” Laeral said, when Drizzt had finished. “Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”

Then she looked over to the bodies, which had been stripped to their smallclothes. “Let them feed the carrion-eaters, and do some good for once in their miserable, accursed lives. Where were you planning to rest for the day, dear one?”

Sharr quite agreed with that decision about the bodies, but Laeral’s question about a place to rest was definitely a sign that it was almost time for him and Alustriel to leave. And Alustriel seemed to have realized that as well, releasing her hold on Drizzt, which Laeral took as a cue to let go of his hand.

“Hadn’t chosen yet. All of their things are in the haversack Thyl and Lin gifted me with, though, so I can call the carrion feeders now, and we can find a place… if you’re staying with me for a time?”

“I’m sure Alustriel would like to,” Sharr said, “but I rather think she and I had best go back to Silverymoon.”

“You are entirely correct,” Alustriel said with a sigh. “Before we go, however, did the Warder get lucky enough that you need a potion?”

“He’s not hurt at all,” Laeral answered, her tone exasperated, “though he hadn’t even bothered to check until I asked him if he was, 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, and Sharr winced at the exasperation in her tone. He strongly suspected that Drizzt was going to be in for a talk about taking care of himself as well as others, once the ranger returned to Silverymoon. “Of course it was.

“But since that is the case, Sharr and I really do need to leave now.” She leaned down to give Drizzt a kiss. When she pulled back, Sharr reached out and took her hand, and a moment later, they were in her bedchamber.

“Well,” Alustriel said, “I think we should both get some rest now, but do try to help me remember tomorrow that it’s brought up something I need to talk to you about.”

“Of course, my star.” Sharr moved in to kiss her, then turned to leave for his own rooms.

The following night, once Alustriel had returned from the post-evenfeast festivities she had chosen to attend, Sharr asked, “So what is it that you need to talk to me about, that was brought up by the attack on Drizzt?”

“Taking the Warder bond with him,” Alustriel answered, shifting on the divan to look more directly at Sharr. “I’ve been wanting to for a while, but felt it would be better to let him bring it up, because of his history with it.”

“The attack has changed your willingness to wait for that, then?” Sharr asked.

“It has,” Alustriel replied. “Between the fact that I could have lost him, without even knowing that he was in danger, and how close it strikes to what happened to you, I’m no longer comfortable with waiting, though I do plan to ask Laeral for advice on how to broach the subject with him.”

“I have no problems whatsoever with you taking the bond with Drizzt,” Sharr said. “I’ve actually been expecting this conversation since the two of you made your relationship official.”

Sharr and Kor had left for the village before Laeral got back from telling her Aes Sedai friend about the attack on Drizzt, but the conversation with her had gone quite well, as Laeral had actually been thinking about the matter for some time. And now, a month later, Drizzt had returned to Silverymoon, and Alustriel was preparing to start the conversation.

Shifting on the divan to face him fully, she took a deep breath and said, “Drizzt, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Hearing the serious tone in her voice, Drizzt also shifted to look straight at Alustriel. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Alustriel said, “but the attack by the Black Ajah and her Warder has changed my feelings on an aspect of our relationship that I had previously felt that you should be the one to bring up.”

“And what is that aspect?”

Alustriel took another deep breath. “I want to take the Warder bond with you.”

“How does Sharr feel about us doing so?” Drizzt asked. He knew that it was possible for someone to have two Warders, but he also knew that a second Warder was a choice that had to be agreed to by the first Warder.

“Sharr is fine with it,” Alustriel said.

“Is it just because of the attack, though?”

“No. I’ve wanted to take the bond with you for a while, but given your history with it, I felt it would be better to let you come to me about it when—or if—you felt ready to take it.

“But with the attack… you could have been killed, because I didn’t know you needed help.”

“Even if we had been bonded,” Drizzt said, “it’s not like I would have been able to share my vision with you before the attack was over.”

“I’m working on solving that problem,” Alustriel replied. “Teleportation-markers and the staves of Silverymoon are both things that allow one to teleport to them, so if I can figure out how to adapt the magic, I can make something for you to wear that I will be able to teleport to without error, and without needing your eyes to know where.”

Drizzt gave a wry smile. “I want to take it, too. But knowing the effect a broken bond has, I could not see why you would wish to do so with me, given that it’s a ranger’s duty to risk their life for others. Especially since what happened to Sharr proved that your enemies are perfectly willing to target those you are close to.”

Alustriel laughed softly, shaking her head as she drew him closer. “Aren’t we a pair? Though I will say that the fact that the attack on you reminding me of what happened to Sharr contributed to my decision to broach the matter of the bond with you.”

“A good pair, I think,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “And I had not considered that perspective on things.”

“Tomorrow, then, after lunch? Since I’ll need to memorize the spell.”

“Tomorrow after lunch is fine with me.”

Late fall

Kor and Sharr were playing a game in Kor’s rooms, having chosen not to attend evenfeast that night, when Sharr suddenly took on the distant look of talking over the anklets. Kor patiently waited for Sharr to come back to himself, and when the other man did, Kor asked, “What’s going on?”

“Alustriel asked me to meet her and Drizzt at Taern’s office,” Sharr said, getting up as he did so. “And your presence would also be useful.”

“Then let’s go,” Kor said, getting up himself.

Not bothering to put away the game, the two of them left Kor’s rooms and headed for the Spellguard Tower at a brisk pace.

Alustriel and Drizzt had not yet arrived when Kor and Sharr got to Taern’s office, but they didn’t have to wait long before Alustriel walked in without even knocking, followed by Drizzt.

“Taern, Syluné needs my help,” she said. “They’re about to be attacked and the others are unavailable. You’re going to have to stay to watch the city, and organize getting as many of the Knights and Spellguards to me as you can.

“My next stops are the magical items vault and the dispensary for weapons to share out and potions for the injured.”

Taern nodded. “I will get that support to you swiftly, Lady. And the city will be guarded well.” He looked at each of the men, catching their eyes and getting brief nods in return, then focused fully. “I do not suppose she said which of her problems?”

“No,” Alustriel replied, shaking her head. “It may not be obvious. Thank you, Taern. Mystra be with you.” She turned and left the office then, followed by Drizzt, and—after he exchanged a look with Kor—Sharr as well.

“So,” Kor said, once the door had shut again, “do you just want me to handle informing Besnell and getting things started for the Knights?”

“Probably better for me to handle formally notifying him,” Taern replied, “but I see no reason you shouldn’t come with me for that, given that I’m sure you’re planning on being one of the Knights who goes. And if Besnell doesn’t ask you to lead them, I’ll be surprised.”

“Fair enough.”

Kor was familiar enough with magic to know that the effort the Sisters had expended in the last push would have knocked them both out, so once the battle was actually over, he went looking for either Drizzt or Sharr.

He found Drizzt first, as the ranger had actually been coming to find him. Drawing him over to a quiet spot to talk, Kor said, “With Alustriel unconscious, that leaves you and Sharr as the ones our people are going to look to for guidance. What do you want us to do?”

Despite his clear surprise at Kor's question, Drizzt gave sensible enough directions, and once all of the uninjured Knights and Spellguards had been set to tasks, Kor turned his attention to the ranger himself. “While we were organizing the cleanup, Aumry told me that Sharr accompanied Alustriel and Syluné off the battlefield, and stayed with them,” he said. “Since that means Sharr has already had a chance to get some rest, you should swap places with him now.”

It wasn’t that simple to convince Drizzt, of course, but soon enough, the ranger had agreed and headed for Chauntea's Temple, and not long after that, Sharr came and joined Kor where he was participating in checking for further traps.

Becoming 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:

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.”

If He Was Alive...: Other Perspectives (613 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 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
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things
Summary:

Scenes and snippets from the AUs in my fic "If He Was Alive...", that are from the perspectives of people other than the father of Alustriel's sons. Usually, though perhaps not always, because he wasn't present for the scene.

If He Was Alive… (62139 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 43/?
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series – R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alustriel Silverhand/Original Character(s)
Characters: Alustriel Silverhand, Original Elf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Drizzt Do’Urden, Ghaelryss Aerasumé, Uoundeld Aerasumé, Andelver Aerasumé, Elinthalar Aerasumé, Ellifain Tuuserail
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, tags updated as I write things, Ensemble Cast, Implied/Referenced Human Sacrifice, Trauma, Recovery, Alternate Universe - Fusion, the Fusion tag only applies to certain chapters, Implied/Referenced Unplanned Pregnancy, that tag only applies to the Zanna‘Verse
Summary:

Inspired by "Aiding Love to Grow" and various other Legend of Drizzt AUs written by Merfilly, with or without ilyena_sylph, scenes and snippets from universes where the father of Alustriel's sons is alive in those AUs.

Magical Mayhem with a Pegasus (4105 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: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Alustriel Silverhand
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Curse Breaking, Implied/Referenced Gender Dysphoria
Series: Part 6 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

What if Drizzt had Bright Eyes during the events of "Making the Most of Magical Mayhem"?

Beginning notes

Inspired by

senmut and

ilyena_sylph's fics Ranger and Pegasus and Making the Most of Magical Mayhem.

The italicized section at the start of the first scene is a direct excerpt from “Making the Most of Magical Mayhem”. There is also a certain amount of altered borrowing from that fic, its fork "An Unusual Arrival", and, in one specific instance,

senmut's fic "Honest Sharing"

If you are confused by this fic, please go read the linked inspiring fics, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with them.

Magical Mayhem with a Pegasus

Samiar Ravarel, full sun elf, if a bit more worldly than some of that race, had seen many things in his long life. What he had not seen was a ten-foot long panther that reeked of astral magic walk nonchalantly past him, pause, blink twice, and then keep walking.

He was certain his entire lineage, despite being of the stern stuff to remain among other races, were questioning his sanity as he scooped up what he had gathered, and followed, curious more than anything, and half-certain that had been an invitation.

The pegasus at the edge of the more densely wooded thicket he followed the panther to—and that it had gone into—made it unlikely that this was a trap… but he still paused and readied a spell, just in case.

“No need for casting, Saer,” a voice called, from up in the tree that the pegasus was standing beneath. “I am the reason the cat came, and I seek only a moment to speak, to explain why I seek you, before I will go my own way if you choose. You are Saer Ravarel the curse-breaker?”

“I am Samiar Ravarel,” Samiar replied, peering up into the tree, trying to see what he could of what kind of being was speaking to him. “And curses are rather a fascination of mine. Are you suffering some affliction, then?”

“Yes. Please do not be alarmed; I truly am seeking help, as difficult as that is for one of my kind,” the voice said, before a cloaked figure, bearing two scabbards, dropped about twice human height to the ground, landing beside the pegasus. He moved slowly, jet-black hands coming up to push the hood from an equally black face and white hair. “My name is Drizzt Do’Urden.”

Samiar felt the instinctive fear and hate try to surge up in him at the sight of an armed drow, but… the pegasus was lipping at one of the pouches slung on the drow’s belt? The drow was laughing at that and taking something out of the pouch to offer it to the pegasus? And was now stroking the pegasus’s neck as it chewed whatever he had given it?

That was even more bewildering than the fact that this drow wore none of the enchanted garb of raiding drow, and was moving carefully and speaking in Common, asking for help.

He knew, perfectly well, that drow were excellent liars, and one might be using tongues to speak, but… he also knew that it was not possible to fool a pegasus’s innate sense of a person’s nature. Even so, he still twitched his fingers through the motion for detect thoughts, focusing on the drow. “Drizzt Do’Urden, hm? Well, at least we are even on the matter of names, now, though I still do not know the name of your friend there.

“But what curse troubles you, that your own people could not deal with better than I?” The phrasing of his question was deliberate, as even though Drizzt was very clearly not evil, it was still possible that he was neutral, and a Vhaeraunite scout or information gatherer.

“My friend is called Bright Eyes. And I have no people, Saer,” Drizzt said in full honesty. “I long-since exiled myself from them, and then from the Underdark itself. I live from the wilds, doing all I can to serve as a ranger, but I made a mistake in the last set of ruins I cleared.

“While I could feel magic, it did not feel innately tainted or wrong, and the box I took from there called to me, for it was inlaid with a cat much like my companion that drew you here.” He dropped his eyes, and Bright Eyes bumped her nose against his chest. “The curse upon it escaped as I opened the box, and now… I need aid.”

That was the truth and nothing but, Samiar felt, reading the truth of the ‘no people’ and the ‘I should have known better’ alike, as well as the deep chagrin in the latter. “You appear to be healthy enough,” he said curiously, raising a brow, then flicked his fingers, “no, no. Come, we will talk within my home.”

If the pegasus—Bright Eyes, Samiar reminded himself—had not been present, he would have cast an arcane eye to keep an eye on Drizzt Do’Urden as he led the way to his tower, but she was, so he was willing to place enough trust in her goodly nature to expose his back to Drizzt.

As time passed, Drizzt slowly braved asking Samiar about elven history and culture, making it clear he truly was just curious about how the schism was taught on the surface.

But after an extensive discussion of the topic, Samiar wondered if it had been too much for the drow ranger, as Drizzt had left and was gone for three whole nights, and well into the fourth day.

“My apologies for being gone so long,” Drizzt said when he did come in, carrying a bounty of foods that had been smoked. “Everything you say about the history, is what we are taught but as if in a mirror.

“I trust in it, as my own society is built on lies, yet… were those who were innocent of it all given any choice to leave their heritage, and not be cast into the simmering pool of rage and hate?”

Samiar helped him store the foods, considering that. “Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden, daughter of the one that became Lolth, went with your people, to try and provide a way back, or so the legend says. I do not think She has had much luck.”

“I still find it hard to believe She exists,” Drizzt said, “despite what my friends Thyl and Lin have taught me of her.”

“Thyl and Lin?” Samiar said. “Do you mean Inthylyn and Lilinthar Aerasumé?”

“I do,” Drizzt replied. “Why? Do you know them?”

“They’re my cousin Sharr’s sons. How did you come to meet them?”

“The year after Bright Eyes hatched, she took to helping me and Guen guard the roads,” Drizzt said. “And a young pegasus helping to do such eventually caused enough curiosity—especially with the fact that we never stuck around afterwards—that Thyl and Lin’s mother sent them to fulfill a request she had received for someone to investigate the matter.”

“Why would she have received such a request?” Samiar asked.

Drizzt looked at his friend oddly. “She’s the ruler of Silverymoon. Why wouldn’t the hamlets in Silverymoon’s claimed lands send their request to her?”

“Wait, that’s actually El- Alustriel up there?” And at Drizzt’s bewildered look, Samiar explained, “She ruled Silverymoon for a couple decades, around… four and a half centuries ago, under the name Elué Dualen, before giving up the rule to someone else.

“And given how instrumental she was in making Silverymoon into what it is, I thought the current ruler was someone else having taken up the name and likeness for added legitimacy.”

“Well, Thyl and Lin were quite clear about their mother being the current ruler, so apparently not.”

“We’re going up to Silverymoon, then,” Samiar said. “Sharr can help me translate the box’s inscription, and once we know what it says, Alustriel can help me figure out how to break the curse.”

Drizzt did not wince, but it took a significant force of will to manage it. Thyl and Lin had also been quite clear about the fact that their father had been dead for several decades, but Samiar’s comment about getting Sharr’s help with the translation was just the latest indication that he still thought his cousin was alive. It would be much better for that news to be delivered by someone who had actually known the man, though, so Drizzt was just going to make sure to be extra careful in what he said about his friends until then.

It was not common for the gate guards to send messages directly to Alustriel while she was seeing her appointments for the day, but it did happen occasionally, and the message she had just received certainly justified the decision.

Someone using the name Samiar Ravarel had arrived at the Blacklar Gate with a drow ranger of Mielikki who had a pegasus friend, saying that he was Sharrevaliir's cousin as though he expected them to recognize his cousin’s name—and Alustriel could almost hear the confusion the guards must have felt at that—and declared that he and his friend had come to meet with her in a way that made it clear he was expecting her to wish to do so quite soon. The guards had allowed the group to enter, and given them a guide, but felt she should be informed before they reached the Palace.

If it really was Samiar, then he clearly had no idea about Sharr’s death, and if it wasn’t, well… she would have plenty of questions for the impostor. A quick sending to Taern informed him of the situation, then she sent her page off to tell the guards at the Palace entrances which of the rooms designated for casual conversation the pair should be shown to, and started writing out notes to the rest of her day’s appointments apologizing for canceling on short notice.

Notes sent off with another page to be delivered, Alustriel then went to the conversation room she had specified, and settled herself on one of the divans. Not long after, a page stuck his head into the room and said, “People to see you, Lady.”

“Thank you, Allandryn,” Alustriel said. “I’m expecting them.” And then, before the pair could enter the room, she moved her fingers in the correct pattern to cast discern lies.

The page had ducked back out of the room as she did that, and then Alustriel rose to her feet as a sun elf—and that certainly looked like Samiar—and a drow entered the room. The sun elf moved towards her, reaching out for an embrace, and said, “Hello, El- Alustriel, dear one.”

“Hello, Sam,” she replied, allowing a brief embrace. “Who’s your friend?”

“Drizzt Do’Urden, ranger of Mielikki and rider of Bright Eyes,” Sam answered. “He came to me seeking help with breaking a curse he had run afoul of. I’m hoping Sharr can help me translate the inscription on the box that was the trigger for the curse, and that you can help with figuring out how to break it after that.

“But first, let me apologize for not coming to visit sooner. My only excuse is that I did not truly think it was you up here, since the last I was aware, you had given up the city, and did not wish to see another.”

That was very much the truth—both the reason for coming now, and the reason for not coming before—so Alustriel dismissed the discern lies and settled back into her seat.

Watching with interest as Sam took a seat right next to Drizzt, rather than one at a more casual distance, she sighed. “Well, that is certainly an understandable reason, though I’m somewhat surprised you didn’t hear about my return, given how it happened—it was the Year of the Black Horde, with a three-way contest for the city, after which I was chosen as High Mage by unanimous popular acclaim.

“But Samiar, have you truly not been in touch with the village at all?”

“I sent a letter when I settled in Yartar, was a bit surprised no-one came to see me, but…” Sam shrugged. “We’re not always the best at keeping touch, I suppose. Why?”

Alustriel got up and moved to settle beside Sam, on the other side from the ranger, then wrapped an arm around him. “Almost fifty years ago, Sam, someone had Sharr assassinated.”

She tried to make sure that only her sympathy came through in her voice, not her own grief, but she was fairly certain she’d failed.

“What?” Sam breathed, staring at her. Interestingly enough, Drizzt did not look surprised by that news, which jarred something in her memory, though she most definitely wasn’t going to chase it down right now.

“I’m sorry I had to be the one to tell you.”

Samiar leaned into her arm, taking several several long, deep breaths before he asked, “Kor? Is he—”

“He’s alive,” Alustriel said. “Vanished the day we gave the body to the skies, then showed up here nearly thirty years later, and offered me his sword. He’s a Knight-Captain in the Knights in Silver now, and Besnell's right hand.”

“I— no, we can catch up later,” Sam said, shaking his head. “Right now, I need to know if you’ll help me with this curse, once I manage to translate the inscription.”

“Of course I will. And since you thought Sharr would be able to help with the translation, it must be in Seldruin, so I can ask the boys if any of them can help instead.”

Turning her attention to the drow ranger, Alustriel said, “I do apologize for just… ignoring you like that, Saer Do’Urden, but I’m sure you understand why it happened.”

“It’s quite all right,” Drizzt said. “And I have to confess that I was expecting such an occurrence, once I learned that Samiar was cousin to the father of my friends Thyl and Lin, as they had told me their father was dead, but Samiar clearly still believed he was alive.”

Once the initial meeting was over, Samiar and Drizzt had been been given a two-bedroom suite on the family floor—which had been a compromise between Alustriel wishing to give Drizzt his own suite, and Drizzt feeling that he shouldn’t be on the family floor at all—and once they had left their packs in it, Alustriel took them to the Knights’ wing of the Palace.

Messages had been sent ahead to Besnell and Korvallen, so both elves were waiting for them when they arrived. And while Samiar and Korvallen immediately headed for the latter’s rooms as soon as introductions had been made all around, Alustriel had to explain the idea she had had to Besnell.

“Drizzt is going to be staying here for an undetermined amount of time while Samiar works on how to break the curse that Drizzt is currently suffering from. And since Drizzt is quite skilled with his blades, according to Thyl and Lin, and the curse cannot affect others, I was thinking that he could at the very least find sparring partners among the Knights.”

“Would you also be willing to aid our patrols?” Besnell asked Drizzt. “At the standard pay rate for contracted rangers, of course.”

“Gladly, Saer,” Drizzt replied. “I am far more comfortable in the wilds than I am in any city.”

As time passed, Drizzt occupied himself with aiding the patrols, teaching the squires and even some of the Knights—an offer that had been made after the first time he sparred Kolarven—and learning from the clerics, druids, and rangers of the Glade.

Those of Sharr’s sons that Samiar had not yet met came to meet him, and Lin came as well, as out of all of Sharr’s sons—and Samiar was still amazed that there were thirteen of them, even knowing Alustriel had had three sets of twins and a set of triplets—only Lin and Tyresia were capable of helping to translate the inscription, and not only did Lin already know Drizzt, he was also the one who could more easily stay in Silverymoon until a translation was determined.

Eventually, one was, though neither Samiar or Lin liked the implications of it, and Drizzt had reacted by taking Bright Eyes and going out on a solo ranging for a few days. And with the translation found, Alustriel started working with Samiar on figuring out how to actually break the curse.

Some months later, Samiar threw up his hands in exasperation. “Do you see any way of unraveling the magic without divine intervention?” he asked Alustriel. “Because I don’t.”

“No. But at least there is a practical solution, even if it means Drizzt will be rather uncomfortable for quite some time.”

“What do you mean by ‘quite some time’? Sex will only take a single night.”

“It’s not just sex that is needed to break the curse,” Alustriel said gently. “May you learn the pain of your deeds most personally, by living the life you have given to me. To me, that says pregnancy, and likely some amount of time breastfeeding the baby after it is born.”

Samiar took some time to consider that, then sighed and said, “Damn it all, you’re right. Doesn’t change my decision to offer myself as the needed lover, though.”

Drizzt had been no more pleased with the conclusion Alustriel and Samiar had come to than they were themselves, but he had accepted Samiar’s offer to be the child’s father. And as the ranger and her beloved’s cousin moved on to discussing where Drizzt would stay until the curse broke, Alustriel cleared her throat gently.

When Drizzt and Samiar turned their attention to her, she said, “If I may, I have a suggestion for where you might stay.”

“What is it?” Drizzt asked, a cautious tone in his voice.

“I know that Thyl and Lin have taught you some of Eilistraee and Her followers,” Alustriel said, “so my suggestion is that you go to the Promenade of the Dark Maiden.

“The clerics there are well used to caring for pregnancies, the people are not unaccustomed to a person’s physical gender not matching their sense of self, you would be able to learn more of the Dark Maiden, and their Weaponsmistress is at least Kolarven's equal, so you would not be lacking in skilled sparring partners by going there.”

“I would be welcome there, even though I do not follow the Dark Maiden?” Drizzt asked.

“You would. Their community is not even all drow—there are some humans, a few halflings, and some gnomes living there, too. And possibly others, as that was just as of the last I heard.”

“Okay, this is admittedly a bit of a tangent,” Samiar said, “but how do you know so much about their community? Eilistraee isn’t even well known among elves, and yet you know enough of what sounds like Her followers’ primary community to be able to tell Drizzt how skilled their Weaponsmistress is?”

“The public answer to that question is that Mystra is allied to Eilistraee, and so as the Chosen of Mystra, our family sometimes gives aid to Eilistraee’s followers,” Alustriel said. “But you are family, Samiar, and not only is Drizzt becoming family, this is known by Eilistraee’s followers, if not quite as fully as by our family, so I will give the full explanation.”

Focusing her attention on Drizzt, she said, “Though Samiar already knows some of this, you do not, and so I will start from the beginning.

“I am the second-born of seven sisters known to the people of Faerun as the Seven Sisters.”

“I have heard mention of the Seven Sisters,” Drizzt admitted, “though I cannot say more than that.”

“Knowing more than that is not necessary,” Alustriel replied, “as this tale is tied up in what is not commonly known outside of our family. While there are many rumors about us, what makes us the Seven Sisters is that our mother was favored by Mystra, and possessed, to produce seven daughters who are, in a very real way, as much Mystra’s daughters as that of the women who gave birth to us.

“Six of us were born to the human woman that Mystra possessed, but our father eventually realized that his wife, our mother, had been subsumed by another presence, and slew her during her final pregnancy. But though Mystra was unable to save mother, She did find a way to save the last child.”

Now she was getting into the part that Samiar did not know, and she could tell that he was trying to figure out how this connected to her knowledge of Eilistraee’s followers.

“Through magic that is only possible at Mystra’s level, the babe was exchanged for one that had died and was killing her cleric mother, after a discussion with that cleric’s goddess. And so my youngest sister came to be born under the auspices of Eilistraee’s followers, and is the primary leader of the same now.”

Drizzt and Samiar both just sat there for a bit, clearly thinking over what she had said, before Samiar shook his head and spoke. “That is… a bit beyond my comprehension, but the Promenade does sound like a good place for Drizzt to stay until the curse breaks.

“And I am glad you have found your last sister.”

Drizzt was silent a while longer, then said, “So the primary leader of Eilistraee’s followers is Thyl and Lin’s aunt?”

“She is,” Alustriel agreed. “Qilué Veladorn, High Priestess of Eilistraee, and Chosen of both Eilistraee and Mystra.”

“Then yes, I think I do want to go to there once we are sure I am pregnant.”

Once Drizzt had agreed to go to the Promenade, Alustriel had explained the mystery about him that needed to be solved before he could actually be allowed to enter it, and Drizzt had chosen for her to do the investigation immediately, both because he at least knew her somewhat, compared to not at all for Qilué, and because he did not want to risk that whatever was hiding him from Eilistraee might somehow affect the baby.

Mystra had been… displeased… by the shroud that had been discovered, but it had been removed, and so, the next day, Samiar started on treating Drizzt as a friend he was interested in intimacy with.

It had taken a few days before things actually progressed to sex, but once it had, Alustriel assured them that she knew a spell that could detect a pregnancy starting in the third week, so they could know as soon as possible if they needed to try again.

Thankfully, it proved that their first attempt had been successful, so once they had said their farewells to those they wished to give them to, they got on Bright Eyes and followed Thyl and Lin to the Promenade.

Once Drizzt was settled at the Promenade, Samiar left, feeling that he had been gone from his Tower for long enough that he should at least check on it, though he did promise to return for the child’s birth. And though he had not said so, Drizzt also suspected that Samiar was even less comfortable living in caverns than he was.

Drizzt quickly settled into a routine of learning—including working on single blade techniques with Qilué’s consort Elkantar—sparring, and teaching—as Rylla, the Weaponsmistress that Alustriel had mentioned, was just as impressed with his skill as the Knights had been—and even with his strong awareness of Bright Eyes’s unavoidable absence from his day-to-day life and the fact that he was living in caverns, it still seemed to be a surprisingly short time until Samiar returned, a month before Drizzt was expected to give birth.

Qilué herself acted as the midwife for the birth, and after what had felt like far too many hours, a healthy baby girl was born, whom Drizzt named Zanna, in honor of his father.

To Drizzt’s mild surprise, Samiar chose to stay at the Promenade after the birth, saying that he did not want to miss a single moment with their daughter. And while only Drizzt or the other nursing mother at the Promenade could feed Zanna, Samiar’s willingness to do anything else he could to care for her proved to be quite helpful.

Zanna was eleven months old when the curse broke while Drizzt was sleeping. That change prompted a conversation between Drizzt and Samiar about where Drizzt wished to live once Zanna was fully weaned, and he ended up deciding on Silverymoon, as it would allow Zanna to be raised in safety while still giving him opportunities to act as a ranger and otherwise use his skills, and the people there had been quite welcoming of him—which meant that he had no concerns about allowing others to care for Zanna if he was out of the city or otherwise occupied.

A month later, Drizzt, Samiar, and Zanna got on Bright Eyes and started their journey back to Silverymoon. The first night of the trip was spent at Samiar's Tower, and the second morning after that, they received a warm welcome on their arrival in the city.

Soulmarks in the Wheel (7094 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore, Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden/Alustriel Silverhand
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Alustriel Silverhand, Laeral Silverhand, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence
Series: Part 5 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:

The events of the series "The Ranger and the Wheel", if Drizzt and Alustriel were soulmates.

Beginning notes

Inspired by

senmut’s fic Impossible Connections and

senmut and

ilyena_sylph's series The Ranger and the Wheel.

This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from several of the fics in the series "The Ranger and the Wheel", since some scenes from those fics are covered in this one, with alterations based on the changes caused by Drizzt and Alustriel being soulmates.

If you are confused by this fic, please go read, at a minimum, the linked series, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with all of it.

Chapter One: Going Slowly

1335 DR, late spring

The silver fire that had manifested while Laeral and Qilué removed the shroud that the Spider Queen had placed on him reminded Drizzt of the mark that had shown up on his wrist the day before he met Lindsar, and he remembered what she had told him about soulmarks.

“A person’s soulmark is representative, in some way, of their soulmate. It might be an item that is very important to the soulmate, an indication of their profession, some magic that is commonly used by them, something relating to their name, or even some combination of those, but it always is something that is strongly associated with the soulmate.”

So once the four of them had settled down to eating the food that Qilué had called, Drizzt asked, “The silver fire that appeared while you were removing the shroud—is that unique to the two of you, or are there others who can manifest it as well?”

Based on what they had said before starting the work, he suspected that it was connected to Mystra somehow—and he remembered what Aronna had said about ‘the Chosen of Mystra’, as well as Laeral’s comment about ‘If I am summoned to help’ when Hellgate Keep was finally ready to be permanently dealt with—but such a question made for a good starting point.

Laeral and Qilué exchanged a look, and then Laeral said, “Can I ask why you want to know about the silverfire?”

In answer, Drizzt pulled back his sleeve and showed them his wrist.

“Well,” Laeral said, “that is a rather good reason to be curious.”

“And to answer your question,” Qilué said, “the silverfire is unique to the Chosen of Mystra. Counting me and Laeral, there are nine of us, but I know that I am not your soulmate.”

“It’s not me, either,” Laeral added, “and while Dove and Syluné cannot be completely ruled out just for having soulmates already, it seems… less likely. Nor do I think it likely to be Khelben or Elminster.”

“And the Simbul is… ill-suited to be the soulmate of a male who escaped from a Lolthite city. Which leaves Storm or Alustriel.”

“When did your soulmark appear?” Laeral asked.

“Shortly after I was dumped on the Surface,” Drizzt replied. “So, eleven years ago.”

Laeral looked at Qilué again, and Qilué nodded once. ~Alustriel,~ Laeral sent, including Qilué in the conversation, ~have you gotten a new soulmark in the last… sixteen years or so?~ Knowing what she did of the oddities of soulmarks when drow were involved, she doubted Drizzt’s soulmate would have gotten their mark before he reached the Surface, but five years seemed a reasonable extension for the sake of being sure.

~Why do you ask?~ Alustriel replied.

~Because she just introduced me to an Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki who turns out to have a silver flame soulmark,~ Qilué said.

There was a long pause before Alustriel finally replied, ~…eleven years ago. The mark brings to mind the curve of a scimitar.~

~Then I do believe we’ve found him,~ Laeral said, ~as he wields twin scimitars, and his own mark appeared eleven years ago.~

~Bring him to meet me when you get a chance, then?~

~Of course, sister-mine.~ Letting the sending drop, Laeral focused on Drizzt, and said, “Alustriel is a match in the timing of her mark’s appearance and what her mark represents.”

For all that Alustriel knew that a ranger—especially one so favored as Laeral had said this one was—would always go where he felt he was needed, having to wait to meet her soulmate until he had dealt with whatever was causing the pull he felt was annoying, even if she still felt like she wasn’t truly ready for a new one. She was, however, very grateful that Laeral had chosen to go with him, as at least that meant that she was able to know how the quest was progressing, and getting to Silverymoon afterward would be a simple matter of a teleport.

Laeral having to go help the Simbul deal with an incursion from Thay was a further delay, and so it ended up being mid-fall before she was actually able to meet Drizzt Do’Urden. The youth he had displayed in that first meeting had been surprising, and a conversation with Laeral that night had left her appalled at how fast he had been forced to mature. And yet, his youth was also reassuring in a way, as it provided a very good reason to take things slowly with him.

While Korvallen habitually kept track of new people who were regularly seen with Alustriel, he rarely felt a need to actually say anything to her about them. But when she was seen in company with a drow—yes, the drow had been able to enter the city, and yes, he’d been brought by Laeral, and yes, he was said to be a Dreadbane, but still, a drow!—for the fifth day in a row, he couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

Given that Alustriel had been spending so much time with the drow, Korvallen took the unusual—for him, at least—step of sending her a note saying that he wanted to talk with her. A reply came just before evening court, inviting him to visit her after evenfeast.

He was waiting for her when she returned from it, and once she had changed from her evenfeast gown into something simpler, and they were settled on the divan in the outer room of her suite, he started the conversation.

He came out of it deeply off-kilter, not sure how to feel about Sharr having been replaced by a drow—which he knew was not actually true, but he needed time to untangle his feelings before he could be objective about Alustriel having a new soulmate—and somehow having agreed to spar with the man the following afternoon.

When Korvallen stalked into his rooms with a bottle of wine in hand, just after evenfeast, Besnell knew he had been correct in his instinct to send an invitation when he heard his friend had been being more snappish than usual.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked, once both of them were settled in the conversation area, glasses of wine in hand, and the bottle on the low table between their chairs.

Korvallen downed half his glass in one go. “Alustriel’s new soulmate.”

“I wasn’t aware she had even gotten a new mark,” Besnell said.

“Showed up eleven years ago, apparently. She hasn’t mentioned it because she didn’t feel like she’s recovered enough from losing Sharr to be ready for a new one.”

“But now he’s—it is a male, yes?—been found?”

“Laeral found him,” Korvallen agreed, “and brought him here to meet her.”

“The drow?” Besnell made sure to keep on top of the gossip about unusual visitors to the city, and the drow Dreadbane Laeral had brought had been much talked of for the last week.

“Ogier-adopted drow Dreadbane ranger of Mielikki. But it’s not his race that’s bothering me.”

Besnell took a sip of his own wine. “What is it, then?”

Korvallen knocked back the rest of his glass and poured himself another. “He’s thirty-eight!”

“Thirty-eight?” Besnell frowned and took a large swig from his own glass. That wasn’t even of age for a half-elf! And all reports indicated that this drow was full-blooded.

“Thirty-eight, and he nearly managed to force me to a draw!

“And he’s been a Dreadbane for nine years!”

Besnell had been in the middle of a sip, and only just managed not to spray it all over in surprise. “He became a Dreadbane at twenty-nine?!”

“That’s not even of age by Lolthite standards, and his teacher still took him to the Blight push!” Korvallen frowned at his glass and took an actual sip this time. “Admittedly, he says that no one in the stedding was happy about him leaving so young, but they weren’t willing make him stay when he was feeling a need to be out doing things so strongly. But still!

“At least they’ve agreed to take things slowly, between his youth, and her still not feeling ready.”

1344 DR

While some time in the stedding had been soothing after the visit to Aronna where it was so obvious that the swift mortality of humanity was creeping in, Drizzt had a feeling that Alustriel would be a better source of advice on how to cope with such, given her goddess-granted immortality and the human children and lovers he knew she had outlived.

So he said his farewells and headed off to Silverymoon.

“I’m starting to feel a pull, west and somewhat north,” Drizzt said during breakfast, two months after his arrival in the city.

Alustriel carefully hid her disappointment—this was the longest Drizzt had ever stayed, and she was very much enjoying his company—and asked, “Do you have any sense of where you are needed, other than that, or why?”

“Something to find, I think, for the why,” Drizzt said. “As for where, I’m having dreams of cold and a lot of bright whiteness.”

“Combined with the direction, that would suggest the Sea of Moving Ice or the Reghed Glacier, but given the inexact nature of such dreams, the actual need could easily be anywhere in the Icewind Dale or the portion of the Spine that forms its southern border.” Alustriel considered the time that would be needed to search such a large area, and made a decision. “I have something I can give you that would allow you to keep in touch while you are up there, and to ask for help if it is needed.”

“What is it?” Drizzt asked.

“A sending anklet.”

“Like the one that Laeral uses to talk to you and the rest of your sisters?”

“Exactly like it. I made it several years ago, in hopes for the future, and have been waiting for the right time to offer it to you.”

“Would it be okay to use it to send messages to be passed on to Lindsar?”

“Of course it would.” Even after knowing him for nine years, Alustriel was still surprised sometimes by how little consideration Drizzt gave to his own wants. “And if you’re reluctant to disturb me, Andy and Methri are the two of my sons most likely to be nearby, instead of halfway across the planet. Since the anklet connects to all of my sons’, as well as mine and all of my sisters’.”

“Then I will gladly accept it.”

1347 DR

After sunset, once he had prayed for his spells and sent the eagle that had come to his call off with his message for the dwarves, Drizzt moved on to the next step in preparing for the coming army—obtaining clerics.

Reaching out over the anklet that Alustriel had given him, he sent, ~I have allies coming, but we face a large Shadowspawn army within a day now, and have no clerics. At the glacier, above the Spine.~

The initial response was just a startled clamoring, but then Alustriel’s voice cut through the hubbub clearly. ~So you need as many clerics as we can get to you by… dawn, I would think? And I imagine that magical aid would be useful, too.~

~Dawn is a good deadline,~ Drizzt agreed, ~and any of you who can come yourselves would be most welcome.~

~Rae and I are near Mirabar,~ came from one of the Tall Ones—Drizzt thought it might be Tar—, ~and can fly up in time.~

~And I’m in the Luskan area,~ Bo added, ~so I can, too.~

~I’m not close enough to fly up,~ Andy said, ~but I’m able to teleport.~

~Same here,~ and if Tar was the one flying up with Rae, then that was Nae.

~Qi, I know your people will need things to disguise them in order to come,~ Syluné said, ~so I’ll start searching my trinket collection, and will handle the mass teleport for them, too.~

~I’ll set the Harpers to recruiting clerics here, then search my own collection,~ Alustriel said.

~Thank you both,~ Qilué said. ~I’ll save the handful of rings of illusion we have for a fighter escort, then.~

~Since Alustriel’s setting the Harpers to the task in Silverymoon, I’ll go recruit in Everlund,~ Storm said.

~Florin and I have some things to take care of first, but we can teleport up fairly soon,~ Dove said.

~And I can teleport up as soon as I set Khelben to recruiting clerics here,~ Laeral said.

~Thank you all, so much.~ Drizzt knew his relief was showing in his voice, but right now, he didn’t really care.

Finding out that Ysolde had been one of the clerics who came had been quite a surprise, but Drizzt determinedly did not fuss about it, as he knew she would respond by pointing out that he was younger than her—that fact had made things awkward between them for a bit when she had learned that he was her aunt’s new soulmate.

Properly meeting Syluné and her husband—as opposed to the brief introductions that had been made while preparing for the battle—had been a pleasure, and Aumry's request to trade technique was a true delight, though Bruenor’s reaction to him referring to them as ‘more of Laeral and Alustriel’s family’ had been surprising until he had a chance to actually think about how he tended to talk about his friend and his soulmate—at which point he realized that he really didn’t talk about Alustriel nearly as much as he thought about her, and when he did, it was in a different way than how he talked about Laeral.

Waking from another nap to learn that Bruenor had headed off to the Silverhand camp with a determined stride was a bit concerning, as Drizzt truly did not wish for there to be any strife between his dwarven friend, and the family of his soulmate. But there was nothing he could do about it until Bruenor returned, and his stomach was demanding food again, so he settled down with another bowl of stew.

Drizzt was just finishing the bowl when Bruenor got back, and his friend proved he knew Drizzt well when the first thing he said was “Peace, me elf, all’s well,” accompanied by a wave of his hand to indicate that Drizzt should sit back down. “…better,” the dwarf added. “Better than well, even. I— Drizzt, there're more o’ me clan!”

Drizzt put the bowl down again, and reached for both of Bruenor’s arms in joy. “That is wonderful news, my friend! What will we do from here?”

Bruenor clasped on, and smiled up at him, and Drizzt knew that his instinct to include himself in the plans had been a good one, even if his reason for coming up here would soon be dealt with.

“Well, I’m nae goin’ tae leave ye up here wi’ only these fool humans, so ye’ve got tae find what ye’re lookin’ for. Got tae get this whole mess packed up an’ get home. Start workin’ out there how tae move the whole clan south tae around Silverymoon, as that’s where me other clan are. Likely no’ til next spring when the passes open, so we’ve the whole season tae get wagons an’ beasts, an’ preserve food enow tae keep us all healthy on th’ trip an’ while we search.

“One o’ them Tall Ones knows a dwarf a bit older'n me, lives in Sundabar. I thought he was dead with all the others, Drizzt…”

“Ahh, my friend!” Drizzt gripped back as strong as he could, smiling gently. “I am glad to know I will not be leaving my friends here behind when I return to Silverymoon, as my search is unlikely to take much longer. Laeral muttered at seeing which nephew might stay, help us search by air. She is concerned by anything that could elude me so long.”

“So'm I, me elf,” Bruenor said, not for the first time. “But that— that’s good. Lady Syluné said there were moon elves in the Moonwood as found dwarrows in their forest, took ‘em tae the Citadels there—she didnae know how many, but every one is…”

“Another member of the clan to protect and care for, a part of the future we will make for them all,” Drizzt promised him. “And I think I must apologize that you did not learn of them sooner. As I am sure that Alustriel would have told me of them if I had ever mentioned your clan name to her.”

“Not yer fault when ye didnae know there were any other survivors,” Bruenor said. “But that’s the second time today ye’ve mentioned the Lady Alustriel in a familiar manner when ye've never done such before, least not in a way that seemed more than her bein’ the ruler of the city ye tended to stay in—if ye even mentioned her at all, that is.

“Ye speak of yer friend Laeral readily enough, so what makes the Lady sae different?”

Drizzt’s cheeks heated, and he was glad that his skin was too dark to show it. “She’s my soulmate,” he said. “Though I had not realized until earlier today just how much more I thought of her, as compared to actually speaking of her.”

1349 DR, spring

The morning of the day after Bo had brought Drizzt to the stedding had been occupied by telling the Stump of the battle with the Shadowspawn two years earlier, and the just finished battle to reclaim Mithral Hall.

After a relaxing lunch, Drizzt had spent the early afternoon answering Lindsar’s questions about everything else he had done in his years up in Icewind Dale, and now, her curiosity having been satisfied, he prepared to share some very significant news.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alustriel and I are ready to make our relationship official, once everything is settled with the Hall.”

“Well, I can’t say you’ve moved too fast, when it’s been nearly fifteen years since the two of you met,” Lindsar said, “but are you sure? You’re still so young.”

“We are,” Drizzt replied. “Even with the sending anklet, I still found myself missing her quite a lot while I was up in Icewind Dale.

“And we were able to steal enough time together earlier this spring for her to demonstrate that she no longer feels unready for a new soulmate.”

“Then I suppose it’s time for me to make you that blue tunic I’ve been saving the fabric for.

“And when you return to Silverymoon, I will go with you, to meet both her, and the dwarven kin you have claimed for us.”

Alustriel had been quite pleased to hear from Drizzt, during her lunch, that he had returned to the city, especially when he mentioned that his sister had come with him. She could not make the time to come meet Lindsar that day, but Drizzt had gladly agreed to make sure it happened the next morning, as it was not a season when she was inundated with morning appointments.

Knowing that Laeral had also been wishing to meet Lindsar for quite some time, Alustriel then reached out to her sister to let her know, and was promised an arrival that evening, as Laeral had some things she had to finish or delegate before she could come.

Her return from evenfeast—where she had heard that Drizzt and Lindsar were touring the Ogier-works and appraising their states—found both Laeral and a note from Drizzt waiting for her.

The note proved to have Drizzt and Lindsar's planned itinerary for the next day, which made it quite easy to plan a route that would intersect with theirs.

That done, she settled down to talk with her sister.

As they neared Deneir's Library, Laeral looked over at her sister and saw the soft smile she had expected to, given the tall, tufted-eared form of an Ogier walking outside the building with the current Full Scrivener, head bent down towards him, and Drizzt’s much smaller form beside the Ogier.

Built to appear as a stack of mingled scrolls and books, the building was lovely and intricate and a joy to see, but Laeral could tell that it was also in need of some work.

Alustriel called out a greeting to the Full Scrivener as they approached, along with an apology for interrupting.

“Ahh, Lady Silverhand,” the Full Scrivener said in a tone of surprised delight, “and Lady Laeral, too.

“We were studying the edifice for needs to improve it, as Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera has been kind enough to come learn what might need repairs.”

“Lindsar, this is the Arch Mage of Silverymoon, Alustriel Silverhand,” Drizzt said, his intent focus on Alustriel obvious to Laeral, “and her sister, my friend Laeral.”

“My greetings, Alustriel Silverhand, Arch Mage of Silverymoon, and Laeral Silverhand,” Lindsar said, bowing to them. “Your names sing in my ears, and your city, Lady Alustriel, is a joy to behold.”

“Your name sings in my ears, Lindsar daughter of Malana daughter of Coera,” Laeral replied, returning the bow in the Ogier fashion.

Beside her, Alustriel repeated the greeting and bow, then added, “and I thank you for your compliments. I love my city dearly, and am grateful for the aid your folk have given in making it what it is. I am very pleased to finally be able to meet you.”

“As am I,” Laeral said.

“The pleasure is mutual,” Lindsar said, “as my brother has spoken much of both of you.”

“Would you like to join us on our tour?” Drizzt asked. “Lindsar and I are very much enjoying it, even if that means, no doubt, that you may have a request soon for accommodations from our stedding, so that they can come and work on the buildings that were crafted by out people.”

“Kodome calichniye ga ni Wansho hei,” Alustriel said with a smile, using what Laeral knew was the old language common to the elan-lands and the Ogier alike, ‘the Builders are always welcome here’. “There are two floors of a wing of the Palace built for the comfortable use of your people, and they will be opened and ready when any of the masons choose to grace us with their presence.

“And if you are both sure that it would not be a disturbance to the purpose of the tour, we would be pleased to join it.”

“It would not be a disturbance at all,” Lindsar said.

Chapter Two: From Relationship to Warder Bond

1349 DR, late fall

For all that Korvallen strongly disliked the noise and hubbub of evenfeast, he was making a point of attending it tonight. Drizzt had returned from Mithral Hall about a week ago, and tonight was the night that he and Alustriel had chosen to make it plain to much of the city that they were in a relationship.

And since Korvallen was well known to be very protective of Alustriel, he knew that people seeing him interacting with Drizzt in a friendly manner would do much to reassure those who as of yet knew little to nothing of the ranger.

So when Alustriel arrived in the High Hall, on Drizzt’s arm, he was already there, and headed for the high table as soon as he saw them. He could feel the eyes on him as he moved, and his elven hearing picked up a rash of new whispers after his friendly wrist clasp with Drizzt. That he chose to sit beside Drizzt rather than Alustriel added more, and when he left the high table to join a group of elven merchants he was somewhat familiar with—at the same time that Alustriel and Drizzt moved to the Ogier table—that seemed to be a signal for people to start approaching him with questions about Drizzt.

By the time evenfeast was over, it felt rather like he had spoken to half the people in attendance, and he was quite glad that he had asked Alustriel and Drizzt if they were going to be open about being soulmates, as that fact had frequently been the one that made the most difference in people’s opinions.

Since Terava Sedai’s request was going to change his plans significantly, Drizzt brought the matter up with Alustriel that night, after she had returned from the evening festivities she had chosen to attend.

“I’m going to need to leave rather sooner than I had intended to,” he said, once they had settled on her divan.

“Trouble at the stedding?” Alustriel asked. “Or are you feeling pulled somewhere?”

“Not a pull, but the trouble’s not at the stedding, either,” Drizzt replied. “The Tuatha'an brought a request from Laeral’s friend Terava Sedai, asking me to come assist in dealing with a matter we had brought to her attention during our previous visit.”

“So you need to go to Tar Valon, then?” Alustriel reached out and took one of Drizzt’s hands in hers, unhappy at the prospect of an impending separation so soon after they had made their relationship official. “If it is something you can share, will you?”

“To Tar Valon, yes, but the letter specified spring, so I won’t need to leave for a few more weeks yet, even with a visit to the stedding before I head into the elan-lands.” Drizzt returned the clasp with the hand she had taken, but the other reached up to run through his own hair as he considered. He then took a deep breath. “I noted corrupted Aes Sedai. Laeral relayed this to her friend.

“She followed through, but their leads into the full conspiracy were cut when the ones they made out died.” He half-shrugged a shoulder. “They need me to find new leads, to expose the rot. I can go—I have a standing invitation—and teach more of the Underdark as I recall it for my excuse to be present.”

Alustriel nodded her understanding, then sighed softly. “Unless you simply wish the journey, there is no sense in walking—or riding—all the way from here to Tar Valon. We left ourselves a teleportation-marker on the slopes of Dragonmount centuries ago. Once you are done with your visit to the stedding, send to me, and I can have you there within a few hours. A day at most, if I am lacking in teleport spells that day and must wait to re-acquire it.”

Drizzt was staring at her as she continued speaking, the wonder in his eyes evident. “I… thank you, Alustriel. I truly did not want to have to leave so soon, but I could see no way around it. I knew I could not ask Laeral as the seasons would mean what we saw would be too different, but if you have a marker… that makes sense

“And that would let me arrive in spring, but not late spring, which might give me an edge of surprise if Terava Sedai’s plans have been discovered in the time since she sent me the message.”

Alustriel allowed herself to chuckle softly, a wry smile on her lips. “You are most welcome, my ranger. And I freely admit that I have an entirely selfish motive. The sooner you are able to help the Aes Sedai purge their Tower of its rot, the sooner you can return to Silverymoon.”

1350 DR

While it was a bit sooner than the weekly timing they had agreed on, the fact that Drizzt needed to reach out to Qilué now meant that it made no sense for him wait to check in with Alustriel. So once he had finished his sunrise vigil, the day after the first progress meeting, he reached out over the anklet.

~Drizzt?~ Alustriel said in response to his inquiry of her availability. ~Is everything okay? You weren’t due to check in for another day or two.~

~Everything’s fine,~ Drizzt replied, ~but since the planning we did last night now requires me to contact Qilué, I thought I might as well check in now. First of all, while I’m sure you must have guessed as much, the Amyrlin Seat is indeed uncorrupted, and is quite grateful for the ring.

~Which was a significant relief for Terava Sedai, as while she had put in place contingencies before bringing the matter to her, the possibility that the Amyrlin Seat might be Black Ajah and have reacted as she did in order to quietly deal with a problem in their security had not occurred to her until I mentioned that condition for giving the Amyrlin Seat the ring.~

~I did, yes, but it is good to hear you confirm it. And given that I think I recall Laeral mentioning at one point that her friend is a Brown, I can understand why such a possibility would not have naturally occurred to her.

~But what plans have been made that require you to contact Qilué?~

~I’ll get there,~ Drizzt said in a teasing tone. ~Continuing on the subject of relief and gratefulness for magical objects, the Amyrlin Seat has loaned me a pendant that will prevent any weave from directly touching me, unless the caster is someone of incredible power, and even then, it will blunt the effects.

~So while I still need to be wary of things created by a weave, like called lightning or a fireball, it has significantly reduced my own worries about what might happen if the corrupted ones try to use their power against me.~

~That is a relief,~ Alustriel agreed. ~And you, love, are being a tease.~

~And you love me anyway,~ Drizzt said. ~But back on topic, as one of the things they discovered before loosing their leads is that when an Aes Sedai is Shadow-sworn, so is her Warder, I have been given quarters in the Warders’ section of the Tower, and spend a fair amount of time sparring with them.

~Given that Red Ajah rarely, if ever, have Warders, that is only a partial solution, however, and as the Amyrlin Seat learned that two of the Sitters for the Hall are Black Ajah—one of the ones for the Red, and more surprisingly, one of the ones for the Blue—she cannot use the Hall to help with the process, which means that it is going to be a long and difficult one.~

~Much as I would like for this to happen swiftly, I do understand why it cannot,~ Alustriel said with a sigh. ~Removing the corrupted Sitters could easily send the rest of the Black Ajah fleeing, and she cannot use the Hall without doing that.

~But your tone has mischief in it, my ranger, so what clever solution to discerning more of the Black Ajah have you come up with?~

~I’m going to be giving classes in basic demonology, with the Reds and the Greens being strongly encouraged to attend. As they are the ones most likely to stumble over such threats, but it doesn’t single out the Reds for their lack of Warders.

~And to finally get around to why I need to contact Qilué, since the corrupted Sitters mean that when we do move against the Black Ajah, we will need to do so swiftly and take as many at once as possible, I am hoping that she, or at least one of her people, knows how to make the drow sleep potion.~

~I can’t say I like the idea of you deliberately spending large amounts of time in the presence of those who might be Black Ajah, but it is a good plan, given the Aes Sedai's demonstrated lack of knowledge about how to deal with demons.

~And thinking of the drow sleep potion to aid in capturing the Black Ajah was an excellent suggestion, even if it doesn’t prove possible.~

~I’m not exactly enthused about it myself,~ Drizzt said, ~but it’s only going to be fifteen or twenty at a time, for an hour.~

Further check-ins from Drizzt showed a slow but steady progress in identifying the Aes Sedai and Warders who were corrupted, but Alustriel could tell that it was all weighing heavily on him, even though he downplayed it much of the time—and she was certain that he was not showing it to those he was working with at all.

So when something set off her instincts during a check-in early in the second month of summer—and she truly could not say what it was, just that something had—she went and scried for him.

Finding that he was on the road instead of in Tar Valon at least explained why she had had a feeling that something was off, but it did not make her any happier, since the plan had been that he would send to her once things were finished, and she would come and get him.

However, given how much everything had been weighing on him, she could not quite find fault with his decision, as she knew that he would find more solace on the road than in any city, even Silverymoon. But since she also did not think that it was actually a good idea for him to be alone after having to deal with such intrigue, she reached out to Laeral.

After a brief explanation over the anklets, and a longer and more detailed one in person, Laeral was entirely willing to go join Drizzt on the road for as long as he needed in order to settle and regain his equilibrium.

1351 DR, spring

Drizzt reaching out to her over the anklets at some point during the night was not all that unusual, especially with his habit of traveling by night, but he tended to speak to Laeral separately, so her inclusion was enough to make Alustriel concerned even before he said, ~Black Ajah sister and her wizard-Warder tried to kill me, should probably be relayed to Terava Sedai.~

Alustriel’s cry of shock overlapped with Laeral’s spluttering and cursing, and Drizzt’s entirely commonplace tone—as though he faced murder attempts every day!—had not helped.

~Let me see through your eyes, dear one,~ Laeral said, once she ceased cursing. ~I’m coming to join you.~

~And I am too,~ Alustriel said, ~once I’ve informed Taern and gotten to a teleport point. Do not argue with me on this.~

~…alright,~ Drizzt said.

Alustriel dropped out of the link then, and sent to Taern even as she left her rooms. Taern was no happier than Drizzt had sounded, but that Laeral would also be there reassured him, and shortly after, she arrived where Drizzt and Laeral were.

“Alustriel’s here,” Laeral said. “So explain.”

Drizzt stopped brushing Thesaly, and looked at the two of them before pointing to a pair of bodies at the far edge of the clearing. “When I took my spells, the wilds were whispering of danger. And my Lady granted me that which I needed for the danger, though I did not know what it would be.

“The Warder cast multiple spells, before finding his death, and the corrupted one attempted… I think it is called balefire?… when I dropped the darkness I had thrown her way.”

Alustriel’s heart lodged in her throat at the mention of balefire, and she blessed Laeral for taking the time to figure out how to copy the anti-weave pendant, and Syluné and the Simbul for helping her with doing so.

Drizzt half-shrugged. “I didn’t mean for either of you to come. I just don’t have a way to quickly tell an Aes Sedai that some escaped, and knew I needed to be the one to tell Alustriel.”

“I know you didn’t intend us to come,” Laeral said, and Alustriel could hear hints of the same terrified rage she was feeling in her sister’s voice, “you never do. That doesn’t mean there was any chance we weren’t going to, when you sent a message like that.”

Somehow managing to find her voice again, Alustriel asked, “Are you certain it was balefire the Black sister used?”

Laeral had drawn a small diamond out of a purse as Alustriel was speaking, and cast light on it before moving to look at the corpses.

“It blinded me in the fashion of what I have read up on, not that I noticed,” Drizzt replied, even as he put on his spectacles and started following Laeral, Alustriel staying beside him. “Thankfully, I’d begun my throw as the weave was building in my direction, so my blade landed true.”

They had reached Laeral by then, and Drizzt added, “Thank you both, again, for the spellwork on my blades. They served me well.”

The head sitting near, but not connected, to the male body showed the proof of that, and Laeral said, “I’m glad to hear it,” even as Alustriel worked to control the pounding of her heart, the fear and dread—and then she gave up and reached to pull Drizzt in front of her, his back to her chest, to hold him tight, her chin tucked over his hair. The look on Laeral’s face said that if Alustriel hadn’t done that, she would have, and she did come over and take one of Drizzt’s hands.

“It’s alright, Alustriel,” he soothed. “It’s alright, Laeral. You and your sisters protected me! The amulet worked, making it just… vanish away.”

Alustriel spread her hand over his chest, keeping him close. “So they did,” she agreed, “so they did. But it’s not only the threat to you that has frightened me, love. I would grieve you, but we could also call you back… if you would agree to return.”

Her throat closed up at that, because Sharr hadn’t. Thankfully, Laeral picked up the explanation. “If the Black Ajah have rediscovered the weave for balefire, there is danger to the Weave itself, to the Pattern.

“There is a reason that all of those who can use elan made a compact against it long ago. Even before the end of the Breaking. This must be brought to the attention of our Mother.”

“Ahh. That I understand better.” Drizzt then started to describe what he had seen in more depth.

Alustriel continued cuddling him, listening intently, but the more he spoke… the more certain she was that he was correct. And from the look on Laeral’s face, she felt the same way.

“Everything you say sounds like that weave, yes,” Laeral said when Drizzt had finished. “Damn and damn. Light scorch them all.”

Then she looked over to the bodies, which had been stripped to their smallclothes. “Let them feed the carrion-eaters, and do some good for once in their miserable, accursed lives. Where were you planning to rest for the day, dear one?”

Alustriel was in complete agreement with that decision about the bodies, but at Laeral’s question about a place to rest, she shifted to release Drizzt, and Laeral took that as her cue to let go of his hand.

“Hadn’t chosen yet. All of their things are in the haversack Thyl and Lin gifted me with, though, so I can call the carrion feeders now, and we can find a place… if you’re staying with me for a time?”

“I would like to stay with you,” Alustriel said with a sigh, “but I did tell Taern that I would not be gone for long.

“Before I go, however, did the Warder get lucky enough that you need a potion?”

Drizzt glanced down at his hands, then his legs, shifted in his armor a little, and shook his head. “Doesn’t seem like it,” he answered her cheerfully after making that appraisal. “He was decently skilled, but the first blow that landed between us was mine, and it only took one more after.”

“Oh? That’s impressive even for you, dear,” Laeral pointed out.

“Hard to concentrate or fight when thorny vines ensnare you,” Drizzt said, and Alustriel could hear the satisfaction in his voice.

“In that case, I really do need to leave now,” Alustriel said. She leaned down to give Drizzt a kiss, then reached for the staff of Silverymoon in her bedchamber and used its power to pull herself to it.

When Laeral had returned from telling her Aes Sedai friend about the attack on Drizzt, Alustriel had approached her for advice on how to broach the subject of taking the Warder bond with Drizzt. That conversation had gone quite well, as Laeral had actually been thinking about the matter for some time. And now, a month later, Drizzt had returned to Silverymoon, and she was preparing to start the conversation.

Shifting on the divan to face him fully, Alustriel took a deep breath and said, “Drizzt, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Hearing the serious tone in her voice, Drizzt also shifted to look straight at Alustriel. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Alustriel said, “but the attack by the Black Ajah and her Warder has changed my feelings on an aspect of our relationship that I had previously felt that you should be the one to bring up.”

“And what is that aspect?”

Alustriel took another deep breath. “I want to take the Warder bond with you.”

“Is it just because of the attack?” Drizzt asked.

“No. I’ve wanted to take the bond for a while, but given your history with it, I felt it would be better to let you come to me about it when—or if—you were ready to take it.

“But with the attack… you could have been killed, because I didn’t know you needed help.”

“Even if we had been bonded,” Drizzt said, “it’s not like I would have been able to share my vision with you before the attack was over.”

“I’m working on solving that problem,” Alustriel replied. “Teleportation-markers and the staves of Silverymoon are both things that allow one to teleport to them, so if I can figure out how to adapt the magic, I can make something for you to wear that I will be able to teleport to without error, and without needing your eyes to know where.”

Drizzt gave a wry smile. “I want to take it, too. But your previous loss had left me hesitant to broach the subject with you, because I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Alustriel laughed softly, shaking her head as she drew him closer. “Aren’t we a pair? Tomorrow, then, after lunch? Since I’ll need to memorize the spell.”

“A good pair, I think,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “And tomorrow after lunch is fine with me.”

To Go As Needed with a Pegasus (9216 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 3/3
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
Characters: Laeral Silverhand, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Fusion
Series: Part 3 of A Crossing of the Realms, Part 2 of Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel
Summary:

The events of "To Go As Needed", in a universe where Drizzt and his teacher saved Bright Eyes's egg a few years earlier.

Beginning notes

Inspired by

senmut and

ilyena_sylph's fics Ranger and Pegasus and To Go As Needed.

Many thanks to

senmut and

ilyena_sylph, for general idea bouncing and answering my questions about both Wheel of Time and their Fusion 'verse, and to

ukia_dragon for making some useful suggestions.

This fic contains a certain amount of borrowing from "To Go As Needed", 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 Go As Needed" and the first fic in my series Ranger and Pegasus in the Wheel, as this fic very much assumes familiarity with both of them.

Chapter One: Meeting Laeral and Qilué

1335 DR, spring

When the plants all around the battlefield erupted into riotous, entangling growth that trapped many of the undead orcs she and Padraig were fighting—and only the undead orcs—just before a drow wielding twin scimitars joined the fight, Laeral wondered if this was the ranger that had been such a source of curiosity and bewilderment for her entire family the last few years. And when a pegasus came down out of the sky to join the fight, Laeral knew he had to be, even though the kestrel that accompanied the pegasus had not been mentioned before.

Once the fight was over, the pegasus—Bright Eyes, Laeral recalled—carefully made her way over to the drow—Drizzt—and bumped her nose against one of the pouches slung at his waist. “Yes, yes, my lovely one,” the drow laughed, “you can have a treat.” He then fished something out of the pouch the pegasus had nosed at, and held it out in the palm of his hand. The pegasus quickly snapped it up, and the drow petted her neck for a little before turning and starting over to Laeral and Padraig, with the pegasus soon following him.

“I’d apologize for barging into the fight,” he said, “but I’m sort of mandated to deal with these kinds of things.”

“We’re not complaining,” Laeral said, with a shake of her head and a cheerful smile, “though you’re certainly a bit startling.” Then, making the decision that it would be better to not act like she already knew anything about him, at least to start, she added, “I’ve never met a drow Dreadbane before, and few enough drow out in the middle of the day. Well met, stranger. I’m Laeral Silverhand, this is Padraig Farahar.”

“Well met, then. Drizzt Do’Urden, of Stedding Corwal, and my friend here is Bright Eyes,” he said with a smile of his own. “…Silverhand. Any relation to Lady Alustriel Silverhand, the High Mage of Silverymoon?”

“She’s my sister,” Laeral said.

“Then Andelver Aerasumé would be your nephew, yes?”

“Correct. And you must be the ranger that’s had our entire family so intrigued, and not a little bewildered, for the last few years.”

Drizzt ducked his head a little in what Laeral would swear was bashfulness, but when he looked up again, there was no sign of it. “Are undead like these common out this way?” he asked. “I was following the river down, and turned off into the hills. Meaning to make it to Waterdeep, though. I want to visit the sea, among other things.

“As my one visit to it so far was north, and winter, which made it less impressive than I’d been led to believe in.”

Padraig laughed at those words. “I find the ice-locked harbors terrifying, myself.”

Laeral shook her head. “No. Not common at all. There aren’t that many clerics of Shargaas—and they rarely act this openly. A young acolyte of Luthic managed to make it to Womford, mostly out of her mind and near death, raving about a male gone mad with the Night. I thought it might be a trap, as even that orcish goddess is an evil one, but… it seems not.”

“No, it wasn’t. Usually when I remove a head, the body stays down.” Drizzt sighed. “Thank you, for that assistance, again.

“Should I be worried there might be acolytes to hunt now?”

“Likely not; rare for one to get this much power, and unlikely to have shared it,” Padraig said. “Haven’t met many that go blindly into the lair of such.”

Drizzt half-shrugged. “My darkness was better than his,” he said with a grin, and Bright Eyes nickered in what Laeral was sure was amusement.

“So it was, it seems,” Laeral agreed, looking around at the undead sadly. “I have no great love for orcs, but this… he must have slaughtered the entire village to give them over to undeath. Poor creatures. And you are very welcome.

“Revenants—like that cleric became—are difficult foes to deal with. As long as there was still a body after death, they simply put themselves back together, and go hunting. Especially for those who first slew their body, because that being is always their primary target.”

“A good thing for me to learn then, Lady,” Drizzt said. “As it overcomes the usual method of dealing with undead that I use. Well, I have grown accustomed to fire, and will have to do better should I cross another’s path.”

“Or travel with someone that can do the destroying for you,” Padraig said, and by the amusement in his tone, Laeral knew he was referring to her.

“Ahh, but the farther I go from my former range at my teacher’s side, the less I know people to invite to such events,” Drizzt replied. “A ranger must be prepared to handle it all on their own.”

Laeral nodded then, and tilted her head slightly to the side. “I know I have more questions, and I’m sure you do, but I think further curiosity should wait until we’ve turned… mm. One of these caverns, I think, into a pyre for the dead.

“I’ll feel much better about leaving this place if we’ve burned them.”

“So will I,” Padraig said, “though this is going to be disgusting. Ugh.”

“I am accustomed to this part, and if you give me a moment,” Drizzt said, closing his eyes.

‘A moment for what?’ Laeral wanted to ask, but she knew better than to disturb a ranger who was concentrating, and soon enough it became obvious anyway, as a pair of bears and a mountain lion arrived, and started to drag the bodies to the largest cavern.

“Impressive,” Padraig said quietly to Laeral, as Drizzt moved to begin the dirty work, and Bright Eyes started making her way to the edge of the battlefield. “He’s quite unusual.”

“Very,” Laeral agreed quietly, and then decided that she was staying away from the big carnivores. She followed Bright Eyes out of the battlefield, but she wasn’t willing to not help. When the carnivores were at one end of the trek, she was willing to load corpses onto a floating disk and move them in a route that kept her away from the bears and mountain lion.

It took a little while, but eventually all the bodies were in the cavern, and the wood Padraig had been gathering was piled around and over the bodies along with tightly bundled grass and cloaks full of leaves. At that point, Laeral rubbed her hands together firmly, then cast burning hands, igniting straw, leaves, sticks, wood, and some of the bodies themselves with a cone of pure flame.

“A useful trick, that,” Drizzt said, even as movement at the edge of her vision caught Laeral’s attention, and she turned to see that Bright Eyes had come over to stand beside Drizzt, who had averted his eyes from the pyre, and the kestrel from earlier had settled onto Drizzt’s shoulder.

“Very much so,” Laeral agreed, finding herself a comfortable place out of the smoke to keep an eye on the pyre from, and noting as she did so that the animals Drizzt had called were leaving. “Barely more than a cantrip, but it increases in power with practice… which I have something of an excess of. Your kestrel is lovely. What’s her name?”

The kestrel preened a bit, proving that she had understood the compliment, and Drizzt smiled fondly. “Stela. My first companion. I rescued her as a fledgling two years past up in the Rauvin mountains. She decided I was hers, and that was all there was for it.

“My teacher’s wolverine was disappointed that I took a bird, instead of a sensible badger or such.”

Stela gave a terse chirp, clearly expressing her opinion on that, and Bright Eyes gave an exasperated sounding snort.

Laeral chuckled, smiling at the obviously loving relationship between the three of them, and tipped her neck left and right to pop the vertebrae there. “I see she and Bright Eyes both think she’s quite sensible,” she said wryly. “And given Bright Eyes, I rather think I agree with them.

“You likely gathered as much from my earlier comment about our entire family finding you intriguing, but I do already know a fair bit about you, so I don’t have to ask who your teacher was. Though I am curious about how you ended up with a druid for a teacher, instead of another ranger.”

“Aronna was the one that Mielikki brought to the stedding,” Drizzt said, “and despite offers over the years, she was the one I wanted to stay with. Many rangers, over the years, have shared lore with me, though, so I know more of that side.”

“You, Drizzt Do’Urden, are the most unusual person I may have met since meeting Laeral here,” Padraig said. “And that takes some doing, because she’s a handful in her own way.”

“Hmmph!” Laeral said, tipping her chin and nose up indignantly… before laughing and shrugging both shoulders. “Well, and so I am,” she agreed.

She was looking forward to the chance to travel with Drizzt, learn more about him—and she needed to make sure to let Qilué know that he was on his way to Waterdeep, too.

Padraig glanced at Laeral, then back to Drizzt. “Once the fire is done, and we make some distance, share a meal with us?”

“I would be glad to travel a bit, share a meal,” Drizzt said. “Any pointers on this region would be welcome, in regards to threats, or potential problems to deal with.”

Laeral smiled cheerfully, glad Padraig had invited him—she would have, but she was glad to have had him say it first, to know they were of the same mind. “Good, we’re agreed, then. Padraig’s a better cook than I am, but I can certainly put us up comfortably for the night once we’ve found somewhere comfortable. We know a fair bit about the region, and we were headed for Waterdeep ourselves. The ocean certainly won’t be frozen there. Not this time of year.”

“I’ve heard much of it, so had aimed to come to it as my wanderings allowed,” Drizzt said with a nod. “Heard much of Baldur's Gate as well, but I have personal reasons for choosing Waterdeep.

“I parted from my teacher this past spring, promising to see as much of the world as I wished to, until I found the place that called me to protect.”

Stela made a few noises, and Drizzt grinned.

“What was her opinion?” Padraig asked.

“That I protect everywhere I go.”

Bright Eyes gave another snort, and Laeral could almost hear the “Obviously!” she was certain the mare was expressing. “You are a ranger,” she said, her mouth curving with deep amusement, “that seems to be part of their ways. As an adventuring wizard, mostly I wander seeking interesting magic… and dealing with dangerous problems along the way.”

She got up and went to check the cavern, wishing the burning would get on with itself, but she was out of fire spells now, and they were just going to have to wait.

“Good of you to do so. Pardon, but while I know you are not one, some of the elan workers I have met have not been far from being dangerous problems themselves,” Drizzt said.

“Sorry you’ve stumbled over that kind,” Padraig said. “But I know the type.”

“No,” Laeral said with a wry chuckle, “I’m definitely no Aes Sedai, just a wizard. I call one or two of them friends… but you’re not wrong. Far too many of those who can use the Art fall prey to believing that just because they can do something, there is no reason they shouldn’t do something, in defiance of all morality, justice, and good sense.

“They do not long continue to do so, if one of my sisters or I find them.”

“Or your nephews,” Drizzt said with a chuckle of his own. “Andy shared a few tales during the winter he spent teaching me.

“And I have no grudge with the Aes Sedai—even if the Brown ones hold more curiosity than even I do—or regular wizards. I just have not worked with any of either group much other than when we pushed back the Blight a decade ago.”

“You were part of that? No wonder you have the Dreadbane mark; we heard it was brutal, once word spread out,” Padraig told him.

Laeral managed not to actually stare at Drizzt for the second part of that statement, but it was a close-run thing, given Andy’s assessment of his age as of three years ago. And she was grateful for Padraig’s comment, as it kept her from actually saying anything about it, given that she definitely wanted to hear what Drizzt might say of that working. She had only heard of it well after it was over, and that had been true of all of her sisters. Some things, it seemed, were not for the Chosen to poke their noses at.

“Every single group that came to the initial gathering had been attacked along the way,” Drizzt said. “And we turned off two attacks before the main effort was made. They had sent for aid from temples, including Helm and Tempus, but a group of the Aes Sedai and their Warders arrived to lend aid before those could arrive.

“We needed the aid,” Drizzt said in a rueful tone. “We were fortunate that the Fades had been linking to the Trollocs, allowing us to deal great damage by hunting the Fades. And then… the druids and clerics did it. They pushed it well back, and life has taken hold in that pass once more, though it is scant even now.”

Padraig shook his head. “A very mighty undertaking,” he said approvingly.

“That would have been quite an advantage,” Laeral agreed, “but given how cowardly Trollocs are, I assume the Eyeless had to stay linked to keep them fighting. Were there more kinds of the Shadowspawn as well? I would think so, but…”

“Myrddraal, Draghkar, and Darkhounds alongside the Trollocs. They said there was an elan worker as well, but I never got near that, or… well. I would have had to try. And my teacher might have mourned, for I was not as skilled then.” Drizzt half-shrugged. “Always improving. So I can be the best at what is needed from me.”

Laeral nodded understanding, but that he would have hunted a Shadow-sworn elan worker—especially with as young as he would have been then—said quite a bit about his bravery and courage—qualities she greatly admired. “Definitely a goal to reach for. And quite an event to have been part of. The Blight is… so very… wrong.”

“Yes!”

Bright Eyes responded to the anguish in that one word by turning away from the pyre and bumping her nose into Drizzt’s chest. And he reacted to that by beginning to pet her with both hands.

“Very good work, then,” Padraig said.

Laeral nodded her agreement, then cocked her head. “That was several years ago, though… anything particularly interesting since? Obviously, there’s Bright Eyes’s story, but what about other ones?”

Drizzt laughed. “There are a few,” and he started spinning stories of things he had done with his teacher—and sometimes with Bright Eyes.

Laeral listened with deep interest, filing away where they had been… and she did not miss that he spoke so much more of his teacher, and even Bright Eyes, than himself. A very odd thing in an adventurer, especially one with Dreadbane status.

Laeral had been quite certain of what inn Padraig would have chosen, so she had cheerfully teleported herself and Qilué-as-the-Simbul to a convenient alley near the inn and headed inside to speak to the innkeeper. Also to her lack of surprise, Padraig had left a key for her, and she headed up the stairs to see if they’d made it back in, or if she and Qilué would be waiting when they did.

The rooms were empty, but it was just starting to get toward mid-evening, and Laeral had seen how curious, and chatty, Drizzt could get.

“Not in, yet?” Qilué asked, joining her in looking the room over.

“No, but that doesn’t surprise me,” Laeral answered, shrugging her shoulders. “Even with him having spent the one winter in Silverymoon, I don’t think he’s seen much of cities, and Waterdeep is, well… Waterdeep. City of Splendors, in truth.” She settled into a couch of the front room, one foot tucked up onto her other knee. “They surely won’t be too hungry when they get back, we can wait to order a meal until then,”

“Or I can summon one, dear,” Qilué replied. “I do keep that spell on hand, and Drizzt might appreciate my fare, mm? …though, he might not, I suppose. I’ll ask, and then we can figure out which way to go.”

Laeral blinked, then smiled brightly at her sister. “You’re so thoughtful, sister-mine. He does seem to prefer finding mushrooms to add to our meals, so I think he will. We’ll see.”

It wasn’t much later before they heard two male voices—Drizzt had a particular accent to his words from where he learned Common—before the door opened. Padraig smiled brightly to see the Simbul present, while Drizzt looked from one silver-haired woman to the other.

“Very similar,” he decided. “Hello!”

“You get to see, if not quite meet, two of my sisters today, Drizzt, Padraig,” Laeral said cheerfully, since she was certain Qilué was not going to continue to wear their sister’s face. “This appearance is my sister the Witch-Queen of Aglarond, who calls herself only the Simbul. We draw notice, of course, but not as much as her true face.”

Qilué let the illusion slip away, staying seated because towering over a drow male who had not become used to her was never a good idea, and smiled welcomingly. “But my name is Qilué Veladorn, priestess of Eilistraee, Drizzt Do’Urden.”

His eyes went wide at seeing her, the first drow he had seen in over a decade. And she was a cleric, but his skin wasn’t itching! For all that he had believed what Andy had taught him of other good drow during that winter in Silverymoon, it was still so strange to him.

“I should have guessed. It is good to see you, Lady Veladorn,” Padraig said, to give Drizzt a moment to get himself under control.

“I am pleased to meet another drow that does not make me wish to escape,” Drizzt finally said.

“Oh,” Qilué murmured softly, watching his face and eyes, “I am so sorry that has been all of your experience with us, young ranger, though I sympathize. When Laeral told me that she had met you and you had come to Waterdeep with her, I had to come meet you.”

“Thank you for the honor, even if it was unnecessary,” Drizzt said, as he removed his cloak so he could actually sit and visit. Padraig took it to put on the hook since he needed to take his half-cloak off too. “As I was coming to Waterdeep in the first place in large part to visit the Promenade.”

“And I will be pleased to bring you there later,” Qilué said. “But there is a mystery surrounding you that must be unraveled first.”

“A mystery?” Drizzt echoed.

“Yes,” Qilué replied. “Because with as obviously good as you are, Eilistraee should have known of—and been able to call to—you from your first night on the Surface, at the very latest, and yet She was wholly unaware of you until I passed the knowledge on to Her after Alustriel reached out to me during the winter you spent in Silverymoon.”

“Is it because I have my goddess?” Drizzt asked, feeling truly puzzled. “Those who serve Her say She is… extravagant in my direction.” He half-shrugged. “I try not to ask much, though.”

“No,” Qilué shook her head, “Mielikki and Eilistraee have no enmity—indeed, Mielikki’s folk are one of the most likely to accept us—and for you to be so thoroughly hidden from my Lady that she is completely unable to see you on her own, and even with Andy anchoring for Her during one of your lessons with him, was only barely able to perceive you, you would have had to have been hidden almost at your birth.”

Drizzt tipped his head, considering. “I learned,” he began slowly, “that I am third son, but the second died before my birth. At school, they implied it was because he was refusing to be as skilled as he could be, to avoid the life of a Blade.

“I was never told that was my path. I was not beaten as severely as some males were. Matron Malice even rebuked Briza for failing to apply salve after. And if I am right about my father, I know that I would have been considered valuable, if I could reach near what he was capable of. But I don’t know what else she might have done to be certain I was fit to match my sister when I graduated.”

Qilué ached for the young drow before, for the senseless, useless waste of lives, for the way the abuse was simply unremarkable fact, but that was… interesting. “That… I loathe everything about what our people do to warp the Warder bond, but that makes… some sense. But if That One has found a way to block my Lady’s call from goodly drow, I am… worried.”

“We’ll figure it out, sister-mine,” Laeral said, squeezing Qilué’s hand gently. “Even if I do think that we’re going to need Mother’s assistance to do so.”

“Pardon, but… mother?” Drizzt asked, shifting uncomfortably at the idea of a third—completely unknown, and clearly powerful!—woman being involved in this.

Laeral caught Drizzt’s shifting out of the corner of her eye, realized what must have caused it, and turned to face him fully. “This is normally only known by family and very trusted, long time friends, but you do have a pegasus friend, so while you don’t quite meet the second criteria yet, I think you’re safe enough to share it with.” And while she wasn’t going to actually say it, they needed him to trust them fully to figure out what was hiding him from Eilistraee. “Qilué and I, and our other sisters, are, in a very real way, as much daughters of Mystra as we are of the women who gave birth to us.”

“Oh.” Drizzt took a moment to consider that, then nodded and said, “Very well, then. Shall we proceed?”

Chapter Two: Information and Traveling Companions

Even with the need to go through the Dawn Pass slowly enough to not get altitude sickness, it only took Laeral and Drizzt two weeks to reach Tar Valon, though Drizzt was clear that it was only on the way to wherever he was being pulled to. But with it so very directly on the way, there was no good reason to not stop over there, and the famous information networks of the Aes Sedai were a very good reason for such a stop, even if Bright Eyes had earned them some curious looks from the guards at the gates before Drizzt sent her off.

And now, the morning after their arrival in the city, she and Drizzt were walking towards the northern gate in the wall around the grounds of the White Tower.

“Light illumine you, Lady, but you and your… companion… are unknown to us,” the lead guard at the gate said. “Your names and the nature of your business, please.”

“Laeral Silverhand, archmage of Waterdeep, and Drizzt Do’Urden of Stedding Corwal,” Laeral answered, pleased at the entirely appropriate response to their presence. “We wish to speak with Terava Sedai, if she is present, or any of her sisters who might be willing to speak with us.” Terava was a traveling Brown Laeral had spent time with a century or so ago, and she devoutly hoped she was here.

“Of a stedding?” the guard repeated, obviously confused, peering at Drizzt for a long moment before the decorations of face-guard and scabbards seemed to convince him and he nodded, if a little uncertainly. “I’m not sure if Terava Sedai is here, mage, but you may both enter the White Tower grounds in peace and under the Light.

“It is the business of the Aes Sedai, not the guard, if you are permitted within the Tower.”

“The courtesy is most appreciated,” Drizzt answered for them, inclining his head to the guard. “Our business is merely of information, and we can afford the rest, as our journey started farther from the Dawn Pass than the Dawn Pass is from here.” The mention of distance was calculated, as surely no travelers would journey so far on a fool’s errand.

“A very long way,” the guard said, shaking his head, “longer than I would want to travel! Be welcome, Dreadbane, Lady.”

“My thanks. Light illumine you, gentlemen,” Laeral replied, as they walked onto the Tower grounds. The path from the gate was not a straight line, as many humans would have designed it, but a thing of gentle curves, intersected by others, that wound through gardens of incredible beauty as they approached the White Tower itself. Inside the walls of the complex were other buildings. Stables, what she thought might be a smithy, possibly drying or curing sheds for the produce of the gardens, wings extending from either side of the mind-bewildering height of the White Tower itself. Probably more she could not see behind the height of those, in all truth.

The guards at the top of the stairs—each stair broad enough that it took two strides to reach the next—that rose to the White Tower were not liveried staff, but Warders, to Laeral’s interest. One was of Andoran origin, if she was judging right, and the other was a tall, dark-skinned man with slightly tilted dark eyes, wearing garb in the Saldaean style.

Even more interestingly, the one in Saldaean garb—who had the accents on his clothing that marked him as Warder to a Brown—seemed to have a look of recognition on his face. Which had to be for Drizzt, as she was quite certain that she’d never met him before—a supposition that was borne out by his words. “Greetings, Drizzt Do’Urden and stranger. Be welcome if you come in peace.”

“Greetings to you, Farouk Tailer,” Drizzt replied. “My companion is Laeral Silverhand, archmage of Waterdeep.”

“We come in peace and in search of knowledge,” Laeral added. “I would speak to Terava Sedai, if she is home, or any Brown sister willing to share information with one who has traveled from Waterdeep to Tar Valon.”

“I will go find my Aes Sedai, lady,” the Warder—Farouk—answered, “as I am sure she will be glad to share information with Drizzt and anyone he travels with.” Then he turned to go within.

Very soon, he returned, accompanied by a woman with pale blonde hair, dressed all in brown. “Welcome, Drizzt, and to you as well, Lady Laeral,” she said. “Please, come with me.”

“It is good to see you again, Bethena Sedai,” Drizzt replied as he and Laeral followed her into the Tower.

“Speaking of whatever has brought the two of you here together should undoubtedly wait until we are within the quarters of the Brown Ajah,” Bethena said, “but do you have any other interesting stories you might share as we walk?”

“I do, actually,” Drizzt said, then began to tell the tale of how he had come to have Bright Eyes as his friend.

They climbed for… a while, up stairs done in a slowly repeating pattern of the colors of the Ajahs. The stairwell often let off onto landings that encircled it, but Bethena kept climbing until suddenly she stepped off and moved onto one of the landings, circling towards a section of the outer wall that blended from white stone into brown of all hues, and a wooden door carved with books and scrolls in a deep, warm hue.

Laeral looked directly behind her and found a doorway surrounded by yellow stone and a door carved with all manner of leaves… herbs, she thought, and other healing plants.

Bethena opened the door carved with books and scrolls, and led them over flagstones carved with open books, apparently towards the outside edge of the Tower. They passed several doors, each with a delicately carved scroll on the door, before Bethena finally opened another one.

The chamber that they entered was one that wrapped partially around the outer curve of the Tower itself, from the long span of arched and curving windows. Some were draped by curtains of more hues of brown than Laeral had ever imagined, but some were open. At least the sun was currently behind some clou—

“Drizzt,” she said, her eyes transfixed as she stared out the window for a moment, “is— is that a Great Tree at the southern edge of the island?”

Drizzt took a look, and smiled. “A younger or small one, yes, Laeral,” he said, delighted to see another piece of home. Only two years among the Ogier, and yet… every little piece that connected back to them made him feel safe and comforted. He then turned to look at Bethena. “While I am sure that you and your sisters have more questions for me, that must wait for later, as this time, I am the one hoping to learn more.”

“Farouk said as much,” Bethena replied. “If you will tell me the shape of what you seek, I will find the sisters who would best know how to help you.

“Please, seat yourselves comfortably.”

Drizzt gave Laeral a hand in taking her seat, helping corral the dresses by steadying her as she whisked them into behaving. He then sat next to her, but before he could say anything, a door farther down the chamber opened, and a woman in a brown and cream gown entered.

She was broad, light-eyed, and pale, with traces of ink on her fingertips, and blazing red hair, and she came to an abrupt stop on seeing two strangers in the chamber. After a moment, however, she quickly moved towards Drizzt and Laeral, in a way that left Drizzt feeling like she had somehow managed to miss Bethena's presence entirely.

“Can it be that you are Drizzt Do’Urden?” she said. “I am Calinde Varant, and the book Bethena wrote left me with so many questions.”

“Calinde!” Bethena said sharply, even as the other woman drew in a breath to continue speaking.

Calinde startled at that, making it clear to Drizzt that he had been correct in thinking she had not noticed Bethena, and turned to look at the other woman. “Bethena, why didn’t you tell any of us that he had come here?”

“For one thing, I only just brought him in,” Bethena said. “And for another, he and the Archmage of the Sword Coast have come seeking information, not to answer our questions.”

Drizzt smiled at Calinde. “Greetings, Calinde Varant. I am pleased to meet you,” he said. “Perhaps, if it is possible at the end of my quest, I could return for a time, and exchange knowledge for knowledge?”

He had no idea if it would be, but it seemed unlikely that Mielikki would immediately pull him in another direction without allowing for a rest.

“That would be most welcome,” Calinde said. “Is your quest one you wish to keep private?”

Calinde had the control of her expression of any Aes Sedai, but Laeral was certain she would be bitterly disappointed if Drizzt asked for privacy.

“It is not,” Drizzt replied, “and I have not yet had the chance to tell Bethena Sedai what I am seeking, so I won’t even have to tell it twice.”

Calinde smiled at that, and took as seat in the chair beside Bethena’s. “So what is your quest?” she asked, causing Bethena to give an exasperated sigh.

“I have been guided this way by my goddess,” Drizzt said. “She has a task for me in this place so far from my usual range.

“I have an impression of the Blight, and know I need to travel further still, east and north if the sense is right. Have your people heard of anything against the wilds in that direction?”

The slightest frown formed at the corner of Bethena’s lips, at the corners of her eyes, but it seemed a thing of concentration, not displeasure. “East and north, near the Blight… Shienar, perhaps. Or far eastern Arafel. I have heard of nothing from Arafel, but… there are strange rumors coming from eastern Shienar, near the Dragonwall. I know there have been discussions about whether someone should be sent to investigate, but I do not know what conclusions have been reached.”

“The Amyrlin Seat just approved Halani's decision to send a Green and her Warders this morning,” Calinde said.

“Well then,” Bethena said. “Would the two of you have any objection to traveling companions?

“I do not think that it would be possible to convince Halani that the two of you investigating makes it unnecessary for her to send someone, but that you, Drizzt, are being guided to deal with it makes me think that the source is something more usually found outside the Enclosure Peaks, which means not only is an Aes Sedai unlikely to know how to deal with it, it is entirely possible one would not be able to do so.”

Laeral exchanged a quick look with Drizzt, then said, “Not at all, though I will need to borrow a horse for such a journey, as I was switching between riding double on Bright Eyes and using a phantom steed on our way here.”

“Then I should bring the two of you to speak with Halani.” Bethena got up and headed for the door they had entered by, and Laeral and Drizzt did the same, following her out of the room.

Halani, who turned out to be the Captain-General of the Green Ajah, had asked quite a few incisive questions of Laeral, Drizzt, and even Bethena, before finally agreeing that it did seem like a good idea for Laeral and Drizzt to accompany the trio she was sending to investigate the rumors.

Meeting Marinna Sedai and her Warders, Verad and Nikho, had gone quite well, and Laeral and Drizzt had been invited to join the briefings that Halani had arranged to give the trio all the information they might need for the investigation. Once those were done, Marinna had invited the pair to join her and her Warders for a meal, and then, after agreeing that Laeral and Drizzt would return to the Tower the next morning for their party’s departure, saw them out of the Tower.

The revelation that Drizzt had sensed corruption in at least one of a pair of Aes Sedai (one Yellow, one Blue) that they had passed on their way out of the Tower was a disturbing one, especially with how distressed Drizzt was over the possibility that a healer was corrupted, but it at least had the benefit of assuring them that none of the other people they had met that day were Leafblighter's. Which was no small thing, when they were going to be traveling with three of those others, and a fourth was the Head of the Green Ajah.

Thankfully, Terava had been in the city, and as she had also proved uncorrupted, they had been able to pass that problem on to her to be dealt with. And time in the Ogier grove and among some of the Ogier that lived in the city had fully restored Drizzt’s equilibrium.

Once they were well out of the village, their second day on the road, Laeral followed up on her promise of the night before and began explaining to Marinna and her Warders how magic and innate abilities were different from channeling and why that meant they didn’t have to be concerned about what Drizzt could do.

“Although Drizzt does not use arcane magic, that is what I am going to start with,” Laeral began. “The source of arcane magic is known as ‘the Weave’, or more formally, ‘the Weave of Mystra’.

“And while the similarity in name to the equivalent of spells for an elan user is, so far as I know, pure coincidence, it does provide for a comparison to help you understand the differences.”

“And what is that comparison?” Marinna asked, sounding intrigued.

“The Weave of Mystra could, with reasonable accuracy, be viewed as the equivalent of a planet-wide elan-weave that can be accessed and borrowed from by anyone who has the right training—or sometimes, simply the natural ability, though those who cast their first arcane spell through pure natural ability will still need training, or at least to study magical texts, in order to be able to cast more than the most basic of spells.”

Marinna tilted her head, a considering look on her face “That… is a useful comparison,” she agreed. “The similarity gives a basis for understanding, but it also highlights the differences from channeling.”

“Thank you,” Laeral said. “Moving on, divine magic—the type of magic that Drizzt uses—is literally a gift from the deity the spellcaster follows or serves, which can and will fail if the spellcaster has earned their deity’s displeasure, though the degree of failure often depends on the degree of displeasure.”

“Is there any way to regain divine spellcasting ability if it has been lost because of divine displeasure?” Verad asked.

“The spellcaster can regain their deity’s favor by completing a quest for atonement that is set for them by a cleric of their deity,” Laeral answered.

“Is Drizzt’s ability to understand and communicate with Stela and Bright Eyes due to divine magic?” Nikho asked.

“Partially,” Laeral said. “All pegasi are innately able to understand Common and Sylvan, so communicating with Bright Eyes doesn’t involve any magic on his part at all.

“As for him being able to understand her so clearly, and both understand and communicate with Stela, while most rangers and druids need to actively call on their deity to do so, Drizzt is one of a rare few who can do it naturally. Such rangers and druids are referred to as ‘wild-called’, due to that natural ability being seen as a gift of the wilds, making it akin to being a Wolfsib.”

“Does being a wild-called ranger mean Drizzt doesn’t have to worry about the taint that is known to be in magic?” Marinna asked. “Though my understanding is that it is not as severe as that in saidin.”

“Drizzt doesn’t have to worry about the taint,” Laeral said, “but it’s not because of being a wild-called ranger.”

“What is the reason, then?”

“The sacrifice of Mystra's predecessor as goddess of magic blunted the effect of the Dark One’s counterstrike on both arcane and divine magic,” Laeral said, “and the divine will of all the other deities, good, neutral, and evil alike, further blunted the effect on divine magic.

“So taking a Warder is sufficient to protect arcane magic users and clerics, while all rangers and druids are protected by the fact that the magic they use is too wild-touched to suffer from taint, and paladins are—to the best of my knowledge—protected by the fact that their actual spellcasting ability is limited, with most of their magic use being a more direct manifestation of their deity’s favor.”

“If taking a Warder protects arcane magic users, why don’t you have one, then?” Nikho asked.

By Marinna's exasperated-sounding sigh, Laeral could tell that the Aes Sedai felt her younger Warder was being too curious. And while Laeral actually felt much the same, it was an understandable question, at least, so she was willing to give a partial answer.

“I am one of the Chosen of Mystra,” she said, “and being a deity’s Chosen also protects against the taint.”

“I’ll explain what a Chosen is later,” Marinna said, pinning Nikho with a stern look. Turning back to Laeral, she said, “So that leaves innate abilities to be explained.”

“Innate abilities are things like a dragon’s breath weapon—magical abilities that a being is born with,” Laeral said. “Some innate abilities are known as spell-like abilities, due to the fact that they replicate the effect of a specific spell, without actually requiring any spellcasting.

“In regards to Drizzt, he is a drow, and all drow are born with four spell-like abilities—darkness, faerie fire, dancing lights, and levitate. However, drow who live on the Surface instead of in the Underdark always lose one of the abilities, and so Drizzt is now only able to use the first three.”

Chapter Three: Dealing with the Demon

As they traveled, Drizzt sparred with Verad and Nikho every day, once they had made camp for the night, and Laeral could easily see his delight in having such skilled opponents to practice with. Nor was he alone in his enjoyment, as both Warders were very clearly impressed with his skill, and the sparring often turned into lessons, either Verad teaching Drizzt better techniques for using a single blade, or Drizzt teaching Verad and Nikho how to better defend against twin blades.

However, the idyll ended when Drizzt’s sense of where he was needed pulled them off the Fal Moran road well before they were into the settled part of Shienar, off towards the painfully jagged peaks of the Dragonwall, and then directly into the uneven terrain at the edge of them.

The fourth day in that uneven terrain provided a very unsettling reminder of the dangers they would be facing, when they came across a spot where the plants and animals, and even the land itself, had been just… ripped apart. The sight had left Marinna and her Warders pale for some time, and Drizzt’s expression had become grim.

Three days later, Drizzt signaled Bright Eyes to stop, and once she had, he turned towards the others, who had followed his lead and stopped their mounts. Something was pulling hard on his instincts, something he was not yet able to quantify. “I can sense something now,” he said.

“Only ‘something’?” Verad asked. “Not whether it’s what we’re seeking?”

“My sense of evil only tells me that it is there,” Drizzt said, “not what sort of evil it is.”

“But if you can sense it, that must mean we’re close, yes?” Nikho said.

“Only for a loose definition of close,” Laeral said, “especially in terrain like this. His range on that sense is quite large.”

“So what do we do now?” Marinna asked.

Drizzt dismounted, then looked up, and Stela obediently flew ahead, scouting the land for them. “Dismount and follow me,” he said.

He then moved to follow the path Stela was laying out for him with her eyes. She was aware of his needs, and guided them to a defensible spot they would be able to guard from, without much chance of anything reaching them first.

Once they had reached the spot Stela had found for them, Drizzt found a comfortable place to settle, and the others turned their horses over to Bright Eyes’s supervision and found their own places to settle, Laeral and the Warders automatically choosing spots which would easily let them watch a wide area. To Laeral’s slight surprise, Stela came down to her, settling on her shoulder rather than Drizzt’s.

“She knows which of us will be mindful,” Drizzt said with a chuckle at her surprise, then unshouldered his pack and set it down. “Now I must ask you all to guard me,” he continued. “I need to fully feel the land… but be prevented from going toward the source of the evil here until I am out of the trance.”

As Drizzt prepared himself to do a ranger’s reaching out to the land, Marinna asked Laeral, “Why does he need to be prevented from going towards the evil? Dealing with it is what we came to do, after all.”

“It’s because he’s entering a trance state to find out more,” Laeral replied. “It leaves him with no true awareness of his surroundings, but if he senses evil while in such a state, he will nevertheless just start walking towards it.”

“That seems… inconvenient, to say the least,” Marinna said.

“Mmm, maybe so, but given that his sense of evil is always working, I’d call it an even trade-off for the fact that he never gets stunned by the evil being too strong. Which is how the spell to detect evil works.”

Laeral would have explained further, as Marinna looked curious, but then Drizzt shifted in a way that presaged true movement, and she prepared to stop him if needed.

Thankfully, something drew him out of the trance, and his eyes opened, glowing briefly with the darkvision that was their natural state before he blinked and they cleared to the normal hue of purple Laeral was more accustomed to.

Purple glowing eyes was a far different sight from the red of most of the drow Laeral knew.

“Someone has set a demon loose on the Surface,” he said softly. “One of the youngest kinds, if I remember Vierna’s lessons on demon hierarchies correctly.”

Laeral sucked in a hissing breath, her mouth tightening as her eyes took on a tinge of silver for a long moment. Before her was not her wry and sometimes capricious friend, but the Dreadbane who had defended those who forced back the Blight. A nearly impossibly capable warrior dedicated to the protection of the wild and intent upon that goal—and she was of the same mind with him.

Demons were not supposed to run free on the Material Plane. They were supposed to be confined to their depths of the Abyss, unless some idiot wizard called one to make a bargain with it. Even then, they should be confined to the summoning circle. A loose demon was a serious danger to everyone in its vicinity.

“There are a few young kinds, which one do you think it is?” Laeral asked, one hand on the edge of the pocket where her wands waited for use.

“From the breaking of all things around it? I would wager it is a loumara. They delight in needless cruelty against natural places,” Drizzt said.

“What do you mean by ‘the breaking of all things around it’?” Marinna asked.

“Remember that place we passed through three days ago, where everything had been ripped apart?” Drizzt said. “That is what a loumara does.”

Marinna’s face paled at the memory, and Laeral took the opportunity to say, “Which is why you and your Warders will not be assisting us in dealing with it.”

“But-”

“No,” Laeral said. “I can turn its rending back on itself twice, but since I only have two memorized, I cannot do more than that. Which means I will have to prioritize protecting myself and Drizzt, as the ones who actually know how to deal with it.”

Verad came over to them then, and placed a hand on Marinna’s shoulder. “This is exactly why Halani agreed that they should come with us, remember?”

Marinna sighed, and placed a hand on top of Verad's. “You’re right. I just don’t like feeling useless.” Turning her attention back to Drizzt and Laeral, she asked, “Would Bright Eyes be willing to carry me? I’ll feel better about reporting that the problem has been dealt with if I can see it happen myself.”

“It’s her decision,” Drizzt said, “but if she’s high enough to keep you from being noticed by the loumara, you’re not going to be able to see anything useful.”

“Most people wouldn’t be able to, but I know a weave that will grant me a hawk’s vision for a while.”

“In that case, let me and Laeral figure out how we’re going to handle this, and then we can ask her.”

As Bright Eyes took off and started climbing into the sky, following Stela, Marinna reached for Air and Spirit and deliberately crafted the hawk’s vision weave she had first used instinctively as a girl desperate to keep her family from losing any more chickens to what she now knew had been equally desperate hawks.

Closing her eyes to let the change in her vision settle—since trying to adjust to the new sight with her eyes open was a bad idea—she considered the plan that Drizzt and Laeral had come up with. She did not know enough about demons to truly have an opinion on if it was a good plan—which was something she intended to rectify once this one had been dealt with!—but that they both thought it would work reassured her.

And its reliance on the known relationship between demons and drow was intriguing, leading her to think that she should actually read Bethena’s book herself, rather than rely on the summary Nikho had given her when she thought the subject was merely an academic curiosity.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and looked around. Stela had started circling, and Marinna looked down to see what the kestrel had noticed—just in time to see trees and plants being ripped apart in a large circle, though there was no visible cause for it.

That Stela headed back towards where the others were as soon as she had finished her circle confirmed Marinna’s assumption that they had found the loumara, and she asked Bright Eyes to circle over the spot.

It did not take long before two drow crested a hill from the direction that Stela had left in, and since Marinna recognized the male’s face as Drizzt’s, that meant that the female had to be Laeral, under the illusion that she had mentioned.

The two of them stopped just outside the circle of destruction, and although Marinna could not hear anything, she assumed that they were playing out their roles. Then Laeral suddenly lunged forward and bolts of energy shot from the wand she was holding, into the center of the destruction.

Drizzt had leaped forward just after Laeral’s lunge, and was now in the middle of the destruction himself. And then, all of a sudden, Marinna could actually see something else there—a tangle of thorned vines, each ending in a fanged maw.

Every movement of Drizzt’s blades—not that Marinna could truly keep up with his speed—made contact with the tendrils, while Laeral sent bolts of energy at any that did not leave her at risk of hitting him, and shortly after an agonized screech that had to have come from the loumara, Drizzt drove one blade directly into the middle of the tangle.

Laeral ran forward then, and just as she reached Drizzt, the illusions cloaking both of them vanished—as did Marinna’s ability to see the loumara, making her realize that it must have also been the result of an illusion from Laeral—and the ground around Drizzt’s blade was torn in a way that looked similar to the damage Marinna had seen the loumara cause earlier.

A shudder ran down Marinna’s back as she realized that the loumara must have tried to inflict its rending on Drizzt in retaliation for the direct strike to its body, and Laeral had lost the illusions to the effort require to turn the rending back on it.

Even without the illusion of the loumara's body, however, Drizzt was still making strikes with confidence.

Then there was another screech that Marinna could actually hear, but it died away quickly, and Drizzt stopped moving even as Stela launched off his shoulder.

When Laeral reached down to clamp her hand around her calf, Marinna knew that the loumara had to be gone, and asked Bright Eyes to take her down to them.

She closed her eyes as Bright Eyes descended, dismissing the hawk’s vision weave, and when she opened them again at the sound of hooves thudding on dirt, her vision was back to normal.

“One human, to the northeast,” Drizzt was saying as Marinna dismounted and walked over to him and Laeral. “Seems to be dropped on the ground.”

“One of the puppets you mentioned the loumara might have?” Marinna asked.

“Presumably,” Laeral replied.

“If I get Stela to guide you to the person, would the two of you be willing to go ahead on Bright Eyes while I go get our packs and guide Verad, Nikho, and the horses?” Drizzt asked.

“If Laeral is, I am,” Marinna said.

“Of course,” Laeral agreed. “But first, Drizzt, you should take this, since I saw it bite you.” She fished a vial out of one of her pockets and held it out to Drizzt.

At that, Drizzt looked puzzled, then started laughing. “Just that fast, I had forgotten,” he said cheerfully, before he downed the contents of the vial and returned it to her.

The person that Stela had seen proved, once Laeral and Marinna reached them, to be the missing Shienaran scout—which left Laeral quite impressed with her sheer willpower and tenacity, to have survived for so long as the loumara’s puppet.

But even so, she was clearly only barely still alive, so Marinna cast a healing weave on her to make sure she didn’t die before she regained consciousness. And when the scout did do so, Laeral let Marinna take the lead in dealing with her, only asserting herself enough to insist the scout drink a potion.

By the time that Drizzt, Verad, and Nikho arrived with the horses, it was clear that the scout was in no shape to travel yet, so Laeral joined the three of them in setting up a camp that would be comfortable for a longer stay.

Three weeks of healing weaves, careful feeding, and good shelter got the scout into good enough condition that she could at least keep herself on a horse, at which point she started to insist on returning to her fort of origin.

Since that would be best handled by Marinna and her Warders, but Marinna did not wish to delay any further on getting at least some form of report to the Captain-General of the Green Ajah, Laeral and Drizzt agreed to carry a letter for her on their return. And since the scout had been given Drizzt’s spare set of clothing, it wasn’t even like they would have to go out of their way to deliver it, as they had agreed that it made the most sense to get more clothes for him from the Ogier community there.

A week after parting from Marinna, her Warders, and the scout, Laeral and Drizzt entered Tar Valon again.

As it was still early in the day, they went straight to the Tower to deliver Marinna’s report. One very intense meeting with Halani later, they left the Tower and went to find an inn.

And once they had obtained rooms in the same inn as before, they settled into the baths to relax from the journey before visiting the Ogier community.

End notes

I couldn't find a way to fit it in, but Laeral does still recommend that anyone who desires to learn more about demons and how to defend against them go to Silverymoon. Marinna mentioned the need in her letter for Halani and that was one of the things Halani asked about during the meeting where the letter was delivered.

And because they got to Tar Valon so much faster, Drizzt and Laeral's encounter with Broken Chain and his pack happened on their way out of the elan-lands.

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Inside My Mind

Thoughts of a medically incapacitated young adult

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