Sisters in Spirit Part IX
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tales_of_faerunFull Phase Met (1,663 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Philomena (Canon-Inspired OC), Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship, Background Relationships
Series: Part 9 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:
No one had been able to pry Drizzt out of the lower part of the Hall until he found the gate the dragon had kept. His growing silence, the scowl on his face, all warned Bruenor his friend was more injured in spirit than body, but then again, Drizzt's nature was just that stubborn, to keep pushing past the realm of exhaustion.
However, once a tall, silver-haired woman had come and dealt with the gate, Bruenor could win the battle of wills, and he ordered Drizzt to go find one of their allies for healing.
When Drizzt emerged outside, with the sun beating down, making him actively flinch, Thyl happened to be looking that way. He'd been told this was Vierna's brother, and while they had some of her clerics here, under glamour rings, he felt a duty to get this taken care of quickly.
No drow was meant to be ash-gray.
"Here, Drizzt," Thyl called, as he whistled for Steelheart -- he was out of magic, despite Mom's spellstar -- but she wouldn't mind the short flight to Spirit Sanctuary. "You look terrible. Let's get you to your sister, mm?"
Drizzt looked at the half-human, considered saying he should see who he could help in the camp of wounded, swayed, and gave in.
"If your friend does not mind," he said, still in awe that all of the pegasi had come to investigate him when they had staged for the invasion.
"She won't," Thyl replied, certain of it as Steelheart touched down a few feet away. "You don't mind taking us over to the other peak, right, lovely?"
Steelheart snorted and swished her tail, before turning her head to get a better look at Drizzt and making a worried nicker.
He brought a hand up and petted along her neck, before waiting for Thyl to mount. He concentrated hard -- that was not easy -- and got himself up without hurting the beautiful being that she was.
"Thank you, both of you."
"You're welcome," Thyl said, as Steelheart turned her head around to stretch past Thyl's leg and nose Drizzt for a moment. He shook his head a little at that, before Steelheart straightened back up and launched into the air, her wings beating hard as she headed north around the mountain, leaving the busy camp behind and soon out of sight.
Drizzt wound up leaning against Thyl's back, as fatigue -- and worse -- sapped at him once he was no longer moving on his own.
:Your brother comes,: Eilistraee, so glad to feel this goodly ranger within Her song now, sent to Vierna so she would get free.
Vierna freed herself from her work of the moment and headed out onto the ledge, looking to see from which way -- and blinked as she saw Thyl and Steelheart, with Drizzt behind her friend on the pegasus. Even from so far away, her brother looked terrible and she worried the entire time until Steelheart landed barely more than a wingspan away. "What happened?" she demanded even as she came to make sure he didn't fall as he slid off Steelheart.
"He only just came out of the mountain," Thyl said. The invasion had taken place two days before, Vierna knew.
"Had to find the dragon's gate and be certain it was sealed," Drizzt managed to say.
"Which means he was probably away from light," Thyl added. "And the clerics haven't actually had time to deal with the shades, given how many injured we had."
"Oh for the Moon's sake!" Vierna exclaimed in exasperation, shaking her head at her brother even as she got his arm up over her shoulders to help bring him along. Where... unlike all of the other drow, her brother would need sunlight and moonlight, so that let out all of the deeper chambers, but -- ah. That would work.
"Bit of a walk, but there's a summer workroom that's windowed by a wall of force. Mostly for sewing and weaving, or writing. Has a couch at the moment, but we'll move a bed in once I've done some work -- though you may have done yourself permanent damage, if you rested before you came here," she fussed, worried. The damage shades could do, that creeping cold drain of strength and vitality.... it needed to be treated promptly, and two days was too long. No wonder he looked so awful. "Thyl, you look almost as bad as he does, but are you up to brewing him a vitality draught? You know where everything is, get Ellie to help you if you need it."
"I can do that, Vierna," Thyl promised her, setting off to get it started.
"Haven't slept since it started," Drizzt admitted. "I don't remember if the shades came close enough. The pool of the dragon's evil was just so thick in the lower levels, sister. It hurt as bad as graduation, and I had to be in it longer."
Vierna blinked at him as they moved, trying to make sense of that... and then she hissed under her breath. "You can sense evil, as though you have the spell? No wonder you look so terrible, even without having been awake for... three, five days? You're going to turn my hair black," she muttered, as she opened the door to the long, bright room and helped him to the couch. A few moments of removing all the gear he no longer needed, and she had him lying down so she could set to work on repairing the damage he'd done to himself.
"It's not usually this bad. I rarely stay in it, usually just long enough to kill or destroy the source. Even that damned crystal wasn't this bad, or the balor," he muttered. "First time being steeped in it a while, since leaving the mind flayer city."
"...those are entirely too many terrible stories I haven't heard," Vierna said, deliberately calmly, "but we'll have time for that. Shush a moment and let me concentrate, though."
Drizzt closed his mouth, and then his eyes, because while the light was his promise that he was free, right now it hurt.
He did not let himself sleep, worried by his sister's words, and paid attention to her presence instead. It was cool, calming, and gentle on all of his frayed nerves.
Vierna quietly sang her way through healing prayers, finding quickly-bandaged wounds and dealing with them, before turning her attention to the abuses he'd heaped on his body, the buildups of fatigue chemicals and toxins -- and stimulants -- that needed to be wiped from his system. It was easier on the patient to do this small spell by small spell, sacrificing her other spells to it, rather than start with her most powerful spells and force divine energy through a body not accustomed to it.
Drizzt found the healing to be soothing, and he relaxed, bit by bit, his control against sleep slipping away as she made his body whole and well once more.
Vierna found her spells, brought by Eilistraee, bolstered, as the amulet he wore warmed to further soothe him, and knew his goddess was also paying attention to the abuses he'd heaped on himself.
Eventually, he was asleep, but the damage was under control, and she didn't think he had done harm to himself that would last. She'd make him wake for Thyl's potion, but for now, Drizzt was as strong as she could make him, and sleeping safely where she could watch over him.
Mid-Winter
Mena came and pressed a very cold hug to her sworn-sister, laughing at the faint yelp as the cold went through Vierna's robes.
"I came straight to you from outside," Mena said with a grin. "So, it seems there's a romance brewing in Silverymoon. Drizzt says hello, he misses you, but he's learning a lot."
"I miss him too," Vierna replied, "but what do you mean, a romance?"
Mena started piling her travel cloak and pack by the door to carry to her room later. "Your brother." She smiled impishly. "I don't think he really knows how to navigate it, but he's fallen so hard."
"For who?" Vierna demanded, more than a little worried, her eyes narrowing at her heart-sister's obvious amusement.
Mena came and took her hands, squeezing. "Someone who knows very well how difficult this could be for him. Mother, and she is just as struck by him, if I am reading it all correctly."
Vierna squeezed back, but she also just stared at her oldest friend in utter confusion. "I... your mother?! Of all the people I could have imagined you might say, she was nowhere on my list!"
"I think they've been mutually struck since their first meeting," Mena told her. "But it is a slow-moving thing, and I'm only really seeing it because I see them away from everyone else."
Vierna nodded slowly, and considered this idea. He was certainly experienced -- in the travel and encounters sense -- enough to make his own choices without her fussing... but oh, she was glad it was Mena's mother. Alustriel was wise, kind, and good to a level that Vierna could be certain that even if it went badly, the archmage would do her best not to hurt her brother. "Well... how very surprising, indeed."
"I think it's wonderful. She's stayed a little distant from most people since Papa died, and he's a very gentle person, who follows all our ideals." Mena grinned. "He won my Uncle Korvallen over, Spellguard Niska has pretty much adopted him, and he's very popular with the pages."
"Really? Come tell me all about how he's doing," Vierna encouraged, pulling her sworn-sister along with her to sit for a bit.
Mena went happily, and started filling her in on all she had learned in Silverymoon. Their family was tied together, all because she'd been curious about the drow so long ago.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed
ilyena_sylph & senmutFandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Philomena (Canon-Inspired OC), Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship, Background Relationships
Series: Part 9 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:
The Hall regained, futures growing
Full Phase Met
No one had been able to pry Drizzt out of the lower part of the Hall until he found the gate the dragon had kept. His growing silence, the scowl on his face, all warned Bruenor his friend was more injured in spirit than body, but then again, Drizzt's nature was just that stubborn, to keep pushing past the realm of exhaustion.
However, once a tall, silver-haired woman had come and dealt with the gate, Bruenor could win the battle of wills, and he ordered Drizzt to go find one of their allies for healing.
When Drizzt emerged outside, with the sun beating down, making him actively flinch, Thyl happened to be looking that way. He'd been told this was Vierna's brother, and while they had some of her clerics here, under glamour rings, he felt a duty to get this taken care of quickly.
No drow was meant to be ash-gray.
"Here, Drizzt," Thyl called, as he whistled for Steelheart -- he was out of magic, despite Mom's spellstar -- but she wouldn't mind the short flight to Spirit Sanctuary. "You look terrible. Let's get you to your sister, mm?"
Drizzt looked at the half-human, considered saying he should see who he could help in the camp of wounded, swayed, and gave in.
"If your friend does not mind," he said, still in awe that all of the pegasi had come to investigate him when they had staged for the invasion.
"She won't," Thyl replied, certain of it as Steelheart touched down a few feet away. "You don't mind taking us over to the other peak, right, lovely?"
Steelheart snorted and swished her tail, before turning her head to get a better look at Drizzt and making a worried nicker.
He brought a hand up and petted along her neck, before waiting for Thyl to mount. He concentrated hard -- that was not easy -- and got himself up without hurting the beautiful being that she was.
"Thank you, both of you."
"You're welcome," Thyl said, as Steelheart turned her head around to stretch past Thyl's leg and nose Drizzt for a moment. He shook his head a little at that, before Steelheart straightened back up and launched into the air, her wings beating hard as she headed north around the mountain, leaving the busy camp behind and soon out of sight.
Drizzt wound up leaning against Thyl's back, as fatigue -- and worse -- sapped at him once he was no longer moving on his own.
:Your brother comes,: Eilistraee, so glad to feel this goodly ranger within Her song now, sent to Vierna so she would get free.
Vierna freed herself from her work of the moment and headed out onto the ledge, looking to see from which way -- and blinked as she saw Thyl and Steelheart, with Drizzt behind her friend on the pegasus. Even from so far away, her brother looked terrible and she worried the entire time until Steelheart landed barely more than a wingspan away. "What happened?" she demanded even as she came to make sure he didn't fall as he slid off Steelheart.
"He only just came out of the mountain," Thyl said. The invasion had taken place two days before, Vierna knew.
"Had to find the dragon's gate and be certain it was sealed," Drizzt managed to say.
"Which means he was probably away from light," Thyl added. "And the clerics haven't actually had time to deal with the shades, given how many injured we had."
"Oh for the Moon's sake!" Vierna exclaimed in exasperation, shaking her head at her brother even as she got his arm up over her shoulders to help bring him along. Where... unlike all of the other drow, her brother would need sunlight and moonlight, so that let out all of the deeper chambers, but -- ah. That would work.
"Bit of a walk, but there's a summer workroom that's windowed by a wall of force. Mostly for sewing and weaving, or writing. Has a couch at the moment, but we'll move a bed in once I've done some work -- though you may have done yourself permanent damage, if you rested before you came here," she fussed, worried. The damage shades could do, that creeping cold drain of strength and vitality.... it needed to be treated promptly, and two days was too long. No wonder he looked so awful. "Thyl, you look almost as bad as he does, but are you up to brewing him a vitality draught? You know where everything is, get Ellie to help you if you need it."
"I can do that, Vierna," Thyl promised her, setting off to get it started.
"Haven't slept since it started," Drizzt admitted. "I don't remember if the shades came close enough. The pool of the dragon's evil was just so thick in the lower levels, sister. It hurt as bad as graduation, and I had to be in it longer."
Vierna blinked at him as they moved, trying to make sense of that... and then she hissed under her breath. "You can sense evil, as though you have the spell? No wonder you look so terrible, even without having been awake for... three, five days? You're going to turn my hair black," she muttered, as she opened the door to the long, bright room and helped him to the couch. A few moments of removing all the gear he no longer needed, and she had him lying down so she could set to work on repairing the damage he'd done to himself.
"It's not usually this bad. I rarely stay in it, usually just long enough to kill or destroy the source. Even that damned crystal wasn't this bad, or the balor," he muttered. "First time being steeped in it a while, since leaving the mind flayer city."
"...those are entirely too many terrible stories I haven't heard," Vierna said, deliberately calmly, "but we'll have time for that. Shush a moment and let me concentrate, though."
Drizzt closed his mouth, and then his eyes, because while the light was his promise that he was free, right now it hurt.
He did not let himself sleep, worried by his sister's words, and paid attention to her presence instead. It was cool, calming, and gentle on all of his frayed nerves.
Vierna quietly sang her way through healing prayers, finding quickly-bandaged wounds and dealing with them, before turning her attention to the abuses he'd heaped on his body, the buildups of fatigue chemicals and toxins -- and stimulants -- that needed to be wiped from his system. It was easier on the patient to do this small spell by small spell, sacrificing her other spells to it, rather than start with her most powerful spells and force divine energy through a body not accustomed to it.
Drizzt found the healing to be soothing, and he relaxed, bit by bit, his control against sleep slipping away as she made his body whole and well once more.
Vierna found her spells, brought by Eilistraee, bolstered, as the amulet he wore warmed to further soothe him, and knew his goddess was also paying attention to the abuses he'd heaped on himself.
Eventually, he was asleep, but the damage was under control, and she didn't think he had done harm to himself that would last. She'd make him wake for Thyl's potion, but for now, Drizzt was as strong as she could make him, and sleeping safely where she could watch over him.
Mid-Winter
Mena came and pressed a very cold hug to her sworn-sister, laughing at the faint yelp as the cold went through Vierna's robes.
"I came straight to you from outside," Mena said with a grin. "So, it seems there's a romance brewing in Silverymoon. Drizzt says hello, he misses you, but he's learning a lot."
"I miss him too," Vierna replied, "but what do you mean, a romance?"
Mena started piling her travel cloak and pack by the door to carry to her room later. "Your brother." She smiled impishly. "I don't think he really knows how to navigate it, but he's fallen so hard."
"For who?" Vierna demanded, more than a little worried, her eyes narrowing at her heart-sister's obvious amusement.
Mena came and took her hands, squeezing. "Someone who knows very well how difficult this could be for him. Mother, and she is just as struck by him, if I am reading it all correctly."
Vierna squeezed back, but she also just stared at her oldest friend in utter confusion. "I... your mother?! Of all the people I could have imagined you might say, she was nowhere on my list!"
"I think they've been mutually struck since their first meeting," Mena told her. "But it is a slow-moving thing, and I'm only really seeing it because I see them away from everyone else."
Vierna nodded slowly, and considered this idea. He was certainly experienced -- in the travel and encounters sense -- enough to make his own choices without her fussing... but oh, she was glad it was Mena's mother. Alustriel was wise, kind, and good to a level that Vierna could be certain that even if it went badly, the archmage would do her best not to hurt her brother. "Well... how very surprising, indeed."
"I think it's wonderful. She's stayed a little distant from most people since Papa died, and he's a very gentle person, who follows all our ideals." Mena grinned. "He won my Uncle Korvallen over, Spellguard Niska has pretty much adopted him, and he's very popular with the pages."
"Really? Come tell me all about how he's doing," Vierna encouraged, pulling her sworn-sister along with her to sit for a bit.
Mena went happily, and started filling her in on all she had learned in Silverymoon. Their family was tied together, all because she'd been curious about the drow so long ago.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed
