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tales_of_faerunFledgling (2548 words) by Somariel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Dolthauvin Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Given the distance from Waterdeep, Sharr wasn't actually surprised that Drizzt had not yet met any Eilistraeeans, but his own presence meant that it would still be a good idea to contact Qilué.
So he settled more comfortably against Norvor's side as they watched Drizzt play with the foal of the mare who had adopted him, and reached out over the anklets.
~Qilué, would you please warn whichever of your people are coming to help this young drow in the Rauvin Mountains that I got pulled in by the pegasi that have adopted him?~ he sent.
~Young drow in the Rauvin Mountains who's been adopted by pegasi?~ Quite surprisingly, Qilué sounded confused.
And when she added ~Sharr, what are you talking about?~, on her own sending, he knew something strange was going on.
So he simply replied by sharing his vision with her, as the fastest way to explain things.
And once Qilué's anklet had recharged, she responded. ~Well, I certainly should have heard of a drow that good. I will have to consult with my Lady.~
~Of course,~ Sharr said, and then he let the link drop.
Before he had reached out to Qilué, Sharr had contacted Dol and asked for his assistance in teaching Drizzt Common.
And although his son had readily agreed, he had also needed some time to wrap up his current business before he could come.
So it was not until three days later that Sharr received his son's request for a teleport visual.
~Give me a moment,~ he replied. ~I want to warn Drizzt first, but he's in the middle of cleaning a rabbit.~
~Of course,~ Dol said.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before Drizzt put down the knife Sharr had given him to use, though it was clearly only a pause before he moved from gutting to skinning.
Sharr coughed softly to get his attention, and when Drizzt turned to look at him, he said, "Son coming by magic. Will help teach Surface Common."
After a brief moment for puzzlement, Drizzt realized that Sharr was telling him now because his son was coming now, so he gave a nod and said, "Ready."
Sharr's attention seemed to turn inward for a moment, then he looked very intently at a distinctive formation of a 'tree' that had grown out of a crack in a large rock.
And then a shimmer in the air appeared in front of the formation, like the heat shimmers that occurred near the magma vents in the Underdark, and when it faded, there was a tall, silver-haired faerie and another 'pegasus' where it had been.
The faerie—whose eyes and ears looked blunted for some reason—inclined his head towards Drizzt, and said, "Name Dolthauvin Aerasumé. Small name Dol. Pegasus name Vaska."
"Name Drizzt Do'Urden," Drizzt replied.
Even in the few days before Dol had arrived, Drizzt had proved to be quick at picking up Common. And after Dol arrived, the speed at which Drizzt did so increased, as Dol’s experience with teaching allowed him to organize the lessons in a way that let them build on the previous ones.
But even two weeks later, both Sharr and Dol felt that Drizzt’s Common was still not good enough to have the needed conversation about Eilistraee and her followers without magical assistance.
So that evening, after they had finished eating, Dol caught Drizzt’s attention and said, in Goblin, “Must talk good big news. Use magic, make best Common?”
Drizzt tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. “Make best Common,” he agreed.
Dol cast tongues on the young drow, and once he felt the spell take, he spoke in Common.
“You are not the only good drow,” he said.
“What?” Drizzt’s expression was one of stunned surprise, and his tone was so shocked that Vaska came over and settled down beside him, cupping a wing around him.
“There are other drow of a goodly nature, who follow a goodly goddess,” Sharr said.
“I’m… not alone?” Drizzt said, sounding utterly bewildered.
“You are not,” Sharr agreed.
“We know it’s surprising,” Dol said, “given that for some reason the Dark Maiden was completely unaware of your existence and therefore unable to Call to you.
“However, the reason we’re bringing it up now is because we want to know if you’d be okay with one of Her followers coming to join us.”
Drizzt thought about that for a moment. “To help teach Common?”
“Yes,” Sharr said. “And they can also teach you about the Dark Maiden and her followers if you wish.”
“I… think I’d like that,” Drizzt said. “But what were you talking about when you said that… the Dark Maiden… was unaware of my existence? Why do you think She should have known about me?”
“Because She should be aware of every good drow,” Dol said.
“She should have known of and been able to Call to you no later than when you reached the Surface,” Sharr elaborated. “But She was completely unaware of your existence until after I reached out to the primary leader of the drow who follow Her, to let her know that I had become involved in your life.”
With Drizzt's agreement given, Bo had brought Xinval to join them, and soon enough, lessons in reading and writing Common were added to the lessons in speaking it.
Drizzt progressed in those lessons quickly enough that only five weeks after Xinval's arrival, Dol ended up making a trip to Silverymoon to acquire new books for the young drow to read.
Methri happened to also be in Silverymoon then, and that night, while they were talking with Alustriel after evenfeast, the subject of conversation naturally turned towards Drizzt.
Discussion of how the lessons were going led to Dol admitting that he and Sharr both strongly felt that Drizzt was a wild-called ranger, given how in-tune with the wilds he was and how much all the pegasi liked him.
"... and honestly, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't end up with a pegasus friend of his own," Dol finished.
"Huh," Methri replied. "I wonder if that'll do anything to reduce how grumpy Uncle Kor is being about the whole situation."
"Oh?" Alustriel said.
"He really can't argue about Drizzt's goodly nature when there's the testimony of him having been adopted by pegasi, but he's not happy about how long Father has been out in the wilds because of it."
"Is it just about Father being out in the wilds, or is it really about Father being out in the wilds without him?" Dol asked.
"Some of both, I think. He'd definitely be happier about it if he was there to protect Father, but he's also just plain worried about Father spending so long in the same place when it isn't the village or Silverymoon."
As the summer wore on, Drizzt continued to learn quickly, and Sharr and Dol even got a chance to confirm exactly how highly skilled a fighter he was, after the failure of his remaining blade from the Underdark convinced him to let them provide him with replacements, and thereby enabled a proper spar with first Sharr, and then Korvallen, once the results of the match against Sharr had been shared.
And as summer turned into fall, Sharr and Dol—with assistance from Xinval—began to work on convincing Drizzt to come spend the winter in Silverymoon.
Drizzt resisted the idea for a while, not wanting to leave the pegasi, but after the first hard frost, he could no longer deny that he was—at least at this point—unsuited for the experience of a mountain winter, and reluctantly agreed.
Drizzt's first visit to the Glade proved to be just as exceptional as Sharr and Dol had suspected it would be, with the young drow being drawn into what was at least near-Reverie, if not actually the true Reverie that had been stripped from the drow as a people.
And as a result, ranger lessons were added to the continuing language lessons.
But while some ranger skills could be taught within the city, not all of them could, so some lessons were held in the Moonwood.
Drizzt returned from the first lesson in the Moonwood looking uncharacteristically shaken, and the tale that poured out of him when Sharr asked if he was alright left the elder elf somewhat shaken himself, silently cursing Lolthite society and practices even as he reassured the young drow that every effort would be made to find and aid the child that Drizzt had managed to spare.
Drizzt's lessons continued as the winter wore on, the elven child was found, and eventually, the season turned to spring, spurring in Drizzt a desire to explore the region.
The very first place Drizzt had chosen to go after leaving Silverymoon was to check on his nest-mate and the rest of her herd, because for all that Sharr and others had assured him that the pegasi would make it through the winter just fine, he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it without seeing it for himself.
Roughly two weeks after he had set out, on the far side of Maldobar, he was quite relieved by his first sighting of a pegasus flying overhead.
And a few days later, further up in the mountains, he was greeted joyously by a pegasus he could easily tell was his nest-mate, even though she had grown to her full height while he had been wintering in Silverymoon.
Drizzt had spent a very pleasant week reacquainting himself with the entire herd, but now that he seen that they had all made it through the winter, he was ready to begin his true exploration of the region.
So after a last round of scratches and pats for his nest-mate and her parents, he set off down the mountain in the gathering dusk.
He traveled through the night, and only began to look for a good place to take his rest when the first hints of false dawn started to creep over the eastern horizon.
By the time he had chosen a campsite, arranged it to his satisfaction, and eaten his last meal, the sun was just starting to truly rise, so he began his vigil, and once that was finished, he settled down to sleep.
When Drizzt woke, he could tell, even before he opened his eyes, that there was another being or creature nearby. But before he could begin to worry, a quiet—and familiar—nicker drew his attention to the left.
Sitting up, he turned to look that way, and saw his nest-mate standing a couple yards away. And while he sat there in stunned silence, she came over to him and started lipping at his hair.
That broke him free of his momentary paralysis, and he reached up to scratch behind her ears. "Not that I'm displeased to see you," he said, "but what are you doing here? Why aren't you with your parents?"
She stopped lipping his hair and gave an indignant snort, then picked up his pack by one of the straps, stretched out a wing, carefully placed the pack on the wing, and then lifted the wing so the pack slid down to rest on her back between her wings.
That done, she looked pointedly at him, looked towards the pack, then looked downslope.
After a second round of her looking at him, towards the pack, and downslope, Drizzt realized what she was trying to indicate. "You want to come with me?"
She replied by bobbing her head and briefly prancing in place, which was as clear a 'yes' as he could get.
"Why? Why do you want to leave your herd to travel with me?"
She gave another snort, bumped her nose against his chest, and started lipping his hair again.
Even with as uncertain and off-balance as his nest-mate's decision had left him, Drizzt responded in kind by resuming the scratching behind her ears.
Some time later, having regained some level of equilibrium from the prolonged contact with her, he reached into the pouch that held Guen's figure and withdrew the other magical item he now kept in there—a sending stone Sharr had given him before Drizzt left Silverymoon.
Taking a deep breath and reminding himself that Sharr had explicitly said he should call on him for aid if needed, he sent, ~My nest-mate caught up to me while I was sleeping, and is insisting on coming with me. What should I do?~
A brief sense of startlement came over the link, and then Sharr said, ~Stay near Maldobar for now. I or one of my sons will come as soon as can be managed.~
And even as the link ended, Drizzt gave a sigh of relief.
Once the link to Drizzt had ended, Sharr reached out to his sons. ~Are any of you boys able to get yourself and your pegasus to the Maldobar area sooner than Norvor can bring me from the village?~
~I'm home at Starlake right now,~ Elin said, ~so I could be there by this evening.~
~I think that makes you the only option,~ Andy said, ~given that I'm currently in Shadowdale with Aunt Syluné.~
Then Ghael kicked off a new round with ~Unless a teleport visual is possible, in which case Rua and I could be there within a few hours.~
~It's not that urgent,~ Sharr said. ~Drizzt went to check on the herd that adopted him, and his nest-mate decided to come with him when he left.~
Dol sighed. ~So now he's full of anxiety over how to care for a filly who's still a few weeks short of her first birthday.~
~I'm surprised her parents let her leave that young,~ Thyl said.
~So am I,~ Sharr replied. ~I wasn't expecting them to bond until next year.~
~Given her age, it'd probably be helpful for one of us to travel with them for the rest of the year,~ Elin said, ~but I can't stay more than a week or so.~
~I can do that,~ Del volunteered. ~And since I'm coming from Longsaddle, I can even be there before you need to leave.~
~Sounds like we have a plan, then,~ Dol said.
While Drizzt had initially been somewhat hesitant about the idea of one of Sharr's sons coming to travel with him and Lothalninil—as he had chosen to call his nest-mate—even after Elin explained that it was as much for Del's benefit as for theirs, actually meeting Del changed that.
Seeing how young Del seemed in comparison to himself, even with the knowledge that the half-elf was most of two decades older, Drizzt realized that Elin's description of Del as both young enough that the rest of the family wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of him traveling alone and old enough to chafe at the idea of always traveling with his brothers was not just a sop to Drizzt's refusal to impose on them.
So once Elin left, Drizzt happily settled down to discussing with Del where to go next.
Over the course of their travels throughout the spring, summer, and early fall, a firm friendship was forged between the two, and when the season turned towards winter, Del happily joined Drizzt in Silverymoon to continue teaching him about pegasus care and riding.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Dolthauvin Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Sharr helps Drizzt learn more of the world, and Drizzt acquires a friend for life.
A continuation of senmut’s fic Nestling and my fic Nestling: The Other Side.
Fledgling
Given the distance from Waterdeep, Sharr wasn't actually surprised that Drizzt had not yet met any Eilistraeeans, but his own presence meant that it would still be a good idea to contact Qilué.
So he settled more comfortably against Norvor's side as they watched Drizzt play with the foal of the mare who had adopted him, and reached out over the anklets.
~Qilué, would you please warn whichever of your people are coming to help this young drow in the Rauvin Mountains that I got pulled in by the pegasi that have adopted him?~ he sent.
~Young drow in the Rauvin Mountains who's been adopted by pegasi?~ Quite surprisingly, Qilué sounded confused.
And when she added ~Sharr, what are you talking about?~, on her own sending, he knew something strange was going on.
So he simply replied by sharing his vision with her, as the fastest way to explain things.
And once Qilué's anklet had recharged, she responded. ~Well, I certainly should have heard of a drow that good. I will have to consult with my Lady.~
~Of course,~ Sharr said, and then he let the link drop.
Before he had reached out to Qilué, Sharr had contacted Dol and asked for his assistance in teaching Drizzt Common.
And although his son had readily agreed, he had also needed some time to wrap up his current business before he could come.
So it was not until three days later that Sharr received his son's request for a teleport visual.
~Give me a moment,~ he replied. ~I want to warn Drizzt first, but he's in the middle of cleaning a rabbit.~
~Of course,~ Dol said.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before Drizzt put down the knife Sharr had given him to use, though it was clearly only a pause before he moved from gutting to skinning.
Sharr coughed softly to get his attention, and when Drizzt turned to look at him, he said, "Son coming by magic. Will help teach Surface Common."
After a brief moment for puzzlement, Drizzt realized that Sharr was telling him now because his son was coming now, so he gave a nod and said, "Ready."
Sharr's attention seemed to turn inward for a moment, then he looked very intently at a distinctive formation of a 'tree' that had grown out of a crack in a large rock.
And then a shimmer in the air appeared in front of the formation, like the heat shimmers that occurred near the magma vents in the Underdark, and when it faded, there was a tall, silver-haired faerie and another 'pegasus' where it had been.
The faerie—whose eyes and ears looked blunted for some reason—inclined his head towards Drizzt, and said, "Name Dolthauvin Aerasumé. Small name Dol. Pegasus name Vaska."
"Name Drizzt Do'Urden," Drizzt replied.
Even in the few days before Dol had arrived, Drizzt had proved to be quick at picking up Common. And after Dol arrived, the speed at which Drizzt did so increased, as Dol’s experience with teaching allowed him to organize the lessons in a way that let them build on the previous ones.
But even two weeks later, both Sharr and Dol felt that Drizzt’s Common was still not good enough to have the needed conversation about Eilistraee and her followers without magical assistance.
So that evening, after they had finished eating, Dol caught Drizzt’s attention and said, in Goblin, “Must talk good big news. Use magic, make best Common?”
Drizzt tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. “Make best Common,” he agreed.
Dol cast tongues on the young drow, and once he felt the spell take, he spoke in Common.
“You are not the only good drow,” he said.
“What?” Drizzt’s expression was one of stunned surprise, and his tone was so shocked that Vaska came over and settled down beside him, cupping a wing around him.
“There are other drow of a goodly nature, who follow a goodly goddess,” Sharr said.
“I’m… not alone?” Drizzt said, sounding utterly bewildered.
“You are not,” Sharr agreed.
“We know it’s surprising,” Dol said, “given that for some reason the Dark Maiden was completely unaware of your existence and therefore unable to Call to you.
“However, the reason we’re bringing it up now is because we want to know if you’d be okay with one of Her followers coming to join us.”
Drizzt thought about that for a moment. “To help teach Common?”
“Yes,” Sharr said. “And they can also teach you about the Dark Maiden and her followers if you wish.”
“I… think I’d like that,” Drizzt said. “But what were you talking about when you said that… the Dark Maiden… was unaware of my existence? Why do you think She should have known about me?”
“Because She should be aware of every good drow,” Dol said.
“She should have known of and been able to Call to you no later than when you reached the Surface,” Sharr elaborated. “But She was completely unaware of your existence until after I reached out to the primary leader of the drow who follow Her, to let her know that I had become involved in your life.”
With Drizzt's agreement given, Bo had brought Xinval to join them, and soon enough, lessons in reading and writing Common were added to the lessons in speaking it.
Drizzt progressed in those lessons quickly enough that only five weeks after Xinval's arrival, Dol ended up making a trip to Silverymoon to acquire new books for the young drow to read.
Methri happened to also be in Silverymoon then, and that night, while they were talking with Alustriel after evenfeast, the subject of conversation naturally turned towards Drizzt.
Discussion of how the lessons were going led to Dol admitting that he and Sharr both strongly felt that Drizzt was a wild-called ranger, given how in-tune with the wilds he was and how much all the pegasi liked him.
"... and honestly, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't end up with a pegasus friend of his own," Dol finished.
"Huh," Methri replied. "I wonder if that'll do anything to reduce how grumpy Uncle Kor is being about the whole situation."
"Oh?" Alustriel said.
"He really can't argue about Drizzt's goodly nature when there's the testimony of him having been adopted by pegasi, but he's not happy about how long Father has been out in the wilds because of it."
"Is it just about Father being out in the wilds, or is it really about Father being out in the wilds without him?" Dol asked.
"Some of both, I think. He'd definitely be happier about it if he was there to protect Father, but he's also just plain worried about Father spending so long in the same place when it isn't the village or Silverymoon."
As the summer wore on, Drizzt continued to learn quickly, and Sharr and Dol even got a chance to confirm exactly how highly skilled a fighter he was, after the failure of his remaining blade from the Underdark convinced him to let them provide him with replacements, and thereby enabled a proper spar with first Sharr, and then Korvallen, once the results of the match against Sharr had been shared.
And as summer turned into fall, Sharr and Dol—with assistance from Xinval—began to work on convincing Drizzt to come spend the winter in Silverymoon.
Drizzt resisted the idea for a while, not wanting to leave the pegasi, but after the first hard frost, he could no longer deny that he was—at least at this point—unsuited for the experience of a mountain winter, and reluctantly agreed.
Drizzt's first visit to the Glade proved to be just as exceptional as Sharr and Dol had suspected it would be, with the young drow being drawn into what was at least near-Reverie, if not actually the true Reverie that had been stripped from the drow as a people.
And as a result, ranger lessons were added to the continuing language lessons.
But while some ranger skills could be taught within the city, not all of them could, so some lessons were held in the Moonwood.
Drizzt returned from the first lesson in the Moonwood looking uncharacteristically shaken, and the tale that poured out of him when Sharr asked if he was alright left the elder elf somewhat shaken himself, silently cursing Lolthite society and practices even as he reassured the young drow that every effort would be made to find and aid the child that Drizzt had managed to spare.
Drizzt's lessons continued as the winter wore on, the elven child was found, and eventually, the season turned to spring, spurring in Drizzt a desire to explore the region.
The very first place Drizzt had chosen to go after leaving Silverymoon was to check on his nest-mate and the rest of her herd, because for all that Sharr and others had assured him that the pegasi would make it through the winter just fine, he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it without seeing it for himself.
Roughly two weeks after he had set out, on the far side of Maldobar, he was quite relieved by his first sighting of a pegasus flying overhead.
And a few days later, further up in the mountains, he was greeted joyously by a pegasus he could easily tell was his nest-mate, even though she had grown to her full height while he had been wintering in Silverymoon.
Drizzt had spent a very pleasant week reacquainting himself with the entire herd, but now that he seen that they had all made it through the winter, he was ready to begin his true exploration of the region.
So after a last round of scratches and pats for his nest-mate and her parents, he set off down the mountain in the gathering dusk.
He traveled through the night, and only began to look for a good place to take his rest when the first hints of false dawn started to creep over the eastern horizon.
By the time he had chosen a campsite, arranged it to his satisfaction, and eaten his last meal, the sun was just starting to truly rise, so he began his vigil, and once that was finished, he settled down to sleep.
When Drizzt woke, he could tell, even before he opened his eyes, that there was another being or creature nearby. But before he could begin to worry, a quiet—and familiar—nicker drew his attention to the left.
Sitting up, he turned to look that way, and saw his nest-mate standing a couple yards away. And while he sat there in stunned silence, she came over to him and started lipping at his hair.
That broke him free of his momentary paralysis, and he reached up to scratch behind her ears. "Not that I'm displeased to see you," he said, "but what are you doing here? Why aren't you with your parents?"
She stopped lipping his hair and gave an indignant snort, then picked up his pack by one of the straps, stretched out a wing, carefully placed the pack on the wing, and then lifted the wing so the pack slid down to rest on her back between her wings.
That done, she looked pointedly at him, looked towards the pack, then looked downslope.
After a second round of her looking at him, towards the pack, and downslope, Drizzt realized what she was trying to indicate. "You want to come with me?"
She replied by bobbing her head and briefly prancing in place, which was as clear a 'yes' as he could get.
"Why? Why do you want to leave your herd to travel with me?"
She gave another snort, bumped her nose against his chest, and started lipping his hair again.
Even with as uncertain and off-balance as his nest-mate's decision had left him, Drizzt responded in kind by resuming the scratching behind her ears.
Some time later, having regained some level of equilibrium from the prolonged contact with her, he reached into the pouch that held Guen's figure and withdrew the other magical item he now kept in there—a sending stone Sharr had given him before Drizzt left Silverymoon.
Taking a deep breath and reminding himself that Sharr had explicitly said he should call on him for aid if needed, he sent, ~My nest-mate caught up to me while I was sleeping, and is insisting on coming with me. What should I do?~
A brief sense of startlement came over the link, and then Sharr said, ~Stay near Maldobar for now. I or one of my sons will come as soon as can be managed.~
And even as the link ended, Drizzt gave a sigh of relief.
Once the link to Drizzt had ended, Sharr reached out to his sons. ~Are any of you boys able to get yourself and your pegasus to the Maldobar area sooner than Norvor can bring me from the village?~
~I'm home at Starlake right now,~ Elin said, ~so I could be there by this evening.~
~I think that makes you the only option,~ Andy said, ~given that I'm currently in Shadowdale with Aunt Syluné.~
Then Ghael kicked off a new round with ~Unless a teleport visual is possible, in which case Rua and I could be there within a few hours.~
~It's not that urgent,~ Sharr said. ~Drizzt went to check on the herd that adopted him, and his nest-mate decided to come with him when he left.~
Dol sighed. ~So now he's full of anxiety over how to care for a filly who's still a few weeks short of her first birthday.~
~I'm surprised her parents let her leave that young,~ Thyl said.
~So am I,~ Sharr replied. ~I wasn't expecting them to bond until next year.~
~Given her age, it'd probably be helpful for one of us to travel with them for the rest of the year,~ Elin said, ~but I can't stay more than a week or so.~
~I can do that,~ Del volunteered. ~And since I'm coming from Longsaddle, I can even be there before you need to leave.~
~Sounds like we have a plan, then,~ Dol said.
While Drizzt had initially been somewhat hesitant about the idea of one of Sharr's sons coming to travel with him and Lothalninil—as he had chosen to call his nest-mate—even after Elin explained that it was as much for Del's benefit as for theirs, actually meeting Del changed that.
Seeing how young Del seemed in comparison to himself, even with the knowledge that the half-elf was most of two decades older, Drizzt realized that Elin's description of Del as both young enough that the rest of the family wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of him traveling alone and old enough to chafe at the idea of always traveling with his brothers was not just a sop to Drizzt's refusal to impose on them.
So once Elin left, Drizzt happily settled down to discussing with Del where to go next.
Over the course of their travels throughout the spring, summer, and early fall, a firm friendship was forged between the two, and when the season turned towards winter, Del happily joined Drizzt in Silverymoon to continue teaching him about pegasus care and riding.
