Have Your Cake Part I
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tales_of_faerunAnother Survivor (2271 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: Vierna Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Original Dwarf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Series: Part 1 of Have Your Cake, Part 13 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
Inspired bysenmut's fic Moonstruck.
This fic assumes familiarity with the series Sisters in Spirit up through the linked inspiring fic.
1327 DR
Vierna had not gotten very far in cleaning the blood off the child when there was an urgent call for her from one of those searching for other survivors.
Turning the cleaning over to Dhaeln, she hurried over to where Chalirnya was kneeling beside an adolescent female.
“She’s breathing, she has a pulse,” Chalirnya said, “but both are very faint.”
Dropping down beside Chalirnya, Vierna didn’t bother to respond, and simply threw herself into healing the girl, praying it was not too late to save her.
Some time later, feeling woozy from the effort, but confident that the girl would live, she sat back and looked around. Rafi was standing guard beside her, Dhaeln was sitting on the other side of the girl, holding the cleaned-up—and surprisingly uninjured—child, and the others who had come with them were carefully ranged around the clearing.
“We need to make a stretcher,” Vierna said. “There was spinal damage that I want to give time for the healing to truly settle, and healing it took enough effort that I wasn’t able to close all of the wounds.”
“First Sister, you need to rest,” Rafi said. “We will handle that.”
Vierna sighed gratefully. “Thank you.”
Sarilanthe shifted, and gasped at the pain that caused in her lower back. She was alive?
Which was a very significant surprise, as she had been sure she was dying when she was last aware of anything.
“Ye awake, lass?” a quiet voice asked from near her head.
Opening her eyes and turning her head towards the voice, Sarilanthe was surprised to see a dwarf sitting in a chair positioned between the bed she was in, and one on the dwarf’s far side that held a child. “How am I alive?” she asked.
“Yer Lady Eilistraee called on Her folk here for any help that could be given tae your village, and the moon-bridge She gave the First Sister got us there afore the bodies had finished coolin’.
“But even so, ye and this little girl were the only ones we could save, and the First Sister says it was a near thing for ye.”
Sarilanthe closed her eyes in grief for her family, and as she started crying, the dwarf began humming a soft tune that slowly soothed her back to sleep.
The next time Sarilanthe woke, the dwarf in the chair had changed to one who only had some fuzz on their cheeks, not a full beard, and they were engrossed in a book.
Aborting her attempt to actually sit up due to the flash of pain in her lower back, she sighed, and said, "Can you help me sit up?"
The dwarf looked up from the book and flushed. "Sorry," they said. "I should've been paying more attention.
"Ma said yer not s'pposed tae sit up on yer own yet."
"Did she say why?" Sarilanthe asked.
"Ye had spinal damage before the First Sister healed ye," the dwarf said, even as they put down the book and stood up.
"And apparently, even with th' healin', it needs time an' proper care tae recover."
Diesa had been moving towards the bed even as she spoke, and now picked up a pillow from the pile that had been left beside the bed.
"If'n ye're ready, we c'n start gettin' ye more upright," she said. "I'm Diesa, by the way."
"Sarilanthe," the elf replied. "And yes, I'm ready."
Carefully, Diesa slid her free hand under Sarilanthe's shoulders and lifted her just enough to slip the pillow in under them.
"Any pain?" she asked.
"Nothing new," Sarilanthe replied. "Just the ache from trying to sit up myself."
"Good," Diesa said. "Tell me if'n that changes." Then she reached down for another pillow.
Soon enough, the pile of pillows had been transferred to the bed, and Sarilanthe was propped up against them, leaning back at a bit of an angle.
"Are ye hungry?" Diesa asked.
Sarilanthe's stomach growled, and they both laughed.
"That's a yes, then," Diesa said. "Let me go get the tray our clerics prepared."
As the dwarf slipped out of the room, Sarilanthe took the opportunity to actually look around and take in the room.
It was very obviously carved out of the stone that made its walls—which made sense for dwarves, but not for the followers of Eilistraee the first dwarf had mentioned—and was simply furnished, with two beds—the other of which was now empty, she noticed—a chair and small table between them, three chairs and a larger table in a corner, and two lanterns, one hanging beside the door, and the other hanging from the wall between the beds.
Diesa returned fairly quickly, and once the legged tray had been settled on her lap and she'd eased the emptiness in her stomach, Sarilanthe asked, "Where's the little girl?"
"Ma took her tae our quarters when she started havin' nightmares," Diesa answered. "Didnae want her disturbin' ye if'n she changed from whimperin' tae screamin'."
"Ah." Sarilanthe rather suspected she'd have some nightmares of her own, and it made sense that a child's would be worse.
After that, Sarilanthe and Diesa sat in companionable silence as Sarilanthe ate and Diesa read her book, and eventually, Sarilanthe put down the fork beside the empty plate.
"Can you help me relieve myself?" she asked, feeling her cheeks heat for making the request.
But if she wasn't even supposed to sit up on her own, there was no way she should be standing up without aid, either, so the request was necessary.
"Of course," Diesa said, putting down the book.
She got up and pulled a chamberpot out from under Sarilanthe's bed, then helped the elf to take care of her business.
Once Sarilanthe was in bed again, settled back against the pile of pillows, she sighed, and said, "How long am I going to need assistance like this?"
"Only 'til Aunt Bardryn and Aunt Joylin finish the brace tae support yer back properly while yer spine recovers," Diesa said. "Ought tae be ready in a few more days."
Finishing the brace had turned out to first require being measured both sitting and standing, followed by two fittings after the measurements had been used to construct the brace, but just four days later, Sarilanthe found herself standing by the bed entirely on her own, though Diesa and her mother, Dhaeln, were standing nearby, ready to provide support if she needed it.
After taking a few moments to make sure her balance was steady, Sarilanthe slowly started walking towards the door, paying close attention to how her lower back felt.
She was able to walk from the head of the bed to the door and back three times before her back started to twinge with mild pain.
And although she would have liked to keep going, Dhaeln had been very clear that she needed to stop at the first hint of pain, so she reluctantly sat back down on the bed.
"That's a good start, lass," Dhaeln said. "An' once the pain goes away, I c'n show ye some stretches tae help condition the muscles."
"Thank you," Sarilanthe said. Then, deciding to take the plunge, she asked about something that had been puzzling her since she first woke up.
"You told me, the very first time I woke here, that there are followers of Eilistraee living here.
"So why have none of them been tending to me and Ellifain?"
"Because though they're elf-kin, none o' them are elves," Dhaeln replied.
Sarilanthe scrunched her face up in confusion. "Why would half-elves be avoiding us?"
"They're nae half-elves, lass," Dhaeln said.
Tilting her head thoughtfully, Sarilanthe considered that. What other elf-kin might there be, especially ones who would feel a need to avoid... the survivors of a drow raid?
"They're drow?!" she gasped.
"Aye," Dhaeln said. "All goodly people and devout followers of the Dark Maiden, but I'm sure ye c'n understand why we've been th' ones carin' for the two o' ye."
"Yes," Sarilanthe said. "I can." Then she carefully lay down and turned to face the wall.
The idea of goodly drow went against all she had ever been taught. Could Dhaeln really be telling the truth about that?
Sarilanthe hadn't been able to bring herself to ask further questions of Dhaeln, or the other adult dwarves, about the supposedly goodly drow, but a few tentative questions to Diesa had left her feeling very off balance.
Because even if it might be true that these drow weren't actually evil, she was still finding hard to believe that they could truly be good.
And yet, Diesa claimed that a pegasus rider visited on a semi-regular basis, and the pegasus would accept treats from the lead priestess of Eilistraee here, and even allow her to pet and scratch it.
But a bit less than a week later, she received hard proof that it was all true.
Sarilanthe was carefully doing the warming-up exercises Dhaeln had shown her—with Ellifain doing her best to copy them—and wondering which of the dwarves would be accompanying them on their daily walk around the area closest to the dwarves' quarters, when there was a knock on the door.
Which she wouldn't have considered odd at all, given the dwarves' careful respect for ensuring that she and Ellifain could truly consider this room to be theirs, except for the fact that the knock was lighter than usual.
So instead of the "Come in" that was her usual response, she called, "Who is it?"
"Thorik an' Wulgar, lass," came the response. "We've got a visitor for the two o' ye."
Sarilanthe had no idea who the visitor might be, when Ellifain had not yet been told that the dwarves were acting as proxies for drow, but since she trusted the dwarves to not spring that on the girl with a meeting, she gave permission to come in.
The first person through the door, however, was neither Thorik nor Wulgar, but a tall, silver haired half-elf, in wizard robes.
Something about that struck a chord in her memories, but before she could chase it down, the dwarves had entered, and Thorik introduced him.
"Sarilanthe, Ellifain, this is Inthylyn Aerasumé, a friend of the First Sister."
The given name was unfamiliar to Sarilanthe, but the family name was one she recognized.
"You're a Tall One," she blurted out.
"I am," the half-elf agreed. "And please, call me Thyl."
That confirmation left Sarilanthe's mind so busy making connections that she barely noticed Thyl crouch down to speak to Ellifain, but when he stood up again, she was ready with more questions.
Deliberately catching his attention, she said, "So you're the pegasus rider that Diesa told me comes to visit?"
"Yes," Thyl replied.
"An' on that note," Thorik said, "today's walk is goin' tae go outside, so the two o' ye can meet his friend."
"I'm told the walk is somewhat longer than you've been doing," Thyl said, "but Steelheart can't exactly come inside.
"And I have a couple floating disks memorized in case either of you needs to rest."
Given the rest of what Diesa had said about his visits, Sarilanthe could easily guess why they were going out to meet his pegasus, but since no one else was saying it, she wouldn't either.
And it wasn't long before the five of them were heading down the corridor, Wulgar and Ellifain in the lead, with Sarilanthe following them, flanked by Thorik and Thyl.
When the light from outside started to show ahead, Thyl moved up to take the lead, and very soon, all five of them emerged onto a broad ledge.
And after a few moments of blinking while her eyes adjusted to the brighter light, Sarilanthe looked around in amazement.
The view was incredible, stretching across a wide valley to a peak on the far side, but before she could get too lost in admiration, a nicker sounded from off to her right.
Turning, she saw a pegasus standing on the ledge, and beside the pegasus was a female drow—who was wearing robes patterned with moons and swords, and had one hand resting on the pegasus's neck.
"Sarilanthe, Ellifain, I am very pleased to finally meet both of you properly," the drow said. "My name is Vierna, and I am the First Sister of Spirit Sanctuary."
"You're... good?" Ellifain said tremulously.
Looking to her side, Sarilanthe saw that Thorik and Wulgar were standing on either side of the girl, each with an arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"I am," Vierna said, "and so are all the other residents of Spirit Sanctuary."
Turning her attention back to the cleric, Sarilanthe saw that she was now sitting cross-legged on the ledge, and the pegasus was snuffling her hair, while Thyl stroked the pegasus's neck.
Ellifain seemed to be too shocked to say anything else, so Sarilanthe took it upon herself to break the slightly awkward silence that had fallen.
"I guess I should say thank you," she said. "Because if you're the First Sister, then you're the one who healed me."
"It was the right thing to do," Vierna said, "so no thanks are necessary.
"Though now that we've actually met, I would like to check how your spine is recovering, once you return to your room."
Sarilanthe took a moment to think about it, then said, "I... think I'm okay with that."
"If you want Dhaeln or another dwarf present while I do so, that's perfectly fine with me."
"Then yes, as long as one of them is present, you can check whatever you need to."
Part I|Part II|Part III|Part IV|Part V|Part VI
*Links will work as fics are revealed
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Original Dwarf Character(s), Inthylyn Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Series: Part 1 of Have Your Cake, Part 13 of A Crossing of the Realms
Summary:
A slightly shallower wound, at a different angle, and a different search pattern leads to the people of Spirit Sanctuary bringing home two survivors of the drow raid.
Beginning notes
Inspired by
senmut's fic Moonstruck.This fic assumes familiarity with the series Sisters in Spirit up through the linked inspiring fic.
Another Survivor
1327 DR
Vierna had not gotten very far in cleaning the blood off the child when there was an urgent call for her from one of those searching for other survivors.
Turning the cleaning over to Dhaeln, she hurried over to where Chalirnya was kneeling beside an adolescent female.
“She’s breathing, she has a pulse,” Chalirnya said, “but both are very faint.”
Dropping down beside Chalirnya, Vierna didn’t bother to respond, and simply threw herself into healing the girl, praying it was not too late to save her.
Some time later, feeling woozy from the effort, but confident that the girl would live, she sat back and looked around. Rafi was standing guard beside her, Dhaeln was sitting on the other side of the girl, holding the cleaned-up—and surprisingly uninjured—child, and the others who had come with them were carefully ranged around the clearing.
“We need to make a stretcher,” Vierna said. “There was spinal damage that I want to give time for the healing to truly settle, and healing it took enough effort that I wasn’t able to close all of the wounds.”
“First Sister, you need to rest,” Rafi said. “We will handle that.”
Vierna sighed gratefully. “Thank you.”
Sarilanthe shifted, and gasped at the pain that caused in her lower back. She was alive?
Which was a very significant surprise, as she had been sure she was dying when she was last aware of anything.
“Ye awake, lass?” a quiet voice asked from near her head.
Opening her eyes and turning her head towards the voice, Sarilanthe was surprised to see a dwarf sitting in a chair positioned between the bed she was in, and one on the dwarf’s far side that held a child. “How am I alive?” she asked.
“Yer Lady Eilistraee called on Her folk here for any help that could be given tae your village, and the moon-bridge She gave the First Sister got us there afore the bodies had finished coolin’.
“But even so, ye and this little girl were the only ones we could save, and the First Sister says it was a near thing for ye.”
Sarilanthe closed her eyes in grief for her family, and as she started crying, the dwarf began humming a soft tune that slowly soothed her back to sleep.
The next time Sarilanthe woke, the dwarf in the chair had changed to one who only had some fuzz on their cheeks, not a full beard, and they were engrossed in a book.
Aborting her attempt to actually sit up due to the flash of pain in her lower back, she sighed, and said, "Can you help me sit up?"
The dwarf looked up from the book and flushed. "Sorry," they said. "I should've been paying more attention.
"Ma said yer not s'pposed tae sit up on yer own yet."
"Did she say why?" Sarilanthe asked.
"Ye had spinal damage before the First Sister healed ye," the dwarf said, even as they put down the book and stood up.
"And apparently, even with th' healin', it needs time an' proper care tae recover."
Diesa had been moving towards the bed even as she spoke, and now picked up a pillow from the pile that had been left beside the bed.
"If'n ye're ready, we c'n start gettin' ye more upright," she said. "I'm Diesa, by the way."
"Sarilanthe," the elf replied. "And yes, I'm ready."
Carefully, Diesa slid her free hand under Sarilanthe's shoulders and lifted her just enough to slip the pillow in under them.
"Any pain?" she asked.
"Nothing new," Sarilanthe replied. "Just the ache from trying to sit up myself."
"Good," Diesa said. "Tell me if'n that changes." Then she reached down for another pillow.
Soon enough, the pile of pillows had been transferred to the bed, and Sarilanthe was propped up against them, leaning back at a bit of an angle.
"Are ye hungry?" Diesa asked.
Sarilanthe's stomach growled, and they both laughed.
"That's a yes, then," Diesa said. "Let me go get the tray our clerics prepared."
As the dwarf slipped out of the room, Sarilanthe took the opportunity to actually look around and take in the room.
It was very obviously carved out of the stone that made its walls—which made sense for dwarves, but not for the followers of Eilistraee the first dwarf had mentioned—and was simply furnished, with two beds—the other of which was now empty, she noticed—a chair and small table between them, three chairs and a larger table in a corner, and two lanterns, one hanging beside the door, and the other hanging from the wall between the beds.
Diesa returned fairly quickly, and once the legged tray had been settled on her lap and she'd eased the emptiness in her stomach, Sarilanthe asked, "Where's the little girl?"
"Ma took her tae our quarters when she started havin' nightmares," Diesa answered. "Didnae want her disturbin' ye if'n she changed from whimperin' tae screamin'."
"Ah." Sarilanthe rather suspected she'd have some nightmares of her own, and it made sense that a child's would be worse.
After that, Sarilanthe and Diesa sat in companionable silence as Sarilanthe ate and Diesa read her book, and eventually, Sarilanthe put down the fork beside the empty plate.
"Can you help me relieve myself?" she asked, feeling her cheeks heat for making the request.
But if she wasn't even supposed to sit up on her own, there was no way she should be standing up without aid, either, so the request was necessary.
"Of course," Diesa said, putting down the book.
She got up and pulled a chamberpot out from under Sarilanthe's bed, then helped the elf to take care of her business.
Once Sarilanthe was in bed again, settled back against the pile of pillows, she sighed, and said, "How long am I going to need assistance like this?"
"Only 'til Aunt Bardryn and Aunt Joylin finish the brace tae support yer back properly while yer spine recovers," Diesa said. "Ought tae be ready in a few more days."
Finishing the brace had turned out to first require being measured both sitting and standing, followed by two fittings after the measurements had been used to construct the brace, but just four days later, Sarilanthe found herself standing by the bed entirely on her own, though Diesa and her mother, Dhaeln, were standing nearby, ready to provide support if she needed it.
After taking a few moments to make sure her balance was steady, Sarilanthe slowly started walking towards the door, paying close attention to how her lower back felt.
She was able to walk from the head of the bed to the door and back three times before her back started to twinge with mild pain.
And although she would have liked to keep going, Dhaeln had been very clear that she needed to stop at the first hint of pain, so she reluctantly sat back down on the bed.
"That's a good start, lass," Dhaeln said. "An' once the pain goes away, I c'n show ye some stretches tae help condition the muscles."
"Thank you," Sarilanthe said. Then, deciding to take the plunge, she asked about something that had been puzzling her since she first woke up.
"You told me, the very first time I woke here, that there are followers of Eilistraee living here.
"So why have none of them been tending to me and Ellifain?"
"Because though they're elf-kin, none o' them are elves," Dhaeln replied.
Sarilanthe scrunched her face up in confusion. "Why would half-elves be avoiding us?"
"They're nae half-elves, lass," Dhaeln said.
Tilting her head thoughtfully, Sarilanthe considered that. What other elf-kin might there be, especially ones who would feel a need to avoid... the survivors of a drow raid?
"They're drow?!" she gasped.
"Aye," Dhaeln said. "All goodly people and devout followers of the Dark Maiden, but I'm sure ye c'n understand why we've been th' ones carin' for the two o' ye."
"Yes," Sarilanthe said. "I can." Then she carefully lay down and turned to face the wall.
The idea of goodly drow went against all she had ever been taught. Could Dhaeln really be telling the truth about that?
Sarilanthe hadn't been able to bring herself to ask further questions of Dhaeln, or the other adult dwarves, about the supposedly goodly drow, but a few tentative questions to Diesa had left her feeling very off balance.
Because even if it might be true that these drow weren't actually evil, she was still finding hard to believe that they could truly be good.
And yet, Diesa claimed that a pegasus rider visited on a semi-regular basis, and the pegasus would accept treats from the lead priestess of Eilistraee here, and even allow her to pet and scratch it.
But a bit less than a week later, she received hard proof that it was all true.
Sarilanthe was carefully doing the warming-up exercises Dhaeln had shown her—with Ellifain doing her best to copy them—and wondering which of the dwarves would be accompanying them on their daily walk around the area closest to the dwarves' quarters, when there was a knock on the door.
Which she wouldn't have considered odd at all, given the dwarves' careful respect for ensuring that she and Ellifain could truly consider this room to be theirs, except for the fact that the knock was lighter than usual.
So instead of the "Come in" that was her usual response, she called, "Who is it?"
"Thorik an' Wulgar, lass," came the response. "We've got a visitor for the two o' ye."
Sarilanthe had no idea who the visitor might be, when Ellifain had not yet been told that the dwarves were acting as proxies for drow, but since she trusted the dwarves to not spring that on the girl with a meeting, she gave permission to come in.
The first person through the door, however, was neither Thorik nor Wulgar, but a tall, silver haired half-elf, in wizard robes.
Something about that struck a chord in her memories, but before she could chase it down, the dwarves had entered, and Thorik introduced him.
"Sarilanthe, Ellifain, this is Inthylyn Aerasumé, a friend of the First Sister."
The given name was unfamiliar to Sarilanthe, but the family name was one she recognized.
"You're a Tall One," she blurted out.
"I am," the half-elf agreed. "And please, call me Thyl."
That confirmation left Sarilanthe's mind so busy making connections that she barely noticed Thyl crouch down to speak to Ellifain, but when he stood up again, she was ready with more questions.
Deliberately catching his attention, she said, "So you're the pegasus rider that Diesa told me comes to visit?"
"Yes," Thyl replied.
"An' on that note," Thorik said, "today's walk is goin' tae go outside, so the two o' ye can meet his friend."
"I'm told the walk is somewhat longer than you've been doing," Thyl said, "but Steelheart can't exactly come inside.
"And I have a couple floating disks memorized in case either of you needs to rest."
Given the rest of what Diesa had said about his visits, Sarilanthe could easily guess why they were going out to meet his pegasus, but since no one else was saying it, she wouldn't either.
And it wasn't long before the five of them were heading down the corridor, Wulgar and Ellifain in the lead, with Sarilanthe following them, flanked by Thorik and Thyl.
When the light from outside started to show ahead, Thyl moved up to take the lead, and very soon, all five of them emerged onto a broad ledge.
And after a few moments of blinking while her eyes adjusted to the brighter light, Sarilanthe looked around in amazement.
The view was incredible, stretching across a wide valley to a peak on the far side, but before she could get too lost in admiration, a nicker sounded from off to her right.
Turning, she saw a pegasus standing on the ledge, and beside the pegasus was a female drow—who was wearing robes patterned with moons and swords, and had one hand resting on the pegasus's neck.
"Sarilanthe, Ellifain, I am very pleased to finally meet both of you properly," the drow said. "My name is Vierna, and I am the First Sister of Spirit Sanctuary."
"You're... good?" Ellifain said tremulously.
Looking to her side, Sarilanthe saw that Thorik and Wulgar were standing on either side of the girl, each with an arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"I am," Vierna said, "and so are all the other residents of Spirit Sanctuary."
Turning her attention back to the cleric, Sarilanthe saw that she was now sitting cross-legged on the ledge, and the pegasus was snuffling her hair, while Thyl stroked the pegasus's neck.
Ellifain seemed to be too shocked to say anything else, so Sarilanthe took it upon herself to break the slightly awkward silence that had fallen.
"I guess I should say thank you," she said. "Because if you're the First Sister, then you're the one who healed me."
"It was the right thing to do," Vierna said, "so no thanks are necessary.
"Though now that we've actually met, I would like to check how your spine is recovering, once you return to your room."
Sarilanthe took a moment to think about it, then said, "I... think I'm okay with that."
"If you want Dhaeln or another dwarf present while I do so, that's perfectly fine with me."
"Then yes, as long as one of them is present, you can check whatever you need to."
Part I|Part II|Part III|Part IV|Part V|Part VI
*Links will work as fics are revealed
