Meeting Under the Treants Fork
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tales_of_faerunMeeting under the Treants Fork (1764 words) by Sharpest_Asp
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: Original Elf Character(s), Drizzt Do'Urden, Uoundeld Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Korvallen had debated what to do with his young charge, but Tyresia's response to the idea of him continuing to give care and teaching to the good -- so good -- drow got his back up. The smart thing would be to send him on to the others like him maybe, but his pride had been hit.
That young brat of a son of his heart-brother thought he could --
-- no, that wasn't fair. The elders had chosen Tyresia over Dolthauvin for that conservative touch, that need to maintain heritage instead of adapting it.
He waited until the evening, refusing to ask for any of Elué's sons to be called for the drow. During that time, he found clothing (Sharr's, and it fit Drizzt a little loosely), armor, and weapons -- he'd have to make do with a pair of equal-length short swords for now.
What he did not expect was to see the baby on his doorstep, just as he was coming back with two full packs.
"Del."
"Uncle."
It was awkward, and Kor hated that, because his leaving when he had --
"I'm not mad, uncle. You were hurting. You could not have been my teacher in that kind of pain," Del said, breaking the silence and train of thought. "Ghael comes and goes, teaches me for you.
"But I want my time with you, unless... unless you can't. Mama said you might not, because I look like grandmother so much."
Kor snorted. "No, Del. I respected Sharr's mother greatly, but I also stayed out of her way because I had no desire to deal with magic, and I sometimes think she blamed me for Sharr's choice not to follow in her footsteps."
"Then let me travel with you?"
"Who says I am?"
"Those packs, that none of my elder brothers are here yet, Mama," Del ticked off, and Kor had to shake his head.
"Too damned smart, the lot of you." He sized the boy up, conceding that 'boy' only fit in the loosest terms. "I'm keeping the drow with me."
"I thought so. I can help." Del tipped his chin up, a stubborn set to his jaw. "Sairena can't carry me yet, but she can be eyes in the sky to help guard us. I know more magic than I do advanced sword work, so I am not worried about leaving magic lessons for later."
"Sairena, is it? Good for you having one already."
"Rua's throw," Del added.
"Hell of a guard if she takes after her sire," Kor said with a hint of a chuckle. "Get a pack."
"Waiting for us where she is," Del said, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"You plan everything this well?"
"Better to cover it all, than miss something you should have seen."
Kor closed his eyes, nodded, then went to get Drizzt moving.
While Del had merited suspicion and then acceptance, on Kor's word, it was Sairena that proved utterly amazing to Drizzt. She had accepted him so swiftly that Del sent an image of drow and pegasus to Tyresia, just to show him how wrong he had been.
He ignored his elder brother after that.
They started out on a northern route, camping once Kor knew they were outside any of the village scout lines.
"Why leave?" Drizzt finally asked, even though he could see his teacher was tired.
"An elf village is no place to finish teaching you," Kor said. "Have to teach you the Common language, and how to understand the surface."
"And him?" Drizzt motioned toward Del.
"Son of my heart-brother. I trained all of his brothers with the sword, but wasn't there for him."
"You were grieving."
Drizzt didn't understand Del's last word, but he thought he had a feel for it. Korvallen's pain was palpable again, after all.
"I will help. Del will help me learn words. Yes?"
Kor studied him a long moment, then nodded. "Now get some rest. I want to get clear of the forest tomorrow."
Korvallen watched the drow — his student? Yes, that felt right now — settle to sleep in the wide open day, trusting in Del and him and the pegasus to keep him safe.
Not for the first time in this chosen journey, Kor's heart twisted up in his chest. The boy — they both were in Kor's long centuries of life — was absolutely trusting in Kor's words now, but with the edge of stubborn that Elué's boys had. It was not enough to tell him what or how, but also the why.
It made it that much easier to fall into the teaching, finding himself taking pride as Drizzt managed more advanced techniques than even Ghaelryss, who had been the best of the ones Kor had taught.
"You're thinking hard, uncle," Del said as he dropped down and offered a handful of berries to Kor.
"Ha. Always left the thinking to your father. That's how we got in trouble so much," Kor said. He even managed to sound light-hearted as he said it, and he realized he wasn't hurting as much over his heart brother.
Del laughed a little, softly, even though Drizzt had proven he could sleep through all friendly noises. He ate a couple of berries, looked to his friend, then checked on Drizzt, and let out a breath of contentment. "This is good, uncle," he said. "I'm grateful that you let me come."
"Only right thing to do, especially taking on a student that's not even kin to us."
"Sometimes wonder if he was meant for us, though," Del observed. "Born so close to losing Father, so explicitly good, and so wild-called. Pretty sure he's going to be family by the end of this trip."
Kor didn't answer… because Del probably was right about all of it.
They had decided on a circuit that would take them on a wide circle eventually ending in Silverymoon. They moved as much or as little as they wanted in a day, spending days at campsites just teaching and learning. It was a slow progression — interrupted at times by Drizzt 'scouting' in the night and finding trouble for the trio.
Korvallen was wondering just which Named One was meddling so heavily in Drizzt's fate, after the third trouble like that, and convinced one was by the fifth.
There was no other explanation for managing to preempt raids, deal with cursed objects tainting the land, and other such Drizzt kept leading them too.
They were coming close to the lands Yartar claimed, though, when it was Korvallen himself that spotted their next detour.
"I'll be damned," he muttered, shading his eyes to be certain of what he was seeing. Yes, it was bigger than he remembered, but there was no other wizard tower made out of an animate, transfigured hiexel that he knew of.
"Uncle?" Del asked, looking that way.
"Come on, both of you. I have an elf to go yell at, a lot!"
Samiar Ravarel thought he heard Korvallen yelling from outside the wards. That would be wonderful, and mean that his letter had finally been answered, since he sent it right after settling here with his hiexel.
He went out on the balcony limb, and looked —
Alright, that looked like Kor. And probably one of Elué's sons, especially with the pegasus investigating the grazing. But then there was a drow…
He had to be hallucinating. Or else that was a polymorph spell in need of removal. Because Kor would never be seen with a drow outside of mortal combat.
Ladies and Lords, don't let that be Sharr , he thought to himself before dropping the ladder and descending.
"Oh do stop yelling, Kor! You're scaring all the birds."
"Where in the abyss have you been?!" Kor demanded. He then caught himself. "Sam, this is Del and Drizzt. They're going to go track down dinner for us."
"We are — we are!" Del said, as he caught up with the name versus childhood stories, and his heart ached. "Although, I could — "
"Like hell you will," Kor told him, before striding over to his heart-brother's cousin. Sam frowned at the dismissal of the pair — without even being allowed to meet them properly — and braced himself.
The set, rigid look on Kor's face gave a clue as to why, and Sam took a deep breath.
"How long ago?" he asked softly, and Kor lost some of the rigidity.
"Let's go get comfortable before I rip at that wound."
The drow was really a drow. And once he heard of Sam's rant about idiot elves and bad decisions, as well as the outcome of a necromancer's conversation with a soul, Drizzt immediately volunteered all of the treasure Del was carrying for him from their forays against evil beings and places.
A long conversation, and instead of heading for Silverymoon, Kor was going to take his students out to various places Sam knew of. Sam was going to go with, as he admitted to not being strong enough to cast one of the two spells needed.
Del was overjoyed to be able to spend his time both learning from Sam and helping in stockpile what was needed to bring his father back.
It took years.
The family — Del had been right, and Drizzt was as much an heir as a student or a friend — had faced many horrors in their quest to earn the diamonds needed in an honorable manner of ridding the realms of evil.
Sometimes, Del's brothers had to come. Once, it took several of Elué's fellow chosen to aid them. After that one, Korvallen always looked nervous, even if it was an act, when Drizzt pulled them to a destination instead of following Sam's map of cursed locations.
By the time they had the body, and they had Qilué herself to perform the resurrection, Del was easily caught up to the triplets in ability with magic, maybe even past them, and Ghael could not easily defeat him in sword-work.
Drizzt and he were inseparable, both of them tending Sairena's needs, but it was the bond of brothers, twins almost, for the depth of awareness they had toward each other. Kor thought that good, and gave them the task of warning Elué once Qilué had performed her ritual. Del had accepted that, only staying long enough to reassure his father before he and Drizzt headed for Silverymoon on Sairena, to given Sharr time to recuperate from his return.
"I finally get to see the city," Drizzt mused, and Del laughed, realizing that they never had needed to retreat to Silverymoon in all the time they had traveled.
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: Original Elf Character(s), Drizzt Do'Urden, Uoundeld Aerasumé
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
If Korvallen chose to keep teaching Drizzt instead of giving him up to his own kind...
Meeting Under the Treants Fork
Korvallen had debated what to do with his young charge, but Tyresia's response to the idea of him continuing to give care and teaching to the good -- so good -- drow got his back up. The smart thing would be to send him on to the others like him maybe, but his pride had been hit.
That young brat of a son of his heart-brother thought he could --
-- no, that wasn't fair. The elders had chosen Tyresia over Dolthauvin for that conservative touch, that need to maintain heritage instead of adapting it.
He waited until the evening, refusing to ask for any of Elué's sons to be called for the drow. During that time, he found clothing (Sharr's, and it fit Drizzt a little loosely), armor, and weapons -- he'd have to make do with a pair of equal-length short swords for now.
What he did not expect was to see the baby on his doorstep, just as he was coming back with two full packs.
"Del."
"Uncle."
It was awkward, and Kor hated that, because his leaving when he had --
"I'm not mad, uncle. You were hurting. You could not have been my teacher in that kind of pain," Del said, breaking the silence and train of thought. "Ghael comes and goes, teaches me for you.
"But I want my time with you, unless... unless you can't. Mama said you might not, because I look like grandmother so much."
Kor snorted. "No, Del. I respected Sharr's mother greatly, but I also stayed out of her way because I had no desire to deal with magic, and I sometimes think she blamed me for Sharr's choice not to follow in her footsteps."
"Then let me travel with you?"
"Who says I am?"
"Those packs, that none of my elder brothers are here yet, Mama," Del ticked off, and Kor had to shake his head.
"Too damned smart, the lot of you." He sized the boy up, conceding that 'boy' only fit in the loosest terms. "I'm keeping the drow with me."
"I thought so. I can help." Del tipped his chin up, a stubborn set to his jaw. "Sairena can't carry me yet, but she can be eyes in the sky to help guard us. I know more magic than I do advanced sword work, so I am not worried about leaving magic lessons for later."
"Sairena, is it? Good for you having one already."
"Rua's throw," Del added.
"Hell of a guard if she takes after her sire," Kor said with a hint of a chuckle. "Get a pack."
"Waiting for us where she is," Del said, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"You plan everything this well?"
"Better to cover it all, than miss something you should have seen."
Kor closed his eyes, nodded, then went to get Drizzt moving.
While Del had merited suspicion and then acceptance, on Kor's word, it was Sairena that proved utterly amazing to Drizzt. She had accepted him so swiftly that Del sent an image of drow and pegasus to Tyresia, just to show him how wrong he had been.
He ignored his elder brother after that.
They started out on a northern route, camping once Kor knew they were outside any of the village scout lines.
"Why leave?" Drizzt finally asked, even though he could see his teacher was tired.
"An elf village is no place to finish teaching you," Kor said. "Have to teach you the Common language, and how to understand the surface."
"And him?" Drizzt motioned toward Del.
"Son of my heart-brother. I trained all of his brothers with the sword, but wasn't there for him."
"You were grieving."
Drizzt didn't understand Del's last word, but he thought he had a feel for it. Korvallen's pain was palpable again, after all.
"I will help. Del will help me learn words. Yes?"
Kor studied him a long moment, then nodded. "Now get some rest. I want to get clear of the forest tomorrow."
Korvallen watched the drow — his student? Yes, that felt right now — settle to sleep in the wide open day, trusting in Del and him and the pegasus to keep him safe.
Not for the first time in this chosen journey, Kor's heart twisted up in his chest. The boy — they both were in Kor's long centuries of life — was absolutely trusting in Kor's words now, but with the edge of stubborn that Elué's boys had. It was not enough to tell him what or how, but also the why.
It made it that much easier to fall into the teaching, finding himself taking pride as Drizzt managed more advanced techniques than even Ghaelryss, who had been the best of the ones Kor had taught.
"You're thinking hard, uncle," Del said as he dropped down and offered a handful of berries to Kor.
"Ha. Always left the thinking to your father. That's how we got in trouble so much," Kor said. He even managed to sound light-hearted as he said it, and he realized he wasn't hurting as much over his heart brother.
Del laughed a little, softly, even though Drizzt had proven he could sleep through all friendly noises. He ate a couple of berries, looked to his friend, then checked on Drizzt, and let out a breath of contentment. "This is good, uncle," he said. "I'm grateful that you let me come."
"Only right thing to do, especially taking on a student that's not even kin to us."
"Sometimes wonder if he was meant for us, though," Del observed. "Born so close to losing Father, so explicitly good, and so wild-called. Pretty sure he's going to be family by the end of this trip."
Kor didn't answer… because Del probably was right about all of it.
They had decided on a circuit that would take them on a wide circle eventually ending in Silverymoon. They moved as much or as little as they wanted in a day, spending days at campsites just teaching and learning. It was a slow progression — interrupted at times by Drizzt 'scouting' in the night and finding trouble for the trio.
Korvallen was wondering just which Named One was meddling so heavily in Drizzt's fate, after the third trouble like that, and convinced one was by the fifth.
There was no other explanation for managing to preempt raids, deal with cursed objects tainting the land, and other such Drizzt kept leading them too.
They were coming close to the lands Yartar claimed, though, when it was Korvallen himself that spotted their next detour.
"I'll be damned," he muttered, shading his eyes to be certain of what he was seeing. Yes, it was bigger than he remembered, but there was no other wizard tower made out of an animate, transfigured hiexel that he knew of.
"Uncle?" Del asked, looking that way.
"Come on, both of you. I have an elf to go yell at, a lot!"
Samiar Ravarel thought he heard Korvallen yelling from outside the wards. That would be wonderful, and mean that his letter had finally been answered, since he sent it right after settling here with his hiexel.
He went out on the balcony limb, and looked —
Alright, that looked like Kor. And probably one of Elué's sons, especially with the pegasus investigating the grazing. But then there was a drow…
He had to be hallucinating. Or else that was a polymorph spell in need of removal. Because Kor would never be seen with a drow outside of mortal combat.
Ladies and Lords, don't let that be Sharr , he thought to himself before dropping the ladder and descending.
"Oh do stop yelling, Kor! You're scaring all the birds."
"Where in the abyss have you been?!" Kor demanded. He then caught himself. "Sam, this is Del and Drizzt. They're going to go track down dinner for us."
"We are — we are!" Del said, as he caught up with the name versus childhood stories, and his heart ached. "Although, I could — "
"Like hell you will," Kor told him, before striding over to his heart-brother's cousin. Sam frowned at the dismissal of the pair — without even being allowed to meet them properly — and braced himself.
The set, rigid look on Kor's face gave a clue as to why, and Sam took a deep breath.
"How long ago?" he asked softly, and Kor lost some of the rigidity.
"Let's go get comfortable before I rip at that wound."
The drow was really a drow. And once he heard of Sam's rant about idiot elves and bad decisions, as well as the outcome of a necromancer's conversation with a soul, Drizzt immediately volunteered all of the treasure Del was carrying for him from their forays against evil beings and places.
A long conversation, and instead of heading for Silverymoon, Kor was going to take his students out to various places Sam knew of. Sam was going to go with, as he admitted to not being strong enough to cast one of the two spells needed.
Del was overjoyed to be able to spend his time both learning from Sam and helping in stockpile what was needed to bring his father back.
It took years.
The family — Del had been right, and Drizzt was as much an heir as a student or a friend — had faced many horrors in their quest to earn the diamonds needed in an honorable manner of ridding the realms of evil.
Sometimes, Del's brothers had to come. Once, it took several of Elué's fellow chosen to aid them. After that one, Korvallen always looked nervous, even if it was an act, when Drizzt pulled them to a destination instead of following Sam's map of cursed locations.
By the time they had the body, and they had Qilué herself to perform the resurrection, Del was easily caught up to the triplets in ability with magic, maybe even past them, and Ghael could not easily defeat him in sword-work.
Drizzt and he were inseparable, both of them tending Sairena's needs, but it was the bond of brothers, twins almost, for the depth of awareness they had toward each other. Kor thought that good, and gave them the task of warning Elué once Qilué had performed her ritual. Del had accepted that, only staying long enough to reassure his father before he and Drizzt headed for Silverymoon on Sairena, to given Sharr time to recuperate from his return.
"I finally get to see the city," Drizzt mused, and Del laughed, realizing that they never had needed to retreat to Silverymoon in all the time they had traveled.
