Tense Meeting
Mar. 2nd, 2025 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senmut posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tales_of_faerunTense Meeting (2805 words) by Sharpest_Asp
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), Original Drow Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Rape/Non-con, minor appearances by other characters, prompt fic
Summary:
As first meetings between a drow and an elf went, it was quite good, but if it had been between any two other species, well...
… there might not be so many negative emotions involved in the meeting.
The good side was that neither elf involved had actually let an arrow fly, despite both having them at ready, if not actually drawn back. The drow in question had drawn swords, mismatched and obviously taken from surface foes, much as the mismatched clothing and random pieces of armor were. He was not moving, standing lightly on a downed tree, poised but silent.
The younger of the veteran elves was the one to actually see the fear under the defensive posture, putting that with the fact that the drow was doing nothing to invite attack. No hand movements, no near-silent magical invocations, no darkness — the man was merely refusing to move or look away.
"Eilistraeean?" the paler, more slender elf called, causing his elder companion to grind his jaw a bit more.
The drow tipped his head just slightly, before speaking — and neither elf understood the sibilant words delivered at a barely audible range.
"Up here long enough to acquire gear, but… not the language," the elven speaker mused quietly to his companion.
"You don't know that he is one of them," the other, gruffer elf argued immediately.
"I don't know that he is not, either."
"Dammit, Sharr."
"Hush, Kor."
Sharr stepped slightly forward, lowering the bow to his side, flipping the arrow back into the quiver, eyes on the drow. That one shifted his footing… but it took Kor — complaining under his breath the whole while — following suit before the pair of weapons vanished.
Both elves noted the speed of the motion, before the drow mimed for them to go on along the road, stepping back off the tree.
That it gave the drow cover nearly to his chest did nothing to ease Kor's misgivings, but there was something in a quick downward look, a faint crease at the mouth that made Sharr wonder even more.
"It could be a trap," Kor said, but Sharr was already in motion, slowly but purposefully, toward the tree instead of them going on past on the game trail that had led to this encounter.
The drow tensed from head to foot, but there were signs that Sharr could see now, ones that he had ignored on seeing the ancient enemy that were tearing at his heart with peace between them.
Youth, hunger, more fear — where in hell were the good ones that one had been able to be on the surface so long but so alone?
The drow looked as if he were about to spring back up on the tree when a bird-high voice from out of sight said something in that sibilant language, and the drow that was visible looked down more fully.
A sibling? Had one escaped and managed to bring a child out? That made all of this make even less sense! Eilistraee should have long since found them! Actions were screaming of the better nature of the drow after all, and She had a mandate to —
The drow chose to act before Sharr got close enough to try and make a peace offering, swiftly ducking and pulling up a drow child, possibly past the tenth year, settling the child in a secure hold before moving away as swiftly as he could with his precious burden.
~Qilué, tell me the words for stop and truce swiftly!~ he sent in desperation across the anklet, trusting her to know which language he needed them in.
~Vrine'winith for stop; we use common for 'truce',~ Qi sent back without being ruffled at the sudden demand; if her brother-in-law had found drow he was trying to talk to, it was better than fighting!
"Vrine'winith!" Sharr said allowed, willing the drow to hear it as an imploring request, not a demand.
He suspected the man only obeyed because of their bows, recognizing a futility in outrunning a distance weapon. Given Kor's could punch through both bodies and not stop moving… it was wise, not that Kor would ever harm a child, even one of the drow.
Any hopes that it would translate to a peaceful solution vanished as the adult put the child behind himself and drew those blades again, taking a fierce expression and determined posture.
Sharr cursed all evil drow cities forever and always as he fumbled at the catch of his sword belt with one hand, dropping the bow from his other.
"SHARREVALIIR!" Kor hissed in absolute anger and worry. Sharr didn't even need to look to know Kor had an arrow on the string again.
The sword belt finally came free and fell, leaving Sharr unarmed, as even his dagger had been on that belt, and he opened both of his hands toward the drow, palms up and empty, before he repeated the word for 'stop' again.
The child peeked around the adult's hip, small dark face set in curiosity more than fear, and then he said something to the adult. When the words had no effect, the boy actually reached up to tug on the sword arm, and Sharr would have sworn there was a transfiguration to the adult face, as if he was coming away from a very dangerous state of mind.
Did drow have a berserker state?
Had he and Kor narrowly avoided finding out personally?
"Speak this?", was asked in Goblin of all things, and Sharr nodded once.
"Some. No fight, help. Child… need food."
It wasn't so much a guess as a correlation from varied pieces of observation, and the adult's arms sagged in defeat, face a mask of despair for the child's sake now.
"Kor, put your bow away," Sharr said, using the tones of his authority, so that his heart-brother knew there would be no argument accepted. "They're half-starved; look at their faces."
The sound of the bow being unstrung was followed by a deep, almost angry, sigh as the other elf saw the same things as Sharr.
"I hate this."
"Save your hate for the spider, and let's figure out how to help them without scaring the adult again."
"Fine."
Kor went and hunted for dinner to be useful, while Sharr saw to making a fire. The drow, both of them, were wary, and when he managed to get the small fire going, the wariness became full-fledged need to flee again.
"Fire make animal safe to eat," Sharr said in the Goblin that was their only shared language. "Teach. Give tools. Child needs food." That last phrase was winning far more cooperation than he could have hoped for, and the pair settled down.
"Teach. Why?" Suspicion and distrust oozed in those words.
"Good thing. Right thing."
With the fire started, and sticks whittled to hold whatever meat Kor brought back, Sharr studied the pair again. His estimate of the adult was close to the age of his youngest. The child… if he was judging right, that one didn't even have a dozen years.
Then again, drow males ran smaller than average in spider-cities, and both showed signs of severe hunger having affected them.
"Sharr," he finally said, tapping his chest. He indicated the adult, making no motion in the direction of the child.
"Drizzt," was the eventual answer, and a pause followed. Drizzt laid a hand on the boy's shoulder gently. "Kastan." He used the same gesture Sharr had, in the direction Kor had gone.
"Kor."
Drizzt nodded to that, then forced himself to look at the fire. Were his eyes different in more than color? Sharr had to wonder as the man actually moved close to study the fire.
~Sister of mine, do you have a band moving toward the Sundabar Pass to collect a pair? They have acquired surface clothes, but still had no fire.~
Sharr found it easier to reach out than to decide a course that might send the drow back into flight… or worse. The sheer protective energy toward the child was such that Sharr was certain he was not going to get far in lessons.
~My Lady has been seeking one, but cannot find that one due to some form of interference,~ Qilué sent back. ~Does this relate to your request?~
~Yes, and now I wonder if the elder is not actually good, and his presence is masking the child.~
It would be a bit of time before any answers could happen, since it was only the two of them supporting the conversation, and even his consort's amazing magic had to recharge.
Before he heard anything back from her, Kor arrived with a pair of coneys already cleaned. His approach sent Drizzt back to the boy, and Kor just grunted, seeing to spitting the meat to start roasting, adding a few roots he'd dug up on the rocks in front of the heat. Drizzt watched avidly, even as the smells wafted around to whet their appetites.
The quiet on them was tense, and not broken until the food was ready, at which point the adult pulled some nuts free of a rough pouch, offering them when Sharr handed him the spit with one of the coneys, and most of the roasted roots.
"Give. Take."
Sharr realized the drow had a sense of fair play, wanting to trade — yes, those nuts were edible, though not the best of what could be gathered — and decided he had better accept.
"Share," Sharr said in Common. "Give and take is share."
"Share."
Was Sharr imagining a hunger in those purple eyes for more than food? Was the taste of a language more what he wished for? It would take time to learn, and Sharr wasn't sure how long he could abuse Kor's sensibilities by them remaining with the pair.
He did smile, a little, as the adult made the child eat slowly, soft words that had apparently still the hungry urge to wolf the food down. He also noted that Drizzt actually was eating so slowly that the boy would get more of the food.
Well, they were going to show Drizzt how to make fire, give him a striker and flint to carry. There would be more food in the pair's future.
~Mena's friends have a hunting party with a wizard; my Lady is guiding them to you, Sharr, once the moon rises,~ Qilué sent as the boy finished the last bite. Kor and Sharr had split the other, but some was left, and Sharr passed it over to the pair, patting his belly to indicate it was full.
Kastan ate a few more bites, then argued Drizzt into eating more, at least to all appearances.
~We will be here; please have them move cautiously. The adult is very protective of the child.~
Even if the man wasn't good, he had to be at least neutral to keep putting the boy's needs ahead of his own, Sharr decided. As Kastan moved to lay down in a small ball, no covering but what he wore, the elder drow stroked the boy's hair until sleep came. Only then did Drizzt look at Sharr.
"Teach fire."
That was as good a way to pass the time to moonrise as any other, Sharr decided, and got what was needed to comply.
Sharr looked up as the moon cleared the trees, then over at Drizzt. "Drow come. Good. Like Kastan."
The adult frowned, obviously not believing in such a thing, but the moonbridge shimmering into place to deliver four drow, two in robes, and two carrying bows like Sharr and Kor did, held Drizzt's attention. Kastan stirred and looked up, then sat up, rubbing his eyes a bit. He chattered swiftly at Drizzt and even Sharr could hear the excitement, before the cleric of the newcomers called out a greeting to them both.
Kor was twitchy, but just managing to keep himself perfectly still. Sharr noted that Drizzt was very tense, but Kastan was continuing to speak, and the new drow were answering questions from him apparently.
Eventually that tapered off, and the wizard was the one to approach them, keeping a wary distance to the drow and Sharr alike.
"Greetings, Saer. I am Vahs, and the boy is the one our Lady knew of. There is a mystery about the boy's father; he cannot be perceived by our magic, divine or arcane, to let us know his alignment."
"That… shouldn't be possible," Sharr said with a frown. Father? Surely they were mistaken.
"So we know, but we are willing to take over their care, and see what we may learn. We are grateful to you both for watching over them.
"Did you say 'father'?" Kor actually asked, incredulous. "Boy can't be fifty!"
Vahs sighed. "These things do happen in spider cities."
"Obscene," Kor growled.
"Yes," Vahs agreed. He then looked at the pair, who were having a conversation solely with their hands. "The boy hears the song. The father is willing to trust in his son, and we are fairly convinced he must be good, but… well, we have a long walk back to our enclave, to find out what is obscuring him."
Sharr sized up the pair they had found, then looked at Vahs. "The boy seems to be the center of all things for the … adult," he said, reluctantly on that last word. "My instinct says good. But I understand a need for caution.
"I believe you may know of my son Inthylyn?"
"I do, and yes, Cleric Sira said we may have to ask for outside help from him. He, after all, is well known to us, and has been a solid ally for many decades."
Kor barely kept his bristling to himself, but Sharr nodded with a smile. "It's hard to trust strangers, yes," Sharr said. He then focused on Drizzt. "You go with? Good people."
"Kastan says yes. Need word, helping us good," Drizzt said. "Owe."
"No. Help good. Help always." Sharr reached out a hand, and after a moment, Drizzt took it, allowing Sharr to squeeze gently. "Be good, keep Kastan strong."
"Yes!"
Drizzt stood then, and Kastan rose with him, smiling at the two elves in a show of bravery, before they went to join the drow hunters, Vahs falling in step with them. In very short order the six drow were lost in the woods to the north side of the pass, and Kor drew in a very deep breath.
"Call one of your sons to teleport us the rest of the way. I need somewhere to practice with my sword."
"You and me both, my brother."
Alustriel let herself into Sharr's room, glad that her pages were right and Korvallen was with him.
"The pair of drow you helped on the road, my dears? I have news."
"It's been almost a full month," Kor noted, sitting up on the couch, to make room between them for her to sit.
"Indeed. As they had a few issues with the adult of the pair." Alustriel took a deep breath. "Thyl has mentioned to you that his friend acquired a moon elf through traumatic circumstance?"
"Yes," Sharr began, confused at the change in direction.
"Drizzt was the drow fighter who spared her life, hiding that fact."
Kor sucked in a whistle. "So there's a point of connection."
"It gets more complicated," Alustriel told them. "He is from the same city, same House as she is, and suspects they share the same father. All of that would have been enough to set many instincts aflame at a trap."
"Indeed!" Sharr said, shocked at the points of connection.
"Add in that the young man was under a shroud, woven at his birth, to hide his nature from being perceived, by any Seldarine, light or dark, and they had a lot of worries," she continued. "Syluné was the one to find and remove the shroud, with Mother's help, and then Eilistraee was able to perceive Drizzt.
"It is Her opinion, and Mielikki's of all goddesses, that he has been sorely tested, severely abused by life, and deserves a chance to raise his child and find his path."
"How did Mielikki get involved?" Kor asked after a long moment to digest that all.
"She'd been listening for him ever since he came back above, as Drizzt is apparently very in tune with nature. A wild-called ranger, even."
"Now I have heard everything… and I am glad we encountered them, to start unraveling it all," Sharr said, slipping an arm around her.
"I guess," Kor said, getting a snort from his heart's brother, and a playful push from Alustriel.
"I foresee his life being better in the care of others like him, but do not rule out more interesting things ahead of him," she said, a sentiment Sharr agreed with.
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), Original Drow Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Rape/Non-con, minor appearances by other characters, prompt fic
Summary:
Kor and Sharr, taking the long way between the High Forest and Silverymoon, encounter a pair of drow.
Tense Meeting
As first meetings between a drow and an elf went, it was quite good, but if it had been between any two other species, well...
… there might not be so many negative emotions involved in the meeting.
The good side was that neither elf involved had actually let an arrow fly, despite both having them at ready, if not actually drawn back. The drow in question had drawn swords, mismatched and obviously taken from surface foes, much as the mismatched clothing and random pieces of armor were. He was not moving, standing lightly on a downed tree, poised but silent.
The younger of the veteran elves was the one to actually see the fear under the defensive posture, putting that with the fact that the drow was doing nothing to invite attack. No hand movements, no near-silent magical invocations, no darkness — the man was merely refusing to move or look away.
"Eilistraeean?" the paler, more slender elf called, causing his elder companion to grind his jaw a bit more.
The drow tipped his head just slightly, before speaking — and neither elf understood the sibilant words delivered at a barely audible range.
"Up here long enough to acquire gear, but… not the language," the elven speaker mused quietly to his companion.
"You don't know that he is one of them," the other, gruffer elf argued immediately.
"I don't know that he is not, either."
"Dammit, Sharr."
"Hush, Kor."
Sharr stepped slightly forward, lowering the bow to his side, flipping the arrow back into the quiver, eyes on the drow. That one shifted his footing… but it took Kor — complaining under his breath the whole while — following suit before the pair of weapons vanished.
Both elves noted the speed of the motion, before the drow mimed for them to go on along the road, stepping back off the tree.
That it gave the drow cover nearly to his chest did nothing to ease Kor's misgivings, but there was something in a quick downward look, a faint crease at the mouth that made Sharr wonder even more.
"It could be a trap," Kor said, but Sharr was already in motion, slowly but purposefully, toward the tree instead of them going on past on the game trail that had led to this encounter.
The drow tensed from head to foot, but there were signs that Sharr could see now, ones that he had ignored on seeing the ancient enemy that were tearing at his heart with peace between them.
Youth, hunger, more fear — where in hell were the good ones that one had been able to be on the surface so long but so alone?
The drow looked as if he were about to spring back up on the tree when a bird-high voice from out of sight said something in that sibilant language, and the drow that was visible looked down more fully.
A sibling? Had one escaped and managed to bring a child out? That made all of this make even less sense! Eilistraee should have long since found them! Actions were screaming of the better nature of the drow after all, and She had a mandate to —
The drow chose to act before Sharr got close enough to try and make a peace offering, swiftly ducking and pulling up a drow child, possibly past the tenth year, settling the child in a secure hold before moving away as swiftly as he could with his precious burden.
~Qilué, tell me the words for stop and truce swiftly!~ he sent in desperation across the anklet, trusting her to know which language he needed them in.
~Vrine'winith for stop; we use common for 'truce',~ Qi sent back without being ruffled at the sudden demand; if her brother-in-law had found drow he was trying to talk to, it was better than fighting!
"Vrine'winith!" Sharr said allowed, willing the drow to hear it as an imploring request, not a demand.
He suspected the man only obeyed because of their bows, recognizing a futility in outrunning a distance weapon. Given Kor's could punch through both bodies and not stop moving… it was wise, not that Kor would ever harm a child, even one of the drow.
Any hopes that it would translate to a peaceful solution vanished as the adult put the child behind himself and drew those blades again, taking a fierce expression and determined posture.
Sharr cursed all evil drow cities forever and always as he fumbled at the catch of his sword belt with one hand, dropping the bow from his other.
"SHARREVALIIR!" Kor hissed in absolute anger and worry. Sharr didn't even need to look to know Kor had an arrow on the string again.
The sword belt finally came free and fell, leaving Sharr unarmed, as even his dagger had been on that belt, and he opened both of his hands toward the drow, palms up and empty, before he repeated the word for 'stop' again.
The child peeked around the adult's hip, small dark face set in curiosity more than fear, and then he said something to the adult. When the words had no effect, the boy actually reached up to tug on the sword arm, and Sharr would have sworn there was a transfiguration to the adult face, as if he was coming away from a very dangerous state of mind.
Did drow have a berserker state?
Had he and Kor narrowly avoided finding out personally?
"Speak this?", was asked in Goblin of all things, and Sharr nodded once.
"Some. No fight, help. Child… need food."
It wasn't so much a guess as a correlation from varied pieces of observation, and the adult's arms sagged in defeat, face a mask of despair for the child's sake now.
"Kor, put your bow away," Sharr said, using the tones of his authority, so that his heart-brother knew there would be no argument accepted. "They're half-starved; look at their faces."
The sound of the bow being unstrung was followed by a deep, almost angry, sigh as the other elf saw the same things as Sharr.
"I hate this."
"Save your hate for the spider, and let's figure out how to help them without scaring the adult again."
"Fine."
Kor went and hunted for dinner to be useful, while Sharr saw to making a fire. The drow, both of them, were wary, and when he managed to get the small fire going, the wariness became full-fledged need to flee again.
"Fire make animal safe to eat," Sharr said in the Goblin that was their only shared language. "Teach. Give tools. Child needs food." That last phrase was winning far more cooperation than he could have hoped for, and the pair settled down.
"Teach. Why?" Suspicion and distrust oozed in those words.
"Good thing. Right thing."
With the fire started, and sticks whittled to hold whatever meat Kor brought back, Sharr studied the pair again. His estimate of the adult was close to the age of his youngest. The child… if he was judging right, that one didn't even have a dozen years.
Then again, drow males ran smaller than average in spider-cities, and both showed signs of severe hunger having affected them.
"Sharr," he finally said, tapping his chest. He indicated the adult, making no motion in the direction of the child.
"Drizzt," was the eventual answer, and a pause followed. Drizzt laid a hand on the boy's shoulder gently. "Kastan." He used the same gesture Sharr had, in the direction Kor had gone.
"Kor."
Drizzt nodded to that, then forced himself to look at the fire. Were his eyes different in more than color? Sharr had to wonder as the man actually moved close to study the fire.
~Sister of mine, do you have a band moving toward the Sundabar Pass to collect a pair? They have acquired surface clothes, but still had no fire.~
Sharr found it easier to reach out than to decide a course that might send the drow back into flight… or worse. The sheer protective energy toward the child was such that Sharr was certain he was not going to get far in lessons.
~My Lady has been seeking one, but cannot find that one due to some form of interference,~ Qilué sent back. ~Does this relate to your request?~
~Yes, and now I wonder if the elder is not actually good, and his presence is masking the child.~
It would be a bit of time before any answers could happen, since it was only the two of them supporting the conversation, and even his consort's amazing magic had to recharge.
Before he heard anything back from her, Kor arrived with a pair of coneys already cleaned. His approach sent Drizzt back to the boy, and Kor just grunted, seeing to spitting the meat to start roasting, adding a few roots he'd dug up on the rocks in front of the heat. Drizzt watched avidly, even as the smells wafted around to whet their appetites.
The quiet on them was tense, and not broken until the food was ready, at which point the adult pulled some nuts free of a rough pouch, offering them when Sharr handed him the spit with one of the coneys, and most of the roasted roots.
"Give. Take."
Sharr realized the drow had a sense of fair play, wanting to trade — yes, those nuts were edible, though not the best of what could be gathered — and decided he had better accept.
"Share," Sharr said in Common. "Give and take is share."
"Share."
Was Sharr imagining a hunger in those purple eyes for more than food? Was the taste of a language more what he wished for? It would take time to learn, and Sharr wasn't sure how long he could abuse Kor's sensibilities by them remaining with the pair.
He did smile, a little, as the adult made the child eat slowly, soft words that had apparently still the hungry urge to wolf the food down. He also noted that Drizzt actually was eating so slowly that the boy would get more of the food.
Well, they were going to show Drizzt how to make fire, give him a striker and flint to carry. There would be more food in the pair's future.
~Mena's friends have a hunting party with a wizard; my Lady is guiding them to you, Sharr, once the moon rises,~ Qilué sent as the boy finished the last bite. Kor and Sharr had split the other, but some was left, and Sharr passed it over to the pair, patting his belly to indicate it was full.
Kastan ate a few more bites, then argued Drizzt into eating more, at least to all appearances.
~We will be here; please have them move cautiously. The adult is very protective of the child.~
Even if the man wasn't good, he had to be at least neutral to keep putting the boy's needs ahead of his own, Sharr decided. As Kastan moved to lay down in a small ball, no covering but what he wore, the elder drow stroked the boy's hair until sleep came. Only then did Drizzt look at Sharr.
"Teach fire."
That was as good a way to pass the time to moonrise as any other, Sharr decided, and got what was needed to comply.
Sharr looked up as the moon cleared the trees, then over at Drizzt. "Drow come. Good. Like Kastan."
The adult frowned, obviously not believing in such a thing, but the moonbridge shimmering into place to deliver four drow, two in robes, and two carrying bows like Sharr and Kor did, held Drizzt's attention. Kastan stirred and looked up, then sat up, rubbing his eyes a bit. He chattered swiftly at Drizzt and even Sharr could hear the excitement, before the cleric of the newcomers called out a greeting to them both.
Kor was twitchy, but just managing to keep himself perfectly still. Sharr noted that Drizzt was very tense, but Kastan was continuing to speak, and the new drow were answering questions from him apparently.
Eventually that tapered off, and the wizard was the one to approach them, keeping a wary distance to the drow and Sharr alike.
"Greetings, Saer. I am Vahs, and the boy is the one our Lady knew of. There is a mystery about the boy's father; he cannot be perceived by our magic, divine or arcane, to let us know his alignment."
"That… shouldn't be possible," Sharr said with a frown. Father? Surely they were mistaken.
"So we know, but we are willing to take over their care, and see what we may learn. We are grateful to you both for watching over them.
"Did you say 'father'?" Kor actually asked, incredulous. "Boy can't be fifty!"
Vahs sighed. "These things do happen in spider cities."
"Obscene," Kor growled.
"Yes," Vahs agreed. He then looked at the pair, who were having a conversation solely with their hands. "The boy hears the song. The father is willing to trust in his son, and we are fairly convinced he must be good, but… well, we have a long walk back to our enclave, to find out what is obscuring him."
Sharr sized up the pair they had found, then looked at Vahs. "The boy seems to be the center of all things for the … adult," he said, reluctantly on that last word. "My instinct says good. But I understand a need for caution.
"I believe you may know of my son Inthylyn?"
"I do, and yes, Cleric Sira said we may have to ask for outside help from him. He, after all, is well known to us, and has been a solid ally for many decades."
Kor barely kept his bristling to himself, but Sharr nodded with a smile. "It's hard to trust strangers, yes," Sharr said. He then focused on Drizzt. "You go with? Good people."
"Kastan says yes. Need word, helping us good," Drizzt said. "Owe."
"No. Help good. Help always." Sharr reached out a hand, and after a moment, Drizzt took it, allowing Sharr to squeeze gently. "Be good, keep Kastan strong."
"Yes!"
Drizzt stood then, and Kastan rose with him, smiling at the two elves in a show of bravery, before they went to join the drow hunters, Vahs falling in step with them. In very short order the six drow were lost in the woods to the north side of the pass, and Kor drew in a very deep breath.
"Call one of your sons to teleport us the rest of the way. I need somewhere to practice with my sword."
"You and me both, my brother."
Alustriel let herself into Sharr's room, glad that her pages were right and Korvallen was with him.
"The pair of drow you helped on the road, my dears? I have news."
"It's been almost a full month," Kor noted, sitting up on the couch, to make room between them for her to sit.
"Indeed. As they had a few issues with the adult of the pair." Alustriel took a deep breath. "Thyl has mentioned to you that his friend acquired a moon elf through traumatic circumstance?"
"Yes," Sharr began, confused at the change in direction.
"Drizzt was the drow fighter who spared her life, hiding that fact."
Kor sucked in a whistle. "So there's a point of connection."
"It gets more complicated," Alustriel told them. "He is from the same city, same House as she is, and suspects they share the same father. All of that would have been enough to set many instincts aflame at a trap."
"Indeed!" Sharr said, shocked at the points of connection.
"Add in that the young man was under a shroud, woven at his birth, to hide his nature from being perceived, by any Seldarine, light or dark, and they had a lot of worries," she continued. "Syluné was the one to find and remove the shroud, with Mother's help, and then Eilistraee was able to perceive Drizzt.
"It is Her opinion, and Mielikki's of all goddesses, that he has been sorely tested, severely abused by life, and deserves a chance to raise his child and find his path."
"How did Mielikki get involved?" Kor asked after a long moment to digest that all.
"She'd been listening for him ever since he came back above, as Drizzt is apparently very in tune with nature. A wild-called ranger, even."
"Now I have heard everything… and I am glad we encountered them, to start unraveling it all," Sharr said, slipping an arm around her.
"I guess," Kor said, getting a snort from his heart's brother, and a playful push from Alustriel.
"I foresee his life being better in the care of others like him, but do not rule out more interesting things ahead of him," she said, a sentiment Sharr agreed with.
