tales_of_faerun | Entries tagged with au: gender changes

Irregular Rangers and Magical Mishaps (1932 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: Drizzt Do'Urden, Lilinthar Aerasumé, Original Elf Character(s), Original Human Character(s)
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gender, involuntary gender changes, Unplanned Pregnancy
Summary:

A blending of different AUs where Drizzt is in Berdusk with his orphans when the cursed box crosses his path.

Irregular Rangers and Magical Mishaps

Drizzt wandered over to see what the pair of Harpers who had just returned had, curious as ever, and not ready to go back to the house when Rusie had chased him out for being underfoot.

"Hey, Drizzt, we were just thinking about you. Look at this." Josiah held out a box, and Drizzt took it on instinct… and felt the latent magic in it even as he admired the black cat on the lid.

"Chest of holding?" Drizzt asked.

"Not sure yet; we didn't have a wizard with us when we ran afoul of the hag," Case told him. "We saw the cat, thought you'd like it, but don't think I'd realized it might be magical."

"Well done if you dealt with the hag without a mage," Drizzt congratulated, "and yes, it is."

"You keep having so many tricks," Josiah teased. "Magic detection just by touching something!"

Drizzt grinned, then put the box on the table. "Probably should get someone to look at it before it gets opened. I can only tell it has magic, not what kind."

"At least we're certain it's not a mimic!" Case said with a laugh before she turned to go see if they had any wizards on hand.

Josiah leaned back on the wall opposite the table, looking at the box intently. "If it is a chest of holding, it's awful pretty."

Drizzt grinned, knowing Josiah had been found thieving in Waterdeep, and been encouraged to turn his skills toward helpful things.

"I'm sure Case will be willing to play dice for which of you keeps it once the wizard checks it over," Drizzt said.

Josiah nodded, and looked away. Drizzt moved to leave… and turned back as the Harper lunged to the table, overcome by a need to open the box. All of Drizzt's senses went off, and he moved to stop that —

— only to wind up juggling the box out of Josiah's hands in a way that made the box open with him touching it, looking at the opening.

In Josiah's defense, it turned out there had been a compulsion on the box. That it had not affected Case spoke of something aimed at men in particular, given Drizzt found himself no longer one when he woke.

The Harpers pooled their knowledge when the highest cleric there shook her head, unable to break the curse, and Josiah set off overland to the one cursebreaker they knew that had a stellar reputation for breaking polymorphs.

Samiar had found Those That Harped to be useful to keep on his good side, as they often knew the best buyers for magical artifacts he had found and removed curses from.

The whole way back by phantom steed, he got the sense that beyond being overly repentant for initiating the action, that Josiah was nervous about the meeting to come.

Sam was met at the door of the orphanage beside the Twilight Hall by a lass of dark skin and a definite Calimshite accent.

"If you're here to help my ranger, you're welcome. But if you think because you're an elf you're any better than he is, go back where you came, and we'll find someone else."

"Miss — "

"Rusie. Rusie Do'Urden, as he saw fit to share his name with all of us that he brought out of Calimport to live free."

"I gave my word to look at the matter, and I will be very polite, I swear to you," Sam said, rather liking the fire in her. It reminded him of Syluné Silverhand's blunt protective spirit.

"Come in, then. Mind the small ones; we don't believe in penning them up once they can crawl."

Rusie led him inside, where she seemed to be the eldest of the immature beings Sam saw. Mostly human — oh halfling tots were as chubby as some grew in adulthood — and he did have to skirt around that one. She took him to a room with a door and knocked.

"Come."

Rusie opened the door, and gestured for him to follow her in.

"Wizard's here, Drizzt," she said, the room barely more than a bed, chest, and a stool.

On the stool was a drow.

Samiar's interest only grew, based on what he knew so far.

"Samiar Ravarel, you are Drizzt Do'Urden, and I am here to consult on, and break if at all possible, the curse you are under." He came to sit on the edge of the bed, while the drow set aside knife and whetstone.

The purple eyes were a shock, but after a long searching look, Drizzt nodded.

"I hope you can. I hate seeing my mother's face in the mirror."

Drizzt barely heard the cleric. He'd grown to be good friends with the wizard in the months he'd stayed in Berdusk, had been very worried when the closest they got to snapping the spell had made Sam black out for a few moments.

The offer of a practical attempt had… been odd. But once Drizzt considered it, he had latched onto the idea, and even found that sex was not so bad when it wasn't forced.

He'd been the one to ask Sam to leave, though, when it had evidently failed. He didn't want the wizard risking another attempt and the spell ensnaring him. Yet now, the cleric having told him his illness was actually a new life —

— he had a chance for a child. He loved the children he protected, the ones he had brought here and the ones they had taken in. He knew Rusie would be a good influence on the child, that there would be no lack of love, even if the drow features came through strongly.

"—could stop the pregnancy—"

"No." Drizzt looked at the cleric warmly, choosing. "I appreciate the offer, but if I could be given materials to study on gestation and what comes after… I wish to go through with this. Perhaps that was the end goal of the curse, to make a child, and teach me what a woman must endure.

"I accept that."

Josiah brought back word that though the wizard's tower was still in place, the wizard was gone. Drizzt accepted that, and focused on being the best parent he could. Eventually his daughter would be big enough to travel safely, and he'd take her with him to wherever this wizard lived.

It was only right that Sam know he had a child, strange as it might be. Drizzt wanted nothing of obligation, though. He hoped Sam could understand the choice he had made.

When Lin needed to lay low in Berdusk, he had not anticipated stumbling onto a mystery. The woman running the orphanage was polite, and the children were in varying stages of development, but the startling one was the very small almost-drow colored elf.

To complicate it more, she had a face that reminded Lin strongly of Del at that barely walking stage.

He didn't want to be nosy; the woman in charge was very busy. And then he realized that might be a key, and help his guilt over crashing with her and the orphans.

"I've got seven younger brothers, Miss. Can I lend you a hand with something? From watching them to changing the little ones to taking on some of your chores inside?"

Rusie sized him up, decided he could work on the laundry a bit for her, and set him to it after giving all the supplies over. As the washroom was just off the kitchen, it let Lin keep an eye on the not-drow child, who was too big to stay in a crib, and too small to play with the older children.

Lin was utterly fascinated by her, and the longer he looked, the more convinced he was that she favored Del. Maybe Tar had had a fling, but... Tar knew what to do, with drow-born, and would never leave a child away from a watchful place near family.

A little discussion with the ranger when he returned had proved revealing to Lin. When he found out from Case that the wizard, a man that Lin thought had to be the same one in his father's and uncle's stories, lived outside Yartar, he went to see.

The wizard tower he found was certainly elf-like, being a transfigured, animate hiexel, but the wizard was not home.

He decided he'd check back every now and then, but kept everything to himself — for now — and merely made certain some of his income made its way to donations for Berdusk's orphanage.

Thyl wound up telling Syluné. Lin didn't tend to hold back his odder things that he saw from his twin, and Thyl grew concerned. If this wizard really was their father's cousin as she thought, why was he so close to their Mother without visiting.

"Sam often lost track of time," Syluné said thoughtfully, remembering the sociable elf that she had traded magic with so often in those early years of Alustriel's courtship with Sharrevaliir. "Hmm. You know as a cursebreaker, he has necromancy available to him?"

Thyl blinked, not seeing where that was relevant — until he did. He sat back heavily in his chair.

"Yeah, but… why hasn't he gone to see Mom? What if he's just using the name? What if it is one of the wizards you mentioned he got in hot water with, masquerading?"

"Dear, you're as wary as your Aunt Storm. I doubt he could have pulled the wool over the harpers' eyes as to his nature." She sipped at her tisane. "Stay here, keep watch for me?"

"Aunt — " At her look he dropped his protests. It actually was good to see her take an interest.

When Sam came back to his home, he didn't even get fully within the wards before a silver flicker-flash teleport came into view, and Syluné Silverhand was standing just outside the line of them.

"Samiar, you are very frustrating. I had to set a spell to keep watch for me!"

"Hello, old friend," Sam said with a chuckle. "I've been away in the Haunted Lands, trying to trace a map back to a magical cache said to be there. Alas, I had little luck, but have a number of new components waiting to process.

"Come in, and tell me why you have come?"

She held her peace until they were in the tree, where Syluné took the time to coo and praise the tree for its amazing growth and interior space. Sam was chuckling as he went to drop various bags where they needed to be. He came back to find her in the kitchen, laying out a small meal from cabinets the hiexel had opened for her.

"You charm my home," he said with amusement.

"Well, dear, it's only polite when I am about to upset your world."

He looked at her, saw the serious nature of the visit under her gentleness, and fetched a bottle of brandy to go with the simple meal.

Zanna was four, and it had been five years since Sam had seen Drizzt, when they finally met. Between aiding Syluné in restoring her husband, and then a family-wide effort to get Sharrevaliir back to the living, it had taken a while.

But Sam was smitten, and when Drizzt proved willing to move up to the Yartar region, they hammered out agreements that let them live together, and raise the girl together.

It was an odd family, with drow and half-elves and humans and elves, but ultimately, it was a good one. Lin was more than pleased at his meddling turning out this way.

senmut

Excerpts and Fic Noodles is a new collection at SquidgeWorld Archives that will catch fics that are either very parallel to ones I did, incomplete, or just honestly fooling around with an idea. These are minimally edited, and may be quite raw.

A Different Magical Mayhem (4434 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
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden/Original Elf Character
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Elf Character(s), Syluné Silverhand
Additional Tags: involuntary gender changes, Unplanned Pregnancy, gender dysphoria
Summary:

What if it was SAM that the box hit with the curse?

( fic this way )

senmut

Gender-Changed Drizzt (7,046 words) by

senmut
Chapters: 3/3
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Relationship: Alustriel Silverhand/Drizzt
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre, Drizzt Do'Urden, Catti-brie Battlehammer, Bruenor Battlehammer, Wulfgar son of Beornegar, Alustriel Silverhand
Additional Tags: Gender Changes, Canon Divergence
Summary:

Drizzt, born a girl, too Good to survive as a priestess, is hidden by sister and father.

Boys are Fighters (4,977 words)

Vierna watched as Dreeza tried her best to pronounce the simple prayer, saw the absolute pain in eyes and the locked jaw, leaving her convinced.

She did not understand why her little sister was so different, but as a Masked Traitor, she had to come up with a plan. No drow life should be put aside lightly. Given how adept she was with both hands, Vierna suspected already she would have an ally in this.

One poison later, and the House had lost a daughter, a daughter that had not yet been too costly an investment for Malice to investigate after the junior cleric decreed the body had to be disposed of, for how the 'illness' had struck.

Vierna was in quarantine for it, and little Dreeza was removed from the house under guard to go to the acid pool nearby.

Zaknafein managed the switch with a wrapped body for the house slaves to dispose of during that trek, while a shadow slipped the actual child away.

Dreeza blinked at the bald man with the eye patch, but Vierna had told her to trust in him. She'd also said that the weapon master would come, from time to time, to check on her.

"Little one," the bald man said. "I am fond of your sire, so I will help you survive. But you cannot be a girl any longer."

"Don't want to be," Dreeza told him. "Girls have to say the words that hurt."

The man smiled at her. "Is that how it is, hmm? Well. Can you learn to answer to Drizzt? Close to your name, but boyish."

"Drizzt." She — he, he firmly decided, because boys learned sharp things and sometimes magic — rather liked the sound of it. It felt right.

Drizzt showed the new techniques to Zaknafein, always happiest when that man came to visit.

Zak wished it could stay like this always, with him slipping in to teach his child as he was able. Jarlaxle was right, though. The city was getting more dangerous, Malice was pushing her ambitions too far, and Drizzt being exposed would leave him and Vierna — oh how proud he was of her! — at risk.

"Drizzt."

The young fighter came and sat beside Zak at that tone, accepting the arm that came around slim shoulders. As Drizzt had matured, Jarlaxle had used cleverly cut clothing to mask the slim build and modest curves, but Malice's delicate features were there.

"Father."

Zak's chest tightened. Jarlaxle had promised him that Drizzt would be safer elsewhere, somewhere House Do'Urden had no ties.

"Bregan D'aerthe will be taking you somewhere. It's getting too dangerous to hide you here, and you deserve to not be a prisoner in the compound."

Drizzt's chin tipped up, and the lavender eyes gleamed with resolve.

"Want you and my sister safe, so I will go. Some day, I will see you again?"

"Some day, darkness willing," Zak said, hugging his younger child tight. "Take this." Zak put a small figure in Drizzt's hands. "I took it from a wizard in training, and Vierna learned its name."

That had been a fierce fight for the House, but Drizzt didn't need to know that.

"Name?"

Zak leaned down and whispered it in his child's ear, prompting Drizzt to practice it over and over silently.

Jarlaxle had intended for Zak's child to be sent to safety.

Even he could not guarantee everything.

Drizzt had already been passed into the hands of someone else, though, and he never knew when the new band escorting the young fighter was ambushed, with the survivors set to be sold as slaves in unsavory places.

The slavers never reckoned on Drizzt escaping, fleeing them on the surface. Things seen in the short captivity, though, meant that Drizzt would continue to be a boy, rather than risk that kind of personal violence.

At least the figure had gone unnoticed for its worth, making Drizzt swear to keep it always safe.

The first lessons of life Above came in the Neverwinter Forest. Several times, Drizzt had only barely escaped from both drow and humans that lived there. The drow at least, had been curious about a stranger, but inevitably someone would check alignment, and then it turned into a hunt.

The humans started with hostility.

Drizzt became quite skilled at hiding, at observing the small bands of people, even as exploration was the path taken. Moving as far from where they had come to the surface seemed safest, and Drizzt traveled ever in the direction of the great light in the sky.

Through it all, Guenhwyvar, the figure's summoned creature, protected when she was there. The surface was better for her than the Underdark, and she would make certain Drizzt learned that well.

The hills had taught new skills of stealth, and introduced Drizzt to orcs. Badly.

There was only so much the fighter could do against many of them, and the injuries were taking their toll.

"Guenhwyvar," Drizzt called, hiding in a shallow hole undercut in the river's bank, the water lapping in to make it unpleasantly damp.

The panther took up the bulk of the space there, and growled, knowing her drow was hurt badly, maybe bad enough to kill.

She sprang out of the hole, and went hunting… first to secure safety, and then to find aid.

Drizzt came conscious in a warm place, clean and bandaged, and only hidden by a blanket in barely lit room. Panic flared, but before Drizzt could sit up, a hand — old, knotted with arthritis and pale — reached out to gently press down.

"No, child."

Those were words Drizzt knew, and the tone was kind. Lavender eyes sought the speaker, the owner of the hand, to find an old human, gray hair pulled tight in a bun, watching him without fear.

"Your cat came for me, brought me to you. An Astral being doesn't willingly aid someone evil, and you'd killed several of the orcs that chased you. Bad lot, those."

Drizzt wasn't catching every word, but this felt safe, felt like the deep woods where nothing ever hurt for long.

"You'll stay to heal. And maybe, maybe you'll learn a bit."

Drizzt's eyes closed, the warmth and safety and injuries all calling for more sleep.

Evgin Morningmist was, Drizzt came to learn, a retired ranger. Evgin took the time to heal all the injuries, then when Drizzt seemed willing to stay, began teaching Drizzt the true skills of wild-living.

Language came easier, having someone to directly talk to, and Drizzt soaked up everything that could be learned from the human.

Drizzt's gender didn't come up until Evgin brought in leather and boning to measure for new gear to replace what had been ravaged by the orcs.

"Figured," Evgin began, "that you had reasons for the way you wore that leather. That's between you and your soul. All I need to know is what you mean to be seen as, and what you let people know you are."

Drizzt swallowed hard against the knot of complications. "Men are fighters, wizards. Women are priestesses. So I prefer to be a man."

Evgin scoffed. "Not Above, Drizzt. Anyone can do as they want, no matter what parts they were born to or grew over time. If you see yourself as a man, that's fine. But if you make yourself be a man because you think that's how it has to be… that's not the best."

Drizzt considered, then shrugged. "That I know I am a woman in body is one thing, but my mind sees what I do as a man. Is that good?"

Evgin smiled. "As you wish it to be. I'll say he and him around others, but if you want to be she and her in my home, I will be fine with it. However, for now, I'm going to measure and we will make something to smooth out the curves more.

"Armor goes a long way, and Chauntea knows all elves are pretty enough few can tell the genders at range."

Drizzt laughed, but filed that away as another piece to keep safe among humans. Only trusted people — like Evgin — should know.

"Drizzt… child come here!"

Drizzt scrambled up out of the cellar where they'd made a quiet, dark place to live for the fighter. Evgin was on the swept stone just past the threshold, looking east.

"I'm here," Drizzt said rather than touch the woman.

"Need you to pack up the torches, and run like the wind," Evgin said firmly. "Caravan that passed today didn't make it far enough down the road, and it looks to be a dark night."

"Trolls?"

The ranger had retired very close to the Evermoors, also called the Trollmoors, and in the course of teaching Drizzt, explained the dangers they were. Most caravans knew to get to this stretch early, so they could skirt the edge on the trade road with full daylight.

Drizzt wondered why this caravan hadn't stopped when it was obvious they wouldn't make it soon enough. That didn't matter; gathering the pre-pitched torches did. It was going to be hard, to go and defend, when fire was so necessary. It meant others were bound to see the black skin and white hair that damned all drow to surface folk.

When Drizzt returned, torches in a tight bundle for carrying, Evgin was holding a shirt of mail, finely made.

"You get this now, Drizzt. I can't fight well enough to help you tonight, but my old armor will fit and protect you better."

The bundle was set down, sword belt unhitched, and Evgin helped Drizzt into the surprisingly light chain.

"Dwarf-crafting, said to have come out of the Frost Hills a few generations ago," she said. "Only ever let dwarves fix it for me, if I couldn't set the rings myself."

"I will wear it in honor," Drizzt promised.

"Know that, I do. Now go keep that idiot merchant safe."

And so it began… rumors of a drow that answered to the ancient ranger near the Evermoors grew. Many thought it was just a myth. Some would say they had seen dark skin and pale hair, but the stories were laughed away.

No drow was good. There'd been raids enough to prove that.

And the giant cat with this supposed drow? Had to be a wild elf or a wood elf, who just looked dark in the night. Drow didn't use animal companions after all.

Longsaddle was curious, but organization and sense of urgency never went hand in hand with the family there. The chance to find out slipped away, once Chauntea called her ranger home… and the student struck out to see what else there was in the world.

When Bruenor brought his people to the fighting, he'd hoped to save more than it was looking like. The last thing he expected in that hope was another fighter suddenly appearing…

…and goblins tripping over themselves to get away from the newcomer. Bruenor marked the possible threat, especially when the new fighter looked at a particularly gruesome pair of bodies, and gave pursuit to those fleeing.

The order to hunt for survivors went up when they stopped finding goblins to kill, and Bruenor came to the pair that had set the new fighter off. He started to say a prayer for the dead, but then one of the bodies was moved from beneath it.

Bruenor crouched, wary, and realized a human child had been sheltered by this pair… and possibly might survive.

"Easy, little'un, easy," he said in Common, and moved the body off to find a wee child, small and scared with a scratch on her arm and not much else.

The parents had done well by this one, sad a thing as it was.

"C'mere, little'un, let me help ye," he said in a gentle voice, axe set aside so he could open his arms to her.

She hesitated, then moved to him, accepting the help. He hitched her on one hip, got his axe in the other hand, and looked toward where the goblins had fled.

The lone fighter was coming back, cloak pulled in tight against the wind that was picking up.

"Foe of gobs is good, but are ye friend of dwarf?" Bruenor called, not recognizing anything of the fighter.

"If the dwarf will allow, I choose friendship."

The voice was no help to identity, and Bruenor tipped his head.

"If'n ye saw the child, she's barely hurt."

The posture of the fighter changed, relief visible in the set of the shoulders before the fighter came near enough that Bruenor's eyes could see beneath the hood.

He almost cursed in shock, but the bairn was on his hip, and that would done no one good for the child to learn such so young.

The fighter noticed, and relief changed to weariness.

"I will go my way, good dwarf, rather than intrude," the fighter said in resignation.

What in all the forges was the world coming to, that Bruenor actually felt sorry for the fighter, seeing and hearing that.

"Not intrudin' when yer invited."

The dark face came back up, hope shining in eyes a color he'd never seen looking back at him.

"My gratitude."

He'd put the bairn with Auntie, who had a hand with children, having mothered pretty much the entire clan after their exile from the Hall. The drow, on the other hand, he'd tucked in a room as close to the surface as possible, asking him to wait while he saw to the clan, making certain they were all back in and safe.

Not a dwarf lost, but that might have been different, if the drow hadn't joined in.

He came to the door, which he'd told the fighter to close or leave open as he saw fit, and saw it was open, with the drow quietly cleaning his blades.

"Gave me a start, I admit, tae see a drow in the frozen north," Bruenor said as he came in. "And most would — what are ye wearing?!"

The fighter blinked as the dwarf fixed on the mail now showing beneath the cloak.

"My teacher gifted it to me, said it had been passed down through generations," the fighter said. "Made by dwarves of the Frost Hills, and she was insistent that if it ever needed it, I only let dwarves mend it. As I am what I am, the few times it has needed it, I have done the wiring myself."

Bruenor's eyes got misty, to hear the reverence, and he believed the tale. "Yer teacher's family must have done favor tae me clan at some point, drow, for that was forged in the Hall of me ancestors. Recognize the way of crafting the mithral, aye."

"I swear, good dwarf, that I wear it in honor, for her memory, and my own need to do good."

Bruenor nodded, then sat down to see to cleaning his own axe. "Bruenor Battlehammer, chieftain of the clan here, but we came from the Frost Hills."

"Drizzt Do'Urden, a long time removed from the Underdark, and most recently out of Luskan." The fighter's nose wrinkled. "Kept moving on, as I had no wish to be a wizard's curiosity. And the wilds are my home, anyway."

"Plenty of those here, Drizzt. But it's good tae have solid stone when the weather sets. I'll talk to me clan, but my gut says yer a good man."

"I try to be."

Having shelter, even if most of the dwarves were distrustful, was one less worry for Drizzt, even if living in stone was a reminder of lost people. More, the addition of the bairn Bruenor had rescued -- there was nowhere else for her to go -- was a distraction from the outright hostility of the locals.

Drizzt was far too accustomed to that, but could focus instead on caring for young Catti-brie alongside the gruff dwarf. Bruenor, for his part, was liking more and more of the drow he'd taken in, as the fighter was without peer, never really complained much, and was more than willing to take over certain duties on the surface that his own people grumbled over, like guarding the trade wagon or hunting.

Catti-brie was their bonding point, more than anything. Bruenor suspected his new ranger friend was much younger than the fighter cared to show. Keeping Drizzt protected from the worst of bigotry became a major point for him, when trade was needed, and he leveraged his monopoly on new weapons for the Ten Towns accordingly.

Catti had always respected her elf's privacy, but the blood smear near the elf's door had her worried. Drizzt had been gone for days, and Catti was scared for how much blood was trailed in.

She pushed into the room to see her elf had made it in, but not to the bed. Catti got one of the dwarf lamps open, just a little, and saw the bloody bandages and tattered pants along Drizzt's legs.

Something had made the elf fall in sharp rock or ice, based on that pattern.

Well, Catti knew how to handle cleaning and bandaging. She went to get Drizzt out of gear, working swiftly with dwarf-conditioned strength.

She didn't pause at all, leaving questions to later, when her elf was awake again.

Drizzt opened eyes to see very faint light from the dwarf lamp, the feeling of blankets, and a slightly smaller body laying on top of them.

"Catti?"

"Scared me, elf," she told him softly. "Set the young ones tae scrubbing yer trail, got you wrestled tae bed on me own, after getting you out of the frozen clothes.

"Och, donnae be flinching like that." Catti moved so she could meet Drizzt's eyes. "I'd never tell another soul. Ye have reasons, I'm sure."

"I don't mean to lie to you," Drizzt said.

"Ye didnae, me elf. Ye kept a secret, maybe, but it's fine. Now I can help ye keep it too, aye?"

Drizzt managed to get an arm around the girl and hugged her. "Thank you, my Cat."

Drizzt was out on the open tundra under the summer night skies when the feeling of something pulled him in a specific direction. Evgin had said to always follow that, that it meant Mielikki had something to be investigated.

Seeing a pair of drow was not exactly what Drizzt expected, and caution flared sharper than if they had been giants.

The pair noted him, and Drizzt thought it was a woman -- the robes were different, not spider embroidered -- and a man in a well-made piwafwi carrying a pair of swords.

As that detail registered, Drizzt felt a multitude of emotions, and dared have hope that maybe this was the family long ago lost.

"Drizzt?"

Now Drizzt was certain, but caution with drow was etched into memory, so Drizzt did not release sword hilts immediately. The pair were moving slowly in Drizzt's direction, and once their faces were clear, Drizzt did let go.

"Vierna? Father?"

They came together, with Vierna almost smothering Drizzt in an embrace that was fierce and loving, so at odds with the prickle of evil that etched on nerves honed to hunt such. When she let go, Zak engulfed Drizzt in a hug of his own, and that did not itch like the other one had.

"Come, both of you. I have an outlying cave I keep when I need away from my allies," Drizzt said. "The wind cannot be kind to either of you."

They seemed happy enough with this plan, following him to the Cairn and up to Drizzt's secondary home. They were pointed to the couch that would keep their eyes protected more from the brazier, as Drizzt got a fire started in the prepared coal.

Only once heat was provided for did Drizzt come back to them, eyes shining. They'd both been watching, evaluating, and apparently liked what they saw.

"How did you wind up in a frozen hell?! We came once before, months ago, but there was a storm," Vierna said.

Drizzt shrugged. "I wander. Only, about ten years ago, I came here, and found a new home with my allies, helping to raise an orphan."

Zak gave a snort. "Hell of a place to raise any child."

"We barely notice the weather in our caverns beneath the tundra," Drizzt said before studying Vierna. "I see no whip, no spiders." There was hope there, despite the frisson of evil that came off the priestess.

"Even when you lived with us, I was not truly Lloth's priestess, little sister," Vierna told Drizzt. "I serve Vhaeraun."

That got a head tilt, then a slow nod. "That's why you were willing to protect me. I have heard they do not like to kill other drow, but I am a nuisance to them. Or was, when I still lived where His followers sometimes came to the surface."

The 'little sister' felt strange, and yet... Drizzt was, for this priestess that had taught words.

"Shortly after we got you out of the city," Zak said, "the reasons we had done so were circling close to Vierna's deception being found. So we used a skirmish between houses to disappear and start over in a more Vhaeraunite city."

"I never wish to take that long a journey in the Underdark again," Vierna fussed for the memory, and Drizzt had to smile.

"I am pleased. It is easier to deal with you being His than the Spider Queen's," Drizzt said.

Vierna studied Drizzt a long moment, then asked, to get it out of the way. "Did you fall in with the Dark Maiden then?"

"No. I learned human gods, from my human teacher, and one of them chose me for Her ranger."

Vierna relaxed; that was not as bad as it might have been. "Good. I do not want to be at odds with you, now I have found you again."

"I would not like that. If you mean no harm to the wilds or my allies of the surface, we need not be at odds," Drizzt assured.

"Don't much care for the Surface, so that's an easy promise to make," Zak said, firmly, and Vierna nodded.

"So tell us everything, Drizzt, and let us know all about your life," Vierna invited, getting Drizzt to settle in on the couch between them.

Much as Drizzt preferred not to speak of the past or doings, that was not something to hedge on now, and the story began to unfold.

Bruenor menaced the Towns men with his axe, and Agorwal stepped down with him, over the fallen ranger.

"I can take him for healing," the spokesman said once the others had left.

"Nay, though it's a fine offer. We take care of our own, and the ranger is mine tae care for." He whistled and a pair of dwarves that were on recovery duty came quickly. "I'll let me elf know the offer was made."

Catti had long since told him the ranger mustn't go to the Towns for aid, and he stood by that, without pressing for why. He'd seen a few elves in his life, and suspected, but their healers -- and Catti herself -- would be able to tend Drizzt just fine in the safety of their home.

Drizzt sized up the barbarian boy, recognizing him as the standard bearer from the spying done before the battle. A year in the mines and forges had tempered the pride some, but Wulfgar still sneered at the idea of learning anything from a filthy drow.

"Catti-brie," Drizzt said quietly. "Tell your father I will not teach him."

Drizzt walked away, and the barbarian started to run his mouth. The echoing sound of Catti-brie smacking him hard with her own sheathed sword did not slow the drow's retreat.

"Ye be an idiot, Wulfgar. Me da will send ye back tae the mines now, instead of ye learning from the best fighter in all Icewind Dale."

Drizzt's smile was soft, hidden from the pair, as the boy was herded back down to the lower levels by Catti and the pair of dwarves — who both added insults for the boy's stupidity.

"Why'd ye do it?" Catti-brie asked, sitting still while Drizzt brushed her hair out for her.

"He was not ready to learn. The pride is diminished, but I would have had to truly trounce him, and even then, he would not have taken the lessons to heart."

"He's sulking now."

Drizzt nodded silently. "Tell Bruenor when you see him later, I will meet the boy again in three months. And we shall see."

Wulfgar kept his opinions behind his face, and Drizzt sized him up. The arms were larger, and there was more height.

"You use a hammer?"

"Yes," Wulfgar said, voice polite, if not warm.

"Then come. There is no space in here to practice as you need."

"I need — "

A warning look from Catti-brie had cut those words off, and Wulfgar silently followed to the outside, drinking in the stars above, the cold air, as if his life depended on them.

Drizzt turned, pulling scimitars from the belt after closing the sheaths to keep them covered. Catti-brie almost snickered, having come along, as Drizzt taught her with bare metal.

Then again, a hammer was hell on edges.

"Show me how you fight," Drizzt said, as Catti-brie sat on a rock nearby.

"Does the girl have to stay? It's not seemly."

Drizzt's eyes flashed. "That young woman is a more skilled fighter than you are, or will be, if you keep that attitude."

Catti-brie carefully kept her mouth shut, but oh she wanted Wulfgar laid out and shown just how much a woman could fight. Yet, that wasn't fair to even think in her mind. Drizzt, as a fighter, was as much a man by mindset as Wulfgar. She'd learned that when it came to gender, her elf was a little specific on when male or female applied.

Wulfgar charged then… and measured his height in the dusty terrain.

Drizzt had moved once.

The boy looked up… and came up ready to fight, only to repeat his fall.

This was going to take a while, if Wulfgar didn't learn to fight smartly.

"Not bad."

Three weeks to get to a point where Wulfgar could last the full length of a timed spar, and Catti-brie saw the young man glowing at those two words.

Drizzt had not tried to be Wulfgar's friend, hadn't done anything but teach every night, but Catti could see that Wulfgar respected her elf so much more.

"Again?" Wulfgar asked, hopeful to extend his time under the stars.

"Spar Catti-brie, and I'll keep the time."

Wulfgar paused, then set his feet for a new bout without protest.

Catti wanted to cheer, both for his new ability to keep his stupid opinions in his head, and for the chance to show she was a skilled fighter, Drizzt's personal student all her years since she'd first asked to learn.

Drizzt stepped away and let her take over.

Vierna petted Drizzt's hair, having steadily brushed it all out as they got the tale of what little sister had been up to.

"And in the end, I didn't have darkness available -- too tired -- so I dumped flour on it. That was the beginning of the end, with the wizard ultimately doing himself in."

"You hunted a dragon and fought an artifact, and ... yeah, I think even I would have been too tired to summon it," Zak admitted.

"Bruenor's fidgeting more now. I think he's going to start pushing to take up the quest for his Hall," Drizzt said. "If we do go, I'll use the sending stone you gave me to tell you I am not here."

"I won't like it," Vierna said. "But I'd like coming to a snow storm and you not being here far less."

Drizzt put the stone back in the pouch, while Catti-brie watched.

"Don't have tae worry about that one coming while yer gone?"

"No, my friend. I had already warned this would be likely, and Vierna accepted it."

Catti-brie went and wrapped around her elf. "Wishing I was coming with."

"I know, but Bruenor wants you to keep an eye on things here."

"Bah. Fender could manage."

Drizzt held Catti a long moment, privately agreeing, knowing she'd fret the whole time, but Bruenor would not be persuaded.

Drizzt's nerves had been prickling since Regis joined them. Luskan had not helped a bit.

Now, with the encounter at Nesmé, and being turned away from Silverymoon, Drizzt felt nothing but worry.

The appearance of the Lady of Silverymoon soothed wounded feelings, but did not put the fears to rest. There was nothing to do but move forward at this point.

Having Catti-brie directly threatened and terrorized had provoked a stronger feeling in Drizzt than ever before. Catti had been raised by them, and Drizzt looked on her as both a child and a student to cherish and protect.

It did not make it any easier to stare at the remains of the assassin, ashamed of how far emotion had pushed this fight.

Catti-brie pressed against Drizzt's back, trying to reassure, to make it better, but nothing really could.

Drizzt finally turned and wrapped around her, while the others watched.

This wasn't done yet, but Catti-brie was safe, the threat to Regis ended.

They would manage.

~We're staying south of the Spine, Vierna. A campaign is being planned. I will find a quiet place to show you for teleports.~

~You don't sound well, so make that soon, little sister.~

Drizzt put the sending stone away, and rolled over on the bedroll, watching the others sleep. They had a lot of work ahead of them, but Drizzt knew one thing.

This was family, the one that mattered, and they would get through it all together.

More Personal Challenges (1,577 words)

Drizzt had made it through the entire campaign without a soul wiser about the secret carried. The ranger had reason to be grateful for healing potions, as the dragon's claws had torn through the mithral sleeve and left an arm useless.

That Drizzt had only been that close in order to save one of the wizards in the fight had made the ranger's reputation grow immensely.

Now, having found an outer cave that suited, Drizzt practiced with the arm to regain full mobility and strength.

Vierna was watching, with Zaknafein as Drizzt's sparring partner.

"How many duergar?" Zak asked.

"Hundreds, if not over a thousand," Drizzt answered, focusing on using the injured arm as the dominant one.

"A shadow dragon and two shadow hounds on top of that," Zak said, still impressed by the tale of the battle. He almost regretted not accepting the invitation to come join the campaign.

"Guen accounted for one of the latter," Drizzt said proudly. "And my blow that landed before the dragon tore my arm was credited as the turning point in that fight."

"Well done," Zak praised. "But next time figure out how to do it without the injury?"

Drizzt laughed brightly, and pushed an advantage in the fight. Zaknafein's pride was only growing as they sparred, seeing this child excel.

The biggest challenge after the dragon was far more personal.

Drizzt had, by the Lady's own invitation, begun to visit Silverymoon, a treasure that left the ranger speechless at times. It was one thing to have been accepted by an exiled clan of dwarves in a hostile region.

This was something far different, and made all the worse by flutters of feelings inside Drizzt's awareness where the Lady was concerned.

~You're feeling attraction, little sister,~ was Vierna's verdict after three nights of sending the conflicted nature of these new sensations and feelings. ~And if this wizard plays with your heart, or worse, I will kill her most painfully.~

~She will not have the chance to, as that is not something I am meant for.~

Whether Vierna would have more to say on that the next night or not, Drizzt knew it for truth.

Alustriel Silverhand knew Drizzt Do'Urden, ranger of Mielikki, as a man. Drizzt would not let that illusion fail, either, even as the ranger yearned for the kind of shared closeness that was growing between Catti and Wulfgar.

Meeting Kolarven, Knight in Silver, was a revolutionary moment for Drizzt. The half-elf was accepted as being other than man or woman, used gender neutral pronouns, and was as likely to be in skirts as pants when not in armor.

Drizzt wasn't ready to be that way, not truly, as gender was a brutal dichotomy for the ranger. Sister for Vierna, fighter and male to nearly everyone else of note, and Evgin's words came back.

All I need to know is what you mean to be seen as, and what you let people know you are.

Could Drizzt trust Alustriel as far as needed to share the secret? Why was this so much a mess inside heart and head?

Drizzt decided that leaving, traveling for a time, might help ease the chaos, and make the path clearer.

Silverymoon was an interesting sight to come back to as the first snows had fallen. All around the countryside, snow covered everything, yet only the faintest dusting lay on the city itself. Drizzt entered through the gate that allowed the quickest access to the Glade, as there was a small fortune to donate.

"Ranger!" the squire there called gladly, beaming with delight, and it hit Drizzt in the chest for the sincerity of it.

"Greetings, Squire Nellora."

The half-elf smiled even more broadly for the use of the name, waving the ranger on through.

Nor was she the last, as 'Ranger' rang out from several throats, and Drizzt wondered at it. The time spent here earlier in the year had been brief enough, it felt like, and even that the wizard saved during the fight was one of Alustriel's sons could not account for it.

Inside the Glade, though, with that dusting of white on the sleeping trees, Drizzt knew for a fact the city was home. Here was the greatest peace and feeling of belonging, after all. Drizzt did not hurry, once the treasure was in a collection basket near the altar, taking time to savor the peace.

It would be needed, if the Lady was as welcoming in her palace as the people in the city.

Alustriel came to the room Drizzt was in, the one Natali had been holding empty for their favorite ranger.

Drizzt opened the door, and the sheer joy in Alustriel's smile made it hard to breathe.

"Come in?"

She did, and Drizzt sat at the other end of the divan in there with her.

"I've missed you," Alustriel said softly. "And I've been worried that something I, or one of my people, did is why you chose to leave for so long this time."

Drizzt gave a head shake at that. "I needed time to think, to decide what I should do, going forward, as I have been … at odds with myself, here, with you."

She sat a little straighter, concern on her face now. "What is it, my friend? I would not have you be uncomfortable in my home at all. How can I help?"

Drizzt's eyes closed, and when they opened again, the drow reached for one of her hands.

"My name given when I was born was Dreeza," Drizzt began. "And like all drow nobles, my fate was set by what I was born as. I was to be a cleric of Lloth."

Alustriel's eyes widened, but she said nothing, only shifting to where she could better hold on to the offered hand.

"My sister who was raising me, saw the pain that came in the most simple prayers and songs. She, with the aid of my father, managed to fake that I had died, and I was put in the care of Bregan D'aerthe, the mercenary band.

"It was their leader, Jarlaxle, who offered me the name Drizzt, and the way to hide. It was he, after my father said it was necessary, who got me out of the city. And I believe father when he swears Jarlaxle never meant for me to be caught by slavers.

"Things I saw then reinforced that I needed to hide what I was born as. And it was firmly in my head that boys were fighters."

Drizzt paused, and Alustriel moved then, to sit beside the ranger, tucking the smaller drow close.

"I care not what body you were born to, Drizzt. You are my friend."

Drizzt's body went a little stiff, feeling a rejection in the making of those words, one that precluded the possible futures imagined.

"Lady," and the emotions roughened Drizzt's voice. "If it is but friendship, I will accept that, and ask that you not let my admission to you color the future."

"Oh." The soft sound was a prelude to Alustriel leaning her head down against that snow-white cloud of hair. "I'd made myself accept that friendship was all you wished, that you leaving was a way of stilling the interests I had."

Drizzt turned to look up at her, hope coming back for those words. "Lady?"

"Alustriel, please, my ranger," she chided before she slowly leaned in and placed the lightest kiss on Drizzt's lips.

Lavender eyes fluttered close as the sensations swept in again, reminding Drizzt of all the ways Alustriel could affect mind and body in such close proximity.

Still — more words were needed.

"I see Kolarven, and they help me understand better that it is not just men and women in the world, and that hard division," Drizzt said quietly. "I am still Vierna's sister, a man in the eyes of the world… and I am content to have it be that way.

"Does this… bother you?"

Alustriel gave a gentle smile. "No, my ranger. It does not. Let the world see a man at my side. We can learn what you wish in private, together, hmm?"

Drizzt let out a long breath, then pressed up to give her a kiss, deciding that this was the right path for them.

As the ranger settled back, Alustriel gave a little laugh. "You do realize, if you wish to try the full experience of a man… I could arrange that?"

Drizzt was startled into a laugh, before they were kissing again. It was not in the least tempting, Drizzt realized, accepting that body and perception really didn't have to match to be whole.

And now there was more to learn about the body, as Alustriel's kisses were proving.

Vierna shook her head as she settled back from the sendings with her little sister.

"What did Drizzt do this time?" Zak asked.

"Drizzt is now the lover of the ruler of that city," Vierna said. "And … is very happy for how it turned out."

Zak's eyebrow went up a moment, then he shrugged. "Drizzt knows we'll flay the woman alive if anything goes wrong?"

Vierna started laughing brightly, nodding. "I promised it."

"Good. Have to make sure both my children are safe and happy, after all."

"You always have, as best you could," Vierna told him, before settling back to studying.

How far they had all come from Menzoberranzan, and a child who could not say her prayers.

A Pair of Letters (492 words)

Correspondence time was sometimes vexing, sometimes refreshing. Today, Alustriel found herself oddly touched and amused, all in one.

The letters, two of them to be exact, had been in her correspondence from outside the city. One was addressed to the archmage of Silverymoon, and the other to A. Silverhand. The seals... those had sparked curiosity at first.

She had seen the complex sigil that was the Do'Urden seal once, on a different letter sent to Drizzt, just before he had vanished to tend to something, coming back looking faintly singed around the edges.

She decided to break the seal on the more formally addressed one, and was not surprised that her guess was correct in that it was from the sister that had put in motion Drizzt's freedom.

To the Archmage Alustriel Silverhand.

It has become apparent that my sister has become caught up in your well-being and affairs. I wish you to understand that if harm comes to her because of your personal choices, I will find a way to take vengeance.

The welfare of my sister is tantamount, and I am told you hold family just as dear. Please do keep that in mind.

Vierna Do'Urden, Silent Sable, Skullport

Alustriel carefully folded the letter back, weighing the best response. She was actually touched, in an odd way, as the fact Drizzt's sister had reached out did reinforce the fact that the cleric did love her sibling truly.

Drizzt had stated that for her, sister was the correct term, so Alustriel did not take offense on the behalf of her ranger. She would need to find the right words to soothe the woman's fears -- Drizzt was more than capable of finding danger and trouble on his own without Alustriel's influence, after all.

She opened the other letter, just to confirm her suspicion on the contents. The handwriting here was more precise, less flourished, as one would expect from a no-nonsense warrior.

Silverhand, which confirmed the writer. Of course Drizzt's father would be that informal, on purpose, to a powerful woman. It was a piece of his freedom.

That's my child you've taken as a lover. Don't do anything stupid.

I will find out if you do. And it will end poorly for you.

Zaknafein.

Short, to the point, and in a very strange way, heartwarming, Alustriel decided.

She noted the use of 'child' rather than a gendered term, and thought that was appropriate. Gender for her ranger was far more complex after all than even what Kolarven expressed, being entirely situational.

She drew a sheet to her, and began her replies to each of the Do'Urdens. She would have to have one of her sons or Laeral make certain it reached the pair, to maintain discretion, for all their sakes.

And she just might see if her ranger could arrange for her to meet the unusual drow, who despite alignment of the sister, still loved and protected their good family member.

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Tales of Faerun

Entries tagged with au: gender changes

Magical Mishaps / Irregular Ranger MashUp

Excerpts and Fic Noodles

Gender-Changed Drizzt