Tales of Faerun

A World Shaken Whole (6,053 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Philomena (Canon-Inspired OC), Drizzt Do'Urden, Ellifain Tuuserail, Catti-brie Battlehammer, Regis, Alustriel Silverhand, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship, Reunions, Trauma, Background Relationships
Series: Part 8 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

A child learns what the drow was thinking, and open negotiations of a future begin

A World Shaken Whole

The small group wound up in an office to informally discuss the findings in the Hall, with Dhaeln having joined them. Once that was seen to, Dhaeln took Regis with her to get him a place to stay, Catti-brie having already stated she would stay in her ranger's room -- she knew he wasn't near as steady as he looked.

She never realized his world could be upset even more than whatever he and his sister had discussed first.

A young elf, moon if Catti remembered her lessons, came inside the office, already speaking before she'd really taken in that Vierna was not alone.

"Mama, I ne--"

The words broke off as she made eye contact with Drizzt sitting beside Catti, and Catti felt every muscle cord up in Drizzt's arm where it touched hers on seeing the elf go so pale.

"Purple eyes," the young elf whispered, not seeing anything but the image of a face from her mostly repressed nightmares.

Vierna rose from her chair and went to her daughter, putting her body between her daughter and her brother, taking sight of him from her daughter for the moment, even as she very carefully pulled her in against her chest. That accomplished, she turned her halfway, so she could look at her brother without putting Ellifain's back to her nightmare. "Easy, sweetheart," she murmured softly, "easy. You're safe, I'm here. Nothing is going to hurt you while I'm here."

"He has purple eyes," Ellifain said again, keeping her face tucked into her mother's chest.

"You -- she -- " Drizzt was helpless under the onslaught of fresh guilt for a thirty year old crime committed against the faerie. Catti slid closer to him, getting an arm around him.

"Yes, he does," Vierna agreed softly, entirely focused on her daughter for the moment. She heard Drizzt, but he was going to have to wait. "He is also my brother, and Ravenna and Dhaeln brought him here. They wouldn't bring anyone here that would hurt you, right?"

She freed one hand from her daughter's back and held up a hand in 'wait', then mentally called herself an idiot, held on to her daughter with her elbows and started signing. 'You said you 'did something' to earn Lloth's disfavor. Was it saving a faerie child?'

Drizzt gave an emphatic nod, then gave up and pulled Catti into his arms so he could hold her and hide his face, willing to wait, but shaken to his core. Despite Catti being of a size with him, she went, and just stroked his hair while he hid in her comfort.

"Your brother?" Ellifain asked, looking up to her mother.

"My brother," Vierna repeated, nodding as she looked at her daughter. "He grew up in the same awful place I did, and ran away like I did... but he didn't get a chance to run away until he was sent to the Surface. He saved you, deliberately, just like we always thought." She paused for a long moment, thinking, then asked, "Do you want to go home, and I'll listen to his story and come tell you? Or do you want to hear it yourself?"

Catti-brie had to admire the woman's calm and gentleness, even as she kept hold of Drizzt and stroked his hair, waiting. This... this was something her ranger had never talked about, and now he was face to face with it?

Ellifain, a child by elven standards, and encouraged to be that way by all of her people here, weighed it, then made the choice to pull back and look at the man.

He... he was upset too. She could tell that. And the human was holding him, sitting in the same space as him, being gentle with him, like Mama with her.

Were they both hurt by that night, herself and the man?

"I want to hear him say it." She did not, however, move from Vierna's immediate space.

"I... you deserve more than just the words I can say," Drizzt managed to say, looking up past Catti.

Vierna kissed her daughter's hair, more proud of her than she could possibly say, and then moved both of them to another chair, seating herself and bringing her daughter down into her lap.

"Drizzt, would you tell us -- tell Ellie -- how that raid came to happen, and why you did as you did?"

Drizzt drew in a deep breath, looking at the moon elf briefly, then focusing on his sister's shoulder.

"When I graduated school, I was assigned to stay on patrols, with Dinin still leading us. We were then given a raid, in recognition of how we handled patrols." He shook his head for the way drow society handled that. "I still half-thought, maybe the faerie were evil, just like I was taught, even as I was realizing that drow were evil.

"We came above, and the surface was everything I had been yearning for without even knowing it." He had to look down, arms tightening on Catti unconsciously. "Then I heard the music, the singing, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever known to that point.

"Only... it made everyone else worse, more violent, uglier in every aspect of how they were. And... we got close enough. I froze, didn't think to make a noise, something that would have given a chance to the dancers!"

Vierna made a quiet, sympathetic noise, nodding her understanding. "...even if you had," she said softly, "it would have made little difference, Drizzt, with a full raiding party."

"I... could not have killed them all, and Dinin was my brother even if we were nothing alike," Drizzt said softly. "When I saw the child, though, I saw a chance, a chance to protect one person.

"I am sorry that was all I could do."

Catti-brie carefully shifted, still letting Drizzt hold her, but looked at the ... to her eyes a young woman, but elves were different. "Me ranger means it. He gives his everything tae protectin' others. E'en when they donnae give him naught but trouble. For a child, he would've tried hardest."

Vierna smiled at that gentle, but fierce reinforcement, and hugged Ellifain a little closer against her. "We knew, from that Ellie was only stunned, not hurt, that someone had to have chosen to save her... but we had no idea who. I thought it must be someone questioning... and now we know that is truth.

"Thank you, little brother, for my daughter's life. And for telling us."

He nodded, falling back to the silence he'd held as a shield against his family, except for his father, to gather himself.

"How old were you, if you had just left school?" Ellifain asked.

That made him have to talk, and he looked at her, briefly, to answer. "Thirty. I wasn't yet thirty-one when I left the city."

"Younger than I am now," she said, her gentle nature aching as she saw that yes, that night had hurt them both in deep ways.

"We've done our best to let you be a child, though, Ellie," Vierna said, "while he was forced to take on adult responsibilities far too young."

"Aye," Catti-brie said, shaking her head as she tucked herself against her ranger a little more closely, "thirty's tae young even for a dwarf -- so many fights as I've had with me Da, tae make him understand I'm grown -- let alone an elf."

She'd never really known how young her ranger was, but if this elf was still a child, then...

Drizzt squeezed Catti for that, while dragging all of his control -- shattered by too many emotions in a single day -- back around him. "I am very relieved, joyful even, to know you did survive that awful night. I have worried all these years that... you had not."

Ellifain peered at him, then nodded, before tucking into her mother. This was so much, and she had answers, and the man was really a good one.

Vierna's heart ached for her brother, and for her daughter. She brought her pendant out from inside her tunic, laid her fingers on it, and began to sing a song of calming and rest, to help bring their turbulent and painful emotions back under their control, exerting her will to ensure it would have the effect she desired.

It worked, very well on Ellifain, but she noticed, like Ravenna had, it took more effort to help it reach her brother. He did calm, and eventually let Catti shift into her own space again.

"You're my uncle," Ellie finally said, making up her mind. "And I think you have to have learned how to be good already. So... welcome to Spirit Sanctuary," she managed to say. "Mama, I am going to go lie down a bit."

"Of course, sweetheart," Vierna answered, letting her daughter out of her embrace. "Do you want me to come sing you to sleep, love?"

"Yes?"

Ellifain wanted that, and also it was a small test of if her uncle would be more than her in her mama's heart, without even seeing it quite that way.

"Rest well. Vierna, Catti and I are also going to go rest," Drizzt said, but he did not stand yet, not wanting to seem a threat at all. "I remember the way to the quarters you pointed out."

"All right," Vierna said as she rose to take her daughter and stay with her until she knew she was sleeping well. "Rest well, my brother, Catti-brie."

"Thank you," Drizzt said. Once they had left, he did rise, and walked with his friend to the quarters they had been shown. He did not lie down, though, choosing instead to drop on the floor after removing what he needed to for comfort, and settled to do the deep breathing exercises Montolio had taught him. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, Catti-brie.

"It is the worst thing I have ever been a part of."

Catti-brie snorted at him and dropped onto the floor with him, laying her head on his stomach and turning a little on her side to face him. "'Twas a terrible thing, aye," she agreed quietly, "but I'm nae sorry tae have heard how long ye've done the best ye could do tae protect others, me ranger."

He brought his hand to her hair, stroking gently. "I ... thank you, Catti. For supporting me, for believing in me," he told her softly. "I think, now that I have faced that, I might begin believing a little more in who I am."

Catti leaned into his hand, smiling up at him. "That's good, then. I'm glad of it... though I think 'twas nae knowin' if the lass had lived or died as tormented ye most, me ranger. Aye?"

He took a deep breath, then made an affirmative noise. "I saw how broken Belwar was in his spirit, after my attempt at mercy. It left me worried for the child. And... if my father had to die because of it, I needed her to have survived!"

Catti twisted to hug him, arms around his shoulders and under his neck, half draped over him, as she said quietly, "Ach, Drizzt... that was a hard thing for ye, aye, an' tae not ken...." She shook her head. "Now ye know, an' 'tis what ye'd have wished. She's safe, an' well, an' yer sister counts her as daughter. So... yer da got a gran'babe from it, aye?"

Drizzt half-smiled. "So he did. I think he'd be startled, but accept it."

Catti stretched up and kissed his forehead, squeezed him again, and then wriggled back down to her previous position. "Aye, I think as much. ...why are we on this floor, me ranger."

"Because I was going to do some breathing exercises and let you sprawl on the bed without me taking up space," he said in a mild tone. "But you, as ever, have calmed me. So we can both lie down."

Catti nodded and got up, putting her hands down to pull him to his feet so they could go and rest.

He let her, pulling her in to hug her a long moment, before joining her on the bed to rest for a time.

It had been a momentous day, after all.

---

Vierna's sending of 'we have met Ellie's rescuer and he is my brother' had elicited a yelp and immediate promise to arrive on the morrow. Mena came, wearing her moon-elf persona of Marith, so as to not be quite so imposing, and arrived as the new drow was practicing in the 'courtyard', really just one of the fields easily reached from the main village, with a human Mena did not know.

Vierna was watching, and several fighters, many of whom were openly talking about the technique on display.

"Sister," Mena called, smiling, though her eyes stayed on the odd pair... and that was a halfling on the other side of the circle, sitting with Dhaeln!

Vierna turned gladly, smiling as she called, "Marith!" in return as she came towards her to hug her friend. "Obviously, that is my brother out there, with his student Catti-brie Battlehammer. The halfling with Dhaeln is Regis, a friend of theirs."

"And your brother's name?" Marith asked, slightly teasing, as she settled with an arm around Vierna's waist, turning to watch. "He's teaching her? He's good, and she shows signs of being good at it too."

The pair being talked about weren't paying any attention, as Drizzt needed the activity of training to settle in his skin, and Catti-brie was determined to hone her skills as a fighter, even more than before.

"Drizzt," Vierna said quietly, "Drizzt Do'Urden. My full brother, not half."

"Son of the Weapon Master, then? My my, no wonder he might be your peer," Marith answered that. "Catch me up on everything?"

"Yes," Vierna agreed, and took her hand to find somewhere to sit. "The first I knew of matters," she said, "was your mother arriving by phantom steed to ask for my help," she began, and summarized through to having shepherded Ellie off to bed.

Marith was more than impressed, by all of it, but she was also worried. "Vierna, my soul's sister, I fear that the gods are meddling, for so many things to tie events together like this."

"I know someone is," Vierna said unhappily. "He's hard to heal, hard to calm, and we've never been able to scry him. Eilistraee's never heard him, for all that he blazes of goodness like a paladin."

Marith chuckled. "Even knowing you, I find the idea of a drow paladin amusing," she pointed out. "So he should see Mother, and let her discern if there is a spell at work? A fate charm or such. Except Mother turned him away, for the city's sake. However, I can sneak him directly into the palace."

"...I think I can convince him to accept that, because whatever is interfering could be a danger to us," Vierna said after contemplating it for a few moments.

"And the girl needs to go anyway, to make allies for her father. So, yes. Tomorrow. I'll reach out to Mother to warn her, make certain it won't cause harm." Marith smiled brightly.

Vierna laughed at her smug look and hugged her again, glad that there would be someone as wise and experienced as Mena's mother to look at whatever was interfering between her goddess and her brother.

---

Having spent the day getting to know Drizzt and his friends, Mena settled in her room and put the sending anklet on, tuning to just her mother.

~I am in Spirit Sanctuary, there is magic affecting Drizzt Do'Urden. I want to know if I can bring them directly to the palace.~ That was far more concise than she'd expected to get it to, but Mother could reply and kick a new sending off if needed.

She felt her mother's surprise and relief, as well as an... anticipation, almost, before Alustriel answered, ~Don't be seen, things are still... difficult. But yes. I will help as much as I can. All my love, dear one.~

Mena sat back, then nodded to herself. She could cast invisibility on Drizzt, and it would seem she only had Catti-brie and Regis with her. If they went to her room to wait, that would be best.

Once they were tucked in there, she would go arrange the official appointment for Catti-brie as Bruenor's designated voice.

---

Catti-brie was watching intently as Mena -- not Marith, and she needed to learn about shape-changing people -- opened the door to let the Lady of Silverymoon in. She had caught the tension in her Da about the woman, heard the teasing from Wulfgar, and seen the strangeness in Drizzt when the woman was mentioned.

And the Lady was an impressive woman to behold, as tall as Mena was right now, all silver hair and pale skin and wearing blues that made the silver stand out. She looked over at Drizzt --

-- he was transfixed by her, absolutely watching only her, barely aware of the others. Catti looked at Regis, who winked outrageously about Drizzt being like that.

Alustriel had carefully ensured that her eyes stayed on her daughter until she had greeted her and kissed her cheek, until the door of the room shut and she could look to her hidden guest. "Welcome to Silverymoon, Drizzt Do'Urden," she told him, so very glad to see that he had come through whatever troubles had followed him in good health, unable to look away from him in this so much better light for a long moment. Forcibly, she looked to her daughter again. "Mena, introduce me to our other guests?"

"This is Catti-brie Battlehammer, heart-daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer, chieftain of the clan, and this is Regis, once of Lonelywood of the Ten-Towns," Mena said smoothly, no matter how much she was startled by seeing her mother actually speechless for a moment.

"Greetings, Lady Alustriel," Drizzt said with all of his manners on display.

"Greetings, Lady, and may my stay here be better this time than last time," Catti said, uncertain how she felt about Drizzt was reacting. "Regis and I are here tae speak on behalf o' me Da and clan."

"Mena already told us, last night, that we should seek the Rockcrusher clan," Regis said helpfully, "but we do need to deal with the power in the region that we're told can be fair." He said it guilelessly, but the turning away still nettled, no matter how Drizzt seemed at peace.

Alustriel had turned her full attention to Catti-brie at her words. "Your first stay? I heard nothing from any of my people that a princess of one of my old allies had come to my gates. Will you tell me what occurred?"

That question asked, she shifted her gaze to Regis, her unhappy expression at the woman's words lightening as she spoke to him. "I attempt fairness in all my dealings... but I may never place my personal wishes over the security of my people. My sisters have been at work in the city, soothing the fears stirred by Nesme, but if you can help me calm the merchants over tales of a dangerous drow, I will be profoundly grateful."

Regis dimpled a little. "I would gladly do so, while I am here," he said.

"Aye, and 'tis fair enough tae protect yer people such as that," Catti-brie said, "but yet an assassin with a wizard bent on evil deeds c'n stay within yer walls, holdin' me hostage." She took a deep breath. "Is o'er and done, but methinks that yer people need lessons in weighing deeds, not words."

"The assassin, the wizard, her guard, and the construct with them are all dead or destroyed," Drizzt said. "The latter three were seeking me due to my involvement in terrible events. The assassin was from Regis's past, and we should focus on the future or the now, not that."

Alustriel's eyes flashed silver for a moment as she took a deep breath at hearing such a thing had happened. "Let me guess," she said bitterly to Catti-brie's take, "they were all human. And yes... often as I try to make that plain, it is difficult for people to see past fear. I am pleased to hear that they are no longer a problem, but horrified that it happened at all."

"All human, aye," Catti-brie conceded.

"Artemis Entreri has been a danger for hire for at least fifteen years," Regis offered. "Drizzt did the Realms a large favor by removing him from them."

Drizzt half-shrugged.

"Mena said," Catti-brie said, realizing that Drizzt really didn't want to dwell on killing, "that I'm tae meet you proper later, but that ye might wish a report o' what happened with me Da's quest ahead of that."

"I would very much appreciate that, yes," Alustriel replied, moving to take one of the empty seats, "if you would be so kind."

Catti-brie nodded, and began the tale, letting Regis pipe up at times, and looking to Drizzt to add as he would, especially about the shades and the dragon scale. It took time, but they made it all the way through, with Drizzt stating the last of it.

"The cleric who aided us agrees with me that it is either a deep dragon or a shadow dragon, with the latter more likely."

"Certainly not someone I want to continue having as a neighbor," Alustriel said with a shake of her head, her mouth tightening. "Luckily, I have several experienced sons -- and, I think, a daughter -- who will want to be involved in ridding our region of such a danger?"

She raised a brow at her daughter even as she smiled.

"Of course I will help. Vierna plans to, though we still have to work out how to protect her clerics from perceptions." Mena gave a smile for that. "I could borrow some rings maybe? Aunt has several for her people to trade in Waterdeep."

"If it were only me clan," Catti-brie said, "there'd be nae need for such. We know our elf, an' we'd welcome his sister's folk. But I've heard enow o' the other clans down here tae know there'd need tae be summat, aye. We have tae leave that to ye mages, I suppose." She paused for a moment, then raised a brow. "Several sons, Lady?"

"A dozen of them, though some of them have gone a... long way, and may have a bit of difficulty making it back. One of them in particular would be very angry with me if I tried to keep him from coming to learn about a new species of dragon," she said with an amused curve of her lips. "I think your aunt would be willing to lend them for this, I'll ask her later."

"Thank you, Mother," Mena said warmly. "Though, given I've known her longer..." she teased, letting it trail off.

"Only House Baenre had near that in daughters," Drizzt said, surprised. "And she's said to be at least a thousand, maybe two."

"Elves," Regis said, but there was a tinge of wistful for the fact that Drizzt would all too soon lose the friends he'd made, strictly because they lived on different time-lines.

"Well, I'm not quite that old," Alustriel said, looking again at the ranger who had already had such an effect on her, "and I tend towards having twins -- or in one memorable and exhausting case, triplets. That speeds things up a bit."

He shook his head. "I do not want to think of what drow society -- the kind I grew up in -- would do with a litter born to one woman. I do not think it would be kind at all."

Catti-brie winced, just from some of the offhanded comments he had made about his city through their years together. "Best not tae think on it, me ranger. Ye've the softest heart for children as it is."

"The Tall Ones!" Regis exclaimed. "You're the mother of the Tall Ones!"

Alustriel felt herself pale just a little, and she shook her head. "No," she agreed. "That's not worth thinking about at all, from the stories I have heard. And yes," she added, turning her eyes to Regis as she found a smile somewhere for the recognition of her sons. "I am. They prefer not to make too much noise about that outside of Silverymoon -- where a large part of the elven population at least remembers them as children -- but they are mine."

"I saw one, once, from a great distance," Regis said. "And as I traveled I heard about them!" He looked at Drizzt. "You getting to meet one of them should be really good. Supposedly they all ride pegasi, and I just know the pegasi would like you!"

Mena contemplated her sworn-sister's brother a long moment. "I feel, from the stories about you so far, and how careful you were with Ellie, that your friend is right. The pegasi always know who is truly good, and they will be curious about you, once you meet my brothers."

"I have spent many an hour, when I was still in the hills south of here, watching them fly over, but never thought to meet one," Drizzt said, a little awed at the idea.

"Ghael's partner Ruakerym might be... fractious, but he is a rather temperamental stud who doesn't care for anyone but Ghael... and his own foals," Alustriel said. "The others, though, I believe Mena is quite right about."

"Oh I forgot he friended one of that line -- isn't Del's one of Rua's throws?" Mena asked. "No, never mind. We should probably tell you the other part of why I brought them all here, before you have to go so you can think on it.

"Drizzt can't hear Eilistraee, and She can't perceive him, and the clerics had a harder time healing and calming him," Mena explained. "We're hoping you might be better able to perceive why. Because I just don't think Mielikki would have been that careless in granting protections."

"No," Alustriel replied, "I cannot believe that She would, either. If I cannot learn anything, I will send to the Ladyservant and ask her to come and give her opinion. But let me see what I can see." She paused for a moment, and decided she probably should give warning. "My eyes may turn silver, and silver sparks flicker from my hair and fingertips. It's a... side effect of what I will likely have to do to gain an answer, and not a danger to anyone here."

"Thank ye for the warning; I'm not much used tae magic," Catti-brie said, though she still itched to move closer to her ranger.

Drizzt relaxed as fully as he knew how, trying to be willfully cooperative with this search.

One sword, something in his pouch, the amulet he wore... all of it came back strongly magical, with divinity in the last of the three. But under, more subtle than all of that yet glaring in the nature of it, was a shroud of magic, one that had a sticky impression, once Alustriel had gone deep enough in studying him.

Alustriel frowned a little, peering at the sticky shroud with eyes beginning to slide to silver-glow, her head tipping slightly to the side. What was... oh, ugh. Sticky, spidery webbing -- there could only be one source for that.

She slid sideways into the silverfire, into communion with her Mother, and tugged, drawing Mystra's attention to what was before her. :Mother... what has Lolth done here?:

Mystra peered at what Her daughter had found, and then came more fully to the anchor that Alustriel was, seeing a clue, perhaps, in the shadow on the horizon.

:What does that eight-legged nuisance think She is doing, weaving such a mess around one that could never be Hers?: was muttered, even as the Mistress of the Weave studied it and determined the best way to deal with it. "Philomena," Mystra said aloud, speaking through Alustriel, "hold a coin or a stone on your palm for me."

Startled, having firmly wished to never have to deal with her Grandmother directly, Mena pulled out a nicely sized opal she'd been holding onto for experimenting, and watched as it began to hover, then spin over her palm.

Alustriel was still there, watching in satisfaction as the nasty mess wrapped all around this generous, kindhearted, forgiving soul was slowly pulled away, spun off into the opal and lodged there until the whole mess was removed and the opal fell back into her daughter's hand. Mystra left her, then, as gently as She could... but Alustriel still slumped back against the chair, winded, starving, thirsty, and a little dazed.

"Go put... that thing... in my workroom, in the lead lock-box," she told her daughter, her eyes closed.

"Yes, Mother," Mena said, after a quick look to Drizzt -- who was moving to pour water from the decanter. The magical effort had barely done more than make his skin feel a pressure, as the evil was pulled free enough to let him actually discern it.

"Here, Lady," Drizzt said, once he had the water and had moved to her, Mena having departed. "Drink." He held the glass near her hand, his concern evident to both of his friends.

Alustriel felt the cool of the water and the glass next to her hand, and moved just enough to take it and bring it to her lips without opening her eyes, letting the water refresh her. After a few careful sips, she felt enough better to open her eyes and find his openly concerned gaze. "Thank you," she said, breathing a little easier. "Do you have anything very sweet, or very high protein?"

Drizzt nodded, and moved to his pack, coming back with smoked caribou, as well as one of the honey and berry nuggets he'd made for quick energy. "Both," he said, smiling as he offered them to her.

She took the honeyed fruit first, with a grateful smile, and felt the energy hitting her in a welcome rush. The jerky, though, looked entirely appealing and she bit off a piece of it as well, tucking it back against her cheek to soften. "My apologies," she said, "but it is... draining... to be a goddess, even One who loves you."

Drizzt nodded. "I am thankful, as whatever that was, once it was separated from me felt entirely too wrong," he told her, settling beside her chair, looking up at her from a cross-legged position, in case she needed more. "Once you have recovered some, if you would, I wish to know what it was."

"As do we," Catti-brie said, not happy, for more reasons than she could fully spell out even to herself.

"Of course," Alustriel agreed as she chewed the bit of jerky, drank some more water, and chewed another bite before she felt capable of explaining entirely coherently. Her Mother had left the explanation of what it was, and a guess at how long it had been there, behind when She left. "To quote Mystra, lady of magic," she said, "'What does that eight-legged nuisance think She is doing, weaving such a mess around one that could never be Hers?' There was a shroud around you -- which would have been a breach of the terms of the end of the War of the Seldarine, if Lolth had not crafted it to obscure you from Her clerics as well. It kept you from being noted by any of Them, and apparently interfered with Their spells as well."

Drizzt frowned, his agile mind pouring over that. He thought about the state of the city after he left, then what probably happened once he defeated his mother with the effigy of his father.

"Why would She do that?" Regis asked, and Drizzt sighed.

"My House, when I left was Ninth, one off the ruling council, and under attack from the Fifth House. That they survived to send a hunter after me ten years later implies Fifth was defeated, which would have placed them on the council.

"Only, given the magic involved in that hunt, I am almost certain my House fell when I defeated the hunter." Drizzt shook his head. "Briza never would have held it for long, given that I understand now zealots are only useful as puppets, unless they have charisma and she did not.

"So, the city of my birth, would have had a minor upheaval at the upper level, spreading chaos down the ranks, all because a good-natured male was hidden from their view."

"Causing chaos, and therefore satisfying that One's nature," Alustriel said with a quiet sigh. "Or at least, that's what She'd likely claim. Lying trickster that She is. Well, I am glad to have been able to remove that filth from you. Perhaps my last-born sister can put it to some use giving Vhaeraun's folk in Skullport trouble."

Mena slipped back inside, took in the arrangement, and decided to go sit next to Regis.

"I am still... digesting that She is not the only deity of the drow," Drizzt said wryly. "I should have guessed that was a lie, but honestly, with Her stench all over us, who would expect another deity to stay?"

Alustriel chuckled softly, and switched which hand the glass was in so she could reach down to him, offering her hand. "Not an unreasonable position," she said softly. "But Eilistraee is as stubborn as Her people tend to be."

He gave his hand to her, marveling at how quick to touch him she was, at the way it rested so peacefully in his soul to be touched by her. What was this connection between them?

Catti-brie noted it, and wondered too, but it was not for her to say something now. Later, yes.

"I look forward to learning more, once I have seen my friend into his proper home," Drizzt said. "My sister has invited me to stay with them, for a time."

"I am glad of that," she said, "I like Vierna, and have several reasons to be grateful her people guard my northwestern border."

"I am grateful, Lady, that you chose to inform her of my friends and I," Drizzt said. "The help they gave was immeasurable."

"That's what Vierna does, once she knows of a need," Mena said. "As you likely guessed after meeting Ellie." Mena looked at her mother. "We solved the mystery of who spared Vierna's daughter.

"It was Drizzt. Which is part of why we were so concerned at how tangled everything was growing, when he is Vierna's full brother, had spared Ellie, and then wound up back in the region."

Alustriel's hand tightened slightly as she looked down at Drizzt again, her heart aching for the child she'd been told about and the man beside her, whose eyes had gone haunted at the mention. "I see why," she agreed. "Those are several coincidences all at once."

"Add in that he's been seen by Aunt Dove when he was first up here, I thought it needed looked into," Mena said happily.

Drizzt returned the squeeze, and gave Alustriel a soft smile for the concern. "I do not wish to be within the gods' games, but Mielikki and I came to an understanding. Any others needing my skills will have to meet my standards as She does."

Regis could not help but laugh. "Yes, Lady, this is how he is."

Alustriel laughed, her eyes brightening with amusement. "Well, it is good for Them to have a challenge now and then. I have never not been a part of divine events, but I certainly understand your opinion! I've had moments I've wished to be less a part of it all."

Drizzt inclined his head, privately aware of a growing wish to face the future near this woman, and uncertain of what he was thinking -- or feeling.

Mena turned the conversation to the topic of the Rockcrushers then, while filing away this thing she saw growing between her mother and the ranger.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed

Battle in the Hills (6,045 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Bruenor Battlhammer, Wulfgar son of Beornegar, Regis, Catti-brie Battlehammer, Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Canon typical violence, Minor Character deaths
Series: Part 6 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

The party of hunters come to battle with the Companions and allies

Battle in the Hills

Entreri's nerves had been itching, but it did make some logical sense that the drow would remain with the halfling as the dwarves and barbarian advanced. The sun was bright, and the halfling was the weakest member of the party. Both would be perfectly capable of making up ground in the evening, once the other three made camp.

As soon as the drow showed himself again, with the halfling at his side, Entreri thought to wait and see, something about the way the drow had moved so his hands nor front could be seen making him suspicious. He opened his mouth --

-- and the damned wizard was already commanding the construct to rush the pair. He drew his sword and dagger, knowing her haste had set the fight in motion.

Three arrows streaked in, faster than even Entreri would have thought possible, as the drow spun at the first sound. Two went straight into the creature, and the third punched through Sydney's left shoulder as if she were no more than a practice target. Entreri was mildly impressed at how quickly the drow had changed target and to such effect.

Micken had frozen at the first sound of the bow's thrum, and he looked back towards them. The huge, fleshy monster looked both obscene and completely unconcerned with the two heavy shafts in it, which was not a good sign.

Now there were a woman's screams in the air, unpleasant but not enough to bother him when they'd been being trailed. Anything that didn't care about arrows in it was going to require a whole lot of killing, he thought, and he lifted the whistle to his lips and blew his call on it. No sound filled their ears, but anyone with a ring from the Sanctuary would hear and know he needed help.

Drizzt had moved his third arrow both for the mage having been visible and after realizing the construct was nothing truly living, and it would not go down to his bow. He discarded the longbow, drawing both swords.

"Now, Regis," he told his friend, who was carrying the figure of wondrous power so as to let Drizzt continue forward to meet the attackers.

"Guenhwyvar, Drizzt needs you!" Regis told the figure, waiting for it to appear... taking the vacated place Drizzt had been as he rushed the trailing party.

Beside Micken, Wulfgar had turned, hammer coming to his hand rather than being unhooked from its place upon his back. Likewise, Bruenor shifted his axe from the handle hold to the haft, and turned to follow his friends into battle.

Jierdan made a startled noise at the sudden appearance of a tiger-sized, onyx-black cat charging towards them along with the drow, but he held his ground. Without Sydney's magic, they were going to be in trouble with four fighters and the cat -- and him having to keep their prisoner from escaping or joining the fight.

He considered the options for a long moment, then shifted his grip on his sword, snapped it up, and knocked Catti-brie squarely in the temple.

She had not seen it coming fast enough, and slumped unconscious at his feet, freeing him to go tend Sydney while the damned assassin held his ground.

Drizzt noted the construct was trying to angle for him and Regis both, ignoring the cry to his gods from Wulfgar. The assassin -- as the swordsman must be, given his complexion was similar in hue to Regis -- was avoiding its path but also intent on Regis.

Drizzt threw his will toward his shadow, his Companion, the great cat that had saved his life countless times, toward the wizard he'd shot. He gave his attention to the assassin, trusting his student.

The construct took the full impact of Aegis-fang to a knee, showing that Wulfgar knew to apply his wits to the fight. It stumbled, but tried to regain itself to obey the command to get the prey.

Jierdan dropped to a knee beside the wizard, saying only, "Sorry," before he grasped the fletching in one hand, the shaft in the other, and focused his strength on breaking the fletching off. It had punched straight through her shoulder, he was going to have to pull it the rest of the way through -- and it was best to do that without the fletching.

She shrieked again, nearly kicking him in sheer reaction from the pain, but she did know what he was about. "No need," she gritted out, and gave him a sharp nod of 'get on with it'. He switched his grip to the bloody part on the far side of her shoulder, other hand on her, and yanked.

Guenhwyvar knew what her drow needed her to do and ran at full speed for the wizard, growling as she saw there was another helping her. Well, she could kill two. The wizard was still on the ground, at the moment, so the other first. Only another few strides.

Regis was absolutely terrified, seeing Artemis Entreri coming for him -- Entreri never worked with people! -- but he ran -- not for his friends, but for the nearest tree, halfling feet working as well as his hands to get up. He'd give Entreri some trouble that way, at least, without endangering his friends any more.

Bruenor was running hard, and under full steam, he was damned fast for his size and speed, but he was not going to reach the swordsmen before they engaged. The construct, though, that he could hack down to size. It might be a horrific abomination, but he had experience cutting things to pieces, as long as he'd lived near giant-kind!

Aegis-fang came back to Wulfgar's hand with the barbarian halfway back to where the construct was. Like Bruenor, he knew that it was their duty in this fight. The name of his god was on his lips, eager to rid the realms of this crime against all things natural.

Entreri paid little heed to the halfling. Regis could not run far; once he had dealt with the drow, he'd have his paycheck in a sack. Then the drow was there, and the first crossing of scimitars on his own blades fired something new within him, something almost like an emotion, because this drow was at his own level!

Regis got himself settled high enough and securely enough that he could use his mace if Entreri came up the tree after him, and looked out to see what was going on. Drizzt was keeping pace with Entreri -- no surprise to him -- in the clash of blades, Bruenor, Micken, and Wulfgar were attacking the terrifying creature that was... turning back towards Drizzt despite being chopped at? No! Drizzt couldn't fight them both!

Guen was... disappearing behind an upthrust rock, about where the wizard had been? Regis only heard a man's scream for a moment, then silence. A moment later, though, he heard Guen cry out in distress, and -- cursing himself all the while, he climbed back down from the tree and started to run to where she was.

Micken cursed a stream of obscenities as his axe bloody bounced off the filthy, stinking, monster-creature's body. At least Wulfgar's hammer was doing some good, he thought, as that knee -- after a third hit -- failed to hold the creature's weight up.

Entreri half-saw the halfling going around them, but honestly he could not have disengaged and knew it. The drow was too fast, and had reach with both blades, keeping his dagger away from any meaningful strikes. He narrowly avoided a gut slice, moved into the opening, and took a minor wound across his bicep as the drow moved in riposte.

There was a raw hunger growing, a need to destroy this effigy of himself who was weaker, had to be weaker, surrounding himself with friends!

Bruenor grunted as the construct's hand tried to sweep him out of the way, but he slammed his axe into the flesh, wrenching hard to try and tear connective tissues apart. It coincided with Micken's next chop, before Wulfgar brought Aegis-fang up with all his might, breaking part of the thing's head open.

Regis made it to where Guen was, and gasped in horror at seeing her crouched over Catti-brie, washing the girl's still face with her tongue. "Guen," he said, "Guen, I'll take care of Catti, go help them kill the monster before it gets to Drizzt!"

Further up the mountain, on the road down from Settlestone, two dwarves and a drow wearing a wood-elf illusion were racing down the road, following the tug of their rings and the sounds of battle to one of their own.

Guen made a noise, but agreed with that order. The enemy wizard was dead, the soldier was dead; Regis and the cub -- Catti-brie -- would be safe, as long as Guen helped end the big threat. She knew why her targets had been chosen that way, that she could not have attacked the big thing first without fouling Wulfgar's line of sight. Now, with them all on top of the thing, she could go and start tearing it apart too.

Entreri needed to disengage. The analytical part of his mind knew that. It also knew the chances of actually breaking free and escaping had dissolved the moment that hammer had been flung with such force and then gone back to the barbarian.

His eyes narrowed, pushing the fight tighter, to try and get rid of one of those curving blades and at least kill this noble mockery of his own skill!

"Get a torch, Micken! Get one lit for this!" Bruenor called to his kinsman, as the construct just kept striving, no matter how many holes Wulfgar managed to put in it. Even his own axe, a masterwork passed down to him, was struggling to get a bite out of the creature.

Hells, Micken thought, but it was a good idea. Fire often did damage to things immune to weapons. He broke away from the fighting and ran for the trees to make a torch, grateful so many of them were pines and would be thick with pitch.

Drizzt had thought for nothing but the fight on his hands. Not since that awful day above the acid had he fought like this... but it was not even like that, for there was nothing but blank efficiency (no passion, no heart, not even hate) in the human he fought.

Regis crossed the rest of the distance to Catti-brie and knelt down beside her, anxiously feeling for her pulse, watching her chest with his heart in his throat until he saw it rise and fall. She was alive, oh, thank all the gods, she was alive. He pulled the small knife from his boot and started cutting through her bonds, muttering curses under his breath.

Wulfgar brought Aegis-fang down with all his power on the other knee to smash it, hoping to immobilize the creature. As he did, a roar of challenge sounded, before Guenhwyvar was on the upper part of the thing, claws and fangs shredding the magical skin in ways that no blade ever could.

Entreri twisted his next attack, and was able to draw blood along Drizzt's forearm, but only with the sword. He had not had to fight at this level in some time, which meant this might boil down to endurance.

Catti-brie groaned slightly as Regis had to move her to get at the last binding, but she was still out, the bruise turning livid at her temple.

Once he was finished working on the bonds, he moved to start trying to wake Catti, taking her shoulders and shaking her slightly. The bruise at her temple worried him, but if they had to run from the monster, she had to be able to run with them. "Catti, Catti, please wake up..."

Micken got a torch together -- it was a pathetic torch, but it would be enough he hoped -- and ran back to near the fighting, waiting to light the smeared pitch and pine-knots bound into it until he was close, so as not to waste any of the fuel. Once he had it lit, he dove towards the broken knee to jam the burning torch inside.

The thing went berserk, flailing and smashing at them and Micken threw himself backwards -- but it was no longer trying to make it closer to the deadly clash of blades a few feet from them.

The noise and motion did nothing to break Entreri's concentration, slipping the grip on his dagger to a reversed hold as he spotted a potential pattern to exploit in this deadly dance. He weighed the chance the drow had a counter for his next move, discarded the possibility as it relied on forfeiting the length of the sword to only use the short blade, and committed.

Wulfgar snatched Bruenor by the collar at the first jerk of the construct, and got them out of the range, stumbling down onto his butt as the adrenaline-fueled strikes left him primed for forward motion, not retreating. Bruenor thumped down to a knee, just as off-balance with his own momentum, but he shoved up to turn and see how he could aid his friend --

Guen yowled and leapt free of the thrashing monster, and was still thrown by a blow of one arm, but she was thrown towards her drow and the human attacking him. She rolled as she hit, getting still closer to the fight, and lunged forward at the human's side, slamming into his ribs with her jaws wide open.

No skill, no amount of training, could defy the force of a tiger-sized maw combined with the inertia of six hundred pounds of feline. Drizzt spun fully away, knowing the assassin was done for, looking to see how he might aid another, never mind his breathing being harsh in his own ears from the exertion. His stamina had been severely tested in recent weeks, and this fight a more severe one than he'd known in twenty years.

"Regis!" Drizzt called as he saw the creature was thrashing but steadily catching fire.

Catti-brie opened her eyes, unseeing at first, but realizing she was being held by familiar hands. She heard the shout, trying to make out the word in it, but her mind was still addled.

"Hi Catti," Regis said, "it's me, don't hit me, you're okay. They're dead," before he lifted his voice and shouted back, "Here, Drizzt!"

Guenhwyvar felt a blade sink into her, snarled -- her mouth was too full to roar -- and raked one paw across the face and throat of the human that had hurt her drow. Blood poured out, and she shook her head hard before releasing the body under her. It twitched -- really? -- and she leaned down and bit the throat out fully.

The creature was still thrashing around in rage, and Micken ran several strides away, pulling it with him before it veered back towards his king and the barbarian.

Drizzt looked at the creature then, and all of his revulsion at its unnatural state, that it wasn't even a proper undead creature, coming up to swell into anger, anger that pushed away his fatigue from the fight.

"Bruenor and Micken, get a couple of saplings down for Wulfgar. Get that thing staked through its wounds so it can burn in place," he called, all authority as that thing was despoiling the very wilds he was meant to protect. He started moving toward Regis, wary in case the halfling was being used as a hostage behind that slight rise.

Catti-brie leaned her head into Regis's chest, fighting not to cry, not to lose it now it was all said and done. Her Da was out there -- she'd have to tell him -- and Wulfgar, and even now her ranger was coming to them.

Regis wrapped his arms around her close as he could, rocking her, not knowing what to do or say and frantic with worry that she hadn't spoken.

Micken nodded -- not that the ranger was going to see it -- and went to put his axe to use. Bruenor started to follow Drizzt's instructions, but wheeled back when he heard it lumbering towards his student.

Breathing. That was what Drizzt always said to focus on when things got overwhelming, and she started the way he'd taught her... just as he got there. He took in the sight of Regis holding the human that was most precious to him, and the anger fueling him took new levels. Guen had gone to keep the construct contained, and reacted to that rage with a particular vicious rip and tear that pulled more flesh off the leg not burning yet.

Wulfgar started throwing his hammer, using it to knock the construct back, rather than engage it directly. He aimed high, the cat stayed low... and they just had to hold on for it to either fall apart, or the flames to take full hold of it.

Regis looked up at Drizzt helplessly, keeping his arms close around Catti, and just waited.

Micken came back dragging three saplings, half again as tall as he was, inch-thick and cut down to points one one end, and dodged out of the way of the rampaging monster -- it had taken to ripping at the ground and rocks, the grip of its hands pulverizing rock to gravel -- to get to Wulfgar. "Knock the bloody thing down again?"

He wasn't entirely certain it would burn completely, it looked as though the fire was stopping where one chunk of corpse-flesh was stitched to the second, but it was definitely worth the try!

As he and Wulfgar managed to get a stake through the shattered knee, his ears picked up the sound of running feet and clanking armor, and he turned his head to see a very welcome sight. Halan, Dhaeln, and -- he wasn't sure which of their clerics that was, under the ring -- coming to them. "Hail, me kin!" he shouted in glad welcome. "Litlle help here?!"

"I'm not close enough yet!" the cleric shouted back -- and that was Ravenna, who'd come from the Promenade.

"Have some patience, lad; we're running hard!" Halan called to him, but -- that was the Foaming Mug! On the other dwarf, and as red of beard as Dhaeln had described their king to them!

"Catti-brie," Drizzt called very softly, as he knew he could not actually help destroy the thing.

She pulled her head up to look at him, biting at her lower lip, before locking eyes, drawing strength from him. Slowly, she stood, after a gentle squeeze of Regis for comforting her, and glanced once at the bodies. She did not regret it... but it was all so stupid and a waste.

"Me friends," she managed to say, before she looked at all the noise.

Regis got up alongside her, and peered at the two dead in confusion -- he knew neither of them, not by sight or clothing, and why would Entreri have worked with anyone? He never did that! He patted Catti's back gently, at her words, before he went around the rock to see what the shouting was about.

Ravenna slid her hand to her pendant as she got into range, stopped running, forced her breath to steady, and pointed at the creature with a hiss of the dispel magic prayer.

In front of her, all the stitches and staples that held the monstrosity together glowed a brilliant silver-white... and disappeared. A moment later, each section hit the ground separately, and a hideous stench rose from them.

"Ugh," Wulfgar said, turning away from the mess and foul odor. "But, it seems magic can be useful."

Guen stalked off a bit, then scratched dirt up and at the pieces before bounding to her ranger and friends. She slipped right up to Catti, encouraging the woman to use her for support.

Drizzt did not rush to Catti-brie, but he did come up on the other side of her, fingers lightly resting on her forearm, before he took full note of the elf and dwarves that had joined them. He steeled himself for the reaction he usually invoked and they went to join the others.

"ME GIRL?!" Bruenor bellowed, even knowing he had kinsmen to meet.

"Aye," Micken said, "so it does." The shout from his king made him twist around, and he blinked at seeing a human young woman, not a dwarf lass, but... that was definitely an angry father's voice. He moved away from the stinking mess towards Dhaeln and Halan, as Ravenna made a face at the disgusting, rotting mess.

"I don't have anything on hand to deal with that," the cleric said unhappily, "I wish I did. How disgusting."

Regis' shoulders slumped at Bruenor's shout, bracing for whatever came next.

"If everyone will start for the trees, I will see this cleaned up," Drizzt said mildly, hating that Catti felt the need to squeeze his arm to comfort him. He gave her a small push to meet Bruenor, even as Wulfgar nodded.

"My teacher will see it done," he said in his low voice of challenging anyone to nay-say that.

"C'mon, Guen, let's go," Regis said, not sparing Entreri a single look.

Catti managed to walk, not run, to her father, despite herself, and bit her tongue on what needed to be said until they were away from the battlefield.

Ravenna blinked, having heard the words -- both from the very large human and the other drow -- and said, "An unusual gift, but a welcome one," before she turned to get back to the shade. The illusion of wood-elf did nothing to help protect her eyes from the sun.

Once they were all close together, Micken said, "Me King, these be Dhaeln Cragmaw and Halan Thrake, and this be Ravenna, one o' the clerics o' me folk."

"Aye, and well-met, but words will wait for the trees," Bruenor said, too busy checking his girl over. "Och, lass," he said in a soft tone, taking in the bruise at her temple, her road-worn look, and the haunting in her eyes. "Let's get tae a place tae take care o' ye," he said then, unhappy, but not willing to bluster through it. His anger was for Regis, but that too would wait.

Drizzt waited until they had moved on -- to gain his composure from the calm way the cleric had reacted -- then sent a heartfelt plea to the wilds to send its cleaners, the carrion crows and other scavengers.

All of his own tangled emotions, and the love of his Goddess for him, had them coming swiftly, to attend the fetid, putrid mess.

Ravenna felt a ripple in the world, and looked over her shoulder to see scavenger-birds that loved decay coming on on swift wings, and reached her hand to Micken's whistle, contacting it to stop the call to the rings with the connection. She dipped her head to the dwarven king, and followed along until they had found a place under the trees wide enough for all of them to sit down. She moved to kneel in front of the human girl, extending both her hands. "May I aid you? That looks painful."

"I... Aye, Lady. My eyes are blurred and it's hard tae think," she said, her accent as strong as the dwarf's that Ravenna did not know yet.

Drizzt felt a satisfaction for that, and released the remaining anger. He did a sweep of all three human corpses, retrieved his bow, then jogged to catch up with the group. Luskan, it seemed, had been the source of the other two, but why?

She nodded, and laid her hands very gently on the girl's temple and one rope-burned wrist, murmuring a quiet healing prayer as she turned one of her higher spells into the healing. She watched as the lump and bruising faded away, as did the abrasions at her wrists. "Micken, are you hurt? You others?"

"I donnae thin -- och," Micken stopped in mid-word as pains from being swatted at by the creature made themselves known. "Mayhap a bit, but see tae me king an' his companions first, aye?"

Ravenna rolled her eyes exasperatedly and turned to the oversized human and the dwarf. "Saers?"

"Wounds taken in battle -- " Wulfgar began.

"--will slow ye down, an' I say you let the wise woman do as needed," Bruenor growled at him. Wulfgar chose not to dig his heels in, and went to kneel in front of the elf. Once he was done, Bruenor looked at Micken. "A chief doesnae take respite a'fore his clan," he said firmly.

Ravenna turned and flashed a bright, cheerful smile at the king for that, and extended her hands to Micken to deal with his variety of bruises. "A bit?" she muttered at him, feeling the spell take hold, before she looked to the -- Goddess Above, he was young!! -- male coming towards them all. "Cousin," she said mildly, "come let me see to those wounds I see."

"They are -- "

"Goin' tae be dealt with!" Bruenor informed him, and Wulfgar grinned as his teacher meekly obeyed.

Yet, when Ravenna touched the young drow ranger, the effort to affect healing within him was higher than with the others, as if something resisted.

She frowned, and exerted herself while trying to remain gentle. Perhaps he was -- oh, Goddess, she'd forgotten... "My healing should not cause one like you pain, cousin," she said gently. "Don't fight me, let me help."

"I am not fighting it," Drizzt said, confused, "but... it will not hurt?" A distant memory of the potion he'd drank, after that ambush on his pursuers. He willed himself to let down any inner defenses he'd been holding, not wanting to make life harder for any faerie that was willing to help -- even touch! -- him.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Not a bit."

As she saw him relax, she tried again, throwing herself at the healing -- and this time, it took better, closing the cuts on his exposed skin.

Drizzt inclined his head to her, then went to sit where Guen could love on him, away from the others a bit. She rubbed her head into his chest, then flopped with her head over a thigh while he started cleaning his blades, much as Wulfgar was working on his hammer.

Now, Ravenna put out her hands for Bruenor, waiting for him to come closer so that she could heal him. So many healings so close together had depleted her spells a fair amount, but she wasn't particularly concerned by that. She had her three around her, now, and apparently more allies.

She raised an eyebrow at Micken and tapped her thumbnail against the glamour ring, wanting to know if all of these would be all right with a second drow, or if she should retain her illusion.

He shrugged, uncertain. Then he decided, if she was asking, to be dwarf-blunt. "Me people, they're not as all seems," he began. "But ye already know drow can be good."

Drizzt looked over at him, then Ravenna. "I admit I am curious about how well you have handled my presence, given other reactions on this quest."

Ravenna looked from face to face, decided to trust Micken, and pulled the ring from her finger, reverting to her own appearance. "A ring of glamour," she said, "the only one we possess, and a great treasure for that it allows one of us to trade or help others without being attacked. I am Ravenna, priestess of Eilistraee."

Bruenor stared at her, stared at Drizzt, stared at her again. "In all me years, I'd nae heard of a single goodly drow, an' now, two o' ye?"

Drizzt was startled more than any of the others; he had lived twenty years without seeing a single other drow, let alone hearing of a good one from all the people he had been able to trust in those years.

"You... there are others? Not just me?" slipped out before he could wrap his stoic nature around him like a shield.

Catti-brie's heart ached all over again for him, knowing how alone he had felt even with the friends he'd won from her clan.

"There are," Ravenna told him, her chest aching for him, for the shock in his purple eyes and the youth in his voice. She put her hands out for him again, wanting to comfort him. "We are few... terribly few... out of all the drow who exist, but you are not alone. We have sought for you for almost all your time on the Surface, after word came to us from a friend of Dove Falconhand. But you cannot be scried out, and you traveled quickly. We would not have left you alone so long, cousin, if we could have helped it."

"Cannot be scried..." he murmured, letting her have his hand. Guen decided to lick her for that, pleased, even as she stayed close to her drow. "Mielikki, possibly, guarding me from drow who would harm me?"

"Whatever it is, me elf, ye have others now. But yer still bound tae me quest, ye hear?" Bruenor said, with a hint of bluster now.

Drizzt chuckled, having needed that. "Indeed, my friend."

He called on Mielikki? Of the nature gods, Ravenna supposed she was preferable, having an elven aspect and holding their nearest major city as her stronghold. She kept hold of Drizzt's hand, squeezing it gently before she turned her head to look at the dwarven king.

"Maybe so," she said, before continuing on. "King Bruenor, as we will be neighbors, and it is the desire of my dwarven friends to know what drove them from their home... unless you object, I will accompany you at least back to the ruins?"

Dhaeln snorted, but she'd save arguing with her king for if he decided to be a fool, not before. "Tis more than good tae see ye again, Bruenor, tae know ye an' more o' our folk live. Who're these wi' ye, me king?"

"Ye be welcome, cleric, as we've had none of our own for many a year," Bruenor decided, as his elf had decided to trust her, given the lack of protest at being touched. "This be me girl, Catti-brie. That one there is Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, an' a finer lad ye cannae find."

Wulfgar straightened a little at that praise.

"Regis Rumblebelly -- stop fidgeting, an' know I'm angry, but ye be my friend, and ye had reasons in that head o' yers." He then gestured to Drizzt. "Me elf there is Drizzt Do'Urden, and the durn cat -- ye did good, cat -- is Guen."

Dhaeln nodded to each of them, corner of her mouth quirked at the repeated 'me elf' -- that was so very much like the dwarrow she remembered, blunt, gruff, and protective. "Greetings tae all of ye. What caused all this, though -- monster like that thing be nae cheap -- tae come after ye?"

Regis sighed, raking his hand through his hair. "I don't know. I mean. I know Entreri -- the human you killed, Drizzt -- was after me, but he never worked with anyone else! Ever! So where the monster and the wizard and the other one came from, I don't know!"

"Luskan," Drizzt said softly. "And given the wizard, that creature... I think I was the target."

"Ye were, me ranger," Catti-brie said. "I was there when the mage in the High Tower sicced the pair on ye, because of the battle last year."

That got a nod. "I feared as much, once I found the Luskan coins in their pouches."

Wulfgar frowned at that. "It is a problem, then, to leave that thing buried where it fell?"

"Possibly. Probably, even, but I have no allies to trust in this."

Ravenna and Dhaeln exchanged a look, but decided not to pry -- something that had sent a creature like that so far was something that was worth being secretive over, and they were newly met.

"How came ye tae be in Luskan, me girl?" Bruenor asked, still entirely confused on that part.

Catti-brie looked away, then looked at Regis. He flinched, and her eyes grew misty, realizing he was going to feel the guilt of this for years.

"I'd gone tae claim Regis's belongings. The assassin caught me, questioned me, and ... Da. Fender, Grollo... they came for me that day."

"What?" Bruenor asked, his jaw dropping a bit and concern for his clan surging up in him. "I -- nae, me girl, I --" He almost turned on Regis in a rage, but made himself breathe instead, only glaring.

Dhaeln gave a high, sharp keen, remembering both of those dwarrow as the friends of her youth, now lost only months before they could be restored to her, and Halan made a similar sound of mourning and loss.

Micken, though, looked to Ravenna. "Sister, do you think...?"

"I'd be willing," she agreed, "so long as their bodies still exist. It would be their choice, though, and you dwarves are unpredictable about such things."

"We keep the bones, and with them, as our clan was preparing tae march in hopes of Da's success, they'd be wrapped, to bring home," Catti-brie made herself say, holding her father. Regis had started to move away, but Wulfgar caught him, dragging him down beside him.

"I will quest for what you need, if they choose it," Drizzt said firmly. "We are on the verge of finding their home, and Bruenor will need them. They will choose duty."

"Well, then," Ravenna said, nodding. "When they come, I will talk to them, or one of my sisters will if I am unavailable. What I will need is diamond, quite a bit of it, but we can talk about the details later."

Drizzt nodded, looked at Wulfgar who half-shrugged; he would gladly adventure with his teacher.

"He left me there, Da, after the killing," Catti said, glossing over the slaughter it had actually been. "But I knew ye needed tae be warned! So I came... with the caravan rolling out. But... he caught me, killed the tradesman on the wagon I was with.

"Been unable to find a way to escape since."

There. She had managed to lock up the worst of it -- and Drizzt caught her eyes. He was worried, but would not press around strangers.

"Oh, me girl," Bruenor said, getting his strength together again, wondering at the cleric who offered to exert herself so for his folk's sake. "Brave of ye, me girl. Elf, it's a right good thing ye an' the cat did for him, for me clan's sake."

Guen rumbled softly. Drizzt just nodded.

"They laid in wait for ye at the city, Silverymoon," Catti-brie said. "None too pleased tae be thwarted there."

Drizzt snorted.

"The ruler there turned Drizzt away, and we refused to enter without him," Wulfgar said. "Though our teacher seems to have made kindly with her on the road, while we slept." He made sure his voice had a slide indicating personal asides, to tease.

That made Drizzt duck his head. "She was protecting her people," he redirected. "And gave us all the aid we needed."

"Turned out well enow," Catti-brie said. "That one, I think, would have used the crowd to knife ye in the back afore ye knew he was there, had ye been in the walls."

Ravenna shrugged slightly, not about to debate politics or try to defend a stranger. "Any that would use a monster like that flesh construct are better food for carrion than living, in any case. Whatever they intended, it is done now. ...are all of you hungry, or do you wish to reach the ruins before a meal? It is not from us."

"Ruins first," Bruenor said. "Then we can sit and eat, a'fore I take the memory potion the Lady has given us."

"Agreed." Drizzt stood gracefully, and the swords were sheathed with effortless skill and speed. "Up, my student! You are dawdling!"

"Not all of us are made of springs, my teacher," Wulfgar rejoined, a smile as he slipped Aegis-fang on its strap at his back so they could begin their journey again.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed

Ice on the Marches (3,480 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Alustriel Silverhand, Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship
Series: Part 4 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

The Companions enter the picture

Ice on the Marches

1358 D.R.

The idea of a dwarf, a halfling, a barbarian, and a drow was the beginning of a tavern tale, if Alustriel had ever heard one in her life. She was entertained, though, as Shardra Harpell related this particular tale of the 'Companions of the Hall', as her cousin Harkle had dubbed them.

" —gar, and finally Drizzt Do'Urden who was — "

Alustriel wondered why that name had a ring to it. She did not think any of her children had said it in her presence. She kept listening though, even as she tapped her anklet in a tight focus to her ranger and bard sisters.

~Oh sisters mine, has one of you whispered the name Drizzt Do'Urden in my ears before?~ she asked in a merry mood, as Shardra spun her words with as much skill as any Harper.

~That… oh, right. The drow that Montolio DeBrouchee took in, the one I mentioned, oh, twenty years ago?~ Dove said. She started her own sending then. ~I'd asked Thyl to make sure he was watched for, as he was far from either major group of his people.~

~My people had whispers of a drow haunting the roads for … several years after that, but then he vanished,~ Storm tagged onto the sending. She then set her own off. ~I am on my way there, so I'll ask more when I arrive.~

~Oh, I will get to see both of you? And maybe meet him? As I am coming up to research an old ranger spell,~ Dove added.

~I look forward to it. Until later, my sisters,~ Alustriel said, to return her full focus on evenfeast's socializing.

---

Several days later, it was a much different mood for Alustriel as she took the report from the Moorgate. She'd already known how heavy her heart was around this, but hearing that those with the drow were injured and had refused to enter only added to the pain of her choice.

If Storm or Dove heard of everything that had been stirred up by the Riders, this could still spiral into desperate measures. She had to head it off. Fortunately, she had ideas on how to aid. A visit to the Companions, with the full weight of her sovereignty to offer apologies and explanations was one step. The next would be potions to heal, and in the dwarf's case, to mend his memory once they found their clues. She could also point them at a resource few knew to reach out to.

And finally, once that visit was done, she would reach out to Spirit Sanctuary, and see if they could — or would — keep an eye on the region near Herald's Holdfast to lend aid if needed.

Yes. That would help begin to ease the debt she now owed one she had wronged who did not deserve it. After, and telling them both of the measures in place, she would encourage her sisters to bring tensions in the city down. Storm was good at that… as long as Alustriel trimmed her reasons for temper down first.

---

While Alustriel had been allowed to know where Spirit Sanctuary was, she had never actually been there. She opted to leave that visit for the next night, as her pulse was still ringing with the reaction that actually meeting Drizzt Do'Urden had invoked in her.

He was a man cut from the same cloth as those she had allied to throughout her long life. His ability to let go of his anger was nothing short of amazing, and his spirit absolutely shone with dedication to the protection of others.

Her fingers were itching to commit that first impression into some form of art, but business had to take precedence. Later, she promised herself, she would savor it, especially how electric it had felt to touch his cheek, to try and console him against the bitterness.

Focus, she chided herself inwardly, pushing that giddy sense of connection with him to the back of her mind.

With all of her duties done, and Storm on a mission to scold the city into remembering their duty to good folk of all kinds, Alustriel slipped out of the High Palace on a phantom steed. She could be to the priestess and back well before dawn, having memorized two of the spells.

---

Alustriel politely landed on the broad lip of the plateau where Spirit Sanctuary was cut into the cliff. She was very impressed with how little illusion was used to keep it from being visible, as they had cut deep into the rock, supporting it with timbers and eventually shaped pillars. Approaching from the air or looking down from any part of the mountain itself would not reveal it. The pathways that led to it were obscured, she thought, surveying the area with magic detection, but even there she could see efforts to keep the village from being noticeable.

She let the phantom steed go after dismounting, and waited right where she was for the guards she knew had to be on duty to decide how to handle her. Nor was it a long wait, as she saw — ahh, they had gone directly for Vierna it seemed — the cleric coming out of an entry Alustriel had not yet noticed.

She smiled, to try and set the tone for this meeting, given she was asking for a favor from them.

"Greetings, Lady Vierna," she called warmly.

"Greetings, Lady Alustriel," Vierna replied, coming to within arm's reach of the powerful archmage, studying her face for a moment before she returned the smile. "You are welcome, of course, but what brings you to us in the middle of your night?"

It could not be that Mena or Thyl were hurt, their mother would hardly be smiling if there was anything truly wrong.

Alustriel took a breath. "A matter of some travelers that will be near the lower portion of your territory," she began. "Because of tensions in the Silver Marches, I had to deny one member of the party entry, and all of them chose not to continue their quest within my walls.

"I was... very upset to do so, but the Riders of Nesme had forced my hand with ugly rumors ahead of their meeting with me."

Vierna frowned at the mention of the Riders of Nesme -- her people had had one or two unpleasant encounters with the bigoted humans -- and more at the idea of them causing trouble for her friends' mother in her own city. "I am sorry to hear it," she said, "and... you wish us to keep our eyes out for them? What are they questing after?"

"The quest is for the dwarf's lost Hall," Alustriel began. "I don't know if you were established here already when Mithral Hall fell, but that is what they seek. I have pointed them to the Herald's Holdfast to see if they can find more information there."

"We had only gotten established," Vierna said, as her eyes widened in surprise, "but -- another survivor? Truly?!"

'Another' -- Oh that warmed Alustriel's heart further. "Thyl's and Mena's elder brothers aided with rescuing those that found the Moon Wood. Bruenor Battlehammer, though, apparently had a contingent that wound up all the way in Icewind Dale, and I had no idea of it until this tale reached my ears."

"A true Battlehammer," Vierna said in shock, her eyes still wide even as her mind kicked over into planning, into working out how to help this kinsman of her people. "I'll have to wake Micken, maybe Dhaeln, if you will tell me how to find this 'Herald's Holdfast' so he can go to them..."

That made the Arch Mage blink. Not just having succored survivors, but living ones here? That was providential news!

"The Holdfast sits on the eastern side of the Moon Wood, closer to my city. I was suspecting, however, that whatever clues they find will push them up into this region.

"I never knew where the Hall was, but had an impression it was closer to this region than not," Alustriel told her.

"I have never been able to remove the curse of forgetting my few suffer under," Vierna admitted, "Eilistraee does not entirely understand it, so..." She shrugged a little helplessly, sighing. "We know it cannot have been terribly far, because Micken did not have sores from his wastes, and the old one could not have fled far with his wound. There were spans of bare rock, though, that made it impossible even for my people to be certain where they had come from."

Alustriel nodded. "And so few of the elders survived for long after, with even some of the older youths succumbing to a malaise of the spirit," she murmured sadly. "I am grateful to know your people aided." She gave a warm smile. "Well, I will craft a map showing where the Holdfast is, if you wish it.

"But in truth, I had a secondary concern for you, and this is the part that pains me to admit." She met Vierna's eyes steadily. "The Riders had caused the merchants concern because of the drow in the party. Too much of our trade comes from that road, for food and goods we don't produce in our city."

"A drow?" Vierna blinked, several times. "Moving openly, in company with others? Are they one of Qilué's people, then? None of mine are away from me..." She trailed off, before she frowned a little more. "I am sorry to hear it, but I can understand your decision. They're idiots, but many humans are. Do you think the trouble will last?"

"No. Storm is in the city, enlisting aid in turning popular opinion," Alustriel said. "And so is Dove, who stands guarantee for the drow, having encountered him about twenty years ago, or nearly enough.

"He apparently vanished into the Far North, and has only now emerged, yet -- " Her voice trailed off as she tried to find words for the sense of Destiny she'd seen around the ranger. "He seems touched by things yet to come, and carries a gravity that leads me to believe his stalwart friendships with the other three were very hard won."

"I am glad to hear that," Vierna said, as she nodded. "Thyl and Mena came to tell me there was one your sister had met who was now wandering, but... his travels never brought him to us. I was sad about that, from what they told me of her encounter with him. He sounded like someone I would like to meet. Perhaps I will, now!

"Friendships outside our own are most-often hard won," she agreed quietly, sighing. "I was very lucky in meeting Mena as early as I did."

That brought a smile to Alustriel once more, as she was fond of her ever-adventuring daughter's ways. "I am personally grateful as well." Through that friendship, there had been aid, several times, that had impacted her family. "Where may I settle, to work on the map for you, Vierna?"

"This way," Vierna said, and brought her to one of the workrooms. It was empty at this hour, and with the shutter closed, the candlelight would bother no one. "Did you happen to get this wanderer's name?"

"The Harpells have dubbed the band the 'Companions of the Hall', and named each one," Alustriel said, thinking for a moment on that wanderer more deeply than she possibly ought. "The ranger, for that is his calling, is Drizzt Do'Urden."

Vierna stared at her, shocked into speechlessness, her hands making a bewildered infant-sign of confusion and distress, the sound of her own rarely-used surname echoing through her mind.

Alustriel reached her hands out, taking those gesturing ones, and just offering support while Vierna worked through whatever this storm was.

"My friend, what is it? Is there something at work you already know of? I promise you, his nature is as keenly good as my own."

"That," Vierna finally managed to get out, "is my family name!"

Alustriel was the one startled now, and she blinked several times, before managing a soft chuckle. "If he is truly related to you, then, goodness runs in your line?

"He... he was so hurt, so angry, and yet he both let go of it and forgave me, once we had spoken."

"It must," Vierna said, "oh, how Malice would rage at that idea, but I am... intrigued. No, I am more than intrigued, I am near desperate to know more. He forgave you? Not something that comes easily to any of us, when we have been wounded. Especially not heart-wounds. We deal poorly with those, I have noticed."

That got a nod. "I was surprised that it went as well as it did, and yet... he felt like a kindred spirit in many ways." Alustriel let go of her hands, so she could get things out... and hide the faint flush to her cheeks for the fact that Drizzt Do'Urden was staying high in her thoughts.

Another Do'Urden, on the Surface? This would be either someone from another city, or a child of Malice's, since Briza would never mate.

A male sibling, of hers that wasn't Nalfein...

In short order, Alustriel had the outline of the hills, the river, the Moon Wood, and placed relevant landmarks. She had worked quickly, in the quiet of Vierna digesting the shocking news.

"I think this should be sufficient for any of your people to use?" she said at last, offering the map.

Vierna took it and looked over it, then nodded. "Yes, certainly. Thank you, Alustriel. The idea that they have a king still alive, an heir of the blood... that will matter very much to my people. And I... I am... bewildered and overwhelmed at this idea of someone who shares my name wandering the Surface for so long. This is the kind of thing Eilistraee would normally tell me, or... Qilué knows my name perfectly well, why didn't she tell me?"

Alustriel shook her head. "Dove did ask that watch be kept, but aside from rumored sightings several years ago, nothing solid ever happened. I do not believe Qilué knows more than you do about his wanderings.

"And... the bare impression I had was that the divinity he is drawing from is a wild one, likely Mielikki."

Vierna raked one hand through her hair, disarraying it, as she looked at Alustriel in consternation. "None of this makes any sense. Well, it is what it is, and hopefully with Micken to speak to this Bruenor, I can find out something."

"I wish you well... and by the time they know more, I will have my city back in hand, to lend aid," Alustriel promised, standing so that she could go. "May your people thrive always."

"And yours, Alustriel. Be well," Vierna told her, walking with her back out of the workroom once she had put the candle out.

Alustriel moved back to the open space, calling her new phantom steed to her. She could have teleported, but Old Night deserved a warning, so she would stop there, ahead of the Companions, and then go home.

Vierna watched her call the phantom creature, then turned to go back to her work. The map had convinced her that Micken could get to Herald's Holdfast before these 'Companions of the Hall' could, so she would let him sleep through the night, and talk to him in the morning.

---

Micken was up with the sun, like most of the non-drow that had ever lived with them. Some of the drow had joined that schedule, but most worked through the night, often hunting and gathering, slept in the morning, and then did crafts in the evening with their more day-oriented chosen kin.

Before Micken could get to the stores cavern and begin cataloguing the items brought in by night, First Sister was there to catch him after his meal.

"Aye?"

"Silverymoon's Lady came to me in the night," Vierna said, "with news that means much to me... but I think will mean far more to you and yours. There are more of your clan in Icewind Dale," she held up a hand for silence so she could finish, "their leader is a true Battlehammer of the blood, and he has come south to seek for his Hall."

Micken's jaw dropped, and he tried, a number of times, to find the right words. "Me people have a chieftain, an' there be more o' us in the north," he said incredulously. "Aye, that means a fair bit tae us, Sister, aye it does.

"Where be the Battlehammer now?"

"Headed to a place called Herald's Holdfast, which the Lady made me a map to," Vierna replied. "I expect you'll want to leave -- I made you a pack, but you'll want to go through it, I'm sure -- as soon as you can.

"The part which matters to me, my friend," she said softly, "is that a drow travels with him, one who could reach Silverymoon... and one who shares my family name."

"So we both be finding family soon," Micken said, resting a hand on her arm. "Aye, Lady, I'll be going an' findin' them both, see what I can learn from them meself." He straightened fully, his bearing set on determined now. "Until I see ye again, my Lady and Sister," he said properly, "may all our gods watch over us."

"Until I see you again," Vierna replied, "may they guide and guard you."

---

Herald's Holdfast sat close to the edge of the Moon Wood, but they still had to get to it from where they were. Drizzt took point, relying on memories of maps seen when he was younger and still under the tutelage of Montolio. Mooshie had made him study those maps intently.

We don't run often, but if you don't know a region and you run the wrong way, who gets the warning out, hmm?

The voice was a bittersweet comfort. Even with the reassurance of the Lady of Silverymoon — and a feeling that maybe, just maybe, he might yet find a place in her lands — his heart was raw. He'd never truly wanted to take up this quest, excusing his misgivings as a justified caution about whatever had driven the dwarves out.

How much of it was the idea that if Bruenor found his home, that was one more separation from Drizzt, when they had shared being exiles as part of their friendship? It was an unbecoming thought, and yet Drizzt was too honest in his heart not to grasp it, in part.

He was disturbed out of his thoughts as a jagged line in the bark of a tree caught his ever-vigilant observation. His eyes focused, and all thoughts of losing Bruenor as a friend faded, for he was looking at a drow glyph, marked in such a way as to tell those that could read it that an elf village was in a specific tree.

It touched the back of his awareness that the glyph neither glowed nor held any magic, and was actually just like the blazes rangers carved to guide each other. That really didn't matter as memories tumbled over top of each other — drow cruelty and drow viciousness and long ago violence under trees much like the one bearing that mark.

"My teacher?" Wulfgar called.

"Drow have been here," Drizzt managed to say, idly proud of the young man for noting the change in his demeanor, and for calling it to attention, much as Drizzt would have preferred to master the spike of emotions.

When did the world ever give him anything to his preferences?

Bruenor squinted at the mark, frowned and then shook his head. "Bah! Elf, ye cannae go gettin' yer head mixed up for such. That's been scored in the wood long enow tae be fadin'. Keep a-movin', and let's find this Holdfast, ye hear?"

"And if the marks are as old as the fall of your hall?" Drizzt asked mildly.

"Then even better I be knowin' ye, aye? Beat the tricks of the stinkin' drow and win me hall back, ye will!"

"Bruenor's right, Drizzt," Regis said. "If it is drow, you'll know how to plan a way to beat them!"

Drizzt had no idea why they had such faith in him, but it did ease some of the pain in his heart. Bruenor was right; the sign was old. And it might even be unrelated. Best to follow the guidance of the Lady — Alustriel, he reminded himself, still feeling the cool hand on his cheek — and pushed on.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed

Changing Moons (4,586 words) by senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Philomena (Canon-Inspired OC), Qilué Veladorn, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship
Series: Part 1 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

Vierna escapes her family, and sets a new destiny for herself — and others?

Changing Moons

Vierna felt the change of the air around her, waited until the wagon was in full dark. She made sure her piwafwi was sealed, the hood in place, and hoped that her body obeyed her as she worked her way out of the trestle. She felt bruised and shaken all over from the way she had secured herself there, as well as a little afraid despite her resolve to escape going to the school.

She made it down without a sound, and was slipping away into the dark of the tunnel without alerting the caravan folk. She was so thankful that they had come in time; outside trade was so irregular, she'd been considering other, riskier paths of escape.

She had made it out of easy earshot and view of the wagon, and was beginning to think she was in the clear when there was a flicker of 'come here', ahead of her. She all but froze, trying to think of which cantrip she knew that might help her, before the person bared their face, a stranger to her.

"You hear the song. I am here to help you," was signed in her direction, and she wanted to believe but how could she trust it? "Listen to it now."

Vierna opened her awareness a little, to that haunting, sad song, and felt the notes of 'trust' and 'hope' buoy her up.

"I will make you regret betrayal," she signed back to the stranger, and they smiled at her.

"Of course. Now come; we need to get you away. Did you remove the House amulet?"

Vierna nodded, even as she came closer to the person -- a man, and that actually eased her more. It would be hard to trust any woman not to be a priestess of Lloth.

"My name is Rafi," the man said, some distance away from there. "I serve the same goddess that gives you the song, finding those that hear it, and bringing them away from danger."

"I am Vierna, and I want to learn more," she said firmly, deciding a drow that helped was someone to listen to. Too many drow merely hurt others.

"I will teach what I can, and there will be others, when we get to our current safe place."

---

One thing Vierna learned quickly was how precarious life in the Underdark was, especially for those of her people who refused to follow the evil path of Lloth or Vhaeraun. The enclave Rafi took her to lost members, slowly, over the several decades that she was with them, learning all about Eilistraee.

Her goddess demanded only that she help others, and Vierna embraced that with all she was, even as the edge of being the noble daughter of a high-ranked House allowed her to make hard choices. She rose, favored by the Dark Maiden, growing strong as a priestess, and sharing her weapon skills freely.

The maces were augmented by short swords, since the sword was the weapon of Eilistraee. Which she used depending entirely on the need of the moment, and some of her training was spent with the wizards, trying to learn a way to make the right ones come to her hands without having to choose which to carry.

By the time she was accepted as a full cleric of Eilistraee, she had seen her first century mark — with a private vow that it would be the first of several — and there was a call for those who would risk it to go to the surface, where Vhaeraun was becoming more of a problem.

Vierna, who had seen battle against other drow too many times, decided that she would be one to go above, and see what she could do to help find and hold a refuge for their people. She, like most, had heard their Lady had a Chosen, a high priestess born on the surface, but more leaders, through their scattered folk, was a good idea.

---

Mena had been living among the orcs in the southern sweep of the Spine of the World, to the northeast of her mother's city. She was sincerely curious about the nation there, as they seemed to have a stronger capacity for self-aid and actual progression that did not depend on raiding constantly.

Her ears pricked up, though, at the sightings of drow, and she wondered what that could mean for the safety of the region. Orcs and goblins were one thing, but drow?

Drow had magic to rival her mother, and were fiercely dangerous, with no mercy for anyone outside of their own people -- and not even them sometimes!

She also had not actually ever studied one for long, and was new enough to borrowing lives that this seemed like an adventure to find.

With that in mind, she began removing herself from the orcs she was with; they still did not typically go hunting for lost members. She wondered if, somewhere in their history, the species had lost that social concern in order to survive, or if it had never been there.

That would be for the future. Right now, she had drow to find.

---

The problem with not having ever studied a drow was that Mena could not insinuate herself into their lives.

Or, she could, but it would mean giving in on the base instinct of killing the person she copied. She had long since decided that was a last resort for survival only, which meant she would have to observe the hard way.

Fortunately, Mena excelled in stealth. No one was sure where she got it; mother's stories of her father suggested he was a little flamboyant at times, while mother herself was… well, Mother.

No matter how hard a Chosen of Mystra tried, there was always something that made people notice them.

The first thing she noted was how careful the drow were being to conceal their presence. That was in line with all the things she knew about them.

The second thing was that they were taking care of each other, helping one another as they explored the region, gathered food, and made a life in this hard to reach valley. There were weapons in evidence, but not the cruelty Mena expected.

What had these strange drow living on the surface? Mena wanted to know more!

Nights passed as Mena studied, and she saw the dancing under the moon that Mena thought of as a moon elf ritual, making her wonder. Wasn't there a little known goddess that had been associated with the moon, other than Sehanine?

Her burning curiosity was guiding her to remain ever closer to the encampment. She could not understand the words she heard, but that only made her hunger more for the experience of these beautiful people.

---

Rafi gave a slow blink, and Vierna laughed a little, as if sharing a joke with him. She excused herself from the others around their shared meal.

Her teacher, friend, and self-appointed bodyguard had seen traces that something intelligent had been observing them. They had decided her more subtle cleric spells might be the best to find the being.

She wandered in a meandering line, toward the privy they had built, and hummed slightly under her breath, one of the singing spells for detection that their Lady had granted. Nothing… evil, at least, and all the creatures in their various grades of warmth touched her awareness… with one larger than the rest, up a tree.

Well there had not been an attack, but would there be?

"If you come in peace, join me," she invited, having wandered closer to that presence. "If you mean other than peace, I promise we will not go lightly on you."

There was a rustle in the direction her spell had indicated, before a very strange faerie with more height than her tallest band member, hair that was silver like the holy of Eilistraee sometimes gained, and both eyes and ears that seemed blunted.

The faerie was not holding any weapons visibly. She also spoke… unintelligibly to Vierna's ears.

"We have a language barrier," she said, turning inward, asking her Lady if she dared remain in this place with her people, or if the stranger was a threat.

~She will be your guide~

The very firm feeling of that, the reassurance, made Vierna face the woman fully, crossing her arms over her chest in the drow greeting.

The woman tipped her head to the side, considered, then mimicked it, and despite her usual caution, Vierna had to smile at that. The fact the strange faerie smiled back sealed the feeling of trusting in her Lady's choices.

---

Mena was fascinated. She'd never been welcomed into a new community that she knew so little about, and Vierna was more than willing to teach her in exchange for language lessons.

By the third month, Mena felt so strongly about Vierna's friendship that she decided it was safe to tell her the secret. She got her friend to set aside time in the early morning, before the drow rested, and settled with her in the simple cottage they shared.

"I have something I want to trust you with, Vierna, something that few know, because of my nature," Mena began, as they laid side by side, facing one another.

"You are my friend, you have stood with us against the raids, you have taught us," Vierna said. "I trust with you, and will listen."

"I am a doppelganger," Mena began. "Most fear or hate us, with reason, because we steal lives, and usually kill the ones we steal them from. Identity, memory… all of it.

"Like my father, I refuse to be like that. I save the lives I see, for use later, or far away, where it won't be an issue. And because I was born to a human, I grew up with a presence in human and elf societies."

"This form? Is it a life you chose to use? Or appearance, perhaps," Vierna said, staying steady. She understood being feared and hated.

"When I was a baby, mother's sons were what I imprinted on, long before I had control of what I was," Mena said, with a smile. "I became a half-elf baby, like they were, to her delight and the delight of their father. As they had no daughters."

Vierna half-smiled at her friend's memory of that. "Take whatever form you wish; you are a person I wish to have in my life."

Mena swallowed at the intensity of feeling that swelled, and she moved closer, to hug Vierna. Vierna returned it gladly, before they settled for the day's sleep.

This would be the friendship she treasured, like the one her father had with her mother, a safe place to come back to when life hurt too much.

---

Late 1150s D.R.

Life in the foothills of the Spine of the World continued quietly, for the most part. There was conflict with the orcs, avoidance of the nearby dwarves and elves and those who traded with both, while adhering to the tenets of Eilistraee to aid others.

Mercy was always given to the orcs, with some of the smaller clans deciding it was not worth it to raid on the growing settlement carved out of shallow caves along Third Peak. The drow ranged, sometimes crossing the river to silently observe the moon elves. They always left gifts of food or goods, as the community was drawing crafters that had escaped the Upperdark drow cities to find freedom.

Vierna was First Cleric, but she was not the only cleric. Which meant, eventually, she knew she needed to heed her goddess's wish for her to go meet the Chosen, the drow that actually touched the true power of their shared Lady.

She had never traveled so far, not on the Surface, possibly not even in her travels below!

"I will go with you," Rafi said.

"And leave your consort, your babe? I think not, my dear friend," Vierna told him, glad that he had found a love match, one that had given them a blessed child. So few of those had yet been born, but that was a mercy. They needed to shape more rock for better dwellings, and their wizards were so few.

"You cannot go alone."

Vierna patted his hand, having recognized that. "Nor can I go through the Underdark with a party. As the place I must go is beyond our maps.

"I will send to Mena, and ask if she can find me a guide."

That mollified Rafi some; the half-elf, as he knew her, had been a solid ally of their community during her time among them.

---

Vierna's guide wound up being Mena herself, reminding Vierna of Eilistraee's words about the woman when they first met. She'd thought it ended with learning the Common language, both spoken and written.

Now, trekking across the Realms, with Mena in the guise of a full-blooded elf, Vierna had reason to wonder what other things remained for them to discover together with Mena leading the way. It was a pleasant thing to consider, as the nights turned to weeks on their journey. By necessity, they avoided people, and traveled carefully to avoid creatures with dangerous intentions.

Bypassing cities and towns, but able to see their impact on the regions, left Vierna with a small curiosity to see them more closely. Perhaps, someday, she would master illusionary skills, to be able to walk freely in such places.

"I could ask my mother to make you a glamour ring the next time I see her," Mena told her, when Vierna mentioned it in passing.

"It would be too selfish a thing, my friend, when my people have need of magics focused on improving our homes along the mountain."

Mena frowned, then sighed. "I… would you forbid your people magical gifts, if they had access?"

"No," Vierna said slowly.

"But you forbid yourself the same?"

"They don't have access," Vierna replied.

"A ring such as I speak of could be used by any," Mena reasoned. "And allow for you, or others, to openly go to any of the towns near the Frost Hills, to acquire things you do not have access to on the mountain or beneath it."

Vierna tipped her head a little, turning that over in her mind. "We'll discuss it more, after this trip?" she offered as a counter.

"We will," Mena accepted.

---

They did not have to go all the way to the ocean, it seemed. Just as the land started to rise in the northeastern foothills of the Sword Mountains, Vierna felt eyes on them — and so did Mena.

"How does a drow come to walk with a faerie?" a slightly mocking voice called to them, when they stopped and showed they knew they were being watched.

"Through friendship, taught in the tenets of the moon's light," Vierna answered that. "But I have also learned to be polite to strangers, rather than fostering a divide with others," she also chided the unseen speaker.

"I like her already," another voice called before a double hand of people melted into view from various trees ahead. Only one man, nine women… and one of those stood impossibly tall, as tall as Mena's usual half-elf form. The woman would tower over both of them, with Mena's moon-elf form the same height as Vierna.

"Forgive our sister; she suffered at the hands of elves marked by the sun," the tall one said in a voice that caressed and coaxed at Vierna's sense of holiness. "You are the one our Lady wished me to meet, one who has made a home for our people in the north."

"Vierna Do'Urden," Vierna answered that. "And my sworn-sister, Marith," she added, remembering to use the name that matched this borrowed form.

"Qilué Veladorn. I welcome you, both of you, and invite you to come learn of us, share that which you will of your people." She paused, then looked at Vierna squarely. "I am surprised you came with but an elf for guard or company."

Vierna started to approach, knowing that as an invitation for her hidden minions to reveal themselves — and there were none. "I am accustomed to my own protection, but Eilistraee herself named Marith my guide, some years past, when we first met.

"We are alone." To declare it would have been a challenge among other drow. Here, it was a test, but Vierna knew her sworn sister had magic and they would not be easy prey if all was not as it seemed.

Qilué smiled at that, and it was a friendly expression that held respect. "I am finding myself very intrigued, sister, so do come, share our camp, and let us get to know one another.

"You hold one of the largest free bands, our Lady says, in a stable place, whereas the others all rove, if they are Above. I wish to know all I can, to be true to our Lady's charge on me to aid all of our people."

"I'm looking forward to learning more of you," Vierna agreed, as they went to settle at the hidden camp.

---

Mena had watched carefully, always an observer of other people. She noted these drow stayed far more wary than her friend's band. They apparently had more conflict with the people of the surface, being so close to the coast and all of its port cities.

It made Mena glad that Vierna had settled her own people far from the trade routes of the North.

On their fourth night, as the clerics -- Qilué, Vierna, and the one that had been so rude at first -- were planning for a ritual, Mena caught the first sound of armor and movement coming down from the hills they were in. The drow had noted it, and the fighters in the band moved to get all three clerics behind a protective line, with the one male taking charge of the situation.

Soon, she could only catch glimpses of the others, as a full score of goblins and hobgoblins descended on them with a worg. Mena kept herself to magical support in the fight, but had to grin as Vierna unleashed her skills with her blades. Let these new drow see that ferocity and precision!

Mena was tracking the worg, knowing it for the most dangerous threat here, when a tightly controlled flash of silver struck it. Mena swiftly threw a hold monster behind that, and one of the women closest finished it off. That gave Mena a chance to look around -- and Qilué's hair and eyes were lit with silverfire, directly in line to have been the one to unleash that magical bolt.

Mena put that to the back of her mind; she knew this woman was a Chosen of Eilistraee, but Mena would have thought the Dark Maiden's power manifested differently than Mystra's.

She would have to think on it for later, maybe see if she could find the aunt that sometimes ranged along the coast.

---

Qilué danced, leading the ritual, and Vierna noted that the entire band was intent on putting the battle of the night before behind them, losing themselves in the divine ecstasy of the dance. Vierna also had picked up on Mena's increasing curiosity about the leader of this band, but as it had not been wary, Vierna decided there was no harm in giving herself fully over to the ritual.

The moonbeams scattered and danced around them all, as even Mena gave into the pull, knowing the forms and allowing herself to breathe in the divine energy flowing around them all. Eilistraee was a gentle goddess when She could be, fierce as She had to be, something that set well with both women of the north.

By the time the dance had ended, Mena and Vierna had come together, drawn by years of companionship to protect each other, even in something as freeing as the ritual had been.

"Come," Mena said, pulling Vierna over to the spot they had been using for their rest, giggling when they had to bypass a trio of their new friends who were ... less aware of things not each other.

"Elkantar is the only one alone," Vierna murmured in her ear, as both of them dropped, sharing a water skin stashed there, letting the air cool them.

"He likes the leader," Mena said, untangling Vierna's hair where it had snarled from the dancing.

"His back says he has known Lolthite priestesses," Vierna said with a sigh, hating her birth culture all over again.

"So it is likely hard for him," Mena concluded, then giggled. "Maybe in more ways than one?"

Vierna leaned into her sworn-sister's shoulder at that, to muffle her laughter.

"You are terrible," she finally said, still smiling.

"Yes, but you laughed, so you're just as bad."

---

Vierna had arrived back in Spirit Sanctuary to find her people had a surprise for her. Mena had only seen her to the foot of the hills before taking herself off to her next adventure.

Rafi met Vierna, after she had noted the small collection of dwarves in the common cavern, and shook his head.

"We found them wandering between the mountain and the river. Our scouts said other groups' tracks indicated they'd crossed the river, but this group had injuries, and... they cannot remember where they came from, only that some great evil attacked them.

"We have been caring for them, lost one to his injuries," Rafi said. "They were, of course, startled by drow, but whatever they were running from was worse. So they are willing to abide by our rules, and let us see them to health."

"Let me clean up from the road, and I will go meet with them." Vierna gripped his shoulder in gratitude. "I will tell everyone of the trip tomorrow night."

"Of course, Vierna." He smiled, walking her to quarters to get fresh robes, telling her of other things along the way.

---

Dhaeln Cragmaw was not the oldest to escape but she had been on the verge of apprenticing, and her elders... were not in great shape. Both of the two left were lost in misery, and she needed to be mindful for the three dwarrow that had been thrust into their care. She was really hoping they had identified the youngest, a babe in swaddled linens, correctly as the newest Hamur baby.

The drow -- ancient enemies, rumored in a ballad of King Gandalug -- had admitted their leader, a chief cleric, was not present when they had been taken in. If Old Rook hadn't been so badly off, they might have listened when Hunter Rafi told them they were all free to make their way on their own, but they'd hoped the offer of aid was good.

Old Rook had at least died without pain, and the priestess that had aided him had wept for her inability to save him. That... that had gone a long way to making Dhaeln's mind up that they would stay here, at least long enough to make a proper course. With winter coming on, it wasn't smart to try and travel anyway.

She'd been aware of the stranger, a drow that was easily as beautiful as the others of her kind, an onyx statue with garnet eyes that had surveyed them all with compassion before moving on. Now, that one had returned, wearing fresh robes that were of soft deer hide, trimmed in winter fur at the collar.

That one moved over toward the elders, pausing when she noted the pair were sleeping.

Dhaeln rose, moving to greet her.

"Dhaeln Cragmaw, Lady," she introduced herself with a bob of her head.

"Vierna Do'Urden, and please. We keep no ranks among us. Call me Vierna, or if that goes against your customs too much, all clerics are Sister." She then smiled. "If we had a male one, he would be Brother. And one who is unknown would simply be Sibling."

"Seems odd, but aye, can be doin' that," Dhaeln said. "Sit here, let the others sleep? Just got wee Micken tae stop his fussin'."

Dhaeln watched as two stools appeared, with a gesture from the cleric. The cleric took the lower one, and the one left was just dwarf height, putting them both at a more even height.

"We are nearing winter," Vierna began. "My usual guide for the lands beyond these hills has left for her own place to spend it. And while my scouts know where the towns are, they could not introduce you. Or, honestly, be spoken of, without all of you coming under suspicion.

"I am inviting your people to remain here through the season, and when spring comes, you can decide then what is your wish." Vierna drew in a deep breath. "We always open our arms to the few travelers that find themselves in danger in our territory. The option to join us, to live with us, will always be there."

Dhaeln knew she should let the elders decide. But these people had done right by them at every step. Still, she was curious.

"Why? Why do ye invite people who may fear or hate ye?"

Vierna smiled. "To teach them they don't have to? To win their hearts as allies to us? We just wish to live in peace. But we are from Below, and do not, actually, have all the skills we need to thrive.

"Some stay, learn, then leave. And agree to either not speak of us, or ask us to help them forget where we are, to protect us," she continued. "I don't like doing that. I do like learning, seeing my people learn. We had a small orc family that came to us, not long after we settled, outcasts of their people, but they taught us so much! The child eventually left, but it was a peaceful leaving.

"I think, other than your people, the only other one that sometimes lives with us is an oread we nursed back to health after a bad encounter. She is one of the spirits of this mountain, and has helped us as well."

That got a nod; somewhere buried under the fear, under the terror and pain of losing home, Dhaeln knew she'd been told to always be kind to the spirits of the rocks and trees if she ever had to be outside.

Outside where?!

Her fresh grief and frustration must have shown, as the drow reached a hand out to her, palm up.

Dhaeln took it, and found it eased the ache some.

"We'll stay through winter, and me elders, they will have tae choose come spring. But… yer folk be good ones, an' ye've my word that nae matter their choice, I'll be wantin' tae stay, and help ye keep making this mountain safe fer the lost ones."

Vierna squeezed her finger tips lightly. "You will be welcome.

"I will not press for the tale I am certain my people know. But I serve all those that live in Spirit Sanctuary, and that now includes your own people. Do not hesitate to find me, Dhaeln, nor think it would be a bother, large or small, to speak with me."

The dwarf, just old enough to truly choose her path, gave a nod, and believed in that.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed