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Notes of Desperation (9102 words) by
MerfillyChapters: 4/4
Fandom:
Forgotten Realms,
The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. SalvatoreRating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zaknafein Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre, Malice Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Original Drow Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Torture, Escape, Rebuilding, Reunions
Summary:
A winding tale of how three Do'Urdens find family in full.
2 new chapters
Chapter Three
Vierna only rarely came to the west coast wanderers, having her hands full managing the permanent village in the north. Mynera, however, would never ask lightly, and her people were well able to do the work without her.
Dhaeln would keep track of harvest and preparation tasks that needed to be done still while she was gone. That dwarf was always on top of organization, to Vierna's eternal gratitude.
The moonbridge had only just faded out when Lleona and Neerbryn caught her attention for the concealed camp they had, with the bard being the one to take her hand and bring her across the wards.
"I do appreciate you coming, though I admit I may be reaching for star dust with the tale I have for you," Lleona said. "Well, Shana and Neerbryn will tell the actual happenings, and I'm just involved because I remembered a story you told us once."
"We had an encounter in Skullport that may have impact for you," Neerbryn said, leading back to the center of the camp, where everyone was working on gear, except Starneth who looked to be actually sleeping with his familiar sleeping on top of him.
"Spell rebound," Zira commented idly. "He's out cold, but otherwise unharmed by it."
"He sleeps so rarely and poorly that I chose not to heal the effect," Ilmryn said with a grin.
"Can't really argue with that," Vierna agreed, knowing how high-strung the magic user was. That he had reason did not detract from how difficult it made him.
"So I recently too Neerbryn and another fighter down into Skullport, to trade and see if we could get any further rumors of the power situation, as it has shifted some," Shana began. "I think I may have met the drow responsible for several of the Dragon Hoard's ventures foundering of late.
"He approached us, though, and we did not have time to confirm who he works with or for, as he had a question for us. He wished to know if our people provided teachers to those who were… how did he say it, Neerbryn?"
"For ones that couldn't be practical in how they lived, or something like that," the fighter said, shaking his head. "No bats, no spiders, no sigils of any kind," he added.
"Wouldn't we have already known if one of our Lady's searchers was down there?" Vierna asked, to get a feel for this. "Or is the one he is questioning for not drow? We have seen some of Vhaeraun's take elven children to raise."
Shana shook her head. "The man called this boy his only surviving child, and his reaction to my offer for them both to come our way made me feel like he truly believes in the bond of family. Now, let me describe him for you, as Lleona thought this was very important.
"He's a little tall for a deep drow male, and there was no doubt he was one, as deeply light-drinking as his skin was. He had most of his hair unbound, with just two side braids linked behind to keep the mass out of his face in the breezes. He wore well-made clothing of surface manufacture; I could not make out the armor beneath it but know it was there. Most strikingly, he carried two swords, equal length, of the style I would describe as full-length, not the short swords some fighters use in pairs."
Vierna had steadily grown more interested in the description, and Neerbryn spoke up.
"He gave his name as Zaknafein, and once Lleona asked for you, the rest of us recalled your tale of the Weapon Master."
"But if his son is like us, why have we not heard it? How is he all the way here? What became of the House, so that he could escape the Matron's grip on him?!" exploded from Vierna.
"He said the boy is third born who survived. Scrying and other magics, even divine healing, fail with him, the father said," Shana said. "I promised to have someone meet with him a month from that meeting, intending to ask for Xinval and probably Rylla to go, once Qilué had considered it, but… if you think this man is connected to you, how do you wish it to be handled?"
Vierna knew good and well her own protector was likely to want to shake her for what came out of her mouth next. "I will go. But I will lean into the Silverhands for support on this."
Mynera nodded. "Wise. Outside magic, especially of such a strong family, might be the best for detecting what was done to the boy… or if this is an elaborate ruse of some kind. I do not think it is; your family name is rarely uttered, and the connections between your enclave to the rest of us is kept quiet among the clerics, for the most part."
"Exactly," Vierna said, pleased that her reading of the situation matched that of these veterans of intrigues in the Underdark and on the surface, people who risked everything to get others to safety on a frequent basis. "Now, since I am here, fill me in on doings among the bands?"
"Oh, now she's done it. She's invited Lleona to talk at length," Jhuldrin said with amusement.
Even with Thyl in the same tavern, sitting away from her, Vierna realized she had not felt this vulnerable in a very long time. She was away from the seat of her power, in a city where evil reigned more than not, and specifically held people of her Goddess's Twin's influence. She knew that others of her faith traded here regularly. It was ridiculous to feel this way —
— and she realized it had far more to do with who she was here to meet. She had enjoyed her days of instruction under the Weapon Master, had come to an almost certainty that he had to be the one who fathered her. If he reacted poorly, it was going to wound her, soul-deep.
She waited, trying not to be impatient or show outward signs of looking for someone, annoyed by the modesty veil she had decided would give her a chance to at least speak to the man before he reacted to her features. After all, she knew good and well how much she favored the matron of the house she had been born to.
After what seemed like forever, but had likely been less than a full hour, the memory from her past walked in, wearing surface clothing and gear, hair still as thick and lush as ever, though the side braids did keep it out of his face. That was sensible, anywhere there was wind to stir it. The man noted her, took note of the others around, then sauntered to her table as if he had control of the entire world around him.
Given his combat skills, she had no doubt of that in this meeting.
"You were prompt," he said, sitting down at the table opposite her.
"How could I be anything but, when my cousins pulled me to them and told me your name." She reached up to push the veil back. "Hello, Weapon Master. I did survive, and much of that was your teaching to me."
He stared at her a long moment, then took a long breath in, letting it out slowly. "Well, seeing you makes me more convinced that everything since I made a deal to steal my son out of the House has been nothing but a death dream," he said equitably.
"No. You live. And if it is your son you seek teaching for… I am more than certain that you really are my father too," she said in a low voice, half-worried he would deny it.
"Argued with your mother over your upbringing, got removed from patron for it. The small gifts I managed… they were because I wanted to be your father in full, raising you, preparing you for the world!"
She smiled brightly, then laid her hands in the middle of the table. "I knew the Temple would kill me. I was never going to hide my heart the way it would have taken… and it would have destroyed me as I was to try.
"But I also couldn't risk involving you, not when she was so peculiar about you. My goddess showed me a way, and took me to a strong protector." She then laughed. "He will have words for me coming into this city like this, with only one to guard me."
"The half-elf?" Zaknafein asked, even as he laid his hands in hers, tightening his fingers around hers in acceptance of this meeting.
"Yes. Wizard-fighter, and hopefully able to tell why my Lady cannot perceive your son — my brother! — when She is supposed to be able to call to all goodly drow."
Zak looked over at Thyl a moment with very little movement of his head, mostly his eyes, then nodded. "Take a room here; it's the safest place for you. I'll return with Drizzt, so you can meet him, and we can talk more."
She squeezed his hands at that. "Gladly, father."
Seeing him soften to that made her heart sing, before they parted, temporarily, to arrange matters.
Drizzt's first impression of the people he was to meet was the sound of laughter and a playful argument about who was getting the door, and why it was supposed to be which one. He caught the male voice saying she needed to be careful, and the female voice saying that the man would be scary to a new person.
Drizzt made himself brace for anyone that could be scary as the laughter increased and it seemed like the man had won the point. When the door opened, he had to look up and his eyes did get a bit large. He had seen half-human elves, but none so tall, and never wearing a mage robe with a sword!
"That would be your sister's guard," Zaknafein said dryly.
"Thyl. Inthylyn Aerasumé, if being very formal, but please don't. I try not to do anything that warrants it," Thyl said as he stepped back, letting them in.
Drizzt caught the wry look on his sister's face — he had an actual sister, the one that had made Zaknafein emotional to speak of! — and wondered at it. He was fixing it in his mind that she looked more like himself, seeking the ways she favored their father, because the initial resemblance to his mother hurt.
Malice had treated him well, and even though he had realized it was a ploy, to keep him loyal to her only, Drizzt had struggled to remember she was as evil as Briza and Maya.
Or, had been, rather, given the House had died the night Father escaped.
"And I am Vierna, though I am sure Father told you that," the priestess said warmly. "Your name is Drizzt?"
"Yes. And I knew your name already! Father spoke of you in my second year of training with him, because I tried the same counter you did to a maneuver." He grinned at the memory.
"Zaknafein, though I am sure you already knew," the eldest of them said to the half-human.
"Vierna has entertained us over the years, speaking of your skill, sharing what she learned with us," Thyl told him. It made Drizzt feel even more warmth for this woman he was just meeting, to know she had carried Zak's legacy and shared it further.
They all got comfortable in the room, with Thyl sitting away from the family who chose to share the couch in the room. Vierna sat on one side, having reached for Drizzt to grasp his hand and squeeze in greeting, with Zak at the other end.
"First question, to both of you," Vierna said seriously. "If we can learn why Drizzt wasn't known to my goddess, will you be willing to come to where I live, for lessons for him? If not, something could be arranged with the local bands, but they have not yet made a permanent place to live that is safely under rock."
Zaknafein was the one to answer first. "While I would love to live with both of you, I have not yet repaid the man that made it possible for Drizzt to live free, not the way I count it. In a few years, maybe. But either way, I'd prefer he be with you… if that is his choice."
Drizzt considered, then sighed. "I am too unlike the others to safely stay here," he admitted. "I've done well enough so far, but it's like when I was in the mercenary's care; I am too different and people don't like what is different." He turned to look at his father. "You would come, in time?"
"As long as your sister's goddess doesn't decide I'm too typically drow for Her tastes to be near Her people."
Vierna shook her head. "You are the utter strangeness that is a drow who found the middle path, Father. I did check before offering. If you had not been… I would have begged the more senior cleric to assign one of her strongest to take over long enough for me to help Drizzt get his feet under him as a different kind of person from you."
"You… really?" Drizzt asked, something about abdicating whatever role she held, even for a temporary period of time, filling him with awe. They'd only just met!
"Take over?" Zak asked, catching more nuance than his son did.
"Vierna is the First Cleric of the only permanent village on the surface for good drow," Thyl said lazily. "She was one of its founders, and still leads, as much as leadership is needed, along side a few elders of the races that live there.
"That senior cleric she mentioned is in the process of carving space out of Undermountain, but it is slow going, with all the magic and regeneration spells in there."
"Did well for yourself," Zak said, proud of her.
"For my people. We needed a safe haven away from the Underdark, so I went above with others. A few of those first ones are still with me; others took up the roving life that many of ours do, both Above and Below." Vierna looked back to Drizzt. "Yes, I would. Family is very important to us; we want it to be a source of comfort and strength.
"One of the few things our people have in common with most of the ones who follow the god worshipped here."
Drizzt's face got cloudy for a moment, then he nodded. "Then yes. I want to go with you, and for Father to join us later, and maybe we will be a full family that works the way my heart feels they should."
"Then I guess I need to earn my keep and see if I can at least figure out why you are hidden… but I might need a lot of help to get it taken care of once I know," Thyl said.
"Fortunate for us that you have lots of help in your family," Vierna said sweetly, making them all smile a bit.
Zaknafein was unable to go with his children to meet the archmage that would look at what Thyl had found. He threw himself into studying the city all over again, trying to find the best paths to information, the right investments to make in the power structure, as part of readying to turn this over to someone else once his pride was satisfied he'd paid for Drizzt's freedom.
He had no intention of remaining so far from his children now that he knew he could be with them, not for long. He was back at the Dimmed Lantern on the third day after their leaving, to see Thyl, Drizzt, and another half-human that looked like Thyl but not Vierna.
"Son?"
Drizzt gave a small smile. "It's alright. My sister is helping the archmage that helped me remove a curse that affected her sister!"
"When I headed out, I didn't know that the local Aunt would immediately have a task that Vierna could help with. Honestly, I should have already asked her if she'd look at the curse," Thyl said. "And I had already intended to introduce you to the local brother," he added, turning to the other half-human.
"Boesild Aerasumé. I do prefer Bo, but don't flinch from the full name as some of my brothers do," Bo said for himself. "You are Zaknafein Do'Urden, and if I have pieced together the puzzle down here, you are not associated with the Temple or the mercantile company that gives us so much trouble down here."
Zak inclined his head. "And the introduction is because?"
Bo gave a tight smile for that bluntness. "So I can find you, or you me, just in case, as I have just learned that my brother is tied up in your family via your daughter. If things happen, communication should follow."
"Ahh. Well, that does make sense." Zak looked Drizzt over. "What of why you went? And other things?"
Drizzt sighed. "I was hidden, at birth, directly by Her," and he made the profanity with his hands, causing both the tall men to grin. "It's gone, and I am going to go to my sister's village, to learn more about the Surface and how to be me."
That had Zaknafein opening his arms, and the boy flew into them, hugging tightly, to the warm looks of both half-humans. Zak had decided that family — obviously — had strong meanings for them, so he would let them see this.
"Then we'll get you packed up, so Thyl can take you on to wherever Vierna is… and as soon as I think I have given full measure, I'll find my way to you, through the Dancers' communications."
"That… sounds great," Drizzt breathed.
It would be more time separated, but Zaknafein needed his son to be safe and well… something this place had not given him in full.
Chapter Four
"He's painfully young," Vierna confided in Thyl, once they had managed to get Drizzt to go to bed, despite being in the home of a very powerful Surface human. "And his curiosity is so brazen!"
Thyl chuckled, stroking her hair, letting the familiar sounds of his Aunt's home soothe him from everything.
"Reminds me a little of seeing my brothers at that age," he agreed. "We were encouraged to be curious, but from all I have seen of your people… it's a dangerous trait and not one easily relearned to have."
"Father said he was removed from the House before the Academy, but I cannot see an all male mercenary band having been nurturing to that either. Especially knowing that any daughter of Malice's would have scarred him in his mind," Vierna murmured. "Never mind that mass of silver on his back."
Thyl growled a little at the memory of seeing those. A shared soak in a mansion had left all of them pointedly making light conversation around Drizzt to avoid revealing their horror at the scarring, when the boy was absolutely oblivious to them.
"Aunt Laeral is curious if he was chosen for that hiding spell due to some destiny, or just the meddling spider seizing an opportunity for chaos. Aunt Syluné finds him intriguing because of all of his questions about her tinctures and potions and plants." Thyl smiled softly. "I'm looking forward to seeing him interact with our people at Spirit Sanctuary, and learn how they encourage him to find who he wants to be."
Vierna's soft smile, as Thyl claimed the work of her lifetime as one of his homes made her settle back from her worry. Drizzt was young, had yet to mature past the constant questioning… and she had concerns on how well that would be handled by her more suspicious survivors of the Underdark. However, she could and would make it possible for her brother to learn all he wanted, with the help of her lover and his kin if necessary.
Syluné rested a hand on Vierna's arm, gently stopping her forward momentum, and raising a finger to her lips. The cleric followed the elder woman's line of sight to where her brother was sprawled on the ground, laughing softly as a young fox sniffed and licked and bounced around him. A more mature fox, likely the mother, was sitting at a distance, watching, but not protesting the play.
"What in all the realms," Vierna breathed. "Those are not tame creatures!"
"No. They do not bother my coop, but that's because Aumry," her voice hitched slightly, "made a point of setting game entrails in a specific spot, a habit I've asked my grounds-keeper to maintain. They've known for years to go there for plenty of food.
"But they are not tame, and yet the kit has been playing with your brother's hair and fingers for several minutes."
Vierna nodded. She was so very glad she had been able to give insights to the curse present on the body, so that Syluné might yet find a way to have her love returned to her.
Having two people watching must have made an impression, but neither woman was sure if it was Drizzt or the foxes that had noticed it. Drizzt sat up, slowly, and the pair of foxes melted off into the twilight.
"You made a friend," Vierna said, once they had vanished, coming out fully into the garden, smiling at the radiant peace on Drizzt's face.
"I did!" He grinned, then bounced fully up to come hug her in an exuberance of emotions. "The sunset was so beautiful! Also, Thyl said Lin needed him, and he didn't know how long until he'd be able to return to you."
"Lin is his twin, a brother born at the same time as he was," Syluné said, coming to take a seat in one of the chairs around the table kept there. The other two joined her, and she focused on Drizzt. "You have a magical artifact, Laeral said, one with a mingling of void and astral energies.
"Are you willing to have me look at it and see what I can learn? I know she was too tired after aiding you."
Drizzt considered, then slowly removed the figure from his pouch, setting it on the table but not yet relinquishing it. "Father said he banished a planar creature that looked like the statue, but so very big. It was in the spoils he'd taken off the hunters that tried to stop him from escaping the House being destroyed.
"Along with other magic components; we used most of those to trade with, but this? It felt good to me, made me… I don't know. I could calm and center if I held it, even when I saw drow being very drow."
Almost twenty years in his father's keeping, and he still felt so much discomfort at what Zaknafein found pragmatic. Drizzt was more relieved than he had wanted to admit that his father had found a different way for him to explore living free.
He made himself meet Syluné's eyes, decided that yes, he did trust her enough for this, and pushed the figure to her. Vierna took one of his hands to help him stay calm, as the arch-mage studied the magical artifact.
"One moment, while I confer with an older expert," Syluné eventually said.
A few minutes later, a wizened man with a pipe emitting blue smoke and a crooked wizard's cap teleported to the spot within the wards used by the extensive family, striding over with a swiftness that belied his elderly appearance.
"You found the legendary Guenhwyvar?! By the stars, what a lucky man you must be," the wizard exclaimed, looking directly at Drizzt.
"My father found the figure, saer, and gave it to me for keeping," Drizzt said politely, even as his chest felt tight. A legendary thing? Surely they would take it from him now.
"You heard the name? Can you repeat it?" Syluné asked, as she slid the statuette back to him, making Drizzt's eyes widen, betraying his worst thoughts of them.
"I believe so."
"Guenhwyvar," the wizard said slowly. "You'll want to move to the clearing there; legend said she was nearly twice the size of a material plane panther."
Vierna watched her brother do just that, while the wizard took the vacated seat.
"Cleric Vierna, I take it? Good to meet you."
"You must be Elminster; I've heard stories," she told him, but her eyes never left her brother.
Drizzt was centering himself, and decided to sit on the ground, uncertain what size a normal panther would be. He left both hands on the figure, intently pushing his thoughts of being friends even as he said the unfamiliar name.
"Guenhwyvar, please come here," Drizzt said, unaware of how that courtesy word only elevated him further in the eyes of the two humans. A black mist formed from the warm statuette, and then… then there was the most magnificent cat, not a fleck of color in her fur but the deepest, truest black, and intelligent golden eyes that stared intently, weighing Drizzt to his bare soul.
"The figure remains, she did come… this is indeed Anders Beltgarden's masterwork, accidental as she was," Elminster murmured.
Drizzt heard none of the discussion at the table, his eyes fixed on the cat's for several heartbeats. Then, rising up only to his knees, he reached one hand out to her, transfixed by the hope he felt beating at him from the cat's own spirit.
"We are both of us free, here above, and can be friends, if you wish it," Drizzt said softly.
That brought Guenhwyvar close, sniffing the hand, before offering her full head for petting. She moved all the way into his space, and he devoted himself to finding all the itchy spots, to stroking that sleek fur, silently promising her that he was going to make sure she never regretted trusting him.
"I think they are both content?" Vierna said, awestruck by the massive predator and her slender brother bonding at a level that looked almost divine.
"I think that touch of wild in your brother may be opening them to a lifelong bond," Syluné said, catching whispers of a Weave around the pair. What was this boy that one goddess had thought to use him as a catspaw, and now he was invoking ranger gifts without any patron of his own?
Jarlaxle sighed loudly, feet up on the edge of Zaknafein's desk, but it was all for show. He'd known, ever since Drizzt had been in his keeping, that he would not have Zak's swords and skills forever.
"You'll keep the sending stone?"
"Of course. Will do my damnedest to make friends with a wizard that can get me places swiftly even," Zak told him.
"But your son — and your daughter! — are elsewhere, and you have more than repaid my investment."
"I still say you were still on the minus side in my ledger," Zak drawled, before they both started laughing.
"Alright, alright… but you're staying with me while I am here for this visit." Jarlaxle's one visible eye glinted, and he watched Zak's features take on that lustful danger he so loved.
"Might not get any work done," Zak rumbled, standing from his chair. That was the only invitation needed for more private activities.
Thyl himself came for Zaknafein, and made certain to teleport them when it was full night in Spirit Sanctuary. Vierna came to key the wards to allow her father inside.
"Drizzt is away with a teacher, but will return soon," Vierna told him, showing off the village on a tour that let everyone get a glimpse of the legend that had trained her and 'their ranger', as Drizzt was affectionately called. "He found a calling, and spends most of the warm months away from here now."
"I'd swear it's only been two years since I gave him to your care," Zak said gruffly.
"So it has been, but he's always in good hands when he leaves us," Vierna assured. "Drizzt is thriving in his chosen path, has this place as home, and a need to explore that we cannot — will not — hamper."
"If he's not with the ranger that is trusted to know this place exists," Thyl interjected, "he's with my aunt, who is also a ranger. Or her husband, another one."
"Hmph." Zak sighed, then shook his head. "So, tell me all about what I need to know, to make a place for myself here, and what my dancer has been up to on this path he's chosen."
"Gladly, father."
Rafi leaned against the rock, Zak not far from him, both of them watching as the siblings sparred with smiles on their faces.
"I thought life was pretty perfect to find Vierna, with all of her skills and drive, so that we could make a place safe for us out of the Underdark," Rafi murmured. "But then she brought her little brother here, and he's sparked so many smiles and laughter, helping even our most vulnerable ones move forward with hope just by being who he is.
"And we owe both of them existing to you, Zaknafein. You're damned amazing, to have survived so long, but you also are the reason they are as they are."
Zaknafein looked over at the other man, one he was settling into a true friendship with. "I might take credit for her… I tried to influence her as much as I could. But that faerie-souled boy is something else altogether," he said with a half-smile.
Rafi had to laugh; Drizzt was still strange, even here, but the strangeness made him more a part of them all, instead of less.
"I suppose that's fair. House Do'Urden lives… in three unusual drow that shredded the webs around them."
Zak's eyes gleamed, considering that a fine revenge on Malice for her unwillingness to change, even a little. "A fitting fate."
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