=Revamped: November 5, 2015= Remember, remember, the fifth of November...Sorry, couldn't help myself XD.

Chapter Two! Where Drizzt enters...well, that's up for you to read. Why would I spoil it for you? Oh, speaking of spoilers...Just because I haven't read farther than the first three books doesn't mean you can spoil anything for me! So please, when you review, do not post anything to do with the future of Drizzt or other Forgotten Realms characters whatsoever! I like reading the reviews I get and if I see one that just screams SPOILER...it hurts.

Also, you now get to know a bit more of Ahnnie and Eld :).

"Grandpa, Eld and I are back!" Ahnnie called out in her native Vietnamese.

Drizzt entered the threshold of the house, unaccustomed to the bright lighting of the hallway lamps and chandelier. Especially the chandelier. He lifted his cuffed hands to ward off its discomfort, as if it were attacking him.

Ahnnie and Ahmereld had led the drow, blindfolded (by Eld's suggestion), through a seemingly lengthy pathway and now up to the back door of a humble little house. Only when they were at the door did they take off Drizzt's blindfold. Now he wished they hadn't.

"It's quite late," Ahmereld noticed. "And everyone's asleep. You shouldn't be so loud."

Ahnnie nodded, and waved a dismissive hand at Drizzt. The handcuffs disappeared. "You are still surrounded here," she was quick to remind him. "So don't get any funny ideas."

Drizzt nodded and flexed his wrists. He thought of saying something, a thank-you or an apology for intruding, but did not think any of it appropriate at the moment. Now in clearer light, he could see that both Ahnnie and Eld were exhausted beyond doubt and that their journey outdoors might not have been an option. Talking to them probably wasn't the best thing to do.

Other than that, Ahnnie was right about Eld being green.

The imp was green from his skin to his eyes to his hair; just so leaf-colored that he nearly made Drizzt jolt at the sight of him. Luckily his clothes weren't green as well, or the drow would've thought that they were a part of him.

Ahnnie, however, was of a different coloring. Of course, she was human, but she was nothing like the wizard who had turned Clacker from a pech to a hook horror. There was light at the time and Drizzt had seen the old man's skin as a peachy sort of color, and his hair a wiry, grayish-white.

This girl, though, had smooth hair as black as the Underdark and skin that was yellowish.

The surface world is very peculiar, the drow remarked to himself.

"Oh darn it," Ahnnie muttered to Eld, in English this time. "I just remembered that I left my flashlight back there!"

"At the cave?" he asked.

"Yes."

"We'll get it tomorrow." Ahmereld politely slipped out of his boots (shrinking him further; apparently, they had heels) and left them on a mat at the side of the hallway. "Let's just get some rest now."

Ahnnie did the same thing, though a little more impatiently than politely. "We gotta do something about the drow first." She pointedly said this in Elven.

"Tomorrow," Ahmereld said with a yawn. The way he pronounced it was comical to Drizzt and he would've laughed, if he weren't at their mercy.

And since he was at their mercy (for the same reasons he left himself at the svirfneblin's mercy), he might as well do as they do. Reluctantly, Drizzt pushed off his boots and let his bare feet touch the cool wooden floor.

Almost at once, Ahnnie and Ahmereld began gagging and coughing. Alarmed, the drow looked about him and tried to sniff out any gases or poison that might have invaded the air. But when he couldn't sense anything, he asked them, "What is wrong? Are you not feeling well?"

Eld, eyes watering, said with his hand over his mouth and nose, "What stinks?"

"Stinks?" Drizzt asked confusedly. "I do not smell anything offensive."

Ahnnie led her gaze wander over to the drow's boots, the ones he had just taken off, and was appalled when flies started buzzing over them. "I think the boots are the problem!" she pointed out.

"My boots?" The drow blinked.

"Goodness gracious, they sure stink to High Heaven!" Eld exclaimed in English.

"When did you last take them off?" Ahnnie asked Drizzt.

Drizzt pondered that for a moment. "I have not gone without my boots since I left Menzoberranzan."

"And how long ago was that?"

"I believe it was a decade ago," Drizzt said, remembering the ordeals of the Underdark wilds as he did so.

"WHAT?" Ahnnie and Eld screamed in unison.

"What is wrong?" the drow asked.

"He says it like its completely normal," Eld whispered, horrified.

"It kind of makes sense, though," Ahnnie whispered back, trying to be logical. "If you've been wandering in a place like the Underdark for that amount of time, whatever norms used to apply probably wouldn't matter to you anymore. And from what you've told me, the Underdark is a dangerous place where being caught unawares equals death. He probably wouldn't have had the time to take his boots off unless it was really important, especially if he were on his own."

That hit home somewhere in the imp's reasoning. "Yes...yes indeed...that would agree with his story of being alone, but what if he's lying?"

"Good point."

When the two of them turned back to face Drizzt, they found him bending over his boots, trying to sniff out the problem. Ahnnie hid her face in her hands, while Eld slapped himself with a face-palm. They were both thinking the same thing: He wouldn't be able to smell it out if he's been used to the scent for ten years!

"Um, Drizzt..." Ahnnie gingerly put a hand on the drow's shoulder and gently pushed him away. "I'll take care of the problem. You should follow Eld...He'll show you where the bathroom is and teach you how to use a shower." She gave the imp a you'll-do-it-and-you-won't-complain kind of glare.

Ahmereld was about to protest, but at the sudden curious look Drizzt adopted in his lavender eyes, the imp couldn't resist. His number one pride was teaching others of whatever he knew that they didn't; it gave him a sense of all-knowing. "Right...the shower..." He used his staff's dweomer to shrink it down to pocket-size and pocketed it before running off to some distant room to put the drow's scimitars away. When he came back, he stood squarely before Drizzt and cleared his throat. This was going to be difficult, especially if he was going to explain in Elven. "Bath room this way."

Drizzt nodded, and followed the green man out of the hallway and into a small living space. They passed that and the dining room, straight down another hallway, and veered over to a door on the far left.

When they reached the door Eld paused to explain slowly, "This is guest bath room. Main two upstairs, not allowed for you." Those last four words he said with much emphasis. Then, he opened the door and let Drizzt wander inside.

The drow stood mesmerized at the cold white tiles that made up the floor, the strange bowl with a crane-neck shaped tube and two switches behind it, a bigger lidded white bowl that seemed rooted to the floor, and a tub that also had the curved tube and switches. The difference between the two tubes was that the tub's tube had some kind of button on it supported by a thin stem, and it was bigger. Above it, Drizzt could see a spout of some sort that had tiny holes poked into it.

"This, the...sink," Eld struggled. He placed a hand on the edge of the bowl with the smaller tube. "You use it to wash hands." The imp did a demonstration by turning the left switch. "This is cold." He beckoned for Drizzt to feel the rushing column of water.

The drow let a calloused hand, roughened and weathered from so much fighting, touch the water. It was indeed cold.

Ahmereld turned off the current switch then turned on the right switch. "This is hot."

The water gradually warmed in Drizzt's hand until it grew so hot that he jerked it out in surprise.

"Switch them together, makes warm." Eld kept the hot one running and let the cold join in. Drizzt reluctantly reached in, and to his relief it was just right.

"Same thing for shower," Eld continued, pointing at the tub's switches. He pointed at the button and said, "Keep it raised for the shower." The imp turned it on to show the drow, who was amazed when little shoots of water raced out of the spout and hit the tub's polished floor. "Push down for bath." Eld pushed the button down and its stem shortened. The water now came flowing powerfully through the large tube, but it ended up sinking down into a drain on the tub floor.

"If you want water to fill," the imp added, "clog the drain." He twisted a knob and it sat down, preventing the water from draining out. "When it goes up as much as you want, stop switches." Eld twisted the drain knob again and the water sank away.

The imp reached over to the other side of the tub and held up what looked like a rectangular bottle, shaped so that it rested on its cap instead of its bottom. "This is shampoo," Eld explained. "Soap for your hair. Scrub it on like this." He opened the cap and pretended to squeeze it. With the imaginary lump of shampoo in his hand, Eld rubbed and scratched at his hair as though he were attacking it. "Let water rinse it all out," he warned, "or you'll itch."

He was about to explain the soap bar then, but Drizzt told him he already knew what it was. The drow recognized it from his civilized times in Menzoberranzan, although the soap's color had been much darker than this surface one.

Now Eld turned to the big, lidded bowl. "This is the toilet. Use it for...waste." He did two demonstrations (with toilet paper, too) to show Drizzt what he meant; and the drow couldn't help but find it hilarious.

"When done," Ahmereld said with embarrassment, "push the switch to have it flush away." He pushed the switch down and the water swirled away, making grotesque gurgling and slurping noises as it did so. "If your...stuff...gets stuck in and it doesn't flush," he said, "put the lid down until we fix it. Because we don't want to see it."

Drizzt nodded again, taking all this new information into consideration. The biggest question he wanted to ask the imp, however, was: Where does all that water go?

But he had no time to ask anything when Eld asked him back, "Which do you want, shower or bath?"

The drow considered the two choices for a moment. He was more used to taking baths, as he distantly remembered from his time in Menzoberranzan. Never did he have the water rush down from above before. Curiosity and logic made him decide on the shower. It seemed like a faster way of bathing, and was something new to be tried.

"I would prefer to shower," Drizzt said.

"Then you remember what I said?"

"Aye."

"All right. But wait." Ahmereld held out a hand in front of him, as if to say 'stop', and left the bathroom. Drizzt could hear his footsteps sneakily moving through the upstairs hallway, trying not to wake up the sleeping inhabitants of the house. When the imp came back, he had in his hand a bottle similar in shape to the shampoo bottle...just pinker and decorated with more flowery designs. "Conditioner," he explained. "Softens hair, makes it easier to comb. Figured it would work for you, because of your's length."

Drizzt fingered a lock of his white mane. It was not very long, just enough to touch his shoulders. But perhaps that constituted as long enough to require the use of the conditioner. He accepted the bottle and watched as Ahmereld retreated out of the cramped space.

Then the door closed in on the drow, leaving him alone...unarmed...and with no Guenhwyvar.

Almost immediately, the drow regretted his decision to give up the panther. Even though their separation would be temporary; which was, perhaps now, an unlikely thing; Drizzt felt the urge to run out, attack Ahnnie, and take back his beloved friend. They would be together again, a force to be reckoned with, and none of these 'magicians' that Ahnnie mentioned sharing the house with would dare stop them.

But he instantly shook his head at the thought; No! Ahnnie was innocent. She took Guenhwyvar because he pratically asked her to, because she needed to, in order to find out his purpose; and the look in her eyes when she held the figurine in her hand...Drizzt could swear it was something along the lines of pity. Perhaps his plea to have Guenhwyvar returned to him had struck her somehow. He gave a shrug of his muscled shoulders; only time would tell; and proceeded to undress for the shower.

"What are you doing, Ahnnie?"

"I'm trying to de-odorize these boots."

When Ahmereld finally left Drizzt in the shower, he had once again snuck upstairs to grab a clean pair of pajamas and underwear for the drow. There was no way Ahnnie or any of her family would appreciate the stink the drow would give off while wearing his old clothes, which Eld figured he hadn't taken off for ten years either. Now, coming back from his little clothes-stealing trip, he found his ward shaking a can of air freshener spray for another shower of fragrant chemicals.

"I don't think he'll appreciate that," Ahmereld remarked as he went past her to the guest bathroom. "He won't be used to all the suspicious factory-made chemicals you just used. He'll suspect us of poisoning him."

Ahnnie held up the can of Glade, vanilla scented, and sprayed it in the air above the boots. One by one, the flies were growing disinterested, but they did not escape alive. Fwap! The girl had a fly-swatter at the beck and call of her hands. "Ha! Take that, you bugs!" she said triumphantly.

Eld returned from the bathroom and was now carrying a heap of smelly old clothes, also known as Drizzt's dirty tunic, breeches, drow boxers (at least that's what it looked like), armor, and cloak. "Done poisoning him?" he asked sarcastically.

"I'm done," she said, ignoring the joke. She got up and wiped her hands, as though she had been doing hard work. "What's that for?"

"The laundry, duh!"

Ahnnie's eyes widened. "What! You're gonna put armor in the wash?"

"Well, not the armor." Eld gently lifted the metallic admantine mesh-chain and set it on the floor. "And you're wrong about me doing it."

"So it's me," she said dryly.

"Yes! I've gotta make sure the guest room is ready." The imp plopped the dirty clothes into his ward's arms, which had been instinctively outstretched to receive them anyway. "Make sure to use a gentle cycle, and not too much detergent!" he called over his shoulder when he was well down the hallway.

"You make a really good guardian, you know," Ahnnie grumbled sarcastically to herself. But her lips were curved in a smile, and they still were when she lumbered into the laundry room and dumped the dirty clothes into the washing machine. She had the admantine armor balled up in the corner under some old white sheets for the sole purpose of hiding them so that she could show them to Grandpa the next morning without Drizzt or any other person/creature getting to them first.

When the warm water filled up in the machine, the dust from the clothes instantly seeped away and, to her utter surprise, colored the water black.

"They're gonna need one heck of a wash," she remarked to herself. Taking a laundry basket up to her side, she fished the clothes out into the basket and drained the water from the machine. After she filled it up once more, she placed a dust-cleaning spell on the wet clothes and put them back in; luckily, they made the water less murky the second time. Thank goodness I remembered that spell Grandpa taught me, Ahnnie thought.

Following Ahmereld's advice, Ahnnie tipped only a tenth amount of detergent than she would normally use. As the water churned and turned soapy, she closed down the lid and turned around to exit the laundry room. She was tired, it was one in the morning, and she could always dry the clothes later, so there was no need to keep a persistent watch over them. Little did she know that Drizzt, who had finished taking his quick shower, was silently walking around the corner. She unexpectedly bumped into him.

"Xin lỗi!" (Pronounciation: Sin Loy) She apologized in Vietnamese, thinking that it was her older brother, Huỳnh (Pronounciation: Hwin). She had made the misconception upon seeing the drow in her brother's pajamas. It was short-lived, though, when she remembered that Huỳnh was fast asleep upstairs and that the current wearer of the pajamas had ebony skin and snow-white hair.

"I do not understand," the drow said helplessly.

"Oops," she said, switching back to Elven. "Guess that caught you off-guard, huh?"

Fresh out of the shower, smelling like roses, and wearing a set of cloudy skies pajamas, the dark elf looked less dangerous. His thick mane of hair was plastered wetly about his face and neck, flattening his head a bit, so that it made him look a little smaller. After examining him mentally for some time, Ahnnie was beginning to wonder why the drow's rosy smell smelt so much like the rose scented shampoo and conditioner she was currently using.

"I am never off my guard," Drizzt said. "At least, I try not to be. I always watch out for imminent danger."

"No, I mean...never mind." Ahnnie made sure to slowly pass by the drow, unsure of what he would try to do. She had heard stories of drow from her Grandpa and Ellifain, so she was not sure how to act with a live drow right there in the hallway. She was beginning to regret letting the beryl handcuffs off his slender, coal-black wrists.

Drizzt arched an eyebrow and walked swiftly after her. "Pushing that matter aside, I would also like to talk to you of something..."

"What?" she snapped nervously.

The drow seemed taken aback. "If it is not convenient..."

The human girl quickly realized her mistake when she saw the hurt in his lavender eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was just...thinking...and..." Gods, where was Eld when she needed him now? "You can talk to me about anything." Her brown eyes quickly saw the living room as the safest place; Grandpa always had a barrier around the area; and gestured for Drizzt to follow. "Let's talk over here."

With both drow and human perched comfortably on the soft couches, Ahnnie began to relax.

"So, what was it you wanted to say?"

"I was...am...curious...about your ability to speak..." Drizzt gestured helplessly, wondering what to call the language, or more accurately, the dialect. It was very (suspiciously very) similar to drow but sounded different from drow. His best guess was that it was some form of Elf, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"Elven?"

"Yes." He decided to just leave it at that.

Ahnnie heaved a sigh. "Well...I know dwarf, some goblin, and merpeople too. My Grandpa's pushed me, my brother, and my cousins to learn those languages ever since we were little kids."

"Why does he require that of you all?"

"So we can communicate each of those races. Why else?"

Drizzt paused and remembered the kooky old human wizard who had enchanted Clacker. The old man had known how to speak drow, so compared to Ahnnie that didn't seem so strange; perhaps all human magic-users had to learn a score of languages from different humanoid races. "Is it because you are all wizards?"

"Maybe."

"And of Guenhwyvar," the drow continued, remembering the panther. "Where is she?"

"Huh?"

"The panther."

Ahnnie's memory flashed back to the black feline that had leapt up at her, teeth bared for her neck. Eld had deflected the creature in time with his staff, saving his ward from becoming jungle-cat food. "Wha...? That thing was a she?"

"Guenhwyvar is not a thing," Drizzt said offendedly.

"I...I'm sorry." Ahnnie tried not to gulp. A dangerous light had flashed just then in the drow's eyes, making her wonder whether he really was handicapped at their hands, being unarmed and all. "I did not mean to say such a thing. I just assumed Gwenhi...Gwenhwee...er, the panther, to be male because of how muscly it, er, she was. And to answer your question, he...she's...right here in my pocket." She took the figurine out to show him that she was not lying. Her pockets were enchanted to hold more than just pocket-sized items, so they never bulged when she put so much as a tome in one of them. Then she quickly stuffed the onyx cat back in.

Drizzt's eyes softened at the desired but brief sight of his dear friend. Pangs of loneliness erupted within him again, even though he was having a (so far) peaceful talk with a young human. Ahnnie saw the sadness in his deep purple orbs so clearly she could not help but feel sorry for him. She felt her fear of this drow slowly dissipating at his innocently sorrowful face.

When the tension became unbearable, however, Ahnnie shook her head and jumped up from her seat, clapping her hands loudly together.

"Ok! So! You hungry?"

The drow looked down to his stomach, as if it could answer him. Now he looked a little more hopeful. "I suppose," he said. "Perhaps a little," he added.

"Hold on just a minute." Ahnnie made sure Drizzt stayed intact in his seat and ran off to find Eld. He indeed was in the guest room, fluffing up pillows and picking up some trash. He only noticed his ward at the doorway when he turned around to put the last candy wrapper in the wastebasket.

"Oh, hello, Ahnnie," he said in English. He was more flexible in English, and Ahnnie couldn't understand Imp, so they frequently spoke in that language with one another.

"Hello, Eld," she said. "Guest room ready yet?"

"Ready Freddy."

"Good! Now get Drizzt in. He's waiting in the living room." Ahnnie hurriedly turned away and raced for the kitchen. "Tell him I'll bring him his food!"

"Oh, so now we're giving him room service?" Eld said after her, but she didn't hear. "And she left him alone? Great," he mumbled. "I'll have to put extra locks on his door, for sure!"

Ahmereld raced to the living room and found Drizzt still sitting there, nice and clean in his new pjs, curiously fingering a lock of his white hair; probably because it was now very soft and fragrant. Eld had, of no mean intentions, grabbed a women's conditioner for the drow. There was just no other kind in the house because all the other men had short and managable hair. So even though Drizzt used a man's shampoo, the scent of roses overpowered it.

"Dark elf," Eld said. "Come into guest room."

He led Drizzt into the room, a nice little light yellow space with a matching bed and desk. At the same moment Ahmereld could hear Ahnnie slamming the microwave door shut, and the noisy beeps that ensued as she pressed its buttons to reheat some food.

"Like?" Eld asked him.

"I do like it," Drizzt remarked. "Thank you." He took slow and cautious steps up towards the bed, feeling that if he stomped too hard the dream would disappear. A bed! Tonight, he was to sleep in a bed! For ten long years, the drow had not felt the comforts of blankets or pillows, not since he left Menzoberranzan. Seeing a fluffy-looking bed now, he felt it was just too good to be true. But when he sat atop the fleece comforters, he knew he wasn't dreaming.

Ahnnie came in soon with a plate of hot food that seemed strange to the drow; some sort of white grain, a slab of meat, and a swirl of greens. It smelled appetizing, yet seemed strange.

"This is what I could find from the leftovers," she explained to the drow. "The white stuff is rice...it's a type of grain...which, in turn, is a type of plant that grows from the ground! And this is Cousin Val's special Korean barbeque steak, and that's the Rau Muống (Pronounciation: r-OW moo-ung) I made. It's a vegetable, like spinach but different, and I cooked it with garlic and some salt, so it's not as disgusting as plain spinach. I hope you like it."

Drizzt took the plate and set it on his lap, using his fork to push around the rice a bit before heaving some up into his mouth. It was actually quite good.

"What are we, a fancy restaurant?" Eld retorted in English.

"We can't let him starve," Ahnnie answered. "And he has a right to know what he's eating," she added.

"What happened to your fear of the drow?"

"Well..." Ahnnie's eyes trailed away, not meeting her guardian's harsh green orbs. "I'm still scared, of course. But he just seems so...different. Innocent, even!"

"Don't you know that drow are crafty liars?"

"Well, your clothes can't lie!" Ahnnie protested.

"What?"

Then she explained to Ahmereld how Drizzt's old clothes turned the laundry water pitch black, and how it was only due to magic that they were swishing in the soapy wash at this moment. "That does back up his claim of living away from his city for ten years, you know."

"That could happen from months of traveling," Eld argued. "You can't tell."

"I don't want to argue anymore," she pouted, now seeing how futile it was to change Eld's mind. "We'll show him to Grandpa tomorrow and see what he decides. So good night."

"Good night," Eld mumbled softly, and tip-toed up to place a little kiss on her forehead.

"Wha...what...in front of a guest, too! How old do you think I am, three?" Ahnnie protested with embarrassment. "I'm fifteen!"

Eld smiled and stood at the doorway, waiting for her to exit.

"Good night, drow," Ahnnie, still beet red, said in Elven to Drizzt, who was stuffing quantities of rice, meat, and Rau Muống into his mouth with considerable speed. "Just clap twice to turn the lights off. There is a bathroom behind that door if you need it. Yes, that one on the right. And when you're done eating, set the plate on the desk."

Drizzt nodded and continued eating, watching the two of them, human and imp, close the door, then listened as they placed a multitude of locks around it. Several times he heard a magic incantation being used.

That night, Drizzt could barely sleep. The food was so good, the blankets so comfortable, the air so still...everything was just so unlike Menzoberranzan. It was not on a level of physical quality that incurred these thougts; materially, Menzoberranzan offered better; but it was of how everything just calmed his soul. He had seen, from the corner of his eye, the affection Eld showed to Ahnnie before they left. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he was sure Ahnnie had (playfully) reminded Eld that she was too old for those goodnight kisses.

The relationship they shared resembled something almost parental. Instantly, Drizzt's thoughts turned to Zaknafein, his mentor, his friend, and his father...

He turned over onto his side, fighting tears that were coming ten years too late.