Drizzt shook his head as he strode down the road. He'd told Jack that ruling people by fear only made them despise you. But what had he done to Blair Hayworth if not the same thing? His stomach twisted. Was he showing Jack the same example as his father had? That the strongest fighter got what he wanted?
Drizzt's steps slowed. The day was growing cloudy and cool even as the sun rose over the forest. He drew his cloak around him and stared at the yellow and red leaves on the trees, not seeing their beauty. He hadn't known how else to get through to Hayworth. After all, the man had charged at him. Drizzt sighed. Would Hayworth's son see a difference between his father's actions and Drizzt's? A slight breeze raised goosebumps on his skin and ruffled his hair, carrying with it the scent of rain. He ran a hand over his face. What he'd done had been done to stand up for the boy, not to display his power over a weaker person for some sort of gain. Would the lad see that?
Drizzt took his unicorn pendant in one hand. "Mielikki, I'm trying to do what's right." He let the pendant drop. Going to visit the other two boys in the same manner suddenly didn't seem like the most effective plan. He lifted his head to where smoke rose from the chimneys of the dwarven mines in the distance, and an idea sparked. Surely a few days of hard work in the mines with Bruenor's boys would show those bullies that school was a better option—if they could behave there. Swinging a pickaxe and shoveling ore would give even a strong lad sore enough muscles to be sorry and time enough to think. What's more, Bruenor's boys would have no trouble keeping three schoolyard bullies in line. Drizzt's shoulders relaxed. It seemed a better long-term solution than just cowing them all with threats. He lifted his eyes to the treetops where a squirrel scurried, cheek pouches full of seeds, and he wondered if Mielikki had helped him. Maybe he'd never know.
Drizzt pointed his boots toward Mithral Hall. Time to arrange some meetings.
"You told on me."
Violet nearly dropped the water pail into the stream. Zak stood directly behind her with his arms crossed, silhouetted in the afternoon sun. She squinted to try to make out the expression on his face, then set the bucket down and straightened up. "Yeah." A shiver ran down her spine. "Are you mad?"
Zak held so still that only the wind rippled his cloak around him.
Violet felt a twinge in her stomach. She wanted to take a step back, but the stream was right behind her. "Are you going to hit me?" Her voice squeaked on the words.
Zak uncrossed his arms and shook his head. "Guess you were trying to help." His voice was flat.
Violet bit her lip. "Don't hate me, Zak."
Her brother stepped closer and then she could see the anguish in his eyes. "How can you think I would ever hate you?"
Violet looked down. "You've been different since school started. You hardly even talk to me anymore. We used to be friends." Her eyes stung.
Zak picked up her full water bucket and turned abruptly. "We're still friends," he said gruffly. "Come on. I'll carry this for you."
Violet looked up at him. Her brother frowned down at her with a hand on his hip, but he looked like he might cry too. It was how he'd looked that time when he'd gotten his fingers slammed in the schoolhouse door, or when he'd fallen off the top of the woodpile and twisted his ankle. Violet stared at him for a moment and then threw her arms around him. "I missed you, Zak."
He dropped the water pail, and it splashed the side of his pant leg up to his knee. Violet's hug nearly cracked his ribs, making it hard to breathe. "Hey, not so tight."
She dropped her arms, frowning, but he hugged her back, and when he let go, the frown had turned into a half-smile.
Zak picked up the pail. "I guess I had a lot going on." He shoved the bucket into the bubbling spring and raised it, dripping.
"You could've told me." His little sister reached out to grip the handle of the pail with him, but Zak moved it away.
"I've got it."
Violet frowned at him. "We used to carry it together."
Her words gave him pause. Lately he'd tried to carry everything by himself. A formation of geese flew south overhead, and Zak slowly nodded, watching them. "Well, for old times, then." He held the pail out to his sister.
Violet took the handle with him, and they started down the trail back to the yard. "Kel'nar said there were bullies."
Zak licked his lips. "Yeah."
By supper that night, something in Zak's chest had eased. It felt as though something thick and suffocating had dropped away. He looked at his family, seated around the table with him, and Mum smiled at him.
"We're going to a meeting tonight. Try not to burn down the house."
Zak snorted a laugh, and it felt good. "We won't."
Beside him, Violet bounced up and down in her seat. "Can we call Guen?"
Kel'nar nodded, and his eyes twinkled.
Mum cleared her throat. "She stays out in the yard though. I've had enough panther hair and broken furniture in here."
"Aw, Mum!"
"I mean it, Violet."
"But what if some goblins or bandits get into the house?"
Zaknafein leaned closer to Kel'nar and pitched his voice low. "Is the meeting about the bullies?"
Kel'nar nodded.
"—a problem if ye keep the door latched," Mum was saying.
"But what if—"
Kel'nar set down his fork. "Grandpa Bruenor and his boys have agreed that those three can work in the mines for a while," he explained quietly.
"Well, of course Guen will come in then, Violet, but I really don't think—"
Zak's eyebrows climbed. "Was that your idea?"
Kel'nar touched his unicorn pendant as he so often did. "It came to me. The dwarves will bring Jack and the others there tonight if their parents agree."
It was suddenly quiet in the room.
"Grandpa Bruenor's taking the bullies to Mithral Hall?" Violet's eyes were wide.
Kel'nar nodded at her and took a sip of his spiced cider.
"What if their parents don't agree?" Zak wondered aloud.
"I think they will." Mum said it, but Zak glanced at Kel'nar.
His father set down his cup. "I visited Jack Hayworth this morning."
Zaknafein's eyes widened.
Violet leaned forward in her chair, both hands gripping the edge of the table. "Did you beat him up?" she asked breathlessly.
Kel'nar shook his head, not sharing her smile. "Seems he does to others what his father does to him."
Her mouth dropped open. "You mean his father punches him?"
Kel'nar nodded once, his expression grave.
Zak's ears rang, and he suddenly felt like he was staring down a long tunnel. Jack's own father … A moth bumped against the glass of the window, and Zaknafein could hear the tiny sound, the silence was so complete.
Kel'nar spoke again. "I think I got through to him. And through to his father. Jack will keep his muscles in line even if they don't go to the mines."
"His muscles?" Violet wrinkled her forehead. "He's tall, but his arms aren't so big."
Kel'nar shared a look with Mum, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "I mean Ernie and Ollie, Violet. Jack's like the brain, and the other two are like the muscles. The muscles do what the brain says."
"Ooohh."
Zak shared her newfound understanding, but didn't let on. "Are you going to talk to them too?"
Kel'nar looked at him. "If I need to."
"What if they break Zak's arms?" Violet blurted.
Zak's stomach clenched. He'd filled Violet in on their way back from the stream. Now she'd gone and asked the question he couldn't bring himself to ask in front of them all.
Kel'nar pushed his chair back and put his hands on his knees, leaning forward to look at Zak and Violet both. "If they don't go to the mines tonight, I'll come along to school tomorrow."
Violet grinned, but Zak's stomach dropped to his boots. "Kel'nar, no! They'll think I'm a baby!"
"Out of sight, Zak," Kel'nar said calmly. "I'll come along unseen. If the bullies try anything, I'll intervene."
Mum cleared her throat. "You could just tell Jack to call 'em off."
Kel'nar looked at her. "I could. I want to give him a chance to act on his own though. He needs a chance to make his own decisions rather than just be ordered around all the time." His voice grew quieter. "He needs an opportunity to change."
Mum sighed. "You always see the best in people, Drizzt. Sometimes I don't know if it's there."
Kel'nar nodded. "He's not unfeeling, Cat. I saw a glimpse of that today."
Zaknafein stared at his father with a frown, remembering Jack punching Charlie in the stomach while Ernie and Ollie held his arms. "He still deserves consequences!"
Kel'nar met his eyes and held them. "That he does. But he also deserves our pity."
Zak swallowed, finding it impossible to look away. Part of him wished he didn't know about Jack's father. It would make it easier to go on hating Jack.
Violet leaned forward in her seat. "Doesn't Mr. Hayworth deserve consequences too?"
Kel'nar looked at her, freeing Zak's gaze at last. "I broke his nose."
A grin spread over Violet's face, and Mum cleared her throat.
"It's time we were going, since it's an hour's walk." She stood up. "Clean up these dishes, and mind you fill the wood box before you play."
Zak and Violet nodded.
Mum disappeared into the bedroom, and Kel'nar crossed the kitchen and picked up his boots.
Violet turned to Zak. Her hands flashed in the silent code. "Kel'nar is so …" She paused for a moment, as though she couldn't find the right word, then flicked her hands up and apart, fingers splayed in a wordless exclamation. The closest word in Common was wow.
Zaknafein didn't disagree.
The school board and this many parents hadn't been together since the solstice picnic at the end of last term. The schoolhouse was crowded and every lantern lit, causing a smoky haze. The room smelled of oil smoke and damp leather boots. Cattie-brie wrinkled her nose and edged closer to the woodstove, hoping the scent of burning wood might overpower the less pleasant aromas.
Parents perched on desks or in chairs that were too small for them. Others stood against the walls, leaning on windowsills and pine boards. At the front of the room, the six members of the school board conferred with heads together by the blackboard.
Drizzt stepped to Cattie-brie's side, and Bruenor joined them, studiously avoiding the many stares he was drawing. "Ye'd think they'd never seen a dwarf before," he grumbled.
Cattie-brie grinned and pecked him on the cheek, drawing even more stares. "Thanks for coming, Da."
"Bah!" He crossed his arms and stared straight ahead. "Don't mention it."
Drizzt caught her eye over top of the surly dwarf's head and raised both eyebrows with a smile that looked decidedly like a smirk.
Cattie-brie bit back a grin that her adoptive father surely wouldn't appreciate and coughed into her sleeve.
Bruenor glanced at her, but just then Will Jensen, head of the school board, rang the handbell on the teacher's desk. "I'd like to call this meeting to order."
Drizzt and Cattie-brie walked home hand in hand under the starlight. Cattie-brie sighed. "Hopefully five days in the mines will smarten up those boys. I'm glad everyone was agreeable."
Drizzt scanned the forest beside the trail. "Everyone but Hayworth."
"Well, he wasn't there."
Drizzt nodded. "Can't imagine he'll be too pleased when Bruenor and the board visit him on their way home tonight."
Cattie-brie squeezed his hand. "He'll have to go along with their decision, won't he?"
Drizzt watched the warm shape of a fox slink away through the trees. "Most likely." He sighed. "But maybe five days without his son to order around will just make him all the crueler when Jack returns."
Cattie-brie stopped walking and took both of his hands. "You did what you could, Drizzt. You went to help our boy, and ended up helping another boy too."
"Did I, though?" He looked down at her. "What's to say his father won't beat him when he returns?" He shook his head. "I can't stomach the thought."
Cattie-brie pulled him into a hug. "Not if he knows he'll get worse from you."
Drizzt ran a hand through his hair. "It's not much of a guarantee, or much of a solution."
Cattie-brie looked up at him. "I think it will be enough."
Drizzt's shoulders slumped, and he looked down into her eyes, shining in the moonlight. "Does that make me a bully too?"
Cattie-brie shook her head firmly, no trace of doubt tainting her voice as she answered. "No, Drizzt. It makes you a protector, just like you've always been."
Drizzt exhaled slowly, his breath curling away in the frosty night air. He gave a small nod, his tense arms relaxing around her. "Thanks, Cat."
She nodded seriously, then took his hand and tugged him down the trail. "Let's go see if the children have burned the house down in our absence."
Drizzt huffed a laugh and caught up with her in a step. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
She looked up at him with a coy grin. "You may have done, but tell me again."
