Chapter 7--Settling In
Catti-brie showed Arian to the guest room. "Dinner will be ready soon. We'll eat when the others arrive," she said.
"Thank you, Lady Do'Urden," Arian said.
Catti-brie laughed. "Just Catti-brie will do, my husband and I care little for formalities," she said. "Someone will come get ye when it's time to eat." She left.
Arian looked around the comfortable room and grinned. I think I'm going to like it here, he thought. He hurried to clean up and change before it was time to eat.
Two hours later Drizzt came up and got him then led him to the dining room. It was crowded and a bit noisy. Introductions were quickly made and greetings exchanged then everyone sat down.
Arian was a bit nervous at first, but everyone was very kind and made him feel welcome among them. Drizzt filled everyone in on the council meeting.
"Having other trained rangers about was a wise suggestion," Delly remarked. "It will be a lot of help."
"To bad ye have to train them, eh Drow?" Bruenor snorted.
Drizzt just sighed. "Not much choice in that," he said.
"Don't you want to train them?" Arian asked without thinking then blushed as he realized it was probably was none of his business.
"I never thought of myself as much of a mentor, I really haven't trained many people," Drizzt shrugged.
"You trained me, you can train others," Wulfgar said. "You underestimate your skills."
"All I can do is try," Drizzt said. He turned to Bruenor. "The yetis are getting even more numerous and hostile. I thought maybe you, Wulfgar and I could go on a hunt and thin them out some," he said.
"Sounds good, Meself, I could use a good hunt," Bruenor said.
"I'm in too," Wulfgar said.
"What about me?" Arian asked.
"You aren't going, at least not this time," Drizzt said.
"But why not?" Arian asked, disappointed.
"Because you're a novice fighter yet and I don't think it would be wise to take you. You can go when you've had some proper training--not before," Drizzt said.
Arian slumped. "Yes, Drizzt," he said.
Drizzt shook his head. "Be patient, to become a warrior takes time," he said.
Arian hated to admit it, but he knew the Drow was right. He wasn't skilled enough to join them yet.
Dinner ended and after a couple hours of just talking everyone left.
Drizzt and Catti-brie went to their room and settled down to sleep. Catti-brie laid her head on Drizzt's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Always the guardian, I love ye, me dark warrior," she said. She fell asleep. Eventually Drizzt did too--confident he was right where he belonged.
Arian jerked awake when someone pounded on his door and nearly fell out of bed. He managed to stumble to the door and open it.
"Good morning, get dressed and come down to eat then we'll get started," Drizzt said. He headed off down the hall.
Arian grumbled to himself as he got dressed then paused to look out the window. The sun had just risen! Muttering under his breath, he left the room.
Drizzt watched him as Arian sat down at the table still bleary-eyed and more then half asleep. Drizzt sat down across from him. "Better eat something, you have a long day ahead of you," he said.
Arian filled his plate and began to eat. "Where's Catti-brie?" he asked.
"Still asleep, why?" Drizzt asked.
"I wanted to thank her for breakfast," Arian explained.
"She didn't cook this, I did," Drizzt said casually.
"You cook?" Arian asked, surprised.
"Yes and so will you eventually," Drizzt shrugged.
After breakfast they went out to the sparring field. Drizzt gestured to it. "Laps around the field," Drizzt ordered.
"How many?" Arian asked.
Drizzt shrugged. "I'll tell you when you can stop," he said.
Arian started the laps. He had a feeling that Drizzt had told the truth about being a hard trainer……
Sorry the lack of action in this one, but it will pick up soon----R/R and let me know what you think of this---R/R Please!!!