True 3 (``````````` (``````````` 3 302

Zak's smile suddenly threatened to take in his ears. "Exactly!" he exclaimed, grabbing Drizzt by the shoulders and shaking him, less than gently. "It hurt you to have to let me go, but I see that you understand that you never truly had to."

      Drizzt nodded thoughtfully. "You're with me now," he said slowly.

      "I'm with you, now." His smile was sad. "But not as you would like me to be."

      The room started to grow brighter, the walls disappeared to be replaced with trees, and suddenly Drizzt and Zaknafein stood in Montolio's grove. Drizzt watched his father for a long moment, before turning to look around him at the familiar setting.

      "Goodbye, Drizzt," Zak's voice whispered, from very far off. Drizzt turned back as quickly as he could, but the other drow was already gone.

      "Goodbye, Zaknafein," Drizzt murmured.

      "Drow?" called the voice of Montolio De Brouche, to Drizzt's left. The ranger was just coming out of his house, an owl perched comfortably on his shoulder.

      "Mooshie," Drizzt greeted, reigning in the bittersweet recognition of this dream-world for what it was.

      "Thought I heard your voice." The blind ranger walked unerringly towards him. "What are you doing here?"

      "Searching for something," Drizzt replied with a wistful sigh. Montolio nodded.

      "I thought I told you that you would never find what you were meant to find if you just stayed here," Mooshie admonished gently.

      Drizzt reflected for a moment on the fact that, while Zaknafien had understood why Drizzt was with him immediately, Montolio seemed genuinely confused.

      "That was the problem from the start, Drizzt. You're very young for a drow, and I am very old for a man. If I let you stay, you were going to have to accept the fact that it was never permanent. If you had met me as a baby it would have been little different."

      Drizzt nodded, tears coming to his lavender eyes. "I believe I'm catching on now."

      Montolio smiled at him. "Well, good. Then you can go and leave an old man in peace."

      "Thank you, Montolio."

      Drizzt awoke suddenly, Innovindil's soft voice calling him back to consciousness. He looked at her for a moment before he stood up and stretched.

      "Where were you, just now?" the elf asked.

      Drizzt glanced to the mouth of the cave, where the sun was soon to set. "I was... starting towards an understanding."