A/N: Ooookaaay. Why does no one review? I have, like, 33 hits and no one has reviewed. :( I feel so unwanted ... did no one like it? I hope you getmore drawn in by this chapter ... the next one will be some time in coming, though, I have four other stories I'm working on at the moment and this is kinda at the bottom of the list. Please review, and maybe it'll come sooner!

Drizzt Do'Urden grinned into the morning sunlight. He was visiting Silverymoon, enjoying the spectacular sights and experiences the amazing city had to offer. He stopped and chatted with a few guards he was familiar with before moving on.

He stopped at an open-market ground. He wanted to get a gift for Catti-brie, for her birthday, but he had no idea what to get. He sighed. Maybe if he looked around he'd find something.

He was strolling by a weapons cart when a rushing surface elf maiden nearly ran him over. She crashed into him, and they both nearly fell over from the impact.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she gasped, "I wasn't watching, I'm sorry . . ." she stooped to pick up the groceries she'd dropped.

"It's alright," he assured her, assisting her efforts to pick everything up. She looked up at him gratefully. An odd look came over her face, one that he couldn't place, but was pretty sure he knew the source of. He braced himself.

To his surprise, she merely nodded her head and thanked him again. "By the way," she added, "Have you seen anyone about looking . . . well, like yourself?"

He blinked at her, not understanding. "A drow! Have you seen one?"

Confused, he replied, "No, why?"

She sighed. "He went to get a dagger, and now I can't find him, blast him." Seeing his shocked look, she hastened to explain. "He's not really a drow; a wizard put him in a polymorph."

She could see by Drizzt's expression that she had only served to confuse him further. "Never mind," she said, sighing.

Suddenly, from behind them, came a shout; "Ria!" a slender cloaked figure called as he weaved through the crowd. He trotted up to them. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" Ria scolded.

The young drow grinned and shrugged. "Well, I was looking anywhere, so I guess that's why we didn't find each other!"

The surface elf rolled her eyes. "Come on, we've got to get going," she said, and started hauling him away by the elbow. "Thanks again!" she called over her shoulder to Drizzt. The young polymorphed drow looked back and started to grin, but stopped halfway through as their eyes met. Purple eyes met startled purple eyes. Both jaws dropped as Ria hauled the strange drow around a corner.

Drizzt stood there a moment, then turned away, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Would he have a story to tell his friends when he returned to Icewind Dale!

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"Ria . . . that drow . . . he . . . I . . . Ria!" Aari stammered as she hauled him along the streets.

"What?" she snapped.

"That drow! He has my eyes!" he exclaimed, shocked to his core.

She nodded, never slowing down. "I know. And I don't believe in coincidences. I don't think he has anything to do with the wizard, though." Aari nodded. He didn't think so, either.

"So, what connection does he have with you?" she continued, thinking out loud to herself. Aari shrugged as they turned another corner.

Suddenly, he halted, jerking Ria to a stop. "What - " she began, but stopped at a gesture from him. Her keen ears soon picked up what had alarmed him.

"Yes, that's right, some wizard named Diamaetus, or some such name. Nearly bought all my wares! Said he was headed for someplace up north in Ten-Towns, up in Icewind Dale. Huh, all wizards are crazy, if you ask me."

"Well, you got a pretty good haul, dincha?"

"Yep – sucker couldn't bargain at all."

She ignored the rest of the conversation, having heard all she'd needed to. Aari whispered the name again. "Diamaetus."

Diamaetus. The wizard that had transformed Aari to his current state, and left him bloodied and dying in a forest grove. The name that haunted every one of her companion's nightmares, the ones where he woke her up with his panicked screams. As she watched, a haunted look arose in Aari's violet eyes.

"Well, let's go," she said, coming to a quick decision.

"Wha-?" Aari asked, lost.

"We're going to find Diamaetus and make him change you back," she said, refraining from adding an unflattering descriptive noun to the end of the wizard's name.

"Oh . . . are you sure that's a smart thing to do?" he questioned as she returned to hauling him through the streets by the elbow.

She didn't even pause as she replied, "This coming from you? Mr. 'lets-go-get-ourselves-nearly-killed-because-I-didn't-listen-to-Ria-and-then-laugh-crazily-about-it-afterwards?' Hah."

He shrugged, not denying the charge, and complacently allowed her to drag him along the streets of Silverymoon, both of them ignoring the continuing stares of passersby. Ria didn't care, and Aari was used to it.

Aari started to innocently hum a lively tune, and merely grinned at the grumpy elf when she turned to glare at him.

The two marched off to barter for supplies – enough to get them to Luskan. Or rather, Ria marched off, keeping a tight hold on Aari so he wouldn't vanish again.

As she was bartering for horses, Aari broke away long enough to go gaze at the horses in the corral. One came over and whickered at him. He grinned and rubbed its muzzle, making whuffling sounds that the horse apparently understood.

Ria came back to him after some intense bargaining. She grabbed two horses, one of them being the one that Aari had made impromptu friends with, and marched off, yelling over her shoulder, "Come on! We need to get to Luskan before winter really settles in!"

Aari shook his head, laughed slightly crazily, and jogged after her.

A/N: Sooo ... interesting yet? If yes, tell me. If no, still tell me. Reviews feed the author, and I'm starving here! People are reading this, so why does no one review? ((sniffles)) Okay, I'm good now. Anyone guessed what Aari really is yet? Or are ya'll still in the dark?