Chapter Twelve
Catti-brie was furious. Not only at Drizzt, but at herself as well. She shouldn't have gotten angry at being pushed away again but she had been frustrated and not thinking properly.
Sighing, she let herself fall onto the bed she had been given in one of the many guest bedrooms. She growled into the pillows and pounded them with her fists once, hoping that would ease her anger and mind.
They had been so close! She had thought that the long years of waiting were finally over. Instead, he had once again brushed her aside, this time stating that starting something with her in the first place was a mistake.
Well, she wouldn't give up on him if he didn't give up on her. She had not spent the last 4 years just to break up with the drow.
Sighing, she turned around to lay on her back, hands under her head, when a knock was heard at the door. Getting up and letting in whoever it was, she was surprised to see Tarathiel waiting patiently, a thoughtful look on his face. She immediately thought the worst of his bite.
"Tarathiel, are ye goin' to be gettin' furry every month or not?" She asked, anger heard in her voice, not able to show the worry for her elf friend in her present mood.
Tarathiel shook his head and wandered over to the bed. Sitting down, he patted the spot next to him and waited as the human woman closed the door and joined him.
"I just had a talk with Drizzt. He asked me to come and talk to you." He stated, getting right to the topic at hand.
Catti-brie frowned. "Ye be goin' back and tellin' him that I be just as upset as he is."
Tarathiel shook his head. "This has nothing to do with how angry or upset or frustrated you may be. This is about something else."
"What then? Do all elves go about talkin' in riddles?"
A slight laugh escaped Tarathiel at that. "Not all the time." Shaking his head slightly, his black hair covering the tips of his ears, he turned to look right at Catti-brie. "Drizzt was trying to explain something to you, but could not find the right words."
"Aye, he kept on sayin' that...before he kept on sayin' that the whole thing be a mistake since the first kiss."
"It was." The moon elf stated, watching shock turn into anger.
"What are ye gettin' at?! I'm not to be givin' up now!" Catti-brie stated, her voice amazingly calm considering the anger that was quite clear in every action her body made.
Tarathiel sighed, closing his eyes for some long minutes, before opening them again and looked at the blazing woman next to him.
"Regardless of the fact that he is drow, he is still an elf. I do not know much about his kind, only that he is more surface elf than one of his Underdark kin. Surface elves mate for life...once their partner dies or is killed, they spend the rest of their life alone.
"Drizzt is very young and the likelihood of your dying before he reaches true adulthood is relatively high. He will not take that risk, no one wants to be alone in that manner for centuries."
"I don't be carin' if he's alone for all eternity unless he tries with me!" Catti-brie yelled, seeing Tarathiel wince.
"He wouldn't be too happy to hear you say that. He knows now, has for quite a while considering a conversation I had with him before his...breakdown. He cannot be with you, even though he wants to be. Please, at least try to understand...you can go out, meet somebody else, marry, have children, fight to the end of your life with your husband by your side, but it won't be Drizzt that you marry, it will not be his children that you carry. Both of you would be happier if you found yourself a human male to be your husband."
Catti-brie could not find words easy to come by after hearing that. Instead, she stared long and hard into Tarathiel's blue eyes, seeing that he told the truth and nothing but.
Sighing, the woman bowed her head and realised that she had just truly lost Drizzt. Tears sprang into her eyes and she didn't resist the arms that suddenly held her in a hug.
It was so unfair! First Wulfgar, her first lover had died, but had been brought back again seven years after being relentlessly tortured. Now Drizzt too was no longer a willing partner in that area, and never truly had been.
Still, she had always wondered why they didn't go any further than kissing. At least now she knew.
Her tears stopped after a while and she decided to go find Bruenor to tell her foster father this new, sudden development between her and Drizzt.
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Drizzt had sat down after Tarathiel had left and thought for a while. Shaking his head as he realised there was no other thing to do but break up with the red-headed, fiery woman, he got back to his feet and headed out to try and find Wulfgar to ask about Delly's condition.
Out in the corridor, he kept one hand on the wall, counting all the doors he passed, hoping one didn't suddenly open, dropping him to the floor. Luckily, he was spared that embarrassing fate and made it safely to the door he knew led to the Healer's Quarters. Knocking gently on the door before opening it, he poked his head in.
"Wulfgar?" He called out gently, not knowing if the blond barbarian was in there or not.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you with Catti-brie?" Wulfgar asked, walking over to the blind drow and escorting him further in to the room in the direction of his sleeping wife.
Drizzt winced. "Not any longer," he replied softly before shaking his head. "How is Delly?"
"Sleeping in the bed right in front of you. The blow to the stomach caused the baby to stress. Both will, or at least should, be fine." Came the reply the dark elf had been hoping for.
Drizzt sighed in relief. "I forgot for a minute that Delly was with child."
Wulfgar chuckled lightly. "I find it hard to believe myself." The barbarian stated, looking down lovingly at his wife.
Drizzt sighed, wishing that there was something he could do to help but thinking it to be pointless. He was not about to start slipping back into one of his depressions if he could help it, so he shook his head and smiled. "Come. Why don't you take me into the city for a while. It will both let us forget what plagues our minds."
Wulfgar agreed, taking the arm of his mentor and leading him where Drizzt wanted to go. Soon, the two were busy losing themselves in the hustle of different races.
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Shade glared angrily down at the few stragglers that had made it back from the raid he had prepared on Silverymoon, in his third attempt to kill that damned drow Do'Urden.
He growled angrily at the humans, orcs and his own pack for their utter stupidity. He noticed with growing anger that his children were missing, presumably killed in the fight.
Being the Bloodmaster in this area, now his business done with the small group of Malar worshippers that lived in Quaervarr, it was his job to kill them...but he had a better idea. With the loss of so many of his brethren lately, he decided to spare the humans and change them into werewolves.
He grinned, showing fangs lining his mouth instead of teeth, a trait he picked up from being a born what he was. A wolfwere. In his current human guise, not all his wolfish traits vanished.
Quickly, he went through the ranks of is helpers in this crusade, killing any orcs he came across and scratching or biting the humans.
After he had many more followers, he thought back to the last person, before these few here before him, he had bitten. An elf! One that he hoped would soon join his pack, as the Moon elf seemed to be a close friend of that Mielikki worshipping drow ranger.
If the elf didn't join him, he would just have to try again with another member of the small group the Do'Urden whelp hung about with.
He knew his time was growing nearer, as with the sudden blindness, the drow's scimitars' range seemed cut short. He could win where his children had failed and be known as the strongest Bloodmaster in Faerûn!
A/N - Short chapter, yes, and rather bad.but it is up after I had a little downtime given to me by ff.net for having Author's Notes written as a chapter.Ah well, I'm back now.soon to bring you the next chapter to Memories, a crossover and a little fic I did for the Library of Moria's Archive Challenge.
Thanks once again to all my reviewers. HumbleMaster, Singvogel, LunaLillium, She-Cat, DragonEyeZ, TheBladedancer, Maffeoel, Carlin Robertson, Chichi X, and Icingdeath.
Catti-brie was furious. Not only at Drizzt, but at herself as well. She shouldn't have gotten angry at being pushed away again but she had been frustrated and not thinking properly.
Sighing, she let herself fall onto the bed she had been given in one of the many guest bedrooms. She growled into the pillows and pounded them with her fists once, hoping that would ease her anger and mind.
They had been so close! She had thought that the long years of waiting were finally over. Instead, he had once again brushed her aside, this time stating that starting something with her in the first place was a mistake.
Well, she wouldn't give up on him if he didn't give up on her. She had not spent the last 4 years just to break up with the drow.
Sighing, she turned around to lay on her back, hands under her head, when a knock was heard at the door. Getting up and letting in whoever it was, she was surprised to see Tarathiel waiting patiently, a thoughtful look on his face. She immediately thought the worst of his bite.
"Tarathiel, are ye goin' to be gettin' furry every month or not?" She asked, anger heard in her voice, not able to show the worry for her elf friend in her present mood.
Tarathiel shook his head and wandered over to the bed. Sitting down, he patted the spot next to him and waited as the human woman closed the door and joined him.
"I just had a talk with Drizzt. He asked me to come and talk to you." He stated, getting right to the topic at hand.
Catti-brie frowned. "Ye be goin' back and tellin' him that I be just as upset as he is."
Tarathiel shook his head. "This has nothing to do with how angry or upset or frustrated you may be. This is about something else."
"What then? Do all elves go about talkin' in riddles?"
A slight laugh escaped Tarathiel at that. "Not all the time." Shaking his head slightly, his black hair covering the tips of his ears, he turned to look right at Catti-brie. "Drizzt was trying to explain something to you, but could not find the right words."
"Aye, he kept on sayin' that...before he kept on sayin' that the whole thing be a mistake since the first kiss."
"It was." The moon elf stated, watching shock turn into anger.
"What are ye gettin' at?! I'm not to be givin' up now!" Catti-brie stated, her voice amazingly calm considering the anger that was quite clear in every action her body made.
Tarathiel sighed, closing his eyes for some long minutes, before opening them again and looked at the blazing woman next to him.
"Regardless of the fact that he is drow, he is still an elf. I do not know much about his kind, only that he is more surface elf than one of his Underdark kin. Surface elves mate for life...once their partner dies or is killed, they spend the rest of their life alone.
"Drizzt is very young and the likelihood of your dying before he reaches true adulthood is relatively high. He will not take that risk, no one wants to be alone in that manner for centuries."
"I don't be carin' if he's alone for all eternity unless he tries with me!" Catti-brie yelled, seeing Tarathiel wince.
"He wouldn't be too happy to hear you say that. He knows now, has for quite a while considering a conversation I had with him before his...breakdown. He cannot be with you, even though he wants to be. Please, at least try to understand...you can go out, meet somebody else, marry, have children, fight to the end of your life with your husband by your side, but it won't be Drizzt that you marry, it will not be his children that you carry. Both of you would be happier if you found yourself a human male to be your husband."
Catti-brie could not find words easy to come by after hearing that. Instead, she stared long and hard into Tarathiel's blue eyes, seeing that he told the truth and nothing but.
Sighing, the woman bowed her head and realised that she had just truly lost Drizzt. Tears sprang into her eyes and she didn't resist the arms that suddenly held her in a hug.
It was so unfair! First Wulfgar, her first lover had died, but had been brought back again seven years after being relentlessly tortured. Now Drizzt too was no longer a willing partner in that area, and never truly had been.
Still, she had always wondered why they didn't go any further than kissing. At least now she knew.
Her tears stopped after a while and she decided to go find Bruenor to tell her foster father this new, sudden development between her and Drizzt.
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Drizzt had sat down after Tarathiel had left and thought for a while. Shaking his head as he realised there was no other thing to do but break up with the red-headed, fiery woman, he got back to his feet and headed out to try and find Wulfgar to ask about Delly's condition.
Out in the corridor, he kept one hand on the wall, counting all the doors he passed, hoping one didn't suddenly open, dropping him to the floor. Luckily, he was spared that embarrassing fate and made it safely to the door he knew led to the Healer's Quarters. Knocking gently on the door before opening it, he poked his head in.
"Wulfgar?" He called out gently, not knowing if the blond barbarian was in there or not.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you with Catti-brie?" Wulfgar asked, walking over to the blind drow and escorting him further in to the room in the direction of his sleeping wife.
Drizzt winced. "Not any longer," he replied softly before shaking his head. "How is Delly?"
"Sleeping in the bed right in front of you. The blow to the stomach caused the baby to stress. Both will, or at least should, be fine." Came the reply the dark elf had been hoping for.
Drizzt sighed in relief. "I forgot for a minute that Delly was with child."
Wulfgar chuckled lightly. "I find it hard to believe myself." The barbarian stated, looking down lovingly at his wife.
Drizzt sighed, wishing that there was something he could do to help but thinking it to be pointless. He was not about to start slipping back into one of his depressions if he could help it, so he shook his head and smiled. "Come. Why don't you take me into the city for a while. It will both let us forget what plagues our minds."
Wulfgar agreed, taking the arm of his mentor and leading him where Drizzt wanted to go. Soon, the two were busy losing themselves in the hustle of different races.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------
Shade glared angrily down at the few stragglers that had made it back from the raid he had prepared on Silverymoon, in his third attempt to kill that damned drow Do'Urden.
He growled angrily at the humans, orcs and his own pack for their utter stupidity. He noticed with growing anger that his children were missing, presumably killed in the fight.
Being the Bloodmaster in this area, now his business done with the small group of Malar worshippers that lived in Quaervarr, it was his job to kill them...but he had a better idea. With the loss of so many of his brethren lately, he decided to spare the humans and change them into werewolves.
He grinned, showing fangs lining his mouth instead of teeth, a trait he picked up from being a born what he was. A wolfwere. In his current human guise, not all his wolfish traits vanished.
Quickly, he went through the ranks of is helpers in this crusade, killing any orcs he came across and scratching or biting the humans.
After he had many more followers, he thought back to the last person, before these few here before him, he had bitten. An elf! One that he hoped would soon join his pack, as the Moon elf seemed to be a close friend of that Mielikki worshipping drow ranger.
If the elf didn't join him, he would just have to try again with another member of the small group the Do'Urden whelp hung about with.
He knew his time was growing nearer, as with the sudden blindness, the drow's scimitars' range seemed cut short. He could win where his children had failed and be known as the strongest Bloodmaster in Faerûn!
A/N - Short chapter, yes, and rather bad.but it is up after I had a little downtime given to me by ff.net for having Author's Notes written as a chapter.Ah well, I'm back now.soon to bring you the next chapter to Memories, a crossover and a little fic I did for the Library of Moria's Archive Challenge.
Thanks once again to all my reviewers. HumbleMaster, Singvogel, LunaLillium, She-Cat, DragonEyeZ, TheBladedancer, Maffeoel, Carlin Robertson, Chichi X, and Icingdeath.