A/N: Based upon the classic 'Brother and Sister' tale that is often confused with or conflated with the names of Hansel and Gretel, but is in actuality unrelated.

Brother and Sister

Once among the drow, there were a brother and sister, of a great and noble bloodline that had fallen on hard times. The brother was training to be a warrior, the sister a priestess, but both were still quite young. A distant member of their kin, of a lesser part of the House, took control over the House while they were away at their training, but a servant managed to slip forth and warn them not to return, lest they die to make room for their kinswoman's own children.

They turned and left the city, slipping forth into the Wilds, seeking to escape such a fate.

They had not gone too far before the sister became thirsty, and wanted to drink from a pool of water nearby.

"Brother, there is a pool here. I will have water."

Her brother bowed his head, but looked closely upon the pool, and saw that it had not lain unused.

"Sister, please, do not drink, for the kuo-toa have been here, and I fear you may be trapped and drowned."

Annoyed but accepting the necessity, the sister agreed to continue. Soon, however, she became thirsty again.

"Brother, there is a pool here, and I must have water."

Her brother bowed his head, but gazed upon the water, and heard in its ripples the truth of a curse; whoever drank from the water would be transformed most hideously into a terrible hook horror.

"Sister, please, do not drink; you will become a hook horror and devour me, and then wander alone in the caves."

His sister scowled, but they walked on.

At last, they reached another pool, and the sister cast so scornful a glance at her brother that he drew back in fear of her anger, and did not hear the truth until it was too late; whoever drank from the water would become a bat.

"Sister, wait," he cried, but she was drinking already.

Her clothing slid away as she shrank into the form of a bat, dim-sighted and small.

The brother gathered up his sister's belongings, and caught her in her own skirt. Then, holding her close, he hurried on.

"I will find a place for us until the curse can be broken," he vowed, and searched long amid the tunnels until he found a passage that seemed safe enough to shelter.

They stayed there for years, and in time he grew to understand her bat-squeaks just as though they were speech.

"I will fly where I please," she told him, one day.

"You will, but please take care, and return soon," he begged.

She flew away, and did not return for many days. Her brother grew worried, until at last she returned, barely able to fly on a wounded wing.

"Where did you go?" the brother asked as he treated her wound.

"I returned to the city to see what has become of our House, but I was shot at by the crossbows of a patrol."

"Please do not go back there," her brother told her, not wishing to be left alone in the Wilds.

"I will fly where I please," was all she said to him.

When she had recovered, she flew out again, back to the city. There, she crept to her House, fluttering about and acting so unbatlike that her kinswoman sent soldiers to track and follow her.

She evaded them three times, and each time they reported failure. At last, her kinswoman was so angry that she chose to follow the bat herself.

The sister flew back, away from the city, her kinswoman following, also in bat form due to a spell. She flew back to her brother and whispered urgently in his ear, and as their kinswoman flew closer, he raised his crossbow and shot her down.

She transformed back into herself as she fell, and the siblings rejoiced, for their lives would no longer be in danger from her.

Then, they remembered that as long as the sister remained cursed, she could not claim her rightful place. Still, the brother urged her not to lose her ambitions. He searched the body of their kinswoman and found numerous valuable items.

He then wrapped his sister close in fabric and returned to the city.

There, in exchange for the items he'd found, he paid a wizard to break the curse, and his sister was restored to her own form.

They returned in triumph to their House, the sister punishing their usurping kin and becoming Matron Mother. The brother remained there as her weaponsmaster, valued for his skills and for the deeds he'd accomplished in aiding her, and both remained strong and restored their House to its proper glory with their determination.