Traveling along the river was easy, the bank was mostly sandy with patches of grass popping up sporadically. There weren't many boats riding down it but whenever I saw one I would duck into the brush to hide knowing the reaction people would have if they saw a dark elf skulking about. It took three days, but I finally reached were the river converged. By the time I'd arrived there the meager rations I'd found in the knapsack had ran out and a growing hunger was gnawing at my stomach so I decided to go spear fishing. Searching around I found a sturdy straight branch and began to sharpen it on some rocks near the river bank. Before entering the water, I stripped off my rags till I was in the loincloth that passed for undergarments. The nights were cold this far north and the meager protection the rags provided was the only comfort I had while awake practicing.

Trying to spear a fish was tough they darted quickly about avoiding my jabs skillfully. I ended up splashing about making a racket and most of the fish were chased away. I calmed down and tried again moving slowly to a new spot. I held the spear tip just below the water remembering something I'd seen on the discovery channel. Some fisherman at night would shine their flashlight on the surface a draw the fish in.

" Lumye" I whispered drawing forth the ball of light and willing it to float just above the surface near my spear tip. Slowly a large fish began creeping towards it hypnotized by the glowing blue light when it was just about to poke it with its face I jabbed and nailed it through the side. "Yeah" I whooped in celebration, dancing around waving my fish on a stick.

Laughter from the sandy bank broke me from my revelry. I turned sharply the fish dangling limply from the sharp stick clenched in my fist. It was the only weapon currently on hand and I caught my first sight of him. He stood there leaning almost casually on a tree, his hair was a stark white like my own though his skin had a purplish tint while mine was more like obsidian. Even from where I stood I could see the startling shade of his lavender eyes watching me a little warily. I knew it was probably because he'd rarely had a good interaction with a Drow of either gender besides his father. One hand rested slightly on one of his twin scimitar ready to move into action if I proved myself to be a threat. As I stood there silently observing him I could tell he was doing the same. His eyes trailing me up and down glancing from me to the rags hanging on a sapling near the river.

Drizzt Do'Urden had been growing weary of his travels. Since he'd come to the surface seven years before his only companion had been his trusted friend Guenhwyvar and the ranger Mooshi, his first friend on the surface.

Years of shunning and being driven away from any village he approached had worn him down. That was until he heard of a new place Ten-Towns.

He'd safely left the weeping friars in Mirabar and picked up a horse to begin the long trek northward before winter set in.

At the end of the first day as he approached the stream to wash off the travel grime, he heard something thrashing about in the water.

Slowing his steps, he moved his hands towards his scimitar years of practice making his footfalls inaudible. He approached cautiously wary of danger ahead, but on the lookout for someone in trouble. What he saw when he broke the tree cover stunned him, like someone delivering a blow to his world-weary head.

A youngling Drow splashing about in the water. He looked barely out of his first decade slimmed shoulders with large hands he hadn't yet grown into. He was trudging through the water in a tattered loincloth, his dark skin bare to the sky. He seemed unarmed a dangerous thing to be in these parts, until he turned slightly revealing the sharpened stick in his hands.

He was fishing and doing a bad job of it if the defeated set of his shoulders was an indication. The boy stopped suddenly stilling himself. He whispered something as he dipped his spear back in the water Drizzt barely caught it with his hearing "Lumye". a small blue globe of light appeared over the spear. The child was a wizard.

So not unarmed. Wizards were dangerous if not handled correctly especially to short range fighters like himself. That last Drow wizard he'd faced had nearly killed him when he'd taken him by surprise to wrest Guenhwyvar from him.

The child whooped loudly as his spear darted into the water and came up with a large fish. He danced laughing in joy something he'd never seen Drow children even the females do in the Underdark. He almost believed it wasn't possible. On closer inspection, there was something off with the child's appearance. Something in the shape of the eyes and structure of the face. It hit him suddenly. A memory of a little elven girl that he'd hidden under her mother's corps. The boy was a half Drow.

Drizzt moved forward the boy still hadn't seen him, so he purposely stepped on a dry branch to gain his attention. His head whipped towards him lavender eyes so like his own filled with fear, then caution as he stared at me.

Drizzt glanced sideways noticing the tattered rags hanging from a nearby branch. Whatever they had been they weren't good for much more now.

Drizzt was going to take a chance, maybe a foolish one. He raised his hands from his swords moving cautiously forward so not to startle him.

" Hello child. I am Drizzt Do'Urden formerly of Menzoberranzan. What are you called."

Hesitantly the child replied, "I am Damien formerly of Moonwood"

Indeed, he was from the surface. Drizzt was suddenly hopeful, it had been years since he'd seen another of his brethren. The last being the undead monster that his mother had turned his father, Zaknefein into.

This child had to have suffered some hardship to drive him alone into the wild.

"I have a fire, if you'd like to dry yourself and cook that catch of yours" Drizzt said trying to appear as non-threatening as he could. If the boy declined, he was prepared to abandon the trek north to follow him to try and convince him.

The child squared his shoulders standing straighter then spoke with what was obviously feigned confidence "Ce..certainly I would be glad to join you. Let me gather my belongings." He stumbled from the water his nerves clearly shaken. As they should be. If any Drow but Drizzt had stumbled on him he would be killed immediately, or worse dragged back to the Underdark and killed slowly as a sacrifice to Lolth.

How desperate he must be for companionship to follow a strange Drow. Maybe as desperate as Drizzt?

Arriving at the fire the child not far behind him.

Drizzt moved his hand cautiously in clear view of Damien and drew a small hunting knife from a sheath near his boot.

He passed it to Damien hilt first. The boy gutted and scaled the fish in silence before setting it over the fire to roast.

They broke their supper in silence as tension permeated the air. Damien was waiting for Drizzt's questions but the older Drow seemed content to wait. While traveling, Damien had been working on his back story. He'd decided to little was better than too much, so he'd just regurgitate the spiel his patron had given him.

It was so strange to see someone he'd read so much about in person. He knew almost everything about him, his past, his hopes and dreams for the future and his turmoil with what he is and how he'll fit in into this new world he's found himself in.

So, suffice it to say Damien was feeling a bit awkward. Might as well get on with this.

"So, uh. What is a Drow elf doing here on the surface."

Drizzt raised an eyebrow "One could ask you the same question" a wry smile tugged at his lips. " I came here to the surface to find a better life. I'm that you have heard stories of the Drow. But even they do not encompass all of the evils and cruelties of our race. In Menzoberranzan the city is ruled by the Priestesses of Lolth who enforce her twisted, destructive rule with an iron fist." As he spoke Drizzt eyes were distant and the light from the fires cast him in shadow. "There are Noble houses that rule the city made up of mockeries of families. They scheme and plot and destroy each other scrambling for power and status. There are no friends and little kindness. Only temporary allies who are only with you long enough to get where they want before they betray you."

Here he turned to look at me over the fire. "I committed one of the greatest sins of our people. I doubted. I questioned the actions and behavior of our race. The vicious madness barely kept in check that caused all to lash out and poison everything around it. Eventually I couldn't reconcile my life there with my principles. So, I ran. I traveled the Underdark for years alone until I eventually made my way to the surface. How about you? How did you find yourself dressed in rags and wandering the woods alone?"

Taking a breath Damien started in on his own fabricated tale. "My mother was a moon elf she was assaulted during a Drow raid on the surface fourteen years ago, and I resulted from it. My mother loved me but our clan could not forgive me my heritage and I was exiled a few years ago,. I knew enough to live and survive on my own. I mostly avoided people, hunting and fishing for food along the rivers."

Drizzt gave me an empathetic look. "I have been alone for a while to. I found making friends here on the surface has been difficult. I made one a ranger named Mooshi, but he died five years past. I'm making my way to Icewind Dale to Ten towns. I have heard it's a place of rogues and outsiders. A place where even someone like us could be accepted."

Drizzt suddenly looked nervous and hopeful all at the same time. I realized how ingeniously the god had laid this plan. Drizzt worn down by years of loneliness must think it was a miracle to find a Dark elf raised away from the horrors of the Underdark. Someone who shared the burden of his stigma. Who could maybe be something he was longing for a friend.

"Well, I've heard of Ten Towns. If you wouldn't be opposed I wouldn't mind traveling with you."

The flash of glinting teeth was in a joyful smile showed his eagerness. "No I wouldn't mind. In fact, I don't think anything could make me happier.