A/N
Could fit into canon, can be disregarded as an Omake. Because there was a startling amount of plot that made its way into Drabbles. And I'm trying to fix that.
In addition: the sequel to the Write the Future has begun posting, the prologue is up. The current plan is to alternate posting between here and Scribe of the Sidhe.
Enjoy!
Once more to Faerun
Guenhwyvahr had experienced many different adventures in the course of her life. Her favorite ones had all been with Drizzt Do'Urden, the master she called and heeded as a friend before he ever held her statue. But she had been summoned by another in an unexpected incident. A human spellcaster who also fearlessly approached melee combat.
The interaction had been brief, but striking. She remembered it curiously, half wondering if it had not been a dream. She had almost convinced herself that it had been when the fabric of her plane shook. Something new was here. Something that did not belong. The astral panther rose abruptly, whiskers trembling as she sought for the anomaly.
Guen loped out of her den, ears pricked for some sound. This was not any creature of the Astral plane...
The air rippled again, this time with more force. She felt something shattering.
And she smelt a familiar scent.
It was the child.
The one that had managed to summon her, by word and a woven image.
She was not the only creature attracted to the strange sight, but she was the only one that had a means to help. Or the will to help. Indeed, Guenhwyvahr could smell that something quite unfriendly was approaching.
Neh-thalggu. A creature that looked like a large Material crab with bubbles of skin on their back that contained their preferred prizes from their hunts. Five brains swam in fluid under semi clear skin that encased them. These could be used by the neh-thalggu to draw on all their knowledge. Including the magic the person knew how to use.
The child would be a rich prize for them. And Guenhwyvahr did not wish to see her be harmed. She wished to learn more about her and the strange world she had summoned her to.
The neh-thalggu was still a young one with only a handful of harvested brains. Likely the ones discarded by older examples of its kind. They did not smell quite as fresh as they might have.
Guens' paws caught the creature near the eyes, one bouncing off the armor and the other catching the vulnerable eyestalk.
It screeched, snapping at her with it's heavy claws. Guenhwyvahr leapt onto it's back swatting at one of the blister encased brains, snarling a warning. The Astral creature skittered and tried to reach up to dislodge her from its back. She bit at one of the claws and brutally pulled at it, making it shriek in pain.
"Miine! It came into my territory!"
Guen decided she did not care for its lies. This was her territory, every one of her regular neighbors knew it. And the species was solitary enough that eliminating this creature would not bring any retribution down on her. She sprang off its back, swiping out one side of it's many legs, sending it listing to the side. Racing around to the other side, she swatted the juvenile creature onto it's back and smashed through it's armored underbelly. The neh-thagglu twitched then went still.
The panther moved carefully over to where the girl lay. Her breathing was slightly labored and her flat human face was twisted with discomfort. Her heart rate was elevated. All signs indicated she was at least in distress if not hurt.
Drizzt will help.
Maneuvering carefully, Guenhwyvahr managed to get the girl onto her back by laying down, half turning towards her and grabbing the scruff of her shirt. Her hands trailed on the ground, so the panther had to walk a little more carefully to prevent her hands from getting too scratched up. She also grabbed the small, stick-like device that had fallen from her hands carefully in her teeth.
Opening her own gate was hard, but if she pressed it, Drizzt should be able to sense it and call her through. Guen growled lowly, the wizard child's shirt caught in her teeth as she batted at the unseeable gate that barred her from reaching the Material plane.
It did not take very long for Drizzt's familiar voice to reach her ears and Guen passed through with more care than she normally would have. His surprised choke made her chuff in amusement as he saw her companion. She blinked up at him with a touch of smugness, tail moving languidly. She padded closer and gave him a questioning head tilt.
Well? Aren't you going to do something?
-vVv-
He had known intellectually that people could traverse to the Astral Plane. But seeing his oldest and dearest friend strut through her planar gate with a humanoid child on her back still came as a bit of a shock. It was the middle of a winter storm, the kind that he anticipated would last for several days. He had prepared himself with ample food and fuel to outlast the storm. And since no monster would dare brave these conditions, he had not thought to summon Guenhwyvar for anything save company. Then he felt her statue warm and he had called her, concerned for the great cat's well being.
Once his surprise wore off, Drizzt did examine the girl carefully to make sure she was not hurt. She appeared to only be asleep, a little cold and with a few minor scrapes as if from a fall. Guenhwyvar remained nonchalantly undisturbed, but she did curl around the girl with a satisfied rumble nosing vibrantly colored green hair with great affection.
"Even after all this time, you still manage to surprise me, my friend."
His unexpected guest had the appearance of a human, but a delicate facial bone structure and the vibrant colors made him wonder if she didn't come from more than mortal heritage. If he didn't know any better, he would say she was of elf blood, possessing the same slender build that most of his kind did. Her clothes were sturdy, mostly neutral shades of gray and white with a dark blue cloak over it. The material was thick and of high quality, though it had clearly been well used. On a taller person, it would only fall about to their knees. On her, it reached past her calves.
The items that had been on her person suggested she was some sort of traveler. Her boots were well worn. There were a few rations, a water skin, a length of rope, some oil. Writing materials and a notebook carefully wrapped to keep it from becoming water damaged. All very normal, reasonable things. Though she did seem a little young to be wandering on her own. Other items gave him pause. A headband she had tied to her belt on tough black cloth with a metal plate sewn onto it, inscribed with a glyph. A metal cylinder with ornate protrusions and designed to look like a sword hilt without a guard. And a pen with a nib of light blue crystal.
Recognizing that these things might very well be magical tools of some kind, he handled them with all due caution. It would explain why a child was traveling alone without any visible weapons.
The Drow ranger stoked up the fire a little, the wind outside his cave screeched as it hurled ice and snow at the mountains face. He arranged a spare cloak over his guest to give her every possible warmth he could spare, and settled down to wait for her to awaken.
He didn't have very long to wait. Less than an hour after Guenhwyvar and leapt from her astral home, the child stirred, eyes fluttering open.
Eyes the same brilliant, icy blue of the clear sky of Icewind Dale moved languidly around the small shelter that he considered his home. Drizzt moved carefully, and was startled when her gaze snapped to him right away though he had not made much undue noise.
Wary of her being alarmed at the sight of his face, he held out empty hands in a gesture of peace, staying a careful distance away.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
She blinked at him, slow and slightly confused...
"Guen wouldn't have brought me here if you were going to."
Her voice was thick with an unusual accent that he had never heard before. But it was a relief that she spoke the common tongue, it would aid in understanding where this strange young child had come from.
"That's true." He gave a slight nod to her, a polite greeting. "My name is-"
"Drizzt..."
She whispered, still curled under two cloaks and with the panther watching them both with great interest. Her eyes grew wide with amazement as she softly repeated his name under her breath.
"Drizzt Do'Urden."
Something about her manner was peculiar, but he did not sense any danger. Though he did feel a modicum of caution. Her speaking his name had sent a shiver down his spine, not of warning but awareness.
"You've heard of me?"
That was a bit of a surprise. People would have spoken if someone of this child's appearance was seen in the Dale and he had heard nothing about her on his last visit. So she likely hadn't passed through there at any point. And if she had some otherworldly source of knowledge, then it was wise to tread carefully.
"I-...yes... yes I have. In a very weird way. But magic tends to be."
Her head tilted slightly and a hesitant smile came across her face. If he didn't know any better, Drizzt would say that this child was excited to be here. Alone with a stranger from a reputedly dangerous race that had earned their bloody infamy in the middle of a blizzard. And her eyes gleamed with a profound happiness that he could not fathom, though it did ease a tense feeling in his heart.
When was the last time I saw someone innocently happy to see me?
"My name's Fae. Thank you for looking after me." She scratched Guenhwyvar's ears who gave a throaty purr in response. "Both of you."
"As you are familiar with magic, you are a spellcaster then?"
Fae hummed, still rubbing Guenhwyvar's ears, which she very obviously approved of.
"I can use magic. I'm just not sure whether to call it wizardry or sorcery."
The drow ranger chuckled, handing her a cup of water he had warmed by the fire to help banish the chill that pervaded even his shelter. He unfortunately had little to offer in the way of comforts but she needed the heat. She had been quite cold when Guen brought her from the Astral Plane. She murmured thanks as she accepted it.
"In my experience, divination magic is more typically a wizard or a cleric's purview than a sorcerer's."
The girl gave a helpless shrug, sipping at the warm water carefully.
"I've been knowing and learning stuff I have no business with since I was a child."
Drizzt refrained from pointing out that she was a child even now.
"Such as my name."
Another smile crossed her face. One that made her look far older than her young face would indicate. In the warm firelight, her eyes stood out starkly blue, lit by their own internal energy.
"And Guenhwyvar's. I'm lucky I knew it too. She saved my life."
This conversation felt as though it should be more impactful than it was. But Drizzt felt no alarm or unease in this child's presence. Perhaps it was how relaxed Guenhwyvar was, but he felt as if he had known this child all his life.
"That sounds like quite a story."
"Oh it is. And I'm not going to be fit to try and return home the way I came for a few hours at least."
Drizzt hummed thoughtfully, taking an unfletched arrow and the feathers he had been preparing in the long dark hours of the night.
"Perhaps two of yours and one of mine. Very little news comes to this part of the world and I've never imagined Guenhwyvar bringing a guest with her when I called her."
"That's fair. I'll start with how I ended up in the Astral Plane."
This was what he wanted to know, so Drizzt gestured.
"At your convenience, Fae."
Hours passed as the girl shared her story with him. Both how she came to be delving the Astral Plane, looking for her friend and teacher Mystogan, and how she came to meet Guenhwyvar.
"How did you know the phrase to call her?"
She gave a half hearted shrug, face a little more mobile now that she was warmer.
"Magic. Like I said, I learn a lot of stuff that I have no business knowing."
"Regardless of how you learned it, I am glad that you had the ability to call on Guenhwyvar. Ghosts are far from pleasant company."
"I've actually met some who were quite friendly. But they had had several years of raising a natural divine caster to purify them of lingering malicious intent."
The ranger chuckled, pausing in his work of making arrows.
"Your life's story sounds to be quite a colorful one."
Her laughter filled his shelter with a warmth utterly unrelated to their fire.
"Oh that's just scratching the surface!"
Drizzt lost track of time. Fae was a lively storyteller, easily drawing him into her tales, those that related to her life and those stories that she simply knew. A night that would otherwise have been spent in quiet solitude came and went in the company of a friendly, strange girl. As dawn was approaching, she seemed to gaze into the distance...
"I need to go home."
"Do you know how?"
She gave a firm nod, carefully stripping off and folding his spare cloak.
"I can get back through the Astral Plane. Do you mind, Guen?" The panther gave a throaty purr, still curling close to her. Drizzt noted how she seemed remarkably refreshed in spite of having been in the Material plane for several hours.
"Are you not tired?"
The star panther looked smugly at him for a second, tail tip twitched languidly.
"I've been sustaining her. She'll need a bit of time back in her Plane, but not nearly as much as normal."
Fae carefully gathered up her belongings and settled her cloak around her once again.
"It was wonderful to meet you Drizzt!"
Her sincerity was plain on her face as her clear blue eyes shone in awe and wonder that he had never had seen before. Certainly never seen directed towards him.
"Likewise, Fae. This was a most fortunate accident for me, though I am sorry that you did not manage to reach Edolas."
She bounced lightly on her heels, shaking her head, curls shifting over her shoulders.
"It's ok! I've already been to Edolas before. As nice as it will be to find it, I've still got time. But now I got to meet you! I've only ever dreamed about you before. It's nice to know that you're real!"
The drow ranger kept the memory of that story filled night close to his heart, certain it would be a singular event.
But two nights later, Guenhwyvar's statue warmed once again. And the great cat stepped through her gate, with a grinning, green haired girl by her side.
"Hi Drizzt! Remember me?" The drow rose, unable to hold back a smile at the sight of the wizard girl.
"I could never forget you, Fae. But what are you doing here?"
"I'm visiting you, of course! It's gonna be a long winter, and I can't imagine you've got very much company out here in the Dale."
Again, stories, but also questions.
"If the first time was an accident, how are you here this time?"
"I remembered the feeling of how I reached the Astral Plane. So I made a new spell to take me there! Sort of. I'm technically dreaming right now. But turns out if you astral project through the Astral Plane with the right set up around you-"
She reached out and poked his arm with her finger, very real and very solid.
"-you can manifest a reasonably solid body! By all qualifications, I would be a spirit creature, just like Guen!"
So the dark chilly nights became lit with company.
Drizzt would only admit it after a few weeks of Fae regularly visiting him, but someone to talk to made his solitude much more bearable. And she always lent him an ear, willing to listen to whatever he wished to talk about. Or even to simply be together in silence while he tended to his home, or she wrote in her notebook, stories or experimental layouts for spells.
She even came by during some days and they would venture out into the snowy mountains. She had a good sense for the terrain and dangers that came with it, but Drizzt found himself correcting her method of walking, or on discerning what was safe terrain. Fae accepted the correction willingly and even began to ask him questions about his ranger training. In this state of being, she did not feel the cold quite as much as she would have in her own body. So she usually went around in much lighter attire than he would expect to see on someone in Icewind Dale.
Drizzt had warned her of avalanches, and that had stilled her for a moment. But then she grinned, and assured him that they were not a problem in this area. The same snowfall that had snowed them in had made it so there was precious little build up on the mountainside. So the drow ranger got to watch Fae chase some wild goats around the mountain. She was spry and light on her feet, but the creatures would always sense her and flee rather than let her touch them.
"I just want to pet a baby goat, is that too much to ask?"
This child of arcane power, who lived, breathed and embodied magic from another world, was whining because she couldn't pet a baby animal. The sight was so bizarre yet endearing, he couldn't help but laugh. One of the goats bleated at her and it sounded perfectly normal to Drizzt, but Fae huffed.
"That was rude and uncalled for, madam."
He couldn't hold it in any longer. His laugh rang out as Fae continued to chase the goats and they continued to evade her. Eventually he took pity on her and stepped forward to show her how to approach them in such a way that would let her attain her goal.
"Slow and careful, Fae. Startling them will make them run, so let them grow accustomed to your presence so they understand you are not a threat."
She picked it up quickly. Within a few days of the initial attempt, Fae had successfully managed to pat every baby goat in the small herd.
She picked that up rather quickly. Drizzt gave her a wry look as a young, brash billy goat nibbled at her sleeve, winter fur long and shaggy. But she blithely ignored his suspicion, sitting crossed legged on a boulder and scratching some other goats around their horns. He suspected that she had only feigned to be so inept with animals to draw him out and engage him in an area he felt at ease in.
Then her gaze caught his...and she gave a knowing smile, one bright blue eye vanishing in a quick, playful wink.
Never had he met someone with such a penchant for fun and play. The magic she wielded was incredibly precise. He was knowledgeable to some extent of the study magic took, regardless of it's source. Her potential was nothing short of awe inspiring. Yet she seemed to be most adept in using it for casual whimsy and wholesome pleasure.
Fae stood in the snow, gazing down a long valley...then looking up at the large tree that had a few frozen leaves hanging on.
"Broadbeam leaves. They linger even in winter. They are surprisingly strong once frozen."
A slow smile stretched over her face and she quickly scaled the frozen tree. She dropped down having plucked two of the leaves, which seemed to dwarf her as she held them.
"Come on! I've got something to show you!"
Drizzt had never been snowboarding before. It seemed to be quite dangerous, but would not deny that it was quite exhilarating. Fae seemed to do it quite naturally.
"You don't get too crazy until you've got your balance. But once you've been on for a while, the pressure of your weight makes your boots freeze to the leaf and it will follow you if you jump!"
"Who taught you how to do this?"
"A friendly yeti!"
He swore it would only happen one time. Once to indulge her and see how this new skill could be used.
Fae managed to draw him into a race whenever they saw a broadbeam tree that still had leaves on it.
-vVv-
"Drizzt, have you ever wanted to fly?"
"I don't believe any child has grown without wishing it on some level."
"...that wish can be granted."
Looking at her, he found she was standing tall and immune to the chill, breath misting faintly n the air. She turned towards him with a small nugget or childlike hope blooming in her eyes.
"Do you want to fly with me?"
It was nothing like the levitation of his childhood. This was truly magical flight. Bearing his weight did not seem to bother her, and Drizzt wholly enjoyed the sensation and the spectacular view.
"If you have this available all the time, it's a wonder you ever touch the ground at all."
She hummed, unusually loud in his ear given their proximity.
"It's more fun to be able to share it with other people. Besides, not everyone I know is well suited to life in the air."
"Doubtless I would not be up to living in the air all the time. But this makes you happy. Perhaps the happiest I have ever known you."
He could see her smile out of the corner of his eye, skin bright and pale in the cold moonlight.
"Flying will always have happy memories for me."
He felt like she was making a private joke. But then she jostled him slightly.
"Do you want to try it? By yourself?"
"I don't see why not. It wouldn't be too much for you?"
"Not at all. But I can't provide all the magic by myself. You need to contribute a component too."
"And what would that be?"
She dove down to the peak of a mountain and set him down, orange wings making a striking image against the dark blue sky.
"In order for my spell to work, you need a happy thought. Something that naturally uplifts you. The spell takes the thought and turns the magic of it into something that can carry you."
She was standing eye to eye with him, hands loosely clasped behind her back as she regarded him. The matter of fact tone told him she was not speaking in jest.
"A happy thought?"
There had been precious few happy memories in his life that time or malice had not spoiled.
His time with Zak would always be tainted now by seeing his mentor as an undead abomination.
His friendship with Belwar was soured by watching Clacker slowly lose the parts of himself that were once Pech. Lose his connection with the stone. His tutelage with Montolio had been brief, and spoiled by invaders and the contempt of humans that invaded the haven of the wilderness.
A sharp tap of a finger between his eyes brought him back to the present. Fae was pouting at him.
"Happiness doesn't mean good things all the time, Drizzt. It doesn't have to be the whole story to still lift you up. It can just be one moment. Just think of one moment, and hold it in your mind. I'll take care of the rest."
He managed a smile, thinking of a purring panther, and the innocent giggles of a child called his name. The terrified calls of 'drizzit' faded in his memory as he focused on the warm feeling of companionship.
Of sparring with Zak. Of listening to Belwar grumble, and Clacker fidget and murmur to the stone around them. Montolio's brisk, but kind manner.
Fae took his hand, humming a simple tune under her breath before singing softly.
"Think of the happiest things.
It's the same as having wings.
Take the path that moonbeams make
And if the moon is still awake:
You'll see him wink his eye!"
He felt himself growing lighter and lighter. Then his feet were no longer touching the ground. Fae grinned down at him, the amber glow doubled as wings of his own bloomed on his back.
"You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!"
"In a lot of ways, worlds that have magic, or advanced technology can get caught up in the utility of it all. They see what it can do for them. It's important to remember that some things don't have to do something useful to make us happy."
On one venture through the snowy mountains, Drizzt got a scare when Fae stepped on a trail and her face went pasty white. Her summoned body rippled in his view, like water that had had a violently thrashing animal thrown into it.
"What's wrong?" This was the first time she had shown discomfort of any kind since her first visit. Concern warred with caution as Drizzt scanned the area for any sign of danger that she might be reacting to.
"About thirty years ago, there was a cabin here." Her voice was distant, her eyes gleaming in the night as she gazed straight ahead. "Hunting cabin. Shelter for people traveling through the mountains. Open to all. Then Ingeloakastimizilian woke up and was hungry. There were six of them here, a family, hunting for furs to sell to spring time traders. He picked them off. Hunted them one by one. Played with them. The oldest child was only fifteen. He took him first. Then his uncle when he went looking for him. Then the daughter."
Her form quivered again, tears welling up in her yes.
"I...I'll have to cut the visit short, Drizzt. I think I'm about to have a nightmare back in my body. I'll be back soon."
She vanished into thin air, leaving him alone and concerned.
-vVv-
The next night she explained what had happened. That the same gift that offered her such insight and wisdom gave her a forced front row seat to the horrors of history as well as their wonders. Drizzt exercised even more caution about where they went after that.
"You don't need to be so careful on my account, Drizzt. I've seen death before. Very personally. It's just...I don't do well with dragons. Not caught by surprise at least."
Fae talked. She was comfortable with silence, but it was as though she was determined to fill the air with her presence in every way that she possibly could. And that meant she was often speaking or humming something. Drizzt once summoned Guenhwyvar while barely awake after a long night of patrolling the snowy peaks in the dark to ensure that no goblin or orc bands were gathering to sweep down the valley towards the Ten Towns.
He woke up to the sight of Fae and Guen playing with one another. The pitch colored panther would paw, with sheathed claws and mouth playfully at Fae's hands and arms. And the wizard girl would avoid her playful overtures, giggling almost silently. In the event that one of her hands was captured, Fae would swoop in with her other hand and gently press on the big cat's nose.
"Boop."
Guen would release her, tail lashing in mild irritation and fondness, but unwilling to stop the game. And so they would start the silent, almost motionless stalking again.
He observed this game through his lashes four times as he dozed contentedly. His heart felt full and incredibly soft witnessing the moment of innocent play.
He was afraid to ask why she had decided to do this. Why she had chosen after one accidental meeting to devote this time to him.
She had just stepped through beside Guenhwyvar, who greeted him with her usual affection. She had brought a sheaf of papers concealed in a leather folder and her fingers were smudged with ink and something else he couldn't identify. But she seemed beyond thrilled.
"And what have you been doing to make you so cheerful?"
A mischievous smile crossed her face.
"Secret~"
"Very well."
Drizzt was confident that he would understand in time. But even if he didn't, he was glad to see his young friend again.
A long silence had fallen. The only sound was the faint wind from outside and the snap of the fire. Guenhwyvar was settled, partially curled around the both of them and Fae was contentedly leaning back into her warm, solid body. Drizzt absently scratched the great cat's ears, glad once again that Fae's presence allowed Guen to stay in the Material Plane for longer stretches of peaceful time.
But the silence was eventually broken by the girl clearing her throat and shifting to look at him.
"So, normally I try to be as delicate about this as possible. Since it can make people very uncomfortable. But it is time to address it:" There was no humor or joke in Fae's gaze as she looked at the drow with a searching, penetrating gaze.
"Drizzt, why do you think you're not worth my time?"
The bold, direct question took him aback.
"What do you mean?"
"You never ask when I'm coming again, like you assume I won't return. During the time I am here, you never object to my company but hardly ever ask anything of me. Not even to put more wood on the fire. Everything that we have done together, I have initiated and you have followed. And the fact that you, a drow elf, are on the surface world at all means that you are not a follower."
Her brows were low, her voice and gaze gradually gaining intensity. But still she did not shout. Drizzt watched then as her face shifted subtly, her eyes gleaming in what he now recognized as her magic speaking to her. Actively giving her knowledge and insight.
And this thing he had always hoped to never really address.
"No. I am not. If I were, I would have remained in Menzoberranzan. I would have killed the elf child in truth." Even thinking that in the presence of his young, so very elfin companion made him sick to his stomach. "And all the consequences that followed that decision would never have come to pass."
Fae's face cleared from her upset and the glow of her power faded from her eyes.
"...You feel as though it's your fault. Like all the bad that your family has done...No, not just your family, all the drow. Your entire race...Everything that they've done over centuries. You feel as guilty for that as if it really had been you."
She made it deceptively simple. Snipping away all his defenses and voicing the unspoken thoughts that had plagued him for years since he realized how different he was from his family. From all his race. They seemed to feel no remorse for their actions. It was something that differentiated him from them. So he held onto it...
Gentle hands cupped his face again. Never had Drizzt seen a child look so gravely serious. Her eyes flared up again as her magic responded, reaching for his history. But she had said she would never delve his origins without his consent. But he knew some things would slip through. Painful things.
"Fae, don't-" He lifted his hands to remove her. So she wouldn't see the things he had seen in the Underdark.
"I never told you how I already knew your name, did I?"
No, she had not. And Drizzt had never asked. He had been fearful that questioning this good fortune would make it vanish, never to return. The way you woke up from a dream once you realized that was what was happening.
Fae withdrew again, but not too far, folding to the ground with a fluid grace that seemed unnatural even by his standards. Guenhwyvar rose from her comfortable sprawl, eyes glittering with sharp intelligence as she observed the proceedings.
"I'm a Story Mage, Drizzt. Everything that has a story, I can read. Whether I'm there physically or not. Some stories, it feels as though I was born knowing." Her head tilted, the human qualities to her thinning slightly. Something immortal donning a child's face and compassion as she looked at him.
"And yours was one of them."
"So that is how you were able to summon Guenhwyvar."
"I knew her words. My magic filled in the gaps, substituting a tapestry depicting a black hunting cat for her statue. But without her words, I couldn't have done anything. And I only knew her words because I read your story."
"But you had never met me before."
He had always assumed Fae had read his name just as soon as she looked at him.
"No. I literally read it. I think. The details are fuzzy, and I don't know how it works except by magic, but I think that I read a book about you in another life somewhere." She chuckled under her breath. "Several books, probably. Like I said, the details are fuzzy. It's just the stories that I read that stick with me."
Fae had only ever been candid before. And Drizzt did not take his young friend for a liar. He gave a mirthless chuckle to try and break the somber tension in the air.
"I'm glad my misadventures brought you joy."
The young girl shook her head sadly.
"They did. But they also made me cry. A lot... Especially your early life."
She curled into herself slightly, eyes distant and dreamy as she reflected on a distant past.
"I wished so many times for the ability to reach through the pages. To speak to you. Do something that could maybe help you feel just a little less lonely. So many people around you couldn't see the proof that I did of you being a good and kind person. I got so mad every time someone assumed you were going to be an enemy just because of your race... I remember throwing books across the room. I was so angry at those close minded morons. But I'd keep going back. I'd keep pushing forward. Because it was always worth it to turn the page just to see what you did next."
A grin spread across her face then, a faint nostalgia colored her tone. Hope, light and life suffused her tone as she turned to face him. Excitement and anticipation.
"You became like a friend. Or the idea of you, I suppose. I know in my head, I was getting attached to words printed on a page. But you were real to me in every way that mattered. That is why I recognized you the moment I saw you."
Fae looked at him and Drizzt knew that she was looking into his heart. He felt laid bare before her. The parts that he concealed or brushed to the dark corners. The Hunter. The coward who conformed. A committer of patricide. She was looking at his heart. Her expression shifted into something quiet and glowing. A love and affection he had not earned yet knew it was his forever.
"I didn't even know my own name at one point in my life. But I knew yours. I chose to name myself 'Faerun' because it was the world you lived in. Dangerous, a lot of it unknown, ever changing, not always welcoming, but with endless possibilities. A place that could find beauty in spite of pain. The place that gave you a new life. A life worth living for the first time..."
This felt deeply personal. Fae's eyes were glittering with unshed tears. He could hear the ghosts in her past with every word. The way she had looked at him, his story, and felt that they were one and the same. Drizzt had to swallow a lump of emotion that had been growing over the weeks together. Too often it felt as though he made friends who could look past his skin, past his inability to speak to them, past every atrocity his kind had committed against the surface dwellers, only to lose them in one way or the other. Clacker to the transformation. Belwar had returned to his homeland. Montolio to age and time. Guen had been his only consolation and solace in the Underdark. And then she had brought Fae into his life.
He supposed, he had been waiting for the inevitable farewell. When the bright soul would pass out of his life. As all good things seemed to.
"If I think about it, part of me was always going to end up here, one way or the other. In a way, I was basically asking for it from day one."
She riffled around in her pockets, pulling out a sheaf of papers that seemed too large for the space she had been keeping it in. And she pulled out a small, metal...key.
The head of the key was shaped like the crest of her guild. Painstakingly shaped, at the end of the shaft, where the teeth of an actual key might be, it instead looked like the nib of a pen.
"It took me forever to work out how to do this. It might have gone faster if I had any of the other Golden Gate keys to study. But I think this will work well enough."
She held the key out to him. When he didn't move, she reached over and took his hand to drop it into his palm.
"Your story is far from over. And I can't tell you everything that will happen simply because there isn't enough time for it. And you deserve to live your story and not have everything spoiled for you just because I got too eager."
Drizzt Do'Urden stared at the child who had traveled through worlds to be with him in this moment as she beamed at him.
"I refuse to give spoilers. But I will say this: Blood makes relatives. Love makes family. And your love for your family will literally outlast lifetimes." She reached out and tapped the key.
"Even if I can't see you, no matter how far away you may be, I will always be watching over you."
Amber light flooded the cave, Drizzt felt his head spin from the sudden exposure to it. He heard for a split second, strange, incomprehensible music. Change was happening. Everything was different, would be different from this point forward. The metal in his hand now felt cool. Like it was resisting the heat of his hand. But that was a very minor thing, compared to the searing pain in his eyes.
"Oh stardust, I'm so sorry! I didn't expect the light show!"
The tension broke and he couldn't help but chuckle. Now , instead of some primordial being, Fae sounded like a child again.
"It's alright, Fae. I know you didn't mean harm."
After the spots cleared from his vision, Drizzt examined the key again. The golden crest was now coated with a clear resin with a thin ring of her orange power around it's outer edge.
"What is this for, Fae?"
"There are places where you can't summon Guen. And I wanted to make sure that you would have something on hand, so you could always have a friend."
She fidgeted, some of her self assuredness falling away.
"The way it should work...over time, it will accumulate magic from it's surroundings. You've got your natural abilities, the darkness and faerie fire. Carrying the key with you will charge it naturally. And you can use it...to summon me. Or a copy of me. Basically this means you can call me to project to you, instead of it being whenever I can sleep and focus on projecting to you. The more orange there is in the gem, the more power I can exert. But just for talking...you can summon me any time."
His first instinct was rejection.
"Fae, if I summon you it will be because I wish to see and spend time with my friend. Not because I need your power." He found the idea of using her like that deliberately to be repulsive. She was a child for pity's sake!
Her eyes narrowed at him.
"A wizard's life is far from risk free. That key was originally gold tungsten, before I worked it over. It's pretty dang strong on its own. And I designed it to be as similar as possible to the summoning artifacts of my world that have endured for thousands of years. Magic that nothing in my world can hold back. And I can't keep talking to you if you wind up dead. And if I have to delve into an afterlife to beat you up for being stupid and not calling me when I could have helped save you or your friends lives, we will have words Drizzt Do'Urden."
And Drizzt had seen first hand that Fae's words...potentially were always fighting words.
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Since I realized just how much of a brooder you are. So basically, after my first visit."
That had been months ago. He swallowed the tightness in his throat.
She had poured time and effort into this, he held the key reverently in his hand, feeling the magic radiating off of it. He would one day have it examined by a wizard, and they would blanche upon seeing it before launching a barrage of questions as to what sort of person had made this artifact that could, with time, become legendary. Because she had crafted the token to be just like the keys of her the Celestial Spirits of her homeworld. And there was no place in reality where they could not be summoned by their contract holder. So as long as Drizzt had the key and could speak the words, he would have a direct line of contact to her. Even through spells and wards meant to prevent planar travel.
One day, he would be in the mountains and see a girl with hair like fire. He would meet her grumpy dwarven foster father. He would meet a charming, silver tongued halfing. And then a young, brash, blond warrior. His life would forever change by their friendship.
And for every day of his life, Drizzt Do'Urden would have this friend by his side. The token she had bestowed on him to call her aspect was one of his most precious possessions. He would move mountains to retrieve it if it was taken from him.
And when he wished to have an expert eye for magic, or to discuss a puzzling dilemma, or to defend innocent lives, or even just to see his friend: He would draw up the key that he kept on a cord around his neck, hanging next to his heart and speak:
"Open Gate of the Storyteller."
For the friends we find inside pages and paper. And everything that they will never know that they do for us.
A/N
Did I write this whole thing just to give Drizzt a metaphorical hug?
...
Possibly. His entire story is basically made for angst and brooding. It was bothering me.
In canon, Drizzt met Cattie-brie and Breunor, two friends who become family, in the fall preceding his first winter in Icewind Dale. Because this is barely considered canon even in Fae's story, I've taken creative license with the timeline and shifted it so that they would meet the following spring after Fae gives Drizzt the key.
Basically, picture any of Drizzt's adventures, if you are familiar, with him being able to summon a carbon copy of Fae as if she were an Astral Being. She grows alongside him, and since Drizzt is still extremely young in Forgotten Realms elf terms, that means her aspect grows slowly along with him. She basically mashed up the Shadow Clone Jutsu with Guenhwyvar's summoning magic to send him a version of her that can do say and be everything she would if she were there, and then transfer the memories back to her once it is released or disrupted.
For brain fuel:
Fae meets the Harpell's.
If you know, you know.