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"Soooo....how long do you think you'll have to stay here?"
Regis' voice rang out suddenly and pulled Drizzt from his thoughts as he gazed out across the frozen waters of the lake they were looking out upon. The halfling had several lines attached to bells along the shore meant to tell him if any of the holes he'd drilled in the ice were worth checking. The long Icewind Dale winter was almost over but where some people were gathered along the shore near still waters...others were perhaps a little too eager for the first thaw and the easier fishing.
"Not that I mind the company, of course! You're always welcome!" Regis was quick to reassure as Drizzt smiled down at him. The Drow nodded and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
He sighed and rolled his shoulders in a shrug, "I cannot say...as long as need be, I suppose."
"...are the elves really that bad?" Regis asked and Drizzt could only shake his head.
"No...? And...yes, unfortunately. I don't want any trouble. Whatever their reasons may be." Drizzt said, resignation in his voice as they discussed the entire reason he was staying with the halfling...or so near any of the towns regularly as he was at all. The peoples of The Ten Towns were not what he would call welcoming towards him...but at the least they were rarely hostile. He'd accept avoidance over open confrontation and with Regis by his side he had less to worry about than if he were on his own.
Elves were not unheard of within Ten Towns and the few that did reside there as residents regarded him no differently than the rest of the residents did, but the group of elves who had come to the gates of Bryn Shander several days ago were a different story. They had claimed business with the dwarves...but Cassius had warned Bruenor that a number of their group had been asking around about the dark elf in their midst. 'Shifty' was the word he'd used.
A lot could be said about the spokesman of the first Town, but a bad judge of character he was not. If he thought they were trouble, then they probably were.
And there was no good reason, in Drizzt's mind, that trouble seeking surface Elves would seek him out.
Bruenor had insisted that Drizzt had nothing to worry about. That he wouldn't let them bother him, but Drizzt had opted to leave the cairn to stay elsewhere until the threat of confrontation had passed.
Why invite trouble if he didn't have to?
"Well, like I said, you're welcome for as long as you want...I just know I don't exactly live the most...er...exciting life." The halfling observed with a frown as he looked out at the still lines across the ice.
Drizzt chuckled and shook his head, "Don't let my usual habits fool you, my friend, I appreciate a bit of spoiling now and again. Same as anyone. Certainly, I will miss the cooking when I leave."
Regis beamed a smile up at him, looking proud of himself, hooking his thumbs in his belt, "Ah, yes, well I mean you could do to gain a few pounds I think."
Drizzt nodded, amused, "No doubt." He threw this into the same category as the dwarves often telling him he needed something to help grow hair on his chin.
"You could stay you know..." Regis started but Drizzt was already shaking his head even as he spoke though his expression was no less friendly. They both knew he wouldn't do that...for the same reason he was avoiding the elves.
Why invite the trouble? He knew when he wasn't wanted. That the people of Ten Towns allowed him to live on the outskirts of their lives unharried was good enough.
Had to be...
He'd learned the hard way enough times to know how unaccepting of him the world could be. At least here the suspicious glares didn't come along side drawn blades.
He pulled his hood lower over his face, "I'm going to walk a bit. Stretch my legs."
Regis nodded his acceptance and sat back down on his low chair, the heat of a nearby firepit keeping the lingering chill from becoming overly bothersome, "I'll be here."
Drizzt nodded and set off, walking along the lakeside. The air still held the bite of winter...despite the approaching spring. Still, many people came from their homes this time of year to enjoy the turning of the season. Many months kept indoors meant any sign was an excuse to enjoy some fresh air.
Several bonfires dotted the beaches now and there was a group of children playing out on the ice in one particular area. A small inlet where the waters remained calm and covered in ice longer into the season. A popular spot.
Drizzt knew better than to venture too close where it would feel as if he was intruding, knew the looks he'd get, the subtle whispers and not so subtle side glances. No, he stayed as he preferred. A shadow in periphery. Barely of note.
A gust of wind, warmer, hit his face and he couldn't help but turn his head up and breathe in the fresh scent of spring. He was no more immune to the effects of the break in the long winter than anyone else. A smile graced his features.
"So, this is where you have run to, Drow."
A voice, as harsh as it was harmonious, wiped the smile from his face. He spun around, startled to have not heard the strangers' approach even over the snowy terrain.
An unfamiliar elf stood only a handful of strides behind him. They were unlike any surface elf he had met until now, being of a dark copper brown skin and warm toned black hair plated into intricate braids. Their eyes such an intensely dark brown as to be almost black.
Drizzt took a step back from them, but they followed and the look they put on him was as dark as the rest of them.
"I'm sure the others are being kept quite busy wasting their time on that mountain. I knew that human wasn't being truthful. Scum hiding scum at the edges of the world where you think you can hide from the justice you deserve. How bad were your crimes, dark one, that even your own won't have you?"
Drizzt flinched only slightly at the accusations. He was used to them by now. He shook his head, "Listen, I don't know you or why you're hunting me, but I swear I-"
The elf spat on the ground at his feet, "Keep your words to yourself! I don't need to know you. I know what you are, Drow. You can lie all you want to...but the color of your skin tells all the truth that is needed! You cannot hide the curse placed upon you and your evil kin!"
Drizzt could hear the whispers behind him of people starting to take note of the confrontation, drawing closer out of curiosity. He glared back at the elf. He'd read often enough of the strange lies told on the surface about his people. That the Gods of the surface elves had cursed them with their black skin and red eyes that they would know them on sight to be reviled.
Complete nonsense. How did they explain the benevolent Deep Gnomes then? Was their skin not just as dark?
...and Drizzt did not have red eyes...but even so...
Zaknafien had.
It was just skin...and they were just eyes.
Drizzt sneered back at them, "...your skin is as dark as mine."
The elf snarled, enraged and drew a dagger suddenly.
Instead of drawing, Drizzt took another measured step backwards. He held his hands up slowly, away from the hilts of his scimitars, "I'm not going to fight you."
"Good! Then I will kill you as you deserve, and your kind will remain imprisoned in the dark as you are meant to be!"
"Hey! Who in the hells are you? We're celebrating here!" Another voice interrupted and Drizzt turned his head slightly to take note that several of the adults watching over the nearby children had been drawn to the sound of the elf's yelling.
The people of Ten Towns may not have liked him overly much...but there was certainly one thing they liked even less.
Bounty hunters.
Drizzt may have been a Drow...but he was THEIR Drow.
"I don't know you...what Town are you from?" Another voice asked only to be answered by one of their own number.
"None, he's not from here at all! Are you? What gives you the right?!"
"Get out of here!"
Suddenly there was a barrier of bodies between Drizzt and the strange Elf and though he could still feel those black eyes watching him, he was quick to take advantage of the distraction to try and slip away.
He briefly considered returning to Regis but decided staying close to the crowd might be better and turned towards the inlet instead.
A low, droning sound caught his attention and he slowed, coming to a stop. He tipped his head, turning one ear towards the ground. A deep vibration in the ground from a nearby disturbance that only those with ears attuned to sensing such things through the deep places of the world would be able to pick up. It was followed by a sudden echoing twang, and he realized suddenly what he was hearing.
"You cannot turn your back on me, Drow...or get these humans to fight your battles for you. Coward!" The elf was coming up behind him, but Drizzt ignored them completely.
He took off into a run towards the inlet and the children still running about on the ice.
"Get off the ice!" He yelled, "GET OFF THE ICE!"
The children stopped where they were as they heard and saw him running towards them, but they didn't instantly move.
"The ice is breaking! Get off the ice!"
Now they were moving, and those closer to the shore made it to safety without issue but one of the children, a boy, remained out. By the way he was holding his arms out, Drizzt could tell the warning had come too late.
With a loud crack the ice gave way beneath him, plunging the child down into the icy waters beneath.
A scream came from one of the adults behind him but Drizzt paid them no mind at all. He continued towards the lake, shedding his heavier gear as he went. Off came the cloak and his weapons belt. Anything heavy that could be taken off without slowing. Then he was down on his belly pushing himself across the ice.
He could see the kid still holding onto the edge of the ice ahead of him, somehow still keeping himself up. He knew any second that could change.
"Drizzt!" He heard Regis' voice among those lining the shore, but he had to focus on the task at hand. Didn't dare take his eyes off of the kid.
"I'm coming, hold on. I'm coming. I've got you." He reassured as best he could as he inched his way closer. The ice was definitely unstable here and he could hear the cracks forming beneath him even as he laid flat across it. Every push down with his hands he feared it might give way, but he continued anyway.
He could hear the quick frantic breaths ahead of him now, looked up to see pale lips mouthing words the shock had stolen away. Blue eyes wide enough to see the whites around them completely. He was only an arm's length away when the ice holding the kid up suddenly collapsed.
"No!" He cried out and lunged forward. His hand caught the kid's tunic...then suddenly they were both under the water. His own desperate move had broken the ice further.
The cold was like a punch in the gut and for a frantic moment he was aware of nothing else, air leaving his lungs in a blinding cloud of bubbles, then his hand tightened on the cloth, and he kicked up. He broke the surface with a strangled gasp, sputtering as he took in just as much water as air, and his free hand reached out blindly for support. There was nothing...and then suddenly there was more ice. He gripped it with hands that could barely feel it, pulling the kid up with his other.
He didn't try to get out of the water himself, all of his strength went into pushing the kid onto the ice, "S-stay...down...crawl." he managed to get out, between breaths that were coming too fast.
He didn't even know if the kid was alive...but then they coughed and started to crawl, slowly, away from him...and then several adults from the shore braved the thicker ice to reach him.
Relief burned through him as he watched the kid being pulled to safety. Only then did his own predicament register in his mind through the shock of his own plunge through the ice. Most of his body was still under the water and he knew if he didn't pull himself out soon he would be in real trouble. He was breathing in thin hissing gasps that burned his throat and trying to calm it proved impossible, his heartbeat loud in his own ears. It all but drowned out the calls from the people gathered along the shore.
It took longer than he liked to push past the instinctive panic and get his muscles to cooperate enough to lift one arm and try to leverage himself out. He managed to slowly pull himself out until he was laying stomach down on the ice, just his legs still hanging under the water. He paused to try and muster his strength...but this time when he pressed a hand down to pull himself forward the ice cracked under it.
Again, he was dropped into the icy water though he managed somehow to keep his grip on the ice that remained intact. He pulled his arm out of the water and found a grip on the ice...then he stopped. He couldn't move, the realization coming slowly that he simply did not have the strength to pull himself back out again. His hands felt frozen in their grip, and he knew that that was all that was keeping him from slipping under the surface where he would surely drown.
He dimly heard Regis yelling his name again, but he could do nothing but shake his head weakly in response and even that took more effort than he thought possible.
It didn't feel so bad really. The pain was gone, and the water felt pleasant...warm even. He let his head rest against the ice. He just needed to rest a minute.
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"Drizzt! DRIZZT!", Regis ran back and forth along the edge of the shore frantically as the kid was pulled to safety. Several of the humans rushed the boy to a fire, stripping his wet clothing and grabbing dry blankets...but the effort to save his rescuer was going slower than the halfling liked.
The elf who had confronted the Drow was standing on the beach...what they might be thinking Regis couldn't say. They seemed uncertain as to how to process the sudden turn of events.
The people of the towns had formed a human chain across the ice with the leader, the boys' father, holding a rope in hand...but they had stopped several body lengths shy of the dark elf.
"What are you doing? Get him out!" Regis pressured but the man closest to him shook his head.
"The ice is too unstable...we'll lose him and possibly others if we go any closer." he explained. There was some shouting from out on the ice and the leader attempted to throw the rope out for the Drow to grab...only for Drizzt to make no move to take it.
Regis' hands fumbled over each other, clenching and unclenching them as he fought with himself over the situation, "...damn." he muttered and before the other could think of stopping him he was making his own way out onto the ice. For all that he wasn't exactly the lightest halfling...he was still of soft and careful step, still lighter than a human...or a Drow. He made it most of the way there on foot before he felt the ice was too thin to support even his weight and fell to his stomach to crawl the rest of the way.
As he neared the end of the chain he grabbed the rope.
"Be wary, if he goes under again..." The leading man warned Regis and the halfling simply nodded and kept going.
"Drizzt? Hey...I'm here. Drizzt?" He asked as he came within reach of him. He noticed immediately that he wasn't shivering and when he opened his eyes, much too sluggishly for Regis' liking, he could barely see the faint ring of lavender that made up his irises for the size of his pupils. His breathing sounded slow and labored, and his skin had gone from its usual black to an alarming shade of blueish grey.
"...Sssiks'ssi'solen..." his mouth moved but Regis could only make out part of what he said...and he was sure whatever he was saying was not in any language he was familiar with. He had a sneaking suspicion given how slurred it was that it wouldn't make much sense even if it had been spoken in common.
Drizzt didn't seem to be fully aware of Regis or the situation anymore...and when his voice trailed off into silence he went still. Too still. His eyes were still open, but they were glazed and unfocused.
Regis couldn't see his breath misting in the air anymore.
"No, no, don't do this. Come on. Don't die on me!" His hands were shaking as he pulled the rope around and began tying it around Drizzt's body, looping it around his chest where it rested mostly submerged in the water.
He turned his head back towards the others and waved an arm, "I got him! Pull us in! Hurry!"
Once they began pulling, Regis carefully manipulated Drizzt's body so he was on his back, the rope looped under his armpits. He tried to ignore exactly how very dead he looked as they went, "We've got you...it's ok...it's...it's gonna be ok."
Then they reached the shore and Regis found himself pushed out of the way by a flurry of activity. The gathered people of the Towns, the rescued boy's family, grabbed the Drow and began dragging him quickly but carefully to the nearest bonfire. Multiple hands hastily pulled the waterlogged clothing from the elf's body and laid him down on a dry fur as close to the fire as they safely could. He was naked only as long as it took them to cover him in warm blankets. Several of them used the blankets to try and rub his limbs, anything to try and warm him back up.
Someone began grabbing flaming logs from the pit, risking burned hands to create a circle of radiating heat around those working to revive the ranger. Those who weren't helping directly had gathered silently around them, a growing crowd of worried or curious onlookers.
One of the men kneeled down and pressed his ear to the elf's chest. His expression was grave when he sat back up. He looked up and shook his head.
A distressed murmur began to spread through the crowd, but Regis wasn't having it. What were they doing? Had none of them done this before?!
He pushed forward, "Move! Let me through!"
The man looked grieved as he thought the halfling mad with loss, "It's too late. His heart has stopped."
"Move!" Regis shouted, not listening as he pushed the man out of the way, much to his surprise. None of them had seen the usually reserved halfling so intense before.
He had admittedly never had to do this himself before, but he'd seen it done. You spent enough time around ports and sailors and you learned a thing or two about saving lives. Sometimes...people who looked dead just needed a little help reminding their bodies how to function.
He clasped his hands together, put them palm down on the Drows chest, and pushed down hard. Hard enough that he worried it might be too much, but he didn't stop, doing it several more times. His mind raced as he tried to remember what he'd seen. How many times was he supposed to do this? He couldn't remember so he just continued, counting to himself in time with his own heartbeat. Then he paused, took a breath, tipped Drizzt's head back and put his mouth over his to breath for him.
Then back again.
By the third breath he had begun to despair...but this time when he pushed air in the body under him jerked. The Drow took in his own breath and began coughing.
"Drizzt?" Regis asked, his voice uncertain but hopeful.
Drizzt's eyes blinked as he took in several unsteady breaths then he focused on the halfling kneeling over him, "...Regis?" He managed to get out before his body became wracked with intense shivers. This seemed to be a queue for the gathering and a cheer went up, and Regis couldn't help the huge smile that broke across his face.
Drizzt flinched slightly and looked uneasily at the unfamiliar faces that gathered around him. He was unused to being the focus of such positive attention.
His memories were fuzzy, and his brain felt a bit slow in catching up.
"...the boy...is he-?"
"He's fine." Regis reassured him, shaking his head, bemused. Of course, Drizzt would come back from the literal edge of death and ask about the safety of another.
"Thanks to you." An unfamiliar man knelt down next to him and put a hand to his shoulder, "Thank you...for saving my son."
Drizzt nodded somewhat shakily. He could feel the warmth radiating around him...but his body still felt unbearably cold, his muscles stiff and jerking as they tried to warm him. There remained a lingering painful feeling of pins and needles across his skin and a throbbing ache in his hands and feet.
He struggled a bit to try and sit up and he felt several hands helping, pushing the fur he'd been laying on around his shoulders along with the blanket. Then someone dropped his discarded cloak over top of it so the hood would cover his head, keeping the cold wind off of his wet hair.
Once he had more control over his muscles boots were placed on his feet and several people helped him stand and he was moved somewhere indoors. A tavern by the looks of it. He was sat down in a chair near the large fireplace and when he looked up he saw the boy he'd rescued, in much the same condition, sat at the table across from him. Their eyes met and the boy smiled, a sheepish somewhat awkward smile, like he'd just been caught doing something embarrassing...rather than having almost died.
Drizzt couldn't help but mirror it.
A tall, heavily muscled, armor clad woman brought mugs filled with a steaming liquid and sat one down in front of the boy. She turned and then stopped in front of Drizzt, holding the second mug in her hand as she looked down at him. He had to crane his neck slightly to look up at her, uncertain.
"...I never thought much of you, you know? I always thought...why let one of your kind walk around freely? What good could it bring? Your lot is just trouble waiting to happen." Her voice was rough, hard around the edges as so many of the rogues that resided in the towns tended to be.
"...I was wrong to think those things. You see I brought my family here so they could have the chance I never did. I dreamed that my children could grow up to live free lives." She set the mug down in front of him.
"I've never been much of one to believe in the good of heroes, but...because of you...that dream of mine didn't die today." She finished and Drizzt was suddenly aware of the silence and the number of eyes watching them from all corners of the room, the men and women from the shoreline gathered inside now.
The woman raised her own glass, "To heroes worthy of the title!" She cheered and a din of voices rose to join her in her toast.
He sat, warm mug in hand...overwhelmed by a warmth in his chest that far outweighed any fire. He felt a small hand on his arm and turned wet eyes to Regis who had sat down beside him. The halfling smiled and nodded, "...you get your due, in the end, friend."
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The excitement and celebration had slowly died down. The boy and his family had left and the lingering chill from his dip in the icy lake had long since faded, though his clothing remained hanging near the fire, drying.
There were few patrons still within the Tavern so late, but Drizzt found himself loath to leave it yet and no one seemed rushed to kick him out. So, he stayed, huddled in blankets, under his cloak watching the fire.
It was nice enough to simply enjoy the feeling of being accepted. To be free to be seen and not fear rejection or anger.
His thoughts were pulled away from such pleasantness when a familiar shadow fell over him and he looked up to see the dark-skinned elf from before standing over him. No longer was their expression one of dark anger...but bewilderment as they looked down at the Drow.
"...why...did you do that?" The elf asked, "You nearly died...for people who share no love for you..."
Drizzt sighed and straightened himself in his chair, "You asked me before...what did I do that could be so horrible, even my own wouldn't want me? Well, now you know."
The elf's face became even more confused as they processed these words, but Drizzt kept going.
"Where I came from...what people here see as heroism, they see only weakness, and to save someone who is an enemy? A crime worthy of death. My people went to war...and I showed mercy. That's what I did. For that I now live here on the outskirts of society where strangers will look at me and never know me for the sight of my skin...all because I chose to become kind." Drizzt explained, never turning away from the fire as he spoke.
The elf frowned but was silent for a long moment.
"...I will return to my kin...and tell them that we will hunt you no further." The elf said finally, and he heard them turn and walk away.
They stopped just before the exit and turned back, "...you have given me much to think about, Drizzt Do'Urden."
And then they were gone, and Drizzt was left to himself once more. He couldn't help the smile that formed across his lips as his thoughts strayed back all those years before to the other child he had saved that had started it all.
The elven girl with the starlight eyes.
You get your due, in the end.