Queen of the Flames

Letter from a Friend

Drizzt Do'urden & Rowen Moonwalker Ustengrave- Second Seed (Turdas)

"Drizzt" Rowen began "You know I care for you, truly. But why must we wake before dawn?" She asked, tying her hair up. Drizzt looked over over his shoulder at her "I usually wouldn't disturb you this early, but you must see this"
Rowen yawned, strongly doubting whatever he wanted her to see was worth loosing her rest for.
She hadn't slept well, tossing and turning for hours before her eyes finally shut. "What is it?"
Falling down next to Drizzt, Rowen brought her knee up to rest her arm.
He didn't answer verbally but nodded to the sunrise. The pair had rested only a few hundred paces away from their destination, wanting to rest before delving into the caves (which Rowen had made quite a fuss about. Complaining that they'd walked down seven thousand steps only to have to venture into more ancient ruins)
Rowen blinked as the image came into focus, a smile curling onto her lips.
"Beautiful, is it not?" Drizzt asked. He had always adored the sunrises, but this was the first time he'd woken Rowen for one. The colors stretched amazingly across the tree-line, from the pitch black of a night sky to the red and orange of the day. He looked over at Rowen, who nodded faintly.
"It is" She said "But I must ask, is this a regular thing for you? I mean no offense"
Drizzt looked down and laughed "To answer your unspoken question, I watch them because it..it almost acts as a reminder. That I'm not in Menzoberrazan anymore. To answer your spoken one, yes, quite simply. I wake up early enough to watch them almost everyday" Rowen hummed "Damn, twitches. You are stronger than me. I enjoy my rest"
The drow smiled at her "I enjoy my rest aswell. But I've spent a long time alone, I've learned to not get a lot of it" Rowen pursed her lips, not saying anything else. Drizzt looked at his human companion, her hair balled on the top of her head and a calm look upon her soft features. He'd learnt over his time with her that she was quite a soothing person to be around, not in a way that she coddled him as if he was a child, like many in the past had, instead trying to make him laugh if she noticed him getting to deep in thoughts of the past. Never asking what had happened or what he was thinking about.
After the sun had reached over the tops of the evergreens, the two gathered their things and began the walk to the entrance of the cave.
It was a hole in the center of a grotto, a long spiral staircase leading down into darkness.
Rowen went to walk, only to be stopped when Drizzt grabbed her arm "Let me go. I can see where you cannot" She paused, but yielded and pulled away. Drizzt began to make his way down, Rowen sticking close to his back, both with their weapons drawn. Gwen had appeared and stuck close to their sides as they reached the bottom. Rowen blinked, hardly able to see her own hand in front of her face.
"Drizzt, can you see?" She whispered, he nodded "Here, give me your hand."
She gripped firmly onto his arm as they walked through. Drizzt suddenly paused, Gwen sinking low to the ground.
"There are bandits." He muttered to Rowen. She paused "Can you shoot a bow?"
He tilted his head "I can hit them. But I much prefer my blades." Rowen sighed "I can't assist you until we get somewhere with more light"
Drizzt hesitated "Alright." and reached for the weapon as she blindly handed it to him. "Okay, in the head and heart" he muttered to himself, remembering Zaknafiens words. Rowen, feeling his shoulder move next to hers, took hold of his arm again.
"Lift your shoulder. It will make your shot stronger" He would have glared at her, had she been able to see it. Though he followed her instructions, knowing she was a more skilled archer than him. Exhaling slowly, he went to fire a shot. The arrow hardly had time to reach the bandit as Gwenwyver pounced from her spot beside Drizzt and bit down hard on the throat of the criminal.
The great cat made fast work of the others, pridefully padding back to her master after grabbing a torch stick. Pushing against Rowens leg, she handed her the stick. Rowen smiled to herself as she muttered a simple spell.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed as Drizzt covered his eyes; causing him to drop her weapon "I should've have warned you" The dark elf shook his head as he blinked stars from his eyes. "I'm fine." He nodded at her "Come, we need to continue"
She agreed and the friends continued to traverse the cavern.
The caves seemed extremely empty, the occasional skeever or spider the only thing blocking their path. Rowen felt slightly guilty, noticing Drizzts tense posture. She'd leaned over their time together that he loathed caves. He hated the dark equally as much. To be frank, she'd realized he disliked anything that reminded him of his early life, from darkness to depths of caves or even the sound of a whip cracking to tame a horse (He hadn't told her that one directly. Though the Matron Mothers in Menzoberrazan used snakeheaded whips as punishment for their sons. She'd read it in the greybeards library and hadn't worked up the courage to ask him about it)
Rowen was startled from her thoughts when Drizzt suddenly grabbed hold of her waist and moved the two of them into a small hole in the wall of the cave. "Drizzt what-
He put his finger to his lips and nodded behind him. Rowen raised to her tiptoes and looked over his shoulder. There were at least a dozen dragur graves, waiting to be activated.
She looked up at him, almost gasping at how close they were. The two had known each other for almost half a season, but she couldn't recall a moment they'd been this close, physically at least. Her eyes scanned across his face before she spoke; trying to ignore his hands as they rested firmly on her sides.
"How are we meant to get past?" She asked. He sighed, looking around.
"There's no other way through" He muttered as he leant down and picked up a rock "They're awoken by noise. If they get distracted you can use your bow for the most part"
She nodded, drawing her bow and notching three arrows. Drizzt threw the rock, and the coffins fell. She fired the shots, each of them going into the heads of the beasts.
"FUS!"
She shouted, giving the two friends (along with Gwenwyver) enough time to run past the living dead. 
"Those shouts are awfully handy, Rowen" Drizzt laughed as they made it to a it to another hall.
The girl chuckled airily "Yeah, yeah" She muttered "I assume they are"
She paused, hearing something in her head "Drizzt, what is that?" The drow looked at his companion "What's what?"
Rowen reached up to her head, as if trying to center in on the sound "That..that..it's like a baby bird. It's a chirping. Do you not hear it?" He shook his head; eyebrows falling into a deep furrow. Rowen squinted her eyes as she rubbed her forehead "Its probably nothing, right? Skeevers scuttling around"
Drizzt agreed, though not understanding how she could hear it and he couldn't.
They walked into the next room of the cavern, the dead body of a man laying in the center. "Well that's lovely isn't it?" Rowen asked, tilting her head sarcastically. Drizzt scoffed "Shush. I can't save you from karma"
Rowen chuckled to herself as she walked to the gate "How do we open it?" Drizzt looked around, violet eyes landing on the pattern on the top floor and the moveable stones off to the side.
"It's a code. Although I can't make it out from here, I'm afraid." Rowen thought for a moment; then looked back at her elven companion "Can you lift me?" He looked down at her "Most likely."
"Help" Rowen said simply, curling one of her hands around his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her upper legs and lifted her high enough to make out the code.
"Snake, snake, fish." She grinned. He nodded and walked over to the stones. As he moved them, Rowen took a large swig from her waterskin. The chirping echoed in her mind but she refused to let her her curiosity distract her from what she was here for. She had to find the horn and get answers; that's all she was here for. No matter what those crazy old monks said about her being 'DragonBorn'.
"I don't like this, Rowen. This place reminds me to much of the underdark." Drizzt muttered as they entered the hall of stories. Rowen hummed as she shone her light around the room "From what you've told me, we are not nearly deep enough in the land to reach there" She comforted.
Drizzt pressed his lips together; this place unsettled him a great amount.
As they reach a thin and steep staircase, the sound playing in Rowens mind had become almost unbearable. "How do you not hear that?"
"I'm sorry" Drizzt started, grabbing her shoulder "I still know not of which you speak."
Rowen shook her head"Don't apologize. It's not your doing" When they reached the path at the bottom of the stairs, the gentle chirping had turned to a loud almost cry-like screech, coming from the left of her. Rowen hopped into the knee-length water beside the path; wanting desperately to know where the noise was coming from. Whatever it was, it was a child. She refused to leave a crying child alone this far from anyone else.
"Rowen! What in the name of the gods are you doing?!" Drizzt exclaimed. She shushed him, waving her hand. He huffed and followed her, cringing at the murky water they'd submerged themselves in.
She made it to a deeper part of the water, reaching up to the center of her thighs and forced open a door. Drizzt caught up to her "What are you doing?!" She pointed at the large dragon skeleton sitting in the corner.
"What about it?"
She walked towards it "There was an egg, an unborn dragon when it's mother was killed here"
Drizzt paused "How do you know?"
She shrugged "I don't know. But that's what I'm hearing, there's a baby dragon"
Gwen purred and pushed the dragons wing, revealing a small pair of bi-colored reptilian eyes staring back at them. One brown and one green, just like Rowens if not for the thin pupils.
Drizzt stood and watched as his friend fell to her knees infront of the dragon, speaking in a language he didn't understand.
"Come, Mal Gien (Come, little one) I'm Ni het wah harm hí (I'm not here to harm you)" She reached her hands out, but the baby dragon cowered away from Gwen; making a small noise. "Go back to Drizzt, Gwenwyver. Thank you" The panther bowed its head and walked back to its ebony-skinned companion, sitting obediently by his side.
"It's alright nu, rek won't hurt hi (it's alright now, she won't hurt you)." Rowen consoled, and after just a moments hesitation, the dragon walked up and curled into her hands. It's black body and red-tipped wings were small enough for not an inch to spill away from Rowens hold. She drew it close to her chest as she ran her finger across its head "What's your name, hm?" She asked. It raised its head as a feminine and childlike voice answered in Rowens mind
"Riyu"
Rowen smiled down at her new friend "Hello, Riyu" Riyu chirped and flew to Rowens shoulder, though ungracefully; like a baby bird.
"You are a strange girl, Rowen Moonwalker. A very strange girl" Drizzt said as they made their way out again.
"And why is that, Drizzt Do'urden?"
Drizzt laughed "Most human girls would see a dragon skeleton and run, though you find it's child and decide to take it as your own?"
Rowen sighed, feeding the baby a small piece of her sweetroll  "I couldn't just leave her there. She'd die"
"Aren't you meant to be a dragon slayer?" He asked curiously "That's your fate, right?"
"The fates can screw themselves if they think I'd leave a baby to die next to its mothers corpse."
Drizzt pulled back at her tone, shocked despite knowing her anger wasn't directed at him. Rowen muttered a simple spell to dry their clothes and they continued on their way.
They quickly came to another staircase, this one much wider and less steep. Riyu whined and nestled closer against Rowens neck. Gwen growled and got infront of her companions.
"Drizzt, please tell me you can hear that" Rowen begged
He nodded, grabbing hold of her wrist and putting himself infront of her "I can"
An intense rumbling sound was coming up from the base of the room; causing the water to slosh around.
They slowly made their way to the bottom, the rumbling causing the room to vibrate. When Rowens booted foot hit the ground below the final step, four large and curved figures emerged from the water, forming an incomplete dome around them.
"I don't like this place, Rowen. Nothing good can come from it" Drizzt said, his arm still drawn out in front of the girl and her newfound friend.
"I'm starting agree with you." She murmured "but we are to far in to stop now."
Once reaching the alter at the end of the pathway; Rowen opened the chest; picking up the small piece of parchment from the inside

DragonBorn,
I need to speak with you and your guardian. Urgently.
Rent the attic room in the Sleeping Giant Inn, Riverwood. You'll find me and the horn there.
~~A friend

"Damnit!" Rowen explained, frustratedly handing Drizzt the letter. He laughed mirthlessly and tossed it into the water "Isn't Riverwood far from here?" Rowen nodded as she pulled at her hair in frustration "At least a weeks walk, that is, if we don't stop and rest"
Drizzt sighed "Well, is that what you want?"
Rowen looked over at him, gratitude shining in her eyes "Oh, Drizzt. I can't ask that of you. You've done enough for me" He shrugged his shoulders "It's fate, right? Like the greybeards said" She smiled "Are you sure? I can't make you do this"
"You're not making me. I want to help you" Rowen laughed gratefully "Thank you, so much. You're an amazing friend"
He smiled back, through the word she said struck a nerve deep in his soul.

'Friend'