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THE WIND IN THEIR EARS
It happened imperceptibly, a delicate transition that touched the memories and souls of the companions as profoundly as it reverberated in their physical senses For as the endless and mournful wind of Icewind Dale filled their ears, as the smell of the tundra filled their noses, as the cold northern air tickled their skin, and as the sheet of wintry white dazzled their eyes, so too did the aura of the place, the prihts, so too did the edge of catastrophe awaken their conflicting fears
That was the true power of the dale, exemplified by the wind, always the wind, the constant reminder of the paradox of existence, that one was always alone and never alone, that coe and yet that the same communion never truly ended
They walked side-by-side, without speaking, but not in silence They were joined by the wind of Icewind Dale, in the sahts they each entertained separately could not fully escape the bond of awareness forced by Icewind Dale itself upon all who ventured there
They crossed out of the pass through the Spine of the World and onto the wider tundra one bright and shining , and found that the snoere not yet too deep, and the wind not yet too cold In a few days, if the weather held, they would arrive in Ten-Towns, the ten settleis had once found sanctuary from the relentless pursuit of Pasha Pook, a forical ruby pendant he still wore There, the beleaguered and weary Drizzt Do&039;Urden had at last found a place to call home, and the friends he continued to hold most dear
For the next few days, they held wistfulness in their eyes and fullness in their hearts Around their s Maer Dualdon, the largest of the lakes; of nights on Kelvin&039;s Cairn, the lone mountain above the caves where Bruenor&039;s clan had lived in exile, where the stars seerasp them; and questions of immortality seemed crystalline clear For one could not stand on Bruenor&039;s Climb on Kelvin&039;s Cairn, aht and not feel a profound connection to eternity
The trail, known simply as "the caravan route," ran alest of the ten settleion and the common marketplace Bryn Shander was favorably located within thehillocks and nearly equidistant to the three lakes, Maer Dualdon to the northwest, Redwaters to the southeast and Lac Dinneshere, the eastern the same line as the caravan route, just half a day&039;s walk northeast of Bryn Shander, loomed the dormant volcano Kelvin&039;s Cairn, and before it, the valley and tunnels that once, and for more than a century, had housed Clan Battlehammer
Nearly ten thousand hearty souls lived in those ten settlements, all but those in Bryn Shander on the banks of one of the three lakes
The approach of a dark elf and a halfling elicited excite Bryn Shander&039;sup the caravan route at such a late date was a surprise, but to have one of those approaching be an elf with skin as black as ates closed fast and hard, and Drizzt laughed aloud - loud enough to be heard, though he and Regis were still is scolded
"Better they see bow"
Regis took a step away fro
"Halt and be recognized!" a guard shouted at thenize me, then, and be done with this foolishness," Drizzt called back, and he stopped in the middle of the road barely twenty strides from the wooden stockade wall "Howthe folk of Ten-Towns before the lapse of a few short years so erases the uard called out, "What is your nais yelled back "And I a Bruenor in Mithral Hall"
"Can it be?" yet another voice cried out
The gates swung open as quickly and as forcefully as they had closed
"Apparently their is reood to be home," the drow replied
The snow-covered trees is silently padded through them down to the banks of the partially frozen lake a few days later Maer Dualdon spread out wide before hiray ice, black ice, and blue water One boat bobbed at the town of Lonelywood&039;s longest wharf, not yet caught fast by the winter Frole lines of sis was at peace
He e, where a small patch remained unfrozen, and dropped a tiny chunk of ice into the lake, then watched as the ripples rolled out fro little bits of water onto the surrounding ice His h those ripples and into the past He thought of fishing - this had been his favorite spot He told hiain set his bobber in the waters of Maer Dualdon
Hardly thinking of the action, he reached into a small sack he had tied to his belt and produced a palave the trout of Icewind Dale their na knife, and never looking down at the bone, his eyes gazing across the e worked to free that which he knew to be in the bone, for that was the true secret of scrimshaw His art wasn&039;t to carve the bone into some definable shape, but to free the shape that was already in there, waiting for skilled and delicate fingers to show it to the world
Regis looked down and s, one so fitting for hiood tiood friends in a land so beautiful and so deadly all at once
He lost track of ti in the beauty and the refreshing chill Half in a daze, half in the past, Regis nearly juain and saw the head of a gigantic cat beside his hip
His little squeak beca tried to catch his breath
"She likes it here, too," Drizzt said from the trees behind him, and he turned to watch his drow friend&039;s approach
"You could have called out a warning," Regis said, and he noted that in his startled juht it up to suck on the wound, and was greatly relieved to learn that his scried
"I did," Drizzt replied "Twice You&039;ve the wind in your ears"
"It&039;s not so breezy here"
"Then the winds of tiis smiled and nodded "It&039;s hard to come here and not want to stay"
"It&039;s a more difficult place than Mithral Hall," said Drizzt
"But a is answered, and it was Drizzt&039;s turn to smile and nod "You met with the spokesmen of Bryn Shander?"
Drizzt shook his head "There was no need," he explained "Proprietor Faelfaril kneell of Wulfgar&039;s journey through Ten-Towns four years ago I learned everything we need from the innkeeper"
"And it saved you the trouble of the fanfare you kneould accoon north to Lonelywood," Drizzt retorted
"I wanted to see it again It was my home, after all, and for many, many years Did fat old Faelfaril ar?"