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"In all the days of all my life, I have never felt sowind

Behind and below her, the dwarves, Regis, and Wulfgar went about their business preparing supper and setting up the latest camp, but the woman had been excused froh her emotions

And it was a tu Catti-brie had ever known Her last fight had not been the first time the woman had been in mortal peril, surely, and not even the first time she had been helpless before a hated enemy Once before, she had been captured by the assassin, Arteis, but in that instance, as helpless as she had felt, Catti-brie had never really expected to die

Never like she had felt when caught helpless on the ground at the feet of the encircling, vicious orcs In that horrible moment Catti-brie had seen her own death, vividly, unavoidably In that one horrible moment, all of her life’s dreams and hopes had been washed away on a wave of

Of what?

Regret?

Truly, she had lived as fully as anyone, running across the land on wild adventures, helping to defeat dragons and de to reclai pirates on the open seas She had known love

She looked back over her shoulder at Wulfgar as she considered this

She had known sorrow, and perhaps she had found love again Or was she just kidding herself? She was surrounded by the best friends that anyone could ever hope to know, by an unlikely crew that loved her as she loved thear, so she had believed, and with Drizzt

What?

She didn’t know She loved him dearly and always felt better when he was beside her, but were they meant to live as husband and wife? Was he to be the father of her children? Was that even possible?

The woman winced at the notion One part of her rejoiced at the thought, and believed it would be so wonderful and beautiful Another part of her,that any such children would, by the e, remain as outcasts to any and all save those feho knew the truth of Drizzt Do’Urden

Catti-brie closed her eyes and put her head down on her bent knees, curling up as she sat there, high on an exposed rock She iined herself as an older woman, far less mobile, and surely unable to run the mountainsides beside Drizzt Do’Urden, blessed as he ith the eternal youth of his people She saw him on the trails every day, his smile wide as he basked in the adventure That was his nature, after all, as it was hers But it would only be hers for a few more years, she knew in her heart, and less than that if ever she was to beco, and all too painful Those orcs circling her had shown her so about herself that she had never even realized, had shown her that her present life, as enjoyable as it was, as wild and full of adventure as it was, had to be (unless she was killed in the wilds) a prelude to so quite a bit different Was she to be athe court of her father, King Bruenor? Was this to be her last run through the wilds, her last great adventure?

"Doubt is expected after such a defeat," came a voice behind her, soft and familiar

She opened her eyes and turned to see Wulfgar standing there, just a bit below her, his ar

Catti-brie gave hi," the barbarian said quietly, full of sincerity and co specter warned you"

"Warned ar explained

Catti-brie’s expression turned to incredulity Wasn’t Wulfgar stating the obvious?

"When I fell with the yochlol " the barbarian began, and his eyes closed a bit in obvious pain at the memory He paused and settled, then opened his eyes wide and pressed on "In the lair of Errtu, I ca I had ever iret For all that I had accoether, and into har beside you, is, to reclaim Mithral Hall, to"

"Save ar sht nod

"For all of that, in the lair of Errtu, I came to know an emptiness that I had not known to exist until that very moment," the barbarian explained "As I looked upon what I believed to be the last ely cold and dissatisfied with my lack of accomplishments"

"After all that you did accoar nodded "Because in soup at her "Inof who I was, and who I wanted to be, and what I wanted and needed for a life that I er my homeI had failed"

Catti-brie could hardly believe what she was hearing It was as if Wulfgar was looking right through her, and pulling her oords out

"And you found Colson and Delly," she said

"A fine start, perhaps," Wulfgar replied

His smile seemed sincere, and Catti-brie returned that smile, and they went quiet for a bit

"Do you love hiar asked suddenly, unexpectedly

Catti-brie started to ansith a question of her own, but the ansas self-evident as soon as she truly considered his words

"Do you?" she asked instead

"He is ar answered without the slightest hesitation "If a spear were ailadly leap in front of it, even should it cost me my own life, and I would die contented Yes, I love hiis, as I love"

He stopped there, and sied

"As I, too, love them," Catti-brie answered

"That is not what I o past "Do you love him? Do you see him as your partner, on the trails and in the ho to discern his intent She saw no jealousy, no anger, and no signal of hopes, one way or the other What she saas Wulfgar, the true Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, a caring and loving companion

"I do not know," she heard herself saying before she ever really considered the question

The words caught her by surprise, hung in the air and in her thoughts, and she knew them to be true

"I have felt your pain and your doubts," Wulfgar said, his voice going even softer, and he moved to her and braced her shoulders with his hands and lowered his forehead against hers "We are all here for you, in any manner that you need We, all of us, Drizzt included, are first your friends"

Catti-brie closed her eyes and let herself sink into that coar, in the understanding that he knew her pain, profoundly, that he had cliine She found coar had returned from hell, that he had found his way, or at least, that he alking a truer road

She, too, would find that path, wherever it led

"Bruenor told ar when the drow returned fro of the mountains to the northeast

The drow dropped a hand onto his friend’s shoulder and nodded

"It was a rescue not unlike one of those Drizzt Do’Urden has perfected," Wulfgar replied, and he looked away

"You have my thanks"

"I did not do it for you"

The sier, widened Drizzt’s purple eyes

"Of course not," he agreed

The dark elf backed away, staring hard at Wulfgar, trying to find soht be

He saw only an io thanking each other every time one of us stays the weapon hand an ene little else," Wulfgar said "Catti-brie was in trouble, and I was fortunate enough -ere all fortunate enough -to have come upon her in tiht have done?"

The perplexed Drizzt said, "No"

"Did I do ht have done, had he seen his daughter in such mortal peril?"

"No"

"Did I do is would have done, or at least, would have tried to do?"

"I have taken your point," Drizzt said

"Then hold it well," said Wulfgar, and he looked away once more

It took Drizzt a few ar had seen his thanks as condescending, as if, so beyond what the companions would expect of each other That notion hadn’t sat well on the big man’s shoulders

"I take back ar merely chuckled

"Perhaps, instead, I offer you a elcoar to hi a puzzled expression his way

Drizzt nodded and walked away, leaving Wulfgar with those words to consider The drow turned his gaze to a rocky outcropping to the south of the encaure sat quietly

"She’s been up there all the day," Bruenor reht her back"

"Lying at the feet of outraged orcs can be an unsettling experience"

"Ye think?"

Drizzt looked over at his bearded friend

"Ye gonna go to her, elf?" Bruenor asked

Drizzt wasn’t sure, and his confusion showed clearly on his face

"Yeah, she ht be needin’ soar, drawing the drow’s gaze with his own "Not exactly the hero she’d expected, I’d be guessin’"

The words hit Drizzt hard,him to emotional places to which he did not wish to venture What was this about, after all? Was it about Wulfgar rescuing his former and Drizzt’s present love? Or was it about one of the co another, as had happened soroad?

The latter, Drizzt decided It had to be the latter, and all the rest of it was e theiant seemed crouched behind every boulder, ready to kill them Not out where such distractions could lead to incredible disaster Drizzt nearly laughed aloud as he considered the swirl of thoughts churning within his toward Catti-brie for which he had once scolded a younger Wulfgar

He focused on the positive, then, on the fact that Catti-brie had survived without serious wounds, and on the fact that this stride Wulfgar had taken, this act of courage and strength and herois his road back fro at the barbarian then,the dwarves, a calm expression upon his face, it seees of the smoke of the Abyss has washed clean of his features Yes, Drizzt decided, it was a good day

"I saw the tower of Shallows at h to see it clearly, even toatop it, I believe we have a couple of days’ limpsed it, one that will take days to ?" the dwarf asked