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He wanted to help Dahlia He wanted to coh these days, but in truth, he had no idea what to say that would make any difference to the emotionally battered woman, particularly not with Effron tied to a chair in a sectioned-off part of the hold

Dahlia seeallant rescue, and Effron seen of life, the young warlock not offering anything in terat all Dahlia’s capture by her son and their long y, it seeured that if pirates boarded Minnow Skipper, both would siht, and he could well iht offer on the last steps off the plank

That notion had the drow glancing down at the deck Dahlia was there a a torn sail, though at the rate she was going, a finger’s length tear ht occupy her for the rest of the journey to Meaze drifted farther aft, to the open bulkhead, where Aris had just appeared The dwarf reached back and bent low, grabbing hold on Effron and helping hi

A, but she quickly looked down and went back to her task

Making busy work, Drizzt could see, trying to pretend that Effron wasn’t on the deck, or that he wasn’t on the boat at all

But Drizzt could see even that wouldn’t prove enough emotional insulation for Dahlia She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then gathered up her things andback

Never looking back at Effron

"Effron," Drizzt whispered froh, and then it hit him, the simplest answer to the questions and doubts that had been pounding him for these many days This wasn’t about the relationship he had with Dahlia, whatever that ht be This wasn’t about hi over the taffrail of Minnow Skipper

Drizzt couldn’t begin to decipher the h Effron and Dahlia, wrenched from hidden corners of their hearts by circumstance and the abrupt turn of events But in this ht that he couldn’t understand

Because this wasn’t about hi a handhold and wrapping his ankles around the guide rope, then half sliding, half hand-walking his way quickly to the deck With a last glance at the bulkhead through which Dahlia had gone--and brushing away his certainty that she was belowdecks speaking with, or at least sitting with, Arte the deck

"Hey now!" Mister Sikkal yelled at him "Get yerself back at the lookout!"

Drizzt didn’t even turn to regard the old first mate He moved easily around the captain’s quarters and to the back, where the dwarf called a greeting to him

"Take my place at the crow’s nest," he said to Afafrenfere when the "

Afafrenfere glanced at Effron, who hadn’t even turned away fro foahtest interest in anything other than the empty dark water With a nod, the o with hiris

"I ain’t for climbin’ no durned dead tree pole!" the dwarf insisted

"Stay at the ris offered hirin "Our deal with Cannavara says two’re to be with this Effron boy at all ti spells"

Drizzt one

"I’ll be just around the corner, then," the stubborn dwarf replied, and she walked past Drizzt and around the edge of the captain’s cabin, but there plopped down noisily and , an old dwarf ballad of deep oblins in need of a bit of dwarf-style relocation

Drizzt moved up to Effron, but faced back at the captain’s cabin as he leaned against the taffrail

"Where will this go?" Drizzt asked Effron--asked his back, actually, since the tiefling was still leaning out over the taffrail, staring at the empty sea

"Do you know or do you care?" Drizzt pressed when Effron didn’t respond

"Why do you care?" came the curt reply

"Because I care for Dah … I care for your o there with Effron, straight to the relationship that was obviously causing hi’s response came as a derisive snort, which was not quite what Drizzt had expected

"Why would you doubt that?" Drizzt asked, still trying to re honestly to coax Effron froether for , youaround

"That is our business"

"Is it Arte asked, and now he did turn around, an unsettling grin spreading wickedly across his face

Drizzt couldn’t quite find the words to respond, not sure where Effron was going with this, yet afraid of where that ht Dahlia, she had just left hied and wanted nothing more than to turn this conversation back to the more important topic, that of Effron and Dahlia

"She had just left his bed," Effron pressed, and he seemed quite pleased with himself "She stank of him"

It took all the self-control he could muster for Drizzt not to si warlock over that taffrail and be done with hier, and more pointedly so because he had known this truth already, though he hadn’t been able to admit it to himself