Fandom Fifty: #19
Jul. 4th, 2025 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senmut1993. I graduated in June of this year, had committed to my late partner (and her husband) that year, got kicked out of my father's home by his wife with his assent before I even graduated, did not walk the stage... Yeah. Ups and Downs.
28 films, and I actually know I saw most of them in theater, at least half first run and the rest in the cheap second run theater (that had an arcade and mini golf and batting cages in the same complex).
( sure why not do all 28 since I have nothing else on tap? )
28 films, and I actually know I saw most of them in theater, at least half first run and the rest in the cheap second run theater (that had an arcade and mini golf and batting cages in the same complex).
( sure why not do all 28 since I have nothing else on tap? )
Fannish options & enthusiasms | July 2025
Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:40 ambrightknightieHere are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!
Spotlight: Volume 1 of the fantasy webcomic Aurora by Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions comes out from Andrews McMeel on July 29. New to you? A band of diverse misfits thrown together by circumstances try to save first themselves, then each other, and eventually their magic-ridden world, journeying much like a D&D party, interacting much like a superhero team, with many of the self-sacrifice, power of friendship, and metaphysical/moral themes I love. Already enjoy? Pre-orders can get an exclusive sticker sheet. Check it out.
Ficathons, fests & communities
- Create & engage
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fkficfest, the annual Forever Knight fanfic challenge, finished revealing its stories in June.- sunshine_revival, a summertime sibling of snowflake_challenge, is in progress. No commitments, no deadlines, yes friending-meme. Let's engage with each other here on DW!
- julybreakbingopresents, a month-long bingo-prompt fanwork game, has sign-ups through July 7.
- fallingforyoufallexchange is a fanwork exchange celebrating falling in love in fall. Nominations through July 21; sign-ups through July 31; due September 15.
- no_true_pair, a "Mad Libs"-style challenge community, is hosting a "No True Crossover" mini-event through July (with amnesty thereafter).
beauty-beast-week is an open celebration of Disney's Beauty and the Beast with posting August 18-24.
- trope_of_the_month's July theme is an amnesty (create works for any previous theme).
- pinchhits is a forum for pinch-hits in exchanges. For example, fandom5k is seeking pinch hitters.
- whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
- Enjoy & share
- fancake (themed fanfic recs); July theme: "working together"
- gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
- het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
- fanart_recs (fanart recs)
- recthething (fanwork recs)
Sidelight: I've preordered tickets for Superman (2025) and The Fantastic Four (2025), fingers crossed for both (be good be good be good), but I also want to support original and non-genre films. I looked for what to see this holiday weekend and found... nothing? I hadn't known what The Life of Chuck might possibly be until its run ended, only that it had famous people in it, so I unfortunately missed that. I'm not into horror. The reviews of Pixar's latest are poor. Are there no dramas, historicals, comedies? Just the Nth Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible sequels? To be fair, there is a men-race-cars movie. Still. Eeek, Hollywood.
Fancake Theme for July: Working Together
Jul. 3rd, 2025 09:23 amrunpunkrun posting in fandomcalendar
fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules. This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
Sunshine Revival '25 #1
Jul. 2nd, 2025 07:57 ambrightknightiesunshine_revival '25 Challenge #1: "Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025."My fannish goals for the rest of this summer include:
- Participate in everywoman, the fanfic exchange starring women characters, when it comes along. I will definitely offer D&DC, TLOZ, and BSG78; others' requests will influence what else I may list.
- Build a pattern of recommending something once per week on recommendation communities, and then including a wrap-up of my recs here in my own journal in my monthly "Enthusiasms" post. (Or give it its own monthly post?) Probably usually in recthething, but it could be any suitable recs community. (Is it appropriate to cross-post recs to multiple recs communities? Maybe at staggered intervals?)
- Finish writing and post an odd TLOZ piece I'm thinking of as: "Three Gerudo Ficlets in the Past of Tears of the Kingdom, Before Age of Imprisonment Totally Josses Them." ( Read more... )
At the end of the year, of course I plan to participate in
hlh_shortcuts, the annual Highlander fanfic exchange.Catching up on TV whenever, I plan to watch Andor (season two) and Ironheart (season one). I wish that they released one episode per week, not tranches of episodes! I find one-episode-per-week so inviting, and these tranches so overwhelming, that I end up putting off watching these, while I am of course wholly caught up on the current season of Grantchester. Back-watching TV, I will continue my one-episode-per-week first-time viewing of Babylon 5. (Again, if you mentally classify the special effects as meant for stage instead of screen, this show does much more than merely "hold up;" I feel that it beats the heck out of most of what we have today. Storytelling, acting, episodicness and continuity...)
I already have my pre-sale tickets for Superman (2025) and The Fantastic Four (2025), of course. (Please let me say again that folks should consider watching Thunderbolts*; it's rich and satisfying in multiple layers. I'm disheartened that so many people skipped it. It's well-made and deserves better.)
How about you...?
Daily Check In
Jun. 30th, 2025 08:47 pmsenmut| *\o/* | Word Count | Step Count | Headache? |
| Daily | 0 | 11,585 | no |
| Monthly | 25,822 | 310,738 | 10 days |
861 words avg / 500 goal | 10,358 steps avg / 8,000 goal | 1/3rd month in headache
Rebuilding journal search again
Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pmalierak posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceWe're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.
Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
June Round Up (43,559 words, 17 works)
Jun. 30th, 2025 08:06 amsenmutShared Projects, by cowriter, by fandom
( Shared Projects )
Single fics, by fandom, by posting date (related fandoms may be organized by chronology)
( Single fics )
( Shared Projects )
Single fics, by fandom, by posting date (related fandoms may be organized by chronology)
( Single fics )
Forgotten Realms AU
Jun. 29th, 2025 09:22 pmsenmutDreams of Her Own (2929 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Fratricide, Murder, flashfic
Summary:
Vierna refused to let her plans unraveling for graduation be the end of her ambitions. Dinin and Drizzt were mostly out of the House, serving time on the patrols that protected the city. A House was plotting against them, and that raised tempers… as well as giving alibis. She loathed the idea of killing other drow, but there were two major obstacles to her designs for holding a House for her true god.
Briza was the first of these. Despite at least two attempts by others to kill her and Vierna suspecting at least the last plot against Malice as her handiwork, the brute still lived.
She had carefully sown suspicion of Briza in the ears of other high-ranking clerics while a Mistress of Arach-Tinilith. Whether that would bear fruit quickly enough remained to be seen.
The second was Malice herself, and by necessity she had to be allowed to live until Briza was dead. Still, it was so easy to plant rumors among their soldiers, ones that implied someone within the House was plotting to overthrow the Matron. As Briza was the likely heiress, those rumors would serve to foster ill-will between mother and daughter.
She had not counted on her wean-son throwing everything in disarray by failure on the raid in such a way as to bring Lloth's disfavor on them all. That this threatened Zaknafein now was something that could not go unaddressed.
"We will bring them," Vierna said in icy tones, still holding one of the man's swords, and Maya holding the other. "It may amuse the Matron to see you parted from them as she interviews you."
Briza's eyes flicked to her, but Zaknafein shrugged, arguing to be allowed to dress once more. Eventually, they were moving toward the matron's domain, with her already upon her throne in the chapel's anteroom. As they had walked, Vierna had taken the second sword, gesturing for Maya to have her hands free in case the male did something wrong.
"Zaknafein, Matron, as you requested," Vierna said, once her sisters had moved. How this next part would go depended on how fast the man reacted.
Malice sat back upon her throne, and Vierna made her choice, dropping the swords on the floor audibly. Malice glared at her for that, but Vierna did not see it, already drawing the circle with her forefingers, saying the word for the hated daylight above —
— and the antechamber lit up as if on a sunny cloudless day above. Maya audibly cried out in pain, and Malice's hiss was loud enough to be heard from the throne, where Vierna had centered the spell. The pop and strike of Briza's whip in her direction failed to land, as the second-born daughter of the House was in motion, maces in hand.
Nor had Zaknafein been slow to gather his blades, reacting to the treachery with fast, economic motions. The chanting of a prayer-spell ahead of him died at the end of a blade, before he began hunting the half-blinded daughters. While Vierna's eyes were streaming wetness from the glare of light, she did see her mother's headless body tumble from the throne. Leaving Briza to the more experienced killer, she dealt with Maya, a fight that lasted only long enough for Vierna to actually invade the woman's space.
Spells were no match for an experienced fighter, she thought as the youngest daughter died from a crumpled skull.
The sound of a body — heavy, large — hitting the floor gave her the signal to dispel her the daylight and listen, eyes moving from one cooling corpse to the next before focusing on the male in the center of the room.
"I'll need a moment to rid us of the bodies," she said in a cool tone, offering him the alliance she desperately needed in those words.
"Mind if I go get dressed, Matron Vierna?" he asked after a long moment.
"Please." She gave him a smile for how well he had taken it, knew the requesting word was giving him more to think on. She let him leave before she took advantage of Lloth's disfavor on them to invite the shadows to come in and clean away the traces of what had been done. She could not, yet, give herself over to the truth of her worship, but the servants of shadow-stuff were quick to do as needed and leave again.
All that remained was to prepare her lies for the House, and take firm command. She had no idea if they could beat back a House war at this point, but she was not going to admit defeat now that she had chosen to claim leadership.
How to spin the lies so that even a Goddess believed in her purpose? That thought was carefully hidden under the protective spells on her mind.
Zaknafein looked at the man his son had become and nearly cursed aloud. He needed to get back to Vierna, to see what insane plan she had for dealing with this, but Drizzt was in terrible shape.
"Sit." He'd pulled himself fully together, armor and weapons in all their proper ways. Drizzt did, all signs of shock setting in, and Zak did not have time to deal with that but he could manage the injuries. With brisk hands, he applied the salve to the burns, then had Drizzt straighten the hand out as best he could. Zak let his face show his distaste for causing further pain as he manipulated the bones the best he could into their correct places before applying the salve there too.
"Hun'ett?"
Drizzt nodded. "Both wizards, though the Faceless One said his name was DeVir."
Zak snorted. "So that House dies twice over this day. We'll talk later; go find your brother and invite him to get his lizard riders kitted up an into defensive posture. No time for sleep yet."
He dug out a tablet, and held it out to his son. "Put it under your tongue until it dissolves. Yes, it is bitter, but it will let you have a clear mind and no fatigue for hours."
"After Dinin?"
"Back here; I should know more by then."
"Yes, Father," Drizzt said, a tiny smile lighting his eyes for saying it.
"We may yet win freedom, son," Zaknafein said quietly, before going to find the daughter that baffled him.
The plan was reckless.
Vierna didn't care.
She went into the chapel, alone, and settled into prayer. All of who she was in truth was locked away, as she opened the fullness of her plan to whichever of Lloth's lowly servants was tasked with listening to the ill-favored House.
"The time for change is upon us, and today I have begun that change," she prayed fervently, the strength of her convictions carrying her through this. "It will be all the more sweeter to bend such skills to the needs of the House. Grant me the right to prove this, and every soul of the House daring to attack us is Yours!"
More drow deaths, but one way or another it had to happen. Either Do'Urden was doomed, or the enemy was. She did not let that leak up past the hiding spell, and when the candles lit in darkflame she thought she had the answer she needed.
"To Your glory," she finished, rising and leaving the chapel to vest herself in the full powers of the House, and prepare for the counter-attack she was envisioning.
Zaknafein frowned at the fervent expression on Vierna's face as she came out of that damnable chapel. He wiped it off his features before she saw him, but braced anyway when she swept up to him and took his hands. Her fingers tapping out the words took her a moment to understand, just because it was almost sheer lunacy to try what she was saying.
"The boy will see to the defenses inside the House," Zaknafein told her in the same manner. He was certain that, in defense of the home, Drizzt would not hesitate, but something was telling him not to have his son be an aggressor.
"Weapon Master, we face an attack from above us," Vierna said aloud over his message to her. "Your experience is needed."
"So it will be."
He melted away from her, going to give Dinin his orders, to allocate which fighters needed to listen to Drizzt… and she went to marshal the lesser clerics, those few wizard-trained fighters, and the now-former Patron to supply the rest of the battle plan. He found Drizzt still with Dinin, and two of the senior fighters there with them.
"Drizzt, interior defense. Mahali, station as you would with me in charge, and you had better listen to our Secondboy. Dinin, we're going hunting, to head this off."
"All of my riders?"
"We need to be in place before the others move, yes."
Dinin's smile was vicious sharp, while Drizzt was frowning. Zak caught his eyes, signing 'not now' while Mahali was leaving them to get the most experienced fighters into place. Drizzt stiffened, then nodded, and turned to follow her. That let Zaknafein get Dinin alone, and he met the Elderboy's eyes intently.
"Nothing like the last time, Dinin. I can keep the Secondboy in check; can you?"
He was satisfied to see the threat land solidly, and decided he'd have no treachery out of the fighter, allowing them to go and see to this task of theirs.
Somehow, against impossible odds, Hun'ett fell to the cunning preemptive attack that Vierna had dreamed up. Dinin and Rizzen were praised for their effective command, Zaknafein for cutting off the head of the attack, and Drizzt for keeping the House secure when so many of their forces had gone out.
Now, sitting precariously as the Eighth House, Vierna had to determine the best way forward. While Zaknafein was indispensable, and better at masking his hatred of Lloth, Drizzt was an explosion waiting to happen, one that could yet destroy her tenuous hold on the House. She adopted two stronger junior clerics, made arrangements to send them one after the other to Arach-Tinilith. She also surveyed the minor wizards of the House, comparing them to her memories of Nalfein, and arranged for the better of them to go to Sorcere.
Her fighters were flush with the many Hun'ett warriors that had been given the option of death or surrender. Those would have to be processed carefully, as they might yet prove treacherous.
None of that solved the problem of Drizzt, who she needed to either bend to her will — an impossible task and she'd known it when she offered that as part of her lies to the Spider Queen — or remove him before he made another mistake.
This meant taking one more risk.
After warning Zaknafein to guard the House closely, she took her wean-son, her strange little brother, with her to the caverns where she could gather components for new salves. The faerzress and her cloaking spells would have to be enough for this next endeavor… and the boy better damned well cooperate with her!
Drizzt had not been certain of anything since the raid, it felt like. Zaknafein — his father! — kept counseling him to be patient. No one was talking about the missing women of the family, or Vierna's promotion of so many junior clerics. She was taking firm charge, and yes, House Hun'ett had been destroyed, but Drizzt still felt sick when he thought of killing drow.
The House was tightened down, all defenses running high, but the feeling was somehow less oppressive than he thought it would feel. Something in the way Vierna set the orders to everyone had less … fear attached to it. It was almost as if she wanted people to choose to support her, instead of demanding loyalty and enforcing it through violence.
Still. He did not feel safe or even welcome, other than in the gymnasium. Sparring Zaknafein was the best experience, other than the quiet moments with Guenhwyvar. He felt very adrift, other than in those two experiences, day in and day out at House Do'Urden.
Accompanying his sister was hard, but he clung to the fact she had protected him from the effects of graduation, had covered up his slipping out from the orgy. Zak had said to trust her… to a point.
"Heavy thoughts, my brother?" she asked him as they stopped in the most beautiful, deadly cavern Drizzt had ever seen.
"Yes." He did not see a purpose in lying to her, was ready to escape by any means necessary.
"Good." She stayed upon her riding lizard, and drew out a few items from her pockets. The precious jewels, exquisitely placed in meticulously crafted pendants and rings had once been seen on Malice from time to time. Drizzt was curious, despite his wariness, especially as Vierna drew out a black shallow bowl that reeked of magic even with the faerzress all around him.
"May I know what you are doing?"
She looked at him, giving a true smile for the question. "Helping you to run away before you upset my ability to keep the House and other necessities," she answered. With what she needed, she gestured for him to dismount and take those items, only climbing down once he had. "I cannot cast the spell that is needed, but I have asked for the help I need.
"I merely need to make the offering, and a gate will open."
"But… where? I have nothing."
"Once you set that over there on the flat stone, get the two travel bags off your mount," she instructed. "As to where, I have been promised that the gate will open in a place where you will find aid swiftly.
"I do not want you suffering any more than I want you to upset what I must do with the House, to try and make things better for us," she explained. "Some day, when you are older and wiser, I will tell you more — if we both live long enough to see it happen."
Drizzt frowned, but did all she told him to, trying not to worry too much. "What about the Weapon Master? You need him, and he may not like me vanishing."
"I will handle him. He will know you live," Vierna promised. She came to him before she attended to setting up the sacrifice of the material objects, putting both hands in his thick hair and pulling so that she could place a kiss on his forehead. "I had other plans, at graduation, but could not make them happen.
"Instead, my strange wean-son and brother, know that I am trying to change many of the things that hurt you so about our lives." She stepped back, searching his face, and he decided to risk everything by actually hugging her.
"I will never understand, but … that is a good thing in my eyes," he told her. "I will hope to hear from you, some day."
She nodded, and went to begin the ritual that would send him far from her, far from drow life as he had known it.
It had been a very, very long time since Vhaeraun had cooperated with His Sister, yet this prime opportunity had been too much to pass up. Summoning Her was as simple as standing in Her mostly abandoned demesnes within the Demonweb Pits. The fierce warrior that was His Twin arrived with swords bared… and not at a point He had expected Her to arrive at.
"Peace, My Twin. I have a drow I need to remove from My priestess's life. I can only perceive him through her eyes… but given how strongly he reacts in the negative to all aspects of drow life, I believe he was meant for You."
"Brother, if this is some form of a trap you are baiting, I will do everything I can to send you slinking into the shadows."
He smiled; even wary, She did not threaten Him with death or unmaking. "I am finally in a position to break Her hold on Menzoberrazan. A House on the ruling council," he began, "is my hope."
Her eyes widened, and He felt Her reinforce the non-detection spells woven around Them to protect the words They shared. Where He broke Lolth's power, She often found a way to follow. Which suited Him, as she took away those drow without the necessary traits for the future He envisioned.
"What do You wish?"
"Temporary passage, via gate, to the demesnes You keep there." He could not help but sneer a little at mentioning Her other home, but it did drive the point home.
"As a gate must transfer to a plane not the one it is cast upon," She reasoned. "Once delivered to Me, that is the end of it?"
"Unless it comes to outright war?" He invited, wondering if Their Mother would fight harder for this city than others.
She considered. "Against Her, You may count on Me."
He smiled, then made a flourishing wave at Her before stepping through the shadow plane, to await the call from His priestess. He knew She would not linger there.
A drow male appeared in the eternal night of a goddess's domain. A priestess and Matron Mother returned home looking grimly satisfied at yet another family member mysteriously vanishing. A father felt a message tapped along his arm that his son would live free now.
The future was wide open for all of them, as plots and plans continued to evolve about the destiny of House Do'Urden.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Fratricide, Murder, flashfic
Summary:
Thwarted in escaping with the two males she cares for at Graduation, Vierna sets her goals differently.
Only, Drizzt sets things in motion the wrong way.
Dreams of Her Own
Vierna refused to let her plans unraveling for graduation be the end of her ambitions. Dinin and Drizzt were mostly out of the House, serving time on the patrols that protected the city. A House was plotting against them, and that raised tempers… as well as giving alibis. She loathed the idea of killing other drow, but there were two major obstacles to her designs for holding a House for her true god.
Briza was the first of these. Despite at least two attempts by others to kill her and Vierna suspecting at least the last plot against Malice as her handiwork, the brute still lived.
She had carefully sown suspicion of Briza in the ears of other high-ranking clerics while a Mistress of Arach-Tinilith. Whether that would bear fruit quickly enough remained to be seen.
The second was Malice herself, and by necessity she had to be allowed to live until Briza was dead. Still, it was so easy to plant rumors among their soldiers, ones that implied someone within the House was plotting to overthrow the Matron. As Briza was the likely heiress, those rumors would serve to foster ill-will between mother and daughter.
She had not counted on her wean-son throwing everything in disarray by failure on the raid in such a way as to bring Lloth's disfavor on them all. That this threatened Zaknafein now was something that could not go unaddressed.
"We will bring them," Vierna said in icy tones, still holding one of the man's swords, and Maya holding the other. "It may amuse the Matron to see you parted from them as she interviews you."
Briza's eyes flicked to her, but Zaknafein shrugged, arguing to be allowed to dress once more. Eventually, they were moving toward the matron's domain, with her already upon her throne in the chapel's anteroom. As they had walked, Vierna had taken the second sword, gesturing for Maya to have her hands free in case the male did something wrong.
"Zaknafein, Matron, as you requested," Vierna said, once her sisters had moved. How this next part would go depended on how fast the man reacted.
Malice sat back upon her throne, and Vierna made her choice, dropping the swords on the floor audibly. Malice glared at her for that, but Vierna did not see it, already drawing the circle with her forefingers, saying the word for the hated daylight above —
— and the antechamber lit up as if on a sunny cloudless day above. Maya audibly cried out in pain, and Malice's hiss was loud enough to be heard from the throne, where Vierna had centered the spell. The pop and strike of Briza's whip in her direction failed to land, as the second-born daughter of the House was in motion, maces in hand.
Nor had Zaknafein been slow to gather his blades, reacting to the treachery with fast, economic motions. The chanting of a prayer-spell ahead of him died at the end of a blade, before he began hunting the half-blinded daughters. While Vierna's eyes were streaming wetness from the glare of light, she did see her mother's headless body tumble from the throne. Leaving Briza to the more experienced killer, she dealt with Maya, a fight that lasted only long enough for Vierna to actually invade the woman's space.
Spells were no match for an experienced fighter, she thought as the youngest daughter died from a crumpled skull.
The sound of a body — heavy, large — hitting the floor gave her the signal to dispel her the daylight and listen, eyes moving from one cooling corpse to the next before focusing on the male in the center of the room.
"I'll need a moment to rid us of the bodies," she said in a cool tone, offering him the alliance she desperately needed in those words.
"Mind if I go get dressed, Matron Vierna?" he asked after a long moment.
"Please." She gave him a smile for how well he had taken it, knew the requesting word was giving him more to think on. She let him leave before she took advantage of Lloth's disfavor on them to invite the shadows to come in and clean away the traces of what had been done. She could not, yet, give herself over to the truth of her worship, but the servants of shadow-stuff were quick to do as needed and leave again.
All that remained was to prepare her lies for the House, and take firm command. She had no idea if they could beat back a House war at this point, but she was not going to admit defeat now that she had chosen to claim leadership.
How to spin the lies so that even a Goddess believed in her purpose? That thought was carefully hidden under the protective spells on her mind.
Zaknafein looked at the man his son had become and nearly cursed aloud. He needed to get back to Vierna, to see what insane plan she had for dealing with this, but Drizzt was in terrible shape.
"Sit." He'd pulled himself fully together, armor and weapons in all their proper ways. Drizzt did, all signs of shock setting in, and Zak did not have time to deal with that but he could manage the injuries. With brisk hands, he applied the salve to the burns, then had Drizzt straighten the hand out as best he could. Zak let his face show his distaste for causing further pain as he manipulated the bones the best he could into their correct places before applying the salve there too.
"Hun'ett?"
Drizzt nodded. "Both wizards, though the Faceless One said his name was DeVir."
Zak snorted. "So that House dies twice over this day. We'll talk later; go find your brother and invite him to get his lizard riders kitted up an into defensive posture. No time for sleep yet."
He dug out a tablet, and held it out to his son. "Put it under your tongue until it dissolves. Yes, it is bitter, but it will let you have a clear mind and no fatigue for hours."
"After Dinin?"
"Back here; I should know more by then."
"Yes, Father," Drizzt said, a tiny smile lighting his eyes for saying it.
"We may yet win freedom, son," Zaknafein said quietly, before going to find the daughter that baffled him.
The plan was reckless.
Vierna didn't care.
She went into the chapel, alone, and settled into prayer. All of who she was in truth was locked away, as she opened the fullness of her plan to whichever of Lloth's lowly servants was tasked with listening to the ill-favored House.
"The time for change is upon us, and today I have begun that change," she prayed fervently, the strength of her convictions carrying her through this. "It will be all the more sweeter to bend such skills to the needs of the House. Grant me the right to prove this, and every soul of the House daring to attack us is Yours!"
More drow deaths, but one way or another it had to happen. Either Do'Urden was doomed, or the enemy was. She did not let that leak up past the hiding spell, and when the candles lit in darkflame she thought she had the answer she needed.
"To Your glory," she finished, rising and leaving the chapel to vest herself in the full powers of the House, and prepare for the counter-attack she was envisioning.
Zaknafein frowned at the fervent expression on Vierna's face as she came out of that damnable chapel. He wiped it off his features before she saw him, but braced anyway when she swept up to him and took his hands. Her fingers tapping out the words took her a moment to understand, just because it was almost sheer lunacy to try what she was saying.
"The boy will see to the defenses inside the House," Zaknafein told her in the same manner. He was certain that, in defense of the home, Drizzt would not hesitate, but something was telling him not to have his son be an aggressor.
"Weapon Master, we face an attack from above us," Vierna said aloud over his message to her. "Your experience is needed."
"So it will be."
He melted away from her, going to give Dinin his orders, to allocate which fighters needed to listen to Drizzt… and she went to marshal the lesser clerics, those few wizard-trained fighters, and the now-former Patron to supply the rest of the battle plan. He found Drizzt still with Dinin, and two of the senior fighters there with them.
"Drizzt, interior defense. Mahali, station as you would with me in charge, and you had better listen to our Secondboy. Dinin, we're going hunting, to head this off."
"All of my riders?"
"We need to be in place before the others move, yes."
Dinin's smile was vicious sharp, while Drizzt was frowning. Zak caught his eyes, signing 'not now' while Mahali was leaving them to get the most experienced fighters into place. Drizzt stiffened, then nodded, and turned to follow her. That let Zaknafein get Dinin alone, and he met the Elderboy's eyes intently.
"Nothing like the last time, Dinin. I can keep the Secondboy in check; can you?"
He was satisfied to see the threat land solidly, and decided he'd have no treachery out of the fighter, allowing them to go and see to this task of theirs.
Somehow, against impossible odds, Hun'ett fell to the cunning preemptive attack that Vierna had dreamed up. Dinin and Rizzen were praised for their effective command, Zaknafein for cutting off the head of the attack, and Drizzt for keeping the House secure when so many of their forces had gone out.
Now, sitting precariously as the Eighth House, Vierna had to determine the best way forward. While Zaknafein was indispensable, and better at masking his hatred of Lloth, Drizzt was an explosion waiting to happen, one that could yet destroy her tenuous hold on the House. She adopted two stronger junior clerics, made arrangements to send them one after the other to Arach-Tinilith. She also surveyed the minor wizards of the House, comparing them to her memories of Nalfein, and arranged for the better of them to go to Sorcere.
Her fighters were flush with the many Hun'ett warriors that had been given the option of death or surrender. Those would have to be processed carefully, as they might yet prove treacherous.
None of that solved the problem of Drizzt, who she needed to either bend to her will — an impossible task and she'd known it when she offered that as part of her lies to the Spider Queen — or remove him before he made another mistake.
This meant taking one more risk.
After warning Zaknafein to guard the House closely, she took her wean-son, her strange little brother, with her to the caverns where she could gather components for new salves. The faerzress and her cloaking spells would have to be enough for this next endeavor… and the boy better damned well cooperate with her!
Drizzt had not been certain of anything since the raid, it felt like. Zaknafein — his father! — kept counseling him to be patient. No one was talking about the missing women of the family, or Vierna's promotion of so many junior clerics. She was taking firm charge, and yes, House Hun'ett had been destroyed, but Drizzt still felt sick when he thought of killing drow.
The House was tightened down, all defenses running high, but the feeling was somehow less oppressive than he thought it would feel. Something in the way Vierna set the orders to everyone had less … fear attached to it. It was almost as if she wanted people to choose to support her, instead of demanding loyalty and enforcing it through violence.
Still. He did not feel safe or even welcome, other than in the gymnasium. Sparring Zaknafein was the best experience, other than the quiet moments with Guenhwyvar. He felt very adrift, other than in those two experiences, day in and day out at House Do'Urden.
Accompanying his sister was hard, but he clung to the fact she had protected him from the effects of graduation, had covered up his slipping out from the orgy. Zak had said to trust her… to a point.
"Heavy thoughts, my brother?" she asked him as they stopped in the most beautiful, deadly cavern Drizzt had ever seen.
"Yes." He did not see a purpose in lying to her, was ready to escape by any means necessary.
"Good." She stayed upon her riding lizard, and drew out a few items from her pockets. The precious jewels, exquisitely placed in meticulously crafted pendants and rings had once been seen on Malice from time to time. Drizzt was curious, despite his wariness, especially as Vierna drew out a black shallow bowl that reeked of magic even with the faerzress all around him.
"May I know what you are doing?"
She looked at him, giving a true smile for the question. "Helping you to run away before you upset my ability to keep the House and other necessities," she answered. With what she needed, she gestured for him to dismount and take those items, only climbing down once he had. "I cannot cast the spell that is needed, but I have asked for the help I need.
"I merely need to make the offering, and a gate will open."
"But… where? I have nothing."
"Once you set that over there on the flat stone, get the two travel bags off your mount," she instructed. "As to where, I have been promised that the gate will open in a place where you will find aid swiftly.
"I do not want you suffering any more than I want you to upset what I must do with the House, to try and make things better for us," she explained. "Some day, when you are older and wiser, I will tell you more — if we both live long enough to see it happen."
Drizzt frowned, but did all she told him to, trying not to worry too much. "What about the Weapon Master? You need him, and he may not like me vanishing."
"I will handle him. He will know you live," Vierna promised. She came to him before she attended to setting up the sacrifice of the material objects, putting both hands in his thick hair and pulling so that she could place a kiss on his forehead. "I had other plans, at graduation, but could not make them happen.
"Instead, my strange wean-son and brother, know that I am trying to change many of the things that hurt you so about our lives." She stepped back, searching his face, and he decided to risk everything by actually hugging her.
"I will never understand, but … that is a good thing in my eyes," he told her. "I will hope to hear from you, some day."
She nodded, and went to begin the ritual that would send him far from her, far from drow life as he had known it.
It had been a very, very long time since Vhaeraun had cooperated with His Sister, yet this prime opportunity had been too much to pass up. Summoning Her was as simple as standing in Her mostly abandoned demesnes within the Demonweb Pits. The fierce warrior that was His Twin arrived with swords bared… and not at a point He had expected Her to arrive at.
"Peace, My Twin. I have a drow I need to remove from My priestess's life. I can only perceive him through her eyes… but given how strongly he reacts in the negative to all aspects of drow life, I believe he was meant for You."
"Brother, if this is some form of a trap you are baiting, I will do everything I can to send you slinking into the shadows."
He smiled; even wary, She did not threaten Him with death or unmaking. "I am finally in a position to break Her hold on Menzoberrazan. A House on the ruling council," he began, "is my hope."
Her eyes widened, and He felt Her reinforce the non-detection spells woven around Them to protect the words They shared. Where He broke Lolth's power, She often found a way to follow. Which suited Him, as she took away those drow without the necessary traits for the future He envisioned.
"What do You wish?"
"Temporary passage, via gate, to the demesnes You keep there." He could not help but sneer a little at mentioning Her other home, but it did drive the point home.
"As a gate must transfer to a plane not the one it is cast upon," She reasoned. "Once delivered to Me, that is the end of it?"
"Unless it comes to outright war?" He invited, wondering if Their Mother would fight harder for this city than others.
She considered. "Against Her, You may count on Me."
He smiled, then made a flourishing wave at Her before stepping through the shadow plane, to await the call from His priestess. He knew She would not linger there.
A drow male appeared in the eternal night of a goddess's domain. A priestess and Matron Mother returned home looking grimly satisfied at yet another family member mysteriously vanishing. A father felt a message tapped along his arm that his son would live free now.
The future was wide open for all of them, as plots and plans continued to evolve about the destiny of House Do'Urden.
