Wulfgar found it hard to get the words out of his mouth, but he graciously said, “I will spend the winter with my family. If you would allow us the use of your house through the season.”
“Of course,” said Deudermont. He managed a smile and gently patted Wulfgar on the shoulder, which meant that he had to reach up a considerable distance. “Enjoy these moments with your family,” he said quietly and with great compassion. “We will seek out Sheila Kree in the spring, on my word, and Aegis-fang will be returned to its rightful owner.”
Every fiber within Wulfgar wanted to refuse this entire scenario, wanted to shout out at Deudermont that he was not a broken warrior, that he would find his way back to the battle, with all of the fury, and, more importantly, with all of the discipline demanded by a crack crew. He wanted to explain to the captain that he would find his way clear, to assure the man that the warrior who was Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, was waiting to be freed of this emotional prison to find his way back.
But Wulfgar held back the thoughts. In light of his recent, dangerous failures in battle, it was not his place to argue with Deudermont but rather to graciously accept the captain's polite excuse to get him off the ship.
They would be in Waterdeep in a tenday's time, and there Wulfgar would stay.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Delly Curtie found Drizzt and Catti-brie packing their belongings, preparing to leave Deudermont's house early the next morning.
“Sea Sprite will likely return soon,” she explained to the duo.
“Likely,” Drizzt echoed. “But I fear there might already be news of a confrontation between Kree and Sea Sprite, farther in the north. We will go to Luskan, where we are to meet with some friends and follow a trail that will take us to Kree, or to Wulfgar.”
Delly thought about it for just a moment. “Give me some time to pack and to ready Colson,” she said.
Catti-brie was shaking her head before Delly ever finished the thought. “Ye'll slow us down,” she said.
“If ye're going to Wulfgar, then me place is with yerself,” the woman replied firmly.
“We're not knowing that we're going to Wulfgar,” Catti-brie replied with all honesty and with measured calm. “It might well be that Wulfgar will soon enough be here, with Sea Sprite. If that's the truth, then better that ye're here to meet with him and tell him all that ye know.”
“If you come with us, and Sea Sprite puts into Waterdeep, Wulfgar will be terribly worried about you,” Drizzt explained. “You stay here—the watch will keep you and your child safe now.”
Delly considered the pair for a few moments, her trepidation obvious on her soft features. Catti-brie caught it clearly and certainly understood.
“If we're first to Wulfgar, then we'll be coming with him back here,” she said, and Delly relaxed visibly.
After a moment, the woman nodded her agreement.
Drizzt and Catti-brie left a short while later, after gaining assurances from the authorities that Deudermont's house, and Delly and Colson, would be guarded day and night.
“Our road's going back and forth,” Catti-brie remarked to the drow as they made their way out of the great city's northern gate. “And all the while, Wulfgar's sailing out there, back and forth. We've just got to hope that our routes cross soon enough, though I'm thinking that he'll be landing in Waterdeep while we're walking into Luskan.”
Drizzt didn't crack a smile at her humorous words and tone. He looked to her and stared intently, giving her a moment to reflect on the raid of the previous night, and the dangerous implications, then said grimly, “We've just got to hope that Sea Sprite is still afloat and that Wulfgar is still alive.”
Part3 THE BLOODY TRAIL
Once again Catti-brie shows me that she knows me better than I know myself. As we came to understand that Wulfgar was climbing out of his dark hole, was truly resurfacing into the warrior he had once been, I have to admit a bit of fear, a bit of jealousy. Would he come back as the man who once stole Catti-brie's heart? Or had he, in fact, ever really done that? Was their planned marriage more a matter of convenience on both parts, a logical joining of the only two humans, matched in age and beauty, among our little band?
I think it was a little of both, and hence my jealousy. For though I understand that I have become special to Catti-brie in ways I had never before imagined, there is a part of me that wishes no one else ever had. For though I am certain that we two share many feelings that are new and exciting to both of us, I do not like to consider the possibility that she ever shared such emotions with another, even one who is so dear a friend. Perhaps especially one who is so dear a friend! But even as I admit all this, I know that I must take a deep breath and blow all of my fears and jealousies away, I must remind myself that I love this woman, Catti-brie, and that this woman is who she is because of a combination of all the experiences that brought her to this point. Would I prefer that her human parents had never died? On the one hand, of course! But if they hadn't, Catti-brie would not have wound up as Bruenor's adopted daughter, would likely not have come to reside in Icewind Dale at all. Given that, it is unlikely that we would have ever met. Beyond that, if she had been raised in a traditional human manner, she never would have become the warrior that she now is, the person who can best share my sense of adventure, who can accept the hardships of the road with good humor and risk, and allow me to risk—everything! — when going against the elements and the monsters of the world.
Hindsight, I think, is a useless tool. We, each of us, are at a place in our lives because of innumerable circumstances, and we, each of us, have a responsibility (if we do not like where we are) to move along life's road, to find a better path if this one does not suit, or to walk happily along this one if it is indeed our life's way. Changing even the bad things that have gone before would fundamentally change who we now are, and whether or not that would be a good thing, I believe, is impossible to predict.
So I take my past experiences and let Catti-brie take hers and try to regret nothing for either. I just try to blend our current existence into something grander and more beautiful together.
What of Wulfgar, then? He has a new bride and a child who is neither his nor hers naturally. And yet, it was obvious from Delly Curtie's face, and from her willingness to give herself if only the child would be unharmed that she loves the babe as if it was her own. I think the same must be true for Wulfgar because, despite the trials, despite the more recent behaviors, I know who he is, deep down, beneath the crusted, emotionally hardened exterior.
I know from her words that he loves this woman, Delly Curtie, and yet I know that he once loved Catti-brie as well.
What of this mystery, love? What is it that brings about this most elusive of magic? So many times I have heard people proclaim that their partner is their only love, the only possible completion to their soul, and surely I feel that way about Catti-brie, and I expect that she feels the same about me. But logically, is that possible? Is there one other person out there who can complete the soul of another? Is it really one for one, or is it rather a matter of circumstance?
Or do reasoning beings have the capacity to love many, and situation instead of fate brings them together?
Logically, I know the answer to be the latter. I know that if Wulfgar, or Catti-brie, or myself resided in another part of the world, we would all likely find that special completion to our soul, and with another. Logically, in a world of varying races and huge populations, that must be the case, or how, then, would true lovers ever meet? I am a thinking creature, a rational being, and so I know this to be the truth.