Dreams Beneath a Starfilled Sky

Before the sun had begun to arise, Drizzt awoke. A happy smile stole over his face as he looked down at the woman in his arms, wondering how such a beautiful creature could possible choose an outcast like him.
He gently ran his fingers through her auburn tresses, parting it from his own, white mane, marvelling at the contrast in colour. Why *did* drow elves have white hair? He had seen many dark-skinned humans on his travels south, and on slavemarkeds, but their hair nearly had always been dark - darker than their skin at many times - and he had never seen anyone with light hair. And among those living in these far, northern areas, the colour of hair variated from an extreme light yellow to dark brown. But never white, except among the old people…
A slight stirring from Catti-brie brought his mind back to the present, and he gave her shoulders a slight squeeze as she snuggled into his side with a contented sigh. Indeed, the Lady Luck had looked upon him with unusual favour, he mused. Knowing, however, that hey would be better off separating before too many dwarves awoke, he gently kissed the forehead of his beloved.
Catti-brie smiled drowsily, her eyes still closed in sleep, and titled her head upwards, her lips seeking his. Drizzt grinned, bending his own head, and was just about to help her end her search, when his ears caught a single, muttered word from her: “Wulfie...”
Immediately, the drow froze, his eyes wide in confusion and shock, even as Catti-brie’s kiss first bumped into his chin, then brushed against his lips. And then, her eyes sleepily slid open, and a smirk spread across her fair face.
“Ye outta see yerself,” she chuckled. “Who’d believed that t’didn’t take more ta scare ye than…”
She never managed to finish her sentence, however, before Drizzt covered her mouth with his own, effectively stopping any further words that might slip from her.
“Don’t.. ever.. do.. that... again..,” he muttered between kisses.
“Okay, okay!” Catti-brie grinned, grabbing around the black elf’s shoulders and gently, yet firmly pushed him away so she could catch her breath, before she continued with a smirk: “I promise I won’t do that again, *if* ye promise ta come again tanight.”
Drizzt raised an elegant, white eyebrow.
“And you really believe it’ll take less than twelve wild yetis to keep me from here?” he asked in all seriousity, making the woman brake into laughter.

* * * * *


About half an hour later, after Drizzt had left, a soft knock came to Catti-brie’s door. Still dressed in her nightgown, she curious opened the door, and saw her father outside. The dwarf held up a small lamp made of iron, designed to be attached to the wall, and Catti-brie nodded with a grin.
Grinning as well, Bruenor entered the room, carrying a box of tools in his other hand, and set to the work of attaching the lamp to the wall.
“Ye just get dressed, me girl,” he said. “An’ I’ll take care o’ this, ‘fore we go an’ eat.”
“Ye hafta work less, da’,” Catti-brie replied, planting a loving kiss on her adoptive father’s forehead, receiving a snort in reply from the dwarf, before she disappeared into an adjacent room to dress.
Before long, Bruenor took a step back with to admire his work. Hearing Catti-brie softly singing in the next room, he smiled and walked over to the bed to sit down while he waited for her, chuckling when he noticed the plant on the nightstand. He had long wondered how Catti-brie could sleep with that thing over her bed, though he had made no comments about it. Suddenly, something tangled within the branches of the small plant caught his attention.
When he stepped closer to it, he could see that it was a lock of hair, entwined among the leaves.
White hair...
The dwarf looked up again, blinking, as his mind started putting the different pieces together. Yesterday, the plant had been on her bed-shelf. That meant that the only way of getting tangled into the plant was to be in the bed. And the only person in the entire mine with white hair was...
“Drizzt...”
The dwarven king could not help the smirk that spread across his face. So *that* was the reason for why his daughter had started to act so differently around the dark elf lately...