The drow drifted in and out of sleep. Vaguely, he was aware of voices speaking in a foreign tongue, but only vaguely. Exhaustion, and the fatigue of the past few days and the drow's wild flight, as well as the startling revelations of the night before had caught up with him at last. If left undisturbed, he would have slept until nightfall. Instead, a touch to his shoulder startled him into full awareness.

The drow reacted without thinking, planning his strike on his opponent: a blow to the throat that would leave his enemy disabled. He shifted his weight, bringing one leg up and bringing one arm to the ground to support his spring even as he opened his eyes.

Light seared the drow's eyes, blinding him and making him reel in agony and throwing off his planned attack. The drow bit off a curse. Balance off, he fell back, covering his eyes against the blinding attack.

"Easy, it's just me," came the newly-familiar voice of his elven companion.

Memories came back in a rush, and the drow realized where he was and who he was with. He drew in a shaky breath as he realized just how close he had come to attacking his new ally.

"Next time, say something first." the drow muttered.

"Hmm?" came the reply from far too nearby. This time the drow resisted the urge to jump.

"Not all of us are used to peacetime, elf," he explained tiredly, "it is less than wise to startle drow. It is far too easy to trigger a reaction we would both regret."

There was a silence as Kannath considered that, followed by a slight shuffling of feet.

"Sorry," came the soft reply from a bit further back.

The drow sat up cautiously, using one hand to shade his eyes as he squinted. The sun was much brighter than he had ever seen it before, too bright for him to see clearly. The drow thanked the fates that he had found himself among allies so quickly.

The drow accepted the steaming bowl with what he could only assume was some sort of broth while the elf packed. The drow hid his distaste at the food. Whatever it was, he hoped it was a specialty rather than what elves regularly ate, or he would go back to taking his chances with berries.

The drow watched the elf go about his morning tasks for a few minutes, testing his sense of sight in the morning light. Even with his eyes mostly closed, the light was painful to his eyes and he felt a dull ache forming in the back of his head. It would be some time yet before he was capable of withstanding this much light.

It was only halfway through breakfast that he realized that the pain he should be feeling in his arm was not as bad as it should be. Looking down, he realized that the makeshift bandage he'd tied around his arm was gone and that the injury had completely healed. Immediately he understood the nature of the flask the elf had offered him last night and that the injury he had received last night was also most definitely on the mend.

He stretched his arms experimentally, noting that there was only a slight twinge of pain when he moved. The elf called out something to him and he turned as a piece of clothing hit him squarely in the chest.

"To make up for the shirt you lost due to my arrows." The elf explained. To the drow he sounded embarrassed by the whole situation and almost apologetic. The light was too harsh for him to check the elf's expression though, so he simply pulled on the shirt and murmured something appropriately thankful.

He finished breakfast as the elf packed, then followed him as they began their trek away from the elven village. Aware of the need to get away, the drow said nothing about the decision to travel by day, though he was less than comfortable with it.

For the first mile or so it traveling was not so bad, he watched the feet of the elf and tried to keep his eyes down. Still, he was grateful for each chance to stop and to shut his eyes as he attempted to massage away the ache that came from squinting from such a long period of time. By the time they stopped for water his eyes were bothering him too much to be ignored anymore. He sat on a smooth rock under the trees and shut his eyes against the dizziness that wouldn't go away. The break ended far too soon and he slid off the rock and staggered to his feet, clutching a nearby trunk as he waited for the dizziness to go away.

"Are you ill?" The elf asked in alarm.

The drow started to shake his head, but that made the dizziness worse.

"I have never traveled during the day before." He admitted, feeling his face grow hot with embarrassment. "The sunlight is a lot stronger than what I am used to."

The elf cursed in drowish, drawing a startled laugh from the drow as he watched the elf set down his pack.

"I should have assumed … in that case, we rest. We can travel once the sun goes down. Iria will just catch up with us faster."

"Iria," the drow repeated as he moved back to the rock, closing his eyes again. "that is her name?"

"Yes, and I am Kannath."

The drow nodded. Having no name to offer, he said nothing in return.

"Truth be told, I don't mind resting. It has been a long time since I had to keep watch alone, and I slept little last night." Kannath yawned. His pack thumped heavily against the ground as the elf moved around on the same rock.

The drow followed suit, stretching out, and shading his sensitive eyes against the sunlight. With his eyes closed and shielded, the awful headache receded somewhat.

"May I call you Dathien? It means wanderer in our language." Kannath asked suddenly.

"Dathien." The drow repeated, trying out the name himself. He smiled. "That would be fine. Perhaps I will be able to give you my true name someday soon."

Kannath didn't respond to that, not that there was much to say. Neither of them knew why he had no memories, nor whether or not they would return. Not that the drow minded much. He figured that could do without memories of wherever he had come from.

"Would it be possible for you to teach me this world's common tongue?" The drow asked after a long silence.

"Of course." Kannath replied immediately. "When do you wish to start?"

"Now, perhaps? If you're willing, that is," the drow replied. "I don't need to see you to hear you, and the sooner I learn the better. Iria does not understand drowish, and eventually we will come across others. I would like to be able to speak for myself to them, if we can convince them not to shoot me on sight."

Kannath grunted at that, and the drow remembered that the elf had shot him the night before. Before he had a chance to reply, the elf launched into an explanation on common, and the drow had to concentrate on what the elf was saying as he tried to commit it to memory. He listened as if his life depended on it. There was a good chance that it might.

Common, Dathien reflected later, was aptly named and he found himself picking up many similarities between it and Undercommon. He continued his language instructions with Kannath as the sun reached its peak, then the elf went off to find food while the drow caught a few more hours of rest.

As the sun set, the two started off again and the drow felt a surge of relief as his sense of balance and direction returned to him. Traveling by night, in the woods, came as such a welcoming event that he wondered how he could have seen the night as threatening before. This time, the call to rest seemed to come far too soon. As Kannath paused to catch his breath, Dathien climbed to the topmost branches of a large tree. The tree was as wide around as he was tall, with thick, sturdy branches that offered easy handholds. He climbed slowly, out of caution for his newly healed arm. The climb was strenuous but, upon reaching the top, the drow realized that it had been worth it. Looking out at the forest surrounding him, the drow felt a growing sense of awe. The moonlight fell on a stretch of trees that seemed to go on forever and with this realization came an odd sense of belonging here, that things were as they were intended to be.

"Truly, I must have done something right, to have found myself here." The drow reflected from his perch. "Perhaps my past is not as dark as I feared it might be. Certainly, my reactions to this world mark me as being something different from most of my people. We are supposed to hate and fear this surface world, yet it seems to me to be some sort of sanctuary. Such a reaction cannot simply be the result of forgetting my memories ... can it?"

How long he stayed there wondering about what might soon be he could not say, only that when he came down Kannath was ready and waiting. The two continued to travel at a leisurely pace as the moon rose higher in the sky and they continued towards their destination.

Iria caught up to Kannath and the drow as the sun was setting. Much to her consternation, camp was still set up and Kannath was nowhere to be seen. At first she did not see the drow either but he stepped out to greet her as she neared.

"Good afternoon, Iria." He greeted her in heavily accented Common.

Iris was taken aback for a moment and her eyes widened. "You have been able to speak common all this time?"

The drow's face contorted with confusion as he considered her words, then shook his head.

"Again?"

Iria repeated her sentence, this time more slowly. By the drow's expression, it made no more sense than the first time. She shrugged. It was hardly the first time that she had had trouble communicating with an ally. She pointed at him, then at her mouth and ears.

"Kannath?" She asked, hoping that the drow picked up on the message.

"Kannath." The drow affirmed. "Slow." He admitted, obviously referring to his own attempts at grasping the language.

"I will try to help." Iria promised. "Do you know any other tongues, besides drowish?"

"Do not understand." The drow replied. Iria repeated the question in Elvish, then Goblin and the drow's eyes lit up with sudden comprehension.

"This one I know, though I do not know how," he replied in the same tongue.

Iria tried a few other tongues and learned that he spoke Orcish as well.,

"You will learn the Common tongue soon." Iria reassured him in the rougher language, thanking Mielikki for the fact that she could communicate with her ally. "You can learn many languages it seems."

"It does ..." The drow mused, staring past her into the woods. Iria followed his gaze for a moment, then turned back to him. The drow's expression was decidedly troubled.

"Is what Kannath said true? You know nothing of who you are or where you are from?"

"Not even my name, though Kannath has given me one for now: Dathien."

Iria nodded. "Wanderer." She murmured aloud. That was its common meaning now but it also referred to one who was on an honorable quest or searching for something very important. She smiled. "I will remember that. Where is Kannath? I expected you to be traveling now."

"Kannath looks for food." the drow said with admirable neutrality. However, Iria noted the flicker of distaste across the drow's face at the thought of eating more of Kannath's cooking.

Iria nodded and sat down next on the ground to wait. She had been traveling most of last night as well, trying to catch up to Kannath and Dathien and worrying that she would not find them again until the next night.

"Can you cook?" she asked the drow. She was unsurprised when he shook his head, but she sighed anyways. It would have been nice to share the duty with someone.

"I will do the cooking tonight," she declared. The drow shot her a look of gratitude and she laughed again.

"You have recovering to do yet,"she said, as the drow took a seat on the ground beside her, "and our trail will be perilous enough without bad cooking."

When he returned, Kannath seemed equally relieved that Iria had usurped his position as cook. Iria wondered to herself if his cooking skill was truly that bad or if it was simply feigned. Her answer came as she started sorting through the plants that he had brought back, and some strangely delicate mushrooms. She threw the mushrooms away, but not before taking the moon elf aside and explaining the difference between edible mushrooms and poisonous ones.

She rested well that night, with a full stomach, content that her people as well as her new allies were safe. She awoke from reverie only when Kannath roused her and he departed for his trip to town.