Hopeless
Matron Malice drew Drizzt close, whispering soothing words of comfort into the young drow's ear. The child, only five years old, reluctantly removed his hands from his skinned knee at his mother's urging.
Malice made a sympathetic face and cleaned off the wound with a damp cloth. Drizzt whimpered with relief as the cool rag eased the burning in his scabby knee.
Zaknafein stepped forward and hugged his son tightly, ruffling the boy's already wild hair even further.
Malice muttered a quick prayer to her benevolent goddess, and the injury disappeared as if never there.
Drizzt's mother and father shared a brief, yet passionate kiss before setting Drizzt free to play with the other young drow once more.
Faces and voices whirled past Drizzt in a flurry of color and sound.
Briza tossed him into the air, careful to catch him before letting his small body dash upon the stone.
His beloved older brother, Dinin, showed him how to ride a lizard, smiling only slightly when Drizzt fell off repeatedly.
Vierna lovingly instructed him how to levitate, tolerating each failure with encouraging phrases and rewarding his successes with special treats.
Young Drizzt was happy, simply overjoyed to be alive and with loved ones.
Drizzt snapped into consciousness as Vierna stuck her head in the door and shouted for him to awaken, signaling the beginning of another day of rigorous cleaning and much staring at the floor.
Allowing himself a single, self-pitying sigh, young Drizzt wiped away a few stray tears and began to dress.