Drizzt almost starts when Zaknafein touches his cheek again, wiping away the tears. It's another tender motion that Drizzt has never felt, never experienced, and he finds himself shaking more. But it's the touch of a forehead against his that finally brings him to wrench back control from the brink of a breakdown. He presses his forehead against Zaknafein's in turn, focusing on steadying his breathing.

Zaknafein returning his words shake him to his core, but also build it back up. There's a future for them, quite suddenly, that isn't simply surviving together through a horrible, crazy world. But what sort of world is this? It cannot be worse than the one that they just left, and Drizzt knows that from the short time on the surface, much of what he was told about the other races are likely lies.

He wrestles back his ability to breathe, although the tears would still blur his vision if his eyes were open. Drizzt lets himself be comforted by his father. It's not the first time Zak has touched him in such a way, and Drizzt already knows that it will not be the last. He swallows past the lump in his throat to speak again.

"I shall be fine," Drizzt reassures him. "Your wound must be tended."