Bel nodded. "I think I have a surface elf somewhere in my ancestors." Bel knows his maternal line of ancestors some ways distant so if it was buried in there, it was the sort of secret that was not supposed to be found by unwanted sons ending up on the surface, but his father's line wasn't considered important. Bel also suspects that if a child of a surface elf and a drow was born that could pass as fully drow, it would be safest for them to do so.

"It was still too fucking bright, but I could adapt, and I know most drow can't, even after years on the surface. I wasn't really planning on ending up on the surface, so I wasn't as prepared as you were. I do remember sticking to forests, because the canopy made it feel like I wasn't going to fall into the sky."

And, well, deep gnomes were seen as harmless, which was a mixed blessing. Drow weren't.