Chapter Text
He didn’t understand why so many predators had suddenly come closer to his kingdom. Well, not suddenly. It had happened slowly, starting with creatures as big as they were. They would come and then the loud music and singing would scare them off. Soon, they grew more brave, staying for a while and watching. It had been two weeks when one finally snatched up a troll taking it who knows where. Everyone had been worried but he made sure to assure them that everything would be alright. It hadn’t even been a week before another one was snatched up. He kept assuring them that everything would be alright. A year had finally passed and he decided that enough was enough. He had lost too many good souls. King Peppy wasn’t about to let more of his subjects get eaten.
A truce with the Forest Trolls was exactly what he needed and it came at just the right time. They had negotiated through letters for the past month explaining how plans and preparations would work out and how they would send troops over to teach his citizens to defend themselves in exchange for food. All they had to do was come over and sign the treaty after he’d written his last “ok”. But then this letter came, explaining that his word wasn’t enough for them and that an arranged marriage was the only way to ease their worries. He reread the letter, hoping his eyes were messing with him, but they weren’t. The letter said what it said. He ripped the letter to pieces. His only chance to protect his trolls down the mud hole. He was not going to let his daughter marry some stranger, she deserved to marry for love.
“Darius, bring me paper and ink!” He called to his page troll. If his word wasn’t enough for them, then he would leave them be. His daughter did not deserve this. Darius brought him what he asked and Peppy was about to start writing when two of his subjects came in, rambling on about something. He held up his hand to cue silence. They both closed their mouths, but their eyes still looked like they were talking a mile a minute. “Now, what is it?”
“A child’s been caught in a spider web!” They both yelled in unison.
Looking at the purple child, she wondered how he got himself up there in the first place or why any child was so close to the forest border. Princess Poppy was sure that the only spoken rule of this kingdom was to stay away from the forest. And, yet, here she was, surrounded by some of her citizens, some of them children, looking up at a small child stuck in a spider web. “You’re going to be fine,” she yelled reassuring words as she brought her hair closer to his hand after countless cries of ‘I cant reach it!’. “Try again!” She wanted to save the child, badly, but if her hair got stuck on the spider web, they were both doomed.
“I still cant reach it,” the child cried.
Poppy felt like crying herself, this was bad. The only way to actually save the child was to wrap her hair around him and pull, but then that would get her stuck. The only one strong enough to pull their hair free from a spider web was Smidge, but she still wasn’t here even after sending some trolls to go find her. Others had decided that the King should know about this as well and had gone to inform him. “Poppy!” Someone yelled. She took a glance to her side to see an old troll with orange skin and magenta hair similar to her own.
“Dad, stay back,” she yelled. “I got his!”
Her dad didn’t listen, of course, for, in the next second, he was by her side, trying to pull her away from the border line. “Poppy, you need to get away from here!”
“No! He needs my help! I can get him!”
Trolls from all over the village were coming to watch the commotion, no one had any other ideas of how to save the child, so they stood there, feeling completely useless.
“Poppy, there’s no way to help him,” Peppy said, sounding tired.
“Yes there is,” she said, sounding hopeful. “If I could just stall until Smidge comes-”
“AAAHHH!!” Her peoples’ screams cut her off. She looked at them all shocked, wondering why they were screaming before turning to the where they were pointing at. On another tree, they could see a giant spider. Poppy’s heart started beating faster as it came closer and closer to the child. Everyone started running in circles and screaming in a panic and she didn’t know what to do to calm them down. Her father stood beside her and tried grabbing her hand.
“Where’s Smidge,” she yelled over the crowd. “Where’s Smidge!” She started running into the crowd and trying to find green-blue hair that matched said troll. She looked back the child to see that the spider was getting closer. Tears started forming in her eyes. “Smidge! Smidge, where are you!?” She saw something yellow running to her in a distance. “Smidge,” she yelled hopeful. It was her, it was definitely her!
“Poppy!” She heard her voice over everyone.
Poppy almost started crying with happiness when she finally got to Smidge. She grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the border. “There’s a kid trapped in a spider web,” she explained.
“I know, I was told,” Smidge assured.
“You think you could get him out in time?” Poppy stopped running and pointed to the spider that was still inching closer.
Smidge didn’t need to be asked twice and she let her hair grow over to the kid. Poppy noticed that the spider noticed what Smidge was doing and started crawling faster.
“It’s getting closer, it’s getting closer,” Poppy panicked.
Smidge started growing her hair faster. The spider seemed to take that as a challenge and started running or whatever you would call it for a spider. Smidge had her hair wrapped around the kid just as the spider grabbed him. Smidge started pulling as hard as she could and so did the spider, the kid screaming his little heart out as it happened. Smidge seemed to be running out of energy, so Poppy started helping pull. Finally, there was a snap. Everything went silent. Everyone looked up at the spider web. It was ruined. The spider was gone…Smidge’s hair was empty…the kid was lost to the forest.
“NOOOOO!!” Someone yelled right next to Poppy. She turned to see a light purple troll with tears running down her face, fall to her knees. The mother. Oh, no. Smidge and Poppy looked at each other before running over to the mom and hugging her, tears also in their eyes. It wasn’t long before the entirety of the troll village was huddled in one big hug, comforting the mother that had just lost her child.
The day went on as normal, well, as normal as anyone could muster. There was no singing, no dancing, but every hug time, everyone would seek out the poor mom. Poppy still hadn’t stopped crying. She was there, she could have done something. No one blamed anyone, not even the kid. These times were just dark times. But she could have done something. She really hoped the treaty was coming along well. “Poppy.” She turned to see her dad at the door of her pod-room.
She got up immediately and tried to make herself presentable. “Dad,” she said, nodding her head to him. Suddenly, her bracelet dinged. Hug time. She looked at her dad before breaking down into tears. He hugged her tight. “I want this sadness to end, this isn’t good for our trolls.” She broke the hug and looked him in the eye. “Please tell me they’ve agreed.”
King Peppy was speechless. Should he tell her? He didn’t want to, but he had to. “They’ve agreed…” He almost flinched at the hopefulness in her eyes. “…but under one condition.”
Poppy’s tears were now tears of happiness. She wiped them away with a smile. “Well, it’s only one, whatever it is, it can happen, right?”
She had no idea. “That condition,” he started slowly. Her eyes were getting wider with hope. He closed his eyes, not brave enough to look at her reaction. “…is that you marry the Forest Prince.”
He opened one eye. His daughter had only one expression and it was astonished. He didn’t know long it had been but she started moving. Her head, anyway. It started out slowly, her head going down and up and then she started nodding rapidly. “I’ll do it, I’ll do it for our trolls.”
“No!” Peppy shocked himself with the unbidden word. “I-I mean, I don’t…I don’t…” He sighed. “I wanted you to marry for love.” He looked down at his feet. “You deserved as much.”
Poppy grabbed his hands and smiled into his eyes. “Dad, my happiness doesn’t come from just one troll, it comes from the smiles that our trolls give us every day. So, I’ll have to have a beautiful wedding and a wonderful marriage, but our trolls will be safe,” she assured with a playful smile.
Peppy smiled at his daughter. What did he do to deserve someone so wonderful? He kissed her forehead. “I am so grateful that I have you.”
Poppy smiled at him before yelling, “Satin! Chenille! We have a wedding to plan!”
Everyone had made it back safely. Prince Branch felt like crying seeing that everyone who had left was finally back. It was a rare occurrence when entire squads came back alive. He sighed in relief when his Second-in-Command came over to him. She was the only colorful troll in the Forest Kingdom, everyone else’s colors were dull and sometimes even grey. He looked at her, hopeful. She shook her head and took off her helmet before she spoke. “We couldn’t find anything, sire. Nothing that would feed everyone , anyway.”
A month ago, a search party for food was arranged to find more resources for the Forest Kingdom’s growing population. Over twenty trolls had gone and each one came back empty handed. He expected as much. Not many things grew in this forest except the many poisonous plants they tried to avoid and the mushrooms they used to be able to live off of before the pod boom happened. His people were starving because of the low rations they were given each week. He had hoped, but, from experience, he knew hoping was worthless. And here was living proof.
He nodded. “Thank you, Commander Suki,” he said.
“Mama!” They both turned their heads over to a small child running to his mother who had been part of the search party. Branch knew the kid; he had trained him in archery one summer. He’d be lying if he said that he didn’t let out a few tears when the kid was saying bye to his mom, not knowing if she would come back. But she was here now so it was fine. Wasn’t it?
Branch gave her what the forest trolls called a smile, but to her, it was more of baring their teeth. “I have good news,” he said to his commander.
Suki listened intently. “Did they agree? Will the treaty be signed?”
Branch’s smile was frozen in place. He nodded. “Not exactly, there's one other thing.”
Suki raised a brow. “The Rainbow trolls aren’t ones to add additions to a deal they’ve already placed.”
“They weren’t the ones that added the new condition. My parents were.”
Her eyes widened. “Well, I hope it wasn’t something too irrational. What did they ask for? A new variety of food, some tips on homemaking.”
“…I am to marry the Valley Princess.”
“Oh! Oh, well that’s not so bad.” He gave her a look, but she didn’t back down. “I knew the princess when I was a girl. You’re going to love her.”
Branch shook his head and started walking to the castle. Suki followed behind him. “She’s a rainbow troll, Suki. How do I deal with that?”
“I’m a rainbow troll, sire,” She reminded as they entered the castle. Everything the Forest Kingdom made was made of stone or wood and Suki never really got used to that. She sometimes missed the warmth of pods and the music and the singing! Forest trolls didn’t sing and, even though she knew why, she couldn’t help but yearn for some sound. But she chose this life for a reason and she would stick to it.
“Well, I can deal with you,” he explained. “You’re not… How do I put this?”
Suki smirked. “Exhilarating? Overly joyous?”
“Annoying,” he said with his own smirk.
Suki punched him in the arm, making him let out an “ow”. “We’re not annoying,” she said with a smile. “We’re just happy. Something you should try.”
“I’ll stick to surviving, thanks.”
“So how exactly is this going to work? Will she be sharing a room with you or will she have her own?”
Branch was trying to understand what she was talking about before he remembered he hadn’t told her one little detail. “Actually…I’m going to be staying there.”
Suki almost dropped her helmet and turned to him with wide eyes. “Are you sure you can handle that?”
“It doesn’t matter if I can or not, I have to do this for my trolls. They need this.”
Suki knew all too well that they needed this. But she was worried for Branch. He didn’t like singing or dancing or even PDA which was everything the Rainbow trolls loved to do. She was very skeptical about this and wasn’t sure if Branch should go through with it for his own safety. But, then again, Branch never really thought of himself when it came to the Forest Kingdom, often putting himself in harm’s way to save a subject every now and then. She looked down at her feet. He had to do this.
“Suki?” She looked at him. “I’ve requested that you and a few of your trolls come with me to help train the Rainbow trolls.” She looked at him. “You’ll be coming to the Valley Kingdom with me.”
It took her a second to realize what that meant. She started blinking rapidly and her breathing hitched. Suddenly she was fanning her face and trying not to smile.
Branch stared at her, confused for a second, before he realized what she was doing. He started to panic. “Don’t cry!”
“I’m trying not to, sire” She said, her voice cracking. “Bu-but I ca-can’t help it!” Tears started falling down her eyes. She was finally going back to the valley. She had her reasons for staying here and now she had the chance to go back. To go back to the singing, the dancing, the hugging, and the happiness. No more boring old stone walls, only colorful warm walls made of hair. No more boring days training and waiting to actually talk to someone, only talking and hugging whenever she felt like. She was going back to the place she loved so much. She was going home . It was all a bit overwhelming. “I think- I think I’m gonna go to my room,” she explained with a sniff. “When are we leaving?”
Branch had no idea what was going on in her head, but her eyes only had one emotion. Happiness. It made him uncomfortable, but his Commander had asked him a question. “We’ll be leaving in the morning. So I want your trolls picked and your things packed. Be by the stables right after Seep Through.”
Suki nodded. Seep Through was a time in the morning that the sun seeped through the leaves of the biggest tree near the castle, made its way through the holes of the castle, and finally landed on the stone of Ancestry, the stone that had all the names of the royal family carved into it. It was a beautiful sight to see and almost everyone woke up in the early morning just to see it. Looks like she would be able to see it one last time before she left. “Of course, Sire, I’ll get to it right away.”
“Good,” he said before climbing up the stairs that lead to his room. He shut his door with a sigh. Even Suki thought it was a good idea, albeit worried for him at first. He trusted Suki’s judgment, plus she was the only one who had ever actually been to the Valley Kingdom. It was her home and he didn’t bring her along just because he wanted to be nice. Seriously, he wasn’t nice. He just needed her there because she was one of his best soldiers. That’s it. He started preparing for the last dinner he would ever have here.
“…and we’ll split those with the children, the children have always had a sweet tooth,” the king said about one of the many foods they would be getting with the treaty.
“Those new mushrooms would definitely taste good in our root-stew,” the queen added.
Branch could only poke at his food as his parents pretended there was nothing wrong with him. He felt like blurting out every curse word he knew and firing lit-arrows into the sky with battle cries to be able to let out his anger. But he had to suck it up for his kingdom.
“Branch, what do you think,” his parents asked, breaking him from his thoughts.
“I think you should start making decisions without me so that you’ll get used to me not being here.” He tried to say it as formal as possible, but he was sure that had failed for her parents were looking at him worried.
The queen glanced at the king before looking at Branch. “Son, we know this is hard for you, but we wouldn’t ask it of you if it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
“We only want what’s best for the kingdom,” his father explained.
“Yeah, I know.” And he did. He loved his Kingdom with all his heart! He just didn’t imagine that he would be married this way. He always thought that, maybe, he would marry for love. At least, that’s what his great grandfather Gavel told him. Branch remembered every story his great grandfather had told him about his future wife. About how she would be an amazing warrior, how she could end wars with just her words, about how beautiful she would be, how amazing and happy he would be with her! But his grandpa had lost his mind long before Branch had been born, so Branch knew it was pointless getting his hopes up. But he had and here he was, suffering the consequences for ever being hopeful. He looked down at his food, not really hungry.
“Good,” his parents said in unison. “Now eat,” his mother said. “It’s your favorite.”
Indeed, it was. He took a giant spoonful to fill his empty belly. And yet, he still felt empty.