She was beautiful. He had always been struck by that realization since the day he had first seen her. Grandma Rosiepuff had always reminded him how on the day the new princess was presented he had been instantly awed.
The queen had finally had her baby. It was a girl. A princess for the trolls. King Peppy was bursting with both joy and a deep seated fear. His Poppy was beautiful, but the bergens would surely take her. He knew it was imperative to act. The escape tunnel had to be finished. Quickly. So he called his people together to meet their princess. Each troll would line up and get a chance to greet their new young monarch.
"Grandma! I'm bored! Why do we have to be here?" a four year old Branch whined. "Oh Branch," Rosiepuff answered with laughter "Princess Poppy will one day be our leader! Don't you want to say hi to her?" Branch looked at his grandmother with confusion. "She won't even know I said hi Grandma. She's only a day old. I'd rather be singing." She laughed loudly at his innocence. "You'll understand eventually Brach." It was their turn. They'd been slowly moving up the line to the cradle placed in front of the thrones. Branch sighed and walked to peer over the edge with his grandma, placing the flower headband they'd made on the growing pile of modest gifts. He stopped. Feeling as if he'd lost all the air in his lungs. Rosiepuff smiled at the young royal and glanced down at her beloved grandson. Only to see the most loving and awed look on his little face. "Branch?" She said curiously "What do you think of our young princess?" He blinked and glanced up at her briefly before refocusing on the pink trolling. "She's beautiful Grandma." Rosiepuff felt her heart swell with affection. "Yes, she is. Isn't she?" she said softly leading her grandson away.
The king had given an empowered speech after. Encouraging his workers to push hard to finished the tunnel. He himself went down to labor with his people every day, working towards their freedom. But despite all of their motivation and hard work, the tunnel took close to two more years to finish. In that time the queen had been taken. So had grandma Rosiepuff. And Branch, he had lost his colors.
He sighed as he watched the other trollings play, Poppy scampering amongst the other children. She was 9 now, and he was 13. None of the other trolls liked him though. Different, strange, scaredy cat. They have a lot of names for him. That's ok though. He thought to himself. I have my bunker. As long as I can get enough supplies I'll be fine. He began walking back to his hide out. Doing his best to ignore the lonely clench in his chest.
Poppy watched him leave. Wondering why the grey troll hadn't joined their game. She saw him watching a lot, but he always left soon after. He looks so lonely… At that moment, she resolved to befriend him and banish that lonely look from his face. She raced home that night to her father. Daddy always knows what to do "Daddy!" she exclaimed as she burst into their pod. King Peppy looked up, startled by the urgency in his daughter's voice. "The grey troll! Branch! I'm gonna be his friend… but I don't know how." She said, her distress becoming more pronounced. Peppy felt himself relax and a smile take over. "Poppy, do you know what the other youngsters say about Branch?" he asked her. A frown pronounced on her face, she replied "They say he's weird and mean… but Daddy, when I see him… I just wanna help him – he seems so sad." Peppy could have burst from pride. "You're going to be a great Queen one day Poppy. You'll find in life – that many times when a troll is mean it's because they themselves are hurting. Branch is indeed very sad and I'm sure he's very lonely too. What do you think would be the best solution?" Peppy asked his daughter. Poppy thought for a moment "Well I don't know why he's sad, but if he's lonely too I can include him! That's something I can fix!" she exclaimed excitedly. Peppy gave his girl a soft smile, proud of her determination. It wasn't something trolls usually possessed outside of having fun. "I think that's a wonderful idea Poppy." The king said as his daughter scattered scrapbooking supplies throughout the pod. "Thanks Daddy!" she replied as she began the most important invitation she'd ever made.
As it was, it turned out to be the most important invitation of both her life and Branch's.
Branch sighed sadly as he gathered moss for his bunker. He was feeling especially lonely today. Not that he bothered going to the village, they didn't want him there anyways. "Branch!" a loud, familiar voice shouted through the clearing. He felt his heart speed up. "Poppy?" he asked bewildered as she burst through the tree line. "What are you doing way out here?" She slid to a stop in front of him, suddenly looking bashful. "I wanted to give you something." The princess replied shyly. Give him something? What could she possibly want to give him? He thought to himself as his heart warmed. "What's that?" he asked. She pulled an invitation out of her hair and handed it to him while staring at the ground. His heart stopped. No one had invited him to anything since he'd turned grey. He opened it, feeling fireworks go off in his chest as he took in how much time she must have put into it. You're Invited to Poppy's Birthday Bash! It proudly exclaimed. Showing a grey Branch figure hugging a pink Poppy. He was touched. He looked up to her hopeful face and couldn't find it within him to say something cruel. "I don't like parties… But, thank you." He told her with a genuine smile walking away.
Poppy froze, his smile, she'd never seen it before… He was so handsome. She'd always been too distracted by his colors and scowl to notice before. But now she definitely had. And her heart was singing. By the time she'd gotten over her shock at her own thoughts, he was gone.
Branch set the invitation down on his shelf. Touching it gently as the emotions he was feeling rolled inside of him putting a smile on his face. He loved her. The smile faded as he realized that was not a good development. Everyone he loved got killed because of him. He'd do his best to keep her at a distance from now on… But, a traitorous part of him hoped she would keep trying.