"Rose!"
"Tuki." A smile, pink lips curling up at him.
"Kom sitte ved siden av meg," Rose spoke, patting the chair next to her. Tuki recognized the word for 'come' and 'sit', so he did and grinned.
"We will play the game again?" he asked.
Rose did not answer. She held one of the books that they usually looked through and named pictures in, but she had not opened it yet. She stared with far away eyes at one of the cloth pictures on the wall across from where they sat.
Leaning over to touch her hand, he stroked it for a moment until she made a funny noise from the back of her throat. He looked up to see her looking down at him. She laughed again, though he noticed she pulled her hand away.
It always made Tuki sad when Rose did not like him to touch her. She had such soft, strange skin, and he wanted to feel it over and over again. But for some reason his fingers made her shiver and move away, like his skin disgusted her. It made him feel lonely.
"Vi vil spille," Rose said and opened the book. He perked up at the word 'play' and enthusiastically pored over the pictures.
"Hund," Roses said, pointing at a picture.
"Dog," he replied. He put his finger on the next picture. "Sun."
"Sol." A flash of sadness glinted in her eyes, and he felt guilty for forgetting that she was in a castle that had no windows except one. Sometimes he saw her going up the stairs to the tower with the little window. She spent many hours there.
Tuki hurriedly turned the page. There was a large, very large picture that covered both pages of paper. It showed a snow place, with large boulders of ice, wide white sky, frozen water, and many of the animals that lived there. It reminded Tuki of home, and it made him happy.
"Home," he murmured without thinking. Rose looked at him curiously; she did not understand what word he meant. Tuki frowned, trying to tell her what he was saying. Finally he just gestured to the whole picture. "Home."
"Hwome." Rose repeated strangely. The way she tried to speak his language was funny and it made him laugh.
Rose pretended to give him a stern look but then laughed along with him.
When they stopped she looked thoughtful. She pointed to the picture, then put her arms around herself and shivered like she was cold and asked, "home?"
Tuki did not answer right away. Rose shivered again. "Home."
He now understood what she was trying to say. He shook his head. "No." He put his arms around himself and shivered like she had and said, "cold."
Then he added, "Home is cold."
It wasn't really cold, not to him at least. But Tuki knew that to the softskins, where he lived was very cold. Sometimes the softskin servants died if they did not have enough coverings.
Rose nodded in understanding. She gave a pretend shiver and said, "cold." She said the word in her own language for Tuki. "Kaldt."
"Kaldt," he said happily. They turned back to the picture.
Tuki enjoyed saying and repeating the names of all the animals on the page; until Rose pointed to a bear with a white fur coat. "Kvitbjørnen!" she exclaimed.
Tuki hesitated, a gnawing feeling in his stomach. He stared at the picture and said reluctantly, "White bear."
Rose peered at him like she wanted him to say more. She pointed at the doorway, gesturing to the rest of the castle. "Kvitbjørnen bor hos oss."
Tuki knew she was talking about the enchanted softskin that his mother and he served, even if he couldn't understand her whole sentence. Urda had ordered him never to talk with either softskin, and she would be even angrier if she found out he ever mentioned anything about the white bear prince to Rose.
He nervously looked over his shoulder at the door. Luckily Urda was still tending the fires, but Tuki decided that he wouldn't tell Rose about the white bear softskin. Not yet.
So he merely nodded at Rose and said, "Yes, the white bear is here."
Rose smiled but moved on to the next animal when she saw the tightness in his white face.
After flipping many more pages and more time went by, they came to a picture towards the end of the book. It had two children that were walking in a forest together, holding hands.
Rose looked at the picture and said warmly, "Venner."
Tuki knew her word for children, but this one was not it. He wondered what word she could mean.
Rose smiled at him and took his hand. She pointed to him and then herself. "Venner," she repeated.
He looked at her hand, so soft and smooth next to his. She was holding it, and she hadn't let go.
Then he understood.
"Yes." He grinned back. "Venner. Friends."
Author's note:
I case you are curious, Rose's speech is in Norwegian. I used the Google Translator to translate it from English, so it might not be 'real' Norwegian.
I had Rose speak the foreign language because I wanted it to seem like it is from Tuki's point of view. I also made the dialogue a tad bit weird because I always felt that the trolls might have a different way of talking (and also because I imagine Tuki speaking slightly simple, like a child almost). I love Tuki and was very sad when the Troll Queen killed killed him. I wanted this to be a little tribute for him, for he was such a good friend to Rose and Charles.
Also, please let me know if having the title in Norwegian is too strange.