Chapter two:
When the night of the ball finally came, Branch changed into the clothes he had made for the event, so that he now wore long well fitted dark blue trousers, then there was a white top with a high neck which opened with a v shape at the front and then lastly over this was a fitted dark blue jacket to match the trousers he wore. Once he was dressed the grey troll drank the potion, he shivered and watched with wide eyes as his skin turned teal blue. The now blue troll pulled down his royal blue hair just to check it had also changed colour along with the rest of him and let out a sigh of relief that the potion had worked exactly as he expected it to. Branch carefully put his mask onto his face, before turning to the mirror in his bunker to look at himself and despite knowing he would look different the blue troll couldn't get over how different he looked tonight. The now blue troll hadn't even realised until he had looked in the mirror that his hair was taller than before as well as now standing up in a new shape, Branch had to admit that he rather liked the new shape of his hair, as well as having his old colours back and he felt a little sorry that these changes to himself were only going to last for the next four hours.
The blue troll shook himself out of his thoughts, then he gave himself a nod before crossing the room, Branch picked up the invitation to the choosing ball from on top of the nearby table and left his bunker to walk to the ball. When he came to the entrance of the ball Branch handed his invitation over to the troll waiting there and then went inside, looking around him with amazement as he did so. The clearing was lit with small white twinkling lights which looked like millions of fireflies, there were many trolls already in attendance they were all dressed in their finest and talking to each other in small groups. Branch's entrance hadn't gone unnoticed, in fact the blue troll became aware of the fact that a lot of the trolls had turned to look at him and were now staring at him with wide eyes. Feeling slightly nervous, Branch looked down at the floor, he was about to slip back out of the ball when a hand on his arm stopped him. Quickly the blue troll looked at the pink hand on his arm, then to the troll it belonged to and was surprised to find that it was Poppy who had stopped him from leaving.
The princess wore no mask as tradition dictated, she was dressed a floor length simple strapless light blue dress which flattered her figure and matched the blue flowers that were fixed into the side of her hair which had been worked up into a simple bun for the night. "Will you dance me?" The pink troll asked with a slight note of hesitation to her voice as she did so.
"I'd be honoured to dance with you princess Poppy." As he said this Branch bowed his head to the other troll.
Poppy smiled gratefully at him, she took his hand into hers and drew the blue troll out onto the floor with her. As the first waltz of the ball started to play, Branch put his right hand into her left, he then placed his left hand onto her waist. Poppy responded to him doing this by moving closer to the blue troll and put her right hand onto his waist. "Thank you for agreeing to dance with me." The princess said this with relief clear in her voice.
Branch looked down at the troll in his arms and as they danced together said to her gently. "Is something the matter princess? You don't sound very happy."
The pink troll sighed deeply and answered this question. "It's…Well it's all a little embarrassing to be honest…"
Slowly the blue troll smiled down at Poppy and spoke to the pink troll with sincerity. "Well I can promise you that I won't judge you or tell any of the other trolls what you tell me, that is if you should to choose to confide in me about what is troubling you."
"Thank you for saying that. I will admit that it would be nice to confide in someone, I love my friends but I just don't think they would understand how I feel…"
"Oh, dear this sounds very serious. So, what is the matter?"
With a sigh, Poppy decided that confiding in this kind but mysterious troll would be a good thing as he seemed to be the kind of troll to keep his word. "Every troll here is expecting me to choose Creek as my husband and King…But I don't want to marry Creek."
"Oh, why is that?" Branch asked both shocked and intrigued by this confession from the princess.
"We are good friends and I had a crush on him when I was younger…But he isn't the one I love and want to marry."
"But you have to choose a troll tonight."
"I know…But I'm not sure who I should chose."
Slowly the blue troll smiled down at the other troll. "Just chose with your heart."
"Chose with my heart…Those are wise words."
"Thank you. I am sure that any troll here tonight would consider themselves lucky to be chosen by you." Branch told the princess with sincerity, the blue troll was able to say this with such honesty because this was how he felt about Poppy himself.
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes I do." As he answered this question the music they had been dancing to came to an end, Branch bowed politely to Poppy, as he went to move away from her to escort her back to the edge of the dancefloor once more the princess caught hold of one of his hand and drew him off of the dancefloor with her.
Branch didn't resist as Poppy led him away from the ball and into the nearby forest until they were at last alone in a quiet spot. Once the pink troll was sure that there were no other trolls in the area she turned to face the blue troll, Poppy took his other hand into hers and then looked up at him before asking. "Why did you come to the choosing ball?"
The blue troll decided the best thing to do was to answer this question with honesty and did so. "Some of it was curiosity about what a choosing ball might be like, but mostly I wanted to see you and of cause like all the other trolls I wondered which troll you would choose to be your husband and King tonight."
"What would you say if I said that despite only having just met you, I was thinking about choosing you?" Poppy asked him curiously.
The blue troll stood quietly thinking for a few moments before he answered this question from the princess. "I'd say I was flattered but I am not sure I would be the best match for you. We also don't know each other very well, so it would probably be best if you choose someone you know better for your King."
"I will admit I would like to get to know you better, you see you have intrigued me."
"Princess Poppy are you sure you want to do that? Are you sure you don't want to return to the ball and find a troll you already know better than me to woo tonight?"
The pink troll shook her head in answer to this question from the other troll and then said to him. "My mother once told me before she died that I would know when I found the only one for me, the one who was my soul mate and true love. I know I have found that in you."
"Soul mate and true love…Those are very powerful things on their own but for them to both to be found in one relationship is extremely rare. To say I am that troll after only one meeting…Does not feel as strange to me as perhaps it should." Branch confessed softly to the princess blushing slightly as he did so.
Poppy smiled at the blue troll at her side and let go of his hands as she said. "I am glad to hear you say that because it doesn't feel strange to me either. Besides there is a way to prove I am right about you being both my true love and soul mate."
"Really and how is that?" The blue troll asked her curiously.
"Well if we kiss and glow then we are true loves. As for the soul mate part, that can be proved if we glow when we hold hands and sing together, if we glow as we do then we are soul mates."
Branch held a hand out to her and Poppy took the offered hand, the blue troll looked down at the other troll and said to her. "Well I don't know about either of those things, but I do know that whoever is going to be the one to stand at your side is going to have to love you with everything they have in them because you deserve that kind of love and that troll is going to need to be able to help you rule the trolls."
"Let me ask you this, if you were to be made King what would you do first?"
Poppy watched him closely, he was thinking she could see that and the princess was glad to see that this blue troll was taking his time to think about his answer to her question before he gave it. "I think what I would do is strive to make sure that all of the trolls were safe and happy. I would want to be sure that if hard times came there was enough food, water and medication for all of us to make it through." The pink troll stared at him with surprise, the answer to her question was so compassionate and wise that it stole her breath away for a few moments. Realising that Poppy was staring at him with surprise, Branch quickly took his hand back out of hers and then scratched the back of his head with nervousness. "That was a stupid answer to your question, wasn't it?"
The princess shook her head at him. "No, it isn't a stupid answer at all. It shows me that you have a lot of compassion and wisdom in you."
"I think that is the first time any troll has told me that."
Poppy smiled, she heard her name being called loudly from nearby and let out a deep sigh. "It appears I need to be heading back to the ball, will you come back with me and dance with me again?"
"I'd be honoured to dance with you again." Branch assured her.
So it was that the two trolls returned to ball, when they arrived there a slow song was playing it spoke of enduring love and of seeing true colours. Smiling at each other they stepped out onto the floor to waltz again, this time however they didn't dance a simple waltz they instead ended up dancing something far more complicated. Poppy couldn't stop smiling at the blue troll she was dancing with, never before had the princess danced with someone who could match her step for step in this kind of waltz. Their eyes never left the other, plenty of the other trolls had noticed that the princess was dancing for a second time with the blue troll and several of them were starting to wonder if perhaps Poppy wasn't going to choose Creek to be her husband and King after all.
As this music drew to an end, the princess escorted her blue dance partner off of the dancefloor, when they came to the edge of the dancefloor a purple troll was standing there waiting for them. Branch knew without a doubt that despite the mask he was wearing that this troll was Creek, he simply took Poppy's hand into his and without even asking the princess if she wanted to dance with him the purple troll pulled the clearly reluctant Poppy out onto the dancefloor with him. The blue troll watched them go out onto the dancefloor and shook his head slightly at the rude behaviour of the other troll. Branch could see from where he was standing at the edge of the dancefloor, that as Creek and the princess danced they were involved in what appeared to be a heated conversation of some kind. The blue troll also noticed that as Poppy danced with the purple troll her pink eyes kept searching around for him and would soften with relief whenever they found him.
As soon as her dance with Creek finished, Poppy turned a lot of heads by leaving the purple troll standing in the middle of the floor so that she could walked strait over to Branch. When the princess reached the blue troll, she held her hand out to him commandingly, the blue troll bowed to her with formality as the situation demanded, he then slipped his hand into hers and permitted Poppy to pull him back out onto the dancefloor with her. The princess quickly pulled Branch to her, they simply started to sway to the music this time, eventually Poppy looked up at the mysterious blue troll and said to him. "I want to choose you…And I don't even know your name yet…But I know though that you make me feel safe and loved."
Slowly the blue troll smiled down at the princess. "I'm glad that I make you feel that way. As for choosing me…I'm still not sure I would be the best choice for you."
"You told me to follow my heart and it is you my heart tells me is the right choice for me." Poppy told his with absolute honesty.
The blue troll kept his eyes locked with hers. "I'm honoured that you would wish to choose me to be your partner in life but I still think you should choose a troll you know better." As he finished speaking the music ended, Branch escorted the princess off of the dancefloor and to her father's side. When they reached their destination, the blue troll bowed to the King, then to the princess, he took one of her hands into his and kissed the back of it before walking off back into the party. The blue troll knew that it was time that he went home as it would soon be time for the unmasking which meant that he would be changing back to his grey colouring soon.
Poppy went straight after this mysterious blue troll, when Branch noticed that the princess was coming after him, so he ran from the ball not wanting Poppy to see him change back into his normal grey self. As he ran through the forest around the troll tree Branch was aware that he had lost his mask at some point during his flight, but the blue troll knew that he had no time to turn back and look for it at least not with the princess so close behind him. Instead Branch ran on, he could hear Poppy chasing after him, so the blue troll called on his intimate knowledge of the forest to help him lose the princess. Quickly the blue troll turned a sharp corner and then used his hair to conceal himself amongst some tall reeds growing closely together by the edge of the lake.
As Poppy rounded the corner into the same area where the princess had been sure she had seen the other troll heading, she came to a halt and looked around Poppy was surprised to realise that there was no sign of the mysterious blue troll just reeds by the lakeside as was normal. Quickly the princess looked around the area to see if she could spot any clues as to which way the troll she had been chasing might have gone in but Poppy could not see anything. The pink troll let out a deep sigh and spoke. "You are the one I have chosen. I shall tell my father and all the other trolls that I will have no other troll but the one I met this night to be my King and husband…I will find you again, you were all I had ever hoped for. I should have tried harder to get a name…I'm such a fool." The princess turned, she walked back towards the ball and it was as the pink troll was on the way back to the ball that Poppy found the half face mask the one she wished to choose to be her husband and King had worn to the ball.
As the pink troll looked at the mask in her hands an idea of what she could do to find the mysterious blue troll formed in the mind of the princess and when she arrived back at the party Poppy quickly put her plan into action by doing as she had said she would earlier and announcing to all those present at the choosing ball that she had chosen the mysterious blue troll as her King and husband. The princess told them that as he had never given her his name but she would know if she had found the one if he fitted the mask of her chosen partner.
Once he was sure she was gone the now grey again troll came out of hiding, Branch looked in the direction Poppy had gone in and let out a sigh of his own. "You won't ever find me princess and in time I'm sure you'll give up looking for me and find another troll far more worthy of you than I could ever be." The grey troll shook himself out of these melancholy thoughts and then quickly set off back to his bunker determined to put this night and the feelings which it had stirred in him right out of his mind.