Chapter Eight

"Honey! Why would you hogtie him!" Mixy soon realized that leaving the troll and succubus to their own devices had been a poor decision on her part. "Master, the troll tried to attack me. It was merely self-defense. My advice would be that we leave immediately and leave him as feed for the wild boars."

"Honey, I love ya, but I have a hard time believing that..." The goblin made a move to begin untying the enraged troll, who glared at her with iron-hot eyes. The knots had been very tight and the rope had left deep indents in the trolls skin, but he seemed to be uninjured for the most part. "Eh... Honey, maybe you should go home for the day. Thanks for keeping an eye on him for me!" she chirped. "But master-" Before the succubus could give the goblin anymore grief, she waved away the creature. "About damn time ya got rid of dat thing." The troll complained.

"Eh... Maybe the two of you aren't the best travel companions..." Mixy began slowly. "Aren't da... Are ya serious mon?" the troll asked in bewilderment. "Ya just now realizing dat?" Ignoring his obvious questions, the goblin moved to lay down on her makeshift bed. ""Da hell ya doing now?"

The goblin closed her eyes against the fading light of day. "Takin' a rest." After a few moments of silence, she could hear the troll settle down on the ground in front of her. "I take it ya didn' find goblins." Was all he said. "Nah. But I got an informant!" Mixy sat up suddenly to face her companion and gave him a wide, sharp-toothed grin. "She said she knows a few goblins an she's gonna send word to Sen'jin Village to me if she finds anything out!"

"Sen'jin Village?" Vonzahn's face became grave. "Yeah!" The goblin nodded her large head. Staring at the tiny jade creature, Vonzahn felt an anger slowly grow within him. "Had ya not listened wit does damn big ears of yours back at da oda watch? I said we not be needin' ta go der!"

The goblin shook her head in confusion, clearly not remembering his commentary. "I'm sorry... Why don't you want to go there?"

"I taught ya race was a buncha geniuses!" he hissed. "Where do ya tink Zaro and Kimei went?" The goblin's eyes got wide as she began to understand. "Oh..."

"Ya damn right oh! Well, dis oughtta be a show!" the troll huffed as he laid down on his back. Crawling over to kneel beside him, the small creature got right up in his face. "Is this 'cause you don't wanna see Kimei?" she asked. Personally, she would have much rather preferred not to see the female troll herself, but what other choice did she have at finding her parents?

"It not be Kimei in particular I don' wanna see. It be damn near everyone." The troll reasoned. "But it be done now. We travel there tomorrow."

"M-maybe we can just skip it." Sitting back on her knees, the goblin's blue eyes looked away from Vonzahn's angry face, desiring to stare at the ground instead. "What ya mean? How da hell else would we be finding ya goblin parents?" The troll watched the small creature's face as it began to sink into a disappointed feature. "It's okay, really. You don't wanna go? We shouldn't go. I'm not gonna make you." Mixy's voice was heavy with a dark and sad tone.

Growling at her illustration, the troll clamped his hand down on her head and made her face him with a quick but gentle gesture. "We be going ta find ya damn parents. Don' just give up." Letting go and laying down, the goblin stared at the troll as he closed his eyes.

Nodding, even though she was the only one who'd notice the gesture, the small Mixy got up and retreated to her bed where Taffy was already curled up and asleep. Moving around the orange tabby, she tucked herself in and tried to sleep; granted, the troll had made odd comments that she felt were meant for her to stay away, and yet he was being so considerate. Don't make things up, baby girl... She told herself silently. He's just being as nice as a troll can be. Don't go making up stories that can never come true. Why would a troll care about a goblin? There was an answer, but she didn't know if she wanted to say it. Tears in her eyes, she let herself believe that it was the only way the situation would make sense.

Cause we're all monsters.