(Ok, as a note, there's a lot of personal headcanon going on in this in relation to Troll ages, how they age, and the like. I know it might not line up perfectly with everything said in canon, but there were a lot of holes in my information that my muse happily filled in, and this is the result. Thanks to Oliver2016 for the assist with the age ratio that Blinky says later on.
As a second note, I'm spreading the word about this youtube artist and her simply AMAZING Trollhunters songs! Search for Jayhan, and look for By Daya's Grace, Trollhunter's Serenade, and Trollhunter's Aria. Simply gorgeous!
Now... part two of my little story arc!))
Chapter 9, Arc 2: Curious Idea
Troll history?" Blinky echoed as Vendel departed.
"In a roundabout way," replied Jim, then he asked before Blinky could try to get clarity, "You said before, when we were with the Quaggawhumps, that you were about six hundred, right?"
"Give or take. After the first couple of centuries very few of us keep count, though I am sure if I thought about it I could get a more accurate number. Why?"
"And you says once that you came here aboard the Mayflower?"
"Again, accurate." Blinky paused in shelving a couple of books to look their way. "I fear I am not following this train of thought, Master Jim."
"The Mayflower?" echoed Claire, intrigued. "With the pilgrims?"
"Yes. Both Aaarrrggghh and I were born in Europe, as were those who followed Daya here after the Battle of Killahead Bridge."
"So, you were here, under America, during the revolutionary war?" asked Toby, excited. "Man, I so know who I'm going to when I have a history test!" Blinky and Aaarrrggghh both laughed.
"While I regret popping your academic bubble, Tobias," the scholarly Troll chuckled, turning around to lean back against the shelf behind him, lower hands bracing himself and upper crossing over his chest, expression amused, "much of my time during that period was spent completely underground, and none of us had contact with humans if we could at all prevent it. I fear I could help you very little." Toby groaned and slumped in his chair, to the others' chuckling.
"But you said yourself and Aaarrrggghh, " asked Claire. "What about Draal?"
"Draal was born a few decades after our arrival here. In a sense, Aaarrrggghh and I are immigrants, and Draal is native-born."
"Not that the government would accept you for green cards," Jim laughed. "So Draal's like three hundred years old?"
"Something like that, and I am pleased that you seem to know your country's early history, Master Jim."
"Recently saw something about it on TV," Jim admitted with a grin.
"So you saw Draal growing up," Claire surmised. "Like, all the way from his being a baby?"
"Tiny newborn," Aaarrrggghh answered, making a cradling gesture with one arm as if to say he could hold the other easily in one arm alone. "Kanjigar friend for long time."
"Wow," commented Claire, "it's hard to think of Draal as being little like that."
"Trolls must go through developmental and growth stages, the same as humans," explained Blinky. "Each of us is born small, and must learn to speak, walk, and all the other self-care skills that adulthood requires. The main difference is that Trolls, accounting for our longer lifespans, remain in each phase far longer than a short-lived human does. Sixteen years to master one's bowels, for example. During that time we are what would be an infant stage for humans."
"So weird thinking about someone being a baby that long," commented Toby.
"Weird being infant so short," pointed out Aaarrrggghh.
"Quite. Ten, even five years to a human invokes major changes, while to a Troll they are relatively minor, even unnoticeable. But by ratios we age alike. Take myself for example. During that interesting period when I was a human, how old would you have guessed I was, if you simply saw me on the streets?"
"Um, early forties?"
"Yeah, definitely."
"Early to mid."
"And, in terms of adult, middle aged, elderly, and the like, how would you gaudge my behavior as a Troll?" This was harder for the teens to answer.
"Well, not a young adult, but not old either," Jim finally said after some thought. The others agreed, seemingly unable to peg down a specific description.
"I'll take that as a compliment," chuckled the scholar. "And if you saw a human who seemed neither a young adult but not old either, how would you guess his age to be?" That took them off-guard a bit. Then Claire said slowly.
"I'd say... forties."
"Exactly the same age proximity you assigned to me. That is because even though I am six hundred or so, like your forty-year-old human I am neither a young adult nor an elder. We are both in the same phase of life." With a curious tip of her head, Claire seemed to think fora moment, then pulled out her phone. After a moment she smiled.
"Hey, the math works!" She showed them the screen. "You said sixteen years is now long it takes a Troll to agree equal to a human aging one year. I divided six hundred by sixteen, and got around thirty-seven!" Curious now, Jim pulled out his own phone and did some calculations.
"No way I'm trying that math in my head," he commented during the process, getting a laugh. "So Draal would be... Around eighteen?"
"That doesn't quite fit," replied Toby.
"Try closer to three hundred fifty by fifteen," Blinky suggested. "I believe that is a bit more accurate of a ratio."
"...Twenty-three!" Jim announced a moment later. "That's far closer to how Draal acts."
"So Vendel was right," added Toby, "he really is only a bit older than us!"
"What nonsense is this?" Draal suddenly spoke up as he stepped around the corner, having caught the tale-end of the conversation. "I am centuries older than you are, that is nowhere close."
"We were speaking more in respect to current age compared to stage of life," Blinky explained. "Roughly, dividing a Troll's age by fifteen, or multiplying a human's age likewise, will tell you approximately where they are in relation to the other's developmental growth. By that formula you are comparable to a human in their early twenties, a young adult, and thus only around five to ten years Jim's senior." Draal snorted.
"Perhaps. Dare I ask why my age has been a topic of discussion?"
"Happened to come up," answered Toby smoothly. "Jim commented that Blinky and Aaarrrggghh were came here on the Mayflower, and Blinky said that you were born later, and we kinda wandered to ages. Though that does make me curious: what is it like for a Troll kid?" Draal blinked; it seemed Toby was asking him.
"What's it like?"
"Yeah!" Toby was grinning. "I mean, did you play with action figures or stuff like that, go to school, have a pet? Kid stuff?" Once more Draal snorted, frowning.
"Though I did have an education, as soon as I could walk unaided I was training to fight and defend myself. Playing with toys or a 'pet' wasn't something I had time for." All three of the humans blinked, each one remembering Vendel's words.
"So you never played, or rode on someone's shoulders?" echoed Jim.
"No, now can we drop this ridiculous topic?" They conceded, but Jim caught an odd look in Blinky's face that made him wonder.
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The next day Jim entered the Hero's Forge alone. He was expecting to train some, but Toby had yet another dentist appointment and Claire a family birthday to attend. Blinky and Aaarrrggghh would be delayed as the former was speaking with Vendel about yesterday's mentioned cavern stability issues and Aaarrrggghh was with him, but even Draal was absent from the Forge. Jim wouldn't admit it out loud but he hoped they hadn't offended the warrior Troll with their previous questions; Draal had been somewhat distant after they'd switched topics and during a small sparring session afterwards.
As he looked at the empty Forge, a thought suddenly occurred to Jim and he pulled out the Amulet, looking to where he knew the Soothscryer was concealed.
"C'mon, you guys usually know when I want to talk - Yes!" He cheered as the sacred device rose, mouth glowing and whirring. Without hesitation Jim approached and inserted his right arm and vanished into the Void.
As usual the trip into the Void left Jim a little dizzy for a moment, though even after all this time the starry sky with its defined constellations and ethereal surroundings never failed to both awe and soothe at the same time. A spirit sphere drifted close them formed into Kanjigar.
"Welcome, James Lake, Junior." Jim had long since given up of getting his predecessor to use his nickname rather than his full name. "I sensed you seemed to be desiring to speak to me specifically. What is wrong?" A fraction of a second later the Troll's face shifted to an expression of worry. "Has something happened with my son?"
"No, no, Draal's fine," the teen quickly answered, to which Kanjigar seemed relieved to hear. "Though it is about him that I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Okay, long story short, a few weeks back Toby, Claire, and I caught Blinky, Draal, and Aaarrrggghh passed out in the library, piled on top of each other."
"They were what?" Kanjigar sounded rather amuse by the thought.
"Yeah. Maybe...hold on." Jim pulled out him phone and was able to bring up the picture to show the Troll. Kanjigar took a single look at it and laughed.
"I see some things never change!" Jim was a bit surprised; he couldn't remember ever hearing Kanjigar laugh before. But he wasn't so surprised that he didn't miss the inference.
"So...Draal's done that before?" Jim's mouth twitched up in a grin. Kanjigar looked thoughtful for a moment, as if debating something, then a mist began to gather to one side and an image formed. Jim watched, remembering how Kanjigar had used this ability of the Void to show the human's memories when he wanted to make a point. But this time the scene, in a first person point of view, was of an unfamiliar Troll house and someone opening a door and processing through a short, quiet hallway to what Jim equated to family room. There was some furniture including a collection of several weapons, both human and Troll, hanging on the wall. But what dominated the scene was a familiar Krubera laying curled on the floor, and on his furry back...
"Holy - ! Is that..." Jim approached the memory image, getting a better look at the tiny Troll whelp with nubs for what one day would be an impressive double set of horns. He looked back at his ghostly mentor, grinning. "Is that Draal?!"
"Not an uncommon occurrence, when my duties as a warrior of Trollmarket required me to leave my son in Blinky and Aaarrrggghh's care," answered Kanjigar with a fond smile for his whelp. The scene played through a couple more moments in Draal's younger decades: Draal playing with some toys that reminded Jim of his own childhood blocks, riding around on Aaarrrggghh's shoulders in Trollmarket, resting in Kanjigar's arms while he slept. And the accompanying sounds brought a rather powerful question to Jim's mind.
"Kanjigar, after seeing all that -" Jim gestured to the current scene, where Kanjigar was introducing his toddling soon to some residents of Trollmarket. " - how could Draal ever think you weren't proud of him? I mean just listening to you talk - it's practically dripping from the screen...er, image!" Kanjigar sighed as the memories ceased.
"I took up the mantle of Trollhunter when Draal was very young. I believe you would equate it to around four years old, if that. He knows nothing of me except my time as Trollhunter, which was considerably longer than most." Jim's eyes widened. "Yes, I see you understand the implications. While I tried to be involved with his education and training when he was old enough, my duties often took me away. And it was around the time that he started his education that I came to the decision to protect him by any means necessary... including creating the distance between us." The previous Trollhunter started to pace, as if the emotions were more than mere words could handle. "I know you may not understand it still, but I did feel it was for the best."
"No, I do understand," Jim interjected. "It's – it's kinda like why I didn't tell my mom for so long. I was trying to protect her." Kanjigar glanced at Jim.
"Yes, so perhaps you do understand. It was something neither Blinkous nor Aaarrrggghh agreed with, though they honored my wishes concerning Draal. You also might understand why I didn't want him joining me in battle. I didn't doubt his skill, but if any foe had realized the relation between us - "
"It'd be just like my mom and Strickler," finished the human with a scowl.
"Exactly. And there is another facet I was hoping to protect Draal from." Kanjigar sighed. "Being Trollhunter is a death sentence. Trollhunters, compared to other Trolls that can live for a millennia or longer, die very early. Few have families or even mates at the time of their calling, and none take mates or start families afterwards, to spare loved ones the pain of loss, a pain I'd hoped to spare Draal from, though I see now the distance only made the pain worse. Even friends are rare for a Trollhunter, for that very same reason." His smile turned wry and fond at the same time. "Blinkous and Aaarrrggghh were surprisingly loyal, and I appreciated it a great deal, both for their taking care of Draal when I couldn't, and for standing with me, still treating me much as they did before, even though I was the Trollhunter."
"I can get that." Jim was thinking not only of the three Trolls he counted as friends, but Toby and Claire too.
"So it is less that Draal believes he lost my approval and more that he has no conscious memories to tell him he always had it." Kanjigar sighed again, putting a hand to his face. "It is a decision I heartily regret, now. Watching how you have handled the role has made me realize that while I will never regret keeping my son from the battle lines with me, I should have been making memories in what time I had away from my role, so he would remember me and how I really felt towards him rather than believe the falsehood that grew right in front of my face and I did nothing to stop." For a moment the two were silent, then Jim suddenly looked up.
"Kanjigar, I have an idea... but I'm going to need your help to pull it off!"
