Poppy sat in her room feeling terrible about what had happened the night before to Branch's coat and how she would she be able to face him again. She knew the coat was very special to him and he was going to be crushed. Her cheek no longer stung but she was still hurt by how Lady Abilene had treated her. She felt like her world was slowly falling apart around her and she did not know what to do.
A light tap on her bedroom door pulled her out of her deep thoughts. "Yes?" she asked in a soft voice.
The door opened slightly revealing one of the many servant trolls that Lady Abilene had working in the palace. "Sorry to bother you Princess Poppy," the troll said kindly "but Lady Abilene is asking for you to join her and Spruce for breakfast."
Poppy did not want to join her step-mother, but she also did not want a replay of what had happened last night. So, she stood up and gave the servant troll a quick head nod to let her know that she would be out shortly. The troll gave Poppy an encouraging smile before she turned to walk back out of the princess's room. Poppy slowly made her way to the dining hall where Lady Abilene sat along with Spruce waiting for her to join them.
"Good morning Poppet!" Lady Abilene said cheerful as Poppy entered the room.
Poppy said nothing as she took her seat on the opposite side of the table "How are you feeling?" her step-mother continued to ask like nothing had happened the night before at all.
"Fine," Poppy replied
"Good," she answered, "I'm glad."
When breakfast was served all Poppy could do was just stare down at it, she really was not in the mood to eat even though it was her favorite blueberry pancakes with fresh berry syrup. This did not go unnoticed by Lady Abilene "Why are you not eating?" she asked.
"I'm not hungry," Poppy simply replied.
"Is this about last night?" Lady Abilene asked.
Poppy did not answer "Well if it is, then I am sorry." Lady Abilene said, "But I have been under so much pressure lately and I did not mean to hurt you like I did, so can we put this behind us?"
"After all that is what families do," she continued "they forgive each other."
"I forgive you," Poppy half whispered completely unsure if she meant
those words or not.
"Good," Lady Abilene replied with a smile "now let's talk about what a fun filled day we are having today."
Poppy looked up at her step-mother and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Why planning the wedding of course," Lady Abilene replied, "after all it is going to be the most important day of your life."
"I still don't know why I have to be here," Spruce mumbled down low.
"Because a perfect day takes perfect planning," Abilene explained.
"But why start planning so soon?" Poppy asked, "I only just turned sixteen and the wedding is not until I turn eighteen."
"Poppy!" she scolded "Preparation starts early if you want things to go according to plan."
"I guess," Poppy sighed "but what if I change my mind by then?"
"Why would you change your mind?" Lady Abilene asked giving Poppy a stern look.
"You know things like colors or flowers," Poppy quickly pointed out "what if I don't want the same colors or flowers then?"
"I see your point," her step-mother agreed "we will save that for last."
"Great," Spruce mumbled rolling his eyes.
All morning Lady Abilene planned Poppy and Spruce's wedding. Whenever Poppy tried to add her own opinions about things Abilene would jus shake her head no and move on. By the time lunch was served Poppy was bored out of her mind and she wished she could escape. Lady Abilene decided that late afternoon was an appropriate time stop for the day and Poppy could finally breath a sigh of relief.
"I'm not feeling well," she lied "I think I am going to lay down."
Lady Abilene walked over and placed a hand upon her forehead "You do feel a little warm," she said in a worried tone "I think that is the best thing you should do."
Poppy nodded and made like she was going to her room but instead grabbed a cloak like coat from the storage room. Now she would be able to sneak out and apologize to Branch about his coat. As she walked towards where he and Roselyn lived she started to become scared, how was he going to act? Was he going to become mean? "No!" she scolded herself in her head "Lady Abilene is wrong, grey trolls are not monsters."
When the rock came into view Poppy swallowed hard and whatever courage she had seemed to leave her. "You can do this," she told herself as she took a few steps forward "it wasn't your fault."
She reached her hand to give the hidden door a knock but before she could it opened, and she was face to face with the very troll she had come to see.
Branch looked at her with a confused look, she was just standing there looking terrified. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Branch," she started sobbing "I'm so sorry about your coat."
It was then that Branch noticed that she did not have the coat "What happened?" he asked.
"Lady Abilene snatched it from and burned it," she explained in between sobs.
"She did what?" he asked with a hurt tone as he turned his face away to hide his sadness form her. That coat had meant so much to him and now it was gone, he could tell by how upset Poppy was that she felt bad. Lady Abilene seemed to take everything that was important away from him. He looked back at Poppy who looked terrified that he would be angry at her, which he was not.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," she replied, "she was just so upset about yesterday."
"I know you did not mean for it to happen," he agreed "and I am not going to blame you for it."
Poppy gave him a weak smile "I should have refused to wear it home last night."
Branch shook his head "No, you could have frozen to death with the way you were dressed last night."
"Your coat would have still been here."
"But you may have not been," he replied shyly.
Poppy felt a flash of warmth come over her and in an instant, it was gone. She had no clue as to what it was because this had never happened to her before. A small cough in the background brought her put of her thoughts.
"Roselyn is sick," Branch told her "she has a high fever."
"That's terrible," Poppy replied.
"Which is why I'm on my way to the village," Branch explained.
"What?" Poppy asked in complete shock "But what if you get caught?"
Branch shrugged "What choice do I have? She needs certain things that I can only get there."
"I don't want to see you get hurt again," Poppy replied softly truly caring about what might happen to him.
"I need to help her get better."
"How about you tell me what you need, and I will get for you from the village?" she suggested.
Branch took a minute to think about what she had said "You would do something like that for us?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied giving him small sweet smile "I would."
The grey troll returned a tiny smile before bidding the sick little troll farewell and telling her to stay resting until he returned.
"Okay big brother," Roselyn's weak voice answered from inside.
The two trolls walked side by side until they came to the outskirts of the village where only Poppy proceeded forward with the grey troll's list of ingredients. Branch stayed a safe distance away from the village as not to get in trouble, he was glad Poppy had showed up when she did because truth be told he had been wondering how he was going to get what he needed to begin with. He let a sigh escape him as he looked over at a sign that was posted 'Grey trolls are prohibited'. He knew that none of the shops would have sold anything to him even if he had to beg, they would have still refused to do so.
As he sat and waited he kept his ears on high alert, he did not want a repeat of what had happened when he was waiting for Roselyn. It was not long before Poppy returned with a basket full of white willow bark and mint. "I got everything!" she said proudly.
"Thanks," he replied giving her a pleased look.
"What are you going to do with those if you don't mind me asking?" Poppy asked.
"I am going to boil the bark to make a tea that my grandma made me when I was sick," he explained as they started on their way back to his bunker.
"And the mint?" she asked, "What is that for?"
Branch gave a shy smile before answering "Flavor."
"Oh, I see," she replied, "I guess that makes sense because I heard that white willow bark was very bitter."
"It is," he agreed "trust me, I know."
"Really?"
"Yeah," he nodded before continuing "I had come down with a really bad fever and my grandma had just brewed some fresh willow tea and left it sitting at the table while she went to get some fresh mint from our garden. I walked in and saw it and thinking it was ready I took a big sip."
Poppy smiled as he opened to her like he had never done before, though who could blame him? She did treat him kind of crappy to begin with. "Then what happened?" she asked completely into his story.
"I sort of spit it back out all over," he blushed "my grandma was not happy at all, it's was not the most pleasant taste in the world."
"Branch," Poppy said softly "what was your family like?"
The grey troll stopped and stared at her "Why?" he asked.
"I'm curious," she replied, "what was your dad like?"
"I don't really remember my father," he admitted before blinking when he realized he might be giving out too much information.
"How come?" she asked.
"I just don't okay!" he snapped "Can we please talk about something else?"
"Sure," she replied not wanting to upset him any further "What's your favorite color?"
"I don't have one," he mumbled as he continued to walk.
"Come on Branch," she teased "everyone has a favorite color."
"Well I don't," he replied stubbornly.
"Do you want to know what mine is?" she asked
"Not really," he replied with a quick eyeroll "but I bet you are going to tell me anyway."
"You bet," she smiled.
"What is it?" he asked stopping and looking back at her.
"It's a secret!" she replied playfully "And you have to figure it out."
"Lucky me," he replied sarcastically
"Yes, lucky you," she giggled.
"So, after all that, you're not going to tell me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope," she teased.
Branch turned away from her to hide his tiny smile and shook his head. Once back at the bunker Poppy watched as Branch began preparing the white willow bark to brew for Roselyn, she found it very fascinating. The grey troll carefully wrapped the bark and mint into a thin cloth and placed it into a cup then he poured the hot water over it. He sat the tea aside so it could cool down for the young troll and went to check on the sick child.
He gently placed his hand upon her forehead and could feel that she was still burning up. "Her fever is pretty bad," he whispered to Poppy.
Poppy kneeled beside him and placed her hand as well on the child's forehead, sure enough she was hot to the touch. Roselyn shivered under her blankets "Branch," Poppy whispered, "she needs more blankets."
"I know," he whispered back "but I don't have any more."
Poppy stood back up and started walking towards the door "I'm sure there are a few extra ones back at the palace I can bring here."
"Are you sure your step-mother will like that?" Branch asked.
"Mostly likely not," Poppy replied, "She might slap me in the face again, but Roselyn needs to be warm and we have the extra blankets."
"She slapped you?"
Poppy hung her head "Yes," she replied, "but she did not mean it, she was just upset."
"Poppy you really should not mess with her," Branch warned "she's not who she appears to be."
"What do you mean?" she naively asked.
Branch lowered his voice "I have this feeling that she is going to show you her true colors real soon and not in a good way."
Poppy could not help but to feel concerned about his warning, suppose he was right and Lady Abilene did end up showing her just what kind of troll she really was? "Just stay safe," he told her.
"I will," Poppy replied giving him a sweet smile.
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Poppy quietly made her way to the closet where the extra blankets were kept, she opened the door and grabbed a couple. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Lady Abilene was in her study and not patrolling the hall like she does. It was going along too smoothly when Spruce popped out in front of her.
"What are you doing?" he asked pointing to the blankets in her arms.
"This is going to sound silly, but I am helping our maid with the laundry," she lied.
Spruce must have bought it because all he did was shrug it off and went on his way.
Carrying the blankets in the snow proved to be a challenge for the young princess but she managed to get to her destination safely. When she entered the bunker, Roselyn was sitting up sipping her tea which Poppy figured would be cold by now. "Hi Princess Poppy!" the little troll greeted in rough voice that was unlike her own.
"Hi Sweetie," Poppy replied as she walked over still carrying the blankets "I brought these for you."
"Thank you," the little girl replied before coughing.
"You have to rest your voice," Branch scolded from across the room where he was busy mashing something together.
"Sorry big brother," Roselyn replied.
"Now what are you making?" Poppy asked as she carefully placed the blankets down beside Roselyn and making her way over to Branch.
"A paste so she can rub it on her neck to help with her sore throat," he explained without taking his eyes from what he was doing.
For some reason Poppy found herself just staring at him and if he sensed her gaze she would quickly look away. She found him to be very interesting and oddly enough she felt some sort of connection with him. Which was sort of weird to her that all her life she was taught to hate grey trolls and now she was becoming very comfortable around one. She hated the thought of what her step-mother would do if she only knew where she was and who she was hanging out with.