Chapter Five – A Gift for Branch
Construction of the Music Central harp continued swimmingly. The trolls could see a heart shape under the tied-down tarp, but the troll leaders agreed that they wanted to wait to unveil it until they had all the strings for every music type. Each king or queen made their music's string based on materials they found appropriate. They used strings from their genres' instruments, strips of clothing and ribbons in the style of their homeland, and whatever else they could braid into a single strand to put into the harp. Most importantly, they all pulled hairs from their own heads to weave into the strings. These strings would not have the power of the original six, but what they represented would be powerful enough.
Clampers helped her aunt weave the string for country music, adding some of her orange hairs with Delta Dawn's blood red locks. Branch helped Poppy intricately plait their materials.
"Aunt Delta, I'm done!" Clampers announced. "Can I go play with my friends? I promised I would meet them at the playground."
"I can take her." Branch offered. "I'm heading that way to get to the market."
"Thank you." Delta Dawn said. "Clampers, you behave yourself."
"Yes, Aunt Delta!" Clampers took Branch's outstretched hand, and they marched off into the village.
"Aw, look at those two." Poppy cooed.
Branch intended to just drop Clampers at the playground and leave, but he was swarmed by the rest of the Mashups. They asked him about the progress on the sculpture, what sort of things he was doing today, and did he have a bandage for the owie on Cadence's finger?
"Got you covered, kid." Branch pulled a whole box of plasters from his hair and let her choose the pink one with hearts.
"Thank you, Mr. Branch." Cadence said.
"My pleasure." Branch assured. "I'd love to stick around, kids, but I have to pick up some things from the market."
"We can help!" Ozzy offered.
"No, no. You go have fun." Branch tousled Ozzy's wild hair as he left.
"He's so nice." Cadence said.
"Branch is really cool." CJ agreed. "He takes trolls camping, he's always helping out around the village, and he even saved us all from the bergens!"
"I remember that story." Blue said. "Crazy that you Pop Trolls used to get eaten every year."
"Yeah. I'm really glad the bergens are our friends now." CJ said.
"Branch always does kind things for everyone else." Coral Blush noted. "We should do something kind for him! He is going to be the Pop King soon."
Ozzy hummed in thought. "What can you do to make a future king happy? What would be the best way to repay him for all the cool stuff he does?"
"What about finding his grandma?" Clampers asked.
"What?" her friends asked at once, sharing confusion.
"Well, I may or may not have eavesdropped on him and Aunt Delta the other day." Clampers admitted. "It's hard not to when I'm always in Aunt Delta's hair."
Clampers pretended to play cat's cradle. In reality, she listened to Delta Dawn and Branch chatting while Branch gathered kindling.
"There's lots of games to play during the day, but the most important part of Family Day is the picnic dinner and show." Delta Dawn explained as she outlined the Country Trolls' favorite springtime holiday. "I just need a headcount so I can get a blanket big enough for your family."
"Oh, that's okay. I probably won't go." Branch said.
"And why not? You'd be more than welcome." Delta Dawn retorted.
"Would I?"
"Why wouldn't you be?"
"Sorry, force of habit. I shouldn't have brought it up. Poppy and I are engaged, so maybe I'll sit with her and King Peppy."
Delta Dawn scribbled in her notebook. "That makes sense. Lots of newlyweds bring both sides of their families. Who else from your family is coming?"
Branch sighed. "I don't have any other family."
Clampers could almost feel Delta Dawn wince. "Oh. How long?"
"Since I was Clampers's age, maybe younger." Branch said. "I didn't have a big family in the first place. It was just me and my grandmother. She raised me, all by herself, and still had time to nanny the other kids in the Troll Tree. She's been gone for a while, but I only just found a way to talk about her." Branch coughed. "Whoa, too heavy. Sorry about that, I don't—"
"Now, none of that." Delta Dawn scolded gently. "It hurts. I understand how that feels, and I can only imagine how much you struggled." Clampers peered out through a gap of Delta Dawn's hair. She saw her aunt holding Branch's hand, brushing her fingers over his knuckles in the way she did when Clampers came crying to her with an injury. But Clampers didn't see any bruises or cuts on Branch's blue-grey skin.
"I'm better now. Trust me." Branch assured. "Thanks."
Delta Dawn sighed. "Even if you don't have her, we'll make sure you aren't alone. We all got a family, trolls who love and care for us."
"Thanks, really." Branch said sincerely.
"So, Branch's grandma is missing?" Blue asked.
"I guess so. Or maybe she lives far away from here." Clampers shrugged.
"We could find a way to bring her back here!" Coral Blush suggested.
"We need more information about her." Cadence pointed out. "Who would know about an old Pop Troll?"
"King Peppy!" CJ gasped. "He knows every troll in Pop Village! If Branch's grandma doesn't live there, I bet he knows where she might have gone. Let's go!"
The Mashups ran off as fast as they could, following CJ to find the old King of the Pop Trolls. It didn't take long to track him down, talking with King Thrash over lunch. The elder kings had become good friends since the world tour, and often joined their daughters during visits to Music Central. They greeted the kids warmly.
"I hope we are not bothering you, sires." Cadence said.
"Not at all." Thrash waved a hand lazily.
"What can we do for you?" Peppy asked.
"We wanted to ask you about Branch's grandma and where she moved to." CJ said.
Peppy nearly choked on his drink. "Excuse me?"
"Branch's grandma?" Clampers repeated. "The one who took care of him? Where is she?"
"We want to help him find her." Ozzy explained. "He did a lot of nice things for us, and we want to thank him, and he said his grandma was gone, and so we want to help him find her!"
"We thought you might know more about it since she's a Pop Troll." Coral Blush finished. "Do you remember where she went when she moved away?"
Peppy tapped his fingers on the table. He looked troubled, to the Mashups' confusion. Thrash stared at his friend in concern. Peppy sighed heavily. "It's not quite like that, kids."
"What do you mean?" Ozzy asked.
Thrash realized the conversation seemed to be hurting Peppy. "Why don't you guys go run along?"
"No, no. It's fine." Peppy turned to the kids. "Do you all remember the story from Pop Troll history about the bergens? How, before they were our friends, they ate us?"
"Yeah…." The Mashups said uncertainly.
"I managed to get my kingdom to safety, but Branch's grandma was not one of them." Peppy waited for the reaction. It took only a few seconds before it clicked for the children.
"Are you sure she's gone?" Clampers asked. "Like, gone-gone?"
"I'm afraid so." Peppy said. He shook his head. "But you don't have to worry about that. It's very sweet of you to want to do something for Branch, but this is grownup stuff."
"So?" Blue pouted.
"I'm just saying this is something you shouldn't have to talk about until you're older." Peppy said. "If you insist on doing something for Branch to repay him for his kindness, I'm very certain he will love whatever you do."
The Mashups mumbled their thanks and bid the kings goodbye. Thrash waited until they were gone and then looked to Peppy. "You okay?"
"Yes. She was a good friend." Peppy absent-mindedly poked at his food. "I just hope they don't bring her up to Branch. He has come so far since she died. I would hate for all that work to go to waste."
"King Peppy!"
Both kings ended up glancing in the direction of the frantic voices, and Hickory and Dickory approached them.
"Oh, and King Thrash." Hickory tipped his hat. "Very sorry to bother you, but we need some advice."
"We are in danger!" Dickory declared, his accent thicker with the increase in emotion.
"We are?" Peppy asked.
"No! Yes? I don't know." Hickory said. "Dickory and I were at Blackberry Briar Field, getting blackberries for the party we're having when the sculpture is finished, and we saw something a bit odd."
"It is witchcraft!" Dickory insisted.
"Dickory, we agreed that we didn't know what it was." Hickory argued.
"Slow down, both of you!" Thrash urged. "What did you see?"
"While I disagree that it was witchcraft, it looked suspicious." Hickory said. "First, we saw some weird creatures near the fields. All black, glowing red eyes. Kind of looked like dogs? We tried to get closer, but they disappeared."
"Literally!" Dickory added. "Just, poof! They were gone. We also found….." He swallowed. Not often did the older (yet smaller) Yodeler Troll look nervous, so Peppy and Thrash paid special attention. "Skeletons. Animal skeletons."
"What's so scary about that?" Thrash asked.
"They were real small." Hickory said. "If we thought it was just a predator that got them, we wouldn't be concerned. But then we found a bunch of young and baby critters dead. But they were more than dead, they were….." He searched for the right word. "Drained. Devoid of color. It's hard to explain, but they didn't look like natural deaths."
"We have been debating whether or not to bring it up to the council." Dickory finished.
Peppy twisted his mustache in thought. "We don't have all the information, and we shouldn't cause panic in the trolls. If there's a sickness spreading in the animals, we should know sooner rather than later. I say bring it up to the others and you can all discuss how to proceed."
After leaving the old kings behind, the Mashups wandered off to a clear patch of grass and mushrooms, and they sat on the soft, colorful fungus to think about what King Peppy said.
"We're big kids." Clampers huffed, blowing her bangs from her face.
"Yeah, we can handle this." Ozzy agreed. "Let's think of something else. What else would make Branch happy?"
"What about a party?" CJ suggested. The Mashups mumbled their disagreement.
"A song?" Coral Blush said weakly. He didn't even like his idea for some reason.
"I can't think of anything." Blue sighed.
Cadence sighed sadly. "Poor Mr. Branch. I don't even remember my grandfather. He died when I was a baby."
"I had an uncle who got in an accident." Blue said. "He lived, but he was never the same after that."
"I remember a babysitter I had." CJ said. "Her parents were taken by bergens. She always seemed a little sad sometimes, but she was so fun. One day, I heard she had passed away. Never really knew how."
The Mashups collectively sighed.
"So, we all agree that the best gift Branch could get would be his family back?" Ozzy said. A round of agreements greeted him.
"But how do we get him his family back?" Coral Blush asked. "None of us know how to raise the dead."
"And a zombie grandma does not sound good." Blue said. The kids shuddered at the mental image.
"If we don't have the answer, I bet we can find it." Cadence said. "My grandmother always says, 'When in doubt, go to the library!'"
"Worth a shot." Clampers nodded. The Mashups hurried to the Music Central Library, where trolls from every genre had donated materials. Each of the six kingdoms gave a copy of their history, and then the leaders of those kingdoms researched together and created one big book of troll history that was as accurate as they could manage. Once inside the library, the Mashups split up and started gathering books. They brought the tomes to a circular rug in a reading section where they could spread out and look over their notes.
"What do you have there, CJ?" Blue asked.
"I was looking for more information about the original Six Strings of Music." CJ said, showing Blue the history book the troll leaders wrote together. "I thought that we could use a similar magic that the Strings had."
"Did you find anything?" Ozzy asked.
"Not really." CJ said. "But now I know why I got points taken off my history test. 'King Poplar saw the arguments amongst the trolls as a precursor to civil war and sought a way to better unite the trolls to avert such a catastrophe. It is believed that this is the reason he corrupted the Six Strings to make pop the overarching music of all trolls.'"
"What does that mean?" Clampers asked.
"I think it means King Poplar saw trolls fighting and got worried, and that's why he tried to make pop the only music." CJ translated.
"Were trolls fighting a lot back then?" Coral Blush wondered.
"I don't think so." Blue said. "Our history book always said that fighting wasn't the norm."
"I think our history book said any fights that did happen were settled amicably." Cadence said. When her friends looked at her blankly, she rephrased, "Even when two trolls argued, they found a way to solve their problem without much fuss."
"This book says a lot of different things. It's interesting, I guess." CJ pushed the history book aside. "Doesn't help us with our plan for Branch."
Ozzy flipped through the book of fairytales. He paused at a particular page. "Hey, what about this? A wishing well."
"You mean the kind you throw coins into?" Cadence asked.
"We don't have wishing wells in Lonesome Flats." Clampers said.
"I don't think any of us have a wishing well like this." Ozzy showed them his book. "In this story, a princess is searching far and wide for a cure for her father's sickness. She visits a kind witch, who tells her about this Wishing Well."
"Why is it in big letters?" Blue asked.
"I dunno. Maybe it's the wishing well. The original." Ozzy continued. "The witch gives the princess chores to complete so she can earn the magic stone needed for the Wishing Well to grant her wish."
"I think I grabbed a magic encyclopedia." Coral Blush found the biggest book he collected, and his friends each wondered how the little Techno Troll could've carried it by himself. Coral Blush pushed the book open and flipped through the latter half. "Water-horses…. Wa Ta Lot Ta Hooie Island…. wendigo…..here it is! Wishing Well." Everyone crowded around him as he read from the page. "'This mystical well is said to grant any wish, though the wisher must be careful how they word their request. To make a wish, the wisher must create a magic Rainbow Stone from the recipe listed below. Upon tossing that stone into the Wishing Well and making a request, the magic of the well will use the power of the Rainbow Stone to make the wish come true. However, there is no recorded success of a wish coming true due to the vague nature of the ingredients. The wrong combination of ingredients has been known to corrupt the wish or make the magic ineffective.'"
"No recorded success?" Blue realized. "Does that mean this might not work?"
"I don't know if we have another choice." CJ said. "We have to try. What are the ingredients?"
Coral Blush rattled off the ingredients list. "Beans, an apple, flowers of Rapunzel, bread crumbs, a shoe without a pair, wolf hair, thorns and petals of a rose, a bit of gold, mermaid scales, and the feather of a bird. Combine ingredients in a cauldron and bury a rock beneath it. Set cauldron out under a full moon for one full night."
"Seems straightforward." Cadence said. "How many beans do we need, and what kind?"
"It doesn't say." Coral Blush said.
"What kind of bread do we need for bread crumbs?" Blue asked.
"It doesn't say that, either." Coral Blush replied quizzically.
"Does it say what kind of bird feather?"
"Nope."
"Which apple type?"
"Not that."
"How much is 'a bit' of gold?"
"No idea."
"Well this is infuriating." Cadence scoffed. "How are we to do this properly if we don't know the exact ingredient amount or type?"
"Well, we have to be able to bury a rock under all of it." Clampers said. "I think we need a pretty big rock for a big spell like this. Let's just gather as much as we can of each thing."
"The next full moon isn't for another week or so." Ozzy pointed out. "We just need to get everything before then, and we'll have the Rainbow Stone!"
"Then we can find the Wishing Well and make our wish!" Coral Blush clapped gleefully.
"For Branch?" Clampers asked.
"For Branch!" they all cheered.