Chapter Six – A New Path
Thankfully, Rosiepuff had no injuries. She slept uneasily, hoping that what happened in the restaurant was only a dream. When she woke up and saw herself in a room at the Troll Tree, Rosiepuff reluctantly accepted that what happened last night really happened. She saw Titan's ghost and, apparently, he has special ghost powers and he wants to kill her. There was one upside, at least. Titan seemed to think that killing Rosiepuff would end the bloodline of the Golden Rose, which means he wouldn't be targeting Branch.
For now. Rosiepuff reminded herself as she washed up before breakfast. Titan said he would be back. What am I supposed to do? How do I explain this to everyone?
After eating, the Troll Tree warriors accompanied Rosiepuff back to the restaurant to see the damage in the morning light. Most of the upstairs interior was intact. The outside of the house, the dining room, and the kitchen were almost completely destroyed. Smidge had to force the burnt tables out of the way so they could evaluate the area in the house/restaurant.
"We should take as much as we can out to the cart." Peppy said. "The ground floor is heavily damaged. We may be able to support and repair it, or the first floor is going to fall down on top of the ground floor. For now, we need to decrease the weight on the first floor."
Poppy tapped the stairs. "Mostly intact. If we can, let's move stuff through the windows."
They got to work, searching for what could be salvaged. Most of the kitchen's contents—the dishware, silverware, pots and pans, etc.—were damaged beyond repair. Even the towels in the bathroom were burnt and singed. Most of the things in Branch's and Rosiepuff's rooms, with the exception of their ruined bedding, were intact. Rosiepuff was especially glad to see no damage to the fireproof chest from the Golden Rose Clan house. Branch found only half of his posters ruined. Symphony was relieved to find her birdbath untouched.
"My clothes smell gross and smoky." Branch crinkled his nose as he carried his clothes downstairs.
"Mine, too." Rosiepuff sniffed one of her dresses she pulled from her closet, and she gagged a little. "I thought burnt food smelled bad. This is way worse."
"They just need a good wash." Poppy assured. "There's plenty of storage space in the palace. We can keep your stuff there. In the meantime, we'll find a way to rebuild this place."
"I'm confident everything will be fine." Rosiepuff said. "I know some of the builders in town. The grandson of the guy who built this place ought to have the blueprints."
"Miss Rosiepuff!" Moxie ran up to them, followed by Biggie and Fuzzbert. They gaped at the blackened restaurant. "What happened?"
"There was a fire last night." Rosiepuff explained. "The restaurant is closed indefinitely until I can talk to someone about rebuilding."
"I'm so sorry." Moxie said.
"I'm sorry we won't be able to work in the kitchen for a while." Rosiepuff said. "But, if you like, I would be happy to do some cooking lessons with you."
"That would be great!" Moxie said. "As long as you're not busy. If I make something on my own, can I bring it to you to try it?"
"My pleasure." Rosiepuff said.
"Can we help you at all?" Biggie offered.
"You can help load up this cart with what's salvageable in the house." Rosiepuff said. "Thank you." Fuzzbert and Biggie carefully entered the restaurant, followed by Moxie. "Thank you again for letting me stay in the palace."
"You're family, Rosiepuff." Poppy said. "More than just a bending teacher. We're happy to have you."
"Plus, everyone loves your cooking." Branch said. "Suki, Cooper, and Smidge will be asking to help you cook every night."
"That does sound nice." Rosiepuff agreed. "More normal after all this." Everyone finished loading up the cart, and Cooper pulled it towards the Troll Tree with the others following.
"How did the fire happen, anyway?" Smidge asked.
Rosiepuff paused. "Um, I'm not entirely sure."
"You didn't burn anything or something?" Cooper asked. "Leave the stove on or whatever?"
"Nah, that's not like her." Suki said.
"Did someone break into the restaurant?" Branch asked his grandmother. "Symphony, did you see anything? You've been quiet all day."
Symphony looked down. "I was just helping Grandma with a cooking experiment. But we turned off the stove and oven when we were done." She had a hard time looking at anyone, especially Branch and Rosiepuff. Her immense guilt nearly overwhelmed her. While Titan possessed her, Symphony could see every single thing he did to Rosiepuff. She nearly killed Rosiepuff and she couldn't stop herself or Titan. Rosiepuff tried to reassure the little dragon, but Symphony could not get rid of her shame.
"So, someone broke in and just started a fire?" Poppy asked skeptically.
"Maybe it was someone Branch defeated in battle." Cooper pointed out. "It wouldn't be the first time someone attacked Rosiepuff to get to the Dragon Warrior."
"Is it possible it was an enemy of the Golden Rose Clan?" Suki asked.
"I don't know who it was." Rosiepuff said. "I just came downstairs and the building was on fire."
"What about all that damage in the restaurant?" Poppy asked. "What caused that?"
"Enough questions!" Branch snapped. Despite knowing his grandmother was a capable fighter, his protectiveness of her still kicked in now and then. "If she said she doesn't know who did it, she doesn't know. Maybe she'll figure it out later. Symphony, I want you in my sight at all times, got it?"
"Okay." Symphony said. She honestly did not care that Branch was so protective of her now. Maybe, with him keeping an eye on her, she would run less of a risk of hurting someone else.
The servants of the palace insisted on washing Branch's and Rosiepuff's clothes themselves, and the clean, fragrant garments were left in their owners' rooms. Rosiepuff requested a bit of assistance with dinner. The Troll Tree warriors noticed she seemed to struggle a little with her normal cook work, and everyone pitched in to help.
"I would like to contribute as much as I can while I'm here." Rosiepuff said while they ate. "I very much appreciate you letting me stay here, but I'm not staying in one of your guest rooms for free."
"Technically, the rooms in the barracks are for the residents of the Troll Tree." Peppy said. "Believe me, you are most welcome and there is no need for payment of any kind."
"Besides, you make great food!" Cooper said with his mouth full.
"Wipe your mouth." Rosiepuff handed him a napkin. "Well, at the very least, I am now available full-time to tutor Poppy in water-bending."
"Awesome!" Poppy punched the air.
"Lucky." Suki pouted.
"Will you rebuild your restaurant?" Smidge asked.
"Of course." Rosiepuff nodded. "It might take some time, considering the damage."
"We'll find the lowlifes who did this." Branch promised.
Rosiepuff paused mid-sip of her tea. "Don't trouble yourself too much. Common vandals must be low on your priority list."
"For family, it's at the top of the list!" Cooper assured.
Rosiepuff forced a grin. "Well, thank you."
Branch quintuple-checked that everything was in place. It took a full three days to plan this, and he needed everything to be perfect. He remembered what his grandma said about his grandfather's acts of love: simple, yet full of adoration. Branch decided a picnic on their favorite hilltop was the best place for a proposal. He had his and Poppy's favorite foods and drinks, a few candles lit with fire-bending, and the ring he bought was safely tucked in his vest pocket.
"Hey Branch!" Poppy jogged up the hill towards him.
Branch exhaled to calm himself. "I can do this."
"Oh, Branch!" Poppy cooed as she sat down. "This is lovely!"
"Glad you like it." Branch sat beside her.
"It's not our anniversary. Is this some other special occasion?" Poppy asked.
"No. I mean, sort of." Branch stuttered nervously. "I just, uh, wanted to surprise you!"
"This was quite a surprise indeed." Poppy agreed. They began eating, just as Branch wanted. He had to make this feel like a normal date until he revealed the biggest surprise yet. However, Branch forgot about the part where he was supposed to make conversation. Poppy noticed this and nudged him.
"Sorry!" Branch said. "I'm just thinking."
"I'm sure we'll find the people who destroyed the restaurant." Poppy said reassuringly. "No need to worry."
"I'm not worried." Branch said. "Lately, I've come to realize that my family is more than my grandma and Symphony. I have everyone at the Troll Tree. I have my friends in Troll Valley. We have lots of new friends in Hana Rosa. We even have Kessie in Sunrise City, Bridget and Gristle Jr. in Bergen Town, and so many more."
"Grandmaster Ryu taught me family is not defined by blood, but by love." Poppy said. "He was so wise and strong. I hope I'm like him someday."
"I bet you're more than halfway there already." Branch said.
Poppy smiled at her cup of tea. "I made a decision."
"Yeah?" Branch reached into his pocket and touched the ring. "I made a decision, too."
"What's yours?" Poppy asked.
"No way! You tell me yours." Branch insisted.
Poppy laughed. "Okay, here it is. I'm going to ask your grandmother to increase and enhance my training as a bender. I've already learned so much already, but I want to be a master of my elements, like her. I'm already a master of kung fu. It only makes sense that I should refocus on these new abilities I have."
"That sounds great!" Branch said.
"Would your grandma be okay with that?" Poppy asked.
"Of course she would." Branch said. "She loves you."
"Great!" Poppy said gleefully. "Because that's going to be my sole focus. Until I master my water- and fire-bending, I won't let anything distract me."
Branch paused, his fingers still around the ring. "Nothing, huh?"
"I mean, I'll still eat and train and do all my normal stuff." Poppy said. "But my main goal is to become a master of my elements."
Branch released the ring. The moment just didn't feel right anymore. "That's great, Poppy."
"What was your decision?" Poppy asked.
Branch did not answer for a moment. "I'm going to track down those thugs who destroyed my house. That was my home for twenty years, and I will not stand for this."
"I thought your grandma said not to worry about it." Poppy pointed out. "I know it sounds backwards, but I think we should let her do what she needs to do. She knows more than she's telling us. I think she just doesn't want us to worry. It's okay to let her take care of things herself."
"If you say so." Branch shrugged half-heartedly. Time to think of a Plan B for proposal.
Rosiepuff spent her first three days in the palace organizing and decorating her new room in the barracks. In the week that followed, she found herself very bored. She took walks around the Troll Tree, exploring the palace and finding something to do. When she wasn't training Poppy in bending, Rosiepuff did not know what else to do with her day, especially when the Troll Tree warriors had to leave the palace for whatever reason. The palace staff did all the cleaning and prepared breakfast, and the warriors cooked for themselves the rest of the day. Rosiepuff tried experimenting with her cooking, but her hands and wrists didn't quite agree with that. Eventually, she succumbed to either practicing her water-bending in the training hall or reading the tomes in the palace library.
Two weeks went by, and Rosiepuff began to notice a change in her. Despite the jarring difference between her old life in the restaurant and her new routine in the Troll Tree, she found herself blossoming in the new environment. Her bending practice made her stronger, and she even re-learned the martial arts her family taught her so long ago. As a result, she looked in the mirror one day and noticed she lost some weight and a few inches gained from chef work. She started tying her hair down in a ballet bun every day, and wearing dresses and leggings that better allowed her to work with Poppy and the other warriors.
Out of the blue, right in the middle of dinner, Rosiepuff realized what was happening.
I'm becoming a Golden Rose again. She glanced at her reflection in the metal goblet holding her drink. This is what I did when I lived in my old house, training with my grandfather and the rest of my family.
In the past, thinking about her family caused her immense anxiety, grief, and pain. Now, oddly enough, she felt relieved. It seemed normal.
Peppy stopped her after dinner, leaving them alone as the younger warriors journeyed to bed. "I noticed a change in you, Miss Rosiepuff." Peppy said. "You seem different."
"I feel different." Rosiepuff admitted. "A good different, but different. Is there anything else I can do around the palace? Any way I could help?"
"Your help in Poppy's bender training is plenty enough for me, and for her." Peppy assured. "I have some knowledge in bending the elements, but you are the true master here. If you yourself wish to do more, you need only to say so."
"I don't even know what I want to do." Rosiepuff shrugged. "I just feel like I could do more if given the chance. But I cannot figure out what else I could be doing."
"In need of guidance?" Peppy guessed. Rosiepuff nodded, and Peppy continued, "I find that, when I need guidance on any issue, it is helpful to meditate in the Hall of Warriors."
"Why there?"
"The shrines we create for the ones we love are like beacons, guiding those souls to us in times of need, or when they wish to see us." Peppy explained. "The Hall of Warriors is full of memorials for warriors of the past. Perhaps they can help you."
"It's worth a shot." Rosiepuff stood and bowed. "Thank you, Master Peppy." She went straight for the Hall of Warriors. It was better than doing nothing and stewing in her restless boredom. Rosiepuff entered the Hall of Warriors and shut the door behind her. She looked back and forth as she walked, taking note of each shrine. Larch and Stella's shrine was still there. The newest shrine honored Master Guy Diamond. At the back of the room sat the greatest shrine: Grandmaster Ryu's. A painting of the great master hung on a rock, and candles decorated the table below it. There was always a cup of tea on the table, ready for the master.
"Hope you can help, Master Ryu." Rosiepuff sat cross-legged in front of the memorial. She tried to meditate and focused on her breathing.
"You're doing that wrong."
Rosiepuff jumped and nearly fell over backwards. She looked up and sat Ryu's ghost, floating cross-legged above his shrine while he drank his tea. Rosiepuff frowned. "Must you do that?"
"Yes. It is fun." Ryu chuckled. He set the empty cup down.
"How do you drink that?" Rosiepuff asked. Unlike Titan, Ryu seemed to drink the tea like a normal, non-dead person.
"Like heck if I know." Ryu shrugged. "Something about how food and drink left as offerings is specifically for spirits to take as long as they take it from their own graves or whatever."
Rosiepuff sighed, smiling. "I need a little advice."
"Happy to give." Ryu said.
"Let me start with a few questions: when were you going to give me those robes? The ones your son found?"
"They were going to be a birthday gift."
"And why did you want to give them to me? What did you mean by 'in case you change your mind'?"
"Okay, confession time for me. I did indeed hope that you would join the Troll Tree when you came to the valley, and when you returned from Lotus Lagoon. I wanted you to teach the warriors of the palace to bend the elements. Even with all my knowledge, I needed a true master to learn such a wondrous ability."
"You never asked before."
"Because I got to know you first, and I saw the pain in your eyes. You would bend when others didn't watch, or your element would respond without you knowing it. But the thought of going back to that life after you experienced such horrors was too much for you. Out of respect for you, I chose to not pursue the matter."
"I thank you for that. But, as you probably noticed, things have changed."
"I know. The spirit of your past enemy has returned."
Rosiepuff looked, but no one else was around. "I don't know how to tell Branch, or anyone, about this."
"I'll leave that to you." Ryu said. "For now, let's discuss this new change. I watch over the warriors of the Troll Tree, and I've seen you transform, Rosiepuff."
"I've been considering something." Rosiepuff said. "I actually like teaching Poppy bending."
"Do you enjoy teaching?" Ryu asked.
Rosiepuff thought about it. "When my grandfather trained me, and prepared me for becoming matriarch of our clan, he would have me train the younger benders. He said one of my duties as leader was to pass on bending knowledge. Don't get me wrong, sometimes my younger siblings and my little cousins and even my eldest nephew drove me crazy sometimes. But I liked teaching. I liked challenging my students."
"I will not push you into anything." Ryu said. "You are free to choose your own path. If you find you need to go down another road, you may. You should feel comfortable trying something new."
"Can I really go down a new path? Or, rather, go back to what I once did?" Rosiepuff asked. "I've been stuck in a single lifestyle for so long, fighting the idea of going back to who I was. Am I really capable of just going back like nothing happened?"
"If anything, what's happened in your past makes you a stronger and better teacher." Ryu said. "It's called experience."
"And you don't think I'm too old to just jump into teaching?" Rosiepuff asked.
"How old are you?"
"Sixty-five."
"I didn't unlock my element until I was fifty-five, and I mastered it a few years before my death. You're never too old to try something new."
Rosiepuff laughed softly. "At the very least, I need to adapt to my new situation. I can't just wander the halls of the palace like a ghost." She paused. "Sorry, uh, is that offensive?"
"Not at all." Ryu chuckled. "The real question is do you want to be a teacher? And who do you want to teach?"
After consideration, Rosiepuff answered, "I want to teach bending. Not just to Poppy, but to all of the Troll Tree."
"In that case, I wish you the best of luck." Ryu said as he disappeared.
Rosiepuff stood and bowed to the shrine. "Thank you, Master Ryu."
One restful sleep later, Rosiepuff awoke with the sun and felt full of energy. She donned the kung fu robes Ryu gifted her. She brushed her hair and tied it down into a ballet bun. Rosiepuff checked herself in the mirror, tightening the obi around her waist. She pinned her bangs to her hairline so they would stay out of her eyes. She found a special pouch she could tie to her belt, which could hold water for her to bend with. What else did she need? She looked like a Golden Rose warrior.
Except for one thing.
Rosiepuff located her grandmother's jewelry box and dug around until she found a special hair ornament. The curved metal plate had five symbols: a rose in the center, surrounded by four symbols to represent the four elements. Rosiepuff went to the mirror so she could put it on. Before she could, she noticed someone else in the mirror with her. She stared in surprise.
Her reflection showed her younger self, as a mere teenager, and her Grandpa Thorn stood behind her. Even her grandmother was there, holding the hair ornament Rosiepuff did.
"Now hold still." Thorn requested. "We just need to see something."
"Okay, Grandpa Thorn." Rosiepuff said. "But, Grandma Kala, what are you doing?"
"I want to see how it looks." Grandma Kala said. She floated in the air, placing the ornament on her granddaughter's head. Thorn was a rainbow troll, but his wife was a mermaid troll. Kala placed the curved ornament around Rosiepuff's hair bun, and then carefully stuck the thick needle through one hole, into Rosiepuff's hair, and out the other hole on the ornament.
"Beautiful." Thorn said. "It almost fits perfectly."
"I thought I wouldn't get this until I became queen of the clan." Rosiepuff said.
"Matriarch, dear apprentice." Kala corrected. "This is a relic of the Golden Rose Clan, worn by every matriarch for the last five hundred years."
"One day, you will be ready for the responsibility of leading our family." Thorn said. "And, should you find a husband, he will wear a matching ornament."
Rosiepuff stood up straighter. "I think I'll make a fine matri…..martyr…queen thingy."
"You'll get it." Kala and Thorn captured the teen in a hug.
Rosiepuff laughed. But when she looked into the mirror again, she gasped. Only her reflection was there. Rosiepuff turned, but her grandparents were not there, either. She stared at her reflection, gently touching the ornament in her hair.
"I'm ready." Rosiepuff reassured herself. She turned and marched out of the room to join the others at breakfast.
Everyone glanced to the door when it opened, and then simultaneously did double-takes when they saw who entered.
"Whoa, Grandma!" Branch looked amazed. "You look great!"
"What's with the getup?" Symphony asked. "You haven't worn that since Sunrise City."
"Well, my grandmother always said you should dress properly for your day's activities." Rosiepuff said as she sat down.
"What's on the agenda for today?" Poppy asked.
"Provided you're all up for it, and if Master Peppy approves, I'd like to take over as teacher for the day." Rosiepuff said.
"Oh?" Peppy mused.
"If it's all right with you." Rosiepuff reiterated. "Would your students like some lessons in bending the elements?"
Peppy's students collectively gasped happily. They clamored and talked over each other, pleading for their kung fu master to permit it. Peppy raised a hand to silence them.
"I think they would like that." Peppy said to Rosiepuff. "How many days do you need for the basics?"
"I think I can cover it in three days." Rosiepuff said. "The basics involve not only how to harness the element, but also the history of benders."
"Then for the next three days, we are your students." Peppy said. "After that, why don't we alternate training days? It would help our students to practice their known skills and learn new ones."
"Wonderful." Rosiepuff said.
"When can we start?!" Cooper asked excitedly.
"Can we start now?!" Suki nearly squealed.
"No. A successful day of lessons begins with breakfast and stretches." Rosiepuff said. "Finish your food, let it settle, and then warm up. We will go from there."
A/N: To be honest, the next couple chapters may not have a lot of action. But they are critical for the story. Also, I'm planning another new adaptation after this one! I'm also sorting some original stories.
Which do you like better? My adaptations or my original stories for the Trolls world?