If there's one thing trolls are great at doing, it's not dwelling on the past. Once the trolls saw Branch walking around, happily playing with his guardians and other trollings, they sighed in relief and continues to follow Peppy, and the troll who had found the land where they would call their new home.
With the mood increased from depressed and stressed, to happy and hopeful the trolls begin to sing. An instrumental bug came along, bouncing up and down creating an uptune beat.
We are family, the trolls sing together loudly.
I got all my sisters with me, the females sing together.
We are family, everyone joins in together again, get up everybody and sing.
Everyone can see we're together, Peppy sings out as the others harmonize, as we walk on by.
And, and we fly just like birds of a feather, Ash sings loudly.
I won't tell no lie, Spruce and Plum sing in response.
All of the people around us they say, can they be that close? Peppy sings, just let me state for the record…
We're giving love in a family does, everyone sings out, we are family! Get up everybody and sing! We are family, get up everybody and sing!
Living life is fun and we've just begun to get our share, Creek sings out loudly next to Branch.
Of this world's delight, the snack pack sings in unison.
High hopes we have for the future, Suki sings loudly.
And our goald's in sight! Satin and Chenille sing together.
No we don't get depressed, here's what we call our golden rule. Biggie sings joyously.
Have faith in you and the things you do, you won't go wrong. The snack pack sings together.
This is our family jewel! Everyone sings out, We are family! I've got all my sisters with me! We are family! Get up everybody and sing!
The song trails out as the trolls march and laugh. Everyone talks to each other, the snack pack and Branch all play in the middle of the crowd, then, they finally make it.
In the heart of the forest they had been walking through, is a smaller clearing, with a large mushroom growing out of the base of the largest tree. There are no animals around, so it's quiet, except for a small babbling brook of water. Peppy holds up his hand to make everyone stop at the side of the clearing. Peppy runs out and jumps around lands on top of the mushroom. He looks left and right quickly, then motions for everyone to come out.
"Here, right here!" Peppy announces," There's clean water, fresh air, and sweet acoustics!"
Peppy lifts up Poppy who takes out her cowbell from her hair. She rhythmically beats, and everyone begins to sing loudly as well. After the tune, everyone begins to hum and sing to themselves while gathering closer to Peppy. He clears his throat with a mighty roar, silencing the other trolls. Poppy laughs in the silence, and everyone giggles.
"We must start building." Peppy announces," We will be able to use this space effectively. Everyone will build their homes, but you must come to me so I can allow you the space you require."
Everyone nods in agreement, then gets to work. The snack pack follows their respective parents and guardians, finding areas where their new homes will be. Branch follows Ash and Spruce to a branch near the large mushroom that Peppy had addressed everyone from. Branch sits to the side, watching the brothers.
"Peps, is this alright?" Spruce yells to Peppy across the way. Peppy looks over and nods with a big thumbs up.
Spruce breaths in and walks to the lower part of the branch, hanging upside down. He sways his body back and forth, allowing his hair to grow longer with the breeze. Ash extends his own white hair, and jumps off the branch. He attaches himself to the scalp of Spruce, and uses momentum to swing around his brother in a tight formation. Once two inches is tightly wrapped, Ash swings around the hanging hair, but with less speed, creating a soft net around the flowing hair. Once he reaches the end, he tightly seals the bottom like the top, and pulls himself to swing back onto the top of the branch, landing next to Branch.
Spruce extends his hair slightly, lowering the shell of a new pod slightly, then reaches to his scalp, and plucks a single glittery hair from his head. He retracts the rest of his hair, yet the pod remains in place due to the hair. Spruce then nods to Ash, who does the same, but ties the end of his glittery hair to the tightly wound spire of the top of the pod. Spruce runs around the branch, the strand in hand, about ten times, before stopping atop the branch and tying a small knot in the hair. Spruce smiles to Branch, then places his hands down onto the hair, whispering something. When his hands come up, the strand is gone.
Branch quickly looks over the side of the branch, to see the Pod firmly attached into the tree by the spire. Branch looks in awe to the brothers. He'd always seen the pods and how they're used, but he had never gotten the opportunity to see one made in front of his very eyes. The brothers smile, before fist bumping each other and lowering themselves to the pod's widest side.
"Do you have a knife?" Ash asks Spruce in a condescending manner.
"'Do you have a knife?' of course I do, it's good medical practice." Spruce sigh yells at Ash," Did you forget yours at the tree or something?"
"Nah, just wanted to see if that senile old brain still remembers to pact necessities." Ash laughs while pulling out a knife from his hair.
With a simple flick of his wrist, Ash makes a perfect hole in the side of the wall, then swings himself inside. Spruce sighs.
"I'm only four years older than you Ash." Spruce sighs as he easily swings into the pod as well.
Branch attaches his hair to the side of the tree. It feels loose, and the matter of the height didn't help his nerves either. If his hair didn't attach properly, he could easily fall to his death. 'No, I can't think like that', Branch thinks to himself with a shivering breath. He stands and tightly holds onto his hair, before allowing his feet to wander off the branch. He free falls only for a moment, but it's enough to make him freeze.
He looks down through a squinted eye, and it's enough to send a chill down his back, though it's the middle of summer. He can't get himself to extend or retract his hair. He just hangs. Slowly, strands of white hair surround Branch, cupping him in a safe hold. Branch relaxes, and his hair comes loose from the branch above.
"Easy there, little tree, we didn't forget about ya." Ash says in a soothing voice as he lowers Branch into the pod," Now, what do you think of our new home?"
The inside of the pod didn't have any furnishings yet, but the hair separate one large room into three off rooms to either side. The the right was obviously going to be a kitchen, with it's well lit atmosphere and homely feel, all it needs is a stove and sink. The main bedroom is to the left, Branch looked in to see two more side rooms, another bedroom and a bathroom. Branch knows they made the extra bedroom for him, but he doesn't know how to feel about having to walk through a different bedroom to get to his own. Then the final room in the back already has the most important purpose in the pod.
It a storage room, all ready to be filled with herbs, prescriptions, bandages and gauze to treat any and every troll to enter the pod. There's also enough space for the room to act as a private room in case of any emergency surgeries or a birthing mother needing some privacy. The main area is going to be used as the main clinical area, spaced about and ready for beds ad stools for anyone to sit on.
"I like it, but where are we going to get furniture?" Branch asks.
"That's the fun part." Ash says with a laugh," We get to make it."
"Many are going to buy furniture from Bucky, the woodsmith, but we of the tree family have a long running tradition of creating our own furniture for our homes." Spruce says in a matter of fact tone," Since you're one of us now, we'll have to show you how it's done"
Excited by the prospect of making something, Branch eagerly sets down his pack off his back and follows the brothers. When he reaches the side of the pod, he's surprised to see the pod safely on the ground, with a set of white stairs coming from the side. He looks in confusion to the brothers.
"We sacrificed one of our supporting hairs to create the pod." Spruce says with a grin," Every troll is born with five to ten supporting hairs. They start out as stubble and grow into the hair we use for everyday purposes. They hold the structure and stretchability in their existence. When we have to do something important, we sacrifice a support to show our dedication. Whatever the supporting hair is incorporated in will listen to the one who sacrificed such an important part of their existence."
"What he's trying to say is that, the hair we plucked to tie off the pod allows us to control every movement and design of the pod." Ash says," He likes the sound of his own voice."
"I was just explaining the importance of our support hairs." Spruce says gently shoving his younger brother.
"When you lose a supporting hair, does your hair begin to droop down?" Branch asks.
"Yeah." The two respond together with the same sad tone.
"Then...Queen Joy." Branch begins.
"Gave everything she could to keep the troll tree safe for young one's, even if it meant losing over half of her support hairs." Ash says with a smile," She helped to create pods for those who couldn't make them."
"She even used a support hair to create a high area in the tree for young children to play on. You were there before." Spruce says, taking Branch's hand and leading him to the forest," Then there was the time she pulled out one of Pep's support strands to help make the largest pod in the tree for community gatherings. Pep wouldn't stop howling for a week about how his head hurt, the drama queen."
"My favorite use was when she pulled out one of her own support hairs, along with Blossom's and Bush's to create a blanket for her godson." Ash says rustling Branch's hair," They can be used for all sorts of purposes like that."
The three continue to talk about support hairs even when they go far into the forest. They stop when they reach a large oak tree. Spruce knocks over a few branches off lower limbs. Ash ;launches up and knocks down a few branches and leaves off the higher branches. Once the three have large bundles, all wrapped up together with grass blades, they begin to head back. After about ten minutes of walking Ash looks up to the sky.
"It's getting dark." Ash says," We should sleep here for now."
"We can make it back." Branch says with a smile," We shouldn't be too far from the new village."
"We don't know what dangers lie in the dark here, Branch." Spruce says," It's better to be safe than sorry."
"That's the creed of the Tree family." Ash says with a proud tone," What we live by."
"We'll camp up in the tree." Spruce says, taking Branch's pack of sticks onto his own back.
"I can take those." Branch says, trying to take back the sticks.
"No." Spruce says, ending the conversation.
Ash and Spruce attach their hair to a high branch on the tree, but wait for Branch to attach before they begin to pull themselves up. Branch takes a couple tries, but secures his hair between the brothers. They all slowly and steadily pull themselves up to their hair. Ash covers himself in his hair, then turns it the color of the branch above. Spruce does the same, and Branch follows suit.
They whisper goodnight to each other, and fall asleep in their cocoons, happy to be away from the bergens once and for all.
It took only a week for Branch to realize he really doesn't want to stay so close to everyone else. It wasn't in how Spruce or Ash treat him, or even Plum and Peppy, but how the other trolls have begun to treat him again.
A troll can always move on, no matter what, even if it was from acceptance back into a slight resentment of another. Branch had thought he would be of more help to the brothers by being an assistant between lessons. He would organize patients, have them fill out any necessary paperwork, and learn how to create healing salves and ointments by watching the brothers. He tried his best to be of use, but it just seemed he couldn't shake the feeling that trolls were beginning to avoid him again.
Finally, on the seventh day of helping the brothers, Branch was in the kitchen, preparing some berries and sugar to make jam that would last for a while, when he heard talking.
"That Branch, I wonder if there's something really wrong with him?" He heard a male troll ask another.
"He's been smiling, but he doesn't sing or dance. He looks happy, yet he's still gray." A female responds," Maybe it's a medical condition."
"I hope it isn't contagious." The male says with a small gasp.
"He shouldn't work in the only clinic if he is sick." The female says with a sigh," I don't like coming here if he's here. I feel like I'll turn gray as well."
"I mean, the doctors spend a lot of time around him, why haven't they turned gray yet?"
"They're creating an immunity so they can protect us."
"I see."
"I just hope Branch finds a cure soon."
"It's really depressing just to look at him. I mean, I feel for him, he's lost everyone, but come one. He's so dramatic, remaining gray even though he has trolls who care for him."
Branch couldn't bear to hear anymore, so he throws his hands over his ears and huddles next to the farthest wall, under a lopsided table he had helped to build. It feels like he can still hear the judgmental voices of those trolls, so he sinks his nails into his ears, trying to tune them out by focusing on the pain.
He feels a sense of betrayal, thinking that everyone had began to treat him like anyone else, but now knowing they talk like that behind his back. It's too much for a child. Emotions fly through his little heart, sadness, anger, regret and depression being the main controllers. He breathes shakily trying to calm himself down, but nothing seems to work.
'Why am I not happy?' he thinks to himself,' I know Spruce and Ash and Plum and Peppy are here for me, but I just can't help but be sad. I'm cared for, but I still feel distance between me and everyone else...would it be different if I hadn't gone gray in the first place? What if Grandma were still here, would I be happy? What if we'd escaped earlier? What if...what if…' the questions take up all the space in his mind, until a hand touches his shoulder, jerking him back into reality.
"Little tree, what's wrong?" Ash asks, lowing Branch's hands from his ears. Branch opens his mouth to speak, but knows that if he admits anything, he'd only be a burden to the others again. Instead he takes a large breath in and smiles to Ash.
"Sorry, I thought I heard a burgen coming." Branch says in a quiet voice," We aren't too far from burgentown, they could still be coming after us."
"Oh Branch, that's not going to happen." Ash says with a small laugh," We're safe here."
"Yeah, yeah I know, but still." Branch says, scooting out from beneath the table," Better safe than sorry."
Branch stands and wipes off his knees. He smiles to Ash then walks out the kitchen into the main room, where the two trolls who were talking earlier look shocked and murmur to each other. Branch sighs and and continues to walk over to the bedroom.
"Branch… I…" the female troll says, standing and reaching for Branch's shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" He yells, causing everyone to flinch," You wouldn't want to catch grayness now would you?"
The cold and lifeless reflection in his eyes, causes the female troll to back away and let Branch walk more towards the bedroom. Once inside, he walks into his off room, and picks up his pack.
He opens it and places his books inside once more, along with the pictures he had carefully put up next to the bed he made for himself. He had added another in his short time here. A picture of Ash, Spruce, Plum, Peppy, Poppy and himself, smiling in front of the clinic. Poppy is in Branch's arms, happily smiling to the camera, while his guardians surround him and smile warmly. He liked everyone's smile, but he know that he could see them even without being close.
"Branch." Ash's voice feels like a knife to the ears, but Branch turns slowly to see his uncle in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.
"I'm scared of heights." Branch says, packing the last photo into his bag," I don't like hanging in the air this high. I thought I could get over it, but I'm not confident on my hair's ability to keep me up here. So, I'll make my own home, one closer to the ground."
"Branch." Ash approaches and puts his arms around Branch's shoulders," You don't have to listen to them."
"I won't be too far." Branch sighs out," I'll find a place on the outskirts of the village. I'll even gather some of those berries and herbs you guys use, so you'll have a reason to come see me. I'll also come back for my lessons, so it's not like I'm going to disappear."
"You don't have to leave."
"I'm going to, uncle." Branch says coldly.
"Little tree." Ash says with a cracking voice.
"I'm not comfortable around other trolls. If I stay here, I'll be forced to interact with trolls who see me in the way those two do. I don't want to feel this helpless everyday. I'm moving to try and become happy again. For you and my new dad, I'll do my best so I'll feel comfortable enough to sing again. I need time."
Ash sits for a second, his tears falling onto the back of Branch's vest. Trying not to sob, he breathes quietly. He doesn't want Branch to leave, or go away to where he can't protect him. He'd stood on the sidelines for nearly six of this precious child's life. He'd known Branch, and cared for him like he was his own, but now was his opportunity to make the child safe. But he's being pushed away. It hurts, but he also knows that Branch doesn't do anything without a reason. It's unreasonable to ask him to stay in a situation that he's uncomfortable with.
"You have to promise me you'll come back at least every other day." Ash says shakilly as he releases Branch. Branch turns and hugs Ash properly.
"I promise." Branch says calmly.
After a minute long hug. Branch picks up his pack and heads out the door, glancing back once more to Ash on the ground, with tears flowing down his face. Branch puts on a smile, and Ash smiles back. Branch walks out the front of the clinic, passing the trolls who talked down on him to see the pod gently on the ground for Branch's safe exit.
He reaches walks out of the pod and away from the center of the village, still in the process of growing. Apparently pods take much more time and effort to make if your not training in making them like Spruce and Ash.
Branch walks farther and farther away from the square, until he reaches the edge of the forest. He looks back to listen to the happy singing and merriment of the trolls. He knows that he can't be like them right now, and it's just painful to try and fit in with them. He's gray, but no one will understand why.
He walks farther, circling around once he can't hear the singing anymore. He walks the outskirts of the village, until he reaches a large rock, with a couple smaller rocks around it. The large rock has a hole in it next to the ground. Branch can't help his curiosity, he peaks into the rock. He's awestruck.
The rock has many purple gem fragments throughout the interior. The smallest light shines and shimmers greatly through the reflections of the crystals. Branch looks to the ground, where a layer of dirt had been blown in through the hole protecting his feet from the poking spikes of the crystals out of the ground. He steps in and walks around. It's a large area, even bigger than the clinic pod.
There's a small sparkle that catches his eyes. Towards the back of the rock, some exposed crystal shines an eerie red. Branch walks over to see a hole falling down even further, into a cave beneath the rock. Of course he had to jump down.
If he thought the rock itself was large, this cavern was a sight to behold. Twice the length of the rock above, almost twice the width and small sparkles of glittery rocks that shimmer from the red crystal, makes Branch's decision final.
He climbs back up to the rock, then looks over to the entrance. He jumps out and pulls one of the smaller rocks up, and puts it in front of the entrance. A perfect door for his perfect hideaway. It's easy enough to move back and forth, and will keep predators away.
He walks back into his rock home, shutting the door behind him, and lays on the ground. From his backpack, he pulls out a box of matches that Spruce had put in on their second or third trek for wood. Branch strikes the match and lets it burn, marvelling at the galaxy like sight above his head. Once the match burns his finger, Branch drops the match.
The silence is pleasant, a small hum from a bird outside, or even the rhythmic thumping of the trolls as they celebrate another night away. He'll never understand that aspect of his culture. They just got away from their number one predators, but still made enough noise to be heard of a mile away, in the morning. Don't get him started on their parties.
"I think I'm going to like it here." Branch says with a smile spreading across his face.
Without realizing it, his eyes shut on their own, and Branch drifts off into a content and peaceful sleep, excited to see how his new home will look with home-made furniture.