Disclaimer: Trollhunters belongs to Guillermo del Toro.

Geez, it's been a while. Sorry about the long wait. I'll be trying to update more from now on, so the wait for the next chapter will not be this long.

The cafeteria was just as loud as it normally was, kids screaming, talking, and yelling as they always did. A particular corner was filled with raucous laughter from Toby's recounting of the one time he walked in on Jim eating a blender. Some of the other kids questioned why the upper echelon of the female students in their grade was hanging out with the loser fat kid, but generally sympathized with his loss of Jim and didn't bother them.

"He looked like a deer in the headlights, you should've seen it! He had this giant piece of glass sticking out of his mouth and he just kind of swallowed it while I was watching, and I almost panicked before I remembered that it wouldn't kill him. Then Claire walked in, and they were still really awkward around each other then, so it wasn't really funny after that." Toby sobered up near the end of his story, but then shrugged. "They're cool now, though, so I count that as a win."

Mary elbowed Claire, who was between her and Darci. "A little more than cool, huh Darce?"

"I'm pretty sure it's a little hot between them now."

Claire ignored them, tapping out a text on her phone and then giggling. The others exchanged glances. "Claire?"

She looked up at them. "Oh, sorry, I was just talking to Jim."

Darci rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."

Mary grabbed her shoulders tightly, grinning brightly. "I knew you would fall eventually! Now you'll understand me! How does it feel to be in looove?" She drew the last word out, leaning her head on Claire's shoulder and batting her eyelashes at her.

The Trollhunter rolled her eyes and pushed Mary's head off her shoulder. "I'm not in love," she grumbled. Her smile stayed resolutely on her face, despite her attempts to brush it off. "I think," the girl added softly to herself.

"He is." Toby drew their attention, rolling his eyes at their questioning looks. "Please, he's been head over heels for you since you told him the answer to that one math problem freshman year."

In her mind, Claire replayed that moment. She remembered how he stuttered while trying to thank her, slapping his forehead when he thought she wasn't looking. It was how she had first gained interest in him. "It started that early?"

"Oh yeah." Toby grinned. "I have years of blackmail material on him with the stuff he's said about you."

"Hold on just a moment." Darci butted in. "How would you kiss him? His teeth look really sharp, and wouldn't his skin be rough like a troll? That wouldn't be good for your lips."

Without thinking, Claire responded. "Nah, his teeth aren't really a problem, and his skin is just harder than a human's, not rougher." She was tapping out another reply to Jim's most recent text, asking her if the cafeteria food still sucked. Then she realized what she said. Heat crept up her face, filling her cheeks with a light red. Looking up, she met her two best friends' grinning faces. "I mean – uh – I…" She sighed. "Fudgeknuckle."

She started getting bombarded with questions from Darci and Mary, while Toby was just laughing. He whipped out his phone, and suddenly they all got a text.

'Look at Jimothy, getting it!' Claire covered her face. He just made a Trollhunters group chat.

It didn't take long for a reply. 'What?'

'Your first kiss!'

Several minutes later another text came in. 'Did you make a group chat just for this?'

'Yes.'

Jim didn't reply, but Claire could feel his amusement rolling across their bond. "He's laughing."

Darci raised an eyebrow at her. Claire made a motion to the amulet in her bag. "Soul bond thing. I can feel his amusement." She cocked his head for a moment, sensing a change in his mood. "And… terror?"

Toby texted Jim through the group chat again, asking him what was wrong. There was no answer. They all looked at each other, worried. "Underground as soon as school is over?" asked Darci.

The others all agreed.

Even with rule one, Jim thought that he was ready for any situation that could come up in Trollmarket; he found it pretty easy to adapt and go with the flow. He had come up with many plans in his own mind for this exact situation, what to say, what to do, and what he should never under any circumstance do. Like cry, for instance. Which was why he was desperately trying to control his emotional flight-or-fight response and was eternally grateful for Claire's influence over the bond, which was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

"Well, I didn't know fleshbags came in blue." The deep voice of Draal the destroyer rang through his ears, clearer than he had ever heard before. The reason for his current predicament. They were still in the Hero's Forge, and they were taking a break to let Jim catch his breath after exercising. That was when it got complicated.

"He is a troll, Draal, just the same as you and me." Blinky crossed both pairs of arms and AAARRRGGHH! shifted to block Draal's vision of him, growling protectively.

"I've never seen his kind before." Draal tried to crane his neck around AAARRRGGHH!, but the giant took another step forward. "Defensive, aren't we?"

"Old friend. Our family. You leave, now, or I make you leave." The giant rumbled.

Draal was silent for a moment, long enough that Jim got his breath under control. He had been able to calm himself, realizing that this was not the Draal he knew and forged a brotherhood with. This was an entitled asshole who believed that the amulet belonged to him.

"I don't see the problem with meeting an immigrant, especially not as the head of Trollmarket's security. Stand aside." AAARRRGGHH! growled again, but knew that he couldn't do anything, especially not with the security card pulled. He stepped to the side, allowing Draal to meet the gaze of an unflinching Jim Lake.

Draal's face dropped into a glare. He moved forward until his face was an inch from Jim's. "Who are you?"

Pulling out a random name off the top of his head that sounded vaguely trollish, he said, "Tarmek."

The bull-like troll narrowed his eyes. "And what is your purpose here, Tarmek?"

"To train the Trollhunter."

Draal snorted in his face and growled. Jim waved his hand in front of his face and coughed. "By Deya, have you ever cleaned your mouth?"

"I should've known that someone as weak-looking as you wouldn't be able to handle the stench of a real troll. You have no real reason to be here anyways, the Trollhunter will likely be dead within the weak after our little match."

Jim raised an eyebrow. Then grabbed Draal's horns and drove his head and horns into the much larger troll's nose. The troll immediately reared back, holding his hands over his nose and roaring. Jim slammed a knee into his torso, doubling him over, then grabbed his horns again and threw him to the middle of the arena.

The half-troll walked to Draal, letting a rumbling growl build in his throat. Draal, while disoriented, was still attempting to get up. Putting a foot on his back, Jim pushed him back onto the ground. He leaned in next to his ear. "Don't presume to talk down to me."

Jim let him up and walked back to Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!. Blinky was gaping at him, while the Krubera simply grinned at him. Looking back, he saw Draal push himself off the ground and shake his head to expel any disorientation left. Before the troll could walk out, though, he threw out a piece of wisdom. "Don't underestimate others or overestimate yourself, Draal. It could lead to your death one day."

The larger blue troll swung around, grinding out, "Why would you care?"

Jim spread his hands. "I'm not here to humiliate, Draal. I'm here to teach. It doesn't have to be exclusively the Trollhunter."

Draal lingered for a moment, before he grudgingly nodded at him. Jim inclined his head back, acknowledging the gesture of respect from the elder troll. Not that he knew that. The bull-like troll's gait was suitably infused with humility as he left the Hero's Forge.

Blinky yelled a "Yes!" before looking over at Jim. The half-troll cocked his head. "You could not have handled that better. Not only did you just tell the entirety of Trollmarket that you are not someone to be trifled with, you also gained Draal's respect."

"How did I tell the entirety of Trollmarket that?"

"Draal talks about matches. Usually only wins, but Draal will tell others that you are strong." AAARRRGGHH! looked off to where Draal had left from. "Draal has respect. Respect from him is respect from Trollmarket."

Nodding, Jim conceded the point. Then he looked to his friends, a bit lost. "What do we do now?"

"What would you normally do now?" Blinky asked.

"Uh… homework? Sleep? I don't really have to do either of those things anymore, though."

"Hmmm… I have never heard of this homework."

"It's work that school gives you to do at home, because they don't have enough time to teach you everything there."

"Then that is something we could do! I shall teach you more of the beings and cultures of the Old World to prepare you for your eventual expedition, so that you may return to us more expediently."

Jim snorted, shaking his head. Blinky frowned at him. "What? Did I say something?"

He clapped his mentor on the shoulder. "Don't ever change, Blinky."

There was an anxiousness filling Jim that didn't belong to him. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong with Claire, but it was tinged by concern, so it probably wasn't something wrong with her. Mentally shrugging to himself, he redirected his focus back on the lesson that his mentor was giving him. They had relocated to the library after they left the Hero's Forge.

"Ettins are probably something that you won't run into, but it is always good to know about how dangerous the Old World can be. They are to trolls as gumm-gumms are to humans."

Jim blinked. "You mean… they eat trolls? I mean, I know Gatto does, but they eat trolls?"

"Yes. It is unknown as to whether or not they are trolls themselves, just that they take every possible chance they can to feed their particular hunger. As a result, they are highly magically charged, often gaining strange mutations, the most common of which is multiple heads."

"They eat trolls?" Jim looked to AAARRRGGHH! for confirmation. The Krubera nodded.

"Gunmar went to recruit them. Took lots of trolls. Came back alone and angry. Told us that once we conquer other trolls, we kill Ettins."

"Okay." The half-troll shook his head, trying to absorb the information that trolls had cannibals. "Where do they live?"

There was a map on the table in front of them. Blinky circled an area on it. "The last time anyone was brave enough to check, here."

Jim stared at the area he pointed to, then sighed. "Of course they'd be Russian." The circle encompassed the northwest border of Russia, also encompassing southern Finland and part of Estonia.

Blinky looked strangely at him. "Russian?"

"The human country here is the country with the most land in the world, and also debatably America's greatest rival. I'm not gonna try to explain human politics and economics to you, but just know that Russia is normally depicted to us as being full of tyrants who starve their people."

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH! looked shocked. "Great Gorka Morica!" exclaimed the six-eyed troll. "I had no idea humans could be so evil!"

"They're not all like that, they're just depicted like that so that Americans won't like them. It doesn't help that some of them are like that, though. The average Russian is the same as me or Toby, though. Just trying to live." Then he snorted. "If you think that's evil, you should hear about genocide and atomic bombs."

"I'm afraid I haven't heard of atomic bombs, but the only context I know of genocide is what the gumm-gumms were attempting to do to trollkind and humankind."

"Around eighty years ago, there was a human leader named Hitler who killed eighteen million people because of their religion."

Both of the trolls' jaws dropped. Blinky was the first to get his sense back. "Eighteen million?" he asked in a horrified whisper.

"Their deaths weren't usually quick, either. It's the greatest tragedy in known history."

"And what happened to this – this – murderer?"

"He shot himself after consuming to capsules filled with poison so that he wouldn't have to face judgement for his crimes."

Blinky shook his head and AAARRRGGHH! growled. "There are no words to describe how awful that man was. I had no idea that humans like that even existed…"

"Far too many, Blinky."

Jim's mentor remained silent for a moment longer, before looking back at him. "Perhaps we should get back to the lesson. I'm not sure if I could stomach hearing what an atomic bomb is if it is comparable to that man."

He nodded, but before they could do anything, Jim flicked his ears. He turned his head to the doorway, listening to the metal footsteps approaching.

Not a moment later, Claire appeared in the doorway with Darci, Mary, and Toby following her. She stood panting in the doorway, hands on her knees. The other three were in a similar state. In between breaths, Toby gasped out "Jim – okay-"

"I'm fine, but are you guys?" Concernedly, Jim walked up to them, picking up Claire and Toby each in a hand and putting them on one of the tables. AAARRRGGHH! picked up Darci and Mary, carrying them into the library.

Claire took another moment to catch her breath. When she did, she looked Jim in the eye, concern surging through their bond. He realized it was now directed at him. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You were terrified earlier."

Oh. Oh. Jim realized that she had felt his earlier paralysis from seeing Draal alive. "No, I'm fine." He grabbed a horn, running his hand along it. "Just wasn't ready to see Draal."

Claire made an 'oh' sound, nodding to herself. "I know you said he got better, but it's hard to imagine. I saw him earlier and he slid a finger across his throat at me."

A protective growl rose in the back of Jim's throat. Blinky made a calming motion towards him. "Draal will do nothing until their duel. There is no honor or glory in it."

Jim crossed his arms. He didn't like that they had to duel in the first place. Claire sent a sense of calm towards him, and he smiled at her gratefully.

Blinky looked to Darci and Mary. "Why are all of you here?"

Mary pointed at Claire, and Toby pointed at Jim. Darci rolled her eyes. "We're not going to leave Claire or Jim behind. We're together in this now."

AAARRRGGHH! grinned at them, making a noise too low for the humans to hear, but to Jim it meant something. He wasn't sure what, but he knew it was affectionate. Blinky smiled, nodding at AAARRRGGHH! while the humans talked among themselves. He raised an eyebrow at the troll portion of his seemingly ever-increasing pack. Blinky simply said, "Tribe."

The half-troll nodded his understanding. It was a good description of their group's relationship. They weren't close enough to be family, but a tribe? A group that in troll culture, stands by the troll no matter what? It was an accurate word. He turned his attention back towards the humans, which seemed to be talking animatedly about the Hero's Forge.

"Yeah, but the fire spouts won't really do too much against stone other than annoy him. Your best bet is the blades," said Darci.

"Hold on, I thought we weren't trying to kill him," Toby said finally recovering from his run.

"The blades aren't actually sharp enough to kill a troll. The Hero's Forge is dangerous, but it's meant to teach lessons, not make sure that you die before you go out into the feel." Jim joined into their conversation, casually hooping on the table behind Toby in a deep crouch.

Darci and Mary stared at him. Long enough without talking to make him start feeling self-conscious, and he began to curl in on himself a bit. Claire immediately started sending warm feelings at him, sending a glare at her two friends who averted their eyes. Toby leaned back against Jim's legs, and while he felt an urge to nuzzle him, he repressed it.

"Does Draal have any weaknesses, Jimbo?"

Grateful for the change in conversation, Jim nodded. "Yeah, there's a blind spot behind him. The spikes obscure his vision. I used that to lure him to one of the swinging blades and catapulted him to the edge of the arena. The audience wanted me to kill him, but I pulled him back up instead. After that, he apparently lost his honor and was kicked out of Trollmarket. He then immediately saved me from a changeling in my own house, and started defending it and training me, which I sorely needed."

"O… Kay?" said Mary, frowning in confusion.

He sighed. "The moral of the story is that Draal doesn't need to die, he just needs to learn the lesson that he's not the shit. He got his honor back after he helped us stop Killahead Bridge from opening, but he still protected my house while he kept up the Hero's Forge. He's a good, loyal friend. Don't keep him from becoming that."

Claire nodded. For the first time, Jim realized that she was in her armor. He raised an eyebrow at her, which she caught. "What?"

"You're in your armor."

"Well, yeah."

"Why? This is Trollmarket, no one's going to attack you here."

Claire raised an eyebrow herself, then slid her finger across her throat. Jim rolled his eyes. "A duel of honor is different. And before you ask, there are no changelings in Trollmarket. No one is going to assassinate you here."

She nodded, but he could still feel her doubt. Even more telling was that her armor did not disappear. Then he remembered his own problems with the trolls here.

"Right, my name isn't Jim down here. I am Tarmek, so please call me that so I don't have to explain to the trolls why I have a human name."

All the humans nodded, before they heard a resonating shout. "Blinkous Galadrigal!" Jim could hear the distinct sound of crystal clinking against stone.

Blinky groaned. "He is most likely looking for you, Tarmek."

The old, goat-like troll appeared in the doorway. He gave a momentary glance of disgust to the humans, not even bothering to acknowledge them, before his foggy eyes focused on Tarmek. "You must be the trainer that Blinkous has brought in. I have been looking for you."

Jim inclined his head respectfully at the elder. "I am honored to be a guest of Trollmarket; the tales of your wisdom have spread far and wide, honorable Vendel," he said in Trollish, extending a hand in greeting.

Vendel blinked. And then smiled. "And both I and Trollmarket are honored to have you." He glanced to Blinky. "You never told me that he was polite. I would have been much more driven to make his acquaintance."

Jim grunted to get Vendel's attention again. Smiling, he said, "I'm afraid I don't know many of the customs of Trollmarket, but since I will most likely remain here for some time, I would not be averse to learning them."

Vendel grinned at him. "Polite indeed. I would be more than pleased to teach someone such as yourself of our customs. Perhaps later, though. I hear you will be helping Blinkous train our Trollhunter, and I would like to see your training in motion before I give my approval."

Jim nodded at him. "A wise course, elder. My training will of course be open to all, not only the Trollhunter, but I will indeed be giving special attention to the Trollhunter. However, I require a weapon of my own, as mine was lost in my journey here. Nuri is making me one right now, and she will be done so, or so she told me."

"Ah, Nuri. The most respectable smith in Trollmarket, dare I say. Blinkous did well in taking you to her. I will be waiting for your first lesson after you pick up your blade." He turned, hobbling out of the library. "Impress me, Tarmek."

"I'll do my best, elder."

Silence filled the room. Jim turned around to see everyone gaping at him. "What?"

"Vendel likes you." Mary's voice was incredulous.

"Uh… seems like it?" Claire's glare told him that she could definitely feel his smugness.

"Vendel hates everyone!" Darci waved her hands around.

"No, he's just got a really hard job and most people just don't give him the respect that he really should get. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's the oldest troll in the world. So, you really just have to respect him and earn his respect. I'm pretty sure he likes AAARRRGGHH!."

The Krubera shrugged when everyone looked to him. "Vendel talks to me. Tells me problems. I listen. He likes that."

Claire shook her head. "Okay, yeah, that's great and all, but I don't think that's ever going to work with me. But can we get to the whole training thing? It is the other reason I came down here so fast."

Jim nodded. "First, though, I've gotta go grab my sword from Nuri like I told Vendel."

Blinky raised an arm. "I'll come with you. I must give her the payment, after all." Jim hopped down from the table and motioned for Blinky to lead the way.

As he walked through Trollmarket, side by side with Blinky, he noticed a couple new things. Some of the trolls were pointing at him and whispering, while others simply stared at him. A couple looked at him with what seemed to be open admiration.

"Uh, why are they all staring at me?"

"You defeated Draal the deadly, one of Trollmarket's greatest warriors and the son of Kanjigar the Courageous, and you expected them to not idolize you?"

The half-troll sighed. "You have a point." Then another thought occurred to them as they walked stepped over a gaggle of gnomes. "How do they all already know what I look like?"

"You're not one of the usual kinds of trolls in Trollmarket. You are an oddity, just as Krubera such as AAARRRGGHH! and my kind are."

"I thought Trollmarket wasn't supposed to care about the whole race thing."

"More in the sense of discrimination. Different cultures are widely accepted here, and new cultures are hard to obtain without new races."

Looking around, he saw that there really weren't many trolls with similar proportions to him. None of Strickler's kind were here, and Nomura's kind, while close, was not exact. "I must be really easy to pick out."

"Indeed." They stepped into the smithy. Nuri was already waiting at her counter. Her eyes flicked up, narrowing at the sight of Blinky.

"I was hoping you wouldn't bring him, but I suppose if he has my payment then there is nothing that can be done for it." She beckoned for them to follow her, opening the door to the back of her shop.

Jim felt his eyebrows lift when he walked through the door; he actually felt the change in temperature for once. That spoke volumes to how hot it was. Nuri walked up to a sword on a rack, picking it up and presenting it to the half-troll.

It was a beautiful sword, dark black and the same length as Daylight. The shape of the blade was curious, as it started with a small width and then expanded to become like a regular medieval double-edged sword, but large enough for him. There were grooves along the blade, softly glowing red, just as the edge was. The cross guard and hilt were the same color as the blade, with the same red glowing grooves. As Jim hefted it, he noticed that it was heavier than Eclipse, but he supposed that was to be expected from a sword not made from magical light. Other than that, it felt nearly the same.

He let the arm holding it drop down to the side. "Thank you," he told Nuri, looking her in the eyes.

She gave him a brief smile. "Heard about what you did to Draal." She grabbed the papers that Blinky held out to her, her eyes flitting about as she examined the blueprints on them. After a moment, she nodded. "Bout time that someone knocked him down a few pegs."

"He lost his dad. I know what that does to you."

"His father was the Trollhunter. There is no higher status."

"A son would argue that being a father is a higher status to them."

Nuri seemed to consider the point for a moment before sighing. "True. Your payment is good, and your thoughts are sharp. If you have any problems with the sword, bring it back to me and I will see what I can do."

Nodding, Jim stepped out of the room. Blinky sighed, following him.

Once they were both out of the smithy, Jim turned to his mentor. "What happened between the two of you?"

Blinky clasped his hands together. "I may have, uh, gotten a bit too enthusiastic with a shipment of dwärkstones. Next to her smithy. Which used to be over there." He pointed to an alcove above the level they were currently on that had a gigantic section removed. "Needless to say, she has been rather displeased with me ever since." Blinky looked to the sword. "An interesting groove pattern. Would you permit me to see?"

Jim held out the sword to him. Blinky took it, holding it up hilt first and running his hands along the blade. "Nuri has named it Nightfall. A fitting name, given its color and purpose. I do appreciate the wordplay in her names."

The half-troll nodded. Blinky handed the sword back to him. Jim took a breath. "To the Forge, then?" And in a quieter voice to himself, "And my embarrassment in front of Vendel?"

"Yes indeed. To the Forge!" Before they set off though, he put a hand on Jim's shoulder. "And you won't embarrass yourself. You offered to learn formalities from him. I doubt you could lose his favor at this point."

Jim grinned, and they both walked towards the Forge.

I know that Usurna knows about atomic bombs, but she's a spy for Gunmar that wants to take over the world. Blinky has no business knowing about human weapons.