Chapter 32

A sound awoke Creek with a start, feeling disoriented as he didn't remember even feeling sleepy, just frustrated that he couldn't concentrate enough to meditate. Thankfully he hadn't strained anything and he was still relatively pain free even as his vision was blurry from sleep. Absently, he rubbed at his eyes as he looked around for the source of the noise.

Standing beside the bed was one of the Smurfs, looking like he had been putting something on the night stand when he awoke Creek. This was a Smurf, Creek knew he met before, he had been one of the ones that first came with Branch's Smurf to the Troll Tree. Let's see, this Smurf had glasses, so he was the smart one of the bunch but what was his name again?

"Smarty?" Creek attempted, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. He cleared his throat a bit but it came out a cough which did hurt his ribs a bit, of all the horrible luck to have.

"Um close," the smart Smurf shifted awkwardly. "It's Brainy." He looked around, finding a glass of water and offered it to Creek. "Sorry for waking you."

Carefully taking the glass, Creek drank a bit before answering, "Don't fret about it, love, but what brings you here?"

A blush darkened Brainy's face and Creek soon realized his error.

"Ah, sorry," said Creek, "I call most Trolls, love. Didn't mean anything by it."

Instead of answering right away, Brainy straightened his glasses, "I see. Well, um, I thought you might be bored here by yourself so I brought some books over."

Curious, Creek looked over to the night stand. There were not just one or two books but two piles of books sitting there, about ten total unless there was another pile hiding behind the two that Creek could see. "Ah, thank you, though I'm not sure I can read your language."

"Branch could so I'm sure you can," said Brainy, picking up one of the books. Opening it up, he held the book up for Creek could take a look. "See?"

Humming, Creek scanned a few lines, "What does 'Smurfy' mean?"

"It depends on the context," said Brainy, turning the book to look for himself. "In this case it means 'good'."

"Ah, then I think I've used it wrong," Creek admitted.

Setting the book down, Brainy looked around the room a bit again before turning to Creek, "Are you hungry? There some porridge here for you. I also brought muffins and a few Smurfberries."

"Good berries?" Creek tried to reason about the name.

"Well they are good but they're named that because Smurfs first discovered the plant and use them for so many things," Brainy explained. He reached into his cap and pulled out a small blue berry and held it out to Creek. "Would you like to try one?"

Taking the berry, Creek looked at it a moment before looking back up at Brainy, "You carry around things in your hat? Are the muffins up there too?"

Nodding, Brainy pulled a chair over to sit next to the bed, "Yeah. It's sort of like how you Trolls carry around things in your hair, only our hats aren't as versatile." He pulled out another berry and started to much on it.

Curious again, Creek took a bite of his own berry. There was a sweet tartness to it that reminded him of a blueberry but also much juicier, "It is a good berry."

Smiling a little, Brainy finished off his berry, "So, how are you feeling?"

"Sore mostly," said Creek, pausing to rub his eyes again. "Though I think I'm thinking more clearly now; the pain medication was making me a wee bit… loopy."

"Yeah, I remember the first time Clumsy broke something we had to put railings on his bed so he wouldn't make things worse," recalled Brainy.

Creek frowned, "How many times has he broken things?"

"We've lost count," Brainy admitted.

"Poor fellow," Creek hummed. He finished his berry and though he knew he probably should be hungry, he felt rather full. "Thank you for coming by but you don't need to stick around; I'm probably not the best company right now."

Brainy nibbled his lower lip, "Actually… I had a few questions about Trolls if you don't mind talking for a bit."

Curious, Creek would have thought that Brainy would have asked Branch or Poppy the first time they had been there. Then again, those two were probably busy with their respective Smurfs to pay Brainy much mind. There had also been plenty of Trolls to ask back when the Smurfs were at the Troll Tree but good luck getting the common Troll to sit still for very long. Well now, Brainy had a captive audience, so to speak, "Ask away."

The first questions were easy, all dealing with Troll hair. Creek didn't like that Brainy had and studied a bit of Branch's hair but he could understand the appeal of it. He answered the questions the best that he could and moved his own hair around a bit in demonstration. Afterwards, Creek even allowed Brainy to touch his hair a bit, the Smurf looking mesmerized as he ran his fingers over it.

"Fascinating," Brainy all but whispered, particularly interesting in combing his fingers through where Creek's hair changed shades. "Why does your hair change colors like this?"

Honestly not knowing, Creek shrugged, "Not sure, though in my case I got both of my parent's hair color."

"So, your mother has one and your father has the other?" asked Brainy.

"Had," Creek corrected. "My parents have been gone for a long time."

Immediately Brainy stopped touching Creek's hair and sat back down, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Creek assured, "I have fond memories of them and I was lucky enough to have Miss Frizz, my uncle, then Miss Frizz again."

"Miss Frizz?" Brainy questioned.

"She ran the home for orphaned Troll children," Creek explained. "That's where Branch and I first met."

"Branch is an orphan too?" Brainy looked confused but not all that surprised.

Either Branch didn't talk much to a Smurf that wasn't his Smurf or some things were told but didn't spread across the whole village. More than likely Branch hadn't said much of anything and anything that was revealed was done so by Poppy.

"Yes," Creek nodded, "Except Branch lost his parents before he was old enough to remember them. He had his Grandmother for a bit though."

"What happened to her?' asked Brainy.

"Bergens," Creek answered simply.

Humming, Brainny nibbled his lower lip for a moment, "Papa said that we shouldn't ask about the Bergens…"

"That was probably pertaining to Branch," said Creek. "He gets a bit high strung as far as they're concerned. I don't mind talking about them if you have questions though."

Again, Brainy hesitated and nibbled his lower lip before saying, "I don't really know anything about them in order to know what to ask."

"Not to worry love, er, Brainy, I can do a sum up," Creek assured. He explained the history of the Trolls discover and captivity by the Bergen. His explanation was a matter-of-fact rather than the story format Poppy would have used or the paranoid ramblings Creek was sure would have spouted out of Branch. He also recounted the infamous escape from the Troll Tree in Bergen town, having been old enough to remember it, ending with the resettlement of the Trolls at a new tree deep in the woods.

For a while Brainy was silent, though he didn't nibble on his lip. Instead, he wrung his hands together, searching for words, "That, that sounds horrible. How could those monsters do that to all of you?"

"How can that Gargamel beast chase you all around for power?" Creek returned. "All creatures will go to great lengths to do what they think they need in order to be happy."

"I guess," said Brainy softly. "It's good you were able to find a new tree though."

"Any tree can be a Troll Tree," Creek explained. "It just takes a few years of Trolls living in it for the tree to absorb enough of our energies to accommodate us."

"So, Trolls have magical potential too?" asked Brainy.

Creek shrugged, "Magic would explain our hair." He absently ran his hand over the top of his head as he thought about it. "Can magic sprout from a ridiculous amount of happiness?"

"Maybe but I don't think that's the case," Brainy adjusted his glasses. "Otherwise Branch would have been unable to control his hair when he was gray."

"That's true," Creek nodded.

"I imagine, given the circumstances, there were other Troll children with you and Branch at the home," theorized Brainy.

"Yes, eleven others," Creek nodded. "There was Tiger Lily, her sister Stargazer, Posy, Bluebell, Grasshopper, Damask, Tinsel, Tartan, Taffeta, Chiffon, Bro-"

Suddenly Creek felt ill. Thoughts he usually suppressed deep down inside of him threatened to bubble to the surface. He covered his mouth and swallowed, trying to push them back down along with the urge to be physically ill but it kept bubbling up.

"Creek?" Brainy leaned in, trying to look at Creek's face, not understanding why the Troll looked like he could vomit. "Are you alright?'

Though he lowered his hand, Creek kept it near his mouth to be safe, "I think that's enough questions for now."

"Ah," Brainy eased back, wondering if he had touched a nerve, though unsure of what it would have been considering Creek had been the one talking when he froze up. Something about his foster siblings, perhaps? He looked around and spotted the medicine Papa must have left for Creek to help with the pain. "How long has it been since you last took anything?"

"Before breakfast," commented Creek, not really knowing the time, also leaving out the fact that he didn't actually eat breakfast.

"It's almost lunch," Brainy stood. "I'll get you some of that porridge and then you should take some more medicine."

Creek tried to force the gag, but only managed to cover it with his hand, "Wasn't the berry enough?"

"Not if you don't want the medicine to upset your stomach," said Brainy, heading out to the other room.

This wasn't good. Creek was unable to meditate and yoga was out of the question. He couldn't even have the privacy of his own pod to ride this nightmare out in. If he wasn't careful, certain things could come out that never should see the light of day.

Trilling, Pudgy flew in through the window, carrying a cookie. The fat Firefly had shown up last night and slept in Creek's hair, much to Poppy's delight. He had then flown off in the morning, Creek had assumed to find Branch, but returned with a cookie instead.

"Where did you swipe that from, I wonder?" Creek asked absently, thankful for the distraction.

Plopping down onto the bed next to Creek, Pudgy started munching away on his cookie. At least the crumbs would be above the covers, not below where Creek would feel them.

"Friend of yours?" asked Brainy, returning with a bowl and spoon.

"Sort of," replied Creek. "He was a gift to Branch from an admirer but I think he's confused as to whose pet he is."

Brainy frowned, "When did Hefty give Branch a firefly?"

Creek laughed and immediately hissed, holding onto his ribs.

Setting down the bowl, Brainy rushed over and hovered, not sure what to do.

"I'm alright," Creek lied, managing to straighten a bit to look up at the worried Smurf. "Just don't make me laugh again, please."

"I'm not sure what I said to make you laugh the first time," admitted Brainy.

"Your assumption that the admirer was the strong Smurf," Creek explained. "The moment the lot of you were gone over two dozen Trolls started leaving Branch wooing gifts."

"Wooing gifts?" Brainy repeated, confused.

Creek nodded, "Yes. Trolls typically give gifts to prospective partners. Sometimes its s simple as a wind chime but can be handmade and elaborate depending on the level of interest and how well you know the Troll you want to date with the notion you might want to marry them. Besides this fat fellow," Creek suggested to Pudgy who didn't seem to take any offense to the description, "all the gifts had been really simple; none of them knowing Branch very well."

"Then why try to woo him?" asked Brainy.

"Surface reasons," Creek reasoned. "They saw Branch's true colors and heard his amazing voice and it caused quite the commotion."

"So, singing voices are really important to Trolls," Brainy gathered.

"Extremely," stated Creek. "It's instinctual for Trolls to sing. Not being able to sing with one's mate would be devastating."

"I see," Brainy said slowly. "I imagine you get wooing gifts all the time."

The statement took Creek by surprise. He paused and looked at Brainy watching him, nibbling on his lower lip, which he had done a couple of times before. A nervous habit perhaps? Maybe thinking he had overstepped?

"Yes," Creek replied, uncertainly. "There's no modest why to say this but, I do get wooing gifts semi-regularly. And I've dated quite a few Trolls but never… developed the feelings needed for marriage."

Brainy opened his mouth again but then stopped and shook his head, "Sorry, you asked that I stop asking questions but I just keep on going."

"You're curious, it's understandable," said Creek. He also felt a little better with the subject change. "May I ask you a question though?"

"Of course," Brainy smiled, picking up the porridge and offering it to Creek.

Taking the porridge, Creek just held it as he asked, "Why do male Smurfs wear their hats in such a way that covers their hair? It makes you look like you're bald."

A faint blush spread across Brainy's cheeks, "Well, it's the most secure way to wear them. As you noticed we carry things up there and things might fall out otherwise."

"Your brother doesn't seem to have an issue," commented Creek.

Brainy frowned, then took in a bit of air when he came to realization, "Oh, you mean Hefty. I think he's been carrying less in order to show off his hair and, technically speaking, he's not my brother. None of the Smurfs are related."

"How the devil does that work?" Creek asked, bewildered.

As Brainy explained about the Stork, Creek just felt more confused. Where the heck did these Storks get baby Smurfs to begin with? Why the divide between the genders? And how did Papa raise all the boys and Willow all the girls by themselves? Miss Frizz had problems with thirteen children, especially in the teenage years even though the number had decreased.

Absently stirring the porridge, Creek noticed Brainy watching him again. He still didn't feel hungry but he didn't want to feel worse later after taking the medicine so he forced a spoonful. The taste was alright, someone must have added some honey or sugar to it, but the sweetness felt dulled on his tongue and his stomach felt overly full.

"Does your stomach hurt?" Brainy tried to gauge from Creek's expression.

"Not hurt, just full," Creek tried to explain, though he knew he had nothing to make him feel this way.

"The pain from your ribs is probably tricking you into thinking you're full so nothing will expand and agitate it further," reasoned Brainy. "Eat what you can without making yourself feel sick so the medicine won't upset your stomach."

Though he already felt a bit sick, Creek nodded and forced another spoonful.

Finishing off his cookie, Pudgy laid down and made content purring noises.

Peeking out from under the hat, Snappy Bug made a curious noise before flying out. She landed on the bed and looked at Pudgy, making twittering noises.

Flying up to his feet, Pudgy trilled back and beat boxed a little melody for her.

As the ladybug and the firefly conversed, Creek looked up at Brainy, "You keep your pet in your hat?"

"Snappy Bug is not my pet, she's my lab assistant," boasted Brainy. "And she can come out whenever she wants but I think she finds it cozy up there."

"I can see that," Creek paused to force another spoonful and suggest to Pudgy. "Pudgy slept in my hair last night."

"Pudgy?" asked Brainy.

"I didn't name him," Creek defended.

In the end, Creek could only manage a third of the bowl, the fullness rather uncomfortable now. He took the medicine when Brainy offered it to him and leaned back against the pillows again afterward, watching the two bugs having a grand time together.

"Did Clumsy continue to be loopy at the second dose?" asked Creek, hoping to keep his wits about him this time.

"A little but mostly sleepy," commented Brainy. "You can close your eyes if you want."

Humming, Creek did so without further suggestion but then had a thought, "What are you going to do now?"

"I'll read for a bit," said Brainy. "You just rest."

That seemed awfully boring but Creek was asleep again before he knew it.