Author's Note: I think the kids are still just young teenagers and don't always act perfect like everyone wants them to.

Present (part 3)

Yesturday left two very confused teens with no solid answers and plenty of distracting thoughts to avoid focusing on schoolwork, or anything else really, which happened to attract Claire's attention. For people entrusted with the secret of an entire civilization under their feet, they really needed to learn how to properly whisper.

All she really managed to catch though was that Jim was worried about Blinky and Arrrgh didn't stay the night at Toby's.

Slighlty annoyed she'd missed yesterday's training, Claire wanted nothing more than to spend the majority of her evening in trollmarket.

"Jim!" She called, having caught the boys just before they mounted their bikes.

"Oh. Hi Claire." He smiled sheepishly.

"So... what time are you heading to tr- I mean, the chess club today?"

Despite the fact no one appeared to be listening in on their conversion, she'd become weary of those around her and requested they didn't use the 't' word quite so often in public. Anyone could be a changling. Her brother was proof of that.

Luckily the boys agreed and for one reason or another decided to relate all that business to a chess club.

It was a good cover actually, as she now had an excuse for why she was gone all the time.

"Well, we were considering showing up... a little late."

Jim's features became tense, just as they did during his conversation with Toby.

"Really? I was thinking of heading over there right now- after I told my parents of course." She added hastily.

The boys shared a look. A very conflicted almost pained look.

Toby sighed, "Jim should probably ask his mother if that's okay. My Nana doesn't really care what I do during the day, but Miss Lake might not appreciate Jimbo running off again."

Reluctantly, Claire nodded, "Call me when you find out."

She then strode away, still not quite sure that her parents would let her go tonight if they caught her talking to Jim. They had officially dubbed him as a 'bad influence' in her life.

The dark haired teen whirled around to glare at his friend.

"What was that, Tobes? You know my mom's left for work already." He muttered as they finally began their ride home.

"Hey! I bought you some time. Besides, I thought we were going along with my plan." The portly boy huffed trying to keep up with his more athletic friend as they started off down the sidewalk.

Jim scoffed, "Are you kidding?! You don't start avoiding people because they were insulted! Just think about how that would look!"

If he started to avoid Blinky because he simply didn't know what to do, how would his trainer react?

Nope.

"Fine, but showing up late will just make things awkward."

"Okay then. We'll go early."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They ended up coming less than half an hour early, and discovered that to be about the same time Draal showed up.

Jim was tempted to ask what happened with the other troll, but then remembered Draal decided to act as if last night had never happened.

Claire seemed far too interested in studying everyone, though eventually the awkward silence deterred her curiosity. That is... until Blinky and Arrrgh showed up.

The former caught everyone off guard. He displayed all his usual signs of nervousness. Hands wringing together, head slightly bowed, eyes flitting about, hunched shoulders, yet a genuine smile stretched across his face.

Behind him, Arrrgh was not using his front arms to walk and stood at his full height whenever they strolled past another troll. He'd glare them down until they ducked their heads and hurried away.

The moment they stepped foot into the Hero's Forge, Draal's eyes widened and he sniffed lightly at the air.

He raised two placating hands as he approached the two trolls, and Arrrgh finally slumped back to using his arms with a grin.

"I believe a congratulations is in order." Draal offered a small smile.

"That's not necessary-"

Blinky was cut off by the larger troll nuzzeling the side of his head, making him sputter.

"What's to congradulate?" Claire asked only for the historian to sputter some more.

Arrrgh hummed, "When you're older."

Well, that did the trick and all three kids lost the courage to ask anything else.

Luckily once Blinky found his bearings, training proceeded as any normal day would have... with maybe the exception no extras had wondered near or through the Forge the entire time.

Whenever a troll got close, Arrrgh would be found looming over Blinky and then said troll would haitale it out of sight.

By the end of the session, Toby was informed that his wingman would not be heading home with him tonight.

The troll then promptly scooped the historian up into his arms and wandered off, leaving the teenagers and Draal to their own devices.

Draal was in no mood to linger and left as well.

Claire finally decided to grill some answers from the boys.

"So which of you is going to tell me what that was, and who will explain what happened yesterday."

They regretted saying anything when she suggested searching up 'unclaimed incubator' in BLINKY'S very own library.

It felt like they'd just broken some sort of bro code or just betrayed family...

But Claire had the ability to convince Jim to do almost anything, and Toby was Jim's best friend. With his wingman currently occupied, the portly boy decided to stay with them.

The boys were hoping to see evidence the two trolls were inside the library. However, fate seemed to favor Claire's curiosity.

The lights were out and no sound resonated from within.

It also turns out that Blinky doesn't lock the door when he's away either, which spoiled the boys' second hope in avoiding this altogether.

Once inside they got to work... or really, Jim and Claire got to work since he had the amulet and she'd learned to read trollish. Toby doubted looking at the pictures would help much this go around so he decided to volunteer as official lookout.

The other two poured through book after book after book.

Nearly an hour later Claire cheered.

"I found it!" She said, "Or at least it's mentioned right here."

Both boys quickly situated themselves at her sides.

"What does it say?" Toby asked, squinting at the foreign symbols littering the page.

"This book's an autobiography of a troll journalist who, in this paragraph, explains that he met an incubator. He says that based off his short stature and sweet scent, he was able to tell that the troll he met had to be an incubator."

"Sweet scent?" Jim frowned, "This doesn't really explain anything."

Claire rolled her eyes and slammed the book shut.

"Yes, it does. If they give off a certain scent, we can safely assume it involves their anatomy. Maybe they have something similar to how humans have differing hormones between men and women-"

"Or maybe they're made up of sweeter smelling minerals!" Toby added, though the other two weren't quite sure there was such a thing as sweet smelling minerals.

Who knew? Trolls think old socks taste amazing. What's to say their definition of sweet is completely different from a humans' definition?

"So, what now?" Jim rubbed the back of his neck and Tobias returned to the seat next to the window.

"We start focusing on anatomy books."

AN: Personally, I view Claire as being very nosy and curious. I also notice she tends to overlook other people's situations when she has a goal set. Like, she didn't seem to really take the time to think about all the dangers she's placing on Jim in cannon because she's too busy worrying about her baby brother.