The rain had stopped sometime in the night and the morning ground was damp with the water. The Signless stretched in his bed and yawned, slowly peeling his eyes open for the new day. Everything came back to him now, the girl (or Disciple he guessed) and everything that had happened with her. He thought of how she had to stay out in the cold rain all night all by herself and frowned.
The Dolorosa sat behind him and began to comb out his hair using a brush she had fashioned from wild lusus needles.
"Would you like to go to town with me today?" She asked conversationally, this was a big deal, even bigger than her letting him go in the forest alone yesterday. "It's a long journey, but I think you can handle it now."
"I would love to, mother!" Signless chirped happily. He felt like he could fly right out of the cave because of his elation. Fully awake now he skipped over the water basin and washed his face.
"We'll give you a bath first." She said, grabbing a blanket and the Signless' clothing. "Let's go down to the river."
He stopped splashing the water onto his face and walked behind him. They lived close to the river so water was an easy access. He began to strip of his clothing, a tight black suit that went from his ankles to his armpits and lined with bits of red, and handed them to his mother where she hung them from a tree branch. The Dolorosa slipped off her black and green dress and hung it on another branch containing her clothes. The two trolls waded out into the very cold stream, shivering the whole time. The Dolorosa scrubbed herself quickly before turning to the Signless and scrubbed his back where he couldn't reach.
"Make sure you get behind your ears." She said. The boy scrubbed them as well and they both climbed out of the river as fast as possible. The Dolorosa handed her son a blanket to dry himself off with before wrapping herself in one as well. They both dried and dressed quickly. The Signless pulled his black suit back on before placing his hooded cape like robe on as well. While he was strapping on his boots he watched his mother add an additional article of clothing to her usual outfit of a jade and black dress, a hooded cape not unlike his own. She quickly packed their items away into the cave and returned to him with a basket in her arms.
"What's in there?" Signless asked.
"Some food for when we're hungry and sewing supplies, my dear." She replied.
They began to walk in the direction of the nearest town. "Why are you bringing sewing stuff?" He inquired.
"While we're there I'm going to stitch trolls some new clothes to earn a little money and buy the things we need."
"Oh." The Signless answered. Then a thought occurred to him, when his mom left for town it was usually for the full day, but sometimes it lasted longer.
"How long are we going to be there?" They stepped lightly over a fallen tree.
"A day or two. Hopefully not anymore than that, I don't like being in town very long."
The Signless' stomach fell. He thought of the Disciple and how she would be waiting for him to return to her. Would she think he abandoned her? The thought made him feel awful.
"Now, Signless, when we get there I want you to stay very close to me. There will be other trolls there, mostly low bloods, but occasionally a high blood stops by. I don't want them to figure out what you are so we need to keep you disguised. Do you understand?"
"Yes mama." He sighed. What was the worse these trolls could do? He shrugged it off and began to talk with his mom about the town, what it was like, how other trolls were, all sorts of things. The Jade blood and her son continued through the forest.
The olive girl sat on the very same rock she sat on the previous day with the strange boy. The night had been cold and wet, but not any colder or wetter than other rainy nights she had experienced. So now the Disciple sat, pondering over when the Signless would show up again. She began tugging at a particular bad tangle in her hair when she remembered one of the stories he had told her. It was of a beautiful troll girl and her wicked lusus who locked her away in a tower. Soon the troll's mane grew out so large that when a strong troll boy came to her rescue she just hung her head out the tower and he climbed all the way up. She looked at her own hair and thought about how funny it would be to have the Signless climb up it. It almost seemed long enough. She giggled at the though and lay back on the rock before falling into a cat nap.
Hours had passed and the sun was beginning its descent from the sky. The Dolorosa and her son peaked out from a bush into the small town down the hill.
"Remember to stay with me." She whispered. He nodded his head, full of excitement to see all the other trolls.
He followed his mother down the hill at her heels and they stepped into the area, it was the most bizarre thing the Signless had ever seen. Hives and buildings all popping out of the ground, strange trinkets it windows and food he had never seen before. Trolls with great long horns, some curved, and some were straight. The hues of blood color ranged from a darker red than his own to a color just like his moms. He stared in wonder at the stature of some but remained by his mother's side.
They entered one of the buildings and his mother began to speak with a large male troll working there. He was hulking with muscle, a beard masked his face and his horns curved downward. A rigid looking sign was played into his uniform. His bronze eyes turned down to look the Signless in his grey ones.
"What are you lookin' at, puny?" He grunted. The Signless shifted to stand behind his mother. The Dolorosa glared at the troll.
"There's no need to treat him like that." She said sharply. The troll just grunted. The two adults returned to their discussion of where she could set up her sewing station. The Signless just watched from behind his mother
The Dolorosa placed a hand on her sons back and crooned for him to follow her, so they left the shop and the bronze troll behind. The Signless was a bit glad to leave the brute.
The two sat on the street corner now and the Dolorosa set to work. With the flick of her wrist and the pull of a needle she was off to work creating wonderful pieces of attire for the townsfolk. Some stopped to watch momentarily. Others browsed what had been finished already. A few bought a hat or a scarf. The Signless watched each troll in wonder, never saying a word. A few hours had passed and he gently pulled on his mother's sleeve.
"Yes sweetie?" She asked, not taking her eyes from her work.
"I need to go… you know." He whispered into her pointed ear.
She quietly instructed him to go back into the forest and do his business there. He nodded and stood.
The forest was quiet and the Signless quickly relieved himself. It really was fantastic to see this town. All the trolls seemed kind, if some a little hostile. Most of them seemed weak, some more so than others. But one common thing behind everyone's eyes that the sufferer could see was fear. He recalled his mother's stories of those more worthy, those with more pure blood, and how they prosecuted those of lower ranking. This town consisted of the lowest of the low. Could it be they were being directly oppressed? The Signless pondered this as he returned down the hill. His mother was stationed a few streets in so he began to make his way to her. He took time to really look at the trolls now. He saw some in alley ways, cowering and shaking, only a rag to cover themselves. Others were terribly scarred or missing parts of their horns. The Signless pitied them, unable to grasp what made these trolls so hated.
As he walked through an alley way it happened. He was pinned against the side of a building by his shoulders. A troll who must have been a sweep or two older than him was holding him there; he was too scared to fight it. He looked down into the Signless' eyes with their own red and blue, but what the Signless saw was not hate or anger, it was the eyes of a scared young troll. Their face was contorted into a grimace and their teeth were long and broken. He could see gold blood dripping from a cut above their eye signifying there place on the hemospectrum.
"Give me your money." The troll growled, voice cracked.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any-" He said fearfully.
"Then give me your coat." The troll said too quickly.
"Is that what you need?" He asked quietly.
The troll stopped, his face seemed a bit surprised. It went back to anger. "What do you mean?"
"I can help you." Signless said, and he really did want to help this poor troll boy who had almost nothing. The trolls face was shocked, his grip relaxed. "Here." He said as he took off his hooded cape and handed it to the troll. "I'll be right back."
The troll stood frozen in place holding the grey cape while the Signless ran off. When he reached his mother she was so engrossed in her work that she did not notice him as he grabbed a handful of food from the basket they had brought. The Signless grasped the fruit and ran back to the troll, now sitting against the wall and holding their head in their hands. The Signless held it out to them.
The golden boy glanced up slowly, thick yellow tears running down his face. The Signless kneeled next to him and handed over the fruit. The boy dug his teeth in and took a great bite. Signless took a moment to look him over.
The attack made him look older than he must really be, the troll was long and lanky but probably only a sweep or less older. His dark hair spiked up a tiny bit in the back and his golden clothes were ripped in places and covered with dirt. He had two sets of horns, one slightly smaller than the other. His teeth seemed longer than usual and a bit crocked, a few missing. The most significant thing were his eyes though.
"Thankth…" The boy whispered, barely a whisper. It was obvious he was ashamed of himself. The Signless just shook his head and took back his cape. Instead of putting it back on he ripped a strip from the end before handing it back to the troll. He then took the strip and wrapped it around the trolls' forehead, covering the cut.
"Signless." He said, holding out his hand to shake. The other troll hesitated.
"Psiioniic." The boy said finally, reaching out to return the shake. The Signless smiled and the Psiioniic returned a crooked one. The sun fell behind the hills in the distance.