The three trolls ran back to the edge of the forest where the trees ended in a line and down the slope lay the small town. The lights were all on now and many trolls were out and about, their night begun. The Dolorosa leaned down to the boys again.
"Wait here. Don't let anyone see you, and if they do run. Run as far as you can." She spoke quickly. She laid a hand on the Psiioniic's shoulder and placed a kiss on her sons head. Then she swept down the hell into the town.
"Your guardian is... incredible." The Psiioniic whispered into the Signless's ear as the boy let himself slide down a nearby tree. There was a very slight blush on his face and crookedness to his smile. The Signless raised his eyebrows at the boy. What was he implying?
"Yes, she is." He nodded. "She raised me since I was a wriggler."
"How strange." Psiioniic mused aloud. The Signless glared a bit into the darkness.
"Yes, how very strange it is for someone in our world to show love and affection for someone." His words were bitter, full of anger and frustration.
"I didn't mean for it to be a bad thing." The gold troll shrugged. After that they sat in silence, waiting.
The Dolorosa slunk back into the town, covered by the shadows. She avoided the streets that were more brightly lit and stuck to alley ways. Soon she was back at the small shop; more trolls were inside now compared to earlier when there had been no one but herself, her son, and the shopkeeper. The other customers mostly ignored her as she entered, a few turned to look at her. A particularly slimy looking rust blood female grinned at her, though it almost seemed like more of a grimace. The jade blood turned away from her and slinked up to the counter where the bronze troll stood inspecting a piece of gold. She cleared her throat just loud enough for him to hear, although he ignored her.
"Excuse me," The Dolorosa spoke quietly. The Troll eyeballed her now.
"You're back." He sneered at her, a hair arm placing the gold under the counter.
"I'm here for the exchange we agreed upon." She tried to stay right with the point, needing to flee as fast as possible.
"Ah, so you didn't get to sell all your little fabrics?" He licked his lips.
"I'm afraid something came up."
"Alright, hand 'em over." The Dolorosa reached into her bag and pulled out her finished scarves, hats, and coats. In turn the bronze troll reached below the counter and slid a sack across the counter.
"Thank you." She said, quickly scooping up the sack into her back and fleeing the premises. A pair of rust eyes followed her out the door.
Finally the Dolorosa returned to the two troll boys. They stood up to greet her but she just motioned them to keep moving forward with her. They immediately followed her into the night. A ways into the forest the Dolorosa turned, hopeful they were out of sight of prying eyes. She turned to the boys.
"Psiioniic, I have to thank you for saving us back there. That was a very heroic thing to do." The Psiioniic blushed. "But you're obviously wanted, so we have two options." The Psiioniic felt his stomach drop; they knew of his notoriety and would abandon him to save their selves. He didn't blame them.
"You can take this gold," The Dolorosa held up the sack she had received earlier. "And go off on your own." The Psiioniic eyed the bag.
"Or you can stay with us." Her eyes were large and inviting. The sack was grasped in one hand, the other wrapped around her sons shoulder. The Signless raised his arm as an offering to the gold boy. Psiioniic stood in wonder.
"We might need to get going soon though," Signless added watching the woods the direction of the town. Psiioniic nodded.
"We better get going then." He added, looking up the the Dolorosa with wide blue and red eyes. She smiled at him and placed an arm behind his back pushing him onward. They would walk through the dense forest, seeking their home. The Dolorosa knew the way very well, she traveled it so many times. The Signless and Psiioniic would have been hopelessly lost without her guidance. Many miles in the small group sat among the foliage and ate what food was left. Their eyes lidded and feet sore, but they could not rest yet. So they would push on until finally The Signless began recognizing the trees around him. Moments later the trio stepped into the small clearing.
"Is this it?" The Psiioniic spoke, exhaustion in his voice. Signless only nodded. The sun began to peak over the tree tops. Dolorosa lead them inside.
"Psiioniic, you may rest in my bed. Signless, will you help prepare yourselves for sleep? You both did such a good job." The two boys nodded and Signless motioned for Psiioniic to follow him. Dolorosa disappeared out of the cave mouth.
The ruby troll lead the gold troll to the far side of the cave where the half empty water sat in a woven bowl.
"This is what we use to wash our faces in the mornings and at night." He gestured to it. "We'll probably need to refill it tomorrow; you can help me with that. And if you need to go just find a nice spot out in the woods. We keep our clothes over here," Signless waved to a spot not too far from where they stood now. He then turned to look Psiioniic over. "I'm sure my mom will make some new ones for you." The Psiioniic let out a small laugh and Signless smiled.
"There's a bunch of other stuff you can do in here too, being stuck in a cave all the time can be boring so you got to find ways to entertain yourself. Here's a bunch of papers and paints and brushes so you can paint pictures or write stories. There's also some ones that my mom wrote already if you want to read them."
"And I got these cool pieces of wood we can carve. So far I've only made a deer turtle lusus." He held out the small piece of wood which did not look like a turtle at all. Psiioniic made a false smile at it to show his approval.
"Anyway, we have many things to do, and I can show you more tomorrow but right now I am really tired." Signless rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"I am as well." Psiioniic nodded at him.
The two began to strip to their underclothes and wash their faces. They placed the clothing in a nearby stack neatly before Psiioniic nuzzled into the Dolorosa's bed mat. Signless went over to a stack of wood and began to start the fire. The flames flickered to life and the red troll climbed into his mat as well.
"Thank you." Psiioniic whispered. Signless opened his dropping eyes.
"For what?"
"For everything. You two took me in when I had no where to go. You showed me the most utter kindness and opened your home to me when I did nothing to deserve it. In fact I deserve much much worse after attempting to rob you..."
"Sometimes trolls just need a little kindness." Signless said before drifting off. But Psiioniic lay with his eyes open; exhausted but unable to sleep.
An hour or so later the Dolorosa returned to the cave. Psiioniic pretended to be asleep when she entered and checked on the boys. She returned to her business and Psiioniic watched as she went about it. Each movement was careful and calculated, a thread and string waved into the air. Watching these movements calmed him. Soon he was asleep.
The disciple smelled it before she saw it, the smell of others. She followed the scent until she spotted it, a clearing. Carefully she stepped into it and glanced around. Trees, trees, trees... was that a cave? Oh yes, that is a cave. It wasn't obvious at first, the entrance was shrouded behind some tree branches and other foliage, but it was definitely a cave. Signless had to be inside, she smelled his smell amongst the trees leading to this spot. But he wasn't alone. Was he hurt? She peeked inside.
There was a small fire burning in the center and three bodies were curled around it. Two of them were under some kind of blanket and the other large troll was exposed. The Disciple tip toed inside to look at them closer.
The adult troll was beautiful. Her short dark hair framed her face perfectly, features sharp yet kind. The jade blood looked peaceful in her sleep. This must be the "mom" Her friend spoke of. She moved to the next troll.
It was a boy with teeth that protruded from his mouth at odd angles. His face looked young but terribly worried; Disciple wondered what he was dreaming of.
Finally she looked down at Signless. She quietly sat herself down next to him. Slowly reaching out a hand she stoked his hair ever so slightly, the light touches leaving her warmer than before. He looked calm, young, and ever so handsome. She reached down to stoke his hair one last time.
Signless' eyes snapped open. His heart began to race as he sensed there was someone there, someone who wasn't supposed to be. He sat up and searched with his eyes, but there was no one. Slowly he lowered himself again to his bed, the phantom caress still on his cheek.