"What a diversity of creative wanderers - Weeds. I enjoy their beauty and variety, and do nothing to reap their rewards. I neither hoe, nor plant, nor water, nor fertilize, nor prune. They come and go in lovely profusion as the seasons move. Often a pleasure, sometimes a pain in the wrong place; and always an example of the wondrous assertion of Being."
- Mike Garofalo
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Alexandra hadn't really been sure what she was expecting, but the explosion of light and sound sure wasn't it. There were crystals everywhere, brighter than fairy lights, bathing everything in washes of color. It wasn't dark or oppressive at all, despite being underground – this was nothing like the Darklands. It was like one of those raves where people were splashed with neon paint and lit with blacklights. Far at the back, a massive red and orange crystal jutted out of an immense cavern, illuminating everything around it with a fiery glow.
Little magical signs displayed the wares of the stalls around them, statues of trolls jutted out from the walls, tiny things that looked like garden gnomes scurried underfoot, and everywhere, everywhere, there were trolls.
Trolls of every size, color, and make wandered around, several of which were kinds she had never seen before. Most of the trolls she had encountered were either gangly Changelings or enormous Gumm-Gumms, all of them of different clans. Many of the trolls here looked alike, and Alexandra guessed that several clans originated from Heartstone. She couldn't help but notice that AAARRRGGHH and Blinky and herself actually stood out a bit – there were no other trolls quite like them, that she could see.
They were actually attracting stares. Alexandra fought down the instinct to shrink and instead stood as tall as she could, straightening her back and trying to look like she knew exactly what she was doing. She knew that nobody could actually see her true nature, but the stares still made her nervous; in her experience, attention meant danger.
I'll just have to get used to it, she thought. The position of Trollhunter wasn't exactly low-profile.
"How many people live here," she asked.
"The number varies each season, but two thousand is the general average. Trolls come from far and wide for our wares and remedies. It's a place to return to, a second home for many trolls who live elsewhere."
"I can see why," Alexandra murmured. It was certainly a warm place, familiar to her bones and her blood. There was a faint thrumming, a hum that pulled at her. She shook her arms to try to get rid of the feeling, but it wasn't unpleasant – more unnerving. It was the unfamiliar feeling of belonging. She didn't dare ask about the hum.
"If you grew up away from a heartstone, I understand that the feeling may be unexpected."
Alexandra looked down at Blinky, who was smiling knowingly.
Note: Blinky is very observant.
"So the heartstone creates the thrumming?"
"No, not quite," Blinky said, shaking his head. From her right side, AAARRRGGHH clapped a massive hand across her back.
"Heartstone," he rumbled, and Alexandra suddenly understood. The hum wasn't created by the stone – it was the combined beat of the heart of every troll in the market, resonating through the crystal until it vibrated with life.
"The heartstone is our life, our light. All trolls are connected to our heartstones."
I can feel it. It was like a hug of the heart, a deep acceptance.
And something tainted it. There was a dark worm, a spreading ink stain, something that prevented her from wholly taking in the feeling, and she knew it was the lie. The heartstone wanted to take her in, but she was changed, and she wouldn't let it. She had been raised in honesty, knowing her lie, and though she had learned to lie to survive she couldn't bring herself to lie to the humming in her blood.
She shivered again, and tried to press aside the insistent thrumming.
"Who is she," Alexandra heard behind her.
"Move, get out of my way – "
"Um – "
AAARRRGGHH moved in front of Alexandra protectively as a small crowd surrounded them.
"This, friends, is our new Troll – "
A large blue troll shoved his way through the center of the throng. His horns were almost as big as his arms, though it looked like he had skipped leg day a few times too many.
"Who is this," Tempermental demanded. Blinky nervously wrung his hands and took several steps back.
"As I was saying, Draal, this is – "
"One of your clan, Blinky? I wasn't aware that your people were great travelers," said Draal, thundering up and standing in front of Alexandra. He had more mass than she, but she was taller than him and she'd stood up to bigger trolls, and in human form, too. The best way to stay alive was to stand steady, and she didn't budge, glaring at him with all four of her eyes.
"This is our new Trollhunter, Draal," said Blinky quietly.
The blue brute blinked, and then stuck his huge face directly into Alexandra's.
"She can't be," he growled, "This outsider has no place here."
You haven't got a clue, fuckwad.
"The amulet seems to think the opposite," she said lightly. She felt the enormous presence of AAARRRGGHH at her back and it bolstered her.
Draal didn't take that well. He roared in her face and smashed his fists at her feet – she had to jump back to avoid being crippled. He meant business.
"Please try to remain calm, Draal," said Blinky weakly.
"Amulet chose," said AAARRRGGHH, his breath ruffling her hair. Alexandra brought the amulet out of her pocket and held it out as proof; it pulsed helpfully.
Draal cursed in Trollish and drew himself up as tall as he could.
"I am Draal, son of Kanjigar," he said, thumping a fist to his chest. "And the amulet's rightful heir."
Oh, fuck everything, she thought. Kanjigar's son! She had honestly not thought of that.
"The Trollhunter thing is hereditary?"
"Um, well, actually no," said Blinky, drawing up to her side. "But it was thought that…"
"When my father fell," Draal said, "The honor should have passed to me."
He put a hand out, trying to grab the amulet, and Alexandra jerked it away, falling into a defensive stance even as she bumped back into AAARRRGGHH.
The amulet pulsed and pushed back against Draal; AAARRRGGHH kept Alexandra from falling, but Draal was sent onto his back. There was a gasp from the crowd; Draal shook his head, looking both enraged and heartbroken.
"Look," Alexandra started quietly – the very last thing she wanted to do was get off on the wrong foot, especially with someone who apparently had rather high standing. "I'm sorry, but – "
"Save your apologies, outsider," Draal snarled, rising back to his feet and turning his spiked back on her.
"Shall I see what Vendel has to say on the matter?"
Blinky strolled past Alexandra, patting Draal on the shoulder.
"Feel perfectly free to do so," he said cheerfully. "In the meantime, we'll be beginning our new Trollhunter's training. Lovely to see you as ever, Draal. Pardon me, excuse us…"
Alexandra edged around Draal and followed Blinky through the crowd. When they were in a scarcer part of the market she asked,
"So if the amulet's power isn't passed through bloodlines, why did Draal expect…?"
"To become Trollhunter, and follow in his father's steps?"
They entered a tall, slender crack in the market wall, topped with the glowing symbol of a sword. The walls were smooth and polished, just big enough to AAARRRGGHH to pass through.
"Well, Kanjigar had always hoped that his successor would be his son, you see. Draal's been training for it his entire life. Perhaps it was wrong, perhaps it was false hope indeed, but nevertheless, Draal has always felt like it would be his destiny to take his father's place as Trollhunter. And to have you, an outsider, a stranger, snatch – however unintentionally – the honor from him, makes him a tad bit…"
"Upset," Alexandra finished.
"Understatement," said AAARRRGGHH.
They stepped out of the claustrophobic tunnel into something out of a picture book. Alexandra had only ever seen pictures of the palaces carved in the mountains of Petra, but the…
"Behold, the Hero's Forge!" Blinky exclaimed.
…the Hero's Forge, yes, was just as spectacular. Blinky and AAARRRGGHH allowed her to wonder in silence, marveling in the size and splendor of the place. It was darkly lit, with deep shadows and reddish light, but still she could make out intricate carvings and incredible statues atop the enormous gates.
The walked quietly over a thin bridge; the chasm below was too deep to see through to the bottom.
AAARRRGGHH and Blinky, like most trolls, were surprisingly silent when they walked, and all that she could hear was the distant sound of the market and the soft shuffle of stone-flesh.
The statues, she realized as they crossed the bridge, weren't actually statues.
"You predecessors," said Blinky quietly. "Trollhunters past, a line of heroism that reaches back to the age of Merlin. Here, you see – "
He gestured to an empty plinth.
"-Will be the final resting place of Kanjigar the Courageous, whenever you feel free to reveal his location," Blinky finished, raising an eyebrow at her.
Alexandra smirked.
"I'll bring him down tomorrow," she said. "Didn't want him to get graffitied on."
"That should suffice. Are you ready to start your training?"
Now?!
Alexandra froze for a moment, then nodded. She'd honestly thought there would be something, some ceremony or reading of lore or something before they got into actual training, but, she supposed, the sooner she learned how to use the amulet the better.
Blinky asked for them to step back, and then unleashed a gigantic stone blade that fell less than a foot from where Alexandra was standing. She scrambled backward, and another blade emerged from the floor, forcing her to dodge to the side. AAARRRGGHH was scurrying out of the way and he looked like he knew exactly where he was going, so she ran and jumped up on his shoulder, sliding off as soon as he got the edge of the ring.
"What the actual fuck," she panted, pressing herself against the wall beside AAARRRGGHH.
"That was very good, Master Alexandra," Blinky said, far too calmly. "You have excellent reflexes."
All the slow ones got eaten, she thought viciously. AAARRRGGHH put a hand behind her back and pushed her forward, into the ring once more.
"Exactly how many Trollhunters have you kill just by sending them into the death ring their first day," Alexandra shouted. She ducked underneath another blade and clumsily rolled away. Her troll form was out of use; her arms tangled with each other when she tried to scramble across the floor, and her legs and overly-long torso were already feeling achy. She was extremely relieved when a tall, pale troll stomped across the causeway and yelled at Blinky.
"Blinkous Galadrigal!"
Blinky turned off the Death Ring and Alexandra gratefully moved out of the arena. The pale troll, tremendously tall and unusually hairy, walked across the ring and stood in front of Alexandra. She couldn't help but wonder how well he could actually see; his eyes were cloudy and grey, speckled with a galaxy of cataracts.
"I am Vendel, son of Rundle, son of Kilfred," he said. "And you are?"
"Alexandra, daughter of Asphodelus."
Vendel carefully looked her over. She'd never felt more looked-through than by the half-blind troll.
She knew her troll body wasn't exactly in peak form; she stayed human the majority of the time, and with the death of her familiar, the two had started to blend. She didn't know if she was tall or short for her kind, or an unusual color, or if her hair or clothing were strange. The only other troll of her kind she had seen was Blinky, and even then, she could tell they still weren't from the exact same clan. She was taller than he, had more conspicuous horns than he, and two fewer eyes. Vendel didn't make any comment on her appearance, and stepped away after a minute.
"I would like her to be tested by the Soothscryer," he finally announced.
"But Vendel, please, we've only begun training! Surely it is too early to – "
Vendel pointed to a spot on the arena floor, silencing Blinky with a glare. Blinky fell back and Vendel motioned for Alexandra to come forward.
She stood where he indicated and waited.
"The amulet, please," said Vendel patronizingly.
Ah. Alex held the thing out and it made a ding! The carvings on the floor lit with red, and with an immensely loud churning a chunk of the center rose out of the ground, forming a semblance of a fearsome troll.
"Behold the Soothscryer," said Vendel imperiously. "It will judge your true spirit."
Well, fuck.
"Insert one of your right hands, daughter of Asphodelus."
She wondered if this was part of the test, to see if she was stupid enough to actually stick her hand in a mystical garbage-disposal of stone teeth. She looked over at Blinky and he nodded, though he looked exceedingly worried.
Alexandra carefully stuck her top right hand into the mouth of the machine, and it clamped on it faster than she could see. She resisted yelping, but she was terrified that she wouldn't get the hand back. The pressure wasn't painful, but there was an uncomfortable tingling in her fingers and she was scared to death that the thing would see her spirit and judge her as wrong, as a lying thing – she'd be killed before she could even escape the arena.
Just as she was starting to despair, the Soothscryer spat her back out.
"That took a while," she heard AAARRRGGHH mutter. Vendel watched the Soothscryer as it pulsed and sank back into the floor. Alexandra flexed her tingling hand and felt like pelting for the door.
"You appear to have passed," said Vendel, sounding rather disappointed. Alexandra barely stopped herself from sinking to the floor in relief.
"Is that proof enough for you?"
Blinky stepped back into the arena, patting her right arm and shoulder.
"I suppose it must be. Continue your training, Blinkous."
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"Perhaps you are not envisioning hard enough, Master Alexandra-"
"I'm going to have nightmares about this thing if I envision any harder," she said, angrily tapping her fingers against the metal. "Can we take a break? Is there somewhere I can…be alone, for a while?"
"Of course, Master Alexandra," Blinky said. "I suppose this is as good a time as any to procure a corner of the market for use as your quarters – if that is suitable, of course."
Alexandra pocketed the amulet and nodded. She took a second to calm herself down, and led the way to the bridge.
"I was only visiting for a short time anyway," she said. "I don't have anywhere permanent to stay yet. Do you know of any place that can accommodate me? I really don't need much."
"There are a few places I know of," said Blinky. "There is one that was…recently vacated, you might say."
"I'm not using Kanjigar's home," Alexandra said firmly. The idea of staying in the previous Trollhunter's home, especially since his body was still taking up a good third of her living room, was not particularly appealing.
Draal would have a heart attack, she mused. It did have some appeal, then.
"I'll pass, thank you," she simply replied. Blinky held up his hands.
"It was simply a suggestion," he said mildy. "But we will press on. You worry about bonding with the amulet – AAARRRGGHH and I will find a suitable dwelling."
She nodded her thanks and they departed ways, Blinky and AAARRRGGHH walking out of one of the arena's back entrances while Alexandra went back over the bridge. She knew exactly where she wanted to go.
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I'll explain the whole deal with Alexandra and her unfortunate familiar in a later chapter.
So she's basically having problems with the amulet because of how she sees herself. She was raised in a Quaker household, which taught honesty, but she knew that she was a Changeling and she knew that she was a lie, and she's known this conflict all her life.