"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic
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Alex didn't have to wonder if Kanjigar noticed her modifications to his library. She rearranged the books every time she used it, by size or color or state of repair, and left half of them laying on the bed with a lantern or cup of tea on the cover. She didn't have to mention it. His face said enough.
"Nice Eric Clapton collection," she greeted him with.
A muscle in Kanjigar's jaw twitched, but he didn't say a word. He wouldn't comment – a celebrated former Trollhunter didn't rant about the misuse of his worldly possessions – but she could see that she was annoying him.
That's for making me haul your dead ass out of my apartment.
"So you've finally decided to answer our summons."
"I think you know why I'm here," Alex replied. Around them, the statues of previous Trollhunters muttered and glowed. Alex licked her teeth and glared at them.
"A little impolite to be calling me'abomination' when Deya the Deliverer herself was a Ch-"
"Impudent!"
"She mocks us!"
"Were you all so sensitive when you were alive," Alex muttered. Kanjigar, floating quietly in front of her, looked as though he was an inch away from smacking somebody.
"Not everything is as it used to be, Trollhunter," he said. "Things change."
"Obviously. Either being a Changeling was celebrated back then or nobody knew."
"It was not common knowledge," Kanjigar conceded, "But circumstances were different. Deya was not like you."
The triumph in Alexandra's breast flared into anger.
"YOU – "
"Deya the Deliverer was never taken by Gumm-Gumms," Kanjigar said, raising his voice to talk over her. "She wasn't changed, not like you were. She wasn't…"
The words hung in between them, and although Alex knew he would never say them to her face she still heard them.
"An experimental abomination meant for spying and cannon fodder?"
"Do not get defensive. Those are your words, not mine," said Kanjigar. "You looked in every book for Deya the Deliverer's origins, I know. I watched. You found nothing because there was nothing."
Then what?
"So, I'm just supposed to accept that she was a Changeling, but not a bad Changeling like me? What the hell is the difference?"
The spirits above them were pulsating with angry energy, but Kanjigar calmed them with a glare and a motion of his hand. He seemed to gather his thoughts for a moment.
"Changelings were not a Gumm-Gumm invention," Kanjigar said after a long and tense minute.
"Once, when a troll infant was sickly or weak, it would be swapped for a healthy human child. Glamours were cast onto both children, to make them appear as the other, and they would grow up in their new families as if nothing had happened. If they somehow met, however, the spells placed upon them would become binding, and they could switch forms at will.
"Deya, a troll who had grown and lived in a human household, met with the human she had been abandoned for just before the war began. In a fit of jealous rage she fought with and killed her familiar, and was banished from her human home. Her birth family, however, hailed her for her strength and invited her back.
"Disgusted with their capricious nature, she refused, and wandered until she met the young general of a swiftly strengthening army. She became his wife and second-in-command until she saw first-hand what he wanted to do to the human world that had been her home."
Alexandra's spine shivered in shock.
"She left Gunmar's army when he proposed to make her his spy, and that was when Gumm-Gumms created the methods used to make Changelings such as yourself."
"And somehow this didn't become common knowledge? I didn't even know this and I'm sure that Blinky doesn't."
"Such a practice has long been lost with the creation of modern Changelings. The war decimated everything and everyone; most of the former breed of Changeling were killed, and the majority of our documents and history were destroyed."
"But you know. You all knew. You must have all conveniently forgot that little tidbit."
"There are more important things than your personal feelings, Trollhunter."
Alex tapped the amulet on her chest.
"Yes, Trollhunter. This is important! You think that we can ever have peace, even with Bular and Gunmar's deaths, while you're still ostracizing the entire Changeling population? These are your kids that you're spitting on now, and there are a lot more than you know! These people have power in this world. They are the bridges between human and trollkind. Being the Trollhunter should mean looking out for them as well." Even if they're dicks.
"As you've clearly shown."
The mist swirled around them, and an image of her choking the Changeling at Bath floated through the air. Alexandra drew her sword and slashed the image back into mist.
"I'm not trying to say that we should establish a Hug Your Local Changeling campaign. I'm saying that both sides treat us like shit for something that we couldn't control, and you're never going to achieve true peace if you continue to refuse to even consider accepting us."
"While your people remain as Gunmar's spies, there is little that can be done for them."
"They're only Gunmar's spies because they don't know any better," Alexandra said irritably. "But in order for them to leave his side they need somewhere else to go!"
Souls of former Trollhunters swirled angrily around her and Kanigar's glowing spirit.
"They can never be welcome!"
"She courts disaster!"
"Abominations!"
Alexandra waved a hand at the stone bodies above them.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she said to Kanjigar. "Why would they leave Gunmar just to go to people that treat them exactly the same?"
"You won't be able to change peoples' minds," he told her softly. "We are a very reactive race. Your actions will cause nothing but mass panic."
Alexandra banished her armor, and the Void abruptly disappeared. She knew they could still watch her, which was more than mildly disturbing, but at least she didn't have to hear them.
She'd scope out Trollmarket; she'd go to different troll communities, and see what they thought on the subject. Surely there were some who felt uneasy about how Changelings were treated? Surely there were some who couldn't bring themselves to hate their son or daughter who had been taken and Changed.
Heartstone Trollmarket's reaction to her own faked Changeling 'reveal' had been discouraging and disheartening, but trolls were adaptable and could be convinced to change their minds if an idea was presented in the right way.
She practiced her forms alone in the Forge until Blinky and AAARRRGGHH came. Oddly, Vendel was with them.
"Supervising, sir?"
Vendel snorted. "Hardly. Upon the discovery of a piece of Killahead Bridge, I've decided to supplement your training earlier than originally intended. Finish your forms, Trollhunter. I want to see how you do against multiple opponents."
Vendel settled down on the stairs on the edge of the arena, placing a small jeweled box down beside him.
Alexandra didn't have to puzzle over what he'd teach her, because AAARRRGGHH shot a fist at her head.
Woah!
He came at her fast, and she rolled out of the way only to have to retreat from Blinky, who had grabbed a spear and was twirling it with disturbing efficiency.
"Avast, Master Alexandra!"
Alex retreated, banishing all but her sword and breastplate for speed.
"Where did you learn how to use a spear," she muttered. Blinky laughed and threw it at her head. The helmet appeared over her face just before the spear nicked her ear. AAARRRGGHH tried to swipe her feet out from under her and she jumped, landing in a roll before picking up the fallen spear. Blinky already had two more in his arms.
"My brother and I used to play with spears often! Though he had a stronger jab than I, I daresay that I got rather good."
Alex ran away from AAARRRGGHH's flying fists and shot the spear back at Blinky, who caught it. He slowly twirled the three spears between his fingers, and something in the triumphant glare in his eyes shot something pleasantly warm and exceedingly unwanted through her pelvis.
She dodged another hit from AAARRRGGH and stood straight, dropping her sword arm and placing her hands on her hip.
"Damn, Blinky," she hummed. "You actually look very nice holding a weapon like that."
The arena seemed to freeze over; a fist half the size of her body froze about a foot above her head. Blinky dropped one of his spears in shock, spluttering.
"I – you – there is no – you, you can't possibly think– "
Alexandra, who had been planning to use the moment to strike, had to bend over and laugh. There was a snort from Vendel on the sidelines, but she couldn't tell if it was amused or disgusted.
"I'm so sorry," Alex gasped, straightening up and laughing at the ceiling. "I was planning on using that as a distraction, but your face…ah!"
Blinky glowered.
"Highly amusing and inappropriate, Master Alexandra."
Alex stopped laughing and swung her sword upward, nicking AAARRRGGHH's hovering fist. He slammed the other down just as she lunged out the way.
"Effective though," she called, right before a rock bounced off her shoulder blade; she'd forgotten about Vendel. As she turned her attention to him a growl echoed to her right, and she was forced to jump out of the way before AAARRRGGHH tackled her. The back of his hand connected with her breastplate while she was still in the air and she flew into a wall, probably only avoiding a concussion due to her helmet. She slid down the wall and landed on the floor in a pained heap. That hit seemed a bit excessive, and she stood up with a groan.
No flirting with Blinky. Understood.
Dust rose as Alex propelled herself across the floor in a tight ball, something that wasn't natural for her body but that Draal had taught her anyway, and she managed to knock AAARRRGGHH to the side. Blinky, recovered from his affronted shock, spun his spears in an attack and she simultaneously avoided them and AAARRRGGHH's attempt to grab her legs. Her sword summoned once more, she blocked a hit to the chest and sent a spear flying over the edge of the arena.
Her heart raced beneath her armor so hard she was sure that someone would hear it. AAARRRGGHH's fists seemed to come out from nowhere and his towering body was deceptively fast, and Alex had to duck and weave tirelessly to escape his long reach. Her sword decapitated a spear and she caught the last one as the end of it tried to smash into the side of her neck. Blinky hauled back and she jumped forward, using the momentum to launch herself over his head. He yelped helplessly as he was pulled backward, and Alex tugged the spear from his hand when he landed on the floor. The rock Vendel threw at her back was bat across the arena.
"Adequate," said the old troll, rising from the stairs.
"Your concentration wanes in favor of your tricks, Trollhunter, but your reflexes are more than sufficient. Let's hope that they are enough."
Old goat.
"Your duty will undoubtedly get more difficult, now that Bular has a measure of your mettle. I sense that dark times are ahead of us, and your training will have to be expediated."
"The fact that both goblins and Bular himself were present at the museum is very concerning," said Blinky, standing up and brushing himself off. "If Bular is reconstructing the Killahead Bridge, he would have it built wherever he resides, and there is no reason for him to be at the museum unless he was staying there."
"Which means that he has human help," Alex said, glad that they had reached their own conclusions. "Or…?"
Blinky and AAARRRGGHH exchanged an uneasy glance.
"It is most possible, Master Alexandra, that he is working with Changelings."
"The museum," rumbled AAARRRGGHH.
"Indeed. One of the museum employees may be a Changeling."
"So, what – we just go up and shove a gaggletack in everyone's faces? I think we would cause a bit of a fuss."
"Ah hah! Such is why we have brought these."
Blinky picked up the jeweled chest that Vendel had brought and opened it.
Alexandra had never been one for shiny things.
"It's…rocks. Hallelujah."
Blinky closed the box with an unamused glare.
"A little more excitement and veneration, if you please," he said dryly. "These are stones that past Trollhunters used to unlock various powers within their armor."
"Each gem possesses certain properties that, when combined with the magic of Merlin's amulet, grants the bearer command of numerous crafts and enchantments."
Ten minutes later found Alexandra empty-handed, swatting away rocks and small boulders before they could get within a foot of her. She wished desperately for her fourth eye, because in order to repel whatever was thrown at her she needed to actually see it first. The stone from Raglor the Repulsive was useful, but perhaps not her thing.
Sigrid the Shadowless's stone, however, she snatched up in an instant.
The Leoht Stone, to walk in daylight, Alex thought wryly. Useful.
"A good stone indeed, for your next mission," said Vendel. Alexandra closed the back of her amulet over the handy little jewel and placed it back on her armor.
"Where am I going this time?"
"Upstairs," said Vendel. "You are to find out how much of the Killahead Bridge Bular and his henchmen have accumulated, and make certain that we know where they are building it."
"Is that all."
"All other calls, all training can be put on hold, impudent youngster. The Bridge cannot be reconstructed, at risk of destroying this world as we know it. Find the Bridge, find the Changelings, and destroy both."
"Is that all."
Vendel snorted and tapped his staff against the chest in Blinky's arms.
"It's not as if I asked you to kill Bular," he said. "Choose wisely, and good luck to you."
"Thanks. I'll go through the sewers, when it's still light out. Blinky, here, help me pick out some of these…"
"You are surely not going alone," the other troll said, closing the lid of the chest. Alex looked up in surprise.
"Why not? Kanjigar went it alone."
"And was felled, unfortunately. You have only just begun your training and although you are formidable in your own right, I would feel more comfortable without you 'going it alone'."
Alex leaned back and crossed her arms, grinning ferally.
"Fine. You're with me."
The other troll jerked away, as if afraid she would try to flirt with him again.
"Me? Why?"
You're actually quite good in a pinch.
"Cannon fodder," she said instead. Six eyes rolled.
"Ah, well. I was afraid you were going to say something complementary."
A rumbling to the side alerted Alexandra that she was wading in dangerous waters. An eye glanced at a bristling AAARRRGGHH and she pointedly rubbed a hand over the back of her skull.
"I've learned my lesson," she said. "I need sleep, not a date. AAARRRGGHH you, unfortunately, are not really built for sneaking around. And I do need more of those stones – what else is there?"
It took almost two hours for her to pick out two more gems that didn't rub her the wrong way and weren't too difficult to master in a short time. One granted the user invisibility, as long as she stayed still and pretended to be whatever she was trying to blend in against. The other sharpened her hearing, and she had to be incredibly careful with it; the first time she tried using it she almost deafened herself with the sound of Blinky and AAARRRGGHH's digestive systems rumbling like rockslides.
Any other stones were too unpredictable or difficult to master without being liabilities, and she would leave them to another day.
Both stones needed to be practiced among company, and Alexandra took her training outside the Forge and into the bustling streets of Trollmarket. She got quite a lot of strange looks, freezing in place with what was probably a very stupid face, trying to concentrate on being invisible, but after a short while she could stand in the middle of the path and disappear, to the immense shock and amusement of the trolls around her.
Alexandra even got to answer another call, though it was from Bagdwella again. The second stone, used by Hloda the Thunderous, enabled her to hear the quiet chattering of a conspiring group of gnomes, and with a little deafening applause and ear-splitting praise, she was able to locate and capture the hidden group with minimal fuss.
Her third and final practice for the day, however, took place in the privacy of her own rooms.
The influx of cats had petered off, much to Alex's relief. Draal, wherever he was, probably was far enough away that sneaking into Trollmarket was more of an inconvenience than anything else. As it was, Alex had a purring blanket of critters laying on every limb whenever she bothered to come by and sleep in her own space.
She gently shooed a tabby kitten away from the center of her room and sat down with a groan. She'd been so busy, reading up on trolls and talking to ghosts and training and visiting fucking England that she'd forgotten to be sore and exhausted, and now that she had a minute to herself she wanted to sleep for a month.
Sighing heavily, a hand dug into her pocket and pulled out the amulet before she could fall into a doze in the middle of the floor. The glow of the thing shone through her fingers.
Five on the top. Four on the bottom. Heh.
"Alright, you shiny bastard," she muttered, feeling around its edges and ridges. "I've seen you teleport. We're going to work on that."
Ten minutes later, and Alex threw the amulet out of the window. She rejected it in her mind, and in half a second it was sitting back on her knee, glittering. How an inanimate object could look mischievous, Alexandra did not know, but the stupid thing managed it.
"Excellent," Alexandra hissed, taking it back up and donning her armor. "Now do that, but with me."
She focused on rejecting the amulet; rejecting her position as Trollhunter; rejecting her entire existence; rejecting her cats, Kanjigar's books, sautéed mushrooms, her favorite Hendrix songs, everything, and her ass stayed seated in the middle of her small, gently lit room.
I'm sorry for calling you a motherfucking cockwhistle? Alex tried, to no avail. Cursing at the amulet didn't work either.
Her legs were getting sore by the time she decided to give it up. She'd fall asleep sitting on the floor before she managed to teleport with the amulet.
Unhesitant now to relax, Alex focused on her physical presence, the comfortable and uncomfortable parts of her body. The floor was cold and hard, harder than her skin, the muscles underneath which were tense with strain and lack of sleep and food. She tried relaxing them, from the face down. She imagined her presence, her body, scattered; no more tense muscles, no more sore joints, no more numb fingers and aching feet –
"FUCK!"
Water filled her mouth as she was suddenly immersed in a warm, vaguely smelly pool.
"HAH!"
Alex waded to the side of the pool, the glimmering blackness of the walls of the public baths – the first place in Trollmarket where she had really relaxed – shining all around her. The single troll bathing there watched her in bemusement.
Alex coughed and spat up a gob of metallic water, and saluted to him as she pulled herself out of the bath and lay down on the warm floor. Even for the short distance between her rooms and the baths, she was exhausted.
"Evening, gent," she said, water running down her chin.
"Whatever."
Her laughter echoed over the smooth walls and through the corridors as she banished her armor and fell asleep against the stone.
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Blinky pat down his pockets.
"Do you think I will require rope? Surely a good steady length should come in handy. But no, no, no, it'll be too bulky – suppose it gets caught on something. Perhaps a flint – one never knows when a few pyrotechnics may come in handy. My friend, do you think perhaps that I should bring one of our gaggletacks…but this is merely a scouting mission, we shouldn't raise suspicion that we are on to them…"
"Thinking too much," rumbled AAARRRGGHH, who patiently handed Blinky whatever item he asked for or idly discarded.
"Yes, but what about weaponry? If we are to locate Bular, having a weapon handy could save a life…"
A hand hovered over a spear abandoned between two bookcases. A mischievous smile and darkened eyes flashed in his mind, and he quickly drew his hand back.
"I don't expect that I could convince her to bring you instead, my friend?"
AAARRRGGHH, who had eyed the spear as well, shook his head.
"Too big," he said softly. "I would draw attention."
"I suppose so," Blinky had to acknowledge, even though he was decidedly uncomfortable with leaving AAARRRGGHH behind. Not only was his friend good in a tight spot, but he was a constant source of comfort and assurance.
He was reluctant to admit it out loud, though he was certain that AAARRRGGHH knew anyway, but he was discomfited by the idea of being alone with the Trollhunter. Her entire course of training so far had been a 'roller-coaster', as the humans might say, of high and low points. She was a savage fighter, but she broke the traditional rules of engagement by letting Draal live. She injured Bular the Vicious and kept both Blinky and AAARRRGGHH from being killed, and then he had gone and publicly humiliated her, disgracing himself by accusing her of being a Changeling. They found a piece of Killahead Bridge, uncovering the conspiracy of the millennia, and then the blasted woman went and flirted with him.
Her personality was as unpredictable as a Stalkling's hunting habits, and nearly as predatory. She certainly wasn't like Kanjigar, who was steady and consistent in every aspect.
Of course, it probably helped that he had known Kanjigar for a few hundred years. Admittedly, Alexandra had not had many opportunities to relax…or, frankly, to trust them.
Blinky paused in the middle of his absent muttering and agitated fidgeting to take a box out of AAARRRGGHH's hands.
"Careful…"
"Ah, the Bridge piece. Should we take it for comparison…?"
He gently opened the box, his eyes catching the glimpse of an edge before he shut it firmly.
"No," he said. "Too dangerous. If they have pieces assembled already, we cannot afford to gift them with another."
AAARRRGGHH shifted and settled down beside him. For the first time in an hour Blinky stayed in one spot, running his hands over and over the box.
He turned it about, examining the decorations carved into the wooden lid and sides, the metalwork on the iron hinges. The key rested in the keyhole, and he softly locked it, then unlocked it. The key turned, the box opened smoothly when he lifted the lid.
He locked it. Tested the closure – unlocked it. Opened it. No problem.
Alexandra hadn't been able to open the box.
Closed the box, locked it. Unlocked it. Opened the box.
Something underneath his skin was crawling with an uncomfortable prickling.
The funny thing about protective boxes was that they often had a charm or spell on them, to shield whatever was within. Some boxes sensed evil intentions; some could only be opened by women; some only by someone who sang the password.
Many boxes from the time of the war, however, had been made to only open to trolls. Any human, goblin, or Changeling that attempted the lock would be refused.
Alexandra couldn't open box.
Great Gronka Morica, he was doing it again!
"Things would go much more smoothly if I could stop doubting the woman," Blinky angrily muttered, locking the box and pushing it into back AAARRRGGHH's hands.
"Enough of this," he said to himself. AAARRRGGHH gave him an encouraging little grin when he looked up, and he braced himself for an interesting night.
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They waited for her by the gyre station, and they didn't have to wait long.
Alexandra came marching up to them, slightly damp and smelling of sulfur. She waved the Daylight Amulet in front of her.
"Did you know it teleports?" she asked, a grin spreading across her mouth. "It's exhausting but I can get short distances from it."
"That's not from one of the Trollhunters' stones," Blinky murmured, looking at the amulet in confusion. "What did you put in it?"
"Nothing! It teleports back whenever I throw it at something, so I thought that it could do it with me too. It took a while and you've really got to concentrate on not existing, which is really kind of funky, but it works! Don't you think this will be useful in a fight? It's too tiring to use more than a few times, and only for a few feet probably but…"
Alexandra continued to ramble, to AAARRRGGHH and Blinky's amazement. He had never seen her so openly excited about something; his library and Kanjigar's had been met with wide eyes and interest, but she had kept her enthusiasm to a minimum. He wasn't sure he'd ever heard her talk so much at one time.
"You discovered a new power?"
Alexandra grinned down at him, silently donned her armor, and disappeared.
Blinky whirled around as she appeared right behind him, looking a bit winded but bright-eyed and elated.
"Indeed I have," she said smugly. AAARRRGGHH happily poked at her as Blinky laughed.
"Good Gorgus, you're unlocking your armor! That has never happened so quickly – even Kanjigar the Courageous took over a year to begin exploring the amulet's power."
Alexandra preened.
"This is an incredible discovery – but you must be cautious," Blinky said as he thought more on the potential drawbacks. "If it is truly exhausting, then you must be exceeding careful when and how you use it. Only in the more dire of circumstances could this be utilized, until your mastery of it grows stronger."
Alexandra nodded seriously, taking the horngazel off of Blinky and opening the portal to the gyre. The light from the portal bounced off her armor, and Blinky noticed that she walked differently, stood differently than she had when first entering Trollmarket. Some unknown power had straightened her back and relaxed her center, until she actually looked comfortable, in both her own skin and in her environment. The armor finally suited her.
The world above was experiencing midday when they said their goodbyes to AAARRRGGHH and left the portal. Sunlight brightened the sewer tunnels indirectly, filtered through street drains and manhole covers. It wasn't enough to harm him, but Blinky avoided the brightest areas anyway. He was exceedingly nervous without AAARRRGGHH's vast, calm presence.
Blinky led the way, having travelled through the sewers many times before. It had been a very long time since he'd used the underground tunnels to visit the museum, but he was confident that he knew how to get there. Their journey was silent for the most part, the muffled rumble of automobiles, running water, and soft dripping echoing with their quiet footsteps. Occasionally a drop of water would leak from a pipe and plink against Alexandra's armor.
He couldn't take the silence any longer.
"Master Alexandra, I must speak," Blinky whispered. She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Iwonderedhowlongitwouldtake'.
"I must apologize," said Blinky quietly, "about how we have behaved toward you. You have acted honorably toward us all, and we mistrusted you as a stranger. I accused you of being a Changeling with only conjecture and presumption, something that could have been the death of you. We did not trust that the amulet knew what it was doing, we did not trust your unorthodox methods, and I fear that our suspicion and skepticism has been detrimental to both your training and your reputation as Trollhunter."
Alexandra said nothing, looking forward into the passageway with furrowed brows and tense mouth.
"…I suppose I didn't really give you reason to trust me," she murmured, after a long minute of silence. "I was secretive about what I'd done with Kanjigar, I've been reserved about myself…and I am a stranger. Kanjigar, at least, you knew before he became the Trollhunter, right?"
Blinky nodded and she smiled grimly.
"It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity or the willingness to open up to people," she whispered. "It's a lot safer to be on your own, but…perhaps it's not always the best."
"You have a support system now," Blinky said, keeping his eyes to the dark of the tunnel. He hoped to every Trollhunter he'd previously admired that she wouldn't take his words the wrong way.
"I, for one, will support you in whatever you endeavor," he mumbled. Alexandra snorted quietly and examined her hands.
"I guess a filthy sewer isn't a horrible place to make a new friend," she said. "And I'm sorry, for making you feel uncomfortable."
Blinky raised an eyebrow, finally looking her in the eye. She was gazing steadily back. He hadn't realized until then how horrific her scarred eye was; knotted shut, the still-healing skin around the rip across her cheek and nose raised and jagged. Even for trolls, it was an ugly scar, on top of a debilitating injury.
"I was trying to disorient you…and you're far too old for me, anyway."
"Mmm? By what margin, might I ask?"
"A good two hundred years, at least," Alexandra murmured, fiddling with the amulet in her pocket. "I was born around 1630 or so."
Blinky felt a bit of glee at actually getting that tiny bit of information, and resolved not to look up all troll children born within a ten-year margin of 1630. If he was going to respect her properly, then he would start with not digging into her frustrating and elusive family history.
They continued forward in silent amicability until they came upon a passage too immense, too rough, to be part of the man-made tunnels leading to it. The air smelled very heavily of troll, and very faintly of goblin.
Alexandra took point then, silently summoning her armor and drawing her sword. The tunnel looked hand-carved, widened until someone Bular's size could comfortably reach their arms and stand straight.
They met nobody in the tunnel, and at the very end was a thick sheet of metal covering the ceiling. Alexandra motioned for Blinky to stand back, and placed a hand on her amulet.
Her eyes closed and her head turned upward, and Blinky understood that she was using the stone of Hloda the Thunderous to listen for anyone within the museum.
Having nothing else to look at, one eye slid down until it rested on her hands, gripping the roughened wall in front of them. Four fingers on the bottom; five on the top.
Alexandra looked down an inch, and raised an eyebrow.
"You like my genetic anomalies?" she whispered tensely. Blinky couldn't answer before she shook her head.
"I don't hear anything," she murmured. "I'm going up."
"Er…is there anything I…?"
"Stay here," she whispered forcefully. "I can turn invisible; you can't."
Blinky nodded and stepped back. Alexandra banished her armor and slowly pushed the sheet of metal away from the opening. Blinky gave her a leg up, blinking in the light that flooded into the pitch-black tunnel, and she disappeared, pushing the metal back into its place.
He desperately hoped that Bular was asleep somewhere and not wandering around the sewers, about to come back to the museum. All he had on him was the horngazel and the daily detritus in his pockets, and he was too short to properly reach the opening himself.
Stuck by himself in the darkness, he could only think.
She was older than he'd supposed. Perhaps her family had travelled with the Winthrop fleet in 1630, which had carried twenty-two trolls between their ships. But to his knowledge, none of his sister clan's members had journeys to the Americas until 1637. And he was certain of that, because he and Vendel had been the only trolls in the New World documenting immigration and birth records at that time, until colonies of trolls were established over more of the continent.
(Or her family had bribed Blinky's contacts on the East Coast to not document them)
(Or her family had snuck ashore and avoided the contacts)
(Or, or, or)
Which meant that Alexandra, again, had lied through her teeth. And he'd thought that she was truly opening up! Why couldn't the infuriating woman just give him a straight fact for once in their acquaintance? Apparently she still thought it better not to trust people, including her trainer!
Blinky fumed and paced for a few minutes after that revelation, grumbling to himself. He supposed that he didn't have to know her past or her age or her history or anything about her to trust her as the Trollhunter. The amulet had chosen her, whatever she decided to keep from everyone.
At least she hadn't truly been trying to court him. That was a thought that gave him shivers. Not only would it have been highly inappropriate, but the contradictory imbalances of power between them would have made such an action into a very difficult situation, since she was both his student and his superior. Although the Trollhunter was technically a servant of his or her people they still held quite a lot of power and clout, despite not actually being a leader of trollkind. Trollhunters were awarded special privileges and exemptions, although they were certainly not immune to punishment from higher powers. To Blinky's knowledge no trainer had been flirted at by their Trollhunter, but it would have put them in an exceptionally awkward position of either bedding their student or refusing someone of a higher rank than they.
The knowledge that Alexandra hadn't meant anything by her false advance, but was willing to use whatever wiles and tricks were up her sleeves to disorient her enemies, both amused and unsettled Blinky. Flirting with Bular, for example, could only end in disaster.
And thinking of, what in Deya's good name were they going to do about the bridge? Even if they found the thing, they would have to take on Bular, a horde of goblins, and however many Changelings the Gumm-Gumm had access to in order to destroy it. Although Alexandra had advanced incredibly fast, she was still relatively untrained and unknown in relation to Trollhunters before her, and Blinky knew that she was going to burn out soon. She had researched and trained tirelessly since being chosen, and although he admired her commitment to her duty he knew that the vexatious woman still was not taking care of herself. Some time or another he would have to supplement her Trollhunter training with lessons on how to eat and rest like a proper damn troll (pardoning his own horrible sleep patterns).
There was a sudden rustling from up top, and he was briefly blinded as the sheet of metal was yanked away. Alexandra dropped down the hole and reached up to pull it closed, enclosing them once more in darkness.
Blinky didn't have time to ask her what had happened before his right hands were grabbed and he was pulled into a run. He stumbled for a moment before finding his legs, but Alexandra didn't speak or slow down. Just before they turned the corner the metal scraped, and light flooded the tunnel behind them. Alexandra shoved Blinky ahead of her and turned around, throwing her sword toward the light. There was a brief, pained squawk.
"The horngazel," she whispered to Blinky, summoning her sword again. "The horngazel, give it to me!"
Blinky shoved the crystal into her hands and she doubled back, slicing a goblin in half and pulling the metal closed again. She drew a yellow circle around the edge of it and slashed a red X over it, effectively sealing it from everything but brute force.
They ran again as she pocketed the crystal.
"Where…where did you learn that?" Blinky gasped, pulling on the Trollhunter's arm as she started to go down the wrong tunnel.
"You gave me an entire library," Alexandra said incredulously. "I looked up the protections of Trollmarket first thing!"
"And what in Deya's name happened back there? Did you see the Bridge?"
They came upon a corner and Alexandra stopped them, peering carefully around the edge before continuing. They were coming out of Bular's pathways and back into the main sewer.
"A Changeling saw me," Alexandra whispered, her head turning to every drop of water or groan of piping. "I fucked up with the invisibility stone, lost my concentration. I did see the Bridge, it's more than half fucking complete!"
Blinky cursed under his breath. "You're sure it was a Changeling?"
"It's the curator of the museum, I think. And I should think she's a damn Changeling, because human eyes don't normally glow."
This was a dire confirmation. Unlike goblins, who came as a legion of many, Changelings usually worked alone or in small groups, but even one was formidable enough.
They walked quickly and quietly through the tunnels as Blinky tried to contain his despair.
After centuries, everything was suddenly happening all at once, and so quickly.
"Did you see Bular?"
Alexandra shook her head.
"No, and I almost wish I had. At least then we'd know where…he was. Um."
She slowed to a stop and looked back to where they came. Now that they were no longer running, Blinky realized that he did not recognize the tunnel.
"Speaking of which, where are we?"
A shiver of fear ran down Blinky's spine as looked around. He'd led them the wrong way.
"A little faster, Blinky, we've got a goblin horde wanting to eat us."
"If you will let me concentrate!"
"Ya fucked up, didn't you."
"One wrong turn, and I could remember if you would – "
A high-pitched, distant shriek cut him off. He and Alexandra both backed away from the sound.
"I don't care where we end up as long as it's away from here," the Trollhunter whispered furiously. "When darkness falls we can get up to the surface. For now let's just get the hell moving."
Blinky's legs ached as they began to run through the tunnels again, taking turns at random to try and get away from wherever the goblins were coming from. They moved from the wider sewers to smaller passages, ducking under a mess of pipework to continue.
"You can use your amulet, Master Alexandra," Blinky said. "The Leoht stone. We cannot outrun them when we have no idea where we are."
"I'm not leaving you down here by yourself," Alexandra muttered, idly brushing away a droplet of filthy water. "With any luck, you'd walk right into the den of goblins."
"I thought I was to be the 'cannon fodder'," he replied. Alexandra ignored him and held out a hand, cocking her head as if listening for something. And then Blinky heard it.
There was a rustling, like some creature trying to scrape through the tunnels. Alexandra froze in the spot and Blinky walked into her outstretched hands, so tense it was as if she had been felled.
The scraping came again. The tunnels distorted sound in an eerie fashion, but even so Blinky could tell that whoever was underground with them was immense.
Alexandra very slowly turned to him. Her eyes glowed very, very slightly in the darkness, and he barely made out what she silently mouthed.
Bular.
He nodded, and they turned around, creeping as quietly in the opposite direction as they could. Picking a fight with the son of Gunmar in a cramped tunnel was not the best course of action in this case, not in the least because Blinky was almost certain that he would be killed. Once they got into a larger tunnel, it might be a different story, but for now, retreat was necessary.
Alexandra almost ran into a pipe, and Blinky had to grab her to keep her helmet from clanging against the dripping metal. The resulting clamor of armor shocked both of them, and the rustling sharply increased.
"Run."
Blinky didn't need to be told twice; he took point and booked it as fast as his shortened legs could carry him. Alexandra, taller, broader, and clanking like an armory in an earthquake, fell behind him, and he only hoped that she didn't brain herself on a loose piece of pipe or masonry.
There was a frenzied disturbance in the tunnels, drawing closer, but in the concrete labyrinth it was difficult to tell exactly where it was coming from. Blinky and Alexandra turned a corner at random, just as Blinky realized that the sound was coming from that tunnel…
…and there was Draal, surrounded and being climbed on by almost twenty stray cats.
.
.
.
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A/N: OKAY, SO. SEASON TWO. WAS WICKED AND IT FUCKED UP A LOT OF MY STUFF but I'm going to have so much fun with what it did.
So the Pale Lady was in charge of creating Changelings, but I don't think that the trolls know that, given Blinky's explanation for their origins. Also, Dictatious Maximus. You can bet that I'm bringing that shit-eating motherfucker into here and shit will go down. Now how I'm going to get him out of the Darklands I have no idea. I might just have to make it a one-shot chapter, but he and Alex are going to be fun.
I'm totally going to do a drabble chapter of Alexandra with that stone that creates multiple Trollhunters. Trollmarket will not survive with flirty/violent/mischevious Alexandras rolling all around the place. But I'm glad that I'm able to get her to show a little more of her actual personality now. She's relaxing a bit.
This will not be a Blinky/OC ship. Alex is flirty by nature and she's loosening up a little now – and the fact that she's rather attractive in troll form is something that she is not above using to her every advantage, including during battle.
I spent an hour looking up fucking magic boxes and protective charms and magical gateways and shit before coming up with absolutely nothing that I wanted to use.
Polite reminder that troll eyes do sometimes glow, as we've seen Blinky's do in the first few episodes, as well as Bular and Gunmar. Even AAARRRGGHH, when he's powered up. So troll eyes glowing ain't that big a deal – but I don't think they can really do it on purpose, it just happens when it's really dark out.
I'd wondered why nobody used the amulet to teleport, since it can clearly do so. When Jim was rejecting it and hiding it all over the house, it would teleport right back to him. Either it can only do short-ish distances or it has a sense for dramatic flair (which it does), because in 'Claire and Present Danger' it flies out of the museum to reunite with Jimbo.
Kanijgar certainly would have benefited from the daylight-immunity stone I'M JUST SAYING
I had to include Whatever Troll, because he's one of my favorite background characters.