Chapter 3

„You two are getting married!?"

„Yes, well we just got engaged about an hour ago. There's still a lot to plan before we really are officially bond," Gerda noticed making Kai frown a little fearfully.

„It's great for you, that you get to marry him, but somehow I'm not really ready to deal with him as a family member,"

„He's just going to be your brother-in-law. You won't have a lot to do with him. You two just will see each other during family reunion or when we're going to visit you or our parents?"

„You two are going to live together as well?" Questioned Kai making Gerda nod.

„As soon as we both are financially stable we will. At some point, we would need to get our lives together and build it forward,"

„You really feel sure about you two?"

„Kai….."

„I'm just afraid if it doesn't go the way you want to,"

„Sometimes life can't always go the way we want it to go. If something comes in between us, we just gotta handle it together. Life won't always be a walk in the roses and you know it better,"

„You're right, Gerda," Commented Kai. „Look, I just want the best for you. Perhaps Rollan really is a great guy and all that, what happened in the past, just makes it harder for me to see it,"

„You two just need to spend more time together, I'm pretty sure you two would get along just fine," Assured Gerda. „Are you free the rest of the week per coincidence?"

„Yes, why?"

„You know Alfida and her crew will leave along with Rollan. Why don't you go with them? You'll be there with Rollan and Alfida for a few days. You'll get to know Rollan better and hang out with Alfida as well,"

„Oh well….it's worth a try," Commented Kai making Gerda smile and hug her brother.

„Don't worry. You'll be in good hands, I promise,"

On the day of the departure, Alfida stood by the entrance of her ship along with Kai watching Rollan and Gerda talk with each other.

„You didn't react that well to the proposal then?" The raven-haired pirate captain asked watching Kai move his hand uncertainly about, what the right answer was at the spot.

„I'm not angry, it's just I don't feel prepared to deal with him around more often,"

„The time I get to know him here at the ship, I do understand some aspects of why she likes Rollan," Commented Alfida making Kai nod.

„I heard the motives about 100 times from her side. I get it, that he's supportive, sweet and all that," Mentioned Kai making Alfida laugh.

„There is far more behind Gerda and Rollan, than you think. Like she knows every tiny little detail about him from his mental and physical being,"

„Oh like he only grew up with his mother, right?" Commented Kai making Alfida nod and look down at the couple, watching Gerda shake her head and watching Gerda chuckle. „Hmm,"

„Who else knows about the proposal?" Questioned Alfida watching Kai think about it.

„Good question. I haven't seen her or our parents talk about anything. Perhaps she didn't tell it yet,"

„They got time," Announced Alfida watching the duo share a hug, then Kai looked at Alfida, which looked at her crew playing cards around a barrel. „We better get going, we got three days in front of us," Said Kai's girlfriend making Kai nod and whistle down at Rollan and Gerda, which were wrapped up in their embrace.

„Hey Ruslan, get your butt up here. We're sailing," Announced Alfida earning a nod from Rollan, which returned to look at Gerda and kissed her on the lips.

„We can tell it together if you want to," Rollan said climbing up the ladder into the ship while looking at the blonde. „Or you do it first. Are your parents good at noticing differences about you?" Asked the Spaniard watching Gerda glimpse at her ring and smile a little.

„Usually they do," Commented Gerda. „I think I'll going to tell them first when I see them. I know they will be happy for us," Stated Gerda making Rollan smile, afterward Alfida pushed Rollan back by his collar to wave at her friend.

„We're going to take good care of your brother and fiancé. We'll see each other next week" Said Alfida walking upstairs to the steering wheel followed by the young men.

Gerda on the ground smiled watching the rotor blades behind Alfida's ship begin to spin and it took off in the air heading towards the castle of King Harald to make its way towards the river, that led to the sea near its end. Down at the ground Luta, glimpsed up at the woman and squeaked making Gerda smile, then move her hand down to take Luta up on her shoulder, so she could look as well at the flying ship of the pirates.

At the new place, the troll kingdom had moved to years ago, located inside a cave a large crowd of trolls stood by an incline, where the trolls had built a parking spot for their small airships, inspired by the fleet of King Harald and Alfida's family's side. At the moment at the port for the airships, 7 ships were docked there including a larger one, that belonged to the royal family. The other ships were from trolls, which were fishers and harvesters, that would leave the cave to get groceries. The only member of the royal family to be located in it was King Arrog along with a few guards, which looked out of the ship at the villagers, and down at the port stood Queen Maribel along with her uncle.

„Almost three years have been spent building all the available ports for our airships including the principal one. We're happy to celebrate today it's official opening and to see the first trolls sail out of the cave," Queen Maribel said through the pipe bullhorn, watching the trolls applaud, afterward, she handed it out to her uncle to walk to a small tower beside the port and the King used the megaphone to inform the trolls about more.

„Another good thing about this port is, that thanks to it, we will receive our goods faster, than the traditional way. It's as well, less dangerous, depending on the weather on the outside. But the most important thing for us is, that we will be able to get the goods we used to get back to our old place. Let us all begin the countdown for all the ships to depart on their mission," The king said.

In the middle of the crowd, three troll cubs were crawling behind each other heading to the tower, where their mother stood and the one in the front stopped, followed by the two siblings bumping into the first one's butt shrieking him, then making him look annoyed at the twins.

The third one pointed at the first boat having a rope attached around a pole, then pointed up at the ship making the trolls nod and observe their mother walk back to her uncle, while another troll approached the pole to untie the rope off, then moved further to the next ship. The first cub warned his siblings about the loose rope and ran towards the rope, followed by the younger brothers, then all grabbed the rope together to try to climb up on it.

„5….4…..3….2…..1…...0….."

The first two ships took off in the air heading around the port to turn to a long tunnel, which had arrows on the side pointing to it noticing it as an exit, which the ships had departed into. The trolls were trying to climb it off in midair, then the front troll shrieked and fell off the troll, but got luckily caught by both his brother. The trio observed the rope being pulled back into the inside of the ship, making the trolls exchange looks with each other, and observed the situation to see, the rope was attached to a crank and stopped leaving the trolls out of the ship.

The lighter-colored troll pointed at the hole, making the trolls nod and the one, who had almost fell was the first one to step over his sibling's head getting into the hole. The trolls growled at his brother's behavior, then climbed up into the ship to meet up with the sibling, afterward punched the sibling on the nose, making him squeak and growl at the sibling as well. The third sibling got into the ship as well, then laughed amused from their escape, and looked through the hole at the crowd applauding at the departing ship, where Arrog and his crew were residing for the ride.

At the ship of Arrog, one of the soldiers looked up at the ships, that had taken off first and spotted by the hole of the rope two of the triplets blow a raspberry at the soldier making him wide his eyes, then shake his head and squint his eyes to see, they were gone. The soldier walked towards the king, which looked down at the crowd while waving and the soldier whispered at the tall troll.

„Sir, don't call me crazy, but I think your princes have boarded one of the first fisher's fish without any notice," Commented the soldier, then Arrog looked up at the ships, which were in front of them, then he shook his head.

„Perhaps the darkness in these caves is leading us on. This happened already a few times to me or the others and it was nothing. I'm sure they're at the castle home with the babysitter. I made sure Rosa would have help from a professional as well," Commented Arrog earning a nod from the soldier, which moved back to his spot leaving the king back, which observed the ship enter into the tunnel, which was badly illuminated by torches and down on the road was a group of trolls carrying a cart filled with torches and its holders to fix them on the tunnel for signalization.

At the crafting shop of Vegard, he stood at the counter handing out a mirror to a medium-aged man, which smiled after it.

"Thank you, Vegard. My mother is definitely going to like it," Commented the man making his way to the exit, then the door opened back shrieking the man, which let the mirror fall shrieking Gerda along with her father Vegard and from behind Gerda's legs Luta had reacted the same way as the humans and got under the mirror to get squeezed by it preventing it to get broken.

"Luta? You're alright?" Asked Gerda picking the mirror up to see Luta on the ground get up, dizzy from being hit by the mirror, and shook her head making her sigh in relief, then handed the mirror out to the man.

"Why thank you darling. You little rat saved my present," Announced the man making Gerda chuckle.

"Luta's actually a weasel, but you're welcome. We were happy to help," Gerda said stepping aside to let the man leave and she closed the door to look at her father. "Is mom home?" Questioned Gerda making Vegard nod. "Can you call her down?" Questioned the blonde earning a nod from the brunette, which walked to the side of the room to speak into a tube.

"Hey darling, can you get down here? Gerda wants something,"

"I'll be right there," Responded Una making Gerda smile and approach the counter followed by her father.

"You can stay as well, you both need to listen," Mentioned Gerda while bowing down to help Luta sat up on the counter.

Una came from the door behind the counter and got beside her husband to look at her daughter.

"Hey Gerda, what's going on?" Asked Una, then Gerda placed her hand on the counter to reveal the proposal ring to the family.

"Can you two find a difference?" Questioned Gerda making both parents smile euphoric at realizing, what their daughter was telling them.

"Rollan finally proposed to you, that's great!" Responded Una glad earning a nod from Vegard.

"Congratulations darling, when did this happen?" Questioned Vegard making Gerda chuckle.

"That's funny, but Rollan sneaked into here to take me out on a small date," Responded Gerda. "He served a blueberry cobbler and hid the ring in it. Wasn't that a creative idea from him?"

"Ah the good old ring-in-the-food proposal. A classic," Stated Vegard making Una nod. "Where is he? With Alfida's crew?"

"Yes," Responded Gerda, then remembered Kai was there as well. "Oh Kai is tagging along with them too. He hopes to get along with Rollan better and took this chance,"

"That's a good idea," Confessed Vegard making Una nod. "How long are they gone?"

"Almost a week," Responded Gerda. "I'm sure things will go fine for them,"

"Alright, crew!" Alfida started looking at the pirates, including Rollan and Kai, which stood beside her on the top of the steering area. "There are plenty of small Islands near the country Denmark. One of them has a tomb, where the former King of the Eastern Isles used to hide his fortune, which only one of his daughters had made a plan during the revolution of the villagers. The princess had escaped along with her older sister and brother and were never seen again. The map, which the king used to notice down the amount of money the girl had taken as well, but on the time she vanished it was found inside a bottle with a notice of what happened. If anyone's interested to read, Rollan has it in his hands and I'm the one with the map here. Sadly we can't help these families out, cause we have no idea, where they could be and the ocean is big. All we know is, we need to look, at which of these isles is the one we will come on our way, depending on where our ship is located currently. As we're flying, it's a bit easier for us now. If we're lucky, we'll find around 2'000'000 coins. If the writing here is accurate. Kai here will bring down the map for you all to see and Inkbeard will be the one vitiating the map again. Razorbeard you will go along with Alec and Hawk to the front and look out for the path. Redhorn you'll responsible for the kitchen. The rest focus on the ship," Alfida said earning a nod from Rollan and Kai, then Rollan led Kai along the stairs.

"Do I have to do anything?" Asked Kai making Rollan shrug his shoulders.

"I don't know, but if you can you can follow me and I'll show you, what we have to do at the moment," Mentioned Rollan getting down the stairs, then reach the cabin and look at the fastened ropes around a metal ring. The rope led up to the balloon going around it, then Rollan pointed at the ropes and passed his hands on the first ring to check its endurance.

"As you might know already, we have to make sure the rope is still good or if two or more are damaged it might let the ship slide out of the balloon, and depending, on where we land it can end very badly for us all," Rollan explained making Kai nod, which observed Rollan grab the ring with his hands to check its lock, afterward he moved further and Kai looked at the metal rings, then placed his hands on there.

"How does he know?" Questioned Kai, then looked up at Alfida, which saw the boyfriend look questioningly at him.

"Follow him and talk with him,"

"About, what shall we talk?" Questioned Kai.

"Anything. Try to befriend him," Alfida noted making Kai nod, which went around the cabin to spot Rollan on the other side checking the same thing, then jumped at the edge of the cabin to climb up leaving Kai back, which had no idea, how he was going to jump up there. He took a deep breath, then jumped against the wall and fell back on his feet.

"Uh I might need a little help," Kai spoke, then shrieked as a large pirate captain with a red beard packed Kai and threw him up at the cabin.

"There you go, little man," Spoke the pirate watching Kai land on his butt, then passed his hand there from having get hurt.

"Woah…...well, thank you," Kai said and watched Rollan adjust a rope back into the wheel and followed the rope with his eyes up at the balloon to see nothing more seemed to be off. "What did you do there?"

"You know the rope is supposed to be here, otherwise the wing over there doesn't work," Commented Rollan making Kai nod.

"You…..do know a lot about how the ship works," Commented Kai making Rollan nod.

"Si. Alfida taught me everything," Answered Rollan making Kai nod. Rollan sat down on the edge of the cabin, then Kai looked back at Alfida, which moved her finger down signaling Kai to do the same and he got beside Rollan to look further at the sky. Kai looked back, making a sad face at Alfida, which held her hand beside her mouth to whisper at the boyfriend.

"Just ask him anything. Anything doesn't matter how silly it sounds," The woman said earning a nod from Kai, which looked up at Rollan.

"So…...what are your intentions with Gerda?" Asked Kai hearing a loud clap, then he looked back to see Alfida had facepalmed at his question. Kai frowned at Alfida, which moved her hand trying to help Kai come up with something else.

"By intentions I mean like…...do you want the best for her, financial support, anything?" Kai added, then gave Alfida a thumb up, which responded with two, but a slightly embarrassed facial expression, making Kai smile believing she was convinced.

"I want for her the best. I'm not rich nor am I a king, a famous legend or anything. I'm just Rollan. The guy who fought a lot for her pardon and promised to go through fire for her. Her happiness is what matters the most to me,"

"That's good, 'cause if you break her heart again I will kick your butt," Kai threatened making Rollan wide his eyes surprised, then Kai looked back at Alfida a little confused to see her hold her hand in front of her forehead while shaking her head. "Uh never mind, I have to get some water," Commented Kai getting down the cabin and getting around it, then Rollan looked confused at Alfida, which shrugged her shoulders.

Gerda stood behind the counter reading a book, while Luta lied on the counter sleeping, then Luta raised her head and looked at the door, hearing seconds afterward someone knock on the door. Gerda looked away from her book to see the person didn't open the door like any other customer.

"Come in," Gerda called watching the door get open back and surprise Gerda as she recognized her friend Orm in his simple day outfit. "Orm, what are you doing here?" Asked Gerda surprised and moved away from the counter to receive the troll in her arms.

"How are you doing, Gerda?" Asked Orm making Gerda smile.

"I'm great," Responded Gerda making Orm nod. "You're looking for something here?"

"I'm actually on vacation and thought about seeing you and Kai," Mentioned Orm making Gerda smile. "And per coincidence during my ride here I received a FINK message to hear the Rikki, Tikki and Ravi have vanished once again," Added Orm making Gerda sigh.

"And what happened this time?" Questioned Gerda watching Orm shrug his shoulders.

"That's the hard part. Arrog left along with a few ships and Maribel was baptizing the ships in front of the villagers. My grandma and the babysitter couldn't find the triplets anymore, so there's a chance, that they tagged along with one of the ships. Arrog had happened this once and he returned back. He would always come back when they would hide in there. This time they either got into another ship or vanished mysteriously,"

"That's sad, can I help you look for them?" Questioned Gerda making Orm shrug his shoulders.

"Four eyes see better than two. If you have time, I'd like to have your assistance. We just gotta look for the other troll ships, if none of them have the kids, we're doomed,"
"Don't worry Orm, we will find them, I promise," Gerda said placing her hand on Orm's shoulder to cheer him up. "And Luta's here too,"

"Great and where are Kai and the others?"

"They're all with Alfida traveling to look for a certain treasure near Denmark I think," Responded Gerda. "Kai went along to get to know Rollan better. Now that both will be brother-in-laws at some point, they'll be seeing each other more often," Gerda explained walking towards the door with Orm, then opened the door for him.

"Oh, so you're getting married then?" Asked Orm followed by Gerda closing the door behind them and at the entrance to the crafting room Una stepped out to look at the counter.

"Hey, I tried out a new recipe…...Gerda?" Spoke Una noticing her daughter was absent and saw by the window the daughter walk together with Orm, then she shrugged her shoulders and returned into the room.