When King Peppy decided that a clearing a few days away from the burgans was the best place for their new civilization Lily wanted to scream. Their king was an idiot, did he not learn from everything that had happened? Did the lives of all the people they had lost, including his own daughter a few days before, mean nothing to him? She could feel Grandma Rosiepuff's hand on her shoulder and took a deep steading breath with an arm around Branch's little frame. But she did not cheer this decision on the king's part, one of a handful that did not.
Over the following days, weeks, and months they worked to create a village at the spot their king had decided on. First they build a hospital and homes, then a school to keep the children occupied. After that all the business and things that they as trolls needed. As they returned to a civilization and normalcy, the whispers about those who are different started to come back.
There had always been Trolls talking about anyone or anything that was different, no matter how big or small it was. Lily had learned to shut out the whispers, especially after her son River was hatched. Everyone wanted to know who the other parent(s) was/were. They knew that Lily had had at least one partner to have River because self-pregnancies looked exactly like the one parent, and River only had Lily's eye color. Seeing the boys blue skin and turquoise hair they all guessed that it was JD, but the family did not answer any questions about it.
More whispers followed the family in the year after River was getting big enough to spend more time peeking/out of his moms hair. Some tried to sadden Branch by making it seem like he was being replaced to try to get him to leave but Lily was quick to kill that thought (and if those who tried to spread it were found with broken legs nothing could be pinned on her). No one dared question Brozones leaving in Lily's hearing, and no one even thought of raising the theory that Branch was the cause of his family's bad luck anywhere she might be.
Lily had brought Branch home for the day when she went to help Grandma Rosiepuff with the laundry that day. After that she had to leave to go to the doctor so that River could have a checkup on how he was growing. Both Lily and Rosiepuff did not like to bring Branch around the other trolls more than they had to due to the rumors that might spill over onto him. So she left with a hug to both Grandma and Baby Blue before heading out with the promise to be home before dinner.
Three hours later she came back from the doctor and town errands to find a crowd around the base of their family tree. There were whispers of the family curse but Lily pushed her way through to the opening by the roots of the tree where she could see Branch's small frame. But instead of the bright blue trolling she had left earlier he was completely dark and gray. Everyone else was standing back as if afraid to touch him but she knelt down, "Branch?" Seeing him look up at her she opened her arms in silent invitation and he threw himself into her arms, clinging to her as he shook.
"What is she doing, doesn't she know he's cursed?" "How do you turn gray?" "Will we lose Lily too?" "How could she be so stupid as to touch it?"
The mummers of the crowd angered Lily but hearing her Baby Blue be called an 'it' crossed a line. Turning to the crowd, "If you are here to point and gawk, get out." Seeing some shuffle their feet while others looked insulted, "Our Grandma is dead and you are pointing fingers at a trolling," shame was on more faces, "how dare you?" Carrying the shaking child back to their pod Lily flung over her shoulder, "If you're here to watch pain, shows over, now leave."
Shutting the door behind her Lily carried Branch as she grabbed some blankets and they huddled on the couch with the basket of fruits she had gotten at the market she settled in and turned her focus on getting her two boys to eat something. Tomorrow she would start to think of what to do now that Grandma Rosiepuff was gone. As for tonight, just getting Branch to eat was enough of a hurdle for her to deal with.