3 Chapter Three

It was so dark… but he could see something. Branch was standing in blank area that felt forbidden, a void world. The darkness consumed all around him except for the soft glow of a figure standing with him. The light colored troll had no face, no name, and spoke not a word. The stranger seemed solid but clear. Branch reached out towards him and the mystery troll copied the same movement. They locked hands, fingers threading together. His skin felt smooth and warm and it was wonderful. The forbidden, anxious feeling that harbored inside Branch's body melted away and he felt strangely happy for no reason at all. He felt so happy and relieved that he almost wanted to cry. He never wanted to leave this magical troll, but then suddenly there was an immediate force pulling at his back. Their hands were ripped apart and Branch started to panic, reaching out again desperately. He couldn't say anything to stop what was happening, nothing would come from his mouth. The two were quickly spread farther and farther apart until Branch couldn't see the glow troll anymore through the thick black shield.

Branch's gasped, choking his vest with a tight fist, and his eyes snapped open. He stared up at a clear blue sky littered with soft white clouds, mind blanked. It was just a dream… He groaned quietly and blinked the dreamy visions away, gathering his reality again. Sitting up slowly from the grass, Branch rubbed his tired eyes then stretched his arms up and twisted his back. "Mm!.." He felt pretty good, despite staying up so late and falling asleep haphazardly. His nerves had been on edge because of the unfortunate circumstance with Creek, but after getting comfortable on the ground with his book he fell asleep with no problems.

"Oh, that's right," he whispered to himself. Creek was still around. The purple troll hadn't bothered him like he asked so he almost forgot that they were sharing the river site. Branch scanned the banks and trees, confused when he couldn't spot the guru. It wasn't his responsibility to make sure Creek was safe… The troll could take care of himself. Creek came here on his own accord, so Branch shouldn't be worrying. Should he really be wondering about Creek's whereabouts like this?

Branch scuffled to his feet, going to the river to wash the grime of sleep off. He was getting irritated with himself and his inner battles. His heart felt one thing and his mind told another. He came here to get away from the noise of Troll Village but was met with another foe that prevented him from relaxing. The jumble of emotions rolling around inside were confusing, to say the least. There was no clear context for whatever was going on with him.

The grey troll dunked his head into the water and swished his face and hair around in it. It was colder than normal, but that's to be expected since Fall was right around the corner. It would only be a month until the leaves changed color. He pulled his head out and swung his drenched black hair side to side like an animal. Then, he heard a deep chuckle from behind him and it made Branch jolt in surprise.

"Do you wash your hair this way every morning?" Creek asked, amused at the spectacle.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't sneak up on me," Branch grouched, grabbing his sodden hair and wringing out most of the water. He looked up at Creek through the dripping mess and noticed he was carrying a large leaf pouch filled with berries and pieces of sweet root. His stomach growled softly, painfully aware that he hadn't eaten anything since leaving the village. A small blush came and went from Branch's cheeks. He cleared his throat to mask his stomach, just in case, and flipped his hair backwards. The black magical strands resumed their soft position upwards, merely damp now.

"Being unaware of your surroundings is no fault of mine, dear Branch. I'm known to step lightly by many trolls," he said. "But I doubt anyone else in the entire village has witnessed what I just had, so I'll share my breakfast with you. A small token of good will from one troll to another?" Creek tossed the pouch into Branch's hands.

Branch looked at the held offering then back at the purple troll, suspecting something was up. "We both know this is weird and unneeded, why are you REALLY bringing me this? Is it poisoned?? Are the berries laced and you're trying to scheme something? Honestly, Creek. That's insane, I don't have anything that would be of value to you."

Creek barked another laugh and wrapped his arms around his middle. "Oh Brother, you really think I would do something so inconceivable? I'm just showing you a nice gesture. If you keep making me laugh like this I might have to run to a bush before I piss myself!"

Branch rolled his eyes and stood up, shoving the pouch back into Creek's bare chest. "I don't need your good will, alright? I can get food myself. I can probably scavenge better than you can because I've been doing this my entire life. How many pastries and cakes have you had to catch in a claw trap? Too many, I'm sure," Branch said smugly.

"Don't act ignorant, Branch. You know that I live on a diet of vegetation," Creek scoffed. "I don't eat cakes, or pastries, or cupcakes, or any of that awful sugary mess anymore. Just keep it, I already had my fill." Creek forced the food back on Branch and strode away before he could get rid of it again.

"It would be a waste of resources to throw it away, you know! That's the only reason why I'm keeping it," Branch yelled at his back.

"Yes, yes, of course." Creek smirked to himself as he walked away to do start his daily yoga exercises. That pouted lip was almost adorable, he thought.

- - - - - - - -

Back at Troll Village, the party had persisted through the night and it didn't seem like anyone was out of energy. A few known Bergens from Bergen Town showed up that morning, including Bridget and King Grisle Jr. Fresh food was made and more glitter was thrown in their faces during the extreme welcome montage. Grisle grimaced and wiped the flecks from his face, but endured the troll's happiness because Bridget seemed to be having fun with it. He was personally interested in the party favors and games that they were going to play. They never had anything new or fun back in Bergen Town.

"Welcome to the Troll Treeeee!" Guy Diamond sang for their guests. The silver glitter troll ushered Bridget and Grisle inward to the village for the grand tour. He pointed at all the tree pod houses and the small tables and chairs and bouncy mushroom pads where they played Squish Ball. Everything was extremely tiny compared to the Bergens, of course. They resorted to tip-toeing through the village but didn't mind taking in the sights of the troll civilization. Guy lured them around the tree for the third time before Bridget stopped him a moment.

"Uhm, where's Poppy?" she asked Guy, concerned.

"Oh? Uh," Guy looked around and shrugged. "She will be back soon, probably. Not to worry! You know how Poppy is. Always out there doing things for others."

- - - - - - - -

"BRANCH! BRANCH! HELLO?!" Poppy banged violently for the twentieth time on the entrance hatch of Branch's bunker. She huffed and paced in a circle with her hands on her hips, glaring at the fat metal padlock on the door. Smidge, her yellow right-hand friend, examined the padlock and shook her head.

"Oh my God. It's definitely locked," Smidge said matter-of-factually.

"I don't understand, why would he lock me out?" Poppy cried, pulling on the padlock with both hands. "Arrghh! Branch! You have to be in here, I've looked everywhere else! Just COME OUT NOW!"

"Maybe he's taking a nap?" Smidge said.

"Or MAYBE he's sleeping," Cooper said, butting in to the conversation out of nowhere.

Poppy rolled her eyes dramatically and pushed Cooper's face out of the way. "Seriously, guys. We don't have time for this. He's never locked me out before. Branch is missing the best party of the year! He's gotta have fun with us eventually. I even gave him the invitation!" She pulled at the lock some more and growled in frustration, then went to biting the metal with her teeth with abnormal savagery.

"Poppy, Poppy! Calm down!" Smidge dragged her off the door and held her back. "You know Branch better than the rest of us. He never comes to our parties, do you really think he'd come to this one?"

Poppy sighed and folded her arms. "I know... You're right. I just thought it would be better to try and get him out finally. That guy is wound tighter than a rubber band ball. I was so sure that he was going to come this time." She pulled out her schedule book from inside her pink hair and flipped through it. "Looks while we'll have to come back later. We have to start setting up the firework display for tomrrow. I really don't want to let Bridget down."

Cooper bounced up and down with a large toothy smile, "Yeah! I love fireworks, lets go!" The three of them left Branch's home, Poppy looking back over her shoulder with a disappointed frown.

- - - - - - - -

The tranquility of the forest gave ultimate peace of mind. Creek leaned forward slowly and reached with outstretched fingers. The flying fuzzy bugs were at play and nipped at the bubbles on the surface of the stream. Nature was good and pure today, the positive energy was abundant. Creek breathed deeply and settled into his balasana yoga pose, resting his forehead on the ground and laying his arms above him. He felt warm, as though he were bowing to Mother Destiny herself. Branch was just a dozen feet away, scribbling in his leather-bound journal and gnawing on a small gift of sweet root. The scratching of his writing utensil was sneaking into Creek's ears, trying to invade and get his attention. No matter where Creek decided to position himself in the enclosure, Branch was sure to be close by and he was curious if it was intentional.

The two trolls had gone back to not speaking a word to each other for hours. It seemed to be going well, but Creek still wanted to pry into the gloomy troll's mind. It nagged at him continuously and he just had to get to the bottom of the secrets of Branch and what changed over the years. Thinking about the grey troll again for the umpteenth time, Creek peeked over at him from his downward position. Branch was glancing at him too and they locked eyes for half a second before Branch tried to pretend like that didn't just happen.

Creek smiled slightly and started to sing, "I always feel like somebody's watching me,

and I have no privacy."

Branch stiffened and Creek watched him grip his pencil, the writing barred like the singing was a sudden onslaught of war. The purple troll changed positions in his stretch and sat up, raising his arms up high with his long hair.

"Woah-oh, I always feel like somebody's watching me. Tell me is it just a dream?" he continued innocently, looking up into the sky.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Branch said with obvious displeasure.

"Join me in some yoga."

"I'd rather die than listen to– wait, what?" Branch looked at him and balked. "You want me to do yoga? That's laughable."

"It's easy, you know. You don't have to be scared." Creek knew he was pushing Branch's buttons with that comment. He was too stubborn and wouldn't back down easily from a challenge. He didn't know if he actually wanted Branch to do yoga with him, or if he just wanted to see if Branch would do it at all. The outcome could be interesting.

"No one is scared of yoga, Creek. It's just weird." The corner of Branch's mouth twitched and he fiddled with his pencil. "I'm not cut out for something like that anyway," he added quietly.

That gloomy, depressed response rubbed the purple troll the wrong way and he wasn't going to let it slide. "Yes, you are! You won't know if you don't try it," he said. With a swift movement, Creek jumped up and swung out his teal colored hair and wrapped Branch around the shoulders and chest, dragging him on the ground to his position.

"What the fuck?!" Branch yelled, struggling against the hold and trying to dislodge himself with his own hair but to no avail. "I'm NOT doing yoga! I don't even know how!"

"Language, Branch. Don't fight it. Just be a good troll and let me show you some moves!" Creek grunted, grappling Branch into the ground with a supreme force. He flipped him onto his stomach, his hair split down the middle and wrapped around each of his wrists for extra measure.

"If this is your way of teaching yoga then I highly disagree!" Branch growled, pulling at the teal hair and clawing desperately at the ground to get away.

"If you would stop fighting, oof.. the inevitable, this wouldn't be so unpleasant," Creek huffed, moving his hands around the grey troll's waist and squeezing him tight. Branch stopped his strugglefor a momentand shivered, face pressing into the ground. Words were lost to him as his body suddenly caught fire. Creek lifted an eyebrow at the change in demeanor but didn't let the troll go. "First," he started. "We will find your body's alignment, so up you go." Creek pulled Branch's hips up so that he was standing on his hands and knees.

The grey troll's arms trembled as he stared at the dirt, unsure if he should try to fight again or let Creek continue to control him like a doll. "Just relax, Branch. I'm going to let you go now… so don't move." Creek released the hair confining Branch's wrists and went to fixing the yoga position to perfection. "Palms spread wide… Arms straight." Creek placed his hand at Branch's core and pressed upwards to help straighten his back. Branch's entire body flinched but he felt immobilized. "Breathe now, deep inhale and exhale. Connect with the energy of Mother Earth. Create that solid foundation with her and feel it with your entire being." Creek kept one hand on his stomach and the other went to his thigh, applying directive force to help the position. "Don't slouch your form. Keep your mind over your heart, heart over your pelvis, in perfect alignment," he said, his voice getting softer with every commandment.

This was the scariest thing Branch has done in his life and he couldn't fight it. The instant Creek used such dominant force over him its like Branch didn't know how to fend for himself. He felt awkward. He felt ridiculous. He felt totally lost of power and he was letting Creek touch his body in ways that no other troll has ever touched him. His heart was slamming in his chest, blood throbbing in his ears. His whole face was burning hot with a blush that wouldn't cease. How is this happening right now, he thought.

"Breathe deeply now, Branch, and hold in the flowing positive vibes," Creek whispered to him.

Branch inhaled slowly and closed his eyes, trying to calm his insane heart beats. Positive vibes, he thought. Even if Creek claimed to be enlightened with this sort of thing, Branch didn't even know what positive vibes were supposed to feel like. What was yoga, anyway? Was this some sort of work out routine or something a crazy purple troll made up in his head? It would make more sense if it were the latter. He felt like he was throwing away his pride with this nonsense.

After many adjustments and different, awkward poses, Branch finally collapsed on the ground with a pant and held up his hand. "Please, I can't do it any more. This is exhausting."

Creek nodded and helped Branch up to his feet. His knees shook slightly but his body didn't feel incredibly awful after the routine. He actually felt somewhat refreshed. Tired for sure, but almost energized. Creek held his elbow for support until the grey troll felt solid, then released him. "Namaste," Creek said gently, palms pressed together. The guru bowed slightly and smiled at him. "Thank you for trying it out. I knew you could do it," he added. "Easy, wasn't it?"

Branch felt flushed all over again and turned his face away, "That was the first and the last time I'm ever doing yoga with you," he said stubbornly.

Creek laughed and slapped Branch on the back. "We will see in the near future, my friend."