Poppy was too sad to go home that night, so she fell asleep on the cold forest floor. The following morning, she awoke to a sound she never heard before. Poppy opened her eyes to find a big, blue spider trotting towards her! She tried to run, but ended up tripping on a sharp rock and cutting her leg. She tried to get back up, but her leg hurt too much and the spider was suddenly standing above her. He lowered his head down to her face and bit off... one of the flowers on her hair band.

The young princess was confused. What kind of spider ate flowers instead of Trolls? At that moment, Poppy noticed someone Troll-sized and in shining armor dismounting themselves from the spider's back. The Troll removed their helmet and Poppy saw a friendly purple face with messy hair and aquamarine eyes.

“Hi, new friend! My name's Lavender!" she greeted cheerfully.

“Oh, hello," Poppy said in relief. “I thought that– Ow!"

“Ooh, that leg looks bad," Lavender pointed out, pulling out a first-aid box. “Good thing I always bring this with me. Now, hold still."

“Um, aren't you afraid of that spider eating us?" Poppy asked nervously as Lavender rubbed disinfectant on her wound. The spider just went to munch on a patch of grass.

“Who, Mister Bubbles? He's just a saddle spider," Lavender explained, wrapping gauze around her ankle. “They only eat plants. The only problem is they're difficult to tame, but we Pop Trolls of Ornery Grove are equally stubborn."

“Ornery Grove? Where's that?" Poppy wondered.

“On the other side of Rapid River. It's a five day trip on spiderback."

“Yo, Poppy! Where are you?" a voice called out, and out from the bushes emerged a mud-colored Troll with a red mohawk and a large chunk of her ear ripped off.

“Hard Rock Troll!" Lavender screamed in terror. She curled up into a fetal position and made a dark green dome with her hair. Poppy just decided to ignore her.

“Barb, what are you doing here?" she asked the Hard Rock Troll.

“Your dad called for an emergency meeting with all the other leaders," she answered, helping the Pop princess up. “Val told me about that kid. I'm really sorry."

“I don't know what to do, Barb," Poppy admitted. “Nothing is working. Not even the Trolls from the other tribes have been able to do much."

“We'll figure something out, Popsqueak," Barb tried to reassure her. “Come on. Let's get you back to the village."

“Just give me a minute," Poppy said, and stumbled to the hair dome. She pushed some of Lavender's hair open and stepped inside.

“So, your name's Poppy?"

“Yes, I'm Poppy," she answered. “It's safe to come out, you know."

Lavender peeked through her hair to see Barb tapping her foot with her arms crossed.

“No, it's not," she argued. “That Hard Rock Troll's still out there."

“Oh, that's just Queen Barb," Poppy assured her. “She's my best friend."

“Best friend?!" Lavender exclaimed. “Are you crazy? Don't you know that Hard Rock Trolls can steal your luminescence?"

“Pfft, you sound just like my boyfriend when we first met them," Poppy laughed, pulling her out of the dome. “Don't worry, Barb's not gonna steal anyone's... What did you call it?"

“Luminescence," Lavender repeated, shaking her hair back to normal. “It's sorta like your sparkle. Yours is... turquoise! And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!"

“Cool!" Poppy said. “Barb, this is Lavender. She says she's from a place called Ornery Grove."

“Wassup?" Barb greeted, holding her hand out. Lavender just grabbed one her fingers and shook it.

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“Let me get this straight," Lavender said as the three of them headed for the meeting pod. “You got everyone to make friends with Trolls from other tribes even though they're bad news?"

“They're not bad news," Poppy reassured her. “Odds are, everything you heard was just an assumption."

“And we all assumed that Pop Trolls were silly, empty-headed pipsqueaks," Barb added. “What I'd like to know is what's a second kingdom of Pop Trolls doing on the other side of Rapid River cut off from the rest of the Troll world?"

“Oh, well, we used to live here with the rest of the Pop Trolls," Lavender explained. “But that was many, many, many winters ago. Then, during a pillow harvest, one pillow chose two Trolls and a huge pillow fight broke out. Eventually, the Trolls on one side stole the pillow and ran into the forest and swam across Rapid River. Unfortunately, some guy ruined the pillow and they were too embarrassed to go back to Pop Village. Or did they just get lost? I told you, it all happened a long time ago."

“Poppy, did you know about any of this?" Barb asked.

“No, I didn't," she admitted as they went inside. The other leaders looked over at them curiously.

“Poppy, where were you last night?" King Peppy asked sternly. “You had me worried sick! What happened to your leg?"

“Never mind that," Poppy said with a look of suspicion. “How come you never told me there was a separate kingdom of Pop Trolls on the south side of the river?"

Peppy's eyes widened and he said, “What?! There are no Pop Trolls on the other side of any river! Where would you get such an–"

Before the old king could finish his sentence, Poppy and Barb stepped aside to reveal Lavender right behind him. As the other leaders whispered to each other, King Peppy could only stare in shock.

“Do north Pop Trolls like staring contests?" Lavender asked and gazed into his eyes for as long as she could. “Ah! You win. I blinked."

“Might we ask your name, Miss?" Trollzart asked politely.

“Princess Lavender," she answered.

Delta Dawn nodded. “And where are you from, sugar?"

“Ornery Grove. I live there with my mom and my big brother."

“Well, they're lucky to have you," said King Quincy.

“Can we return to the task at hand?" King Peppy asked everyone. “Poppy, make sure you're new friend gets home safely and that she never comes back."

“But, Dad, you're not telling me anything!"

“I'm sorry, darling," Queen Essence apologized, “but we need to discuss your kingdom's predator problem right now."

“Oh, that's actually why I'm here!" Lavender perked up. “You need my kingdom's help and we need yours."

“What sort of help?" Barb wondered.

“Ever since the Great Hatching, we've been running low on fruits and veggies," Lavender explained. “Two months ago, my mom got a letter from King Peppy saying he'd give anything for our help with the spiders and birds and snakes. She thought about reuniting our kingdoms, but her subjects aren't exactly the trusting type so we decided that the best way to get them to trust you guys was for his daughter and my brother to–"

“That's enough!" King Peppy scolded, covering her mouth. “We don't need your help!"

“For them– For them to joi–" Peppy did his best to stop her, but the words slipped out of Lavender's mouth. “We want Poppy to marry our prince!"

Poppy was confused. She had to get married to a total stranger?

“The answer is no," King Peppy replied. “My daughter has a suitor and she'll only marry for love."

“Well, you could've just wrote us back that," Lavender pointed out. “No need to make us worry over the past month."

“Month?!" Poppy exclaimed. “You knew about all this for a month and you never told me?!"

King Peppy sighed in defeat. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I need a moment alone with my daughter."

Once Poppy and Peppy left the room, Lavender began sniffing King Trollex's hair.

“Uh, what are you doing?" he asked nervously.

“You don't smell," she replied.

“Oh, thanks! Wait, what do you mean?"

“I was told you Techno Trolls smelled like dead herring, but you do not."

Trollex raised his unibrow. “What else have you been told about Techno Trolls?"

“Only that you're clumsy and not the brightest glowflies in the forest," Lavender answered.

“Nice," Trollex said sarcastically.

“Nope. Just those three."

“At least she doesn't think you're brutes," Barb whispered to him.

In the other room, Peppy tried his best to explain the situation to his daughter.

“You don't understand," he explained. “I want to unite the north and southern Pop kingdoms as much as anyone else here, but it's not worth you losing your hopes, your dreams, your future with Creek."

“But Dad..." Poppy cried, thinking about Sundance, “if they run out of food, they'll starve. And if more of us get eaten, we may not ever recover. This is my only chance to help all Pop Trolls. If I don't take it... none of us will have a future."

King Peppy hugged his daughter and softly said, “Now, you're thinking like a leader."

“I had a pretty good teacher."

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Later that day, Lavender fed Mister Bubbles a small piece of fruit and filled up his saddlebags with enough supplies to last the trip home. Just when she was about to saddle him up, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Poppy standing behind her with a purple suitcase covered in cute stickers.

“I'll do it," she said. “But first, I want to meet him."

Don't expect chapter three to come as quickly as this one.

Until next time. 🌈