A Quetz with Trolls

Quest

Calibri woke in the middle of the night. She gathered something that she might need for a long journey before stealthily making her way into Branch's bunker. She left a note and one of her feathers before leaving. 

She flew above the village and away from the home she has made. "I'm sorry guys. This is something I need to do on my own." 

Calibri flew until morning, seeing one of the troll tribes was already taken by Barb and her cousin. Everything was burnt and destroyed, ash and smoke in the air. 

"Prima, realmente te has descarrilado." 

She flew further, gliding over the country trolls and soon stopping to rest near a river at the bottom of a canyon. 

Calibri drank some water and splashed water on her face, cooling down from the hot desert sun. 

The woman took a deep breath, before her sharp sound pierced her ears. It was screaming, her friends screaming. 

Splash! Four trolls landed in the water in front of her. 

Out swam Poppy, Branch, and Biggy with Mr. Dinkles. Branch was the first to look up and see Calibri. 

"Calibri?!" 

"What are you all doing here?! I specifically said in my note, that I needed to do this by myself." Poppy then hugged the feathered woman. "But you can't do this by yourself!" 

"Yah! There you are! Whew! I think we lost them." The last troll was a country music troll, her shook himself off and Poppy let Calibri go.

Poppy smiled at the new troll. "Thank you. I don't know how to repay you. Oh, wait, yes I do." She reached behind her back and pulled out, "Gumdrops!" 

The country troll seemed confused. "Gum-what?" He took the candy anyway and ate one. "Oh, well thank you. Whew, that's got a zing, don't it?" 

Branch then took the candy. "It's not candy time. It's question time." But the serious moment was interrupted by the hug watches going off. 

"Hug time." Poppy and Biggy pulled Branch and the new troll into a group hug as Calibri stayed in her own world. 

She was so out of it that she didn't hear Branch come up to her. "Calibri, Hickory built a raft. We're going to find the Funk Trolls; I-we want you to come." 

Branch held her hand as she started to walk towards the raft silently. 

Calibri took the first shift in steering since it'd give her a chance to be alone for a little while. She wanted to keep her friends safe, not get them involved with her problems. Especially if it involves her cousin. 

"Cali?" The woman turned to look at Poppy, who was holding a plate with a sandwich. "It's PeanutButter and Strawberry Jelly, but you need to eat something." 

"Thank you, Poppy." Calibri took the sandwich and took a bite. "Are you okay? Branch is pretty concerned about you, started when you left that note." 

The feathered woman shielded herself with her wings. "Poppy, baby girl. Please, I want to be alone for a little bit." 

Poppy did listen as she gathered some stay sticks and went back down to the lower part of the raft. 

Calibri sighed and started to sing, as she tapped her taloned foot to the beat. "Hell raising, hair raising. I'm ready for the worst. Soul frightening, face whitening. Fear that you can't reverse.~"

This kind of song was new to the trolls, but this is how she presented her feelings. "My phone has no signal. It's makin' my skin crawl. The silence is so loud. The lights spark and flicker. With monsters much bigger. Than I can control now. Welcome to the panic room. Where all your darkest fears are gonna. Come for you, come for you. Welcome to the panic room. You'll know I wasn't joking. When you see them too, see them too. Welcome to the panic room.~"

Branch listened closely to the lyrics carefully. This was her way of confessing she's scared to them, and he made sure to pay close attention. 

"Still waiting, hands shaking. Maybe the coast will clear. But these voices, these strange noises. They followed me in here. My phone has no signal. It's makin' my skin crawl. The silence is so loud. The lights spark and flicker. With monsters much bigger. Than I can control now. Welcome to the panic room. Where all your darkest fears are gonna. Come for you, come for you. Welcome to the panic room. You'll know I wasn't joking. When you see them too, see them too. Welcome to the panic room.~"

Calibri paused before continuing, letting it all out. "There's no cryin' wolves now. 'Cause the truth has settled in. Hiding under goose down. For your nightmare to begin. There's no cryin' wolves now.~" 

"She sounds so scared. Cali is never scared is she, Mr. Dinkles?" Biggy watched as the woman narrowed her eyes and sang towards the sky. 

"Welcome to the panic room! Where all your darkest fears are gonna! Come for you, come for you! Welcome to the panic room! You'll know I wasn't joking! When you see them too, see them too! Hell raising, hair raising. I'm ready for the worst.~"

At the end of the song, Calibri took a breath and let it out. She hoped that her message would get through to her cousin, promising her even if she was to die again, she'd bring Wren with her for a second time. 

Hickory tipped his hat upward. "Is she normally like this?" 

Biggy shook his head. "No, not really." 

Strange music then filled the air, jazz music. Calibri turned to see a troll with a clarinet rise out of the water and float towards the raft. 

Before he could fully hypnotize everyone, the feathered woman landed in front of him and smacked the troll off the raft and back into the water. She snarled as his head popped out of the water, and this seemed to scare him off. 

Calibri then saw Hickory come out of hiding and pull gumdrops out of his ears and then eat them. "Hermano, don't ever do that again." 

Hickory shrugged. "Sorry, they're soundproof, and delicious." 

Poppy asked Hickory about who that troll was. "Who was that?" 

Calibri didn't like the answer. "One of the many bounty hunters out there looking for you."

Biggy was the first to stand up. "That was awful. So, smooth and easy and awful!" 

Calibri patted Biggy's shoulder in comfort. "Easy, Biggy. Smooth jazz is like that, my dad used to play it every time me and my siblings went to bed. Thinking it'll 'set the mood' for him and my mom." 

Hickory seemed to agree. "I know, big buddy. It's enough to put you off smooth jazz altogether." 

"Alright, that's it! We need to go home!" Poppy tried to calm Biggy down. "Biggy, it'll be okay." 

"Stop saying that and listen to me! You only hear what you want to hear, and it puts us all in danger. How are you supposed to save the world, if you can't even keep us safe?!" 

Biggy was right. "You made a pinky promise to me, Queen Poppy. And you broke it." 

Calibri flapped her wings and shook her head as she stepped away from everyone. Looking at the water before raising her wings slowly. 

"I left because I didn't want to put you all in danger. But I can see how relentless Barb and my cousin are being, I'm going to end this, for good." 

"Calibri? What are you doing?" 

"Te amo, mi familia." With that the woman took off and flew into the night. 

"Cali."