Falling for a King (Revision)

Chapter 5

"Ready to meet the other leaders?" Poppy questioned, noticing the party had started to come to an end.

Ash frowned, while Star nodded. Meeting a lot of random leaders is something she should've been mentally preparing herself for. It would be awkward enough to meet a lot of leaders in their world, but meeting leaders of an entirely new world? She felt sick just thinking about it.

Poppy had already called for them to have a short meeting after the party anyway, so she didn't have much choice. So, she took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself, and quietly followed Poppy towards the meeting pod.

The humans stood awkwardly in front of the leaders of the troll kingdom, unsure who should speak first. In their world, depending on the leaders, they'd have to follow specific protocols when approaching kings, queens, or other types of leaders. Nobody was speaking. Instead, the new trolls stared at Ash and Star—all of them besides Poppy, Branch, and King Trollex. The Techno King did look curious but not staring uncomfortably. Ash silently thanked god that she and Star had already met him and spoke. Three trolls not staring at them intensely made it slightly more bearable.

While Ash tried to avoid eye contact with the leaders they were meeting for the first time, Star stood and unbashfully stared back. She couldn't help it; most of these trolls were utterly different than the Pop trolls they'd met. Also, the leaders were staring just as intensely at her and Ash. So, she felt unbothered to stare back like they stared at her. Two of them even looked untrusting and judging. Her eyes trailed over the country and rock leaders.

Star noticed Ash and Branch looking at each other out of the corner of her eye. He looked to be struggling to find a way to help keep the leaders from making Ash and Star uncomfortable. They just needed to sit around and have a respectful conversation.

"Humans?" The country troll raised her brow; her tone sounded like she was trying to call bullshit.

Ash fought back a scoff. So, not even an introduction? You'd think they'd at least let her and Star introduce themselves and then return the introductions. Her tone didn't make sense; distrust was understandable, but she sounded like she felt they were lying. Ash finally turned her head to look at that troll, who looked like a mayor of some old Western movie. "Yes. Humans."

Before Mayor Delta could grill the humans and maybe keep Ash from snapping. Branch quickly came to the rescue. "Let's do a quick formal introduction, and we'll plan to meet tomorrow. We all have questions, including Ash and Star. Let's just quickly introduce ourselves, then go back to our pods, think of any questions you have, and let's meet, say, two o'clock tomorrow?"

Poppy stepped in to introduce Ash and Star, then waited patiently for the other leaders to introduce themselves to the humans.

First, the funk Queen stepped forward, smiling warmly at the humans. Introducing herself as Queen Essence and her husband, King Quincy, who looked just as kind. Ash slightly lowered her head in a respectful manner. They looked the most like royalty.

Next was the classical leader, who introduced himself as the conductor Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart. Kindly sharing the humans could call him Trollzart.

"Mayor Delta. Country troll." She lowered her hat as a greeting.

Lastly, the grey troll with a red mohawk, obviously the rock troll. "Queen Barb. You like rock music?" She questioned, still looking untrusting.

Star shrugged, "Honestly, I prefer Pop."

"I love rock," Ash spoke honestly.

Queen Barb slowly stepped forward, expression blank, standing so close to Ash she could feel the queen's breath on her face. Ash tensed, fighting the temptation to shove the queen away from her, not wanting to start a fight, being too exhausted from the nonstop partying. The queen's expression morphed into a grin. "I like you!" She claimed while punching Ash's shoulder.