Faded Rainbows

Rock Candy

Barb greeted all her friends and introduced Trollex to them, telling them that he was a new friend she met through the care unit she visited with her dad. They all took to him like a fish to water, if you'll pardon the pun. He felt like he was a rocker right now, not a rock zombie, and not the usual shy Trollex. He could be confident like this; it was a nice change of pace.

As they passed through a busy street, a colorful shop caught his eyes. "Whoa, what does this place sell...?"

She paused, glancing over at the store before grinning widely. "Oh man, I didn't realize we made it to this part yet! Come on, this is the place with the rock candy!" She pushed the wheelchair up the small ramp and into the store, and immediately Trollex was looking around in awe.

There were so many different types of sweets! All of them were colorful, but the ones that caught his eye looked like crystals formed on a wooden stick. "What're these ones...? They look so pretty!"

She leaned over his shoulder, and snickered a bit. "That's their famous rock candy! Here, I'll get you some!" She grabbed two from the display and ran over to the counter, where a rather round looking rock troll was taking out a batch of doughnuts. Barb sighed when she got a whiff of the fresh baked pastries. Even Trollex couldn't help melting a little in his wheelchair.

The portly troll behind the counter seemed to notice their reactions and chuckled a little. "Can I help you two young trolls?" He spotted the candy in Barb's hand and grinned. "That's my best batch yet, are you getting some?"

She nodded, setting the two pieces of candy on the counter. "Yes please! How much do I owe you?"

He looked between Barb and Trollex a moment, then leaned in to whisper to Barb while Trollex was trying to figure out how the cotton candy he spotted worked. "Maybe an explanation? I can tell that isn't a rock troll, but I can't figure it out...! I'm so curious..."

She tapped her chin a moment, then turned to Trollex. "Hey Trollex, wanna show off to candy man here?"

Trollex perked up at that, tilting his head. He spoke through the bandana. "What'cha mean, Barb? Show off what?" When she made a motion to pull down his bandana, he figured it out pretty quick. "As long as he doesn't talk about it, I'd have to get found by Essence..."

She looked back to the chef, who held a hand over his heart. "Promise."

He smiled a little, using his arms to get a bit of a push off the chair, floating up in the air as he pulled down his Bandana, grinning down at the stunned expression on the chef's face. "A Techno troll! After what happened I was afraid I'd never see one of you in my shop again! Have you been up here before? I don't recognize you."

He looked between Barb and the shop owner, tilting his head. "Er, no. I never really get out much until recently." When the other grinned widely and began running to the back of the shop, Trollex looked down at Barb and gave her a quizzical expression.

The young queen just shrugged. "He's almost as old as my dad, and his family has run this shop for forever. He was working already back when Techno trolls would come up occasionally for candy."

The chef appeared once again, carrying two goodie bags with him, each rather large. "Yes! Your tribe used to love coming to my family shop. Since you guys live under water, you can't make candy down there."

Trollex nodded. "Can't really cook down there either, all the tribes I've visited so far have really good cooks! Like Quincy and Trollzart, did you know they cook?"

Barb hummed. "Really? Wouldn't have pegged them for that..."

That seemed to give the chef pause. "Er, Barb, are you talking about the other tribe leaders? Has he met them?"