Work Text:
"You wanted to see me Vendel?" Nomura walked into the center of the Hearthstone.
"Yes. Did you bring the birth and kill stones?" Vendel approached her, using his staff like a cane. She placed the two stones on his work bench. "Good. They need to be cleaved."
"Cleaved?" She asked, looking up at him. In her human form she was considerably shorter then the goat-like troll.
"Humans cut gemstones to unlock their beauty, trolls cut them to unlock their power." He handed her a hammer and chisel.
She followed his instruction on where to chisel, cutting down the Birth stone.
"Why are you so adamant on collecting the stones trollhunter?"
Nomura shrugged as a piece of the stone broke off. "It seems like a good thing to do. They're needed in order to defeat Gunmar. And eventually I will have to face him, wouldn't I?"
"Not if he remains in the Darklands. Why would you have to face him if he is there?" Vendel pointed along another vein on the stone.
The changeling had no answer to that. Logically if he were to stay in the Darklands sure, she'd never have to face him. But she was never one to sit around idle. She struck the birth stone one final time, causing it to split in two revealing a glowing rock that gave off an odd energy. Vendel picked up the stone with a large pair of pliers and brought her over to a stone wheel, which he caused to spin. He started to polish the stone, causing sparks to fly of which Nomura blocked with a hand.
"If you think it will make the whole of Trollmarket be more agreeable to you being a changeling, I can tell you it wont." Vendel's voice was quiet, almost below the sound of the grinding rock. "No matter what, it is impossible to please everyone. There's always dissidence and disagreements. You think that all of trollmarket agrees with my way of things? You should have seen how it was when my father took over for his." He dropped the now perfectly cleaved birth stone in the vat of water to cool it down. Then handed the **stone to her. "You should learn quick, trollhunter, that even if you did manage to kill Gunmar, there will still be trolls who look down at you."
They began work on the kill stone, Nomura repeating the process of following his guidance in cutting down the green stone to reveal the precious gem within.
"So what do you suggest, Vendel?" She asked, pulling out her amulet at his request.
"Do what you wish, trollhunter, I only offer you this advise. Focus on those who actually appreciate you as our trollhunter. So long as those who oppose you aren't exhibiting Gumm-gumm behavior, let them have their opinion. Place the gems into the amulet."
She placed the gems into slots that opened on the back of the amulet, the amulet reacting to both. She transformed, noting that the armor seemed pretty much the same. "So, what did the stones do?"
Vendel picked up his heartstone staff and headed towards the door. "Who knows what power those stones unlocked? You should give them some practice and see, shouldn't you?"
She nodded and headed towards the door opposite the one he was heading through. "Thank you for the talk, Vendel."
He waived a hand in acknowledgement, before disappearing around the corner.
...
Later, Nomura was within the soothscryer sparing with Kanjigar to test out the abilities of the stones, only problem being was she had yet to figure how to activate their abilities.
"You must concentrate, Trollhunter. The abilities of added minerals do not just reveal themselves of their own volition."
The late trollhunter swung his sword, landing against her wrist, knocking her rapier sword out of her hand, it vanished from existence and out of instinct she held her left arm up to block the next swing of his broadsword, and a shield materialized to protect her face.
"Huh." Was all she could say as she pushed his sword back.
"Well done!" He nodded.
Nomura ran her hand along her hip, wishing she still had her khopesh, regardless of the fact that they were useless to her in the void. As if responding to her will, she found a curved dagger appear in her hand, called from the sides of her skirt. A second appeared from her left hip. She grinned. She vanished the shield, and wielded the daggers in her hands, blade down, ready to fight up close and personal. She crouched, ready to strike. Kanjigar paused, eyeing the twin daggers with a hint of curiosity.
"Those daggers, I once wielded a pair similar to those during the great migration." Nomura rose from her crouch looking at the daggers in her hands, their handle's curving over her hands. "They came in great use when we had to fight back against a hoard of mountain trolls in our way."
Nomura knew she shouldn't have been surprised that Gatto wasn't the only mountain troll; grateful that there didn't seem to be that many these days. "We?"
"Yes, ARRRGGHH, myself and my son," The ghostly trollhunter narrowed his eyes at her at the mention of Draal. He wasn't too keen on the fact that because of her, Draal was trapped in human form. As if she could help what the blasted mountain troll had in his stores? "Vendel had given me a fragment of his heartstone staff for me to place in the amulet to aid in the battle." He looked over the daggers in her hand. "Yes, these seem quite similar. Look at the handles, you can link them together."
She followed his advise and with a flash the daggers seemed to be locked together. "Huh."
"Throw the weapon like you would a discus, if my guess is correct it will return to your hand."
She did just that, the twin dagger weapon acting much like a human boomerang, arching through the air before making it's way back to the hand that she held up to catch in her fingertips. She then split the daggers back into two weapons, spinning them on her fingers. She grinned wildly. This certainly would make fighting more interesting, and fights like her fight against the entirety of a nest of goblins like cake.
"Are you certain you wish to pursue the path you have chosen, Trollhunter?" Kanjigar asked as she let the daggers meld back in to the sides of her skirt.
She looked over at him, thinking for a moment before nodding. "Yes. I mean, I understand its not the best of ideas, and I won't go rushing into the Darklands unless I'm sure that I am ready. But, in the end run, if I can get all three of the stones together, and have the weapon that can kill Gunmar, why sit around and let it waste away?"
"I admire your tenacity, changeling. But you will need to see just how you can fare going forward in the present, before you can plan for the future."
She quirked an eyebrow at him. She hated it when he got all riddles; it was very annoying. Before she could ask what he had meant by that, there was a strange horn in the distance, from out in the real Trollmarket.
"Nomura!" A voice called out, almost echoing, Draal's.
"You should head back now, my son seems most worried about what will come now."
"And just what do you mean by.." She was cut off by the unceremonious shift of being pushed into the forge. "Really wish you wouldn't just do that!" She called out to the statue of Kanjigar, now on it's rightful podium surrounding the arena. She turned to Draal, his braids tied behind his head with a leather strap. Behind him was Blinky and AARRRGGH. "What's going on?" She asked as another horn rang out.
"The tribunal has been summoned." Blinky's voice was grave, which from experience was never a good sign.
"Tribunal?"
"Leaders from troll tribes across the globe." Draal answered.
She nodded, removing the armor and putting the amulet in the pocket of her jeans.
"According to Vendel, they have summoned themselves to meet on an important matter." Blinky continued.
"Which is?"
Blinky's eyes blinked out of sync. "What to do about the fact that the trollhunter is a changeling."