Work Text:
The library was so quiet.
And dark. Except for a few glowing crystals which gave a warm, soothing light. The quiet and calming light of the crystals installed on some bookshelves really soothed Grace down as she stood in the room filled with thousands of books.
She thought that perhaps after moving from her previous house the nightmares would stop, but clearly they didn't. Thankfully, she had that particular nightmare a few times already, so she was used to it. She didn't even cry. However she did feel unsettled.
The visions of her stepmother, father and sister were still very vivid in her mind as she reached for a bottle of water from a desk. Grace unscrewed the cap and took a few big gulps.
She put the almost empty bottle down.
Living in a library was like a dream come true to the teen. She felt welcome here. She felt like she found her place. She didn't use to feel like that in her old house. It wasn't a home- just a house.
It was kind of ironic how she prefered to live here, in an underground city full of literal trolls rather than in her own house in Arcadia.
Although life in Heartstone Trollmarket wasn't easy when you were a teenage human girl. There weren't much food she could eat here. Nor could she keep much human food here-only things that didn't require being kept in a fridge. Plus there weren't a shower or electricity to load her phone.
Of course, there was a tunnel built specifically for her, going directly from Blinky's library to her house, but she was doing her best to come up there only when it was necessary.
She hated being in that house on her own.
The memories from the nightmare invaded her mind again, creating a sharp headache.
Grace was shaking. And although she was used to nightmares, her eyes were watery.
A groan and shaky sigh escaped her lips.
"What are doing up at this hour, Grace?"
Suddenly a familiar, deep and smooth voice rang behind her. And even though she knew who it was, she was still startled; especially because she was still trembling from her nightmare.
She yelped and turned around to find a six eyed, four armed troll with blueish stone for skin.
"Oh" she said quietly. "Hey Blinky."
He smiled sheepishly and put his top right hand on her shoulder.
"My apologies for scaring you."
"No worries" Grace responded, her voice less shaky now that she wasn't alone in the room. "You just startled me is all. And answering your previous question, I had a nightmare and needed something to drink."
She put her much smaller, soft hand on his on her shoulder and patted his palm gently.
Blinky's eyes widened, all six of them. Then his brows furrowed.
"Ah" he said. "I see. Might I ask what the nightmare was about? If you're comfortable sharing it, that is."
Grace didn't know. On one hand, she desperately needed to share her night terrors with someone. And yet, on the other hand she didn't quite feel ready to do that yet.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Blinky. She did. He was the kind of person that you trust immediately, wholeheartedly. He was a person who would never in a million years betray you. It was nearly impossible not to trust this troll.
"I don't think I'm ready for that" she smiled apologetically. "Yet."
The troll nodded his head in understanding and patted her on the shoulder. Then he stopped touching her shoulder. Grace immediately wished he wouldn't.
"I understand" Blinky sent a warm smile. "May I be of help in any other way?"
Grace wanted to cry. From happiness this time. He was probably the first person that cared about her that much. She had only known Blinky for a few days or so, but she could already tell that he was the kindest troll on the planet. Probably even the kindest person in the universe. He had a huge heart of gold. He cared about her, Toby and Jim wanting almost nothing in return. It was so rare with humans. But then again, Blinky wasn't a human.
Grace finally looked the troll in the eyes. It was at that moment that she realized that yes, he could help her recover from the nightmare another way.
His presence alone seemed to soothe her. But at that moment she craved the closeness that only touch could provide.
"A hug would be nice" she suggested with a smile.
The troll immediately obliged, opening all his four arms.
The teen didn't wait a second before lounging in the Blinky's arms.
She hugged him tight with her arms on his back, while the troll embraced her with both sets of his arms, as tightly as he could without hurting the teen with his strength.
She inhaled his scent. It was a mixture of moss, stone and musk, surprisingly pleasant. There was also a hint of smell of the old books filling his library.
Hugging trolls was weird. Grace thought the hug wouldn't be very comfortable because of Blinky's stone skin, but his skin was warm and although quite rough and hard on the surface, it was kind of squishy underneath.
God, she could stay like this for hours. In that moment a realization came; that tight, long hug was exactly what she needed.
A relieved and content sigh escaped her lips.
Grace appreciated how despite the hug lasting for a few minutes now, Blinky didn't let go even for a second. He was waiting for the teen to break the embrace when she was ready.
Finally Grace slowly let go of the troll. She was looking him directly in his six eyes. In them she saw warmth, care and worry. In return, she hoped her eyes reflected the overflowing gratitude she was feeling.
"Thank you" her whisper was very delicate, barely hearable. But in that whisper Blinky heard all the feelings she felt at that moment and how thankful she was for the comfort he brought to her.
Blinky was astounded. A simple hug, and yet it seemed it changed everything for that young girl.
"Did I wake you up?" asked the teen suddenly.
"No, of course not Grace" Blinky immediately reassured her. "We trolls don't need that much sleep, contrary to your species. I was just reading a book in the other room."
Grace nodded.
"Will you try to go back to sleep?" asked the troll gently.
"I don't think so" Grace shook her head, making her quite short, wavy hair flow around. "I feel quite well rested. Besides, in a half an hour I planned to get up anyway."
She looked around the library once more, inhaling the scent of old tomes and smiled slightly.
"I think I will just read a book here." she finished.
Of course by that she meant her own book, one of the many she had brought to Blinky's library from her house. Blinky had many different and interesting books, but most of them were written in trollish. The troll was teaching her his native language and kept praising her for her fast progress, but Grace wasn't good enough yet to read a book in trollish and understand everything written there.
Blinky nodded his head.
"Of course. I wish you a pleasant reading then." The blue troll started to make way towards the door to his bedroom-cave, but immediately stopped hearing quiet and unsure voice of the human teenager.
"Actually, um... Could you maybe stay and we read together?"
The six-eyed troll turned around back to Grace. She was standing next to the wooden table, obviously trying to look like didn't care what his answer would be. But altough Blinky's sight wasn't that great recently, he saw her nervous tracing around the hard, colourful cover of the book she was tightly holding against her chest. Also the teen refused to meet his eyes.
"Well, I see no objections to it." The troll aswered happily.
Grace had no idea how much joy it brought to him; knowing that someone other than AAARRRGGHH!!! appreciated and wanted his presence so much. It was something new. Most of the time other trolls at Trollmarket were annoyed by his constant chattering and his love for conspiracy theories. He knew that residents of Trollmarket probably looked down on him because of that, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Of course things started to change slightly recently because of the Trollhunter he was teaching (and because this one didn't die the first day), but Blinky still felt like there were very few trolls who truly respected him.
"Just let me go fetch my book." Blinky added and quickly went into his room.
Grace sat behind the old, wooden table, tracing it gently and setting her book on it. She opened it on the page she finished last time, but didn't start reading. The teen was waiting for Blinky to come to start reading. The teen could her the troll's mumbling in the other room. She smiled slightly; he clearly had trouble choosing the book. Grace could relate to that, she too always had that problem. There were just too many books that needed to be read and it was often hard choosing just one at a time.
Finally, Grace heard the sound of the troll's heavy but somehow soft footsteps as he emerged from his room with a huge book with brown, leather cover. Blinky sat down beside her and put the book gently on the table.
He must have seen the curiosity with which the teen was looking at his huge tome.
"This old tome consists of all information that is known about fairies and pixies" Blinky said, opening the book and showing Grace some beautiful, detailed illustrations on the old, yellow pages. "It also tells the whole tale about how the war beetween them established, as well as all stages of said war."
"A war?" Grace furrowed her brows in concern. "And how did that war end?"
"With complete extermination of fairies."
The teen winced. "That is horrible."
Blinky patted her on the shoulder with his a bit heavy stone hand. "Such is the way of life, unfortunately. Pixies are very nasty and aggravating creatures. Let us pray that we never have to encounter them."
Grace nodded her head absentmindedly.
"Well, my book is about norse mythology" she said. "I find it quite interesing, even more than greek mythology, which is overrated by the way. It also, as you probably know, has trolls in it."
"Ah yes, it does. Norse myths actually managed to present us trolls more accurately than most of the other sources" Blinky responded.
The teen smiled to herself. Blinky was so wise and intelligent. She could talk to him about any topic and it would always be an interesting conversation or discussion. Also, talking about not really important things and facts like this really helped to cure her anxiety after the nightmare. Usually she wasn't an anxious person; to the others she may have seemed quiet and reserved, but Grace was actually quite talkative and outgoing. It was just those horrible dreams and memories of her, as she liked to call it, "past life" that sometimes caused the teen's anxious and more quiet behaviour.
"Well, good reading then" Grace said, smiling at the troll, who returned the smile and patted her very gently on the head.
"Good reading to you as well" he replied.
Then they both; a human girl and six-eyed, four-armed, big stone creature began reading their books.
The crystals placed on the table gave the light needed to read the pages, while the rest of the glowing crystals were still quietly buzzing and calmingly pulsing with with light. It was so peaceful and silent. But it was a good silence now. And even though neither Grace nor Blinky said a word despite all the time they spent on reading beside each other, the teen felt perfectly safe and relaxed. It wasn't an awkward silence; it was a silence between two people who don't need words to spend good time together. Grace loved the feeling of just being with somebody in stillness; it was so comforting.
The teen sighed very quietly in content. Blinky looked at her and smiled knowingly; she didn't know how and why it was a knowing smile, but it certainly was one.
She returned the smile and then they went back to reading in comfortable silence.