When I realized my father was gone, I felt strange - I didn’t want to be alone. It’s not like I could even talk to anyone anyway because even with my father gone, the entire village seemed to be in a frenzy. Younglings my age and younger were gathered in groups though some seemed entirely lost and mumbled to themselves, but none of the adults who were still around us paid any attention. Probably because their heavy feet kicked up so much dirt, anyone who was shorter than the dirt clouds wouldn’t be able to see.

It’s not my problem though so I ignore them wandering. While I probably should stay with the other younglings, instead, I wanted to find my father first. I wanted to tell him what the new shaman said - I don’t have to do those stupid rituals anymore! I don’t like doing these things - as far as I know, I’m a normal troll. Yaci is only a couple of years older than I am and she treats me like any other troll sibling and I treat her the same. There’s nothing different about me other than the star on my belly button.

As I tried to make my way through the crowds and dust, I realized I started to trip over my feet as I got closer to more adult trolls looking for Matuna. I’ve heard of Matuna before; he’s the chief’s son. My parents don’t talk about the chief around me or Yaci but my friends around the village talk about him like he had a disease or something.

“Matuna is so weird - he doesn’t like coming out to play ‘hunt humans’ with us.”

“Well, my sister saw him outside his hut once and she tried to talk to him - but he ignored her. I think she said he even ran away!”

“My dad says Matuna doesn’t even want to be chief. I mean, who doesn’t want to be chief here? You get to go to the Orc village constantly without being picked!”

I don’t know what to think of him - I’ve never met him so it’s no concern of mine. I just knew he was important to the village. My main concern was dealing with this stupid ritual year after year but now, not anymore. Thank you, Matuna! Thank you for disappearing so suddenly! Because of your strangeness, you made this village forget about my star-shaped mark!

Then again, my parents didn’t take me out all that often and my friends joked it would make me a better hunter - I could navigate the stars better, they said. But I don’t know how to navigate, not yet anyway, my father is going to teach me how to do that. I started to think of all the other things I wanted to do with my father - learning to hunt is something we trolls did but I felt strangely excited about leaving the village with him. With just me and him.

Sometimes, it’s hard to talk to my father on a day-to-day basis - he’s always out hunting for food while mother stays at home. Mother and I get along fine, that’s not what bothers me. I want to learn more about father. I know he’s considered an unusual troll for falling in love with mother but besides that, he seemed like any other troll in the village.

I don’t know why my mother’s parents don’t like him. They always say he’s the reason why my mother didn’t become a great troll hunter or ‘transcended’ to working for the Orc village. I think about that sometimes when they glare at me and Yaci - they only say bad things about us and especially me since I was young. I don’t know why… they always point out my star mark as a curse… that’s why I wonder why my parents hate me…

But I have a feeling they don’t. In their way, they protect me and Yaci.

And then I blinked my eyes when I realized where I wasn’t.

Because of the number of adults who looked for Matuna, it was hard for me to realize when I had wandered out of the village - next thing I knew, I was surrounded by trees - the forest. I don’t know the name of it. This is the first time I ever left my village. I looked behind me to see if it’s clear where I came from but I don’t see anything.

Then I felt it. That feeling I had earlier when I couldn’t find my father at first - I think my mother called it fear. Mother said when humans have ‘fear’, they could feel lost and unsure. Sometimes, she said, she could feel it after she immediately kills them and even afterward sometimes when she drags their heads in for the count. But that fear isn’t the fear of my mother killing me… this fear, whatever it is, is worse because I don’t know where I am. And I don’t know where my father is.

But before I could think anymore, I heard the ferocious roar of a creature I never heard of before. It was loud and sudden and then I heard the sound of a crunch. This ‘fear’ grew within me and it pushed me to run away from the sound -- or at least, I thought it was away from it.

I only realized it when I heard a thud and a hand that stuck out of the bushes.

When I saw a thick, grey hand, I stopped in my tracks. I saw red blood start to surround it and I was scared, oh, this is fear. This is fear and I don’t like it. I don’t want to know who that was. Was it Matuna? What would happen if a youngling like me caught this creature’s wrath? Oh, no, what am I to do?

But I wanted to know… something in my head told me that I had to know, for my own good.

There were screams on the other side of the brushes but it sounded like a young girl’s voice. Maybe the creature would be distracted by her as I took a peek at who this is… I have to do it… Matuna is important to the village after all… And-and, they have to know…

When I saw the massive troll body on the ground as he clutched the hole in his chest, I gasped. I couldn’t believe my eyes… my father… it’s my father… my father….!!

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Once I realized who it was, I was in utter shock and let out a wail that sounded like such a weak roar. At that point, I don’t remember what happened in order after I saw his body lying there. Hot tears burst out of my eyes and I didn’t have a chance to stop it or think about it. It hurt so much… I can’t believe my eyes… How can I? My father was just there…

No, it’s not the fact that it’s a grisly scene that bothers me. No, no, no, because it’s my father who’s supposed to stand victoriously on top of the creature! Of the human! I saw a human girl next to him as she tried to brace herself and I already could tell it’s her fault and I yelled again as more hot tears came out of my face.

Her hair was strange - it was yellow with a large black stain in front of it. And it was the only stain in her hair. She wept for my father as she wore black robes that seemed a bit too big for her. She didn’t react to me yelling at her. I don’t even know what I even said.

Wasn’t there a creature here earlier? I looked around - anything to look away from my father’s dead body - and saw that it was a lightning demon. It was shaped like a horse but had lightning strikes and a rod coming out of its forehead. Reds, greens, yellows, and blacks covered the creature and the blacks were its blood that oozed out from its neck.

Did my father at least give the finishing blow? Please at least give me that. At least tell me that he did that…!!

I couldn’t recognize myself as I cried and blubbered - but I also couldn’t understand the body before me was once my father. I don’t understand why this human girl wept with me for my father. He probably tried to kill her… plus how did he come out here?

Somehow, through my wailing and crying, I heard this human speak to me in a soft voice. Then I noticed she touched me. I should be disgusted but my heart hurt too much as I saw blood leave my father’s body.

“I’m sorry… For what it’s worth, he protected me. He protected me with all he could.”

I should be mad at this human girl but her voice was clear as a bell. It was covered in something I never heard from before in the troll village. This calmed me down… I don’t understand… what’s your power, girl?

From the corner of my eye, I noticed she had two large necklaces wrapped around her neck; one was the sun and one was the crescent moon. It shined in the midday sun as it made its way through the thick trees and brush to make it. I turned away but she held me tighter.

“Please forgive me. I shouldn’t have been out here...Madeline was right.”

I couldn’t stop crying but again her voice comforted me. I didn’t respond.

“Let me help bury him for you.”

I couldn’t move so she did all the work. It was then I realized she thought I was a grown-up troll - I was pretty tall but she couldn’t have been more than a couple years older than I am. And yet, she got up and stretched out her hands. She closed her eyes and mumbled words I didn’t recognize.

Suddenly, the ground shook and opened under my father’s body. As though something was behind it the whole time, I saw my father’s body get pushed to the ground. Very quickly, the ground started to fill in the hole with dirt but I didn’t see anyone move the dirt - an invisible something did.

I looked to the girl only to see a ball of light within her hand form and I couldn’t help but feel a familiar essence from it. A hushed voice echoed into my ears and it tickled it - it sounded familiar to me. I couldn’t understand the words they said but I remember it was a name that once belonged to me. A world that didn’t belong to me.

A world I was never meant to be in.

It was then I felt my mark burn and I forced myself to look away. I gazed back where this strange girl buried my father but by that time, he was completely buried. He was no longer there, not even the blood that came out of him.

Once it was finished, I could hear the girl take deep breaths and tried to catch up to it. I looked to her, as tears stopped coming out of my eyes, and gazed her curiously. She wore a hat and more of her golden yellow hair fell on her shoulders. She looked… strange….ly...beautiful… almost ethereal, almost unreal.

She looked unlike any troll I had ever seen before. She didn’t look like the women’s heads the trolls in my village at all. I didn’t know what to think… first I was mad at her, but now my heart felt tight around her. It was almost she did something or placed some kind of magic on me. Had she noticed the star on my stomach? She had to… she had to.

Once she was steady, she moved next to me and things were quiet between us. I looked where father was buried and tears came out but it was much quieter this time. I saw the girl clasp her hands together and mumbled something. Another light came out but this time it didn’t hurt to look at - instead, it wrapped around us and it felt peaceful.

I felt my hair float upwards and my tears did too. I looked at her and saw that her necklaces floated as well.

Finally, she spoke to me once again.

“My name is Daisy. I’m sorry we had to meet like this… My friend, can you forgive me?”

Did she know I was a troll? Did she know father was a troll? Why wasn’t she afraid? Then again, I must look fairly young for a troll but… I’m a troll. I’m going to hunt her kind when I get older. I still didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say.

“Here, let me give you this. It’s a token from my own mother but this time, it’s my fault he’s ...gone. Please let us meet again when you can talk.” She took off the crescent moon necklace and placed it over my head. It seemed to fit just as easily and more as it did for her.

I touched it and immediately, it felt good. It felt safe.

She was quiet once again and the two of us just sat there. I don’t know how long we stayed there but I cried on occasion and my tears fell again. Every time I did, she comforted me. She never left me alone but the sun had to go down. And we had to go our separate ways.

Because if we don’t, more demons will come and eat us. I don’t know how strong she is, but I’m only a 10-year-old troll. Father… was supposed to teach me how to survive but now that might be my mother’s duty.

Mother… Yaci… they’ll be sad when I tell them…. But I have to go home. I don’t know how I could get home but… Somehow, I think I’ll find it.

“I have to go, my friend. That necklace will guide you home. I have my own but one day, we shall meet again. Please look for the Great Witch Daisy Umbra!”

Even in this dire situation, she smiled like the sun. Perhaps it’s a good thing she kept that necklace on her. Once we both stood, she reached over and patted me in the shoulder and I felt strange again.

Then she left and I was left with no choice but to go home.

I chose to listen to her words and the moon necklace reacted to the direction I needed to go. It was surprisingly easy to get there. I still don’t know how I got lost in the first place.

And when I got back to the village, I heard nothing but disappointment - the other adult trolls never found Matuna and I could hear his father wail loudly as I walked down the familiar path.

No one seemed to care about my missing father. That didn’t matter to me. The only trolls I told about my father’s death were my mother and Yaci. They both wailed and roared into the night and for many nights.