The summer days ended quite shortly and Yerili had to go back to school, studying and trying to endure her classmates’ words. Mikki was left alone in the Fangilano household during a majority of the day, which he mostly spent on exploring the big mansion and the even bigger yard area. He basically knew that a big bushy wall was surrounding the house and the yard, but he really didn’t knew what lied beyond those walls. He was indeed quite curious, yet a bit scared about it. What if he’d meet another of those frightening demons? What if he’d get lost? He was pretty sure that the Fangilano family wouldn’t be enjoyed if he caused more trouble. He had heard the slight discussions from downstairs when he was still in pain. They were discussing wildly if they should allow him to stay or not. After all, having a troll who goes berserk can’t be good for Yerili; the troll could hurt her if he got angry enough. Mikki really didn’t like those discussions. He’d never hurt the ones he lived under, only protect. Protect with his life if necessary.

While those thought sailed around in his mind yet another time, he had taken a seat near one of the walls, under a big apple tree, and had started to doodle. Mikki had never really drawn anything in his life before, but sitting down and doodling out his thoughts like that made him feel better. He didn’t care much of the rather sloppy results, he only aimed to empty his mind when doing this.

Suddenly, a rattle from the wall was heard. Mikki gasped and stared at the way the sound came from. He saw clearly that the bushes moved around, as if something wanted to go through the bushes, and suddenly a blue little hat popped out from the shrubbery. Mikki blinked and clinged to his little book tighter. Another rustle was heard and seen and suddenly, a boy also popped out from the shrubberies. Mikki instantly recognized the green skin and the tail; this boy was a troll as well. To judge from the rather elfish clothes, Mikki guessed that this boy could be a slave…or a pet troll, like Mikki. The troll picked up his hat and stood up. His tail seemed to be tied up in a knot though, so the boy seemed to stand very unsteady on his spot.

“Earth…rotating…too…fast!” the boy mumbled in trollish before he fell to the ground again.

Mikki had by this time measured that the troll probably was in his age, maybe a wee bit older. He seemed to be a little bit taller than Mikki as well, but not threathingly tall. The slightly tired look in the boys’ eyes and his slightly lisping voice gave the troll a slightly comical appearance, but Mikki was suspicious enough to not be too friendly with this boy. At least not yet. He walked slowly up to the troll, took a seat next to him and observed the troll as he tried to regain consciousness. 

“What are you doing here?” Mikki asked.

“I felt the scent of…troll, and I got curious.”

Mikki blinked and sniffed a bit on his own arm.

“…How does a troll smell like?”

“Kind of like rocks…maybe a tad bit to the earthy side.”

The way this troll talked was pretty odd for a troll, Mikki though. He talked rather fast and correct, like he wanted to be quite clear with his point. The lisping made him sound even odder, Mikki’s thoughts continued.

“Your tail…it’s in a knot…”

“Oh, no wonder I lost my balance then.” The troll replied and quickly made his tail loosen its knotty shape.

Mikki blinked yet again, looking quite amazed over this troll’s tail control. The troll then sat up, got a bit closer to Mikki and sniffed tryingly on Mikki a few times. Mikki looked a bit scared, but remained still.

“Yup, it’s troll allright…” the troll said, but frowned “…I feel another scent too though…”

“W-well, I live with the Fangilanos here..” Mikki answered a bit uneasy.

With that look the troll gave Mikki, he felt like that his newly found friend already knew something about him he didn’t knew. The troll shrugged eventually.

“That could be it, I guess.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Are you…living on the other side of these bushes?” Mikki suddenly asked.

“Well, I’m doing my best to live..” the troll answered, looking a bit irritated.

“Are you homeless or something?”

“Oh, no, far from! I am a slave, just like you, I suppose. More of the pettish-kind of slave.”

“But…then, everything’s okay, isn’t it?” Mikki asked, looking a bit confused.

“I suppose you haven’t met my ‘master’ yet!” the troll laughed “She seriously thinks that I am her doll or something, it’s really nasty.”

“Well…I guess that’s not a too good thing.”

“You bet. But I shouldn’t complain, I at least never had to end up like a filthy worker slave…man those trolls are so low life..”

Mikki reacted at those words and glanced down at the ground. The past memories of his slavery life weren’t happy, and knowing this person in front of him seemed to hate trolls like that made him even more unhappy. The troll noticed what his words had made to Mikki, which made him feel a bit bad.

“Hey you…I…” the troll frowned “I don’t think other slaves are bad people…I mean, it must’ve been horrible to be treated like that. Not that I…really know a thing about it…” he continued, looking a bit embarrassed.

Mikki glanced at the troll again.

“Dude, I’m quite scared of losing my pet job here…who knows what kind of work I’d get otherwise!” the troll said and smiled slightly. “I don’t think I caught your name” he continued.

Mikki hesitated for a short while before he answered quietly. The troll smiled.

“Rat, eh? You kind of remind me of the rats down in our cellar. Pretty nice creatures, except for when they steal shoes and such.”

Mikki frowned slightly at this comparison.

“So, what’s your name then?”

This made the other troll quite quiet. He started to drum a finger to the ground slightly as he glanced at the ground.

“Tulip.”

“What?”

“You know, that flower. Tulip.”

“..What about it?”

“No, no, that’s my name!”

“Your name’s Tulip?!”

“Silly, huh?”

“No, it’s just that…don’t you name girls after that name?”

“Not if your owner thinks you look like a Tulip.”

Mikki giggled, but stopped pretty quickly.

“Well, you have an original name too, right?”

“I…kind of forgot it…” Tulip said and lowered his head. “Pretty lame, eh?”

“No, not really. It’s too bad for you though, your original name was maybe Warrior or something like that..”

“You think so?”

“Maybe…”

This made Tulip looking happier. He grinned and gave Mikki a playful hit on his arm.

“Hey, you are pretty cool, Mikki! I mean, for being a worker-class slave scum and all” Tulip said and grinned playfully.

Mikki giggled slightly and was about to say something when a voice from the other side was heard. Tulip groaned and stood up.

“She’s back home again…so I guess I got to leave. C-can I come back another day?” Tulip asked, looking hopeful.

Mikki nodded and Tulip smiled back happily before he vanished in the shrubbery. Mikki sighed slightly before he heard Yerili’s voice calling for him.

Yerili’s days at school weren’t that happy, and she was never in a happy mood when she came back home. This always made Mikki an extra bit careful when being around her, but he also tried to be a little cheerier as well, in a desperate try to make her feel better. Sometimes, he succeeded better than other days. Today, Mikki brought a very nice apple he had found hanging around in an apple tree. Most of the apples had already been picked a week ago, but a couple of them had probably been sitting too far up to get picked. For Mikki, being tall, a fairly good climber and having a very good sense of balance, getting this fine piece of fruit wasn’t that hard really. He seemed to be very satisfied by the fact that Yerili seemed to cheer up pretty much when she received the apple.

Yerili liked the simpleness of Mikki. She knew that he had to be friendly towards Yerili, or else he had to be sold to someone else, but yet, Mikki never really seemed to be unhappy. She knew that other pet trolls usually just kept their distance from their owner if they were in a bad mood while Mikki usually wanted to cheer her up. Sometimes he succeeded, other times Yerili just got amused by Mikki’s brave tries at making her more cheerful. She felt a little bit bad though, since she yet had never let him go outside the Fangilano family’s properties, except for that little adventure in the forest. She hoped that she someday could take him out in the city soon, maybe find some more fitting clothes for him. Because even Yerili could see that the Elfish fashion wasn’t really that fitting for a troll.

The day started to go to an end and Yereli was writing for her homework in school next day. Because, even though she wasn’t treated right in school, she was still a very good-working student, which made her bullies even more irritated. Yerili tried to not care, because she was certain that she’d be more successful than them when she got older. Mikki lied on the floor, doodling a little. Yereli had offered him to lie on the bed, but Mikki said he was okay with the floor. Suddenly, Mikki decided to bring up the happening of his.

“Hey, Yerili..?”

“Yes, Mikki?”

“Do you know…who’s living behind the bushy wall?”

“On which side?”

This made Mikki think for a while.

“On the side the sun sets.”

“Oh..” Yereli said darkly. “The Grandiozo family lives there. Quite snobbish, all of them.”
”Oh?”

“Their daughter, Nnelah, is a real pain too! I hate her!”

“Oh…”

“Why do you ask?”

“Uhm, well…you won’t tell anyone, right?”

“Of course not! What, did you fall in love with someone?”

Mikki just stared at Yerili before he came to his senses again.

“No…but I met a troll boy who seemed to live there.”

“What a poor boy. I bet he looks gay, that Nnelah has a thing for girlifying guys.” Yerili said and looked disgusted. “And everyone lets her do so too..”

“Well, his name was Tulip…”

“Says it all. Hey, if you meet that Tulip boy again, do tell me that I feel sympathy for him. Poor boy…”

Mikki smiled and nodded a little while continuing to draw and wondering if he’d meet Tulip again the next day.