The Magic Knights Exam was delayed and Maria was furious. The girl was in her room screaming into her pillow as her heart raced. As a well exercise and extremely athletics girl, it took a lot more than arm flailing to get her blood pumping. What her love of training could not save her heart from was anxiety. She had been hyping herself for this exam, hoping to finally get one step closer to proving her mother wrong while be absolutely terrified of what could happen. It was this anxiety that had haunted her nights and made it difficult to sleep every night and now, she would have to bear this for another two weeks at least. After about an hour, the girl lost her voice giving a nearby staff member who was waiting outside her room, the impression that she calmed down. 
"Is everything okay?"

Maria quickly clammed up while rubbing her face into her pillow. It was not like she did not want to scream. In fact, she wanted to scream even louder than ever. A servant could see her weakness. It was horrible but she had to strength up. 
"But of course... just... practicing my roar to intimate those against me."
"Yes my lady. I apologize for interrupting your training, but to prevent another interruption, may I deliver a message."
"Sure... I suppose." The girl sat up to better receive the servant's information with a blank smile.
"There has been a notice released by Wetherby for collecting information for the very powerful Troll race."
"So... its not like I'm some researcher." 
"Yes my lady... but the notice states that anyone who provides useful information will be credited in his book."

The girl immediately perked up as her face was filled with some form of actual emotion. She was not sure if that level of fame would mean much going into the Magic Knights Exam, but to have your name immortalize in a book was like one of the coolest ideas. Though she was not sure how excited she should act. "Oh... well then... It would be rude to turn down such an opportunity for knowledge of course." The girl began to chuckle. 

"Yes my lady, for knowledge of course."

-------------------------------------------

The girl was out in the forest, wearing a combination of greens and browns on her cloak, shirt and shorts. Of course, she was not wearing shoes. It was easier to be stealthy that way. She also had a journal and pen in her hand to write down everything see seen. She was not sure what good information meant so she just was going to give all the information. "The sky was clear. The forest was quiet as I, Maria Klara Wilhelm, searched for the trolls."

Much of her notes were pretty useless at this point. Comments about the weather, different plants, and even a complain about a mosquito. Eventually the girl would reach a clearing. Climbing up a tree, she would see it. "Just when all hope was lost, the girl would come across the beast frocking in the open inspecting a white spec. I have reason to believe that the spec is a flower but I am not close enough for such an observation yet. At the moment I will sit here and write down any behaviors show." A giddy smile did its best to seal the girl's excitement. 

The creature was incredibly ugly and large and probably strong looking. It had bumps on its face and also looked stupid. The girl giggled at her most intelligence observation. Only to suddenly stop as she saw the creature just drop to the ground. It curled into a ball around white spec which may or may not be a flower. "I will now attempt to move closer to the lesser creature." The girl closed her notebook and swung down from the branch. With a thump, the girl grinned and ran out into the opening. It was then that the creature suddenly stood up. It was tall, even from this distance, it was very blessed by the genetic lottery. The girl would suddenly stop and try to inspect the situation. Of course, she would hope that she could move closer but would the creature allow her?

About a minute had passed and the creature would lower its stance. Did that mean it was being less aggressive? Then the creature took a heavy step to the girl. Maria just smiled but did not move. "It seems the beast has finally noticed my presence and after I attempted to move closer, its erratic behavior would lead it to want move closer to me. Its actions are filled with caution but at the very least, I feel no intentions of threat from it. So I will remain still in hopes to allow the beast to reveal its intentions." Maria would look up and see the creature had pick up its pace. It was still walking but in about 3 steps it would be towering her. It was at this time that it's large mouth started to sag. In fact, it was even starting to reveal teeth. Then a loud roar exploded from the creatures face, "LEAVE HOOOMAN!" 

Maria was unsure how to feel, struggling to keep her smile up and matching the surprised yet annoyed look her eyes were giving the creature. "It seems the troll can speak some level of our language and also needs to brush its teeth cause its breath stinks."
"STINKS. HOOOMAN STINKS. SMELL EVIL." The beast raised its fat hands and then widely swiped at Maria. The girl quickly jumped back just enough distance to avoid being hit with a bright smile on her face. 
"Hey now. That was not nice. I am trying to Study you, you oaf." The girl leaned forward while waving her pen, "I will have to record how rude you are." Despite taunting the creature a bit, she did recognize that the creature was not actually trying to hurt her. With the power in that one attack, she could tell it could move much quicker and strike much harder. 

"NOT BREAD. STOP MEAN HOOMAN." The Troll then slammed his hand into the ground and then pulled earth from the ground as a giant ball. The girl scoffed. The thing could use magic, maybe this was a bit more dangerous than she anticipated but she did not mind. She did miss out on her morning exercise so she would humor the beast. "Okay. How about we play a game. You hit me one time. If you do, then I will leave. Else I will stay and continue to study you. Deal?"
"OH. GAME. GAMES ARE... wait... NO. I HIT YOU. YOU LEAVE." The troll looked confused, almost as if it had two train of thoughts going but it could not pick which path it wanted to walk. 
"I will take that as a yes. So... do ya worst-"  the girl was interrupted as a large pillar of earth was just flung at her like an javelin. The girl would hurdle the attack, running up the projectile and then flipping over the beast's head. Clearly the creature had no honor. It wanted her gone and well, she could respect that. It was not like it was stronger than her in any way. It was just surprising. The troll stood up and started clapping as if it was amused by the girl's acrobatics. However, it would suddenly stop remembering it was suppose to be angry. It slammed its massive arms into the ground and earth crawled up its arms as if the ground was made of mud. The girl tried to force a laugh but given the weight of those arms, she was pretty sure even her defensives would not completely nullify that. Nope, she did not want to get struck by such an attack. 

"Wait... umm maybe we can call this a draw." The girl took a step backwards but the troll was already engulfing her in its shadow. She dived out the way as the beast slammed down its arms and the ground about shook. Dust and dirt turned the air brown and gave the girl a brief moment to put some distance between her and the beast. Meanwhile, she tapped her right leg with her right hand to activate her Sapphire's Swiftness. Blue sapphires ran down her outer legs drastically boosting her speed. Now she should have been safe right?

"LEAVE ME ALONE"
"No. I have to collect information. I have to learn about you."
"HOOMAN ONLY HURT. MAKE SAD" The beast swiped his arm and the dirt cloud just disperse from the sheer force. Then it jumped into the air in the girl's direction. Maria quickly sprinted away again to avoid the fate of those brown mushroom people who fight plumpers in red jumpsuits. As she ran, she started piecing something together. The beast was very focused on this issue with humans. Well, technically it said "hooman" which the girl would be sure to note whenever she felt safe enough to write in her journal. Another thing she realized was that the beast of a troll was still communicating with her and when it was communicating, it was not attacking. Thus, if she get it to talk more, then she could get a quick break. 

"Wait wait. Your breaking the rules of the game!" The girl said jokingly while planning her next move. The troll however would stop and stand their looking around as if he was in trouble. 
"WHAT NOOOO. NOO. I AM NOT"

The girl was almost astonish that the joke actually worked. So she continued to play off of it, "Yes you are. Are games not suppose to be fun?"
"Umm... YES. GAMES ARE FUN"
"Well, then. Are you having fun? If you are sad then you can't be having fun right?"
The troll stomped on the ground and then moved its hand to its face. "RIGHT. SAD IS NOT FUN" 
"Exactly so that means we have to take a break and figure out why you are sad."
"NOOO. I KNOW WHY SAD."
"Oh, then you should share. I will right it down so that we can better work on it."
"NO. I DONT WANT TO SHARE HOW HOOMAN MAKE FRIEND SLEEP FOREVER"
"But that is a really sad thing. I know if my friend sleep forever, I would be upset." The girl would start writing this down while also trying to jot down all the other important information like the fact that the creature could use magic and the different types of magic it used against her. She noted how it was very strong, could jump high, and was some how... trying really hard to scare her instead of hurt her, well at first. To think all of these problems she was having was simply do to another troll dying. Maria did not really care about the troll much but she did find it annoying that another person was making this job a lot harder and way more dangerous than it had to be. All she wanted was her name in a stupid book, not to be roughed around by a dumb creature. 

"YES YES. IT IS VERY SAD. SO I HAVE TO HIT YOU. YOU LEAVE ME ALONE" The troll raised its arms and expanded its shadow. Maria would scramble to put away her book and sprint out of the shadow and out of the range. 
"Hey, we agreed that the game was over because you were sad."
"NO. GAME MAKE HOOMAN LEAVE"
"No, I stay to help you. That is what a good hooman would do. Its what we agreed to do. You can't go around breaking promises right?" The girl could not help but mock the creatures pronunciation a little bit. 
"UGH. YOU ARE RIGHT HOOMAN. BUT I DONT LIKE YOU NOW. SO WHY SHOULD I NOT TREAT YOU LIKE I WANT TOO."
"Because, I can make you not feel so sad. If you don't feel so sad, then you can play games." Maria quickly turned around and picked the white flower off the ground. Turning back around, she looked at the troll to see if it was going to attack her again. For the time being it seemed to be thinking, battling its instincts with its feelings and honor? She suppose the creature had some level of that since she got this far.
"Here, I will give you this flower. Won't that make you feel less sad?"

The troll looked at the flower. Its breaths slowed giving it the impression it was calming down. That, or it was secretly a genius and leading the girl into a false sense of security. The girl doubted that though so she shot out the idea and continue pushing. The girl took a slow step closer to the troll. She kept her eyes on the beast watching it as it watched the flower. Taking another step, the beast did not react. With one more step the girl was within reach of the creature's hand and in order to limit the amount of chances the creature had to surprise her with a fist full of rock, she placed the flower on the top of the creatures hand. Granted the creatures palm was facing down, the girl had to put the flower on the back of the creatures hand, but it was smart enough to figure out what to do.

"See, Does this flower mean something?"
"FLOWER. BOL LIKES FLOWER."

The girl would pull out her notebook and began writing down the story of this troll. So trolls give each other names. He named his friend Bol and his friend, Bol, named him Trollolo. She cringed after hearing it but kept quiet not wanting to upset the beast while she was so close to it and had finally got it to stop attacking her. Out of the two Bol clearly got the better name. Maybe that was why he was targeted. Trollolo sounded like some bad song that some jerk would use to mess with others with. She also kept that to herself as well, not for fear of upsetting the troll but out of lack of desire to explain the thing. The troll was not... completely dumb but she was not a teacher and she was not going to gamble her safety over the chance of failing to explain some non-existence song. It was then that she learned that trolls have either exceptionally long lives or a lack of understand for time due to the troll claiming they have been together forever with no other time measurements or clues to properly determine the actual length of time. Though she was able to learn that the two were not family. That would have been a whole other can of worms and maybe she would have to join the troll in being sad.

The troll would then go into a crying fit of sadness. Oh fun fact. Apparently trolls can cry. Their cries are the combination of a very large baby with a really deep announcer voice. There did not seem to be tears but it was a amazing discovery none the less. Eventally the girl would be able to get the creature to return talking. It was here that the troll proceeded to tell the story of Bol.

Both Trollolo and Bol were in field. Bol was picking different flowers. They seemed to be in a human settlement. This was the red flag. She then learned that the flowers were near a wood home. Immediately the girl could piece together what happened. The troll Bol was probably picking flowers out of someone's guardian. It was then that the owner of the flowers saw them and probably confused them with an attacking monster. The owner killed Bol and boom here they were. 

The troll then proceeded to cry and whine more. Apparently he did not like violence or fighting. He was a peaceful troll and never hurt anybody. The girl believed him, cause if he hurt someone, they would probably just be dead. If this troll killed someone, then Bol probably would not be the only dead troll around these parts. The girl would walk closer to the Troll and start to rub its arm in an attempt to comfort it. The creature was not done surprising her though. The then stated that it did not want to seek revenge because even if it killed the hooman, Bol would not wake up. it was so honorable and the girl made sure to write that down in bold. So the girl tried to move onto the next step. "So if you don't want revenge or to hurt anyone, what are you going to do?"

The troll tried to smile. It explained how it wanted to put the flower in the mount where he buried Bol. Another point for intelligences in the troll department and another good fact for the girl to keep in the notebook. Trolls apparently buried their dead and even visited said graves. If this troll did not talk in an almost yelling like tone, then maybe she could think it acted like a young kind.

After talking about it, the Troll seemed to be a bit more chipper. The girl got the troll to let out his feelings and energy and now it was ready to play games. Sadness would no longer haunt this creature. So there was only one thing left to do. The troll raised its arm and then punched the girl. 
"HAHA I WIN. HUMAN LEAVE NOW" 

The girl fell flat on her face. Lucky for her, the creature dropped all of its spells. Unlucky for her, it still was really powerful and she did not have the mass to not get blasted away. "Stupid... never again... will I go near a troll." She was a woman of her word so since the troll hit her, she had to leave. The girl would then collect all her notes and then submit it. 

[wc 3009]